Top 5: Favorite Presidents

1. John Fitzgerad Kennedy-umm inspired a generation, attractive, civil rights leader, American royalty. In the style world he set trends. He also was a freaking war hero. yeah the man was a genius

2. George Washington-He was a snappy dresser, he set up office of president meaning he gave up the oppurtunity to be King of America for the good of the country. After his death his slaves were released, another war hero.

3. Andrew Jackson-The man was bad ass. He loved to duel and was a man of the people. yes he did force the native americas on a death march, granted that was terrible.  Also a man elected from Tennessee, gotta represent

4. Franklin D. Roosevelt-helped fix the freaking country back in the 1930s. The man hid polio from the country quite sucessfully. Anyway he was a remarkable man.

5. Theodore Roosevelt-another badass president and war hero. He freaking loved nature too and started national parks program. seriously hard core

"Who's the Adult here Ronda?!" -Betty

When I was a kid I loved to swim. My mom signed my sister and I up for swimming lessons at the college's pool and we learned several dives and strokes. I'm glad she insisted we learn, it is a vital skill to have. My family owns part of a time share thing in the smokies and we go there a few times a year. We've been going there ever since I was born. They have a couple of pools at the condos that were the best as a kid. They have an indoor andoutdoor pool so you could swim  what ever season it was. One summer week my maternal grandparents decided to go with us. My grandmother is a great lady in a lot of ways but to quot my mom "She should never have had children" My mom is her only child and to some degree she is right about my grandmother. She's not really someone who does well with kids. But she was the age where in the mid 1950s you had children, lived in the suburbs and married the man in he gray flannel suit. So its always a bit of a stressful vacation when they come. So my sister and I went swimming and my mom and grandmother came to watch us, to make sure we didn't die. Caitlin and I had the typical water toys, splash bombs, diving sticks and water guns. I had a water gun and was having loads of  fun shooting cait when i remember turning around and seeing my mom and grandmother talking. I saw my grandmother all perfect looking with her clothes neatly pressed, and not a spot on them, she wasn't even swetting in the summer heat. (she just doesn't swet) The thought popped into my head to try and spray her with the water gun. I can still see it in slow motion in my mind's eye. I began pumping the water gun, trying to conceal my manic giggles. I squinted, aiming at my grandmother's lap, and pulled the trigger. I don't know how far back in the pool I was but it seemed like quite a way back at the time. I started cackaling like a nut job as my mom's dropped and my grandmother lookd for a second like she was going to end me. My mom was so embarassed and ordered me to swim over and apologize. I did not seeing what the big deal was. I now realize how stupid that was, especially to do to my grandmother

Lisztomania

Top 7:Things That are making me happy at the moment

1. Darren Criss Music. A friend sent me a link to a musical he was in and then i in an extremely round about way came to his own music, its genius.

2. The MAUS books. I'm not someone who usually reads graphic novels, not that I'm apposed to reading them I just don't usually seek them out. My sister had to buy these two though for a college class and I began looking through them to see what the art looked like and that was it. I wish there were more than two.

3. Guys with beards. Ok so this isn't really making me happy at the moment, but I like it. I don't know why but I've come to it. I mean obviously it depends on the guy but dudes with beards especially indi kinda look. Its awesome.

4. Wearing heels. I love it they can complete an outfit so well. And to be honest I need all the extra height I can get.

5. Vanity Fair's Best Dressed Issue. I like that it that VF doesn't just include celebrities, they add writers, heris. it's brilliant and i can't wait for it each year

6. Pandora Radio. I listen to it constantly from the a.m. to p.m. can't get enough

7. Dressing like a Wes Anederson Character. It's soemthing I've started doing at the start of this scool year. I wear a uniform to school and so yeah it's preppy but I try to make it indi-preppy. I'm not talking like constumey but it works

I recently moved a desk that we had in our guest room, into my bedroom. This is a good thing for a few reasons: it gives me a place to study away from my father watching dragon rider or NCIS, M*A*S*H* or other old man shows, i can place my record player on it, and it gives me a place to put my laptop for the night. The thing about the desk is that it is across the room from my bed, and this keeps me from googling random questions that pop into my head or reading all about some random thing like hepatitus (i can now tell you freaking ALL about hepatitus) or listening to that song stuck in my head one last time before i pass out from exhaustion.

I have moved my laptop for the weekend because i wanted to watch a web series in bed saturday night. Now its Sunday night, and knowing full well i have to get up and go to school bright and early tomorrow morning I still find that I'm bargaining with myself saying "Ok, you can watch this one more stupid youtube video and then I'll go to sleep." and then like 2 hours later I look up from watching "one more video!" and is 2 a.m. or something. And this is why I'm forced to self medicate with coffee each morning

My father is a very unique man, I will give him that. However, as I have gotten older I have realized some things about him; he's full on crazy. I know like every child says that about at least one of their parents, and I'm not complaining but he really is pretty nuts. Like recently he's taken it apon himself as part of his, i dunno, "fatherly duties" to challenge me with questions. The other day I was cleaning my laptop with, basically, air in a can, as I sprayed the air on my computer I noticed that the can got colder as more air left. So, I asked my father why this was happening. He looked at me slyly, leaned back in his office chair and said


"You tell me!" I continued looking dumb, starring at him.

"I don't know that's why I asked." I continued.

"Well you took Physics, you tell me!" He kept smiling. I huffed a little annoyed at his weird mind game.

"Yes, but its not like I have a degree in it!" I tried to reason calmly. He turned away and kept working.

"Soooo you're just not going to tell me?" I asked. He turned back towards me,

"You tell me!" he repeated. I shrugged my shoulders and walked off.



To this day I still have no idea why the can gets colder as the air is let out. I don't even know how to find that out either! How do you even google that? He did it again today as well, another mind game. As he was walking by me he wiped his hand

kerchief that he had been using to mop up his swet against my arm. I winced away in disgust.

"Did you notice it wasn't wet?" he asked excitedly.

"Um yeah that's pretty weird." I responded, not really knowing how to respond to that observation.

"Tell me why!" He grinned.

"Ummm I dunno," I knew I had to give him at least a guess of else it would go exactly the same as the air in the can incident. "You held it in front of the fan?"

"Nope!" he said with a bizarre since of glee.



I don't know why the can gets colder when air is released or why his handkerchief was mysteriously dry. I probably will never know because for some reason I'm supposed to know all the answers to his random questions. The man is crazy.

I went to a school for elementary and middle that combined the two into one kind of super school. Spoilr alert: it wasn't as great s they thought it was. One cool thing about it was that from 4th to 8th grade they gave kids the opportunity to go on a class trip. And as you moved up, the trips got better. When I reached 5th grade the trip changed to something that they hadn't tried before but the administration and the guy who helped plan the trip were super excited about it, so their enthusiasm was contagious and my friends and I became excited about the trip as well. (and 5th graders aren't cynical yet)

The first day they split us up according to gender. The girls would go on a day long canoeing trip the first day and then spend time at the camp ground and then the guys would do the opposite. The day started off well canoeing down a lovely river with the sun shining on you, but as the day went on it quickly became dark and rainy. It wasn't a warm summer rain, it was a frigid fall rain and suddenly the bathing suit and shorts idea seemed like a terrible one, and the teacher who suggested it seemed sadistic. We were all shivering as we paddled. I hated mr. hill for making us canoe all day. i was convinced I would catch a cold because of these conditions. When we reached the camp ground finally it was like our own zion. Fires and no rain.




The day after the camp time all of us were loaded up into a bus and told to close our eyes. If i had been smart I wouldn't have followed these directions but I was a team player! When asked what we were doing mr. hill said we would be orienteering. No one knew what that was and when asked mr. hill grinned and simply said we would find out soon. For those that don't know its know in layman's terms as finding your way back home with just a compass and a 5 sec. talk on how to use a compass. We gave up within a few mins. using the compass. My poor father was our chaperon and had 4 5tth graders to look after and try and find a way back to the camp ground after being dumped who knows where in the woods. Luckily most of us had been to the general area before because of summer camp. But that really doesn't matter when you are dumped in the middle (maybe) of it's woods.Our group consisted of two of my friends and one girl who was an acquaintance of sorts. She was nice enough but very sheltered. So when we were out in the woods she thought she knew everything about everything and she loved to sing. I don't have a problem with people who love to sing except sometimes that translates into them singing all the time, which can get on my last nerve. She sang all through the orienteering trip which was all day. My father is a person who has very little patience and it amazes me to this day that he did not snap. Especially because at one point he decided he would go up to the top of a hill and try and see where we were. He told us to stay where we were and call him if there was an emergency he would literally be right back. So he set off to the top of the hill and he was just out of eyesight (because of the trees) when she started screaming for my father. My friends and I quickly tried to explain that he was just at the top of the hill looking to see where we were, and that he would be right back, he hadn't left us out here. But try as we might she kept yelling. My father comes barreling trough the trees as fast as he can, thinking something had happened and there was an emergency. He breathlessly asked what was wrong as she blinks up at him and said

"Oh, I just didn't know where you were." and began singing again. All of us starred at her, but my father's eyes narrowed and the left one twitched. But he didn't say anything.

We went home the next day vowing never to go orienteering again.

One time I was in K-mart with my mum. I didn't want to be there because the K-mart where I live is ghetto. Honestly, I don't even know how the place stays in business because like no one is ever there. However, my mom had to get something, so probably because I was bored I went along. I wandered around with her for a little bit, but I went to the cosmetics section of the store. A woman in jean shorts and low cut tank top that sagged passed by and then collapsed onto the hard floor of the K-mart. People came out of nowhere and crowded around the woman who was now writhing on the floor. A dumpy man who worked there bent down and in an alarmed voice kept asking if she was ok. The painfully thin woman snapped that clearly she wasn't, but she didn't do anything. My mom looked alarmed as the store manager called an ambulance. I stared for a while but continued to look at the aisle. The seizure lasted a surprisingly long time.




I know his makes me sound like a terrible person, and maybe I am, but honestly what could I do? I had no knowledge of medicine and I think I was maybe thirteen. When the woman came to, she was fine. My friends are still slightly horrified that I didn't do anything in this situation but continue to shop but I really hate it when people who have no medical knowledge busy body about. I'm not saying I wouldn't do anything if people weren't helping her. I'm just useless in these situations because I have no medical knowledge or any knowledge about seizures.