Tuesday, October 5, 2004

   Yeah, I'm too cool.

AND I'M GETTING A COLD BECAUSE OF IT! >:O!

*sniffle* *sniffle*

My runny nose has not improved at all, but I've developed a slight cough and my throat still feels rough. I'm thirsty all the time and my lips are chapped. *checks over list of physical grievances*

Nope, that's about it.

So, as I mentioned this morning, today was Crazy Hat (They used to allow hats) Sock and Tie Day. Being the creative fellow that I am, I came up with the idea of making a tie out of mismatched socks. One mustard yellow, the next a bright red, connected to an older purple one, stuck to a black on with neon green stripes, strapped to the final one, a gray sock with blue toe, heel, and top and a snowman craft stitched to the side. All of these were held together by rubber bands those rubber bandy-things girls wear in their hear. >_>

I actually managed to tie the strand as one would a normal tie, sort of. Then, for socks. I wore one very thick, bright turquoise sock on my right foot, and then a sort of dull green, gray, and red stitched sock. As I walked, I would be about half an inch higher when I stepped with my right foot. ^_^'

That got me a good deal of interesting reactions at school, heh. Unfortunately, no picture taken for the Yearbook. Le sigh.

Speaking of yearbooks, I was supposed to get my ID card today. A bunch of people in my homeroom got their school IDs today, and another bunch didn't. Well, technically I was given one, it just so happened that it didn't belong to me. It belonged to my friend Matt, who looks like me and has a very similar last name. (Add -ly)


I went to my first drama practice of the year. I am now officially the assistant stage manager, heh. I've got some of my "duties" figured out, and so far it looks good. I get to crack the whip (metaphorically) over the actors and make sure they focus and behave. I feed them lines when they need to in the midst of a dialogue. Eventually, I am told, I will have to direct them as to what they should be doing on the stage, where, and when.

Should be interesting. ^_^

*runs off to work on history homework*
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Today is
I'm wearing a tie made out of socks today. Heh.
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Monday, October 4, 2004

   *ruffles hair*
Bleh. So very tired.

Meaningless stress continues to pile up, only to peak on Thursday night and die come Friday afternoon. So much to do, and so little time. *sigh*

I don't really feel like writing a super-cool post right now, but I'll give it a whirl. Can't have Shin gloating when I lose Teh Silly Circus2. ~_^

I actually got up early today, and my clothes were all set and ready to go on my chair. I ate breakfast, put in my contacts, etc. and was ready to go about twenty minutes earlier than usual. Go me, heh.

My mom had other things to attend to before we could leave, though, so I was only moderately early to school. It is an extremely fortunate thing that I did get there early, as it turns out. Let me explain.

This week is "Spirit Week" at my school. The Homecoming game is this Friday, and the dance is on Saturday. So, throughout this week we have all manner of special dress allowances. They're not quite dress-down days, unfortunately. Today was "Team Day", you were allowed to wear a different shirt/sweater as long as it had some sort of team logo on it.

Now, therein lies the problem. I thought it was a free dress day, provided you had some form of team logo. So, I wore khakis to school, with a nice white Windsor Football shirt, borrowed from my cousin. Upon arriving at school, though, I realized that nobody else had jeans on, or any form of pants outside of the regular uniform. The meaning of this struck me instantly, and I cursed myself silently.

I went inside quickly and asked at the main office what the parameters of the dress-down were. I was directed to a flyer, which clearly stated that we were supposed to wear school slacks or skirts. *sigh* So, without anybody telling me to, I went back out to the car, where my mom was still waiting.

I would have been sent home for being out of uniform, and so I saved them the trouble of telling me and just had my mom drive me home. She dropped me off, I got changed into my uniform pants, and my dad drove me up. I missed most of first period, which was, most unfortunately, my Off period.

What was nice about missing first period is: the day felt much shorter. The classes were not so particularly bad, and I pretty content when the day was done.

*sneezes*

Right. I almost forgot. I think I'm coming down with something. My nose is runny and my throat's starting to itch. It's nothing I can't handle at the moment, but I'd still rather be without it. ;p

Either it escalates and gets me out of school, or it dissipates and I can function without it hampering me. I hate minor ailments that do nothing but cause minor discomfort. =\

I've got about a dozen writing assignments due in the next couple of weeks, including my first English paper due this Friday. I've done only minimal research, and I've got a workload piling up behind me that will probably be dumped onto Thursday night as well. *another sigh* I need to get organized, or something.

Being forced to write an outline will certainly be a big help. Writing my paper now is a lot like just filling in the blanks. I write a paragraph under this topic, I write a few sentences here or there to support this or that, and boom. Done. It ought not to be as much of a hassle as my past papers have been.

*releases breath explosively*

That's all I've got as far as an update goes. But, of course, I still have homework to do at 10:40 at night.
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Sunday, October 3, 2004

   Aaaaah....
Today was a nice, relaxed sort of day for me. I went to Mass last night, so I didn't have to worry about getting up any specific time this morning. I got up at 9:29, just before my alarm went off. My sister was snooping around my room, and I caught her just before she took my Gamecube games.

Meh, I let her take them, and then I shut off my alarm. >.>

I surfed around MyOs, watched some TV, and tried to start up a duel or two on AIM. I eventually put in my contacts and had something for brunch before coming upstairs again for more lazing about.

A short while later, my sister Emily calls up to me, telling me I've got a telephone call. Puzzled, I clambered down the stairs and asked her who it was.

"The library." she said nonchalantly.

THE LIBRARY!!!11!11!

OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG! I totally forgot that I was supposed to work today! It was already 1:07, and I was supposed to be in at 12:00! AGH!

I picked up the phone and told the person on the other line that yes, I was in fact going to be coming to work. I slapped some shoes on my feet and my mom drove me over. I went in and filled out special "Exception" form, that would later be fed into the computer to deduct pay based on the time I'd missed.

*wipe off huge sweatdrop*

I don't think there will be any repercussions of this accident, other than a slight reduction of my next paycheck. That, and I'll probably never be late again. :o

So, from 1:20-5:00 I was working at the library. In that time, I alphabetized a cart of picture books. That took me about an hour, maybe an hour and a half. The books are so very thin, about 100 or so can fit on the cart with relative ease. That, and I had to look up the author's name for each, because the library markers only have the first letter. x_x

So, yeah. From that point on all I did was shelve the books on the cart. It was a very dull day at the library. For me, at least.

I came home, ate dinner, and made some pretense at doing my homework. I took a shower, and looked over my last English test to be sure it was graded correctly. Sure enough, I was wrong. =p

I actually thought of a great idea tonight during my shower, heh. It has to do with my English final exam.

(How I got onto that line of thinking while showering is far beyond my comprehension. :p)

Anyways, Mr. Lamoureux has already given us the only problem that will be on our Honors English III final exam. It goes something like this:

"Trace the development of American literature from the year 1750 to the present."

If I remember correctly, he said we could present the answer in whatever writing form we wanted to. So I got to thinking, what forms of writing has he brought up with us? Exposition, argument, description, and....narratation!

I could write a story!

I immediately got to brainstorming ideas. I would have s small group of people travel through time (or have them suspended in some limbo where people from time visit them) and they would analyze the various types of literature that developed, and discuss the reasons behind it, all a la Mystery Space Theater 3000. Ideas are bouncing off of the inside of my head, and I can't wait to get started. ^_^

Heh, I'm surprised. I'm actually now looking forward to this exam! Because I know, with the right preparation, I can have a story all fleshed out in time for the exam, and it will be an entertaining and legitimate response to the problem!

YAY!

*goes to sleep dreaming of history and literature*
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Saturday, October 2, 2004

W0 to the 0t!
Dude. Today was pretty cool.

I woke up at about 9:30, which in and of itself was pretty nice. Sleeping in even to that point was very, very nice. I felt more rested than I normally would than if I got up at 11-something. Now that I'm taking Psychology, I'm starting to understand why, perhaps, that is. I won't bore you with a hypothesis, though.

Now, John has been raving at me about Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments he goes to just about every weekend at B&C Collectibles, a collectibles shop in Waterford. He gets all sorts of good trades there, and has even placed in the tournaments a couple times. Today was the first day I went to one.

My dad drove me over, making quick reference to the Mapquest directions I'd printed out. He dropped me off, and I met up with my friend Mark. Mark used to go to St. Bernard's, but was expelled. So, I don't see him very often anymore. I paid $7 to enter the tournament, and then sat down to play a Match against Mark.

Mark's using a very clever, very strong Chaos deck. He has Black Luster Soldier-Envoy of the Beginning, and great means to get it onto the field. I won the first duel. It's my belief that I only won that first one because Mark wasn't sure what he was up against. My stall cards held him in check, and my Burn deck whittled his LifePoints down to 0. He won the next duel.

Then, the tournament began! :D

Each of the twelve entrants picked a facedown card from the store-owner's hand. They were regular cards (i.e. six of hearts, etc.) and we were matched up based on the cards we drew. I faced off against a dim-witted kid. I really feel sorry for him, as he didn't have a firm grasp of the game. He forgot to draw cards (I reminded him) and he tried activating cards when he wasn't able to, only to have me correct him. I was almost ashamed to beat him. In both duels of the two out of three Match, my LifePoints were untouched. I advanced.

John was squared off against an older guy, probably in his late twenties of early thirties. The guy knew the game, though, and he beat John 2 to 1, I think. John was eliminated.

I don't know who Mark faced in the first round, but apparently he won and he advanced to the next round as well.

When the matches of the first round finished, the six remaining people pulled cards again. Mark and I prayed that we wouldn't get matched up, but such was not our luck. We drew ours cards and found that we were matched to each other. Best two out of three. Ben vs. Mark. GO!

My stall cards pulled through for me again in the first duel with Mark, and I managed to summon Lava Golem on his side of the field to do some steady damage. The second duel was much, much harder. Mark got out his Black Luster Soldier and was removing my monsters from play left and right. I practically nothing I could do. I had one card in my hand, relatively dead weight. Mark had five monsters on the field, including the BLS and a Jinzo. I was down to 2900 LifePoints. Mark could snuff me out like a candle. He had 3500, just under half of the starting amount.

So, I drew a card. Change of Heart. A card that would allow me to take control of one of Mark's monsters for one turn. At first, I didn't think it would help me. John still had a great deal of Lifepoints, and even if I took his strongest monster, the BLS, and attacked his weakest, a D.D. Scout Plane, it would still only do 2200 damage to him.

Then, lightning struck! Black Luster Soldier had a second ability, one that Mark always opted not to use. BLS could attack twice if it destroyed a monster with the first attack!

I played Change of Heart, and took control of Mark's Black Luster Soldier. He shrugged it off. Even if I removed one of his monsters from play or attacked once, there wasn't anything else I could do. That he knew of. >:D

I attacked his D.D. Scout Plane, bringing him down to 1300 LifePoints. Then, I attacked again, destroying his D.D. Warrior Lady and inflicting fatal damage of 1400. I had beaten him! Against all odds I had won!

I had honestly expected to have to duel a third time to decide the outcome.

But I didn't! I had beaten him! :o!

I was one of the three remaining players in the tournament. We each drew a card from the three available. One guy got the ace, and was given a bye into the Finals. I had to face a kid by the name of Jay. Jay had Magic and Trap removal up the gazoo. >_>;; He tore apart my careful defenses and...yeah. I took third place. ^_^

For my second official tournament, and my first one at this store, I thought I made out fairly well. Third place got me a $5 gift certificate and...um...prestige. =p

I bought a 24 pack box of Soul of the Duelist and got all sorts of great cards. :D I've already built a new deck out of them, and from the looks of things, it should work fairly well.

Whee, I'm awesome! ^_^
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Friday, October 1, 2004

Sweet, I'm #100
I'm almost afraid to celebrate in any way, lest I jinx myself and be sent back to popularity page three. =p

Now, for the meaning behind the madness, the solution of the shapes, the unannounced annunciation of the arduously illustrated assemblages!

Here goes....

The Square represents Security.

The Circle represents Love.

The Asterix represents Money.

The Quadrilateral represents Creativity.

The Exclamation Point represents Intelligence.

The Poorly Represented Grapes represent Food.

The Triangle represents Power.

The Z With a Line Through It represents Sex.

Now, take a look at your answers again, in this other perspective. ~_^

AFTER, you read the rest of the post, of course. =p

Last night and today were a mesh of stress. :o I had two English essay questions due to be answered and handed in today, as well as an extended outline of my paper, which is due next week. (The paper is due next week, not the outline)

I stayed up until after 12 last night (a rarity nowadays, surprisingly) working on the two essays. I didn't work on anything else, because I couldn't work on anything else. The essays needed to get done. They were my top priority. The only thing was, I couldn't focus! :0!

I knew what I wanted to write about. I knew where I could find the information to support it. I had a general idea of how even to word it. I simply could not make myself sit down and write. Yu-Gi-Oh cards were picked up and sorted through. MyOs were visited. Frequent trips to the bathroom and to the water cooler were made. I expressed on several occasions my inability to focus to anybody who would listen.

Eventually, I forced myself to work at it. It was late, and I was tired. My thinking wasn't incredibly great by that time, so the essays I turned out were subpar. But, I do think that they answered the question being asked. A passing grade is likely, and would be appreciated. >.>

Then today, during my Off period, I did my Pre-Calculus homework that hadn't gotten done last night. That took me most of the period. For the tail end of the period, I was typing away furiously in the library. My outline was a little more than half done when the bell rang and I had to leave. I came back at lunchtime and finished it up with just enough time to get to the cafeteria for a quick bite to eat.

And when I say a quick bite, I mean a quick bite for me, not some average eating-speed person. :p

So, my homework was done in time for the classes the assignments were due in. All except French, unfortunately. Mr. Ayres is forgiving, though, and will most likely accept the late work. Reduced grade or no, it's still better than not turning in my English outline or essays. That would have been rather disastrous.

Somehow I managed to survive the rest of the school day. *enthusiastic applause*

I stayed after school today to watch a soccer game, but it didn't start until 3:45. So, I wandered around a bit, hooking up with various friends at different intervals. I followed Matt to the office where he signed up for Fencing. Then I went to the library and talked to Tom and Ryan about Magic. After Tom left, Ryan and I played a 40-life game. I was using one of his decks, and he obviously used the other. Heh. I haven't played Magic for a while, and never particularly well, but I still managed to beat him. :D

The soccer game was moderately awful, as far as performance goes. Our JV girls team lost to Waterford 7-0. Or maybe 6-0. Something like that. Some of the JV team's best players were off playing in another game for Varsity, which really left the JV team lacking in substitute players. The Waterford team had an abundance of extra players, including one that I actually knew. ^_^

I heard someone shout "Hey!" and say my name over by the Waterford bench. I briefly glanced over, and when my eyes got her into focus, I immediately recognized the girl and her name burst into my consciousness. Melissa. ^_^ Heh, she'd been in my class at Sacred Heart for many, many years. It was actually pretty neat to see her and talk to her again after about three years. ^_^

When the game ended, I picked up my stuff and followed after Christina and Victoria as they collected their belongings from in the school. Victoria's dad drove Christina home and then dropped me off at my house.

I ate something for dinner and fiddled with my computer a bit. The Internet wasn't working for some reason, but apparently I fixed it. So, yeah.

After I was done eating, I weighed myself on the scale in my parents' room. (It's said that you shouldn't measure yourself after eating, as you'll obviously weigh a bit more when you've just entered something into your system.) Strangely enough, I weighed 198.5 lbs. That's sixteen and a half pounds less than what I weighed before I started cutting down on carbohydrates and taking supplements.

Cool, heh. ^_^
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Awww....come on....
Nobody wants to try this other test? =p
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Thursday, September 30, 2004

   Another quiz-ish thing.
Okay. When you click on the link, an image ought to appear, showing eight shapes. Number them 1-8. #1 should be the shape most appealing to you, #2 the second most appealing, etc.

Linkage.

In the comment box, you can put something like:

Square-2
Circle-7

Or whatever. Again, these have a hidden meaning that I will reveal tomorrow. Enjoy. ~_^
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   *giggle*
Heh, those results were pretty interesting. ^_^ Now, to explain to you what they mean.

#1. The animal you come across is supposedly how you view yourself. Thinking in terms of traits, now, not physical properties.

#2. The object you come across signifies whether you are an optimist or a pessimist. If the object you find is useful to you in the woods, then you are an optimist. If it is of no use whatsoever, then you are a pessimist.

#3. The water represents your love life. Heh.

#4. How you go about getting past the water is how you deal with problems in life.

If you step over it, or jump across it, you are in control, you handle the situation in your own way.

If you use something to get you across, you rely on other people or other things to help you through your problems.

If you go around the water, you tend to not face your problems. Just like the water, you avoid them.

#5. (Both) Your reaction to this signifies how you feel about your own death.

Highlights.

Alex's love life has a nude goddess featuring prominently in it. =p

hEvN thinks her death will be just like the Matrix. O_o'

Aleia thinks of herself as a doe. Delicate and beautiful, perhaps? :)

Solo thinks of himself as a fox, crafty and....foxy. :p He is also determined to escape death....








...and return as a zombie! :0!

Mimmi sees herself as a bird, perhaps very busy and a bit flighty? ~_^ Also, with a love life that is murky and dark. "Impossible to tell how deep it is."

More to come later on. ^_^
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Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Ah, yes. Of course.
I spoke too soon. I'm now 102nd. v_v

*wonders what to talk about*

Today was pretty boring, so I'm really trying to stay away from talking about it.

Oh! I know what I can do!

*grabs sociology notebook*

Okay. Picture this in your mind's eye:

You're walking alone through the forest. You've traveled quite a bit from the road, and you come across an animal.

#1. What animal do you come across?

Irregardless of the animal, you move onward. After walking for another good stretch of time through the woods, you come upon an object.

#2. What is the object?

Moving on once again. You keep walking, getting deeper and deeper into the forest. You come across a body of water.

#3. Describe the water.

You need to get past the water.

#4. How do you go about getting past the water?

(Now, there are two alternate endings to this)

Ending A: You come across a cabin in the middle of the woods. You go inside, leaving the door open behind you. The walls and ceiling of the room you step into are all white. The door turns white and disappears.

#5. Describe how you feel.

Ending B: Walking through the forest, you fall into a deep dirt pit. The walls are steep and you realize you cannot get out.

#5. Describe how you feel.


Now, either use the comment box to put down your answers, or keep them on hand. What this little questionnaire reveals is very interesting. ^_^

And, if you've already done this before, do not give it away. ¬_¬

I'll tell you what this whole thing is about later on, perhaps tomorrow.

Now, onto other stuff!

I haven't driven anywhere yet, as I've been busy. My parents, too, are busy. So, that doesn't really promote frequent driving lessons. Well, it doesn't promote any. Let's just put it that way.

The weather this afternoon was just the way I like it. There was a chilly sort of wind blowing my windbreaker around, and the sky was delightfully overcast. It was, if I am to understand correctly, the aftermath of the leftovers of one of the hurricanes. We had rain yesterday and this morning, which was supposedly some offshoot of a hurricane. By midafternoon, though, the rain had stopped and the air became crisp and cool.

Gee golly wiz, I love New England weather. Particularly in autumn and winter. Maybe it's because I was born around this time that I have a particular affinity for the cold. =/ *shrug* I don't really know.

Ehrm....

Answer the questions and I'll tell you their meanings tomorrow. ^_^
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