Collegiate Difficulties

Hey!

Sorry it's been so long since my last post, but I've been really busy.

I'll give a short recap of why I've been so busy!

Spring Break: I had to write a research paper to make up for not writing any during English 3. (I am a horrible procrastinator. I'm working on that, though.)

April-May: I had to finish up high school with good grades!

Late May: I graduated!

June-Tomorrow (July 28): I'm taking my first college class! Trig is... both easier and harder than I expected.

So, now that you know what I've been doing for the past... five months? Has it been five months? Wow...

Anyway, now that you know what I've been doing, I can tell you what I'm doing now.

I'm half-stalling, half-regaining my courage to call the school to schedule an appointment for "Direct Loan Counselling". Phone call anxiety kinda sucks as an adult.

Yep, student loans! The bane of many a graduate's existence!

Luckily, I'm only gonna get one. I'm planning on getting scholarships and grants and such to get me through the rest of college.

This loan's gonna get me a car! Well, hopefully it will...

In case I haven't told you, I'm gonna be a particle physicist! Once I get through about ten years of college, that is.

Oh, and, on the subject of cars, I'm gonna have to actually get my driver's license! Because I'm an anxious procrastinator who didn't get enough in-school driving hours to get one at sixteen. But that's because of the rule that "you have to be passing gym in order to go drive during class!", which meant I only got to drive, like, twice. Oh, and my anxiety at driving a car, which was likely fueled by Mom's anxiety at me driving a car (not blaming you, Mom, just citing a source) made it so that I didn't get the at-home driving hours either.

Gym class sucks. I only barely passed. Honestly, I was ready to give up every shred of my dignity and beg the teacher for some form of extra credit, I was that desperate.

Enough about high school. The past is in the past.

I'm procrastinating making the call (don't yell at me, Mom! I'm gonna call soon, I just need to regain my courage!) because of phone call anxiety. I'm working on getting over it, though! Before, I couldn't answer phone calls from unknown numbers or make phone calls to anyone except a select few.

Anxiety sucks. If you don't have it, be glad you don't. If you do have it, well, keep on keeping on; I know you can get through it. I have, thus far.

On a lighter subject, Mom's having a bit of a party on Sunday! She's celebrating the premier of Sharknado 4.

Yep, Sharknado. It's exactly what it sounds like - well, unless you hear it as Shark-NATO, in which case it's not, LOL.

Sharks in a tornado. And they've made four movies based around that premise. Oh! I forgot! After Sharknado 4 is the premier of 2 Lava 2 Lantula, the sequel to Lavalantula! Again, pretty much exactly what it sounds like.

The tagline for Sharknado 4? The Fourth Awakens. I'm not kidding, just Google it. (Well, it's actually The 4th Awakens, but I think that "Fourth" looks better than "4th".)
Thus far, the titles in the Sharknado franchise are: Sharknado: Enough Said, Sharknado 2: The Second One, Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! - which was my reaction upon seeing that they had made a Sharknado 3 - and, of course, Sharknado 4: The Fourth Awakens.

So, now that I've told you all about Sharknado, and my college difficulties, I guess I don't have much else to say.

Bye,
~RJ

Nerd State!

It's 4:15, and we're well on our way to state. According to Smithy, were have 44 miles left till we get to dinner.

Dinner will be at a pizza place, which I'm looking forward to, then we'll get to the hotel and get our things settled before (hopefully) going bowling!

I'm really excited for bowling, since I haven't gone bowling in like 4 years. I mean, I went to a bowling alley August before last, but I didn't get to bowl.

After bowling, we're going back to the hotel and playing Cards Against Humanity! I brought my set, and I'm curious to see the kinds of things the others on my team come up with. What kind of dirty minds they secretly possess...

It's 4:23, and nothing much is happening right now, so I'll stop until dinner. Conserving data and all that.

5:27- We'll be at dinner in about 15 to 20 minutes, but I wanted to say some stuff, just cause I'm random like that.

Brownie came with me! He's chilling on my leg right now, the lucky punk.

Speaking of phones! My iPhone decided to turn into a brick two weeks ago at our last Scholastic Bowl tournament, and since then, I've been using a flip phone that's about the same age as my youngest brother. That's 5, by the way. But last night, Mom, being the wonderful woman she is, traded phones with me, numbers and all. So I have a smartphone again! I can take high-quality pictures, and make blog posts, and listen to music!

Okay, now that Brownie's been announced, I've clarified stuff, and I've told you about my shite-brick of an iPhone, I'm done until after dinner.

7:30am- Ummm... Good morning! I was too excited for bowling, then Cards Against Humanity, to write anything more last night.

So we're on the way to the college for the tournament right now. Woo!

Breakfast was good. I had a small bowl of fruit loops and three and a half cinnamon rolls, as well as a cup of coffee. So I'm ready for the day!

I wonder if we're gonna be in the same building they did the Scholastic Bowl camp in a couple summers ago. If so, then I'll know my way around relatively well.

I'll get back to you once we get to the college.

5:41- Not again!

The tournament went... Rather well, considering who all we were competing against. IMSA was there, as well as R-A(that's what I'm gonna call them, for privacy stuff), whose playing is "a work of art" according to what another Scholastic Bowl coach told Smithy. We got to watch IMSA play HC(another privacy name), and there were 17 powers in 24 tossups. Oh, a power is when you answer during the first part of the question, when the only clues given are obscure. One team got 515 points, and the other got 350 points. This is out of... Hold on, let me do the math real quick...

865 out of 1080 potential points, with tossups potentially giving 15 each and bonus sets giving 30 points if all parts are answered.

That's 80%, if my calculator is to be trusted. Which I think it is.

They answered most of the questions before I even processed what they were looking for.
And these were college level questions.

I thought Kayla was crazy good.
If I'm the queen of Schol Bowl, these people are GODS.

I wish I was that good...

Heh. A girl can dream!

Oh, and I think I'll end the post here. It's pretty long as it is, and the only thing left for us to do is get dinner, and that probably won't be all that exciting.

Bye from the road!
~RJ

Sleepless, without the Seattle

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I've made this kind of joke before, but I'm desperate for a title so I can just START TYPING!! And start TELLING YOU ABOUT WHAT'S GOING ON!!!!!!

I can't sleep because I'm SO EXCITED!!!

Remember four years ago, when I went to State for MathCounts?

And you know how I'm in Scholastic Bowl?

...guess where I'm going!

That's right, I'm going to STATE! For Scholastic Bowl!

Just like last time, we're leaving in the afternoon today (Friday), staying in a hotel tonight, and going to the tournament tomorrow.

Okay, not exactly like last time, since there wasn't a tournament last time, just an assortment of tests.

And again, I shall provide an "introduction". With nicknames for the people I have nicknames for.

The Team:

Ern (pronounced like "urn"), our captain

McCrumpet/McCash (also known as Wonder Boy McCoy)

Raquel (I can't think of a creative nickname for her, so I'm just changing her name slightly)

Kayla (who's really smart, and I have no nickname for)

McClarinet/McCoin (McCrumpet's little bro)

Drumhoff

Little Wild Bill (Mom nicknamed his dad Wild Bill when both were in high school, and it stuck)

The Coach:

Smithy (I've definitely mentioned him before)

Miscellaneous Info:

I call McClarinet and Drumhoff, who are BFFS, "Kassac" (pronounced kay-zak) collectively. Their voices even sound similar! At least, they do to me...

I need to come up with more nicknames for these people.

Oh, and I will be blogging from the road! This is a new development, actually, since I've been stuck with a five-year-old flip phone for the past two weeks, but Mom switched me phones for the weekend so I could take pictures with her phone's superior camera.

Now all I need to do is get the Blogger app. She shouldn't be too upset about that.

Now I'm gonna try to go back to sleep, since my preparation schedule didn't have any early-morning blog posts in it. Ooh, schedule time!

PRE-DEPARTURE

11:00 AM - shower

11:45 AM - pack

12:30 PM - do nothing

2:45 PM - eat lunch

3:15 PM - go to the high school

3:30 PM - departure

POST-DEPARTURE (all times are approximate)

3:30 PM - departure

5:45 PM - dinner at a pizza place

6:45 PM - get stuff into hotel rooms

7:00 PM - bowling!! (if we can)

10:00 PM - get back to hotel

10:00 PM - play Cards Against Humanity!!

12:00 AM - be asleep

Yep, we're playing Cards Against Humanity!! I'm bringing it, since the only thing Ern and Raquel (who suggested the game) have access to is a knock-off version, while I have the true Cards Against Humanity.

So, back to sleep for another 2 hours!

See you later!

~RJ

It's What You Do...

It's that time of year again!!

It's time for the biggest Bowl game of them all... and I'm not talking about the Super Bowl!

Today, along with the Super Bowl, the Puppy and Kitten Bowls air, on Animal Planet and Hallmark respectively.

Puppy Bowl XII (12, for those of you who may not know Roman Numerals), and Kitten Bowl III are on today, and the Puppy Bowl is bigger and better than ever.

...They added a pregame show this year. I am not kidding.

And the hosts have dog pun names. Right now, they're interviewing a dog- wait, no, they're reenacting a play from last year. And the main host is grabbing toys in his mouth like a dog.

This is so weird. They're criticizing the puppies for "tackling" their own teammates. And they're going to make predictions on the outcome of the game!

There are puppies from previous Puppy Bowls there. Dear God, this pregame show is so weird- wait, CHICKEN CHEERLEADERS?!

Okay, the pregame show is over. Time for Puppy Bowl XII!

Oh, and let's not forget the purpose of the Puppy Bowl: ADOPT PUPPIES FROM SHELTERS! GIVE LOVING HOMES TO DOGS AND PUPPIES IN NEED OF THEM!!

That is, if you are able to. If you're unable to, that's okay. But if you can, and you want to, then ADOPT PUPPIES!

PSA over. I'll be back at the end of the quarter with a score update.

Current score (1st commercial break, during 1st quarter)

Ruff: 14

Fluff: 0

End of 1st Quarter

Ruff: 14

Fluff: 14

The commercial right now has a dog driving a car. Cute.

End of 3rd Quarter

Ruff: 63

Fluff: 30

They've started a Puppy Bowl Hall of Fame, too. They got a professional football player to come on the field and announce the pups who were inducted! It was so ADORABLE!!!

Final Score

Ruff: 70

Fluff: 44

Go Team Ruff!

Now for the Kitten Bowl!

Oh, wait, the Kitten Bowl is structured differently than the Puppy Bowl. There are multiple games, and since I tuned in two hours in, I've most likely missed at least one game. I'll come back at five when it airs again.

See you in 45 minutes!

* * * (Break) * * *

Okay, I'm back!

It's time for Kitten Bowl III!

There are three games: 2 playoffs and a championship, and four teams. The:

North Shore Bengals (blue),

Last Hope Lions (red),

Home & Family Felines (orange), and

Boomer's Bobcats (purple)

Yes, Hallmark's Kitten Bowl gives their teams both names and "locations". There are also celebrities in affiliation, including a WWE guy and who I think might be the older brother from Everybody Loves Raymond (Brad Garrett, according to Google).

The first game pits the Bobcats against the Bengals. One of the Bobcats kittens, Mr. Slippers, is a polydactyl (more fingers/toes than usual) with six toes on each of his front paws. So cute!!

So far, the Bengals are winning 7-0. Now it's 7-3, still Bengals.

Bengals: 10

Bobcats: 3

Oh, um, I got distracted by the game, sorry. The Bobcats won! Go Bobcats!

Okay, it's almost eight now, and I had to eat dinner and take a shower, so I missed Game 2 (the Felines won) and most of Game 3.

Oh! By the way, Hallmark is doing a kitten Olympics this August!

So, it's past my bedtime now, so I should really get to sleep.

Good night!

~RJ

I Screwed Up...

But I'm fixing it!

On the second-- no.

On the third day of Birthdaymas my blogger gave to me,

A Yuletide spectacular!!!

This post will likely be longer than usual, or at least longer than the posts of the past... year or so.

Because I GOT A NEW LAPTOP!!!!!

Now I can have all sorts of fun with my Windows 10 touchscreen computer!

The Blogger app here is a bit weird- never mind, I just had to put it in fullscreen. Okay, it's still weird, I'm just ignoring the oddities so that you guys get your Christmas gift from me.

Which is a blog post. I'm such a lovely friend, aren't I? (The italics were for emphasis on the sarcasm)

Some of my Christmas gifts, in case you care:

new laptop

multiple sets of pajamas

chocolate coins (which I think I've eaten all of at this point)

a replica of Slytherin's Locket

a Time Turner

a t-shirt saying "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good"

a drone ("high performance stunt quad copter" according to the packaging, but it's easier to call it a drone. It doesn't take video, and it's meant for indoor use, so...)

a vanilla scented candle

a TARDIS desktop pencil holder

giant hoop earrings (at least 3.5" in diameter)

a tazer (I won't taze you, bro)

a toaster

kitchen utensils

a Captain America hoodie and an Avengers t-shirt

"New York" scented hand soap (Bath & Body Works, my fave) and"Vanilla Bean Noel" hand soap

two sets of earbuds, one set of headphones, and a two-way splitter (though one of the earbud sets is my least favorite kind, but I'll tolerate it if necessary)

the book Black Widow - Forever Red (by Margaret Stohl, and it's Marvel-approved judging by the fact that their logo is on the cover) which I had no idea even existed until today and I am so excited to read

a face-cleaner brush, which I can hopefully use as a replacement for washing my face in the shower, since I'm really only doing it so Mum stops nagging me to

decorative charm letters "R" and "J"

$50 worth of iTunes giftcards

fuzzy socks

math-themed socks

two pairs of "glittens" (glove/mitten hybrids)

a Green Day cd (American Idiot)

a sketching set

a sketchpad (separate from the above)

a hollow book with a notepad inside (manufactured hollow, thank goodness, since I can't stand the lack of respect shown to books in making them hollow)

(the word hollow looks/sounds weird to me now, damn it!)

wood for carving

various underthings

a dancing baby Groot (one of those solar dancy things shaped like Baby Groot in his flowerpot)

various flavored candy sticks

paintbrushes

a Minion figure (LEGO-esque)

a blanket scarf (so soft! so pretty!)

a watch (pretty yet sensible)

...and there's probably more that I'm forgetting right now, but likely not much more.

Looking back on this list, I feel kinda like I'm boasting, but now I remember-- wait, no, that example won't work.
I was gonna make an example of how Dudley Dursley got like 37 birthday gifts, but I counted up my list and there's over 30 up there. Though a fair few are from Santa (yes, I still believe in Santa. Don't rain on my parade damn it!), so...

Yeah. I'm spoiled. But so are my brothers, who each got a similarly large number of gifts, and most of theirs were toys! I barely got any toys- though I'm not complaining, I love what I got- and... I lost my point.

Sooooo....

Tomorrow's Boxing Day Year-in-Review might be postponed to Sunday, since I may be going to a social event tomorrow, depending on whether Mum wants to go or not. Ernest (I mentioned him on last year's Christmas Day post, as well as the Birthday Live-Blog of 2013) and his family moved to a new house, and his mother (who Mum is kinda friends with) is having a painting party.

In two and a half hours, I'm going over to my aunt's house (Dad's sister) for Christmas. Wonder how it'll go, considering the numerous children, all (or most, depending on who all's there) of whom are younger than me...

Hold on a sec. Isn't anyone older than me not a child, seeing as I'm 17 (and a half)? Hmmm, this must be considered...

But that can wait. It's time for the Burning of the Wrappings! ("IT'S A TRADITION!" screams a faraway voice)

Merry Christmas!

Feliz Navidad!

Other multilingual Christmas greetings!

See you tomorrow,

~RJ

Birthdaymas Round Two

On the first day of Birthdaymas my blogger gave to me:

An extremely sincere apology! 

Yeah. I'm sorry I haven't posted since... Ummm... intense mental math... About 361 days ago. I've been busy, I swear.

I'd tell you all about my year, but that's gonna wait until the Boxing Day Year-in-Review.

So for now, I'm gonna outline the plan for the next few days, post-wise.

Today: random chatter 

Tomorrow: Christmas stuff

Friday: Christmas overview (my fave gifts and stuff)

Saturday: Boxing Day Year-in-Review 

That was quick. And I have writer's block right now. So that sucks...

Maybe I'll start making the next few posts. Intros and the like.

Wishing you a good Birthdaymas, 

~RJ

Perfect Time for a Post

On the fourth day of Birthdaymas, my blogger have to me,

Salutations from a paranoid Honda!

And on the fifth day of Birthdaymas, my blogger have to me...

A belated Boxing Day post. And her apologies.

Yep, that's right readers and fans, I'm trapped in a paranoid vehicle!

By "paranoid" I mean that I accidentally set off the panic alarm (I didn't know that pulling up the door-locky indicator stick thing would set it off!) and, though it turns itself off after a while, when you open the door, IT STARTS GOING OFF AGAIN. And so goes the story of how I got myself trapped in a paranoid minivan.

And I think that I myself am having a panic attack. Or I'm on the verge of one. Either way, it sucks.

I'm especially worried about what'll happen when Mom gets back and tries to open the door. She'll have to unlock it first, but she'll still be OPENING THE DOOR. When I opened the door, the van FREAKED OUT on me. And it was scary!

I'd like to see YOU try being an anxiety-ridden teen in a van with the panic alarm going off! 

Plus, I think my white chocolate hot chocolate has coffee in it. And while I like coffee, I don't really like coffee. 

I really want to lean my head on the steering wheel, but it'll probably make the horn go off. 

Oh, I've almost forgotten the Boxing Day Year-In-Review!

Quotes from a post that were also from drafts of posts:

"Yesterday, I auditioned for the school musical this spring, which is, as alluded to in the title of this post, the Wizard of Oz."

"Ash doesn't have a dirty mind, she has a sexy imagination..."

"How to pimp your trumpet. Use a mute-saddlebag and an automatic valve-oiling system."

"Now, we're at lunch. Some of us are talking about when their mothers get old.

Tess is talking about pseudoscience now."

"Adam says: "It depends on the size of the deer.""

Etc:

One of my cats had kittens. 

I like existential questions. 

I have no idea what to put. It's the fifth day of Birthdaymas now, and I forgot to post yesterday. Sorry. 

Salutations from not at home,

~RJ