The past few days have not been stellar. Well, there have been bright spots, but overall I feel like there hasn't been too much yay going on.

I spent my Saturday lounging about and doing a small amount of shopping until 5:30, when we had dinner with the Parks. That was nice, until Jordan and Michelle got into drilling me with questions and giving "advice." The advice they gave soon turned into code talk between them about something or other that has to do with me, but I can't know about it. Ugh. I spent the next 24 hours trying to understand what they were hinting about, to no avail. I'm not even going to think about it anymore.

Megan ditched the first couple hours of Potts Night for a Superbowl party, but I can't hold that against her. We held our own quite well without her there, as a matter of fact; Jeff's debate topic really got me thinking. It's rather shocking to myself when I realize that something I thought I had analyzed thoroughly turns out to be (most likely) a preconceived idea that really doesn't have a lot of solid, Biblical basis. I'm not sure if the discussion is put off for a further time or if I need to wave the white flag right now...we shall see.

Today was a jumble of Emily being a brat, Mom being a whiner, and Lily being incomprehensible. That makes a very nasty tasting stew! Oh well, we're not arguing now, so that's something.

This Friday, Megsie is hopefully going to spend the night here, but the next day is still hazy. I was planning on having a bowling party, then going to my house for pizza and stuff...but I really don't know. Courtney has a concert that day, and I really want to be there to vote for her and stuff. That is at one o'clock, and I don't know how long it goes to. There's a bowling alley really close to that, but I checked the prices (it would be cosmic bowling at that time), and it costs quite a lot. Ridiculous really. -_-

When I get a thought in my head, saying "Why can't they just leave me alone?" Is that wrong?

I Hope I Challenge Me

Today I went to a meeting at the library. It was really weird. Out of about fifteen people, I was the only person there under the age of 20. I met some nice people, and learned a lot about how the library works and where it is going, but I was by far the dumbest person there. I did contribute a little, though. My discussion group was on "Diversity" (yes, I volunteered for that group, don't kill me) and I did help somewhat with brainstorming how to integrate that into the county's library system. The biggest thing I got from this meeting was how much the staff loves the library as much as the patrons. They truly are happy to be working there and enthusiastic about making it a better place. I did get a little choked up when I realized that that could be me...and I'm not taking it. I know that God's plan is the right plan, and that's what I really want, but I've never felt so inspired to WORK HARD as the times when I see what librarians can do and get to do. I feel a little like I'm missing out. But not enough to pursue that when I know I won't have time for a career and still be dedicated to my future family. Not a lot of careerist homeschool moms out there.

My birthday is coming up. I think I'm going to just have us go bowling; does that sound okay to you? This will be my last birthday party, in fact I feel too old for it now. But I might as well have one for my eighteenth and then be done with that. :)

Tomorrow is dinner at the Parks house. A few months ago, this would've brought a huge smile to my face and lots of ideas of what Michelle and I can do while I'm there to have crazy fun and maybe finagle a sleepover afterwards. ^^ But now it's different somehow...I don't know that either of us have changed all that much, but--well I take that back. One of us or both must've changed somehow for me to feel like our friendship is different. Maybe it's a part of growing up; Michelle is still very much a teenager and living life in the moment. I do that too, but I think that parts of me are starting to become the person I will be for my whole life. In a week I'll be legally an adult. Isn't it time I start thinking like one?

I got The Two Towers soundtrack from the library today. It's immense. The quality of the disk is crap, though (of course it is, it's from the public library), so it's hard to get into the more emotional parts when you have a "tch tch tch" going in the background constantly. -_- Speaking of Middle-Earth, I started The Silmarillion today. It's from the First Age, which is thousands of years before the Third Age, in which the Lord of the Rings takes place. So far it's interesting; I think I just love having a book to hold and call my own.

The other day, when I went to my bookshelf to get it (Silmarillion), I saw in front of my books someone had put a picture frame. Not really a big thing, it was probably in the way somewhere and got stashed the first place seen. But in the picture frame was a photo of Noah. Even after three months of being resigned to having lost these friends of mine, it broke open anew. I wept for Noah, I wept for Melinda. When will I be able to get past this, if even now it draws tears? I can sort of see how people get loathe to make new friendships or become close to someone, when having them ripped away from you is one of the most painful experiences I can even think of.

I can see my bedroom floor. That is a big deal if you know my room. o.O

Campout tomorrow!!!

Yes I'm excited. Could you tell??? ☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺Today was a MAD scramble to finish shopping for campout food. We loaded up three carts FULL at the grocery store. Then we stuffed it all in our little Civic. Then we unloaded it all at home. Then we loaded it all into Uncle Don's truck. Then we drove to the church and unloaded it there. And TOMORROW we load it up again and drive it up to Clearlake. Whew! But I'm still smiling! 8D
So I thought your Jeff's friend Ben was going to come on Wednesday to church too? But I suppose I misheard. Too bad, he was a really funny fellow.
I watched a movie today called Funny Girl. It's a musical with Barbra Streisand and Omar Sharif. Really good stuff. I know Streisand is kind of a nasty old weirdo in real life, but she's a really good actress. And outstanding singer. She and Dianne Weist are probably my favorite actresses. (Dianne Weist was the Avon lady in Edward Scissorhands and the evil queen in The 10th Kingdom.)
I finished packing today; it's amazing how much stuff I feel like I have to bring to a four-day trip! And I even tried to pack light this time! But what can I say: girls will be girls.
Since I'm going into my senior year of high school, it seems like everybody everybody EVERYBODY is asking me what my plans for the future are. Ugh, I don't like being reminded! How am I supposed to decide what I want as a "career" or whatever, when my ultimate goal is to get married and have kids, just like God designed. But I don't even know if I'll get that far. I mean, of course I want that; every girl I know wants that. But I just don't know if it could work. It's a little weird for me.
So I guess I should start thinking about my future on a practical level. College and work and all that lovely stuff. XP Not so lovely when I start thinking seriously about it. What's my problem? Megan wants to be a dental hygienist, Danna wants to be a nurse, Robyn's a hairstylist, Marinda wants to go into landscaping, and me? I'm completely aimless!!! Well, working with books has always sounded promising. If I could find an interesting line of work there. But it's scary to me to do anything important or to make any important decisions. I need discipline, that's what I need.

I'll think about it again after this marvelous weekend. See y'alls (or most of y'alls) tomorrow!☺☺☺☺☺☺

Not much going on here

Soooo it's been almost a week, figured I'd better make a new post. Not much has really happened this week though. I went to Oaks Park yesterday, I guess that's something. But there's not really a lot of good rides there though. In my opinion, the most fun ride there is the Screamin' Eagle, which I happen to find very relaxing. Seriously, I just de-stress when I go on that ride. And the roller coaster? I didn't even scream once the whole ride. Not that it wasn't fun, but it was just pretty simple and short.
Michelle spent the night last night. That was fun as usual, but it seems like we end up talking about a lot of the same stuff every sleepover. Taking apart the past, seeing how it relates to the present, speculating about the future. That can be either uplifting or depressing, depending on what you're talking about. I for one am rather unsure about my future. I mean, anything could happen to me since I don't really have any solid plans. Of course, I know that whatever plans I make, it's still in the hands of God. But I just don't have any clue of what I want to do! Sometimes I get scared that I'll make stupid choices and then have to live with them forever.
Aunt Lori emailed saying that the Predmores are coming to campout!!! I'm so happy! Haven't really got to chill with the whole family for quite a while. Better brush up on my lightsaber warring so I can pwn lol.
A lady is coming over for dinner tonight. Anybody at church last night during prayer requests knows who I'm talking about. Pray about it! She's not saved, and so we want to witness to her and the family she's bringing. I'm a little nervous; never met the lady.

Doing Things

Yesterday I went on a hike with friends. That was actually surprisingly fun...since I am NOT a hiker in any sense of the word. I only had to stop and collapse on the ground, gasping pathetically, one time! And I only blacked out once too. hehe. Afterwards we went to a waterfall that Pres hadn't seen. That was booooring because it's just a waterfall, but then it got fun. Megan, Michelle, and I jumped in the back of Jeff's truck; we thought he might drive like a 40 feet and we'd jump out. But we all went for a little ride down the road. It was actually really relaxing to feel the breeze. Except for when I kept SLAMMING back into Megan when Jeff SLAMMED on the accelerator. Geez.
So then I went to Michelly's for a sleepover (surprise surprise). I prob won't go again soon because I think I'm becoming a nuisance to Mr. Parks. I have been over probably three or four times in the past two weeks. But the interesting part was that Lily decided to sleep over too! And she was cool. Greg, Ben, and Tara came over for the evening. We played Settlers of Catan and an interesting version of charades.
I finally got Muriel's story proofed and typed. So there's on thing off my back. But now I have another thing to replace it! (albeit a little prob) I left my camera at Michelle's house, so now I can't upload the pics from yesterday immediately. That seriously bugs me. I wanted to email everybody the bestest ones and give Uncle Don some nice group photos.
I am depressed about the way I look again. I have had sooooooo many people tell me I look 15. I seriously is bothering me. First Mrs. Potts said it. Then Michelle said it. Then Jordan said it. Then Mr. Parks said it. Then one of Jordan's friends--who I don't even know; I met him ONCE--said it!!! Makes me want to hide in a corner like the little girl everyone seems to think I am. Forgive my self-absorption; it's just that this is my biggest pet peeve these days.
Have you guys ever been to www.totallylookslike.com? Check it out; it's pretty funny.

Psalm 33. It's beautiful.

Weekend makes for very good times

So this weekend I had fun. On Saturday, we went to Blue Moon for breakfast with Aunt Lori, Mrs. Parks, and Michelle. Michelle and I completely BORED Lily to tears with talk about lots of girly stuff.
After a lovely breakfast of salsa omelette and hash browns, we stole Michelle and went to a camping/hanging out...sort of place for the afternoon. The Loynes' were there, but Megan was working so basically it was me and Bichelle with much more mah-velous GIRL talk. Lots and lots. We also waded in the creek and I found a heart-shaped rock! It's in my room now. Not sure what I'll do with it yet.
So when it was time to take Michelle home, we finagled to let me spend the night at her house, which is ALWAYS so much fun!!! We went over to their friends' house for a barbecue. I had a blast because the two little kids there have tons of wicked awesome Star Wars stuff. They actually had a classic Lando action figure with his original Jabba's palace helmet! So basically the evening was Parker and Noah (the two kids) showing me all their cool Star Wars stuff, while Michelle and Jordan made fun of me and called me a geek. Good times...
So Marinda brought her car, and she took Shelly and I to Hollywood Video. We rented a movie and Michelle bought four.
Then we went back to her house and watched Much Ado about Nothing, my favorite Shakespeare play! Michelle and Jordan went downstairs and watched The Pink Panther...I guess they can't handle Benedick's witty contemplations or Hero's tragic misfortune. But I loooooved it!!! Beatrice is my favorite character, and it's a rare thing when my favorite person in a movie is a girl.
So the next day was church obviously. Yeah and we did Communion cooking too. Not much to report there, except that I think we did it in record time! We even had time to rush over to Macy's and try on some crazy cool outfits! It was really fun, my girlfriends are so purty-ful in fancy dresses. (I looked rather out of place in a formal gown, lol)
Sooooo then there was Communion, a beautiful time of course. Except for Megan's "soft feet" comment! haha!
Robyn's coming over for lunch, so I gots to get working on that. Oh geez she'll be here in half an hour. Crap I'm gonna be so rushed!!!! Gotta go!

A Great Party

So yesterday we threw a surprise party for Michelle's birthday. Danna and I hid in her closet and jumped out and said, "Surprise! Happy Birthday!" (yes, I know, very original) And we had a great time. We went to Wilson River and went inner tubing down the rapids! I fell off and bruised my leg BIG time. That part wasn't so great.

Then we did manicures as we dried off on the rocks above the river. That part was my favorite haha. Then we got a pizza and went back to Shelly's house for dinner and ice cream. Then we called our parents and begged to spend the night; they said yes! So we slept on the trampoline (always fun) and I did some writing on there. Just junk that's been on my mind. Seriously, writing is the best way to figure out if you're being smart. Just write down what you've been thinking about, then look back on it, and if it seems whiny, pointless, or selfish, then adjust your mindset. But if it really reflects your true feelings, and you think that it's legitimate concerns or joys, then dwell on it and learn from it.

Danna asked Michelle how she's doing with God, and I was surprised at how honest Shelly was. She said that she believes with her brain all the stuff in the Bible, but it's hard for her to understand the relationship between sovereignty of God and man's accountability. She told us she doesn't think she's saved, but then she said that she's praying and seeking God over it that He would reveal Himself to her. So that really lifted my spirits!

The next day I woke up at 6:20, went back to sleep, woke up again at 7:00, wrote for a while, got up at 8:00, had a cup of tea, and finally kicked them all awake at 9:00 so I wouldn't be the only one up. They weren't so happy with me. But I was! So we went inside and made "waffles." I put that in parentheses because they were loaded with...oatmeal...and tasted kind of weird. But when we piled on whipped cream and strawberry sauce, they weren't so bad.

Then I looked out the window and saw Jordan reading the stuff I wrote. I have to be honest; my reaction was very bad. I ran outside, screaming at him, "PUT THAT DOWN! DON'T TOUCH MY STUFF! LEAVE MY WRITING ALONE!" and I snatched it out of his hand and stormed back in the house. Later I felt like an awful brat when he came in and apologized. So I said sorry...but I still felt like an idiot. We didn't really talk to each other for a couple hours. I can't believe I still act like a little drama queen sometimes; I'm seventeen years old and I want to grow up a little.

Then as I was starting to feel better, Michelle put in a video of Riverdance. Um. Yeah. Okay, so the first 10 minutes was really awesome. And the rocking out violinist (not even kidding, she was HEADBANGING) was crazy cool. But two hours of Irish tapdancing???? AAAAAAGGGHHHH I about went nuts.

Then Mrs. Parks took me home and took my mom to lunch. That's where they are now, and I'm just sitting here admiring my beautiful bruise from yesterday. Seriously, it's all purple and pink and cool. I like it. All in all, it was a really fun time just chilling with my homefries. I love church family.

So how's life with you guys?☺

An Actual Day

Today I didn't sit around being pointless!!! Here is a fairly exhaustive list of my activities of the day:

I did some cooking. This was basically just doing what Mom tells me to do as she cooks, but it was something.
I vacuumed. Self-explanatory.
I dusted. That was mildly fun because I got to listen to my French CD as I danced around with the duster.
I washed the windows. That was fun at first, because I'd never done it before and I swirled the rag around in time with Will Smith's AWESOME track "Switch." Then my arm got really tired and it wasn't fun anymore. But I finished it and now the windows are pretty clean.☺
I moved some plants around. That was because Bama is feeling pretty benevolent and wants to give Mommy a planter full of plants (well I guess there's nothing else it would be full of), so I put it on the deck.
I hooked up my karaoke machine to the TV, which was surprisingly easy. I just hope that Dad isn't mad when the DVD player doesn't work tonight....
I sang on the karaoke machine to make sure it works. That was fun, except I think I gave a headache to my poor mother and sister. And I'm sure poor Frank Sinatra never wanted his songs to be treated so disgracefully.

Tonight Daddy is taking Lily and me out to buy Mommy a birthday present. I know what I want to get her; the only thing I'm worried about is whether or not the store will have it (and whether or not Mom already has it!)
I've gotten back into writing, and now I'm addicted to my own story. It's a good feeling.

Well, I suppose a new post is overdue. So here I am. Posting....

On Friday the quiz rally is at our church, and Mrs. Weaver said that if we take all three team trophies, she'll take us out to Coldstone! But like that's gonna happen. Nobody's been studying, and practices have been sooo lame! I remember the days where we jump like two or three words into the question, and the quiz masters had to tell us to slow down. Now we hear the whole question and miss the five second time limit to jump! Yuck. Well, there's a silver lining to everything, I guess. I'll get to see Fishy and Vanessa, and chill till midnight with everypeoples.

I've started ripping music illegally again. You know, like, borrow a CD from the library or a friend, rip it onto your computer, put it on your mp3 player, then return the CDs. My sister's all, "Emily, stop breaking the law! It's BAD!!!" Idk if it's bad or not. I mean, it's not like I'm gonna put the artists out of business by ripping their music. And even Charlie does it, who's a PK! So what's the big deal?

On that note, here's what I've been listening to: Foreigner. LOTS OF FOREIGNER. And yesterday I got CDs from Moby, Lifehouse, and U2. Anybody else listen to these guys? "You and Me" is one of the most overplayed radio singles ever, but I still love it. And "Honey" from Moby is just so...right. Well, back to school. Yuck.