A week of change

Life is full of changes.  Some small, some big, but you can't avoid it.  Everything changes sometime or another.  And this week has been a big week of change.  Our house was painted green, we got new windows, I got a haircut (and it's now really short), and my sister graduated high school.

Yes, that's right, my big sister is now a high school alumni.  Her graduation was this morning.  I thought I might cry during the actual ceremony, but surprisingly I didn't.  It was pretty sad because I do know quite a few of the seniors who graduated and it's possible that I'll never see them again.  Ah, well, I guess that's why Facebook was invented, right?  Keeping in touch with old friends.

But it wasn't until after the graduation ceremony and after we had lunch that I cried.  I was walking with my parents in the parking lot of Red Robin and my dad pulled that gag on my mom where you tap someone on the opposite shoulder and they look and no one's there.  I don't fall for that anymore, but my mom did.  And we laughed about it.  Then I said, "Erin did that to me at school once!  I didn't fall for it, though."  That had just happened this week too.  Then I realized, I'm not going to see her at school anymore.  Not ever again.  I think that thought is what got me, and I started to cry.  I've gone to the same school as Erin since kindergarten, except for that one year when I was in 8th grade and she was a freshman.  She's always been there.  I'd see her at school, I could say hi to her, ask her for help if I needed it.  And now, she just won't be there anymore...

She's going off to college in September.  Her school is about 7 hours away-- not exactly close.  And I'll still be home.  I won't be going to the same college as her.

And now I'm going to be starting my senior year!  Going through this all over again, but it'll be much worse because it'll actually be me and my friends graduating and going off to college.

Things just aren't going to be the same anymore.

Books read: 9.5
Disneyland trips: 6
Current song: Uh, none, but Forever Young has been stuck in my head.

I hate the phrase, "There's other fish in the sea".

It's just like saying, "There's other people in the world", so why don't you say that instead?  And it's not like it's a very helpful expression.

I don't care if there are other fish in the sea.  They're all different.  Let's say I want an angel fish.  If I want an angel fish, I want an angel fish.  But if I can't have the angel fish for whatever reason, I don't want to have to settle for a clown fish, or a flying fish, or a trout, or an angler fish.  The fishes could have some similarities and qualities that they share, but it wouldn't be the same.  And that other fish wouldn't make you feel the same as the angel fish.  Any other fish would be too different and it just wouldn't be the same.  I don't want another fish.

Books Read: 9.5
Disneyland Trips: 6
Current Song: Your Ex-Lover is Dead - Stars

This is a post about The Hunger Games.

Because, well, I love The Hunger Games.  Just FYI, there will probably be more HG posts in the future, but for now I just have this one.  I was just on Tumblr, and I came across a post that says, "If Panem was real, by location, I'd live in District 12," then it had that GIF of Spongebob jellyfishing.

My first point is, why would you be happy about living in District 12?  I mean, sure, that's where the protagonist is from, but that place sucks.  They're in poverty.  They never win the Hunger Games, with the exception of Haymitch, then Katniss and Peeta in the very last (successful) Games.  Yes, it is better than living in District 11 or something, where the security is very strict, but still.  I'd rather live in probably one of the first five or so districts, where the citizens aren't in poverty, and people volunteer to compete in the Hunger Games.  If you don't want to, there's a good chance you won't have to, even if you're chosen.  People can choose to become some of the careers, with a small chance of surviving, but it's their choice.  You're not forced into it.  I'd probably choose to live in District 4, because I like the ocean.

Second, after reading that, I decided to google a map of Panem.  After reading the books, I had an idea in my mind of where each district (or, at least, ones with adequate information to estimate the location) and the Capitol were located.  Looking at the map, I realized people don't have the same ideas!  In my brain, Panem was kind of opposite than most of the maps I found.

This map, for example.  The ones I wanted to use, were rather small so you couldn't see very well where all the Districts were, but this one will do.  As you can see, the first districts and the Capitol are on the West Coast, while 11, 12, and 13 are on the East Coast.  I imagined it the other way around, for a few reasons.

Now, keep this in mind, when I came up with my own (incomplete) map of Panem, I didn't imagine it with some places in the United States underwater.  It was just... North America.  Anyway, I imagined the Capitol on the East coast for two reasons.  One: the current capital of the United States, Washington D. C., is  on the East coast; two: when Katniss and Peeta were on the train on their way to the Capitol, it said that they were going through the region Appalachia when they were almost to the Capitol.  It might just be me, but I assumed  that Suzanne Collins got the name for this region from the Appalachian Mountains, which are in the East.  You see that mountain range going through Districts 12 and 13?  Yeah, that's them.  How could they have been on the train on their way to the Capitol and Appalachia, when they're right next to it?  That's what I thought.

Now, because the Capitol is on the East coast (in my mind, at least), then most of the first districts would be there too.  I also specifically imagined District 4 would be in Florida, because, you know, beaches and stuff.  If those districts are located there, then Districts 11, 12, and 13, would be on the West coast.  Let me start with District 11.

District 11 is where they grow a lot of the fruit for Panem, so it would have to be somewhere where fruit can be grown.  That is why I imagined it in California.  Maybe not now, but there used to be orange groves all over the place in California.  That's where Orange County got its name.  I do know that they also grow strawberries here, and let's not forget the vineyards of Northern California.  Therefore, it would make sense for District 11 to be located somewhere in California.

Now, District 12.  Honestly, I don't know all that much about coal or mines or anything, but this needed to go along with the rest of my map.  I imagined District 12 in Oregon or Washington state somewhere.  I mean, it gets cold enough in those places as it does in 12 in the books.  However, I don't know if there ever were or still are coal mines there, so that might throw off my entire theory.

After placing those districts, I was left with 13, which we know is far out of the way.  I imagined District 13 to be somewhere around the Western side of Canada (because Panem is North America, and not just the United States).  Now, I don't know much about Canadian geography, because I'm not from there, but it would make sense for District 13 to be located there.  Don't you think?

This ended up being much longer than I had originally planned.  If you read this entire thing, please let me know what you think of my theory (and provide evidence!) because I'd like to know if I'm completely wrong. If you have not read The Hunger Games, I highly recommend it.  They are amazing books.

Goodbye April

This month of BEDA has been a great experience for me!  I will definitely be doing this again next year.

There are only a few more hours are left in April, and I am going to miss this month.  There were so many great things going on, from DTASC to spring break, both of which ended with the month.  I start school this week, and DTASC was today.  I still have a bit of homework to finish, and a Spanish project to do, but I don't want to think about that right now, because I'm still living in earlier today.

Wow.  DTASC was just incredible.  I enjoyed this one so much more than the fall competition.  Possibly because there were more of my friends doing it this time?  Though I quite liked the smaller group we had last time, too.  All of the categories that my school was competing in made it to semi-finals, so that was fantastic.  Then, there were three groups who made it into finals- one in each division.  The A division large group comedy made it to finals, and they got honorable mention.  B division Shakespeare CSI made it to finals, and they got 5th place!  And my group in C division, large group drama, made it to finals, and we got 6th place!  Technically 6th place doesn't get a trophy, so we just got an honorable mention plaque, but we were all still so happy!  We got semi-finalist ribbons, which were green, and finalist ribbons, which were yellow.

Funny story (well, at least I think it's funny)- when they were announcing who made it to finals, my group was one of the last ones that was announced.  I think all that was left was large group drama and large group comedy.  They didn't say the title of the category, they just said it was category 7, and I thought 7 was large group comedy.  So when I saw our school code up on the sign, I cheered and tried looking for someone in that group.  But then people started shouting my name and Lisa said, "Aimee! We made it to finals!"  Then I started freaking out because I did not expect that at all.  And we hugged and rejoiced.  It was amazing.

Besides that, and Mr. B. making a group of 2500 drama geeks lose the game (by the way, you just lost), my day was pretty normal and fun- hanging out with friends, eating nutella, etc.  Overall, it was just an amazing day and I'm glad I got to go to DTASC again and share the day with my amazing friends.

Anyway, I'm really tired and I have to be up early to work on the Spanish project I mentioned earlier, so I'll probably go to bed soon.  I hope you all had a wonderful April, and I will see you soon.

This post is dedicated to Michael Scott.

I don't know how many of my followers watch the tv show, The Office, but it is one of my favorite shows and has surprisingly been a big part of my life.  I actually think it was my first "favorite tv show".  I mean, before The Office, there were shows that I liked, but none that were necessarily my favorite.  And no, I wasn't watching it from the beginning- I started at the beginning of season 3- but ever since the episode "Traveling Salesman", I've been a dedicated viewer every week.  I was about twelve at the moment, and didn't get all the jokes, but the ones I did I loved.  And, as everyone should know, even if you don't watch The Office, Michael Scott is the center of the Office universe.

Despite his annoying quirks and lack of self control sometimes, he makes The Office what it is.  He's the character that everyone loves to hate and hates to love.  Sometimes you want to stab him, like in "Stress Relief", when Stanley has a heart attack and he's doing CPR badly, and sometimes you can't help but feel sorry for him, like in "Bring Your Daughter to Work Day", when he shows the kids the video of when he was on tv talking about his dream.  He says that he wants to get married and start a family, but he still hasn't done that, and you just want to give him a great big hug.

Last night, was Michael Scott's last episode of The Office.  When I first heard that this was Steve Carrell's last season, I was heartbroken.  I was wondering how they would get rid of the character, because he's always been so dedicated to Dunder Mifflin.  And now, I have to admit, that they couldn't have gotten rid of him in a better way.  Ever since the end of season 4, I thought Michael and Holly were perfect together (though they didn't actually start dating until season 5), and I knew that she would be the one he would end up with.  Then, when Michael proposed to Holly, and he told everyone that they were moving to Colorado, that was perfect- the proposal, their reactions, everything.  But him moving to Colorado with Holly is the perfect way for him to go, because he loves her.  Even in that time she was gone in the Nashua branch, he never got over her.  He never gave up on her.  And now, they're getting married.

One thing I'd like to point out in last night's episode is when Michael is having second thoughts about moving to Colorado.  He doesn't want to leave, and calls Holly to tell her this.  Holly hears that he is panicked and asks him what's wrong, and Michael replies with, "No, nothing's wrong.  I just needed to hear your voice."  That was my second favorite part of last night's episode, because it shows that he knows what he wants, and he cares about Holly more than anything else.

Now you might be curious as to what my favorite part is.  I liked when Pam was his last goodbye.  I thought it showed kind of a parallel with the pilot episode.  Michael fake fired Pam and made her cry, and she was mad at him.  And then, in this last episode, she cared about him enough to drive to the airport and buy a ticket (because that's how you have to get through security) to say goodbye to him.  Then she sat and watched as his plane flew away.  And I loved how she says, "He sounded hopeful.  He kept saying how he couldn't wait to get home to Holly."  He couldn't wait to get home to Holly.  Holly is his home.  And Pam is happy for him.

I am excited that The Office is going to be having another season, I really am, but it's not going to be the same without Michael Scott.  The conference room meetings won't be the same without him.  He won't be making people feel uncomfortable daily.  No more of his "that's what she said" jokes at the worst times.  He will be missed by the office workers, and by the viewers.

And yes, I did tear up a little while writing this.

Disneyland Trips: 5
Books Read: 8.5

P. S.  Tomorrow is the last day of BEDA!  However, don't expect my post until late at night because I will be at DTASC all day.

I got to see people today!

DTASC is in two days and we all met today to practice.  I learned that my sister gets mad when I tell her it ends at 2 and we end up finishing at 2:15, and that I need to act even sexier. Fantastic.

But a good part of today was being able to see all my friends that I haven't seen in nearly two weeks.  And I also got to see, well, someone.  Someone that I ended up staring at most of the time we were in the same room.  I don't know why, but I really like that moment when you're staring at someone- well, not just staring absentmindedly, but actually looking at them- and then they look at you.  There's the time it takes for you to realize that they're looking at you, then that split second where your eyes meet, then the quick, trying-to-be-subtle turn of the head that's probably not as subtle as you hoped.  Then looking back at them a few seconds later.

Anyway, here's a recap of boring things you probably don't care about, so feel free to skip this part: I only have three full days left of spring break before school starts again, and I haven't started my homework.  I took my history book out of my backpack, but that's about it.  Also, that Spanish project I was supposed to work on over a week ago is apparently due the day we get back to school, so we can't work on anything after school like we had planned.  The only day we would be able to do it is Sunday, and I don't even think one girl would be able to work on it that day.  Gah, I fucking hate group projects.

Two more days of BEDA.  I'm sorry for spewing out random crap that people don't care about, but I want to finish this.

I am so out of shape

Today, I came up with a list of things to do.  It was a rather short list, but some of the things on it, I knew would take a while.  That list consisted of jogging, finishing my book, and finishing my homework.  So far, I have only done one of those things.  (Then again, I've only been awake since 12, so give me some credit!)

I went on a jog earlier!  Last summer, I took aerobics for summer school.  It was a lot of fun and I was in such great shape!  Then, when that stopped, I wasn't in very good shape anymore.  So today, I decided to jog!  I had planned on jogging around the block a few times, maybe two or three.  But when I started jogging, I was wiped out very quickly and only made it around once.  Then I practically crawled inside, turned on the fan, and drowned myself while drinking water.  I blame the heat.

So I'm going to try to jog every day, and try to build up my stamina so I will soon be able to jog around the block two or three times!  Hopefully I'll be able to encourage myself to do so.

I still need to do my homework because I'm going to be busy every single day of break until we go back to school, now.  So here's when my procrastination starts to kick in.  Then again, I didn't do my homework last week, so I guess it's always been here...

Disneyland trips: 5
Books read: 8.5
Current song: Journey to the Past from Anastasia