Vacation!?

Well, in couple of days I will be on a plane with my mother and sister for a week and a half of torture. Oh wait- I'm not supposed to say torture- no, it's a wonderful girl's only bonding vacation. Yay! I guess I could list all of the things that are almost certainly going to go wrong on this vacation but I think the list would be too long and my arm hurts so we'll just skip that for now. That's not really the important part of this vacation either.

Summer's almost over. Just three weeks and it will be back to school. Plus there's all the back to school preparations that are just now starting. I mean, I've already got my yearbook pictures taken. Next there's back to school shopping and haircuts. Then there's planning schedules and transportation; trying to get in the habit of waking up before 11 and going to sleep before 1 in the morning; finding and cleaning backpacks. So much to do and no one really wants to take any of our precious summer time to do any of it. We need all that time to say goodbye to our friends who are going off to college.

Even for those who say it's too early to even think about thinking about school have a lot to do-Like me! By the end of next month I plan on having a job. In fact, I insist on having a job by the end of next month. It's not quite as easy as it sounds. Just think- if college-educated, work-experienced- full resumed adults are having trouble finding or keeping jobs then how easy can it be for a teenage girl who's never had a job before to find a job? Despite that, I will get a job, because I desperately need it and not just because I like to go see movies frequently but because I am going to Europe in the spring and someone has to pay for it. So far that person has been me and my parents want to make sure that it stays that way.

So let's see when I get back from this vacation I will be only a week away from my last year of high school, the possibility of my first after school job, school minus a few hundred familiar faces, new clothes and a haircut, and teachers reminding me that I need to be thinking about college. I really hope this vacation isn't that torturous because I'm going to need all the energy I have to survive.

Now for random thoughts:

• I want tofu.
• I wonder what classes I signed up for this year.
• Do they have an ATV rental place near our hotel?
• I don't actually want to eat tofu right now I was just thinking that I want miso soup for my lunch on the first day of school.
• I need to pack

YAY! I'm awesome.

The Coolest Stuff Ever

What do you do when you're bored and waiting for a video to load? Well the old, quick cure for boredom was googling yourself. Yeah, well it gets boring quickly...I'm a photographer and lawyer and real estate agent. Maybe if I were like a famous actress or athlete it would be more interesting...well not if I were an athlete. Sports and I never mixed well.
The point is what do you google when you get bored of googling yourself. Well, my solution? The coolest stuff ever. I tried shoes first and was quickly disappointed. Those are the coolest shoes ever? Really??? What do they do? Besides sitting on your feet and looking strange. Well, moving on to the coolest car. Hmmm...not such a smart idea. I mean they look nice but I know nothing about cars. What about the coolest shirt? Well, let's just say that the coolest shirt isn't that cool. Unless of course you like those cheesy shirts that you can buy at gas stations and truck stops. Then, it's pretty awesome. The coolest pants? Well I really don't see that many pants actually. I see shirts about pants but only a few pants and they aren't cool. The coolest dress, then? There's got to be something there! And success. I have to say that the hamburger dress is pretty much the coolest thing I've ever seen....ever.....http://blog.craftzine.com/lores_HamburgerDress(front).jpg.
Besides that I think the game fails though. Really people's opinions of cool are way lower than I expected.

Are you stupid or just unobservant?

So, I'm dog sitting this weekend and on my way home from my third visit to check on and feed the dog I heard a strange noise. Nothing much to worry about. My car is only a couple of years younger than I am. It makes noises. Well I pulled up to a busy intersection. The light was red so of course I stopped and I waited for a bit for the light to turn green.

Finally it turned green. The person in front of me went and I pressed down on the gas pedal and nothing happened.

I stomped on the gas pedal and nothing happened.

I started kicking the gas pedal saying, "NO! NO! NO!" hoping that maybe that would make it go.

It didn't.

Do I have gas? Yes. Am I crazy and actually stomping on the brake? No. I turned on my emergency lights and called my mom.

Well, I was pretty content sitting and waiting for someone to come help me, but other people weren't so much. Unfortunately they were stupid and didn't have the sense to notice my emergency lights and drive around in the other lane. Okay, maybe they weren't stupid. I mean the majority of them were driving a Lexus or Mercedes or some other expensive SUV or something. Obviously they had to have money and they had to have some way of getting that money so maybe they weren't stupid, maybe they're just unobservant.

Someone honks.

Okay, they're stupid.

I don't know if you've ever noticed how boring it is to sit at a traffic light but it's boring. Even those few seconds you usually have to wait for the light to change from red to green are boring. Now multiple that by about 50 or 60 times. Well, I don't really know how many times the light changed while I sat and waited for the tow truck, but I did wait about an hour and a half total.

Oh. My. Gosh.

The blinking emergency lights started reminding me of a song that I couldn't remember the name or lyrics to. I decided to write down my story in my notebook....which was at home. I texted my friends. They asked about my car. I told them that he's dead. They were sad for me. Then I remembered that my phone is almost dead.

Not only that but by the time the tow truck finally came to save me I only had half an hour left before I needed to go back and walk the dog. The tow truck guy got my car started and said it looks like it might be the battery. He and my mom followed me home. The car stopped again a street before I got to my house. I got out of the car and told my mom and the tow truck guy that they could take over.

I was through and I had to go walk a dog.

And that was my day. Now, I'm just going to play some Solitaire, eat some ice cream and watch t.v. if I can. With my luck, my computer will crash, the freezer will stop working and the t.v. will die. But maybe not. I really, really hope not.

Current Obsessions

Anyone who knows me knows that I obsess over things. Unfortunately it seems by the time that all my friends learn that I am obsessed with chocolate covered gummy bears, I've already moved on to my watermelon addiction. Anyways I thought I'd share my current obsessions because in my opinion they're all really cool.

Books/ Authors That I'm Currently Obsessed With:

• Well I just read Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie for the first time. It was amazing and fun and short so it's perfect for summer.
• I'm currently loving Scott Westerfield. I just recently read one of his books for the first time and I loved it. After that I've loved every other book that I've read of his. I've only read Uglies from the Uglies series, but I want to read the rest of the series soon!
• I reread A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray at the beginning of the summer and read A Sweet Far Thing. Both are amazing! The second book in the series, Rebel Angels, got lost somewhere so I haven't had a chance to reread it but it's just as great as the other two.

Music/ Musicians I'm Currently Obsessed With:

• If you've never heard Owl City then I feel very sad for you. My favorite song is "Saltwater Room".
• I got The White Tie Affair's Walk This Way for my birthday and I think I know all the words to every song now. It's addicting and fun and makes you look really stupid when you sing and dance along to it in the car.
• Lady Sovereign is always one of my favorite musicians. It's impossible for me not to dance to "Adidas Hoodie".
• "Dark blue. Dark blue! Have you ever been alone in a crowded room?" Jack's Mannequin is pretty amazing.
• "Gravity" by Sara Barreilles. I love her music and this song is just as great as every other song I've heard by her. And if you watch So You Think You Can Dance, well you can guess which dance was my favorite.

Movies:

• Okay what person is not excited about the new Harry Potter movie?! I mean it's going to be amazing! I'm going to the midnight premiere with my friends and I wont even look at anyone dressed up in costumes strangely, because I completely understand and I would wear a costume too- if I had one.
• I've been meaning to see Public Enemies and My Sister's Keeper but I haven't had a chance to see them yet. I've heard both we're really great and I can't wait to see them.
• I'm also looking forward to seeing Julie and Julia on August 7th and Post Grad on August 21st.

My Clothing/ Shopping Addictions:

• Anything vintage or found in a thrift store or handmade. It's about being unique and if possible cheap.
• http://www.etsy.com/ has really great handmade and vintage things for sale. It's sort of like eBay but much much cooler.
• I also love everything on http://www.poshgirlvintage.com/. It's all vintage and has tons of great stuff. It's a little out of my price range but hopefully once I get a job I'll be able to buy some cool things.
• This should be no surprise to anyone who knows me but I love Converse. I wear my Chuck Taylor All Stars all the time! They also have these really cool All Star Light Skimmers which I think would look really cute with a mini skirt or dress.

I LOVE FOOD Addictions:

• Nutella is like the best thing on the planet ever. I put it on my waffles, pancakes, toast, apple, strawberries- anything. It is deliciously deliciousness!
• I like to snack of sugar snap peas with blue cheese salad dressing. It is so yummy and a good snack.
• Sushi is good. People need to get over the whole raw fish thing and just try it! I love sushi and if you want a small meal then it's pretty good. I don't actually really like wasabi but in small amounts I find it's alright. Don't get me wrong- I love spicy, but I think wasabi is too overpowering with sushi and it kinda tastes like cardboard.

Activities and Fun Things That I'm Obsessed With:

• Well, really what I do with my free time is enjoy all my other obsessions and watch YouTube videos. YouTube is pretty awesome and there are always new people and new videos to watch which pretty much means there is always something to entertain you.
• Other than that there's t.v. I really like Royal Pains, which is about a doctor in the Hamptons and Mental, which is about a doctor who works in the psych ward. Doctor shows are usually really great. Planet Green is a cool channel to watch when you're bored.
• Solitaire!!!! There are three things that make this game awesome. 1. You can play it alone at 1:30 in the morning in your pajamas. 2. The rules are easy enough to remember. 3. The cards do that cool jumpy thing when you win!

So maybe listen to some music and go shopping for something vintage. Then you can go out and see an awesome movie and eat some great food. It's sort of what I would do if I had any spending money. Instead I'm going to do algebra, which I am so not obsessed with!

Say Cheese!

Tomorrow I have to go and get my yearbook picture taken. Despite the fact that I only had like two days to prepare for this event, I am not too excited. First of all there are these weird "dress" type things that you wear but really they're like a dress type bib thing that only covers the part of you that will be in the picture, so whether I decide to wear my purple tank top or pajama shirt tomorrow, you'll never know unless I tell you. But most importantly it is almost a year before I will look at this picture again. Do you know how much a person changes in a year? Between tomorrow and the end of the school year I could get a haircut or grow an inch. Or even more ridiculously I could actually get tan, yet everyone would always remember me as the short pale girl who needs a haircut.
At the end of the school year everyone will be looking at this picture and linking it with whatever or whoever I am then. Maybe it's not even the physical appearance I'm worried about, but more what I am and what I will be. Currently I have no job, have never traveled outside of the country and have no idea where I am going to college. By the end of the year all of that will have changed but me will still be the girl I am today or the girl I am tomorrow I guess.
Well at least there are the pictures I'm taking a couple of weeks from now. Maybe I'll have a job by then. Why am I taking more pictures? Well, I'm not quite sure. But apparently a bunch of people didn't want to have pictures of themselves in weird dress bib things at their graduation party so instead they paid to have pictures taken by a professional photographer. And now I guess it's sort of a tradition to get senior pictures taken. Luckily for me I get a really great 100% discount because my best friend's dad is the photographer and we're all taking pictures together. It will be fun at least to have pictures taken with all of them. That I'm happy about. I get to go through my senior year and all it's strange traditions with three of the most amazing people I know.
I still don't understand why we take pictures now instead of later but I do want to look good in them. I mean people are going to be looking at these pictures for years! So I should get some sleep before people add "The girl who needs more sleep" to my "Short, pale, girl who needs a haircut."

My Own Rules

Every where I go someone has rules for me. At school I can't use my cellphone or eat during class. At home I have to do my chores and obey my parents. While driving I have to obey the law. Every where there are rules- whether they are written, unwritten, spoken, or law. They are rules that I am expected to follow and most of the time I follow them.

What do I mean "most of the time"?!

Well, it's not like it's even possible for me to follow all of these rules. I mean there are a few that contradict each other. I mean sometimes a law can contradict a moral and then there's an issue. Well to be honest I've never really been in a situation where a law has contradicted one of more morals, but I have been in situations where I've had to make a decision about which rule is more important to follow. For example, my teacher says "Bring your book to class tomorrow." and like the totally imperfect person I am, I forget. The easiest solution would be to call my parents and ask them to bring my book to school. Well, the problem is that I'm not allowed to use my cellphone during school. So, what is my solution? On one hand I need the book to learn and on the other I can't use my cell phone during school. So I make a decision. In between classes I go to the bathroom and call my parents and ask them to please bring my book to the school. Problem solved. And guess what I don't even feel guilty for breaking that rule?

I make my own rules and unlike any other set of rules I never will break one of my own rules. There is a flaw in all rules and laws. Sometimes you have to break one of those rules to do what is absolutely necessary. If I must do something and in order to do it I have to break some rules then I don't have a problem with it. By necessary I don't mean "I have to break my parents rules and the law and every other set of rules because it's necessary in order for me to get Hannah Montana tickets." That doesn't count. But some things do.
When rules contradict I do whichever one makes me feel less guilty. Sometimes it's not so easy to figure out even then, but it helps.
I guess really in the end my rules can really be summarized by saying I do what's right.
Still I know that even my rules are flawed. I haven't found the flaw yet but I bet one day I will.