Fantasy

This week is homecoming week, my least favorite week of the year, because of how pointless it is and how excited everyone gets over it. On the bright side though, Sam, my nephew, is having his first birthday this Saturday! He is the most adorable baby. I had to watch him last Sunday for a little bit with my brother while my other brother, Sam's dad was working. It almost felt like watching two kids since my brother who is 22 years old asked me to make him Mac N' Cheese. My birthday present for Sam consist of a blue blanket with bears on it and a Halloween T-shirt that says, "Stay Spooky." My birthday is only five days after Sam's on 10/10 which has to be the coolest day to be born on. Not only is my day and month the same, but the number is the first double digit. My mom told me once that she had found this thing that said being born on 10/10 meant you had some sort of special power like being the seventh son of seventh son, but she couldn't remember what it was.
I won fantasy baseball. I had hoped I would when I started, but I wasn't sure that I would. I just wanted to make sure I beat my brother which I did by quite a bit, because he got eighth place. My dad played to, and he placed fifth. For the championship game I beat a guy who changed his pitchers pretty much every day. This guy basically lived, breathed, and ate Fantasy Baseball, and he was beat by a sixteen year old girl. I think it's funny that someone would put so much effort towards something and get beat by a girl who's sixteen.

September

I must admit the first month of my Junior year wasn't what I was expecting. I know the month is quite over yet, but it's close enough. It's been a decent year, better than most years I have to say. I was expecting this year to be completely awful because of my classes, but my classes have been surprisingly easy. Also, I've been getting quite a bit of attention from the most random people this year. I'm not sure why, but all of sudden people seem to realize I actually exist. I guess being in this school for two years now probably has something to do with it, but it could also have something to do with the fact that the clothes I'm wearing are better than in years past. I haven't had one jeans and sweatshirt day at all this year which I believe is a new record. Another contributing factor to people noticing me more could be, because I dated a guy last year that pretty much everyone knew. I'm still not sure how that ended up happening, it could be that even though he was popular he wasn't very attractive, and he was pretty weird.
I have a better outlook for the rest of the year. With the events that happened my sophomore year and this summer I'm beginning to realize that just about anything is possible. I think junior year might be a pretty decent year.

Today

I recently started a class at my local community college through a program at my school, so it's free for me to go. The class I'm taking is Intro to Psychology, it's a 200 class. After the first class, I was unsure of it and thought for sure I was going to hate it. Today changed my mind though, because we get to do a couple projects that are going to be lots of fun. I decided I want to do a book report on the book, Quiet by Susan Cain. It's a book comparing introverts and extroverts. I am fascinated by the differences between introverts and extroverts due to my dad's obsession with it. I love psychology, because I've tried on so many different levels to understand my mom. I want to learn more about psychology, because I want to know why my mom makes the decisions she  makes.
On the low point of my day, I discovered that a close guy friend of mine might possibly like me. Most girls like attention they get from guys, but I don't if there's the potential of someone getting hurt or if I accidentally lead a guy on. My close friend, Jessica texted me last night asking if I'd like a set of all the seasons of Breaking Bad for my birthday. Of course I said yes, because I absolutely love Breaking Bad, and I hadn't considered how much it would cost at the time. Today, she told me that the aforementioned guy was going to get me that for my birthday. I told her to dissuade him from getting it for me, because I don't like people giving me expensive gifts, especially since Jessica told me he's going to work really hard to earn the money for it. This whole thing really makes me sad, because he's a really nice guy, and he doesn't deserve to get hurt. This is why I try to stay away from guys, I don't like hurting people.

Sickness

I did end up going to the Lumineers concert last night!!! It was absolutely amazing!! I loved everything about it! It was kinda funny though, because we ended up sitting right next to these really drunk guys. They were pretty funny. When we were waiting for the concert to start they were talking about animals they would have on their rugby team. I felt pretty decent before and during the concert, but afterwards my voice was extremely hoarse. Everyone at school today kept making fun of my voice, because I sounded like a man. I only ended up getting around four hours of sleep last night so tomorrow I'm going to skip first period. The main reason I'm skipping first period is, because I have band, and we have to march tomorrow. Marching sounds exhausting, and I want sleep.
On the up side, the guy I like talked to me during chemistry. This guy also likes me. It was just my luck that he chose today to have a conversation with me considering that I sounded like a man. He sympathized with me about being sick which according to my friend he rarely pities people. Not that I enjoy being pitied, but he was the first one to not comment on the horribleness of my voice.

Beheading

Right now is the most perfect time in my life for me to get beheaded. I have an awful headache, I'm congested, have a runny nose, sore throat, my teeth hurt from clenching them, and my ears won't pop(they need to pop desperately). The worst part about all of this is The Lumineers concert is tonight. I absolutely love The Lumineers along with Mumford and Sons, Of Monsters and Men, and The Avett Brothers. Of all the days in my entire life, I have to be sick on this one. I'm hoping that by the time we have to leave I feel better, because I have a feeling my dad won't let me go if I still feel like this. I always have such awful luck when it comes to being sick. Last February, I got sick right before Winter Formal. The day of Winter Formal I was laying on the couch, and my dad says to me, "You look like death." That was exactly what I wanted to hear before I had to make an attempt to look like a human. Fortunately and unfortunately, I felt better by the time I had to leave. I say fortunately and unfortunately, because I dislike dances very much. The only reason I went to Winter Formal last year was, because the guy I was dating at the time loved going to dances so I kinda had to go. Anyways, I really hope that this cold diminishes at least somewhat before tonight. I would probably be one of the saddest people in the world if I didn't get to go.

Moles and Moms

In my chemistry class I sit in the corner, as previously mentioned. This isn't an ordinary corner. In my corner there are a file cabinet, pictures of past students, and a stack of moles made out of cloth. These moles are all different and very colorful. There are too many of them for my comfort, and I have to sit right next to them. Today, my chemistry teacher was doing a power point presentation, and we were talking about measurements. One of the measurements was mole. My teacher said mole was her favorite measurement and proceeded to explain that's why there was a stack of moles in her classroom. With this knowledge I felt slightly better about having to sit next to the moles, but I still did not appreciate the quantity of moles.
This morning, just as I had gotten in the car to leave for school my neighbor drove by and motioned for me to roll down my window. Her first question was, "Are you Ms. Holbrook's daughter?" This question threw me off guard considering I live with my dad and was told a month ago by my mom that she didn't want to know me anymore. I answered with a yes. She proceeded to ask me if I would babysit which I responded with a "Yeah, sure, I guess." I was unsettled by this interview and was being a little rude without realizing. She told me her daughter was in my mom's class and that my mom had told her that I would babysit for her. This had angered me, because my mom won't talk to me anymore, but she'll talk about me like I still live with her. I have gotten to the point in my life where I don't really think about my mom so when she finds a way to still get into my life without doing it herself I find it very upsetting. I know I shouldn't let her bother me so much, but I do. I used to think my mom was the greatest person for the longest time, and it still hurts to know what she really is. I think to myself I can manage without her or a mom in general, but then something will happen in my life, and I find myself wanting a mom(who's not insane) so bad.

Fifth Wheel Gets a Date

My best friend was told that a guy was going to ask her to homecoming. Now she has never been asked out or anything of the sort ever so she was a little nervous at the prospect of this happening. I told her, being the amazing friend that I am, that I would go with her so it would be less awkward. I decided to have my other best friend go too with her boyfriend. In this situation I was to be the fifth wheel, and they needed me to go because I'm the only one of my friends who can drive. I had told my dad about me fifth wheeling for my friends, and he had told me I was being a good friend.
Today, I got asked to homecoming by one of close guy friends. I said yes since he asked me as a friend and I don't have to be a fifth wheel anymore. I came home today and was talking to my dad. I said, "I don't have to be a fifth wheel anymore." My dad said, "Oh, did everyone else decide not to go?" "Wow. Thanks Dad." "It was meant to be funny." It's always good to know that your dad has no faith in you to get a date to homecoming. I'm glad that a friend of mine asked me though, so I don't have to go through the whole process of my dad having to meet the guy I'm going to homecoming because he's already met him.

Happiness in a Jar

Peanut butter is a main staple in my house. My dad and I absolutely love peanut butter. I decided this school year I would keep a jar of peanut butter in my locker for lunch. I take a spoon to school and eat peanut butter right out of the jar. One day during my free period I was hungry, because I had skipped lunch, and I decided I wanted some peanut butter. The only problem was I didn't have a spoon. I have friend who has the same free period as me, so we went in search to find me a spoon. We first went to the cafeteria, in hopes that it was still open, it was not. Next, we decided to go to our band teacher, because he always has plastic spoons for fundraising events. We go downstairs to the band room and he's in helping another of my friends practice a song. He asks, "What do you need?" I say, "I WANNA SPOON!" My friend that had walked with me down there says, "I should specify she means A spoon. Not TO spoon." Our band teacher says okay because that would've been inappropriate as the rest of us are just laughing hysterically. He goes into his office finds a metal spoon, and I ask if he has any plastic spoons instead. I wanted to be able to throw away the spoon when I was done. He has to open another room and gets me a plastic spoon. After that I eat the last bit of what's left of my Happiness in a Jar.

A Little Bit About Me

As of late my life hasn't been too exciting. I get up every morning, go to school, come home, do homework, practice violin, and watch T.V. On Tuesdays I drive a half an hour from town to play with two orchestral groups leaving at 4:30 and returning at 9:30. On Wednesdays, I take a violin lesson, and on Thursdays I teach two violin lessons. This schedule sounds simple enough but the classes I take prove differently. I take two AP classes, chemistry, Pre-Calculus, and will be starting a college class on Psychology in two weeks. Fortunately, I have a free period during the day, so I have time to do homework during the day. I try my best to be a straight A student, but I'm not. My GPA is a 3.9, so I suppose that's close enough, right?

 I have two obnoxious dogs. One is a toy poodle, the other is a dachshund. Their names are Tweakers(used to be Amico) and P-Knut. We renamed Amico, Tweakers, because he has bad teeth, shakes, can't breathe well, has patchy fur, and much more. 

My parents are divorced. I live with my dad, although I used to live with my mom, but she's pretty psycho. My brothers are 24 and 22. Both of my brothers live within 6 hours of where I live. I enjoy their company more now that they are older and nicer. 

I love to play violin if you couldn't tell already. I also play guitar, bass, piano, baritone, mandolin, and ukulele. I like to sing and write my indie folk songs. For my last birthday my dad bought me a recording system that I paid for half. It, surprisingly, only cost $300 with the program, microphone, and everything else that I needed. My recorded songs, of course, don't have the quality of songs you hear on the radio and buy on iTunes, but it still sounds good all the same. 

So there you have it a little bit about me.

Being Civilized is Overrated

I'm not a sappy romance girl or a girly girl. I'm a girl who is growing up with two older brothers and goes camping, fishing, and rafting with my dad, his friend, my brothers, and my dad's friend's sons. Out of these aforementioned people I am the only girl and haven't learned the ways of feminism very well. My best friend is doing her best to help me, but she seems to be having difficulties. Now having said all that I feel comfortable telling my story without seeming like a drama queen or something.
The other day my dad sent me to the grocery store for the second day in a row. I wouldn't have minded so much except that there's a guy who works that my friend is trying to get me to out with. This guy, Cody, had seen me at the store the day before while he was working so I had my fingers crossed that either he wouldn't be working or wouldn't see me. Alas, neither of those happened. As soon as I walked in the door he was walking out to go fix the bottle and can exchange. I couldn't believe it. Of course I was embarrassed, because I figured he'd think I was stalking him like some creeper. Fortunately he didn't. I have found out information on his opinion of me through my friend.
The reason my dad had sent me to the store that day was to get one of those already cooked chickens from the deli. When I got home my dad and I ate the entire with our bare hands. We are clearly, very civilized people.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

When I was about five years old, I was an evil child. Now you might think at five years old you can't be that evil, but I was. I had good reason for the evil things I did. My brother is seven years older than, and back then he was merciless. He loved animals though and had a fish tank. So I decided to take out my anger with my brother on his fish. Every week or so I would take his fish net and catch a couple of fish. I would then put a fish on his bookshelf or flush it down the toilet. In the meantime my mom kept yelling at my brother for not taking care of his fish, because she thought his fish were eating each other. After a couple months my brother finally caught me one day with his fish net and fish in it. He proceeded to chase me down the hall as I screamed. My mom gave me a talking to later but that didn't stop me from getting back at him with something else.
My brother has to wear contacts and kept them on a table in the dining room so he could put them in while he was on his way out. One day no one was paying any attention to me, and I was alone in the dining room. At this point I knew exactly what to do. I picked up my brother's contacts and unscrewed the lids. I took the hairspray and sprayed it into my brother's contacts.
The next morning we were getting ready for school, and my brother was about ready to put his contacts in. I sat there waiting eagerly. He took out the first contact, opened his eyelid, and put it in. He yelled out in pain, and I began to snicker and run away. My mom caught me before I got away and asked me what I'd done. I told her, and I received another talking to.

Isolation

I don't think most people realize how slow the process of isolation is. I live on a street with few nice houses and all the run down houses are next to mine. My dad and I have been living in this for a little over a year. Our first summer here our next door neighbor on the left was put in a mental hospital, and his house is still empty. Last summer our next door neighbors on the right moved out, because they didn't make payments on their house. That house is still empty too.

Not only on my street do I not have anyone near me, but in my chemistry class the same situation is already happening. On the first day my chemistry teacher assigned us seats at random. I, very unluckily, was put at the table in the front in the corner. Now you'd think being upfront, "well what are you complaining about isolation for. You're the center of attention upfront." Wrong. The table in the front has six people at it, and there's a table right behind where I sit that's as tall as me when I'm sitting down. This spot wasn't too terribly lonely looking until Friday. On Friday the kid sitting next to me decided to switch out, and one of the kids who sits behind me switched out. Fortunately, the kid behind me was replaced by someone else. Also the other kid who sits behind me was late, for about ten minutes of the class I was completely alone in my corner. The kid who sits behind later said to me, "You look really lonely over there." He's 100% right. 

Mountain Man

Before school started my dad and I went to have a meeting with my principal about my schedule. Why wasn't I able to meet with my counselor like most schools?? All the counselors at my school at the end of last school year quit so our new counselors weren't prepared to deal with rearranging schedules, I guess. Anyways, My dad and I are sitting in the office waiting for the principal to finish with the student currently in his office. Earlier, my dad had mentioned how impressed he was with our principal. At the time I had thought he was either crazy or thinking of our previous vice principal(he also quit and went to work for a different school). As we're waiting the principal comes out for a brief second and says,"I'll be with you in a few minutes."

My dad turns to me and says, "That's your principal?" I respond with a simple yes and proceed to ask him why. He says, "That mountain man is your principal. 'Wait a minute, please while I'll finish my doobie." I begin laughing my ass off, because he was completely right. My principal has a pot belly with Einsteinesque white hair and grayish goatee. He also wears glasses that give him a constant bewildered look. When he talks he's completely out of it and has pretty much no idea what he's talking about. There you have the lovely principal of my high school.

Heisenberg Fridays

My best friend and I went school shopping together, and we both bought Heisenberg T-shirts. Originally, when we bought the T-shirts we thought hey it's "Breaking Bad" T-shirt let's get it. After we bought them though we came up with the grand idea of having what we call "Heisenberg Fridays." Every other Friday we're going to wear our Heisenberg T-shirts to school. So far we've only had one Heisenberg Friday and had many people comment on our t-shirts. We were even able to get another girl from our school to wear a "Breaking Bad" t-shirt of her own for the next Heisenberg Friday.

In the morning before I left for school my dad and I were talking about "Breaking Bad," and if I was going to ask my chemistry teacher about methyl-whatever it is. I responded with, "Dad, it's called methylamine. It's the stuff they replaced the sudafed with. It's also what makes the meth blue." 

"I feel like such a great father, discussing how to make meth with my daughter." I laughed at him, because it's quite obvious to everyone who knows me that I wouldn't make or do meth. I must admit though a science teacher who turns into a meth cook is a good show though. 

Winter, the Season of Dead Things

My dad has been planning our Christmas decorations since last spring when he found a dead flower in a Charlie Brown Christmas mug by our shed in the backyard. I had put it there in hopes that it would grow but it did not. When he found the flower he comes up to me and says, "This is the saddest thing I have ever seen." I didn't really respond but just laughed at him. He tells me he wants to save it for Christmas, because he wants to put out dead things for Christmas. 

After that he decides to keep a dead tree to put out during Christmas, and he wants to hang doll parts on our Christmas Tree. I asked him why he wants to do this, and he responded with,"We're going to celebrate winter instead of Christmas, because I hate Christmas. And winter is the season of dead things so we're going to put out dead things." 

His most recent idea for his celebration of dead things is to get the Nativity figurines and hang them from the tree like nooses. I must admit my dad has the darkest sense of humor ever. I knew I had a dark sense of humor, but it's nothing close to his.