Woah

I don't know when my stalker count went from 12 to 34, but boy, does it raise one's self-esteem.

One thing that had happened in those two months that I haven't blogged was course selection for next year. I'm taking AP Language and Composition, AP World History, Chemistry, Physics, Pre-Calc, Web Design II, Java Programming, and French IV. I've planned some college tours for my spring break, where I'll visit University of New Haven, Quinnipiac, Tufts, and WPI. I also took a placement test at CSM so I can take some summer courses there. This should be fun :)

Kindles

I have decided to put in my two-cents of what I think about the kindle and other e-reader type electronics:

If you like 'em, great. Personally I wouldn't want one (though it would be handy to get books faster and cheaper). I wouldn't be able to bring it to school, and the squareness of it would be uncomfortable.

You see, the way I read at home is I curl around the book. My favorite reading spot is on my couch upstairs. I don't lay back, instead I sit up with my legs bent so the spine of the book fits perfectly on my legs. I usually lean my head against the back cushion of the couch with my chin down the read the book and my arms slung over my knees. Doing that with a solid rectangle would be uncomfortable and weird, especially since I'd have to move every few minutes to change pages.

Computer Classes

Sorry for not posting in two months. Lately I've been feeding my unhealthy habit of doing nothing.

I have decided to do Computer Bowl at my school, with the first meeting being on the Thursday after break. It's sponsored by my Web Design teacher, which is by the way a really cool class. After we learned about HTML and CSS, we worked on Adobe Fireworks, and for those of us who are ahead (including me), Photoshop. But the Computer bowl is about programming, which is what I'm learning in my Design & Logic class.

I've been pretty ahead in my Design & Logic class. We go by these lessons that we do on our own, and I can usually finish one in a class period. One Tuesday I was absent, and on Thursday we were taking a quiz, so the teacher told me I could take the quiz later unless I was comfortable with Lesson 8, which everyone was just finishing up that day. I told her I could take the quiz because I finished Lesson 8 on Friday (We run on A-day B-day schedules). Needless to say I felt pretty good when people acted surprised.

Well it was my birthday on Saturday (I know, I'm a bit late). On Saturday I was woken up at 7:30 to do a treasure hunt for some of my presents (headphones, a T-shirt, and a Modest Mouse CD "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank") and got ready for the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. We picked up my friends at 9 and headed toward the metro. My friends and I were wearing the Guy Fawkes masks from V for Vendetta. My dad got on one of the trains while the doors were closing so we got separated and had to ride a different train. My dad said there was much jocularity on his train. Meanwhile on ours, everyone was silent except for one guy who was shouting about how Halloween was for the devil.

Once in DC, we walked with our masks on and a few people even asked to take pictures of us. When we got to the rally, we saw even more people with masks on. Once the rally ended, that's when the real fun began. Everyone was walking in the streets and we saw the most funniest signs then. We met up with Hallie in Chinatown and ate with her in a noodle restaurant.
Once home, I opened more presents (Tim Gunn's guide to life, the beauty cookbook, An Abundance of Katherines by John Green, and silk pillowcases).

After that I went to a friend's house and spent the night, where we watched Rocky Horror Picture Show, did the time warp, ate brownies, and fell asleep at 3 in the morning.

NEST Time

Now some of you may know that with my new 1-hour lunch (called NEST time, which stands for something but I won't bother you with the ridiculous acronym) comes clubs and study periods that can be attended during that time. With the urging of family (i.e. Lona) I'm posting the list of things available that they gave us on the first day of school. They are broken up in to A and B. A is the first hour of lunch and B is the second half. I've starred the things that are relevant to my classes and crossed out things that are not, including sports.

"I see the morning light

I see the morning light

Well, it’s not because

I’m an early riser

I didn’t go to sleep last night"

-Bob Dylan

I seemed to have fallen in to an unhealthy habit of being nocturnal, but not by choice. Lately, I haven't been able to fall asleep until 9 or 10 in the morning, and then waking up sometime in the afternoon. Last night I was lucky and managed to squeeze in a two-hour long nap between 10 and midnight. Then after I woke up, I made a smoothie, watched Wealth TV, and went on the computer until 7, where I went upstairs to drink coffee and watch the sun rise. It's giving me headaches and I think it's affecting my appetite too because often my stomach will be growling but I won't feel like eating anything.

Lona's List

1. Grow something (a flower?, a tomato?)
2. Take a long bike ride on the rail trail
3. Write a short story
4. Design a hat
5. Participate in library summer reading program or read items on my randomly selected list (Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, The People's History of the United States, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, Huckleberry Finn, The Beekeeper's Apprentice, The Education of Little Tree)
6. Fly a kite
7. Attend Hut Building Workshop
8. Invent a cookie recipe and serve it at a social event
9. Make a movie
10. Collect and eat some wild food
11. Camp out and cook over a fire
12. Clean up your room and donate unused items to charity
13. Make a batch of jelly or pickles
14. Do some kind of art project with Aunt Lona (beads?, concrete?, tie-dye?)

So this is Lona's list of things I should do over the the summer. One of the things that is not on the list but am going to be doing with Lona is going to a rainbow gathering.