Encyclopedia of Me- R

Reading- Reading is AWESOME. When you read a book, you can forget about all of your worries and things you have to do but haven't done yet. You can just escape into another world and fall in love with different characters. Whenever I finish a book (unless it's a really lousy one which doesn't happen a lot at all) I feel happy and want to start another one. And now that I think about it, I should've chosen "Rowling" as one of my things for Encyclopedia of Me.

Rich- Richard (or Rich for short) is one of my best friends along with Brennan. He's crazy and funny and Maxim, Brennan, and I have a lot of fun with him. Some of my favorite things to do with him are hide and seek tag, Yu-Gi-Oh!, sardines in a can, watch tiny toons, and lots of other things.

Rainbows- Rainbows looks so cool and colorful. There's something happy about seeing all of those colors right next to each other. I constantly draw pictures of things of different colors and make friendship bracelets with all of the colors in the rainbow.

Rain- When it rains, sometimes a rainbow appears, first of all. ;) Second of all, rain helps plants and food and flowers and grass and trees grow. It also gives us water and without water we would die. O.0 There's also something cozy about curling up with a blanket and reading while it's raining. :D

Relaxing- It's good to sit back and relax after running around and doing lots of stuff. One of my favorite places to relax at is the beach. :D It's sunny and warm and the ocean makes all sorts of cool noises while the seagulls are . . . squawking? I don't really know what they do. :/ But anyway, sit back, relax, and enjoy the show-er-post. ;)

Ron Weasley- Face it, Harry. You wouldn't have survived if it weren't for Ron. Let's see, book one, he helped you knock out the troll and saved you in the giant chess game. Book two, he stuck with you all the way to the Chamber of Secrets. Book three, both he and Hermione would've sacrificed themselves to save you. Book four, he tried to help you with the egg and stuck with you all the way to the end of the Triwizard Tournament. Book five, he went with you and more of the DA to the Ministry to help "save Sirius." Book six, he was one of the most loyal friends you had and even "approved" of your dating Ginny. Book seven, went with you to destroy horcruxes and saved you when you almost drowned and so many other things. Ron Weasley is one of the most loyal characters in the series and helps to lighten the mood. Did you know that J.K. Rowling considered killing him off in book THREE or FOUR?!?! Can you imagine how heavy and sad the rest of the books would be without sarcastic Ron? That would've been bloody terrible!

Writing Prompt: Ant at a Picnic

I found a fun writing prompt. You have to write for at least ten minutes about an ant at a picnic. Here's my story! :D

There were two humans; a boy and a girl. The girl was tall with blonde hair so yellow, it was bound to be dyed. The boy was short and had light brown hair that covered his eyes. He was constantly flipping it around in a very annoying way. They were laughing hysterically at the corniest jokes and feeding each other grapes. It was disgusting.
I darted through the grass, my antennas flying around in the wind. As I got closer to the picnic blanket I crept quietly. The checkered blanket was covered in fruits and sandwiches. This was every ant’s dream. A feast fit for a colony.
I hid behind the picnic basket and watched the humans eat and laugh eat and laugh. It was very boring and I was hungry. When they were making soppy faces at each other I took a chance and dashed for a crumb. They didn’t notice and I ate it right away. I hid behind the basket again and looked for another tasty morsel. I saw a squished grape and sucked the juice to wash down the crumb. And, once again, I hid behind the basket. I probably didn’t need to, though, since these humans were obviously oblivious of their surroundings.
I decided to have a little fun with the human girl. I started to walk as fast as my little legs could carry me towards the girl’s pants leg. I tried to climb up her leg, but she was wearing jeggings, and I knew there was no way I would fit through those tight bottoms. So I went for the boy instead.
I had to keep myself from gagging as I crawled up the boy’s pants. He needed a shower with lots of soap and some tomato juice to get rid of the stink. It was worse as I crawled up his shirt near his armpits. Did he even know what the word “deodorant” meant?
The boy hadn’t noticed me the entire time, but when I got to his neck he faltered in the middle of his sentence and scratched his shoulder a little. I climbed up to his face and he started to scratch his nose. After a little while he started scratching like a giant, stupid, baboon. The girl laughed nervously and stared at him with a strange expression.
“Ant!” she suddenly screamed. “There’s an ant on your face!”
The boy looked down and saw me. I smiled and waved. They both started yelling like crazy as I ran away with a satisfied smirk on my face.

Now I challenge all of you to write your own "Ant at a Picnic" story. Write it, post it on your blog, and challenge all of YOUR friends. Have fun! :D

The 1930s

Recently we've been learning about the 1930s, so I would like to share a few things that were invented or happened at that time. We made a collage of pictures from the 1930s and I will also put a picture of that here.



Chocolate Chip Cookie: The chocolate chip cookie was accidentally invented in the 1930s. BEST ACCIDENT EVER! :D A woman who ran an inn in Massachusetts was making chocolate cookies but she ran out of chocolate. So she decided to use broken chunks of a chocolate bar instead. She hoped it would melt in but it didn't and the chocolate chip cookie was born! :D She sold her recipe to Nestle in exchange for a lifetime supply of chocolate chips. But there's another story. A chef who worked with the woman said that her story wasn't true. He said she knew too much about baking to know that the chocolate chunks wouldn't melt in. His story was that he was mixing the batter for sugar cookies and the vibrations knocked a chocolate bar down into his batter and the chocolate broke into chunks. The woman wanted him to throw the batter out but he didn't want to waste it and everyone loved the cookies. :D

Judy Garland: Judy Garland starred in "The Wizard of Oz." It was a big deal that their movie was in color and black and white. We recently watched it again after learning about it.

Jesse Owens: When Germany was hosting the Olympics, Hitler wanted to show off all of his perfect, blonde-haired, blue-eyed athletes, but instead he was humiliated when Jesse Owens (a black Olympic runner) beat his athlete in the long jump. Everyone said Hitler was rude and refused to recognize that Jesse Owens won. Later Jesse Owens said, "Hitler didn't snub me, FDR did." Hitler had sent Jesse a photograph of himself while FDR didn't even send him a telegram. It wasn't until two presidents later that he was recognized for his talents.

The Maze of Doom (Chapter 1)

I'm writing a book called "The Maze of Doom." It was partly inspired by The Hunger Games and partly inspired by a dream I had while I was at the beach. It's a post-apocalyptic book about a country that discriminates against women. The leader is evil and every year he randomly selects ten girls between the ages of twelve and eighteen to be put into the Maze of Doom wielding only one weapon and gifts given to them by the weight, agility, climbing, and weapon trainers. Girls are allowed to make temporary alliances, and killing is not against the rules. The girl who reaches the middle of the Maze is granted one wish. But no one has survived yet.

Here is the first chapter. I'll take any feedback. Thanks! :D

Chapter 1

I live in a sexist country.
It is a place where girls do all the working, men do whatever they please, and girls get sent to jail for the rest of their life for the tiniest thing.
But that’s not the worst of it.
Each year, President Hunter has a competition called The Maze of Doom. It’s been going on for twenty years. Let me tell you about it.
The Maze of Doom is a huge maze filled with dangers. Ten different girls ranging from the age of twelve to eighteen race to the end of the maze. Their prize is a single wish. But no girl has survived yet. Girls are allowed one weapon each, provided by President Hunter. Girls can make temporary alliances, but they can also kill each other. It’s a gruesome maze.
Some, if they are in the maze, plan to wish for riches or fame. Others plan to wish for their sisters to get out of jail for not polishing their boss’s shoes exactly right.
I have a different wish.
I have been randomly chosen by the country’s leader to be entered in The Maze of Doom.
Our country’s leader is revolting. He made The Maze of Doom for entertainment. He likes the idea of girls killing each other. For him, it’s just one less worker to pay.
But I have to survive the maze to make my wish. As I said, no girl has survived yet. I plan to change that, too.

Today is the day I say goodbye to my family and leave for “Maze Training”. Really, it’s to see how good each girl is so the country can place their bets to see who will survive the longest.
My mom starts to cry as I pull on my boots. My dad puts his arm around her. He tries to comfort her, but the tears keep on coming.
“Don’t cry, Mom,” I say. “I’ll be fine.” But even I can’t promise that.
My mom hugs me and bawls. Dots appear on my shirt’s sleeve.
“Carrie, she’ll be fine,” My dad straightens his glasses and tries to hide his watering eyes. “You know our Clelia. She’s one tough cookie.”
My mom attempts to talk as my dad hugs her again.
“My daughter!” she cries. “My only daughter! In The Maze! She’s only fourteen.”
“I know,” He says. “I know.”
I hug each of them again.
“I love you guys,” I say in a faltering voice. “But when I come back, everything will be better.”
I hear a knock on the door. My dad goes to answer it.
“Hello,” I hear him say. “Won’t you come in?”
“Actually, I’m here for Clelia,” A female voice answers. No surprise there. All of President Hunter’s employees are female.
I hug my mom one last time and walk into the kitchen. It only took a few steps to get from the living room to the kitchen.
“Ah,” The young woman standing in the doorway gestures for me to come outside with her. “There she is. Come.”
I hug my dad, look around our single floor house (or hut, as I like to call it) one last time, and walk outside. My mom won’t stop crying.
“Mom,” I say. “Please don’t worry about me. Besides, you won’t have to keep wondering what’s going on. You can read the whole thing in The Mazeazines.”
The Mazeazines are magazines all about The Maze. Once The Maze of Doom starts, the entire thing will be watched and typed for the whole country to read. They don’t help much though, since the reporters make everything more dramatic. Even though we can never see what’s going on, I can tell that that’s not what’s actually happening.
“Clelia!” The woman stands by her car, tapping her foot impatiently.
“I love you,” I say before walking to the menacing, black, car.
The woman opens the car door. I get inside and wave at my parents until they disappear from view completely.
I remain silent the entire trip to President Hunter’s main building.
An hour later, the black car pulls up to a towering skyscraper.
“Here we are,” The woman says in a bored voice. “Follow me.”
The tone of her voice makes it obvious that she has done this same routine for quite some time.
I followed her down the hall and into the elevator. I gasped. There were 70 different buttons. The woman had to go onto her toes to reach the 30 button.
The elevator went up and made a ding noise.
The woman entered the big, circular, room. I followed her and saw five different people. I recognized four of them from previous Mazes. They were the trainers. The strength, agility, climbing, and weaponry trainers. The other I knew just from living in this country. President Hunter. The evil leader that started this maze.
“Good,” He said. “You finally arrived. As you know, the contestants aren’t allowed to see each other until the maze begins, so you will be privately trained in this room. The reporter should be here any second now.”
As if on cue, the elevator dinged again, and two women appeared. One carried a camera to take pictures, the other, a notebook and pen.
“If everyone is ready, the training shall begin!” President Hunter stepped back. The camerawoman started snapping pictures and the reporter started scribbling furiously.
There were four sections of the room I could go to. Each section had its own equipment. I decided to start with the worst and work my way up. I’m terrible at physical activities, like climbing, and lifting weights, but I’m good at running and using small weapons like daggers for hunting or building things.
I started at the strength training.
“Hi,” The female strength trainer said. “My name’s Candace. Nice to meet you.” Her leg and arm muscles were very visible. You could tell she stayed in shape. And besides looking strong, she seemed like she could be decently nice, even friendly, unlike most workers here. I don’t blame most of them for being un-friendly, the way they get paid.
I took her hand and shook it.
“So,” Candace said. “Would you like to start with the weights, the sit-ups and push-ups, or bag carrying?”
I selected the bag carrying.
“Come on, Clelia!” Candace encouraged me. “You can do it!”
I had carried six bags of bricks across the room on my shoulders already. Four more to go.
“Almost done,” Candace kept yelling. “Two more! Just two more!”
It was nice that Candace was helping me, but it was a little annoying.
“That’s it! One last one! And, you’re done!”
I wiped the sweat off my forehead and walked back over to Candace.
“That was really good,” She said handing me a towel for my sweat. “Do you need some water?”
I nodded my head gratefully, still gasping for breath. I took the bottled water from Candace and gulped down almost half.
“Let’s move on to the weights.”
Candace handed me two weights. They must’ve both weighed at least twenty pounds.
“I want you to lift one at a time. So raise the right one first with your arm locked, then do the same thing with your left arm. Then lift them both at the same time. Got that?”
I nodded my head again. I’m a girl of many words.
I continued with my strength training. I thanked Candace and moved on to climbing. The trainer wasn’t nearly as nice as Candace was. But it didn’t matter since all she had me do was climb a rock wall about fifty times over. I did horribly. I kept slipping on rocks and I took forever to get up once. Strength and climbing? Not very good at all.
I moved on to agility. I ran a treadmill for ten minutes at a good, steady pace, and then jumped rope for a while. All in all, not bad.
It was time for weaponry.
I had to use each weapon they had and try them out. At the end of the training, I would get to select a weapon for the maze. I had to choose carefully, because once I chose, I couldn’t change my mind.
“Welcome to weaponry,” The female trainer said in a bored voice. “I’m Teresa and I’ll be you’re trainer. Remember never to use your weapon for anything except what you’re told to do, blah, blah, blah. Let’s get started. Choose your weapon.”
There were many different choices; A bow and arrow, a sword, a spear, a mace, a whip, and a dagger.
I chose the bow and arrow.
“Do you know how to use a bow and arrow?” Teresa asked. I nodded. I had used one before, but I was rusty.
“Then try to shoot this target.” Teresa walked over to the wall and pointed at the target. I pulled back the arrow and shot, but I shot way off course. Teresa had to duck her head to avoid getting hit. It struck the wall and stuck there.
“Guess you’re not going to be using that in the maze,” She said. “Try something else.”
I took the spear. Again, she had me throw it at the target. I threw, but not hard enough. I tried again and again, but it would drop on the ground three feet away from me. Again, I am not very strong at all.
I tried the sword, the mace, and the whip, but every single one was a failure.
I took the last weapon. A dagger complete with a small sheath.
“Ah ha ha!” Teresa started laughing. “That is the wimpiest weapon I have ever-!”
I threw the dagger hard at the target. It flew and hit the bull’s eye.
Teresa’s mouth hung open.
“W-would you like to choose the dagger f-for your w-weapon?” She stuttered.
I turned away from Teresa and walked to the target. I pulled my dagger out, and sheathed it around my pants.
I knew everyone was going to hear about my “rage and fury at the weapon trainer”. I knew they would read about me throwing the dagger. But they wouldn’t know anything. They wouldn’t know that I imagined President Hunter’s face on that bull’s eye as I threw the dagger.

I'm not finished with the story yet (I've written nine and a half chapters so far), but if you would like an e-mailed copy when I'm done, let me know in a comment. :D

The Help (The Movie)

I finished watching "The Help" yesterday with my mom and dad. Two words: Awe-some. :D Sometimes I read a book and then watch the movie and I think, "Eh," but the movie was really good. I still like the book better, but the movie was really well done and made me cry at some parts. I don't have a favorite character, but Minny's great. :D I'm not going to give anything away for those who haven't read the book yet, but I love when she's telling the story of, "The Terrible Awful." The actress who played Minny actually won an award for the Golden Globes. :D

For those of you who have read the book but haven't watched the movie, watch the movie. It's awesome.

For those of you who have watched the movie but haven't read the book, read the book. It's definitely worth reading.

For those of you who haven't read the book or watched the movie, I recommend both. :D

Encyclopedia of Me- L

Love- This one is pretty obvious. If everyone in the world learned to love more, there wouldn't be any wars, and the world would be perfect. Why is it so hard to be nice to each other? Love is a wonderful thing. I love to give people hugs and presents. It feels so good and makes me so happy. :D

Life- This one is also pretty obvious. Life is awesome. There's so much you can do in life. The words "life" and "love" and "peace" make me jittery for some reason in a good way. It gives me inspiration. When I was looking up "love" and "life" in Google images, there were so many cool pictures to choose from.

Laughter- I love to laugh and I love to hear other people laugh. I especially love it when I make my friends laugh or when a baby laughs. (Baby laughter is so cute). Whenever I go to INCH, I usually get the hiccups coming home from laughing so much. My best friend, Kirsten, and my friend, Sophia, are the best at making me laugh. Everyone knows Sophia as one of the funniest kids at INCH. She is hilarious. :D

Lemonade- Pink lemonade is my favorite drink, but any kind of lemonade is good. Strawberry lemonade is my second favorite drink. The strawberry lemonade at "Red Robin" is the best I've ever tasted because they leave huge strawberry chunks in the cup and you can scoop them out with your fork. :D

Lists- I love lists. I make a list practically everyday, whether it's a list of story ideas, a list of Christmas presents to make for my friends and family if it's around Christmas time, a to do list, or a list of images to get for the "Encyclopedia of Me" posts, they help me a lot. :D

Luke- One of my absolute favorite characters in Modern Family. (He's the kid with the shower cap over his head and a hairdryer without a shirt on in the picture above). He's the goofball, oblivious, sweet kid in the show. He's kind of ADD. He'll be sticking a straw up his nose one minute and playing "Plants vs. Zombies" while sticking his face in a bowl of cereal. Yeah, he's that kid. It's impossible to put all of my favorite quotes from him onto this post, but this is one our family quotes all the time.

(Seeing that everyone is too busy on their electronics to pay attention to anyone or anything around them, Claire gathers the family and tells everyone that there is a week-long ban on anything electronic).

Luke Dunphy: "Can I still play Plants vs. Zombies?"
Claire Dunphy: "Are you not listening?"
Luke: "But you learn about plants. And plants are life. Are you against life?"
:D Hilarious.
Other "L" words that didn't make the list:
Lemmings: Totally cute, but totally stupid. I think I've told you the story about how I learned about lemmings, but I'll tell it again for anyone who didn't read the post. My friend Sophia told me about them so I looked them up then my dad told me that sometimes one lemming jumps off of a cliff, and the rest of the pack jumps off, too just because one of them did. So whenever someone does something just because someone else does it, I have to yell out, "LEMMINGS!" :D
Library: I didn't think about this until after I wrote the post. INCH meets at the library almost as much as we meet at the park. I love our library and our librarians. :D

Encyclopedia of Me- P

Playground: My favorite part of INCH is when we play at our local playground all day during the summer. :D

Pickle: During NaNoWriMo, everyone we know that is participating goes to the local coffeehouse to write. Our favorite activity to do there is pass-along-stories. Everyone writes a few sentences in a certain amount of time and then passes it to the next person. When your story gets back to you, bam! Instant story. Anyway, I got this crazy idea to add a pickle with googly eyes and a mustache that was screaming and doing the ChaCha in every story. Don't ask me where I got that idea, because I have no clue. Everyone got a kick out of it and now it's sort of a running joke. :D

Published Books: My biggest dream is to get my books published. You probably knew that already, though. :D

Puppies: My favorite animal! :D I had a hard time picking just one adorable picture. :D

Percy Jackson: One of my favorite series. (Besides Harry Potter, of course). :D

Popcorn: My favorite snack. :D

Writing Prompt

I took a writing prompt from my book Writing Magic and wrote a short story. The prompt was to write a short story by starting it with the sentence, "Ms. Fleming's wig had gone missing."

Ms. Fleming’s wig had gone missing. And whoever stole her wig was going to get an earful of her shouting and a noseful of her bad breath.

Ms. Fleming is an old pain in the neck. She has eyes like an eagle and a nose in the shape of a hawk’s beak. Her head looks too big for her body and her accessories look like costume jewelry. She’s too skinny and when she puts her high heels on, she’s almost painfully tall. Her makeup is cheap and she uses too much of it and when she’s not wearing a blindingly vibrant dress, she’s wearing a floral shirt and plaid pants or polka dots and stripes.

She’ll come into class each day with the day’s newspaper and a cup of coffee. She’ll sit down at her desk and tell us to read chapter five and complete the worksheet. Then she puts her high heeled feet up on the desk and open up the newspaper.

After recess, all the kids in my class went inside and waited for Ms. Fleming. She must’ve gone to the teachers’ lounge. I was the last kid inside and I immediately noticed that her prized, snow-white wig wasn’t sitting on her desk as it usually was after recess.

Ms. Fleming entered the room. Her hair was short and very gray; where as her wig was white and elegant. She gasped and pointed a stubby finger at the desk. Her huge, black eyes widened, making her look like one of those stuffed animals with eyes the size of ping-pong balls.

“Who-what-I!” she stuttered.

Her nostrils flared and she looked at each and every student, her eyes sweeping the room. I suddenly felt very hot and nervous.

“I demand to know who did this!” She screeched.

The class was silent. I sat very still and tried not to blink.

Her stomach rose and fell very fast.

She started to march back in forth in front of the class, as if doing this would make her look bigger, scarier.

“Well? Anyone?”

It was so quiet, you would be able to hear a pin drop to the floor.

Ms. Fleming’s mouth curved slowly into a smile; no, a sneer.

“Well, then. Your parents won’t be very happy to hear that you’ve all earned detention!”

“What?” Alexis Sparks burst out from the front of the classroom.

“But that’s not fair!” Added Jordan Jones, who was busy loading a spitball into a straw.

“Oh, it’s fair!” Ms. Fleming’s eyes were widened in joy and her smile was evil. She looked like she had gone mad. “And from now on, for the rest of the month, you will have detention!”

“But-!” Samantha Smith started.

“Two months of detention!” Ms. Fleming raised a shaking finger. “Want to make it three?”

The entire class started yelling protests and Ms. Fleming started yelling back. I tried to block out the noise by humming to myself when I noticed something white on the ceiling. It was Ms. Fleming’s wig! Someone had glued it there. The wig fell onto Ms. Fleming’s head. But she was too busy yelling to notice. The class, though, stopped and stared at her head.

“Ms. Fleming,” I said cautiously, raising my hand. “Your wig is on your head.”

Ms. Fleming stopped and cocked her head slightly, causing the wig to look very lopsided.

“How’s that?” She looked confused.

“Your wig is on your head.”

She patted her head and the wig fell into place. She kept feeling the wig and a look of utter bewilderment fell upon her face.

“I must be going senile,” she muttered.

The Help

I am currently reading The Help and I only have less than a hundred pages to go. I am LOVING it! :D It's set in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s. It's about the rights of black and white people. In the book you read from the perspective of two black maids and one white woman. It's a REALLY good book. I recommend it to anyone and everyone. (If you are a younger kid, I'd get your parents' permission first because it has some heavier topics).

X Factor: Finals!!! :D :D :D

WOO HOOO! :D GO JOSH! Oops, on to the post.

They celebrated Christmas by putting Christmas trees on the stage.

Filler, filler, Pepsi, commercial, filler.

Josh Krajcik: He was off during the beginning of the song. It was a weird song choice and then they introduced Alanis Morissette and she sang with him. WHAT?!?! I didn't get any of it. :/ It was better at the end, but it was really confusing.

Someone cut a rectangle in Nicole's shirt. Who the heck is choosing her outfits?!?!

Chris Rene: He was really off. Avril Lavigne came out in the middle of it. I don't like the whole celebrity singing with the contestants thing. It's confusing and weird. And for the record, Avril Lavigne sounds way better on soundtracks than when she does live. So if you're thinking about buying tickets to her concert, save your money. It was fun, but even she was off at some parts. The only part I really liked was when Chris rapped.

A video started playing after the song and random people were yelling support from the Santa Cruz nightclub where Chris used to sing. It was a little odd to hear Chris's next door neighbor yell, "I love you!" The baker was a little crazy, too. She even baked a cake with his face on it.

Melanie Amaro: She has the best voice in the competition, but she's not my favorite. R. Kelly came out during, "I Believe I Can Fly." Really good. There's not much more to say.

They should really get rid of the confetti. Melanie had to pick confetti out of her mouth so she could sing.

Melanie definitely won round 1 in my opinion if we're talking about being on key.

The judges argued about stupid little things. I say, "Blah. Get on with the show."

Hey crowd, how about you SHUT UP so the judges can talk?!?! Golly . . .

After the commercial break, giant knights came stomping out on the stage to advertise the cirque du soleil Michael Jackson thing. I have no idea what it is. Then the contestants came out to sing (excuse me, chant) while the knights started dancing like little kids that really had to go to the bathroom.

Josh Krajcik: I LOVE his voice! :D I can't say that enough. I LOVE his voice! :D I LOVE his voice! :D I LOVE his voice! :D I LOVE his voice! :D OK, maybe I can say it enough. ;)

I really like it when he has his guitar. It was awesome. AWESOME! :D SO much better than the weird duet he did earlier.

Nicole had a dead bird wrapped around her arm. :P

Chris Rene: YOUNG HOMIE!!! :D :D :D I would TOTALLY buy this song. Again he wrote it. It's really catchy, really fun, and really well written. Simon was even dancing a little in his chair and L.A. was singing along! :D It's really inspirational, too. I would buy Chris's album. I think he might win.

Paula went crazy! :D She stood up and started yelling like crazy about how good it was.

I love Chris's energy, too. I've changed my mind. I think he's going to win and I want him to win! :D

Melanie Amaro: She seemed to be wearing a mermaid tail or something.

She's amazing, but she sounds like a lot of other people. I've never once heard her hit a bad note, though. Not once. BEST PERFORMANCE YET. That was the best I've ever heard her sing. She was in tears afterwards.

Her "god-sister" (???) and the mayor of Sunrise, Florida are CRAZY. They were screaming about how good she was and how they know she's going to win.

Prediction: I don't care who wins. They're all good! :D I am kind of rooting for Chris, though. ;)

Comments: I hope Nicole wears pants for the finale. xD

CONTEST!!! :D :D:D

My friend, Emily, has a blog and she always puts contest on her blog for people to do and send in to her e-mail. Sometimes it's a drawing contest, sometimes it's a story contest, one time you had to do a scavenger hunt and take pictures with your camera! :D Then she picks one that she thinks is the best and posts the winner on her blog. So I'm going to start doing that. Once in a while I'll post a post with the contest rules on it.

Here's the contest:

To enter, you must draw a creative Christmas-themed picture. Not a winter theme, a Christmas theme. Then, take a picture with your camera of your picture and send it in to my e-mail address. If you don't have my e-mail, you can ask my mom for it. :D You must send your picture in by the 31st of this month. Have fun! :D

X Factor: Five Remain

I am SO mad. I'm mad at America for not keeping Astro, I'm mad at them for getting rid of Drew, I'm mad at Simon for picking slow songs for Drew EVERY STINKIN' TIME, and I'm mad at the judges for not keeping Drew. In short, I'm mad at everyone.

This week was dance music. Bleh. Five people remain. The contestants are singing two songs.

Melanie Amaro: This time, during her song, alien dancers accompanied her.

AGAIN with the confetti! This show is all about the dramatic effects, dancers, and music. Even the announcer is dramatic! Again, every time a contestant is announced, I just have to yell out, "KIRBY!"

They ruined an Adele song with an annoying dance beat. But she did sing the song very well. Good, but boring.

Marcus Canty: I like Marcus, but he should've gone home instead of Drew. Urgh. Oh well . . . :P

His dancers weren't as annoying, but he just had to have strobe lights. :P BOOM boom BOOM. This beat stinks.

He got better as the song went on. Eh. It was just OK.

TWITTER TWITTER TWITTER!!!! X(

Rachel Crow: She's incredible for her age. I still don't like the annoying beat. Or the dancer. Or Twitter. Oh wait, that wasn't part of the song. ;) She was the best out of the first three in my opinion. She's so cute and always looks surprised when she gets complimented! :D

Josh Krajcik: LOVE his voice! :D

Eww, some of the male dancers didn't have shirts on. :P I wouldn't dance near ANY of these people.

He's amazing. Amazing. His dance song wasn't NEARLY as annoying with its beat. He made it his own.

Chris Rene: Nicole's dress looked like something an alien-robot would wear.

He was a little off, but he's different, and it looked so cool when he danced on a conveyor belt! :D AND he added his own lyrics! I love it when he writes his own lyrics.

Melanie Amaro: All of the contestants were going to sing a song that America voted on online. They had been practicing for a week, but there was a problem with something online, so they had to practice a different song and perform it in 24 hours.

I liked this song WAY better than the first song she sang. The song totally fits her. She did GREAT. PLUS, she didn't have very long to practice it and she still pulled it off.

Marcus Canty: These songs are SO much better than the dance songs. He was really good. Way better than the past couple of weeks. I do think he should've done something a little different, though.

Drew: OH WAIT. SHE'S NOT ON ANY MORE.

Astro: Sigh . . .

Rachel Crow: She was a little off at first, but it got better. Her voice is so big and strong. AND she sang a Michael Jackson song. It was VERY good. She said her mission is to, "Inspire the kids." SHE'S SO CUTE! :D

Josh Krajcik: The crowd started cheering as soon as he started to sing. He sang a Beatles song and he sounded AWESOME! :D Nicole was crying. It was that good. He got a Standing O from Paula and Nicole.

Chris Rene: He sang a song that he wrote that NO ONE heard before. Risky . . .

HE PLAYS GUITAR, TOO?!?!

It was AWESOME. His song sounded like something you would hear on the radio. It was a slow song, which was cool and different for him. The crowd was going CRAZY! :D There was NO WAY he was going home after that. He was the best out of the five when they sang the second time.

Prediction: I thought Marcus was going home, but NOOOOOOO. RACHEL had to go home. X( She was BAWLING when she heard. And so was Nicole. I was crying, too. And my mom. She was one of my favorite ones left. :( One of my friends, Emily, was really sad, too, because Rachel was her favorite. Now Josh is my favorite one that's still in it.

The Muppet Movie

We just (literally just) got back from the movies. We watched . . . (drum roll please) (*Maxim walks in with a drum set and drumsticks*) (*Drum roll . . . chhhhhhhhhhh!*) (*Begins gnawing on the drumsticks*) (Me: "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?! I THOUGHT YOU DIDN'T EAT YOUR DRUMSTICKS!!!!") (Maxim: "Whoops.") Anyway, we watched . . . THE MUPPET MOVIE!!! :D

It was hilarious! :D In the movie, there's a person named Walter (who is a Muppet) that loves the Muppet show. When Walter's brother (Gary), Gary's girlfriend (Mary), and Walter go to Los Angeles, Walter finds out that an evil person named Richman is planning to destroy Muppet Studios and drill for oil. Walter, Gary, and Mary decide to help Kermit the Frog get The Muppets back together and put on a show to raise ten million dollars in order to save Muppet Studios. Will they do it? (Da da daaaaaaaaaaa).

X Factor: Michael Jackson Week

We got a surprise when the host announced that it was Michael Jackson week. Then we got an even bigger surprise when he said that the Jackson brothers, their mom, and MJ's kids (Prince, Paris, and Blanket) were in the crowd. Everyone went wild. (Finally something to cheer at besides the judges' comments).

Paula is "out" of the competition. She's the only impartial judge, now. She said, "If I were you, Simon, I would be nice." That's right he'd better be nice.

Nicole forgot her pants again.

Twitter has got to be paying BIG bucks to be mentioned this often. They rush the judges to talk about that?!?! This host is insane.

Josh Krajcik: He plays guitar too?!?! He keeps surprising us. He said that he was really nervous (he looked it) to be singing Michael Jackson, but he felt more comfortable that he was going to play his guitar. He's been playing guitar since he was twelve.

So he started off the song with zombies dancing at his feet. He did GREAT for a song that he wasn't comfortable with. He also did an awesome guitar solo. It was crazy! His fingers were flying everywhere. It wasn't my favorite performance by him, but it was great.

I don't really like all of Nicole's outfits. (Or Paula's, for that matter).

Astro: We learned yesterday that he's been rapping since the age of nine.

He chose "Black and White" and was able to rap really well to it. Nice! :D He writes all of his own music, which is even cooler! :D At one point he said, "I look at the world like a crayola box." Sweet. Besides the ninja-bagpipe dancers, it was awesome. It was better than last week's performance. He's very creative.

Drew: We keep learning new things about these singers! :D Drew was shy as a kid. But now she's on live television performing in front of millions of people?!?! That's awesome.

She put her own twist on "Billie Jean". It was really cool. She's amazing. Her voice is completely unique. She was better than the previous two, in my opinion. L.A. actually liked it this time. I did too, but she needs to do something different. Nicole thinks Simon is playing it safe with her, and I agree. Drew even wants to do something upbeat.

Rachel Crow: She's always wanted to be a star, even when she was little.

Her shoes looked like astronaut boots. She was slightly pitchy in parts, but overall, it was really good for a girl her age singing an MJ song. Not her best though. In parts, she was great, at others, she was not. She didn't seem to have as great a time as she usually does.

Marcus Canty: He fell in love with MJ's music from the first time he heard him. No big shocker there. :P

There were a couple parts where he didn't quite hit the notes, but most of the time he was good. He's not been doing as well as usual. It was pretty boring until he surprised us with a BACK FLIP!!! :D That was awesome! :D Nicole was on her feet with her mouth open when he did the back flip.

I-HATE-CRAZY-DANCERS.

Nicole and Paula wouldn't stop talking over Simon when he criticized Marcus.

Chris Rene: His grandfather wrote "Rockin' Robin" which the Jackson 5 sang! :D L.A. kept saying how cool that was. And it is pretty cool.

MJ was a real challenge for him. It's not his style at all.

Ouch. It was not very good, but he managed to make it his own. Not my favorite by him. It was only OK.

Over TEN MILLION people downloaded a song Chris wrote when he auditioned called, "Young Homie." Whoa. If you have an MP3 player of some sort and can find that song, I completely recommend it. It's awesome! :D

Melanie Amaro: Melanie all of of sudden was speaking in an island accent. We figured out that Paula had told her to be herself, so now she's speaking like herself. She used to have to force herself to speak American because people would make fun of her and not be able to understand her.

AGH!!! TOO MANY STROBE LIGHTS!!!

She's amazing. She's closed the show twice now, too. She's that good. Paula was totally grooving during the whole thing. I didn't recognize the song, though. She was great. I felt like a bomb went off when she sang. Just all of a sudden . . . BOOM!!!

Paula is so cute when she gets excited! :D

Prediction: I have NO IDEA who's going home. Maybe Marcus. (Ok, so I do have some idea of who's going home).

Comments: Rachel wasn't as good as she usually was. That surprises me.

I Don't Think I'll Ever Eat Strawberry Pop-Tarts Again

My mom showed us something that was very interesting on 60 Minutes today. It was all about flavorings in foods. How they make it so people will be addicted to it, how to make the perfect mixture so it will smell and taste good, etc. Anyway, I learned a fact that will either make you say, "Awesome!" (if you happen to like gross things) or vomit (if you have a queasy stomach).
Some strawberry and vanilla flavoring have "all natural flavors". What they don't tell you is what's so natural about them. You see "natural flavors" on a strawberry pop-tart box or vanilla wafers and think "Oh yeah, they actually use strawberries and vanilla". In some cases that's true, in others that's not.
I learned that some "natural" strawberry and vanilla flavors are made from the glands of a beaver's backside. I said it. Feel free to tell all of your friends or vomit. Goodbye! :D

Unjournaling Again

I LOVE THIS BOOK! :D Here are some more exercises.

Write a paragraph that starts with this sentence: Why don't you learn how to talk to a rooster? and ends with this one: She slugged him.

"Why don't you learn how to talk to a rooster?" Sheila's friend Albert asked.
Shelia shrugged.
"What's the point?"
"What's the point? Sheila, the point is so you can figure out what roosters are thinking! Didn't you ever wonder what your rooster thinks about?"
Sheila's rooster, Cluck, never really did anything except go, "Cockadoodledoo!" in the morning.
"Not really," She said. "They don't do much, and it's impossible to talk to one."
"It is not!" Albert protested. "You're just too dumb to figure out how to talk to one!"
She slugged him.

You are a farmer who wants personalized license plates. You aren't allowed to use more than seven letters and one hyphen or space. Come up with at least three ideas for your plates.

LVTOFRM
FRMRJOE
TRACTOR

Olivia has been criticized by her boyfriend for not expressing her feelings enough. "I never know what you think about anything!" he says. "You never give me any details. You shut me out of your thoughts and your life!"
Olivia decides to teach him a lesson. When he comes to pick her up one night, she shares, completely, every detail and thought in her head from the time the leave the house until they get out of the car and shut the door. What does she say?

"While I was getting out of bed this morning, I wondered, 'What do dogs think about when they see a squirrel? Your watch looks really cheap. Did you get it out of a toy machine? Do you think my hair looks nice? Your car needs a wash. It's really dirty. Boy, Mrs. Henderson needs to lose a little weight. My mother says that I need to take better care of my room if I want my own car. I can't believe your mother let you get a car when your room always looks like a garbage dump! I love your hair today. What did you do to it? I hope the restaurant we're going to isn't like the one we went to last time! I could've sworn the cheese they used was molding!"

Thanks for reading! :D

X Factor: Thanksgiving Dedication Week

Sorry for the delay in the review. :P With NaNoWriMo (Which we all won, by the way!!! :D), the holidays, relatives, etc, we've been pretty busy.

So, I was right about Stacy Francis going. I'm not really upset about it. She had an attitude and she didn't sing very well. And after that nice post about Astro last time, he gives an attitude at the elimination show when he was put in the bottom two! He said that he didn't want to sing to people who didn't want him there. You can look it up; you'll find it. I do feel badly for him a little bit though, since he's only a kid. He also apologized on the news about it.

The theme was Thanksgiving Dedication Week. The contestants could pick any song they wanted and dedicate it to someone. They also announced that it was going to be a double elimination.

Nicole's dress looked like she forgot to put on some pants. It was so short, it could've been a shirt.

Rachel Crow: She gave thanks to her family that adopted her. She got beat up when she was little and her birth mother was addicted to drugs. We also learned that Rachel has a sister named Hannah who was also adopted.

I can't stop saying how cute Rachel is! :DI didn't like the outfit, though. She was wearing some kind of cape that was taller than she was. She didn't move around a whole lot, either. Probably because she would trip and fall over that thing. It wasn't my favorite performance by her. It didn't help that she sang a song I doubt anybody knows. Then they dropped confetti on her. Really? There are still seven people left (after the elimination). Save it for the finale, people!

Oh-my-gosh, this crowd needs to shut up!

Marcus Canty: He gave thanks to his mom. They seem really close. His mom was single. They lived in a tough neighborhood where they could see the police arresting murderers across the street.

He sang an unrecognizable song just like Rachel did. It was slow and forgettable. His mom got emotional though. He cried after he sang and hugged his mom. L.A. said that he was as good as any singer he's worked with. It was just OK for me.

Melanie Amaro: She gave thanks to God for never letting her down. She was AMAZING! :D She was better than the previous two. She looked like she felt awesome and got all fired up afterward and said how happy she was to be there. She looked great and Simon LOVED it. The only thing I didn't like was the twenty backup singers crowding around her while she sang.

Chris Rene: He gave thanks to Tim, his guidance counselor. He helped him get out of drugs and alcohol. Apparently, Chris was in a horrible car crash after being so high on drugs and almost died.

At the beginning of his song, he was slightly off and it was only OK. It was pretty boring until the second half of the song when he put in some of his own lyrics. He's a nice guy. The second part was WAY better than the first.

This crowd is a bunch of LEMMINGS! :O They boo and cheer at EVERYTHING. If one person boos, the rest boo, one person cheers, the rest cheer. (If you haven't heard of lemmings, look them up. They are SO CUTE but they follow whatever the other does. Sometimes, one lemming jumps off of a cliff, and the rest of the pack jumps off too just because one of them did. So whenever someone does something just because someone else does it, I have to yell out, "LEMMINGS!")

Lakoda Rayne: They gave thanks to people who have shaped them into who they are today; dads, boyfriends, grandmas, etc.

They sang a TAYLOR SWIFT SONG!!! :D (Taylor Swift is one of my FAVORITE singers). It was awesome. They have lots of potential. I hope they make it in the music career. They keep getting better and better as they go on. Paula was a wreck. It was their best performance yet.

Leroy Bell: He gave thanks to his mom. She passed away almost two years ago. I LOVE his voice. He managed to keep it together during his performance. He got a Standing O from almost all of the judges. He's awesome. It was probably his best song. L.A. really dumps on him. Simon loved it. He thought it was a, "fantastic tribute to his mum." Both Paula and Nicole were in tears over his song.

Filler, filler, tweets, blah. :P

Astro: He gave thanks to his supporters, otherwise known as his "Astronauts". He apologized. He said he was hurt, but he promises that there will be no more tantrums. He wrote an apology song. He's so talented. He's awesome, but he's not my favorite out of all of the singers. I definitely think he'll make it in the music industry no matter what. His song was sort of repetitive. He's had better songs. He apologizes again after he sings. He accepted that he didn't act well.

Drew: She gave thanks to her best friend Shelby. They seem like SUCH good friends! :D They're so sweet.

Her voice is incredible. She's amazing. Shelby was in the crowd grinning from ear to ear the entire time. She could win the ENTIRE THING. L.A. is a dope. He said she doesn't do age appropriate songs. Whatever. She was so sweet and complimented Shelby the whole time. I love her. Simon really nailed L.A. for his, "stupid , pointless, comments" in his words. Good for him. L.A. really picks on Leroy and Drew and I'm SO TIRED of it.

Josh Krajcik: He gave thanks to his daughter, Rowen. She looks sort of like my best friend's (Kirsten) sister, Samantha at times. Rowen and Josh seem really close. Apparently Josh plays piano! :D He's the first to play an instrument on this show. I LOVE his voice! :D He's awesome. One word: W-O-W. Just him + a piano= incredible. Nicole got emotional afterward.

My Prediction: It was going to be Marcus because he was forgettable and one of the first people to sing and then I didn't know who the other person would be. Sadly, Leroy and Lakoda Rayne went. :P

Comments: I feel bad for Paula. :(

X Factor Review

So, my mom does American Idol Reviews. Simon Cowell left American Idol to make a new show called X Factor, which I personally like way better than American Idol. (For one thing, they actually have people who can sing, not just impress the judges with their sparkly outfits and distracting hairdos). Since my mom already does American Idol reviews, I'm doing X Factor Reviews.

Rock Week

So like I said in my last post, I really hate the dancers and flashing lights. It's bad enough that they have to have 20 on stage with all of the contestants, but now the host comes out to dancers in ballerina outfits that someone attacked with a chainsaw?!?! They've gone too far.
I feel bad for poor Paula. Two of her groups have gone home in a row now, and both times she had to decide between them. At least now she can focus on her one group and not have a situation like that again. After the host was surrounded by creepy dancers, he got annoyed in a sarcastic way for Nicole taking a while to get to her seat. And then she announced that Leroy Bell would go first.

Leroy Bell:
They do the montage things and show clips of rehearsals, and then, of course, L.A. makes a snotty comment. He said that he thinks Leroy is, "B-O-R-I-N-G," which, he is not. Sure, he does a slow song every time, but he sings well and doesn't need dancers from Mars, strobe lights, or fog machines. On the other hand, all of L.A.'s kind of singers use that stuff all the time. After the video, they announce his name like he's a player on Super Smash Brothers. I feel like yelling out, "Kirby!" every time they do that. I liked that Nicole had a simple stage with hardly anything more than him and a mic stand. He's such a cool dude. I love his hats that he wears, not everyone could pull that off. He has a great voice. I still can't believe he's 60. L.A. can eat his words. He was awesome. L.A. had better watch out because people who like Leroy aren't going to agree with L.A. or vote for him on Twitter. (L.A. was still in second place, though, but I know why. Simon mentioned he got a Twitter account that day. I have no idea if he's allowed to vote for himself though). This audience is so annoying. They boo and cheer at EVERYTHING.
Simon said, "It's rock week. You should have been like a shark, but instead, you were a dolphin." Sorry for that insult, dolphin lovers. (Cough, Kirsten, cough). I'm worried for him. L.A. really hit him hard and he went first which never helps.

Rachel Crow: Apparently, Mead, Colorado is a funny name. Simon could barely contain himself when he announced Rachel's home town. Simon really likes her. I do too. I love her bubbly energy and she's so cute. Nicole keeps on saying that age doesn't matter when it comes to singing. (Duh, she has Leroy to mentor and he's awesome), but she thought that Rachel's young age was going to hold her back. How does that work? If it doesn't matter that Leroy's older, it shouldn't matter that Rachel's young. Really? Dancers with tambourines? Why must they torture us? I guess the judges didn't care though, since she got a Standing O from all of the judges.

Random Comment: Nicole looked like she was about to fall asleep with her black clothing and purple eyeshadow.

Chris Rene: He's not my favorite contestant, but he's fun. He's a cool, rappish, hip-hoppish sort of guy. He did a cool rap twist on a reggae song. Simon had JUST said to Leroy to change up the songs he does, but he didn't like that Chris made it different. L.A.'s argument was that Chris took a reggae song by Bob Marley, who is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and made it his own. In fact, he even said to Simon, "Oh yeah? Let's do a hip-hop week and sees what Drew does." It was a good argument. I just think that Simon was being Simon.

This host is quickly becoming very annoying. He keeps cutting the judges off!

MORE @$!#*& TWEETS!!! x(

Stacy Francis: She was way off key. Nicole said she could soar with this song, or fail. She did neither. Instead, she dropped like a dead bird. This audience needs to be bound and gagged. So does the host, as a matter of fact. He REALLY needs to shut up when the judges are talking.
Stacy looked grumpy the entire time. Simon, L.A., and Nicole gave her criticism that would help her, and she scowled. Nicole gave her a compliment, and she still scowled. She needs to go.
Oh and another thing, she calls her fans the "Franatics." Really?

Melanie Amaro: In the video, L.A. said, "MelODY and edgy? Forget about it. How can you even say Melanie and Edgy in the same sentence?" Apparently HE can't. She has a great voice and seems like a really sweet girl. I like that the stage wasn't on fire and crowded by dancers from the future. I wish she were more unique, though. L.A. was really getting on my nerves. He needs to keep quiet when it's not his turn.

Josh Krajcik: He's a cool, normal guy and I like that. Like I said, rough around the edges, raspy voice, and so unique. He's awesome. I like Nicole. She's so sincere and doesn't hold back. She really gets into it, like Paula does. In fact, they're a lot alike and seem to get along well. She's like a little ball of fire. I like the slower songs on him better than when he's rocking out, but he was still incredible! In the video, Nicole said she'd have a hard time not getting up and head banging when he sang that song. And guess what? She head banged. It was that good. Standing O from all four judges and got a "that was bloody fantastic," from Simon.

Astro: When he talks, it seems like he wears himself out after all of that rapping. It's sweet to see the relationship between him and his mom. He's really nice and polite. The song was sweet and emotional. It was probably my favorite performance by him. He dedicated it to all of the rappers that died from drugs and smoking and other stuff. It was a love song to hip-hop which was so cool. He's the best rapper I've ever seen, and that includes professional rappers that I see on TV and featured rappers in songs by singers like Selena Gomez. He always says, "Thank you, sir," and is very polite. And he says happy birthday to his little sister on live television. He's great.

Lakoda Rayne: One of the singers, Hayley, is home schooled! :D They seem so nice. They're lucky to have Paula as a mentor. This was one of their better nights, but I didn't like the rotating images of lips in the background. It was kind of random (Ok, kind of is an understatement). Overall, though, it was really good and was a fun performance. Simon thought it was a mess. I disagree.

I hate it when the contestants hold up their fingers to show what number they are and try to get you to vote for them. It's so stupid.

Drew: She's cute and has a good attitude. L-O-V-E her voice! :D She's phenomenal. I like that Simon has a personal relationship with the girls. It's nice to see his sentimental side once in a while. It would be nice to see her do something a little different, maybe Taylor Swift or something, but even if she doesn't, she's still great.

Marcus Canty: He's a really nice, conservative, church kid. He didn't want to do anything inappropriate. Of course, after telling L.A. he was uncomfortable, L.A. made him do it anyway (after apologizing and telling him he'd do better next time). The stage dancers were crazy. They had skimpy, inappropriate, dresses on, and Marcus was scooting under their legs. He was good, VERY good, but he seemed uncomfortable. It was gross. He ignored them completely. It wasn't cool. Marcus stood up for himself, and L.A. made him do it anyway. Not cool at all.

Prediction: Stacy is going home. She needs to go. She wasn't good and she has an attitude problem.

Comments: L.A. is my least favorite judge. He' s being really mean and snotty.

X Factor

I am hooked.
This is way better than American Idol. The singers are awesome, I love the competition between the judges, I like how the singers get mentors, the host is better than Ryan, although he is starting to get annoying. Paula or one of the other judges tries to make a comment and he cuts them off because they are running out of time.

"I just want you to know that I love you both, but I can only pick one, you both are so great and you have definitely grown over time-" (Paula)
"I need a name, Paula." (Host)

Earlier . . .

"And now you can vote on Twitter! You can vote for your favorite contestant and which judge you agree with tonight! Oh and look at that, over 3,000,235 people have tweeted about X Factor! That's 913 tweets a minutes. And it looks like most people disagree with Simon Cowell. Most people agree with L.A. . . ." (Host)

I hate fluff.

Personally, I think Simon has the best group. Three amazingly talented girls. Here's what I think of each contestant:

Rachel Crow: SO SO SO CUTE! :D Thirteen and she can sing like that?!?! She's so serious when she sings and then she's all smiles at the end of the song! :D Bubbly, happy, polite, all the personality traits a singer should have.

Drew: So unique. Again, fourteen but seems way older when she sings. She is also very cute and happy. Simon seems starstruck by her. (She is one of my mom's favorites).

Melanie Amaro: Very very good, but she doesn't sound very different. I am glad that Simon had the sense to bring her back. I'd much rather have her than Thia or Simone. (Simone is pronounced Si-mon-ee to Simon).

Lakoda Rayne: Off key sometimes, but an all girl group that sings country-pop? They could definitely improve and go places.

Stacey Francis: Great voice, stupid song choices. I agree with Simon though, she sounds very good when she's singing more gospel music.

Leroy Bell: He seems like Nicole's favorite. I still can't believe he's 60. He looks and sounds much, much younger. He's awesome.

Josh Krajcik: He's so cool. Normal guy that used to sling burritos. He's rough around the edges and I like that. (So does my mom). He's unique and has a great voice.

Astro: I don't like rap. It's just not my kind of music. But this kid makes me enjoy it when he sings. He writes and memorizes his own music in a week, then he has to perform it. He's so talented for his age. (Did I mention he's 14)?

Chris Rene: I feel like he's up and down. Some weeks he's good, others he's just off. Not my favorite contestant, but he isn't bad.

Marcus: He's awesome! :D He dances and sings and I think it's cool that his mom gave him two years and this was his last chance, and he made it! :D So cool.

I love this show and look forward to it every week! :D

Randomness . . . AGAIN! :D

-I'm doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) for the THIRD year in a row! :D My word goal is 35,000 words. Last year was 20,000 (but I wrote a 40,000 word sequel) and the year before that was 10,000. Right now I am at 16,262 words! :D
-My BFF just had a birthday on Friday. She turned twelve. If you want to check out what she did and wish her a happy birthday, go to her blog, Tacos, Dolphins, and Friends.
-My first thought when I woke up a couple days ago: It's 9:00 in the morning and I haven't even gotten up yet. Most kids would be in their first or second class by now in public school. Ah, I love homeschooling! :D
-Speaking of homeschooling, I'm sitting here in my pajamas at 9:50 in the morning. I haven't even had breakfast yet! :D But I have spent the past hour and a half writing my NaNoWriMo novel! :D I'll post an excerpt on here later.
-Ok, I lied. I'll put an excerpt on here now! :D My book is called "A Cherry Pie, an Iguana, a Silver Dollar, and a Spitball Fight". Here's the first chapter.


Who knew that a cherry pie, an iguana, a silver dollar, and a spitball fight could change the fate of the world?
My name is Stephanie Finkle, and yes, I am the reason that the world is now doomed. Well, unless my best friend, Ivy, and I do something about it.
Ivy and I were walking home from school (we’re neighbors and the school is only a couple blocks from home).
“Hey,” Ivy said. “Want to come to my house? My mom just baked a cherry pie. We could each have a slice and watch a movie or something.”
“Didn’t you buy Tangled on DVD?” I asked. Tangled was one of my favorite movies, but my mom said we couldn’t afford ‘extras’ right now.
“Yes!” Ivy said excitedly. She bounced up and down slightly, showing her enthusiasm. “We just got it, like, two days ago. It’s still in the plastic, we’d be the first to watch it!”
“Ok,” I said. “My mom doesn’t get home till nine. But I should get back home around five so I could eat dinner.” My mom works as a real estate agent, and she’s been needing to stay later than usual recently.
“You could stay for dinner,” Ivy said, waving a hand. “My mom always makes more than she needs to whenever she cooks, and she loves you. You’re like a second daughter to her.”
She’s like a second mom to me. I thought. But I didn’t say it out loud. I didn’t want to embarrass Ivy.
“Thanks!” I said. “What are your brothers up to?”
“Max and Charlie? Who knows what they’re up to. Max is probably playing some RPG computer game and Charlie is probably playing with his Star Wars doll collection.”
They were really Star Wars action figures, but Ivy loved to make fun of his collection. She was just jealous because he collected something and she didn’t.
We came to the big farmhouse that Ivy lived in. Ivy turned the doorknob and walked in. The Smith’s always leave their door unlocked. I don’t know why.
“I’m home, Mom!” Ivy called. I followed her into the living room.
“Hi, Sweetie!” I heard Mrs. Smith’s voice coming from the kitchen. “I’m making enchilada soup.”
I did a silent cheer inside my head. Enchilada soup was one of my favorite foods.
We walked into the kitchen.
“Awesome!” Ivy said. “That’s Stephanie’s favorite.”
Mrs. Smith was dumping multiple chicken pieces into a pot of boiling hot water. She turned her head at the mention of my name.
“Oh, Stephanie!” She said excitedly. “How are you?”
She came over and gave me a hug. We were very comfortable with each other. Ivy’s family was practically part of my family.
“Good. Thanks.”
“Did Ivy tell you we just got Tangled on DVD?” She asked.
I smiled.
“Yeah, she did. I can’t wait to see it again.”
“I can’t believe you’re not sick of it yet!” Ivy said. “You’ve been to it in the movies about five times.”
That was partly true. I had seen it three maybe four times. But I did keep spending my allowance to see it over and over.
“I made a cherry pie last night,” She said. “Feel free to have a slice.”
“Thanks,” I said.
Ivy was already getting out two plates and two forks.
“You can go ahead to my room,” Ivy said. “You know it’s down the hall, right?” She joked. I had been going to her house since I was in preschool.
I started down the hall. Each kid had their own room right next to each other. Charlie’s room was across from Max’s room and Ivy’s room was next to Charlie’s.
I couldn’t resist peeking into Max’s room. The door was slightly opened. I peered into the crack.
Max was talking into a walkie-talkie. There was a straw lying next to him on the hardwood flooring.
“So, a spitball fight in an hour?” Max said. Charlie’s voice came out a second later.
“Yeah,” Charlie said. “That’ll give us time to train and find paper to use.”
“Roger that.”
Max stood up and walked towards the door. I walked quickly into Ivy’s room and leaned the door shut.
“Hey, Iggy,” I said in a baby voice. Iggy was Ivy’s pet iguana. He was currently in his tank, but I lifted the lid to pet him. Iggy didn’t do much, but Ivy loved him just the same.
The door banged open. I turned around, thinking it was Max trying to make as much noise as possible, but it was Ivy. She had kicked the door open with her foot since she wasn’t able to, with her hands full.
“Pie’s ready!"
I replaced Iggy’s tank lid and Ivy handed me my slice of warm cherry pie with whipped cream. I took a bit and sighed. Ivy’s mom was such a good cook. I wished my mom had that sort of time. Instead, I was stuck eating TV dinners. That’s why I loved dinner at Ivy’s house so much.
Ivy popped in the disc and the movie started. We watched for about an hour, and then we heard nails scratching on wood flooring and the fork on my plate being moved.
I turned around and gave a squeal.
“How-tank-Iggy?”
Iggy was on the ground, eating the remains of my cherry pie. Ivy had noticed too. We were both too stunned to do anything. Iggy had never gotten out of his tank before. He must’ve smelled the pie and wanted to eat it. But how he got out was a mystery.
“How did he get out?” Ivy’s voice was high pitched and nervous. “We need to figure this out. Because if he can get out, that’s not good. He could hurt himself!”
I could imagine someone switching a light bulb on in my brain.
“I was petting Iggy earlier,” I said. “Before you got the pie. Maybe I didn’t put the lid back on right.”
Ivy let out a sigh of relief.
“Thank goodness. That’s probably how he got out.”
“Um, we should probably chase him now,” I suggested as Iggy took off down the hallway.
“Right.”
Ivy jumped up and I followed her. Iggy was already in the kitchen. Man, could that iguana move! Ivy slipped on one of Max’s socks on the kitchen floor (he was such a slob) but got right back up. Iggy was out of sight.
“Iggy,” I called. “Iggy, where are you?”
Max and Charlie ran out of their rooms, each armed with a straw and a handful of small paper balls. They started sucking them and loading them into the straw, shooting them at each other. The spitball fight had begun.
“There’s Iggy!” Ivy said. Iggy had tried to hide under the table in the living room, where Max and Charlie were mercilessly shooting spitballs at each other.
Ivy ran and dived for Iggy, but tripped over a book that Max left out. (Max!) The whole scene slowed down to slow motion right before my very eyes. Ivy fell sideways, toppling into Charlie. Charlie fell backwards into the bookshelf behind him and their mom’s special silver dollar resting on the top shelf rocked back and forth on the edge of the shelf procariously. There was a sharp intake of breath. It stopped rocking and we let out a breath. Then it fell.
The silver dollar fell and hit the ground, at the exact moment Mrs. Smith walked in the room, and broke in two.
Four heads (including mine) swiveled to face Mrs. Smith. Her face was frozen in a look of shock, her mouth hanging open.
“I’m so sorry, Mom!” Ivy said. “It was my fault. I know that silver dollar was special to you.” Ivy’s great-grandmother had given the silver dollar to Mrs. Smith when she was a little girl.
“I’m sure you didn’t do it on purpose, Honey,” Mrs. Smith said. “But it’s not just a special token I got from my grandmother.”
Ivy looked puzzled. I was definitely confused. It was just an ordinary silver dollar.
“What do you mean?” Ivy asked.
Mrs. Smith walked over and sat down on the couch.
“Everyone sit down,” She said. “This is going to take a while.”
I sat down on the chair next to the couch. Ivy sat next to her mom while Charlie and Max sat down on the couch opposite of Mrs. Smith.
“There’s really no other way to explain this,” She said. “So I’ll just come right out with it.” She took a deep breath and said. “I’m a wizard.”
“What?” Ivy, Charlie, Max, and I said at the same time.
“I am a wizard,” She repeated.
“Why didn’t you ever tell us?” Ivy asked.
“Well, kids aren’t normally supposed to know if their parents are wizards, because it’s easier to let the secret slip to someone else when you’re younger. And you can’t let a secret like this slip to anyone outside the family.”
I blushed and shrank back in my seat.
“Oh no!” She said hurriedly. “It’s ok for you to know, I trust you.”
I didn’t say anything but I smiled.
“Anyway,” She said. “That silver dollar was entrusted to me by my grandmother. My grandmother was also a wizard. I got the magic from her. A long time ago, back when my grandmother was a little girl, there was an evil wizard named Wizatar. His plan was to take over the world. But one day, he was defeated by another wizard by the name of Merlin.”
“What?” Charlie exclaimed. “He exists?”
“Existed,” Mrs. Smith corrected him. “He was very old when he defeated Wizatar. 612 to be exact. Wizards can live to be very old since they are magical, but look not a day older than 40. I myself am a 150.”
“No wonder you look so good,” I blurted out. I immediately wished I hadn’t. That was a little embarrassing.
Mrs. Smith smiled.
“You flatter me,” She said honestly. “But we are getting off the subject. Anyway, Merlin defeated Wizatar. Wizatar didn’t die, but his powers were sealed away in this silver dollar. It has been passed down for generations, and I was the most recent one to get it.”
“So, you’re related to Merlin?” Max asked.
“Yes,” She said.
“Sweet!” Charlie pumped his fist in the air. “I’m related to Merlin!”
“Does this mean we’re wizards?” Ivy asked excitedly.
“I don’t know for sure,” Mrs. Smith said. “But it is always possible for the children of a wizard to have magical powers, too.”
“I still don’t understand everything,” I said. “Why is it such a big deal that the silver dollar broke?”
“Well, since Wizatar’s powers were being stored in there, and it broke, the powers have been returned back to him.”
Ivy gasped.
“So that means-?”
Mrs. Smith nodded.
“Wizatar is going to try to take over the world again.”
“Is there any way we can stop it?” I asked hopefully.
“There is one way,” She said. “The only way it can be fixed is to get the magic glue. But that is nearly impossible. Even though Merlin put a spell on it so Wizatar wouldn’t be able to destroy it, it’s going to be very hard for anyone to get it.”
“Where is it?” Max asked.
“On the top of the empire state building.”
“In New York?” Max asked with a strained look on his face as though he was thinking hard.
“No, Max,” Ivy said. “It’s in Minnesota. Of course it’s in New York!”
“Why is it going to be so hard to get?” I wondered.
“Because Wizatar has hundreds of wizard servants working for him. They will know immediately that some wizard is going to try and get it.”
“Couldn’t we get it?” I asked. “Ivy and I could try and get it. If Ivy is possibly a wizard, it would be really easy. She’d have magical powers and everything!”
Mrs. Smith laughed.
“You underestimate our abilities,” She said. “Learning spells and using magic takes years of training and practice. Ivy has had no experience whatsoever in magic. Even if she was a wizard, she wouldn’t know how to cast any spells.”
I hung my head in disappointment.
“But,” Mrs. Smith second-guessed herself. “Wizatar would never guess that two thirteen-year-old girls would go and try to get the magic glue. And I have to alert the wizard world anyway. I could have different wizards meet you along the way.”
She looked back and forth between Ivy and me.
“Ok,” She said. “You two can go and get the glue.”
“Yes!” I cheered.
“What about us?” Charlie demanded, standing up. Max copied him and stood up, his arms crossed.
“Yeah. What about us?”
“You’re too young,” Mrs. Smith said. “Even if you are possibly wizards.”
“How am I going to figure out if I’m a wizard or not?” Ivy asked.
“At some point in your life if you are a wizard, magic will show itself,” Mrs. Smith said.
“You said you would get different wizards to meet us along the way,” I said to Mrs. Smith.
“Yes?”
“How are you going to do that, how are the wizards going to know what we look like, and how will we know if different people we see are wizards or not?”
“Very good questions,” She said. “There’s a website online that only wizards can access by typing in a password in on the computer. I’ll put a post there explaining the situation and I’ll put pictures of both of you on there so wizards will know what you look like. Then, if a wizard sees you, they’ll do the special wizard sign for ‘Hello’ and ‘Goodbye’.”
“What’s the wizard sign?” Ivy asked.
Mrs. Smith held up three fingers.
“That’s it?” Max said. “I was expecting something more exciting.”
“Well if it were very exciting, it would be very obvious, and wizards need to be subtle so the secret doesn’t spread. That could be a disaster. You can’t have too many non-magical folk meddling in magic. Anyway, if a wizard sees you, they’ll do the wizard sign. Then they can give you some advice, or help you along your journey.”
“How are we going to get to New York?” I asked.
“I’ll give you two my credit card. You can use it to get cab rides, hotel rooms, and food. Nothing more,” She said with finality in her voice, eyeing Ivy’s malicious grin.
The microwave timer beeped.
“Oh!” Mrs. Smith jumped up from the couch. “The soup is ready. Ivy, go get your father. He’s taking a nap in our room.”


··········

After eating dinner with the Smith’s, Ivy and I talked in her room and made matching necklaces. We finished our movie, and before we knew it, it was time for me to go home.
“Thanks for dinner, Mrs. Smith,” I said as I walked out the door, lifting my backpack higher.
“My pleasure,” She assured us. “By the way, let your mom know that you’re going to go on vacation with us in New York for about a week.”
She winked at me. I winked back.
“See you tomorrow, Ivy,” I called.
I waved an Ivy waved back. I walked five steps down the sidewalk and up the front walk of my house. My mom wasn’t home yet, so I used my spare key.
Exhausted, I trudged down the hall into my room, flopped down onto my bed fully clothed, and fell asleep.

-I'm taking a six week horse class! :D I know how to ride a horse all by myself. I can steer it, walk it, trot it, stop it, groom it, and tack it! :D Kirsten (my BFF) is my horse partner. We both ride a brown and white horse called Rain. She's a trouble maker, but she's SUPER sweet! :D Next week is the last week. :( But we get to go on a trail ride! :D
-I'm trying to turn my NaNoWriMo book from last year, "Fantasya: A Giant Problem", into a play. SUPER tricky! I'm used to dialogue and detail, not shortening a book. Plus, I have a LOT of characters.
-I dressed up as Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter for Halloween. Hermione's my favorite character, but I already dressed up as her. I had spectra specs, a wig, radish earrings, robes, a wand, a tote bag, a Quibbler magazine (I made it! :D ), a butterbeer cork necklace, and I even had new sneakers that looked sort of like the Converse they wear in the movies! :D
-Our home school group has an art class we take every two weeks. A month ago I painted a scene with trees in it that can go in and out of a plastic mug. Yesterday, I painted a leaf on a coaster to go with it! :D
-I've been working on drawing Anime. None of them have turned out half as well as the ones my friend, Emily, has drawn.
-Oh yeah, my brother Maxim has been trying too. :)
-We have 20 Things Club tonight. It's research club my mom set up for our home school group. We pick a topic (sometimes it's a certain topic, like an animal or an author), then we look up 20 facts about that topic. Sometimes we share five or ten facts with the group, sometimes all of the facts! :D The topic for this month is a place we'd like to visit. (My friend Jake was going to do 20 things about a street we drive on to get to the park, but he's not sure if he'll be able to pull it off). I have to do a report on Italy for a Cultural Studies project I'm doing with my BFF, Kirsten, and her sister, Avery, so I'm doing 20 things on Italy! :D I do want to go there. All that yummy food . . . *drools*. I'm also making Pesto Pasta for the food to share and Kirsten and Avery are making Ziti.

Tacos, Dolphins, and Friends and Greenhorse101

Hi Everyone!
Two of my friends recently got blogs! Here are the links:
Tacos, Dolphins, and Friends (This is my best friend's blog). :D
Greenhorse101 (This is my best friend's sister's blog).
Have fun! :D

Funny Videos

My brother and I have been making funny videos on my camera. Using a tripod, we've acted out action adventures, a talk show, and two "Space Wars"! :D They're hilarious. Here they are!

This first one isn't perfect, but it's still pretty funny! It's called "The Swamp King". (Our heads get cut off in the video).




This is our second attempt at "The Swamp King". It's a lot better.





And finally, our last attempt at "The Swamp King". This one is the best in my opinion!






"Kate's Talk Show" starring Steve McCool, the main actor in the new adventure movie "Action Overload".






"Space Wars: An Old Hope". (A spoof on Star Wars).






"Space Wars: Dart Trooper vs. Luke Piewalker".