A brief-ish update

Hi. Sorry if my last post sounded weird; I was feeling very unusual when I wrote it.

I'm still stressing about my relatives and their behaviour, but I reserved a book on film-making from the library so that should keep me busy. I also have The Manga Guide to Molecular Biology out of the library, which is cool. I'm only a few pages in and haven't really gotten into the basics of the subject yet, but I think I'm gonna love it. It's making me want to dig out my anatomy book again - actually, when I flipped through the Manga Guide the other day, I saw an illustration of a cell and actually recognized some parts of it from my anatomy colouring book. I don't remember what they were exactly, but the names and shapes looked familiar. It was kinda cool.

I can't seem to get into a novel I have out of the library. It seems really interesting, but my brain just won't relax enough to let me read. I'm thinking of starting another Tamora Pierce book, because I used to zip right through most of her books. I have Terrier, which I tried starting twice but couldn't get into; and Realms of the Gods, which my parents bought for me at Indigo but I never got around to starting it. I might start Realms because it's a Daine book, and I just love Daine's personality.

I'm thinking of writing a blog post of books I recommend, because I've read some books that are really awesome. And I like writing reviews of books.

Oh yeah, and I sliced my fingernail - I was trying to snap a thread, and it sliced my left pinky fingernail. It was a clean break, though, so my mom was able to super-glue it back together and cover it with a band-aid.

I watched The Men Who Stare At Goats today. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, actually. I laughed quite a bit. And I got to hear one of my favourite songs - 'Itchycoo Park' by the Small Faces - in it.

A somewhat productive Thursday

So, I didn't go to youth group last night, because chances are I would have bitched Stephen out for leaving me and Stone stranded last week.

Today's been good. I did some biology - another skull page. But this one's the last of the skulls - next I get to learn about the ribcage and such. I just wish Human 3D would stay functioning - I loved the animations. Mom gave me this biology e-book CD-ROM that used to be Katie's, but I haven't tried running it yet, because the system requirements say Windows 95, so... I'm a little scared :p I'm sure it'll run okay, but still, I want to be careful.

I was going to do memoir writing, but I never got around to it. Maybe tomorrow. I worked on one story a little, but not much. I also read a little bit of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

No math today, but I might start Key to Geometry soon.

This afternoon, before Coronation Street came on, I watched Milk and cast on for my Herbology assignment. Milk was fantastic. Harvey Milk, to me, seemed to me like a Caucasian Martin Luther King Jr. - a powerful speaker. It is a shame, a real shame, that his life was cut short.

The Herbology assignment didn't go too well - my work was too loose, so I ripped it out, and I'm going to start again using a smaller circular needle.

Right now, my wrists are aching, so I should probably give myself a break from knitting and excessive typing tomorrow. Maybe I'll ask Mom to help me block some stuff, including the blanket square. And then maybe I'll borrow her camera and take a photo of the blanket square so that I'll earn points for my house.

I was thinking today that I should not only start geometry, but also physics. I have a physics book, but I'm concerned about what math I'll need for physics. Maybe I'll wait until I've done some geometry, or maybe I'll just go ahead and work through the physics book.

I was supposed to exercise today. Maybe tonight, before bed. I'll probably do some shadow-boxing (basically, shadow-boxing is fighting an imaginary opponent), and some exercises like push-ups, sit-ups, squats, etc.

I might also start a simple roll-brim hat, maybe adapting the pattern from Hip to Knit so that it's in the round instead of knit flat and seamed.

March Break in Review

Let's look at that list again, shall we?

1. Vacuum my room.
2. Clean off my table.
3. Go on the local college's website and apply for a catalogue.
4. Go on Amnesty International's website to see if there are any letter-writing campaigns, or something similar, that don't require a membership fee or anything. Also, see how much a membership would cost. (went to their site, but only briefly.)
5. Do a lot of laundry - which I've already started doing.
6. E-mail Stephen to suggest a summer youth service.
7. Dust my room.
8. Get Dad to help me reinstall Human 3D

Yup, Dad finally helped me reinstall my biology program! Yay!

I never got 'round to vacuuming and dusting and cleaning off my table. Maybe next weekend.

I'm staying home from church because a) I don't feel like getting dressed, and b) I don't feel very church-y.

Sick :(

Yup, I'm sick again. My nose got stuffed up yesteday, so I took some Nyquil before bed. Boy, did that help me sleep. I woke up with a sore throat, so I took a throat lozenge that is NOT a numbing one! Yay! I hate numbing throat lozenges. They make my throat feel like it's sticking together - if anything, they probably make my throat feel worse. But the one I took is non-numbing, kinda like Halls Fruit Breezers.

My throat's better now, but I'm still stuffed up, and my right nostril runs sometimes, and I sometimes sneeze. I generally feel like crap.

Plus, I have an appointment at the dentist's to pick up and try on my new flipper. Whee.

So we wound up NOT going to the silent auction, and I didn't go bowling with the youth group because the alley that they were bowling at was too far away. Damn. So my weekend was spent at home. I hate having nothing to do on weekends.

And now it's Monday. I have a cold, I still have to get my dad to help me clean off the shortcuts and crap for Human 3D so that I can reinstall it...

But, on the upside, the library added the new items to the catalogue last night, including Milk. So I reserved that and a bunch of other things. Not many CDs that I fancied, though, and only one knitting book I felt like reserving, but there were a couple of National Geographic DVDs that I reserved. I put Dante's The Divine Comedy on my list, but I didn't reserve it. I wonder how it is.

Oh, and the library has one copy of the first Return to Labyrinth graphic novel! Yay!

I slept in again.

That's right. I slept in once more. But this time, I did a bit of biology (ball-and-socket joints FTW!!!) and watched an episode of Let's Learn Japanese. I had to skip an episode, because one episode was badly synched - the vocal track was ahead of the video track. Weird.

I feel bad because I never did any algebra. Maybe I'll do some later. I might also switch books for English, because I don't think I want to read I Am Rembrandt's Daughter at the moment - I still haven't finished the first chapter - or is it a prologue? Oh, I don't know. Anyways, my point is that I've only read about two or three pages. Maybe I'll try finishing Howl's Moving Castle, or maybe I'll start Terry Pratchet's first book - I loved watching Hogfather, so I think I'll like his books. I know Holly loves his books, and we have very similar taste in literature.

Speaking of Holly, I never did hang out with her before Christmas - I never got around to asking her about it, because we had family coming to visit, and I forgot to talk to Holly about going to Tim Horton's for a coffee/tea or something. Damn. Maybe we can go shopping over the summer.

So anyways. I have to find a world history book to use instead of relying on my world history program on the DVD-ROM (we were going to get a world history book at Indigo, but mom didn't think it was good enough).

I assume that there's a youth group meeting tonight, as I haven't gotten an e-mail saying that it's cancelled. Should be interesting.

Oh yeah. The knitting meet-up thing at Second Cup was pretty cool. They seem like a cool bunch of folks. The first knitter that arrived was someone who does loom knitting, and two folks were sewing. It turns out that I didn't look like a complete noob with my garter stitch triangle, so that's pretty awesome.

MORE ANGER

So Mom is under the impression that I am not behind in schoolwork at all, that I'm doing the right work for my grade level. Never mind the fact that I only just started algebra this time last year, and I'm supposed to be in 'grade twelve' this year. By American standards, I think I'm doing algebra II. My mom and I had a fight about it. I'm telling her that I should have started algebra when I was 13, and she said that I didn't want to do algebra then. I told her that she had me doing fractions, and she told me that I had to go through the fractions to understand the algebra!!!

THEN HOW COME MY BROTHER UNDERSTOOD ALGEBRA WITHOUT GOING THROUGH ALL FOUR FRACTIONS BOOKS?!

...phew.

So Dad called me upstairs to tell me not to fight with Mom. I told him that she won't get it in her head that I'm behind, and he told me that I'm not behind.

I started biology-ish stuff not too long ago. I probably should have started biology at around grade ten, maybe grade nine. I have very little knowledge of geometry, because Mom had me doing fractions. I'm still lacking in general science knowledge. I have a chemistry book and a physics book, though, so science will be FUN this year.

I'm not worried about English. Even though everyone else has it in their heads that you MUST read Lord of the Flies in high school. Do our lives really depend on that book? I'd rather not read a book as harsh-sounding as Lord of the Flies. And Shakespeare? I like the Reduced Shakespeare Company for that. Reading the childrens' Shakespeare books by Lois Burdett help, too, if you want to skip most of the 'thys' and 'thous'. In fact, I think my sister borrowed the childrens' Macbeth when she was in high school.

The library will be my friend this year.

I'm honestly wondering who's in charge of my education here.