It's almost over

Summer. Just a few weeks ago I was wishing school would start. Now, not so much. I just want to sleep. And sit around the house watching, well, House. I've watched almost all the episodes of all five seasons over the summer.

Tonight is Back to School Night. I'm not excited. But Sam asked me to write an article about it and I should hopefully be able to change my schedule tonight, so as far as I know, I'm going. Unfortunately for me, I haven't even started the horrific assignment Mrs. Krim gave us for AP World History. Christ, I am so screwed.

We got a dog. Her name is Roxie and she's almost two. She's really awesome. We're also in the process of buying a house. Finally, we can get out of this one! I hate no attachments to this house. My room will be a little bit smaller, but who cares? I love our new house. Plus, it's nice that it will actually be ours.

I'm getting a laptop finally! Well, it's on layaway at a pawn shop in Riverdale. I have to come up with $56 by the end of the month, though. That's the only downside. Ah well. I should hopefully be able to come up with it.

Warped Tour was amazing. We saw We the Kings, White Tie Affair, Alexisonfire, The Devil Wears Prada, Innerpartysystem, Bayside, and a ton of other bands. I got sunburned on my shoulders and almost lost my shoes at TDWP. I also got kicked in the head a lot by crowdsurfers. But it was worth it. Most definately.

What an exciting life I lead

THINGS I HAVEN'T DONE SINCE SCHOOL GOT OUT:

-Cut my hair. My bangs are almost past my eyes now.

-Seen my friends.

-Woken up at 6

-Written a blog

All of those things should change soon, though. (Except for the whole 6 in the morning thing.) Tomorrow Mallory, Becca, and I are all going to the mall. We might see a movie or something, not totally sure yet. As for my hair, I really need to cut it. It's annoying me. And now I'm writing a blog.

Nothing too exciting has happened this summer. My grandparents visited us for almost a week, which was nice, but I had to give up my room. Maybe I'm just selfish, but that didn't make me very happy. Guess I'm just a bad person like that. They did, however, give me a $150 gift card to Best Buy, for my laptop. OHMYGOD!

Speaking of which, I've saved up about $200 so far. Right now I'm torn between a Dell and a Toshiba. The Dell only has half as much memory, but it's $50 cheaper, which could be a big deal since I still need to get Kaspersky and Microsoft Student. Oh, and then there's the fact that the warranty is almost $200. It's a good warranty and all, but that's freaking expensive!

I still havent' started working on my TX. application. I really need to soon, cause the deadline is July 1, less than a month away. Same with my birthday! All I'm asking for is Sharpies, duct tape, chai tea, and money. I'm hoping that all said and done, I'll be able to get around a hundred dollars. And I'll finally be 15! I kind of hate having a summer birthday, because I'm always so much younger than everyone. Most of my friends will be getting their licenses this year.

Someone is reopening Kaffe Mercantile. I hope they do it soon. I love that place. :)

Almost over

Three more days. It's crazy. I'm excited for the summer break, but at the same time, I wish it wasn't so long. I'm kind of excited to go back to school. I think sophomore year will be a good one. I have to do a really stupid assignment though, over the summer, for AP World History. I have to read two books and write summaries, then read 10 articles from The Economist and write about them. Oh. My. God. 

At least there is a light at the end of the summer. Around August 15, I'm supposed to be going to California with my dad. It won't exactly be beaches and sun, cause we'll be in Eureka (northern California). We also may be going to Oregon to see my uncle. I'm not sure about that one though. I'm excited. I haven't been to Eureka since we moved from there when I was about four.

I'm hoping this weekend my dad will take me to Best Buy to look at laptops. I think I'll need to save up about $400 if I can find something with Office Student Edition. Otherwise I'll also have to buy that. I'm thinking, though, that if I wait until the end of summer, there will be lots of back-to-school sales and maybe I can get a better deal. That's kind of why I want to go to Best Buy, so I can ask if they'll be getting good sales later. I'd also kind of like to go to PC Laptops to see what the starting prices for their laptops are.

I think Sam wants to kill me now that I'm not taking Publications next year. More on that later.

I hate Romeo and Juliet

It's stupid. I don't care if it's great literature and I don't care how much Mrs. Krim loves it. It has a stupid plot and I don't want to read it again and write a poem about it. The story follows a 13-year-old and a 15-year-old who meet at a party and after knowing each other for one night, decide to get married. Romantic, right. Reminds me of a quote in a yearbook we saw at the Jostens conference: You're not in love, you're in heat. It probably doesn't help that I'm a total cynic about stuff like love at first sight, either. I guess it could be worse though. We could have to read The Jungle.

I need to write more often

I don't really have an excuse, either. I haven't been particularly busy. The highlight of the last week is that I now have $150 saved for my laptop. I'm a little unsure about which one I want to buy thought, so I've been laptop-hunting. Also, I got my debit card today! Now I can actually put money in my account without the hassle of all of those little pieces of paper. It may be easier if I was more organized, but I'm not. I was organized once. That was a long time ago, though.

It turns out I may not be able to take Publications for a year. I think it's the only way I can get all of my art credits along with Computer Tech and a foreign language. I wanted to take Spanish (or French, if then ended up hiring one), but I guess that won't work. My mom thinks I should take ceramics or sculpting for my arts credits because then I won't get as frustrated. I guess she's right, but it still seemed a little harsh to say. I hate art. Well, not art, just my art. I have no artistic abilities. I'm a writer. Which I definitely think is an art, just not a "fine art."

Only 10 more days left of school. It's crazy. I kind of wish summer break wouldn't be quite as long as it is. I'm excited for break, but I'm also excited for sophomore year. It may make me a nerd in the eyes of some people, but I like school. I want to get out and see the world, but at the same time, I think education is important.

I may get to go to California with my dad over the summer. My mom wants him to go over the summer so he can see his parents and siblings, and depending on how everything goes, I may get to go. That would be amazing. Really. Plus, I'm thinking that maybe my grandpa and I can talk college. Maybe I could even go and tour Humbolt State. I'm not sure if I really want to go there, but it would just be cool to go and look around campus.

The finales of my shows are coming up. It's pretty pathetic, but I always get into tv shows. Tonight is Next Top Model, Criminal Minds, and CSI: NY. I'm not even sure why I watch ANTM, but I do. I guess I got into it cause that's what Emily always watched before Criminal Minds.

My mom says that I should play an instrument, like piano or guitar. It'd be awesome, but I don't really know where to start. I guess I should probably re-learn to read music. I can still remember most of the notes of the violin--where they are, I mean--but I can't read music to save my life. I guess that  isn't all that surprising, since I haven't played an instrument since fifth grade.

I now have yet another pair of ruined headphones. I wear them out. My latest pair of SkullCandys was actually pretty new, but now they only work if I hold the cord in just the right spot. Otherwise, the sound only works in one ear, or goes in and out as I'm walking, which almost makes me feel sick.

Turns out I've got a B- in Engineering. I hate that class. I really need to get my shit together and finish (start) the reverse engineering project. There's no way I'll be able to get a decent grade if I don't. It's not a huge deal to me to get straight A's, I just like getting good grades. It's going to be important.

I accomplished nothing.

Pretend this was posted on Sunday, because that's when I wrote it.

-------

I have a ton of redoes to finish for math, a memoir to write, and an engineering project to finish. Start, really. And I did none of that over the weekend. My mom made me go to church today. I hate going to church, and was all happy that we haven't gone in a few weeks. I spent Saturday morning watching Juno and drinking coffee. Oh, and getting lots of flair on Facebook. Aside from that, I didn't really do anything. Wait! I organized the pictures on my computer. That's something, right? I mean, there were only maybe 20 pictures, but I organized them.

Tomorrow is the meeting to pick the theme or whatever, so I have to stay after school. I don't really want to go. I want to go to the gym. Does it make me a horrible person cause I'd rather go to the gym that be involved in my school? It's not that I don't want to go to the meeting, I just don't want to go tomorrow. I want to go run and lift weights and all of that stress-reducing stuff. It makes me happy to go to the gym.

I changed the template of my blog back to one of the ones from Blogger, so hopefully the comments and stuff will work. It kind of makes me sad. I liked that background. It sucks that it didn't fully work though.

Finally, we're finished with Fahrenheit 451. I think I would have liked the book more if I hadn't been annoyed with Mrs. Krim the whole time. She made me determined not to like it. Good news is that school is almost over, and I'll never have her for English again. She's going to talk to Mrs. Thompson and see if I can get into AP English or something next year. Oh. I'll still have her for AP World Civ. Oh well, I'll get over it, I guess. I'm still confused though. Is she making us write multi-genres, or just memoirs?

I hate my stupid internet!!! It keeps dying on me. Kind of like my computer. I can't decide if my computer is dying a slow and painful death or if it's me.

untitled

You tell me to be happy but I don't know what this means

I paint a smile on my face and laugh on cue,

As I know I am expected to.

I spend my days keeping others happy,

Doing as I know I should,

But when do I get a chance to be truly happy?

to do

• Engineering project that I haven't really started (due Friday or Monday)
• Ask Tim or Mallory when engineering project is due
• Redos for math
• Get an ATM card from the bank
• Write memoir for English
• Edit essay for English
• Mow lawn for Dad and Mike ($15!)
• Deposit money in bank
• Write mission statement for The Notebook website
• Study for geography test (even though I know I won't)
• Look for new music in Media Player library

music is my imaginary friend

It's pretty cool how music connects people. Yesterday was my mom's birthday, so she and my dad went out to dinner. There is virtually no food at my house, so Emily and I went to Hunan to get some Chinese. When we came out, we walked back to her car and then a guy in the parking space stopped us and said, "Sex Pistols, huh?" (Emily has a Sex Pistols sticker on the back of her car.) Then he was telling us about how he had tickets to see them in Seattle once, but the show right before that was when they broke up. He was also saying that either he or his cousin (I can't remember which) met Johnny Rotten once. I always think it's so cool how people are connected by music.

I'm not going to get all high and mighty about liars, cause I know I lie a lot. What pisses me off though, is teachers who totally go back on their word. Like Mrs. Krim. She told us that we wouldn't have to write anything for Fahrenheit 451. She told us that we'd have a discussion of the book, then move on to our multi-genre papers. We just finished writing two poems and an essay. Now we're starting memoirs. I'm sorry, but what the hell?!? She never told us we'd have to do any of this.

I am going to live in Ikea.

I've already picked out my room. Rooms, actually. Instead of going to church on Sunday (yay! no church!), we went to Salt Lake. Barnes and Noble, Whole Foods, and Ikea, to be exact. Anyway, it would be the perfect place to live. They even have food. I decided, though, that it would be cool if they built a Whole Foods right next to it, so I can go steal fruit. I freaking love fruit! I swear, when we were at Whole Foods I could have spent about $100 on fruit alone.

Speaking of money, I suck at saving it. My mom owed my $20 for last month, and I already spent fifteen dollars. Before I even had the freaking money! I bought shoes. They're pretty, though. I got a pair of combat boots and two pairs of One Star flats. It cost a grand total of $15 to get them brand new at Salvation Army.

I've got so much stuff to do for school, but I have zero initiative to get it done. Especially the essay for Mrs. Krim that she promised us we wouldn't have to write. The theme is "I am unplugged and ready to...", which is a decent theme, I guess, but she wants us to tie in Fahrenheit 451. If she just wanted us to write an essay about F-451, I could to it, no problem. But I can't find a way to tie the two together, mostly because I am not "unplugged." I started writing the essay in class today, but the whole thing is a complete and utter lie. And a cliche, but mostly a lie.

We watched Elizabethtown two nights ago, and it was awesome. But now, I'm wanting to get out of here more than ever. Watching other people go on road trips makes me want to go on one. There isn't anywhere in particular that I want to go, just...somewhere that isn't Utah.

I've earned my first $15

My hands actually feel bruised from mowing the lawn at my house and my neighbors. It was worth it though, I guess. For about an hour after I finished though, it still felt like my hands were vibrating. My dad says that wouldn't happen if I wore gloves, but then I get freakish tan lines that stop on my wrists. I don't think I'm a particularly vain person, but I refuse to get some sort of inverted farmer's tan.

My parents got paid today, so I should get $40 from my mom this weekend and then my dad will give me the $5 he owes me for the lawn. Then I'm going to do something I haven't done in at least a year. I'm actually going to put in my savings account. The last time I even went to the bank was in like, October, when I walked to Albertson's and got money out of my account to buy more minutes for my mom. I need my mom to find my ATM card though. When it came in the mail, my mom didn't seem to trust me with it. Not that I blame her. I was like, eleven when we opened my account. But now, it will be convenient to not have to have my mother their to prove who I am.

Basin is closed now. This means my dad will be home a lot more than usual. Maybe I'm just a horrible person, but I'm not exactly excited about this. It means he'll be home a lot more. Like, a lot a lot. I get along with him fine, he's just always keeping an eye on me. He often comes up behind me when I'm on the computer and just stands there for a few minutes. It's kind of creepy to be honest. It also means I can't stick to my usual Saturday routine of sleeping late then watching tv shows on Hulu and movies on YouTube. Saturday is meant to be my lazy day for sleeping and all that.

Summer '09

A while back, I was kind of hoping Becca's family would take pity on me again this summer and take me on a vacation. It's totally selfish of me, but I had my hopes. Now, I'm kind of looking forward to a summer at home, because I can earn money. I'm slightly obsessive, I know. I'm hoping to earn about $400 so I can buy this mini Acer laptop, plus maybe the case and a flash drive. Probably the warranty, too.

I plan to do this by mowing the lawn once a week for us and our neighbors (which I already mentioned) and doing other odd jobs. I figure if I start saving right away, I can save up $100 just from my monthly allowance. Unfortunately, this means no makeup, no food, and no more coffee. At least, not that I'm spending my money on. 

Today I bought a dress. Actually, Mom bought it for me at Savers. It's one of the few dresses I've seen that actually like, which is probably why she got it for me. It's blue and gray, with a halter-style tie in the back and comes down almost to my ankles. The thing is, it's a tiny bit too small. However, I'm hoping that by doing all of the lawn mowing and going to the gym more often (which I have to do--more on that later), I'll be able to loose enough weight that it will fit me. Also, I'll definitely have stronger legs and arms, not to mention a good tan, by the end of the summer. I look so pale, and I hate it.

I need to start going to the gym more often. I don't have much of a choice. See, Mom and Dad will actually have to start paying full price for our gym memberships soon, cause Snowbasin decided to get rid of their employee discount to Ogden Athletic Club. This means I have to start going to the gym more so that it's actually worth it. I'm also thinking about going to the Body Combat classes.

As much as I'd like to get a job this summer, I won't be fifteen until July and even at fifteen, I wouldn't have many options. Except for Lagoon maybe. But I'm not working at Lagoon. I thought about Kaffe Mercantile, but they're closed now, so I kinda doubt that would work out.

Something's in the air tonight

Last night Emily, my mom, and I went to Albertson's at 10:30 to get pizza rolls, ice cream, and milk. Kind of an odd combination. It's amazing how empty the store was. We also watched Lost Boys, which was about as cheesy as Twilight, but a lot better. The vampires didn't sparkle, for one thing.

I get to start mowing the lawn soon. I think Dad said Tuesday, probably. I'm also going to do it for my neighbors, who offered me $10 a week. This means about $15 a week, on top of the twenty I get a month. Mom also owes me twenty for last month, twenty for this month. 

I want to save up my money, but I'm not really sure what I want to save for. I'm thinking about getting the Stila Pretty Face Kit from Sephora, which is $25 and has a lot of stuff in it. I'm also thinking about a laptop, maybe the mini Acer Aspire that's about $300. It looks like it's a decent quality plus it runs Windows, not Linux like most of the mini laptops I've seen. The only thing is, it doesn't have a cd/dvd drive, so I'd have to buy that separately.

I've been college hunting again. Right now I'm thinking University of Oregon. It's the west coast, like I wanted, and they have a great journalism program. Not just one major, but six, plus the campus looks beautiful.

Dear Mrs. Kidd

We students know budget cuts are happening in the state and all over the country and realize that a small school like DaVinci is definately not immune, but what we want to know is why we are not inviting back science and arts teachers, when we are a school of science and the arts. Most of us freshmen have already worked our our "four-year plans" to continue our education at DaVinci, mapping out the core classes and electives we want--and need--to take in the coming years. Now, we are unsure what classes we will have available to us. Our drama program is something that sets us apart from other schools and many students worry that we will no longer have a drama program. We just want to know the facts--what classes will be available and what programs and teachers have to be cut. I feel a great sense of pride in this school, just like many other students, and do not want to leave, but many of us worry that depending on what teachers are cut, and which ones can't be replaced, this school just may not work out for us anymore. For example, I was really looking forward to taking classes like Forensics, Shakespeare, and Zoology, and many of us are worried that classes like these, that are kind of unique to DaVinci, may not be available to us anymore.

Sincerely, Katie Byrd, Freshman

The taste of ink is getting old

Okay, I kind of lied in my last post. I'll admit it, I don't worship my grades like Becca does, but they are important to me. Mostly, it's the fact that there is only one month of school left. 30 days, or something like that. I'm not going to slack off completely, but I'm tired. I need a break. Maybe I'm just becoming apathetic, I don't know. Actually, that isn't true. I want to keep my GPA up cause I want to do well, I just don't feel like putting forth the 100%. I guess I'm just being lazy, cause I know I can get by fine without giving things my all.

Claire nominated me to be part of the committee to choose the theme for next year. That makes me happy. :) We also chose Sam Mosier, Sam, and Chelsee, which they'll hopefully let us do, cause I guess we were only supposed to choose three people. Oh well. Anyway, the four of us work well together and it'll be fun.

Over the weekend, I have homework. This isn't actually a new concept, but I'm actually going to try to remember to do it this time. I have a math assignment, which won't be a big deal, and two poems to write for English. I kind of have my two-voice poem finished, I just need to type it and maybe try to make it a big longer. I think I'm going to redo my first poem though, about what makes me happy. It isn't very poetic, just a short little thing I wrote. Is there a word for that? A prose, maybe? I'm not sure, but I write a lot of stuff like that. You know, just a paragraph or two, not an essay, not a story or a poem. Just a paragraph.

I truly do not understand my school. They are firing--sorry, letting go of--eleven teachers as we are about to go through a huge transition to incorporate seventh and eighth graders? We seriously need to do fundraising. Honestly, we could probably raise a lot more money to keep our teachers than we could to sponsor a school in Africa. Africa is totally important and it probably sounds like I'm belittling the situation there, but the issues of our teachers being "let go" hits a lot closer to home.

Someone said we should write letters to local news stations and tell them about what's happening, but I don't think it would have much of an effect. Budget cuts at schools aren't that big of a deal. Okay, that's a lie. They are a big deal, but not a big story. If an English teacher gets fired for having students read "questionable material" or stuff like that, then there is a story behind that. But budget cuts at a small high school most people haven't heard of isn't as big of a story.

The yearbook is finally finished. We're a month late and the Jostens people must absolutely hate us, but we are finished nonetheless. Maybe we can finally do the newspaper that we are at least a month behind on? I like yearbook and all, but I like newspaper more. You don't have to be so...cheerful and upbeat. You can be blunt and to the point. It isn't cotton candy and lollypops, as someone said.

I'm watching Charlie Bartlett again.

I can't help it. It's just such an amazing movie! Mr. Post wants to know why I'm not concerned that I'm getting an A- in his class. An A-? That's good! It's still an A. Yeah, my grades do matter to me, but I'm not going to get all obsessive. As long as I'm doing well, I'm fine with that. I'm not like Becca, who freaked out about having a B in art and said she was failing. I am not Becca. Why does everyone find this so shocking? 

Whatever I do, not matter how much sleep I get, I'm still exhausted. I never want to eat breakfast and I space out in class all of the time, which is not a good thing. It probably doesn't help that when I try to sleep, my mind is still whirring. I may be physically tired, but mentally, I'm still wide awake.

Someone keeps calling me and texting me, speaking Spanish. It's kind of annoying, but at least it isn't the guy from Georgia (I think it was Georgia). He seems to have finally gone away. Anyway, I hope the Spanish guy goes away soon. He's wasting my minutes.

They killed Kutner off of House!!! I'll admit it, I cried a little when I watched the episode on Hulu. I don't see why the had to use suicide to get rid of him. I could have seen Taub committing suicide, but not Kutner. I guess he went to go work for Obama, which is good, but I will miss him.

I want fruit.

The urge to type has subsided. Now I want to write something. It has to be in pen though. I didn't fall asleep until about two last night. I really wanted to clean. And reorganize my room. At 2 AM. Guess I'm a freak. I'll get over it. I'm not even tired! Not much anyway, which is surprising cause I got about seven hours of sleep. 

Today I found out that all of season 2 of life has been posted on Hulu. I freaking love Hulu! I'm watching the earthquake episode, where Crews has to shoot his car. Poor car. I may not be like Emily, who can look at a car and know exactly what it is, but it's pretty.

I want fruit. (Possibly from watching Life?) I want to go shopping, too. Fresh fruit and shopping. Ooh, and coffee. I never got to go Starbucks, which makes me sad. That sounds so good. Maybe I just want food in general. My lunch? A box of taco shells. I was going to make nachos, but we have no cheese. We don't even have cheese, for God's sake! I thought about some Top Ramen, but that doesn't sound very good. We quite literally have no food. Oh, and I think I forgot to eat breakfast. I'm not sure though.

I've been brainstorming ways to make money this summer. I don't think anyone will hire 15-year-olds except maybe Lagoon. That means I'll be mowing lawns and doing odd jobs around the house. At least I'll get a good tan and won't be yellow anymore. Anyway, it won't be long til I can start doing lawns again. That one won't have to wait until summer break.

I tried to find a new layout for my blog, but then I won't be able to add music and pretty pictures. That makes me sad.

My many accomplishments.

I have more things to add to my list of achievements. Last night I watched Charlie Bartlett on YouTube. This morning I watched Thirteen, which made me cry at the end. It was sooo good though. And now? I'm watching Princess Diaries. I know it's kind of dorky, but I love this movie! God, I don't think I've seen it in years.

Aside from all of this, I can't think of anything else I've done though. I haven't even eaten breakfast yet. I keep forgetting! Plus, there isn't really anything I want to eat. All of the chocolate chip pancake mix is gone, which is what i really wanted to eat. We have no good cereal. We have no good food. Thank God it's Friday. Why? Payday. Mom will buy food, I get a new phone card, and I'll get my $20 for March.

I really want coffee. Maybe I'll have coffee for breakfast. Totally healthy, right? God I love coffee. Starbucks sounds so good right now, but I'm kind of stuck here. And I'm broke. Well, that's kind of a lie. I have $5. Maybe I'll have Mom take me to Starbucks this afternoon and I can get a chai latte. That sounds good too. I love how I just wrote an entire paragraph about coffee.

I really want to write something. But what?

I love typing. It doesn't really matter what. I'm not that great at texting, but I love the feel of keys on the keyboard under my fingers. Sometimes I get this craving to type, like other people crave fancy chocolate or a shopping spree, and lately, I'm craving it. Unfortunately, I don't really have anything to write about. My spring break has been pretty boring, which isn't much of a surprise. Do I ever have an exciting spring break? It's not that I haven't had anything to do. I definitely have.

MONDAY: Pretty much nothing. I hung out at the house with Emily. Read Glass. Cleaned my room.

TUESDAY: Mom's day off. She spent it at the hospital. Emily and I took the bus to the shop so she could pick up her car. Read Impulse.

WEDNESDAY: Hung out with Dad. Helped him with his beer, went to Walmart and Hastings. Read The Nature of Jade. Began thinking in verse, probably from reading Glass and Impulse. They were worth it though.

THURSDAY (TODAY): Helped Dad clean. Read Forever Princess.

It's not like I've been out-of-my-mind bored, I just lead an exceptionally boring life. My goals for this summer? Learn to cook, earn a lot of money, and lose a size. That's not too much to ask for, is it? I don't know that I'll actually accomplish, oh, any of it, but at least I know what I want to do.

I kind of am craving a shopping spree too though.