It's amazing how much time we spend hiding things from people. And it's even more amazing how many of those things we wish the other person actually knew...

High Heel Challenge Day!

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So today was high heel challenge day in Clarie's and my spirit day thing. I thought I was running late for A period since the bells were all off (10 minutes early) so I sort of cheated and took off my heels to walk run across campus and up three flights of stairs. xD Better than Clarie though, she refused to wear her heels/platforms for the whole day until I made her put them on before practice so we could take pictures. =P But yeah, just have to say that I have no freaking idea how my sister wore these practically every day her junior and senior years of high school. They're pretty hard to walk in... I DID feel taller though. Which was nice. xP

Mock trial was fun; we just reviewed the case from last year. Dr. Peyton Flenderson ftw! xD

Yoga was boring. We walked on the trail and did some yoga afterward. We saw a cat and her kittens while walking though. They were SOOO cute!

Calc was interesting. I need to do the homework. Blah. And the one day I take care to barely even open my mouth, Mrs. Dillman asks me if I'm going to cause trouble again. After that, not opening my mouth just sort of went downhill. =\ I'm sort of wondering if this is going to continue for the whole year, because I am rather scared of that class as of now...

I gave Robyn her present during lunch. She seemed pretty happy/excited, so I'm happy. =P


History was... fun. Failed the course policies quiz (where the heck does it say the date of D-Day in the policies?!), but had a nice time during the Socratic. It was interesting.

*****

Practice was pretty much the same old stuff. Crunches, stretching, etc. We learned some more work (I still can't toss a triple! -grrrrrr- >=[) and Melanie hit herself on the nose with the nose (haha, get it? She hit her nose with the nose...) of the rifle. She passed out for a few seconds too; it was scary. Hopefully there's no lasting damage to her nose or anything, that would suck... =\

Four words (or five, if we get technically about the contraction): Club Can't Handle Me. =]

So tomorrow will be interesting...

Kitten Love ♥

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So I haven't posted stuff in a while. So much homework! Anyways, I got 100% on my calc graphing (semi) pop quiz. xP It made me happy. But due to Zach being oh-so-nice and talking to Mrs. Dillman about me, I am now scared of going to that class. Bio today was pretty amazing too. the test sucked, but I love Mr. White. He SO reminds me of Mr. Pence. I'm going to love this class. =] Other classes? Blah. Mock Trial's cool too though. xP

First Day of School!!!

So it wasn't too bad. I'm so intimidated by all my weighted classes though...

Mock Trial was amazing, as always. Went over rules and everything. Talked a bit about roles, and I got to offer my (oh-so-helpful) insight as to what being an expert witness is like. =P

Yoga was pretty boring. But it seems like a chill class, so whatever. Laryssa's in my class, so at least I'll know one person! And Zach kept picking on me. -.- Way to greet someone after not having seen them for like, the whole summer. Loser. xP

Chem was pretty intimidating, what with all the talk about studying and it being the hardest course at Cal... -sighs-

I visited Ms. Foss during lunch, and had a nice talk with her. I'm still sad I'm not in her class, although King seems to be a much "easier" teacher than Foss.

Calc seems okay. Dillman gave out a worksheet that was pretty damn hard. I could not, for the life of me, figure out the second problem. Got it like, an hour ago. It took me a good hour or two to even know what I was doing. Then Zach had to come in and tell her I was trouble at the beginning of class, so at the end, Dillman walks to me and says, "So. I hear you're trouble." I would be lying if I didn't flip out a bit inside before I went like, "What?" Then I realized Zach had come in and told her the student in the gray sweatshirt and hat was trouble. -.-

Bio was fun. Mr. White is amazingggg. He sort of reminds me of Mr. Pence (humor-wise), which is undoubtedly a good thing. =]

APUSH is going to be hard. Hodges seems pretty cool though, so that's all good. I bet I'm going to regret not dropping this class though...

King's pretty chill. He kept talking about how hot it was going to be in his classroom the next day. xD But yeah, his class doesn't seem to be too hard, and he seems like a cool guy, so that class shouldn't be too bad.

*****

So Clarie and I dressed up as guys today, and it was pretty awesome. SO funny when my friends didn't recognize me!

Anyways, I was waiting for Clarie outside the main building, and Laura walks by, and sort of does a double take and asks, "...Erica...?" It was pretty amazing. She laughed her butt off after too. =P Jung saw me in the stairwell and knew immediately who I was; it was sort of impressive. But I DID have my backpack on. Maybe he just knows my weirdness too well. xD

I walked into Mr. Barr's room and sat down, then when Lisa came in, I started talking to her and everything, and she figures out it's me (duh), then Tiffy looks over and is like, "ERICA?!?!" It was AH-MAZING...

And on my way to chem, I hit Vivian on the shoulder, and you could hear her ask the people she was walking with, "Wait, who is that?" Then after a few double-takes, she gets this revelation or something, and goes "ERICA!" Funny as hell. xD

I doubt we fooled a lot of people, but some of my friends thought I was a guy, so it was TOTALLY worth getting all of those weird looks. =D

*****

Practice was pretty chill today. Not too much equipment work or anything, but we figured out the first few counts for our show. It was hot as HELL outside though; thank goodness we didn't have to run. We just marched a ton and stuff. =]

Afterward, Peter was all like, "So. Why were you wearing Ross's clothes today?" I just sort of looked at him, then at Ross (who was right by us), and started laughing. Peter never got his answer either. xD

Then Ross tried to interview me about Columbus during the car ride back. I refused. Then I told him I'd just send a few bullet notes to him later on. xP

School Starts... Tomorrow... =[

Kitten Love ♥

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"First" Day of Guard Camp!

We did lots of movement today; Julia, Ashlee, and Jessica came to visit too! Then rifles went out and practiced. There was this plate of hot dogs outside (for some reason) and so Laura, Clarie, and I all stole one. xD Clarie almost KILLED me today too. So we were tossing triples, and as I went to catch mine, Clarie's rifle comes spinning toward it and knocks it out of the air, literally 3 inches from my face. I went into shock for a while. Then Elaine came out and taught us some more stuff, which was... hard. But meh. xP

Ashlee taught us a dance from "So You Think You Can Dance" too; it was pretty fun. It made for good guard bonding time! So yeah, a pretty cool day of guard camp!

One more day, then the weekend before school starts... =[

Last Day of (Official) Band Camp!

We had CHS Live in the morning; it was AMAZING. Like always. xP I love our section leaders!

I don't remember much from the actual day; we did the same exercises and running and stuff. We switched out the core exercises for PT though. Which was sort of painful, since we sprinting with really sore legs... Then we had a drill down, which was fun. Most of the guard got out when they called the order to front, since they all turned to face the field (which is normally front). So it was up to Ellen and me, then we both got out on left haste (?). Ellen did left flank, and I was late bringing my right leg in...

Lindsay, Laura, and Christine visited us too, which was nice. All these graduated guardies can't stay away. ;D

Afterward, the whole band got berated for our lack of energy after we did some marching basics and stuff, but then they told us we could go to lunch. Obviously, almost everyone started celebrating, and then they told us to run a lap. xD

Rifles learned how to toss a 2 1/2 too, which was really weird. It has an awkward prep... We had another drill down after lunch too; I made it to the last five, then got out because I didn't know I was center, so I twitched my head. -sighs-

Then we had the Circle Game, which was amazing. At the end, EVERYONE (except seniors) got pelted with water balloons and sprayed with silly string. I crashed into the door in front of the band room (I have a nice bruise from it too) trying to open the door for the mob of people dodging water balloons. =P

Clarie came over to my house afterward to shower and stuff before registration, since she didn't want to have to walk to her house and back. Then we went to registration and talked about how you couldn't tell we just finished 8 hours in the sun. xD It was pretty fun.

Junior Year Schedule!

A: Mock Trial, Barr
1: Yoga, Petrich
2: AP Chem, Coburn
3: AP Calc AB, Dillman
4: AP Bio, White
5: APUSH, Hodges
6: Honors English 11, King

I freaking spent 2 whole weeks trying to convince Ms. Foss to teach Honor English this year, so I could get her as a teacher, and I just happen to not get her. Aghhhh!!! =[ And Courtney and Robyn both have her... Seriously, this makes me so depressed...

ID card! It's a decent picture. I look old though. o.o

The Joys of Band Camp

So. My legs are sore and it hurts to walk up the stairs. I seriously like, hobble up. It's sad. My arms are sore, but that's manageable. My shoulders and neckline area are amazingly burnt. They're like cherry red. xD It's sort of funny actually, but pretty sad. I came home and slathered on the aloe. =P

But yeah. Same exercises today, except before, we played a pretty awesome "pirate" game. It's basically four poses, and you have to do whichever Abby (drum major) calls out. It was pretty exhausting, to be honest. So yeah. The core exercises hurt twice as much today, since we were all still sore from yesterday. You could hear the collective groans. xP

Rifle did some more exercises today; I seriously suck at this... Pizza tosses are scary as hell too... But Christine, Lindsay, and Laura came to visit! And to teach some of the newbies. It was awesome. =]

Lunch was... lunch. Ate food, talked to people, practiced rifle/flag a bit.

We mainly did movement today. Blocked it up and did some marching, plus left/right/about face (which we learned in the morning). Then all the movement with the names that I don't know how to spell. xD Rifles went out and did a few tosses, then spent the rest of the time attaching straps to our weapons, so yeah. Not too much practicing there. =P

But yeah, I'm tired. One more day of full band camp, then two of just guard work!

Welcome (Back) to Band Camp!!!

Surprisingly it wasn't too bad today. Hot, yes, but not too much strenuous activity. Walked/ran a mile (alternating laps), and I was already about to die. How sad is that? Then we stretched, like always (I'm getting really inflexible too), and did some core activities. Twenty crunches, bicycles, scissors, held our feet off the ground for a while, and held a plank position for 30 seconds.

Then we did a few basics; learned dress center, up-four-four-down-for-four, high mark time, step-offs. Good stuff.

Lunch was pretty awesome; guardies stuck together, and like four people mooched off of Mindy. xD We have a decent amount of people this year too. Sixteen showed up today, including five vets (Ellen, Melanie, Claire, Laura, and me). Ellen, Aileen, Jessica, Mindy, Monica, Alex, Erin, Mari, Elise, Katie, and Olivia. =P

I annoyed Ross and Peter for a while too. And Courtney, of course. xD

After lunch, the band went into sections. Guard spent 30 minutes trying to unravel a human knot (we ended up failing still; but we were so close!). Those things are damn hard with 16 people... Elaine (our new coach) is pregnant too; it's like the curse/boon of the guard coaches! Then we broke off into ID, flag, and rifle groups. Melanie and I wanted to do ID, but since we're vets, the positions went to newbies. =[ The five vets are stuck on rifle. Which sort of sucks, because I suck at rifle. I can sort of spin right-handed, barely spin left-handed, do double tosses and no more, and that's about it. -sighs- Ah well. I guess I'll deal with it somehow...

Not too bad of a day; pretty fun actually. We played a game at the end too, nice bonding time. So yep. Welcome back to band camp!

*****

Oh, and more differences from field. Only one piece of equipment (since there's no way we're switching equipment in parade), and more footwork. Good parts are that there are fewer practices (no Saturday 9am-5pm!) and... That's about it. Ah well.

Band Camp Tomorrow!

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Anyways, I finished AP Bio homework in 2 days! I feel so accomplished. Still so much to do though!

Band camp starts tomorrow; I'm SO not ready for it. I haven't run a mile in like a year too, on account of not having taken PE last year... I'm screwed. Ahhh... I fainted during a practice last year too, so that's always a possibility. Wonderful.

At least it's only 3 days this year, plus the extra 2 guard practices. Better than two weeks, so I'll take it. xD It's not as hot these days either, which is nice. Aha, no crazy tank top/short/sock tans this year! Actually, scratch that. They'll still be crazy, just not as much as before. =P

I'm so not ready for this season though. No more field shows. =[ Parade will probably be fun in its own way, but there won't be any stadium lights and the whole... "stage" feeling I guess? And there are probably certain things that will never come up in parade, like that lift for the Zorro show frosh year. I doubt anything like that would ever be woven into a parade show. xD

Plus, there's tons more pressure in parade. Not to say that dropping during a field show is good, but it's way less conspicuous than if you mess up during a parade show. There's a chance a judge could miss a drop in a field show; with judges like 5 feet away now, that would be a miracle. And the area for performing is so narrow! The audience is probably 3 feet away. Lots more stress not to hit anyone; especially if you're going through the band too... I already had enough trouble with that in certain parts in field shows... -sighs- Well, good experience I guess. Two years of field, two (presumably) years of parade.

Well, band camp is going to be painful. But I'll get to see all my guardies again! [The picture's from championships last season, just in case you were wondering.]

Pro of Being A Procrastinator?

If there is such a thing. But anyways, being the procrastinator I am, I haven't done half my summer homework. And I have band camp all next week. Meaning I essentially have this weekend and the next to finish 4 chapters of notes, and like 3 books. And get new crap for school, get organized, and just get ready in general.

So what exactly is the advantage of being a procrastinator, given that I'm so epically screwed right now? Not sure if it can be considered that, but I at least have a rather excellent work ethic once I realize I have to do something or my life is going to be irrevocably screwed. Okay, exaggeration a bit, but hey. Anyways, I took a practice test today, and got a splendid headache halfway through, yet somehow finished the test. I doubt I did well though. Came home, laid down for an hour (during which the headache got worse, if anything), then got up to start my marathon of bio note-taking. Five chapters down in a day. I'll finish tomorrow and start reading those novels Sunday.

The actual pro of this is that if I ever do stop being a procrastinator (-scoffs-), I'll have everything done the day it's assigned! Now just to get over that bump. xD

Even if I don't like how my parents talk about me, they're right about some things. Yet, there are things about me that no one should/will ever know.

Day 30 - Whatever Tickles Your Fancy

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Anyways, Santa Cruz was pretty fun. Zach and I went on the pirate ship while Simon got lost on his way to the bathroom, and I'd be lying if I didn't get some jitters after not being on the rollercoaster or any "crazy thing" (as Simon puts it) for a while.

Drop Tower was fun; I dragged Simon on it since he was too wimpy to go on the one at GA. The one at Santa Cruz is only about half the height though. Ah well.

Fright Walk scared the hell out of me; I think my mindset creeped me out a ton too; I was just like, "I'm going to DIE in here..." I had my arms linked with Zach on my left and Simon on my right, and I was seriously grasping them so hard, my left arm was sore after we got out. xD Sort of ashamed of myself, but meh.

We went to the beach after, and the water was COLD. I got wiped out (literally swept off my feet by waves and stuff) at least 5 times. Like, I'd be standing there having a fun time jumping waves, then this HUGE one would come, I would look at it, and go, "Sh*t." Zach, Simon, and I buried one another under the sand too, but I didn't get a picture of Zach because he totally leaped out after Simon said he was at my mercy. -sighs-

Walked along the beach to the side side of the boardwalk, and I ran to scare these seagulls, then Zach freaking TACKLES me to the sand. Psh.

We went on the Ferris Wheels (yep, both of them), but Simon wouldn't let me rock the one with a closed compartment. What a wimp. xP

Then Simon and I shrieked all the way through Ghost Blasters, and that was hilarious, because when we got out, you could hear these little girls asking, "IT'S SCARY ISN'T IT?!"

Walked around some, went on FireBall (Delirium at GA), where we had a small snicker when this lady couldn't get on the ride. But it's okay, she was cracking up too. Got some snow cones, which were amazing, except they were pretty hard to eat... Ah well.

Played the Alphabet Game on the way home, and Categories with Pokemon. Went home, took a shower, and was tired as hell, but couldn't pass out for some reason. But it was a pretty fun day. =]

Readability Statistics

I challenge you to go to this website: http://www.ist.rit.edu/~jxs/services/TestReadability.html

Put in an essay of yours or something, and the site will tell you stuff about your essay; mainly just "how hard" it is to read. xD

*****

Gunning Fog Index

Gives the number of years education needed to understand the text. Short, plain sentences score better than long, complicated sentences. Based on words per sentence and "hard" words per sentence.

Flesch Reading Ease Score

Indicates how difficult the text is to read, where 100 is the easiest. Based on syllables per word and words per sentence. Try for score of 60 - 70.

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Score

Gives the number of years education needed to understand the text. Short, plain sentences score better than long, complicated sentences. Based on syllables per word and words per sentence. Try for 8 - 10.

*****

Something from Goodhue (essay for the Civil War Project)...

Gunning Fog Index: 14.01
Flesch Reading Ease Score: 50.87
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Score: 10.77

*****

A Foss essay! To Kill A Mockingbird, to be exact. xD

Gunning Fog Index: 17.21
Flesch Reading Ease Score: 46.73
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Score: 13.53

*****

Scores for an Addison essay (Great Expectations)... Surprisingly, the scores aren't that low... They beat my Goodhue essay. o.o Although the Goodhue one was mainly facts... Meh, I guess BS has its benefits. =P

Gunning Fog Index: 14.69
Flesch Reading Ease Scale: 48.65
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Score: 10.96

*****

And one from over the summer (Sylvia Plath's "Daddy"). This just goes to show how much I slack off over the summer. xD

Gunning Fog Index: 12.35
Flesch Reading Ease Scale: 62.16
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Score: 10.21

*****

And because Courtney did it, and I love Courtney (and stole this from her), I'm uploading something from Sloan's class too. In this case, it's my closing speech for the mock trial. I think the high scores might be because of the Chinese names in part though. xP

Gunning Fog Index: 13.94
Flesch Reading Ease Scale: 54.04
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Score: 10.73

Busy Day =]

Anyways, one of my dad's old friends from college came over today, but I, having stayed up until like four texting Simon, didn't wake up until 3 hours after he came. Such a great hostess. Ah well. So then I just stayed in my room and hung around until it was time for me to go to SAT review.

Review wasn't too bad; my score went down overall, which made me sad, but if I did better on the essay, I can still pull it up. I really doubt it though... Simon and Ross were being weirdos throughout review, but I love them because they're awesome. xD Daniel made up do a ton of mental math problems too, but he talked so fast I didn't even have time to register what he was saying. =P

Went to Ross's parents' party afterward; Shensen, Alvin, Ross, and I played Pokemon Monopoly for a while; Lucas subbed in for Alvin eventually. xD We ate food, and sort of forgot about Monopoly afterward, but meh. Ross is such a great host; he just walked around making sure everyone had everything they needed, then poured everyone a cup of cider before he sat down and got food. Unlike yours truly, who slept through the first 3 hours of her dad's friend's visit. xD

Then Shensen and Lucas spent some time playing Battlefield 2, while Ross and I played some nice games of Jenga and a decent one of Scrabble. =P Not sure where Alvin went at this point; I think he went home early. Anyways, the rest of us all got together and played Deuces and Go Fish, which was rather amusing. Watched disk 3 of Band of Brothers, which seems to be a pretty amazing movie. Lots of action too, which was nice, although I could have done without the scenes of bloody stumps of legs and that one guy who got crushed under the wheel of a tank. Started War of the Worlds too, but we had to leave right after it got interesting. =P

So yep, a pretty awesome day. I need to get up in like 6 hours for class though, which sucks. -sighs- But I have Santa Cruz on Monday, so I'm psyched for that. =D

This week officially nullifies all the sh*t I went through last week. =]

Kitten Love ♥

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Day 29 - Hopes, Dreams, and Goals for the Next 365 Days

I just want to be happy, just like I am right now. =]

Day 28 - This Year, In Great Detail.

Well, screw that. I'm too lazy to go over a year in great detail. Go amuse yourself here instead.

Day 27 - This Month, In Great Detail

Again, I've already posted about the last 3 days (which happen to be the first 3 days of August) so I guess it'll just be about today again.

Woke up, ate a doughnut (yay!) and went off to take a practice SAT (blah). The essay topic was sort of hard to bring literature examples in for, at least for me, so I ended up using a collection of Chinese Cinderella, Gandhi, and Proposition 8, which, by the way, got overturned. =]

Had to wait at the testing place for like, half an hour though, since my mom's cell was off, and no one was at home. =\ Ah well.

Came home, ate some pasta (yummy!) and isolated myself in my room like a hermit. Like always. Ate some cantaloupe, took a shower, and here I am! So exciting, huh? xD

*****

Off to visit Tappy (Clarie's corgi) tomorrow though, which makes me happy. =]

Dance To This Song! =]

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Day 26 - Your Week, In Great Detail

So I've already had posts about Sunday and Monday, so I guess just today is left.

Went to YogurtLand. For the third consecutive day. xD That was nice. Made a visit to Kaiser to see if I needed any shots; turns out they wouldn't give them to me without a record of a biannual well check, which I haven't had since I was like... six. So we scheduled a check up and stuff.

Then I went to class. Which was pretty damn tiring today. Blah. Oh well. Went shopping and bought doughnuts/milk. Came home, ate pho and watermelon; I'm probably off to get a doughnut later. =]

A pretty good week so far, especially in contrast with the second part of last week, which was absolute horror.

Day 25 - Your Day, In Great Detail

So. I woke up at 2:13pm. Yeah, I remember the exact time. Laid around in bed for another hour, then dragged my computer off of my dresser and went on Facebook and AIM. Eventually got hungry, so I brushed my teeth and did all that crap, then went downstairs and looked around for food.

Went out with my mom to Kaiser, then we dropped by this Chinese restaurant where we were going to get some take-out dishes, but decided to come by later with my dad and eat pho instead. Went to Nob Hill and bought a watermelon, four mangoes, two apples, four pears, and a cantaloupe. Then we stopped by YogurtLand and I got some strawberry, peach, lemonade/passion fruit, blueberry, and plain tart yogurt, with strawberries and gummy bears on top. =]

Went back home, I finished my yogurt, waited for my dad to finish up his manga, then we went out to get some pho. Large steak and brisket. Yummy food.

Came back home, and my mom and dad went out on a walk (they're still out right now), and I played piano, which I just finished. So yep. Oh, and I was texting Zach and Clarie throughout the day.

Detailed (and boring) enough? xD

Day 24 - Whatever Tickles Your Fancy

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Mangoes are rather yummy. =] I just ate one. Random, but hey, they're good. I hate when you get the strings or whatever stuck between your teeth though; that sort of sucks. Ah well. They're delicious. =D

Good Start

A pretty good start today, at least for lately. Maybe even for normally too. Which is nice, because lately I've been being woken up at like 6-7am, which isn't nice... Anyways, I had class today, but that turned out to be okay, so it was pretty nice. A little bit of a downer afterward, but nothing major. Hope the rest of today goes smoothly as well...

As for my 30 Day Challenge post today? I'm going to save it until I have a picture. =]

Edit: Jess and I went to YogurtLand and got like 13.5 ounces. xD Then we went to Border's and just sat there. And read. -gasp-

Edit: Crap puddles are clearing up. My sister is amazing.

So this big crap puddle is leaking little crap puddles, then I have this other rather large crap puddle on the side. Yay.

Don't even try to blame this on me.

All right. You might just be frustrated, but screw that. Don't even try to blame the consequences of your actions on me. Don't yell at me for telling the truth. I know what I heard.

And if you want to say that I don't aim for enough, and that I won't be successful? Fine. I'll prove you wrong just like I proved YeYe wrong when he didn't want me to be born. Just wait and see.

Day 23 - A YouTube Video

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