Change of Color

I thought of something to write about but I forgot it.
This is something closer to coral. I don't know if you would prefer it. I think Erica might. But since we have different colors, there is a little range of choices. Fun stuff.
Nathaniel said that Priscilla Ahn is actually half-Korean. So she is beige! I think she is a pretty lady, and her voice is nice too. My favorite songs by her would be "Dream" and "Are We Different?" They are surprisingly not too hard to sing, if you are into doing that.
Summer is busy, and people are not in town a lot of the time. But what about when school starts, and we have applications to do? Will we have more than three posts a week? I am worried.
There is something about this city that makes it rain in the afternoons during the late summers. I don't know.
Nirav is leaving this summer. I thought he would be at our school, making the annual football and baseball picks, just like last year. But he wants to go to UF, which is great for the people who want to see him in the future.

Sorry. I was talking to Erica.

I'm going to go now.
Bye. :/

Love,
Kejing

It is 11:03 that I am starting this post. I waited this late because I kept thinking that I would end up getting inspired. Alas, no such luck. So now I'm just going to go with it.

I definitely want to make sure to say thank you to two people who mean a lot to me.

Blair has been my best friend for almost five years now. When she moved here, I started talking to her because we had the same Chorus class. And she has helped me with a lot lately. Two Tuesdays ago, as I was sitting in the movie theater, waiting to see the new Harry Potter Movie at 12:01 AM, she texted me and reminded me that it was my day to post. Since I didn't have a computer available, I asked her if she wouldn't mind posting for me. So I'd like to say thank you to her, because lately she has been an amazing friend.

Then, last Tuesday I was in Tennessee for Mu Alpha Theta Nationals (which I'll get to in a minute). I wasn't sure if I would be able to have internet access or the opportunity to post. So I asked Ryan to fill in for me. He has helped me out with that a lot, but he has also been there for me more than anyone else in the last eight months. I don't want to take up this whole post talking about how great my boyfriend is, although I'm sure I could come up with at least that much to say on the subject. But I would like to thank him for everything. I really am very much in love with Ryan. :)

Okay. So now, I'd like to just say a little something about Nationals. It was an interesting experience for me in many ways. But there was one thing that was just an awesome experience for me. On the last day of the competition, I took the Gemini test (which is a test for a two person team) with Logan. It consisted of five puzzles. We started working on them and in the end, we felt like we did a pretty good job. Logan started asking around and he heard that we did pretty well in comparison to the other teams. He said that he thought we would probably place in the top fifteen. Sure enough, we did. We ended up getting first place. I have never won an award at a Mu Alpha Theta competition. I was so happy and excited. I just thought I'd share, because this was one of my very most favorite accomplishments.

When my sister and I got back from Nationals, we found that our parents had started feeding two stray cats. We have pretty much adopted them at this point. So I thought that was interesting. We were replaced by two cats.

I also have some sad news. Our little toy poodle, Sophie, passed away yesterday. She has been very sick for over a year and a half. Actually. A year and a half ago, the vet told us that she was terminal and didn't have much time left. So we were lucky to have that much extra time with her.

It seems like I have so much left that I need to get done this summer, and not enough time to do it all. I have to volunteer for Bright Futures and I have to finish summer reading and summer math and I have to finish plenty of other stuff. It seems as though our new house is going to get finished right before school starts. So that means I will get to move then. Fun fun.

Okay so now it is 11:51. So I guess I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. I hope everyone has an awesome week. Goodbye.

Hard to Understand

I've been thinking a lot about connections lately. I think that whenever we make a friend, they stay there in our hearts, even if we lose touch.

For example, I had a memory the other day of a girl who had been one of my best friends from grades two through five. I can't remember exactly what she looked like, but I remember times that we shared and just how happy they all were. If I saw her today, perhaps I would recognize her. If I did I would have no idea what I would say. But I know if she asked me to do anything for her, I would do it in a heartbeat.

I sometimes I picture we all have these sorta cords of love attaching us to other people. They're so important because relationships make the whole world work. So I guess when it comes down to it, we should make friends with as many people as we can.

What the heck am I talking about? I apologize for the lack of sense I'm making.

I guess, for me it's: once a friend, always a friend. Because even when I'm let down or hurt by a friend, I have this love for him or her that keeps me holding on to that friendship.

Call it a weakness.

-Brianna

My Ballad

Hello there, blue powerblogger here!

So this post will be quite short relative to last weeks's post. I am writing this Saturday evening because tomorrow my best friend Timmy and I are going to Tampa for VANS WARPED TOUR!!! I am so incredibly excited!!! I really wanna see Underoath and The Devil Wears Prada!

Last week, I went to a show at Big Daddy's to watch Unclaimed, Maradona, One Way Passenger, and Chasing Thrill play. It was awesome because I got to sing a song with Unclaimed and Timmy and I performed an acoustic song that we wrote. Maradona's lead singer, Lauren, has taken Timmy and me under her wing, so to speak, since she had a baby and can't really tour with her band anymore. She is kind of like our vocal coach. I got to record high harmonies with her band and it was so much fun! The band Chasing Thrill was good except for the fact that their singer sucked, which ruined the whole sound. Their guitarist (who was balding...?) kept hitting on my friend Karson. He called her out to move into an empty space at the front of the crowd, then pointed to her in a couple of songs. Afterwards, we went to talk to him and the lead singer. They were like, "How old are you guys?" and Karson responded, saying "16 and 17". They were both like, "Oh, we're...21...". EWWW. They were kinda creepers. But let me tell you, even though they were crappy live, I LOVE THEIR CD. It's called "Promises" and it is borderline epic. Everyone should look them up and give them a listen. "My Ballad" is my favorite song of theirs.

So that's all for this week. Hopefully next week I will have some exciting post about VANS WARPED TOUR!!!!! I am soooooo psyched about it, you don't even know.

Until next week,

-Caroline

P.S. I agree with the red powerblogger in my dislike for the father character in "Poisonwood Bible"

MAO Nationals Fail

I just came back from Tennessee yesterday and naturally I'm going to tell you all about it. Whoo! Best intro ever!

Complaints first. The competition was horribly organized. On every single test, at least a few questions had to be thrown out because they were defective. This could have worked out two ways. It could have raised your score or lowered it. Unfortunately, mine was lowered. But it wasn't lowered like five points, it was lowered a whole TWENTY points. They threw out four questions that I got right (it's a conspiracy I swear). Also, several times the answer keys were switched with other tests, resulting in an angry math nerd riot. Don't even get me started on the speakers. I could have settled for a boring speech but NOOOOOooooo. One of the speakers HAD to make a vain attempt at being funny. What made it worse was that he kept on going as if everyone was enjoying his speech. We were then treated to a long and tedious version of his life story rather than focusing on what was going to happen at the competition. His catch phrase was "ladies man" and he kept saying it over and over as if his entire speech was structured around those two pitiful words. By the way, if I ever hear someone say "ladies man" in a certain tone, I will brutally torture that person. (rawr) The list goes on: the food was comparable to cafeteria food, they played unfitting soft classical music as people ran up to the stage to recieve their awards, rafting in the rapids was replaced by a semi-interesting tour of a cave with water in it, and the room service in our hotel wouldn't make one of our beds because there was a sock on it. Room service lady quotes: "I can't make your bed because you left item on it." I think many people agree with me when I say that the Tennessee MAO convention was the worst Nationals competition to date.

Other than that, I had fun. The fact that I was rooming with some of my favorite people made the trip a lot more tolerable. Not to mention that one of them brought a Wii so we could play Super Smash Bros Brawl all day and all night. Cards went around every few hours, pool was during almost every break time (until our sponsor banned us from pool for being late to a test), and almost all of us won trophies. Dollywood was an okay theme park. There were only three good rides in there, one of them being the Mystery Mines which features a ninety degree pull to the top of a hill and a ninety degree drop to oblivion. It also has real fire which comes close enough so that you can feel the heat but not close enough so you burn. All in all, I think the competition for our school was a success considering we didn't have our whole team there. Our sponsor was pretty happy with the results.

Notice that the complaints paragraph is considerably larger than the compliments paragraph. I'm still tired and I think I still have some left over motion sickness.

-June

Hmm

I wish the other bloggers wouldn't give up... :'(

Anyway, the nationals kids are coming back tonight! I hope they continue to travel safely.

I watched Kung Fu Panda with my brother today. It was pretty cool, except when they called something a dumpling. And it wasn't a dumpling.

I finished reading The Poisonwood Bible today. It had some good stuff in it. But the beginning was so frustrating because it was full of annoying characters. But the father always ticked me off, in some way.

Yesterday was Jack's birthday. Sunday is Jerrod's! Exciting.

The 2009 fall semester at UF begins in about three weeks.

I wish you a good Friday.

Big brother will be back in time to post tomorrow!

-Kejing

Not Much to Say

Hey, this is Ryan, filling in for Lacey, who is in Tennessee for the national Mu Alpha Theta convention right now. I'm sorry I didn't finish posting yesterday; the only thing I can think awbout is cycling.

After today, it's pretty much official that Lance Armstrong will not win the Tour de France this year. I didn't think he could beat Alberto Contador, his own teammate, but his seven yellow jerseys say to never count him out no matter how old he is.

I tried to come up with an interesting story from when I went to nationals last year, but I couldn't really come up with anything specific. I got robbed of watching the first ever night race at Chicago in NASCAR, more than a week of the Tour, seeing the Josh Hamilton treat the world to home runs and then fail, and the end of the All-Star Game. I got to see all of those events this year.

I have quit MAO, so my main focus is for brain bowl this year. Chiles has won the annual Big Bend tournament the last two years, and we always want new members, if anyone's interested. Or reading. I'm sorry I'm so boring, my mind has shut off for the summer.

You guys did a better job of posting last week. Remember: if you can't post, you should try to do it before your day and save it, or get someone else to write it. Though I guess that's hypocritical of me since I'm finishing this post on Wednesday afternoon. Then again, it's not my responsibility to post every day. You can blame Lacey! =D

Today is my one third birthday, so that's pretty exciting. I've lived for 52/3 years, now. According to my Death Clock, I still have 56 years, 5 months, and 10 days to live. Yay.

Okay, I am probably going to go watch a replay of today's stage now. Bye.

P.S. I hope this is the correct shade of yellow. I cannot see either, though, sorry. Remember, color blind.

Time Flies

I didn't realize how much of an effect government had on all our lives. I mean I guess, I knew it did something, but it always seemed on a scale much larger than I can control. But there's so much we can do to be involved and do something about the problems around us.

Learning about local government is so interesting! While I would never want to run for some high office like president or congressperson, the idea of being a mayor or city commissioner seems really cool. Maybe I'll be one someday. I don't know, but there is so much more to government than I would have ever thought.

-Brianna

Lay Your Weapons Down/Daniel's Song

Hello there, blue powerblogger here! I'm actually posting for once! Due to mix-ups in fill-ins, being out of town, and general being busy-ness, I have been unable to post for the past few weeks. I know, I'm lame, but I've been having the best summer of my life.

I just wanted to share a story with you guys that has really changed my life. At the end of June, I went to a Christian music camp called "Camp Electric". I was basically the most awesome week of my life! I'll throw this part in for June because he'll know most of these people-I was taught by Matt Hammit (Sanctus Real's lead vocalist), Trevor McNevan (FM Static/Thousand Foot Krutch lead vocalist) and Rob Beckley (Pillar lead vocalist), saw shows by Newsboys, Pillar, BarlowGirl, RED, and TobyMAC, and met some famous people-But none of that even compared to the reason my life was changed.

Enter Daniel, the random blond kid sitting in front of me during morning session on Tuesday, June 30, 2009. I made a comment about drummers being better than guitarists (no offense to you guitar players out there, but Aaron Gillespie has influenced my love for drummers) and he offhandedly answered my random comment with something like "I know, right?" Except I thought he was being sarcastic so I was just like "oh, sorry" but he responded that he was, in fact a drummer, and that he had met Aaron Gillespie. So we started a conversation, and my friends Justin and Timmy joined in. And that was it for then, just a random conversation with a random kid.

Later, Timmy and I were leaving his dorm when we saw Daniel. Timmy invited him to sit with us at session that evening. During session, an announcement was made about kids that needed to take their medicine. Daniel turned to us and said that he has to take seven types of medication four times a day. He confessed that he has thyroid, liver, and kidney problems, to name a few. A little piece of my heart went out to Daniel at that moment. Later during the BarlowGirl concert, Timmy told me he was going outside to hang out. After the concert, I rushed out to find him, and he and Daniel were sitting on the sidewalk. I sat with them for a few minutes before I realized that they were in the middle of a deep conversation. I stood up and walked a couple feet away, awkwardly. I then noticed that it looked like Daniel had been crying. I waited for my friend Stephanie to find me, and when she did, I told her about Timmy and Daniel's "deep conversation". I said to her that I just felt so bad for Daniel and that I wanted, more than anything, to just go up to him and give him a hug. While walking to the bus for the night, I saw Timmy and Daniel again. I went to say bye to Timmy and give him a hug. I said bye to Daniel, too, but Timmy must not have heard it because as I began to walk away, he said "Hey, Caroline, have you met Daniel?" I was like, "Uhh, yeah, me and Daniel are pals!" Daniel then walked up to me and asked, "well then don't I get a hug, too?" Of course, I gave him one. I just felt so happy to be able to make him feel needed or important or loved, or whatever it was that he needed to feel. In bed that night, I realized that just four nights before I had finished a song about struggles in life. I wrote it mainly for my friend Justin, but I didn't want to use his name in it, so I randomly chose the name Daniel because I felt like it fit well with the song. Little did I know, I would meet a kid named Daniel shortly after whose life mirrored the song.

The next day, I was waiting for Timmy outside his dorm when I saw Daniel. He came and sat with me and we talked a little bit. Daniel began to open up about his life, saying that some lady he didn't even know paid the entire $800+ dollars to go to Camp Electric. He then said that he had kind of a troubled life and that he had recently lost a lot of faith in God. I told him about the song I wrote that had his name in it and how it was such a weird coincidence. Then came the part where I just lost my heart to him. He said, "I haven't even learned anything about drums here; I think that God brought me here not for music, but to meet Timmy and meet you." To hear those words coming from someone is the most amazing feeling ever. Just to know that you helped change someone's life, it changes your life.

Needless to say, our goodbyes were painful. He lives in Knoxville, a good ten or so hours away from our town. But I text Daniel every two days just to talk. He wants me to come visit him and go to Ohio Warped Tour with him and other stuff. I want him to move here. We also discussed with Timmy the fact that we want Daniel to be in our band. He is a legit drummer, apparently, and I would love for him to be OUR drummer. I even made him an epic birthday present (his birthday is at the end of the month). They are drumsticks with "Daniel's Song" written on them. And I might be visiting him before the end of summer!

Overall, Daniel has changed my beliefs about coincidence and purpose. He has shown me that sometimes you meet people for reasons far greater than you I could have imagined. He has strengthened my faith in God, my faith in friendship, and my faith in love. And he is someone I will never forget.

So that's my "epic" story. I hope that all of you guys have had/will have an experience similar to that sometime in your life. And listen to the song "Lay Your Weapons Down" by Brand New Shadows. It's not screamo, I promise :)

Until next week, for which I will need a fill-in since I will be at WARPED TOUR :D in Tampa,

-Caroline

I'm Gone

I'm gone for a week. Don't cry! I know you will miss me =p. Mm' off ta Tennessaay!!! The down-to earth, farmboy, corn-growing, redneck state. This is the perfect place to hold Nationals for people who hate country music *note sarcasm*. I'm not as bothered as I sound though. It really does look like fun.

You know, I marvel at the imagination of Japanese people. That's right, the Japs. Have you ever looked at their pranks and game shows on YouTube? It's hilarious! Extreme... but hilarious. At least Japanese people have a sense of humor. If you pull a prank in America, lawsuits all around. Even more extreme are their commercials. I'll give you three of the weirdest Japanese commercials I've seen while I go all "city" up on them country folk.




-June

Byebye.

Well, I guess everyone is gone now.
I remember last year at Nationals, Sarah wrote a post for Viv? I think. It was really good. It had a lot to do with being happy, and how amazing girls are. And I think she also used her laptop to stalk a certain someone. One time, I think right before the mystery test but I'm not sure, he was standing there, so I walked by him to glance at his name and school on his tag as subtly as possible. So we realized that he was from Tennessee. He didn't seem all that attractive... in my opinion, but Sarah and Erica were transfixed. They are going to try to find him. Good luck, you two.
I have eaten one cracker and drank a bit of orange juice. It is weird. Some people eat a bunch of food when they are unhappy, but I think I just don't.
Do you know what I think is awful? Abuse. The Oprah show yesterday was partially about that. I just think Oprah is so cool, at least for a fifty four? year old lady. She is so smart and nice to everyone.
I hope you are having a better day than I.
~Kejing

The Third Week

Generosity.

How important is it to be generous? I mean, you life is yours, afterall. Well I'd like to take a different approach. Since we live in societies now, it's pretty hard not to have your day in some way influenced by someone else. That is, you could go all day do things for yourself, but at some point, someone will make a decision that will impact you. It might be as simple as holding a door for you, or it could be as something as important as hiring you. However, you too have the power to impose your decisions on other lives. Doing nice things will not only do your conscious good, but some way or another, it will find its way back to you. Holding the door for the couple going into the movies could set off a chain reaction. They might, in turn, start holding the door open for other people, who could very well hold that door for you. But it doesn't stop there- they could be that person who pulls over on the side of the road to help you when your car breaks down. The challenge isn't how you can maximize your rewards by doing the fewing deeds of good, but to simply not thing about it and be pleasantly surprised each time someone returns the favor for you.

Try it, would ya?

- Jonathan

Let's Not Talk About Those AP Scores

Today at work I cleaned the entire lodge, which is the place where all of the children meet up after they eat lunch at the church. The kitchen was disgusting, and so were the floors. After I did that, I made all of the children go outside to play. They begged for water, I gave it to them, and then I got the little kids ready to go back to the church for their nap after they went swimming. It sounds easy, but imagine having to scream at the kids after I do everything and anything. I have definitely lost my voice.

The hardest thing working at my job is not working with the children, but with my sister. I know that if I can put up with her, then I can put up with anybody. She is a tyrant, unfortunately, and I just try my hardest not to set her off. But today, we finally reached an agreement when we started cleaning up. I didn't have to submit to her every wish. By straightening up the lodge a little, we put away the lip and made a huge difference.

I read in the Bible recently that the mouth is the most evil part of the body. Out of the same mouth can come praise and judgment. Then it goes on to say that God rewards hard work, and blesses workers. I am happy that today I learned this lesson, and that the lodge is clean.

megan

Learning

Dude, I've been busy! I probably shouldn't be posting as I have a lot of work to do still tonight. But I feel I deserve a break.

I'm currently at the summer program I talked about in previous posts. I've been here for only three days but it has been jammed pack with classes, assignments, and reading. Even though it's 11:40 I still have to read three chapters in our textbook, finish my current event, practice my introduction of the speaker tomorrow, and do more research for the bill I'm writing. So, yeah.

However, I am having so much fun! Government and politics are so awesome! I'm learning so much, and not just about those topics. The students are all very intelligent, and like have intelligent conversations, helping me learn even more. In the past three days I've had discussions about Genghis Khan, World War II, Philosophy, Literature, and just so many oher things. It's such a great experience.

That's all the time I really have. The internet is kinda stupid here, so it goes on and off. I'll post when it comes on again.

Good times, good times!

-Brianna

Note: The Internet went down last night, so I couldn't post it until now. I did write it last night though. My sincerest apologies.

Calc 3 Sucks

Hey guys, its Blair filling in for Lacey. Lucky her. She gets to go see Harry Potter tonight while I'm stuck home doing Physics.

It seems I always I have a little rant prepared for these posts. In fact, I noticed that every time I fill in, the title I choose has the word rant in it. I guess I'm a ranter.....huh.

This rant is about Calc 3. I'm supposedly smart enough to get to dual enroll next year because Chiles doesn't offer a high enough math (Kejing and Megan, too! shoutout) but the process to get into the class is just so freakin complicated. I mean, why can't they just say "Oh ok you want calc 3, well you're in the class. Be here this day at this time and you're all set." Instead I've had to go to FSU twice so far and several more times remaining. We had to go not long after school ended to get forms to say we wanted to dual enroll. Then, after June 29th we could go to their website and set up an account where we would be able to register for the class two weeks later (really? why not right then?) We also had to get health forms off the website, get our doctor to fill one out and bring that back to the health center and also get our FSU IDs at some point. These are all in different buildings too. And I don't know about you other guys, but I was so confused trying to find my way to Thagard. We're also gonna have to get parking permits but make sure we don't have to pay for them, go to the bookstore to get our book before classes start and make sure the people there give us the right form. They almost screwed the kids last year cause they gave them a form waiving the costs to FSU rather than Leon county.

Oh yea and also Mrs. Johnson reserved us 10 spots to be in the class, but the website doesn't show that so it makes it seem like we don't have spots. So we're gonna have to call and let them know that we're one of the 10 reserved. What's the point of even having the website for us then? Why did that have to be one of the steps to get registered? Maybe I'm overanalyzing all this and its really not as annoying as I think, but I'm just too stressed out to think anything is not stressful.

Oh I got a GORGEOUS dress for Nationals. Now I can't wait to go. Thank you Erica for helping me :)

Double dates are fun. Especially when we play twister haha.

People missing their blogs and not getting replacements is depressing me. Since last Sunday, 5 people have missed posting. C'mon guys.

I have the most wonderful boyfriend in the world. Just saying, I wanted to give him a shoutout too :)

You guys should listen to Remembering Sunday by All Time Low. I heard it in John's car and now I'm in love. Oh and "You Belong with Me" by Taylor Swift. I'm not a huge Taylor fan but the song is pretty good.

~Blair

Harry Potter in Decline...

Thank you to those who sent me a "happy birthday" on Facebook. 83 notifications... a new record!

I'm going to see Harry Potter the 6th movie on Saturday and I feel indifferent about it. People gave me weird looks when I told them this. Personally, I think the Harry Potter books died out as Rowling kept publishing more and more books. It died around the fifth book. The movies died out even faster. Lets start with the books ^_^

The first book was amazing. Everything was about wonderful magic and how a fortunate boy escaped the clutches of a dangerous murderer. It kept me captivated as I learned about Quidditch and many forms of magic; not to mention an unexpected plot twist in the end. The second book was of equal merit and introduced the teenage Voldemort. I thought what Rowling did was clever with the heir to Slytherin and whatnot (trying not to spoil anything >.<). Ok, you know what? Let's skip to the fifth book. This is where Harry Potter lost his charm. He hits puberty at the age of fifteen and starts going ballistic. He yells his head off at everyone, he falls in love, he goes emo, and Rowling decided that it was time to kill off someone that would be missed. At the end of the book, I was sorely dissappointed but decided, "Hey! Maybe Rowling will redeem herself in the next book." When I picked up the sixth book, I was semi-captivated. I have to admit that the plot was okay but it was steering the reader all over the place. Rather than focusing on You-Know-Who, it started going towards Who-Loves-Who. She loves him who loves her who loves him who loves her but also loves that other girl I mentioned, blah blah blah. It's like girl gossip. And to finish it all off, Rowling decided to kill off another person who would have been missed. The seventh book just left me confuzzled (Yes I said confuzzled. Confused is not a strong enough word). Sure, the book answered some questions, but it confuzzled me all the more with more and more questions. At the end, it all fit together but I didn't like the way it turned out. It could have been executed a little better in my opinion.

The movies died out during the third movie. I think that's when they got the new director. It definitely didn't have the same feel. When I left the theater, I felt somewhat satisfied. The fourth was a put down. The new Dumbledore was to angry and shouty which contradicted the calm and collected Dumbledore from the book. The movie progressed a little fast and skipped over important parts. Dobby didn't make an appearance at all and was replaced by other people to fill in the plot hole. The fourth movie hopped and skipped all over the place. Finally, you already know I hate the fifth book, so imagine my reaction to the movie. It moved through waaay too fast... enough said.

Rant rant rant. I think I'm done ranting now. I would have written something better if I was motivated enough... but I'm too busy playing my new electric acoustic guitar =D

-June

Harry Potter next week? Finally!

Today, I walked into the lab where my father works. It was the first time ever, and for a brief moment. There were labels that said 10 GAUSS, and 100 GAUSS near a magnet that seemed to be dripping water, but in a healthy way? I walked near it, which took about four feet. When I was walking back, an undergrad said, "Be careful of your credit card." This would have been really helpful if he had said it about seven seconds sooner. But there is a great thing. I don't own a credit card! Yay.
I went to Wal*mart with my father today. We were in an express lane. I felt the urge to count the number of items in the cart, since it says "20 items or less," and we seemed to be cutting it close. Oh my, we had 19 items. I counted again, and miraculously, I had not made a counting mistake. It was so cool. We owned grocery shopping.
Oh yeah and I also saw Mrs Knoll there. She said some nice things about me to my father, like how I am a "very gifted child" and how I was an SNHS officer, to which I replied, "Yeah, I didn't tell him that part..." because I only said "This was my Spanish teacher last year." On the drive home, he asked, "Is that the teacher who is really bad at teaching?" This paragraph can probably end now.
My music is generally orientated toward alternative rock, but the song that Stevie Wonder performed at Michael Jackson's Memorial sounded really nice, so I like it a bunch. It is "Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer." It is depressing, though, so don't listen to it if you think you feel emotional right now.
-Kejing

The Second Week

Patience.

Now I've discovered the importance of this in many ways simply because it is so pervasive in our life- we can't live with out it.We learn patience in gardening, time-out, meetings, conversations, and so much more. Usually, our patience is greeting with what we want- a harvest, freedom, an end to the meeting, mutual respect, ect.

However we often forget this important lesson. Now, I'm not going to say that instant communication over the internet has ruined us, in fact I think that waiting for a download teaches us nothing except for how poor our internet connection is. However I still think we forget the lesson of waiting politely, because if we aren't waiting politely then we aren't being patient, because we're being rewarded for being rude. You also find that waiting patiently won't increase your chances of getting a table sooner or getting your file reviewed without some corrupt money making its way into the right pockets. Meanwhile, people have to wait even longer while the impatient get their greedy way and walk all over other people.

Patience in arguments can also help make them productive discussions intead of disorderly shouting matches. Listening and thinking about what the other person said is essential in creating an effective counter argument and therefore will make you a more articulate and successful proponent for your side.

So how about the next time you want to speed past the car going just under the speed limit ahead of you or curse out the imbicile on the otherside of the phone, you take a deep breath, and exercise a little patience?

- Jonathan

R.I.P. Marcus Jones

The first time I met Marcus Jones was two weeks ago. I had come to my mother's friend's house to babysit her four grandchildren. Marcus was a special needs child that I did not need to take care of, that was the grown folks' responsibility. He had a tube in his throat for breathing, a tube through his stomach for feeding, and couldn't talk at all. He tickled me, and it scared me a little. But I got used to it, along with the kisses that he would give.
Anything that could excite Marcus was a hazard to his life; if his breathing got out of wack for a second then we would all have to act with lightning speed, so he was restricted to the house most of the time. You could usually find Marcus sitting in front of the T.V. watching Disney Channel. He was bored. He would hit the T.V., or turn it on and off, jump on the sofa that he was previously sitting on, or just stare in space, trying so hard to act with his body what he couldn't say with words. Once I just looked at him, and he stared back. We did this for about 2 minutes and I understood, momentarily, how he felt: pained. That might explain why he took his breathing tube out that Saturday.
I don't believe that Marcus would have intentionally hurt himself, but I do know that he could not be supervised 100% of the time, and he had a mind of his own. He would try crazy things because I think he figured, "what else is there to do"? I don't know if he tried to eat something, if his breathing tube wasn't administered well that Saturday, or if his throat wasn't properly suctioned, but he had a seizure during a bath last Thursday. Oxygen was cut off from his brain for too long.

He was pronounced brain dead today at around 12:30 pm after being on the ventilator for a week. He was only seven years old. I would say that Marcus is happy in heaven now: speaking, laughing, singing and such, but I think that he is doing much more. My mind cannot even comprehend what the Lord has in store for Marcus.

Love You, Biggest Boy

I am so sorry to everyone. The fact is that I didn't even realize that yesterday Tuesday until it was already Wednesday. And then my internet was out of course.

So, today my dad had surgery. He has a lot of trouble with his back and so he already had a very serious surgery last year. The doctor messed everything up even more, so now they are redoing it. On top of operating on his back, he is also having surgery on his neck and his elbow. Pretty intense. I just got a call saying that everything went well. So that is good at least. I don't know what I would do without him.

My dad is pretty much the best. I remember when I was out sick from school in elementary school, he used to take me to movies. One time we went and saw a Star Wars movie and that was one of the best days ever. I also am a huge fan of The Lord of the Rings. And so when the second one came out, he surprised me with tickets on opening night. That is probably the biggest thing we have in common. Movies.

And so I'm sorry if that's boring for all of you. And also that it's so short and late. I will try to make my next post less of a fail.

-Lacey

A dedication

I got my application signed after much petitioning at the office today. And my car decided to stop working at the school. It's fixed now, don't worry.

I think I would like to dedicate my post to my grandfather who passed last Thursday. It might be boring...or whatever...but it is what I would like to do.

When I was a kid I had...well issues...attending day care or preschool. So my parents would drop Amanda and me off at my grandparents' house for the day. We played games and made a wonderland out of that house. My grandma was the queen and we would run around and play with her. And then there was my grandfather. He didn't say much and I was quite scared of him. He had this recliner that no one was allowed to sit on but him. He had a gruff voice and when he did speak, I could barely understand him. He did not fit in my version of a wonderland.

But I grew up and I started to hear stories about my grandfather. Wonderful stories. I mean he marched with Martin Luther King Jr. He was a civil rights activist! That scary man. So I started seeing him differently. His quiet no longer disturbed me as drew the parallel with my father's quiet. And if I listen to his gruff voice, I could understand what he said. They were beautiful words, too, always filled with kindness.

He got his high school diploma at the beginning of my sophomore year. They gave them to veterans who couldn't complete high school. I just remember how proud he was to receive it. He gave a speech that was a bit incoherent but entirely sincere nonetheless. The summer after this he was honored at our family reunion. He gave another, very long, speech. He talked about how proud he was that my father went to college, as he was the first and only from his family to go. And that my father's daughters, my sisters and me, were going to college too and that we were going to do great things.

We saw him the day before he died. He looked terrible. He couldn't see us, and they told us he couldn't remember anybody. But my dad told him, "Look, it's Candace." And he grabbed Candace's hand and looked at her. He started speaking for the last time. He said something we couldn't understand. But I thought it was just beautiful that he recognized her.

People are coming from all over to see my grandfather's funeral. I didn't even know a person could know all these people. But it seems the man I thought was scary when I was kid, was actually a man that changed hundreds of lives. He changed my life. He'll be an inspiration to me, and you can be sure my kids will hear the stories I heard and inspired me to be the kind of person my grandfather was.

How beautiful life can be.

-Brianna

Happy 4th of July

Hey guys. If you were looking for a deep soul-touching post about Independence Day then prepare to be disappointed. I'm sick. I'm tired. I feel everything but patriotic at this moment. I'm sorry for such a dissappointing post but I can't help being sick. I hope you are more patriotic than me... this cat sure is.


I'll leave you with a song about what happens to red necks when they get ahold of fireworks. Now I'm off to bed... Good night... Can't sleep with all the fireworks exploding outside... Complain complain complain....


-June

You might fall asleep reading this.

So, the holiday is here. I am at home with one family member. It is as quiet as if I were alone. It is also quite dull. There are things to do, such as write essays or do homework. That is pretty normal. But it is also normal that they won't get done, or even started.
If you have any ideas, please tell me.
I called in for my AP scores on Tuesday night. That was interesting.
I began working on college applications on Wednesday. I give up for now.
Well, I cleaned out a few old school papers. There was a form to get a student directory back from freshman year. I never handed it in. So, now I have an extra five dollar bill. Wooh.
Oh. I watched some of the Wimbledon yesterday. It was intense.
Umm. Yep.
I'm kind of wondering what happened to some of our power bloggers. I hope they are doing okay.
It is really awful to hear about the person in Brianna's latest post. Ack. So annoying.
Okayy.... Byebye until next week. '~'

-Kejing

The First Week

Unannounced, and probably not fairly so, I decided to take a 4 weeks and not post at all.

I have reset, reloaded, and rethought much of my life in that time. Each of the following four posts will be an earnest effort of philosophy, social observations, or otherwise "interesting" topic. Enjoy.

Discovery.

A few weeks ago I was driving home mad because, of course, my father had done something or another to antognize me and have the pleasure of yelling back at me. Charming. Anyway, I took a turn out of the way home to find something else to occupy my mind with something new. Lo and behold, I found two entrance gates to a stretch of hiking grounds that had gone unnoticed by me for all this time. I decided to step out, strecth my legs, and find out where the trails led. Lo and behold, I descovered a veritable labyrinth of paths and naturetrails that left me invigorated and refreshed when I finally emerged an hour later.

It's funny how you can literally stumble into something new and positive in your life mere moments after experiencing something negative. It all started with a little sense of adventure too. What happened to us? We all have set paths and routes, never deviating. I say, take a break from the norm and discover the leafy forest path that awaits you.

- Jonathan