SPRING. BREAK.

Vergil and I decided that after we finished taking our Biology test today, we were officially on spring break. I don't really have anything else in school--in fact, I don't even think I should go tomorrow.

Also. OMG THE HUNGER GAMES IS PREMIERING IN LESS THAN 2 HOURS!!!!! 

But I'm not going until tomorrow because Fandangle told me there wasn't a midnight premiere (but also because my parents probably wouldn't have let me).

I've heard some good and bad reviews. For example: Jennifer Lawrence is a really good actress but at the same time, the movie doesn't really develop sub-characters as well. 

In the previews I've seen, I wasn't really all that pleased with costumes but it's whatever.

I might write a little somethingsomething after I see it.

Meanwhile, today was super hectic. I went from school straight to driving school where I took (and passed) my written driver's license test [now I just have to take (and pass) the in-car test at some point] and then went straight to clarinet lessons and then worked on NHD until now because DISTRICTS IS ON SATURDAY!!!!

Also, on Saturday, I'm going to Utah to go skiing and I haven't even packed yet.

Oi. So many things. It should be spring break right about.....NOW.

The end.

-Momo

o NHD, what hast thou done

I am getting entirely too sick of looking at the Marquis  de Lafayette's face. :|

I feel like House and I have been a lot more laid-back about NHD than a lot of people, and we're not working around the clock and there's been no drama or anything, but still, I just really, really want it to be over. I haven't bothered studying for finals or anything and school is not going to be fun. D:

Aaaaaand I guess it's almost 2012 and stuff. Which is good, I guess. It'll be kind of disappointing if the world doesn't actually end after all this fuss they've made about it.

Yeah, I don't know.

xiy

Another Uneventful Thursday

I almost forgot to post!!!
I was thinking about doing a legitimate post today...however, NHD partner and I worked, like, all day on NHD and I didn't get a chance to post. I literally stopped working about 20 minutes ago. Gaaaahh.


But we should (should) be done tomorrow. 


Which would be really nice.


Like, REALLY NICE.


Besides NHD, today has been rather uneventful.


I watched this Australian mockumentary called Summer Heights High and it is probably the funniest, most well-written, and awesome shows I have ever seen. You should watch it. 


There's a lot of bad language, though. Just a warning.


Ermmm...we have nearly 500 posts and it's nearly 2012! Lovely.


Kbai.


--Momo

books are yummy

I've been having the weirdest dreams lately. 

Um, winter break is really stressful, so today I'm going to talk about the things I like most - BOOKS! :) 

Before I start talking about my favorite books, I am going to say a few quick words about a book that I'm a bit sick of at the moment. Uncle Tom's Cabin. It does not please Virgil. It's funny how I haven't even read it.

Out of context I guess that might sound racist, but you have no idea how much I hate Uncle Tom's Cabin at the moment. I can't escape from it. It's taking over my life. Anyway, onto better books... 

Right now I'm reader a book called The Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. Holy snapples this book is amazing. I am quite picky about historical fiction, mind you, so the fact that I love this book so much is a testament to how brilliantly well-written it is. It helps that it takes place among the clansmen of 18th-century Scotland and the not-so-rising of Bonnie Prince Charlie, because well, I love those guys. And it's cool how there are scenes at places like Fort William where I've actually been (whoa!) and I can picture the landscape. 

Anyway, let's talk about the actual plot. It's really more of a romance between the main character, Claire Randall, and a super-hot ginger (aren't they all?) named Jamie. But she's from the 20th century and he's from the 18th's century, and even though she's in love with him she also has a husband named Frank who hasn't been born yet. It's complicated. There are other problems, like the fact that she's English (a bloody Sassenach!) and he's a Highlander, and the fact that he's an outlaw, and the fact that his enemy is Frank's ancestor who looks just like him which is weird... I won't give too much away, but there are a ton of crazy plot twists one of which involves a witch trial, and it feels like I've read a whole saga even though I'm only about 2/3 through the first book in a series of like six or seven. I'll have to restrain myself from spoiling everything that's happened so far, because you all have to read it for yourselves, especially xiy.

[Ye be warned of extremely graphic violence & sex. Just sayin'.] 

Another book which I'd like to talk about: THE FAULT IN OUR STARS!! So we all know how some of the pre-orders accidentally got leaked by Barnes & Noble - fortunately I wasn't one of the lucky few, because I wouldn't have been able to resist the urge - but excepting the leak, TFIOS COMES OUT IN TWO WEEKS!! I'm more than a little excited. John Green is my most favorite author ever, and The Fault in Our Stars just seems like it's going to be amazing. Paper Towns and An Abundance of Katherines are definitely both in my top ten or fifteen favorite books of all time, and Looking for Alaska ranks in at number one. Also SINCE I PRE-ORDERED MY COPY IT'LL BE SIGNED BY J-SCRIBBLE HIMSELF!!!! Hooray :) 

There are other book-related things going on in my life... like the fact that in my driver's ed class there's a group of kids from a different high school who all sit together, and they totally correspond to Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Seamus (there was another awkward guy who tagged along with them today and we decided that he must be Cedric Diggory. Kill the spare!). Anyways, basically I can't look over at them without laughing and they don't understand why. 


Oh, and I got a book for Christmas from my parents called The Adventure of English and it's pretty awesome. I've started reading it, and it's really cool - obviously it's about the evolution of modern English, which might be a pretty dry topic no matter how interesting, but the author really makes it adventure-y. It's like, battle of the languages in the British Isles. Pretty dramatic stuff.

I was going to talk about The Hunger Games and Caleb's Crossing but I said that I would go work on NHD at 2. See ya'll. 

<3
Virgil 

 

winter break, yay?

So judging by previous posts, winter break hasn't been going as well as hoped for some of us, which is quite sad. D: After all, it's hardly fair that the longest break we're going to have until summer vacation is being ruined by a number of things, of which NHD is only a factor. Silly school.

As for me, winter break has been okay, though not as terribly restful as I'd expected. NHD's been the main factor, and I'm quite glad that House and I have been working well together and that we haven't reached the levels of drama that are afflicting Momo and Virgil. Hang in there, guys!

Apart from NHD, though, I haven't really been getting much stuff done, which is probably not good. The only real piece of homework I finished was the Greek translation, and that was, like, on the first day. Mostly I've been distracted by Internet drama and such, which is kind of funny to read but wastes a lot of time. Um.

I volunteered a few weeks ago on the nanowrimo forums to draw character art for people, and I am so behind on that it's not even funny. I thought I'd be able to get stuff done but I really haven't, so now there's stuff I should've finished a week ago that I've barely started and I feel bad.

So I'm working on three sketches at once right now, yay.

meh. I re-did the top-right one since making the screenshot and it still doesn't look quite right

 In other news, it's nearly Christmas, which is good. I've been procrastinating on NHD, which is not good. I've been procrastinating on a lot of things, which I think I've mentioned, which is also not not not good.

So, yeah. Winter break's been okay. I'm really annoyed that it hasn't snowed properly yet here in Curlyfryland.

xiy

A Rare Rant From Momo

So...winter break. It's been kinda sucky so far. I'm pretty sure Virgil wins the worst winter break award--I don't have driver's ed, I don't live with my NHD partner, and my parents and sister are very supportive of my ranting.

I have to confess...

I've cried, like, 6 1/2 times over break already because of stupid NHD. But mainly NHD partner.

I've also begun sleep-walking again, which is never a good sign. The other night I fell asleep on the couch and fell on the floor. My sister was taking pictures and I started sleep-yelling at her. Then I started crying in my sleep (this is where the 1/2 times comes from) and I sleep-stomped out of the room and promptly fell to the floor in a big heap. I got back up and sleep-stomped up to bed whilst sleep-sobbing. 

My mom and sister came into my room to see if I was OK and apparently I was sitting in my bed (still sleep-sobbing) crying that I'd ruined Christmas.

I don't remember any of this (which is how I know I was sleeping the whole time).

It's not good when I sleep walk. 

It only happens when I'm super stressed.

The other times I've cried are really out of frustration at NHD partner. We've been arguing about really dumb things about the design of the board we're making and even my mom has looked at the board and told us what she thinks is best (to which he simply starts arguing more).

I've stomped out on him twice out of frustration.

This is going to sound awful--but I'm really glad he's going out of town tomorrow. I'm basically going to commandeer the project and do everything my way.

I'm glad I have my mom, though. She says what she is thinking and has let us use her fancy work printer. She is also very supportive of my frustrated sobs.

I wish I'd worked with a girl. :( Boys are really bad at NHD exhibit boards.

THAT'S ENOUGH ABOUT STUPID NHD, MOMO.

i'm sorry.

It's okay. Sometimes you need to vent.

Yup.

*Internal conversation ends now*.

I hope you've all at least had mediocre winter breaks and I hope yours gets better, Virgil.

You guys are so nice to have tolerated that. :)

-Momo

By the way, there are a lot of secret messages because my mom (for some reason) thinks that NHD partner might see this. It's been censored. Kay?

This Post is Short Because Momo Needs to go Study

Nothing much has been happening in CurlyFry Land this week.

It's the last week of school before winter break.

We did secret santas.

I'm fed up with NHD.

I want to have break now. 

Momo

NHD and Other Stupid Things

Winter break is on the near horizon. That means only one thing in the minds of all students taking APUSH right now: NHD!!!!!!!!!!!! Also the fact that finals are coming up (like the Greek final on Tuesday (omg I don't know any grammar or vocabulary or history (but besides that I'm good (but there isn't anything else)))). It also means Latin Convention (YAY!!!!) is coming up (YAY!!!) and that we should start projects (BOO!!!) and listening to House pester us to memorize things (BOO!!!). We also have band concerts next week (Virgil, House, and I are on Monday and Carrie's on Tuesday) aaaaand my sister's birthday is on the 13th. 

Bio teacher made my life today. We were supposed to have a huge test on genetic-ey things and suchness but no one understands it completely in our class (even Virgil and that's saying something). He decided to spare our puny brains and move it to Monday. Oh joy! Oh happy day! *skips around* Lynda and House still have it tomorrow though. Ha. 

Tomorrow I plan to donate blood for the first time ever. I've been reading up the website and looking at information. I'm technically a few pounds underweight but if I wear shoes and drink a lot, no one will notice. I've been eating very iron-ey (not irony) foods to get good blood and drinking lots of water. I'm pretty pumped. Hopefully I'll be eligible for donating. :D 

That concludes today's post.

The End

Fin

Bonjour

Ni Hao

Streichholzschaechtelchen

Momo

tablet tablet tablet (lafayette!)

Hello* and happy December! Today is Momo's two-days-after-birthday, which should count for something, and today I got my tablet in the mail (hooray for quick shipping times!), which is a beautiful, beautiful thing.

here is an ugly illustrative sketch

 I'm still not actually very good at it, because it involves drawing on one thing while looking at the computer screen on which the drawing shows up, which involves hand-eye coordination that I'm not superbly proficient in. However, everything is so much easier than drawing with the mouse and everything is sparkly and filled with rainbows now. :D 

(My mother insists that it's nothing more than a glorified mouse ["WHY DOESN'T IT HAVE A SCREEN? WHY DOES IT HAVE NO INTERNET?" she complains, even though I've already explained to her that a graphics tablet isn't like a portable-computer tablet] and that it definitely wasn't worth $60, but she is completely and utterly wrong.)

So I was messing around in Photoshop and trying to do a few get-used-to-this-thing doodles that morphed into a sketch of  our good ol' Marquis de Lafayette that I guess I'm going to color now.

Here's what it looks like so far.

And thus we segue into the second part of my post today, in which I talk about how content I am about the fact that NHD is going swimmingly. House and I went to go visit History Teacher and APUSH Teacher today, and they both had very positive and helpful comments about our entirely crazy; why do people even do National History Day? project on dear Lafayette (see? iz a segue), and I feel a lot better. Perhaps we might even get through winter break and not crash and burn. I am actually semi-hopeful about it now.

This week was a very long week after Thanksgiving break, but now it's Friday and therefore all better. Our school's putting on the musical Wonderful Town this weekend (plus yesterday and today), and I'm not yet sure whether I'm going to be going or not. It sounds like a good play, but I'd rather sit at home and play around with the tablet I don't know if I'll go.

Holiday decorations have already been put up everywhere, which is both nice and kind of sad; nice because they're pretty and shiny and colorful, but sad because we've only just finished Thanksgiving--one practically gets holiday whiplash and there's no real time to process one holiday before moving straight on to another. I suppose this says something about the human condition. :P

Aaaaaaand I think that's pretty much it. Have a lovely weekend!

xiy

 *I really can't type today. It took me three tries just to type 'hello.' >.<

Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette is a very long name oh gosh x.x

Helloooo.

I have finally learned the meaning of sophomore year, and it is NHD. More accurately, the destruction of your life, courtesy of NHD. Also known by its full name, "National History Day," it steals the lives of young children with much potential across the nation in its cold, dead grip. I'm already regretting agreeing to take on this beast x.x (at least I have the most brilliant partner in the world, xiy, and together, hopefully we shall be able to overcome the horrors in store.)
... and tomorrow's only the second deadline of the longgggg project. Oh, my.

In other news, sophomore year is progressing nicely. My daily amount of YouTube watching has diminished to almost nothing, but that's alright. At least I've found some new music to study to.

I can't believe it's fall! It's very autumn-y here. There are lots of leaves on the ground, and the weather is even more temperamental than it usually is. I'm quite happy about the leaves falling, though, since it means now is leaf-raking time! I do like raking leaves. It's so much fun, and you have such a lovely pile to jump in at the end of your hard labor ^.^
I also like fall because it marks the beginning of cold weather time, otherwise known as tea and hot cocoa time, otherwise known as my favorite time of the year {seeing as how it correlates so nicely to hoodie and sweatshirt time}. Also, October is over, so I needn't live my everyday life in constant terror.

Other recent developments in my life:
- I saw a very fluffy puppy today and successfully resisted the urge to steal it for my own.
- The hair atop my head has gotten longer.
- I've lost many of my pencils/pens that I started out with in the beginning of the year, which means I get to dig a little deeper into my supply for the rest of the school year.
- Lauren Lopez talked to me, looked me in the eye, and brushed her hand on my by accident. Thus, my life has been lived to its fullest and I am now entirely satisfied with the Universe.
- Oh, and 11/11/11 11:11 happened! Did you guys make a wish? :D

... and so ends your weekly adrenaline rush from reading my fabulously interesting post. ta-daaa.

With all due respect,
House.

NHD-sy things and the eleventh of november

So you may remember that House and I did a rather silly project on Robespierre last year for not-quite-National-History-Day; this year, we're at it again, only instead of Robespierre, we bring you another French revolutionary who happens to be a) conveniently tied into American history, b) not hated by the general public and not considered a raving maniac, and c) a person who actually lived a nice, long life. In short, Marie-Joseph-he's-got-too-many-names du Motier, commonly known as the Marquis de Lafayette.

The outline powerpoint is due Monday and I spent awhile today doing that; it took longer than I thought and I got through about three-ish slides.

It's quite interesting to see how Lafayette gets old; one minute he's all chipper and wig-wearing and then he suddenly gets kind of old and chunky and you can see his actual hair color, which is apparently completely brown-red even when he's, like, sixty years old.

here is an illustration to illustrate my point

We've not gotten very far into the exact design of our exhibit board yet, but hopefully it'll nicely fuse the French and American flags together and it'll be pretty and mind-boggling and sparkly. :D

something like this, maybe, minus the mini-Lafayettes. also, this kind of looks like some sort of shippy Hetalia fanart, but it's not. and I just realized that I super-failed on drawing the leftmost American flag. >.<" ah well; too late now

Soooo, yeah. It was a lovely day today; Curlyfryland received some snow, but it didn't stick around, much to my extreme disappointment. I ate a lot of ice cream and leftover Halloween candy and also read a lot of Merlin fanfiction and completely failed to increase my wordcount, but that's okay because I still have the rest of tonight and I'm almost to the halfway point and yeahhhh.

It's 11/11/11 today! Make a wish! (I missed 11:11 AM, unfortunately, but there's still the PM, so it's all good.) I wish that NHD were over, amongst other things.


okay bye.


xiy

tumblr and apples and things

So basically all I've done this afternoon is finish Three Bags Full and then browse tumblr, because it is such a lovely waste of time and there's so much wonderful stuff there. Though it is kind of confusing, especially at first, because there's really no comment system and if one doesn't have an account it's difficult to navigate unless one knows the url of the tumblr itself. And then there's the whole how-do-you-credit-a-picture-when-it's-been-reblogged-10,000-times thing, which I think is an issue, though I'm not sure exactly of the details. But overall it's a fun place to waste time in and everything is easy once one gets used to it.


[I don't remember if I ever put it on here (I probably have; lately, school-induced lack of sleep has shot my short-term memory to pieces), but here is my tumblr, if you care to take a look.]

Tomorrow I think my family is going apple-picking, which unfortunately cuts down on frantic-NHD-researching time with House, though I much prefer apples to the Marie Paul etc. etc. Marquis de Lafayette (though he's cool too--after spending so long researching Robespierre, it's a lovely change to be reading about a guy who is actually remembered fondly in history ^.^). For one, apples are much tastier and apple-picking is fun and I get to spend my time practicing my pathetic tree-climbing skills and exploring the apple orchard (there's this weird little old house nearby and I like to imagine the story behind it) and eating fruit :D. Gala apples are my favorite; I hate red delicious apples because they're always too mealy and icky and the skin is always too thick and red delicious apples are the only kind of apples school cafeterias ever have (that and tough-skinned, dehydrated oranges; smallish bananas; and maybe not-entirely-fresh salad on a good day)--those, and sometimes super-sour green ones--and I absolutely detest them. But gala apples are nice, and also fuji ones.

Apple pie is good too. I want pie. ;w;

Nanowrimo (I've given up on spelling it 'NaNoWriMo,' because that involves hitting the shift key too many times and my lazy-butt high-school-sophomore self is too lazy to do so; it's also why I didn't capitalize the apple names earlier, even though I think that apple names are supposed to be capitalized) is in ten days omg. I'm not sure if I can finish it this year, but I shall do my best.

There was a bio test today and it was difficult but Momo, Virgil, and I were featured in one of the short-answer questions and it was exciting. :D We were a detective firm and, through the discovery that the murder victim's oxidized electron carriers, disproved a policeman's theory about suffocation being the cause of death (long story). I think I got that question right, though there was another question that was really difficult. :|a

Aaaaaaaand that was an unusually long post (I never noticed how many Us 'unusually' has, but upon reflection, there's quite a lot). I must be feeling very chatty today.

xiy