Coming Up

  A lot of things are coming up in my life pretty soon and I'm sure a lot of them are pretty similar to you guys but I'm just going to write about the upcoming events.  In a few weeks we all have spring break and so far I have NO PLANS other than to stay here and hang out with my friends.  My parents are going to New York so I have to stay here and do nothing.  On the bright side, my dad has a big trial that might run over through their vacation so I might be able to go with my mom!  YAY!  But I guess either way, i'd be happy to go to NY or to just stay here and lay out all day everyday!

  Other than Spring Break, we all have summer that I am sure we are all looking forward to and counting down the days to.  For this summer I have a little bit planned but not too much.  I'm going to be going to the beach a few times and then camp then cheer camp.  Also this summer, in July, I get my braces off. FINALLY.  This is probably the biggest thing I am looking forward to because I have already had one set of braces from 3rd to 5th grade but then at the end of 8th grade I had to get another!! So as I said, in the next couple months I will finally be brace free!  I can't wait for all of this to happen, 1 because I just need a break from school and 2 because I just can't wait to be done with all my orthodontics.

May the odds be eva in your favor

  Holy moly...  I'm just a little obsessed with the Hunger Games!  In previous blog posts I've been writing about my current read, The Hunger Games, and in one of them I said that my goal was to finish the book before I saw the movie.  Sadly, I failed and wasn't able to finish.  On thursday, I was at my track meet waiting for my event to start, when my cousin called me and said "hey do you wanna go see the Hunger Games tonight?" and I just couldn't turn it down!  I mean, its the midnight premier, who would turn that down!  So throughout the rest of my track meet, I tried as hard as I could to finish the book but I didn't.  Even though I didn't finish, I was thrilled to go see the movie because I always think its so interesting to compare a book to a movie.  For the part of the book that I have read so far, I can honestly say that the book is WAY better and way more interesting than the movie.  Don't get me wrong, I loved the movie but as most people say, the book is just a lot more detailed and interesting.  As of right now, I am about halfway to three fourths of the way through the novel but I think I might finish it within the next couple of days.

  For all you Hunger Games fans, you will probably recognize where I am once I describe it to you.  I am right at the part where Katniss is sleeping in a tree when she is suddenly woken up by a blazing fire coming right at her.  I am so thrilled right now!  Like, all these questions are running through my head.  What's going to happen next?  Will she die?  Will Petta save her?  Will she get injured?  As I said earlier, the book and the movie are very different from each other in my opinion.  This is an example right now. In the book she describes how she follows the animals because she trusts their sense of direction.  She says "All I can do is follow the others, the rabbits and deer, and I even spot a wild dog pack shooting through the woods.  I trust their sense of direction because their instincts are sharper than mine." This little snippet just gets me going and It was very difficult for me to go run an 800 meter race when a awe thrilling novel was putting me under a spell of interest.  However, in the movie they didn't really depict this scene like I interpreted it from the book.  They did not show Katniss chasing that many animals which was disappointing because to me, that really shows her connection that she holds with nature.  I really have enjoyed this book and today once I finish all of my homework I plan to read as much of the book as possible because I am sure that I won't have a problem with getting bored with it.  For any of you who have not had the chance to read this great novel yet, I really recommend you put it on your list of books to read because it truly is a good and extremely fascinating story.

Reading Log:  The Hunger Games 150 minutes-55 pages

The Hunger Games

  Sorry for switching it up on ya'll again, but I switched back to The Hunger Games because the book I was reading, Close to Famous, was just too immature and not advanced enough for me.  So, I went back to reading the book everyone is talking about!  The Hunger Games.  We recently started reading our outside reading books in class for the first 15 to 20 minutes and I love it!  Some people don't bring their books to class and I just don't understand why because its a perfect time to get our 150 minutes out of the way.  Thats why I am done now!  Call me a nerd, but I love reading.  If I can get a good book, and be in a quiet place, I really do enjoy to read because I get involved in the book, I sort of feel like i'm actually a character of the book.

  So, to talk about the book,... wow, its SO GOOD!  In class when she told us to get to a stopping point so we could start taking notes and other things I just couldn't put it down because it was so thrilling and interesting.  I'm sure many of you have read it so you will probably know exactly where I am once I start explaining it.  I just read about the interview with Cinna and how Petta said he loved Kattniss.  That was very unexpected so I was pretty surprised when he said that because he just requested to stop training with Kattniss.  In my opinion, that makes readers think that he doesn't like her and doesn't want to have anything to do with her!  I'm wondering when the actual games will start because I'm interested in knowing who will succeed and who will walk out a winner.  Katniss, or Petta?  Or maybe someone from a different district.  We'll just have to see...

The Hunger Games: 65 pages:150 minutes

Cheer Tryouts...

  As a lot of you i'm sure know, cheerleading tryouts are coming up quickly, they are this Sunday!  Along with everybody else trying out, I am extremely nervous about making it.  But I was on the squad last year so I am a returning cheerleader which is helpful because I know exactly what the judges are looking for and exactly how to give it to them.  Unfortunately, my weak spot is definitely in tumbling.  I've always been scared to tumble so I didn't learn anything until a year ago!  I mean literally, I couldn't even do a cartwheel until a year ago.  BUT, since then I've come a long way and I nearly have my flip-flop now.  This will effect me a lot this year because most of the girls trying out have a lot of really good and advanced skills which I clearly don't have!  Now, focusing on the good aspects of my skills: I can cheer really well!  Which is a very vital part to being an EHS cheerleader.  I am also like so sharp I am in pain after I finish cheering or dancing!  Speaking of dancing... I don't really know what to say about dancing because I am a pretty good dancer but when dances are awkward (like parts of this one) I have to practice extra hard to get it right and make it natural looking.

  To prepare for tryouts, I've been going to A LOT of privates with various LSU cheerleaders and different tumbling coaches at LSU.  We work on stretching, jumps, tumbling, cheering, dancing, sharpness and many other things.  I've been going to tumbling lessons a lot for maybe 4 or 5 weeks now and I've been working on cheer things (dancing, cheering, sharpness ect.) for maybe 2 or 3 weeks now.  I've gone through a lot of soreness and exhaustion but I want to be on the squad really bad because I do really love cheer and I love all the friendships that I made and I would really like to continue them!  I'm really hoping all of my hard work pays off because I have not only put a lot of time into this but also a lot  of money!  Wish me luck(:

Close to famous

  Recently, I've started this book called Close to famous.  It's about a girl named Foster (who is the narrator)  and she has a dream about being a famous cook and having her own cooking show.  Her dream is inspired by her cooking idol, Sonny Kroll.  While she is still learning everything, she feels like she should do what she does best, bake.  The story starts off with Foster and her mother driving away to anywhere but where they are because they are being chased by an Elvis impersonator...  I know its really weird and I do not understand the it at all.

  This happens to me a lot, and when I say that i'm referring to the fact that I don't understand novels at all when I first start them.  I have to get in the groove of it and learn all the characters names and how they are all related and I have to understand the basic plot and setting.  If I miss something, I feel totally and completely lost and confused!  So obviously i'm saying that I don't understand this novel all that much right now... And I actually might not really like it that much.  But I am going to keep reading and If I find that I am uninterested, I will just keep going with the Hunger Games because that is a novel I would really like to finish before the movie comes out!  I'm challenging myself because that is only in 2 weeks!  I think once I get into Close to Famous a little more I will begin to start liking it.

Reading log:  Close to Famous: 51 pages-150 minutes

Les Jeunes Amies

  For about a year now, I've been in a debutante group called Les Jeunes Amies which stands for young friends of the  Symphony.  It's basically a group of young high school girls from ages 14 to about 18 doing service for the symphony.  The earliest you can join is as a freshman in high school, which was when I joined.  Each year you are required to obtain 4 service units but the thing is that a unit doesn't translate to an hour exactly.  So in the end, you end up doing A LOT of service hours, and although it sounds like a ton of work (which it is), you have so much fun doing it.  Now that I've told you about the boring service stuff, I get to talk about all the fun stuff!  At the beginning of the year, the first LJA event is a tea welcoming all the new members.  We get to dress up and wear tall 4 inch heels and be proper!  It's very thrilling as a freshman.  Then throughout the year we do various different service acts for the symphony such as work and attend a symphony concert, work at a clay shoot, go to an etiquette essentials class and many more. 

  Half way through the year, the biggest event of all happens.  The LJA ball!  The ball happens around Christmas time and all the senior debs are presented in front of probably a couple hundred people.  They get to wear white gloves, a long white wedding dress, and all sorts of diamonds!  Their fathers escort them down an isle to walk past all the guests attending the ball while an LJA director announces/talks about the many different things the debutante has done to complete her units and the different things she is involved in both inside and outside of school.  I'm sure its a very proud moment for both the parents of the debutante and the young women's many guests she is permitted to invite!  Later on after the debs are presented we party.  Everyone is dancing to old timey music from the 70's in their long beautiful gowns and just having such a good time.  Once the ball is all said and done, there is another tea at the end of the year; which is what I happened to attend today.  It was so fun!  I got to go dress shopping yesterday and I got a very pretty dress to wear to the luncheon.  While there I saw all the friends I had made throughout the year and saw all the new girls we have that have joined the freshman group.  I can't wait for my senior year when I get to be presented and be recognized for all this hard work we have coming up over the next 3 years!  

Ps: For any girls reading this that are interested, let me know because there are still 8 open slots for the freshman!  It's really fun(:

Nervous Conditions

  This past week, we read from chapter 6 to the end of the book.  I really liked it and thought it was not that bad of a read.  We read about how Tambu didn't want her parents to get married and how Babamukuru beat Tambu and punished her and also about Nyasha and Tambu's growing friendship.  I still don't really understand fully why Tambu disliked her parents wedding so much other than the fact that it was sinful.  But the wedding ordeal was a pretty important part of the story.  There were many fights and arguments because of it.  I was also able to point out another "nervous condition," which was that Tambu was holding in her dislike for this wedding without telling anyone and because of it she wasn't able to sleep and she didn't have a good appetite.  This was one of many nervous conditions.

  But once it was made known that Tambu didn't want to be a part of the wedding she was severely beaten and punished.  She was forced to do all of Anna's chores for 2 weeks.  This was when I noticed Tambu and Nyasha's friendship a lot.  Nyasha insisted that she help Tambu with her chores but even then, Tambu wouldn't allow it because she didn't want Nyasha to be punished as well.  That was very brave of Nyasha, especially with the kind of relationship she has with her father, to offer herself to help her cousin like that.  It really shows how much they feel for each other and understand each others needs.  Then Tambu wouldn't even except the help because she knew that Tambu could get in trouble and be punished badly like herself and she didn't want that to happen to her dear cousin.  Both of these reciprocating actions really showed their love and friendship for each other.  There were many more examples of their strong bond but I felt this one was worthy of blogging about. (:

Reading Log- Nervous Conditions 103 pages:150 minutes

Track

  Hello fellow bloggers and happy sunday!  As some of you may or may not know, I am on the track team. I'm not a completely new runner, but I would definitely consider myself a newbie.  All throughout middle school, I ran cross country and absolutely loved it!  I loved everybody on the team and thought it was so fun to go out and run and support each other.  However, as the years went on, I began to dislike it and thought I might like to try something new like cheer.  So, I did and I loved it!  But once my season ended in December, I was not about to just sit around with out a sport to play.  Thats just not me, I like to stay busy and of course healthy.  So I decided I might go back to running.  To my surprise, I have enjoyed it as much or maybe more than cheerleading!  It has been so fun because I have not only gotten extremely fit, but I have also made new friendships and learned a lot about running.

  I started right when the indoor season was beginning and ended up doing really well throughout it (even though it only lasted for 3 weeks) and even ran in the state meet!  But its not really that big a deal because most people did.  Anyway, a few weeks ago we kicked off the outdoor season and had our first meet yesterday at Catholic.  It was sort of gloomy because of the weather being rainy, cool and fairly overcast but we still ran.  Yesterday, I ran the 400 meter dash which is only 1 lap around the track.  It may sound pretty easy but its actually one of the more difficult events to run in!  You have to go full out in a full out sprint throughout the whole lap.  I wish I could have done more events yesterday but since I hadn't been able to come to practice the week prior, It was best I kept it simple.  Track has been such a great experience so far and I can't wait to see what our team does and what kind of runner I become.  Later bloggers!

xoxo,
Emily