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