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November 30, 2004
One last November post
I realised I doubleplusreally don't like being dependent/helpless. We had to design a mousetrap car for AP physics that would go thirty-five feet, but ours only went about twenty because we [my partner and I] are slackers and not destined to be engineers when we grow up, so Dr Deakyne [being the total sweetheart that she is] was like, okay, everyone else help make their mousetrap car go thirty-five feet and everyone [being the total sweethearts that they are] was like, okay, let's take apart our mousetrap cars to rebuild yours.
It was sweet&c but I don't like the feeling. Bad touch. It made me feel kind of useless and not-in-charge. Possibly am stuck in toddler-esque "I can do it myself!" stage or have inferiority complex. So that'll teach me not to slack off for physics labs.
Hetty Wainthropp finally came from Netflix, so between that and Lost tomorrow, it'll be a teevee!Domfest!
And I submitted my UC Berkeley application tonight [online, of course!], so that means half my college apps are in. Which is pretty r0x0r. Too bad it also means half my college apps AREN'T yet in. Oops. But I still have a month, so no worries.
Fun Political Forum discussion on alternative energy sources today. Realised how loud, attention-starved can be. But as co-president, I have an excuse for talking too much. Next week is medical marijuana. Can't wait!
Daddy's going to Africa this Saturday. Aunt is getting married the day after Xmas. :O
Will Bruce burned me the Arcade Fire CD & winked at me in German class. No, really. Imma be him when I grow up.
James Marsters is hot. & I hrt Oregon Trail.
Posted by almeda at 9:05 PM | Comments (7)
November 23, 2004
The Tale of the Breakaway Lanyards
Early this school year, the administration announced that, in its ongoing project to make our high school more fascist, an identification badge policy would be instituted. Little yellow stars! [Sorry. Now that the obligatory Nazi comparison is drawn. . .]
For a while now, all the teachers and such have had little ID badges on lanyards that many wore in their pockets. This seems reasonable; they are, after all, employees of the school. Never before, however, has the school presumed to force the student body to wear badges. Sure, we have our student ID cards, but that's just to get better rates when you go see movies.
So after months of anticipation, we finally received our 'breakaway lanyards' with little IDs on. The breakaway part, for those uninitiated among you, means if someone grabs your lanyard, it'll snap off your neck rather than choke you. We were advised that we must wear our lanyards at all times, otherwise we would not be permitted to go to the bathroom, etc., etc. And they must be worn around your neck, so don't even try to get away with the hip lanyard-or-belt? alternative.
Of course, the policy has been fairly loosely enforced this far. I've only had to flash my lanyard a couple times. . . once when I wanted to visit the loo in health class, twice to get into 'open study hall,' and whenever the hall aides ask me where my lanyard is, a vague shuffling about in my bag tends to do the trick.
So this is step one of my plan. Ignore until given no other option. Seems to be working pretty well so far.
Eventually [though maybe not, considering I'll be graduating in not too many months] I suppose I'll be forced into step two a la Georgia Nicolson's If You Want Us to Wear Our Berets, Let's Really Wear Our Berets campaign. Haven't quite figured out what the lanyard equivalent of pulling your beret down over your face is yet.
Have seen some people with photocopied IDs blown up really big which is amusing. Suppose making it the size of a poster and wearing it like a sandwich board would be taking it to the nth degree. Also people have been really creative in replacing pictures & decorating and such. All I've done is replace the eyesore maroon lanyard with my pink Harvard one. I figure there's no sense in wasting my time being all creative about it when I'm not even wearing it.
In German class today, people randomly started making a chain out of lanyards snapped together. Eventually it went around the entire room, this long strand of maroon lanyard. It was excellent. There's definitely potential there for protesting. Stringing everyone's lanyards around the school would be hardcore. And really, what could they do? Not let anyone in school? It would definitely be a better senior prank than letting live mice out in the school. Ooh, how subversive!
It saddens me how easily people accepted the lanyards, though. Those lemming sophomores, especially. I'm sure lanyards will soon be just as everyday as . . . something very everyday. I don't know, bad cafeteria food.
People have no sense of protesting authority for authority's sake. And honestly, what do the lanyards do? Not to be all heartless about it, but the boys at Columbine would have had lanyards too. I think it's the guns that are generally the tip-off.
Vive la revolution!
Posted by almeda at 6:31 PM | Comments (13)
November 22, 2004
we make her paint her face and dance
Freyja's day. School play [really three one-act plays]. Some better than others. The first one had this wonderful little girl [played by a sophomore] who spoke in the most gloriously obnoxious voice. It was joyous. I want to be her. The second one was highly amusing. Saul, whom I'm sure I must've mentioned at least once in my ninth grade blogging days, was in it. Had the opportunity to chat with him at the cast party which AT & I crashed. Sweet kid. The third one I already was familiar with from reading Krista's script/watching whilst waiting for a ride home from Krista. So that was kind of painful; it wasn't really exciting enough to sit through twice.
Met Anna. Really sweet girl. There was some smoking of teh hookah at the cast party. Smelled v. good from a distance.
Saturn's day. Went thrifting with Vati. Found sporty-type black t-shirt with "OUTCAST" on the back [OMG, it is my soulmate], little pink skirt, pink shirt that perhaps will enjoy some alterations, & hot pink shoelaces: all for $1 a pop. Tom. am wearing outcast tee & pink skirt, so will have to shave legs for the first time in ages. Fishnets, see. Don't work well with hairy feminist legs. Le sigh. & that's one of my favourite parts of winter, too.
Went to Home Depot with Vati to buy spout for broken shower. Fixed it with mad engineering, DIY skillz. Imma be a plumber when I grow up. Oh, wait! NO.
Made "recycle!" posters for Ecology Club involving Orlando Bloom & Captain Jack Sparrow. Teh sex. Ate pie, drank lemonade.
Saw Finding Neverland. Can we just say Johnny Depp? Affecting Scottish accent? I think we can. *gurgle of love* Lin, you would have liked it because he said bull's pizzle. I immediately thought of you. Okay, well, first I squee'd with adoration, then I thought of you.
Two actors from PotC also had roles in this, which amused me. Even more amusing, though, was Johnny D. as ghetto-imagination!Captain Hook. With eye patch and facial scar and everything. <3 What an excellent pirate that man makes.
Also, Kate Winslet's character was so different from Eternal Sunshine's Clem. She can act, d00d.
Sun day. Physics mousetrap car project. Critical analysis. Day disappeared quickly.
Moon day. Hat Day. Pirate hat + pink boots + pirate accessories + Pisces shirt gone pirate.
PISCESRATE
Easy going FISH that won't make waves [too lazy to think of something better]
Me: Artsy, Compassionate, Sweet. Scurvy, Swashbuckling, Saucy.
Likes: Art, Animal, Music. Loot, Pillage, Plunder
Y<3u: Cancer, Scorpio, & TAURUS! Devil, Black Sheep, & Really Bad Egg!
MOST IN LOVE WITH BEING IN LOVE JOHNNY DEPP
And of course, brought to you by the same pun-loving boy who wished me a "Hoppy Halloween," best comment of the day: "nice booty." What a sweetheart. <3
Mr Kelly continues to make me hate my life. [Or at least that class.] We're reading Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House next, right? Which is fine with me. Feminist-themed plays = rock on, right? Almost. There's a terrible irony to be found in listening to a man explain how Ibsen thought women were being shafted, so he wrote this play. Awesome. Women were treated like children, so let's read a play written by a man lamenting this problem! Instead of, oh, I don't know, addressing the problem, by maybe reading a female author for once. I'm sure it's not impossible to find a woman feminist in world lit.
*splutters on own bile* Does anyone else see the ridiculousness of the situation or is it just me being angsty? I hope we get to read some white guy complaining how no one reads anything written by black people next.
So that I don't end the post on a bitter note. . . three days until Thanksgiving! Go team tofurkey! Also: four days until Buy Nothing Day. Someone put up posters around our school in a surprisingly unapathetic gesture & I want to hug her/him.
PoFo tom.
Posted by almeda at 3:47 PM | Comments (8)
November 19, 2004
"I'm going to gouge my eyes out when I get home."
Clash day! I have such school spirit. Two kinds of stripes + two different flower patterns = mad clashing.
I did get some "how is that different from your normal clothes?" comments, but they were all from boys, so I suspect they arose from the inability to recognise clashing. "Oh, she's wearing pink. Business as usual."
I heart Lin Gooey AAF. She told me about this hot guy who has gym at the same time as us and looks like Karl from Love Actually. Naturally, being a rabid teenage girl, I was like, "OMG, j00 must point him out."
Today before gym:
Lin: Right there.
Me: *looks* Um . . . ?
Lin: *pulls* Stand here.
Me: All I see is . . . oh, my God. Lin.
Lin: Do you see?
Me: Wait, let me talk to him to make sure we're looking at the same guy. *walks over* Hi, Paul.
Paul: Stalker.
Me: No, I'm not a stalker, actually. *makes conversation whilst Lin & Melissa hide behind the large maroon support in the gym lobby*
Paul: *talks, though I'm not really listening because he does actually have a little of the Karl about him, which I've just noticed for the first time*
Me: Okay, well, I'll talk to you later. *walks back* . . . Lin. That's Marisa's little brother.
Lin: *dies*
Oh-em-eff-gee, it was the funniest thing evar.
OH! & I checked my SAT II scores this morning.
Math IIC: 760
Writing: 800
So that's a 50-point and 100-point improvement, respectively. Not too shabby! I'm glad about writing, especially. Just proves that all you have to do is write a long essay. I know I did fine on the mult. choice last time, I just totally half-arsed the essay. Putting in a little effort this time = better score, yay.
Do you know what's fun? We're doing physics stuff in calculus. Physics stuff that we already did in physics this year. I love it!
School play tonight. Should be good times. ^^
Bai-Q!
Posted by almeda at 5:12 PM | Comments (8)
November 18, 2004
Nature's engineers
I wore my MIT Beavers skirt tod. Muaha. Muaha. I love how it's geeky & risqué at the same time. Oh, MIT.
105 on my calc test this morning. How's that for never doing the homework assignments? No, I do pay attention in class and I did the two review problems the night before, so. I'm not actually a math genius.
The test was on finding the volume of solids by revolution; I had enough time to go back and integrate via both the disc/washer & shell methods, so I was able to double check all my answers. And it helps that my calculator is the sexiest thing evar and knows how to integrate all on its onesies. Saves time, that one.
So how about Lost last night? Sayid's flashbacks were definitely my favourite non-Dom character backstory. Golf was adorable, too.
Was going to type "And aww, golf." but I've been told by various sources that I say "aww!" an awful lot. [Get it? Awwful? Ahahaha. . .]
It's really not my fault, though. I don't mean to say it. It's because I spent too much time with these l0sars this summer.
Hey, guess what! Our gov teacher wasn't here tod. so we were doing busy work about the political culture and I learned some fascinating things.
For example, people are more likely to vote for an equally qualified homosexual than me because I'm an atheist.
There are all these really fascinating charts in the gov text book. [We're finally getting to interesting material-- i.e., not federal grants.] For example, changes in level of political tolerance.
In 2000: If your party nominated a generally well-qualified person for president who happened to be a (name of group), would you vote for that person?
Percentage who said yes:
Black: ~95%
Catholic: just under "Black"
Woman/Jew: ~91%
Homosexual: just under 60%
Atheist: just under 50%
Is that intense or what? God, how I hate Americans.
Posted by almeda at 4:39 PM | Comments (6)
November 17, 2004
Final first marking period grades
[I haven't posted my grades in ages, so chill out.]
1) ENG IV H/AP-0140-31 95.56 A
2) AMST II AP-0240-21 91.82 A
3) AP AMER GOVT/POLTICS-0250-41 90.86 A
4) CALC AP BC-0360-11 96.64 A
5) PHYSICS AP-0440-61 92.12 A
6) PE-0515-71 100.00 A
7) HEALTH ED-0560-51 106.65 A
8) GER V H/AP-0630-81 96.03 A
Lost ton. Huzzah! / Voter Bill of Rights. / I'm in such a state of muddled confusion; I scarcely know what day of the week it is.
Things I like:
PS: I'm tolly punk rock. \m/
Posted by almeda at 4:30 PM | Comments (6)
November 15, 2004
Kidnappèd
Had an enjoyable dinner on F. with KT&Marisa&friends. Then watched History of the World: Part I w. Marisa&otherfriends.
Sat. morning was forced to travel to aunt's beach house to celebrate seventieth birthday of great-aunt-type. Fortunately with the miracle of iBook, could spend car trip watching DVDs. Effing rad.
Second cousin also there. Looked like female E. Wood. Had taken some classes at Oxford and spent afternoon with Philip Pullman (!) & two friends.
Stayed at beach house until Sun. afternoon. Missed bowling w. KT's church. *sadface* Amused self playing Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 on laptop, leaving messages on answerphones, & txting ppl.
Upon arriving home, spent time with two favourite potheads, Krista&Chad. Watched Chad eat fried chicken. Taught Krista calculus.
While this was all v. fun, when Krista dropped me off chez moi, I went to sleep instead of creating a poster for German class.
I set my alarm for five the next m., but was too lazy to get out of bed and make the poster, so slept for another 1.5 hours and ended up working on it in the library during my lunch period.
Who knew the Norman W. Schmid Library Media Center was such a fantastic resource? They had correction fluid ['wite-out' hurts me inside], coloured pencils, scissors, & various kinds of paper. Perfect poster-making tools!
Of course, fifth period is not quite long enough for one to entirely complete a poster, so I had to add the finishing touches in physics/gym. Praise the L. I have German eighth period.
Ton. is the Empty Bowl Benefit. Yum. This Thurs. begins Spirit Week. I just can't wait, let me tell you. College Attire Day, Clash Day, Hat Day, Philly Sports Day, oh, hurrah, hurrah!
Fri. is the school play. Already have plans to sit with Anna [Krista's gf! Have never met, only talked to on phone once for five seconds. Should be exciting.] & ATizzle. *happyface*
I hrt EJC! He is le adorable.
Posted by almeda at 3:23 PM | Comments (6)
November 11, 2004
Peanut butter
Inspired by the coolest LJ community evar and random too-small tees I found in the closet, I was all arts-and-craftsy this weekend.
Took The Little Mermaid faded v. light pink shirt and made ghetto star, which sewed with huge pink stitches onto raspberry tee. Cut picture of Ariel with a little dream bubble of Prince Eric into patch which sewed in a crappy manner, as Will & KT were quick to point out, to back of purple tee from childhood with ruffles around the waist. To front of same shirt sewed heart. 's cute. If God had not smote my digicam, perhaps I could have shared pictures.
Also made little wristbands from sleeves with stitched stars on. And cut sleeves off red Power Ranger tee for little red wristbands with the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers logo on one and Jason on the other. Oh, Power Rangers. Je t'aime.
And sewed pink buttons scavenged from Abby's Thrift to schoolbag in shape of K & heart. Am teh rock.
Wish I were half as talented as some of those t-shirt surgery people, though. They make me writhe with jealousy. If only could employ slave to design cool homemade clothes. . .
PS: Lost last night! After long, good talk with Sienna. <3 Would so do every actor on that show. And by every actor, I mean, oh, Jack, Sawyer, Charlie, Boone, Sayid, & Michael. They're all so effing adorable. And yes, even Sawyer, in his glorious asshole way.
Dom/preggers Australian womyn all the way! <3
Posted by almeda at 6:21 PM | Comments (4)
For R.
List I
List II
Posted by almeda at 6:08 PM | Comments (4)
November 8, 2004
Hair = teh black as ebony
Spent a lazy weekend recovering from first-choice!college application deadline with the exception of taking the m-f'ng SAT II writing & math iic tests for the second time.
The sad thing is, I really don't think my math score is going to improve and the only reason I retook them is because my dad got me a stupid study book and I felt bad for not using it because it was so sweet of him and my parents are totally not OMG WORK HARD GET GOOD GRADES and it shows he cares and wow, run-on sentence.
But of course I didn't actually study from the book this time either [well, except for looking over it for like fifteen minutes], and I left about 7 problems blank, so. Mmfh.
When Vati picked me up afterward, we went to Home Depot to buy rakes [9_9], Sally's Beauty Supply to buy hair dye [god, he is so adorable! totally metro, except in a clueless sort of way. "so, what should we get for Nora to make her hair less frizzy? *picks up random bottles of hair product*" "um, daddy, she's in fifth grade. she really doesn't need to start obsessing over her hair this early."], and Dunkin' Donuts for doughnuts! Yum.
Except I'm dumb, so I got this Feria "gleam radiant black" dye without developer. So, yeah.
And afterward ich habe Blätter geharkt. Or leaves raked, for you American types.
Apparently my mum has been watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer on the teevee, so she went to TLA and rented the first eight episodes on DVD, so that's like all I did this weekend. [Apologies for the valley!girl vocabulary, but I think it's only appropriate considering the content.] Oh, Angel. Be still my beating heart. No Spike, though, which is sad. I'm sure none of you are Buffy fans, but I was watching a more recent episode on teevee and he's fighting the slayer in the 70s on the New York subway and he's totally punk rock and it's the hottest thing I've ever seen. Mmm.
I totally rocked English class today. I imparted this story to KT already, but she enjoyed it so much, I just felt I had to share it again.
Friday
Mr Kelly: Read up to the end of chapter seventeen for Monday.
Sunday evening, 9:55
Me: Mothereff, I hate Turgenev so much. *reads through the end of chapter twelve and a little of chapter thirteen* God, I don't care. I'm going to sleep.
Today
Mr Kelly: Okay, you guys read up to chapter thirteen, right?
Students: *shifty eyes*
L0sar who actually read up to 17: *begins to raise hand*
Rest of class: *death glares*
Mr Kelly: *starts talking about the book* [Almeda], do you remember what Nikolai dreamt about? *has evil habit of calling on me when I don't know the answer*
Me: *starts to say, "No"*
Mr Kelly: *stalls*
Me: *thinkthinkthink* Ooh! *vaguely remembers* His wife.
Mr Kelly: Right, he dreamt about times past. *continues to talk* Does anyone remember who Sitnikov was?
Me: *raises hand* I tolly know! *answers question*
Mr Kelly: *perhaps a little surprised I actually read the book considering how infrequently I seem to be able to answer his questions* *continues to talk* Who was Kushina?
Me: *no one else raises hand* . . . *raises hand*
Mr Kelly: [Almeda]'s carrying the class here. Someone else?
It was priceless. I went from not having completed any of the reading assignment to a seemingly star student, bursting with a wealth of knowledge concerning Fathers and Sons.
Oh, yes. I dyed my hair black, to reflect my post-11/2 mood. When I was looking at all the fun, exciting colours, I really wanted to get black cherry, but it was perhaps too red for mourning. Maybe next time.
Half the people who comment on my new hair are like, "oh, it's so cute" and the other half are like, "aww, no more pink?", so I'm content with that reaction.
Vati: Are you trying to be Kelly Osbourne?
Me: *death*
I think it's kind of like Amélie/Snow White. Don't worry: it's cool and you're all jealous, I know.
Posted by almeda at 5:57 PM | Comments (11)
November 5, 2004
Application to MIT
= teh submitted.
And now all that's left to do is wait. [And complete my other four applications in the event that I'm not accepted by MIT.]
Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot…
[rhyme ganked from her]
Posted by almeda at 4:37 PM | Comments (7)
November 4, 2004
YOU ALL EVERYBODY!
First let me get my Lost gushings out of the way: mmm, so punk rock. And he's Catholic! We're perfect. <3 And aww, moth. OTL AAF.
I've been asked whether I'm going to wear black for the next four years. See, after a while, it would cease to be me making a statement and start to be Bush having way too much of an influence on my fashion decisions.
So I'm going to do it until my wardrobe is exhausted, which should be about a week, based on the amount of black clothing I own. Actually, in ninth grade I had a lot of black t-shirts, so they're probably around somewhere, but it's really not worth it.
And anyway, I plan to follow through with my promise re hairdye, so I figure once I dye my hair black, that should count enough and I'll wear whatever colour clothes I choose.
Speaking of hair, I think it would be totally cool to get a mohawk. 'cause you could be totally punk rock, but also not spike it up and look normal. It's frigging ingenious.
I submitted my first college application on Monday-- RPI. MIT is due tomorrow, just need to edit my essay. School still sucks.
Ms Hauger asked me if I told the Inquirer reporter who visited our gov class a couple weeks ago about my SAT scores.
Me: Um, no. [WTF?]
Ms H: Didn't you get 1600?
Me: Um, yes. But I didn't even talk to the guy.
Ms H: Well, he wants to interview you and see how your college application process is going.
Me: Um, okay. [Weird.]
So she gave me his cell number and I guess I'll call him sometime when my life isn't killing me too much.
Talking of calling: Kali, your message is hilarious. I smile everytime I listen to it. I'll call you back sometime, I really will. Though you probably don't read this, anyway. xP
Thank baby Jesus tomorrow's Friday. Too bad the motherfucking SAT IIs are Saturday. Why did I decide to retake them? Did I really think I would study? So. effing. dumb.
Posted by almeda at 5:54 PM | Comments (6)
November 3, 2004
Some motherfucking bellwether
Just so you know, Abbey, I hold you personally responsible for the voting patterns of the entire state of Ohio, and anything that happens in the next four years is pretty much your fault.
If this post comes off as a little bitter and/or frustrated, it may be because I'm running on approx. 3 hours of sleep, thx to Colz [we spent quite a few hours lamenting the election via telefonadora last night] & physics homework.
I worked 14.5 hours at the polls yesterday, participating in the political process as a minority clerk. Explained the voting booths to people, helped them sign into the books, checked ID, etc. Exhausting but rewarding.
Somehow, despite the results of the three voting machines in Abington 9-2, Dubya managed to snag the electoral college as well as the popular vote, which is slightly incredible to me. And it appears America has voluntarily signed itself up for four more years of downward spiral.
Shame on you, America. Love yourself! End your abusive relationship. Self-inflicted wounds are a sign of low self-esteem [or a good way to win Purple Hearts, depending on whom you ask, though I generally don't]. You should try health class or something.
What really gets me are the people who are like:
I voted for Bush because God.
" " " " " abortion.
" " " " " moral values.
" " " " " integrity.
" " " " " cowboy hat.
" " " " " security.
" " " " " fags. [Yeah, Mississippi! How about that referendum on banning gay marriage? What was it, 99.9%?]
All of these things are much more important than oh, Soldiers Dying in Iraq, the Pitiful State of the Economy, and Tattered Foreign Alliances. No, those aren't things a good Christian should take into account when voting.
And of course you're safer from terrorism with Bush because when he says something, he means it and he'll stick to his guns. And don't forget those helpful color-coded alerts keeping you on your toes.
But you know, I try to stay positive [if dressing in all black falls under the 'positive' category].
I've retained that little shred of self-respect that comes from knowing Pennsylvania went blue.
And the local Democratic candidates for state rep. and Congress both won, so there's that.
And Lost is on tonight, so I can lose myself in my mind-numbing, teevee-watching, Wednesday-evening familiar routine and take comfort in punk-rock!Dom.
Vive la revolution!
And when the broken-hearted people living in the world agree /
there will be an answer /
let it be.
Posted by almeda at 5:46 PM | Comments (13)
November 1, 2004
Dear Election,
Please don't get stolen, kthxbai.
Things like banning black but not Hispanic felons from voting, destroying Democratic voter registration forms, and jamming phone lines so people can't get to the polls make me all warm and fuzzy inside.
I think it must be the growing fiery ball of hatred burning with the flames of a thousand suns. Will keep you posted.
Posted by almeda at 8:03 PM | Comments (8)