Transition to 2011...

So I just realized yesterday that I've still been putting 2010 as the year when I write the date on all of my papers... yesterday. January's almost over and I just now realized I've been writing the wrong year on all of my papers. I should probably get used to it being 2011 soon... I'm so dumb.

If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies.

When I was in 8th grade, my english teacher, Mrs. Atwell, did a whole unit on the holocaust. We read The Diary of Anne Frank and went in depth about what really happened. When Anne Frank is mentioned, a lot of people just say "Oh yeah, that's that one jewish girl that hid from the Nazis behind a bookshelf and they found her diary", but there's so much more to her and her story than that. It wasn't just Anne hiding, it was also her mother, her father, her sister, a whole other family (the VanDaans), and a dentist (Mr. Dussel). And they weren't just hiding behind a bookshelf, they were in a secret annex. In the annex, they had to stay extremely quiet and were only allowed to use the bathroom at certain times. Since they were in intense hiding from the Nazis and weren't allowed to leave, they relied on Miep Gies and Mr. Kraler to supply them with what they needed. When the Nazis found them, they were all deported to concentration camps. Mr. Frank was the only one that survived and he was the one who, upon returning to the annex after being rescued, found Anne's diary and decided to publish it so everyone could hear their amazing story of how they hid for so long.  

I know this kind of a random thing to blog about, but I watched "Freedom Writers" at home the other day and the holocaust is one of the main things in that movie that help the students to realize that they're all important. It reminded me of how much I loved learning about the holocaust, Anne, and her story. The holocaust is hands-down my favorite thing historical event to learn about.

But the point I'm trying to get to by writing this blog is about something Mrs. Atwell gave me. At the end of my 8th grade year, she made us color butterflies. After she took them up, she took the time to write something personal on every one of our butterflies about how she'll remember us. She told us she did this because she wanted to make all of us feel special and unique, just like butterflies. She said it's important for everyone to realize they're special so a genocide like the holocaust wont happen again. I still have my butterfly taped up on my mirror, and I see it everyday.

So much to do, so little time.

So this year has already started out and I'm already looking forward to soo much. I have two hockey tournaments coming up, one in Indianapolis and one in Peoria. ADAPT/SURVIVE week for AYL where we go to middle schools and perform skits is at the end of February.The "Flourescent Fever" rave/dance is coming up in March. My 17th birthday's in March! Dare2Share is at the end of March. Maya turns 4 in April, and we're planning on breeding her sometime around then! Mine and Tyler's one year is in May :) Ichthus, aKa- Christian Woodstock, is in June. Blume at Disney World is in July... there's so many more things I just can't think that far ahead! I'm just ready for summer already!

Snow snow snow, come back!

So usually I don't really like missing school because it just means we have to go to school longer in the summer, but here lately I've been wanting all the snow days we can get. I guess "senioritis" is already kicking in... I guess I should call it "junioritis". I don't enjoy school anymore. I mean sure, I love seeing my friends everyday but it's just gotton a lot harder, which is expected, but it's so much more stressful than it used to be. I think I would rather have a longer school year with a shorter summer because with the snow days we get little breaks from school throughout the year. I think it would be cool to have longer fall and spring breaks just so we could have a break from school. Maybe some things will change when we switch to the trimester next year... I doubt I'll like it but I guess I'll get over it. Anyways.. I love snow and I want more of it (:

AYL... changing.

So this year of AYL seems a lot different than last year and I dont think I like it. It just seems so much more rushed than last year and I can't figure out why. It might because it's my second year so I'm more of a leader and I don't get to experience all of the "first year fun" but I still have a blast, I just don't know why it feels so different. The snow days we had in December caused us to cancel a couple general meetings so we didn't have another one until last Monday and we only have like 4 general meetings until ADAPT/Survive week (where we go to the middle schools to perform skits). It seems like we had so much more time last year... I'm just stressed about getting all of our skits down and learned before we perform them. I'm hoping it'll all workout!

Dead cat.

So Monday in Anatomy we were given our disecting project we'll have for this semester... and it's a cat. A big, gassed, preserved, smelly, dead cat. We haven't started cutting it open yet though, we've only prepped it to be disected. First, we had to cut the bag open and let all the fluids from the cat leak into the sink. Then we had to take paper towels and squeeze the paws and head so they would absorb up all the liquids left in the remaining skin and fur that was still attached. Next we had to take a scalpel, cut the skin away from the muscle and tissue, and pull the skin off. When we were cutting the skin off of the cat's head, I screwed up... I accidentally cut off the temporalis muscle so you can now only see the top of the skull, I cut into one of the cat's eye sockets, and I cut through 2 veins. But it's all good. Even though it's super discusting, I'm so excited to disect it...