southern utah...

I've been gone for a few days, and for a good reason. I was down in Southern Utah on an Environmental Science field trip for three days, Thursday through Saturday. It was pretty much the most amazing thing ever. For reals. Not just because it was beautiful (totally gorgeous) but because I was actually learning outside of a classroom. I mean, sure, Mr. Brown says there's not much difference in being stuck in a classroom for 6 and a half hours and riding in a bus for the same amount of time, but I say...WRONG! There IS a difference! You can sleep on a bus and not get in trouble for it! BaHA!!!

Seriously, though. It was amazing. Some of it was lame, like not being able to hike because of my stupid arm, and the ground was freaking hard, and I got dirt in my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but it was cool. I'll post pictures when I upload them onto my laptop; not all of them though. I took over 400 of them. Yay! Yay for digital cameras!

Oh, Mr. Brown came, by the way. As a chaperon. I, on the other hand, was not a chaperon but a student, though one of my friends' dads thought that I was a chaperon. He asked me who my sibling was and when I was getting married. Um, the ring I was wearing (fake diamond on silver that I got on a family vacation) was on my middle finger, and as far as I know I'm not engaged (thank goodness). Mr. Brown, on the other hand (lol) was mistaken for a high school senior, though he was wearing a ring on his left ring finger, had way more of a beard than the other kids, was constantly called "Mr. Brown" by all of the students there, was our resident photographer, went last on all of the hikes to make sure no one lagged behind, and was Mr. Clark's right hand man on the whole trip. Does that make any sense for us to be confused? Not really.

Enough. My arm hurts, so I'll post the dailies (just tidbits [or longbits] of what happened each day on the trip) later this evening or tomorrow or Wednesday...depending on when I have time.

Ta!

3.14159…

Yes, it’s Pi Day. And I have been looking forward to it for a very long time, even though my family is having chocolate cake instead of actual pie. It’s from Costco, so it’s one of those demon chocolate so-rich-and-huge-it-should-be-sent-to-prison cakes. I’m excited much.

So, for yesterday. It was a big day and a happy day for the most part. Slept through first period again because I had nightmares all night and didn’t sleep well (thanks for letting me stay home, mom). Went to second period and made a total fool of myself in front of the class as I stumbled over my pronunciation of the Spanish words while I present on Vasco, Spain. Interesting stuff happened in class, such as awkward sitting positions by certain individuals and rude jokes. Not to mention that the tape job that’s attaching the projector to the ceiling sort of doesn’t work anymore…that was bad.

Study Hall finally came around, and I left class to go meet up with the rest of Science Club to get ready to board the bus for UVU. Can you spell excited? I can! Yay! Anyway, I know Science Club sounds totally dorky, and it kind of is, but you’ll totally wish you were brave enough to admit your nerdiness when you read what we did. *snicker*

First off, they fed us aMAZING pizza. Seriously, the best pizza I’ve ever had in my life. AND we didn’t have to pay for it. Score!!! We did have to work for it, though. By sharing everything we knew about pressure and its relationship to volume and temperature. After we ate, we built something. Something awesome. And I mean really freakin’ awesome.

We built cannons. For reals. Not super dangerous ones that shoot projectiles hundreds of yards, though. Kind of a let down, but it was still fun. ;) No, we made cannons that shoot ping pong balls. How it works is you have this thing sort of like a turkey baster, you know the ones with the round bulb on the end? We removed the plastic tube and somehow inserted lamp lighters into the hole. The lamp lighters create sparks inside the bulb thing. Once it works, you then take a cigarette/fire lighter and press down on the button to release the butane gas. Don’t light the actual flame, that’s bad. Just the gas button. Then, hurry up and put squeeze your ping pong ball into the hole. Twist your flint striker and…

BANG!!!

Or pop, whatever works. Out erupts the ping pong ball, along with a lot of flames and smoke. Pretty cool, no? See, I told you it’s cool to be a nerd. You get to blow stuff up. With permission. :)

After we finished up with that, we toured the chemistry labs (they’ll get better) and some other parts of the school. Our first guide was really weird. ‘Nough said. The second guide was cool. He’s an English major, and his wife is a ballroom dancer. Next year he’ll be going to Exeter College, Oxford University. The one in ENGLAND. NOT FAIR!!!! Oh, well. I wish him all the best. My favorite part of the tour was the library. Can I just die and go to heaven? Oh, man, it was amazing. I know where I’ll be hanging out when I finish high school and actually go to college on a real campus. So stoked, man!

Went back to school, showed off my cannon to my Ceramics class, and then drove home. Went to work. It was Dustin’s birthday, and he brought donuts. I asked him why he brought treats for us on his birthday, and he said, “It’s like the kids in elementary school, how they bring treats. It makes me feel little.” Then I just had to mention that he’ll be a quarter of a century old next year. That got a groan and a smack on the shoulder. *smirk* Dustin is awesome.

While at work, I was in the faculty printing room when the door opened. Dustin came in, looked around, and let out a mock sob. “WHY are there so many printers in this school?!” he moaned. I asked if he had to turn them all off due to the energy budget cuts, and he said, “No. I printed something, and I don’t know which one it went to.” I started to laugh and he sighed, leaving the room. About two minutes later, the printer I was standing next to spit out a paper. It was the one Dustin was looking for! Funny, no? Well, I thought it was.

Finally able to go home, I ate dinner with my family (can’t remember what it was, dang it) and got ready to go see my high school’s version of “The Tempest”. Overall, it was much better than I expected, seeing as it’s a high school doing Shakespeare. I saw “Macbeth” two years ago when they did it. Did not make a good impression. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised, except when we got “rained” on during the opening scene. THAT was annoying. There was someone in the back of the auditorium with a big water gun thing shooting it over everyone. Not cool, at all. That was the only thing I really didn’t like. Other than that, it was good. They had a raked stage (where they build up the stage and have stairs or a ramp leading up that the audience can’t see) and had covered it in sand. The set was super simple, with opaque sheet things hanging where the wings are at. It looked really good, and there weren’t any scene changes so it moved fast.

Then I went home. End of day.

TODAY!!!

Woke up, got dressed, and went to job interviews. Boy Scouts are weird. I’ve been offered a position at Scofield Boy Scouts Camp, but I have to think about accepting it. I’ll let you know what I decide. If I do, I’ll probably teach a couple of merit badge classes and/or work in the Trading Post (store). They also want me to be the camp artist (uh oh). That’s a frightening thought. I suck at art. They’ll find out, if I take the job.

I pretty much wasted the whole day after that. I’m still wasting it. I discovered Sorority Life on Facebook. Aka, I wasted my day. And now I’m getting redundant. Let’s just be done now, shall we?

I’m done. Redundancy at its finest, no?

Ohp, I forgot. I LOVE the Twilight soundtrack!!! Muse, Collective Soul, Paramore, Mutemath, Linkin Park, The Black Ghosts, and Robert Pattinson rock!!!

K. NOW I’m done. :)

Wait!! Today is Michelle's Birthday!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHELLE!!! (Dustin's sister, who I also work with)

socked...

i have to say, i love toe socks. they are the coolest thing ever. i've got two pairs right now: one with octopi on them (the toe holders are the tentacles-lol!) and one pair that's rainbow striped with a smiley face on the top of the foot. so warm and comfy!

studied for my test and got walloped in the stomach with math questions that i had no idea to do. it's stupid of me to forget that science and math go together. i keep thinking that i won't see math in any class except math. wrongo. i couldn't answer three parts of the first essay question because i couldn't figure out the story problem. i'm so stupid! so yeah. i bet i pretty much failed.

fbla competition tomorrow. gonna fail that, too. i'm only doing it because the club leaders basically told me i'd get kicked out if i didn't compete. bleh. i suck when i'm under pressure. debating is different, if i'm prepared, i guess. but i don't know anything about business! i only signed up for the club because aubrey wanted me to. ah, well. at least i'll be able to actually get lunch.

phone's for me. sweet.

AAAAAHHHH!!! IT'S SHELBY!!!!!!!!!!!