Sick Days

So, I haven't been to school in a while, and I'm actually starting to miss it. I don't even know what's wrong with me; I'm just tired and nauseous and sore and my head is pounding and I feel like vomiting but don't. My doctor thinks it might be either a virus or my thyroid meds need to be adjusted, so I got blood drawn today. Blah, blah, blah. Not really interesting.

I've been watching a lot of movies lately. A few weeks ago, I saw The Human Centipede. Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. There wasn't anything I wasn't prepared for. Three people are attached from mouths to butts. The more interesting thing to me is that they used to do this in concentration camps during World War II. They did a lot of scientific experiments there, like injecting dye into eyes to see if they'd change color and sterilizing people with hereditary diseases. These things were definitely horrible, but I find it kind of fascinating that Nazis would kill Jews in all different ways for research. Like, "We may be murdering hundreds of thousands of innocent people in the name of religion, but hey, at least we're being productive.

On the subject of Nazis, I also saw The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. It was incredibly sad. I was not expecting Bruno to die. I was thinking that maybe the mother would take him and Gretel away from the father, or maybe the father would find out that Bruno was friends with a Jewish boy and punish him, or even that Shmuel would die and Bruno would start asking questions about why Jews were dying. I have to say, I kind of liked Gretel's character. She was all feminine and nice at the beginning and she played with dolls, but she started going all Nazi-chic towards the middle. She started wearing her hair in double braids and she stripped her dolls naked and threw them in the shed. She's like eleven, and she went total badass in less than a month.
Lastly, I saw Letters to Juliet. It really sucked. I think you kind of had to speak Italian to really get it. My favorite part was the end when Charlie said, "I live in London, a gorgeous, vibrant, historic city that I happen to love living in. You live in New York, which is highly overrated... But since the Atlantic Ocean is a bit wide to cross every day, swimming, boating or flying, I suggest we flip for it... And if those terms are unacceptable, leaving London will be a pleasure, as long as you're waiting for me on the other side." There were some really funny quotes throughout the movie, but the whole "Romeo and Juliet"mushy-gushy-love-story-thing isn't really my taste.

Hungarian Dance Party

On Saturday, Ellen and her parents brought us into the city to a Hungarian dance event. We only danced for about ten minutes, but I noticed that the choreography really isn't very difficult (for somebody who actually has rhythm in their feet). It's very repetitive, but you have to pay attention for when you have to turn or change moves. Jessica was my dance partner, and at one point I just said, 'Spin me,' because that was what we were supposed to do, but she 'wasn't ready' so we ended up two seconds behind everybody else and it was hard to get back on track. Even after ten minutes, everybody seemed very tired. The dance was so fast-paced that it wore me out pretty quickly. We spent the rest of the night playing Bananagrams and playing a game that Ellen taught us called "Contact." In "Contact," a person comes up with a word and gives the others the first letter. Say, the word is 'gorilla,' The person says 'g.' The players go one by one, asking questions like, 'Is it a country in Central America?' or 'Is it the place where you put food wrappers?' and the person answers, one by one, 'No, it is not Guatemala,' and 'No, it is not the garbage.' If the person doesn't know the  word, but another player does, the player says, "Contact, 1, 2, 3..." and the players say the word at the same time. If they say the same word, the person has to give the next letter of the word. This goes on until somebody guesses the word.
From this experience, I would say that I learned a good deal about Eastern-European dance and word games.

A Resolute Piece of Pink Construction Paper

Today is January 1st, 2013. This general time of year is meant for giving, so I am giving you all my personal goals that I hope to reach this year. I wrote down ten of them, and I hope to achieve at least seven.

1. WORK TOWARDS MY GOLD AWARD. I'm a Girl Scout, as some may know already. I'm a Senior (I think) and I got my Silver Award last year. The Gold Award is an independent project that "reaches beyond the Girl Scout organization and provides a sustainable, lasting benefit to the girl's larger community." Girls usually earn their Gold Award in their Junior or Senior year.
2. GET ON THE HONOR ROLL. I just barely got on the Honor Roll in Quarter 1 with a 3.6667 GPA. In the past, I've gotten on the Honor Roll for one quarter per year. This year, I want to get on the Honor Roll every quarter. I think it might be attainable.
3. BE MORE POLITE. Although I think I'm a generally polite person, I realize that too often I take compliments without returning them, and I don't say bless you all the time, and sometimes I'm mean without thinking about it. I just want to be nicer this year.
4. GO OUTSIDE MORE OFTEN. I hate the outdoors, but I really want to experience more in the outside world. I want to take walks around the neighborhood, and learn how to, God forbid, climb a tree. Also, I might get my parents to buy me a quad to ride in Pennsylvania.
5. PAY MORE ATTENTION TO PERSONAL HYGIENE. Okay, don't jump to conclusions. I am a generally clean person. But this year I want to remember to wash my face every morning and brush my teeth three times a day like I'm supposed to.
6. NO MORE SODA AND COOKIES. Last year, I gave up soda, but I still caved every once in a while. But this year, I am going totally without and adding cookies to the mix. I have no self control when it comes to cookies.
7. LEARN THE NATIONAL ANTHEMS OF FIVE DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. I just think that this would be a cool skill. I plan on mastering the Canadian, British, Scottish, Australian, and Guyanese national anthems by the end of the year.
8. READ TEN BOOKS. My reading has been sadly lagging lately. Enough said.
9. LEARN HOW TO COOK TEN MEALS SUCCESSFULLY. Cooking is a useful skill. I think that if I learn ten family recipes, then I'll be okay if I ever have to be on my own.
10. GROW MY HAIR OUT (NO HAIRCUTS). I love my hair. Part of my elaborate Gold Award plan involves donating my hair, which I was supposed to do last week, but I chickened out. I think that if I grow my hair out this year, I will have enough to donate without my hair being too short.

That's it. I'll be checking off the boxes as I complete them. Happy 2013!

My Very First Shostegigi and My StacArtistic Revelation

I had a wonderful time today. Everybody's gifts were so creative! Even though I didn't get a gift myself (which I really don't mind), I was laughing my butt off at everybody's voodoo dolls. Especially Emily's, which I still don't understand. And Michelle Marin's (it was so realistic). And Lisa's, which was just perfect. The entire affair got me in such a great spirit for Christmas.
Also, yesterday was StacArt. What first started out as a simple Inside-Outside idea in which you can see inside of a garbage can has turned into a utopian New York City where the grass in green and everybody throws away their trash. I've started getting so many ideas for incorporating different supplies and I think even though I may not be very good, this project might turn out great.

White Devil

Last night, Jess, Emily, Shiana, John, Luke, and I went to see a play at Adelphi called White Devil, and I have to say, it was wonderful. I loved the costumes and the acting, although I couldn't understand the language most of the time. That's a downside to Jacobian theatre, it's from a different time where the language was so intricate, especially in plays. My favorite character was Flamineo. He was so comical, and even if I didn't understand what he was saying most of the time he kind of made me understand the gist of it. Plus, the boy who played him reminded me of Leonardo DiCaprio in his Titanic years. But the girl who played Vittoria- I feel like I've seen her before. She just seemed so familiar but I can't remember if I've actually met her before. Everybody's costumes were also so cool. I wish that since they were all in sort of dark, heavy metal costumes, the dialogue was a little more modern, too, but I guess that wouldn't have been doable since it would've changed the play drastically. I also loved the part where Vittoria was asking the judge, "What is a whore? I am unfamiliar with the term." That was just so snarky. Lastly, I liked how almost all of them died at the end, since none of the characters were extremely likeable.