I *Heart* Christmas

Yay family! Yay lotsa choir! Yay presents! Boo not posting for a long looooong time!

Christmas with the extended family was enjoyable, other stuff is lame right now...barge!

More later!

Choir is to the MAX Assortment

I spent nine hours of my Saturday caroling, performing, and just hanging out with the Expressions members. Not only did we get to wander around downtown Fairview until we were to cold to perform anymore, but we also got to wear beautiful Expressions concert attire (tuxes for the guys, "dresses" for the girls), laugh at our lameness when we would start singing off key, and, best of all, we got free stuff. That's right, free stuff. When we sang for a coffee shop in downtown Fairview they gave us all coupons for a free drink of our choice (we redeemed these right after we finished caroling) and then we got free appetizers at the restaurant we went to for dinner after we finished performing. Good times were had by all (minus a bit of bickering over where to eat).

These next few weeks are looking busy what with more choir performances, Winter Ball, and a Beaman final all coming in the next week. Thank goodness that next Friday begins a two week vacation. Yay!

Also, Jennie Ollivant has decided that I am the cutest person in the world. Don't ask me why, it apparently has something to do with my smile and my eyes...

Back By Popular Demand....A Post!

Ok, I'll post about what's been goin' on and everything tomorrow or later this weekend, but for right now....enjoy my amusing english project-type thingy.

Holiday Happenings

Choose the word or phrase you prefer to fill the blanks in this holiday letter.

That’s right people, it’s time again for yet another (A. exciting, B. nauseating) holiday letter (this time with fabulous personality assessment!)! Let’s (A. get started, B. begin the torture)!

This year began with the (A. tragic, B. celebrated) death of the dinosaur I called my computer. After a moment of silence for the (A. dearly departed, B. piece of junk), we brought in the replacement tower. Newer, faster, (A. but just not the same, B. and not eligible for the Smithsonian’s “primitive tools” exhibit), my new PC was ready for action! I’ve been using the new tower for about ten months now, and I’m very pleased.

After my brother graduated from high school in the spring, preparations began to ship him off to college. We spent most of August buying supplies and packing him up to leave. The weekend our family dropped Nathan off at Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington was really (A. depressing, B. liberating). I was (A. very sad to see him go, B. happy to get rid of the jerk). Nathan seems to be having fun at his school and is doing well in all of his classes (A. *beams* B. *makes gagging noises*). We’re so (A. proud, B. disdainful) of him!

This fall began my junior year at Reynolds High School, and I absolutely (A. love, B. despise) it! My favorite class is (A. Expressions, B. My I.P.), and my least favorite is definitely (A. my I.P. because I can’t be at school to learn!, B. Writing 121.) Despite a sometimes overwhelming homework load because of math and my two college-credit classes, I’ve still had time to (A. enjoy, B. suffer through) some extra activities. I’m involved in choir at my church and I’m also taking piano and voice lessons. My voice teacher says I (A. have a lot of potential, B. am the worst vocalist he’s heard in his entire career) and (A. thinks I’ll do very well in the upcoming solo/ensemble competition, B. wishes I would quit taking lessons so that he wont’ have to listen to me murder my music every week). I hope the rest of the year is (A. just as much fun as the beginning has been, B. not as horrible as these last few months have proved to be)!

May your holidays be as (A. wonderful, B. unbearable) as my year has been!

Love,

Lynsey Harrison

Mostly A’s: Wow...you’re either really boring or way too enthusiastic. Get help soon.

Mostly B’s: You obviously have a quite the satirical sense of humor or you just woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Take two aspirin and call me in the morning.

Equal A’s and B’s: So…are you bipolar or what?

All Work and No Play.....

....makes Lynsey a dull girl, and posting difficult.

Sorry for the lack of updates for the last month, I've been a little busy. Life has been a frenzy of projects, tests, essays, performances, homework and stress. In this time period I've neglected not only my blog, but also my bedroom-cleaning habits *shudder*, and my social life (not that I ever really had one to begin with....heh). I seem to have finally been blessed with a break from the insanity filled with little homework and many fun opportunities ahead. I think the point of this year for me is to learn to prioritize. I have to figure out what's most important, and put the emphasis on that instead of wasting extra time and energy on the trivial. I need to use time not only to take care of my homework and other responsibilities, but to take care of my physical, spiritual and emotional health, as well as making time for fun and friends.

My first, much-feared, Beaman midterm went pretty well. I escaped with my life, a little arm-crampage and a B+, and I'm pretty happy with that. If all goes as planned, I'll learn from my mistakes and do even better on my final.

A lot goes on in a month. I could write a post about as long as my arm describing the obscene amounts of time I've working on this foiled project and that confounded essay, but I’ll spare you the graphic details and suffice it to say that I've spent a lot of time in the last few weeks working. Thankfully, I have actually had some good fun recently, despite my hectic schedule. An Expressions Halloween party, shopping and a really awesome choir retreat made for a lot of enjoyment, but nothing could really compare to.....

KITTENS!

That's right, after an acceptable time of mourning passed in remembrance of our dearly departed Mittsy we welcomed two new kittens into our home. Their names are Allie and Sadie and they've been a lot of fun. Allie is the shyer of the two, but both enjoy attention and play. Bennett has had a little trouble adjusting to his new housemates, but it's going pretty well. Yesterday, Bennett and Allie were both lying on the floor mere feet away from each other! (If you want to see more kitten pictures, just scroll down the page a little bit.)

Speaking of "new additions", I will soon be welcoming a new member to my technological family. I plan on buying a Nintendo Gamecube within the next few weeks. Mario and Zelda here I come!

This is pretty much the end my post, but I can't sign off without taking time to remember my past, it's (pretty close to) the anniversary of my first post. Happy Bloggiversary to Short Like Me (The artist formerly known as The Lights Are On...But Nobody's Home) and all of my blogging friends out there celebrating their one-year anniversaries!

Sadie and Bennett 

Sadie 

Allie and Bennett 

Allie 

Coming Soon to a Blog Near You....Content!

Yeah, so I'm not dead. I'm going to attempt to provide a "real" post tomorrow-ish detailing the sordid, grotesque events of my stressful and simply horrifying month from....well, you get the idea. Anyway, sorry for the lack of posting; I will be updating on a somewhat regular basis again soon.

Sleep Deprivation and its Effects: An In-Depth Experiment in Fatigue

I've come to the conclusion that "tired" is just not a good enough word. While "exhausted" seems a bit excessive, "tired" just doesn't cut it. When you rather regularly feel as though you’ve been hit by a very large truck of some sort as I often do, the mere word "tired" really doesn't do the feeling justice. Now where did that thesaurus go....?

"If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something" - Murphy’s Laws

You know, I'm generally very optimistic, but recently, that "law" has been proven time and again in my day-to-day life. Last week I was having a pretty good day, and then just as I was heading to my car to go home, I realized that sometime between 0 period that morning and the end of 6th period I has lost my keys. The next day we were able to have the keys replaced (for the low, low price of $88!) so everything turned out fine, but that wasn't the last of my trouble.

This week I was close to getting in a car wreck twice in two days. The first time it was kinda both our faults, and the second time it was pretty much all my fault. I was making a left turn at one of those”left turn yield to oncoming traffic" places, and I thought I could get through before the "oncoming traffic" was too close. Obviously I miscalculated and had to hit the gas pretty hard. That was really scary. But even that isn't my best example of the above law.

By far the most perfect example of the aforementioned law is in my most recent revelation: I am so not normal. It seems like just when I start feeling pretty good about myself and how my life is going, I come to some horrifying revelation. This time I realized something about my social life, it's almost non-existent. After listening to some of my friends talk about their various outings with people, I noticed that I don't think I have ever gone to someone's house just to "hang out". Upon further probing of my memory I realized that in all my time at Reynolds, I have rarely, if ever, associated with any of my friends outside school. Sure, every once in a while I see someone at the library or something, but I really don't socialize with anyone otherwise. Before this rather uncomfortable realization I was living in blissful ignorance, but alas, it didn't last. *sigh*

So, in an effort to dispel my current social conundrum, I ask for advice on how to "get out there". What do the kids like to do these days? Should I just start inviting groups of people to my house to watch movies and "chill" or what?

*ponders*

Status: Alive

Yes, I'm sure you were all waiting with baited breath for news about how my first few weeks of school went, and (as stated above) I'm alive. Nothing particularly exciting has gone on, though I'm struggling a little in my attempts to re-acquaint myself with academic life. Some of my classes have been a little frustrating, but I'm beginning to adjust.

High Five started up last and Monday, and since only six people showed up that day to try out, everyone got on the team. A couple days later one other person (who was our "money boy" last year) came, so we have seven people now. The team consists of Me, Anna Fenton, Jessica Vining, Eric Elliason, Andrew Rolfe, Jed Schloter and Marty Olsen.* Marty seems to have established himself as "the new Nathan" evident in his score of 480 on Friday alone.

Our taping for High Five will be on Thursday, so we've been practicing every day. Thanks to a cool power-point slide show of questions that Nathan created last year while he was TAing for Mr. Beaman, and the wonderful coaching of the latter, our team is doing quite well. i think we have a very good shot at winning our match, perhaps even entering the finals!

In other news, our family is still adjusting to the absence of Nathan. I think I'm "handling" it the best, mostly because I've been to busy to contemplate anything other than school etc. My parents are taking it a little harder, but I'm sure that returning to work has been/will be good for them.

I wrote some essays for my AP writing class and I posted these two on my other blog. If you have time to read them I'd love to hear your comments.

* I'm 99% sure I spelled most of those names wrong.

Tenebrific in Troutdale

My seemingly endless summer has wasted away to a few mere hours! Alas, I weep for my soon to be lost freedom...It's hard to believe that tomorrow is my first day of school and that I'm going to be a Junior. My Freshman year seems like it was just yeaterday, and, for that matter, I feel like school just got out for summer break.

In some ways I'm really excited about school starting. I mean, I'm in Expressions, I get to be an upperclassman, I can leave campus, I'll see all the people I know from school...But there are also several reasons i really don't want to go back to school like: I'm taking some scary classes, homework, I'll see all the people I know from school...

We dropped Nathan off at Whitworth this weekend. It was sad. Of course, Nathan (being the kind, sesitive brother that he is) made fun of me every time I would cry, but I suppose that's to be expected...I'll miss Nathan, but I think this is going to be really good for him.

Yesterday after we brought Bennett home from the kennel he stayed at while we were in Spokane, I let Bennett out to go to the bathroom. Now, while this is usually not a Blog-worthy experience, something happened yesterday that made it such. When I let Bennett out I went and sat on the steps of our deck, waiting for Bennett to finish his "business". While I was there I saw one of the squirrels that lives in our backyard (it's actually a series of tunnels beneath our shed) jump from the top of our fence to a tree behind said fence. I thought little of it and went back to waiting for the dog. Meanwhile, Bennett (in his search for the perfect place to "relieve himself") wandered over to the area near the aforementioned tree. Suddenly, the squirrel jumped from the tree into our backyard and was quickly noticed by Bennett, who made chase.

Even at this point I wasn't too worried, Bennett is usually far too slow to catch any of the squirrels, so I expected Mr. Squirrel to arrive safely at one of his holes. Alas, this was not the case. My dog quickly followed the squirrel through the gap behind our shed and the fence, and as soon as they appeared on the other side of the shed I knew something was wrong. Bennet grabbed the little guy in his mouth and started shaking him. I began to scream my head off at the dog, trying to get him to realease the "defenseless" little creature, but, it seems I underestimated the fighting power of the little guy. As I began to run towards my dog he released a loud yelp as the "victim" bit (or possibly scratched, we're still not sure) him in the cheek.The squirrel speedily began to run away again, but unfortunately (for Mr. Squirrel at least), Bennett recovered from his injury and began pursuit again. Just as the squirrel was about to jump into the safety of his hole, Bennett caught him again. As they began to wrestle and fight one another, I got close enough and kicked my dog with as much strength as I could muster. Bennett, in his surprise, dropped the squirrel and the furry prey (after a moment of disorientation) was finally able to get safetly into his home.

The whole time this was going on I was pretty much screaming my head off at the dog, and as soon as I saw the poor wretch was safe in his hole, I "escorted" the dog into the house and began crying. I was so horrified by what Bennett had done, and what could've happened, I was completely overcome by emotion. My mom (who had rushed to my aid when she heard my shouts) hugged me and said I should go to my room to be alone for a while. I was only up there for a short while before I heard my parents telling Bennett he was a "bad dog". Now, while I'll agree that his behavior was less than satisfactory, I would hardly expect him to act any differently. He's a dog, his natural instincts tell him to hunt, so he did. So, upon hearing this, I went downstairs to defend my poor, stupid little animal.

I first noticed the wound on Bennett's cheeck when I got downstairs. It was really deep, amd I ended up tending to it almost all day because he would rub his face on things and open it up again every time it would start to heal. But I digress, he's doing fine now and I can only hope the squirrel is fairing just as well.

What's in a Name?

If you hadn't noticed already that I changed the name of my site today, you might want to click the "refresh" button on your browser. That being done, you may wonder "Why the change?" or "Why do I care?" Well, I can't answer the last question, but the change is due to the fact that I think the new title is more descriptive of myself, and more amusing. If you haven't figured it out already, it's reminiscent of the book title Black Like Me. Although, unlike author John Howard Griffin's skin color, my height is not drug-enduced, nor a result of my plans to explore the world of racial bigomy.

The only less-than-satisfying result of this name-change is that my URL will remain the same, and doesn't make as much sense as it did withe old name. The only solution I could come up with to rectify the solution was to change the "summary" section (see above).

We put the cat to sleep on Thursday, and while the morning was fraught with tears, I know it was for the best. I'll miss Mittsy, but I know that it's better that she went peacefully than to have suffered any more. Mom said that after a while we can get another cat, so it seems I won't have to go too horribly long without any feline companionship.

Friday marked my first solo journey as a driver, and though I was nervous to begin with, it turned out well. Nothing bad happened, and it was actually kinda fun. I got to listen to my own music, sing along as loud as I wanted, and I got to decide exactly were I wanted to go. My first trek was to Target and then Walmart in search of a few last items I couldn't find when I went school shopping on Wednesday with my mom.

I don't have much planned for these last precious weeks of vacation, though today I will start working on re-finishing a chest of drawers Grandma gave us because she didn't need/want them at the new house.

Gettin' My Education On

After wrastlin' with the usual problems I encounter at the start of each academic year, I now have my official school schedule and I'm surprisingly pleased with it how it turned out. Usually I have one day full of completely awful classes, and the other is a breeze, but not this time around. My classes are pretty balanced out, and I'm only really disappointed about one of the teachers I got.

"A" Days:

0 - Expressions - Mrs. Bohart
1 - Advanced AMerican History - Mr. Beaman
3 - Integrated Math 400 - Mrs. Lindow
5 - Teacher Internship - Mr. Barger/Mr. Mayer
7 - Teacher internship - Mr. Barger/ Mr. Mayer

"B" Days:

0 - Expressions - Mrs. Bohart
2 - Pro Cantorum - Mrs. Bohart
4 - Principles of Technology - Mr. Wells
6 - Psychology - Mz. McGauley
8 - AP English Writing - Mz. Thomas

The only teacher I'm very unhappy about is Mz. McGauley. I've heard she's not exactly open-minded about certain issues (like religion), but I plan on going into the class with a positive and mature attitude.

Other than school preparations, the only major thing happening is the current status of our kitty. It seems that Mittsy had another seizure this morning and it was really bad. Mom made an appointment to have the cat put down on Thursday. Though Nathan seems realtively unphased by the news (by which I mean he was cracking jokes about it soon after he found out) I'm upset. I can't remember a time when we didn't have a cat, this cat, at our house. It's going to be weird not having heraround and it makes me really sad. I still haven't decided if I want to be there when they put her down, I guess I'll have to think about it...

Contact Lenses: $$$

Backup Eyeglasses: $$

Vision: Priceless

I went in for my yearly checkup with my eye doctor the other day. For some odd reason I always look forward to going to see Dr. Clay (my optometrist) for my appointments. When I still wore glasses on a regular basis I only went to the office every other year, and going to see the good doctor also meant the joy of going to Eyesight Fashions (the company associated with Dr. Clay's office) to get glasses. Now that I have contact lenses I (get to) go to the office every year but don't get to pick out glasses. This time around, due to the fact that I needed to replace my backup glasses, I got to return to my vision care roots and pay a visit to Eyesigth Fashions. The weird thing for me was that I could actually see myself clearly when trying on various frames. Before I got contact lenses my vision was so poor I couldn't see myself in the mirror as I tried on frames, now everything was perfectly visible!

Speaking of poor vision, I found out what my actual prescriptions are for my eyes. For many people their prescriptions are +.50 in one eye and maybe +.75 in the other. Well, my eyes are +10.25 and +10.50. I also may need to get reading glasses in the next few months if my new boosted contact lense prescription doesn't cut it for close work.

Now for the announcement you've all (not) been eagarly awaiting: the results of my driving test this morning....

*drumroll*

I PASSED!

That's right people, I passed both the written and in-car parts of my driving test with relative ease. I'm not at liberty to divulge specifics concerning my actual test scores, but I think I did a pretty snazzy job. Go team Lynsey! Thank God! Et cetera!

On much less happy note, it seems my cat Mittsy's days are numbered. She's been having seizures lately, and apparently this morning she had a particularly bad one. My mom says we should think about puting her down. That makes me sad because we've had Mittsy for as long as I can remember. I was so little (only about three) when we got her, I didn't know better than to squeeze and pull on her when I was playing with her. She used to get a little angry about the rough treatment and scratch me. I still have a scar or two on my neck and upper chest as a result of my youthful blunders.

But I digress. I'm pretty sad about probably having to put our kitty down. I don't think I can even remember a time when we didn't have Mittsy, and soon she's going to be gone...

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all doing direct the other way..." - Charles Dickens

Oh yeah, you might have noticed that I didn't start my post off with a quote like I usually do. I think I'm going to give that a rest for a while and use the quotes otherwise. Yeah.

The best car safety device is a rear-view mirror with a cop in it. - Dudley Moore

For those of you who haven't heard, this Thursday morning I'll be taking my driving test to get my license. As is the norm for myself, I am extremely nervous. I was sitting in bed last night half thinking about how much I wanted to kill my dog who was whining because I wouldn't let him out of my room to go bother Nathan and Scott, and half thinking about every little stupid thing that could go wrong on my test.

I did some driving practice with my dad and brother today and Dad says I'm ready for my test, but I'm still feeling a bit nervous. On the one hand I think about all of the people I know who are horrible drivers who have licenses, but then I think about everything my dad tells me they'll ding you points for... Bah!

In any case, I beseech all the people who read this Blog to post a comment if you have any bit of advice for me about how to kick this test in the posterior. And of course, prayers would be appreciated. And if you don't pray....think a happy thought or something. That way, even if I don't pass the driving test, I can give Tinkerbell a call and fly to school!

Oh my my this here Anakin guy

May be Vader someday later - now he's just a small fry

And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye

Sayin' "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi! Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi!"

I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music. It seems to infuse strength into my limbs and ideas into my brain. Life seems to go on without effort, when I am filled with music. - George Eliot

I had my first vocal recital today. It was actually a whole lot of fun. I was really nervous leading up to it, but once I got up to sing my peace it was fine. I find that that feeling is actually quite consistent every time I have a recital. Before I perform I'm nervous and feel sick, but as soon as I get up to perform, I'm just fine.

the piece I performed today is called "Love has Eyes". It's apparently supposed to be referring to the idea that "love sees all". It's a really fun piece to sing, but the really high note at the end is a little scary. It's really fun to sing up high when you can do it well, but performing high notes for an audience is slightly frightening because if the high note sounds bad, it's not very pleasant to listen to.

Since it's August now I'm starting to get a little excited about school starting up again. We'll be getting our class schedules soon, and school clothes shopping and the last vacations of the summer will follow close after that. I'm glad summer is going to be over soon since I've been so bored this whole time, but I can't say that I'm very excited about getting homework again. Ah well, such is the price that must be paid to avoid complete tedium.

Poetry often enters through the window of irrelevance.  - M. C. Richards

Ok, funny story. I was at The Quotations Page looking for a quote to start off my post for the day, and I was having trounle deciding which quote to use. There were several good ones on the page, but after I encountered the Richards quote I knew I had to use it. You see, when I read the quote, I had to sound out the word "irrelevance". When I first glanced at the word I read it as "irreverence", but when I read it again, I knew that wasn't it. So I tried again, but didn't think I recognized the word. I finally resorted to sounding the thing out and realized what a sad little person I am. Alas and alack, my lack of activity due to the summer months has obviously resulted in my losing my ability to read.

Anyway, the reason I was looking for a quote about poetry was because I was remembering when I first named this blog, and I recalled the reason(s) that I named it what I did. As I recall, my inspiration originally came from a poem by Shel Silverstein, the title poem from his book A Light in the Attic. It wasn't really the content of the poem that gave me the idea for the title, but the picture on the cover of the book and the title of the poem. Those things reminded me of the phrase "the lights are on, but nobody's home", and since I'm rather ditzy at times, I decided this was the perfect name for my little blog. You're probably wondering why I bring this up, so I'm going to tell you.

Thinking about Silverstein and his many writings reminded me how much I loved his books when I was little. In particular, I loved the book The Giving Tree. (It's a great book. If you haven't read it, you should.) A touching story about a little boy, his tree, and being willing to give up anything for people you care about. But what I really want to share with you today, is my favorite poem of all time, (Well, that is to say, if you call most of my childhood "all time".) It's not just a cool poem, it's good advice.

Warning*

Inside everybody's nose
There lives a sharp-toothed snail.
So if you stick your finger in,
He may bite off your nail.
Stick it up farther inside,
And he may bite your ring off.
Stick it all the way, and he
May bite the whole darn thing off.

*Where the Sidewalk Ends, Copyright 1974, Harper and Row Publishing, by Shel Silverstein

To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer.  - Farmers' Almanac, 1978

I am about to throw this blasted contraption out the window.

Since I got a new tower in January, my computer has been a sheer joy. The thing ran faster, smoother, and better than ever before. But alas, I think the honeymoon is over. In the last few days this computer has been running so flipping slow. I used to be able to double-click Trillian, ITunes and Internet Explorer in rapid succession and have them all open with ease in a fairly short time, but those times seem to be a thing of the past. Now when I try open those programs quickly, my poor computer has a horrific freak-out and one or more programs doesn't open properly or takes forever to get started.

At this point I'm very frustrated with this machine. All I know about the problem is that it started 1) about the same time all of my Microsoft Works programs started freaking out and displaying a window titled "End User License Agreement" and calling you to "agree" or "disagree" to the terms and 2)  around the time my dad started using this computer often to look at a golfing and exercise website. I have a feeling either that website has some evil pop-up that infected the computer, or Works is corrupting it.

So, if anyone could help me with my computer's (hopefully) temporary mental retardation, it would be appreciated.

Edit: 8:44 PM

Well, the problem seems to have solved itself. I ran ad-aware and restarted and everything seems to be fine now.

Good-bye. I am leaving because I am bored. - George Saunders
 
Well, I'm not actually leaving, but I am rather bored. But I find some comfort in the fact that I am not quite as bored as these people. I really don't feel the need to alleviate the tedious misadventure I now call my existence by hanging my body on meathooks on a public beach. Personally, I don't find that entertaining as much as I find it painful-sounding and completely disgusting. Oww....
 
I don't know if anyone else noticed, but Blogger totally messed with the "create new post" page. They make it so easy, you don't have to know any HTML at all to have a blog anymore. It kinda takes away from the pride of blogging. Now anyone can do it! Stupid folks at Blogger...

Cow.

Edit: 7:43 PM
 
Now I can't decide which story makes me cringe more, the meat hooks article, or this one.

I am not one of those who in expressing opinions confine themselves to facts. - Mark Twain

Hence.

I was out driving with my dad yesterday and I almost got in an accident. A lady was walking across the street (where there was not a crosswalk) so I slowed to a stop so she could cross. I slowed down gradually enough, that I assumed the person behind me noticed, but as I looked in the rearview mirror, the big Dodge Ram van behind me was coming up fast. They obviously weren't paying attention, so I had to jump back onto the accelerator to avoid being rear-ended. Somehow I avoided an accident with both the lady crossing the street and the van, but I'm still unsure of how I accomplished this.

The real kicker in that situation was what ensued mere minutes later. The same van changed lanes to my left, then cut on front of me without signaling, and finally changed lanes to the turning lane on my right. (Crossing over a solid white line I might add.) Some people just do not know how to drive. In any event, I will perhaps begin checking my rearview mirror more frequently.

This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. - Western Union internal memo, 1876.

I got a cell phone! Yay! I've been meaning to get one for a while, since i"M going to be driving and doin' all kinds of stuff next school year. This way my parents can keep track of me.

My mom actually bought the phone for me, but I'll have to pay for the service. It's a Tracfone so I think I can handle it. My phone is a cute little Nokia 1221. The only lame thing is that I can't compose new ringtones, and I can't seem to find a place to download them for free. Oh well, it's still cool.

In other news, I'm doing some work-ish thing for our family friends, the Southwicks, this weekend, so I may have cash for once! Joy. Also, I am a White House Staffer.

Cool.

The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom. - H. L. Mencken

What the...?

Yeah...Wow...

So anyway! Still not much goin' on. For the 4th of July my family (minus Nathan) and the Davis clan made our way over Blue Lake Park that evenin' to watch the fireworks. We got there at about 7:00 PM and since the display wasn't starting until 10:00 PM, I walked around the park a bit with Jenell and we did a bit of catchin' up. Suffice it to say, the fireworks didn't compare to the conversation that night.

Yesterday we (my mother and I) met up with Jenell and her mother for a grand shopping extravaganza to celebrate Jenell's birthday. We shopped for close to 7 hours, first at Lloyd Center Mall, then Gresham Station. I bought some stuff and that was cool, but once again, my conversations with Jenell easily out-stripped the actual shopping experience.

I have found power in the mysteries of thought. - Euripides

Sitting and thinking gets old fast. Especially when you get distracted every five seconds by random family members or modern technology you hope will rescue you from your near comatose state of boredom. I've got things I want to think about, but there's just too much going on around me to be able to really wrap my brain around anything of importance. Yuck.

In other news, our family just purchased a brand new truck to replace or dying van. It seems pretty nice. Joy.

Ugh, I'm so bored I had a dream about school last night. It was the first day or something and...stuff happened. I really don't remember too much except that it was the first day and my schedule was all screwed up. It's weird to think that I'll actually be getting my class schedule in about a month and then shortly after that, the new school year will be started. Summer is going by fast. Monotonous, but fast.

*sigh* I need a vacation...far far away...

Veni, vidi, vici. - Julius Caesar

This weekend was fraught with much activity.

Friday
4:30 PM-9:00 PM* - Turned pages for piano teacher at wedding rehersal
9:00 PM-11:00PM - Watched J.A.G. (handsome men in uniforms *swoon*)and Monk with family
Some time long after that - Went to bed

Saturday
3:00 AM - Woke up sick to my stomach. Owwwww...curse that milkshake....
10:00 AM - Woke up later than desired and had to rush to get ready to leave
11:30 AM - Left house to turn pages for my piano teacher at the actual wedding ceremony
12:30 PM-2:20-ish PM - Wedding thingy
2:20 PM-3:15 PM - Raced from downtown Portland to Boring to sing in the church choir for patriotic services
3:15 PM-6:30 PM - Patriotic services at GSCC (More cute guys in uniforms *swoon*)
7:00 PM-1:00AM - Jenell's 16th birthday party: games, karaoke, movie, stuff...;)

Sunday
1:15 AM-2:00 AM - Showered, ate, crashed.
5:00 AM - "Hate...alarm clock...*kill*
7:00 AM - "Augh! I'm gonna be late!"
7:30 AM - Donuts, back to church again
8:00 AM-12:20 PM - Patriotic Services: revisited (See above *swoon*)
1:00 PM - Left for Lafayette to attend a family reunion, joy
2:30 PM - Arrived, joy
2:30 PM - 6:00 PM - Family goodness
6:00 PM - 8:00 - On the road again...

And now I'm here...typin' stuff...joy

*All times are total estimates. I don't really remember much of anything from the last few days.

An optimist is the human personification of spring. - Susan J. Bissonette

Not much went on today. I woke up late, ate lots of breakfast food long after the times most people consume such foods, and I played KOTOR. In the mid-afternoon I went to get a haircut, (which turned out nicely)and did other various errands with my mother. But anyway, that's boring and you probably don't care. The true reason I'm here is to bring you this news flash:

Brad lives!

That's right everybody, Brad has returned to the blogging community. Joy.

That is all.

Boredom is like a pitiless zooming in on the epidermis of time. Every instant is dilated and magnified like the pores of the face. - Jean Baudrillard

...

I am so bored. Words cannot fully express the depths of my discontent. This monotony seeps down to the core of my being and devours from inside. The tedium is slowly ebbing away at my mind, leaving little of what was left of my sanity in its wake. Every moment lasts an eternity; the sands of time have slowed (if not stopped altogether) for me. Uno por uno, los monos roban mi cordura...

Always haunting me....always....*rocks back and forth*

Appetite, with an opinion of attaining, is called hope; the same, without such opinion, despair. - Thomas Hobbes

PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile.
- Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914), The Devil's Dictionary

Pessimism is the bane of my existence.

Summer afternoon - Summer afternoon... the two most beautiful words in the English language. - Henry James

Ok, I know I haven't posted in over a week, but there hasn't been enough going on to warrant a good post until recently.

I've been enjoying my summer break very much, such as it has been. It's only really begun to feel like summer in these last few days. Last week was a little busy, so I was too frantic to really sit back and enjoy my freedom. As soon as the mass hysteria at my house quieted down, I really began to take advantage of my free time. On Monday I did a complete overhaul of my room and got rid of a bunch of my extra junk. My room is so clean now! It's awesome.

Tuesday I had to get up early and go to a piano lesson, and then on Wednesday I got up early for my first vocal lesson. It was really cool. My teacher is nice and I'm already learning a lot. My instructor, Dr. Uphaus, says I really am not an Alto, but should actually be a Soprano, so we're going to work on improving my upper range. I'm really glad, because I like singing high. :)

When I got home I helped my dad out a bit with stuff for a class he had to take to continue being a Driver's Ed. teacher. I drove around Troutdale a lot. It was "awesome". Today I did essentially the same thing, except I was driving around with other Driver's Ed. teachers who were taking the same class with my dad. They needed student drivers so they could do their final test thingy. This was also "awesome".

I have a couple parties and things coming up soon, and other fun stuff, so I guess the summer won't be as boring as I first anticipated. At this point I'm sensing that this vacation is going to pass by far too quickly. So sad....

Necessity makes even the timid brave. - Sallust

Some of you may know why I used that quote, and some don't. If you don't get it, don't fret, you probably don't need know.

In other news, the results of the poll are in and....*drum roll* our out of five voters in our lovely poll do not think being flexible is gross, Yay! The other voter in our anonymous poll (who shall remain nameless...*cough* Peter! *cough*) said that it's gross. And now I'm sure you're all wondering, oh my gosh Lynsey, are you ok? Are you getting sick? You should get that cough looked at! Oh, and you might also be wondering why I did the little poll.

On the 31st, I didn't have much to do, so I decided to relax with some Pilates. It was quite enjoyable and left me very flexible. I was so bendy I could touch my nose to my toes and other cool stuff like that. Peter (being the easily grossed-out by bendiness sort that he is) found this quite gross. We then argued a bit over whether flexibility was stinkin' cool, or just plain nasty. We really didn't get anywhere in our little fight, so I decided to leave it up to the public. So, the results are in and...*another drum roll* I win! Yay!

Dreams come true. Without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them. - John Updike

Woosh!

Know what that was? It wasn't time flying past. Nay, it was my huge sigh of relief.

Yesterday was a totally awesome day. First period I had English with Mrs. Peterson (a class that is always a pleasure)and we took our final. The test wasn't too hard and I'm optimistic about how I did on it. The next class was French, and that was a truly interesting experience.

When I first got into the classroom my hope and prayer was that Mrs. Sutton would decide that we didn't need to take out oral interviews at all because we wouldn't have enough time to complete them before school got out for the summer. Mrs. Sutton was not in the room and was running a little late, and our entire class waited with baited breath for news concerning the interviews. Much to our chagrin, she was not going to let us off the hook and we still are going to try to get all of the interviews done before the end of the year. As soon as Mrs. Sutton told us that, she put all of our names into a hat or something and drew them out for the order in which we would go. The first person was my friend Sami Walker. I empathiized with her for a bit and then returned my attention to our teacher. As soon as she said the next name I was overcome with and almost insatiable desire to curse quite loudly. I was to take my turn after Sami.

After all of the names where drawn, the rest of the class made their way to another part of the building while Sami sat in the classroom with Mrs. Sutton and I waited just outside the door. After several minutes Sami came out and told me it was my turn to go in. I was really nervous, but answered the questions as well as I could. I'm still in shock over the grade I got, an A. How the heck did I pull that off!? Anyway, I left the classroom feeling as though a miracle had taken place right before my eyes.

After sitting around in the commons with my class for the rest of the period, I went off to science with Sami. When we neared the door, our teacher came over to us and told us that since we had both been such good students all year long, we were completely exempted from the final. Since that day was supposed to be a review day, she said we could go out to the commons or whatever and we don't have to go to class at all next Tuesday. I was once again feeling quite blessed, even though I got quite tired of sitting out in the commons for such an extended period of time.

After spending that whole period in the commons being bored, I made my way to PE. To be more specific, the last period of dressing down for PE I will ever have to endure. All we have left is to turn in our locks next Tuesday. Praise God.

After school I went home and, after eating and taking a quick shower, got dressed and made my way back to school to get on the bus to go sing at graduation. We left the school a little behind schedule and were later than we wanted to be for warming up, but it was ok. We sang pretty well and I had fun. After we sang I made my way over to where my parents were seated to watch Nathan and all my other senior friends get their diplomas.

I'm quite proud of myself because I didn't cry at all throughout the ceremony; I was sure I would. The only time I got close was when I finally convinced Nathan to give me a nice hug. (Or at least as close to a nice hug as one can get from him)

We got home at about 10:30 PM, and after my parents and brother left for the Senior All-Night Party, I watched Beauty and the Beast with Jill (who came to graduation with us) while we waited for her mom to pick her up. After Jill left I grabbed something to eat, watched a bit of TV, and then went to bed. But none of what I have just explained is what truly made it a great day.

Let's back-track a bit. When I arrived at school to catch the bus to graduation, I saw a list on the door. As soon as I saw it I knew what it was. I walked up to the sign and looked at the alto section, and the first name on the list was mine. As soon as I read that every fiber of my being leapt for joy and praised God. I could barely stifle my smile for the rest of night. I can still barely believe it's true. I'm just so happy. I've wanted it for so long, and now it's real! I just can't believe it.

Anyway, congratulations to all of the graduates. Have awesome lives, and set your goals and dreams high. You never know what might happen.

When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires will come to you

If your heart is in your dreams, no request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star as dreamers do

(Fate is kind, she brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of their secret longing)

Like a bolt out of the blue, fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true

Time is a cruel thief to rob us of our former selves. We lose as much to life as we do to death. - Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey

Woosh!

Know what that was? That was time flying past!

Yes, time has, in fact, been moving quite quickly as of late. These last few days of school promise to zip by before any of us have a chance to comprehend what that means, our freedom! No more pop quizzes, brain-liquefying tests, or evil teachers! We have the summer in its entirety to waste at our leisure! My heart quivers with anticipation.

Once again I have been foiled by my French teacher. As I previously mentioned, today was the day we were supposed to start our oral interviews, but nay! Mrs. Sutton was sick today! So we had a "review day" with a random sub. I was so angry! I invested time this weekend in studying and preparing for this God-forsaken test and it was all for naught! The one thing I was looking forward to for today was the solace in knowing that I could forget everything I had ever learned about the French language and not fear a contemptible grade. But no! grrr.....

My Expressions audition was yesterday, I think it went pretty well, and I'm really hoping I got in. We'll find out either Friday or sometime next week whether we made it.

Concerning the awesome survey being conducted below, the events will be divulged in full on Sunday, when the poll is set to close. I would tell you know, but I'm too lazy to type that much at the moment, and I'd hate to effect the true results of the poll by telling you guys what's behind it. But anyway, keep voting!

Each body has its art... - Gwendolyn Brooks

And now it's time to poll the audience! That's right folks, it's time for all of you to weigh in on the topic of the day, flexibility. So, just scroll down a bit and check the answer you like best and we'll see the results on Sunday!

Awesome...

You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it. - Robin Williams

Hmm, the way life has been lately, my spark is turning into a wildfire. I've had so much to do lately for school and all, and my level of sanity (such as it was) is getting dangerously low. The surprising thing is, I really don't feel all the stressed or nervous about anything. I've come to the conclusion that the school year is coming to a close, I've done my best, and all i have left to do id continue that work until the year really is done.

One thing that has been stressing me a bit is my French class. I've had so much work to do for that class it's been maddening. IN the last few weeks we've had multiple tests, one very large project (which I spent a total of ten hours working on) and next week we have oral interviews. I'm so sick of that entire language I could just scream. After my oral interview I plan on completely purging my brain of any knowledge of the French language. I will enjoy that very much.

But above all else, the thing I have been most worried about is my audition for Expressions this Tuesday. Expressions is the highest choir you can be in at RHS. The size is limited to 16 members, two to each section, and it's quite hard to get in. I've wanted to be in this choir since I first heard about it, and now's my chance. I really want to get in, and I think I have pretty good chances, but I'm still nervous. It helps that all of the altos are graduating this year, so there's plenty of room for me, and it also helps that (unlike many members of choir) I can read music. People I know who are in Expressions have been encouraging me and saying I have a really good voice and have a good shot at getting in, but I'm still nervous. I hope this works out...

I'm so glad we have a three day weekend. I've been so busy lately, I finally have some time to catch up on stuff I've been meaning to do like study, clean my room, figure out what's been going on with me lately, devise a plan of action for these next few weeks...

This is gonna be fun...

We did not change as we grew older; we just became more clearly ourselves. - Lynn Hall

This post is to celebrate a number of things. First of all, this is my 100th post on my blog, and I think that's pretty darn cool. Second, I had a pretty good day because I barely had to do anything and got to just hang out instead.

The final and most prevalent reason for my rapture is actually something I'm quite proud of myself for realizing. This past week or so has brought me to the conclusion that recently, I have not been myself. I have been acting and dressing contrary to who I am. Swooning all over myself and changing how I act for some dumb guy is just really not my style, and i really don't need to wear any of the makeup I wear to school. I've decided to just be myself now. There will be less swooning, more intelligent conversation and makeup will pretty much be reserved for church and special occasions. Lip gloss will once again be my solitary must-have when "primping" in the morning.

This realization about how much I've changed myself for one person has drawn me to another important decision. I don't like that I exerted so much effort just to hopefully please this guy I mentioned in my last post, so I'm not going to worry about him anymore. I thank all of you guys who tried to give me advice concerning the situation, but I don't want to have a relapse. Besides, I saw the guy today and I think I just want to be his friend. He's really nice, but I don't think going out with him is what I really want right now. Hopefully I can still pursue a friendship with him and leave behind my little spell of extreme stupidity. Phew! I'm glad that's over!

Anyway, in order to celebrate my 100th post, my good day and my little epiphany, I have change the look of my site. Enjoy!

Edit - 5:22 PM

I almost forgot! Jenell has finally triumphed in the harsh environment known as RHS. She made dance team! I'm so proud...*cries*

Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. - Abraham Lincoln

I've been really busy this week so I'll keep it short for now. I'll post more once things settle down a bit (I'm thinking probably Saturday night, if not sooner.)

Ok, I think I'm fully recovered from this bout of teenage angst. Figured stuff out, made some decisions and moved on. I think I'm going to like the way things are turning out much more than the way I had originally wanted them anyway. I'll put the situation in as simple terms as possible:

girl likes boy -> boy is being confusing and girl can't figure out what boy thinks -> girl hold out hope for a long time -> boy is still being confusing -> girl decides that she's waited long enough and moves on

There you go.

So, now that I don't have to worry about what some guy thinks about me, I'm going to concentrate on being myself and being who I was created to be. It's nice not to be always worrying about such things and just concentrate on who I am again. I think I might've lost sight of that for a while there, and I'm glad to be getting back to the basics. Now I can concentrate on what's really important to me instead of what other people think should be important to me.

So to sum it all up, I've decided it's time to be happy. No more broken hearts, teen angst or appeasing other people to get what I think will make me happy. I alreayd know what makes me the happiest, and it's time to go back to that.

"I know I've worn a thousand costumes in my life,
I know so that no one else could see me deep inside,
And you go and peel away the perfect faces,
Dust me me off and then you say 'It's time to be yourself'"

- Mark Schultz, Been a Long Time

Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality. - Jules de Gaultier

I've been meaning to post all week and this is the first time I've actually taken the time to do it. It' not that I've been very busy, I've just been kinda busy and very lazy. The school year is quickly coming to a close (hallelujah!) and I'm starting to get the idea that some of my teacher's are going to be heapin' it on these last few weeks all at the same time. This disturbs me slightly, but I'm just kinda ignoring it and hoping for the best. I have bigger fish to fry.

Monday night (after writing my angsty post) I went to the Deep Roots 7 CD release party and had a complete blast in the process. The music was good, the company was better and much fun was had by all. I left the concert a little early in hopes of getting some decent sleep, but foiled my own desires of rest by staying up and reading my book. Tuesday was an interesting day seeing as how Mr. Frick finally returned to work after his near six months of absence. He still seemed very weak, and to be honest, many people want him to not come back until he gets his full strength back, and maybe not even after that. A lot of us think that while Mr. Frick is a really great guy, Mrs. Bohart is a superior teacher by far. I got my hair cut on after school and it's quite short, but I very pleased with the results. It takes much less time to de-messify my hair in the morning and it looks really cute. Wednesday was ok, the highlight of the day was (as always) English class, but I'll get back to that in a sec. The most "interesting" points of the day were two bit of unfortunate news I found out on that day. I found out at school that the night before Mr. Frick had somehow injured himself and (as I found out today) will not be returning to work again for the rest of the year. The second (and worse) but of ill news I got was that a lady I know from the choir at my church, Sue, found out she has breast cancer. She's really shaken up and scared and I feel so bad for her. I wish there was some way I could make her feel better but, but I've resigned myself to prayer, it's the best thing for her right now.

On a less depressing note, English class was awesome. We've moved on to our last unit in our study of the various periods of American writing, Modernism. The first short story we read was A Worn Path by Eudora Welty, but the second selection we read (on Monday) was quite superior in my mind. Since we had a sub on Monday (who was really old) we didn't discuss the story until Wednesday. The piece we read was Sophistication by Sherwood Anderson, and I loved it! It really speaks to how I feel about my life right now and what's going on with me. It also helped that, while the story wasn't action-packed, the descriptions of places, things and feelings were amazing. It is really a superb tale and I hope you'll read it seeing as how I've conveniently provided a link to it for you reading pleasure.

Today after school I hung out with my best friend's little brother (he's turning eight on the 29th! Eek!) playing video games and putting off studying for yet another French test. Thankfully I believe this is one of the last or the last test of the year. Joy.

Tomorrow may prove interesting considering I was somehow convinced to participate in tomorrows AM assembly an I have little idea what awaits me. I think one of the factors that influenced my decision to participate in the thing was that Jenell was doing all of the convincing, but I was feeling rather good at the moment and probably would've done just about anything with little reservation. Add to that the fact that i have a French test and a piano lesson after school (for which I have not practiced) and you have the makings of a potentially Blog-worthy page. I'll keep y'all posted. *laughs at own pun*

"With all his heart he wants to come close to some other human, touch someone with his hands, be touched by the hand of another. If he prefers that the other be a woman, that is because he believes that a woman will be gentle, that she will understand. He wants, most of all, understanding."
- Sherwood Anderson, Sophistication

Edit 3:50 PM - May 14th, 2004

It's so beautiful... *drool*

I guess I have to buy a Game Cube now...

We shall find no fiend in hell can match the fury of a disappointed woman,—scorned, slighted, dismissed without a parting pang. - Colley Cibber

So watch out.

Yeah, that depressed poet garbage down there? Over it. As the Ancient Romans would've said (if Latin were still a language that was used by the people of Rome), Fac me cocleario vomere! (Gag me with a spoon!)

As you may have guessed, I have moved from disappointment and sadness to spite in less than three hours. I now feel quite angry and scornful and have an intense desire to inflict my wrath upon the object of my frustrations. While it is not an overly wholesome emotion, I am quite enjoying it. As usual I will remain the "spotless lamb" that I try to portray myself as and not do anything of the sort. But nonetheless, I'm quite enjoying imagining all of the things I wish I could say to this person the next time I see them.

I'm sure I'll cool off in short order, but I thought I'd share this phase of my little episode with "the masses".

Awesome.

Edit 9:59 PM

*ahem* So yeah... Sorry about that. I'm really not that psychotic... Anyway, I'm feeling even better now! I am now gracing the happy land of apathetic joy! I really don't care, and I like it that way! YAY!

In these matters the only certainty is that nothing is certain. - Pliny the Elder

What an altogether horrible concept! It brings both hope and utter dismay in one fateful blow. On the one hand it can bring a hope that something bad that seems likely to occur will not, and on the other hand it could mean that good things that you think will happen may blow up in your face. It's a vicious cycle.

I know that all of my posts have been rather vague lately but as soon as these insane goings-on work themselves out I'll explain fully what's been going on if I can.

Counting every moment,
Biding all my time,
Standing out here on my own,
Searching for that someone
To heal this heart of mine
And keep me from being alone.
But when will it be?
And how will I know?
I don't want to wait here forever.

- Michael W. Smith, "Somebody Love Me"

Flirting is the gentle art of making a man feel pleased with himself. - Helen Rowland

I have discovered an interesting site for single people to look-over. Thanks to the people at the Social Issues Research Center, we now have a guide to flirting. It's not your typical Cosmo or 17 Magazine "How to Get the Guy of Your Dreams to Fall for You" garbage. It's supposedly based on observations of human behavior. Many of the observations and statements in the article made sense and seemed to fit. I was quite amazed to find some rather silly little things that people do that can attract one-another. It's incredible how the most subtle move of the head or the slightest touch can peek a person's interest in someone.

This may come in handy.....

Quick note: state choir competition was this morning and while I think we did very well during our performance, our sight-reading left much to be desired. We'll find out the results of the competition on Tuesday.

Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome. - Isaac Asimov

What an odd existence I have....

To save us both some time I'll suffice it to say that up until today, my days have been rather unremarkable. Nothing too odd has happened to me and I've been feeling pretty good. But this morning something changed. I don't think anything went the way I planned it today.

Choir was ok, but during that class I realized that my hair had gone all crazy on me and I couldn't do a thing about it. I didn't mind too much, but then everything else went crazy for the rest of the day as well. Mrs. Bohart let us out of Pro Cantorum about 3 minutes after the bell rang, so I had to practically run to get to my TA class. While I was working on stuff for Stern I found a temporary but not pleasing solution for my hair but at least I got my work done fast. After completing my task I made my way over to the choir room to get in some practice and was greeted by what I first perceived as a good surprise, but I soon learned otherwise.

I ran into someone rather unexpectedly in the choir room. He was playing the baby grand in the room so beautifully and I just loved it. I couldn't help but adore him. As soon as he was done playing he was surprised to see so many people in the room. (A lot of people from his class were in there listening and he hadn't realized it.) What irritated me a bit in this situation was how he responded to my presence. He didn't seem to care that I was there or respond at all and it made me upset. I really don't think he meant anything by it or anything, but the event still put a bit of a damper on my spirits. It doesn't really bother me anymore, I can't hold a grudge against someone who can play Claire de Lune from memory like that. After he and his class left I played the piano for a while and, after practicing some of my usual pieces, I composed my own tune. I'm going to write it down sometime and give it a name, I'm rather proud of it.

After my TA period I headed over to Gov./Econ. class where I realized I had completely forgotten to study during my free period for the quiz we had today. I was a little annoyed, but we reviewed everything in class before the quiz and I'm fairly sure I got an A anyway. I'm glad that the time I almost completely forgot to study it was in a class that's so stupid-easy. I wish I were always so blessed.

By the last period of the day I was feeling positively sick with exhaustion. I was so tired after my long day/week that I'm sure everyone thought I was sad about something, but that's not what I'm feeling right now. Since this day started I have mostly been feeling discouraged and uncertain about something that I care very much about. I don't know what to do or say and I'm hoping that i don't screw the whole situation up. This is something that's really important to me, and not for the reasons that motivate most people our age. I just pray that God will see that my motives are not selfish and stupid, and perhaps grant me what I hope for.

It's like wanting to sing,
But needing a song.
When will I hear the music playing?

- Michael W. Smith, "Somebody Love Me"

Love is everything it's cracked up to be. It's really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. - Erica Jong

Ok, I'll sum up the weekend quickly and then get to the cooler stuff from today.

Thursday: I had my birthday party, got cool random presents and had lots of fun with my friends.
Friday: I went to my piano lesson, joy.
Saturday: I worked at the Phonics Phactory building site helping clean up and got to write a bible verse (I Timothy 4:12) on the framing for the walls of the building. After getting back from working I did something....and then went to church. It was our church's 27thanniversaryy and the service went really long, so i had to dash out the door as soon as I got home to make it to my babysitting job for the night. The kid was cute and not too fussy and I made $30 out of the deal so I'm not complaining.
Sunday: Did some work and went to the double feature at the Hood with Jenell. 50 First Dates and The Return of the King, nice combo.
Ok, now you're up to speed and I can tell about my cool day.

I was really tired when I woke up this morning, but it was a B day so I was willing to wake up and paste on a happy face. Choir was good, I'm hoping we'll be ready for state (which is on Saturday) but at this point, we're either ready or we aren't. My TA period was filled with no work and one interesting run-in with Mrs. Bohart.

I was sitting in the choir room playing Hangman with Becca and Danny when Mrs. Bohart asked me to come into her office. I was sort of afraid she was mad sort of wishing she had something special she wanted to ask of me, neither where true. She actually wanted to talk to me about taking voice lessons this summer, she really wants me to do them. The best part of our coversation was the part where she said that I have good pitch, that makes me really happy! Yay!

Gov./Econ. was boring and full of busywork as usually so I'll spare you the details. Math class was really awesome and suffice it to say, I haven't been able to stop smiling since then> If you want to know what happened IM me, but if you know anything aboutthatt class, you may have a hunch as to what happened. *faints*

Bananaphone!

The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes. - Frank Lloyd Wright

Today is my 16th birthday, and it was a good day. The first person of note I saw at school today was Jenell, and that's the best way to start any day. The rest of my day was passed rather pleasantly; all of my friends wished me a happy birthday, I leisurely enjoyed practicing my piano during my TA period, and despite the fact that i did rather poorly on my math quiz, I still had fun in there too. That math quiz was really hard, only two people in our class passed it, so i think it's going to be thrown out and we'll take another one. This makes me happy.

When I got home today I didn't have any homework, so I just sat around and read my book and then later on our whole family went out to Baskin Robin's for the annual free scoop night thingy. That's where I found out I might be able to get a job this summer at a coffee shop nearby because someone I know from my alma-mater has a friends who owns said coffee shop and might be willing to employ me. Joy! I might actually be employed this summer!

Now since today is my birthday I'm not just going to bore you with the details of my day. Nay! I am also going to bore with sentimental stuff about my life.

I have so many memories from my childhood that I cherish. Memories of playing Barbies with my best friend, cuddling with my mother every morning in summertime, going to work with my dad at RHS and watching my brother play Ocarina of Time on his N64. I remember our dog Buckwheat, (who has since passed away) and my Grandpa Keith and Grandma Dorothy who are no longer living. I wish I could hold onto those memories forever, and always keep those times and people alive in my heart, but I know with age those things will slip from my mind and I will forget. I hope those memories will be replaced with new good ones, but the thought of losing my past makes me sad none the less. I was almost dreading turning 16 last night because I am so afraid to lose my past. I long for the days when all I cared about was Barbies and my security blanket. I wish I could retain the innocence of my youth, though it would mean losing the so-called "wisdom" I have gained with age. This "wisdom" seems to me to be more skepticism and pessimism than anything else. As much as I enjoy being able to articulate myself well and doing "grown-up things" with my friends, I wish I could still be entertained by hours of dress-up and playing "house". It saddens me to see my innocent youth slipping away to be replaced by some cynical adult.

But despite my longing for the "good old days" of my childhood I still look foreword to the future. I have plenty to be excited about in my future and I look to the new experiences before me with great anticipation. Soon I'll be getting a job, getting my driver's license and starting my Junior year at RHS. My whole future is ahead of me and the only reason I have to dwell on the past is to thank God for all of his blessing throughout my life. I have a great family, awesome friends and an above-average existence. Life is good, it's gonna get better, yay!

I'm 15 for a moment
Caught in between 10 and 20
And I'm just dreaming
Counting the ways to where you are

15 there's still time for you
Time to buy and time to choose
Hey 15, there's never a wish better than this
When you only got 100 years to live

- Five For Fighting "100 Years"

Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy. - Anne Frank

I've spent the last two days engaging in a scandalous love-affair with books. I'm still working on the Left Behind series and enjoying them very much, despite Nathan likening them to an adult version of The Hardy Boys. Perhaps I'm just easily entertained, (Actually, I'm quite sure of that, but I'll get to that later.) but I find the books very entertaining. Now it's obvious to me that they are nowhere near the quality of The Lord of the Rings or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy them. Anyway, I've spent much of my free time in the last two days immersed in my books. I have quite enjoyed it.

I found out yesterday that Pro Cantorum is going to the state choir competition so that's cool, I hope we do really well. The only area I'm concerned about is sight reading; it's really hard. But I'm sure we'll do our best, it's all we can do.

Today marked an event that will cause me to forever be marked as one who is easily entertained. I was in PE and we were running outside on the school track. Our job was to "jog the straights and walk the curves" and at certain points along the track we were to either do crunches or push-ups. I was about to start doin' some nice push-ups at one of the points, but was feeling tired, so I let my head drop down and looked through the gap between my arm and the rest of my body. As you may have guessed, my perception of the world was a little skewed because I was looking at everything upside-down. Now with most people this would be no big deal, but I'm cooler than that, I freaked out. The sky was just so big and blue and everything looked so huge and beautiful! I was enamored with the size and pretty color of the sky for several minutes, meanwhile all of my friends thought I was a freak. Oh well, I'm glad that I can still find joy in something as simple as the grandeur of the sky God created and the beauty of his sunsets.

So next time you guys head outside in this beautiful weather, throw back your head, look at the sky, and drink in the big blueness. It's amazing.

The best things in life aren't things. - Art Buchwald

I went shopping today with my mom. I had a lot of fun spending time with her and just enjoying the whole "shopping experience". Normally this would be enough to make me feel like I had a pretty good day, but the highlight of my day was much cooler.

I spent over an hour talking on the phone with Jenell just chatting. We never get a chance to talk anymore, we're both so busy, and it was good to just relax and spill my guts to my best friend. I can't get enough of her, she's just so awesome! Even though we're both pretty different and we don't really have many mutual friends, we can still totally relate to each other and connect instantly. It's so cool!

As much as people can let you down and hurt you, some of them are really great.

Edit - 11:12 PM

Ewwwww! Huge spider in my room! Gross! I had just gotten out of the shower and was combing my hair when I saw it, crawling up there on the wall near my door. It was way up high on the wall so I had to pull a MacGyver to get the thing down. Of course, things didn't go as I'd planned and I ended up jumping back and yelping in fright as the thing flew towards me when I knocked it off the wall. I then tried to squash it with some Kleenex but it jumped out at me again, so I yelped like a little dog again, and then attacked it with renewed hatred and was finally able to kill the little bugger.

Man, where are knights in shining armor when you need them?

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. - Martin Luther King Jr.

Once again, Jenell has been made the victim of society. She ran for Junior class counsel and lost. As before, many of the candidates who won were really good for the job and will do it well, but some of them are total chuckleheads. (as Huck Finn would say) One guy actually used a sock puppet in his speech. It's just not fair. I'm so disappointed in the political process at our school I could sit down and cry. It's all based on who you know and how you look. There are some fine members of our newly elected counsel. Some of them are really smart, hardworking people, but I guarantee you if Jessica Nomie or Steven Hill weren't "beautiful people" they wouldn't have been elected today. It's the sad truth about elections not only in our school but across our entire country. People only gain votes if they have "name recognition" and know "the right people". I feel really bad for Jenell and I wish there was something I more I could do for her, but right now I'm just going to be there for her and pray.

Fate is a Cruel Mistress

Edit: Tuesday, December 20th, 2005 12:47 AM

The immaturity of my past always has a way of catching up to me sometime.

Alas, this unfortunate post which is now over a year and a half old has gone out and done damage I never intended, and may very well have put a major tarnish on my reputation. The typo-plagued rantings of a vengeful best friend have now tragically victimized some very hard-working and intelligent students who were elected to council positions that spring. At the time I wrote this post I knew neither Steven nor Jessica. At this point, I still do not know Steven (although from what I understand he is a very nice guy), but I do have the good fortune to know Jessica. Jessica didn't just win because she's a "beautiful person," she is a hard-working, intelligent, well-spoken student leader for whom I have the utmost respect. I really do not know where I got off saying such vile things about her or Steven, and I can only attribute it to my own 15-year-old immaturity and inability appropriately express my own frustrations. I apologize for anyone who might have been hurt by this post, and I hope that they understand that it is not at all a reflection of how I feel about them today and that they will be willing to forgive a horribly foolish mistake of the past.

The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently. - Friedrich Nietzsche

Ok, I don't really have much to say about what has been going on. Most of what's been goin' down is either not very interesting to the average reader, or I simply have no comment. I refuse to allow this blog to become all sappy and gossipy. No! It shall remain what it is.....whatever that may be.

My days have all been running together and going by quickly. It's hard to believe but it's only one week until my 16th birthday. I feel really old.... High school is going by so fast, it's crazy. Things aren't the way they were when I was younger and to be honest it's a little scary. Nathan is going to college next year, I have to start thinking about where I'm going to apply for college, and then I'll be off to who-knows-where to do who-knows-what.

Anyway, I've been working on this post for about....two hours now and it's not getting anywhere so....bye.

Ummmmmmmm........

Does anyone else know what the heck is going on here!? I know I don't. One second I'm enjoying a casual chat with Stash, the next I am apparently approved for a date with Brad...

I really don't know what happened, I was just talking, then Stash was calling Brad, then I hear he said "yes" and I'm left sitting here saying "What in the name of all the is good and right with the world just happened!?"

Apparently I'm going to prom now.....I don't know.......i haven't even talked to Brad, or my parents........or anyone. This has to be the weirdest night of my life.

I just have a couple of things to say to some people:

Stash, Peter and Mikey: You people are weird
Family: I was an innocent bystander here! You have to believe me! I blame Stash!
Brad: Ummm.....we should probably attempt to communicate with each other before that crazy bunch of school children starts planning our wedding or something....sheesh

I really wish I knew what was going on.......

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers. - Charles W. Eliot

I finally attained a copy of the second Left Behind book! I had been trying to find one to read since I finished the first one last week. I sped through Tribulation Force (450-something pages) in less than 24 hours and am already a good hundred-something pages into Nicolae. It's been so long since I've enjoyed a good long read, I couldn't be more happy. In fact, my true devotion can be seen in part of a conversation I enjoyed with one of my girl friends (who wishes to remain anonymous and will henceforth be referred to as "Belle", an accurate description of her in any case)

Lyns: and I wouldn't trade reading all weekend for anything else in the world
Belle: i would
Belle: b/f*
Lyns: nope, not even that

This is the ultimate proof of my devotion to books, I value them even over guys. While I realize this may be part of the issue I have with acquiring a boyfriend, it matters little to me. At least I know the books smell good and won't play emotional games with me. Books are my real friends....*rocks back and forth*

So, I spent most of my day reading and the rest of it doing other stuff while thinking about when I'd get to return to my reading. It's a simple existence, and one I can't stop loving.

I went to see Rumors at RHS on Friday and it was awesome! The perfect blend of comedy, drama and mystery. I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to any of you. It's seriously worth the $8.

So, for what it's worth, that's my life. Yay!

*Boyfriend

When I am attacked by gloomy thoughts, nothing helps me so much as running to my books. They quickly absorb me and banish the clouds from my mind. - Michel de Montaigne

I love books. I have loved to read since I was six years old and still reading the American Girl series over and over again. I revel in the feeling of being taken away to somewhere new and exciting, removed from all of the trouble and stupidity of my own life. It's a marvelous feeling, one that has been lacking in my life since the academic year began. Every year when school comes around my reading gets shoved on the back burner. Whenever I stumble upon a good book I want read I say "I'll read it this summer" and I never do. It's so sad and finally, I'm sick of it. I will not stand for this injustice any longer! Thus, I will be attempting to limit my online chatting time in favor of my new "love interest" my book fetish. I'll still be around to chat frequently, but I won't stay on for as long or as late as I have been. The books are calling to me, and I must answer them.

But I didn't just tell all of you this to let you know my AIM hours will be limited from here on out. I have a far superior task in mind for you. My request is that you guys would all give me recommendations on what I should read. I'm calling on all of you book gurus out there to help me out and tell me what all of the must-reads out there are. Try to keep in mind what I might like, but don't let it limit your choices too much. I'm open to just about anything at this point. If I'm going to teach English I figure I should probably be widely and diversely read. So Nathan, Andy, Brad, and all you other book fiends, tell me what to read!

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. - Henry David Thoreau

I'm really tired. i was sick Friday night and on Saturday with that lovely stomach flu that's been going around and I still performed in my church choir at this weekend's four Easter services. I went to bed early last night and the night before but I'm still dragging. I guess I'll turn in early again tonight and hope/pray for the best, especially considering I have to get up early for Youth Light tomorrow morning.

Probably one of the coolest things about this weekend is the cool 16th birthday present I got from my Grandma Darlene. I couldn't find a picture of it online from Fred Meyer Jewelers so you'll have to be satisfied with my description. It's a pearl necklace with what I assume to be diamonds set in white gold with a single pearl hanging just below those settings. I have to get the chain shortened a bit so that the necklace doesn't hang down so low, but I'm still very pleased with it. All of the granddaughters get pearl necklaces for their 16th birthdays so I knew this was coming, but I was afraid it was going to be something not quite my taste as many of my presents from Grandma Darlene have been. This was not the case. If Grandma knows one thing it has to be jewelry. Any of the jewelry I've gotten from her in the past has been lovely and something I wear often.

I'll spare you the details of my unstimulating day and suffice it to say it wasn't especially wonderful, but since nothing really bad actually happened, it was good.

If anyone knows of a good service I could use so i can actually post some pictures of my own on this site that'd be really great. Just put something in the comments or use the link on the sidebar to send me an e-mail.

Now, go frolic with the llama for it is written, "To frolic, as a llama would, is to live."

In the part of this universe that we know there is great injustice, and often the good suffer, and often the wicked prosper, and one hardly knows which of those is the more annoying. - Bertrand Russell

Now since you've all read Nathan's post about his recent scholarship-receiving feats I'll suffice it to say that I'm really proud of him for his achievement. I always knew he was smart.....But now, onto the injustice!

My best friend Jenell was running for ASB at Reynolds and she lost. She was one of the best candidates up there. She knew her stuff, her speech was excellent and she was obviously experienced and qualified. She would've filled her position beautifully. But no. Now, I must admit, there were many excellent candidates aside from my friend. Sharon Ko, Becky Wheeler and Katie Farlow all were elected, and rightly so, but the two male candidates did not seem very fit for ASB. One of them actually rapped during his speech, and the other is apparently not very responsible. Jenell should've easily beaten at least one of these guys, but the whole things was a sham. If the election process weren't such a popularity contest and based more on the aptitude and responsibility of the student, Jenell would've easily beaten those two guys, and if it had been based on the pure kindness of and their enthusiasm, Jenell would've wiped the floor with those boys. Jenell is so passionate about what she does and cares about other people so greatly, it just seems such a shame that she wasn't elected.

So as a result of this heinous crime I spent most of the day griping about how stupid the whole thing was and how disgusting this whole popularity contest was. So many of those people had good ideas and great plans for our school, and it seems that people only voted based one who they knew, who was cutest or whatever. It's just inexcusable. But in any case, Jenell is being a really good sport about it and is planning to run for Junior Class council in the upcoming weeks so I'm proud of her for that. My best friend is the coolest...

If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. - J. R. R. Tolkien

Yeah, I'm kinda hungry right now and I really want an Orange Julius.

Ha, I started out having a really bad day, but it got progressively better and ended up just being super good by the end! Pro Cantorum actually sounded pretty good today, I was able to practice my piano today during my TA period and made progressin the song, I ate two boxes of Nerds at lunch, and I played Connect Four during math class with Shawn. What could be better than all that? Could it be, shopping? After school I went with my mother down to the outlet mall and bought a couple new shirts and a sweater. Yay!

So, I had a good day, and now that I found the recipe for Orange Julius online, I think I'm going to go make one.

For the world is changing: I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, and I smell it in the air. - J. R. R. Tolkien

I'll spare you the boring details about my classes because none of them were particularly interesting today. I still don't know what's up with me, I just feel like something is changing, and I'm still totally oblivious to what it is. It might just be my view on something in particular, or my view on life, or all of me. I'm totally in the dark here and all I can do is pray that God will shed some light on the situation.

Anyway, you people aren't here to read my sob stories, you want to be entertained! So in light of the rather odd dreams I've been having as of late, here is a site to help you "Uncover the secrets of your sleep". I think it's a kind of interesting theory, but I'd love to see your thoughts on it. :D