I have made good judgements in the past. I have made good judgements in the future. Source
I took longer than most, but I finally moved our blog to the new version. So everyone, please take note and when it asks you to change. Please do so.
Otherwise, today is the last day of 2006; a year I surprisingly liked. I would definitely say I'm not the same person I was when the year started, but I like me. That's the important part right?
Plus, tonight I'll be at Crystal's with Rianna, CaLyn and Shelty (... Logan too). I'm really looking forward to that. And we're burning that tie... about time really.
What's the difference between a country and a continent? *blank stare* Source
I don't have nearly as long to recount, but here it goes:
December 23- Treasure Hunt Day, along with bell ringing for an hour. If you want the clean version of what happened to me, check out Tay's blog, but take out all the bitterness and replace it with fear and disbelief because I was the only girl on the team and Tay was driving.
December 24 - Nothing; Mom and I made cookies in the afternoon and then we opened presents around seven because none of us wanted to wake up the next morning. Shiny present: iPod. Strangest present: Portable cell phone charger.
December 25 - My aunt and grandmother arrived around 2, and so we have an official Christmas dinner with them, and we watched a movie. I just don't remember what.
December 26 - Braved Herberger's for about ten minutes while I talked to Sarah; then headed over to Crystal's until Sarah was done with work and we went to Applebee's for lunch-ish, and then back to Crystal's to finish the Sound of Music. Then Kara dropped Sarah off and came home.
December 27 - I had my wisdom teeth pulled. It was kind of interesting, as I've never had anything like laughing gas or novocaine before. I'd recommend staying away; it takes no time at all, and it's weird to watch them pull out your teeth and feel absolutely nothing at all.
December 28 - Laid around, read, watched some TV; did pretty much nothing except avoid tearing out my stitches, which are itching like crazy! Went to be relatively early, because I really didn't sleep the night before.
As for the rest of my break; today I think I might head into town and ask Linda a question or two. Tomorrow's Christmas with my mom's family, and then it's New Year's Eve! Sweet. :) So, see everyone then!
You asked for it, now here it is. A new, shiny something to read. Let's review the two weeks, since that's when I left off (I think). Thursday Dec. 14: I FREAKED OUT!!! This was my high-stress-go-to-class-in-my-comfy-clothes day (For those of you that don't know my habits, this is very unusual. I always shower and put on at least jeans and a t-shirt to go to class. To wear stretch pants and a sweatshirt was highly abnormal.). I had two final portfolios, two finals, and an essay dues this day. Basically, I got done with my homework for Friday at 11:30, and then promptly collapsed into a ball on my bed. I didn't even watch the Colbert Report (You may die of shock now). Friday, Dec. 15: Turned in my English portfolio, bought Christmas presents at the campus bookstore, packed, and my Grandpa picked me up at 2. I received a very random, but totally appreciated call that night. ;) Saturday, Dec. 16: Had Christmas with my family, complete with Lefse making and the whole works. Minor delay in the morning, as my grandparents (who are trying to sell their house) had to show their house at 9 am. Dec. 17: Celebrate Nic's birthday, then drive home. Pick up our dog on the way. Dec.18: Um.... I don't remember. I know it had to do with sleeping and re-adjusting to home. I went to debate practice as well. Very nice to see everyone! Dec. 19: Sarah picked me up, we went shopping, hand the adventure of a lifetime (;D) and then went to the AP Scholar Reception. Actually, we just wanted pie and to see Deebs and Pritschet. Dec. 20: Went to school with mom. Rest of the day: walked around exhausted. Do you know how excited 1st graders get when Mrs. Claus delivers letters from Santa? Dec. 21: Went to Elizabeth's house. Would you believe she got her hair cut in layers, now watches Friends, and is mad at her parents? Neither did I, but it's true. 22-23: North Dakota. This is more of a story than I have time to tell. New Years, right? 24: Rush around Cristmas shopping with mom (buy fabulous boots and shirts for myself) and then lounge for the rest of the night. 25: Nothing. Except pick up brother and excited sister from my dad. 26: Christmas at my Grandma's. My favorite, includes swedish meatballs, almond cake, and the entire Sweedish everything. I do realize that makes no sense. 27: Sent my nervous and weepy sister to Florida (After going out to breakfast) then went shopping with my mom. Used $50 at Old Navy. I'm now stylin'. 28: Cleaned my room, and worked on some knitting projects. I have 5 unfinished projects right now, but I still contemplate starting a new one. Socks, perhaps. My rationale: I've never done them. I'm becoming a sport Knitter.
Any questions as to why I've been unreachable as of late? Oh well, at least I have cute clothes to show for it. I am so totally pumped for New Year's though. Can't wait. Signing off! Good night, and good luck.
So... I found this quiz online and I liked it a lot so I'm putting it here. Dante's Inferno Test... they assign you to a level of hell. It's kind of entertaining.
I was assigned to Limbo-the haven for virtuous non-believers. Though my second options was Level 6.... ooops....
The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to the First Level of Hell - Limbo!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels: Level | Score Purgatory | Very Low Level 1 - Limbo | High Level 2 | Low Level 3 | Moderate Level 4 | Low Level 5 | Low Level 6 - The City of Dis | High Level 7 | Low Level 8- the Malebolge | Moderate Level 9 - Cocytus | Low
... And Palo Alto is somewhere in the Southwest so it has more Spanish speakers than Minnesota. Source
Advice to everyone: Ignoring sinus infections and not getting any sleep builds up to nausea and burnout. So, I suggest not doing that, because that happened on Saturday morning about fifteen minutes before rounds started at JV/Novi State. Instead of debating, I slept, watched rounds and just kind of talked on Saturday. However, Sara and Garrett finished second in JV and Steph and Chelsea finished fifth in Novi (not bad considering all they knew about the topic was what Sara and I told them the night before) and Chelsea was third in speaker points. Oh, I love my novi!
Despite trying our hardest, we managed to arrive back in Brainerd around nine and in enough time for some people to attend Christmas Ball; but of course, one only attends like that if they're masochistic. The romantic dinner that night consisted of the lovely date couple sitting at opposite tables while one admitted that they should go so they don't end up accidentally marrying someone someday.
However, free from Christmas Ball obligations, I headed over to Crystal's for her "party." And I'll define "party" as Crystal and her parents sitting on the couch eating chocolate pounding and watching "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days." So, Crystal and I watched that until nearly the end before going out to rent "The Devil Wears Prada" (Really good, and oh, how I love Stanley Tucci) and "21 Grams." Speaking of "21 Grams," we should watch that some time this week... Kara's thinking Thursday night.
Around midnight, we finished "The Devil Wears Prada" and they sat around to see if Arielle or Logan was going to show up. They never did, and I finally went to bed around one twenty and woke up this morning all by myself as Crystal and her parents were going to see the Vikings game around 8:30 and around 9:15 I went back to bed until 11, before I went to Caribou to meet my Lang group to have it all finished for tomorrow. I arrived home around one and kind of crashed on the couch until Mom arrived home and now I'm contemplating my Lang homework, which I'm thinking I'll do most of tonight and finish up tomorrow morning.
Anyway, great weekend. I totally suggest a Debate tournament without Pritschet; it's so relaxing and fun. Not that I don't enjoy Pritschet, but some times it's really nice not to have to worry about all that energy.
Plus, this week should be a blast. I'm very much looking forward to it; hee, busy week with lots of different things to do.
Okay, so Faith Hill isn't as good as the little girl. Oh well. I thought this was fitting, given the recent lack of snow. That's all for now, I'm in study mode. Kinda. At least I should be. By the way, do you guys seriously think I only have nine toes?
Michaelangelo painted the ceiling to which famous building? The Colosseum. Source
In about ninth months, I will leave and go off to college. Honestly, the entire concept scares me more than I think anyone realizes. The good news is, I am confident in me and who I'll be in college. Yet, after today, I realize I will miss what I have here more than I ever thought possible starting this year. So thank you to all those people who will make me miss being here in Brainerd (a place I never once thought I'd miss).
I'm sure I'll keep in touch (I'm just like that), but until then: thanks.
Ok... so I really have nothing to do this week besides wait for my final to get here... so I got bored and went to albinoblacksheep.com. Once there, I found a remarkably addicting game. Ball Revamped II. It was a lot of fun. I finished in 1315 seconds. Not a wonderful score, but kept me busy for more than 20 minutes. You guys should try it. It's here -----> Ball Revamped II
I've been one proud Prodigy Den Mother all weekend. Thanks to Kara for sending me this picture, by the way. I miss them, I really do, but I'm very proud. ~*POOF*~ So it's finals week. How stressed is Rianna? I'm going to say not very. I had the entire weekend free, so I did most of my homework. My only commitment on Wednesday is lunch with a friend, and all I have left for studying is a non-cumulative American Gov test and a Legal Systems quiz. "Well Rianna," you must be saying, "you MUST have huge final projects due then." Nope. Well, actually that's a lie. I do have two different portfolios due, but they're done with the exception of three-hole-punching the pages and slipping them in the binders. "Well geez," you're now thinking, "She's paying a lot of money to not learn anything." Nope. I'm learning stuff. I thought about this, see. My writing has come leaps and bounds this semester, I can tell you what every major religion thinks about the use of money, I can tell you a few different ideas to fix America's poverty problem, I know how the government works, and I can tell you whether a crime is criminal, or civil, and what action you can take against the perpetrator, among other things. I'd say I learned a fair amount. "But how did you learn that stuff without a ton of homework?" I dunno. It just happened. Let's just hope next semester is the same way. ~*POOF*~ I'm officially coming back to Brainerd on Sunday, December 17, in the evening. I have no finals, but we are celebrating Christmas in Chanhassen over the weekend. Hey Sarah/Crystal! You want to go visit the high school and debate practice on Monday? Let me know, and then I'll give you guys a call when I get back. ~*POOF*~ This weekend I ate a ton of junkfood, and ate at various delis/grills all over campus. Why? Because I had $95 of declining balance left to use on my meal plan. That was Thursday, anyway. Now I think I'm down to $78 or something like that. Not to self, switch to less meals per week. It will save you money. ~*POOF*~ I hate Peer Editing Workshops. ~*POOF*~ I think that's about it. I hope everyone out there in Blogger Land is having a happy before Christmas season. Which reminds me, I should probably buy my family Christmas presents...
I realized this weekend that I have to, absolutely have to, get my priorities in order. I'll come back and visit you every so often, but until then, I'm going to pull a disappearing act. Bye Guys! Love you! Hope to see you around! Happy Christmas!
One of those states west of the Rockie mountains. Like the Dakotas. Source
Honestly, thank you so much Kubas! After Jenna and Brian qualified, I really wanted to go with them. So, should everything work out for you in Speech; I owe you a whole bunch.
Pretty much that's all I'm going to say; if you're curious, head over to Kubas's blog to check it out. He's a genius ladies and gentlemen; truly a genius.
Other than, I love Jenna. Oh, poor girl. Twice in two days she threw her arms around my neck; once in relief and once in joy! Of course, that caused a whole bunch of people to turn and look at us, but that's okay. I'm going to miss all of my freshmen so much when Debate is over, and yes, they're my freshmen. I have officially overtaken Rianna's position. Sweet.
Why am I cyber-happy-dancing you ask? So I wrote this literary analysis on the Great Gatsby a little over a week ago. Rianna + Literary Analysis + Great Gatsby=NIGHTMARE!!!!! The last one I wrote (sophomore year) I got a D on, or that might have been Hewitt, I don't really remember. Long story short, I suck at literary analysis. Guess who just got an A on her Gatsby paper. ME!!! I felt that was worth sharing.
~*POOF*~
So, anyone reading this blog know I have arthritis in one knee. Due to this, I will sit whenever possible. Now, given this fact, one could conclude that my butt has a higher tolerance for sitting than most others, right? After an entire week of doing nothing but read, write, study, repeat, my butt is begging for mercy. That's pretty bad. Who knew? Just thought I'd share.
~*POOF*~
Crystal, I may not need that ride, my FYSem instructor might cancell the outing that day, and then I would just go home with my parents on Sunday. I'll keep you posted, though.
~*POOF*~
Hope all goes well for those of you Nat Qualling this week! Hugs and love and stuff!
So I guess that my dad talked to Deacon Mike, and now he is helping haul my truck back to Brainerd. He and my dad came up (without stopping to see me!) and moved her around 1:30 PM today. Mike apparently does some autobody work and would be willing to look at it. Now at least if Lucy has to be junked it will be in Brainerd. Yay! One more chance for Lucy!
So, I found out some bad news today. Lucy is gone. She is past repair and now I must go and collect my things from her. My feelings are ambiguous. I am happy that I don't have to see her marred, sad that she must go, and angry that I hurt her.
I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy - but that could change. Source
I hate stress. Don't you? I'm so glad I don't have homework tonight, and in three days all this will be over. That being said, I need to write bills for Student Congress. Oh well, sounds like what I'll be doing Wednesday night.
Tonight I plan on sitting down and having quality time with The Early Admissions Game. Sounds fun, non? I didn't think so. My weekend was pretty good; eventful, but good. Friday and Saturday I was at Debate, and on Sunday I attended the play before helping tear down the set.
Thoughts on the play: I was really tired on Sunday, so the impact it could have had was probably less than it should have been. I really enjoyed some of the roles and others not too much. Kate came across as the most genuine in my opinion, but that's not to knock the rest of the actors who also were quite good. All in all, good production and I cannot wait for the spring play.
I was thrilled to see Rianna on Saturday, and I'm very sorry I wasn't able to say goodbye. I'm glad you had a great time, and I cannot wait to see you in a couple weeks! I'll get the pictures up in a few days.
However, I am going to go and read my book. I probably won't post again until Saturday to let everyone know how it went.
I'm going to pull a Sara/Rianna and ~poof~ my way to new thoughts.
6. wow.
~poof~
I'm really excited for Christmas Break to be here. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again. Plus we'll all be home at the same time, and that's going to be amazing. :D Plus I get to pick Rianna up from school on the 18th. I get to see her before her family. ohyes. I'm important. :p
~poof~
I'm also really looking forward to singing in Orchestra Hall on Thursday for the Concordia Christmas Concert rounds 5 & 6. The acoustics there are amazing. :D Should be two more good concerts. At least I hope.
~poof~
It's kind of cold in here and I should be doing my homework.
Ok. So I worked a lot this weekend and basically did nothing for homework (only a little bit of research). So, now to the point as to why I am posting when I have so much to do.
So I was driving from Target to NDSU. I need to take I-29. It's Sunday evening (about 9 PM or so) and it is snowing. I know the roads are icy so I'm driving carefully, not going too fast or accelerating too quickly. I was just getting off the ramp and was in the acceleration lane, which was full of snow (and ice under that snow). I knew it wasn't good to stay on the icy acceleration lane, so I was going to merge quickly, but I thought there were other cars in the lane to my left and didn't want to merge and then go really slow in front of them (because they were going really fast). I guess I accelerated too quickly on the ice before I tried to merge (onto nice road without ice). I started swerving and thought that maybe I could correct it. My truck started heading to the right and then I freaked out because I didn't want to go over the edge (I couldn't tell how steep it was and didn't want to roll my truck). My instinct was to swerve in the other direction (across oncoming traffic). Maybe not the best idea, but...it's too late now to fix it. I swerved to the left and thought I would maybe just hit the concrete divider and then stop, that way I'd be able to get going and go home, even if my truck was a little bit scraped up. Nope. That's not what happened. As I got close to the divider I heard a very loud crash and my truck had stopped. I knew I had been hit and my first thought was "frick, my first accident." Then I realized that it was not without minimal damage to my truck as I looked to my left to see what had happened and realized that there was no glass in my window and that my door was smashed in. I removed my keys and stuck my head out the window hole to make sure the other person was ok. I couldn't open my door (due to the damage) and so I yelled out "are you ok?" He was ok and I was ok, but his SUV was pretty much finished. He was really nice and didn't yell at me and called the cops. My truck had damage to the driver's door (smashed in) and not much at all to the front and nothing to the bed of the truck. I immediately thought "well at least I hadn't filled her up with gas yet."
The ND State Highway Patrol came and I got to sit in the back of a cop car for the first time. Not something I want to do ever again. It wasn't scary, just, the reasons for having to do so are not too good. He took my insurance (which was expired by 2 months, but he gave me a break) and my driver's license. The guy who hit me, Jeff, was also from MN. The cop guy commented, "so what, you to Minnesotans have to come over here to ND to mess up our roads?" They towed away our vehicles and I was told by the guy who towed my truck that it would probably be junked because it's a 1990, and to fix it would be too much money. But we'll see. I was thinking that the paint job alone would cost a lot since it's a custom color that my grandpa had made and cost $2000 to paint in the early 90's. But, if Lucy has to be wrecked, I should be able to get money for the engine (which suffered no damage as far as I know). I don't think the frame was bent, so she should have the chance to be repaired. Anyway, I called Aaron and he dropped me off at the dorm, where I called my parents and broke the news to them. They weren't "happy" but they were happy that I was ok.
So I thank God!!!! Oh my gosh!!! I am so very blessed that I didn't kill the other guy and that he didn't kill me. That it was an SUV that hit me and not a semi. That it wasn't a head-on collision, because I don't have airbags. That my parents didn't freak. That I have AAA for towing. That I do have some form of insurance (though no collision, only liability). That I was able to get a hold of someone to drive me to my dorm. That the guy, Jeff, was really nice to me. That the highway patrol guy was not mean. That I didn't roll my truck or get hit by multiple cars. That it was a Sunday night and not a weeknight. Wow, so blessed.
I'm ok, as I said. I just have a big lump on my left thigh where the window crank hit my leg and one on my left calf where something else on the door hit me. Other than a lump on my head and a back that must be out of alignment, I'm good. If any of you want any more of the story you can call me, but I think I've written quite a bit already! So...if anyone nearby wants to give me a ride home next weekend (Crystal...wink wink). Until then...goodbye!
It's good to be back. I had an AWESOME weekend, so I feel I should share. On Saturday, I judged for the Forest Lake Debate tournament. Three words: I love judging. I judged two novice rounds, and may I say, they were adorable. Favorite quotes: "You have to vote neg because, well, she says there's a separation of church and state, but it says "In God We Trust" in the pledge of allegiance!" and "An unbiased third party should decide whether or not a person lives or dies, because they are unbiased, which means the don't have a bias because they're unbiased." Lord, I love Novi. I have also decided that I like this years new Novi. Luke and Tom are funny kids. I would have loved to coach them. My sister knows both and watched them debate a round. She thought they were amazing, and that Lincoln Douglas was boring. Oh well. Maybe Sam. JK, I love my sister dearly. ~*POOF*~ So my family came this weekend. Ariel was dropped off at the debate tournament, and then came home with me. My mom took Sam to see the Monster Trucks. He had a blast, and so did we. Let's just say that between the two of us girls, much junk food was consumed. They stayed the night in my dorm, and took me to breakfast and lunch today. After they left, I took a nap, which leads me to my next point. Please move with me to my third random thought. ~*POOF*~ My group for FYSem just left. They're good people. We spent the night "working" and listening to Les Mis tunes. It was fun. We also tried to out do each other in various kinds of musical categories. I won "cheesiest love song" with "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston, as well as "worst pop/ rap song" with "Beep" by the Pussy Cat Dolls. What can I say, I'm a random person. Best underground hip hop went to Steve. I got best foreign song, with "Major Tom" and "99 Luftballons", both in German. Jess got best synth song though. I really wanted that one... ~*POOF*~ I leave you now with a song by the person that won me "cheesiest love song ever":
I went Bzoink and took a quiz to find my theme song. It was American Idiot by Green Day. I thought that was kind of funny, considering Kara's favorite song choice.
At the same website I found that my stripper name is Bob Sahangin, with my specialty being shakin' my booty. Ha! I'm loved only by 31% and I will retire at the age 86. Wow...no wonder why my customers won't like me!!!
My sexiest feature: my feet. For sure! I always knew that one!
Ok...there's a lot more, but I'll stop boring you all. You should go there and tell me what you get.
So basically I haven't posted in forever and thought it was time to add a quick update. I've been extremely busy and should be doing homework right now, but I just don't feel like it. I'm very excited for Christmas Break. We got snow today here in Fargo, so that is quite lovely! Oh on a random note, I was on Pelk's blog and did the death predictor thing that he has on there and this is what mine came out to be: At age 27 you will participate in the newest reality game show. Contestants battle each other in an arena with swords and spears. You will have a good run (12+ victories) but eventually be killed, much to the audience's dismay. So basically, I'm super strong and sassy. So you all should watch out. My end will be pretty cool. It just reminds me of the fact that I don't date guys I can't bench.
Ok. Random note finished. I'm not as nice as Sara to add *POOF*'s. I'm working a lot this weekend...finals are coming...I should study...ok...that's about it.
