Oh my great goodness. Today just went to prove that with determination, spirit, and a whole lotta Blow Pops, a person can do just about anything!

Let me explain. You see, one day about a year or so ago, Shara, Noelley, & I went to Thrift Town. While there, we found an old, slightly dilapidated 1981 version of the board game, Trivial Pursuit. We bought it and on the car ride back home began reading each other questions. When we got to Noelley's house, we started up a game with her mom and sister. And from that moment on, we were hooked. We fell in love with Trivial Pursuit. That next Monday, we spread the word about the wonder that is Trivial Pursuit, and we all decided that we should get together soon and play the game. So we planned to meet at Deanna's that Friday. While planning continued, Shara, Deanna, Noelley, & I decided that we should make the whole playing Trivial Pursuit thing a tradition. Getting together every Friday after school, perhaps following it up with a movie or something. Hence the Trivial Pursuit Posse was formed. The first official meeting consisted of the following lovely ladies: Shara & Noelley [who joined forces to create the team: Man-Eaters - complete, for some unknown reason, with sideways 80's ponytails], Alina & Deanna [the latter of which graciously donated her house as a meeting spot], Valerie & Julie [who, because of their overwhelming knowledge, were never allowed to team up with each other again] and Johanna & myself [who came, I think, in third place.]
Anyhow, that day, history was created.
This week at school was Join-A-Club Week. It got me thinking, it would be pretty cool if we made TPP [our loving name for Trivial Pursuit Posse] a school-wide club available for all to join [not to mention, the glory of being in the Clubs section of the Yearbook]. I asked around from my buddies on Student Gov't how one goes about making a club; all of them sending me to Mr. Lee, our Assistant Principal. So Tuesday, I asked him about it and he said all I had to do was submit a proposal complete with club name, moderator, description, and atleast ten people who would be on the club. So, I did, and gave it to him at the end of the day. The next day, he had approved it, but made me change the name from Trivial Pursuit Posse to Trivial Pursuit Club. Oh well, TPC still sounds pretty good. Well, continuing on, today was the second of two Club Fairs [all the clubs get a little table and try to get people to join their club.] I thought ahead and bought Blow Pops and Reese's at work the night before, to entice folks to come on over. We [we = Deanna, Johanna, Jason Sposeto, Will Griffin, and myself] got our table all ready, setting up the game for display, etc. We waited in anticipation for the people to come in the gym. Well our waiting and our work [work? what work?] paid off: it was a complete sucess!!
The number of people in the club squared itself!! It squared itself. What I mean is, there used to be eight people in it, today, sixty-four people signed up. Granted, that counts people who just signed up to get the candy and someone who put "Mr. Goober" as their name and 555-7777 as their phone number. Either way, I am very proud! But now, I have to go to work. I'll post later tonight, to sum up my week and my plans for tomorrow [since I have no school - yay!] and the weekend [one word: work.] Alright, bye!

Alright, so this is going to be a pretty half-assed post. I apologize profusely. I haven't posted in a week, simply because I've been too f-ing busy lately. There's just too many rooms to be cleaned, homework to be done, and work shifts to be..well, worked. So yea, there's my excuses. Anyway, I'm going to Fresno today after school. There are two reasons: one, my dad's family lives down there, and two, I'm going to look at Fresno State. As much as I've bad-mouthed Fresno and it's surrounding areas in the past, I am honestly very interested in going to college there. You see, at Fresno, I would try to get into this honors school, Smittcamp Family Honor's College. And they, the good people at Smittcamp, would basically pay me to go to school. We're talking full ride, free room & board, annual tuitions for books and such, and a free Apple IMac GBook [or something to that effect, I don't know the specifics.] Plus they have a limit of 35 students in every class and you're guaranteed to graduate with honors. You see why I'm interested? The only drawbacks are that no one I know is also interested in going there, the weather is pretty much that of hell itself, and Fresno is just.....well, it's Fresno. Anyway, the lunch bell is minutes away from ringing, so, to all: have a great weekend and be good.

Hey! It's Deanna. Yeah, sorry. I know I haven't posted in a while, but I have had some time constraints. Anyway, for some reason, can't do that questionnaire that Katie, Jo, and Noelley did. Speaking of which, glad to hear from Noelley, though informally. Read the last few blogs, and Gina, that's so cool that your* writing you're* own column!! Congrats. Katie and Gina would know what the * means! = > And as for Katie, totally, completely, 100% agree with you on what you said about the looming tragedy. I do not like how the world was "on hold." I also wish ( I know I'm naive ) that we didn't go to war or even resort to any some sort of violence. I wish this was one of those grade school kind of things where if someone picked on you, and you ignored them, they'd stop, but it isn't. Sucks! I know that if we didn't somehow "retaliate," we'd get hit again.

On an even more dismal note, school has started. Just kidding. School isn't as bad as what happened, but it's pretty darn close. I had this unbelievably incorrect perception of what Senior Year would be, and so far, Senior Year isn't as cracked up as I thought it would be. Calc is not fun AT ALL! Neither is the idea of another year of English essays, which we're supposed to write like what? Eight?!?!?!?!?! And the boys! Where are the boys????? They are all gone!!!!!! =(

Well, since I can't do anything about the boys, I would like to say, pray for the victims and their families. Love y'all, Dee. I'll write more later when I have something much more substantial and interesting. Right now, I'm under house arrest because my parents are thinking that at anytime, the terrorists will strike, and my being out will make me a potential target. ( They are way too overprotective. Aaargh ). Anyway, I was trying to end my blog, but I started to talk about a new topic. I am so retarded. Really, talk (or write) to you later.

--PanicHighChick

OH LORD xc practice was hard today...we went up what we call "Mt. Fuji"...i have no clue how long it was, except that it took 2 hours and 30 minutes to go up and down it. Then I ruined the wonderful workout by gorging at IHOP. (damn!)

I really didn't want to, but I had to go to the mall and buy my sister a birthday present. It didn't feel right to be there, and I was angry at everyone who was so damn materialistic there...I don't know, I guess yeah, we're supposed to get on with our lives, but I don't know...

I got into a large arguement with my dad last night about the whole WTC situation..he keeps saying we're going to go to war and we should and i totally went off on him (at applebees, mind you)...he was saying crap about "eye for an eye" and i retaliated with something Mahatma Gandhi said, "An eye for an eye and soon all the world will go blind." I was so angry that I just went on and on and on. We shouldn't go to war, its stupid! That would be doing exactly what was done to us. Also, so many innocent civilians would get killed when its really only a few people we are after. How would everyone feel if Afghanistan decided to kill everyone in the United States when it was only going after Bush (hypothetically speaking)....same thing! My dad told me that the world doesn't work like that, but GODDAMN IT if no one starts doing that, then the world will NEVER work like that...it only takes one person to change something.

Whew! okay I'm going to stop now....before mine turns as long as kate's blog (which, by the way, is very powerful...good job kate)

Okay, the time has come, my dear friends, for me to finally take an official stand on this whole issue and to offer up my comments [whether or not they were asked for.] Buckle your seatbelts, it's gonna be a long ride.

Okay, first off, there's no use talking about the tragedy itself. It goes without saying that my heart and mind go out to those who, right now, are living through what I can only imagine is hell. I don't want this post to turn into a whole sympathy letter. Which is not to say that I don't sympathize, but I feel I can do more than just sit and sympathize and empathize with those who lived through this directly.

Now, here come the opinions:

No matter what you are feeling right now, I don't believe the path we should go down right now is one of fighting back. Yes, in due time, justice needs to be served. But there is a large difference between justice and vengeance. The reasons I don't think we should go around saying "nuke 'em" is three fold. First of all, we don't even know who the 'em in "Nuke 'em" is. Yea, there are a lot of suspects, bin Laden being the biggest, but how do we know who else. We don't yet know if the government and the people of Afghanastan aided bin Laden by carrying out his plan and protecting him. Until we do, what is the point in fighting back? We're not yet sure WHO we need to fight. Secondly, and I'm using the same defense I use in the arguement over the death penalty, why show people that it is wrong to kill innocent people, by going out and killing innocent people. I know some people say that "They killed thousands of people that didn't deserve to die, so we should show them who's boss by bombing the hell outta their people, too." It just doesn't make sense to me. This isn't to say that I don't think, at one time, someone should pay, but, concievably, if we bombed them right now we could be punishing a whole country for the actions of a few people. Lastly, I believe that we should wait. Wait and look for answers. And while we're doing that, up security a whole helluva from the level it was at that allowed terrorists to get on the plane with knives and such in the first place. I learned in my Ethics class that to make a moral decision, you have to make a choice in as impartial a manner as possible, not letting your own emotions enter in to the decision making process. As hard as it is, we have to try to think and act with our heads, not with our gut reactions. And before we do anything we better have the support of the rest of the effing world. I, for once, applaud Bush's way of dealing with all of this [except for the fact that Russia declared a Day of Mourning before Bush did.]

Okay, now for my gripe with the American people. Don't get me wrong, I am completely proud of our country for our way of handling this trauma and grief. The overall patriotism and support for our country is very awe-inspiring. I had to go to work yesterday [at Long's for those of you who forgot]. In my five hour shift last night, thirty-two people asked if we carried any American flags. THIRTY-TWO PEOPLE. I was amazed at this number and really proud to be called an American. However, we did not have any flags. Now, let me explain: it takes three days to get a shipment in; and yesterday being Thursday, means that we would have had to order the flags on Monday to get them in. Of course, on Monday, the thought didn't cross our minds that we would need extra flags. We had a few flags left over from July 4th, and some napkins with flags on them, but that was it. For the most part, the people reactions to our not having flags wasn't uncommon: pretty dissapointed but wondering where, in fact, they could find a flag. Some other people though, who came few and far between, reacted in a way that appaled me, one woman actually said, "You don't have any flags?! How can you be so un-American?" Other people asked, "How can you not have any flags? Don't you know what's going on?" I just felt like screaming. I mean, c'mon people. It's not as if, upon hearing about the tragedy, your local Long's manager thought, "Hey, let's get some flags. We can be American and make some money." Not to mention, where in the hell was all this patriotism when America wasn't in a crisis? If you are that much of a patriot, shouldn't you already have a flag. Don't yell at me and tell me I'm un-American if, during your forty or so years of life, today is the first day you've ever thought about getting a flag. It just struck me as extremely hypocrtical. I venture to say that half of the poeple that came into Long's yesterday looking for a flag were, just last week, bad-mouthing the government or perhaps complaining about their terrible tax refund. Now of all sudden, Bush is their best buddy? I just don't understand. I mean, yes, there's no denying that a flag is a great way to show your support, but it's sad that it had to take something like this to wake up America up to the way we are supposed to live and love our country. Eventually, I made a sign that read "Sorry, We Do Not Have Any Flags [However, We Do, In Fact, Love America]" I went home from work feeling very bitter and cynical.

Yet, today at school I saw something that made me feel hope for the nation. I was walking around the halls during my Yearbook class and I saw a few roses tucked into the loop of the lock on people's lockers. At first, I thought it was just a gift for the football players from the cheerleaders [sometimes they do that.] Then I noticed it was more randomly scattered that it would have been, had it been just a "Good Luck at the game" kinda thing. I stopped by one of the roses and noticed there was a note tied around the stem. I read the back side first, "Remember those that lost their lives on September 11, 2001." Then I flipped the note over. It said something to the extent of, "In this time of violence, it may seem easy to sink to a level of hatred. Instead, you should work to spread love. Try to do a good deed today, like I have done for you. Spread love, not hate." I was just speechless. I thought to myself, "This is what we should be doing. If the world was more concerned with just treating each other with love, instead of buying flags or bombing other nations, we could get through this a little easier." I felt really good, knowing that someone at my school cared enough to do this. It made me feel that we do have a future worth living for. I hope more people catch on to this.

Okay, I think I better come to the close of this long, pretty emotional post. I really want to say that I, for the most part, am proud of America's reaction to this tragedy. United by a horror. Let's just hope that this united, loyal feeling stays with us all.

Hello! I haven't blogged in a while! I would first of all like to extend a warm "hello!" to our audience, both national and international! Please sign our guestbook...I'd love to know who y'all are!

Anyhoo....man, I won't even begin to talk about what has been happening these past few days....after writing that speechie thing for the prayer service we had today, I don't know if i can talk about it anymore. I was shaking so much...and i could hear my voice quaking too...it was odd though...i'm not sure why it was reverberating like that...i wasn't emotional or anything....

On other notes...the cross country team is HUGE now..apparently about 140 people have turned in packets to run....i think this is both good and bad...great because we'll look intimidating at meets...bad because the team gets more and more impersonal each time someone joins. It pisses me off too that there are a lot of people who joined just to get in shape. Today when Wilder announced that everyone has to race at meets, a bunch of frosh girls were flabbergasted: "WHAT?? do we HAVE to race????" No shat, stupid! It is a sport, not freaking aerobics. If you want to get in shape, go to your gym and get a membership. Sheesh!

Anyhoo, better get back to my homework. I'll post up my speechie in case anyone would like to read it. (This isn't an ego thing..it's just that now that I've read it, what am I supposed to do with it??)

I'm happy to announce that, due to our overwhelming sense of pride in our blog, compounded with the desire to know who, if anyone, is reading our thoughts, I have set up a guestbook. [cue: cheers and "woohoo!'s"] If you can't find it, it's on the sidebar thing, scroll down some...There! Now, my happiness is a very distinct juxtaposition with today's earlier events [if you've been living under a rock, turn on the TV, every channel is doing all day coverage on the terrorism tragedy at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.] Frankly, I don't want to get into it on here. I really am kind of speechless about it all. It's just devasting and pretty scary. Let's just leave it at that, and that my thoughts and prayers go out to everyone who this experience affected, both directly and indirectly.
Anyway, we do, in fact, have a guestbook now. Please, please, please sign it. Thanks!

[side note to my fellow Random-osity Girls - if there's a question that you want in the guestbook questionaire thing, lemme know and I'll get them up ASAP. By the by, I am in complete amazement over my sudden ability and skills regarding HTML and the whole website dealy things. Bow down to me. Now. Bye Bye!]


p.s.: perhaps later, time willing, I will go into the whole fiasco regarding my unexpected trip to the Blink182/New Found Glory/Sum 41 concert [complete with the story of how I got the meet the bands..yay!] And just maybe, if I can allot some time to using the Yearbook scanners, I can get some pictures up - although, I'm putting my money down on 'not likely.' Also, my dissapointment over the postponement of the Weezer concert which was scheduled for tonight. I don't really see how putting the whole world on pause is helping matters, but oh well. As long as, at some point, I do get to see Weezer. Maybe, when they reschedule, Cold will be unable to attend, and instead, they can get, oh, I don't know, MxPx to replace them, or Rooney, or New Found Glory, or maybe even Good Charlotte. Oh well, a girl can dream [and dream, I will.]

I'M SORRY, GINA!

Okay, quickly now: I plan to post tomorrow about the rest of my week, but, I decided to, just in case Gina read this before she went to bed, let her know that I heard Contac is really good for colds. I also heard, though, that a cheerleader at my school got addicted to them. Oh well [great loss there. cue: bitch slaps from cheerleaders]. Anyway, yea, I thought I'd let you know now so that you can ease your pain as soon as possible. And yes, I know that, even on the off chance that you DO read this, it probably won't be at a good time go out and buy some more medication. Oh well, anyway, I'll post more tomorrow morning. Night.

Let the misuse of my online privileges at school commence......NOW! So, it's what I thought had been a while since I last posted. As it turns out, it was only about four days. Consequently, there's really been nothing to post about in those four days. School started, for real this time. I got bogged down by homework and finishing 190 pages of a 240 page book that I was supposed to read over the summer [I had the timed-write on that today. My second body paragraph, in my opinion, kicked some ass.] In other news, I've been working non-stop, whether it be at Long's or babysitting my cousins [who, for reasons unbeknownst to me, always insist upon making and eating popcorn right before they go to sleep - why put yourself through trying to sleep with the popcorn kernels all in the teeth and gums and such.]
Okay, so I'm in my school's library right now. Surrounded by a lot of underclassmen who come in here afterschool not to do homework, but to socialize and wait for their parent's to pick them up. I feel very old and cranky right now. I honestly am thinking in my head, right now, those damn youngens.
Oh well, I've got a load of Statistics to do, so I'm gonna head on out.

Oh, side note to Gina: When I got home from babysitting last night, my mom gave me the newspaper, saying, "Hey, I know that girl." The largest area of pictures on the page happened to be of these five and six year-olds being interviewed about their first days of school. So, I, being very confused, couldn't tell which Kindergartner she knew. I then lifted my eyes and "Hey, there's Gina sitting on a pole with a few other teens". So, I read the article, which was pretty much just a little intro as to the who the teen writers were and when/where their columns were to appear. Good job, Gina, on mentioning such top notch movies as Empire Records, Dogma, and The Breakfast Club. Actually, for me, that's the first time I've been featured in a small town newspaper. I use the word "featured" in the loosest of senses, seeing as the only mention of me was when Gina's hobbies were listed as "going to San Francisco and Berkeley with her friends." Can you believe it, me...finally, getting my chance to shine!! Yay! Honestly, Gina...that's really cool and I've unbelievably proud that someone I know [besides Maya "I Have An Opinion About Anything And Everything No Matter How Inconsequential" Walker] is a writer in a newspaper that actually has a large coverage and all. Congrats!
And with that, Goodbye!

Speak for yourself with the whole "we celebrate "Labor" day by NOT working." That's all I'm doing this weekend [I had to wake up at 8AM today!], not to mention on Monday as well. I guess it's not so bad, hell, I'm getting paid. And I need the money. There are two things that I have in the works that require money: the school trip to Washington, D.C. in November and I want to buy a camera that's $109 at Long's. This camera is fantastic. It's got a zoom that just rocks my socks off. Plus it has 1,232 Auto Focus Zones. Apparently, this is a good thing, because, as my co-worker, Javier says, "the more Auto Focus Zones there are, the clearer the picture." I, in fact, have no idea what this means, but hey, I'm all for it.
I'm semi-looking forward to school as well. It was fun to see everyone, but I'm anticipatory [spelling?] about my class schedule. I have far too many AP classes than I'd like. But, I agree with you Jo, it was comforting to see everyone again, just like the year before.
Anyway, I'm going to go eat dinner and watch a movie [Family Movie Weekend - last night it was The Wedding Planner, which I, shamefully, cried at.]

Wow....it's been a while since someone posted. I felt really guilty because I hadn't been online for a week or something....but I guess we've all been busy. The day before school started I really didn't want to go back...but now that we've had our first day, I'm glad I'm back. I'm pleased with most of my classes, and it feels nice to have a purpose again, although I do miss waking up at noon and the biggest decision of the day being what TV shows to watch.

I'm just a little overwhelmed with my multiple responsiblities. I thought, "okay...XC and being president shouldn't be THAT much"...but i didn't realize that with being president comes all the subtitles....so from what mr. Lee tells me, in addition to ASB, and running meetings and zero period and such, I'm going to be attending monthly board meetings, monthly ISC meetings, and Mrs. Geister pretty much begged me to be part of the Mission Effectiveness Committee and come with her to monthly Hayward Rotary Club meetings. Lord! That and then running some four miles plus everyday? Let's see how this holds up.

It is comforting to think about my friends though. Like lunch yesterday? I was looking around at everyone in the SGR and just felt really good...it was familiar and relaxing to see everyone.

Hope everyone is having a good Labor Day weekend. (hmmm....we celebrate "Labor" day by NOT working....i like it!)