The 500, The 500, the greatest race in the world!!!

Hey everyone!
So I am incredibly excited for this weekend! It's the 101st Indianapolis 500!!! Right now I'm looking at the weather for Indianapolis this weekend. Sunday which is race day is high of 92 and partly cloudy. At 10 degrees for the track and wa la! You have some perfect Indy 500 weather! Okay Okay maybe that's a little hot. I remember the first year I went to the 500 it was about the same weather and a bunch of people passed out in the middle of the streets. Paramedics were there of course, but I was fine! I'm kind of glad that we don't have anything like rain or something. I think it was the 2nd year I went that it rained and there was a 2 hour delay!! Talk about madness! You see, the indy cars can't be on wet ground because they'll hydroplane...badly. I hope this is a good year. Last year Daniel Wheldon won because the rookie that was in the lead sped up at a turn. You don't speed up during turns not even in street driving!! Psh....rookie. Well he learned his lesson. I'm really happy that Wheldon won. The year before we named our puppy after him and the year after the real Dan Wheldon died. There is definitely going to be some ceremony for him. I don't know what it's going to be, maybe a float at the saturday parade or something. All I know is that there HAS to be something for him. He won the 100th Indianapolis 500!

Sincerely,
Tinkerbell

The real Dan Wheldon

MY  Dan Wheldon, any resemblance? 

Wow..continued

Hey everyone!
So the REAL reason I'm far behind and bad on my grades is because earlier this month I was in the hospital. The room was seriously spinning one morning and I couldn't walk in a straight line. I felt like a drunk! So my mom put me in the hospital for who knows why. I don't know why I was even there! I could have probably been fine after a little more sleep! So I was gone, friday, monday, and tuesday. Which SERIOUSLY ruined me. I got so far behind! I thought I had caught up but I guess I didn't! Then everything just started going downhill for me! Which means that I am going to have to take these final exams very very very very seriously. Not to mention there's a biology ECA tomorrow and Algebra ECA tuesday! The biology one is not what I'm really worried about though because you don't have to pass it to graduate, but the Algebra one you do and so I'm really really really scared! I've surprised myself a lot this year with Algebra though. I've even gotten a 99% before on a test! But there are days (especially around 2 o'clock which is when I have Algebra) where I just.....blank out! Sometimes I don't even remember how to factor or do the quadratic formula! I suppose I can go to tutoring 2nd hour before it. Just to get some extra practice in, but I'm still worried. There's only one class final in all of this that I am not worried about at all. And that's geography. I have a 97% in that class! I could completely fail that final and be fine! All the other classes, however. Scare me too. Currently I have a B+ in English Honors. But the only reason that I have that is because I'm a good writer! That's the only way I've gotten by this year! The rest of it, especially all the grammar, I have no idea! The Journalism final is going to be fine though because it's not a written test. It's a huge project that we're doing. I've decided to do it on this thing my friends have been doing. They have been recreating the Hunger Games. Kinda dorky I know but hey, it's certainly an original final.
Sincerely,
Tinkerbell

Wow...

Hey everyone!
So tomorrow is going to be the last monday of the school year... I can't believe it! This year has gone by way too fast. It feels like just yesterday I was obsessed with writing these blogs. Now....not so much. You see, a lot has been going on lately so I haven't exactly had time to write 3 blogs every 2 weeks. Which I know is very bad of me considering Journalism should be the easy class, but well.... let's just say new things have appeared and they anger me a little bit. Well, back to the main idea of the story. The whole reason I wanted to do this blog is to talk about this school year, considering it was my freshman year and I guess it's best to reflect for future reference.  Freshman year hasn't exactly been good to me. A lot has changed since the beginning of the year. What use to be my favorite classes have quickly become my least favorite, and my least favorite have quickly become my favorite. It's confusing I know but I'll try to explain. For starters at the beginning of the year all I looked forward to in the week was French Class. Mainly because my French teacher mademoiselle thomas was very funny and we had a lot of fun in the class, Until this one girl in my class (i'm not going to even try to spell her name because she was Indian) left to go live in New York. She was my friend! We were always in groups of two and it was always me and her! When she left these two guys that we use to hang out with sorta drifted away from being friends with me. They started to hang out with the new girl of the new semester. So currently I'm all alone in groups, thus making it my least favorite class of the year right now. and because of that I haven't exactly kept up with things. Well, that's not the real reason.
Sincerely,
Tinkerbell

This is me, don't change it

Hey everyone!
So I'd just like to have a little continuation of that last blog post. You see, because of these people I had my eyes opened a little bit. I saw that these people didn't like me for me. Which I honestly didn't understand why because I didn't treat any of them badly.
So maybe I am quieter than most. When I try to speak my voice doesn't carry anyway! But you know what? I'm going to explain to all of those reading this who I really am.
I am a writer.
I have written stories since the 3rd grade. What made me start was this trip to Florida where I came up with the idea of "Red Moon in Wyoming." No, none of you have heard of it because it is still in revision. But my dream is to someday fix it up and get it published somewhere, anywhere. "Red Moon in Wyoming" is about this girl whose father is drafted into the army and she doesn't want him to go. So in the middle of the night she sneaks out and follows his troop, ending in a lot of trauma for both of them. I have been writing short stories and essays and even novels for quite some time. But I haven't exactly gotten it yet. That trick that all writers use to make their work gold. But someday I'll find it.
I am an artist.
Not the kind with a guitar and sheet music, no...I draw. I have drawn, painted, crafted, designed since before I can remember. Obviously I wasn't the greatest in my opinion in the beginning of my life because everyone scribbles when they're little. But I have definitely improved greatly. Just look at some of my drawings on this blog! I've done nothing really new lately but I'm going to find something great to draw. And then, like my writing dream, I'll get it "published" more likely just put in some competition but I'd like to win an award someday for my drawing.
I am a girl with far too many dreams.
I want to go to the University of Miami to study Marine biology. I want to become a Marine Biologist with writing and drawing on the side. I dream of going overseas to Europe where I will learn a new language and be fluent in it. I dream of being known at Lake Central, not just one little speck in the crowd. I want people to cheer when they call my name at graduation and I don't want it to be just my family. I dream of finding a descent guy, just one descent guy, to like me for me. Not because I'm smart, because I'm beautiful the way I am. I don't want to have to change for anybody in this world. I'll dye my hair and cut it, I'll put whatever eye shadow, eye liner, mascara on my eyes, I'll put on that maxi dress, make my hair look nice, but you know why? Because I'm doing it for ME! I want that confidence. The ability to walk into a room with all this in mind and just stop people in their tracks.
I told you I had a lot of dreams.
Now I know all this is for me. What can I say a girl needs a place to vent right? I just hope that whoever is reading this keeps all this in mind the next time they see me. Because whatever is going on, whether it's stupid drama with my friends or whatever else. At least ask how I'm doing? Okay? Okay.
Sincerely,
The Tinkerbell who finally has nothing on her chest :)

Happy Belated birthday to me!

Hey everyone!
So today is May 8...it's crazy how fast the time flies right? Well anyways I had a good 15th birthday. My mom, brother Alex, and I went to the Lighthouse for dinner which was really great food! What I got was a University of Miami sweatshirt, a district 12 training shirt from the Hunger Games, a betsy johnson necklace, and a symbolically adopted great white shark from the word wildlife fund. It was a great birthday actually. I enjoyed it. I mean usually I'm pretty ignored on my birthday, especially if it's a school day. I remember last year in the 8th grade though it was the last class of the day and there was a sub in my class. My aunt chele, she's a 7th grade English teacher, came into my room with all this candy and said that someone in the class was having their 14th birthday. It was ridiculous....but then I saw another side of people. The side that only sees you when you have certain things. That day after my aunt leaved all the students started paying attention to me, asking for candy...candy! Like little kids! That was the only time in the whole year they paid attention and it wasn't even for me! It was for whatever candy I had received! Some of these people are ridiculous.
Sincerely,
Tinkerbell

Am I crazy? I think NOT!

Hey everyone!
So this wednesday is my birthday. My 15th birthday. Which surprisingly enough has come way to fast. I honestly don't want to get any older. I'm afraid to become older I guess. I suppose it's not the best idea to think that way but...well. It kind of sucks to be old. You can't move the way you use to, and you most certainly do not look the way that you used to. Alright alright...I need to turn this blog around. Wednesday is my birthday!!!! And I'm so excited even though on tuesday there is this weird ACT test thing that we have to take. Meaning I'm with my FSP (freshman support period) teacher for most of the day, an then I go to my 4th hour teacher for the rest. Honestly I really don't like my FSP teacher. It's not like she did anything wrong its just....she's really annoying sometimes. For example pretty much all she talks about is her dog named Coconut and how he looks like the Ceaser's dog which it never will. Another example is how she gets so annoyed with how some of the students in the class don't use their time wisely and don't always have something to do in that class even though she allows the "cool" boys to go in their little groups to "study" which always means talking. Well anyways so this ACT test asks you questions like where do you want to go to school or what you want your career to be. And then you take this huge test to see if that career/school is right for you. I'm really not looking forward to taking that test. I know where I want to go and what I want to do and no test is going to change that. What I'm doing is going to the University of Miami to study and become a Marine Biologist. I don't care what other people say about it such as it doesn't pay enough or how I'd never get into an out of state school. You know what? Those are all the little evil voices in my head that I'm willing to destroy. Even if they are real people saying it to me. I'm prepared to prove them all wrong. I CAN go to the university of miami and I don't care what they say. I'm going to specialize in sharks and go to hundreds of aquariums and even around the world to study them and talk to other people about them.
Sounds crazy I know
Sincerely,
Tinkerbell

Drafts turned new

Hey everyone!
So today in journalism I had absolutely nothing to do. So I searched around a bit for random games and stuff like that. Of course darn Adobe flash player is required to do almost everything on this darn computer and I don't want to download it. So here I am! But before I came here my friends and I looked up Chuck Norris jokes. Which, by the way, are incredibly weird jokes. I don't know who started it all, but whoever did thought Chuck Norris was amazing. It's funny how one celebrity who does workout gear commercials and use to play a cowboy would be so popular. But apparently that's just how it works. anyways that wasn't exactly why I was here today. The reason that I'm hear blogging right now is because I'm a champion. And now you probably have that Queen song stuck in your head! Sorry I had to say it because the Open guard got first at Ball State University and at the LaPorte championships! Might I add that the trip to Ball State is extremely boring and smells like cows every 5 minutes. So I don't believe that anyone goes to that college for sight seeing. But the Arena at Ball State is incredible! I mean Lucas Oil stadium at indianapolis is bigger obviously because it's a football stadium and this is a basketball court, but it's still pretty big. Probably the biggest place I've ever performed in in Winter guard. But that wasn't the least of my worries. My biggest worry is coming up in a week. And that is WGI (winter guard international) which is the big big championships. It's bigger than Ball State and is definitely going to be full. Not to mention the place that we are performing is going to have a concrete floor!! Okay, so that might not be a problem for me, but in the beginning of our show we have 2 people come out and tumble halfway across the floor! I can just imagine how painful it is on our wood floors! Imagine concrete! Talk about pain! But I hope it won't be so bad. Those 2 girls have been freaking out about it for a while though. Which scares me just as much as it scares them. Well, this was an old draft from a while back but I'll still put it in. WGI is over and WE GOT 2ND PLACE OUT OF THE WHOLE COUNTRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sincerely,
Tinkerbell

Droids aren't just for robot domination

Hey everyone!
So I have no idea what to do anymore in Journalism today. We found this AMAZING font on my computer! And I thank whoever is in Publishing class for it. If it weren't for them we wouldn't have such a cool looking logo! Oh yeah and guess what? I GOT A NEW PHONE! I'm so excited it's a droid incredible 2!!! It's so awesome I love it. I mean it's still no Iphone but it's still awesome! My wallpaper moves when you touch it :D! I know I'm weird xD. Well anyways I've been figuring it out all day today, not in school of course. but basically all day. Ironic that today we went outside to take pictures. I got to figure out some of my camera/camcorder apps on my phone! I'm so excited to learn more tricks! The only downside of upgrading my phone thought is that we were stuck in Best Buy after hours waiting for the people to put all of our info into our new phones. Which I honestly didn't believe would take that long, but all the phones were $1! Haha! On a different note this is my first ever smartphone and I'm terrified of anything happening to it. Well, I have this new insurance for it but still, if I allowed anything to happen I don't know what I would do!
Anyways, I have to cut this blog short. Class is almost over and the bell is about to ring.
Sincerely,
Tinkerbell

Turns out this wasn't a Ramble Ramble.

Hey everyone!
So I have no idea what I'm going to talk about right now. So this is probably going to be yet another addition to my series of "Ramble Ramble" there's so many random things going on in my mind right now. Like how I'm going to prevent myself from being pinched tomorrow when we have to wear all black at practice. You see, Mr. B thinks that wearing color will be distracting, so we have to wear all black from now on till the rest of the season. Another thing is color guard. I have no idea what the show is going to be about this year. It could be anything! But this one girl at my lunch table believes that its going to be about aliens like they said it would be last year. But last year they decided it would be about Somewhere in Time instead. I've just asked my friend to tell me what the show is going to be. They're telling the band kids next week....lucky ducks. Well anyways I'm excited! I can't wait for this summer. Even though there are some bad moments like terrible tan lines and then freezing to death later in the season. But I think I'll be able to pull through. I mean really, its definitely not as hard as winter guard. With winter guard you have to excuses what so ever. I'm excited for next week!
Sincerely,
Tinkerbell

New Perspectives on things

Hey everyone!
So I now have a way better perspective on guard. Thanks to my Aunt Chele. She have me a little speech causing me to change my view of things a little bit. You see, there' s been some troubles lately with how I feel about staying on this guard. My coach, Mr. B.....lets just say that I really don't appreciate his methods of things. He believes that screaming and yelling and calling people names will make them a better guard person. Which obviously isn't true. Think about it. We're a bunch of insecure high school girls being told that we're lazy and lathargic. Lathargic means lazy. So basically we're double the lazy even though we do all these crazy dance movies and flips and tosses and we barely have any fat left in us because it's all turned into muscle. So I was a little bit upset after practice monday. Causing my aunt to give me a little talk. It started off by saying that all the directors are jerks. Which they are. But the reason that they are jerks is because this is all they can do in their life. I mean really, what other job can a guard director get? Especially Mr. B. I don't think age is going to be very nice to him. Anyways he's probably going to have to retire eventually because he won't be able to spin much longer. That's the same for all of them really. But I have to cut this short. I can't imagine him 65 with wrinkles and 20 extra pounds. That's just gross. So I now feel bad for him. And he's going to eventually treat me nicer someday. Maybe even cry when I leave senior year. So that's why I'm staying.
Sincerely,
Tinkerbell

I'm crazy about a Scottish man

Hey everyone!
So yesterday was thursday so I obviously have a break off of guard. So probably as of now every tuesday or thursday I'll be watching a new movie from the library. Last night I watched the movie 300. Which was amazing! It had a couple funny movies and a few cheesy moments (like when this guy's head just randomly floated for half a minute) but other than that it was an amazing movie. I'm sort of obsessed with Gerard Butler now so be prepared because I think the next movie will be P.S. I love you. Anyways after watching the movie I've become quite curious about King Leonidas. He seems like a pretty cool guy to research about. So that's what I will be researching for a while now. I'm sorry if the next few posts will be short, but I have to cut blogs short now.
Sincerely,
Tinkerbell

I hate mouths

Hey everyone!
So today I finally had a beloved Friday off of guard. So I decided to use it wisely, or somewhat wisely. What's sad is that I always try to have good use of my time but I always get distracted. Well, I chilled in my room for a while after I got home at least. And then I cleaned it up a bit. So I guess I used my time somewhat wisely. Anyways The reason that I didn't have guard today is because of a man named Daniel Wiles. Who is the Avon colorguard coach. It seems silly that we'd be associated with him considering Avon and my high school are kind of rivals. But he helps us in winter guard staging. So he's going to come to our school Sunday and see our show and see if any changes need to be made. But, a 3 hour practice is replaced with a 5 hour practice...Yeah that's not exactly the best sounding deal now is it. Though it may seem a bad deal, we mostly just sit while they think to themselves about what would make the show better. So that's okay with me. Perfectly fine actually. Anyways the REAL reason that I wished to blog today is because of a person. It's not any type of gossip or anything out of the ordinary me. The person is a guy that I have had a crush on for about a week maybe more. So, creepy me. I decided to draw him. And before you start jumping to conclusions about how delirious I am I guess I'll get straight to the point...All I did was draw The phantom of the opera. So calm down will you? I did nothing wrong. In fact there's been many people drawing Gerard Butler. Except I absolutely hate drawing his mouth. I don't care how great the shading is if only the mouth were right. I've tried so many times to get the right mouth. It's hard to do! Before I took my little break from drawing I was horrible at noses but okay with mouths. Now its the other way around. It's nearly impossible to get just the right curve of the corner of the mouth without it looking like a smile. Not to mention it's suppose to be a serious straight face. So yeah, you can laugh at the mouth all you want hahaha it doesn't look anything like the picture I know. But I tried my best okay? Here it is

Go ahead! Tell me how completely different it is from the picture! But you try to get that mouth! I mean I'll try my best to fix it as much as humanly possible but hey. I did the best that I could at that moment. Oh and the next time you see me I'll most likely be carrying this picture around trying to figure out how on earth to make it better. I'm crazy some people think that its perfect but sadly I'm a perfectionist and the mouth in my opinion looks nothing like it. So I have to fix it immediately. 

Sincerely, 

Tinkerbell 

Don't let the Abominable Snowman eat your feet....ever

Hey everyone!
So the guard season is almost over which is crazy. It feels as if it went by too fast. And now there are so many good seniors leaving. But of course, most of them gossiped about other guard members. Anyways this saturday is our Lake Park competition in what was it....Roselle Illinois? I have no idea where that is but my normal car it is about and hour and 45 minutes. So it's going to take forever by bus. I'm going to come prepared of course with my tiny little ipod shuffle. I don't need an ipod touch with all those crazy apps to entertain me. I just grab my pillow pet and my earbuds and listen to some music. Although I only have 36 songs. But they are all good songs! Anyways, because of the competition on saturday I have to dress up to school tomorrow. Which I really don't wish to do. I ran out of things to dress up in! I have a skirt left and that's about it. I might have to wear that skirt anyways. The reason that we have to dress up is one of the millions of color guard superstitions. Along with wearing the key that I currently have on my neck. I don't even notice it anymore it's just kind of a part of me. Well, I just forget to take it off so I've had it on for a very long time. Since the before our first guard competition which I believe was January 28. So anyways if you see me tomorrow, I'll be dressed up. But not because I want to but because I have to. I don't usually like to dress up on fridays because friday is just a chill day. It's the last day before the weekend and I just want to relax and not have to worry about skirts or dresses or necklaces or anything like that. Its just so silly. Oh, and the silliest thing that I don't understand at all: School fashion in the winter. Okay, its snowing outside. I grab a sweater, yoga pants, shoes, and a coat. But other girls grab a loose shirt and a tight skirt with Uggs. That's the worst name to call a boot. Uggs. It's like really? It sounds like the worst shoes in the world. Plus they aren't exactly original either. They are just plain boots. Oh, but i've seen some of those boots that look like the Abominable Snowman ate their feet! It looks so silly that I am forced to hold back a laugh.
Sincerely,
Tinkerbell

Rawr does not mean "I love you" in dinosaur

Hey everyone!
So do any of you remember when I wrote about Lexiles and the whole Jurassic Park story? Well, I finally turned in that paper today. And lets just say I'm a little big terrified for it. Mainly because I put all that effort into that one paper and if it doesn't get at least a 90% I'll be crushed to bits and pieces. I worked so hard on that paper for exactly a month long. I read the book and searched all over the internet and two libraries for stuff on Michael Crichton and then finally wrote all these notes on them and the MLA citations. I also wrote a 7 page outline for the paper. Alright, after I turned that in and my teacher looked at it. He told his other Honors class that I was crazy. I suppose I deserve that considering the paper is only supposed to be 2-4 pages long. My teacher told me that there was enough information there for a freshman in college. Enough for a 15 page essay. So I had to cut some stuff which killed me because I believed that I needed every single bit of  information on that outline. Of course I apparently didn't. However, the paper still turned out to be 6 full pages not including the Works Cited. After my class found that out thought, my teacher said that I'd own half the united states when I'm older. Gotta love freshman English teachers.
Sincerely,
Tinkerbell

Angel of Music

Hey everyone!
So I am officially a dork, or crazy, or both. But you know what? I honestly don't care because I'd rather be myself in this. Anyways I just recently became obsessed with The Phantom of the Opera. Yes, the Gerard Butler movie and nothing less. Mainly because its such a good movie! The music is amazing and the story is awesome. Plus who doesn't like a cute guy in a mask? So Today I bought the book by Gaston Leroux and the DVD. I literally just finished watching the movie for the second time this week. And I'll probably watch even more of it later in the week. It's just such an amazing story and I feel so bad for the Phantom. I mean who doesn't feel for him? Raoul is just a guy that the main character Christine knew from her childhood, then all the sudden they're engaged right before Phantom's eyes. It's really not fair considering the phantom was technically there first....I can't believe that I'm arguing this. I didn't write the story, this Gaston did. However, if I even earn enough money to go to France one of these days, I am DEFINITELY going to the Opera Populaire. It's a real place that I will visit no matter what the cost. The only problem is getting there. Traveling overseas is expensive. And money is tight these days. I will try my best to do what I can with what little money I have. Maybe I should have done Le Grand Concour! I think it might be too late for that. If you don't know, Le Grand Concour is The Big Contest in french. It's basically where you take this big french test and then you can win stuff like trips to Paris. Of course I would have to study a whole bunch to win anything but it would have been worth a try! Maybe I should ask my french teacher if I can still enter. I probably still can, but there's the conflict of guard. The test is on a saturday and there's a practice and or a competition every single saturday! I'll never be able to take it! Huff, well, I keep joking around with my family about the Phantom now. Like if there's anything weird that happens like if my brother's ipod suddenly stops playing music I immediately say "The Phantom doesn't want you to listen to that song." What's really funny was my brother's reaction to it. We both just laughed though. But to be truthful. I didn't like the song anyway.
Sincerely,
Tinkerbell

Metal Water?

Hey everyone!
So today is Mardi Gras! And I had my very first....oh gosh it's going to be fun to spell this...Paczki? I don't think that's right and my computer says its wrong but it doesn't think that I'm talking about that amazing desert. Of course the chocolate ones taste exactly like a giant boston creme from dunkin donuts but still. Also I have yet another thing. Why on earth does the water at my school taste like pennies?? I know that sounds really weird but if you go to my school you will understand that it does actually taste like pennies. Well, I'm not sure if its exactly pennies but just...metal. You know what metal tasting water is like right? Well, if you don't you know the smell of metal? Imagine the smell of that metal as a taste and then that being the taste of your water. It's so weird and everyone of the people that I've talked to about it agree. How does that even happen though? Maybe that's like a specific kind of well water. At my home we have tap water, but my friend LeAnn has well water. So it's like I can't drink water at her house because I'm so use to the tap water at mine. I don't usually have the school water. I mean in the summer I have to because its during colorguard and metal tasting water is better than no water right? Of course I'm right! Water is apart of your life! It's what...75% of your body? Something like that. Alright alright maybe that's not exactly right but I've never been a fan of the human body stuff. That for me is the creepiest part of Health/Science classes. Which is funny because I wish to become a Marine Biologist. But that's not human bodies those are fishies! Speaking of fishies you know that inflatable shark that I spoke about in a blog a while ago? Sure you do just scroll down!.............Alright now that you're back from reading that blog post....you probably didn't read it did you. Zut! Tu est penible! No translations needed. ANYWAYS that inflatable shark is finally set up! It's hiding in my closet right now but I've been flying it around for days. I have an 18 foot ceiling in my living room so it's very fun to fly it around in there haha. And it's looks exactly like it does in the picture that I put in the blog post that you probably never read when I told you to read it. Alright so this somehow all ties together with metal water. Because today is Mardi Gras! And luckily I had french class today so we had a little somewhat party with a king cake which has a very weird story. Apparently when you buy a Mardi Gras King cake it comes with this doll. And it's a naked baby that you are supposed to stuff in the cake after its baked, and then put frosting over the top. Whoever has the piece of cake with the baby has to host the next Mardi Gras party! It's really weird I know and we didn't hide the baby in the cake. My french teacher just threw it aside. But because of that king cake my mouth was really dry and so I got a drink of water and it tasted like pennies! And that's the wonderfully weird life of Tinkerbell.
Sincerely,
Tinkerbell

Ramble Ramble!

Hey everyone!
So all of you should probably know by now that I am on the Open winter guard for LC. If you don't, read older blogs! But anyways because I'm on the open guard there are a lot more performances to worry about. This saturday is going to be one of the scariest so far. This weekend is Indy regional in which case we sleep in a hotel just like we did in color guard. But because of this Indy regional, our coach, Mr. B, is getting incredibly nervous. He gets super duper nervous about these winter guard competitions especially for the open guard. Meaning that he is going to yell at us a whole bunch. Confession: I hate being yelled at. It's a horrible feeling even when it's not you getting yelled at in the first place. You just get that feeling in your stomach and it just doesn't feel very good at all. It almost feels like guilt when your not even guilty. So that's my major worry this week, Mr. B screaming at us every practice and then being super stressed out about this competition. What stresses me out the most is the fact that its prelims and then finals. It depends on how good you are whether or not you make finals which is obvious and I shouldn't be explaining that. Anyways I'm really nervous because some people don't have the emotional connections the same way that others do. In my case this winter guard show is about my dad. He passed away from colon cancer before I even got into the 2nd grade and I barely got to know him. All I remember now is silly things like Disney world or piggy back rides or silly nicknames. For other people this show is about a breakup or a boyfriend cheating on you and breaking your heart. I've never actually had that feeling. I'd rather not have that feeling for a very long time. I don't really understand dating in middle school or high school. Mainly because there's so much other drama going on that you don't need anymore about whether your bf's tie matches the color of your dress or that they hugged some other girl or stupid things like that. I don't understand any of that kind of stuff. I guess that makes me a ton different than any other girl. I mean I'd rather be different than just like everybody else. Everyone wants to be "normal" but what exactly is the definition of normal. NO ONE IS NORMAL! Especially in high school. Not everyone is on the guard, not everyone is on the dance team, not everyone gets straight A's, not everyone gets straight D's. Everybody is different. And if you think that everyone being the same is cool, then you are thoroughly disturbed. Well, back to the fun stuff. I seemed to get a little serious there which rarely happens haha. ANYWAYS I finally got my loft bed installed and it's amazing! The only problem is I'm having trouble getting use to not sitting straight up in the morning haha. I've already done that a few times where I've hit my head on the ceiling. My mom and I started decorating my room too. We got a new rug, new curtains, new pillows and bed sheets. It's so much better than it was before! Before everything was bright blue and it had to be that way because otherwise things would clash! So now my room's walls are neutral color and then I have warm colors so it doesn't feel so cold. It's a lot more relaxing I have to admit. I will probably get a lot more homework done without the distraction of the bright blue walls. Well, I believe this is yet another edition to my series called "Ramble Ramble!" see you guys later!
Sincerely,
Tinkerbell

Waking up isn't fun

Hey everyone!
So today was the hardest day to wake up this morning. I have no idea why because it's a friday and you'd think it would be easier because it would be like "Hey, one more day of this and then you get to sleep in a little" What I mean by sleep in a little is I have guard practice in the morning tomorrow. From 9 to 5. Well, I guess that's more sleep that I would usually get waking up at 5:45 every school morning. Ugh I really don't want to get ready for school or even go to school today. But of course I have to because of this weird thing about my school. At my school we have white days and blue days and today is a white day. Which doesn't make much a difference as to why I wouldn't wish to go to school. But the reason that I HAVE to go to school is because the last time that I missed a day 2 classes went from A's to C+'s. It's amazing how that all works right? Well, another reason is that I haven't exactly been sick this year at all. The only reason that I have missed school days it because of colorguard. I'll be missing a lot of days when WGI comes up. WGI is like our big big championships where we go to Dayton, Ohio. I just hope that nothing too crazy happens and I end up failing my classes. That would be HORRIBLE!
Sincerely,
Tinkerbell

Lexile measures flawed continued...

Hey everyone!
So I thought that it would be nice if I just added a couple more things to my belief of a flawed lexile measure. First off, after doing a little bit of research, I now believe that I MUST turn all of these facts into my english teacher. I just hope I can channel my inner lawyer. Well, here's the facts. Those of you who have heard of the author John Steinback or any of his books such as "The Grapes of Wrath" or "East of Eden" should be thoroughly disappointed because Lexile.com believes that those books (which by popular belief are pretty much college books) have a lexile of 700. Yup, lexile believes that they are 7th grade books. Also another story which I could not stop laughing at was when I was doing research off of google about lexile and I found this article on Wikipedia.com. It stated that a 32 paged children's picture book has a lexile of 830. I went straight back to lexile and.....it was completely true! The only difference was at the beginning it showed an NC and then 830. What the NC stands for is non-conforming meaning they make the score higher than usual to that high ability readers are able to read it. So apparently a children's book has a higher reading level than a college book. Also have you guys ever heard of Black Beauty, no not the movie but the actual book. Well, even if you haven't it's apparently a 10th grade book. It's this small 210 paged book with really big lettering and a picture taking up every other page. Take out all the pictures and you probably have only 100 pages or less. The book that I wish to read for my English project is "Jurassic Park" and, before you say anything, yes it was a book before it was a movie. I just thought that it would be interesting to see how the author's life ties to dinosaurs haha. Except I can't use the book because of this Lexile problem. Lexile believes that this very very small lettering 399 page book with tons of vocab in every single page is a 7th grade book. So if I don't turn all this information into my English teacher, I'll be stuck writing about a horse. Wouldn't that just be a wonderful essay to read about? Answer: Absolutely not! I'm prepared to fight for lexile to disappear off the face of the Lake Central databases. It needs to because there's no way anyone in the 7th grade can read a college book that takes years to comprehend.
Sincerely,
Tinkerbell

Lexile Measures flawed?

Hey everyone!
So there has been a lot of things on my mind lately. First of all, you all remember that I was put onto the Open guard yes? Well we had our very first competition yesterday! I think it went really well for our first show and home show. Problem was that because it was our home show we couldn't actually compete with the other Open guards but we still got judged. I have no idea what the judges thought of us but we certainly made a lot of people cry which was our whole plan anyways so it was a good thing! I also currently have a project that I am doing in my Honors English class. It's where we research an author and then read one of their books and then see how the author's lives tie to the book. The twist is that we have to have a lexile range of 960 or higher. Which brings me to my main subject: Lexile measures. I strongly believe that lexile measures are incredibly flawed in almost every single way. Because of these measures we had to go from book to book trying to find one high enough. The problem is the way that these people determine the lexile measure of a book. Here's a little bit from the lexile website Lexile.com:

"A book, article or piece of text gets a Lexile text measure when it's analyzed by MetaMetrics. For example, the first "Harry Potter" book measures 880L, so it's called an 880 Lexile book. A Lexile text measure is based on two strong predictors of how difficult a text is to comprehend: word frequency and sentence length. Many other factors affect the relationship between a reader and a book, including its content, the age and interests of the reader, and the design of the actual book. The Lexile text measure is a good starting point in the book-selection process, with these other factors then being considered."

This quote makes me very concerned about lexile measures. Its the fact that the age and interests of a reader determines the measure that scares me the most. If it were really determined by that then why on earth is a a 32 page children's picture book have a lexile of 830 but Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton has a lexile of 710? It's very flawed. Lexile measure irks me.
Sincerely,
Tinkerbell

Seriously about half of this is about grape juice

Hey everyone!
So it's been way to long since I last wrote in this. Thus, I need to update immediately! I had a really great Christmas this year and so far a great 2012! How about you guys? I got a lot of stuff for Christmas but I don't wish to brag. However, I had one new years resolution this year and I have so far kept it all this year. My resolution was to give up soda. It's been fairly easy so far. Rumors say that it takes 21 days to break a habit and its been 8. So I've got a little ways to go. I've been drinking this amazing grape juice called Welch's light. At first I was a little skeptic because I've had normal Welch stuff before and it wasn't the best in the world. So I decided to try a glass. It took a couple sips to get use to but after a while I was hooked. I've already gotten 3 bottles of the stuff! And I keep wanting more! I've had almost 2 glasses a day of this stuff. Which really isn't good because I bought all these other drinks to substitute soda and I have yet to try them haha. Well, I made some pink lemonade tonight though. So I guess that's one out of three that I haven't tried yet. We also got these  smoothie things that aren't real smoothies because there's no ice in them. They're more of a juice than anything else. The only problem I'm having with all these things so far is the obvious, I can't seem to get enough water a day. I mean, aren't you supposed to drink 8 glasses of water a day? If so I haven't done that in my entire life! Which is a very sad 14 years. Anyways I can't seem to find a way to make the water in my town taste good. At my old house the water in that town tasted great! Now I'm still trying to get used to the new flavor. Which yes, different towns have different flavored water. Some are tap some are well. I'm pretty sure my home town had well water. You'd think that after 3 years that you'd get used to a different taste right? That's exactly it! I haven't had enough water lately that I haven't been able to get use to it!...........................Alright I know that this is COMPLETE nonsense and 7 out of 10 readers will not care what I'm rambling on about but hey. I have to get it out of my system somehow? Anyways tomorrow is the start of finals week. Which is completely stressing me out in almost every single subject. What makes finals week silly is the fact that I have a final test in Colorguard, Yes, Colorguard! It is technically a class you know. Except we go outside or we sit around and do nothing sometimes. Anyways our coach had us write down what was going to be on the guard final. It's absolutely ridiculous. One of the questions is "what is the name of the fall show?" Yeah! As if hearing it a million times by announcers and seeing it everywhere didn't get it stuck in our heads! Oh and the "extra credit" is how to spell his last name. Which is okay credit considering we don't go by his full last name. We call him Mr. B but it's really Buzalski. Alright I HAVE to stop rambling now. I have an Algebra final tomorrow and I might need to look over a few things.
Sincerely,
Tinkerbell