The Mighty Oak

Felt a surge of poetic inspiration. :)

The mighty oak

Proud and tall

Arms stretched to the sky

Feet rooted in the earth

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The mighty oak

Bare in the winter

Full in the summer

Home to tiny creatures

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The mighty oak

Imovable, stubborn, loyal

Prowess of a king

Dignity of a lord

Bringing the populace up to date. (Populace is you guys.) ;)

Wow, I have not been keeping up on this blog. So, I shall update you into the recent turn of events here.

My dual credit classes are going well. I'm enjoying both of my classes, Eng. and Amer. Gov., pretty equally. I recently was given an assignment in Eng. to read this essay that my teacher handed out. It's title was "Body Rituals of the Nacirema". This essay went on to tell about these people, their ritualistic shrines, and their medicine men, "holy-mouth-men", and vestal maidens who are always in recognizable clothes and headdress in the holy temple where children think you "go to die". This essay also spoke on how these people had a practice for their women. Every 4 months, for an hour, the women would bake thier head in ovens. I read this paper (and so did everyone else in the class) with the horrification that tribes like this still existed in the supposed deep, black parts of Africa. We get into class and our teacher asks us if we got it.
"Got what?" is the immediate question. She tells us that there's something in the article that we were supposed to get. She tells us to look back at the paper, especially the title, and figure it out. After one guy starts roaring with laughter in the second row, we're all desperately trying to get the joke. Finally, our teacher tells us to turn the word Nacirema around. It's American. Then we all started to laugh.
The author of this paper poked fun at all Americans and their daily body rituals in the secretive shrine (bathroom). The medicine men (doctors) and "holy-mouth-men" (dentists) with vestal maidens (nurses) in the holy temple where children think "you go to die" (hospital) represents how we have a taste for things that give us pain. Everyone in the class agreed that the ovens that the women were baking their heads in were the old-timey hair dryer things that go over the lady's hair after she gets a perm in the beauty parlor. This essay made us all laugh really hard and feel really stupid for not having figured it out.

On the other side of the world, I have been trying to keep up with my writing. It gets harder and harder all the time to find good quality hours to sit down and write. The voices in my head (yes, I do really have them) are cramming up against my interior walls, but the time is escaping me. Maybe that's the reason why I've had so many headaches lately. ;) Anyway, I'm going to endeavor to write some today.
My reading in Les Mis is picking back up again. I've finally climbed out of the hole at Waterloo and have returned to the actual story of the book. It's back to the interesting part. I'm now interested in rewatching the movie which I enjoyed so much the first time.

I'm very excited about returning to Disney World at the end of May. Stuff is booked, DDRs and everything, and we've started buying T-shirts to wear. It's kind of sad that you have to get all your T-shirts here because they're so much cheaper. Oh well, that's the whole marketing business.
We're trying to get through watching the movies again. Last time we watched most of them was last year about this time when we were getting ready for our Disney trip. I'm putting Tarzan on tonight's watching list but I'm not sure if it'll actually get done. Tarzan is a movie which we only discovered last year and were so blown away by it, we couldn't figure out how we hadn't found it earlier.

Cheers till later!

Setting the Silver

This was an assignment in Lit.

A job is asked of me,

Not hard, yet a full task.

I gather the silver,

Shining from its earlier polishing.

The plates are stacked.

I hold the pristine cloth and napkins with care.

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The table's deep wood is beautiful alone,

Yet, like a lady, I will add to its beauty

With ornametns and fine things

The cloth is laid, smoothed.

China followes, appearing as many moons.

---

The napkins, crisped folds, are placed.

The silver guards each plate with rigidness

I survey my work,a pleased smile spreading.

They all lay even, room for division

Yet, equality in distance that leaves only total satisfaction.

Stop saying that it's not cold down here.

Okay, I'm putting this disclaimer at the top, right now! Disclaimer: I KNOW how cold it is up north.

Ah, now that that's done, I can talk. Okay, this post is to express my frustration in being told by a certian sibling (the only one that's still home with me) that it's not that cold outside. Said sibling continues to try and drive into my skull that I have no reason to be saying it's cold. However, I shall stand up and say that though I was raised by Northerners, I was raised down here. Thus, my body is aclimated (is that a word?) to warmer temperatures. Think of me kind of as a lizard even though I hate lizards.

So, though it's dumping snow up north, I'm still close to freezing down here. Plus, I'm not ashamed to admit it. Now, if you're not very cold, I'm happy for you. But, I'm cold and I can't help it. Brrrrrr.

I felt so homeschooled.

I've never felt so homeschooled in my life, as I have today. However, I can't just jump into everything like that. So, let me explain. Today marked the second week of dual credit classes and it also marked the first day I've had to use a non-electric pencil sharpener. So, I get into class and we have to write an essay and take a quiz. The quiz is being taken on a Scan-Tron so what do I need to use? A #2 pencil like on the SATs because the dumb computer can't read different kinds of pencil lead. And do I have a #2 pencil? Of course not, because who uses a wooden pencil to take notes, nowadays? Thank you for agreeing with me. ;)
So, I turn to my friend, Jesse, and ask him if he has a #2 pencil that I could borrow. He says he doesn't have any at all. "Hmm," I think in my mind. "What should I do since the dumb computer can't read different kinds of pencil lead? Ah-ha, ask the teacher" (who happens to be a substitute for the day).
I ask the teacher, and she subsequently asks if anyone has an extra pencil. One guy does and hands it to me. However, it's a brand new pencil, never having been sharpened. "Hmm," I think once again. "Where's the sharpener?" Other people are getting up and going to this round think drilled into the wall and coming back with sharpened pencils. I seem to remember seeing something like that and I guess it's the sharpener. (Note, the guy who I borrowed the pencil from was sitting right behind the sharpener.)
I walk over to the sharpener and inspect it. It is certainly not self powered. There's a disc on one side with multiple holes in it and the other side has a crank. "Do I stick it in and crank it?" I ask myself. So, praying that the pencil does not die while it's owner is watching me, I push in the pencil and give the crank one turn. I pull the pencil out and it is slightly shaved. Happy that I got it right, I put it back in and cranked like a maniac until I thought the pencil was sharpened sufficiently. When I pulled it out, it was a bit too sharpened, but... oh well.
When I went back to my seat and looked at the Scan-Tron papper, I discovered an area that I did not know how to fill out. It was labeled "period." Now, I've heard of that from public/private schooled friends and books, but I don't know what it really means. I then turn to the girl next to me and ask what to do with this peculiar blank. She informs me that I don't need to put down anything. Whew!
Anyway, after the teacher told us the requirements of this quiz and essay, she sat down and got on her lap-top. Now, I was expecting her to tell us how much time we had and when we could begin, but she didn't. So, I just tried to write as fast as I could. When I was done, and after I watched other people take their papers to the teacher, I walked up there and asked if we needed to put our names on the top of the paper. The teacher responded, "Uh, yeah." I then tried to make her understand that I was wondering about how to fill it out, like if I needed to put the class number and such up there. She told me how to do it.
That completed English class. Now, I had American Gov. next but the stories from that class are even more degrading than what I have already shared. So, in order to retain some dignity, if only a little bit, I shall end this post now.

Disney Princesses and Princes

Okay, this subject must be breached at some point. So, why not now? That's what I say. Okay, I'm going to give a list of Princess and Princes and then discuss them.

Princesses come first, as they always should :D
Snow White: She gets points for being "the one that started it all." I watched this movie just last night and thought, for having a squeaky mouse voice, that she acted her age. There was only one exception, and I found it pretty funny. She knocks on the dwarves cottage and when there's no answer, she looks in the windo. "Oh, it's dark in here," she said. Then, she proceeds to open the door and go in.
Belle: She was my favorite princess forever. It might have something to do with the fact that she's the prettiest and also has the best dress. Now, my favoritism has shifted, but she still has a soft place in my heart.
Cinderella: She's one of the greatest for having a great personality in my opinion. She's caring, helpful, obedient, but still has a sense of humor. "Should we interrupt the music lesson?"
Jasmine: I've never cared much for this princess. She always came across as stubborn and a bit snooty. The opinion might have been influenced as a small child, when I disliked that she had a cut off shirt. :)
Tianna: She's come on the scene fairly recently. Plus, I've only watched the movie once, so I shall refrain from commenting on her. However, I like her dress a lot. :D
Pocahontas: She's one that always seems to be forgotten. However, she is a princess in her own right unlike most of the other famous ones like Cinderella. I think more should remember her as she's got a sweet, sad story.
Ariel: Unfortunately, she's on the level with Jasmine as not one of my favorites. She's too rebellious and sulky but, she's got great hair! hahaha
Auroa: Ah, now we've come to my favorite. With one of my favorites Disney movies to sponser her, the best prince (look below), and having some of the best music, Sleeping Beauty is my favorite!


Now for the heroic and handsome Princes:
The Prince: He's gets barely any screen time so there's little to say. However, I do find it funny how he scares Snow White at the very beginning when he bursts in on her song.
The Beast a.k.a. Prince Adam: He has some anger issues but I think that comes from the beast part of him. Plus, he becomes a better person at the end and that's what really matters.
Prince Charming: So dashing. Such charm. All I'm gonna say.
Aladdin: He gets the Genie into the picture so I like him for that. ;)
Prince Naveen: Again, I can't say much for him, but his character in Disney World was very chivalrous. :D
John Smith: He's funny! I just really enjoy how he acts and what he does.
Erick: This guy, I believe, is too dramatic and a bit wishy-washy.
Prince Phillip: And the best for last, he comes in as the best male character in all the Disney movies. I mean, come on, he's willing to fight a dragon to reach his lady fair. :)

Thus is my opinion on the beautiful princess and their charming princes. Tell me your opinion, and if you agree with me. Also, list your favorite and least favorite.

Whatever enters my head...

Hmm, just feel like writing a blog post today. I don't got much of interest to inform all of you, yet I felt like putting fingers to keys and give you a brief post on whatever happens to enter my head. There is no need to continue reading if you'd like to get something productive done.
Well, currently, my teeth are in pain. I've been using some whitening strips, ssh ;) , and they've made my bottom teeth a bit sensitive so I'm struggling a bit to bite into things. Ah well, such is how it must be.
We like to watch TV shows occasionally, and right now we're in the middle of The West Wing, season 3. WW is a show about what happens in the WW of the White House. Now for me, the person who wishes politics did not exist, I did not expect to enjoy it. However, I am enjoying it immensely. We had S1 and S2 in the house, but no one owns S3 so we've been resorting to Netflix to provide us with disks.
Speaking of Netflix, I could talk about that for a bit. Isn't Netflix great? I love how they have pretty much everything and also instant view. We've been trying to get Netflix to stream to our TV ever since we got all our new stuff. It's been quite a hassel, but it has finally begun to work thanks to the great effort of our dear brother Justin. Praise Be!
Well, that's about all that's entered my head so I'll end this odd, discombobulated post.