Happy Boxing Day!

So I woke up at six yesterday morning so I could wake up everybody and open presents, but everyone was a pooper and wouldn't wake up. I got toy trains, chocolate, and a bigger and better mp3 player (finally) from Santa. My mp3 player can hold videos and photos, so I put in my favorite Bob Dylan and Donovan photos so I can look at them while I listen to "I Love My Shirt" or something. I got three CDs from my mom. I got Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Volume II, the I'm Not There soundtrack (for those who don't know, I'm Not There is a movie about the many sides of Bob Dylan. The two CDs are mostly just random covers of Bob Dylan songs and not really from the movie at all), and The Hollies sing Dylan. The Hollies is another good band from the 60's, and the CD is just them singing Bob Dylan songs. My mom also got me this weird little electric bug thing that scurries away from you if you make a loud noise. It's weird. My dad got me that record player I was talking about earlier. We have a plan to clear off Andelle's old desk and connect it to her computer, then we can move the files to my computer using my new "memory stick" that my dad also gave me. The next best present I got was a brownie pan that has lines going through it so every piece can have an edge. Andelle didn't have her annual meltdown in the morning like she usually does, but she did later when we refused tell her something that's none of her business.

More Bootlegs

Bob Dylan bootlegs are the best. Dad let me steal some from his computer. It has some of my favorites, like "She Belongs to Me", "Love Minus Zero/ No Limit", "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", and my new favorite "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" Groovy.

Christmas Shopping

So the big thing I want for Christmas is a record player that can also save music on my computer. The only problem is that there's so many issues. Also it's kind of expensive. The cheapest one so far was $100, but that's because it was literally cheap.

• I need to either get a flash drive or plug it directly in to my computer. I don't want to move my computer into my room, because my room is cold and it smells. Also I'd have no life because then I'd just be a creepy kid who never leaves. I don't want it in the living room because two record players in one room is stupid and I don't want Torry to touch it.
• I'd need a stero to listen to it, which would mean more money. Or I could get a boom box that I would be able to plug it into, which is still more money, but not as much. Or I could plug it into my computer, but that would bring back to square one.
• Do I want a cover or no? Will I be okay with putting the stylus on manually? Oh, if only I could plug my computer into my dad's record player, but since he bought his 25 years ago, that isn't possible. I can only imagine using a record player exactly like my dad's, so it's very hard imagining using something else.
• The reviews on Amazon scare me. People saying the platter was warped, the stylus scratched their records, the belt went too fast, it couldn't play music when it was recording, it would only play music if it was recording. All it takes is one bad review and I look elsewhere.
• I have no clue what I want exactly!

Yay!

I love giving my mom hugs <3

Rules for Seeing the Water

• You must actually see the water.
• The water must be in liquid form.
• It must be an actual body of water, not a puddle, precipitation, or in a bottle.
• You must declare it to win. Thinking about doesn't count.
• To declare you must say this exact phrase: "I see the water!" Nothing more and nothing less. Saying "What is 'I see the water?'" is the only exception. You won't get extra points, but you may get kudos.
• If you did not see the water, you may grumble.
• At the end of the day, the person who saw the water the most gets bragging rights and may gloat and/or write a haiku about it and post it on Facebook.

New Tactic: Optimism

Today in Geometry, we're starting a new unit. When we get to a new unit, I always have to sigh with relief. Starting a new unit is like starting afresh but still using the most important stuff from last unit. I actually think I did pretty well in the last unit test, so I'm super excited about that. So the way things go in Mr. Spencer's is:

1. Talk about the homework we just turned in.
2. Talk a little about what we're going to learn today
3. Hand out the packets for the chapter we're working on that day
4. Tell us the vocab words and maybe explain them if we don't quite understand
5. Tell us what goes in the blanks for the notes. The packet already has the notes in them with blanks we have to fill in.
6. Then we have the rest of the block to sit around and do the work.

So today we went through the notes pretty quick and it all made sense. He told us we could move and work with each other to do our work. He said he knows some people will finish it all today. So I get to work with optimism, and it was really easy! I worked with my friend who's kind of a slacker and does her work at home, so I kind of made it into a game so, explaining everything out loud what I was doing, and getting so excited about getting the answer. My friend was just kind of annoyed since I'm like never peppy at school, but today in Geometry I was like a firecracker, and soon I was finished with it. I just made it seem like I was genuinely excited to do math, so then I felt genuinely excited. Usually math is my worst enemy but today it was like my best friend. It's all in the mind I guess.

I Can Haz Magnetite

For a lab in Science, we had to bring in 12 rocks in an egg carton. Me, leaving it to the last minute, was trying to think of ways to get rocks last night with it being cold and dark outside. The solution: my room. I found lots of pretty rocks that I've collected on various trips, and kept them in random places in my room. Picking the prettiest of the prettiest, I put them in an egg carton and got prepared for bed. The next day (today), Ms. Robinett was explaining the stations, like finding volume, weight, size, and streak. She was explaining some, like the acid test, the magnet test, and looking it over with a magnifying glass. She said for the magnet test that if it's magnetic, then it's magnetite, except for that's very rare. Guess who found out she brought magnetite!

When I asked Ms. Robinett again what kind of rock is magnetic, she said magnetite and asked if I had it. I was so excited! One of my friends asked where I found it, and I said my room. Ms. Robinett laughed and said I found it under my bed with my asteroids. One of my friends who has the same science teacher after me said that Ms. Robinett told them about a student having magnetite for the first time in 20 years.