Lindsay Loves

I should be working on my short little paper for World History right now. I’ve spent the whole day working on my project for Lifsey’s class. (Okay, so I actually started around 2, but that is when my day started. Really must work on getting dressed, etc. faster.) We’re making model houses from foam. I’m roughly half done with mine; it’s due Thursday. I’ve been cutting the foam for about three days now. I have three-quarters of the walls, but no windows or doors, and I’m going to hold off on making the floor ’cause that’s all one piece, and therefore less time-consuming… I think. I almost started gluing the walls together, but then I nixed it in favor of making all the door and window openings first. Then I realized I couldn’t place the doors and windows properly until I knew where all the walls went. But I didn’t know how they’d all fit together. Solution: I used itty-bitty pieces of tape to hold the walls upright and in place until I get to the gluing part. Worked pretty well. I decided to stop to do my paper (erm… will get to it shortly), but I’ll head back to it after dinner. What is it with teachers assigning tedious projects?

Further proof that we are wreaking havoc on the environment: It was snowing until about twenty minutes ago. Snowing. It’ll be April in two days! It is officially spring! This is the latest I’ve ever seen snow, including that time in Germany in mid-March. It was really wet, more like rain-snow than regular snow, but it’s still bizarre. I even gave up and wore long sleeves today (to stay in the house). It’s supposed to be cold again tomorrow, but it looks like it’ll warm up again. And to think, the weather was in the mid-60’s yesterday.

Web design is hard. I spent a large chunk of last night making a nifty logo-type-thing, though. The problem is trying to lay everything out properly. I’m getting major inspiration from Rajni and Mykella, but I see now that I’m aiming too high. I can alter HTML and CSS quite easily now. But writing the neat-looking stuff? Uh-uh. I know my limits. ::pouts:: I do want it to look good, though. I just don’t have the time to sort it all out. Grr.

My piano lesson was moved to Saturday afternoon. It’s weird, though, to have so many people wandering around while I’m playing. I still get nervous when I play in front of strangers. My hands shake and my mind wanders farther than I’m willing to let it. She all but begged me to go to the mini-recital tomorrow night. She said I was a role model for her younger students. I haven’t had a lot of time to practice lately, though, so I’m not so sure about performing. And I haven’t mentioned it to my parents yet. They’d have to take me directly from school to the base. And I wouldn’t have any time to eat. (I am not a pleasant person when I’m hungry.) Grr. ::mimes scale:: Be a role model, work on project/do homework/eat on time/ Internet. Attempt to fight nervous shake, attempt to get good grades. I don’t think I’ll go. I find that I have less and less time for piano lately.

The quarter ends this week. There’s only one class that I’m worried about, though. And I used to think of it as an “easy” class. This quarter, whatever I get, I earned it. It’s been bothering me for ages. Engineering is not my thing. Science is not my thing. Which makes the college search process that much harder, because I don’t know what my thing is.

And I have rambled far too much already. I can smell dinner, and my history book is looming overheard, reminding me of my not-yet-started report. I hate school. The people are okay, but schoolwork sucks. ::reluctantly goes off to fulfill personal obligation to school::

I haven’t blogged in days. I’m suffering from blog withdrawal. (Yes, there is such a thing; I have just made it up and diagnosed myself with it.) I’m in Lifsey’s class, though, and the bell is in about ten minutes, so I have to make this quick.

Nothing monumental to blog about. Wednesday was Theme Day. This time, each class got a superhero. Seniors had Superman, juniors (go ’04!) had Batman, sophomores got Spiderman, and freshmen got the Incredible Hulk. I’m mad we got stuck with the only superhero that doesn’t have superpowers. Batman is a rich guy with toys. Granted, he’s really rich, and he gets all the beautiful women, and his villians are awesome, but still. There were some interesting costumes. McClain dressed up as Batgirl, and there were a few Poison Ivys and Jokers and Harlequins. One guy dressed up as “The Questionnaire”, with backwards question marks all over his clothes. Sort of like the low-budget version of The Riddler. That’s Oxon Hill for you.

Yesterday in English, we acted out Act Two of The Crucible. When Mrs. Anderson passed out the photocopies of the script, Greg glanced at it and immediately insisted we volunteer. He wanted to be Elizabeth Proctor, and he wanted me to be John. Mrs. Anderson told him he had to be John, though, and I was goaded into playing Elizabeth. See, they’re married. And in the beginning of the scene, John is supposed to kiss his reluctant wife. So Greg is all, “Ooh, I’m gonna make out with you in front of the whole class!” And I’m like, “No.” He didn’t. Of course, he had my permission to go for the cheek, or hand maybe, but he just skipped that part. I can read him like a book.

Oops, just about time to go. I should be back to blog some more later tonight. But congrats to Mykella for passing her driver’s test!!! (Mark told me.) Yay, Mykella!!!! (Hey, everyone deserves a celebratory cheer now and then.) Ciao for now.

1. J.K. Rowling had her baby Sunday night, according to CBBC. It’s a boy, David Gordon. Oddly enough, that is also the name of Gordo from Lizzie McGuire. More info, check The Leaky Cauldron; CBBC link there as well. This means either the same delay for Book 6, or a longer one. On the bright side, only about 88 days until Order of the Phoenix. W00t!

2. Reading The Crucible in English. Now that’s how I like my classics. Just sophisticated and “olde tyme” enough; I only have to get my handy-dandy Merriam-Webster about three times per reading assignment. We act it out (sort of) in class, but it’s hard to follow, so I read it over at home. I haven’t had to put much work into English this year, and am subsequently getting lazy. Not having that, must shape up for Adkins next year.

3. My trig teacher was out today, so we got sent to another teacher’s classroom. Boring like nothing. Should sneaked out and down the hall to Dr. J’s. Otherwise, class was class.

4. Lunch, however, was a different story entirely. Okay. There used to be about ten people I sat with at lunch, but a lot of them changed for second semester, so there’s only four of us left: me, Alanna, Hope, and Sarah A. Jennifer B. joined us later (I think all her people switched lunches, too.) It’s March Madness at school (aka Spirit Week); today was Blast from the Past Day. I assume Jennifer was dressed up for that. What other reason could you have for wearing a cow-print outfit: skirt, cowboy hat, and cute little purse. Sure, it was weird, but what do I care so long as she doesn’t try to make me wear it?

Anyway, this guy comes over from the next table (the one where she used to sit, acutally) and starts harassing Jennifer about her outfit. Basic garden-variety Oxon Hill idiot (my readers excluded, of course). She should have just ignored him, but that’s not in her personality. (I don’t really know her that well, but sitting with her these past few weeks has helped some.) So Jennifer talks trash back to Idiot. He goes back and sits down, but then starts yelling from his table. Jennifer and Idiot volley insults like this for the better part of the period. I mind my own business, finish eating, and start in on my latest book.

So I’m reading, and I look up because there’s this huge commotion. In the next second or two, I think very quickly (a) oh my God, Idiot’s attacking Jennifer!, (b) people are crowding us, (c) is Jennifer fighting back?, (d) is Alanna [who was sitting next to Jennifer] okay?, (e) I am so glad I’m sitting on this side of the table. After all that blitzes through my brain, it’s over. The admins run in and pull Jennifer out, Mr. Shoemaker (the custodian) tackles Idiot to the floor, the other idiot students in the crowd stop yelling ’cause it’s over, and I finally calm down. As I’m catching my breath, everyone moves away and goes back to their business. I didn’t see Jennifer or Idiot after that.

You think that would be the end of it, but this sentence is obviously leading to the part where I tell you it wasn’t. Idiot’s learning-from-experience-impaired people at the next table start talking again, this time about Alanna, Hope, and me. Apparently, there’s some unwritten Fight Procedures list that says when your friend is getting beat on, you jump in to help. Um, no? First, I don’t really know her like that. Second, she shouldn’t have let it escalate like that. People actually do get bored and move on if you ignore them. Third, who am I going to help? Poster child for lack of strength, you know? Fourth, I am not getting suspended for fighting. I’ve worked too hard for too long to throw it all away like that. Fifth, it happened in about ten seconds. I wasn’t thinking straight enough to get away, let alone to help her. Sufficing to say, that put me in a ranty mood for the beginning of third period. I spent the whole time at the lathe, though, so that gave me time to work out my thoughts and for that mood to dissipate.

I did come to one major decision though. If and when I have children, I am not raising them in PG County. Some people manage to turn out okay, but I’m not taking that chance. I’m already worried about Courtney, and she’s only in the fifth grade. I shudder to think about Ryan. If this is PG now, what will it be like when he gets to high school?

Horoscope-type-thing Choi Mei emailed me is up in my uJournal. Trig test tomorrow on the Law of Sines, should be easy like all the others. Must find more Internet time to do constructive things (college whatnot, SAT stuff, etc.). Oh, well. Sleep now. Ciao.

So. Went out today. There are some weekends when I don’t leave the house at all, so this is a thing worth mentioning. My mom made waffles this morning, yum. After hurrying to get ready (it takes me about three times as long as it does her), we went to the library. I should have asked to drive. I am horribly out of practice. And I can’t park. Now that the spring weather is here, hopefully to stay, I should get more opportunities. Daylight savings time is not always a bad thing. Anyway, I finished my last book in the car, and I knew what I wanted when I went in the library, so that didn’t take long at all. (Hey. Stop calling me a nerd. Only I get to do that. And in my case, it’s more “I can’t find this book at Borders” or “I don’t know if I want to read it enough to buy it” than “Hey, let’s go hang out at the library!” K?)

The book, by the way, was Janine and Alex, Alex and Janine, by Michael Levin. I’ve wanted to read it since I saw the Disney Channel movie adaptation, Model Behavior. As with most book-to-movie deals, the book was different from and better than the movie. There were some great passages that I wanted to excerpt here, but you can hit up Amazon or the library if you’re interested. When I read books, I hear the words in my head, so it’s sort of like a movie already. Except that they’re usually bodiless voices. Since I’ve seen the movie twice, though, I kept seeing the actress that plays Alex/Janine and Justin Timberlake. (Mmm. Not Lance, but still rather yummy.) It’s about an “oh-so-normal” seventeen-year-old girl, Alex, who worships teen supermodel Janine Adams. Janine contacts Alex one day, and they meet. Everntually, they decide to temporarily switch places. Janine gets to experience high school, and Alex gets to be a top model and win the heart of the gorgeous actor Jason Sharp (Justin). The trouble is, what if someone finds out? And what happens when you get swept up in a fantasy? The book was written directly from Alex’s POV. (Shoot, I may have to buy it just for the beautiful use of single-character POV…) The voice was perfect, as displayed in sentences such as “I’m like, No way is this happening to me,” and “Oh pause migod.” Some people would call it clichéd. I am into the whole “young adult fiction” thing, however, so :P. I liked it. I got another one like it at the library today.

After the library, we went out to Michael’s so I could get some foam core board for my model house in Lifsey’s class. Shouldn’t be too hard to make. Lots of marking and cutting, then gluing. I don’t know if we’re using regular or hot glue, though. I hate hot glue. I tend to (a) burn my fingers, (b) mis-glue something and have to wait for it to cool so I can pull it apart, (c) accidentally drag a long string of glue into the air and walk through it, so I freak out, thinking “spiderweb!”, or (d) do some combination of those. He said we’d be working on it in class, but where am I supposed to put my boards until fifth period? Not gonna fit in my locker. And does he have knife-things for us to cut the foam with? I have one from my science fair windmill (which, btw, earned me an honorable mention. pretty spiffy for a 30-project category), but there’s probably something wrong with bringing any sort of knife to school…

Popped into Modell’s to get some baseball pants for Ryan. Didn’t actually buy them, yet still spent about twenty minutes wandering around. I just followed my mom. Sporting goods are not my thing. Then lunch at the mall. Had a Sprite. My mom’s right, food really does taste better when you’ve been deprived of it. Got some new jeans at Old Navy: boot-cut, long, dark-washed, fit just the way I like them, and on sale. Yay. Wandered through Kohl’s, realized that swimsuit season is coming, was depressed. Went to Wal-Mart, got cute visor, got over swimsuit depression. Came home, folded very wrinkly laundry, watched tv even though had other things to do, ate dinner, got online. This concludes the latest installment of What Lindsay Did Today. You can wake up now.

I joined several more fanlistings. Still have many musical artist, movie, tv, book, and misc. fanlistings to seek out, though. I am officially addicted to fanlistings, with no intention to stop. So much so, that when I couldn’t find one I was looking for, I considered starting it. No time, though. I’ve been looking around for ideas for a new blog/site layout, but that will take mucho time that I don’t have. Must study for SAT, AP English exam, various school stuff, and research colleges ’cause I’m tired of people asking where I want to go. I’m looking, okay? Also, work toward license, finish reading-in-progress fanfics, and probably do some other stuff I can’t even remember right now. Yipee. Off to accomplish something before bed. Ciao.

Finally. The weekend. I haven’t had the chance to sleep late since the 9th. I don’t care what time I open my eyes in the morning, I’m not getting out of bed until 10. Moving my self-imposed bedtime up has helped a little, though. I figure, if I get offline by eleven (okay, 11:15), then I can be in bed around midnight. Now, if I could just get ready for school faster, I wouldn’t have to get up as early as I do now, and I could get more sleep without sacrificing Internet time. Mom says I’m slow. I say I’m meticulous.

I am very slowly working on parts of my new site. I haven’t quite decided how I want to lay out this blog, though, so I’m going to hold off on the switch until I can get it just right. I haven’t decided what sort of theme I want (besides the blue-and-white color scheme), though. Maybe stars. Something muse-y. Any ideas?

Dr. J’s test yesterday was more difficult than usual (I think). It was only the second time this year that I turned in any of the homework on time, though. Well, I turned in half yesterday and half today, but it’s the principle that matters. I started earlier than usual this time (like, before the test), and he always assigns the easier problems, so it wasn’t difficult, and I am proud of myself physics-wise. I’m usually the first person in my period to turn in the homework. I checked the grade lists, and I was the only one who turned in anything for chapters 18 and 19, and I have (had?) the second-highest grade in all the classes (which means one of the physics super-geniuses has been slacking — tsk). Dr. J said he wants to clone me. He is such a nice guy, even when suffering through five sections of AP Physics B puts him in a horrid mood.

Speaking of AP, I only found out today that we’re supposed to register for the AP exams now. Must have missed that announcement from Mrs. Anderson. I only have two AP classes (English Language and Physics B). While physics is not exactly Greek to me, it’s still foreign, so I’m not even going to bother with that one. I fully intend to take the English exam, though. I just have to con my parents into picking me up three times a week instead of my usual two. (Must get license…) Either that, or It’s Ac on Mondays and Thursdays instead of Mon./Wed. But the AP sessions go until 5, so I’d only make the last part of It’s Ac… Grr. And this is on top of regular homework and Internet time. And studying for the SAT. My verbal rocks, but my math is rusty. I do the College Board Question of the Day, and lately I’ve been missing the math ones. Not good. So much studying to do, so little spirit to actually do it all.

Whoa. Sims, could you have made Chapter 5 any longer? This is probably going to wind up as Chapters 5 and six. If you start out with long chapters, you can continue that way, but once you’ve set a pattern of short chapters, you should try to stick to it. Great job with the Quidditch scene, by the way. It may need some POV tweaking, but I can picture the match (game?) fairly easily. Any thoughts on publishing the beta-ed chapters on FF.net?

No piano tonight; my teacher’s out of town today. I stayed home to watch the Rugrats while my parents went to the movies. Not a bad deal. I got to watch Lizzie McGuire (love that show… must find fanlisting) and parts of the new Disney Channel movie, Right on Track. It was pretty good, but then again, I love Disney Channel movies. Also saw part of the Big Urban Myth Show on MTV. This episode was Britney’s stalker-fending-off doubles (false), Pop Rocks and soda (false), marijuana cigarettes (false), waking up sleepwalkers (false), and a few others that I can’t remember. The true myths (is that an oxymoron?) are always neat, though. Like, there are tiny traces of cocaine in most ATM cash. And Courtney Love’s dog really did die from choking on one of her breast implants. Creepy, but much fun to watch. Ttfn, got stuff to do tomorrow.

Well. As of 8:00 tonight, the United States is at war with Iraq. War is the horrific result of international (in this case, used to mean between nations) tension that can’t be resolved through simple diplomacy. I remember last year, in my government class, we saw a graph of the proposed 2002 budget. An alarmingly huge amount of the money was slated for missile defense system development, defense spending, and the like. Very little was set aside for diplomatic affairs. I’ll admit that one of my first reactions was pleased. My dad is active duty Air Force, and a defense spending increase means he could get a raise. (There’s no other way military members get raises.) Then, as we did the warm-up activity that went with the graph, I started to think some more. One of the questions asked us to reorganize the budget to something we agreed with. I moved a large chuck of the defense dollars to diplomacy. My rationale? If we can work things out with other countries peacefully and quietly, then everyone will save time, money, effort, and maybe even their lives.

It’s so weird to have this thought back again, the thought that I’m witnessing history. Like I was telling Megan, Stephanie, Choi, and Shannon on the bus the other day, I can already see the passage in the history books: On September 11, 2001, members of the radical Afghan terrorist group al-Qaeda attacked the United States as a terrorist maneuver. A year and a half later, U.S. presence in the Middle East and heightened tensions between the world power and its enemies led to World War III. You can almost picture our grandchildren asking us about it years from now. Where we were on September 11 (in school), what we thought about Afghanistan and Iraq, what it was (will be) like.

That’s part of the reason I’m writing this now, the reason I’ve been keeping journals and diaries steadily since the fifth grade. Everyone changes so much as they grow older. I don’t want to forget what I’m like now. I want to remember my thoughts, my feelings, the insignificant day-to-day things. I opened my last diary a few weeks ago. The things I wrote when I was eleven embarrass me so much now. Reading about it helps me remember, though. My first crushes, my first impressions of high school, the mini-revelations I had about life; it’s all right there, in my gradually-changing handwriting. I get to visit my middle school self again. Some things are just too priceless for words.

So. On to the far less dramatic and interesting. Saturday: SAT seminar/workshop at Flowers. It was pretty interesting. It felt so weird, going back there after being away for so long. I actually saw some of my old… acquaintances. (I can’t call them friends. I didn’t really have friends at Flowers. That was part of why I was so miserable that year. The building is beautiful, but that’s where the positive factors end.) I’m taking the SAT (for the first time) on April 5. Dude. I am so ready for this. I rock at standardized tests. (PSAT 1230 combined, 75 writing. Yeah, baby!) ::breathes out:: Still, I could use some extra work. Must study between now and then.

Sunday: Maryland Invitational High School Tournament, part II. Back to the U of MD: College Park. I was on the A team again, with Mark, Ian, and Brian (who takes piano lessons from my teacher; he’s a “military brat”, too, and a senior). Greg was on the B team. A went 6-4, B went 5-5. Better than the winter tournament. Mr. T said he was pleased and impressed. Yay for Nerds Anonymous!!! Mom took me this time, and was extremely bored, despite the trivia and her Danielle Steel book. They still don’t know about Greg (I think), so we were very covert. (It was almost more fun that way.) I played at my normal level, though I did accidentally give away two (!!!) answers. It’s like, I buzzed in at the exact same time the other team did, but didn’t notice that they got in first, and I answered anyway. Major oops factor. The killer is that I did it not once, but twice. Sigh. Must work on that. I had great fun, though. Trivia rocks.

Monday: St. Patrick’s Day. School was the usual. Vicki (Ian’s sister, freshman) was all dressed up in celebration, ’cause she’s Irish. She had on fishnets, a leather skirt and boots, a green vest, and this huge green foam hat. What can I say, the girl likes attention. Yesterday was the same, as far as I can remember.

In closing, random musings. Angel was really good tonight. I think I missed an episode, though. Darn. Oh, well, reruns. I’m looking for something to do this summer, but it’s a bit harder ’cause I’m not so sure about what I want to do now. The weather teased us with two days of warmth, and now the cold air and rain are back. Boo. Finished another book, Alice on the Outside, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. I read all the Alice books up to Achingly Alice, and then lost track. I’m getting back into them, though. It was good, by the way. Greg stole it during first period on Monday, and started reading it just to spite me, but then he got interested. I mean, Greg? Reading a girlie book? Not a good idea. Still working on web page. The glory of getting the technical aspects right has worn off, though. And now I have free reign to join half a zillion fanlistings. W00t. Oops, getting late, and I’m tired of dozing off occasionally. It’s highly annoying when you’ve got a physics to study and do homework problems for. Ciao for now.

::is giddy:: Guess what I spent the last… three hours doing? I made a web page!!! ::does happy dance:: I swiped the CSS from my blog template, but the rest is all me. My new fanlistings page is there, too, and it looks much better. Still needs work, but I’m taking one step at a time. Now that I know I am capable of using CSS properly, I’m going to tackle this blog next. Dude. This is so cool. I haven’t had a web page (in the technical sense) since I lived in Japan. And that was, like, 1997 at the latest. It took forever, but it looks so beautiful, it’s worth it. I’ll be making more changes after I post this, so hit up the guestbook and tell me what you think. ::resumes happy dance::