VEDA

Yesterday, I got home at about 8:00 and decided that I had enough time to make a vlog. Yes, I am officially participating in VEDA! I'm not sure if all of it will be vlogs, but I'm going to try. I posted the video last night at about 9:00 or so. Maybe later. I hope to get the one for today done earlier. I'm not sure how much editing I am going to do with these. I think I'll just do a small bit to take out the stupid parts, like I did with the one last night.

The thing about VEDA is that I will be talking about something different everyday, and I'm not sure that my brain can come up with that many fresh topics. I'm not sure what I'm going to talk about today even.I plan to do it on the way to One Act practice. I think that will work out quite nicely. Feel free to comment about things that would make an interesting video. I really want these things to be interesting.

I am almost done reading the new Lois Lowry book, Son. I think I may finish it tonight and get a new book tomorrow. I had hoped to have it finished so I could get a new book today, but that didn't happen. The author is doing a pretty good job of connecting everything and tying up the loose ends that were just left hanging in the end of the other three books.

Yestereday, when I went back over to the school that my parents teach at, I felt like some kind of celebrity. They showed the video that I made about the STAAR test to all the kids and teachers, and they thought it was great. The awesome thing about it is that it can be used again and again, and for multiple grade levels. When they come out with a new standardized test, I can just make another one. All of the kids kept coming up to me and saying that the video was awesome, and even some of the teachers. If you want to see it, just go to my youtube channel and it should be one of the last videos posted, and its titled "STAAR Test".

I keep thinking of things to say, but then I realize that I already said them in my vlog yesterday, so I should just let you go watch the vlog whenever you get a chance, instead of restating myself.

On one of the karaoke CDs that I have,  I was looking at the tracks, and I was surprised to find a song by an artist I discovered a couple months AFTER I bought the CD. Forever yours by Alex Day. I was like, wait... Is that the Alex Day from youtube? And, of course, it was. WHOOO.

Why are people so obsessed with british people. I love their accents, I'm not going to lie, but what makes them so special. Are there countries where people obsess over American people and think that southern accents are awesome? These are the thoughts and unanswerable questions that plague my life.

Love,
Elizabeth W.

Spanish Extra Credit

!Hola¡ Soy Belinda, Y este dia, cantare una canta para tu.

Okay, just kidding, but I do have something I have to do in spanish today. I'm also too lazy to put real grammar and accent marks in this post. I have brought my ukulele to school today in order to perform a song in spanish in spanish class. I could use some extra credit, is all. I made some grades on quizzes that I am not very proud of, and I want to do this to bring up my grade a little, since I'm trying to keep my ranking of 3rd place through the end of the 6 weeks when grades are locked in. I probably should have done that in a few other 6 weeks to, but whatever. I'm going to perform the song "A Year Without Rain" by Selena Gomez, but in spanish, it is "Un Ano Sin Ver Llover". I hope I get most of the pronunciation right. Last period I performed it because I was asked to by some kids in my aquatic science class. It was slightly emberassing. And I get really nervous and slightly sweaty when I do unplanned performances, so it was a little awkward.

Because of one act play, I have to miss my field trip for aquatic science. The teacher says he'll try and work something out, but I doubt it will happen. Its only a trip to a lake, so its not like I won't ever be able to do that thing again. And there will be another field trip a little later on, so I'm not worried.

I need to go and talk to the principal or vice principal today during lunch. I found this thing online where if I teach this three lesson course on financial education, I can be entered to win a $10,000 scholarship, and the people who attend get entered to win $1,000 scholarships. I have already printed out the first two lessons, I just have to get permission and a sponsor. I think I might get the librarian or maybe a math teacher. I'll just have to ask around. There are only three sessions, so it shouldn't be a big problem. I'll just have to make sure to get some posters printed out and get it announced. I think people will come, especially when they hear about the scholarship part. I have to take pictures in order to put them in my contest entry also.

I think I might search around for similar things while I am online today. I think there might be some others.

Love,
Elizabeth W.

READ FAST...

I am currently rushing to finish the book Les Miserables. Why? I do love the book and I want to finish it in good time, but it is technically due back to the library today and I want to see about getting it turned in so I can have another book to read. I guess I could just check it out to myself again, then check out another book too. That way I can finish the book tomorrow or whatever, and turn it in then, and still have a book to read. I shall ponder this.

Yesterday, so people were talking about blogging. They were talking about certain teachers that blogged, and how strange it was. I don't know if I'll be able to find the blogs, but I want to try nonetheless. Anyway, they said that one teacher had posted something not so nice on her blog, and they wondered if someone would figure out and she would get in trouble. Then they said that another teacher had a blog too, and they talked about how blogging seemed really lame. Who blogs? they said sarcastically. I actually raised my hand at this point, but I was ignored. They seemed a little confused.

I was talking with my dad about this occurence last night, and he said that blogging is something that people find strange because not everyone can do it, but it seems that it doesn't require talent. Personally, I think that blogging is something that requires someone who can type well and knows how to write stories and essays and such. Its almost like a diary, but a public one that is really read more by people that you don't know than people that you do know. I don't really care what they think about blogging, because I like it, so I shall continue, at least for now.

Last period in aquatic science, we began our first dissection: a perch. The fact that we have to open up a fish and point out specific parts doesn't bother me, but the fact that it is dead and stiff and smells like chemicals does. I have always had an aversion to dead things. I cannot stand them, and I have even had nightmares that involved death and dead things. I just don't like being around or looking at or touching things that are no longer alive. It just seems wrong.

One kid in FCA seems like he keeps trying to stop me and Shelby from teaching a lesson in the mornings. He keeps trying to get guest speakers and trying to get us not to have a lesson ready. Of course, many times he fails to get the person, so we always have a lesson ready just in case. Today was supposed to be my wednesday to teach, but he got a teacher to come and give a lesson instead. Don't get me wrong, this teacher is a youth pastor, and I love the way he presents a message. The lesson this person gave today was awesome. However, I feel like this boy is trying to get rid of me or something. I am normally not bothered by things like this, but its my senior year, and I have only been teaching this year. If he doesn't like my lessons, he should just tell me to my face. I don't need him trying to undermine me behind my back.

I have a song stuck in my head that is really good. Gold by Britt Nicole. I love it. I don't know all of the words yet though, so that poses a slight problem.

This is for all the girls
Boys all over the world
No matter what you've been told
You're worth more than gold...

I love Britt Nicole and her music because I feel like she is a more grown up version of me, almost. You can tell by her music that she has a big heart and a love for
God. It reminds me of the song "Show Jesus" by Jamie Grace.

I gotta tell you that I like the way

Any time anywhere any place
It's written all over your face
The way you love Jesus
And it always speaks to me
A little joy with a touch of peace
It's so inspiring
The way you show Jesus

Jamie Grace is awesome too. I watched a video that Jamie Grace posted on youtube about how she doesn't go out searching for a boyfriend or dating for fun like everyone else because she expects that God has someone for her and she isn't going to date anyone until God wants her to. I learned that lesson this last summer and I started living my life in that manner. And look at me now! I have a boyfriend, and even if we don't get married or we break up in 6 months, I'll be good because I know God has a plan for both of us.

The book that I read that taught me that was "When God Writes Your Love Story". It really changed my perspective on dating and marriage and relationships. I wish more teenagers would read it, so that they can understand the kind of relationships God wants for people, and what they need to get straight in their life before they try to be a part of anyone else's.

Have a fantastic day y'all, and remember how much God loves you!

Love,
Elizabeth W.

Fear

Okay, so today I am headed to the dentist. I brought my laptop along because I need to work on a 5 page essay for sociology. I'm doing so in the car. I get car sick really easily though, especially when I read, so I am being rather cautious.

I have to have a tooth removed today. Not looking foreward to that. I'm a little scared actually, since they have to give me laughing gas and I won't be in control of anything, The tooth they have to remove is actually half of a baby tooth. It just didn't want to come out of my mouth, even though the adult tooth has already grown in and pushed it to the side. Everyone thinks it sounds painful, but its just annoying mainly. It doesn't hurt unless I try to move it.

I thought about vlogging with my brothers on the car ride, but I'm not sure if they're up to it. One is asleep ( the one that is 13 years old) and one is reading a book (the 6 year old). I may do it in a few minutes though.

The thing about going to the dentist for us is that we have to drive for more than an hour to get there. Then we have to wait in the waiting room for anywhere from ten minutes to an hour. It is rather complicated.

I get to miss drama practice because of this though, so that's nice. After this, we get to go eat dinner at a Mexican restaurant with my grandparents. Not sure how well I'll be able to eat or how hungry I will be, but whatever.

Have I informed you all that we got a new car? Its a Buick Enclave, and I love it. Bucket seats in the front and middle rows, then three seat in the very back. It is quite a bit more roomy and comfortable than our Chevy HHR. The HHR was good and more fuel efficient, but it was super cramped. There is no way I could use my laptop while we were all inside.

I made a laptop case out of duct tape. I finished it yesterday. It has a main pocket for the laptop, then a pocket on the back for the charger. Then, it has a flap and a strap to hold it by. And it had two other pockets, one for pencils and on for CDs or whatever. It is water proof too. It is red and black and pink zebra striped.

I gotta get off for now. Don't want to get sick.
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So... Getting a tooth removed in a non-sugrical manner is actually really fast and easy. I laid down on the bed chair thingy that they had, then I watched a movie as they gave me laughing gas. They then did a numbing paste stuff on my gum, followed by numbing shots. They then just took the tooth out. It didn't really hurt at all, except one of the two shots, which kind of hurt a little.
Laughing gas gives you a feeling that is hard to explain. Basically, all of your limbs go kind of numb, but you can still feel and move them. Like, when your arm or leg falls asleep, but not that extreme and all over your body. It really just made me want to go to sleep.

The numbing of my gum was a little different though. It felt like my mouth became, basically, dead. I still can't feel really anything with it. And it has gotten in the way of my speech a little bit, but nothing major.

I really don't think it was as big of a thing as I presumed it would be. It was nothing to be afraid of, but when I first went back into the room I was scared senseless. Just goes to show you that fear is a temporary and shallow thing. And many times what we fear is really not that scary once we get up close.

I've been scared of many things throughout my life. When I was little, I was scared of the Operation game, the game where you do this fake surgery and if you mess up it makes a loud beeping noise. I was scared to death, to the point that I would see the box or hear a similar noise and my heart would start racing. The fear became almost crippling, since I couldn't even go down the board game aisle at walmart without looking at the floor the whole time. I slowly tried to convince myself and others that it would be fine to be around it. I just couldn't bring myself to play it or watch someone play it, or ever watch one of the commercials for the game. About a year and a half ago, I had convinced myself that the only way to get over the fear was by exposure, so after school one day I went and watched while one of my friends was playing the game. It kind of cured me, or at least gave me an extreme tolerance for it.

Nowadays, my only real fear is death and the things associated with it. Everything else I can get over pretty quickly, or at least talk myself out of being afraid of. I think the main thing is working to get past your fear and not letting it control your life. Oh, and I'm slightly afraid of heights and getting lost, but I get over that rather quickly.

Man, my mouth is still really numb. I hope this doesn't prevent me from eating Mexican food, because I'm really hungry.

My mouth is kind of bleeding a tiny bit. Its not as bad as it was. My dad told me earlier not to swallow the blood because it would make me sick to my stomach. But I really don't understand why or how that would happen. Sounds like a question for the Scishow (a show on science that one of the vlogbrothers does).

Love,
Elizabeth W.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's day to my wonderful readers! I hope that you have a great day, whether you spend it with your significant other or alone. Just remember that no matter who loves you or hates you, God loves you more than any human could, in fact, more than any human could fathom.

The school day began for me by exchanging valentine gifts with the Taylord. (His name is taylor, but we have a joke about him being like a time lord, therefore he shall be referred to as Taylord.) I gave him a little stuffed gorilla and a whole bag of his favourite candy. He gave me a GIANT stuffed bear. It is literally half my size, and I'm 5' 5", so thats saying something. The only sad thing is that I have to leave it in the office all day and pick it up after school because the VP said it was too big for me to carry around all day. I am rather annoyed about that. But, it gives me something to look foreward to at the end of the day.

Last night I printed out Doctor Who valentines to give to my dearest friends. Many of them don't watch Doctor Who, so they were rather confused and I had to explain, but thats okay.One of my friends who I was really excited about giving a DW valentine to wasn't at school today, so I am a little disappointed.

I have had nothing to eat or drink today except a package of Rolos candies. I am starving. And thirsty. Lunch will not come soon enough.

Yesterday our rabbit had babies. Sadly they did not make it (this is not meant to be depressing, its just a fact of life (Its the circle of life, and it moves us all through despair and hope, through faith and love, 'til we find our place on the path unwinding, its the circle, the circle of life!)). However, this was the first time I have seen rabbit babies shortly after they were born. They had pig-like tails and were all pink and fur-less. They were really tiny too. You could hold all of them in your two hands. Even though they had very few other distinguishable features, they had rodent-like teeth already. It was kind of weird.

Last period I had to make a word search by hand. However, I used pencil so it kind of smudged all over the page. I think it will still be okay. I put all of the words in it, however, I have not filled in ALL of the spaces yet. I figure I will do it in my free time today.

The school computer is being really slow today and its annoying the heck out of me. I'm trying to look things up and it won't even load google hardly. GAH!

I have drama practice today. One Valentines day. Apparently, the drama teacher cares not about holidays. We also have practice on spring break. BLECH.

I just got candy. Valentines M&Ms. Because I was lucky enough to be in the library. On Valentines day. Awesome.

So, for valentines day, here is my gift to you:

Ha, Doctor Who reference, with the 9th doctor (my favourite).

Love,

Elizabeth W.

F is for Frustration... and Fish.

I am sooooo frustrated right now. How hard could it be to find a decent picture of myself via the internet? I need to post to my college course, but the professor says I need to post a recent photo of myself. Well, if I weren't posting from a school computer, that would be easy.

School computers are not only dinosaurs, but they have restricted internet access. Therefore, I cannot get on facebook or instagram to retrieve a picture of myself. I would have done this yesterday at home, but I was only home for an hour before I had to go to drama practice and I didn't have time to do anything once I got back. I have figured out that if I search "lizardbreathwalker" on google, I can find tons of pictures from my instagram and the videos I have posted and my blog and stuff. However, I cannot find a certain picture of myself that I am looking for. I posted it on instagram a while back, and I think it is probably the most recent and most decent picture I have of myself. So... I have to wait until after drama practice today to do any work on my college stuff.

I am in aquatic science this year (yep, I'm being a lazy senior) and our class just recently ogt fish for our aquarium. They're little blue gouramis or something like that. They're rather distracting and interesting to watch. I am really interested in fish right now because I found out that I can have a fish as a pet when I go to college, which is totally going to happen. I'm not sure what type I want though. Definately not a beta fish. I hate those things. Maybe just a goldfish or something.

I really want to put more lifescouts badges up, but I can't understand how to re-blog things on tumblr and I can't upload images from the school computer for some reason. I want to find new badges thtat I have stories about too, but only one new one is posted per day. I think I might make it a competition with my brother. I'll have to wait until there are more badges though. Otherwise, he'll just declare it stupid and declare me stupid for participating.

Oh, I think I just figured out a way to upload through Picasa web albums. WHOoO!!!

There are some badges that I plan on being able to get within the next six months or so. Like, I'm supposed to go to an art museum sometime soon (Mona Lisa Badge) and I will be getting my drivers liscense this summer or something (Driving Badge). I'm wondering if I can put the guitar badge up since I know how to play the ukulele. It is basically a mini guitar. And I tried to learn to play the guitar once. There are no official rules or anything, so I guess I could.

WELL, I'm really hungry and I want to go look at the lifescouts stuff, so BYE!

Love,
Elizabeth W.

AAAAAAAAAAAH! CHRISTMAS!

So, recently, in one of my classes, we had a fire drill. They normally don't bother me too much. You're sitting in class, an obnoxiously loud alarm goes off, everyone files out of the classroom and goes outside. Simple. But this time, we had it during one of the few times I have slept in school. There was nothing really important that we were doing in this particular class. We were supposed to be watching a movie, but it was a really boring documentary. All of the other kids in the class were asleep, so I decided to sleep too. The night before, I barely got any sleep. So, I fell asleep on my desk. Then, the fire alarm goes off. Think of the alarm clock from hell going off. Its screaming in your ears and your head hurts and you have to get up, run down the stairs and go outside and you may or may not have forgotten your jacket and its freezing cold out there! That was the absolute worst fire drill I have ever experienced, and the worst way ever to wake up.

Now that that rant is over, heres another. I know that thanksgiving hasn't even passed yet, but its already feeling like Christmas time to me. I heard Christmas music playing when I went to Walmart the other day and I was like "WHAT THE HECK?" but now I keep getting Christmas songs stuck in my head. I made a Christmas wishlist a long time ago, so I am not doing that, I am, however, making a Christmas set list for my brother and I. Basically, it is a list of all of the Christmas songs that we plan to learn and play at every family gathering and post on YouTube pretty soon after Thanksgiving. So far, there are about five or so songs including "Blue Christmas", "Who Spiked the Eggnog", and "All I want for Christmas is you". I have the last one stuck in my head right now. The thing is, I don't know all of the words to any of those songs. AM I CRAZY??? Probably, but thats besides the point. Okay, well, I guess I ahve to say bye for now since I thought of something that I need to do.

Question of the day:

Do YOU write a Christmas wishlist? If so, have you written it already?

Okay, talk to you all later! And merry almost Christmas!

Elizabeth W.

Senior Year

So, this year is my senior year in highschool,if you haven't already figured it out. Its wierd to be doing some of these things for the very last time. Today, I am feeling extra nostalgic because of the fact that I will attend my last peprally today. They will play a special song for the seniors and we'll all run down to the middle of the gym and I'll probably cry. I always get emotional over things like this. I keep thinking of how I will soon be moving on. Some of these people I will never see again (PRAISE THE LORD!) and some of them I will really miss. I start thinking about college and what type of things I want to have in my dorm and what kind of new people I will meet. Then I take a big jump ahead to the future where all of us will be married and some of us will have kids of our own. I have friends who have been in relationships for a year or more and I sit and think, will they be married the next time we meet after high school? It seems that these years go by so fast.

Personally, I am in no hurry to leave my hometown. I don't hate my family or the tiny community that I live in. I wouldn't mind staying here all of my life. But I know I am destined for bigger things. I want to be a movie director. I know that directing is something that I am really good at and enjoy and I also know that there is very little chance of me staying where I currently am and making my dream a reality. I know I will probably have to move to a big city or possibly California (Eeeeeewwww! Liberals! No Offense...) in order to find a job. I would love to work kind of free-lance like Issaac Dietz and Tessa Violet do. Those two filmmakers are my heroes at the moment. I don't know if I'll ever become as famous as Steven Spielberg or Charlie Chaplin, but I know I will become a director somehow.

On a completely unrelated note, I really don't know why I have begun blogging again. I know that I want to keep track of the fun I am having during my senior year, so that is part of it. I also know that many famous people who I am a fan of blog when they have nothing else better to do. Currently, I have very little else to do. I could write essays for scholarships but I am way too distracted today. I have no real work to do in my online college class at the moment. I just felt thinky and needed to get it out.

On the subject of YouTube, by the way (Wow, I am being really random today (Hey! That rhymed!)) I am working on getting some neew editing software. I shot a music video on like October 27th but I haven't edited it yet because of the fact that Windows Movie Maker is a really crappy video editing tool. I want to be able to use Sony Vegas someday, but it is way out of my price range at the moment. My current budget is $0 to whatever my parents will buy me. I think I might just download a free trial of PowerDirector and make the music video from there. I have worked with PowerDirector before and it seemed decent. The music video is to the song "Zombie" by Family Force 5, and it has actual people in it besides myself and my brother. So, be on the lookout for that sometime around Thanksgiving or Christmas. I will probably do some how-to/blog videos and covers before then, so don't worry. And if you get to bored with my videos, feel free to watch the many videos of Isaac Dietz, Meekakitty, and Nanalew. They are all pretty amusing. And amazing.

Wow, I have taken up a whole 20 minutes just typing this. Dual Credit class really is useful for something after all. I really should do this more often. I keep having these random ideas of things that I want to do. Today, blogging was one. I also came up with a senior year music video idea today. I have my camera in my backpack, so I should be able to start it today also. I want to start my own charity/mission type of thing. I want to help people while having fun and have a way that others can help them also. It still in the developmental processes of my brain. I have been meditating on it for several days. I kinda want to make it into a movie project also. Isaac Dietz did a thing called "Search For Joy" that was really interesting in my opinion. I want to do something similar.

And now, because I have run out of ideas for what to type and because I just want to be EVEN MORE RANDOM...

Question of the day... errr, blog... or week or something like that:

If you could replace a single hour long segment of your day with an activity that you enjoy, what segment would you replace, why, and what activity would you replace it with?