oh, and i'm pretty much too excited to wait for thanksgiving!!!! and family!!! and food!! and to see "Enchanted!" (but my stupid english teacher has to ruin it for me and my family because i have to do a practice oral, my parents or somebody has to take notes and then critique me on it....i hate commentaries!!!)

Guilty!

Today I felt extremely guilty when my mom handed me two letters from my friend Seth. He's been on his mission for about two weeks and I hadn't written him yet! I kept putting it off until I could find the time to write a good, long letter and send him his birthday present (about 3 weeks late) at the same time. Unfortunately, I waited too long, because he said he put the return address on because he thought I lost his address....eeek! So I felt horrible, especially after Dad told me that missionaries check their mailbox about three times a day.

I also am feeling rather stressed out--I think all my teachers are conspiring against us to not only assign us projects at the same time, but to keep assigning them, because it makes no sense to them that we only have school for seven hours a day for a reason--why wouldn't school last all day long? I have a big book review for history for a book that I've only just started, a Kissinger quiz sometime this week on chapters that I have no idea I was supposed to be reading, and multiple biology labs that never seem to end. Oh, and i have a pyschology experiment write-up on this thing we were doing where we were teaching rats to go through mazes (our rat was the smallest, the fastest, and also the most spastic, ADD creature I have ever seen...he got loose twice around the room, but our teacher only knows about the first escape for freedom). My french teacher keeps giving us quizzes on stuff she never teaches, and we keep doing the same thing in english every day---analyze poem after poem after poem. And i officially hate a few of my classes, i have no favorite class, and the seminar, the one class that should make it easier for me to go to bed on time is the class where i just want to punch kids in the back of the head so that they'll stop talking and being annoying. okay, i'm done.

actually, i didn't feel that stressed out until i wrote all of that down--usually, all my friends are like, "aahh! i have so much to do, i can't believe how many projects i have to finish tonight, why in the world am i taking these classes, what am i going to do?!?" and i just kinda go, "yeah, me too" (in a Marvin-like fashion, for the Enter-Laughing viewers). I have just as much to do, but i never seem to get to pulling the hair out phases...sometimes i talk like i am, but i very rarely am, unless i'm very angry about it all! oh, and there's also seminary reading, which always seems to be in need of catching up--speakign of seminary, i'm going to have to get up at 5 again so i can shower for the first time this week....the good thing about having dry hair is that when it's straight, you don't have to shower really for a couple of days...which means I get ready for school after seminary, in 20 mins....i'm getting pretty good at it now, but I should probably wash my hair tonight...but then what am i going to do with it TOMORROW? this is why i like to have dirty, straight hair--and the best part is, no one can tell it's dirty! actually, it's not that dirty, just not really clean.

anyway, i need to go shower or something....and then go to bed so i can do more homework tomorrow! and it really makes me mad that this doesn't automatically capitalized the "i"s

Survey Thing

Here's that survey thing, because I can't think of anything better to write:

1. Where is your cell phone? purse

2. Boyfriend/girlfriend? freedom!

3. Your hair? dirty

4. Your mother? smart

5. Your father? strong

6. Your favorite item? bed

7. Your dream last night? none

8. Your favorite drink? orangejulius

9. Your dream car? lotus

10. The room you are in? basement

11. Your ex? none!

12. Your biggest fear? loss

13. What do you want to be in 10 years? happy

14. Who did you hang out with last night? stakeactivity

15. What you're NOT? boring

16. Muffin? tummy

19. The last thing you did? muffins

20. What are you wearing? pajamas

22. Your favorite book? nonexistant

23. The last thing you ate? muffin

24. Your life? stressful

25. Your mood? procrastinating

26. Your true friends? trustworthy

27. What are you thinking about right now? homework

28. Your car? camry

29. What are you doing at the moment? typing

30. Your summer? short

32. What is on your TV? nuttin'

33. Yesterday? long

34. Last time you cried? missionary

anyway, that's about all i have time for cause i have to get ready for church and figure out what goal i'm presenting tonight for Young Women's in Excellence! but the muffins were pumpkin chocolate chip and they were really, really, really good!!!

I'm baaaack!

I've decided on the spur of the moment to start posting again (we'll see how long this goes on) and also to see how long it takes before someone realizes that I've posted again. Anyway, my life is pretty uneventful...actually not really. In school: I have a huge Biology lab due Monday which seems to take forever to do, and I have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing (and our teacher won't help us because she says we're supposed to do it all by ourselves...even when we are clueless). In English I'm analyzing poetry (shoot me) and for Monday I have to be prepared to give our first oral commentaries on a poem, and re-color mark a blank copy for Monday, although I'll probably just use my old one since I really don't have anything else to add. Luckily, I think we're just presenting to each other in small groups, so I don't think I can really go wrong anywhere.

The play: this year we're doing "Enter Laughing", obviously a comedy, about a kid who wants to be an actor but is really bad at it; I play his girlfriend--needless to say, the kid who is my "boyfriend" is the kid I did a duo with last year and really had a kind of stressful relationship with over the last semester of last year. It's a bit awkward, but hopefully the play will be worth it (it's really funny). I'm supposed to memorize some more over the weekend, but i forgot my script at school, so....that might not happen until Monday. Anyway, it's going pretty well so far, and rehearsals haven't been too bad, but now I'm getting to where I don't really have any free nights; however, the good news is, it's only a month of it...the bad news....it's only a month.

Today's my sister Mary Beth's birthday....so, happy birthday, Mary Beth, if you ever read this! I probably won't write any cool post like Rachael does, cause I'm not as amazing as that, but I am very grateful to have a sister like Mary Beth...as Rachael says, between the two of us and Dad, we maintain the sanity level. I do love sneaking down to her dungeon bedroom at midnight when she visits to talk about her amazing book (that needs to be finished soon) and to plot the next heart-wrenching bits of the climax. I've gotten in trouble quite a few times for not leaving the cold, food-storage bedroom and going to bed. Sometimes I just go down there for no reason---I push the door open, walk nonchalantly over to the bookcase and pretend to search for a good book to read--she says, "Yes? Did you want something?"--I kind of sigh, turn and sit on her bed, and say, "No, not really" and then peer around at her laptop screen. This then usually turns into some discussion of Wings and then, in one case, curling up at the bottom of her twin bed and falling asleep with her knees in my back while she writes on her computer--this then turns into her getting sleepy and lying down too and pulling a blanket over the two of us....I slowly inch up to get part of the pillow and fall back asleep hanging halfway off the bed. We slept like this for about four hours, then got up to realize that our grandparents were over for dinner and probably go be friendly.

I always thought Mary Beth was so cool; she knew everything about medieval stuff and she even had clay dragons she had made, a tunic, and her own made up language (in which she used to post signs on her door and resolutely refuse to tell me what they meant). Mary Beth was the sister that I would go to and listen to her talk about her stories and the worlds that she created and just wish that I could write as well as her and have her amazing imagination. We made up games when we played in the snow--once we built a snow igloo out of a huge pile of snow at the end of our driveway, another time we made up our own tiny-three men army patrol (Mary Beth was captain, I was lieutenant, and Rosalind was private---we convinced her that it was a very prestigious rank on its own). I've always been sort of in awe of Mary Beth and her intelligence and her ability to create something out of nothing--and I've always felt very special to be privy to every single detail of her plottings on Wings.

So, I guess that's a pretty good sized post for you, MerBith--have a great birthday and keep writing!!!

I

SPRING!!!

yay for amazing, beautiful, warm weather!!! it's pretty much perfect outside right now...Dad said it was like 80 degrees, but i think he was exaggerating--but it's soooo nice outside!!! and i actually am going out West for spring break, because i have amazing parents (scratch out the "Puritans" i think i called them...i mean, some kids are just going to Florida...ugh). Anyway, only five more days till i leave, and spring break begins! i am sooooo excited!!!1

College Visit

By the way, if some loving sibling would like to encourage the Puritan parents (otherwise known as the Grapes of Wrath) to let their fourth and soon-to-be-sort-of graduating child go visit her sister in Utah for a college visit (i mean...i could always just stay here and go to KVCC...) it would be greatly appreciated!

I really hate thinking of a title to put here

I think the title thing is stupid, cause I can never think of anything to put there. Anyway, the musical is over, and we're right into forensics. We had our first tournament on Saturday; I went along, but I didn't compete. I was supposed to go watch duo final (cause I'm doing a duo this year, and I wanted to see what the competition was) but I also really, really, really wanted to see multiple (cause Northern's doing Les Mis, and I heard it was amazing)--so I went to the multiple final instead. Keep in mind that Northern's multiple last year was really good...even though it was a Disney movie (The Prince of Egypt), so I was really excited to see this years. And the final?? It was...HORRIBLE!!!!! It would have been so much better!!!! if they'd sung the whole thing!! They started out singing, and it was a really cool beginning, and then a guy turned around, and said, "Bring me prisoner 24601!" and then Javert and Valjean proceeded to speak most of their duet!!! It was astonishingly painful!! They'd speak a scene, and then jump wildly to another scene so someone could sing their characters' little solo, and then they'd speak the rest of it!!! ARGGHHHH! It made me really mad that I didn't go see duo. There was another multiple that was about this kid that had hemophelia, and then he gets AIDS and is dying for about half of it...and we just wondered when he would die so the piece would be over! Then the last one was Jekyll and Hyde...it was ok....( I thought it was better than the boy one, but it score as well in finals as the other, which was weird). It was kind of funy when Lucy died, however, cause she fell off a block, and then her skirt flew halfway up, and you just kind of hoped it wouldn't go all the way up! All the dying in the round generally went badly (Javert's especially). It was just so painful!!! It really made me want to do multiple again, but our multiple directer from last year just had a baby, so she's not doing it this year...therefore, I'm competing in duo!

My favorite thing about forensics is hanging out with the people--granted, it's kind of hard to have fun with people when you've all gotten up at 5:00 in the morning, and you're dead on the bus on the way there...and sprawled out unconscious on the floor between rounds...and on the bus back...and after you've stuffed yourselves full with so much McDo's that you think you're going to literally explode...and then you do it all over again the next weekend...not to mention the aggravating stress that you're feeling pretty much the whole day. My goal this year is to make it to States, even if we don't do that well, cause I love just being with people at states (probably the night at the hotel is my favorite...despite chaprones advising everyone to go to bed at 9:00 because of the rest of the tournament the next day at 7:00...it's kind of funny, cause the tournament where everyone would probably need the most stamina is after the night when everyone gets the least amount of sleep...but it's so much fun!!!!)

What bothers me is that i never, ever get to sleep in...get up at 5:00 in the morning, go to bed late, don't sleep much, then get up at 5:00 on Saturdays, the designated time for sleeping in, and then get up 7:30 on Sundays, especially after you've been wishing for a snowday from church, not felt quite right about praying for one, dream that your mom tells you that church is cancelled, and then get woken up 5 minutes later by a merciless parent telling you that it's time to get up for church. Of course, it is always very possible to kneel in bed with your face stuffed in your pillow to say your morning prayer, and then it's not quite your fault if you somehow fall asleep while praying.

Anyway, I can't wait for summer, cause then I might actually have a life. I have two kind of part-time jobs now...I teach violin lessons to a little girl from our church (and i'm supposed to start up now with a lady from the second ward...and i'm glad to have another student, i just think it will be kind of weird teaching an adult...and i'll talk to my orchestra teacher and hopefully get more students over the summer from the elementary orchestras). I also am going to start driving a little girl from our neighborhood to her kids' gym twice a week (which is less work and will pay better than a 1/2 hour violin lesson), so i'll be able to make more off of that...but i'd really like to get more students over the summer.

Long Night

I finally finished my internal assessment!! After hours and hours that dragged on and on (though occasionally punctuated with little encouraging Mary Beth comments and a very, very nice and appreciated little story about me in Wings, i finally did finish....the funny thing was, last night, it was only having to think of the information that was horrible..i wasn't the least bit tired last night; today, however, I think I fell asleep numerous times in my second row center seat in Mrs. LaVasseur's English class while she lectured us on our approaching IB orals. I kept hoping that she wasn't noticing, until one time, the class burst out laughing, and I had no idea what they were talking about. I don't think I was out that long--anyway, I was walking through the hall later, and Mrs. LaVasseur said, "Elise, are you all right?" and I was awake at this point in the day, so I said, "Yeah, I'm fine", and she said, "Cause I was considering sending an email to your mom saying, 'Just let her sleep in some morning!'" So there, Mom, I have my teacher's permission to sleep in. Luckily, she wasn't offended, and understood--and I still knew what she was talking about during the lesson (it was only really short naps, really, like for every minute of awakeness, there were 5 seconds of quick unconsciousness). Anyway, hopefully I'll be better rested tomorrow!

Bad Memory

Okay, it's been a long time because I forgot my username and password, and it's taken me about two weeks to finally realize what it was. Anyway, we've had two snowdays in a row (mostly becasue of the windchill...though the weather was really bad this weekend). Sunday during tech rehearsal, someone was called and told that there was no school on Monday, and so the cast was quietly and discreetly jumping up and down backstage. This morning after I got out of the shower at 5:30, Mom said that seminary was canceled because school was canceled...so I took my contacts back out and went back to bed.

Yesterday during rehearsal, James Sanford of the Gazette (the really hard critic) was there watching us, and I think it went pretty well (except for some technical difficulties), but I'm still worried about what he'll say, because it's not yet up to performance point. I still am liking the show a lot better, though it's a really sad tragedy...like...nothing happy at the end at all. The musics very good though, and it's literally sung all the way through..there are maybe three lines spoken throughout the whole thing, and they're all about three words long. It's just one big, almost-modern opera.

Anyway, i'm pretty much running out of things to say...I was just excited that I remembered my username and password!

SNOW!!!...and psychology...and riddles

It finally looks like Michigan! Church was canceled again--we have at least nine inches of snow. It almost looked like a whiteout this morning when I got up (but, thanks to my smartness, I decided to eat breakfast before showering, and this week it was Rosalind who showered and then realized church was canceled. I just went back to bed for another three hours). I've been going sledding for the past two weekends on about an inch to two inches, and it looks like this weekend we can actually go down the full length of the hill without biffing it (but then that probably means
I'll have to wear more than jeans and tennis shoes). Anyway, this new semester is full of IB stuff, orals, internal assessments, but also musical shows, forensics, and lots of biology field trips to Chicago. What's really weird, is that this time next year, I'll almost be getting ready to graduate (and be much more responsible). Anyway, for those of you others with blogs...POST MORE PICTURES!!! My life isn't that exciting and new (and I don't take very many pictures, and wouldn't know how to post them if I did), but yours are always mysteries, so you have to post pictures.

Oh! I found out a really cool thing in my psychology class (I LOVE that class...it's the most interesting and entertaining class I have--i even read my psychology book for fun!!). Anyway, so we were talking about perception, and how long it takes for your eye to adjust to different light (bright light vs. pitch black) and my teacher brought up something that I guess had been on Mythbusters. So you know why pirates wear an eyepatch? Cause they haven't all lost eyes! The daylight on the open ocean is blindingly bright, and so it's really hard for the pupil to adjust when they go below deck into the hold. So they wear an eyepatch over one eye so that it is always adjusted to darkness, and when the sailor goes below, all he has to do is switch the patch from the "dark" eye to the other, and voila! He can see immediately! I thought that was really cool. And apparently true.

Another thing I found on one of my psychology light-reading sprees. This is a riddle that I found on the side of the page (that's where all the most interesting things are). I don't know whether it's easier to have it told to you or to read it, but Mom got it the first time I told it to her, and I have to tell it to Dad three times before he eventually figured it out. Myself, I had to read it a couple times. So:

You're driving a bus with 12 passengers on it. At the first stop, 3 passengers get off. At the second stop, 2 passengers get off. At the third stop, 1 passenger gets off but 2 others get on.
What color are the bus driver's eyes?

It's actually really easy once you figure it out, but I thought it was cool (cause it was one that I actually knew!)

Oh, here's another one that's harder (you have to guess what the object is):

The person who makes me doesn't need me,
The person who buys me doesn't want me,
And the person who uses me doesn't know it.
What am I?

That one's harder!! I couldn't guess what it was, but maybe I'll someday post the answer.

Mary Beth--it is all Mom's fault that I don't have a livejournal, because she told me to get this format--and I didn't tell you because I couldn't figure out how to comment on your livejournal and I couldn't find your email address...so really I do love you, but how were the worms? Perhaps you could just give me your password so that I could still read your stuff if I cross my heart and stick a needle in my eye promise not to tweak a word?! (and I'll critique more...I promise!)

I somehow maybe survived my first one and a half exams, and I just have to last out the week. I don't think I'll ever be unstressed until the end of next semester though, because I can't think of something that doesn't need to be done (and I'm actually having to capitalize all the "I"s that I type--I'm so used to having the computer do it for me, that I have to go back and literally retype every single "I" I write. Anyway, I need to go to bed so I can pass my Biology and French exams tomorrow, both of which, by the way, neither teacher prepared us for at all. So, farewell until another, perhaps not so tired day.

Exams!

I decided that I was feeling out of the loop, and while I could read what was going on in my family's lives, they had no idea what was going on in mine. So, I created a blog, and now I can communicate somewhat with some of my family. We'll see how this goes, since I have never been the most technologically advanced person.

As of tomorrow, we'll have officially started exams, and for once in forever, we're actually threatened with a week of potential snowdays-and I'm actually hoping that we'll not have any. But I should get back to studying so that I can manage to pass any of them and get into college. So...welcome to my blog!