New Trimester.

Yep. New trimester, new classes.
I almost like my math class because our teacher is actually going to let us listen to our iPods and mp3s while we work! I whipped out my DS to play Kingdom Hearts during Meeting Time, and she didn't say anything. :DD (I know she saw it because she leaned over my desk to ask me if I had a calculator.)

I have lunch with Angel. Just Angel, out of the people I had lunch with last Tri. We didn't know where to sit (and Darcy stole our table), so we just sat with Amber, a friend of Angel's. We didn't talk to anyone at that table. I didn't like anyone at that table. I wanted to sit with Plushie, but there weren't any open seats, and he was sitting with my brother. >_< Then when I went to throw away my trash, he was gone! :O I wanted to give him my apple! (Plushie, not my brother.)

Ah, I must go work on the BPA video.

Tschau!

12/21

I'm posting because apparently I have "good mouth words." (Thanks for that strange wonderful compliment, Z! XD)

I finally managed to pull myself away from my *brand new* DS (playing my *brand new* Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days game) to post. (My hand keeps trying to open the console up! Geeze.)

Hm. Yep, today was my birthday (er, yesterday now? It's 12:35PM)... I realized that in the past years, on my blog, every time my birthday came up, I would warn my readers every post at least a week in advance. XD This year I mentioned it a few times, but I was pretty "whatever" about it this year. Probably because I'm not so excited about turning this age... It's a milestone, and I'm not quite ready to accept it. What? Seriously? It's just going to force itself upon me? Fine! Let it! I'll be over here playing with Play-Doh.

I found a recipe for Sea Salt Ice Cream! o.o

Well, it seems that I'm going to have a cookie baby. O.o It started out as a weirdweird (joking) conversation with Plushie ("Soo... When was the last time you had sex?") (Again, joking! I'm a proud virgin.), and ended with me living with him in a cardboard box with Plushie and my gingerbread baby. ....You don't want to know what happened in between. O.o;;

Well, this is a weird way to end a post.

g h o s t i e

PS. A quick preview of something I'm working on... And some 2AM babbles. ;)

Watch it.

Oh... And play it: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/511552 (Wow.)

The Enduring

Listening to: The Roots- "How I Got Over"
Watching: The Roots- "How I Got Over" (Official Music Video)
Eating: Peppermint candies

My birthday party was fun, but I don't feel like writing about that.
On Saturday I went shopping with Plushie and a friend of his. I found the best issue of OtakuUSA ever! It featured articles on my favourite mangaka, CLAMP, and my two absolute favourite manga, Monster and Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE!
AND they had just lowered the price from $10 to $6! I've been freaking lucky this weekend.
The next day my mom wanted to go back to the mall (she didn't go with me the first time), so I went with her, and guess what I found? A pair of the exact earrings I wanted for $8, shirt that said 'Pale is the New Tan' in a large for $5, and a uber-cute miniskirt for TWO dollars, the last one on the rack, in my size (7). AND THEN, I found a Salvador Dali 2010 calendar for $13... I can never find any Dali artbooks, let alone a calendar! I'm telling you, I'm lucky at that mall!!!

All right, I'm done. Yesterday I went home with Angel (half a day, no school for the rest of this week!) and we worked on our BPA project. We're making a video, with high hopes for going to nationals in Cali. We have to interview somebody today for the video, then we can get started on edits pretty soon. (Mrs. D is letting us borrow BPA's school laptop this week! :O)

XD When I checked my computer late last Sunday, I found a message from Fetus: "OMG
A storyteller: COURTNEY!
A storyteller: GAAAHHH
A storyteller: OK
A storyteller: ^It's a person
A storyteller: on it's side!"
I find this funny because a week before this, Angel IMed me with three hundred OKs, and then told me about her plans for cyber-world domination... She'd just made an army of little men! XD

Now I play Mabi.

Have You Got It In You?

I come to you from my third hour class, right after exams!   German: I think I did pretty dern well on this exam. Just a few sections I wasn't sure of, but I must have got at least an 80%. Art: Friggin easy. Drawing exercises and a survey. Web Page Design: I think I got a 98% at LEAST. I only say that because I usually at least mess up on one question.   Monday I have Physical Science and Economics exams. It makes me unhappy because even though they were boring classes, they were my most interesting. :( In Econ I sat behind Angel, and y'all know that I sat next to Damien in Phy-Sci.   Which makes me think back to a few days ago, when Zach (not my Zach, just a guy that sits behind me in Phy-Sci. (Damien wasn't there that day, which brought up an interesting conversation between Zach and I. <sub>Zach spoke first.</sub> "Where's Damien?" "I don't know." "What? Why don't you know? You're his keeper!" "Hey! You never informed me of this!" "Oh, I'm sorry, I put it in the mail." "I never recieved it." "Yeah, well, blame your local mail carrier.") Anyway, Zach had no idea what my name was, even though I've been sitting in front of him for over a month. (In his offence, though, the only reason I remembered his name is because of my friend Zach, the one I usually talk about here. :D) The day before he was trying to get Damien to tell him my name, but he only whispered my German name to him. "What? Kutta? Ketta?" (It's Jutta!) So on this particular day, it was his goal to find out my name..... Okay, it was only his goal because I refused to let him copy my worksheet because he didn't know my name. He asked Mr. Rose (a teacher who I have never before had) what my name was, but of course he didn't know. (Mr. Rose asked Zach his name, then asked me my name, but I refused to say. He must have thought me so strange! XD) Aaaand then he found out when Victoria said, "Courtney!"  ...She wasn't aware that I didn't want him to know my name. So now he calls me Megan. =_= The day after this went on, the first thing he said to me was, "Hey, Megan! Did you finish the homework?" I did believe him, because I honestly figured that when I came into that classroom, he would have already forgotten my name. He hadn't, but now he calls me Megan. ...I'm not sure how I feel about this. XD g h o s t i e   He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed. Albert Einstein   Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. C. S. Lewis

NHAAD

Mr. Zach brought to my attention that November 30th is National Hug an Asian Day.
Unfortunately, my only Asian friend lives thousands of miles away. I might, just might hug a random Asian classmate (I only have... Three?). Aw-kward. :D (Who was is that... Oh, right, Zach. His goal is to create awkward situations.)


Ummm.... Book recommendations! Follow the links for full reviews.
A Crack in the Line: Exciting, captivating, and extremely though-provoking! Basic idea of the book (in case you're too lazy to follow the link): Parallel universes, alternate realities. This book takes the basic idea of "What would have happened if this person reacted differently in this situation?" and really digs deeply into it! It has actually changed the way I look at the world. (I'm not promising that for everyone, of course.)

The Knife of Never Letting Go: This book is also exciting, follows two teenagers as they go on a cross-country journey to save not only their lives, but their entire civilization. 400+ pages, but you never would guess. They fly by so quickly and so smoothly, I could have very well been reading a 200 page book. (Not that page count really matters.)

That's all the time I have for recommendations right now.



Miya and Lenna... (c) ME

Honey Mustard Onion Rings

I come to you from my third-hour Web Page Design class! That's right, I know how to get around the blocked pages. I'm a genious, I know. No need for applause, please save that for the end!   I played Mabinogi pretty much all of yesterday, and I'm back on that road! Quite addicted right now, quite addicted. I'll probably write a Mabi-post soon, so look out for that. (Whether it's looking out to avoid, or to read, you can make that call....)   So yep, I have my mousie now! She's boarding with Angel's mouse, Shai. (My mouse is named Cinnamon.) I'll post pictures as soon as I can get a non-blurry one. (Cinnamon's the alpha, by the way! W00t, go Cinnamon!)   ...I need to think of something good to post about... Right, Mabinogi! I'll do that soon, so again, watch for it!   g h o s t i e

Mice 'n' MySpace

Just a quick post.

1. Yes, I joined MySpace. *worried*
2. I have to go bowling soon.
3. Birthday party to go to today.
4. I'm getting mice soon! (One will be Angel's, but I'll have to take care of it at my house for her.) (I've been wanting a mouse for sooo long!)
5. A Crack in the Line = SUCH A GOOD BOOK.

That is all.

TWLOHA Day

I completely forgot about it until Angel asked me if I'd written 'love' on my arm, and Emily had it written all over her arms!
If you're interested, this is what I did last year: [link]. Nothing big.

I'm not quite sure how I feel about To Write Love On Her Arms. They seem to do a lot of touring, giving conferences or something. And they sell the shirts, which is kind of another problem I have, but it's to support the organization, I guess... Just, I'm not quite sure what it is they do? To help others? Ah, well, I do think it's great what they do, if nothing else they're letting people know that they're not alone, and encouraging them to get help. (Is that their goal?)

Emily's different Emily, a girl from church birthday party is tomorrow, I hope this will be fun. :D

Vinegar-Salt Chips.

Not very many of you probably know my relationship with Angel, mostly because you must see it.
Mostly, it consists of this: yelling matches, threatening to sue the other's ass, and chasing the other across crowded rooms.
Today at lunch was an epic version of the chase.

Angel refused to give me part of her mint brownie because I refused to give her part of my Swiss Cake Roll, because she refused to give me a Pringle. (It's a harsh cycle.)
So I stood up, grabbed my lunch-trash, and stalked off to the trash cans. Angel jumped up, yelled at me to wait up, woman!, and I took off! I was making great time, but I had to slow down to go around somebody's leg that was sticking in the aisle.
When I slowed down, Angel caught up with me. I heard her footsteps, and she yelled, "I got you, woman!"
When I think about it, it's kinda in slow-mo. XD
She grabbed my arm, swung forward to jump in front of me, I believe, but she overshot. ("My bag pulled me down!" Yeah, yeah, whatever. =P) She flew in front of me, onto the ground, and rolled over. IT. WAS. AWESOME.
Everyone was looking at us! And Angel was just on the ground, laughing hysterically. XDDD Seriously, I will never forget it!

I think 3/4 of the cafeteria was staring at us/her.


Today's Moral: Don't drink bleach unless you want an ulcer.

<3

M Having my birthday party next weekend!
If you weren't invited, please don't fret.
Either 1) I have no idea who the heck you are, 2) You live on the other side of the country, 3) I only invited the girls at my lunch table, or 4) I don't like you!!! Chances are, it's #3. And I'm kidding about #4.
I invited six girls, but only Holleigh, Chels, Angel, and Emily can make it. Andrea and Kaity can't.

I must thank Kaity and Angel, for giving me good ideas: Rather than playing laser tag, we're going to go see New Moon (Please don't shoot me! I can't stand that series, but this movie actually looks somewhat promising... And Edward won't be in it!), and then afterwards.... In my field, in the dark, with flashlights... Playing a NINJA game!!! (Kind of like laser tag.)
I've been saying this a lot lately, but I'm excited!

Question: Do you prefer a short post a day or a long post once a week?

Ghostie

Give a man a match and he will be warm for five minutes....

...But set him on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life!

On Monday, Frau Stepek passed out flyers for a German class trip to Chicago this December!
We're going to this authentic German market, and a museum, then shopping ('course)!

For BPA (Business Professionals of America, a club at school), Angel and I are doing 'movie production.' The subject is "interview a local hero." We already have some ideas.... I'm getting a little excited. :3

Stay With Me.

[[I'm trying to post every day!]]

Angel told me something her German teacher said in class today:
"Mrs. G erased my board yesterday. But it's not like she ran in, erased it quickly, then ran out. Mr. Kadwell would do that."

It's so funny because he would do that! I haven't had him yet, but Angel tells me so many hilarious stories about things he does in class!

During a test:
Class: *working quietly on test*
Mr. K: *starts talking. Just talking, chatting. Just pointless stuff, like about how quiet the class is, the weather, anything*
Class: *looks up at him*
Mr. K: Oh, sorry, did you want it to be quiet? Here, I'll make ocean sounds for you. Shwooosh, shwoooooooosh.... Caw, caw..... BAAAAAH! ......That's a boat coming.
Student: Can I go to the detention room? [[so he can work in the quiet.]]
Mr. K: *completely serious face* Damn right you can!

....Makes me want to become a teacher.

It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time~!

I had a lot of fun at the university. (I mentioned it here.)

We did the macarena in front of the cafeteria, went door-to-door for a food drive, squeezed all ten of us under a street bench, and watched two guys in our group serenade a random girl with the Barney song.

It was fun to see into college dormitories. Now I am quite excited for college life. :3

The reason I didn't name the two boys who serenaded the girl was because I wanted to post this video. (If you are in the video and have objections to me posting it, tell me please, and I will take it down!)



We had a photo scavenger hunt:

"I can't believe you all fit in there!"


"Pretend to ice skate." XD

Still Life With Stem Cells

Still Life With Stem Cells by Patricia Piccinini

I read this (and I highly recommend that you do as well), and I immediately thought of Unwind by Neil Shusterman.

Pretty much, that essay I linked you to, talks about stem cell research, and how the meaning of 'life' has changed: "In the last ten years, the body has gone from something that is uniquely produced to something that can be reproduced." (Patricia Piccinini)

Why does this make me think of Unwind? Well, I suppose you need to know the basic idea of that book before you can understand this blog post:

" From The Bill of Life: The Bill of Life states that human life may not be touched from the moment of conception until a child reaches the age of thirteen. However, between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, a parent may choose to retroactively 'abort' a child... ...on condition that the child's life doesn't 'technically' end. The process by which a child is both terminated and yet kept alive is called 'unwinding.' "
-Unwind, Neal Shusterman

Basically, when a teen is 'unwound,' he is harvested for his body parts, which are kept alive at all times, and donated to those who may need them... Every single part of him.

Now I realize how frightening close we really are to a reality that is that book. When reading that book, I was horrified at this process, ending a human life for use of others, and I'm sure many others who have read that book were horrified as well. But we nearly there! No, parents do not hand their teenage children over to the government. They do, however, take their children's lives and end them, horribly and gruesomely. Yes, I am talking about abortion.
Don't worry, I will not go into a lecture about why abortion is so wrong, and things like that.

Just one point I want to make:
In Unwind, a child's life is ended, his right to live taken from him, and his body parts were harvested for use of others.
Now, here, in the present, unborn babies are taken away their right to live, and embryonic stem cell research is currently going on.

The deceptions the general public in Unwind were fed: "If you unwind your child, his life may technically end, but his life will not have been in vain; he will save the lives of others.
Now replace 'unwind' with 'abort'.
Sound familiar?

The purpose of this post was not to try to convince you that abortion is bad. I do strongly disagree with it, and I hope that someday it will become illegal, but that was NOT the point of this post. I only wanted to share with you the horrible direction our society has already taken. Perhaps you must read the book to fully understand my feelings, and I strongly advise that you read it (it is extremely thought-provoking).
I just hope we realize where we are headed before it's too late.

Feel free to post your comments in the comment thread, but please be respectful of other people's opinions. And please note that I will only see comments if they are posted here. Livejournal or any other readers won't be visible to me. ;)

Leaving... For two days!

Yep, for two days. Going to a local university with my youth group to do some... War Weekey stuff. xD (Todd described it as a miniature War Week.) I will be missing my afternoon classes! Yush. :D
=_= Man, I am tired! See y'all when I get back!

Ghost

EDIT: Here.

Short Post.

Just a quickie. (...Post.)

It is now NaNoWriMo! (Follow the link if you don't know what that is.)
Lots of great YA authors are blogging almost daily, providing writing tips, advice, and stories. So far I've been reading tips by Scott Westerfeld (whose blog I always read anyway), Justine Larbalestier (she is rotating blogging days with Scott), and Maureen Johnson (who I admit to have read only part of one of her books... However, I love her blogging style! And her tips, of course.)
So far every single post by these awesome authors have been extremely helpful to me. If you're an aspiring writer, or just a writer in general, check 'em out!

Also, I noticed that my blog traffic has increased by about ten hits a day. Thank you so much for checking out my blog! I greatly appreciate it.
If you have time, I would love it (love, seriously) if you commented on one of my posts! Feedback and some small conversation is always fun, and comments are the highlight of my day (when there are any). If you have the time, I would appreciate it more than you probably realize.

Ghost

Mask Monday!

"This morning, I walked into the kitchen to find my Dad drinking his coffee. When he took a big sip, I told him I was pregnant. He spit it out all over the table. I'm his son. MLIA"

Well, I said I would talk about my original characters (OCs) a long time ago, so I suppose I shall do it now. (Since I finally started making refs for them.)

Here's my first set: Fox, Cyan, Andii, and Amica. If this goes over well, I'll do my other two sets.

Fox Nightengale: The older twin (identical) of Cyan Nightengale. Reddish-brown hair, about 6 foot (about 183 cm), medium build. Age 16.
He's fairly popular (well-known and well-liked, has a good number of friends, but wouldn't exactly be catagorized as popular. His best friends (Andii, Erica, and Cyan) aren't very popular).
He plays basketball, loves his brother and his younger sister very much (he's very protective of his sister), and likes to read. His favourite article of clothing are sleeveless hoodies. B-average student.

Cyan Nightengale: The younger twin of Fox Nightengale. Same appearance as Fox Nightengale.
He's quieter than Fox, but still a bit outgoing (he tends to keep much more of his thoughts to himself than Fox, who pretty much just spouts whatever comes into his mind). He loves to draw, works part-time in an art store located in the city, and maybepossibly has a crush on Erica. X3 He wears his goggles (ugh I completely forgot to draw them!) as much as he can (he has some troubles at school, they have a strict dress code), and tends to wear his school uniform even after school has ended. A/B-average student.

Andii: Of Africa-American and European descent, brown wavy hair, 5 foot 6 inches. Average weight. Age 17. Outgoing, best friends with Erica, Fox, and Cyan (in that order). Likes to act kind of 'crazy' at times, an only child, and has been best friends with Erica since they were little kids. Most of the time she just talktalktalks! (I'm sure at least some of you have read the memes I've filled out.) A/B-average student.

Amica Grey: Okay, I know she looks, like, twelve, but she's 22 years old! She's just... Really petite. Brown hair and green eyes. She attends a local community college, lives at home (but stays at friends' houses frequently... The only reason she comes back home is because of her younger sister, Erica). She has a boyfriend, but she doesn't really ever bring him home because she's a bit embarrassed about her house and neighbourhood (her parents don't have very much money). She loves to party. :3

[[OCs/end]]

BTW! Here's the dress I talked about earlier. I hope he doesn't mind me posting this.



Today Plushie gave me a mask he picked up from the hospital (he just had to get a doctor's note).

I wore it at school, but the problem is, everyone takes me waaay too seriously. I'm only having fun!