sorry guys but i'm afraid i've converted.

Illegitimi Non Carborundum
(don't let the bastards wear you down)

This past weekend we decided to go dogsledding (think Santa's sleigh but with dogs). Cabin with no insulation, but equipped with an outhouse and an outside shower (it's purpose?). Lots of fun but also lots of cold. On one of the trails we came across a snowmobile accident-- apparently one of them flew over another and a guy broke his back/leg/hip. Ambulances and cranky snowmobilers. We went to a little local diner/convenience store where, when dining, you grab your drink from inside the store and bring it to your table. I think their steak was meatloaf soaked in worchestershire sauce. But it was fun nonetheless. Drove through North Conway NH on the way home for old time's sake. Got home and it's 20 degrees warmer here.

dogsledding take 2

HUGE horses next to our cabin

dogsledding-- view from the sled

once there was a thing called nature

i see you

does anyone knnow of any credible student exchange programs? i've been looking for months-- nothing yet pleases the parents. hopefully something under $5,000.

I had a dream that I was inside a recurring dream and I knew what was going to happen and exactly when. Only this dream was not one I have dreamt (dreamed?) before and was therefore not recurring.

Aside to The Weather Channel:
Over the past 3 hours, how did your forecast for 15 inches of snow change to 4 inches? You had me all excited there.

i see the toy goes to good use

emergency exit

a step above

...

dog take 4

drapery from the backside

wednesday @ 7pm? wednesday @ 9pm?
what is going on here?

Lately I've been waking up actually remembering my dreams; all of which contain transportation. Buses, highways, driving drunk, train stations, cars (and driving into a lake in one), and subways. Lots of bright colors as well. The cars are always red and the buses uber-metallic silver. Am i going crazy?

Dream cars (in no particular order):
- '56 Cadillac 2dr hardtop
- '59 Cadillac 2dr hardtop
- '28 Cadillac Roadster
- '61 Cadillac 2dr hardtop (love the wings)
- '50 Chevrolet coupe
- '56 Thunderbird Roadster
- '50 Jaguar
- '38 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic Coupe

Wednesday was early release so Em, Tierney, Elise, Renee and I hopped the train (after missing the first train by 37 seconds) to the city. Rode the red line into Cambridge and walked through the rain to the Garment District. Shopped as is expected of girls our age. Walked back to Kendall for a bite to eat. Strange man staring at us and fortunes that were more like accusations.
"Would you like to try a sample of the new Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper?"
Free samples because we can. And also because we're on our own and we may take food from strangers if we wish.
Somehow the five of us fit in four seats on the ride home.
Then we nearly missed our stop.

truly amazing cd.

happy new year? we'll see.

Tease me, squeeze me, please me.
Reads my father's tea mug.
Lots of family drama; this will all lead down the dark road to a black-donning event as we attend every year. Smeared eyeliner and lengthy phone bills for my mom.
Every day this week has consisted of nothing; suddenly it's ten o'clock and then 6 o'clock and then another day. Everyone's just trying to make it to break.

The Band- "The Weight"

The reason why so many people have birthdays in mid- to late- November is because it is exactly nine months after Valentine's Day.

So now the snow season is underway (the Christmas retail season started months ago). Four inches and no green 'till April. Birthday the 19th, so very excited. Today at the mall with Em it was He that seemed to come around every corner and up to the entrance of every store. But, (luckily) it was not. The other day I thought I saw Al Roker at a restaurant, but maybe it was that guy who they found that looks identical to him. Or not.

So he showed up at work today, and was within the area he was supossed to stay out of so that he doesn't hurt any of the other teenage girls there. Susan was lovely and told him off. Mother called the cops due to the events of the last week.
Some guy payed for his $80 order in quarters. Some 9-year-old thats apparently from connecticut showed up at the desk and was coloring and laminating our papers and opening the cash drawer. Where were her parents?

A- "Do you have menorah?"
B- "I'm sorry Ma'am, but this is a nursery. We do not sell menorahs."
A- "Menorah... I just bought some here last weekend."

B- "Ohhh, MANURE. Hahahaha"

My oh my. What a wonderful day.

"Such pretty eyes, you have"
What a day. Mall with Renee. We got hit on by a man that reminds me of Mardi Gras; something we thought was a robot jumped out at us and we nearly died; a baby started growling and spitting all over the place; we called random people to leave "Merry Christmas" messages on their answering machines while at the Verizon store. Oh, man.

listening to:

The Shins- Kissing the Lipless
Iron and Wine- Naked as We Came
Jet- Look What You've Done

This weekend has been amazing thus far. Sox clinched the ALDS, (as later did the Yankees) and are off to the championship series. Sean came over to watch the game, and we proceeded to Ian's football game at the school. After lots of people convinced me to go, none of them ended up showing. I appreciate it. Saturday, Elise and I went off to the place where many newly-double-digiters hold their birthday parties. We managed to dominate the Soul Calibur game by smashing our hands on all the buttons. Hooray. Then out to dinner on our night fitting for both a 10- and a 30-year-old. Is it weird to ask for appetizers to be wrapped up? What about if you then ask for dessert?

Then today was work. There were hardly any customers there, which is odd becuase usually it is insane. Susan drove Johnny, Hope, Chloe, other boy (don't recall his name), and I through the fields and to the barn to drop off the hay. We nearly hit a few trees, but in return, (as stated by Johnny in loveably broken English) we got a butt massage. Because of all the road craters, of course.

make Mother Earth happy.
Hooray for tree huggers.

Yesterday

A- "Oh, look Karen, look at the bunnies!"
B- "Oohhhhh..."
Me- (tailoring myself to the part of friendly salesperson)
"Aren't they cute? But actually, they're guinea pigs."


literally 5 seconds later...


C- "What kind of bunnies are those?"

Oh my. The day went like that. A little boy lost his shoe somewhere off the side of the free hayride. A lady requested her $348 return be made in cash. A co-worker I've never seen before kept making strangely obvious eye contact with me. All day I was trying to keep from infecting cutsomers with my cold. Went home to collapse at 8 o'clock.

I dreamt that I owned a dolphin at Filene's. If you spin your finger in the water, the dolphin does barrel rolls and surfaces. It comes up onto the edge of the pool and turns into my dog. The dog cannot breathe out fo water, so it jumps back in.

Home Depot is the most exciting place ever. I want to work there. Went there today to pick up some closet organizer shelving unit that I've needed desperately for the past few years. Went to Em's party, brought a Burger King crown which was exciting. Got home, stripped the closet down to the drywall. Did homework, installed pain-in-the-ass-never-take-me-down metal contraptions. Vacuumed, hung clothes. Finally got down to some floor space, versus taking up the entire 7' x 8' x 2' closet. Hooray for that. Now just have to throw away some old crap and get the doors off of my bed.

There's an unwritten rule that states that one should not paint his house the same color as one's neighbors'. Just thought I'd fill you in.

Out of a truck jumped a large man with a sharp metal pole. He advances towards us quickly, yelling "AHHH!". I think one of us screamed, and then we and the scary man erupted with laughter, us rolling on the ground and he picking up garbage with the sharp pole. From in the truck someone said "They were freaked!" which made us laugh even harder. And they drove off, on a treasure hunt for messy people's belongings.

What a day. Beantown with Jen and Elise.
Lots of people-watching and weird glances and exploring. And good food and cheap clothes and public transportation.

Had another strange dream, I was exhausted from the day. There was a red dot (or sometimes snake shape) that would travel around on the walls in my basement. It is said to be the soul of a witch with a straw hat. In order to get rid of her, you have to zap the red area with a laser beam. It jumps from wall to wall, and you just hope it doesn't land on you. She then takes over your soul.

I've been having weird dreams again lately. The latest one was where I was at a mall with a pool and this ride exactly. There was a crowd around the ride, which is said to be the first of its kind in the area. The ride starts, spinning as it should, and then spinning and spinning faster and faster until the axis comes apart from the main unit, and flies off to the horizon (nearby Ashland). A huge explosion lights up the sky, as fireworks do, only white and amazingly huge. The crowd cheers. I seem to be the only one to realize that the passengers could have been our future spouses, curers of cancer, or the first on Mars. The nerve.

Great, a 50% chance of showers. Which means it could either pour or be bright and sunny. Thank you for your hard work, weather channel.

Does anyone know of anything fun (i.e. go-carting, rockclimbing, etc.) within an hour's drive of central MA? I need a b-day party idea for fall weather.

Back from my little eastern road trip to NJ, MD, and PA. Jersey shore with the relatives: fake Jimmy Buffet concert and creepy middle-aged men staring down my 13-year-old cousin and I at the park. A friendly old man at the mini golf place, and I won a free game or a crappy frisbee. You can guess which I opted for. We had, at one time, 15 people and two bathrooms in our 27-stairs to the kitchen side of the duplex we rented. Great for your legs, I suppose (and it keeps the lazy from scarfing down whole bags of chips at midnight). Driving down the Boulevard, my cousin and I belted the Raffi song "Baby Beluga" out the window to passersby. One lady said out the window of her car that it looked like we were having almost too much fun. Oh well. Then off to Baltimore we drove, passing through the coolest toll booth I've ever seen. People who (allow the gov't to spy on them and) have that fastlane thing can just keep on driving in a normal lane and theres a bunch of cameras suspended over the highway. They can just keep on going 60 mph while the rest of us wait in line. One day we were out exploring the city, and everywhere you looked there were people in Red Sox hats, shirts, and the like. Turns out that, that night at Camden Yards, half of the stadium was filled with them. I know because I was there. My parents couldn't get tickets for Fenway, plus the DNC was in town and travel was a nightmare. I guess thats what approx 20 thou people thought as well. On our walk to the park, I passed a businessman talking on his cell phone, which I couldn't help but overhear. "Boston's in town, and they're taking over the city!". Bill Mueller threw a ball into the crowd during batting practice, and my dad caught it. {On the topic of the Red Sox, what the heck was Theo Epstien thinking with this Nomah trade? Come on, we could have atleast gotten some pitching out of this. Argh.}. Then in PA at this place I love dearly, there were the strangest of people. Two ladies in their 50s or 60s were dressed in bright neon green from head to toe. I saw too many mulletts to count, and got dinner for under $3. Hooray for that. Now I'm back to the hometown.
Today I went to the local art museum with Elise. On the way we stopped at a garage sale, and we picked up a lampshade, mug, a hat, and two pins for under $1 collectively. Yay.

Does it bother anyone else when, in prescription drug commercials, they advise you to "consult your doctor if you have these (previously listed diseases) or are currently taking (list of medications)". Shouldn't your doctor already know about these things?

No longer are my days filled with nothing. Saturday night Elise came with me to the free Gladys Knight concert (my first concert) in the city. There were mostly people twice our age but it was lovely nonetheless. "Free" included viewers'-vocals surround sound and dancing. After, we went out for ice cream but the place's freezer or something was broken and we settled on dessert nachos. Mmmm. Last night went mini golfing with Tierney and Steve. The course was kind of mediocre but it was all worth the trip. We got amazing ice cream, played 90's arcade games, and bought parachuting troops to later drop from our windows. Laying in the grass, we were passed by a lone firefly which T proceeded to chase. All was wonderful, and literal fireworks went off for 2 minutes or so. Until sirens were heard down the street.
P.S. What do you think of the new layout? I have no idea if it works with everyone's computer since I am a novice at this, so let me know.

Summer is finally here! Today was supossed to be my first day to sleep in till noon but nobody was home and the phone rang and rang and rang at 10 o'clock. I've been having strange dreams again. Most involving school. In one, three of my classes were at the elementary school and I had to run over to the highschool for lunch. One I dreamt the other night involved the place I go on vacation. Near the beach, there was a water-tower park (instead of a trailer park; not like there is one in the real place but shh) and a series of sloped walkways going underground and to various elevators. Along the paths were people dressed up either like Uncle Sam or John Kerry and they would ask me what political party I was. If I said democrat or told them my Dad's birthday they would hand me a soda--- always a Coca-Cola brand. Then Bush's regime chased me down the street until I got to a swingset and they all fell over and died. On the street.

The President's deep,dark secret is revealed: when he grows up he wants to be Mary Poppins 

"'There's no synonym for cinnamon.' Say that 3 times fast"
Graduation (my brother's) was tonight. Rather sad, yet happy in a strange I'm-off-to-better-myself kind of way.

And BOOM went the thunder.
And FLASH went the lightning.
And off goes the power.
And I slept through it.


School this morning was quite lovely as a result. People seemed happy, and the obnoxious flourescent lights weren't there to be brutally honest with our appearance. A collective groan could be heard once the lights turned on.

It makes me so happy that people can now receive equal rights. Have an opinion? Post me something.

So friday was cotillion. My mom and I were running late to Em's house and I managed to forget just about everything but the dress. Everyone looked gorgeous and we took 2343457 pictures. Or so it felt. The whole thing ended up being very hokey and middle-school-esque but it was fun anyway. Finn stood next to me and I felt like one of those munchkins from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Wear your sunscreen! Shame on you.

Larry the custodian called me a redneck because of my sunburn. Says the guy in the rainbow hat.

What an off day. This morning in health we drove a golf cart through an obstacle course while wearing drunk goggles. It was exciting, something I had been looking forward to all week. In science the lady got all agitated when we weren't learning fast enough. I stayed after to hang out with people but they all left. The late bus was supposed to come for 2:45 instead of 3:45 today but it did not come. There were about 10 other people out there waiting, some probably still are. Steve's mom was nice enough to give Sonya and I a ride home.

Six pieces of paper later I finally figure out how to print double-sided.

The school advises us to always wear sunscreen-- and then our classes go outside and I get a sunburn. Isn't it ironic.

Baaaa
You know you're curious.

Anxiously awaiting May 7th, when "Still, We Believe: The Boston Red Sox Movie" opens!

Today was so very relaxing. I suppose the day before vacation is basically there for that purpose. That and tests. English we meditated. It worked despite the fact that there were people on the other side of the room talking through it. Then the teacher aide played guitar for us and told us stories about drugs and about his German friend. History we sat there after taking a ridiculously easy quiz. Science we had a free period due to the fact that our test was yesterday and everyone else's was today. The guys played frisbee outside during lunch because it was (is) beautiful outside. Spanish class we had a substitute who knit and everyone had a spitball fight. Kathleen, Andrew, Brooke, and I went on a quest for a broom to sweep it all up so the janitor won't have to. Andrew made like a witch and flew on it down the hallway. Geo we watched Simpsons Halloween Specials and ate unhealthy food. Came home to the sun making patterns through the winter-dirty glass.

Jen makes me smile.
Auto response from rachew1119: once upon a time... (finish this off while you wait)
Ssurfsup: once upon a time, there was a fish
Ssurfsup: and this fish had always wanted to wear a pair of socks
Ssurfsup: but seeing as kmart didn't sell socks in his fishy-foot size
Ssurfsup: he was sock-forsaken
Ssurfsup: so one day
Ssurfsup: the phone rang
Ssurfsup: and the fish's fishy brother picked it up
Ssurfsup: and it was nike
Ssurfsup: calling to offer the fish a marketing deal
Ssurfsup: this fish, you see, was a water polo legend
Ssurfsup: anyway
Ssurfsup: nike (that would be the company and not the goddess) offered to make fish-socks if the fish would endorse them
Ssurfsup: and the fish (who had long since picked up the phone) thought about it
Ssurfsup: and finally agreed
Ssurfsup: the fish socks became so popular with the underwater community
Ssurfsup: that nike decided to make a version tailored for humans
Ssurfsup: and that, my friend
Ssurfsup: is how bathing caps were invented :]

This week has been a complete blur. Just trying to get through to vacation.

NOVEMBER: (birth month)
Has a lot of ideas. Difficult to fathom. Thinks forward. Unique and brilliant. Extraordinary ideas. Sharp thinking. Fine and strong clairvoyance. Can become good doctors. Dynamic in personality. Secretive. Inquisitive. Knows how to dig secrets. Always thinking. Less talkative but amiable. Brave and generous. Patient. Stubborn and hard-hearted. If there is a will, there is a way. Determined. Never give up. Hardly becomes angry unless provoked. Loves to be alone. Thinks differently from others. Sharp-minded. Motivates oneself. Does not appreciate praises. High-spirited. Well-built and tough. Deep love and emotions. Romantic. Uncertain in relationships. Homely. Hardworking. High abilities. Trustworthy. Honest and keeps secrets. Not able to control emotions. Unpredictable.

Had the weirdest dream last night. I was in an elevator with some of the people I hang out with (dreams are often vague) and when it got to the top of the shaft, it started to fall. Accelerating towards the bottom awating our untimely deaths, the elevator abruptly stopped and all was well. Walked through a neighborhood with houses with wooden stairs to find the house I babysit at. Their neighbor turned out to be Saddam. His house was surrpunded by springs hanging from tall tall trees.

They give you oxygen, you give them death.

New York City Regionals.
Drove down with Norwell Robotics on Thursday evening, too bad they were staying in a different hotel than us. Stayed (basically) right on Times Square in a hotel with a view of half-naked people doing yoga. We mostly kept the blinds closed. Except for during the fire alarm with the trucks out the window. It was 5 am, and in our half-awake morning consciousness, Katie, Elise and I came to the realization that the obnoxious noise coming from the wall was not our wake-up call. Next came the crackling of the intercom, accompanied by the sound of a man with a heavy accent. "This is a false alarm, please disregard", "It is a problem with the system, please regard this false alarm", and lastly, "The problem has been rectify, return to your beds". Indeed the system had not been "rectify", because this looped over and over for a good hour with the occasional different-sounding beep. Our wake-up call came after we had finally drifted off to sleep.

The next day was the first day of competitions. Norwell did (nor)well... was in 3rd by the end of the day. We were 14th and falling, but that's alright. Took the subway back to the hotel and went out to explore the urban jungle that is Times Square.

Saturday was the last day. Got picked for an alliance in the semi-finals and made it to 2nd overall. The only non-U.S. team came in first. Hooray for that. Can't wait till next year.