A Nearly Perfect Day.

Nearly perfect? How can something be nearly perfect?
Like this.

I woke up sick.(This sounds like the perfect day, eh?) Mom ran out of her magical medicine stuff, so we had to use some "home-remedy" style of medicines. In case you ever wanted to know, gargling with Listerine is a GREAT way to treat a soar throat.

Varsity Quiz Quarter Finals were on this day... and I found out about it just the day before. It was being filmed at the Channel 10 PBS news station at four. (I thought it was live, so I told my friends about it...oops. That was a little naive, but is showing sometime in February.) There were only 8 people who could play, and I was one of "the chosen ones!" So I brought a quiz book to"study" from throughout the day. This ended up being a good idea, as 3 of my classes had nothing planned for the day.

I had a quiz in US History. I did alright. What was really cool, as what happened in English. But first, (as always) you need a little background. I wrote a killer essay for the "Practice AP test" we did for our midterm. (Humility never was my strong point.) It was so good, in fact, that Mr. Bressler had me type it up and email it to him, and it would work as a homework pass for anything this semester. (In fact, his only comment on my rhetorical analysis was "One word...unbelievable.") So I did. For English on this day of days, we reviewed examples of  a good analysis. One was an example from the district. The other one was mine. Now everyone in my class has a copy of my essay in their binder. Oh. That and we analyzed it in class. It was about five seconds from the time my essay was passed out, to the time everyone knew it was mine. Everyone was impressed and Mr. Bressler said that everyone in the class should try to write up to my level by the end of the year, and he'd never expected to use a student's midterm essay as an example of a "perfect" essay. Ok. My pride just went up through the roof.

We had a Varsity Quiz meeting right after school, but we never actually get around to practicing nearly as much as we plan to. I mentioned I was sick, right? Well, it didn't go away, so I planned to leave early. I was there in time to argue my way into the 1st round (I hate the bonus round, round 2), get my personalized team sweatshirt to wear to the studio, fill out my info card, and create my name-tag, before I went home.

I originally, planned on taking a nap. (I believe I mentioned that I was sick.)  But what would a plan be, if it didn't fall through every now and again? Instead, I went home and opened mail. (Re-read that again, for impact, I'll wait.) I haven't gotten mail (except for e-mail, but that doesn't count as much) for a REALLY long time. But today, I got no less than 8 parcels of mail. 6 were letters from colleges, one was a large Harry-Potter-related post card from a college (props for that one), and one was a package from UNLV!
<<Insert Hallelujah Chorus Here>>
UNLV has finally made good on it's promise of three years ago. I got a plaque commemorating my 1st place prize from the 2008 Space Camp (Even though, I went in 2009.... but at this point, I am not complaining), and a check for $300. Finally.

Mom and I had to leave pretty soon after that to go to the game. And so we did. There were a LOT of people on the other team. And no girls. In fact, because of one reason or another, Dawn and I (and Ms. Barnish) were the ONLY girls. Period. Mom was the only parent representing our team (Go mom!)

It was REALLY cool to be on a TV set, and the set-up was awesome too. Somewhere between school and  the start of the program, I was switched to the second round (Grrr...) with no better excuse than "We want a Mormon in every round in case they ask religious questions..."
Nate Tannenbaum was our host. And that was cool.

Oh ya. And we lost. Badly. I didn't answer any questions, (I believe that I mentioned, I HATE the bonus round.) but at least I didn't look dumb. You see, we had to fill out an information sheet so Nate Tannenbaum could introduce us on T.V. Most of my team members sounded really lame (sorry). He had to ask them stuff like, "What is your favorite YouTube Video?" and "What is your favorite Video Game?" and " What is your favorite Comic Book?" because that was all they put on their info. sheet. When he introduced me he said, "Tell me about the Garside Quilt Club." Wow. so I said, " We make quilts from donated fabrics, and then donate the quilts to Child Haven." and smiled. :D

So, after my round, I sat back and watched the destruction with Dawn. One of our proudest moments was when Johann answered the question "A Monster that turns objects to stone with it's stare..." with "A Basilisk."  Obviously, the announcer didn't know that Harry Potter is always the right answer...
Anyway, they told us that when the last round was over, they wanted all of the team member to "mingle" in the camera area while they rolled the credits. Dawn and I decided to run out there as soon as possible, and do a handshake. Represent the girls, you know? And so we did. It was awesome.

The T.V set up

All of our  awesome sweatshirts.

Funny faces. Maybe it's a good thing that all of the people on Varsity quiz don't follow my blog....

Mom had a need to take photos every step of the way.... and these are a few of them.

After that I drove on the freeway during rush hour. It sucked. I had a major case of "Freeway driving Failure." This was the part of the day that was... not so perfect.

We finally got home, had a hurried dinner, and then went straight off to Eliza's dance concert. It was really cool, but a lot of them were kind of weird. I was still a little sick ( as I am constantly reminding you guys), so the ice cream we had afterwards really hit the spot.

And now I am done. That took awhile. And I bet everyone skimmed it. That's ok though. I'll try to be more brief in later posts.

Sunny Stuff Again.

Maybe someday I'll do something that doesn't involve a sun and a whole bunch of shadows. 

The real photo... from a magazine.

My watercolor. 

This is week four. Aren't you proud of me? I got all the way through January without breaking my resolution!

A Date to Remember

I have been meaning to blog about this for a while. For several reasons.

1) Friday, 1/20/12 was my first date. (I LOVE it when dates are like that, so the day and the year combine to spell out the year.)

2) This means that I was younger when I went on my first date than my elder sister, Aria, was when she went on hers. This is really not so much to brag about as it really isn't a contest. But with a sister so talented, adventurous and all-around fantastic, I'll take what I can get. ;)

3) We had a fun craft night, and while this is not exactly a life-changing event.... it's the little things that count.

(P.S. I am as yet, undecided weather or not it is "safe" to use last names, at least not without prior permission from the individual whose name it is. So for now, we'll stick to a 'first-name' basis.)

I have long been encouraged by my mother's diagram "first dates."  Expectations are WAY high, and reality is WAY lower.

Friday was probably the busiest day of the week for me. Finals (in which I wrote a killer essay for English), dermatology appointment ( which is across town, and I drove. There were no major incidents.), and over to Emily's house for a post-finals-party with a lot of friends. I had to come slightly late and leave fairly early (though I stayed long enough to dominate in Scattergories, and spend time with friends.), to come home in time for my date (I was really tempted to put that in quotations just now, but it was real!) at 4:30pm. I had just driven in the driveway, when Mark (my date, if that wasn't obvious.) walked up to my door. And so it began.

We were using Logan's (not Epperson) family-12-passenger van... and his mom was driving. We went to go get Dawn --I felt MUCH better knowing that Dawn was the other girl on the double-date. The car ride wasn't too awkward which is high praise. We talked a little about this and that, and Mark mentioned that his dad had once wanted to be a politician, and I said, "And then he grew a heart?" The only downside was that I told a lawyer joke, an no one got it. :(

I had no idea what the plan for the evening was, and was surprised when the car stopped in the "Star Nursery" parking lot. We wandered, Dawn and I acting "Beautiful, Blonde, and oblivious," as I so adeptly put it. After a while we entered the back room, which was full of flowers, and told to "Pick one." I found a nice Orange one almost as soon as I walked in so, needless to say, my choice was an easy one to make. After getting other planting necessities (Miracle Grow, pots, and Dawn's flower) we were on our way again.

This is the flower. Amazingly, it is still alive.

We to Logan's house and put them in the pots. There was a slightly awkward delay, and then we started to play games, more specifically, "Things." Fact 1: I love this game. Fact 2: I am terrible at this game.
Let us just say that it is exceedingly difficult to stifle my natural wit... which makes it unbelievably easy to guess which statement is mine. (If you are not familiar with this game, think of it as a combination of "Apples to Apples" and "Balderdash." If you are not familiar with either of these games, you are in deep need of a game night at my house.) One of these instances of wit must be recorded.
 The card was "Things you should remember."             I wrote, "What was the question again?"
When it was read off Dawn said "Things you should remember! Oh...."  ;)

We played a few more games, and then Dawn had somewhere to be at 7, which was a good thing.... otherwise it might have lasted forever.... and I was getting hungry. (dinner hadn't been part of the plan.)
So...we went home, and David made me some fried chicken. (something he's never done before.) My dear sister/friend Ari called (so we exchanged dating stories of the night) and then we decided to have an impromptu craft night, making cards for Aria to give to her college friends. (seeing as EVERYONE gets married at BYU Hawaii. The exception: Aria ;) )  We had TONS of fun, but didn't get much done. Here are some of my favorite examples.

What else could a lion and unicorn be?

The speech bubble says "But which one?" with a cute bunny face.

Where did all of these Unicorn Stamps come from? The last word is "imaginary."

This is my personal favorite.  Chubby kid and Chubby horse.

Look at The "world" stamp! It is SOO cool... and Woody is too.

The first one says, "There are no words for their love. Seriously. No words."
The 2nd one ways "A refined form of Puppy Love.  For lack of a better explanation."

I made some cute cards too, but, these are SOO much more fun. That's it. The end.

Sea and Sky

This was a New Years resolution of mine, and one that I have actually done alright on. I figure that there will be weeks that I am just too busy or totally space. But still, if I only do half of them... it's much better than nothing. So I guess you can expect one of these a week. But for now... you get three.

Pictured first is a beach picture from Carpinteria 2011 trip.

 This is week three ( I finished it today... and have decided that I don't like city-scapes). The actual photo, from a National Geographic ( because I am a nerd), is a view of New York City.

 The water color of the above photo (Oh, all of these are watercolors. Did I mention that before? It's true.)

 This is a picture taken in 2010, at Carpentaria Beach. I just thought that the random couple on the beach was so cute! This is week two.

 So maybe it isn't as Orange as the picture, but there was only one color choice for Orange in my watercolor set (nearly unforgivable, I assure you.).

This post has accomplished many things. First, I now know how to upload photos to a blog. (applause)
Second, strengthens my resolve to keep this up if I function under the illusion that you guys will hold me up to it.
Third, you can now be constantly reminded of my amazing talents. (I had to throw that in, because, in case you have forgotten, I am ever so humble.)

Would you like some blood with that?

After finals (they were just some hyped-up tests which I will not bore you with the details of), we went to get my blood drawn for some lab work I have to get done for this-or-that, A thrilling activity, I assure you. The time in the waiting room passed quickly, but NOTHING compared to the actual thing. "She spoke not a word, but went straight so her work. Tied of my vein, and then turned with a jerk".... and a needle. It is totally acceptable to be squeamish at the thought and reality of someone sticking a needle into your arm. Is the opposite reaction therefore, looked down upon? Because, to be perfectly honest, I found it utterly fascinating. I watched as she stuck the needle in the exact right place, and started filling the little bottle. as one got to a certain volume, she switched it out at a speed that I compare to that little guy in "Cars" (pit-stop?)
I was out in about... 2 minutes. Everything was signed, sealed, bloodied and delivered.

I think they could open up a "Drive-Thru-Blood-Sample" station with that lady.
But that doesn't sound very appetizing now, does it...
And it would depend on the donor. Based on how quickly I bled out, I'll try not to bleed to death next time I get a paper-cut....whereas mom couldn't bleed to death if she wanted to.
Perhaps I am too easily amazed, and find this amusing because of the brain-deadness associated with Final Exams.

No Thanks.

My family attracts an odd assortment of second-hand donations from one particular family in our neighborhood. These objects can include, but aren't limited to, clothes, stuffed animals, purses, jewelry (sometimes broken), McDonald's toys, books, miss-matched socks, and assorted other paraphernalia.

This time we think they have really outdone themselves. In a large box with lots of other stuff, we found a pack of blank "Thank You" cards. Consider these implications. "Here, we won't be needing these... "
"You have more to be thankful for than we do..."

This is probably not true, as they periodically go through and give them away. But we DO have a lot to be grateful for, which is always good to remember.

Eliza made the comment, "So... do they want us to give them one of these 'Thank You' cards back, every time they give us stuff??"

Riddle me.

If I were to attend every college that is e-mailing me right now, I would probably be a student for the rest of my  life. That is all

Every door is an opportunity, a new direction your life could take. I have a whole lot of doors, but they are all only half-open. (Or if they are like the e-mails, then most of them aren't open at all.)

One metaphor, one pun. Now I am done.                       <--(The rhyme was free.)

Friday the 13

In all irony, my U.S History Teacher planned a major unit test today. On Friday, the thirteenth. He claims it was a total fluke.

I always wear my Batman "mood" necklace on the days of major tests, not only because it possesses the magical ability to color-match any outfit I wear it with (seriously though, it does), but because it is Lucky. Perhaps I will digress on the fascinating subject of my magical test-taking necklace in another post, because I simply don't have the time at the present (nor do I posses the knowledge of how to add photos from your camera to your blog, which is a must.).

So armed with my astounding knowledge of U.S History, I took the test, and got 104%. This is the first time I have EVER gotten all of the "Bonus" questions correct.

Take that Friday the Thirteenth!!!

The diagnosis

Lots on my mind.

As I obsess over different options and paths I have finally figured out why. I keep thinking of different ways to make it "work." But there really is nothing I can do about it. It is 'out of my jurisdiction.' I see a way to fix it to my liking, but am powerless to action

The root of the problem. I am a control freak.

The next step.... treatment.... much harder.

An Extraordinary Saturday

Doesn't every teenager jump at the opportunity to take a 4 hour ACT practice test? Ok. probably not, but I did, both for the experience and so that my friend wouldn't have to go alone.... it's amazing how well you can bond over a long test in which you have two breaks, totaling 12 minutes in which to talk and stretch.... ;)

To counter-act the evils of testing and the brainpower it consumes, we spent the same amount of time watching a movie. Jane Austen's Emma, BBC 2010. On second thought, we maybe should have gone with a simpler, more mind-less movie. The plot made you think... which was easier for Emily (because she was familiar with the plot), Eliza and I ( because we saw it just last week), but Abby and Melissa got a little lost. Melissa took the test with me, so had the excuse of brain-deadness. Abby... well she is just Abby. ( I hope you read that part Abby, and remember how much I love you.)

I love Jane Austen. I love Harry Potter (I had to throw that in there, but I have a point). I love that I can differentiate between different versions of Jane Austen movies based on what Harry Potter characters are in them. Believe me. There is always a Harry Potter character. Observe.

This is Snape. In Sense and Sensibility, 1995 version

       
This is Arthur Weasly and Proffessor Umbrige, respectively, in BBC's 2008 Sense and Sensibility. A favorite.

This is Albus Dumbledoor, from BBC 2010 Emma.
There are others, but I have neither time nor drive to research them all at this point. perhaps later.
I love English people.

But above all else, what made this Saturday special was the time spent with family and friends, mom's new kitchen gadget ( I might blog about later), and movie moments.
MOVIE MOMENTS:
Abby: "I'm loving those side-burns!"(or something of the like)
Eliza: " I wish I could live back then!"
Me: "Why, do you want side-burns??"
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Melissa: "Is that a donkey?"
Dad: "No, it's a jack-ass."
Me: "No, it's Mr. Churchill."
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And last but not least, near the end of the show, Knightly tells Emma that he loves her. She says something like " I don't know what to say..." (moving in for the kiss that makes everyone ahh...) she puts her forehead against his "Because if you put you heads together, it'll help you think better!!" (Hmmm. It's not as funny now as it was then. It was HILARIOUS at the time.)

And that is it.

I had a dream!

Dreaming is not a rare thing for me. Remembering my dreams... now that is much harder. I don't bother to keep track of my dreams either because they usually don't have any bearing in the "Real World." (Besides, keeping a "Dream Diary" sounds too Trelawney-ish.) The dream I had a few nights back was both memorable and realistic (well, mostly, but I'll get into that later), so I thought it worth recording.

How about a little background, so that this dream makes a little more sense, eh?
I was stressed out a few weeks ago with school, a surprise calling, musical-stuff, the Christmas season, etc, etc,  when the lovely Young Womens leaders asked me to come up with the theme and program for New Beginnings, one of the two biggest nights of the year for Young Women. No big deal, right? ( I hope your sarcasm detector is working)... but actually, that is right. After toying around with some ideas for a while, I typed the theme for the new year (Arise and Shine Forth) into Google (I LOVE Google) and came up with a downloadable program, complete with songs, narrations, and instrumentals. Perfect. I glanced at it, printed it out, and handed it to my leader. My "planning" was done... And so is this background information. Now it gets interesting.

I find that dreams usually fast-forward past any kind of introduction, because there I was in the church gym, minutes before New Beginnings was set to start. Chaos reigned. Only half of the girls had showed up, and it happened to be the half that didn't sing or speak in the program. I didn't have my cello. I didn't have my cello music. I didn't remember the words to whatever song everyone told me I was supposed to sing we didn't have the treats ready, the invitations had been sent back in the mail, etc....and then we jump to a scene in the church parking lot ( which actually looked like my middle school parking lot) when I am trying to figure out what to do to "save the program!" Oh, and apparently, we hired a band... because they were all leaving. And now it's broad sunlight. And a shirt-less Josh Groban in ripped-up jeans with an electric Keyboard over his shoulder walks out of my middle school/the church and leaves with the band. And then I wake up.

Dreams can show you what you are worried about, what you think about, what you fear, and sometimes a forecast of the future.( With the exception of the Shirt-less Josh Groban.... because I don't know where that came from, and it definitely isn't in my future.)
This dream probably wasn't nearly as interesting or as frightening to you as it was to me, and looking back I can't help but laugh at myself. So I take this as a learning experience. I need to take a step back and look at the big picture. Work, not worry... And get a life. That's it.

And so it begins.

This was kind-of a New Years resolution, and I thought it would be SUPER cool to start it on 1/1/12. But I forgot. But here it is anyway, just a little later.
I didn't keep up with blogging until a year or so after I'd first extended my Gmail to a Blogger account, because I didn't understand it or make the time or whatever. In recent months I had a Blogger revival in the form of my older sister. I started looking at other peoples Blogs and saw their deep feelings and inner growth that came from the freedom of expression of a Blog. I feel like I knew them now on a deeper level than ever before. And I wanted that for myself. Who am I to deny you people the pleasure getting to know me better? ( I had to add something like that so that you would know it really IS me...)
So here it is. I will write things that are funny. Things I want to remember. Things I say I will do someday but probably won't. Things I worry about. Things I think about.... things that help define me.
So... Welcome, friends, to the first post on my Blog.
A Collection of Scattered Thoughts
Because, someone has to catalog my brilliance.... ;)