Bert is Annoying Me

So I'm walking up the stairs and I see a piece of the ladder I had just made for my social studies project. My first thought was that someone threw my display down the stairs (sorry family, but you would do that in my mind.) When I looked down I did notice the ladder I had taken an hour to hot glue and cut together. I went into the room where I had left the display and saw only the ladder and the rabbit's foot missing (my project is on superstitions.) I had hung the rabbit's foot on the ladder. I went down the stairs to investigate (for the first time) and I see my ladder broken and the rabbit's foot was broken to pieces and covered with nothing other than cat slobber (it really was drenched, I'm using a hair dryer to dry it right now!) Bert comes up to me purring his life away thinking that nothing in the world is wrong and lays down beside me. He was the one who did it I know this because he's obsessed with rabbit's feet and Angel is scared of them. Now all I have to do is find the last piece of the rabbit's foot that wasn't with the others, find the chain that the rabbit's foot was hanging by, dry the foot which is taking FOREVER!!!!!! Oh did I mention that the rabbit's foot isn't even mine? It's my partner's (well my best friend's who I'm doing the project with's sister, but that isn't the point!) Maybe I should just get a new rabbit's foot and not tell her.........

An Update on my SUPER Exciting Life

This is an Update on my Super (not) Exciting (Still not) Life:

1.) My name is still Anna (if it's not then I've been putting the wrong name on all my papers)
2.) my birthday is this Thursday (I'll be 13)
3.) Dad let me drive the car around the church parking lot (putting heather, Sarah, and his lives in danger)
4.) We wondered where nonmembers learn to drive
5.) I have my mock trail class trail this Friday (I'm on both trails [there's the 6th grade trail and the joined 7& 8 grade trail] )
6.) my spelling still stinkz
7.) I like pi 3.1415926535897
8.) The vice principal still dislikes me for no apparent reason (must be because of something my siblings did...........)
9.) I'm 1st part/chair in both Jazz Band and Regular Band
10.) I need 4 more value projects for my personal progress church book thingy
11.) I only have 1 class with one of my best friends (and we don't even get to sit next to each other!!!!)
12.) I have a cough
14.) I think I might have triskaidekaphobia

School

Things I learned/ Noticed so far in 7th Grade:

1.) My science teacher is crazy
2.) Desks are unsanitary
3.) If you chew your tongue the teacher thinks your chewing gum (this happened to someone else)
4.) You go deaf for a while if the vice principal yells in your ear (this DID happen to me)
5.) The rule book says no knives that are under 3 1/2 inches are aloud at school (there's another rule saying no weapons, but I just thought that rule was funny)
6.) There's a typo in the rule book that's been there forever
7.) Band is loud
8.) If you're the only trombone in the class you get picked to solo a lot if your teacher also plays trombone
9.) Nouns are your friend
10.) There's a monster that runs around and steals your pencils
11.) If your smart you end up doing all the work in groups

And that's all I have learned so far (so things I relearned)

Okay.........

Tweedledum

Today I did something I never do, put in my contacts. My social studies teacher goes berserk when I wear them so I don't enjoy wearing them. That and the fact that they're really uncomfortable to put in.
Anyway, today during AA (the school claims it stands for Advisor/Advisee, but it really stands for Alcoholics Anonymous) the teacher had us play Quiet Ball. The game where nobody talks and the ball gets beemed at the people no one likes (luckily I'm not in that catogory.) When I got out (I didn't throw the ball far enough) this boy who is really annoying kept saying things like, "Anna, you look really rot without your glasses!", "Anna, will you marry me?", "Will you consider it?", "If I give you this mask will you marry me?" The mask was a mask he made in art, and it was really beat up and had holes. During all that time he was saying this I was ignoring him, because, well he's an idiot and he was said a bad word last week...... I don't think I'll wear my contacts again anythime soon.

Rain, rain, stay all day...

If you've read my mom's blog you know that we got off school today because of rain. We get out of school for everything. Snow, no snow, too cold, too hot, blocked parking lot, rain, if the superintendant is having a bad hair day, or even if they don't have enough subs. We get out a lot. Today when we woke up it was raining hard. Immediately, every student in the county's mind went to the same question "Is school cancelled yet?" There's a creek behind our school, and if the creek gets over the bridge, we can't have school. We went to seminary; when we came back it was still raining. In the parking lot at school, there was an alarminly small number of cars there. Today was Senior Skip Day. For those of you who don't know, this is a day when seniors skip. It is not sanctioned by the school. They announced it several times. Regardless, three pages of seniors were absent. We only had half our class in physics. In trig, we had mostly everyone. Our teacher was aware of the distraction, in the form of rain, that held the attention of the class. She told us to just accept that they would not cancel school and to just pay attention and learn our trig equations. Someone asked if they had ever made the student body stay after classes ended because they couldn't get out because of flooding. She laughed and said that they couldn't keep her, she was leaving. The interstate would have to close to keep her from getting home. Throughout the class, students that parking in the far back lot were called to move their cars. This has happened in years past. The bridge floods and no one can get out. Luckily, the seniors were gone, leaving their parking spots. Last year when this happened, some were not so lucky. They had to move their cars to the elementary school lot and ride a bus back to school. One kid's car actually started to float away. They didn't cancel school for that incident. Fifteen minutes before the end of second block, we were all starting to lose hope. They have to announce early dismissals before lunch. Then it came, the much anticipated announcement: Three hour early dismissal! Our trig teacher apologized for dashing our hopes. She was as excited as the rest of us. We went to lunch, and at the end of first lunch, the assistant principal announced that those who had cars could go ahead and leave. I found Nick, Sarah, and the two boys we take home and we were out of there. My feet did get wet though. I had to walk through three inches of water to get to the car. But, oh, it was worth it!

On a Roll

FYI this is Tweedledum, NOT Tweedledee. I'm 3rd chair trombone in the BMS Jazz Band and we know a total of three songs, 1 of which is a Christmas song. Our school concert is coming up and we are learning 'Stray Cat Strut'. Our band director decided we would learn 4 measures on Wednesday. We did learn 4 measures. It was the last four measures, too. I know the first 16 measures, add that to the four we learned in class, and that means I know 20 measures out of a 54 measure song! That really is an accomplishment for me. Most people wouldn't agree with me on that mainly because the first 16 measures in my part are rests, but for me, It really is an accomplishment!

Things I Should Be Able To Do

There are certain things that people just expect you to be able to do, like tell your left from your right, do basic arithmetic mentally, or navigate with a map. Well I can't do any of those things. It's not from lack of effort. I've tried a million mnemonic devices to try to tell which one is my left and which one is my right. But I still have to think about it. When I'm driving someone will say turn left and it's three seconds before it connects and I know which way to turn.

I also cannot do simple arithmetic in my head. I got a 97% on a geometry test once because I said that 6-1=4. Of course that was part of a much larger problem (I was determining what type of quadrilateral it was.) One would think that somewhere before I got to Trig I would have learned how to do that. I've gotten so that I can add most single digits, but when you start throwing in numbers over nine, I face a quandary of gigantic proportions. Usually I just get out my calculator (I love that thing!)

As for navigating, I've inherited all those skills (or lack of skills) directly from my mom. If you've ever been in a car with her, you know what I'm talking about. We get lost going to places we've been hundreds of times. Even if I have a map, I get lost. It's a curse. It's all my mom's fault.

Seminary

My mom commented the other day that it was a miracle that we (Sarah, Nick, and I) were all still alive. After dropping off Anna at the middle school, she sees us driving back from seminary on our way to the high school. I sit in the front seat with the seat reclined all the way back. Nick is usually lying down in the back seat and is also asleep. Sarah is hunched down in the driver's seat, so that you can only see her eyeballs peeking out over the steering wheel. It was decided that it is the blessings of seminary that keeps us all alive each morning.

Our seminary teacher is Brother Frame. He's a lawyer. He goes so in depth into everything that I don't think we will finish the New Testament. We're in 1st Corinthians right now, but that's only because we skipped half of Luke and all of John. We convinced him that they were like re-runs of Matthew and Mark. For the last two years he has been pretty lenient with attendance. So lenient, in fact, people who never once came got credit for the year. We have since corrected his ways and he now has nothing to do with attendance. Our secretary records it and Brother Frame's wife inputs it into the computer.

For half the year Nick, Sarah, and I enjoyed being half the class. If we couldn't be there, the class was cancelled. Our parents ask who was there everyday, and we answer everyone except whoever wasn't there. It sounds like more people than there really are. Fortunately, another family with two more high school students moved in bringing our total number to eight.

The Joys of Driving

One of the things you look forward to when you're a little beehive is turning sixteen. That's the age that everything happens. You're in high school, you can date, and you get to drive. Well, last winter I finally made it. I turned sixteen. I don't really like high school and I don't go on dates. So I guess that leaves driving as my enjoyment as a sixteen year old. Unfortunately you can't just go down to the DMV and get it. You have to have a form saying that you attend school and aren't a truant. That takes forever to get. First, you have to go to the office and fill out said form. Then you put it in a little tray and wait. And wait. And wait. I turned one in before I turned 16 and got it back at the end of January. Unfortunately, it was signed before Christmas so it expired before I could go to the DMV. I turned another one in at the beginning of February. I got it back today, the beginning of March. I have until April to go and take the driving test. I hope that I don't fail.

Parallel parking is perhaps one of the most feared parts of the driving test. I learned how to do that today. It was one of the more obscure things I have ever done. I drove around, with my mom in the front seat of course, and parked behind cars that happened to be parked in the road. People stared. It was kind of weird to watch someone pull in and out from behind a car over and over. And then drive off as if nothing happened. We parallel parked behind every car in the neighborhood, several times. It was fun. I can now successfully parallel park. So watch out world, or at least West Virginia, 'cause here I come.

Pi

So, I don't know if you all realize this or not, but Pi Day is coming up. It's next Saturaday (March 14, 3/14, 3.14). I hope you all have your parties planned and are making pies and the works. Every year our school has a contest on Pi Day to see who knows the most numbers of pi. Last year someone got to 280 numbers past the decimal. I decided that to prove myself as a math nerd, I would beat that and get 300. I started yesterday. I was going to do fifty a day until I got to 300. I had fifty numbers in my calculator (it is an awesome calculator!). I memorized those during trig class. I wrote it down and recited it a million times. Thoughout the day I cemented it into my memory. I wasn't going to forget those numbers. Today I woke up and printed off about 780 numbers just because that was what was on the screen. I started memorizing. I got all the way to a hundred places past the decimal when it hit me. I wasn't going to be at school the Friday before Pi Day, which was when the competition was. I couldn't compete. I was memorizing the numbers for nothing. What can you possibly do with a hundred numbers of pi? You never need more than 5 at the most. So I figured that posting pi on my blog would have to suffice. Rest assured that this number is coming straight from my memory. Well, here goes-

3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679

I hope you all celebrate Pi Day next Saturday.

Track and What Time is it?

Hi. I'm Anna a.k.a. Tweedledum. My school has been having Track and Field try-outs and I'm trying-out. My friend is trying-out too and yesterday when we were running a 1600m (for those who don't know that's 1 mile) and asks me what time it is. Later when we were doing something else she asks me what time it is. Today when we got done with a 600m she asked me what time it is, and it was 4:44. So I told her it was 4:44 and to make a wish. "I wish we didn't have to run anymore." What was weird was we didn't have to run anymore! The boys had to run their last 400m and the girls just got to sit and waited.
Push-ups stink more than running (figuratively and liberally.) The couch told us to do ten push-ups and once we did that he has us do one more because of our excessive giggling. We giggled at that and he kept having us do more.
So don't giggle and make a wish at 4:44 if you ever try-out for track.

Teasing and Taunting

I've been told that I'm fun to tease. I don't know what makes me fun to tease, but it must be true because everyone teases me. Take all the guys on the science bowl team. Historically, only the alternate gets the constant ribbing. Except this year. Our alternate got a little teasing, they made him carry stuff and be a cheerleader for us. But most of the teasing and taunting went to me. I asked them once why that was and our math guy said "It's because you're a woman." The worst part is that I'm on three academic teams and the same people are on all three. So no matter where I go I'm constantly harassed by these four guys. Their favorites are "How many carats are in pure gold?" and "How many integers are there, Heather?" Once in practice they asked how many carats were in pure gold, I didn't answer, but I did make the mistake of admitting that I didn't know the answer which brought on a whole round of cheap boyfriend jokes. As for the other one, turns out that Atomic Number (of which there are only 118) are also represented by the letter Z along with integers. In my opinion they are not nearly as funny as one of them saying "Mexican Golf Course" instead of "Mexican Gulf Current" but go figure.

Babysitting

In my opinion babysitting is one of the better occupations for teenagers. I've been babysitting since I was eleven, so I've babysat a lot. I usually get a call once a week to watch kids on a Saturday night. I get between 6 and 10 dollars an hour. I really don't do a whole lot. Take last night for example. I got there at 6:30, I watched Cars with the little boy and played with a ball for an hour and a half and during the credits he fell asleep. So for the remaining hour and a half I played with my calculator (I forgot a book.) I got paid 30 dollars. I've had jobs where the kids where already asleep when I got there and all I had to do was sit on the couch and do my homework. It really is a great job. Sure, I've had to change diapers and gotten showered in the process and kids have screamed and fought, but usually when babysitters are over they're on their best behavior.

The deal:The first 5 people to respond to this post will receive something made by me for you! It will be my choice, but custom designed especially for you. Just so we’re on the same page, here are the details: No guarantees my gift will make you will feel absolute true love, but possibly some happiness, slight fervor, or maybe chocolate. It will be done sometime this year. You will have no clue what it will be… cookies, a photograph, a piece of homemade jewelry. It may be some other random thing I am capable of making or doing that would be enjoyable to you! I may bake something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you! That’s for sure. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The fine print (which is actually the same size, but whatever): You must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on their blog. When you get your lovely homemade goods from me, post a picture on your blog so I know my love arrived without a hitch.

This was on my mom's blog who got it from her sister Julie's blog who got it from her friend Amy's blog---see how we're sharing the love? Who wants to play?

College

So I guess it's inevitable. I have to grow up. Not that that's a bad thing or anything, it's actually pretty fun. Colleges are sending me letters and brochures. At school they're making us write papers outlining our top careers and colleges (math professor, engineer, MIT, and BYU). It was pretty exciting to realize that I just passed the half way point of high school.

Contrariwise, my parents aren't as thrilled as I am. They only grudgingly gave permission for me to graduate early. They said that when we were little they couldn't wait for us to leave, but now that we're almost like actual people, it's sad.

Only 3 semesters left!!

Hello?

Well, Anna and I decided we would join the internet blogging world. And this is our first attempt. My mom has just left so she doesn't know about this yet. Let's hope we don't live to regret it. And since I'm Tweedledee I guess I'll throw in a 'contrariwise.' If you don't know what that's from you need to read the chapter from Through the Looking Glass called 'Tweedledee and Tweedledum.'