Oh say can you see?!

Today. Was another good day.

I sang the National Anthem at our school's first football game of the season and basically, I ROCKED THE WHOLE WORLD AROUND. As in, I hit the high notes, I didn't sing any flats, and people kept telling me that they didn't know I could sing like that.

(Best. Compliment. EVARRRRR.)

So that's my wonderous news of the day.

I would write more, but I have a book that I've been dying to read all week, but haven't been able to because I've been doing my homework and then promptly crashing.

Erhm... Low what?

So. Most of you know me as my name. Stefanie.

A good percentage of you might know me as Ivy.

An even smaller percentage of you know me as Louella Soames, Nerissa, or (lucky, lucky me!) Mrs. Bascombe.

But be prepared, my friends, for the ultimate character.

Lowbutt.

(Why do I all of a sudden have an urge to Pop, Lock and Drop it?)

Casting was posted today, and I scored the character of the Queen of the Barnyard's friend. Which is apparently a good character, although I have NO IDEA what it entitles, but I do have a few solos.

I have a feeling I will be the butt of all jokes this semester.

(Hahaha! ANOTHER funny. I am on a roll!)

On being made of Awesome

So I've told you about this podcast that I've become addicted to, and most days, the two brothers usually make some reference to how nerdfighters are made of awesome.

Well, yesterday, I was a pure ball of fiery awesome that was ROCKING THE WORLD.

Today, I am made of less awesome.

It's not that today was any worse than yesterday (except block physics (DEVIL SUBJECT).... blech.) But I just don't have the same pizzaz as I did yesterday.

But on the other hand, I have different fingers.

(har har har, I made another funny.)

I had a choir rehearsal (which went great) and because of some accompaniment issues, we're singing the mass entirely acapella. Which should be great... I think we sound really good!

Tomorrow I find out what I am cast as. Cross your fingers!

Today. Is a good day.

You know how people say that sometimes, where they pause between the "Today" and "Is a good day" almost as if they're two entirely different sentences.

So today is overall one of those days.

I ROCKED AT AUDITIONS TODAY.

I hit the high F that we have to hold for 10 beats (count 'em.) and I sang without my voice cracking or dying or otherwise being bad. And the music director even nodded her head and gave me the thumbs up sign. Which makes me practically the ULTIMATE OF ALL ULTIMATES right now.

And plus I made a funny.

Mr. Klousia was asking some people to say some of the lines from the show (the musical is called Honk! by the way) just so he could hear them say it, but after my friend Alycia sang, he said, "I don't know what to give you, so I'll get back to you later." And he did the same for me and said, "You're in the same boat as Alycia." and so when I walked off stage, I ran toward her and squealed, "We're in the same boat!!!" and everyone laughed. So while that isn't necessarily hilarious, it just added to the amount of Awesome that I seem to be made up of today. (All nerdfighters are made out of Awesome.)

And the only shadow on my day was that my Sty (I have a sty in my eye and a cat in my hat... erhm... which now that I read it isn't as funny as when I said it this morning.) hasn't gone away and has actually seemed to get worse. Ow.

But the cast list will be posted on thursday and I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!

(HOOOORAAAAAAAYYYY!!!)

Kind of like an old chevy

I'm falling apart right now, and I feel like I'm one of those old cars that, once one problem emerges, a thousand others follow.

So I got a bruise the other day while I was swimming (my head collided with my friends VERY SHARP hipbone. Owieee...)

Then, I cut myself while cooking last night.

I have a sty (Possibly pink eye? Of course picture day is Wednesday!) and it hurts to blink.

My foot hurts (But nothing new. It's been like this for months.)

I ran into my kitchen counter this morning (another bruise).

OH... and to top it off. I got the mother of all nosebleeds WHILE I WAS DRIVING HOME. People probably thought I was an idiot, clutching a napkin to my nose while driving home.

So there you have it. I am falling apart.

(Oh, and I keep coughing because of my allergies.)

Okay, I swear I'm done now.

HAH. I did it.

So I'm going to admit something a teensy-weensy bit embarrassing.

I failed a lot of English last year.

Not because I couldn't handle the material, but because in that class I had a REALLY BAD case of senioritis a good portion of the year. I'm an English geek. An English nerdfighter, if you will. But I'm sorry. Huck Finn and the Scarlet Letter aren't the most exciting books to read. Sure, they are good books, but at age 16? You seriously can't expect me to read, comprehend, care, AND write an essay about it. And last year's English class was about Rhetoric. It's great and all, but to be honest, I stand with Sophocles on this one.

But at least for today, I've broken that barrier and have OFFICIALLY READ WHAT I'M SUPPOSED TO READ ON TIME. (ish.) I just read the 100 pages (of our summer reading book which was, well, supposed to be summer reading,) that we're being quizzed over tomorrow.

And I can't seem to decide whether I like the book or not.

The book is called Never Let Me Go by Katzuo Ishiguro and it's almost like it's a reflection of this one woman's life from when she was in school. Almost as if you're sipping coffee together and she's telling you her life story. (but she's got an ongoing monologue thing going...) The entire book, she'll be talking about one subject but then that will remind her of something else and she'll go off on that tangent for a while, realize that she got distracted, and then go back to the original subject.

At this point, I would shrug.

I've heard a bunch of people in my class say things from "OMIGOD that book was SOOOO boringg!" to "It was a quick read." and then to "I don't get it."

Well, I think I like the book...

Grawarrrr...

Gack. Yuck. Eew.

Okay, it's not that bad.

But I'm only halfway through my physics (DEVIL SUBJECT) homework and while physics (DEVIL SUBJECT) isn't too bad (IT IS), I don't want homework on the first day. I already have a page of notes on 4 pages in our textbook (DEMON BOOK).

On the plus side, I feel pretty!

I felt a little bit like a model today when I had a photoshoot with my family because it's my dad's first anniversary with my stepmom and they want some nice follow-up photos.

So there were some good ones of me.

Hooray.

When I get those, I'll post some up for yall to see.

Anyway. Back to physics (DEVIL SUBJECT).

Um, what?

I would just like to point out that while I am writing this post, I have yet another headache, and any profanity which results for it I am (mostly) not responsible for.



Except that this time, I believe I have nabbed the culprit:

The Cinema!!!



(GASP?!)

The other night (on the other occasion I did have a headache) I had gone to see a movie with a friend. I did the same tonight, and ever since then I've had this persistent headache. So what I figure is that I've just been a very bad girl and not worn my glasses. Which I don't look terrible in, but, well, you be the judge.






(Personally, I think I look a little librarianesque...)

But, before I surrender to another early night, lookit what I did!!!

Cables!!! (Bad picture sorry. And do ignore the sheets which have been circulating since my brother was BORN.)

Diary of a Scarf

So this I've been planning on doing for a LONG time and I've really enjoyed taking pictures along the way and doing all of that. It turns out that I have one very rebellious scarf...

Enjoy!

------------------------------------------------------

Dear Diary,

I was made today and was wound up tightly into a ball. It was a little rough, and it hurt when they cut my ends off, but now that it’s over and I’m nestled up against other skeins of me, I am fine.

---

Dear Diary,
I was put into a box and went on my very first trip! They put me on display in a shelf and I can see the whole world around me. There are lots of other yarns around me, all very different despite the fact that we’ll probably all end up being knitted or used in some way. I kind of like a ball of yarn right across the aisle. He keeps on winking at me and smiling.

---

Dear Diary,
My object of affection was bought today, and already the world is a little more bleak.

---

Dear Diary,
People keep picking me up and touching me, turning me every which way until I am dizzy and nuzzling me against their faces. It is very strange... I am not sure I like being a skein anymore.

---

Dear Diary,
Today my Knitter bought me! She paid $7.94 for me and I love her already. She sat down and cast on,

but then she realized that she wanted to watch a movie while knitting me and I experienced the first of many separation anxieties of my life. I was worried when she didn’t come back very soon, but I soon felt much better when she came back and put in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to watch. It has become my favorite movie. Look at me!

---

Dear Diary,
My knitter isn’t that nice with me sometimes. She’s got me in her bag and keeps lugging me back and forth between two houses, where I am brought out and paraded around. I keep hearing the word “Sock” from a lady who I am pretty sure is a little bit bonkers (What is a sock, anyway?), and then my Knitter will laugh and say, “Come look at my scarf! It’s growing already!” when the Bonkers-Sock-Lady will come and pick me up. I don’t like my Knitter’s bag. It’s stuffy and I have to keep company with her wallet and cell phone, who are not the nicest of people. The cell phone is a little profane sometimes, and the wallet is very materialistic.

---

Dear Diary,
I feel very alone.

Sometimes my knitter will take me out and put me beside her computer and instead of knitting me she’ll play this game with an imaginary person that she controls. She has me to control! Why seek other ways to manipulate? Aren’t I enough?!

---

Dear Diary,
I am very happy today!! My knitter put on another movie and knitted me for a long time!! Look!

Perhaps I’ll be able to snare her in for longer than a few hours at a time! (I am very hopeful about this.)

---

Dear Diary,
I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS. My knitter would rather READ than knit me! I am OUTRAGED.

---

Dear Diary,
I have discovered a wonder today. My knitter has a brother! So when she wasn’t looking, I sneaked a cuddle...

Then she saw me and chastised me and put me in her bag for a long time... Is this what being grounded is like?

---

Dear Diary,
There’s more than one male in my Knitter’s household! I found this one in her ROOM.

---

Dear Diary,
My Knitter cannot believe I would sneak a cuddle with cardboard. What is cardboard? She put me in a box with, and I could not believe this, ANOTHER scarf. What a traitor! My Knitter has more than one scarf! Adulterous woman...

---

Dear Diary,
I have found something else to cuddle with! This one was soft, and not at all stiff like the cardboard one in my Knitter’s room. I actually took a nice nap with this one.

I hope I get to go back and nap with this thing again...

---

Dear Diary,
My Knitter finished me today! It was a joyous day, full of merriment and much dancing. So while my Knitter went out to celebrate, she left me to my own devices for a while.

And...

Well...

Just can't resist

I... erhm... had a bit of an accident today.

I made the mistake of "ducking in" to Hobby Lobby this afternoon on the way home from my aunt's house. (I guess the term "ducking in" is used very loosely here. Can one "duck in" for an hour?) I stopped in to see if I could find an iron-on pattern for the messenger bag I picked up at Target today. It was just a simple black denim, kind of faded at the front (for the life of me I cannot find a photo of it on Target.com) and it was a little... I dunno... dull. But it suits my uses perfectly. It's big. It's durable (the key!) and it's going to fit all of my books and stuff that I have to haul to school and back every day. But it's just a bit dull all by itself. So at Hobby Lobby I found a lovely iron-on velvet design that says "Dreamer" on it, and the "d" is all big, loopy and fanncy-lookin'. So I ironed that on and it looks about 110% better already. I'm going to bring it over to my dad's house sometime so that I can do some other snazzy things to it (beadwork and the like) and my stepmom will help me do it.

But as I was in Hobby Lobby, I all of a sudden was wrenched away from the beads and from the ribbon and the iron-ons, and all of a sudden I found myself in the yarn isles. There are two of them devoted to yarn. Just two... but somehow I can spend about half an hour just touching the yarn and looking at the price tags. There's this one type of yarn called 'Aurora' yarn which I absolutely covet. As in, I walk by every time I'm in Hobby Lobby and touch it and then end up walking away because it's $8.19 a skein. (This is when I send "Sale" vibes toward Hobby Lobby). But they had some elf eyelash yarn on sale for $.99, so I bought two tiny little skeins and while the picture isn't the exact colors I bought, you get the idea of what it is. I also bought one of these and one of these to knit little purses for my babysitting charges because they saw the one I made for myself and nearly fell over each other asking me to do one for them (It was so cute and I was flattered.) But I have 2 million projects to do (mainly scarves) and those will be done by christmas (Please don't hold me to that.....)

Anyway, I'm going to do another post later tonight (tee he he) which I have been waiting like a month to do. The infamous Diary of a Scarf. But that has to be done when I'm home later where I have my camera.

My not-so-sock post

So I had every intention of writing a Sock Knitting post. (I started one today. It took me an hour to figure out, but eventually I did it. Although I'm still negotiating the whole 4 DPN thing...)

Except that every once and a while, this thing happens to me.

I get a headache.

And it's not exactly worth writing about, but I feel like writing a blog post before I go to bed, and whenever I try and think of something different my head pounds and reminds me why I'm lying in my bed with my laptop instead of at my desk.

I hate headaches. And while the ones that I get aren't bad, they are usually right at the front of my head and only go away when I close my eyes and sleep. So I know that when I wake up I'll feel fine, but I'm a teenager. I don't like sleeping (except when it's in the category of 'sleeping late') before midnight.

Guess I'll bend for tonight.

Pop, Lock and OW...

So I went to a dance party.

And there's one of those songs out right now called Pop, Lock and Drop It. And in the chorus, people dance it like the girls in the video.

Uh. OW! MY. LEGS. HURT. Considering the length and the amount of times they say "pop, lock and drop it" (Eighteen) that's a lot of pop, lock and drop its.

But I had a great time and danced from like nine pm until 11:20 when I realized I would be late getting home, considering I had to drive 15 miles to my dad's house, and then another 13 or so to get to Brandy's house and back to mine. (WHY CAN'T MY FRIENDS DRIVE THEIR OWN DAMN SELVES AROUND?!)

(As an iPod update, the song currently playing is 'Phantom of the Opera'.)

Geez. Don'tcha hate it when you shave your legs and then they ITCH CONSTANTLY.

Today was my (sniff) last day babysitting my girls (they're mine now.) and I'm really sad about it. So I got up early and I baked them cookies, forgot to bring them, left the oven on, and had to wake up my poor brother to get him to turn it off. But they got their cookies. And they're excellent, if I do say so, myself. I got a lovely card and some even more lovely sock yarn from them. And the card grants me loads of cuddle time with Thomas the BIG FAT CAT.


(I will be taking you up on that offer, Barb. That is, if I don't end up taking him altogether. Haha.)

(Alanis Morisette playing right now...)

Speaking of knitting (NO DON'T GO AWAY... darnit, I lost another reader...) if I'd known how many scarves I was going to knit and give away I probably wouldn't have started. Actually, that's not true. I'm a process knitter. The problem is finding time to actually do the process.

Anyway, I'm off to bed now. :)

(Now it's 'Midnight Show' by The Killers.)

Best. Thing. EVARRR.

Or that's how I'd say it if I were an idiot.


(Good thing I'm not.)


I have recently discoverd the most wonderful substance in the world.


ICED COFFEE.


I've... erhm... Had two since I got home at 4. (It's 8.)


Something I found odd. I was driving one of my babysitting charges to Randalls to get some groceries and I found myself behind this: (My image inserter isn't working right now and keeps freezing. Grrrr.)

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v112/TheHobbitIvy/?action=view&current=101_2748.jpg


Erhm. I'm in Texas. As in, mainland. This is a car with a Hawaii license plate. As in that place in the middle of the ocean with NO INTERCONNECTING HIGHWAY.


I just found that odd.


So at Seaworld the other day my phone (and my brother's phone) got wet. Eew. So I had that fixed today and it cost $50 for both of them. Compare that to three million dollars for a new phone and I'd say I got the better end of the deal.


Anyway... I'm watching Robin Hood, Men in Tights for the millionth time and I still think it's hilarious. Hooray!

I feel like a blubbering fool

I swear, I have a reason for it, though.

I went to seaworld with my family today, and we had a GREAT time. Like, it totally deserves the capital (capitol?) letters in the word 'great' because we really had a grand ole time. We went to shows and we went on rides (Dunc and I took Tom on his first roller coaster (the Great White) and he LOVED it) and then we ate a bit and went home. But somehow we arrived just before eleven and we left at six as they were announcing "seaworld is now closing, please make your way to the exits and have a great evening."

But the first thing we did was go and see Shamu in their show "Believe". I've seen it twice. And I cried a bit the first time, but today I just BAWLED. I could not stop crying while Shamu was jumping out of the water and when they dragged a kid down to the stage and gave him a chance to touch Shamu and have his dreames come true. (Hello!? What about my dream of working with Shamu? You know. That one. The one that I've had since I first freaking went to Seaworld.) My lip was quivering and everything. And then my brother made fun of me and so I hit him (lightly).

Something about that show just turns me into a sopping wet mass of tears. It just hits me hard every time I see it and it just plays my heartstrings.

So that's my blog. I'll see you tomorrow. :)

By the way, tomorrow is the "Lord of the Rings Marathon" day. Where my famliy all sits in front of the TV and we watch all three (extended) versions of the Lord of the Rings. I am SO looking forward to it!!!!!!!!

Web of Truth

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v112/TheHobbitIvy/?action=view&current=Web.jpg

I wanted to put it on this page, but instead you'll have to go and look at it all by yourself. Can I trust you not to wipe your greasy fingers on it? :)

I've watched Robin Hood, Men in Tights twice today and I've been giggling the entire time. Plus, it doesn't hurt that Cary Elwes was really cute then.

On a completely unrelated subject, my shoulders are peeling and it's BOTHERING ME SO MUCH.

And on another more unrelated subject than the previous completely unrelated subject, the green/pink/white/yellow scarf that you will be seeing in a blog very soon from now is waist height. Hooray!

Time for bed now. I'm reading Bridget Jones' diary, which is hilarious and I want to go read.

An iPod sampling

So this is one of those random posts where I just take up time and space because I don't want to go to bed right now.

So I'm going to put my iPod on random and see what I get and then document it for your viewing pleasure.

1) Best of Both Worlds - Hannah Montana
2) Chapter 20g - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
3) Somebody Else - Bleu
4) Down On My Head - Yellowcard
5) If God Will Send His Angels - U2
6) Two Hornpipes (Tortuga) - Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest
7) Come What May - Moulin Rouge
8) Almost - Bowling for Soup
9) I'm Not That Girl - Wicked
10) Learn To Be Lonely - Phantom of the Opera
11) I Love My Duck - Veggie Tales
12) Sonatina (Allegro) - Suzuki piano book III
13) Did Ye Get Healed? - Van Morrison
14) Can't Leave 'Em Alone - Ciara ft. 50 Cent
15) Under The Weather - KT Tunstall
16) Smell the Color Nine - Chris Rice
17) Field of Innocence - Evanescence
18) The Invisible Man - Queen
19) Fog Bound - Pirates of the Caribbean, The Curse of the Black Pearl
20) I Need A Hero - Shreck 2

So that about gives you a good sampling of my ipod. So out of those:

2 Christian songs
6 Soundtrack songs
4 Rock
2 Pop
1 Audiobook
1 Classical

And the rest I don't know how to categorize.

I think that's a pretty good sampling of my iPod.

I think it's funny that I have a whole playlist that is just of the Genre 'soundtrack'. And there are 628 songs in there. Out of 3154 songs. That's a good 19.78% of my music. And then Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix has 396 songs... that's 12.5%. And then after that, there's n other significant genre.

I should make a pie chart.

Actually, I would like pie right now.

A nice apple one.

There's one in my freezer.

But it's 12:42 and I'm tired and I drove like a million miles today, carting around my friends all over Austin.

(Barb, if I'm late in the morning, I'm filling up my gas tank and weeping at the loss of a good four hours work.)

Interview with a difficult character

So. Barb told me in a comment from my last poast that it was a good idea if I do a writing excercise of a conversation between me and my difficult character. So I did it interview-style and I had a lot of fun writing it. So here, for your reading pleasure, is the finished product:

-----

Me: “Okay Mckayla. You’re really frustrating me.”

Mckayla: “Yeah? Well you’re no help. Put me in something already!”

Me: “I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU WANT.”

Mckayla: “You want to know what I want? Romance, action, comedy, and please, a decent wardrobe.”

Me: “Hey I’m the author here. I make the decisions.”

Mckayla: “Says who?”

Me: “And where on earth did you get that sense of irony? I didn’t give you irony!”

Mckayla: “You didn’t give me it. However, you did give me a cat. How cliché!”

Me: “Then where did you get it?”

Mckayla: “Found it.”

Me: “Where?”

Mckayla examines her fingernails and ignores my question.

Me: “I’m not above spanking you,” I warn.

Mckayla: “You would spank me?”

Me: “Yes. I have ultimate power in this relationship.”

Mckayla: “I know you’ve been thinking about putting me in a Harry Potter fanfic. You’d be giving me a wand. Talk about ultimate power...”

Me: “Okay, so maybe that’s a bad idea. Maybe I should put you in another story and then KILL YOU.”

Mckayla: “You wouldn’t!”

Me: “I would. In the first chapter. No character development, no good scenes, no boyfriend...” I say offhandedly.

Mckayla plops down on a poofy chair.

Mckayla: “You’d think I’d have found a better author to write me by now.”

Me: “Hmm... What was that? Do I hear an attitude coming from you?”

Mckayla: “No... MOM.”

Me: “And was that sarcasm?”

Mckayla: “No.”

Me: “Then what was it?”

Mckayla: “Nothing, already!”

Me: “I swear that I can hear the unsaid words of ‘You’re ruining my life!’”

Mckayla: “Why would I say that since I have no life.”

Me: “You could. If you were a little nicer to me I might give you one.”

Mckayla sighs and rolls her eyes.

Me: “Just answer my questions, Mckayla. Nicely and with limited sarcasm please.”

Mckayla: “Fine. Shoot.”

Me: “Would you mind if I put you in a fanfic?”

Mckayla: “Shouldn’t you know that already?”

Me: “Limited. Sarcasm. Please.”

Mckayla: “No, I wouldn’t mind. In fact, I feel like I could do well in that Harry Potter genre.”

Me: “Good! Next question. How old are you?”

Mckayla: “I’m sixteen. And before you ask, my birthday is December 18.”

Me: “Okaaay... Next question: How many brothers and sisters do you have, and what are their names and ages?”

Mckayla: “I have four brothers. Daniel, Roderick, Peter, and Theodore, aged 14, 10 and 7. Peter and Ted are identical twins. No sisters... Unfortunately.”

I write all of this down.

Me: “Okay, and your parents?”

Mckayla: “Ted and Adrienne. They forbid me to tell you their ages.”

Me: “Same with my mom.” We both giggle. “Okay, so what are your favorite things to do?”

Mckayla: “I really like art. I can paint things and they practically come to life.”

Me: “And since you are going to be in Hogwarts, what is your favorite subject there?”

Mckayla: “Charms or transfiguration. I love both of them.”

Me: “Okay. So... I guess this is all I need from you right now. You can go back to wherever you were hiding before I summoned you!”

Mckayla: “Sweet! See ya in Vegas!”

Me: “Bye! ...Wait. Vegas? Let me come!!”

All dressed up and nowhere to go

Is kind of what I'm feeling like right now.

Except, I'm not dressed up and ready to go anywhere. I'm all ready to write something, and have nothing to write!

I've created this character. Her name is Mckayla Demont. I drew her (and her cat) and she's just standing there on the page, looking out across the page seeming to ask me, "Okay I'm bored. Put me somewhere already!" (And then her cat meows impatiently at me.)

But the problem is, I have nowhere to put her! I'm doing the whole "Open Word. Type chapter number. Wait for inspiration to come. While it's delayed, get a coffee, watch tv, come back to the computer and close the window. Rinse and repeat."

Anyway, I'm going to sleep on it. (Grrrrrr.)

Is this a: A) Mango or B) Heart?

So today while I was babysitting (surprise!!) one of my charges asked me to cut up a mango for her. And while I was cutting up the mango, I was holding it in my hand and the mango juice was dripping down into the sink and it was gooey and fleshy, and I thought to myself, "Hmm... this kind of feels like I'm some sort of Aztec priestess sacrificing someone's heart."

So what I want to know is: Who the heck actually thinks this when they're cutting up fruit?!

Could I be the reincarnation of an Aztec priestess (in which case: COOL!)

Or do I just have a hyperactive imagination (Sanity points to this option.)

Perhaps I'll just ponder this for a while...