Books, Music and Cake

I finished "Speak" the other day. I really enjoyed it. I officially love David Petrakis. He is an amazing character and super nice and super smart and I wish he was a real person... Oh well. The end was kind of unsatisfying. I'm just going to tell myself that Melinda and him got together, and then it will be okay.

My brother's birthday was last Saturday. Happy Birthday Nic! He had this fun party (6 boys... Ugh. So tiring.) And he had this awesome birthday cake, constructed by my mom. It was quite good, and I don't even like cake. Or pie, but that's a different story.

Speaking of desserts, my sister and I tried this thing yesterday. It's called a banana boat, introduced to us by my sister's fiancee's brother's girlfriend. (Did you follow that?) Anyway, it's a banana coated in brown sugar, chocolate chips and marshmallows. Then you bake it in tinfoil for 15 minutes, and consume with a spoon. It sounds disgusting, but it's really good. You should try it.

Last Sunday my family and I (minus my sister) went to the Poppy Reserve. It was great. Really refreshing. So much orange. While driving up there, my parents and I got into an interesting discussion about opium... Yep, opium. Poppy seeds and whatnot. So, I don't think these pictures will do it justice, but the poppies were really pretty and I had a great time.

Ooohhh, Aaahhh....

Enough of that... We are into our second week of Star testing. It's boring... I had English last week, and geometry this week. Yesterday I had 1 hour and 15 minutes left in class after I finished testing, with nothing productive to do... I think I stared at the whiteboard for half of that time... Two hours is just too long to be in one class room.

About Kingdom Hearts progress. I've spent about 5 hours with it so far. I'm still with Mulan, because I got stuck at one part. I had to complete 3 missions, and I thought I did, but I guess I have to do them again. Then I got lost. But I think I know what to do know. Oh! I started using magic! It was fun. Blizzard I think. I haven't been able to play lately. Maybe over the three-day weekend.

I was looking through my dad's vinyl the other day, and I found some awesome stuff. I found Peter and the Wolf (my latest obsession- that and Dave Petrakis) narrated by Leonard Bernstein. And some other Prokofiev directed by Bernstein. Also Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue opened with a never ending gliss. It's amazing. And Gershwin's An American in Paris, which I hadn't heard before. Also, Disney's Fantasia soundtrack. It's great to just go through these records and find all this different music. I love it.

I'll end with this- Have you ever known someone/seen someone with one of those little cell phone ear things. The tiny little ones that you can never see. The people who use them look like they are just talking to themselves. I once had a whole conversation with my sister, not realizing she was actually talking to her fiancee on the phone. Here is a video about such occurrences.

Have a good week. And happy Spring Day! Do something spring related. Mr. Manthey suggests you pet a bunny.

-Julia

Test-Breath-Blink-Test-Blink-Test

STAR testing started this week. For four weeks it's going to be nothing but fun! I had a geometry test today. I failed, because I forgot about it. I have a Spanish test tomorrow. I have a history test on Thursday. And then my English testing on Wednesday and Thursday. Oh, and I didn't mention all of the cramming our teachers are having us do. We're going over practically a whole chapter in geometry in the 2 hours we have tomorrow. It's not all that bad though. It's actually kinda fun.

Nothing major has really happened since my last post. Marcea, John, Josh, Sheena and I went to see "21" on Friday. In some ways it was better than I expected, but in others it was worse. Some of the slow motion parts were really cheesy. But I still enjoyed it. Josh was kinda uncomfortable with some of the scenes. Lets just say the ones that made it a PG-13 movie. It was funny to see his reactions though. Choi is awesome. Not Troy, but Choi. Yea, that was causing some confusion. Then we went to In-N-Out and had some real french fries. It was a fun night.

I did something this weekend that I hardly ever do. I played a video game. Kingdom Hearts II. It was kinda fun, but really frustrating. I sucked. Except with the Dusks. (If you've played this game you should know what I'm talking about. Unless I'm just getting all of this wrong.) I did this thing where I hit triangle over and over then X over and over, and I'd eventually kill them. It was fun. I just got to "The Land of Dragons" with Mulan. So far I've wasted 4 hours and 25 minutes of my life on this game. It's almost worth it.

Sunday I was sitting on the couch eating Coldstone's and reading "Speak". It's a great book. Way better than I thought it was going to be. I hope Melinda falls for David. He's so nerdy. He reminds me of some people I know.

Okay. I need to go study for Spanish. Frutas y Legumbres. Me gustan las pinas, las manzanas y queso!! (It's a 3rd period Spanish thing...) Yea, now you can see why I need to study.

Have a nice week. (Especially all you lucky ones going to Chicago.)

-Julia