Choices?

I haven't even started my job yet, and mom's trying to convince me to quit. She's got issues, I swear... she just doesn't want to accept that I'm at an age where I might have commitments that supercede our trips to the lake and such. That's okay... I'm fine with them leaving me at home when I go to the lake. But she's throwing a fit about it.

Furthermore, as a blatant, burning mark that her selfishness is the primary factor here, she brings up that I'm going to have to choose between my job and Racquetball, which makes no sense at all. Yes, I'll be doing two things. Hardly impossible. Yes, I'll occasionally have to miss a Tuesday or Thursday game for work. Layla missed half the Freshman games for Violin practice. Life goes on.

She's always wanted me to quit Racquetball, and does nothing to hide that fact. Why can't she accept that I have a life complete with interests and commitments?

Many Happy Dreams

Last night, again, I dreamt of Norway, and I can easily state that it ranks up there with flight as one of the most euphoric nighttime experiences. Not to say that I've ever even done anything amazing in them; I have yet to see snow, or fjords, or the Northern Lights. Therein lies the extent of my patheticness; I have twice been inside a building and one pursued by the police, on different occasions, and through all of it I have perhaps never been so happy.

It's silly to imagine Norway as such a beautiful and perfect place. Still, until I learn otherwise, it remains; many nights of longing and many happy dreams.

Case Cracked?

I feel as though I've been floundering in Spanish. My homework grade is nearly spotless, my participation grade 100% so, I've done all the reasonable extra credit, and my sentance structures are some of the highest in the class. But on speaking tests, I freeze. Altadonna seems to look straight through me. Every speaking test, she grades on one thing, and one thing alone. The Present Tense, for example. I could conjugate that in my sleep. But not before her gaze. I find myself wondering if Hablar takes a stem change, and backing myself into a corner before I realize I don't know the word for "To Show", and end up using "Demonstrar" with an apologetic and panicked tone in my voice.

I thought compositions would be better. My classmates are all using "Me Gusta" and "Quiere" religiously, and I was sure I'd win some points with my conditional tense and reflexive verbs. We get our grades back... A-, A-, D-, A-... and for you, Miranda... B Plus.

In Chemistry I'd be pleased by a B Plus. In Math I'd be ecstatic. But... Spanish? There are words in red under the grade... they spell a hateful "Bueno!". ¡No! ¡No Es Bueno! ¿Como es posible?

But I think I've cracked the code at last. In sharp contrast to the rest of the foreign language department as I know it, La Sra. Altadonna grades on errors. No subjective ratings on fluency, vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, and spelling for her! Only a score, a shining one hundred percent, defiled point by point with every stammer and mis-step.

So I must try to dumb down. There are those who appreciate reach and ambition... and there are those who want barely functional but nonetheless flawless performance. I tear my clothes...

:(

4 Story Bookstore!

In Kansas City, I went to a big four story bookstore! It was so wonderful I wanted to move there just for that store. With only an hour and one hundred dollars on me, I only had the resources to examine 2 sections and buy four books. Findings?

Alright, the Foreign Language section was beautiful. Words can't describe it. It had more books for Spanish than any place I've seen, even the Barnes and Noble that hoarded the Español and scrimped on the others. Then, it had everything else! Even obscure languages like Xhosa and Yoruba. They must have had twenty copies of Wheelock's Latin, and they had "Harrius Potter"! Of course, I had to buy that just for the novelty.

As far as novelty went, however, it wasn't QUITE precious enough to buy "Norwegian in Ten Minutes a Day", even though I got a kick out of it. Many bookstores have that (regrettably) somewhat mediocre language learning series, and I'm used to seeing it in French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, and Italian. But Norwegian? There it was: the only oddball, too. No Swedish, no Danish, no Icelandic, no Welsh, no Zulu. I didn't believe my eyes!

They had perhaps seven books on Norwegian, a sharp contrast to my own Border's toss up chances of having "Teach Yourself Norwegian" or "Pimsleur Norwegian" on a given day. Unfortunately, I lacked the funds to clean them out, so I just bought "Beginner's Norwegian." It's lovely, and comes with CD Roms. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll have a Northern Accent. ^^

I looked over the Spanish section and came within an inch of buying a few books, but I figured I had better buy the rarer ones while I had the chance. So I looked over Greek, briefly, before deciding that at my current stage I didn't need much. I scanned Italian, nothing enough out of the norm there, and German. But under Japanese, I was in for a pleasant surprise. I read a book a year ago with a very promising theme that failed to deliver... the book was called, "Japanese in Manga Land" and was simply too silly and poorly organized to help much. But, I found a book called, "Japanese, the Manga Way"! Flipping through it, I saw it was the same idea with less random cartoons and more actual analysis and learning. I bought it as well, then sadly moved out of the Foreign Language section.

With only ten minutes left, I reflected on my need for an Atlas, and picked up a small but heavy one with nice full colour political and geographical maps and a few nice photographs. It's also filled with Statistics and Flags. It'll do. Something like "Pocket World Atlas". Yay. ^^

I LOVE BOOKSTORES.

A Bucket of Good News!

First off, yesterday we had our first Disciple meeting of the year, and it was fun, and maybe we can focus better now that we're Juniors, eh? I'm looking forward to the year.

Creative Writing Club met again today. Steller second meeting. Mindy came instead of Sarah Baker (not to be confused with Sara Baker). Anyhow, we had a lovely time, although Layla does have a habit of making me feel just a hair inferior. Just a hair, mind you, enough that I see the distance and strive to close it. >D

Mr. McAllister is officially un evil now! After Christy talked to him a bit about it, he became exceedingly friendly, and his facial hair (which we long believed was controlling his soul) has been shaved off! But for what purpose? This remains to be seen...

I got my job! Hurrah! Yay! Dance! I spent about an hour today filling out paperwork for it, and another hour reading all the stuff they gave me. I start Saturday, and I already know one of my Coworkers! What a small world, eh?

Foreign Language Honours Attack!

Today and Yesterday the attack continued with some new developments. More than half the teachers are excited. A few are hesitant. One seems suspicious.

Gwen: "Sr. Navarro, we need a Foreign Language Honors Society."
Sr. Navarro: "What's going on?!"

But, I think we stand a shot. I approached Altadonna, the head honcho, again today. She basically admitted that it was increasingly become a possibility she would look into, but warned that a LOT of people would have to be interested. (Read between the lines: Not just you and your friends.)

Maybe. But what about Friends' Friends? And their Friends?

Christy and I reconvened. We inquired about Ancient History Course. They had good reasons against it, but we've put our two cents in. We're making a petition-esque thing for people to sign if they'd be interested in a Foreign Language Honours Society. We got Layla on board.

These are all good things. I think word is spreading. This might actually happen. We started a Facebook Club. :D Christy put in 4 plus hours of research last night on Clubs around the nation.

And Classical Club Meets tomorrow; Even if that Club fails as I suspect it may, it will serve to get us some new recruits in our cause.

Unstoppable!

So, I interviewed for my job today. The interview was 35 minutes long, and there were two people questioning me. But, I think I did quite well. Only one mark against me (I wore jeans... who would guess.... -.- they were nice jeans, too!), and one MEH answer (aka one question that caught me off guard). More than once they looked visibly surprised and impressed. Good thing. :D

And, I started working towards a Foreign Language Honours Society. Talked to Altadonna, she basically implied that if there was an overwhelming amount of interest, they would consider it. Met with Christy, established an attack plan. At lunch, got a core group excited, told them to tell their friends and their teachers.

By next hour, I told a senior, and she says, "Oh? I heard a group of Freshmen talking about that!"

GOOD SIGNS. We'll see. But Good Signs. :D

Racquetball Tournament

I just got back from a Racquetball Tournament. The world's oldest pro athlete was there. :D Heheh. Anyhow, we were the only high school kids there, and it was a huge tournament; there were people there from Japan, Columbia, and Russia, maybe even other places. Needless to say, we weren't the best people there. In fact, it's likely that I was the worst player at the tournament. But hey, just like the awards ceremony last year, I was there.

We got five and a half hours of sleep every night, did homework, showered, and ate in between reffing, coaching, and playing games, and ultimately got so sleep deprived and sore that Kelling nearly lost her English (not that that's a rare occurance, all thing's considered), Kate threw up all morning on Sunday, and I discovered previously unknown muscle groups. My abs were in agony, and both my arms are spazzing. No idea what the left one has to complain about.

Anyhow, it was cool. Team bonding, learning, experiencing. It's the kind of chaos I definately enjoy ex post facto, and part of me savours even during it. Character Building and stuff.

Strangers Among Us: Goth Guys Head for Concert

Just another interesting picture from the people watching site... nice point about 'non-conformist' groups and their dress code. :P

Strangers Among Us: Goth Guys Head for Concert

Strangers Among Us: Waterfront property...

Strangers Among Us: Waterfront property...

A people watching site. Amusing, interesting, and touching at turns. The photos make all the difference.

Bush is Listening!

A man who runs behind a car gets exhausted. A man who runs in front of a car gets tired.

Sudan

I saw them a year ago, when they had just come from Sudan. They wore nice, warm clothes that looked bulky and missplaced, especially that mild evening. Their eyes and teeth shone white and brilliant against their skin, even across the room. And those eyes lit up when they sang.

They spoke no English, then. Less than a year ago. I saw the one about my age again yesterday. He spoke incredibly, answering my questions almost as easily and fluently as a native speaker. And when he said a little Spanish, which he had learned the same way... merely listening... I was blown away.

So there's my familiar face in the wake of a disaster. He said the most different thing in America was the quiet... I didn't understand what he meant for a moment. He said in Sudan there were always gunshots, always people trying to kill each other... it didn't even wake you up at night.

Kind of makes me feel bad for my exploding water heater and dog barf and mom breakdown problems. Kind of makes me feel really bad.

Iraq

I saw a cartoon once from a dogs perspective, in which a human was lecturing to the poor canine, the speech bubble reading,

"...blah blah blah SPOT blah blah blah BAD blah blah blah SPOT..."

Of course, that's exactly how I feel at Arabic Church, when I go upstairs and listen to the sermon. Usually the only word I can pick up is "Pastor Billingsly", the name of the American Pastor at the Church, who it seems to me is mentioned a hell of a lot simply for lack of context. But tonight there were more familiar words than normal, something to the tune of...

"...qakh, qakh qakh AMERICA qakh qakh qakh BUSH qakh qakh qakh IRAQ qakh qakh qakh AKBAR qakh qakh qakh... "

Well, that intrigued me enough that I asked for a bit of a summary from Mr. Mina. He said they were mostly in favour of the whole operation because it was bringing increased opportunity for Christianity to the region. Interesting. Very Interesting. I'll have to think about that for a while.

At the same time... perhaps it's easier to say that now that they're living here. Before you jump on me and say, "How can you accuse others of being hypocrites when you're ten times more of one, never having endured any sort of hardship yourself!?", let me add that Amelia, who did live in Iraq, narrated the following tale to me in English too broken to accurately reproduce... let's just say that it's a cultural experience in of itself. ;) --

"Water like this... the faucet would be like this, but no water. No water come. Before Iran and Iraq no like, before Bush, water. Then Bush come... maybe water. Sometimes. Maybe... one day in week. Don't know. If water... fill (trash can)... use week, clean, cook..."

Good or Bad? Would you rather have Freedom or Water?

Not as if I'm the first person to ask that question, by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm starting to see it...

Greece

We went to the Omnimax today and saw the Special on Greece. It was amusing, and dual purpose; I got pumped about my trip, and I realized I've done a decent job of educating myself in preparation thus far. The whole movie was filled with wonderful Greek music playing over seascape vistas or historical monuments or modern day Athens, and to my wonder I found that I could understand bits and pieces. Ναι! Οχι! Εντακσι! Θεν ξερο! And, I recognized the city on the pamphlet as Sandorini.

This trips going to rock. In a month, I'll be in Athens. Melissa is jealous. ;)

Hello!

Hello! / Hi /Salut/Ciao/Hola/Olá/Oi/Kaixo/Da duit/Sut mae/Hoi/Hej/Cześć/Hallo/Γεια σας/Привет/Merhaba/שלוס/سلام/Jambo/안 녕 하 세 요/你好/今日は/ Mirëdita/Ahoj/Bog/Zdravo/Szia/Hei/ السلام عليكم /Здравей/բարեւ/สวัสดีครับ/नमस्त/Axiŗ/Sveikas /Tere/Sveiks/सत श्री अकाल/ آداب/Saluton/Bŭna/Bonġu/Slav/Sup/Hoy/Živjo/Chào ông/Selamat siang/Selamat tengahari/مرحبا / Wes þu hal/Ek aaru/Kedu/Sannunka.___

I surprised myself with how many I know, although some I sort of cheated at by using alphabets... Best touch? "Wes þu hal". :D

Optimism?

I have enough optimism yet to believe things will swiftly return to normal with the return of the father. In retrospect, here's a brief overview of the last few weeks:

Exploding water heaters, exploding soup in school microwave, lack of lunch money, collapsing ceilings, leaking toilets, awful teachers, leaking bathtubs, screaming fights, hot weather, cold classrooms, boring as hell new Spanish class, dog having bad reaction to vaccinations, breakdowns, wicked first day of school, coyote sightings, plastering, dog discovering joys of trash, two day hangovers, dog puking in car, fungus, dead birds, sick friends, losing all over in Racquetball, dog puking in house, misunderstandings, dog needing tooth operation, missed Debate meetings, missed Beta Chi Pi meetings, failed Chemistry Quiz, confused German assignment, failed Spanish speaking test, carpool complications, lost pocky, bleh bleh bleh.

Even then, there was also; Fun government classes, Layla and Billie at lunch, hope for Creative Writing and Book Club, amusing myself with Arabic Food and Freshmen, A few nice days, Christy passing Latin.

Die Gefährten

So. I've deliberately held off from posting too much on the blog, because I did promise it wouldn't be so emo anymore. But now... he has come home at last. From the iron clutches of Mainz, Germany and General Motors Europe, Dad's come back home, and it seems there may be peace.

P.S. - He brought presents. When he said that, you could read the thoughts going through our heads: Mom - "I hope it isn't a goddamn Cuckoo Clock..." Melissa - "Clothes?!?! Chocolate!?!?!" Miranda - "A pamphlet from the trains station or some-odd in German!?"

But my present was better than a pamphlet from the train station. It was Der Herr der Ringe, Band 1 - Die Gefährten. ^^ I am le-happy. I'm thinking of collecting each book in the series in a different language... starting with El Hobbit and Die Gefährten...

Eh?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6B26asyGKDo

And I thought I was self obsessed taking a shoot a month... o.O