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Happy Easter, all! Even if you don’t really celebrate today, it should still be a day of prosperity and happiness. I think it was, for me.

Having gone to the Easter Vigil last night, our family, according to the Catholic faith, was not required to go to this morning’s mass. We went to the Reid Park Zoo, which was fun (though I’m sure Lynn would complain that all we do in Arizona is looking at zoos). I really did have fun, but I am afraid I got either dehydrated or overheated there, because I felt really sick by the time we went to the car, and I did not feel better until I had a shower and a huge glass of water at home.

Jessie and I did some minimal studying for Pride and Prejudice. Unfortunately we did not do a whole lot of studying, but I think Jessie said it best when she said we have been “desensitized” to these 40-minute essays of Ms Caples’s. Really, it’s true: I think for the past month I’ve done one of these things a week, we’ve done these essays a hundred times now, it seems. If you count the journal entries, we have indeed done a lot more of it.

Then we had an Easter feast for dinner. It was tasty, and I ate everything but the lamb~

Summer is coming. It’s not the overheating epidemic today that tells me that fact, nor is it the warm smell tainted with dusty connotations that is coming in from the southwest winds to this meager city. What tells me about summer are the geckos outside, right now, which are lazily wandering up and down my window in hopes of snagging random bugs which are attracted to the light coming from the interior of my abode. They are rather thin now, but we know as a commune that they will be nicely fattened up before the end of June, to be sure.

And so we will wait until the calander tells us it is summer, because of all the things which we listen to—the weather, nature, and ourselves—we pay most attention to those precise calculations that plan our lives accordingly~

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Davie asked me what I did today. I am going to tell you the same thing I told him: at 11 some kids came over and we did an Econ project (third grade level), then I took a walk at Tohono Chul Park with Grant, then we went to the Easter Vigil Mass at St. Thomas Church. And that was my day.

While taking Grant at Tohono Chul Park, we ran across a young girl of about seven or eight years old in a pink Easter dress. She was very pretty, and looked like a sweet, smart girl. But when she looked in my direction, she started screaming bloody terror. It took me a moment to register that she was screaming at Grant. She kept hiding behind her mother, and her mother finally led her away.

And across the way, the young girl was still crying~

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I’m sorry I missed yesterday’s blog! I’ll do it right now, even if it’s not under the record as being posted on Thursday. I’m sorry, I’m sorry….

Friday, March 29, 2002

Well today I woke up and had to get some signatures for the Seal of Excellence in English, which was a lot of rushing. Then I went over to Ms Swick’s room and got the application for the Seal of Excellence in History. That one is almost laughable next to the one for English, really! I felt almost silly, filling it out, but then again I deserve credit for Mr Minor’s class, dammit!

I walked in late in Thatcher’s and realized I forgot my stock journal. He said I could turn it in today so long as it was before some time, but alas, I forgot to. Do I not care? No, I most definately care. I just…dunno. I’m too happy to really care about a silly stock journal. I’ll get it in, even if late, next time.

We spent the rest of Econ in the library, snore. It was all right, just…snore. You know? But while in Econ Emily told me that not only the page numbering in my lab report was borked, I was missing page 5. So I had to run home and grab it, then rush off to bio.

In bio we did some evolution stuff, it was neat-o. I also grabbed the Seal of Excellence form in Science (wow, I’m just up and down these forms today. Errk.).

It wasn’t that journalism was boring, it was more the fact that I just had nothing to do, so I did nothing. Jolly-holly ~_*

I walked home and went over to the mailbox, and I had four letters. One was an acceptance letter from Pitzer (more on that later), one was from the U of A asking if I’d be going there or not, one was from NAU yelling at me for missing a financial aid form, and one was from Fry’s Food and Drug Store.

Actually, I opened the one from Fry’s, first. Why? Well, in all honesty, I was rather curious. And I was laughing so hard at what it was. Last Winter Break I left a rather nasty note in the Suggestion Box telling them that their bathrooms were terrible. The manager wrote back saying how very sorry he was, and he gave me a $10 gift certificate good at any Fry’s! It was pretty funny.

Pitzer had the most amazing news for me. Not only did I get in, they’re giving me $32,000 in scholarship money out of a $37,000 tuition, so basically I’m getting a full-ride there! Awesome stuff. My mom was so happy…so was my dad. Well, so were a lot of people, to be honest. Because the thing was, I still prolly would have not been able to go to Claremont if the financial aid and stuff was bad, but with what I just got, not only is the institution affordable, it’s desirable compared to NAU’s financial aid report. So what I’m going to do is, April 19 we’re going there (both schools have orientation), and I’m just going to “shop around” and see which is the better deal…by then hopefully Scripps will have their financial aid report ready, too, though if it’s about the same as Pitzer, I have a feeling it’ll probably be Scripps. But, you never know, I might like Pitzer better when we go visit.

Before going to the AP English study session at 3p, I went around and told all the teachers who gave me recommendations about what Pitzer had to say (well, except Ms Close, who wasn’t in the room). They were all so happy—I of course was, too. Dreams do come true, you know. It’s just a matter of trying and reaching.

The AP study session was okay…lol I forgot how funny Stephanie can be. She made me laugh quite a few times last year while we were at the study sessions for AP US History, too. I think we drove Mr Minor nuts, but in the end I still did well on the test, and I guess in some sick way that’s what counts…as for Ms Caples’s AP Literature test, I think everyone in that class will do well, like they did last year, so we’ll be fine, just fine.

Not much happened after that, aside from the same old stuff. Deepinder got all over me for missing last night’s blog and now wants this one up…geez I’ve been at it for an hour, so you people better be happy I’ve been typing that long~

Well today is Good Friday. History says that Jesus died approx. 2,000 years ago today. Should I believe it? Yes. Not necessarily the followings of Jesus, but the historical aspects of today is just…phenominal. The Romans persecuted a young man, tortured him, forced him to bleed to death to the point where he only had a pint of blood left in him to carry a 200-lb stick of death up a hill, then nailed his wrists and feet to a cross, stabbed him, and left him there to die. Most men, because when crucified are not nailed but tied to a cross, die in 1-2, sometimes 3 days after being left there. Mercifully Jesus died in 3 hours.

Thursday, March 28, 2002

What a rush! I still can’t believe how much work went into today…if I turn around and think about it, I might be sick again.

In Mr Hagen’s class Leeann spent most of the hour drawing a great caricature of our beloved math teacher…he thought it was so funny he left it up; I wonder if it’ll be there on Monday? Leeann also drew a little thermometer pointed at 30 degrees and wrote next to it, “Your weather report today: Slightly cloudy, chance of icicles in math class” (it was really cold in there). Mr Hagen also left that one up. I guess it’s the little things like that which amuse us.

In Astro-Philosophy, we were all so giddy with senioritis that the only thing we really did was draw a picture of the constellation Pegasus and then put little cartoons around it about drunken Greeks and severed horse heads. And Jessie wrote on the board in big letters, “AURON IS GOD,” naturally. Sabb thinks we play too much video games. But, we did have a lot of fun.

After that we went home. I went on AIM and was there when Sarah checked her status with Tufts…and didn’t get in. Oh, I felt terrible, probably worse than I felt when I didn’t get in at Pomona, because now in retrospect, I know the outcome of my story, but she still does not. And, I know she wanted it and was pretty sure she’d get in. She seems so down; it comes through in her subtle, usually happy-go-lucky personality. But, if I know Sarah, she’ll bounce back. When I didn’t get in Pomona, I was sort of in shock. What? They didn’t want me? Then I found out how much of a crap-shot those selective schools really are and didn’t feel so bad, because really, they’re not rejecting you so much as they’re rejecting your material. So essentially that material, which is so petty, is nothing more than scratches of paper.

After that depressing interlude it was off to bio for a study session on the AP test. I have a feeling I’m not going to do too well on that test (to get any AP credit at Scripps and Pitzer, you need a score of “4″ out of “5″ on the AP tests), but I don’t really care, because in some masochistic way I just want to learn as much as I can for bio so that in college I’ll be well-prepared and well-grounded, because Lord, I know I’ll be stuck in chemistry.

After the AP Bio study session I came home and wanted to crash at least for an hour, so I took a bath and studied vocab…then grabbed a can of Pepsi and was rolling over that Mendelian genetics lab (boo). That kept me up until about one in the morning. Which explains why I’m blogging now and not then~

One pet peeve of mine is people who do not try. I also hate Yoda’s phrase, “try not. Do or do not. There is no try.” Because, in my eyes, every great mind I’ve run into loves trying stuff. By stuff, I mean, they take risks, they experiment, they see what they like, and they on occasion acheive. Our family is always being accused of “getting everything,” but quite honestly, I see a lot more rejection in this household than anything else. The only thing is, achievements are much more noticable. And that fact is great! You see, this world is not that pessimistic, we simply view it that way.

What I am trying to say is, try. Take risks. I know it sounds trite, but it’s the ones who don’t try and then go and complain to anyone they can about how they didn’t succeed that end up depressed and lonely. That’s why I admire Sarah so much—she tried. Think of all the people who are going to Pima Community College or some other horror place all because they did not take risks, and it boggles the mind! So, try~

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I am going to blog real quickly before I head off to do a bio lab (garr I would have started it at eight, but I forgot to type up this English thing just around then). So here I am~

Not much happened today, quite honestly, except the AP English study session was cancelled, so I went to Subway instead :P Though in journalism we had to type this letter to a local newspaper asking for a grant to purchase a digital camera…lol we were laughing pretty hard at what Jeff was writing, so I printed out a copy and we rewrote another, much softer version (the one shown here is obviously Jeff’s). Actually the softer version was pretty good, but like I said, we were having a time writing it!

To Whom It May Concern:

Cordially,
The Palantir~

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Actually, today was rather uneventful for the first time in quite awhile, it seems. In Thatcher’s class we were getting into little groups for an insanely huge 245 point project, and this girl who is so annoying (comes in class 25 out of 50 minutes late into class every day, taking two classes, failing both, has some job, doesn’t care about anything) comes up to Emily, Lana and me and asks if she can join our group (translation: “can I get credit for your guys’ work?”). I said, “no, we’d rather keep it as just us three this time.” Ahhh Emily and Lana were so relieved, but at the same time Emily said, “oh that’s so mean! I’d feel bad if it was me.” Noo, Emily, do you want her in our group? “No, but…” Thank you. “Yeh. I’m glad you did it to it’s just…” Lana: “All right, so back to our project…”

Math and journalism were both rather uneventful; in journalism we seniors were going to come up with story ideas for May issue Entertainment, Feature, and Opinion, but it didn’t really happen. Well, we came up with a few, but it was more goofing off than anything. Well, at least it sounded like the juniors were being productive in the other room.

Jenn told me that she and Jessica were acting as Managing Editors this month. Good job, you two! That’s what I did April issue last year, too—Managing Editor, I mean.Though I think in some ways being a section editor (e.g. News, Sports, Feature) is more fun than being in the management, because you get freedom to draw up pages and be creative. You two will see what I mean. But I think for Jenn and Jessica, though it seems like a lot, will actually have a lot of fun this issue, because they both get their own sections and get to be in management, too. How cool is that??

In AP English Jessie and I were so getting silly. I hope we didn’t annoy anyone too much, because we spent most the time drawing little cartoons in my copy of Heart of Darkness and silently laughing at our own cleverness. So now my Heart of Darkness resembles Harry Potter and Ron Weasley’s copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Tasha called this evening, so we did a lot of girl talk. I love doing that. I read some Crime and Punishment earlier this afternoon, too, and later on did some math and English (errk). But that’s good~

If there’s one thing in this world I can’t stand watching, it’s watching the act of eating. Be it an animal or human, consuming food is in my opinion one of the more disgusting aspects of biological acts. Don’t get me wrong, I’m definately no anarexic, and I enjoy eating myself, it’s just watching others that vexes me. I guess it’s just the act of taking a perfectly good piece of nourishment, chomping it up, getting it all over fingers, the face, etc., and then swallowing it. Then when you think about what the excess nourishment will become, on the other end of that mouth…

Ironically, I try to help fight against starvation. You can too, visit The Hunger Site every day (just bookmark it or something)~

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In some sickening way I was glad to return to school today…I woke up at 7a and though was not pleased to hear those stupid DJ’s on that hick country station, was actually looking forward to math with Mr Hagen (go figure? I know I’m on crack). And journalism.

Speaking of journalism, I had the strangest dream last night that today I missed both journalism periods and went to the counseling office and immediately dropped bio. I guess after that last test, that’s not a terrible idea. But, I’m enjoying the unit we’re doing on evolution, just because there’s so much *contraversy* behind the topic that, who couldn’t enjoy just the thrill of learning something “forbidden”?

Aww the juniors and sophomores are so sweet with their April issue. I feel so proud of each and every one of them, and I know they’ll all do just a fantastic job this month. I can’t wait to see it, you guys!

Well I was heading off to Ms Caples’ classroom when I turned around, to my mailbox, and noticed the mail came. “What the hell,” I thought as I recrossed the road and approached to the mailbox. Inside was…an acceptence letter from Scripps College! I’m pretty psyched, especially because I really want to go to a school in the Claremont Colleges, and Scripps, aside from Pomona, is supposed to be one of the better ones. That one and Harvey Mudd, but I don’t want to be some techie-engineer person. I’m still waiting for a reply from Pitzer, but I have a feeling I’m going to Scripps, just because I fell in love with the campus when I went there and really like the idea of going to one of the best women’s colleges in the western United States.

I showed Mr Sabb and Mrs Madden the acceptance letter, both were so thrilled for me. Sabb actually hugged me, he was that happy. And Ms Madden was jumping up and down, both were so cute. So that was a good day.

Ms Caples, I’m sorry to say, was a bit on the dry side today, because Heart of Darkness is sooo boring, like it or not. Joseph Conrad, now there’s a Communist if I ever knew one.

Jessie and I just sat on the net most the afternoon, and it wasn’t until Eva and Mom came home around five-thirty-ish could I tell them the good news. Mom was really happy, because she read this article about the UA which frankly scarred her, and it was kind of disturbing to me too. Well I’m out~

You know what I said last night? Scratch that—it all goes away once you receive those letters and know where you’re going.

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Well I’m going to blog while the boring Academy Awards are going on…so far I got the majority of ‘em (take that, Deepinder :P). But the major awards are still to come…aww dammit, Ian McKellen didn’t win Best Supporting Actor. Oh well.

Most of today, let’s see…we didn’t do much, actually. It was one of those days where the highlight of the day was going grocery shopping with Mom and Eva. Errk. Umm I read some Crime and Punishment and played a bit of FFX, but when do I not do that, in all honesty? I’ve also been thinking a lot of how very busy I’ll be this upcoming month, don’t you always love that~

Standing on the brink of the Great Beyond…I didn’t quite understand Yearbook’s theme from last year until I witnessed it this year. Senior year in high school, do you know what that’s like? Well the first semester is a lot of rush, figuring out college applications, last minute standardized testing. Second semester is just the stress of waiting for acceptance/rejection letters, and let me tell you now, although the former seems more stressful, the latter is terrible. So I bid you younger ones adieu tonight, as I am about to leave you all, assuming I survive this next month and a half, that is~

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Errk I can’t believe I almost forgot to blog tonight…sorry, folks. But here I am, at my usual time.

This morning Jessie and I watched my Tidus kiss Yunie in FFX (aww how sweet). Then we took the dog for a walk, cleaned the kitchen, and off to Mama’s Pizzaria to get a kalzone (yumm it was soo good…I want another one right nowww….).

After that I actually did some math (garr stupid Spring Break coming to an end), sat on the net, then picked up Eva! Yay she’s here and happy and intact, though she seemed a bit tired. She got up at 5a and went to bed at 2a this morning. Oh what fun it is to pilgramage to San Diego…

Yeh so if you know about Flat Bethany some of you might get a kick out of this (she wrote back):

Bethanny

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Actually I have two versions of this poem. Tonight I post the one I like better…maybe another time I’ll post the other one:

The Star Cloister
Enter, Wishes,
See for yourself
Why humans talk of you

�The moment is forever.
For I just told my moment to you.�

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I found this stuffed in my diary, on the back of an hpc (HJP) board printout from Sept. 11 (something I wrote):

My Sept. 11 Story:

Sept. 11 was unexpected. I called Virginia that night, she had me that worried. We didn’t talk about her dad; she just didn’t want to. So we talked about other things: her forest, my desert, friends, school. Not Sept. 11. Sept. 11—people soon caught on the 9-11 and made fake prophecies about it—Kyle ———- showed me one. It was horrifying. I couldn’t face it, so I feigned business that week with deadline. I got very caught up in it—so caught up I actually cried Thursday when the paper was sent to the printer. Sanctuaries is how to handle shock—it’s the same as madness, I guess.