DIVING.

Is dangerous?

I'm on my school's diving team, and my parents are constantly insisting that diving is dangerous--that people have gone blind and have weird bone structures because of diving. A lot of my friends are also warning me about hitting my head on the board...

But it's so much fun I can't help but look forward to diving season!

And besides, check this article out:

"Decking myths about diving."

http://www.denverpost.com/youthsports/ci_9580234

I mean, diving can't be half as dangerous as motorcycling or something... Right?

The week before Midterms is brutal.

You'd think that because midterm week is next week, teachers would ease up on giving tests and quizzes and other evaluations this week. Oh. Don't forget the projects.

So far this week, I've had:

Monday: a Physics Quiz, a Freshman Seminar public speaking evaluation, a timed 800m run, my informative speech project was due (with the outline, cited sources page, and visual aid).

Tuesday: another Physics Quiz, my World History Greek Alphabet project was due, as well as my World History notebook

Wednesday: a Physics Test (!), a World History public speaking evaluation

And for the rest of the week...

Thursday: SAT List 6 Quiz, World History Greece test

Friday: Into Thin Air Test, Freshman Seminar Midterm (not so sure about this one.), and probably another Physics Quiz, knowing my teacher.

And I thought Midterms were going to be bad.

I just realized how amazingly fun middle school was.

High schoolers are weird.

So some of the kids at my school decided to have an unofficial scooter day last week. I guess they thought they were pretty cool, zipping around on scooters to class? :)

When my mom was dropping me off at school, she said, "High schoolers are weird."

Take that, high schoolers, my mom thinks you're weird!

Well, turns out that the scooters were illegal on school campus.

There were around a hundred scooters in the confiscation room that day.

HAHA.

Yo Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone

I have a CD at home. It's old, and battered. I've listened to it, literally, over a thousand times. I've downloaded its contents down to an equally loved iPod nano,  however for some reason I prefer listening to the music through the speakers of a CD player that has been around since before I was born. 

A former teacher once told me that music is something that is best appreciated with the ears, without the use of other senses, but I think I may have to disagree. When I listen to Yo-Yo Ma playing Ennio Morricone's music, I think I can almost feel the music moving like water--when you try to hold it for too long, it just trickles out of your hands. I can see the colors and images of the music, of the notes, of the melody. 

Watch these videos, and see if you can hear/feel/see what I see. :)

Thanks to zuccherohk for these videos.

Sleeping

Sleeping is good.

But for some reason, instead of waking up in my bed in my room upstairs, I found myself on the floor in the downstairs living room clutching my koala bear.

Just thought you might want to know.

The Lighter Side of Life

For the last two weeks, I went to a camp where we celebrated the "lighter side of life". Whoopee.
It's called the Betty Stovall Spectrum of the Arts camp. It's sponsored by the CMS school system, and every year, kids from around the 4th grade up to rising 9th graders come to "indulge themselves in the spectrum of the arts!" [--one of the teachers; what a witty pun.]

Anyway, for our final number, all the kids had to sing and dance this one song--a modified version of this song called the "Brighter Side of Life". I think it's from some Broadway musical; it has that exaggerated touch to it. And ever since then, I've had this song stuck in my head.

I think it may not be such a bad thing though.
It's hard to be grumpy when you have such a happy song stuck in your head.

Always look on the lighter side of life!
When you're feeling in the dumps,
Don't be silly chumps!
Just purse your lips and whistle,
thats the thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing, oooooooooooooooooooooooh!
Always look on the lighteer side of liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiife!
Company bow.

Ugh. It's almost too happy.

Field Day

Field Day: an annual day for schools in which students compete in sports and or have fun during recreational activities.

I've always wondered why school systems call this particular day 'Field Day'. I mean, there's no field involved in any shape or form. And what do fields have to do with fun OR sports? During my first Field Day in the 1st grade, I was severely disappointed to see that Field Day consisted of students running around with water balloons and buckets of water, while the teachers watched in the shade.

I also remember lots of crying and chaos. But apparently the crying and chaos on Field Day is evidence of a "successful way to integrate learning and fun nearing the end of the school year", according to one of the teachers. Now that I think about it, 1st graders with water guns and hoses equals utter confusion.

Field Day 2009 was pretty similar. Minus the 1st grade part. Plus basketball courts.
Thank goodness that we children are creative.

We actually make field day fun every year.