Lazy on Break and Growing Up too Quickly.

Aaaaaaaah, break. 

I'm sitting in the sunroom, still kind of asleep because I got out of bed a half an our ago and I haven't gotten dressed yet. But I have a mug of chamomile tea that's still too hot to drink and my brothers are playing Lego Lord of the Rings, which I feel like is one of the better Wii games we have (not that I like video games, but it's hard not to like this one). You can be all the characters and explore all the different places (and there are a ton of them) and they have the music and stuff and WOW I HAVE TO FINISH READING THESE BOOKS. Blaze keeps saying "verily". I think he's still in Medieval Day, mentally. 
The only one who had to go to school this morning was Rosie (I was still in bed when she left YES I LOVE EASTER BREAK). She doesn't go to a Catholic school, so there are times like this when the boys and I are lounging around in flannels and Mary Rose is off learning German. (She takes a freaking German class!) 
What's annoying is the dark circles under my eyes and my sticky eyelids. I stayed up later than I should have last night thinking about movies and coming up with new plots for stories. But I wasn't worried because I could sleep in as long as I wanted XD. 

But I digress. 

A couple of weeks ago, in P.E. (pointless exercise) I was talking to my fiend Em. She was saying, "When I was eleven, I couldn't wait to be fifteen! And now that I am, it doesn't feel very special." 
That's so true, though. When I was younger, ten, eleven, I couldn't wait to be a teenager and learn how to drive and have all this independence. But I would think, oh, it's not for a long time. 
Well, a long time became now. And frankly, Em's right, it doesn't feel very special. I'm turning sixteen this year. I feel too young to be sixteen, but too old to be fourteen. Sixteen seems so...old. 
Every time I see an elderly lady, I think, someday, that'll be me. Someday I'll be old and senile. But that's not for a long time. 
I turned fifteen before I knew it and my first year of high school has been going by in the blink of an eye. I'll be a hundred before I know what's going on. 
Ugh, sometimes I feel too old. And other times I don't feel old enough. I'm going to college in a few years. Like, WHAT?? No, college still feels like that place where I'll end up someday, but not for a long time. 
I keep saying that, in a long time, but it always ends up becoming now at some point. 

But I digress. Again. 
Wow, two posts in two days. I guess I really am on Easter break ;). 
--Abby

Really quick post

Okay you guys, lets see how fast I can plow through this post because I'm going to be late for aerial. 

(Which I'm actually going to be taking a break from, but more on that later 'cause IM GOING TO BE LATE) 

So today was April Fool's Day, and at my school, it's basically prank-the-teachers-as-much-as-possible-because-school's-almost-over-and-WHY-NOT-RIGHT Day.  

Okay, so for english, you know how there are two classes for the 9th and 10th graders? Honors and not-honors? Well, we decided to prank our teachers and switch classes. So, my honors class went to the other classroom and when the teacher came in, she acted as though it were totally normal. She actually started giving us a test! 

Then her real class came in and said that our teacher wasn't even on campus yet. So we were all in their classroom until my teacher came in and found us. We applauded her and her shocked expression ;). 

We also pranked our Theology teacher, who's actually a sister. We turned all the desks to face backwards. When she came in, we stood and said, "Good morning, Sister," (it was the afternoon XD). She found it hilarious. We had class like that, everyone facing backwards. 

We did a few more pranks on a few more teachers, but I myself never got pranked. One kid brought eggs filled with flower and kept smashing them over people's heads. XD I got flower all over my skirt, because my friend Hannah was next to me and someone cracked an egg over her, and when she brushed it off her head... Well, it looked like I tried to bake and failed. 

OKAY BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, IT'S EASTER BREAK!!!! I have no homework!!! Except this science final, but other than that, NO HOMEWORK!!! And because of this, I have no excuse to not work on my story. So that's what I'm going to do. 

Can you believe I thought I'd get to 50,000 words by April or May? I'm barely at... Actually, I don't even know where I'm at because it's been sitting in it's little file in a virtual corner of my computer collecting virtual dust because I haven't opened it in so long! 

I would rant more, but I have to go to aerial. So you all lucked out. No rant today. 

--Abby

Climbing the Stairs

I'd forgotten how amazing reading is. 

Seriously, lately I've had legit no time at all to do much reading. When I did find time, I would be rereading books because I have no time to go to the library. 

As I mentioned previously, I found the book Climbing the Stairs on my bed (and I suspect my amazing grandmother had left it there for me x). I couldn't put it down. 

So, let's do a quick review: 

Synopsis: 

Fifteen-year-old Vidya dreams of going to college, an unusual proposition for a girl living in British-occupied India during World War II. When tragedy strikes, Vidya and her brother, Kitta, are forced to move into a traditional household with their grandfather and their extended family, where men live separately upstairs and the women who live below are meant to be married, not educated. 

Breaking the rules, Vidya finds refuge in her grandfather's second-floor library. There she meets Raman, a young man also living in the house. Surprisingly, he treats her like an equal and encourages her intellectual curiosity. But soon it's clear that Raman wants more that just friendship, and when Kitta makes a shocking choice the family cannot condone, Vidya's life becomes a whirlwind of personal and political complications. Will she be strong enough to survive the storm? 

So many different parts in this book made me want to cry and scream and laugh. It took me about three or four school days to read this, and each night, I would be up reading until I was the last one awake in my house. (yes, I was rather tired at school the next day, but it was so worth it!!) It was so easy to fall in love with these characters, I felt like dying when something horrible happened. (I'm  trying to avoid spoilers) 

The author paints such a beautiful picture with the emotions, the scenery, the characters, and the plot. Some parts were a little... sketchy, but overall, I loved this book. I wouldn't really recommend it to boys, there are some parts that they wouldn't really enjoy. But for a girl, a young teenage girl especially, this book is a plane ticket to a whole other world. It's so interesting, seeing this different kind of lifestyle that they have where the men live upstairs and only make contact with the women at meals. And even then, the women are meant to serve the men and eat when they have finished. 

Overall, this book was amazing and got me back into reading. Now I'm in a mood where I wont read unless it's something I haven't read before. I'm half-way through my next book, but I'll save that for another time. 

Score: 
4.5 out of 5 stars 

Okay, I am exhausted from a party last night and from stressing about this science project, so I'm going to sign off now and find a way to stay awake a little while longer. 
--Abby

Medieval Day and my science final.

Medieval Day was a lot of fun! My team didn't come out on top, but we did win the trebuchet competition. 
The plays went pretty well. First we did our hell mouth play, and I didn't have a huge part. The demons were fantastic and everything went rather smoothly, despite the usual pre-play mishaps (Missing props, missing costumes, missing people, etc.). 
Then we did our latin play. I was the narrator for the first scene and I had a lot of lines. I got on stage and remembered my teacher telling me to be loud. When I started, it was all good. Then, it sort of processed that everyone was staring at me and I started shaking. Then my knees started knocking like crazy. It's a good thing I was wearing a maxi skirt... I got super pale and couldn't speak. Some friends were on stage with me, waiting for their cues, which I was struggling to deliver. I looked over at them with panic and made myself continue. Gosh, I was so nervous, I actually was seriously considering running off stage. I was so afraid I would fall. 
Thankfully, I made it through my lines and I got backstage, away from all those eyes, staring up at me. I sat on the nearest table and breathed, trying to calm the intense beating of my heart. 
Ugh, I will never be an actress. 
And I'm okay with that. I get stage fright, in case you hadn't noticed. 

Lately I've been super stressed out, and one of the causes of this was my giant science final. I had no idea what to do, and our final proposals are due next Tuesday. 
I was doing this whole thing by myself, but I realized I couldn't do it. My teacher actually talked to us about it today, saying how she would recommend doing it in groups. So when my friend Tessa, sitting next to me, poked my shoulder and raised her eyebrows at me, posing a silent question, I nodded. I already feel the stress dripping away... 
So, now I'm not carrying the wait of this whole final on my shoulders. Tessa came up with the idea of testing the hardness of water from a few different sources, which is what we decided to do. Knowing what I'm doing is really helping too. 

Okay, before I sign off, here's a picture of Penguin, Blaze, and me before we left for school on Medieval Day: 

Left to right: Penguin, me, Blaze. I decorated Blaze's shield, if you were wondering. 

Why can I not look normal in pictures... 

Until next time, when I shall find some other topic to bore y'all with. 

--Abby

Big rambles condensed into a decent post.

Tomorrow is the feast of the Annunciation! 

And, to a lesser extent, Medieval Day. 

I have art class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and as this is a Tuesday, I went to the lab for art during the period in which I usually go to art. BUT today is no ordinary Tuesday peoples; it's the day before Medieval Day, also known as scrambling-to-pull-it-all-together-the-day-before-day. 
Sooo, I asked my teacher if we had art today since there was pretty much nobody in the lab and he said that most people were using this period to get everything ready for Medieval Day. He said I could do what I wanted for the period. 

I found myself heading toward the soccer field, where a bunch of students were painting their banners. I saw some kids from my class painting something for our passion play tomorrow and I helped them out. 
It didn't last long, though. People ended up shooting each other with the bows and arrows they're using for the archery contest tomorrow or failing at putting glitter on stilts (long story), OR hitting each other with pool noodles. I have no idea what the pool noodles are going to be used for, but I'm kind of scared for it...

So now I'm excited for tomorrow. I have my costume ready and I really like my team. Even if we don't win, it'll be a lot of fun. 

On a less exciting note, I'm stressing like no other!!!!! I'm supposed to have two idea proposals for my big science thing in by Thursday and I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO!! We were given a handout explaining the whole thing and it only stressed me out more. My friend was sitting next to me when we were talking about this, and I said something about how stressed I was for it and he told me how he was excited. 
0.o 
How is that possible. 

I keep thinking of Summer. Wasn't it not so long ago I did a post about the beginning of school and the end of Summer... and now the year's almost over. It feels weird, like the school year goes by really quickly, but in the moment it takes forever. If that makes sense. 
I keep thinking of playing volleyball on the beach with friends from school; laying on beach towels on a near-empty beach at sunset with these friends of mine that I've known forever, talking about books and blogs and such; reading the night away and not having to worry about being tired at school the next day; shopping with Maddie; etc. etc. etc. My goal this Summer is to learn how to surf. I've wanted to learn forever, and I'm determined to learn. (I was determined last year too, but we all see how well that worked...)
I also want to finally finish reading LotR, which I reaaalllllly need to do. I know. Yes. I have never finished the Lord of the Rings. I've never had a childhood, I know, it's quite sad, and mostly my fault. Which is why I need to actually sit down and READ IT for five hours straight. Yeah, thats should work. 

Anyways, last night I found a book on my bed called Climbing the Stairs. I don't know where it came from or how it got into my room--or into my house, for that matter-- but I picked it up and opened it and couldn't put it down. Again, no idea who put it in my room, but whoever it was must have somehow known that I love books like this. 
It's about a Hindu family, and there are some parts that talk about the Hindu religion and that sort of thing tends to make me want to throw the book down and scream "NO THATS NOT TRUE THERES THIS THING CALLED CATHOLICISM YOU SHOULD HEAR ABOUT!!"--But I can't because the book is so good x). 
I'll do a review when I finish. 

--Abby

Cinderella

Today I saw Cinderella, and I know a lot of people who say it's really great, and then I also know many people who say it's not that good. 
I'm taking the it's-really-great side. 

Okay, first of all, THE DRESSES!!!!!! I will never be able to wear any dress again without remembering this movie and sighing. If I could wear something like that every day, I would. It was kind of interesting to see Cinderella dance with the prince in this dress, though; I kept expecting him to trip or something. 

My favorite scene, by far, was the scene with the fairy godmother. When we first saw her, she was old and shriveled up in an ancient brown robe that she must have borrowed from Gandalf... and then left outside for about a year. My first thought, when she came on screen, was EVIL. WITCH. EVIL WITCH. Her back was turned, it was dark, and her staff glowed an ominous blue that practically screamed I'M EVIL DON'T TRUST ME I CAN TURN YOU INTO AN UGLY BROWN TOAD BEFORE YOU CAN SAY BIPPITY BOPPITY BOO. Rosie actually said out loud, "Whoa, who's that??" 
When she said, "Now, let me slip into something more comfortable," or something like that, I was expecting her to stay older, but wearing some sort of gown with wings or something and be more of a sweet grandmother. But I loved what they did instead, making her younger and much more witty and charming. She was a lot of fun. 

Over all, the whole movie was so cute and, even though some scenes were a bit cheesy, I loved it and will definitely see it again. 

Favorite line: I can't drive, I'm a goose! 

My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars 

--Abby

Upcoming: Medieval Day

Ok, I've been kind of bad about posting lately, but I have a good reason! 
("She's gonna say it..." you thing. "Please don't say it...") 
School has been sucking up my VERY ESSENCE. 
("She said it.") 

My science test went pretty well, I think. Not as well as I would have liked it to. One question was "Name the three 'twist's in the plot' that occurred in this time'" and I had studied for this one really hard. So I was going over them in my mind, and I mentally named the first two, but I couldn't for the life of me remember the third! Then I FINALLY remembered the third, and then I forgot the first! So, I ended up guessing on the first one, but the last two I got right, I know. 

It was a hard test. 

But now I'd like to talk about Medieval Day. 

Every year, my school does either a classics day or a medieval day. Classics day is more Greek themed, while medieval day is, well... medieval. 

Everyone is split up into teams. This year, Blaze and I are both on the Celts, while Penguin is on the Franks. On the actual day, there are plays, competitions, a feast, and no actual academic classes (!!!). There's going to be a stilt-walking race, and one member of each team has to participate in that. For my team, that one member is Blaze. So that should be interesting. He's already bragging about how good he is. 
We also are assigned characters, I guess you could say. Blaze is my team's champion and I'm-- drum roll, please-- the princess.
I know I'm fifteen, and fifteen year olds are supposed to be all mature and stuff, but I am soooo good with being a princess ;). I'm going to wear a green maxi skirt and some sort of shawl thing... It's not super princess-y, but it's kind of all I have thats medieval. 

My latin class is doing a play for medieval day. We were going to do it in latin, but we translated it into old English so we could do it for medieval day. 
My english class is doing a play too-- a passion play. It's kind of scary. We painted a hell-mouth for it and it looks like a giant rat. So thats great. We get to walk into a giant rat. Fun. But I guess it's appropriate, I mean, it's the hell mouth, and rats are... rats. So it works. 

Ok, I'm going to leave now and come back when I actually have something to post about. We have some family visiting from the East Coast, and so I may not post for a week or so. Which I guess is why I'm doing this post. Kind of a sorry-not-sorry thing. 
--Abby