ARCHIVES - NOVEMBER '04

11-30-04

I'm no longer allowing mirrors in my house. I don't know why my face is rebelling, but my skin is just terrible these days. It's all blotchy, and I can sense zits on the horizon. I was self-conscious the entire day. The girl who sits across from me in art was doing a self potrait and had a mirror out. I had to cover my side in a paper towel to hide the shame. I can't stand it. Of all the weeks, it just had to chose the one where I would be more likely to be stuck in large groups of people, or on display.

In English today I managed to get the entire class to stare at me when Mrs. Feil asked me for a simple sentence with a transitive verb. Ie. "She hit him." Somehow, I couldn't think of one. For about 3 minutes. I managed to produce several much longer and far more complicated sentences, but no. Simplicity just ain't my bag. So awful. In the end I couldn't even think of one. Mrs. Feil gave me this really concerned look, gave an example and asked me if I understood. The snickering totally did not help the situation.

Anyway, I explained all of this to Chris, he laughed, felt bad for me and then left. It sort of helped. I talked to Jennifer, and she felt sorry for me too. Which just goes to show that even though my skin is blotchy and I'm horribly disfigured as we speak, some people will still talk to me. Not many, and very few to my face, but some.
posted by Rachel | |

11-29-04

Tired, oh so tired. I'm yawning non-stop know. My mouth is gaping open for hours on end. It's really pissing me off. I wanted to sleep in so badly this morning. I wasn't able to sleep in at all this weekend because my room faces East so I get that lovely thing called sunrise. And I can't sleep unless I'm in total darkness.

I'm having a really hard time typing at the moment. Probably due to the lack of sleep. I rewatched Desperate Housewives this afternoon because I missed some of it camping out in the bathroom. I felt so incredibly sick last night. All better now though, and that's what counts.

Finally talked to Chris this weekend. His boobs came. There were some awkward "lol"s and then he went off to do something. He was complaining about not being mentioned. So I mentioned him. Just then. Did you not see it? Go back. Anyway, I don't really remember what we talked about. Just that it was awkward and that I asked a lot of personal questions and made fun of him on a variety of different topics. Talking to him always makes me feel really attractive. I don't know why though, because the fact that we don't talk in person would imply that I'm horribly unattractive. Ah, life is so screwed up. It clearly wasn't made for me.

That's all for now. Which is sad because I'd been thinking about all the things I wanted to say today and none of them were ever mentioned up there. I might have to get a tiny little notebook and a pen with invisible ink to keep track of it all. I think I'll label the first page "Rachel's Sekret Notebook." No one will be able to see it though, but that hides the fact that I can't spell "secret." Katharine's adding all that to her "Ways To Get Bak At Rachel Fr Sayin I Cuoldn't Spel" list.

Why must we all have lists with such long names? I'm going to stop naming them. You'll have no idea why they were started and what they were for, but you'll know that I need to buy Bounce.
posted by Rachel | |

11-27-04

I got another issue of Bicycling today. If you don't remember, it's the one I don't actually subscribe to, but shows up at my door anyway. Yeah, so the cover proclaims it's the "Sex issue" which I figure has got to be better than reading about spokes and headsets and all kinds of other bike crap. It's pretty interesting. They strapped a heart monitor to Marla Streb during sex and riding. Those two are unrelated by the way. Apparently sex is only 7 minutes long. And the average bike ride is an hour and a half. Riding a bike burns more calories. Another reason why I don't feel like dating.

Oh, my boredom also led me to fill out one of those silly surveys. I found it on Taylor's xanga. I need more in life.
posted by Rachel | |

11-26-04

I seem to have found a hole in my rigorous schedule of eating and sleeping, so I figured I would fill you guys in on the details of my 4-day weekend so far. You know, a little post-Thanksgiving/pre-ceremonial belt loosening update before all hell gets loose and I move on to the sweatpants. No, I kid. I really haven't had that much to eat. I have been stuffing myself morning, mid-morning, noon, mid-day, and night, but I've been very classy about it. I sipped every drink with my socialite-pinky waving high in the air, nose tilted just a few degrees north, all to show my true colors. I'm a money-grubbing, Anna Nicole Smith-ing, whore. And so is Lauren. Ha, no, she's not. And only she will understand where I'm coming from with that. But just so you don't feel left out, imagine Lauren in a TrimSpa commercial. Now bleach her hair. And add 50 pounds. Now go wash out your eyes because no one wants to see that.

I think all this snacking has been good for me. My goal of losing weight before the holidays so I didn't have to run in the snow? I don't have to pretend to be keeping up because, 1) the holidays have started, and 2) it's not a New Year's resolution, so it has no validity. Ah... to be near a well-stocked refrigerator. That's just love, right there. Beautiful ain't it?

Yeah, so today wasn't as nice a day as it could have been. For starters, I was awoken at 6:15 this morning. I could have sworn my dentist appointment wasn't until 1 in the afteroon, but no. It was at 7:20 so we had to get moving. I managed to wake myself up, get dressed and put both shoes on their corresponding feet. Interesting, since this is how I get through most mornings.

We left around 7, and got there in plenty of time. I was looking forward to reading the new People magazine. It's the issue where they name America's sexiest man, and the sexiest men in most other professions. Apparently Brad has passed the torch to Jude, but I had to find that out on Ellen this morning because the door to the building was locked. We waited in the car until 7:25 and finally someone came down and unlocked the door. Then I spent the next hour and a half getting not 2 as originally scheduled, but 3 cavities filled. Because they found one more that the x-ray missed. By the way, that will not stop me from eating candy. Although what has a good chance of getting me to stop are the clearly very new dentists they had shoot me up and drill out the evil in me. I was afraid for my life. I almost choked to death at least twice. "Ooh, yeah just put that down her throat. No, she won't notice. She's fighting for air? No I didn't see that. Stick some cotton balls down there. That should stop the gasping. Blue is a good color on her."
posted by Rachel | |

11-24-03

Got home around 2ish this afternoon. I was going to take the bus home after school, but I found Katharine hanging around in the hallway and she offered to give me a ride home. She did of course, and she almost let me get out of the car when she pulled in. I say almost, because she immediately pulled out and I called my dad to let him know Katharine had kidnapped me and that we were going to Panera. On the way there she made me call Brian on her cell phone. I don't even know Brian, but I'm sure by now he doesn't want to know me. So first we went to Toys R' Us though, so Katharine could become one with the Trivial Pursuit. We found a display of dancing Boobahs, so we turned them all on in honor of Lauren. Those are the scariest childrens' toys I've ever seen.

Hopped around the corner to Panera, and had lunch with her mom and her brother. Such good people, they make me feel so normal and sane. Katharine made fun of my sandwich choice. Is PB&J on french bread so bad? She said I should have gotten a turkey sandwich. Way to be on top of the holidays Katharine. We spent a good ten minutes discussing whether Katharine was senile or had Alzheimers'. It's a bit of a toos up. My dad and Deb came by because they were over at Best Buy. Deb got the new Harry Potter movie and then they went over to Moe's to eat. Then we swapped cars if only for a little while and drove the Civic across the street to Borders. Katharine and I dawdled, picking up books by her favorite foodnetwork TV personality and reading them. We kind of got separated from the pack after a little while, so Katharine called her mom only to find out they had already left the store. We were so close to wandering the stacks looking for them. And knowing us, we would have been there all night. Then Katharine dropped me off at home, actually let me get out of the car, and I came home and watched Huff, which was much better than last week, if not equally disturbing. I hope to God I never hear the phrase "Rainbow party" ever again.

Michelle called a couple of minutes ago, and now I've got to call Lauren to see if she can come over. I think we're going to play board games. That is if Lauren actually decides to pick up her phone. Again, only justifying my anger of phones. I think she's out with Sam anyway. Oh well. This is kind of scattered. You'd think I'd have a clear thought, but no.
posted by Rachel | |

11-23-04

I've decided to begin celebrating the beginning of the holiday season, which Mr. Kelly so eloquently pointed out, was a corporate ploy to get you shopping sooner. Anyway, I put up the Christmas lights in my room. Not only because I like the soft glow of tiny little lightbulbs, but also because my dad hates all the people who are already putting up their Christmas lights, including all inflatable Santas and reindeers on rooftops. Yes, I do it because it pisses him off. And to get myself in the mood to risk my life standing on top of my chair and play with electrified wires, I cranked the Hanson Christmas CD. This 11-track anthem to holiday cheer propelled me into my work. And off the chair. I just can't help it, I love to dance. Not in front of people, but I sure get down in the privacy of my own home.

School went by pretty fast. I didn't pay attention in most if not all of my classes. Mr. Kelly told us the story of Thanksgiving. Mrs. Frome talked so fast I was convinced she was going to break the space-time continuum. Ms. Gray was talking fast as well. I'm convinced the woman needs to join a gym. Her top half is fine, it's just... well in the words of Ms. Fish, she's "got some junk in the trunk." Julia's laughing her ass of at that right there. Ah, Ms. Fish. I miss her.

Today was a particularly embarrassing day. I managed to get my backpack caught in the door, almost get a papercut on my face, and I tripped on not one, but at least two separate staircases. Of course, I have the cool of a cucumber, so I wasn't embarrassed at all. I swear, I can not be phased. I would have to say that my most embarrassing moment was when I accidentally let slip that I'm an N'Sync fan in English class last year. What could possibly be worse? Ms. Fish saying she's a fan too. I want to go by her classroom with a huge boombox on my shoulder circa early 90s and blast "Pop." I'd love to see her reaction. Perhaps a trip to Radio Shack is in order.

I'd end with something profound, but there's nothing else that could knock your socks off quite the way my post did.
posted by Rachel | |

11-22-04 "And now for something real."

Not really that much to say about today, which is whhy this whole, adding on to a rant thing is a little pointless. I did get my new chair today though. It's navy and if you actually bothered to click that link you would know it's also striped. And it came a day early, which is always nice, and the UPS guy was really sweet. The only problem though is that it's bigger than life. I've got room for it sure, but that's not the issue. It's still big, and it looked so much smaller in the picture. I'm sure once I get the new desk and rearrange the furniture everything will be just fine. I just have to either decide which desk I'm going to buy, or venture into the foray of woodworking. And seriously, I'm thinking about the latter. It sounds fun.

Anyway, Chris is a little upset about the fact that his area is gone. I'm sad it had to go too, but that's just how the world works. I need another page. One fully devoted to inside jokes and weird stories about my friends. In fact, what I realy need are friends and inside jokes. In that order, of course, because I'm sure it'd be easy to have inside jokes with myself, but other people wouldn't find them as funny. For instance, no one knows why I'm laughing at the phrase, "..." Okay, I don't even have inside jokes with myself. Sad. You'd think after I spent 5 minutes trying to think of something funny to write back there, I would have come up with something. Nope. I'm tapped out.

I'm watching Everwood right now. Actually, we're watching it as a family. Meaning my brother is in the living room, my dad is in the office downstairs, and I'm in my room. We're essentially yelling up and down the stairs trying to figure out what the hell is going on. It's how we do it. It's so much easier than trying to be in the same room. This way my mom can't single us all out at once and tell us that we're going to die because we're watching television after 9 PM. Now it takes her longer to get around. She tires easily, so someone is always spared.

I'm gonna hit the hay and wonder why Gregory Smith isn't my boyfriend.
posted by Rachel | |

11-22-04 "Phone Tag"

You would not believe how complicated a device the telephone is. Okay, so my dad was going into Falls Church for something, so I offered to tag along if I could get to go to CD Cellar. I went in, browsed the stacks for quite some time, couldn't find anything I was willing to pay for. So we left around 6:30. On the way home my dad was asking about Thanksgiving food preparation and whatnot and we came upon the subject of pie. He wanted to know when the pies Katharine forced me into buying were coming. My momentary lapse of memory gone I sprung into action! Kat said she would drop them by the house today! So we speed home, while I call her cell phone to see where she is. After dozens of rings it's answered, but not by anyone I know. Turns out it's her mom, and they swapped cell phones. She immediately picks up on the fact that I'm looking for my pies, and says that Katharine is out delivering them, but they can get them to me by tomorrow. I say thanks, hang up.

We get home, my dad drops me off and then heads out looking for a seafood market because you can't make clam chowder without clams. I run upstairs, there are 3 messages on the machine. The first is my mom, asking where we are. The last is me wondering where my mom and William are. The other one is Katharine calling me to tell me that she came by at 6:30 and no one was home and that she'll bring them by tomorrow. Well, great. I then get a call from William asking where dad is, well he literally just left. He hangs up on me, and I call dad. No answer. Mom calls me this time, they're at McDonalds and they don't know what to get. My cell phone starts vibrating in my pocket. It's my dad. I've got both phones pressed to my ears trying to figure out what's happening. It all culminates in me hanging up on both of them.

I hate phones.
posted by Rachel | |

11-21-04

So much to say. Friday. Put together playlists with iTunes so the next time I try to take a nap I don't get awakened by the blood-curdling scream of Steven Tyler going into a rendition of "Pink." As a result, I save money on health insurance.

Saturday. Went with my dad to spray paint a stencil on a box they built at work to ship something. It took forever because it was on the 5th floor and we had to get it into the elevator, out of the elevator, out the door, into the parking lot. And then we had to repeat those steps in reverse. I had grilled cheese for lunch and then I worked on another desktop wallpaper thing because I was getting tired of the one I had.

Later I went over to Annandale to see the Phantom Tollbooth with Michelle. It was really great and I'm so proud of Lauren. Even though you hated everything you were doing and don't ever want to do it again, it still turned out amazing. I saw Katharine there and she told me my pies are coming Monday, which is so great because I'm starving. Then Michelle and I hit the road, couldn't decide where we wanted to go to eat and I had no money, so we drove to my house, I asked for money from the 'rents, and then we went over to Da Vinci's by Harris Teeter for pizza. It was really good, but the atmosphere was a little strange. They were playing jungle beats straight out of Phil Colins and his Lion King memorbilia. And in the other room The Ring was playing on a tv in the corner. Michelle and I were cracking Godfather jokes and trying to figure out which waiters were in the family. And as we were leaving the manager came out and asked us which high school we went to. Then he told us the next time we bring a group of Annandale kids dinner's on him. Um, can you say score? I think the only reason was because Michelle looked a little Italian. It certainly wasn't because of me. It might have also be the $4 tip we left, but who knows?

Sunday. Well, today is Sunday, and it's about 12:45 in the morning. Which means I'm still in my pajamas and I'll I've done is eaten breakfast. But to elaborate, they have polar bears on them and I had waffles, half a banana, and hot chocolate. Oh well, I'm sure the excitement will pick up eventually. Afterall, I still have laundry and homework to do.
posted by Rachel | |

11-19-04

Doctor's annual check up today. I will only say this: I had to have blood drawn and it took a 20 minute long argument with my passive agressive mother and two lab techs to take me down. Once it was all over with I was surprised that it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. Unfortunately so, because now I have nothing to say to my mother. Had it actually hurt I would have been able to dance around in a circle and scream, "I told you so, it hurt and I hate you. Now buy me a pony." I'm not sure if this has already been mentioned, but I don't really like ponies, but having one would definitely be super and it would go with the tiara I got for being princess of Painin deAss.

Anyway, school was about as painful as getting stuck in the arm with a needle. Hey, so I guess that's twice today. Everyone was absent today because of the combined journalism and something or other trip. All I know was 'traut was out (If you say it out loud it rhymes). Saw Lauren in the morning, cheered her up with an abundance of Teddy Grahams and Hershey Kisses. Had I remembered marshmallows and a lit torch, we could of had bite-sized smores. Oh well, Monday will be here soon. Last night I fell asleep around 6:30 and I missed the play because I had too much homework. Lauren assured me it was alright though, because the light board crashed mid-show as usual. I'm sure it'll happen on Saturday though, so I'm certainly not missing the best of any Annandale theatre production.

Physics seemed to actually be the highlight of my day though. We got stuck in groups to do presentations on our homework from last night. Mary Read and I unfortunately got paired with the uber-nerds and were almost stuck doing a presentation about robotics and StarCraft. Thankfully Ms. Gray pulled some of her own strings and let us team up with Danielle and Chris M. We proceeded to do our report on the physics of lacrosse and hockey, complete with demostrations of Mary proving to the world why they should not let her on the lacrosse team. We rounded out the day with questions from Trivial Pursuit, which is always the best way to end a Friday. I got a bunch of the questions right, which I'm beginning to think will backfire, because now that everyone knows I've got more useless information stored in my head than I do Hanson lyrics(a lot by the way, and probably also useless information), they will continue asking me questions. I can't take the questions. Questions are reserved for people who know my name, not those who lean across the table and say, "Hey you," or my personal favorite, "smart girl." Why can't you ask the uber-nerds? Is it because that was a rhetorical question and I'm a lot easier to approach and beat down with a stick then someone who wears their glasses at librarian level and mumbles to themselves? Also rhetorical and a bit of a trick seeing as they are in fact the same person.

I had a sinus headache for most of the day, and now I have a tummy ache because my mom went out and bought clementines because the smell was driving me crazy. Said scent would be the one Lauren rubbed all over me instead of the common man's approach to cleanup, a napkin. That's okay though, because I've learned my lesson: Don't eat too many. And by too many, I mean two. I should have stuck with one. The stomach can not process that much citris. I think I'm going to go watch Scrubs and try to sleep. I changed into my PJs the minute I got home because I was just not feeling the denim love today. Perhaps another day.
posted by Rachel | |

11-18-04

School wasn't so bad. Weintraut wasn't there, I think Julia said he was at a conference somewhere. Anyway, we had a sub and worksheet to do which took about 10 minutes. We spent the rest of the time in the lab, and I finished reading the latest CSI recap and continuously blasting Hawaiian acoustic and 80s pop to again force out the evil that is emo. I've got to say it, I'd rather have grunge than emo. Bring back the 90s! Then I came home and watched tonight's Will & Grace ep. It's okay, but not exactly great. Victor Garber was really badly cast and the writing wasn't so hot. It just didn't have the crispness that it usually does.

The OC is on tonight. I only plan on watching if, a) I'm around, and b) if they kill off Mischa Barton. Hell, I'm pretty sure the show would still be just as popular if they changed the title to The Alaskan Wilderness and just let the HoYay between Seth and Ryan play out. I swear, homoerotic subtext will sell anything. I'm might be going to the play tonight, which is why I might not be around. Still not sure though, because I don't know how much homework I'll really have to do. The physics stuff looks long, so perhaps I'll be around. I've got to find a good classic movie for film so I can stand in front of the class and give a 15 minute running commentary on it. Um, yeah right. I'd rather fail, which is probably what will happen if I don't do this assignment. I just wanted easy classes, was that too much to ask? English lit test on Monday. I need to study. Literature is not my strong point. I don't really have any, but that is definitely not one of them.

YOU! Look here. I've got an assignment for everyone. I've decided that I don't like writing new material for my book, so your job is to look through all the archives and leave the dates of the entries you thought were the best. If no one answers, I won't blame you, they're not that interesting anyway. It was bad enough you had to read them the first time, why should I force you to put yourself through that again? Leave your choices with the comments.
posted by Rachel | |

11-17-04

Recapping day by day is not enough. I need to rant and rave. But I won't, because I'm not feeling all that mean today. I'm really just feeling incredibly guilty, but I won't burden you with my boy-drama. I will stick to burdening Lauren with it, because that's what friends are for.

Hung out with Lauren this morning in the black box. Michelle said she was going to try to come in extra early. I didn't see her all day. Math was not good. I do not do tests. Period. I will fail repeatedly. Flex was okay. Read recaps in Film Study and blasted Wham to try and combat the emo. It has begun to infest. History was tiring. We went over homework, took a short quiz and then reviewed and revised our essays. Mr. Kelly has this thing about planning schedules so that we know what's going on. He needs to actually stick to them. I don't know what's going on at all. I don't know if I have homework, if I have a quiz. All I know is that whatever we did in class did not include anything the schedule said it would.

Lunch was fun. I snuck out of the cafeteria laden with food and met Lauren and Julia in the auditorium where they were painting and fixing up sets for the Phantom Tollbooth, which all of you better go see because I have to. I was quickly named Captain Garden Utensil by Julia because I know the difference between a hinge and a caster. Anyway, I offered my help, I was refused because I'm albino and that's how the cookie crumbles. Well, I dropped my cookie on the stage and it broke into two pieces. There wasn't a lot of crumbling. I then ate my teddy grahams and annoyed Julia while Lauren worked on painting things a lovely shade of Mac N' Cheese yellow. I also walked around the stage and commented on how poorly things are built. I'm two shades of plaid and flannel from being mistaken for a lesbian at Home Depot. I'm too well educated for my own good. Actually, I'm too much of a loser to know when to keep my mouth shut.

Physics was boring as hell and all we did was take a quiz and go over homework. It was boring. I shouldn't have to take science classes if I don't like them. Stupid high school diploma requirements. Not looking forward to school tomorrow. I can't take one more day of art. I never got to see the banner I made for Virginia DECA Day. I forgot to celebrate Virginia DECA Day. I finally remembered to buy gum. It's all happening so slowly but my heart is still racing. I don't like it.
posted by Rachel | |

11-16-04

Mr. Christie is an asshole. An asshole who prays on small children and dogs. I was having a bad day, or really, a bad week already, and I was a bit grumpy. So what? Don't antagonize me, bitch! I'm sick of him telling me what I need to change about my drawings. It's called artistic expression dumbass, and I'm the artist. You're the pedophile with the god-complex. I never said I was a great artist, if anything I'm holding myself back because I'm so incredibly self-deprecating. Just leave me the fuck alone! I'm not some freshman you can speak condescendingly to.

Okay, sorry about the rant. My George Bush Wac-A-Mole game is broken and my tap water is clear, so there's nothing I can do but scream and yell in frustration here. Things at school seemed to pick up around Sports Marketing, which is great because it was only the second class of the day. Mr. Hiatt had me and someone else draw a banner for Virginia DECA Day, which if you don't know, is tomorrow. I think. Yeah, I had to write "Novemer 17, 2004" somewhere on there. Hell, I'm not even in DECA, so this pointless activity was good for me. Not only did the act of writing in bubble letters soothe me, but the fact that I was flying high on paint fumes definitely did the trick.

English wasn't so bad, but if Paarth speaks to me one more time I'm going to rip his head off. I don't know everything. Most of the time I'm as clueless as the rest of you, I just carry myself better. Lunch was good, Jennifer made me hold the balloon Allison and Michelle got her, so the entire lunch people would come up to me and say happy birthday. And if that wasn't great enough, Jennifer kept convincing people it was actually my birthday. Then of course Tyler sang "Happy Birthday" to me at the top of his lungs as I was walking with them outside. I've got to say, it was a great fake birthday.

I thought Film with Weintraut would be awful, especially after what happened yesterday, but it was okay. We watched the rest of the films, including John's again. It's still funny, but not as much. And then of course came the daunting IB work-of-a thousand-monkeys-with-a-thousand-typewriters. It wasn't actually work, but it was the syllabus outlining said daunting work. Lately I've been feeling I could handle it all, but now not so much. I'm seriously considering not taking the second year. Maybe I'll take auto shop instead. That has certainly got to be easier. Who knows, there are so many possibilities open to me. Edit: I just tried to write that maybe I'll just take the second year. I couldn't finish it. That's how much I don't like what I'm doing. Maybe I'll finally take Lauren's advice and do drama or tech or something. As long as there's no IB paperwork involved. That's all I ask.

I need a hug so incredibly bad right now. Actually, I need my therapist to not be at a conference for 3 weeks. This is so not the time. Oh, and on a finally happy note, Congratulations to Sam and Lauren on their 7th month anniversary. Too cute. But seriously now, get a frickin' room.
posted by Rachel | |

11-15-04 "Bummer."

Yeah, today was not exactly the greatest of all days. The high point definitely had to be lunch, because I zoned out in math and I was bored to tears in history. Of course, it all when downhill immediately after lunch when Weintraut said that the column I had been attaching all my hopes and dreams to, would not be in the paper. Yeah, so much for college. I wasted so much of my time writing it, perfecting it, planning for future issues. It was all for nothing. It's not completely his fault though. Julia's the editor of the Arts section, and my column had nothing to do with art, so he was completely right about that. And there aren't any other empty spaces in the paper so I have no where to go. I told Sarah all this on the bus, she read my draft and then told me I should write a book. It's becoming a serious possibility. When I was at Dulles waiting for my plane to come in I went to the newstand to buy orange juice or whatever struck my fancy and I saw Ellen DeGeneres' new book, "The Funny Thing Is..." there, so I bought it instead. It's essentially a book of comic essays. I think it'd be fun to write a book, but you all know I have the attention span of a unmedicated 4-year-old, so it will only be 11 pages long.

Lunch was great, Jay came back early from tutoring and hung out with me, which was fun, because my caffeine gum was finally starting to kick in and I was actually awake today. For a half hour at least, until I ended up in Physics. I'm completely horrible at math. I fucked up my warmup because somehow I thought that a right angle had 100 degrees. And of course no one else at my table had finished by the time they were being collected, so they all copied down my answer. I feel so awful about it. I was just having the worst day, I could barely keep my eyes open, and every time I lifted my head off the desk to pretend I was paying attention, someone would lean across the table from me and ask me how to solve a problem.

When I got home I got two issues of a magazine that I didn't even subscribe to, and I don't want to read them, so I'm not sure what to do. I hope I don't get charged for them. I was feeling so crappy and depressed that I thought I would just watch a little Will & Grace and take a nap. I was sadly mistaken, because my brother decided to invite over 3 of his friends. They proceeded to scream and yell at each other for a good hour and a half. I'm not even sure why he invites them over, every time they try to play a video game or something they always get into an argument over who's cheating and whatnot. Anyway, once they left I cornered him in the hallway and yelled at him for not letting me sleep.

I finally got around to watching Second Thoughts this afternoon. I've had it for quite some time, but I'm hardly ever in the mood to watch someone surf perfect barrels in Indo and then look around at my oceanless existence. It was a really awesome film, but a little short. I'm not sure how long it was exactly, but it seemed short. The footage of them surfing was incredible. The waves shack right up on the reef, and you could see them trying to avoid coral heads and stuff. What was most unbelievable though, was that they were camping on a deserted island in Indo, without food, water, and the only transportation they had was a wrecked boat. They were there for a month.

Oh well, I'm off to CD Cellar because the way I see it, the best way to assuage my unhappiness is to buy things. I think this is going to require a trip to IKEA this weekend.

And since it will never be in print, it should at least be on the internet. Without trying to further stall its release... Procrastination
posted by Rachel | |

11-14-04

My memory has gotten so bad I think I have Alzheimer's. I mean seriously, last week it was diabetes, this week memory loss. I'm a hypochondriac-in-training. I tried one of those Biore pore strips last night, and for $9 my pores better be so clean you could eat out of them. And also so small that you couldn't eat out of them. It was a bitch to take off though. I was certain that it would take my face off with it. I was praying to god there would still be some skin left. Miracously though, my face is still here, my skin is still flawless, and I obsess far too much about skin care. If only I cared that way about my hair.

Anyway, I tuckered myself out indo-boarding this afternoon. I was listening to Elton John and Journey, and then a little Slightly Stoopid just to mix it up. I was on that thing for at least an hour, but then again, I can't remember when I started, so who knows. I'm thinking the best thing right now would be to double my ginseng dose, but since I don't take it to begin with, and 11 years of math have taught me that 0 x 2 = 2... you get the picture.

I watched a documentary on Rell Sunn last night. It was so inspiring and she surfs so beautifully. I was watching Top Gun, but it wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be, so I started channel-surfing and I landed on PBS. And then I proceeded to fall asleep around 10 last night. I am totally not a morning person, and also apparently not a night owl. I swear, I'm an octogenarian stuck inside a teenager's body. And my life is just like one of those really bad books we had to read in elementary school, except I don't think they ever covered the topic of senior citizens.

I need caffiene, and to do my laundry. Perhaps I'll start there, but if I fall asleep in the washing machine again... well, at least I'll be clean.
posted by Rachel | |

11-13-04 "Only slightly later in the day"

We're imploding with changes over here. Photo album is up and ready, chats and boxes and links are all moving swiftly if you're in a drug induced haze, otherwise they don't move at all.

Happy Birthday Jennifer! You almost made me set foot inside an American Eagle. I'm coming up with a plan B though. All I can say is that it involves a robot, a hamster, and a very willing meter maid. The wackiness? It will ensue.

Chris is being a cry baby about not getting mentioned. I'm thinking about taking down his area just because of it. How many times am I going to have to say Chris before he realizes how great I think he is? It's like he's expecting a shrine, and all I have is a soda can he threw away. Do you want me to stalk you, because it can be arranged. I'll just have to take time away from stalking Adam Brody.

I'm so tired, even though I got about 9 hours of sleep. It's the reason for the short paragraphs. I'm going through thoughts and only picking out the best parts. I got to go through the car wash twice today. I'm sparkly clean, but I opted not to get the wax. My mom drives worse than Jennifer, and so do the rest of the people in town. One adventure to the Safeway in town and we were almost hit 4 times. It was not a good day for driving in Annandale. I bought a big bag of Hershey Kisses because I had a coupon. Furniture from Storehouse is expensive. Much more so than Pottery Barn. One trip there would max out my credit card, if I had one. I'm yawning. It's only 6:30. Dinner isn't for another hour. Taylor interviewed me for A-Blast because I had mononucleosis in the 6th grade. It's the kissing disease. I'm not a slut, I probably just licked a park bench. Why that would be a better option than being a slut, I don't know.

I don't make the rules. I live vicariously through them.
posted by Rachel | |

11-13-04

Change no longer comes in bulimia-inspired sizes, but in an adjustable waistband, just in time for the holidays! If you haven't noticed yet, I brought back the Chatter Box because so many people were upset about its sudden disappearance, which I had absolutely no control over. I did manage to wrangle one more feature, the comment link, which opens into a comment box, which makes everyone happy for some reason. It's a popup with love. Wow, that's just a little dirty. Get your mind out of the gutter. Anyway, it sits right below each entry, along with my name, and something else called a trackback, which I'm still not sure how to use. I'm not the only one though, so I don't feel so bad about it. So, because everything I've ever gotten came with its own set of rules, there will be rules for this. To start, direct comments to the comments and statements to the Chatter Box. Eventually one of them will be taken down based on usage.

Grr, that sounded so weird. I'm not used to making rules. Unless it involves my parents and the price tag of all the gifts I'll be recieving this Christmas. And in that case, $20 and up sounded fair to me. Not so with them, but I'm really just trying to keep my mom from digging through the closet in the office to find gifts to give me. Nothing says Merry Christmas like a personal fan and a pencil. That she was going to give to friends at work, but decided against because they were cheap gifts. Not too cheap for me apparently.

Yeah, so that about does it. I'm off to live life conservatively and take no chances. Prisoners is another story.
posted by Rachel | |

11-12-04

I've convinced this annoying girl on my bus that my name is Raquel and that calling me Rachel is racist because it doesn't reflect my Hispanic roots. Jairo's so going to kill me for saying that. Anyway, she bought it, and so did a couple of other freshmen. I just need to stick with a name, no more Ray-Ray, Ratchel, Rocky, Rakell, Raquel, it's either Rachel or Rach. The sad part is I actually answer to most of those.

Art today wasn't so bad, because... wait for it... Mr. Christie was attending a pedophile convention and could not make it to class. I finished my self-portrait, which actually looks really great and I look moderately attractive in it because I chose to leave out my glasses and give myself a minor nose job. Artistic expression is great. Fire drill in Marketing. In the rain. Now, as this was an impromptu fire drill(someone pulled the alarm), I did not have time to race back to my locker to get the world's ugliest umbrella. So I stood out in the rain, hood up, kicking myself for not having brought said ugly umbrella with me. I swear, this whole choosing function-over-fashion-and-good-taste-in-general thing is really scaring me. I almost left home before I realized my belt didn't match my shoes, but it sure held my pants up, so I wore it anyway. Simply astonishing.

English wasn't so bad. We were in the library again doing research(slacking off) for our persuasive essay. I essentially wrote most of Rob's paper for him. And helped people I don't even like with their notecards, because apparently I'm the go-to girl when it comes to note-taking formality. Film was incredible. We finished all our projects and watched them. We got really good feedback from a lot of people about "Once Upawn A Time." Alex wrote the title, so yeah, that explains it. I was really happy because Bret's was just awful. And Jody is the worst actress ever, but she sure can pretend to seduce people. Anyway, I'm glad because last time he beat us out for 1^st place by two votes. We're totally winning. Too bad Sopher has a good chance as well. But the sight of Lee on camera for any length of time definitely causes the loss of some votes, as well as your eyesight.

We watched a couple of the films by the seniors. They were supposed to make a serious, dramatic films under two minutes long. None of them actually listened. Tim's was 3 minutes too long, and Johnathan's well... it was not dramatic at all. It's the funniest thing I've ever seen. I'd go on and tell you what happened in his movie, but you really need to see it for yourself. Two words: Star wipe. The entire class, including Weintraut, Mr. Tremaine in the back, and one other teacher fell on the floor laughing for a good 3 minutes. Heck, I'm still laughing about it. Great stuff.

Yeah, so that was about it. I'm sure there's more, but I'll never remember until it's too late. I think I might be going to the football game tomorrow, but I'm not sure. It depends on everything else I've got going on. Aloha.

11-11-04

For starters, I'm sorry. I've managed to forget most of what happened today, so I'm just going to tell you about the stuff I do remember.

Math. Yeah, most of what happened in that class is missing from my brain. I think I might have fallen asleep or zoned out. I think we just went over the homework. Art Flex. We had a sub, so Vicky, Linda and I drew each other pictures. Unfortunately both of them have incredible talent... and I can't even write legibly. History Flex. Not so bad, we have a new kid in class, and she's sitting next to Lauren, so I have to sit next to Julia now. Not so bad. It's easier to silence her now. History. Boring. We wrote a paragraph. We spent the entire class learning to write one paragraph. I really like taking things slow, but not this slow. Of course, Julia and Lauren finished long before me, but whatever. They're IB English geeks. I've barely mastered rudimentary English.

Lunch. It deserves its own paragraph. Well, they have that new rule that you can't take food outside the cafeteria, right? Yeah, try getting Lauren to eat inside. So we managed to sneak food out. We went in and got cookies and Ritz Bitz from the vending machine, and the stuffed them in our jacket pockets. One of the adminestrators was watching the door though, so we improvised some conversation about going inside to look for Jennifer. We got outside, I opened my soda, and then guess what happened? Random food checks. Which, according to Katie Burton, they didn't do in any of the other lunches. So Lauren and I are standing outside with about 15 other people, all trying to look like we were talking about English. They were barely steps away from patting us down. They left after about 4 minutes, making us all really uncomfortable. As soon as the door shut though, we all pulled out our food. Julia was hiding a pretzel in her sweatshirt. I had both my pockets filled to capacity, and a drink in my hand. Lauren had her Ritz Bitz. All other 15 people pulled out something or other. The great thing about this rule is that it gets rid of all the freshmen who were making the mess. Which is a double bonus, because there isn't anymore trash, and we also rid ourselves of the bottom feeding-scum known as 9th graders.

Physics was fun. Ms. Gray was trying to do a presentation on the TV from her computer and the S-Video wasn't working. Finally one kid offered to help her out, and I went up too. He couldn't figure it out, but I remembered that you have to restart the computer with the cable already connected to it so it recognizes the TV, because the same thing happened to my computer. While this itself was a good enough deed, it really kicked butt when Mr. Tremaine came in to audit her class. At the end of class and after he left, Ms. Gray came over to me and was like, "Thank you so much, Rachel, you saved my life. They were auditing the class and if it hadn't worked I would have had nothing." It made me feel really good. Which is always a nice feeling.

Jennifer drove me home today and we went to the library and the bank because she had errands to run. As we were turning into her bank though, I saw Chris in the car next to me and I waved at him. He seemed a little weired out. After that Jennifer said she was going to American Eagle at Landmark to get them to take off a security tag they left on and I politely declined. I will not set foot in that store. Then I came home and hung out for a little while. I was going to sit in my hammock, but I didn't feel like it and the sun was already setting. Michelle came over around 4ish or perhaps before 4ish, I can't remember, and we hung out and talked. I don't get to see her that often because we don't have a class together and we're never in the same place at the same time, so it was really cool. And that's about it. Well, for now at least. Oh, I taped Conan last night because Adam Brody was on, and he was so cute and funny. I wanted to scoop him and up and stick him in my purse, right next to Chris.

11-9-04

Did you know you can now buy something to spray your house with that is scented to smell exactly like a gin and tonic so it smells like you're always having a party? First off, why would you want to smell like you're constantly getting drunk off your ass? Second, couldn't you just spill some gin on the floor and wait a few days? Third, did you know it also comes in a martini scent? Some desperate college kid will start drinking this stuff when they run out of booze. It's cheaper than a bottle of gin, and it keeps you smelling tipsy for days. Next thing you know they'll start selling secondhand smoke so that you get the feeling you're in a Cheech and Chong film. America? First Bush, now this. I'll bet the two are related. Maybe you can convince people who come over that you were too drunk to vote sensibly.

Enough with my sheer astonishment. I over layered today when in fact I should not have layered at all. I'm convinced that the school is afraid that with the temperature being 34 degrees, hell will freeze over, and therefore they should stoke the fire. 80 would have been fine, had I been in shorts and a tank top. But no, I showed up following "function over fashion" and I've been punished because of it. Perhaps I should just leave a string bikini and a sarong in my locker in case I make another horrible mistake.

I'm turning my locker into a closet. I figure since it takes me so long to get dressed in the morning, I should just arrive at school in my pajamas and gradually get dressed over the course of the day. A shirt here, some pants there. By the end of the day I might have both shoes on. Think of the possibilities.

11-8-04 "Keeping My Promise"

Well, like the title says, I went hammocking today. Now, unlike the weekend where it was sunny and warm, today is cold and gray. So I was not particulary enjoying that. And while I was not having fun, I started thinking about Maine, which never a good thing when I can't go. More specifically, I was thinking about all the things I miss about Maine, like how when it's cold it's still gorgeous out. I really miss eating lobster, going out to eat with Ariel, Marissa, Deb and Tim, not having DC politics shoved in your face everytime you turn on the news, hiking, and swimming in the lake. Going to Reid and spending the entire day at the beach eating cheeseburgers, fries and following it all with orange soda like it was going out of style. The China Rose in Brunswick, tour guide Nicole who described everything as "awesome." Dirt roads, nice people, having a full size bed all to myself, and the chairs in the living room. Being able to see the stars at night, sailing, Felix, and sitting out on the deck.

Enough with that, I'm starting to cry. This weekend was good, and if I leave out the concert last night, it was awesome (Nicole, tear). Saturday was hectic, didn't get any time to just relax. Went over to Alex's house around 3 to help edit. Erica was there when I arrived, but she had to leave at 3:30. Cameron came by around 4ish, and that was fun. Alex's mom made popcorn and we had soda, it was so fun. My parents would have just left us to starve. Right after that my dad picked me up and we drove into DC to see Sprout. First off, getting there. Hard. Stupid one way streets. We almost got hit by a car as well. We were turning left, and this guy came racing by us on the left at like 40 mph. So not cool. The movie was incredible. I'm totally buying it when it comes out. But for now I'm going to get Thomas Campbell's first film, The Seedling. The music was really good too. Normally surf flick soundtracks are all punk rock, but this was jazz. It was so refreshing. Before the movie we walked like 3 blocks to Burger King because there was nothing else open.

Sunday was not so great. I woke up around 7:30 and started on my English homework. At 2:45 I left to go pick up Tyler and then we went to Circuit City to meet Jennifer after she got off work. Kyle was there when we got there, Jennifer changed and her dad came by to pick us up. He drove us to the 9:30 Club, and I bought my ticket. The doors didn't open up for another 15 minutes, and Jennifer was starving, so we walked about a block away and went to Joe's something or other. I split a grilled cheese sandwich with Tyler. On the way there we stopped at a flea market and kind of looked around. They had a lot of stereo equipment and it kind of freaked me out, because for some reason I equate it with drug trafficking. Who knows.

Okay, an overview of the concert. The Academy Is... is a pretty good band, they were playing when we walked in. Hidden in Plain View was okay, not so great. Midtown, who I normally love, and have been listening to longer than all you freaks, pretty much sucked. They played a lot of songs from their new album which, in case you haven't picked up on this, sucks. For their last song they played Just Rock N Roll, and I was waiting for them to play that. Believe it or not, they used to have good songs. Oh well, I still bought a track jacket from them. Matchbook Romance was last, and although I've seen them play two times now, I still don't know any of their songs. They weren't that great either. All in all, the concert was horrible, and I still can't get the under-21 stamp off my hand.

11-6-04

While sitting in a waiting room I picked up this week's Entertainment Weekly(read: Stole out from under the woman next to me) and found a DVD of the first episode of Huff, one of Showtime's new additions. I popped it in the ol' DVD player and let me tell you... I loved it! It's sad, it's quirky, it's got all my favorite people in it. It's pretty much Dead Like Me for the psychological world. I just absolutely adore Paget Brewster, and Blythe Danner is as charming and WASPy as ever. She makes you almost like Gwyneth Paltrow.

Anyway, they're paving my street. Which is totally awesome because I'll finally have a place to skate. No more pushing my way through ministers and other holier than though members of the church. Now it's just a quick gas-instead of-brake error and I'm flat as a pancake. I can't wait.

I've been spending a lot of my time holiday shopping, which is sad because I have about two months before I have to produce an "I just bought it last night and wrapped it in Hanukkah paper, but Merry Christmas" present. Oh well, I've found some good stuff. Too bad I'll be keeping most of it for myself. That's one of my worst traits I swear. Well, that and being a loudmouth, self-absorbed bitch when I want to be. Yeah, so I might have to lay off the shopping for a little bit. I think I'll go sit in my hammock. I know, I know, hammocks are for the summer and not crisp fall days, but those misquitos in my backyard aren't the usual flock of quitters seen gracing the Fear Factor floor. So I've opted to avoid them until cold temperatures kill them. I really should dress warmly for that. Nothing kills a nice afternoon like a frozen ass.

I've got to go to Alex's house around 3 to help him edit our film. I think Dan and Cameron will be there too, but I'm not so sure about Erica. I did get to watch it in class when we imported the clips in iMovie. It turned out really great. It's hysterical. I was so worried about it though. I had to miss filming because of my little beach adventure. There was a problem with the audio though, but Alex's program will fix it, so now I've just go to figure out how to use Adobe. Afterwards I'm heading into DC to go see a movie. We couldn't get tickets ahead of time because my dad kept forgeting, so we have to get there 45 minutes in advance. Exciting I know. Tomorrow's the Midtown/Matchbook Romance concert. I think I'm giving Tyler a ride. We're driving out to Circuit City in Springfield to get Jennifer because she's working that day. I'm gonna have no time whatsoever to do my homework. I'm gonna have to start soon. But first, to the hammock!

P.S. Finished a roughish draft for my column. Just 3 weeks before it's printed. And no, you can't read it here first. We're all about surprises here.

11-3-04

Whoosh. It's the feeling of the day. Tomorrow will be even more hectic. But let's just get right down to everything else first. I did not compile a list of everything that happened two weeks ago on the plane. I was busy reading and sleeping. And sipping my Sprite with pinky out to make coach seem more classy. Also, I'm not going to recap everything that happened at the beach. I'll just give you a play by play. There were no hot guys, there was no surf, I did go shopping, I bought a belt, I forgot to push the hold button on my CD player and the battery almost died. Oh, and I saw and alligator. He also took off my foot. Well, he wasn't big enough for the whole foot, but I could have been missing a few important toes.

Gah, I'm losing the flow. Oh, meet your maybe/possibly new writer for the A-Blast. I get to have my own column and everything. And I get to decide what it's going to be about. And you all know that my only talents are memorizing obscure facts, being snarky about television shows,... and writing in this thing. So if I do choose to write about my life, expect that this will be filled less and less, and you can now read about my life in the newspaper. Because I'm just that damn important.