Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all!! Sometimes I love the Christmas season beyond belief, but other times I hate all the stress and pressure I seem to feel. And my family feels it too. We seem to be a lot more snappy and irritable in the days leading up to Christmas. And it's not right. We should be celebrating and joyful, not cranky and unpleasant.

Candy grams are finally finished. According to Weiss, we raised about $200 more than they did last year, but there are some problems with counting and stock and such. I'm going to have to review everything over the break and double check it all. We shall see.

Oh! Birthday soon. Me excited. Can now drive. YES!!!

Question. Why do Jacqui and Kaeli use my blog to carry on conversations when they could just as easily email one another?

Did I mention that the Christmas Banquet was a lot of fun? Well it was. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

I've been getting very little sleep lately. Last night was the first time I've gotten more than six hours of sleep in one night. Not a good thing, but I think I'll make it thorough Christmas now.

To all the Scrooges and Bob Cratchits out there, enjoy your Christmas and time with your family. And remember Jesus in that manger, as He is the real reason for the season.

Death to Candygrams

I hate candy grams. I've done a lot of organizing for this stupid thing, and it starts on Monday, and we're not even close to being ready. And if it flops, the group that I'm working with will take the fall. And I, being the one who organized most of the whole stupid thing, will feel completely guilty. I wish Weiss had given us more notice. But all is said and done now.

It's starting to feel like Christmas. We're actually thinking about getting our tree soon, and my banquet dress is almost finished. I don't know if I'll look as good as Squid predicts, but we'll see. I love the fabric, though. Almost Gothic in colour, which I'm not in any way, but it contrasts against my pale skin. Not pale because I spend all my time inside, but because I don't tan.

Math class on Friday was fun. At least, I enjoyed it. I spent a lot of the class catching up with the other kids that I haven't talked to in years. It's really weird how much they changed after not seeing them all the time for two years. So strange, but some of them look exactly the same and the others look completely different. Plus I realized that all the guys that used to have to look up to talk to me now have to look down. Even guys like Alec who was way shorter than me a couple years ago.

Now the weekend's almost over, but it's okay. It's been semi-relaxing.

Oh, I found out that my cousin, whom I'm tutoring in French, got an A on his last test, so his mom is taking the two of us out to a movie over the Christmas break. I'm so proud of him. ~wipes away tear~

Also, my parents and I decided to stop accupuncture because it was costing a lot of money ($60 a session) and not causing any improvement. We're thinking about seeing a doctor in Vancouver that specializes in neurokinesis. Prayer would be much appreciated as we contemplate the next step in all of this. Thanks!

Shevbash. ~Kurdish

Late Night Ramblings

Grr. I hate writing resumés and cover letters. It's ridiculously difficult. How am I supposed to "sell myself" when I hate talking about myself? Odd for a person that has a blog, yes, but the truth, nonetheless.

The volleyball team windup party was today, and it was a blast. We hung out for a bit, waiting for the coaches to arrive, and then we sat down and had a talk. They're going to coach my club team this year!! I'm quite excited. Anyway, after that we ate pizza and just talked. After Coach Brad left, the rest of us girls and Russ played Taboo. It was so much fun!! Also, Coach Brad seemed to enjoy making fun of my vocabulary. I love the two of them as coaches. Club's going to be awesome this year.

Oh, I'm finally getting to tutor again, after two weeks. First I had to cancel because of volleyball, and then last week because of the weather.

I've been on here for an hour or so, working on homework, and my eyes are starting to hurt. Oh well, I'm almost done.

Mom's almost done Squid's dress, so she's going to start mine over the week. Squid looks so pretty in her dress. It makes me smile. She's such an adorable girl. If any guys try anything, I'll kill 'em.

Ahem.

School tomorrow. Yeah. Actually, not that bad because I get to see all of my darling friends again after a weekend of separation.

I should probably shut it down. The laptop's starting to get hot. G'night, all.

K'an ben sini. ~Bambara

Hello From The Laptop

He he. I discovered that I can update from my mommy's laptop. So that's what I'm doing.

I just finished a huge amount of Socials homework, but I'm proud to say that now I'm completely familiar with Microsoft Excel. Now I have to get started on the ridiculous amount of Planning. Tomorrow.

I went to see Deja Vu last night with Abbye and James. It was an amazing movie. My mind's still mulling over what happened - it's so confusing and thrilling at the same time. A lot of violence, though.

I apologize for the last post. Actually, I'm not sorry at all. I'm quite amused by my own brilliance.

Yeah, right.

You know, I actually don't have all that much to say. Whatever.

Giga-waabamin. ~Ojibwe

At Stephie's Behest

Stephie, brat that she is, has demanded that I update. Therefore, here is my update:

I am still alive. That is all you need to know.

Vi ses sénare. ~Swedish

Volleyball to the Nth Power

Hello. Please don't hurt me for not updating frequently. Everything's been so hectic with volleyball lately that I've been using my spare to do the homework that I didn't do the night before. Therefore, no time to blog. Sorry . . .

Well, I guess you guys deserve to hear what's happened with volleyball. Saturday was the round robin of Fraser Valleys. We lost the first game to Semiahmoo, and beat Abby Collegiate and Pitt Meadows, but we played like crap. It wasn't pleasant. On Monday we stared playoffs, and our first game was against PA. A team we haven't beaten all season. We lost the first set, won the second, and then lost the third. Then we had to play Walnut Grove, and our serving sucked. I think we missed a total of twenty-five serves in three games. We lost, obviously. Then last night we had to play Delta if we were to make it to provincials. We won in two straight sets, and even though we weren't executing our hitting, we still managed to send the ball over the net, and won. So we're going to provincials!!! I'm quite excited.

The bad thing is that I think I'm getting sick. I have almost no voice and I seem to be coughing a lot. Maybe it's from volleyball, but my throat is so sore that I doubt it's the only cause. Oh well.

It's been raining like stink lately. And it sucks. The weather's so depressing. Hopefully it stops soon.

Oh! The senior boys team won Fraser Valleys last Friday. Kaeli and Hailey and I went to watch, and had a grand old time. Squidhead came too, and it was great. We won the first two sets, lost the third and fourth, and came back to win it in the fifth. I felt really bad for the server on the other team, as the last point that won it for us was because he served it into the net.

Well, I think that's all for now. I shall see y'all later.

Ake wachia kin 'kte. ~Lakhota

Four Day Party

This entire weekend was devoted to celebrating Butterscotch's birthday. And man, was it fun.

On Friday one of her friends slept over. We watched Cheetah Girls 2 and The Challenge. Two very girly and very stupid movies, but I love them all the same. Well, I love Cheetah Girls 2. The Challenge is a Mary-Kate and Ashley movie, and I hate it.

We went bowling on Saturday. I'm apparently not too bad. I got 3rd out of twelve girls. I'm quite pleased with myself.

Then on Sunday my mom's family came over to celebrate. And my gramma brought us back very fun toys from China. LIGHTERS!!!! I'm so excited. I get to play with it. And it sings. I'll have to show y'all one day.

Yesterday I had another acupuncture appointment. My mom's thinking of stopping the treatments because it's not really making any difference. It doesn't matter to me either way.

Anyone watch the football game this weekend? The Lions slaughtered the Roughriders. It was kind of pathetic, but I still got into it. Grey Cup next weekend.

Which reminds me, seeding for Valleys is this coming weekend, too. And so is the gold medal match for the Senior Boys Valleys. I might go and watch, if I can convince the 'rents.

I started Info Tech today. We didn't do much, but I'm excited because I love the class.

Oh, and I finally finished Sense and Sensibility. Now I'm getting ready to read Reason and Romance, which is a novel by Debra White Smith that follows a similar plot line, except it's set in Texas. I can almost hear the accents now . . . ~drool~

Min tian jian. ~Mandarin

In Response to Aurum

Aurum said...

What do you mean for Steph to get some sleep? Obviosly she does because she's not yawning in the middle of the day or have bags under her eyes from not sleeping. And people can die if they don't sleep, or they just pass out from exahustion. Steph, as you should have noticed, has done none of those things.

I meant that whenever I check her blog, 90% of the times that she's posted are later than midnight. That means that she's getting less than 7 hours of sleep (approximately). That's not even close to enough. Teenagers are supposed to get around 10 hours of sleep. It's unhealthy. I was demonstrating my concern for her.

Sorry, can't resist - obviously, exhaustion

Tse ue. ~Shanghai

Radical Inequations

Oh, happy day!!! I'm in such a good mood right now. Not only did I get 99% on my nuclear energy test in science, but I also got into Spanish!!!!! Block B!!!!! With Gabe and Stephie!!!!!!

I'm quite excited, if the excess use of exclamation points didn't indicate that.

Ahem. Back to normalcy now.

Not that I've ever been normal. I just normally don't use exclamation points quite that excessively.

Math class was fun today. We were talking about how Tal has been doing announcements this week. Apparently Mr. Weiss approached him on Tuesday morning after Leadership and asked him to do them. Mr. Balzer, my math teacher, asked Tal if it was going to be a rotating thing with the Leadership students, and Tal said something to the effect of him "Sharing his wisdom with the unfortunate grade tens in the class". Meaning me. I, of course, took offense to that, and made some comment or other. Then Jana piped up and told Tal that I'm smarter than him and probably have more wisdom to share anyways. That shut him up. And made everyone laugh. Jana's my hero.

Apparently someone thinks Stephie is PMSing permanently. We shall have to rectify that. Much pain for the one that thought such a devious thing.

Oh, speaking of Stephie, GET SOME FREAKIN' SLEEP OR I WILL FIND A WAY TO MAKE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And it won't be pleasant.

Ahem.

I must have something caught in my throat.

Our internet's down at home. My dubby is taking in the modem to day to get it fixed. Hopefully. We shall have to see.

Who has Letter Tag? And when are they going to pass it on?

Tchau. ~Portuguese

Catch-Up

Wow! It's been over a week since I last blogged. Sorry to my readers - all four of you . . .

Not much has been happening this week. I stole Stephie's water bottle and assisted in the stealing of another, and had massive amounts of volleyball.

Speaking of which, we came 3rd in our tourney this past weekend. Not where we'd have liked to finished, but still respectable. District playoffs started yesterday as well, and we won all three of our games in two straight sets. The next round of playoffs starts tomorrow with the same format. Should be fun.

I'm slowing working my way though Sense and Sensibility, but I won't lie; it's slow going. Not quite as easy of a read as Pride and Prejudice, but still with the same sense of satirical wit. I love it. Jane Austen is my hero.

Kaeli - ha! Both Jordan and Josh think I'm wonderful. Can't you just see my ego growing exponentially?

I'm adorable, apparently. Kaeli was waiting for me to leave the library with her after our spare this afternoon, and I told her I'd be there in two shakes of a lamb's tail. She was quite unaware that I was speaking literally. I shook my tail, and off we went.

Ooh, ooh! Guess what we're doing in science!!! We get to watch pretty flames burn as part of our chemistry unit. And my dad had a huge bonfire burning this past weekend to get rid of some waste wood. It was very pretty.

I feel really bad for the people living in Chilliwack and on the Island. The water damage they've experienced sucks. I'm so glad there isn't a river in the near vincity of where we live. That could cause problems.

I've realized that I'm exceedingly fond of italicizing certain parts of my writing. Is it distracting at all?

Well, that's all for now.

Au se lako mada. ~Fijian

New Car

Kaeli is a maneater. I just thought I should inform all of you of that fact. She's glaring at me now. And apparently I'm a brat. That's okay. It's not the first time someone's told me that. Actually, it's my mom's nickname for me.

Guess what? We got a new car!!! It's a 1989 silver Honda Civic hatchback. Kinda like the one here. I love it. My parents surprised Squid and Butterscotch and me on Sunday with it. They bought it for when we get old enough to drive (2 1/2 months). I'm a happy camper.

Ooh, I've found a new favourite song. I absolutely love it to death. Some People Change by Montgomery Gentry. It's so, hopeful, I guess. It's like a good book. Just picks you up when you're feeling down. The music video is awesome, too. Go take a look, if you feel so inclined.

Here's to the strong; thanks to the brave.
Don't give up hope: some people change.
Against all odds, against the grain,
Love finds a way: some people change.

I have volleyball all this week. Games today, tomorrow, and Thursday, and then a tournament all weekend. Plus, we might go to the Trinity game on Friday. I'm excited, though.

It's Butterscotch's birthday on Friday, and I have no idea about what to get her. Plus, I'm broke. We'll have to see . . .

Annyong-hi kashipshio. ~Korean

Walk By Faith

Another Monday, another week of school. A full week, unfortunately. I don't mind my school all that much, regardless of the amount of complaining I do. It's a good place to be.

World Series Game 2 was yesterday, and Detroit won. A marvelous pitching job by Kenny Rogers, even without the pitch on his hand. Kept the Cardinals in line, he did. Too bad the closer had to let in a run, but it doesn't matter all that much in the grand scheme of things. Neither does who wins the Series, but it provides enjoyment for me. Tee hee.

My team finished second at our tourney over the weekend. Stupid PA. Though it was our passing and serving that did us in, not the other team. Gabe's birthday party was this weekend too. I had a grand ole time. Her sister and mom are really neat - I like them very much, darling!

You know what song really gets to me? Walk by Faith, by Jeremy Camp. I love it to death. Maybe because I know that all of the hard stuff just makes me stronger. Or kills me, but I prefer to think it makes me stronger.

Well I will walk by faith
Even when I cannot see
Well because this broken road
Prepares Your will for me

That's all for now, folks.

Adiós. ~Spanish

Weird Families and Number Puzzles

I had another acupuncture appointment yesterday. There are still marks on my arms and hands where the needles were put in. It looks really funny, for some reason. I have the little acupuncture bead-type things in my left ear again. Six, according to Kaeli.

I'm beginning to realize how weird my family is. No need to go into the details, but we're a messed up bunch. I love them anyways.

Must have been my first mistake.

Math class today was a lot of fun. IT didn't make any comments, either. We had a quiz, and the teacher gave us a number puzzle afterwards. I took a little longer to do the quiz than normal, and so I got the number puzzle a bit later than most people. And I . . . kinda finished it before everyone else. And considering I'm a year younger than 90% of the people in my class, it looked kind of weird when I asked if we had to hand it in. So, yeah, everyone was kind of looking at me funny. It was great.

Oh, for those of you who don't know who IT is, he happens to be the bane of my existence. Thankfully, he is a year older than me and I only see him in math class, but he is an enormous pain.

Cardinals won last night. I'm quite happy. And Pujols hit his first homer of the series. Yeah.

Late volleyball practice today. And then tutoring. Ick. I don't get home until 8:00. But it's a four day weekend, so I can sleep in.

Gabe's birthday was yesterday. Happy Birthday, darling!! Can't wait until your party this weekend!

Xaire. ~Ancient Greek

A Good Man

YEAH!!!! Tigers swept the A's in the ALCS! Welcome to the world series, boys! Sadly, the Mets finally got their bats going, and beat the Cardinals 12-5 last night, tying up the NLCS. Beltran and Delgado were definitely on the top of their game, and Wright actually hit one. I think game five is in St. Louis, so maybe that'll get the Cardinals fired up, and they'll come back with a win.

Enough baseball. Spare today was hilarious. Kaeli was experimenting with my pens, and she was just adorable. Kept on giggling the whole way through, trying to determine which colour ink was the smudgiest. I'm still laughing on the inside.

Volleyball tournament last weekend, and my team came 5th or 6th. I'm not really sure. But considering that this was the first time we've faced some actual competition, I think we did fairly well. It was a 23 team tourney, too, so our placing is nothing to sneeze at.

"A Good Man" is a really great song by a Canadian country band - Emerson Drive. And even though it's written and sung from a guy's perspective, the gist of the message applies to women, as well. We want people to remember us in a positive light, as caring and honest individuals that made the world brighter somehow. Go check it out.

I wanna be the one

When all is said and done

Lived a good life

Loved a good wife

Always helped someone in trouble

On the day they lay me down

I want everyone to gather 'round

And say he was a father,

Brother, neighbour and a friend

He was a good man

- "A Good Man" -- Emerson Drive

Another good song I've been obsessed with lately is "Savin' Me" by Nickelback. I love the lyrics, and Chad Kroeger's voice can be so raw when he sings - it's a really neat effect.

Heaven's gates won't open up for me

With these broken wings I'm fallin'

And all I see is you

These city walls ain't got no love for me

I'm on the ledge of the eighteenth story

And oh I scream for you

Come please I'm callin'

And all I need from you

Hurry I'm fallin'

- "Savin' Me" -- Nickelback

Umm, I don't have much else to say.

Da boch chi. ~Welsh

Ballpark Talk

Some good news to report. My Socials teacher is allowing everyone to retake the test because a number of people found mistakes in the format. Thank goodness. That's definitely a relief, because I was quite upset about that.

The FictionPress website isn't working. It sucks. I want to read some stories, but I can't. Oh well.

Volleyball tournament this weekend. I'm really psyched, though I don't think I'll play all that much. I was playing really lousy in yesterday's game, but it's up to the coaches.

As much as I hate the Yankees, I really feel badly for Cory Lidle's family, as well as that of his flight instructor. It's so sad that they died doing something they both loved. It kind of taints the memories that their families have of the good times flying. I'm sure the people of New York City were really frightened when they first heard about the crash. Not knowing whether it was deliberate, or accidental, or what even happened would definitely send me into a panic. God bless all the people affected by this tragedy.

On a more happy note, the Tigers are ahead in the ALCS against Oakland 2-0. Too bad the Cardinals are down 0-1 to the Mets, though. Doubleheader tonight, which I have to miss, unfortunately, due to volleyball. My dad will give me all the highlights, though.

Go Tigers!!!

Zbogom. ~Croatian, at the request of Kaeli

Welcome to the World of Blogger, Friends

I'm happy. All my friends have blogs now, so we can see what's happening inside each other's minds. It's kind of neat. Not that I'll remember what their URLs are. Thank goodness for Kamuri's 'Links' section.

I hate Socials Online. My teacher has no idea as to what he's doing. And I got 66% on the last test. 66%!!!!!! I never do that poorly on a test. And I'm not bragging, either. It's a fact. The worst thing is that a lot of people have talked to him about the lack of organization and the problems on the site, and he just ignores it. I'm quite frustrated. And upset.

I wish there was some way I could change the world. Really, truly change it. It's so screwed up right now. What with three school shootings within the span of a week, and four within three weeks. Dawson College, Montreal; Nickel Mines, PA; Wisconsin; and Colorado. People have so many problems, and they go and take it out on others in unhealthy ways. Join a sports team, go see a counselor, write, do SOMETHING!!! Just don't go around and shoot innocent people just because your life is screwed up.

Okay, done ranting. It'll come again, soon enough, though.

Valete. ~ Latin

Turkey Time

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians!! A little late, but I can't update from my home computer (dumb iMacs . . .), so school is my only place of communication.

A lot happened this weekend. I got to see my cousin, who finally got back from Australia, after being gone for six months. And we had salmon for Thanksgiving dinner. Only my aunt . . .

I also met another cousin's boyfriend. He's a sweet guy. Actually talked to us, not at us. A unique find, but he better treat her right. Or else.

Thursday was a holiday, and I got to volunteer at the school. Got some Leadership and Planning hours, and met a number of interesting people. Many of whom are students at my own school - and this was a conference for teachers.

Ooh, ooh! I got books on Thursday. Three of them. The Princess Mage by Maggie L. Woods, The Grand Tour by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer, and Water - Tales of Elemental Spirits by Robin McKinley and Peter Dickenson. I probably completely mucked up their names, but whatever.

Oh, my wrist is much better - thanks to all of you that prayed!

I have to tutor today - two of the cutest kids ever. Grades four and six, and I'm contemplating tutoring at school as well. We'll see how it works with my schedule, which can be ridiculously busy.

Do svidanja!

PS - For my friends that don't know what languages I've been using, here's a list:

• Italian
• French
• Polish
• Romanian
• Hebrew
• Japanese
• Russian

We'll see what I use next, hmm?

Welcome to My Life

A most excellent song. "Welcome to My Life" by Simple Plan. As much as I love country, I really identify with that song. And it has relevance to my situation.

I am seriously injury-prone. I hurt myself at volleyball practice. Again. I can't even make it through one season without an injury!! We were working on diving, and my traitorous feet got caught up in one another, and I landed awkwardly on my left wrist. It's still usable, but it does hurt if I twist my hand the wrong way.

To be hurt
To feel lost
To be left out in the dark
To be kicked when you're down
To feel like you've been pushed around
To be on the edge of breaking down
And no one's there to save you
No you don't know what it's like
Welcome to my life
- "Welcome to My Life" -- Simple Plan

Sayonara.

Community Workday

The grade ten community workday was today, and I must say it was fun. We got to pull ivy off of trees, and I got to snip the ivy branches (roots?). Apparently I'm strong. It was quite hot, though, which definitely aggravated my headache, but I'm okay. I'll just get a cool drink, or something along those lines, when I get home.

I hate computers. I was supposed to take a preliminary thing for the Jeopardy teen tournament last night, but the two computers I tried didn't have the right Macromedia Flash plug-in. Then I tried to do my homework at home, but the website I needed didn't work, and I had to go back to my aunt's house to get it done.

On a much happier note, we won our volleyball game yesterday! And I actually got a kill, which is unusual because I'm more of a security hitter than anything else. Meaning I almost always get the ball over the net and in play, but it may not be the most difficult hit. I'm quite pleased with myself right now, though.

Kaeli is my new hero. She dumped water on our supervisor for the community workday, who happens to be a teacher at our school. It was tons of fun.

Shalom!

Idle Chatter

Hello again. I must admit I had an incredibly boring and unproductive weekend. I was house and dog sitting by myself, and being the slacker and procrastinator that I am, I got almost no work done. Fortunately I have spares. Two of them.

I'm really realising how out of shape I am at volleyball practice. My coach doesn't make us run all that much, and yet I felt like I was going to toss my cookies (Oreos . . . yum) afterwards. The pounding in my head didn't necessarily help. Prayer would be appreciated from those of you that know what's going on. Especially that the doctors would find a cure and I wouldn't have to end this with a fairly heavy-duty epilepsy drug, which is my last resort. Thanks goes out to those who have been praying.

Shane Wiebe is awesome. I'm listening to his CD while I'm writing this, and his vocals are so soothing. They kind of remind me of Craig Sharpe, who I think should have won Canadian Idol, but that's old news.

Rãmas bun.

Pins and Needles

Well, actually just needles. Yesterday I had my first acupuncture appointment, and it was w-e-i-r-d WEIRD!!! The acupuncturist kept on talking about my "chi" and "energy flow", and while I completely respect Chinese medicine, I was really freaked out. Then she started sticking these tiny needles in my feet and arms and legs, and even a few in my head! The weird thing was that while she was doing it, I felt like something was moving from the spots where she put the needles in. She also put some acupuncture balls in my ear, which are supposed to have a similar effect as needles. Now I have eight little patches on my ear.

I discovered that acupuncture leaves you totally drained. After the appointment I had very little energy and was able to function on sugar alone. I even missed out on my volleyball game because I felt so lacking in energy. No help for my headaches so far, though. Guess I'll just have to see what happens, and keep on praying.

Czesc!

I Am SO Lame

I've just recently realised how lame I really am. During one of my study blocks today, I sat across the library from a friend of mine and we spent the whole block instant messaging one another. While in the same room. It's even worse when I'm right next to the person I'm messaging, though.

I need help.

Volleyball is killer for working abs. My core is so sore today after yesterday's practice, but I know that's a good thing. For now, at least.

Au revoir!

Buon Giorno

I was encouraged by my friends to start a blog for reasons unknown to myself, and this is the result. I'll admit that I probably won't update frequently, or have very long posts, but that's the way it is.

This probably isn't the most prudent use of my study block, but I think I'll be okay.

Ciao.