I am the first chair clarinet in my school band. We have a solo and ensamble event coming up on April 21 and I has 1 solo and 2 ensambles. It's a lot of fun but also a lot of work. I had a practice today and I have concluded that band nerds are by far the coolest people on the planet.
First we warmed up by playing a basic Space Oydessy 2001 type thing. Then we played March for Military Band by Beethoven and then The Death of Ase by Grieg and then I played my solo which is March by Bach.
For those of you who don't play an instrument, I highly suggest it. It's so much fun.
So I go to a public school where sports are generally taken more seriously over academics and whenever somebody gets a better grade, they are called a try-hard. I seem to get called this a lot because I give very elaborate presentations. I really don't like the term try-hard. I get that they might be upset that I received a better grade, but it still makes me a giant squid of anger when I am accused of being a try-hard.
I value academics. I'm not going to pretend that I don't. I like school and I like learning new things. I do like to call myself nerdy. But when I get called a try-hard in a negative light, it kind of brings my hopes down. There is a lot of potential in my generation. We have the technology to improve so many things. But if somebody is going to put down the people that are willing to work hard to improve things, it just makes me lose hope for humanity. Yeah, I know my thoughts are very drastic, but still you never know.
I don't know how many of you are Nerdfighters, but if you are one then you've definitely heard of John Green. So last July, I pre-ordered "The Fault in Our Stars" which is an excellent book by John Green. All pre-orders were promised to be signed and I was very excited to get my copy.
When I finally got my copy in January, it was not pre-ordered. Only John explained that not all of the pre-orders were signed and that if you e-mailed him about it, he would make up for it in some way shape or form. So I e-mailed him in late January and ever since I have eagerly been awaiting my J-scribble signature.
I got home today after school and found a letter from Penguin Young Readers Group in the mail. I opened it and found a letter that said that they were sorry about the mix up and they thanked me for supporting TFiOS. Inside was a little slip of paper signed by John Green. That's it right there. Sorry about the photo quality. My computer is obviously indenting at weird places. I'm so happy I finally got my John Green signature.
I had my Regional competition for Power of the Pen today. I got 5th place overall, so I get to go to state! I'm pretty excited. I thought I did pretty well too.
The first prompt was Describe someone who you have nothing in common with. I wrote about a cat whose owners had a baby and he wasn't too happy about it. The second prompt was The Prize. Name one that isn't worth winning. I wrote about a girl who worked at a carnival and gave out crappy consolation prizes. The third prompt was The Letter. You weren't supposed to read it and the content is disturbing. I wrote about a girl who saw a letter from her dad even though her mom told her that her dad was dead. I'll be sure to post those soon.
Stars are pretty cool. I'm no science genius, but I know that they aren't twinkling diamonds in the sky. They're giant massive fireballs that are in a constant explosion. And we live 93,000,000 miles from one!
You know they say that when you wish upon a star, you're actually a million years too late and that star is dead. (Like your wish). So at night, the stars that we see could be long gone or in the process of dying and we wouldn't even know yet. That means that their light is like as old as the dinosaurs! And some of those stars might even have planets and those planets might have moons. And those stars are probably bigger than our sun so if gives you a feel of how significantly insignificant we are. We are so small in comparison to this amazingly awesome universe but we are the only known life forms so far, which leaves discovering everything up to us. For the nerdfighters that read this you'll know that the known universe has NO EDGE! (Maybe because the honey badger ate it...) So we are definitely not going to be able to see all off it but we can try.
You can get a lot of thoughts from stargazing... If you want to learn more about stars watch charlieissocoollike's video on them. He understands more than I do, but it's called fun science so it's definitely worth it.
So today is the vernal equinox. Cool. Only, in my town it feels like it's late June. It's 80 degrees outside. My house is within five miles of Lake Erie. Northern Ohio should not be 80 degrees on March 20th!
Of course, I know that complaining about good weather makes me sound like the killer of all joy but I find a situation and I extend it to the worst thing that could happen. Example: 80 degrees on March 20th is because of the holes in the ozone and that will lead to global warming, which leads to temperatures rising and now my children will never see snow or a polar bear or maybe won't exist because of the flooding of Earth. And I guess if you're one of those people who doesn't think that global warming was caused by humans that's.... fine. I'm not going to argue with you because I know that you won't change your opinion.
In my book, it's been spring for like 19 days. When I was a kid I had a system. That system said that the first day of Winter was December 1, the first day of Spring was March 1, the first day of Summer was June 1 and the first day of Autumn was September 1. Of course, I know now about solstices and equinoxes but I still like the system. The equinoxes and solstices change every year, whereas in my system everything stays the same. And think about it, when school ends for the year in late May or June, do you say that it's not summer break until the solstice? No. I know it isn't accurate, but I like my system.
So do you guys have any cool vernal equinox things that you do? Probably not. It's not generally a celebrated day...
Many times in life, we hide things that we don't want others to know about. We do it because we're afraid, because we're embarrassed and sometimes because we want things to ourselves. But now I realize that there isn't anything to be afraid or embarrassed about with this gift I've been given.
I have a mental ability called synesthesia.
It's basically where when I see or hear things like colors or letters or sounds or names or words I associate it a color or letter to match. Like a is red and m is turquoise and x is gray and z is purple.
The reason that I've been so afraid to announce it is because in preschool I told the kids about my colors and they called me a freak. My close friends and my history class know, but today is the day that I officially announce being synesthesic.
I really love my colors and I'm glad that I have them. I get mad when people call it a disease because it's not. It's an ability. One of my favorite quotes is by Sylvia Plath who said "the colors that exsist inside your mind cannot exsist in real life." which is true. Not everyone sees what I see and not everyone understands it. But I embrace my colors. I have them for a reason, I just don't knownit yet.
For anyone who deosnt know what marh madness is or how it works, I'll explain it. Basically, 64 college basketball teams from around the country are entered into a tournament. They ar divided into brackets and they face each other to win the whole thing. People call it March Madness because it take plac and March and it's all pretty crazy. Buy people can take part of march madness.
There is a website where you can print off a form with the teams who face each other in the first round. From then on, you can guess who you think is going to win. People can place bets on games or just do it for fun. It's an American tradition. Even President Obama takes part in the brackets. I believe he always goes for North Carolina... This year I have Syracuse winning everything.
The sheets are very helpful with stats so people don't lose too bad. They show you where the team ranks in their division, how many games they've won and lost and it compares it to the team that they face. That's my favorite part. Comparing the statistics. I know, it's nerdy but I love a nice organized sequence of statistics.
That's the reason I always do l pretty good in March Madness. Everyone else bases their winners on bias. They choose their favorite teams instead of the good teams.
March madness is a great tradition in my opinion. Not only does it keep the jocks entertained, but it keeps the nerds like me entertained.
A highschool near my town has put on the phantom of the opera for their spring musical. I saw it tonight and it was amazing!
The phantom of the opera, for those who don't know, is an operetta which means that nearly all of the dialouge is sung. They needed very wonderful sopranos and boy to they have them.
They story is basically of this man with a disfigured face and he lives underneath an opera house and he falls in love with one of the ballerinas. It's very dark and very deep and quite frankly it's the number one thing on my obsessions list right now. For anyone who has never seen it, go see it NOW! It's wonderful. If you can't then i don't know. Read it or something. There is a novel version.
The big, bustling bus rolled down the highway the same way that Josie's thoughts ran through her brain. This was her second chance at having a home and she didn't want to screw it up.
Josie was put into an orphanage at a very young age. So young that it was almost like her mother had handed her over to the orphanage as soon as they had left the hospital. Josie knew from looking at her records that her mother had kept her for almost two months. Josie shouldn't have known this of course, but most nights when everyone was asleep, she'd sneak into the office and try to learn as much about her mother as she could. She knew that her mother was 17 when she had her. She knew that her mother's name was Jennifer Watson and her address from when she was 17. She also looked her up on the internet and found that she was a successful Real Estate Agent in a Chicago suburb. For 18 years, Josie wasn't allowed to look for her mother, but now she was 18. She was a legal adult and she could do what she wished, so long as it was within the limits of the law.
Her thoughts ranged from incredibly happy things like going to lunch and shopping with her mom to incredibly dark thoughts like being rejected on her mother's doorstep. She imagined her bright blue eyes filling with tears as her mother said something like "There's a reason I gave you up."
"No." She whispered to herself. "She can't just kick me out of her life. I'm her daughter." She reminded herself of this fact for the rest of the bus ride as she watched the landscape go by and tried to stay away from the large snoring man next to her.
The bus came to a stop and the passengers climbed off. Josie sat there for a second and took a deep breath.
"She has to at least like me." She whispered. "I'm her daughter." The bus driver's gruff voice interrupted her thought process.
"Hey!" She looked up and saw him glaring at her through the rearview mirror. "This is the end of the line. You have to get off here." Josie gathered her things and silently hurried to the front of the bus.
"Thank you for the ride. And sorry for holding you up." She said quietly. She had always been a quiet person. Mrs.Hamilton at the orphanage always said that if she spoke up more, then maybe she'd get adopted. Josie didn't like Mrs.Hamilton very much.
She checked the address that she had written on her hand. It was the address that she had gotten from calling her mother's office. The receptionist must've been a sucker for reuniting families because once Josie explained herself, she rattled off the address immediately. She also looked at the map that she had printed off. Her mother's street was about eight blocks over.
"I'd better start walking." She mumbled. Fortunately, the blocks weren't as long as city blocks and only ended at a new street corner. She had been able to get to her mother's neighborhood in about ten minutes.
She paced back and forth as she thought to herself. Did she really want this? Maybe it was better to just turn around, go back to the orphanage and properly say goodbye to everyone. In the end, she decided that she hadn't travelled 60 miles just to let go of her second chance. She had waited too long to let that chance go.
She slowly walked up to the impressive looking brick house. She ran through her black hair with her fingers to knots out and make it look as straight as possible. After all, she didn't want to look like riff-raff from the street. She extended her long, pale arm and knocked on the bright blue door three times. She heard a dog bark and a pair of feet run down the stairs. Josie had always wanted a do. Maybe she could've had one.
A short woman with Josie's hair and eyes answered the door. She looked tired and worn. Josie cleared her throat.
"Hello, I'm Josie Watson and I am your daughter." The woman widened her eyes and Josie mimiced this movement when she saw a small child run up to the door.
"Mommy, who is she?" She stared at the child and then at her mother and ran away from the house.
I had a whole other part planned, but I ran out of time during the session. I hope you guys liked that.
They ruin lazer tag and make me sad about things. Don't be creepy or I will be mad.
Basically, I was at lazer tag with my friends and there was this one creepy 40 year old guy who treated the game like life. He didn't give anyone a chance. I know it's just a game, but you don't have to treat it like a war. After my friend told him how creepy he was he said "oh boo hoo it's just a game." I don't enjoy people like this. Quite frankly, they ruin my day.
Sometimes you think life is on track. You think everything is going great and you're having the best time and then life throws a curveball and you don't even know what life is anymore. Sometimes you wan to give up and just stop caring, but I've never been The type of person to just stop caring. I always have to care about something. I have to be passinate about it and obsess over it. I don't worry about me not caring, I worry about what it is I care about. My life is about to change an awful lot. I don't know what's going to happen or how it's going to change how I see certain people, but I know that I am going to care about what happens because I can't stop caring. I'm the caregiver in my life. And I like it that way.
Always deny the apocalypse. Usually you'll be right.
And when you're wrong, no one will be around to say I
told you so. -Charlie McDonnell
It's been 2012 for about three months now and everyone at my school is on this big countdown to the end of the world. Most of them believe it's the Mayan Calendar and some think it's some "Planet X" and others just don't know why. I don't know if they're serious or joking, but I know that some people actually believe that the world is going to end. To these people I say, calm down. The end has been predicted before. So, without further ado, here are my favorite doomsday predictions.
1. 1806- The Prophet Hen of Leeds
In the year 1806, it was reported that a hen in the English town of Leeds was laying eggs that had the message "Christ is coming" written on them. It was proved wrong when a curious local watched the hen lay eggs and they did not have any messages written on them. Why would you listen to a hen? Seriously! Especially a hen who lays eggs that have very similar handwriting to the hen's owner on them.
2. 1997- Heaven's Gate
In 1997 a comet called Hale-Bopp appeared. People decided that there absolutely had to be an alien space craft hiding behind the comet and the whole thing was being covered up by NASA. Even though you could prove this wrong with a good telescope, a San Diego UFO cult called Heaven's Gate used this excuse to predict the end of the world. Even though the world didn't end, it ended for 39 of the cult members who committed suicide on March 26, 1997. Even though NASA and everyone in the astronomical community proved the wrong, they still though that aliens were living behind a comet. And when they were wrong, they killed themselves. That's not a good way to deal with people who mock you at all. It makes them feel like they've won.
3. January 1, 2000- Y2K
So we all know this one. Basically, everyone was worried that computers wouldn't be able to make the date switch from 1900 dates to 2000 dates. No one was really sure what it would do but predictions ranged anywhere from simple blackouts to a nuclear holocaust. But, the new millennium began and computers accurately switched to January 1, 2000. What gets me about this one is that my mom believed it. She wasn't radical about it, but she stocked up on bottled water and canned foods. In her defense, she did have two babies at home.
4. May 21, 2011- The Rapture
This one is probably one of my favorites. Christian radio host, Harold Camping said that the rapture would occur on May 21, 2011. He predicted that about 200,000,000 people (3% of the world's population) would be raptured and taken to heaven while everyone else stayed on Earth, which would be hell for five months until God destroyed the earth on October 21, 2011. Mr. Camping also predicted that the world would end in September of 1994. He said that he used math to calculate the exact day. Here is his process:
The number five equals "atonement", the number ten equals "completeness", and the number seventeen equals "heaven".
The number of days (as calculated below) between April 1, 33 AD, and May 21, 2011 AD, is 722,500.
Christ is believed by Camping to have hung on the cross on April 1, 33 AD. The time between April 1, 33 AD, and April 1, 2011, is 1,978 years.
If 1,978 is multiplied by 365.2422 days (the number of days in a solar, as distinct from lunar, year), the result is 722,449.
The time between April 1 and May 21 is 51 days.
51 added to 722,449 is 722,500.
(5 × 10 × 17)2 or (atonement × completeness × heaven)2 also equals 722,500.
On May 23, Camping said that he made a mistake and that the world would be raptured and end all on October 21. Camping had no further comments after October 21. My friends and I were all on a band trip to an amusement park on that day, and we were pretty amused. All day we were making jokes about how we had to ride that ride because it was our "last chance." My cousin had a baby that day too, so it was a new beginning at a fake ending. It's silly because in the Bible it specifically states that only God will know when the world ends. I'm not saying that everything in the Bible is 100% true, but you;d think a Christian radio host would think that part through.
5. 2012- Mayan Calendar
The Mayans were a very interesting group of people. They had a very complex view of time and calendars. They had an awful lot of calendars. The one that everyone has been talking about is a very very long term calendar. If you'd like to know exactly how the calendar works, Hank Green explains it much better than I do in this video. Much like the calendar that you have hanging on your wall or planned in your iPhone or whatever, when one calendar ends, you start a new one. Last year on December 31, we didn't run around complaining about the end of the world. The Mayan Calendar is the same way. One ends, a new one begins. Another reason is also the one as seen above. So when the Mayan Calendar ends on December 21 2012, just use it as an excuse to celebrate the new year a few days early. Be responsible though... :)
6. 2012- Planet X
Some people believe that the world will end in 2012 because a mystery planet called Planet X will block the sunlight to the Earth for three days. First off, we'd be able to see this Planet X if it were going be anywhere near Earth in December so it doesn't exist. If it did exist and happen to cut off sunlight for three days, we'd be okay. There are places on Earth were they don't get sunlight for months and they do just fine.
The end of the world is just a thing that people use to get your money and support. Never believe in it. Trust me, the end of the world isn't going to come anytime soon.
My family is pretty close and every now and then we all get together to do something. Today, we went bowling. My cousin and siblings were on my team and my aunts and uncles and parents were on another team while others watched. I haven't been bowling in awhile, but I was pretty hopeful. After a few turns, quickly realized why we were using the bumpers that blocked the ball from going into the gutter.
My aunts gave me a few tips because apparently, everyone in my family is good at bowling except for me. I guess the gene skipped over me. I got better, but I still had the least score out of everyone. We played 3 games and my scores were 79, 103 and 84. Even though I kept on getting spares and fours or fives, I had a lot of fun. I'd laugh at myself and watch as the ball rolled and knocked down only half of the pins. I'm like this with a lot of things that I'm terrible about. My enthusiasm doesn't equal my level of talent for some things. Like running. I like running, I guess. Except when it gives me shin splints. But my average mile time is like, 13 minutes. This enthusiasm also gets my hopes up and tells me that I'm good at things when in reality, I just can't bowl well or run fast or remember all of the notes on the piano.
It's nice to have this unrealistic enthusiasm though. I guess that it's just another way of being optimistic. You can expect yourself to be good, but you lose. Then the next time you do something, you still expect to win. Maybe it drives me to get better at something. Probably not. I like the feeling of thinking that I'm going to win I guess. It's nice. I think that I deal with it better because I don't care if I win or lose at something.
In 5th and 6th grade, I had a teacher who knew every student pretty well. It helped that there were only fourteen kids in the class, but he knew everyone. He knew our birthday's by heart. He didn't use the announcements or anything. He just knew. Whenever it was one of our birthday's, he'd have us all recite the Birthday Poem by Dr. Suess to the kid whose birthday it was. We had to memorize that poem and use hand gestures and make funny noises. Well, today is the birthday of the man who wrote that poem. Since we never said it to him, I'm going to say it now. Happy Birthday, Dr.Suess. Thank you for making my childhood everything that it was. Thanks for teaching me how to read with simple rhyming words. Thanks for giving me imagination. Thanks for all of the basic learning skills.
