new years (no, not New Years)

Well, it's the last day (night, actually) of the year, and I won't go all philosophical on you. I mean, it's like any other day, except it just happens to be the last bit of the year, isn't it? And an excuse to get drunk. (Subliminal message: Don't drink and drive, you could run me over- also, you might kill yourself.)
And it's also an excuse to miss work/school. Which is always good.

My five new year's resolutions are as follows (I refuse to write "new year" with capitals)
-Try to pay attention in certain classes (Key word: try. Hee hee hee).
-Get more money... somehow.
-Sleep more.
-Buy a monkey and name it Morrison.
-Water my plants before they start to shrivel up.

My parents just called me. "Six minutes to go!" So? It's not like this year will be any different- they'll still say no to Morrison.

Laters.

P.S. I hesitated about writing about the monkey. Everybody jokes about them, it's getting a bit old. Oops, four and a half minutes to go, I have to fly.
Any other n.y. resolutions I should add?

Gimme!

To get a car in or out of the garage, you need at least two people, ideally three or four. One person to drive the car, one or two people to open and close the doors (no fancy-pants electric doors) and one person to hold Maxie on her chair so that she doesn't run away onto the street and get run over and smushed by a car.
Today I went skating with my sister. When we got back, Maxie had just found a lollipop in the yard and was sucking on it. She started to sit down on the grass to enjoy it properly, just when I started opening the doors. My dad said, "Maxie, chair!". Maxie gave him a baleful look which suggested he had interrupted something extremely important, and then grudgingly trotted over to her chair.

"Maxie, give me that."
"No!" She had that look where she opens her eyes wide and plasters her ears back.
"Maxie, drop it!"
"It's mine, I found it."
"Maxie, I'm not kidding. Give it to me."
"But its mine. Get your own."


In the end, and with the help of my mom, my dad managed to wrestle it away. Afterwards she gave us deeply accusing looks (Maxie, not my mom).

It's the 25th

So, have a nice Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanzaa/bla.

I already knew that my family got me the Star Wars Evolutions Clone Trooper to Stormtrooper, and the Darth Vader Titanium thingy, which I just opened today. You know what else I got? Darth Vader's light saber! How cool is that? Very much so.

Oh, I also got a cookie.

On other news, the 7th Harry Potter book's title was revealed, "HP and the Deathly Hallows". As my sister pointed out, it sounds like a bad fanfic name.

Christmas, THE time to be selfish

If you want to get me something for Christmas (it's all about giving, you know) here is my wish list.

NOTE: I will be adding to this list.

1. NO chocolate. I like chocolate and all -it's yummy- but not at Christmas. So, if you were thinking of taking the easy way out and giving me chocolate, don't. (I realize this probably sounds very selfish, but really, I much prefer you just leave a comment on my blog at Christmas. Honestly. No chocolate)

2. Star Wars Evolutions Set #2 Clone Trooper to Storm Trooper. In an unscratched box, because this is for collecting, not playing. Update: Already got this- my dad bought it this afernoon. You know what else he got me? The Titanium Series Die Cast Darth Vader! How cool is that??? Very cool, that's how much. Thanks a million, Dad!

3. Star Wars Revenge of the Sith Collection 1 Darth Vader or (and?) Mace Windu. Because I have a few of these (okay, only nine. So kill me), but not Darth Vader. Which doesn't really make sense, because I do have very minor characters (e.g., the Super Battle Droid). Also well recieved would be: Shaak Ti, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mon Mothma, Kit Fisto, Aayla Secura, C-3PO. Undamaged box please.

4. Any Lightsaber you can get your paws on. All are welcome and would be recieved warmly with a hug. Again, undamaged box, if you would be so kind.

5. Alivan's Holly 15" wand. If you subscribe to their newsletter, you'll get discounts.
http://alivans.com/custom/cart/edit0.asp?p=89594

6. Everything is Illuminated Sountrack. Because I really, really like it and since I have the Amélie one now (whoo-hoo!) , it is my top sountrack priority.

Happy Birthday to Blog

Hey, I just realized, my blog is a year old! It had its birthday on Wednesday, the 6th. I never thought I would ever be able to keep it up...
And okay, it's not terribly active, but hey. A year is a year.

Happy birthday, bloggy!

Cable yanking bastards!

I'm writing this from an Internet Café, because the power at my house has been out for over 24 hours. Yeah, I know, that sucks.
Do you want to know why it's been out? Because some genius stole a cable and left my whole block without any electricity. The disturbing bit for me is this: What in the world did they want the cable for? And when did they steal it? It wasn't at night, because I left for school yesterday morning (power) and came back in the afternoon-- no power! That means no computer, no TV, no working fridge, no photocopies, no light, toasting bread on the stove...you know the type of stuff... and also candle wax on my music book, because the emergency light wasn't bright enough.
I don't like Internet Cafés much. I mean, the guy next to me could just look over and read what I'm writing. If he happens to speak English. Not that I'm writing anything all that secret, but still. One thing I like, though, is seeing all the people walk by on the sidewalk. Most of them look in here, too.
Anyway, the missing cable is supposed to get replaced today, starting around three.

On other news, I passed my second History test. I did pretty well, this time, actually. I congratulate myself.
Nuts, I'm getting hungry.

Bellas Artes

On Friday the school choir, of which I am part (otherwise I wouldn't be posting this, duh) went to Bellas Artes to sing. See, there's a contest every year of Canción Popular Mexicana, where choirs from different schools sing mexican songs; there's a bunch of levels, although the Bellas Artes one's just a presentation.
In years before there were silver medals for every single student of every single choir. And now? Now they're made out of tin. Tin! And they used to come in a special box. Now, they're stung on a piece of ribbon that's about two pesos per meter. And the whole silver medal thing was only like two years ago, maybe even one. Also, there used to be pretty designs on them, and now they're stamped with an ugly thing that says "9° encuentro de la Canción Popular Mexicana", except it's hard to tell, because the 9 looks like a 4.
But apart from the whole cheap, worthless medal incident, the whole thing was quite nice.
Also, funny incident:
There was a program set that had everything timed, for example, "Welcome: 3 min.", "Esc. José María Morelos y Pavón: 3.5 min." or something like that. Our song ("El pastor") is three and a half minutes long, and that's what was on the program... except what we didn't tell them is that we were going to sing another song ("Despierta") .. teehee.
So we're on the stage, sing our first song, and at the end everyone claps. Then, after three seconds, the music teacher starts playing "Despierta", and you can almost hear everybody thinking, "Huh?". Then we finish, or so everyone thinks, but it was a false ending, har har! In the middle of the clapping we resume singing. Then we end again... also false. Clapping, and... the curtain guy apparently decided to seize his chance and starts lowering the curtain, just as we begin singing again. He realizes his mistake and lowers the curtain more and more slowly so that it hit the ground at exactly (and I mean exactly) the same time as we finished for real. And also, half the choir burst into giggles (the other half was going "Hey, the curtain!").

******

Isabel, my sister, would like you all to know that she is sad and had a bad day because she thought she was going to play ice hockey all week and she even got new shin pads "because the other ones were all sucky and old and stinky" and now she won't get to go to the ice hockey clinic.

Blair Witch Pr... zzz

I was just downstairs watching The Blair Witch Project with my sister on TV, and let me tell you, it is one of the most boring things I've seen in a looong time (plus, Alice in Wonderland is way scarier).
We didn't even finish watching it, because we got tired of what seems to me to be about an hour and a half of swearing, and "Turn off the f****** camera!".
And what was up with all those sticks hanging from trees? And why were some of them covered in moss?
It's supposed to be really scary at the end, but as my sister pointed out, what's the good in that when you're already asleep and snoring? Honestly.
SOMETHING should happen in the first... say, hour or so, so that people won't change it to channel two to watch the late telenovelas (I saw one once about a guy who lived in a cave and always wore a red plaid shirt or overalls with lots of (fake?) chest fur and no shirt... at least you can laugh at it and wonder how much they paid that guy).
Basically, if I ever have the chance to watch it again, I won't.
EDIT: Oh, yeah, and what was it with those piles of rocks? Who does that? And, more importantly, have they nothing better to do? If it was the witch, anyone can see that she has one long, boring, sucky life with an empty agenda.
Oh, yeah, and if those guys are film students, why is the footage so bad?

Assorted things...

Okay, I have reeeeally neglected this thingy.
Now I have ten minutes to spare, so I suppose I can catch up a bit. The bad thing is, whenever I have time I get writer's block.

Izzy, big sister, one who gives me candy and calls me little squishy, and basically spoils me, was jumping around and going "Wheehee! Wheehee! Daddy said yessss!", not two minutes ago, and I can safely assume that it was because she recieved parental permission to go to some concert or other (it's Placebo, so that's coolie, I guess).

I've done my Math homework, which is easy... the catch is (oh, yes, there's a catch) I think I solved the wrong page of my excercise book. Oh, well, it won't matter in ten years or so. I hope.

Izzy just hopped by going "Wheehe!" again. Although now it's changed to "Wheehoo! Wheehoo!".

Yeah... I'm not feeling very inspired today.

Oh, right- at school my class spent four hours making the ofrenda for Día de Muertos (see? We have an actual tradition thingy, not like other countries, where all you do is eat candy and call that Hallowe'en), while I was at choir practice (save for five minutes, when I went over to see if I could help at all, but was instead rudely shooed off) . That was quite disappointing, seeing as I spent years looking forward to setting up the ofrenda. But I'll still try to take photos of it , because it turned out nicely anyway.
Oh, by the way, I still get an extra point in History this bimester, because I brought a bunch of stuff (flowers, clothes, and a plastic skull) for the ofrenda. Good thing, too, because I am in dire need of that point.

I think I'll try to cut down on my use of parenthesis.

History test!

Today was my first written History exam of the year, and let me tell you, it was AWFUL. I studied! I really did! I rarely study for tests, and when I do, it's never for long. Yesterday I studied for hours. And the test killed me.
Four pags of utter madness, and I don't think I passed.
Honestly, I really need the extra point this bimester- that will be for participating in the ofrenda, which is the third years' job.
If I get around to it, I'll take photos of the ofrenda and post them.


UPDATE: Got my results... I failed (4.3 out of 10. Go ahead, laugh).

Friday 13th

Well, today is Fiday the 13th. Bring out the black cats and all that.
It makes me remember the sixth of June (6-6-6). All the first-borns were making their wills, and everyone else was running around claiming their stuff.

Happy Birthday to me

On Friday I turned fouteen :). I got some candy, a bag, a few cards and a four-leaf clover. Also, Mauricio got the class to sing Las Mañanitas, which was really sweet and for which I thank him a lot.

English class

Agh, my Internet connection has been down, and I've been too lazy to fix it, so I'm writing this from my mother's computer.

Seeing as I live in Mexico, the foreign language we learn at school is English. Hardly anyone can speak it half-decently, so a few people- I have no clue as to where they got the idea- jokingly "translate" things into English by adding "-ation" to the word. For example, Chóforo, who I can't even begin to describe (suffice it to say that he is the object of about one third of the total of jokes made every day and practically has his own subculture) becomes "Choforation", Kevin becomes "Kevination", and so on.
Today in English class, we were learning about some James Watt guy, and the class was repeating stuff (I am James Watt, I was an inventor, etc.). There was a bit where we had to say "I was born on January 19th, 1736". This phrase, however, proved to bee too long for them, so it came out as a confused babble lasting about 10 seconds. At the end, Mikey cried out "-ation!".

Ah, happy days.

Some things that people do that annoy me

I was on my bed reading and it suddenly hit me that for a while I've wanted to write what it is that annoys me about people, and I finally have time to do it (well, okay, I've always had the time, but now I'm in the mood to do it).
This is not, of course, the entire list. If I ever remember something else to add, I will, I f I... uh, have time.

1. Smoking- That's just dumb. Why do people smoke? Not only is it horrible for your health, but it makes your breath stink. Goodbye lungs, hello cancer.

2. Sudden, fake, attitude changes- When one moment people are "Ooooh, a bald rat-sized dog! With a glittery T-shirt!!!", and the next they are all, "I am dark. Nobody understands me. Life is bla bla bla [insert "deep" thought here]". The best example I have seen lately was a shiny pink website decorated with anime characters in frilly little dresses and big, big, eyes, and a post saying stuff such as "There is a dark side of me nobody knows. They do not know the real me. I am different. They do not understand." No, I don't understand you, confused little person. Pick a personality and stick with it.

3. People at the movies- You've been looking forward to watching this certain movie, and you've finally got the chance to go see it. You get there nice and early, find a good seat. But- horror of horrors- you discover you have to share the theater with either one (or several) of the following:

a) People who won't shut up, even when everybody yells at them (sometimes this makes them erupt into giggles, which is even worse- and that leads us on to the next one)
b) People who won't stop laughing. Once I watched a movie which I absolutely loved next to a large man who snorted to himself at all the serious parts
c) Large groups who don't pay attention to the movie
d) People who can't refrain on commenting on the movie
e) People who sneeze/cough/snore a lot
f) People who brought along small children to a movie where it is obvious that kiddie will get bored and, depending on the age, can cause all sorts of disturbances, including (but not limited to) crying, complaining, asking loudly for something (usually candy or popcorn), climbing all over, etc.

There are more, but I have to go to the orthodontist.

Hulk, grrarrr!

Today is the 15th of September. On the 16th of September is the anniversary of Mexico's Independence, but since today is Friday, the ceremony at school was today, seeing as there is no school on Saturday.
On occasions like this, we're supposed to wear a dark green tie to match our school uniform. Last night I forgot to stash mine in my schoolbag (the tie's on my bed, where it usually lives), and consequently, I forgot to bring it. I remembered it on my bus, along with the Civics homework I dindn't do (which was completed afterwards at school). I stopped to buy some green ribbon at a little stall just outside school. The only green ribbon they had, however, vas a light, almost pistachio green, and was rather thin. Oh, well, no time to go somewhere else, and anyway, all the nearby shops have no cloth ribbon (I know this owing to previous situations resembling this one). Huff, puff, go to school. Okay.... it seems that I'm the only one who forgot their tie. There were probably others, but I didn't see or remember them.
And then I proceeded to fix my "tie". I whipped out a green marker and colored in my pistachio tie, so that when I was finished it, it was acceptably dark-ish.
The marker was water-based, so it rubbed off on my hands, turning then Hulk green. (they still are green as I type this).
It turned out the ribbon was not long enought to go round my neck and hang down, and the knot was pathetically small. So I took a piece of card, cut out several triangles the same size, and glued them back to back. I then wrapped the ribbon around the triangles, and secured them into place with a paper clip. To attach it to my collar, I bent another paper clip into a sort of hook, and stuck one end in the back of the tie, the other end in my shirt collar. And there you have it, a sucky "tie" made out of a ribbon that turns your shirt collar and hands green.

Chips

The Geography teacher who taught us in first year told us she would give us extra points each bimester if we gave her enough empty chip bags. Explanation: She found out about this thingy where people take chip bags and weave them into purses. When you give them chip bags, they give you money. So she used extra points as an incentive for us to run around and collect other students' garbage for her. I never joined in- I didn't need the extra points- but a few people did. Not that many, though; at least, not as far as I remember.
This year, however, she has many newbies doing her bidding. Today, there were about five, maybe seven, firsties crowded around the trash can, fighting ferociously over chip bags (they tried to snatch mine before I could bat them away, seeing as I did want the remaining half of my snack). Afterwards I had an idea: I snuck up from behind and waved the now empty bag over their heads. Half a second later three hands shot up, and a quick scuffle insued. A winner was proclaimed.
Then inspiration struck. First, a friend and I got a chip bag. Then, we got Emmanuel, who is really tall, to go over and wave it above the kiddies' heads. The firsties, being firsties and therefore short, couldn't reach the bag. They immediately moved their position from a ring aroung the trashcan to a ball around Emmanuel. They shoved him off, and after a few meters, he ran, the bag high up over his head, to where Rodrigo was, the firsties hot on his heels. He had just enough time to stuff the bag down Rodrigo's sweater before they attacked.
The whole thing happened very quickly, and it was absolutely hilarious.

Here's what I do at school

Last week in English class we had to write a text that describes a country's famous sights. For example:

France is a country in Europe. Its capital is Paris. The Louvre Museum is in France, and so is the Arc de Triomphe.

We were supposed to do it in pairs (I usually do that kind of thing alone, though, seeing as my English is, frankly, better than my teacher's). The guy behind me and the guy diagonally across from me wrote theirs together. They picked Germany, and couldn't think of anything. I suggested the remains of Nazi concentration camps, but they said they'd rather not (I don't know why, as, according to my sister, they are popular tourist sites).
After ten minutes (and several jokes about sightseeing and German women), the teacher said "Ok, hand in your work". I went and got mine marked, and when I got back to my seat, they were laughing and congratulating themselves. Then they showed me their notebooks:

"Germany is a country in Europe. People speak German. The capital of Germany is Berlin. The Üghteniten is an important building in Germany."

It seems the teacher thought "Üghteniten" sounded German, too, so they got a ten.

A few days ago at recess, a friend and I were happily dancing a little piece we made up when a first year stuffed full of ego walked past and said that we should quit drugs. I picked up one of the fruits that fall from one of the trees (about half a centimeter in diameter, and very soft) and tossed it at him. Given my aiming skills, I failed miserably. My friend picked up a little rock slightly bigger than the fruit and chucked it at him full-force. It hit him beautifully, and it bounced off his head. He jumped and started to turn; my friend whirled me around and tugged me along with her so that we were casually walking away from the scene of the crime (afterwards she looked around for him and made sure he wasn't hurt; he looked fine enough, and if there was any damage at all, it was a bit of ego that flew out of him with the impact).

My sister

My sister was with me last night when I was doing my History homework. The conversation turned to handwriting; to give me a sample of hers, she wrote the following note in my agenda:

---Transcript---

Lalli:

Spider monkeys are cool, my darling squishy! And you are a kind of spider-monkey, methinks, so by transitivity you are a cool little squishy monkey, my pretty one! I send you lots of love my beloved. Hugs and kissies. Mua. XX

Izzy

---End of transcript---

My sister is 19 and is studying Mathematics. She can be quite baffling at times, which just makes me love her more. *huggles*

Sunday, time for nothing.

As some wise person or other probably said at some point, today is Sunday, "the day of lounging around and accomplishing little", aka. "the day of rest".

I was bored- er, resting- so I started poking around on Wikipedia (it's great for killing boredom. Look up things you've been curious about, or, if you can't think of anything, click random article until you get one you like and spend an afternoon learning about the British Royal Family)and read about a guy called Lalli. It seems he was a rich Finnish guy who chopped off a bishop's head with an axe. This came as a bit of a shock to me, as my family has always nicknamed me Lalli.

Hop off to school

Finally time to write! I've been very busy this past week, what with watching televisi- I mean, homework. Yes, I was doing homework. Lots of it... no, really, we've got a ridiculous amount of homework.
On Wednesday my friend Eréndira showed me this really cool thing as we walked around in recess:
"The first years have to let second and third years past them" she said. "Second years have to let third years past. And they all have to let us past."
She waited until an approaching first year was almost in front of us. "Look."
She stepped into the first year's path, neatly cutting her off. The first year dutifully took a step back and went round behind us.
Is that awesome or what?
I've tried it several times since, and it works every time (of course not on third years who are taller than me, but on everyone else it does).

On another note, one of the prefects is retiring. We were all quite shocked and slightly sad to hear that; she's like part of the school, you know? I, at least, will miss her a tad. Not as a person, but more like if a piece of the wall got chipped out, or somebody stole some of the railing from the second floor. I'm not saying that to be mean, it's just how I feel. She's going on Friday, and it seems the teachers are taking the opportunity to milk some more money out of us, "to pay for the goodbye ceremony" (I don't mean I think they're going to steal it, I just mean, there's going to be something left over; who's gonna keep it, me? I don't think so).

First day of school

YESSSS!!!! I GOT THE ONLY GOOD MATH TEACHER, AHAHAHA!!!!!!
Ahem. The other Math teachers are a sucky one, who I got in first year, and a very sucky one, who I got last year.
But this year.... YESSSS!!!!!!!


....ew, I just ate a vomit-flavoured Bertie Bott bean. It tastes like digested rice.

School is just around the corner. ...nuts.

Next Monday I will go back to school. I had been planning to break it gently to myself, first admitting vacations are coming to an end, then hunting around for old notebooks of my sisters' from when they were in what will soon be my year (see? step 1 in action, right there), buying and covering my agenda, and then gradually getting up earlier each morning, slowly working up to 5 am.
I had just begun the last step today (at seven this very morning), and then my careful planning was disrupted abruptly around I-don't-have-a-watch o'clock, when I recieved a phone call from the guy who has sat behind me in school for the past two years.
Our class has to give the opening ceremony.
I had completely fogotten that third year, group "A" always has to do it. It never really registered with me, I guess. Way to ruin my last precious days of freedom, eh? (I'm half Canadian, I'm entitled to use "eh". That's why I went to Mooseland (because I'm half Canadian, not to say "eh").)

Scariest movie ever, so far

Today I will write to you about the movie that I, along with many others, consider the scariest film of all time. No, it's not some Frankenstein movie, or one about that ugly Chucky doll. It's Alice in Wonderland. You know, the one from 1951, by Disney?
I was terrified the first time I watched it, and I still am. I'm not sure I've ever seen the whole thing. So far as I can remember, I haven't. So my description is probably not very accurate, as it is built mostly on foggy, suppressed memories from when I was a wee child, and also a few bits and pieces a few seconds long that I accidentally watch now and then. I mean, how can I give a good description when all I remember about the movie was that it was very, very confusing and enigmatic? My account of the movie is as follows:
First, the beggining is all promising. Alice, a pretty girl with enviable hair that never seems to get tangled, is lying in a tree, with a cute little cat... and then she falls through a hole, and zooms past flying things, and she lands in these dark woods. Then a creepy cat half-appears out of nowhere, and in the scariest voice imaginable, says something I don't understand. It smiles, I scream. And then- this is one of the parts that I can't erase, and I'm shuddering as I write about it (I really am)- the cat laughs, and everything except its horrible, horrile smile dissappears, bit by bit.
Then Alice runs around, and sees the white rabbit. She tries to talk to it, but it sees right through her, it seems. And it's obsessively saying it's late, it's late, it's late...! She follows it as it hops through a gate. And then the bit which is most vividly terrifying begins. The tea.
There's a big banquet, and the bunny hops in. And there are two lunatic people there, who do scary things, and are really mean to the rabbit. They break its watch, and put butter in it, even though the bunny tries to stop them. For some reason I've never been able to understand, Alice seemed to like them, or at least she did as far as I can remember. They did confusing things that didn't make sense, and sang a scary song... then Alice left them, and when she got further away, you could hear their song, getting fainter and fainter.
After that, there was something about growing big inside a house, and breaking it, and a garden with flowers that sang, and then pushed Alice away. And also two scary things with ugly faces that made Alice sit on a log and listen to a song about baby oysters getting murdered; they tried to make her stay for another song, but she escaped. And the cat kept on appearing, and dissappearing in a very freaky fashion the whole time.
And something about some mushrooms that made you bigger or smaller...
Oh, and a doorknob with the same face as the Red Queen and the things that sang the oyster song.
I don't really remember much about the Red Queen, really, only her head, and that she yelled a lot.

I feel all confused and small and lost now, so I'll stop.

I need a hug real bad.

Pokey, pokey, oops!

Yesterday I went to the orthodontist to have my braces tightened (yeah, I have braces. Ick.) . I know some people are afraid of dentists, but I don't see why. They're just dentists, jeez. It's an irrational fear. They aren't going to stab you in the heart with a dental pick or anything like that.
I must admit, though, that all the instruments they use- or most of them, anyway- are quite pointy, even though they don't have to be. When I went to have my braces put in, the orthie started looking around inside my mouth with a thingy with pointy ends, which turned out to be somewhat painful when she accidentally poked me. She could have done that with a blunt sticky-thing, right? But nooooo, we must poke the patients! Rule #39 of the Dentists' Handbook, I'm sure.
It's not that I don't like my orthodontist; she's a nice person. It's just, you know, I'm not too excited about getting jabbed with the pointy end of a little metal stick.
Other than that, though, dentistry is all right, I suppose.
Well... I could do without the braces, but I guess if I'm going to get straight teeth out of it, it's worth a shot. And my teeth aren't pointing in all directions, all willy-nilly, they're fairly alright, so the braces will only be in for ten months, twelve tops. ... ... ... You can tell I'm forcing myself to be optimistic, can't you?
Oh, well. They're in now, so all I can do is wait.

Back home, hurrah!

Yesterday we got back from Mooseland.
The wildlife count ended in:
17 squirrels
4 rabbits
1 groundhog
0 chipmunks

It's strange, though, that there were no chipmunks. Every other time I've been there, I saw a few. And this time? None. I even went on walks and stuff to look for them, but no luck.

It feels really weird to have a real keyboard again; for two weeks we used a laptop. Also, it was an English keyboardette, and I usually have a Spanish one, so my fingers got all mixed up. Also, I kept on hitting caps lock when I tried to type an "a", because of the tinyness.

And our dog... oh my precious doggie! She went wild when she saw us! Her ear were plastered back on her head and her tail was wagging uncontrollably and she kept on running around everywhere because she wasn't sure whether to let us scratch her and be happy or to show us what a good dog she was by sitting in her chair.

Oh, Canada!

We are in Canada now.
Yeah, I haven't written in a while.

So far the highlights of the trip have been:
-Our flight got delayed almost 24 hours, three of which were spent in a plane that was not moving. And I won't get into details here, but the kid behind my sister was kicking her seat, and we could all feel it.
-Went to Niagara Falls. T'was hot.
-Went to a very nice wedding of some relatives (I don't actualy know how they're related to us, only that they are from my mom's side of the family). It was really, really nice. Good food, too. Loved the potatoes.
-Wrote two friend long e-mails days ago. Neither answered.
-So far, I have seen seven squirrels and a rabbit (no chipmunks).
-Bought some nice pants.
-Went to the library with my family and loaded up on books. The best one so far is Turnabout, by Margaret Peterson Haddix. A word of caution, though; don't read it right before bed.
-The girl at Harvey's put too much mayonnaise on my hamburger. The hamburger was still excellent, though.


...Okay, these aren't really the highlights. So what?
Okay, I'm bored.

Ta ta!

Flying off today

Ugh, I have to fly today. On a plane. Albatross is not an option, it seems.
The thing I hate most about airplanes is the way thay smell. You get on an airplane and afterwards your clothes and hair smell like airplane (or maybe it's just me).
I would write more, but my dad just swung by and said "What are you doing? We're leaving in two hours!"

Scool's out!

Haha! Goodbye, suckers!

... I mean... uh, school's... out. Yeah.

I'm going to Canada on Thursday (Yes, M. I'll remember to get you a keychain or something nice). Going there for about two weeks, and then hopping back into the smoggy land of the street doggies (a.k.a., Mexico).

So, while we're in the Great Land of the Moose we're going to a wedding. I had to get some shoes. Formal shoes. Eek. I don't like shoe shopping as rule, but to have to take off my socks (I was wearing my only pink socks, yay!) in a store and walk around... I don't know. I don't like to take off my shoes, let alone my socks, in a semi-public place. And then prance around in shoes that aren't mine (yet).

Sorry, I got sidetracked. .............. HOORAY! NO MORE SCHOOL!


Note-- this post did not make much sense, since I don't really care about it right now.

Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Monkey)

I am finally getting around to reading Three Men in a Boat. It be lots good.
There have been other times when I would try to read it but never get past the first chapter, because in my family the rule to survival is hoarding. If you have something you want to keep, you hoard it. We have large, secret deposits of ... well, just books, mostly. Oh, and my dad has notebooks and pens in his study (a small room of his at the very top of the house, where he will disappear for long stretches of time, ocasionally crawling out to watch football) .
It is rough, surviving in this jungle- er, house (I'm not a Brit. I just like the way "er" looks). If you leave anything out in the open, it'll be snagged before you can do something which takes a short amount of time to do, e.g. blink. Then the stinky little thief who claims to be your blood kin will roll themselves into a ball around the object in question and roll away, as you stand there wondering why you ever decided that living with monkeys would be an interesting experience, regardless of whether or notit is an excellent conversation topic.
I may be exaggerating a few points here, but you probably get my general idea, so it's okay to take a bit of creative licence.
Anyway, I am taking advantage that there is only one other soul in the house right now (well, two, actually, but the other one's not a monkey. Oh, and there's the dog, too) to read the book and post this.
Actually, I don't really feel like reading anymore, even though it's such a good book. Maybe I'll go outside and skate a bit, since it isn't raining. If anyone barges into my room and demands that I hand over the book, I will say innocently, "What book?"
"Three Men in a Boat!", they will exclaim, "I know you have it. I read it in your blog."
Then I will serenely answer, "You can't believe everything you read.", and the monkey will roll away frustrated. And I will snort to myself and pull the book out from under my pillow and continue reading and eating bananas (those monkeys really rub off on you), and using too many "and"s in my sentences.

Hooray, Student Day! not.

This is a transcript of something I wrote at school yesterday:

-----
10:15 am

Today is Student's Day (the one we celebrate at school, not the international one), so to celebrate it the school gives the people of the valley (a.k.a., valley boys and girls) a party. The rest of us have to find some way to entertain ourselves out of their way. Currently I am hiding in the Music classroom. The Music teacher told me to go and jump around in the gym a bit, otherwise he wouldn't let me in.
So I went to the gym with Hania, fellow choir buddy. We sat there. After a while some girl went up to H. and pulled her off to wilggle around ("dance", they call it). I sat on alone, one part boredom, one part disgust and two parts earache from the music.
Oh, and there were three dudes that someone or other hired to wiggle on our excuse of a stage. It made me wonder, how much do they pay those guys to dance for a crowd of about 100 twelve-to-fifteen year-old girls? Not much, is my guess.
Anyway. Horror of horrors, I saw the people who call themselves my friends (well, I call them that, at any rate) dancing in a little group along with some other people in my class. And okay, they were dancing rather decently (with two exceptions who I won't name), but still.
I decided I had been there long enough so I fled. After a little while, H. caught up with me and walked with me to the Music classroom, expecting to gain access. We didn't. The teacher told me that I had to be more sociable and that I go hang out more in the gym.
H. and I set off again. We only stood outside a bit before heading back, though. The teacher gave in and let us in. Then H. headed off to dance again, I believe.
I stayed where I am, pounding a piece of toothpick flat with my cell phone. As you can see, I was bored, so I shuffled to the computer room to see if they would let me use the 'net. The teacher who runs the room (who, by the way, knows less about computers than I do, and that's saying something) said no, I may not use the computers, and how could I even think of shuting myself up in the computer room? I ought to be enjoying myself in the gym!, and so on. I tried the library, too, but it was locked.
So now I'm back in the music room writing this.
And now I'm finished writing what has happened so far, I honestly don't know what to do.

-----
**end of transcript**

For the record, I spent the rest of the day playing music on the music teacher's laptop. I discovered the Carol of the Bells and had it stuck in my head all day.

Ice Skating

I went ice skating yesterday, for the second time since I was like four or five . Was with my sisters, my eldest sister's boyfriend and my cousin.

I am proud to say that I managed to do a split, and I wasn't even trying, a-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!! (Just for the record, at the time of the split I was trying to turn.)

Oh, and I tripped this little kid with the back of my skate. See, I was leaning on the wall (my back was turned toward the rink) talking to my sister, and this boy who looked about five or six was going along, and I sort of accidentally put the back of my skate (you know, the bit of blade that sticks out?) in his way. As he got up he gave me a very mean, accusatory look. He wasn't hurt, though. Just annoyed. Very, very annoyed.

Moving on, I don't know how to stop properly, so my method is to skate up to a wall and thwack myself against it. I was doing just that, heading towards a guy who was watching from outside the rink. I figured he'd see me coming, so it would be okay to crash in front of him and then quickly move away.
As it turned out, as I got nearer, he looked down. About a second before I collided with the wall, he looked up again and- WHAM! I swear, the expression on his face was priceless. My sister witnessed the whole thing and wouldn't (or couldn't) stop laughing.

Alive again

Alright. I have not written at all, and I am now determined to use this. I'm not sure I actually will, because I am a lazy, lazy thing. But I can dream that I will suddenly be motivated and become a responsible person who thinks sleeping is a waste of time.

Ha. I almost fooled myself.

Let's see... oh, this morning a friend of mine saw a rat at school. We were outside, minding our own business, when she suddenly pointed and said, "Look! A rat!". I thought se meant a girl called Beatriz, who is nicknamed 'rat'. She didn't. I never actually saw it, but some other people did, so I suppose it's true. They say it bolted out of the place where the school stores the food they sell us. Yeah, I know. Ew. Bringing my own lunch from now on.

Ah, the school year is aaaalmost over. Near enough for our hands to begin preparations for hibernating and refuse to write properly, but still too far for the teachers to give up trying to teach. They should know better; anything they try to stuff in our heads at this time usually sort of slips out without leaving a trace. My Chemistry teacher should read this.

And I just can't wait 'till next year. I'm hoping, along with 48 other people, that my Physics teacher will retire and go live the rest of her life in the Bahamas or whatever. She is smart, and hardworking and all that, but she CANNOT teach. Plus, out of every, let's say, ten assignments she gives us, she marks half and forgets the others. Which, of course, is annoying when you stayed up late working on whatever project only to discover that... well, you get my point.