Reggae

Life has been completely normal lately. I think. But I suppose I could blog anyway. Today was kinda interesting, in comparison.

Starting last night...I made a batch of cookies for my buddy Kevin's birthday, which was actually yesterday. I had forgotten to get him balloons, so I resorted to sweets. I went all out with them, too. I even spelled out his name in chocolate chips. One letter per cookie. It was pretty cute.

Went to bed last night a little later than normal last night (9:30 vs. 8:00), so I wasn't planning on getting up until 6:30 or so. But, of course, I set my alarm clock for 6, just to be sure I would have enough time to wake up before I actually had to get up. So, the dratted alarm clock started beeping at me this morning at six, and i shut it up as quickly as I could, then went back to sleep. The second I dozed off again, Mother dearest barged into my room, slamming the door open and announcing, "Well, I'm up!"

"K, I don't really care that you're up. Lemme go back to sleep!" That was the only thing going through my mind, but apparently the furthest thing from hers. "Your alarm clock has gone off like 6 or 7 times, so I'm up now, but you aren't! So get up!"

I wasn't about to humor her. I just kinda grunted and rolled over after growling that mine had only gone off once, and that it was Steph's (the girl that doesn't actually get up until 7...go figure) that had been going off since 5:30. So she barged into Steph's room with the same speel. And then came back into mine to turn on the light. So I had to get up, if only to turn it off, but I knew that if I did, she would turn it right back on again. I would like to know who made my own mom that mean. It's just not right.

So I got up and used my extra half hour to take a shower. Yeah, that's right. Half an hour's worth of hot water. Now, see, if we didn't have a propane water heater, that actually might've been some pretty sweet revenge. But the world's against me. And I ran out the door right on time.

And then I got onto the bus, saw Kevin, and realized I had forgotten his cookies. I hate myself sometimes.

First period I had Chem, during which I was supposed to take a test that I really wasn't ready for. But I passed it thankfully. I was incredibly surprised.

Second...AP World...found out that the assignment that I had actually done isn't going to be done until Friday. I think that's the third time he's postponed it. From last Friday to Tuesday to Friday. He annoys me. Also found an envelope from one of my Laura bud's containing a CD of Reggae that I'm currently listening to. It's kinda interesting.

Third...Put up with all the annoying people in English. That includes the teacher.

Choir...Started a new song...The Twelve Days of Christmas. The alto's have to sing a bunch of bawk bawk bawks during the "7 geese a'layin'" The sopranos are all for choreographing it, and having us flap our arms around. That would be interesting. Especially when the guys get to the "10 lords a'leapin". It would most likely collapse the risers. So let's not.

Sixth...Aerobics. Almost fell asleep doing Yoga. But it was a nice change of pace.

Seventh...Bishop accused me of being an overachiever (ha...i beg to differ). I just laughed.

Bus...I actually got on in decent time. Got a seat with Laura, but left a minute later to run (literally) to the ice cream truck all the way down the parking lot for some drinks. By the time I got there, there were 7 or 8 people in line, and plenty of them were interested in taking a very long time getting their stuff. Two people ahead of me was another guy who rides my bus. As soon as he got his stuff, he took off running for our bus, leaving me standing in line. (I should mention that our bus is always the first one out of the parking lot, meaning you don't really have any extra time to catch it, and also that it's at the top of the parking lot...the furthest one away from the ice cream truck) By the time I had my stuff, I could hear all the buses starting up. Not a good thing. So I took off at a dead run, not really caring that the Monster and Dr. Pepper I was carrying were getting shaken to a dangerous extent. I actually did make it onto the bus, just in time. The driver had actually waited for me, thankfully. (Not sure why, though. If I were a bus driver, I would have a heck of a fun time making kids miss the bus through incidents like that) So I made it home. And now here I am.

And here I go.

Money is Lame

Lately, My savings account has been going down like one of those little whirlpool things you get when you drain the bath tub...You get the picture, right?

It all started waaaaayy back in July, back when you couldn't even see the whirlpool 'cause the tub was still full (or relatively, anyway). I went almost double over my texts, and because of that, ended up owing dad a lot of money. I should add that a month or so before that, I had accidentally left myself signed in on MSN on my phone, which racked up a bunch more money...This phone is gonna be the death of me. And my bank account.

Then, I went to Oregon. Twice. Within a month. Kinda dumb of me. I needed money for junk food, helping out on gas, etc. While in Oregon the second 'go-round, I wore a pair of Kirstyn's shoes (white...!), which I apparently got dirty...I didn't think so, but the owner did...So I guess I get to pay her for those. Grr.

Then, I've got a whole ton of late (lost) library books. That I get to pay for.

And finally, the only one I was actually sort of expecting was the first payment for Ireland. I didn't think I was going to be able to go at first, 'cause they weren't taking sophomores, but they announced yesterday that they actually had room for us to go. But we had to have the money by tomorrow. So, that equalled up to another trip to the bank.

So it all adds up to an almost empty tub of water just waiting for a couple more unexpected things to come up.

I definately need a job.

Life

Has been pretty dreary. Well, not dreary, exactly, but not really blog-worthy.

Well, that's a fib.

We went to Boring last weekend, meaning we got to skip half a day of school Friday. We drove up to the Barton's and got there at some lateish hour. I think it was 10 or 11. Anyway, Sierra and I spent the next hour or two catching on everything that had happened since the last time we had seen each other. Two weeks before. But there was still some exhorberant amount of talking to do, which filled our time very sufficiently. Even after we had turned out the lights, one or the other of us would start talking all over again, emphasizing something that had been talked about previously, or starting on a completely new topic.

We got up at 6ish the next morning and headed off to Boring which was about an hour and a half away. Sierra slept the whole way there, while I colored a bunch of Care Bears. I fell asleep about half an hour away and woke up during the last stretch when Aunt Sharon told Sierra and I it was time to wake up in that sing-songy voice that all mothers seem to acquire to an irritating perfection. Sierra just kinda grunted and tried to go back to sleep, so when Aunt Sharon asked if we were awake I said, "Well I am, but your cow isn't."

COMPLETELY didn't mean to say that. I meant "...but your DAUGHTER isn't" but my luck wasn't too great. At least it woke her up, right? Lol. So we got out of the car, and decided that it was pretty much waaay to cold. I was wearing a sweatshirt over a long dress that looked a little odd, but I resolved right then and there not to take it off. Allyson ended up lending me a jacket that actually kinda went with my dress okay, but I ditched it after meeting when it finally got warm enough to go without one.

The whole convention was pretty great. I love spending a weekend at convention before I have to go back to school. It was a lot of fun having a ton of Oregon people there, too. (Of course they would be there...They LIVE there) Anyway, we had tons of fun. After evening meeting me and a few of said friends went up onto this hill and played Haha...which, might I add, is one of the coolest games invented...and fought over blankets and had tons of fun. But then I had to go back to our tent and try to figure out where all of my stuff was in the dark and take out my contacts without losing them, and by the end of the whole ordeal I was insanely grumpy. It definately was not fun. I hate tents.

A lot.

So that's the gist of the whole thing. There wasn't much that stands out from the rest, but it was a very cool convention anyway. And now I'm back at home sitting on a computer being bored silly. California is so dumb.

Helen of Troy

I forgot to mention a little happening in my last post that was pointed out by izzy...

So I was having Chantelle do my hair Saturday morning...she decided to do French twists in the front to dress it up a little, and as she did, a little girl named Cat, who was standing next to us watching the whole process, said, "You look like Helen of Troy!"

By far the randomest compliment I've ever been paid.

And I'm pretty sure Helen of Troy didn't have red hair. At least, it was blond in the movies.

But it was still pretty cool. So I threw it into a conversation a little while later as a group of us sat under a tree attempting to keep cool. "You must obey me! I am Helen of Troy!"

So Sierra asked, "Well, if you're Helen of Troy, then who are your kings? She had two of them fighting over her!"

Sierra and Brittni were nominated, and even though they both protested mightily, they proved my suspicions later when they fought over something that had to do with me. (I think it was who got to sit next to me during meeting or something...I dunno.) So that pretty much made my day.

Fear me.

I am Helen of Troy.

You are my humble servants.

And I have two kings.

Muahaha.

(that was a most un-Helen-of-Troy laugh...)

Nate-isms

I just got back from my slightly-spur-of-the-moment trip to Saginaw...It was basically amazing. I ended up going with the Evans and Nate Galuza, which made for a very interesting trip. Seven people in a seven-seater minivan with luggage and sleeping bags and pillows makes for a pretty crowded place. We had fun though. Within twenty minutes, I had told them all the twisted song versions I knew(including the one about "This land is your land/It sure ain't your land/I got a shotgun/and you don't got one") which got them in hysterics. We all sacked out after a bit, tho, 'cause we had all just gotten out of school a few hours previous and we didn't actually get on the road until 9.

Around 11, we made our first stop, courtesy of Nate, who just had to drink a couple bottles of water before we left. And it kinda dropped right through him. So as we pulled off the freeway, a very groggy Nate said "Ah. I have found my happy place."
I was completely befuddled, just for the record. I had no idea what he meant, so I asked, just to clarify. He gestured at the rest stop in front of us. "This. It's my happy place." Cue hysterics. Then Katie started complaining 'cause she was all sleepy and didn't want to get out to go to the bathroom, so Nate, still half asleep, said "Well, it's your choice, Katie. You can have a happy pee or you can have an angry pee, but either way, you gotta pee." Aaaannnndd more hysterics.

You see, this is why I don't take overnight trips very often.

We pulled in at 5:30, slept in the car for half an hour, then went into the dorms to find Sierra, who would have to be up...she was serving tables. It took a while to find her, but when I did, we went off to wait her table. As we were on our way over, we stopped to say hi to some people sitting outside the dining room, and Drew did a double take. "Why are you two dressed alike?" We glanced at each other and realized that we were both wearing the same shade of purple shirt. And then Drew added "And why am I not surprised?" It was giggle worthy. Sierra explained that we were just telepathic and she had been sending me messages saying *purple shirt purple shirt purple shirt*. It's the easiest way to explain it. :D

So we served...and went and got dressed (as is custom...lol) and went to the sing. It was cool. It was incredibly hot, which was a downside. I ended up taking off both covers from my notebook and tearing them in half to use as fans during afternoon and evening meeting. They were pretty effective. As was the ice war I accidentally started before the last meeting. It was amazing. These people were bringing out tubs of ice that was becoming increasingly popular as the day got hotter, so me and a few other girls grabbed cups of it and started eating it. And then, of course, someone got some down their shirt. Multiple times. And then some guys stopped by and brought their ice with 'em. It got pretty insane. One girl got two or three handfulls down her back, but she didn't mind too much when meeting came around, 'cause it kept her nice and cool.

Anyway. I think there were five people who professed Saturday. And I actually knew three of 'em, which is an odd occurance. Trevor was one...Definately surprised me, 'cause he's only nine...but I guess he had been thinking about it for a while. And Frank Maricle and Brandon something...I know his sister better than I know him...and then two other kids and an older woman. I guess that's actually six, but I still knew half of 'em. It was pretty cool.

We ended up leaving at around one...managed to make it home in seven hours. It wasn't a bad trip either. I got a good nap, but I'm still tired. Don't ask me why. So I think I'll got to bed now. After I finish my homework.

Oy.

I love my bus driver

So it's officially the second day of school. It's pretty good so far. I've decided that I actually like all of my teachers, but one of 'em reminds me a bit much of my last English teacher. He's spent the first two days going over a couple different twenty page power points on the rules of his classroom. It's pretty retarded. And my AP World teacher is slightly hooked on sports metaphores. Namely baseball. I don't get it. At all. But I like the rest of them.

It's also interesting to be in a co-ed choir this year. 'Tis lovely to actually be able to hear the guys' parts on each of the songs before the rehearsals that happen just a couple days before the concert. We definately have an advantage.

Anyway...

Today was just as hot as all the other ones have been lately. In fact, my Chem teacher has pretty much given up on writing the highs and lows of the day on the board as normal, and is replacing it with "Hot...hot...hot...hot..." It sure doesn't help that the school is trying to save money and power by shutting off the AC during the hottest part of the day. (I don't get it...why run the air conditioner in the morning when it's already nice and cool?) You understand my misery if you've ever been stuck in a room with 30-40 people in it with no air conditioning...on the top floor of a building with some sort of metal-ish roof. It is soooooo not cool. I finally got out of afore-mentioned class and walked up three stinking flights of stairs to get to the buses, wholly expecting to have to sit in another deep fryer for ten or fifteen minutes before the buses took off.

But it was Nadine to the rescue.

She greeted each kid who walked up the steps with a squirt bottle full of considerably chilly water. "Wanna cool down?"

It was lovely.

And she is my favorite bus driver ever.

BTW, did I mention I got contacts? Mom got after me for not mentioning it in the last post. :D

Procrastination to the max

Yes, procrastination is indeed the only reason I'm actually posting on this. But technically I'm still being obedient to myself, 'cause I said that I wouldn't take a break from the computer until noon, and I'm truthfully not. I'm just not exactly doing what I'm supposed to be doing. :D I love loopholes.

But you may be proud of me (this is mostly for mom's benefit) when I tell you that I officially just finished Portugal in this horrendous stack of countries that I don't care about. So, Portugal down, 40 to go. Sooooo close. I've already done twenty since about 9:30 this morning, which I consider a great accomplishment.

So continuing with the procrastination...we went to see Get Smart last night. It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my life. It wasn't just the movie that was funny, though. Somehow, this genius late-night-movie idea of mine turned into a family outing, which included fitting 5 kids and two adults into the Tank (we had Cayman's friend Nathaniel with us), driving half an hour to the theater, getting snacks, watching the movie, then trying to load everyone up again to go back home. And that's pretty much what happened, but it was a heckuva lot more detailed than that.

9:15-Dad sends the "Clear for takeoff" message, so we get scrambling.

9:21-Everyone manages to make it into the car safely except Carol, who had gone back to get something.

9:22-Cayman and Maverick climbed back out to do the same, I realize I had forgotten to grab a hairtie. I run back to get one.

9:23-Everyone having made it into the car, it starts to leave. I walk back out of the house and manage to flag down the car before it goes without me. Some people have some seriously unobservant parents.

9:24 to 9:45-Nathaniel was busy being tortured by the two girls who got stuck in the back with him. Somehow, during all of this, he managed to run into a wall, which, in itself would have been a little odd, but he actually managed it while he was sitting down. In a car. Go figure.

9:45 to 9:55-Dad and Carol set everyone loose on the snack stand. We were the only ones in there besides the people managing the booth (two very lookable guys...), so they didn't even have someone else there to distract them while this load of kids ran rampant through the place, trying to figure out what they were going to take. I could almost hear the sigh of relief when we finally went off to our movie.

9:55 to 10:00-Steph and I (rather loudly) made fun of the commercials and previews. We made sure that there weren't too many other people in the room before we even considered it, don't worry, ma. There was only one other guy, and I think he thought it was funny.

10:00 to 12:00-The movie was watched, only interrupted by bursts of hysterical laughter. (It's ker-freakin'-boom, man!)

12:00 to 12:30-Spent similarily to the ride to the theater, except Steph and I didn't have to sit in the back. Nathaniel was relatively safe, but I think he has some sort of girl phobia. lol.

So that was the evening.

Don't I have great ideas?

(You don't have to answer that)

Ok, so...wow.

Friday...wonderful day. Especially when you actually have something to look forward to on a Friday. Like the weekend of sleeping that I was growing increasingly dependant on. But no, dad wanted to go on a trip to the coast, namely Santa Rosa, 'cause that's where U. Alan was staying. I seriously considered calling dad and asking if I could not go, and just catch up on sleep, but I decided against it...I didn't see him at all last week, even though it was the week I should've been there, so it just didn't seem nice to not go. So we set off, after I grabbed yarn for a new blanket (white, hot pink, and chocolate brown) and got there 7ish. We went to some cute little Chinese resaurant and ate. Good food. And then we went back to the hotel and watched TV and were bored. Until Sierra called and said something along the lines of "Come to Marine World!!!" So after a bunch of figuring stuff out, I did!

So we just got back from Marine world a few hours ago. I'm super tired, but man, it was fun. Me and Sierra, along with Allyson, Brandon Foner, and Kyle Ulschafer went off and rode coasters, although not as many as we planned (stupid long lines...and animal shows!)

The ride home was interesting to say the least. We stopped at Arby's for food, but Aunt Sharon didn't want that, so we stopped by Carl's Jr for her, then realized that we forgot about Trevor...Add a stop to Taco Bell. At one point after everyone was settled, we were eating our food when we noticed something resembling a set of human hindquarters clad in bright orange pants sitting on the back of the seat between Sierra's and my heads. We exchanged a couple glances, both rather confused, when Kyle poked his head up from the orange pillow he had wedged against the seat. Another glance exchange..."Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" (that was Sierra)...Yeah, I definately was. So, between hysterics, during which Kyle couldn't figure out what the heck was going on, I managed to say something along the lines of "That's a pretty bad presentation, Kyle!"

So we laughed some more.

He didn't appreciate it at all.

It was hilarious.

Jobness

Seem's like jobs are all the rage now, especially with the people in desperate need of money. That would be me. So life at the farm has been pretty interesting lately. I'm pretty sure I posted about the fire last Tuesday, so that bit of excitement is out of the way. So, updates, since then...

I am only working 7 hours now instead of full time, due to the fact that there is pretty much nothing for me to do after 2:30 when everyone else has gone home. It's fine by me, though. Sure, it's minus an extra eight bucks a day, but that doesn't seem enough worth it to stick around bugging Tamara and Belinda about something to do. I very effectively cleaned every single stinkin' onion and garlic clove in the storage stall within about 2 or 3 days of working on 'em. And there were 5 boxes full, each about 3'x1.5'x8"...that's a whole heck of a lot of garlic and onions. It was nice though. When I was working on those I got to sit under the tree in the courtyard...in the shade, might I add...and my only responsibilities were to the onions and the people walking by with questions. But as soon as those ran out, I was left with nothing to do. So now I go home at 2:30 instead of 3:30, and have an extra hour to bum around when I get home. :D Any questions?

The only annoying thing about work so far is a couple people who seem to have an obsession with turning me from a non-rule-breaking, non-drinking, non-smoking, sort of girl into one who thinks it's great fun when the cops get called on her. Seriously, their latest joke (besides the usual: "Just call me whenever you decide to get drunk!" and "Your life isn't gonna be exciting if you don't drink!") is that I need to figure out some way to get onto the police blotter. All the calls into the police station are recorded in the newspaper the next day, and apparently they get stupid ones all the time (suspicious man walking down the road holding suitcase), so all I have to do is go TP someone's house and spray-paint my name all over the place. I seriously wonder why these people say I don't have a life. 'Cause really, they're the ones spending all their time getting wasted, going to work with hangovers, and trying to convince underage kids to do the same.

Geeze.

This seems like a good place to throw in a "Some people's kids!" in a really exasperated tone.

GAHHHH!

Some people's kids.

Busy week, man.

It has been a definately busy week. Majorly. Second week of work, so I'm finally getting the hang of things, but there's always something that I haven't learned yet that I have to figure out on the spot, and something new to do...Goodness. Anyway, the exciting height of my year happened this week.

On with the story...

So Chris was gopher blasting the other day, blowing those little creatures outta their holes so that he could whack them with a shovel and chuck 'em over the varmint proof fence. (At least there's one of us who enjoys their job completely. =D) Well, this gopher blasting machine (named the Gopher Blaster...wow. talk about origional, right?) contains a mixture of propane and oxygen, which, when pumped into holes at high volumes is pretty effective, and makes a big boom that sounds a ton like a gunshot. Kinda freaked me out the first few times, but I eventually got over it, and began to connect each explosion with some amount of fun being had on one end or the other of that machine. So this one boom boomed as normal, and of course, I didn't think much of it.

And then Chris started hollering bloody murder. Yeah, that kinda got everyone runnin'. The two men I was with took off at a run...up the hill. I was majorly impressed, 'cause that hill is a killer. The golf carts can barely make it up it when they're floored. Gah. But then I heard another holler...This one was "FIRE!!!".

OH!

So everyone else started moving around lickety split, and I was stuck next to the tomato patch I was weeding, not having any idea what to do. This was another one of those things that I hadn't been taught anything about and was supposed to figure out in time to do something. So I took off toward the fire, hoping that some opprotunity would present itself and show me what to do. I didn't know where any fire extinguishers were, or what to do without one, so I kinda just stood there a little while longer. Then I spotted a rake someone had dropped, grabbed it, and started copying what everyone else was doing, which was, I figured out a couple minutes later, digging a trench around the fire that was getting steadily larger. A couple of people had cut limbs off the peach trees and were whacking at the fire with those, but they weren't really hindering it at all, so we were all pretty relieved when Brent showed up with the water tank. He drove around and soaked it and it pretty much disappeared after that.

THEN came the sirens. Seriously, some people just have the worst timing.