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.

Merry Christmas!

It's been a very busy Christmas this year, and it just seemed to sneak up on us. Last week, Seth and Mandy had their finals at Geneva, so there was no time for shopping that week. That left the week of Christmas as the only time for us to shop. On Monday, Mom took us girls to the mall to go shopping. The mall, despite it being a few days before Christmas, was packed full of people, which meant loooong lines. At Dick's Sporting Goods, while we bought Dad some long johns, we waited in line for about twenty minutes, mostly due to a couple in front of us that bought about one thousand dollars worth of shirts and sports gear. Then we went to a couple of stores to look for a new bathrobe for dad because his old one has certainly seen better days. I also tried to find a gift for Mandy, but I had no luck. We managed to complete shopping for the cousins, so we were done. We wanted to eat a late lunch, but the food court was jam-packed, so we left the mall and went to the Panda Express that opened not far from home. It was delicious, and I've fallen in love with the orange chicken and fried rice. After we got home, we made quick preparations to get ready for the Christmas program at church that night. On Tuesday night, Mom and Dad went out to shop for us kids. On Wednesday (Christmas Eve day), Dad took us kids out to Target to go shopping for each other. We quickly split up, and I headed for the pajama section to find some for Mandy, who wanted footie pajamas. They didn't have what I wanted, so I called Dad and asked for his help. While I waited for Dad to arrive, Mandy showed up in the same section. Her eyes widened, and then she walked away. I later heard from Dad that Mandy had wanted me to leave the section so she could buy me my gift. Anyway, I settled on buying Mandy these blue stripped pajama bottoms that are totally her. Then I want over to the electronic section to buy Seth some headphones. Seth enjoys playing his game "Celtic Kings," but often there is a lot of noise so he wears headphones... that is, my headphones because he doesn't have a pair. I found some headphones for Seth, paid, and then went outside to wait for everyone else to come out. Then Dad took us home and went out to buy White Elephant gag gifts while we wrapped our presents. Then we drove to Uncle Jason and Aunt Nancy's house for the clan Christmas Eve gathering.

About the Christmas program on Monday, we had a fun time. The program began with the newly founded children's choir singing a couple of songs (Sunny is part of this choir but wasn't able to make it due to a stomach bug), then other people got up to sing or play Christmas music. Jake Bailey entertained us with a 20th century remake of "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies" that Mom said would have fit perfectly in a Tim Burton movie. The highlight, for me, was when the Karen people stood up to sing. Earlier this year, some of the Karen people from Asia moved here from refugee camps in Asia, and they have settled onto a self-sustaining farm on some property that belongs to the Davis family in our church. They've been attending church with us for some time, and it was exciting to hear them get up and sing Karen hymns in the Karen language. After the program, there was a nice little meal that everyone enjoyed.

This year, as always, we got together twice as a family for two different occasions. We got together with Grandpa Mike and Grandma Marsha on Saturday afternoon and then with Grandma Linda and Granny on Wednesday. On Saturday, we drove over to Grandpa's house and enjoyed the lovely banquet that we grazed on all afternoon, including the infamous pina colada punch that Grandpa makes every year. Yum! The kids played downstairs on the Wii and the playstation, and the adults sat upstairs and talked. I'm afraid I didn't get many pictures, but you can see some of the pictures at the below link.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48429&l=f88e7&id=603748360

On Wednesday, we drove to Uncle Jason's house for the annual Christmas Eve gathering. We first enjoyed a late lunch/early dinner, complete with a delicious fruit punch that everyone kept sipping all evening. After the meal, we gathered around the Christmas tree to open presents. Grandma played Santa this year, and she made sure everyone had one gift before we opened them. I got a lovely black purse from Uncle Josh and his family, a pink sweater from Uncle Jason and family, and then two shirts and jeans from Grandma and Granny. Mandy got clothes but also a UGA hat that she's been wanting for some time now. Seth got himself a Mario t-shirt and some other clothes. After opening presents, we gave Grandma a picture of all twelve of the grandchildren (back in November right after Thanksgiving, we sneakily got together and got the pictures of all the grandchildren, though the next weekend we five Cunninghams had to get some of the pictures re-done because the originals turned out blurry.), and she loved it. Then the adults (including myself) had our second annual White Elephant Gift Exchange. We then took some family pictures, and then the kids scattered outside. I snapped some funny pictures of Seth, Gabe, and Noah tipping over the hammock. After a while, we got together to play the picture telephone game that Mandy, Seth, Mom, and I had played at the youth Christmas party. It was absolutely hilarious. A picture of a strong man evolved into a man with tree branches for arms, a quote "fish is good" turned into Lucifer/ a cat person eating fish, a fire-breathing dragon turned into a fire-breathing Loch Ness monster, Chicago turned into a city being destroyed by a tsunami, and there were many other funny ones. There were a couple where it looked like we were rolling with laughter. Everyone seemed to enjoy the game. We hung out for a little while afterwards and then went home. You can see the pictures at the two links below.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48431&l=7c4dd&id=603748360

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48434&l=3cbce&id=603748360

When we got home, we five sat down and watched a movie called "Merry Christmas." It is the touching story of how on Christmas Eve in 1914 German, French, and Scottish soldiers had a ceasefire and became friends, much to the dismay of their superiors. Besides the one irrelevant sex scene, I highly recommend the movie. After we watched it, we started "Bourne Ultimatium," but we went to bed at midnight, so we didn't finish it. However, we did that evening do our annual tradition of opening one gift. Mandy opened the pajama bottoms that I gave her, I opened the gorgeous green Christmas nightgown that she gave me, and Seth opened his gift, but sadly I've forgotten what it was. Mom opened one of her gifts, which was a new pasta scoop since our loyal white one has lost several of its teeth. It is funny because Mom had been teasing us about buying her a new scoop, so Mandy and I often had to cover our mouths and try not to laugh when she mentioned it. We gave her the scoop Christmas Eve so we could sneakily throw her off the scent of one of her other gifts.

On Christmas morning, there was not your usual "peace on earth, goodwill toward men." Mandy is always impatient to open the gifts, and for years she has delighted in waking us up early. This year was no exception, as she woke me up at 8:51, demanding that I get out of bed. I had no choice but to comply. Once we had all gathered in the living room, we began opening presents. Mom and Dad had gone to Kohls to give us girls clothes (since we both need them badly), so Mandy and I got cute tops and sweaters, including some new underwear. Mandy got a new Canon camera (since Bethany broke hers), and we've told her that she is not to let Bethany borrow it (but Bethany got the same camera for Christmas as well, so that shouldn't be a problem), Seth got a new wireless mouse for his laptop, and I got a gorgeous red 4 GB MP3. We gave Dad his new bathrobe as well as a nice big frying pan, then we gave Mom a knife sharpener and some frying pans, one of which was identical to Dad's. There is a funny story behind the pans. Mom knew Dad really liked the egg pan we gave him last Christmas, so she decided to get him a bigger one. Meanwhile Dad knew that Mom needed new pans, so he went to a cooking store at Northpoint Mall to get her a set of two pans that cost as much as the pan that she got him. We laughed over this, and Mom is going to return the pan and get Dad another gift. After opening the gifts, we cleaned up and ate quiche for breakfast. We hung out and enjoyed our gifts, even enjoying a visit from Grandma and Granny. However, after they had gone, things got dirty and cluttered. Our attic for some time has needed an extensive cleaning, so Dad decided that Christmas Day would be the best day to clean it out. We got everything down and put it in the living room. Our living room was flooded with dusty boxes and junk, and we couldn't even get out of the house because all the doors were blocked. After several hours, we finally managed to decide what was junk and what was staying, and the living room and attic were clean. Dad joked that all the stuff we threw out looks like we just cleaned out Santa's sleigh.

Thursday was busy. Mom took me and Mandy to Kohls so we could use a gift certificate she got. Mandy got a new shirt and a furry vest there, but I couldn't find anything there. I'm looking forward to this South Beach diet that we're starting in January so that I can actually find stuff that fits. Anyway, then we girls went to the church to clean up and get it ready for Sunday. Mandy and Sunny were going to spend the night at Grandma's house, but sadly Granny got the stomach bug that has been going around, so we decided against it. Dad, Seth, and Mandy went over to Uncle Josh's house, and I later went out with Blair, her mom, her sister, and some of her sister's hyper friends to the Night of Lights at Lake Lanier. After we enjoyed the lights and snapped some pictures, we had a late dinner at Chick-fil-A and went home. When I got there, Mandy and Sunny were back, which meant that Seth was spending the night with Noah and Gabe. We watched a movie and hung out that evening.

We have nothing planned for today. Mandy and I were going to go shopping with Grandma and Granny, but we had to cancel the trip because Granny is still sick. Meanwhile, next Saturday we may go to Commerce and spend our Christmas money there, as every year we try to find a time to go shopping with our money while everything is on sale. So today will probably be one of those lazy, relaxing days where we don't do much. Well, I think I have remembered everything about our crazy Christmas (though I will probably remember something later and kick myself for forgetting). I hope you all had good Christmas, so have a happy New Year!

End of the Semester

Well, we have just about finished out the school fall semester of 2008. Mandy and Seth are in the midst of finals, as they had yesterday and then today and tomorrow. They've been studying hard the past few days, and we're hoping they'll do well. Mom and I have been waiting for our grades. She has gotten hers, and they are A's, as expected. However, my teachers must be slacking on turning in final grades because I only have 1 and a 1/2. Spanish is a 97, and I have my chemistry half of science, which was over a hundred, but mind you that is only one half. I'm guessing that I have all A's, but I don't want to make premature assumptions, so I sit here, impatiently waiting for my grades to be posted.

I finished my finals on Tuesday when I took the music final, which covered American music. It was not that hard, and I'm expecting an A on the test. After my final, Mom picked me up and we drove to the Johnson house for Geneva's Christmas party, although one of the youth group members also attended. We played some fun games together. First, we had to play Carol Pictionary (I probably misspelled that), where we had to draw something that represented a Christmas carol and our team had to guess what it was. One of the carols, King We- something, was drawn by Mr. Price but my team had no clue to what it was, but the other team was "oh, I know what that is. Haha." After that, we played a bow game and then played a hilarious game. We had eleven players, so everyone got eleven pieces of paper and a pen. The game is sort of like "Telephone," but you have to draw and write it. For example, Mom wrote "your mom" on the paper (it's a common term around Geneva and the youth group), and she passed the paper to Mandy, who drew a picture of a mom and then passed it to another person who guessed what the drawing was. However, people's interpretations vary, so the drawings can become hilariously skewed. Mom's started off as "your mom" and ended up with monsters playing football. Mine was "The Hobbit" and ended up as the quote "argh! How are we going to get out of here?" with a picture of a two men standing on a beach. There were several other hilarious ones that made us roll on the floor with laughter. We enjoyed the game a lot, and we're thinking of playing it at one of the family Christmas parties. The second part of the party was the White Elephant gift exchange with some hilarious gifts, including rapper grills, a whopee cushion, Hannah Montana Lip gloss, and an oven mitt. After the gift exchange, we went home. I sadly did not have my camera that day, so I have no pictures of the event.

So I've been out of school for a few days. I've spent most of my time working on my novel (I am roughly halfway through the second draft), though I have also cleaned like crazy. The kitchen has often looked like a disaster, but I, the kitchen master, have conquered it twice in two days. Not to mention the laundry that is going right now. I feel proud of myself, but I need to find some books to read over the break. I've been making slow progress on the book of Southern Secession, but I'm getting interested in finding more of Stephen Lawhead's historical fantasy books. Also, for about half the week, I've been getting more serious research done when I discovered the ugly truth behind Celtic Woman and its corrupt management practices. I did not do this research myself; I discovered a detailed blogpost written by someone else, and I contacted him a few times via e-mail, asking him questions and receiving detailed answers. It's not pretty, and I'm glad I'm not in the music industry. That aside, my break has been going well, and I'm hoping to be productive over it.

Despite the fact that Mom's been out of school for a week, she's been extremely busy. She's had finals to type up for her students, and yesterday she baked things for Dad to take to a party at work. Tomorrow, she will give her finals to the Geneva students, and then she will be free for a couple weeks before she heads back to the grind.

The weather has been unseasonally warm around here. On Tuesday it was foggy yet somewhat warm. Yesterday, it felt like it was in the 70's. Sort of strange, especially when it's freezing all over the rest of the country. Oh, well. I'll savor it while it lasts and before the bitter cold returns to haunt us.

Oh, I nearly forgot! For some years, we have not gotten a Christmas tree because of a lack of room in the house. However, this year, Mom and Mandy decided that they wanted to get a tree, and Mom suggested moving one of the lamps and putting a tree there instead. So, on Monday, Mom and Mandy brought home a medium-sized tree. We decorated it, and it looks nice. Mandy's had fun with the new Christmas lights that can blink, fade, or look like disco lights. It's nice to have a tree, and we've forgotten how good a real Christmas tree smells. I'll be sure to post a picture or two of the tree.

Times are about to get slightly busy again. This Saturday we're going to Grandpa Mike's house for an early Christmas celebration, and there is sure to be a large spread of food and plenty of talking and family fellowship. Then next Wednesday, we're going to Uncle Jason and Aunt Nancy's house for our Christmas Eve celebration. I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures and share them with you all. :D

Almost There!

The fall 2008 semester is winding down both at GGC and GCA, and things are getting tense! It's been the usual: teachers cramming in as much as they can while the students choke and keep thinking "slow down!", projects all due the same week, and, of course, the lovely cumulative finals that everyone loves. So, nonetheless, things have gotten very busy, which is why I have not posted for a few weeks. I shall do my best to inform you of what has happened.

GGC has been hectic ever since Thanksgiving break was ended. For physical science, we had about three days of classes with a quiz and a test and also a science project on Robert van de Graaff and his generator all in one week. Hannah and I were nervous about presenting the project, but we did well, and I'm confident we got an A. I also did well on the test, only missing one question. However, the science final was a different story. It was today, but I began studying on Saturday afternoon and spent about ten, eleven hours on Tuesday studying. Now this final was like two tests combined into one since one half was on physics and the other half was on chemistry. I think I did good on the exam, but I'm waiting to see the grade posted. Spanish was also busy but not as much. I had an essay about a party, an interview, a "pop" quiz, and then the final within a period of a week and a half, but I'm not concerned about passing the class because my midterm grade was 97.7 and I've gotten A's on all my quizzes and tests. I'm not concerned about the music final on Tuesday because it's not cumulative and won't be that hard.

However, there was one class that just made me boil on Tuesday and left me in a foul mood for two days. Dr. Rafshoon, my history professor, gave us a little review in preparation for our final test, and she implied during the review that all Southerners are slave-beating White supremicists. That was it, and I left the class fuming. To cool myself down, I did a little writing therapy, which helped vent my anger. I was going to take Dr. Rafshoon again next semester, but I'm going to skip her, take a world history class, and finish US history when I get a better teacher. In the meantime, I'm reading a book about Southern secession and why it was right; I swear, the more I read about Lincoln the less I like him.

Mom is done with her ecology class (she took her final this morning, which had some hard questions that she wasn't expecting), and tomorrow night she will take her mycology final and be done with college for a few weeks. Next semester will be easier for her, as her cellular biology class is said to be very fun and she'll only be taking one class. Plus, her class will be during the day so she'll be able to spend the evenings with us.

Geneva is also winding down. This week is review, and next week the school is having their annual Christmas party and then three days of finals. Mandy is studying like crazy for her Latin class so that she will get an A on the test and not have to take the final exam, and she's also studying hard for her geography test since she's been having more trouble with that class. Both Seth and Mandy are looking forward to their Christmas break.

With all the business, there has been some time to be social. Last Friday, Mandy and I went to the Abrahams' house to babysit their three adorable children, and we spent the night there. The next morning, Bethany Abraham dropped me off at home, and she and Mandy went to a cookie exchange hosted by a lady from our church. Yesterday (Tuesday night) we had Cliff spend the night with us. We watched "The Dark Knight" (great Batman movie and great sequel) and then they watched "The Italian Job" while I studied in the back. I'm hoping that maybe someday soon we'll be able to film another funny video like what we did for "Bobby's Bad Day," but we'll need to get Cliff writing. Speaking of being social, I'm looking forward to Monday when I can buy tickets for me, Sarah Howland, and her aunt to go see Celtic Woman in late March, and we're really excited about going, as this will be our first show.

Well, I think I've said everything of interest that has happened since I last posted. I'm going to relax after studying like crazy for three days and watch "Gladiator" with the family.