Thursday, May 29, 2014

HELP O.O

After a two-day hiatus from school, I am finally back.

Basically, I went to Disneyland on Saturday. Then I came back and got really sick for the next four days. I promise to write about both of these things in my next post, as soon as I get the Disneyland photos onto my computer, but right now I am back at school and very, very stuck.

Who knew that writing a personal statement for college applications would be so HARD?

I tried to start it when I was sick, but no luck. So far I've been doing a whole lot of typing and very little actual writing.

The problem is that I'm not really sure where to start. Then I pick a random spot, type for a while, get sidetracked, and wind up going down a whole other road that I'm pretty sure colleges don't want to hear about.

See, I'm trying to write about my background and how it's influenced my life. For me, that means writing about my old Waldorf school, but that opens up a whole new can of worms, since I've still got seriously mixed feelings about the place. So I pick a direction to go, then get off on a tangent and find that I've written two hundred words that in no way contribute to my essay.

Rrrrrggggghhh. huhj

...and now my head hurts because I just banged it on the computer keyboard, hence the "huhj" above. (But not the "Rrrrrggggghhh." I typed that on purpose.

Okay, back to the pointless typing on a Word document now. Have a picture before I go.


It's a cartoon I drew based on a discussion with my friend about how we'd respond to nerdy pickup lines. (She's in AP Bio, which should explain this rather well. I should add that the red-headed girl looks nothing remotely like either of us.) 

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Pranks, Prom and a Mariachi Band

Friday was surreal.

It was the seniors' last day in school before they go off and do their Senior Projects, so they were kind of cutting loose. They had free dress this week (my school has a uniform) and I noticed that a couple of them were sporting minor dress code violations because c'mon, who's going to give them detention on their last day? (I, by the way, am a junior, just to put this in context.)

It was also the big day for pranks. When I got to the locker room, I saw that the hall adjacent to it had been carpeted in bubble wrap. Moreover, some kind of Mexican blanket had been hung over the door to the locker room, forcing everyone to duck under it or lift it up to get in. Later in the day balloons appeared, floating down the halls and bouncing into classrooms.

That wasn't their best prank, though.

The first interesting things I noticed as I walked into the main building was a piece of paper taped to the wall.

It big, bold, printed letters, it said Teachers' Wifi Password: **********. (Actual password not reprinted for security reasons.)

And it wasn't the only one. The password papers were taped up all over the school.

We have three wifi networks at the school: one that everyone used last year before the other two got set up, one for the students, and one for the teachers. The teachers' network is a lot faster than the students', and it doesn't ban websites like the student network does. Only the teachers and the seniors know the password.

Or at least, only the teachers and the seniors knew the password before Friday.

The dean of students was not happy. She went down the halls snatching the papers down from the walls. Then the seniors rescued them from the trash and put them back up when she was gone. Then she took them down again, but by that time it was too late. Everyone already knew the password.

But even that wasn't the best thing they pulled off. You won't believe the best thing.

My friends and I walked out of Religion class and heard some kind of commotion in the courtyard below. We were on this outside walkway on the second story of the building, so we were looking down on the people below. And holy cow.

There was this crowd of seniors dancing around in the courtyard. And they were dancing to the music of a mariachi band.

A mariachi band. 

Don't believe me? I got proof.





Pictures and video taken on my cell phone from a high vantage point.

The seniors hired them to follow the dean of students around all morning. Then when she went home for the day at lunch, the mariachi band just kind of wandered around the school with a crowd of seniors following them and serenaded the teachers.

More cell phone footage!


They were right in front of the doorway to the main building at the end of lunch.





Friday was the first and probably only time I'll ever get to say, "Sorry I'm late to class. I was held up by the mariachi band."

So yeah, we're going to have a hard time topping that when we're seniors next year.

And then that night was prom.

It was fun. I went to a friend's house for a little party beforehand and we all rode there in a limo. There were about twenty of us total, as most of the girls had dates.

The prom itself was on the roof of a car museum, so we had a really nice aerial view of the city. Honestly, I had a blast. I went alone and hung out with several of my best friends, including two seniors who I will miss so much when they've graduated! We didn't dance much, mostly just ate dinner and talked. The music was really, truly, brain-cell-killingly awful. Everyone looked beautiful in their fancy dresses. I wore this black dress that has several advantages: it's very comfortable, it's nylon so it doesn't wrinkle, and it's a classic so I can wear it to pretty much any formal event for the next fifty years. Such as next year's prom, for instance. :)

It was awesome just being with my friends, talking, joking, dancing a little bit to the horrible music, riding in the limo with slightly better music. I hope everyone else's prom was awesome too.



Monday, May 5, 2014

Depressing poetry, yay!

I must have been in a weird mood this weekend, because all of my writing is a little darker than usual. Normally I tend to write funny stuff, but this weekend...nope. I wrote depressing poetry!

And because I'm nice I decided to share it with you guys.

Here is my depressing poetry!

I'm starting out with one that I actually didn't write this weekend--I wrote it a few months ago and somehow I still think it's okay.


If I could melt the sound of violins
And swirl in the cello's baritone
And add to it the heavenly choir's din
A thousand music notes would sing you home.

If I could take the words from all the books
And use them to express my love for you
That verse would leave no human mind unhooked
No heavy heart could ever be as blue.

I long for you in every passing day
I sing to you whenever I am home
I wish on stars that you would come to stay
And I'd no longer have to be alone.

If I could take the sparkle from the stars
And mix it with the beauty of a rose
And place it in a thousand crystal jars
You wouldn't have to suffer through my prose.

I wrote those words when I was just sixteen
I never knew they'd ever ring so true
Now I'm grown up and in the space between
I think I've fallen out of love with you.

I know this poem is going to sound cliché
But darling, I just want you to come home
I wait for you in every passing day
I'm so damn tired of always being alone.

If I could get the strength to leave this house
And find someone who sometimes would come home
You're often just a bad taste in my mouth
I'd leave and then you'd be the one alone.

This house we share will never be the same
The love we had is cracked and dusty, so
I cannot keep on playing this awful game
I need to be the one to tell you no.

So now I’m packing up my brand-new bags
My suitcase sits out in the hall at home
I’m going to leave this love that’s torn to rags
I’m going to find a place I’m not alone.


Geez. I have no idea where that came from. I remember thinking it was going to be a happy poem when I started it and then my brain was like, "NOPE. Depressingness is in!" and I wrote that.

Anyway, here's the first one I wrote this weekend. It's a rondel, a French type of poem with thirteen lines and two repeated refrain lines. 

That I were in your arms again, my dear
For there it was that I was truly free
No chains or contradictions binding me
The simple safety of your being near.

Across the grass, there steps a gentle deer
Come here to greet your earthen tomb with me
That I were in your arms again, my dear
For there it was that I was truly free.

The cold ground keeps your body safe in here
But where your spirit is I cannot see
You’ve gone, you’re dead, invisible to me
So came to pass what was my greatest fear—
That I were in your arms again, my dear.


I have these two characters that I mess with in my head sometimes. For some reason I never give them happy endings: one of them usually winds up dead and leaves the other one grieving. I think I wrote this about them. (Hopefully when I actually put them in a story they can finally be happy. I quite like them.) 

The next one's about them, too. It's a triolet, thirteen lines with the first, fourth, and seventh lines repeating and the second and eighth lines also repeating. Here you go.


You left me here with this, a broken heart
Your death was ere the death of my own soul
For when the kiss of Death ripped us apart
You left me here with this, a broken heart
From this, which was our home, I do depart
For never here can I again be whole
You left me here with this, a broken heart
Your death was ere the death of my own soul.



Apparently I have a thing for iambic pentameter, since all my depressing poetry is in it. I guess it's just easier for me to write for some reason.

So yeah, this weekend was a weird one for me. Not only do I not usually write poetry, let alone depressing poetry, but I also don't usually write horror stories. But guess what I started after the depressing poetry!

If you guessed a horror story, you get a prize. And if it's not too disturbing when I'm done with it, I might post said horror story here after its completion. You have been warned.