Jr. NAD

Jaelyn and I headed for sunny Riverside, California over Thanksgiving break for Jr. NAD (National Assotiation of the Deaf). Only, it wasn't sunny. My little, black raincloud followed me to California and rained on our parade. Rats, I wanted it to be nice and warm, but nope! It didn't happen.
When I arrived, I immediatly started looking for people from YLC (Youth Leadership Camp), almost all of them wear green sweatshirts with the logo so they're easy to spot. Why was I looking for them? The letter said that they were supposed to mingle with other kids since they tend to stay in a tightly packed group. I have seen this happen with them at the Academic Bowl, but here, they took the letter's warning and mingled even though I know they wanted to be with their own kind.
Why am I concerned about YLC? There's a theory that YLC is actually a place where deaf kids get brainwashed. They go to that camp and come back hating hearing people. How this happens? I do not know, YLC campers never disclose their secrets. I make it a goal to get one of the campers to confess. Who do I pick on? I choose a guy named Raven Taylor, who is brighter than the average deaf person, and I already am familiar with him from Academic Bowl.
Later, I lose my iPod and by some mysterious coincidence, Raven is the guy who finds it. I collect it from him and decide to interrogate him later. During the conference, I attend workshops, like "Parliamentary Procedures" with Bummy Bernstein, a creepy man who's probably as old as a dinosaur. So while I'm getting yelled at by Bummy about how to second, I'm creating a plan.
On the last day of the conference, we have a sort of giant SBG meeting. Proposals were created by the Roundtable Project and I was in the Empty Bowl Project, so while I was painting bowls, they were creating proposals. One of these proposals is related to YLC and how there should be a scholarship fund for it. I don't want any more victims so I stand up and go onstage to oppose to it.
"President, I oppose that proposal because NAD does not have enough money for that and if a scholarship fund is created, the money would be better used for college," I say, walking off stage feeling stupid. Nathaniel Amann and Raven Taylor stand up to trash me and my head is boiling now. Okay, I think, NOW I'm going to talk to Raven Taylor. I stand up with everyone else to support the proposal so everyone thinks I'm just another sheep. A stupid one too. Baa.
I make my way to Raven and say, "You found my iPod, maybe next you can find my mind since I seem to have lost it."
Knowing what I'm referring to, he laughs. "Well, I hope you find it, and why did you decide to oppose it?"
"There's this theory that YLC actually brainwashes kids. You went there, does YLC actually brainwash kids?" I ask him.
"Well, YLC was fun, but I can see how some activities might be considered brainwashing," he confesses. My mouth almost drops. I got a confession! Instead, I just nod, thinking about what he just said, and I walk away from Raven Taylor, only speaking to him once more before I leave Jr. NAD.

I would have told you more about Jr. NAD, but then this blog would be REALLY long. I don't want to bore you to death. So instead, I'll give you a metaphor that accurately portrays my experiences at Jr. NAD. I'm walking down this forest path at dusk and evil creatures stare at me from the shadows. They dare me to walk into the darkness, to become a "leader." If I succeed in their eyes, I become another creature of the dark, one of them. If I walk in there, and I don't succeed in their eyes, I am beaten, cursed at, and pushed back out. Then, I am dared to walk back in again. I walk in and I don't succeed. I never do. It becomes a sort of cycle, walking in, being beaten, cursed at, and pushed back out to start over again. It doesn't stop until I finally come back home. Even here those creatures stare at me, but at least here I know I can just keep walking. I don't have to take their dares.

GPSD in Wisconsin

GPSD in Wisconsin was definetly something. I would like to say that it was fun, but the only fun thing I can think of is hanging out with one of my best friends, Jaelyn. The rest just ranged from awful to eh. Yes, that's how pessimistic I am. Do NOT give me a lecture on how to be optimistic though. I just got one from my doctor and countless lectures from my mother. I know how to be optimistic, I won the dang optimist club competition!
However, I didn't win the optimist speech competition thing at GPSD. I think I should have gotten second or third since my speech was very well written. However, I decided to present my speech in spoken english instead of ASL and I got beaten down for that. I was the only person presenting in spoken english and that's not good in a room full of deaf people, a panel of deaf judges, and an interpreter who can't fingerspell. However, I thought the people chosen were good choices except for one. I thought Linzie, a girl who had a very well written speech, should have won. Oh well though. I can't decide for the judges.
We got sixth place for academic bowl. However, in our defense, the format was odd. The teams would take turns answering questions. There were no buzzers. One team would go first and answer that question first. If they got it right, they were given a point and a bonus question. The other team couldn't answer unless the first team got it wrong. It was stupid as poop. The questions weren't balanced out right according to difficulty. Sometimes the other team got much easier questions than ours. It was plain dumb.
I teased Jaelyn about Brandan, this weird guy who asked for her phone number. Thankfully, we had to leave for the airport before he had time to walk upstairs to get his phone. I felt sorry for the poor dork, he was relatively harmless. Let's see, what else did me and Jaelyn do? We sang songs from Spongebob, talked to our friend John (his name is actually Andy. I would tell you why we call him John, but it's a pointless story), and we talked a lot about stalkers for some reason.
I am so odd around Jaelyn, but hey, we have fun. Thankfully though, I keep my common sense. I love that girl though. She's so much fun to be around in small doses. I had my Jaelyn fix for the week. I'll get to travel with her next week to the Jr. NAD conference in Riverside.
The weather in Wisconsin was awful. It was gray, cold, and drippy. It even snowed on our last day there. Ugg. Not cool. I LOVE rain if it's at a mild temperature. If the water is on the verge of freezing, then it's just not fun.
The plane ride home was late at night, but I had a cup of strong coffee to keep myself awake to help Jaelyn with her homework. She wanted me to read a few pages of Night by Elie Wiesel to help her with questions, but I ended up reading almost the entire book. She didn't mind me keeping the book from her, she decided to just not do the homework since the directions weren't very clear.
It was an amazing book though. I'll provide further commentary when I do the book reviews after I have completed my 13 books for the Read-a-Thon thing.
That was my trip to GPSD! Not much of an adventure, but it was still fun and not so fun. Goodbye!

Halloween Fever

Ghosts, goblins, and ghouls, oh my! Halloween is here and those that know me well know that it's my favorite holiday. This year, my costume is going to be the mother of a zombie baby (yes, I know it's odd). Yesterday, I went to the Spirit Halloween store and bought myself the awesomest zombie kid ever. His name is Sammy Shivers (for the record, it was pre-named) and if you press a button, he shakes. He's probably always cold, poor thing! Either that or he has epilepsy baaaad.
So, to keep Sammy warm, I made him a bed in my baby crib. I put a few toys for him in there, but I'm afraid I have no food for him. I was going to get him some finger food (haha, get it?), but I didn't have enough money since I donated to the darn children's hospital. I thought it would be rude if I didn't give them anything. However, the Halloween store is awesome. They had neat animatronic horrors dotting the place. My favorite one was an animatronic Regan from "The Exorcist." Her head does a 360 and she looks really creepy. -Shudder- Imagine having her in my room. Sammy Shivers is bad enough and I have to cover his eyes at night since all he does is stare at me hungrily from across the room...
After the Halloween store, I went to this pumpkin patch with some activities like corn and hay-bale mazes. I didn't buy a pumpkin, but I will later. I'm not sure what I'll carve on it yet. Maybe an alien or a vampire Micky Mouse or something. Yes, I am also going trick-or-treating even though I'm probably too old for it. I don't care though, I'm seventeen so I'm still a minor. I will even have my pumpkin bag with my name on it.
I will also be going to a professional haunted house or two. I'll be going to 13th Street Manor (it's sister house, Primitive Fear, is REALLY scary) with a few of my friends and my brother. I am so not going in front, uh-uh. I'll also be going to a haunted corn maze and possibly the Zoo Boo.
I'm officially obsessed with Halloween and proud to be! It rocks! So readers, what will you do for Halloween?

Paige's TBR Mountain

My Mountain:

1. Chaos Walking books by Patrick Ness
· The Knife of Never Letting Go
· The Ask and the Answer
· Monsters of Men
2. Significantly Other by R.C. Lewis
3. Fireweaver by R.C. Lewis
4. Shiver books by Maggie Stiefvater
· Linger
· Forever
5. Darkest Powers books by Kelly Armstrong
· The Awakening
· The Reckoning
6. Unwind by Neal Shusterman (sp?)
7. Plague by Michael Grant
8. Across the Universe by Beth Revis
9. Sarah’s Key by (I Forgot)
10. My finished novel: The Dead and Dying Embers!

The Deadline: Jan 1st, 2012
The Reward: A Totally Awesome Day

Yep, I am starting my own, personal read-a-thon with fourteen books to read and one of them written by me. I'll use NanoWriMo to motivate me to finish my book. Seventeen chapters finished so far! -Pat, pat-
I just have to finish the two books I'm currently reading: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and The Carrier of the Mark by Leigh Fallon. You think I can reach the finish line? I hope I do because I want that Totally Awesome Day (that will, of course, involve chocolate).
I encourage my blog readers (if I have any) to make your own TBR list! Come on! Do the read-a-thon with me! May the best reader win.

Ready, set, read!

Road Trip!

I just got back from a road trip to North Carolina to drop off Pancho at his new job. It was fun and not so fun at times. Driving scared me to death...as always. During the whole trip we went through the following states: Texas, Olkahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, and of course, North Carolina (which by the way, is my favorite state).

In Texas, we stayed in Amarillo, which is where my grandfather was born. Amarillo isn't much though, just a city with about 50,000 people or more. Later we stopped in Russelville, Arkansas and there it's amazing if you live there and have one tooth...Sorry, just a mean joke that targets people in West Virginia, Tennessee, and Arkansas. Because in those places, family trees aren't trees, just poles. Sorry, another mean joke that probably isn't true.

Going through Tennessee, we stopped in Memphis to see Graceland, the home of the King! Boy, I'll tell you, my life is complete now that I've been to Graceland. I could just die happy thank you, thank you very much. :-P After hanging out at Elvis's home, we headed to Nashville, the home of my favorite kind of music-country. I wanted to see the Grand Ole' Opry, but it was closed! Whaa!

After Tennessee, we drove to Raleigh-Durham to go on a tour of Duke, a college I want to go to. Pancho and I were staying at the Hilton hotel and I had my Diet Coke and he his scotch. We wanted a brownie for dessert so Pancho was asking me the sign for it. I showed him and he thought that was the sign for beer. I said no and I showed him.
"And this is bitch right?" He asks and signs. I chuckle.
"Yes," I answer.
"Bitch Beer would be a good name for a beer, right?" I shake my head.
"Oh yes," I say. "But it needs a logo."
"What would it be?"
"Hmmm...I say a woman with a big chest, a dog, and they both have attitude," I suggest, doing a snapping motion. We just laugh and laugh about that. The waitress laughs at us too.
"I also think Queer Beer is a good name," Pancho tells me. "But it's not the label, it's the shape of the bottle." I'll leave that to your imaginations. Sorry if any younger readers were disturbed.

Duke is a BEAUTIFUL school. I so would not mind going there. I have to turn in my college applications. That gun is getting closer and closer to my temple...

After Duke we go to New Bern, where Pancho will be working and living. It's a nice place, I'm soooo jealous that he gets to live there when I'm stuck in boring, brown, New Mexico.

The part that sucked was that I got carsick a lot for some reason. I don't normally get carsick, but I did this time. Uggg...I also think I had some sort of seizure episode because on the last day, I was sooooo out of it. I even came up with a sort of metaphor for the way I felt.

You enter "The Dreamland" on a wooden pier enveloped by fog. You can only see a few feet in front of you and then it's just white like a cloud. You can tell that it's dusk, but there's no sign of the sun anywhere, just the approaching darkness. You reach the end of the pier and you're standing in front of a placid sound. There is no wind and the surface of the water is still as glass. Movements feel slowed like you're moving underwater, but you can breath easily. When fingertips brush skin it feels soft as velvet. Thoughts form, but they're jumbled until you see the letters forming in the water before you. Letters slowly float in the water to form thoughts as sentences. When you squint through the fog to read them, they drift away shortly after you read them and they don't come back. Remembering things is hard in "The Dreamland." It's beautiful, mysterious, and deep, but a feeling of dread and apprehension is near. No matter how much you want to though, you cannot leave "The Dreamland," it has to leave you.

You might understand how I felt or you might not. The metaphor can be a little unclear. It was not fun though. It affected my driving, when I had to recall, I couldn't, and I got lost easily. Pancho was constantly yelling at me.
"I just told you where we were going! Do you not remember our last conversation?" He bellows. I zone out ahead and don't reply for a long time.
"I don't remember," I tell him.

So that part wasn't fun. I even walked into the wrong hotel. Pancho was frantically searching each hotel in the neighborhood until he found me in the Holiday Inn when I should have been at the Hampton. Eesh.

I'm back safe and sound though! Goodbye and enjoy this picture of me with a New Bern bear.

Homecoming Failure

All week there were festivities to celebrate homecoming. On specific days you could dress like a superhero, find a partner and dress alike for twin day, and wear a silly hat. The other two days you had to wear your class color or wear NMSD colors. I got caught up in the hype and I made sure to dress up for every single day. My favorites were superhero day, where I dressed like Violet from "The Incredibles," and twin day, where I dressed the same as my stuffed animal, "The Cat and the Hat."

As SBG President, I had to sign the "Star Spangled Banner" for the football game. I wanted to sing and everybody was fine with that. I practiced in my spare time perfecting every note, even the dreaded part, "and the rocket's red glare." That note was the hardest for me, but I eventually perfected it. Then, the moment came when I had to go up there on the football field with my microphone and the four boys that were signing the song. I was so nervous that my voice trembled occasionally, but I tried my best to keep my voice steady. I kept telling myself not to fail the high note, and I did. I failed. When I squeaked, I put my hand to my forehead and continued, rushing off the field hiding my face when I finished the song.

So the moral of the whole day: there is a fine line between dauntless and reckless, bravery and stupidity. I crossed into reckless and stupid territory. I should have just retreated into the safety of my own kind where there is silence and the people are expected to be silent as well. However, I wallowed. I got myself a fry bread and a root beer float, both laden with calories that I shouldn't be eating. I'm supposed to be on a diet so after my gorge-a-thon, I hated myself even more.

There was a homecoming dance at 7:30 and it sucked. Nobody danced, nobody wanted to be my partner in games,and I was TIRED. So I went to bed early. I'm probably overreacting to this entire event, but you know what? I have an excuse. I'm a teenager so therefore, every embarassing and traumatic event is the end of the world. Right? Right? That's a valid excuse!

I try not to be one of those annoying "Gossip Girl" clones that cry at the drop of a hat, but I'm afraid this rant might be Gossip Girl worthy. Is it? If someone says yes, then I know I have absolutely no class. :-P

So, do I have class?

It's Friday!

I got on the train this morning and I had to study for my math test. However, my friend Jessica wanted me to help her do her math (she's doing it for pleasure). While I study my parametric equations, Jessica occasionally interrupts me so I can help her. Today I taught her how to multiply and divide with a calculator. Imagine if she didn't have a calculator.
There was another problem on the train. This little kid didn't want to go to school today so he wailed for fifteen minutes. He was so loud that a dead man could wake up and cover his ears. However, the guy taking care of him, Eric, just gave him his smartphone and he instantly calmed down.
"That's so sad," I tell him.
"I know right?" Eric replies.
"Yep. If there's a problem with the kiddos, consumerism will shut them up." Eric just laughs at that. Seriously though, it's scary to think that nothing will stop a kid from crying but a smartphone. Hugs have been replaced with phones and security blankets by PS3's.
I also got some test results back. I took this test to measure my intelligence and I scored pretty high. I was in the top 5%. The top 1% means you're gifted. I did pretty well though and I'm happy with my results.
"Can you take the test again?" my dad asks.
"But why? I think I did pretty well," I answer.
"You should be in the gifted range," my dad continues. The thing that hurt my test results was that I was slow. I like to take my time to see if the answers are correct, but I should have just done it as fast as I could.
"But I'm not," I say.
"That means the test is wrong."
I blink and don't say anything else. I just wonder if I'll ever be enough for my parents.
Of course, you want to know what's going on with Impala right? Mark, a guy who is probably just slightly smarter, but way more violent than she is, was Impala's boyfriend. Remember that life isn't like math. You can't take a negative and a negative and it will become a positive. Things will just stay negative. However, Mark and Impala broke up today.
"Oh such drama!" I exclaim.
"They should be a TV show," my friend Jaelyn says. We laugh about it and then go on the bus home. On the bus, Mark talks to me.
"Paige, would you be embarrased if you dated me?" Mark signs to me. I just remain silent for a while, shocked.
"Mark, I don't want to date you," I tell him finally. I feel like I have to take a shower afterwards.
You know what's sad though? That I was Mark's rebound girl after Impala. Impala for crying out loud! It just goes to show how low I am on the social food chain. I'm talking zooplankton low. Am I really that undesirable at school? Am I really that hated? You know what's really strange though? I'm happy being on the outside looking in. I don't have all of these relationship problems like some of my friends or god forbid, Mark and Impala. There's none of that added complexity.
I wonder if anyone actually reads this blog.

So School Has Started...

And school is is umm...schoolish? As you can see, my vocabulary isn't at it's greatest today. Let's see...where to start?
I have four classes and two of them, I don't even know why they're classes. My schedule: Calculus, Physics, Health, and New Mexico History. Can you guess the two classes that shouldn't be classes? You probably can. Health is the first one. We sit around just talking about the five dimensions a lot.
"Why is spiritual health important?" my teacher asks. I dunno, I think. Because we get to sit around and say, ommmmmm? Of course, I have to come up with a much more intelligent answer such as:
"Because we have to have faith in ourselves and the rest of the world," I answer. For the rest of the semester, I will keep on pretending that I care. Joy.
New Mexico History doesn't make me want to kill myself, but of course, New Mexico has a HUGE ego so they force us helpless high school students to learn about the history of our great state. Still, it's a largely unnecessary class.
Today, I learned about Pancho Villa. Viva Villa! Guess what? He helped prepare the U.S. for WWI! Facinating...
What else is going on? I'm SBG President so at the last meeting, we had to pick a Homecoming Chairperson. Four people volunteered for the job: Amanda, Impala, Rosina, and Hadassah. We all had to vote on one person for the job so each candidate had to give a speech on why they should be chairperson. Impala was second and she's dumber than the african antelope she was named after.
"So Impala, what will you do as Homecoming chairperson?" I ask her.
"Well, she starts, "I'll clean the bathrooms and reserve the food." That's the end of her speech. I surpress a laugh and just say thank you before she walks away. Well, I think. Bathrooms do need cleaning. Rosina wins without a doubt and Impala gets zero votes. At least I know the other students are at least smarter than an african antelope. I'm so mean...
I don't really feel seniorish yet. The only effect the start of the year has had on me is the upcoming college application period. It's staring me down like a gun to my head...
See you next time!

Do I Like You?

In case you don't know, I am going to be the person who destroys the world on December 21, 2012. If I like you, I don't kill you during the apocalype. So whether I like you or not is a matter of life or death so be nice! I will reveal my plan for destroying the world. Mwah ha ha!!!
For America, there will be a zombie outbreak so make sure you don't get bitten te he he he!
For South America, there will be an alien llama invasion so make sure to wear your tinfoil hat!
For Europe, all the birds in the world will unite and peck everybody to death! FYI-birds hate British accents.
In Africa there will be a supervolcano! It'll be like a giant version of Pompeii...
Asia is going to have a buffalo problem since giant buffalo that tower over the Empire State Building will stampede all over the continent!
For Australia, giant forks will shoot out of the ground and spear the inhabitants!
In Antartica, it will get so cold that all of hell could freeze over! Oh wait, that already happened right? Dang...
So as you can see, I have a lot of work to do. I need to engineer a zombie virus, contact those alien llamas, teach birds to hate British accents and Europe, rub those fault lines, create a growth serum for buffalo, and plant hidden fork shooters. Oh my! So much to do, so little time.
You can see why you would want to be on my good side. No one likes to be speared by forks...

Come Along for the Ride...

Welcome to my blog! It's a magical place where I will share my experiences as a senior. After all, high school is a magical time right? Am I right? Maybe. I guess I'll just have to wait and see if it's magical, terrible, or just okay.
My prediction is that it'll be just like a bike ride. You feel the breeze in your face, look at the different sights along the way, and occasionally come across an obstacle.
So what do you think? Want to come along for the ride?