Wicked pumped!! :)

Last week the teachers came to us during committee time asking if we could find a solution (hence our name) to a problem. They knew most kids wouldn't be coming to school on the last day before vacation and were wondering if we could think of a way to motivate kids to come.

As Solutions, we decided that tomorrow we'd have a half day, party a little, then play laser tag.

Having power = Win

I'm pumped, AND tomorrow morning Jessie and co. arrive in Maine! I'm so excited to see her!!! And of course my wonderful brother-in-law and nieces. :) :) :)

Jessie has laryngitis right now. Regardless, I talked to her more today than I have in a loooong time.

Today I realized something when I was sleeping on the couch (there's one that's horrible for sitting but purely excellent for sleeping). Chris, the new junior, and Rhiannon are similar. They're both very flirtatious people, and when they hold you everything fits together, even in the spaces between fingers.

I kinda wish Rhiannon wouldn't be, though. :/ haha but good for her, it's some kind of born talent, I guess, to make anyone feel comfortable just by touching them.

It's so wicked cooool, but I kinda wonder if it would work for her if her prey was taller than 5' 2". Those charts we used in middle school lied, it said I'd grow to at least 5' 5". Oh well, being short is awesome. You can always get kid's menus at restaurants, and we all know that's where the good stuff is anyway.

I...didn't get enough sleep last night. It's the Monday Syndrome, where everything throughout the day is funny because you're hysterical and nothing makes sense. Hopefully I'll be normal tomorrow, I'll need energy for running away from the merciless, laser tagging boys of TNS.

Oh God I'm in trouble! How did I not see it before? I'm so screwed. I'll hit someone, apologize, get shot, and just hide behind the employees only door until the coast is clear. Then I'll still get shot.

But that's okay because it's gonna be a blast! For the yankee swap I got one of those bank pens, you know the kind that have the chain attached? Because it's so annoying when someone's swiped the pen...like really where could it have gone? It's on a frickin' chain!

We finished The Botany of Desire in food class. It's wicked good! I highly recommend you guys go see it. :) In Public Policy we started the movie Thank You For Smoking. It's really interesting. In Creative Writing my group taught the class about character and devised a fun activity to do, I have no idea how we took up the whole block.

As you can see, the teachers have given up teaching for the week. haha

I gots to go make cookies for da cookie swap. They shall be vegan, gluten-free, and have a subtle hint of banana.

Sleep is needed. Please and thank you. :)

Yesterday...

School on Friday was awesome, I had lots of fun and learned some stuffs.

In Food class we tasted sugar water and then soda and juice and vitamin water, and we were all laughing about how confusing the set up was and being hyper. It was a blast.

In Public Policy we're still talking about the health care bill, and I worked on a mini presentation for the class. I felt pretty good when I found two different maps that could show the correlation to red/blue states and the percentage of population in a state that is uninsured. I felt productive, a rare event for me.

During lunch me, Gordy, and Noah were talking about video game theme songs, and Gordy said his all time favorite song was from a game called Duck Tales, and he played this dainty little tune that had us all in tears. It was so funny. :)

In Robotics I was paired up with two of my favorite TNS students, Cody and Landon. We decided they were going to wear kilts at the Robotics competition, and we learned Ross (the teacher) is all for it. I'm so excited! I've heard the couple months in between kick-off (when the teams find out what the game for the competition will be) and the competition are wicked intense. They sometimes have sleepovers at the school and get almost no sleep so they can finish the robot in time.

Something that made me smile was when Will was describing the party that they have every year, and he couldn't stop talking about all the activities. Josh then said "He doesn't even mention the socializing aspect," (that's a big word for Josh haha) and Ross said "Alright, I'll give you the jist of it. Basically it's all ugly, nerdy guys, and for some reason only attractive girls join Robotics--" Rhiannon cut him off with a "Whoo!" and Gordy said "Amen to that!" haha

We didn't have ASL because Roland was sick, so me and Will crashed the World Religions class because we noticed the oreos on the table. We took a "quiz"on Judaism that almost everyone failed, because no one brought their notes to class that they were able to use on it. Harry, the Jewish kid, got a couple wrong. I don't quite understand how that's possible, James would totally school this kid. :P I got the one about the Torrah and Kabbalah right, Gordy (who's in the class) was trying to copy off me and Will, forgetting that we don't even take World Religions. haha afterwards we ate cookies and everyone else got to try this traditional Jewish food that Jade made (I couldn't, it wasn't gluten-free :[ )

Harry lit the Menorah and taught us how to play with a dradle. It's like gambling. I totally kicked their butooties in the first game! It was fun. I had a great day at school. But then afterwards...

Every year we have s girl scout Christmas party. I despise them. I don't particularly like large crowds of people who all know each other and don't try to include me at all. I hate how immature the girls are with their petty problems and ignorant points of view. But something I really dislike is the conventionalism.

We were upstairs in a bedroom hiding from Mike (because they still think hiding from their guests is funny) and one girl said "Oh my God guys let me show you the freaky-est video ever," and goes on youtube to type in "bad romance". It starts to play, and I accidentally said "I love this video!".

This was such a poor decision.

This girl continues to berate the video, harass Lady GaGa and attack my point of view. (which remarks like "This is so weird!", "She's permanently messed up," and "How can you like this, Sara??")

Lady GaGa is one of my idols. She's artistic, beautiful, and different. I feel like I can relate to her, because she's said that she didn't fit in during her high school years, and I felt the same way when I was at my old school.

Then this girl plays Single Ladies, one of my least favorite songs, and begins to praise how gorgeous Beyonce is, and how amazing the choreography is.

I cried last night for an hour.

I haven't cried for months, besides when I was reading or watching a movie.

I really don't know many people who are bad. I feel like this girl can change, but it's going to take a long time and a lot of hurt.

Later in the night this girl was getting a phone call from a boy she was leading on but didn't like. After she rejected him heartlessly in a horribly short phone call (she was gone for about twenty seconds) she said "Rejecting guys is like a sport now, I'm so good at it!"

She also told us all the guys her best friend has slept with, including two others that "no one knows, so don't tell anybody."

I left the party early with dad, we both hate these kind of social obligations. I started crying when I got home. Fortunately we had some vegan, gluten-free leftover pizza and a Seinfeld to make me feel better. Dad helped me a lot, too.

I'm sorry I've been busy so much lately. I've put more of a priority into learning this year, and this research paper is taking a lot out of me. I'm really sorry if I've hurt any of you guys, because lately I've felt like a huge jerk, but it's very hard for me to do a good job learning unless I isolate myself from things I want to do, like hang out with the people I love. I want you to know that every time I say "Sorry I can't come, I'm exhausted" or "I really wish I could be there", I mean it, and I miss you sooo much, but I have to stick to my guns. I get tired earlier, because I put more effort into things in my life that never used to be there, like going to the gym, taking care of/house-breaking the puppies, cleaning and volunteering with TNS, and trying to spend more time with my parents.

I want to make sure my parents know I love them. They do so much for me, have made so many sacrifices, that I feel obligated to take time out of my day to tell them about my life more than I have in the past. We now have dinner together every night and occasionally play a board game together. Seeing my parents not arguing with each other is a wonderful feeling, I really appreciate everything they're doing.

Sorry this was partly depressing, I try not spread this type of emotion, because you guys certainly don't deserve to be around it, but my experience last night really made me feel so thankful to have friends like you guys that I had to tell you. Thanks for everything, you really mean a lot to me.

I'm typing on a psychic's computer. Mom's having a reading, which has gone way into my session, but that's a good thing. It gave me time to write. :) It sounds like it's wrapping up...We're going xmas shopping after we're done here. Jessie and co. are coming in a couple weeks!!!

Happy Hanukkah, James! Love you guys!

Sara

Session dos funnies

New session, new classes.

Oh my Gooooood

My first block was "Food Wonderful Food", taught by Marylyn.

I was laughing for a good 3/4 of the class, which was not a good thing Everything was just so funny, plus I couldn't take Marylyn seriously after she said "Remember, garbage doesn't go in the trash."

She's nuts, and I love her, but I felt guilty that I was laughing so much. I found a fly's wing connected to his abdomen and started pushing it around the table with my pencil, then Nick gave me an intact, dead fly and we started playing with them, all while Marylyn was reading "a page" from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (she ended up reading the entire chapter).

Then Marylyn asked us what we thought of when she said the word "food", and to her surprise the only things we thought of were various types of food. She was shocked at how little imagination we had, but what were we supposed to think? It was the first block of the day, on a Monday! What could she expect?

Tomorrow I think I might try the Odysseys class instead, because I felt bad at how much my end of the table was laughing during our food class. We made some goodies at the end, though, that was oodles of fun. I love cooking, especially when there's no meat involved. :)

Then Public Policy, I'm so glad that class is continuing! We talked about the health care bill, and watched C-Span for a little while (live broadcasts of the House and Senate related stuffs). One Republican form Wyoming just could not stop saying the phrase "fraud and abuse". He must have said it at least twenty times in the couple minutes he was talking.

Lunch was hilarious! Too bad Gordy had to leave to go to court. :( We were talking about weird/hilarious names, I happened to mention the member of Travis's Mormon church named Dick Eaton. Then Rhiannon was talking about a dog named "Stay", and how all the commands contradicted themselves. "Come here, Stay!" Noah then said to name your dog "Stain" so you could say "Come, Stain!" whenever you wanted to. haha it was great :)

Singing...it was just me and Landon (plus the teacher). It wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but I'm kind of obligated to continue with it since there are so few kids. If I bail, that means Landon'll probably have to as well. Regardless, I'm going to check out creative writing on Thursday. The class is huge, it's got ten kids, and only two of them are girls. (That's absolutely massive for our school. haha)

Solutions was just nap time, since we didn't have any cases and I did the work a few weeks ago. After I woke up, we saw this guy wearing a kilt and biking with a Burly Rou (I don't know what else to call it, those bike attachments kids ride in) with a lady behind him doing the same thing. It was so epic, then Landon told Zeb to chase after him on his longboard and ask him why he's wearing a kilt. Zeb said "I will if someone else does!", and we got all excited before Christine and Nathan interjected their views on how mean that would be. Zeb continued to dig a hole by saying "We were just going to welcome him into the school. 'Hey, you're a freak, just like us!' "

I'm looking forward to tomorrow, I asked Ross if I could join the Robotics team (which happens during my free block), and even though Landon's told me repeatedly that he wishes to switch out because they never get anything done, I'd rather be in the class goofing off than goofing off by myself. Plus they got the $5,000 grant, so they're allowed to go to the Regional Robotics Competition. They just gotta raise money for room and board and they'll be golden...and they quite possibly might have to build a robot. I don't know if they're allowed to use the one from last year...

During Committee time, Connor asked us if we would be offended if we celebrated Christmas at the school. Haley said "Yeah, I'm a Gebovah...what are those people called?"

Rhiannon: A Jehovah's Witness?

Haley: Yeah, I'm a Joho, and I'd be offended if we celebrated Christmas!

Connor: Do you know any religions that would be offended?

Haley: Uh, Christian-ism? Beats the hell out of me!

Rhiannon: Of course she picks the only religion that--wait did she just say Christian-ism?

Connor: We're so ignorant.

Cody: This really doesn't surprise me.

Ahh, the holidays are so close. Hugs and kisses everyone! Love you guys. :)

Sara

Mah first LEAP night! :)

I was at the school for eleven and a half hours straight today. That's almost half the day! I got there early (8:30) because I was one of the four kids who figured out who was presenting where (or as Coalton would say "where they were presentatin'!") for LEAP night. Landon decided I'd be good in the common room with Jade, Joey, and Nick. They're three of my favorite people in the school, so that was wonderful! It was such a dilemma trying to figure out where to put Connor, he would complain no matter where we put him because he's just so pessimistic, so we stuck him with Dillon (who's grateful for anyone), Zeb (who's learned to just deal with him), and Noah (because there wasn't any room left for him...)

Since we did feedback teams before it started, we actually got out an hour early. I got to show Alienor around the school and introduce her to some peeps. Thanks for coming, Ali-chan!!

I spent about six hours getting everything ready for my presentation, from making a portfolio to sorting through papers to writing a personal statement that everyone was confused about. Even though it was a lot of work, today was so much fun! I got to talk to lots of people for most of the day, but the main four were Will, Zeb, Nick, and Gordy. They're really cool people. :) Today was just such a blast!

On Sundays the church uses our school, and sometimes they leave their stuff lying around accidentally. There was a bible on the table today with really thin pages outlined in gold, and Zeb said "This is sick! I want this, well actually I just want the pages. They're so thin, you can role them up easy and they burn real slow..." He said he wanted to steal the bible. I thought that was funny in an ironic, kind of messed up way.

I read an essay that I wrote about the time Sophie saved my life. Some people came up to me afterwards and told me I did a good job, even though I know I'm a horrible public speaker. It was so nerve-wracking! There were at least fifty people in the audience, but it's a lot easier when they're your friends instead of just your classmates.

Joey had her boyfriend read her pick-up lines review, it was hilarious the way Cody presented it. It was supposed to be coming from a girl's point of view, and Cody's just a really funny guy in general. Speaking of which, just a few more days of cleaning the kitchen!!

And with LEAP night (btw that stands for Learning by Exhibition and Performance) marks the end of session 1. Tomorrow we'll be writing our narratives and on Friday we'll be working on our portfolios. Since we stayed so long at school today (even though it was mostly just us having fun) we get to start school at 10 tomorrow and Friday is a half day. And then session 2 starts on Monday!! The year is going by so fast...

Does it not feel like December to anyone else? Maybe it's the whole "no snow" thing.

Blargh (I need sleep)

I finished my nature writing project. At 2:30 in the morning.

I didn't even start on the 8-12 research paper that was due today, but luckily only two people did. I was way too tired to think about doing homework, so I decided I'll do the paper for next week.

Despite my exhaustion, today was a good day. In Ecology me and Jade finished our projects, in Public Policy we watched the first hour of Sicko (it's sooo good), and in Nature Writing we presented our projects. Absolutely one of my favorite lines by Ralph Waldo Emerson is "All the thoughts of a turtle are turtle."

Then Solutions went really well. We addressed two cases, one of them being anonymous about Coalton's sexual comments making people uncomfortable and it was such a mystery to not know who sent it in!

Then we brought in some kids that we talked to a couple weeks ago and apologized for the way we spoke to them. (Even though it was really only Rhiannon's fault, she just let her personal opinions slip out) So I smile at them, and Cody walks over to me and starts rubbing my head and neck/back while Nathan the teacher is lecturing about being positive. It was so weird, it went on for a few minutes while his girlfriend just stared at him. It was really funny in retrospect, but at the time I didn't know how to react, especially after they left and Landon asked "So did anybody else just see that creeper move?" haha

LEAP night is this Wednesday! It's from 6:00-8:30/9:00-ish. Anyone is welcome to come, it's like an open house combined with student presentations to show what we've learned this session, since we don't have midterms and finals. I have classes tomorrow, and then the rest of this week is preparing for LEAP night, doing narratives and portfolios, and signing up for the next session's classes, because Monday is the start of the new session. (Which means I won't have to clean the kitchen anymore!!!)

If you guys come to LEAP night I can show you who everyone is and you'll finally have a name to a face when I mention them! It'd be great if you guys wanted to check it out, even if only for a few minutes, but I'm not forcing you into anything. However if you do come I'll make you scrumptious cookies. And cake.

And I'll recite the Shoes song from memory and dedicate it to you.

(Pwease?)

Lots of love,

Sara

Thanksgivin'!

http://www.wcsh6.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=111529

That's totes my school! Zach's a little slow, so we were all very pleasantly surprised he did such a great job being interviewed. Marylyn toned down her craziness for the camera, and Coalton wasn't nearly as ADHD as usual.

Today was fabulous, and it was a real treat to see so much of the family. Since the feud started I didn't think I'd ever see Amy (my almost 40-year-old cousin) set foot in this house, and then due to recent events involving my estranged, deceased grandfather's will, I thought we'd stay a broken family forever.

But what really amazed me was seeing my parents sitting next to each other at the table. They didn't even argue a whole lot. I don't think anybody noticed (maybe you did Alienor) but I cried a little bit. I couldn't believe how happy everyone was. The holiday gave us all an excuse to let our guards down and be joyful. To love and be loved in return.

My mom's family is certainly one of the most dysfunctional families I could ever dream of. It was astounding to see my parents, uncles, aunt, cousin, and second cousins sitting around the dining table talking as if nothing was wrong and forgetting about all their hatred for each other, if only for one night.

This is why I want to give thanks, because to experience this coming together is more valuable than any amount of food could possibly be worth. I'm not sure who to thank, though, it was really an effort on everybody's part.

Travis and Cathy stopped by after dinner. I hadn't seen him in months, and reminiscing with him and Alienor for what seemed like ten minutes turned out to be five hours. It was fantastic, I loved every second of it.

I really value all of the wonderful people in my life. Everyone is so special, I don't know what I did to deserve such a great group of friends and family. I think right now is a good point in my life. I'm healthy, I'm learning, and I'm happy. And hopefully I'm making others happy, too.

Happy Thanksgiving guys! Only a few weeks until Christmas. Jessie and co. are gonna try to make it up here for xmas. When are we gonna get snow? We can't have peeps from South Carolina fly all the way up here and not get to see snow...

Love and light,

Sara

Giving Back Days

This is what I've been doing for the past two days.

We winterized houses of low income, disabled, or elderly families. We insulated outlets and wrapped plastic over the windows (which took a surprising amount of work).

Insulating the outlets only takes a few minutes. You just take the screw and the metal plate out, put in an insulating foam mold, put the plate back on and put the screw back in. But the windows...holy crap.

We start by priming the wood with alcohol swabs. Then we put a double-sided adhesive strip on each side of the window. We let that sit for about ten minutes while we make sure we have enough plastic. After it's been sitting for a while, we would attach the plastic sheet to all sides of the window, pulling it as taut as we could. Then we had to take a hairdryer (but sometimes we got a heat gun :P) and use the heat to shrink the plastic to get rid of the ripples. For the final step we would cut the excess trim off the plastic, and the window would have an invisible layer of plastic to help keep heat inside the house.

Sara accidentally melted a couple holes in one of the plastic sheets at the first house. We had to do it over, so we spent about three and a half hours there. We did three windows because the little old lady, probably about 4' 7", wouldn't let us in to most of her house ("don't go in the bedroom, the cat's sleeping there. Oh, you don't need to go into the attic, it's really cluttered. Why on Earth would you need to go into the bathroom???")

The second house we went to was owned by another old woman. The place only took about an hour, and the newspaper interviewed us while we were there. Today channel 6 news recorded Coalton breaking a window while Marylyn was babbling on being Marylyn. For some reason Coalton thought glass could bend...

Yesterday went really well, but today was an absolute joke. We took two cars so we could all go to Wells. The lady there ended up having a really big house, and the only thing she needed was a hot water blanket. That took Connor and Will ten minutes to tape on and we were done. She didn't even need that much help, by the looks of her finished basement she could have just hired someone. Three of us didn't do anything while we were there.

Then we went back to TNS, had a short break, and found out Wallingford Farm needed all their windows done.

No one even lives there! They don't use heat in that part of the building, what's the point of insulating a building they just use to store all their old junk??

After half an hour of pretending we could do something there, me and Sara decided to drive back to the school and find an excuse for staying there. Gordy, Rhiannon, and Joey moseyed on back as well, and we decided it was time for a lunch break. At 11:15.

At 12 our adult supervisor told us he'd rather stay home than work, so we had to merge with another group. Zach had to drive us, and he was worried because his 6 months would be up in two weeks, but after some persuasion he said it was alright. I got shotgun :P

We went to another little old lady's house, and she only had three windows to do. For the first time that day I touched one of the supplies and did about five minutes worth of work. I felt bad for not helping more, but there were just so many people there and not enough space to work in. Zach, Will and I decided to go to Kennebunk Glass (which I didn't know existed before today) to replace the window that Coalton broke. Then Zach drove us really far to a house bombarded with teenagers.

The neighbor almost called the cops because there were so many of us, but after just staring out her window for ten minutes and being persuaded by us that we were alright, she put the phone down and took a nap.

I didn't even go in the house. Connor, Sara, Will and I just stood around Connor's truck because the other little old lady (I didn't know we had this many around here) felt overwhelmed by all of us and didn't want us inside. We then drove back to TNS in his truck...which comfortably seats two people. I got shotgun again :) this is a pun because Connor had to move his rifle from the front seat for me. haha

I knew this before I set foot in his car, but the ride re-affirmed my belief that Connor is a horrible driver. We were in the middle of a curving road, and Connor says "Oh, let me turn the airbag on for you, Sara," He takes the keys out of the ignition to turn the airbag on, a few seconds later saying "Oh yeah, I forgot the steering wheel locks when you take the keys out."

We were completely in the other lane, diagonal to the flow of traffic! And on a bridge!! It wasn't even a fun kind of dangerous, it was just an "oh crap" kind.

And those are called Giving Back Days. But now it's vacation! ~Party~

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I love you all so very much.

Sara :)

Ballroom Dancing and my spectacular dreamish-nightmare thing

Yesterday was Coalton's birthday. I was positive he was going to ditch ballroom dancing class and I was going to awkwardly have to steal Sara's boyfriend Josh for a partner every few minutes. Coalton was very close to bailing, but in the end he stayed I didn't feel guilty about anything. He's a way better dancer than Josh anyway. :)

Already on a tangent, I must say that Sara and Josh remind me so much of Lily Evans and Snape. Sara is a naturally beautiful red-head and a strong person (in a passive way). Josh is the school's scapegoat who gets made fun of in a joking way often, plus he's a rather severe person. Everything is his fault, no matter what, and Sara is always vouching for him. "He wouldn't do that," "He wasn't there when that happened," "No he didn't," etc. Sara can do so much better than him...

At dancing class Coalton can't control his ADD anymore than he can in a normal situation. He regularly spaces out and starts jumping around. At one point our teacher, Jane, scolded him for not paying attention and he mumbled, "Sorry, I was just smelling my armpit..." And then seeing him sing and dance to "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" was hysterical.

Overall last night was very productive, and I admired Coalton for staying for dance class even on his 16th birthday. That was very professional of him.

Rosie has felt threatened ever since the puppies arrived. She's been stealing herself away into the depths of my room, for what reason I'm not sure. It's the only room in the house that doesn't get heat in the winter and AC in the summer, but she likes it anyway. Little, white hairs cover my blankets and any clothes I accidentally place there.

Rosie likes to knead her paws into your stomach when you're trying to fall asleep. It's quite painful, especially when she uses her claws, so I try not to sleep around her. Last night, however, was horrible.

I had just finished reading the whomping willow chapter of the second Harry Potter book before turning out the lights. At least once every hour during the night she would continue her painful, pawing practices on my stomach, and I started dreaming that the whomping willow was punching me and I was going to die. Needless to say, I got very little sleep, but I guess it was worth it to get a few chuckles from eager story-listeners.

Today in Public Policy we talked about the health care reform bill. Even though it excludes abortion, I believe we need this. Maybe in the future we can make it better, but for now this change will be good. I really want to see this movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BJyyyRYbSk

It's a Michael Moore film, so obviously there's gonna be bias, but I still like him. Capitalism: A Love Story was soooo good, I cried for hours at how horribly our country is run.

I really wish everything wasn't all about money...

Lots of love,

Sara

Ze play!

Dad told me that he saw a poster at the library for the KHS play. He said it's showing this week.

Why didn't anybody tell me?! I feel so out of the loop.

Would I be able to accompany any of you to see it on either Friday or Saturday? I haven't been in the school for so long...I'll be at the school on Saturday though! That's where the SAU (School Around Us) craft fair is taking place. Mom and I are manning the booth in the afternoon. Hopefully I won't get another battle scar...it's still there, too. It's been two and a half months, I would've thought it would be gone by now.

On Sunday while I was simultaneously soaking up some vitamin D on my lawn at mom's house and reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets something really cool happened. Two dragonflies had sex on my leg while another one watched. It was probably the highlight of my day. It was so nice out! Too bad one of the dragonflies bit me. :/ It was probably the one that didn't get any action.

I had a dream about watching Quidditch in the Gryffindor stands the other day. I'm so obsessed...

oh my God! :)

We just got back frmo Massachusetts with two new puppies!!!!

I'M SO EXCITED

Mom's is a female cavachon and mine's a male morkie. :) :) :) I really want to name him Oliver or Jack, but I've heard that dog's better understand two syllable names, so I think I'm siding towards Lupin. He reminded me of the one from Harry Potter. When he's sitting on your lap (he's 2.3 pounds) he was quiet and mellow, but on the floor he was running around like a madman. It was as if he was the lovable, bookwormy Lupin and then the hyperactive, werewolf Lupin. Plus we got lost several times on the way to the kennel, we were going in loops. haha

Sorry I was a party pooper yesterday, I really need to catch up on homework and I knew I wasn't going to get anything done today because of the dogs. It was worth the trip, though. :)

Tomorrow I'll have to isolate myself in order to do more homework. Why do I procrastinate? It never turns out how I imagine it might.

I said something really stupid a few minutes ago. Mom asked where Rosie went and I said "She went ranning."

:/ That's what long car rides do to my sanity, I guess.

Peace,

Sara

ps mine doesn't stop humping mom's dog. Mom said "I think that's all they do their whole life". haha

hahahaha

I really should be doing my homework, but...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HM9tyNkUAg

:)

Rap, Disneyworld, and Adoption (Typical)

Recently I've grown a fondness for rap.

I used to just think "oh they can write that song on garageband in an hour. There's no real depth."

But now I've grown some kind of filter, and a new appreciation. I listen to these songs that are so negative I don't know why I'm not crying. They're filled to the brim with cursing, blood, death, racism, guns, rape...but I can't help it. I listen anyway.

Leaving the Past- Immortal Technique

It's currently my favorite song. I guess it's more like underground hip-hop.

It turns out several people at TNS listen to Immortal Technique. Zeb first showed them to me, then whenever I would go into the computer lab there'd be five or so people singing along to Dance with the Devil. I usually don't finish that one...haha

I wish Disneyworld wasn't in Florida. That state is so...augh. First the controversy in the 2000 election where Gore won the popular vote but Bush won, and now this. Plus, it's just a bunch of old people. haha

I'm doing my research paper on same-sex couple adoption. In Florida you can't adopt if you're gay. Vermont's one of the four states that specifically allows homosexuals to adopt. I always knew Vermont was a cool place. They're the home of Circus Smirkus. :) :) :)

I love tangents. So much.

Today

hahaha

It's kind of humorous how little I did in school today.

Advisory sort of got canceled because Marylyn and Nate the teacher were out sick, so pretty much anyone who isn't a senior just chilled in the common room. This meant all the rest of us ended up out there as well.

Ecology didn't happen because Nate the teacher wasn't there, so me and Jade talked. She's awesome!! :)

Public Policy was a work day for our research papers. Flora was hoping to have an 8+ page paper by the end of the month, but she shortened it down to 4+ because she's merciful. :P So the three of us in the class who have laptops chilled in the common room (again) and pretended to do work.

During my free block I thought I was going to catch up on the Nature Writing reading I've missed, but all the marine bio kids (including Jenna, Cam, Zeb, and various other kids from Flora's class) were still congregated on all the lovely couches, so we talked some more. I'm pretty sure I stayed in the common room almost all day. haha

At this point I was so hyper that I was literally jumping around the room, spinning on the wheeled footrests, even imagining the Gatorade and the Mountain Dew bottles going on a gondola date and then wondering what their baby would look like out loud. Christine said "I've never seen this side of you, Sara."

I think it was because I hadn't done anything the entire day.

I love Jenna, she has such a great smile! We talked about pets, and how mom decided we're going to drive two hours down to Massachusetts to get some puppies and two hours back instead of just going to the Kennebunk Animal Shelter, but that's okay because we're gonna have dogs again!!! Sophie passed away two years ago, and Dede lived about a year longer. I can't believe we survived being dog-less for so long!

Then we should've had ASL. We haven't had class in almost two weeks. Roland was sick again, so me and Will watched this stand-up comedian on youtube. He's hilarious, if you get used to this weird voice thing he does. <3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjJCIbC9sxA&NR=1&feature=fvwp

That was the first one we watched. I also highly recommend circumcision and escalators. :) All of them are really funny, though. Hot pockets...Jesus...bahaha

And that's what I did at school. Talked, talked, talked, and watched youtube videos.

After school I actually did stuff that doesn't really matter in any way to counteract my less-than-productive school day.

With much love,

Sara

The Election 2009

If only I was one year older...

Obviously I was frustrated at the outcome of question 1. I just wanted my home to actually be "the way life should be." I wish that if I ever do marry it wouldn't matter if he's a boy or if she's a girl. I'm all about rights for humans and animals, I think it's only fair that we end this modern segregation that civil unions have created. Some congressmen may believe differently, but civil unions will never be equal to marriage. What year is this anyway, the 1800s? It's the 21st-century, we deserve equal rights for all.

But the majority of people who will read this are in the same boat (opinion-wise).

I'm happy with the result of question 2. There were lots of loopholes, it kind of relates to cash for clunkers, where there were actually people who got ripped-off. Some people traded in their old cars for new ones that got less gas-mileage than their former car. But in general cash for clunkers seems to be working well, but this new excise tax law wasn't my cup of tea.

I'm saddened by the consolidation results. I wish everything wasn't about money, because that's exactly what this was. Some schools are saving money, but Arundel had to pay roughly $300,000 in order to get the benefits of the consolidation, which was about $50,000. After all the trouble of firing faculty and transitioning from SAD to RSU, they lost a bunch of money. Plus, their little school with all the familiar kids will never be the same. I wish we could go back to SADs, but I can't do anything about it.

Tabor is way too hard to explain.

At least medical marijuana passed. I have no right to deny patients the medicine they need. Before the election marijuana was legal, but sick people who had a doctor's prescription had to grow their own plants. They can have up to six plants, but only three can be flowering at a time. To people who are so sick, or to those who don't have enough of a green thumb, that they can't grow plants, they have no way of getting their medicine. If this will help people I'm all for it. I do think that some regulations will need to be tightened, we don't want a repeat of California, where they have too many dispensaries (those vending machines) that they can't keep track of who's getting what. At least now we're not being hypocrites.

I'm such a liberal. :P

I'm happy about question 6 as well. I want to make sure our roads are safe, so even though it's gonna be a lot of money we get some benefits. I'm just one of those people who will most likely always vote yes on these types of bond questions.

I had no idea people were so opinionated about question 7. Currently officials have 5 days to verify +55,000 signatures. Pushing their deadline to 10 days didn't seem like such a bad idea, but I guess I was wrong. It has nothing to do with the time it actually takes to get the signatures, which I believe some people may have been confused about, but I don't care that much. I'm not one of those officials that'll be scrambling to see if Dustin McKnockers is a real person.

This Summer

I really just want to live in the woods

At least for a little while

?

I don't know what to do.

I've always viewed myself as either a humble or undeserving person. I never assume that I'm equal to everyone else, because I'm not, so I was surprised to have a certain thought pop into my head a few days ago.

I think Will likes me.

I then felt like an awful person. There's no possible way that could happen, I'm not a good enough person to deserve anything of the sort.

Then the next day instead of sitting next to Nate, his best friend, he sat next to me. I invited Nate to sit at our table, since now he was by himself, but he just smiled and shook his head.

I think the world needs more people like Nate.

Will continued to drop little hints here and there, always saying hi to me, sitting next to me during the meetings and ASL and whatnot.

After the gym I drove home and got my homework out, so obviously I went on facebook.

Will commented on a photo of mine twice, saying I was the "best" and the "cutest". Then he posted on my wall several times. Then he posted a status saying "Cant wait for sgining cuz my favoritest person in the whole worlds there shes also the nicest person!"

I'm the only girl in the class. :/ As sweet, flattering, and utterly aww-inspring as that is, he's a little young. I really like him, but as a friend.

By the way I had an absolutely lovely day at Walden Pond! I got to know Nick pretty well, and he's probably one of my favorite people ever!!! I was in a group with him and Rhiannon, and the contrast between my opinions of each of them was...wow.

Nick is a thinker, a very mature philosopher.

Rhiannon thinks she's mature, but she's far from it. She's got a lot of growing to do, which hopefully will come in time.

It pains me that she doesn't like the people I absolutely adore, like Landon, Jamie...and Zeb (she can't stand him). She's rather pessimistic, and I guess that just doesn't mesh with me. It seems there are more people at the school she dislikes than likes, it's the complete opposite for me.

But Nick is wonderful. :) He and Zeb are best friends. I had a very joyous time talking to him, and during public policy, after everybody else left, Zeb played some music for me. Ahhhh <3

I'm not sure why I even bother trying to stay on topic, it never works.

I feel really selfish for posting this, but I guess I just really needed to tell someone, or something.

Thanks guys, I guess I'll just have to play the Will thing by ear.

Sweet dreams all you lovelies!

To clarify

To who it may concern, I'm fascinated with several students at The New School. I like to express my feelings and observations about these uniquely wonderful people in the form of stories and blogs. I've realized I've been talking a lot about one in particular and none of the others. Please allow me to explain, and possibly redeem myself?

Nick is unusual. He's hilarious in his own, distinct way. I've honestly never met anyone like him. He doesn't force himself. It just happens. Flora is convinced he's an alien. Some would call him "strange", but that doesn't have the right connotation. Nick thinks differently than the rest of us. He dreams of being a bird. He's an absolutely fantastic writer, and I dare say an even better artist. Plus, he's left-handed.

I can't describe him the way I would like to, he's one of those peculiar cases that you may only meet once in you entire life. I feel so fortunate to be able to say "Hi, Nick!" upon entering all but one of my classes. (ASL, he takes Chinese, but since he's in that with Haley and Anthony they usually skip)

The reason I don't write about Nick is difficult for me to explain. There's no possible way I could convey his personality, his tone of voice, his thinking process. I would fail. I already have, he deserves better.

Nick's just one person. One, very unusual, person.

Another is Jade. And Haley. And Gordy. And JOEY AND CODY!!

The list is quite long, I don't have the attention span to name all of them, but I've realized that writing about Zeb is the easiest. For example:

On Thursday he was totally wired. He said he felt like he took adderall that morning, but didn't. At one point he was about to pull down his pants to show us one of his scars. He had already unzipped them by the time we convinced him otherwise.

It's more fun to write about little scenarios like this. If I could write more about the rest of them I would, but I'm not sure I can.

Just wanted to let you guys know.

Meringue time!

Today was a roller coaster. And it shouldn't have been, I let the little things bring me up and down.

My day started off quite nice by imagining myself at an underwater concert where Colton (more on him later), Nick, Zeb, and some unidentifiable new-schoolians were performing onstage. Shirtless.

But for some reason I could only hear "You'll be in my Heart." Yeah, the Phil Collins version from Tarzan. Don't worry, I know I'm cool.

I had a Phil Collins shower jam, and I'm not erasing that. I'm making a pact to not use the backspace button for the rest of the post starting now. If I mess up spelling...oh God this is gonna be good.

So I was up! But then I went down when I realized it was raining and I had to bring two posters to school. I forgot to get myself a lunch, so I had to do an impromptu pantry scrounge. Plus when we left for school the clock in the kitchen is slow and said 8:59. :/

Then I went up because the teachers were in a meeting and started class fifteen minutes late. I did well on the quiz we took, and when Christine asked everybody else "What are you going to do differently next week so you guys ace the quiz?" Gordy replied "Copy off Sara?" :)

Down...down to the pits of room 2, where I spent two hours attempting to figure out a logic puzzle Ross (the teacher) gave us. I had to start over in the middle, and I still didn't finish by the time lunch was over. I felt like a failure, I've always loved those kinds of puzzles, I didn't know why I couldn't figure it out. Then I had a moment of weakness. I hate to admit this, but for a split second I was jealous. I saw Joey (I love her!) sitting in the art room, and she was drawing a really pretty picture. I wished I could take art & photography instead of New Kids Class. Then I heard Zeb say "Really? Wow, you're so intense!" I felt bad. I know Joey doesn't like him (Cody's views on him are rubbing off on her, ps they're going out now :]), and I'd never heard him speak so enthusiastically to a girl before.

I can't believe I was stupid enough to let that get me. It's just a silly, childish infatuation, it's not like I want to marry the guy, I don't even have a "crush", if you will. It's not my fault that he happens to be so unique. And if I really wanted to become better at art I need to take some initiative. I've just never took any art classes that weren't required at public school because I've always felt like an inadequate artist. I think it'd be different in a place where people don't judge you, but who knows. I certainly don't. Yet.

I was kinda bummed for the rest of the class because of the puzzle I couldn't complete. It turns out that it was flawed, Ross couldn't even do it. That didn't help, though, because I forced myself into isolation so I could work while everybody gave up in the first ten minutes and just socialized. But I was stubborn, or determined, whatever connotation you prefer, and wasted two hours of my life thinking about Michael Devlin getting an ace of spades tattoo on his chest, and how John came before the friend who got his ankle tattooed (that's kinda a girl thing haha), and that one of the last names is Fair, which was incredibly frustrating considering it wasn't mentioned in the clues at all.

This no backspace thing is forming lovely run-ons.

In class we had a conversation about how we're all underclassmen except for Gordy. Then I laughed, because I'm the only senior in the class, but no one seemed to catch on. It's becoming apparent to me that no matter how many times I deny rumors, people believe I'm twelve and just abnormally smart for my age. When I said "I'm seventeen." all six of them snapped their heads in my direction. They thought I was a frosh...I was beginning to wonder if anybody knew I was a senior.

Then after class I cleaned the kitchen, having to put away all the clean dishes, rinse and re-load dirty dishes, disinfect the counters/tables, sweep the floor, check on the plants, and put up the chairs, all without the help of Cody or Nick. I guess neither of them come to school on Wednesdays. It was just me and Noah.

When I was getting close to leaving (fifteen minutes after everybody else got done cleaning) Zeb comes in with an empty bowl and fork. A part of me expected him to just dump his stuff in the sink and leave, but instead he rinsed off the crap I would've had to scrub and placed it in the open dishwasher. I thanked him, because most people had just been letting me and Noah do all the work.

Zeb seemed surprised, but smiled all the same. I asked him about art class, and he said it was good. He asked what I was doing here, "Do you have an apprenticeship or something?" "Nah, I have New Kid's Class." "Really? They make you take that even though you're a senior?"

<3

That was probably the highlight of my day. After thoroughly trying to convince some sophomores and frosh that I was in fact a senior (and failing badly), it was really nice to have someone who believed me. It turns out he was in a great mood.

Then Rhiannon came in and started making a mess, and as I thought "I just cleaned that" Zeb looked at her, picked up his stuff, and left for the door. I made sure to slip in a "Bye, Zeb!" before the door closed. It opened again and he said "Bye, Sara!" before really leaving.

I've become accustomed to having a reputation at the school. I'm "the nice one", I say hi and bye to people that I may or may not know well, always say thank you after the teacher hands out some papers, etc. so this wasn't a big deal, but I take pride in having an open mind. Almost everybody at the school thinks he's a spoiled jerk (I understand that he has a mac book pro and an Audi, so he must have some money, but it's not like he rubs it in anybody's face), but I like that I act friendly to him and he does the same to me. It's like having a truly special place where you can always go that no one else appreciates, but people would if they actually looked around. If they opened their eyes.

I love those kinds of places.

I couldn't get much higher, even after dad and I went parallel parking practicing. (PPP haha) I'm going for my license on Tuesday the 13th. Maybe that's why people thought I was young, because I still don't have that yet...

I had my first ballroom dancing class tonight. It was fun! I love dancing. We worked on the meringue. The only people who signed up all happened to be from the school (it's a community class taught in the big room). It was me, Colton, Josh, and the other red-headed, vegetarian Sara. She and Josh are going out, so my partner was Colton.

Colton Stacy: Acts just like his brother, ADHD kid, always finds an opportunity to make an idiot out of himself and be proud of it, catchphrase (that we hear every few minutes): "RUGGED!"

I found myself sometimes nervous that I would start laughing at him, sometimes excited to actually be dancing, and sometimes wishing we were moving faster, but all in all I had a great time. For about two minutes I danced with Josh because our teacher made us switch partners, but I felt awkward for dancing with Sara's boyfriend, who happened to be carrying a knife and not wearing shoes, like everybody else at the school. haha

My backspace key needs some lovin'. I just wrote a bunch of random letters and erased them, but you couldn't see, so I'm telling you now. Trust me, the key is now satisfied.

Thank you, Phil Collins. You'll be in my heart, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQJh-oU0M9Y

YAADA and my German!

On Friday there wasn't any school. The teachers decided that going to the common ground fair on Sunday and Monday counted for credit and told us to take Friday off. Rhiannon and I went to a YAADA training session for eight hours yesterday and four hours today. YAADA stands for Young Adults Against Dating Abuse. It was very informative, I'm glad I went. Rhiannon didn't actually go to the fair, but our school is so liberal that they count the training as her going to school.

Friday was lots of information while Saturday was a presentation on how to give a presentation. In hindsight it's quite humorous, but at the time I couldn't stop thinking about how I had to wake up early on the weekend. The point was to convey awareness to your school by doing some type of an event, and they were telling us how to advertise for such an event.

In public school that would be a lot of work and lots of kids still probably wouldn't hear about it. At TNS you could tell a couple friends and the whole school would know in ten minutes.

There's a lightning storm outside and it's magnificent.

So after the training was over I had a couple hours to myself before I went to the school. Rhiannon, Murphy, Sarah Brockway +her mom and sister, and I rode up in her van to greet the Germans at the airport! Dad went up in his van and Marylyn drove the honking 14 passenger van that moves to the right when you brake.

Murphy had never been to the Portland Jetport. You haven't lived until you've gone there. It's such a big airport, it rivals O'Hare, and it's so luxurious. You go from the dank parking garage to the smoker-infested entrance to that one little food stand run by someone who can barely speak English. Hence, Murphy had not lived yet. Now she's living.

There are three guys and five girls...I think. My German's name is Kristin, Rhiannon's likes to be called by her middle name (Melody), Haley's is Christine (sp?), Landon's is Steph (the Barbie looking one), and Cody's is Johanna. Cody currently has both Johanna and Johanna. Thank God we call her Joey, otherwise that mess would be complete chaos. Then Josh's is Kai, and the Brockways have both Simon and Jannis.

Kristin is so nice, she brought chocolates and gummies and postcards and a cookbook all from Germany! I broke the vegan rule and had some chocolate, it was sooo good. German chocolate = almost as delicious as Zac Lounsbury, and that's saying something. ;)

By the way we often refer to the Germans as objects. Common phrases are "Where's your German?", "I lost the German.", and "What would the German do?".

jnkeahoud all the girls are really pretty and fashionable because they're European and that means they're all around better. They make me feel less than super. haha but that's okay! I don't know the guys very well, but they're also quite stylish.

Ahh...Europe. How I miss thee.

Expect fewer blogs during the next couple of weeks, with less quality written by a very sleepy Sara who should've done her homework before now. Darn. Tomorrow's going to be a busy day. I...really should get to bed.

Sorry about the awful blog. Good night, pleasant dreams, hope all is well.

ps I've rather fallen in love with Owl City. And Sedona Journal totally changed the way they do the horoscopes! :( oh well, I can't complain, last week was good at least. I had fun.

Love you

:) :) :) <3

This morning I brought in vegan, gluten-free pancakes with maple syrup. Christine brought lots of fruit, wheat-free granola (she's so sweet!) and yogurt. Our advisory had breakfast, and both Joey and Connor told me my food was good.

Self-esteem: 4

Then we talked about Solutions. It's the committee that deals with all the issues between people and the school itself. Zeb and Rhiannon were the only two remaining members of Solutions because all the others had either graduated or left the school. This meant we had to have an election.

We decided that the people who were running in our advisory were Landon, Zeb, Zach, and myself. I had a feeling I wouldn't make it because I'm a new kid, but all six of them reassured me that I would be great for the job.

Self-esteem: 16

We had to pick one person who would represent our advisory and then any other candidates would run for the "vote at large" category (this means the whole school votes, not just your advisory). We brainstormed strategies and agreed that I would be in the at large category because I would win anyway. "You're so likeable".

Self-esteem: 28

The others who were running talked about why they would be good on Solutions. Landon was on the committee half of last year, then quit because it was so dysfunctional. He seems like a really good guy, so I think he'd do well. He said he wouldn't mind if he didn't get on, but he'd rather be on the committee than not.

I've come to think Zeb is misunderstood. When he get brought up in discussion I usually describe him as musical, funny, skillful, unique, beautiful, etc. but others say he's spoiled, a slacker, absent 99.9% of the time, and several negative descriptions I believe are false. They also say he smells, which leads me to think they're not giving him a chance. I don't think he smells, even if he occasionally wears the same shirt twice or more days in a row. haha

Either I'm an optimistic person who focuses on the positive or I'm an oblivious person who doesn't notice these things. The point is I like him, most people dislike him, he's misunderstood and as a result is hardly involved in the school (he seems to feel excluded except in Solutions), and unless he rallies up votes during advisory, chances are he's not going to be reelected. Zeb represents the people who don't usually have a say, and I think that's important. Plus he's very motivated, Solutions is his only real tie to the "extra-curricular" part of the school. We need people who want to do their job, that attribute would have saved Solutions from falling apart last year.

Zach...I don't know what he was thinking. He's a nice guy, but rather slow and not particularly open-minded. He said, "I've never been on Solutions before and I'm a senior, and I think it'd be cool." That was his argument. Needless to say Zach didn't garner any votes from the six of us.

This was all during advisory (the first half hour of the day). During the meeting at the end of the day we all went back to our advisories and discussed this more. Most other groups had either picked their representative or were close to doing this. We had barely stuck our toe in the water.

As a side note, I adore awkwardly placed sayings and phrases. They remind me of Mr. Lewia, and his uncanny ability to fearlessly say whatever came to his mind, whether it was "back to the ranch", "don't make a mountain our of a molehill", or my personal favorite "you blow and I'll do the fingering".

After an accumulated hour of persuasion, criticism, and a suggested maple syrup chugging contest, we decided on an anonymous ballot vote. Connor decided not to participate and Christine abstained from casting her teacher-tainted vote, so it was just the five of us voting (me, Joey <3,>

I decided to vote for Zeb, because I knew Landon would win the vote at large because he's loved by almost everyone. Landon didn't need the sure-fire victory. I was pleasantly surprised to see Zach vote for Landon instead of himself. I thought this was very mature of him, but critics would probably say "if you don't think you're the best qualified then why are you running?". The votes were tallied, and it was 3-2. Landon got three votes (from Zach, Joey, and himself) and Zeb got two. I knew it was a long shot, but I sincerely hoped that Zeb and I could both win the vote at large. He deserves it more than I do.

We go into the big room (I love the names we have) and the four advisory representatives are listed on the board: Rhiannon, Sara H, Jenna, and Landon. I'm happy with Jenna and Landon, but I think Rhiannon might be too close-minded and merciless to do an effective job. Sara H was elected because no one wanted anything to do with it from their advisory so she half-heartedly signed up and got in by default. It worries me that there will be someone on the team who not only doesn't ever talk but doesn't want to be there, when my advisory was full of people who really wanted to be on the team.

Tim was facilitating the meeting, and he asked the people who were running for the vote at large to raise their hands. Zeb and I did so, and for a second my system was filled with complete and overwhelming excitement. We were the only ones, no one would have to lose. Then Will tentatively raised his hand, and Noah nominated Jade. Connor felt bad that Zach didn't get any votes in advisory so he nominated Zach to make him feel better. Some people wanted to nominate Nate Bennett, since he was absent at his grandmother's funeral, because he's so nice and caring, but his best friend Will (the same one who's running) said he tried to convince him to run twice but Nate didn't want to be a part of it.

It turns out Jade really likes her committee (the thrift store) and had no intention of running, even though she'd be GREAT. I love her, she's wonderful. <3

That left the nominees to Zach, Will, Zeb, and myself.

The way the voting is structured is rather confusing. You give four points to one person, three to another, two to someone else, and one miserable point to whoever's left. I was scared that Will was going to win; I like him a lot and I'm pretty sure many others feel the same way. I then thought Zach would probably beat Zeb, just because Zach has more friends and unfortunately life turns into a popularity contest at all the wrong moments.

I gave four points to Zeb, three to me, two to Will, and one to Zach. I figured that out of the three of them I wanted Zeb to win the most, so I gave four points to the underdog. I gave the least to the people I thought would be him. Then the three point slot was the only thing left, so I ended up there by default. I wasn't intentionally being selfish.

Twenty minutes later, after we discussed fundraising and the Germans who are arriving on Saturday, the votes were tallied. Marylyn (our principal) said there's a problem. "First, Sara got in for sure,"

Self-esteem: 7r6354trejke98 billion

"but there's a tie between Zeb and Zach."

I was shocked. My heart was racing, I really wanted Solutions to be at its best. I was so thankful that I got in, but I couldn't think about that now. The only thing running though my hyperactive mind was the question "Who would win?"

Christine asked Zeb and Zach to go to the art room. Zeb donned his skateboard and Connor said "Watch out, Zach, he's armed!". I love my school. It's so liberal. Everyone carries pocketknives, there's always someone who's barefoot, and it's perfectly acceptable to skateboard inside.

We were told to close our eyes and raise our hand when either Zach or Zeb's name was called. I heard a shuffling of arms moving when Zach's name was said and I got nervous. After everyone had voted Marylyn said "Open your eyes".

My heart broke. A large red circle had been drawn around Zach's name. The two boys returned and both seemed to be good sports about it. After the meeting was over I hugged Zeb and said sorry. He knew I was voting for him. He said it was fine and congratulated me. For the record he didn't smell. :)

The only thing that bugs me is that Zach didn't get a single vote from our advisory and was nominated out of pity. It's like playing with fate. But oh well, everything happens for a reason, I guess. Zeb is the alternate in case someone gets mono and is out for a month, at least. He gets to go through the training with us and seemed pleased about this.

Later I was cleaning with Cody in the kitchen when I expressed my sympathy for Zeb. Cody said "Don't be, sweetheart. I opened my eyes during the voting, you and Jenna were the only ones who voted for him."

Way to go, Jenna! She's awesome, I'm glad she's on Solutions. Too bad we were the only ones...

Even though Zeb didn't get picked I was still incredibly happy that I got elected. I got lots of hugs and claps on the shoulder, and I skipped to the car on the way out of school. I couldn't help it. To be surrounded by people who liked me, to have the confidence that I was doing something right was so new and exhilarating. I loved it. I felt happy. I felt whole.

I felt at home.

And to top it all off I'm starting a new book (I just finished The Perks of Being a Wallflower, now I'm on one Christine's letting me borrow called The Memory Keeper's Daughter), dad just bought me The Beatles Rock Band and the new Kingdom Hearts game (358/2 Days) which makes my heart sing. Plus I don't have school tomorrow since I volunteered at the Common Ground fair, which was fabulous. Thanks to Timmy for letting me borrow his sleeping bag! <3

Life is good, thank you everyone for being great and always supporting me. I love you guys so much.

Vegan hugs and kisses for all!

Overview

Monday was my first day of classes. It was fun, in Ecology tomorrow we're going to the Rachel Carson Preserve. We watched a video on her today and it was really interesting, she's the reason our teacher Nathan decided to study environmental science. He's super cool, he spent time in the rain forest on a conservation project. He's really laid-back and nice too. :)

The first thing we did in Public Policy was watch a clip of teens texting and driving. Then we read a paper aloud about certain death toll statistics and I my voice was barely under control. After I finished reading my paragraph I had to leave the room because I was crying about Allen, but everybody just thought I was throwing away my apple core in the kitchen compost. Everyone except Flora, she hugged me after class. She's definitely my favorite vegan teacher.

We have a persuasive essay to write, and I've generally narrowed my topic down to either same-sex marriage or clean water access. Everyone has such interesting topics, so I'm thinking I might need to switch mine up. I don't want to be the weak link in the class.

Ahh, Nature Writing...I like words. A lot. I'm pretty sure most of the class really wants to be there, so I'm excited that I won't have to deal with any negativity. We've already written a poem, for next week we're going to do a nature essay. I don't think I've ever written an essay that was fun before. Nick kept falling asleep during class. Come to think of it, he fell asleep inevery class. Ecology, Public Policy, Nature Writing, the meeting...he was standing up, drawing a dinosaur next to an attribute for the Solutions committee representatives when his eyes closed and his head dropped. Nick's such a character.

At the All School Meeting today I did Speaker's List, but I didn't really have to do anything because there were no super issues, so there were never more than two hands raised. I still like the meetings. Maybe I'll conform to everyone's beliefs next week.

Tomorrow is International Hug a Vegetarian Day! I made an announcement at the beginning of the meeting, it's strange speaking in public and not completely spazzing out.

On Tuesdays I have ASL, and I guess this was obvious but the teacher's deaf. I can honestly say I've never learned a language from someone who doesn't talk, but he's really funny and I like him a lot. He reminds me of Santa Claus because he's huge and jolly and has a lovely white beard. Christmas is only a few months away... <3

So today in Public Policy, Zeb was writing our ideas on a piece of poster paper taped to a wall, and someone said "animal suicide/euthanasia" and people started joking about how no one can spell euthanasia and Zeb says "of course I can spell that!" and writes "animal suicide youth in Asia". haha it was rather priceless.

By the way he's worn the same shirt since last week. I think it's because the majority of TNS students rarely go home, they just stay at a friend's house. That's why Nick was so tired, he was at Anthony's.

Tim heard a story on the radio where an obese man was told by the cops that he was too obese to use a breathalyzer and in major doo-doo, so Landon said "wow, his birthday parties must be depressing. Okay, blow out all your candles!" haha

On Wednesday was my first ever Self Directed Learner's Seminar, aka New Kids Class. It was fine, I'm not sure why Haley was complaining so much. At one point she, Gordy, and Noah were eating some chips with salsa and Haley puts her bare foot on the table right next to their food and when we gave her odd looks she said "What? I'm just picking my scab!" haha it was so hilariously trashy, but it probably wouldn't have been as great if I were the one eating.

At the start I thought I had a lot more motivation to be organized, but I think that got crushed when mom slept through our plans to straighten out my room. I still can't see the floor.

Happy Birthday to my lovely sister <3

http://www.peta2.com/feat/hug/index.asp

Awesome Opossum

Today was great. Granted, the last two weeks of my life have been the start of something wonderful, but today was particularly fun.

Yesterday we started a mini project (it's due tomorrow) where each person was randomly given a new identity and has to create a healthy, balanced diet for their needs. I'm now a 13-year-old, very athletic male. Landon's an 82 year old who just had triple bi-pass surgery or something awful like that, and Zeb has irritable bowel syndrome. They're in a family together, paired with an obese person and someone who needs to gain weight. Good luck to them. They bought a vending machine, the Snack Master 500 to be precise, but went $3800 over their budget. Nate sold his 168 cats to help pay for it, but I guess life doesn't work like that.

Cats = Vending Machine

(Fail)

Landon's such a great person. He's absolutely hilarious to boot. I love my advisory. This morning we talked about poop.

Christine: Did you know that if your poop sinks you're not getting enough fiber?

Me: ...Really?

Zeb: Well I always knew sinking was a good thing.

Christine: Uhh, that's a bad thing.

Zeb: Wh-what?

Christine: If it's not floating you're not getting enough fiber.

Zeb: Oh...I need some more fiber.

It was probably the best way the day could have started. Today was an all-around good experience, our assignment was actually fun.

What? Schoolwork being fun? Wth?

My family's Cody, Joey and myself (I needed an adult since I'm only 13). We decided to kick Connor out, since he wasn't here today and isn't going to be here tomorrow. Cody's a 17 year old lacto-ovo vegetarian and Joey's a 33-year-old who's totally preggerz. Our budget was so low that we were literally living off of a dollar a day, but it turned out to be a typo. We got a generous donation from our "cousins", so we ditched the whole pricing thing. We'll see how that works out tomorrow.

When we were working in the computer lab Gordy called up a grocery store because he needed to know how much lobster cost. His character is an elder with diabetes, so he took on this old smoker's voice and started ranting about killing Nazis in the war (while he was sitting next to the German girl haha). When he finally got through he said "HELLO I have diabeterz and I'm a diabetic, I need some lobster."

Girl: I can connect you to our seafood department!

Gordy: Why THANK YOU.

Guy: Hello?

Gordy: HELLO how much does your lobster cost? ... Do I get a discount if I use my Hannaford card?... Alright, I'll be in soon. I'll be the old guy with liver spots.

We "worked" straight through lunch, and after that we took a break to eat and didn't do anything the rest of the day. Rhiannon found Joey's iphone and was looking through the apps and happened upon one called "ibrate". That was beginning the of a long string of sexual innuendos. They got so bad that Nate had to leave the room. When Will asked why, Nate told him about the phone, and now the whole school knows about Joey's special vibrating phone. We taped it under her chair when she was out of the room. The look on her face when she sat down was priceless, she was so embarrassed. (When she said she needed to go to the bathroom we of course asked if she needed her phone haha)

Joey also has an app on her phone that eerily resembles the magic eight ball; you ask it a question and it gives you a yes or no answer. We asked questions about Gordy such as (but certainly not limited to):

Will he have sex with a she-male? -Yes

Will he have an orgy with only she-males? -Yes

Will he ever have sex with a respectable woman? -No

Is all this crap happening to him just because he's Black? -Yes

Which brings up another topic. School started almost two weeks ago, and I've only seen George once. (I was reminded because he's Black, and they're pretty rare around these parts). I don't think he even counts as a student at this point.

Classes start on Monday. I'm pumped, even if French probably won't happen because I'm the only student signed up. Singing most likely won't be until session 2 as well, so I'm guessing that's a sign that I didn't do a good job picking my schedule.

Today was our first business meeting, and I seem to be one of the few who likes them. I'm sure after the honeymoon's over I'll evolve into a real senior and detest the meetings, but for now I like them. I think it's because I want to show my appreciation for the freedom that we're handed on a silver platter, or rather one of the dishes Cody used for his "clean these or I'll hide them" discussion. I like being involved and making decisions on what had previously been a mystery to me, like what the adults had always handled.

During the meeting Nick slipped away and found his ipod. I've decided that he's like Kramer from Seinfeld, and that's why I adore being around him. You just can't find someone like Nick, I can't even describe him. I'm sorry I'm at a loss, he's just so interesting. Cody's kinda like Jerry, now that I think about it. Mom told me the other night that I'm like Elaine during an episode where she wouldn't stop complaining about being hungry. :/ Whining is generally something I try to limit, because I feel it's purely negative and doesn't particularly help anyone, but I guess I don't do a good job. I'll just have to try harder!

I really need to finish my part of the project. Good night all, and just because Lady Gaga's amazing:

http://www.dailystab.com/lady-gaga-mtv-vma-performance/

Committees (thank God for spell check)

So on Thursday we had to pick which committee we wanted to be on. You can only be on one. I narrowed down my choices to three before I started having nagging doubts, guilt-induced nausea, and obligatory contradictions. I was slightly chained by shackles to the thrift store, since I had volunteered and recently signed up for OTB.

Then a part of me told myself (my body parts like to talk) I should be on the welcoming committee, because I love having an excuse to not be shy. It helps. I love being friendly and including people, I thought being on the welcoming committee would be perfect for me. The only other person who was on it was Cody, and he was really nice to me when I attended the planning day in June. Not only did he get me a chair, explain to me how the schedule works, and make sure to incorporate a music class for me (I was a little too shy to voice my opinions at that point), but he also drove me home afterwards. I never told dad about that and I'm not gonna.

But then I saw it...the school spirit committee. We've had group discussions about our school colors and mascot. As of right now, our colors are plaid and clear because when the school was started ten years ago there were these horrible plaid couches and clear windows, and that was basically all their furniture. And then the mascot. We don't exactly have one, since we don't participate in organized sports, but we've joked A LOT about being TNS roosters: home of the raging cocks. haha

In the end I signed up for the school spirit committee. It consists of me, Haley, and Joey the Germ. Haley's one of the biggest sluts I've ever met, but she's really funny and outgoing, I can't help but like her. I don't think she'd be as bad if she didn't have a giant rack and like to expose said giant rack at every possible moment by taking off her shirt and wearing clothing that doesn't even cover her whole bra. Yeah she's a mega hit to my self-esteem, but I like her anyway. :)

It's us three girls on a quest to improve morale and bring spirit into the lives of our fellow peers. Instead of finishing a Harry Potter book last night, I started writing down ideas that we could do throughout the year. I got so into it, planning possible dances, holiday parties, spirit week (which was quite difficult because everyday is pretty much spirit week at TNS haha).

I'm excited. Hopefully I won't screw anything up. Responsibility is a stranger to me, I've been so sheltered that I don't know what to do if there's no one to help me. Oh well, life's just a learning experience. I don't ever want to stop learning.

Health week starts tomorrow. We're going to be cooking food and running around playing games. We already read some articles on high fructose corn syrup and parenting, it's really interesting. The reason corn syrup and soy lecithin are in everything is because it's subsidised by the government, and that's why cows are fed so much corn, because everything revolves around moolah. It's not really about our well-being, it's all about the money, right?

I wish it were all just about love. I think we need a little more of that.

ahhhhhh :)

Tuesday was technically my first day of school. It was wonderful, we played some bonding games where we all had an excuse to touch each other. There was this one game where some people were blindfolded, and we were stripping because it was so hot, and...yeah. Good times.

I'm in Christine's advisory and it's marvelous! It consists of Landon, Zach, Connor, Zeb, me, and Joey. (Her name is Johana, she's the German exchange student who's staying for six months). Everyone is either funny, nice, or rather attractive (I'm such a hormonal teenager haha) so I'm very pleased with my advisory. :)

So Wednesday morning we left and had a three hour car ride, which was a pleasant surprise considering we were informed of a four hour ride. The mornings and nights were below 40 and the afternoons were above 70, but there were a few brief moments in the day when we weren't fretting over the temperature. Sleeping in that tent was freezing, the guys lucked out with ones made out of metal and plywood so they were actually warm. But oh well, we toughed it out, because that's how chicks do it.

As I knew would happen, I am a Caring person. There are these things called Facilitation teams, and I know them a little bit more than I did last week. Apparently there's a facilitator who runs the meeting, a speaker's list who writes down who has their hand raised so the facilitator can call on the next person, a note taker (too obvious for explanations), and a time keeper. There might be a moderator, but I'm not sure. Each facilitation team is about four or five people. The ideal team has at least one person from each corner (Action, Caring, Structure, and Meaning). Since there were a few students who didn't go on the retreat some kids aren't in a team yet. That means mine's missing one person, but I like it. I have Cody, Nick, Noah, and myself. Cody's a redheaded redneck, one of the people who lives on a farm and tells lots of hay stories. Nick is really interesting, in a completely awesome way. Both of them are nice and extremely funny. Then there's Noah, who's alright. I can't complain. He just happens to brag with all his drug and sex stories, trying to impress the upperclassmen (he's a frosh). Coincidentally, all of my team is from York except for me. Marilyn said something like "3 Yorkies and a Bunker" and Flora asked "Is that a joke?" "Where's the punch line?" haha

Something that really boosted my self esteem was when the senior leaders (Landon, who technically should be a senior, Tim, Connor, Cody, and Zach) were picking their team: playground style. They were going around in a circle and started with Action because that's who they were closest to, and then instead of going in any logical order Connor skipped over the next group to Caring and chose me by pointing and saying "I pick Sara". (In elementary school not only was I picked last, sometimes the others would act like I was invisible and not pick me at all, even in gym class when the teacher was there. It felt so great to sever that part of my life.) But there were two Sara's, (we both spell our name the same, have red hair, and don't eat meat haha) and she wasn't looking. She thought he meant her, so she sat down right next to me and we were both confused as to who Connor was motioning to. After everyone had been picked we asked him for clarification. Cody said he wanted me, too, so Connor gave me up to him. Somehow I ended up on three teams. haha it felt so great to be wanted! Especially because I thought Connor didn't like me. He's another redneck, go figure.

Then white water rafting! It was awesome!! I was in a raft with all adults and new kids (except for Rhiannon) including Will (Cody's little redheaded brother), Nate, Jamie, me, an alumna, Flora and our awesome guide. That was when I first realized Nate was new, for some reason I was under the impression he wasn't because the other kids knew who he was. But it turns out he had taken some classes there but he was no officially a freshman. He's a Caring person like myself and has a wicked throwing arm that all the guys marvel over. He was the only person who was walking around in shorts and a t-shirt at night while we were all bundled up in our winter coats. I really like him, even if he should live in Antarctica.

All in all I had a great time, learned a lot about most of the kids, and even made a few friends. I'm so glad I'm not as shy as I used to be. Next week is health week, more on that when it happens.

kajergodfhg I love The New School, I'm actually looking forward to Monday. I don't know what's gotten into me.