Blog Entry #2

Disclaimer: These blog entries may contain the occasional typo or (heaven forbid) grammatical error. I am not perfect (how ever I appear otherwise), and though I may possess a greater-than-average interest in grammar and correct language, I am still a teenager, and quite frankly am not terribly concerned with run-on or fragmented sentences so long as I'm clearly understood. As for typos, I think they're inevitable, and though they're not always caught somehow the world will keep spinning.

But I digress. :-)

As you've probably already read in someone else's blog (one downside to having individual blogs in the same family), the weather was amazing today. As soon as I woke up and went upstairs I was asked to put some shoes on Isabelle so she could play outside, and I couldn't believe how warm it was. Unfortunately I couldn't stay out because I had to shower and get ready for the day.

After showering I noticed it had gotten a lot darker outside, signaling the impending rain. I hurried to get dressed so I could sit on the patio and read in the rain, but by the time I was ready the rain had already come and gone. Crazy weather, huh?

So I got on my computer, sorted my avatars (the 100x100 pictures I'm using every entry are called avatars. I kind of collect them, so you can expect to see a bunch =)), helped Gwen make a blog for herself, and then told Christopher to make one. I also told Karen and Russell to make blogs (obsessed? me? no way!). Russell made one, but I don't think he'll really use it. Oh well ^^

I IMed Charli (a friend from church) and Karen (one of my best friends). Karen asked me to read over her research paper for her. She always helps me fix my papers, so of course I returned the favor =) I enjoy editing things anyway. However, I found it a little disconcerting that her paper was only 3 pages long and she's in AP English. I mean, my paper had to be 8 pages long for my Honors English class... Something seems wrong with that.
I don't know, I mean, she DID say she wasn't finished with it, but I don't imagine she had another 5 pages somewhere that she just didn't show me...
(And I don't mean to diminish what you wrote, Karen. The 3 pages I read were very good. I just think it's odd that for being in a higher-level class than me, I seem to have significantly harder requirements...)

Well, there was a quote in Karen's essay that struck me as particularly amusing and I thought I'd share it with you here (her paper was on George Orwell's "Politics and the English Language," and like how politicians manipulate their words and use "doublespeak" to control the views of the public): "I sit on a man's back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means --except by getting off his back." --Leo Tolstoy

Isn't that the truth though? =)

Here's another one I like, by George Orwell: "Political language… is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind."

Anyway, I had to leave in the middle of editing to go to Chuck E. Cheese with my family. I took two books with me: The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain--both books I have to read for English.


Actually, if I'm going to be honest, I don't HAVE to read HotSG anymore. I was supposed to have had that read a few months ago, and now that we've completely finished all work and tests on it, I really don't have to read it anymore. I'm determined to finish it anyway... someday.

It's just that it's incredibly dull. I'd like to see you try and read it. I mean, I do like Nathaniel Hawthorne in a way, but his books are so tedious. I simply don't have the attention span for it. Even The Scarlet Letter was more tolerable than House of the Seven Gables because it was easy to find meaning in it. I still don't really get what the point is in studying HotSG. Huckleberry Finn, on the other hand, is a great book. I find it very entertaining and hope to read Tom Sawyer... someday... =)

So. Chuck E. Cheese. I read, hmm, probably 2-3 pages in HotSG, which was bad even for me. I can usually get in a good 10 pages in one sitting before I'm bored out of my mind (and you wondered why it's taking me months to read...)

We ate pizza, I played Gwen at air hockey (and won, though she was in the lead for a while), played my Dad at air hockey (and won again, though we were tied for the game point), and had my picture done with Aleks. I tried several times to pick my book back up, but eventually just gave up. We then went to Carl's and I got a strawberry ice cream cone, which was quite good.

Gregory didn't go with us to Chuck E. Cheese so he didn't get any ice cream. I made sure to tell him when we got home that we all went to Bruster's and got waffle cones, hahaha (inside joke).

Okay, now I've seriously got to go to bed, because it's 1:03 AM and I have to get up in 3 hours to get ready for seminary (yay! u.u)

I may have to stay after school tomorrow to make up my Spanish exam. Ben thinks I should refuse to take it and demand a 100 on it because it's her fault I didn't get to take it in class on Thursday and Friday (lolz), and that should she try to negotiate, the lowest I should settle for is a 90. Hah-hah. Ben's such a funny guy.