The title of this entry should look like an upside-down face.

It's a really gray day today. Grey day. I can't decide whether I like that word better with an a or an e. Recently I went to Warped Tour and saw the midnight release of HP. Buuut I'll probably make a whole little entry about that. I finished Their Eyes Were Watching God. I have a lot of summer work left to go. Summer is stressful, but in a different way than school.

There was a good A Softer World today.

So, last Thursday, I had... *drumroll please* *cymbal crash* *more pomp and circumstance* A JOB INTERVIEWWWW (In case it is not clear, that's a big deal for me.) Of course, I don't know if I have the job or not, but I'm really hoping that I get it.

Right now, I'm at my friend's dad's house, and we are ready to go and see Warped Tour tomorrow. I've never been to a concert before, so I'm pretty excited about it, but I'm not sure if I'm going to get to see the bands I know. The two friends I'm going with want to see Escape the Fate and A Day to Remember and other bands I don't know. ._. I want to see Flogging Molly (don't judge meeee) and Meg & Dia (don't judge meeeee), but in the end, that's okay. I think we are going to be seeing Breathe Carolina, so that's awesome.

I haven't been able to be keeping up with my Japanese, but I'm maybe halfway through Their Eyes Were Watching God. I'm liking it a lot more than I thought I would.

That's pretty much all that's going on. I'd write more in depth, or better, but I'm watching a movie and I'm distracted. So.

- Clark Gable is the BEST MAN (whois,sadly,nolonger) ALIVE. Okay, so maybe not the best, but definitely one of, and I need to see more movies he stars in.

- I saw Gone With The Wind today and it was really good but really sad but really long but really good. :D: It gets a happy/sad face.

- I need to see more classic movies, because they're just really excellent. And you know? Classic books are too. I should read more of those (especially the ones I've been assigned).

- I am going to get my ears double or even triple pierced. Probably, I will have one of my friends help me with it, but then I wonder, does it hurt a whole lot? I think it'd be worth it, though.

- I'm not going to dye my hair for a good long while. Over a year, at any rate. Everybody! Hold me to it!

- In the same fashion that NY <3's NY, the Old South <3's the Old South. That is to say, every movie or book which talks about the Old South, or any character in any movie or book who talks about it, absolutely *loves* it because everything was so very quaint and idyllic! Even if it wasn't really.

Today was job hunting day, but saying job poaching day gives it a whole new level of pizazz and edginess, right? (Sadly, no.)

I applied to two places that were definitely hiring, and one place that was unclear as to whether it was hiring or not, was told at three places that they were not hiring (and two said to try again around August), and then three places weren't hiring but put the application on file. I feel so jittery, just going through the whole process. It's all quite uncomfortable — but if I get a job, it will be ABUNDANTLY worthwhile!

In other news, I worked on an animation for the first time in many many months. I'm going to try to finish it, or at least make significant progress, before summer is over. Of course, I should probably be thinking more about summer work (for school, not for cash).

Uh. I really wish I had more to say. But I don't. It's been really rainy lately. I know the Japanese word for rain: 雨／あめ／ame. I have no idea if that kanji is right, though. And that's really all I have to say.

RIP Michael Jackson.
._.

I should learn the thriller dance.

The place where I had an interview did not hire me, because it plans on selling alcohol, so it's back to square one for me. When I told my friend this, she misheard and thought I said "back to swear one." She was then like, "So... which would that be?" Which WOULD it be, el jay? What's the first swear...?

So that I don't forget it, I'm going to use some quick Japanese. Uh... わたしはなんさいですか？ろくじゅさいです。ローズちゃんもろくじゅさいです。ローズちゃんのうちわここです。コンビニはとてもちかいです。わたしのうちわとういでそ。 I suppose that's all I'm going to get for now. I've very tired. u.u

Uh. I've drawn two new pictures recently! They're at Amanen, my dA account. I want to do a LOT of art this summer, as well as learning Japanese. But right now, I need to focus on getting a job. I'm not sure if I'll have time to get applications tomorrow, so it may have to wait until Friday.

That's all so far. It's summer, so not much has been happening other than spending lots of time with my friends. Nn.

School's out hooraaay!

While I am definitely super happy, it was a kind of strange ending for school, I guess in part because of yesterday, when I left early since I had finished all my finals, and there was nothing else to do that day. When I came back for the half day of school today, it was just... odd. No class did anything, and barely anyone was in school. It had this strange surreal feeling to it, and it went by in the blink of an eye. This whole year has been so difficult, so frustrating, and for a long time it was like I was fighting back at it, or something. But then it just ended like a puff of smoke -- sort of like a puff of smoke dissipating in a room. It isn't immediately gone, or noticeably gone right I way. You notice when it's gone, and you noticed when it was there, but it just faded out in between.

I guess I can't really describe it well. Still, now that it's done, I can focus on summer work and Japanese. Also, the other day, I picked up Lolita to see if I could actually read it. The very first time I picked it up, I put it right back down again at the first sentence. The next time, I put it down about twenty pages in. This time, I got further, but I still just had to put it down. I'll give it to Nabakov, he is good at writing someone who is downright creepy.

In other news, I saw Donnie Darko and She's One of Us (a French film), and neither made any sense, really. I guess D.D. made some sense, but the French one had absolutely no coherency; it was bizarre. They are apparently making a sequel to Donnie Darko? About his sister? (Will this one make more sense?)

In conclusion, school is over, and I got A's on all my finals! except algebra which I didn't find out my score on Yay!

I remember thinking in seventh grade, "This is so tough and not fun, I am never going to be nostalgic about any of *this* crap!" Now, a sophomore and safely away from seventh grade, I can think of a lot of things I loved about seventh grade. I guess there must've been a lot of bad stuff, but there was so much good stuff, and so many fun things. So I do feel nostalgic about it. Sorry, 12/13-year-old me. I wonder if I'll ever find myself feeling nostalgic about this year? ... I suppose I probably will.

What prompts this sudden bout of oh-those-were-the-days-only-not-really-but-still is the fact that I was at my friend's house the other night, who I befriended in 7th grade, and we were watching old shows and listening to old music, and it just made me remember all the stuff I really loved in middle school.

On an unrelated note, when I was babysitting on Thursday, the kids wanted to play soccer. So, the five-year-old is a big fan of Bejeweled (that game which is on the internet and ubiquitous on cell phones), so at one point while we were playing soccer he said, "Let's do different mode of soccer! Let's play... BEJEWELED SOCCER!" Which apparently meant whenever he scored a goal he went on to the next level, and sometimes he'd say, "No more moves!" which is what the video game says whenever you can't match any jewels together. Also, he'd sometimes say "A new high score!" or something like that. It was pretty funny.

Today, I took my last algebra II quiz of the year. YES. Now, I just have to survive the final! YESSSSSSSSSS.

With only seven days left of school (AWESOME), I'm trying to figure out what I should do with my summer. I think my top priority is to get a job/finish applying to OGSHS, followed up closely by intensive study of Japanese and Japan itself. But I also have to do my English summer work and my history summer work.

So, I'm probably going to be rather busy this summer. But you know? That's good, because if I don't keep busy, I languish. Or... become languid? There's a word/phrase I'm looking for, but I cannot find it. Ah, well.

Anyway, I'm going to go and remember things. Yes, remembering things can be an active activity at times, if you've got a lot to remember.

Or maybe I'll just read Native Son.

So, today! I went to graduation.

• Graduation, or as our principal insists on calling it, "commencement practices." Or, "commencement exercises." I think it's the latter. Anyway, she should either just call it graduation or commencement, because the seniors have to do so much practicing and exercising prior to the real deal that calling the real deal "practices" or "exercises" is a bit confusing.
• So many of my friends graduated this year, even more than last year, and I will miss them profoundly, I'm sure.
• My friend in my grade was there too, so I got to hang out with her, and two kids who had graduated last year. It is always good to hang out with people.
• I got to wear my summer dress! I was so excited and happy. I must get more dresses (some day, when I magically have that strange, intangible idea, "disposable income") because they are comfy and easy to wear, like shorts.
• The graduation song was "World's Greatest" by R. Kelly. One little corner of the students graduating was doing the whole swaying-back-and-forth thing. I wish everyone had done it, because if they were REALLY the world's greatest, they'd know that such songs demand silly, hippie-style swaying.
• A couple of people threw their caps at the end. At college graduations, that's when people throw their caps en masse, right?

After that, I went to a friend's graduation party, which was pretty nice, although I sadly was leaving before many people showed up. We did get to play some murderous badminton though. MURDEROUS, I tell you.

Also, everyone's favorite (read as, my and my friends' favorite) history teacher will finish her 10th year of teaching this year, so a friend and I got her a card and a Che Guevara doll, because if there's anything history doesn't have enough of, it's Che Guevara icons.

Guess who can add alt text? Nina can add alt text. Oh yes she can! She can also speak in the third person. INCESSANTLY.

Right now, she's watching Scrubs. She has her last day of standardized testing tomorrow. Exciting!

"I can have a conversation without checking my reflection every five minutes." "S-Sorry. I get lost in my eyes." Yup, Scrubs. Nina does most definitely enjoy that show.

How often does Nina speak this weirdly? She's really sorry, folks. Hell, I'm really sorry folks. (WOAH. Is this entry in the third person, or is someone all together NOT NINA writing it?)

(Nina is shikuchi, folks.)

I have more standardized testing tomorrow. I will try my best. Please wish my luck.
Hrrrrn. ):

That aside, I've got only about 12 more days of school left. I am aaantsy to get out and eeeager to get a job. Next places on the list to apply are the movie theater, Dunkin Donuts, and then... I'll see from there.

Hoo boy.

Also, I'm trying to read Native Son, but I didn't get through the right amount at the right time for school. ): I think I feel more sympathy towards the rat that gets crushed in the opening scene than I do for Bigger.

That's rather all I have to say for now.

passive-aggressive.

--------

I've no time to write a proper entry, so it's another comic entry. I wrote the comic in algebra. Do I feel passive-aggressive in algebra? Perchance!

Hey, does anyone on my f-list (a) live in CA and (b) want to let me live with them ALL SUMMER LONG so that I can audition for EVERY SINGLE open audition there is? Okay, obviously, I'm joking, and to be real, I want to spend this summer focused on learning Japanese, but of the many crazy pipedreams I have, becoming an actress is one of them. In the end, I'll probably spend this summer focusing on guitar (as well as Japanese, working, and school), because another crazy pipedream is to be a musician/in a band.

I wonder if being a street musician is fun. I think it would be scary. I mean, there are a lot of seemingly-homeless street musicians that I see, and for those who aren't, I feel like it'd take a lot of courage to put yourself out there like that, when in the end, you'd probably be annoying a lot of people. Or they wouldn't notice you. Still, I really like seeing street musicians. In the end, my father probably wouldn't let me anyway.

I've been scoping out places to apply for a job, although news on the street is that nobody is getting a job anywhere at all. I suppose that would be the recession at work... I could really use a job, though. (...as I'm sure everyone else could.) I'm going to be very busy this summer with history and English work and Japanese, and I don't even want to think about next school year. Which is fine, because I don't have to think about it, because this year isn't even over yet. In the end, I ought to stop worrying, because worrying does no good.

Also, new song by Dave Matthews Band called "Funny The Way It Is." It's a good song, and I'm enjoying it. (And to keep my theme going, "in the end it doesn't even matter.")

• Why don't politicians have nicknames like "Old Hickory," "Old Rough and Ready," "Old Oak," "Old Tippecanoe," "Young Hickory," and "His Rotundity" anymore? Pretty lame to lose those, America.

• Why did presidents suddenly decide it was a good idea to smile for their portraits? It makes them look goofy and harmless! I think the old-fashioned, totally badass, "I am staring dead on, at you, right into your soul" approach is far and ahead better.

• The Aroostook War was the best thing in history because it involved lumberjack gang turf wars. Think that over in your mind, and you will realize there is nothing cooler than lumberjack gang turf wars.

• Is there anyone more awesome than Kazimierz Pułaski? No, I don't think so.

• Barack Obama needs a nickname. Only YOU can properly nickname our president something properly bizarre and difficult-to-comprehend-the-meaning-of-without-explanation-from-a-history teacher.

• Only I can construct sentences as befuddling as the one above.

• Bear State, Don't Tread On Me Snake: What other animal flags are there?

• I'm so going to bed right now. I haven't slept properly in forever.

- So guys, do you have pig flu? Wait, sorry, do you have swine flu? (shamelessly stolen off of cucumberseed's page)

- Our last concert of the year was today. It was super short because each band only did two pieces, one of which was from the last concert anyway, because what with the competition and the Band Baby, there was really very little time to prepare any new pieces but one.

- Last week's disaster led to one of the kids I babysit saying to me today, "Hey, remember last Thursday when we went to YOUR house? That was fun." *pause* "That was really fun." *pause* "Can we go to your house again?" D'awwww.

- We had a lockdown today in school — just a drill, of course, though people were joking that there was definitely an armed intruder, what with the fire drill that was not a drill earlier this year. While we were in lockdown mode (for like TWO HOURS UGH) (okay, more like an hour and a half) (two class periods, anyway), the police and the canine unit were going through the halls, sniffing lockers for drugs and whatnot. (The dogs were sniffing out the lockers, not the police. I should hope, at least.) I found out afterwords that apparently, they went out to cars and randomly called people out and made them open up the trunk so they could go through it. Isn't that... some sort of violation of first amendment rights? I guess the cars ARE on school property.

So, today, as with every Thursday, I went to babysit at a neighbor's house. Well, not precisely a neighbor, but in the neighborhood. Anyway, the two kids decided they wanted to draw with chalk outside, so I went out with them and the chalk. They got sick of this pretty quickly, though, because it was really windy and cold and the chalk kept rolling places. We went to go back inside, but then I realized I had shut the front door, and it was locked. Ruh roh. Oh well, I thought, the kids wanted to play in the back yard, so we could just go back there. I lifted them both over the fence and then climbed over myself, and they played for a while.

After a while they got bored and wanted a snack, so I went to the back door to let us all in. Now, I should probably mention, just so that I don't sound completely idiotic, the fact that the back door is almost invariably unlocked. But today? Locked. I kinda stood there for a few minutes, then tried the door again, because as we all know, if you have a strong enough sense of denial, reality changes! (Note: this statement is false.)

Anyway, I asked the kids if they knew of any neighbor with a spare key, but the kids are both under the age of 5, and neither of them had any idea. In the end, I boosted them both back over the fence, climbed over, and just went back to my house with them because we couldn't very well sit outside for three hours, and my house is about two minutes away on foot. It all worked out in the end, and we went back in time for their dad to get home and let us in, but damn if I didn't feel like the biggest idiot alive.

In other news, I'm studying Japanese more (whoo!), and checked on the university's dual enrollment program. Juniors are apparently only allowed to take two classes? Hrmm. We shall see.

The title of this entry also happens to be the only part of that song I know. Is it even a song? Is it simply an advertisement jingle? By listening to the radio, I learn a whole lot of jingles. The creepy part is when they feature in your dream, only they're developed into a full on song. A song about carsalesmans. (WHAT.)

Anyway, that's completely irrelevant, because what I was going to talk about was my reason for celebrating: IT'S VACATION WEEK! But Tuesday is already over! D: I get so antsy during vacation, because I want to enjoy it very fully, but the days just go by. It's like those songs about "the best days of your life" — if I know I'm supposed to be enjoying myself, I feel... compelled to, or something. Crazy, I know.

I went up to the university yesterday, but the weather, sadly, was not so good. I'm really looking forward to the summertime. I'd love to just have no time constraints. At the same time, though, I kinda need time constraints to get anything done. If there was some way to make school less stressful, and less painful to the eyes (due to lack of sleep), then I think I would no longer resent school so much. Still, I'm exceedingly long-winded today, but I'm not precisely saying anything of note, so I ought to wrap this up.

Oh! I do have one more thing to say. I just remembered: kids' shows are creepy these days. o.o At my friend's house, we were watching this show called Flapjack, and it wasn't creepy I suppose, but it was really really weird, but then we watched this show called Chowder, and it was like... disturbing. It made me think of some sort of extra creepy Anpanman. But, yeah, that's what my friends and I get for watching shows aimed at people half our age, I suppose.

I know that no one ever wants to click on embedded media. Ever. But this is just a minute long, and it could very possibly make your day. Or dare I say it? Your life.*



*no suing me if I'm exaggerating.

So, today I went up to the local university to see a lecture about Densha Otoko. I was at the university with my friend who's not big into Japan like me (which left her in the awkward position of being the only person who didn't know what an otaku was), but she ended up really liking the presentation too. And now I really want to finish seeing that series... Hell, I want to restart seeing it. xD

Also, I have this problem where I come to the end of my post and it doesn't seem like an end. But, that's the end.