The older I get, the more I feel that there are so many talented artists around me. Back in elementary school, most people were only capable of badly colored drawings, often consisting of:

- Stick figures
- Houses that are just a triangle on top of a square
- Skies that are blue at the top but otherwise blank

By middle school it had improved quite a bit for some people, and by high school a few were drawing like pros. I find it funny, though, how almost every teacher I've met is terrible at drawing. The only exception is, yep, you guessed it, art teachers. The last art teacher I had, I think he used to be an illustrator. So of course if he wasn't a good artist he would've starved. (Well, maybe not starved, there are probably ways to get food...Like the lady I saw sneakily picking an orange from someone's tree because the orange was hanging out on the other side of the fence...)

Well, at this age, I guess people are starting to figure out what they're really passionate about and are deciding what they want to pursue, what they think is worth spending their time and effort doing. I know a lot of people who are pretty good at drawing, but there are a few who have really put in a lot of work and I especially want to point them out now.

One of them is my mom's friend's son. My mother just told me that he won the Fotodyne art contest. Apparently he spends a lot of time on a regular basis to improve his art and even goes to another city to practice sketching models (nude, I think, but it is important for artists to be able to draw the human body. After all, my art teacher said about naked people, "Eventually they become just another thing to draw"). If you want to see the full size version of his contest entry, click here. Actually, the style does remind me a bit of an artist on Pixiv. (Not that that's a bad thing. I greatly admire many of the Pixiv artists, wish I was more fluent in Japanese so I could understand more of what's there...Google Chrome's instant translate can be really confusing...)

As for the other person whose art has caught my attention, it is this artist. She has some very nice portraits in her gallery. Actually, a group in my Writing for Publication class last year made a documentary showing what three different people do on Saturday night. One of the people featured was her, and showed some of her drawings, as well as her practicing the guitar.

I must say that I really admire those who practice so much in order to better themselves. I've only ever had that kind of energy in brief fits, and I wish I could keep going at it long enough to make a significant change in my habits and my artistic abilities. I've been thinking maybe I should do something like the 365 days project, either with photography or drawing (or both!) so I'll be forced to practice at it every day. ...I just worry if I can come up with 365 good ideas... -_-;;

Labels: 365, art, change, contest, documentary, drawing, hard work, improvement, motivation, photography, pixiv, practice, project, winner, writing for publication

I spend a lot of time on the Internet for two reasons in particular: To look at artwork, and to avoid thinking about important matters (namely, my homework). But, of course, it's only a temporary measure, and soon enough deadlines are bound to come calling. Many evenings I end up scrambling to do my homework, cursing myself for spending so much time on the Internet. (Seriously, though, it's so hard to keep track of time on the Internet. It really feels like no time has passed at all.)

And surprise, surprise! I was wandering around Flickr the other day when I Read more »

Labels: art, audacity, classes, coincidence, dream, flickr, french, friday, gender, internet, photography, procrastination, rebecca black, school, song, teacher

I can't remember the two dreams that I had last night clearly anymore, but I can recall that in the second dream, I had run a long distance. It was either about 3 or 5 miles, which would have been fairly tiresome either way, but I felt just fine after the run. Felt good enough to eat one of the free burgers. (But it was from Subway, for some reason, so maybe it was just a new circular sandwich.)

I'd been very indecisive this year about filling out my course selection form for next school year. I found out that sophomores were not allowed to take Photography anymore (something about giving the spots to juniors and seniors who hadn't fulfilled the art requirements to graduate) and was left floundering as to what I'd do for an elective. French 3 took up one of the spots, and I felt Read more »

Labels: art, business, classes, course selection, cross country, decision, doubt, dream, electives, graphic design, law, orchestra, PE class, weight training

These past few days I've been watching the anime Angel Beats. It's already been a while since the anime came out - that was back around April to June 2010 - which is typical for me. I tend to watch older anime first and then gradually work my way up to more recent animes, so I guess I've been making pretty good progress if I'm able to watch some 2010 animes from time to time. (I think there still might be a couple of 2007 animes that I haven't watched yet, like Shattered Angels. Funny that its name is also about angels. :p)

Well, as is the case with me and most animes I've watched, I wasn't particularly intrigued by the beginning, but it got better as it went on (I felt that way about Durarara!! too). I'll try not to spoil it for those of you who have not seen it and might want to see it in the future.

I've heard it mentioned before that Yuri Nakamura, one of the protagonists of Angel Beats!, resembles Haruhi Suzumiya from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (otherwise called Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu).
Read more »

Labels: angel beats, anime, art, characters, chronological order, comparison, existence, haruhi suzumiya, life, meaning, my soul your beats, nico nico douga, pattern, proof, similar, song, time, yuri nakamura

One day, at lunchtime, I noticed that a few of my friends seemed to be writing on something. It was a piece of binder paper, and a girl was writing on it in cursive. Upon listening and watching, I realized that she was practicing signatures over and over again.

She was not just practicing her own signature. She also imitated the signature of one of her friends, and I think she got pretty good at it, because the person whose signature she was practicing writing said, "Now you write my signature better than I do."

It kind of made me think of how risky it can be to let someone get a good look at your signature. With practice, a person could probably replicate your signature pretty well. You either have to have a really wacky one or you have to keep it hidden from other people in case they feel the urge to forge it. Imagine all the things they could sign without your permission! And even if the person was caught trying to use your signature, it'd still be a big hassle.

Speaking of other kinds of signatures, I recently started submitting some of mine to some groups on DeviantArt. They're all pretty old by now seeing as I don't make graphics that often anymore (and when I do I am reluctant to post them on DeviantArt, because something I read suggested that perhaps it could be interpreted as art thievery if the artists making images used in graphics did not wish to have their art used in graphics). Well, I know that I have a long way to go (I've seen some people who make amazing graphics, and I applaud them) but it does tick me off a bit to be given criticism about older graphics, but I suppose it is better that I just swallow my pride. After all, I am sure no one is purposely trying to bring down my self-confidence, they only am trying to offer tips, so I figure it's just another challenge that I have to overcome. I would like to get back to making graphics more actively. Perhaps I should take a look at some tutorials. (The only thing is, I feel bad if I rely on a tutorial heavily since I feel like I'm doing nothing more than imitating someone else's graphics. But then again, imitation is one way of learning...After all, once you've improved you can then focus on developing your own unique style.)

Well, I guess it all goes back to that whole "small fish in a big pond" kind of feeling. At times I can be quite overwhelmed by how many amazing people there are in the world - or, on the other side of the coin, how many really harsh people there are (and I'm not talking about what I mentioned in the previous paragraph in this case). But seeing a lot of talent can inspire me to try harder too, so it doesn't always have to be something harmful. And perhaps by having to deal with unpleasant people will help me to harden myself and get "thick skin". I only hope that things can turn out well in the end.

Labels: art, challenge, criticism, danger, deviantart, feelings, graphics, harsh, old, people, problem, pros and cons, safety, signature, style, thick skin, tutorial, unexpected, world, writing

I saw a picture with these very words on it when I was in a store. I believe it was probably Michael's. We go there whenever we need art supplies, like the time I needed black paint (I had green, red, yellow, red, blue, and white paint already because when I took a painting class before, we were given the leftover paints). They sell art there too, and there was a cute picture of some rubber ducks. And there was a little rubber duck on the back of a big one. I thought it was a very nice picture but I hadn't the heart to ask to buy it since it's not exactly practical (except for maybe decorating a bathroom wall or something).

Anyways, I was thinking that, really, life is simply life. There are ups and downs...Which is definitely true when it comes to my grades (recently I'd been on the down, but maybe soon I'll be on the "road to recovery", if we use the terms to describe our current economy). And sometimes things happen. Like getting injured, which seems to happen to me quite often.

Lacrosse is one of my favorite sports, besides bocce ball and basketball. Unfortunately, that doesn't save me from getting injured. I wonder if I am not only a magnet for miracles (see post by the same name) but also a magnet for balls. One time a lacrosse ball whacked me in the face. Luckily, I didn't bruise, but it was sore for a little while. Then, in the same day, a ball hit me on the leg. I wonder if we don't need lacrosse protective gear.

Soccer is also dangerous. A soccer ball would've hit me in the stomach, but I whirled to the side, so it hit me in the side instead. (I wonder if it's better to be hit in the stomach or the side?) And when I was young, I was trying to get a ball out from under some bushes, but then someone threw a football at my head. (Wait...Did they do that on purpose? If so, I must have some enemies that I'm not aware of.)

Ducks don't always have the greatest life either. There are people out there who hunt, so you could get shot down by a rifle and then get picked up by a dog. Not too pleasant for the duck, but fun for the human. Then again, ducks have the chance to be fed bread crumbs if they go to the park. (You're not supposed to feed them, but I did it a few times when I was a wee child.) But if we poisoned the bread, they'd be in big trouble, because I don't know if they can distinguish between safe and unsafe...

Speaking of ducking, I remember that last year there was a kid in my village (each village has a few teachers that teach the four core subjects. For your elective or PE teacher, you can have any of the teachers, but for the four core subjects, you can only have the teachers in your village, so you have the same core teachers all year) nicknamed Squeakers. He didn't live up to his name, though. When someone (I think the teacher! o_O;; ) threw an object (I think it was maybe the fake brain he keeps in his class) at Squeakers, instead of squeaking, he just ducked. So now he's Duckers instead.

Labels: art, balls, black, bread, danger, duckers, ducks, flying objects, hunting, injury, just ducky, life, michael's, nickname, paint, picture, squeakers, store, supplies, ups and downs

This is apparently a phrase from the famous story The Three Little Pigs. (I may not have gotten it down exactly right.) I had a similar experience to this recently.

On Tuesday, where I live, there was some surprisingly stormy weather. It rained and poured until nighttime. I hadn't brought my umbrella, nor had I brought my raincoat, and so my not-so-waterproof jacket was my only protection. The rain started to become a hassle because my shoes weren't so waterproof either, and so my socks became soaked. It's a good thing that a teacher had her classroom open and I went indoors to eat my lunch.

Come fifth period, multiple kids were drenched from having to go through the rain to get to the classroom. The math classroom is a "portable", I think, since it has a ramp and the ceiling is not so high and such. And whenever someone stomps you can feel the room shake a little bit because it's not as steady as the "actual classrooms". (But schools still insist on having these "portable classrooms" for some reason) We were being punished for talking too much - for some reason, my math class has a lot of people, and so it is even louder - and we were not allowed to speak to each other. It was eerily quiet in the classroom, except for one sound...The sound of the wind. The wind was beating very hard on the classroom and it sounded like we would be blown in, like the Three Little Pigs' houses, but nope, it didn't happen. In fact, the teacher never even looked up. I guess not much can faze him.

PE was canceled that day because it was far too rainy. We were all hustled into the gym, which was muddy too (it being the last period of the day, and many shoes having already been in and out). We watched some Comcast Sportsnet videos, which were showing the "science behind sports". Apparently a golf ball can go farther if it is warm than if it is cold. So, couldn't you become better at hitting long distance by simply incubating your golf ball and then hitting it? (Though why you would incubate golf balls, instead of incubating chicken eggs like you should, is beyond me)

Does good handwriting matter a lot in life? My math teacher always stresses that we need to work at having neat handwriting. He said that sloppy handwriting is NOT a "style" of handwriting, and that teachers grade less harshly when you have good handwriting. "And don't go running to your parents saying how unfair it is! That's life! That's HUMAN NATURE!" he'd say. "If you have messy handwriting, then I have the urge to pick it apart for mistakes. I might overlook a mistake or be more lenient if you have good handwriting." I am going to try and work on mine. I think it is legible, but someone said I didn't "write like a girl". That's so sexist. Not all people write the same. I even hold my pencil differently. D: I started holding my pencil that way when I was young and I don't think someone corrected me, so now I'm stuck that way since I feel awkward if I hold pens and pencils the way almost everyone does.

Nowadays I sometimes draw things with pencil, then scan it, and color it in with the most basic of GIMP brushes (in other words, plain old circle brushes which come with GIMP when you download it). It's always so messy, though. In fact, I think my drawings might look better in black and white... o_O;; I've heard of something called Copic markers and I've been curious to see what they are. Does anyone have them, by any chance?

Labels: art, classroom, colors, copic, drawing, fantasy golf, gimp, handwriting, human nature, incubate, life, markers, pencil, portable, rain, storm, story, three little pigs, weather, windy

I saw something pretty interesting on television recently. The TV show (probably BBC world news or something, I dunno) was talking about a lady whose medium of art is sand. She actually uses sand to make her art. I thought it was really amazing, and I figured I'd share it here too. The name of the lady is Kseniya Simonova. Click here for a video

I was actually going to name this post "footprints in the sand", but then again, that wouldn't make sense. But that does remind me, I watched a good anime at least a year ago, and its name is H2O: Footprints in the Sand. It's about a boy who was blind. And then that reminded me of something else, a webcomic called Ne Sori. I heard that it means My Sound in Korean but I have no idea if that's true, what with my very minimal knowledge of Korean. Click here for Ne Sori. It's the first page. To go to the next page, click Next. Ne Sori is about a boy who can't speak, I think...

My house has been acting up again lately. Suspicious things have been happening a lot. The ceiling fan seems to be alive. Sometimes it turns on by itself. It already happened several times, so I'm sure it's not my imagination. (If I were more superstitious, I would assume a ghost had inhabited my ceiling fan) The garage, too, has been behaving strangely. I closed the garage door and was going into my house when the garage door opened up again! (Probably because of the wind blowing so hard against it. It was a really windy day.) I know the house is old, though it has been remodeled once, but it's kind of freaky.

Oh yes, and I recently signed up for what day to present my Outside Reading Project. That's basically a book report from language arts class where you get to pick three books, but one has to be an autobiography, biography, or a memoir. There's two parts to it. 1) Make a venn diagram showing the similarities and differences between the autobiography/biography/memoir you read and something else that had the same theme (a song, movie, etc.). 2) Give a speech on one of the books you read "for fun". I chose October 12 to present since 12 and 18 were my lucky numbers. I wonder if they still are, because I'm counting on 12 to give me success!

I really haven't said much in this post. I guess it's the morning blues. Or maybe it's because I can't sleep enough, so I end up still being sick. (Unless...I got a second cold in a row! Like what happened once! That would be dreadful. I was sick for a long time because I got two colds, one after another) And this is bad seeing as I have to run a mile today...Oh well. If I faint, it's alright, I suppose.

Labels: anime, art, blind, ceiling fan, deaf, garage door, h2o footprints in the sand, house, kseniya simonova, lucky numbers, ne sori, outside reading project, sand painting, speech, ukraine, webcomic

In French class, we asked what nationality the teacher was. She said that according to a student, "She was a vampire who grew fangs and sucked blood at nighttime". And ironically, the teacher grew up in Romania. Romania is the country where the famed Vlad the Impaler once resided (the guy who impaled people and decorated roadsides with them? Yup, that's the one. Sort of reminds me of how they used to put executed people's heads on the London Bridge). And Vlad was the inspiration for the stories of "Dracula".

Then we have my science teacher. We have an activity called Current Events, where the students present a newspaper or magazine article related to science (in my class we can't use the Internet since apparently that would make it too easy, or the source might have false information, or something like that). A few students present each week on Monday, or Tuesday if we weren't in school on Monday. Well, whenever the presentations are over, the teacher reads off the names of students presenting on the next week. Twice, she said "On the menu..." which made me think that she planned to eat the students, like Hansel and Gretel. And this week she said "victims". I don't mean to be offensive, but sometimes she does look sort of like a witch since she is old and has long, silver hair. I think she ought to dress up as a witch for Halloween.

I was trying to do my language arts homework, writing a memoir, today. We were using Google Docs to write our essays. I was able to use it in class, but now that I'm at home I seem unable to find the page where I logged into it. I don't want to use my Gmail for the Google Docs since the saved file is on a different account...Apparently, we logged into a specific CUSD place on Google Docs, but I can't work on the homework if I can't even get to it. I am just going to have to ask the teacher tomorrow, since it's not due yet.

A while back, I found some of my old drawings, I think I talked about it and how I used to be trying to make a calendar, hmm? I decided to assess my art style by comparing the two of them. It's a good idea to keep your old writing or drawing so you can look at it again in the future. Mostly I tend to laugh at it or smile at the fond memories they bring up. I tried to keep this images alike, but I did make a few changes for convenience. (Haha, the foot in the earlier one - which was draw around May 2007 - is weird)

Labels: art, comparison, current events, dracula, drawing, fairy tale, google docs, halloween, homework, memories, menu, problem, romania, vampire, victim, vlad the impaler, witch

That's actually part of some song lyrics. That's only because I really couldn't think of a title today. While I was at school I had plenty of ideas for what to write in my blog post but once I went home, the ideas just flew right out of my head. I don't know, maybe it's just change of atmosphere or short term memory, like Dory from Finding Nemo, if you've seen that animated movie.

I should talk about something from the post title, so I will. We used to read a book called Weighty Words in language arts class. (We haven't gotten to read it for a very long time, though; only just today did my teacher resume) Each letter of the alphabet has an interesting word. A story is written about it and is not obvious until the end of the story. I find this is a good way to teach people instead of memorizing vocabulary lists, which tends to make the students' minds degenerate. Or something. (My father used to teach, many, many, years ago. It was math, but I think he might still get what I'm saying.)

Much earlier in the year, we read a story about the letter E. An ant used to be famous for his speed. He ran a lot to get food. But later he discovered a more convenient food source, so he got lazy and stopped running around all the time. They called him an ex-speedy ant (like ex-husband, if you have been divorced), which led to the word, expedient. There's even a website called expedia.com, I think. Anyhow, expedient doesn't necessarily mean you are lazy, it just means if you have a harder way and an easy way, you'd take the easy way. So I'd like you all to call me expedient instead of lazy. XD

On to actual news. I have received my school yearbook for this year. They are not cheap, so I hope it is worth it this year. I'm glad the cover looks better. Some people thought the fake stain type things looked disgusting but I would say it's a big improvement from last year. The cover then was just blank white with some words. Not exactly something you want to look at, like the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. Oh yeah, have you heard this rumor? I heard that if you stare at the Mona Lisa long enough, it seems like she blinks, winks, smiles, or looks at you. I heard this effect was achieved by da Vinci himself painting many layers on top of each other with oil paint, causing it to look like the painting can move when it really can't. That's really cool. I wonder if I could try it sometime. Maybe this summer...

...Since this summer I am signing up for summer classes, as always. My mom believes summer must be occupied with something since she doesn't believe in resting on your laurels. Oh, I should explain what that phrase means. In the past, laurels were an honor since you got them for an achievement, Roman senators used to wear crowns of laurels. Someone who is resting on their laurels is satisfied with what they have achieved. Which is kind of true for me, I suppose. I think I've come a long way personally. Nowadays someone who rests on their laurels is considered lazy. (I'd call myself expedient, but it's not suitable for this occasion.)

This year I have signed up for Japanese class and painting studio. I have decided not to take any real academic classes, since I think the purpose of summer vacation is to be what the name is - a vacation from the stress of homework and tests, and social mores of school. (Sometimes I confuse myself.) I really like artsy things, though I have to say I don't like how art teachers are so picky and critique every little thing. But I guess that's their job, so I should zip my mouth closed. Japanese is just a language that I find pretty to say. I would learn something else but they only offer so many languages there... I wanted some of my friends to come too, but they have different circumstances. Some of them are going somewhere (well, I am going to Australia, but one of my friends is going to Taiwan and Europe) and others have family matters (I believe there is resent about the Japanese invasion of Korea in the past century) and yet others don't even take classes during the summer. I have heard it is boring to stay at home during the summer but I seriously want to try it for once! I haven't done that since I was younger, I always was shuffled off to day camps and academic daycares/summer school like a toy nobody wanted.

Labels: ant, art, books, brain, expedient, forgetful, japanese, language arts, laurels, lazy, learn, leonardo da vinci, lyrics, mona lisa, painting, phrase, summer, unwanted, weighty words, yearbook

One of my friends, who I shall refer to as Miyu-chan right now, told me that some people on a website didn't think too highly of me. This is due to me sending a lot of friends requests to people and not necessarily talking to them. (Though it's not easy to communicate with more than two thousand people, if you catch my drift.) Miyu-chan said some people do like me, though. I wish everyone would. It doesn't feel good to have people frowning on you, even if it is just the Internet, after all.

Here's the cooking schedule. At least, some of it. I don't remember Thursday and Friday.
Monday- Prepare Pie (You can choose lemon meringue or pumpkin. Pumpkin is simpler to make and I like it better)
Tuesday- Finish Pie
Wednesday- Sustainable Farming (Whatever that is. It could be a worksheet or a video)

On to some...weird happenings. As I was walking home, I observed several things. One being that the people living in a house have changed their window decoration. They always hang a picture of some sort in the window. For a long time they had a picture of colorful flowers. I like that one better than the new one, which is a snowman and some blue stuff.

Also, I hurt a tree. I saw the pretty white blossoms and buds and decided it would make a good addition to the ikebana arrangement I'll be doing for homework. But afterwards I felt bad because the tree might be upset and the branch will eventually die anyhow. Still, I could just say "It's for a worthy cause", even though I only half believe it.

I hope my history teacher doesn't lose his teaching credential. I heard that doing a certain activity makes it a possibility. We did the said activity today in class. It was supposed to teach us about population density. We started off with Australia. It's not a densely populated place and people usually live on the coastline. (Sydney the city is on the east side.) So Mr. Blair said you could go do nude sunbathing or whatever in Australia, and you might never get seen. (Yeah, disturbing example, but that's our class.) Then we went on to the United States. AV, who was the one Mr. Blair asked if he would nude sunbathe, settled down in the Arizona region, since he is cheering for the Cardinals. Mr. Blair said he couldn't do his sunbathing there since old ladies would come with their binoculars. (Apparently old people get arthritis and move to warm places like Arizona. So people laughed at poor AV since a lot of elderly folks live there.)

Oh yes, before I end this post...Japan was very densely populated. Mr. Blair tried to teach us this by putting one desk in the middle of the room. Then he wanted us to fit as many people as possible on the desk. (Standing on the desk or the legs. You can't have your feet touch the floor) That was dangerous since we did pretty well until a bunch of kids fell off the desk and one of them hurt her leg. We got a max of 14 people onto a desk. I heard the next class managed 16 or 17. We've been beat there.

Labels: art, cooking, flowers, friends, homework, internet, population, reputation, teacher, tree, walk, window

I have seen many imitations of my traits lately. For instance, I always "save the best for last". Like when I have several types of food, I eat the foods I don't like first, then eat the ones I like. Other people are thinking that way now too. (I don't know whether this is something that happens with age, but for me, I have had that way of thinking for a few years already.) And I have this solar-powered keychain with my name flashing on it. I have seen others starting to buy them too... And it may not be a coincidence.

And now my dad is trying to be like me as well! Not only does he want his own blog, but he is getting a new cell phone! (I got a new cell phone recently. It is shiny but it is a bit confusing, so I miss my old phone.) I have this black Palm Centrino thingy. My dad is getting the same phone, but the red color. (And I hate red on cell phones.)

Anyhow, the good news (at least for me) is that my burn looks no worse than before and the pain has already disappeared. Now I am feeling pain in my back and muscles, though that is to be expected...After all, I ran the mile, and due to my lack of sleep, got a rather bad time. (I don't understand why the school forces us to run so fast...Well, at least my PE teacher is nicer than last trimester's and he grades us on whether we improve, not on numbers alone.)

By the way, here's this week's cooking schedule.
Monday - Prepare Pretzels
Tuesday - Bake Pretzels
Wednesday - Measurements (worksheets. D:)
Thursday - Pancakes!
Friday - Breakfast Burritos

From now on, I will try to post what we're up to in cooking. :D

Oh yeah, and today was Open Art Studio. During lunch every week, the art classroom is open so students can come in to work and eat. I am no longer in art, but I still enjoy visiting the classroom, since I kind of miss it. One of my friends and I help out the teacher by recording scores in her grade book, and filing away the papers. For our work, we usually get rewarded. :p We get all sorts of strange things, from jewelry to lip balm to pencils...

Labels: art, blog, cooking, imitation, phone, sleep

Today's homework was only math for me, much to my relief. You won't believe how lazy I can get most of the time. But I prefer to say "expedient". (Expedient is an adjective, which means "taking the easy way out", not "lazy". That word is related to Expedia.com, which my teacher says really is "expedient".) Anyhow, I'm just going to kick back and relax today, except for my parents are home. I need to get a Halloween costume thrown together FAST, and then practice some piano. *moans feebly*

The day went by pretty smooth. I am satisfied with my free choice watercolor painting except for where you can see the paint dried weirdly. (It's too late to fix it, since I already turned it in! It was due today) Oh well. But then, I was told it was almost the end of the trimester. Soon I'll moving on to the next part of Applied Arts...I actually like Art, even though a lot of kids say it's their least favorite. I want Woodshop next, and then Cooking. (I'd like to have cooking either in the early morning, or at the end of the day, so I have breakfast or a snack to eat.) I don't know what elective I'm going to take next year...Maybe I'll take a foreign language?

Anyhow, back to my day... (you may have noticed that I am back to normal, not typing weird, but never mind that) I am sure I failed the math quiz, and I am nervous because I didn't see my Illumination on the wall of my history classroom. It makes me worried, since I start thinking negatively (for instance, "WHAT IF MR. BLAIR LOST IT?!?!"). But I will just have to look for it tomorrow. In science, we are doing Animal of the Week again. This time, the animal is the bat. I learned a few things, like bats aren't really blind, and actually lick their babies, like a cat. o_O

Language arts was rather drab except for when Mrs. Jackson started reading the Weighty Words to us again. It's a book full of interesting words that may even help us on our SATs someday. But the words are taught through all sorts of odd stories. For instance, we learned the word laxity through a story about a city called Slack City. The people were very lazy there. The city sign needed to be repainted, but the guy who was supposed to paint it forgot to paint the S, so it said "Lack City", which sounds like the word laxity (meaning laziness, I believe).

Labels: applied arts, art, expedient, halloween, laxity, lazy, painting, piano, watercolor, weighty words

I've been reading a book called Little Women, so I feel this unexplainable urge to sound old-fashioned, even though the book is driving me insane. (I can't seem to finish it no matter how fast I read it) If you do not like my weird writing today, let me know, but if you don't mind it, I might someday type a post like this again.

My day began without any disturbance. I had quite the pleasant time in my art class, talking to my fellow students while trying to fix my yellow paint (it had turned a disgusting shade because I have used it too often to try and make a different green). Yash, one of the people sitting at my table, fell off his stool (those black-legged stools are awfully dangerous). Mrs. Masero, the art teacher, laughed at me because my response was so bland - I just looked at Yash the way I would look at an interesting-but-everyday-sort-of-thing, as if people crashing to the floor was an everyday occurrence. Math class had nothing worth mentioning today, save the fact that I am sitting with the same boy I sat across from last time. Even though we were supposed to change seats, apparently I have "lost out on the lottery", so to speak.

At brunchtime, Marina, one of my email-and-school correspondents, met up with me and bid me talk to her. She gave me one of her delicious homemade cookies, and then asked me if I had come up with a character yet. (She wants us to exchange emails and write some sort of random story, fast as possible.) Apparently we only have a little while to do it. I am not sure what possessed her to choose me as her partner for this two person email story. Perhaps she had little voices in her head, St. Margaret and St. Catherine, just like in Joan of Arc - which leads me to the next portion of the day.

After brunch came third period, in other words, history class. For one reason or another, we had a substitute teacher today, so we just watched a rather odd video about Joan of Arc. Since Joan was being burned at the stake for "witchcraft", she kept on shrieking in agony. What was amusing about it was that it wasn't the actress screaming, because the screams and the actress's mouth movements didn't match up! While the person screaming was yelling, the actress's mouth was closed, and opened to lip-sing a bit late.

Science had not much happening except for our Chapter 5 test, which I shall omit from this entry, and instead move past lunch to 5th period Language Arts. My friend and tablemate was very anxious for the cookies the teacher had promised, but these cookies did not show up until the end of class. It turns out we are going to work on summary writing right now. Even the teacher admits that summaries are just simply a bore, but she must teach us about them because summary writing is a necessary skill.

The last event of the day may be considered the most interesting - and alarming. All of us thought PE would pass in a normal manner (besides the fact we were starting our wrestling unit). But actually, a traumatic accident occurred. Somehow, a student from another PE class had collided with the volleyball net and fell onto the ground. She could not get up and so even my PE teacher, Ms. Rawson, tried to assist the poor fellow. The student's own teacher, and later even the principal, came over, and called 9-11. I was told that the student had a seizure, and was even hauled off in an ambulance! Even later, in the locker room, some of the ladies continued to discuss this recent turn in events. Almost as if life were simply a great big soap opera.

Before I conclude today's entry, I shall mention the shrieking I heard as I walked home from school this afternoon. Some person - or persons, who I believe was a girl, would occasionally give a few high-pitched squeals. Whoever it was, was obviously taking great relish in destroying my eardrums, and those of the persons around me. Were I not such a polite and well-mannered sort of girl (yes, that is exaggerating, no need to tell me that), I would have run back and socked the poor person in the face. That is quite untimely, I understand, but I still would not pity the person(s) if they ended up with a sore throat.

Labels: ambulance, art, books, classes, colors, email, injury, joan of arc, little women, paint, PE class, saint, scream, seizure, stool, summary, teacher, video, witchcraft

Top ↑