T2B71

URRRRGGHHH I just spent like half an hour trying to find that one photo in a MESS of posts on Google plus.

Needless to say, it was not a very good use of my time. :(

Anyways I was just reading this book, Curtsies and Conspiracies, Finishing School #2 by Gail Carriger. I got the first 3 books at Costco when I was sick and it filled my time very nicely, and I got to read the books. I was basically binge-reading in bed.

So I had Debate at lunch, and we did this thing where, to develop confidence, we get a random topic and have to stand up and talk about it for a minute. Just, like, off the top of your head. I think I got an easy topic, computers. Someone else, I can't remember who, talked about hats, and then I realized just what a big impact books make on our life.

He (or she, I can't remember) talked about how hats can show a person's personality, and my mind immediately flashed to Picklemen and Pistons. In the group, the Picklemen is... I'm not really sure how to describe it, the best is probably like a society. The point is, they identify by wearing a hat with a band of green around it. Pistons is a social club at a boarding school and they also identify by a band around their hats. I've been reading too much Gail Carriger! Her books are set in a fictional world back in... probably the 1800's or so, based on their clothing and mannerisms. It's set in Europe, probably England, and in a supernatural world with werewolves and vampires (it's absolutely nothing like Twilight. Although I haven't read Twilight. But I've heard about it, and this is totally different.) They use terms like "petticoat", "cravat", and things like that, which means a dictionary was needed alongside when I read this--not because it's hard, but to help me understand a bit better.

Basically, the series is about this girl named Sophronia Angelina Temminick, who goes to a finishing school--that teachers etiquette and espionage (coincidentally, the name of the first book. :P) I feel like the plot isn't very driven, but the characters and events are a fun read, especially because I've never read books with this kind of environment before. I can't wait until the 4th book comes out, Manners and Mutiny. :)

T2B70

So apparently, today it's Nico's birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NICO! :D

I didn't even know it was Nico's birthday until I went on the Percy Jackson fandom, and let me tell you: these people go crazy when it's a character's birthday. The fandom is literally flooded with "Happy Birthday, Nico"'s and edits on a certain day. I'm not sure if he's turning 14 or 15 this year, but technically he'd be 85 because he was born in the 1930s, but then he got pulled out of time and 70 years passed while he didn't age... it's kind of complicated.

T2B69

PERCY JACKSON + HARRY POTTER

Sadly, I have a math contest that day. :( But honestly, I'm not sure "Fandom Day" is going to take off, because I don't think enough people are bookworms :(. It's a good idea though :)

T2B68

I was watching the Oreo challenge the other day, and then I found this photo:

I'd name it Blue Raspberry. Although I don't understand why all candy has to have a "blue raspberry" flavour, considering raspberries aren't blue and I don't really know why making them blue tastes any different from regular raspberries.

Anyways, I found this on the Percy Jackson fandom and people are like, "This is Percy's Oreo," because he has this deal with blue food. Long story.

And blue pancakes. :)

T2B67

I saw this on the Percy Jackson fandom the other day and I seriously died laughing:

Ahhh... I can't find it anymore.

Well anyways, basically it's Hazel and Annabeth. So, Hazel's from the 1940's, right? She's living a second life, so she pretty much doesn't know anything about modern times--like technology, and some of the new language that revolves around technology. So in the image, Hazel asks Annabeth what IDK means, and Annabeth replies, "I don't know." Then Hazel says, "Why does no one know?" and Annabeth throws her hands up in frustration. I thought that was really funny, because it makes total sense. :P

I'll post it if I can find it again, but the fandom gets A LOT of posts every day and I saw that, like, a week ago.... so, you know... changes are slim...

T2B66

Ughhh. I have so much Science Fair to do. Amy and I were going to finish our testing first week back, but I wasn't at school at all and I was soooo sick. This week was Eval Week, so it was kind of hectic. Last week I'd just gotten back and I had so much catch-up work to do, so that was kind of busy for me. We wanted to collect some samples on Friday, but we realized (too late) that I had a piano lesson and Amy couldn't take it home. Now, we're going to finish up our research this weekend, and then finish testing next week and type up all of our documents. We are (hopefully) going to meet up sometime next week to finish our backboard. I feel kind of bad that we're rushing a little, but honestly, my pneumonia was so unexpected and it set us back so much. :'( I'm glad we have a plan of action, though. Last year I had like no schedule, and I didn't have these little goals, which were first proposed by Amy. I learned a lot working with Amy for this Science Fair project, and I'm really glad we're working hard on it. I think I'll use this strategy, (like the task goals, where in a big project you set goals/deadlines for all the different parts of it) the next time I have a project, because I've never tried this before but so far I think it's working. (Well, I hope it'll work, because it got kind of screwed up by me being sick, but I'm fairly confident it'll work. Amy and I had actually set up a meeting, but I was so sick that day I couldn't make it. If, in theory, I'd never gotten sick, I could have made the meeting and we'd be well on our way by now.)

One thing that's a bit difficult about working with a partner on a really in-depth project like Science Fair, is that scheduling is sometimes really hard. We both have busy schedules, so trying to find times that we're both free is sometimes a tedious job. We only see each other 5 days a week, and usually I have so many committments that I'm running around at lunchtime, before school, after school... it sometimes is a challenge for me to find time outside of class, at school, that we can do things like collect samples for.

It's okay, though. I think we'll do fine. Having a partner is really helpful, because working together and on separate tasks really speeds up the process. Plus, two brains are better than one. ;) I'm going to go work on Science Fair research now. :D

T2B65

I'm writing Twister instructions right now, Spirit Committee is thinking of a mass Twister game. It sounds super fun, but I don't know the instructions of Twister (I've only played, like, once) and now I'm trying to adapt it to a mass audience. Not hard, just time consuming. But it's very fun :) And I can't wait to see how it turns out.

You know, I've seriously been thinking I need one of those Remembralls. In Harry Potter's 1st year, Neville gets a Remembrall because he's very forgetful. If you've forgotten something, it turns red. I kept thinking I had something to do at lunch today, and I only just realized what it was--I had to help paint the giant Twister poster. I kept thinking I was forgetting something, but I couldn't remember what! And now I remember. -.- I swear I'm getting old too early. *sigh* If only magic existed.

T2B64

I had, like, 5 tests this week.

On Wednesday, I had a Spanish test, and a Math Ch. 4 Trig test. (WHICH I DIDN'T FINISH :'( BECAUSE I RAN OUT OF TIME AND I GOT CONFUSED :'( AND I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS THIS IS LIKE THE FIRST TIME I'VE MISSED EVEN PART OF A QUESTION ON A TEST :'( WAAAAHHHHHHH) After school, I had the Pre-IB entry test.

Today (Friday), I had a Socials test on the English Civil War (which was actually not so bad, because I asked Mrs. Williams some questions I needed clarifying and now I understand it all :D), and a Science quiz on Bohr models (also not so bad :D).

Eval Week is done! All of my tests are done! YAY! :D Last year Eval Week wasn't so packed, but this year it was a pretty heavy crunch time for me. It actually wasn't that bad, but it was a lot more than last year.

Ironically, all of my tests were Day 1 subjects. If it wasn't Eval Week, I'd probably have gotten the 5 tests in one day. Imagine me if that'd happened.

That is me dying of 5 tests on one day.

Thank goodness for Eval Week.

T2B63

AHAHAHA THE PRE-IB TEST IS DONE!

I knew there was a critical thinking part of the test, but it was actually pretty different than what I expected. In getting into MACC and for the mini schools test, they give you like an IQ test-ish thing, where they ask you to memorize a bunch of gibberish words and analyze patterns. I thought that this test would be something like that, but instead it was about critical thinking skills like assumptions, inferences, and things like that. Margo and I had a #DEBATE moment afterwards--the assumptions section was something that we both got all excited about. See, in debate, Mr. Hauck always used to tell us that you never make assumptions. He said that you have to explain everything to the judges in a debate, and through practice, Margo and I got really good at the whole assumptions thing. So afterward, I said to Margo, that the Assumptions section was so debatish and she and I had a bit of a AAAHHHH moment in total connection. It was actually pretty funny. :) I find that we have a lot of #debate moments these days, because we're both really dedicated, PLUS WE MADE IT TO PROVINCIALS AAAAHHHH!!!! Okay done. Anyways, we're also doing debate in English, and debate is a big part of my extracurriculars. There are actually so, so many things that debate touches on, like good public speaking, persuasiveness, and other things, so debate is actually helping me develop a lot of skills. Also, it's fun. :)

The block rotation on Monday's going to put English first block! Yay! :) I really hope we will debate on Monday. It's done by voting from our classmates, so I really hope we'll get lucky. :) Sadly, though, the block rotation will put PE last block, and I absolutely detest having PE last block! It means I usually don't change after because I'm usually going straight home and I just shower right away, but I don't like the feeling of being sweaty in the car and going home. I guess the good thing is that we don't have to sit through more classes all yucky, but I think it's best having PE 2nd block, because you have a lot of time to change before and after, and I'm not afraid of being late. I'm really slow in changing, and 4th block is the worst for changing, because you have basically 5 minutes to change. 1st block, 2nd, and 3rd all give you good times to change into--I usually just go to school in my PE strip, in fact, when I have it first block (which I did this block rotation). 3rd block is really bad for changing out, because we only have 5 minutes, and I think changing out takes longer than changing in. :(

I'm really looking forward to Monday. I find that if I'm not sick, I like keeping busy. It keeps me... I don't know, energized, I guess, because going keeps me going. (does that even make sense?)

I'm so glad to be back in the routine! :D

T2B62

Oh fail, I just realized I forgot to post my stanza of The Spell of Synergy.

I thought we just edit it on the doc, but someone told me we had to blog it. Here it is:

I’ve stood in some mighty-mouthed auditorium

  That’s plumb-full of hush to the brim;

I’ve watched the lights on the podium

  Glow crimson and gold, and grow dim,

Till the spotlight set the speaker gleaming,

  And the words tumbled out, neck and crop;

And I’ve thought that I surely was dreaming,

  With the ideas o’ the world piled on top.

I went to the document today to copy paste this stanza here, and I saw the rest of it. I think we've captured the essence of Synergy pretty well. A bit exaggerated, but still good. :) I think this was actually a really interesting thing to do, changing a poem. I've never done it before, but it was fun and I think it turned out pretty well. :)

T2B61

I found this pretty cool presentation system yesterday. It was on an ad on... uh... I forget, but I think it was a translation website, SpanishDict. It's called www.emaze.com . I looked at it and I thought it was pretty cool. Because, you know, before, the presentation format of choice was PowerPoint. Then programs like Prezi come along, and offer a new and innovative way to present. I actually use both, depending on the style of presentation. If it's more organic or examines a deeper issue, I use Prezi, because it's a point and zoom style presentation, and I like the way that fits with the theme/topic of my issue. If it's a more formal or business style presentation, or the topic is linear, I use PowerPoint. For example, for the Elton and Bernie story, I used PowerPoint because I thought that it captured the "book" style better, rather than Prezi. The thing I don't like about Prezi, at least for the book presentation, is that you have to move, which is why I didn't use it. If I'd used Prezi, I'd have to shift (like sideways) to move from slide to slide, picture to picture, and I don't like that format. With PowerPoint, I like the simple transition (in this case, fade for books) in that the viewpoint doesn't change, the content doesn't move. I use Prezi more, though, because most presentations aren't that formal and Prezi allows (through different themes and point-and-zooms) for more attention-grabbing presentations. I'm more familiar with PowerPoint, because I used to use it a lot in elementary school and MACC, when Prezi hadn't really "taken off" yet (coincidentally, Erica introduced me to Prezi in MACC--she was, I think, the first person to present with Prezi in our class).

Anyways, I think this new emaze might be interesting to try. It looks like another form of Prezi, pretty much, except it looks different and has different themes. I wasn't really interested in some of them, because they weren't very different or revolutionary, it was really another form of Prezi and PowerPoint, but I fell in LOVE with the art gallery theme (it's on the main page). It basically took you through a 3D art gallery world, and I was like, "OMG, THIS IS ACTUALLY SOMETHING NEW AND AWESOME." I bet it took a loooooot of programming. (Also, one of the people were flat--wait, one of the people was flat? Agh. One person was flat (there we go) which makes me think that the programmers might have forgotten or been unable to make them 3D. Which makes me think that this took a lot of programming.)

Anyways, I'm really eager to try this one out. OOH OOH I JUST GOT A REALLY GOOD IDEA: How about we use this for our NPO presentation? We were thinking of doing a video, but we only had photos, so if we use this, we could use the photos as a background or (maybe if the program can do it) recreate our selling place! WHOAAAAAAA. Okay, I'm done. But seriously, this is awesome. I'm going to go see if I can make it into a video file or something or if we can create our own landscape.

T2B60

AAAAAHHHHHH I'M STILL REALLY EXCITED

Okay, sorry, you probably don't want to hear me blabber on about more of the same.

Anyways. I just realized that the two dots on my wrist from my IV... uh... I keep wanting to say poke, but I don't know what they call it when they insert the needle into your arm/hand and it leaves a little scab. Hm. Let's just call it a poke.

Anyways, I realized that the two pokes look a little bit like a vampire bite. Which is creepy, because I was reading a book that had a vampire in it. It's because on the first day at the Children's Hospital (with the super-pro nurse), I started bleeding backwards into the tube (like they told me to keep the IV in so they wouldn't have to stab me again the next day) so I had my dad pull it out because the nurse told me to pull out the IV if I started bleeding. (I later found out that she meant bleeding out of the tube, like all over my hand, not into the tube.) So then, the next day, this other nurse put another IV into my hand, but this time it was just a little bit further down my arm. So they were right next to each other and they looked like a vampire bite. (Except it was on my wrist...) Or a bat bite, because bats have fangs too. (I think?)

On something that's pretty much totally unrelated, they gave me the IV for antibiotics. The nurse used some sort of freezing spray (that numbs the area they're going to put the IV in) on me the second time they put the IV in, so I didn't feel it that much. I also didn't bleed at all into the tube so I kept the IV in. The next day, though, (I was supposed to have 3 doses) the nurse was trying to flush it with salt water (because that's what your body actually has, which is why when you're dehydrated they give you salt water, not just water water) but I think my blood went up and clotted the tube a bit, maybe because of the freezing spray thing (I'm actually not sure why that'd affect it, but the nurse asked me if I got the freezing stuff so I said yes). Then they pulled it out. :'( And it actually hurt a lot more than when my dad pulled it out, maybe because they were trying do it more quickly, and also maybe because there was a doctor talking to me while I was trying not to scream/panic when the nurse pulled out the tube. So I was probably thinking about the tube more while also being distracted, which did not help matters. But she got it out and it turned out that the doctor would switch me to oral antibiotics so I didn't need another IV! And the thing is, the oral antibiotics (pills) worked a lot better! The first antibiotics I got were amoxicillin, and that didn't work very well, I still had fever and everything, and apparently the pneumonia got worse. After they switched me to IV's, though, it didn't work very well either because I still had a fever. But something in the last two antibiotics must have worked, because I got better on, like, the 2nd or 3rd day! The fever just magically disappeared. Yay and thanks to the last doctor! And to all the doctors. (I think she was a Nurse Practitioner, which apparently is a nurse who's allowed to basically do everything a doctor does, except she's not called a doctor and specializes in children. Which makes sense, because she was working at the Children's Hospital. :) )

And now I'm all better! I've got my energy back, but I still have a bit of a sore throat. Maybe that's from debating and yelling in excitement yesterday, but psh.... That's okay... :P

Now I have... uh... oh yeah. 3 tests next week, pile of catchup homework.... but not too much homework other from studying. :) I GOT THIS. I'm so glad for this long weekend, because I didn't have Saturday and now I can actually make sure I do all my catchup stuff and studying. :)

T2B59

WHOOP WHOOP!!! GUESS WHO GOT INTO PROVINCIALS?! GUESS WHO WAS AWESOME TODAY AND 5TH TEAM IN THE TOURNAMENT?! GUESS WHO WAS 18TH (I think) SPEAKER IN THE THE TOURNAMENT?!? GUESS WHO'S DEBATING WITH HER PARTNER AT THE PROVINCIALS?!? WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!

OMG. I'm so excited. I had to expel that all out in like a yell/brag session. :)

So Margo and I went to the Regionals debate today. There were top 20 junior individual speakers that get to advance to provincials. Margo and I both made it! That means we get to debate together at provincials (which actually gives us an advantage, because if only one partner makes it, they get put together with some random person, and that makes it harder to debate because you don't know their styles, and things like that). SO GUESS WHO'S GOING TO PROVINCIALS?!?!?!?!

Okay, sorry done.

OMG I'M SO EXCITED!!!!

You know, Margo and I didn't think we'd make it, (well actually, I'm the more pessimistic one, Margo's the optimist, so yeah...) because there were so many other good teams and also this was our first regionals tournament (like one that there are provincials for). I actually thought it was only top 2 teams that go to provincials, but we asked Molly and she said top 20 speakers go. We were all excited, but we seriously didn't think we'd get there. BUT WE DID! SO BOOYA! I think we actually debated pretty well today, better than our previous tournaments. My mom was there too (for awards), and she said she could see us improving. We've literally gone to every tournament there was this year (with the exception of the Byng tournament, because there was pre-IB info night that day) and we've worked so hard.

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOP HOW AWESOME ARE WE?!? WE'RE AWESOME!! I NORMALLY NEVER USE THIS MANY EXCLAMATION MARKS BUT SERIOUSLY, YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HAPPY MARGO AND I WERE! WE LITERALLY SCREAMED AND YELLED AND JUMPED UP AND DOWN WE WERE SO ELATED! MR. HAUCK WAS ALSO REALLY HAPPY AND WE WERE ALL LIKE WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!

I'M SOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!

T2B58

I'm sore all over. I was trying to do rings in gymnastics today, and DANG IS IT HARD. The people that can do it make it look so easy! And then I try it and I can't even get into the rings! (Like the first tuck position.) Seriously, I took the advice of everyone--kick forward, pull up, tuck and have people push you over... AND I STILL CAN'T DO IT X-(

I would have stayed there 'till I got it, but then end of class came.

And then I said, I am going to go home and do pushups and plank and whatever it takes to get me up on those rings next class! I am NOT LEAVING until I can do that dang ring tuck! IF I DON'T GET UP NEXT CLASS I AM NOT ME. Even though I'm really bad at PE, I don't believe I can't do it.

I WILL GET THIS. WATCH ME GET THIS OR DIE TRYING. (Well, maybe not die... maybe just sacrifice several weeks of comfortable muscles... maybe just get sore abs and inability to lift objects...)

T2B57

I have 3 IV pokes on my hand. Ugh. That is something I'm going to spend a long blog post complaining about (sorry if you have to listen to this. :) *innocent smile*). AAAGGGHHH.

You know, I'm a really weird person. I have to draw blood pretty much every time I go to the doctor's office. (It's always blood. I hate drawing blood. But every time I go to the doctor's, she suggests I draw blood! I'M SCARED OF DRAWING BLOOD OKAY, PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME DRAW BLOOD.) Anyways, I found out a long time ago that I have to look when they stick the needle in. Most people have to look away when the needle goes in. But I realized that if I didn't look, I didn't know when the needle was going to go in, and that made me a. tense up (which hurts more) and b. make the poke seem to hurt a lot more (because of anticipation, I guess?).

So on the first day, that guy poked an IV into my right hand. But he wasn't very pro, so when he poked it in I started bleeding all over the place. People say you're not supposed to bleed too much when an IV goes in. I don't know why, the internet doesn't like that question. But since there's a needle going into your arm, it's not like there's room for the blood to come out. So then he pokes an IV in, and I start bleeding all over my hand. Not a lot, but more than is normal. He wipes off the blood around the needle and then tapes it so it doesn't bleed anymore, then he quickly attaches the salt water (because apparently I was dehydrated, which can happen when you sweat a lot during a fever) and then it starts pumping into my bloodstream and I stop bleeding.

Then I got antibiotics via IV at the Children's Hospital.

The nurse who helped me put the IV in was much more pro. She did it, like, really fast. You know how they look for a vein, right? I have really big veins so that part was quick. Once they find it, they swipe off the area with alcohol and then they stick the needle in. I was expecting her to wipe it and spend some time getting the needle ready, so while she was swiping, I was talking to my mom, and then I felt a pinch and I turn back and the tube's in and ready! My reaction was all WHOA SO PRO.

Anyways I'll continue this rant some other time, because, strict sleeping time remember?

T2B56

AAAAHHHH I'M GETTING SWAMPED IN HOMEWORK AND I HAVE TO SLEEP IN 13 MINUTES (my mom's getting really strict about this sleep time thing... she says the greatest thing you can do to heal pneumonia is to rest and so she's making me sleep early, or at least normal time, for like the next month. Which is good, because I need the sleep, but that also means I have to work harder to finish all my homework, especially now, because I have about a week's worth to catch up on. But today I literally did just homework and I didn't get distracted even once. This is like... some kind of new record. It felt really awesome though, because I was actually productive (like really productive). It feels good to be productive.

AAAAAHHHH SO MUCH MORE HOMEWORK...

I remember in Applied Skills today there was something that reminded me of the Grade 10s... OH YEAH. We were watching Queen of the Sun or something involving the two words "Queen" and "Sun" today, that documentary about the bees. They were talking about GMOs and when they said that it was basically killing bees, Margo and I looked at each other in this kind of moment of connection. We were both thinking of the WPGA debate--the last debate we had was, This House Would use genetically modified crops to feed the world. We were Side Proposition, and we were basically saying "GMO's have no harm! People don't die! The environment will be okay!" and this documentary just told us that our entire case was wrong. :( And then I was really glad that Tara wasn't there to see the documentary XP because she, Frank, and Charlie were Side Opposition. If they'd seen the documentary (like before the debate) we would've died. Sadly and miserably. And then I felt bad that I was glad that they didn't see it, because technically their case would have won. Although they exaggerated a little, it's okay.

Anyways, the debate's over, but this makes me realize just how applicable debate is in everyday life. It's usually about current events or things that people are really aware of, and this means I'm also aware of the news and events around the world.

Plus, it was a really funny moment when Margo and I kind of looked at each other and tried not to laugh. :)

T2B42 to T2B55

AAAGGGGHHH. I know I haven't blogged in like two weeks, but I've been soooo sick. I basically spent two weeks in bed, first with the fever, and then with pneumonia. I'm going to blog about pretty much everything that happened in these two weeks, except I don't want to separate the blog posts, so unfortunately this is going to be one long rambley mind diarrhea post. :) Sorry.

How do we know winter is truly upon us? Well, the answer is simple: Everybody gets the flu at the same time. I thought that I just had flu at first, because I froze to death on night of Dec. 31, at one of my dad's friend's party. Then I got this hacking cough on Saturday, so we went to the hospital that night. They did blood test and X-ray, and it turned out that it was pneumonia. Which meant that my first week of school had to be spent in bed, eating medicine, drinking orange juice, and sleeping. People say that for pneumonia the best treatment is rest, so I couldn't do anything for a week. Being a person who never sits still, this was not an easy week. I was literally OVERTHRILLED (is that even a word? Fine, overjoyed and thrilled) to get back to school today, despite the insane amount of work that awaited me.

Ah.... I'll blog about my long list of tasks tomorrow. Right now, I have to get some sleep. Rest is important, remember? :)