Sorry it's been so long since I posted last. It's been a crazy last couple of months. I've been searching for a job, and on Monday I finally found one! On Monday evening I (the 17th) I was hired by Rave Motion Pictures (aka Rave Cinemas, Rave Movie Theater), which has a new location in Grove City. I will be working as a "Floor Staff" member, which means that I will be doing concessions, ushering, selling tickets, ripping tickets, and cleaning. I'm excited to begin working. My orientation is next week, and I'll begin training shortly after that. Our grand opening in November 18th, when Breaking Dawn Part 1 and Happy Feet 2 both come out.
The signature neon sign outside of all Rave Movie Theaters
Yesterday was the first day of school, and my first day as a Junior at Heights. I was lucky enough to get lockout first period this year, which means I don't have to come into school until second period. It's pretty awesome, getting to sleep in late. I am also driving myself to school now, which is awesome except for all of the crazy traffic and construction work by my school. They've been working on the roads by my school since my FRESHMAN year. Ugh, by the time I graduate, I'm pretty sure I will have a fierce animousity towards construction cones.
On a happier note, my classes are pretty cool so far. I really like AP European History, and French III. I'm majorly concerned about yearbook, though. I feel so separate from my staff, which is definitely not good seeing as I'm their Editor. Hopefully it will get easier... but until then *stresses like crazy*
I think this year will be the most challenging year I've ever had in school- the classes are legit hard this year, unlike my classes in the past that I could have slept through and got an A. I'm excited for the challenge though, I think it will be fun.
I'm also kind of freaking about about jobs. I have to get one. Like now. If I don't my parents will cancel my car insurance, and I'll have no money for gas anyways. I've applied to some places, with no word back. I'm applying to Walmart now.
Wish me luck this year- it'll probably be a crazy one!
Yesterday was a HUGE day for me. I got both my driver's license and a car! My dad and I had practiced maneuverability several, several times, but we only practiced going to the left. My instructor made me go to the right. Seriously. I even asked him if I could go left, and he said no. So I went right, trying to do everything that I had learned for the left the exact opposite for the right... and I passed maneuverability without missing a single point. Afterwards, my instructor laughed and asked me why I was so nervous going right, because I aced it. I was so excited! :D
Then we went on the driving portion... and it went great! We mostly just went through some neighborhoods, and then we went back to the BMV. I even parked it straight at the end of the test (which is a huge accomplishment in itself for me). We went back inside, and my instructor told me to sit in the waiting room, and that he'd meet with me shortly. I knew I had passed, even though at that point in time, I didn't know my score. I went over and told my dad that I had passed, and then we waited for my instructor (and my dad was just about as excited as I was :)
When the instructor came out to meet with my dad and me he said "Do you want the good news or the bad news first?" I immediately said "bad". Then the instructor said "You didn't give me a pen to mark down any mistakes. But the good news is you didn't make any mistakes, so I didn't need the pen anyways. You scored a perfect." I was so freaking excited.
Then we went to sit and wait with everyone else in the BMV... but thankfully it didn't take too long. I got my picture taken, and I got my license :D
My License!!! :D
Then I drove us home, and I barely had time to call my mom and tell her I passed before we had to get on the road. Once we turned onto my court, my dad pulled out his iPod and started recording me. He said "I think I speak for both your Mom and myself when I say congratulations and I hope you like it..." just as we pulled into view of my new car sitting in the driveway with a large bow on the front and I freaked out. My mom was standing there with the camera and then all of the kids on the court, and a lot of their friends (probably about 20 kids in total) jumped out and yelled "Surprise!". It was epically awesome.
Guess what? If you're reading this, I love you enough to give you a special gift (if you want it). As you have probably noticed, the design of my blog has changed. I've learned how to make specialized headers, and blog buttons, too. (You can check my previous post about blog buttons here)
And now that I've learned how to make awesome personalized blog designs and buttons, I'm willing to make some for you and your blog. (And no, I'm not going to be a jerkface and charge you for it) So... if you want a blog button or header, let me know in the comments, or text me or something if you're someone I know personally.
If you want a header, you need to send me this:
-the design you want for your header background (I suggest searching on Google Images)
-what you want your title and subtitle to be on the header
If you want a blog button, you need to send me this:
-nothing if you sent me the above info for a header
-if you didn't get a header, send me a picture that you want as your button background (again I suggest searching on Google Images), and the title of your blog, along with a brief message to go along with it
Send all that to: brandi.mcconahay@yahoo.com, Subject Line: Blog Header/Blog Buttons
Please make sure your subject line at least mentions "Blog Header" or "Blog Button". Thanks.
How long will I be doing this? I don't know... just assume it's still going on until I post that it's not going on anymore.
Here are some of the Blog Headers I've designed:
Here are some of the Blog Buttons I've designed:
Like I said, let me know if you want one. Also, I can make them for multiple blogs owned by the same person.
So, I was excited last night to finally make my first blog button. But today, I decided it looked kind of bland. So I made a new one using a free background I found online. I like it better. Here it is:
I think that it's important to have an awesome looking blog button, because the point is to attract people to your blog. Also, on this button, I added that we write YA Book Reviews. We also review manga and novel-to-movie screen adaptions also.
So, do you think this one is better than the one I had in yesterday's post? I'd love to get some feedback! :D
In case you haven't been around the blogging world lately, blog buttons are an extremely popular way for sharing blogs. Blog buttons are small square boxes that contain some kind of graphic, and the title of the blog. On the blog it represents, a copy code will be featured under the blog. This can be copied into other blogs and it will link back to the home blog. Here are some examples from book blogs around the web:
Madame Bookworm's Button us one of my favorites I've seen so far. It's very visually appealing.... it's simple, but neat.
I'm don't care a whole lot for Awesome Bookworm's button (right)... it's too small and dark.
Personally, I feel that this button is very boring. Anyhoo, now you kind of have an idea of what blog buttons look like. The idea behind blog buttons is that you try to convince people to post this to their blogs, and that will boost your credibility with search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, Bing and Ask, which will put you higher in the search results. After all, most people don't look beyond the first page or two of search results. If your not at the top, it's not likely you'll be found.
There isn't some kind of site that you can just easily create a blog button, though. You have to make it from scratch. So that's what I did. I searched for tutorials to teach me how, and I copied the coding from a tutorial, but other than that, everything is mine. That's part of the reason I'm so excited.
For the blog button for Wisdom From A Teenage Bookworm (http://www.bookwormwisdom.blogspot.com), the book blog I have with my friends, I used a photo that I actually took myself, because I didn't want to take the chance of liability issues with copyrights. I actually used Picnik to edit the photo and to resize it to fit the standard blog button size.
So, without further ado, here is a picture of my blog button:
I would love, love, love it if any readers of my blog would be willing to go to www.bookwormwisdom.blogspot.com and copy over the text to add it to their blogs. I already added it to this blog on your left, and I also added it to the left of my writing blog, www.brandimcconahay.blogspot.com.
In case you haven't heard, Borders Booksellers is going out of business. This makes me sad. Sad enough that I wanted to make a video for my YouTube channel about it. So here it is:
Please Note: The quality of my webcam isn't very good, so neither is the quality of the video. Also, this is the first video I've made for YouTube specifically, so I'm kind of nervous and awkward.
While watching the one of the epic videos by author Jackson Pearce (www.youtube.com/JacksonAPearce), she introduced me to NaNoWriMo. She did a really good job of describing it, so here is her video:
So there is the description of NaNoWriMo in a nutshell. In case you're having a "blonde" moment, NaNoWriMo is the shortened form of National Novel Writing Month. The website Jackson gives you is www.nanowrimo.com, but it's actually www.nanowrimo.org. It doesn't really matter which one you use though, because they both get you there. And hey, if you are this blog, you might be interested in also checking my profile on NaNoWriMo's site (because I signed up). You can see it at http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/827599. We can even become writing buddies on there. (Their term for "friends" is "writing buddies"). If you send me a writing buddies request, or however that works (haven't actually tried requesting any friends yet), and I don't accept it, let me know you sent it in the comments.
If you sign up this is what happens:
1.) You get a profile through NaNoWriMo that gives you an Author's Info and Novel Info section.
2.) Starting November 1st, your word meter will start keeping track of all the words you submit to NaNoWriMo.
3.) Your little word meter will show your progress through the month of November.
4.) The goal is to write 50,000 words in November even if it's the worst thing you've ever wrote, ever.
5.) If you achieve this, you get a little winner's badge on your profile (and a few other things that I'm not completely clear about... visit their site for more info). If you don't achieve this, nothing really happens.
So why am I so excited about this, even though it's July?
Because I am the worst at actually pushing through novels. I always write 5 pages, and then I constantly edit, and re-edit those 5 pages. So I never get anything done. But with NaNoWriMo, the goal is quantity, not quality. As crazy as that sounds, it will at least give you something longer than 5 pages to edit.
I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE for any fellow writers to attempt NaNoWriMo with me this November. Don't worry if you don't make the 50,000 word mark- chances are I probably won't either. But, hey, it'll be fun to try. Also, NaNoWriMo gives you tips ("pep talks") and allows you to discuss writing with other aspiring authors. Oh, and a lot of published authors still love to do NaNoWriMo. If you're willing to do NaNoWriMo with me this November, I'd love to hear about it in the comments.
For anyone living under a rock who might not know, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 came out this morning at 12:00am. Yeah... I was at the midnight release ;) Can I just start off by saying that this movie was quite possibly my absolute favorite out of all the Harry Potter movies. I was impressed by how close to the book the movie stayed. The only pet peeve of mine: Neither Lily nor Harry had emerald green eyes like in the book. Which wouldn't even be that big of a deal, except in the movie they talk about Harry having "Lily's eyes". Uh, no. In the movie, Harry had blue eyes, and Lily had brown. Since when are blue and brown the same??? Anyhoo, aside from that it was really good.
I have to say that my two favorite parts of the movie (without spoiling it), were the flashback to Snape's past, and the epilogue. I thought that the film production people did a really good job on it.
I'm very sad to see Harry go, however... I owe him and J.K. Rowling a lot. Why, you might ask? Because without Harry Potter, I wouldn't have the amazing friends I have now. I went from no friends as the new girl, to the girl with many close friends all because of a passing comment to my now-friend, Breanna (www.kiruthefirestarter.blogspot.com) with just one conversation during gym class:
Breanna: Hey, can you think of any magical creatures besides the ones I have listed here? Brandi (Me): *looks at list* Umm... what about a hippogriff? Breanna: I can't believe I forgot that! So, are you a huge Harry Potter nerd, too? Brandi (Me): Are you kidding? I live and breathe Harry Potter. Breanna: Me too! *Awesome friendship that led to other great friendships formed*
So thank you, Harry Potter.
If you haven't seen the movie: YOU SHOULD GO SEE IT!!!
Hey everyone,
I'd just like everyone to know that I'm on Twitter now (though it originally was not by choice). My Twitter account was created by my fellow Yearbook Editor-In-Chief, Danielle Bixler. She it so that our Yearbook page http://www.twitter.com/#!/FHHSYearbook would have more followers. I finally decided to actually take control of the account and do something with it, however.
I don't actually think I'll be using Twitter much. Why? Because I honestly don't see the point. Pretty much anyone who I'd be interested in contacting on Twitter is already my friend on Facebook. Facebook let's me do so much more- I can post longer statuses (because 140 characters is NOT enough), I can share pictures, and videos, and more in-depth information. Twitter seems like the wannabe-facebook to me. Maybe that's just because I haven't used it much yet. I don't know.
Today is my Sweet 16th Birthday!!! :D It's crazy to think that I am already 16. Today, I have received tons of "Happy Birthdays" via Facebook and my phone. Thanks again to all the people who wished me a happy birthday! Today, I also decided to make my first YouTube channel. It's going to be filled with random videos about all the weird things that happen in my life. If you love me and you have a YouTube account, you should subscribe and send me a friend request (If you send me a friend request and your info doesn't let me know who you are, send me a text also. I only accept friend requests from people I know. But everyone else can feel free to subscribe!)
While randomly checking out the YouTube homepage yesterday, a video caught my eye because it was about Harry Potter, and I LOVE Harry Potter. So, I checked it out, and it is amazing. Yesterday is had around 400,000 views, and it's already above 600,000 views. It's been up for only 3 or 4 days. So, here it is:
Watch it... it's totally awesome. It's a music video, but it only lasts for half the video length. The other half is the two main stars thanking everyone who helped them. You should listen the first minute of the "thank yous" because they're funny. After that, it's just up to you.
Hey everyone,
Happy 4th of July! :D Today is an awesome day because it means that a long time ago, colonials got tired of being "posh" and listening to a fat guy sitting on a fat couch (er... throne :) across the ocean who had no real reason to be in their business other than the fact he wanted to take their money.
That being said, I still love Twinings tea, imported straight from London :D (even though I kind of bought my lifetime supply of it from Disney World's Ecot England stand... it was imported straight from London to Disney World).
Anyhoo.... my favorite part of this time of year is actually my birthday (which is in two days), but I also love the fireworks. I mean, who doesn't love fireworks?
So, I've been putting off this insanely large amount of homework that I have to do this summer for my AP English III and AP European History classes. I didn't feel like doing anything for the month of June, because I felt like after an entire school year, I had earned a month off. Now it's July, and I still don't want to do it. But I have a feeling that if I wait till August I'll regret it.
For AP English III:
1.) Read the instuctional part of On Writing by Stephen King found on pages 111-249. Take detailed notes. You will need to turn in your handwritten notes on the first day of school, and you will have a test over the required reading.
2.) Read Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. Take notes on how Stephen King's lessons apply to Gruen's writing. You will need to turn in your handwritten notes on the first day of school, and you will have a test over the required reading.
3.) Know the definitions of all the summer reading terminology below. Be able to recognize them through examples. This will be apart of your summer reading test.
-1st Person
-2nd Person
-3rd Person
-Alliteration
-Euphemism
-Metaphor
-Personification
-Simile
-Situational Irony
-Symbolism
-Verbal Irony
-Adjective
-Adverb
-Antecedent
-Infinitive
-Noun
-Predicate
-Pronoun
-Subject
For AP European History:
1.) Answer 34 research questions (that I don't feel like typing out) that covers European History before 1450 (where the class picks up).
2.) Read Chapters 1 & 2 of your class text A History Of The Modern World by Palmer, Colton, and Kramer and write a synopsis of at most one typed page for each chapter.
3.) Read the two packets given to you by Mr. Matejic with exerpts from A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman and The Black Death and the Transformation of the West by David Herlihy and write the following:
a.) One typed page on the impact of the Black Death on European Society.
b.) Two typed pages describing the economic, political, and cultural structure of society during the Late Middle Ages, paying extra attention to family, the church, chivalry, and peasants.
4.) All writing assignments must include paranthetical references (Author, pg. #). All assignments are due the first day of school.
In one of my many weird moments, I got to thinking about days that stick out in my mind every year. For example: May 6th. I always, on every May 6th, go "It's exactly 2 months now until I'll be ___ years old." EVERY YEAR. I don't know why, but that one sticks out to me. I almost never do that on June 6th and go "It's exactly 1 month until I'll be ___ years old."
Every year, on June 29th, I go "It's exactly 1 week until I'm __ years old." Maybe I'm just a freak. Wouldn't surprise me :)
Anyhoo, I'm excited for my birthday, but I'm even more excited for my license and my party.
For anyone who is friends with me on Facebook, you probably saw the picture I posted of all of the books that I currently have checked out from the public library. If you aren't friends with my on Facebook, here's the picture:
The books are as follows:
Left Side, Top to Bottom:
1. Gone by Lisa McMann
2. Passion by Lauren Kate
3. Shift by Jeri Smith-Ready
4. Queen of the Dead by Stacey Kade
5. Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt
6. Nightshade by Andrea Creamer
7. Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann
8. Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton 9. So Much Closer by Susane Colasanti 10. Paranormalcy by Kiersten White 11. Nevermore by Kelly Creagh 12. The Lost Saint by Bree Despain
Right Side, Top to Bottom: 1. Oh My Goth by Gena Showalter 2. Falling Under by Gwen Hayes 3. The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa 4. Darkest Mercy by Melissa Marr 5. Haunting Violet by Alyxandra Harvey 6. Graveminder by Melissa Marr 7. The Hollow by Jessica Verday
8. Out For Blood by Alyxandra Harvey 9. Afterlife by Claudia Gray 10. The Magnolia League by Katie Crouch 11. The Dark Divine by Bree Despain 12. Illusions by Aprilynne Pike 13. The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade
I have a slight reputation as a book hoarder, so I had already read Gone, Darkest Mercy, Afterlife, Out For Blood, and The Ghost and the Goth. All the rest were new books, though.
A lot of the books have been amazing... I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED Paranormalcy! Passion was really good, too. Unfortunately, not all of the books were that great. For example: Keturah and Lord Death. I ended up rating that book a 2 out of 5 stars because it had a few brief good moments, but for the most part, it wasn't very good.
To see all of my book reviews, and to keep up with what I'm reading, you can check me out at www.goodreads.com/brandi_m. This takes you to my Goodreads profile, which is set to private. You can join for free with an email account, however, and become my friend :)
On the topic of Goodreads... it's an epic site where you can get updates from your favorite authors, become friends with your favorite authors, share your writing, poetry, and what you're currently reading. You can also share book reviews, vote in polls, discover new books that you might like, take book quizzes, create quizzes, participate in discussions, get advanced notices of author appearances in your area, organize your books into multiple shelves including "Read", "Currently Reading", "To-Read" (the default bookshelves), and you can add extra shelves such as "Favorites", "Hated", "Paranormal", and so on. If you want to join Goodreads, you can visit www.goodreads.com.
Saturday, June 25, 2011, was my Uncle Greg's wedding to his girlfriend BJ. Let me start off by saying that of all the girls my uncle has ever been with that I've known, BJ is my favorite (thankfully, she's his favorite too :) BJ and Uncle Greg have a lot in common, and BJ is very easy to get along with. She's nice and considerate, and my Uncle Greg's two sons seem to love her, too (and she loves them... which I say is pretty impressive since she didn't have to lol ;)
I was a bridesmaid in their wedding at Anchor Baptist Church. On Friday night, we had a rehersal, and we set up the reception hall and had dinner. The following day, my mom and I arrived at the church at 11:00 even though the wedding didn't start until 2:30. (My mom was a bridesmaid too) We got ready, and then it was time for pictures. We took pictures for a while, and then it was time for the wedding. I don't have a whole lot of pictures from it yet (they had a professional photographer who is supposed to be giving them their pictures shortly), but I do have some. My dress was "Key Lime Green", and I had a pretty bouquet. But BJ looked the best out of all of us. She had a holter-top grown that had pearls and different little white-ish jewels sewn in designs across the dress and the train.
I ended up walking down the aisle with my cousin, GW (my uncle's oldest son). During the reception, we kept acting like we were going to beat each other up, but we behaved during the ceremony.
The reception was great, too. I must say that I was loving the "Wedding Party gets first dibs on the food" rule. The DJ was also really good.
Here are some pics:
Uncle Greg and Aunt BJ dancing the first dance
Aunt BJ and Uncle Greg at the Reception Hall
Aunt BJ, Uncle Greg, and Uncle Greg's Best Man, Uncle Jim
Uncle Greg and Aunt BJ cutting the cake
The epic cake topper, that is more truthful than you'd think ;)
Aunt BJ
Uncle Greg and Aunt BJ stuffing cake in each other's faces
Uncle Greg and Aunt BJ
Uncle Greg and Aunt BJ cutting their cake
My bridesmaid dress
The shoes I had to wear
Me in my dress, with my bouquet, with my hair and makeup done for the wedding
My beautiful bouquet :D
My Uncle Jim (my Uncle Greg's Best Man) and me
The Grandkids (l-r): my brother Bowen, Cousin Zac, Me, Cousin GW, Cousin CJ
Uncle Greg's side of the family (l-r): my dad Jay, my mom Tina, my brother Bowen, my cousin GW, my cousin Zac, my grandpa Dan, my uncle Greg, my aunt BJ, my grandma Becky, Me, my cousin CJ, my aunt Arleen, my uncle Jim
The Ceremony (l-r): my mom Tina, me, my aunt BJ's niece Amber, my aunt BJ, my uncle Greg, my uncle Jim, my cousin GW, my cousin Zac
Summer is finally here! Let's hope that now the rain will die down and the sun will come out more often. I have a lot of things I have to do this summer. For example:
1.) Turn 16 :D
2.) Have an awesome Sweet 16 Birthday Party
3.) Get my license
4.) Hopefully get a car
5.) Hopefully get a job
6.) Go camping with my family
7.) Go to church camp
8.) Work on stuff for yearbook
9.) Do my AP Summer assingments
This post goes out to Dei, in response to her Dear Brandi Post. I'm sorry I haven't been updating very often. I promise to try and give you more details about my boring existance ;)
So... let's see.
I went camping this past weekend with my family at Long's Retreat. The place is great, except is has no Internet or Cell Phone Service. It does have water slides, go-karts, canoeing, arcades, mini-golf, a merry-go-round, a tennis court, a beach, a rock climbing wall, a volleyball net, a baseball diamond, a basketball court, and full hookups for my camper which gives me AC, a hot shower, a working toilet, a working TV, a working fridge, a working stove, and working sinks. So, it was worth it :D
Also, my Uncle's wedding is coming up this weekend. Remember my dress and those heels? (especially those heels?) I'll be stuck in those all day Saturday :) And then I have to go to the Rehersal Friday.
And also, you should start following me at www.brandimcconahay.blogspot.com. I put a lot of effort into that blog also, and I would appreciate more than 1 stalker.
Last night was my first Driver's Ed class. It was from 6-10pm. To be honest, I kind of expected them to teach about driving at Driver's Education. Instead, we learned about drug abuse. Again. Thankfully, that class is over though. So I shouldn't have to learn about drug abuse in Driver's Ed again.
I still have to take 5 more classes, and 3 in-car sessions. The in-car sessions will consist of:
1.) Country Roads
2.) City Roads
3.) Downtown, Freeway, Maneuverability
Then I'll be done, and that much closer to my license :D
Yesterday was the last day of school... and you know what that means ;) Today is my first full day of officially being a Junior. It's crazy how fast this past school year flew by. I'll still have a lot of work to do over the summer for school, though, (Yearbook and my AP classes), but it's all good, because I've got 3 months to do it ;). This summer is (hopefully) going to be amazing. I'm going to turn 16 on July 6th, and I will hopefully get my driver's license. I will also be in my Uncle and To-Be-Aunt's wedding on June 25th. There will also be camping trips, summer camps, hopefully a job, and a lot more. But for today, I'm mostly calling around for Drivers Ed classes, and relaxing.
It's hard to believe that my Sophomore Year of high school is nearly over. It's been a crazy busy year, but it seems like it just flew by. This year also had a lot of firsts for me.
Last fall, I took my first college class. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, and I became really good friends with a girl from my class at Franklin University named Britnie "Bree" Reed.
This year, I took yearbook for the first time. (And I'm going to be Editor next year XD)
This year, I got my temps for the first time, and started driving.
This year, I changed my bedroom to the colors blue and green (my favorite colors) for the first time.
This year, I got my first Facebook account. (And with that, my first email account).
This year, I taught myself HTML, and kept the yearbook website up to date.
This year, I created the first ever website for my church.
This year, I slow danced for the first time (with someone who is just a friend, though).
This year, I started my first blog :-)
I seem to have had a lot of firsts this year.... Can't wait to see what next year brings! :-)
Ciao!
Last night was the Top 15 Banquet where the Top 15 students of our class are recognized in an awards ceremony with a fancy dinner (and they had icecream with fudge and crushed up oreos as dessert- it was amazing). Right now I'm currently tied with a few other people for the spot of #1. Lauren Diaz and Brittany Bethel are the only two that I know of for sure, but there are probably a couple others.
Our yearbooks are also now in. the look amazing, and I've heard a lot of praise for them. They look really professional, yet they're interesting and fun. I helped count out the yearbooks and I'm helping to deliver them to various students. I also got the amazing news that I'm going to be an Editor-in-Chief next year! I'm extremely excited! XD I'll share the position on Editor-in-Chief with our current Editor, Danielle Bixler. I'm really happy to get the position, and I feel like my hard work's paid off.
For anyone who hasn't already heard form the news, there has been a tragedy in Costa Rica involving a local missionary group. The missionary group is Impulse Missions, and my church is deeply involved with this group. No one from our church had actually been able to go on this trip, but many of our close friends from fellow churches went.
Over the past two weeks, I had been receiving many updates from our friends on the trip to Costa Rica via Facebook. I saw many posts about how much fun it was to play with the kids at the school they were invited to teach at, and how the faith of those people was amazing. This week was supposed to be their last week down there.
Unfortunately, on Wednesday, a group of students who had gone on the trip decided to cool off and have fun in the water. No one warned them about the strong Costa Rican tides. Five students were sucked under, and two were pulled from the water unharmed. The other three students consisted of 17 year old Caity Jones, 16 year old James Smith, and 16 year old Kai Lammar. Caity was pulled from the water Wednesday, but by the time that the rescue efforts had gotten to her, she had already drowned. The other two were missing. As of yesterday, only James's body was found. He too had drowned. The search for Kai is still going on, but he is feared dead. It is extremely sad for everyone involved with these students, Impulse Missions, and central Ohio in general. I did not know any of the students that either drowned or went missing, but I still feel for their families.
While this is a tragic event, Impulse Missions will continue with its efforts. I myself had planned on traveling to Costa Rica for a missions trip next January (assuming my church and I can finally convince my parents). As long as the trip is not cancelled, I will continue to try and go on the trip.
Please keep the families of Caity Jones, James Smith, Kai Lammar, and all of the people invovled with the Impulse Missions in your prayers.
Happy late Easter! I had a great Easter weekend. It started last Friday, Good Friday, when I had no school and went shopping with my mom at Tuttle mall. It was there that I got to choose my Easter gift, a new book :-) On Saturday, I went down to my family's farm in Southern Ohio. They had severe flash floods, so everything was kind of washed out. I still got to see a lot of my family members who I don't get to see very often, so it was worth it! I also drove us everywhere while we were down there. I ended up having to drive through some minor flooding on some roads (it was that or be trapped for who knows how long before the water resided- the rain isn't supposed to let up for another week). On Easter Sunday, I went to church like I do every Sunday, and we had a special Easter service. After church, my family got together and we all had a large Easter dinner- yum!
Yesterday and the day before were busy days for the Yearbook Staff. The actual book is done, but that doesn't mean our work is done. Because we have a spring delivery, we have to finish the book before the end of the school year. Spring activities usually don't make the cut into the book. (Next year that's going to change, though. We're getting Fall Delivery!!! XD)
The Spring Supplement will cover all spring activities up through the end of the school year. It's only going to be 24 pages long, and we have many things that need to be covered in the Spring Supplement. We split up the spreads, and these are the spreads I'm doing this year:
- Softball (by myself)
- Top 15 (with Gabby)
- NHS (with Gabby)
- Senior Awards (with Ari)
You can only order Spring Supplements through Franklin Heights High School, not online. You can get more information about the Spring Supplement and the Yearbook in general at http://www.fhhsyearbook.com/.
While randomly looking through the posts of blogs I follow, I found that Lisa Desrochers is having a contest to give away an advanced copy of Original Sin, the sequel to Personal Demons.
This contest will also give the winner a signed copy of Demon Glass by Rachel Hawkins. Demon Glass is a Hex Hall novel.
The chances of you being the winner are increased each time you do something to help promote the book. The scoring is as follows:
Old blog follower: +3 points
New blog follower: +2 points
"Like" the Personal Demons Books Facebook page +2 Follow me on Twitter (@LisaDez) +2 points
Link to my contest post on your blog or twitter: +1 point
Dedicated post with link to my contest on your website/blog: +3 points
Add me to your blogroll: +2 points Original Sin widget in your blog sidebar +2
It's been a while since I last posted, but I've been pretty busy and I just got a Facebook for the first time, so I've been having fun with that. Anyways, this week was my Spring Break, and I spent Monday through Wednesday afternoon with my grandparents on my Mom's side. (They don't have internet). Wednesday evening I visited my Great Aunt Sandi in a local nursing home for her 65th birthday. Almost my whole family (on my dad's side) was there. Thursday I mostly spent with my Grandma on my Dad's side, who I don't get to see very often. We visited my Aunt Sandi again, too. Both of my Grandmas let me drive their cars, and both seem to think I'm a good driver (at least that's what they say to me). Today I got to drive in my family's 2001 Ford Expedition. It's the same size as the F-150 Truck, or something like that. It's an SUV. But the point is that it was the first time that I had drove anything other than a small car. I did pretty well except for parking, and my turning was a little wide. Oh well, those things can be fixed. I also got to drive my mom to Flyers Pizza to get dinner. I managed to go through the drive thru without damaging anything :-)
I've had an incredibly busy week. To start off with, a huge deadline in yearbook was Tuesday night (the entire book was due), so I spent my lunch helping Mrs. Mann, my yearbook teacher, and I stayed after school until 5. (And school's over at 3:20). The systems started messing up, and we weren't able to get anything done later that night. The senior pictures were the only thing that needed to be completed. So yesterday I spent my lunch helping Mrs. Mann again. I also finished my work early in History (which I have right before Yearbook) and I was able to leave the class early and work on yearbook stuff for 15 minutes. On top of that, I stayed after school until 4.
I also had French club yesterday from 3:30-4:30. I only went to the second half, though, because I spent the first half working on yearbook. It was fun, and we ate French cookies.
A huge change that happened this week happened on Monday evening. My dad randomly came up to me and said "I've been thinking about it, and I'm going to let you have a Facebook if you want." I've never been allowed to have a Facebook, so it was really cool. I set it up, and made it have the strictest security settings possible. I don't want people I don't know seeing that much about me. I also have been getting lots of friend requests, which is nice :-)
Thankfully, Spring Break is next week! I can't wait to be able to sit back and relax. Ciao!
As I told you all in an earlier post, I now have my temps (meaning I can drive if I have one of my parents in the car with me). On Sunday, I went out to an empty parking lot with my dad, and he helped me mostly with how much pressure to apply to the brakes and gas. After that I went out driving around town for about an hour and a half. It was so much fun! The fastest I went was 50 mph on a back country road (and that was the speed limit). I was driving in my grandma's car because all of the cars my parents have are either supercharged mustangs (not good to learn to drive in), or enormous SUVs (not good to learn in either).
Tonight I went to a spaghetti dinner at my church, and then went over to my grandparents' house. My grandpa let my drive the car over there. It was awesome, and I was even able to back the car up in their long driveway.
Well, today is the 16th wedding anniversary of my mom and dad (yes, both are biologically my parents). They actually started dating on March 19, 1991. They were both 13 years old and in the eighth grade. They wanted to get married on March 19th, but that fell on a Sunday in 1995, and they wanted the wedding to be on a Saturday, so they went with the day before.
Well, my dad took my mom out for dinner and a movie to celebrate their anniversary (after he bought her roses, a helium filled balloon proclaiming "Happy Anniversary!" and a big, fancy card that cost like $5 (that's a lot for a card)). I babysat my brother while they went out. Well, it was more of, Bowen will sit and watch TV or play his video games and I'll read or play on my laptop. I cooked us both pizza, but he ate most of it.
For anyone who doesn't know OGT stands for the Ohio Graduation Test. There are five of these tests all Sophomores in the state of Ohio must take and pass- Reading, Math, Writing, Science and Social Studies (the OGTs for this week are in that order). Students take the OGTs for the first time in March of their Sophomore year. If they do not pass the OGTs in March, they are given the opportunity to try again in the fall of their Junior Year. If they do not pass them in the fall, they can take them yet again with the Sophomores in March. If they still fail them (at this point it's just plain pathetic), they can try again in the fall of their Senior Year. If they fail them yet again they can take them in March with the Sophomores. If they fail them yet again, A) They've reached beyond pathetic status and B) You can't graduate and C) You probably won't be getting a job anytime soon.
The OGTs have a reputation for being extremely easy. And so far, I must agree. Much of the math and reading was stuff we should have known in middle school...maybe even intermediate. If you find that offensive, too bad. And besides, the ACT (American College Testing) and SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Tests) are far more difficult than the meager OGTs. But on the plus side, we get shortened periods and reading time (once we're done with the tests). It's great because I got the third book in the Hunger Games Trilogy (Mockingjay), yesterday morning, and was able to finish it before I went to bed. Today I have the book Max by James Patterson, and I'm loving getting to spend more time to read it.
Another bonus is that my math class (first period) celebrated Pi Day today (even though it was actually yesterday). We celebrated it so that we wouldn't have to do any more math today after the Math OGT (thanks Mrs. Highman :-)
Well, to start off with, this week has completely SUCKED!!! (It seems like I've had a lot of sucky weeks lately) The worst thing that has happened this week, by far, it my friend's dad's death. I'm not going to say my friend's name (for privacy reasons), but today was the showing/funeral. To make things even worse, on Monday is my friend's Sweet Sixteenth Birthday, and Wednesday is her sister's 17th birthday. I went over to her house last night, and went to the showing today, and plan to go to her house again tonight. I also plan to go over to her house on her birthday. I brought her all her favorite snacks (courtesy of our group) in a wicker basket to her last night, along with two cards signed by our classmates. She loved them. She's doing pretty well, all things considered, which is very good. If the person I'm talking about is reading this now: I'm always here for you. <3
On of the lesser things that made this week suck is the fact that I think I failed my Chemistry test yesterday. I've been super stressed all week long, and when I looked at the test it was like I had never seen the stuff before in my life. It was awful. I ended up guessing like the entire way through the test. The worst part is, that if I failed that test, I'm going to struggle with my grade for the entire six weeks. Tests are 100 points, and in comparison, homework is usually around 8 points. So it's really hard to make it up when you bomb one of the tests.
To end my crappy week, I had a problem with my purse. At the end of 8th period (My Yearbook Class), I realized that my backpack and purse were not where I had set them at the beginning of the period. I found my backpack in the corner of the room, but my purse was nowhere to be found. I was positive that I had brought it to Yearbook, but I went to check my 7th period class as the dismissal bell rang. It wasn't there, and the teacher said he hadn't seen it, nor had anyone turned it in. I went to check with the main office to see if anyone had turned in a purse, but no one had. I then realized that I had already missed my bus, and I ran back up to the Yearbook room to see if Danielle, my yearbook editor, could give me a ride home. No one was in the room. At that point I started freaking out, because I had missed my bus, had no ride, lost my purse (which had in it my cell phone, iPod touch, wallet and graphing calculator), and had no way to call for anyone. A teacher noticed me in the hall, and asked what was wrong. I asked if he had seen Mrs. Mann, my yearbook adviser, and he said he hadn't, but he would help me look for her. We finally found her, and I was completely freaking out. She told me not to worry, that she would give me a ride home, and we could stay and look for my purse. We searched all over the school, but couldn't find it. Then we went back into the Yearbook room to search some more, and we ended up finding it in the Read 180 Crate thing. We don't know who moved it there or why. But all my stuff was still there, at least.
When I got home, I ended up talking to my mom about all of the stressful craziness that's going on in my life today. Talking to her always makes me feel better.
Well, here's to hoping for a better week next week! Ciao!
I'm not sure if there's anyone who doesn't know about the enormous earthquake and tsunami that happened in Japan, but here's some basic info just in case:
1. The Earthquake hit at 2:46 p.m. (12:46 a.m. ET).
2. It was an 8.9-magnitude.
3. Waves reached heights of 30 feet.
4. All transportation methods have been shut down (airports, trains, etc.)
5. The death toll is predicted to rise over 1,000.
6. Waves reached up to 8 feet in both Hawaii and on the Western Coast of the US
7. Tsunami warnings went out to 50 countries and territories
From http://www.cnn.com/
Here is a video from YouTube that summarizes many different news stations' reports and footage:
It's so sad what has happened today in Japan. My heart goes out to those who have been affected by this disaster. It's crazy how many natural disasters have been occurring lately. It's depressing, too. My best wishes goes out to Japan, and to the large clean up that is ahead of them.
As you can probably guess, I've been able to get my hands on some awesome books lately. One of those books is the sensational bestseller, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I started reading this book in a reading group for English class, actually. In the Accelerated English II class at my school, the students get to choose what books they want to read in our groups. The books have to be ones the teacher approves of, and ones that the teacher can get multiple copies of. A large amount of the class wanted to read The Hunger Games, so here we are.
I was not able to put this book down! There was a large air of suspense to this novel, and it was a complete page-turner. The story revolves around a sixteen-year-old girl named Katniss Everdeen, who volunteers to take the place of her 12-year-old sister, Primrose, in the vicious gladiator-style Hunger Games. The entire novel circles around Katniss and her realization of how truly corrupt her government is. She also experiences what is means to look after someone as she and the fellow "tribute" from her district, Peeta, have to work together. And as for Peeta, well he might be a bit more interested in Katniss than she's like to believe.
As the series goes on the stance is clear: Down with the Capitol!
Back of Book Description:
Winning Means Fame And Fortune.
Losing Means Certain Death.
The Hunger Games Have Begun...
In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.
Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards is as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before- and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.
Reviews:
"A violent, jarring, speed-rap of a novel that generates nearly constant suspense.... I couldn't stop reading."
~Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly
"I was so obsessed with this book.... The Hunger Games is amazing."
~Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight Saga
"Brilliantly plotted and perfectly paced."
~John Green, The New York Times Book Review
Cover Art of The Angel Experiment:
Book 1 of the Maximum Ride Series
Hey Everyone,
Have you ever read a book that's been popular for a while and went "What took me so long to read this?" Well, I have just experienced that feeling, yet again, while reading the Maximum Ride Series by James Patterson. The series circles around "The Flock": A group of six bird-kids (98% Human, 2% Bird) who have escaped from the "Whitecoat" evil scientists who are determined to study them with cruel methods. (For example- they were raised in dog cages). The main character is a girl named Maximum, who goes by Max. She is the oldest of the group, at 14. Fang, her second-in-command, and sometimes love interest, is also 14 (a few months younger than Max, though). He's kind of quiet, but when he has something to say, it's very powerful. He is also extremely stubborn. Then there's Iggy, who is 14 and blind (the whitecoats had tried to improve his night vision and made him permanently blind). He's a good cook and flier, surprisingly, and Max notes that the only time his blindness bothers him is when somebody in the flock forgets and moves the furniture or something (Book 1). Then there's Nudge, who is 11, and she is a little chatterbox. The flock refers to her as the Nudge Channel- all Nudge, all the time (Book 1). Then there's The Gasman, aka "Gazzy", who is eight, and has an unfortunate digestive problem that led to his namesake. Then there's Angel, and adorable little six year, who is Gazzy's biological sister (they are the only two related by blood). She is very gifted and can both see the future and read minds.
Note: The book description of Angel and Fang (Angel especially) is entirely different from the people in the video. I don't know why they chose the people they did. Angel is supposed to be an adorable little girl with curly blond hair and blue eyes. Oh well. Besides the fact that they got the character descriptions wrong, I think they're really awesome.
