My Life is Pretty Lackluster

I am THAT much closer to my goal of 50 books this year. I only have to finish Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty, and Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, and I'LL BE DONE. It shall be the first New Year's Resolution I've ever kept. 

Speaking of which, Sloppy Firsts is AMAZING. If you read Hayleyghoover's blog [which is brilliant, by the way], you may have heard of it. Megan McCafferty is a genius author. I'm halfway through, and I just started yesterday. So that's saying quite a lot.

My mom is on this Zumba kick recently, so instead of just going to a class at our rec center on Wednesdays, she's going to go to one on Mondays along with a weight class at another rec center. The weight/Zumba classes are also on Thursdays. I went to try one last night with her, and the weight part was REALLY hard. Seriously, my arms stiffen up whenever I move them above my shoulders. So I will not be going with her on Mondays. 

I have discovered The Element Song. Well, not me. I saw it in an episode of NCIS. It's BRILLIANT. Catchy, too. I can't sing along, though, because there's so many words, but it's still very interesting. 

I really should get a box set of NCIS. 

Ok, that was all I had to talk about. So I'm just going to go now. [=

School Starts In One Week!

Yes, it's true. Exactly one week from today, I will be sitting on some horribly uncomfortable chair connected to a crappy desk in a classroom that looks like a prison cell. Or something to that effect.

And the sad thing is, I'm happy to go back. 

Well not exactly. I'm not happy to go back to the prison that my school looks like and is. But I'm happy to go back and see all my friends all day, every day, for another year. Take a conversation we had in Reading this past year for example.

At this time, I was going out with this non-to-bright kid Roger, as was explained in my Love Blog. We had reading together, and we had a long-term sub because our teacher had a child. As also said in my previous blog posts. As he didn't sit at the same group of desks as I did, my lovely table mates moved over so he could sit next to me. Then came several other teenage boys from the other groups, and soon enough, there were 10 of us sitting at one group of desks with multiple extra chairs pulled up, having a Yo Mamma joke contest. 

Then Roger had the wonderful idea to tell us about his strange dream the night before. That started a whole other discussion of the strange dreams we'd had. One of my table mates, Delaney, had a dream where she was running, and she hit her leg against her bedroom wall and woke herself up. I had one where I was being held down by some crazy women whose hair was snakes in a pool. She was screaming at me "GIVE ME MY CORN FLAKES!" I don't actually know what I had to eat before I went to bed that night, but it must have been something extremely strange. 

Then Roger told The Joke. The Joke that made us all die of laughter and the bitchy sub not let us talk. 

There was this woman. She was 88 years old. She wanted to kill herself. So she went to her doctor and asked him how to kill herself. "How do I kill myself?," she asked. "You simply shoot yourself two inches below your left boob," The Doctor said. So she went home, got herself the gun her husband kept in his dresser drawer, and shot herself two inches below her left boob. Do you know where the woman shot herself?

An inch above her left ankle. 

PFFFFFFFFFFFFF. 

That put us over the sound barrier, right there. 

You may be asking yourself at this moment in time, "So is that why you want to go back to school, Rachel? Because you'll be surrounded by juvenile boys making stupid jokes?" No, that is not exactly why I'm happy about going back to school. It's just the whole sense of being together, sitting in the same classes, enduring public education until we are released. Sitting around a group of desks making really crappy jokes, too. 

I guess you could call it a feeling of togetherness. Something like that. 

So yes. That is why I'm happy to go back to school. 

And that, folks, is your dose of Rachel-ness for today. Because to be honest, I'm getting creeped out. A cloud is set over my house, and it looks like it's either A) 3 a.m, or B) The Apocalypse. Goodbye for now! 

Lack of food, and more NCIS

There is no food in the refrigerator, pantry, or anywhere else. I haven't even had breakfast yet. It's ridiculous. My mother goes to the store up to 3 times a week, and there's no food. 

I'm now obsessed with watching clips of NCIS episodes on Youtube. It's crazy, I know, but I just get so entertained by watching McGee and Abby act like they don't romantically like each other, but they really do. Or Gibbs be so protective of Abby. And Tony and Ziva? JUST MAKE OUT ALL READY. 

Gosh. I'm such an angsty teenager. 

And then I start crying because Tony got the Plaque, and Tony blew up but not really, and Abby got stalked, and Gibbs got blown up. Various other things. 

I literally had a dream last night that I was a NCIS field agent, and Tony, Ziva, Abby, McGee and I went to a bar, and then all of a sudden, Tony and Ziva went to the bathroom together, and never came back, and Abby and McGee just started making out on the bar counter. It was weird. I think I shouldn't eat popcorn before bed anymore. 

Gosh, now I'm just on a rant about how much I love a television series. 

Oh, and McGee and Tony had to take off their shirts in one video. That was pretty fricken' awesome. 

Ok, I've found some sort of food-like substance. One of those strawberry-cream cheese Bagelfulls by Eggo. Their really good when you haven't had any food in 15 plus hours. I'm counting sleep in that, so don't be all like, "Oh my god Rachel, you're an ANOREXIC!" Because I'm not. I eat quite a bit, actually. Just not that much during the day. 

I have had terrible blog posts this week. Seriously, nothing exciting has gone on at all. 

I'm going to a jewelry party tonight at my mom's boss' house. The boss' wife sells jewelry for this company, Silpada, and every couple months she has a great big sale on the season's jewelry. And she has a party at her house, where people can come and look at the stuff for sale, eat food, and drink her and her husband's wine. 

They have a whole air-conditioned closet thing for their wine. There's around 350 bottles in it. And it can hold 500. 

I suddenly feel not safe, because it is thundering and shaking the windows, so I'm going to end the blog now. Hopefully I'll see you Monday! Bye guys!

Books of the Summer: 31 

Books of 2009: 47 [I'm only three books away from my goal of 50 for the year!!!!!!]

J.K.Rowling,Thunderstorms, NCIS, and Dogs.

Right, so I've got to make this really quick, because it looks like the apocalypse is approaching. 

Or a really bad thunderstorm. One of the two.

Yesterday night, I discovered J.K.Rowling's Official Website. Let me go squee for a second. 

Ok, I'm better. The whole website has riddles and things on it. Truly awesome. I tried to solve it, but I failed. Miserably. And it's not like I didn't try. I tried all right. For two and a half hours, I tried. And I STILL FAILED. 

Oh well. The fail whale has set sail for me.  

I've spent the past 3 hours watching clips of NCIS episodes. I have decided that Abby and McGee need to have children. And Ziva and Tony need to date, because they know they need to. 

I realize that it's fairly pathetic that the only show I watch on TV is a show about Naval Criminal investigators. But I can handle pathetic. Especially if I get to see special agents McGee and Dinozzo almost daily. Mostly daily. Ok, everyday. But they're cute, ok? 

Does anyone else's dog bump your hand when your typing your blog because she wants to go outside? Because mine does that all the time. It's weird. And annoying. Because I have to keep erasing whatever I was writing because it goes all asjkflasjaslkghakl. And stuff like that. 

Ok, that really wasn't quick, but it doesn't really matter. I'm going to go empty the dishwasher, because I was supposed to empty it approximately 5 hours ago. See you all tomorrow! 

British Dudes, Chicken, and Insomnia

Hello! Today's blog is going to be about British dudes. And why they're way better than American dudes.

Seriously, why are they so much better looking that American dudes? Take Charlie, for example. Is he not the cutest dude ever? 

Ok, now I sound like some teenage girl stalking some guy on the Internet. Don't take that the wrong way.

Last night I made the Suprêmes de Volailee à la Milanaise all by myself. To the non-french speaking people [including me], that is chicken breasts covered in parmesan cheese and bread crumbs, then sauteed in butter. Lots and lots of butter. I did not realize this before, but the French really really like butter. 

It was the best chicken I personally have ever tasted. 

This blog is so disappointing. 

Oh, here's something exciting! I think I've got sleep insomnia. Maybe. 

See, here's the thing. I have to get up for school at 6:30. So I take every chance I get to sleep in late and stay up late. Especially now that it's summer. So I went to bed last night at 11. Which is actually early for me, because normally, I stay up until past 12 reading or watching late-night TV. 

So as I said, last night I went to bed at 11. I woke up at 5, when my dad gets ready for work. I tossed and turned for a little while, and finally went back to sleep. Only to wake up at 6:45. My mom left for work at 7:15, and I went back to sleep until 9. From 9 to 10:30, I couldn't sleep, so I just moved from one side of the bed to the other for a while. Then I got up. And I'm always exhausted when I get up now! It never used to be like this. Oh well. I can always read more! 

I'm going to go because my mother is coming home. Yay! Not really. Her new thing to do is leave me to-do lists every day. I was supposed to empty the dishwasher, but I didn't do it. So I shall go do it now. Maybe see you tomorrow! 

Suite Scarlett, Julia Child, and Pastries

Hello all! I've decided I will blog no matter what, for the rest of the summer, every day except the weekends and other extenuating circumstances. Fair? Good! On to your regularly scheduled programming. 

As I was surfing the Interweb today, checking Facebook and various things, I saw on Twitter that Maureen Johnson was going to give away Scarlett Fever, the sequel to Suite Scarlett. To get said book, you have to prove that you've read the book, considering that it is a sequel, or convince Maureen that you've read it. I tweeted her a quote from the book. Specifically, "I have literally been more passionate with a fake streetlight"-Spencer.

I hope quite much that I am picked, but I highly doubt it will happen. 

I saw Julie & Julia yesterday with my parents. As we were buying our tickets, a massive line of cars pulled up to the box office [the theater has the box office outside] and out popped 25 different elderly people. And they were all going to see Julie & Julia. What a coincidence.

But really, it was a good movie. Meryl Streep had Julia Child nailed. The whole movie made me really hungry. So last night, we promptly went to Target, and bought Julia Child's cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking. We're even making the Chicken rolled in Parmesan and Bread Crumbs. Or Suprêmes de Volailee à la Milanaise.

I like the English way. 

Prior to going to the movie, we went to this little cafe called Frida's. They have coffee and breakfast stuff, and pastries, and stuff like that. I got a bacon, egg and cheese breakfast panini and milk, because their coffee sucks terribly. 

So anyway, we got a few mini cakes [because I fully need more sugar].

School's in a week and one day. I'm oddly happy to be going back. I'm not sure about my teachers and stuff, but just to have all my friends around every day is going to be awesome. 

What the Buck? I just got the mail out of our mailbox, and I've somehow become eligible to travel and study in China in the summer of next year. And the thing's printed on this weird thick paper, like it's expensive or something. I feel like I'm being watched now. Like they've got those weird mini cameras that they had in the Spy Kids movies I was obsessed with as a kid. 

Oh, and a shout out to Ben, who's blog you should read. 

I just spent the last 5 minutes watching this video  from Flashdance. We danced to that song at the wedding reception I went to on Saturday. Oh the brilliance of dance movies. 

Well, everyone, I must be going now. Mazal tov, and see you tomorrow! <3

Love Blog: Day 4

So today is day 4 of my Love Blog. So let's jump right into it! There's several dudes we're going to talk about today. Well, not several, technically. Maybe the correct term is a few. 

So, yesterday was Alex, so I believe Jason was after that. 

Ah yes. Jason. The oh-so proud Korean womanizer at my school. He was one of the more casual crushes, really. It's not like I ever had a chance, but whatever. Pretty much ever girl in our grade has fallen for him at some point. Only the lucky few get chosen. Or some culty thing like that. 

Then there was Roger. He was the only actual boyfriend I've ever had. And by 'boyfriend', I mean a dude who you meets after his French class, walks you to your Math class because he has it with you, walks you to your 7th period class and hugs you goodbye for the day. Then, when he gets home, logs onto his computer, and sends you millions of IM's. And the only time he said 'I love you', was in an IM conversation. I ended that after a month and a half. Well, if we're to be technical here, Stella did it for me. [And I totally owe you for that. If you need me to break up with your stupid boyfriend for you, ever, I'm happy to oblige] 

Jabe, John, and Danny all lasted approximately 10 days or less. I didn't go out with them, of course, but I did feel a twinge of frisson. So I'm going to say that they count. There wasn't ever really anything exciting that happened, because frankly, I doubt that Jabe or John actually liked me. Danny did at one point, but I overlooked it, so it doesn't really matter.

And to round up the year, was Darius. The white Arab. [inside joke]. I was attracted to his curly hair [which rivaled only a few people's, including my own], his ability to ace every single math test, thus beating me in grades. Not trying to brag, him and I were 2 of around 5 in our class that actually did the work without much effort. And he was pretty funny. 

But one day, when I was in Tech, I exclaimed that we were going to play Truth or Dare. So, we went back to the studio [long story] and sat in our respective seats, and played Truth or Dare. It came to my turn, and I picked Truth, as always. And they asked me who I liked. And I just HAD to tell them. I mean, in the world of 7th grade, you can't just refuse a Truth question. So I told them. And by 'them', I mean Jabe, John, Danny, and my female Tech friends, Shawna, Zoe, and the wannabe friend Victoria. She's another long story. And I made them swear to not tell him. 

But of course, in the world of 7th grade, no one actually abides by the swearage. 

So John went and told him. I really should've just expected it.

So the next day in Language Arts [we had that class together], one of Darius' friends, Erik, came up and told me that Darius would be right back. I believe the term he used for him was my 'lover boy' or something to that effect. 

And that just went awkwardly. His friends crowded around him doing what 7th grade boys do when they find out their friend is liked by a female. My friend Koni and I tried to pretend that nothing odd was actually happening. I really should've just used that opportunity to tell Erik that I would explain to my friend Sarah that he would like to take her on a little midnight cruise around the bay and that he thirsted for her loins, or something creative like that, because behind his back, I got Danny to tell me who he liked. That would've fully shut him up. Dang. 

So, to end this as to not bore you, I ran out of class as soon as the bell rang, went to my chica Chris, explained the situation to her, and told her to find out what he thought. She happily obliged, being the wonderful female that she is. It took almost a week, I got Stella to MySpace him [how thoughtful right?] and as we were talking on AIM, she got his reply back. 

'No', it said. 'I don't really like her.' Stella posted it in our IM, and I just about had a coronary. That was one of the worst feelings I've probably ever had. But oh well. I'm over him now. [= 

You've finally completed the chronicle of my love life. Thanks for riding, please exit to the right. Remove all personal items from the... Ok, I'll stop. 

I hit the 30 book mark for the summer last night. XD