And they wonder why I'm paranoid...

Just typing away in my own little world while my dad plunks away on piano.
But he's not paying attention.
Now that we have all this glorious free time, he's been thinking up all these projects we can do.
House cleaning projects, not Girl Scout crafts or anything.
We cleaned the windows yesterday. Weeee...
It involved a lot of Windex and Brawny paper towels.
I miss the old Brawny guy. Have I ever said that? He was a real man.
But anyway.
I cleaned the insides and he cleaned the outsides.
There was a frustrating point where he gave me really vague instructions on how to do something involving the vacuum, so, after spending an agonizing five minutes trying to figure out how to put the hose on (I figured it out eventually, lol), I vacuumed up all the dust and dog hair on the window sill.
How dog hair got on the window sill is beyond me.
But that's what I thought he wanted me to do.
But, apparently, I HADN'T done what he'd wanted and suddenly he's at me with all these detailed instructions.
And I got mad because if he'd wanted me to do all that, why hadn't he told me in the first place?
But his response was, "Well, I'm telling you now."
But I thought it was a job well done, and now he's telling me I haven't done the job at all. This wouldn't have happened if you'd told me in the first place!
"But I'm telling you now."
Ugh.
It's strange that we can't seem to communicate, even though we're more alike than different.
Thankfully, David Bowie was playing in the background and brought peace to the situation.
Half-Priced Books is my new favorite store.
My mom and I went on Wednesday, and we walked in to find a mini-Powells, with huge stacks of books, CDs, and stationary everywhere. There were hundreds of movies in wooden shelves that stretched halfway across the store. There was a music section with tons of CDs, new and old. I found Elvis Costello, David Bowie, Morrissey, the Beatles, Fall Out Boy, Rod Stewart, Michael Jackson, and Billy Idol, but ended up buying only one CD.
The teen section had more books than Barnes and Noble.
That section alone was bigger than the entire Used Book Store in Silverdale.
Maybe not.
But I found tons of stuff.
I ended up getting Princess Diaries #7 (the only one I needed besides the pesky 1/2 and 3/4 novels); two of my favorite books, "Chasing Redbird" and "The Boyfriend List"; "The Mother Daughter Book Club", which had cutesy tween illustrations on the cover and looked distracting; and David Bowie's "Changes"; and half a dozen books for my mom, all for only $32.
How amazing is that???
I haven't been this exciting since visiting Tacoma's Borders Books, where I bought two books for $7 each.
Borders is amazing...
...but Half-Priced Books is even better, I must say.
"Changes" is my new favorite song. Well, that and "Heroes". And "Diamond Dogs". And "Fame".
Ugh, my brother's friend is here and they're being irritating and pre-teen-y.
He was playing with Hillary, my Darth Sidious doll (long story).
Just playing around like it was totally okay.
It was not okay.
But I just kept my mouth shut and made grilled cheese.
It was a pretty delicious sandwich, too.

She's my best friend's girl

Yeah, she's Jesse's girl!
I know, two completely different songs.
Alex Sanchez is all right.
"Rainbow Boys" was better than his other book.
About the 8th grade kid in California.
Who couldn't speak Spanish.
And fell in love with a boy.
Who was too scared to come out of the closet.
And made fun of another boy.
Who was probably gay.
But his best friend was in love with them.
And SHE didn't want to believe he was gay.
It was one of those novels that was like, "Ho hum, that was a good book."
I don't know why "Boy Meets Boy" was hailed as a revolutionary novel.
It wasn't that great.
Nearly everyone else I know that has read that book said the exact same thing.
They all said, "Well, it was okay..."
But it didn't deserve all 500 million of the book awards it got.
David Levithan is way overrated.
"Starbucks Boy": cutest short story ever written. Romantic, imaginative, etc.
Every other story he wrote: LAME
As writers mature, they're supposed to become BETTER writers.
It just seems like David Levithan has gotten worse.
Every time I think the drama's over, it starts up again, with yet another tearful weekend followed by a week of the silent treatment.
But I think it's officially over.
At least I'm making it official.
So everything is back to kind of sort of normal.
Or at least our interpretation.
But if it starts up again....
California is going to suck.

Reality Checks for Lovesick Teenagers

I'm actually in a fairly good mood, not bitter at all.
For the most part.
Just very sarcastic and a little cynical.
But only a little.
Musicals were a great invention. That and 80's music. Seriously, are William and I the only people who thought Huey Lewis was black?
But yeah. This is me trying to be funny.

1. For guys: Everyone has an excretory system.
Meaning the girl you think about day and night takes a dump every now and again. Heck, she's probably taking one right now. And, being perfectly honest, they *gasp* FART, too! I know you didn't want to hear it, but it had to be said. My point is: nobody's perfect. And they sometimes smell gross.

2. For girls: Though all teenage boys play guitar, most of them don't play it that well.
So don't be expecting any Joe Jonas-esque love songs. They're probably still struggling with "Smoke on the Water"...and love songs are the last things on their mind, for various reasons.

3. For guys: Of course she gets moody once a month.
What else did you expect? Here's what I suggest: either run and hide or LEAVE HER ALONE. And just because she's a nightmare now doesn't mean she stopped "loving" you. WARNING: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO MAKE HER FEEL BETTER. THIS COULD RESULT IN WEEPING, GNASHING OF TEETH, AND/OR DEATH.

4. For girls: He's going to stare at other girls.
There are some cases where he can't help it. If you're really bothered by it, start wearing shorter skirts. (To Christians: Sorry, just kidding!)

5. For girls: Do NOT overanalyze every conversation.
There is NOT a hidden message, spelling either, "I love you," or, "I hate you," behind every sentence of his. He usually just means what he says.

6. For guys: Yes, she really is talking about you in the bathroom
But you already knew that.

7. For guys: She'd rather hear, "You're beautiful," than, "You look hot."
Because the latter makes you sound stupid. And sort of sleazy. Unless you WANT to grow up to be a 40-year-old virgin/lecher.

8. For girls: Be glad that he has guy friends.
Sure, you freak out when he'd rather hang out with his male companions than you, but all that estrogen can be cloying after a little while. And don't be worried that he's really in the closet and is sneaking away to be with his boyfriend: it's not true. If he wants to hang out with other girls, however, then you've got a problem...but I digress.

9. For guys: Sports are boring. So are cars.
Yeah, some girls like them, but for the most part, Nascar and March Madness don't get them excited. So don't dwell on those subjects, please.

10. For both: THIS IS NOT LOVE.
It's mostly just hormones and other things. You will not marry this person. You will break up sooner or later, and may or may not remain friends.

Yep. Exactly. And this is coming from "Dr. Love".
That was super entertaining, though. Immature and fun. But now I have to go to bed.

This is no place to try and live my life

Have you ever realized that you seem a certain (negative) way to some people, and feel badly that they think of you like that, but do nothing to change their minds?
For example, if you came off as a really intolerant or snobby individual, and people look down on you or think badly of you, but you're not REALLY intolerant OR snobby (intentionally) how many of you would actually make an effort to be nicer?
My dad thinks watching wrestling while playing hymns on the flute is sort of sacreligious. How could it be; there was wrestling the in the Bible!
I got the second Faith Thomas book at the library. Nellie is such a horrible friend! "You've got to choose me or Niles. I'm going to let you think about it, and you can tell me tomorrow. Bye!" And she's thinking about "taking the next step" with a boy named Ethan. ETHAN?? What happened to Trevor Fish? The one she cried over at the homecoming dance? Whatever. Joy broke her nose and hurt her foot, apparently. Ew, some 20-year-old drummer is all, "Oh, gosh, are you Jake Thomas' younger sister?" She's his daughter!!! But Faith totally falls for it.
"Take On Me" by A-Ha is the best song in the entire world.
Except when the Jonas Brothers try it.
OMG, and "Forever Young", from Napoleon Dynamite!