I HATE SCHOOL

I just thought I'd point out that I hate school oh so much. It's a terrible thing to have to go through even though it's necessary to be able to survive in this cruel world of ours.

The class that I hate the most, is of course, math. I have a terrible math teacher who doesn't do a good job at explaining things which is frustrating. I have to teach myself how to do everything from the text book because I have no idea what he's rambling on about. I'm in the highest math that they offer at my junior high which is Algebra 2, and they only have one class for that. I wish I could go back to geometry or algebra, but Mommy won't let me. Algebra 2 isn't exactly hard, but it's just frustrating. And my teacher, Mr. Free, is forcing us to learn how to graph on a graphing calculator. I don't follow that at all. I at first just used my mom's calculator, but Ashley needed it for school so I just brought a regular calculator to school but Mr. Free requires everyone to have a graphing one. Every day, he uses the calculator on the overhead and he goes really fast. Everyone else in the class gets it but me. I usually do something wrong so I go back to fix it and by the time it's fixed, he's already far ahead. And when I do stay with the class, I can never manage to make the stupid points appear on the graph. Why do we need a graphing calculator anyway? Why not just do it on paper, or is everyone too lazy to spend a few extra minutes doing it? I think it's sad how everyone uses calculators for even the most basic math. I usually just quickly do the long division or whatever because I don't want to be one of those lazy people, unless it includes decimals that I tend to use a calculator. Many people have used math without calculators and they didn't die. It's just because people living now days are lazy.

I get frustrated so easily with math, which usually results in me slamming my book and refusing to finish the assignment, but I can't do that this year since I'm a freshman and my grades actually count towards college. It probably wouldn't make a difference if I did my assignment or not anyway though, I always get bad scores on homework. And, as much as I love my mom, I hate asking her for help because she always has to explain every single little thing and usually solves it a different way than me which just confuses me and makes me even more mad. I really want to get a 4.0 for once, but I don't think that's going to happen because I have a hard time getting an A in math. I got a couple A's in geometry last year because my teacher didn't grade the homework based on if we had right answers. I hope you guys are getting from this how much I hate math.

The other classes aren't as bad as math. Chinese is kinda fun to do sometimes. Except for I stayed up late making a nice PowerPoint for it, and a girl in my class offered to present it. I had it going automatically, so it would stay on a page for about 15 seconds to read it and then go to the next one because I hate the boring slides where you just click the whole time. But that girl, Kimberly, is such a slow reader. I had no problem reading it within the time limit because I'm a fast reader, but she was going ultra slow and kept on stumbling over everything. If I wrote something like "Lollypop Dynasty (168 BC - 22 BC) she would say the BC part as slow as she possible could, even though I kept telling her to skip that part because everyone else can read it themselves. She read it so slow that she didn't get through half the paragraph before the slide changed. Thankfully, the bell rang before it was over so hopefully we can start it over next week and I'll just read it instead. I'm sorry, but I can't stand slow readers. I HATE HATE HATE it when someone is reading in class and reads it really slowly and quietly and I just want to slap them. I know I'm not being a very nice person, but that's just how I think. I remember being so ultra annoyed in 3rd grade at the people who had a hard time reading and spent five minutes on three sentences, and then I'd read it in like thirty seconds.

Honors English was annoying because I had to make a mythology notebook thing. We worked on them in the library all week and I got a lot done and typed up. But, of course, I forgot to print it off and bring it home, so when I got home yesterday with a project due today, I had to start all over. I had to do the mythology notebook and the stupid Chinese PowerPoint and it took me until 4:30 AM (it didn't help that I had two Young Women's volleyball games yesterday). A lot of the people I talked to stayed up late working on their mythology notebooks too last night. I was so tired today and had a hard time waking up. I couldn't find any clean jeans so I just pulled on some Mickey Mouse sweats and wet down my hair and put barely any makeup on. Everyone at school said I looked really tired. Well I did only get 2 1/2 hours of sleep. It depressed me to know, while working on my project at 4 AM, that in 3 hours I'd be getting ready for school. That was a happy thought.

Concert Choir is kinda fun but annoying because the boys can't shut up, and it makes me feel bad because the people who were good enough to make madrigals think they're better than us and have parties and stuff without us in concert choir. I was the only person who had a 1- for solo and ensemble that didn't make madrigals, and also the girls who were in a Brand New Year with me all made madrigals. Our teacher told us that concert choir is just as good as madrigals but I know that that's crap. The reason we were put in concert choir is because we weren't good enough to be in madrigals. I was upset when I was put in concert choir, but I guess I should've expected it since I fail at everything else I do.

Seminary isn't a favorite class, even though a lot of people told me it would be. I don't know if it's just because of the teacher or I'm just not spiritual enough or something.

Art is annoying because I've already been in that art class and it's full of stupid, annoying sevvies.

I hate school.

Moving Backgrounds

Hey everyone, I hope you like my new background. I think it's pretty sweet. I tried to make a cool header too, and I think it's okay, but if anyone wants to share how they did theirs, it would very very much appreciate that so it doesn't just look like I did it in paint, which I did (thanks for the idea Erica!). I might try to draw a really super awesome picture for it instead. That would be fabulous. I took the music off because I'm pretty sure most of you turned your volume down when you heard it and that's what I do sometimes. On my background, I don't really know what that thing next to the daisy is...it looks like a water snake tail, but I'm not sure. If you know, let me know so that we can all be happy and I won't stay awake for hours wondering about that. I'm already up past my bedtime as it is.

Oh, by the way, I moved to my house here exactly three years ago today. I hated it when I moved here at first, but now I'm happy I did (partly because we don't get things stolen from us anymore! Yay!!). It was just hard to move away from all of my friends and an awesome school and the place where I did gymnastics. I moved here September 23, 2006 around 12:30 pm. I'm good at remembering dates. I got my beagle, Daisy, on December 16, 2005 but got rid of her June 24, 2006 before going to my state gymnastic meet. I got my chihuahua, Toby, on February 13, 2007. That happened to be the day after the shooting at Trolley Square (only people in Utah would probably know about it). I had been absent the day of the shooting, I don't know why, and I went on a field trip the next day. And February 13th is my friend, Mikey's, birthday and the day this year when I was super happy from the whole solo and ensemble and Anthony Bailey thing. I could go on about when I got pets and other stuff happened on certain days, but I've got better things to do such as go to bed. So goodnight everybody, I hope you enjoyed this short and slightly random post. I'll post again when someone decides to make my life exciting.

**Did you notice my title had a kinda double meaning?? I thought it was cool but if you don't then...whatever...I guess.... Yes, I know it's lame :]

Epiphany

I've had an epiphany, I think that's the word... Anyway, a couple of nights ago, I was talking to my sister, Ashley, about some random stuff and somehow we got into the conversation of powerpoints. I was talking about how I love doing powerpoints and I'm such a nerd with them and how I've made some really awesome ones. I was saying how I love doing really cool animation with it, not the kind where you just make the words do a million flips, but putting on pictures and making it more movie-ish. I made one about Ralph the Rock's Rock Cycle and I used stop animation. I made a picture of him on paint, and then made a background, and then put the two together. I'd put Ralph on the background and then copy and paste to my powerpoint and have it appear and disappear for about a second. I'd then delete him from the picture back at paint and then put him back on and have him move a little bit and then put it on the powerpoint. I don't know if you guys are following this, but eventually after doing this a million times it looks like he's actually moving and I spent 14 hours doing that in one night for a science project. I stayed up until 5:30 am and I got 20 extra credit points. Everyone was really impressed with the powerpoint. I then started talking to Ashley about how I was learning to use this animation program called Blender and saying how cool it is. It's like what people use to make Shrek or Over the Hedge and it's really complex but it's awesome. After going on for a while, Ashley said something like "you know, you should do animation when you're older".

My dearest Ashley, you are a GENIUS!! Why didn't I think of that!? I used to want to do Human Resources because you get to wear professional outfits and you get to hire and fire people, I then wanted to be a mid-wife after reading a book about a high school shooting where the shooter's mother was a mid-wife and I thought it sounded pretty cool. But right now, doing animation sounds simply DELIGHTFUL!! I don't know if I'll change my mind again later, but this sounds so good right now and I have always loved animation stuff. I can be one of those weird smart people who make video games or movies, except I will wear cute clothes and know how to do my hair. I'm so happy about this and makes me want to do even better so I can go to BYU with Amanda and go into their animation program thing. I love animation! I'm now going to go to nystic.com to watch some more tutorials on Blender. Peace out :]

Talking with Barbie Artemis at Lagoon While Playing Rock Band

I will once again post about my life this past week. It has been exhilirating.

So I will first say that the most amazing thing happened at school last week. During lunch, I was actually talking and laughing and making other people laugh. I don't know what came over me, but I just all of a sudden decided maybe I should join in the conversation for once instead of staring at everyone. Everyone was really shocked that I wasn't mute and that I was capable of laughing, usually I just sit there and do my own thing. The next day people were talking to me and being nice and waving to me in the halls. Incredible.

So on Monday, my daddy left with my Aunt Tina and two of my cousins, Hailey and Tanner, to California to visit with my Great-Grandpa Brandy (who I think I've only seen once...) and then to go to Grandpa Littleton's funeral. I kinda wish I could've gone even though I didn't know him that well. The few times I did see him, I really liked him and I thought he was a fun guy. He used to send me cute birthday cards that I still have. I like to collect cards. I hope that in the afterlife I will get to know him better.

On Wednesday, I was supposed to dress up as the goddess, Artemis, and talk about her and have some kind of visual thing to tell her story. I had no idea what to do. Mom and I had talked about taking scenes from the TV show "The Seeker" and just voicing over it, but we didn't know how to do it and Dad wasn't there to help us. Other people had drawn pictures but I thought that was kinda lame, though a couple did have some awesome pictures. So on Tuesday night, I did the only thing I could think of, I made a Barbie video. I don't know if any of you have watched my other Barbie videos, but they are very strange and they were both made at about midnight which might explain why it's so weird. Anyway, I had Hannah help me with the voices and holding the Barbies, and Mommy recorded it. After I was done and I had edited it, I couldn't believe that I made it. I seriously didn't want to show it to my class, but I didn't have much choice since it was already made and I didn't know what else to do. I stayed up until about 2 AM editing the movie, and then I missed the bus the next day because I woke up late from being so tired (last year I stayed up until 5:30 am working on a project on a school night. It was the coolest slide show and I was having too much fun with it. I'm a huge procrastinator) and I couldn't figure out how to get the video on the flash drive so I had to call Dad which I felt bad about doing because it was 7 am. He had me take my mom's flash drive instead because the one I was using was being dumb. I missed all of first period because of that. And the really funny yet sad thing is that there wasn't enough time for me to do my presentation that day. Figures. The next day I did go up and do it though. The guy who went before me was Apollo. The teacher was getting mad at him the whole time he was talking because she thought he wasn't doing a good job or something. I wasn't really paying attention :] But then he played his movie and it was really weird. It just showed him lip syncing a song and he was like in a competition or something and it didn't really have anything to do with Apollo except for he's the god of music. After three minutes, she told him to turn it off and do his quiz. Everyone was really quiet after that. He quickly did his quiz and sat down. Everyone felt so bad for him.

So I was next, and after what happened to the last kid I was kinda nervous. My English teacher isn't mean or strict, but I guess she thought that that was really dreadful. That's also bad because I'm in Honors English so she really expected quality work from us. I got up and said my introduction about Artemis. I had a cool toga on and a bow and other decorative stuff. When I was done saying my introduction, she said "Now how many of you like her talking that fast?" That totally freaked me out and my heart started beating really fast and I thought oh crap, but then everyone raised their hand and she said "Yes, I agree. I like how you talked loud and fast, Celeste, that makes it more interesting." Whew, okay so far so good. I then put on my video and went to the back. It started and after the first ten seconds my face was red and I was horrified that I was showing this to everyone. My teacher, however, looked over at me with a big smile on her face. Everyone was laughing really hard while watching it and my teacher kept on looking over at me and making a few good comments. I was nervous when there was a scene with a naked Barbie but everyone loved it. After I was done, everyone was clapping really loud. When class was over, I had a ton of people tell me that that was the best one they've seen so far and it was amazing and they loved it. Wow, I didn't expect that, I thought they'd all think I was a lunatic and avoid eye contact with me. During lunch I overheard some people talking about my video. I was so amazed that they thought it was that funny. I got 100% on it.

The next day, Friday, I went to my friend's house for a surprise birthday party for my other friend. We played The Beatles Rock Band the whole time. Everyone was amazed that I could do the guitar on expert and thought it was amazing, but the songs weren't even that hard and they just repeated the same chords so it was boring to play. I can't do drums on Rockband, I'm not that coordinated, and I only know like two Beatles songs. I sang anyway as long as someone else was singing with me so I would eventually learn the song. We played a different version of Mafia and had a good time.

That night I got mad because Mom wouldn't drive me to This is the Place Heritage Park to learn and record a song for A Brand New Year 2010. I can't blame her, it was 7-9am, and she's been driving me to a lot of places lately. I felt bad because I wasn't being very nice. They're making a Brand New Year 2010 and I don't know what they're doing but they were only making one singing part and then the rest will be a surprise!

I went to work today and was a relief operator where I go to certain games and work them for 30 minutes while the person working the game takes a break. While I was working a game I hate, Wac a Mole, a Senior Missionary went up to me and started talking to me because he lost his family. I didn't know missionaries were allowed to go to Lagoon. Anyway, he said that he's from Idaho and that him and his wife have been on their mission for 4 years now. They came here in August of 2005, and they mainly work at the Church History Museum. I told him that my grandparents are on a mission in Mongolia and he told me that that was where he had wanted to go, but they came here because of his wife's poor health and they needed a good hospital nearby. He was really nice. I didn't feel guilty of not selling because the girl working Wac a Mole is a crazy and annoying seller and will make money on her own, and I hate Wac a Mole. I had a fun time doing Speedball, and I hated Hole in One because it's a rip off and there's no shade.

And that's about it. Ashley, Dad, and I have decided that we're going to get a Nintendo 64 because the games are really fun and won't get scratched and ruined so easily like the Game Cube and PS2 and other game consoles. Nintendo 64 games are amazing.

Here's the Artemis Barbies Video if any of you are interested in seeing it. I don't know if you will think it's very great, I sure don't, but my dad really loved it so maybe you guys will too.

Jon Schmidt Concert

Last Saturday, Amanda and I went to Jon Schmidt's concert at Waterfall Amphitheater at Thanksgiving Point. Mom sat in the car and read the whole time. The line of cars to get in was huge, and then the line was super long. Thankfully, I had my iPod so Amanda and I watched "A Very Potter Musical" which is a hilarious Harry Potter musical that Amanda was watching on youtube the previous night so I had downloaded it on my iPod before we left. That made time speed up a bit. It didn't really click to me that amphitheater means outside. Therefore, everyone there had blankets and chairs, except Amanda and me. Oh well. We finally got in and headed towards the huge amphitheater. It was so beautiful there with waterfalls and lots of trees above them. They sold food, drinks, and Jon Schmidt CD's and books. After we found a spot, Amanda went with me to go look at the piano books. I couldn't resist, I bought one. I bought the one with The Summit and Pachelbel Meets U2 in it. We then lay down on the grass and watched "A Very Potter Musical" and a band called Avenue of Ember played for ten minutes. The place was crowded and very packed, there were thousands of people there.

The show finally started and Jon started out playing a really amazing piece called Game Day. I totally want to learn that one. He then played Waterfall next which was very pretty, especially since the waterfalls in the background came on while he started playing. He played many songs and was hilarious. Everyone wanted to hear his new piece Love Story Meets Viva La Vida so everyone was getting really excited as his celloist, Steve, came out and he said to everyone "I now want to play a song for all of the girls out there, my wife loves this song..." Everyone was sure he was going to play that song, but then he said "It's Song of the Ocean" and then a lot of people groaned. It's a very beautiful song but we really wanted to hear the Love Story Meets Viva La Vida song. He finally did play it. I called my sister, Ashley, right before the song started. She was over at her friend's house but she stayed on the phone for like 8 minutes listening to the song even though I didn't talk to her the whole time. She later said that she was surprised to hear every screaming and clapping and thought it would be like a nice piano recital where everyone politely claps and nods their heads silently to eachother. I was trying to tell her and Dad earlier, it's an actual concert, not a dumb recital. They're fun and crazy and exciting.

Jon played some other songs and threw out ice cream to people. He had a random guy who he's never met before (seriously, it wasn't previously planned with this guy) come up and play a certain jazz chord and then play the piano with him using that chord. It sounded so cool and proffesional and that guy (Jeremy) was amazing. Jon was really impressed, and they both were standing up and dancing at the piano during part of it. They both played it without previously ever playing together or learning anything. It was all spontaneous (is that the right word? You guys are getting what I'm trying to say right??). Jon was then having everyone laugh by playing "Terminator Meets Man From Snowy River" which was really funny and weird to hear. Try mixing those two together in your head. Everyone was laughing really hard when he played it. He then played "Be Happy Meets The Phantom of the Opera" Oh man good stuff. He played All of Me which I am currently learning. He told us that if he did happen to get an encour, he would play Love Story Meets Love Story. He had to make that song because he hasn't yet gotten permission from Coldplay to do the other version. We of course, wanted an encour so he graciously gave it to us. But right before, a man came up with his girlfriend and proposed to her. Awww.

Anyway, it was a super fun night and if anyone wants to go to one, call me and we totally will. Jon Schmidt is amazing.

***I found this on youtube and I thought it was HILARIOUS! It's a sad version of All of Me, so it was nicknamed "None of Me (The Song of Rejection)" by Jason Lyle Black. Those who are familiar with All of Me will see why I find it so hilarious :]

Football

On Thursday, I went to Hannah's soccer game. It was fun to watch and made me wish I still did soccer. Her coach is annoying. She just seems all snooty and my mom doesn't like her. Whenever my mom says something, the coach replies with pissy responses. She's never played soccer before and isn't a very good coach. She wouldn't let Hannah play the first quarter because she missed practice, and then she took Hannah out for the last half of the 4th quarter. She was out more than anyone else and almost all of the girls (including the coach's daughter) were never out. Next time I go to her game, I'm seriously going to yell at her coach. Everyone should be put in equally. I can tell Hannah doesn't like her. Whenever the coach told Hannah something, she had a look on her face that told you quite clearly that she doesn't like her. I thought Hannah's charisma was pretty funny, and she gave her coach dirty looks. Go Hannah! Stupid coach.

So yesterday I was super duper tired during school and I had dreams of taking a nap. I went home but then got a wonderful text message from my friend, Sammy, asking if I wanted to go to the Viewmont High School football game with her. I happily agreed then decided there wasn't much point taking a nap since I was going to go to a football game soon and my mom and Hannah were watching Project Runway. I got ready and then Mom drove me to Sammy's house and then we started walking to the school. We were picked up by her best friend Davis (who she "secretly" has a crush on). We arrived and I saw that my bff, Mckenzy, was there too! We then proceeded to sit on the bleachers in the junior high section. I didn't even know there was a junior high section, I thought we could just sit wherever we wanted... I saw many wardies there like Mary, Janie, Dusty, Adam Barlow, Jess, Joye, Matt, Ryan, and Heather. We sat and started watching the game. I walked around a bit and got a Gatorade with Mckenzy and then went to go sit with Ryan for a while. Some guys sitting behind us were kicked off of the bleachers and had to sit on the other side because they were heard cheering for the other team. They tried explaining that they go to Weber State and they aren't cheering for a specific school and they just like to watch football, but they were still kicked off. During the second quarter, my friends decided they wanted to take Davis's car and go get pizza. I didn't think that would be a good idea (considering no one was driving age) so I went to go sit with Ryan again until they came back. They decided not to get pizza after all. It was pretty fun but not totally exciting. I hung out with Ryan for quite a bit of it. This guy in my ward, Jeremy Lieber, is the quarterback on the football team and made five interceptions. He's really good. We lost 14-28 :[

After the game, Davis, Sammy, Hayden Plum, and Jacob Callobeer snuck underneath a fence and went across this board that goes over a small canal and went through some one's backyard to get to Arctic Circle. I felt so sneaky. We all got shakes and ended up staying there for like an hour. We were talking about the funniest stuff and I was soon too afraid to eat more of my shake because every time I did I would almost spit it out from laughing. I had a really good time. At about 11 pm, I went to Sammy's house and played the Wii before going home. Usually I hate playing the Wii, but it was kinda fun.

Today, I went to the Viewmont football game for the junior high 9th graders with Sammy. We got ice cream from the ice cream man and cheered on Davis. He made a touch down which was awesomely amazing. We went on the swings for a while and were just walking around and talking. After the game was over (Viewmont won) Davis took off his football jersey and the shirt he was wearing underneath was soaking wet from sweat. He went up to Sammy and gave her a huge hug which was disgusting. She had wet spots all over her shirt and smelled like football players after that. Eeeew. Now tonight I'm going to a Jon Schmidt concert with Amanda which I'm really excited for :]

Wow this post is short! It's so delightful :]