This new show on USA, "White Collar," looked like it had a really cool idea. The FBI hires a brilliant white collar criminal to help on cases in exchange for release from jail. They made this deal after he escaped from prison with only four months left in his sentence to chase after his girlfriend who broke up with him from behind the glass.
The concept of the show is great, but one of my friends said that it's kind of drawn out. I agree with that. But kind of like how Chace Crawford, just by being Chace Crawford, makes up for his character on "Gossip Girl" being dull, Matt Bomer's character Neal Caffrey, brilliant, funny, charming, makes the show worth any slow moments. He just does.
Love,
Juliana
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
3
I just realized what the song 3 by Britney Spears is about. I could never figure out what she was saying after "One, two three." My friend said she's trying to remember what comes after three.
It's been stuck in my head since Saturday. I looked up the lyrics and now I feel stupid for not realizing that.
It's been stuck in my head since Saturday. I looked up the lyrics and now I feel stupid for not realizing that.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Nickelodeon Magazine, Please
Sometimes I'll be doing something completely unrelated and be reminded of something from my childhood. I remember this Nick Magazine commercial from 1997 so well. I know all the words to it still. The red head kid looks like Danny Tamberelli.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Waiting for Godot and Equus
Ever heard of the play Equus? It's twisted. Maybe that's just my opinion, a lot of people in my English class actually like it, but I think it's really strange. Not like 1984 strange, either, but like a 17 year old kid whose religion is getting off on horses kind of strange. I don't mind reading it so much just because it's so weird and different that I want to know where it goes, but I don't like it very much. I like things that make me think but not things that make me think about relating horses with orgasms.
We just got done reading a book that I really liked. It's called Waiting for Godot. Most people in my class didn't like this one. My teacher asked how many of us thought it was a brilliant play and only about four people out of 31 raised their hands, including me. It's about these two seemingly homeless guys in post-WWII Europe who do nothing day aafter day but wait for this guy named Godot who never shows up.
I liked it because it left almost everything open to interpretation. Samuel Beckett who wrote it didn't explicitly state anything about the characters or the setting, and we don't know who Godot is or exactly why they want him. The whole thing is an allegory and the meaning of life is a central theme. I really liked it. I did a big oral presentation on it on Monday. It had to be at least 10 minutes long and is one of the most important projects I will do for English all year.
On a kind of unrelated topic, I'm watching "Monk" right now and this episode isn't good. I love the show, but even the murder in this episode is really weak.
Happy Halloween tomorrow! I can believe it's here already. I don't feel like I celebrated it enough.
Love,
Juliana
We just got done reading a book that I really liked. It's called Waiting for Godot. Most people in my class didn't like this one. My teacher asked how many of us thought it was a brilliant play and only about four people out of 31 raised their hands, including me. It's about these two seemingly homeless guys in post-WWII Europe who do nothing day aafter day but wait for this guy named Godot who never shows up.
I liked it because it left almost everything open to interpretation. Samuel Beckett who wrote it didn't explicitly state anything about the characters or the setting, and we don't know who Godot is or exactly why they want him. The whole thing is an allegory and the meaning of life is a central theme. I really liked it. I did a big oral presentation on it on Monday. It had to be at least 10 minutes long and is one of the most important projects I will do for English all year.
On a kind of unrelated topic, I'm watching "Monk" right now and this episode isn't good. I love the show, but even the murder in this episode is really weak.
Happy Halloween tomorrow! I can believe it's here already. I don't feel like I celebrated it enough.
Love,
Juliana
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Why, Juliana?
I can't sleep. I really, really wish I could have gone to sleep hours ago, but I once again am crying over stupid things. I have no real reason to cry. Makes me feel guilty. The more I try to fall asleep, the more I think about it, and the more I think about it, the more I start to go absolutely crazy.
I wish there was someone here who understood me, but if there was someone here, I wouldn't be so sad in the first place.
And it didn't help to write this. I thought it would. Enjoy your unnecessary display of raw emotion because that's pretty much the only point of this.
Love I guess,
Juliana
I wish there was someone here who understood me, but if there was someone here, I wouldn't be so sad in the first place.
And it didn't help to write this. I thought it would. Enjoy your unnecessary display of raw emotion because that's pretty much the only point of this.
Love I guess,
Juliana
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Zomg the weather
Just note this is the fist and last time I will ever say zomg mainly because I don't know what it means, but I thought adding the Z made it look more like Halloween. You know, like zombie omg. Maybe. Kind of.
I love October, and my gushing about Halloween is becoming like a story that your five-year-old brother tells over and over again and even though you're sick of it, you still acknowledge that it's important to him. The weather here has been a similar experience to sticking your face into the steam over a boiling pot of water. It's October now! This is the beginning of Florida's other season, the one that makes other states jealous while they endure their miserable winters. It finally got cold tonight! I am so happy. Tomorrow we're going to the Halloween store and the pumpkin patch at my old preschool.
Today I went to this water park with my cousins. We had free tickets that expired tomorrow, so we went even though today was the rainy day that precedes a cold front. That place is so gross. The ground is slimy, there's random objects like socks floating in the water, and we saw a little kid standing at the edge of the pool peeing into it.
There are millions of these heavily-tattooed 300-pound people in bikinis and speedos at this place. Not to discriminate against people for their weight or anything, but when your junk's practically falling out of your bathing suit while you're walking, what's going to happen on the slides?
Still, I always have fun with them. In the lazy river that just spins in circles, we attached to each other's tubes and my cousin pulled us around, and random people started connecting to our chain until it was about 10 people long. Haha.
I can't think of any videos to post right now. I'm so tired. I tried to do homework and was too tired so I ended up falling asleep watching "Doctor Who." Good show. Watch it. ^_^
Love,
Juliana
I love October, and my gushing about Halloween is becoming like a story that your five-year-old brother tells over and over again and even though you're sick of it, you still acknowledge that it's important to him. The weather here has been a similar experience to sticking your face into the steam over a boiling pot of water. It's October now! This is the beginning of Florida's other season, the one that makes other states jealous while they endure their miserable winters. It finally got cold tonight! I am so happy. Tomorrow we're going to the Halloween store and the pumpkin patch at my old preschool.
Today I went to this water park with my cousins. We had free tickets that expired tomorrow, so we went even though today was the rainy day that precedes a cold front. That place is so gross. The ground is slimy, there's random objects like socks floating in the water, and we saw a little kid standing at the edge of the pool peeing into it.
There are millions of these heavily-tattooed 300-pound people in bikinis and speedos at this place. Not to discriminate against people for their weight or anything, but when your junk's practically falling out of your bathing suit while you're walking, what's going to happen on the slides?
Still, I always have fun with them. In the lazy river that just spins in circles, we attached to each other's tubes and my cousin pulled us around, and random people started connecting to our chain until it was about 10 people long. Haha.
I can't think of any videos to post right now. I'm so tired. I tried to do homework and was too tired so I ended up falling asleep watching "Doctor Who." Good show. Watch it. ^_^
Love,
Juliana
Friday, October 16, 2009
How I really feel
Sometimes when I can't sleep, I think of all the people I know and the one thing I would say to them if I could only say one thing. I kind of wanted to post them without names just to get them out there. So here it goes, it's Hallmark card time.
**I take for granted that you're just a shout across the hall away, but one day I won't see you every day and you don't know how much I'll miss you. You're my best friend and you are going to get in trouble in high school when I text you in the middle of day.
**You make everything seem better than it really is. I hope I grow up to be like you, and I hope my kids have as amazing and patient a mother as I did.
**We don't agree on everything, but in the end, I won't remember how you yelled about chipped nail polish. I will remember how you would color cupcakes with cherries on top in my coloring books, play dollhouse with me, and climb into my little forts even though you didn't fit. Whenever I draw a cupcake, I always put a cherry on top, and when you're no longer around, I'm going to wish you were there to tell me to take off my nail polish.
**I wish I could be as good a friend to you as you are to me, and it makes me feel lucky to know I never can be, no matter how hard I try. I would be a completely different person if I never met you.
**I miss you, and I wish we were still as close as we were before, but maybe we just weren't meant to be best friends forever. You'll still be getting Christmas and birthday cards from me every year for the rest of your life.
**You're wrong. About everything. If you figure it out, hopefully it won't be too late.
**If my boss in the real world is like you, I know not to let him make me as upset as you did.
**I think we're pretty good friends. I don't know why I don't trust you. I have no reason not to, and it makes me feel like a bad person.
**I haven't known you for long, but you've made me think about things that changed who I am in some small way. You made me understand the three people above.
**I used to call you my big sister. I regret not staying as close to you just because I'm too shy to call.
**You're the only one who understood why I hid and cried at that party in 8th grade, and you stayed with me so I wouldn't be alone. I will always remember that.
These are definitely not all of them. These are the people that I see all the time or have been on my mind. I'm sure if you're one of these people, you'll know which one is you.
I kind of wish some of these people would read it just to know how I feel.
Love,
Juliana
**I take for granted that you're just a shout across the hall away, but one day I won't see you every day and you don't know how much I'll miss you. You're my best friend and you are going to get in trouble in high school when I text you in the middle of day.
**You make everything seem better than it really is. I hope I grow up to be like you, and I hope my kids have as amazing and patient a mother as I did.
**We don't agree on everything, but in the end, I won't remember how you yelled about chipped nail polish. I will remember how you would color cupcakes with cherries on top in my coloring books, play dollhouse with me, and climb into my little forts even though you didn't fit. Whenever I draw a cupcake, I always put a cherry on top, and when you're no longer around, I'm going to wish you were there to tell me to take off my nail polish.
**I wish I could be as good a friend to you as you are to me, and it makes me feel lucky to know I never can be, no matter how hard I try. I would be a completely different person if I never met you.
**I miss you, and I wish we were still as close as we were before, but maybe we just weren't meant to be best friends forever. You'll still be getting Christmas and birthday cards from me every year for the rest of your life.
**You're wrong. About everything. If you figure it out, hopefully it won't be too late.
**If my boss in the real world is like you, I know not to let him make me as upset as you did.
**I think we're pretty good friends. I don't know why I don't trust you. I have no reason not to, and it makes me feel like a bad person.
**I haven't known you for long, but you've made me think about things that changed who I am in some small way. You made me understand the three people above.
**I used to call you my big sister. I regret not staying as close to you just because I'm too shy to call.
**You're the only one who understood why I hid and cried at that party in 8th grade, and you stayed with me so I wouldn't be alone. I will always remember that.
These are definitely not all of them. These are the people that I see all the time or have been on my mind. I'm sure if you're one of these people, you'll know which one is you.
I kind of wish some of these people would read it just to know how I feel.
Love,
Juliana
Friday, October 9, 2009
Who cares if there's water on the moon?
I don't care who I make mad with this post, but I need to clear something up.
Aren't we in the middle of the biggest economic recession since the Great Depression? Isn't the United States in some trillions of dollars of debt? Isn't the government cutting back funding on basic things like education and health care? If the answers to those questions are "yes," then WHY THE HELL did we spend $78 million dollars of taxpayer money to bomb the moon??
The plan is to find out if there is water on the moon that we can use when we run out and research the area to possibly establish a lunar base. Because apparently they can make cutbacks on education and government jobs but not on sending our obnoxious hunks of metal into outer space to go poke around on the moon. I think with all the more important budgeting that needs to be done, space exploration can wait.
Please. This is ridiculous. Oh, and our president has enough money to take his insanely expensive plane and security to NYC to take his wife on a date, to go to the Jay Leno show, to Switzerland to talk about the Olympics on taxpayer money and everyone still thinks he's a hero. Don't even get me started on the Nobel Peace Prize.
People ask me why I live in the past. I wasn't alive then, so I can imagine that it was better than the world is now. For all the whining the government's doing about the state of the economy, they seem to have a lot of money to spend on things that aren't important.
Love,
Juliana
Aren't we in the middle of the biggest economic recession since the Great Depression? Isn't the United States in some trillions of dollars of debt? Isn't the government cutting back funding on basic things like education and health care? If the answers to those questions are "yes," then WHY THE HELL did we spend $78 million dollars of taxpayer money to bomb the moon??
The plan is to find out if there is water on the moon that we can use when we run out and research the area to possibly establish a lunar base. Because apparently they can make cutbacks on education and government jobs but not on sending our obnoxious hunks of metal into outer space to go poke around on the moon. I think with all the more important budgeting that needs to be done, space exploration can wait.
Please. This is ridiculous. Oh, and our president has enough money to take his insanely expensive plane and security to NYC to take his wife on a date, to go to the Jay Leno show, to Switzerland to talk about the Olympics on taxpayer money and everyone still thinks he's a hero. Don't even get me started on the Nobel Peace Prize.
People ask me why I live in the past. I wasn't alive then, so I can imagine that it was better than the world is now. For all the whining the government's doing about the state of the economy, they seem to have a lot of money to spend on things that aren't important.
Love,
Juliana
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Golden Girls
Can't concentrate on superfun DNA replication until I post this because the song is stuck in my head now that I started thinking of 80's sitcom theme songs. My grandma loves this show. It's actually really cute.
Back to Okazaki fragments.
Love,
Juliana
Back to Okazaki fragments.
Love,
Juliana
I feel like talking.
Last SAT class was today. I'm taking the test on Saturday. I'll miss the class. It was fun. The one thing I'll miss most it though has nothing to do with SATs
>.> Interpret that how you want. I don't post everything on the Internet.
I edited a paragraph out here because once I said it somewhere I felt a little better and didn't think I had to keep it up. So, ya know, cool if you read it, and I'm sure you don't care if you didn't.
Today was one of those good days where I never stop smiling and laughing just because I'm in a good mood. I blame lacrosse. Endorphins do that to you. But you know what always puts me in a better mood when I'm not happy? 80's sitcom theme songs. They're so cute. I was watching "The Facts of Life" before school this morning. It's corny, but their lives are so happy and simple that it makes me feel better.
By the way, that was stuck in my head all day and I started humming it in Biology. You're welcome. =D
Love,
Juliana
>.> Interpret that how you want. I don't post everything on the Internet.
I edited a paragraph out here because once I said it somewhere I felt a little better and didn't think I had to keep it up. So, ya know, cool if you read it, and I'm sure you don't care if you didn't.
Today was one of those good days where I never stop smiling and laughing just because I'm in a good mood. I blame lacrosse. Endorphins do that to you. But you know what always puts me in a better mood when I'm not happy? 80's sitcom theme songs. They're so cute. I was watching "The Facts of Life" before school this morning. It's corny, but their lives are so happy and simple that it makes me feel better.
By the way, that was stuck in my head all day and I started humming it in Biology. You're welcome. =D
Love,
Juliana
Sunday, September 27, 2009
No Secrets!
I have so many actual topics to talk about that I couldn't choose one and am way too tired to write them out right now. I heard the song "That's What Girls Do" by No Secrets recently and though, quick, easy, happy topic.
"That's What Girls Do" was the number one song in third grade. My friends and I came up with a talent show dance to it that ended up falling apart. Another group ended up doing the song, but I thought our dance was better.
Every girl in my grade knew that song, it was to third grade what "Barbie Girl" was to second grade. I have it on my iPod and whenever I hear it, it reminds me of Girl Scout trips. We would listen to that so many times.
They have no real music video of it, so here's a link to one with Michelle from Full House. (I have to learn how to post songs without using You Tube.)
Here's another song that every girl knew, No Secrets' "Kids of America." It's not the original recording, the song is really old and has been remade by a million different people. It was in Jimmy Neutron and I think it was remade by the Jonas Brothers once. The No Secrets version just happens to be the one we knew.
The version by the Muffs was the opening song to Clueless which I watched with my sister last night. She got mad at me for getting up, pretending to hold a microphone, and singing along. Oh, and if you're a girl who has never seen Clueless, watch it. It's hilarious. The trailer I linked has some of the funniest lines in it, too.
Makes me want to watch Lizzie McGuire buy some glittery nail polish from Limited Too.
Love,
Juliana
"That's What Girls Do" was the number one song in third grade. My friends and I came up with a talent show dance to it that ended up falling apart. Another group ended up doing the song, but I thought our dance was better.
Every girl in my grade knew that song, it was to third grade what "Barbie Girl" was to second grade. I have it on my iPod and whenever I hear it, it reminds me of Girl Scout trips. We would listen to that so many times.
They have no real music video of it, so here's a link to one with Michelle from Full House. (I have to learn how to post songs without using You Tube.)
Here's another song that every girl knew, No Secrets' "Kids of America." It's not the original recording, the song is really old and has been remade by a million different people. It was in Jimmy Neutron and I think it was remade by the Jonas Brothers once. The No Secrets version just happens to be the one we knew.
The version by the Muffs was the opening song to Clueless which I watched with my sister last night. She got mad at me for getting up, pretending to hold a microphone, and singing along. Oh, and if you're a girl who has never seen Clueless, watch it. It's hilarious. The trailer I linked has some of the funniest lines in it, too.
Makes me want to watch Lizzie McGuire buy some glittery nail polish from Limited Too.
Love,
Juliana
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Just me talking about my day
I've said this a million times before, but it's so much fun to hang out with my sister's friends.
I wasn't going to do anything today. I was supposed to go out with my friends, but that didn't work out and I wanted to get out of the house, so I was going to go with my mom to just drop off my sister at the mall and go to Publix. Her friends asked me to come shopping with them (they call me their OSBFFL--older sister best friend for life) and it did help them out having me go because their moms didn't make them check in as often.
So yeah, I wasn't sure I would be able to walk around the mall all day and not collapse, but I held up well. I got tired and dizzy but it was definitely not as bad as I was at school yesterday. Then again, there's a big difference between running on 11 hours of sleep and running on 7. Yeah, I slept 11 hours last night. Haha. I went to bed earlier than I do on school days.
They went into Hollister, Forever 21, Victoria's Secret, and a bunch of other stores I haven't been in probably forever. They went in Betsey Johnson to look at stuff. I think that store looks like the wardrobe room for a Cyndi Lauper music video. I would love to wear stuff like that for Halloween or something, the clothes are so insane they're kind of cool, but I would never wear them in real life. Even if they weren't so expensive that I'm afraid to move in the store.
I'm actually eating the candy corn I got at the Sweet Factory as I write this. I got pink and blue/purple plaid tights at Claire's for like $8.50 total.
I was going to write more about something that isn't related to me, but I got distracted in the middle and it's almost 1 AM now, so this is all you're gonna get.
And my candy corn is gone.
Love,
Juliana
I wasn't going to do anything today. I was supposed to go out with my friends, but that didn't work out and I wanted to get out of the house, so I was going to go with my mom to just drop off my sister at the mall and go to Publix. Her friends asked me to come shopping with them (they call me their OSBFFL--older sister best friend for life) and it did help them out having me go because their moms didn't make them check in as often.
So yeah, I wasn't sure I would be able to walk around the mall all day and not collapse, but I held up well. I got tired and dizzy but it was definitely not as bad as I was at school yesterday. Then again, there's a big difference between running on 11 hours of sleep and running on 7. Yeah, I slept 11 hours last night. Haha. I went to bed earlier than I do on school days.
They went into Hollister, Forever 21, Victoria's Secret, and a bunch of other stores I haven't been in probably forever. They went in Betsey Johnson to look at stuff. I think that store looks like the wardrobe room for a Cyndi Lauper music video. I would love to wear stuff like that for Halloween or something, the clothes are so insane they're kind of cool, but I would never wear them in real life. Even if they weren't so expensive that I'm afraid to move in the store.
I'm actually eating the candy corn I got at the Sweet Factory as I write this. I got pink and blue/purple plaid tights at Claire's for like $8.50 total.
I was going to write more about something that isn't related to me, but I got distracted in the middle and it's almost 1 AM now, so this is all you're gonna get.
And my candy corn is gone.
Love,
Juliana
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
I survived the day ^_^
I'm still sick, but I went to school today because it was that or stay home alone, do homework, and wonder what I'm missing at school. And I knew that if I stayed home, I would fall asleep doing homework like I did yesterday, so it would be an overall useless day. My parents didn't want me to go and tried to talk me out of it all morning. I was mad at myself for not going to school yesterday and missing so much, so I pretty much determined this morning.
Sitting in classes is not so bad, it's like a normal day when I have a headache. It's getting up, walking, general moving that's killer. My backpack was so heavy, I was having a hard time lifting it. I was so weak today. Walking up stairs was difficult. I was afraid I was walking too slow and someone was going to knock me over. Walking anywhere makes my heart pound and I feel out of breath.
My Spanish teacher apparently has a hand bell in her room. I never noticed she had it before, but today the noise really hurt my head. And lunch...loud kids talking, laughing, shouting at what felt to me like an obnoxious volume. I guess it's like that every day but today was the only day that it bothered me.
I'm cozy under my Powerpuff Girls blanket right now so it's all good.
Being sick, I realized I have a lot of websites that I used to go to every day before I got so busy. Here's a list of my favorites.
X-Entertainment: The name always hit me as a porn site, but it's actually this really funny guy who writes about random things from obscure monster movies to new kinds of Doritos. He's the guy that I love so much for writing about Halloween every year.
Children of the 90's: I was born in '92 and was only seven at the turn of the millenium, so I'm not a true 90's kid. I did spend a lot of time in my early childhood with my cousins who are 6-12 years older than me, so I do remember a lot of this 90's stuff first-hand. Regardless, I like past-decade culture. It's one of my weird quirks. Things like this fascinate me and make me happy.
Cake Wrecks: Really horrible and hilarious cakes. It's great.
People Who Deserve it: When you're feeling really cynical or just annoyed with the people you have to deal with everyday, this is a blog where every entry is a new featured annoying person. The tagline is "socially responsible reasons to punch someone in the face." The writing gets so crude it's a little annoying, but the people who deserve it are funny.
1000 Awesome Things: Where you go for a ray of sunshine. Besides here to listen to me. Just kidding. =]
Love,
Juliana
Sitting in classes is not so bad, it's like a normal day when I have a headache. It's getting up, walking, general moving that's killer. My backpack was so heavy, I was having a hard time lifting it. I was so weak today. Walking up stairs was difficult. I was afraid I was walking too slow and someone was going to knock me over. Walking anywhere makes my heart pound and I feel out of breath.
My Spanish teacher apparently has a hand bell in her room. I never noticed she had it before, but today the noise really hurt my head. And lunch...loud kids talking, laughing, shouting at what felt to me like an obnoxious volume. I guess it's like that every day but today was the only day that it bothered me.
I'm cozy under my Powerpuff Girls blanket right now so it's all good.
Being sick, I realized I have a lot of websites that I used to go to every day before I got so busy. Here's a list of my favorites.
X-Entertainment: The name always hit me as a porn site, but it's actually this really funny guy who writes about random things from obscure monster movies to new kinds of Doritos. He's the guy that I love so much for writing about Halloween every year.
Children of the 90's: I was born in '92 and was only seven at the turn of the millenium, so I'm not a true 90's kid. I did spend a lot of time in my early childhood with my cousins who are 6-12 years older than me, so I do remember a lot of this 90's stuff first-hand. Regardless, I like past-decade culture. It's one of my weird quirks. Things like this fascinate me and make me happy.
Cake Wrecks: Really horrible and hilarious cakes. It's great.
People Who Deserve it: When you're feeling really cynical or just annoyed with the people you have to deal with everyday, this is a blog where every entry is a new featured annoying person. The tagline is "socially responsible reasons to punch someone in the face." The writing gets so crude it's a little annoying, but the people who deserve it are funny.
1000 Awesome Things: Where you go for a ray of sunshine. Besides here to listen to me. Just kidding. =]
Love,
Juliana
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Update!
Before I start rambling...the Blogger icon on the sign-in page is a piece of cake today, and it's making me want cake more than I already do.
Okay, so it's 11:51 AM right now, and I'm home because I'm sick. Fabulous, isn't it? And it's not that crippling kind of sick where I have a million symptoms and it would be stupid to go to school and sneeze all over everyone and spread it. No, my only symptoms are a headache that feels like I have a bike pump injected into my head and it starts inflating every time I move, and I am so tired that standing up for more than a few minutes makes me dizzy and I can feel my heart racing like supporting my weight is aerobic exercise...and my whole body just hurts.
That doesn't feel like enough of a reason for me to miss school for two days, so I feel so guilty. I have enough trouble staying awake on a normal day when I don't have a pounding headache and burning eyes, so I guess it was necessary. And not that I mind missing school. Haha, I felt victorious about missing yesterday. Today I had a test, an article to work on, and a heavy-note class where I have no friends to let me borrow notes. I'll pay for missing today.
Besides all that, the worst part of missing school is having time to wonder if anyone missed me.
Anyway, I haven't written on here in a while, and I have a lot to talk about.
1) R.I.P. Patrick Swayze. He's had pancreatic cancer for a while, and my sister's been sad for him. Whenever anyone mentions cancer, she asks if Patrick Swayze is still hanging in there. She asked just the other day, actually, and I told her he was. He died yesterday. Swayze was amazing. If you haven't seen Ghost or if I haven't already told you to see Ghost, see it. It's good.
2) I was at Barnes and Noble with my friend this weekend, and we were scanning the teen section looking at books that looked good and making fun of the ones that just looked stupid. It seemed like every other book we looked at was about vampires. There were so many Twilight-knock-off vampire books out, and I was like...who's reading these? We had a lot of time and decided to count them.
44. There were 44 vampire books and series over the front and back of one 15 foot long, 6 foot high bookcase. Yeah. 44. Most of these were series, so the actual number of books was probably twice that. It brings up three important questions: Who is writing these books, who is publishing them, and who is reading them? I really hate my generation. When I think about my generation, I think of scene kids, and I know I'm going to be embarrased to tell my chlidren I was a teenager at the same time as them:
Really? REALLY? What are they glaring at? They're staring in different directions, and it's not at the camera, so what? Did someone steal the middle girl with the two-toned gray hair's tiara and they're trying to use their laser vision to burn him? I wish I could puff my face out to look that angsty.
I got the picture from this article, which I think made my soul die. Oh my god, these kids are my sister's age. Turns out they like death glaring passers-by and recording their reactions. Really? I know the article's from Australia, but it's an American thing, too.
If you can't tell, I don't like the "teen subculture" thing. My sister and her friends label people goth and emo and it bothers me. These kids say they want to be individuals...so they do it by dressing to the rules of a pre-made template. That's so fake. If you want to be an individual, act like one.
"When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other." -Eric Hoffer
3) "Gossip Girl" came back last night! It was a good episode. Now I'm back to having something to look forward to on Mondays. GG episodes always end on cliffhangers. I want to see what that Scott kid does next. I already know.
4) I'm tired and I have homework to do, so I'm stopping here. But in memory of Patrick Swayze, here's the video of "She's Like the Wind" from Dirty Dancing.
Love,
Juliana
Okay, so it's 11:51 AM right now, and I'm home because I'm sick. Fabulous, isn't it? And it's not that crippling kind of sick where I have a million symptoms and it would be stupid to go to school and sneeze all over everyone and spread it. No, my only symptoms are a headache that feels like I have a bike pump injected into my head and it starts inflating every time I move, and I am so tired that standing up for more than a few minutes makes me dizzy and I can feel my heart racing like supporting my weight is aerobic exercise...and my whole body just hurts.
That doesn't feel like enough of a reason for me to miss school for two days, so I feel so guilty. I have enough trouble staying awake on a normal day when I don't have a pounding headache and burning eyes, so I guess it was necessary. And not that I mind missing school. Haha, I felt victorious about missing yesterday. Today I had a test, an article to work on, and a heavy-note class where I have no friends to let me borrow notes. I'll pay for missing today.
Besides all that, the worst part of missing school is having time to wonder if anyone missed me.
Anyway, I haven't written on here in a while, and I have a lot to talk about.
1) R.I.P. Patrick Swayze. He's had pancreatic cancer for a while, and my sister's been sad for him. Whenever anyone mentions cancer, she asks if Patrick Swayze is still hanging in there. She asked just the other day, actually, and I told her he was. He died yesterday. Swayze was amazing. If you haven't seen Ghost or if I haven't already told you to see Ghost, see it. It's good.
2) I was at Barnes and Noble with my friend this weekend, and we were scanning the teen section looking at books that looked good and making fun of the ones that just looked stupid. It seemed like every other book we looked at was about vampires. There were so many Twilight-knock-off vampire books out, and I was like...who's reading these? We had a lot of time and decided to count them.
44. There were 44 vampire books and series over the front and back of one 15 foot long, 6 foot high bookcase. Yeah. 44. Most of these were series, so the actual number of books was probably twice that. It brings up three important questions: Who is writing these books, who is publishing them, and who is reading them? I really hate my generation. When I think about my generation, I think of scene kids, and I know I'm going to be embarrased to tell my chlidren I was a teenager at the same time as them:
Really? REALLY? What are they glaring at? They're staring in different directions, and it's not at the camera, so what? Did someone steal the middle girl with the two-toned gray hair's tiara and they're trying to use their laser vision to burn him? I wish I could puff my face out to look that angsty.
I got the picture from this article, which I think made my soul die. Oh my god, these kids are my sister's age. Turns out they like death glaring passers-by and recording their reactions. Really? I know the article's from Australia, but it's an American thing, too.
If you can't tell, I don't like the "teen subculture" thing. My sister and her friends label people goth and emo and it bothers me. These kids say they want to be individuals...so they do it by dressing to the rules of a pre-made template. That's so fake. If you want to be an individual, act like one.
"When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other." -Eric Hoffer
3) "Gossip Girl" came back last night! It was a good episode. Now I'm back to having something to look forward to on Mondays. GG episodes always end on cliffhangers. I want to see what that Scott kid does next. I already know.
4) I'm tired and I have homework to do, so I'm stopping here. But in memory of Patrick Swayze, here's the video of "She's Like the Wind" from Dirty Dancing.
Love,
Juliana
Sunday, September 6, 2009
My favorite holiday!
It doesn't take much to make me happy. It also doesn't take much to upset me, but the fact that little things make me so happy is a huge part of who I am. One of the little things that makes me so happy is Halloween. If you read this last year, I talked a lot about Halloween. It's my favorite holiday. Pumpkin patches, cool weather, the smell of cinnamon, an excuse to hang out with friends on a school night outside in the dark, decorate the house with creepy decorations, dress up in costumes, and eat candy...what else could a kid want?
I don't trick-or-treat anymore. The last three years I quasi-trick-or-treated, following my cousins to a few houses while I hit up residents for donations to UNICEF. Last year on what was essentially the eve of my 16th birthday, my friends went trick-or-treating with me one last time. I really don't care about the candy. I never have. My sister always gives me a couple pieces, and that's all I want. I just like the actual activity. I love seeing how people decorate their houses, I like seeing the kids in costumes, I like being outside at night...the whole thing, it's just makes me really happy.
One thing I resent deeply when Halloween rolls around is my God-forsaken pretentious neighborhood where no kids trick-or-treat. I would LOVE to have people over for Halloween, decorate the house, and answer the door for trick-or-treaters. That would be so much fun for me who misses the hard core trick-or-treating days. I would have given up trick-or-treating years ago if I could still participate in the holiday by handing out candy.
We go to my old neighborhood to trick-or-treat, where I lived when I was little. I loved it there, and I have nothing but good memories of it. I guess it's a good thing that we moved because I will always remember it as I saw it when I was six. People decorate their houses for Halloween there. Lots of kids trick-or-treat there. I've always wished I still lived there, but I'm glad I don't because nothing's ever as good in reality as the fantasy you create in your mind.
When I grow up and have my own family, we're going to go all-out for Halloween. The house will be decorated, we will for sure live in a kid-friendly neighborhood, we will have the best candy, and I can't wait to take my kid out trick-or-treating for the first time.
Anyway, there's no way for me to be a part of Halloween anymore, but I always find ways. I was reminded of it when my friend and I were walking around outside last night and I felt a little cold. Then today, X-Entertainment Blog wrote about Halloween cookies (I love Halloween merchandising, too).
Too early for me to ramble about Halloween, September just started, but still. Even thought it means a school year's just beginning, October through December are my favorite months. Fall's awesome.
Love,
Juliana
I don't trick-or-treat anymore. The last three years I quasi-trick-or-treated, following my cousins to a few houses while I hit up residents for donations to UNICEF. Last year on what was essentially the eve of my 16th birthday, my friends went trick-or-treating with me one last time. I really don't care about the candy. I never have. My sister always gives me a couple pieces, and that's all I want. I just like the actual activity. I love seeing how people decorate their houses, I like seeing the kids in costumes, I like being outside at night...the whole thing, it's just makes me really happy.
One thing I resent deeply when Halloween rolls around is my God-forsaken pretentious neighborhood where no kids trick-or-treat. I would LOVE to have people over for Halloween, decorate the house, and answer the door for trick-or-treaters. That would be so much fun for me who misses the hard core trick-or-treating days. I would have given up trick-or-treating years ago if I could still participate in the holiday by handing out candy.
We go to my old neighborhood to trick-or-treat, where I lived when I was little. I loved it there, and I have nothing but good memories of it. I guess it's a good thing that we moved because I will always remember it as I saw it when I was six. People decorate their houses for Halloween there. Lots of kids trick-or-treat there. I've always wished I still lived there, but I'm glad I don't because nothing's ever as good in reality as the fantasy you create in your mind.
When I grow up and have my own family, we're going to go all-out for Halloween. The house will be decorated, we will for sure live in a kid-friendly neighborhood, we will have the best candy, and I can't wait to take my kid out trick-or-treating for the first time.
Anyway, there's no way for me to be a part of Halloween anymore, but I always find ways. I was reminded of it when my friend and I were walking around outside last night and I felt a little cold. Then today, X-Entertainment Blog wrote about Halloween cookies (I love Halloween merchandising, too).
Too early for me to ramble about Halloween, September just started, but still. Even thought it means a school year's just beginning, October through December are my favorite months. Fall's awesome.
Love,
Juliana
Friday, September 4, 2009
Babysitters Club!
I used to watch this all the time when I was little! I could hardly remember anything about the show (I remember the books better) but this theme song is like permanently branded into my memory, and it was randomly stuck in my head the other day so I looked it up. I <3 the 90s.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Big Wheel Keep on Turnin
Newspaper got me through the day. Really. Arguing with my editor-in-chief gives me something to keep the monotony of school from gnawing away at my sanity. It's bad enough that I constantly miss my friends this year, that I cry over Spanish every day, and that I'm beginning to think the curriculum for the program I'm in is a complete joke, but long days with boring classes just drains any ounce of energy I have left. Newspaper is never boring with this kid in charge of the paper.
I talked about him when I talked about newspaper camp. He decided it's completely his decision which articles go in the paper and on what pages, even if the editors (or writers for that matter) in those sections don't think an entire page needs to be dedicated to Michael Jackson or that swine flu is very "been there, done that," especially since we covered it last year. I'm the news editor this year, if I forgot to mention that, and he gave me a really weird arrangement of articles for the news section. The co-editor-in-chief and I changed it around a little, switched articles, and added some things we thought were more prevalent.
Didn't go over too well with him. My teacher said it's up to the section editors to decide what goes in their section, but he says it's up to him. He doesn't even listen to my opinions. I was holding my own to him, but I started crumbling on the inside and it must have been on my face because my teacher asked me if he was scaring me. I impulsively said yes. Apparently I have very readable expressions. Everyone always says they know exactly what I'm thinking by the look on my face.
Anyway, I would have left school feeling depressed like I usually do this year if it wasn't for him. Arguing with him is kind of fun.
Love,
Juliana
I talked about him when I talked about newspaper camp. He decided it's completely his decision which articles go in the paper and on what pages, even if the editors (or writers for that matter) in those sections don't think an entire page needs to be dedicated to Michael Jackson or that swine flu is very "been there, done that," especially since we covered it last year. I'm the news editor this year, if I forgot to mention that, and he gave me a really weird arrangement of articles for the news section. The co-editor-in-chief and I changed it around a little, switched articles, and added some things we thought were more prevalent.
Didn't go over too well with him. My teacher said it's up to the section editors to decide what goes in their section, but he says it's up to him. He doesn't even listen to my opinions. I was holding my own to him, but I started crumbling on the inside and it must have been on my face because my teacher asked me if he was scaring me. I impulsively said yes. Apparently I have very readable expressions. Everyone always says they know exactly what I'm thinking by the look on my face.
Anyway, I would have left school feeling depressed like I usually do this year if it wasn't for him. Arguing with him is kind of fun.
Love,
Juliana
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Toddlers in Tiaras. DISGUSTING.
The reality show "Toddlers in Tiaras" on TLC is the creepiest, saddest, most disgusting reality show I've seen on TV. Most reality shows make me sad and disgusted, but at least the participants in those shows are stupid adults who volunteer. In this show, the participants are young children volunteered by their stupid parents.
It's a reality show about little girls in beauty pageants, showing every ounce of drama and commentary from the crazy pageant moms. One of them said, after her daughter lost, "I've learned not to expect much from her."
@_@
That is just horrible. I think the entire concept of pageants is horrible. Mothers actually sign up their children to spend long days in far-away places getting pounds of make-up caked on their faces, wear uncomfortable outfits, parade around on stage for judges who then rate them on their eyes, their smile, their walk, their appearance, and no matter who wins or who loses, all kids walk out of there learning the wrong lesson about life. What kind of person would subject their five year old to that?
The losers get kicked in the self-esteem, being told they aren't as pretty as the other girls, and I can imagine over time they lose their feeling of self worth. The winners leave on a huge ego trip because they won money for being pretty. These kids should be outside in shorts and T-shirts playing with other kids, not inside in dresses and make-up being judged and compared to other kids on a stage in front of a room full of people and cameras that will air this humiliation on TV.
I would NEVER put my child through that. It's child exploitation. Some of these parents say "Oh, my daughter loves attention, she loves to model and dress up" but you can tell the parents are much more into it than the kids. If my little girl expressed genuine interest in the spotlight, I would put her in an acting or dance class at the rec center. If I couldn't afford that, I would take the camera and let her dress up and make movies or encourage her to put on little plays. There are a million ways you can encourage your kid to be a little drama queen without putting her through pageants to make money off of it. I hope those parents are putting the pageant money away for their kid's college or something, because there's a whole other ethics issue right there.
This show makes me sick.
I almost cried watching that. Seriously. Tanning your child, false eye lashes and fake teeth to fill their gaps...I think this should be illegal under a certain age. I really do. It's a civil rights violation, and these children shouldn't pay the price of a life of warped reality because they had parents who didn't look out for their best interests.
Doesn't that creep you out? Thank you San Francisco Chronicle for the picture. Follow the link and read the article and the comments under it. Some of the comments are so funny. "It's like a parade for pedophiles" and "I could just imagine if we ever went to court against the Muslim world, this would be exhibit A of why they have a right to hate us." Totally.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfmoms/detail?entry_id=43981#ixzz0Pd20z0Pe
I have to stop talking about it now. If you have an older child who knows everything a beauty pageant entails and still really wants to be in one, that's completely different from throwing your toddler into this life. If you even consider spray tanning your baby to be judged in a contest, you really need to evaluate what's important in your life and what you want to be important in your child's.
Love,
Juliana
It's a reality show about little girls in beauty pageants, showing every ounce of drama and commentary from the crazy pageant moms. One of them said, after her daughter lost, "I've learned not to expect much from her."
@_@
That is just horrible. I think the entire concept of pageants is horrible. Mothers actually sign up their children to spend long days in far-away places getting pounds of make-up caked on their faces, wear uncomfortable outfits, parade around on stage for judges who then rate them on their eyes, their smile, their walk, their appearance, and no matter who wins or who loses, all kids walk out of there learning the wrong lesson about life. What kind of person would subject their five year old to that?
The losers get kicked in the self-esteem, being told they aren't as pretty as the other girls, and I can imagine over time they lose their feeling of self worth. The winners leave on a huge ego trip because they won money for being pretty. These kids should be outside in shorts and T-shirts playing with other kids, not inside in dresses and make-up being judged and compared to other kids on a stage in front of a room full of people and cameras that will air this humiliation on TV.
I would NEVER put my child through that. It's child exploitation. Some of these parents say "Oh, my daughter loves attention, she loves to model and dress up" but you can tell the parents are much more into it than the kids. If my little girl expressed genuine interest in the spotlight, I would put her in an acting or dance class at the rec center. If I couldn't afford that, I would take the camera and let her dress up and make movies or encourage her to put on little plays. There are a million ways you can encourage your kid to be a little drama queen without putting her through pageants to make money off of it. I hope those parents are putting the pageant money away for their kid's college or something, because there's a whole other ethics issue right there.
This show makes me sick.
I almost cried watching that. Seriously. Tanning your child, false eye lashes and fake teeth to fill their gaps...I think this should be illegal under a certain age. I really do. It's a civil rights violation, and these children shouldn't pay the price of a life of warped reality because they had parents who didn't look out for their best interests.
Doesn't that creep you out? Thank you San Francisco Chronicle for the picture. Follow the link and read the article and the comments under it. Some of the comments are so funny. "It's like a parade for pedophiles" and "I could just imagine if we ever went to court against the Muslim world, this would be exhibit A of why they have a right to hate us." Totally.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfmoms/detail?entry_id=43981#ixzz0Pd20z0Pe
I have to stop talking about it now. If you have an older child who knows everything a beauty pageant entails and still really wants to be in one, that's completely different from throwing your toddler into this life. If you even consider spray tanning your baby to be judged in a contest, you really need to evaluate what's important in your life and what you want to be important in your child's.
Love,
Juliana
Rob Lowe's Eyes
Holy crap, he has pretty eyes.
I finally saw St. Elmo's Fire, that 80's movie about the seven college friends and their post-graduation shock of real life. Rob Lowe is the irresponsible guy who doesn't want to grow up. His hair in this movie reminds me of John Stamos in the first season of "Full House." Anyway, he had (and still has) gorgeous eyes. He reminds me a little of Chace Crawford, and I know that's not just in my head because my sister said the same thing.
The only picture of him on Google Images that was good enough had the description "ROB LOWE SEX TAPE" in caps like that, and I didn't chance it and click. So here's the movie cover. Rob Low's the guy in the bottom right corner.
Thank you WFNX radio of Boston and New Hampshire for the picture. Someone there did a movie review of it, so check it out.
Love,
Juliana
I finally saw St. Elmo's Fire, that 80's movie about the seven college friends and their post-graduation shock of real life. Rob Lowe is the irresponsible guy who doesn't want to grow up. His hair in this movie reminds me of John Stamos in the first season of "Full House." Anyway, he had (and still has) gorgeous eyes. He reminds me a little of Chace Crawford, and I know that's not just in my head because my sister said the same thing.
The only picture of him on Google Images that was good enough had the description "ROB LOWE SEX TAPE" in caps like that, and I didn't chance it and click. So here's the movie cover. Rob Low's the guy in the bottom right corner.
Thank you WFNX radio of Boston and New Hampshire for the picture. Someone there did a movie review of it, so check it out.
Love,
Juliana
Friday, August 21, 2009
Danny Boy
Does it mean I've overly emotional if the song "Danny Boy" makes me kind of teary?
"I shall hear, tho' soft you tread above me
And all my grave will warmer, sweeter be
For you will bend and tell me that you love me
And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me."
One guy at the senior center sings this all the time. It's his favorite song. He sings a bunch of old songs, and I love listening to the lyrics. Old songs are amazing because they actually say something. They're poetic. You don't see that much in modern music. That's why I like Taylor Swift. Her lyrics are powerful.
Here's another sad song that I love, not as old or poetic as "Danny Boy," though, and definitely not as sad: "Leader of the Pack" by the Shangri-Las, circa 1960s. (I was going to do "Teen Angel" but I like this one better.)
This video's like a jackpot for me. I'm happy I found it. It looks silly acted out. It's really sad when you hear it by itself. It's like the Notebook, but instead of the two reuniting ten years later, Noah dies in a tragic accident. I would have been so upset if Noah died.
Love,
Juliana
"I shall hear, tho' soft you tread above me
And all my grave will warmer, sweeter be
For you will bend and tell me that you love me
And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me."
One guy at the senior center sings this all the time. It's his favorite song. He sings a bunch of old songs, and I love listening to the lyrics. Old songs are amazing because they actually say something. They're poetic. You don't see that much in modern music. That's why I like Taylor Swift. Her lyrics are powerful.
Here's another sad song that I love, not as old or poetic as "Danny Boy," though, and definitely not as sad: "Leader of the Pack" by the Shangri-Las, circa 1960s. (I was going to do "Teen Angel" but I like this one better.)
This video's like a jackpot for me. I'm happy I found it. It looks silly acted out. It's really sad when you hear it by itself. It's like the Notebook, but instead of the two reuniting ten years later, Noah dies in a tragic accident. I would have been so upset if Noah died.
Love,
Juliana
Some things I've had saved in my favorites
Ever seen this Oreo commercial? This is so cute. I love this.
Also, I found the music video of "Crazy for You." It's my favorite Madonna song. Oh, wait...now that I said that, I need to think of a new security question. Just kidding, the idea to make that a security question just came to me.
That bridge with the fog at 18 seconds...since I saw this video, I've had dreams of being on that bridge. I don't really love this video, but I do love the song and I was waiting for the video to come back to You Tube for so long because the only thing I could remember about it was the bridge. It hasn't yet...I found this on AOL Music.
Also, who watches "Family Guy?" I've watched it a couple times out of curiosity, and I can't believe how outrageously asinine that show is. I'm guessing the reason it's so popular is because people like to see what insane thing they're going to do next? That's what kept me watching. Sadly, this freakin obnoxious show keeps me interested longer than "Hannah Montana." That's really sad.
Love,
Juliana
Also, I found the music video of "Crazy for You." It's my favorite Madonna song. Oh, wait...now that I said that, I need to think of a new security question. Just kidding, the idea to make that a security question just came to me.
That bridge with the fog at 18 seconds...since I saw this video, I've had dreams of being on that bridge. I don't really love this video, but I do love the song and I was waiting for the video to come back to You Tube for so long because the only thing I could remember about it was the bridge. It hasn't yet...I found this on AOL Music.
Also, who watches "Family Guy?" I've watched it a couple times out of curiosity, and I can't believe how outrageously asinine that show is. I'm guessing the reason it's so popular is because people like to see what insane thing they're going to do next? That's what kept me watching. Sadly, this freakin obnoxious show keeps me interested longer than "Hannah Montana." That's really sad.
Love,
Juliana
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Just some thoughts
All I have left to do tonight is make my history notes prettier, and I feel like writing. It's bulletted by topic, and I think it progresses from superficial anecdote to soul-searching because that's just the way my mood went. I feel like I start to sound like Carrie Bradshaw at the end. Sorry about the length. ^_^
**New editor-in-chief of our newspaper decided yesterday we need to do "get to know you" activities even though everyone on the staff either went to camp or was in the class last year. I thought the point of journalism camp was so we wouldn't have to stand outside in a swarm of gnats in 98% humidity on the first day of school playing "never have I ever" to get to know each other. But it's his call.
**A girl I was friends with in first grade died the other day. I believe she was hit by a car. It's so scary when you see the name of someone you haven't thought about in years, and it's in the obituaries.
**I went back to the senior center to help out after school today. I miss it there. I'd rather be there than in school. I miss all the fun afternoon activites they do. I like helping people paint during arts and crafts. I was afraid that going back, some of the people with advanced dementia wouldn't remember me. I'm afraid that if I stop going often, someone might die or their disease will progress so much that I can't talk to them anymore.
I think this is just a more specific example of the fear everyone has, that time will get away from them, they will be forgotten, and people they love will disappear.
**Drawing on that, I've always realized that many of the friends I have today will, in 10 years, be distant memories. Maybe I'll keep in touch with a few, maybe one really will be my friend forever, but relationships I have now won't be the same after high school is over. I've lost so many friends over the years. Everyone does, and they're always friends they never wanted to lose.
My friend has a completely different outlook on high school friendships than I do. She believes that "climbing the social ladder" is the most fun part of high school. She hangs out with people she knows will make her popular, and she wants to meet as many people as she can before she graduates.
I don't believe in that. I have two close friends at school. Two. That's it. One I've known since the first day of high school. The other I just met in January of last year. I feel like I've known them forever, and that's dangerous because I know we're going to grow apart some day. But if you live high school looking at friends superficially, as names you will barely remember by the end of college...how do you know who to trust?
She's at a different school in a whole different world. We see things differently and don't always understand each other. I can't think in terms of real-life social networking, friends as connections to more friends. I think that even though good friends might leave, the memories of them never will. Maybe she's just being realistic and knows friendships don't last, so might as well be loved superficially by many than profoundly by a few. Maybe, in a way, that's better than tricking yourself into believing in the idealistic idea of BFF.
Love,
Juliana
**New editor-in-chief of our newspaper decided yesterday we need to do "get to know you" activities even though everyone on the staff either went to camp or was in the class last year. I thought the point of journalism camp was so we wouldn't have to stand outside in a swarm of gnats in 98% humidity on the first day of school playing "never have I ever" to get to know each other. But it's his call.
**A girl I was friends with in first grade died the other day. I believe she was hit by a car. It's so scary when you see the name of someone you haven't thought about in years, and it's in the obituaries.
**I went back to the senior center to help out after school today. I miss it there. I'd rather be there than in school. I miss all the fun afternoon activites they do. I like helping people paint during arts and crafts. I was afraid that going back, some of the people with advanced dementia wouldn't remember me. I'm afraid that if I stop going often, someone might die or their disease will progress so much that I can't talk to them anymore.
I think this is just a more specific example of the fear everyone has, that time will get away from them, they will be forgotten, and people they love will disappear.
**Drawing on that, I've always realized that many of the friends I have today will, in 10 years, be distant memories. Maybe I'll keep in touch with a few, maybe one really will be my friend forever, but relationships I have now won't be the same after high school is over. I've lost so many friends over the years. Everyone does, and they're always friends they never wanted to lose.
My friend has a completely different outlook on high school friendships than I do. She believes that "climbing the social ladder" is the most fun part of high school. She hangs out with people she knows will make her popular, and she wants to meet as many people as she can before she graduates.
I don't believe in that. I have two close friends at school. Two. That's it. One I've known since the first day of high school. The other I just met in January of last year. I feel like I've known them forever, and that's dangerous because I know we're going to grow apart some day. But if you live high school looking at friends superficially, as names you will barely remember by the end of college...how do you know who to trust?
She's at a different school in a whole different world. We see things differently and don't always understand each other. I can't think in terms of real-life social networking, friends as connections to more friends. I think that even though good friends might leave, the memories of them never will. Maybe she's just being realistic and knows friendships don't last, so might as well be loved superficially by many than profoundly by a few. Maybe, in a way, that's better than tricking yourself into believing in the idealistic idea of BFF.
Love,
Juliana
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Because I like to relate weird conversations I have.
Here's a conversation I somehow got into with a senior from yearbook (who I don't even know) in journalism class today. It almost ended in a screaming match and left me wondering...what the hell just happened?
I was talking to my friend about how our teacher is teaching Journalism 1 classes this year so newbies aren't thrown into newspaper or yearbook without any background knowledge. This girl overheard. Imagine voices getting progressively louder and more caustic.
Me to Allison: Yeah, she only has one English class. She's teaching Journalism 1 for the Freshmen.
Yearbook girl, in a snarky tone: No she isn't!
Me: Yeah, she told me the other day. Freshmen who sign up for Journalism are taking intro classes.
Her: No, Journalism 1 kids are put in regular newspaper or yearbook. *Rolls eyes* Not that I would expect you to understand.
Me: I know, they were last year, but this year it changed.
Her: No it didn't!! You have no idea what you're talking about.
Me: Yes it did!! Whatever.
I turn around to end the conversation and see "Journalism 1, periods 1 and 3" written on the board with homework below.
Me: It says right on the board, she's teaching two classes of Journalism 1. See?
Her: You don't have to get so snippy!
She left, and I had one of those "What just happened?" moments. Allison asks me, "What was with that girl freaking out on you?"
I have no idea. She always looks blazed, so I figure she just has issues. That was pretty funny though. XD
Love,
Juliana
I was talking to my friend about how our teacher is teaching Journalism 1 classes this year so newbies aren't thrown into newspaper or yearbook without any background knowledge. This girl overheard. Imagine voices getting progressively louder and more caustic.
Me to Allison: Yeah, she only has one English class. She's teaching Journalism 1 for the Freshmen.
Yearbook girl, in a snarky tone: No she isn't!
Me: Yeah, she told me the other day. Freshmen who sign up for Journalism are taking intro classes.
Her: No, Journalism 1 kids are put in regular newspaper or yearbook. *Rolls eyes* Not that I would expect you to understand.
Me: I know, they were last year, but this year it changed.
Her: No it didn't!! You have no idea what you're talking about.
Me: Yes it did!! Whatever.
I turn around to end the conversation and see "Journalism 1, periods 1 and 3" written on the board with homework below.
Me: It says right on the board, she's teaching two classes of Journalism 1. See?
Her: You don't have to get so snippy!
She left, and I had one of those "What just happened?" moments. Allison asks me, "What was with that girl freaking out on you?"
I have no idea. She always looks blazed, so I figure she just has issues. That was pretty funny though. XD
Love,
Juliana
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Wake me up when September ends
BORED OUT OF MY MIND. I wasn't bored all summer. One day at school, and I feel like my breathing is as slow as the clock's minute hand. 11th grade is like the school version of a management position at a data processing company. Sure, you have authority over those less experienced than you, but you're still processing data and you just have more work than they do.
High school juniors...Your books have no pictures or color, you're thrown a list of upcoming orals and exams the day you get there, and you sit in dreary, sparsely decorated rooms packed with 35 teenagers for an hour and 41 minutes listening to teachers drone about the school rules and class expectations.
Biology was the worst. It was my last class of the day, and my teacher is dry like toast. He's very strict, he told us he's "strictly business," and he has a lot of rules. He's not very warm, and he doesn't smile very much. He seems like a good teacher, but I was disappointed. I was hoping for a fun Biology teacher, and it's clear Biology isn't going to be much fun this year.
We're not allowed to talk in his class. The room is dark, warm, and quiet. His voice is low and soft. I was so close to falling asleep on top of my class expectations packet. At least it's not Chemistry. Always a silver lining. Any teacher in Biology is better than a year of advanced Chem. (Let's see if I still think that by November.)
I'm going to read about the properties of water in my depressing, colorless Bio book and be happy I'm not calculating the percent mass of anything. I hope my classes tomorrow will be a little happier. I'm going to make the best of this year no matter what because you only get to do high school once.
Love,
Juliana
High school juniors...Your books have no pictures or color, you're thrown a list of upcoming orals and exams the day you get there, and you sit in dreary, sparsely decorated rooms packed with 35 teenagers for an hour and 41 minutes listening to teachers drone about the school rules and class expectations.
Biology was the worst. It was my last class of the day, and my teacher is dry like toast. He's very strict, he told us he's "strictly business," and he has a lot of rules. He's not very warm, and he doesn't smile very much. He seems like a good teacher, but I was disappointed. I was hoping for a fun Biology teacher, and it's clear Biology isn't going to be much fun this year.
We're not allowed to talk in his class. The room is dark, warm, and quiet. His voice is low and soft. I was so close to falling asleep on top of my class expectations packet. At least it's not Chemistry. Always a silver lining. Any teacher in Biology is better than a year of advanced Chem. (Let's see if I still think that by November.)
I'm going to read about the properties of water in my depressing, colorless Bio book and be happy I'm not calculating the percent mass of anything. I hope my classes tomorrow will be a little happier. I'm going to make the best of this year no matter what because you only get to do high school once.
Love,
Juliana
Monday, August 17, 2009
Esoteric related searches? Doesn't work.
I just searched the word "disadvantageous" on dictionary.com and in the related searches column on the left, "asexual reproduction," "the yolk sac of humans," and "Which of the following contributes to placenta?" were listed. Am I missing an alternate meaning of disadvantageous?
Speaking of SAT words, my new favorite is "esoteric." It means "understood by or meant for only the select few who have special knowledge or interest." The related searches for that make sense. Esoteric judaism, esoteric symbols, esoteric texts....
Love,
Juilana
Speaking of SAT words, my new favorite is "esoteric." It means "understood by or meant for only the select few who have special knowledge or interest." The related searches for that make sense. Esoteric judaism, esoteric symbols, esoteric texts....
Love,
Juilana
I think the school board directors went to school in our district.
I was talking to one of my teachers from last year, and she is pissed because of this new guy on the school board and the ridiculous things he's doing. All teachers in the county have to teach from the same syllabus, reach the same "benchmark goals" and follow the same class objectives, which have to be written on the board at the beginning of each class. If I were her, I would be mad, too...she's an amazing teacher, and she has to compromise that because of a stupid socialist district rule.
Really, doesn't this seem socialist to you? They make every teacher teach the exact same thing at the exact same time, bringing horrible teachers up to average and amazing teachers down to average. If a teacher is horrible, why not let them go? Am I totally naive about this?
A large number of students can't pass FCAT, the simple standardized test that evaluates basic math and reading skills. Their solution is to prep the kids more for FCAT, completely de-emphasizing actual learning in exchange for rote memorization of five-paragraph essay structure, the hunt-and-find technique, and filling in bubble grids.
Way to go, Florida. And here's a shout-out to the freshie on the school board for the brilliant idea. Does the new English syllabus have irony on it?
Love,
Juliana
Really, doesn't this seem socialist to you? They make every teacher teach the exact same thing at the exact same time, bringing horrible teachers up to average and amazing teachers down to average. If a teacher is horrible, why not let them go? Am I totally naive about this?
A large number of students can't pass FCAT, the simple standardized test that evaluates basic math and reading skills. Their solution is to prep the kids more for FCAT, completely de-emphasizing actual learning in exchange for rote memorization of five-paragraph essay structure, the hunt-and-find technique, and filling in bubble grids.
Way to go, Florida. And here's a shout-out to the freshie on the school board for the brilliant idea. Does the new English syllabus have irony on it?
Love,
Juliana
Saturday, August 15, 2009
This post dedicated to my new baby cousin
If you know me or even if you just read this, you have to know I love babies. My cousin had a baby on Thursday! I got to hold her twice. ^_^ I haven't seen a newborn baby up close in a very long time...over seven years probably. I saw Alivia at the hospital the day she was born, and she was so small. She looked like a doll. I was holding her, and I was so afraid I was hurting her neck or her feet were squished or something. Babies are so fragile, you know?
I only have one picture of her, the one my dad texted to me five minutes after she was born. It's weird to see a baby right after they're born and think that just a few minutes before, they were inside somebody else. It's a huge transition from their cozy, protected little environment to the world where they're breathing on their own. It's one of those things that makes me believe in intelligent design. There has to be a God. Science just can't do that on it's own.
We took my cousin, her 7-year-old brother, out today. I love this kid. I'm always telling people funny stories about him. He's so smart, and he comes up with some funny, clever things. We walked by this trendy Japanese restaurant and they were playing loud music outside. He says, "Why are they playing rock music at a sushi place? You'd think they would play something calm and Japanese, but it's rock music. What is it, like, 'hey, check out our rockin sushi?'" He named his fish after Christopher Columbus' boats, and he told me his idea for building a pool with a glass fish tank underneath it, the glass of the tank as the floor of the pool. I don't know where he got that. He has such a cute personality.
School starts on Tuesday. I went in on Friday to help my newspaper adviser clean up her room and ended up with a role in a skit put together by my former government teacher for the Freshmen at their orientation on Monday. It's a (intentionally) super-corny skit showing how all freshmen are lost coming to a new school and how it gets better. The girl who was supposed to do it wasn't in town to rehearse, so I took her place. If she's there on Monday, we're going to share the part. I go to school to dust some computers and end up with an acting job.
Not sure how to wrap this up, so here's a quote from Winnie the Pooh! I have the Pooh Bear quotes page in my favorites. Reading through them always makes me feel better.
"Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.”
--Winnie the Pooh, by A.A. Milne
Love,
Juliana <3
I only have one picture of her, the one my dad texted to me five minutes after she was born. It's weird to see a baby right after they're born and think that just a few minutes before, they were inside somebody else. It's a huge transition from their cozy, protected little environment to the world where they're breathing on their own. It's one of those things that makes me believe in intelligent design. There has to be a God. Science just can't do that on it's own.
We took my cousin, her 7-year-old brother, out today. I love this kid. I'm always telling people funny stories about him. He's so smart, and he comes up with some funny, clever things. We walked by this trendy Japanese restaurant and they were playing loud music outside. He says, "Why are they playing rock music at a sushi place? You'd think they would play something calm and Japanese, but it's rock music. What is it, like, 'hey, check out our rockin sushi?'" He named his fish after Christopher Columbus' boats, and he told me his idea for building a pool with a glass fish tank underneath it, the glass of the tank as the floor of the pool. I don't know where he got that. He has such a cute personality.
School starts on Tuesday. I went in on Friday to help my newspaper adviser clean up her room and ended up with a role in a skit put together by my former government teacher for the Freshmen at their orientation on Monday. It's a (intentionally) super-corny skit showing how all freshmen are lost coming to a new school and how it gets better. The girl who was supposed to do it wasn't in town to rehearse, so I took her place. If she's there on Monday, we're going to share the part. I go to school to dust some computers and end up with an acting job.
Not sure how to wrap this up, so here's a quote from Winnie the Pooh! I have the Pooh Bear quotes page in my favorites. Reading through them always makes me feel better.
"Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.”
--Winnie the Pooh, by A.A. Milne
Love,
Juliana <3
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Oh my gosh I'm so excited
I can't believe summer's over. I say this all the time, and it was already a cliche before I overused it, but where has the time gone? I'm actually going to be 17 in a few short months. I'm not so upset about this birthday. Maybe it hasn't hit me yet, but I think my attitude's just changed. It's too ironic to waste time worrying about time.
I've been so busy lately, I feel like I'm doing something with the last quarter of my 17th year. I'm never bored. If I'm not doing something interesting, I find something interesting to do. That's always been true for me, though. It's a Tuesday in the summer and I've been up and running around since 7:15, even though I didn't get home until 11:30 last night.
My friend and I have been working on this project we're doing for school. We're in a magnet program that requires us to take some kind of a leadership role in a community service project. We're creating one ourselves. It's going to be a festival for kids to raise money for children with life-threatening illnesses. A local organization does a lot for families of these children, and they need money. We're going to work with them to get some publicity for their organization and increase community awareness about the children in our own city whose lives are being stolen by diseases.
It's A LOT of work. I mean, we spent most of Sunday thinking of fundraiser ideas to raise money to buy the pavillion to hold the festival. We have it all planned out, though, all the permits and legalities, we know what we need and how to get it. We have it organized who in our group is responsible for which aspects of the project, and we pretty much have every Saturday from now until the event over a year from now planned with fundraisers, but we think it will be worth the work. We're so into it, we keep forgetting about the school requirements. It's our baby. That's what M calls it.
Even my dad, who looks at endeavors like this so practically and realistically, is supporting us. I'm so excited. Even though I don't want school to start, I'm ready to make this a great year. I'm not wasting any more of my fleeting high school years. It's supposedly the time of your life, right?
"The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind." --William James
Love,
Juliana
I've been so busy lately, I feel like I'm doing something with the last quarter of my 17th year. I'm never bored. If I'm not doing something interesting, I find something interesting to do. That's always been true for me, though. It's a Tuesday in the summer and I've been up and running around since 7:15, even though I didn't get home until 11:30 last night.
My friend and I have been working on this project we're doing for school. We're in a magnet program that requires us to take some kind of a leadership role in a community service project. We're creating one ourselves. It's going to be a festival for kids to raise money for children with life-threatening illnesses. A local organization does a lot for families of these children, and they need money. We're going to work with them to get some publicity for their organization and increase community awareness about the children in our own city whose lives are being stolen by diseases.
It's A LOT of work. I mean, we spent most of Sunday thinking of fundraiser ideas to raise money to buy the pavillion to hold the festival. We have it all planned out, though, all the permits and legalities, we know what we need and how to get it. We have it organized who in our group is responsible for which aspects of the project, and we pretty much have every Saturday from now until the event over a year from now planned with fundraisers, but we think it will be worth the work. We're so into it, we keep forgetting about the school requirements. It's our baby. That's what M calls it.
Even my dad, who looks at endeavors like this so practically and realistically, is supporting us. I'm so excited. Even though I don't want school to start, I'm ready to make this a great year. I'm not wasting any more of my fleeting high school years. It's supposedly the time of your life, right?
"The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind." --William James
Love,
Juliana
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Taylor Ham...because I want some.
Since I got back from journalism camp, I have been obsessed with eating. I usually don't care much about food and just eat when I have to, but I went to Costco yesterday and I hit up all the food demonstration tables for samples, even if I didn't know what they were making. I had a dream last night I was eating waffles, eggs and bacon two different times throughout the dream.
(In this dream, I went to a baseball game with Ted Kennedy and died in a terrorist attack on the stadium. According to my dream, after you die, you go to a dollar store to wait for your heaven/hell assignment. I almost bought a key chain.)
Getting back to the actual topic, I've really been wanting breakfast food. I was just watching a 1964 Julia Child cooking video on PBS.org and she was doing fancy things with eggs. I, of course, went to raid the fridge and found a box of Taylor Pork Roll.
What?? You've never heard of Taylor Ham?? What kind of New Jerseyan are you?
(In this dream, I went to a baseball game with Ted Kennedy and died in a terrorist attack on the stadium. According to my dream, after you die, you go to a dollar store to wait for your heaven/hell assignment. I almost bought a key chain.)
Getting back to the actual topic, I've really been wanting breakfast food. I was just watching a 1964 Julia Child cooking video on PBS.org and she was doing fancy things with eggs. I, of course, went to raid the fridge and found a box of Taylor Pork Roll.
What?? You've never heard of Taylor Ham?? What kind of New Jerseyan are you?
http://www.sondrak.com/index.php/weblog/sliced_heaven/
Taylor Ham looks a little like Canadian Bacon, or round slices of ham. It's very common in New Jersey, in fact, a sandwich of Taylor Ham, eggs, and cheese is called a "Jersey Breakfast." They call it pork roll in southern Jersey, Taylor Ham in the North. My parents grew up in New Jersey. We always made this stuff instead of bacon.
http://www.roadfood.com/photos/11208.jpgYeah, it's bad for you. We only make it occasionally. (Is it worse for you than bacon? I have to check on that.) I put pancake syrup on it. Funny how I put syrup on Taylor Ham but usually not on pancakes.
There's a box of sugar cookies with rainbow sprinkles on the kitchen counter and it kills me to keep walking past them. I ate four over the course of yesterday. Sidestepped them today but went for chocolate ice cream instead...I'll snap out of it in a couple days. Always do.
Love,
She who can ramble about anything, even spicy ham, Juliana.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
I'm watching this show as I write this and...ack.
"Secret Life of the American Teenager" on ABC Family. When I saw the first commercial for this show, I thought it would die after one year. It's probably Juno-inspired, about a 15-year-old who gets pregnant yada yada drama drama. I figured the only selling point of this movie was having Molly Ringwald of Pretty and Pink fame (and a bunch of other 80's movies that I love) play the mother.
It's lasted two years already and kids in my newspaper class talk about it all the time. Apparently people like it. I said I wouldn't pass judgments on it until I actually watched a full episode. Well, I have, and dear God, I hope this isn't supposed to represent the lives of all American teenagers. We are not all sluts and man-whores who have perfect hair all the time and whose lives are weighted with unnecessary drama.
Right now they're talking about how this 15-year-old (not the baby's father) she barely knew asked her to marry him and she said yes, but he's upset that she doesn't want him to come for the sonogram. This show has more melodrama than "Dawson's Creek." I'm not into it.
Now an ABC Family show I actually like.
"10 Things I Hate about You," based off of the movie from the 90's, is very cute. First time I heard they were making that movie, originally meant as a modern interpretation of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, into a TV show, I thought, how is that going to work? The story is of two sisters in high school, the younger one just wants to be popular and the older one has no patience for stupid people in high school hell.
Most of the movie's plot was lost in translation to TV, but the general idea makes this show likeable in a different way. Lindsay Shaw from "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide" plays Kat, and she does a great job with this part. She would make the show funny if the rest of it sucked. The younger sister is played by Meaghan Martin from Disney's Camp Rock. They kept the original father from the movie, Larry Miller.
Anyway, I really like this show for it's lightly mocking and slightly cynical portrayal of high school life. I can actually relate to this depiction of the "life of the American teenager." I wonder who indentifies with "Secret Life." Hopefully there aren't that many, but you know that's just me being naive...or, you know, just overusing the rose colored glasses.
Love,
Juliana
It's lasted two years already and kids in my newspaper class talk about it all the time. Apparently people like it. I said I wouldn't pass judgments on it until I actually watched a full episode. Well, I have, and dear God, I hope this isn't supposed to represent the lives of all American teenagers. We are not all sluts and man-whores who have perfect hair all the time and whose lives are weighted with unnecessary drama.
Right now they're talking about how this 15-year-old (not the baby's father) she barely knew asked her to marry him and she said yes, but he's upset that she doesn't want him to come for the sonogram. This show has more melodrama than "Dawson's Creek." I'm not into it.
Now an ABC Family show I actually like.
"10 Things I Hate about You," based off of the movie from the 90's, is very cute. First time I heard they were making that movie, originally meant as a modern interpretation of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, into a TV show, I thought, how is that going to work? The story is of two sisters in high school, the younger one just wants to be popular and the older one has no patience for stupid people in high school hell.
Most of the movie's plot was lost in translation to TV, but the general idea makes this show likeable in a different way. Lindsay Shaw from "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide" plays Kat, and she does a great job with this part. She would make the show funny if the rest of it sucked. The younger sister is played by Meaghan Martin from Disney's Camp Rock. They kept the original father from the movie, Larry Miller.
Anyway, I really like this show for it's lightly mocking and slightly cynical portrayal of high school life. I can actually relate to this depiction of the "life of the American teenager." I wonder who indentifies with "Secret Life." Hopefully there aren't that many, but you know that's just me being naive...or, you know, just overusing the rose colored glasses.
Love,
Juliana
My job? Swing dancing with 70 year olds, and I LOVE it.
I'm volunteering at a senior center this summer, and I never thought getting into it that it would end up being the most meaningful thing I've ever done.
I've only ever had one paying job, last summer at an art studio. I didn't like it much, but I figured it was money, work experience, and something to do. My last volunteer job was at the library, and I mostly shelved books and prepared crafts for the preschool story time. I really liked that because I love libraries and like looking at books and organizing them. During the summer, I was a "reading buddy" and read with elementary school kids, which I liked even more. That was all nothing compared to what I'm doing now.
Today a guy asked me to dance with him. This was was the first time I've danced in front of a room full of people. He was 70 years old, and it was a Sinatra song. He calls me "Miss America" and sings that line of the song when I walk into a room, just like my grandfather does. I made him smile, I made him laugh, and that was only one person and one day.
Most of the people there have dementia, most in their early stages. On the first day, the nurse there gave me a run-down of all the participants and what they used to do when they were young. Some were teachers, soldiers, tennis players, doctors, lawyers. I look around and see all these people who can't remember what year it is, can't walk, some can't talk. I've shed tears just by looking around the room, but then I make eye contact with someone, smile and wave, and the smile they give me back makes me so happy. It's bittersweet, but making these people smile is such a rewarding thing for me.
I get to speak Spanish to the hispanic ladies. I tease the guy who gets real competitive when he plays dominoes. I convince the guy who sits by the door waiting to go home to come out and join the group. I dance around all silly and get everyone motivated when the music comes on. I know how everyone takes their coffee. I know not to be offended when certain people yell at me. When I imagine how scary it must be to be to suddenly forget where you are and what you're doing there, I feel like they should be yelling at me more.
This one guy, he's awesome. Just the way he talks. He said the other day "People are like good liquor. They get better with age." Well he always sits with this one lady who can't do much on ther own anymore and always holds her hand. He always looks at her meaningfully, and the other day, I noticed her looking back at him the same way. She kissed him on the hand. I got all teary. It was so sweet, but it came with that sadness of real, truth that imparts a little more wisdom than I had before. To counter it, it fills me with an overwhelming happiness and sense of purpose that I've never experienced before.
I look forward to going there, and I love staying late to see the looks on their faces when their family comes to get them after the day is over. I have so much to think about at the end of the day. I'm learning more from this than I would from any extra credit college class I could have taken.
"When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so that when you die, you're smiling and everyone around you is crying."
Love,
Juliana
I've only ever had one paying job, last summer at an art studio. I didn't like it much, but I figured it was money, work experience, and something to do. My last volunteer job was at the library, and I mostly shelved books and prepared crafts for the preschool story time. I really liked that because I love libraries and like looking at books and organizing them. During the summer, I was a "reading buddy" and read with elementary school kids, which I liked even more. That was all nothing compared to what I'm doing now.
Today a guy asked me to dance with him. This was was the first time I've danced in front of a room full of people. He was 70 years old, and it was a Sinatra song. He calls me "Miss America" and sings that line of the song when I walk into a room, just like my grandfather does. I made him smile, I made him laugh, and that was only one person and one day.
Most of the people there have dementia, most in their early stages. On the first day, the nurse there gave me a run-down of all the participants and what they used to do when they were young. Some were teachers, soldiers, tennis players, doctors, lawyers. I look around and see all these people who can't remember what year it is, can't walk, some can't talk. I've shed tears just by looking around the room, but then I make eye contact with someone, smile and wave, and the smile they give me back makes me so happy. It's bittersweet, but making these people smile is such a rewarding thing for me.
I get to speak Spanish to the hispanic ladies. I tease the guy who gets real competitive when he plays dominoes. I convince the guy who sits by the door waiting to go home to come out and join the group. I dance around all silly and get everyone motivated when the music comes on. I know how everyone takes their coffee. I know not to be offended when certain people yell at me. When I imagine how scary it must be to be to suddenly forget where you are and what you're doing there, I feel like they should be yelling at me more.
This one guy, he's awesome. Just the way he talks. He said the other day "People are like good liquor. They get better with age." Well he always sits with this one lady who can't do much on ther own anymore and always holds her hand. He always looks at her meaningfully, and the other day, I noticed her looking back at him the same way. She kissed him on the hand. I got all teary. It was so sweet, but it came with that sadness of real, truth that imparts a little more wisdom than I had before. To counter it, it fills me with an overwhelming happiness and sense of purpose that I've never experienced before.
I look forward to going there, and I love staying late to see the looks on their faces when their family comes to get them after the day is over. I have so much to think about at the end of the day. I'm learning more from this than I would from any extra credit college class I could have taken.
"When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so that when you die, you're smiling and everyone around you is crying."
Love,
Juliana
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Don't Trust Me
I was just introduced to "Don't Trust Me" by 3Oh!3. I felt like a loser for being the only one in the room who didn't know all the lyrics to it...but, wow. It's hard to make me feel awkward anymore, but this song did a good job of it. I realized halfway through that I actually had heard it before. My friends were like, "You've seriously never heard this song?" I hate when that happens.
It's because of friends from newspaper that I know and like songs by 3Oh!3 and Cobra Starship.
Love,
Juilana
It's because of friends from newspaper that I know and like songs by 3Oh!3 and Cobra Starship.
Love,
Juilana
No cemetary view this time...
I just got back from newspaper camp again, although I probably shouldn't call it that since it's actually yearbook camp that makes slight ammendments for my school's newspaper staff. Our dorm building, called "Oceanview," didn't look out on a cemetary this time.
That picture was last year. This time it was a Jag dealership and a parking lot. I liked that better.
I'm so tired. We had to get up at seven every day and didn't go to bed until after one. On Tuesday night, we were up until midnight working on our paper. I broke down. Fortunately, no one pays attention to what I do, but always feel bad about crying in front of people because it's awkward for them.
The new editor-in-chief who I've known for a year now still can't remember that I was on the paper last year. He keeps thinking I'm new and clueless, asking me if I know how to write headlines. He talks down to me, and I don't like it. I know that's just the way he is, but still. He doesn't listen to me when I give suggestions. He looks at me and looks away. All the new sophomores on the staff were supporting one of my ideas, and he wouldn't even give us a yes or no. He only took suggestions from the juniors he liked. Only people important enough to warrant his attention.
Another thing, he can't remember anyone's names. I understand not being able to remember 16 names the first time, but he never learned them. Every time he called a name, it was wrong. If you're going to tell me what to do, at least look like you're trying to learn my name.
I probably shouldn't talk though because I have a great memory for names. My friend and I were in charge of typing up the staff list, and I knew everyone's first and last names, even the new kids, and I only had to fix the spelling of two of them. (This one kid has a 15-letter last name and I only forgot one silent H. I think that's pretty good.) She was shocked I knew everyone after two days. I don't do it on purpose, I just like to connect faces with names, so it's kind of innate. Our editor-in-chief should at least get first names right. Seriously.
Aside from my quiet nature and lack of leadership skills, I could never be in charge because I can't talk down to people. I wouldn't be able to tell my friends what to do. I would always feel like it's not my place to boss people around because they're my equals. I would have to run it like a democracy. I would consult the staff on all decisions, but I never want to be editor-in-chief anyway.
I got an award at the closing ceremony for "Hardest Worker" from our camp newspaper instructor. I must do something right.
Love,
Juliana
That picture was last year. This time it was a Jag dealership and a parking lot. I liked that better.
I'm so tired. We had to get up at seven every day and didn't go to bed until after one. On Tuesday night, we were up until midnight working on our paper. I broke down. Fortunately, no one pays attention to what I do, but always feel bad about crying in front of people because it's awkward for them.
The new editor-in-chief who I've known for a year now still can't remember that I was on the paper last year. He keeps thinking I'm new and clueless, asking me if I know how to write headlines. He talks down to me, and I don't like it. I know that's just the way he is, but still. He doesn't listen to me when I give suggestions. He looks at me and looks away. All the new sophomores on the staff were supporting one of my ideas, and he wouldn't even give us a yes or no. He only took suggestions from the juniors he liked. Only people important enough to warrant his attention.
Another thing, he can't remember anyone's names. I understand not being able to remember 16 names the first time, but he never learned them. Every time he called a name, it was wrong. If you're going to tell me what to do, at least look like you're trying to learn my name.
I probably shouldn't talk though because I have a great memory for names. My friend and I were in charge of typing up the staff list, and I knew everyone's first and last names, even the new kids, and I only had to fix the spelling of two of them. (This one kid has a 15-letter last name and I only forgot one silent H. I think that's pretty good.) She was shocked I knew everyone after two days. I don't do it on purpose, I just like to connect faces with names, so it's kind of innate. Our editor-in-chief should at least get first names right. Seriously.
Aside from my quiet nature and lack of leadership skills, I could never be in charge because I can't talk down to people. I wouldn't be able to tell my friends what to do. I would always feel like it's not my place to boss people around because they're my equals. I would have to run it like a democracy. I would consult the staff on all decisions, but I never want to be editor-in-chief anyway.
I got an award at the closing ceremony for "Hardest Worker" from our camp newspaper instructor. I must do something right.
Love,
Juliana
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Dear annoying people of the world...
Dear e-mail-duplicate senders,
Thank you for sending me that dirty joke/picture of a dog in bunny ears/political tirade/Jesus chain letter. I appreciated your thinking about me and throwing it my way. I enjoyed the six seconds I spent skimming before hitting the delete button. However, I couldn't help but notice that the latest Jesus-with-puppies picture looked familiar. You sent it to me two months ago...and another time four months before that. I am well-acquainted with the puppy Jesus e-mail, which alerts me that my decision to forward or delete this e-mail determines my eternal resting place. Are you passing this on because you believe that the Jesus puppy e-mail will send you on a direct flight to hell, or did you just forget? Please stop being so cavalier in your e-mail forwarding that you forget which e-mails you've forwarded in the past. Usually, they're not good enough to be passed around a second time.
Dear encroaching shoppers,
I hear the shuffle of your Crocs and the faint squeak of your shopping cart behind me as I'm trying to figure out what the heck mom meant by "the cooking oil with the red cap." You stealthily slide in next to me, reach across my face and grab some Crisco. I move to the left, out of your way. At this moment, you decide the Crisco wasn't what you were looking for and take a few steps to the left yourself. I then back up and pretend to be enamored with the salad dressing on the other side of the aisle when suddenly, you're done with the oil and it's Hidden Valley time! You pivot your cart on it's back left wheel and park it on the back of my shoe. I take this opportunity to run back to the oil side when you move your cart and perfectly position it in the middle of the aisle, and I, being the clumsy person I am, almost trip and fall head first into your carton of organic eggs. See where I'm going with this? Personal space still applies in a crowded store. The trick is to be as unobtrusive as possible. Ninjas, baby. Learn from them.
Dear extreme Michael Jackson mourners,
It's horrible that the life of this amazing performer was cut short. I feel for his family and friends who will miss him so much. However, fans, you did not know him personally. He was 50 years old and didn't appear to be the epitome of health. 50 was considered "old" 100 years ago. To be honest, I wasn't shocked until I saw how much media attention it commanded. You won't miss Michael Jackson; you didn't know him. You will miss his music, which will still remain a legacy forever. It makes sense to send some love to his friends and family (I almost cried when his daughter took the microphone at the funeral), but even today, the day after his funeral, talk shows and newspapers still address this as if Obama was assassinated. He had an awesome voice, and God knows how many people (including myself) have tried to learn the moonwalk and the Thriller dance...but you didn't lose your best friend in Michael. His funeral is over, let the man rest in peace now.
Dear iB2kewl4U,
U can unerstand mee wen i tawk liek dis? OMG u gotz da L337 $|<1LL$. U tawk 2 ur freinz liek dis all da tiem. Unfortunately, I don't care about your whatever skills. I don't want to spend extra time decoding your chatspeak sentences. Type out the word, you lazy teenagers. My sister got a letter in the mail from her friend from camp and she had to have me read and decode the handwritten chat acronyms. I lost some respect for that girl. She wasted my energy. Grow up, type as if you've mastered English, and stop thinking it's cool to change the spelling of common words with no purpose behind it. It stopped being cool after 5th grade. Cut it out, you're being a dork and insulting your own intelligence, as well as that of the person you're talking to.
That last sentence sounded weirdly formal, but I took a practice SAT the other day and I guess I'm in the mode.
Love,
Juliana
Thank you for sending me that dirty joke/picture of a dog in bunny ears/political tirade/Jesus chain letter. I appreciated your thinking about me and throwing it my way. I enjoyed the six seconds I spent skimming before hitting the delete button. However, I couldn't help but notice that the latest Jesus-with-puppies picture looked familiar. You sent it to me two months ago...and another time four months before that. I am well-acquainted with the puppy Jesus e-mail, which alerts me that my decision to forward or delete this e-mail determines my eternal resting place. Are you passing this on because you believe that the Jesus puppy e-mail will send you on a direct flight to hell, or did you just forget? Please stop being so cavalier in your e-mail forwarding that you forget which e-mails you've forwarded in the past. Usually, they're not good enough to be passed around a second time.
Dear encroaching shoppers,
I hear the shuffle of your Crocs and the faint squeak of your shopping cart behind me as I'm trying to figure out what the heck mom meant by "the cooking oil with the red cap." You stealthily slide in next to me, reach across my face and grab some Crisco. I move to the left, out of your way. At this moment, you decide the Crisco wasn't what you were looking for and take a few steps to the left yourself. I then back up and pretend to be enamored with the salad dressing on the other side of the aisle when suddenly, you're done with the oil and it's Hidden Valley time! You pivot your cart on it's back left wheel and park it on the back of my shoe. I take this opportunity to run back to the oil side when you move your cart and perfectly position it in the middle of the aisle, and I, being the clumsy person I am, almost trip and fall head first into your carton of organic eggs. See where I'm going with this? Personal space still applies in a crowded store. The trick is to be as unobtrusive as possible. Ninjas, baby. Learn from them.
Dear extreme Michael Jackson mourners,
It's horrible that the life of this amazing performer was cut short. I feel for his family and friends who will miss him so much. However, fans, you did not know him personally. He was 50 years old and didn't appear to be the epitome of health. 50 was considered "old" 100 years ago. To be honest, I wasn't shocked until I saw how much media attention it commanded. You won't miss Michael Jackson; you didn't know him. You will miss his music, which will still remain a legacy forever. It makes sense to send some love to his friends and family (I almost cried when his daughter took the microphone at the funeral), but even today, the day after his funeral, talk shows and newspapers still address this as if Obama was assassinated. He had an awesome voice, and God knows how many people (including myself) have tried to learn the moonwalk and the Thriller dance...but you didn't lose your best friend in Michael. His funeral is over, let the man rest in peace now.
Dear iB2kewl4U,
U can unerstand mee wen i tawk liek dis? OMG u gotz da L337 $|<1LL$. U tawk 2 ur freinz liek dis all da tiem. Unfortunately, I don't care about your whatever skills. I don't want to spend extra time decoding your chatspeak sentences. Type out the word, you lazy teenagers. My sister got a letter in the mail from her friend from camp and she had to have me read and decode the handwritten chat acronyms. I lost some respect for that girl. She wasted my energy. Grow up, type as if you've mastered English, and stop thinking it's cool to change the spelling of common words with no purpose behind it. It stopped being cool after 5th grade. Cut it out, you're being a dork and insulting your own intelligence, as well as that of the person you're talking to.
That last sentence sounded weirdly formal, but I took a practice SAT the other day and I guess I'm in the mode.
Love,
Juliana
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Ugh, just give it a rest.
Okay, I have some people I want to yell at, but since they're not around, this is the next best thing. There's a curfew imposed on teens in a city in my county where they can't go certain places downtown after 10 p.m. on weeknights and 11 on weekends. A bunch of kids in this youth group are fighting it, saying it's "unconstitutionally-vague" and "illegally-enforced."
Just the fact that they hyphenated those in their little statement shows how badly these kids need to stay home and read a book or two, perhaps spend a little more time studying for school and a little less time on the streets at 11 at night.
Really, people? The state barely has enough money to educate kids. They're firing teachers and dropping art programs, and you want to waste their money on something as trivial as this? REALLY?
They say teens have rights and they're taking them away blah blah blah. Bottom line is there is no reason a kid has to be walking the streets downtown after 11. Maybe it does violate whatever constitutional right minors have to loiter, but who freakin cares? The country is diving head first into a depression and THIS is what's important?
Teenagers are idiots. It kills me that I am one. If I hate teenagers now, I wonder what I'll be like when I'm an adult, if it will get worse or I'll accept them once I don't have to deal with them every day. I will probably hate them more. You know, teenagers hate that no one listens to them and that they get no respect in society, but these are the very kids who perpetuate the stereotype that teenagers are the acne on the face of society. For the most part, they are. Believe me, I spend at least seven hours a day with them in high school hell, 180 days a year.
Anyway, I'm going to turn this into a vicious cycle thing because I love to do that. The state doesn't have enough money to educate stupid teenagers who don't know not to hyphenate adverb-adjective phrases. They get next to nothing to do for homework, have no sense of responsibility, any semblance of a work ethic, or a motivation to do anything worthwhile during their twilight-zone teen years (Now that is how you use a hyphen) except hang around downtown after 10 on a school night. These kids get their only kicks from their late-night escapades, and after numerous problems, the government took their lives' fulfilment away from them. Some kids in a group that advocates the rights of youth decided to do something productive and SUE for this curfew law. In suing, they're taking money away from the state, which doesn't have enough money for basic things like education that these kids probably need badly.
Yeah, it's a bit of a stretch, but it's cathartic ranting.
To wrap it up, teenagers are stupid. This lawsuit is stupid. All of you kids who feel that staying out that late is important, go home and read a book. It's not the most important thing worth fighting for right now.
Love,
Juliana
Just the fact that they hyphenated those in their little statement shows how badly these kids need to stay home and read a book or two, perhaps spend a little more time studying for school and a little less time on the streets at 11 at night.
Really, people? The state barely has enough money to educate kids. They're firing teachers and dropping art programs, and you want to waste their money on something as trivial as this? REALLY?
They say teens have rights and they're taking them away blah blah blah. Bottom line is there is no reason a kid has to be walking the streets downtown after 11. Maybe it does violate whatever constitutional right minors have to loiter, but who freakin cares? The country is diving head first into a depression and THIS is what's important?
Teenagers are idiots. It kills me that I am one. If I hate teenagers now, I wonder what I'll be like when I'm an adult, if it will get worse or I'll accept them once I don't have to deal with them every day. I will probably hate them more. You know, teenagers hate that no one listens to them and that they get no respect in society, but these are the very kids who perpetuate the stereotype that teenagers are the acne on the face of society. For the most part, they are. Believe me, I spend at least seven hours a day with them in high school hell, 180 days a year.
Anyway, I'm going to turn this into a vicious cycle thing because I love to do that. The state doesn't have enough money to educate stupid teenagers who don't know not to hyphenate adverb-adjective phrases. They get next to nothing to do for homework, have no sense of responsibility, any semblance of a work ethic, or a motivation to do anything worthwhile during their twilight-zone teen years (Now that is how you use a hyphen) except hang around downtown after 10 on a school night. These kids get their only kicks from their late-night escapades, and after numerous problems, the government took their lives' fulfilment away from them. Some kids in a group that advocates the rights of youth decided to do something productive and SUE for this curfew law. In suing, they're taking money away from the state, which doesn't have enough money for basic things like education that these kids probably need badly.
Yeah, it's a bit of a stretch, but it's cathartic ranting.
To wrap it up, teenagers are stupid. This lawsuit is stupid. All of you kids who feel that staying out that late is important, go home and read a book. It's not the most important thing worth fighting for right now.
Love,
Juliana
Friday, June 26, 2009
When Harry Met Sally
So I watched When Harry Met Sally since I hear a lot about it, but I didn't think there was anything overly special about it. It was cute, but a lot like all the other "boy meets girl" movies. It was kind of slow, too, which doesn't usually bother me, but doesn't make a movie better than ordinary either. One interesting point they made was that men and women can never just be friends because sex is always a possibility and having that out there messes it up, even if they don't think so.
This scene was funny. I was waiting for the predictable line at the end, and I was cracking up when it came.
Does anyone else think Meg Ryan looks a little like Alicia Silverstone here?
I also found out that the girl with leukemia in My Sister's Keeper is played by Sofia Vassilieva. She was Eloise at the Plaza! Eloise at the Plaza is such a cute movie. The first time I found out the girl from Eloise was actually a couple weeks older than me, I couldn't believe it. She was 10 in that movie. She didn't look 10. I want to see My Sister's Keeper, even though it looks sad. I love Abigail Breslin. My friends said it was a good book.
Completely unrelated, the Chevron station by my house delivers pizza. Go figure.
Love,
Juliana
This scene was funny. I was waiting for the predictable line at the end, and I was cracking up when it came.
Does anyone else think Meg Ryan looks a little like Alicia Silverstone here?
I also found out that the girl with leukemia in My Sister's Keeper is played by Sofia Vassilieva. She was Eloise at the Plaza! Eloise at the Plaza is such a cute movie. The first time I found out the girl from Eloise was actually a couple weeks older than me, I couldn't believe it. She was 10 in that movie. She didn't look 10. I want to see My Sister's Keeper, even though it looks sad. I love Abigail Breslin. My friends said it was a good book.
Completely unrelated, the Chevron station by my house delivers pizza. Go figure.
Love,
Juliana
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Hey, something actually important in my junk drawer
I found a scrapbook in my junk drawer, you know the drawer you throw stuff into when you don't have a place for it, that I made when I was little. By my handwriting and the dates of the pictures inside, I must have been about seven.
I put a Chuck-E-Cheese picture on that page. Chuck-E-Cheese isn't even around here anymore. The out-of-focus polaroid at the bottom is the day I got my ears pierced and got my picture taken with Daffy Duck in front of the WB store, which also no longer exists.
Anny was an adorable baby.
Love,
Juliana
I put a Chuck-E-Cheese picture on that page. Chuck-E-Cheese isn't even around here anymore. The out-of-focus polaroid at the bottom is the day I got my ears pierced and got my picture taken with Daffy Duck in front of the WB store, which also no longer exists.
Anny was an adorable baby.Love,
Juliana
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Keep up, this is gonna go quick.
**Contacts hurt. Lucky people who says they don't.
**Having a headache while your stuck in a boring store isn't fun. It's less fun when that store is Home Depot and the persistent sound of power drills is piercing your skull. You'd think it's the noise that does the drilling, but no. Also doesn't help when it's your sister who refuses to take her hand off the button because it's "so much fun to play with."
**Trey from "Sex and the City" is such a nerd. He's so annoying, then again, so is Charlotte. I liked Steve, he was sweet.
**I don't like Goji berries. Weird things. No wonder they're healthy, they taste like health food.
**Good news at the periodontist this morning: I have a date with an oral surgeon a few weeks from now to rip out secondary teeth, and if I'm lucky, I'll get my braces off two years into college. Excellent. (Well, I am thankful that I can get it fixed, just mad that I have all these problems in the first place.)
**What's up with ABC Family making "Original Series" based off movies? "Make it or Break it" is obviously based off Stick it, but they didn't say that. They say in the commercials that "10 things I hate about you" is based off the movie with the same name, but how can they make TV shows about those movies? They're pretty beginning-middle-end.
**On the topic of ABC Family, I'm still not on board with "Secret Life of the American Teenager." I know it's going for the dramatic edge "My So-Called Life" had, but...I'll actually maybe one day try watching a whole episode and then judge, but from the pieces of episodes I've seen, I think it's stupid.
**I heard this on the Today Show. There a Calvin Klein ad up in Times Square, and they were talking about whether it's too much for the middle of a crowded place. Shows how far we've come from the controversy in the 80's over "Nothing comes between me and my Calvins."
Reminds me of the Gossip Girl ads from last year that dominated 12 bilboards per square mile in Los Angeles. (I got to see them in person. Here's another one. And this one has Chase Crawford in it.)
**Speaking of Chase Crawford, he's People Magazine's Hottest Bachelor of the Summer. Did I not call that? I was way ahead of them. Now people can stop asking my why I obsess over him. "Duh, he's People's Hottest Bachelor!" I'm buying that issue. It's supposed to come out this week.
His character's one of the least interesting on the show (Ed Westwick's character is definitely the best, and Ed does an awesome American accent), but Chase is still my favorite.
Love,
Juliana
**Having a headache while your stuck in a boring store isn't fun. It's less fun when that store is Home Depot and the persistent sound of power drills is piercing your skull. You'd think it's the noise that does the drilling, but no. Also doesn't help when it's your sister who refuses to take her hand off the button because it's "so much fun to play with."
**Trey from "Sex and the City" is such a nerd. He's so annoying, then again, so is Charlotte. I liked Steve, he was sweet.
**I don't like Goji berries. Weird things. No wonder they're healthy, they taste like health food.
**Good news at the periodontist this morning: I have a date with an oral surgeon a few weeks from now to rip out secondary teeth, and if I'm lucky, I'll get my braces off two years into college. Excellent. (Well, I am thankful that I can get it fixed, just mad that I have all these problems in the first place.)
**What's up with ABC Family making "Original Series" based off movies? "Make it or Break it" is obviously based off Stick it, but they didn't say that. They say in the commercials that "10 things I hate about you" is based off the movie with the same name, but how can they make TV shows about those movies? They're pretty beginning-middle-end.
**On the topic of ABC Family, I'm still not on board with "Secret Life of the American Teenager." I know it's going for the dramatic edge "My So-Called Life" had, but...I'll actually maybe one day try watching a whole episode and then judge, but from the pieces of episodes I've seen, I think it's stupid.
**I heard this on the Today Show. There a Calvin Klein ad up in Times Square, and they were talking about whether it's too much for the middle of a crowded place. Shows how far we've come from the controversy in the 80's over "Nothing comes between me and my Calvins."
Reminds me of the Gossip Girl ads from last year that dominated 12 bilboards per square mile in Los Angeles. (I got to see them in person. Here's another one. And this one has Chase Crawford in it.)
**Speaking of Chase Crawford, he's People Magazine's Hottest Bachelor of the Summer. Did I not call that? I was way ahead of them. Now people can stop asking my why I obsess over him. "Duh, he's People's Hottest Bachelor!" I'm buying that issue. It's supposed to come out this week.
His character's one of the least interesting on the show (Ed Westwick's character is definitely the best, and Ed does an awesome American accent), but Chase is still my favorite.
Love,
Juliana
Monday, June 15, 2009
I watched the rest
I watched the rest of Face/Off! I had to see what happens. It's actually a good movie. Don't think I could watch it a second time, though. The creepy stuff ends about 45 minutes into the movie anyway. Then it's just violent. Once you get used to the concept, it's not as disturbing.
Face/Off
Go ahead and say I've lived a sheltered life, but this is by far the creepiest and most disturbing movie I've ever seen.
It stars Nicholas Cage as basically a terrorist who was responsible for a jillion crimes, assassinations, kidnappings, bombings, shootings. The FBI has been after him, and a certain FBI agent (John Travolta) with a personal vendetta against him SWITCHES FACES with the guy while he's in a coma to get on the inside of a planned bombing. That's the spoiler-free version. I'm going to talk about what actually happened, which isn't very spoilerific anyway since I could only watch the first 45 minutes of the movie before I ran out of the room.
I really wanted to know what happened, which is why I watched it as long as I did. I want to watch the rest of it now, but my mom took it back. My mom was the one who picked it. She doesn't read movie descriptions, she just sees actors' names and goes with it. Neither of us knew anything about it.
Don't read this if you don't want to know what happens in the first 45 minutes.
The cop puts the terrorist in a coma, accidentally. They decide that the only way to get his cohorts to talk and tell where the bomb he planted in an airport is, he has to become him. A plastic surgeon removes Nick Cage's face and Travolta's face, put's Cage's face on Travolta and saves Travolta's face in some liquid in a glass container for safekeeping so he could reverse the procedure later. The FBI agent is now in a maximum security prison where he gets tasered and has to wear heavy magnetic boots that the guards can lock down at any time.
Okay, now where I started to squirm. The terrorist wakes up from the coma. He has no face (which they showed and it was DISTURBING). He finds Travolta's face and realizes what happened to him, forces the plastic surgeon to put Travolta's face on him, and then pours gasoline over the surgeon and all other people involved and sets them on fire, along with all documents proving who's who. Making it irreversible.
It's actually pretty cool, and if you can handle stuff like this, you'd probably like it.
Love,
Juliana
It stars Nicholas Cage as basically a terrorist who was responsible for a jillion crimes, assassinations, kidnappings, bombings, shootings. The FBI has been after him, and a certain FBI agent (John Travolta) with a personal vendetta against him SWITCHES FACES with the guy while he's in a coma to get on the inside of a planned bombing. That's the spoiler-free version. I'm going to talk about what actually happened, which isn't very spoilerific anyway since I could only watch the first 45 minutes of the movie before I ran out of the room.
I really wanted to know what happened, which is why I watched it as long as I did. I want to watch the rest of it now, but my mom took it back. My mom was the one who picked it. She doesn't read movie descriptions, she just sees actors' names and goes with it. Neither of us knew anything about it.
Don't read this if you don't want to know what happens in the first 45 minutes.
The cop puts the terrorist in a coma, accidentally. They decide that the only way to get his cohorts to talk and tell where the bomb he planted in an airport is, he has to become him. A plastic surgeon removes Nick Cage's face and Travolta's face, put's Cage's face on Travolta and saves Travolta's face in some liquid in a glass container for safekeeping so he could reverse the procedure later. The FBI agent is now in a maximum security prison where he gets tasered and has to wear heavy magnetic boots that the guards can lock down at any time.
Okay, now where I started to squirm. The terrorist wakes up from the coma. He has no face (which they showed and it was DISTURBING). He finds Travolta's face and realizes what happened to him, forces the plastic surgeon to put Travolta's face on him, and then pours gasoline over the surgeon and all other people involved and sets them on fire, along with all documents proving who's who. Making it irreversible.
It's actually pretty cool, and if you can handle stuff like this, you'd probably like it.
Love,
Juliana
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Crowding the Internet, one stupid picture at a time
This is written on the wall of the construction site near my house. It doesn't make that much sense...until you think about a ghost writing that after being murdered and buried under a house where no one would look. I have too much time to think.
This struck me as funny. At the (I guess county) fair that comes in every year, there's a tent of live chickens. It's sponsored by Kentucky Fried Chicken? Am I the only one who finds humor in that?
Just a really, really cute bunny.
My sister had a surprise birthday party for one of her friends and got silly string. That stuff is so annoying to clean up, and I didn't realize until yesterday how gross it actually is. We squished it all into a ball after picking it up. They handed it to me, and it was wet and slimy and grossed me out. Once they realized, they had a fun time torturing me with it. Anny squeezed it hard and milky-colored water came out of it. One of Anny's friends said it looked like a brain and called the liquid "brain juicy." Ick, where does the water even come from? They put it in a funnel in a cup to see how much water would drip out of it if they left it there.
Now this is what happens when you combine three 12-year-olds, a big box of Costco make-up, and permission from a conciliatory participant to "go crazy."
They had me make creepy faces, took pictures with their phones and sent them out to kids they wanted to scare. I always let them do this, I don't think it's a big deal, but one of Anny's friends said to me, "I can't believe you let us do this. You're such a good sister. I would be so mad." I know, a lot of people would get mad. I don't know why. It's fun. I would be scared if I saw a real person who looked like this, though. (Oh, and like my shirt? I love the little Pacman ghosts!)
I think my scary face is a good way to end this.
Love,
Juliana
This struck me as funny. At the (I guess county) fair that comes in every year, there's a tent of live chickens. It's sponsored by Kentucky Fried Chicken? Am I the only one who finds humor in that?
Just a really, really cute bunny.
My sister had a surprise birthday party for one of her friends and got silly string. That stuff is so annoying to clean up, and I didn't realize until yesterday how gross it actually is. We squished it all into a ball after picking it up. They handed it to me, and it was wet and slimy and grossed me out. Once they realized, they had a fun time torturing me with it. Anny squeezed it hard and milky-colored water came out of it. One of Anny's friends said it looked like a brain and called the liquid "brain juicy." Ick, where does the water even come from? They put it in a funnel in a cup to see how much water would drip out of it if they left it there.
Now this is what happens when you combine three 12-year-olds, a big box of Costco make-up, and permission from a conciliatory participant to "go crazy."
They had me make creepy faces, took pictures with their phones and sent them out to kids they wanted to scare. I always let them do this, I don't think it's a big deal, but one of Anny's friends said to me, "I can't believe you let us do this. You're such a good sister. I would be so mad." I know, a lot of people would get mad. I don't know why. It's fun. I would be scared if I saw a real person who looked like this, though. (Oh, and like my shirt? I love the little Pacman ghosts!)
I think my scary face is a good way to end this.
Love,
Juliana
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Twilight strikes again
The New Moon trailer is out! If you ever read my review (or ever talked to me about the Twilight movie), you know that everything about it was so bad that I loved it. So whether New Moon is an even worse film adaptation than the first or if it's actually decent, I'll like it.
About 1/4 of the screen is cut off. If you really want to see it, click the title.
Can't decide from the trailer if it's going to be better or worse. Looks like Kristen Stewart put a little more emotion into it this time. Pattinson, however...I'm not going to jump to conclusions and say he's a bad actor. Maybe he's just not into this role. Seriously, they need to step up the acting. If they did, though, there would be less for me to make fun of.
On a related note, three people at a charity auction apparently paid $20,000 to kiss Robert Pattinson on the cheek. What kind of person (who has any interest in kissing the Twilight vampire actor) has $20,000 to spend on it? The concept is sad, but it's a brilliant way to raise money. He should have offered to bite people. That would have made millions.
Love,
Juliana
About 1/4 of the screen is cut off. If you really want to see it, click the title.
Can't decide from the trailer if it's going to be better or worse. Looks like Kristen Stewart put a little more emotion into it this time. Pattinson, however...I'm not going to jump to conclusions and say he's a bad actor. Maybe he's just not into this role. Seriously, they need to step up the acting. If they did, though, there would be less for me to make fun of.
On a related note, three people at a charity auction apparently paid $20,000 to kiss Robert Pattinson on the cheek. What kind of person (who has any interest in kissing the Twilight vampire actor) has $20,000 to spend on it? The concept is sad, but it's a brilliant way to raise money. He should have offered to bite people. That would have made millions.
Love,
Juliana
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Fun with overanalysis!
This goes to show that boys are jerks who respond to bribes and are easily manipulated by girls. Thanks, Ralston (may the obscure brand rest in peace). You gave us not only an annoying jingle that made me jump out of my chair but a valuable lesson in boy-girl dynamics. Girls rule, boys drool?
Although...the fact that the girls ask the annoying kid to help them put up their tents is an insult to feminism if they asked him because they couldn't do it themselves. It's a win if they were using that as an excuse to get his attention. I'm going with the second one. Stupid boy, he should have seen right through that.
I'm really not as misandristic as I sound. But I'm still young. (I'm not as cynical as I sound either.)
Oh, Ralston isn't totally dead. I think it's called Post now. I can't find a clear answer on that. Even if it is, Post is pretty forgotten itself. Who can name three Post cereals? Seriously. There was a cereal in the 40's called Shredded Ralston. Ew. Could they have thought of a more unappealing way to market shredded wheat? It sounds like they shredded a person named Ralston and stuck him in a box. Kind of morbid.
On that note, I call this post to a close.
Love,
Juliana
Although...the fact that the girls ask the annoying kid to help them put up their tents is an insult to feminism if they asked him because they couldn't do it themselves. It's a win if they were using that as an excuse to get his attention. I'm going with the second one. Stupid boy, he should have seen right through that.
I'm really not as misandristic as I sound. But I'm still young. (I'm not as cynical as I sound either.)
Oh, Ralston isn't totally dead. I think it's called Post now. I can't find a clear answer on that. Even if it is, Post is pretty forgotten itself. Who can name three Post cereals? Seriously. There was a cereal in the 40's called Shredded Ralston. Ew. Could they have thought of a more unappealing way to market shredded wheat? It sounds like they shredded a person named Ralston and stuck him in a box. Kind of morbid.
On that note, I call this post to a close.
Love,
Juliana
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Train of thought
Finally got an interview with the principal today for my newspaper article. Finally. But this issue is not coming out by the end of the year. No way in hell it's going to be done and perfect, pass inspection by the teacher and assistant principal (and this time the actual principal), make it to press and come back in six days. The only chance we have is if every one of us has our pages completely done and flawless, my teacher and the AP check them it immediately and both say they're perfect, and the printing place kicks it into gear. The staff writers are editing this issue since our senior editors graduated. What makes us think that the first issue we do without editor organization is the first issue that we manage to get right on the first try? I hope it comes out, though...I don't want all this work to be for nothing.
I was helping my sister study for an English test yesterday, literary devices like theme and irony. She wasn't getting it, so I gave examples of each one, but I kept connecting things back to Dirty Dancing. One of the things on her list was "loss of innocence as a theme." Dirty Dancing epitomizes that. Eventually we we're like, "alright, enough for now. Wanna just watch it?" I love that movie, but it's been a year since either of us have seen it. This time, Anny really liked it as much as I do. Another step in my quest to convert her into a fan of all my favorite movies.
In tribute to Patrick Swayze who's been battling pancreatic cancer for some time now, here's the trailer to Ghost, another awesome movie.
My sister's old dance teacher looked exactly like him.
Also, I'm going to take Brooke Sheilds' advice and lose my virginity already so I don't regret waiting so long when I'm 22. Thanks for the advice, wise adult. I will pass that on to the rest of my impressionable teenage friends.
No, actually, I don't think what she said was so bad. I mean, I don't believe everybody who says "I'm glad I waited." Not everybody can be happy about that. Some people just say that because they couldn't get anyone to do it with them anyway. Which brings me to another point...
I was watching "Daria" (superfunny show, but if it's not your kind of humor, you'll think it's moronic) and they joke a lot about how people treat you differently when you're pretty. There's a line that says something like "Is there ever a time when the way you look doesn't affect the way you're judged?" and the other girl answers "When you donate an organ, unless it's your eyes."
There's this girl in my government class with the worst attitude, and when she talks, her sentences are just dripping with that obnoxious...she bothers me. I listen to her run her mouth and think, "How can you say stuff like that outloud? How do you even think like that?" But she's pretty, she dresses well, and she has a soft spoken voice that if you didn't speak English, you would never know. But even people who listen to her obvious lack of social tact love her anyway. Standards are lower for pretty people. Unfortunately, she's wicked smart too, and she doesn't hesitate to throw that in people's faces. I was kind of raised to believe that just because you had genetic luck with looks and intelligence doesn't mean you can say anything you want. I learned from school experiences that I was wrong, those people have free reign over everything.
You know, makes me wonder, if I was prettier and I didn't have to be nice, would I still be the same? I think I would, but who knows. When people treat you special all the time, your priorities probably change. Just a thought.
Love,
Juliana
I was helping my sister study for an English test yesterday, literary devices like theme and irony. She wasn't getting it, so I gave examples of each one, but I kept connecting things back to Dirty Dancing. One of the things on her list was "loss of innocence as a theme." Dirty Dancing epitomizes that. Eventually we we're like, "alright, enough for now. Wanna just watch it?" I love that movie, but it's been a year since either of us have seen it. This time, Anny really liked it as much as I do. Another step in my quest to convert her into a fan of all my favorite movies.
In tribute to Patrick Swayze who's been battling pancreatic cancer for some time now, here's the trailer to Ghost, another awesome movie.
My sister's old dance teacher looked exactly like him.
Also, I'm going to take Brooke Sheilds' advice and lose my virginity already so I don't regret waiting so long when I'm 22. Thanks for the advice, wise adult. I will pass that on to the rest of my impressionable teenage friends.
No, actually, I don't think what she said was so bad. I mean, I don't believe everybody who says "I'm glad I waited." Not everybody can be happy about that. Some people just say that because they couldn't get anyone to do it with them anyway. Which brings me to another point...
I was watching "Daria" (superfunny show, but if it's not your kind of humor, you'll think it's moronic) and they joke a lot about how people treat you differently when you're pretty. There's a line that says something like "Is there ever a time when the way you look doesn't affect the way you're judged?" and the other girl answers "When you donate an organ, unless it's your eyes."
There's this girl in my government class with the worst attitude, and when she talks, her sentences are just dripping with that obnoxious...she bothers me. I listen to her run her mouth and think, "How can you say stuff like that outloud? How do you even think like that?" But she's pretty, she dresses well, and she has a soft spoken voice that if you didn't speak English, you would never know. But even people who listen to her obvious lack of social tact love her anyway. Standards are lower for pretty people. Unfortunately, she's wicked smart too, and she doesn't hesitate to throw that in people's faces. I was kind of raised to believe that just because you had genetic luck with looks and intelligence doesn't mean you can say anything you want. I learned from school experiences that I was wrong, those people have free reign over everything.
You know, makes me wonder, if I was prettier and I didn't have to be nice, would I still be the same? I think I would, but who knows. When people treat you special all the time, your priorities probably change. Just a thought.
Love,
Juliana
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
CHASE CRAWFORD IN FOOTLOOSE!?
My sister has been home for a whole two hours and failed to tell me this, even though she has known since this morning. Chace Crawford from Gossip Girl (I mentioned him in the last post. I love him.) is going to star in the Footloose remake next year as Ren McCormack! He replaced Zac Efron, who didn't want to be typecast as musical guy. Kevin Bacon was the original Ren McCormick in the 80's movie version. I really want to see this now.
Also, my friend from middle school just called me to tell me two kids from our middle school that neither of us have spoken to since are going out now, according to Facebook. It was like a time warp back to 8th grade. I reminded her that they used to go out on-and-off in middle school, so this was not news to me. She forgot all about that. Really brought me back. Two years later and we're still gossiping about these kids.
Love,
Juliana
Also, my friend from middle school just called me to tell me two kids from our middle school that neither of us have spoken to since are going out now, according to Facebook. It was like a time warp back to 8th grade. I reminded her that they used to go out on-and-off in middle school, so this was not news to me. She forgot all about that. Really brought me back. Two years later and we're still gossiping about these kids.
Love,
Juliana
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)