A Quick Update

Phew! It's been a very busy two weeks. Hence the lack of updates. The simple reason is that my teachers have decided to pile everything onto their poor students. Especially my government teacher Dr. Budryte. She gave us a research paper to before last Monday and then a letter to my state representative to do last Friday. The research paper took time, and after much procrastination, I finally managed to get it done. I'm happy with it and hope I get a good grade on it. I could have started work on my letter last Tuesday, but I spent the entire day studying for my history test (which, despite feeling confident about it, I didn't do as well as I thought I did). On Wednesday, I couldn't start because Dr. Budryte didn't send me a link with possible topics until late, so I started it on Thursday and finished it on Friday afternoon. Talk about being busy. And now, she is even less merciful because we still have a weekly assignment due and I have an upcoming group project after spring break. My other classes haven't been as busy, though science has been because I have reading assignments before every class and because I have to do stuff before labs. Dr. Purcell is an ok teacher (how many teachers blast music in the lab or play Fine Young Cannibals or Prince before class?), but he's taking a long time to go over things. It feels like we're lightly skimming things, and I feel, sadly, that I've learned more from Dr. La's class than his. Speaking of which, my brief break from Dr. La is about over. Next Friday, I have a test, and then after spring break I'm stuck with him for another month. I'm praying that he won't have time to talk about ET and UFOs, which he defines as an interesting topic; or maybe I might just have to skip school that day for the first time. I've decided on a science project topic, though I might change it. It'll be hard to discuss ancient astronomy and ancient astronomers without dealing with the theories of ancient ET visitations. So, that has been my week at school.


Mandy had her birthday party two weekends ago at Grandpa Mike's house. She invited a lot of her friends as well as the older cousins, and then Noah and Gabe brought their friends Ian and Bobby. We arrived at the house around 5:30, and Uncle Josh didn't bring the guys and Sunny until about an hour later. Gabe played a joke on Mandy and texted her, saying that he had pinkeye and couldn't come. He did show up, and everyone laughed at the joke. We enjoyed pizza and Grandpa's famous non-alcoholic pina colada, and then everyone went downstairs to play with the air hockey, table tennis, Playstation, and Wii. Shortly afterwards, we were called back upstairs so Mandy could open her presents. The most memorable one was Cliff's gift to her. It took thirty minutes to open, and it was sweet in a sense. Cliff's gift was a large box with two smaller boxes inside. One box had contents of "what you need in this life" like skills (pencils), food (peppermints and crackers), and random stuff like that. Cliff also wrote little messages on the boxes and warned her to open the right box first or she would face the consequences. Mandy opened the second box and discovered a coffee can inside (from what I heard, that coffee can smelled pretty bad) with a smaller box. Mandy kept getting smaller and smaller boxes and things wrapped in paper, and she quickly learned to hate tape. Finally, after twenty minutes, Mandy opened up a piece of paper at the bottom of the chain. It was a treasure map that led to her birthday present... which was in Cliff's jacket pocket. It was a knife (Mandy has always wanted one) and a necklace and earring set. Mandy loves the necklace and earrings, as she has been wearing them frequently. After the gifts, we played paper telephone downstairs and then ate the delicious birthday cake upstairs (Costco made a beautiful and tasty cake that didn't taste all sugary sweet like most other grocery store cakes do). After dessert, everyone went downstairs to play Guitar Hero on the Playstation. About ten thirty or so, all the boys and a few girls (including myself, Mom, Dad, and Seth) left to let the girls have their sleepover downstairs. Some of the boys came over to our house and spent the night because it was too far for them to drive, and they enjoyed watching "13th Warrior" with us. The next day, we were fairly busy. I spent that time finally finishing a first draft of my government project while Seth went paintballing for a friend's birthday party. All in all, a fun yet busy weekend.

Speaking of weekends, yesterday we did something fun yet arduous. Mandy still had birthday money and wanted to buy herself some boots, so we girls decided to go to the outlet at Dawsonville. We took Megan T. with us, but Bethany G. wasn't able to go. Mom and I first cleaned the church until 1:30 before we picked up Megan. It was about 4 before we finally got to the outlet, mostly due to the fact we hit every single red light on the way there and had to stop for gas and lunch as well. We spent about an hour there looking around. Mandy bought herself some boots and some black shoes (that cost her $5 and make her look as tall as Dad). I went to Dressbarn, looking for a summer dress or something to wear to the Celtic Woman concert later this month, but had no luck. I ended up buying myself three shirts, some pretty earrings, and a headband at a store called Bass, where Mandy bought her boots. At 5:15 or so, we began driving back to Buford so we could go to Costco and take Megan home. The mall area was an absolute zoo and took up a lot of valuable time. Mom, Mandy, and I didn't get home until 7:30 or so after a very long day.

Today was interesting, to say the least. We went to church this morning, and it was cold and wet because it was rainy on Saturday. When church was over, we looked out the window and saw it was snowing. Not the little flurries, mind you, but huge snowflakes about the size of a fingernail. We enjoyed the covered dish lunch that we have every first Sunday of the month, then I grabbed my camera (which providentially was in my purse at the time) and went outside to see the sights. The younger boys had already grabbed their coats and were throwing small snowballs at each other, and some of the girls were joining them. Because I was wearing open-toe shoes that are more meant for summer than winter, I alternated between inside and outside. I got hit with a snowball a few times, but I caught mostly small video clips and a few pictures. By the time we left, a lot of the boys were red-faced and several were sopping wet. When we got home, Mandy and I donned warmer clothing and went outside to take pictures of the yard. After a while, we got cold and went inside. By 5:30, the snow had stopped and the wind was beginning to pick up. There is still some snow on the ground, but it is turning to ice. Seth and Mandy don't have school tomorrow, and I'm not sure if GGC is closed, but I'm hoping it will be and so is Mom.

One final thing: we have a new hamster. Albiet, it was unexpected. A girl from church had baby hamsters and was giving them away, and Mom had been wanting to get a hamster for the science classroom, so she got one. However, the hamster escaped due to the cage not being closed properly, so we brought it home for the night and returned it to school the next day. On Friday, a Geneva student (who shall be unnamed here) decided to scare the poor hamster and yell at it, making it squeak loudly. After that, Mom decided that she would not let the hamster be traumatized, so now it is at home with us. We put it on the dining room table during the day when we are at home, but at night and when we are gone, we put the cage in the bathtub and close the door to keep the inquisitive cats from trying to get into the cage. Her name was something in Latin that means "foolishness" (because she escaped on the first day), though I'm not sure if it will stick. She seems to be settling in fairly well at home, and we've discovered that she loves oats and lettuce as treats. We're thinking of getting a glass cage instead of the plastic one, but I'm not sure if we're getting it or not.

And I have another update on the Clannad vs. Enya post. I read an interview with Clannad member Ciaran Brennan that was eye-opening, though I don't know how true it is. Ciaran claims that Enya's current producer Nicky Ryan was a jerk and didn't like Clannad's singer Maire (even insulting her after a successful concert one night and claiming she was completely off-key), which probably led to Clannad looking for a new producer. As regards to this family feud between the two bands, the interview also mentioned a recent conversation between Ciaran and Nicky where Nicky said he wouldn't let Ciaran record with his own sister Enya in her 15-million dollar studio. If this is true, then it explains why Enya was brought into Clannad in the first place: possibly to push Maire out and be replaced with Eithne/Enya (which oddly enough sounds like another Irish band I enjoy), possibly leading to Clannad becoming an 80's hair band, as Enya claimed Ryan wanted to do with the band. As I said, I don't know if Ciaran was lying, but from the pieces I read from interviews mostly on the Enya/Nicky Ryan side indicate that there is certainly something nasty underlying this whole feud. I do hope that this feud gets settled someday because it's almost 30 years old and also because it'd be nice for Clannad and Enya to join forces once again.

Mandy Turns 15!

Last week I'm afraid I neglected to talk about Mandy turning 15 as my mind was full of comparing Clannad and Enya. However, I'll do Mims some justice and talk about her birthday and the events surrounding it.

A few days before her birthday, Mandy began carefully watching the mailbox and looking for birthday cards. Regarding presents, Mom and Dad have promised to buy her a new cellphone, which she has been wanting for a while, and they also gave her the computer game "Fitness Dash," which we have been playing for the past week, and a t-shirt that says "I saved Latin. What did you ever do?" or something like that (sadly the shirt arrived late i.e. yesterday the 12th). Seth's gift was taking her shopping at Rue 21 (which we did last Monday and which I will detail later). So, Mandy received most of her gifts on Friday afternoon. It is a tradition every birthday for that person to choose a restaurant to eat at, and Mandy chose Atlanta Bread Company. Seth drove us there, and now we come to another event. Seth has not driven much in rush hour traffic on Lawrenceville- Suwanee (which is horrible between 3:00 and 7:00), so he was nervous. We were driving down the road when Mom suddenly pointed out a place he could turn in to get to the restaurant. Seth was going a bit fast and made a sharp turn, which caused him to run over the curb. As soon as he had cleared the concrete, we could tell that something had happened. It felt as if a tire or two had been popped, so Seth pulled into the nearest parking spot. We got out and found that indeed our left front tire had been popped and that something else had changed because now whenever we open the driver's door it makes a creaking noise it didn't make before. Anyway, we decided not to think about the car and enjoy dinner. We walked to the other end of the parking lot to meet Dad, informed him of the accident, and then went inside to order our food. Mom and Dad ordered soup, but we kids ordered sandwiches. We laughed and talked for about an hour. Afterwards, we went to look over the van. Dad pulled it into another parking spot, and then we piled into Dad's car (we're not kids anymore, and now we have to squeeze to get into the back seat). We went to Blockbuster, as Dad wanted to find "Sixteen Candles," but we couldn't find the movie and couldn't decide on what we wanted to see. We left the store without a movie and went home to watch something there.

On Saturday, Dad, Seth, and Mandy went to get the van's tire fixed, so Mom and I stayed home until the van was ready. Then we went to clean up the church. Saturday was busy, as I was busy trying to get all my homework done and study for a science test on Monday. Thankfully, I did finish it all.

On Monday, after much pleading from Mandy, Seth finally took her shopping after school. Rue 21 had some cool outfits, but it took Mandy a while to figure out what she wanted. I tried on a cute shirt there, but it was too small (and it was a large size), which made me wonder how Mandy can buy stuff from there, but I'll leave that to her. Mandy finally decided on some pants and three t-shirts that were on sale. One of her shirts has a rock, a sheet of paper, some scissors, and says something about picking one of them. Another one has a lemon sitting next to a glass of lemonade and saying "this is so wrong." The last one has a glass of milk and a cookie on it and says something about friends being together. While Seth was paying, Mandy spotted some cute socks and added them to the gift. She is very happy with her new clothes, including the Latin shirt. It is funny that while we shopped, Seth stood there, looking around nervously and avoiding the underwear section as much as he could. Poor Seth. He hates shopping, but he survived it.

And that is Mandy's 15th birthday. Oh, I nearly forgot to mention her cake. Mom made it on Thursday and took it to school on Mandy's birthday. A few pieces were saved for me and Dad. It was a good cake, made up of normal batter, frosting, and then strawberries. I wish there was more of the cake, but the students at Geneva can be thanked for that :) I've currently got another idea for a music topic, but I'm thinking of waiting until late March to write it until I see the show, which will be helpful in writing it. Anyway, I need to get off and get back to studying for my psychology test that I'm taking tomorrow during the day.

Clannad vs. Enya

Ok, time for something a bit more cheery. My last post was merely to vent my frustrations at college, but this week has so far been better. I got my grades for two tests (history was 94 and government was 97 in a class average of 70), and I'm happy with both of them. Yesterday I saw my Spanish professor Dr. McGlone in the hall, and he said he missed me in his class and that I should continue doing Spanish. It made me feel somewhat guilty for not being his class, as I would love to be in it, but his only Spanish 3 class meets during my required government class. Mom suggested yesterday that while I go to Christ College next fall that I also be enrolled at GGC for Spanish 3 and 4, but we've not decided anything about that yet. I'm also excited because this week I'm going to the Spanish Film Festival. They were showing two movies, but I settled on "Pan's Labyrinth" because it's a movie my family has been interested in seeing. I'm looking forward to seeing it, plus it will get a government project out of my way. On the other side, this morning would have been good except for the fact the sink swallowed one of my favorite earrings, one of the pair that Grandma Linda gave me for Christmas and the pair that had replaced another pair from Arizona that had fallen down the same said sink. However, there's nothing I could do to get it out because it was too far down and Mandy turned the water, pushing it out of sight. Bummer. I think the sink makes me drop the earrings so that it can eat them. Dad says I should stop putting on earrings on front of that mirror, but it's really the only place I can do it and we can't put the stopper in the mirror because it gets clogged up with my hair and Mandy's hair.

Anyway, I'd like to try something different blog post-wise. I mostly give a quick, boring rundown on life around here, but I've been thinking about actually giving a personal musical opinion, hence the title of this post. I mean no offense to either Clannad or Enya in this post, as I am merely comparing them by what I've heard from both and from reviews for both.

I've mentioned Clannad on this blog a few times because I did a paper on them for my music appreciation class last semester. Clannad is similar to Enya in that they both have a similar ethereal sound and similar voices (well, the two female singers are sisters so that makes sense), but that is where the similarity ends. Clannad started out as a traditional Irish band playing folk Irish songs in Gaelic and giving them a more modern makeover, and Nicky Ryan worked with them between 1973 and 1981. However, Nicky Ryan (this is according to an interview with Enya that I read about) wanted to turn Clannad into an 80's pop band but needed to push them in that direction. In 1978, he invited little sister Eithne Brennan to join Clannad as a keyboardist and for backup vocals. Around 1981, just after releasing another album, Clannad decided to get a new producer, and Nicky asked if he could take Eithne with him when he left. Eithne left with him to go solo as Enya. Anyway, so Clannad shot to fame in 1982 with their song "Theme from Harry's Game," which has a very ethereal Enya-like sound except it has authentic voices. They also did work on a soundtrack for a BBC show called "Robin of Sherwood" which is heard on their album "Legend" (which is a very fine album with a perfect mixture of folk music and a more ethereal, mystic sound and a bit of 80's sound). For the rest of the 80's, Clannad remained big mostly in Europe and not much in the US, though they did make an opening there in the early 90's with their "Harry's Game" song. Then they moved away towards 80's pop and began using more electronic instruments and a bit more darker sound. Their album "Lore" is excellent, and "Landmarks" is pretty good too though not as much as "Lore." Enya sprang to fame in 1988, after Clannad had already released an environmental pop album for American consumption, and she grew bigger than they did. I believe that Enya's rise to fame is partially responsible for Clannad's curtained fame though in my opinion she is not as good as they are.

I say Enya is not as good for one reason: she has little to no variety. Clannad, with a career of thirty years, developed from a rustic traditional band to an 80's pop band to a New Age band. This gave them ample opportunity to experiment and try new things, even sometimes giving traditional songs a modern treatment.Their album "Macalla" is a good example of this. You have a dark/malencholy duet with Bono, the Enya-esque "Caislean Oir", lively pop song "Closer to Your Heart", and then the sad "Northern Skyline." Then as Clannad evolves in the 90's you get the soft pop CD "Banba" and then move to more heavier stuff on "Lore." All in all, Clannad has spanned so many genras of music and has done so well in each one. Enya, on the other hand, has not done the same. I did some research on amazon, Rolling Stones, and another music review magazine and watched Enya's reviews. "Watermark" and "Shepherd Moons" got good reviews, however "Memory of Trees" began going down. "Day without Rain" and "Amarantine" were also not good, according to the critics. It is also interesting, reading the comments of fans on amazon who like her recent CDs but seem to agree on this point "can't she try something new? Everything is beginning to sound the same." I have to agree on this point because so many of Enya's songs sound the same, and if she tries stepping out to something relatively new (like her CD "The Celts", where it sounds like fake traditional Celtic music and doesn't fit in with the documentary the music was for) it doesn't work well with her synthesizer and keyboard. I'm in a current stage where I enjoy listening to some select songs of hers, but listening to her earlier stuff and comparing it with her more current stuff, it almost seems that something happened, like the music suddenly began sounding watered down and not of good quality of her early CDs. I'm not sure how to explain it, but I never felt the same way about Clannad; the more time Clannad spent in the music industry, the better the music became. Maybe I feel that way because Enya has a specific song position where everything sounds similar and Clannad's songs are all so different and unique, but I don't know. Part of the problem may be is that Enya has no band, as 99% of the time she plays all the instruments and does everything herself, while Clannad is made up of four central musicians and then a background band like a drummer and an occasional saxophone player. Because Clannad uses all these different instruments, they can afford to experiment with new genras and styles, but Enya can't because she uses the one same instrument she's used for just over twenty years. Another reason I think Clannad is better is because they can actually perform live while Enya lip-synchs. Despite their Enya-esque sound, Clannad can perform it live with acoustic instruments and still sound wonderful (there is a video on youtube on a recent concert of theirs where they play a medley of songs from "Legend" and it sounds excellent), which is one reason I'm looking forward to their new acoustic album that's coming out hopefully within a year. However, I've watched two "live" videos of Enya performing on TV shows, but both versions, filmed about fifteen years apart, are lip-synched and sound exactly like the studio recording. A pet peeve of mine is that if an artist can't perform without lip-synching then they must have something wrong with their real voice and are trying to hide it.

Anyway, those are just my thoughts on comparing Clannad and Enya. I still enjoy listening to both of them, though I prefer Clannad's variety and better, "heavier" sound over Enya's lighter sound. I'm not trying to bash Enya's music, but I do wish she'd try something new with other real instruments besides the piano and the rare use of uillean pipes and not sticking to the synthesizer all the time. It'd be nice if Enya and Clannad worked aside the bitter family differences and came back together as one band again; I think they could produce something beautiful together like they did on their earlier traditional works with her, but that is just me. I don't know if I bored you to tears, but if I did, speak up because I don't want to post things that no one likes reading.

Frustrations

This may sound odd, especially for me, but I'm looking forward to this semester being over. Why? Well, let's put it this way: I am getting tired of my teachers acting like idiots and am also getting tired of taking these stupid required classes that sounded cool at first but aren't interesting. Plus, there are a few other reasons, but those are mostly personal rants against GGC though one is a bit more personal.

First, the idiotic teachers. I mentioned last week how much I'm enjoying the astronomy class. Last Wednesday, that ended. It began to go downhill when we did our weekly lab: scaling down the solar system. My team had trouble with the required math and when a classmate came over to help, one of the girls was looking at the paper and copying down some of the answers when Dr. La snatched it from her and said "that's cheating." Plus he was completely unclear about the assignment and what we would turn in, despite him claiming he had already told us. Then it got worse. I used to think that Dr. La was a Buddhist, which I had no problem with, but that quickly changed; I think he's a believer in that Star Wars religion. Why? Because he keeps claiming that Star Wars is real, George Lucas is an alien, and other related stuff. Keep in mind this is not a joke; I think he actually expects us to believe it too, though thankfully I don't think any of my classmates have bought into his weird ideas. It is so sad that I love astronomy but that this class is completely ruining it for me. The next class I'm not enjoying is government, mostly because I feel like I've taken it several times already (US history in 10th grade, government/economics in 12th grade, and US history I last semester), plus I get all my information mostly from Dad, who often sends me articles or things on the like. I'm not enjoying psychology either, mostly because the teacher seems nervous most of the time and because the class seems to be more about human anatomy and mathematics than psychology. And bringing a sheep's brain to class with it dripping and saying that Thursday we'll see sheep eyes is a bit stomach jumping; I'm not a biology student, so why must I see those things? That is the reason I refused to take biology in college: dissections. Yuck. Anyway, I must change the subject before my stomach gets too queasy. The only class I'm really enjoying right now is US History II, but sadly I only get it once a week. So just, the past week has been really rough dealing with these classes. Hence, I am ready for the semester to be over so I can Lord willing go to Christ College in the fall and get a good quality education, one that doesn't melt my brain or talk about the stupidest things. Hopefully it'll get better in the next few weeks. I'm hoping that my earth science teacher Dr. Purcell is good because I've only had him once; it'll partially help to make up for the environmental trash and Star Wars history I'm getting in astronomy.

So... that is venting my GGC class frustrations. I could vent about the high lunch prices and stealing my money by not giving me refunds when they make a mistake, but I won't go there. Besides, I've got to get studying. I've got a history test tonight and a government test tomorrow, and I want to do well on both of them.

Busy Busy Busy

I don't have much time, but I'll share a few interesting tidbits.


First, I've become totally fascinated. I used to love astronomy when I was younger, and that has sorta been replaced with ancient history. Lately, I've been enjoying my astronomy class, as it has awoken my former geekiness in astronomy. Yesterday, Dr. La mentioned something called the heliosphere, which has something to do either with the extent of the sun's gravity or something like that, and also Voyagers 1 and 2 having passed boundaries of part of said heliosphere. He didn't talk much about it, so I went on-line after class and did some research of my own. I'm fascinated with the whole thing, but then anything mysterious and unknown fascinates my geeky brain.

Second, I've been a bit social at school and with friends. A few weeks ago, GGC had a pool party to celebrate the indoor pool being opened. I must be frank, but the party completely stank. They brought in an aerobics teacher and had the twenty or so party guests get into the moderately warm water and do water aerobics. Some of the guests, including myself, stopped the aerobics at a certain point and sat on the edge. So, by the time the aerobics was done, I had little energy left for casual swimming. I left about thirty minutes before the party was over, as aerobics had taken up most of the two hour slot for the party, but I wasn't sad I left. I think the pool party was just a front to get people to do aerobics. Anyway, last Saturday, there was a better social event: Ben Greer's 18th birthday party. We arrived at his house around 4 PM and stayed until about 9 PM or so. We had a blast playing catch phrase, paper telephone, twister, and then the boys played some pranks on Mandy and Bethany during dinner, including dropping a bean or two on their heads or trying to throw stuff into their unprotected cups. All in all, it was a wonderful party. The party pictures are at the following link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=55315&l=d19ae&id=603748360

Third, it seems that there's either been sickness or pain in the family for the past few days. On Friday, Seth began having a dull pain right above his left eye. It went away on Friday night (while he was playing the Wii that a friend brought over while she spent the night with Mandy), but it returned full-force on Saturday. Mom and Dad thought it might have been a sinus infection, so they gave him an oil of oregano, and he perked up quickly. However, it returned to haunt him late Saturday evening at Ben's party. We were going to take him to the doctor yesterday, but he was feeling fine so we didn't. So far, we don't know what it is/was. Meanwhile, Mandy, probably due to running around on Friday and Saturday, caught a cold that has made her nose run like crazy and given her a little fever. She wanted to dry up her nose, so she took some Benadryl at school yesterday. Bad idea. Mandy was falling asleep during school, and she slept deeply in the car when Mom picked me up from school. She was doing all right this morning, but we'll have to see if she can fight it off with vitamins.

Well, that's all I can think of for now. I'm sure to remember something and post it eventually.

First Week of Classes

As of now, I can now say that I have been through one week of college and now know a little better how to judge my classes and what to expect. On Wednesday morning I learned that I did not have physical science lab that day and thus only had one class. I spent the morning and early afternoon at Building A until I went to Building B for my government class. Dr. Budryte is Lithuanian and seems nice and enthusiastic, but government/ politics has never really been my subject, so the class is only ok. On Thursday, I had another long day with only one class in the morning and none in the afternoon. Dr. Haynes in psychology was nice, but I'm still not sure what to think about the class itself yet. I spent the afternoon after lunch at the gym, and I felt good afterwards. On Friday morning, I arrived at Building A and spent ten minutes trying to find my classroom in the maze (no kidding, students have gotten lost looking for the bathroom). When I found it, I was amazed to find that classroom was absolutely huge. The science class hasn't changed much, as I have one of the same teachers and several of the same classmates. It was almost like I'd never left, to an extent. After school on Friday, Mom took me to Geneva and I hung out there for the rest of the day. So finished my "first" yet incomplete week of classes.

The second week has been very busy, as it is my first complete week of the new semester. I now can sort of tell which classes I like and which ones I'm not really interested in. On Tuesday, I was nervous when I went into my history class mostly because the last evening class I took (chemistry) I flunked and dropped out of. However, I met Dr. Mason and my fears were laid to rest. He is a nice guy and often made funny remarks that made the whole class laugh. The history class looks very in-depth, focusing not on dates but on why events happened and how they impacted future events, which is what I'm used to. I'm also looking forward to the newspaper project that's due at the end of the semester, as it'll require me to look up an old copy of the New York Times and talk about how different America was at the time. Too bad the class only meets once a week, but I so far I don't mind the length of the class. I'm also liking the science class, as right now we're talking about astronomy, a subject that I'm fairly knowledgable in. I also met my earth science teacher Dr. Purcell, and he's also nice and made the class fun. Government is an ok class, not a favorite, though I am proud to have gotten one of the highest scores in a baseline test that determined how much we knew about government and current politics. Psychology is also an ok class and is a little bit boring, and I believe I've finally managed to get a copy of the expensive textbook. I've been going to the gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and tomorrow I'm looking forward to the pool party (it's indoors and heated) that GGC is throwing.

Seth and Mandy had a quiet first week back at school. The seniors and juniors (Cliff, Ben, and Christopher) took the junior/senior trip up the eastern coast, with Pastor Chris going with them. Seth and Mandy were quickly bored, as Mr. Price was not teaching that week and Pastor Chris and three of their schoolmates were gone. Mandy missed her classes, as most of them were study halls, and was glad to get her teachers back this week. Yesterday the seniors, juniors, and Pastor Chris returned, much to the happiness of the teachers and students. For Geneva at Home this week, Mom did some simple tests on a few students to determine blood type. One of her young students actually fainted after being pricked with the needle, but it was interesting that his younger brother in a different class fainted the same day while giving a book report. Anyway, the students at Geneva have had fun pricking their fingers to find out their blood type. Mandy had a bad experience with hers, as Bethany did the pricking and did it three times, way more than necessary, and Mandy was then disappointed to discover her blood is not O positive like most of her classmates and friends.

On Saturday, Mandy and I had a nice time going shopping with Grandma Linda and Granny. We first went to the Mall of Georgia and shopped at a few shops before stopping for lunch at the food court. Mandy and I went to Chick-fil-A for lemonade, which we're allowed to drink because it's real lemonade, and then we shared a plate of Chinese chicken, which we devoured quickly and bought a second. Then we went to Old Navy and then to a thrift store in Buford. We had fun at the thrift store, as we were estimating our sizes due to the fact there were no changing rooms and we even took a few pictures. Mandy and I both bought underwear, some tops, some skirts, and then Mandy got jeans and a pajama outfit that came with a fleece blanket. We had a nice time going out and celebrating our early birthdays.

In regards to the diet, we had to end on the third day because preparing the food was too time-consuming for Mom. However, we've cut back on the sugar we eat and also cut down eating portions. I've gotten used to being hungry and haven't dashed to the kitchen or the vending machines for food as often as I used to, and I've drank almost only water for almost two weeks, except for some orange juice, lemonade on Saturday, and then a little sparkling grape juice. It's actually not been bad, except yesterday I had a craving for a coke but forced myself to ignore it and drink water instead. Mom's begun losing weight already, and we girls have been pretty consistent in avoiding sugar. Another reason we're ignoring sugary drinks is that Mom read an article where they discovered that drinks with high fructose corn syrup can make a person's liver look like that of an alcoholic, so we've not been drinking anything with that in it.

Well, that's all I can think of for now.

The Last Week of Christmas Break

My, how time does fly, yet it still seems to go by slowly at the same time. It feels like forever since I've been in school, yet the days have gone by at a relatively fast rate.

The last week of Christmas break was less hectic than Christmas week had been, much to Mom's relief. On Monday, Mandy and I went to an indoor pool with the Abrahams, Presleys, and some of their friends. We had a good time with the kids. It was odd to be swimming in December, but the water was nice and the pool wasn't too crowded. However, there was a window cleaning guy that made me suspicious. He spent an hour and a half cleaning the large windows, but most of the time he just stared at the pool and those who were frolicking in it and then not really cleaning the windows. Very suspicious..... On Tuesday, Mandy went to the zoo with Bethany, the Abrahams, and their friends the Groths. She took several pictures with her new camera, including one of an adorable baby panda that I wish I had as a pet. On Wednesday, I spent part of the day doing my random historical research that turns on the history geek switch. We didn't have anything planned for New Years' Eve, so we hung out at home, ate Steak N' Shake for dinner, and watched a couple of movies. On Thursday, Dad had the day off and we relaxed at home. I did even more research, and I'm currently working on a historical theory though I'm going to need to read more books on the subject, which will require me to use the GGC library (which has only a few books) or to request books from other USG colleges in Georgia. On Friday, Mandy and I went over to the Abrahams' house to babysit Avalyn and Kyle (Keira was with her grandparents) while Bethany and Adrian took pictures for a wedding. Avalyn slept most of the time we were there, and we had to wake her up for dinner. Kyle was awake most of the time (as he refused to take a nap), so Mandy and I watched a movie and kept an eye on the active boy. Dinner was good, as we bought some cheese sticks, potato skins, and popcorn chicken from Kroger as well as some macaroni and cheese. Avalyn herself complimented Mandy on the meal and ate most of it, which is a feat since she seems to eat like a bird sometimes. Avalyn and Kyle both loved Mandy's new toy pig Wilbur (you press his head, and he oinks and his nose glows blue), and Avalyn at one point believed that Wilbur was hers. Sounds like a birthday present idea..... On Saturday, we woke up at a normal time, picked up Bethany, and then drove to Dawsonville to go shopping with our Christmas money (we were planning on going to Commerce but we decided against it). It was a productive and fun day. Mandy and Bethany spent most of the time together, away from the rest of us, and they both bought shirts. Mandy bought fur boots, but they were too big so she had to return them. Dad and Seth both bought two nice pairs of pants from Dickie's, and Seth contemplated buying a new game but decided to wait and read some reviews before buying it. Mom bought two new shirts and some other things, and I bought clothes for working out in, new flats from Clarks, a blue dress, new jeans, and other stuff. We also enjoyed our last fast food meal for a while when we ate Zaxby's for lunch.

Yesterday (Monday) Mom, Mandy, and I started the South Beach diet. Since we're on phase 1, that means we're on the "cleansing and killing your cravings" stage. My meals mainly consisted of vegetables with some meat, though I remained hungry almost all day. I never realized how much sugar and junk food I eat, and it's been quite an eye-opening experience. Still, the food's not been bad. Last night we had delicious chicken, green beans, and squash pasta with tomato sauce. I'd never had squash before, and it actually tasted food with the sauce. Then I had jell-o with whipped cream for dessert and later some raw cauliflower and low-fat ranch dressing for a late-night snack. So far it's not been too bad, although I'll probably have a different opinion by the end of the week, after I go back to college and then see everyone else eating sandwiches and burgers while I'm eating a salad. And Blair better not tempt me with a coke or she shall regret it... hehe.

College for me starts tomorrow (Wednesday), and this may be my last semester at GGC. I've finally got my classes nailed down. I'm taking psychology (with a teacher who is said to be one of the best), physical science 2 and its lab (I still have Dr. La, but I also get a new teacher. I'm looking forward to studying astronomy as well as earth science since I haven't studied either since 8th grade), political science (one of those stupid required classes that you don't really need, especially since I already feel like I took political science when I took English 1), and US History II. After the incident with Rafshoon on the last day of class, I decided not to take her again. However, the teacher I wanted (a Dr. Mason who is said to be very knowledgeable, has a passion for history, and is otherwise great) had all-full classes, so I decided to take World History II instead. Yet, I kept my eye on banner (where students register for their classes) to see if an opening came up, and my patience paid off when I found an opening for Mason's class. I quickly grabbed it before someone else could. I'm looking forward to the class, yet I'm a bit nervous because it's a once-a-week night class and the last time I took one I had to drop out because I was failing badly. Mom, however, pointed out that I'm good with history and will be fine, so I hope she's fight and my fears are ungrounded.

As I mentioned earlier, this may be my last semester at GGC. I've been thinking about becoming a history major, but a few teachers at Christ College said it wouldn't be a good idea for me to get my major at a secular college (and I believe it, especially after having Rafshoon), so I may be transferring. The history classes they're offering sound cool (Renaissance history, church history, stuff like that), so sometime soon I'll get together to meet with the headmaster and decide what classes I'll take. However, because Christ College is not accredited and is not seeking to be, that means the classes will have to be paid for. I wouldn't mind getting a job over the summer to pay for my classes, but I need to learn to drive first (a fear that has me paralyzed and that I need to overcome). So, we'll see how that works out.

Seth and Mandy started up their classes yesterday. Mandy is happy because Mr. Murphy is coming back to be her math teacher and she's failing math under Pastor Chris (she got an F on the final but a C for the class). On the good side, she got a 96 in Latin, which she's very happy about. According to Mom, Geneva's been quiet because of the Junior/Senior trip which three of the students are taking right now. It's the same trip that I want on back in March of 2006 when I went to Williamsburg, Mount Vernon, Monticello, Washington DC, and Gettysburg. Except they're going in January. Hehe.... they'll probably freeze to death up there.