A Kaleidoscope

Argh! Now I HAVE to do half an hour of writing! Ick! I can't write for half an hour! That's too long! Especially when stuff I write about is anything but interesting! So now that I'm done griping...
This is a kaleidoscope. Is that how you spell it? Cause I'm not sure. Anyway, I never could figure out how they worked. I think the makers just take colored stuff and slice it so that it's almost paper thin, and then they stick everything between two sheets of glass. Then they take 50 million lenses and put them every which way. I know something has to be twistable, I just don't know whether it's the lenses or the glass. I could be totally wrong in my predictions, but that's honestly how I think kaleidoscopes are made.
We got this one for Eid, our religious holiday. It came in a nice fancy box. It is actually a nice kaleidoscope. Wooden, gold dial, and the colors are nice too. I think I saw some pearls in there.
Isn't it just weird how teachers can turn fun stuff into boring stuff? I hated it when my teachers used to take those shaped blocks and tell us to make patterns on a piece of paper and then trace it. I liked making patterns, but I hated tracing it. It's fun to take yellow hexagons, blue skinny diamonds, red fat diamonds, orange squares, and green triangles and make cool symmetrical patterns out of them. It's just that when you add work to it, it isn't fun anymore. You know what I mean?
Now that I'm done talking about this picture, what else do I talk about? I mean, it's Thursday, I would like to get my work done so that I can go and watch the last episode of Season 3 of Lost so that I can be prepared for Claire's reaction to Charlie's death in the premiere that's coming on tonight at 9, *gasp* *gasp* *gasp*
I know I'm addicted to the show, you don't have to tell me! I'm not that stupid. It's just a great TV show, one of the better. And if only the stupid writers would go and resolve their little pay dispute, I would be so much happier, knowing that I will be seeing more than 9 episodes. And then I could watch Heroes too. o:-)
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I don't know what to write anymore and I still have 10 minutes left!!!!!!! What am I supposed to do? Oh wait, I know what to write about!
I haven't seen my friends in about a month and a half. I may be exaggerating, but it sucks that I haven't seen them in forever. My sister is a social butterfly. She either gets invited over, or invites over one of her friends, every single weekend! Sometimes they come and she goes, and sometimes they don't. It's just not fair! When I was in fourth grade, I didn't get to do all that!!!
I despise all sorts of school lessons. Sure, they're educational, but my dad once saw this comic. There was a picture of a kid going into school, and his brain was so big that he had to carry it in a jar. Then an adult came out of the building years later. He had no jar. That's what school does to you, and that's why I'm sitting here not in a public school.
3 minutes left!!!
2 minutes left!!!
1 minute left!!!
Yay!!!

Slippers...

Ahhhh... just when you need them most, you can never find socks or slippers. I kind of got sick of cold feet. Especially in the middle of the winter. I'd always wanted slippers, mostly so that I could wear my shoes in the house. Or, they're sort of like shoes, but not really. Shoes aren't that comfortable. So anyway...
I always had a fascination with slippers that matched bathrobes. Now I have some. I love getting out of the shower, drying off, and slipping on my bathrobe and slippers. They're so fuzzy, and I think my kitten likes them too.
The light blue set of slippers on the right are my bath slippers. The dark ones on the left are those annoying ones with the little lumpy dots on the bottom. They're so uncomfortable when you're walking on hard floors because the dots keep pushing into the bottom of your feet. At least they're falling off now.
The weird thing about it all is that sometimes my feet start sweating because they're so hot when I wear the slippers. That doesn't make any sense, but doesn't it feel so good when you're very hot, and then you take off whatever is making you hot, and then you go stand in front of something cold? Yup yup.
I'm not a big fan of shoes. I prefer barefoot, but unfortunately you can't go barefoot in the store or the public street. Only in the front or backyard.
I like nature, but I despise hot weather. I love cold weather, except for all the clothes you have to wear when you go outside. It'd be cool if you could go barefoot in cold weather, huh? My dad grew up in the Lama Foundation up in the mountains of New Mexico, and when it would snow there, he and his friends would see who could go the farthest in it barefoot. Ouch.
This winter really sucked. I mean, first of all, it didn't even snow a lot, second, it was too cold for it not to snow, and third, I hate tending the fire. I wish it would just fill itself with wood. Oh wait, I forgot, that's a gas fireplace. It doesn't even use wood!
Winters down here just suck. I haven't seen real snow in almost three years. I miss it. I remember 2003. Oh yes. That was a beauteous snow. Ankle high, clean, soft, perfect. I wish I lived a little farther up north where they get one of those every year. Not really far up north, but far enough where I can be guaranteed snow once a year. I love making snow angels and having snowball fights and making snowmen, even though I'm a little old for all that. So what? Who says I can't act like a little kid every once in a while, huh?
Now I have to get ready to do math, reading, social studies, basketball, religious studies, and then I'm done for the day. You may think I don't do as much work, but I just don't spend all my time doing free stuff like people at school do.
Time to go. I really really really wanna watch Lost tonight, but it's not the season premiere, only the finale of last season. Gosh. Hurry up and get here, nine o' clock tomorrow!!!

Makeup

You know the problem with boys? I mean, besides the obvious? They don't understand anything about girls. Nothing. My brother is an ignorant little boy, and he cannot seem to comprehend why I like to wear makeup. He really can't. He thinks makeup makes people look uglier, but if you do it right, it makes you look really good. So, lets see what I have in this pouch...
Well, I got the big mirror at Target, and I got ripped off for it. Almost 10 bucks for a mirror? I guess because it's professional, and it zooms in on your face 10 times more than a normal one. Very good for eyes. I also have powdered concealer because that's the only kind that's good for my skin. The liquid stuff is always too dark. Pink blush, peachy eyeshadow, black mascara, black and blue eyeliner, black natural eyeliner, pink lip gloss, and a bunch of hair bands. So yeah, I like makeup.
The problem with makeup is that people put on so much that they look like a porcelain doll. I was looking in a catalogue one day, probably Kohl's, and I saw this picture of a lady. Now normally I would overpass it, but I couldn't help but notice that her face was so white. I mean really white. Not a whole lot white, but white enough that you could tell it was fake. Or was it that she glowed? Literally. Good makeup is when you can't tell that you're wearing it.
My mom is kind of opposed to the whole makeup thing. She thinks that it's immodest and it makes you look fake. Like I said, it does if you put on too much. Luckily, I taught myself how to do it just right. But I'm not going to reveal my secrets, no I'm not. You'll have to just figure it out yourself. Teeheehee.
Okay, now I have writer's block. I'm not even choosing to write this blog. I only do it cause I have too. Apparantly it is a good writing lesson. But if you don't mind, I'm gonna go now and track down my kitty. Bye!

My Guitar

You know how I used to play my flute? Well, I kinda got sick of that. So I decided to get a new instrument. The guitar. I mean, why not? Most of my dad's family are guitarists. Or pianists. Or something or other. So anyway...
I got this guitar at Sam's Club, yes, Sam's Club. It was $135 and it came with the guitar, obviously, a bag, picks, a tuner, strings, a stand, a strap, and a really lame DVD that is only a section of the actual one.
So far, I haven't been very successful in getting anything done. I can play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Happy Birthday, I can play a couple power chords, but I need to get back to watching the DVD.
The guitar itself is pretty nice. It's a Fender Starcaster, and it's six-string. Nice and shiny, and it doesn't get out of tune too much, but that's probably because I don't play it vigorously.
My brothers and sisters love to annoy me by touching it everyday. We'll all be sitting in the library and suddenly, TWANG! And then they all get mad when I tell them to stop. I mean, honestly, if you had a nice new instrument that you couldn't really play yet, would you want somebody touching it? It's just so annoying. And then my little brother likes to go twist the tuning pegs. Ouch. One time my dad tried to play it, and it was WAAAAY out of tune. It didn't sound good.
I would've learned to play the guitar using my dad's, but seeing as it has no workable strings, it's very old, and the case is all torn up, why would I do that? He hasn't played it in years.
The thing I like about guitar is that you can sing the song you're playing at the same time that you play it. With the flute, you have to go by ear alone. And if you haven't memorized all the note fingerings, then you have no idea what to do. At least with the guitar you can get an idea about where the note you need is.
With all that said, I'm leaving now. I have to go and do stinking math. Ick ack ook.
Bye bye, TTFN, TGIM, and I can't wait for Lost's Season 4 Premiere on Thursday!!!

Sham... Again!

Yes, once again it is the evil demon kitty what calls herself Sham. (Sorry, Daddy! I couldn't help it!) These days, she has been a little bit nicer, but if you'd been stuck in an animal burrow for two days, you'd be nicer to your owners too, wouldn't you?
Four days ago, we put Sham outside because she was being bad. Later in the afternoon, I called her to come in and she didn't come. Strange. Usually she comes running. So we wait two days, and she still doesn't come. We start hanging up posters, and then our neighbor says she might've been eaten by a hawk. After hearing that, I was just sad. And then, surprinsingly, the day after that, Moby goes out to look for her again, and whaddaya know, she turns up safe and sound! A little dirty, but safe nonetheless. I was so happy, I was crying, and Mom was so mad! "No, no, no, no, no!!!!!!!!!" were her words if I remember correctly. What was funny was that Sham ran in and just started gobbling up her food. We think she was chasing a rabbit or something and got stuck in it's burrow, but she wasn't really skinny, so she probably caught it.
One reason my mom was so mad, was mainly because Sham is a little mischevious. Sam, (the other cat), will be sitting on the chair, innocently, and Sham sneaks up behind him and WHAK! she swings at his tail. Again and again and again. And if he notices, she'll casually run away, and come back. WHAK! WHAK! WHAK!!! And then they'll get into a one paw fight. It's quite funny actually.
Sham gets attacked by Sam a lot. She probably deserves it though. After all the whacking, she actually does. My dad wants her to have kittens, but my mom says we don't want her passing on her mean genes. (Hey that rhymes!) My dad says that if she's so bad, why don't we get rid of her? And on and on and on. Whatever happens, she's still my favorite kitten in the world. And Sam is my favorite cat.

Slushy Snow Day...

You know how you get these snow days that are sort of nice, but then it all melts? That's what we got. When I woke up, there was snow on the ground, school was cancelled, and we played computer games all day. The only problem was that it rained. All day. So, by the time this picture was taken, almost all the snow was gone. It may not look so here, but for some reason the snow in the front yard lasts longer than in the backyard. But then again, it is urban North Carolina, isn't it?
Boy, sometimes I wish I lived up in the mountains. It's so much nicer up there, and it snows more. I'm a cold weather person, probably because I've spent most of my life in hot places. Or warm, but never known for cold. I lived in Charlottesville, VA, and I have pictures of me as a baby sliding down our snow-covered car. Then we moved to Florida when I was 2, so you can see why I hate hot weather. Then we moved up here when I was 4, so I've lived here most of my life. The only major snowstorms we've had were in two consecutive years, and one of them wasn't even a snowstorm. It was an ice storm.
Yes, the ice storm of 2001, or was it 2002? I can't remember. Probably 2001. Our power was out for days. But it was fun. I mean, ice isn't good for snowball fights, but it's slippery and cool.
2002 was the big snowstorm. Snow all the was up to my ankles, and it was real snow. Not hard stuff. Soft and fluffy. Perfect for snowball fights. Too bad nobody wanted to play with me.
And now, in 2008, we have this stuff. Icky. There wasn't enough to do anything, let alone have a snowball fight. Okay, maybe there was enough, but it was too hard, so it really hurt. And I really wanted to make snow icecream, but it wasn't thick enough for that. Who wants to eat snow on top of the ground anyway? I prefer snow that people haven't stepped on!
So I've had snow adventures, but not many. I like cold weather, and people think I'm strange, but I just do. In hot weather, you're limited to the things you can do. In cold weather, if you want to do stuff that you do in hot weather, go inside a garage and do it!

Ick... Laundry!

Okay, if you're like most people, you probably hate laundry. I mean, nobody sane actually likes to wash clothes! It's so tedious, and it takes up precious time! Let me break down the tedious steps for you...
First, get the laundry from all the baskets in all the rooms and dump it in one big pile. Hard enough? No? Then just wait...
Second, sort the colors. White in one pile, dark in one pile, and light in another. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT put all the clothes together in one pile. You will end up with gray clothes! When we were in Africa, my dad didn't sort his laundry, so when we got back, all his clothes were gray.
Next you have to take one pile at a time and put them in the washing machine. Then you have to pour in the proper soap, bleach if needed, then you close it after letting the water pour in. Then you wait for an hour or so.
When you're done with all that, you have to put all the wet clothes in the dryer, put in softener sheets if needed, and then start that. While that's going, you probably want to put in another load for washing.
Or you could do it all the old-fashioned way where you fill a bucket with hot water and soap and you hand wash everything with a sponge. Of course, that takes longer, and it requires you to do more work, instead of a machine doing it. Then you have to hang all the clothes outside on a clothesline, and too bad for you if it rains.
Whichever way you do it, when you're done you have to fold everything, iron the nice stuff, and put it all away in various closets and dresser drawers. That's the part that I do. My mom does all the washing and sorting and folding, and I put it all away, which can take awhile, depending on how long it's been since the last laundry day.
See! I told you it was a tedious process! Nobody actually likes doing laundry. I have yet to meet someone who did. Unless you get paid for it, of course. In Africa, the maids did the laundry, but I think they were getting paid nicely for it. When I get married and have kids, I think I'll probably just have to suck it up and do all the work that comes with it. Laundry, cooking, calling strange people, waking up early, staying up too late, it's all part of growing up. Boy, am I glad I have a mom to take care of me. :-)