Gainesville, Florida.

I hope your Thanksgiving was delightful (if you celebrated) and your Black Friday full of success in finding good deals on the things you wanted.

Fortune cookies.

Today was better than I imagined it to be as I rolled out of bed. Little did I know I'd have a nicer dental hygienist to clean my teeth during my appointment or receive an 80 on my latest math quiz. Yesterday was good because we had our final regular season match for Academic Team. We only got third, but we were the district champions overall!

Oh, and Sunday night I made this for Aniesa:
It's meant to look like a cake which I joked I'd bake for her. Instead, I covered a Glad container fillied with yummy Pillsbury cookies with white tissue paper and voila! Her birthday was today but she decided to skip school and do something more fun. Can't say I blame her.

Here's a picture of my brother's drawing that I had FINALLY finished. My school practically dominated the various art shows this past weekend. We had two firsts, a third, a best of show and a second. Unfortunately, I didn't win anything. I am getting to show it to the people in the community though.
I didn't angle the picture well enough to eliminate the glare. Live and learn, live and learn.

I'm starting to wonder what's supposed to be happening with the writing club I'm in. We, as in the members, haven't had a meeting the past two weeks and I thought we were supposed to be publishing the web site full of Halloween stories very soon. Hmm.

Curiouser and curiouser.

found via google.com on this site.

I have yet to read Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass. The two stories are combined into one physical book I own. It includes the original illustrations by John Tenniel, which in my opinion, are the best. The Disney adaptation is nice, but you lose half the detail.

My mom had remarked there being a poem she really liked so I thumbed through and found it. I figured I'd share it with you. It's actually at the very end of Through the Looking Glass.

A boat, beneath a sunny sky
Lingering onward dreamily
In an evening of July --

Children three that nestle near,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Pleased a simple tale to hear --

Long has paled that sunny sky;
Echoes fade and memories die;
Autumn frosts have slain July.

Still she haunts me, phantomwise,
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.

Children yet, the tale to hear,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Lovingly shall nestle near.

In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die.

Ever drifting down the stream --
Lingering in the golden gleam --
Life, what is it but a dream?

--Lewis Carrol

I have tomorrow off from school. It won't feel that way since I still have math and English to complete and a doctor to visit. I'm proud, though, to say I've maintained an 84 ( a 'B') in math!

Bookworm.

I love meeting new people. There's something so liberating and exhilarating about the experience. I say that especially because I went to book club earlier with Puja. This meeting was with several students from high schools all over the school district instead of just the few out of our one high school body. As in, there are two types. The small one confined to one school and the bigger one that engulfs many.

Anyway, I tried to brush off the disappointment that Aniesa didn't come. We didn't even have a way to contact her. Oh, if only cell phone batteries never lost charge.

Fortunately, the turnout was tremendous and so we discussed the book, Suck It Up by Brian Meehel. We unanimously decided it wasn't that great as vampire books go and then we got on to talking about how Twilight has given rebirth to an otherwise ignored and overlooked genre. We also had to agree that this Twilight monopoly is obnoxious. I personally expect an influx in intensity again with the New Moon release.

After we had nothing insightful left to say about Suck It Up, we went around the table recommending books. This girl, Laura, mentioned The Five People You Meet In Heaven and I'm going to have to read it soon, not until I'm done with Fablehaven, that is. I think my main readers have talked about the former in some entr of yours.

Academic Team has been going well. We are first overall in the standings at the moment. We hope to maintain it for two more matches and then, if we do well, it's off to districts we go! The writing club I am involved in is going well, too.

I am anxiously wanting to know what I got on my math test!