Tears stream down your face I promise you I will learn from all of my mistakes Tears stream down your face And I
I just bought the new Coldplay CD. I'm excited. It's good. Goodgoodgood. My grandma is upstairs sleeping, though, and I think that I might wake her up with the level of sound that is coming out of the speakers...bummer.
GUESS what the headline of the New York Times Travel section was this morning. (and NO, that wasn't a good capitalization, it was a bad capitalization). It was "The Race to Alaska Before It Melts". Yess siree. Global Warming, my friends, is an undeniable fact. USA Today had a front-page story about it last week- all the scientists agree. Now, Mr. President, you HAVE to do something. It certainly isn't enough that this seventeen-year-old rides her bike everywhere (including four miles to buy my Coldplay CD) and that her parents own a hybrid. Nope, sorry, it's going to take a lot more than what I'm doing. It's going to take massive education of everyone (including the Fairview students who drive their cars 1/2 mile to school) and massive research. Alaska is melting. If the New York Times Travel Section says so- it's got to be true. And it is. Evidence piles upon more evidence which is already covering a lot of other evidence. Come on! You crazy administration. This is our planet we're talking about. This goes beyond taxes and "keeping the peace" and mansions- this is the future of your kids and their kids and their kids. This is the science-fiction disaster that everyone wrote about. It's not a normal earth cycle, nor is it planning on going away by itself. The warming of the earth is going to melt the glaciers, change this wildlife, raise the water, kill humans and beasts alike, affect everything that ever lived on this once-pristine planet. So, thank you, Mr. Timothy Egan, for writing about the beauty that is melting, I'm certain to visit it sooner rather than later. Then I'll get a degree in environmental science and wow the world by inventing a way to stop, or at least stall this disaster.
Come on in, I've gotta tell you what a state I'm in, I've gotta tell you in my loudest tones, That I started looking for a warning sign.
The most troubling part of swimming (besides, of course, when someone's suit is decomposing without their knowledge. For girls it isn't a big deal- they just borrow a drag suit from a friend. But guys it gets kinda strange, especially, if, as Corinne says it's "deteriorating in the posterior"...) ANYWAY, I hate it when I catch up to people in my lane- or even in other lanes. If your leading and you catch up to the last person, that's just problematic. You feel bad for being fast, they feel terrible for being slow, and so the entire lanes' spacing just gets thrown off. But if you're third or forth, and you catch up to the second or third person, respectively; that cause problems, too. Usually, you swim by your friends, so you usually catch up (or get caught by) someone you like. So you can't just tap their foot and expect it to blow over, can you? Of course not- especially if you're a girl, like me =) We're very sensitive about things like that. It's annoying! Catching people all the time or leading the lane all the time is like being a brown-noser- people like you out of the pool- but while your swimming, people think you're kinda show-off. I, actually, have expierenced both places- I've been the swimmer passing people, and the person being passed. (The later, actually, is probably more common in my history). And, despite all my previous complaining, I like being the passer more than the passee. =) But of course
I'm taking my grandma to see Bewitched this afternoon. I'm excited. I like Nicole Kidman. Will Ferrell is good sometimes. He often plays the stupid, everyman, boso who gets on my nerves. oh well!
Now I was sitting waiting wishing That you believed in superstitions Then maybe you'd see the signs But Lord knows that this world is cruel And I ain't the Lord, no I'm just a fool And in loving somebody don't make them love you
My excursion to Maine and New England was just swell. And now it's hailing here. Hail is so weird. Does it hail is New England? I know that it gets really hot and really extremely excruciatingly humid, and I know that it snows and freezes and is nearly unbearable too. But does it hail? That is the true question of weather. I guess. =)
I liked Maine a lot. Jesse said that after she told them what colleges I visited they said "Oh, no, she's going to like the one in Maine." And I did. But I don't know why that warrents a "Oh no". Do you? Granted, Bowdoin isn't near as competitive as Amherst or Williams academically or swimming-wise, but it was so much more friendly and laid-back, and they have a much better and broader biology/ environmental studies program than either of the previous. Then again, the Division 1 ivy league Dartmouth who swim practically year-round aren't as good as either Amherst or Williams. Again, that is interesting.
It's a very very small world. Julia went to North Carolina with Liana and saw Jenny! I told her to keep an eye out for the Nichols, but I highly doubted she would actually see them. That's like those funny cliched foreigners in movies that say "Oh! You're from California! Do you know my cousin Villam Van Vochsnickle?" And of course the person they are talking to never knows their cousin, nor would they want to because Van Vochsnickle is a horrible last name. (no offense to anyone named as such)
Do you realize the density of trees in New Hampshire and Vermont? It is truly incredible. Anywhere with that many trees per square foot for more than a square mile should be praised and worshipped. I think. Maybe.
Meadows Sleep Over is tomorrow. I am psyched. Except that's a Fairview cheer and it's not acceptable at good ol' Meadows Club. No siree. I'm so excited! (I'm also excited to be captain next year. =)
I don't think there is anything of much more interest to say. Trevor and I were supposed to raft down the Boulder Creek today, but it was really overflooded. I knew it was- I rode my bike past the creek yesterday. So I hung out at Meadows and was KILLED in Hearts and Julia got her hairtie back. All in a day's...work?
Just look at the world around you Right here on the ocean floor Such wonderful things surround you What more is you lookin' for?
THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!! It's amazing! I wanted to run out of the doors like the do in Greace and all those other cliched teenage movies. Run out of the doors and throw all my papers for the wind to wisk away. But no one else thought my idea was idea, so it went undone. But I am so excited that it's summer. It makes me week!
So, as tradition goes, my family went out to dinner to celebrate the end of the school year, and my mom made us say what the highlights and events of the school year were. I remember.... double solitaire and fruit snakes and chocolate milk chemistry lab groups and physics experiments Sitting in the corner of my history class with the light flickering above me Swim State Championships Looking for Julia or Em's or Mr. Albritton or Mrs. Cady's cars in the school parking lot Spaghetti Dinners when no one could move without spilling something Star Wars premiere and being so excited for it Jenny and Jesse's surprise trip Scuba Diving at Isla Mujeres Stop-stop-switch and press-pause-push Laughing with Angie and Ellen over incredibly stupid things
But not very many things of that list have to do with the school year, now do they? Nope. But that's okay. School's a social experience, in my opinion.
And know, on my first night free, I'm watching "The Little Mermaid" and learning all sorts of interesting things that I had forgotten about this movie. For example- did you know that Sebatian the crab was originally just the palace composer before King Triton appointed him to watch Ariel. Yeahh.... Happy Summer
What do they got? A lot of sand We got a hot crustacean band Each little clam here know how to jam here Under the sea
I said Mr. Purple People Eater, what's your line He said eatin' purple people and it sure is fine But that's not the reason that I came to land I wanna get a job in a rock 'n' roll band
The stealing of the Purple People Eater was very sucessful, I must say. It wasn't truly "stealing" persay, but liberating. It lives in a desk drawer, a bottom right-hand desk drawer, for that matter, that becomes unlocked if you open the top middle drawer just a little bit. So, the liberating of the Purple People Eater went exactly as planned. My last kidnapping of the Purple People Eater wasn't noticed until I gave him back, because who pays attention to what's missing from your lower right hand drawer? Not Mrs. Cady, obviously. But the PPE wrote a note when he disappeared the second time, so people knew he was gone. At least Mrs. Cady knew he was gone. I'm a dork, you say? Well, it's true. I kidnapped a stuffed animal (stuffed animals are people too! (especially if they sing and dance)) from a teacher, and then took pictures of it touring the outside of fairview. That's dorky. But also quite entertaining. =)
My physics final was hard hard hard. It took 2.5 hours! And I got there an hour early to review with my teacher. But, everyone thought it was hard, which is a good sign, because if I was the only one who thought it was hard, that would be sad. But I'm not. And in LA we had to write three (3!) essays that were slightly unfortunate. But it was easier than physics AND my brain had already been fried.
Swim meet on Saturday! I am so going to go SO slow =)
Feel The Rain On Your Skin No One Else Can Feel It For You Only You Can Let It In No One Else, No One Else Can Speak The Words On Your Lips Drench Yourself In Words Unspoken Live Your Life With Arms Wide Open Today Is Where Your Book Begins The Rest Is Still Unwritten
Finals week, hooray! Finals aren't really that bad- although I don't remember anything that we learned in physics. It's really unfortunate- so I'm studying with Sarah, which is super. Except Ang is going to Meadows to visit the CHOICE teachers at the CHOICE meadows day. I should do that, too, but I said I'd study. I miss the last days of middle school- we never had stressful finals the very last day of school then! Ahh well. Physics and Chemistry are the only finals I'm slightly worried about- which is funny, because I'm supposed to be good at science. (I just looked at a really bright object and now there is a blog of nothingness in the center of my vision and I cannot-for-the-life-of-me see what I'm typing. Bummer)
Well, there really isn't anything interesting or profound going around in the mind of KNB currently. It's beeen overloaded with not understanding rotational motion. It's very unfortunate, actually.
Our first swim meet is on Saturday. We haven't swum diddlely. That, too, is unfortunate. There are just so many of us, we can't do a 50 without running into the last person. It's not that they are especially slow (although they aren't what one would call fast) it's that everyone is on top of eachother. Next week starts morning practices, thank goodness. However, Dad is starting to suggest Ang and I start swimming by ourselves, and I say "This is why I don't swim year-round with all those crazy kids. If I wanted order and discipline in my swimming practices, I would join Rally." Yep, that's what I say.
Love is never gone As we travel one Love's what we'll remember Kiss today goodbye. And point me t'ward tomorrow
The Special Section of the newspaper turned out fabulously. So did the rest of the Royal Banner- it made me happy. I still don't think Jimmy likes me very much, but what can I do. Congrats to Carey and Eryn- we managed somehow, didn't we. I CAN'T WAIT for next year- we'll have fun.
I gave into temptation last night and read all the yearbook signings. I had only read Jesse Thurston's before, and I don't even know why I did that. They're all fun to read at once, though. I think Angie (Head Girl Hsu Angie, not sister-Angie) and Mrs. Cady win for the best yearbook signings. That isn't to say the others didn't make me laugh or become teary-eyed or weren't fabulous, but they were just incredibly nice. Yeppers. I do love reading what people wrote- everyone is so nice when they write in your yearbook! =) Hannah wrote "Have a Good Life" I think someone needs to teach that girls some yearbook-signing skills. Maybe if I tutor her in that, she'll teach me how to do math! Sounds great to me!
Graduation was today- I wasn't supposed to go, I was supposed to be taking the SAT IIs, but I really wanted to go, and I didn't study at ALL for them- so Mom said I didn't have to take them today- which was very good, I must say. (Man, my keyboard is giving me problems). All the speakers were great I though- Emily spoke beautifully. Mr. Ellis was, as usual, his hilarious brilliant self. But one of the regular graduation speakers, Rachel, did such a good job! Man she made me cry. She's a choir kid (I hate to stereotype, but she really is a choir kid) and her whole speech was a syncopated poem. Fabulous, Rachel, it was truly wonderful. Angie and I matched the graduates with our red rain jackets. I've decided I should go to a school with really awesome colors so when I'm a high school teacher at graduation my gown looks really cool =) Yes, Kristen, that's great criteria for picking a college!
Angie and I just went to see The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants on this rainy afternoon- yes, it's a chick flick- I promise it's the only one I'm going to this summer. The movie was good- they pulled it off quite well, I must say. Bailey made me sad. There were only 4 guys in the entire theater. How pathetic. (for me of for them? I just don't know)
