Just like...blah.

It's been a weird day.
I found out my friend's dad died last week.
I haven't seen her in a while, and we all knew it was going to happen, but I just found out about it this morning.
But from what I hear, she seems fine.
Well, she's SAD.
But it's not as though her dad just died.
And I know it's a front, and I haven't exactly "been there" for her through all this, but she's sort of closed herself off from everyone except for a select few.
So she's sad, it sucks, but there's nothing I can do about it.
My dad told me that when a guy likes a girl, he often has a backup.
I mean, if you set your sights on one girl alone and she rejects you, well, that would hurt.
So always have a Plan B!
It sounds sort of terrible, but it struck me as funny when he said it.
I don't know. I suppose it might have crushed me a while ago.
It explains some things.
But I don't feel like complaining about how "jacked up" boy culture is.
Girls are just as bad, something Women's Studies does a very good job of pointing out, though that's not Mrs. Taylor's objective.
So I'm gonna get my life together in the mean time.
Focus on the stuff that's actually important.
According to Matthew 6:25-34, everything God has planned will happen when he wants it to, when I seek first his kingdom.
I was thinking on the bus ride home about how weird it is that so many seniors will be leaving youth group at the end of the year, after I JUST go to know them.
Then it will be time for me, and then COLLEGE.
And WSU seems too isolated, but UW and OC are not places I could EVER see myself, and, though I love Colorado, every time I think of leaving home I start to puke.
It turned into this huge worryfest, but my mom managed to talk me through it.
Because God HAS A PLAN FOR ME, one to give me a hope and a future.
And what he has is SO MUCH BETTER than anything I could ever dream of.
And he'll put me at the best possible college. But we're not at that part of the journey yet. I've still got 2 years. And they'll be good ones.

The main character becomes much less attractive when revealed to be short.

Heh. Harry Potter.
After a nightmare planning, I finally saw HP6 with my dad and Emma.
Car rides with them is always sooooooooo fun...what with no one talking.
And then we got to the theater and it was attack of the Introverted Feeler Perceivers.
"Do you want popcorn?"
"I don't know, do you want popcorn?"
"Well, sorta. Does Emma want popcorn?"
"Um, no, that's okay."
"No, it's okay, I'll buy some. How about soda?"
"Nah. Do you want soda?"
"Well....yes."
"Buy some."
"Okay."
"And some popcorn."
"You want popcorn."
"Yes."
"Okay, I bought popcorn, but I didn't get butter."
"Oh."
"Oh no! Did you want butter?"
"Don't worry, I'll get some. Would you like some popcorn, Emma?"
Fun times.
And then we had to decide where to sit...
"Is this okay?"
"Um, sure. Do YOU think it's okay?"
And so on.
Previews. Still my favorite part.
They made a Sherlock Holmes movie? And it's an ACTION movie? Whaaaat?
But...it has Jude Law. :)
It also has Rachel McAdams. :(
And Robert Downey, Jr. :/
Meaning I'll probably go see it when it comes out.
But the movie ended up being REALLY GOOD.
Harry Potter, not "Great Scot!: The Sherlocke Holmes Adventure".
Which I thought was weird, considering David Yates is the one who gave us "Order of the Phoenix", yet managed to produce this 3-and-a-half star film.
Wow, David. What prompted this change?
And there were a few things.
But I'm probably the only one who had a problem with them. Because, yes, I tend to overexaggerate things.
But I don't care. There are times when it's "going overboard"...and there are times when some people *cough cough* should just ADMIT "August Rush" was terrible and leave it at that.
I like Michael Gambon, but not as Dumbledore. He would've made a good Gandalf...but it's too late for that now.
Ugh, Emma Watson. When in doubt, close-up on Hermione's crying face!
She can't even cry! Terrible actress.
At least her thing with Ron was somewhat believable. It was a little hard to believe in the other movies when she would continually throw herself at Harry.
I think they finally just told her to stop.
Hate. Hate. Hate. Hermione is supposed to be smart.
Tom Felton was brilliant.
Rupert Grint is, sadly, the best of the three, but not too bad. Might even be verging on good!
Little boy Voldemort was creepy and morose and sort of annoying.
Teenage Voldemort was FANTASTIC, and reminded me of a combination of David Bowie and Lord Sebastian Flyte.
So evil. It was great.
Slughorn was more of a fop than a pompous old windbag, but a funny fop. Perfect for the part.
Wow, when did Hogwarts receive its shipment of fantasically hot guys?
The movie was pretty much excellent all the way through, UNTIL THEY KILLED DUMBLEDORE!!
Not that I didn't know it was going to happen.
But Snape?
They sort of left out all of Harry's suspicions about Snape, assuming that everyone knew how much Harry distrusted and hated Snape.
But most of the movie was focused on his distrust and hatred for Malfoy. Hm.
And I guess they put in the Unbreakable Vow scene. But still.
So Alan Rickman kills Dumbledore like it's no big deal.
Then the Death Eaters LEAVE THE PREMISES, without even so much as a goodbye or a magical battle of some sort.
Well, Bellatrix was busy freaking out. But she always does that. Ugh, that's another thing: Helena Bonham-Carter. It's like she wants her character to be Jack Sparrow of the wizarding world. I think she's just mad that Tim Burton loves Johnny Depp more than he loves her. Still, mimicking Johnny Depp in a HARRY POTTER MOVIE doesn't seem to be doing her much good. Sooooo annoying.
So the Death Eaters go away, leaving Harry with Snape, and Harry's being Harry (even though Daniel Radcliffe managed not to be too useless in his movie and left the annoying whiny grunty groany thing he does when he gets upset at home), cursing him all emotionally.
And Snape's just casually deflecting.
Harry calls him a coward, and you can see Snape's face is full of pain, and you're waiting for him to snap and turn on Harry, admitting his shocking secret, LIKE HE DID IN THE BOOK.
Only he turns to Harry, after cursing him, and goes, and a FLAT, EMOTIONLESS VOICE, "How dare you use one of my own spells against me. That's right. I'm the Half-Blood Prince."
Or something to that effect. Then he SAUNTERS off into the darkness.
It sort of ruined the movie.
But then Harry went back to the Astronomy Tower and all the students were gathered around crying over Dumbledore's body.
Another close-up of Hermione's hideous crying face.
Then Harry goes up to the body and starts to cry. I started to get a little choked-up.
Then all the students raised their wands as a silent tribute to the fallen Dumbledore, and it was the cheesiest thing I've ever seen in my life, but I cried anyway.
Only I was sitting next to my dad, who doesn't cry EVER, and Emma, who gets embarrassed easily, so I didn't start bawling in my seat.
Best Harry Potter movie YET!
I'm so stoked for "Deathly Hallows".
It's just...there's SO MUCH.
They did really good with this movie, but they still had to cut out quite a bit (ahem. Tonks and Lupin!?!? All of a sudden, they're a couple!? What is this?).
And they are splitting the last book into two movies, because there's so much stuff.
But what if it sucks, like #4 and #5 did?
Or is boring, like the first two?
Argh. It's not coming out for a year...plenty of time...what'll I do until then?

Thank you, Sam Pratt!

For the friend suggestion.
At first I was like, wtf? But you know best, apparently.
Emma and I went "shopping" yesterday.
Meaning we complained about consumerism and America while wandering about the mall, where we went to three stores before getting stuck in Barnes and Noble.
Good times.
She bought me a book, which was nice.
Even though the book ended up being about the futility of the "intelligent design" argument and how Christians can (and should) square their beliefs with evolution, because evolution is right. Even the Bible says so.
Um, right.
They did make a couple of good points, I must admit, about proven fact and theories.
But I find it annoying that people that believe in evolution assume Christians believe what the people back in Darwin's day believed: that Genesis 1:1 meant that God LITERALLY created everything in the beginning, including every species of every animal ever.
Which I think is sort of ignorant. Because it's been proven that speciation and mutation DOES occur, but that doesn't disprove the theory that God made the earth.
And it doesn't prove that all those species come from a common ancestor (a sponge).
And it certainly doesn't mean that all existence exploded into being from nothing.
Which is sort of what the intelligent design theory is. But there's God involved, not...nothing.
So I wish a lot of people, especially my science teachers, would stop saying things like, "Adaptation happens! Mutation happens! Therefore, you're wrong! Oh, and we found fossils!"
And I wish loudmouth Christians who have no idea what they're talking about would stop standing by the old school Genesis 1:1 theory. Because it's not true.
And they certainly don't take everything else in the Bible that literally, such as Revelation.
It was weird to see how the book twisted the parable of the talents into a pro-evolution argument.
Just like the Catholics twisted an unrelated Bible story around their anti birth control argument. I still don't know where I stand on birth control, but I think their argument is absolute CRAP.
So whatever. My God is big enough for speciation and mutation and everything else. He made organisms infinitely complex, so of course he could have made it so animals *gasp* CHANGE OVER TIME!
And of course he's big enough for evolution, and some people use that argument.
But I'm still not inclined to believe we came from monkeys, even though that's easier to swallow than the "fact" that cows and whales are related.
Of course...
Anyway. Enough of that rant.
My dad thinks I might be in a cult.
Or at least dabbling in some kind of forbidden spirituality.
Because there was a test on this awesome personality profile thing I found that compared your personality to the personality you SHOULD have according to your zodiac.
And I already don't believe in that kind of thing. My horoscope is wrong half the time, and if not, why is it that my supposedly "Virgo" older brother is one of the most extraverted people ever? And my "Aquarius" dad one of the least friendly?
So the test showed that I only fit one of five Capricorn requirements. In short, I am the worst excuse for a Capricorn this world has ever seen.
I met a guy yesterday who put a lot of stock in the zodiac, and was like, "Yeah, well, we Libras get along so well."
Only I had to tell him I wasn't a Libra. And he said he never would've pegged me for a Capricorn.
Well, yeah, go figure.
Anyway, I showed my dad, because I found it fascinating...and kind of funny.
But, as usual, he focused on ONE detail rather than the whole picture, the whole picture being that I DON'T BELIEVE IN THE ZODIAC and I'd showed him the test because IT BASICALLY PROVED HOW WRONG IT WAS.
Actually, if it proved anything, it showed what a freak of nature I am.
But my dad decided to focus on the fact that the zodiac itself is "dangerous" and I shouldn't be dabbling in stuff like that.
?????
Ooooooooookay, dad. Thanks once again for listening.
He never actually listens to the stuff I'm telling him, only what he thinks he hears.
Argh. Frustrating.

What do you expect with dial-up?

My dad's freaking out. When you listen to itunes while you're online, the songs sometimes skip.
But whatever. It only does that when you're on the cpu and/or playing a CD while doing a billion other things.
But my dad is worried that the skipping means the songs themselves are flawed and will sound funny on his ipod.
He refuses to be pacified.
He's also worried that my brothers and I are having the Worst Summer Ever, because we're laying around the house doing nothing.
Or, in my case, spending ungodly amounts of time on Facebook and reading too much Meg Cabot (even though I dislike her strongly, I'm still rather addicted to Princess Diaries).
But no. We have to be doing Activities to be having any fun!
But then he worries that we don't like the activities.
So he's very stressed this summer.
He shouldn't be, though; we LIKE being lazy. That's the WHOLE POINT of summer!
I loved Stateside, it was great, and there was so much stuff to do, but now that it's over, even though I get a little bored with the light workload, I just want to relax.
And we had this weird conversation about the WEATHER of all things, where he freaked out because I'd heard something DIFFERENT from him.
It was so weird. He made it this big production, and it was like, "Dad, really, we watch different news channels. Who cares?"
I've learned a lot about him this summer, and I hope it's helping.
The black-bottom cupcakes don't have enough cream cheese!
Instead of being cream cheesy and delicious, they have a hidden pocket of cream cheese that's overpowered by devil's food!
WHAT WILL WE DO??
I would love it if my internet didn't have a heart attack every time I loaded a game of some sort.
I'm kicked offline 45% of the time because of this.
My dad is all, "Maybe at the end of the summer, we'll get high speed!"
Awesome! Seeing as we're years behind!
Oh my gosh, it's dead.

These shoes are $300!!!

You think GIRLS are finicky shoppers?
I went shopping for shirts and ties with my brother - he just bought a suit.
Then he and my mom discussed color and pattern for what seemed like hours.
It seemed like they were on the same wavelength, but if I tried to make a seemingly helpful comment, it was wrong.
So they just ENTJ-ed together while I pouted in a corner.
But that was me overreacting again. Nathan finally decided on a white shirt with two solid-colored ties (mustard yellow and maroon) and my mom bought me ice cream, which was nice since I didn't make her shopping trip any easier.
Then, since there was, for some strange reason, a coffee table in the backseat, we all crammed into the front seat.
It was like riding in a clown car.
Then Nathan and I squabbled over the seatbelt ("I was trying to find it." "You were taking forever!" "YOu were sitting on it!" "Why didn't you ask me to move?" "I didn't know you were sitting on it!!!"). Fun stuff.
Life has been pretty slow and the most excitement I had was laughing at some molested turkeys (long story) and trying to figure out who was eating all the Pop Tarts.
Seriously, it's a mystery.
William just ripped out 2 Pop Tarts like it was no big deal, but he said he didn't eat any the day before. Actually, he said he didn't eat 2 yesterday, which, according to William Logic, probably means he ate one the day before, and then one the next day, but that's not technically eating 2 in one day, which is what he is convinced had me so incensed.
I was just curious. My dad was giggling rather guiltily, but seemed appalled that I would accuse him of taking the dang Pop Tarts.
Aaargh. THEY WERE SUNDAE FLAVORED!!!
I just want to know.
Dad's trying to kill the dog. Not entirely sure why.
Life for her in this heat wave hasn't been fun. Can you imagine a black dog, even a short hair one, finding respite from this heat?
I can't either. And she's having a hard time finding it. Instead of being her chipper self, you can find her lying lazily all over the house: in front of the bathroom, in various doorways, next to the screen door, etc.
And on my bed. A lot of the time. We're sleeping without sheets, which means clothes are mandatory.
Awwwww darn.
Lol. Kidding.
Or am I?

You're so vain...

Parents.
Yes, the only reason I'm alive is so I can make you mad, Dad.
You see, it's my fault the concert in Keyport ended early.
So I sat in the backseat of the car trying to make him laugh, while he explained to me how my jokes weren't funny because they were innacurate.
Yes, I know Michael Jackson wasn't an albino. That's not the POINT.
But I digress.
I'm 58 pages into Les Miserables! Yes! Only 1410 pages to go!
Crap. I'm trying to find this book I saw about the art of making playlists, but it doesn't seem to exist.
My brother and I got into an argument regarding Les Miserables.
After listening to the CD a billion times, I found it rather depressing. The peasants continued to lead hopeless lives where no one gave a crap, and most of the "good guys" die. Marius is getting married and should be the happiest man alive, but he can't help thinking about all the friends he lost and can't celebrate. He literally lost ALL of his friends. Every single one of them DIED!
But Nathan argued that, later in history, the good guys eventually won, so the musical wasn't sad at all. And Javert, one of the "bad guys" died, so not everything was bad.
Hello? Eponine is dead. Gavroche is dead. Javert wrestles with his conscience and has the chance of becoming a good man, but decides he can't live with himself after all the things he's done and KILLS HIMSELF. Thenardier, one of the villians, ends up on top by robbing people. And Valjean, the hero, a changed man who's lived a full life, DIES.
Sure, of old age, with his daughter by his side, but STILL.
It's not the kind of thing I listen to when I want to be HAPPY.
But no, Nathan berated me for not thinking of the historical context and for even being sad at all.
Ugh. He was sort of joking, but of course he thought was right.
As usual.
We constantly butt heads over stuff like that.
I'll be sad about something, and he'll be all, "Well, logically..."
Irritating.
And yet my mom gets it???
Who knows.

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.

Can you blame me for wanting a super monkey?

He's fast! He's strong! He'll pop all your bloons!
School finally let out on Thursday. Classes were only 27 minutes long, but each class was the longest 27 minutes of my life.
And I wore a skirt for the first time in 2 or 3 years. I was girling it up. Flaunting it. All that good stuff.
Then we went to Dairy Queen and I got the crappiest dipped cone I'd ever seen.
It was like a mountain rather than a triumphant curlicue. And not a beautiful mountain. If there is such a thing.
And it tasted like a melancholy cloud.
It would've been poetic if it hadn't been so disgusting.
GROSS!
And the weather has kind of sucked since then. It was like, "Woooo, Summer Break!!!" And yet there are clouds in the sky, it's down to 50 degrees, and it rained today.
Fun.
I hate it here.
But we went to Seattle for the Mariners game, which made me love Washington again.
I know. We have a complicated relationship.
My dad and I sat right behind home plate, and talked about music ("Do you like Candlebox Twenty?" "....") while eating delicious pizza and full-fat ice cream.
Yeah, I'll be honest; I only got to baseball games for the food.
But I managed to pay attention...and we won! So that was nice.
The helmet cups were overrated. It's $7 for a helmet full of ice cream, and you say to yourself, "A whole HELMET? With whipped cream? $7? BRING IT ON!" So you troop over to the ice cream stand and wait in line forever, all while chanting and psyching yourself up for a whole HELMETFUL of ICE CREAM! It's 7-year-old Bill Cosby's dream-come-true. So you get up there and fork over 7 bucks and choose from a grand total of 3 flavors...and then they bring out the helmet.
It's tiny.
It's smaller than the $5 cups they use for ice cream.
It's a rip off.
But it's so darn cute!

Dangerous dumplings

Hwaaaaaa!
Argh. It's like my dad and I communicate backwards. I was really tired, about to pass out, and I didn't want to go to Primetime and listen to a boring sermon after I'd pretty much ignored my favorite pastor preach for about an hour, so I told my dad, and he starts LECTURING me about how I can't always get out of it and I might regret it now, but in the end I'll be happy. So I started crying, because I was REALLY FREAKING TIRED and I didn't want to have to deal with all that self-righteous crap, and he was making me MAD.
So I'm sitting there, fuming, and he lets me for a good half hour, and then, when he takes me home, there's suddenly all this overwhelming sympathy! He's really sorry, and everything, but by now it's too late, because I'm just MAD and TIRED and UNREASONABLE and I don't need this.
Argh. It seems to be becoming a pattern, too.
And why is it that when someone sees that their friend is angry, they decide that the BEST possible way to cheer their friend up would be to annoy the bloody daylights out of them??
And then they're so surprised that their friend is even angrier, and they pout because of it!!!
Are you insane?????????? What kind logic is that???
So people are frustrating, but God created dogs, and they are nice. I mean, humans are sort of becoming more dependent on technology and English is going down the toilet, but dogs can't "communicate" with us verbally, yet seem to know exactly what we're thinking all the time. Body language is all we have to go on. They're like little "Lie to Me"'s.
That show is pretty cool.

Black Friday

12:36 PM: Mom spies an ad for $50 peacoats at J. C. Penny.
12:37 PM: Mom looks at the clock and realizes the sale ends in 20 minutes.
12:39 PM: Dad and Lauren hastily put on shoes and jackets.
12:42 PM: Dad starts the car and speeds over to the mall.
12:50 PM: Lauren and Dad sprint from their poorly chosen parking space to the store.
12:53 PM: The two arrive inside.
12:54 PM: The two, both major introverts, argue over who should ask the customer service lady where the coats are.
12:56 PM: Dad finds the coats and starts throwing some at Lauren.
12:58 PM: Lauren finds a cute one and they head to the cashier.
12:59 PM: They take their place in line.
1:01 PM: The cashier lady takes the coat and insists the sale is still going on.
1:02 PM: Cashier lady rings up total: $87.00.
1:03 PM: Dad hyperventilates.

That was the extent of my Friday shopping. We ended up getting the coat, though.
Turns out we were looking in the wrong place. But the one we got was cuter...and more expensive.
Wow. I love my dad.
This is my 1000th post. 3 years and 1 week ago, I started posting.
That's a little disturbing when you think about it.
Hopefully I've come a long ways since then.
*shudder* 7th grade.

Proof that welfare is a bad idea

Aaaaargh. I hate my friends' parents SOOOO much. Or rather, parent. Two of my good friends have PSYCHO single moms and they're complete hormonal b*tches.
We were all set to go the movies and my friend's mom was like, "Oh yeah, I forgot, you can't go."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!
Apparently crushing people's dreams is a favorite pasttime of hers?
Ugh.
She's lucky she didn't go, though. "Twilight" was terrible.
Terrible in a relatively entertaining way, but still terrible.
Jacob was Sharkboy in "Sharkboy and LavaGirl".
Edward was Cedric Diggory in "The Goblet of Fire".
Everything was weird and wet and lame, just like Washington itself.
Mike Newton was adorable and freckly.
Emmett was BEAUTIFUL.
His girlfriend was creepy.
Alice is just as controlling as Edward.
Jasper's creepy.
Heh heh. Charlie.
Ugh. Psycho single moms.
And they complain so. "You don't do this. You're doing this wrong."
Um, maybe, if you got off your butt and did it YOURSELF, it would get done "right".

Chocolate rain

Someone should write a musical about the U.S. Government, including great songs such as "Lauren, I am the U.S. Government (and I have something to tell you)" and "The Blues (The Terrible Twos)".
My mom's birthday is tomorrow, but we're celebrating today. :)
So my dad bought steak and no-bake cheesecake. His efforts to make a "surprise" dinner failed somewhat, but he got good food and a thoughtful present, so everything's okay.
OUCH. Someone completely dissed the Magic Attic Club.
Crappily written? Yes. Entertaining? Also yes.
"You should buy 'Fable' for the PC. Then you could download custom content like tattoos, and look like Spiderman, or the Hulk, or anything you could ever want. *hits with head*"
YEAAAAAH we won our football game last night!!! And the opposing team was one who'd only lost ONCE!
So while it was great that we won, how did we beat them???
This means we'll win our Homecoming game!
I hope.
Pep band is too great for words. Pretty much everyone in the band wishes they were a drummer, even if they pretend otherwise.

You should be an electrician

You Would Be a Good Spouse 35% of the Time

In general, you have the skills and ability to make a marriage work. However, you're still a bit too selfish to be a good spouse. You almost always put yourself first. If you want to have a good marriage (either someday or right now), you're going to have to give more than you take. Be proactive every day. Work on being a good friend, family member, and partner. With practice, you'll be an excellent spouse.

Would You Be a Good Wife or Husband?

Hahaha I love life.
That explains why both Sierra and I want to die as 80-year-old virgins.
Kay draws amazing pictures. There was the elephant victory cry, and then her panda ate my elephant. It was quite graphic.
Paul was emo. He didn't like our solutions. He even drew a pencil so he wouldn't have to deal with any surprise "get better" hugs.
We took the ASVAB today. It was basically a gigantic military-issued aptitude test. A bunch of officers gave us super-sharp pencils and were super OCD about the perforated edges.
The best part was missing 3 class periods.
Then, when it was all over, I realized I'd just missed my 3 favorite classes of the day and had nothing to look forward to.
Besides French.
Dang it.
Tyler and I bombed that history test. The 10 points we got taken off didn't help.
That class sucks. All my friends have another teacher and talk about how much they LOVE history, where they get to make pyramids out of donuts.
It's not so fun when you have a teacher who loves history but has no idea how to make it interesting, besides allowing girls to bring in cake.
Ugh, I'm not happy with how my dad handled the whole worship team "situation". He called the youth leader and told him how "upset" William and I were and sort of put it all on him, but WE WEREN'T MAD AT HIM!! Our problem was with the kids!!!
And then he ended up being on his side, saying he understood "his point of view".
But he'd totally missed the point.
"He doesn't want to penalize the kids that can't come."
But it seems like he's penalizing the ones that actually do. "Thanks for showing up...we don't need you."
ASVAB results won't come for a few weeks. So today was a waste of time.
I'm going to end up as an electrician.

You Are a Chicken

You are a naturally curious and inquisitive being. You are often poking your nose where it doesn't belong! Collecting nuggets of knowledge is important to you. You enjoy knowing everything you can. You are very independent and strong willed. You don't like to be bossed around, and you do as you please. You are quite determined and able to take on challenges. You will “peck away” at a problem until it's gone.

What Animal Are You?

The Epic of Gilgamesh

Ooooooooooh. I know I failed that history test. I don't think anybody studied, or even read the chapter.
At least Mr. Hurd gave us freebies.
Tyler looks surprisingly good with his head shaved. And the seedlings are really soft.
It's kind of like he's always had a shaved head.
Though he does sort of look like a skinhead.
Ugh, people who think they're utterly superior bug me.
I guess that's why I won't be going to UW.
It's just annoying when my friends start acting that way.
And I know I act that way about some things.
I just never knew how annoying it could be.
Youth group SUCKS. It's like everytime I go is some new drama.
So I'm minding my own business and I get hit in the face with a ball, hitting me square in the nose and popping both lenses out of my glasses.
Nice, guys. Real nice.
So I start crying and Sierra had to fix my glasses and some guy (whose name I never learned) got me some ice.
That set the stage for a wonderful evening.
And my nose still hurts. At first, my mom told me it wasn't broken, but now she's saying it might be.
Ugh. All I know is it's even larger than normal.
My dad was listening to a pastor on the radio talk about homosexuality, and he supposedly "drove his point home" by stating, "Homosexuality was a non-issue until the Bible came out."
And that was supposedly a REALLY good point that showed how wrong homosexuality really is.
?????
Seriously?? If I were a non-Christian, that would just convince me that the Bible is stupid and homophobic and God is screwed up.
I think my dad wants grandchildren. He snatches up every baby he sees.
Well, no, he doesn't, because that would be weird.
But when there's a baby at our house, he's like, "Baby! *scoop*" and holds it for 12 hours.
Matt was pregnant, but he gave birth and someone stepped on the baby. OUR baby.
Then he kept sucking on that stupid smoothie.
"Can I have some brown sugar Pop Tarts?"
"Cherry?"
"You're going to ruin your life! RUIN IT!"

Life lessons from "Matlock".

Aaargh, my dad and I are going at it again.
Well, that's not true, because we haven't fought yet, but he's sort of pressuring me about worship team and music in general.
For instance, he thinks I'm not serious about bass (guilty: I'd love to be good at it, but I don't want to put in the effort to play more than roots of chords) and says if I ever want to play in church, I'm going to have to join the youth worship team.
So basically, he wants me to join a cult.
That's PRACTICALLY what it is!!
Okay, and he did point out that compared to the youth band at our last church, this one seems quite tame and is probably more structured, but from what I've heard, the people in it are rather clique-y and, what's more, the music they play SUCKS.
Only I am tempted to join because John is in it now and I'd get to hang with him, and there's this whole jealousy factor with William because he plays bass a whole BUNCH with them and I feel that I'm just as good as he is.
But I don't know why my dad is so ADAMANT about me joining them.
I'm sort of getting mixed messages from him music-wise, because a few months ago he was trying to dissuade me from ever playing bass in the worship team.
Then, in the car on the way back home from Pullman, I asked about music scholarships in general terms and my dad basically told me I'd never, ever get one unless I pulled an Amby and joined a million freaking symphonies and majored in music.
WHICH I'M NOT INTERESTED IN DOING! It's just that I love music and we can't pay for college, and Mr. Villiers told me in 7th grade that I could PROBABLY get a trombone scolarship if I kept playing.
WHICH I INTEND TO DO!!
So who's right here??
And now there's some nonsense about lessons (for trombone or bass...or both), and I was always one of those big-headed losers who thought I was too good for lessons.
Maybe so for trombone (or maybe I'm just stuck-up), but I'm thinking I could definitely use a little help on bass.
Good news, though: Dean is finally letting me play in the horn section.
I'm sort of offended, though, because the only reason he's letting me play is "the new music isn't too difficult".
If you really think that badly of my playing, I'd rather you left me out of the worship team for good.
-_-
I'm sort of addicted to Sims 2 now, thanks to my "Rent" Sims.
Maureen and Joanne were my first gay couple.
Although Collins and Angel got married before they did (Maureen and Joanne are still engaged).
Alison (Benny's wife) just had a baby, but her dad (the baby's grandpa) is going to die soon if I don't fill up his aspiration meter, which I've purposefully neglected because all he wants to do is buy expensive things.
Haha, they named the kid Evita.
Now Mark is dating some random girl (though he and Maureen are still in love - oops), Mimi has ye tto move in and meet Roger, and Benny is going to take over the business world.

Bloody fish, and, no, I'm not British.

I woke up this morning and had a bowl of cereal, but as soon as I finished it, I remembered I'd REALLY wanted to make an instant breakfast. My dad was like, "Whatever, we have enough milk. Go ahead." So I made one and drank about 2/3 and suddenly felt REALLY full. It was kind of like drinking a cow: there was too much protein and a few sips was enough.
My dad kept saying, "Come on, it's not that much, you can do it," but I couldn't finish it, so he told me to pour it into the sink.
WHAT IF THE FISH DRANK IT, THOUGH? Then they'd be so fat that someone would catch them and be like, "DAAAANG, look at the fish I just caught!" Then they'd go home and cook it, but they wouldn't cook it enough, because that's a pretty big fish, so when they served it and ate it, the fish would be all BLOODY inside!!!
I told this to my dad, and he was like, "How did we get from shakes to fish? Wait, when did you have bloody fish?" I told him it was at our house, and he got all offended, but then he started laughing, and my mom came in looking annoyed like we'd woken her up.
So I gave her the rest of my protein shake.

Thai Kwan Dough

OMG, WE HAVE A DOG!!! Tie is SOOOO amazing and cute, and she fits right into our family. She especially loves my dad, and he pretends not to like her, but whatever. Right now she's watching TV with us. Well, with my family. I'm blogging and printing my Romeo and Juliet essay.
Okay, it sounds nerdy, but I went to "Disney's High School Musical On Tour" at the Paramount last night, and it was pretty sweet. The singers and actors were so much better than the mediocre teen stars we've come to know and love. Well, except for Kelsi, who was creepy, and Sharpay, who was overly annoying.
And Ryan, who actually had a brain and was fruitier than usual.
And the night wasn't perfect, as we took my 7-year-old cousin and she totally hated it and was complaining about our seats, so we moved, and the people behind us were drunk!! Yay!! So that sucked.
Yaaaaah, finished my essay.
I'm never going to the beach again.
"Hola! Excellente!"
"What does that mean?"
"It's Spanish!!"
"...."

This would be so much easier if I weren't a Perceiver!!

Oh yeah, my mom and I watched some movies last night.
You probably didn't need to know that. But I wanted to tell you. And I wanted to post some quizzes.
But we watched "Bratz Kidz Fairytales"...because my mom has a twisted sense of humor.
I don't have to tell you how that was. :P
"Dan in Real Life" was good, though. Highly enjoyable. Except for Dane Cook.
Steve Carell looks just like my dad.

Your Risk Taking Level: Medium

What's life without a few risks? You're willing to be daring when the time is right. You know that there's no reward in life without risk. You just always make sure that you look before you leap.

Are You a Risk Taker?

What Your Flip Flops Say About You

You live to have fun, and your sense of humor is downright goofy. You are a big kid on the inside, and you have a very open heart. You try to make every day feel like a vacation, even if you have other responsibilities. Each day, you make a little bit of time to play and let loose. Your ideal warm weather place: Disney World

The Flip Flop Test

I have 15 boys traits and 9 girl traits.

Ooooooooooh. Do you know how angry that makes me? Well, not too angry. Just a little depressed. It's not like I had much of choice. I was raised with and by boys, for crying out loud.
Except the girl statements on that quiz were WAAAAY stereotyped, and while that was true for the boys, their statements were FAR more accurate.
Except for the whole "Dogs are better than cats". Who came up with that? That's not boyish. That's a personality issue.
Could it be? Could it be? A cry for bass players??
Aargh, God, you gotta let me know.
Should I stay or should I go?
Heheheheheh.
Um.
Oh, HOW I want to answer that e-mail.
But I might have to talk to Dad. I don't want him to tell me I'm not "ready" or whatever.
Anyone can play bass.
Ooooooooooooooh.
Track was fun. Drew doesn't think I'm on drugs!!
Budget meetings are cool.
Squirrels don't eat pumpkin bread.
Hills are really awesome. I'm going to buy a billion hurdles and do "Over-Unders" till my legs fall off.
Day by day, day by day, oh dear Lord, three things I pray, 1 2 3, to...I'm not sure what he's saying there.
Dude, the project for Health is SO EASY. Sarah and I are almost done. Whoo, tranquilizers!

Those genes are TOO tight.

Phone phobia is now explained.
Mrs. Lutz must feel REALLY strongly about abusive relationships, because she made us watch this 80's Lifetime video called "But He Loves Me". The ugly clothes and ridiculous music was pretty bad, but it was SOOOO DEPRESSING. Charlie, the abuser, was really annoying. And whiny. Why would you fall for his manipulation if he was such a whiny loser? And he was super overious and creepy with the whole, "I think I'm falling in love with you," after the FIRST DATE! Then he starts hitting her while her little brother's home, and her little brother just sits there and watches for like 10 seconds. Woo, Kyle.
Track started yesterday, and it's pretty amazing. Compared to last year, anyway.
Hey, new Blogthings. Haven't been there in a while.
You have been given a chocolate Easter bunny. Which part do you bite off first?
The ears, of course.
Dang, these quizzes are really off.
So, track. We did ladders yesterday, up to 1:15, and hills today, which sucked. New shoes!!! That work!! No Scholls insoles, though.
Haha, too true.

Your Thinking is Concrete and Random

You are naturally inquisitive and curious. You're excited by new ideas, and you are a true independent thinker. You are interested in what is possible. You like the process of discovery. You are often experimenting, challenging old ideas, and inventing new concepts. Rules, restrictions, and limit don't really work for you. You have to do things your own way, and you can't be bothered to explain yourself.

What Kind of Thinker Are You?

The little black dress test??? Definitely taking that one.
Are you disturbingly profound or profoundly disturbing?
I'm disturbingly profound; how about you?
Mwahaha, the new Madison Finn came in the mail.

You Are Fairly Abnormal in Love

When it comes to love, you definitely have your own take on things. You love and hurt like everyone else, but your expectations and rules are different. It may make it hard for you to feel understood. People don't really get where you're coming from. Why You Are Normal in Love You are normal because you rather die before your romantic partner. You are normal because you first fell in love when you were 18 or younger. Why You Aren't Normal in Love You are abnormal because you had your first boyfriend or girlfriend after you were 14. You are abnormal because you think it is better to have never loved than loved and lost.

Are You Normal in Love?

I'm bored.
Please, not the 80's. Not the 80's.
The 80's.

You Belong in Generation Y

You fit in best with people born between 1982 and 2001. You are cooperative, flexible, and adaptable. You know the world changes quickly, and you're eager to change with it. You are socially responsible, forward thinking, and open minded.

What Generation Do You Belong In?

Some of this is lies.

What Your City Walk Means

You are optimistic and hopeful. Sometimes you do get disappointed by expecting too much. You are generally confident and friendly with strangers. You are well mannered and sociable. Money is important to you in as far as you'd like to have enough to survive. You are curious about ideas. If you had the means, you'd like to explore the whole world.

The City Walk Personality Test