nelle@envy.nu
http://www.envy.nu/nelle


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July

A Day in the Life of Danielle
August 13, 2000

Age:
17 years, 2 months, 18 days

Looking forward to:
Textbook Buying Days

Required Reading:
The House on Mango Street
by Sandra Cisneros

Last Movie:
What Lies Beneath

Song of the Moment:
Why Does it Always Rain on Me
Travis

What's Spinning:
No Angel
Dido

Talking to:
FoReVeRica

Craving:
Dim Sum

I'm feeling:
Stressed

Sisterly saying:
"Go read your books..."

Saturday, August 26, 2000
After a much needed rest, I'm awake. I'm having stomach cramps, but I'll just drink some tea. Tea solves a lot of problems.

Anyway, I got through the first week of school. For the life of me, I probably wouldn't be able to tell you what happened most of the days. We had mass yesterday. Yes, I go to a Catholic school. It was fun. I was a candle-bearer and my sister read some petitions.

Summer reading tests are a drag. Ironically enough, I didn't have to take my Women in Literature test because I had already taken a summer reading test for Conklin. So, I was sitting in class doing nothing for three minutes. My best friend, Valeda, was sitting next to me writing frantically. So I decided to pick up my pen and start writing too. I'm such a dork.
Posted at 09:40 a.m. by Danielle.

Monday, August 21, 2000
The first day of school is over. For us seniors, it's the beginning of the end. I was excited as I drove into the parking lot with my sister. It seemed like I was experiencing some kind of surreal, out-of-body experience. I was there, but I didn't feel like I was there. I didn't think that the people were real. It was as if I was alone in a dream, and everyone else was just a projection. It was kind of like that "I haven't slept for twenty-four hours, and I'm on a caffeine high feeling." It truly was another amazing experience...

My teachers don't seem too bad. I just know that in two weeks, I'll be stuck in my rut of procrastination and of not doing my homework. It's like I'm destined to a life of caffeine highs and all-nighters. The sad thing is that I do my best work when I'm procrastinating. That actually is not a fair evaluation because I have never done work when I'm not procrastinating. I'm always the one printing out my essay when the first bell rings, running into class and stapling the sheets together as the teacher is doing roll. I truly doubt that that will work this year.

All other doubts aside, I actually had a very good day today. After third period, I had the biggest smile on my face. Ms. Pollia always puts a smile on my face. I know that her Experiencing God class will save my first semester life. Well, it was a big smile with some melancholy feelings in my heart. Ms. Pollia was my freshman Religion I teacher, and sitting in her class as a senior flashed me back to my life as that naive freshman sitting in the front row of room 107. Oddly enough, I'm the only senior in a class of juniors. I had decided to not take the class with Ms. Knudsen over the summer for the reason that I wanted to take my chances to get Ms. Pollia. As she said, "We have the resident wise person in our class."
Posted at 02:16 p.m. by Danielle.

Tuesday, August 15, 2000
Five more days of freedom. I can't believe how fast this summer has gone by. As I've said to Nancy, "My vacation was non-existent." Sad, but true. Textbook-buying days are over, and most students should be ready (ready in the sense that they have books, but not necessarily mentally ready) for Monday. I feel kind of sated that it's over and that I don't have to worry about anything anymore. I also kind of feel angry. Honestly, I went through most of the two days pissed off at people. It pissed me off that people were taking care of themselves and shirking off their responsibilities. I would assign a person a job, and then two minutes later, I would see her buying her books or getting her schedule. If a person volunteers that person should be there to help people, not to help themselves. Just because you volunteered to be there doesn't mean that you can cut in line. It just angered me that my volunteers left when after had sold their own books and made money for themselves. They left when it was convenient for them. They did not care about the other people. The ASB President left before eleven o'clock in the morning. ELEVEN O'CLOCK. The day was scheduled to end at three. I was there until four. Marisa would love to hear about this. She loves to hear it when those people on her hate-list fail. She loved it when she knew that the Administration hated Pantea. She loved it when Pantea made mistakes. She loves it when Pantea does something that looks funny to the students, but looks likes something done in bad taste to the Administration. She loves it, because Marisa knows that she could have done a better job. She'll love it when those people end up at Loyola Marymount University and she ends up at Georgetown. She'll love it when she's successful on The Hill and those people on the list are home-makers. She'll love it when she has her revenge.

I know it sounds like I'm just bitching. I am. This is my pita, and I will express my certain feelings about the wrongs with my experiences. This is my social commentary on the life of an "average" high school senior. This is mine.

On with the day. My books are bought. Today my mother spent over $400 for my school books. (Add the $139 I paid Erica for used books.) I haven't even looked at my sister's receipt. It's crazy. I also got my measurements taken for my senior graduation dress. It blew my mind. I went to last year's graduation less than three months ago, and now I'm being fitted for my dress that I'll wear in nine months. Hmm. It would be a bad idea to get pregnant now, wouldn't it.
Posted at 08:45 p.m. by Danielle.

Sunday, August 13, 2000
I'm back. I've said it once, I'll say it again. This has been the most boring summer I have had since I can remember. We started off the vacation with an overnight stay in Santa Barbara. And after that I lost track of days and hours. We visited UC Berkeley on one of those days, and we took a tour. It's not as wonderful as you'd think it would be. One of my friends, Erica, is going there. She told me that if it was up to her, she wouldn't have gone there. The location is horrible, the campus makes you feel like you're in a forest, and everybody there looks like they've been smoking something. Berkeley, however, does offer a good education and a nice looking name on your resume. To me, it's amazing how many out-of-state people want to go to these wonderful UC schools we have over here. (There's a reason why I can't/won't get into UCLA. Heh.)

I love San Francisco. I don't think my mother would be happy if I went to University of San Francisco, though. It's a party school. She likes Santa Clara University. I like it too.
Posted at 01:35 p.m. by Danielle.

Saturday, August 5, 2000
What am I doing? I know I'm wasting my time. I'm downloading fonts. I go on a font downloading binge perhaps twice a year. What sparked this one? It all started because of a school dance flyer. I'm in charge of planning the Welcome Dance. Because of it, I've been at school three days in a row during the summer. To make a long story short, our ASB moderator thinks it's ridiculous to pay someone $180 to design a flyer that will look tacky in the end anyway. Maybe she's right. Most school dance flyers are pathetic wannabe rave cards (not that mine isn't) that cost an arm and a leg to design and print. Anyway, I designed the flyer, but wasn't happy, so I went on the quest to find the perfect font. I was looking to "imitate" the font used in the '99 Nocturnal Wonderland invitation. I finally settled on something called Funk and used a blue color gradiant. The back looks pretty professional. I even made a map out of lines. Heh. Jerel just had to criticize it though. He's mad that I wouldn't pay him $380. Poo poo on him then. We do have a DJ now. Wonderful.

Textbook buying days are the 14th and the 15th. I'm in charge of that too. It's a shame I won't be here at all next week.

The family is vacationing up the California coast for a week starting this Sunday. Vacation. It sounds nice, but knowing my family, it will be far from it. We're going to find me a college. I know my mother would love for me to stay fifteen minutes from home. UCLA (if I had a chance of getting in) would probably get me a BMW for a graduation gift. USC (if I got a scholarship) would get me a Jetta (and probably an MRS. degree). Occidental College would probably get me a Toyota Corolla. My parents see no shame in bribery. I seriously doubt I'll leave the state of California, but I won't tell them that. The most realistic colleges I see in my future are UC Irvine or UC San Diego. My mom thinks I can get into Berkeley. But hey, the vacation also gets me a trip to San Francisco. San Francisco ranks way up there on my list of favorite cities. Other cities on my list? New Orleans, Los Angeles, Santa Fe, Denver, Monterey, Pasadena, Burbank, and Eureka.
Posted at 01:34 a.m. by Danielle.

Tuesday, August 1, 2000
Nineteen days of freedom left. August 21st is the day. The thought of going back to school makes me shudder. Twenty nights and five more books to read for English. What the hell was I thinking signing up for two English classes? I have two more books to read for AP English and three more books to read for Women in Literature. It's amazing how much time the computer takes away from you.
Posted at 10:33 p.m. by Danielle.