Fctionary Steps

Thanksgiving involved Futurama, computer games, lying on beds, discussions and of course food. We got home at like 12... it was alright I guess. We watched this one thing recommended by Simon that was some SeaLab thing and they were debating whether to put their human brains in robots. Apparently you would have the strength of 5 gorillas and like... something. And then Jake, the red-haired kid who's tall and ok I guess had an argument/discussion later after dinner about how the brain controls stuff a lot. According to Jake, if you think you're taking poisonous pills, you could seriously die just because you thought you were. Simon disagreed. I wasn't really sure what I thought.... I mean, the brain is pretty powerful. I find it so cool that we're like the only species smart enough to think about our own brains. Like, our brain can contain information about itself. Think.. think... think.

They had a dog. They were pretty nice. I miss Chester. It's weird though 'cause like... nevermind. I pretty much can't have dessert for like a month (my own "rule") because they had like 5 different pies, 2 times of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, and chocolate-chip cookies. I didn't have all. I had pumpkin pie! It was like the best thing since since.

me: I just had thanksgiving dinner

Becca: good\

Anthony: you equal you know?

Becca: goosd

Anthony: at midnight?

12:20 AM me: there were like 5 desserts

sort of

Anthony: weirdo

me: then we watched futurama, and this girl was like on the bed

Anthony: ewww

me: in real life

Becca: good

me: I know

Anthony: thats gross

me: so gross

Anthony: (jk)

me: so but then

I ws like

on the bed

and there was SImon

and his cousin

Sam: whoa

me: and his cousin

I know

Becca: soap

Anthony: ooh@ Slmon

me: she was like, "seriously just lie down" and I was like "oh. ok"

Anthony: capital i looks like a lowercase L

12:21 AM SLMON

me: eat some fishhhhh


Yeah. Jake's sister was named Freda, and she seemed ok. Maybe around my age, had braces. I'm going to hike today... and then finish HW and then maybe chat (yay!) and then maybe play cards/listen to APHC and then practice guitar and trumpet and finish that stupid stupid book about Martin Rugbyface and read Animal Farm and make an adver-tizment and then CALL! YES! PHONES! I want to call my fray-onds. That'd be so cool.

We got skis and boots and poles today. The mountains are so cool now with that white. Skiing should be cool.

I don't really know anymore. Did I ever?

See... smell... say hi.

I'm always pretty... drugged almost on Saturday mornings. Gah.

Do I really want ADULTS reading MY BLOG?

I want to have a sleepover sometime.

Let's just get over this hill, shall we? Then it will be blue. And yellow.

Ha ha its zero

Late night blogging.... I came back from Thanksgiving dinner and all and now everyone is off chat and all and I don't know. And then ugh.

I should make this short because I seriously need sleep.

I hate how I feel like I can lose my friends, and then experience (or at least be informed about) one of my pretty good friends losing one of her really really good friends. That's not cool. STOP THAT.

You just have to think about things though because they might seem really stupid and horrible on the spot, but after thinking about it, it will probably seem not so bad and like you overreacted.

Emotions. I actually kinda feel like I have some of the French stuff down. Like, I miss my friends like hell and all, but I can sort of control it. Or at least numb/ignore/channel it. And it doesn't control me as much. I guess.

I'm about to fall asleep. Will this be another crappy horrible weekend like all the rest? We shall see... I have a whole bunch of HW but actually I don't even hate HW. Stop saying I'm weird because of that. I'm weird but... just yeah.

In art it was fun. As it usually is. This keyboard is so screwy. Good night you alls.

Food (stuff) of Life

I. ABSOLUTELY LOVE. PHONE CALLS.

I mean, like just gosh. Voices are SO COOL, man!!! Especially after not hearing them for at least 100 days. That was SO COOL. OMG!

Happy Thanksgiving everybloody. You know it's that time of year again, when Google/Yahoo has that turkey thing goin' on, the trees- they are a-explodin', those last few warm-weather enthusiasts get leaves stuck in their flip flops, the voice from the TV says something about "first and ten on the thirty-five" and Charlie Brown, there's a brown lump moving towards you in the air that stubs your fingers, which are already numb from throwing the first snow at your cousins and uncles and aunts and you find your grandma standing on your front porch. 

Ah. Cultural experience. That word again, I know. My Thanksgiving involved none of the above; instead I did a few math problems with someone who didn't speak English (she knew Italian and some French- it was very quiet) and watched English adver-tiz-ments. But that's not to say I hate it here.

Ohh yessss I DID just say that sentence, youse guys. You betta believe it. But don't kill me. Ohh yessss. 

Still haven't had pumpkin pie. But tomorrow, I do get to eat turkey and all that with the friends/family we met over here, who was there at the bar; this post. I mean, sure whatever it's a nice social gathering thing and all, and I get to speak English, but... I sort of feel like the odd person/family out. Plus they're older and stuff... eh whatever.

HA HA. Life is awesome!!!

And phone calls are like the best thing EVER. *hint hint*

(Be warned.)

Random quote of the day:

"I'm not going to eat you ..." - Monsieur Besson to that one guy that flicked him off that one time.

We cracked up again in FLE, 'cause M. Besson was just sooo funny. We got a few new students in FLE too. One of them, maybe both, doesn't speak English.

Only 217 days or so. And apparently there will be balloons?

Thank you.

It's a... hmm...Wednesday

Phew. Haven't blogged in like YEARS. Sort of not really a lot has happened. Jess was sick on Monday, and had to literally RUN out of FLE class to... to... well, barf. She said she wasn't feeling well before the class and kept like... I dunno what. Putting her hand over her mouth. I did what I do "best", putting dudes in sentences (that is half-sarcastic by the way). "Dude, if you're sick you should seriously call your mom now," I said with a slightly concerned expression. She just shook her head. Finally she came to her "senses" and we went to the vie scolaire and I said "elle est malade" (she is sick) and so then she went home. Came back ok the next day. 

On Sunday, like I said, we saw W. It was actually pretty good. There was this one scene that was sort of cool 'cause like Bush was talking in Spanish, then there was the English translation and the French translation under. The movie theater in our town is quite low-budget, though. Small. Whatever. On the way there, we almost stepped on a hedgehog. It could have been a rock, but Zach noticed it move. He scampered off, with his little lump of a body.

Our boots crunched and crinked on the snow with the dark surrounding us. The white dots fell softly, like an extra coating of not-black.

I had an almost tri-lingual trumpet lesson, 'cause I played with this German (but he spoke French) kid and my teacher, so my teacher would speak English with both of us sometimes by accident. It was cool yeah.

And then there's a lot of snow on the mountains now, which is seriously awesome. I want to hike one of 'em this weekend or something.

It's cool that my friends have a few days off, so now I can talk to them more! That's the best thing ever. I should be getting off now though. They all left and it all sucks now. I have hockey but don't even... eh. This sucks now! But wait. Nah. It's ok. I just gotta.... bite the bullet, eh? 'Cept I have rather many bullets to bite. They taste bad, too. But actually some of them are ok. Still have some HW, but not that bad.

Sigh.

Argh.

*Sort of grins.

Right? 'Cause there's a bird

Alright. That was pretty solved. Except for... but yeah.

Do you guys ever have days where you feel like you're in a different place than you actually are?

I don't really know what to think anymore. I say that a lot, don't I though?

I woke up today with an irritated eye. For those of you not familiar with me and my eye problems, I have them. My eyelashes are sort of long (not to brag or anything, but they just sort of are) which I see as an unnecessary... aspect. They fall in my eye a lot. Which, let me tell you, is full of pain. I've gotten to the point where I can just use my finger and some spit to get them out, like without eye drops. I couldn't tell what was wrong with my eye this morning though. Perhaps some soap got in it. Owwww!

That wasn't that unusual. But you see, as soon as I looked out my room window, Louis Armstrong's Winter Wonderland got stuck in my head. The fields. The cars... the white. It was white. There was a little powdering of snow on the ground, looking sort of like cottage cheese. Except much much better. It looked so.. so... promising. And then the hedges were covered, which was great.

I had never seen France in the winter. Now, you might say, well you've never seen France in the summer, so... but in case you didn't know, I had been here in the summer of 2004. So, now I have to get used to a new season. Which might not seem like much, because it happens four times a year. But, may I remind you, I've already got this layer of culture shock. From living in a different culture, you know? So hmm.

Should be a good winter. I'll still miss sledding at Slauson with Anthony and Erez and Oren and maybe Zach's friends. But that wasn't the point I wanted to make. If there is one.

I... what the crap is it with today? I wake up somewhat early, the snow, eat, sort of do some HW. Then I read some of that rugby autobiography. It's getting seriously boring. "So then we won this one game, and then I felt sorry for this one guy. And then we played another game against some of the same teams. Then we drank beer. Won/lost games." My brain got seriously un-entertained so I started to sleep. I was ver-ver-very tired. Then slept on my bed for about 3 hours. I hate hate taking naps. Especially in the middle of the day. Especially with 3 tests (all in French) tomorrow and just... argh. And also when its perfectly light outside. So I got up and practiced guitar. I was pretty dead. Still am. The only thing left really was blogging.

The only thing I can come up with is that... this is just a... extreme case of teenager-ness.

We're seeing Dub-ya (W) tonight at 7. I sort of want to stay to talk to my friends, because I think my lack of that is what is killing me here.

This is just ridiculous. I feel like I have no purpose, except maybe to do things that stink. That I don't want to do. I have friends, ok?? I. Have. Friends. Where are they?

My weekends suck. The end of Michigan football as we knew it was last night. At least PSU pwned. But I don't really care. This is just stupid.

What the shibbity-boo is this? I got no exercise, I have been deprived of sleep (still am), I still have work but whatever, and I can't hang out with anyone.

I'm TIRED of speaking French, all right? I don't CARE about conjugating the verb to blush. I don't like just sitting around, and not really having a choice. I don't LIKE IT when my friends are upset. I don't LIKE IT that I can't even TALK to my FRIENDS. I don't like all of this stupid work that I don't NEED and falling BEHIND and the lack of friends. I don't like having to stay up till 3 am to chat with my friends, and... all of that. I'm TIRED of learning Spanish. I'm sick of Becca not being here. I'm sick of not being in a class with Anthony. I'm sick of not hearing Alex's amazing poetry. I'm sick of having life suck, and yet rock, but not in the ways I want or need.

Do you guys.... do you have any idea how it is to be here? I've never moved before. Well, except for from Chicago when I was younger. I've never really had anything like this. Which in a way is... sure. YES ok I GET that this a wonderful experience, and I've already told you guys that I think it's WORTH IT. Because it is. Probably. But that doesn't mean it can't utterly suck sometimes and that I can't rant about it.

The thing that would make this better is

right now,

for ...

Ok. I have a purpose. Right? I mentioned this before. I continue to. I have friends. I like my friends. I love my friends. They are what help me not utterly die. And they're awesome. Which means basically that I can't live without them. But hey guess what? I sort of am. Well, let me rephrase that sentence. I'm not talking to them right now. That kills. And I just feel like I have to be... I mean, before I moved stuff was awesome; I could talk to them like everyday. But now its like they were almost taken away. Putting an ocean between us sort of would cause that. ARGH. Right about now would be a good time.

Alright alright. Life does not suck. It does not. It yes rocks. I'm going in circles. This is just some stupid blog post like all the rest.

Ugh. Ok. This is just sort of what happens when you... well, live in a different country.

Redundant, right?

Survival.


By the way, Becca (and Karina), you were right. (Thank you K, A, T and B)

Ugh. Don't you start that. This is so stupid! But he... I mean- Oh, PLEASE, Amelia- just shut the heck up. You're not even... you can't be doing this. Not. Allowed. Just the thought of you even thinking about considering that means you're a really bad friend. And that you're incredibly self-centered. But like, dude- No, don't you dude me- you're a JERK. You're STUPID. I'm stupid now?? Well, you're certainly a downright JERK. I mean, seriously man. SO self-centered. It's gross! UGH! This is unfair! Oh- you think this is unfair?? I have the unfairness! Shut up, Amelia. No- YOU shut up! This is so unfair! Can't you see how I feel? Maybe... No, but dude- seriously. Just think about it. It's fine. It was just.. weird last night. It's ok! Fine. Yeah. You're right I guess... ugh.

Guitar chords.

12, 2 and 123 in progression is hard.

A song? Yes. How? Er.

Well, it was good until YOU LEFT. Argh! Come on come on come on come on come on.

It snowed today, and I most certainly did not have a headache.

Rainnn

So Emma, you know that English girl I sit next with in French and stuff? Well she moved over here 'cause of CERN too. So wow.

In art today:

Claire: What?? You dare defy the queen?!?!

Me: Shut up.

Claire: What did you just say to me? What did you say to the queen?

Me: Shut up! Ha, "the queen" can't even hear!

Claire: What?

Me and Emma crack up

Claire: I'm already sick, and now it has to rain! See, 'cause I'm mentally sick and normal sick!

Me: HA HA HAAA!!!!

This is interesting.

And this is even more interesting!

Karina, yes I have heard that song. It's very good. I like that album too. Thanks. Thank you.

How was Twilight, guys? I'm going to try to see it... a month later, that is. The poster was ha. And facebook didn't explode really. Ugh there's hockey early tomorrow, but I dunno if I wanna go...

blue ink #14 (big bags, strikes, gripped-regions and nobody knows where we go)

Hey hey!! My French teacher is on strike so I have an hour of etude! Sweetness. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention- the teachers are going on strike... something to do with the government working them too much or like... not enough classes for special needs or something. This school (and maybe French schools in general) is already known to have teachers just disappear with no explanation, so I guess I'm getting the full cultural experience! That class was pretty useless anyway because its rather hard... I don't really even get anything. Well, sort of. But yeah. In front of the school, there were high schoolers painting signs and resting them against the gates. It was sort of cool. Must have something (everything) to do with the strikes. They were in French, but I think maybe I got what they said. Something about all coming together. My dad brought up the fact that this school was a lot like Community, with students being allowed to go outside and stuff. It'd be cool to get into Community.

I can't believe that when I came back I'll go straight to high school. Scary. So that means I'll have culture shock (again), then have to get used to a new school. Whatever. I should actually do some work... not much to write about really anyway. Oh there was hockey but I'll add that after I guess.

Later, guys.

----------------------------------

They took down the signs by my lunch break, but some people had painted in blue on the pavement YES WE CAN! and some other message in French above it. Zach only had like one class because of the strikes. 

FLE was a ton of fun. We were talking about the passive forms and stuff. According to M. Besson, the French hate to use "on" which is the passive form or something... sort of like "nous" (us) except we don't really have it in English. But I seem to think the French use it a lot. Hmm.

English was also fun- we had to make an adver-tiz-ment (that's how they pronounce it in Britain) to sell some chocolate. Our group was hmm, but there were some very funny jingles. We all cracked up rather hard. And we all got chocolate at the end. It was pretty good.

Ah, hockey... I missed the running warm-up, but didn't get killed. Tina wasn't there (the Canadian captain) but the other guy was. I guess I did o....k..... on the drills, but still need to improve improve improve. Which I guess is why you have practices. We did this one drills where you skate across the rink, stopping on the lines at the sides, and then at the end you get a pass and shoot. So guess what. I missed the friggin' pass. It was RIGHT to me. And of course I had to be the last one, so the WHOLE TEAM saw me miss it. But I didn't care really. Because I mean, just.. just whatever. That's sort of my theme here. And so then we did it again, and I really tried to get the pass, 'cept the guy flipped it up so I couldn't see it and missed it AGAIN. Argh. 

Needless to say, I am not the best at hockey. It's fun, it really can be quite fun. But see, it would just really help if I was with teammates at my same skill level, or at least a little closer. 'Cause I mean, being intimidated and over-challenged and just.. I dunno is not the most fun. Sure, it makes you try harder maybe but like... ugh.

On the way home we listened to the English radio. They played some ok music and stuff. It was nice to listen to your brain's language and not have to try hard to understand. They had a story about this Russian author Vladmir Nabokov, who I had never heard of before. It was interesting!

I have two huge tests on Monday- FLE and Spanish. Spanish is whatever and FLE is yeah ok. 

There were police officers and a detective and a dog checking out this building, because apparently the kidnappers/etc might be in the area. So like, holy crap, man! 

New favorite Coldplay song: God Put a Smile Upon Your Face

She got some ham

I... life is stressful. But in saying that, I sort of decided it. Because technically it ain't all that bad, just gets. Extremely. Majorly. Really. Extremely. Old. Annoying. Redundant. Old. But I got several things done this half day, including trumpet, guitar, reading, homework, and soon a blog post! And I had a kabob from the local place. My mom got it for me though because I was like seriously hungry and had HW. She said they tend to serve the regular customers (Arabs) before students and whatnot. They were ok, but less good as the ones in Geneva. 

So in Spanish its actually kinda ironic. Because we're supposed to write a blog in Spanish. Yeah. No kidding. They had a picture of a webpage with a Spanish blog, titled "Mi Blog Favorito". You don't need to know Spanish to know what that means. The blog was about the guy's family and friends. He had pictures and stuff. Sort of... bland. I like blogging. Not really in Spanish though. We changed seats again, so I sit next to this Christian guy who I think is American. He's awesome in French, and seems to be a good student. So yay. I could blog about anything, but I chose my family because that's easy. After Spanish I asked Claire about it, and mentioned I had a blog. She seemed unimpressed. "It's cool," I said, referring to having a blog, not necessarily that my blog was cool. "Hmm. I bet you write about how Michigan sucks!" (she's an OSU fan, remember). "Nope. I actually write about how it rocks," I said with a grin, already planning out how to blog about all this (ironic much? Or maybe.. I dunno the word).

SVT was ugh. The teacher's like really pregnant. It helps when your lab partner knows what the heck to do, and communicates that to you. We have this slightly big HW assignment about something with crystals in basalt, or something. I have to like write 2 paragraphs in French about something and something. The other kids don't even know what to do, so that's a bad sign. I don't really care... teacher makes me do all the work and stuff but doesn't expect much. 

I AM really ticked off about Algebra. Don't even get me started. Like how I have three stupid stupid math classes and NONE of them are what I need. Yeah I know I know I've mentioned this before, but like UGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH. Stop.

I still have stuff to do. UGH and its already PITCH BLACK OUTSIDE. What the hell is wrong with this?!?!? Why do I suddenly feel like breaking down/spazzing/dying??? Shut. Up. No. Argh. Just... stop. Is this getting to me? No I gots it down. Is this not even real? Perhaps I am over-reacting! But like, argh. Tina! Becca! Anthony! Alex! Mityako! Jenny! Hannah! Pascale! Becca! 

Anthony. Well, I was going to do that "moins vingt" thing, but then I asked M. Besson and he said that that's only for when its midi or something. And whatever. Thanks for commenting/reading though... 

I need sleep. 

Damn it, I have hockey. 

Just... stop. 

Ann Arbor: 0

Absence of Ann Arbor: 1 (but several more)

blue ink #13

So guess what. No sport today! It's also raining. I was worried I'd be late this morning even though my dad drove me because he was going to hockey. The car just had to stop before a roundabout. But then he got it to work. Then after the bell rang, my classmates and I waited around for like 15 minutes until people decided she wouldn't be here. Turns out the guy last time was a sub- the real teacher, Madame Lacaille, broke her knee or something. And it also turns out I don't need two pairs of shoes! Bonus. And Claire said we stop wrestling after Christmas. Which means I'll only have like... 3 or 4 more wrestling lessons. Awesome.

Ugh but apparently the teacher is here but she's coming late. So I might have gym after all. Stupid system they have here. I could be home right now, sort of, except Olivia said I wasn't really supposed to and I'd "have to go discreetly". Gee, what a vocabulary, I thought.

I actually kind of like etude. Tuesdays are sort of terrible though because my lunch is only an hour, which means I race home and hastily gobble foodly items. Of course, I have about the same amount of time as I did at Slauson, but its not already made and all that.

Anyway. So I just got handed the name sheet thing where you have to write your name, class and whether you're normally in etude or not at this time. I tried passing it to the guy next to me but he said he already got it. No one seemed to.. have any interest for it so I just put it on an empty desk behind the guy next to me. Great... plan.

I've had Ben Folds/Five songs stuck in my head. Which is good. Right now its You Don't Know Me. ...or a cardboard stand-up and paint me (paint me) anything (anything)...

Just a random fact- OMG what is it with me?!?! My English spelling is messed up! I keep putting "e's" on the end of words. That wasn't the fact. The fact is that this is Day 139 and then there's only like 30 days till the break and then when I come back I'll be a little more than half-way. And also this my 45th day of school. I'ma study some FLE. Il est huit heures quarante.

Je fais

tu fais

il fait

elle fait

on fait

ca fait

nous faisons

vous faites

So I got yet another book to read- an autobiography by Martin Johnson, who's this famous English rugby guy. We have to read an autobiography for my English class. It's actually pretty good. He drinks a lot of beer it seems. It's weird though- they spell curb "kerb". So... different.

----------------------------

We have a new student in my FLE classes. She seems pretty nice... black hair, an almost stern face (but she smiles) and she has one of those like... fashion-type bags. She's from like Ecuador, but knows English pretty well. It was funny though 'cause when she first talked to M. Besson, Franz was like, "but she doesn't know English". I muttered, "...French." And then she said "Uh, yeah I think I know English," She's in troisieme (9th grade) but knows about the same amount of French as we do, maybe a little less. 

M. Besson seemed just plain delighted to let us introduce ourselves. We went around the room saying our name, class, age and what we liked. When it was my turn, I stood up and preceded to say in an almost painful French accent: "Eh, je m'appele Amelia, et j'ai treize ans... je suis en clase quatrieme G..." I was about to sit down when M. Besson asked me what I liked. "Uh, j'aime la musique," He asked me what kind- moderne, classique,... and I said the Beatles. At first he couldn't tell what I said but other people caught on and told him. Then he asked for my favorite song, and I thought. I kept thinking Hey Jude, but that seemed too... generic. I said I liked all the songs at first, then chose You Never Give Me Your Money. That's a really good song.

On the way home, I had organized with Zach to walk home with him. This might not seem like such a big deal or whatever, and it isn't, but its just... well, me and Z aren't the closest of siblings. I said hi to him and he said hi back. We sort of have a... habit of not normally saying hi to each other, but when one of us does the other either says hi or at least looks in the others' eyes for perhaps a second, or even might just mutter a "hmm". Zach rode his bike while I walked, and he actually rode alongside me. Mostly it was just awkward silence. I thought a lot, though. And what I was thinking about, you may ask? I was actually thinking about this blog post. I tend to plan out the writing in my head before typing it. Yup, that's right, folks, I actually spend time on this thing. Sure, I don't really go back to revise it, but some of those really long posts can take 2 or 3 hours to type up, so after all that work I just want to click Publish Post and be done with it. 

I saw a puddle ahead of me so tried jumping over it. Turns out water is slippery. So I slipped. And muttered a "eeeugghhh." and noticed my jeans got dirty and my knee smarted and felt weird. I saw no reaction in my brother, he acted as though he might not have seen it. We're a shy bunch. At least with each other. Zach actually asked me to wait for him though, which was like the longest sentence he had said to me since like ever probably. We probably saw about... oh, 300 words a year to each other. Mostly just grunts, half-hi/hello's and maybe the occasional smile, like when we're with Erez and Oren. Actually, that's the thing- when I'm with E and O it's like he's really my brother. I talk to him like I actually know what kind of music he likes, persay. 

Being the good sister that I am (that's half-sarcastic), I actually waited for him to put his bike away. I don't know if he'd do the same for me. He didn't say thanks. Not even a grunt, which would sound along the lines of "tah-n" or "hmm" or even "*cough thans". But whatever. I was "late"; I could've been in the apartment by now. Normally I'd have ran home, with thoughts of Maniac Magee running through my head. But whatevz.

My mom wants me to get a cellphone. I have probably mentioned this. Oh and it was almost creepy- Jess said that last Friday she went with her friends before FAT to the Hyper Champion (the place that got robbed) and they saw the security guard and his dog there, who would be killed the next day or something. So she was probably one of the last people to see him. Gee.

Somehow my posts become somewhat long. Agh, I just feel like talking a lot. I want to talk about this and- see? Ok ok. Jess asked if there were any good American schools for sports. I raised my eyebrows and said an exaggerated yeah. Yeah. She's quite sporty.

So I had my trumpet lesson today too... it was ok. My teacher has several trumpets; the first lesson he had a C one, then he had like.. something else and this one he had a Bflat. I have to play Getting Better and Get Back and this duet Bossa Nova. Not too bad. I think I've... sort of gotten worse. Well, I think I'm just not at my best. But there's reason for that. I should shut up. I think a lot of this in my head, and then tell myself to shut up there. And then I put it here, and all youse guys have to listen to me jamble and jarb. Gah. But then its like- ok I will save that thought for a different post. 

I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell

I know, right now you can't tell

But stay awhile and maybe then you'll see

A different side of me

I'm not crazy, I'm just a little impaired

I know, right now you don't care

But soon enough you're gonna think of me

And how I used to be

Me

(Unwell by Matchbox Twenty)

In Terms of Ice

French/Swiss people seriously need to learn how to skate. I went skating on Sunday with my dad at this outdoor rink, and it was seriously awesome. Problem was, it didn't seem like they had a rule about going with the flow. There was an obvious flow to the right, but still (stupid) people went against it, which.. seemed pretty stupid. And I mean, little kids would just like dart here and there. Well sure they do that in America, but I mean- what the crap? And then one time I passed by the opening where people come out, and this black dude comes shooting out, straight the the middle and I smack right into him. He falls down. I glance back, hold up my hand and say "sorry", and then remember where the heck I am and say "pardon- desolez". Yeah, I still haven't gotten down the "say sorry in French" thing. But whatever. See, that's the thing- you just can't go perpendicular to the flow. I'm sorry, but that is just... no. And another thing. I don't care if you skate worth something- playing tag is both intimidating, hazardous to everyone and it just looks stupid. There was this group of guys doing that. One of 'em had an iPod. There was also a figure skater, which isn't bad in itself necessarily, but I'd recommend not flingin' around those metal blades in one of the face-off circles inside the zone. In other words, do it in the middle. I recommend. I came close to... I dunno, getting my calf scissored in fourths. Well, halves. Whatever. 

Turns out there was a robbery in my town, just down the street at the local Hyper-Champion. These guys stole 800 Euros. I heard about it from Jess and also overheard some guys that I'd seen at FAT talk about shooting, and there was a newspaper article. According to Jess, one of the bad guys chickened out so the other guys shot him 6 times. I think that's just a rumor though. 

Sleep-deprivation ain't all that fun. Headache. Zone-out. Glazed look. Just want to lie down. So I should be going to bed. But it occurred to me that I wanted to at least say hi to my friends on chat. But then it occurred to me that... OW my headache seriously hurts. Shut up! Ugh, an ear ache now?? What is it with you people?!?! 

*zones out for several seconds*

Mr. Sammons, my English-Library teacher, who has an American (or at least not English) accent, is actually pretty cool. He talks to us a lot, is bald, his right pinky is a stub, but he gives us almost moral talks. (You know what's freaky? I was about to add an e to the end of moral like the French do it. Creepy...) I reminds us of the tests we have to take, yadda yadda ya. But luckily them tests are next year. Or at least not this year. They sound so.. ugh. Life-controlling. But I think I've got this down, sort of. 

You could call it being there

Saturday was pretty cool.. I went on an AWESOME hike. Zach didn't come along, as usual. He "hates hiking". Just a month or something ago he loved it. Anyway.

We drove up the Saleve, the mountain we climbed with the Levins on this post. For some reason, the car ride made me tired. Maybe I was already tired. Whatever. It was pretty cold but I adjusted. After parking our green Vee- double-ya on some gravel in an already good-viewing point, we started walking down a trail. Our boots were like teeth, the ground chewing gum; sinking in to the soft mud, but sometimes hitting the gums (rocks). My mom... had a surprising amount of energy considering her apparent ear infection. She ran ahead of me and my dad while I asked him about the music he listened to when he was my age, and screamed at the trees. She wasn't mad, no, just... alive. Yeah. I had to admit, walking in this forest on a mountain with a pleasing lump of white stuff through the trees with refreshing air was... quite pleasant. Made you feel alive, really.

Heaven forbid our family have a hike without bickering. That would be too pleasant. Nah, it wasn't that bad but it gets old. I didn't join in really. Mostly just parental-type. But it worked out ok. Everyone came out alive, if not covered in mud.

It was weird at one point, though, because there was some snow up there, which ok sure it's a mountain but, then the trees had ice on them and they melted or whatever so it'd be like snowing ice. Very cool. The snow was in a little patch. Very crunchy. I took lots of pictures.

We eventually got to the "top", and had a breathless view. It seriously looked like an ocean on one side, with the clouds a peaceful jumle of white fluff, though the color was sometimes undefinable. The mountains were partially hidden, almost like huge lumbering whales. To the other side were a whole landscape of mountains. White with black, klondike bars amid the ocean. And here we stood, on a grassy bridge between utter void with wings and crunchy chocolate.

It was at times like these that you really wished you were Maximum Ride. To be enveloped in white, forget the concept of feet and float among the air you breathed.

My dad, as though he heard my thoughts, said, "Doesn't it just make you wish you could fly?" I was silent for a few moments, mouth open. Then I said, "Yeah." It was a great hike. We got hot chocolate afterward and watched the epic glimmering of Mount Blanc sink away as the sun set.

"blue ink" #12

So... this ain't etude but I'm writing. My french-french teacher didn't bring our cahiers for this class so we can do whatever. Well, I'm supposed to be doing something in French but the only thing I have is French math. Hey, I could try writing a blue ink in French! Yeah!! No. Well, maybe. The key word would be "try".

Je joue la guitare. J'aime la guitare!

They don't seem to have "calluses" in my English-French dictionary. Ah well.

Stuff wasn't much different going to school (there wasn't a considerable increase in noticeable parents, etc) except that my dad drove me because he was going to hockey practice afterward. And then my mom and dad are organizing a schedule sort of to pick me and Z up and walk home everyday. Zach isn't too thrilled about having to walk home with "his sister". Heaven forbid, right? I don't mind really... walking alone sort of sucks... and not just because of the kidnapping.

J'aime a recevoir (receve?) les lettres. Les style plumes sont... non, les stylo plumes ecrire avec plaisir...

that last one probably didn't make any sense... I'm trying to say that fountain pens are fun to write with. They don't really have fun as an adjective in here... oh maybe. Ils sont drole... maybe that's right.

Ow. My back is like spazzing. Agh! It's like... throbbing below my neck sort of in the middle. Stop that! Grr. Probably from lugging around such a heavy backpack all the time.

Hey, the French word for fuss is remue-menage. Masculine. And woah now, they even have the F-word in here and how to say certain sentences involving it. Hmm.

Ma mere... a embeter.

That has like zero grammar I bet. I was trying to write "my mom has been ticked off". 'Cause she has. Like about the kidnapping and stuff. And Zach is like seriously hating it over here- he's overworked. 

Ha, Emma just looked over at what I was writing. She made a face and said, "ok...". See, that's the problem when you write... stuff.... during an actual class. If the teacher comes over... hmm. Well, I have worked on some French. J'ai travaille a la francais.

My accent needs serious work. I need a big(ger) vocabulary. But I already feel more confident, or at least better with French nowadays. It's cool.

Geez, my French teacher can sure write fast. And neat, not to mention. She seems pretty cool... wears like mascera or something sometimes. Knows some English. She talks to me in French, which is great except when I'm just utterly confused. Which tends to happen often. But then she might explain it slower or talk some in English. She once brought a bag with "I [heart] NY" on it. And one with Black Sad, which I looked up on the Internet. Seems pretty cool.

In case you don't know what that is, I will save you a trip to Google. That is, unless you want to know more or whatever. So its like a comic. Originally in Spanish I think, but they translated it into French and maybe some other European languages. There's a cat and he's like a detective. Characters are animals. Yeah.

So, yesterday while waiting for FLE, I started saying in an annoyed tone to no one in particular, "Ugh there's no break for Thanksgiving!" No, I already knew I was in Europe and they don't have that over here, but still felt like "ranting". Jess of course didn't know what it was and we had one of those "make fun of the other culture because its weird/different" things, which are sort of fun. My explanation of Thanksgiving was when "there were Native- Americans and then the colony dudes came over and they are some food. And grew corn! And give thanks." Jess (in a sarcastic, mocking tone: "Oh yeah, here if I give you my thanks will you give me thanks... I mean, what the heck!?" She found it pretty funny. "But we eat lots of food! It's awesome!" Then Jess continued in that same tone, "Oh yeah, here I'll give you thanks and lets eat some food!" Ha ha... ha.

And then also I found out that Earl and Franz, who are two brothers around my age who I saw when we took the tests and who are in my FLE class, are in the same situation as me.

Me: So are you guys going to stay at this school for like ever?

Earl (or maybe it was Franz): Like, in terms of years?

Me: Yeah.

E/F: No, we're only staying a year.

Me: (raises eyebrows) Oh! Me too! How come?

E/F: Our dad works at CERN.

Me: Omigosh! My dad too!

E/F: Which experiment is your dad working on?

Me: LHC. Yours?

E/F: Hey, our dad's working on the LHC too.

Me: Omigosh cool!

E/F: Yeah.

Me: It really sort of sucks living here though, doesn't it?

E/F: Yeah, but I heard school is really hard back there where my friends are.

Me: Oh.

E/F: Yeah, but its only a year and then we can go home!

Me: YUP!

I don't think I'll go to FAT Friday tonight.. sumo wrestling dain't seem that wonderful and I have stuff to do. Plus, its not really.... the funnest thing ever.

It's starting to get pretty "cold". It'll suck not sledding with Anthony and Erez and Oren at Slauson.... sigh. But then again, I get to SKI in awesome MOUNTAINS.

Je suis fatiguee et tres faim, mais la vie c'est tres bon! Perhaps I say that too much. Nothing wrong with liking life, though, is there?

Emma looked at my paper again. How rude! She just made a "uh... you're weird" face. I guess I'm sort of used to that.

----------------------------------

So you guys. I'm sort of really pissed again at the school. I literally FAILED my english math test. Which is like... scary. 12/30. But, before you start saying I suck, remember that I miss HALF the lessons. Which sucks. And like... ugh. But I mean, I don't really care. I'll learn what I miss, sure, but just... just... just whatever. I can't believe I have three math classes and none of them are what I need. And then I have to have a fourth one. Take a huge test at the end. Or, I suffer the consequences of not being with my friends in high school math. Which would suck. Which would really stink. This stinks. This sucks. But wait- that doesn't mean I'm all depressed. Not like you guys care ha. But I don't care really. See, well just nevermind. It seems like this is a long enough post already. I missed some points on that Spanish test 'cause I said some French stuff, which proves how learning two languages (and sort of three) can screw with your mind. Not that fun. But hey, I've still got my guitar, trumpet, this blog and my wwwwwwwwwernderful (wonderful) friends back home. Yeah that's right, I miss you like hell.

P.S. Anthony- you were wondering about what you said. So here I'll translate.

I said:

I love writing this blog.

I love life.

I love you.

(That is, unless I don't know you very much).

Probably only about 40% is grammatically correct, but hey I tried.

Enlever

"Hey, did you get that note today that was-?"

I gave Jess a confused expression, and she continued, "about kidnappings?" Shock seeped through my face.
"What?!?! Kidnapping?!"
"Yeah, there was like an attempted kidnapping the other day or something..." Then the teacher came and we went in for math speciales.
"Well, Ferney is supposed to be like really bad for that... " As I got out my trousse (pencil case) I listened to Jess with an almost terror-ed expression. "Oh wait, you live in Ferney!"
"Yeah. Crap."

So turns out there were two attempted kidnappings over the weekend... supposedly there was like a girl waiting outside the school gates and almost got captured. The police sent a note (in French of course). Wow. Not so different then the many episodes AAPS has experienced with the whole "high schooler brought a gun..."... "guy hid a fake bomb in the locker..." stuff.

On the walk home, it was dark. As we left FLE (in which M. Besson "flicked us off"- we were learning the names for the parts of the body, and I couldn't help laughing when he held up his middle finger, asking what we called it in English. We all looked at each other with aghast expressions. He just rolled his eyes. Call me immature, but you gotta laugh once in a while.) I talked to Jess about me walking home and the possibility of someone attempting to kidnap. I left a note after lunch (no one was home) saying someone should come to walk home with me. It was really dark. A deep rich blue, one you'd want to be envoloped in if it were made of a soft liquid or something. I was on alert sort of, and already had some adrenaline kickin' because I ran all the way. Normally I'd run for a little and stop then run a little ways after. But this time, I was all out. Checking behind me, ok no one there... oh crap going into a shadow... I wasn't like all freaked out or nothing, but my stomach did have that nervous-ness in it. I mean, call me a sissy, but just think about how you would feel if you were in a different country, walking home by yourself when its almost pitch dark and there's kidnappers about. I almost felt like Maximum Ride; maybe that sounds stupid, but to have adrenaline seeping through and almost being "hunted down" reminded me of the Flock... gee, it must suck to always be so paranoid.

But obviously, I got home safe. My mom had gotten the note but she came home late. As I passed her car (it was slowing down towards me so I was suspicious) she called out and all that. Told me I should have called her and my dad. Stuff and stuff. So I rode a few feet to our apartment with her and proceded to do my homework after practicing trumpet.

I need to go shopping for... for... *hint hint* type- things. Which are like.... well, they have something to do with the fact that next month is December.

I miss Michigan Public Radio.

I saw a parapent out of the window in my English class, which was seriously thrashing about. Violently. I hoped no one was attached.

Dang, everything seriously does go ok. (Well, it occured to me that its not so much that everything gets resolved, but that it passes.) Oh, you guys, speaking of which, in FLE M. Besson brought up the fact that like Amelia in French is really Amelie, and something about how that's related to the word that means someone who never worries about anything. I...ronic. It's ironic that it's ironic. Thank you to the commentors.

Thank you two un-named (P and M) people for sending me letters and pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!! The pictures are so cool!

What do ya guys think... is sleeping in or getting up early better on a weekend? Well, which do you like better?

Omg 700 hits. Great. Thanks for reading, guys. It's awesome. And lets see... poll results... 1 for Maximum Ride, which was mine... and most of you guys chose Harry Potter! Hmm. Robert Sledge, by the way, is the bassist for the Ben Folds Five. Then 2 votes for Bella Swan... hmm. Only one thought I was weird. Well, on the poll anyway. Ok! New poll sometime.

J'aime a ecrier cette blog...

J'aime la vie!

Je t'aime.
(C'est juste, a moins que je ne connaise pas vous beaucoup...)

HA omg its so fun when you know a different language. Ask me what that means if you want.

"OH MY LORD"

I love the feeling when you get a lot of stuff done... so accomplished and.... it's just awesome. After practicing guitar for almost an hour today, it feels sort of weird typing. But its so fun to play. I've come to the "conclusion" that life is good. Yeah. I just got a letter from a dear friend who also SENT PICTURES which was like SERIOUSLY AWESOME. Omg. She is so nice. I could NOT stop grinning. It was so awesome to actually SEE people, you know? It's like... the best thing ever. I have to write a letter back soon. This is so cool! It's so fun to like... have more stuff outside of school. Trumpet, guitar, hockey and my friends. Speaking of which, I have hockey with the girl's team tonight, and no CERN practice. And I had an  hour lesson last night because I missed some. It was pretty cool. I sort of messed up a lot, but whatevz. My teacher, like I said, knows some English but will make mistakes like saying "I listen you". But I mean, that's probably what it's like for French people to listen to me. 

My mom says it just got really cold. Yay. Cool. And this family has bought tickets to come in April. And stoof. 

Well, Rianna, to answer your question, it's not really like that. I mean, people just sort of... express themselves like back there with shirts and whatnot, its not like there's exclusive groups or... really specific stuff or whatever. 

They call "slope" "gradient" over here in math. And they also call a linear equation/graph a straight line graph or something. Weird. Makes sense, but... less... mathematical I suppose.

Random question to ponder:

Should parents be allowed to teach their kids anything they want?

Dude. I SO need to get outside more. It's like sad. I say like too much too. 

Me: Wait so, Claire- do we have to like draw it?

Claire: We don't have to like draw it, we have to draw it. (laughs)

Me: (rolls eyes, laughs) Well... whatever.

Claire: (laughs)

It's like a bad habit. SEE?!??!?! 

Oh wait, did I tell you guys I finished Breaking Dawn? Well I did. It was... ok. I was wrong about... well, my hypothesis. It was pretty optimistic. I'm not sure I really liked how she ended it, but I guess it was just for our imagination. And I mean, after all that work you'd think she'd just want to be like... *describes quickly... one last sentence and done*.