Day 113

Hello!

Can you believe that this is my 142nd post? That's just wild, right? That's SO many!

Today was the second show. It went really well, except that there were line slip-ups. But, you know, the audience wouldn't know these things.

My drama teacher from last year (and the few years before that) was in the audience today! It was awesome to see her, and you know, her laughing at my character's jokes meant a lot.

I want to continue, but I'm way too tired. Also, I have to take my make-up face off. Tomorrow, I will ask someone to record a few scenes of the play! That way, I can share them on here!

 -D.F.T.B.A.-
Mina;)

Ever watched Tangled? It's a brilliant movie. The soundtrack is great!

Also, at school, there's a dance called the Military Ball. It's the only dance during the year, and it's for people who are in the Junior ROTC (which is a military thingy- I dunno- it's like- well- it's ROTC-look it up- they march and stuff). I thought that I was going to be the ONLY person not going, because you can't go unless you're in the program - or someone's date. I'm not in the program, but I'm going! Yeah! I'm so happy, now I won't be lonely. I'm my friend Alyssa's date. Alyssa is a girl in case you were wondering. 

Day 112

Helloa!

Today was the first official show night for "Laughter". Guess what, guys? I didn't mess up. It wasn't my absolute BEST, but it was pretty good.

Right before getting on stage, I always have to pee. I know... I know... that's too personal. But, I'm serious. I always have to pee, and the last 30 seconds before I get on are the worst! Then, I get on stage, and *poof* the sensation is gone.

Usually, before getting on stage, everyone is going over their lines. I sometimes, including today, feel really irresponsible, because I don't. In fact, I haven't looked at my lines since maybe Tuesday of last week. I hardly ever remember my first line before I get on stage. I just go blank. Then, I get on stage and I remember everything, even the lines that I might have thought I was going to screw up.

This is really random: Would you ever live in a place upstate? That's confusing unless you're from New York, but I'm referring to basically out in the country. Last time (if you recall the Woodstock story) I went upstate (plus last weekend), I really enjoyed myself. I like it up there. However, I don't think that I could live in a country area. I'd just find it boring after a while I guess, but it sure is scenic and wonderful. There's a certain *feeling* in the air, I can't explain it, but it's foggy and hilly and cloudy and horse-y and woodsy and I-wanna-roll-in-the-mud-sy and I really like it.

PLAYS. WOW. By the way, I have to wear make-up, which is weird, and I don't quite like most of it. Of course, I don't need it.

Jokes. These are Jokes.

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

Day 111

Hello!

I'm a failure, aren't I? A dramatic one at that. I can't believe how many days I have to catch up on. I really am just such a mess. This rule, that it's okay for me to post about a day not on that day, is really ruining this blog. I need that mentality that I had before. The one where the post had to be up by 12 am. Let's get back to that. So, we can make a deal. I will spend my weekend catching up on all of my miss days, and I will make sure that every post is fantabulous. Starting next week, I have to post every day by 12 am. EVERY DAY. No make-ups. If I don't, and I fail, than YOU (and I mean you. Yeah you. Who else? No No No... You. Don't wait for someone else. You.) can give me a punishment. Any punishment. You can dictate an entire post (not that they're very important, but still). Okay? Let's do this. Beginning Monday March 4, I will post everyday, ON TIME. *let's out deep breath*

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

Day 110

Hello!

Today was the most exciting day in my LIFE! I stayed home because I had food poisoning, and I spent a ridiculously boring 6 hours of my life on a US History project, that didn't SAVE, which I found out at 9:00 PM! WOWZA, am I just the happiest person, or what? I'm emailed my teacher with an explanation, because I can not stand to even look at that page. Also, I have so many days to catch up on. I really hope that my utter delight is finding it's way from my finger tips onto the screen, and that as you read these words, you are basking in my happiness with me. If you should be so lucky...

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

SKIING!!!

I went skiing for the very first time today! Cue the Gryffindor jokes!

Tulsi, Miss Mollie, and I woke up before the crack of dawn to get on the bus to the mountain. Besides us, Grace's family and N'dia family also came along on the trip. Grace couldn't come though, as she was pretty sick :( I listened to music, slept and watched the scenery during the ride there. I am the most boring person to sit next to on a bus.

Anyways, I'm going to skip to the actual skiing. It was kind of difficult at first to get a hang of. I felt really unsteady trying to turn. However, after a few hours, I was so proud of myself. Look at me! Mastering the bunny slopes all by myself! I asked Miss Mollie for a sticker, but she left them in her other pants.

Grace's younger brothers, are absolutely adorable! So cute! The youngest, Ezra, is so loving. He asked for a piggy back ride around the locker room, and after I gave him one, he pretended to feed me carrots. AWWW

N'dia, Tulsi and Grace's little brother Gabe were pretty quick to ask to go to the Sugar slope (which is the next step up). I don't know how Gabe did, but Miss Mollie had a lot of fun recounting the tale of Tulsi's voyage down the mountain.

I asked Miss Mollie to describe for me the scene, and this is her word-for word-for word- for word description:

"So, I was taking my time, mastering the bunny slopes, admiring how lovely Yasmine looked in her skis, when I decided to walk over to the Sugar slope to see how my own daughter was doing. As I approached the bottom of the slope, I heard a blood curdling scream. It was quite a frightening one: a combination of utter terror and wilting petals. I turned around to see what brute of human had produced the sound, when it suddenly struck me. Whizzing down the mountain faster than a Buggati was my daughter Tulsi. Her mouth open wide enough to swallow a pigeon, Tulsi was approaching a large crowd of people gathered at the end of the slope. I knew that I had to make a quick decision of what to do. Tulsi is my daughter, after all. My baby! I am her mother, and her protecter. I eventually made up my mind. I had assembled a plan: the kind of plan only Yasmine could think up (smart girl, she is). I was going to simply watch. As Tulsi flew past, nose red, arms flailing (nearly ripping out of their sockets), I popped some corn and watched my beloved go. I was so proud of her in that moment, such a brave girl. I knew that I had prepared her for the very worst in life. Tulsi, the dear, made her way to the end of the slope, through the crowd of people, down to the end of the snow and into a stockpile of skis and snowboards. I went to see how she was doing, and to help her up, Tulsi replied that her leg was causing her some distress, the poor dear. I did my duty as her mother, and offered her some popcorn. What a story, eh?"
  - Mollie, 2013

Hahaha, skiing was pretty awesome. Miss Mollie proceeded to re-telling that story about a thousand times, it's going to become a classic. I'm so glad that I got to go! Thank you Miss Mollie!

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

Day 109

Helloa!

Our informal first performance/dress rehearsal for Laughter On the 23rd Floor was today. It didn't go badly at all! In fact, the audience laughed and we were ENTERTAINING! Serious hot stuff, we were. There were line mess-ups about 3 times, and, I don't want to brag, but guess who saved it all 3 times? Well, you know. I don't want to brag. Modesty is the best policy. Wait... no... that's wrong.

I love it when people compliment me. I was complimented so many times today that I had to get my head squished by Tulsi later on. You know, Tulsi has quite the ego, but today I trumped her. OOOHHH I'M SO PRETTY! OOOOHHHH I'M SO TALENTED! OOOOOHHHH EVERYBODY LOOOOOVES ME! But hey, don't hate me now. Days like this only happen once in a blue moon. I just happened to have a great opinion of myself today. And I mean great. I'm serious, don't hate me. I'll be back to normal tomorrow. I promise.

Ten minutes into the play the fire alarm was pulled and everyone had to evacuate from the theatre. That was really horrible and annoying, having to wait outside for 10 minutes. However, on the bright side: I figured, at least if we suck we can blame it on the alarm. I did not enjoy standing out in the street wearing 1953 attire. Especially when the hem of my skirt was being held up by tape. Yeah, tape.

The play went well, and I ONLY have to do it 3 more times. Miss Mollie picked me up from school, and I went to their house for dinner. I ended feeling really horrible, because my mom didn't know if I had gotten home or not, and everyone was looking for me. That was really bad.

Not sure how to end this, but BYE!

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

Day 108

Hello!

Wow, so the week is nearly over. This is a marvelous, marvelous thing.

My high school is pretty challenging academic wise, and people tend to talk about my school as the place where all of the smart kids are enrolled. When you talk to people about school, they always sort of assume that you're acing everything. Oh, naturally. My high school is the sort of place where people do get accepted, on a regular basis, to great universities. However, one minute inside of the building and you are bound to hear: "I'M FAILING!" It's quite funny. Everyone is failing one thing or another. Everyone is working to get their average up in some class. I mean, I guess not everyone is failing, but everyone has at least 2 classes where they are borderline. I just think that it's pretty funny.

Which reminds me! I got a 91 on my Biology test! A 91! My grades in Bio have been low 80's all year, I'm so happy! A 91! I am so proud of myself!

I really don't want to bore you with details about my gruesome rehearsals. Our first performance is tomorrow, and it hasn't even slightly sunk in. I really hope that we don't suck. Or if we must, can we just suck a little?

Is that so much to ask?

Wow, where is my faith?

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

Day 107

Hello! Today is Wednesday, February 20th!

Summer! Where art thou, fair summer?

I am so ready for the school year to end. No offense to the school year. I am so tired that it hurts to blink. Also, you know what I realized? I realized that I spend 14 hours of my day in school. I am in class from 8am-9pm AND that doesn't include travel time. I go to bed around midnight, and I wake up around 6. I know that this seems really immature or something, but the next time that a grown up tells me, "Oh! Just, wait until you're an adult..." I am going to explode. I'll go all typical teen on them and scream, "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!!!!"

My summer doesn't really seem as though it's going to be much easier either. I end school late June, and I supposed to be going to Morocco as soon as school ends. From Morocco, my dad's family is thinking about taking a ferry to Spain (only half an hour!) and staying with some family there for a two weeks. Then, we'll go back to Morocco and stay with my grandparents for two weeks, and then come back to the U.S. I'm signing up for a summer program at Berkeley for Journalism, Film and Media Arts that is from August 1st-11th, and then my mom's family and I are going to the Poconos until the 17th. Then, I want to volunteer to go to school for the Freshman orientation, so that I can get community service hours, which runs for the following two weeks. Then, the week after that is the first week of school.

Wow. So many airplanes and car rides and boats. I'm excited though. I've never been to Spain before, and that sounds awesome! I'm trying not to get my hopes up though. I think that the only reason we went to Turkey last year was because my cousins and I nagged for like two months. I've been going to Morocco my whole life, so it's nothing all that special.

Ah, the summer needs to hurry up and get here.

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

Day 106

Yes! No school yesterday! BOOO... School today.

My uncle is fine. I think that he's still having some trouble breathing and stuff, but he's okay. Yesterday, we went out for sushi with him, my Aunt Hande, and my cousin Lina. I love sushi.

At the sushi place, my dad was ordering and he asked if I liked eel. I replied that I didn't, as I have tried eel before, and I'm not fond of the smooth and chewy texture of eel on it's own. After all of the rolls were on the table, I tried one of the funkier looking ones, and my dad asked if I liked it. I responded that it was really tasty (which it was). Of course, it was eel. I hate it when that happens. Although, the eel roll was yummy.

I read an article on Yahoo (which is no longer my homepage as I decided to spare myself) about the ivory market and the dwindling numbers of elephants on the reservations in the DRC. The article basically stated that it is expected that the population of elephants in that area will be zero by 2020 or earlier, because of poachers killing them for ivory.

I read a lot of the comments, and they turned out a variety of responses. Some people blamed the poachers, others were really racist and blamed Africans in general, and one blamed China.

One comment extremely bothered me. Someone said that Africans were like "barbarians" and didn't care about how they were hurting the elephants, but only knew that they wanted the ivory. That is such a dumb thing to say, in my humble opinion.

I don't understand how someone could say that. Those "barbarians" have families to feed and the situation is much more complicated than a bunch of "barbarians" running around starting fires and killing elephants.

Also, who were the people who ransacked Africa, killed thousands of people, depleted the land of all of it's value and set the continent on a path of corruption? Europeans. Their lack of respect for other humans seems pretty barbaric to me.

I don't know much on the subject, however, if you spend a few minutes really thinking about it, maybe the problem isn't the poachers. It's really easy to blame the poachers, because they're the ones who are committing the obvious crimes. One again, I don't know much about it. However, to call Africans barbaric, because they're trying to make a living seems really horrible. I'm not trying to defend poaching, because it's pretty evident how terrible that is. It's just that I don't think that going through all of the trouble to poach is for fun. People are paying them for all of that ivory, and *hint*hint*, it probably isn't other Africans.

Well- Happy Tuesday!

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


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

The Content That Isn't Mine

Hello!

  I've been cooped up in the apartment all day sleeping and watching YouTube videos. My dad has been back and forth between the hospital and his job, and we have ordered out for both breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

  I hate this. I really hate it.

I watched the Growing Up Granger series that Nanalew made on YouTube (Granger, as in Hermione Granger, as in Harry Potter). It's really great, and her british accent's resemblance to Emma Watson is scarily alike and really impeccable. Only 6 episodes long though:(

I'm just going to post all of the videos I watched today, because I feel really brainless, and these made me happy.

The 10th Doctor (David Tennant) and his previous companion Donna (Catharine Tate) on The Graham Norton Show:

Matt Smith, Arthur Darvill, and Karen Gillan sing Bohemian Rhapsody (MORE DOCTOR WHO)
It's so geeky.

This one is called "Frost" and it was posted my Meekakitty (Tessa Violet), featuring Nanalew (Shawna Howson). I think that it's really beautiful. Gracie should like this one.

This is a cover of the song "Kids" by MGMT, by Poppy. Her voice is really unique, and I think that I really love it. I think. The band is HeyHiHello. Hinthint, she's friends with Tessa and Shawna. Anyways, I love this video a lot. 

My two favorite bands are Florence + the Machine and Of Monsters and Men (which is NOT a reference to Of Mice and Men, I'm a stupid 15 year-old-girl, but I think that it could be drawing a comparison between monsters and people. A lot of their lovely lyrics tend to do that as well, and that doesn't necessarily mean in a negative way. Monsters are highly complex creatures). This song by Florence is really chilling and wonderful, and I've been listening to it  a lot today. You know, I understand that her music is a little crazy sometimes (and crazy is an understatement), but I just love her so much. Her sounds have so much depth. She's brilliant. The song is "Blinding".

These are two videos by Meekakitty that Ella and I like to reference a whole lot. They're really funny (to me). 

Even More Doctor Who: Karen and Matt sing the theme song!

Even Even More Doctor Who: 11th Doctor's speech in the episode "The Pandorica Opens". This is a little embarresing and weird but Tulsi, Grace, and I have it memorized. That goes to show how AWESOME it is. Doctor Who quotes are amazing. Just epic. The safari on my phone has one page that is contantly on wikiquotes so that I can read them when I'm bored. Yeesh. Anyways, speech, yeah?

  I've also spent my day watching CrashCourse, which is basically school on YouTube with John and Hank Green as your teachers. It's amazing. You don't even realize that you're learning. I don't watch the science ones though, just the Literature and US History episodes. They're really good. I just realized how weird it is that I would beg to go to the internet cafe that was across the street from us in Istanbul, just so that I could watch those. That's strange. However, I am content with myself in an entirely egotistical way. I also re-watched Squaresville, which is my favorite Web-Show. I love it a lot. Actually, it's tied with the Lizzie Bennet Diaries (yeah, Pride and Prejudice YO). You should watch it. You should seriously watch it. It sort of reminds me of My So-Called Life. It's honest in the way that that show is. This is the first episode. It's not the best one, but it's pretty good. 

Anyway, I suppose that this was my page of distractions. In all honesty, I really look up to these people in a way. Besides people who are physically in my life, in the last 2-3 years, this content on YouTube, did sort of act as a model for me. I watch these videos and I just hope that one day I'll be a part of these sorts of amazing projects, or that I'll be interesting enough for people to actually want to listen to me speak. When I made this blog, a part of me wanted to get out of the rut of just being a consumer. I know that it's really silly of me to write a whole post about the YouTube videos that I watched today, but they're sort of my inspiration. 

On a random note, I should watch more films. I really lack a lot on that front. I'm guessing Ella and her theatre-junkieness can help? 

Bye!

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

Mina;)

Day 105

So today I was picked up from rehearsal by my dad, who I am staying with for the weekend. When we got to the apartment, my aunt called and told him that my uncle (his brother) was in the ER. Neither my dad nor my aunt know why yet, but it might be a heart attack. This is scary. I feel sort of, I guess vulnerable is the word, and even though I'm keeping a straight face and acting normal (for me), I'm really thinking about playing monopoly with him until midnight, and him driving us down the narrow streets in Istanbul, and him showing me how to approach the lambs and horses so that they let you talk to them. I'm thinking about him telling me to swim in that pool in Morocco, even though all of the old men were giving me rude looks, and about him doing that annoying high five thing whenever he thinks that he's said something clever (even though he REALLY hasn't). I'm really scared. Now that I'm writing this all out, it makes me want to cry. 

Day 104

Hello!

Today was Valentine's Day. My eyes absolutely adored walking down the hallway and seeing the various shades of pink, red, and purple. It was gorgeous. I'm telling you, if I could be some type of color coordinator person that would be awesome. It's half of the reason I love Gossip Girl. When Lily's eye color matches the color of the paint, and when her scarf matches random mugs in the background, there is nothing more beautiful. Besides lots of other, more important, things.

I did not, however, absolutely adore rehearsal again until 8:30. A good portion of the cast is really lukewarm when it comes to knowing their lines. It makes the whole 4 and a half hour experience extremely unpleasant. It also makes it difficult to develop your character, as it becomes challenging to continue to react truthfully when the person who is speaking is calling line every two words. I'm not complaining though. Memorizing lines can be difficult. I guess I don't find it quite as difficult as some people find it to memorize the script, because I have a hearing memory. It's why I'm so quick to learn song lyrics! I'm a little scary actually. Twice or three times, and I've got most of the lyrics down.

Speaking of music, I'd love to share the song "Broken Crown" by Mumford and Sons. It's gorgeous. Mind you, Tulsi, there is cursing. WILD, I know.

I think it's beautiful though.

BYE!

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

Day 103

Today is Wednesday. Today is Wednesday. Wednesday SOOUUUPPPP!

Today I went to a really long play rehearsal that lasted until 8:30... So tired.... Lots of homework.... Blah, Blah, Blah... The usual stuff.

I also came to the realization that the word "Create" is in "Creative". Does that mean that you have to create in order to be creative? Also, (enter epiphany face here) I guess that that also means that people who copy or produce things that someone else has already produced in a blatant way cannot say that they have CREATED whatever they produced. So, they are not the CREATOR and that is not their CREATION. Therefore, they are not CREATIVE. So, that's the difference between producing something versus creating something! Wow. Makes sense. Not that it didn't make sense before?

I kind of hope that on this little cell in the interwebs I am a creator and not a producer, at least by my personal definition of the words.

BYE!

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

Day 102

Hello!

Today has been stressful. I have so much work to do. I had a half day today and I got myself STRAIGHT home. No lolligagging at the mall or any tea shops for me today.

Speaking of tea, I did stop by Dunkin Doughnuts, and I was really looking forward to getting a Vanilla Chai, but the machine was broken. :(

Which reminds me of how much coffee I've been drinking. I swear I need it to stay awake in certain classes. This is really stupid to me how I have to stay up until past midnight to do homework this week and last week because of these really long play rehearsals, but I have the urge to sleep during class. I should be awake during class and asleep at night. That's is how this is supposed to work.

At school today was also the AP fair. It was actually kind of cool. The ones that I really liked were AP Art History, AP Psych, AP Writing, AP Western Civ, and AP Lit. Well, you didn't think I was going to say AP Physics or AP Mandarin, did you? Sorry to disappoint. Lauren and I were also talking to two really nice Juniors and now I kind of want to take Film as an elective. I want to take Film, Shakespeare, and Journalism. That's kind of crazy and will never happen. Can you imagine though? That would be amazing!

Anyways, I had a half day and I will probably still be up quite late tonight. I have to finish an essay for which the deadline for the contest is in less than three hours. I have to do an Algebra project, and I still have lots of notes to do for history. I also have a Lit project that's due on Friday that I will have zilch time to do tomorrow or Thursday thanks to the blessing that is 8:30 pm dismissal.

I can do this. This is so much fun.

I'M HAVING AN INSANE AMOUNT OF FUN RIGHT NOW!
-D.F.T.B.A.-
Mina;)

Day 101...

...Coming SOON

Day 100

Today is the 100th day of school! Woohoo!

I can't believe that I've actually stuck to writing this thing. I'm extremely proud of myself, because I've never finished anything. Well, I mean, I'm not finished, but I'm committed. Wow, I'm committed to something! You have no idea how many little projects I've started and never completed. I've tried to write so many different stories, and the longest I've ever gotten done is about 7 chapters long. Tulsi, Grace and I tried filming this Doctor Who spin off thing in July last summer (oh my goodness, I'm such a nerd), and that was never finished (although we did make one amazing T.A.R.D.I.S.).

Awesome Right? Grace is rocking the bare feet. 

haha imagine I said bear feet. What an insult. 

Looking a little hairy Grace... Might want to clip those. 

I'm not funny. 

    Anyways, I have a history of unfinished business. I'm glad I've stuck to something!

    Other than that, tonight there is supposed to be a huge blizzard and! I slipped outside in the slush after school, because I'm a mess. My hip kind of hurts. Am I more of an old lady or a little kid? Or am I something in the middle? Do I act like a teen, or do I not act my age? How old do I seem? Hmm... I don't know how old I feel. What's fifteen supposed to feel like? Fifteen is five years away from twenty, which is half of Forty, which is half of eighty. I've nearly passed a quarter of my lifetime! Then again, I'm extremely far away from twenty. I've got time, right?

  This post was not concise at all. I'm sorry. It's actually Sunday and the Grammy's are on. 

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

Mina;)

Day 99

Hello!

Today is Thursday the 7th. Don't you dare look at when this was posted. Today is the 7th, got it?

On our way back from rehearsal TODAY we passed a fried chicken place and all of a sudden I had this serious craving for fried chicken and poorly made mashed potatoes. I was getting a ride home from Rai, and when Celeste, Rai and I saw the place after 4 hours of rehearsal, we really wanted to pull over.  So we did! I mean Rai's mom did! Anyways, that fried chicken was great, even if we all got sick later that night. But you know, those are trivial details.

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

Day 98

Hello!

Today (Wednesday the sixth) is my birthday! I am officially fifteen years old. Wow. Special.

I love birthdays. They're so much fun! Today, everyone decorated my locker, choir sang "Happy Birthday" to me, I got presents from my family, and my mom made chicken parmesan.

Mainly, I love telling people that it's my birthday and having them smile and say "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!". It's too much fun. Also, I had permission to steal Celeste's M&Ms. Awesome, right?

There's been a lot of talk about Sweet Sixteens going around, and I just don't think that I'd have one. Not a big one anyways. Maybe just a small little get together. Or not even. I don't know, but I'm not one for fuss and dresses and people and tablecloths. Especially the part about the tablecloths. Tablecloths! Ugh... That's enough to make me shiver.

Anyways, Happy Birthday ME!

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

Day 97

Hello!

Today (Tuesday the fifth) has been incredible! I went to see a documentary about YouTube called Please Subscribe. The documentary was about the people who rose to internet fame by making videos and posting them on YouTube. It was really awesome. The documentary itself was shown in select theatres across the country for tonight only!

Going to see this documentary was a birthday present from Ella. We took the train after school to the area around the theatre and then we went to a pretty famous pizzeria (that I will not name for the purposes of security). The pizza was really delicious, so it deserves the hype. After the pizza, we walked to the theatre for the film. We bought these super artificial sugary strip things and ate those during the previews. They are really good and sour.

Anyways, about the documentary: It was amazing. I mean, seriously. It featured interviews and stuff with a bunch of American YouTubers and I was really happy to find that quite a few of the successful ones were quite normal. For instance, DailyGrace films her videos using sunlight as her lighting and by positioning her camera over a stack of books. Also, she uses IMovie to make her vlogs. It's pretty cool how her videos are popular because she's talented and funny, not because she needs all sorts of fluff to make her look good. She doesn't need a studio full of professionals, she's big because she's genuine. That's pretty cool.

At times the film sort of made you want to tear up and at other times (specifically whenever WheezyWaiter was on screen) you had to laugh your face off.

THANK YOU BUNCHES, ELLA, FOR YOUR WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY PRESENT!

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

Day 96

Hello!

So, I received the majority of my midterm grades today. I did pretty well in everything besides Algebra 1. I know that I shouldn't be sharing my grade, however, I figure that because it isn't a good grade there's no point in being bashful about it. So, I'll just go ahead and say it loud and clear: I got a 66 on my Algebra 1 midterm. You hear that? Yasmina got a 66. That's a failing grade, a 66. I failed.

When I got my grade back, I don't quite know how I felt. I mean, I guess I sort of wanted to feel sad and yet I felt like laughing. My excuses? Well, I really hate the way that the public school district makes the tests for English and Math, because I don't really feel that they are very good tests of intelligence or understanding. They are extremely... Well, without going into immense detail, they REALLY bother me. I feel like they ask dumb questions that are irrelevant and not useful if you try and compare a person's answers to another person's answers. They don't serve their purpose very well.

I found a little comfort in the fact that most of the class was in my boat, but that didn't make me feel any better. I called my (Math and Science focused) dad today, and I was prepared not to tell him, but right after he said goodbye I just blurted out that I got a 66 on the midterm, and to be quite honest, it wasn't as bad as I thought. It could have been worse. I'm so glad that I am 1,001% sure that I never want to be a doctor or anything in that field. I would never. I guess we'll find that out together though, right?

Basically, I guess I didn't really feel all so bad about my grade, because my average in that class is beautiful and because I really felt as though I studied as hard as I could. Next time, I have to keep the form of the test in mind, because I just do not see eye to eye with the way that they test. I'm going to have to learn how to though.

I'm not embarrassed by my grade at all. I feel like I studied as hard as I could and tried "my best", so I feel like my 66 is my 66, and it's the best grade that I could have gotten (arguably, of course). I'm proud of my 66 in some way. It's completely mine. I tried just as hard to get my 66 as I did to get my 95, so I'm okay. I'm okay!

Bye!

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


Bye!

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

More Kids

Hey!

So, this weekend was my cousin Ayden's birthday party. I feel so horrible saying this, but for the majority of the party I was hiding away in my aunt's office after I had made an appearance. In my defense, I wasn't alone.

Later on, when everyone left, I came out and met a new friend. Her name is McKayla. This is a picture of her:

and Ayden. Haha, she's 5 years old. Anyways, Ayden saw the picture and said, "Well, that's just great. Now, we have to take another one, because the baby wasn't looking in the right direction!"

So, I took this one to pacify him:

That's just great stuff. The sock puppets are cute, right? Oh, and if you're wondering about the bruise on Ayden's face, if I recall correctly, Chase punched him or kicked him in the face or something. Brothers...

I absolutely love playing with kids. I played with McKayla and Ayden for about 3 hours. We went all out in that playroom and they also got me into the bouncy house, which I am very grateful for. McKayla drew this picture of me and her (me as the big stick figure and her as the little one) inside of a heart on the chalk board and my heart absolutely melted. 

I love little kids. Then 3rd grade hits and you can't stand them. 7th grade comes along and a few are bearable again. A few. 

Happy Superbowl. 

This is pretty embarrassing, but I'm not one to watch football. I can watch hockey and soccer. Soccer mostly. THE U.S. WOMENS TEAM, AM I RIGHT? I love them so much. I love that team. I love that team. I'm pretty sure that I can name every player on the national team. Love them. Love them. Good stuff, they are. My heart was broken when they lost to Japan two years ago. This is embarrassing, but I was on the verge of tears that night. Ah, why? That's so stupid. Wait, no it isn't. I guess it is though. 

It is, isn't it. 

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

Mina;)

Day 95

Hey!

Today is Friday. Not really, but we all have imaginations, right? I sure hope so, because otherwise you have a pretty bleak existence.

I got home early today, and went to visit my aunt and my new cousin Karly. I am obliged to say that she is very, very cute. You know how when you hold a baby (or a child for that matter), they feel so innocent and pure and you imagine that they have their entire lives ahead of them. The possibilities are endless. I mean, I know that I'm still really young and blah blah blah, but I still think that the decisions that I have already made and are making currently are constantly shaping my future, like when you make pottery. In some way or another, I have already begun sculpting the finished product. That's a little scary. Holding Karly in my arms, I knew that at only a week old she could be anything and that the way that her life is going to turn out is completely undecided. She's like a blob of clay and water. That's really special.

haha, I want to be a blob of clay and water. OH, but wait: Then, all of my (and my parents, etc) hard work will have been wasted!

BYE

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