Tamagotchi and Furby will Rule the World!!

I was watching "Modern Marvels: 90s Tech" on the History Channel and they mentioned some technology things I thought were really funny.

When Tamagotchis came out in 1996, they had more power in their little computer chip than the 1981 Osborne 1 portable computer. I use the word "portable" lightly. That thing's the size of my school backpack.



My Tamagotchi, I think it's a second generation Connection, so I bet this one has at least three times the power of the Osborne 1.

Here's the best one:
Did you know that the gorvernment thought Furbies were a threat to National Security?

When you get a Furby, it starts out talking in a gibberish Furby language, but the more you play with it, the more English it learns. It has English words stored on its chip that are brought out in increments over time, but when it came out in 1998, people didn't know that. They thought it was repeating words it heard like a parrot, so on January of 1999, Furbies were banned in all government buildings for fear that they would repeat some government secrets.

!!!

That's hilarious! I had a Furby when I was probably 6, but I had to read the Furbish to English dictionary to understand it. I was in Kindergarten, so reading was hard for me. I don't know where my Furby is now. I know he broke, but I don't know what happened.

These aren't mine, I just thought I should provide an example of what Furbies do.



The first generation are soo much cuter than the second. I think the middle is a first generation.

My Burger King Furby from 2005, so it's not even 90s.

Ugh.

Before I start this, let my say that I'm not just being a whiner. I agreed with most of the criticism, I really just think she's wrong on this.

So the editor-in-chief of my school newspaper wants to change my lead. I figure she knows what she's talking about, but I can't let this one go. My lead sentence is "The driving age debate has once again followed legislators into the meeting room." She wants me to change it to "The driving age debate has once again caused legislators to visit the meeting room."

...

-_-'

What?

"Caused legislators to visit the meeting room?!" Caused is one of those ordinary verbs that you're supposed to avoid, right? Oh, wait. The packet we read said that you're supposed to use boring verbs when you're writing news or else it's editorializing. Fine, if I have to use a boring verb, then whatever. But I will not accept "to visit." Nobody visits a meeting room. Not unless they're giving away free donuts. It's not Disney World! When I hear the word visit used like that, it makes me think of how third grade teachers used to say "Do you need to visit the restroom?" Sorry, that's just what it sounds like to me. When you put it like that, it's a fluffy, roundabout way of getting to the point just for the sake of sounding professional.

I don't understand this: why would you intentionally make something boring? Not that my lead is all that great, but I would like to think it's better than "caused to visit." I think it works because my point is that the governor doesn't want to raise the driving age, but the issue keeps following him. They can't get rid of it because the safety departments keep pushing for it. It's "following" them. Perhaps that's editorializing, too. I think I have to look up editorializing. I had a lot marked, and most of it I understand, but saying that most roads are expanding to six lanes doesn't seem like an opinion to me. It's evident.

One other thing. I'm not allowed to jaywalk quote. You know, walk around at lunch and stop at random groups of people, ask them some questions, and when someone shouts out something interesting, I write it down and ask them to sign. With most people, all you have to do is say, "What would you think if the driving age was raised?" and they start debating it on the spot. That's how I got my quotes. It's unreasonable to ask high school kids to spend their lunch letting me interview them about the driving age. This isn't a burning-at-the-stake kind of article, it's more a quick shot in the head. Why can't I jaywalk quote? It seems much more effective, and it gets people talking. I know I need more seniors and people who can drive, but how am I supposed to get seniors besides chickenhead's brother (who I tried to interview today, but he wasn't at school) without jaywalk quoting?

In honor of cars and to make myself feel better, here's what I would say if I was trying to editorialize. I love that I can write whatever I want on here. It's cathartic.

Sitting in a chair and moving at the same time is the idea that shaped and defined the American lifestyle. This idea is what makes cars so popular. Without cars, there would be no driver-through windows or drive-ins. Cars make it possible to antagonize other drivers from the safety of an enclosed steel box. There’s a horn in your steering wheel—use it at random moments, especially in high-traffic areas. Everyone around you will think it’s directed toward them. In the exit lane on the highway, don’t let people cut in front of you. Instead, pretend you don’t see them. Then pull into Burger King and order a Double Whopper with cheese.

I pulled this from a speech I wrote last year, the most fun I've ever had writing for a class.

I'll title this later when some of my homework's done and I can think straight.

My little cousin stayed over on Friday. He's almost 7 and he's so funny. He asked if he could turn on the McCain/Obama debate. He's not even 7, and he wants to watch the debate! He knows who he would vote for and everything.

He said the cutest thing. He was talking about the lion fish that are destroying the ecosystem off the Atlantic coast, and he said, "I want to be a scientist like Peter Parker was before he became Spiderman. I would make something that the lion fish are allergic to, but if I don't succeed, that'll be the end of me." XD

I'm waking up in the middle of the night now worrying about my newspaper article. I can't get the people at the police station to talk to me, and I have no idea how to find someone at my school who's been in a car crash to interview (or how I would get the nerve to interview them...) I'm going to try the police people again today. Someone has to be there to answer the phone on Sunday. I'm going to make them answer my questions.

Gah, and I have four hours of government homework and a 175-word Spanish essay to do on top of panicking about newspaper. Fan-freakin-tastic.

Hold on, I'll transfer you.

This afternoon, I spent 45 minutes trying to get someone at the police department to let me ask them some questions for my newspaper article. I swear, if I have to hear the phrase, "Hold on, I'll transfer you" one more time...

I called the main line, and they transferred me, then those people gave me a new number to call. That number transferred me, then they gave me a new number to call. That number didn't even work...I get kept getting a fax noise. I called the main line back and they gave me a different number. Turned out to be a directory of detectives. I connected to 4 different detective extensions, and none of them picked up. I left four messages, called the main line back, told the guy how none of his brilliant numbers got me anywhere, and you know what he said? "Well that's all I can do for you." Thank you. This is our government at work.

I did all this in the car waiting for my sister to get out of school. She got in the car, I ranted a little, and she said, "Can I try?" I'm just like, "Be my guest, it can't hurt." THEY TALKED TO HER!! She got vague one-word answers, and the guy hung up before she could get a name or permission to quote them, but she got more than I did in one call then I did in 1700 "transfers." She called back for the name, and they said "I don't know who you spoke with." Seriously, just answer the damn questions people!! It probably would have taken them less time to just answer my questions then to spend all that time on the phone transferring me. I must have called that one place at least six times.

By the way, pep rallies are loud. I never understood exactly what happens at them, but from what I can deduct, they parade out the football players, the cheerleaders dance, and you scream when they say your grade. One of life's mysteries solved.

Some rambling about my day

Spent four hours writing a newspaper article yesterday and through lunch today that nobody's going to read anyway, and in class today I found out that it's not over...looks like I have another four hours of work to do on this. Part of which includes me interviewing a police department guy. Fan-freakin-tastic.

I did realize something writing this article: I can't write news. I've never actually done it before. I used to write satire for my middle school newspaper, and my speeches for Speech class were laden with opinion. The weird thing is I don't even care about the driving age! I have no opinions on it, yet I couldn't not editorialize. I think it's the only way I know how to be interesting. I think I fixed it. (Sorry, Kelsey, if my article sucks! I don't want to complicate things for you...)

On another note, what's the word for de-disappointment? My school best friend was getting her schedule rearranged today and there was the possibility of her getting switched out of English, the only class we have together. When I got in the room today, she wasn't there. She's usually the first one in. The class started to fill up and she still didn't come, so I assumed she got switched out and commenced my disappointment. I kept hoping she'd show up...then the bell rang. I had about two seconds to be sad about it before she ran through the door.

Funny that today of all days is the one she shows up late. One of those little "the universe is testing me" sorta things.

Happy Thursday! I get to sleep tonight! I.AM.SO.EXCITED. Usually I don't like to cut for the two hours at the library (I'd rather they give me books to shelve. Actually, I like labelling and stamping the books the most!), but today I was so tired that I was happy to sit and cut out "Apple Fun Glasses" for story time. I was sitting with two seniors from my school cutting out the apples, and they were talking about how they read Harry Potter in Spanish and French. I feel stupid. One also told me that I can do my community service project thing there at the library because that's what they did. I'm beyond thrilled about that, too.

>.< Interviews

Tomorrow I have to confront my number one most crippling fear and go interview people for my school newspaper. This was a gross oversight on my part when I decided I wanted to write for the newspaper. I knew well enough that talking to people I don't know (sometimes even people I do know) makes me shake, and I knew I would have to interview them. Seriously, nobody understands how much this scares me. Maybe I thought I wouldn't be as shy this year or my fairy godmother would show up and grant me three wishes. She better show up soon--I have 46 hours left.

"Eat one live toad the first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day."
--"Dilbert"

16 Great Things about Autumn!

Today is September 22, the first day of Fall, my absolute favorite season. In honor of that, I have compiled a list of 16 reasons why I love it. I was going to make it 31 for obvious holiday obsession-related reasons, but that's a lot, so I settled for just about half. Besides, it's the age I'm going to be this fall.

1. Halloween candy
2. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
3. Getting a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch, watching all the little kids' excitement as they run around looking for the biggest one they can find. Once they find it, watching them try to pick up that pumpkin that's bigger than them. Remembering when that was you.
4. Apple cider. Maybe not even drinking it, just the concept. Maybe not the concept, just the way it sounds when you say it.
5. How all the stores smell like fall.
6. Down here in the tropics, that rare cold front that makes me excited to do homework just because I get to sit outside in the "cold."
7. Pumpkin pie. The food, the concept, and the words.
8. The decorations that people have all over their houses to make it more fun for the trick-or-treaters.
9. Taking little kids trick-or-treating, watching them in their little Spiderman and princess costumes run from house to house. Remembering when that was you.
10. Carving pumpkins and separating the seeds so you can bake them, listening to "Thriller" in the background. Hey, it's festive.
11. Those sweet potato things with all the marshmallows on top at Thanksgiving. Actually, all Thanksgiving food. Actually, all of Thanksgiving.
12. "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" I've only watched it once or twice, but it's the concept and the words, I think.
13. Pumpkin everything, from pancakes to lip gloss.
14. Those cinnamon brooms that all the stores sell that makes everything smell cinnamon-y.
15. Halloween costumes, getting dressed up.
16. Halloween!!

Much of this is Halloween-related, but what can I say? I'm obsessed. ^^

Happy Autumn!!!

Happy Fall!

Today really sucked. I hate crying in front of people, though I'm sure no one noticed. I could flop over my desk dead and no one would notice except maybe the people who were copying my homework. My dead body would be covering the answers.

I realized that all my friends and I ever do anymore is bitch and complain about our problems, and it's nothing like back in middle school when my old friends and I would do all this fun stuff like making lists similar to the one I'm about to post. I'll do it in a different post so it's not pessimized (not a word, but I was going for "brought down by pessimism") by my minor ranting.

Oh wow, I just looked it up and pessimized is a word. Cool!

Okay, I have a list coming next...
31 great things about autumn.

Levi's or Old Navy?

My sister was brushing her hair in my mirror and this is how the conversation went:

Anny: "Can you inherit genes from your sister?"
Juliana: "You mean like blue jeans?" (I thought she meant inherit like in a will.)
Anny: "No, genes like eye color."
Juliana: "No, you can't. Why?"
Anny: "'Cause if you could, I think I inherited your frizzy hair."

>.< She tells it like it is.

GHOUL-AID.

X-E is having a Halloween art contest: Do something artistic featuring Jason Voorhees dancing. I'd enter, but I have no artistic talent, I'm not familiar enough with Jason Voorhees, and entries are due in 30 minutes.

The point here is that the winner gets 5 packets of circa late-90's Ghoul-Aid. This seriously awesome-looking "Scary Blackberry" flavored Kool-Aid that, now that I know it exists, I can't stop thinking about. I don't even drink Kool-Aid, but my attraction to it is actually quite simple:
A. It doesn't exist anymore
B. It's from the late 90's
C. It's Halloween-themed, and
D. It's a prize for winning a contest

This is like last Halloween season where Matt wrote about Ghost Dots. I made it my mission to find them but never did. And I actually do like Dots.

Matt did say in a blog post once that he forgot to send last year's contest winners their prize Ghoul-Aid. That makes me feel a little better. I'm gonna find some Halloween stuff of my own to write about. My obsession with the X-E Halloween is getting ridiculous.

Major Epiphany!

Maybe not major, but...

I just found out you aren't supposed to shake a Magic 8 Ball! You're just supposed to turn it gently because when you shake it, the blue liquid inside forms these white foamy bubbles and makes the words hard to read.

My friend Zac's Magic 8 Ball has all those foam bubbles in it, but I thought that it was a combination of age and him using it as a at-home bowling ball. I figured he knocked the dice thing out of place and just messed it up that way.

So don't shake Magic 8 Balls! Mine already has a few bubbles...

In infortunate news, my Spanish grade went down. I wish I could roll over my points from other classes into Spanish. I could easily take three precentage points off every class, add them to Spanish, and have an A in everything. Gah.

Halloween and other creepy stuff

Did you know Galileo's finger is on display at the "Museo di Storia del Scienza" in Italy?! A lock of George Washington's hair is also in some museum in Maine. Weird but kinda cool.

So X-Entertainment started their Halloween season!

I admire Matt's work for successfully taking pictures of a Magic 8 Ball and getting the words to show up clearly. s'never worked for me, but I know nothing about photography.

Anyway...X-E's Halloween season is always fun to read. Matt's a talented writer.

Happy Wednesday!

I was doing this "fill in the blanks in the paragraph" activity in my Spanish workbook, and it took me forever. There was this word in there that I didn't know, but I thought I could work around it, and it took me 45 minutes of frustration to look it up. The word meant "widowed." Kinda important...could have saved me a lot of time.

I'm hoping to find something interesting to talk about in the next few days. Halloween is coming! Yay! I love Halloween and fall and everything. I don't like that it all coincides with my birthday >.< but I'll deal with it. I actually don't mind my birthday as much this year as I used to. I'm going to get older no matter how much I protest, so I might as well have fun with it.

Sarah Palin and Hilary SNL

I have been waiting for Tina Fey to impersonate Sarah Palin on SNL since they announced her as candidate for VP. This is fabulous.



I especially love the "I support Obama...see? I'm wearing his campaign pin!" thing.

I don't even know what to title this one.

Thank you Lisa for raping my eyes with this video. This thing made me squirm.



It's been a long time since I've gotten to scream, "No. No! NO! TURN IT OFF!! AHHH!!" And I thought "The Doodlebops" made me uncomfortable. Lisa made me watch the whole thing, the sadist. Just kidding, she's my best friend. ^^

Here's a little excerpt of "The Doodlebops," just for kicks.



No. Just...no.

Yet another Twilight Spiel

I have to stop talking about Twilight, I know, but this is all I have to show for my boring week.

I was reading this interview in Cosmogirl magazine with the three guys from Twilight who play Edward, Jacob, and Emmett. They open the article saying how Jacob actor Taylor Lautner (I call him Sharkboy cause of that movie he was in) showed up early for the 5:00 PM interview, Kellan Lutz was on time, and Robert Pattinson showed up an hour and a half late with the excuse that he overslept.

Overslept...at 6:30 at night...that doesn't make him look too good. They were trying to use it in his favor, saying that they totally forgave him when they heard his sexy British accent. Oh, please. I'm usually the first one to say "sexy British accent," but Rob...he's just cocky.



I don't know. He just bothers me a little. He says "um" a lot, doesn't he?

Interesting fact I just learned while looking for a Rob interview to share. In case you didn't know, someone posted the Midnight Sun unfinished manuscript to the internet without Stephenie Meyer's permission. Well, O just discovered that she gave Robert Pattinson a copy. The video (below) was added in May. She said she only gave out a few and she knows exactly who she gave them to. I'm thinking it was someone on the movie who leaked it to the internet. That would be incredibly plausible.



Around 1:10. Not saying he did it, but if he got a copy, I'm sure the directional people on the crew got copies. The writers and them. Poor Stephenie. I know I would be furious if someone did that to me.

Presidential Playlists

I just noticed that my last post was Friday. That means I haven't had anything interesting to say since last week. I can't rant about my Spanish teacher again, especially since I feel guilty knowing she's got nothing on my friend's French teacher. Poor M got her two years in a row.

Speaking of Spanish, I got to miss it today! Love and hugs for generic standardized tests! Wahoo! They saved my teeth from dramatic clenching as I restrain my anger at both her and the annoying MSE kid who sits behind me. He makes it very clear that he thinks he's a lonely genius in a sea of idiots. I actually did snap at him the other day. He needs to learn patience as well as humility.

Anyway, did you know that John McCain's favorite song is "Dancing Queen?" We were talking about this in government. This is the website we were looking at with Obama and McCain's favorite songs.

I got a 93 on a math test when I was expecting a low B. And tomorrow's a late start. And I got to spend an hour in a quiet test room listing types of pie on the back on my instruction sheet instead of Spanish class! It's a good day. Oh, wait...I forgot Key Lime! How could I forget that one? That's going to bug me. My list is incomplete.

100 Things You're Not Supposed to Know

I noticed that book on the bargain shelf of Barnes and Noble today, and how could I not resist flipping open the cover? Tempting title. Russ Kick (the author) knew what he was doing.

It was actually really interesting. The list included:

~The Korean War never actually ended (there was no treaty, just an armistice)
~Hitler's relatives are currently living in New York
~The code to access these nuclear weapons back in some war was 000000000 because nobody ever changed the preset.
~The Virginia colonists practiced cannibalism (Whoa, I'm back-checking that one)

A lot of it I doubted, especially after they said that sunscreen causes more cancer than UV radiation. Still, their explanations make me want to buy the thing.

Oh, and I found this book on Spanish grammar to explain subjunctive to me...does my teacher go out of her way to make stuff up?? Now I'm probably holding a D in that class thanks to my horrible quiz grade, and it's because she's teaching made-up fairy tale Spanish!! This is going to be a long year.

I'm a Selfish Cat Killer

That's how I'm scripted in our dialogue for Spanish class. My partner came up with it, and even though it's ridiculous, it's funny enough that I didn't protest. The story is that he fell off a roof and broke his leg (which actually happened...he's on crutches now), and I tell him my cat is stuck in a tree. He heroically decides to rescue my cat even with his broken leg. After he saves it, I don't want it anymore. He threatens to eat the cat if I don't take it from him. It's entertaining, but now I'm getting jabbed for being the cat killer who made Ryan climb a tree with his broken leg. I'm hoping my teacher finds it amusing. And that Ryan memorizes his lines. I need all the points I can get.

My quote for the day comef from English class. It's an example of litotes, or understatement.

One nuclear bomb can really ruin your whole day.

That it can. Something to think about. =]

It's a Sunshine Day!

As far as parodies go, I <3 The Brady Bunch Movie. This is my favorite scene from it. What's even funnier is this might have happened in an actual "Brady Bunch" episode. That's part of the movie's charm--it's self-mocking.



"Put on your Sunday best kids. We're going to Sears!" Ahahaha.

I used to love this show. I want to call it campy, but I'm not sure if that's inappropriately slang-ish. It's a perfect description though.

Slowly renouncing my title of "class airhead"

Spanish teacher called on me again and the only three words I could make out from her fast Spanish sentence were "Juliana," "sentence," and "storm." Thank God that was enough to clue me. I can't afford to be class idiot for the fourth class in a row. My verb and tense were wrong, but at least I knew what she was talking about and had a sentence ready this time! It was one of my better-developed sentences too. Of course, this girl who sits two seats away from me and speaks Spanish jumped in to correct my choice of adjectives, but I didn't care! I finally got one (almost) right!

That girl who always corrects me...even though she bothers me, I admire her somehow. She's one of those people who seems to own any room she walks into. She wears these insane outfits and everybody knows her. She has people follow her and flock around her like she's famous, and I never see any of them walking next to her, only behind her. Not that I want an entourage, but I can't even imagine having that sort of...what's the word...charisma that would make people want to follow me. I have none. None at all.

Why can't I do that? Can I borrow some of her confidence for just one day? Can I not be the shy girl cowering in the corner, absolutely terrified of everyone, for a few hours? I imagine what would happen if I tried to act like her. But then, there's a reason people like me don't act like her. They can't pull it off.

Please don't label me based on the above paragraphs. I hate to have to say it, but I admire her. I don't love her.

"Gossip Girl" season premiere last night! I have yet to finish watching it. There's a whole month until "Pushing Daisies" comes back, which I'm even more excited for. I love that show.