Apology, and Update

First of all, the delay in my blogging is inexcusable. I do apologize for not including any posts since over one month ago! I should have kept it up to date. Won't let it happen again. :)

So, now the updates.

I've been using this new site called Polyvore and I really love it. It's so much fun. Basically, if you can imagine clipping photos out of magazines and making collages with them, that's what you're doing. It's a really good time! I'm so addicted but I love it. Here's two examples of my work:

Untitled by lettert on Polyvore.com

Vintage by lettert featuring Alexander McQueen shoes

Also, I found this really interesting: Joshua Bell, world-renowned violinist, played for an hour as a street musician at L'Enfant Plaza subway stop in Washington D.C., and he went unnoticed by so many! I was shocked to see this. It made me wonder, "Would I stop to listen, even if I didn't know who he was?". Check it out here.

If you enjoyed the photos from my previous posts, be sure to my photography out on Flickr.com! View them here.

I just finished the book "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Piccoult, and I loved it! It was such a sad book, but it was really touching, too. I'm trying to decide whether the movie would be better or worse.

My Sister's Keeper from Red Carpet on Vimeo.

Check out this cute editorial on water fountains across the U.S. Artists tallied who went to each fountain during a certain amount of time and sketched the fountains. Makes me want to do the same thing! If I do, then I'll be sure to post it!

I think that this contest would be interesting to enter. Write a story of 600 words and start it with this sentence: "The nurse left work at five o'clock."... How exciting! The possibilities are endless.

My summer's been pretty exciting. I'm really enjoying how laid back everything is, I'm looking forward to an upcoming vacation and school. :D So far, I've already survived summer school in Health class, so I can get ahead and not take it during the school year. The summer weather has been somewhat iffy, with lots of rain. The past few days have been warm, but it just rained again. Who's complaining, though? I've ridden my bike often and spent time outside, some time tye dying, and we've already gone to Boston/Hampton Beach and Sylvan Beach. Fun trips!

Well, that's all for now. My goal is to write a bit more frequently now. Let's see if I can keep it up! Ta ta for now!

Ishmael Beah!

Hey! Sorry for not writing for awhile, things are picking up towards the end of the schoolyear. Anyways...


I'm going to see Ishmael Beah speak tonight! He's the author of the book A Long Way Gone. I've seen him speak once before - he's a really powerful speaker, so I'm looking forward to it!

Also, I'm preparing for a bake sale on Thursday at school... we'll see how that goes. My club is kind of wiped out from all the recent activity, so I've been bombarding them with emails...

:) Well, ttyl!

-Brianna

News. About my life.

Today we "celebrated" Earth Hour, a global cause that was started a few years ago. The main goal was to conserve some energy by turning out lights worldwide for 60 minutes. So tonight, from 8:30 to 9:30, my family participated. We basically spent the time talking with each other on our deck in the backyard, enjoying the fairly warm night. It was great to bond with my family, as most of the time, our schedules are too packed to do anything like this. It also got me thinking - people that were around before electricity/light bulbs must have been much closer to their families, and they must have also been more efficient during the daylight hours. Definitely an awesome opportunity to bond and get thinking. :)

Also, last night, we saw Monsters vs. Aliens. This is a children's movie, but in the theater that we were in, several couples were there, and in the almost empty theater, almost all of the people there were adults. The movie boasts an all-star cast, including Hugh Laurie, Seth Rogen, Rainn Wilson, and Reese Witherspoon. This cast really holds up the cute plot of the movie. I loved watching it. It's a great movie for kids and adults!

It's nice to have a chance to talk about what's been going on in my life for a change. Thanks! See ya!

More thoughts...

Here's some great essays about teenage inauguration attendees - definitely worth reading!

Midterms are over! I did fairly well on all. They were not as bad as I expected, although I still don't understand the necessity of them only in certain classes.

I'm working on making the blog more interesting without clogging it up, so thoughts would be great. I've added a music player, so comment about that... It was surprisingly easier than I'd planned for.

I'm dreading actually having to go to classes tomorrow - even though there were exams, I enjoyed having half days today and yesterday! I definitely enjoy school, but of course with high school comes the typical social awkwardness(although I still feel like I have some good friends), and the high stakes for grades - that's pressure, haha. I do cause some of it, considering the fact that I'm the freshman that's concerned with college.

Also, I finished a very peculiar book review from the New York Times: it chronicled a woman's experience in a mental hospital. The catch was, she feigned being mentally ill to experience firsthand patient conditions, so that she could write about them. Being in these facilities, she relapsed into depression, and truly needed treatment. A similar idea was done by Nellie Bly, the famous journalist, during the Industrial Revolution. Here are the two links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/health/27book.html?ref=health
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bly/madhouse/madhouse.html

Another hot topic: teens and sex. It's being discussed on nytimes.com, which says that despite rumors of teens being wildly promiscuous, the percentage of sexually active teens has gone down. It appears that teens today are more careful about sex, but that ideals behind relationships have changed. There are "hook-ups" more often, where teens are physically intimate without having a long-term relationship. This is where "friends with benefits" falls. Those that are unwilling to commit but are interested in a physical relationship become "friends with benefits" or "hook-up". So, what do I, a real live teen, have to say about all this? Well...

It's clear that sex is on teens' minds; anyone could see that. At my school, teens have been "going out" and having relationships since 5th grade. The "popular" teens constantly switch boyfriends and girlfriends, and by this point, certain students have gone out with almost all of their friends of the opposite sex. What I don't understand is, how does one "go out" without having a car? Your parents have to give you rides, so it's technically not "going out". But that's not the point. As I was saying, teens do think constantly about sex and relationships, and some adults have caught on to this. They attempt to talk to us about this, which is extremely awkward, and they do excercises about this type of thing. My classmates and I were "polled" by our guidance counselors, to discover that we perceived the senior class as wild, party-loving, substance-abusing, non-virgins. In actuality, I know many upperclassmen that I know are not sexually active. Yes, there is a percentage of students in each grade, but for the most part, teens may talk, but do they actually do it? My guess is no.

Well, that's all for now. Ta ta!

Interesting...

Here's two very interesting editorials from the New York Times, one on Chief Justice John Roberts' flubbing of the presidential oath, and the other on what we hope the Obama presidency will mean for America. Check those out, and comment with opinions.

Also, I'm currently reading a book titled Coffee With Buddha. In it, Buddha is fictionally "interviewed" by the author. It provides an insight into the life of Buddha, and the concepts of Buddhism. Buddhism is much more complicated than I'd thought! I'm really enjoying learning about how to let go of things, which would be an excellent skill for me to have. Also, it teaches the basics of meditation. I've tried it, but have been unsuccessful so far. If anyone wants to try to meditate, here's a great link on basic stuff. Again - more complicated than it seems.

I play in my school's pep band, which plays at all the home games for basketball season. It's actually pretty fun, and we all joke around about being band geeks... fun times. Also, a really great thing about my school is that the athletes and cheerleaders don't consider themselves elite. In fact, many of them aren't the "popular people". So, yeah. B-ball games are pretty fantastic, hanging with friends and watching some really talented players. Always a good time!!!

Ah! I am definitely in the mood for some pizza right now, even though I had some last night! Oh well...

Well, I have a very busy weekend, and I have to study for midterms. But I think it'll get done alright. I hope. Wish me luck!
-Brianna