Romeo and Juliet

Today, I finished reading the most famous love story in the world.  After having a good sob over the tragic deaths of the two star crossed lovers, I dutifully filled out a worksheet with questions about the names of the two men Romeo killed, how many musicians are in act 4 scene 3 (3) and Shakespeare's use of iambic pentameter.

In other words, it was a homework assignment.

When I first found out we were reading Romeo and Juliet for English class, I was pretty excited.  (It also helped that it was homecoming season...) But for those of you who didn't know (then obviously you live under a rock) I'm what you might call somewhat of a hopeless romantic.  I cry at the ends of chick flicks and lots of "girly" books, and when I was little I used to wait for my "prince" to come for me, whisk me off to his big huge castle and marry me.

For this assignment, we had to read 1 act every week or so, and take a bunch of quizzes.  This is just my opinion, but being tested on great works of fiction really take the (for want of a better word and lack of a good thesaurus) "zing" out of it for me.  I've been lucky enough to actually read some pretty good books in English classes (especially last year) but the book is completely ruined for me when I have to be tested on it.  Analyzing the plot is one thing, but breaking it down into offensively small details and expecting kids to understand how Lord Capulet's tone of voice in act 3 scene 4 line 18 is foreshadowing the killing to come in act 5 scene 2 is, in my opinion, taking it a tad too far.  When I read, the element of mystery is a big motivation for me to finish a book.  It also didn't help that when she was assigning us a scene to read my teacher would say (and I quote):

"Tonight for homework you are going to read act 3 scene 1.  That's the one where Tybalt kills Mercutio, which makes Romeo kill Tybalt and everything start to go wrong and spiral downward until the tragic end of the play in which the two lovers commit suicide in a graveyard.  Don't forget to do the 30 question worksheet. Have a nice weekend."

On the other hand, there are a number of amazing books that I've only read because they were assigned to me in English.  I mean, most teenagers won't go into the library and say "Hmmm.  I need a book to read... hows about I go and find myself a copy of War and Peace for a bit of light reading?"

I just wish I could be in an English class where we get to read good books without  all of the endless scrutiny of the character's every moves.

What do you think about books in english class?  Have you read Romeo and Juliet or some other book, only to have had it ruined by your english teacher? Comment and let me know!

Withdrawl...

siiiiiiiiiiigh..... if it was any other Tuesday at this time, I would be in my post glee-daze right now.  Why, Fox, why?????? T.T

So to distract myself, I'm writing this blog post.  Lucky you!  :)

Actually, now that I think about it, if I was going to have a Tuesday without glee, it should have been this one.  Why?  Because when I woke up this morning I was expecting this day to be total crap.  But you know what?  It turned out to be one of the best days of 9th grade so far!  It was going to be bad because...
1) I had to stay after for cello
2) It was an even day, which means I have periods 2, 3, 4 and 6.  I only like 1.5 of those classes.
3) I took a super long shower this morning and by the time I got out I had less than 10 minutes to find an outfit and do make up and get my backpack ready, which I took as a bad omen.
4) No glee (of course)
5) It was dress-fancy day at school, and I couldn't wear a dress because I had cello today

But it turned out to be an AWESOME day because...
1) I wore a new t-shirt that tons of people (my friends and strangers) thought was really cool.  I have to admit I spent a good amount of time today pinned up against a wall with people squinting at my stomach, but it was kind of cool to get so much attention.
2) After school cello was actually pretty fun, since our new teacher is less nit-picky and doesn't like to single people out.  Also, I got to sit right next to my friend because we were allowed to pick our seats :)
3) I also got to wear my awesome sunglasses this morning :)
4) I didn't have a buttload of homework
5) I had this really yummy pork dumpling thing for dinner

It's kind of cool how the little things in life can make a person so happy :)

All Things Fall

Wow, it's hard to believe it's already October! But then again we pretty much say that about every month, so I've stopped taking that feeling too seriously...

Anyway, fall is the season of many things! Halloween, apple picking, jumping in piles of leaves, football, but most importantly in a high schoolers life, homecoming.  As a freshman, all of this homecoming drama is pretty new to me.  At my school, it seems like most of the people who go with dates are juniors and seniors.  I like the two weeks before homecoming a lot because at lunch and in the library you see boys walking around with flowers asking girls to the dance, and it's really cute!

None of my friends or I have dates.  I think what we'll do is just go in a big group of girls and guys together.  I'd rather do that than go with a date, I think, because then it becomes kind of awkward.  Especially if you are an amazing dancer like me- it's kind of embarrasing if your date can't keep up with you.

Happy Homecoming Season! :)

"Hair Glitter"

I'm going to be really honest and tell you what is going through my head at the moment...  I'm listening to the radio right now, and since it's a weeknight evening in rush hour time, obviously there's insane traffic around here. (It's Virginia, what do you expect?) Anyway, on the radio, every 5 minutes the DJ gives a traffic report, in which he likes to just shout "DON'T TAKE I-95 SOUTH!! IT'S A MESS! DON'T DO IT! YOU'LL DIE!!!" into his microphone.  So basically, this dude gets paid to sit in a little booth during rush hour, listen to music, and shout instructions to anyone who's listening.  I've decided that if I don't make it in Hollywood I officially want to be a DJ... oh my gosh...To prove my point, this guy just started playing the Sesame Street theme song and saying "Everything will be fine! You'll be home soon!" for his traffic report. He must be laughing so hard inside.  :)

Actually, the real reason I'm writing a blog at the moment is because it was either this or write an email to my friend explaining the stupid teenage drama that went on in my history class today, which I'm not in the mood for right now.  I don't know why, usually I eat that stuff up, but today I'm just like "You know what? This is dumb... teenagers are dumb... why can't I be like the teenagers in my Latin textbook? All day they just climb trees, read, write, and run around in fields and gardens all day.  We haven't even hit the chapter where you meet their friggin PARENTS yet. The orphaned Roman kids just skip through the agris in their togas without a care in the world. How I envy them! (Just because I can, I'm going to write a couple sentences in Latin!)

Hodie puella Romana ascendae arbore, legit, scribit, et clamat in agris et horto. Neque puella neque puri non laeta. Ecce! Vaccae cadit in piscinam! Puella et pueri rident. Tu est legit Romani!

Oh yeah... I'm gooood :) Translation: Today the Roman girls climb trees, read, write, and and run in the fields and the garden. Neither the boys nor the girls are unhappy. Look! The cow fell in the fishpond! The boys and girls laugh.  You are reading Latin!

I know I mentioned this in my last post, but lately I've become kind of obsessed with high school football.  I went to the game the other night, and boy was that an adventure.  First of all, we were playing our rival, which meant lots of people showed up, including people from the rival school.  They pretty much filled up the bleachers on the away team side, which was a first.  Second, I ended up seeing a TON of people I knew there.  I brought a friend, and we ended up hanging out with four other girl friends, our guy friend and his little brother, and two other random guys who sort of came and went.  Anyway, somebody ended up pouring some "hair glitter" onto my head.  She (random seventh grader who was friends with my friend's little brother) said it was "hair glitter" but later she told me that she just found a bottle of purple glitter on the ground and decided people should put it in their hair...

Since I was all excited and hyper because of the football game and all my friends and such, I let her put some in my hair.  Within a few minutes, it made my hair hard and crunchy, and full of glitter. When my mom picked me up, she couldn't really see my hair in the car because it was dark. But when we got home she looked and my head and I had to explain the glitter episode to her. Since it was around 11 at night and I was in no mood to wash my hair, I just slept the way I was and washed it out in the morning. It took me 45 minutes, I'm not exaggerating.  I got the glue part out, but the glitter stayed.  Actually, there's still some in my hair today. Oh well.

Also, a tip I learned from my friend at the football game: if you want to get rid of an annoying boy (in latin that translates to puer molesti), just drag him over to where your dad is standing and introduce him. :)