Percy Jackson and Da Babiez, as well as NaNoWriMo!

Hai again. 

So, maybe it's just me, but I love babies.

I was reading The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan, the part where Percy's thinking that maybe when he and Annabeth are older, they could live together in New Rome and raise a family and stuff. 

In The Mark of Athena, Percy tells this to Annabeth, and when she seems sort of shocked, he tells her to just forget it. And do you know how she responds?

"What? No! I mean...Gods, Percy, that's so sweet!" 

Maybe I'm just in a romantic mood, but thinking that Percy and Annabeth could live together in New Rome, and raise a bunch of little wise delinquents... *sigh.* It just seems so adorable and perfect to me right now. 

Can't you just see a bunch of little kids with curly black hair and clever gray eyes, or shaggy blond hair and mischievous green eyes, running around New Rome? Annabeth could teach them about architecture and engineering and Percy could teach them how to fight and be sarcastic.... *tears up.* It'd just be so beautiful!

Anyway, I've been re-reading the Heroes of Olympus series, which is why I'm bringing it up, I guess. I really like Rick Riordan's books and The House of Hades arrives at my house tomorrow! *bounces.* 

But remembering Annabeth thinking that getting married and having kids was such a sweet idea....it got me thinking. 

Do ALL people love babies?

I mean, obviously, I do. Obviously people who have them do. But if you see a cute little kid with a sweet smile and shoes on the wrong feet... Am I the only one who passes them and wishes I could just hug them?

Maybe my maternal instinct is stronger than most. Maybe I just like little kids more than others. But I was wondering if I was the only one who felt this way or if this is something across the board. 

I'm good with kids. I make them laugh, and I'm not afraid to act stupid to make them happy. Really, I like to make people in general happy. 

I'll just walk up to someone and give them a high-five, or send people random texts: "I <3 you. Have an amazing day! :)" 

You'd be surprised how happy it makes me, and how happy it makes others. 

And even if kids misbehave sometimes, even if they make a mess every now and then...I just can't help but love them!

I come from a big family. I have a decent amount of younger siblings. I know how to take care of kids, and when they need to be told no, and when they just need a hug. 

I'm a good babysitter, and when I was little there never seemed to be any future for me other than "growing up, getting married, and having kids"! Of course, I'm not just going to sit at home, cranking out babies. I still want to be a writer. I still want to change people with my words. 

And I don't mean to sound preachy, but staying at home with the kids is a pretty hard job, especially if I think I want to homeschool. 

Laundry, cooking, driving, church, teaching, extracurricular activities, sports, discipline, AND writing? 

Heck, yeah. 

I <3 da Babiez. Maybe I'm the only one. Maybe I'm one of billions. But I hope that the next time you see a little kid you know, you give them a high-five. Maybe they'll remember it in the future, and give some little kid a fistbump sometime. Wouldn't that be cool? 

On another note: Guys, it's October. 

Do you know what this MEANS?

That's right. It's time for NaNoWriMo again. 

For those of you who don't know, NaNoWriMo is an international organization for writers. It's run by the Office of Letters and Light, and was founded in the nineties by Chris Baty. Writers of all ages, genres, nationalities, races, religions, beliefs, and sexualities all come together to write a novel (or a book of poems, or a screenplay, or anything, really!) in a month. 

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and is held every year starting October 31st at midnight on the dot. People from all over the world can participate. I have friends in the Americas, England, Ireland, and a couple from countries that don't even speak English! The community is amazing! 

There are three sites: The Young Writers' Program, ywp.nanowrimo.org is for writers ages 7-18, where you can choose how many words you'll write in November, and "The Real NaNo", www.nanowrimo.org is for writers ages 13-113, where to win, you must write 50,000 words. There's also Camp NaNoWriMo, which is held in two different months over the summer. This year it was April and July, but last year it was June and August. 

Anyway, NaNoWriMo is an amazing way to write anything you've ever wanted to. Millions of people across the world fill up on coffee, stretch their writing muscles, and write 50,000 words every autumn. It's a truly unifying experience. 

No matter what your background, who you are or how you live, people on NaNo accept you for who you are. After all, we writers are weird. Who cares? 

You can also get NaNoWriMo merchandise to help you persevere during the tremulous 30 days when you feel like you want to give up. Mugs, shirts, books, posters, survival kits, everything and anything you could need to make it through 30 days and nights of literary abandon! 

And the best part is, if you reach the goal you set for yourself, (anything you want on the YWP, or 50K in the real NaNo,) you'll get a promo code for Createspace. And when you finish editing anytime before June 30th? Createspace will send you five free paperback copies of your very own work of fiction! All you have to do is enter the code and pay shipping. 

It's a really spectacular experience, and I strongly encourage you to participate if you are or have ever wanted to be a writer! 

If you end up doing it, I'm Writer-Girl4 on the YWP, and RaineSummers on nanowrimo.org

I hope to see you this November! It'll be a blast. 

Anyway, I'll stop ranting about children and NaNo now. I hope you guys have an awesome day/night/afternoon/whatever, and I'll see you sometime! 

Keep Calm and Endeavor On,

~Adalyn

(Written sometime in October and was never published because I'm a derp.)

Contemplating Names

Names. Such strange things. 

I mean, really, to humans, everything must have a name. A name gives something an identity, a picture we can form in our minds of the concept we have named. 

If I say the word "dog", what's the first image that pops into your head? My guess would be a scruffy-looking stray cocking his head with his floppy ears, begging you silently, with his melty chocolate eyes, "you don't really want that hot dog, do you? And when's the last time you ate? A few hours ago? I haven't eaten in days."

Because of the name "dog" each of us immediately forms an assumption about what that dog will be like and how it will appear. 

It's the same thing with human names. 

If I say the name "Jessica" or "Aubrey" or "Brittany", unless you know someone by that name or have that name yourself, you'll probably think of some preppy high-schooler with a perfect smile who a lot of other girls hate. Typical stereotype. 

But if I said the name "Odette" or "Genevieve" or "Luna", you'd probably think of someone totally different. Someone with long, wavy hair and a shy smile, who likes to wear things other people would never consider, but they look super cute on her. 

See how different those are? And that's just a few syllables and letters that are different. 

And people can also have totally different ideas of someone with a common name because they know different people by the same name. For instance, this summer, I met a wonderful girl named Cassidy. Wouldn't you think of her up there with Audrey and Brittany? Well, she was totally different. 

She was gorgeous, and definitely could have been popular if she wanted to, but she wanted to be different, and it made her all the more beautiful to me. 

She had lovely brown eyes and short-ish brown hair. She liked to wear boots up to her knees with skinny jeans and loose tops. She liked lots of those rubber bracelets with messages like imagine and strength and hope on them. She also loved to wear an alien beanie her grandma had given her. 

She was always super nice to me, and at the end of the week, she totally opened up to me and made me feel really special about myself because she trusted me with her deepest feelings. 

So what about my name, Adalyn Roe? Well, Adalyn is actually my middle name, and Roe is my mom's maiden name. I won't tell you my real last name, but do you wanna know my real first name? 

None of you have ever seen pictures of me, so you may have conjured up an image of me inside your lovely little brains, and now I'd like to absolutely ruin those images for you. 

I'm going to give you five names and descriptions. You have to guess which one is my real self. 

Ready? 

Set....

Name! 

~ Rose. Short auburn hair, watery blue eyes, and a splash of freckles across my pale nose. The freckles are especially annoying because I have one on the side of my face, and whenever I'm eating with people I don't know that well at youth group or something, they ALWAYS think it's food on my face! 

~ Daniella. Soft brown eyes, thick dark eyelashes, olive skin, and and brown hair that is constantly attacking my face. It's untamable. :p

~ Sabrina. Curly reddish-brown hair that just reaches my broad shoulders, hazel eyes that have been known to change colors sometimes and are framed by rectangular glasses. And a sort of slim waist that doesn't like to fit into skirts. 

~ Marie. Straight hair with streaks of blond and light brown with darker brown undertones, a million flyaways, and gray-blue eyes framed by dark lashes that I think are the one lucky thing about my appearance, other than maybe my hair. But that's really straight. 

~ Abigail. Wavy light blond hair, newly cut bangs, green eyes, and a tan complexion. I look like I'm from Southern California, but I'm really not. I just have French and American Indian blood combined in my veins. ;)

All of these could be names that my parents gave me. They all fit with my last name, I guess, but I have a question for you. 

Which one of them suits ME? 

Because of the different names and descriptions, you have discovered five completely different mental pictures of me. 

If I told you my first name was any one of those, you'd revise your mental picture of me, and even if you thought it was weird that that was my real name, not Adalyn, you'd have to accept it because it was my real name. 

And so, since I don't want to wreck that gorgeous, confused, probably inaccurate image you lovely people have in your noggins, I'll go ahead and say my name is just Adalyn, no fancy tricks, no confusion or lies. My real, actual name is Adalyn, and that's how I shall be known from this day forward. 

Does it really matter if it's my real name? I don't think so. Because of my name, you have formed an image of me, and I'm willing to bet it's an image I'd like. 

Believe it or not, I think we rely sometimes TOO much on names, forming opinions and stereotypes based on what we've heard about this person or that person who bears a certain name. 

On to another topic in the same general subject in our one-sided conversation, am I the only one in the world who feels that sometimes my name doesn't really fit me? As if it belonged to someone else and the person who lives in this body needs to be named something else. 

Am I the only one like that?

I mean, if somebody asks you who you are, some epic people will say "Your worst nightmare", but most will simply state their name. 

"Me? Oh, I'm Lindsay Lohannn. No, not that Lindsay. It's Lohannn. Like....it's different."

Because your name just so happens to be the same as the girl who was in The Parent Trap and made a few (a lot) of bad decisions, people might think that your parents are really weird, (which they probably are,) and that you have potential for getting really messed up later on in life, even though you're scheming and everyone likes your red hair noww...

ANYWAY.

What I'm saying is that names are important. Names describe things other words can't. Can anyone describe the color purple to someone who's blind?Who's  been blind their entire life? It's a mixture of red and blue? It looks like bruises? It's the color of violets? 

Yeah, no. 

What I'm saying is that since we've named things, we don't have to use words to describe them anymore, because if everyone uses one word for the same thing. You can see it, and everything that's purple is just purple. You don't need to describe your favorite nail polish any further. It's the sparkly purple one. 

Uh, duh. 

What's in a name? 

A whole heck of a lot. 

Anyway, now that I've wasted several of your inherently valuable minutes, you can go back to browsing YouTube or googling "I ate five slices of cake". 

(Sorry, inside joke. ;D)

Oh, and a shout out to Anna from California, my fellow nanoer! ;D You make me ineffably happy, Anna. <3

I'll be posting sometime soon, but not this weekend because I have a reunion to attend for the weekend on a gorgeous vineyard. I'll talk to all y'all soon! <3

Keep Calm and Endeavor On, 

~ (mystery) Adalyn (more mystery!) <3

My crazy life and why I might be absconding...

Soooooo....

I actually have legitimate excuse this week (or two) but it's still my fault for not posting. 

My iPod was confiscated by my mom. 

It was because I was loitering around texting people instead of cleaning my room, and when (after a week) I asked her what I could do to earn it back, she said, "Stop asking me."

Apparently the only way I could get it back was to live without it for two weeks. 

And then I went to camp. 

So, long story short, I was exhausted from that South Texas camp I told y'all about, and I slept for 11 hours last night.  

I'll probably go to bed early tonight if its possible, because I need to catch up on some Z's after staying up to 2 or 3 for seven days. 

^Was written Friday afternoon^

Honestly, nobody probably reads this anyway, so apologizing to the Internet doesn't even really matter. 

I think I might end up dropping Adalyn's Endeavors for a while. This month and next month are going to be crazy, because I started my first day of high school today, and I already feel a little stumped in geometry. 

I'm going to do this acting program in my city through fall, and we meet twice a week on Fridays and Sundays, which are my default posting times. And I honestly think I want to save Saturdays for some r&r and friends and stuff. 

So on top of school and writing and acting and choir and friends and reunions, I don't think I'll really have time to dedicate strictly to a post only a few people will read. 

It's not that I don't love you or anything, my dear readers, but there are certain aspects of my life that need attending to. I've been neglecting a real prayer life, concentrating solely on lazing around without doing much with my summer. I've been entirely self-absorbed with my free time, wanting to go shopping for clothes for my camp, or buy ingredients for the dessert I want to make, or spend my time however I see fit to use it. You see what I mean? 

I need to be a little more thoughtful, a little more helpful, a little more self-sacrificing. I'm working on virtue and a good spiritual life this month, and I'm going to stick to it. 

In the past, I've been very flippant with my goals and how and when to achieve them. But this month, I want to change myself. It's almost my fourteenth birthday, and that's too old to be acting totally self-centered and naïve. I need to become a better person. And this is how I want to do it. 

Denying myself a little Internet and spending fifteen minutes in prayer rather than ranting about myself in a blog post will probably do me a lot of good. At least, I think so. 

I hope you're having an amazing summer, or if you're starting school, I hope you had a fantastic first day. A lot of girls I know started high school today, (including me ;D) and it's not nearly as daunting as some people think, so yay!

Have an absurdly wonderfultastic day, and I'll see you on Friday when I've decided whether to drop this blog for a while or not. :/

See you in four days! ~<3

  

Please enjoy this pig-cloud while you wait. ;) 🐷

Fun fact!: I took a picture of this on the way back from seeing a movie. And then I wanted bacon. 

Keep Calm and ((Eat Bacon)) Endeavor On,

~Adalyn

My Summer is So Separated.

Hey y'all. 

Ummm....I didn't post. 

I suppose I could blame the movie/sleepover party I went to on Friday, but Saturday I had no excuse. 

I feel like a sucky person now. 

I just...totally, honest-to-goodness cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-fly straight-out forgot. 

So this week, my older brother Timothy went with a dozen others from our parish to World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro. They were one of four groups from the US to go, and they've been gone for a week tomorrow. 

They went on a mission trip to build a school, I think, and Tim managed to make it onto the Brazilian news. He has to go out of the country to make it onto the news. Go figure. 

But anyway, he loves it there, and even though my mom had a dream he got bitten by a giant tarantula smack-dab in the middle of his forehead, that actually DIDN'T really happen, and he's totally fine and loving every minute of Brazil. 

And the week before Tim left, my brother Josh ALSO left for Boy Scout camp (hiking in the Rockies. 8O), and he's been gone for two weeks. Only three days left until he's back, though, so yay! I've missed him a lot. :3

After Tim gets back the first week of August, I leave the next week for a camp in South Texas. It's a leadership camp my friends have gone to and it's supposed to be really amazing. ^-^

Our family is so split up this summer, though. Like you guys know, my parents left for two weeks on vacation, and my oldest brother, Paul moved into an apartment last month, plus now Josh and Tim are gone too. And soon...so will I. 

Plus, a lot of my friends are going off to camps lately too. Two of my friends left this morning, and two of my friends were gone a couple weeks ago, and one of my friends is gone for two weeks starting just after my brother Tim gets back. 

All in all, it's been kind of a separated summer.  

So I guess you could say I have a lot on my mind. That could be my excuse for why I didn't post. 

I guess it's still pretty lame, as most excuses are, but it's all I got. 

Anyways, this is basically just an update on my life, but I really enjoyed writing about laughter and happiness and optimism last week. That was pretty sweet. 

If you like that as well as (or better than) just talking about myself and being all vain and arrogant (sort of) give me a holler in the comments. I'd love to hear from you! ^-^

I hope you guys are a having a FUNtastic summer, and I wish you an amazing day, night, afternoon, dusk, dawn or whatsoever it happens to be where and when you are in time and space, and I'll see you next week! 

Love and peace and ALL the zen! ✌

Keep Calm and Endeavor On, 

~Adalyn

Thoughts on Us.

In midst of my crazy summer schedule, various thoughts of camps and trips within the next two weeks, buying new clothes, worrying/being excited about birthdays, trying to pen 20,000 words for Camp NaNoWriMo, and ranting about how angry I am when they use different actors and actresses for the sequel of a movie I enjoyed ((BATMAN)), I realized that today, (shocker), is Friday. 

And...I felt the need to stop, take a deep, calming, relaxing breath, and a long, hot shower, and write something about the mysteries of the universe and why we all love them so much. 

This is gonna be totally random, but since I've been running around like [insert un-scarring analogy here, since I couldn't think of one], I decided that doing a little theorizing might do some wonders for my poor, addled brain. 

In but a moment, I will write out several subject neatly on a peice of notebook paper, cut them apart, fold them evenly, and place them, one by one, in this hat. 

I will then commence wearing said hat as I turn your thoughts to the workings of us humans or the universe or something amazingly spectacularifying like that. 

Prepare to be dumbfounded by my intelligence. 

I will now do the whole subject-paper-hat whatsyamadoohicky. 

Here is my list:

Yes, I spelled "business" with a "y" the first time. It's summer, and I'm in NaNoMode. Gimme a break. 

Here are my little bits of paper inside my wonderfully summery hat, which isn't nearly as colorful on the inside as it is on the outside. Bummer, right? 

And now, to CHOOSE!!! 8|

That says laughter, kiddies. Let's get theorizing! :D

Soooo...laughter. 

'Tis a strange thing, most definitely. 

Who could have ever thought of it if it wasn't already just a natural thing to do? Even the smallest babies can laugh. Even children have a sense of humor. 

Think about laughing, really think about the action, the science behind it, what it might look like to an alien who's never ever even thought of the concept of laughter or amusement. 

I'm sure an alien, looking on from his invisible ship, safely behind his über-safe, lazer-proof glass and hidden by a cloaking device...I'm sure he would be thouroughly weirded out by a room full of people, doubled over with some spasmodic episode and a strange liquid leaking from their eyes. 

Laughter is an action of the diaphragm, which is why you can get hiccups sometimes from laughing so hard. Hiccups are when your diaphragm decides to be a torture device and make you make embarrassing noises until people think you're dying. 

((The best thing ever is when you have the hiccups, and you try to sing something sort of fast-paced. Because then you're cracking up and hiccuping and singing and it's just the best feeling in the world. ^-^))

But seriously, when you get the hiccups, and you have that strange feeling in your stomach, your diaphragm is moving. Nothing to flip about. 

But WHY do we laugh, is my question. Because I'm just an inquisitive person like that. Why is it that even babies, newborns barely even introduced to our big, green, beautiful world, even they know that when something is funny, you laugh?

Isn't it just the most adorable thing when little babies laugh? My piano teacher's little girl is about five months old, and she's just the cutest baby on the earth. When she laughs, she gets this little sparkle in her eye, and she has this cute smile, and her laugh just...oh, babies just make me SOOOO happy! 

Sorry. ANYWHAZE!

Laughter is programmed into us. It's something we've always done, and something we always will do. Everyone has a sense of humor, and I guess that's because God knew we'd need the outlook and the ability to laugh things off. Embarrassments, problems, grief. 

They say laughter is the best medicine, and I think they're right. Nothing makes me happier after all the tears of sadness are shed then when one of my good friends takes me to a funny movie, or offers me a book they thoroughly enjoyed, or just sits and talks with me and makes me laugh because I just love being with them. 

I genuinely love to laugh, because I like being happy. I figure there's no use being sad all the time because life isn't about the sadness. 

Sure, sad things may happen, and they do, to all if us. But just remember you can't have the light without darkness to compare it to. If you're in a room covered in LED lights, painted white, then bringing in one candle isn't going to do anything. 

But if you're in a dark room, empty of everything, and you bring in a candle, it can be the start of something amazing. All the darkness in the world can't stand up to even one candle. 

And also, even when it's night, all you gotta do is remember that on the other side of the world, someone, right here, right now, is enjoying the sunshine, and when the time for their brightness has passed, it will move to you. 

It's never dark everywhere. There's always light if you're determined and hopeful enough to look for it. 

So keep laughing, because it's not worth it to be sad. If babies can laugh, so can you, because you can obviously read and navigate the Internet. You're big enough to laugh. 

I hope you're having a funtastic summer, as cheesy as that is. Maybe I've made you laugh. Maybe I've made you think. Maybe you're an alien and you're just discovering the human race. 

We're kind of a gloomy bunch right now, but I've kept my candle alight. I hope it spreads to each and every one of you wonderful, beautiful, amazingly perfect and perfectly amazing people, and together, we can banish the darkness with our glowing, shining, burning light of hope. 

I believe in this world. I believe in us. And no matter what problems you're facing, no matter how dark it seems and how hard it's getting to try and push through, I promise you, there's someone in the world who's gone through that. And there's someone in the world who's made it out of that as a better person. And there's someone in the world who's encouraging you. And there's someone in the the world who loves you. 

Promise me you'll never forget that. 

I leave you with a quote now, from Catherine of Siena, which really helps inspire me when I'm tempted to fake myself, cheat myself on what I'm feeling and who I am. 

"Be yourself, and you will set the world ablaze." 

Together, we can spread the light. Even if you only touch one person, that's one person more than you touched before. Wouldn't changing someone's heart for the better be worth all the pain and struggle and tribulation? I think so. 

Help me light the candles of everyone around the world, across the nations. Let's not cross the lines of race and color and religion and gender and opinions, but erase them.  Lines, straight or crooked, don't do anything in a world that is round. 

Help me spread love and encouragement and hope. Help me change the heart of someone who feels trapped, sunk unbelievably deep in the pit of despair. 

...Help me set the world ablaze. 

Keep Calm and Endeavor On, 

~Adalyn

NaNoWriMo, and Why I Am Late...Again.

I feel like I'm beginning to fall into a habit of this. 

Before i explain to you why I'm late this week, I also have an announcement to make. 

So, this month, I'm doing Camp NaNoWriMo, which is a program exactly like the regular NaNoWriMo, except for the fact that it's in the summer. I'm writing a book and I'm really liking it, and it's been taking up a lot of my time. 

I wanted to do it in April or whenever the first one was, but I couldn't manage it because I was still in school and I had a bunch of other stuff to do to get ready for the hot summer months. 

But I'm doing it this month. It's super exciting and fun and if any of you are writers, I suggest you check it out. There's a children's/teen's website called The Young Writers' Program at ywp.nanowrimo.org , and there's another program for 13-113 that's just plain-ol' National Novel Writing Month at www.nanowrimo.org . And for summer there's www.campnanowrimo.org .

It's super fun and free and you can participate in it at any age. In YWP and Camp NaNo, you set your word count goal, which is the number of words you aim to write in 30 days, though in the "real" NaNoWriMo, the set goal is 50,000 words. 

It's not nearly as hard or daunting as you think, because if you write a certain amount of words a day, you reach your WCG in no time at all! 

Anyway, if you want to try it out, you can do novels, biographies, screenplays, scripts, poems, songs, or even sentences if you want! All that matters is that you write and have fun. Check it out. It's amazing. 

NOW! To the excuses for why I didn't post and my updates on the 4th! ^-^

In my defense, I did have a very impromptu-ly crazy Thursday/Friday. 

So, as you who live in the Land of the Free, also known as that fat lazy country with those unrefined savages, or The United States of America, know, Thursday just so happened to be Independence Day! It's been that way for, oh, about over two hundred years. 

The Fourth of July is kind of an important day for us rebellious, independent US of A citizens, and hence we do stupid things, like throw big parties with lots of meat and potato chips and yummy drinks. And set off big, explosive, colorful and sometimes terrifying tendrils of flame to show our excitement and joy over our freedom and liberty from other countries. 

The only drawback from these parties and fireworks is when you're sitting there watching the show, and your neighbor, who's joined you for the big, delicious celebratory party, accidentally puts the firework in upside-down. 

And so it explodes about 20 feet away from you, shocking and scaring everyone there, making you scream as you feel the shockwave and see the brilliant burst of color that has exploded all too close to you and your friends and family, and setting off the car alarm of your best friend's brand-spankin'-new bright white Toyota Tundra. 

It was an awesome and exciting experience, and since my boyfriend decided I needed to be comforted, and wrapped his arms around me, it was also sort of cute, too. 

After the party, two of my friends slept over, totally ruined half of my makeup doing blind makeovers, and stayed half of the next day, when I had to clean the house and help prepare food for a get-together we were having with some of our closest friends. 

They stayed until ten, and after a long argument between my friend Brianna and her mother, she was allowed to spend the night. And we watched Les Mis. And we wrote, since we're both aspiring authors. And then fell asleep. 

Yesterday was Saturday, and I don't really have an excuse for not posting, and I was even going to post, but in the morning I had to return canopies and chairs to my neighbors that they had let us borrow for the party, and then I was reading all afternoon. 

I finished my book at 1:30 am this morning, finally went to bed around 2am, and then woke up at 11:28 to discover my family gone to 10 o'clock mass.

So here I am, two days late after a crazy weekend, happy that I broke my record for how late I've slept in ever because I'm not nearly as tired as I have been for the past week. 

I guess a good night's sleep solved all my problems. Anyway, my mom and dad are taking my siblings and I on a surprise outing, so I guess I'll see you all next week. Though I probably won't post until Saturday, since I have a birthday party to attend. 

At least I let you know this week, right?

....Right? 

;)

Keep Calm and Endeavor On,

~Adalyn

A Boring Narrative on My Boring Life. ;P

Hey, all! It's been another of those crazy weeks. 

VBS ended today, and at the end of the day, a bunch of kids came up and gave me a group hug. It was adorable. This is why I love Sing & Play; all the kids love you and give you hugs at the end of the week. 

I'm sad and relieved at the same time. Don't get me wrong, I love the kids and the acting and the songs, but herding children and memorizing skits at the same time as not having my parents home this week was just a teensy-tiny bit stressful. 

My parents are glad to be back in the States, and they brought me back (among other things) foreign sugar. My sweet tooth is unbelievable. But anyhoo, this is what it looked like. 

Weird, right?

I've been staying up late watching Bachelor Pad lately, which is shameful but entertaining, and I've also been getting up early because of VBS. 

I just realized how boring this week must have been to you. But it was crazy insane busy for me. :P

I'm actually about to head off to a 21st birthday party, so I suppose I'd better go. Sorry for wasting your life by telling you about mine. 

I hope you all are having a great, amazing, spectacular summer, and I'll see y'all next week! STAND STRONG! 

Keep Calm and Endeavor On,

~Adalyn

My Amazing Dramatic Camp

I've had a crazy week. 

So, this week, I was gone at camp for six days, with no wifi, no family, and no idea of what I was getting myself into. It was a totally new camp I'd never heard of. I was only there because my friend Claire had wanted some people she knew to be there with her. 

So I signed up. 

It was an overnight drama camp held at a school about an hour outside of the city. Like I said, acting has been a big part of my life lately, and this camp seemed like a great opportunity to enhance my talents and try something new at the same time. 

But on the first day...I was really nervous. 

I didn't know if Claire had been accepted, and since I'm a freshman I was probably going to be the youngest one there, and what if everybody was super cliquish and didn't really include me?

I was super, super, super nervous. 

But this really nice guy named Jon snapped me out of it and helped me emerge from my silly, fragile shell. And from then on, it was all fun and games. Quite literally. 

We played a bunch of ice breakers and theater games, and we all introduced ourselves to each other, and I had a really awesome time. There were a couple people that stood out in my book, but you'll hear more on them later. 

On the first day, we had to audition for what part we were going to play. And I was fourth on the list. 

I was also super nervous about that, even though I figured I'd get a small role. A freshman, brand new to a camp and everyone but one person in it? Yeah, I was definitely gonna get a leading role!

But anyway. 

I got the part of Kate, a girl with only one spoken line and two sung ones. But that was okay, because I didn't want a big part anyway. Too much pressure. 

And the rest of the week went by, with games at 9am until 9:30, and then vocal warmups, song practice, and then a run through of the play, with input from our directors (we had an artistic director and a music director) whenever it was needed. 

The people who played the main roles were super talented, for the most part. And the people who played Laurey and Curly were absolutely spectacular. 

It was a ton of fun, and I met a bunch of über-nice people who liked to make me laugh. You would expect the people who played the leads to be sort of stuck-up and have an I'm-too-cool-for-you-peasant kind of attitude, but there were actually no "mean kids" at this camp. Which was nice. 

And Clayton, the guy who played Curly, was always really funny and open and welcoming. He never frowned once and he always made sure I was having fun. 

Friday was our dress rehearsal, and we all got into our costumes, donned mascara and eyeliner and blush and lipstick, slipped on our cowboy boots, and jumped right in. 

It went really well, and we were all totally psyched for Saturday night, when we would put on the play for all our friends and family. 

Saturday was our cast party. We watched Le Mis, which I'd never seen, and then The Phantom of the Opera, the one with Gerard Butler. Which I love to pieces. Everyone was forbidden to sing during Le Mis, but no one cared if everyone belted their hearts out to The Phantom of the Opera. And a girl named Ella brought cupcakes. They were really good. 

We had one last run through of the show before we went to dinner, and then rushed to the dressing rooms before the 8pm show. 

I put on my blue, floral costume, knowing it was the last time I'd ever wear that ridiculous dress, pulled my hair back in the assigned hairstyle, and pinned my bangs back so I could put on the makeup I'd bought on Friday.

Red lipstick went on over Chapstick. My naked blue eyes were outlined in black and my eyelashes darkened and fanned out. My cheeks became artificially rosy, even though I knew they'd get pink as soon as I started dancing. 

Even though I'd been really nervous about coming on the first day, I found I wasn't nervous at all before the show. No butterflies. Not even little ones. 

As a final touch, I unpinned my bangs, slipped on my boots, and settled my hat on my head. And then I skipped out into the world of Oklahoma!, arm in arm with Claire. 

The play went perfectly. My family brought me flowers and I got a bunch of contact information for a bunch of different people. I've already texted/ emailed most of them, and I'm going to get in touch with the rest of them today. 

Overall, it was an amazing experience, and I can't wait to head back next year. The directors both said I was amazing, and the acting director said he had plans for me for next year, so I'm super excited! 

I think I'll relax a little today, because I have VBS tomorrow! Yay! 

I'll post on Friday this week, so....

Keep Calm and Endeavor On! 

~Adalyn

An Update On My Stressful Misery.

Hello, all you beautiful people who read my blog! And hello all you gorgeous new people who have never seen me before and are just browsing blogger/ the Internet/ NaNo, and just happened to stumble across my blog or my profile. You are beautiful too. 

Everyone is beautiful today. 

I don't know why I'm in such a good mood right now, considering I'm having a crazy, aw-screw-it kind of day. 

First of all, I've told you guys I'm helping out with VBS again this year. It's Athens, like I said, and I have to be this Grecian girl named Thalia who is learning from St. Paul. 

It's stressful because my parents had an opportunity to go on this amazing vacation for a couple weeks, and they took it, and so...they're gone for VBS. My parents and our family play a big role--the only role, really--in making and setting up all the decorations and sets for our week-long Vacation Bible School. 

And since they're gone, all we have is a list of directions and a few good luck wishes from our parents, instead of a guiding hand as far as setting everything up. 

And I have to memorize six skits and work them out with my friend Marge on top of other lines and choreography which you will hear more about in just a moment. 

Another thing is the fact that I'm currently the only wannabe maternal figure in our house. And also the only one who doesn't have to work full-time who possesses the knowledge of how to operate the washing machine properly. 

My brothers kind of fail. 

But, then again, they're better and more willing cooks than I. And I only have to do two loads of laundry every day. They have to slave over the stove for hours. 

Or something like that. 

The third thing that's stressing me out is that I'm going to be gone at a camp this week, and we have six days to perfect the play Oklahoma! before we have to preform. I've never seen the full play/ movie, so needless to say, I'm a little nervous. 

Plus, it's an overnight theater camp, which means my family will be without any maternal figure whatsoever for six days. 

Keep in mind, none of them know how to do laundry. 

I've never been in a musical like this before, though I've been in plenty of plays. I'm still nervous though, because I was never much of a dancer. Hence why I dropped out of ballet, jazz, and tap when I was seven. 

Also, we've gotten a lot of rain here the past week. The streets are sodden. 

I went to run lines with my friend Marge, who lives across the neighborhood.

Our neighborhood is about two miles all the way around. 

And so, in it, I would not recommend scootering in the rain, through large puddles there is no possible way you can avoid. You get mud all over the back of whatever pant leg is not pushing, and you don't even realize it until there's this freezing feeling on the back of your calf. Also, your favorite flats get soaked, and you're just really thankful you brought socks in your bag. Oh, and your script is soggy. 

What? Haha. No. Pshhhh...No, no, I've never done anything like that. Haha, I'm so much more clever and practical than that! I'm not an idiot. That would be stupid. Pshhhhhhhhhhhh. 

Anyhoo, running lines went fine. Margie gave me a towel to wipe the mud off my jeans, ((shut up.)) and we had fun tossing lines back and forth. 

And then...I started to scooter home. 

Just kidding. I had learned my lesson. 

And with a humble and contrite heart that had no desire to get more mud on it, I walked. 

And I had a book idea on the way, inspired by the soaked hems of my favorite pair of jeans. So that was okay. 

Anyway, I'm gonna go take a nap and eat some candy. Not in that order. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Friday, and I wish you an absolutely fantabulous start to the summer! I hope your first week or two was awesome. 

Keep Calm and Endeavor On, 

~Adalyn

Today Was The Craziest Day...

I sing in the choir at my church. I think I've told you that before. 

Today was the beginning of a Catholic homeschooling conference here in my state, and there was going to be a graduation mass for the class of 2013. 

It was my mom's idea and so she had to set it up, which meant finding a pair of priests, altar servers, a Eucharistic minister, and a choir, as well as transporting an altar, crucifix, vestments, and various other things necessary for a Mass. 

So, I had to sing for this mass with my choir, and since our choir director is sick, we had to draft someone from another parish to accompany us. 

Which meant that I had to copy, print, staple, and deliver a dozen copies of the songs we were going to sing, AND help my mom set up the altar, crucifix, hymn books and pamphlets. 

It was a total hassle, but the mass was celebrated by the bishop that confirmed my brothers and I, and it was an absolutely beautiful mass. 

Afterword, we had cake and lemonade at a reception for the graduates. 

My brother is severely allergic to nuts. And you'll never guess what. 

There was almond extract in the cake icing. 

So on the way home, he started swelling up, and he was having trouble breathing, and he had hives all over his body. 

Needless to say, my dad took him to the emergency room. 

So I had to babysit my little siblings until my parents got home. 

(That would have been my Friday post, but I fell asleep while putting my youngest sibling to bed, so I didn't post. This would have been the post from Saturday.) 

My dad woke me up at 12:30am and told me to head up to my own bed, where I promptly collapsed. 

And, because my body likes to torture me, I woke up a little before 6am. For some stupid reason, whenever I wake up in the middle of the night, my body decides I need less than eight hours of sleep to function. Genius, right?

My brother was fine. He'd had an IV in and they'd pumped Benadryl into his bloodstream, so he was out of there relatively quickly. I found him sleeping on the couch in the Living Room that morning. 

So I got my chores out of the way and got dressed, and then waited around for a couple hours until we left for the second day of the conference. 

It was actually pretty good. They had a speaker talk about what to expect in and about college, and then after a half-hour break, they had several religious of varying stages come in and talk about vocations. 

Then we had pizza for lunch and after that, I had a gig watching the elementary school-age kids for three hours. 

So I basically calmed down a few rowdy kids, watched Veggie Tales, helped a few kids tracing and coloring their hands, watched more Veggie Tales, and got paid $15 for it! :D

And then...after the day was done I bought some jewelry and headed home to freshen up a bit for my very first high school dance! 

It was held at a dance hall a little ways out of my city, and I went with my older brothers and a few friends. 

We were taught a bunch of line dances, and then we basically just did whatever to a specific playlist until the last song. 

It was really fun, and I can't wait for next month when there will be another one! 

I went swimming at a friend's house today, and we spent an hour and a half in the pool before drying off and getting dressed for mass. 

And that was basically my day. 

Oh, and I had three chocolate-chip cookies. 

Now that you've caught up...yay! 

I'm sorry if it's ridiculously long. And I'm sorry I posted two days late. But, you know, my brother was kind of in the hospital, so...

I promise next Friday, you'll have a post. As long as nobody I know is mauled by a monkey or run over by a trigonometry book, I swear on my favorite hat, I'll post on Friday. 

Keep Calm and Endeaovr On, 

~Adalyn

Haircuts, Boy Scouts, and Family, Oh My!

I got my hair cut today! :O *le gasp.*

Before it was down to my waist when straight, and now it's above my shoulders! 

So it's kind of a big deal. 

I haven't gotten a "real haircut" since I was about seven, just a trim to keep it even here and there. 

The lady cut off a lot of my hair. 

But I like it. 

It's a lot easier to handle and put up and it dries a lot faster. So overall? Good hair experience! Yayyy! 

NOW! For the Boy Scouts...*shudders.* All you Boy Scouts and family members of Boy Scouts, you know what I'm talking about. They can be downright scary and stinky, all at the same time!

Buuuuuut...my brother is becoming an Eagle Scout! We're having a big double ceremony with one of his good BSofA friends, and then a party afterwords. Exciting, exciting stuff! 

And that leads me to the family part of my post title. My Grandma and my uncle and aunt and cousins are all heading down to be here for my brother. So my Granny is staying with us and my uncle and aunt are staying at a hotel about ten minutes away from my house. 

We always play Ma Jong with my Granny when she comes down. It's an unofficial tradition. We have yet to play, but probably Sunday night, well have a big game night. And I absolutely love my aunt and uncle and sort of my cousins. They're kind of the "wild and free" sort of kids. I mean, of course I love them, but they're like siblings. 

They get on your nerves a little too much sometimes. You know how it is. ;)

So anyways, thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed this little excerpt of my life! And I promise it'll be more interesting next Friday! Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye! MLP FTW!

Anyway, Keep Calm and Endeavor On, 

~Adalyn

...Summer!

Summer! It's finally here for me! 

I'm done with school!

So...basically, I get a few weeks of downtime before Vacation Bible School, which is Athens this year! There's gonna be colemns and Romans and robes all over the place! 

I love helping out every year, because the little kids love it and its always really fun, because I'm a part of Sing and Play, which is the part where we sing and dance and act out little skits to teach the kids lessons about God. 

There's this adorable little girl named Elizabeth with very tight, medium brown ringlets and big chocolatey eyes and caramel skin. She's the sweetest little girl ever, and whenever I see her, she gives me a huge hug. 

She's probably one of the best little kids in VBS. She's always cheerful and happy and enthusiastic. She's a good dancer, too. Knows all the motions. 

To emphasize the beginning of summer, my daddy is taking me and my little sister Faith out for a daddy-daughter date night. To Red Robin's. Yummmm. 

And last night was my friend Marie's thirteenth birthday party. It was fun. We went out to a fancy dinner downtown and had cake and ice cream at home later. 

And I wore lip gloss. 

The last time I wore lip gloss, I was probably seven. I eventually threw all the lip gloss I had away because it got nasty after a while. 

But this is real lip gloss. Not that stuff they sell to little kids to make them feel like big kids. 

And I wore it. 

I'm not a big makeup girl. It's not like I'm denying my femininity or act like I'm too pretty for it to do anything or too ugly for it to help. 

I've just never really worn makeup. It's never been that important to my life because there was never any pressure to wear any. Perks of homeschooling, eh? ;)

But I'll be a regular at all those chemicals we stick all over our faces for some reason by the end of the summer. My mom is forcing me to learn. 

Still, makeup comes in handy, so I'm willing to give it a whirl. In the meantime, I'll enjoy my last couple weeks of chemical-less cheeks/ eyes/ eyebrows/ everything else. Yayyyy. 

Anyway, I gots to go! I've got my date tonight! ~<3

Keep Calm and Endeavor On,

~Adalyn 

The End of School, and the Beginning of...

So, I am currently rejoicing about a couple things. 

As of today, I am finished with most of my school subjects! *happy dance.*

I did my last tests in science, english, and reading, and I finished spelling and vocabulary and art last week. So basically, I have only two more subjects and then...

I'm done for the entire summer!

Until...you know, fall! I'm soooo happy!

Did you notice? I used italics and bold in that last sentence. Crazy right? But I'm feeling adventurous today. 

So, math is gonna be the last thing I finish because there's, you know, a lot of it. And then, get this. 

When I finish that. When I finish that last equation in my orange and blue algebra book...

I'll be officially going into... *dramatic and sinister music.* ...High School! *le gasp.*

But, being a real-life, actual, official Freshman-to-be has its privileges. 

For instance, the ability to attend these homeschool dances my brothers and friends go to every month, where you learn different dances and practice and then have, like, actual dances with decorations and themes and stuff. 

And high school youth group at my amazing church. 

And more outings with friends I don't see a whole lot. 

And better clothes! So that I actually look like a female of this species! Yayyy!

Last year, I was scared of turning thirteen. You know, the whole, "Oh my gosh! I'm gonna be an official teenager! And I'll start being influenced by society's idea of fashion and having bad friends and spending all my time on the Internet because I can legally have a Facebook and stuff like that, whereas before I just lied about my age!" (Oh, come on. You guys did it too. Get off your high pony.)

But then, I realized that thirteen ain't that bad. 

I mean, you're still just an unfortunate middle schooler who takes selfies and is obsessed with 1D. And if you're not like that, I congratulate you on being one of the few who has succeeded in life. You win. Congrats for being one of the only sane middle schoolers left on our lonely planet Earth. 

But anyway. 

Fourteen, to me, it seems, is the Rite of Passage into the real world. 

The real world is also known as High School. 

The first step into High School is simply a birthday. 

But not only a birthday. 

The birthday. 

The Rite of Passage birthday. 

High School is a big step in life. You meet more people who are even bigger jerks than they were in middle school, and your social status plummets until you can build a little castle around yourself to both make you look good and sheild you from the blows of the aforementioned jerks. 

What a great metaphor. I'm very proud of that metaphor. Or is it an analogy? 

Like I said, I'm finished with Vocabulary. 

But, to stay on topic, fourteen, somehow, seems much larger than thirteen did. 

Maybe it's just that thirteen is only one step above twelve, which is, like the most immature time for boys, and also not the best time for girls. Thirteen is just a year after that. You can't have matured that much, right?

But fourteen...Well, fourteen is just one year before fifteen, which is only a number away from sixteen!

And then, well, you have seventeen coming up fast, and before you know it...

You're a flippin' adult! *scariness.*

So, although I'm actually looking foreword to this birthday of mine, it doesn't seem nearly as intimidating as thirteen did. 

And that's probably a good thing. 

So anyway, by the next time I post, I'll be done with school! And all you lovely people out there will be done with school! Or almost done! Or kind of almost done!

And then, when we all have the weight of those boring final tests off our heavily-laden shoulders, we can do summery things!

Like talk about beaches and pools and sodas and sleepovers and sleeping in and hamburgers and parties in the middle of the week and all that summer stuff we've missed so much since that stupid month called September decided to start torturing us again last year. 

And so, as the heat begins to roll in, lets roll out our towels and do some tanning!

Let's get this summer started and live it up with friends and ice cream and sleep deprivation and music and camps and everything amazing about this time of year. 

Hang up your backpacks, kids, and let's forget about those silly summer reading assignments. You can do that in August. 

For now, finish as quick as possible,and let's make Summer 2013 absolutely unforgettable. 

Happy summer, and I'll see you guys next week! :D

Keep Calm and Endeavor On,

~Adalyn

Hey Dudes.

Again, I was going to post yesterday, and I even reminded myself on Thursday. You know, the whole, "Oh, Ads, you've gotta remember to post tomorrow or no one will read your lonely blog!" type deal. 

But, alas, my morning quickly spiraled into afternoon and then early evening, and before I knew it, I was in the car driving to Marian group, and about to stay there for a sleepover with my friend Marie. 

And so, having just gotten back from said sleepover, I shall endeavor (Ohhh, reference to the name of my blog! Ohhh...) to explain my complicated life once again. 

Starting with Marian Group. 

We've started a new session, 'The Importance of Knowing Yourself' in order to know who you are and what you were made for. 

I was expecting something totally different from what I got. Basically what we did is talk about what we think is the biggest thing about ourselves that we keep hidden.

And you know that when seven females get together to talk about their innermost beings, six of them being teenagers, dang is it gonna be deep! 

So we talked about that and ate scones and apple pie and I'll tell you, there was lots of smeared mascara and runny noses. 

It was really good. And the. I slept over. 

Also, one of my close friends, Hannah, who I've known for a few years, is moving to Nevada with her Air Force family. My dad was in the Air Force for 25 years, so I know what it's like moving around a lot. 

She's leaving on Monday. Bye, Hannah, we love you! <3

Of course,we'll still keep in contact, so it'll all be good. ^__^

She was at the sleepover, too. It was sort of her last sha-bang before she left. Their bags and boxes are all packed. 

In other news, my fiends are jerks sometimes.  

So my friend Xavier? I've mentioned him a couple times. We're sort of...semi-in a...you know a...relationship.

Not officially or anything, but I like him and he likes me and everything is hilarious and amazing and the best ever whenever I'm with him, and everyone introduces us as boyfriend and girlfriend and stuff like that. 

And today? My friends made him angry. 

My friend Lizzie, Marie's older sister, was teasing me about him and telling me what I should respond over text because "I'm a matchmaker! I help everyone with stuff like this! Just listen to me!"

And I wasn't listening. I like to be myself in a conversation, I don't like to be Lizzie.

And so, as she said she was looking up a poem to write on a bookmark for her mom for Mother's Day? She was actually texting him and telling him a bunch of embarrassing stuff about stuff about me.  

I was ready to kill her. 

And then, when I finally got it away from her? My friend Marie did exactly the same thing! Except she was a little nicer. 

A little. 

Anyway, they won't get angry with me when they read this because we already worked it out between ourselves and Xavier, so it's all good!

And now I'm safe at home and ready for some lunch. Because I'm starving and my stomach is protesting its emptiness. 

I've been talking with Xavier and he's okay now. He just got angry because I was angry. Which is good, I guess. Because we're all Zen, all connected and crap. 

But anyway, I changed my password and now they can't get in! MWAHAHA!

I'll post on Friday next week if it kills me, okay, dudes?

Ima go have some lunch and then play piano for an hour. 

Keep Calm and Endeavor On!

~Adalyn  

My Fridayyyy.

This week was kind of boring, really.

I mean, basically I was sick and did school all week. The only variation I can think is worth mentioning is last night.

Yesterday, since I didn't have as much school as usual, I pretty much lazed around in bed all day watching YouTube videos of Say Yes to the Dress and the X Factor.

But at about 6pm, my beloved brother barged into my room without knocking.

I hadn't bothered to put on any "real clothes" because I thought we weren't doing anything that night. Hence, I was wearing a too-small tank top that showed my stomach underneath a crappy but comfy gray hoodie, along with my favorite pair of jeans.

So, when Josh, my brother, barreled into my room without knocking, I probably looked like heck, lying there half asleep on my bed watching an episode about one of those brides who knows exactly what she wants, and her entourage hates all the dresses she loves and makes her try on something she hates. So then the bride starts saying she likes the dresses she really doesn't.

And you're lying there screaming to yourself, "Just do what YOU want, woman! It's your wedding, not theirs!"

But ANYWAY...

Josh told me to come on, we were leaving. And I was like WHAT?!

He explained to me quickly that we were going to the monthly thing we do with two other families every month, and I screamed, WHAT?! I HAVE TO RE-DRESS!

And despite his protests, ran into my closet, changed my shirt, and practically shanked myself with my hairbrush trying to get all the knots out.

But the evening was fun.

We swung on this huge tire swing they have in the middle of their yard, we ate a ton of food, and basically just hung out. It was great.

And then I woke up at eight this morning, because my dad was yelling at one of our dogs, and then I guess I fell back asleep again, because I woke up at 10:45 to the surprisingly loud text tone of my friend Xavier, saying he'd gotten a jagged, dragon-claw style scar when his chihuahua had scratched his face.

So, yeah, that was my Friday. I hope y'all weren't totally bored out of your minds.

Keep Calm and Endeavor On,
~~Adalyn

So I Was Totally Gonna Post on Friday...

But, unfortunately, my beloved blogger app decided to crash and burn and die.

And then on Saturday I went to my good friend Marie's house for a sleepover and stayed there all day the next day too.

So now it's Monday and I'm finally posting.

And guess what.

.....I have a COLD!

I've been sneezing and coughing all day, and it's been absolutely horrible.

I NEVER get colds. I have an immune system made of iron.

And steel.

And stuff like that.

Yet, I still have managed to contract the virus my family has had for TWO WEEKS!

I hate being sick. It makes me feel all helpless and weak and want to listen to Catching Fire all day while I crochet a big blanket for myself and don't worry about math because my mom said not to.

Which is exactly what I did. Although now I wish I'd had the sense to take a nap.

On top of all that, I'm losing my voice from coughing so much, so singing for church yesterday nearly killed me.

And I have voice lessons on Wednesday, and somehow I don't think I'll be feeling much better.

I did have a brilliant book idea today, so yay for that, but I'm still feeling a little down. The fact that my brothers have been ribbing me all day hasn't helped either.

But anyway, I think I'll stop complaining about my life now and text people who've actually seen my face in person, not just over the Internet.

Like my best friends Xavier and Brianna and Christine. They'll hopefully have some sympathy for me, and maybe I can even sleep in a little before the crazy hassle that is every Tuesday decides to shake its frenzied head and say, "Oh, Adalyn, you're sick, sleep deprived, and lonely today? I think I'll abuse you even MORE than usual. MWAHAHAHAHAAAA!!"

So anyway, wish me luck! And good health. And sleep.

Lots of sleep.

Keep Calm and Endeavor On,
~Adalyn

And Here I Am, Late Again.

I seem to be bad at schedules. I'll have to set a reminder for myself on my iPod or something.

So, eighth grade is slowly drawing to a close, and I only have a month left until I'm done and officially going into high school!

Sometimes I love being a homeschooler.

Other times, I don't. For instance:

Every Wednesday morning, I go on a walk/run with one of my best friends, Opal, who is also a sheltered homeschooler.

Well, actually, she's not. She watches animes online that say bad stuff. Like the C word! (Crap. @-@)

I'm kidding.

...you guys know I'm kidding, right?

But, ANYWAY....

So we were running this morning, and we had sort of gotten off a little late, which means what?

That's right. The six-graders were already at the bus stop.

And they were staring. I could totally tell what was going through their innocent little brains: "why are two girls older than us already up, running, and wearing clothes like THAT?"

Because, though I was dressed well enough in some purple athletic shorts and a peach tank top with a gray jacket over it, my lovely, fashion-savvy friend was dressed in a trashy old teal t-shirt and too-short Longhorn-orange sweatpants, along with the most obvious shoes EVER.

But YEAH. So anyway, if the SIXTH-graders are looking at us like we're aliens, homeschoolers must be even weirder than I thought.

That's all for now, and then I'll probably post on Friday. Probably.

Keep Calm and Endeavor On,
~Adalyn

Of Marian Groups and Scary Boy Scouts....

So, first off, I'm in a Marian Group, which is basically just a small group of people who gather every week or so and discuss things about the Church. We have our meetings about every other Friday, and we met tonight.

We talked about being "the salt of the earth" and "the light of the world", and we pulled out a map and lit candles and dumped salt on the map. Except it was very much more prayerful and beautiful than I made it sound just now. It was absolutely gorgeous and then my neighbor kept me at her house "having supper" until 11:30. And then my mother was angry at me.

But anyway, I believe I said I would post on Fridays, and it's still Friday (sort of) so I'm satisfied. Plus, zero people read this, so why should I bother anyway?

*sigh.....*

On he other hand, in the words of Blessed Pope John Paul II, "Do not let hope die!" So I suppose I'll keep up hope for this blog. Yay, popes! :D

~Adalyn

And I just realized that was insanely short, PLUS I forgot to talk about the scary Boy Scout.

So my oldest bro is in some class for Boy Scouts that he has to take to go to this camp. And there's this one kid who's taking the same class for the same reason and he lives an hour and a half away.

So, my parents decided it would be a LOVELY idea to have another boy in the house, AND this particular boy is a Boy Scout, which makes him doubly weird.

He's just as nerdy as my other brothers, though, so they're getting along quite nicely playing Assassin's Creed and Guild Wars Two.

Yay.

So that's my life. From beautiful Marian Group to sweaty, scary Boy Scouts in two seconds flat. Why was I born into a house full of boys again?? ;)

~Adalyn (for real this time.)

My Dog Ate a Kid.

So, there are these kids that live down the street from us, and they're always walking through everyone's yards and leaving lovely stuff on everyone's doorsteps. Like sticks. And broken sheets of plastic. And dead bugs.

I got fed up with it. One of them was walking around and around our yard, and looking back at the oldest kid, who seemed to be egging him on, and so I opened the front door, and asked, "Do you need something?"

The kid opened his mouth to answer, and just then, my beloved and protective terrier, Rascal, squeezed from behind my legs and went to politely check the kid out.

The boy immediately screamed, and I yelled, "Don't run! He can't chase you if you don't run!" But the kid didn't listen. He screeched like a banshee and ran around in circles, which everyone knows is not the thing to do when you have a terrier with the legs of a stallion.

In the forefront of my mind, of course, I was running towards my dog and yelling, "Rascal! No! Bad boy! Come!", but in the background, I could hear the older kid, the one who had been egging him on, laughing his head off! He was cracking up while his friend or little brother or whatever was being attacked by a dog in a stranger's yard!

If it was my little brother, I would have run towards the dog, pried the hound off him, and yelled at the girl (AKA moi) about controlling her dog. I wouldn't be laughing and not doing anything but sitting on my expensive green bike.

I grabbed my dog and herded him into the house, dragged him to my room, and threw him in the crate. I then rushed back outside to see if the kid was okay.

He was wailing, collapsed on the grass. "Are you okay?" I said, approaching him quickly. "Did he bite you?" The kid on the bike called from down the street. The younger one saw me coming and scrambled up, crying and bawling.

He started for the older kid, but the boy on the bike got this weird look on his face and sped away down the street, threw his bike into the garage, and shut it from he inside. I didn't see him for the rest of the day.

Meanwhile, the littler kid stumbled up the street to his house, I guess. To tell his parents on the meany-pants stranger girl whose dog had practically torn his face off.

And so, I don't think those kids'll be loping around our yard for a while, even if Rascal chasing the kid around WAS an accident. Maybe they've finally learned a lesson.

Excuses, Easter, and Everything in Between!

Well here I am again. For the third time. Trying to write this post. Safari has decided to make like Sebastian and crash all the time. I will explain.

Excuse #1 for why I haven't posted in weeks and weeks: My ancient and beloved laptop Sebastian committed suicide and murder all at the same time because he took all of my novels, ideas, lists, bookmarked websites, and passwords to the technological graveyard with him.

And I don't like using Safari for Internet because its slower and harder to type by a million and because of reasons stated above.

The first time it crashed, I was trying to insert a picture. And then it crashed and I lost everything. The second time, I had given up on the picture and was trying to insert a link. So I went to go copy it from YouTube and when I came back, there was this little error code and it said something about looking for a group of bloggers with similar problems.

For moral support, I guess?

But now I'm using my brand-spankin'-new blogger app! And if you're seeing this, then it worked!

So that's one excuse. Excuse #2: Holy Week and piano and school and friends and really just life in general have been moving so slowly and so quickly at once.

Lent seemed to fly by, and it's already Easter Thursday! I sort of miss Holy Week. It's the most eye-opening time of the year, I think. The beginning of a new life, a life open to God and life eternal.

I seem to be moving pretty quickly. Usually I'm slower than this. Maybe it's just the fact that I'm text-typing instead if real-typing.

It's harder to punctuate and spellcheck this way. And I can see much less of my post, so it seems like my sentences are really long, even when they're not.

Oh, well, it's better than leaving my beloved blog to die in that cybernetic graveyard we talked about earlier. At least I can salvage it.

But anyway, on to Holy Week! It really started for me on the Tuesday before Easter. My church had an absolutely gorgeous service called Tenebrae (pronounced TEN-eh-brey), which involved singing, readings, and the symbolic putting out of candles. We sang my favorite Lenten song, maybe my favorite choir song, period.

It's called Miserere Mei Deus by Allegri. It translates to "Have mercy on me, God." It's a beautiful piece with five parts, and it's got the sort of bittersweet sound to it that sends shivers down your spine when it's sung a certain way. That's how we sang it.

You can look it up if you want. I won't put in a link because the ones on YouTube just don't sound the way ours did. Standing in the middle of the action, in media res, so to speak, you hear things differently. We took it slower, softer than all the ones on the Internet. It was more sorrowful, somehow. More...repentant.

Tenebrae was probably the best way to start Holy Week, the Easter Tridium.

Then, on Holy Thursday, I sang with our choir again at the evening mass, and it was also beautiful, although in more of a serious way. The Eucharist was removed from the tabernacle and we all processed in to the Hall, the fellowship area, where our priest led a short benediction and then left. The Hall was a place of 24 hour Eucharistic adoration after that. You could come at any hour of the day or night and pray there, in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

What the priest does at that point of the liturgy is reposition the Blessed Sacrament in a different tabernacle and place a veil over it. When he positions the veil over the door of the tabernacle, it is a sign that Jesus has left the earth. It always stabs at my heart when I see the veil over Him. It really makes you feel that he was gone, dead.

Can you imagine? After seeing who you believed to be the savior of the world, the Christ of prophecy die suffering and pitiful...can you imagine still trusting that he would rise again in three days time? What faith you would have to have! It's nearly unbelievable!

I don't know what I would have believed. After following Jesus the Nazarene for three years, maybe knowing him for longer...can you imagine watching him tortured, scourged and beaten, forced to carry his murderers' tool, the wretched and blessed beam of wood he would give his life on. For us! Us, the poor, pitiful, frivolous sinners!

Watching him nailed to a splintered and bloody piece of wood, raised on the future symbol of his power, and bleed and bleed.

I've never seen The Passion, but whenever I think of Our Lord's passion and death, that's how I picture it.

I don't mean to be gruesome, but that's how it really happened. I won't apologize for the truth.

Back to the point, that stab in my heart made Good Friday all the more real. We got to sing the Miserere Mei Deus again, but it was more intense this time, a desperate plea for mercy rather than a humble sorrowing for sin.

Both times it was beautiful, though. What we do on Good Friday is at one point in the service (not a mass because there is no consecration of the Eucharist), everyone walks up to a large crucifix the priest is holding and takes a turn kissing it. The feet or the hands or the head of our crucified savior.

I always touch my lips to his feet. It reminds me of Mary Magdelene, washing Jesus' feet with her tears and drying then with her hair. Anointing them with oil and kissing them because of her deep regret for her sin. It makes me feel even more deeply the hallow emptiness in my soul on that day, knowing that it was me and my sins that put him on the cross. But it's a good emptiness, repentant.

I cried.

But the sorrow of Good Friday just made the Easter joy all the more wonderful.

I woke up at 6:15, still a child at heart, I guess. I'm the one in my family who wakes up my silly and sleepy older brothers on holidays. They never seem to want to get into the spirit of things.
It's annoying sometimes.

Anyway, that's why I wanted to insert a picture before. I got a new hat! Here it is!

I hope that works, anyway. If it doesn't, I will never post a picture again. :P

So I got a whole new summer wardrobe (sort of), and lots of my favorite candy. Then I spent the rest of the day chilling with friends and family. Our cascarone fight will never be forgotten.

So...you've basically caught up. I'm in the fourth quarter of eighth grade and looking forward to summer. Also, my braces are supposed to come off soon, hopefully by the end of June. I have VBS and summer camp to look forward to, and I'd rather so it with a straight smile.

It's really only my front teeth that are messed up, because they closed a space and one of them isn't perfectly aligned with my other teeth. But soon, the orthodontist says. Soon.

So anyway, now that you've read my über-long post, can go and live your perfectly different life.

Have fun, God bless, and happy Easter.

Keep Calm and Endeavor On,
~Adalyn

I feel like a writing MASTERRRR!! (Plus a few of the arts)

Okay, I just got the letter of my thirteen-year-old life.

I entered a poetry contest for my entire city last December, and submitted maybe ten poems.

And, out of 18,000 poems......My poem was selected as one of EIGHTY winning poems!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

I'm so happy and proud and excited and amazed and.....Ack, so many feels! xD

But enough about poetry, let's move onto a different art!

I'm part of a teen choir at my church, and this year we're singing the Easter service with the adult choir. And we're learning the most amazing songs, and I am the soprano who can hit every single note (which includes the C two octaves above middle C, btw) when all the other sopranos have to either "scream sing" or drop out. ^_^ I'm so proud of myself tonight!

And finally, theater! ....Sort of....

I'm going to go see Oz, the Great and Powerful this weekend. I have no idea what the plotline is or anything, but my friend wanted to see a movie and that's, like, the only movie our parents will let us watch. All the others in our local theaters right now are mostly rated R and slightly less are PG-13, which our parents won't let us see without watching them first. :/ The only other one is Escape from Planet Earth, you know, that one about the aliens or whatever?

So....that's it for tonight! Just wanted to share my joy! Comment if your a poet or singer! I'd love to hear from you! ^_^

~Adalyn

Let's start in the middle, shall we?

Hello, all. I'm Adalyn. I'm thirteen and I have silver glitter shoes I wear whenever I'm not wearing my blue plaid airwalks. I like to think of myself as a cheerful person, although I do have off days where I stomp around the house getting absolutely nothing done and yell at people and generally do things I regret later.

But, to introduce myself on a more positive note, I shall get into my life story. Okay, not really. But, maybe a little thing about an exciting thing that happened today will get you to keep reading my blog....Or not...

WE HAVE A NEW POPE!

Yay, Papa Frankie! xD I'm a Roman Catholic and proud of it, though I don't go around telling people they're going to hell like some people believe. I'm not very judgmental, and prefer to think of myself as someone who listens to an argument she doesn't agree with, and then fires back with reasonable solutions and examples, without seeming like a know-it-all.

...Sometimes my image of myself isn't very accurate.

But back to the point, I do crazy things all the time, like writing novels in a month with this website: ywp.nanowrimo.org and making response videos I never post on YouTube and being an "unsocial" homeschooler.

Yes, I do have friends. xD

Rick Riordan is my favorite author and role model when it comes to writing, with Ally Carter and Eion Colfer in a close second and third. What I love about Mr. Riordan is that he somehow manages to balance humor with sorrow, wonderful with terrible, and pain with joy. It's awesome. Plus, he has a great sense of humor. As do all my favorite authors. Granted, I haven't read any of the classics like Shakespeare and Mark Twain and Charles Dickens yet. I'm starting all the literature stuff next fall.

My other hobbies include piano and guitar, singing, frequenting various websites, Youth Groups, and sadly, D&D. My nerdy brothers finally talked me into it. I play almost every week with some of my close friends, and I'm actually happy I do play because it helps me really get into different characters and different situations and stuff like that for when I'm writing. They haven't managed to convince me to play anything else nerdy over the last year or two, so yay for that!

I also do annual things with my church like VBS, the March for Life, and retreats. I'm really active in my church, seeing as my parents help out with a whole slew of ministries, and I help them help out. ;)

My favorite TV shows right now are Avatar: Legend of Korra, Psych, Sherlock, and Phineas and Ferb. Okay, so I'm sort of a nerd in more than one aspect.

Sooooo....now you know a fraction about about me. Thanks for reading this far. As a reward, you get imaginary smarties. And a hug. *hugs.* ((Spread the love, man. xD)) But really, I hope you can stay for all the wonderful endeavors life has to throw at me.

Let me just say, it should be quite an adventure.

~Adalyn