Typical Conversations #16 and #17

DAD: Ugh, I am so dizzy. Going around and around the trees, around and around the yard...
MOM: Can't you mow the lawn in straight lines? People mow their lawns in straight lines.
DAD: That's too boring.
MOM: Then don't complain!

~*~

DAD: You know, that'd be like, like two stones, uh...two stones with one bird.

Pause.

DAD: Whoops.
ME: LOL LOL LOL
MOM: Riiiight. You throw the bird at two stones, and it dies.

yey

So I have this graphic drawing tablet that I got for Christmas last year, and I've been finally using it. Woo!

...but as it turns out, I spend my time doodling and drawing flatworms in Paint.

(I recognize lyrics from "Storytime" by Nightwish. I don't remember what the rest means.)

2-24-12 Miscellaneous

Because I am terribly lazy.

• The precalc test today was not worthy of the worry I gave it beforehand (thank you, Lord!). I did find, however, that I am terrible at multiplying beyond the twelves without a calculator. It took me a good minute to figure out 13 • 13. Sigh. 

• We have begun to play the evolutionary-model games in Bio. "The Finches of Candyland" was a lot of fun. I was a chopstick finch and had to move various pieces of candy from one table to a cup on another. M&Ms are hard, Nerds are ridiculously difficult, and gummy bears are the best. They are just so delightfully squishy that I could grab them even when they made me use the chopsticks with my left hand. Looking forward to playing GlumpGlumpTime (my group's game) on Monday.

• I spontaneously developed a rivalry with Marina while playing Frisbee, which entailed a lot of yelling "NO!" and half-tackling. If I can't catch it, neither can she!! (That was fun.)

• The difference between shame and guilt: I believe guilt is a state of being--as in, you are innocent or guilty of doing something wrong. Shame is an internal feeling that can be independent of real guilt. For instance, you could do something and be guilty, but feel no shame for it; you could also be wrongly accused of something and still feel shame for the perceived guilt. It turns out that many people disagree with my definition. Thoughts?

• Tim has this awesome connect-the-dots coloring book of legendary/mythical creatures, and he let me use it. I spent all of last period connecting 459 dots to make a Pegasus. I NEED ONE OF THESE BOOKS. 

• Alix and the rest of my robotics team departed for Williamsport this afternoon, as there's a competition there tomorrow. (I couldn't go because I'd already signed up for the Praying Life conference.) Best of luck to them!

• I have been working hard on the Elwood-Harvey portrait, and I'm almost done. All you drama peeps will see the finished product on Monday. The rest of you will have to wait until the play. 

 "This portrait over your mantel. Who painted it?"

"Um...me." << Haha. As if I'd actually say that.

• A very small spider descended from the ceiling on an invisible thread. Nathan and I blew it back and forth a few times before killing it. Playing catch with miniscule spiders? New favorite game. 

• It's been gloomy or raining all day. I really enjoy these kinds of days once in a while, mostly because the sky becomes this lovely grey color, and all the tree branches are outlined so strikingly against it in black. Also, rain = mud = fun. 

Typical Conversation #7

JEREMY: Do they make cows with lactate?
Mom says something about soymilk.
JEREMY: Soymilk comes from cows?! a pause. OHHH, that's why they call them sows!
ME: THAT'S A PIG.
MOM: So what's a baby female pig called?
ME: Um. A piglet.
MOM: No, no, there's a word for it. What about a baby boy pig?
ME: A piglet.
MOM: No! There's a word!
JEREMY: Piglet... So then a baby cow is a cowlet. And birds are birdlets! Who needs words like "calf"? Ha!

and then the winter came...

I love this game.

Typical Conversation #5

NATHAN: If I had to do the Bo Peep dance, I'd feel sheepish.
DAN: Well, I won't lambast you about that.
NATHAN: I'll just say mutton!
DAN: I'll look pasture flaws.
ME: You guys are so unwoolly.
DAN: OOoh, that was shear witticism!
NATHAN: Bleats stop!
DAN: After ewe.
ME: This is baaad.

Typical Conversations #3 and #4

ME: Looking at writing examples in my Chinese course. Why would you ever say, "I prefer these elephants because they are prettier than other elephants"?
MOM: Elephants are so ugly.
NATHAN: Well, maybe if you were a princess, and your father took you to see some elephants, and he said, "O princess, which elephants would you like for your birthday?" And then you would say, "I want these ones because they are prettier."

 ~•~

JEREMY: Coming into the room suddenly. You know...sometimes all you need...is a potato.
MOM: For what? To throw at people?

Bunny Spam

My earlier post on cute things was just not enough.
I'm sorry if this crashes your computer.
 

Cred: I get most of these in emails from Ellie...I dunno where she finds them.

Observations of My Google Docs

• I have a document entitled "musings" that is completely empty. What happened there? o.0

• I shared my 2009 NaNoWriMo novel, Raedan's Heart, with NINE other people. O the shame. That was such a terrible piece of writing. All 33,000 words of it. 

• "AP Euro Midterm Study Guide," last modified in April, is still marked unread.

• There is a spreadsheet called "the lees" that contains all our ideas for what my brothers should name their children. (Ginger Lee, Actual Lee, Incredib Lee, Pai Shen Lee, etc.)

• HOW MANY STORIES HAVE I STARTED AND NOT FINISHED!? D:

• I have about four "Untitled document"s in my list. They're all different and really should warrant titles. I guess I'm just too lazy.

• My longest title is "River blindness is most common in Afr..." Inside that document is a lovely short paragraph or two about the parasite on a parasite on a blood-sucking fly that causes river blindness.

• "fairy tale 2," a collaborative effort between me and my brother to write a fairytale, was sadly abandoned more than a year ago. There were some pretty awesome similes in there.

"They would often take much joy in riding through the villages of the land and slicing through the people as one cuts through fruit in an angry orchard."

"Suddenly, like a penguin slipping into the frigid waters of the North Sea, a massive dust cloud appeared upon the horizon."

"Within the cloud rode a dark mass of horsemen. With flags and shields they rode, like a raging iguana that frantically scampers across twigs and leaves to dine upon a colony of ants."

"As he reached the fifty stones' throw mark with a pace like that of a terrified ant that hysterically rushes away from a raging iguana, Xeliyn looked behind him and beheld the multitude of Raiders quickly overtaking him."

•  The oldest document in my list is "The Epic Conversation." This was called epic rightly. Not in the way that epic seems to be used most commonly nowadays ("That was an epic dive-catch!") but in the older way. As in, really, really, really long.
  It was born of a chat between my good friend Ellie and myself some two years ago, where we each impersonated a character and um, roleplayed? for hours. And that chat, I think, was born of our excitement over how OK is a stick-man when you turn your head to the left. We created two of the OK men, named them, and made them talk to each other.
  A choice snippet:
  

  Tom walks a few steps away from Billy after smelling him
  
  Billy: Hey! Whadidya sniff me for??!!
  Tom: I didn't 'sniff' you.I simply took notice of your...er...odor...I suggest a nice warm bath...
  
  Tom plugs his nose and gets out his man-perfume
  Tom starts squirting it everywhere

Conclusion: Um, I don't really...have one.

Typical Conversation #2

NATHAN: Mom, I want boar. Can we eat boar tonight?
MOM: Boar is a bore.
NATHAN & JEREMY: Hahaha!
ME: Has missed the joke. What? What just happened?
NATHAN: You didn't hear it 'cause you were trying to hog the conversation.
NATHAN & JEREMY: Hahaha!
ME: Hey, snort funny!
MOM: Yeah, stop pigging on your sister.
NATHAN: I ham dying of laughter.
JEREMY: Man, keeping up with you guys is such a hard tusk.

Typical Conversation #1

MOM: Holding a loaf of sliced bread. If I eat this whole thing, will I get fat?
ME: Um...yes.
MOM: Throwing down the bread and whining. Don't say that! You're so mean! Pouts like small child.

Biology

I've been doing quite well in my AP Biology course so far this year. I think this academic success can be attributed, among other things, to my notes that I take in class.
Because these notes are not just copying down whatever's on the PowerPoint. No, these are notes with annotated illustrations.
I'm sorry, that sounded really pretentious. It's really not that impressive, and I don't annotate everything. I only illustrate the concepts that strike my imagination.

Here are a few examples:

Archaea: prokaryotes that can live in extremely cold, salty, or hot habitats

Lysosomes destroy nonfunctioning organelles by digesting them

Stoma: leaf-pores | Stroma: the fluid-filled space between grana in chloroplasts

In Photosystem II, the carotenoid pigments pass excited electrons to the main pigment, chlorophyll a.

Energy transfers from sunlight to glucose through photosynthesis, which is ingested by other organisms like us, where our cells convert it to ATP through cellular respiration, which is then available to facilitate cell work. And so we live.

Apoptosis: programmed cell death when something goes wrong. The cell pulls itself apart, and the fragments are digested by little...thingies.

These pictures have helped me remember so much. I definitely advocate doodling in the margins while taking notes, because it actually does help (if you're drawing things related to the course matter). Especially if it's a little silly. Hehe.

Lucky Charms

Lucky Charms: one of the sweetest cereals in the world, approaching unbearable sugar content.
Contains: ...um...Ireland stereotypes in the extreme? Also sugar.

Mommy doesn't buy Lucky Charms for us very often, but we happen to have a box in the pantry at the moment. I never paid attention to the shapes until this morning, whereupon looking into my bowl I became greatly confused while trying to ascertain what the distorted marshmallow things were supposed to be. So I went to the two most easily accessible sources of information: the Internet and my brother Nathan.

This is what the Internet gave me:

I was less than satisfied.
I liked Nathan's answer a lot more. Even though he didn't get to all of them, because you're lucky (:D) to get what you get in your bowl.

"You see," he said, beginning to pick out the various shapes, "They all have significance.

"This is a Christmas tree...this is a cross...this is a Christian fish...and this is a fat Christmas tree...

 

 "This is the star of Bethlehem...

("and here's another star of Bethlehem, and another star of Bethlehem, and another...)

"This is Noah's rainbow...

 

 "This is the hat that Saint Patrick wore when he drove all the demon snakes out of Ireland...

 "This, uh, this is a 'u'...

 "And this is one of the magical red balloons that will make your life magical if you get 100 of them in one bowl!"

 

Mom: Nathan, that's impossible. Don't be silly.

Obligatory Questioning Post

I will now proceed to ask a series of questions that are directed to no particular audience, are intended to seem deceptively profound, and don't really require any form of answer.

1) Why is the sky green?
2) Why does everyone tell me the sky isn't green?
3) Who first thought of squeezing cow udders and drinking the white stuff?
4) What makes things "cute" and why do people want to "eat" said objects?
5) Why is pink now a girly color when it used to be associated with boys?
6) Who decided that there are 360 degrees in a circle? (Was it the Mayans? Why do we take everything they say so seriously?)
7) Is that squishy-looking blob on my ceiling dead or alive?
8) How is catchy music catchy?
9) why doesnt time go slower whenn I want it too goshhhh
10) What's actually awkward and what's not?
11) Should the thought of growing up be terrifying or exciting?
12) Is it okay for it to be both?
13) Were those last two questions genuine or rhetorical? HMMM.
14) Why does the red-throated loon have such a creepy call?
15) Will I end on an even or an odd number?
16) Is that even a legitimate question to ask?
17) Does anyone care what number I end on?
18) Do I count as "anyone" for that last question?
19) Nineteen or twenty, which sounds prettier?
20) Or should I go by which looks prettier?

OH WHATEVER. Twenty's good enough.

How to Get to Know Someone (Fast Track)

DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT AN EXPERT ON THIS SUBJECT. NOT AT ALL. I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU'RE READING THIS IF YOU KNOW IT'S ON MY BLOG.
Now you may read on.

I have always been frustrated by awkward conversations with people I have just met, where we must delicately dance around topics in search of a common interest, sometimes without any success at all. In lieu of such potentially agonizing social interactions, I propose that new acquaintances ask each other the following three questions, after which each may walk away with a basic knowledge of the other's disposition.


1) If you could only keep one of your senses, which would it be, and why?

This question serves to provide a sense (heh) of what is important to the recipient. For example, a person who values their sense of hearing the most might be musical, or at least have some sort of interesting story as to why they like it best.

b) Cute tiny animals (like hamsters and baby bunnies), loyal ones (like dogs and horses), or wild free ones (like eagles and tigers)? Why?

This sounds like some sort of test of personality, as in, whatever he/she chooses reflects his/her temperament, but I think it doesn't actually work that way. That would be way too easy. But animals are always a good topic of conversation.

iii) What's the weirdest thing you've ever inhaled?

= Fodder for funny stories. (Laughter helps to bring people together.)


I must give credit where it is due. I shamelessly stole borrowed the first question from Emmie, who is actually thoughtful enough to come up with intriguing inquiries like that.
Oh, and, I should have mentioned this before: everything here is purely philosophical and lacks field evidence, as I've not had the opportunity to try this myself. You are free to test it out, but keep in mind that it might not work at all. If you happen to do that, please notify me with the results.

**Heart Attack**

I love cute things. When coming into contact with anything remotely cute, my heart immediately goes into spazz mode. This, of course, has interesting implications on the sounds I produce at such a time.
I will henceforth present you with various examples of the reactions I may have upon being exposed to cuteness of all kinds.


Spazz Catalyst #1:

Reaction:
**begins grinning like a maniac**
*eeeeeeeemmmmmmmmppphhhaaaakkkkkkeeeee*
**bounces in seat**
*guaaaaaagggg*
**looks away for a second**
**looks back, grins again**
**small giggles**




Spazz Catalyst #2:

This only has one reaction. Here I commence a silent wheezing chuckle that starts small but ends up racking my entire body. Then it stops, and I look at the picture again, and the process repeats itself.




Spazz Catalyst #3:

Reaction:
“SMALL CHILDREN!!!”
**violent swaying from side to side**
**headtilt**
*kkeiiiiiiiiiiiyaaaaaaooooo*
**big, dopey smile**
**slow, halting laugh, mouth still wide open**
(Here I may eventually drool from having my mouth open for too long)




Spazz Catalyst #4:
!AEGYO!
[Aegyo (애교): n. the act of being overly cute, commonly by way of high-pitched voices, small sounds, and beaming facial expressions. May cause in others desires of strangulation and/or punching in the face.]
This is best explained through visual means.

(Okay, the second one is not so much aegyo-ish but they are definitely doing it at some points)

Reaction:
*GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCKKKKGGGHHH*
**thrashes**
**covers eyes**
**peeks**
*eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEE*
**puts hand in mouth to stop from making further noises**
**bursts into nervous-ish silent laughter**
**wipes drool from hand and re-inserts it to mouth**
**thrashes again**
**closes tab because it’s too unbearable**
**watches again**




Spazz Catalyst #5:

This, like Catalyst #2, elicits a single response from me.
“D’aaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww **breath** awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww **breath** aaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwww...(etc.)”


My point: I absolutely adore cute things and would eat them for breakfast if I could.
So...if you ever need to incapacitate me for a small amount of time...




P.S. (Feed me in the comments if you’ve got stuff.)