Intelligence Test

If You Take a Hen to Prom
----in the style of the children's book, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie"


If you take a hen to prom,
she’ll want to be sure you match her perfectly.
You’ll have to rent a tux
complete with fancy fluffy feathers
the precise color of her well-groomed attire.
She will want you to take her out to dinner,
an elegant restaurant,
where a kind stranger will offer you a sandwich.
And you will graciously accept this gesture,
eagerly eat this fine cuisine,
and be on your way to the fancy event.
You will begin to regret taking this hen to prom,
soon, you will shrink to the size of a pea
and scream for someone to help you
escape from this horrible hen
of a prom date.

So just remember,
if you take a hen to prom,
the night will not be what you expect.
In fact, you will soon wish it was over
and you were at home with a pint of ice cream crying
and watching a Saturday night soap opera instead.

“Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear”

“Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear”

The mirror reflects
your expression,
your smile or tears,
your distaste or happiness,
every imperfection,
back at you.
Always truthful,
this silver surface
is your best friend
and your worst enemy.

If broken,
bad luck ensues,
seven years of cursed karma,
unless counteracted by
a positive action
to fix the shattered pieces
of the sharp, broken,
truth-teller.

Under an outside influence,
a mirror can change
to be concave or convex,
bending the rays of light
in a direction of choice,
manipulating the reflection
to be smaller or larger
closer or farther,
all a trick of light,
to show what you want to see
or what you don’t.
Instead of the truth
of what actually is.

“For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.” - Vincent van Gogh

RANDOM POETIC PHRASE GENERATOR

"a room of silver" "star almost shining" "bottomless bed"

I fall into a room of silver, slipping
slowly into a pool of nothingness
inaudible, invisible, senseless,
Staring up at the dark night sky,
stars sprinkling, twinkling, talking
communicating with one another.
I am a star almost shining,
trying to be a part of the beauty
of the mesmerizing night sky
falling instead into a a bottomless bed
of being "almost" shining, fading,
almost always "almost" a part of something beautiful.

The Summer I Turned Eleven

On a cloudy, gloomy summer afternoon,
a girl, who was ten, turned eleven.
She celebrated her birthday with her closest friends
jamming out to the Backstreet Boys,
Hillary Duff, and of course Britney Spears,
munching on Flavor-Ice popsicles,
being rambunctous like eleven year olds do.
Running around the basement, then the house,
tearing it to shreds with their various shenanigans..
The mother, decided they would make chocolate
in pretty colors with various shapes,
a fairly safe activity, you would think.

You can't put twisty ties in the microwave
everyone knows that, except for the birthday girl.
Sizzle! Crackle! Spark! Hiss! SCREAAMMM!
Girls run away like the microwave is going to attack.
The birthday girls hides behind the couch,
hoping the monster doesn't get her,
while everyone runs outside in the rain.
But one friend remains oblivious to the situatuon
until she looks up, not once, but twice,
does a couple double takes,
and realizes there's...fire? FIRE?!
Soon the house is empty
except for the mother
who turns the microwave off.
There's no monster to run away from anymore.

Most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Magnetic Poetry

(This was...interesting to say the least...also very frustrating.)

Insight into a discombobulated mind

Today is the perfect day to blog about how my life is going...I have so much on my mind, and it would be nice to let it all off without feeling like I'm burdening someone or complaining.

I hate days like today. It's cold, rainy, gloomy, and I don't really have anything to look forward to. Some people like rainy days. I don't understand why. You have to stay inside, it's humid, and cold. Why would you like a day where there is no sunshine and you can't go outside?

It's not that I've been having a bad day, exactly. Just a blah day. I've been having blah days lately. I feel like everything that's happening is out of my control and that it would be nice to have control over something.

Here's the problem: I'm a likable person. (Why is that a problem?) Well, people like me, but they don't necessarily want to be my friend, or do things with me. They just want me when no one else wants them. They wouldn't stand up for me if the situation occured. Sometimes, I'm okay with that, but sometimes I feel lonely. There are two people who I can count on to always want to be with me, but, even then...they have no control over whether or not they can see me. And neither do I. I love spending time with my brother. Especially now that we're older, he's become one of my best friends. He always wants to do something with me, as long as I ask. And then, there's Josh...he is my boyfriend, but it feels weird calling him that. He is one of the best friends that I've ever ever had. He wants to spend time with me. I like being able to see him at school every day and holding his hand and knowing that he's not embarassed to be with me. He likes being with me. Except...his parents are strict...and they don't realize that when they say "no" just for the sake of saying "no" that it affects more people than just him. It's not that they don't like me (I think), but...I just don't understand them. I've done nothing to disrespect them, or prove that I would ever seriously hurt Josh in any way. Maybe they're just protective of him because they love him. And I know they do - they're his parents, of course. But I just can't figure them out. Maybe I'm just out of sorts because he hasn't been in school, he's been sick. It's just those daily little things, daily routines, that I rely on, that keep me going. It's good that he makes me happy, right? Of course, he makes me crazy sometimes too, and I don't understand half of the things he does, but when he tells me that he loves my my heart just melts and I know that I love him too - there's really no question in my heart about that. The little things that make us, us, are what make me happy. And when things get all out of sorts, I don't necessarily have a good day. Maybe I'm too sensitive. Maybe I'm just too sensitive to change. But, who cares? I'm me, and I wisht that some people could see that I have no control over how I feel, how I act, what I say, when I go crazy or get paranoid. Not that it really matters. I'm pretty good at being invisible.

Life is about to change. Big time. And I'm not sure I'm ready. Sure, I'm ready to graduate, and I'm convinced that I'm ready for the responsibility of being an adult. However...I'm not ready to grow up. I don't want to lose my innocence, my youthfulness. It seems like that when people grow up, they lose the appreciation for the little things in life. Simple things. Things you wouldn't really notice, until they're gone. Things like watching a puppy sleep, or cuddling with someone you love, or someone giving you a hug when you're down without saying anything, the way the sun looks when it sets, the way the sun shines a little brighter when you're having a good day, they way you feel when you hear that perfect song on the radio, seeing your significant other and being able to give them a good morning/night kiss or holding their hand - squeezing it for encouagement...oh, I could go on, but...you get the point. I would never be able to give all those little things up. Sure, they're little, but they're what keeps me going throughout the day. Going to college is going to change everything, being a thousand miles away from my family, my friends, from Josh. I'm strong, yes, so I can make those sorts of relationships work. But, honestly? I'm terrified. And I hate admitting that. And I hate admitting that I need help accepting the fact that I'm growing up, and I don't want to be. And I know that Josh and I both have to leave and go our seperate ways, but he just makes me so happy, and if he goes to the Air Force Academy, I don't want everything to fall apart. Long distance relationships are hard as it is. But military life long distance relationships? Half the time I find myself thinking, "How in the world is it going to work?" But then I think some more, or he'll encourage me, and...then I think "Well, love is strong enough to get through anything, isn't it?" If we can't count on love to get us through that, then what can people count on?

It's not that I'm a control freak - I'm really not. It just gets overwhelming to feel like my own life, my own feelings, are out of my control.

Wow, I wrote so much more than I meant to, and I have so much more on my mind. I feel a little better though.

Good Morning?

“Good Morning?”

The day starts with, “Good Morning!”

If only a good morning was true.

A crowd, in the kitchen,
grouchy early birds, all rushing,
an endless potential for disaster.
My brother snatches a pop tart,
choosing not to get involved,
avoiding the path to catastrophe.
Slowly pouring myself a bowl of Lucky Charms,
I prefer to take my time,
while Mom is assembling a breakfast of her own.
I reach for a spoon, knocking eggs out of her hands,
the eggs colliding into the floor in slow motion.
Two broken eggs, four wide-eyes, a disgusted sigh,
me, rushing, to clean up the mess I made.
If mornings were good,
days and nights would be, too.
With a combination of spilled milk,
grumpy family members, broken eggs,
a destination to hurry to,
Good mornings do not happen,
messes and crashes do.

Picture poem

“March 25th, 2000”

Five people, a single moment captured.
The moment before everything changed.
For better, for worse, everything is always changing.
For that single moment, we were perfect, carefree, happy.
Four best friends, a tag along little brother,
moments those four young children couldn’t possibly cherish.

A dark haired talkative little girl
with whom I shared my best laughs,
my best jokes, my best smiles.
A girl who would grow up to be
a Florida girl, never losing her qualities of
optimism, constant laughter, and the ability
to charm anyone who crossed her path.

A red haired child with silly sunglasses and a pink hat
continues to share her uniqueness with me
as we both grow up and move on
to different locations, different stages of life,
different people, different memories.
Going from sharing every moment
to having seven-hundred miles separating us,
changing us, as all distance does.

A military son, he was used to the change.
Moving from place to place was what he knew.
Change, of course, should have been expected,
but expectation does not prevent acceptance.
Best friends, a second grade puppy love,
and then suddenly it was gone.
Like he always did, he moved on, and it seemed that
I was left without a best friend, without my “other half.”

Friendships change, people change, lives change,
moments change, personalities change, ideas change,
everything changes, out of anyone’s control.
Change from day to day, hour to hour, second to second,
Good change, bad change, indifferent change,
all change is opportunity to change with the change
making up rules as you go along on the ever-changing
adventure humans define as “life.”

"Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower." - Hans Christian Anderson

"Life: A How-To Guide"

Dance to the Hoedown Throwdown like you actually know how it goes.

Boom and clap and move side to side. Pop it, rock it, polka dot it.

Sing karaoke somewhere, anywhere. Belt it out like no one is listening.

Practice in the shower, if you must.

Spend a day or two, or three, with your best friends.

Sleep in tents, forget about cell phones, computers, and Ipods.

Watch the sunset, stay up all night, have a campfire, watch the sunrise.

If it rains - dance in it. Forget about how you look, just smile.

Offer someone new, words of wisdom, freshly baked cookies,

hugs, a shoulder to cry on, a listening ear, a back rub, or a smile.

Fall head-over-heels in love with a boy who protects you,

knows how to make you laugh, and is not afrad of your father.

Learn to love Mondays. (And Tuesdays. And Wednesdays.)

Eat a pint of ice cream while crying and watching "The Notebook."

Spend a day eating what you want, free of pressure to be more like them.

Try not to look at your reflection for a day. Focus on your feelings, not looks.

Do things because you want to, not because you "should."

Learn a foreign language. Find the cure for sadness and suffering.

Watch every Disney movie. Live a fairytale. Be in two places at once.

Start a trend. Travel the world. Go to church. Learn to believe in yourself.

Set out on a spontaneous road trip to nowhere, discover yourself.

Real Names

"Day and Night"

In my dreams, my name is graceful swan-

beautifully flying through the dark night sky.

When I wake up, my name is dazed and distracted,

in the state between asleep and awake.

In school, my name is "girl who gets good grades,"

known for nothing other than my report card.

To my friends, my name is sunshine,

always looking on the bright side.

At home, my name is busy bee,

always working hard on various activities.

As I fall asleep, my name is peaceful philosopher,

contemplating the thoughts bouncing around in my brain.

"Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday"

Yesterday my name was drama nerd,
working hard on the day's activities.
Today my name is sleepy scholar-
tired, but working hard.
Tomorrow my name will be nervous Nelly,
anxious about the opportunity being presented.
Secretly, I know my name is shining star
whose light has been hidden.
My name once was carefree child,
free from worry about the world.

Sunshine, trees, and clouds!

This reminds me of the tree in Disney World in the Animal Kingdom. I think it's called the "Tree of Life" or something like that. I don't remember a lot about it, but I remember that it has a whole bunch of carvings in it. But...aren't trees always growing? Do they have to recarve it every so often? I wonder how they keep it so nice looking all the time...Is it a real tree, even? I really like the sky in this picture too. For some reason, I've always been fasinated by the sky and the clouds and the shapes they make. However, the sunny sky is so much better than a cloudy day. Personally, I like my vitamin D, and the sun boosts my mood! :)

Floating

I don't even know what this picture reminds me of. She looks like she's floating. Speaking of floating, that reminds me of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when Charlie and his grandpa drink the bubble potion stuff and they start floating all over the place, but then they burp and it helps them get down. I wish stuff like that actually existed, it would be cool to fly. Although, I suppose it COULD be dangerous if you flew all the way up in the sky and couldn't get back down. Like, if someone was incapable of burping...how would they get down?

Farm land

This picture reminds me of my dad. He doesn't farm anymore, but he grew up on a farm, along with my grandpa and grandma and a brother and what seems like a zillion sisters. I would not be able to live with that many sisters. Girls are too dramatic. I remember one time, he told me that he helped deliever cow triplets, which was a huge deal, but his sisters got the credit for it. He also told me about this one cow that he raised named Handsome. Handsome would sit in the barn and watch TV with them, and actually the family became pretty attached to him. It didn't matter, though, because, well, on a farm...well, let's just say, he said it was the best cow he ever tasted, because he was treated so well. It's stories like that that make me want to become a vegitarian. I just can't do it though. I've managed to avoid red meat, but I can't pass up a nice juicy steak sometimes...or nachos from DQ...it's so hard to give it up!

Train Tracks...

This might be a little morbid, but this picture reminds me of the Holocaust. It reminds me of the trains that took the Jews to the concentration camps. Sometimes I have dreams about the Holocaust; they're really frightening, actually. Sometimes, I'm just watching it all, and I can't do anything about it. Sometimes, I'm a Jew, a mother, or a child, about to be sent to the gas chamber. Sometimes, I know they're coming to get me, but feel like no one wants to do anything to stop it, or they don't care enough to. The worst ones, though, are the ones where I'm a Nazi, doing these horrible things to people who don't deserve it, even though I know it's wrong. On a happier note, the fact that the picture is black and white, reminds me of the olden days before colored pictures were developed. It's interesting how much technology has developed since then. We went from not being able to take pictures at all, to black and white, to color, to digitial, to high definition, and that's not even including video and everything that goes with it.

“Love is just a word until someone comes along and gives it meaning.”

"Love is the condition in which the happiness
of another person is essential to your own."
-Robert Heinlein

What is LOVE exactly? I mean, you can say you love a person, but do you really know what you're saying/implying/promising?

Love isn't a word that is taken lightly. However, everyone deserves love, in my opinion.

I have loved, and do love, many people. I love my mom, of course, but not just because she's my mom. She has done so much for me, and every day I see more and more simalarities between us. As I grow up, I see more how my mom has affected me as a person, and I am so thankful for it. I love my dad, too. Even though he's gone a lot with work lately, I see how much he loves what he does, and he really does love me too. I will always be my Daddy's little girl. :) I love my brother, even though he can be annoying and boy like and...well, that's a little brothers' job, right? We get a long better lately, and he really is one of my best friends, even though I want to scream at him a lot of the time.

Okay, so, I love my family, that's a given. But what about my friends? What about relationships? They're all important in anhigh schooler's life, whether or not adults think so or not. Teenagers get the reputation for being naive and flighty, but some of us really do think before we do things. It's just, we have the capacity to love just as much as anyone else in this world does, but we just show it in different ways. Of course, there's exceptions to every rule.

There's different types of love, and all of them imply some sort of promise to a person when you say it to them. There's friendship love, family love, romantic love, puppy love, etc. To every person I love (and every type of love), I fully intend to keep this promise. I will never ever let you down, and I will always put you before myself.

"What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us." -Helen Keller

"There are places I’ll remember
All my life, though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places had their moments
With lovers and friends, I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life, I’ve loved them all."
- There Are Places I'll Remember, The Beatles

I remember playing house with my grandpa every night after dinner. He would come over, and I would always get him his tea and talk with him and my mom as he seemed to take forever to drink it. As soon as he was done with his tea we would always play some sort of game- hide and seek, house, school (with me as the "magical" teacher, of course, and him as the student). I would always be a Mrs. Frizzle sort of character and he and my brother would just go along for the ride, wherever my imagination wanted to take them. I usually ended up being multiple characters at one time, changing my voice as I slipped into the persona of someone else. It was fun not being me for a change. When we played hide and seek, I remember one time, I one of my dolls underneath the covers, with just a little bit of her hair sticking out, and then went and hid somwhere else. At the time, he totally played along with it, even thought I made it completely obvious where I was hiding and that, in fact, the doll wasn't me. I remember his 70th birthday party and the look on his face- he was so surprised. It was that day that he taught me how he had been spending his Sunday nights when he wasn't at dinner with us- he was polka dancing instead. Yes, maybe being excited to learn how to polka dance is a little odd, but I really did enjoy it. I can't say I remember how to polka dance now, but from now on, I will always associate polka with my grandpa- and no one else. It's something unique to just us. That's what I loved about him. He was unique. He didn't spoil me, persay. He loved me with all of his heart, and even though I am sad that I cannot spend any more time with him, I know that all of the memories that only we share will keep me going for a long time. Memories are powerful things. They keep you going through hard times, and even though it's painful remembering happy things that you can no longer experience, the important thing is that you DO remember the happy things and be happy about them. Be grateful that you had happy experiences, because some people don't have that opportunity.

Commenting on classmates' poetry! (:

Melissa said....(on Jennie's blog)
This is a really enjoyable poem :) I really feel like I can see and hear everything you are describing. I don't know you that well, but after reading this poem, I feel like I know a lot more about you. My favorite part is the part about the violin: I can see and hear the violin strongs being strummed. Good job! :)

"I am...Melissa"

"I am...Melissa"

I am strawberry ice cream

on a sweltering July afternoon.

Simple, refreshing, cool,

but not just plain vanilla.

I am a camera, click then flash

simple moments captured,

moments usually ignored.

I am your favorite sweater,

comfortable and cozy

colorful and crazy or

simple plain and simple,

whichever you prefer.

I am a caterpillar,

eating and quickly growing,

waiting to become a butterfly

so that I may spread my wings

and ly into the bright blue sky.

-Melissa

I'm going to optatively carbando your spartina!

Nouns

1. Mnemosyne - the Greek goddess of memory and mother of the Muses by Zeus

2. wunderkind - a child prodigy; also : one who succeeds in a competitive or highly difficult field or profession at an early age

3. isochrony - the fact or state of occurrence at the same time; contemporaneity.

4. spartina - rope. cord

5. elephantopus - perennial American herb

Adjectives

1. optative - of, relating to, or constituting a verbal mood that is expressive of wish or desire

2. catechizable - instructed orally by means of questions and answers

3. matrilocal - of or pertaining to residence with the wife's family or tribe

4. hypercatalectic - having an extra syllable or syllables at the end of a metrically complete line

5. globuliferous - containing or producing globules (a small spherical body)

Verbs

1. carbando - to slice or cut

2. machicolate - to provide with machicolations (an opening in the floor between the corbels of a projecting gallery or parapet, as on a wall or in the vault of a passage, through which missiles, molten lead, etc., might be cast upon an enemy beneath)

3. absquatulate - to flee

4. neoterize - to coin new words, terms, or expressions

5. guggle - to gurgle! :)

Fat Is Not a Fairy Tale...(but it COULD be)

Fat Is Not a Fairy Tale
Jane Yolen

I am thinking of a fairy tale,
Cinder Elephant,
Sleeping Tubby,
Snow Weight,
where the princess is not
anorexic, wasp-waisted,
flinging herself down the stairs.

I am thinking of a fairy tale,
Hansel and Great,
Repoundsel,
Bounty and the Beast,
where the beauty
has a pillowed breast,
and fingers plump as sausage.

I am thinking of a fairy tale
that is not yet written,
for a teller not yet born,
for a listener not yet conceived,
for a world not yet won,
where everything round is good:
the sun, wheels, cookies, and the princess.

Although I LOVE fairy tales, and this poem is somewhat bashing them, this poem in particular stood out to me because of its focus on the "typical cookie cutter princess." Its spoof off of some well known fairy tales is quite humorous (Cinder Elephant vs. Cinderella, Sleeping Tubby vs. Sleeping Beauty, etc.). It's true, all the princesses in fairy tales are what society would consider to be ideal. This poem just dramaticizes the wrongness of this fact in society. PRINCESSES are skinny, so everyone else should be too. But people come in all shapes and sizes, even princesses and characters in fairytales.

I know you've probably heard this before...but, every day really is like a roller coaster. Some things will be really good, and then, oppositely, something will be really bad/stressful/upsetting/other-negative-word.

This is clearly evident in my day to day activities. Everything good comes with something bad, and everything bad comes with something good.

For example, as senior year is (slowly but surely) ending, I feel crunched for time. There never seems to be enough of it. There's the things I HAVE to do (homework, school, sleep, college applications scholarships), there's the things I SHOULD do (sleep, read a book or two, clean my room...etc), and then the things I WANT to do (drama, watch tv, write, read, sing, dance...etc.). Between trying to accomplish all of these activities and also making "the big decision" there never seems to be any "me" time anymore. It's all about what HAS to be done, what decisions HAVE to be made, and the people that HAVE to know the every detail of it. Yeah, sometimes it's nice to talk about it, but sometimes you don't want to tell someone your every life detail.

Decisions have never been my strong point. "This one, or that one? I can't decide! Why can't I just do both? You decide for me! Just pick one!!" There's so many decisions that humans make daily that we don't even realize. But now, a big "life changing" decision is coming up. Which college should I choose? And unfortunately, in this case, I can't just pick one - and no one can decide for me. Come May 1, I will have decided on a college. I'm definitely looking forward to that day.