The Month of Births

Happy 17th birthday Alice Mary Gallagher, congratulations on passing your divers test, and best of luck with the workshop tomorrow (we’re all going to need it)! Also I’m really excited for your movie to come out in 25 days. Just saying.

the actress Mia Wasikowska is actually emulating my good friend, contrary to the popular belief that she will be portraying a "fictional" Alice. That Alice actually does exist. And today, she passed her driver's test.

‘Tis also the birthday of my father, so happy birthday daddy too!

Snowed In

New Jersey got hit by the first real blizzard of the season yesterday, though it was nothing compared to the massive storm that hit D.C. As of last night, it was two and a half feet…and counting! In the meantime, up here, we were blessed with a deep-enough eight inches of the fluffiest snow. I shoveled my parents cars out in record time, but my arms are feeling it today, and it’s painful. Instead of pull-ups, my coach should just make us all shovel the parking lot of the gym for conditioning.

Usually, I’d be sick of snow by now, but it’s so pretty, and has brought out the kid in me, as well as all of my friends. We went sledding in the dark last night, after the snow had stopped and the skies had cleared up, so the celestial bodies were visible (at least, as visible as it gets in Princeton). My favorite thing about snow is how it lights up the night, especially across a park. The white reflects the light of the moonlight and the street lamps, and the empty branches make the woods surrounding the park transparent.

And my school district decided to cut out built in snow days, so the snow also came at a most convenient time-Friday night. I just really hate spending all of June trapped in school taking finals. However, the prospective blizzard caused the school to cancel all events happening on Friday night-including the much anticipated Mr. PHS competition. The snow didn’t even begin to fall until 10:45, which means that Mr. PHS would have been in the clear. I’m quite aggravated about this, for Rosie and I had to change plans for our first FeArts page this month, which was going to be ALL ABOUT Mr. PHS. Oi.

Hopefully the snow wont lose it’s luster for a few weeks. Hopefully, it will last till the end of February. But that probably won’t happen, it’ll all probably turn grey in a few days time and then my desperate want for spring will grow even larger. I’ve already started listening to the Beach Boys and day dreaming about trips to the shore. I can’t take five more weeks of this!

EMILY!

What an episode. I was left absolutely shattered-if Naomily can’t make it, no one can. Really, that’s what it all boils down to. Bad Naomi, bad bad bad! I was so angry at Emily for going to her house at the end, Naomi needs to think about what she’s done, kind of like Thomas. I loved the sister scene with Emily and Katie, I think that their twin speak is so cute. It was also cute to see Katie really giving a damn about Emily, because I feel like in the third series, Katie really had no respect for her sister. Perhaps getting hit by the rock really opened her eyes to how much of a bitch she was being. Also, giving Emily her own episode was absolutely necessary-it has been for a while. She’s such a complex character, whom I’ve really grown to enjoy.

I used to like Naomi a lot too, but those feelings have changed quite drastically.

Naomily! That’s just not fair! I must have watched the (rather haunting) roof scene five times over before it really sunk in. It was so unexpected, so heartbreaking, I couldn’t take it. I didn’t want it to be true. It was such a wonderful scene. This Sophie storyline just keeps getting juicier and juicier, but I wonder if it will end here. There isn’t much else that could happen, but I could be wrong. Maybe I should read the book because I feel like I’m missing a lot.

Also, what the hell happened to Effy? I’m happy that she’s back, but she’s lost her enigmatic glow that she gave off. Why is she telling people her thoughts? I want her to repress all of her feelings and stop talking again! I loved her because she was such a mystery-no one ever knew Effy’s thoughts. Now she’s so open, something’s got to be going on. Perhaps something with Tony…? A girl can dream.

Groundhog Day

Birfday Boy on the right

Eddie’s birthday always overshadows the fact that it’s Groundhog day, and that we still have six weeks until spring begins. Six weeks? That’s so much! The third quarter will be almost over by then, and I’ll have almost completed the second issue of Tower 2010 Edition and my book for art, and that’s just a few of the projects I’ve got to complete for the third marking period. Is it really that far away?

Sometimes it feels like February is speedy, but that’s because we only have fourteen days of school in total this month, and it is also exceptionally shorter than all the other months. February doesn’t actually have a flighty feeling, like the end of April has. I have to entertain myself with trips to the city and the movies and hours of TCMs Oscar month during February. And that’s all when I’m not doing homework. February is just hitting really hard this week, with a forecast of snow showers and a sky of complete grey hovering over. Snow would be preferable right now, because the grass is at the point where it’s so dead that the dried mud has started to show through the yellow stalks and the landscape is entirely beige. And the streets are all white because of the salt that the Boro used earlier in the year to get rid of that pesky snow and ice.

Right now is a really bad time to be reading Huck Finn in English, because Huck’s days are so carefree and full of relaxing in the wilderness. Well, my days are stress-filled and take place inside a school building with white tile floors and inconveniently placed stairwells. GET ME OUT OF HERE. I need a vacation like I’ve never needed one before.

These next six weeks need to be productive. I need to write chapters upon chapters, fill up my entire journal to the brim, and bump all of my grades up to solid A’s. Or A minuses. Maybe these next few weeks will be good for my mentality. And possibly my resume.

I Stand Corrected

On Thursday night, (a.k.a. the night that Skins Series 4 premiered) I was really annoyed-scratch that, super aggravated, because halfway through the Thomas episode my internet shut down, and it took much longer than usual to find that link and I was suffering from an uncomfortable head cold. So I scribbled these thoughts onto a piece of scrap paper, these initial judgements of the 30 minutes that I saw.

“I thought the premier episode of Skins Series 4 was absolute rubbish. They had a great build up, a great potential story line, then BAM, Thomas and his stupid morals ruin the day. Skins has lost it’s humor. The minor roles-teachers, parents, bosses-they always used to be quite the characters. Oh no. Not Thomas’ mother. That woman wouldn’t know happiness if it ripped off her lips. What a mood that put me in. I really watch skins for the parental abuse, the children with a heavy moral fiber and smart-ass siblings. No! No no no no no no! First of all, I knew what was coming. Here’s your problem Skins-YOU’RE GIVING TOO MUCH AWAY. Don’t put up previews like this because we want to be surprised. That’s why I watch the show-for the unexpectedness of it, the element of the unknown. Impress me, Skins. I dare you. Throw me a curveball with this ending, please. I’m your biggest fan, and your most judgmental critic. Give me random, give me funny, give me something carefree and indulgent.”

Well, now that I have finally seen the last 17 minutes of the episode, I can honestly say that I was impressed. I initially thought that the club scene wouldn’t turn into much, but now I can see how it may turn into something. Everyone was too happy, and the Effy love square was starting to get annoying. Don’t get me wrong-I adore Effy. She’s probably my favorite character of all time. I was so excited to see her. Her appearance was unfortunately predictable because I saw appearances of her in the previews. However, the bombshell that Naomi drops at the end was something I did NOT see coming, and also fuels my excitement for next week’s episode. I love Naomily, and until I saw the previews for next week, I honestly didn’t think that anything there could go wrong. YAY SKINS for impressing me/throwing the curveball I was looking for.

P.S. Poor Panda-I wonder if they’ll touch on the infidelity subject more or if it’s really over.

Dear Maria

Happy happy birthday, from all of us to you! We wish it was our birthday, so we could party too, HEY!

My LOL, Momo

Happy 17th birthday to my befo/love of life, Maria!

I wuv her and I can’t wait to go see rated R movies with her.

And Now For Something A Bit More Interesting

SPOILER ALERT!! if you want to be surprised in EVERY WAY by the first episode of Skins Series 4 (which premiers TOMORROW January 28th!!) I suggest not reading ahead.

The other day my good friend Grace G-Money Rosen linked me to a video on the Skins website that was like nothing I had ever seen before. At least, not in any Skins-affiliated video/forum. Grace muse that it may be Effy, for the girl had a brother, but we decided that this hunch was probably based on how much we desperately want Tony to make a cameo. Also, we noticed that the video was titled Sophie, so that rules out any of the old characters.

So I turned to my favorite forum, skinsis.com and stumbled upon an explanation for the strange video. The forum cites The Stage, a British blog about television, which explains:

The very first scene is a blistering steadicam shot following a young, drugged-up girl as she walks through a heaving nightclub, blithely walking past the series regulars, heading up towards a balcony and then throwing herself off, killing herself in the process. It’s a shocking scene that works so well partly because, in typical Skins style it doesn’t shy way from showing anything: where other series would cut away just before impact and rely upon sound and other people’s reactions, we see the whole thing (thanks to some clever use of digital composting)

…Well, that’s different. I have high hopes for Skins, as I always do, and this seems like material that they would work well with. However, I have been wronged by them before (I’m still trying to figure out what the hell the season 3 finale was) I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens. They’re so good at keeping me on my toes!

Dog Days Are Over

Recommended  author: Chuck Phalahniuk. I’m making it a personal goal to devour every single one of his novels by the end of June, because my experience with the past two that I have read (Fight Club and Invisible Monsters) have been thoroughly enjoyable. They’re really easy reads because of the suspense he uses, and the peculiar characters he employs for the stories he tells. Somehow, they both have had a tearjerking effect on me, thanks to the use of sentimentality and the deep connection I gain with the characters-overall they’re both really sweet stories. I recommend both if you can handle gratuitous violence, which there is a lot of. I mean, one is titled Fight Club and the other is about a model whose jaw has been shot off-there’s no way to read either of them without wincing and experiencing slight nausea.

And when I say that I devoured these books, I’m serious. Considering that it’s  (or was) midterm season, I got through Invisible Monsters considerably quick-within the span of a week. I stole it from Maria’s room and started reading it while I was supposed to be studying for pre-calc (whoops). If I hadn’t been so swamped with work, I probably would have gotten through it quicker, because I found it difficult to put down. “The books are never about what you think they are about” he claims in his description of the next novel by him that I will be reading, Survivor, which is undeniably true. I have never stumbled upon such twisted endings, I have never been so blindsided in all my life. Again and again-it took a couple of hours for the ending of Invisible Monsters to sink in, and when it did I had to go back and re-read it again so I could enjoy it thoroughly, as I imagine it was supposed to be. I can’t wait to start-and finish-Survivor. Palahniuk has officially made my list of people I would enjoy conversing with.

Surprise!

Another year, another cake in the face.

I love my friends.

So basically, I arrived at Cassie’s house around 7 on Saturday night, believing that I was going to be spending the next 3 hours studying for my AP World midterm, something I desperately needed to do. What I was greeted with instead was about 20 or so of my favorite people screaming “SURPRISE!!!”-my glorious, delightful, thoughtful, delightful friends went to the trouble of throwing me a surprise party!

I was initially shocked-I think the first thing I said was “I HAVE A MEET AT 9 AM TOMORROW!” because that’s how my over-stressed mind works, but the mob of people that was encompassing and asphyxiating me were all too convincing, so I gave into temptation and had fun. For just one night. I spent the first five or so minutes shaking and getting passed from guest to guest, each of whom I’m so appreciative of (this is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me), especially Cass, Mo, Emmy, Alli and Jess for setting up the whole thing. T’was a great way to start off my 17th year, which my mother told me was her favorite year when she was in high school. Perhaps it will be mine as well.

So to all my friends who came, and kept a straight face while I bitched about all the studying I would be doing over the weekend while you secretly knew that I would be spending Saturday night with you-THANK YOU! It was unforgettable.

This is the third year in a row that I’ve had to take a shower in the middle of my birthday party.

God dammit Alli.

It’s the Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

My midterm season at PHS has it’s pros and cons. For one, we get off of school at 12:34 for four days, and our break period is extended by five whole minutes. Also, if you’re like me, you have two easy classes in a row and get a whole day off (I’m so excited for my art midterm!). The downside is, all of the departments require finals and midterms, AP classes included.

I took AP classes so that I wouldn’t have to do midterm week. Well, that’s a lie. But I thought that was included in the big AP package when I signed up! Curse you, College Board.

And the icing on this midterm cake is my weekend schedule. How I always get scheduled for meets the weekend between my midterms is beyond me, and for some reason I decided I wanted to take the SATs this weekend. I keep telling myself that it’s a test that no one can prepare for. I’m hoping that I’m right…oh well, at least there are second chances. And third chances.