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.