So. Apparently, my attendance record for March isn't going to be too good. Last Thursday, I, realizing I had my whole Frederick Douglass report to do in the thirty minutes before bed, spent forty minutes slaving away over the family computer for a project that was due in school the next day. Upon removing to the kitchen, Mom said "You don't look too good." After the discovery of a slight fever and swollen glands, she shook her head and said "Go to bed. You're not going to school tomorrow." Um, what? Needless to say, much banging-of-head-against-a-wall ensued.
But I was free to enjoy my weekend(translation:sleep till noon and laze around). Until Monday, when I was forced out of bed at 6:40 to get ready for the bus, which usually comes around 7:00.
Mom once commented "Why don't you just set your alarm clock for 6:30?"(since she was tired of having to wake me up in the morning) and got the reply- "If I can get up at 6:40 and be ready for school on time, why should I feel the need to get up ten minutes earlier?"
I don't like waking up. Sleep is my friend.
So, when I got home Monday, I was tired and cranky and upset that Read Across America Day had passed and I DIDN'T HAVE A BOOK. That never, ever happens. Out of my entire Science class(which went to the library for half an hour to read), I(who is usually REPRIMANDED for having a book when I shouldn't) was the ONLY one who didn't have a book. Even my teacher said "YOU don't have a BOOK??". So I went to the library and checked out Dracula.
But Tuesday morning, I woke up with a sore throat so bad I could hardly talk without downing a whole bottle of Fruit2O, and was told to go back to bed- I was staying home again. After dealing with the guilt reflex that I NEVER had before(seriously, I used to be about a step away from TRYING to get Mom to say "Stay home") and was COMPLETELY due to Mom, I went back to bed, and woke up with a fever. Again. So I missed Wednesday(and another French class, which I haven't been to since Valentine's Day(not that I skipped it, there were circumstances beyond my control(Love Jack's line!))) too.
But good things never last. I came back today to take a Science quiz which I got all the answers right on(despite not having covered it like the other kids(some of whom didn't do as well as I did(?)) had yesterday), watched a movie in Algebra and never found out what work I missed, was reprimanded for reading a book in Social Studies when I should have been researching(I was working towards doing it tonight), and sat around all Language Arts preparing to kinda-sorta put on a play about Anne Frank with my group. And now I have homework which I should probably be doing(not that I'll actually get around to it until after dinner).
I. Hate. School. This is what I get for waking up and not feeling like crap, huh?
First thing you need to know: my house is the human version of a pigsty. Just a fact. It's not getting better anytime soon, and we deal with it.
In our defense, most of it is my little sister Kiddo's fault.
"Kiddo, you have to keep all the toys upstairs now."
"Why?"
"They're making a mess."
"Oh. Okay."
And what do you find twenty-four hours later? The family room Covered.In.Toys. Not to mention the garbage and other loose papers(plus the random crap that you find in every room of the house, with absolutely no explanation of how they got there).
And, collectively, we're pretty fed up with it. Except Kiddo, who, as long as she can find her stuff, doesn't care at all. My room, of course, is also just as bad as(if not worse than) the rest of the house, excluding Kiddo's room(where do these tornadoes come from?).
One of the fed-up people is my dad. A few days ago, while Katie was out playing, my mom and I sat in the family room watching a movie(me) and folding laundry(Mom). Suddenly Dad stands up from his position on the bench at the kitchen table(where his work laptop sits), marches(stalks) into the family room, pushes(throws) all the crap off of the couch cushion, pulls the couch cushion a bit out, sticks his hand in the cracks between the cushions, pulls a pencil out, and marches(stalks) out. Mom and I sit for a minute, staring at each other while impersonating fish, until Mom finally asks;
"What was that?"
"I needed a pencil. I went to the place where we keep the pencils!"
Um, yeah, good thing to call the couch. it's slowly approaching the phase when we'll forget what color the cushions are. Underneath the cushions, I-don't-want-to-know-what lives. Along with just about everything smaller than a water bottle which you can't find.
Including the topic of our dinner tonight. While discussing the fact that my hair still gets tangled very easily at the back despite the new haircut I got on Saturday, the topic of hairbrushes came up. As I told Mom that when I found my brush, I would put duct tape on it and write BOOKWORM'S BRUSH: DO NOT TOUCH. And Kiddo protested that she would touch it, since it wasn't only my brush. As she scurried away, Mom and I chuckled and laughed a bit. Until she returned, that is, with my missing brush in hand.
"Kiddo, where'd you get that?" shifting and guilty looks.
"Where'd you get it?"
"I found it...."
"You found it?"
"It was on the couch...."
"You just found it on the couch?" and then I said:
"Well, she probably dug around in the cushions a bit- you know, the place where we keep the brushes and the pencils."
"We, the jury, find the defendant NOT NORMAL". Yes, that is correct. Not that I ever thought I was, anyway, but it's always reassuring when your doctor comes in and tells you so, with medical connections and everything. As if my questionable sanity wasn't enough, apparently my tibia is connected to my kneecap in such a way that my feet turn out. It is uncorrectable unless I wish to go through surgery.
But truly, if I was the norm, there would be no hope for this planet. And if I was like what is the norm now, I don't think I'd have any hope.
Nice to know the world is as it should be, huh?
So, the dreaded day has come. On the one hand, it got me out of hiding! On the other, the PINK everywhere was SUFFOCATING.
A lot of things have changed since summer. For one, my friends have extended, though my social shell is uncrackable. I am now prepared for High School(got all my courses selected and everything)- in this context meaning I-CANNOT-WAIT-TO-GET-OUT-OF-THIS-CRAPPY-SCHOOL. So my teachers(for the most part) rock. So I can sit with my friends at lunch. SO WHAT? Half of the kids in my school(let alone grade) have the maturity of monkeys. And the IQ to go with it.
Okay, that was kind of mean. They aren't ALL dumb, just most of them are. My friends rock, though. Monkey Bob(long story, which, as promised, will be revealed later), my best-best-best-best friend since 2cd Grade, is.... herself, as usual, and keeps denying me that penguin named Enrique which I keep telling her I didn't want it in the first place(not that she listens). She got into an entertainment technology program for the SAME high school as I'm in. Karat, my goofy, emo, red-head, Who-The-Heck-Cares-What-They-Think-Anyway? friend whom I've known since Kindergarten has managed to turn me to the dark side: Alternative music(also known as emo). I can't help it, I'm addicted. Bec, my friend in the Gifted&Talented middle school accelerated learning program I am in is herself- occasionally sarcastic and witty, sometimes quiet, and always quick to laugh if it's actually funny. Us four are planning on(GASP) going to our first(PG-13) movie without parental guidance(or were, until Monkey Bob's mom declared that she was NOT going to the theater without her) and seeing Vantage Point. Looks good.
My other friends are Laners, Chameleon, Callahan, and Kat. Laners and Callahan just moved this year from New York, and though I'm closer to Laners, since she's in my gym class, we all sit together and enjoy lunch(since administration decided we could FINALLY just sit wherever the heck we want) as thick as thieves(and when it comes to french fries, I mean that literally). I've known Chameleon and Kat since third grade, but haven't been close to them since Chameleon(who got her nickname because she's died her hair at least five times in the last three years) sat at our lunch table and our bus route started picking up Kat, who likes poking HARD, pinching HARD, and feeling no pain. The evilness is inescapable. When I end up in therapy, I'm blaming it on her.
An update on my life since my last post- I read the seventh Harry Potter book. It was amazing. JK Rowling's story-telling and writing skills continue to stump me. I full-heartedly believe that Harry Potter is entirely responsible for the literacy of my generation.
I started eighth grade(which trumps seventh) and met a whole new round of teachers, some who rock, and some who don't. Halloween came, and sucked, since my friends went out without me, and I am strikingly reminded of said situation by Green Day's part four of "Homecoming" lyrics: 'Nobody likes you, everyone left you. They're all out without you, havin fun'. And thus I have passed my life(apart from Christmas, which also rocked).
Personally, I think I have matured greatly. Even my teachers, in a Parent/Teacher Conference(which they insist all students must attend.... um.....*sweatdrop*) say I am very smart, dedicated to my studies, a joy to have in class, a pleasure to teach, and I quote "head and shoulders above a lot of the other students"(I won't get a big ego, I swear). I still read under my desk when I don't have any work to do, and am currently trying to get my mom to give me her Jane Austen novels because I want to READ Mansfield Park, darn it.
Yep. Me in a nutshell: antisocial, book-crazed, imaginative, totally-bored-with-the-world-and-appalled-at-the- collective -stupidity-of-her-peers girl who's trying to navigate her way through the teen world(where, apparently, I SO do not belong).
And now back on track: Today was Valentine's Day! Or, as Monkey Bob's cellphone calendar tells her, Commercialized Love Day. I actually wore pink(though I did so not knowing it was Valentine's Day until I was out the door of my house). I had to go to GYM, though. That took all the fun out of it, but my friends and I got together to play reject Knockout, since none of us can play basketball to save our lives. In homeroom, BandGeek and Thing1(one of the infamous twins of the G&T and their friend)received roses from two of their friends(also in the G&T) just-for-fun. In science, we talked about the pH scale(again) and our teacher(who's great at drawing on the whiteboard) had drawn hearts all over it. We went to the computer lab in Algebra, and in French(which I loathe because of my classmates, not the language) we hung out all period. In social studies we covered the impeachment of Andrew Johnson and picked our biography-project person(I got Frederic Douglass). Then it was off to lunch, to take a deep breath and resist the urge to scream and rip my hair out at the roots. Afterwards was Language Arts, where we talked about read-across-america day and watched a movie-biography on JFK. And then we went home. That was it. Boring, normal school day. Only difference was that it was a half-day for conferences. After school, we took out Kiddo's stitches(which she got after putting her teeth through her lip when she fell down last week), went to the store, and went home. The only thing we did for VD was give some gifts and cards and candy. Dad got candy, Mom got the ability to use our laptop, and Kiddo got a book about adventures for girls. I received a PiratesOfTheCaribbean shirt with, who else, Jack Sparrow, and the words WANTED: dead or alive. I was then left to lament the sad fact that Johnny Depp was not born in my generation. WHY????????? It so would've redeemed us all.
And thus ends my foray back into the world of blogging. My random thoughts.... "Truly, you have a dizzying intellect...... 'wait til I get started!' " Sorry, couldn't resist. That should be enough for now. This entry is truly far too long.
And so begins a rather perilous journey across the internet. My first post...... Oh! I'm sorry, I am Bookworm, avid reader who would rather lock herself up in her room all day than go outside and enjoy the sunshine.... I'm kind of weird, aren't I? And you? Well, I won't know that, will I?
Anyway, here my blog begins..... But what to post, what to post? Nothing extremely interesting is happening to me at this moment, otherwise I wouldn't be sitting at my computer and typing, I'd be out there being interested by whatever interesting thing was happening to me, if that makes sense.
I even tried the Question of the Day, and, I quote, 'I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I don't know the answer.' I mean, I seriously don't. Only three foods for the rest of my life? I'd go insane by the end of the week, if I'm not already. Insane, I mean.
I'll settle with pointing out that just a few weeks ago, my birthday passed. Yay. So now Mom is okay with me having internet accounts besides someplace like Barbie or such. Once again, yay.
My birthday wasn't that exciting, either. We went out to eat, my parents gave me my presents- Which included a really cool book, a Harry Potter pocket watch, and a CD I really wanted. My Nanny and Granddad got me an iTunes giftcard and the Season One DVD of one of my favorite shows: Bones. Which I then stayed up all night watching. Still, not exciting. And, I have to admit, all my presents(including the jewelry my bestfriend Monkey Bob-explain the name later-got me) are extremely cool, but I live trapped by my own boredom with my life. Alright, so maybe it isn't really that dramatic, but you get the idea.
The most exciting thing that happened was going to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on Wednesday, which has now become my favorite of the movies so far. They did an excellent job, even if it was a bit rushed. And while Mom, Dad, and I sat staring google-eye'd at the screen, my little sister Kiddo decided she didn't really enjoy it that much, since she hasn't read the actual books yet, and ended up sitting all sullen, complaining that she was hungry, we had run out of popcorn, and all of her family was to entranced with the screen to go get more. But hey, that's life when you're a first-grader, or second-grader to be.
Which only got worse as, after the movie, we went out to dinner, and my sister, clutching her blanket which she had brought to shield her eyes at the scary parts, and holding her tall blue wizards hat to her head, whined as Dad and I started to discuss the movie.
"Mommy, make them stop!"
"I'm sorry, Kiddo, but you can't expect your father and sister to go to a Harry Potter movie and not talk about it afterwards."
Yes, indeed. I've been a rabid Harry Potter fan since I was in first grade and Dad started trying to read the books to me, despite my protests that "I don't want to read it!".
I ended up sneaking downstairs to swipe it off the shelf and read it to myself. And, since then I have loved reading- especially Harry Potter.
So I went to the movie, in my red-and-gold scarf that had the Gryffindor badge on it and my Time-Turner necklace, fully expecting an awesome movie.
And it was. Awesome, I mean. They really did a terrific job.
But now all I have to look forward to is the coming of the last book.... Which is both great and terrible. It can't end! It can't!...... And my other bestfriend's birthday party later that day.
Which I will be very tired during, since I am planning on staying up all night, so I can go to the Midnight book party when they release it. And then staying up later to read it all.
But, hey, that's just normal. I told you my life was boring!! ;-).
