Nothing like clean workspace...

to get me motivated to finish up my school for the year!

And nothing like Biology to get me UNmotivated. Biology is the worst subject ever to be forced upon innocent unscientific people. I can manage Chemisty, General Science and even Physical science, but Biology just confounds me. There are too many weird words like "Mitosis" and "Meiosis"... how am I supposed to remember which one is which... even if I could remember the separate definitions in the first place? I'm still slogging through Biology... and yes, I started it two YEARS ago. Don't get me wrong, I find it all very interesting. But I want to read about it, and then forget the definitions. I would rather memorize the definitions to new words that I could use in ordinary conversation instead of some arbitrary word that describes something so particularly exact that it can only be used in a discussion of Biology. I even prefer Advanced Mathematics to Biology. As much as I dislike the constant repetition and uselessness of all this higher weird math, at least I understand it and there are no lengthy definitions to memorize.

I'm definitely an English kind of person. Even though I think English is a ridiculous language (yes, more ridiculous than languages with feminine and masculine nouns) I still enjoy the proficiency behind a well-written work. The way a well-written sentence instantly discloses its meaning, instead of forcing you to see past the words, intrigues me. I know I am far from having that proficiency myself, but I look forward to continuing to learn to use English well.

I'm also interested in learning to fluently speak other languages. English, while I enjoy it, seems so dull and stoic compared to languages that seem to flow like music and roll of the tongue easily. Spanish is not my favorite... but it is helpful, considering that our nation is soon going to be completely overtaken by Mexicans. (Hey, they still have tons of kids, while most Americans average about 2.1 children per couple.) Gaelic is what I really want to learn... yep, a dead language. It's just so beautiful...

So anyway. There's my take on schoolwork. I would infinitely prefer to learn how to cook, decorate, arrange flowers and sew LOTS of things, along with my English. But that's what I'll get to do more of as soon as I'm done with school! YES!

School is what you HAVE to learn... and then after that, you get to have fun learning! :P

~Lizzie

The obliviousness cloud has cleared...

I remember when the Northern Wake Tech campus was just a flat expanse of red mud, and Mom was so happy that it would probably open just in time for me to begin dual-enrollment (the year I turned 16). And now, after watching 3 semesters of opportunity for free education pass me by, I've finally come to my senses, only a little late. The late registration deadline for the spring semester is tomorrow. Mom and I went over to Wake Tech today to see if I could get in, and the English class that I wanted to do was completely full.

So now I have the summer classes, fall semester and spring semester before I graduate and have to start paying for classes. I've got a very long list of classes that I was interested in, and hopefully the ones that I was most interested in will fit into this last year (considering prerequisites and all).

And hopefully I will acquire some time management skills... I don't know if it's just a problem that occurs when you get older, or if it's me doing something wrong (like too much computer...? :P) but it seems that 24 hours just isn't enough time for everything I want to do, even if I disregard sleeping and food.

I am pretty excited about these Wake Tech classes now... I'm particularly interested in Cosmetology and Interior Design. So anyway. We'll see if I can get it all in without squeezing out something I'm already doing, like swimming, voice, dance, theater...

~Lizzie

Do Hard Things

Alex and Brett Harris's new book, entitled "Do Hard Things" arrived in the mail today. I eagerly began devouring it, and it wasn't long before I got one of my intense revelations. Okay, so it wasn't really intense. But it is kinda disturbing.. to me anyway.

Just in case you don't know who Alex and Brett Harris are, and maybe the book title is giving you ideas of hanging by your toes or drinking a gallon of mud, let me give you some background. (You can also check out their blog The Rebelution.) Alex and Brett Harris are twin younger brothers of Joshua Harris, the author of "I Kissed Dating Goodbye," "Boy Meets Girl" and other such helpful books. As explained much more eloquently on their blog, they discovered some very interesting ideas about those of us who are commonly called "teenagers."

Our culture today expects very little good of us. Most teenagers are expected to be irresponsible and childish, interested only in having fun. We are completely capable of behaving like the adults that we physically are, but we don't. Why? That brings me to my point. Ready? No....? Seriously? Whatever.. I don't care if you're ready or not!

We live up to what is expected of us.

Really, we do. Fortunately, most of us who are home-schooled have diligent parents who DO expect us to behave like adults. Or at least better than the average American teenager. But I've sidetracked from my point. .... what was my point? Oh, yes.

My revelation. My expectations for myself have dropped sadly in this past year. And actually, (not to try to place the blame on someone else, but....) I think it's mostly due to the Chemistry class that I've been in this year. The whole class started off with fairly good grades, if I remember correctly. But somehow we've slacked off terribly. All of the tests for the rest of the year are going to be open-book. I'm not trying to brag about my grades or anything, but I've never ever gotten a 76 before that I remember..... and I got a 76 on AN OPEN-BOOK TEST. Don't tell me that isn't pathetic. That is so far beyond pathetic that I can't even find a word to describe it.

I'm not blaming it on the teacher. It's really my fault, I'm certainly capable of getting just as good grades without him expecting it of me. I just haven't been expecting it of myself. I even stopped doing the homework. We have class tomorrow, and even now, with almost all of the homework still left to do, I'm writing a blog post about how low my expectations of myself are. No kidding.

And not only have I slacked off my Chemistry, I've slacked off almost everything else. My piano practicing has completely died. I haven't practiced AT ALL in nearly 3 weeks. I did worse than I've ever done before in my piano competitions this past winter. My math grades have been sloping almost as bad as Chemistry. My room (which I'd actually been keeping clean!) has gone back to the mess that it's been for most of my life. I've been staying up late, and sleeping in to disgraceful hours. I have a script that was supposed to be memorized before Christmas break and I've memorized a grand total of one scene. It's all my fault. I AM capable of doing things that aren't expected of me, but naturally it's so much easier if they are expected of you.

So, "Do Hard Things" has nothing to do with unnecessary pain or stupidity, but everything to do with requiring of yourself things that are hard, but beneficial. Like it's going to be really hard for me to drag my grades back up, practice piano, go to bed early and get up early, memorize my script, keep my room clean, and various other things that I need to do. But I'm going to do them, and proudly be one of the "teenagers" rebelling against the low expectations of our society. And I honestly can't believe how sad my list sounds.... I should already be doing all those things, and not thinking twice about it! Man, I have sooooo much work to do.

And just so all of y'all know, I refuse to be called a teenager. *shudder* What a degrading term....

~Lizzie

Boring stuff.

With all my excitement about Beauty and the Beast, I forgot to brag.... I swam the lap-a-thon again Thursday and made 142. Sadly, that's 2 laps from my goal..... urgh. But whatever.

Today in Chemistry we took the test for Module 13. It took an entire 2 hours...... and I hadn't done the homework, so I really didn't know what I was doing. (*wince* Yeah..... bad me.) Fortunately the test was open book... and (unfortunately) the teacher practically did the problems for us if we asked for help.

One of my classmates and I were whispering about how horrible one of the problems was and she really made me laugh (or rather, choke, as I tried not to burst out laughing in the middle of a test): "At first #13 made me think, and then it smashed me over the head with a baseball bat and then there was no more thinking going on." ~ Alicia
I think that's my favorite quote from Chemistry this year. Oh, and just for laughs, I'll share my blonde-ness.

Teacher: So does that help?
Me: But that doesn't have anything to do with the answer!
Class: *turns and stares*
Me: The question is *insert question here.*
Teacher: We're doing problem #7.
Me: Oh... you're not helping me then. Sorry. Never mind.
Class: *laughs*
Me: *is swallowed by the floor*

So yeah.... that's me. :P

~Lizzie

Titles are so perplexing.

I think I'll do away with them. Forget titles.....

Anyway, it occurred to me as I was drinking my green tea, eating chocolate and listening to Switchfoot (on my CD player that has recently decided to behave! I guess the threatening to dispose of it and replace it with a more docile model made it decide to shape up its performance) that I have A LOT of school to do. I have to finish my math book, finish Biology (yeah, it's from last year... *wince*), finish Chemistry, finish Literature and Grammar, finish Spanish I, memorize my lines for Annie and take the SAT. All preferably in about a month (except for the SAT.... I'm taking it in June). And I'm trying not to think about all the courses that I'll have to start for my Senior year.....

I'm not sure where all my time is going, it really doesn't seem like I do that much extra stuff. I guess I really do have bad time management skills. It'd be nice if I could get up at 6 and do work before we have to start going places for the day, but I'd be ridiculously exhausted if I did that, and I use caffeine so much already that it has almost no effect. And yes, I know that's bad.

Then, when I get behind like this, I'm even less productive and have a tendency to not do any schoolwork and instead write lame blog posts that have absolutely no value to anyone and merely waste my time. *sigh* At least now I have a comprehensive list of schoolwork to finish that I can refer to at a later date.

Hope you're having more luck with school than me!

~Lizzie

Spring break is boring me....

This week was supposedly "Spring Break." A couple of classes missed the memo and we still had to show up for them, but other than that, we've just been doing school. (Yeah, school during spring break. Did I mention we're bored?) Swimming left a huge hole in life this week... I can feel myself getting fat and out of shape.... ugh. So anyway. Since I'm really bored, I decided to fill out this quiz-thing.

1. What is your occupation at work? I don't have a job right now really.... except teaching piano lessons to my family.

2. What color are your socks right now? I'm not wearing socks. (Yay for spring! Just not spring break....)

3. What are you listening to right now? "The World" by Brad Paisley

4. What was the last thing that you ate? Mango and Raspberry sorbet.

5. Can you drive a stick shift? I dunno... never tried.

6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Green. Undoubtedly.

7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Uh.... Daddy, I think...

8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Yes....

9. How old are you today? 16 and 10/12 (or 5/6..)

10. Favorite drink? Root Beer and Izze (carbonated fruit drinks)!

11. What is your favorite sport to watch? Water polo, swimming, gymnastics, ice-skating, basketball and baseball.

12. Have you ever dyed your hair? Does Henna count? If so, then I confess. My vanity has driven me to restore the red color of my hair. Chlorine and all the sun from last summer made it not as red as it used to be... but I didn't actually use dye.

13. Pets? My cat, Twila.

14. What was the last movie you watched? "Rudy"

15. Favorite day of the year? Oh, I have lots of favorite days. Any day I don't have to do school generally qualifies.

16. What do you do to vent anger? Hm.... actually I haven't really been angry recently. *winces in anticipation of a flood of incredulity from family or a sudden onslaught of angry emotions*

17. What was your favorite toy as a child? Oh, lots. Sassy (the name of the cat in Homeward Bound, and thus the only acceptable name for a cat) a stuffed cat who I lost at Well Spring, a stuffed elephant, stuffed bear, my dollhouse, my baby dolls and my Elsie Dinsmore doll.

18. What is your favorite season? Summer!

19. Hugs or kisses? Hugs.... generally.

20. Cherries or Blueberry? Cherries.

21. Do you want your friends to email you back? Ha, well, since I'm blogifying this, no, not really.

22. Who is most likely to respond? See above.

23. Who is least likely to respond? See above above.

25. When was the last time you cried? I dunno. I don't like crying.

26. Who is the friend you have had the longest and sending this to? See above above above above. lol.

27. What did you do last night? Bible study.

28. Favorite smells? The beach, pizza, chlorine, coconut oil, frying onions and the fair.

29. What inspires you? Inspiring stuff! Just feeling peaceful. When it's a warm day and the grass is green and the there's big fluffy clouds....

30. What are you afraid of? Failure.... the future....

31. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers?! Cheese, I guess. I really like the works.

32. Favorite dog breeds? Labs.

33. What would you have for your last meal? Spinach-artichoke dip and chips, pizza, macaroni and cheese, a bean burrito from Taco Bell, cheese cake with raspberry toppings and a X-large root-beer.

34. Favorite day of the week? Usually Wednesdays, when we have water polo. Or Saturdays, when we get to do nothing. But we usually don't get to do nothing, so Wednesdays.

35. How many states have you lived in? 1

36. Favorite holiday? Resurrection Sunday. I guess.... I like Christmas too, but that's such a stressfully busy time of year.

37. Ever driven a Motorcycle or heavy machinery? Lawnmower count?

38. Your favorite NFL team? Don't have one.

39. Do you have a house phone that is NOT cordless? Yeah, because when our power goes out, it's the only phone that works.

40. 10 inches of snow or 100 degree weather? 100 degrees.

And yeah, this IS the quiz that went around a while ago. So maybe I'm a little late... but it relieved my boredom. :P

~Lizzie

Good news and bad news....

So the good news is that my ankle was a lot better this morning! The bad news.... it hurt to swim but I swam anyway because I really wanted to swim the 1000 yds of free that Coach gave us, and now my ankle is hurting really bad. Again. And I'm definitely stupid enough to try to swim tomorrow too. Even if it almost kills me. :P It's the last day of water polo before spring break! I HAVE to swim....

School is horrible right now, as is typical of school in the spring.... and winter.... and fall. And definitely summer, if you're like me and somehow manage to drag out the torture and make it last almost all year long. This year I might be able to keep from doing math during the summer... but probably not, since as soon as I finish this book, I can start the next one! Yay.

I'm extremely excited about all my new piano pieces. I've got a lot of really fun pieces this year. My teacher just gave me one today that is called "Cat and Mouse" or something like that. Sadly, I think the mouse gets caught in the end... but it's still cool! :P


~Lizzie

I'm OCD all the wrong ways....

I just finished updating a website, where I spent an extra unnecessary 30 minutes cleaning up the messy HTML because it was bothering me. Then I sat back and looked at my room. It's a wreck, quite aptly described by a phrase my dad used to use frequently, "Looks like a tornado went through here." But does it bother me? Not really. I cleaned out my documents and deleted a whole bunch of old "stories" that were about a paragraph long, but my closet - which is about 50% full of clothes that I'll never wear again - doesn't even slightly prick me with irritation. Unless I can't find a particular article of the 50% that I do wear. I'm very picky about the neatness of my homework, but I'm only fussy about the correctness of my answers if I've recently been impressed by the lowness of my grades.

I could continue with my obsessive-compulsive issues, but I need to go do schoolwork. Math, in particular, has taken me an extraordinary amount of time recently, since showing my work used to take 4 pages, but I counted the pages left in my notebook and I need to squeeze 4 pages of work per lesson into 3 pages to avoid only using half of an extra notebook by the end of Algebra II. And if that didn't make any sense, that's fine. You're not missing anything.

~Lizzie

Getting nowhere real fast.

*warning: this post might be somewhat similar to my last post, and therefore may be somewhat depressing. Do not read if you have a history of heart problems or chronic depression, and ask your doctor, etc...*

Those of you who are so unlucky as to be somewhat close to me probably know how I've been back and forth a million times about college. "I'm going. Not going. Going. Definitely not. Absolutely! Heck, no..... Sure. NO!!" (Fortunately I don't have the added worry of trying to think of where. I'm actually almost positive that IF I go to college, I want to go to Campbell University.) I feel like I've been running for my life, and I stopped to catch my breath and realized I'd been running in circles and spent all that energy for nothing. (Hey, maybe I've got some serious muscles from all that work..... =P)

And possibly worst of all, I can't think of anyone I can commiserate with because almost everyone I know (or at least everyone I've had a chance to ask) seems to have it all together. They know exactly what they want and they're going for it. I can't even run a straight line. I think I need to go back to preschool.

So when people ask me about college, do I say, "Well, I'm not even sure that I want to attend a college"? No. I'm a liar and a scaredy-cat. I have my automatic responses. As soon as those well-meaning people ask about my college plans, I rattle off my top 3 and recite my major. Campbell, Meredith and UNC-G; Piano Pedagogy. (For those of you who may not know, pedagogy is specifically for teaching private lessons, distinct from Music Education, which is teaching a music class, generally in a public or private school.)

So if I've lied to you, I apologize. For right now, I'm completely lost and confused, and I'm just going to sit here, gasping for breath in my little dust cloud and wait until I KNOW I can run straight before I get going again. Maybe I'll even try to figure out why I was running.

Three good things that have really been driven home (even deeper than before) by this time of my life are these: My God is an AWESOME God, (Thank Him!!!) He reigns, and He has given me the greatest parents ever. Even while I'm wasting my time worrying and being stressed, He's using it all for my good. Wow, just typing that was like a fresh breeze blowing away my self-created dirt cloud and lifting me back to my feet!

~Lizzie

Chemistry.

Every Friday, I wake up earlier than I'd like (let's not say what time that is....) and grudgingly head off to Chemistry class. This morning was particularly horrible because it was so ridiculously cold. The car didn't warm up the entire trip... I was freezing, and, of course, I forgot gloves once again and the icy steering wheel was making my fingers numb.

At class, we spent TWO HOURS simply "preparing" for the test, and then taking it. After all that fuss I took 10 minutes tops to take the test and spent the last 15 of "test time" standing out in the lobby talking with the other people in my class who managed to finish quickly as well. That was fun at least.

That explained, I am beyond delighted to be missing class next week for a swim meet in Winston-Salem. It's merely a bonus that I get to miss class; I love swimming. I can't wait!

Lizzie