Currently Watching The Secret (Extended Edition) By Rhonda Byrne, Paul Harrington, Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith, Neale Donald Walsch see related

Happy Labour Day Everybody!

No school!  Basically no work!  Wahoo!

My parents decided that this weekend we were going to take a trip to Ethan Allen to order my new bedroom furniture that I picked out last year.  Once we got there we showed my dad and brother (who’d never seen the furniture) what we were ordering and my mom gave my dad a chance to veto it.  He didn’t.  Then we started discussing bedding and whatnot.  We eventually decided we’d think about it.

Sunday was spent cleaning out my room so I wouldn’t have too much stuff once my new furniture gets here.  Most of my clothes hadn’t been sorted since 6^th grade, so we got rid of a ton of stuff.  Mom claimed that my brother and I don’t have any long-sleeved shirts.  I told her it’s because we have a ton of lightweight jackets.  My closet, trundle, and desk still need to be cleaned, but other than that we’re done.  That’s actually less than half of my room.  Plus I’ve already started on my closet and most of the stuff in my closet and trundle just need to be stored.

Yesterday in the Sunday ads I was looking at the bedding when I decided that I needed a picture of the Canon Powershot S5 IS, the "chosen one" of all the camera's I researched to replace my two-year old Nikon Coolpix L3.  It's so beat up that you can't even read the model on the front.  But really I just wanted a better quality camera because I know that I'm going to be using it a lot within the next few years, and the grainy pictures just weren't cutting it for our yearbook, you know?  So anyways...lol...I needed the picture for my "Wish Board," an idea stolen from "The Secret." (See Currently Watching, b/c I saw the DVD with my mom.  I'll read the book eventually.)  It just so happened that the universe was working in my favor (you'll have to understand The Secret to get that) because the camera was $100 off at OfficeMax on Labour Day weekend.  We found out that they honored competior's coupon's at OfficeDepot, and that was closer, so we went there instead.  We also found the perfect bedding (which also included 2 sham covers and a bedskirt) at Dillard's for half off, along with 3 Euros and 1 small square pillow:

My grandparents are spending the afternoon here today.  Dinner is going to be in about an hour, maybe sooner.

Currently Listening Wicked (2003 Original Broadway Cast) By Stephen Schwartz, Kristin Chenoweth, Idina Menzel For Good see related

The Meaning of Life?

Currently Reading Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Book 1) By Ann Brashares see related

Science Fair

Once again, it's time for science fair.  They moved it up to December this year, so my science teacher says we"re going to "hit the ground running."  We looked up topics in the library today, and we're supposed to be typing on proposals on Friday.  I'm either going to do "Do Preferences Bias Our ______" as an extension of last year's project (which I got a 100 on!), Do Preferences Bias Our Choices.  I was also considering The Bouba-Kiki Effect last year.  That's on my list again.  The other two are projects on dowsers (is that right?) and whether or not people can actually taste the difference between brown and white eggs.  Apparently in some places one kind will be more expensive then the other.

Let's just through this out there: What's your favorite? And do eggs all cost the same at your local grocery store?

Currently Reading Scaredy Squirrel By M?anie Watt see related

School- Day II

Currently Listening Bowling for Soup Goes to the Movies By Bowling for Soup Jimmy Neutron Theme see related

First Day of School

Looking back, my first day of school seems a little boring.  I woke up at my normal time {for the school year}, 6:30 so I could say goodbye to my brother. He left for his first day of 5^th grade at 7.  He had to be there by 7:15 for safety patrol, and he was going to ride his scooter, plus my mom wanted to take pictures.  Then I spent the next two hours just hanging out at home.  I didn’t really know what to do with myself.  When I got to school I signed in at the front office, picked up my schedule, and put all my stuff in my locker, which, for the first year ever, is on the bottom.  That’s not a problem until the end of the day when everyone is at their locker.

I headed to second period—the dismissal bell rang right when I was done—and said hi to all my friends along the way.  I have 1 of my best friends and 2 of my very good friends in my science class, but since my science teacher likes to sit you according to your surname, Zs in the front and As in the back, I was in the middle while they were in the back.  <tear> If I do a 180 I can see my best friend, but that won’t help me any during pre-labs.  Also, the people I’m sitting next to are nice, but I still feel awkward sharing space with them, if you know what I mean.

I just found out this morning who my English teacher is, thanks to a schedule mishap.  When I saw that it wasn’t my journalism teacher, who's also an 8th grade English teacher, I was…upset?  Hmm… I can’t really describe it.  Some mix between “dang it! ah, well, c’est la vie,” and disappointment.  As soon as I meet my English teacher though, I instantly regret feeling that way.  She’s amazing!  Half-way through class I wanted to get up & hug her.  For one thing, we don’t have desks, we have tables {that seat four}, and it’s not “Mrs. Foster’s room” it’s “the student’s room” and as the school year progresses, we’ll decorate the walls with our pictures from our various vacations that we may take throughout the year.  (btw, I'm going to call her Mrs. Foster b/c she's a foster parent- that's not her name) Also, she has this awesome desk her husband made for her this summer, and she painted it with that black chalkboard paint, so if we borrow chalk from her we can write or draw on it, since she keeps her overhead screen down most of the time & we can’t draw on her board.  I find that very thoughtful.  Also, she won’t have us do “SUAC” {Shut Up and Color!} projects, like crosswords and stuff like that, we can read books we want to read, and we don’t have to overanalyze the books to death, including finding similes and metaphors in the text.  I practically started singing at that point.  Also, for honors, it was considerably quiet.  Maybe it’s always like that on the first day.  I really don’t remember.

And then I walked into Choir.  Holy moly! I don’t know how our choir directors handle us.  It was like cheerleading practice on steroids.  But it was fun, and I think for once I actually smiled through an entire class.

Once I got to lunch I was starving though.  We were the first class at lunch, and I actually had so many groups of friends in my lunch this year that I had a hard time deciding who to sit with.  I think this is going to be the only year that I wish we didn’t have to pick our tables for the rest of the semester.

The History Teacher is just as awful as she was last year.  She actually showed us a PowerPoint on the gifted program, what we study, and how to get in.  Seriously.  If we didn’t already know this stuff, then how in the world are we smart enough to get in it?

I have 2 good friends in my Algebra class this year.  From what may math teacher said about the class, I think that’s perfect.  When I need a partner, I’ll have one, but then I’ll also be able to focus on my work throughout the class because I won’t be too tempted to talk.  I really want to get a 4.3 or above this year in Math, because I want to be ahead in high school.  Maybe this will keep me motivated to get my work done.  Like I just said, I really need to focus this year.  Thank goodness for off-campus PE—and extra sleep!

Turns out the most popular girl in our grade, also a girl I’m convinced despises me by now, is in my favorite class of the day, Journalism.  I really didn’t want to have to worry about her judgmental attitude this year.  Maybe she’ll try out for athletics and not continue Journalism, like someone else did last year.  Actually, this guy was dating her last year, and the only reason he wanted to be in Journalism was because she was going to be in it.  Then something happened with her schedule that she couldn’t be in Journalism, and so he actually dropped out this year.  I never thought that changing your schedule to be with your current boyfriend or girlfriend was worth it, because middle school long term relationships last a month at the most.  Once you break up, would you really want to see, or even sit next to, your “ex-“ everyday for the rest of the year if you didn’t have to?  Probably not.  That would be just a little awkward.

I forgot how awful the bus is.  The 6^th graders think they have a right to sit in the back, and these particularly annoying 7^th graders think they’re cool and “gangsta” so they start cussing everyone out.  In reality, they just look pretty foolish, and they’ll probably regret it later.  And can’t they wait one more year until they’re the oldest?  I put up with the 8^th graders and sat in the 10^th seat on the bus every day.  No one gave me any crap about it, and I didn’t live in fear of getting beaten up by the big, scary, and frankly intimidating, 8^th graders.

Sorry.  That last part was kind of a vent.