I'm updating again...like, two years later. Trying to revisit my angsty preteens!

"Elizabeth the First was a booby lady!" - Mrs. Wilson

Yeah!  So!  I think we're all finally getting into the swing of things at school.  I still only enjoy the first half of my day, really, but oh well.

Quiz bowl started!  The practices are a lot of fun.  I really miss Royer and Aubie.  Especially Royer!  Gah, APUSH was such an awesome class, even though I took little to nothing from it.  I'm not a big fan of American history.  You'd think it'd be easy to remember, since we have so LITTLE history, but to me it was just too boring to remember...  Which sucks, because a lot of quiz bowl questions have to do with American history.

I just read this amazing book called Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen.  It starts out with a man, who knows he is either ninety or ninety-three, living in a nursing home and hating every second of it.  It slips into a tale of his past, how his parents died during his last year of college during the dust bowl, leaving him penniless.  He hops a circus train and joins a colourful troupe of disgruntled midway workers and stumbles across the star performer Marlena, and her schizophrenic husband, August.  It's a story about murder, love, and justice.  Absolutely brilliant, I thought.  Read it!  Anyway, now I'm reading American Gods, by Neil Gaiman.  He wrote Coraline, which was one of my favourite stories as a kid.  Anyway, Joey lent this one to me, and I've been liking it so far!

So!  Have I updated this thing since I got the job at Coldstone?   Well...I got a job at Coldstone!  Minimum wage isn't that bad, when you include tips.  Not much to be excited about, though.  Really.  First of all, I hate ice cream.  Second of all, several of my coworkers are bad people.  I will leave it at that.  My thumbs are hurting, I don't get enough hours there, and the customers are positively abysmal.

I've decided to work my way through Shawzie's entire music library.  He has a lot of stuff I've wanted to hear but can never manage to find a decent recording of, so that'll be nice.

I've been utterly exhausted as of late.  Whether it's the fact that I don't get nearly as much sleep as a girl of my age ought to, or trying to be cheerful all the time, even when I'm not, I'm tired.  I wish I could sleep for two days straight.  Actually, no, because I usually feel achy when I sleep for too long.

Autumn is here!  The leaves haven't even started to change yet, and the weather is still as hot and humid in during the brighter hours of the day as it was in the summer.  And even though I'm looking forward to chilly weather and all of the wonderful things that come along with it (scarves, apple cider, and being cozily curled up inside), I really miss summer.  I miss Alex's house, summer classes, and the amphitheatre.  And being unemployed, having no obligations other than those plans I made with my friends.  Ah well.  Autumn will make up for it, if it EVER starts to get colder...

I want to visit the forest again.

So!  Joey had people over to his house last Saturday, and it was so much fun!  We played badminton four-on-four, which is an absolute blast.  We went to pick up Alex from his dorm at Purdue, and we were BLASTING this opera (that I still need to listen to in its entirety) out of Vinnie's convertibile.  Attracted many strange looks, of course.

Scott, Joey, and myself are going to make a time machine.  We must.  We can take whoever else feels trapped in this era.  But we belong in times before these.  We must learn contra dance.  And wear cloaks.  They can wear top hats.  I think that Joey, Josh, Jessica, Scott, and Ashley are the only good people in the world sometimes.  Sorry if I left you out.  I may or may not think you're good.  Those five just stick out more.

This post contained precisely 0% useful information.  Hope you enjoyed.

Have some photographs.  I know I said I'd use my own after the last post, but I definitely lied.  These aren't mine, but aren't they brilliant?

I really like the lighting in the first photograph, and the contrast in the second is really good, but my favourite of these is the third, which was done by a guy named Samuli Ikäheimo.  It was taken at a protest, apparently.  And the last is obviously of a really incredible tree, and then scratched over to look like a drawing.

Anyway, I must be off!

<3 Michelle

"My sheep looks like a trapezoid..." - Me

So!  The first week of school is over!  My schedule isn't that bad...

My first hour is Psychology, which happens to be in the Academic Complex.  This is ever so inconvenient as it is a thousand and one miles from my locker, give or take, and in the weather the trip outside should be perfectly awful.  Oh well.  I have that class with some awesome kids, and some kids I'm not very fond of, but Mr. Blacketer seems like a good enough teacher to make it fun anyway.  It'll be interesting, to say the least.

After that I have to run like hell, no time to stop at my inconveniently-located locker, up to French IV.  Miss Roberts (for I absolutely refuse to call her Mrs. King) has a new room, and it's bright yellow and blue!  Those are my least favourite colours, but for some reason I like it because it's very cheery in the morning...  This year should be more or less the same as last year, I expect.

Then I have AP English.  I love Mrs. Wilson so far!  Even though the pile of summer homework caused a great deal of stress (you could find the honors kids at the usual table in the commons the morning of the first day, vehemently copying each other's last-minute homework), I think it's going to be a great year.  Wilson promises no lulls in the class; she has already displayed her intense OCD, violent mid-sentence mood swings, witty brilliance, and overbearing confidence that tells me she knows what she's talking about.  Such charisma from one woman!  And she speaks in cockney at times, which is always great fun.  She calls her husband "Dirty" and her dog, "Reillynonodammit."

After that I have Wind Ensemble, which really seems like a good bunch this year.  We finally have Joey and Scott in our band, so it should be really fun.  Shawzie sounds pretty excited, even more so than he was last year, and why shouldn't he be, with FIVE HORNS IN THE SECTION!  Huzzah!  It's going to be awesome.  I'm not as worried as I was before about getting split apart from Tim and Jessica, which may or may not happen, because it's going to be a good year regardless, and it's not like they won't be three feet away anyway.  I hope we get to play really great music this year.  I liked last year's selections, but I hope we can out-do that.

After that, I have the Bull Horn.  Everyone in there has a load of energy which is always nice.  We picked our areas that we'd get to write about this year, and I managed to get my hands on the Performing Arts department!  Which means I get to ask Shawzie questions!  BAND ARTICLES IN THE PAPER, OH YEAH!  Unfortunately, I also have to pay attention to the Choir and Theatre Arts departments, but it's still worth it.  Oh, and I found out why Journalism is one of the least respected jobs ever.  There's an "Alphabet of Journalism Tips" in my binder photocopied from something out of an IU textbook...most of them are pretty immoral.  Like...be morbid, be detached, serve as a check on your authority figures, tell the truth regardless of who it hurts...  It should be fun.  I have lunch in the middle of that hour.

After that, I have Precalculus with Mr. Carpenter.  Not a lot to be said for that.  My teacher has a droning voice that makes me yawn a lot, so that can’t be good.  He's from Northern Michigan, so his accent is really thick.  At first it sounded almost Irish.  He got mad the other day, though, because I'm the only one who ever raises their hand in there.  I guess that’s what I get for dropping Honors math...so many normals!  Oh well...the homework's easy and I can use the class as a study hall, yay!

My last class of the day is unbearably far from my locker and the rest of the school.  It's Photography, stereotypically full of druggie-type kids, far away in the Land of Graphic Arts...  Around 70% of the kids in there have dyed black hair.  Actually, 68.75%, but rounding it up isn't a sin.  Two are pregnant.  Isn't it crazy?  Gah.  Oh well, it'll be nice to go out and take photographs for that class anyway, I guess.  I may drag Joey with me when doing homework at times, if he doesn't object.

Oh, and I just got a parking space a few days ago.  It's in the soccer lot, which means it's a good ten-minute hike from the school.  I decided after much complaining that I'm okay with that, though.  At least I have a spot, and the office promised me they'd move me up once people drop out or have to forfeit their spots.  Seniority rules...

I'm not so pleased with my lunch hour, for it has no Josh, Joey, Jake, Jessica, or Tim...  The people at my table are Sarah, Elizabeth, Scott, Nathan, Sydney, Hannah, and one other that I'm forgetting.  Lovely people, yes, but only a couple are ones that I talk to very much.  And I just realized that I know far too many people with names that start with J…  Maybe J is for Awesome now, or something, because they're all pretty spectacular people.

The senior lockers are in the English department again, which I thought would be pretty lame at first, but then I realized that my schedule is slightly English-heavy, so it all works out.  I just prefer being in the centre of the school...

So that's my start-of-the-year rant!

Woah...my mom just set off the fire alarm making lasagna...heh.  And darn it, I just KNOW the font will be screwed up for this entry...I copied from Microsoft Word and it's nearly impossible to duplicate my layout's original settings.  Oh well.  Have some icons.  And look!  A "Dresden Dolls" icon!

Here are some photographs.  They're not mine, but I've decided that I'll start using my own photographs after this post, just to see if anyone likes them.

<3 Michelle

"It's always sad when an accordion player dies." - Joey

Isn't that also a Snicket quote?  I could have sworn it was, but I guess not...?

So!  Band camp is done for this year, though I do intend on coming back before college for it next year, just to help out.  It never rained once this week, which really sucked.  I put on sunscreen, but I definitely didn't put on enough, because I am now something of a lobster...but no matter!  I can live with having horrid burn lines.  It was loads of fun, even though we were all tired and grouchy by the end of each day.  Thursday's practice was especially brutal, but sort of welcome at the same time since we learned our pre-game drill.  We were able to do the pre-game show at the cookout on Friday, but our lines weren't very straight...  Oh well.  Plenty of time left in the season to improve, and I can't wait for the first marching band game!

I'm actually pretty ready for this year to start, as much as I'm going to hate having to take World History with a bunch of frosh.  During the past three years, I was never able to squeeze the second semester of it into my schedule, so now I have to take it, finally...  That'll be awkward.  And annoying.  Oh well.  I'm looking forward to being on the newspaper staff this year...and AP English...and photography...and psychology...  But I'm still not done with all of my AP English homework...I'm such a procrastinator.  No matter.  School starts on Tuesday!

I went to the Roesels' bonfire before I went to the Ozarks (bleh, I had to drive a bit) a few weeks ago.  That was really fun because it was half-way raining and they had a trampoline...  There were five or six of us on there at one time, which was loads of fun because it was slippery.  Trampoline + rain = a good time.  Take note, kids.

So!  I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows the day it came out.  It was pretty much spectacular; I don't think a better ending could have been written.  There was a load of Christ-imagery in it, which I think really added to your sympathy for Harry in the last few chapters.  The epilogue was a bit on the corny side, but I'm still very glad that Jo wrote it, because we probably would have wondered what happened to Teddy, who ended up marrying who, whether Harry was happy at the end...etc...  I was really sad when Fred, Lupin, and Tonks died, but I suppose they're martyrs now, so that's cool.  Snape being a good person?  I totally called it.  As did anyone with a brain.  I really liked the Lily/Severus thing, actually.  I don't understand why she ended up with James if he was such a jerk...

Joey and I went to Barnes and Noble with Ashley the other day.  We bought her food!  But yeah, I'm going to miss her to death.  She came to the marching band cookout yesterday and we basically clung to her legs.  Literally.  It was a little weird, but oh well.  She'll be going to Indiana University for Journalism and Arabic, a nice combo, I'd say.  Hopefully I'll be going to IU next year as well, so we'll meet again.  And she had BETTER come visit us...

Alex is going to Purdue, and we went to his house for the last time on Thursday after the mentor meeting.  It was really sad because Alex is awesome and his dwelling is possibly the only place in the world where board games entertain us.  I'm really going to miss his quirkiness.  And I have no idea where our friends are going to congregate now that his house won't be open for our use...

I'm still trying to decide whether or not I hate Anthony.  Because, you know, I dislike him probably 75% of the time, but the 25% when we get along is actually pretty awesome, so...gah.  I wish he wouldn't get so snappy when people don't agree with him.  It's like he thinks his personal opinion is law or something.  Ridiculous.  But I guess he can be okay sometimes.

NS13 is still being difficult...  I'm very close to ascending on my main account, but I haven't even logged in to the other in awhile...  I really want a bottled green pixie familiar, because they allow you to access a Moulin Rouge-themed area!

Let's see...what else...  Oh!  I went to Joey's house not long ago.  I really liked it.  It was very normal.  We watched Moulin Rouge and had to mute it during the "Poetry Reading" scene so his parents wouldn't wonder what was making all of the noise.  That was weird.  Oh well.  Any time with Joey is time well-spent.

I'm going to Olive Garden later today with Vinnie and some people.  And then we're seeing a movie.  It should be fun, but only seniors are allowed and most of my friends are younger than me, so that's kind of weird.

Icons!  Because I didn't really have many interesting things to say today!  You get 36 of them because I really like square numbers.

And here are four photographs!

<3 Michelle

"There aren't many things more unpleasant than an ugly carpet." - Joey

Yep...the band room is getting new carpet.  Shawzie promises that if one were to vomit on it, no one would know the difference.  It's supposedly going to be some sort of...brownish...orangeish...greenish...colour.  If one can even call that a colour.  I might visit the main building tomorrow to see if they're laying it down yet.

MARCHING BAND.  THREE WEEKS AWAY.

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS.  FOUR DAYS AWAY.

It's a wonderful world, is it not?  I'm very pleased with the number of people that are to be in marching band this summer.  Over a hundred, apparently.  I really hope the incoming frosh are excited about it, or it'll be no fun at all.

So, I had the best Friday the 13th EVER last week.  First I went to Alex's house, where we filmed a scene in his basement.  It was the infamous "clothing spewing from a hidden side of the room" scene.  After that we went to Vinnie's, and after that Joey and I went back to my house to watch "Big Fish".  Hah.  Well, anyway...he saw pictures of me from middle school, which was highly distressing, but actually kind of funny.

I'm going through a Tim Burton obsession, speaking of which.  I don't think it was the movie that brought it on, for I didn't really...watch...it...  Maybe it's the whole...seeing Helena Bonham Carter play Bellatrix in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix thing.  She's gorgeous, even as a complete hag.  Anyway, I found a facebook group that doubles as a petition to Tim Burton to direct "Alice in Wonderland," which would be awesome.  Look it up on facebook and join it if you're a fan of Tim or Alice, or even Helena, seeing as she'd probably have a major role in it.

Anyway, the awesome one is out of town for awhile and it's pretty boring online without him...  But I hope he's having an enjoyable time!

I'm currently battling a monster on KoL, which is very difficult seeing as it takes away half of my hit points on the first strike...that bitch.  I guess I'll have to boost my muscle stat a bit.  Hah, that probably meant precisely nothing to the lot of you, but oh well.  Kingdom of Loathing.  Great fun.  Go join it.  I'm currently saving up 10 million dollars on there to purchase a bottled green pixie!

That last sentence sounded very Luna Lovegood-esque.  She's SO awesome.  And they casted her perfectly.

I played about four hours' worth of Monopoly today, with Caitlin, Cody, Anthony, and Ginger.  It was great fun, except that I was winning at first and then lost my last fifteen dollars.  But I'm not sore about it.  It really bugs me when people say that they LOVE a game when they're winning, but claim that they've always thought the game was stupid when they're losing.  It's silly.

My foot fell asleep again.  Drat.

Anyway, I've still been listening to a lot of Mika as of late.  That guy rocks.  No, really.  Every song is like...hanging upside-down for too long so that the blood rushes to your head and you see bright purple/white spots.  Lovely.  I'd say it's like an acid trip, but I have no clue what an acid trip is really like and have no intention of finding out ever, so my silly description will have to do.

I didn't really have all that much to say today...I rather just wanted an excuse to post these awesome icons, including the beautiful Helena, a tornado, and the Taj Mahal...so here they are.  Do enjoy, won't you?  And comment if you like them.  I'm noticing hundreds of footprints and ZERO comments in my feedback, which is little more than an annoyance.

I really like the ones with the umbrellas...  And here are some photographs.

Well, I'm about to purchase a zombie pineal gland for a special someone, so I'll catch you later!

<3 Michelle