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.

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.

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.

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.

Yesterday, I went to my friend's house and we decided it would be a good idea to make chocolate chip cookies. How harmless can that be, right? We were using the Joy of Cooking recipe and everything. It's pretty impossible to muddle chocolate chip cookies.

Anyway, I was having a grand old time softening the butter (by which I mean, beating the crap out of it), while my friend was measuring out some other stuff in a separate bowl. She goes over to the recipe and is like, "Okay, one teaspoon of hot water," and then marches over to the sink with the tablespoon. Luckily, before she adds the water, I point out to her that she has the tablespoon, which is very different from the teaspoon. She gives me this "Oh... um... crap" sort of look, but switches the spoons. A few minutes later: "So wait, Nina... what would happen if you added a tablespoon of salt instead of a teaspoon?" Oh dear.

Although a tablespoon of salt had already been added to the flour, when the recipe only called for a teaspoon, we were able to sift some of the excess salt out. Still, the final product was peculiarly salty chocolate chip cookies. They didn't taste inherently bad, but you had to be prepared for the saltiness, or else you'd be in for an unpleasant surprise.

In conclusion: whoever named the measuring spoons shouldn't have given them all names starting with a "t."

Well, V-day was awesome. As usual Aileen and I had an idiotic-chick-flick marathon while eating bags of candy, only this time her boyfriend had to sit through it as well. Poor Aileen's boyfriend, sitting through such lovely films as Sydney White, A Cinderella Story, Another Cinderella Story, the Princess Diaries and A Walk To Remember. Luckily for him, though, the only movie we saw all of was A Walk To Remember. Anyway, I've been missing photos, sooooooooo~

( photos for 365 photos )

This week is vacation from school and I am psyched.

#3 for 365 photos.



It's a little dude who grows grass. I think it was sent from Japan. It's on the bookshelf chilling with the old Japanese books.

I went to the bookstore with my friend today and bought Foucault's Pendulum, which I am quite looking forward to reading. Then we went off and saw Valkyrie.

I think my biggest issue with Valkyrie was Tom Cruise. I just kept feeling like he didn't fit the part. At least it wasn't Brad Pitt, though. ._. I would've loved it if the movie had been in German, with, well... German people, but I guess that no one in America would go to the theatre and pay money to watch something with subtitles. Even though I knew it was in English, I was still kind of sad that they fake you out at the beginning and are like, "Look, we're doing this in German, and just have subtitles!" and then Tom Cruise starts talking and they're like, "PSYCHE!"

Overall, the movie was pretty good, I'd say. It got positively painful to watch, though, when it looks like everything is going to go well, because you know it will all fall apart, and you're just anticipating it the whole time. I won't spoil the ending, but I will say there's an incredibly depressing firing squad scene.

Tomorrow the last day of vacation. It's very sad. I had a lot of plans for vacation that didn't go through... Ah well, c'est la vie.

This post is REALLY LONG, so I apologize.

So, Monday was rather fantastic. I got to school and was not looking forward to algebra (I never am...). But, in some incredible run of luck, algebra didn't suck. I was not wishing pain on my teacher the whole time. In fact, I was understanding everything, and I didn't wish any bad things on anyone! I hope this is a good omen for algebra in general. I'm going to hope it all gets better from here! Also, I wasn't looking forward to band, and was hoping that maybe we'd have a band study, but since I was almost sure my conductor was in school that day, I figured we'd have to play... but we didn't! It turned out that my conductor's plane back from Chicago had been held up due to the snowstorms. It was quite the real life deus ex machina.

( and then even MORE stuff happened )

Today, I did an entire ID sheet for history. This is an accomplishment, because ID sheets are really hard and take a long time. The reason for this is that they just give you a list of historical terms/items, usually somewhere between 26 and 30 (this time it was 38), and then you have the name every bit of significance they had between two certain years. The years this time were 1789 and 1800, and my goodness, a lot of stuff happened in those years. Yeesh. But I finished it! And now I have to write an essay on Frankenstein. Oodles of fun.

I am very excited for Christmas! On the one hand, it can't come fast enough, but on the other, I still need to make Christmas cards, clean up the living room so that we have a space to put advent calenders and decorations, buy everyone stuff... Aww maaaan, I've really got to get to that. I can't make up my mind about what to do for gifts, though. Should I get my whole family and very close friends something, and get them all something nice, or should I get all of my friends something small? I dunno. If it boils down to it I'll at least make cards and get people candy. Candy is always good.

In other news, my writer's block/lack of inspiration/lack of ability to formulate a plot is *still* stopping me from writing anything. Very frustrating.

That's all for now. Oh, one more thing! A bundle of teachers were cross-dressing on Friday. You just don't expect to see male teachers in dresses, but it wasn't so weird mostly because mostly they were wearing those shapeless, hardly feminine dresses that might as well have been pants. It was still very funny though.

Three more school days until a [brief but still awesome] vacation!

My friends are planning to go and see the Twilight movie over vacation. Don't get me wrong, of course, none of us enjoyed the books. Still, the movie looks really, really funny. It's one of those things which, unlike the books, might actually be so bad it's good.. We shall see.

Also, I am absolutely loving Frankenstein. The writing is a bit weighty, it's true, and she really needs to find a different way to say "wretch," but otherwise, it's excellent. I'm really very back and forth as far as Romantics and Romanticism goes. I like some of what they stand for, but other stuff seems silly. Like, believing that people are born perfectly good, or that humankind can be perfected, is silly. Also, I don't think that everyone would be much better off without society. Society has its bad sides, but it's not ALL bad. And while yes, sewing dead bodies together and turning people into poisonous plants is a bad idea, science is not inherently evil. The other stuff is okay though. (Thus passes Nina's all mighty judgment on Romanticism: it is Pretty Okay.)

I feel like I should work on NaNo, but I already know I'm not going to finish, and I don't feel terrible inspired. Ah, well, so it goes.

So, today's writer's block is "What happened to you today?" Does that seem a bit silly to anyone but me?

Also, I don't know what to do tomorrow. Lately I've started doing this terrible thing where I sleep in until 11 and then I don't actually do anything until noon. I just feel so laaaaazy, but I can't exactly seem to get up any earlier. And then, there's not much I want to do anyway. -_________-

But, summer is almost over so I must get some stuff done. (Like summer reading, for instance.) I kinda want to bake stuff, because baking is fun, but it doesn't feel like real baking unless I do it from scratch. Sure, cake mixes are fun and easy, but I kinda want to make something other than cake. I suppose that'll mean searching for a recipe. I need to think of projects to keep me from going crazy this coming year, because I'm going to be very bored with my sister and one of my best friends leaving the state. So far, I can think of sewing clothes and making a cook book. Why is it that the things I think of to occupy my time would be so very frowned upon by feminists?

Anyhow, it's clear that I don't really have anything to say. I got the unabridged Arabian Nights. And I have a new song I really like! It's sort of like and happy and fun, "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz. It isn't the style I'd normally listen to, but I really like it. It's very hippie-ish.

And my sister is leaving in about two weeks which is very sad. ):

Most kids say that they're just going to skip the last half-day of school, so as an incentive to make everyone come to school on the last day, my science teacher says he's bringing in bagpipes. Yay bagpipes?

Graduation was great. My sister's speech was very good and blessedly short; all the speeches were good, really. I'm pretty sure everyone wanted to get out of that gymnasium, though. It was VERY hot in there, and I don't think there was air conditioning. By the time it was done everyone was all red in the face, so pictures with the graduates all came out looking kind of funny, but ah well. I'm really going to miss the graduates, though. ): It was kind of weird to see all those people who I'd only ever seen in the halls, thinking, "I'm probably never going to see them again." And I don't mean my friends — I mean the strangers-but-familiar-faces people. I'm going to miss them in a very odd sort of way.

Anyhow, now that this is the last full week of school, summer actually seems in reach. YAY. But we still have finals week to get through. Anyhow, this is all keeping me rather busy.


Not really much else to say.

There are certain kinds of strangers who can completely make my day. It doesn't take much. If someone is wearing a t-shirt of a band I like, or maybe something from a website that I know of, for example, that tends to make me grin. Then there are the strangers who I might accidentally make eye contact with, who smile, as if making eye contact with a stranger isn't even at all awkward. Those people seem very friendly, or at least much easier to pass on the sidewalk. The strangers who I find myself standing near at the bookstore, who turn out to be reading one of the books I plan on buying, or which I've already bought; the people in the park doing parkour; the cashier who smiles or makes a witty comment; the groups of students sitting in circles playing acoustic guitar and singing together, completely casual but still skilled. Those kind of strangers always make a day better.

"Stranger" seems such an odd term, anyway. They're actually much less strange when you don't know them. People who you don't know usually lack a personality — they're simply there, moving around you more like cars than other human beings. It's when you get to know their quirks that they can seem strange. Hopefully, though, it's a good strange. (Oh, and by "you," I was really referring to myself.) Sometimes it's fun to try and figure out what people are like. It's a good way to occupy your mind when stuck on a bus, at any rate. Also, all the passing cars on the street — they all have someone driving them, they all have a destination, a point from which they left, a reason. You never know when someone is driving across the country to make their dreams come true in some far off state, or when someone's simply driving off to get a gallon of milk because the fridge is empty.

I don't believe that "strangers are just friends we haven't made yet." No, not really. But some of them might be. Others might be enemies. Some of them might be our allies and we don't know it. Maybe they support the same politician we do. Maybe they donated to the same charity we did. That isn't written on their forehead, but it's there. There are really different degrees of "strangers," too. When does someone go from being a stranger to an acquaintance? What about the people who you know the identity of, but you've never spoken to? What about classmates? Shades of gray are interesting, if somewhat frustrating sometimes. Musing about it all is fun, though.

My posts will regain a point very soon. (Actually, it would be full of Israeli-Palistinian conflict rants, but in the end that subject is so... well, I can't even manage to rant about it. So, I write these posts instead.)

I finished my one-page research paper on Boudica today. You'd think a one-page research paper would be really easy, but it's actually astoundingly hard to get started, knowing that you mustn't waste time with filler that you can normally put into an introduction paragraph. In the end, it is not really the finest sample of my writing, but it has all the key points, and it isn't plagiarism, so it'll have to do.

Also, while trying to track down the origin of Dandie in the Underworld, I uncovered an album called Dandy in the Underworld by T.Rex, which turns out to be a great band. Also, while on the topic of bands I've been discovering lately, there is Girlschool and Dolly Mixture. (Actually, I discovered Dolly Mixture a while ago. And I'm not really discovering any of these bands, seeing as they're all from the 70s or somewhere there abouts.) I feel like I'd listen to many, many more old rock, punk, folk, indie, etc. bands if not for the fact that the REALLY OBNOXIOUS kids in my grade like that music. I mean, I can still like the music, but I feel like if I ever said I liked it, I'd be labeled a poser in five seconds flat. That doesn't really bother, me, though, so I suppose I might as well just like the music, even if it does mean having something in common with people I really dislike. That being said... anyone got any old bands to suggest?

Speaking of posers, what makes someone that, anyway? Teenagers are all obsessed with not being a poser, or with fitting into a certain social clique, but isn't trying to fit in with a clique what makes you a poser? Or not? Bwuh? I dunno. Really, I think teens just make contradictory statements too much. For example, when a teenage girl says "I hate drama," she will often proceed to detail to you all the drama that is currently taking place in her life. While she says she hates it, she seems to enjoy the subject. Also, any teen will say they hate labels, but they won't fail to call themselves "punk" or "goth" or "prep" or what have you. It's so silly.

Watched Over Her Dead Body at Leeny's today. It was funny while watching it, but I think it was one of those movies you only watch once. You know, the sort where everything is great while it's going on but afterwards you don't really think you'd see it all again.

While I was biking home from school, I had to take a different route because of road work, which involved me crossing a rather narrow bridge. Now, on the side of the road opposite me was a sidewalk. I was biking along, staying on the correct side of the road, and what should I see in the distance, right as I'm approaching this somewhat dangerous bridge, I see a pedestrian just ambling along at a slow, leisurely pace, right in front of me, COMPLETELY in my way and also COMPLETELY on the wrong side of the road. When I caught up with the person, I had to dismount and walk my bike because there was no room to go around them, and I couldn't ask them to shove over to the side of the road because (1) there still might not be room, (2) they were wearing headphones and wouldn't hear me over the traffic anyway, (3) it would be rude and (4) it was a bit of a sketchy person.

So, today, I discovered that there are few things more frustrating than being stuck behind a slow-moving, sketchy pedestrian on a crowded, narrow bridge. If ever I write an action movie, I'll make such a scene, replacing the sketchy pedestrian with a villain, and of course, the person stuck behind them would be the protag disguised as someone else. And the bridge would be a rickety rope bridge with rotting planks, going over a gorge. You know, the usual.

Also, one thing I was realizing today: the people who are always saying things like, "I hate classifications" and "Indie cred is such a stupid concept" also seem to be the people who are always classifying others and will only respect you if you have indie cred.

One more thing! I did well in jujitsu today. I was pulling off some really good throws, even if I didn't quite do them right. I still managed to throw this person who is taller and heavier than I am, and is a black belt. Yay! Sensei showed us how to do kicks in the air, too. It's surprisingly easy to kick whilst in the air, but it's very difficult to do so and still land properly, or to make it look good. If I ever get it right I'll post a video or something.

I want to find a friend with whom I can have witty, Shakespeare-esque banter. They'd say something, and then I'd reply to them, and in my reply, make a play on their words. They'd follow it up with some sort of innuendo, and then I'd best them with an even better one. They'd concede my comment to be wittier than theirs, but in doing so, they'd phrase there concession so cleverly that I'd seem downright silly in comparison. That's one thing which has always gotten me about witty commentary and conversation in movies/novels/dramas: How would anyone ever come up with that naturally and on the spot? I admire anyone who was born with that talent. Whenever I aim to make a witty comment, I have to struggle to think of how to phrase it, and I only have a moment or else its poignant-ness would be lost. I often find myself reflecting over silly things people have said to me, and can think of so many clever responses I might've used.

I ought to make a list of the most common things people say to me with Clever Response Potential (CRP, it's a term now, guys), and come up with clever responses I can use. Most commonly people say things like "Hey, it's the little/mini (my last name)" because everyone knows my older siblings. My last name has a lot of pun potential (people make bad puns/jokes on it fairly often, actually), but unfortunately, in the situation, I can't think of anything clever I could say when being called "mini" or "little" in relation to it.

Instances when people say something that has a severe case of Clever Response Potential are instances when I think of how great it would be if I could pause time. Then, I could think for as long as I needed until I had thought of the absolute BEST response, unpause time, and wham them with it. You just know they'd be totally blown away by it, leaving them downright speechless. Which, unfortunately, would save me the fun of more clever replies, so in the end, I suppose it's all right to just respond with a mediocre level of wit. (Can someone come up with a unit of measurement for wit?)

So, yesterday was the second (and final) performance of the drama club! Gahh, I wish there was a third.

Friday was opening night, and holy snap, we were AMAZING and FANTASTIC. I swear, everyone performed leaps and bounds ahead of what we were expecting. Everything just completely fell into place like it should. We did all the scene changes in adequate time, and the songs were all sung loud enough, and people sang in tune, and people remembered their lines, and we were just fantastic. The stage crew made t-shirts and they painted their faces with little black lines, like what football players have. It was funny. Backstage, everyone was quiet (for the most part), and that was good. I think the audience really liked it. We got some good laughs out of them, especially in the scene where a guy ran across the stage in a French maid-esque dress. It was just a little one shot gag, but it was completely hilarious. Elder Redford was AMAZING on the piano. I really enjoyed myself.

Of course, last night, things didn't go quite as well, because we were all riding on the confidence of our last performance, just thinking, "We can do this, it's no problem, no need to worry." Still, even though there were numerous more mistakes, I think it turned out all right. It was still loads of fun. I hung out with two friends backstage, and we were arm wrestling. I kinda failed by losing to both of them. Worse, though, was when someone was whispering a bit too loudly, so I went "Shh!" but as I was doing that, I stepped backwards, and my shoe hit this big metal container and made THE MOST ENORMOUS SOUND (or at least, it seemed very loud to me). That was a tad embarrassing, but it was funny enough that it didn't matter. At the end, the director and our lead actress were thanking people, like our pianist and stage crew, but they didn't thank the people who did lights or set! And my sister was one of those people! *insta-sisterly offense taken*

( Read more about it? )

Happy Valentine's day everyone! To the anti-romantic friends of mine, happy anti-Valentine's day! Happy heart shaped confections day, happy heart, Hallmark, and hype day. You get the idea.

Remember how in grade school, you got to have Valentine's day parties, and everyone handed out Valentine's to everyone else, and the best ones had candy in them? Those were always so good. And the parties would be great because there'd be an incredible amount of sugary foods, and by the end of the party you always ended up feeling sick. (It would seem that in this case, "you" is actually referring to me. xP) Anyhow, I suppose that the food regulations and health code that our school district has recently imposed means that the little kids don't get to have parties with that kind of food anymore. That kinda sucks for them.

I'm feeling rather horrible today... I found out that plans I thought I was making for tomorrow were actually supposed to be for today and now I feel rather the dreadful friend. I don't know how I'm going to make it up to the person, but I'll try.

INTERESTING NOTE: I searched "v-day cards" on deviantART and all I came up with at first was V for Vendetta stuff, then Sailor V stuff. I suppose that either (a) it's not specific enough or (b) people don't use that abbriviation as much as I thought they did. Still, I managed to find the cards I was looking for. I do hope they amuse you as they amused me. I'll post a card of my own hopefully soon... I haven't been able to get on the computer with the tablet lately. If all turns out well, though, I think I'll make a Darcy/Lizzie card. Pride & Prejudice (the amazing BBC version) is showing on PBS on Sundays. <333 Yays.

Also, since Lent started in February this year, it would REALLY suck for someone if they gave up chocolates for Lent, and then there significant other got them chocolates for V-day. I suppose the person who had given up the chocolates could just save them, or maybe break the vow just for V-day? Hmm.

Chinese new year teeechnically isn't until Feb. 7th, but all the same...



Today, we all got up at 6:00 in the morning to go and see the sun rise. We found the perfect viewing point, and arrived just as the sun was coming over the horizon. It was reminiscent of the beginning of the Lion King. XD Only, this was SO much more amazing seeing as it was real. The sun started out small and red, and you could look at it without hurting your eyes. It got increasingly bigger and more golden. It dyed the sky around it pink, and the bottoms of the clouds were red in reflection.

We then had to go to mass a little while after that, as today was the Solemnity of Mary. After mass Leeny called, so I went to her house, where I spent the rest of the day. Audri was there and some random person I didn't know called Tom showed up. Then, we all watched this DISGUSTINGLY GIRLY chick flick called Bring It On. It was so awful I think that it must have been made partially parodying itself. At least, that's what I'm hoping. After that movie ended, Leeny's boyfriend came over, and we hung out for a bit and then decided to watch 300. Still, Life, the Universe, and Everything got in the way again and I didn't get to see the whole movie. Oh well.

And today was the last day of vacation. Tomorrow, back to school. I need to remember what I'm learning... Uhhh, term paper for science, socialism for history, myths in English, and we're starting new stuff after vacation in geometry and Latin. I don't want to go~ But I suppose I have no choice. I hope it isn't as bad as my stomach has decided it's going to be.

Happy New Year everyone! True, it's still December 31 as I write this, but whatever. 2007 was quite a year... Lots of new stuff and experiences for me. Overall, I think it was great. I'm glad I got to talk to everyone here on LJ throughout the year!

And now, taken from stumbleine1, the survey for the year's end.

( below the cut )