Finals...again

Well today wasn't so bad except it was boring. We had another finals day but actually I didn't have any finals today. It turns out in science we didn't have a final to take but I found out at lunch that in orchestra we actually did have a final. Too bad Angelos wasn't there to give it to us. Instead we had a sub who didn't have the first idea about anything music related. But we went into chamber groups. My chamber group is comprised of Catherine, Katreen (my friends), Carla and I plus we smuggled one of the other 2nd violins in who wasn't in a group so we stole him so he can beat on the wall for us since we can't hear my metronome while all of us are palying. Although we only had Catherine, Katreen, and I playing because Carla's ring finger is in a splint which makes it kinda hard to play. We're play Für Elise for our chamber piece. I'm sure you've heard it but you've probably never heard it's name but it's a famous piece by Beethoven. If you want to hear it youtube it. After that since we had a 2 hour class we broke into sectionals and we went over Divertimento and Rhosymedre and a little bit over the Red Pony. Then I had Spanish class. We basically organized our notebooks and turned them in for the notebook check. After that my group plus 4 other people went out into the halls to finish filming our Spanish final project. Thank God we're finally done because Sarah was really getting on my nerves. So now I'm at home just typing away. My sister shouldn't be home for atleast naothe rhalf an hour because she's at some stupid middle school dance or something. Whatever it gives me an extra hour away from her. Well I must go check the mail and start violin practice. Tata for now. Oh and if you're wondering that picture is a picture of Beethoven. Not very pretty is he?

Finals

Hey we had half our finals today. I swear if I had to be quiet for any longer I'd go crazy. In first period it wasn't too bad because my partner and I were working the whole time on our health website because we only had 2 out of 4 people since one of them was never there from the start and one of them moved like 2 weeks ago. But we finally got it done. Since we were doing the odd periods third period was next meaning English. Since my English class is on the 2nd floor I had 2nd lunch (so did my friend Katreen because she was in a portable but poor Catherine was on the first floor and had first lunch) so I had class first. I easily finished the English final and was bored for at least an hour. So instead of sleeping like I normally would I wrote a cryptic note in the new code I have which is easy to translate if you know how and you know the code word. My code word happens to be violin and to translate it all you do is substitute every letter for the letter behind it in the alphabet except a letter that appears in the word violin (meaning v, i, o, l, and n) so if you get to a letter that equals itself you just go back until you get a letter that doesnt equal itself example: I kwtu lovf xsiuinh in ujit doef! which translates to I just love writing in this code! and the best thing is it's almost impossible to translate unless you can guess the person's code and obviously your code might be different from somebody else's. But I can't really take credit for making the code. Actually it came from the Gregor and the Marks of Secret good series by the way if you want to read it but I would suggest you start at the first book (marks of secret is the 4th). Anyway I left it on the desk on purpose with an uncoded message telling them to crack the code. They'll never get it and the codeword's in the note twice and since all those letters equal themselves you can't code your codeword which makes it totally easy since there's only a few small words that don't look coded and the word violin and the rest just looks like gibberish. Anyway I also had my math exam too so that went well. It was easy and after I did the exam I had to do the test that got cancelled after the bomb threat. Speaking of which they arrested the third and final person that they beleive is involved in that. So that's good. Also tonight I had church which I love so much. Tonight we palyed a game call money on your back where we all had partners and when the music played we all wandered around and got lost from your partner and when the music stopped you try to find them and not be the last pair to have your partner on your back. The only thang that bugged me was this really cute guy at youth group. He's a freshman liek me and I won't say his name but just know he's really cute. Anyway I'm not sure if he wasn't feeling well or if he was in a bad mood or what but I could just tell somethign was up. Nobody else seemed to see any difference but I did. The first thing is he was wearing like this huge scarf and huge jacket which he normally doesn't wear. Also he's in the high school worship band and he plays guitar. So usually he stands up there and just plays and looks happy. Tonight he looked kind of out of it and he was sitting. Which is weird for him. Anyway maybew I'm just paranoid or whatever but it really did seem like somethign was wrong. I wish I'd had a chance to talk to him before my stepmom came in and whisked me away. Oh well. Maybe next week? Speaking of next week this weekend my sister's going to Camas meadows which is the middle school winter camp so I'll be rid of her ALL weekend!!! Maybe even part of superbowl so that'll be totally aweosme! Well I guess I have to sign off for now because I actually have to sleep (imagine that actually sleeping before finals!) Peace!

First Everett Youth Symphony rehearsal

Ello. I'm back. You can't get rid of me that easy. Well yesterday was my first Everett Youth Symphony practice. It went pretty well considering i've only run through each piece a total of once (I didn't know what it really sounded like and I wanted to hear it before I got some bad habit on a certain piece lodged in my brain because then it's harder to correct). It turns out my friend Catherine and I are like the only ones from the intermezzo group in high school so we feel like were sitting at the kids' table. Oh well maybe next year we get to sit at the grownup table. I swear there's a girl in my sectional who's like half my age and the 2nd chair in the 1st violin section has to be at least 4 or 5 years younger than my sister (who's 11) so I feel kinda slow. Anyway the music is fairly easy. I wish I had tried out at the beginning of the year so amybe I'd at least be a first violin like I am in class instead of having to be a second and play the boring part just because that's where they had room for me. At least I got to sit in the seat of principle second because I guess the girl who's normally there wasn't. Although I'm absolutely positive I could easily be the principle second the whole time. I mean I just joined and I could count how many times on one hand that I got corrected and usually it was just because all the other players had a different fingering written in then what was actually on the paper because it was changed. So it shall be fun. In other news tomorrow we have finals. Oh joy. I have to finish my 1st period health project which is a health website. And it's obviously not going to be done on time because we were supposed to have 4 members in our group but for all of the project we've had 3 plus our project manager moved to Bellevue. Soooooo it won't be good. Then I have my English final which is basically on the Odyssey and vocab and its open notes. For Math it'll be like any other test. Thursday I have my Science finals which is just another test. Since 4th period is orchestra we don't have a final for that class and then for Spanish we're doing a project for the finals. Yeah too bad my partner won't frickin help me so it won't be done on time. So we've been working on this for awhile. She was good when were making the script but when it comes to filming she's not cooperating. See I didn't really have a choice in my partner because we picked our own partner so since I was pretty much ignored I didn't have a partner (usually I'm the first one claimed not because i'm popular or anything but because I happen to pay attention and I have a phonographic memory so as soon as I hear something I remember it) so I was assigned to the partner I have (names won't be mentioned) because she was absent. So for the past 2 days we've had the whole period to go out and film but we had a hard time finding people to actually film, hold cue cards, and be our extra people. We finally found people but she was "too embarassed" to film in front of other people and there's only like 2 so it's really stupid especially since we were one of the last groups to film and we needed to get it done soon. So she wanted to film it afterschool and have some of her friends stay after and help. So she got one friend. Which doesn't really help at all since we needed 3. So we ended up finding 2 more of her friends and we finally got scene 1 out of 5 done. Too bad afterwards all she wanted to do was talk to them instead of finishing filming so were STILL not done and I'm getting really annoyed. And on top of that I kept bugging her to leave so we can continue filming which made me seem like the bad guy. So I'm really about to complain to my Spanish teacher which won't help anything because finals are due like really soon so it's too late. I have an A in that class right now but if I get a bad grade or a 0 on this final it'll send my Spanish grade into a downward spiral. Which is a very bad thing in high school because I can't afford Ds and Fs not really even Cs if it can be helped. At least tomorrow I get to sleep in an extra hour since school begins and hour later. I'm wearing my lucky turtle necklace that I wore when I had my audition for the symphony. I'll also be wearing it to church tomorrow night and see if it brings me any luck there because there's a really cute guy there who's actually in the worship band and plays guitar. His name is Felipe and he is sooooo cute. Well good night I need to get a good night's sleep before finals. Wish me luck.

scaryness

Ok so there's big news in my part of the world. I'll start with a detour. So this morning was like any other morning. I got up, showered, did hair and makeup, etc. So again it's still normal so I walk to school like always. This is the weird part. I get to school and nobody's there. Well actually they do ahve cops there and people standing around and other people telling Mariner students to walk to the middle school next door but there was nobody IN the school or parking lot. At first I thought it was a crash or something. That would explain the police cars. Then I see a kid named Aaron from my science class and ask him what's going on. Apparently there was a bomb threat so school is cancelled for the day. Kinda scary huh? You know if you were really going to set off a bomb would you really tell people? I bet they left that note just to get out of school you know. But hey it means I have no school. Only problem is well actually there's two. See in Spanish class we're doing a project an my partner Sarah and I were supposed to go after school today and film our's but obviously that's not happening. Another thing is my violin is in my locker. I can't leave it there. Reason #1: I got my symphony music in the mail yesterday so I need to go over it. Reason #2: If I leave it there it'll be there all weekend and if the school isn't heated over the weekend my instrument might go out of tune, warp, crack, or strings might snap. None of those are good things. I'm thinking of going over there when the dogs are done and they declare it ok I might see if I can get in to get my instrument.

The last 2 days

Where have I been the last 2 days you ask? oh you know. Around. Well Monday we had off (thank you Martin Luther King) of school so we went shopping at southcenter (its very big) and I bought khaki cargo pants, one of those fake layered shirts with snoopie on it, and a $60 reversible hoodie from pac sun. Also I got my pink streaks touched up with my mom's help. Only she forgot to use one of the gloves so it looks like she murdered tinkerbell. let's see oh yes! I made the Everett Youth Symphony. I'm in the intermezzo group and I'm a 2nd violin. I was hoping for a higher group or at least first violin like what I play in class but they just put me in where they had room since it's the middle of the year. That's ok I'll just work my way up then. It's not like you can't notice a violinist with pink hair right? I also went to the doctor yesterday and got an MMR vaccine which kinda hurt. Not too bad but my arm is still weak. On the bright side I now have a pretty yellow band aid on my left arm. well it's almost time for me to vamoose to school so bye bye! Note: The pic may look like modern art but it's an electric violin.

Almost forgotten (but very important) news

I almost forgot! I'm getting a driver's ed course starting on February 24th so I'll be getting my permit on Valentines day! I'm totally psyched! Who wouldn't be? The picture is a picture of an 87 dodge daytona Shelby Z whch is what I'll be driving asmy first car. It's not mine but it's about that same color.

My Experience with the Four Year Olds

Well today is (as anybody who doesn't live under a rock knows) Sunday. Meaning church day. So usually I have a high school class that I go to called ASM but this week it was cancelled because almost everybody went to Rockridge winter camp up in BC, Canada but obviously I didn't go but I didn't really want to. Imean I can't ski or snowboard and I'm not willing to try my hand at breaking any bones so it seems pointless to go. So anyway instead I decided to help out at the nursery. I chose four year olds because they seem easiest because it's the oldest age in the nursery. Boy was I wrong! It was fun anyway but it's like watching a room full of time bombs you know? No make that a room full of time bombs inside bouncy balls because they were just everywhere! So I get there and first I hang out with the kids. You know help set up the doll house. Stuff like that. After that it's story time. Today's theme was families so they did a thing on Adam and Eve and Caine and Abel. This is funny. So the guy telling the story says: "Well after Adam and Eve had Caine God decided to bless them with another baby. Who was that baby?" Then one of the kids says: "Baby Jesus?" Kids! They say the darnest things! Also we were talking about grandparents and this little boy raises his hand and says: "I have an aunt who's 99 years old!" and the story teller asks if hes waiting for her to die and of course he says yes. That just cracked me up. So after that we sang the little kids songs including the head, shoulders, knees, and toes song. I now remember why I always hated that songs. It wouldn't be so bad except for all the motions. My God! so after song time it was craft time. The craft was a picture of a house with 4 little flap things and behind each flap is a picture of a member of their family. That went ok. Then it was snack time. There were Ritz crackers and water and while I was pouring water one of the boys was telling me about how many points he had on his Wii. Yeah too bad I can't really play Wii. I had to have a four year old that I babysat in October teach me how to play! Anyway after that there was more free time. Some of the kids wanted me to help with the doll house again so I did. One of the kids handed me a tray of fake food. It was soooo cute! And that concludes my time with the 4 year olds. You know what I also found out from the teacher I was sharing a table with at craft time? Her son is in the Everett Youth Symphony which is what I triedout for last Monday. Hopefully I get accepted but I haven't heard a thing yet so I'm getting kinda worried. Oh well. So it seems I have one reader at least. Thank you Pepper!

Book Review: Maximum Ride (#s1 and 2)

Hello nonexistent readers. Time for post numero dos. Hey I rhymed. Aren't I clever? well technically it's an approximate rhyme. Anyway today I've decided on doing a book review for a book that my orchestra buddy Catherine reccomended. The Maximum Ride books by James Patterson. I'm almost done with the second one and I just can't put it down! Well you know except to blog it. This book is about 6 kids named (in order from youngest to oldest) Angel, Gazzy, Nudge, Iggy, Fang,and Max (they also have a talking dog named Total) who are pretty much super human avion human hybrids. So they have wings and they can fly. When they were babies they were stolen away from their parents and basically used as lab rats. Finally they escaped from this lab nicknamed "The School" with the help of one of the white coats, Jeb Batchelder. Two years later he disappeared and Max was the one taking care of her flock. Of course just because they escaped doesn't mean nobody's looking for them. You see Max was created with a specific purpose in mind, to save the world from a company looking to take over the world called Itex. So they kind of have these things called Erasers (human wolf mix also used to guard the school) chasing them and trying to kill them. At the same time the flock istrying to get away and find out about their parents at the same time. So the flock must use the best of all their weird powers to survive this dangerous mission. This series recieves a 5 star rating from me and I'm not easy to please as far as books go. If you're looking for a book that seems like an action movie Iwould suggest the Maximum Ride series. If you're interested the first book is called Angel Experiment and the second is called School's Out - Forever.

Welcome to my blog

Hello my name is Carissa (insert a last name that sounds good here because you're not finding out the real one). I am a 15 year old freshman that goes to MHS (use your imagination to give a name to the acronym) and I'm in the Seattle area (once again This specific is unavailable). I am the teenage philotechnic of the title. If you don't know what a philotechnic is then google it. Just kidding. A philotechnic is a lover of the arts. Meaning music, writing, photography, poetry, and dancing. I'm not into the dance thing but I do love all of the other addicting hobbies I mentioned. I am a musician. I've been playing violin for 5 and a half years so, with the risk of sounding hauty, I'm pretty good at what I do. Too bad I'm still an amatuer but I hope that one day I can be a professional. I love riting poetry and I'm not bad at writing short stories. If you find a poetry site that will actually give you the money they promse if they publish you and don't ask for any money to be published you make sure to let me know because at this point I've nearly given up on looking for an honest publisher. I do like photography. I haven't really done any to sumbit to any photography contests but my mom tells me I'm pretty good with the camera. Too bad I can't take a decent picture of myself. Oh well I don't like to be on that side of the camera anyway. Maybe that's because I'm a girl and I "lack self esteem" like many of my peers these days. Well I guess I can tell you a bit more about myself. below are my "stats."

Name: Carissa
Age: 15
Location: Seattle area
Hometown (where I moved here from): Roanoke, Virginia
What's playing on my ipod right now?: Down with the Sickness by Disturbed
Favorite bands: Relient K, Disturbed, Blink-182, The Academy Is..., Dynamik (local band), Styx, The Ting Tings
Favorite songs by those bands: Sadie Hawkins Dance (Relient K), Inside the Fire (disturbed), Down (blink- 182), Slow Down (The Academy is...) Things Unheard (Dynamik), Lorelei (Styx), Great DJ (The Ting Tings).
Favorite color: Red
Favorite food: Anything dipped in honey mustard
Favorite word: Discombobulated (definition from dictionary.com): having self-possession upset; thrown into confusion
Favorite oxymoron: mildly psychotic
Pet Peeve: misspelled words (sorry Dad I love you but you can't spell)
Favorite site: http://www.pointlesssites.com/
Favorite movie: Bruce Almighty
Favorite book series: 1. Maximum Ride 2. Warriors 3. W.I.T.C.H.
Favorite drink: Cross between diet cherry vanilla dr. pepper and a double whipped strawberries and creme frappachino (yes I know I'm very specific about my choice in beverage)
Collections: I have a collection o f hoodies and right now I have at least 6 or 7 of them (including a VT hoodie)
Pets?: A not very bright but very cute siamese kitty (she eats receipts and blue paper)
Vehicle: An 87 dodge Daytona Shelby Z (I can't drive yet but my dad already bought me a car and motorcycle) and a magenta Kawasaki motorcycle

Well I can't fabricate anymore fun facts about me now so I will Sign off on this blog with this thought provoking quote:

"A man with one watch knows what time it is; a man with two watches is never quite sure. " ~Lee Segall