Time

I have none. I've been going nonstop pretty much since school started, which is my excuse for not having done a blog in weeks.

In Intro to Chemistry and Physics, we dyed our safety-goggles. Mine are purple and fade into black. And today, we got to play with Alka-seltzer in film cannisters. Basically, you drop the tablet into a cannister with a little water, slap the lid on, shake it a couple times, and back away quickly.

That's not the only fun thing we've done in Intro, but I'll save those stories for another day. I didn't realize that today was my half-birthday until I looked up at the question of the day in Intro and saw that it said it was October first. That's right. If you do the math, I was born April first. It's been known to happen. Same as my grandpa. We're epic.

Today, we had a skit for the raffle-tickets pep rally, which won't make any sense if you don't go to St. Teresa's. But that's okay. The skit was GLEE. Which I actually watch, during advisory parties (not my choice, but I don't really care).

So my World Geography teacher, a woman named Mrs. Rueschoff, was Kurt. She did the Single Ladies dance. My Accelerated English teacher, Ms. Dolan, was Rachel, and she's a fantastic lip-syncher. My Journalism teacher, Mr. Thomas, was Finn. He is a skinny (but muscular) bald man. It was frabjous (real word).

The only problem is that I'm not taking any throwaway classes. Journalism is difficult. Latin, while awesome, is not a breeze. Accelerated English is very reading-and-interpreting oriented, and we do lots of writing. For Accelerated Geometry, I'm asking Curls to tutor me, and it's not because I'm awful at math (I guess if I'm in Accelerated Geometry, that inherently means that I'm good at math, but still...).

World Geography, while not an accelerated class, involves quite a bit of homework. Intro doesn't have a lot of homework, but I study a lot for the tests. PE is awesome, except for the written tests, which are not nearly as easy as the ones we took in grade-school.

And on top of all this, I have idiots claiming that STA is an easy school, or we're never in class. They perfectly time it to be during a week when I've had a series of bad days, I'm getting sick because I'm not getting enough sleep, or I just had four tests. Then I explode at them and sound like a man-hater. That's not the image I'm trying to cultivate, surprisingly enough.

On a happier note, Ahafia--my personality twin--is going to shadow me. Henceforth she is the Twin. My mom made me a FANTASTIC blue hat with a blue flower button. It's quite similar to one that Curls got, but mine is blue, which goes much better with my hair than the cream and gray. The bruise that I got twelve days ago is finally fading, which is exciting.

I'm in a fall basketball league that plays on Sundays, and soccer is still going strong. Fingers crossed that I'll make the school basketball team, as their goal is for all players to have six-packs by the time the season is over. That would be fantastic, because right after that is SOCCER. I REALLY REALLY want to get onto JV, but that's unlikely unless I get into great shape, which, with basketball, might happen. So....

Until next time? I ran out of interesting things to say. And yet I'm still talking...

Goodbye.

*The same thing we do every day, Pinky. Try to take over the world!!!*

I should be doing other things. Productive things, like, for instance, my homework. Which is why I am writing this blog. Plus I haven't done one in a while now. And I have had lots of fun moments with my friends to share, and no one else wants to hear it.

Okay. So, today in gym, we were working on volleyball. Volleyball is not my sport. My sports are soccer and basketball. But anyways, we were in our gym clothes, which happen to smell like dill pickles. Therefore, my dear, weird friend, Paige, gave us a name. And a dance. We are officially 'Team Pickleator.' Our dance involves bouncing up and down a bit and moving our arms around. It's quite odd.

Earlier that day, we were having a discussion in Journalism, where we were talking about libel. The example my teacher gave was that we couldn't write that our English teacher, Ms. Dolan, was stealing money from the vending machines unless we knew it was true. Which we didn't.

So, later, in English class, I very nearly asked her if she was stealing money from the vending machines. Paige talked me out of it. In any case, in English, we were discussing who we had edit our papers. Most people said their parents or their older siblings. Pipsqueak said that I edit all of her papers. Which, mind you, is true. Ms. Dolan found that amusing.

I really need to do my homework. And I should. But I will most likely find other ways to procrastinate. I'm quite good at that. Anyhoo, hats. I want one of those umbrella hats, because it would be AWESOME. Oh, yeah, we rearranged my room this weekend! (That is to say, Curls, Pipsqueak, and I did.) We haven't told BP yet, and I can't wait to see her reaction when she comes in. It should be interesting.

In other news, I had two soccer games this weekend. I played better in the first one, but I scored in the second one. So that was fun. And I made it into the Cooking Club! And I'm going to try to get into JCL, which is essentially Latin Club.

Speaking of Latin, I LOVE Magistra! She's completely insane, in the best way possible. She talks to her smartboard, and she has two massive cats, and she's glad she's back in her big room at the end of a hallway, because, and I quote, "This is good. Because I make lots of noises, and I don't want to bother the other teachers." Also, I've conquered turnitin.com. Next is quia!! (I WILL DEFEAT YOU!!!!!!!)

And I now have a notebook and a posterboard dedicated to conquering the world. And I found BP's blue mascara. Goodbye.

Killing time

I have not posted a blog in several days. I blame the craziness of getting ready to start school again and starting soccer again. Well, I never really stopped soccer, but we're starting games again. So those are my excuses, and I can begin the interesting part of the blog.

Okay. So, right now I'm waiting for my facebook game addiction to be ready for me to indulge. Today I had orientation, and I start full-time tomorrow. I had my first game of the fall this past Saturday. I went over to BP's house to rip out her carpet, and now my hands hurt. But I got Venezuelan Spiced Dark Chocolate gelato out of it, and a tiara. So that was fun.

For some strange reason, I have this song stuck in my head. I have not heard it in months, or possibly a year. But while I was washing my hair, it started playing in my head. Over and over again. Ooh, and I met my advisor. I mean, I've seen him, like at the conditioning camp over the summer (That was WEIRD. Just ask The Diva). But this is the first time I actually MET him. And he's pretty cool. A little awkward, but that's fine.

I. Am a pretty princess. FEAR ME. I think I scared some of BP's neighbors and the people driving by yesterday while I was tearing out her carpet. You see, we were rolling up the large parts of carpet we had cut up, tying them up, and carrying them out to her garage. So I went out just as three cars drove by, covered in dust, carrying a massive carpet roll, wearing a tiara.

A note: I got to keep that tiara. And I wore it to practice later that night. My teammates were quite jealous, but my dad made me take it off before we started. I was not happy. But that is my hat for the day. (Oh, yeah, I tweaked the rules. I can use hats that have added to my collection as my hat of the blog-post.) Yes, I am counting my tiara as a hat.

Oh, yeah, I get my braces off on Monday. *exciting!* Goodbye.

I am a conformist to the fourth power.

That last post was insanely boring. In the bad way. I apologize profusely. I will attempt to be nonsensical and amusing to make up for it. However, I don't know if I'll be able to accomplish it. Because, dear people, I am a conformist. It's a shocking tragedy, I know. But I have four silly bands. They reside on my wrist, two of them sparkly and shaped like a trombone and an electric guitar. But I am still a conformist. Because everyone is doing it. I'm so ashamed.

But that doesn't matter. I will do everything in my power to counter my outbreak of conformism. Before we do that, I would like to say one thing. Yes, it is August. Yes, this is a blog. No, I am not doing Blog Every Day in August. Because that would require dedication, and amusing thoughts, and effort. And I have far more important things to be doing with my time.

Well. Now I find that I have very little to talk about. *tear* (trailing down my face in an intricate pattern, of course) OH YEAH!! My hair is officially long enough to fit into pig-tails. I think it makes me look rather pixyish, but that may just be me. And I'm getting a haircut. At two thirty. And I have a soccer game!! On Saturday!! At-- wait, what? Eight in the fracking MORNING?? I can't do that! *tear* (retracing the intricate pattern from the first time)

Well, tarnation. I don't like waking up early. Particularly not at six in the morning. To go exercise a bunch. Call me crazy, but that's not my idea of fun. Anyways, today I will be getting my laptop for school. It is supposedly tiny. And we have internet. I can see that being a very bad idea. Not that I'd do anything like get on the internet and blog while I'm supposed to be doing research.

It seems as if lots of exciting things are going to be happening to me in the relatively near future. Haircuts, the first soccer game in several weeks (that's a big deal for me, okay?), school starting, getting my braces off... Oh, and I've also started working on my Halloween costume. I'll be going with my friend, Rachel. Her nickname shall be She Who Does Not Respond to Texts. Nope, too long. She'll just be Pipsqueak. #because she's short

Anyways, we're going as faeries. Not like the ones that trail glitter and wave star-tipped wands. Nope. We're going to be quasi-Victorian, goth-esque faeries. It may involved me buying a netted hat. You remember, the one I was talking about in my last blog. Was that my last blog? I don't remember. Freaking memory-loss... What was I saying? Oh, yes. Costume.

I'm going to buy some black jeans this weekend. First, because I need new jeans. Second, because black goes with anything. Third, because it will be part of my costume. *everything I do has an ulterior motive* And I think I have a white tank top that I can use with a red vest that Pipsqueak will be lending me. And I'll have red wings. And I don't know what shoes yet. And I'm going to ask my mom to make me a pair of fingerless red gloves. Or maybe black. I haven't decided yet. And I have a black necklace. Lots of red and black involved.

Speaking of red and black, I want to redecorate my room. Have I already talked about this in my blog? I don't recall... In any case, I would like to paint my walls black with sparkly silver paint sponged onto them in a pattern. I haven't decided what pattern yet. Then I would have red curtains and probably a red dresser. I would have hardwood floors and maybe some white rugs, for contrast. And a canopy bed. Because that's just cool. But until I have my own house or somehow convince my mom, my room will remain pastel pink. *le sigh*

The hats. Ah, how many hats I want. I would love to have a fedora. Unfortunately, I don't look good in them. But I still want one. Call me crazy. It's okay to speak the truth. Oh, yes! I promised to regale you with stories of Hank the Ninja Unicorn. A good place to start would be his birth, I think. *And so it begins*

Okay, so my old school was doing this thing where they were trying to figure out what their students needed to work on when it comes to writing. So of course, they decided to have us write essays. The entire grade went into the cafeteria and sat down in front of a number and was given a piece of paper with the same number on it and a topic. The topic? Social networking.

SOCIAL NETWORKING?? Really? How the heck am I supposed to write a five-paragraph essay on social networking? It took all of my creative ability (as well as some BS ability (that's been very handy)) for me to wring four paragraphs on that topic from my pen. And it was painful. I could do no more. And I needed another paragraph. And thus, Hank the Ninja Unicorn was born.

My last paragraph began: "and since I have thoroughly exhausted the topic of social networking, I shall tell you a story. I hope you enjoy it." I mean, really, what are they going to do? Put it on my permanent record? Make me write another paragraph on social networking? And so I wrote. I told of one of his epic adventures converting non-believers into believers. It's for the non-believers' own good. Otherwise the evil pixies will come for them.

In any case, I spent many minutes amusing my friends with this tale. Not all of them believed me at first, but there was absolutely no reason for me to lie. I hope whatever teacher read my paper liked it. And since I'm going to high school, they have absolutely no way of punishing me if they didn't. So there. *sticks tongue out* *is mature* *waves goodbye*

Addictions versus vices

There is a distinct difference between addictions and vices. Addictions are things that you enjoy to the point of suffering when going without it. (I just checked dictionary.com, I pretty much paraphrased the whole thing. Man, am I good!) Vices, however, are things that we turn to as a source of comfort when in distress. It is normally considered harmful.

I have many addictions. They are different from my vices. My vices are reading, writing, and being on the computer (Often these overlap). They help me escape from the real world. I choose to do these things because I find them enjoyable. However, it does not cause me physical or mental anguish to be parted from them.

My addictions include chocolate, tea, hats, shoes, etc. I went for an entire week without chocolate, and it was all I could think about. If I don't drink caffeinated tea in the morning, I get a headache. Similarly, non-caffeinated tea helps me sleep at night. Hats and shoes are less palpable, but every time I see a hat or a pair of shoes that I like, I keep thinking about it. I was drooling over my cloche for months before my best friend, Cori (Bottomless Pit from now on), bought it for me.

Do you see the difference now? If not, there goes my dream of being a teacher (only not. I'm not a people person, let alone a sniveling little brat person). In any case, I don't even know why this came up. There was no provocation, and it was rather boring. I apologize. I will attempt to entertain you from here on out.

I would rather love to have a netted hat. You know, the things with the lace that comes in front of your face? Cruela DeVil wore one in the real-life 101 Dalmations movie. If you blaspheme and haven't seen that movie, the girl zombie in this video wore one. I am off to try to eradicate this sudden outbreak of boringness. Mayhap on my return I shall regale you with tales of my adventures with Hank the Ninja Unicorn (He's pretty cool. A lot cooler than social networking. That makes sense in my head).

In which I have nothing to do

I am bored. I have browsed the complicated archives of http://www.writing.com/ for long enough today. And so I turn to blogging. Hmm. Maybe I should get a Twitter to fill the empty hours. No. I have silly bands. That is enough conformism for me, thank you very much.

Here I sit, trying to ignore the glare of the just-awakened evil entity known as Maud, my sister Maggie's cat. I cannot fathom why they get along. Maggie from now on will be referred to as Curls, as in my sister Emily's blog. Henceforth, Emily is The Diva.

Facebook has entertained me for its alotted amount of time for today. It has its limits, even with a game addiction. Stumbleupon.com holds no charms for me right now. I wonder if there are some other websites I might try.... Maybe I'll break down and make a YouTube account instead of relying on Curls to keep me updated about all the interesting things, like A Very Potter Sequel coming out. That would be wise.

I want a top-hat. That would be fantastic. A stove-pipe one, like Abraham Lincoln wore a lot. You know the one. That would be fantastic. And I'm rather worried that the government might come a'knocking at some point. I've been looking up some shifty things lately, in the name of research. You remember the insane writer thing? Well, emphasis on the insane. And the writer. Just emphasize the entire phrase.

I've been researching things along the lines of different varieties of knives, fighting styles, and guns. And poisons. And a select few other shady things. But that's because some of my main characters are rather shady people. So technically it's not my fault. THE VOICES MADE ME DO IT!!! *she wailed*

Yes, I narrate my ramblings. Shut up. It makes sense to me. Maybe I should eat something. It's evening, and all I've had is a delicious cranberry-orange scone and delectable left-over chicken and rice. Yes, I realize that that's far too many descriptive words to sound good. But I wanted to leave the impression that the chicken was good too, not that the scones were the exception. Most things created in our kitchens are fantastic. For instance, there was much making of bread today. It is quite good, especially still warm from the oven and slathered with a liberal dose of butter. Healthy eaters, my family.

Yay for rambling! Hey, Evil Katie hasn't interrupted yet! She's been very quiet today. Maybe she'll get her pretzel after all. Of course, the last time she was this quiet, she ended up taking over and setting into motion a dastardly scheme to turn all interesting people into conformists. It was bad. There was a huge government cover-up and it involved forgetfulness elixir being sprayed over the entire country. And then there was that incident in the Gulf Coast... Well, at least Evil Katie's ambitious.

And my boredom is on the verge of being cured. Yay for cooking! And maybe later a healthy dose of mind-numbing video-watching. I take my leave of you. *Bows, sweeps dramatically out of room* *ruins it by tripping over threshold on the way out* *Looks furtively back into the room and slinks away*

Taking over the world with a blowtorch and a bowler hat

Hello there, people. I'm Katie. You may have heard of me. In my sister's blog I'm known as The Wordsmith. My original nickname, batshit insane aspiring novelist, was far too long, but I found it more accurate. But you can call me Katie. That's fine too.

I have many obsessions. Chocolate, tea, socks, and, most importantly, HATS. I have several very lovely hats. Hence the name of this blog, "One hat at a time." Currently, I have a Stetson, a bonnet, and a cloche. A rather small collection, I fear, but there it is.

If you DO read my sister's blog, you might recall reading a story about us on vacation in Minnesota, discussing blowtorches. It is quite true that I was delighted at the prospect of having a blowtorch. Maggie might be right in saying I was rather too excited. But I really can't help myself. I just can't help but consider the possibilities! That might be a product of my overactive imagination. One of the difficulties of being a writer, I suppose.

Back to the subject of hats, which we were sort of on. I guess. Almost. I would very much like a bowler. I mean, who doesn't? Every time I post a new blog, I shall add to the list of hats I want. Once that has been exhausted, I might move on to the subject of shoes. (Really, who doesn't want combat boots?) Maybe I am insane... Ah, might as well take it in stride.

In any case, I am rambling. That is something I am wont to do. Do try to stop me if you catch me at it. Wait, you mean you aren't in control of whether or not I stop? Well. I feel... Empowered. MUAHHAHAHAHAHA!!!! *ahem*

Sorry. That was Evil Katie coming out of her shell. She's not supposed to do that. No pretzels for her tonight. Anyhoo, I'm rather to the point where I have absolutely nothing to say. You have met me, as well as my less beneficient counterpart. Goodbye.