Day 40

Crap. Crap. Crap.

It's 11:54, and I seem to have forgotten that the 24 hour day ends at 12:00.

Today, I baked cookies.

Also, I decided that I will NEVER become a newscaster. My reason is that watching the live coverage of Hurricane Sandy is really horrifying. People return to their homes to find that their entire's life worth of accumulations, everything that they have worked for, is gone. I could never sit in a room all day and talk about something horrible like that for a living.

Now, I thought about it, and the job of a newscaster is pretty meaningful. I mean, you aren't just sitting around in a stuffy room talking about people's problems. You are the person who is going to, hopefully, inspire some sort of action in the community. You are going to take that information, and present it to an audience of people, people who are inevitably going to respond to that material. If you do your job correctly, in a time like this, than you can effectively be the force that inspires people to go out into the field and help out.

It's just that I would want to be the person helping, not the person in the room. I think I'd just be depressed, even if my job is meaningful in some way.

11:58

Woohoo!

-D.F.T.B.A.-
Mina;)

PS: 2 months down, 30 more to go. 

Day 39: Frankenstorm

Hello!

I have spent my day doing homework, playing Uno with my sister, trying to draw anime, and wasting time staring at things (my favorites are lightbulbs, my closet, and my fingers).

Unfortunately, the greater part of the tristate area was not so lucky.

Besides not having any electricity, the "Frankenstorm" didn't really affect me very much. But, take a look at the street in my dad's area in NYC:

  As the storm progressed the park and the boardwalk were under 3-4 feet of water. What's really crazy is that 2 weeks ago, I was sitting on that bench, and walking on that boardwalk, and then I look up the park on the internet, and this is the picture I find. Crazy.

  Anyways, my sister spent the entire day begging me to play Uno with her, and I really didn't want to. I figured it would be boring, you know, since she's 6 years old.

  But, she beat me 3 times in a row, and I was playing to WIN.

  Apparently, my uncle taught her over the weekend, and now she is some serious Uno player or something. I swear, she's really good! It's so funny!

So, I decided to have this conversation with her:

Me: You're really good at this!

Sofia: I know! This is fun!

Me: Do you like playing with cards?

Sofia: Yeah I do! A lot!

Me: There are lots of games you can play with cards, you know. Some of them even give you money

Sofia: Really? *astonished*

Me: Yeah, of course. For some people, playing games with cards is their career, it's how they make        money!

Sofia: What's that kind of career called?

Me: Gambling!

Sofia: Wow! I want to be a gambler!

Me: Great idea! We can BOTH be gamblers! Do you think I'm good enough to be a professional gambler?

Sofia: No, but I am!

*Mom walks into the room*

Me: Tell mommy what you're going to be when you grow up, Sofi!

Sofia: I'm going to be a gambler when I grow up!

  Yes, that really happened. Gosh, that is so funny. I swear my mom hates me. Don't worry, we explained to her that gambling's a bad thing and whatever. I love Sofia! The things I can get her to say!

-D.F.T.B.A-
Mina;)

Day 38

HEY!

No school today, because of the big and scary hurricane, but I figured I'd still name this Day 39.

(woah, Lightening!)


So today I read Looking For Alaska, and it suddenly occurred to be that I read books that do not really match up to my age. When I was in 6th grade, I was reading books that I should be reading now. Now, I feel like I read books that say they are YA, but that I can't imagine a normal 14 year old picking up. Not because of being inappropriate, just because of maturity and things like that.

(more lightening)

Anyways, I also painted my nails to look like the night sky. I used black nail polish, and then I went over it in a sparkly clear polish. I think I did a pretty good job. Mostly, I was just thinking about how I spent the majority of my life scorning glitter and sparkles, and now I just think that they look nice on my nails.

No school tomorrow, either! So, I think I will be reading An Abundance of Katherines, which should tear my heart up, since it's by John Green. I was planning to write a review thingy for Looking For Alaska, but I just haven't got my thoughts in order, and truthfully, page 132 is still affecting me. I swear that you can't read one of his novels without a box of tissues, but equally so, you can't read them without laughing with and loving the character, even if one of them is a complete idiot for drinking and driving.

-D.F.T.B.A.-
Mina;)

Confession: My mom baked scones yesterday, and I have a couple stashed in my bedroom! Shhh... Don't tell!

MY JOHN GREEN BOX SET CAME!

Hello!

Today, I did a lot, but nothing in particular. I babysat Ayden and Chase, which was fun. They have Spiderman Transformers, and I was so proud when I was able to turn the action figure into a car! I have to say that it was sort of difficult, but really fun! This one is venom:

The highlight of my day was when I received a call about school being closed tomorrow! I was so happy! I like school, but I'd rather not go, if you know what I mean...

Anyways, the real reason why I had to post was... *Drumroll*

I FINALLY GOT MY JOHN GREEN BOX SET, AND IT'S SIGNED AND MADE OF AWESOME!!!! ALSO, IT'S PRETTY!

I was squealing away the entire time I was opening it, and it couldn't have come at a better time, I get the feeling that with school closed tomorrow for the big storm, and possibly (probably) Tuesday as well, I will have plenty of time to read all of Mr. Green's collective works! 

The box itself has really cool quotes from the books on it. For instance:

"I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, then all at once." (I'm pretty sure that that one's from TFIOS)

"If people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane." (Paper Towns?)

I'm so excited! They are so pretty and precious, and I'm pretty sure that these will end up like my hardcover box set Harry Potters, they will live in their own corner of my bedroom, only be touched by my fingers, and preferably read in my utopia (I'm laying down on my bed with tea in my right hand, my email open on my lap top, snow outside, "Cosmic Love" being whispered by the stereo, and Louie laying down on my shoulder, with my head resting on his warm fur). This utopia almost always includes Fred and George Weasley, and, since I always re-read Harry Potter's on snow days, specifically the fifth book, they always say about a thousand things that leave me laughing. 

Some of my favorites are:

"You don't want to bottle your anger up like that, Harry, let it all out," said Fred, beaming. 

"There might be a couple people fifty miles away who didn't hear you." 

"Has Ron saved a goal yet?" asked Hermione.

"Well, he can do it if he thinks no one is watching him," said Fred, rolling his eyes. "So all we have to do is ask the crowd to turn their backs and talk among themselves every time the Quaffle goes up on his end Saturday." 

''Oh, are you a Prefect, Percy?'' said one of the twins, with an air of great surprise. ''You should have said something, we had no idea.''
''Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it,' said the other twin.''Once– ''
''Or twice–''
''A minute– ''
''All summer–''

(This is when the Order of the Phoenix tell Harry that six of them are going to disguise themselves as him.)
"This is different, pretending to be me-"
"Well, none of us really fancy it, Harry," said Fred earnestly. "Imagine if something went wrong and we were stuck as specky, scrawny gits forever."
Harry did not smile.
"You can't do it if I don't cooperate, you need me to give you some hair."
"Well that plan's scuppered," said George. "Obviously there's no chance at all of us getting a bit of your hair unless you cooperate."
"Yeah, thirteen of us against one bloke who's not allowed to use magic; we've got no chance," said Fred.

"Funny," said Harry, "really amusing."

Classics have to the "We're identical!" and the "Gred and Forge" incident. Also I love when the Weasley family is stuck in Harry's fireplace and Ron asks if something went wrong, and they respond sarcastically, "No, no this is exactly where we wanted to end up". 

I've gotten completely carried away!!!

If the power does go out, I will try and save enough juice on my phone to write something like, "Storm... Battery Low... Can't elaborate... Bye!" 

Stay Safe!

-D.F.T.B.A.-

Mina;)

All of the Things

Hi.

Yesterday, I went to the Halloween Extravaganza at St. John the Divine Cathedral with Ella. It was really awesome, the costumes were amazing! We watched the original Dracula movie from 1922, Nosferatu, and, surprisingly, I didn't have trouble sitting through it without sound, and having to read the narrations. I figured out how to post video, so I thought I would include a video of the event in 2009. I had a lot of fun!

When I got home, it was still early, but by the time I went to bed, I was in a horrible mood. I was really upset about a lot of things, and I sometimes feel like I juggle all of the things by myself. I feel like I'm always so busy, as exhibited here, and I sometimes think that all of the momentary good things are just distractions from the bad things, and that when you're alone, it's easier to think about all of the bad things, than it is to think of the good things. Anyways, at that moment, I felt like I didn't have any distractions. What I don't understand is why the good things have to be distractions, and why they can't just be wholesome in my brain. Why do bad things have the ability to haunt, but good things are only momentary distractions?

I woke up half an hour before I needed to be at school today, so you can assume that I was still in a not amazing mood. I rushed to get dressed, and got a ride from a friend. We went to an environmental club event at Liberty State Park, where we did some weeding and gardening in exchange for some community service hours. There was a free luncheon afterwords at the Liberty Science Center, and we got to roam the exhibits for free! During the whole gardening part, I took a lot of pictures of Serena in action!

We went to one exhibit where you were crawling through these tunnels in the dark, and you had to try to make your way to the end. That, in particular, was a lot of fun, especially when Serena poked me in the eye! 

I also had pistachio ice cream for the very first time. It's in the in-betweens, for me. I sort of like it, but I sort of don't. It was decently edible, but it was weird. 

When I got back home, I hardly took a breath before I got Grace's (really tardy) email about a Halloween party at her church that Tulsi and I were invited to attend. It was a costume party, so I pulled together a cat costume, and I thought I looked very cute. Tulsi was Sally from "The Nightmare Before Christmas", and she looked awesome as well. She actually won the costume contest.

Grace has the awesomest little brothers by the way, they are so cute... Just so adorable. She certainly doesn't think so, but I do. 

Also, for the very first time in my life, I had banana cream pie. This, I believe, is momentous in a kid's life, because you hear about the pie in everything! Every T.V. show has a least one episode featuring someone licking banana cream pie of their faces. Also on the desert table, were these really uber adorable cupcakes.

I wish I could have had one, but I was weary because I've been eating so much sugar!

Anyways, the party was plenty fun, and now I just want to sleep. I should have given better details, I know, but I just couldn't. I'm exhausted. 

-D.F.T.B.A.-

Mina;)

Day 37

It's really late, and I want to watch Buffy, so I'm going to pull a "Extra long post tomorrow, I promise".

BYE!

-D.F.T.B.A.-
Mina;)

By the way, Buffy is growing on me... It's weird how I like watching SciFi, but I can't read it. It's a good thing that "Doctor Who" isn't a book. 

Day 36

Hello!

Today wasn't bad. I mean, today was decent. There were some extreme upsides, but also a lot blegh.

In health, we were learning about Body Mass Index, which is basically a scale that compares your weight to your height and determines whether or not your weight is appropriate.

Almost all of the girls, including me, who were about 5ft. 3" and weighed between 97-110 pounds were considered underweight on the BMI chart. I seemed to find that ridiculous, because we live in AMERICA. We have food. Lots of it.

So, yeah, apparently I'm underweight, so was about 60% of the class.

The teacher kind of turned around and told everyone that the scale we were using wasn't that accurate and not to worry about it. People tend to think that because I'm quite skinny that I don't eat as much, but they are soooo wrong. When I get home, I spend my entire day in the kitchen. I know that you probably don't believe me, but it's true. I'm quite an expensive kid, constantly depleting edible resources, I am. However, I eat a lot of fruit and crackers. Fruit and crackers ALL DAY. I hardly ever get enough protein though, unless meat is a) barbecued or b) soaked in soy sauce or some other asian sauce-thing I tend to not like meat. Same thing with rice, I hate rice, I only eat it when I drown it in soy sauce.

Lately, I've been eating a lot of chocolate and sweets. In the past few days I've had donuts, pie, cake, cookies, and today I ate a pop tart. Every night since last week (when the whole sweet tooth thing started), I have been waking up, walking to the mirror, and expecting to see a pimple. I'm just waiting for that acne... It's coming. There has to be some consequences to my reckless behavior.

In L.A., we're still on satire (which is awesome). We have a project about "The Simpsons" soon. I'm excited...

We're also still on the comma thing. For homework we had to make up our own. My first sentence is describing a kick boxer with a serious face:

She punched, her face harder than usual.

The second sentence is:

She punched her face harder than usual.


It's not as good as grandma, but it was the best I could do! On the bus with a friend named Jasmine today, I could not stop laughing about the grandma one. It's just so good...

After school, I stopped by my old school to see Ms. Mollie. She wanted me to go and see the Haunted House. It was AWESOME! The haunted house was so cool! To get in, you have to crawl on a plank in the dark. That leads to a room where there is one of those tables, and it has a plate on it, and hole for someone to stick their head through. Tulsi tried it out while I was there, and we told her to say funny stuff like, "Hey, can you scratch my nose!"

Anyways, I got home and I quickly did my homework. As planned, I watched my very first episode of "Buffy". I liked it... It was exactly what I had expected. Thank goodness for Netflix!

On a random note," The Lizzie Bennett Diaries" on YouTube is getting kind of awesome. The web series is a modern day spin off of Pride and Prejudice! Having read the book a few months ago, and having watched the miniseries version, I am so excited! Darcy proposed for the first time!!!!! I'm ecstatic, the entire plot is unfolding! Lizzie didn't say so, of course, but she said all sorts of weird things about how Darcy randomly stopped by and how he said something "weird". Watching the episodes, I can feel the actual storm brewing and I am so excited! Soon, Lizzie will find out the whole plot, than hate Darcy, than realize that she loves him, than go home and be boring, and than she will run into him again and tell Darcy that she loves him, than Darcy, who loved her all along will propose while they're walking, and I AM SO EXCITED! Can you tell?

While reading the book, I always got excited every time Darcy was mentioned. Same thing with Harry Potter, any time he thought of Ginny in book 6 or 7, I would want Harry to stand up and tell Ginny how he feels. Especially that chapter where he and Ron run in on Ginny and Dean "snogging" and Harry starts freaking out! I love how he goes back and forth over why that bothered him, and you can sense that he settles on that he must like her, but he doesn't even let himself think that! I just thought about it, and if I attended Hogwarts, I would be going to the Yule Ball this winter! If only... School is so boring compared to Hogwarts!

Which reminds me of something! Every song by A Fine Frenzy is about love woes and whatever. The stupid thing is that in the song "You Picked Me", the lyrics are really demeaning!

Like an apple on a tree
Hiding out behind the leaves
I was difficult to reach
But you picked me
Like a shell upon a beach
Just another pretty piece
I was difficult to see
But you picked me
Yeah you picked me

Not only does she literally say that her significant other picked her, but she also goes on to talk about how she was "just another pretty piece"! No! You were not "just another pretty piece", you were you, and that's original enough. The entire song focuses on this horrible idea that relationships are initiated from a male's POV. As if she couldn't have picked him, not that he even need to be picked. People aren't picked... 

In the song, the guy didn't go to the supermarket and look in the canned goods section for his favorite brand of girlfriend, and than realize "Oh! There she is! Right behind the string beans! You were hidden, weren't you? Well, I pick you."

The song sure does have a catchy tune though. That song is her only virtually happy song and it still manages to depress me. 

-D.F.T.B.A.-
Mina;)

PS When I was younger, I begged my mom to let me hatch chicks for a science fair project. We built an incubator and everything, and the day that the chicks hatched, I got to name them. Do you know what I named them? John, Sam, Jenny, Jack, and Suzanne (after my teacher at the time). I can't believe that I named those adorable little fluffy chicks such horribly boring names. Seriously? A little tiny ball of fluff, and 7-year-old me named him John? WHY? I loved those chicks so much, I would spend so much time just holding them and chasing them around the backyard. I remember that Jack was a bully, and he was always bothering Suzanne and Jenny (wait...). We ended up giving them to a farm in Pennsylvania. Actually, I don't think I was ever really officially told where the chicks (who had become chickens) went. 

Thinking about this whole ordeal with the chicks, I'm starting to feel like I was lied to... 

But seriously, Sam? John? Jenny? Jack? Suzanne? I'd never really talked about my chickens before, but now that I have, I can't believe what I named them! Have a little imagination... 

Day 35

HELLO!

You know how sometimes, you go to bed with the complete realization that you have not fully completed your homework, but for some reason you feel calm?

Somehow, some force washes over you and you just feel like "whatever", or "I'll do it when I do it". 

I feel that way with my math project right now. I have one problem left, and I've just put it away... 4 hours of homework is exhausting! Also, I get distracted so easily. 

The only real reason that I'm feeling so relaxed about it is because I have a free period that I will be spending in the library tomorrow...

Something I find funny about my scores in math is that I either win or I lose. Every time. My test scores have been complete extremes. Either I get a score of a 100, or I score a 60. My test scores literally look something like 100, 100, 57, 100, 70, 60, 100, 65, 100, 100. Isn't that so weird? Either I REALLY get it, or I fail. 

In Language Arts, we're finding grammatical errors, specifically ones that pertain to misuse of commas. My personal favorite, one that always leaves me dying laughing is : Let's eat, Grandma! Let's eat Grandma...

I love that one! Let's eat, Grandma! 

Let's eat Grandma...

It's just soooooo funny! So funny!

I have to say it ONE more time! Let's eat, Grandma! Let's eat Grandma! (You have to do it with the alternating voices for dramatic effect!)

-D.F.T.B.A.-

Mina;)

PS I was just randomly on the dftba website, and they have the awesomest stuff! I specifically love the posters with quotes from TFIOS, Paper Towns, and the "Daisy Buchanan is a beautiful fool" tee-shirt. SO cool. I love the quotes... Love the quotes...

Day 34

Younger Siblings are so annoying...

That is all I'm going to say on the subject (for now).

I joined Concert Choir today!!!! I'm so happy! The teacher seems really cool! I also spent the entire period talking to a really nice senior, swapping stories about a certain teacher.

I'm learning about satire in Mr. Flanagan's class, and I really like it! I'm so excited to try out writing some...

Have you ever noticed that when you sit up really strait, your back feels like it's on fire? I have...

Sorry for the extremely random/hardly organized post!

-D.F.T.B.A.-
Mina;)

Day 33

Soooooooooo much homework.

Soooooooooo many projects!

Ugh...

  Eleanor and Maia are trying to convince me to join choir. I originally really wanted to join choir, but I was too late (volleyball). Now, they're opening it up again, but I've already joined other clubs!

  Should I quit French Club? I don't really have any friends there, and the trip to France in July isn't all that appealing anymore.

  Also, Choir performs at Carnegie Hall! Cool, right?

  But, Choir is everyday! I don't want to quit film, and at this point I really can't. I don't want to quit environmental, because I kind of like gardening. So, I might as well quit French Club. Environmental isn't even a weekly thing, so I guess it's not so bad?

  I'm boring you, I know...

  I really want to join choir. A little voice inside of my head is coyly telling me how convenient it is for choir to all of sudden begin accepting new members. 

  Bye-Bye!!

  :)

-D.F.T.B.A.-
Mina;)

Crap. I was about to fall asleep and then I realized that I didn't write a confession.

Confession: Today, in a class whose name I will not name, I actually began to fall asleep. That has never really happened to me, where I have literally felt the actual pull to fall asleep during a class, no matter how boring/exhausting it is.

Anyways, I sit across from a sophomore guy, and he realized that I was closing my eyes. I opened my eyes, but it was the weirdest sensation. It was like, as soon as he realized that I was falling asleep (and would then begin to nudge his friends), my eyes abruptly flew open. I looked right into his face, which is so weird. I had been in that weird daze of falling asleep, and all of a sudden, I opened my eyes in the most abrupt manner, and just so happened to look right at him. Anyways, we both started laughing. I, personally could not believe that I had even started to fall asleep in a class. He was probably just laughing at me and my sleeping self. I find it weird because it was like my body was telling me to wake up.

I don't feel quite so bad about nearly falling asleep, because I took a look over at Celeste, and she was right there with me. Gosh, I need to bring water or something with me to that class! It's not that the class itself is boring or anything, it's just... I can't believe myself! Horrible, right?

About How I Never Get To The Castle

Wowza... This post is completely intimidating me. I have so much to write about, but I have no idea where to begin.

Sorry if there is literally no organization in this post. I have a horrible stomach ache, and I'll explain why later.

So, yesterday I went to a production of "Spring Awakening" at Farleigh Dickinson University with theatre. It was awesome. The music and the actors were very good. If you've ever seen the play, you would know that there is some brief nudity and adult themes, like suicide and stuff, but they sort of watered it down. It was every emotional.

Afterwords, we heard the spiel and we were supposed to get a tour, but it was raining cats and dogs.

That was when I got back on my phone and read Ms. Hoffman's really nice comment, and I completely spazzed out. Ella and Rai were sitting there wondering why I look like I'm crying, with my face in my hands, bent over, randomly twitching. Ella took my phone and told me to calm down. Rai just laughed.

I don't know. It's not that serious, right? But, I was completely thrown off by it, and the comment made me feel so good, and I didn't know how to respond to it... Ugh! I'm so weird. I should have just smiled or something...

After returning from the field trip, I was supposed to go to French Movie Night at school, but I would have been too late, so instead I went to a volleyball game.

The game was awesome! I was this close ( this close) to loosing my voice. Obviously, I used to be on the team, so I felt obliged to make the most noise. Celeste was embarrassed by me. Very much.

During the game, I left the gym for second to find a water fountain to refill my bottle with, and my health teacher eyed me, smiled, and than an epiphany crossed her face.

"You never handed in your donation for Breast Cancer!"

Oh crap. She told me to wait in the hallway, because she wanted to speak to me. Meanwhile, I'm talking to one of the varsity players (their game just ended), and she's being all friendly and nice, and I mention that I'm about to be yelled at by the health teacher, and she gives me those understanding eyes and murmurs, what you think she murmured.

It wasn't half as bad as we expected! She asked for my address and number and told me that she would pick it up from my house. That was so strange, but whatever. Anything to stay on her good side...

I went to sleep at 9 o'clock and I woke up this morning at 11 o'clock. I have never slept so long in my entire life. Everyone in my family knows that I am a complete night owl. I stay up writing and listening to music, and doing random stuff (YouTube). So, me asleep at 9 is comparable to...actually it's not comparable!

Today I went out to the city with the usual bunch.

We went to this exhibit in Chelsea, where this whole room was constructed to completely trick your senses. You could stand there and swear that you're standing strait, and then you look into the mirror, and you're at an angle. I made sure to take some pictures.

That was awesome! The pizza we ate afterwords was crazy delicious as well!

We took the train over to Central Park (which was awfully difficult, since nothing was doing what it was supposed to be doing).

At Central Park, I was immediately paired with Grace, and we played hide-and-go-seek, The Hunger Games style.

Grace and I went all out and did the whole mud stripes on our arms, and we hid in trees and atop rocks. You could never find us. We found N'dia so many times, but she is so amazing at escaping. One time, Grace and I completely had her trapped on both sides, and she just jumped into some bushes and underbrush and disappeared. Poof.

Eventually Grace and Tulsi were killed. Followed by N'dia, so I won! But, that's arguable. Not really, but Tulsi thinks so...

As we were leaving the park, we decided to walk into Sheep Meadows where they had telescopes set up by Amateur Astronomers Association of New York. So, we saw the BEST views of the moon EVER. You could see every single tiny crater, and it was so crisp and clear! We also got things like hats and cool facts, Grace and I ended up giving our glowsticks to these two little girls whose own glowsticks we couldn't get to work well. I took this picture of Tulsi and N'dia looking like opossums. 

Eventually, we did get back on to the train and home. Grace and I sang the whole way back. While, we were in the car, a certain someone (whose name I will not release), stunk up the entire car with her eau du manure. We had barely noticed how terrible she smelled while we were in the park, but once we got into the confined spaces of the car, it was so horrible. I thought it was the funniest thing. Everyone was making fun of her.

Anyways, Miss Mollie thought that I should name this post "About How I Never Get To The Castle", because every single time we go to Central Park I ask to go to the castle, but we always get sidetracked and end up no where near it. So many times, we have been so close, and I still haven't seen Belvidere Castle, which she finds very funny.

When I got back to Tulsi's house, I asked to use their computer to finally respond to Ms. Hoffman's comment, and my stomach knotted up. I wanted to say thank you, but I didn't know how. So, I just did my best. Now, I have a stomach ache. But, that doesn't mean that I don't like it when people leave nice comments, it's just that I get so happy by these weird little things, that I don't know how to produce words out of that. I'm so weird. I'm so weird. I'm so weird.

Grace: I know that you're going to point out that I forgot to write about something, so you can write about whatever I forgot to write about in the comments.

-D.F.T.B.A.-
 Mina;)

Day 32

Hey!

Too much happened today, and I can't... I just can't.

I have to write this on my phone, and the connection is being interesting, which is horrible since I have so much to write about.

Bye!!!!

Tomorrow will be an extra-extra long post, I promise!

-D.F.T.B.A-
Mina

Day 31

Hey!

Today was fine I guess...

On the contrary, I think that people thought that I was in a moody mood today, but I wasn't. I was just maybe a little more thoughtful. As the day progressed, however, I did start to feel moodiness kick in.

Me being moody is mostly just me not talking to anyone very much. Sometimes you just feel like it. I just felt like blegh for the greater portion of after-lunch time.

In history, we were supposed to be outlining an entire chapter, so naturally, everyone simultaneously gave up after 10 minutes of dedication, only to realize that there were like 20 more pages to outline. I was moaning and groaning, and I kept switching positions in my seat. Everyone just ended up joking around and laughing.

I think people have more fun joking around and laughing when there is a teacher that they're try to hide from. Half of the fun part is trying to keep quiet and keep your voice low.

History definitely cheered me up. The two people I sit next to happen to be in my health class as well, we were dying over this one thing that happened one time. Oh gosh, that was so funny.

I'm being so incredibly vague.

I tired...

-D.F.T.B.A.-
Mina;)

Day 30

HEY!

So, I know that you may be expecting some juicy details about the PSAT, but I can barely remember that far into the morning, much more important things than the test that determines my future courses happened today!

The test was really mostly a blur. I could barely get my head on strait. Stupid me was near a window.

After our 12:30 dismissal, everyone just sort of walked over to the mall. I have never ever recognized so many people at the mall!

Anyways, we pooled all of our money together ($45 between 6 people) and we went to Johnny Rockets and pretended it was Ella's birthday!

Afterwords, we sort of wandered the mall a bit. We played a game of hide-and-go-seek which ultimately ended with Ella and I desperate on the corner of Forever 21 and Express, when all of a sudden I saw Eleanor and Rai's blue sweater. It was just a slight little glimpse of the sweater, but then I saw Eleanor bobbing up and down in her energetic way, and the rest is history!

We went to a bunch of random stores, sniffing perfumes and candles, seeing clothes that we will probably never buy :(

Maia is so funny! She is the ultimate person for opinions on sales and things. Eleanor on the other hand, knows all about perfume, since she went to some summer program for scents in the city!

After leaving the mall, and going home, I stopped by Tulsi's and we had a pretty interesting conversation.

Tulsi brought up the point that whenever she reads books and things, books where the main characters have powers/amazing lives, she ultimately wishes that she could be in their world.

In those worlds, people can make whatever they want of their lives, and control them with efficiency in some ways... They can do whatever they want to do...

I added that that's why people like certain kinds of video games, ones where you are the creator, and you get to control what your player does, and what job your player gets. Nothing is standing in your way.

But wait. Isn't that what we do now?

This sort of conversation is based off of the idea that in the real world, we DON'T get to do what we want, and that we DON'T get to make our own decisions and control our lives. So we need to live out those fantasies in forms of media like books and video games.

Do we control our lives? Or don't we?

As humans, we do get to make many decisions. However, I guess what Tulsi and I sort of based our conversation off of is the notion that obstacles in the real world prevent us from fulfilling our dreams the way that we wanted to. We don't get to always get what we want. People and places and things stand in the way from us making certain decisions that we want to make.

That got me thinking. There are only a hand full of decisions that we get to make as human beings that are not somehow influenced by another need or obstacle.

These decisions are mostly behavioral.

How do you treat your best friend? Your superiors? How do you treat the old lady on the bus? What do you say when you know that someone is hurting?

When someone is in a bad mood, and you cheer them up, how does that make you feel? It makes you feel good. Well, not good, amazing.

We DON'T always get to choose what school we go to, or which people surround us, or what kind of atmosphere we are in. But, we DO get to choose how we treat those people in that atmosphere. So, maybe in the real world, we don't get to create our dream lives! But, we can always, always, always control one thing. How we speak. (Both figuratively and physically)

My point is mostly that we can all feel like we have superpowers and can fly, like those characters in books, just by altering the way that we interact with people...

No one needs a wand to cast some magic spells.

-D.F.T.B.A.-
Mina

Blegh Sappy....

Day 29

Hello!

I wore a mustard sweater today, and apparently it made my skin color sing! Isn't that nice?  I feel like it's a magical sweater, and everyone ought to make friends with it, because you'll be seeing a whole lot of Ms. Magical Mustard Sweater... So... :)

I made the pictures workety work!!! I did! So exciting! Me, uploading pictures onto the internet! I actually just finished telling Miss Mollie about how my aunt asked me to turn on the T.V. at my dad's house, and I was just... No... Sorry... I couldn't turn on the the television. I'm so stupid!

  I'm pretty sure that that's the power button, so why isn't it working?!?!?! Maybe I'm using the wrong remote? Is it this one? WOAH! NO! That's the fan, sorry. So it has to be this one. Why isn't it... That IS the power button! *smiles* I'm sorry! I'll get it! Let me see... Maybe if I... *chuckles* Televisions these days, am I right? No? I GIVE UP! 

 I'm taking the PSAT tomorrow, so wish me luckers! I haven't studied AT ALL! So... For some reason, I'm not worried at all. But, let's see what I write tomorrow! 

  I found this really hilarious picture of all of the Doctors from WHO!

I love it! Do you love it? I love it, too!

I got my email for VicCon today! Oh, if only I could go... My YouTube junkie-self is dyeing to go!

Today, after school (NO HOMEWORK), Tulsi and I sat on the roof of her casa and painted our nails/dolls with nail polish... Yes, I really mean dolls...

I got so freezing cold from the nail polish remover (it feels like putting ice cubes on your nails) that we actually had to use blankets!

This is a doodlything I did sometime during the summer...

Bleh... This is so random, but Tulsi and I agree that authors sometimes kill someone off in the middle of a book or series because they feel it's getting boring. "Oh no! My readers are getting bored! Quick! PLOT TWIST! few... That should keep 'em at bay for a while." So much drama. 

Also, I keep recordings of myself singing so that I can judge and tweak, and today, Tulsi and I were listening to those... I started singing along... WITH MYSELF! Woah.. Tulsi though that we sounded quite good together. 

Anyways... 

(I didn't proof read!)

BYE BYE!

-D.F.T.B.A.-

Mina;)

PS I just ordered the Limited Edition John Green Box Set!!!! Oh my gosh! I'm so excited! It's freaking autographed!!!! It has The Fault In Our Stars, Paper Towns, Looking For Alaska, and An Abundance of Katherine's! Oh my gosh! They're signed!!!! AHHHH! :) If you like him, order it NOW! It's limited edition! I usually always miss out on these things, but this time I was was persistent!

PSS Presidential Debates? FEISTY! Am I right?

Day 28

Aloha!

So, my attempt at pictures obviously didn't work! I'm going to work on it though so hopefully I will have them up this week.

My head feels like it's going to explode,  I'm not exaggerating!

Catching up on work is so annoying, I took a test today after school, and tomorrow I have to take a test during lunch. When I handed in another field trip permission slip form, all of my teachers gave me a grumpy look...

I could barely concentrate on my work, because my head was lost in a blizzard of thoughts...

*scream*

I'm so sorry, I just don't have the patience for this today.

-D.F.T.B.A.-
Mina;)

Confession: Two Saturdays ago, I went to Central Park with Grace, Tulsi, N'dia, and Miss Mollie (Tulsi's mom). N'dia and Tulsi kept running away and disappearing, and it became a sort of challenge to try to find them in the Rambles of the park (which is like the woodsy- quiet- you'd never know you were in Manhattan area). We would yell "Caw- Caw" and they would respond with a whistle tune. Anyways, we were getting sort of annoyed, when I Tulsi and N'dia for a second. I just charged right at them, full speed, and yelled "I've got you now!", or some variation of that. There were people on the path that I didn't see from around the corner, and they turned around and gave me these funny/ what's- wrong- with -you faces, and I was so embarrassed. Anyways, I was running and screaming full speed ahead, and Tulsi and N'dia were within reach, and I made a really sharp turn onto another path. I looked crazy. Just imagine me running forward with all of my might, with a clearly defined destination, and all of a sudden I run a completely different direction. I was so embarrassed that people were looking at me. Gracie and Miss Mollie were laughing and laughing, and they felt so bad for me! Ugh... So Sad!!!! 

Glamicures and Photos!

Greetings!

  

  

Today, I want to experiment with posting photos!

  But, before that, I have a quick story to tell you. So, last night, I mentioned that my cousins Ayden and Chase were over, but they ended up sleeping at my house, while my aunt and uncle went to the movies.

  This morning, Chase was running around, after he was told not to (He's 3), and so he was put in time-out. I sat him on a little stool in a different room, and he cried and cried. But, he cried in that fake, no-tears way. 

  My cousin, Khloe (1 year old), took a stool from another room and dragged it over to where Chase was sitting, and sat next to him. She brought a rubber ducky with her, and she gave it to Chase, and he stopped crying. It was so cute... 

  Ugh... So cute! 

  Anyways, as a birthday present to my Strawberry Shortcake- Loving sister, I gave her a glamicure. Apparently, a glamicure is a nail design that Ms. Shortcake wears, that looks like a strawberry. On the show, it sings to her and stuff. So, I gave my sister her own little glamicure. I wanted to post a picture of it, but the photo didn't come out the way I'd of like it to. 

  However, I thought I would show a picture of my new wall of stuff, that I am so proud of! I thought I should point out a few of the more noticeable items on there. The map at the top is of Istanbul. The drawing that is in oranges and reds of a girl with curly hair was a failed attempt at a self-portrait. I didn't really try, I was much more interested in drawing her!

  The mermaid I drew in art class last year. I really enjoy her skin color, it's such a pretty reddish brown color! You may not be able to tell, but there are some Euros, Dilhems (Morocco), and Lira (Turkey) on there. There's a brochure to the Harry Potter Exhibition while it was in North America (That was awesome!). The CD is from the 4th grade at my old school. The letter is from another awesomesauce teacher at... you guessed it... my old school! I don't really know what else to point out!

  The poster that says "Call Me" is not what is seems!!! It's from my school concert from last year, and we did the actual song "Call Me" by Blondie. The blue poster of the statue and the pigeon was something Ms. Hoffman gave me. Thanks to her, I can't walk into my room without at least smiling. The two Harry Potter drawings, and the girl with fire behind her are all Tulsi's drawings. Ummm...

  Oh! The card is from a little friend named Rachel. She gave it to me at the end of last year. It's so cute! It has a drawing of me and the T.A.R.D.I.S.! It's from when Tulsi, Grace, Rachel and I went to the park and re-enacted scenes from Doctor Who, and made up our own characters. My character's name was Olive Green, which is a bit of a vlogbrothers joke.

  The colorful thing underneath the map is something that Miss Mollie made! The ticket next to it was my ticket to get into the Hagia Sophia. The dog next to the CD, is my old dog Kujo!

  There's only one thing left, I think! The Declaration of Independence is something that my friends and I made in Social Studies a couple of year ago. I specifically wanted to point it out, because you won't believe who signed it!

  I love that... 

  The only thing is that Rai and Lauren are probably squealing with jealousy, because I got to keep it. Sorry:( 

  Now, the last picture I want to show is one I took of Tulsi a while ago. I really like it!

  Au Revoir! 

-D.F.T.B.A.-

Mina;)

Day 27

I hesitated to call this "Day 27".

  I went to a staged reading of a play that is still being produced called "Idream" at Kean University, that was a collaboration with Penn State and Montclair University. It was pretty awesome... I don't really want to criticize it or anything...

  Anyways, as part of the field trip, we got a college campus tour, and we got to see all of their different theaters and design rooms. The funniest part, of course, was lunch... Lunch was interesting.

  After buying food (Cha Ching), we sat down in their cafeteria and began to eat, everyone being starving (Celeste would correct me and say, "No, we weren't starving, we were just very hungry!"), but representatives from the school kept sitting down and trying to talk to us. Trying not to be rude, everyone would sort of stop eating and wait for them to finish and leave. But, no, the scenario was repetitive. At one point, everyone was sort of generally pissed and mildly angry. They're trying to tell us about their bachelors degree offers, and Rai is sitting there, mouth full of pasta, thinking "When can I chew?"

  The building was also very cold, even while inside, everyone was wearing their jackets and scarves. But, the people were so nice. So nice... On a random note, I was extremely impressed with their costume design room. It was awesome. I loved it... The walls were lined with hats, and pretty fabric was everywhere. It was so perfect.

  I was home by 2:30!!! I was so excited about re-reading the-harry-potter-book-of-my-choice when I got home, but as soon as my eyes even met my bed, I was asleep. I slept until around 5:40- 6:00. Ugh... it was so nice, but that sucks! I could have spent my free hours more wisely!!!

  My cousins, Ayden and Chase, came over around that time. Today was my sister's birthday!

  Happy Birthday, Sofia!

  Ayden+Sofi+Chase= Chaos.

  Complete Chaos. You'd have to be dripping magic to keep these little kids restrained.  I have to say that I'm pretty good with kids. I can get them to calm down, and listen to me, it's just that I don't like doing that around adults. I always feel awkward around adults. Not all adults, but a lot of them.

  Ayden is so awesome. He's always asking questions and being cute (I added that in there so that Sofia could get jealous). If there are any little kids that I can get complete control of, it's Sofia and Ayden. I have a certain look that scares the crap out of people, for them to know that I'm being serious, and it only takes one of those facial expressions to get them to calm down. Not to mention that bribery helps. Chase is a little bit more difficult. He likes to go off and play by himself and follow his own rules. I gave him one of those looks today, and he just started laughing. It was a scared laughing though.

  One thing that I learned, is that yelling almost never helps. Sure, it helps sometimes. Sometimes. But most of the time, yelling makes the kid think about how upset they are at you for yelling at them, especially for little kids, I remember feeling scared and embarrassed after being yelled at. Instead of feeling remorse over whatever they did to make you mad, they're crying over the fact that your tall, angry, red self was towering over them, screaming in an alien tongue.

  Anyways, my mom told me to wash this huge pot from dinner, and I really didn't want to. You see, I am very fond of my hands. I like for my hands to be clean and mess free. Don't get me wrong, I love clay and things like that in art. But, when it comes to food, I can't... I just can't... I don't like for food to touch my hands. Yuck...

  You should see the way I eat pizza... Everyone always looks at me funny when I eat pizza.

  I have a two finger rule. If I absolutely must use my hands (french fries, chips, burgers), I only use two fingers.

  So, it's not really that I don't like to use my hands while eating, it's just that I am thoroughly disgusted by the thought of grease, oils, and sauces on my fingers. That's why I hate washing dishes. The entire sink seems like and endless pit of greasy water.

  Also, I have really nice hands, if I may say so myself.

  I hope it's something that I can overcome, because I get the same feeling when I see other people's hands all greasy. I need to stop, my blood pressure is rising just thinking about it.

-D.F.T.B.A.-
Mina;)

PS I began this post writing about my field trip and Kean, and I ended writing about how vain I am of my hands nowadays. Also, somewhere in the middle I wrote about my cousins being wild cousins.

  

Day 26

Today was the best after-school-day-day ever!

  I don't have to go to school tomorrow because I have a field trip with theatre, which translates into "I'm NOT doing ANY homework!" :)

  Basically, I wasted time for the rest of the day. I played with my hair, did some cross-stitching, took pictures of my wall, spent an hour figuring out how to put batteries in my dinosaur camera (I was using dead batteries!), watched Halloweentown movies, chipped my nail polish, painted a strawberry on my nail, went through my closet, sang songs, bothered my sister, ate pirogues, licked soy sauce off my plate, thumbed through my bookcase (I'm wondering The Last Lecture or Dream Girl. I haven't read Dream Girl, but I feel like reading The Last Lecture. Decisions... Decisions...) and I also just basically sat around thinking.

  Funny Story: When my mom walked inside of the house today, we were standing in the front room, and my mom asked if I had seen the new front door. I looked at her, then I looked at the door, then I looked at her again, and said "No. I haven't. Please show it to me." I had seriously just opened the front door for her. Hmmm...

  I have this funny thing that I do with my mom... Whenever we see someone wearing crazy pants, or especially clothing from the 80's (Think "The Nanny"), I always tell my sister that our mom used to dress like that. I usually wait  until my sister comments.

  For example:

Sofi: Mina, she looks a little cooky, don't you think? Why is she wearing striped purple pants with rainbow elephants on them?

Me: You know mommy has those pants... I asked her if I could borrow them... but she said no :(

  Cue astonished, wide eyes.

  I always do that. Always. I wonder what my sister thinks of my mom's fashion sense now! Just today I was wearing a scarf on my head, playing around, and my mom told me that I looked horrible, and as soon as she said it, the first thing I did was run up to the adorable pink bedroom and exclaim, "Sofia! Look at how mommy did my hair! Do you like it? Mommy said that she ALWAYS used to do her hair like this for school!"

  The joys of having impressionable younger siblings...


Priceless

-D.F.T.B.A.-
Mina;)

Day 25

So, today I came across a list called "474 Things To Do When You're Bored".

I can give you a sample of some of the suggestions:

1. wax the ceiling (because that sounds like fun)
2. Take your sofa for a walk (the doctor recommends 1-2 a day)
3. Read the 1962 Des Moines Yellow Pages
4. Design a better toilet seat
5. See how small you can scrunch your face

  Those were great options, huh? There were weirder ones, but I decided to put that last one on there, because I bet you scrunched your face up right then and there. Didn't you? Didn't you? I can just imagine... :)

  You see, those were sort of decent. However, the page also suggested you "pretend you're blind" or "sharpen your teeth". It soon became evident that this list of so-called things to do when you're bored would have been more appropriately named "474 Things To Do When You're Looking For Trouble Or You Just Want People To Think You're Crazy".

  Yes... We should all demand that they rename their website. 

  This leads me to how much I love making lists. I super-proper-love making lists. I am an extremely forgetful person, and list-making is such a wonderful way to set a definite list of goals. Also, at the end of a day, you get to look at your list and see how much you got done. One thing that I actually do quite often is write down something I've completed, even if it wasn't on the list, just to give myself credit. 

  That's a little confusing. What I mean is, say I wanted to make sure to finish writing a story by 12:00 pm, but my mom tells me to do something like sweep. Even though sweeping wasn't one of my goals, I will add it to my list and cross it out, just because at the end of the day, I want to feel accomplished. Hey, crossing things out is fun! They should add that to their list!

  Lists are so useful. When I was saving up for my Nook, and the books I was going to buy, I constantly had my list at hand. 

  "Let's see, if I save $20 here... Do I really need that book?... Let me read the synopsis again... oh yeah, I really want that... hmmm... only $40 left..." 

  I was constantly negotiating with my self and my little list. 

-D.F.T.B.A.-

Mina;)

Random: Do you ever say things and then realize that that set of words flowed really nicely? When I was in Turkey, the cat would always sleep on my suitcase at night, and I woke up one day and said "There's cat hair on my suitcase!", and then I thought of how cool that sounded. Seriously, I drew a picture of my suitcase and the cat hair with the title "There's Cat Hair On My Suitcase". Just say it. Sounds cool, right?

http://www.cs.earlham.edu/~jimg/reading/bored.html 

Day 24

Blog: You have to post! You have to post! Don't forget to post!!

Me: Shhh...

Blog: Post already! You're going to forget! Why not just get it over with? Just post...

Me: YOU'RE INTERRUPTING MY MOVIE!!!!

Blog: Well, that was harsh...

-D.F.T.B.A.-
Mina;)

Relaxing Day

Hello there! 

  Today is Columbus Day, and so I don't have school, but I still feel like I should post. I wonder what I'll do during Winter Break and stuff! 

  I always feel weird when it's the weekend. I'm constantly thinking that I should be posting, but then I realize that I'm fine. I'm constantly having nightmares that I will forget to post. 

  This weekend was a really great weekend. I am just so blissful. 

  On Saturday, I started some needlepointing. It was pretty cool. My old art teacher, Mrs. G., kept saying things like, "The only project Yasmine ever gave up on was weaving!" and "What is it about needlework that gets the best of you?". All I can say now is that the very first person I will show my finished design to will be Mrs. G. Yeah! Take that! :)

  I have to admit that I get pretty panicky with a needle. I do. 

  Sunday was spent rolling around and cleaning my bedroom, happily. I found out that the Halloweentown movies are playing everyday this week!

  WAAAOOOOOHHHHHH!!!!

  Sorry for internet-squeeling, but this is so exciting for me. I love those movies. I have seen them like a thousand times. Between the horrible acting, cheesy dialogue, completely horrendous costumes, and every thing else, these movies are like the essence of my childhood Halloween. They are soooooo cute. I am so excited. I've already got them set to record. God, do I miss 90's and early 2000's Disney movies. Those were the days. Those were the days.

  Does anyone remember the songs that used to play in the beginning? Let's watch a Disney Channel Movie! Come watch a Disney Channel Movie!

  Moving on!

  I began construction of my own Wall of Stuff. I got the idea from Charlieissocoollike (Charlie McDonnell) on YouTube. I really love it so far. Whenever I figure out how to post pictures, I will be sure to share it with you. It is really awesomesauce! I love it...

  Today I have mostly been de-clutering my room. Today has been pretty chill (I told you I say that!). 

  As previously mentioned, today is Columbus Day. Although I really love an excuse for a day out of school. I really dislike Columbus himself. 

  I'd rather not spend the rest of this post ranting on the man, but here's a quote from Columbus' diary:

"They would make fine servants…With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want."

   Columbus brutally killed almost all of the Natives in the lands where he sought his "Glory, Gold, and God".You know, the U.S. only has two national holidays that bear someone's name, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and Columbus Day. MLK fought for racial equality and peace, he tried to break the remaining bonds of slavery. Columbus founded the Atlantic slave trade route, and is partially responsible for the genocide that would continue for hundreds of years. 

  The worst part is... Columbus didn't even discover America. 

  However, to be fair, the arrival of Columbus on North American soil is the birth of prosperity in America. No matter what a horrible, horrible person he was. Maybe we should celebrate the meaning of the day to history, not Christopher Columbus the person. There isn't much to celebrate about Christopher Columbus the person. 

  Anyways, I still have a powerpoint presentation, and a project to complete, and a certain movie will be playing in a couple of hours. 

  To end on a happier note, I wrote a short story last night, and I am pretty sure that it is one of the best I've ever written, and I'm just really happy about it. I'm just really, really happy with it. 

-D.F.T.B.A.-

Mina;)

Confession: Kristen Stewart is my favorite actress. I have always been hesitant to say this, because people automatically jump to Twilight. But, no. No, not Twilight. If you see her in independent movies such as "Welcome to the Riley's" and "The Yellow Handkerchief", or in movies like "Panic Room" and "In the Land of Women", she is just amazing. I think she is such a wonderful actress. I feel like people will think I'm weird for liking her, because I feel like she is seen as such a bag of negative connotations sometimes. But, she is a really beautiful actress. Just great. Just, really, really great!

Stuff Mentioned:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uINiAbQdj0U&feature=plcp 

Day 23

Salut!

  I don't have much to write about, except that I have like no homework, so I'm practically squealing with freedom. Anyways, I want to be a cat for Halloween.

  Is there something wrong with being a cat? I'd have an excuse for meowing all day, which I do already.

  I do it whenever the rhythm  of a song is stuck in my head. I put the meows to the tune.

  "Meow, Meow-meow. MEOWWW. Meow, meow. meow. meow. MEEEEEOOOWWWW."

  Yesterday, I think, Lauren told me to stop meowing, because it was annoying or something like that. I really can't imagine why.

WHY?

WHY?

-D.F.T.B.A.-
Mina;)


PS: WHHHHYYYYY?

Day 22

Hi! :)

  Today I'm going to tell you about history.

  History has been my favorite subject for pretty much the last 5 years (besides Language Arts). I really love history, and I have never, ever, ever, understood why people don't like it.

  The way I see it, a history textbook is just another name for a storybook. Except, this storybook is a special kind of super-awesome storybook. In this kind of storybook, the characters are real.

  That's always been sort of magical for me.

  However, taking history in a different school, I'm starting to see the disconnect between the average student and the class.

  I've never really understood why people didn't like history, because my school had an amazing history teacher. Just amazing. He really made history a blast, and everyone spent the class really learning something.

  The usual teen's response to history is that it is boring, and that they are just trying to get by, not really learning anything.

  During one of my first history classes at my new school, a teacher asked who won the Civil War.

  Anyone?                Anyone?

  No one answered. Crickets were chirping in the background. Now, you may be beginning to think that I am suggesting that the students did not know the answer to a very basic question. That is not the case, instead it was more like every student was in la la land. They were gone. They didn't even hear the question. It's not the teacher's fault, the student's just couldn't connect to the lesson.

 They didn't even care. To tell you the truth, I barely even cared.

  What happened to the climax of the storybook? Why didn't anyone want to know what happened in the end?

  As an avid reader (I'm not getting side-tracked, don't worry), I sometimes find that you pick up a book and you feel like you have a special bond with it. You can't imagine that anyone in the world felt that way about that particular book. You fancy that you're the only person who knows it's secret.

  You come across these books in weird places. You don't necessarily find them on the bestseller list, but soon enough you're wondering why you hadn't.

  However, soon enough, you remember that thousands of people have read this book, and they too claim to have a special connection with it. You may find that to be impossible. How could anyone ever feel the same way about that particular book as you have? It isn't so special anymore then, huh?

  A really good quote from The Perks of Being A Wallflower reminds me of this.

  "All of the books you've read have been read by other people. And all of the songs you've loved have been heard by other people. And that girl that's pretty to you is pretty to other people, too. So how am I special?"

  So, maybe the secret of loving a story isn't that you were the first one to love it, or that you are "special" for loving it. Maybe the secret is that the story unlocked some sort of sentiment or understanding inside of you that made you really connect with it.

  Maybe history should be taught like a storybook with all sorts of messed up heroes and villains. If history is taught like a storybook, then that feeling of understanding should follow. Think about it. How could students NOT sympathize with stories that are real? 

  I think that that special bond with a story and it's characters are there, because deep inside you feel like they are real, and you understand them. In history, we read about people who are real and did real things, and had real lives. If we treat it with the same exuberance, there should be no reason why people can't connect with history the same way that we do a story. Or a movie. Or your favorite T.V. show.

  This is a really awkward place to end at.

-D.F.T.B.A.-
Mina;)

Cool quotes I found on ze subject:

"History consists of a series of accumulated imaginative inventions."
Voltaire

"History is a mighty dramos, enacted upon the theatre of times, with suns for lamps and eternity for a background."  ~Thomas Carlyle

"History is a novel for which the people is the author."  ~Alfred de Vigny