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.

• 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.

Recently in Latin, we learned about defixiones, or curse tablets. Apparently, people made a lot of them back in the day. Basically, you wrote down, in dedication to some god/goddess/evil spirit, what you wanted to happen to a person who you were angry at. This person could be anyone from a lover who jilted you, to an unknown thief who stole your precious cloak. (There was one defixio about a stolen cloak.) One angry defixio is crazily intense in its vengeance against some girl: May burning fever seize all her limbs, kill her soul and her heart. O Gods of the Underworld, break and smash her bones, choke her, let her body be twisted and shattered - phrix, phrox. The two words at the end are nonsense, "magic" words like "abracadabra" to give the defixio more evil magic power. o.o Other things that gave a defixio more power: writing it backwards; including an illustration; putting a nail through it, throwing it down a well, or both; starting at someone's head and describing all the bad things you want to happen to them, from there downwards.

Aaaaanyway, we have to make a defixio as an assignment in class, which feels sorta creepy in a "we're doing crazy Roman voodoo in Latin!" kind of way, but I guess it's fun. Unfortunately, our limited vocabulary, combined with the requirement that we include genitive phrases, gives us phrases such as "sim caput Vilbiae plenus murum," or, "may Vilbia's head fill with mice." ...yeah.

( if you'd prefer to skip the Latin info dump, the photos are below here )

I have suddenly been struck with the idea of researching my family history. I know I have an aunt on my mother's side who has a lot of the history on that side of the family, but I don't know it and I'd like to. Plus I have no idea about my family history on my dad's side, save a generation or so up.

This partially struck me because of someone saying they were related to Dick Turpin (who was actually a jerk, and not a dashing romantic highwayman, but oh well), and because Mr. Hawthorne was rather obsessed with his family history (Judge Hathorne, one of his ancestors, was a judge for the Salem Witch Trials!).

In conclusion, I need to work on my NaNo.

Today the song lyric that is resonating with me is from that new song, and it goes, "over the line, can't define what I'm after." That's where I'm at right now. I think the song is called "Shattered" or "Turn the Car Around" or something.

I think I'll go down to the university tomorrow and read some Hawthorne and possibly biology. Mostly I just need a change of scenery really badly. I'm looking forward to the Hawthorne short stories, though. Rappacini's Daughter was such a good movie! And I'll feel more honest about knowing the story once I've read the actual book.

Also, I hear that in the Hollywood movie of the Scarlet Letter, Hester sweeps Dimmesdale up into a cart pulled by horses and they go riding off into the sunset? Uh bwuh what now? I... I don't know if I would've loved or hated the book if it ended like that. I like how it ends well enough. Pearl is my favorite character by far. (I'm not sure if I can write an essay about her though. Hrm.) Also, at the ending, I was thinking, "Oh, Hawthorne, be careful! Your sexism is showing!" I guess a guy in the 1800s can only be so feminist before he draws a line.

US History today was CELL-PHONE SMASHING FUN! :D Seriously, my history teacher took the cell phone of a kid who was texting, and said, "Do you know what I think we should do with these?" And then he hurled it at the ground and it shattered into about fifty pieces. In the end, it was all a prank, because the kid had gotten a new phone and had agreed that the teacher should do that to his old one, but the kid did act for a while like he didn't know what was going on, and it was funny. He had his eyes all bugged and was yelling "That was a $260 phone!" And then he just held the screen, which had broken off, and sort of looked at it all plaintively. Lots of fun.

Hemingway wants to write a six word story? Well, I can try too!

It rained too hard; they drowned.

She learned to fly before walking.

View from window: not for sale.

Okay scratch that plan. Six word stories are only interesting when you elaborate on them in your mind. Anyway...

I'm back from vacation! We stayed at a camp site and went swimming, and it was quite fun. Today, we went to a museum and saw some exhibitions of Japanese and Chinese antiques. I was slack-jawed for a great portion of the viewing. (Well, metaphorically speaking. I was actually talking a lot about how amazing everything was.) I think one of the most fantastic things about seeing the boxes people were carried around in (I can't remember the name, but I'm sure wakanomori knows), or the elaborate cups and bowls, or the big dressers or jewelry boxes made of carved ivory; what's so fantastic about all that is to think people actually used those things. As my sister remarked (or maybe it was my mom), I wouldn't be able to use any of those, because I'd be too busy staring at it going, "Woah!" I wish I could find some pictures of the stuff... Perhaps I will in the morning.

Also, there was an exhibit on Maori moko, their traditional tattoos. Patterns like this one were very common on the women, and simpler versions of something like this were on a lot of the men.

It was a very fun vacation, but I'm glad to be home. Camping makes you appreciate a bedroom which is separated from the outside by more than just some nylon! (Or are tents made of something else? I should check on that...)

I've decided that in the world today, there is no way to be as majestic as you could've been in the world before the WWI and WWII. The world was just more majestic back then. Okay, maybe not really, but I think cars make things less cool. I don't really like cars. I like the Voltswagon Beetle I guess. Did you know it took me forever to realize that the actual word "beetle" wasn't spelled "beatle"? I found out how to spell the band's name before the actual creature. When I was a little kid I didn't realize it was a pun.

When I update my LJ early in the morning, I ramble. Usually I don't even wake up until this time (during the summer, that is), but since my family is going on a really long biking trip in August, my dad is getting us in shape by having us get up early and go on bike rides. We went on a ten mile one the other day, and did eight miles this morning. Still, we're aiming to do 60 miles a day on the actual trip. We managed that much when we biked to Canada, but that was two years ago. (I'm also not very interesting this early in the morning.)

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I was reading through Kate Beaton's webcomics the other day, and you know? I want to be a history geek when I grow up too.

Finally, found via xkcd:

Since I never know what to title my entries, I'll head them with a school-day countdown number until school is out. 35 days left. It is like dragging through the mud, but since it must be done, it must be done. Just a little over a month left to go.

Main goals for summer:

• Learn a load of Japanese. Become proficient in it at least. I'll keep on studying until I really know the language really well, regardless of whether or not I get into OGSHS. (But fingers crossed, I'll get in!)
• Bike all over the place, and maybe try a little bit of running. Maybe. Exercise would probably do a great deal for my mental/physical health and whatnot, plus, biking is fun! :D And running is... well, it might help me get a better lung capacity for playing the trombone. Speaking of the trombone...
• Practice the trombone some more. Expand my range and all that so I can play pretty songs.
• Actually work on my jujitsu kata and throws, kicks, punches,oof...

And also, summer reading for history and English.

I'm really quite ready for summer now, but there's still finals and all that. We're reading Romeo & Juliet, and what I've noticed which is a bit of a shame is that very few people in my class seem to get the humor of it when Shakespeare is making a joke. There are some parts which are loaded with innuendo and double meanings, but the people who understand it are the quiet sort who don't laugh out loud, and the loud people who are always making jokes in class don't get it. It's quite a fun little role reversal of sorts. In history, we've made it to one of my least favorite sections of the past: The Cold War, also known as What Almost Happened at Least A Hundred Times. The US kept on almost fighting the Soviet Union, but never actually did, and instead there were just a bazillion wars in other countries.

Often, the way countries act in the past (and even the present) reminds me of the way teenagers act. For example, in the Cold War, rather than ever directly fighting each other, the US and USSR just sort of seethed, like to teens who are in a fight but are too cool to actually fight with each other because they're above stuff like that. Instead, whenever the people around them get into fights, these teens quickly jump onto on side or another of the argument, quickly changing it from a fight between those other two people to a fight between these two teens. (All right, so maybe that's a bit convoluted as far as analogies go, and rather inaccurate, but all the same.)

I started using J-Pod 101. Today I just reviewed the Japanese I already know, and tomorrow I'll start on something new. One thing's for sure: I will never ever EVER forget what "hajimemashite" means. I did learn what "kochira koso" is, though. Yay!

Yesterday I got very worried in geometry. For some reason, I couldn't focus at all, and looking at the problems, I just sort of saw triangles and numbers and couldn't make sense of it, even though I know the material. I got really freaked out by this and suddenly I was dizzy and had a headache, which did nothing to help me focus. I should get more sleep... It was actually a rather genuinely frightening experience and it almost happened AGAIN in Latin today, because I was worrying about not being able to focus, and then, insta-headache. I think I might be getting a bit sick or something. I was feeling awful in jujitsu. But, I feel better now, so that's good. ^.^

O Captain My Captain assigned our history project for the term: a "change over time" essay. She picked a bunch of very serious and controversial topics this time around. One had to do with Tibet, another with the Rwandan genocide, and yet another with apartheid in South Africa. My prompt is, "How has Israel changed geographically over the past fifty years?" I asked her if it wouldn't make more sense to look at it changing politically, and she told me, "I almost made that the prompt, but I figured that was a bit much. It's a pretty intense topic, so I put geographically, because to explain those changes, you can look into the political side. Still, I think this prompt would be a bit easier for this grade level." (I'm kind of paraphrasing.) Anyhow, this is going to prove to be quite the essay. Israel is one of those Very Complicated Situations which It's Best Not To Get Into. So, I am going to move right along.

I've started working on my NaNo novel today. Any luck, and I'll have 50k by the end of today. I've just been at such a boring patch lately. I want excitement! Adventure! Hardship! Sword fights and pistols and underhanded schemes, dammit! *le sigh* They always say that if it's boring to write, it's boring to read. I can't help but worry this part of my story will be like the camping in HP7. That was just plain awful... I'm going to have to edit this thing to no end, but I don't want to edit it out of existence. I hope it'll be acceptable sooner rather than later though. Of course, it's my dream to be able to publish it, but everyone always says its better not to be published as a teen. And phrasing it like that just sounds outright conceited — I don't really think I could get published... Still, if I can't get published, then there's no harm in trying, right? (Strange logic.)

We finished World War I in history recently, and we've moved on to the 1920's and, subsequently, the Great Depression. Also, in other new, a bank just crashed. Coincidence? YOU DECIDE! See, with the situation like this, I win out either way. If there's no depression, that'll obviously be good, but if there WAS another depression by some cruel twist of fate, then I'd have some really spiffy foreshadowing in my autobiography. I can make the most of ANYTHING! :D I don't think I'd ever be able to write an autobiography, though... I'd want to dwell on all these really unimportant details.

On a different note, I was saying to Britt today that, if I were to eavesdrop for a moment on any conversation at lunch, there'd be at least a fifty percent chance that someone would swear, and another chance that the only thing I'd hear would be someone swearing. It's kind of funny when people will interject expletives in there sentence, but completely lack the emotion that usually goes along with it. It just doesn't sound right. I bet if you said it in the right tone, someone might not even notice you were swearing! (Probably not something good to try in public, or with one of your superiors, though.)

Also, student council was selling green carnations today, for St. Patrick's day. I think the only reason they did that was because they forgot to sell flowers on Valentine's day.

It's MEME TIME! Nabbed this from stumbleine1

Reply to this post,
and I will list three things I admire about you.
Maybe more than three.
Then repost to your own journal and spread the ego-inflating sentiments.


Do it. :D

And in the life department... We have yet to write any thing close to an essay in history. And it's Friday tomorrow. And we're meant to move on next week. Captein I love you. XD I think someone needs to get her that t-shirt with "The Black Plague" on the front, and "Europe Tour," with the dates and the list of cities on the back.

Chorus was last period today, so Ms. Carr (who I'm suddenly to lazy to keep anonymous) ended class up a little early. Tara, Liz, Cassie, Lis, Ash, Britt, and I all went into a corner and sang Seasons of Love. It was very strong, sounded quite nice. When we got into the halls they were still singing and some guy, who's also in chorus, was like, "Chorus is over, you know," to which Tara and Cassie yelled "WE DON'T CARE!" I always sing in the halls after chorus too (only I sing REALLY quietly). If someone called me out on it I wouldn't have the nerve to retort. Nope, nope, I'd pretend I didn't hear them. And then lower my volume eight notches.

Jujitsu was fun today. I was reaaaally slow learning, though. I kinda got on Colton's nerves, probably. ^.^;; Chris and Paul kept yelling at me for being stiff when someone is throwing me. I guess I just tense up at the thought of being whacked on the ground, when the only thing to break my fall is my own arm. I don't like having to rely on myself. o.o;

Also~
According to these people, I'm a liberal. Who would've guessed? XD

Finally, today was national coming out day. 'Course, all my LGBT friends are already out, so, whatever.

Am I the first one to notice that PARTIES and PANTIES are only one letter apart? I mean, imagine how awkward it would be if you meant to write in an email or something, "I went shopping for some parties," as in, for party supplies, but typed, "I went shopping for some panties"? I guess it's extremely unlikely that you'd do that, seeing as the R and the N key are really far apart but STILL!!

Moving right along to something relevant...

We're starting some work on the French Revolution, and Ms. C said it was going to be Serious Business, writing essays and everything. She's one of my favorite teachers this year by far, but, I don't want to write essays in class. T~T On the plus, no homework this week, but still, I get horribly cramps in my hand when I write, which is why I much prefer typing. It's kind of sad when you can type faster than you can write (or at least as fast as you can write), but that is the state I'm at by now. I'm so familiar with a keyboard that I don't even need to have the physical object their to imagine how the word is typed. That's really, really, really sad. >.>;

I talked to the band director today (who's also a Ms. C, but a different one, go figure), and she said that it wasn't too late to turn in District forms, so I can still do that. I'm thinking I'll try out for orchestra like I have the past two years, but I may as well throw in chorus, too. I don't think I'll make it into that, though... There are about a million sopranos in the world. It'd be much harder to get in on that than it would be to get in on trombone. Still, it'd be an experience, so I may as well give it a shot, right? I was really happy, too, because when I said I wasn't sure I wanted to try out on trombone because of how hard the audition piece is, she said, "Nah, I think you'd be fine. You should go for it." Yay encouragement.

On the worse side, we had a quiz in Latin today which I was absolutely unaware of. @__@ And I already know I got at least one wrong. @_________@ Apparently, since "est" pluralizes to "sunt," "adest" pluralizes to "adsunt," not "adesunt." Grrr, grr, grr, but such is life, I suppose. I couldn't have done too badly on the rest of it.