School Days

School started for my sisters and me yesterday, and what a joy that was. It was so great to wake up at 6 again, not have breakfast because it makes me feel sick in the morning, have to sit still all day, interact with annoying kids, have new classes, have my grades actually count towards college, and be the oldest of the school. It's weird being the oldest...we don't seem as big as the 9th graders seemed to me when I was in 7th grade. And was I that tiny when I was in 7th grade? They're smaller than last year!

On Friday night I went to my first party of the summer. Sad I know, but I'm not exactly a social butterfly so not very many people want to hang out with me, I think I hung out with Sariah twice and Amanda twice and then did night games....twice. Anyway so I got there and just sat around talking at first and then I played the skittle game (you pick two skittles with your eyes closed, and if they're not matching then you have to keep the skittles in your mouth until you get a match) I was sick of skittles after that. I went inside not sure what to do because it was obvious that no one really cared I was there which I was used to but I still would've liked to feel a little welcome. I ended up playing Rock Band for a half hour because I'm wicked at the guitar. I then played "Monkey" which is where you put a hat or hood over your head and go to some one's doorstep, ring the bell, and sit down on the porch. You have to stay there until the person goes inside or there's one person left. If you start laughing you have to leave. It was pretty fun. I went home at 11:30 PM.

So I went shopping for clothes on Saturday night, and there was of course nothing there cute and I was starting to despair but then it was like the heavens opened and cute clothes fell out and I was able to find some awesome stuff to buy.

The next day I finished the Book of Mormon which I thought would be a good way to start the school year. It was delightful and weird at the same time to finish it.

Anyway so I of course couldn't get to sleep the night before. My family and I had just watched some Tweety and Sylvester episodes on a video we got from Grandma Carol. We were laughing at how violent it was and then trying to imagine our cat, Sylvester, with the actual Sylvester's voice and doing some of those things. It was fun. When I got into bed, I decided to read a chapter in my book really quick because that usually knocks me out. After I was done reading, I lay in bed for a long time and couldn't sleep. After a while, I heard an annoying squeaking from upstairs that meant that one of my little sisters was bouncing up and down on their bed which I could hear clearly from my room. I stood up on my chair and put my head right under the vent and yelled for them to shut up. I then decided that since I was up, I might as well play my keyboard in the dark which I did for about 20 minutes. I think I went to sleep around 12:30 AM.

In the morning, my alarm didn't go off because of course I forgot to set it. Silly me. I woke up anyway thank goodness and got ready. I wore my first pair of skinny jeans that day. Ashley was so proud of me. I didn't like them at first and just prepared the boot cut but they ended up being pretty cute. I got ready then headed up towards the bus stop. When the bus came and I got on, I was sad to see that the fun, older kids were replaced my midgets. We arrived at school where the officers gave us Dum Dums (shouldn't they give us Smarties instead??...) Everyone was screaming and hugging each other. The first day, everyone looks so cute and happy and energetic, but by the second day, everyone looks dead and is depressed again. I went to first period which was geography with a teacher who I had in 7th grade. I like him, but it also depends on your behavior. If you are bad, he's a butt head, if you're good then he will be a fun teacher. My next class was Algebra 2 which was way crowded. There were about 35 of us in it, but then 10 people took the online course of geometry over the summer so now there are 45 people in the class. It's crazy. Everyone was mad because we have a teacher named Mr. Free and he's the only one who teaches Algebra 2. We wanted to have the geometry teacher, Mr. Wilkinson, back. He's fun and a really good teacher. My 3rd period is Chinese. There are 13 people in the class and I'm the only 9th grader. Two of the girls are Chinese and can speak the language which makes me confused of why they take the class. Maybe they're just trying to show off, that's probably what I would do even though it would be a waste of a class. I love to show off. The teacher is from China. She taught us how to greet each other, say what our name is, greet the teacher, and say goodbye on the first day. Ni hao, wo shi Celeste. 您好我是塞莱斯特 (Nee how, wow sheea Celeste) Something like that. Today, she spoke Chinese all day and barely said anything in English, we were so confused but it was cool too. I have Honors English 4th which I'm excited for. I love to write and I always had the longest stories in elementary school and I got some certificates for being in the top 10 percent in the nation in English or something. It's funny to look through my 2nd grade year book where it has every one's writing, because everyone single one of my stories are at least twice as long as other people's. 5th period I have Concert Choir. There are boys and girls in this choir and it was crazy. Ms. Swallow was yelling at everyone to be quiet and it was chaos. The boys are so annoying and can't shut up. I love them and they are so cute, but boys are frustrating. In everything they are frustrating (like the fact that they love you one day, and then love some one else the next), and in choir they are EXTREMELY frustrating!! Gosh is it too much to ask to shut your yap and listen to the teacher and just sing?? Ugh!! I'm excited for choir but it is going to be difficult. 6th period I have seminary. It was awkward. I've been dreading the first day of seminary. It's just weird to sing hymns and pray and read scriptures with my peers. I'm excited for seminary, it was just the first day I didn't want and thank-goodness it's over, and thank-goodness I didn't have to give the first prayer! "please bless I won't fail the next class...." Idk but now I'm fully ready for seminary and am glad that I get to have church be even more of a daily thing in my life. It will be great, especially because I don't have Brother Tew :] Moving on...my last period was art. My counselor told me that 7th period would be advanced art. I've already taken beginning art and advanced art and I was going to take painting which is the highest art course they offer, but it interferes with math and there's only one Algebra 2 class. So I went to art, but it turned out to be beginners art, and the other 5 9th graders in there thought it was advanced art too. Dumb counselors. Oh well, we got a new art teacher this year and she sounds like she's going to be really good and fun.

They made us go to all 7 periods before lunch, and then they combined the lunches and had it be 45 minutes long and let us go outside. We then had to go to advisory (a pointless class we have every Friday and for what reason I still haven't figured out) and then to the gym and cafeteria in rotations where they told us stuff we've heard every year. They informed us of the chess club, basketball, musical theatre, science Olympiad (I did it in 7th grade and hated it...), and a bunch of stuff that everyone already knows. In the gym they told us about how to succeed in school. Here's the list of how to succeed:
1: don't piss off the teachers
2: don't be late for class
3: turn in all work (duh)
4: don't fight
5: do your homework (obviously...)
6: go to school (hmmm that's a new one)
7: try your best
8: complete all work

My very wise principal came up with these amazing new techniques to use in school, and was probably thinking that even though we've been in school for 9 years now, we still haven't figured this out. I now think that I am ready to succeed since I've finally learned, after 9 years, that if I turn in my work and if it's completed that I won't get a zero. I don't know how I got straight A's in elementary school without knowing this.

They switched my advisory teacher to a special ed teacher which made me mad because I had Mr. Wilkinson at first and I was excited but then I was grumpy when I figured out I had Mrs. Princen. Until a hot guy came and sat down next to me and actually talked to me. That's right, he didn't ignore me like the majority of the people at the school, he smiled at me and asked me if I know how to play scrabble. Dang it, I've never learned how. My family is too cool to play that game, we like to play easier games like Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride and Scattergories. I still encouraged him :] His older brother was in A Brand New Year with me.

When school was finally out, I "tried out" for volleyball as usual. I didn't make it the past two years and knew I wouldn't make it this year because I'm not too good. Well I'm good and have a pretty good spike, but I can't serve to save my life. Last year I cried when I didn't make it, this year I just had fun with it and went home happily after seeing "shockingly" that I wasn't on the team for the third year now. I'm going to try out every year and I probably won't even make it when I'm a senior, but then I'll do it in college and be amazing and all those girls who think they're better than me will be so jealous at my skills, and the coaches will all say "dang, we should've given her a chance" because I think I could do well if they would actually just give me a chance to show them and not just at camp when there are fifty girls.

I'm kinda a failure at things. I didn't make volleyball the past three years now, I didn't make musical theatre last year (I made it this year!), I didn't make madrigals, and I'm not good at sports even though I love them. The only thing I'm really good at is piano which is good because it doesn't require me to get all hot and sweaty and it's really fun. I was pretty good at gymnastics I guess, considering I went from level 1 to level 4 in one year but that was with a lot of private training. Still, I did well with it and didn't start sucking until I moved here and one of the gymnasiums scared me to death so I could no longer do a lot of my tricks anymore (such as vault, cartwheel on beam, round off double back hand spring, front hand spring, kip, high bar kip, etc...) I was really strong though, and I am still pretty strong, but I remember my veins used to be popping out after I did gymnastics which was so cool it was crazy how strong I was for an 11 year old.

Wow, this was a long post. Sorry guys. I bet most of you just skim when you read this because the sad life of a 14 year old isn't too exciting, but I appreciate those of you who do at least make the effort to skim, and especially those who say that they read every last word (like Bonnie!) I also love it when I get comments, even if you just say "hello" they make me feel good. Anyway, that's it for now. I'll write sometime next week or something. Bye everyone! 附属的