REGIONAL Champs!

HELLO AGIAN!  HOW ARE YOU?

I'M SWELL.

WHY AM I WRITNG TO YOU IN ALL CAPS FOR THE MOMENT BEING?  IT'S BECAUSE I'M EXCITED.  YOU'LL FIND OUT WHY I'M SO EXCITED LATER.  BUT'S HERE ARE SOME CHOICES FOR YOU TO PONDER WHILE YOU READ.

a) Our team won the regional championship last night.
b) We almost saw manatees.
c) Letters for me!
d) Room updates.

Oh and happy birthday to Alex. :D

 It's weird to think he's thirteen.  What the poop.


First, as both the title and Option A might suggest,  our team DID win the regional championship against the West Boca Bulls last night.  It was without a doubt the most intense soccer match I've ever played.

Okay, well, I didn't play.  But I was on the team, and the team played, so...

We scored first within maybe ten minutes.  Then they scored.  Then we scored again.  Halftime.  With ten minutes left, they tied the score, and with six minutes left, we scored again.  Oh my goodness it was crazy.  There were more fans there than there had ever been before and it was crazy.

\

We play the winner of one of the other three regional championships on Tuesday in Melbourne in the State Semifinals.

Second, yes, we did almost see manatees.  We had a little adventure one day and went out to the Indian River to see if there were any because we heard there were the previous day.

The Indian River

There was nothing there, so we decided to go exploring on another little island that we had been to but had never really looked around.  The whole island was cleaned up by a group of Eagle Scouts as a project.  Pretty cool, huh?

A viewing area we found

The path we came from

Neatly textured leaf-stalk things

Okay, third.  All of the answers, by the way, were correct, in case you couldn't tell :)

Letters!  I got one from Jess, which was super sweet of her, thank you Jess, but the wasn't mainly the "letters" I was talking about.  On the pSAT, I had to answer a series of questions, which, along with what my religion was, asked what I was interested in studying, major-wise.  

So I'm pretty sure I put Animation/Game Production, which is apparently a major, and since then I've gotten three letters from colleges that have been like, "Hey man.  You're pretty cool and we hear you like computers and stuff.  You should go to your own personalized website we have here on this card for you and keep in touch with us."

And I was like, "Dang.  I'm popular."  Not really, but it's so cool to see what colleges take an interest in you.  

I got a letter from Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont, the University of Miami, in – you guessed it – Miami, and an email from Bryn Mawr College in Philadelphia.  Needless to say, the mail has just become ten times more exciting.

And finally, while there's not much to say on my room, my mom painted a cool beige and light-turquoise blue chevron pattern on the wall my headboard is on.  It looks so cool!

Book Update

I finished Requiem, an and I thought it was pretty good :)  I liked that the ending was open, and if the rumors are true and there is going to be a TV series about it then that's a good thing.  I'm currently reading Catch-22 and it's a really hard read.  The main character is 'dangerously sane' to quote the book, which of course means that it would seem he's terribly insane.  While the book is hilarious (including a scenes of prank phone calls involving T.S. Elliot, and a trial where both the prosecutor and defense is the same man), it's quite a hard read, as Yossarian, the main character, bounces around a lot between moments of time in his life, which can make it kind of hard to follow.  I'm on page 85 out of 443. 

Alex's Swag-Tastic Photo

So he got a Minecraft Creeper plush for his birthday...

The New House Resolution

I've been really terrible about posting this month.  Two posts, I think, is all that's on here for the month of September.  That's embarrassing.  I'm ashamed :(.  Trust me, probably only one or two days have gone by where I haven't thought about posting, but I've been so busy trying to sort everything out that when I looked at my blog tonight I realized my last post was like two weeks ago.  Ugh.

But I'm going to try really hard to change that.  I PROMISE.  If any of you happen to check my blog every day, kudos to you.  I feel like I want to cater to you to make sure that you aren't totally disappointed when you check my blog and find that on Day 13 there STILL hasn't been anything.  I'm super-dee-duper excited at the moment because we are getting our brand-spanking-new house on Monday and I'm thinking that my New House Resolution is to try and blog more often.  I'm thinking maybe every other night?  That might vary because soccer season and tryouts are right around the corner, but I'm really going to try.  And if I blog more often, I won't have as much to post, making it shorter for you and less time-consuming for me.  It's a win-win!

Okay, more on my day(s).

First things first, before I forget (because I know I will) happy birthday to BETH and my Grammie.  Woo!

There is no way on Earth I could possibly remember, nor convey to you in a post what's gone on since I last posted to you, but all has been well.  I've made some — no, lots — of friends, and it's a good thing to say that the list has grown from last time.  I'll even include it for you so you can be proud of me :)

Kedia
Kyndal
Molly
Ashley
Ben
Sarah
Ryan
Nicole and her friends (there are many many of them and I'm friendly with most, but I don't know if I would consider them my friends, if you get what I'm saying)
Calley
Kirsten
Chloe

Among others that I'm probably forgetting.  But oh well, you get the drift.

Soccer pre-season fitness has started back up again, and it's really nice to be able to get back with my team.  I love all of my teammates; they're awesome and funny and it's great.  Ashley's dad showed up and took some photos of us while we were doing drills, so . . .

Lined up for drills

The only picture of me running where my mouth wasn't open and looking stupid :)
That's Ashley doing drills behind me, by the way.

Guess whose cleats those are?

This is Molly

And this is Calley.  We're not really close, but we're teammates, right?

That's soccer, pretty much.  It's fun.  And I never thought I'd say that about fitness, but yes, it's fun.

And for those of you who I told, maybe it was just Molly, my friend Kyndal won Student Body President, Molly won VP, and Ben won Parliamentarian.  I picked good friends :)

On a different note, schoolwork has lightened up for me a little.  I'm still maintaining all As and got a 93% on my AP Human Geography test, which was one of the highest scores out of all Mr. Almanza's classes :)  No one got 100%, so that makes me really happy!

I got an Instagram, by the way, so if you have one, follow me!  I'll totally follow you back :)  I'm @smewcat on Instagram, and I try to post like a picture a day, so it's pretty cool!  Here are some of my favs of my pictures :)

My new nightstand for my new room!

It's a blast on there!  I never thought that there was any point to Instagram, but I actually really enjoy it!

Finally, I went on to some of your (by 'your' I mean PC Freshmen) blogs and checked them out.  They are awesome!  Some of you haven't posted yet, but I love Julia's and Jared's!  If you don't have their links, be sure to check them out under My Favorite Blogs.  I know you had to do an assignment where you picked some of your favorite blogs and explained why you like them, and I feel super honored to be on Jared's page :)  Thanks dude! 

If any of you don't have any ideas or are short a blog, or just like mine enough to use it, feel free to :)  Jared was nice enough to ask my permission because I give out people's names and my location, but if you guys want to ever use my blog, go ahead!  I would be honored :)

Book Update

I finished Inkdeath and am totally rating it a five out of five stars.  I am not joking when I say it had the best, wrapped-up, neat, amazing ending that I have ever read.  It gave you enough information that you weren't wondering what happened afterward, but not enough to make it feel like the story just . . . ended.  There were still things for you to think about and come up with endings for, but I liked the way that she ended it.  I can't even describe it.  Just wow.  The whole book was action packed and full of detail, and just ooooohhh I loved it.  I would TOTES recommend this series, starting with Inkheart, then Inkspell, and finally Inkdeath. 

 If you are considering buying this book, here are my typical links:

Amazon for Inkdeath

Goodreads

Amazon for the whole set

Amazon for Inkheart, the first book

Alex's Swag-Tastic Picture

The bro's very first Instagram photo.  Yes, he has one, too.
He's @aceweyand if you want to follow him :)

Holy School-ness

I know that I'm not really great about posting frequently, but seriously, this is an all-time low for me.  Please forgive my late posts while I'm trying to get adjusted to school :P  It's ruling my life right now.  So I'll tell you all about it and then hopefully I'll be able to post more often.  If not during weekdays, then hopefully weekends or something.

And Jessie! Your birthday's pretty darn soon, huh?  If you're reading this, I hope that you're really proud of me for remembering that your birthday is NOW and not on the 21st, because that's AVERY'S birthday.  Haha!  So because I don't know when I'll next be posting, happy birthday!  Will you be getting your permit soon?  Maybe!  That's a scary thought, huh?

So much has happened since school started that I really can't even begin to tell you all of it.  I could probably write a novel.  So I'll go through my classes and what we're doing in there and how I like it and teachers and then we'll get to friends and out-of-school-stuff.

Period One ~ Spanish 3 ~ Ms. Pineda ~ On the scale of least favorite to favorite (1 being favorite - 7 being least favorite)  I'd rate this class at 4.  This class is at the big fancy high school and I have to leave five minutes early in order to catch the shuttle bus back to the FLC, which is usually late, but that's beside the point.  I didn't initially have this class first, but Spanish 2 was so easy for me and the class was so terrible I just had to get a schedule change.  This class is right where I need to be, but there's nothing special going on.  For those of you who take Spanish and know what I'm talking about, we're learning about the difference between saber and conocer.  Fascinating, I know :)

Period Two ~ AP Human Geography ~ Mr. Almanza ~ On the scale of least favorite to favorite (1-7)  I'd rate this class at 6.  Mr. Almanza is a great teacher – I like him a lot.  The subject itself is not that bad.  But the workload that goes with it is borderline impossible to complete.  This weekend, three days, may I remind you, because of Labor Day (which indeed explains was I was doing on Labor Day), I had to do an eight-page chapter outline (eighty questions total), and eighty flashcards.

Here is a pencil for thickness comparison.

So that's that.  I have no idea how I'll be able to keep up once soccer season starts. . . are any of my AP buddies in PC experiencing the laborious homework I have to do?  Or if you don't take AP, are you hearing complaints?  Let me know!

Period Three ~ AP+ Biology ~ Ms. Hulse ~ On the scale of least favorite to favorite (1-7)  I'd rate this class at 2.  This is only because of Ms. Hulse herself.  Right now, we're reviewing the scientific method, which is really really boring.  Ms. Hulse reminds me a lot of Ms. Proffit in her mannerisms and personality.  To give you an idea of what that's like, she bounces on the balls of her feet whenever she talks at the front of the classroom.  With the projector screen down in the background and electronic lights behind her bouncing, it makes me dizzy and will probably make some kid have a seizure this year.  Just my guesses.

Period Four ~ AP+ English ~ Ms. Legakes ~ On the scale of least favorite to favorite (1-7)  I'd rate this class at 5.  I love English.  It comes to me naturally, but Ms. Legakes is just a really generic teacher.  There's really nothing special about her class that makes it be like, "I can't wait for English today!" which is a bummer because I love it so much.

Period Five ~ Intro to Information Technology ~ Mr. Hines ~ On the scale of least favorite to favorite (1-7)  I'd rate this class at 7.  Right now all we're doing is 'learning' how to use Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.  While I grew up using Macs, and this is technically new for me, they're pretty much the same thing.  Word and Pages, Excel and Numbers, and PowerPoint and Keynote have exactly the same features, just in a different layout.  I'm not learning anything.  This is one of those general electives for the general student body, where it's pretty much impossible to fail the class.  Enough said.  And Mr. Hines is really boring.  Next semester, we have a different teacher and are learning how to use Adobe Dreamweaver and learn HTML coding (I know some already) for website building, so that should be fun.  It's actually kind of nice to have a class where I don't have to worry about homework or assignments or anything.

Period Six ~ Algebra 2 ~ Ms. Walker ~ On the scale of least favorite to favorite (1-7)  I'd rate this class at 3.   I like this class because it's faster paced.  In the past, if someone didn't understand something, we all had to go back in review, but in a 45 minute class period

If you need help, you can ask Ms. Walker while everyone else gets started on their homework.  It's so nice.  I feel like I'm getting a lot of attention if I don't understand something, and no one else is holding me back from doing my homework early.

Period Seven ~ H.O.P.E ~ Mr. Tomas ~ On the scale of least favorite to favorite (1 - 7 )  I'd rate this class at 1.  This class is seriously the best, but only because of Mr. Tomas.  I would hate it if I had anybody else, but the guy is so dang funny.  He made me laugh today, and I was feeling REALLY crappy today.  That's an accomplishment.  Kids have the strangest nicknames in there; and they don't decide what their nickname is; Mr. Tomas does.  There's one kid named Snowflake and another goes by Utah.  Yes.  Utah.  Because I don't really feel like re-writing the whole conversation, here's a photo of my FaceBook update telling you exactly what happened.

Alex and my mom agree that that might be the best pick-up line of all time.  Don't ask me if he's cute.  I don't know.  Being the nerd that I am right now, I'm more focused on my APHG flashcards then cute boys for the moment being ;)

Okay, enough about school.  Time for a list of friends :)  this way you can see how creepy it is that so many of my friends here share a name with one of my PC friends.

We have:

Ashley

Molly

Kirsten

Nicole

Ryan (she's from CHINA!  Isn't that cool?  She's not Chinese, but she lived there for two years)

Laurel

Kedia

There you go!  It was cool getting to know all the girls and I'm friendly with many more that I hope to become friends with :)

It's also really cool here because I feel like I'm in high school now.  Before, it seemed at Treasure that ninth graders weren't really part of the high school.  It's totally different here – maybe because our school is just for the freshmen, but it's a totally different vibe.  Our whole school went to a pep rally on Friday for our big football game against out district rival, the Sebastian Sharks (it was a blowout by the way, like 42-7 and it wasn't a very good game.  My dad and I had to stand the whole time because it was sold out).  Ryan and I sat in a great seat and she got some cool video of the cheerleaders and dancers and stuff.  There was a guy who got a pie thrown in his face and we did the wave, and then a slow-motion wave.  AND we missed all of second period.  

Another plus is that I feel like here I spend way more time outside then I did back in Park City.  If I get done with homework early, my family goes swimming.  Yesterday, we went down to the beach and tried boogie boarding.  It's official now that unless you are immensely scared of the ocean or can't swim, you are coming boogie boarding with me when you come to visit.  It's a blast. 

It's funny how different cultures are between here and Park City.  It's hard to explain.  I can't.  You just kind of have to be here for a while, maybe go to school here, but it's very different.  Or maybe it's just me :)

Book Update

My bus drops me off about 20 minutes before the bell rings at the high school, and because I'm a loner and don't know any people, I just read.  Therefore, I've finished Inkspell and give it a 4 out of 5 stars.   It was great.  I dont' know why it's only four stars, but it doesn't feel like a five star book to me.  Don't ask me why :)

If you're interested in buying Inkspell (remember, it's the SECOND one in the series):

Amazon (it's only $7.50 for a paperback right now!)
Goodreads

I'm reading the third book now, Inkdeath, and am on page 99 of 663.  I love it so far.  I just got to a major plot twist and YAY it's really good :)

Alex's Swag-Tastic Picture

Did we get the picture of Alex with Pooh, Piglet, and Tigger?  I don't know.
Here it is anyway.

My Last Day of Freedom

Today is the last day before school starts . . . depressing, right?  I have to wake up at around 5 tomorrow while all of you get to sleep in.  Yuck.  My bus comes at 6:02.  Double YUCK.

I am done with my APHG essay and my English books and journal and cover.  I still need to finish up my AP Bio booklet but that's due on the 30th so I guess I still have time.  I'm about 75% done with my Math course, so I guess that's on its way, too.

Needless to say, I'm going to miss summer.  Big time :(

OMG I just remembered!  Happy Birthday to Pauline and my Grandma Kati if you're reading this!  I haven't done the party thing in forever *<: )  If I missed your birthday, I am super-de-duper sorry!  Comment below and tell me when it is and I'll be SURE to get you next time!

And congrats to Jess and Avery and Claire and Bailey for making JV soccer and to everyone else for making Freshman team :)  woohoo!  And I also saw off a FB post that Julia, you made Sophmore Volleyball or something like that?  Please approve this :)  but if you did, WOOHOO!  Congrats to you and everyone else that made a HS team!

I just thought that I'd give you some info about my school so you all know kind of what it's going to be like for me. . . I know you're all so interested ;)

My school, called the Freshman Learning Center, or FLC (pronounced the Flick) is shaped like a donut.  There are four wings along with a cafeteria on the right hand side of the school.  You get to the gym by going to the end of one of the wings and following a covered outside path to a separate location.  The FLC is kind of cool, but I have no idea how it will be able to fit 750 kids.  It's a school just for ninth graders.  Even though it seems like 700ish is kind of standard for a graduating class, it's twice as big as my class back in Park City.  That's sooooo many names *shudder*.

I have seven periods in one day.  They don't rotate, alternate, or change in any way from one day to the next.  Each class is approximately 45 minutes.  Don't ask me how you're supposed to get anything done in 45 minutes, but there must be a way.  My schedule is as follows:

Period 1 - Intro to Info Technology*
Period 2 - AP Human Geography
Period 3 - AP Biology I
Period 4 - AP English
Period 5 - Spanish I**
Lunch at 11:30
Period 6 - Algebra II Honors
Period 7 - H.O.P.E PE Varient***

There are some things that you might not know in my schedule.  Allow me to explain.

*Intro to Info Technology was not on my list of requested electives.  From talking to the assistant principle, I've learned that for the first part of the year we're learning how to work with stuff on Microsoft (which will be part review for me, but I'm an Apple expert, not Microsoft) and for the second part of the year we'll be learning about an application for Mac called Dreamweaver.  Apparently it's an app that allows you to make websites and stuff, which lucky for me is right up my alley.  It should be interesting, but I hear from my friends that it's a really easy class and I'm lucky to have it first period so I can do any sort of homework I forgot.  Nice.

**I'm supposed to be in Spanish III, not Spanish I, but the people at the FLC can't really prove that I've completed two full years of Spanish, and they have to put me in beginning Spanish.  I've requested a schedule change to be in Spanish III, but because the kids here start Spanish I in eighth grade, they don't offer Spanish III in ninth grade because the students aren't there yet.  This means that if I wanted to take Spanish III, I'd have to take it online.  So they'd essentially give me a 'free period' where I go to the library or the office or something and do my online school.  This could be a plus if I finish my lesson early or my class early in the year, but nothing's been decided yet. . .

*** H.O.P.E is some crap that stands for something like PE.  According to friends like Chloe, it's really boring and kind of a waste of time, but it's required, so. . . it's like a mix of PE and Health.  At least I have it as the last period of the day!

I got a locker assignment.  It's a top locker in a wing close to the front of the school, but it's only about the size of a TMJH PE locker for those of you who know the size of those.  Tiny.  Like, there's no way I can fit my backpack in there.  Lucky for me, there are no restrictions to whether or not you can take your backpack to classes, so it looks like I won't even be using my locker.  Yay!

That's about it.

Oh wait!  If any of you read my previous post, you would know that Alex and I were trying to get in for a Minecraft Get-Together with one of the Youtubers I subscribe to, Greenskull.  We got in!  Yay!  Even though we only played with him for like 15 minutes, we had a blast and it was super fun!  If you're interested in watching the highlights, here's the link.  We aren't really in it, but if you listen for the time 2:58, you can hear Alex say that he ate Rotten Flesh LOL.  However, if you're interested in watching the whole livestream, or the part of it where Alex and I are in it and you can hear us talking, then here's the link for that.  From the time 19:00 to around 36:00 is when Alex and I are in the livestream.  It was a lot of fun :)

On a different train of thought, I'm trying to figure out what the next poll should be. . . if you have an idea, post it in the comments!  I'd make a poll for it, but then that would be the next poll, and it would be like a poll inside a poll inside a poll . . . POLL-CEPTION!

Book Update

Since I still have a ton of homework to do, reading hasn't really been a big thought of mine.  I'm going to try and get back into Inkspell, but that'll mainly happen on the bus ride.  Maybe.

Alex's Swag-Tastic Picture

Alex got into a guitar class that teaches acoustic guitar.
The first thing on the supply list?  An acoustic guitar, of course! :)

The One Hundred Pound Bag and the Traveling Circus Part Two!

I will be able to blog to you much, much more now that I'm situated in my house!  I just finished unpacking and the first thing I wanted to do was blog to you all so that's what I'm doin'.  Time to recap the past couple of days.

The One Hundred Pound Bag and the Traveling Circus

Part 2!

I think we left off on day what? Thirteen?  We'll start on Day Thirteen . . .

Day Thirteen - Charlotte, NC to Atlanta, GA

Time in car - 'bout 4 hrs

Last we left off, I was in the car going to the aquarium, I do believe.  Here are some pictures I got from the Georgia Aquarium.  It was pretty spectacular.  The pictures aren't very clear because I had to take them through glass, but I hope they turn out all right.

Garden eels.  They would bob up and down in the sand.

Manta ray! 

There were actually four whale sharks!

Here are three of them.

Doesn't that starfish look like a mustache?

Hermit crab face-off! 

Two otters wrestling with another otter :)

Poison dart frog

Phew that was a lot of photos :)  We also went to a dolphin show, but it was so kooky and hokey I don't even want to talk about it :P haha.

Next, we went to dinner by walking to the Ted's Montana Grill we ate at.

Isn't that the strangest building?  I can't imagine trying to put furniture in it!

Then we went to my great-uncle's house to stay.  I went down into their basement and whatdaya know. . . 

THIS was in his basement!

Isn't that cool?

Day Fourteen - Atlanta, GA

It was my mom's birthday *<:) break out the party hats!  However, I had a minor earring problem.

And by minor, I mean that my ears were so swollen and infected we took out the earrings and I was done with it.  We were going to let them heal and close up and they hurt so bad.  I was CRUSHED.  I tried so hard to make it work but I just had a really hard time (well not me but my ears).  So, uh, out they came and I was in a crappy mood for the morning.  Cake for breakfast made that a little better, but I was still really sad.

Then my Aunt Diane came over with her daughter Sydney and we got pedicures.  They're so nice :)  I really had a great time.  And as all of my friends know, I am not a pink girl.  I own absolutely no pink clothes at all.  And what color do you think I got my nails?

Bright neon pink, folks.

It was a lot of fun.  And then we went over to the mall, got some ice cream, and went shoe shopping.  And I picked out the flip flops that you see in the above picture.  I am going to go on a shopping spree with my mom once we get settled here, but we really couldn't stand to pack any more into the car besides a pair of shoes. :)

It was a good girl time day.

Day Fifteen - Atlanta, GA to Jacksonville, FL

Time in car - 6 hrs.

We were on our way to Florida when my mom asked me if I didn't want to give earrings another try.  I had slept with them out and gone longer than I had ever gone before with my earrings out.  My pathetic ears looked 100x better than the previous day.  I said sure and we pulled into a Tanger Outlet.  Long story short, the lady at Claire's told us that the reason that my ears were having so many issues was because the backs of my earrings were on too tight, and if I got long posted earrings that I should be okay :)  So we bought a pair, put them in (I was shocked that with as sensitive as my ears are that putting in earrings after 24 hours of not wearing them didn't hurt in the least).  And then I was in a better mood.

Alex and I were slightly nutty on the way to Jacksonville.  That was the most exciting part of the day (just kidding).  We played a ton of card games as we neared the Florida border when suddenly there was the Florida sign!

Welcome to the Sunshine state indeed!  

Except it was raining.

After entering Florida, Molly and I texted for a while, and I believe Molly's full name (the really long one we have for her) came up in conversation between me and Alex.  Since I didn't know the whole name Molly has, Alex just caught on to one part of it. . .

                                         

Mmm hmm.

Then we got to the hotel and it was super duper nice there.  There was a window seat that I sat at for a while.  And I decided to take a picture of myself because I had these really cool beach wave curls that I got from all the humidity and letting my hair air-dry after I showered it.

The window looked right out to the beach

The view from the window seat

Then we went over to the neighborhood we used to live in and had dinner with a couple of our old friends.  It was super nice and I got a lot of cake.  The cheeseburgers were yummy, too.

Day Sixteen - Jacksonville, FL to Vero Beach, FL

Time in car - 3.5 hrs

The car ride today was really short, which was nice.  I chatted with Molly again (it's super great to have someone to talk to besides the people in the car).  We stopped at a McDonalds, and, because I wasn't very hungry, I grabbed a Happy Meal (something I haven't done in forever).  As you know, all Happy Meals come with a toy, and I got a Despicable Me Two minion.  He had a little gun that you could blow into and make music and Alex mastered that thing.

He even played Mary Had a Little Lamb for us.

And then we got to our rental, but I won't spoil it here!  Time for a new blog post I guess :)