How To Be Sick...

I'm would say I'm an expert on being sick. Last year I was sick quite often due to a lack of sleep. Pretty much when you don't sleep, your immune system kinda shuts down...which isn't good.

Luckily I have improved the area of sleeping quite greatly this year, and haven't missed a day of school yet. I guess I had been well for a while now, and I didn't seen it coming. Last night, I was really thirsty. I figured I was just dehydrated, but I kept getting more and more water. My throat aching for it. I thought it weird but went to bed, and didn't worry about it.

I woke up at about three this morning to do a couple of homework assignments I was unable to do on Saturday since I left my textbooks at home and I was at my Dad's house. My head was pounding and my throat still hurting. But I figured it was all happening because I had just gotten up early. I finished my homework and went back to sleep. The next time I woke up felt officially sick.

That is why I wasn't at school today. But no worries because even though I felt ridiculously cruddy, I was lucky enough for Winston to send me some wonderful texts to cheer me up. First ,"I u sick?" Good to see you care Winston...you always take the time to write in proper grammar especially for me, and you even proof-read your messages before sending. When I responded with a "yeah" he sent me another great message, "But today is your day!" Yes, today was superhero day, and I was looking forward to it. Thanks for reminding me Winston...it made me feel so much better.

Sorry if I sound bitter. Heroes comes on tonight though! That's exciting!!!!!!!

-Brianna Rosier

PS I didn't mean to be so harsh to Winston...

Legally Blonde and other things on my mind

Hello there, blue powerblogger here!

So I just finished watching one of my favorite movies of all time, Legally Blonde. I don't just love the movie because of its humorous quotes or the quirky characters, but I am really inspired by the message that it sends the audience: Nothing is impossible if you try hard enough.

We see this theme with our young sorority girl, Elle Woods, who decides to enroll in Harvard Law. She defies all stereotypes and expectations as she continues to move up in her education and career. She basically tells all people (girls, in particular) that we can be anyone we want to be and we can do anything we want to do, as long as we have faith in ourselves.

This is especially applicable in my life.

I've always been really short and skinny, so people don't think I am capable of many things. For instance, I am constantly asked if I need help reaching things which are totally within arms length or if I need help carrying things. And they think I suck at all athletics, especially ultimate frisbee (thanks, Sam) and that I am generally weak and frail. But I am not! Nobody seems to believe me! This has caused me to overachieve at everything in life, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it can be a bit taxing at times. People just don't believe in me. I mean, my family is supportive, but my peers aren't.

I have also chosen career paths which are out of the norm for a person like me. Initally, I had wanted to be a singer. I loved the fact that my shortness worked to my advantage, that it added to the WOW! factor. People enjoyed hearing such a loud, powerful voice from such a tiny person. This helped me really accept my height and come to see it as a trait that made me unique. My current career choice is to be an architect, which defies many social and gender boundaries. Normally, engineers are nerdy males with extensive knowledge of computers, math, and/or Star Trekk. I know this from personal experience. Engineers are rarely semi-popular girls who are obsessed with clothes, boys, and cupcakes, like me. But I love the fact that I am a minority in engineering. I love the fact that there are only five girls in my engineering class of thirty-three people, and I am still one of the best students. I love the fact that if any of my classmates need help, they know to ask me. It gives me a sense of female empowerment, and a sense of accomplishment. Plus, I will always be surrounded by plenty of intelligent guys in the engineering career.

So I guess the moral of the story is that you can do the impossible if you set your mind to it.

It's the way I live my life.

That's all for now,
-Caroline

The Green Power Blogger's Music Career

Hello people. I'm just here with a throbbing knee that kept me from playing tennis today (nooooooooooooooooooooo....). This week was a tough week because I got less and less sleep along with the overburdening homework. But I'm not here to bore with you my problems. Instead I'm going to bore you with my musical past.

It all started when I was about 4 or 5. Piano was pressed upon me and my parents expected me to uphold the stereotype I was going to be in the future. Piano lessons went on for about a year (maybe a little more) and I have to say it was the least enjoyable experience of my childhood. I would cheat and not practice when the teacher left the room, I frequently wanted to quit, I did not want to practice at home, and I was a total brat. My parents reluctantly agreed one day for me to quit and I did not have to worry about anything musical until 4th grade.

Ah yes, fourth grade was when a new, alienish piece of wood was introduced to me: the violin. My mom signed me up for orchestra to see if I would like it. Haunted by the memories of my piano lessons, imagine my reaction. I dreaded and counted down the days until the inevitable day where I would meet the dark teacher. Her name was Mrs. Thomas and I have to admit she was a pretty enjoyable teacher. All of us would take out our rental violins and attempt to play those scratchy, sour notes until the calluses formed on our finger tips. To my surprise, it was much easier than I thought thanks to the hated year of piano lessons. With my prior training in the finger-coordination arts, I picked up violin pretty quickly and became the "concert master" in the elementary school.

I thought I was progressing at a good pace but my mother thought it would be better if I took private lessons. Dark teacher #3 was Shelly. She was a very bubbly lady with a fiery passion for fiddling (no joke, she was VERY enthusiastic about it). She taught me every single thing there was to violin: rhythm, site reading, intonnation, shifts, scales, and above all, how to play dynamics with feeling. She also gave me the experience of playing in front of an audience.... alone. And so, the confident little me set out for middle school and my teacher was also confident that I would shine. She gave me a collection of Suzuke books and I was off to show the world what I could do with my violin... in middle school.

Dark teacher #4 was Mr. Miller. Mr. Miller was an awesome teacher who taught me how to play in a non-solo style (in other words how to play with other people). I hated blending with the orchestra back then and would play out a lot. That was also the year where I was shown what true skill was. There were two people in the orchestra and I was amazed at their playing levels. Their names were Bri and Phil. I couldn't believe it. They were so brilliantly amazing while I was stuck with my mediocre skills. However, I discovered a new talent hidden in me that neither of them had. I could memorize a piece by simply remembering the feeling of the piece. I felt special ^-^. But Bri, Phil, and the soon to come Bailey were so much better in every way that my memorization skills seemed like nothing. I had Mr. Miller for a long 5 years (he followed us to high school) and my fire for the violin was burning out....

I just lost all interest for the violin. I wanted to practice less, I quit my private lessons, my two violins were gathering more and more dust, and my bond towards the violin was hanging on by a thread. The culprits were praise and worship. I was looking at our church band play and noticed that it was slowly disbanding. It got to the point where there was only a drummer, pianist, and singer. I wanted to worship so bad yet I had nothing to contribute except for violin... but we had no use for that. So one day, the ex-guitarist said to me," You should take up guitar. It's not that much different than the violin and it's way more fun to play." And so a new fire started to burn. I was all for the guitar and I really wanted to go up to the stage and play in the praise band. I practiced with my dad's guitar for a month and quickly got the hang of all the basic chords. In the end, violin took backseat and guitar came out as my new instrument. I loved it and I still do. It helped me in many ways than one (spiritually mostly) and I even wrote a few songs with it.

So now you know why I keep saying that I'll never go back to orchestra. Sorry if I cut the post a little short at the end or if you thought the post was long and nothing but gibberish.... but I have to start my homework now. So join us tomorrow with another juicy and scrumptious post of Caroline.

-June

Random Question: If a man was beating you with his prosthetic leg, would it be kicking or hitting?

Counting Down

Someone told me that this might be the last Power Blogger post he ever reads. And I feel really bad, because maybe Friday wasn't the best day to pick for your last day because it is not really the most entertaining.

It would be really, really amazing if the mold would go away.

I wrote a lot for this post but ended up deleting most of it.

A new Killers album is coming out in two months!

	The Last Goodnight - Stay Beautiful
	Found at skreemr.com

-Kejing

My name is not "Cole's Girlfriend"

Hey, everyone. It's Catherine, filling in for my absolute best friend in the entire world lyk omg: Jonathan. Some of you may not know me very well, and some of you may not know me at all. Maybe to you I am "Cole's girlfriend" (which annoys me to no end), or, if you remember wayyy back, "Jonathan's ex."

I could introduce myself, but what to say? I am Catherine. That's kind of it. I'm not used to this whole "blogspot" thing. I'm a devoted Xanga loyalist.

I wish I had something particularly insightful and eloquent to say, but I don't. I've been trying to think of something to talk about, and I can't come up with much. Jonathan told me to avoid the topic of religion, which is too bad, because I have my own two cents. I could talk about homosexuality (omg Clay Aiken and Lindsay/Sam in one week?!!?), abortion, or Sarah Palin, but I'm probably too liberal to even open my mouth in this arena.

I think I'll discuss the future.

We are almost done with high school. Okay, maybe not. We are juniors. First quarter juniors. But we are very close to being done. So close, in fact, it's scary. But it's exciting, isn't it? Looking at colleges, touring campuses, declaring a major (or two, if you're me), getting to soon study what you want and move on with your life...

I am usually very secure in what I want to do. But today, during PSAT practice in AP Lang, I realized (like I do occasionally) that I have so many things I want to accomplish.

Degrees I want in my lifetime:
Astronomy/Astrophysics B.S.
Space Sciences M.S., PhD
Aerospace Engineering B.S., M.S., PhD
And then, in order of interest and importance...
Neuroscience M.S., maybe PhD
Chemistry (probably M.S. since I plan on minoring in chem), maybe PhD
Religious studies
Food and Nutrition Sciences -- Dietetics/Clinical Nutrition
Voice performance

I don't have enough time in my life to learn all of this and actually find a way to use it all! I want so badly to work for NASA and be a part of the new Constellation program, but I want to be a neuroscientist. I want to help eating disordered patients (even though I should probably go through recover myself first). I want to study religion. Agghhh, life is too short.

I am so excited for the future, though. I can't wait. I need it so much.


And now, the past. I've been through my ups and downs. A slew of medical problems (most importantly chronic EDNOS ["eating disorder not otherwise specified;" in my case a combination of anorexia nervosa, exercise bulimia, and binge-eating disorders] of twelve years) almost landed me in a rehabilitation/treatment facility for thirty days this summer, with the doctors telling me I could die. But $30,000+ for 30 days of unwanted recovery isn't worth it to me, so I went to space camp instead, and had the time of my life. I came out as being bisexual in... I guess the fall of last year. (If any of you who know me are shocked, then you obviously haven't seen my facebook or been around me at all lately.) And middle school... oh those days. They were awful, but good. They are a giant blur, but every event is still very distinct. Visiting Deerlake makes me feel very tall and very old. Oh, and when I was five, I was genuinely convinced I was Pocahontas.


But I'm not trying to turn this into WAH WAH WAH MY PROBLEMS. But looking back on my life, it's interesting to see how I am the way I am and why. Have you thought about it lately? We're coming up on the truly "young adult" chapter of our lives. Do you know what made you you? Can you think of one or two or five events that completely changed your life? I know it's a lame thing to ask, but sometimes it's good to reflect.




Now, I want to mention something kind of cool. Synesthesia. Do you have it? I do. It's INTENSE. I see music in colors, I can taste some words (beach=distinct taste of salt, which makes sense), certain months have certain colors, and I could never explain how I mentally envision time/calendars and the number line through written word. I'd draw a picture, but it's not good enough. I could verbally explain it some day if you wish. But seeing as we're all gifted here, you all probably have some degree of it. I think it's why I'm so interested in neuroscience. I guess if a career with NASA/the space program falls through, I'd probably be a neuroscientist who studies synesthesia and similar subjects.


Now, another topic. Cole told me he'd be embarrassed if I talked about him in a mushy lovey dovey way. So I won't. I will make the announcement that a week form today marks one year and eight months with that kid, which is cool. I will also say that he told me I (the future astrophysicist/aerospace engineer) have the responsibility of designing our future home, making it as eco-friendly as possible, while he (the future doctor of some type) will, well, keep us from dying. We bicker a lot, and we are extremely obnoxious, and some of my friends can't believe we actually tolerate each other.
He is a very stoic guy, which is cool with me now that he's made me less of an emotional person. He isn't a movie-esque boyfriend who is constants love and kisses and butterflies and roses, which is cool with me, too... most of the time. He has quite the mouth and will say some pretty vulgar stuff...if you haven't experienced the Real Cole, you would be shocked. We're just really chill, and I like it. We lie on the couch and watch movies (Yeah, we actually watch them.), or we lie in bed and watch Scrubs or Flight of the Conchords, or we play video games, or something else terribly tame, like watching Britcoms with his mother or hanging out at the College of Engineering with one of his brothers.
He's cute. I don't know. There's not really a point to all of that rambling except for that I like him. Lots of people don't like that we're together (which is weird, because they don't know me or him), but whatever.


Well, now that I've written a novel, I guess I'll sign off.
You can find me at http://www.xanga.com/walkintotheseaaa/


Maybe you know me a bit better now.
Or maybe you just hate me a bit more.
lol if it's the latter.

-Catherine Branch

A Softer World

Hey, this is Shuyao, substituting in for Viv!
She wished me to pass along that she is most terribly sorry for not being able to post today. Hopefully she will be back next week.

I don't really have much to talk about, so instead I would rather entertain you readers by posting some of my favorite "A Softer World" works here. It was so hard to choose my favorites... I narrowed it own to these 9... And I can't seem to cut it down any further. Hopefully this won't take up too much space...









These make me smile every time I read them.
Hope you guys enjoyed it!
-Shuyao

Randomness

Hey! This is Blair, Lacey couldn't do the post today. I can't really think of one specific thing to write about, so I'll just tell you about a bunch of random stuff!

Like 10 minutes ago, my dog got into the cat litter and barfed crap up like 20 times. It was really disgusting, trust me. I was gonna barf just listening to her. But it was really sad too, cause she looked so pathetic and her little belly was hurting! It's hard to stay mad at her for more than 5 minutes.

So I'm on the golf team and it's totally taking over my life. We have matches twice a week average and I usually have to miss 7th period, but at least it's only AP Lang. That class is like a joke. Still, on those days I don't get home till like 7 or 8 o'clock, then I have to take a shower and eat dinner and usually I have a show to watch too, so I don't start homework until almost 10. Then I only have enough energy to do like 10 minutes of work before I'm just like ehh I'm too tired, I can do this in the morning. So I wake up at like 6, do 2 hours of homework, and finish it up during my classes in school. It's a system I've mastered since this is my third year of this happening, but now I have no classes to do it in, which is bad because I can't finish my homework. Sometimes I really wish I could quit, but I enjoy playing (usually). The only saving grace is that the season is one of the shortest of any sport! Yay!!

I went shopping this weekend with Caroline and Erica and we all got homecoming dresses! I'm totally in love with mine. Its like a purple slip thing with black see-through fabric over it which makes the dress look dark purple. By the way, purple is my favorite color which is another reason I love it :) Then there's like a goldish strip around the waist or whatever it's called. And Dillard's was doing the coolest thing! They had a dress registry so they took down your name, number, and dress, so if someone from your school bought the same dress, they could tell the second person and if they still buy it then they can call you and let you know someone else will have your dress. I'm really excited for homecoming! It'd be nice to have a date, but its not that important. What sucks is that I'm taking the SAT the same day. But after that's over, I'll get to have a bunch of fun with my friends in celebration!

I found a new favorite movie. Its 'Another Cinderella Story,' the new Selena Gomez movie. I was surprised how good it was. Erica, Caroline and I even tried to learn one of the dances from it (check out the title link to see which dance). We got pretty good, too. I was totally shocked at how good of a dancer Selena Gomez was. I was so obsessed that I bought the CD on iTunes and have listened to it like 10 times already.

My computer's been acting up lately. My parents called our computer guy to come fix it, and he made it run a lot faster. Somehow, though, I had exceeded the memory....I don't know how. Also, the CD drive is loose which explains why it keeps opening randomly. So my stepdad brought it to the store today to get more memory and a CD drive. I came home so excited because I've been desperate to play the sims because I couldn't install it on my computer so I thought this could fix it. I tried to install it when I got home but the CD drive was screwing up still (oh yea, I forgot to say he didn't get the drive today because they had to order it so it'll be a week) so I'm still sad about that.

I didn't really bad on my calc test. I'm sad.

I can't tell but I think this post is really long, so....sorry!

~Blair