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AIM:
Aedies
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Name:
Well, my first name means "free" my middle name means "the perfect one" and my confirmation name means "source of joy." You figure it out
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Age:
(10x+2)/3=456
Activities:
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Swimming, piano, chorus, small group, work (yaaay for old ppl), plus that brick hellhole they call school.
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Hobbies:
Music in general. Occasional writing for fun. An obsession with embroidery floss (No, not the stuff you use on your teeth, but the stuff that you make bracelets and stuff out of). Laundry (this is a forced hobbie). Hiking, And probably some other stuff too...
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Oddities:
An extreme love for salsa, soup, mushrooms, Simon and Garfunkel, cute things, sarcasm, and stale chips...(do NOT ask about that one)
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Work
Feeding the old. Though they're not exactly helpless. No, they're paying good money to be served food at the Village. They have to be. It's so fancy there...all those chandeliers *glazy eyes*
And that's it for me!
"At My Most Beautiful" REM
Monday, June 24, 2002
9:34 PM
I do believe that in my blog dated Wednesday, August 29, 2001 I stated that I would probably say around this time of year: "I can't believe school's gone by so fast. Oh well, time for swim camp. Yaaaay!" And there it is, I've said it. You've missed alot in a month, haven't you bloggie my friend. Best fill you in on it, shall I?
June First: Prom night. In the words of Frankie Vallie: "Oh what a night!" I had such a great time. Who needs a date when you've got friends like Fran does. From what I remember, the party went well, though there were only 10 ppl, well, teenagers. . .not as many as I had hoped. Though, we did get many token parents taking pictures. That was pretty funny. So, after leaving my house, I had to direct Lori to Ethan Allen. We chose to take the highway. This wouldn't have been a problem had Kierstin's mom not moved Lori's car, and in doing so, put the parking brake up. And Lori didn't notice. So we drove all the way there without realizing it. When she figured it out, needless to say she was a bit upset. Not wanting to upset her parents right away, she called my father first to see if it was safe to drive home. He could tell she was upset, and gave her the best advice he could: "Hey, shit happens." Lori's father came later to test the car and it was fine. Crisis averted. Then came the actual dance. I don't pretend I know how to dance well. I just do my thing and have fun doing it. Though this did make for some interesting things, including a booty dance or two *shakes head* But it's not like I was the craziest person there. I have pictures to prove it. Unfortunately, I didn't get to show them to anyone for a while owing to what happened on
June Second: Asbestos Crisis. Woohoo. Superintendant James Chittum closes school for a week. The week we were supposed to be preparing for finals. Oops. So I had time to hike, and my sister was home too. I think we watched some movies, folding laundry, and generally enjoying our time off. I never dreamed of what would happen on
June Tenth: Okay, we're back in school. Only, it's not our school. We went to Danbury High for a week. And only from one to four. What a waste. And all we did was hand in text books and sign year books. Exams were opitional, and I only know one person who took a single exam. And that was because his parents made him. What a relief not to take my calc final. So I wasted my afternoons until
June 17: The first real day of summer vacation, though, my sister and brother were now finishing their school year in Bethel. Lucky them. This was supposedly finals week at DHS for BHS students. Pfft. I went in on Thursday to hand in my application for the Mexico trip. It was deserted. Oh, and by the way, I was accepted. I'm going to Mexico in April. Yaaaay!
So, that's pretty much all that's happened this month. I know my life is repetetive and boring. I can't help it. This summer I'm going to try and be more regular about blogging (like, in my next blog, I plan to talk about being a senior and stuff. _Scary_). I also want to redecorate a bit, and that means making the blog all pretty. And swim camp is three weeks from yesterday. So I've got a lot to look forward to.
To a fun and funky summer,
Fishie
"Bleeker Street" Simon and Garfunkel
Saturday, May 25, 2002
9:10 PM
*Small Gasp* Jeez, how long has it been. I'm so sorry I haven't blogged sooner. I can't believe how fast the time goes. Okay, so here's what's up. In the next two weeks, I have two books to read, a book critique to do on another book to read, a research paper to complete, a presentation to give, a picture party to plan, a prom to attend, two more chorus concerts to sing at, work on weekends, a yearbook to purchase, and a driver's test appointment application to mail. Phew. Think I'll survive? I hope. As far as the school work goes, it'll get done, I'm sure. I'm not terribly worried about it. It's the whole finals thing that worries me. And hey, I think there's only nine more days of classes left. That is scary. I can't believe it's almost vacation time again. My heart and stomach are doing somersaults.
Then there's the matter of prom. I have everything, dress, shoes, accesories. . .I even got my nails done in advance...only thing is, I don't have a date. I don't feel that terribly though, cause a couple of my friends are going stag too. I was going to ask someone, but I just kept procrastinating. By the time I got my courage up, it felt kind of unfair to ask him. Too bad, I really like him. Oh well, mebbe next year. So, I've also decided to have my first picture party. That's correct. Prom pictures at Fran's pretty house. The only thing I need to figure out is if pictures would look better in front of the Japanese maple or on the bridge with the brook and forest as a backdrop. Mebbe both. Oh, and did I mention that I have to navigate my friend through the center of Danbury. FUN!
I should really stop the procrastination with the appt. application. Although, it is summer. As long as I get the liscence before school starts, it doesn't matter. No rush. So, that's been my life for the past month. Constant rushing, and no time for me. When does it end?
The Eagarly Flustered but Ever Funky,
Fishie
"Your Wildest Dreems" Moody Blues
Tuesday, April 23, 2002
9:10 PM
Well, Spring Break has come and gone, and I would like to say one thing. It is cruel to give me 90 degree heat, make me think it's summer, then force me to go back to school in 40 degree rain. I'm so frustrated. I had so much fun the week of spring break. The temperature was swealtering, which made hiking conditions perfect. I mean PERFECT!!!! I went everyday, and stayed at the lake for at least two hours. I was so happy. And now I'm back in my stupid routine. These next thirty seven school days are going to be the longest of my ENTIRE LIFE.
So, as I said, the break was awesome. The whole going back to school thing, uhm, wasn't. I also managed to aquire my prom dress. Yaaay. And it was an incredibly lucky find, considering I'd originally seen it at the store two months ago, and it was $30 cheaper when I bought it. It's perfect. The perfect color, the perfect length, the perfect fit. It screams "Fran!" So, now all I need is a man to go with the dress.
Work has been a pain lately. My boss has decided she wants to be bitchy. Most of my co-workers have decided to be shifty (as if they had an option). And most of the old people have decided to be grouchy and pessimistic. Including Helen, who'd "Three Quarters blind, ya know."
I think the grouchiness is rubbing off on a certain fish.
The Grouchy but still Funky,
Fishie
"The Sweater Song" Weezer
Friday, April 5, 2002
9:03 PM
Well, sorry you had to wait so long for another weblog, but I've had alot to think about. . .specially since wednesday. I'm so. . .confused. Have you ever thought you knew a guy, and knew that he was a jerk, then spent a night (not that kind of night! Get your minds out of the gutter) with him and been really surprised to find out he's really not a jerk. Well, what do you know, it happened to me. Don't I feel special. Here's what happpened:
Okay, Wednesday was the poetry contest, right? Yes, right. Anyway, there were a group of about 15 or 16 of us going, 4 of which were guys, the rest girls. I didn't know anybody who was going really well. Of course, this one guy, the one who I mentioned before, was coming. Anyway, so the moment we get on the bus, he sits right behind me. I chalked it up to coincidence. Then he started talking to me. I, being my naturally friendly self, talked back. Even if I thought he was a jerk, it wasn't nice to be rude back. So we basically talked about stuff the entire way down. I chalked it up to not knowing anybody else.
But then I realized that he was friends with the other guys. And yet, I was the one getting the attention. I didn't know what to chalk it up to. . .so I chalked it up to my naturally bubbly personality. Who wouldn't want to talk to me (Okay Fran, stop being sketchy). Sorry. Anyway, so, he kept talking with me until it was time to split up and recite the poems (he and I were different languages). When we were let out, I went to the cafeteria, and then to the auditorium for some entertainment. I got there first, and sat down in the front row. Now, there were a ton of seats empty, including the ones next to his guy friends. Then he came in and sat down next to me. I said to him, "What? Couldn't find a better seat?" He said they were all saved. I was like, riiight! We talked throughout the entire performance. So then we go back into the gym to find out who won. Neither of us did (on a side note, I lost to someone who wasn't there, and a friend of mine lost for being too good). Anyway, so, as there was more and more room in the stands, he lies down on one of the bleachers right in front of me, and stretches out. I don't know, but it seemed like he was trying to impress me with his "manly physique". Yeah, okay.
So then, we go to leave. And it's pouring. Like, raining cats and dogs. And our bus is nowhere to be found. So there I am standing, wet, cold, without a jacket. And this is where the most surprising thing happens. He gives me his sweater. All he had under it was a white t-shirt. Half of me was like, "That was so sweet", and the other half said, "Who are you, and what aliens have abducted the jerk that I thought I knew?" Anyway, again, he and I talked the entire way home(though I think it was more flirting than talking). So, now I'm really confused. Everyone says he did this 'cause he likes me. All of them ask if I like him back. I tell them, I like the sweet guy who gave me his sweater, but I don't like the arrogant jerk who thinks he can get away with everything. This is just one more thing I need to think about and don't want to.
The Confused but Funky,
Fishie
"Charlottetown" BHS Small Group
Thursday, March 28, 2002
2:02 PM
Funny, but here I am, exactly two weeks from when I last blogged. And fancy that, I'm at the same computer too. Which means, of course, that I am seated within the brick hellhole. Lucky me. Normally I wouldn't be here this late, but Driver's Ed requires that I be in room 101 from 4 to 5. And I don't want to make my mother drive back and forth. I'm not that evil. So, here I am, about to enjoy two hours of naught.
So, what can I bring up that would be of interest? Ummm. . .kinda drawing a blank. Oh well. You'll just have to deal with some incessant babble. It's my sister's b-day today. My grandfather and I split the cost of a really pretty necklace to give to her. We're gonna have lasagana and boston creme pie cake for dinner tonight. She knows how to pick food, ne? It should be tasty. And this is our big meal for the Easter weekend. We were going to have relatives up, but they're all sick with strep. Poor them. Oh, did I mention I've now picked up another shift at work. Yup, I work Saturdays too. It's cool, cause it's with Lori, but it's not so cool, cause Prancer hosts. I'll get by. I hope. Oh well. Can't think of anything else to say. You were lucky. On a babble scale of one to ten, this was a two. Be thankful you got off so easy
The Lenient and Funky,
Fishie
"Angry Young Man" (or Angry Young Fran as the case may be) Billy Joel
Thursday, March 14, 2002
11:04 AM
Why am I an angry young Fran? Well, look at where I am. That's right, it's the first ever school blog. Right now I'm supposed to be using this oh so cool school PC to be doing school related activities. Who the heck cares? There's a kid sitting next to me looking up jokes. At least I'm trying to do something productive.
So what compulsive being has taken over Fran's body in order to make her do such a rash and bold thing. Well, I suppose it's an early but mild (and hopefully passing) case of senioritis. I don't think it'll be a problem. So, we Brookfeldians are rapidly approaching the end of the year. Events coming up soon include:
Course Selection: A bit of a sore subject right now. I want to take Honors Calc with Doc. Yesterday Malcolm didn't want to recommend me. It was his fault I did so bad in his class anyway. I do all my homework. I even see him for help. I had an A+ coming into his class, and I'm leaving it with a B-. Arrrgh. Today he told me he reconsidered and will probably, and I quote "Go to bat for me." Okay, Malcolm, thanks. If I ever need a pitch hitter, I'll call you. That's about all you're good for. Otherwise, I have few other course problems. I have one slot that I don't know what to fill with, be it AP Chem or AP European history. And I have to decided whether or not I have the willpower to complete Humanities Indie Study. Ah well. All will be decided in due time.
Concerts: 22 School days until Friends and Family night. I don't know whether to be excited or worried. I keep trying to tell myself we'll be ready, but I can't help thinking we might not be.
Spanish Poetry: Did I mention that I'm competing in a state wide foreign language poetry contest? Well, I am. I have two weeks to memorize the end 2/3 of my particularly difficult poem (that I chose, go figure), and make it sound good. How do I rope myself into these things?
The Weather: The weather channel says it's 63 degrees right now. It's more like high 60's. I'm so elated. I love warm weather. I've finally gotten out of my SAD (Seasonal Afective Disease/Disorder)in which I become really depressed during the winter. Lucky me. But you know what nice weather means...more hiking.
So, that's about all I've got time for right now. The bell's going to ring in six minutes and I'm going to head to humanities. Plus, I kinda need to make sure I did all my vocab...
The hectically funkitized,
Fishie
"Freebird" Lynard Skynard
Monday, March 4, 2002
09:00 PM
No, blog, I am not pushing up the daisies. I'm still alive. Though I don't know for how much longer with all the stuff I've got to do. But you don't want to hear that, do you? Nope, this is going to be, you guessed it, a babble-blog. . .the be all and end all of blogs. Lucky you
Well, had championships yesterday. Did pretty well overall. Unexpected best time in the 100 back by two seconds (who'd a thunk, considering I haven't swam it all year), as well as in the 50 free (for a non-sprinter, pretty good). I would also like to add that now that I no longer have beastly man legs (gotta love the hairyness), I have become obsessed with shaving. Yaaay. I think I shaved 2 heats before one of my races. It's fun now that I'm allowed to do it again. It took me three razor blades just to do the bottom halves of my two legs on friday morning. Ewww. But that's all overwith. . .till August that is.
*Random Boogie* Only 67 more days of school (or somewhere around there I think). I'm so excited. I seriously cannot wait to get out. Soon all the fun end of the year things will be happening. CAPT tests in May mean I don't have to go in till 9:30. Course selections in late April/early May make seniordom feel right around the corner. Concerts will be starting up again pearty soon (Sound of Silence sounds awesome btw). ASVAB will be received mid-March, and I'll finally find out if I'm right for my dream job of mortician (right Keri?). In a word, PROM (though a date and a dress are still needed). Oh, and the best part is, driver's ed has been started, and will be totally complete by May 24th. You know what that means. To borrow a Keri phrase: "SQUEEE!"
Okay, so you can tell I'm itching to get out of school. . .who wouldn't be. There's swim camp. There's work (which means more money). There's hiking. . .*sigh*. . .Lake Lillinonah. There's warm weather. There's college trips. There's driving places. . .any places.
So when does it get here?
The Questioningly Funky,
Fishie
"I've Seen All Good People" Yes
Tuesday, January 29, 2002
08:24 PM
You know, I don't even know why I'm even bothering to blog. Mebbe it's because Keri just blogged. . .can't let her show me up, can I? I think not. . .hehe.
So, what adventures have I had lately...uhm, let's go in a non-sequential, totally random order. .. sound good?
This past Sunday: Sunday proved Fran to be very stupid, as well as proving itself to be quite a Murphy's law day. First of all, I had work, and it wasn't a normal work day. It was 11 to 8, and I was not feeling too well to begin with. My head was hurting, my nose was stuffed and my ears were clogged. Wish you were me? It gets better: Prancer was hosting. So not only was I sick, but there was no extra help. Then, when bringing a tray into the kitchen, I managed to spill a nice healthy dose of tomato soup on my brand new white tuxedo shirt. Oh boy, was I happy! So, after that fun experience, I went to my grandfather's apartment, which has the climate of, oh, let's say the Amazon rainforest, and I watched football. *Finger twirl* Woohoo. Eh, it's alright, he's Granpa. He can watch what he wants cause he's mini. And of course, there's more. About fifteen minutes into dinner, I was pouring some hot water into a cup from the machine, and in typical Fran style, put too much in...I went to dump it into the sink, which was about a foot of counterspace away. I knew I was going to spill it. What I didn't know was that I was going to spill it ALL on my thumb...and this was not tepid water. This was BOILING water...that's right 217 degrees F, 100 degrees C, 372 K...and it hurt. ALOT. I immeadiately flushed it with cold water. It was okay then...that is, until I turned off the cold water. I ran into the kitchen, picked up a rubber glove and filled it with ice. It did not leave my hand for quite some time. Let me tell you that it is difficult as hell to balance three plates (which happen to be hot) of stuffed peppers on a makeshift icepack and burnt thumb. I don't know how I did it. . .I managed to serve, clear, and spray my entire section before saying "DAMN! This hurts!" Chef John took my ice away and gave me a disgustingly icky pad soaked in "EMERGENCY BURN CREME". . .it was liquid, and it didn't help...IDIOT...I wanted my ice back. I went to go see a nurse, and she gave me my ice. I like that. Smart nurse. Then she proceeded to fill out an accident report, for the insurance's benefit if I went to the hospital. It's pretty nice to know that my idiotic mistakes are covered under Worker's Comp insurance. I don't have to pay a cent. Thank you Federal Gov't! So then we proceeded to call my parents. Don't you know they left the phone off the hook? Oh, of course...it's Fran's life...things aren't supposed to go right. I sat there and felt guilty while Christine and Carley finished up. I did not feel so guilty, however, when they left at 6:30, and I was stuck there until eight. Prancer offered to take me home...I was so desperate I almost accepted...thank God my Dad showed up five minutes later to drop off Granpa...he didn't even know about the phones. He offered to let me drive home. I contemplated...it was either "learn how to drive one's self while injured now," or "learn how to drive one's self when one is REALLY injured later." I think you know which one I chose...Anyway, the hand is much better now...the only part I'm worried about is a semi-white/numb part between my knuckle and nail...oh well, I'll have a nurse look at it sometime...
WOW...that was alot for one entry. Considering that one was prolly the most interesting encounter that I was planning to mention, I'll spare you the other ones. I'm too tired to think up things to say anyway...
The Blogged Out but Funky as Ever,
Fishie
"In My Life" The Beatles
Sunday, January 13, 2002
09:14 PM
Hello blog! Did you miss me? I missed you. I've been, as Dr. Seuss says, "here, there, and everywhere." But I'm done being those places now. All I want to do is write a blog
.
This happens to be the first blog of the new year. Yaaay. It's somewhat late though. Booo. As you know, or may not know, Monday, December 31st was my B-day. That's right, I turned 16. Yes I have my permit. Yes I have been driving. More on that later. . .
Want to hear about work? If you don't, too bad, cause that's what I want to talk about. Sections have been changed so that the "small" section is no longer small. Eh, doesn't matter to me. I do wall. I worked tonight, and we got out the earliest ever: 6:45. That's gotta be a record. Unfortunately, who had the privilage of working two consecutive previous shifts down a staff member? I think you know. Last Sunday, someone was supposed to cover for Denise, but never showed up. Fran was PO'd. Luckily, Elizabeth, who had up until recently been a waitress, was hosting with Greg, so things were not as bad as they could have been. Then yesterday I was covering for Christine, and Lauren's coverage did not show up. ARGH! And it was only Greg hosting. Still, we made good time for having three on, and got out at 7:30. That extra person makes a difference. I only found out later that Lauren's coverage's mother had had a heart attack. I'm no longer angry.
As far as school, it's all such a blur that I can't remember most. I just finished a book critique on the entire LOTR series. It's utter crap, but I don't care. It would have been worse if I had done it on Faust. I probably have more stuff to do, but I don't care! We got all our new chorus music, and we've started learning it. Personally, I'm a big fan of the small group stuff. It's all really challenging, but I like it that way. Of course, being the overachiever that I am, I did all my solfeggio in one night. Then the next day I did my midterm, and pulled an A+. YaaaY! Speaking of midterms, they basically determine next year's small group. I wonder how it'll turn out.
Driving has been an interesting experience. It almost seems as though my dad is going by a lesson plan, but it's a bit mixed up. First day was right turns and going down hills. Second day was left turns and going up hills, and also avoiding pedestrians, which I don't think he planned on. And tonight I got my first dose of night driving. Other than the fact that you can't see the controls of the car, it's not so different, but it is a bit disconcerting.
Anyway, that's all the babble I can muster for now. I'll be back eventually to give ya some more. . .
The Empty but Funky,
Fishie
"Helicopters" Barenaked Ladies
Saturday, December 29, 2001
09:05 PM
I chose this song because of my favorite line, which I kinda felt pertained to today "I'll be leaving soon."
Significance: This is what I told choir director Ferrari. That's right. The music loving fish has given up choir. I think I've made it quite clear that he's a big ass who cares more about himself than the choir. It just was no longer fun for me anymore, and I didn't want to take anymore of his BS. I must say I'm interested to hear how sucky the choir'll sound tommorow.
I had work today, which was alright, cause we had a good crew. I got to try stuffed cabbage. Yes, I know many of you say "BLERGH!" when I mention stuffed cabbage, but when you mix in Herman the Hispanic chef, it turns out really good. I thought so anyway. The evening went well, until host Greg attemted to flirt. I was somewhat sickened. He prances and misplaces the coffee. I don't want to get involved with someone like that.
Let's see. . .what else have I been up to? I watched the entirity of Godfather I. My dad got it on DVD for Christmas. *shakes head* And I thought the TV version was violent. Surprisingly, though, there's an abscence of swearing. Funny how people who don't think twice about shooting someone are very reluctant to use profanity. Odd. Anyway, I like the movie, but I think that it gives those of Sicilian descent *cough cough* my family *cough cough* somewhat of a bad reputation. We joke about it though. Apparently my dad is my Grandpa's consigliere (pronounced con-sil-ye-ri).
Well, that's about it for me. I've kinda run out of things to say. I could start to babble, but I don't think you'd enjoy that too much.
The Drained of Thought but never of Funkiness,
Fishie
"Iris" Goo Goo Dolls
Wednesday, December 26, 2001
09:25 PM
Well, a belated "Merry Christmas" to all, and "Happy Holidays" as well. I dunno how I'm feeling right now, save to say that I am somewhat bored. For the past few days, absolutely nobody has been online, and I'm beginnning to feel the effects; meaning I've often found myself meandering about my house in search of something to do. I swear, even doing laundry is starting to look appealing.
Well, I got some neat stuff for Christmas; clothes mostly. My favorite Santa/Mom and Dad gift was prolly a five CD set of everything Simon and Garfunkel had ever recorded. Today I listned to all of Wednesday Morning 3AM. I love everything S and G, so, of course I was in a good mood.
I went with Dad to go see LotR too. I must say that it puts the books in perspective. I don't want to compare it to HP, partly because each has things the other doesnt, and partly because I don't have the time or the energy. I will say that I liked it very much, and that my favorite characters are, and always will be Merry and Pippin, despite their bumblyness.
I've gone hiking twice in the last four days, and all I can say is that I want MORE. I love that lake, I love those woods, and I love my rock. It's just so refreshing to get away from everybody. It's also kinda cold, due to the fact that it's late December, but I am not daunted. In fact, I'm encouraged, cause if I can hike now, I can hike anytime...I can't wait until there's some snow down there. Ought to be interesting.
Well, I can't really think of anything else to say. I just kinda needed to clear my head of all the babble that floats around in there.
The Funkily Refreshed,
Fishie
"Put On Your Sunday Clothes" Cast of Hello Dolly
Sunday, December 23, 2001
01:10 PM
Congratulations!!!! You have caught the fish in an extremely rare happy mood. What is your prize? Why, of course, it's hearing the reasons for this really good mood.
Reason #1: It's a Sunday, yet I still have another eight vacation days left. *dances around* I don't have school for a week! I don't have school for a week. . .yaaaay! I don't even want to think about the work that I _should_ be doing, cause that would be such a damned killjoy
Reason #2: Tommorow is Christmas Eve. Again, the whole church thing kinda bums me out, but I'm not thinking about it. I'm gonna do my best to enjoy mass, even if it kills me (or if I hafta kill Ferrari...whichever!). I will not let my wrath get the best of me if I can help it. I'm leaving soon, so it doesn't matter...whatever happens. Oh, and did I mention, no swim practice?
Reason #3: Christmas Day is Tuesday. Presents, family (though sometimes not so good), and a general sense of YAAAAY! Enough said.
Reason #4: I just went hiking. I missed it so much. It was exactly the same as it was in the summer...only colder...and much quieter. It was wierd being at the lake and not hearing the sounds of a billion and a half boat motors. Also, all the trees had lost their leaves, which means I could see all the mansions by the lake. Granted, I have a big house, but these were gargantuan. And pretty too. And it was funny, because when I went over the sumer I hadn't had any idea that one or two of them were there.
Reason #5: A week and a day until New Years Eve, which equals my 16th birthday, which denotes PERMIT!!!! I get to go take an insultingly simple test, and when I pass, I get to wait in line for a teeny slip of paper that says I can drive when a liscenced adult is present as well...not to mention the fact that I get more presents.
So, I'm sure there are more reasons why I'm happy...just can't think of 'em now. Oh well...I'm going to try my best to enjoy it while it lasts...or at least until reality sets in.
Your Unusually Happy but Regularly Funky,
Fishie
"Run Around" Blues Traveler
Thursday, December 20, 2001
07:51 PM
You know, it's been an interesting week. It's a pity I can't remember anything about it though. I dunno...I'm just so...tired. It's time to say "ahh!" I need a vacation, and luckily, that's just what I'm going to get. I can't wait. And if I don't go hiking once next week, somebody's going to hafta kick me!
So, I bought all my christmas presents on Saturday. I spent three hours and $240 in the mall, and managed to purchase for about 20 people. Of course, I waited until tonight to wrap it all. I still have cards to write. . .plus I have other gifts to mail. Julie, Ami, and Pat, your presents might be a bit belated, because I haven't gotten to the post office yet, but believe me, they're worth the wait. I got some really neat stuff. It was nice not to worry about money too much for a change.
Sunday was work as usual, nothing really to be said. I don't mind it much, but it was shifty chef John rather than chef Dominic. Dominic I didn't mind, but he quit cause his raise was only 3%. . .I don't blame him.
Monday was as fun as any monday could possibly be. Of course, we had small group for the eighty billionth time this month. Although, Monday was more fun than most. Instead of singing on the risers (they were in the auditorium), we laid down on our backs with the lights off and sang. Ya see, Mr. Hermonat has a windowless room, and it's absolutely COVERED in glow in the dark stuff. It's my favorite room in the entire school. Anyway, with all that, it kinda felt like a small group camp out.
Tuesday was the night of the big renaissance concert. Fran got all dressed up pearty...and she once again established the fact that her dress is REALLY long. It's a renaissance costume, what can I say? I borrowed a friend's flower wreath (thanks Beth!!!) and my hair was pretty as well. It's nice to spend some time on yourself for once. By the way, Julie, I don't think I'll be able to send the tape up to you with your christmas present. They haven't shown it on the local channel yet, and I want to get your christmas present up there. But don't fear. It will come if I have to walk up to Granby to get it there.
Wednesday was one of those days where you feel like you've done alot, but you really haven't. Either that or I can't remember what I did. All I remember was the chorus concert, twas our last one, and it ws at St. Joes. Evil man Ferrari was there, and apparently met Mr. Hermonat. I gave him evil glares, which he deserved. I've decided I'm quitting church choir. I can't take his BS anymore. He's not worth my time. And, there's a chance that I might punch him in the nose the next time I see him, and we'd kinda like to avoid that.
Today started out not so fun. Upon waking up, I went to put my glasses on, and the metal on the frames snapped. This wasnt just a lil thing...they were BROKEN. I used masking tape to get em' together, and only wore them while I had to, but it was odd. I couldn't see very well. Imagine how frightning it was when Mike Hardej scared me today...he usually does everyday, and I always scream, but at least I can see him usually...today was just wierd. Anwho, we went to Costco to get a new pair of frames. I was anticipating not being able to see until after Christmas. But, there is a God, and they just happened to have the exact pair of frames on sale, so all the guy did was pop the old lenses into the new frames. Problem solved. Bob of the optometry department of Costco is my hero!
So, that would be my week in review. Tommorow is a school waste day, save for the fact that I get to give out all my presents. Oh, jeez, which means I have to go finish wrapping...Till later!
The Chilly and Happy and Funky,
Fishie
"Walk of Life" Dire Straits
Friday, December 14, 2001
02:56 PM
Hey! Don't I know you?! Jeez. . .I refuse to go a month without blogging. That's just silly...to all those who look at this as their sole source of entertainment, I have two things to say. This first being Lo Siento, Gomen, and Sorry!!! The second being, "What do you _do_ in your free time?"
Let it be known that the fish has no free time. What eats it up, you ask? Hrm, let's think about that. . .could it be school? Mebbe it's school. . .no, wait, it's school. . .unless it's school, in which case, school would be the primary culprit. Along with that you've got chorus concerts and practices galore, work, swim, and, guess what! More school. The only thing that keeps me going is the fact that I will be halfway done by Mid-January.
So what have I done all this time that I've been away? Uhm, let's start with school: I don't remember if I ever said anything about that massive research paper that was due a while back, but it was, and I did well, in comparison to the rest of the class. Then, on the resubmit I pulled a 94. . .I don't know how, I don't know why, I just praised the power that be! Math is evil, it has always been evil, and will always be evil, that is, until next year when I have Doc again. My Spanish teacher is either really bitchy or is going through a prolonged mood swing, and it's not for the better. Chem is chem. . .Mr. Burd is still cubic in shape. Humanities is going pretty well. I don't mind it so much. As of now we're learning about the differences between man and animal. We just finished a video in which we saw a middle aged man run naked with caribou in Alaska. . .uhm, yeah, my idea of fun too.
December's second biggest culprit in stealing Fran's time is definitely chorus. We've had small group practice after school almost every day since the month started. Tonight is my first this week that I don't have a concert to go to. I love performing, but this music is getting old. I can't wait till after break when we get new music. Small group is singing Scarbourough Fair/Sound of Silence. . .YAAAAY for Paul Simon. . .hehe. Speaking of which, on our anual trip to Harlem to sing for the chillins of St. Anne's school, I was listening to Simon and Garfunkel, which is _the_ hiking music. I almost cried cause I miss summer and hiking so much. I keep telling myself that I'm gonna go, but I have so much to do that I never get to. . .it sucks. Lately in chorus though, we've been sight reading all this music from last year. I love it so much, because if I just close my eyes, it feels exactly like last year. I miss the past.
Work...well, I always seem to do alot of it. Though I'm only scheduled for one shift per week, I always seem to end up doing one or two more. Not that I mind. It's not so bad. Most of the time I end up working with the ppl that are fun. We make fun of the extremely shifty ppl at work and all is good. I like work, and I can't complain. Well, I could, but I'm not gonna. However, I've been there way too much in the past week. On tuesday, small group sang there. . .yesterday spanish honors society sang there, and Sunday I'm working 11 to 8. And something tells me I might end up visiting there tonight. . .is it sad that my life revolves around the Village? I spend WAY too much time there.
As far as swim goes, actually, I haven't been there much in the past two weeks, due to the whole concert thing. I'm swimming well, considering the fact that I'm not getting any practice. I don't have a meet tommorow, or for the rest of December for that matter, so it's not a big deal. I don't feel like going to practice today. . .we'll see where I end up.
So, there! I feel as though I've accomplished something. As to the setup, I dunno what's wrong, but I've decided I'm not going to try and figure it out until I feel inspired to do so. It's not at the top of my list (Although I do have a list of about 40 ppl that I need to buy x-mas presents for). Oh, and speaking of presents, Happy Birthday Daddy!
The Festive and Accomplished,
Fishie
"Song for the Asking" Simon and Garfunkel
Sunday, November 18, 2001
09:25 PM
Well, I've managed to find a survey, and thought it might be an interesting and amusing way to take up space. . .
1. Color/s? blue, green, and silver and black
2. Number? 27 or 72
3. Letter of the alphabet? Anything caligraphied...specially Kiersten's W's
4. Female Singer/s? Don't really think I have one.
5. Male Singer/s? Paul Simon or Simon and Garfunkel...can't pick.
6. CD? Again, between Negotiations and Love songs (Paul Simon) and Th Simon and Garfunkel Greatest Hits.
7. Band/s? Barenaked Ladies
8. Actor/s? Jeremy Irons, Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman...and let's throw in a wildcard: Bill Murray.
9. Actress/s? Can't think of one off the top of my head, and I wanna finish by ten.
10. TV show/s? Whose Line, Buffy, West Wing, and Boston Public
11. TV channel? Not MTV
12. Movie/s and why? Die Hard Trilogy. . .mainly because of th action/humor
13. Quote from a movie? "So, I said to the Llama (said Laaama), 'How's about a little somethin' fer the effert>?'"~Bill Murray in Caddyshack
14. Flower? Do people really pick favorite flowers...I just like pretty ones.
15. Flavor of jello? I don't like jello, it's gross
16. Kool aid? Lemonade
17. Instrument/s and why? Piano, because you can play many notes at once on it, you can sing along to it, and it just makes me so happy to sit there and just press the keys of the piano.
18. Vacation spot? Don't vacation much, but I'd like to visit Europe some day.
19. Song/s and why? Due to the fact that I'm too eclectic and it changes way to often, I refuse to choose.
20. Perfume? I just wear body spray
21. Cologne? Never thought about it
22. Sports? Swimming
23. Animal? Cat and Dog
24. Sandwhich? Subway Veggie Sandwich with spicy peppers and mustard
25. Thing in your room? Everything on my dreser
26. Finger? The one that has my class ring on it
27. Lunch? Uhm, don't really enjoy it that much.
28. Breakfast? Daddy's Waffles
29. Dinner? Pasta Fajole
30. Icecream? Praline Pecan
31. Store? Borders is my friend, hehe
32. Holiday? Christmas ~ I LOVE shopping and giving gifts
33. Day of the week? Saturday
34. Year? I live for the moment
35. Month? Early July...swim camp and hiking
36. Season? Summer, again, for hiking
37. Type of music? I have very eclectic tastes.
38. Shampoo? Just started using thermasilk
39. Conditioner? same as shampoo
40. Toothpaste? this new Colgate toothpaste and mouthwash combo. I don't know why I like it so much but I do.
41. Soap? for the shower? Bath and Body Works
42. Food? Anything I make myself.
43. Drink? Any non-alcoholic, non-poisonous liquid
44. Color of socks? Glow in the Dark
45. Places to be kissed? That's rather personal, think?
46. Car? Uh...I love the Audi TT but it'll never be mine.
47. Salad Dressing? Parm. Peppercorn.
48. Girls name? Francesca, Penelope, April, Hope
49. Guys name? Too many to list...just not ones like Harold
50. Fast food restaurant? Subway
51. Subject in school? Chorus...nothing comes close.
52. Least favorite subject in school? This year I really don't mind any
53. Radio stations? I don't really use the radio much...WINAMP is my friend.
54. Teacher? Seņor Hermonat, choral director supreme
55. Year in school? Lemme finish first
56. Vegetable? Broccoli and Mushrooms.
57. Fruit? Cherries and Pineapple...and clementines
58. Meat? Chicken and Sea food.
59. Bread? I love Italian bread!
60. Dairy? Skim Milk
61. Candy? Sweedish Fishies
62. Concert you've been to? Barenaked Ladies
63. Cartoon? Keri would kill me if I didn't put any anime here. . .Ranma
64. Rapper? I don't enjoy rap
65. Amphibian? Froggies
66. Magazine? hrm...no
67. Gum? Extra
68. Brand of shoes? Speedo Sandals
69. Brand of clothing? I refuse to buy clothes that have any sort of logo on them - why pay MORE money to be a big walking advertisement?!
70. Music video? I like listening, not watching
71. Poem? Invitus, but I hear it alot lately
72. Poet? Paul Simon
73. Sitcom? Does Whose Line count?
74. Physical feature about yourself? I like my funny colored eyes and my long legs.
75. Game show? don't watch those
76. Juice? lemonade and cranberry mix
77. Place to visit? my friends and swim camp
78. Place to chill? Home, mall, Y, school...swim camp common room
79. Soft drink? Dr. Pepper
80. Board game? Chess, Checkers, Monopoly
81. Smells? baking cookies, clean laundry, the smell of fall, and chiminies. . .ooh, and garlic
82. Soundtrack? Lion King
83. Writer? John Grisham
There. If you read the whole thing, you should prolly be doing something more productive
The Questioned Out,
Fishie
"How You Remind Me" Nickleback
Sunday, November 11, 2001
09:25 PM
I have NO idea how I've gone for so long without blogging. For those of you whose sole entertainment is my blog, I have two things to say to you: I'm sorry, and do you have lives? Sorry, just joking
So, what have I been doing lately that has kept me away for so long? Your biggest culprit would be swimming. I had SWC's last week, in which I managed to drop a second in my 2 free, threw up the three bottles of water I consumed after swimming it, and still managed to drop 10 seconds off my 5 free time. I'm special!!! Hehe. State trials was yesterday. I only swam in the 4 free relay, but it was nice to be a part of it. And I think we made state trials, which is Tuesday at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT if anybody wants to come cheer me on.
And then there's work. I've had to give up Saturdays because meets will be starting for YMCA soon, and they take ALL day. So now I just work sundays from 11 to 7:30. It's not too bad. And now we have a new host (do not ask me what the host really does, because not even he was sure). He's nineteen, and not so bad, cept for the fact that he was asking for help left and right, and seemed to be finding excuses to talk. Well, I have my own opinions on that one. . .anyway. . .
School's another issue. Fran has much work. She should be doing some now, but she figures she has tommorow off, so it can wait. And she's right! That procrastination thing would be another reason why I haven't blogged in a bit.
So, what's up for the future? We only have 15 more school days until our first chorus concert. I can't wait. We sound awesome. Woo-hoo, I'm so excited. The Renaissance concert is going to be great. . .if only I could figue out what I'm going to do with my hair. . .something with flowers mayhap. School is going by really quick. We're already done with a quarter. I only have seven more left, and then I graduate. That is SCARY. Oh well, at least I can look forward to swim camp after three more quarters. . .I can't wait!
Your Somewhat Funkily Excited,
Fishie
"What It Is" Mark Knopfler
Sunday, October 20, 2001
09:02 PM
This may not be the best time for me to write a blog, specially since I haven't blogged for a good long while. I'm kinda frustrated with life at the moment. I normally don't adopt this "life sucks" attitude, but I'm just feeling so annoyed. I'm even becoming semi-violent; I hit a pillow. It may not be a big deal to you ppl, but for me, that's unusual. I dunno what's wrong. So, disclaimer: If this blog depresses, angers, frustrates, annoys, or puts you to sleep, it's not my fault. It's everybody elses.
School's going alright. It's not the best but it could be worse. I could have a creative arts project due monday, but I don't. I could have 20 billion other things to do, but I don't. Lucky me. Schools kinda depressing. It's the same thing, period after period, day after day. How I long for college. Not to say that I don't like my (most of my. . .not including you, ARAM) teachers or my classes. . .I just get bored with the norm. I want something new.
Swimming, actually, is going very well. I'm having what is probably my best season in years. I've qualified for SWC's in the 500 and the 200 free, and could qualify for the 100 back and free if there was any point, but, since I can only swim two main events, there really is none. I like the 5 and the 2 best anyway. I'm not a sprinter, and frankly, don't care to be one. Oh, sure, a good sprint set in practice really hits the spot, but I wouldn't want to do that in a meet. Too much pressure. If you mess up once, you've lost. At least in the 5 and somewhat in the 2, you have a chance to make up for your mistakes.
On the home front, it seems like everytime I settle down to do something, be it school work, talk, or just plain relax, I'm interrupted by something. I hate it. I never have a free moment to myself. ARRRGH! It's not just the family. . .some stuff interupts other stuff. Weird, but true. And it ends up that I'm thinking about doing so many things at once that I end up doing them all really crappily, or not doing them at all. I think I need a vacation. . .or to be back at swim camp. That would be nice.
So, this was my rant log. Watch out for these, cause they're rare. I hope that I can get out of this "Life Sucks" mood soon. It seems that everytime I get into one of them, life is worse than it was before I was in the bad mood. So, to close. . .
MY crappy but funky LIFE!!!!
Fishie
"You Rock My World" Michael Jackson
Sunday, October 7, 2001
01:32 PM
This is my first afternoon blog in a while, however, this is the first free moment that's been long enough to blog. Actually, this moment isn't really free. I'm on borrowed time. I should be doing my book critique. . .oh well. . .I have a thesis already, so I figure I can bust out a pretty good critique in about 2 hours. Plus, I have tommorow too. I'm not terribly worried.
So, let's see. . .if there has ever been a "swimming week" for me, this one was it. If I wasn't home, it was probably swim team that was to blame. Not that I minded. Monday was practice as usual (usual meaning I was 45 minutes late because of small group, but I didn't care). Tuesday was our meet against Masuk. Unfortunately, we lost, but on the other hand, it was the best meet of my recent life, or so I thought (more on that later). I went a 6:29 in my 500, which was my best time, and also qualifying for SWC's. With the 200, I went 2:23, which, though not what some would consider a great time, is one second off qualifying for SWC's. Wednesday: Practice. . .kinda boring. . .uhm. . .not much else to say. Thursday: Now this really _was_ the best meet of my life. I was the A swimmer for the 500, won my event, lapped everybody, and got a new best time of 6:27. What a self esteem boost. As the B swimmer for the 200, I got second, and technically a best time seeing as how it was exactly the same. Oh well. That's the swimming highlights for the week.
As far as my social life goes, I really haven't had time for one lately. Whenever I was online, nobody else would be. The only social interactions I had this week revolved around swim team. Tuesday after the meet, Barbara, Ruth, Jen, and I all went out for Chinese food at Main Moon. Much fun and tasty food was had by all. Wednesday involved a swim team pasta party, which concluded with Jen, Barbara, and I going shopping at 9 PM for overalls. Thursday night thru Friday morning was the swim team sleepover. Probably one of the funnest times, but stupidest things to do. I did not sleep. Period. I completed a 30 hour day of no sleep. And I still had the energy to go to practice afterwards. Friday was also the Pep Rally. I must say that swim team had the best skit, which is still too complicated to explain. Unfortunately, the funness of Pep Rally was kinda marred by the traditional freshman bashing. However, instead of just yelling "Go Home Freshmen" at the freshmen teams, some seniors decided it would be a good idea to through eggs at the freshman football team. I was appalled. I'm proud to say that swim team actually _cheered_ for the freshmen. Yaay for us and our unbiased school spirit. After the Pep Rally was Small Group, which was theraputic, even without sleep. It always is.
So. . .that's the week in a nutshell. Pretty good overall. I'll take what I can get, you know. Its not that I'm settling, it's just that I'm thankful for what I've got.
The Funkil Grateful,
Fishie
"One Week" Barenaked Ladies (Think I like them much?)
Friday, September 28, 2001
08:58 PM
I think that the best way to attempt this is probably to to go day by day. I don't know why I haven't blogged in almost a week, no, wait, I do. The hellhole (damn you ARAM and American Man!), work (Oh, I love old ppl. . .do I ever!), practice (*dryly* Thanks for the ever challenging workouts Doug!), and home (there's always laundry). So, to begin (btw, I'm skipping Sunday. . .why? Because I want to, and it's my blog, so deal with it. . .
Monday: Probably the least hellish day this week, which is surprising, considering the nature of Mondays in general. It actually started out looking pretty bleak. It was a nice, however, unpleasant surprise to be informed by Conor, sitting next to me in Spanish, that there had been a bomb threat. Cloutier told him to go to the office. It took them an entire _PERIOD_ to make the decision to evacuate the school. Now, I know that this probably wasn't a real bomb threat, but still, it was the principle of the thing. So, when our oh-so-smart faculty decided to evacuate, we were more than ready to leave. Leaving means standing less than 25 yards from the school, btw. . .another safe measure, right? We stood outside for about an hour, before everybody just gave up and started to leave. I went to Keri's. The only real amusement came from a kid who made a hitchhiking sign: "Reno (or New Milford) or Bust!". . .this kid has high aspirations. Needless to say, swim practice was cancelled. Darn!
Tuesday: Another swim team less day. I was crushed. See my tears! Aren't they realistic. I presented my creative arts project in humanities, which happened to be an original musical composition; on the puter no less. I think it went over well. People were impressed. Promptly after this, our second bomb threat of the week was announced. We evacuated for 20 minutes. . .I kinda figured we wouldn't go home again. That'd be way too easy. Unfortunately, my sister was sick, so I was forced to miss Alto's make up small group rehearsal. . .that I _was_ sad about.
Wednesday: Did anything really happen? I had many tests, but that was about it. . .including this really nasty one on The Scarlet Letter which I've heard that everyone fails. Oh well, she hasn't finished grading ours yet. . .I'm not expecting higher than a B.
Thursday: Ahhhh. . . my day off from school. Pure heaven is all I can say. Unfortunately, it's purity was marred by the fact that I had to do the rest of my English research paper note cards. Eh. . .I got them done, tis all I can say about them. On the upside, I actually got to go hiking for the first time in a month. It was pretty. All the leaves were coming down. But, on the other hand, it was alot colder than the last time I went. I had to bring soup for lunch. Mmmm. . .soup is tasty. Then, I went to work, which wasn't as bad yesterday. They were having this September Birthdays Celebration. They had special dinner (shrimp cocktail, prime rib. . .etc) and a piano playing dude. It was kinda fun. Plus, I got to wear a party hat. And guess what! Jesus wasn't our dishwasher. . .it was NACHO! We like him muchly. . .he actually smiles once a month. I wish he could wash dishes everyday.
Friday (for those of you who don't know, that's today): School was normal. Good thing: I got my pictures back, and they turned out decent. I'm pretty happy. In chorus, we took some "Small Group Time" and went over stuff, cause we didn't have after school time. Mr. Hermonat went to the Opera. Hope he had fun. Then I went to practice, which was aggravating. Workout was:
40*50yds, alternating stroke/free. 10 of each stroke
400 butterfly kick on one's back. . .yaay for core strength
16*100 alternating free/IM.
And all the while I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere. Argh. . .I hate practice days like that. And it wasn't just me, everybody felt the same. Hopefully Sunday morning practice will be better. And that's it. That was a nice long blog. Sorry I have been more consistent, but it's hard to balance all this stuff. Somehow I manage.
The Funky but All Blogged Out,
Fishie
"It's Been Awhile" Stained
Saturday, September 22, 2001
08:47 PM
Well, it really has been awhile since the last blog, but there really hasn't been anything terribly blogworthy. I swear, the only way my life could be more boring is if I lived in central Massachusets (right Jolly, Killer, and Perfect?).
So, this week was. . .unspecial? I can't think of anything neat. We didn't have any swim meet, so I have no times to report. Practice, as usual, was a bitch, but I manag to get through it every time. Oh, and I seem to somehow have acquired a coaching job. My YMCA team practices right after high school. One coach, a somewhat young one in fact, seems to enjoy arriving late, so I cover his lane, and then when he gets there, we coach together. It's fun enough I guess, but I kinda wish I had more dedicated swimmers.
As far as school goes, nothing terribly newsworthy. So far, we've raised about $7,000 to send of to NYC. It makesme feel better that I can help, evenif t's only a teeny bit. We had normal small group rehearsals. I don't want to sound full of myself, but we are sounding pretty darn good for only having three rehearsals. . .I mean really good. Special Chorus, however, is another story *shakes head*.
I worked yesterday (Friday) covering for Christine. Apparently, this new guy, Liam, was supposed to start up, but never showed. Lori, Ashley, Carolyn and I were dissapointed. We had fun anyway. I worked breakfast and lunch today. It was. . . interesting. I worked with Mary, and Denise's daughter Amy. I don't know what it is, but I always feel intimidated when working with Amy. I don't want to say that she's just waiting for me to make a mistake, so she can correct it, but it seems like it sometimes. . .some ppl just don't seem right. . .mebbe it's just me. I dunno.
The Confused and Funky,
Fishie
"Monday, Monday" Mamas and the Papas
Monday, September 17, 2001
08:47 PM
Well, I didn't blog yesterday because, frankly, there wasn't much to blog about. In fact, there isn't much today either. I wasn't even planning on blogging today, but somehow I ended up here, so I figured that I might as well. So, what did I do that was interesting today. . .uhm. . .ehrm. . .
I had school. Oh, yeah, riveting stuff. *sarcastic* I did not come close to falling asleep in all of my classes except Special Chorus. I dunno, I wasn't feeling very well. I was kinda queezy all day. It didn't help that most of my classes were, uhm, dull today. School in general is pretty dull. At least I get to see some friends there. . .I think I need a break. . .I'm starting to babble. Hey, Keri, do you want to hear about iron ore?
My only real gripe of the day is more of a gripe about the year so far. You see, it's about my lunch table, rather, the people who sit at my lunch table, rather, a person at my lunch table. The only boy. Not my favorite person. He delights in poking ppl, saying not so appropriate things, and annoying Fran in general. A week ago I blamed it on freshmen immaturity. Now I think it's a character flaw. week from now, he'll pretty much be a full blown jerk. Don't you envy me? I don't know why or how I put up with it. . .
So after school was small group. . .altos and sopranos. Those airy fairy sopranos keep complaining that they will never have their own after school sectional. Oh, boo hoo hoo. Cry me a river, build me a bridge, and get over it. Let's all shed a tear for the sopranos, who sound quite terrible as of yet. It's not that I don't like the people who are sopranos, it's just that I hate it when they whine! Altos sounded quite good, just in case you were wondering. We blend nicely.
I had swim practice after small group, which was, thankfully, not as terrible as Sunday's practice. Afterwards, I stayed to help coach Mako, the Regional YMCA's team, which I happen to be on as well. I got the 9-10's. Alot of them still need swim lessons. Eventually their real coach, Scott, got there. He's twenty something, a teacher, a bit weird, but still fun to talk to. I stayed, because it was more fun killing time with him than doing my homework while listening to my mother gossip with the other swim team mothers about how the team politics have taken over. Puh-lease! *rolls eyes*
So it looks like tommorow I might be getting that break that I've been waiting for. Gotta love religious holidays. Now I get to go hiking for the first time since the Monday before school started. I think it was August 27. I can't wait. I miss my rock. . .
The Funkily Ready for Her Break,
Fishie
"Standing on the Edge of Night" Element 101
Saturday, September 15, 2001
09:38 PM
You know, I really should be more regular about blogging. It's hard, though, being a compulsive procrastinator combined with work, school, homework, practice, and swim meets. I feel busy. Actuallly, I was just doing some math for fun in the shower (yeah, Fran's not too messed up), and I figured out that I'm only home 72 hours out of a 168 hour week. And that includes time spent sleeping. Take out sleeping and you're left with 18 waking hours at home per week. Eighteen out of 168. That's 10.7% of my week. Now do you see why I haven't blogged for a bit.
Anyway, today I worked for a full day because we at the Village are terribly short on staff. I only did it for Lori. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been as amusing, and I wouldn't have stayed for dinner. And I didn't eat anything except a cookie and half a cup of soup from 8:30 last night to 7:30 tonight, when thankfully, Herman saved me some linguini with red clam sauce. Thank God for food. I like food alot! Especially when I haven't had some in a while. Then it's quite tasty.
So today was pretty regular. I can't remember much about Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, but that's probably the lack of food thing. Oh, but I did get my grades back for my Pre-calc quiz, Chem Test, and Spanish Test. They were a 90, 96, and a 97 respectively. I feel extremely lucky. Yaaay me. Oh, and us HS swimmers had our first meet on Friday. My times were pretty good for this being my first meet since March, but pretty bad over all. But in the 200 fr I placed 2nd to another Brookfield swimmer, in the 500 fr the same, and in the 400 fr relay we won. Yaaay! So, we have one win, and one loss behind us. Oh, did I forget to tell you it was a tri-meet. Yeah, it was us, the team we beat (New Milford), and the state champs (Laurelton Hall). Uhm, we kinda ignored them because we knew we didn't have a chance against them. Oh well, I had fun, and that's what counts. If only I could improve my walls (let me reiterate that Fran is NOT,in fact, crazy, just a swimmer). So that's it. . .I've got morning practice tommorow, so we'll see how that goes, and I will honestly try to blog again.
The Funkily Semi-Fast but Not Quite,
Fishie
"I'm Scared" Sarah Vaughan
Tuesday, September 11, 2001
09:38 PM
Today is a day that must be remembered, lest we repeat the horrific events that have unfolded today. I'm assuming that anyone reading this knows what has happened. The four hijacked plains, 2 crash into the World Trade Centers, one into the Pentagon, and the last, headed for Camp David crashed in Somerset County, PE. It really hasn't sunk in yet. I was in chem, and I had finished with my test early, so when Nabel came on the PA, it was not too hard to divert attention too. I thought he was anouncing a bomb drill. I was a lil' wrong. He announced the WTC crashes. Mr. Burd let me go to the library to watch the news, see what was up, take notes, come back, and report.
I got there just in time to see the second plane crash into the WTC. I just didn't believe it. It seemed computer generated, like something out of a movie. It wasn't. I didn't want to go back to report, I just wanted to hear Dan Rather talk. But I did. Reporter Fran.
Spanish followed, where I was informed by Keri that the Pentagon had been hit. I almost started to cry. We took our test anyway. I finished first, and went back to the library to take more notes. I forget what happened, but you know the sequence of events. After this came lunch, which I didn't eat. You see, Brianna's uncle works (worked?) in the WTC. When she found out about the collapse of both buildings, she was quite upset. We all brought her to the library to comfort her. I felt so sick. I hate this.
The rest of the day was much of the same. Swim practice, as well all other after school activities, was cancelled. I came straight home, and was relieved to see my father's car in the garage (I had heard some rumor about White Plains, and I was, uhm, a bit more than teary eyed). My mom and dad looked pale, and even Bandit, my 9 year old black lab/english setter mix seemed to think something was wrong. My mom said she'd been acting weird all day, she stayed really close to me once I got home, and when the wind slammed the door, she literally leaped into my lap and started shaking and winding. She seems a bit better now, but she was really hesitant to eat, and wouldn't play with the basketball outside.
So, now I sit here, trying to make sense of it all. Who could?! There's all these "What ifs?" My biggest fear is a war, and with our president, it's certainly a posibility. I keep seeing all these guy friends of mine who are either eighteen or rapidly approaching it. I'm actually crying now, because I can't think of what life would be like without them, even the ones I don't particularly care for. I'm so scared. For the victims, for their families, for the workers, for our leaders, and for anything that's coming
The Freaked Out but still bearing some semblance of Funkiness,
Fishie
"Not Perfect" Madder Rose
Thursday, September 6, 2001
09:22 PM
I'll take today. It could have been better, it could have been worse. It wasn't perfect. Few things in life are. So I'll take it
Today started off with a Pre-Calc quiz. Due to the risk of jinxing myself, I'm not even going to attempt to guess how well I did. Next was health, in which we determined how much stress Fran has. Fran has much stress. While other ppl had about 6 or 7 stressfull factors checked off, Fran had about 17. his is probably due to the fact that Fran has a very hard time saying "No", and thus ends up packing her agenda quite full.
Third period was Chem, in which we discussed conversions. Not fun stuff, unless you have Burd for a teacher, in which case, it's more like stand-up comedy than a class. I enjoy Chemistry. But I miss Bio. We love you Mr. Brightly!!!! After chem came a spanish quiz, and then discussing of a spanish TV guide, o una guilla del telivisor. I succeeded in proving to my teacher that 00:15 does in fact mean 12:15 AM, not PM as she was thinking. Oh well. The only reason I know that is because every time our power goes out, most of our clocks come back with Army time. Wierd.
Humanities consited of looking at several pictures and trying to get meaning out of them. Uhm, lets just say that Ami and I ended up playing some strange version of tic-tac-toe rather than paying attention--much. Chorus, was, well, chorus. All I have to say about it is that I'm not such a big fan of our music yet, but that's probably because in the process of learning it, we're butchering it. My opinion will probably change in a month.
After school was swim practice at the Club du Lac (or Lake Club). We were outside, which made the pool oh so chilly. Now, when I say pool, I don't exactly mean pool in the traditional sense. No, this was more of a leisure pool (complete with slippery walls and jets of water shooting from the wall making it impossible to breathe or turn well) And guess what workout us four distance swimmers got: Warm up: 400 yds 3*1000 yds of alt. Free/Drill with 2 minutes rest in between, and 14*75 fast free with accelerated turns. Oh yeah, and I also must mention that there was no lane line between our group and the large group of sprinters. Thus, collision was a definite possibility. Despite these factors, I survived, and completed the workout. Yaay for Fran and what must be her immense core, heel, and ankle strength. Though, my arms are a little sore. Oh well, practice is supposed to do that. . .I think. . .
The somewhat sore but still quite funky,
Fishie
"Duck and Run" Three Doors Down
Wednesday, September 5, 2001
08:42 PM
Yesterday was too good to be true, and I knew that today would be crappy from the moment I finished last night's blog. I was just too optimistic and kinda jinxed myself. I ended up with alot of homework today *looks at her Pre-Calc book* some of which I have yet to finish. Thus, this must be short
.
So, I went to school, which alone is a not so fun thing to do. The bus got me there late, as usual. I can't wait till Cheralyn's car gets fixed. I ended up with a ton of Pre-calc stuff, plus a quiz tommorow. Study was, well, study, in which I did my spanish homework. Yaaay for critiques of old movies in a foreign language. Chem was amusing, because, lets face it, Burd is an amusing teacher. Nobody can confuse a ditz faster than he, let me assure you. Spanish was dull, we did un paquete de listening (gotta love spanglish). It basically consisted of the standard: "You hear (Te oyes): blah blah blah. You see "Te ves": a picture of some sort. You write (Te escritas): The most obvious answer you can possibly think of." Your idea of fun? Oh, it's mine!
Lunch had food, but not very tasty food, so no como mucho(I didn't eat much). Perhaps this is why I was so hungry after swim practice. Humanities consisted of making a massive list of "the ways we know what we know." The only point I proved was that I like soup, and since I know I like soup, I'm not going to lie to myself and tell myself not to accept soup when it's offered to me, so therefore, it is a certainty that I like soup. I have just proved that a natural feeling or preference is one of the most certain ways of knowing.
Chorus was, uhm, blergh today. My main issue was the assigning of spots, in which 99.9 percent of small group (which I am in) was placed in the front row, whereas I, Buzz, Grimes, and McCloskey were put into the second row. There were ppl in the front row who weren't even in small group. For some reason, this just pissed Fishie Fran off. She was not amused, and hopes that Mr. Hermonat has either a good reason, or a way of rearranging so Fran doesn't have to maul him.
English was kinda deppressing, seeing as how we started researching our topics for our research paper today, and mines the death penalty, or the movement against it to be more precise. I only read a few chapters of a book, but by the time I was done, at least 50 ppl had died. Kinda morbid. . .
Things perked up for swim practice though. We were at the Y, and actually had a real pool. Yaay for the abscence of lakeweed and toe-eating fishes. But the funniest thing happened not in the pool, but in the shower. We are forced to take showers so we don't "infest the pool with our diseases." So, we all lined up for one shower, but Jill, thinking she was smart, went up to the next shower (for which the curtain was closed), preceded to open the curtain, and found a naked old lady showering there. She spazzed and quickly closed the curtain, but the incident was soooooo amusing. What was even funnier is that the woman didn't even notice Jill had done it. Nobody could stop laughing. I felt better after swim practice. I still feel a bit better. You know, that's one thing about having a bad day today: compared to today, tommorow will be a spectacular.
The Hopefully Funky,
Fishie
"Today was a Good Day" Ice Cube
Tuesday, September 4, 2001
08:38 PM
I really cannot complain about today. It went quite well overall. I got to school nice and early, thanks to a very kind next door neighbor who was driving her own son to school. It felt nice not to be so rushed in the morning. I could organize my locker, put away my coat, visit Mr. Hermonat, etc, and did not once feel as though I was forgetting something.
Pre-Calc was boring as ever, but not terrible. I didn't do much work. Our study group basically ignored the homework and discussed how apelike Malcolm looks. We were informed that there would be a quiz on thursday, but, seeing as how it's all review, and that I'm living on a "day to day" basis, I'm really not worried.
Study was, well, study. I removed dashes from my solfeggio while discussing which was worse: A cold cafeteria cookie, or The MAN eating the lat warm cafeteria cookie. I stuck with coffee. I enjoy coffee. Btw, for those of you who don't know, The MAN is what Kiersten says when reffering to Ms. Smith. I dunno, I kinda like her, even if she does give alot of work. "Gee Fran, you seem to have done a complete 180 in your opinion of her." Uhm, yah, that's because I don't think she really hates me.
Chem was alright. We took a test today that basically focused on the definition of chemistry. Needless to say, it was not a Brightly test. Far from it. I haven't gotten that high on a science test since freshman year (Mr. Lalli! Oh yeah, the feminine half of that class did work. Sure!). So, I finished my chem homework with the half an hour left in the period. I wish all of school were this easy.
Spanish was, again, typical. We did activities and went over the homework. Not that I'm complaining. Those activities really teach you the vocab, as long as they don't put you to sleep first.
Lunch was, well, odd. My table is full of ppl, who, in the nicest way I can put this, are even wierder than I. And this is saying something. How I long for swim camp with our nice, sane lunch table. Wait a minute, what am I talking about. Our table wasn't sane! It was certifiable. Boy do I miss it, even if I did have to teach everybody to say please when they wanted a napkin. So, anyway, I did my calc homework, listened to Simon and Garfunkel, and kept pearty quiet.
I humanities we discussed the upcoming projects and critiques, but as long as I don't have to do any right this moment, I'm okay. We had chorus afterwards, which was, as always, very fun. I don't know why. . .it just was.
English consited of discussing the upcoming research paper and its aspects. As usual, resident ditzes asked the same question 50 billion times. Needless to say, Smith was not amused. Neither was I. However, I do know what topic I'd like to do, and it's fairly straightforward. We also got back our summer reading test grades. She said most were very low. I got an A-, which from Smith, is saying something as well. Yaaay! Plus, when I noticed I didn't receive a sticker, I asked for one, and she gave it to me. She doesn't hate me! Yaaay. Who could hate a funky fish like me?
The funkily loved and adored and certainly none too full of herself,
Fishie
"Touch of Grey" Grateful Dead
Sunday, September 2, 2001
08:56 PM
Jeez I feel old today. Not that I'm terribly older than I was yesterday. I guess it's just that when you spend so much time with the older ppl and then your so tired after work, you can't help but feel old. And sore. And cranky. No, wait, I'm not cranky, I'm funky, but even a funky fish can be a bit snippy sometimes.
Well, I know I did not blog Saturday, and this is due to a combination of work and company. I had work from 7 AM to 2 PM, and we were quite short staffed. Plus, everybody and their mother seemed to have moved in yesday, so, needless to say, it was quite crowded. I felt bad that I didn't stay for dinner, cause apparently it was also packed, and Jean and Megan didn't get out until 9:40. But, Grandma was coming over and I just couldn't stay. I still feel bad about it though.
So, with Grandma (My dad's mom. His mom? Yes, his mom!) over, and my Grandfather home from the village, we had a nice labor day weekend celebration. I made mushrooms. They're tasty. I make the best mushrooms, but I won't tell you how cause it's a secret. What else did I do? I really don't think I did much of anything, but you don't see me complaining.
Today, I got to wake up nice and early, this time to go to church and visit choir director Korgmeister, of Ferrari, as we call him. I won't be able to come to 9:00 mass for september because of Sunday swim practice. So of course he proceeds to try to persuade me to rearrange my entire schedule around choir and choir practice. I'm sorry Ferrari, but I'm not your minion, and my life does not revolve around you and your stupid schedule. Some ppl piss me off. Jeez, look at me, I'm starting to get mood swings that rival someone's that I know. Hrm, who could that be?
After work, I went hiking for the first time since the Bridgewater Fair. With work and school, I haven't had a chance to go lately, and it was wonderful. It wasn't to hot, or to cold. The forest was beautiful. I packed myself a nice lunch, and the daddy long legs didn't bother me like they normally do on my rock by the lake. I felt _so_ much better after that. It just picked me right up.
After hiking, I went, where else? Back to work. This time it was Denise, her niece (and newbie) Christine, and me. My section was pearty easy, even with the addition of some unnanounced guests *grumble grumble*. After I was done with my ppl, I helped Christine with hers. She was a bit flustered, but I think she was doing a better job than either she or the residents gave her credit for (though, it did feel nice to have a little seniority over somebody). After dinner, setting was made easy by Denise's quickness. The only thing that made me mad was that Christine forgot to do silverware in assist, so there's me, thinking I'm all done, and then having to go back and do more. That annoys me, but I'll let it slide cause she's new, and I'm sure I'm not perfect (like some ppl who will not be named). Oh well, the day ended on a high note though. While waiting for my dad, I got ot see a really orange full moon rise over the hill. It was so beautiful. The last time I saw a full orange moon was the night of the Ring Dance *sigh*...
The wistfully Funky,
Fishie
"No Rain" Blind Melon
Friday, August 31, 2001
07:56 PM
Well, besides being a great song, and being the song that Winamp has just selected, this song also has a bit of validity today, just not the kind you'd expect. So, what did I do today? I think I'm going to break it up by period again just because my mind is too numb to think about doing anything terribly creative (while swim practices he develop core, heel, and ankle strength, they definitely are not intellectually helpful).
Period One: Ah, the third day of Scary Mr. Malcolm "You're in my Honors Pre-Calc, so you should be able to teach yourself math basically cause I'm too lazy" Man. Yeah, uhm, class consisted of getting into study groups, going over homework together, then being called up so Malcolm could check it. *Gives Malcolm a sarcastic thumbs up* Yeah, _that_ really helps! Thanks _ever-so-much_!
Period 2: Uhm, yah, Health with substitute teacher Mrs. Salup, who can't go five minutes without talking about herself or her "darling" son Adam. *twitch* I hate that woman. So, since we're a rather large junior/senior class, we played a get to know your class mates game. You toss a ball to ppl. We knew everybody already. We should have played the adjective add-on game like in swim camp. Much more effective and reflective of everyone's personality, plus, nobody gets injured by wayward throws.
Period Three: What would have normally been Honors Chem with Mr. Burd turned out to be a junior class assembly. Let me just say it was a big dissapointment all around. First topic: Bomb drills, which are not only scary as heck, but require half a period to excecute, and also involves venturing onto the main road all the way to the back of the school. And we're supposed to _walk_ around the staff cars so as not to damage them. Yeah, if the school is about to blow up, I'm going to take the longest root possible, and not only that, but I'm going to take my time doing it. Our school is not _extremely_ inept. Second topic: Dress code, which the controversey over is really stupid, so I'm not going to get into it. It really doesn't affect me. Third Topic: The Bridge. For those of you who do not live in Brookfield (Oh, how lucky you are) there is a railroad bridge in our town that is traditionally painted by sports teams and the senior or junior classes. Well, the seniors have now ruined this tradition for all of us. Let's just say that they got a bit...excessive with the paint. Things like street signs, the road, and are nearby overpass had been desacrated. Thanks so much oh exuberant ones!
Period 4: Since I rambled so much on that last one, and since nothing muy interasante happened en Espaņol, I'm just going to say that we did work and it was rather typical.
Period 5: Ah, lunch. My break in the day. It was in this period I secured myself a ride to school, rather than having to ride the big yellow (and frequently late) limo. I'll be able to get my permit in exactly 4 months, and my liscence in eight (yaaay for being able to drive to swim camp). Other than that, it was pretty uneventful, except for my trying to help Laura Heckmann with an extremely annoying Spanish fill-in-the-blank poem. This year's lunch is turning out to be remarkably like last year's.
Period 6: Out of habit, I accidentily headed to chorus (chorus was Period 6 last year), so I had to fight my way through the freshmen traffic not once, but twice. I made it to Humanities on time thankfully. I think this class is going to make my head hurt, though fun as it may be. The theme this year is "What does it mean to be a human being?" and the question posed to the class was "How do we know things?" What I came away with was that the wisest man knows only that he knows nothing, and that feelings are the only certain truth, because the only other thing we know is that we are conscious beings ("I think, therefore I am"). We lose much meaning with a written language. How does one explain the color green to a blind person, or the sound of music to someone who is unable to see? It's something they have never experienced, and therefore, can never fully perceive. What we all know to be true is just an acceptance of what someone else tells us. Wierd class
Period 7: Now I had Special Chorus. After staying up quite late filling in all my solfeggio (do re mi fa so la ti do) so as to be the first one done (not too obsessive, am I?), which is why I failed to blog on Thursday, I didn't get much sleep, so it's easy to understand that I was tired by seventh period. However, this class always seems to perk me up. I love music. We became pretty proficient in one song (though it was repetative), and started another. Us small group people went out into the hall to decide on after school practice days, as well as do the mass distribution of music (Smart Fishie got hers beforehand...hehehe). Alto's got Mondays, and the entire small group meets on Fridays. Fran is going to be quite busy.
Eigth Period: English was pretty fun. Today we received our new groups for literary discussion (assigned by birthdates, and I, of course, was youngest). Then we played a group bonding game. We had to solve a list of 15 word puzzles without talking. One example would be matching standing room with best man. Reasoning behind it: divide standing room into stand}in}groom, and what is that? A best man. I think I'm going to like english, though it seems like alot of work.
After school, I vegged at home until our second to last practice at the lake. This is where the title comes in. I was praying for rain, but it never came. The lake was cold and had more seaweed than usual, and of the ppl who actually know how to swim competatively, only four of us were allowed in the water, due to the fact that the sadistic visiting athletic director, Ceil O'Dourghtey would have chewed coach Doug out if he'd let any of the other girls in the water because they had forgotten to hand in some key forms. Needless to say, he was not happy. I kinda feel bad for him. He's got everybody breathing down his neck about silly things like paperwork, when all he wants to do is coach. Well, "All I can do is read a book to stay awake/ and it rips my life away/but it's the great escape---"No Rain" Blind Melon
The lake hating but funkiness maintaining,
Fishie
"Back to School" The Deftones
Wednesday, August 29, 2001
08:48 PM
Well, I have began my quest into that extremely scary thing known as junior year. Though happy to see my friends again, I was not so happy to see (most of) the teachers/classes. Taking a leaf from Keri's book (or some html from her blog?) I believe I will list and describe classes. What a treat for you!
Honors Pre-Calc: Having a New York accent does not automatically mean that you don't spit while you talk, Scary Malcolm Man, sir. Well, I've gotten a math teacher who can't count. He claims we need to split into 5 groups of three and one group of two for our study groups. There are _eighteen_ ppl in the class. Oh well. He's also not planning on teaching us. We hafta learn on our own. Methinks I will be asking Doc for help muchly. My study group consists of me, James, and Craig. Oh well...hopefully I'll be able to tame male chauvanist british boy and his swimmer sidekick.
Study: Ah, fun procrastination, and the ever changing cafetera cookie.
Honors Chemistry: I love this class. Burd is so funny. He'll make fun of the stupid ppl, without hurting their feelings. I'm excited, we ended up with a pretty good class. Though, we _do_ have the combination of Mike and Hunter...uhm, does anyone else think there's a strong possibility that at least oe of the counters will have been melted by the end of the year?
Honors Spanish V: Yaaay for a tiny class. Boo for no pictures in the book. Now what will we have to mock? Oh well, you can tell it's outdated, cause the movie title they give is "Reversal of Fortune" or "El Misterio de los Von Bulows" Yaay for Jeremy Irons, though, I don't think he'd be the same dubbed.
Lunch: Yah, much freshmen crowd the halls. Scary and annoying at the same time.
Humanities 11: Oh, American Man, life's just not the same without you and your 70 billion book critiques, creative arts, and research projects. Of course there was the usual "Newell doesn't want to teach yet, so let's go around and talk about our summers." I find it amusing that we don't refer to it as Humanities anymore. "What do you have next?" *sigh* "Nool!" There is going to be so much BS in that class, and no, that is not BS.
Special Chorus: MY FAVORITE CLASS. Me gusta la musica mucho. We're getting our music tommorow, and I'd like to be the first one done filling out my solfeggio (that is, assigning a syllable such as Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do, etc to each note.) We're going to sound great this year, and small group's gonna kick ass! Go Altos! Saw Mr. Hermonat, the best teacher, but didn't get to talk much. Darn. Well, there's always tommorow. Heck, I'll be there 9 months.
English III Honors: Though, I'm still scared of Miss Smith, I think she may have forgotten she doesn't like me. I hope. We'll see when the first grade comes back *prays for mercy*
So, that was pretty much it. I can't believe the summer's gone by so fast. Although I'll probably be saying in 9 months "I can't believe school's gone by so fast. Oh well, time for swim camp. Yaaaay!". . .I'll prolly say exactly that.
The funkily loaded down with homework,
Fishie
"New York, New York" Frank Sinatra
Tuesday, August 28, 2001
09:00 PM
Well, I hafta make this anothe quick one, bloggie, because I still need to get ready for school. That's right! Tommorow I head back to that brick hellhole they call school, to face brand new teachers and all too famliar old ones. *Hums the American Man Theme*
Anyway, it seems as though I am the only BHS student who has done her summer reading cards. I guess that procrastination is a tad slow to kick in. Oh well. It will soon, I assure you. Procrastination is the aspiration o every BHS student. Or is it apathy? I dunno. And I don't care.
So, I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with my grandmother today. It's so huge. It's impossible to see every exibit in just one visit. Or even ten visits. My favorite was the one on musical instruments. I saw things that you'd never guess made music. The piano's and harpsichords were exquisite. They'd make fine gifts for someone who'd b-day falls on December 31. I wonder who that person is. Is it anybody I know...hrm.
After the museum, we went back to my grandmother's apartment to watch a very funny Cary Grant movie called "Arsenic and Old Lace." I love him. "Bringing up Baby" with him and Katherine Hepburn is my second favorite old movie; the first being "West Side Story". Anyway, she gave my the tape, so I'm gonna go watch after this blog.
So, that was my day. Tommorow is the first day school. School, wonderful school *cough cough* HELLHOLE *cough cough*.
The now Cultured but ever as Funky,
Fishie
"Quick" Far
Monday, August 27, 2001
09:50 PM
Like the title says, this log really needs to be quick, cause I've only got ten minutes till I have to head to bed. So...a quick recap of the day:
I started off trying to get through to the BHS guidance office, which meant calling them about 80 billion million times, and not receiving any answer. Apparently they were off at some meeting. Keri called at about 10:45 and told me that they weren't really doing anything to change the schedules, just writing down problems. This basically means they were sitting on they're asses, doing nothing, and getting paid for it.
So, we loaded the family into the car, and I took my brother and sister to go see Rat Race while my grandfather had his heart tested. It was a really funny movie, and happened, by coincidence to be a private screening for me, my siblings, my sister's best friend, and her sister. How this happened, I have no idea.
After the movie, we hauled the familia on over to BHS, where I decided I'd try and talk some sense into these ppl. Needless to say, it was impossible. The teacher who I fear is the only Honors 3 English teacher, so I'll I can do is pray she forgot. They've also screwed with my gym so it falls on the same day as my double lab for Honors Chem. These people need brains. I talked with a few of my teachers, including Doc, who also hates guidance. Apparently they've screwed everyone's schedule up. He also met my little sister, who's been dying to meet him since I told her about him. Oh, and btw Keri, I did stop by to see the American Man, who was very flustered and disheveled because he was trying to fix his computer. His hair was literally sticking up. I just found that funny.
So, after that I went to work, and basically served food. Fun stuff. Till next time. . .
The funkily Frustrated,
Fishie
"You Don't Win Friends With Salad" The Simpsons
Sunday, August 26, 2001
09:28 PM
Well, I must say that you really don't win friends with salad, especially if it happens to be spilt. You see, today work went perfectly normal until we were almost done, and I went into the kitchen to get a salad, because, let's face it, waitressing makes one kinda hungry. While I was dressing my salad (with oil and vinegar just in case anybody cared), two pieces of salad fell to the kitchen floor. I quickly wiped it up, knowing that if Jesus, the evil dish washer hispanic man saw it, he'd take my head off. Well, he saw it. He walked over and threw his hands up. I started to choke on my salad because I was laughing so hard.
After taking a drink, I went into the kitchen, where I was promptly chewed out by Jesus. And I quote "This is not your job. It would be so very much more serious if it was your job. The job of mopping belongs to Jesus." So, I proceeded to get the mop and cleaned, once again, trying very hard not to laugh. About five minutes later, Jesus went up to Lauren, who was doing silverware (which he NEVER cleans properly), and starts bitching to her about the floor. I quote again "John would come in here tommorow and say 'Hey, Jesus!' that's me, 'What's with the floor?!' and then I will be in trouble." So I said to him, "Jesus! I said I was sorry, what ELSE do you want me to do?!" Lauren was trying so hard to laugh that she dropped the silverware, and Carolyn proceeded to drop some of her salad. We went through the whole thing again. Needless to say, NOBODY likes Jesus.
Other than that, the day was pearty boring. Went to church, went to work came home. That's the exciting life of a Brookfeldian teen. Our town is just soooo cool! Yeah, so cool in fact, that I'm almost looking forward to going back to school. Almost.
The the queen of mopping funkily,
Fishie
"Walk of Life" Dire Straits
Saturday, August 25, 2001
08:57 PM
Well, today I have sunburned myself yet again. Woo-hoo. Hooray for skin cancer, though, I should hope I'm in no danger just yet. Being a funky red lobster is painful enough without having to go through multiple hospitable visits and chemotherapy sessions.
My first activity of the day was a trip to the ocean, Misquamicut beach to be exact. It's in Rhode Island, and only about an hour and forty five minutes away (of course, if you drive like my dear old dad, it's more like an hour and twenty). I didn't get sunburned there, because I made sure I lathered up on the sunscreen. Yaaay Banana Boat! Oh, and I caught a fleeting glimpse of a fishie under water (I had brought my goggles, which ended up being really smart. Salt water stings). It was huge (about three feet), and kinda bore some resemblance to the orginal guidance fish, in shape, not coloring. But, yeah, the waves were pretty sweet, and actually, if I stand up now, I kinda still feel like I'm standing in the surf, only without the coldness and wetness.
After the ocean, we headed straight home for my first BHS swim practice of the year. Now, my town, full of cheapskate old ppl that it is, refuses to buy us a pool. And since the YMCA is going through their annual cleaning, guess wherewe ended up? Candelwood lake. Gotta love an artificial lake with its unfortunately not so artificial but just as icky lake weed, along with fish who eat toes. They're vicious. And the docks are covered with mold, so it's impossible to turn without slipping. And the water was so murky today that I ended up going into another lane twice (nice coordination and sense of direction Fran!). It's not my fault, and I WANT A POOL! *whines*
So, that's pretty much it. I went to the ocean, I went to the lake, I sunburned myself at the lake due to the lck of availible sunscreen, and I got a bunch of lake weed down my suit. More than you needed to hear, right? I thought so. I'm always pushing limits. Rule-breaking Fran. Better watch out. Oh well. I must go yell at guidance. Hopefully they'll be there, but I don't see how they could be if Keri gets to them first.
The red and funkily lobsterish,
Fishie
"Waitress" Live
Friday, August 24, 200109:25 PM
Silly Fran almost forgot to blog today. What a tragedy not blogging would have been. You wouldn't be able to hear about another day in my life. How bored would you be?! I pity you the day I forget and/or have no time to blog.
So, I finally got my schedule in the mail today. I must say that Guidance has again royally screwed up. I have no Gym in my schedule (not that I'm complaining), and I am also scheduled for regular English instead of Honors. This, by itself is a problem, but oh, there's more. You see, this regular class is taught by a teacher who evidently hates my guts. It stems from an incident in freshman year study, which, all I will say about it is that it was _not_ my fault, she overreacted, and I got into trouble that I didn't deserve. That's right. Fran, the Bad Girl. A side you've never seen before. Well, I'm going to hafta go into guidance and harrass them. Fun stuff.
So, I worked my first night shift, and it was pearty easy. Then again, we did have extra ppl, so the work went quickly. It's a bit more work in the evening because you hafta change the menus and tableclothes, but otherwise, it's not hard. Jesus was in the kitchen today, so I was I tiny bit scared of clearing my tables. He's un-nice. I like Nacho, the other dishwasher better. He's nice, and let's just say that talking with him forces me to improve my spanish, rather than build on his english.
So, all and all, a pretty regular day. Grandpa's settling nicely in the village. We brought him some paintings from his storage area in Danbury. My grandmother painted them, and they're quite good. Tommorow the maitenance man will come and hang them up, in addition to setting up his VCR. I, however, will be traveling to RI for a day at the beach. Misquamicut, to be specific. It should be fun, but as soon as I get home, I hafta head to the beach for my first high school swim practice of the year. I hope I won't be too tired. It shouldn't be terribly hard, since it's only the first one. I feel kinda bad though, cause I hafta miss practice on Monday night for work. Oh well. I commited to work first, and it pays money, whereas swim team, uhm, doesn't. Not that I don't enjoy swimming in a sea-wead and other icky stuff at the lake at 4:30 in the afternoon, after most of the boaters have been through. No, that's my idea of a swinging time. Well...I think I've blogged sufficiently, and if not, too bad.
The busy, but funkatized,
Fishie
"Old Apartment" The Barenaked Ladies
Thursday, August 23, 2001
09:32 PM
I have really procrastinated in regards to putting this blog up. I can't help it, though. Today was a busy day. It was moving day, in fact.
Today my grandfather moved into the Village, the retirement home in which I work. We got there at about twelve-thirty, and went straight up to lunch. I believe it was BBQ. Though I wasn't working, I kinda felt bad sitting there, eating lunch, while all my co-workers waited on me. I wanted to get up and help. Then I remembered the blisters on my heels. I no longer felt like getting up.
So, we took my grandfather back to his room after lunch. It's basically a one-bedroom apartment. HE has a TV, a couch, queen size bed, and a dresser, as well as a kitchenette with a semi-mini fridge. My mom had to run out for a twp o'clock appointment in Bethel, so I did virtually all of my grandfather's unpacking. It wasn't terribly hard.
After unpacking, my grandfather and I decided to try and figure out the TV. Between the 2 of us, it took us about 15 minutes to figure out the TV. Then, he was cold, so I had to go and figure out the air conditioner. That took awhile too. I was feeling slower than a certain person (Julie, you know who I'm talking about). To cheer myself up, I challenged Granpa to a game of chess. I won. What? You think that just because he's older, I should let him win?! Ha...nobody has that privilage. I play my best, no matter who I'm playing.
After this, I took Granpa up to the pub. I figured this was the best way for him to meet the residents. It was, and he made a few friends. I'm happy that he won't be completly lonely. And luckily, since I work there, I'll be able to take care of and look in on him. After a dinner of stuffed shells and green beans, I pretty much went home with the rest of the family. I didn't want to. He looked so lonely...I wish I could keep an eye on him. Oh well, I'll be back there tommorow...he should be alright...I hope.
The slightly worried but just as funky,
Fishie
"Pictures of You" The Cure
Wednesday, August 22, 2001
09:07 PM
I'm sorry I'm late to post today's bloggie, but I had to watch the Wayne Brady show. Who can resist singing, dancing, and MJ:DA...pure hilarity. So, how's my day been? Pretty darn good, all things considered. Want to read about it? Of _course_ you do!
Well, today was the first day this week that I did not have to go to work at the Village. However, I did work. "Where?" you ask? At the middle school, helping inept teenagers, mostly the inept guys, put on fake tuxes and drapes for senior pictures. If you think waitressing is hard, try telling a 6 foot 3 inch football player that he's got his cuffs on backwards. The faxe tux is made up of four basic components. First, the fake shirt, which is more like a collared bib that velcros in the back. Next, a velcro on bowtie, which never seemed to stay straight. Following the bowtie are the cuffs, which, when put on a guy, make him seem like he has just bulged out of his shirt a la the Incredible Hulk. Oh yes, we have _buff_ guys in Brookfield (yeah, right). Last is the jacket, with the ever so tacky size painted in white-out on the back. You've got to love the skimpy school budget. And not one guy knew how to put it on. What was really wierd is that I could imagine a friend of mine having trouble, and coincidently, could not stop laughing every time I put a tux on a guy. I got some wierd looks.
So, I didn't really do much today. I got paid, and even though it wasn't as much as the Village, it's still money. Plus, fitting tuxedos is much easier than waitressing. When doing photos, one does not have to carry a thirty pound tray of dirty dishes, half filled cups, and the like, balance it against the wall, open the door just enough so you can kick it open, leaving you standing on one foot, while trying to get the dishes to the clearing sink without breaking anything. Including an arm or a leg. And I thought bussing a single tray at swim camp was tough. HA!
After lunch, I went to my partner's house and swam in her pool. Her sister did breastroke, and I gave pointers. Then, while trying to show her a legal breastroke pullout, I hit my head on the bottom of the pool (that's what I get for not wearing goggles and not taking notice of the pool floor's degree of inclination). I was okay, just a teeny bit dizzy for a bit. Well, that's pearty much all I can think of. Interesting, ne?
The confused and amused, and ever-so-funky,
Fishie
"Blisters" Korn and Mudvayne
Tuesday, August 21, 2001
08:11 PM
Blisters, Blisters, Blisters: that is what I have. My heals are raw. I have walked at least 2 miles today. Methinks I need to break in my shoes a bit more, no? I cannot walk without a limp. Wait till school comes and I hafta deal with gym. Oh well. I guess that's better than playing medicine ball nukem with somebody who's trying to put you 6, no, wait, 7 feet under, for good measure.
I worked the breakfast and lunch shift today. Lunch was the busiest I've ever seen. I must have had 23 people to serve, all by myself. While I'm proud that I did well, I must say, again, that I'm tired. You're prolly getting tired of hearing the same thing every day bloggie, but tiredness is the story of my life. Oh, and I actually spilled my first thing today. Luckily it was only a glass of water and a glass of milk (two seperate occasions). And it was on cleanup, so nobody saw. I swear I will never pile a tray with dirty dishes that high again. It's hard not to spill when you hafta balance the tray against the wall, quickly open the door, hop on one foot to keep it open, then try to walk through, all while trying to balance 30 pounds worth of dirty dishes. Fun stuff, right?
After work, I decided that it was just time to come home. I needed to rest. After informing the lady from Davis Portrait Studios (the place where I'm working tommorow. Something about helping with senior photos.) that my partner had cancelled on me, my mom suggested I go find a replacement by walking up the street (do not be fooled by the phrase "up the street." It's about 3/4 of a mile) to a neighbor's house. I was thrilled. Yah...riiiiight! Luckily, she said yes, so the pain was somewhat worth it.
So, tommorow I will be working with the seniors. There's nothing I enjoy more than putting a fake tuxedo on a guy who I otherwise couldn't stand to be near. The things that a girl will do for money. It's not that I'm despertate or anything. I'd just like to save up. Stupid green paper (which really isn't paper, it's cloth) that rules our lives. Blech...it's not fair that ppl get differential treatment, just because of how many pictures of dead presidents they own. Oh well. That's capitolism. I'll hafta live with it until somebody comes up with something better. Now, if you'll excuse me, there's a cricket outside my door, and it won't be living much longer (GRRRRRRRRRR! *glares*)...I'm joking...I think...
The Funkily confused,
Fishie
""Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" CCR
Monday, August 20, 2001
08:21 PM
I must say that today, I have seen the rain. It rained off and on almost all day today. Blech...at least I didn't have plans to go hiking. No, I worked today. My second day was pretty much like the first. It was uneventful, and prolly not logworthy. The only interesting thing was that my mother didn't come to pick me up until two hours after I had gotten off. The head chef, John, came downstairs to where I was sitting and said "Are you still HERE?!" Honestly, what was I supposed to say? "No, I'm just trying to FOOL you, and it looks as though I've succeeded. HAHA!" Of course not...I'd never be _that_ sarcastic.
So, yeah, I've had a pretty uneventful day. I'm tired, and my feet hurt, but I didn't aquire this log to complain (So, what exactly are you doing Frans?). Patience, my dear bloggie. Give me time, and I'm sure some kind of useful thought will pop out of my head. . .sooner or later. You'll just have to let me babble a bit, painful as it may be.
Anyway, where has everyone been, lately. I haven't seen hide nor hare of anybody, except Lori, since I've signed on. Of course, there are ppl *glares in the direction of a certain friend from swim camp* who almost never come on. But where is everybody else??? Mebbe it's because of this stupid work schedule. I MISS you everybody!!!!!
Oh, btw, my grandfather has moved back into the house. Now, instead of just having to deal with the demands of old ppl for 7 hours a day, I get to hear them for 16...lucky me! But he's sweet. And he's also moving to the Village, where I work...I'm glad, because I can keep an eye on him there, as well as crash somewhere when I'm on my break...hehehe..
The Funky, but slightly Evil,
Fishie
""Do Your Feet Hurt?" MXPX
Sunday, August 19, 2001
08:26 PM
Let me just start out by saying that, yes, my feet hurt. A lot. But that's what happens when you're on them non-stop from 7 AM to 2PM. Thank GOD I'm getting paid for this. Well, if you couldn't tell, bloggie, today was my first day waitressing at the Village. Let me just state here that I will never, ever give any waitstaff any trouble if my order is ever slightly wrong or late. It's hard being a waitress. Though, the people and the pay are nice.
So, let me tell you about my day. When I got there, I learned how to fold napkins. Fun stuff, right?! Well, I'm quite good, apparently. Then, I was told how to make the coffee. The machine kinda scares me. The way my boss described it, I was almost certain that there will come a day when I'll cause it to overflow. Evil coffee machine. And, of course, they're planning on getting a new one. "When?" you ask. Oh, right about the time I learn how to use the one they've got. How sadistic.
Next, I learned how to toast english muffins. The toaster machine is mean too. You have to put them in at least 4 times before they show any semblance of being toasted. And, of course, you must do it before hand. This way, you're not sitting, waiting for the english muffins while the food gets cold. Then, we're expected to take out the juice and milk, which is a little harder than it seems. When you're balancing 4 pitchers plus three large cruets of juice and milk, things can get a little ungainly. Oh well, as everyone keeps telling me, I'll learn.
And soon after this, the residents started to trickle in. Alot of them are so cute. There's one guy named Bill Dollar. The funny thing is, on the attendance, it shows his name as Dollar, Bill...you kinda wonder about his parents...and then there was another lady, who said that Francesca was just too long a name to remember. She'd call me "Frannie". And that's just what she did. It caught on quick. Then there was another lady named Sophie. She was so mini, I just wanted to put her in my pocket and run away. Of course, there are the annoying ones, who want everything right away. One lady, who wasn't in my section, had this annoying habit of yelling "YOOO-HOOO!" every time I walked by. I had to tell her that her waitress would be with her shortly. Funny, how I don't like impatient ppl, but I am one myself...somewhat.
So, after the residents trickle out, we clear, clean, and reset. The man who does the dishes, Jesus, is a bit...uhm, what's the best way of saying this...anal about how and where you put the dirty dishes. Let's just say he's not one to cross. I only made one mistake, and luckily, he let it slide because I was new. I think that's the on;y one I get though ^_^'.
After a half an hour break, we start setting up food again. I am proud to say that I did not once get an order wrong, or spill any tomato soup. The residents, however, I can not say the same for. I've never seen messier tables and table clothes. I guess I'll give them a break, because they're old. After doing pretty much the same as breakfast, I went home, but only for about half an hour. At three, I ventured out for youth group, which was a tournament between our church's group, and that of New Milford's church. It was fun, but unfortunately, I got hit in the leg while catching. As if my legs and feet didn't hurt enough *wince*.
And, as soon as I got home, what was my first job to perform? Tablesetting for dinner. Wonderful! As if I didn't do enough of that. I kept looking for the saucers, and finally realized we didn't need any. I didn't eat much, cause I'd had a burger at youth group, but I had a little food. And, of course, after dinner, what task was it my privilige to perform? Folding laundry, of course. Some things _never_ change.
The Tired, but still funky,
Fishie
"I'm a Believer" The Monkees
Saturday, August 18, 2001
02:46 PM
Well, the title today has nothing to do with my present mood. It just happened to be the song Winamp decided to spit out just now. You gotta love the shuffle button. *boogies to the nifty 60's music*
Okay, I'm done with that. So, what have I done today? Let me just start by saying that being awake is entirely overrated. I would love to be napping right now, but unfortunately, I have the responsability of listening in on my brother and sister, and basically making sure they don't kill each other, or worse, wake up my mother. That would be a travesty.
So, after waking up and consuming a garlic bagel for breakfast (I told you I like wierd foods), the family, minus my mum, decided to go grocery shopping at Costco. Wholesale food shopping is always an (expensive) adventure. Siblings running, sibling knocking things over, siblings fighting, siblings pretty much annoying the hell out of me. But I put up with them because, despite their quirks, I love em.
Upon returning home, it was requested that I, a gourmet chef (yeah, that's right. I can cook !^_^), make lunch. Unfortunately, I dissapointed my sister by serving a PB and J sandwich instead of the soup she'd been hoping for. Sorry, but even us culinary artists lack inspiration sometimes.
After this, I decided I would take a hike...like I do almost every day. I feel so much better afterwards too. The trail is only about a mile long, and it leads down to Lake Lillinonah, which is really part of the Housatonic River (and I swear that it flows in different directions. Mebbe I've gone crazy). So I hiked there, sat on my rock that overlooks the lake, ate my lunch, read some, and hiked back. If only I could spend a longer amount of time down there. It's so peaceful. And best of all, no laundry.
And now I have returned. I start work at the Village tommorow, which should be interesting to say the least. Only problem is I have to be there at 7 AM. Even school is less sadistic. Oh well, at least I'm getting paid $8.00 an hour to work, whereas in school, I'm expected to recognize learining as my sole reward. We'll see about that...*sigh*
Till the next funky entry,
Fishie
"Going to the Fair" Bill Engvall
Friday, August 17, 2001
07:57 PM
Hey! I'm back. Aren't you thrilled? I have been to the Bridgewater fair and I have not been mauled by a mad cow. Yaaay! Though there was this semi-threatening looking storm cloud that could have turned me into French-fried Fran. I would have been crispier than those onion rings they were selling.
So, what did we do? First, we checked out Shallowbrook's horsies, who happened to have the wrong name signs, because, according to Keri, the owner is too cheap to get new ones. Oh well. There was a foal, Stuart Little, with his mum, Duchess. The foal was pearty cute. There were also these two Geldings, one we nicknamed "Blue", due to his eyes, and the other went unamed. They were cute, too. Blue decided to pose a few times for the camera. CUTE HORSIE *glomps the pretty horsie* But Maximus is still my favorite! And, yes, Keri, I realize he's owned, but I love him still.
Next, I believe we went to go visit the cows. They, too, were cute. There was this one black calf that was all curled up. All she (he?) did was stare with those big pretty eyes. So cuuuute! But the cutest were the little piglets. I wanted to take one home, that is, until I remembered what my mother's reaction would be. I decided taking one home wasn't such a good idea after all.
I believe that after that we ventured to see the sheep. Some were shy. Some were talkative. Very talkative. I swear, one of them was trying to imitate a cow. There was another one who did not enjoy being shorn, and he was quite vocal in his protests. It was quite amusing.
We ended up browsing the shopping tents for a bit, though neither of us actually bought anything. I was seriously considering a replacement stone for my class ring; one that I could have set. You see, the ring I have doesn't even contain an actual gemstone. It's just a synthetic. Cheap Balfour. And while I'm at it, another problem I've noticed is that the lil' swimmer person is innacurate, seeing as how it's swinging its arms, rather than bending its elbows. Tsk Tsk! Anyone who'd been to swim camp should know that one must bend one's elbows, as well as role one's shoulders in order to catch the deep, fast water. Well, I'll solve one problem at a time. But, anyway, I didn't buy a stone because I didn't see anything I liked in the shape of my ring (though, I'm really thinking Tanzanite. It's so pretty!)
After that, we went back to the barn, in the rain, of course. *looks skeptical* You didn't actually think it would be sunny while we were walking. We're not that lucky. We visited with the horsies, including this new one, who's big, gray, and a lil' slow on the uptake. Oh well, most boys are. We were trying to think up names for him. I came up with Merlin. It's better than some of the names for the other horsies (I feel SO bad for Sanlit!). And that was pretty much it. We came home, and now I'm sitting here, blogging. Again, I _could_ be doing something productive, but I'm not that ambitious.
Ever the funkiest,
Fishie
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