A Hair Straightener

Boys always wonder why girls care so much about their hair. I don't know why, because if they were girls, they probably would too. So let me give you a few reasons why we care so much:
1: Boys can get away with having messy hair. If a girl goes out with her hair all tangled up and messy, she gets stared at, teased, and embarrased.
2: A girl's hair is a major part of her look. It needs to be just right if she wants to look pretty.
And 3: Hair is fun to mess around with. Especially when you have a lot of it. There are so many things you can do with a bottle of hairspray and a brush.
This here, for you boys who have no idea, is a straightener. You are probably thinking, "Wow, I thought they only made hair curlers." Well you thought wrong! The thing about hair straighteners is that they can be used to straighten AND curl. You just have to know how to do it right.
My hair is naturally wavy, and sometimes that can be a big problem. Any hair that isn't straight gets tangled easily unless you pull it up, and sometimes you really don't want to do that. So instead you straighten it. By applying heat. This little gadget helps you do that. You plug it in, turn it on, let it heat up, use the digital screen to change the temperature, and then straighten. This one is specially designed for straightening wet hair. It even has little holes in the side that let steam out. I tried it on my sister's hair yesterday, but her hair is already straight, so obviously it didn't really work.
So now my hair is nice and straight, and I love it, but the only problem is that it's hard to get the back, and I'm kind of an amateur when it comes to hair care, so I have to figure out how to straighten the back properly.
I really like my hair. It's not too thick, but thick enough, right now it's kind of blonde, although it looks more like really blonde because I highlighted it and took large chunks, it's layered, and now I'm going to straighten it everyday, unless I'm feeling in more of a tangled up kind of mood.
Today I was in the bathroom and about to straighten my hair, and I look out the window and see Sham the kitten chasing a striped-tail animal. At first I think it's another cat, but it's tail kind of gave it away, and then it turned around and I saw the masked face. It was a raccoon! In the day! I had to bring Sham in while my mom called Animal Control. They said not to worry about it, and now I think it may be a baby because adult raccoons are usually really large, and this one was only about the size of Sham, maybe a little bit larger. After she came in, Sham wanted to go back out, and she literally sounded like she was crying. I thought maybe she wanted to go to the bathroom, but my mom knew that Sham wanted to go chase the baby raccoon. Poor thing. It's probably looking for it's mom.
Ahhhh... okay, now I want to get started on my other stuff so that I can go trampolining soon. I really want to go jump out there right now. Yesterday it was kind of hard because of all the wind. So I'm leaving now. Byebye!!!

An Artistic Kit...

Everything is so expensive these days. You go to any soda machine in the country and you'll never find a soda for more than 55 cents. Gum is 60 cents a pack in vending machines, and a decent meal in a decent restaurant is 20 bucks. (I'm not talking about fast food places, cause they're not decent at all!) But you know, this art kit may have been expensive, but it was worth it.
The kit comes with 3 different types of color. Oil paints, colored pencils, (not the cheap Crayola kind), and oil pastels. There's also paintbrushes, pencils, erasers, and a pencil sharpener. Great art kit, huh?
The whole thing is layered. Of course, because if it wasn't, that'd be on wide art kit. It all closes up into a wooden briefcase-shaped thing. Why do I call it a briefcase? Because it is as thick as one, and because it's got a handle, along with the clickity locks. You know, the ones that flip open and shut.
I'm not an artsy person. I can't draw much, except stick people, but then again, anyone can draw a bunch of lines and an oval. I can't draw people, animals, items, and I suck at 3-D. I can draw the shape, but once I add the shadow in, it looks horrible. Yeah, that's how bad I am.
You know, my great-aunt is a wonderful artist. She makes things look so lifelike. One time she drew a picture of me holding my American Girl doll. I think I was nine or so. She even has a studio at her daughter's house that she lives in. It's a nice place. A large table, a sink, a bed, a loft, the only thing it's missing is a bathroom. My uncle is about to build one there.
I really wish I had a talent. All I'm good at is figuring out math problems. I'm not exceptionally good at anything. I'm kind of normal at everything. I guess I'm good at juggling, but my brother is better at a lot of stuff. He can climb trees, do flips on the trampoline, and he can actually kick a ball. I suck at sports, and I'm too scared to do much. Just riding on a motercycle was scary for me. A lot of people say that as long as you're good at studies, you'll succeed. I don't think that's true, because some of the richest people today may have degrees, but they were always good at one certain thing: whatever they're involved in. I want to be a doctor when I grow up, but that is a long way away, for all I know. I guess for now I'll just have to be satisfied with whatever I'm good at.
Last night, I finished my lesson just in time to watch Lost. It was an awesome show. I really love watching it, but I wish that that I didn't have to wait a whole week more to watch the next one. They're so suspensful!

Finally!!!

Do you have any idea how long I've needed a guitar book? I can't get anywhere without it! It's so hard to watch a DVD that isn't even the whole thing, and actually expect to learn something!!! At least now I have sheet music, songs to play, and fingering charts. Okay, so I haven't played a lot yet, but that's only because I don't really have much time.
I've always wanted to play an instrument, and when I got my flute, I was really happy. I always liked the sound of the flute. What I didn't realize was that there are two different kinds of flutes. One of them has holes in the keys, the other doesn't. The one with holes in the keys is the real and true flute. The other one is just for beginners.
So I got good at the flute, the best in the class actually. Then I went to Africa where I couldn't play at all, and when I came back, my school wouldn't let me back in. So I started homeschooling. But let me tell you, it's hard to teach yourself how to play the flute well. Especially because I hadn't played in almost a year. I was also getting kind of bored. And my flute was kinda messed up and I wasn't allowed to go get it fixed, mostly because it would cost a lot of money. The flute had dents, scratches, and some of the keys were kind of messed up. And let's just say that some necessary pieces were falling off. Not pieces that couldn't be put back, but it's kind of tedious when you have to keep replacing things.
So then we went and bought the guitar. Like I said in my other post, it came with an almost useless DVD, so I couldn't learn a lot from that. And the DVD was for electric guitar, not acoustic, although most of the notes are the same. But it didn't teach me notes or songs, only chords. Ugh.
This book was given to me by my mom's German friend. It originally came with a disk, but I don't care, just so long as I have the book. It starts out, like all instrumental books, with finger placements, starter tips, and in a guitar's case, tuning. Then it moves on into first string notes. So you play a bit with those, and once you can switch between them all with ease, then you go to second string notes, and so on. After the first couple strings you get songs to play. One of them is Ode to Joy. I never realized that you can play almost every note on only the first, second, and third frets. Wow.
The thing about guitars is that they are so easy to take care of. All you need to do is wipe them down with a dry cloth every now and then, and when the strings break, get new ones. And I'm pretty sure that the strings are quite cheap. You need almost nothing to play a guitar except your hands and a place to put it when you're done, and a good guitar doesn't cost all that much. And when you're trying to play a song on hearing alone, at least you can sing the song while you play it, unlike woodwinds.
Music is a wonderful thing. There are so many variations of it, you can use simple household objects to play it, and best of all, when you learn how to play it, you can do many things with what you know. I like being able to play notes that express how I feel. I think everyone should at least know what beautiful music sounds like.

Another Board Game...

Really, I just love talking about board games. I don't know why. It's a thing I have. I'm really the only one in my family who likes to play board games. My brother only plays when I beg, my sisters want to play, but they don't know how, my little brother is only 5, and my parents are too busy to care. Why me? Why???
This is one of the classic board games. Clue is so much fun, but the problem is you can only play it with three people. Let's give an overview of the rules, shall we?
Mr. Boddy, the very very very rich man who has invited his 6 friends to his mansion, is dead. The only suspects are the 6 guests: Mr. Green, Colonel Mustard, Professor Plum, Ms. Peacock, Ms. Scarlet, and Ms. White. There are only 6 weapons that could've been used to kill Mr. Boddy: the Wrench, Candlestick, Rope, Revolver, Lead Pipe, and Knife. Mr. Boddy could have been killed in any of rooms: the Study, Hall, Dining Room, Billiard Room, Kitchen, Library, Conservatory, Lounge, and Ballroom. Each of the Rooms, Weapons, and People are listed on a card. At the beginning of the game, one card from each catagory is placed in a folder secretly. Nobody knows what is in the folder.
The object of the game is to try to figure out what is in the folder, by suggesting people, weapons and rooms. Each player has cards, and they have to try and prove your statement wrong by showing you which cards you suggested. For example, if I say "Mr. Green with the Knife in the Hall" you have to look at your cards, and if you have any of the ones I just said, you show them to me, so I know that they aren't in the folder. After about 20 minutes or so, you should have a pretty good idea of what's in the folder. You may also try to mislead the other players by naming cards in your hand to make them think that nobody has them. :-D
After you are sure of what is in the folder, you make an accusation, and then look in the folder and see if you were right. If you were, you win. If you weren't, you put the cards back and take yourself out of the game, although you can still show people cards that you have.
I enjoy games like this, mostly because it's fun to trick people who can't figure out that you're tricking them. Then they get their answer wrong and lose. Heehee.
Sham says hi! Okay, she's sleeping on my chest right now, but I'm psychic. No, I'm not actually. But if she were awake, she'd be nice and meow. She's being nicer lately. Gotta go!!! Byebye!

Yet Another Monopoly...

Yeah, except this time it doesn't have any money. This Monopoly uses credit card type things. And a calculator. And that makes it a lot easier. I hate having to count out change, and then having to put the money away and get it back out, blah blah blah. So that is the major improvement in this game.
Everything fits into a neat storage case. There are slots for the dice, slots for the property cards, chance and community chest cards, credit cards and calculator, the mover pieces, and even the houses and hotels.
There are several big changes in this game. It is just the Here and Now version without money. Basically the prices have been made higher, up into the thousands and millions, but then again, you do start with 15m and you get 2m from passing Go, so it all makes sense. The cheapest property is 60k, and the most expensive one is 4m.
The properties have been upgraded too. We have Times Square, Las Vegas Blvd, the White House, Hollywood, the French Quarter of New Orleans, and even Disney World in this new version. The houses and hotels are now silver and blue instead of red and green. The dice are clearish blue, and the pieces are awesome! We have an Altoids tin, a baseball cap, a space shuttle, a widescreen TV, a dog in a purse (probably a copy of Paris Hilton), and one of those little Segways. You know, the things that you see the security guards at the mall drive. (Or at least I do).
This game is so modern, and I love the fact that I don't have to calculate the money anymore! You can just take the exact number off the card! I think the only problem is that you aren't sure how much money you can afford to spend. You know how in the original Monopoly, when you wanted to buy something, you had the general idea of whether you could afford it or not because all your money was right there in front of you. Now you have to put the card in the calculator to bring up your total money amount. Oh well, it's probably the only flaw.
My dad thought I was crazy when I bought this. My mom did too, but that's because they're older and both of them just despise remakes for some strange reason. I love them. They're a lot more exciting. Who wants to sit and play the same game for the rest of your childhood? Definetly not me. It's so boring. I like the fact that all the classic games are being remade into modern ones. I mean, I'll play the classic ones too, and I have them, but remakes are a lot more fun. But the one game that I do love is Life. At least it has a definite end, unlike Monopoly.

A 3-D Puzzle

You remember how I said how I love puzzles? Well, this is proof. Do you have any idea how long it took me to do this puzzle? A looong time. And on top of it all it's missing pieces. At least it's only two, and I'm allowed to send away to get them replaced. Heehee.
To do this puzzle I had to build each wall separately, and then I had to put them all together. Let me list out all the steps in building this one-of-a-kind puzzle.
First, I had to sort out the pieces from the junk. All the pieces were made squarish, and a lot of them aren't really supposed to be that shape. So the people who make it mark the junk with red dots, and you have to go through every piece and take out the red dot parts of it. It's hard work. And I had to do it twice because I missed some of the harder to find parts.
Next I had to sort out all the pieces according to their color. Trust me, with a puzzle this hard, that's something that you just automatically want to do. The groups I sorted out were brick pieces, textured brick pieces, brown pieces, red/pink pieces, dark blue pieces, white pieces, green/fall color pieces, weird design pieces, and then all the pieces that looked like they belonged on the top of a roof or tower. It made solving the puzzle so much easier.
After that I solved each group one by one, starting with the easiest stuff. The key thing for solving the hard group was the windows. That's how I solved it all. Windows. Each one has it's own unique shape and part that goes with it. Eventually they all end up joining together.
After I eventually got everything put together, I had to build the castle in 3-D, and that is a lot harder than it looks. First you want to build the back wall, but before you do that you have to have support for it, so you have to build the side wall too. Luckily for me I had a paper that showed me where everything goes. When my parents found out they called it cheating. Maybe next time THEY should have to build it. Lets see if they can figure it out! The hardest part about building it 3-D is that you end up having to take some stuff off. The walls are easy. Once you get to putting the roofs on, then it's tricky because you have to squeeze them into tight spaces, which isn't so good. But hey, I managed to do it. It took me about an hour though. I was watching Batman Begins when I started, and about 20 minutes after it ended, including credits, I was done. That's how long it took.
Now I just need to either send away or find those two pieces I'm missing. You can't see them in the picture because one is in the back and the other is in a tight corner on the side. Now how am I going to get those in place without dismantling the whole thing? Well, I did it before, I guess I'm gonna have to do it again.
Before I got this, I wanted the San Francisco puzzle, but it was hard to find. This puzzle is 1000 pieces, and most people would've said it was hard, but I found it way easier then I expected. 3-D puzzles are awesome, but they aren't for puzzle beginners, let me tell you.

It's a Girl!

TGIF!!! Yay!!! And Lost was spectacular last night! Suspensful and everything. The only thing wrong was that it left with a cliffhanger. I have to wait a wholenother week now! So now that I've got that out of me...
Everyone's got a history, it's just that most people don't realize it. Like, when people brought the slaves from Africa, they probably didn't realize that the Africans had families and histories to go back too. All because of the color of they're skin. I don't really understand why people think that they're better. I mean, if everyone had no skin, nobody would know who was who. But then they'd probably find some other way to persecute different people. "I've got more muscles than you do, so you can't be anywhere near me!" It's so sad.
This is a picture of my baby book. It is loaded with pictures, souvenirs, and what not, all from when I was a little tiny baby. There are even pictures of my parents' wedding, even though that was five years before I was born, but still. In the front pocket of the book is my bracelet. You know, the ones you get at the hospital if you're a patient. My birth certificate is in there too. On the back it's got my little feet. But why do you need a birth certificate? I mean, if you exist, obviously you were born. Why do you need to certify it?
My ex-uncle, (my mom's sister's ex-husband), was a major picture guy. And seeing as my cousin, (his son), was born two and a half weeks after me, there are a bunch of pictures of my cousin and I in a playpen. I think in one of them his foot was in my mouth. Oh, the days when we were a bunch of innocent babies...
I was the only one of my brothers and sisters to have a baby book. Mostly because I was the oldest, and the oldest always gets the most pictures. I feel so bad for my littlest brother. He barely has any pictures of his babyhood. He's in kindergarten though, so he probably doesn't give a care.
Now, let's go through my childhood, shall we? When I was two, my brother was born, when I was four, my sister was born, when I was five, kindergarten, six, first grade and a sister. Seven, second grade, and a brother. Eight, third grade in a new school. Nine, fourth grade, ten, fifth grade. Eleven, sixth grade, new school of course. Twelve, seventh grade. Thirteen, eighth grade, and so on. So, as you can see, my life has been the normal American life. Except for the fact that I went to Morocco when I was seven, and Senegal when I was twelve.
I have to go now. Well, almost. I'm sorta bored and I have no idea why my dad wants me to write for half an hour. It makes no sense. Writing is just so boring, and I'm so tired because I went to bed at 11, and woke up at 8:30, even though that's 9 hours of sleep. Wow, I need a lot of sleep. I want to get this schoolwork over with so I can play Monopoly, sleep, play RuneScape, sleep, and cuddle with my kitten. If only she'd like my bed better than the top bunk.
I'm going now. Too tired, must sleep. Bye!