I've done some thinking and decided that I'm excited. Like, yes, because it's Christmas and that is SUPER exciting and I might write about that later, but that's not the kind of excited I am specifically talking about in this context. I am excited because I have been thinking. Like, really thinking. About lots of stuff, and maybe I'll tell you later, but that is going to take a lot of work (and typing, and time, and more thought. And reading on your part. And sorry that I am putting sentences inside of parentheses that aren't outside of a sentence.).
I am a nerd. Not just because I enjoy obscure or simply nerdy things, but because I just get really nerded-out. Like, excited. All of the time. About everything. Especially bowties. “…because nerds like us are allowed to be unironically enthusiastic about stuff… Nerds are allowed to love stuff, like jump-up-and-down-in-the-chair-can’t-control-yourself love it. When people call people nerds, mostly what they’re saying is ‘you like stuff.’ "
Lately I have been endeavoring to think as deeply as I can about everything, and especially to recognize when I am being prompted to do so (namely by teachers). I don't want to be mule-d (anyone? half-assed? no?) about it, either. Like, if I'm going to take the time to think about something for a couple of days, I want it to have an affect on me, and everyone around me.
Sometimes, someone will say something that makes everything I've been trying to fit together just snap into place. (Usually that happens in class. I'm mostly taking about school here.) That's when I get really excited. I can feel my eyes get wide. I think there's even a special excited-grin for the occasion, although I've never caught a mirror when this happens, I know how that excited-grin feels, and I imagine it to be worn with an Augustus Waters fashion.
When that happens, when I get my thinking-excited look on my face, I want people to see it. I want them to see the excited energy like a laser shooting out of my eyes and all of the machinery snapping into place in my head and how fast my heart seems like it's beating and how happy I get when I'm thinking. I want them to think: "what could possibly make her eyes look that way?"
When someone questions you, or when you question yourself, that is how you prove what you know. Sometimes you don't know the specific moment when you prove what you believe and what you believe becomes what you know. Sometimes others don't know when they question you and that causes you to know what you believe, because they didn't even ask a question. Because it's easy to believe what you know, but not nearly as easy to know what you believe.
That's what I'm talking about, that after thinking for days or for weeks, something causes me to question my thoughts in a different way, and then I know what I believe, like the way you fall asleep: slowly, then all at once.
And when I love people, I want it to be the same. It is so hard to love everyone. But it is what we are made for. And when I figure my thoughts out, in that moment, it feels the same as when you love someone. You know, with the sort of love with which you can love anyone. That's what I wish I could constantly emulate, that I would sparkle with love an the excitedness to know, shooting out of me in every direction, for the world to see, until the world is changed and we get to go home.
Sunday, December 22, 2013
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Thoughts
I've been thinking a lot lately. 'Bout stuffs. About humans and our place. I have a lot of thoughts and I'm not going to share them all right now. (Truthfully I am distracting myself from homework for a second because I'm doing math and I'm not exactly sure what all the squiggles are in front of me and I'm thinking and GAH!) But my thoughts are like stars I cannot fathom into constellations. There are so many and they don't all fit together because some aren't the right pieces, the lines don't connect. "And I just want someone to hear what I have so say. And maybe if I talk long enough, it'll make sense."
The conquistadors, I've been learning about them (and thinking about them). Was what they did wrong? Should they get off the hook since what they thought what they were doing was right? No. They were human, and broken like all of us. We are all broken, but that doesn't necessarily take away out capability of doing good things, because humanity is good. Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward. There is always good left in the broken, like ruins of a castle. Broken, but you can still tell what it is and what it once was (and how beautiful it was).
I don't really know what so say or how to say it and I should do homework, but I'm still trying to digest this and play around with it in my head (which makes it really hard to do math, by the way). And maybe if I talk long enough, it'll make sense.
The conquistadors, I've been learning about them (and thinking about them). Was what they did wrong? Should they get off the hook since what they thought what they were doing was right? No. They were human, and broken like all of us. We are all broken, but that doesn't necessarily take away out capability of doing good things, because humanity is good. Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward. There is always good left in the broken, like ruins of a castle. Broken, but you can still tell what it is and what it once was (and how beautiful it was).
I don't really know what so say or how to say it and I should do homework, but I'm still trying to digest this and play around with it in my head (which makes it really hard to do math, by the way). And maybe if I talk long enough, it'll make sense.
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
... and then I was a Whovian.
I chose the best week possible to start watching Doctor Who. It was on all day and all night all week to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary. I especially enjoyed the Day of the Doctor special. (Don't worry, I did my research before watching it. I always do my research, guys.)
If you can read the Gallifreyan you get the prize of my eternal adoration. (Also if you can read my Gallifreyan, you are really good at reading Gallifreyan.)
If you have no clue what any of this means, don't feel bad. :)
If you think this is awesome, we should hang out sometime and be nerdy together.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Saturday, September 14, 2013
School
This school year is pretty great so far. I'm still at the same school, which is really small, so there are only 13 kids. We don't switch classes, either, because a) we don't have to, and b) there is only one classroom anyway. Our classroom is brand-new and very awesome. We are the first class to use it. It is the only classroom upstairs, so that is very nice because everyone leaves us alone. I also like it because there are only 2 grades (7th & 8th [last year there was 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, AND 8th all together!]) and we don't have to share all the stuff with 4th graders. That really made me mad last year because they were always making things messy and I was like the only person who cleaned stuff up (that is still kind of true, but it's not as bad).
Our classroom also has a Promethean Board, which is like a SmartBoard, only better (I don't know if this is really true because I've never used a SmartBoard, but I believe it because the Promethean Board is pretty cool). The teachers decided to get one since you don't really need all the Montessori materials for Jr. High (Montessori materials are super expensive). It is basically a super fancy projector. That's nice because every time they want to show us something, they don't have to get the projector out because the Board is always set up. (Does that make any sense?)
The other new thing is that we have classroom committees--the Garden Committee, the Building & Grounds Committee, the Store Committee, and the Newspaper Committee. We had to write resumes and cover letters to apply for the committees like jobs. I got accepted to the Newspaper Committee, so now I am working with the other two Editors to start a school newspaper (which we have decided to name The Garden Imperial). Each committee has different responsibilities around the school & classroom, and each committee has certain classroom jobs like taking care of the computers & iPads, washing tables, straightening shelves etc.
I'm really sad that I only get to be with this awesome classroom and all these awesome people I know and love for one more year. I hate thinking about high school. But I must. The world is apparently not a wish granting factory. But, it is really awesome right now, so everything is Okay for the moment.
I've been reading a lot of YA fiction lately. I'll probably get back to some of the classics soon, but I really like reading YA fiction because it makes me excited to be a young adult in this time and place. Every year I seem to be more excited about the fact that I am a person, and I am sure that excitedness may decrease a bit next year when I have a buttload of homework and not enough sleep, but right now, I am excited that I get to be a person and marvel at the majesty of creation and whatnot. I quite like being a person in this time and place.
Our classroom also has a Promethean Board, which is like a SmartBoard, only better (I don't know if this is really true because I've never used a SmartBoard, but I believe it because the Promethean Board is pretty cool). The teachers decided to get one since you don't really need all the Montessori materials for Jr. High (Montessori materials are super expensive). It is basically a super fancy projector. That's nice because every time they want to show us something, they don't have to get the projector out because the Board is always set up. (Does that make any sense?)
The other new thing is that we have classroom committees--the Garden Committee, the Building & Grounds Committee, the Store Committee, and the Newspaper Committee. We had to write resumes and cover letters to apply for the committees like jobs. I got accepted to the Newspaper Committee, so now I am working with the other two Editors to start a school newspaper (which we have decided to name The Garden Imperial). Each committee has different responsibilities around the school & classroom, and each committee has certain classroom jobs like taking care of the computers & iPads, washing tables, straightening shelves etc.
I'm really sad that I only get to be with this awesome classroom and all these awesome people I know and love for one more year. I hate thinking about high school. But I must. The world is apparently not a wish granting factory. But, it is really awesome right now, so everything is Okay for the moment.
I've been reading a lot of YA fiction lately. I'll probably get back to some of the classics soon, but I really like reading YA fiction because it makes me excited to be a young adult in this time and place. Every year I seem to be more excited about the fact that I am a person, and I am sure that excitedness may decrease a bit next year when I have a buttload of homework and not enough sleep, but right now, I am excited that I get to be a person and marvel at the majesty of creation and whatnot. I quite like being a person in this time and place.
Friday, September 13, 2013
Sherwood Forest Camp
This week instead of going to school Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I went to camp instead of class. I wasn't skipping school--the teachers planned it. It was so awesome. I am probably going to say "awesome" a lot. That is a word I frequently use. I should reserve it for those times I am actually filled with awe. The definition of humanness is the ability to marvel at the majesty of creation. But it can be a powerful word, and I am rambling.
We left the school at 7:45. The drive to camp took about 2 hours. We got to drive through lots of windy country roads. I love driving on windy country roads. Often they are really beautiful. I taught the people in the car I was in how to play cows, and then we kind of played cows, only there weren't that many cows. I thought we would see more since the camp was right behind a cow farm. There were actually some cows laying next to the road on the gravel road in camp. We had to open & close 2 cow gates. I'm rambling again.
We got to camp around 10. We unpacked everything from the cars and put it away in the cabins. Then we played mafia with the counselors until lunchtime.
I really liked the counselors. They were fun/ny and super nice. I think it would be fun to be a camp counselor or something like that as a summer job. They all thought I looked like a girl version of a guy named Travis who was there during the summer, so that was weird and funny.
Meals are very unique at Sherwood. I really liked the way they do it, though. There is a server and a scraper at each table. The campers set the tables and serve the food. Whoever sits at the right side on the end is the server. The server goes up to the window to get the food, brings it to the table and stuff. They also say grace before every meal (and I learned a few new ones, which will be good for Girl Scouts!).
The scraper is the person who gets to scrape everyone's plates and clean stuff up. The server gets to start "the scraper game." They can use utensils, napkins, whatever, holding them in a certain way, or doing a specific action like waving or standing up. Similar to the way the last person with a spoon in the spoons card game loses, that's how you loose the scraper game. The last person to do the action copying the server is the scraper. Also, if you eat before the server starts eating, you're the scraper. If you spill something, you're the scraper. If you knock a bench over, your whole table has to scrape for the entire dining hall (I guess that one applies more during the summer when there are more people are there. That didn't happen anyway, though.). Once your table has a scraper, everyone counts to three and screams EMMA'S SCRAPER! (Or whoever is scraper. I didn't actually have to be scraper, but I did serve twice.)
Anyway, after lunch we played lots of team-building games outside. My favorite was Rise to the Sun, where one person lays down and everyone else lifts them up. I'm really glad I got to be the person that got picked up, because it was pretty cool. I thought it would be weird with everyone touching me, but once they picked me up, it didn't feel like anyone was. All I could see was the sky, and it was so blue. I think I nearly floated away.
That day we also did a really cool team adventure course thing. It had a couple of activities, like a nature trail with stations along the way. At the first, we had to get everyone through a tire that was hanging up. The tricky part was, you couldn't really touch the tire because there was a stick sitting on top of it that you couldn't knock off or you would have to start over, so you kinda had to lift people through it.
At the next station, we had to get everyone standing on top of a tire because it was an island and we didn't want to get melted by the chocolate acid. I got to have acid proof shoes because there were too many people. I think that one was the hardest.
The next one (and my favorite) was a rope swing. The problem was, there was a square we couldn't step inside because it was a boiling marshmallow swamp. The square was just big enough that we couldn't reach the rope, so we had to make a grappling hook type thing, tying bandanas, jackets, and shoes together (we could only use things we were wearing). If anything fell inside the square, we couldn't get it back. If it was a person, we had to start over. I thought it was fun to swing across.
The last station we did was a tight rope. It was also fun, and there was a rope you could hold on to so it wasn't that hard. The rest of the people who weren't going across had to spot, so it was actually kind of impossible to fall. (Spotting is basically standing behind or beside someone with your hands out to make sure they don't fall).
After that we played 9-square. It is like 4-square, but with 9 squares and instead of bouncing the ball, you have to keep it in the air. There is a pvc pipe thing that defines the squares and I will see if I can find a picture on the internet.
After playing 9-square, we had dinner. I don't even remember what it was now. After dinner we went to the art barn and tie-dyed our shirts. I'm told they always tie-dye at Sherwood. My hands got all green and witchy.
Then, we had a(n intentional) fire. We had s'mores and sang songs. I learned 2 new ones. They are stuck in my head and kind of annoying (but, of course, hilarious. I'll have to teach them to you and get them stuck in your head. You're welcome.)
The next day was the tower day. At Sherwood, they have an awesome 60-foot high tango tower.
(You wear a harness & helmet.) It has 7 (I think) sides to climb up in different ways. My favorite was the pirate swing. I just thought it was more interesting, and definitely more fun than the other ones I did. The last time I climbed up, I went down the zip line. It was kinda scary to have to step off the edge, but then it was amazing! The tower was definitely my favorite thing. I felt so Dauntless. (I also just finished reading Divergent and Insurgent. [I can't wait for Alliegant to come out! Eeeeek!])
After that we played dodge ball and 9-square and then had dinner. I will never forget that dinner. I already forgot what I was eating, but I do remember that at one point I laughed so hard that milk came out my nose. Seriously, I laughed for at least five minutes straight. The thing I was laughing at wasn't even that funny, but it struck me funny at that moment. (I'm laughing about it now just remembering it.) But of course, I had just taken a big long drink of milk. It didn't occur to me at first that the fact that I had a mouthful of milk would be a problem, because I wasn't laughing that hard. Then, I realized I had milk in my mouth, so I tried to swallow it, but then I just started laughing harder and I couldn't stop. Then milk started coming out my mouth and so I laughed even harder and it started coming out my nose. Oh my goodness. It was so awesome. One of the counselors declared that as his new favorite Camp Moment. I agreed. The magic word of the night was milkoutyournose. (There is a magic word at every meal.)
After dinner we played a fun improv-y team game. I was on team Bananarama Squad. I laughed so hard during that game. I'm not even going to try and explain it.
The next day was the last day. We played games outside that morning, dodge ball and 9-square, only with the counselors that time, and it was even more fun. I also laughed a lot during that. I laughed so much at camp. I felt like I really got to know the counselors. I also feel like I know my friends better. I even know myself better.
I really hate leaving camp. I'm always so excited about all of the amazing things I just did and learned and laughed about. I can't take those feelings with me. But I can take the memories of them, and I hope I don't soon forget how much I laughed and how awesome it all was.
We left the school at 7:45. The drive to camp took about 2 hours. We got to drive through lots of windy country roads. I love driving on windy country roads. Often they are really beautiful. I taught the people in the car I was in how to play cows, and then we kind of played cows, only there weren't that many cows. I thought we would see more since the camp was right behind a cow farm. There were actually some cows laying next to the road on the gravel road in camp. We had to open & close 2 cow gates. I'm rambling again.
We got to camp around 10. We unpacked everything from the cars and put it away in the cabins. Then we played mafia with the counselors until lunchtime.
I really liked the counselors. They were fun/ny and super nice. I think it would be fun to be a camp counselor or something like that as a summer job. They all thought I looked like a girl version of a guy named Travis who was there during the summer, so that was weird and funny.
Meals are very unique at Sherwood. I really liked the way they do it, though. There is a server and a scraper at each table. The campers set the tables and serve the food. Whoever sits at the right side on the end is the server. The server goes up to the window to get the food, brings it to the table and stuff. They also say grace before every meal (and I learned a few new ones, which will be good for Girl Scouts!).
The scraper is the person who gets to scrape everyone's plates and clean stuff up. The server gets to start "the scraper game." They can use utensils, napkins, whatever, holding them in a certain way, or doing a specific action like waving or standing up. Similar to the way the last person with a spoon in the spoons card game loses, that's how you loose the scraper game. The last person to do the action copying the server is the scraper. Also, if you eat before the server starts eating, you're the scraper. If you spill something, you're the scraper. If you knock a bench over, your whole table has to scrape for the entire dining hall (I guess that one applies more during the summer when there are more people are there. That didn't happen anyway, though.). Once your table has a scraper, everyone counts to three and screams EMMA'S SCRAPER! (Or whoever is scraper. I didn't actually have to be scraper, but I did serve twice.)
Anyway, after lunch we played lots of team-building games outside. My favorite was Rise to the Sun, where one person lays down and everyone else lifts them up. I'm really glad I got to be the person that got picked up, because it was pretty cool. I thought it would be weird with everyone touching me, but once they picked me up, it didn't feel like anyone was. All I could see was the sky, and it was so blue. I think I nearly floated away.
That day we also did a really cool team adventure course thing. It had a couple of activities, like a nature trail with stations along the way. At the first, we had to get everyone through a tire that was hanging up. The tricky part was, you couldn't really touch the tire because there was a stick sitting on top of it that you couldn't knock off or you would have to start over, so you kinda had to lift people through it.
At the next station, we had to get everyone standing on top of a tire because it was an island and we didn't want to get melted by the chocolate acid. I got to have acid proof shoes because there were too many people. I think that one was the hardest.
The next one (and my favorite) was a rope swing. The problem was, there was a square we couldn't step inside because it was a boiling marshmallow swamp. The square was just big enough that we couldn't reach the rope, so we had to make a grappling hook type thing, tying bandanas, jackets, and shoes together (we could only use things we were wearing). If anything fell inside the square, we couldn't get it back. If it was a person, we had to start over. I thought it was fun to swing across.
The last station we did was a tight rope. It was also fun, and there was a rope you could hold on to so it wasn't that hard. The rest of the people who weren't going across had to spot, so it was actually kind of impossible to fall. (Spotting is basically standing behind or beside someone with your hands out to make sure they don't fall).
After that we played 9-square. It is like 4-square, but with 9 squares and instead of bouncing the ball, you have to keep it in the air. There is a pvc pipe thing that defines the squares and I will see if I can find a picture on the internet.
After playing 9-square, we had dinner. I don't even remember what it was now. After dinner we went to the art barn and tie-dyed our shirts. I'm told they always tie-dye at Sherwood. My hands got all green and witchy.
Then, we had a(n intentional) fire. We had s'mores and sang songs. I learned 2 new ones. They are stuck in my head and kind of annoying (but, of course, hilarious. I'll have to teach them to you and get them stuck in your head. You're welcome.)
The next day was the tower day. At Sherwood, they have an awesome 60-foot high tango tower.
(You wear a harness & helmet.) It has 7 (I think) sides to climb up in different ways. My favorite was the pirate swing. I just thought it was more interesting, and definitely more fun than the other ones I did. The last time I climbed up, I went down the zip line. It was kinda scary to have to step off the edge, but then it was amazing! The tower was definitely my favorite thing. I felt so Dauntless. (I also just finished reading Divergent and Insurgent. [I can't wait for Alliegant to come out! Eeeeek!])
After that we played dodge ball and 9-square and then had dinner. I will never forget that dinner. I already forgot what I was eating, but I do remember that at one point I laughed so hard that milk came out my nose. Seriously, I laughed for at least five minutes straight. The thing I was laughing at wasn't even that funny, but it struck me funny at that moment. (I'm laughing about it now just remembering it.) But of course, I had just taken a big long drink of milk. It didn't occur to me at first that the fact that I had a mouthful of milk would be a problem, because I wasn't laughing that hard. Then, I realized I had milk in my mouth, so I tried to swallow it, but then I just started laughing harder and I couldn't stop. Then milk started coming out my mouth and so I laughed even harder and it started coming out my nose. Oh my goodness. It was so awesome. One of the counselors declared that as his new favorite Camp Moment. I agreed. The magic word of the night was milkoutyournose. (There is a magic word at every meal.)
After dinner we played a fun improv-y team game. I was on team Bananarama Squad. I laughed so hard during that game. I'm not even going to try and explain it.
The next day was the last day. We played games outside that morning, dodge ball and 9-square, only with the counselors that time, and it was even more fun. I also laughed a lot during that. I laughed so much at camp. I felt like I really got to know the counselors. I also feel like I know my friends better. I even know myself better.
I really hate leaving camp. I'm always so excited about all of the amazing things I just did and learned and laughed about. I can't take those feelings with me. But I can take the memories of them, and I hope I don't soon forget how much I laughed and how awesome it all was.
Friday, July 26, 2013
14
I am now 14. And therefore, obviously, more awesome than I was before I was 14.
The party was very fun. I am really bad at bowling. But it was fun even though I am very bad at bowling. There was pizza and ice cream cake.
My friends know me so well. They all got me books and index cards & pens. Also washi tape. Awesome.
On my actual birthday, we went bike shopping in the morning. Then we went to PF Chang's for lunch where I had crispy honey chicken and an amazing dessert that had peanut butter in it. Afterwards we went back to the bike place to pick the bike up. When we got home we went for a bike ride.
After riding it a few times, I decided to name her Phyllis. Like in the Flavia de Luce books, Flavia's bike is named Gladys. I think it's so cute.
I invited my friend Lindsey over to help me rearrange my books, since the current arrangement didn't allow space for additions, and I know that she is the kind of awesome person who would actually want to do that.
The party was very fun. I am really bad at bowling. But it was fun even though I am very bad at bowling. There was pizza and ice cream cake.
My friends know me so well. They all got me books and index cards & pens. Also washi tape. Awesome.
On my actual birthday, we went bike shopping in the morning. Then we went to PF Chang's for lunch where I had crispy honey chicken and an amazing dessert that had peanut butter in it. Afterwards we went back to the bike place to pick the bike up. When we got home we went for a bike ride.
After riding it a few times, I decided to name her Phyllis. Like in the Flavia de Luce books, Flavia's bike is named Gladys. I think it's so cute.
I invited my friend Lindsey over to help me rearrange my books, since the current arrangement didn't allow space for additions, and I know that she is the kind of awesome person who would actually want to do that.
We had already deshelved my other books and were trying to decide how to organize all of them (we went for alphabetical by the first letter of the author's last name). I picked up one of the new books and said, "hey, I haven't even smelled these yet!" and proceeded to sniff them. "I think this one smells the best," I said, setting the book down.
"Let me smell," said Lindsey. After a moment she said, "I agree. Fahrenheit 451 definitely smells the best."
We laughed. We are such dorks. I love that.
Needless to say, now I am reading Fahrenheit 451.
I quite like it so far.
Anyway.
Thanks, guys.
I had an awesome birthday.
Needless to say, now I am reading Fahrenheit 451.
I quite like it so far.
Anyway.
Thanks, guys.
I had an awesome birthday.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Beautiful Wall Collage
I finished it!
Isn't it TOTALLY AWESOME?! You can't see everything perfectly, but the stuff I've added to it since that post where I told you about awesome stuff I've been doing is: some bottle cap thingies, the AIA cover I already told you about, a star wheel (the white circle thing), a Looking for Alaska cover (under the a), and a Glinda of Oz cover that I made (I didn't trace it I promise! You can find close up pictures of that on my tumblr.). So yeah!
(Coming up: Beautiful Bookshelf)
(Coming up: Beautiful Bookshelf)
Thursday, July 18, 2013
So i joined the swim team...
I guess because I can. I mean, I know how to swim, but I don't know how to
swim, you know? Well, didn't, anyway. I've learned to much already and have only gone to two practices. I can successfully do the breast stroke, the butterfly, freestyle, and the backstroke (although probably not very well). I think the breast stroke is actually the hardest. Pull, breathe, kick, glide. Maybe because I basically taught myself how to do it from watching other people swim and then had to re-learn it, but the butterfly, which I had no clue how to do before, I find surprisingly easy. (Edit: not to say that the butterfly is easy. At all. It was just much easier that I thought it was going to be.)
And I really like coach Larry. He's hilarious.
And I really like it so far.
And I am really kinda proud of myself. I don't try new things that often.
And yeah. Yayyyyy!
(Coming up: beautiful wall collage [when {if} I finish it])
swim, you know? Well, didn't, anyway. I've learned to much already and have only gone to two practices. I can successfully do the breast stroke, the butterfly, freestyle, and the backstroke (although probably not very well). I think the breast stroke is actually the hardest. Pull, breathe, kick, glide. Maybe because I basically taught myself how to do it from watching other people swim and then had to re-learn it, but the butterfly, which I had no clue how to do before, I find surprisingly easy. (Edit: not to say that the butterfly is easy. At all. It was just much easier that I thought it was going to be.)
And I really like coach Larry. He's hilarious.
And I really like it so far.
And I am really kinda proud of myself. I don't try new things that often.
And yeah. Yayyyyy!
(Coming up: beautiful wall collage [when {if} I finish it])
Saturday, July 13, 2013
An Imperial Affliction
The epigraph of one of my favorite books, "The Fault in Our Stars," is from a book called "An Imperial Affliction":
As the tide washed in, the Dutch Tulip Man faced the ocean:
"Conjoiner rejoinder prisoner concealer revelator. Look at it, rising up and rising down, taking everything with it."
"What's that?" I asked.
"Water," said the Dutchman. "Well, and time."
It's the perfect start to the book.
Hazel, the main character of The Fault in Our Stars, lives and breathes An Imperial Affliction. She's read it probably a hundred times. She travels to Amsterdam with Augustus Waters to find the book's long lost author, Peter Van Houten.
An Imperial Affliction is not an actual book.
You can imagine me, full of the buzz you get when you finish a really good book, sitting at the computer and googling over and over again: An Imperial Affliction. Peter Van Houten. Sitting in disbelief that this wonderful thing does not, in all actuality, exist on the face of the earth.
People design covers for it all the time.It's kind of real now because we know what it's about and what it might look like, but we will not know how Hazel felt when she read it the first time, because we can not read it the first time ourselves. Constantly googling pictures of covers others had designed, I did not feel fulfilled. Of course, I still won't because I have not read the actual book An Imperial Affliction because it does not exist.
Something was missing from my bookshelf.
So I made it. Sort of.
As the tide washed in, the Dutch Tulip Man faced the ocean:
"Conjoiner rejoinder prisoner concealer revelator. Look at it, rising up and rising down, taking everything with it."
"What's that?" I asked.
"Water," said the Dutchman. "Well, and time."
It's the perfect start to the book.
Hazel, the main character of The Fault in Our Stars, lives and breathes An Imperial Affliction. She's read it probably a hundred times. She travels to Amsterdam with Augustus Waters to find the book's long lost author, Peter Van Houten.
An Imperial Affliction is not an actual book.
You can imagine me, full of the buzz you get when you finish a really good book, sitting at the computer and googling over and over again: An Imperial Affliction. Peter Van Houten. Sitting in disbelief that this wonderful thing does not, in all actuality, exist on the face of the earth.
People design covers for it all the time.It's kind of real now because we know what it's about and what it might look like, but we will not know how Hazel felt when she read it the first time, because we can not read it the first time ourselves. Constantly googling pictures of covers others had designed, I did not feel fulfilled. Of course, I still won't because I have not read the actual book An Imperial Affliction because it does not exist.
Something was missing from my bookshelf.
So I made it. Sort of.
Of course, it's just the dust jacket. The pages inside do not tell the story of Anna. The narrative doesn't end in the middle of a sentence like it's
But I think it is happy with my other books. And I designed the whole thing all by myself and without using a computer once. So I win.
Monday, July 8, 2013
The Pool
I stood in line with my cousin Andy who is my age to go off the diving board.
"You know, papa used to do flips off these," he said.
"Really? Wow."
"At least that's what grandma Judy said."
"You know today is his birthday?"
"Man, nobody ever tells me anything!"
"Yup. July 7th. 7-7. I think he was born in 1947 or something," I said.
"I wish he was here."
"Me too."
"You know, papa used to do flips off these," he said.
"Really? Wow."
"At least that's what grandma Judy said."
"You know today is his birthday?"
"Man, nobody ever tells me anything!"
"Yup. July 7th. 7-7. I think he was born in 1947 or something," I said.
"I wish he was here."
"Me too."
Saturday, June 29, 2013
awesome stuff I've recently made
My wall collage is almost done. I've been working on it for like a year since I moved my room to the basement and it has been really fun to just work on it when I'm bored. Now I just have to finish a couple pieces of art I'm working on so I can hang them up!
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(Left to right from the top: dichotamus key to benthic macroinvetebrates, watercolor painting from at class in March 2012, flag of Nerdfighteria, My Neighbor Totoro Thingy, cardioid, 3D papercraft ampersand [&], TFiOS cover, [blue w/ clouds], color pencil tree drawing, my name in3D papercraft typography, owls, swirls, triangle sharpie drawing inspired by Vihart, DFTBA collage, Richard Feynman collage, various lines are Washi tape. This will probably have a post of its own soon.)
Necklaces! So Karen Kavett is a graphic designer that makes awesome videos on YouTube. The necklaces were inspired by her a lot. I made this ampersand necklace with a bottle cap, but couldn't really wear it because the cap wasn't heavy enough to keep it from flopping all over.
A couple days ago I went over to my friend Fiona's house for a sleepover. We made some charms out of beads and old buttons. I was really happy with how they turned out, but I already have a gazillion key chains.
So…
I love them! I think my favorite one might be the one that says loud/big on the bead (they have words on both sides).
I love making awesome stuff!
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Hi.
I hate how I keep writing about what I'm going to write. But I do. I'm sorry. I really do want to write more on here. It was a really great homework journaling year and I think I might your youe of these up. And maybe I'll do more this summer. What do you want me to write about? I know there are like three of you, so I can write whatever you suggest. Our I can write whatever strikes my fancy. I really don't know. maybe I should come up with a schedule to force myself to write during the summer once a week. Maybe I'll do all of these things. I think I will probably type up some of my journal entries because a lot of them were pretty good from this year. But yeah. School gets our June 6 so maybe you'll hear from me after that.
I hate how I keep writing about what I'm going to write. But I do. I'm sorry. I really do want to write more on here. It was a really great homework journaling year and I think I might your youe of these up. And maybe I'll do more this summer. What do you want me to write about? I know there are like three of you, so I can write whatever you suggest. Our I can write whatever strikes my fancy. I really don't know. maybe I should come up with a schedule to force myself to write during the summer once a week. Maybe I'll do all of these things. I think I will probably type up some of my journal entries because a lot of them were pretty good from this year. But yeah. School gets our June 6 so maybe you'll hear from me after that.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
You got the Evil Cough. You are so mad because you were mean to people who had it telling them to get away from you. You told them to cover it. Go wash your hands. Please cover your cough. But it was for nothing. Because you got it. And you feel bad because when you have the Evil Cough, you don't want to do anything. You don't want to cover your cough. You don't want to stay awake. And you don't want people to tell you to cover your cough. But you do it anyway because you are Emma and you don't want anyone else to get the Evil Cough. The Evil Cough is so evil.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Teasing Reassurances
You guys, sorry my posts are scarce. I just want to reassure you that:
1. I am not dead.
2. I don't not write. I write in a journal for homework every week, and not to brag but my journals are pretty good. I'm thinking about typing some of the good parts and putting them on here.
3. I don't plan to stop blogging. Even though I don't post very often, I don't plan to stop alltogether. I don't get on the computer very much and the mobile blogger interface is not very user friendly so that's why.
Sorry to tease you but I'm not going to say anything else right now. :P
1. I am not dead.
2. I don't not write. I write in a journal for homework every week, and not to brag but my journals are pretty good. I'm thinking about typing some of the good parts and putting them on here.
3. I don't plan to stop blogging. Even though I don't post very often, I don't plan to stop alltogether. I don't get on the computer very much and the mobile blogger interface is not very user friendly so that's why.
Sorry to tease you but I'm not going to say anything else right now. :P
Friday, February 22, 2013
The Last Two Weeks
Seriously, the last two weeks have seriously been (some of) the best of my life, seriously. Possibly the best ever, but I'm not going to say anything conclusive because my life isn't over yet. I've only been alive, like, 13.6 years.
It all started on Thursday of last week. The night before, all cozy in my room, I had finished the book Sense and Sensibility, and the next day, we left from school at 9:30 to see it in play-from. It was so good! It was really funny and well-arranged. It was dramatic and unique, but accurate to the book, too. We got back to school at like 1:30 and so we got to eat lunch during social studies.
The next day, Friday, we had early dismissal at 1:00. That day, some friends of mine from school and I were going to go to a trivia night for 6th-8th graders, but we couldn't get enough people for a team of 8. I was really disappointed because I really had wanted to go, so I decided, hey, we have early dismissal that day, why not have our own game night? So I did. It wasn't game night, but it was so FUN! We played New! Super Mario Bros. Wii and made fun of Luigi for being so bad at game as he ground-pounded into everyone and threw shells at us, and also took ALL THE POWERUPS. We also played Blokus and took the dog for a walk, and climbed trees and ran in the park. We went to the playground and it was just so fun! We also ate pizza and ERMAHGERD it was just so awesome and fun.
That weekend was 3 days long because we had Monday off for Presidents Day, when I happily slept in and hung around the house.
Tuesday and Wednesday were just normal school days, except I was uber happy because my group got to get math lessons with Mr. S, whom I really like because he's nice and fun. Wednesday we had civics with Mr. G. (whom I also adore) and Mr. S. Art class on Wednesday was okay, but I'm still really not happy with it. Actually, I'm really mad with it. But I'm not going to talk about how much I hate art class now that Ms. Bridgett isn't our teacher anymore because I'm supposed to be talking about my best week ever, right? Okay, right.
But now, the best part.
My friend Elzabeth calls me Wednesday night, screaming, "OMIGODOMIGODOMIGOD WE DON'T HAVE SCHOOL TOMORROW IT'S CANCELLED OMIGOD SNOW OMIGOD SNOW DAY SNOW DAY!!!" (Mind you, she's loud on the phone when she's not screaming.)
So the next day I get to sleep in because it's a snow day. Only, the snow hasn't started yet when I wake up. But man, once it started at like 10:30, it snowed. I took a picture out the window every couple hours that day and was going to put it on here, but Apple hates me. We didn't go anywhere that day because we didn't want to die. But...
Today I got to go sledding for the first time in like 3 years because school was (mercifully) cancelled today, too. I went to Reservoir Park with the same group of friends from school, Elzabeth, K and his brother J. We invited Liam, too, but he was going to Art Hill with his family.
Man, it was AWESOME. The only bad part was when Elzabeth and I went down together on her pink sled and hit a manhole cover (that was in the middle of the hill, for some reason). My butt still hurts, and the sled... the sled. The sled was in shards, thankfully it was just a cheap one. Other than that, the best part was the WHOLE THING. It was so fun.
This is us sledding.
It was the best day ever. Besides, you know, those two weeks.
It all started on Thursday of last week. The night before, all cozy in my room, I had finished the book Sense and Sensibility, and the next day, we left from school at 9:30 to see it in play-from. It was so good! It was really funny and well-arranged. It was dramatic and unique, but accurate to the book, too. We got back to school at like 1:30 and so we got to eat lunch during social studies.
The next day, Friday, we had early dismissal at 1:00. That day, some friends of mine from school and I were going to go to a trivia night for 6th-8th graders, but we couldn't get enough people for a team of 8. I was really disappointed because I really had wanted to go, so I decided, hey, we have early dismissal that day, why not have our own game night? So I did. It wasn't game night, but it was so FUN! We played New! Super Mario Bros. Wii and made fun of Luigi for being so bad at game as he ground-pounded into everyone and threw shells at us, and also took ALL THE POWERUPS. We also played Blokus and took the dog for a walk, and climbed trees and ran in the park. We went to the playground and it was just so fun! We also ate pizza and ERMAHGERD it was just so awesome and fun.
That weekend was 3 days long because we had Monday off for Presidents Day, when I happily slept in and hung around the house.
Tuesday and Wednesday were just normal school days, except I was uber happy because my group got to get math lessons with Mr. S, whom I really like because he's nice and fun. Wednesday we had civics with Mr. G. (whom I also adore) and Mr. S. Art class on Wednesday was okay, but I'm still really not happy with it. Actually, I'm really mad with it. But I'm not going to talk about how much I hate art class now that Ms. Bridgett isn't our teacher anymore because I'm supposed to be talking about my best week ever, right? Okay, right.
But now, the best part.
My friend Elzabeth calls me Wednesday night, screaming, "OMIGODOMIGODOMIGOD WE DON'T HAVE SCHOOL TOMORROW IT'S CANCELLED OMIGOD SNOW OMIGOD SNOW DAY SNOW DAY!!!" (Mind you, she's loud on the phone when she's not screaming.)
So the next day I get to sleep in because it's a snow day. Only, the snow hasn't started yet when I wake up. But man, once it started at like 10:30, it snowed. I took a picture out the window every couple hours that day and was going to put it on here, but Apple hates me. We didn't go anywhere that day because we didn't want to die. But...
Today I got to go sledding for the first time in like 3 years because school was (mercifully) cancelled today, too. I went to Reservoir Park with the same group of friends from school, Elzabeth, K and his brother J. We invited Liam, too, but he was going to Art Hill with his family.
Man, it was AWESOME. The only bad part was when Elzabeth and I went down together on her pink sled and hit a manhole cover (that was in the middle of the hill, for some reason). My butt still hurts, and the sled... the sled. The sled was in shards, thankfully it was just a cheap one. Other than that, the best part was the WHOLE THING. It was so fun.
This is us sledding.
It was the best day ever. Besides, you know, those two weeks.
Monday, January 7, 2013
The End of The.... Year (and beginning of 2013!)
So, I see you've survived the end of the world! (A funny way to look at the end of the Mayan calendar: Yeah, my calendar ended, too! On December 31st!)
Anyway, I've had a fantastic break so far, aside from the three extra days of break I received due to my stupid tonsils that appear to be strep magnets or something ridiculous. So that was disappointing because I didn't get to take my teachers their goodies and carefully baked gluten free cookies. 'Cause you know, I was sick and busy bein' miserable and puking 21 times in one day. I think that's the standing record for this family.
The Saturday before the actual Christmas was supposed to be Christmas with my mom's family but that got moved to the 27th due to my tonsils that suck. Nobody wanted to chance it because they get strep there all the time anyway.
Christmas Eve we were going to go to church but that got blown off due to the fact that my parents really wanted to go to Aunt Jenny's because my dad's sister and her husband and the twins from New York were there. And we have this tradition of having potato soup on Christmas Eve every year that we like so everything worked out.
I don't know if I've told you guys about the potato soup story, have I? Well, almost all my family is German, so that's where the story starts. They have lots of potatoes there and for the poor people, potato soup was what's for dinner. Potatoes, and cream, butter, cheese, plentiful staples. When my grandpa (I'm not sure how many "greats" he has by this point) came over on the ship to America, he got this stomach thing and had surgery to get part of it taken out (see how lucky? I hear the prospect of having surgery way back then wasn't very good.) and guess what he ate that was soothing and not painful to eat and reminded him of home. So the story goes and we like our tradition.
So after eating our potato soup we bundled up and drove to Jenny's to see everybody and my cousins who were home from college. Man, I love those people. It was good. Aunt Kim felt bad about not going to Christmas Eve church so she wanted my dad to read the Christmas story from the bible, which he did, and we sang Silent Night, and then Uncle Mike sang part of it in German which was hilarious.
We drove back to our house and I slept upstairs so we could all go down together in the morning.
7:30 in the morning, Esther gets up and wakes everybody up. "Everybody, it's Christmas! I want everybody up in five minutes!" And she's three. How cute.
It was magical. Esther got a ginormous Barbie house. I got a Wii Fit and the John Green boxed set (of books; too bad it wasn't a John Green boxed set with containing John Green!), and Abigail got two Wii games. Just to name a few. We hung out in our pjamas all morning and went over to the neighbor's to exchange gifts. They really are lovely people and I'm so glad they're our neighbors. They just had a baby and boy, is he cute when he's not fussy! I just wanna eat him up, you know?
On the 27th or whatever day it was (I really don't remember; it's all sort of a blur now.) we drove through the snowy Illinois roads and played cows, but there really weren't that many cows. You know, cows is a game that is really great when everyone in the country has cows (like in Wisconsin, not so much Illinois). We stopped at Wendy's for lunch and continued on to Uncle Joe's for Christmas with my mom's family. Grandma Judy ate her legendary Jell-O salad. It has watermelon Jell-O, green olives, and celery, all mixed together with like the olives suspended in the Jell-O and stuff. Yeah, I'll let you decide if you want to try it, but she loves it.
We stayed the night at Uncle Joe's and hung out there and the next day had the Hooperdoodle (I have decided that I'm using Hooperdoodle as my last name on the Internet instead of my actual last name) Christmas at grandma Linny's house with my dad's family and such. It was very fun. I was appointed the new Santa's Helper by Aunt Kim, who has been the Santa's Helper forever and so now I'm the new Santa's Helper. All the little kids helped me. Jake told me I run a tight shop. (I'm sure he and all my older cousins were jealous that they weren't appointed new Santa's Helper.)
The Christmas Eve snow was a couple of days late. It snowed in St. Louis the night we drove home from Illinois. It had a sort of, um, magical effect as we drove through our adorable neighborhood and watched the (still up) Christmas lights reflected on white though the windows.
It was a good break.
I can't decide if I'm excited to go back to school tomorrow or not. I really have enjoyed sleeping so much but I think it will be nice to get back to structured routines and seeing my friends and teachers at school. Alas, it's no Hogwarts.
Anyway, I've had a fantastic break so far, aside from the three extra days of break I received due to my stupid tonsils that appear to be strep magnets or something ridiculous. So that was disappointing because I didn't get to take my teachers their goodies and carefully baked gluten free cookies. 'Cause you know, I was sick and busy bein' miserable and puking 21 times in one day. I think that's the standing record for this family.
The Saturday before the actual Christmas was supposed to be Christmas with my mom's family but that got moved to the 27th due to my tonsils that suck. Nobody wanted to chance it because they get strep there all the time anyway.
Christmas Eve we were going to go to church but that got blown off due to the fact that my parents really wanted to go to Aunt Jenny's because my dad's sister and her husband and the twins from New York were there. And we have this tradition of having potato soup on Christmas Eve every year that we like so everything worked out.
I don't know if I've told you guys about the potato soup story, have I? Well, almost all my family is German, so that's where the story starts. They have lots of potatoes there and for the poor people, potato soup was what's for dinner. Potatoes, and cream, butter, cheese, plentiful staples. When my grandpa (I'm not sure how many "greats" he has by this point) came over on the ship to America, he got this stomach thing and had surgery to get part of it taken out (see how lucky? I hear the prospect of having surgery way back then wasn't very good.) and guess what he ate that was soothing and not painful to eat and reminded him of home. So the story goes and we like our tradition.
So after eating our potato soup we bundled up and drove to Jenny's to see everybody and my cousins who were home from college. Man, I love those people. It was good. Aunt Kim felt bad about not going to Christmas Eve church so she wanted my dad to read the Christmas story from the bible, which he did, and we sang Silent Night, and then Uncle Mike sang part of it in German which was hilarious.
We drove back to our house and I slept upstairs so we could all go down together in the morning.
7:30 in the morning, Esther gets up and wakes everybody up. "Everybody, it's Christmas! I want everybody up in five minutes!" And she's three. How cute.
It was magical. Esther got a ginormous Barbie house. I got a Wii Fit and the John Green boxed set (of books; too bad it wasn't a John Green boxed set with containing John Green!), and Abigail got two Wii games. Just to name a few. We hung out in our pjamas all morning and went over to the neighbor's to exchange gifts. They really are lovely people and I'm so glad they're our neighbors. They just had a baby and boy, is he cute when he's not fussy! I just wanna eat him up, you know?
On the 27th or whatever day it was (I really don't remember; it's all sort of a blur now.) we drove through the snowy Illinois roads and played cows, but there really weren't that many cows. You know, cows is a game that is really great when everyone in the country has cows (like in Wisconsin, not so much Illinois). We stopped at Wendy's for lunch and continued on to Uncle Joe's for Christmas with my mom's family. Grandma Judy ate her legendary Jell-O salad. It has watermelon Jell-O, green olives, and celery, all mixed together with like the olives suspended in the Jell-O and stuff. Yeah, I'll let you decide if you want to try it, but she loves it.
We stayed the night at Uncle Joe's and hung out there and the next day had the Hooperdoodle (I have decided that I'm using Hooperdoodle as my last name on the Internet instead of my actual last name) Christmas at grandma Linny's house with my dad's family and such. It was very fun. I was appointed the new Santa's Helper by Aunt Kim, who has been the Santa's Helper forever and so now I'm the new Santa's Helper. All the little kids helped me. Jake told me I run a tight shop. (I'm sure he and all my older cousins were jealous that they weren't appointed new Santa's Helper.)
The Christmas Eve snow was a couple of days late. It snowed in St. Louis the night we drove home from Illinois. It had a sort of, um, magical effect as we drove through our adorable neighborhood and watched the (still up) Christmas lights reflected on white though the windows.
It was a good break.
I can't decide if I'm excited to go back to school tomorrow or not. I really have enjoyed sleeping so much but I think it will be nice to get back to structured routines and seeing my friends and teachers at school. Alas, it's no Hogwarts.
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