Track

Today in track I actually went with middle-distance, the group I'm in.
(By the way, turns out we have five coaches, Coach Brad, Coach Long (bye-bye!), Coach Middle, Coach Sprint, and Coach Field.)
Anyway, we worked really hard, and the last thing he made us to was to run from the yellow bridge to the bleachers, run up and down all four sets, run back across to the single silver bench, touch it, run all the way across to the three picnic tables and hurdling the single rusty bench on the way, climb up the picnic table and jump down, run to the boat in the playground, get up on it, jump from the point, run back out to the picnic tables in the middle of the forest between the playground and the soccer field, climb over the tables, run to the table next to the long jump pit, climb up and jump, then sprint on pure adrenaline back to the yellow bridge. All hard running, no jog.
WHEW!!!!!!!!!
Good coach, good coach.

KID!!!!!!!

Yesterday we were at Subway and this... random little boy was running around. I didn't really pay any attention to him until he ran into the Woman's restroom!
I thought it would be funny to see his reaction if I opened the door and went in to wash my hands. So I part way opened the door, then realized that it was a one-person bathroom and he hadn't locked it.
By then we were going outside, so I rushed out. Then in the parking lot we saw him. He was holding the door handle and was is the window, just watching us. Ch1k3n and I cracked up, and when we were leaving I thought, "He's never going to see me again, so why not?" and I waved really big and enthusiastically to him. He saw, grinned, and waved back.
This, somehow, got Ch1k3n laughing harder.
AWESOME LITTLE KID!!!!!!!
(Not most awesome, because the most awesome little kid was the one that battled with invisible fire/ice shooting out of our palms when I was with Deer practicing our duet.)

Laps

After school today, Nicole and I went to see how many laps we ran.
32.
THIRTY-TWO.
For me.
Nicole?
31.
THIRTY-ONE??
This isn't right. We at least had 35.
So after a lot of 'technical' math works, we concluded that we ran 35.
I know we ran more, but Coach who was in charge probably wouldn't have fallen for anything higher. Cause we know that Mike only lapped us three times, but his counter fell off and they ended up saying he ran 38.
So, yes, we're stuck with the tiny number 35.
Only an extremely slow runner can only run 35 laps.
Well, anyway, that's an average of 7 mph...
Easy to calculate!
Anyway... Twilight-lover got in the top 20?? I didn't even know she was fast...

Jog-a-Fun

Yes. Today was the dreaded Jog-A-Fun.
I somehow ignored the nervous pangs deep inside me as we carried through the day.
At lunch Nikki and I decided to go to Mrs. Love's room. We soon figured out- her husband was there. And it was awkward, because he was being really wierd. Well, he might have been being himself... Anyway, this is how conversation went-
Me- So, um... you're reading Green?
Mr- Yeah. It's better than the other book.
Ms- And by the 'other book' he means Maximum Ride.
Me- Oh. Okay.
*awkward silence forever*
We left because of the awkwardness, probably much to the Love's relief, and because Coach Paytoll gave us permission to (the class was out on the field), Nikki and I sat out at the circular driveway-thingy next to Mrs. Hendy's Spanish room. We sat on the picnic tables and cheered on for the high-schoolers.
We yelled at Skandar and Sam to run, and when Sam came back we yelled, "Run like an ostrich!"
Now, Nikki had an idea that Hale, her, and I have bandanas to wet and tie onto our wrists. I chose a pink bandana, and Nikki just had to have her horse one. She was making me tie it on her wrist perfectly ("Can you make it tighter?" "Can you tie it more up my hand?") until she finally was content with her bandana with the horse showing (of course) and wrapping up over her thumb. I liked this and did the same thing.
Then we met up with Hale out at the field. We go our clunky computer lap counters (different from last year) and then when we got outside everyone was all lined up.
"Are you ready to run?"
"NO!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Aw, come on. Are you ready to run?"
"NO!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Okay, Junior High, this is the last race of the day, and it's gonna be the best. ARE YOU READY TO RUN??"
"mmmmmmmeeeeeeehhhh........."
"We're going to keep you till midnight. One last time- you ready to run?"
*random -ish- cheers*
"Okay. On your mark... get set... GO!"
We started off, and Nikki was going way too fast. The whole thirty minutes was a blur of rolling dust, splashes of water every lap evaporating off our shoulders, and dodging slow people. Somewhere in there we lost Hale. But by the end I was really about to throw up. Literally. But Nikki and I found Hale and we just stood there and hugged (yes, even with us all sweaty and tired) for I don't know how long... I guess it was kinda like unspoken communication or everything we wanted to say during the race, apologies, and confusion.
After that I went up to the locker room, wettened my bandana, stuck it on my face, and leaned on the wall. I stuck it down my back and went to find Nikki and Hale.
I was okay after that. I still don't know how many laps we ran...
But that was my last time doing that...
Bye-bye Jog-a-fun!

PSIA

So... PSIA. I was in On-Site Drawing. I left the house at 7:00... And the set was HORRIBLE. I mean, it' wasn't even set up artistically. Nikki sat on my right and Mango sat on my left. I think Nikki had the worst view of sitting. The set is covered when you walk in, so you can't choose your angle. So, as you can guess no one had a good composition.
Nikki, Hale, and I got permission to stay in the bridesroom to practice their speeches. And talk.
For a while. Until Hale's Prose verification. She was looking up the times of her Prose finals and wondering if she had any conflicts and talking about the finals. So anyway we go with her into the hall and wait for her to come out. And when she does, she's crying. Turns out that she was the only one from Brentwood who didn't make it. It's hard to get into the finals, by the way. Just saying. So she went into the bathroom and Nikki and I told her we'd meet her at the Woods of Brent table in the gym. Then the two of us took off and quickly picked a scrawny arrangement of flowers and grass. We were still trying to figure out how to tie it up when Nikki had to go to Impromptu, which Haley also did.
I found Deer and we went up into a staircase area that was just a flight of stairs with walls right up close and a wall so that it was like a box with a door at the top and stairs going down. It was a private place, and IT WAS FUN sitting up there.
Then I heard people announcing the results for On-Site Drawing just as I had to leave and go outside. So I stayed through their agonizingly slow process of reading off names for seventh grade. They finally got to Eighth grade, and this is how it went-
"In sixth place we have, from Brentwood, Mango."
*Nikki and I glance at each other*
"In fifth place, ---blah blah blah--- not us..."
*Nikki and I look relieved at each other, glad we weren't getting too low*
"In fourth place, -not us again-..."
*Nikki and I look questioning*
"In third place"
*Nikki and I are restless*
"-not us AGAIN-"
*Nikki and I look hopeful/glad at each other*
"In second place we have ---NOT ONE OF US!!!!!"
*Nikkii and I look at each other anxious, but with sudden competitive-ness*
"And in first place we have--"
*one last glance*
"----SOMEONE THAT'S NOT US!1----"
*Nikki and I l,ook at each other with looks that clearly state, "How is this possible? Mango beat both us??*
Then I left.

Track

This track season is... different. Coach Jordy isn't coaching us anymore. Which I am somewhat happy about. And we have four coaches- Coach Brad for field events, Coach Long for long distance, Coach Middle for middle distance (the guy whose most famous line is, "Jared... I, just... Jared, just... just, Jared...") and Coach Sprint for sprints. I actually don't know his name yet.
But Coach Brad, at the beginning, when he was splitting us up into our groups to work on our events, he said to me, "I know where you go," and put me with Coach Long. I do not belong in long distance. The middle distance people were having a lot of fun... And Coach Long likes Peely a lot better than me, but then she realized that Peely was running faster because she was listening to her iPod. So it got taken away from her, and she got slow.
Basically, all we did in "long distance" was 30 second run, 30 second walk. 60 second run, 30 second walk. Coach Long gave Peely the timer, and Peely messed the times up. *applause* It was supposed to be a 'Fartlek run' but it... wasn't. In cross country, a Fartlek run meant half a mile run, half a mile walk. Mile run, mile walk. No "seconds!" kind of playing around.
Anyway, after practice I asked Coach Brad if he was sure I wasn't supposed to be in middle distance, and he said, *insert Coach Brad accent here* "Yeah, I kno, I pud you in the wron wun."
So next time I'll get to go middle distance, where they get to run up onto the boat in the playground. :)

*gaspGASPgasp*

Guess what I just found out?

?

??

???

??

?

...you're not guessing.

Okay, then. My orchestra will be playing a song, and PETER BAY will be conducting it!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Banned

I am banned. From what?
No, not the internet. No, not my phone.
Books.
Yes, books.
Your friend Annasophie has gotten herself banned from reading.
Why?
Because I read on Friday when we had no school.
And I didn't practice violin first thing in the morning. No one told me to, so how would I have known to immediately, at, like, 7 in the morning go down and get me violin out?
So, yes. This is my punishment.
No books.

Watch Your Heads, There May be a Humongous Virtual Block Coming Down...

Let's say this fast and straight forward-
The seventh graders in art ANNOY ME!!!!
Okay, I hear this daily-

1. I'M SO CONFUZED! CAN YOU HELP ME????????? (Task? Tape two pieces of carboard together.)
2. I CAN'T DRAW!!!!!!! Oh, yours looks good... (I know, and I know.)
3. What are you doing?? (You'll see. I actually have a strategy, unlike you guys who just go for it and FAIL. This actually kinda works, you should try it sometimes.)

And on and on and on.

-------------------RAWR!!!!!!-----------------------

Caution: Massive Loads of Frustration Ahead!

*sigh* Today was not a good day.
Okay, so when I get to school, Deer looks at my shirt curiously. And guess what? I'm wearing a random t-shirt. (From my church.) So it's this big mixture of panic, disbelief, and hilarity. Mostly hilarity. I'm just there for about three minutes before the bell, trudging around, saying, "I can not believe this is happening!" while laughing and asking people if they had another polo, while they say, "Uh, no...-" and then realize what I'm saying as their eyes grow huge.
Morg-in- "I think I might have something."
Hale- "I don't think it'll fit..." *giggles*
Me- *zips up jacket quickly*
The bell rings and we go in. And guess what Morg-in has? A tiny BCS Athletics sweatwhirt. And NOW Hale says, "Yeah, I don't think it'll fit..."
While I'm searching through my 'extra clothes' bag. Which has come in handy, not for the first time. And behold- I find a green polo! Which I got at a uniform resale from Nikki!

That ends well. This one doesn't.

I did really, really bad on my band playing test. I think Laura did better than me. Which is bad. Cause she's pretty bad on a regular basis. I have not idea HOW I messed up so much. And what I don't like about Mr. Pollard is that he sets standards to low for others but so high for me. So you could play HORRIBLY on a regular basis and do bad on a playing test, and get a 97 or whatever. Whereas, you could also play well on a regular basis and do okay on a playing test and still get a 97.
Effort shouldn't be the whole grade.
Impression shouldn't be the whole grade.
Sure, they can be part of the grade, but it at least has to sound recognizable, not like a blur of notes.
Anyway, I'm really upset with myself right now...

Here's the 'frustration' that the title's referring to=
;jg arkljt'lakrjg;klffdddddddddddddddddflajdflkjidjifjdfkajf;fuap4594834888888888

(I had to stop shortly because-

1. My computer started beeping somewhere inbetween those 'dddddd's .
2. Therefore, I had to type slowly.
3. Meaning it's no fun.

So bye.)

Next Performance

Saturday's performance was worse. Well, I did worse. I didn't do bad, but I just didn't feel the energy that I did on my first one. It seemed like all my first lines had the same tone. Maybe it was just the confidence. Actors tend to build confidence on the first show and kind of blow off the second one. I was trying not to, but... I guess it's just kinda unavoidable unless you're a professional.
Anyway, when the audience was coming in, Ty, Kayl, Nattles, and I were behind the stage left built-up curtains. And I guess we were somewhat nervous (which I don't actually get, but it was probably just the whole knowing that our show was coming up) so everything was funny, and we were all cracking up at Kayl's built in... behind under her skirt. (Why would they ever create that in a costume?? Seriously!) And Ty was making hilarious comments, and Nattles gave him very long hugs (there's definately something going on there) and when Ty fell and rolled on the ground, laughing, he messed up his fake mustache. So Nattles got all over him and was trying to fix it. (Something there, too, don't ya think?) And her mother was watching. Haha!
So the show started. Ty, Kayl, Nattles, and I were still recovering from excessive laughter, so we had a hard time calming down. But we did.
When it was time, Nattles and I (plus the numbers) walked in on stage. In the dark. Awesome!
And it was over.
We watched the audience bore out on the other people's play. Cause you can't understand their accents. I said that they have no hope at TCSIT with that play, but Deer said that I was just being pessimistic. How would she know.
And guess what? Our class isn't going to PSIA. Seriously? All this hard work goes into two average performances, and no competition? We have a good chance, but we won't be able to see how we rank? Apparently we have one person too many (just cut out one of our extras) and five minutes too long. (Cut out the Guinneapig's speeches. They're boring.) I don't think she's really telling us why, though...
Strike went pretty fast. Meaning putting up everything. Kinda. It lasted until about 9:20.
Then came IHOP. Disastrous. Yes, we had the back room. But there was this one table that was so loud and obnoxious and yelling... *sigh* They even went to far as to pouring salt and syrup into someone's Dr. Pepper, then a lot of boys got attention by drinking it.
Nikki even left an apology note. I'm pretty ashamed of Brentwood.
But I guess it's like that every year.
And I will say bye now.

Opening Night!

Okay, opening night was... exciting.
Behind the black curtains, we watched all the peopleses come in... I saw you, Sam! :)
Our play went okay. The Guinneapig was the only one who messed up, and he messed up pretty obviously.
I don't even notice the audience. It's no different.
Oh, by the way, Deer asked for me (I didn't tell her to, it was her idea) to just be writing really concentrated on my notebook, completely not noticing the little Hollingsworth kid. Yay! So I don't have to do that anymore.
Anyway, I don't have much else to say.
We're going to perform again today.
Okay, no one even told Mrs. Nest about the whole IHOP tradition. So she was all clueless, like, "Well, it's a free country, you can eat wherever you want to..."
But she's teaching a Bible class the next morning, so she's not going.
I'm not even sure if anyone will. I want to, but I probably won't eat anything... At, like, 11:30 at night...

Technical?? ...

Today we had a 'Technical Rehearsal.'
Where we use mics and lights.
And we had no mics or lights.
So much for technicality.

But tomorrow is Thursday and we get to perform a little snippet of our play during chapel.
The part with my funniest line.
YAY!!!!!!!
I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!
And you all have to watch it. Except for Jestar, who needs to come see it Friday or Saturday.
YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DRAMA!!!!!!

JESTAR. YOU NEED TO COME TO SEE OUR PLAY.
Today we got our microphones and I suffered terrible embarrassment.
When Pat, Chris, and I (character names used here) had to sing along with the rest of the class, Chris mumbles cause he doesn't like singing either and Pat's mic was off. And the rest of the class has no mic. So I was the only one with a microphone, singing. BIG. MISTAKE.
It. Was. TERRIBLE! I'm just not a singing person, so as soon as I heard practically only myself singing, I stopped. Stopped. I lip-synced the rest. *shudder*
SO EMBARRASSING!!!
But something worse happened to Allie (character name, again) and Tiara, her, and I were laughing soooo hard in the bathroom about it, but when we came out, still laughing, everyone was huddled in a circle, praying.
It was horrible. I pretended to cough (I do that when I'm embarrassed by being loud) and when we were done praying I went over to Kayle and asked if we were loud. And she said yes.
"Very, very loud?"
"Yep."
"Seriously??"
"Yeah."
"Oh, no... Like really clearly loud?"
"Uh-huh."
Ohhhhhhh......... ;( (Hiding forever into corner)
Anyway, the worst part is when we all have to go all, "Aww! It's EVAN!!!!!!" over the little Hollingsworth kid. No. Okay for the seventh graders, but I'm the only eighth grade girl that has to do that. NO. UGH!!!!!
Sorry. Bye.

Awkward Class

Mr. Paytoll REALLY knows how to make class awkward.
He started asking random questions like, "Yara, what's your favorite color?" "Kenz, what's your favorite food?"
Then he said, "Now ya'll be truthful with this question. And your answer doesn't need to mean anything. Who's the cutest guy in the eighth grade?"
And I don't have an answer for this, but a lot of people turned red. And Raye immediately shouted, "MCGUINNEAPIG!!!!!" Other answers from other people were: Tom (ugh!), 'Benny-Boo', Jake P. (Mr. Paytoll took credit for that comment), and Zak.
Then he asked, "Who's the cutest guy in the whole school?"
Madi-lyn, along with other people shout, "Brett With-him!"
No.
NO.
*shudder*
ugh.
My preacher's son.
Big surprise there.
Other answers: Cero (I think that's what it was) and... Hollinger (??).

So just about everyone left the class blushing and red-faced.

And guess what.
He asked the boys today.
Answers for eighth grade: Madi-lyn and Becca. (I don't know...)
Whole school: Britt-John and Jenny-Quinny.

I don't like these questions very much.
Now everyone will probably all be avoiding Mr. Paytoll...