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I started tutoring a kid in grade five for math this week. I was so excited! I had so much fun thinking of mini "lesson plans" but it's hard to find fun things to do. I mean, I personally enjoy sitting down and doing my multiplication facts or any other math problem really...I'm an exception. But this boy, to my disbelief, was weaker at adding than multiplying! So we spent pretty much all of yesterday's half an hour working on addition. And I did think of a cool game---the card game Pyramid. He seemed to like that and then of course, there's flash cards and the good ol' pen and paper. We started out with half an hour of lessons Tuesday and Wednesday but then the boy's mom thought that it might be better if it was just once a week for an hour. I agree because you just get started in half an hour and don't get a lot done. So now I don't go again until next Tuesday...which I'm realizing is closer than I was thinking. Which also means I should be working on my Career's brochure. Oops. So I'm editing my novel right now and that is an adventure, let me tell you! Especially because I've already decided that my ending is going to be changed...again. But I think I've learned my lesson. Or am learning it. Anyways, I'll rewrite my ending FIRST and get it (close to) perfect and then go back and add scenes, change them, whatever. This should be more efficient, though there are no guarantees. There never are. And that's pretty much it for right now, except for dinner which I'm about to go eat!
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Basketball season is officially over. I played my last OBA game yesterday and we lost in the quarter finals, 40-33 I think. But I played probably some of the best basketball I've played all season and it wasn't even against Tillsonburg! That's usually when I play really good. But yesterday, in my first shift I hit one three and then another buzzer shot three! It was great! I think that's more than I've scored all season lol. And then in my first morning game, I hit both my foul shots, which I was extremely proud of. I can always hit them in practice but never in a game. I did have a rough time with passes though...but I'd rather think about the good points for my last OBA weekend. Next year at this time, I'll (hopefully) be in Switzerland. I need to see the chiropractor too. I'm pretty sure my hip's out because right near my tailbone is sore, down my calf is sore, and my back is sore (though the latter could be for a number of reasons). Today will probably see me doing homework. I've got a Career interview to finish off and I should just get my Spanish family tree over and done with. Alex said it's supposed to be about 20 C today so that's nice. And it's sunny out...one of those days where there are no clouds anywhere. I love it! I got my midterms on Friday (it was supposed to be Thursday but I was at a memorial in Port Elgin for my dad's dad). I'm at a 94 in Civics (my final), a 97 in French, a 97 in Spanish, AND A 98 IN MATH!!!!! I couldn't believe it! My teacher told me that she's never had anyone with that kind of a mark in any of her classes. Which reminds me...I've got a major math test on Monday that I should most likely be studying for. But that's besides the point. A 98! And everyone says that grade 10 math is the hardest and everyone who was at like an 80 in grade nine drops to like a 60 in grade 10. But I went up! It's just crazy. And so far, I've tried my best to not brag and I think it's gone pretty well. I don't tell people what my marks are unless they ask. One of my basketball teammates is really competitive for marks and naturally wants to beat me, so she's always asking what I've got. She's not worried about my math mark yet because her final was a 97. I'm not trying to beat that and I told her that. My teacher is a lot harder than her's was. This whole 98 thing was not exactly a fluke but I didn't do it to beat her. I just like things done right (I did not just quote myself from one of my stories). To end on a happier note, I should be getting my first story back from my English teacher tomorrow. I'm going to pray that she actually read it this time...she's had it for four months! But I know she's busy and this is just an extra thing. So I really hope she found time because I want/need to start editing it.
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I finished my novel last night! It took me most of yesterday after school to do it (somehow, the words never flow just right at the end and it takes a while to put them together effectively) and I missed House. But I think it was worth it. Only, now I feel strange, especially at school. Where I've had my nice little notebook and characters waiting for me in every class, they're not any more. They've had their say and seem to be happy with it. I actually think my ending's pretty good too. Summed everything up, which doesn't always happen. I feel like I should be writing my story right now in fact. And I don't have anything to think about and plan out. It's done. Now, ideally, I should wait a while and catch up on some reading before editing my Dangerous Friends story. I popped in on my English teacher today from last semester to see if she'd read it yet...and got a no. She's been really busy (as I expected) with different projects and admitted that she'd taken too much on this year. She's got two deadlines on Monday and her courses at the university start the Monday after that. She claims that she's only got her "regular old boring life" in between there and plans to restart my story and read it all the way through to the end. I'm afraid. After finishing A Change of Pace (a title which no longer fits the story), Dangerous Friends feels like there's gaping holes. A Change of Pace, especially the ending, feels more solid. The ending of Dangerous Friends definitely needs a lot of work. I know that already. With most of my stories, I find that I'm in a rush to finish so the last fifty or so pages really misses out on detail and drawing everything together. ACOP though, I really tried to force myself to slow down and I think it paid off. I haven't reread it yet so I'm not sure, but from the writing perspective, I think it's alright. And I was also a little too heavy on the romance in DF, which I also cleared up for the most part in the other story. Now, I only have math homework to do. And coffee house. And basketball practice. We got gold at Huntsville on the weekend too, which was great!
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Tonight was an awful basketball practice. No one was really into it from the beginning, including myself, and it showed. It felt like everything was in slow motion and since Darren's motto is "Run, Baby, Run", he wasn't at all impressed. We played 3 on 3 full court, which we always suck at because it's so much sprinting and never a break, and naturally, we got into trouble. So much that we had a Talk. During this talk, Darren said his speech, which is always motivating to me, and then asked Rachel if she honestly thought we were better than our high school team. She said "sort of" and blah blah blah. Darren finally got her to make her decision and she said no. Then he went around and asked everyone else what they thought. When he got to me, I wasn't sure. And because I hesitated and he said honestly, I had to say no. Everyone else said yes. So he came back to me and Rachel and asked us why. I already felt bad because I said no and made it sound like four months of hard work had been for nothing. Now I had to explain it. I gave the reason that we're tripping on the small things such as layups and yadah yadah yadah. Of course, I think of the more thorough explanation after. We have the same problem we've had since we played for Dean two years ago, the first time this team was together. We blow hot, then cold. We can't make it through a game with consistency. I mean, of course we're going to make mistakes and we may have a bad possession or two, but we lose it for half a quarter or more and can't get back into it. If we're lucky and do get back in the grove, we've put so much more work into it then we should've. In high school, we played easy teams as Darren pointed out for me to think about. That made everyone look like superstars. But I think that's because our confidence level rose and now, when we play harder teams, we know they're good and we shy away from it. I say "we" intentionally; I'm as guilty, if not more so in some cases, as everyone else. We're so afraid to make a mistake or lose the game or whatever that we think way too hard instead of letting reflexes take over and do the job for us. Of course, we get into trouble for not focusing (lay ups, passes, etc.) but I really think that if we just...play that everything will be better. Instead, we think "oh the pass should go over there because she should be open" and make the pass with three defensive players in between us. It's been the same thing since day one. Now, that was really negative. On the positive side we have improved in some areas (maybe I should have said yes because we have improved, if not as much as we should've). We're getting faster. A lot faster, especially these passed couple weeks. Our minds are going faster and a lot of times, that's when we start reacting instead of thinking. As long as our bodies can keep up (and for some reason, mine doesn't seem to), then we're all set. In practice. In a game, we slow things down because of fear I think. However, back to positives. Our one on one skills have improved as well as our outside shooting. Kim makes her lay ups probably 85% of the time now, if not more. Katelyn isn't traveling as much. Ashley's doing a great job under the net, both offensively and defensively. Hannah's making more lay ups. Individual improvements are there. Sometimes we have a problem putting them into game situations and working as a team. I don't want to take basketball any further than high school. I know that. My passion is in education, but I also like being physically fit. And I like the challenge. Basketball always makes me think (I know, I just said don't think, react, but whatever). It's something to work on and usually a great stress reliever unless we practice like we did tonight. Then it just adds to the stress and makes me want to quit. But I never will because I don't quit. I will never be happy if I was to quit as a mediocre player. I have to be good at everything I do. Not necessarily the best, and not starting five, but good. And I need to make the other girls, the ones who are serious about basketball, I have to make them better. If I know that Kim doesn't make that pass in a game because she remembers me stealing it in practice, then my work is done. I have to hold the team together, pick them up and encourage them when Darren's being hard on us. I know that. And I like my role there.
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Mmm...I love chocolate! We had the traditional Easter egg hunt even though Alex and I are really too old. Even Sadie's getting up there. But we can sure get the house covered in a matter of minutes. And we always see who can get the most. I've won the last two years. And then out at the farm, we've been doing an outside one for the last couple years but this year, it snowed. So we did a smaller one in the house with Claira. It was fun and my mom told my aunt that Alex and I wouldn't do it because we were too old. We still got to though; we just didn't get a lot of the dollar store presents that Sadie and Claira did, which is fine by me. Chocolate eggs, notebooks, pencils, that's enough for me. It was also nice because I got to see my cousin Randi, who seems to always be at her dad's over holidays. We talked about books and her co-op as a vet tech. I also got to see what a cat uterus looks like. In a drawing, of course. How special. And I got to meet Laura (pronounced Lowra), Octavio's daughter. She's really nice but I didn't get to talk to her a whole lot, unfortunately. She's graduating from U of T this year with a degree in something that has to do with analyzing diseases and stuff. And after all that eating and having a good time with my family (my Aunt Marie came down too and no one was expecting her to), I have to write out my Amnesty International presentation on cue cards, add a title to my poster, and then write, write, write, write, write. I want to finish my book this week (yikes!) and hopefully, Mrs.Bray read my other story over the weekend. I want it back so I can edit it, but I want her comments too!
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I am so exhausted! I swear, my brain has literally just shut down. Especially this morning. I went to Spanish and there were a few questions I hadn't got that were due today so I asked Amanda. She said that we took a note on one thing yesterday and I asked where I was (I couldn't remember but I knew I had been someplace important) and she reminded me about the music festival. So that's okay. I copy the note and almost got in trouble for doing my homework then because apparently "it was too late". Then as the teacher comes around to check it, I confessed to not doing like four questions (which was entirely true, even though I had them done by the time she got there). She said that that was okay because I hadn't been there the day before and then asked me where I was. For the life of me, I couldn't remember!!! I knew that it was a legitimate reason and that I'd missed the whole morning and I also knew that Amanda had just told me. My teacher thought that I was a little bit crazy because I told her I didn't know and had to ask Amanda. So yeah. My day was rough to begin with. But I had the best dream in the world last night! I dreamed that Sarah Dessen came on tour I guess to our school and we were across the road from my house. No one but me knew her or had read her books so I was very excited. But I didn't want to be annoying so I didn't ask her any questions about writing or anything, just let her say what she wanted. Then she asked to see my house because no one really cared about her but I was very interested. I showed her around a house that wasn't my real one but was mine in the dream (it looked the same on the outside, just not inside). My dream brain also got mixed up on which books she'd written too; I had her sign New Moon and Twilight and then realized that she'd "also" written This Lullaby, The Truth About Forever, and Just Listen (which I so happened to have). I told her she didn't have to worry about signing the other books of her's that I have. Now that I think about it, I think "Sarah" was a mixture of both her and Stephenie Meyer throughout the whole dream and that's why she signed all the books. At the end of the day, we exchanged e-mail addresses and she promised to keep in touch. It was definitely one of the coolest dreams I've ever had! This weekend is also Easter, which means I get Friday and Monday off. I really need them. No basketball, no school, but a lot of homework. I'm hoping I can make myself do all of it between tonight and tomorrow so I can be completely free (except for Saturday's piano lesson) to write and enjoy myself. However, Alex brought her tenor sax home, which she's playing right now. This is not helping with the brain-dead-harder-to-concentrate deal. But I shall go to my homework and make the most of it. And for being completely, exhausted, this is a very long entry!
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We got two gold medals in Festival today! All that Clarinet Choir sure paid off...though it helped that we were the only group competing in both the trio and the ensemble. But seriously, we did sound great. And the adjudicator we had NEVER gives gold or a mark above 85. Our Jazz Band for the last two years has gotten silver simply because "no band is good enough for a gold". Now, I didn't know we had the same guy but someone mentioned that that was him. First, the trio played Gavotte, a piece I really like. Brittany got her ending part, most of my notes came out it was all good. We got an 86! And then for The Entertainer, we got an 85 with all five of us playing. It was really good. Laura got gold on her flute solo that we weren't supposed to stay and listen to but we did anways. We went out for lunch at Boston Pizza, got back fifteen minutes late, went to class. All in all, it was pretty good. Except for all the homework I have now. Two Spanish pages, a French family thing that I'm not even sure I'm doing right, math questions, and a Civics unit test tomorrow, plus a project due Tuesday. And, of course, basketball practice tonight, though piano was moved until Saturday. Busy, I would say. As always.
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Last night was probably the hardest basketball practice I've ever been to in my life! We ran and ran and ran and ran...and then ran some more. But I was more than expecting it after our performance on Saturday in Sarnia. Let's just say we lost a game we definitely shouldn't have. And I missed a wide open layup. *shudders* So yes. Darren ran us hard last night, doing drills like 11 man drill, 4 on 4 full court, transition, and five man weave. Terrifying! The only thing that could've made it worse was 3 on 3 full court. That is an extremely brutal drill. One hundred shots in five minutes could have gone bad too if we'd done it. However, we all lived (barely) and are gearing up to go to shooting practice tonight! Tomorrow is Festival for the Clarinet Choir. Yippee. It actually sounds pretty good, both the trio and the group. The bad part is that sometimes I feel like I'm hanging on by a thread during the whole piece and that my fingers are barely catching the notes. When I perform in front of an adjudicator, I'm going to be nervous and sweaty and want to rush...the piece is going to fall apart. *sigh* I brought my instrument home to practice but who knows if I'll get around to it. I don't even know how I'm getting to the place tomorrow. Not a good start to my morning. As much as I hate to say this, why aren't I American? Two of my favourite authors, Sarah Dessen and Stephenie Meyer, are having big book signings in May. Actually, I think they fall on the same weekend. Sarah's in NYC doing a signing/conference thing and Stephenie's in Arizona hosting the Eclipse Prom! I want to go sooo bad!!! No one ever does anything like that in Canada. Canadian tours are a rare thing it seems, especially by famous authors. I think Tamora Pierce has only done two (I could be wrong. She's been published since before I was born) that I know of. Then, of course, J.K. Rowling lives in England along with Philip Pullman and Dan Brown doesn't do tours I don't think. So sad. Now that I've completely depressed myself, I'm going to go work on my French project.
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Thursday, today, is my only break until NEXT weekend. How depressing is that? I mean, I go go go so much that I haven't even had to time to put my clothes away for the last three washes or so. My closet is practically empty, all the clean clothes on my floor. And I hate the mess! We have Festival for the clarinet choir on Wednesday and I'm not sure the trio's ready. I don't feel ready. But if I'm the most of our problems, then I guess that's okay. I'm doing alright at it. Just no time to practice. And then this weekend, I'm in Sarnia for a basketball tournament, leaving school early tomorrow and staying over in a hotel. If we win all our games, I think we even play Sunday, which means no relaxing time. And then we have the three day stretch of practices, piano, clarinet choir, Festival, and of course, homework, which takes me right up to Good Friday. Oh, and instead of a piano lesson Wednesday, I'm going next Saturday instead. Come on!!! Don't get me wrong though. For the most part, I love doing what I do. Just sometimes, I want more time to myself to read, write, clean, do my own thing. I'm constantly going right now, trying to remember to do everything at once and forgetting half of it. Today, I knew I had to get math help. I forgot about the Music Council meeting, which I haven't been to one since Semi in February! I've missed three weeks due to various reasons, all legitimate in my mind, but still. Maybe I should just quit. It sounds very appealing.... We also had our grade 10 literacy testing today. That was fun. Not. I like reading and writing but I don't like being tested on it. Actually, in hindsight, the writing things weren't so bad. They were on interesting topics, something I hadn't expected on the test. And one of the passages we had to read was on the fourteen year old author of Prophecy of the Stones, Flavia Bujor. It was pretty cool. However, I thought I wouldn't get done in time for the second half of the test in period three. I spent a lot of time on the three paragraphs, explaining why I thought gym shouldn't be compulsory all through high school. Anyways, everyone else was like a page ahead of me. Still, no worries. I got er all done and checked. That's it for today! Got to...well, I'm sure there's something I should be doing.
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I just finished reading Sarah Dessen's LJ and I was very sorry to hear about a complaint she received from an angry mother regarding her use of the "f" word in one of her books. Language is language, swear words and all. I feel bad because this woman obviously has never written before, or if so, not very well. People get angry, they swear. Also as a writer, I find that a lot of what my characters say cannot be changed by me without having the feeling of being fake. Just because I don't swear doesn't mean they don't. And I have said the odd word in a stressful situation. But I hope Sarah doesn't let it bother her too much. In other news, I'm struggling with choices as far as university. I know I want to major in English. That's it, though I've been telling people I want to go through for languages as well. But I don't know. Like, I love learning languages and I want to learn many more, but do I really want to pick one to minor in and rip it all to pieces like we do in English? As far as grammar goes, who cares? As long as you can be understood easily and it makes sense, why should we analyze where the verb goes and why it agrees or doesn't? Another option to minor in is history. I really like history, but I'm not sure what area I would specialize in. Ancient, Middle-Ages, or Russian Revolution? Or something else entirely? My compromise between languages and history is Classics. That is, Greek and Roman ancient history while learning Latin and Greek. How cool would that be? But is it where my passion lies? I've also thought that a law degree would be cool because then I could work for the government (I think). Of course, I need my teaching degree too. That, at least, I'm set on going to Australia for. I'm starting to look at scholarships too. My friend Amanda's mom has a website for different scholarships you can get in Canada and I'm slowly working and finding information for the Rhodes Scholarship. I'm actually going to research that now...or after my math homework.
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It is sooo nice outside today! Like, shorts and t-shirt weather (though I'm in capris). And even better, I was outside a lot to enjoy it! The UWO trip was nice. After the tour (of some very old, very cool buildings) we ate lunch and then me and Terra wandered around outside for like over an hour. It was great, seeing university life and so many people were out studying, enjoying the sunny hotness of today. I also discovered that UWO would be great for me...except that it's too close to home. I want to go some place else, at least an hour's drive away like Waterloo or Guelph. I'm still hoping for that scholarship into Oxford. I found out the other night actually that my Civics teacher had a friend from high school who got the Rhodes Scholarship. I've been meaning to talk to her about it, see if she knows anything. Back to the UWO trip, I was so proud of myself! I got us through most of the campus without getting completely lost. Usually I'm the type of person who will only go the ways I know already but not today! As it was, I recognized things from previous trips and our tour to help guide me but it was all unintentional help. I hope I got a tan started, at least somewhat. I've got another basketball practice tonight, which will mean I practice for about an hour and a half Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday from here on until the last weekend in April, when we have provincials. And good news: my coach e-mailed us all and said that we were ranked 15 out of 92 teams in Ontario! Which, if we were to remain there, would put us in Division 1, our goal. It's strange though because it seems like we've lost just as many games as we've won. However, I'm glad they make the rules and not me. Division 1!!! I now plan to go sit outside until my dinner's ready and either work on my math homework/study for my unit test tomorrow, or look through my Western book. Or maybe read. Oh, the possibilities!
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I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed today. A whole pile of math homework, a Civics project on the Bloc Quebecois, I'm on a field trip tomorrow, I've got basketball practice tonight, tomorrow, and Wednesday, piano on Wednesday so I should practice, a story that needs to be finished, a novel to finish, I got to figure out stuff for my exchange, and our water's still not working. On top of all that (or perhaps because of it), I've got a headache. The field trip is for Careers, We're going to UWO tomorrow and I'd totally forgotten about the whole thing until second period today. This means that I have double the math homework, no class time for Civics research and I don't know when it's due, and a boring day that I probably don't even need to be there for because I have no intention of going to Western anyways. Too close to home. And for my Civics project, I have to translate the BQ homepage because it's all in French! Oh crap. That reminds me that I forgot my French homework at school. My story is just getting in the way right now. I want to finish it. Not because I don't like it, but because I don't want my focus to be on it right now. Plus, I'm getting close. I'm in a transitional period right now between major events with one more small bump before I get to the final 50-100 pages. Or maybe I'll get lucky and end up ending at 30. Yeah, right. I better call my friend and see if I really can use her shower tonight. And then work on math.
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It's finally feeling like spring! The weather's nice and sunny. Me and Alex were playing tennis outside in just sweaters and we're having barbecued hamburgers tonight. Yum! Even though they're not the school burgers (which are absolutely AMAZING) they're portobello mushroom and cheese. Very good. I'm in a bit of a predicament. I have an hour and a half to two hour practice tonight and no shower. Our water's still not working. Plus, my dad's gone fishing and my mom's taking Sadie to Sarnia and Alex and Laura are going with her, and it would be awkward going to Laura's when she's not there. My mom suggested I take a shower at school but that's just wrong. We don't even have shower curtains! So I may end up going to my mom's friend's house just down the street. But still. Awkward. My English teacher from last year came to my Civics class today. She brought her 4 year old daughter and 7 month old baby. They are so cute! I heard a lot about her 4 year old last year and saw a picture of her taking a fish up to their cottage. Anyways, this teacher loved me and I heard her talking to my Civics teacher about how she had me last year. She also had some other kids but it was me she was talking about. It makes me laugh. I really wanted to tell her about the novel I wrote but I chickened out. I hope she'll come visit again soon. She and Ms.Matches seem to be good friends. And I hope I have her next year for English, as long as she comes back. I hope the weather stays nice all weekend. I've got to get my cousin out playing soccer.
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I'm so glad tomorrow's Friday. I'm absolutely exhausted. And our water's still not working. There are parent teacher interviews tonight at my high school and I always drag my parents in, even though I'm usually one of the top students in the class. I'll admit, I get a big head from it, but sometimes it's nice to hear it when you sit through class everyday, dying to move on. I've also discovered that I don't really like challenging things. I like to know what's going on and get through things quickly, but I don't like to be bored. I know, I know! I'm impossible to please right? What I'm trying to say is that I don't mind a challenge, let's say, in math, but I don't like not understanding for a long period of time. For example, we're working with the distance formula. If my answer comes out to be the square root of 50, I can rationalize (I think that's the word) it down to five root 2. It took a few minutes for me to figure out how they got that and it's a bit challenging to figure it out on my own, but I got it and enjoy rationalizing my answers, if possible. I also think that's why I write so much, and read. It keeps me busy, always presenting new problems for me to figure out when the school ones are solved in minutes. People wonder why I read all the time; there's the answer. A book is easily transported and a constant companion. We're preparing for the grade ten literacy test today and yesterday. I find it quite amusing to have my math teacher try and explain English to us. Actually, she was asking us what certain things meant and what to do. And we got English homework instead of math? How often does that happen? Plus, I finished it in Civics class! No homework tonight. Maybe I'll take a nap. Yeah right.
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Our water's not working right at my house. We have no water pressure. Last night, my dad went down to the basement to fix a leaky pipe. We weren't allowed to turn on the taps or anything because he turned the water off (I forgot once. The tap spit and spluttered, scaring the life out of me) and the grand moment when everything was supposed to work...didn't come. Something else isn't working right and no one's quite sure what. The city has to do something first and the ground's still frozen so they'll have a hard time digging and blah blah blah. What this means is that nothing in the bathroom upstairs works so five of us are using the toilet downstairs and brushing our teeth at the kitchen sink. We are going to friends' houses to shower tonight. My dad's hoping to have it fixed by the weekend so he can still go on his fishing trip, but we're not sure that's going to be the case. This clarinet choir thing is getting to be a pain in the you-know-where. First of all, we used to practise Tuesdays at lunch and Thursdays after school until 4. Then, we decided that the lunch practices weren't enough time so (I thought) we were just going to stick to Thursdays after school only (still have to check that). With festival coming up (in two weeks, not one), she wanted to fit in some extra practice time so we planned to practice the Monday after March Break, which only Hilary and I showed up for. Today, Wednesday (and the first day of Spring) I went to take out my clarinet to practice tonight and just as I was leaving, I saw Hilary and Emily going in. Emily said that we do have practice tonight and I don't ever remember hearing about that. If I had, I would've said that I couldn't be there because I have piano lessons at 3 (which I've said all year). My teacher came out into the hall and asked me where I was going. I explained that I couldn't stay because first of all, I didn't know about it, and second, I had piano lessons. She does the big sigh and almost rolls her eyes (the teacher fashion). She tells me that it was "on the board". Since when do we have a PLO on the board about clarinet choir? When am I even in her room to check? I was so ticked off! I mean, I show up at every practice and and now I'm the bad one because I've got another music lesson? I talked to my sister Alex and she said that she didn't think the PLO was even there yesterday. I certainly didn't see it (mind you, I didn't look either) and I don't ever remember hearing it even mentioned. But everyone else knew so I'm kind of wondering. Although, Hilary is in Jazz Band and Brittany went in Tuesday to see her, so she could've told them then and then Brittany passed it on to Emily. Could've happened. It would make the most sense. So that's enough of my ranting. I've got to go cool down with some math homework and if I'm brave (and can hear myself over the jack hammer in the basement as my dad and his friend start digging out the wall), maybe some clarinet practice.
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Almost spring. Just one more day. Unfortunately, it's still cold outside. Sunny, but cold and snowing whenever it so desires. I found out today that the student teacher in my French class went on the exact same exchange that I'm planning to Switzerland, through ISE and everything. I was quite excited. She said she loved it and told me a bit of information. This made my mom feel better (so much that she asked for her name and number), which makes me feel better. This also got me pumped again to go. I'm so can't wait! She (and isn't it sad that I don't even know her name? The first time I pretty much ignore a student teacher...oh well) said I'll be completely fluent in six weeks, which is about half my trip. My mom thinks I'll be fluent sooner because I'm so far ahead of my grade as it is. My friend Terra even told me today that I sounded too much like a "French person" when we were practicing for our presentation. Haha, I can hear my mom telling my dad about it right now.... I went to the orthodontist today and I have to wear my retainer for another year every night! I was so mad but of course, I smiled and nodded, especially because they had just lied it on really thick about how I was such a "model patient" and how great my teeth and my smile looked. They were probably planning it that way: good news and then bad. Now I don't have to go back until next February 5. I was thinking on the way home that I've been going there for four years too, sometimes as much as once every three weeks. Sad or what? Although, mine was a desperate case, even the orthodontist admitted it (not quite in so many words...she was trying to be nice about it). I have a feeling I'll never get out of there. My friend Laura said that I have to keep the bottom retainer glued to the back of four of my bottom teeth until after I have my last child, otherwise the hormones will move my teeth around again. Depressing. On a lighter note, I got my last 1/4 term report today and I'm happy to say that my lowest mark is a 95! Provided, I do have an easy semester (Spanish, French, Civics/Careers, Math) but still. I think I'll end my entry on that!
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Just a quick entry today I think. I've got so much to do and so little time. First, there was clarinet choir after school that went until AFTER 4:00 and me and Hilary were the only ones that showed. How crappy is that? We've got festival in two weeks with our pieces just picked (pretty much finalized today) and we have to go so much faster than I can play. And my mouth hurts. My teacher also found that my clarinet doesn't work right so, after playing on that one for two years, I have to find a different one and get used to it in two weeks for the festival. And I don't even like the clarinet choir particularly. Next on the list is eating. Be right back. Okay so after dinner I had to do the dishes because it's Monday and my sisters and I each do them ourselves one night a week and then all do them the other five days. So it's an hour later. I've got math homework to do and I have to work slowly so I don't make any stupid mistakes. I already had to erase like half a page because I thought the angle was in one corner and it was really in the other. Don't ask. My sister has a basketball game at the high school I'd like to see, starting at six-thirty and I've got practice at eight (which is going to be really hard, involve lots of running, and I'm going to die). I'm going to have to go late to her game, providing I get my math done. And I've written one page of my three for my story. My goal is to write three a day but I don't think I'm going to cut it today. I wrote enough over March Break (83 pages in a week! I went through almost a whole pencil!) but still. So that's it. Time to hit the books.
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Another sunny day! And most of the snow's gone! What a great way to wake up. But that also means I have to go for a run (as I didn't for the past two days) and maybe work on some ball handling because I haven't done any of that either. But yesterday, I did get my room dusted, piano practiced and went for my job interview, which I thought went pretty good. The downer was though, that I can only work until August AND my parents just informed me that we're taking like a week and a half of vacation in July. Plus, they open in three weeks and I've got two tournaments in April. I really feel bad about asking for more time off but Huntsville is a big weekend and I can't miss provincials. I'll cross that bridge when I get there I guess. I think, if I work really hard, I can finish my novel by the end of April. I'm just about to embark on the last third I would say, and it should be interesting. And I've still got 140 pages to work with. And then, I can go back to my previous novel and edit it. I really hope that my English teacher finished it over the break. I need to know whether or not to split it up into two books, or if it's okay in one. I can't decide. In less exciting news, today is the last day of March Break. It'll be nice to go back to school and have a routine, but I won't get near as much writing done. And then I've got basketball on top of that and I'm in a real mess. But altogether, it keeps life interesting!
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Okay so I didn't exactly get around to doing my "to do" list. I wrote about 10 pages instead. Oops. But today I'm feeling great because it's sunny outside!!! The first sun I've seen in about four days and the only thing that's a bit of a downer is that it snowed last night. I can still see the tips of the grass, but still. I plan to get a lot done today. There's a job fair from 12-4 today at the golf course where I've worked for the past two summers. But the last two years, I've known I've had the job so I've never had to worry about it. This year, we're under new management and last year was kind of a disaster at the end, so I doubt many people will come back. I myself can only work until August but I hope they'll hire me because of my experience...there's good money there. I'm trying to convince my friends that they should get a job there too. One has a paper route that she's had for eight years and the other doesn't have a job at all outside of the odd babysitting request. Neither of them are interested but I still have a few hours to get them to change their minds! Finally, I'm super jealous of all the people who live in Arizona right now. The Eclipse Prom, hosted by Stephenie Meyer and the Changing Hands Bookstore, is on May 5 and there's no way I can get there. I don't know how much it is to fly but my parents won't let me go. Maybe I could ask for it as an early birthday present or something. I could use my grade eight grad dress and I one of the women in this house hold must have a pair of shoes I could borrow...I'll keep hoping!
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Today is supposed to be a busy day for me. Dust my room (I know, who really does that at 15?), went shopping (bought This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen. Great book), work on some ball handling (but it's cold out), finish my math assignment (which I've literally been having nightmares about), some piano pracitse (blah), clarinet practise (even more blah), and THEN maybe write. But I have a headache and I really don't want to do half of my list. Plus I've got a job fair thing tomorrow and I have to redo my resume. And people say March Break is relaxing???
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happy
sore
contemplative
rushed
confused
distressed
energetic
lazy