1. Not long after I got home last night, I was informed that I could get a ride to a grad party today that I had wanted to go to, but had assumed I couldn't.
2. In the morning, Isabelle and Mom went to the farmer's market to sell her dogs, and I stayed at home. At 11ish, the Pyles picked me up and we headed to Cammlinn, a really cool medieval village in Carnation, WA.
3. The village was super cool. There was a blacksmith, and a potter, and a place where you could make your own candles (which I totally should have done but didn't because of the long line), and an archery range.
4. After that, we drove to R's grandparent's house for a party with pizza and cake and such, which was also fun. R. and I know each other through C. and since we live in different cities, we don't get a chance to see each other IRL very often, so it's always good when we can get to know each other a little more in person. :)
5. We drove home. It was a lot of driving all told, and C. and I spent a good amount of that time playing a logo guessing game on his phone. As it turns out, fashion related brands were my specialty.
6. I came home, read Sense and Sensibility, and went to bed.
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Friday June 26, 2015 {Gay rights, debate, and a party!}
1. When I woke up this morning, I was looking at my email and FB notifications and such, and somehow the email from NPR (I'm on their mailing list about important world events, which I actually highly recommend) about the supreme court ruling was the last thing I saw. Mom came in a minute later and said "Have you seen the news? Obama's making a great speech." I did end up missing most of Obama's speech, but it was still an exciting way to start the morning! :)
2. Cleaned up the house a bit, moved furniture around, and did whatever else was required to prepare for the final current events class of the year.
3. Listened to the new Cortex podcast.
4. Current affairs class! It was the last class of the year, and it was debate style.We were divided into two teams and we debated a number of topic, with the parents voting on who won each round. My team won overall, but just barely. Our topics were - 1) if you could only read classic books or modern books, which should it be 2) Should school stop using grades 3) Should all dogs be allowed to get a license to be in public spaces (like service dogs do now) 4) Should we let Google move to Bham, and 5) Should their be family presidential term limits (ie, should Jeb Bush or Hillary Clinton be allowed to be president).
5. After the debates, we all went to the Pyles house for a party! It was a ton of fun, and we played lots of Mafia and Bush Commando.
6. Ted told us that when he was in 9th grade, he did this challenge to transport 7 people 50 ft with only 4 feet touching the ground. We spent a long time trying to do it, and it was challenging. We did manage it eventually, though. Spencer had my arms/head, EK had my feet, and they each had a person on their backs, and there were two people sitting on me. It was crazy, but we did it, and I'm still a bit sore. :P
7. We left the party around midnight, and went home.
2. Cleaned up the house a bit, moved furniture around, and did whatever else was required to prepare for the final current events class of the year.
3. Listened to the new Cortex podcast.
4. Current affairs class! It was the last class of the year, and it was debate style.We were divided into two teams and we debated a number of topic, with the parents voting on who won each round. My team won overall, but just barely. Our topics were - 1) if you could only read classic books or modern books, which should it be 2) Should school stop using grades 3) Should all dogs be allowed to get a license to be in public spaces (like service dogs do now) 4) Should we let Google move to Bham, and 5) Should their be family presidential term limits (ie, should Jeb Bush or Hillary Clinton be allowed to be president).
5. After the debates, we all went to the Pyles house for a party! It was a ton of fun, and we played lots of Mafia and Bush Commando.
6. Ted told us that when he was in 9th grade, he did this challenge to transport 7 people 50 ft with only 4 feet touching the ground. We spent a long time trying to do it, and it was challenging. We did manage it eventually, though. Spencer had my arms/head, EK had my feet, and they each had a person on their backs, and there were two people sitting on me. It was crazy, but we did it, and I'm still a bit sore. :P
7. We left the party around midnight, and went home.
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Saturday June 20, 2015 {Dance Recital}
1. Got up and ate a bagel, then got ready for the day.
2. Didn't do too much for most of the morning, then did hair and makeup in preparation to leave.
3. Left for the dance studio.
4. Spent an hour getting ready for the recital, getting everyone into their appropriate costumes, and waiting while many parents and siblings squeezed into the studio and lines the walls.
5. Our Irish groups had three dances, one for each class. I danced in the advanced class's dance, and the intermediate class's dance as well, since they didn't have enough people for the choreography.
6. After we danced, we watched through the rest of the recital, which was fun.
7. After that, we went home and hung out for a while. We are dinner, and then I went babysitting.
8. Babysitting was fun, while tiring. I learned that 6 year olds get very grumpy when they don't eat their dinner, and also that they won't want to eat their dinner if they could play with the neighbor kids instead.
9. I came home, and spent a long time talking with mom and Isabelle, read Sense and Sensibility, and went to bed around midnight.
2. Didn't do too much for most of the morning, then did hair and makeup in preparation to leave.
3. Left for the dance studio.
4. Spent an hour getting ready for the recital, getting everyone into their appropriate costumes, and waiting while many parents and siblings squeezed into the studio and lines the walls.
5. Our Irish groups had three dances, one for each class. I danced in the advanced class's dance, and the intermediate class's dance as well, since they didn't have enough people for the choreography.
6. After we danced, we watched through the rest of the recital, which was fun.
7. After that, we went home and hung out for a while. We are dinner, and then I went babysitting.
8. Babysitting was fun, while tiring. I learned that 6 year olds get very grumpy when they don't eat their dinner, and also that they won't want to eat their dinner if they could play with the neighbor kids instead.
9. I came home, and spent a long time talking with mom and Isabelle, read Sense and Sensibility, and went to bed around midnight.
Friday, June 19, 2015
11th Grade Highlights
Since I am now officially done with my junior year of high school, I thought I'd share some of the year's highlights, in pictures! The rest of this post is all pictures, with captions. Enjoy a little taste of my year, in mostly chronological order.
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| Going out to dinner with friends before school started |
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| Steampunk Halloween! |
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| Performing in Dracula! I'm in this picture, can you find me? |
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| Visiting the Lights of Christmas with friends, none of whom are in this photo :P |
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| Curling Isabelle's hair before the Nutcracker. |
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| Backstage selfie from the Nutcracker. |
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| On stage in the Nutcracker. |
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| Buying 12 boxes of tea for C. for Christmas! |
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| Awesome early morning sleepover selfie. |
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| My friends and I have our own shelf at Village Books! |
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| Visiting the University of Victoria. |
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| Hailey painted my nails at the Superbowl party |
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| Our awesome current events to find out what we value most. For me? Community. |
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| Visiting the University of Portland over spring break. |
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| Seaside, OR |
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| Pacific Lutheran University |
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| Baking cookies at a sleepover |
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| Teaching Latin |
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| Painting this little guy was fun :) |
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| Visiting the Pompeii exhibit at the Pacific Science Center |
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| Lots of Geology homework that tested my drawing skills... |
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| Mother's day selfie |
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| My 17th birthday! |
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| Working with friends to get C. a birthday gift he sorely needed. |
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| Performing at the Scottish Highland Games! |
11th Grade Recap
As I'm nearing the end of my junior year of high school, I thought it was about time to do a recap of my year.
School
The biggest change this year that I started Running Start, and I've been taking college classes all year in addition to school at home. Here are the classes I took this year:
Other Activities
Next Year
School
The biggest change this year that I started Running Start, and I've been taking college classes all year in addition to school at home. Here are the classes I took this year:
- Early Modern History - At home all year
- Geometry - At home all year
- College Study Skills (ENGL 170) - Fall 2014
- Yoga (PE 107) - Fall 2014
- English Comp I (ENGL 101) - Winter 2015
- General Psychology (PSYC 100) - Winter 2015
- Intro to Geology (GEOL 101) - Spring 2015
- Engligh Comp II (ENGL 102) - Spring 2015
I have a week left of spring quarter, but it looks like I'll finish my first year at the college with a 4.0 GPA!
School at home as been a struggle, and I am depressingly far behind. I will have to work for the summer to finish both history and math. Next year, I will taking a full load at the college and doing nothing at home.
Other Activities
I have really loved being at the college. I have made friends (though admittedly not that many), and I love being part of the community there.
Outside of school, this has been a strange year. With some of my friends being gone at college other places, the year started out strangely, and through many strange and complicated events, the trend continued.
It's been a hard year but that I've learned a lot about myself and how to handle challenging situations. I've learned a lot about dealing with and helping other people, and while there are numerous things about this year that I wish I could just reverse and have never had happen, I am a different person because of it, and I don't think that that's a bad thing.
I've made friends and had relationships evolve and change, and overall I think the year is ending on a positive note.
Outside of that, I've been teaching Latin, taking Irish dance and Ballet classes, and I was in two dance productions. I performed ballet in Dracula, and Irish dancing in the Nutcracker. I also danced in about four other smaller Irish performances this winter and spring. It's been quite a year! College planning has taken up time too, and we visited a number of colleges, mostly over spring break. I've been volunteering at the library as well, and have gone to a few annual events like the Children's Literature Conference at WWU, and the Bellingham Anime Convention at WCC (where I worked as a volunteer).
Next Year
Next year is exciting and terrifying to think about. I'll be at the college full time, and I also will have college applications to work through. I also would really, really like to dance in the winter and spring performances at my dance studio if I am able. I have applied for a job working in the Writing Center at WCC, and I am hoping that that will be something I'll be doing come fall. I'd like to keep teaching Latin, and also taking Irish dance and ballet classes.
This is sounding exhausting already!
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Wednesday June 17, 2015 {Geology Final}
1. Slept through my alarm again, and was once again scrambling a bit to get out the door on time. I rode the (surprisingly full) bus to WCC, and was, as usual, early to class.
2. Took the Geology final. I feel like I did pretty well on it, and I know I didn't need a very high grade on the final to do well in the class, so I wasn't too stressed about it. I feel like I did well on the multiple choice questions and short answer/calculation problems, but I'm not so sure about the essay questions. I'm kind of wishing I'd tried a tad harder now, but more on that later...
3. After Geology, C. and I hung out for a while with L. and then Spencer showed up! C. and Spencer played giant chess for a while, and I played with this little 3 dimensional cube puzzle for a long time. It was endlessly frustrating to me because even when C. showed me how to do it, I could not figure it out for some reason.
4. After Spencer left, I followed C. to the math center where he had free pizza for being a tutor there, and stood around awkwardly for a while talking to him before leaving and walking to meet my dad and Isabelle.
5. We headed to park day at Boulevard Park, which was great. I mostly hung out with various friends, and had a good time.
6. While we were at school, C. and I decided to make a bet on our grades in Geology, since we went into the final with the same grade, and have both been doing quite well in that class. What exactly the bet is will be revealed in time (it is a rather contentious issue at the moment :P), when one of us wins.
7. We got a ride home, then made some pizza for dinner. I listened to the new Hello Internet podcast. After mom got home we ate some cake she brought back from the party she was at earlier.
8. Read Sense and Sensibility and went to bed.
2. Took the Geology final. I feel like I did pretty well on it, and I know I didn't need a very high grade on the final to do well in the class, so I wasn't too stressed about it. I feel like I did well on the multiple choice questions and short answer/calculation problems, but I'm not so sure about the essay questions. I'm kind of wishing I'd tried a tad harder now, but more on that later...
3. After Geology, C. and I hung out for a while with L. and then Spencer showed up! C. and Spencer played giant chess for a while, and I played with this little 3 dimensional cube puzzle for a long time. It was endlessly frustrating to me because even when C. showed me how to do it, I could not figure it out for some reason.
4. After Spencer left, I followed C. to the math center where he had free pizza for being a tutor there, and stood around awkwardly for a while talking to him before leaving and walking to meet my dad and Isabelle.
5. We headed to park day at Boulevard Park, which was great. I mostly hung out with various friends, and had a good time.
6. While we were at school, C. and I decided to make a bet on our grades in Geology, since we went into the final with the same grade, and have both been doing quite well in that class. What exactly the bet is will be revealed in time (it is a rather contentious issue at the moment :P), when one of us wins.
7. We got a ride home, then made some pizza for dinner. I listened to the new Hello Internet podcast. After mom got home we ate some cake she brought back from the party she was at earlier.
8. Read Sense and Sensibility and went to bed.
Monday, June 15, 2015
Monday June 15, 2015 {Almost Done}
1. Got up 20 minutes late (gah) and had a hard time getting out of the house on time.
2. Made it to school, and went to Geology. We got lots of old assignments back, and then went over them.
3. C. and I hung out for an hour and a half, and then headed off to our separate classes.
4. English was mostly an open lab day, so I spent most of the time working on my paper. We also did a fun brainstorming exercise to help come up with a title.
5. After that, I met up with C. again for a while, then hung out with L. for about an hour.
6. I took the bus into town and volunteered at the library for an hour, cleaning books and toys.
7. I went to Chocolate Necessities w/ Julie and the boys, and hung out for an hour and a half or so. Flavors of the week - Lemon and Pink Grapefruit.
8. Irish dance! I went to class where we practiced hard shoe dances, and briefly rehearsed for the school dance recital which is this coming Saturday.
9. Came home, ate dinner, had some strawberry pie, listened to a podcast, read Sense and Sensibility, went to bed.
Sorry for the brief post. Finals week is here and I'm kind of exhausted. I'm also not thinking very clearly. I had written an entire draft of this post before I recalled that I'm not using full names.
I also asked Bernice, my volunteer coordinator at the library, to sign an affidavit for how many parking passes I've gotten in total. When she looked at me oddly, I realized that I had said parking passes where I should have said volunteer hours. *shakes head*
2. Made it to school, and went to Geology. We got lots of old assignments back, and then went over them.
3. C. and I hung out for an hour and a half, and then headed off to our separate classes.
4. English was mostly an open lab day, so I spent most of the time working on my paper. We also did a fun brainstorming exercise to help come up with a title.
5. After that, I met up with C. again for a while, then hung out with L. for about an hour.
6. I took the bus into town and volunteered at the library for an hour, cleaning books and toys.
7. I went to Chocolate Necessities w/ Julie and the boys, and hung out for an hour and a half or so. Flavors of the week - Lemon and Pink Grapefruit.
8. Irish dance! I went to class where we practiced hard shoe dances, and briefly rehearsed for the school dance recital which is this coming Saturday.
9. Came home, ate dinner, had some strawberry pie, listened to a podcast, read Sense and Sensibility, went to bed.
Sorry for the brief post. Finals week is here and I'm kind of exhausted. I'm also not thinking very clearly. I had written an entire draft of this post before I recalled that I'm not using full names.
I also asked Bernice, my volunteer coordinator at the library, to sign an affidavit for how many parking passes I've gotten in total. When she looked at me oddly, I realized that I had said parking passes where I should have said volunteer hours. *shakes head*
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Sunday June 7, 2015 {Highland Games}
1. Got up, got ready, and drove to Hovander Park. We hung around for a bit, and then danced on the side stage at 10:30. It wasn't a great performance, but it was okay.
2. We hung out for a while and ate lunch, then had our second performance. This time, we danced with live music. It was a much better (though certainly not perfect) performance.
3. We left pretty quickly after our second show. We went home, and I took a shower and changed, then we went to Connie's for a party.
4. The party was great - there was lots of good food and awesome people. Hailey, Claire, Hunter, HW, L., and I spent the entire party hanging out in the basement, which was super fun. Other people drifted in from time to time, but it was mostly some variation on that "teen" group. We had a great time.
5. Went home, read Sense and Sensibility, and went to bed.
2. We hung out for a while and ate lunch, then had our second performance. This time, we danced with live music. It was a much better (though certainly not perfect) performance.
3. We left pretty quickly after our second show. We went home, and I took a shower and changed, then we went to Connie's for a party.
4. The party was great - there was lots of good food and awesome people. Hailey, Claire, Hunter, HW, L., and I spent the entire party hanging out in the basement, which was super fun. Other people drifted in from time to time, but it was mostly some variation on that "teen" group. We had a great time.
5. Went home, read Sense and Sensibility, and went to bed.
Monday, June 8, 2015
Saturday June 6, 2015 {Sleeping Beauty}
1. I got up late, probably around 8:30, and got ready for the day.
2. I really didn't do all that much until 12:00, when I went to YARC at Village Books. It was a pretty small meeting, only six or seven of us, and we finished early. I got some pretty good books though, including the new David Leviathan book, and a new book by Avi.
3. L. and I hung out after YARC for a while, and watched a wedding party taking pictures in the village green. We decided that my wedding colors should be teal and yellow.
4. I went home and worked for a few hours on a paper for my Geology class about the history of the PNW over the last 200 million years or so. I spent most of the day doing that.
5. We had dinner, then went to the Mt. Baker Theater to see Sleeping Beauty. It's a production put on by the studio I dance at, so I knew lots of people in it, but Hailey and HW were the ones we were most excited to see. I sat with L. an C. for most of the show, which was fun. There was lots of snarky commentary going back and forth.
6. After the show, we stayed outside and hung out for probably close to an hour. We then went home and went to bed.
2. I really didn't do all that much until 12:00, when I went to YARC at Village Books. It was a pretty small meeting, only six or seven of us, and we finished early. I got some pretty good books though, including the new David Leviathan book, and a new book by Avi.
3. L. and I hung out after YARC for a while, and watched a wedding party taking pictures in the village green. We decided that my wedding colors should be teal and yellow.
4. I went home and worked for a few hours on a paper for my Geology class about the history of the PNW over the last 200 million years or so. I spent most of the day doing that.
5. We had dinner, then went to the Mt. Baker Theater to see Sleeping Beauty. It's a production put on by the studio I dance at, so I knew lots of people in it, but Hailey and HW were the ones we were most excited to see. I sat with L. an C. for most of the show, which was fun. There was lots of snarky commentary going back and forth.
6. After the show, we stayed outside and hung out for probably close to an hour. We then went home and went to bed.
Saturday, June 6, 2015
Podcasts
I know I've talked about podcasts on here before, but I've started listening to a few new ones recently and I wanted to talk a little bit about my current set up.
First of all, I listen to podcasts using Overcast. I used to use the default iOS one, but Overcast is much better.
As for the podcasts I listen to, there are a few categories. First are the ones I've listened to every episode of, and eagerly await new episodes of:
-Welcome to Nightvale. You probably all know I'm a big WTNV fan. If you listen to it too (and are totally caught up) you probably know that wierd things are happened in Nightvale and that this is a wonderful and terrifying time to be in that particular fandom.
-Hello Internet. I know I've talked about HI on here before, but really, it is worht talking about again. I love Hello Internet so much. It's a show of "two dudes talking" and it's awesome. It's hosted by CGP Grey and Brady Haran (of Numberphile and numerous other YouTube channels) and they talk about many, many things. I don't even know sometimes why I like this show so much, but it's really awesome.
-Cortex. Okay, so this only has one episode so far, but I'm putting it here anyway cause it was a pretty great first episode. This is CGP Grey's new podcast with Myke Hurley. This is about work flow, organization, and basically how Grey gets stuff done.
There are also other podcasts that I listen to periodically, but not religiously. I don't always listen to the episodes in order, and I sometime skip some:
- The Digital Gentlemen Podcast. This is also the "two dudes talking" style, and it's hosted by Matthew Gaydos and Matty Kerr. It's good, it's very weird, and it's very often not family friendly. They are both commedians in some sense, and the show is often very funny, and totally random.
-Radiolab. I don't to try to sell this one to you. Radiolab is clearly great, and it's the podcast that got me into podcasts. I don't listen to every episode, but there are some really awesome ones out there.
-This American Life. Same basic story as Radiolab.
-Ear Biscuits. This is a podcast by Rhett and Link where they interview people of Youtube fame. Some episodes are really good, other less so. I usually just listen to the interviews of people I know and am interested in.
-The Cracked Podcast. This is run by Cracked.com, and it is sometimes a little overproduced for my taste, but it is well done. I dont always listen to it, but there are some great episodes out there. They focus on pop culture analysis and all sorts of human interest kind of things.
-99% Invisible. This is a new favorite of mine. It's hosted by Roman Mars, and it is about design - architecture, sound design, product design, all kinds of design. It's really great and the episodes are really short. It's well done, and you don't have to be into architecture to like it.
These are some of my favorites. What podcasts do you listen to? I'm always looking for more good ones!
These are some of my favorites. What podcasts do you listen to? I'm always looking for more good ones!
Friday, June 5, 2015 {James's Graduation}
1. Woke up a little late, and was scrambling all morning to get out the door on time.
2. When I got to the Cordata bus station, I took a detour to the Co-op to buy 6 potatoes, then ran to class. I still got their 5 min early.
3. Geology was good. The quarter is clearly winding down, and everyone is so ready for it to be over.
4. After this, C. and I went by his uncle's office, but he wasn't there. We stayed there for a bit, then headed to Syre to our usual spot. I ran to the bathroom where I put two packages of candy apple rings in the bottom of a gift bag and filled the rest of it with potatoes on which I had written things like "Happy Birthday" and "POTATO." I presented this gift to C., which he seemed to appreciate, though that might have just been him being nice. :P
5. I went through some practice SAT problems with him to give him an idea of the process I would go through for the English ones. We both headed off to class.
6. In English 102, we did an exercise I love where you take an index card for each paragraph of your paper, and write the main idea of it on the card. You then shuffle up the cards and rearrange them physically until you find the best order.
7. I missed the first bus, but caught the second one back home. Mom picked me up, and we headed home to change, and then to Stanwood to pick up my grandma, and then all the way to Seattle for my cousin James's high school graduation.
8. The graduation itself was good, though long. It started at 6pm, and was over around 8ish, and we left the school around 8:30, maybe 8:45.
9. James was going off to a school sponsored all night party, but his parents and brother went with me, Isabelle, mom, and my grandma to Cheesecake Factory for dinner.
10. We finally left Southcenter around 11pm, and dropped off my grandma at her house, then finally got home around 1am.
11. I finished the blog post for yesterday, published it, started this one, and went to bed around 2am.
2. When I got to the Cordata bus station, I took a detour to the Co-op to buy 6 potatoes, then ran to class. I still got their 5 min early.
3. Geology was good. The quarter is clearly winding down, and everyone is so ready for it to be over.
4. After this, C. and I went by his uncle's office, but he wasn't there. We stayed there for a bit, then headed to Syre to our usual spot. I ran to the bathroom where I put two packages of candy apple rings in the bottom of a gift bag and filled the rest of it with potatoes on which I had written things like "Happy Birthday" and "POTATO." I presented this gift to C., which he seemed to appreciate, though that might have just been him being nice. :P
5. I went through some practice SAT problems with him to give him an idea of the process I would go through for the English ones. We both headed off to class.
6. In English 102, we did an exercise I love where you take an index card for each paragraph of your paper, and write the main idea of it on the card. You then shuffle up the cards and rearrange them physically until you find the best order.
7. I missed the first bus, but caught the second one back home. Mom picked me up, and we headed home to change, and then to Stanwood to pick up my grandma, and then all the way to Seattle for my cousin James's high school graduation.
8. The graduation itself was good, though long. It started at 6pm, and was over around 8ish, and we left the school around 8:30, maybe 8:45.
9. James was going off to a school sponsored all night party, but his parents and brother went with me, Isabelle, mom, and my grandma to Cheesecake Factory for dinner.
10. We finally left Southcenter around 11pm, and dropped off my grandma at her house, then finally got home around 1am.
11. I finished the blog post for yesterday, published it, started this one, and went to bed around 2am.
Thursday June 4, 2015 {Rehearsal}
1. I got up, ate some breakfast, and worked on my Latin lesson plan. I took a shower and walked to Gloria's in time to meet H. for Latin. We're starting to get geared up for our grand adventure translating Harry Potter this summer, which I'm really excited about.
2. After I got home and ate lunch, I worked on school stuff for a few hours including math, some history reading, a geology lab, and a paper for English.
3. I wrote a blog post for my main blog, and took a walk with Isabelle to obtain part of a birthday gift for a friend (more on that later).
4. I got ready to go, and when Mom got home from work, we went to a dance rehearsal.
5. We got to rehearse with the musicians who will be playing for us, which was really great. I love dancing to live music.
6. We came home, ate some pizza, and then I frantically finished the homework I had due for both English and Geology.
7. Read Sense and Sensibility, and went to bed.
2. After I got home and ate lunch, I worked on school stuff for a few hours including math, some history reading, a geology lab, and a paper for English.
3. I wrote a blog post for my main blog, and took a walk with Isabelle to obtain part of a birthday gift for a friend (more on that later).
4. I got ready to go, and when Mom got home from work, we went to a dance rehearsal.
5. We got to rehearse with the musicians who will be playing for us, which was really great. I love dancing to live music.
6. We came home, ate some pizza, and then I frantically finished the homework I had due for both English and Geology.
7. Read Sense and Sensibility, and went to bed.
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