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

Change your thoughts and you change your world. -Norman Vincent Peale

Unfortunately, this is not always a good thing.

FBLA State was pretty fun. I went hot-tubbing with Rachel and Ashley, went shopping with Diana and Kristi....all kinds of good stuff. I got my Introduction to Business and Introduction to Business Communications tests done quickly spent the rest of the three days shadowing either Rachel or Kristi. I avoided many social gatherings (including the two dances) in favor of reading a book and was later mocked for this.

Last night I was "allowed" to be a voting delegate, but it was ok because I didn't have to walk across the bridge to that horrible restaurant. There was a downside to my being a voting delegate, but it really had nothing to do with the nature of the job, merely the people I enjoyed it with. Ah well, c'est la vie.

This morning started off strangely when I had this extremely odd dream....I really can't explain it save to say my piano teacher was there and a friend from school and now I'm kinda confused........ After quickly getting dressed and stowing our things in Stern's room, the entire RHS FBLA crew made our way to the closing ceremony for the state leadership conference. It was three and a half hours of mind-numbing tedium. Of course, there where the lovely breaks in the monotony when people from RHS did really well and I got to stand up and cheer for them, but in between those times I found solace in the comfort of my lovely book. I didn't get into the top ten in either of my events, but that's cool, I didn't really want to go to Denver anyway, I'd rather take voice lessons this summer or maybe get a job.

After returning home from my little trip I spent a little time returning to reality at home and then headed over to RHS to catch the tail-end of my Gov./Econ. class and then go to math. Math was not that bad, not that good, but when I got home I found myself feeling odd. I feel kinda disappointed that I didn't even make top ten in FBLA even though I knew I'd done my best, and I'm really confused about certain things in my life. My brain seems to be changin' itself up without telling me and is leaving me feeling a bit distraught. Something odd is going on way back in my subconscious that is making me feel a little out of it. I should probably just sit back, relax, and wait for this whole thing to blow over, but I really just wish I knew what my brain is hiding from me. It'd be nice to actually know and understand what's going on in my own head.....

So, if you see me in the halls and I look a little down, i"m ok, I just need therapy...or a good nap....

Lord, what fools these mortals be! - William Shakespeare

Honestly, what is it with you people!? I mean really..............

Actually, I really have nothing to complain about, (not that I ever do) I actually had a really good day! This morning I got to miss my first period class and half of my French class in favor of singing in choir for the OSU chamber choir director who then gave us some pointers on our pieces for league on April 13th. After we finished our pieces we all took a seat and got to listen to the chamber choir and an a cappella group from OSU. While the chamber choir was excellent, (they pretty much put Pro Cantorum to shame) I really want to talk about the a cappella group.

The group was called Outspoken and was comprised totally of men. Not only did they sound good, they were funny and they really got into their music. They reminded me a lot of the a cappella group that some guys from our church (and other churches in the area) started called Rescue. I really enjoyed the performance. Outspoken apparently has a CD coming out this month and I'm defiantly going to be picking it up.

After the performances I headed to class and had a boring old time. My French teacher tried to be "cute" by telling our class we had a test on Monday for the chapter we just started this week. It was her weak attempt at an April Fool's joke. I wanted to hurt her.

Nothing else really happened at school that merits mentioning.....oh yeah! I almost forgot! My Badminton partner and I have 5:0 losing streak as of 7th period today. I'm so proud.....

Since getting home I haven't really done anything super constructive (or very interesting for that matter) with my time. AT about 6:00 PM my parents took Nathan to the airport. He's going to Washington for the next few days to compete somehow for a full-ride scholarship to Whitworth in Spokane. While, the folks were gone I spent my time taking the Emode Classic IQ Test. The first time I took it my score was acceptable, it was in the 130's which is "superior" but that didn't satisfy me. I knew that a 140 or higher was genius level, and I wasn't about to let myself miss the opportunity to claim genius-hood by a few points, so I decided to re-take the test. I knew I hadn't really done my best on the test the first time, giving up on tough questions quickly, so I really wanted to redo the test. After two more attempts I reached my goal, my score is a lovely 142 which (in case you didn't know) is near-genius to genius level. Needless to say, I'm quite pleased.

I think you folks should all take the quiz and share your results. I'd be really interested to hear some of the scores, it might be...interesting.......

"In accordance with our principles of free enterprise and healthy competition, I'm going to ask you...to fight to the death for it." - Monty Python