Today DedeMaddieOlivia made a list of all the scandal in our life.
42 things. I am at liberty to list one: "...and she doesn't intend to again".

3 more years 3 more years 3 more years... wait.. THREE?!
There are:
100 freshman
I like:
5 freshman

Dear 95% my class: get better, or let me get older.

they should let me go.
they should beat me for writing this.
...a good beating should rid me of this inexplicable sense of entitlement.

I was at Deniz's house. But it was in Turkey. All of his Turkish relatives were there, and everyone was celebrating Christmas. I fell in love with one of Deniz's relatives, but he told me that if I wanted to be with him I would have to marry him, because he wanted commitment. I told him I wasn't ready for marriage, and i left and went to a concert venue (reminiscent of the cradle... but much more like a high school auditorium.) I met maddie there, and she told me to get backstage, and hurry. The show was about to start. I obeyed and hurried up there only to find that I was the lead singer in a band. I didn't know the words to the song, and I was supposed to be playing guitar. I tried to fake playing guitar, only to look down and realize that it was upside-down and backwards. I also kept getting too close to the front of the stage and falling off. The audience was booing and yelling at me. I ran backstage, upset with maddie for setting me up for such failure. Why would she do tha- BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP.

Oh, alarm clock.

I'm in a temporary state of euphoria. The reason? Wicked. Yes, the musical. If you know me, you might know that it is my favorite musical and that Idina Menzel, the star, is sort of an idol of mine.

Such talent should be revered!
...But not at $150 a seat to see Wicked in Gershwin theatre.

This is where the wonder of Google helps me out. Someone most talented snuck a camera into the audience, and for your viewing pleasure on Google Video is the 2 1/2 hour performance, in its entirety. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, Wicked is the story of the wicked witch of the west (elphaba) and the good witch of the east (galinda) before Dorothy came to Oz. In a nutshell, elphaba isn't evil. She's actually the daughter of the Wizard of Oz (her mother had an affair... I assume to symbolize the wickedness of her mother's deeds elphaba is green.) But neither she nor the Wizard knows that until the very end when he thinks she's dead. Her sister, Nessarose, gets the ruby slippers and once the house lands on her elphaba wants the shoes back as a keepsake to remember her sister by. (in Elphaba's words... "What kind of person steals shoes off a dead woman?!") But she instead is 'foiled' and melts. Actually that's a trick. Elphaba doesn't die. She realizes that she will never be able to live in peace with all of Oz against her (because of false crimes blamed on her by the wizard, who fears her because he is a powerless fraud) so she fakes her own death to be able to run away and live with Fiero, the scarecrow (turned as such by the wizard when he refused to tell of Elphaba's whereabouts. At one point, the husband to Galinda... but obviously that didn't work out). There's a lot of other plot I could get in to... but really I'm lucky that you've read this far.

If you've got 2 1/2 spare hours and a tolerance for pixilated film:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8246520634552587712&q=wicked

If you've only got a few minutes:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9152881016649431461&q=wicked

I think i shouldn't wait another 4 years until i see my grandparents again. I went to see my granddaddy john and grandma Wendy today up in Galax, VA. I've noticed a trend in cities that are close to Galax. "Hillsville, 10 miles" "Statesville, 40 miles" "Wytheville, 70 miles". Then of course there's High Point, Low Gap, and Fancy Gap. They're pretty amusing to talk to (my grandparents)... i don't know why I’ve been avoiding them for so long. My grandpa is stuck in a time warp. He talks a lot about politics, but most of those politics involve Richard Nixon. "Well you know it was all those damn liberal lefty's faults...” A phrase he uses with almost indecent looseness. It was a miracle my sister didn't jump up and start ranting about gay rights and other such "liberal lefty" topics. I guess a main reason for avoiding them is the fact that whenever I see them I am subject to eating at their favorite restaurant, "The County Line". In Granddaddy John's words, "just simple southern cookin'".

...They use freeze dried beef to make the hamburgers. It comes in a package that looks very similar to dog treats. I'd rather eat a mayonnaise brownie.

One of Galax's great attractions (apart from the first-class eating establishments) is the community museum of Galax. It's got a lot of stuff of my grandpa and great grandpa's. They were big hunters.
Among the various elk/moose/bear/mountain goat/ram heads, there is also:

Stuffed bald eagle (currently endangered)
Stuffed 11' tall Kodiak bear
Baby seal hide
Skull from a whale + a black and white photo of the proud hunter and his catch
Leopard pelt (currently endangered)

There are also local donations, such as:

Ninja stars (label: "dangerous objects to be thrown")
A spiky goth bracelet (label: "a dangerous bracelet")
Nazi propaganda/pins
Small glass bottles filled with amber liquid. Bottles labeled "poison".

...I could spend an entire day there and never get bored.

Olivia informs me that it will be a year this Christmas since the tsunami. It seems like such a short time ago when that happened. It's not a good feeling to know that entire years are passing so fast with little significant change... pretty soon I’ll just live alone in a house with 20 or 30 cats and talk to myself. No, wait. That will be Olivia.

5 YEARS AGO...

How old were you?: 9

What school year were you in?: 4th grade

Where did you go to school?: Durham academy (lower school)

Where did you work?: child labor laws prevented that.

Where did u live?: Durham, NC

Where did you hang out? oh, all the hip joints. the tire swing, the back woods (being a frontiersman), the monkey bars.

How was your hairstyle?: I was often mistaken for a little boy. It was a bowl cut that barley came past my ears.

Did you wear braces?: no

Did you wear glasses?: no but I wanted them so badly! I lied to the optometrist when he did the eye exam on me... unfortunately when he examined my eyes my lie was exposed.

Who was your best friend?: Sarah sessoms

Who was your boyfriend/girlfriend?: after that heartbreaking split with worth in kindergarten, I was turned off men for a few years.

Who was your celebrity crush?: Lance Bass

Who was your regular-person crush?: I can't remember... although at the end of 4th grade it was most definitely gate Jones, (I remember this because I slapped David Lopez-l at the end of the year for making fun of me for liking him).

How many did you have?: well, I can only recall one.

What was your favorite band?: britney spears

What was your biggest fear?: robbers (still an inexplicably great fear of mine)

Had you smoked a cigarette yet?: no, I wasn't that kind of 9 year old.

Had you gotten drunk or high yet? no, I had eaten some glue though.

Had you driven yet?: yeah, my bike was the best on the block.


TODAY…

How old are you?: 14

What school year are you in?: 9th

Where do you go to school?: Durham academy

Where do you work?: nowhere, I’m such a lazy bum.

Where do u live? Durham, no

Where do you hang out?: friends houses, Franklin street... theatre after school. arts center on the weekends.

How is your hairstyle?: medium length, layered, and wavy.

Do you wear glasses?: no

Who is your boyfriend/girlfriend?: single (I guess I never got over that worth thing... ha.)

Who is your celebrity crush? Jake gyllenhaal, tom welling.

Who is your regular-person crush?: hm.

What is your favorite band?: ah, don't make me choose. I guess currently I’ve been listening to a lot of belle and Sebastian/beck/magnetic fields... a consistent has been Jeff Buckley.

What is your biggest fear?: robbers.

Had you smoked a cigarette yet?: yeah, it's not worth the nasty teeth and black lungs.

Have you gotten drunk or high yet?: yeah.

Have you driven yet?: no, well golf carts...

I learned two things I would have been better off not knowing today.

One pertains to the "top secret" ingredients in a Macaroni Grill brownie,
The other pertains to my father preferred shopping outlets with regards to his girlfriend.

...They put mayonnaise in the brownie to make it creamier.

Yes, I said it. Although if that's not bad enough, the waiter wouldn't tell me the "top secret" ingredient until after the brownie was gone. I contemplated many options, applesauce, "love", lard... all of those seemed perfectly reasonable. No. I think he got real personal satisfaction to see the look on my face when he told me I had just eaten a brownie full of mayonnaise.

"That's why we tell you after you've eaten it..."

I am feeling less motivated with every assignment.
exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams exams

I will be posting once the work is done.