“I’ll be the best, the best that I can be-e-e.”

Degrassi Theme Song

So first off, I just want to put this out there. I am obsessed with the new kid, Eli, on Degrassi. The actor’s name is Munro Chambers. He is the most adorable thing that I have ever seen. Caroline just laughed at me and told me that he is just my “type”. Eh, I won’t argue with that.

I have a terrible habit of digging guys who have dark hair, are pale, and are kind of quirky. This male specimen definitely fits that mold.

But, man, that kid is cute.

Moving on, last day of band camp. Ever. I would like to say that it was glorious, but the only thing that was glorious was the end.

I can already tell that I’m going to be that senior that cries over everything. “This is my last day of band camp everrrrr.” “This is my last first game everrrr.” “This is my last day to run out of lunch money and have to mooch some from my friends everrrrr.”

Well, that’s a lie. I’ll still probably do that in college.

But still. Its gonna be rough. Not to mention that they gave me all AP classes 2nd semester. That in itself will make me cry.

On a side note, I just want to say a big thank you to facebook for telling me that I’m a loser.

May the force be with y’all.

“Find me somebody to lo-o-ove.”

Somebody to Love - Queen

So I realize that my titles never have anything to do with what I say, but whatever. I just put whatever is stuck in my head.

This is going to be a quick’un. I’m on break from band camp. We go from nine am to nine pm with two hour and a half breaks for lunch. I may have already said this, but I’m just explaining why I have failed to update in a while.

Mom and Jessie went school supply shopping today and I missed it. :( But on the bright side, I was present for the clothes shopping part. I got a denim shirt, two plain white tshirts [you can never get enough.], and, most importantly, shoes!

They are the best thing ever, man.

Alright. Back to hell.

“Nightswimming deserves a quiet night.”

I had plans to talk about the most gorgeous wedding in the world that was on My Fair Wedding with David Tutera [The “Cowboy Bride” episode], but honestly, the only thing on my mind right now? Exhaustion.

Yesterday was our pre-camp day for band camp. Band camp starts on Monday, but they got done with Rookie camp early, so we had a '”pre-band camp” practice day that was from 8 to 5. Oh. My. God. We were out in the Georgia summer sun from 8 to 12 yesterday, which doesn’t sound like a really long time, but, trust me, when we’re out there it feels like days. Luckily we spent the last half of our day in the band room, but we were standing the whole time, so it wasn’t a lot better.     

When I got home, though, one of my fellow bandies called and said that they were having an impromptu post camp pool party. So a group of us chilled out in the pool from about 8:30 to 11 last night. It was so great. When it got dark, they don’t have outside lights, so we were just floating along in the moonlight. It was so relaxing, and the water loosened up a lot of kinks that I would definitely be feeling this morning.

I’m going to nerd out for a minute. Bear with me.

Our show is going to be amazing this year. I don’t know the official show title, but it is latin themed. Just knowing that didn’t make that much of a difference to me, but when we played the music yesterday…oh man. It is so good. There’s nothing like latin music to give you energy and make you want to dance. Its a great mixture of salsa music and kind of a matador type feel.

Our band used to be nationally recognized and really big. That was until the band director at the time was found….fraternizing… with the band secretary in the janitor’s closet. How cliché can you get? Of course, both of them were immediately let go. That was the year before I got into high school.

For my freshman year, a former band director, who had retired years before and whom the band room is named after, came back for a year while they found a replacement. He was really cool, and everyone liked him, but you could tell that he kind of wanted to go back to his retirement.

Sophomore year, the new band director that the administration found took over. She…was evil. Not only that, but she had no idea what she was doing. She singlehandedly destroyed our band and our spirits. After forcing our beloved assistant director and secretary to resign, most of us quit the band in protest, leaving the band smaller than it had been in decades. The last week of school, the administration finally asked her to leave after taking her side the entire time.

So this is my first year back, and that scared the bejeezus out of me, but I love it again. That spirit is alive again, and that’s the best thing ever.

 

Band has been involved with all of the best and worst times of my high school career. I have met some of the best friends that you will ever find here. There’s never a dull moment.

 

Happiness is…a warm gun?

 

…a new Degrassi episode every night! I know, I know. This is beneath me and I need to move on with life, but come on. Everyone needs a guilty pleasure. You are all secretly excited that –spoiler alert- Spinner and Emma just got hitched. It completely made my week.

Moving on.

 

….a solid group of friends to pick you up when you’re down [or heavily medicated] and just have a ball with. I love these guys, and I can always trust them to randomly show up on my doorstep, barge into my house, and steal my dark chocolate while I’m laying immobile and woozy on the couch. Thank you, Caroline. Love ya. Hey, what are best friends for?

…family [er…cousins] that despite all of the drama at school comes through ever stronger and united in the end. The seven of us were born within five years of each other, and we all go to the same high school. Well, three have graduated at this point, but my sophomore year, there were six of us there. Three of us are in the same grade. As you might guess, this leads to competitiveness and even some down and dirty bitch fights [between the guys, of course.], but I know I can always count on them to help me up when I’m having a hard time and mock me mercilessly when I’m not.

…drawing portraits of my friends! It is the most mellowing activity that there is.

Annnnnnnnd last but not least!

…marching band! Technically, it hasn’t happened yet this week, but band camp starts on Friday. Flutes/Piccolos ‘10! Whoo! And when I say that band camp makes me happy, I mean as happy as you can be when you’re spending 12 hour days in the Georgia heat, marching and playing an instrument with a bunch of nerdy freshmen who don’t know what they are doing yet. Haha. Its great. I guess I can’t talk. In this picture, I was one of those aforementioned nerdy freshmen.

[Psssst. I’ll give you a verbal high five if you can guess which one I am in this picture! :)]

Btw, check out “Happiness is… Wednesdays” at Pastor’s Girl’s Ponderings.

¡Hasta luego!

None of us will ever forget you, Pazzy girl.

I had all of this back to school commentary to write about today, but honestly none of it matters right now.

Yesterday, my mother woke me up and told me that my dog, who lived at my grandparents house, was sick, and that we had to go over there to help them lift her into the van. She was a golden retriever and far too heavy for them to lift on their own. So we took her to the vet where we were told that she had had a stroke, and that they would keep her overnight for observation. This morning, my grandmother called the vet to see how she was doing, and we were told that she had died during the night.

My mom, sister, and I lived with my grandparents for much of my life. One Sunday, Jessie and I came home from our father’s house to find that Bear, my grandparents’ dog, had had puppies…in our shower. Being six years old, and rather anti shower, at the time, this didn’t bother me in the least. I forget how many there were, but the main two were later named Bailey and Paz. Bailey went to my cousins (they liked him because he was huge. Plus he had a tendency to pee on our other cousin, John, every single time he picked him up.), and Paz went to us.

Because I am the older sister, they gave me the privilege of both choosing which puppy we wanted and naming her. I was a quiet and studious kid at the time (What on earth happened to me?), so I decided on the quiet puppy that often sat off by itself. After reading an entire baby name book, I picked out the name Paz. The book told me that Paz means “the golden one” in Hebrew, and, being the clever child I was, I put together “golden retriever” and “the golden one”. Later on in life, I found out that Paz also means peace in Spanish, which is amazing. I am a total flower child, and I plan on minoring in Spanish in college. It was just meant to be.

This dog was my baby. Our hair color even matched. We grew up together. She was the friendliest dog that I have ever met. It broke my heart when we moved out of my grandparents’ house because we had to choose to leave her behind. They live on about 20 acres, and we live on a 1/2 acre. She wouldn’t have been happy with us.

She was part of the family, and my dear Pazzy will forever be missed.

Paz Dugan

1999 – July 20, 2010

“Whatever it takes, I know I can make it through.”

Excuse the title. Being couch-ridden, I’ve been watching Degrassi all day long. And I must say, having that many attractive males at one school isn’t natural! It kind of makes me want to move to Canada. Only…not really.
So yeah. Back to my dilemma. I was laying here like an innocent sicky watching Real World. I  was just sitting here watching one of the overly testosterone’d guys tie his latest skank ho’s bra onto his wall when I realized….Oh my god. I have the same bra.
Is this a sign?!

I didn’t even know that they made that bra in non-training bra sizes!

One of my guy friends informed me that this means I’m well on my way to being a skank ho, but maybe that’s just wishful thinking on his part. So I decided to ask a female. One of my girl friends assures me that it means nothing. Actually…no…she didn’t. She just said, “Oh, aren’t you bigger than that?” When I told her thanks, and that yes, I am a bigger person than that.
Her response? “Oh. Haha. I was talking about your bra size. You’re bigger than a training bra, right?”

[The pain of her not taking my side was only worsened by the fact that no, I am not all that much bigger than a training bra. Sigh.]

Rawrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Not what I wanted to hear!

Humph. :(

[Disclaimer: All complaints in this entry are purely because I am extremely bored and find myself humorous. I do not actually think that having the same taste in bras as a promiscuous woman….female…thing makes me a skank ho. And yes. That is a purely scientific term.]

Enough about my boobs, or lack-there-of. Wisdom teeth update!

Day three:

• Woke up at the break of noon
• Felt like crap, so I went back to bed…..err…couch.
• My sister, feeling too big for her britches, decided she was too good for the the living room, and moved back to her room.
• She promptly fell ill. [Laziness always wins out in the end.]
• Laid here here watching Degrassi and wishing that this small town had cute guys like that.
• Gave up on not eating solid foods and started sucking on Cheezits [the breakfast/lunch/dinner of champions]
• Kept a heating pad on my face all day long. That’s dedication.
• Asked my mom if my swelling had gone down and she said yes and then moved all reflective surfaces out of reach.
• My best friend got home from camp. She texted saying that she’ll finally come and visit me and that she’s sure I’m the “cutest little chipmonk in the tree”.
• Wondered how I chose my friends
• Talked to an old friend into the wee hours of the morning about how sad he is that my “hot/pretty/beautiful/sexy” good friend is in a partnership that tortures each other and everyone around them with their arguments relationship and will not date him. More on her on a later date.

 

Gotta go. A throbbing pain in my jaw and mild pain killers are calling my name.

“Cause you and I both loved what you and I spoke of.”

Some people like for their clothes to be just so; for others, its their makeup that always has to be perfect. Personally, I’m a hair person.

I have had waist length blonde hair since I was about 4. My “perfect” hair is not maintained by me. No, my hair is my mother’s territory. Her strictest rules have to do with styling my golden locks. For as long as I can remember, she has forbidden me to get more than two inches trimmed off of it at a time [leading to contraband haircuts by a trumpet player in the band room, but that’s a whole ‘nother story.], and she has a nasty habit of standing over the hair stylist’s shoulders making sure that my hair is bleached blonde enough for her liking. [It never is.] The only thing that I have managed to wiggle my way out of is her love of straight across bangs. …Took forever to convince her to let me grow them out.

But anyways, back to what I was meaning to talk about. I am super excited because after months of trial and error, I figured out how to get that neat wavy look. I mean, I don’t mind if its a little frizzy; that gives it a little bit of a beachy feel. But whenever I just let it go and do whatever it wants to, it looks like I’ve been hanging my head out of the car window.

Some of you may know this because I’ve seen in in magazines lately, but did you know that if you wrap your hair around a curling iron without using the clamp thing, you get nice Taylor Swift-esque waves? Its awesome! My hair is typically really straight and fine, so curling irons don’t usually work. But when you do this, they do. Its pretty much my favorite thing ever right now. 

In the picture above, they look kind of flat, but keep in mind that that picture was taken after I’d been outside for about 3 hours on July Fourth in Georgia [aka sitting in a sauna] with no product on it. Yeah. Pretty stellar. When you first do it, its a lot bouncier and has a lot of volume in it. Product helps that a lot.

Alright, sorry. I’m done with my boring hair rant.

And now what you’ve all been waiting for! [Psssst! I’m talking about a wisdom teeth update!]

Day three:

• Woke up at 12:30.
• Blinds were all shut, so our lovely recovery room [aka the living room] felt like a cave.
• Tried to brush my teeth because my mouth tasted like booty.
• Realized that the swelling has gotten so bad that there is no room in my already tiny mouth making eating an adventure!
• Jessie’s friends came over; one of which is painfully honest, so we stocked up on ammo to throw at her…just in case.
• Jessie’s mean friend was on her best behavior.
• Ate all day…again. Attempted to anyways.
• Laid here on my couch blog surfing. I found some that I really like today.

 

Overall, today has been tame and rather boring.

Cross your fingers that I will have better things to talk about in the future! :)

“I just can’t get you out of my head.”

So. I am incredibly bored. And I can’t even make my sister entertain me because she’s just as heavily medicated as I am. Rawr.
Here’s my wisdom teeth experience thus far:
Day one:

• Woke up at day break to go get teeth cut out of my face. Excruciating. Exciting!
• Volunteered my sister to get hers done first. [I’m a great big sister!]
• Fell asleep before the surgeon finished his “You’ll be drowsy and fall asleep.” speech.
• Didn’t wake up until I was already at home on the couch. [Jessie got the recliner.]
• Bled like an m-f-er for hours. And it hurt.
• Fell asleep for hours. Woke up and wasn’t bleeding anymore.
• But I had icy socks tied around my face when I woke up. Always fun.
• Ate jello.
• Craved solid food already.
• Jessie and I had to turn off the tv because there were far too many yummy, delicious, solid food commercials.

Day two:

• Found out that mom told the people to give us weaker drugs because she didn’t think that we needed the super strong ones.
• Started ignoring my mother.
• My sister went to stand on the rug while mom vacuumed it.
• She proceeded to pass out and scare the shit out of us.
• “Well, Jessie, if you didn’t want to help me clean, you could have just said something!”
• Put my Catholic guilt skills to good use, and convinced my friend to bring me a milkshake.
• He showed up with a milkshake for each of us. [He’s a keeper, yo.]
• He left to go on vacation to Florida. [Maybe he’s not. Jerk.]
• Laid here and ate.
• Ate some more.
• And more.
• And on today’s menu? Jello, milkshake, sweet tea, and –drum roll please!- mashed potatoes! [Highlight of my day, yo.]
• Decided that I was lonely and that I should lift the ban on visitation. [Who needs an ego?]
• My sister told me that I look like Quagmire [of Family Guy fame.] Sigh.
• Replaced the ban on visitation.

I lead a great life.

“Pain; I can’t get enough pain.”

My wisdom teeth came out yesterday. Yeah…
The worst part? I got two out on one side and one from the other, so I’m really swollen on one side, and not on the other. I’m so OCD. Haha. I’d rather just look like a chipmonk all the way around.
Oddly enough, I’ve been pretty lucid. My sister, who just got hers out as well, has been really out of it and groggy. The scariest thing ever was when she stood up this morning and then passed out. Her eyes were wide open and not blinking. Ugh, freaked me out! Mom was right there, luckily, and caught her. Leave it up to Jessie to put  mom’s nursing degree to the test.
Also, I got my AP scores back today. Thank god I’m heavily medicated. I got a 4 in AP Lang and a 3 in Calc BC. Neither of which is bad, but I was wanting a 5 in Lang and a 4 in Calc. But oh well. It could have been worse. Both of which will get me college credit.
Well, I’m laying back down onto my couch [aka my home for the next week]. Hopefully I can take this opportunity to finish up my scarf. I’m digging the fact that I’m really not in any pain at all. Major progress has been made, my friends. Yes it has. I just have to do 6 more stripes and the end stripe, and I’m good. Excitement!

Not Your Average Teen’s 1st Annual Blog Bash Intro

Am I supposed to do an "About Me" thing here?
My name is D.B., and I'm a 17-year-old upcoming senior in highschool. I do everything [/exercise my control issues frequently.]
I don't know what my label would be. I hang out with every group; I refer to myself as a floater of sorts. Bandies, nerds, art kids, drama kids, xc runners, football players, soccer players, tennis players, etc have been known to associate with me from time to time.

I spend all of my time at band practice [Go piccolos!], knitting/crocheting/sewing, or running the various school organizations that I've taken over. [bwahahaha.] Right now, the biggest focus in my [er..my mom's] life is getting me into a good engineering college. Gotta love it.


1.) Why do you blog?
I always have random observations, and my friends aren’t always readily available to discuss them with [or just don’t want to listen to me anymore. (;], so I figured that I would just start writing online. Also, I love computer stuff and design, so that is an upside to it as well.

2.) What do you blog about?
Whatever I feel like. I just started, but I get the feeling that the majority of the posts that I do will end up being about what I’m reading, or what I’m knitting/crocheting/sewing, or band stuff. Whatever comes to mind when I pick up the computer.

3.) What do you find to be the biggest reward you get from blogging?
It forces me to think not not turn into the vegetable that all of us do during summer break. Besides, there’s a freedom to it. You aren’t afraid of embarrassing yourself or offending those of us around you.

4.) How long have you been blogging?
On and off for a few years. I used to have one that was basically a diary that got me through some rough times. I still have a separate advice site along with this one. This one is fairly new though.

5.) Let's hear the story behind your blog title! :)
Earlier, I said that blogging gave me a feeling of freedom. In my mind, dancing is the epitome of freedom. You lose yourself in the music and the emotion of the moment. You’re only truly dancing when you let go of your inhibitions and worries. Plus, I’m a dancing fool. :)

“You were looking for a thrill, but you’ve done it all.”

So I’m currently taking my online drivers course. [And yes, I’m 17. No, I don’t drive yet. etc etc.]
The wording of this course is excellent though. I have to read it all with a really dramatic voice.
For example: “In this world, there are laws that you cannot break: the laws of nature.” I just want to add a “Dun dun duuuuuuun!” to the end of it. It sounds like a movie trailer or something!
Its currently teaching me all of the elements of physics though. Like, “Gravity is the force that pulls objects to the earth, even you!”. My favorite, however, was the page that taught me about friction. The passage was nice and  informative about friction and the traction of tires on the road, which is fine. But the accompanying video was an animation of a guy on a motorcycle hitting a parked car and flipping over it. The best part was that every time his head hit the ground, there’s a little arrow pointed to it saying “Friction!”. Poor guy.
Also, “The faster the object is traveling, the more energy of motion it possesses. A small bullet fired from a small gun gains force through speed!” Alright, so now I know that if I ever want to conduct a drive-by, all I need is a small gun. Thanks, driver’s course! You’re the best!
10. You need friction created by your tires and the road _________ to control your speed and direction.
A. signs       B. surface
C. signals     D. markings
I-i-is it A, Mr. Driving course? That’s the one that I would choose!
…Drat. Wrong answer.

“A penny for my thoughts; oh no, I’ll sell ‘em for a dollar.”

Yeah. So I need a job. Badly. Its getting to the point where I’m actually considering McDonalds. Which is no bueno considering this. 

Yeah………no. I’d rather just not ever go out with friends. I’m good being a loner. No problem! Haha.


Nah, I need a job because I’m saving for a camera. Not just any camera. I’m saving for a Nikon D3000. Yeah. Its pretty legit. I mean, I’m not going to sit here and claim to be the fantastic photographer that every teenage girl thinks that she is. But I take a TON of pictures. I love it, and my point and shoot just isn’t doing it for me anymore. I’m $150 away. So close, yet so far!
My friends, of course, are rooting for me NOT to get a job. Sigh. They are scared of the candids of them that will rear their ugly heads on facebook. But when I succeed…bwahahahahaha. :)

“I like your lips like I like my CocaCola, yeah. Oh how it pops and fizzes.”

For the record, I love love love The Band Perry. Her voice is stellar.

Anyways. Back to my topic of choice today: Harry Potter.

No, I’m not one of those energetic Harry Potter soldiers in the War on Twilight [I am not a Twilight fan either.] In fact, I haven’t even read past the 4th book, which I read about…eh…9 years ago? About that. But my sister, in a fit of Harry Potter euphoria, somehow convinced me to knit her a Gryffindor scarf for the premiere of the movie that’s coming out soon. [Being a ginger, she is required to be in Gryffindor. Everyone knows that.]

Anyways, we got off on a putting-all-of-our-friends-in-houses tangent. As I said earlier, she has to be a Gryffindor because she’s a ginger kid. She informed me that I was a Slytherin [which offended me until I read that they were described as cunning people with leadership skills, which, hey, I won’t dispute.]. She continued, labeling Caroline as a Ravenclaw [because she’s a genius] and two of my close guy friends as Hufflepuff [because, in her words, they are smart and loyal, but otherwise useless.]

In a weak moment, I said that I was thinking about rereading the series to see if I liked it now. I didn’t like it when I was younger because it was too dark and had too much death in it, but now, as a more cynical person, I think I can handle it. She, of course, flipped out and ran off to put her copies of the first three books in my room to “start me off”. [Keep in mind that she is only 2 months away from her 17th birthday.]

But yeah. So now I’m stuck rereading all the books. We’ll see how this goes.