For the next couple of weeks, seeing Hank in videos will be very weird because I've now seen him outside the screen. He, like... lives. And moves. In the real world. On his own. He isn't controlled by the play/pause button.
It feels bizarre and surreal. And now it'll be strange to see him back on my computer again. My mind will constantly remind me that he's actually a lot taller than he seems.

Tonight was pretty awesome. It all went well with The Parents. I laughed and there was a lot of cheering. Only a tiny bit of awkwardness.
I'm so glad I went. Thanks for the encouragement, guys.
Pictures soon.

Also, we all sang along to the Chartjackers song. It's stuck in my head. Why did they have to make it so catchy??

minuetteina recently posted this, and it made my day.
Just keep clicking on the image until it's big enough for you to read. But let me know if it doesn't work.

I can't stop listening to this video. It's even on my iPod by now. And it doesn't get old.
It makes me nostalgic.



And someone will always look for you
Because someone will always miss you
And someone will always find you

Mom: "Someone ate my chocolates. Do you have any idea who it could've been?"
Me: *shakes head*
Her: "Open your mouth."
Me: *laughing* "Okay..." *opens mouth*
Her: *frowns as she peers in* "You're too happy, it must've been you."

I'm in a good mood today.



And of course it was me. =)

The weather these days is amazing. Being such a hermit, I'd forgotten how much I love summer. Mornings, dusk, and nighttime are almost always beautiful, no matter what time of year. But something about summer makes everything in between much more enjoyable.
We went to the movies the other day, and when we stepped out, I expected to feel cool air hit and shock me. But it didn't. The air was perfectly warm and still. Nighttime smells sweeter. I love not having to worry about taking a jacket with me.

Next Saturday, my aunt is planning a bonfire at the beach to mark the end of our summer and the start of school. I'm excited. I've never been to a bonfire. I'm hoping it'll be nice.

My sister starts high school this year. One of my younger cousins starts middle school. They're big changes for both, and I'm kind of worried for them. But excited as well. It's something new, you know?
And I'm an upperclassman this year. Which I guess is nice, but really isn't a huge deal to me. At least I know I'm halfway through high school. It seemed like it'd take an eternity to reach this point back when I was a freshman. But it hasn't. It's scary.

Anyway, I wanted to share a few videos.

I know I've mentioned Kina Grannis before; I will continue to do so. This song has been stuck in my head all week.

nique1024 recently introduced me to this video. I can't understand a word of it, but I think it's amazing.


And finally, I came across this video a few nights ago. You guys should be able to guess who wins before even watching. =)

It may be silly, but sometimes, for some reason, this song breaks my heart a little.

Moon River, wider than a mile,
I'm crossing you in style some day.
Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker,
wherever you're going I'm going your way.
Two drifters off to see the world.
There's such a lot of world to see.
We're after the same rainbow's end--
waiting 'round the bend,
my huckleberry friend,
Moon River and me.

I didn't sleep tonight. I'm bored. I'm starving but I can't go downstairs because my mother can't know I'm pulling all-nighters again. She'll know it's because I have my laptop back. Though in my defense, I read and wrote tonight, after all those hours of watching Buffy.

So it's officially summer.
Yay!
And I'm officially 16.
Yay?
( El dia en que tu naciste, nacieron todas las flores )

Over the years, a few of my teachers have become notorious in my memory for their scariness or outright inability to teach.  It's quite funny, actually, the way you just build up a list of teachers/classes and grow to hate them so much.

( grudges )

I feel the need to share...

Awesome sites:
awkwardfamilyphotos.com
fmylife.com


We watched these at school. I like the overall message.

And this one as well:

It's almost been a year since I first started posting on LJ. I remember (but am too lazy to look for) my first post. Some stupid entry about an embarrassing moment I had in my Spanish class. Those wounds still won't heal, by the way. If I think about it enough, I'll blush like crazy. It's happening right now, as a matter of fact.
Anyway, I haven't truly posted in over a month. My apologies. Every time I start typing up an entry, it gets really long and complicated. Laziness kicks in.
Kind of like it's doing now... but I must go on.
Here's a few bits of randomness:

--My first AP test is tomorrow. Eek! Spanish. Then I have World History on Thursday, the 14th. I'm nervous.
--I have so much to tell you guys about my trip to Europe. But I won't bore you with every single detail. Just know this: Prague is the city of my dreams. I now know where I want to live when I'm older. And as for everything you've ever heard about Paris being the city of love and oh-so-romantic and all that... dismiss it. Prague is definitely more romantic. At least that's what I thought. And I'm generally not a very romantic person.
--Watched Slumdog Millionaire and Doubt on the plane. Good movies, both of them. My sister and I danced in our seats to Taylor Swift while everyone else was asleep. Tons of fun. Also, some old guy hit on me. Well, he wasn't old, just older than me. Late 20's/early 30's, I'd say. Awkward. He tried pulling the "Hey, Beautiful" card, but in Spanish. In front of my parents. The idiot. I'm 15! I look to be about 12. Perv. Thankfully, we all just ignored it or thought we misheard.
--It's amazing how people in very touristy areas can tell where you're from just by looking at you. Kind of. We got a lot of... Spain? Italy! There was one "Portugal?" And only a couple of people got it right: "Mexico". We don't generally confess we're American, because then people start overcharging like crazy. Plus, Mexicans are pretty well-liked. This nice old man gave us free keychains because Mexicans are such nice, happy people (in his words). It was... weird.  
--I've been going through some emo stages lately. Things with The Parents have gotten bad. And then they've gotten really nice. And then bad again. And so on. It's a roller coaster. Plus, I think some self-esteem issues are emerging, none of which I ever knew existed. I won't go into detail. Maybe some other time.
--Summer is almost here, my gosh. I have about five weeks to go. Such torture. Already, the weather is getting nice and the sun is relatively warm. The sky such an amazing blue. I hate that it feels like freedom is here but I have to wait till I can greet it.
--My sister and I baked a cake a couple of nights ago. Then we talked about how we hate my aunt's boyfriend. It was fun. I love my sister, she's so hilarious. Then, of course, sometimes she's so annoying. She's going into high school next school year. I'm kind of dreading it.
--My dad saw stamps on my dresser the other day and automatically assumed they were his because when do I ever send letters, right? And he used them. So now I've no stamps. So Amy, your letter might be delayed a couple of weeks. But I'll get it to you as soon as I get a chance to run over to the post office.
--You know the whole swine flu scare thing? Are you guys worried?

And finally, some music. This song has been stuck in my head forever. I love her voice.

In the next thirty hours before I leave for Prague (!!!), I have to:
1) Do the longest study guide EVER! Damn AP World History. I'm such an idiot for taking that class.
2) Highlight/question/summarize notes for that same class.
3) Research and type up the cereal box project, which I have not even started.
*turns out I'll be doing this while on vacation. Fun!
4) Clean my room because it's the messiest it's ever been and I've started to avoid going in.
5) Do laundry because ever since my tantrum, my mom refuses to wash clothes for me. Which is usually fine. A learning experience, if you will. I've learned that I have enough shirts, jeans, underwear to go for about a week and a half without having to re-wear anything.
6) Accompany my mother to the library because she needs my school ID to check out a couple of books
7) PACK.
*I'm so proud of myself. I got everything to fit in my small suitcase.
8) Shower
9) Mail Meg's letter
*just decided that my handwriting is too sloppy. I shall have to rewrite the letter when I get back.
10) Eat a tamal my mother left for me, which doesn't look very appetizing.
11) Upload (and organize) pics onto Ethel so that my camera is nice and empty on the trip.
12) Wash my shoes.
13) Import music onto iPod.
14) Find PE shirt. Shit shit shit. (Oops, turns out it was in the laundry.)
15) email Paige about AP test

My God, I can't do this. I think I won't sleep tonight; it'll give me more time. I meant to pull an all-nighter yesterday but I was exhausted.

Also, I finished The Glass Castle yesterday. I liked it. Certainly makes me grateful for what I have.
The story seemed to seep into my life, though. Or rather, I suppose I got too into the story. Because while I was getting dressed yesterday morning, I was reading this part where the family was going through a very harsh winter, and I somehow got it into my head that it was freezing cold outside. Furthermore, I didn't have appropriate clothes for that kind of cold, much like the Wells children, and I vaguely started panicking.
It took me a minute to figure out that 1) no, I was not going to find a coat in my closet, not even a thin one with missing buttons. The most I was going to find was a thin hoodie. And 2) I didn't need anything warmer than that because it was 68 degrees outside and climbing.
So yeah. My screws are a bit loose.

BTW, has anyone heard anything about Borders? Because the one near me seems to be going down a bit. They're selling their entire stock of CD's and DVD's at 40% discount. It sucks for them, but I grabbed a Belle & Sebastian CD that I'd been looking for, as well as stuff by Fiona Apple, Jack's Mannequin (!!!), and The Wombats. Oh, and two Audrey Hepburn movies. All way cheaper than usual, and I was ecstatic.
However, I believe Borders in general, the company, is doing fine. It's just that the people who built the mall and shopping centers around me were stupid and decided to build a Barnes & Noble and Borders within a mile of each other. So according to natural selection, one of them must overcome the other. It seems that B&N is wining in this particular neck of the woods.
Which is fine, since I like B&N way better. Not as many Twilight shrines.

I was forced awake a few minutes ago by my mother. First she called my name, and then there was a click and blinding light. She put my glasses on me rather brusquely and shoved a paper in my face, telling me she couldn't read my handwriting. I'd edited one of her English assignments yesterday and I warned her about typing it up soon, before I went to sleep, because she wouldn't be able to decipher the whole thing without my help.
She obviously did not listen to me.
To her credit, she asked me at the very last minute in order to give me the maximum amount of sleep possible.
But then, being the worrywart that I am, I forced myself out of bed in order to give her assignment one last read-through as she printed it out, just in case she'd misread something. And of course, she had, and she'd made typos.
It was hard to think straight with the computer glowing so neon bright in my face. My eyes were still half-closed, but I'm so proud of myself for managing to be so kind to my mother at such an early hour.
And so now, of course, I can't go back to sleep.

Good news, though: yesterday, when I asked Mother for my iPod, she agreed to give it back to me. It puzzled me cuz I wasn't expecting her to agree so quickly. But a few minutes later, I discovered she needed help on her English homework. She'd figured I wouldn't be doing her any favors while she'd taken away something so precious to me. Damn straight I wouldn't have.
(Actually, I would have, just cuz I'm scared of her, and I love correcting people's grammar. And cuz it never would've occurred to me to ask for something in exchange; that's just not how it works in my house.)
But now I have it and it's so wonderfully, gloriously... musical!

I also got 17 pages of notes done in about four hours.
Fail.
Tomorrow I'll have only a couple hours more to do a whole study guide (about three hours if I hurry), study for an English test, do a couple of chemistry homeworks, and read/summarize a story for Spanish (IDIOT, Celeste! Souldn't have told the teacher we'd already done the vocab. Then we wouldn't have homework). PLUS, get working on my chem notebook, which is due this week, and I have the midterm as well. I have a math test. And Latin America maps. And questions/summaries/highlighting for the notes I've neglected.

Over spring break, we're going to have four chapters to read/take notes on for history (it's AP). I actually counted and did a few mental calculations . . . each freaking chapter contains an average of 48, 50-ish pages. The shortest reading assignment we've ever gotten was 9 pages long. The longest was today, 17 pages.
Anyway, I'll have four chapters to do over break,  meaning eight sections of reading and four study guides. In four weeks.
Okay, fine. Not as bad as it could be. I can do a chapter a week.
Wrong.
Two of the four weeks will be spent in Europe. Yay and all, only that gives me two weeks for homework. I skimmed and these chapters will be talking about WW1, WW2, and a bit of the before and afters. So they won't be short chapters. Maybe 60 pages long for some of them.
Dear god.
PLUS, I have to study for the AP history and AP Spanish test over break. Cuz I haven't even started.
AND my English teacher has given us a project to do: cereal box biographical report. It's complicated. But a lot of work. I would've done it these past two weeks so that I don't have to do it over break, but it's been way too busy.
The next two and a half months will be HELL.
I can't wait till mid-May, once AP tests are done and I only have regular classes to deal with.

Until then, I need to get through this weekend. The time change has taken a valuable hour away from me. And tomorrow, it's our turn to go down to Tijuana and take my grandma to church. Which will rob me of at least four vital hours. And it also makes me nervous because I've been reading up on the violence and all. I didn't realize it was so bad.
A couple of informational links:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Drug_War
www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/26/60minutes/main4831806.shtml

I know this stuff isn't affecting you guys very much, if at all. But it's affecting me hugely and since this journal is about my life, I'm sharing.
Sigh.

It feels like it's been a while since I last posted.
Stuff has been happening lately. Mostly bad. It's too personal to get into detail.
To everyone who commented on that "first it was a letter to Sierra then a post on imdb and now an LJ entry" thing, thanks so much. I didn't know how to reply to your kindness and supportiveness, so I took the wimp's way out and didn't reply at all. I appreciate it, though. A lot. You guys have no idea.

Yesterday and today were dedicated to the CAHSEE (California High School Exit Exam) at school. Yesterday was the English portion. Today the math. Both were easy. For the essay yesterday, I made a bunch of stuff up. Thank God those people know nothing of my life. Today I realized that I've forgotten a lot of basic stuff that I've never had to use. It all turned out pretty well, though, I think.

Thanks to an outburst I had last Saturday, I am living without a phone, an  iPod, a hair dryer (which hurts, even if I never use it), a watch, my favorite pen, one of my books that I was carrying that day, and my iTone. I have to do my own laundry. Up until recently, I was also living without a computer and cooking my own food. Things are looking up slightly, though.
But I still feel so isolated.

So as a result of my semi-absolute isolation, I've been reading a lot. Recommendations:
The Book Thief by Mark Zusak. One of the best books I've read in a while. I truly loved it The story was different and even more than I expected. The language was interesting and the story incredibly touching.
Jerk, California by Jonathan Friesen was pretty good as well. The guy has a great sense of humor.
The Song of the Lioness series by Tamora Pierce. I love the worlds Tamora Pierce creates. And her characters are usually strong females. But they're so very real. (I could go on for a while.)

My newest musical obsession: The Killers. Thanks, Heather.

My friend slept over last night. It's 4 pm and she still hasn't left.
I'm the kind of person who needs some serious alone-time. I'm a horrible person and friend, but I wish she'd leave already.
Admittedly, it's not like she'd been bothering me--she's mostly been sleeping on my bedroom floor all day--but I could be out doing stuff with my family today. I usually don't like doing stuff with my family, but today's a rainy day and I love going to the mall on rainy days and just walking around, getting wet.
I need hot chocolate.

Today, my mother asked me what I want for Christmas. And this question always pains me. Because I have no answer.
I already have too many material possessions Everything else I want is pretty insignificant. I could ask for a better iPod (which I do kind of need), or a better camera, or a better TV. But I'm not that spoiled.
And besides, everything I truly want in life isn't something my mother could buy at the store.

So I asked for books and music and chocolate. Cuz when the world sucks, they help. Mostly.

I can't believe how far behind I am on my friends list. Seriously, there must be about 45 entries that I've read but haven't commented. I am soooo incredibly sorry. School, you know.
Yes, that's my excuse.
And! my laptop is totally having problems--I'm guessing it'll be at Best Buy getting fixed sometime soon--and so I don't get as much privacy or time on this computer as I do on Ethel.

It's 2:25 am. I'm writing an essay on The Pearl. I will be waking up in about 3 and a half hours. How depressing.
I fell asleep in algebra today. It is the first time EVER that I've slept in class. The teacher doesn't mind/care/notice, which is the only reason I even dare to put my head down in that class. It was ELP anyway, so we were just supposed to be doing homework.
I feel guilty, though. it was a pretty long nap, too . . . about 20 minutes. My friends and I alternated nap times, though, without meaning to. First Tricia, who's the one usually asleep, and when she woke up, Candace fell asleep, and while Candace was sleeping, I drifted off. When Candace woke up, I was still dozing. I'm just thankful they were both awake to watch out for me most of the time. It's dangerous in that class.
I find it . . . awkward, for some reason. But oh well.
A certain someone who's been telling me to "loosen up" will be proud, I'm sure, to hear that I've sorta been slacking off in school. (This person told me to go have a ciggy and experiment in good ol' California drug culture, but whatever.) That's my big adventure of the day.
Two more weeks until the end of school!! Well, technically, 7 more days. But finals are coming. UGH.
Anyway, I promise to be more on top of all LJ-related things once it's winter break. I promise. And I apologize for my absence. I'm sure I've been deeply missed (haha).