Christmas

Well, as to be expected, this Christmas was just odd and strange and sad for me, but like I said that is to be expected. And not all of it was sad. I did get a few nice things (or should I say a lot of nice things haha) including a new coat which I had been badly needing. My other one had a hole in the back, and I really didn't want people to think that I was a freezing street urchin. So that was a nice gift.

I was really glad to get some curlers, but I'm not going to be happy until they actually work on my hair...My hair is super thick you see, and nothing really curls it very well. (or maybe it's just the fact that my mom and me are not professional hair stylists. That could be it...haha) Anyways, last year we had started out using a curling iron, but that stopped quick when my mom accidentally touched the iron to my face (at least she says it was an accident) leaving a big burn mark on my cheek. Seeing as how I really didn't want to die for the sake of curly hair, we switched to a curling brush which didn't curl twice as good. I mean we couldn't even get it through my hair really. So these curlers had better work or I'm giving up forever on curly hair of any sort....Okay I'll end the hair rant now. haha

Besides the stuff mentioned above I also got several more random things, but I won't bore you by going into a detailed list of them....Plus I'm too lazy to type anymore about it =] haha

Well tomorrow we are taking our yearly vacation to see my grandparents, so I'll be gone for about a week. As you know if you've read my blogs for the past year or so, my grandfather has an ornery computer that I really don't feel like messing with. Also, if I was on the computer instead of visiting with family we don't get to see often (my uncle, aunt, and cousins will be there part of the time) she'd probably kill me. Blogging is yet another thing I don't wish to die for....So I will post again whenever I get back. If you could pray that we have safe travel there and back, that would be great. All I know is, it better snow while we're up there or I'm going to be pretty ticked plus forget what snow looks like....haha

Later

Finally Done

Friday I finally finished school for the semester, and I must say that I'm extremely relieved. Except I'm a little worried about how I scored on my chemistry final. I studied like heck for it, but sometimes no amount of studying can prepare you for some of the horrible things that crop up on such tests...Okay so I probably did a lot better than I thought. I mean I felt pretty good on most of them. However, it took me three hours to get threw the thing (and I'm normally a really fast worker). That can't be a good sign....hahaha

Well I hope everyone has a great holiday break and a good Christmas. Ours is certainly not going to be what I call a good Christmas (as you can probably surmise), but hopefully it will still be an okay one.....Speaking of Christmas, our church's youth group and kids group is having their little performance tonight, but I'm not going to be in it because I really can't stand drama and all that and I didn't really come to enough of the rehearsals to sing in it. Plus I can't stand how they've combined the youth choir with the children's group. I mean what teenager wants to work with kids?? Come on people....But oh well. Maybe I'll get used to the idea. However, first I have to hope that the church building survives the service tonight. Remember last year when I told you about our youth group having a candlelight service? Well this year we're having a candlelight service as well, except this time the kids get to handle the candles too. That was risky enough with teenagers. Imagine such weapons in the hands of 6 year olds....*sigh* Maybe it'll be all right....=]

Well that's it for now....

Thank Goodness

Well I did it. I passed my driving test yesterday. I'll admit it. It was a miracle. First of all I was so nervous I thought I might puke on the guy giving the test or pass out over the wheel getting us both killed. So that was definitely a worry. I must say as we walked out to get in the car, I wished I was anywhere else but there (preferably on another planet with an assumed name). haha. Plus the guy really didn't do too much to allay my fears. He was about the most impersonal guy I had ever met, and he seemed like the kind of guy who didn't care too much for teenagers and would fail them in a second if he could....Well it was too late to back out now, so I climbed in the car and got ready for my doom...

The test was pretty easy actually, and much better than I thought. I was extremely nervous of course (my hands were shaking, and I had to swallow rather loudly at times), and I rode the brake pretty much the whole way. Probably slow grandma drivers would have been ticked off if they had been driving behind me....Okay so I wasn't going that slow, but it was definitely much slower than usual....hehe. Luckily I only had to drive about half a mile though. Then I had to turn into a neighborhood and do a three point turn. I think the DMV's obssession with the three point turn is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. I mean how many times are you going to have to do that? Can't you just pull into someone's driveway to turn around? Also I think it's dumb how they would flunk you for a direct hit on the curb while doing your three point turn. I mean come on people. If you hit the curb it isn't going to kill you or end the world or something....Anyways I did the turn (without hitting the curb I might add) and then he had me back straight a few feet. well I was pretty nervous about that, because backing is my weak point. However, I managed to stay straight for as long as he wanted, and then he had me drive back to the office. When he said, "That was good. We're gonna go get your license," I could have hugged him. Beautiful words. Beautiful. =]

So that's that and I'm extremely glad. The thought of this test has been looming over me for about a year and a half, so it's a great thing to get off your back I must say. Plus there's no better feeling than driving by yourself. No mom to yell at you, you can speed as much as you want....haha kidding kidding. I promise I don't speed. =]

Well that's it for now....

Well...

Well I'm finally back...Sorry it's been a little while, but as you can surmise things have been pretty crazy. First of all I've been sick the past few days with a cold. Not fun. I know exactly how I got it to. Last weekend someone decided to give me a big smothering hug. Then the next day she commented on the fact that her throat hurt so much she could barely talk. Oh great I thought drearily. I still held onto hope that I could escape though. I made it through Monday, and then woke up Tuesday morning feeling like someone was shoving a knife down my throat. Today I'm feeling almost totally better (thank goodness) but just realize this; before you decide to give someone a big smothering hug, please please please make sure you're not infected with a virus. Got that?...=]

Besides all that junk, nothing much else has been going on. I'm in the home stretch of school for the semester (which I'm extremely thankful for) and tomorrow I'm going to take my driver's test. I don't know whether to be excited or whether to puke. I mean why the heck do they make teens go through this awful torture? All I want to do is drive. Come on people...haha. I had a not too fun experience with driving stuff last week (don't worry, no wrecks or anything) but that's for another story.....haha.

Later

.....

Just wanted to let you know that my dad passed away Wednesday evening. The funeral was earlier today. The only good thing is that he is finally free from this horrible illness...Thank you for all your prayers.

Random

*Well I am very looking forward to Thanksgiving break which starts Wednesday. I seriously feel like I have chemistry and algebra coming out of my ears...haha. Okay not that bad, but I seriously need a break. I'm also looking forward to Thanksgiving day because my aunt, uncle, and 5 cousins are coming to see us. It stinks though because they're only staying one day (due to getting their college kids back to school on time). I still don't know why they want to drive 10 hours just to see us for one day, but oh well what can I say. It's better than nothing I suppose. As long as it's not me taking that trip I guess it'll be okay......=] hahaha

*I got to see the new Twilight movie Friday night, and I must say that me (as well as my friend) absolutely loved it. The actors actually portrayed the characters as I imagined them, the special effects were great, and it stayed close to the book, but wasn't tied down to it if you know what I mean....I'm just glad we went to the 4:15 instead of the 7:00 showing, because when we got out of the theater there was a humongous, solid line all waiting to get into the 7:00 showing. I mean can you just imagine how loud that showing was with all those shrieking girls? Not that it wasn't loud at ours, but I'm sure it was even louder at that one....haha. Anyways it was a great movie, but only if you like stuff like that. If you're not into vampires/romance and all that, you'd definitely hate it (just to warn you). But if you're a female and you don't like that stuff, you might still enjoy it because all the male leads aren't exactly shabby looking.....

*Well just a little update on my dad. He was showing a little improvement last week, but in the past few days things have taken a very quick turn for the worse. He can't even sit up on his own now or feed himself (he just doesn't have enough strength), and he basically sleeps all the time. He's also not responsive at all, which really makes things a whole lot worse...So yeah just thought I'd let you know. Thanks for the prayers.

*Well tomorrow I'm going on a little trip with my homeschool group, so I'm very much looking forward to that. And then on Wednesday my mom is finally free to go take me to get my license. It would be just my luck though if after all that trouble we went through to go there, I ended up failing the test. *sigh* No point worrying I guess. Only time will tell I suppose.....

The Driving Experience- Part 2

When I finally got up enough courage to walk into the DMV last Wednesday, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the only other customer in the building was an elderly lady. There was seriously no wait at all. So I went to stand in the customary waiting spot until they called me back there. Well I finally heard a man yell, "Ma'am", from inside the room where the employees are, so I assumed that meant me. My neighbor started gesturing rather impatiently for me to go in there, so I nervously licked my lips and headed in there. (When stuck between a room filled with savage DMV people, or the possibility of my neighbor becoming visciously angry at me, I would go with the former for the purposes of my personal safety....haha). Anyways, when I got in there, there were three workers. One elderly man sitting behind a desk, a blonde woman also sitting behind a desk, and a middle-aged man who was walking towards a room in the back. Since none of the other two people were looking my way, I decided that the man walking must have been the one who called me, and that he intended me to follow him. So I did. However, when I got to the door of the room he had entered, I noticed he was in the process of pouring himself a cup of coffee. Now for one thing I knew he wasn't nice enough to be pouring that coffee for me (seeing as how DMV people are pretty mean) and I also knew that he'd probably kill me if I disturbed him during his coffee break (though what's so appealing about coffee I'll never know). So I slowly took a step back, suddenly feeling like a humongous idiot and wishing I could disappear into the floor.

Well finally the blonde woman noticed me, but instead of asking me in a nice voice dripping with sweetness if she could help me, she responded, "Can I help you, ma'am?" in a voice that sounded like she wanted to hurl me off the nearest cliff. "Umm yeah I'm trying to get my license," I responded in a rather meek voice. "Well it was the man over there that called you earlier," she responded, indicating the elderly man sitting behind the desk. A smirk appeared on her face, like I was the biggest idiot she had ever met. I seriously considered running out of the room due to my considerable embarrassment, but that way I would have to face my neighbor, who would probably kill me for such a cowardly act. After deliberating, I stayed put.

First the man asked for my permit, which I gladly shoved in his face. I didn't care if he burned the thing I was so desparate for my license. Then he said, "I need your proof of insurance." I almost groaned aloud. "I left it in the car, sir. I'll be right back," I responded, jumping up and almost knocking over my chair in my haste. When I got back, very out of breath, he took one look at it and said in a grim voice, "Have you been added to the insurance policy?" Oh man. I knew I was in trouble because I had not the faintest idea what he meant. "Umm I don't think so...." My hands started sweating badly. "Who's with you today?" "Umm....my neighbor," I squeaked out. He gave me a look that was either a look of disgust or a look of, "what kind of an idiot are you?" He's probably still laughing about my idiodcy right as we speak. "I'm sorry, " he responded in a tone that told me he wasn't sorry at all, "but you have to have a parent or guardian to sign something before you can get your license. Also you need to be added to the insurance policy." I gulped rather loudly. "But couldn't I take something home for my mom to sign and then bring it back here?" I ventured. "She can't really leave the house right now....(due to my dad of course, but I didn't feel like launching into that whole tale). "I'm sorry but no," he responded dryly. I almost cried. Instead I simply nodded, said, "All right well thank you, sir" when really I wanted to punch him in the jaw and slowly walked out of the room.

So that was that. And now I can't probably get it until Wednesday of this week, because we have to line up someone to stay with my dad while she's gone, and they probably can't even come until Wednesday. And even that's not definite. *sigh* Oh well. So goes life I suppose. But that still doesn't mean I'm a happy camper about the whole affair either.....ugggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh

The Driving Experience-Part 1

Yesterday I was incredibly psyched. I was finally going to get my license, and I was finally going to be able to drive myself places instead of bumming rides. I was very appreciative I had a neighbor to go with me since my mom had to stay with my dad, even though my neighbor did give me a tremendous scare the day before. It happened this way. We were about to take off for our last driving practice, when she said, "I have some bad news". Well I got a little panicky, but I told myself no need to panic. I mean maybe it was the news that she couldn't practice with me anymore or something. I could handle that. "Well, what is it?" I bravely asked. She responded by saying, "You're not quite through with me yet, dear." I gulped rather loud. "I'm not?" I asked in a rather frail voice. "You see," she said, picking up a book she had gotten from the DMV and thumbing through it, "there's a law here that says for the first six months of having your driver's license you always have to have a supervising driver with you." I about had a heart attack. This could not be happening. I mean what the heck was she talking about? I knew very good and well that all my friends who were 16 drove without supervision, and I knew very well that the driver's ed guy would have told me about such a ridiculous rule. Plus, that kind of defeats the whole purpose of a permit. Well, in a very panicky voice and on the verge of bursting into a fit of anger, I calmly explained these things to her. She refused to believe me, which ticked me off a bit, and then proceeded to show me the part in the book that said, "The supervising driver should be seated beside the driver." Well I almost laughed with relief because I knew exactly what that was talking about. You see, for the first six months you can't drive before 5:00 AM or after 9:00 PM without a supervising driver, so that rule was saying that whenever the supervising driver rode with you, they had to sit beside you. It didn't mean they always had to be with you. Plus the very next line in the book said I could drive without supervision from 5:00 AM to 9:00 PM. So either my neighbor was deliberately trying to ruin my life or she was simply missing the point entirely. I decided to go with the latter.

Well after at least 10 minutes of frantic explaining on my part, she finally seemed to believe me somewhat, but still believed I couldn't drive by myself at all after dark (which is at like 6 now). So somehow my mom or me is going to have to find out the exact rules and show them to her face, or else she will be hounding me for the next six months and I'll never be free. Never. aughhhh haha just kidding. She's a real nice woman and I couldn't have done all this without her. I just really need to drive by myself. Okay? hehe. Anyways back to my present story....

We headed down to the DMV, which was only about 20 minutes away, and an hour later we were still cruising around looking for it. You see, we had no earthly idea where it was, because we were going to a different one than the usual simply because the driver's test is rumored to be easy there. So we had to stop at at least 2 different gas stations asking for directions, and even had to stop an average guy in a parking lot, (who could have been an axe murderer for all I know) to ask for directions as well. But we finally found it. When we did find it, I started to wish we hadn't. I was getting extremely nervous, and as we got closer and closer to the building, my legs started moving slower and slower and slower. I just had this horrible feeling that something was going to go dreadfully wrong......

To be continued....

On a closing note the voice recital Tuesday went all right, and I'm very glad it's over. I must say I hate performing in front of college music students. I really really do. Especially when they're all staring at you like you're some kind of freaky kid without a clue in the world. Anyways, I'm very glad it's over (like I said before). And I'm much looking forward to tomorrow because my friend's bday party is tomorrow and I finally get to see the new Twilight movie. After this crazy week I need some enjoyment. haha.

Later

Crazy Times

*Well I am finally turning 16 on Saturday, and I must say I'm extremely excited. Not only do I get some really nice new clothes for my birthday, but on Wednesday I finally get to go get my license. At least I'll get it if I don't fail. It will actually be a miracle if I don't fail because you know me. I tend to panic at nearly every situation no matter how stupid it is. And I can't imagine anything more panic-inducing at the moment then being in a car with a state trooper. Sorry I just can't.....haha. But oh well. Maybe it will go okay. Maybe I won't do something horrible to offend the guy and end up in jail for the rest of my natural life. Maybe I won't ram into a stop sign, confuse the brake with the gas pedal, or anything stupid like that...Or is that just wishful thinking....hehe. Well I guess I'll find out for sure Wednesday. I just can't believe it's been a whole year since I was freaking out about getting my permit. Time really does fly (not even kidding).

*This past Tuesday was pretty fun, cause my brothers and I and some other people went to this big museum about an hour away from us. I got to see a short Imax movie for the first time, and I must say it was an unsettling experience for my stomach. Plus we set up pretty high, so by the time we got up to our seats my head was reeling. But once I got used to it, it was awesome. Too bad the movie couldn't have been more interesting though. If it weren't for the awesome Imax scenery, I wouldn't have wasted my time seeing it....Then after the movie we went through this Pompeii exhibit, which was pretty interesting if you like going through reading a bunch of stuff. Not that I mind that, but the way the exhibit was advertised I thought there'd be people dressed up and enacting the day the volcano hit. I must say the most exciting part was seeing some of those dead bodies preserved by the ash. But it was pretty creepy and morbid I'll say that.....Not my cup of tea. Then we did a bunch of other random things that were fun, but really aren't worth my effort to describe. So that's that. haha

*So besides my birthday this weekend and getting my license (hopefully) on Wednesday, next week should be pretty busy. I have a horrible voice recital on Tuesday (save me please!..=]), Thursday music stuff, and Friday my friend is having a birthday party to go see the new Twilight movie which I am absolutely dying to see. So I really hope I can go. Unless you've been living under a rock, I don't think I need to explain to you what Twilight is....haha just kidding. If you really don't know it's fine. hehe. =] And then somewhere along in there I'm hoping to have lunch with one of my friends who I haven't seen in a while, so that should be fun. And on top of all that school of course. *sigh* Darn I'm getting sick of that.....

Me Again

*Well I now officially have a new driving instructor; my neighbor. Or should I refer to her as my ruthless coach...haha just kidding. But I should have known I wouldn't have been scot free after the driving to piano incident. Last Saturday she called me up and said she wanted to take me out to practice. So I said okay, thinking we would just be taking a nice little ride around town. Plus I got to drive my dad's car, which I love. Anyways, I should have known she had a trick up her sleeve....As I drove through town, I started to get kind of panicky because we were almost to the end of town and she hadn't mentioned turning around yet. Then she gave her grave anouncement. She was taking me out on the highway. Oh boy did I get panicky. Even though it was a small, relatively non-crowded highway, I hadn't been on one of those since driver's ed. Plus I didn't really want to tackle this with a non-family member who might not hesitate to sue me for everything I owned if I got us both killed. Well I guess it'd be kind of hard to sue me if we were both dead, but that's beside the point. Plus my family was having enough troubles as it was. The last thing we needed was for me to get in a humongous wreck on the highway. (Not to mention it might seriously besmirch my reputation). Well I expressed a small part of my misgivings aloud, and my neighbor responded by laughing (the heartless woman) and saying, "Now relax, dear. I'm not throwing you to the wolves." Well maybe not in her opinion, but she sure was in mine....
Well when we got to the traffic light right beside the entrance to the highway, my hands were sweating like crazy and my back was starting to hurt because I was arched so tightly over the steering wheel. I was so nervous I momentarily forgot about the traffic light and almost ran a red light onto the highway. (Luckily that didn't happen). Well we made it out there, and to my surprise my instinct turned from "brake brake brake" to "speed speed speed". Seriously once you're on the highway speed is soothing let me tell you...I even started to relax a little bit, (but not too much mind you), and managed to unarch my back at least a fraction of an inch. Well I was going along great until my kind-hearted neighbor decided she wanted me to get off at the next exit, and then merge back on. If I was nervous before it was nothing compared to how nervous I was now. You might not know this but I hate merging. I detest it. Whenever I start to merge my foot always wants to hit the brake, which is of course the wrong thing to do. Well I decided the only thing I could do about it was grit my teeth and do it, so I got off, and then started down the entrance ramp feeling like I was heading to my doom and sending my neighbor to her's...Well after checking crazily over my shoulder about a million times, I finally inched onto the highway. (Okay not inched, but it wasn't extremely fast I'll give you that). Well I was extremely relieved I had survived that incident, but then she made me do it again, and again, and again. And when we were done driving that day, she said we would do it all again Monday, and probably many more days after that...Well that didn't really make my day, but hey at least I'll be ready to get my license by the time I'm through with all this. But I can't say I'll be sorry when all these driving lessons are over. Luckily tomorrow is our last one of the week, (thank goodness!).

*I don't know if I told you this or not, but last week we got the bad news that the doctors have no more medicine to help my dad with, and even if they could shrink his tumor (which has grown a lot), they probably couldn't fix the brain damage his tumor has inflicted. So yeah it's been tough around here. But at least going off his medicine is making him feel a little better....I'll let you know when I know anything else about him....

*Well besides all this other stuff I mentioned, on November 18th I have to sing in another one of those dreaded studio recitals. Ugggh. It has to be another Italian song too, so knowing my luck I'll probably get up there, look into all those searching eyes, and forget all the words (including my entire English vocabulary). Ahh oh well.

This Week....

This morning my brother and I had to ride to piano with one of our neighbors, because our parents were out of town with my grandfather and my grandma' can't drive. Soo I was all set and ready to go when the neighbor called me up a little beforehand and said she wanted me to drive to piano instead of her, so I could get a little practice. Well boy did that throw me for a loop. I get nervous enough driving with my parents, let alone with a neighbor in their car. The horrible senarios were endless. If I wrecked the car, and survived, I wouldn't survive for long cause either my neighbor or my mom would kill me. (And if they decided not to kill me, my mortification would do the job). So, since I had no grand excuse to make, I came up and told her the truth. I really didn't feel comfortable driving other peoples' cars, especially with said people inside of the car with me (but I didn't add that last part). Well she insisted, and insisted, and insisted. She even said she was coming by early so I could get used to her car driving around my neighborhood. So boy was I in for it now. I figured there was no further point in refusing, so I said okay and hung up.

By the time she arrived, I had already thought of many more horrible things that could go wrong. I might get so flustered that I'd whack into a stop sign. I might overturn at the traffic light and hit the curb or an innocent bystander. Heck I might even get in the car, have a total brain freeze, and forget how to drive. But there was nothing I could do about it, so I got in, started the engine, and hoped fervently that I'd still be alive in a few hours time....Okay so I'm exaggerating a bit. I wasn't that nervous cause I'm a pretty good driver if I do say so myself. I'm just a big worry wart. (If you hadn't already figured that out). Well like most things that I worry about, this thing definitely wasn't worth all the worrying. I made it to piano without killing anybody, or getting yelled at by my neighbor who has to be one of the bravest people I know. I mean I sure wouldn't let a strange kid drive my car around. But I made it back and there with no incident, and I even got to practice my three point turn that I have to do for my license test. So that's that, but I must say I like my dad's car better.....=]

Well the rest of the week has been extremely busy with school, church stuff, neighbors in and out of our house, voice, and all other kinds of things. As to my dad, things aren't going so well. They made it back from the university hospital today, but he's extremely weak so we're going to have to get some professional people to come in and help take care of him for a while. They're also going to take him off this new medicine, because it hasn't been helping any. So now I have no clue what they're going to do next.....It's all pretty scary, but thanks for your prayers. They really do mean a lot. ....

Well tomorrow's Halloween. But do I care? Not at all. I just never have been much into Halloween lately. Especially after last year when I went out to make sure my brothers didn't get killed in the trick or treating rush. Our neighborhood is an insane madhouse on Halloween night. People come from all over, just to get candy. It's insane I tell you.....Insane....Anyways, I was just walking along when I felt like someone was following me. So I turned around and sure enough some kid about my brother's age was following along slowly behind me with some kind of freaky mask on. Well I was about to either give me a punch in the nose or tell him to beat it, when two really tall people (teenagers or young adults or something) with even creepier masks started following me too. Well by now I was really freaked. When I started walking a little faster, they walked a little faster. When I started running a little, they started running. Now don't call me a wimp or anything, but I don't mess around with two big people who might possibly be murdereres for all I know. (Seriously). So I took off running headlong for the house. Even I didn't know I could run that fast. Luckily the house was not too far off from where I was, so I ran in there as fast as I could, not even daring to look behind me to see how close they were. I locked the door (and deadbolted it) and was seriously tempted to go hide under my bed for a while....When I finally got the courage to pick out the window, they were standing on the sidewalk in front of the house, laughing like the hooligans they were. Well by this time I was more mad and scared and I was tempted to go punch their lights out. But they started moving on, so I decided I didn't want to waste my time and energy....hehe. But anyways the main point of all that was; you will never (ever) see me out on Halloween night again in our neighborhood. I might go to the thing at church, but other than that no way. No candy's worth all that trouble.....=]

That's it for now....

Crazy

This past weekend has not been too great unfortunately. My dad has really gotten a lot worse, in the sense that he's often disoriented, he can barely talk, he's broken out in this huge rash from his medicine, and he's extremely weak. It's all really scary, so your continued prayers are just soo appreciated. Especially since Wednesday my mom and dad are going back to the university hospital for more tests and stuff. So hopefully that trip will go good and things will just improve from here. And at least I get to see my grandparents who are coming to stay with us. =] But it's going to be kind of crazy this week anyways with music and church and all that other stuff. And Wednesday several people from our church have insisted to come over and clean all our floors. Well all I can say is let them come, and more power to them. Especially if they come to vacuum my room. No telling what they'll find in there.....

Well that's it for now.

Music and Stuff

If there's one thing I hate, it's singing in a studio recital. I can actually stand singing in some situations (without passing out or dying or something) but I hate studio recitals with a passion. For one thing the only other people there are other voice college students (who are also singing in it) and I'm my teacher's only community student. So basically I have to get up there and sing in front of all those college students who have been taking voice way longer than me, are older than me, and are just plain better than me. Plus the last one I did (which was last October) was not (I repeat not) fun. I think I sang all right, but my hands got really clammy and right there in the middle of the stage, with all those college students staring me down, I completely forgot the words. It was an Italian song, (which didn't really help matters any) and all I could remember was the title of the song (which happened to be "Caro Mio Bien"). So basically for the rest of the song I improvised between the title and a few other random Italian words that happened to pop into my head. The good news was it was all in Italian, so no one noticed the difference. Even my voice teacher could barely tell, and she said I did a good job covering. The bad news, I felt like a total failure. I was seriously tempted to start punching myself or hitting myself on the head with a Harry Potter book (those things are big and I'm sure they would hurt too.....hahaha) Let's just say that after that experience, I am not too sure I want to go through it again. However, my voice teacher said the other week that she wanted me to sing in one next month. Great. Just hopefully I won't have anymore dramatic stories to tell you......

I got the performance lecture in piano as well (it just wasn't my day, okay?). First my teacher went on this long monologue about how important it was to perform. Then she told me I had to pick at least place I wanted to play at (nursing home, church, preschool, etc.) and tell her by the next lesson. Well church is definitely out for now. It's bad enough playing for people you don't know, but imagine playing for people you do. If you mess up you'll be remembered forever as the washed out kid who couldn't even play a simple hymn.....okay maybe not that bad, but still. I might be able to handle kids (they wouldn't know when if I messed up hopefully) and I probably wouldn't do too bad in a nursing home either. Well heck if I handled that stressful recital last April, I could probably handle any of those. But I can't say I'd enjoy any of them (sure hated that horrible recital *shivers*).

Well concerning my dad, he started his new medicine Friday which is a mix of several different powerful chemos. We're just hoping it's going to help soon, because the tumor has affected his speech really badly and it's really depressing him. So yes your continued prayers are great, and I'll keep you updated. =]

Bad Trip

These past few days have not exactly been too fun....but let me start at the beginning.

Monday, my dad had to go to the unverisity hosiptal that he goes to to get a whole bunch of tests done. Well since this place is about three hours away and he had to have stuff done Monday and Tuesday, he and my mom had to spend the night, which meant me and my brothers had to go with them. Now at first you might think, "Oh how fun! One-two nights in a hotel in a city you've never been before". Let me get one thing straight. It was not fun. At all. Okay there were a few bright spots, but in general it was all pretty nightmarish. First of all I had to share a hotel room with both of my wild hooligan brothers. Yeah it doesn't take a genius to figure out that that wasn't exactly a little slice of heaven. Second I was supposed to take the PSAT on Wednesday, and if we had to spend two nights I wasn't going to be able to make it back for that. So I was pretty ticked about having to miss it because I wanted to be ready for the SAT and all, and I also wanted to be able to see a few people I know who go to that school. So I was pretty bummed and my only hope was that the doctors appointments got done really early on Tuesday so we could go home Tuesday night.

So Monday was pretty uneventful and boring (exept I barely refrained from slamming my brothers' heads into the mirror when they started throwing a football around the hotel room). Tuesday was just plain annoying. While our parents were at the hospital we did some school (or at least I did. You can't except my brothers to do anything like that.....hehe) and then watched a movie. Then we decided that we were hungry, but we were just too dang lazy to go down the hotel's restaurant and get the food ourselves. So we had this brilliant idea. Why not order room service? If we had to sit around a boring hotel room all day we definitely deserved this luxury. So my brother called down there and they said the food would be ready in about 30-45 minutes. So we sat on the bed and waited, waited, (I probably threw a hairbrush at my brothers sometime in this interminable period), and waited some more. Pretty soon it got to be 1:30, a whole hour and fifteen minutes after we had called, and we were getting panicky, mad, and ornery. Where the heck was our food? Well as we sat there stewing and debating the matter, there was a knock at the door. I was so hungry that I just about bolted to the door and almost threw it open without looking through the little peephole (a very unwise thing to do when you're alone in a hotel room. I mean it could have been an axe murderer out there for all I knew). Well luckily I checked it, and to my consternation there was no food service person out there but a cleaning person. When I opened the door, she piped up, "Housekeeping," in a heavily accented voice. Well apparently we had forgotten to keep up our Do Not Disturb sign onthe door, because she was all fire determined to get in there and houseclean. Since she apparently didn't know much English, it took me a while to explain that no we didn't want room service at the moment and yes we had meant to put the sign on our door. Well she finally left, and by this time we were all pretty dang mad cause there was still no sign of our food.

Well at about 1:50 we'd had enough. I know room service can be slow, but unless the food deliverer was an old man going about one millimeter per second there was no way it should take this long. Well I phoned down there and explained our situation. The lady said, "Well we meant to call you earlier to tell you that spaghetti (one of the things we had ordered) wasn't on the menu." Well, I thought to myself, why the heck didn't they dial our room number and tell us that simple fact? Or they could have come up to our room and delivered us the rest of our food at least and then let us order something else in place of the spaghetti. Well I took a deep breath and was about to tell her something else in place of the spaghetti, when she said, "I'm sorry but we're closing in ten minutes." No way. This couldn't be happening. I gulped and said, "So does that mean you won't be able to deliver us any food?" "Yes ma'am," she responded. "We're very sorry." Sure you are, I thought sourly. I bet you're just heartbroken. Out loud I said, "That's all right. It's fine," and hung up the phone. So there were the three of us, hungry enough to start eating the bedspread, with no suitable lunch. Our only options were: 1: Go down to the restaurant and demand our food using force if necessary. Okay so that one was definitely out. I didn't want to get jailed just for a grilled cheese sandwich. 2: Sue them for everything they owned. Ehh too much trouble. And finally 3: Have a meal of Cheetos, and chocolate cookies that our mother packed as snacks for us. Yep we went with the 3rd option. So out of that whole experience I learned one thing. Never order room service again from that completely incompetent bunch of crazies in the hotel restaurant. Oh and never have a meal of Cheetos and chocolate cookies if you can help it. Makes you feel sick, okay?

Well the rest of the trip was pretty much the same amount of annoying. We spent about half the rest of the time arguing over whether to rent Indiana Jones or Iron Man, and the boys kept raiding the vending machine using my money. Then my parents came back zonked, so we were going to spend the extra night and I wouldn't make it back in time for the PSAT. Well I was pretty dang mad, but I got over that cause my dad didn't get a very good report. The MRI showed his brain tumor had grown about four times as large as last time, which is why his speech has been messed up. Soo now he'll be starting on the new drugs in the next several days (they're mailing them too us) so hopefully they are really going to help him. Your prayers are greatly greatly appreciated =]

That's it for now...

Oh Man

*The other day I was about to go to bed when I noticed this wierd looking rash on my neck. It was small, but not small enough to be dimissed as nothing by a hypochondriac like me. So I ran to show my mom, who looked at it and said that if it didn't go away soon we'd go to a doctor or something. That's what did it. Whenever someone mentions the possibility of me having to go to the doctor, I get the feeling that my ailment is more serious than it seems (since if it was nothing I wouldn't have to go to the doctor in the first place). So after checking it about 10 more times in the mirror (I guess I expected it to grow in front of my eyes) I finally crawled into bed. That was really a waste of effort seeing as how I probably got about 5 minutes of sleep. Everytime I was about to drop off I kept thinking about what that horrible rash could possibly be doing to me. What if it was one of those freaky bug bites that killed a person in 24 hours? What if it was shingles? What if....and the what ifs kept going and going still I was pretty sure my number would be up in just a few hours...I seriously was about to have a panic attack. I mean what would they put in my obituary? Well I woke up the next day (after having a horrible nightmare that the rash had spread all over my neck in the few minutes that I was actually sleeping) and rushed to the mirror. The bad news; it was still there. The good news; well I wasn't dead (at least I was pretty sure I wasn't) plus it hadn't gotten any bigger. And now, as I speak, it's almost all faded away. It was probably some kind of dermitis or something. But the point of all that? I am a total hypochondriac who probably needs help because I wasted a whole night worrying about a fairly small rash. *sigh*

*Taking care of the lizard didn't go as badly as I thought it would. I did get to wear gloves when I picked it up (thank goodness) but I don't think I had to worry about getting hurt. By the time that thing got up the energy to do anything to you, you could already be out of the country (or at least on the state line). But I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible cause the thing kept shooting me wierd looks and those little beady eyes were seriously creeping me out....Well as I finished cleaning up the cage I looked next to the huge stack of newspapers where I had left the key. One problem. There was no key. I immediately started freaking out. I first accused my brother of hiding it from me. He denied it, and I believed him cause he seemed as freaked out as I did. (Hey we both wanted our money. Plus we really didn't want our neighbor to attempt to kill us by getting that lizard after us for losing the key. ) The idea of getting on the lizard's (plus my somewhat formidable neighbor's) bad side was not on my agenda, so I started hunting like crazy. I started looking under all the newspapers, and was about to start digging through the trash when suddenly the door creaked open. Never a good sign when you and your brother are alone in a strange house with a big creepy lizard on the kitchen floor....However, when a voice boomed out, "We're back!" I realized it was the neighbors home early. And right as I had misplaced the key too...
My brother turned to me and weakly said, "Well what do you know. They're back." I felt like I had just fallen into the haphazard plot of a comedy TV show. "uhhh well what do you know," I managed to squeak out. I was about to say something about the key, but my neighbor started in talking. Let's just say when she starts talking, it's hard to get her to stop. So I waited while she went on and on about random things (I was really too worried to listen at this point and was imagining myself being killed in a so called "accident" involving a giant lizard and possibly a shot gun if there was one around). When she finally stopped and gave us our money, she said, "Well where's the key?" I gulped rather loudly and said, "I left it by the newspapers." Now that was no lie because I had left it there in the first place. Plus I hadn't really had a chance to finish looking yet, so maybe it was still there somewhere. It just had to be or I was toast. So after I told her that, I got out the door as fast as I could without being rude, and ran to the car (even though I was tempted to attempt to flee the state while I still had the chance)......Well as luck would have it she hasn't called yet demanding to know where I put the key, so either she found it or she's waiting till she sees met next so she can let me have it. Well I'm going to assume it's the first. I mean that key just couldn't get up and disappear of its own accord. Unless the lizard somehow ate it while we weren't looking. Now that's always a possibility.......

Later

Busy

Well this week has been pretty busy. School is as crazy as always, and today I had two music lessons; voice and piano. Piano was fine, but I was kind of dreading going simply because my teacher has had me playing the same pieces over and over again for weeks. Everytime I finish playing a piece, she always says "well might as well keep it one more week." So when I was warming up for my lesson while my teacher was in the other room, I was seriously tempted to grab that offending piece of music, run into the bathroom, and flush it down the toilet. But being the rational person that I am, I didn't of course and instead kept plodding along playing it and wondering how I could ever have liked this annoying piece with all those stupid octaves. But to my surprise, when she came back in after I finished playing it, she actually said I could be done with it. Plus she gave me a new piece. Boy was I thrilled.....

Later in the day I had voice, which was nice because it was my first lesson of the year. The only problem was the college marching band just had to be going full blast next door right as soon as we started. So my teacher left the room to go ask them to shut the door. Well turns out they already had shut the door, so basically there was nothing we could do to shut out the noise. (Imagine how it would have sounded with the door open). I was seriously tempted to go tell them off for being unconsiderate, but I decided that wasn't too smart seeing as how there was a whole big room of them and one of me.....But the rest of the lesson went fine, and hopefully my teacher won't throw any horrible recitals at me any time soon. *shudders*

Then after all that, I went by to get the key to a neighbor's house so I could take care of their repitlian creature while they were on vacation. I know, you're thinking why the heck would I get dragged into taking care of a freaky creature with scales? Well for starters there's money involved, and I'm pretty darn broke at the moment. Second....well okay there's really no other reason. I absolutely hate lizards, even when they're dormant like this one. All he does is lie in his cage and give you either the evil eye or an "I'm so much smarter than you" gloat. Still I actually have to reach into the cage, pick him up, and put him on the ground so I can clean out his cage. This is harder than it sounds, because his tail tends to get stuck coming out. This really induces me to panic, because the longer I have to spend holding the thing the better the chance he'll finally wake up from his dormant state and eat me alive or something awful like that...But as long as I wear gloves, I might be okay. (Trust me, I would be tempted to jump off a building rather than handle that thing with bare hands. Exaggeration of course, but you get the point). All I can say is thank goodness I only have to do it for two days....

Later

Update

Just an update on a few things. First my grandma's thing went well last week. However, the docotors thought they observed something pressing in on her esophagus making it crooked. Not a good thing to have a crooked esophagus. But of course that would explain some swallowing problems she had been having. Soo they're getting definite results on what's really up with her esophagus sometime soon, so hopefully they'll be able to correct whatever's wrong.

As to my dad, he's going to be completely changing drugs soon to try to knock out the little part of his tumor that's left. It's a totally new type of drug, so not many people have taken it yet. I think he'll be starting it in about two weeks or so, so hopefully the side effects won't be as bad with this one as with his others. Besides my dad and grandma, I'd also appreciate prayers for my cousin who had surgery today (not to mention today happens to be her birthday). So you can basically just keep my whole family in your prayers I guess. Thanks so much. It means a lot =]

Besides all this craziness, everything else has been going pretty well. I'm just glad fall is finally here, and I'm really really happy that I'll be 16 in just about a month and a half. Freedom is almost here! haha Well if I can pass my license test that is.....

Later

Prayers

I would really appreciate it if you could keep my grandma in your prayers (the one who has breast cancer). Basically she's been having trouble catching her breath in the mornings, and the doctors determined this is happening because she has some fluid on one of her lungs. Soo she has to go to the hospital tomorrow to get that taken care of, plus they're going to investigate another suspicious looking spot they saw on her esophagus. Thanks I really do appreciate it. =]

Nothing much else going on except school is driving me nuts. But is that really anything new? haha. Oh and I have to take the PSAT sometime next month as well, so that should be interesting. I just hope I'll know some other people taking it at the same time or I'll probably freak out to the point of hyperventilation or something.....ha

Later

No Drama, Okay?

I really really hate acting. Seriously, acting or speaking in public is up there on my list of things I'd rather jump off a 50-foot cliff than do. I can just imagine; the lights going down on the stage, and suddenly the stoplight's focused on me. I open my mouth and either 1: Nothing comes out, 2: I get a total mind block and run off the stage in a fit of agony; 3: I suddenly have breathing problems because I'm hyperventilating, and the list of horrible things go on. So yesterday when our youth group was having a drama meeting, I slunk down in my chair and tried very hard to remain inconspicuous when they started asking who wanted what part. Now, you may be asking, why the heck would I, of all people, be in a drama meeting? Well before we do drama on Sunday nights we always do music stuff, which I enjoy. So, I thought, maybe after the music I could just sneak out the back and no one would notice.....Well after thinking that through I decided it just wasn't smart. I would just have to tough it out and explain to them that I just couldn't act. Not at all. No chance. Zilch. Okay you get the point....So I bared my teeth and slowly walked into the room like I was walking into an execution chamber.

There was really no point in worrying. All I had to do was not open my mouth. That really wasn't a problem though because everytime the guy asked who wanted what part everyone started talking at once. So I was very pleased. Especially when we had to end before they'd given out all the parts. So I'm hoping that next week I will be able to have the same luck. Trust me. You probably don't want to see me on a stage acting. Unless you find it amusing to watch someone trip, pass out on the stage, or die of embarrassment.

On a different note, I finally heard from my voice teacher the other day. I still haven't got a lesson time yet cause she's still working out her schedule, but at least I heard from her. I was afraid she was avoiding me or something......haha. It's a good thing I finally heard from her too, cause I was seriously about to internally combust what with chemistry (which is no walk in the park) plus everything else I've got going on. . So yeah if you hear any loud explosions in the next few days you'll know why.....

Later

What the Heck

*I recently saw a news article that stated how millions of innocent lives were being taken every year. I thought, "Great. An article about the evils of abortion." Boy was I wrong. It was an article on saving the lives of mice used in scientific research. And this isn't just pointless research that doesn't help anyone either. It's research attempting to get cures for diseases. So basically this guy who the news article quoted is more concerned with saving the lives of mice than he is the lives of humans? Millions of human babies are killed every year but does he care about that? Something's definitely wrong here.....

*You know what's really annoying? Calorimetery. Okay that might be misspelled, but at the moment I don't particularly care. Every day I find myself tortured by these long chemistry problems (yes, calorimetery is a chemistry term) that solve for the calorimetery of an object. I'm not going to bother explaining it. Just know that by the time I get through all the equations required to solve one problem, I've already burned through one week of school. Okay exaggerating but you get my point.

*You know something else that's really annoying? People who don't get back with you. Take for example my voice teacher who I really really liked having for the past two years. We emailed her several years err weeks ago and still no reply. And the longer I go without lessons, the crappier my voice starts to sound, and pretty soon I probably won't have one left at all and they'll have to kick me out of choir.....okay exaggeration but hey I'm ranting here..=] Plus I'm waiting to hear from somelse too involving a school chorus thing so I'm getting really ticked off and if I don't stop now I'll probably blow through the ceiling or something. So yeah I'd better stop. That wouldn't make for a good obituary headline......

Later. And I promise I'm not as mad as I sound....=]

*Crash*

The above title is the sound of me jumping up from my school desk in a fit of ecstasy, running towards the door, and promptly slamming my head into the glass and falling backwards on the floor like the klutz I am....Okay so that didn't really happen, and I'm not really that clumsy. But I was pretty eager to get done with school and I am extremely happy to have made it through another week. I am also extremely glad that I have a good grade in Algebra 2 so far. I know, that fact is nothing less than a miracle....Now all I have left to worry about this weekend is a response paper that hopefully is going to require as little of my brain power as possible since I don't have a whole lot of that left by the time Friday comes around....hahaha

For once I'm actually not too sure what I'm doing this weekend except we are going out to eat tonight for my mother's birthday, which was actually yesterday. The whole event has been rather chaotic because we ended up going to get my mom some presents on her actual birthday, which is never a good thing just to warn you. But we found her some things so it's all good I suppose. Anyways the fact that we get to go out to eat is in itself the awesomest thing ever, because we rarely go out to due to my dad's diet. So I am much looking forward to tonight. hehe Besides that, who knows what I'll be up too.....=]

Labor Day (Literally)

Let's just say I'm pretty ticked for one main reason. Every single kid in the United States (and probably every kid in Africa too knowing my luck) got off school today except for one incredibly lucky person (well 3 actually if you count the hooligans known as my brothers)....me. I know I know. You're so jealous. Not only did I have to do school, but I also had an extremely loong day. History in itself took 2 hours (and I'm not even kidding). The Constitution is not exactly the most interesting thing you can read while your mind is fresh, so imagine trying to read it when your brain is nearly dead? Yeah not fun but I made it. And I did get everything else done except for one little thing I'm finishing up tonight. So I guess I'll stop ranting now. =]

Well except for school today the rest of my weekend was pretty good. Saturday was randomly fun, church was good, Kentucky won in football (haha), and I even played frisbee without looking incredibly stupid for once. (Shocker I know). Now hopefully I can make it through the rest of the week without collapsing. If anyone was ever close to death because of overreading the Constitution and too many algebraic equations, that person would be me.....=]

Frisbee and Other Things

Just got back from playing Ultimate Frisbee with my youth group, and I must say I do not go to show off my mad frisbee skills. Rather just the opposite. I stink at frisbee okay? I normally avoid being passed the frisbee at all costs. I mean I could probably catch it (sometimes) but my throw is so awful they'd probably kick me off the team immediately (and they'd probably be justified). But hey it's all just for fun, (at least it is most of the time hehe) so I go anyways just for something to do.

Besides that, not much else has been going on this weekend except Friday night I did go to a back to school party at church which was pretty fun. The only problem there were so many kids (they way outnumbered the youth) that it was hard to talk over the din of balloons being popped, kids screaming for more food, and loud thunking noises that could have been someone getting hit over the head with a golf club. I'm just not sure....=] It was still fun though. Now, alas, the weekend is over and tomorrow it's back to the horrors of chemistry and algebra 2 and all those other awful things designed to torture innocent teenagers....ha. Piano starts back on Thursday too, so I should be pretty busy....

Later

Narnia

While we were visiting family two weeks ago, my cousins and siblings and all of them decided they wanted to go see Prince Caspian. Now I wasn't necessarily opposed to this since I had never seen it and kind of wanted to, but I kept dropping subtle hints about seeing the Dark Knight again instead and maybe seeing Narnia later. Well either no one picked up on my subtle hint dropping or I just got totally ignored, but anyways we ended up going to see Narnia. Soo here's my little review for it...And before you read it be warned that there might be a few spoilers in there. So if you haven't seen it, then I suggest you don't read on. But otherwise keep on going.....

First of all if you walk in the movie expecting it to be just like the book, then I suggest you walk right out again. It was nothing like the book (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) and many of the scenes I was sitting there thinking, "Huh? Where the heck did that come from?" But don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it. The acting was great, the effects and music tremendous, and the story was pretty interesting. The problem was there wasn't enough of it. There were so many fighting/dueling scenes (a heck of a lot of violence for a PG movie) that it was hard to remember if there even was a story in the first place. Okay a bit of an exaggeration, but you get my point. Besides all this Aslan, the great Lion who represents Christ (particuarly in the first movie), hardly got any screen time at all. And when he did get some screen time he didn't attack or do anything exciting at all. Instead of defeating the Telmarine soldiers by jumping on them or something ferocious like that, he made the waves of the sea rise up and swallow them. Pretty cool to watch, but still. And last but not least, what was up with that Prince Caspian/Susan romance? Sorry I just that was a little odd...Anyways the bottom line is the movie was good, but not nearly as good as the first. Hopefully the next movie will get back to old form...

School

Well school started back yesterday, and after today I feel like I've already done a whole weeks worth. Okay a bit of an exaggeration, but it does take a while to get used to all of it again. And I think it's hard now. Wait till Algebra 2 and Chemistry start to get hard.....hehe I already have enough of a time of it with French pronunciation. I mean seriously how do those people talk over there without injuring their voices? Half of their words are pronounced in the back of your throat. Very wierd. And what's even wierder is hearing me trying to do it like they do. You would probably get your laugh for the day hearing that....

Besides the horrors of French, the literature questions are turning out to be even worse than I thought. Not that the reading part isn't interesting (I'm reading The Scarlet Letter at the moment), but it's those dang questions that drive me up a wall. I mean how do I know how a certain series of dialogue fits into the author's "over-arching purpose"? I never knew the man, so how do I know what his purpose was? Not to mention my mother is a real literature/English buff, so she's content to pick out meaning from every syllable all day. haha. I guess I should stop complaining since that's just the way things are. I mean the only way I'd be happy with literary questions is if they were yes or no questions.

Well that's the end of my school tirade; for now at least......=]

Not Too Fun

I woke up Tuesday morning with an extremely sore throat. It was so sore it had even been eeking into my subconscious because I think I dreamed about it. Anyways, I was kind of worried cause the last thing I wanted was to be sick. But since I had run my fan the day before (which was probably covered in dust which I am extremely allergic too), I decided that it simply had to be allergies. But just in case, I took all the precautions. I gargled in salt water, kept an ice pack on my throat (which made my neck really red for a while), and even ate some honey which I wouldn't pick to eat over dirt. However, the pain still persisted so badly that I was pretty afraid that I had strep. So if it wasn't better the next day I'd have to go the doctor and get antibiotics shoved down my throat....Great. But hey the medicine would probably be nothing compared to the honey...

The next day I decided that it couldn't be strep, because my throat already felt better. Did the rest of me felt better? Not so much. Let's just say I felt like crap for the whole day. I had a whole bunch of congestion trapped in my chest, I had the energy of a snail, and I was all light-headed and woozy. But all that was nothing compared to what I felt later in the day...

It all started when I decided to take an olive (or something like that) all natural pill that was supposed to help colds. Now I'm wierd in the sense that I have a really hard time swallowing pills, so in the process of getting this long pill down I had to drink several cups of grape juice very very quickly. Then after I finally got it down I decided to eat half of a green banana. I really should have been thinking a little harder before I did all that....

Later in the day I was lying on my bed watching TV (something I don't really do unless I'm desparate for entertainment), when I suddenly felt these wierd, sharp stabs in my stomach. I tried to ignore them, but that didn't help too much because they kept getting worse and worse. Pretty soon I felt like a heavy weight boxer was laying into my gut, so I got up and stumbled downstairs. And I do mean stumbled. My stomach hurt so bad I could hardly stand up straight (and that's no exaggeration). By the time I made it downstairs, I was hurting even worse (if that were possible) and the pains were horribly constant. They wouldn't let up a single inch. So while I writhed in pain on the couch my panic instincts kicked in (as you might know I am very prone to panic attacks, which I'm sure did not help my stomach pains any). It didn't help to imagine the obituary headlines, "Girl dies of stomach ache brought on by olive pill and an over excess of grape juice." By this time I was in so much pain that I seriously debated screaming at my parents to call 911. However, after some deep breathing and lying prone on the couch for a few minutes, the pain subsided. Thank goodness for that. I think I'd rather be hammered on the head than have that happen again.

Luckily I'm feeling much better today. Just a little bit of a hacking cough (which sounds a lot worse than it feels) plus I'm a little woozy. But other than that I'm all cured. Just in time for school on Monday.....Darnnn =]

Back

Well we made it back from my grandparents house yesterday, and I must say I'm very glad to be back. It was a fun trip of course, just pretty tiring. Let's just say I spent about half of the week trapped in interminable games of the game Trouble. You see one of my cousins (who has a tumor that affects her looks, seeing, hearing, thinking, and all that) really has a thing for Trouble plus hanging out with me. She's a particularly hard person to discourage, so I spent a lot of the time entertaining her which can be pretty exhausting I'll say that. I still enjoyed it though and I still got to hang out with my other cousins some which was very fun. Just never ask me to play a game of Trouble with you, okay? =] On their last day there we had an early surprise birthday party for my dad. I'm not totally sure if we surprised him or not (it probably wasn't very hard to deduce what we were planning) but it was still a pretty great time.

Now that we're back, my mom is getting ready for school which starts next Monday. I can only say that I'm pretty worried about this school year because of the amount of subjects I'm taking. Chemistry, Algebra 2, French, a whole bunch of literature, American Civics/Government, and quite a few other things. So it won't be an easy year that's for sure. I'm also pretty bummed out because I love science and hate math, and unfortunately Chemistry has quite a bit of math involved. I mean come on. I get enough math as it is. Why does it have to invade other subjects too? Oh well. No point complaining about what I can't control....

Off Again

Tomorrow we're going back to my grandparents house (yet again) to see them as well as my aunt, uncle, and 5 cousins who are visiting in that area (the 6th cousin is married). Soo though I enjoy vacations, I'm kind of relieved this will be our last one of the summer seeing as how it feels like we've been traveling like crazy. Also since my mother's driving we'll be lucky to get there by 10:00....the next day. Okay just kidding she's a good driver. Just not as fast as my dad I guess =] So anyways if you could pray for safe travel for us that would be great. Hopefully I won't get too claustraphobic trapped in the van with my brothers. There's a reason no one wants to sit in the middle seat....On top of that I can't read in the car for very long (unless you want me puking over everything) and I can't even go to sleep for some odd reason. So it's bound to be a very boring trip. Oh well. I'll survive....

Ttyl

Yesterday

Yesterday was a pretty interesting day. First of all I had to (along with my brother) go feed my neighbor's lizard. Well we also had to feet a cat, but the cat really doesn't capture as much of your attention as our reptilian friend does. Let me tell you I do not like lizards (or reptiles) of any kind so I'm surprised I agreed to this job in the first place. I will never understand the appeal of owning such a strange animal that stares at you out of menacing, beady little eyes all the time. Anyways it wasn't the feeding part that worried me. It was the taking it out of its cage part. Looking at that long, creepy thing was bady enough and the last thing I wanted to do was actually touch it. However, what had to be done had to be done so seeing as how my brother wasn't touching it until I did (some brother) I put on some gloves and reached in and grabbed the thing. Luckily it was pretty lethargic and didn't try to bite my head off or anything. However I got it on the floor as quickly as I could and hoped I wouldn't be contaminated by the creature in some way.

After we were done feeding it, I finally convinced my brother to pick it up to put it back in its cage cause I certainly wasn't touching that thing again. Not only do you have to get a pretty firm grip on it, but also its tail is really really long so you have to do some maneuvering to get him to fit back in the cage. I thought I might as well let my brother do that part. That's what they're for, right? =]

After that little ordeal, which we had to repeat for thankfully the last time after church today, I got to go the mall (the only place around that has a bookstore) and get that vampire book I wanted. I'm still working on it, and I would have finished it sooner except for the fact that I'm trying to savor it because it's the last book in the series. The savoring thing isn't working too well though cause I'm already on page 500 something. It is quite good I'll say that and at the end of the 2nd part I about died of shock. Some authors just know how to throw wierd plot twists at you at the right moments, okay? =]

Random

Hard to believe it's already the end of July. This summer has flown by pretty fast (even though it hasn't been the most exciting summer in the world). A few things coming up though...

*Saturday the 4th book in the Twilight series (a series about vampires, other mythical creatures, and romance if you didn't know) is coming out, and I must say I am one of those obssessed people who is very excited about it. Of course I'm not as obssessed as some who will stay up till midnight on Friday night to get it (did that with the 6th HP book and don't really want to do it again) I am still pretty excited about how she will end the series. I'll probably give a review for it later when I actually get it.

*On Tuesday we are going (once again) out of town to see my grandparents as well as my aunt, uncle, and 5 cousins who will be in town. This is the same grandmother who has breast cancer by the way. It should be pretty crowded and rambunctious, but it should be interesting. My poor mother though has to drive the whole 6-hour route because my dad can't drive because of his siezures (which are of course good). I offered to drive, but you can't drive out of state until you're 16. Plus I haven't had any experience driving the van yet so I probably shouldn't take off down the highway on it anyways.

*Besides a youth lunch today, I haven't really been doing much this week except trying to stay cool (it's as hot as you know where's down here). The lunch was pretty fun, even though they had sandwiches on store bought bread which I don't like because I'm used to my mother's homemade bread. Thus white storebought bread actually makes me feel sick afterwards. But hey it wasn't too bad and the Bible study was quite interesting. It was kind of random but oh well =]

That's it for now...

Health Update

Yet another update on a few things....

My dad has been having these strange siezures lately that believe it or not are actually good. The doctors say it's a result from inflammation, which basically means the cancer is dying. The siezures themselves are quite strange. In one type he gets these wierd pains down his arms, and he gets really nauseous. He had one of these when I was driving to church and I had just pulled in the parking lot, which resulted in him suddenly having to jump out of the car and run around it like a maniac. I was pretty confused I'll say that...And then in the second type he completely zones out and goes as pale as a ghost and really doesn't seem to know where he is for a few minutes. Odd, but like I said before a good sign =]

As to my grandma, she still feels pretty bad and can't eat a whole lot, but she does have her good days. Also she had an MRI the other day which seemed to indicate her tumor has shrunk. So this is encouraging news and if she will stay off sugar I think it'll help her a lot. =] The only problem is the other day one of her friends brought her a whole tub of chocolate ice cream that she, of course, ate. Some friends huh? But what can I say I couldn't resist chocolate ice cream either....

That's all for now

Batman and Other Things

Yesterday I went to see The Dark Knight, and I must say it scared the heck out of me. It was extremely intense, (but luckily I was prepared for some of the intenseness), the Joker was let's just say a guy you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alleyway (Heath Ledger did a spectacular job), and if there wasn't a gun going off in the plot something was wrong...hehe. but I did enjoy it and found it really moving at some parts (though I'm surprised the movie didn't get an R rating for all the violence and such). Basically if you liked the first (which was like a walk in the park compared to this one) you will probably like the second. However, if you hated the first, then just avoid this one okay? It has at least ten times the action and will have you on the edge of your seat the whole time. But the bottom line is I did enjoy this movie a lot, (even for its extreme violence and disturbing images). Plus the new woman playing Rachel Dawes will not disappoint like the last woman....

This morning I drove around downtown some with my dad, which was pretty enjoyable. I normally like driving with my dad except for when he yells at me for totally random things and is always comparing my driving to his...The thing he yells at for me the most is probably parking and backing out simply because I have the hardest time with those things. Plus he makes me do it absolutely straight. In my opinion as long as you get the car between the lines it's no big deal, but oh well. I'm getting much better thank goodness...Then after that we had a youth luncheon at church which was pretty fun (except the pizza was really greasy. I'm real particular about what kind of pizza I eat sometimes ehe). But it was still fun and I must say our youth group is extremely......entertaining? interesting? different? haha I still had a good time though =]

Blah

A few nights ago I was lying in bed when I suddenly had these strange bursts of nausea in my stomach. You know the kind that travels up to your head and then makes you think you're going to explode. Not fun. Soon it got so bad that I was debating going to wake up my parents to get some sympathy or to make sure I wasn't going to die or something, but I decided not too because there was really nothing they can do about it anyways. Not to mention my parents get extremely grumpy if you ever so much as lift a finger in the middle of the night. So I lay there and let it run its course and finally fell asleep.

The next day was not much better as all morning I had these really severe stomach cramps. I literally had to go over to the house and curl up in a ball till they passed. Again not fun. To make matters worse I had to go to the orthodontist that morning for them to just look at my straight teeth and tell me how great they looked. Nice and all but a colossal waste of time. Though I felt pretty horrible, I had to go and I wasn't even sure if I was really sick anyways. Maybe I'd just get over it as the day went on.

After I made it through the ortho appointment I felt some better, so I decided to go to a youth thing at my church. It started out fine, but then my stomach started aching again and it didn't help that when we were washing dishes after our meal (it was a lunch thing) that an 11 or 12 year old kid kept trying to tell me exactly how to do it. I mean come on I might not be the brighest person out there but I can handle washing a few dishes, okay? I was in a bad enough mood as it was, so I barely managed to get out a polite response and then managed to ignore her the rest of the time.

I slept pretty bad that night and I spent the next day walking around feeling like someone had just hit me on the head with a board. To top it all off my mom said chocolate was bad for stomach cramps so I couldn't have any till they were gone. So this all made me rather ornery and I had to avoid my brothers at times because they tend to be the chief scapegoats of my bad moods. Yesterday, however, I woke up feeling much better, and today I feel great. I don't think I ever had a contagious disease or anything, but whatever it was I'm over it now at least. And that's a good thing too because me and a bad mood are not a good mix just so you know....hehe

The Dance Saga- Part Three

Finally the last part...

As time went on at this new dance school, I decided it was time to face the truth; I hated it. I watched the clock all the time during lessons, anytime a cloud appeared in the sky I said it was too stormy to go, and whenever I saw my dance teachers anywhere near me I attempted to hide in the nearest corner or behind the closest person. Besides all of this, I knew that if I continued I'd have a constantly disgruntled father (who now avoids all courtyards in this area), and two horribly bored brothers who might soon resort to skateboarding off the dance roof or something thus killing themselves. Not to mention my poor mother who has to deal with all of them. So one day on the way home from a lesson, I finally told my dad I wanted to quit. He didn't sound very upset about it I'll say that....

After this I found out a local charter school in our area had ballet lessons, so I decided to try there for the remainder of the year. It was actually quite enjoyable. All the kids were really nice (no snobs for a change), the teacher was....well I'll say interesting (but great compared to those other ones), and there wasn't any pressure on your head at all. Since no one else besides me did pointe, the teacher said I could come early to practice by myself if I wanted to. I think I did that once. For one thing pointe's painful and messes up your foot. And secondly who wants to practice by yourself anyways? hehe Anyways, I finished up the year there, and then decided that summer to just be done with dance and move on to other things like voice and piano. Though I really enjoyed it (some of it that is) I decided that I'd had quite enough dance experiences to last me a lifetime....

Update

My dad got the results back from his latest MRI today, and unfortunately it wasn't as good as the last one he had. His original tumor is still basically gone, but there is a new one that has sprouted up. Thus I believe the doctors are going to hit him with some harder treatment, but I'm not totally sure of all the details on that yet. He'll still keep up with the diet, of course, so hopefully he'll be all right.

As to my grandma, her pain has become much more bearable due to larger doses of pain medication. She's still on mild chemo, so hopefully that is working to push her cancer back. If not, they'll get her on some stronger treatment in a month or so I guess. Prayers for our family are greatly appreciated, and I'll keep you updated. I hope next time I'll have some better news =]

The Dance Saga- Part 2

Since this is part two, that means you must read part one to understand what is going on (I hope you already knew that but just in case). Soo if you've read part one read on....

On only the first day at this newest dance school I was already ticked off. Why? I had visited the place a few days earlier and the main teacher said I had to start off in a lower level than I had wanted to because she said I didn't have the correct posture she wanted her students to have at the upper levels. My knee-jerk reaction was to yell, "huh? what the heck are you talking about? I'm being held back because of posture? My other dance teachers were pretty dang good and they didn't say anything about that!" I managed to control myself, however, and not say anything. After all maybe my posture was really horrible. Anyways I was determined to prove this teacher wrong and move up to the higher levels as fast as I could.

During my first lesson I quickly discovered the first of my two new teachers was not to be trifled with. She may not have looked very imposing (she was as skinny as a stick) but she had rather frightening eyes that you did not want fixed on you and her voice was shrill and startling. When she called out (rather harshly) one poor girl for saying one whispered word to another classmate, I was determined never to open my mouth in this class if I could help it. Not only did she yell at you, she also nitpicked. Every single little thing you did she noticed it. Pretty soon, whenever she started looking my way I wished I could fade into the wallpaper. She also kept reminding us how important it was to do enough work to move up to the next level and subtly implied that if you didn't make it you were more or less a failure. I wanted to yell, "So we're pretty much nothing but losers if we don't achieve the next level? Thanks for the confidence boost!" However, I decided that keeping my big mouth shut was the smartest thing to do at this point. All I knew was that nobody in this studio was in it for fun. They all wanted to be professionals, something that I definitely didn't want to be. I just did it for pure enjoyment. But apparently no one in this studio knew the meaning of the words "fun", "enjoyable", and "nice".

Since I didn't dare talk in my first class, I didn't really get to know too many of the other students very well. However, in my next class the teacher was more relaxed (no one could have anything on my first teacher in the strict and cruel department) so I got to know one girl who was also semi-new to the school. We talked about a few random topics and then she asked, "So are you planning to be a professional dancer? That's what I want to do." I smiled politely and said, "No I'm just in it for fun." She looked at me as if I said I was in it to beat up senior citizens. She recovered quickly however and we moved on to more pleasant topics. Like how painful braces were. Much more pleasant....

A few weeks later all the other students were doing a dress rehearsal for a performance of The Hobbit that I had missed out on due to enrolling late in the year. This meant that yours truly was stuck with a 2-hour private lesson with my second teacher. Fun right? Not. I'm not really an attention seeking person and the last thing I wanted was to have her eagle-eyeing me and no one else all through class. I'm just glad it wasn't with my first teacher though. I'm not sure I'd be alive to tell the experience.....Anyways the private lesson went better than I thought, but once when I was doing some turns she stopped me. I was hoping she was going to say how much improved they were, but instead she said, "Did you know you have a funny habit of sticking your tongue out while you're concentrating?" I had a strange urge to punch her in the face, but I smiled and said, "No I sure didn't know that." They weren't much for compliments in this place...

Since I had enough to worry about in class, it would have been nice to know that my family (who had to stay the whole time due to distance constraints) was staying out of trouble. ha I should have known...During one of my classes (I found out what exactly happened later from my brother) my brothers got restless and decided they wanted to explore around a bit. Soon they found an interesting looking courtyard, and went in shutting the door behind them. After they were in there for a little while they got bored, and decided to go back to the main studio. When the older of the two tried the door, he discovered that it wouldn't open. He tried it again, twisting it this way and that. It wouldn't budge. "Uh, bro," he muttered to the younger of the two. "I think we're locked in." Of course this sent the younger one into a royal panic while the poor older one desperately tried to think of ways to get out before they starved to death or died of dehydration or something. After he tried every possible way to get out, he noticed a window to one side of the courtyard. When he looked in he saw a pottery class in session, and eagerly banged on the window to get their attention. No one answered. He banged again. This time he heard the teacher say, "Is everyone all right back there?" Still no one noticed. By this time he was so mad he almost punched the window out himself, but he didn't which was a good thing since we didn't really need to be sued at this point.

Finally the boys gave up and decided that sooner or later their father would wonder where they were and come looking for them. A few minutes later they finally saw him coming down the hall eating a bag of skittles. "Hi, guys," he said, opening the door and striding in. "Nooo, Dad!!" shrieked the boys. "We're locked-" it was too late. Dad had slammed the door behind him. So now all three very unhappy, ticked off, furious, guys were trapped in the courtyard. Dad tried calling Mom, but her cell phone was off. While he fumed about that the boys tried attracting the attention of the pottery class again, but to no avail. Dad, who had had about enough tomfoolery for the day and was probably wishing he had never come to this accursed placed, walked up to the window and banged on it so loudly that I'm sure everyone was quite terrified. It worked though. The teacher sent someone around to unlock the door, and they were finally free. They could probably sue if they wanted to, but heck it would be too much trouble.

To be continued (once again).....

The Dance Saga- Part 1

I took dance for about 7 years at 4 different schools, and I must say that while part of it was absolutely wonderful part of it was absolutely horrible. So here are some of my experiences with dance....

I started at a dance school back where we used to live, which was my absolute favorite school. I loved the teachers, the other students, and there was a good balance of fun and seriousness. The recitals were huge and lasted forever (but were still awesome), and the Nutcracker was always an experience. My last recital was absolutely insane because I had to appear on stage 10 different times. I had to keep running back and forth and changing costumes and hoping my hair would stay up and at the same time attempt to do it all in a period of just a few minutes. It was a miracle that I didn't do the wrong dances at the wrong times, but I remembered which was a good thing or my teacher might have killed me. (Only because she cared of course =])

When we moved I had the option of either getting heavily involved in dance competitions (definitely out since they didn't focus a whole lot on ballet), driving 40 something minutes to a large dance studio, or going to a very small studio five minutes away. Let's just say we settled with option 3. I very much enjoyed the classes and all, but it was all a bit of a let down compared to the last school I was at. I was used to classes with 12 or more, and here we were lucky to have 2 people in the older class. I was the only person on pointe in the entire school, so I did get private lessons with that. However, I just wasn't....satisfied. There were no other really good people to push me, no Nutcracker, okay let's just face it; I was spoiled. So when I finally started getting over this feeling the school shut down. I tried to act all sad about it, but inwardly I was thrilled. Now I could go to the big dance school 40 minutes away that had a Nutcracker and everything. Soon my parents signed me up, and before I knew it I was heading there for my first class. I should have known it was all too good to be true...

For one thing all my classmates were snobs. They looked down their noses at you like you were some insignificant clump of dirt while they were the stars of the universe or something....By the end of the first class I wasn't sure I could stand another class with any of them again. Secondly the teacher was extremely annoying. She had broken her leg doing something retarded in her house (fulfilling her life long dream of sliding down the banister maybe?) and so she sat in a chair the whole class and yelled at us. I'll admit dance teachers have to be somewhat strict, but it was a little bit annoying to have her yelling at us like that when she wasn't expending a bit of effort herself.

The pointe work hit me real hard simply because I hadn't really been pushed a whole lot in my last school. While we were finishing up our pointe at the end of the first class there was another class that came after us (hip-hop I think) watching us through the window while they waited. I could have sworn they were laughing right at me. By this time I was so annoyed I wanted to tell them to get in here and start doing pointe work and see how much they liked it. (I didn't have too much sympathy for the sport of hip-hop at the time). To top it all off I discovered that they weren't even having auditions for the Nutcracker. Instead all the parts had been cast before classes had even started for the year, and I had been cast as a mouse which I had already been twice previously in my first dance school. Well this was about the last straw, and my parents and I decided that if I really truly didn't love this school then it wasn't worth driving 40 minutes for. I didn't even last three classes there...

After much searching around, we decided to try a place which looked a bit more serious, (that is the biggest understatement ever recorded), had actual auditions for performances, and was even a little bit closer than the last place. So we decided to give it a try. I desperately hoped that I would really love this place (even as much as my old one) and that I would get back up to speed on pointe and all that. Sometimes hoping can be a pointless endeavor....

To be continued.....=]

Home Sweet Home

Made it back from our trip yesterday and I must say that I am extremely glad to be home. Overall the trip was pretty enjoyable, but parts weren't so great. For example my grandma felt bad the entire time (from her cancer. Prayers for her are really appreciated), on Saturday my mom threw her back now (luckily she's better now) and Sat. I got a cold and ended up sick for the next several days. So yeah that wasn't so fun (with a sore throat you can't yell very loudly at your brothers) but I did enjoy the second part. We got to play minature golf on Monday which, except for my two solitary holes-in-one (don't ask me how I did it cause I don't know), I officially stank out. It wasn't very complimentary. But oh well =]

The trip going was fine, but the trip going back was not exactly the best. At one point all traffic on the highway was stopped for what seemed like ages due to a wreck, which threw us back about a half hour or so. I can now say, however, that I stood in the middle of a busy highway right next to an eighteen-wheeler. haha Anyways after we cleared that we ran into extremely heavy rains which resulted in my dad almost having to pull over cause he could barely see anything. Plus all threw the rainstorm my dad was complaining about how at home we never got any rain. Little did he know, however, that while we were gone it apparently rained quite a bit. Also a tornado apparently came through because when we got to our neighborhood it looked like a war zone. (Okay a bit of an exaggeration, but still) There were split and downed trees everywhere, and the whole place just looked....out of the ordinary. So satisfied now, Dad? =]

Leaving (again)

We're going out of town again tomorrow this time to see my other grandparents. I think we'll be back in about a week. Though the trip up there (finally we don't have to go down south for once) is not short, it's nothing compared to the 10-hour one we just took. hehe. Prayers for safe travel would be great, and also prayers for my sanity seeing as how I'll be stuck in the car with my brothers for six hours...ha. Oh well. Guess I'll make it. Ttyl

Books

Just thought I'd comment on a few of the books I've been reading lately...

Acquaintance with Darkness by Ann Rinaldi is a historical fiction/mystery novel, which is one of my favorite kind of books. This book tells the story of Emily, who is left orphaned right before the assassination of President Lincoln. She plans to live with her friends the Surratts, but when Mrs. Surratt is convicted of helping John Wilkes Booth, she must live with her Uncle Valentine who she believes may be a body snatcher. The book was very fascinating, but quite dark as in it has a bittersweet ending. I would have liked to see a little bit more of a plot twist as in Rinaldi's other books, but overall I enjoyed it.

The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore tells the story of Christina; a teenager who is kidnapped in order to gain some money from her wealthy grandmother. When Christina is released after her grandmother pays the ransom, she discovers that everyone believes she organized her own kidnapping in order to gain money from her grandmother. Christina is determined to prove her innocense, and also tries to determine the third person involved in her kidnapping. Overall this was a great book. It was fast paced, exciting, and had a good plot twist. I wish the ending could have been a little more clear-cut, but other than that it was great.

The Lost Books series by Ted Dekker tell the story of four chosen teenagers set in another reality from our own world. They must collect the seven books of History before the Dark One finds them and uses them to his own evil ends. Along the way they must fight off the legendary Shatki (spelling) and the Horde army, and in the last book 3 of them are transported to Earth. This was a fairly enjoyable series, but sometimes hard to follow. Overall though it was fascinating and I enjoyed the comparisons of their world and ours.

Home (For the Time Being)

Well we made it back from our trip yesterday, and I have to say I'm quite glad. I still had some fun of course, but it was extremely hot (you'd get heat stroke from running one lap around the yard) and a tinsy bit boring at times. For example one of the prime sources of entertainment for my brothers and me was rolling around in a wheelchair my grandma had on the porch. haha I'm exaggerating a bit, but we did roll around in quite a lot. ;) I also made the mistake of trying to operate my grandma's dial-up computer. I will never do that again. I spent 30 minutes trying to load one song only to receive a message that said the internet provider had to shut down due to an error. But the computer wasn't entirely useless. Playing solitare can be quite fun when you're desparate. =]

Looking on the bright side, I did get to go clothes shopping and we got to eat out a few times. (We rarely ever eat out due to my dad's restrictive diet). So all in all I managed to have some fun, but I'm very glad to get home. However, due to my other grandma's breast cancer, we might be heading to visit her and my grandpa as soon as next week (or even this friday), so I won't get a whole lot of time to enjoy home. But oh well. At least I'm not stuck at home all the time this summer. Speaking of my grandma we're getting the idea that the cancer is not as bad as it first sounded, but it's still cancer and thus requires quick treatment. Now she'll get to join my dad in drinking his favorite drink: carrot juice. I don't envy them....

Leaving

Tomorrow we're heading down south (even deeper south than where we live) to see my grandma. We're staying a whole week (actually a little over a week) and the car ride will be 10 hours long. Not to mention we have to leave at about 6:30 in the morning. Not exactly my idea of a fun trip, but I guess I'll just have to deal with it. =] I probably won't be posting here till we get back, unless my dad can somehow hook up his laptop down there and get internet access through my grandma's modem (or something like that). I don't really see that happening, so unless a miracle occurs you probably won't hear from me in a while. I am not giving up hope yet though because as nice as it is to get to see family and all, it might get kind of boring down there at times (plus it's going to be really really hot). But my dad said he might finally take us to see Narnia while we're there so I won't complain yet....

Before I go, I would like to ask prayers for my other grandma who was diagnosed with breast cancer last week. She's meeting with an oncologist next week to see about treatments, plus my parents are encouraging her to go on the diet my dad's been on (which has worked wonders for his cancer). I'll let you know how everything turns out, and thanks for your prayers. =]

On a lighter note, I'm having to post this on another computer as my computer is having problems again (surprise surprise). I'm not sure if it's a virus or not, but it sure is acting funny. Everytime I boot up the computer I get this wierd message that says something like "a critical error has been detected on your computer. Windows has been shut down to protect your computer". Or rather it's been shut down to irritate me to death. That's a thought...

Till later

Miserable Morning at the Dentist

This morning I ended up at the dentist (though certainly not of my own accord.) For one thing the appointment was at 9:00 AM, which is the crack of dawn on days when school's out. Secondly, getting your teeth cleaned is never fun (unless you enjoy having them poke all those wierd instruments around in your mouth). No offense if you do of course, but moving on...

First she hits you with vibrations and water. For those of us with sensitive teeth, those things hurt like the dickens. They could seriously use those things for torture methods.....Then you get to sit there while she scrapes plaque off your teeth (never a pleasant sound) and also decides to ask you random questions about yourself. Not that I don't like talking to people (well most people =]) but it is rather difficult to talk while someone's fingers and wierd appliances are stuck in your mouth..... Then she brushes your teeth (or rather jams an electric toothbrush as hard as she can into your tooth) and flosses them (or, again, rather jams the thread as hard as it will go into your gum). And then she does the worst thing of all. She decides to poke around your gums with some long pointy thing. (hehe). I have extremely sensitive gums, so I had to work hard not to cry out in pain (seriously). But finally she is done, and then the dentist sees you for about five seconds (easy job huh). The bottom line is I survived, (with better looking teeth for all that pain), but it was definitely no walk in the park.

After that our youth group had a cookout, to get to know our new youth minister better, which was a lot of fun. The hamburger didn't quite measure up to the special all natural ones we order (those things are dang good), but it was still quite tasty. And of course visiting with everyone was nice too. =]

That's it for now