She Came from Planet Z

goodbye for now

Tata for the week everyone, as I am off to spring vacation!  I am going to visit Aunt B in Praha... fun fun fun!

drip drip drip

Ahhh... and as the temperatures rise we experience a winter sauna...

fog.  Drip drip drip.

And I have finally completed the invites for my once-a-year attempt to group all of my school chums.

Organizing parties takes some guts.  I spent most of the weekend ignoring the idea that it might be fun to have a party and swatting it off when it came every now and then.  I'm not sure if hauling everyone to go eat pizza and then hauling them all back home really counts as "guts", but it's good enough. 

first snow of the year!! (REAL snow)

I wish I had taken pictures of the sledding today.  It doesn't look deep, but the thin, icy kind works great for sledding.  And now my butt is sore and wet because of my adolescent reasoning: "I don't need snow pants.  I won't touch a bit of snow!"  Still great fun. 

aaahhhhh.....

Hello hello!  First off, let me start by saying -

Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......

Hear that?  That is the joyful sound that means... exams are over!  Yaaay!!!  Yes, they ended as quickly as they came, just as the stress and studying and everything that came with them did.  I only know of my social studies (or history, for those of us who feel very special), algebra, and science grades.  B, A, B.  Not too shabby, eh?

And to celebrate...

I am finally using my "pillow curlers".  They sorta look like those little rags that they used back in the "olden days", which only makes me want to go out and get an old-fashioned powder puff and a big hat.  They're also really good to sleep in and easy to put in. 

This photo is actually from last night, but I forgot to take a picture of my springy hair at six o'clock in the morning, and now is is pleasantly wavy.  Oh well... there's always next time.

To celebrate the end of exams and the 2nd quarter, I intend on going off to the mall with my pals to spluge, then going to the thrift store to buy a pair of bland shoes to glitter up.

Ta ta!

Christmas eve eve eve

Gifties are being passed about...

Thanks to all you good people out there in the world!!!

Now who would like to hear about my most recent clay-mation puppet obsession?

I have the head...

And mouths to stick to it!  Yes, a mouth per picture, I assume.  These are good nightly activities, making miniature mouths.  That's also why all these pictures are so dull.

Over the next few days and maybe week you will mostly see pictures upon pictures upon pictures... and not too many words.  But that's okay, right?  We like pictures.

Important news! Oops, no, false alarm.

Who would like to hear a journalistic rant about me finally buying a new pair of shoes?  Yes?  All of you?  Read away, minions!

Today I went to Kohl's with my mom after school strictly to satisfy my need want for a pair of chuck tailors (a.k.a., canvas shoes).  Never before have I been interested in shoes past the rugged sneakers at the thrift store (that provide cushion and nothing else), so this urge was new and exciting.  And to my surprise, this partially blind trip to find the shoes of my dreams turned out not to be fantasy, as I found a beautiful pair of bright red all-stars waiting to be bought by me. 

After a couple test-walks I knew that they could be mine, especially since they had been marked down a delighful five dollars.  Of course, any sale at all had the potential of completely erasing my conscience.  Or, in this case, the mother.

"You know, you could get the same pair of shoes for ten dollars cheaper on Amazon," was mom's wise advice.  I don't deny that this is perfectly true, but you can't argue with my response, "It's my money.  And I really want them." (Then buys the shoes.)  Ah, youth.  Oops, I forgot I'm not a middle-aged journalist yet. 

And so, thus ends the most exciting part of Zoe's day.  If you wish to hear real news:

I didn't make the basketball team (although I did make 1st cuts), and I went to NYC with my dad for a single day on Saturday.  Pictures are yet to make an appearance.  I am now deprived of any sort of activity/sports option that will make me feel normal health-wise, which is un-settling.  Especially because of the abundance of holiday candy and chocolate chip bags.

hello Saturday, hello December

I took a big test today.  I didn't really want to take it.  It was the two-and-a-half hour long "I.B." test that is part of the application in order to apply to this fancy kinda programme at our local high school blah de blah de blah.  I brought a banana with me and didn't eat it.

The test was early early in the morning (it's Saturday, so it wasn't at school.  It was at another school).  When I finished it felt like I had just woken up.  I think I spent too long on each question, because I had to randomly bubble in the other half of the test.  On the other hand...

I made first cuts!  Oh dear.  Hopefully I know what that means...

It means I am one step further to making the basketball team!  Yeah!  Woo!

It's been kind of a weird day. 

1. take the test.

2. eat sandwiches and get filled with anxiety as your parents discuss Christmas plans.  (the holidays are supposed to be happy, right?  The holidays aren't supposed to be complicated.)

3. have some sort of breakdown about how impossible it actually is to replicate a professional stop-motion animation doll, unless you have 200 dollars.

4. go and practice basketball to stall your mood and your homework/artistic ability

5. take shoes off

More thoughts for you?  These are advent gifties.  I should do something creepy with them, doncha think?

general-ness

Back from bazaar-ing.  It was not entirely profitable, but at least what's left over will make good gifts.  Uh oh, watch out, family.  Mom sold almost all of her fingerless gloves, though.

Yes, I have to admit that the magic of selling things is still there but not nearly as much fun as it was when I was eleven.  This is a very sad thing, but it was still a good way to spend a Saturday.

I remember nothing of school at this moment except for the talent show, a.k.a. a reason to sit on bleachers for two hours straight.  School school school school school.  Every thing I'm preparing for or creating or finishing or thinking about involves school in some way.  Is that fun to talk about or what? 

It has been a cold-infested, ear-infectious week.  I have to say that it was actually fun to go and buy a new binder and set of pencils today.  What really cheers me up are these, to add to the link pile:

nyan cat (very pointless and very impossible not to include)

just because it made me laugh so much  (skip the first two pictures, go down to the third - the orange one.  It's probably one of her happier ones, too)

And in glorious pink, why not? 

don't forget the secret word... it's raspberries

one evening, after watching our t.v. shows, mum says...

Well when I talked to Newton, he told me to say "raspberries" next time I saw him so when I heard the music stop playing I opened the door and yelled "raspbrerries", but Newton didn't come in, and I could've sworn I still heard music playing, but then he popped up and I asked him if he had a magic button that made the organ play all by itself, and he said he did but he hadn't pressed it!

And then,

Ooogh, I'm sick.

the crazy hour

'Had another meet today.  I improved by one and lost one.  Minute.  So, I came in 16th place and, instead of 13 minutes, got 12 minutes (chopping off all those pesky segonds, of course).  I realize now that, for meets, you dread and dread and dread, and then run and hate and run and hate, and then, poof!  It's done!  It's great!  It's fun!  You feel good!  And now I'm already dreading our next one.

More talk about sports?  I'm considering basketball next.  I've got the long arms an' big hands... and the height.  My teacher says I'm good at it, and so do the kids, and that's rather reassuring. 

NOW - something more accomplishment-related!  I think!  We went to the open house at the art magnet high school in our area, and I am definitely going to try to get in.  We picked up vibes of artsy kids who do not compete in being unique style-wise (I was about the 10th girl in the particular room wearing a plaid shirt and jeans), but compete with themselves and their talent.  There is only one big art space that people spend hours in splattering the walls with hand prints and inspiration.

It is the hour of being reved-up with useless night-time energy.  It's the crazy hour.