The X files of London/Paris

Grace and our resident piercing professional, Ana

Alicia and our history teacher (who was there supervising the whole thing)

Noah goes in for his two piercings on one ear.

I had to have her hold my hand because I was scared.

Recently, I went to London and Paris with my school on a trip.
Despite all the amazing architecture, art and historical things we saw, the best part was coming home with three new holes punched in my ears.
While my mom was not happy to begin with, but once she discovered that I had pierced my ears in a french hotel room with a safety pin to do so, she was less than thrilled. Above is an archive of pictures that I didn't put on facebook from the night that all 14 or so of us got a few more piercings. Although, there's only a few of us pictured.

Turning 16 is...

About a month a go, I turned 16. And I think it' s kind of hypocritical that I haven't posted anything about it on my blog because my blog is ABOUT being sixteen.

Let me just start out by saying that it is not turning sixteen that rocks: It's getting the license that does. Along with my license my rentals purchased a 2002 Jeep from my grandparents all for my very own usage. Now, I can go everywhere and anywhere...assuming I have enough money for gas. I also had some wonderful friends who decided to tag it while we were at lunch...the paint from which I still have not been able to get off.

Along with the car came an awesome sweet sixteen bash. The amazing thing about time passing is realizing how your relationships have changed. Some of the friends I had over were new, some were friends I made at the start of high school, and others I have known since I was small, but no matter who came, it was about the love and the support...and of course the presents ;)

I don't know exactly what the 16th year will hold, but I'm hoping it will be awesome. The school year is about to end and for me, I'm all about the possibilities of summer. Anything can happen, right?

A list of things I like better than Mondays

I've been slacking on the blogging lately, and since I figured it was about time for another one.
You see, the problem with Mondays is that you spend all of it either:
1. Tired
2. Regretting the fact that you wasted your weekend doing homework
3. Really being excited to see your friends BECAUSE you wasted your weekend doing homework.

Here's a list of things I like better than Mondays.

1. Watching Dateline by myself alone in the dark.
2. Walking around Walmart at any time of day OR night
3. Seeing my elderly neighbor walk around his front yard in a bathrobe.
4. Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
5. Getting a bad grade on a test....wait...nevermind...I take that one back.
6. Watching my little brother's favorite TV shows with him.(No, really, I'm up for a Spongebob marathon or a Phineas and Ferb re-run ANY day)
7. Driving in bad weather conditions while my mom screams in the passenger seat about how I'm going to "Kill us all!!!!!!"...Needless to say I'm happy there's only 26 more days until I get my license.
8. Eating Brussel sprouts...Brusselsprouts? Brussle-sprouts? whatever.
9. The sound of my spanish teacher's voice. Unless, consequently, I happen to have her class on a monday.

Well, basically I like everything better than Mondays. The only problem with getting through a Monday is knowing that it's followed by a Tuesday. By that time, all the "excitement" has worn off and you still have a buttload of days left until the end of the week. Not to mention that this tuesday sophomores have CSAP....

and on that note I hope that everybody has a great weak at school, especially those lucky upperclassmen that don't have to take CSAP and get to sleep in.

Mom's in Switzerland, Dad's shopping for cars, I'm watching the Grammy's

Neither of these three are super exciting on their own, but together they make one amazing blog post...or one super cheesy one. We're going to address these one at a time.

1. I'm watching the Grammy's
Why is Lady Gaga in an egg....WHY? She is not a chicken embryo. I think by performing "Born This Way" she's actually just trying to tell the world she's a space alien. I mean seriously, have you seen the blue lipstick? Also Miranda Lambert was whiny and I had to turn her off because my ears were bleeding.

2. Mom is in Switzerland
I always get nervous when she goes out of town because I love her and don't want her to die in a firey plane crash. It's really quite a fear of mine. But no, alas, she is safe in Zuric right now for the next ten days selling ginormous printers and software programs to head honchos in europe who speak in such thick accents that when she's on business calls with them I wonder if she's actually going crazy. All I hear on the phone is:
Mom: "And this is why the new marketing strategy is essential to the company blah blah blahhh"
European Buisness exec: "shalou a fanous da de bah wah nipdop blip o zee quooo."
Did you get that? Neither did I .
Unfortunately, her being gone means that the ratio of testosterone to estrogen has increased and therefore the house is a little messier and the tv is on more often. No complaining, though. None at all.

3. Dad's shopping for cars, which has been an interesting experience. We went to about three dealerships yesterday and I'm pretty sure every salesperson thought that I was his wife. I do resemble my mom, but let's be real, people. What's even funnier is we got even more judging looks when my dad told them that the reason for his purchase was because "My 15 year old right here is about to get her license and she's going to take my car, so I need a new one." No, Mr. snotty nosed man from Kia with hair the color of a polar bear's butt...My father is not a pedophile. I hope some pigeons poop on the cars you just washed.

The Truth About Forever

Here's some food for thought.
I hate that expression. "Food for thought" I think all the time. why would i need food to think? Wouldn't you get insanely fat if you were eating and thinking simultaneously? gah.

Because the last post was one intended to make you fall out of your chair laugh and hit your head on the floor just hard enough so that you didn't get a concussion, it's going to be balanced out with a less light-hearted blog post.

While conjuring up more witty blog posts today, two things crossed my mind: 1. My Best friend, Keeli. 2. A book I recently finished reading.

How does one have to do with another?
Well the first isn't really about Keeli herself, but often what we talk about. In the midst of signing up for next year's IB classes and working on this horrible project called the MGRR, we are both pretty much confused out of our minds and have a general feeling that whatever we decide to do for now, or next year, is going to be the difference between being high successful, or being a hobo. Hence, when we are Iming, texting or talking,we often turn to each other and ask: "what am I doing with my life?" except usually we're upset or confused to it turns out to be more like:
"WhAT AM i doiiiiinnnnnggg with my Lyyyyyiieeeeeeeeeeeeeefaaaaaaah!!!!!"

get the picture?

The second thing was my recent completion of the book: "The Truth About Forever" by Sara Dessen. While I'm not the type of girl who is into sappy romance novels, this had the perfect balance of literature and relateablility. Is that a word? autocorrect didn't seem to think so... This book first attracted me because I think a creative title is more alluring than anything else, especially if I think it's going to somehow teach me some lesson or show me something new.

In this book, a girl who was going through a very tough time in her life found happiness and revival through the love of a really nice guy and the mindset of doing what makes her happy. In the end, she makes what I have found to be one of the greatest conclusions ever drawn on the subject of time, and how we live our lives. It answers the great question I was asking all through the book, on the very. last. page. It goes like this:

"You just never knew. Forever was so many different things. It was always changing, it was what everything was really all about. It was twenty minutes, or a hundred years, or just this instant, or any instant I wished would last and last. But there was only one truth about forever that really mattered, and that was this: it was happening."

I'm not going to bore you with terrible cliche's (I couldn't figure out how to make that accent mark on here. too dumb) like "Live in the moment" or "do what makes you happy and you will be happy." That sappy crap is for facebook pages that people are intended to like, but not here. So I leave you with that passage...and the whole "food for thought" thing I mentioned earlier. blegh.

5 Reasons Why We Need To Re-build My High School.

My high school, an old rotting brick building, has been undergoing some fantastic construction projects lately...acutally, that's a lie, the recent construction projects have led to asbestos exposure and the electrocution of a squirrel who chewed through some power lines...Anyways, despite the labored efforts of many construction workers, the 70's built landmark would most benefit from being torn down and completely rebuilt, which is obviously completely unreasonable because it would cost too much money and there's no way they could get it done during the summer. gosh dang.
Here are five reason's why they need to take a wrecking ball to the school:

1. There's always a very odd smell around the back part of the school. I don't know if the bathroom are being occupied by someone who just had taco bell, or the science classrooms are burning garbage, but either way it's nasty...and it's permanent.
2. The carpet looks like muppet died on it. It's the weirdest shade of grey, has unidentifiable stains that cover almost every inch, and occasionally you can spot glitter stuck in it...which is the result of a senior prank that happened a few years back (kudos to them, btw)
3. It's a dungeon. I would estimate that only about 40% of the classrooms have windows facing out to the beautiful sunshing. Our school basically has a main level and a basement level because it on a slope. Henceforth, you hardly ever get good enough reception to text in class. Best-case scenario is that you can wave your phone above your head while the prison guards...i mean...teachers...have their backs to you.
4. The ceilings. Not only are they crazy low, causing those extremely tall basketball playing boys to look like they're about to hit their heads...but the white tiles which cover them are either:
a. Falling out
b. jammed with pencils
c. have abstract stains on them which, if you turn your head the right way, can look like Jesus descending from the heavens.
5. The Grandma building has seen better days. Since it was build in the 70's the building has been given many additions, but to no avail. The hallways can barely accommodate the student body during passing periods, the auditorium can barely fit our spectators for all the concerts and plays we do, and it's just downright gross.

Don't get me wrong, I love my school...and after the recent completion of the locker room construction, I am thankful that I don't have to change in the suffocating bathrooms where you had to attempt to change while also trying to avoid getting too close to everyone else's unclothed bodies and B.O....very. thankful.

but I do think that some new mold-free walls would do everyone some good...right?

Why Being Tall is Worse Than Having a Third Arm Growing Out Your Back

For those of you who don't know me, or as a refresher for those of you who do, I am really really tall. Not the tallest by any means, but I hit the measuring tape just a smidge under 6 feet. Now, all my life i have endured the many challenges that accompany this state of being, and I have kept (mostly) quiet about my frustrations....BUT NOT ANYMORE. Short girls think they have it bad? HAH! Think again! Tall girls have it WAY worse.
Here's why:

Exhibit A: Shopping. Tall people, like myself, can never just go out and buy whatever they want and know it will look good. No. Every pair of jeans has to be ordered in extra long, every shirt, while it may be the right size, comes up above your bellybutton, you have to look for the BIG. YELLOW. TAGS. At DSW that say "Size 11" because your feet have to be enormous to offset your vertical giftedness. Life is just inconvenient...And don't even talk to me about high heels. While they may look good, even an extra inch off the ground make you a giant compared to everyone else...especially in high school.

Exhibit B: You have to play Basketball. You just do. I cannot count the number of times people have asked me if I play this sport...And I don't. I played for two seasons and middle school, and if I did well, people gave ALL the credit to my height, and if I sucked, well, I never heard the end of it...because really, what tall person is BAD at Basketball?

Exhibit C: The Dating world is 10X harder. Wanna know what I hate most? When I see a perfectly good guy who is OVER 6'2-3'' and he's walking down the halls, holding hands with some chick who should still be using a booster seat in the car. It makes me want to karate chop their knee caps. In all reality, tall girls don't want to date short guys. they just don't. In no Disney movie does Prince Charming EVER come up to Cinderella's boobs. SO WHY THE HELL DO TALL GUYS DATE SHORT GIRLS? Tall girls are easier to hug, easier to dance with, less awkward to look down at, and they smell nicer.

Maybe that last one's a lie, but I'm taking every opportunity I can get so that I don't end up crying my eyes out on prom night while eating a tub of Rocky Road Ice Cream and watching "The Notebook."...and I REALLY hate that movie.

Exhibit D: You're always in the back for pictures. nobody can see your face, and no one cares if you get cut out. Kodak moment my ass.....

Exhibit E: You hit your head on everything. And people get mad at you for it...doorways, chandeliers, streamers, your grandma's urn, I've been in contact with it all.

Exhibit F: People sitting behind me HATE my guts. It doesn't matter if it's in school at a desk, at the movies, or at a concert: EVERYONE hates me. They can't see because they're midget sized body got stuck behind the skyscraper...so then I have to sink down in my chair and as a result, get out of class feeling like I've been run over by a semi truck. I'm sorry. My mother fed me too many vegetables before I could talk and I had no way of stopping her.

...The below image is basically the story of my life. except I am neither Asian nor male.~Eeeeeds