Quickie update :)

I think I've finally regained my skill for immense amounts of reading :)

In the past I was a quick, adament reader, but over time it slipped away. So it would take me weeks upon weeks, even a month or so, to finish an average sized book. It was pathethic :P. This past week & 1/2, or two weeks though, I've been on a roll. I finished Prescription for a Superior Existence, which I'll briefly summarize at a later date, and I cannot set down the London murder mystery, The Victoria Vanishes.

I spent my afternoon working at the soccer/lacrosse tournament park that I have been employed for the past two summers. My wage has been raised to $8.50 an hour, which is wonderful to me :), and hopefully I'll have a decent number of working hours this year. I talked to my parents and we decided that instead of receiving a laptop as a birthday present, I'll work throughout the summer. Then at the end I'll contribute money, and they'll pay a good portion, and I will get a nicer laptop than I would have originally.

So in a week it will be my birthday :O! Actually, since it's 11:00ish, my big day will basically be over I'm assuming, but still. I don't have any plans for it yet, I guess I'm counting on my friends to come up with something fun to do, they should be good at that. But I'm debating if I should come up with something myself to save them the hassle.. I don't know. It doesn't really matter much right now because I cannot think of anything fun to do anyways. I'll just be happy goofing off with my friends :).

I contemplated having a party at my house. Two years ago I had one in my yard/ the hay barn, and it was pretty chill. I illuminated the haymow with strings of decorative lights, played music from the ipod, and a few brave souls, including myself, sat for awhile in my ice-cold little inflatable pool. It was a nice time, but I don't think I could duplicate it, or surpass it, in the limited time frame I have. Unless I made it for a later date, I just don't know. Maybe I'll just leave it at doing something low-key with my closest friends, parties are expensive anyways.

One thing I'm wicked excited for is my new bookcase! Tom is building me one, and then I get to paint it however I want :D! The one I have now is pathetically insufficent. None of my books, aside from the really small ones, can be placed vertically inside of it, they must be stacked horizantally. It was a hand-me-down from my dad, so I'll definitely keep it. I just need more space for my freshly printed friends :)

Well, I signed myself up to work again tomorrow from 10-3:30, so I best be heading off for bed. I know this post wasn't very enlightening, but I was in the mood to write something anyways. Expect a better one soon.

♥ Olive

Just be.

It's so frustrating to sit in front of the computer and not have the slightest idea of what to talk about :. All I seem to ramble on about is my day to day life, I wish I had something of more value to contribute. I want to talk about the things that matter, I want to transfer the ideas and revelations inside my head into written form, but it never seems to happen. Nowadays, it's like we don't even have time to think, to just be. We have to excell,excell,excell. I am an active member of the overachiever's club, all of my marks are above 90 and I participate in just about every extracirricular, minus sports. I am worn down and squeezed of my ambition like an orange at the Tropicana factory.
Summer cannot come soon enough. Time needs to warp itself to a slower pace, to allow me to savor it. I want to just be able to live, to do the things that make me happy on my own accord. I don't want to answer to obligations or deadlines. I want to lay in the sun and soak up its radiance, I want music to invade my ears and convince my bones to rock and sway without my mind's consent. My exilim camera will give my eyes a rest and do the seeing for them. I will talk about life around a campfire with good, geniune people, squishing smores between graham crackers. I will quit being afraid of failure, and write a short story. If it sucks, oh well. There's enough paper in the world for me to make a second attempt, and a third, a fourth, and so on. However, there isn't a second life, not that I am aware of. It's incredibly important that we make the most out of it. Lives shouldn't be measured in dollars. It's the little things that matter most. The hugs you never want to be released from, the brushstrokes to the canvas, the words written on paper and inscribed in the mind, the elements that make up who you are, whoever that may be.

Bleh, I'm not 100% sure that was conveyed in the way it exists in my mind, but I atleast tried to make a halfway meaningful post for once. I hope they improve with time :P.
I chose the picture because for one, it reminds me of summer and the carefree bliss I wish I could have throughout all the seasons, and for two, it's of Shayla and me, and she has come home from college for the summer :)! So just a little tidbit of an update from my life, I've been spending some time with her lately. I would write more, but it's 11:04 and I could use some sleep. Plus I need to read a little in my book before it must be returned to the library.

♥ Olive

Memorial Weekend

HAHAH. :)

So here's the rundown;
I listened to the first bloggers that posted in favor of me getting the haircut :). It truthfully doesn't look much different. I mean, it's obvious that it's shorter, but I kept the same style, so it's not a real significant change. But it's drastic enough to satisfy me. What do you guys think..? The pictures are below :), or will be when I get to that point in my post, haha. The first photo, above this, is just Amanda, Julie, and me goofing off with the art teacher's webcam during class ;D. Friday night the three of us went out to the drive ins. We intended to watch Angels & Demons, but I convinced them to go early so we could see Star Trek. Hahah :), my inner geekdom was pleased. I agree with Hannah,it was wonderful, I loved the entire thing. Amanda and Julie laughed at me, but oh well. I'm a self-proclaimed dork, I realize this.
Afterwards we were all too sleepy so we went home after roughly 20 minutes of the film we came to see. There's a nice atmosphere about the drive-ins, I like it. It feels cool to be able to just chill in the back of your truck, snuggled under a blanket, watching a movie in the fresh spring air.


Memorial Day doesn't really contain much excitement for me. I feel sorry for the soldiers who have died defending us, and I respect them for everything. Plus I'm personally strongly opposed to war. But our family doesn't have any traditions for the holiday, so I took a chill day with myself. I saw the town parade with my friends, Julie even brought her ferret :). I was starting to get annoyed though, because fiftymillion people asked me why I wasn't in it >:. Apparently the King/Queen are supposed to ride on the float with the band, but noone gave me the memo. Thanks, alot. I heard about the tradition, but assumed that since noone approached me that it wasn't being done this year. This would make sense becayse the King is in the marching band anyways. Oh well. Afterwards I bought lunch at Subway and picked up groceries at Walmart. I decided to try out boca burgers, Amanda suggested them to me. I'm a fan :). Also, I got these delicious Edy's strawberry popsicles. I'm in love with them, they actually taste like REAL frozen fruit. Utterly scrumptious. The next day, which is today, I slaved over my homework for most of the day. I successfully wrote up two lab reports, did some Spanish cultural research, and wrote an analytical essay on Edgar Allen's three poems concerning dreams. I was drained afterwards. I did allow myself some breaks in between, especially siezing the chance to spend some time outside in this nice weather :). Lately, I've been really into taking my Border Collie, Candy, for walks down our little country road. I feel horrible that I never give her the attention she deserves, but I'm making an effort to correct that. She's such a sweet, lively thing.

She does however have a tendency of wandering off of the road :P

Tonight I drove myself and Zack to a restaurant to meet up with the other Answers Please members. In case you guys don't remember, it's that club I belong to where we compete in acedemic competitions, like a quizbowl setup. Well we had our end of the year dinner, and it was quite enjoyable :). It's different though, hanging out with people who I usually only associate with in school. I like these people, they just aren't my regulars, haha. We had fun anyways. After dinner we decided to hit up an icecream place, and Mary and I rode this little musical carousel for $.75, haha. It was well worth it :). Then Zack and I jammed to TDWP's new cd on the drive home, while talking about a bunch of random things. Now I'm sitting here, exhausted and ready for bedtime. As always, I'm sorry for the infrequent updating. I'll catch up with comments and blog posts when I get some free time tomorrow!

Have a wonderful week :)!
♥ Olive