September 27th, 2007

I thought I'd put the date in as the title, because I don't feel like I have anything important to say today. Or, in other words, maybe I just need to write, but I don't have a topic or a thought that has been going through my head so I put the date down. I don’t know. Yesterday I got quite a bit of my school work done. Today... well lets just say I’m not really on a roll, but right in the middle. I want to get it done, but I don't want to have to sit at the computer for and hour and write up an essay. You know what I mean?



Dance classes have started up. Dance, as usual, is fun and hard. When you don't dance over the summer, you gain weight (not good weight, by the way) and you lose your turn out and your strength. So a lot of the first month and a half, you're working back into shape and sort of re-learning the movements and technique, in a way. It's a good feeling to be dancing, though. It's a very physical (and mental, actually) Art/Sport. It's not an endurance test physically, more like an endurance test mentally. Physically, it's not endurance, because you stop between combos and so your body heats up, cools down, heats up, cools down etc.



I've also started up Swim Team. So far, it's proved enjoyable! I've only gone three times, so I haven't quite caught on to the program yet, but that comes with time, I guess. The last time I went was on Tuesday and in we did an exercise where I swim on my back with my arms at my side, and pretty much every time, I would forget where the wall was and I hit my head on it! The first time it was like, "ohhh", the second, "ahh ahhhahhaahaa" the third I was just about to cry, and the fourth, if you would have looked hard you could have seem tears mixed with the pools chlorine water. It was so stupid! you would have though by the first, or even the second time I would be cautious enough to put out my hand, but no. It really hurt. When I hit it, it made this big thumping sound and I thought I had dented my head. (I probably did) Hee hee. yeah you may think I'm being a little over dramatic about it, but you try running into a concrete wall 4 times with your head at 5 miles per hour, (I was wearing flippers, so I propelled myself even faster!) then tell me if you think it's funny! (if you can! ha!) Otherwise, the coach is very encouraging, he said I have a lot of power in my legs, (which makes sense since Carla, [my dance teacher] said I'm a good jumper) and that it's coming along. Well, ta ta for now! -EMB

P.S. This is a failed attempt at pasteing a picture. Didn't work so well.

Starry Night

Go to this link to hear Don McLean's "Starry Starry Night".
http://youtube.com/watch?v=nkvLq0TYiwI&mode=related&search=

As I write, I look out into the night sky and think, "This is the place where scientists stop, and God takes over." It's amazing; a vast, immense cosmic sky, filled with glitter, spattered in a swirled milky way. And right in the center, sits a pool of light, reflecting silver streams of light onto a softly spinning Earth.

Brilliant scientists of the day look up at the cosmic wonder, and instead of racking their brains to shape hypothesis's and make conclusions about it, they just enjoy it as it is. I bask in the knowledge that the sky is the one thing no one can touch, and that's how it should stay. I wonder if anybody appreciates the sky as we do money material. It seems to me that every time I look up, I become aware that it's not whats around me physically that matters in the long run, but what's around me mentally, that truly matters.

Goodnight*
Ellie May

Goodbye

Carrie (my sister) and Jeremy (her husband, my brother-in-law) lest for Portland today. They are going to live there for the next 2 years so they can finish college. It was hard to watch them go. It seems like my whole life someones always going away and I've had so many times to rehearse my crying da'bue (is that how you spell that?) that even if it wasn't real (which it is, I assure you) everyone would believe me.

Last night I stayed the night at the Peters, and we (Heather, Audrey and I) stayed up until the wee hours of the night... morning. Yeah, it was around 3:30 when our heads hit the pillows. Its amazing, even though we got nine hours of sleep, (we woke up at 12:00) you still don't feel like it was very fitful sleep.

Well, must return to that "work". You might hear from me later in the evening, but for now, adios, and - Bye.

-EM (Ellie May [May's my middle name])

School, school school... and more school

School takes a lot of time and thought out of your younger life, and only so in your older life you can be successful. Kinda dumb. It really takes the fun part out of being a kid. Ignorance is bliss. Never were words so true. Honestly, some of the stuff they teach you in school is very beneficial, but some of it feels like its just there to cram down your throat, stress you out and make you lose those 10 hours of needed sleep. (Yeah, I know they say 8 hours, but I need more.) I think there's a pride issue that goes with the whole "learning" thing. When you know more, can do more, and look more than others you feel more... successful, I guess. It's awful actually, were really selfish, ya know that?

I guess the reason I'm writing this now and on this subject, is because at this moment I'm doing my school work, and in just about every subject I have an essay or some portfolio item to finish today or over the weekend. I guess it can be somewhat worth it though. (working through your school work and trying to get all A's, that is.)

I just got a letter from the People to People Student Ambassador Program, where they take you on a 20 day school trip to Italy, Greece and France. The only reason I was invited to go, was because I am a Honor Role student in Connections Academy. (And yes, I'm proud of it) It sounds sooo amazing, touring Europe with a bunch of highschoolers. Thankfully, I figure, if the people who are invited are all Honor Role students, (which they are) there won't be a bunch of immature kids going on the trip, and that makes it ten times better. I was pretty excited when I saw the letter today; because throughout the whole thing the people addressed me as "Ellie May", using my middle name. I liked it. (My middle name, that is)

I was reading a GL (girls life) magazine, and in it they had a list of things to do before you turn 16. One of them, was to buy some really expensive piece of clothing. Why is that? I mean honestly, that's probably the stupidest thing you could do, because there's no guarantee that you're gunna fit that peice of clothing in a year, or half a year. Unless, of course, it's something like a Prada Tote or Gucci Sunglasses, but those aren't all that expensive, anyway. So maybe I'm just saying this because there's no way I could afford a billion trillion dollar fur coat... I don't actually like fur coats. Anyway, getting off subject, I would rather save up about 10,000 dollars and go to Scotland, Greece, Italy and France for the summer, catching the trip with a high quality camera (Nikon something) and blogging it with a high tech lap-top. Yes. That would be nice.

Anyway, I guess I should get back to my unending list of school work and... Argh.

I need a real job.

Random Thoughts of The Day

Sometimes I wonder. Why is there war? Why does God encourage it in the Bible? Why are there abortions? Why do wonderful people have to die? Why is there pain? Why is there hurt? Why do people hate one another? Why do people laugh at others pain? Why do people cry? Why do people live? Why do people yell? Scream? Laugh? Dance? Love? Why? Why? Why? Doesn't everybody wonder these things? They discuss and force their thinking's and philosophy's on other people, and then stand back and refuse to join the race until everyone agrees with him/her.

There is a quote that says, "A word is not the same with one writer as with another. One tears it from his guts. The other pulls it out of his overcoat pocket." (~Charles Peguy) It's so true. Some people,(such as me) have to work at making their writing sound fluid and believable. Others, its simply natural, like breathing. My question is, is it the ones who work hard, or the ones who it comes naturally to, that are the greatest writers of all time? Who decides whats a classic and whats not, anyway? who decides whats a good book or not? What are they basing the decisions on?

These are just some random words I had to put on the blog. You may find I think randomly. I say things that maybe don't make a lot of sense, but I do think. Believe me.

Thoughts On a Stormy Day

The wind and rain outside are fierce and cold. They bite at the fingers and ears and cover the world in a wet bitter breeze that reaches across the ocean and pours onto the land. Fall is coming in Oregon. The turning of color in the trees, the yellowing of the tall grasses that populate the hill. Its when you feel warmer in the water then out of it. When you walk outside in the morning in bare feet and find that each wisp of grass is enclosed in a crystal water casing that froze overnight. When the trees lose their pine needles, and you spend half of fall trying to keep them raked up. The time when the sunflowers, heavy and round, hang their heads with the weight. It's when you wake up and you can't see the sun, only a pallid grey sky that holds heavy clouds that settle all day. The creaking and slamming of the barn door as the wind pulls and pushes it. It's fall in Oregon.

The Ring Of Fire and The Perfect Kiss

Here's one of my random stories I recently wrote, that I thought I'd share. Enjoy

I grabbed his had and pressed my lips and eyes closed. My stomach protested each time the ride hung precariously in mid air. I cracked my eyes as he squeezed my hand reassuringly; I glanced at the people below me, my hair waving in mid air. Ah!!! Not up again, no!
“How the heck did I get persuaded into this terrifying ride?!” I whimpered to the attractive, grinning boy next to me. He laughed outright as we went swooping down backwards. Finally the ride slowed to a stop, and I dropped my head back on the red cushioned seat.
“Man, I knew I despised this ride!” I grinned dizzily at the young man, which I had just realized I didn’t even know.
“Wow, I am really sorry! I…uhh… heh, sorry.” I quickly dropped his hand.
“It’s okay, it happens all the time!” He teased and gave a half smile.
“Why are you on this ride if you hate it so much?” He cocked an eyebrow.
Sheepishly and a little mad, “I was dared.”
“Mmm, that’s the worst.”
I sighed the ride’s butterflies out of my stomach and we both climbed out onto the metal tire print walkway and out of the exit.
He stopped out side the fence, “I’d love to come along with you and be your nerve reliever, but I’ve got some stuff I’ve got to do.”
“Well thanks! And I hope I didn’t hurt your hand to bad.” He looked at his hand,
“We’re good.” He gave me a wave, and we both turned to go.
Now what? I thought. I gazed around at the colorful booths that clustered on the yellow and green splotched grass. Kids screamed on the twirling airplane ride, gold glinting of the small crafts. Parents stood on the spinning Carousel platform, hands on the backs of their small 2 yr olds; the proud horses with wind in their manes, fiery red horses with flared nostrils and turned necks, periwinkle horses with flowers behind their ears and on their pink tails. There were couples holding hands on the Fares Wheel and gazing out over the fairgrounds at the small Oregon town Klamath Falls. Mmm…, what was that smell? I turned in a circle to discover the source. Ah ha, Cotton Candy! Oh shoot! Mom was waiting for me over at the U.S. Cellular booth. But first, some of that cotton candy… I walked up to the booth and got in line behind a father two small daughters in little blue and green sundresses.
“No, I want the blue!” The little girl in green protested, as she frowned, hands on hips, at her opponent (her sister). The older one took charge.
“Okay Abbigale Marie Foster, you listen! I have a blue dress on, right?” Her little sister pouted a slow nod as she stole a look at the dress.
“So I should have the cotton candy that’s blue, shouldn’t I?"
“I guess” she mumbled as her father handed her the cotton candy on a stick. Little Abbigale, walked away with a swirl of blue fluff on a cardboard stick, a triumphant smile and a horrified sister.
“Papa Foster, that was not very nice…” The older sister’s voice died out into the fair concert.
“Hi, what can I get you?” The overly eye lined girl questioned me.
“Hi, uh, I think I’ll get the pink Cotton Candy on a stick.”
“Yeah, coming up.” She drawled, obviously indifferent.
After getting my Cotton Candy I made my way slowly to Moms booth.
Di-dida-lee-da-doo-di-da-lee , my cell phone rang.
“Hello? Yeah Mom, I’m almost there. Any sales? Oh, one guy might buy one? ‘K, I’ll be there in sec. Bye”
Where was Jessamine and Eric? They were the ones that dared me to even go on the Ring of Fire. I only go ten bucks out of the stupid bet, and at the moment I didn’t even have that, ‘cause after the first few spins they realized I wasn’t going to throw-up and they snuck away. Not that they had to be very secretive sneakers, since my eyes were squeezed shut and spinning in their sockets. Man that was really embarrassing; I didn’t even know the poor guy I sat with, he probably thinks I’m really weird! Heh, now that I think about it, he was really nice about it, though. Cutting through the crowd of people wafting back and forth on the hot pavement, I spotted my mom under a US Cellular printed canopy. She was talking to some guy - wait, the guy – Oh no! Mom saw me and motioned for me to come over there. Dragging my feet, I tried to lick off the pink cotton candy from my lips and off my fingers.
“Hey, Hun! Can you get the Razor 201 in Silver from the back?”
I glance at him, smiled and turned to the back of the canopy. The Razor 201, huh? I thought looking at him as I grabbed the new box threw away the Cotton candy stick and headed back. Does he know who I am? I wondered.
Just as I go there,
“Planning on going on anymore rides today?”
Smiling, I handed him the box.
“Maybe. You?”
“I was thinking about it, but I went on a few more rides after you left, and I found I quite enjoyed your company.” His eyes glanced up mischievously from his wallet. I laughed,
“You did, did you? So you want me to permanently damage your hand?” He handed me the bills,
“Something like that.” He reminded me of Michael Buble; he had charismatic looks and mysterious smiles that he let out as though he couldn’t help them. I got side tracked on a display as he put away the change,
“Okay” I said, “We’ll see how long you and your hand lasts.” “When do you stop helping out here?” He asked. I checked one of the display cell phones,
“Around two hours.”
“M’ kay. You want to meet me by the Fares Wheel?” He inquired.
“Yeah, that’ll work. Oh by the way, what’s your name?” I asked.
“George. George Washington.” I snorted and he laughed as he turned.
“See you then!” George Washington tossed over his shoulder.


“Ready?” We handed our tickets to the supervisor and climbed into the #8 seat. The man barred us in and pulled the control handle back. The wheel instantly pulsed backwards and up. And as we slowly descended around the curve the breeze played in my hair and I caught my breath; the sky was a brilliant peach pink and orange, with golden yellow fringing the mountains and a grey/purple backlighting the silver lined clouds.
“So what’s your real name, George Washington?” I asked without breaking my gaze from the view. I turned my head to him when I didn’t hear an answer.
“Uh, sorry, what did you say?” Looking apologetic, he scanned my face.
“I was just wondering what you real name was, unless of course, it really is George Washington.” I repeated.
“It’s Jonah Asher.”
“I like it.” I said matter of factly.
He chuckled,
“Glad you consent!”
Seeing it was my turn at the introduction, I thought, and then snickered to myself. I could tease him and say I’m Brittany Spears. Heh, somehow I think not. He looked puzzled at my quiet snicker.
“I’m Talli Davis.” I held out my hand to shake his. Instead he took it and kissed the top saying,
“Mademoiselle Talli, I’m simply enraptured, so pleased to make your acquaintance.” I played along in a characteristic Pride and Prejudice voice,
“Mousier Asher, you are too kind! I too can hardly believe the circumstances, yet here we are!” He let go of my hand and we altered our voices.
“So, Ms.Davi-“
“Oh, no you don’t! I am Talli and Talli alone! Unless you want to add the middle name, “Marie”.” “Okay. Now that we have the overall scope, what ride next? Maybe the delectable Ring of Fire? I know how much you adore that ride!”
“Are you kidding me?! If you even go near that ride, I’m skid addling!” I added.
“How about the Zipper?” He suggested. I looked at him skeptically,
“As long as you go with me.”
“Don’t worry I’m right behind you, or beside you, or however they position you on that ride.” He laughed, which made me laugh after we stopped chuckling we both observed the various rides until the ride ended. We headed towards the Zipper after that, then the Bumper cars,
the Gravity, Strawberry and last but not least, (at least in his opinion) the Ring of Fire. By the end of the evening I was stuffed with Fair food and dizzy from the rides, but inside sat a happy feeling I hadn’t felt for a while. We walked towards the Fairs entrance gate and walked towards my car.
“Well wad-do-ya-know,” he started “I’m entirely together, even the infamous hand is fully pieced together and sound.” His brilliant russet/jade eyes sparkled a in the fading light.
He opened my car door for me after I unlocked it.
“Good luck, girl. And drive safely, there’re a lot of dumb drunk people out at night.” He
smiled one of those notorious smiles. I got in, but still held the door open,
“Thanks. You’re fun to hang out with.”
“Good.” He said.
We looked at eachother, and for a moment I thought he wanted to kiss me, and I wanted him to, but then he stopped leaning, and he looked into my eyes for a moment more, smiled, and leaned back again.
"It's perfect, I said."
And I think he knew just what I meant.