Spring Break

1. Finish chapters 1 through 9
2. Find another mentor
3. Clean my room thoroughly
4. Finish reading The Devil in the White City
5. Finish my 8 page paper on science fiction
6. Start my 10 page paper on death in literature
7. Political Science study guides 2 - 7
8. Finish my paper on when the U.S. became a democracy
9. Write 8 new blog posts

Today was rally day but I didn't go. I know, it's my last rally of my last semester of my last year of high school but I couldn't go. Not many people at school like me and I'd just spend the entire rally sitting in a corner, waiting for it to end.

I have a bunch to do for spring break and some planning for posts I've got ideas for.

See you later!

I'm Wishing for...

More time!

As eager as I am to be done with my high school career and transition into adulthood, I need more time! Mostly because I now only have a month to finish my book for senior project. Eeekk!

Looks like my own personal NaNoWriMo is going to be in April. Hopefully I can finish by then.

Right now I'm in a rush to finish and finalize my outline as well as finish up chapter one. I think my presentation is going to be on April 23 or something like that so I need to be done by then.

Well, I'm off to work on my book. I just wish that I figured out which storyline to go with sooner. Then I would have been more focused on just this one book.

I'll share the premise, a short summary and maybe even a bit of chapter one in a later post. At this exact moment, I'm heading off to write! I think my entire spring break will be in front of either a computer or a pen and paper.

Movie Review: The Lorax

The people who run the transition program, where I tutor and volunteer, are really nice and last Friday when they went to go see The Lorax in the local movie theater, they invited me. All 22 of us, the kids and staff, piled into the bus (which didn't have many seats because they need room for any kids in wheelchairs as it is a special education bus.)

Everyone was so excited to see the movie. I was just excited to have something to do on a Friday and having an excuse to get out of English early always helps. Haha. And, I remember reading the book when I was in first grade so I was eager to see how they turned it into a full-length movie.

The Lorax is a story about trees even though it is set in a world with no real nature and everything is plastic. A boy named Ted (voiced by Zac Efron) is looking for a real tree to surprise his crush Audrey (voiced by Taylor Swift <3). So, on the advice of his grandmother, he goes to see the Once-ler to find out what happened to the trees and learn how he can find one.

I was so pleasantly surprised by this movie. I thought it would be just another one of those kind-of-boring kids movies but it turned out to be so good.

I love the story and the message of The Lorax so that helped the movie be really great seeing as it was already based on a great children's book.

The illustration and world it was set in was so awesome and intricate. The idea of a person selling clean air? Scary but awesome.

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My favorite scenes had the Once-ler character (voiced by Ed Helms) in them. The Once-ler was so funny but it turned out really tragic after all the trees died. My absolute favorite part (other than the heartfelt ending) was the song number called "How Bad Can I Be?" Favorite song ever.

I love the lesson in how a world made of plastic, however clean it may be, is still not as good as the natural world and we need to protect the trees.

And The Lorax (voiced by Danny DeVito) had an amazing mustache. Also, I love how they incorperated the green gloves that the Once-ler wears in the book into the movie. I got so excited when the elderly Once-ler first appeared! Flashback to first grade's Dr. Seuss party!

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Anyway, The Lorax is a great movie for the young and young at heart. If you're more into action-oriented things (like I am usually, I saw The Hunger Games on Sunday, two days after seeing The Lorax) then this movie is not for you.

If you enjoy animation and Dr. Seuss, then you should go see this movie. It will make you flashback (in a good way.)

Cats vs. Mouse

Ah, the joys of kitty-parenthood.

Wednesday night, my mother yelled for me, saying that Demetri had just ran through the dog door with something in his mouth, dashing straight for my bedroom. After finding two dead birds, one dead mouse and one live mouse (cowering silently in my closet) in my room before, I immediately ran after him.

When I got to my room I heard the familiar shuffling around of my cats playing but then I heard something new. Panicked squeaks as a mouse fought to get away from its captor. I turned on the light to see Demetri catch him, let him go, and then catch him again in his mouth.

My mother came into my room and laughed when she saw the mouse in Demetri's mouth. I yelled at her to get me a towel quick so I could take the traumatized mouse and place it in the ivy outside. Mom laughed and got the towel.

Mother laughed a lot that night.

For two hours, Damien, Demetri and I went from searching under my dresser, to my desk, to my bed to the whole entire room. The boys looked so confused and excited (those sadists.)

My mom laughed, obstructing the way, and making jokes. Finally I yelled at her to get out because I was feeling so stressed.

So, instead of working on Political Science homework, I moved around my furniture and fell asleep on the couch. I gave up and decided to let Damien and Demetri have at it. While I slept on the couch in the living room, I trapped the boys in the room without their canned food treat that night (although they always have dry food.)

The next day, I found half a mouse wrapped in a T-shirt that fell out of my dresser. I still haven't found the butt of the mouse.

Damien when I try to pick him up

Oh, the joys of having cats. Bringing in live mice, peeing in your shoes when they're angry, and driving you mad with worry when they figure out the dog door and don't come home for dinner.

I love them but it's like having my own little teenagers. Seriously, Demetri talks back! And Damien hisses at me when I try to pick him up! I miss when they were little kittens and stayed in the house instead of going out and fraternizing with street cats and bringing home strange animals.

College Decisions Part 1

Today was the day Hamilton gave its admissions decisions. Here's the only sentence that I read in the online, overused letter:

From Hamilton College

I pretty much stopped after "I am sorry to inform you..."

So, Hamilton College is out but I'm taking this a whole lot better than I thought. My first official rejection letter.

I am still crossing my fingers for my number one choice, Sarah Lawrence College.

My Day Off

What are the odds that both my Speech teacher and my Political Science teacher are out on the same day? Yay! So that means that I have no classes today which meant that I got to sleep in today and stay in my PJ's until my hair appointment at 4.

Yesterday, the hair lady dyed my streaks green and the rest of my hair black. However, the green didn't take too well so we're redoing the roots today.

I'm excited!

To close out, here's a picture of Demetri

I've Been Tagged!

I'm so excited because I love tag posts! Sary from The Walrus Room tagged me (you should check her out because she's awesome and has impeccable taste.)

How does it work?

• Post the rules on your blog
• Write 11 things about you
• Answer it
• Create 11 new questions for the future tagged ones
• Put a link to the tagged blogs
• Prevents them by leaving a message on their blogs (This one makes me go 'what?') (me too, Sary)
• No information about us in the "tag" section (And this one. o.O) (Again, me too)
• Tag 11 people

Rules posted. Now, I have to reveal 11 things about myself:

1. My favorite candy is a Reese's peanut butter cup. So delicious!
2. I sleep in my contacts (I know it's horrible but I'm so lazy)
3. I watch way too much Nickelodeon (and other TV) than what is healthy for a 17-year-old. And it is my secret ambition to be on a television show or at least write for one. Television is better than a movie because they can keep the viewer hooked for years.
4. I don't know how to drive yet but I have a car. My sister got a new car when she went to law school so I got her old one. I still need to finish my driver's ed. but I'm okay with taking the bus and walking.
5. I'm a bit of a grammar and spelling Nazi. I HATE when people mix up "your" and "you're" and "there," "their," and "they're."
6. I am a horrible artist. I write and collage but I'm just not an artist when it comes to drawing and painting.
7. Although I primarily read and write fantasy and science fiction, I have a special place in my heart for realistic fiction because that's what I first started writing. However, I only like realistic fiction if the situation is really screwed up. I don't want to read about someone going through the same stuff that I go through because I already know how those characters feel. I like reading about screwed up situations that includes but is not limited to: drugs, teenaged pregnancy, disease, (non-graphic) rape. I like reading about situations that I don't see myself being in.
8. I prefer zombies over vampires, werewolves, fairies... they're my favorite, let's just say that. My first rated-R movie that I saw in theaters was Zombieland. Zombies are so fascinating to me because they could become real if science has anything to do with it. The story that I'm writing for my senior project is about a girl who works for a mortician that is a necromancer. Yay!
9. My favorite type of food is Mexican. Enchiladas, quesadillas, tacos... yum! (I love burritos too, but the truth is that burritos are actually American.)
10. I'm at my 4th (and last) high school. I went to a Christian school (uh...), a ghetto public school (ugh), an insanely easy independent study program (hmm) and now I'm at a college preparatory high school (yay). I really like being on the college campus mostly because I like the variety of courses we're allowed to take and I like being with college students. College students are usually way nicer and more understanding than high school students and I love talking to the students that are in their 30s, 40s or 50s because they have a lot of good advice and can be good friends.
11. I love old fashioned names. I've had my heart set on naming my first daughter Alice Evelyn  (which will probably happen in about ten or so years.) I love the name Alice and the name Evelyn and it's especially great because Alice was my maternal great grandmother's name and Evelyn was my maternal grandmother's name. I'm thinking my son would be named Parker.

Now to answer Sary's questions:

1. What's your favorite pattern? - My favorite pattern is stripes. I love striped tights, striped dresses, striped skirts... oh I love stripes!
2. What's your favorite band? - My favorite band is Jack's Mannequin. They're songs are so beautiful and putting the song "Swim" on replay in my head has helped me get through really rough days.
3. Do you prefer skirts/dresses or pants/shorts? - Oh certainly skirts and dresses! I only have one pair of jeans and any other pants I have are sweatpants that I wear either to the fitness center or to sleep. I love skirts and dresses because they make me feel so pretty and girly and are really comfortable (usually.)
4. If you were to describe yourself in three words what would you choose? - Lazy imaginative creeper.
5. What's your favourite smell? - The smell of hot apple cider or baking apple pie. So delicious!
6. What are you wearing right now? - It's funny because I said I usually skirts and dresses but right now I'm being lazy and wearing my one pair of jeans. The only reason I went outside today was to go to a garage sale down the street so I felt I didn't want to get a skirt or dress dirty just for that.
7. What's your favourite toy? - If toy = gadget, then my computer but if you mean actual toy like something at Toys R Us, then I would say this one ball maze that my friend has. You turn the plastic ball around to guide a little metal ball inside it through a series of obstacles to get into a little purple bucket in the middle of the ball. It's so difficult but so fun.
8. Are you a heels or flats type of person? - Flats because I don't own or know how to walk in heels. For serious. I'm afraid of heels because I know that if an insane guy with a chainsaw decides to chase me that would be the day I decided to wear heels, thus I would have to run through glass barefoot or die because no one can run in heels.
9. How many mirrors do you have in the room you are currently in? - I am in my living room so... one. It's right next to the front door for quick checks and lipstick-applying before leaving the house.
10. What's your favourite drink? - This is such a difficult one! I love juice but I love Coca-Cola... so I'm going to have to say apple cider. Apple cider is the only drink that I like that's hot. I don't like any other drink hot because I always burn my tongue. So yes, I don't like tea. Sue me.
11. What's your favourite animal? - If you're talking wild animal then giraffe. Giraffes have been my favorite wild animals ever since I was a baby and my favorite lovey was a stuffed giraffe named RaRa (whom I still have.) My favorite domestic animal are cats because they're just so cuddly and awesome and they don't slobber like my dogs do.

And now my questions to ask the people I tag are:

1. What's your favorite color?
2. What was your favorite Disney movie or just kid movie growing up?
3. If money (and talent) wasn't an issue, what would be your dream job?
4. What superpower would wish to have if you could only have one?
5. Hansel and Gretel OR Little Red Riding Hood?
6. Who was your favorite teacher and why?
7. What is your favorite dessert?
8. What was the last book you read?
9. Do you collect anything?
10. What is your favorite emoticon?
11. Do you remember your dreams?

And now, I tag:

• Jesse from Well It's Okay
• Scarlett from Teen Granny
• Natalie from Extra Large As Life
• Kristin from My Life As a Teacup
• Meredith from One Sheepish Girl
• Astrid from A Girl Named Astrid
• Bianca from Goodnight Little Spoon
• Sonya from Brighid's House

Uh... that's only eight but those are the only people I can think of who haven't gotten tagged already...

Weekend Plans (March 3 - 4)

This Weekend I plan to:

• Start a paper on why schools should require science fiction and fantasy literature in the curriculum

• Clean my room

• Write 5000 words (on my senior project book)

• Finish the tag post

• Complete 3 political science assignments
• Start my research paper on how death is protrayed in literature

Things I'm Loving Thursday (3)

It seems like a while since I've done this so this is definitely overdue. Here are some things I've been loving the past month or so:

Funny detention slips. It makes me want to go to class with a sign saying "Occupy English 4."

Coloured photos of 1950s and 40s circus performers. Oh, I love stuff like this. I wish I lived during the Golden Age of Circus so I could become a performer. Now everything is too commericalized and cheap.

Here's a funny one: How the Oregon Trail Relates to Dating. Hahaha, I remember playing that game for hours!

This one is interesting: How the Internet Has Taken the Glamour Out of Behaving Badly. It really gets you thinking about how we idolize Marilyn Monroe while we condemn people like Snookie and Lindsay Lohan. (Though I do not condone bad behavior at all, I think they all should be considered trashy equally.)

I loved this article at Gala Darling's about being an escort. It's called "I'm 22 Years Old, I'm an Escort and My Boyfriend has No Idea." I could never be an escort because I have a difficult time compartmentalizing my brain.

And another thing I'm certainly loving is that Psych is finally back! If you are friends with me on Facebook, you know that I love Psych and that it was on last night because I was freaking out. It's flipping awesome.