Shepherds Pie and The Mummy Returns.

I was going to tell you about the swim meet this weekend, it has quite a few stories involved. But first, I want to tell you about dinner and a movie. I will tell you about Cedar City another time.

 You are probably thinking me talking about dinner is really boring, because really what can you say about it? But no, it is actually kind of funny tonight. See, my little sister (Adrienne) likes to do cartwheels. She does cartwheels all day it seems like. Usually I don't really have much to do with her cartwheels. Tonight however, I decided that since I was babysitting them I would just warm us some left overs and eat it on the floor by my couch. (I was sitting like a few feet from my table, so it's kind of pointless, but I didn't want to sit in a chair.) So I warmed up some shepherds pie for dinner. If you don't know what that is, it's meat, corn, green beans, cheese, and mashed potatoes, not in that order. Trust me it tastes a lot better than I just made it sound. Anyways, I sat down with my plate of food, and was about to eat it, when my sister did one of her cartwheels. Unfortunately, she was standing right in front of me, and she kicked my plate five or ten feet up in the air. I am not kidding, it almost hit my ceiling. The reason why  I told you what is in shepards pie is so you can get a little bit of an idea of the chaos that ensued.

My plate when up in the air, and all food that was on it went everywhere. It was on the blinds, the windows, the couch, the floor, a couple walls, the dog, my other sister, everywhere. I think that it covered more area than if it had been paint instead of food. I think that the only thing that didn't end up covered in mashed potatoes was the actual plate.

My littlest sister Eliza started to almost cry, and Adrienne felt so bad and kept saying sorry. I almost started laughing because it was so comical how it happened. I had to spend forever cleaning it all up, (it got behind the couch somehow) and kept laughing. Adrienne didn't think it was funny because she felt so bad about it, and Eliza also didn't think it was funny either because I told her not to cry when it landed on her.  But I thought it was hilarious.

After dinner, when my sisters went to bed, I watched a movie.  Have you seen The Mummy? If not, you really should. We watched it in Art a while ago, and it is really good. I laughed for a lot of it, where as my friend Moonshine (it is a long story as to why I decided to call her that on my blog, but it is from The Mummy) was scared the whole time. We watched it to see Egyptian Art, but it was a nice break from all the notes we were taking before the movie. Anyways, my friend Moonshine and I loved it and wanted to watch the sequel. We eventually did, and I think it made the art teacher like us. The second movie was actually arguably better than the first. It was really funny and we still make a weird hand sign for it and talk about it a few times a week. We also watched The Mummy 3, but it was not as good. It had a totally different plot and the main character was a different person, who was like 20 years older, but her husband was still the same age. It wasn't even Egyptian, it was Chinese! The two good things about it were the weird uncle (who is the only reason we even finished the movie) and the yeties. I don't want to go into detail about that movie, but it's not as good as the first two.

The Mummy Returns (the second of the three movies) was on TV tonight. My friend texted me to tell me, and when we couldn't watch it together, we just watched it and texted about it the whole time. It was really funny, and it was weird to like "virtually" (for lack of a better word) hang out with someone. The movie has a random part in it where they are talking in a desert sand dune area and then in the background there is  in the middle of the  sand a guy sitting in a bathtub reading a news paper. It is irrelevant and really random, but I think it is funny.

In the movie there are also zombie monkeys and skeleton armies and an army that has human bodies, but with weird animal heads that confound me. This is not all, the Rock (super buff dude who is in a ton of movies) is in the movie as a half scorpion half human demon. I think they might kill him, but don't quote me on that. Texting about the movie was actually really fun, but I think that it would have been funny if the texts that I sent went to the wrong person. The person would get so confused I bet, good think they all went to the right person because anybody but Moonshine would be flummoxed (go look it up :D) by my texts about zombie monkeys and bathtubs in the desert!

Really Unnecessary Stupid Post on Nothing

Note: Don't read this, it is stupid and if you do read it then it you are wasting your time, there are 101 better ways to spend the amount of time it takes you to read this. Not being modest, just honest, this is not a good post...at all. Are you still reading? if so, stop, go do something productive, or play video games, or really anything.  I don't want you to suffer having to read this.

HEY ALL!  I am going out of town, so I am writing this right now. I have a million things to say but at the same time nothing to say right now. I really don't know what to say, so I guess it will be a surprise for me too. I am painting this thing for art, it is a mosic of a jellyfish, but have you ever seen a mosic of a jellyfish (that is not ten feet tall)? NO, you have not. Do you know why? because it is really hard! What is hard is the fact that you can't tell where the water is, or the orange part, or the pink part, or the purple, or the red, or anything! You can't tell in some parts if you look closely, or even care, where it matches up.

These little girls came over and are playing at my house. They are five and three, but they are so cute. The five year old is named Jane and the Three year old is named Dawn.  Dawn is like a mute. Up until a few months ago I heard about five words from her. I have known her forever, but she never talked to me. But then a few months ago she randomly started on some huge talk about Monster High or Justin Beiber or something. I was so shocked I didn't know what to do for a minute. For some reason I had really just assumed she was mute besides her five words.

Once when I was babysitting her she came out of her room (it was like nine or ten at night, so they were in bed) and told me that her Barbie didn't have a boyfriend. I tried to tell her that Barbies didn't need boyfriends, but she just kept insisting that they did. We argued about it for a while, and finally I convinced her that since there was only one boy doll and her sister had it, she should just have her Barbie have a best friend. I ended up thinking that I had helped her or something, to realize that Barbies really didn't need a Justin Beiber boyfriend. Turns out I was wrong. Really, really wrong... I was babysitting them again the next day, and when they went to bed I came in to make sure that they were doing okay. They were playing Monster High Barbies on their bed, not unusual, but then Dawn made her two girl barbies kiss. I was like "What are you doing? Why did they just kiss?!" and she replied calmly, "They are in love." After double checking that it was not like sister love or mother-daughter love, I had to explain that girls don't usually fall in love with each other. Dawn, it turns out, is hard to convince of anything. First that dolls don't NEED to have a boyfriend, and then that girls generally like boys, not girls. Moral of this long and useless story is: be careful what you tell three year olds.

I don't know what to say now, this is a really boring weird post, so really if you are not Mr.Thompson, don't read this. If you are, still don't read this. Just check off the 500 words per week thing by my name.

EDM

I haven't posted in a while.. So to first catch you up this week I had a swim meet and went to Lagoon. I did more, but those were the two biggest things I did.

At the swim meet I only had 2 events (most people had 4 events I think). My events were 50 Free and 100 Free. I was okay with the 50 and was disappointed with the 100, but over all I am happy. I just really didn't want to get disqualified, which I didn't, so no complaints. 

Lagoon was fine. I was actually in a bad mood for a lot of it, but I liked Deception and Funhouse of Fear. I saw my friend Alexis and said hi.  I also saw Alexis's sister in Deception. Her sister scared me, because she came up behind us and it took me a second to recognize it was her. Deception was by far my favorite, but I had fun in Funhouse of fear and some guy in a clown mask started talking to me and blocking my way out, it actually made me laugh because the 3D glasses I was wearing kept falling off and we were having a strange argument. The Night Walk one was not nearly as scary as it claims to be though, quite the disappointment sadly..

On to the "EDM". I said I would try to write about space camp, so I think that I will start telling you something about my adventures there (because all I've really talked about concerning Space Camp is the schedule for sleeping... lame right?). ~~~~

I am not sure what EDM stands for, but I think it might mean End Demonstration Mission. But don't quote me, I really just made that up. An EDM is a six hour "mission."  The goal of the EDM is for your group to get the Orbiter to the ISS, or International Space Station and back.  But it's impossible, because the Orbiter/shuttle always breaks, and somehow everyone ends up dead.

But before you get to try a mission, you do all kinds of other things. You might think that all you do at space camp is learn about rockets or something, but you're really wrong if you think that. They do teach you about rockets and all that, but there are a lot of very active, loud things you do.

One project is to build a little model rocket with an egg in it. The hard part is that you can't let the egg crack when you launch the rocket. You do the same thing with a space suit, try to protect an apple from water, radiation, and from being stabbed.  And you can only use a few materials for its suit. You do a few other experiments like drop an egg from a two story building and use a flame thrower on it, but I don't really want to spend a lot of time talking about these experiments right now.

One thing that you should know is that these things sound like they would be super scientific, but they really aren't. There is a lot of screaming and shouting and energy that goes into watching someone use a flame thrower on a piece of pasta in front of an egg. You also have to do team activities that are athletic and are about team work. They are a lot of fun, but you do them outside and it is really humid, so you get not only your sweat on you, but EVERYONE else's sweat in your group all over you. I know that's gross to say, but it's true.

Sorry, I got off topic, I just meant to say that Space Camp is a lot of fun and you do a lot of very active things, not just nerdy math problems the whole time. There are 4 missions (or AOAs I think their called) and 1 EDM (long mission). Missions are great if you're into theatre; I love missions, because it is just acting and improv and trying to figure things out for an hour. EDMs are the same thing, but instead of one hour, they are for six hours. EDMs are separated into three main part- Take Off, ISS, and Landing. Each section is two hours long, and everyone has different jobs.

One job is Mission Control. They are on the ground and do computer work. You have to do a lot of researching and finding, and I personally don't like it a ton. Another option is MS1 and MS2. MS stands for Mission Specialist, and I like that job. The pictures with me in a harness is being MS2. There is also Captain and Pilot. I don't do well with those jobs... I crash the Orbiter when I am Pilot or Captain. The last option on what to be is Scientist and Engineer for the ISS. I usually end up as Engineer or Scientist. In fact in two of the four short missions and in the EDM that was my job.  

Mission Control ended up being mostly the girls' domain- except me, I was the only girl on the Orbiter. The Mission Control place looks like a small computer lab. There are around six computer screens that you can see behind the computers. Mission Control ended up being mostly the girls' domain. They have cameras that show you what is going on in the shuttle and ISS. I always got bored looking at them, so before the EDM started my friend Sasha and I decided to do the Macarena in front of one of the cameras to entertain the other people. The people were not entertained, I guess it was just distracting, but Sasha and I had fun.

The Orbiter-the shuttle that you're trying to get to ISS- reminds me of a gerbil cage. It has tunnels, ladders, and little square rooms that are very small and crowded. There is a cabin for the Pilot and Captain, and a little ladder that connects it to the main room where the Engineer and Scientist have to sit while it takes off. The Main room also branches out to a little tunnel. The tunnel has another little room at the end meant for doing experiments, and a ladder that goes up to were MS1 and MS2 do their little mission thing (in the to picture I am about to get unhooked and go back down the ladder). The whole Orbiter is small and confusing, and to make it more confusing all the doors are like hatches and are hard to open if you don't know how.

Last but not least, the International Space Station, or ISS, is a lot bigger than the other two rooms, but from what I hear, they are trying to make it really crowded and confusing and chaotic by putting wires and panels everywhere. When I was there, though, there was not a lot of useless stuff laying around. In the middle of the room is a big concrete cylinder with a spinning chair on top, and a bunch of cabinets, hatches, drawers, and shelves.  The ISS has the most jobs that include actual flipping switches and running around. It is my favorite area, because although I like the MS2 job, I only did it once, so I know my way around the ISS a lot better. (Oh, and there is a coat closet like room that is only a few feet long and wide, which you have to go to when there is a "meteor shower", also known as the counselors ruining your experiments and breaking everything in the ISS that is not tied down.)

Now that I have described what it looked like (If you are even still reading), I will tell you what happened, at least this year- last year is a whole other story. The EDM (the long mission) started with me and Sasha getting bored and him agreeing to dance the Macarena in front of the live feed camera with me. I honestly think that Sasha and I may have had the most fun out of everyone there during the EDM.  He wore a pocket watch and had his goggles on during the whole mission, which totally cracked me up because he was like a janitor meets a 19th century business man meets anime nerd. There is no one on Earth like Sasha, he is of the Collinses of Los Angeles (A very prominent clan, as you know.)  The Collinses' family must be interesting, because Sasha sure is!

When the clock started, Sasha and I had to sit down, so we just talked for a couple minutes. After it took off, Sasha and I got to go into the room for doing experiments while the Mission Specialists did theirs. We each made this bouncy rubbery thing, it was like two chemicals mixed with rubbing alcohol, but it was so much fun... until we dropped them on the dirty floor and they got ruined. We also talked and tried different experiments. We saw a fake snake and I thought it was so cool, but I think one of the counselors saw my facination and used it against me later in the mission.

The second third was much more fun. A CBS camera crew (go check the video!) came in and started filming us though, so I tried to stay out of the way as much as possible. There was like a leak or something that we were trying to find though, and I found it first, so the camera crew came over and I had to try to not get crushed because all the boys wanted to look good on camera, so they all rushed over and pushed me out of the way. I need to not let them push me around, but I was too nervous about there being a camera and about the fact that all the boys were a lot bigger than me and I didn't ever want to be near any of the boys on the ISS. Mean, I know, but I'm being honest.

We had a hectic time because it was really crowded with the MS1, MS2, Scientist, Engineer, Pilot, Captain, Counselor, and big camera crew. Even though it was really crowded, we still had to complete all the check lists and do experiments. Most of the boys didn't really know what to do, but were too arrogant to listen to me most the time. It was really fun and exciting, the only thing that annoyed me was the boys' egos.

During the last third of the mission, everything got crazy. Remember that snake I said I was so fascinated with? Well, I saw it when we got back to the Orbiter, but this time it was under Buster's seat in the Captain and Pilot's cabin. I picked it up and all the guys freaked out. They took my new pet fake snake and threw it down into the main room. I was so sad I went down and pouted. One of the counselors was walking though and went into the hatch leading to the science experiment room, so I decided to lock her out. She got mad and when someone finally let her in she told me that I had a mysterious leg pain, which means that everyone should be trying to figure out whats wrong, but no one cared, so I had to scream until they came to help me.

When Sasha finally came he decided that I had Restless Leg Syndrome and I needed to just walk it off. I tried that and I just ended up dead. Everyone else started getting the same thing, but he continued to insist that it was just Restless Leg Syndrome. It was a snake bite, and ended up killing everyone almost.
Okay, I am done rambling, if you finished, congrats, you got farther than I would have.

The Rabo Penguin

thar was a penguin named Quentin he was a rabo penguin he has rabo ags al the ahrs war jilis ov his rabo staf he was so raboe. the end

~ritin bi kate

Translation:

There was a  penguin named Quentin, he was a rainbow penguin. He has rainbow eggs, all the others were jealous of his rainbow stuff, he was so rainbowy. The end.

~written by Kate (age 6)

My sister wanted to write a story on my blog, so here it is. :) It is adorable.

Fortune Cookie

Guess what I found yesterday? A fortune from a fortune cookie. I was at my little sister's soccer game (Go Purple Pandas!) and I saw a random fortune. I read it and it said "Don't pursue happiness - make it."That seemed like a cool fortune to me. It is true though, happiness is not something that you look for and hope you find, it is something that you need to create. Happiness is great, and it is true that you find it, but not by following someone else's plan. I have tried to be someone else, but it doesn't work, it doesn't make you happy.

Trying to be too cool or trying be that popular person doesn't work. Trying to be "unique" doesn't work either. It is great if you are, everyone can be, but you can tell if it's not genuine. If someone is trying to be overly different, it's not different at all. You're not going to be truly happy being someone or something you're not.

You need to just learn who you are; teenage years are about that learning I guess, but I feel bad for people that are not sure about taking that risk to learn. They don't want to be excluded or to be without friends, so they don't take that leap of faith to try it out. I am not one to talk, I tend to want to make other people happy, even when it hurts me. Trying to stand up for my self and not be pushed around is hard for me. I can stand up for other people just fine, it's standing up for myself that I have a hard time with. But I am starting to stand up for myself. At first it didn't do me much good... but now I am finding that I am happy and can find more ways to make myself happy.

I realized that I don't need to act like everyone is sweet and kind if they really aren't; girls are especially good at being vicious when they seem nice. With this new found idea, I have made some new friends, which I know stick up for me and are not trying to be better than me. This is what making your own happiness is I think. Sorry if this sounds like an essay or preachy, that fortune cookie just really got me thinking.

Student of the Month

I want to start off with saying that if anyone actually read my last post, I don't actually say "really" that much. I also had to stay home from swimming and had a headache all weekend. Luckily the bruise is much better, and I don't have a headache right now. That post was weird... starting with the fact that I said "stellar" in that context... And of course putting the word "really" in every sentence, I do know other adjectives.
Now, on to the "student of the month" thing. I was very surprised that I was nominated, especially because (as stated in my last blog) I am not the most outstanding english student in my mind. I was really nervous for being recognized, and Mr.Thompson made it more nerve wrecking by saying that he had to say nice things about be there, and in front of a lot of people too! I came to school at 7:10-ish and went into the activity room, and I got a doughnut and all that. When they started having kids go up, the first person up got to demonstrate, and I got to be second. Yeah, I didn't have the whole system down, so I messed up, so I was deciding whether to laugh or to turn bright red. After I went and shook the hand of all the teachers there, Mr.Thompson read a SPEECH about me. He said that I am more than willing to tell you what I can't do. He then proceeded to say everything I can do. He even quoted my blog from last time. It was a great speech, but I was so nervous during the whole thing.
Sorry, I wrote this Wednesday, but I asked my mom to check it after my post last week.. Anyways, now it is Sunday and I have been asked about student of the month several times. I am always flattered, but  do not accept the compliments with grace, if you know what I mean. Someone told me that it was such a great honor, especially because it was from Mr.Thompson. She said she wanted to be student of the month in his class all year last year. She is really nice and smart, so that makes me more confused at me getting it. Oh well, I guess, just accept something good instead of griping over why I am not good enough (which is not my intent, but it is what this sounds like.. sorry!) So thank you Mr.Thompson, I am really honored and grateful, even if I am not the best at saying it.
Oh! and here is his speech! So go to Mr.Thompson's Speech of Lies if you care to know what he said (it makes my blog make more sense).