A Very Strange Day

They Might be Giants - Birdhouse in Your Soul (thank you, Spencer)

I'm your only friend
I'm not your only friend
But I'm a little glowing friend
But really I'm not actually your friend
But I am

Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch
Who watches over you
Make a little birdhouse in your soul
Not to put too fine a point on it
Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet
Make a little birdhouse in your soul

I have a secret to tell
From my electrical well
It's a simple message and I'm leaving out the whistles and bells
So the room must listen to me
Filibuster vigilantly
My name is blue canary one note spelled l-i-t-e
My story's infinite
Like the Longines Symphonette it doesn't rest

Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch
Who watches over you
Make a little birdhouse in your soul
Not to put too fine a point on it
Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet
Make a little birdhouse in your soul

I'm your only friend
I'm not your only friend
But I'm a little glowing friend
But really I'm not actually your friend
But I am

There's a picture opposite me
Of my primitive ancestry
Which stood on rocky shores and kept the beaches shipwreck free
Though I respect that a lot
I'd be fired if that were my job
After killing Jason off and countless screaming Argonauts
Bluebird of friendliness
Like guardian angels its always near

Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch
Who watches over you
Make a little birdhouse in your soul
Not to put too fine a point on it
Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet
Make a little birdhouse in your soul

(and while you're at it
Keep the nightlight on inside the
Birdhouse in your soul)

Not to put too fine a point on it
Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet
Make a little birdhouse in your soul

Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch (and while you're at it)
Who watches over you (keep the nightlight on inside the)
Make a little birdhouse in your soul (birdhouse in your soul)

Not to put too fine a point on it
Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet
Make a little birdhouse in your soul

Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch (and while you're at it)
Who watches over you (keep the nightlight on inside the)
Make a little birdhouse in your soul (birdhouse in your soul)

Not to put too fine a point on it
Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet
Make a little birdhouse in your soul


I kept thinking of this song all day today, I'm not sure why. I would just like to remind myself how strange this day was.. and I shall write more after I finish my stupid paper.

All by myself.. *sob*

Dear Diary,

Diana and Bridget are out watching that Grudge movie or whatever. My house is quiet.. seeing as everyone in my entire family has something to do on a friday night besides me. I'm just eating pancakes. I was sad Diana and Bridget didn't want to do something.. oh well, at least they're having fun wherever they are now.

*sits quietly*

I guess I should've taken this oppertunity to do my homework, but I was hoping someone would call.. and.. invite me somewhere. Well, this just gives me more motavation to get my licence asap, then I could at least go sit somewhere other than home.

Like.. a sidewalk downtown. Or something.

This is the lamest Friday ever!!!

Politics make me sick

I was sitting in Confirmation class, wondering where Andy was, when he walked in: that stupid, know it all, “look at me I’m gonna be a priest,” “I’ll go against everything to be cool,” freshman. And over the front of his sweatshirt was a paper sign held on by scotch tape: Bush Cheney 04.

Immediately I gave him a glare, but then scolded myself. For earlier in the day I had decided that politics and religion were two creations of man that only seem to bring separation and strife to the world. However, I could not bite my tongue for very long.

“What are you glaring at?”

“Nothing,” I said. “But isn’t it weird how Cheney isn’t on the voter’s pamphlet?”

Now, I highly doubted the kid had even looked at the pamphlet, but he answered anyway. “Yeah. Well, I don’t think Cheney should be running with Bush anyway.”

“Oh no,” I agreed, “I don’t think it would be a good idea for him to run anywhere, what with that heart of his.”

He paused. “No, I mean, as vice president.”

“But Derek,” I said, “if he wasn’t vice president who would run the country?”

He paused again and bit his lip, somewhat uncertain with his answer perhaps. “The.. President?”

“Ahaa-”

Just then Ms. Denis broke in and said it was time for class to start.

Andy came in late and instantly shielded his eyes to the evil campaign sign.

“There’s no radio, no tv here.. but I still can’t get away from the damn election!” he muttered to me while the teacher read a prayer for peace.

Things seemed to calm down until we had to play this “game” where we choose between two things and say why one represents God better than the other. So one of the last choices was: “What is God like more: A circus clown or a trapeze man?” Everyone but Derek chooses the trapeze thing, so Ms. Denis asked him why he thinks God is like a circus clown.

“Because,” he said, “God created John Kerry.”

Firstly, not only did this comment fail to make sense (clowns don’t create people. If he wanted to get his “point” across he could have said something like “Well, clowns have a sense of humor so I think God has a sense of humor because he created Kerry” which doesn’t really fit with the idea that God loves everyone and doesn’t consider anyone to be a “joke,” so some priest you’d make, Derek) but it also made Andy go crazy.

“Andy..” I began, seeing his face becoming red, but I was too late.

“How old are you??” Andy demanded.

Derek said nothing.

“Are you old enough to vote??”

Derek said nothing.

“THEN SHUT UP!!!” and as he yelled this he did a fast little hop.

I spent the remainder of the class worried about poor Andy’s sanity, trying to remind him (and myself?) that politics really aren’t much to get upset about.. But then..

This old guy came up and starts talking about this “Life Chain” against abortion this Sunday that we should sign up for. Whoever did would have the grand opportunity to stand silently on the side of McLoughlin with a premade, anti abortion sign for an hour, rain or shine (Rain).

Well, I’m against abortion on most causes but I’m totally against breaking the separation of Church and State, so I didn’t sign up. Derek, on the other hand, made a big show of holding his Bushy sign at me and pointing at it.

“Yes Derek. Bush: anti choice pro Capital Punishment.” I don’t think he knew what Capital Punishment is, so my comment didn’t go to far. But he didn’t leave it there..

He starts going on and on about abortion and how it’s always a sin and I’m sitting there wondering if he can even fathom childbirth, or what it would be like to be raped by your father at age 12, be at risk if you give birth, and not be able to get an abortion. So I ask him.

“Well,” he said, “if that happens you can get an abortion.”

“Why?” I ask. “Because if you get rapped the fetus isn’t a person anymore?”

“Yes... no.. um..”

“Are you against separation of Church and State?” I ask.

“We should try to make this a Christian nation.”

I hold back the vomit in my mouth, mutter “so much for freedom of religion,” and me and Andy blow that popsicle stand.


In other news:
"Let's toss his sorry ass behind bars -- him and his noodles and his gift of clean underwear!"

Today I was out raking the leaves in the backyard when, suddenly, a prodigious question came to my mind. Just how many leaves was I actually raking?? And so we begin today’s special...

The first step to solving my question was to average the number of leaves there were in one square foot. I sampled three types of leaf areas: scattered (53 leaves), normal (138 leaves), and heavy (201 leaves). Approximating that “normal” coverage accounted for over 60% of the whole area, I added that number three times to the averaging and got a mean of 133 leaves per square foot.

Next I had to find the area of the three parts I was raking. I did and then added it all together to find I was raking an area of around 1,386.8 square feet. Wow!

After 18 minutes I had a my first nice pile of leaves.

There was still a lot to rake though..

12:30: I can see the grass again!

Finally, the last section I have to rake!

Finished with the raking process, I sat down and calculated things. Grand total? 184,444.4 LEAVES!!! That was an average of 1657.5 leaves per minute!

Woo! All done at last.

Man.. I am so great at raking leaves! But was it really worth getting two blisters?

Lazy Day

I followed the cats barefoot, down beneath the trees to the pond. Together we sat for a long time, watching the koi swim lazily through the sunbeams in the water. Every now and then one would dare go near the surface to eat, quickly swallowing and splashing back down to the deep.

Cali lay down amongst the leaves, perfectly camouflaged in the yellow, brown, and red. Hershey, too, was hard to make out while she was sleeping on top of the grey and brown stepping stones. I followed their example, stretching out on the grass and looking up at the blue sky and leaves turning in the wind.

Bridget rang the doorbell around 3:00. It was really great being able to just talk to her for a long time; it felt as through a part of myself had returned. I’m not sure what I mean by that. Point being, I’m happy she worked everything out with people and is figuring out other stuff.

I finally started on my homework around 6:30 or so, and did three pages of chemistry and a page of my Thomas Paine essay. Then I practiced all the dance steps I could remember, sat down looking woefully at my dance schools, and wished to the stars for a tango partner.

I felt really happy and calm all day. When I got on the computer and felt stressed again. I’m not sure why it has such a negative connotation, perhaps it’s because the whole “internet” idea is totally unnatural, disconnected, and is rather unstimulating. I don’t like the idea of having to read someone’s blog to stay up to date with them. Bridget and I talking today.. made me realize how much I miss really talking...

“So what’s going on in your life?”
“Didn’t you read my blog? I’ll tell you on AIM!”

I never feel like I’m actually “talking” to anyone when I’m online. Conversation is made up only half by words, the rest including subtle hints, hidden meanings, sarcasm, motion, and uneasy eye contact. I always feel a certain detachment.

I think that’s why I’m disinclined to the internet as of late.

But besides the evils of Al Gore, today was great.

Cleaning Spree

Today I woke up at exactly 9:00 am, and remembered I had the whole house to myself until sometime in the afternoon. So, I took a shower and made myself the best breakfast in the world: blueberry pancakes and eggs, with an Asian pear and some apple cider on the side.

That really was the best breakfast because it left me extremely motivated. Seeing as no one else was around I could clean whatever I wanted to, an so I started out doing the dishes. Then I swept the floor, cleaned the rug, washed the counters, mopped the entry way and kitchen, vacuumed and organized the living room, raked half the leaves in my backyard, feed the cats and koi, swept the front and back porches, and then cleaned my room. It was so great!! It was one of those times when you’re like “Well, I might as well just clean a little bit more..” but I just kept saying that.

My mother was so pleased with my surprise cleaning spree that she bought me some scrapbook stuff at Michael’s, and I also picked up an application to work there.

Then I practiced driving my car, which is a manual Kia Spectra in “professional tan” color. Here I learned to hate first gear, but love third. I only peeled out twice! If I can manage it, I might try for my licence Thursday.

Now I must write a book review on a book I haven’t read. I think I can pull it off. Really, I would have read it but the author felt it was necessary to write about every single thing that happened in New York in 1699. Come on, it’s supposed to be about Captain Kidd so can we please just skip to the part where he gets on a boat?

Next week I only have two days of school! Muahaha.

Homecoming Night

The perfect weather ended just in time for our homecoming game so, instead of enduring hours of cold bleachers and pouring rain for the sake of our Romanized society’s love for sports, Max and I went to his house.

He was excited to see if his something had finished “compiling” and it had. He did some stuff on the computer while I ate bialy bread and looked at the many light house figurines and other such ocean decor scattered about. His house would be a dream to clean. Well, it was clean but very full. And it was always dimly lit (I have counted only three overhead lights), leaving the illusion that there were probably many more light houses and books tucked away in the shadows. Nevertheless, it was a comfortable house and I rather enjoyed being there.

We played a frantic game of “Insane Aquarium,” or something like that, where aliens would randomly appear in your tank and a fat fish would pop out a baby guppy whenever you didn’t want one. Afterwards we played Mario Brothers, it was great!

Soon it was time for dinner. His mom brought back some really great Chinese food. Man, if I was my boyfriend I would probably devote at least one-two paragraphs about how great it was, but I won’t.

The “reason” I had come over was to watch the debates, and so we did. They were scary and I seriously believed Bush might actually try to punch Kerry. Or maybe kick him. I enjoyed it though, because I got to be by Max and it was all warm and comfortable.

Some more Mario followed, and then Max insisted I experience the original nintendo “Gilligan’s Island” game. I thought it was rather funny, actually, but the horribly repetitious midi theme was stuck in my head for at least an hour afterwards.

His dad gave me two fake orchid plants. They’re actually cool (for being fake) and I think I’ll give one to Diana’s restaurant... they seem to enjoy fake plant decor there.

The night was fun and ended too soon. I look forward to doing it again Wednesday night!

Some days all together

David was talking. I smiled and nodded my head. The thing is, most people don’t realize that sometimes when I smile it’s because I’m thinking of something else. At this particular moment I was thinking of how enjoyable it would be to rip off all of David’s arm and leg hair with duck tape. Ah yes...

I don’t really care too much what people do/say to me because I know it’s usually not about me, but it’s because of some deep psychological problem involving seals or maybe the fear of popcorn. Point is, I don’t care, BUT I DO CARE WHEN SOMEONE MESSES WITH MY FRIENDS!

So I spent most of my night troubled about how Bridget was doing, and how Jenny was doing...

Then next morning Max tried to help me with this stupid chemistry worksheet, which made no sense to my poor, tired head. But now I get it!

In Psychology we were talking about Fear, but the discussion quickly turned to how Mr. Mobley had received 22 days of suspension during his four years of high school. Interesting stories!

Oh, in history we had o watch this really weird video about the Salem Witch Trials and it had strange cinematography.. but it was entertaining.

Chemistry- turned penny to gold, penny burn Sara, Sara get toxic chemical in eye, Bridget warn her too late, Sara die, Sara lose penny

GSA- A-okay

Walk home- hurt feet

Friday at last!

The last day of the school week finally arrived. I fell out of bed happily onto the floor, but discovered a bruise on my leg from yesterday’s jumping activities. Oh well, I was in a good mood!

Two Cents told me about a scary dream she had last night, some frightful event involving the Eyes and Briefcase. I didn’t catch on right away; she soon filled me in on the whole, slightly amusing but lamentable, story. And it was to become the big news at the Heater.

I had just concluded Alex must be skipping Psychology when he rushed into the room holding a plastic bag.

“Elowel is down,” he almost exclaimed.

“Whoa! Really?!”

He held up the bag. Inside was a computer-looking part.

“Your journal is on here somewhere..”

Luckily Cody (and a little bit of Max) fixed it. Woo!

German- Boring, drew comic

AP US History- Ran out of candy

Finally it was lunch and after sharing half of Max’s sandwich, we made our escape from the coming assembly. I was nervous and paranoid, but we didn’t get caught! And so passed an hour of sitting in the shade with Max, Kai, and Bridget.

Chemistry- Fun

After school ended, (at last!) Max and I headed down to Pizza Schmizza and ate good food.

Yawn.