My Brain after the ACTs and a full day out in Boston with friends:

My Brain after the SATs . . .

The Royal Wedding.

The media hyped up the day as a "modern-day fairy tale," which sounds totally cliché, but was so true!
Lovely Kate looked absolutely gorgeous in her dress, and the ceremony was beautiful and moving. I got up super early and watched it before school in real-time, then I watched the entire ceremony again after school! I absolutely love weddings, and the chemistry between Kate and William is so striking and adorable. I love their quiet senses of humor (did you see the cute look they gave each other during the ceremony when the speaker boomed in his baritone voice, "you have both made your decision today"?) They are amazing role models, and are so down-to-earth and absolutely picture-perfect. Can you imagine what it must have felt like to be Kate yesterday? She looked every inch a princess, and was so poised and graceful, as perfect as she could have been. The entrance was moving, the vows were beautiful, the carriage ride was breathtaking, the kiss was adorable, and Kate and her prince and family were glowing throughout the entire day. What a lovely event!

Things that I think are funny.

I love it when someone starts telling you a story and this happens:

"So, I was sitting in my hotel room in New York and -- oh wait, have I already told you this story?" They then wait expectantly as your mind swirls with any story you may or may not have heard from them, about New York or hotels or how to make pistachio ice cream and you usually just want to say at them, "how am I supposed to know, you haven't told me the story yet!" But usually you say "no," or "I don't think so," and they continue. It's especially awkward when you realize halfway through that they have indeed already told you the story, but you can't stop them because they would say "I already asked if you'd heard it!" Well, how was I supposed to know what story it was from a lame 12-word preview?

Almost as awkward as when you pass your former spanish teachers in the hall and they ask you (in spanish) how you are and you don't know whether or not to respond to them as a friend or as their student. Which you are not technically anymore. But the subject addresses change, you see.

Almost as awkward as when your cat walks across the keyboard when you're typing and accidentally presses a button that de-activates the entire keyboard and you don't know which button she pressed because she is just a flurry of paws sometimes.

Almost as awkward as when your history teacher makes you watch "Invisible Children" during your free block and then when it's over you bring the DVD up to her and she asks excitedly, "Did you like it?" And then you stare at her and reply, "I mean ... I don't like the idea of it, but it was ... a well-made documentary? If that's what you're asking?"

Almost as awkward as talking about prom with your friend during lunch and asking, "so, are you going with Jo- anyone?" when you realize mid-sentence that you don't know if her boyfriend Jon and her are still together or not. (They are! Phew!)

Almost as awkward as when you are in a math study group before school and you ask about a question on the homework and the girl sitting next to you looks at your pages of homework that you stayed up late finishing and says, "Umm, would you mind if I just looked at that for a minute and wrote some things down? I didn't get around to it last night." And then I replied, "Oh, well for the most part all I wrote down were my answers, I didn't write down the full questions for some of them, so you borrowing it wouldn't be helpful to you if you didn't do it." And then having her reply, "Oh, well just in case [the teacher] checks it." And then you're forced to look her in the face and say, "No, you cannot copy my homework." Awkward.

Almost as awkward as going to get ice cream with your mother after school because we're cute like that and ordering the same type of ice cream and having the boy behind the counter put an extra bit on mine and then going back to the car and having your mother say, "He gave you extra because he likes you!" And then looking down at your paint-and-clay-stained jeans and black hoodie zipped all the way up and messy hair and saying "or because I didn't ask for sprinkles on top. Either way."

Almost as awkward as when you have dinner with your parents and all they talk about is plants and why there are so many cars in the neighbor's driveway. And then having your dad say, "maybe someone died!" And then you just go back to talking about plants.


All of these things happened to me today. It was an exciting day.

Ideas.

Last year, my video production teacher told the class: "The worst enemy of a great idea is a good idea."

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. At school, I see people think of a good idea, whether it be what to draw or wear or what to eat for lunch, and they stick with only good ideas without letting the great ones fully develop. Why settle for anything less than extraordinary? I understand that there are priorities -- people won't generally bring in homemade sushi with chocolate souffle for dessert for a normal everyday lunch. It's certainly easier, for time and sanity's sake, to grab a sandwich and a piece of fruit or a yogurt and be done. I do it myself! But when it comes to a long-term project, people often stick with one of the first good ideas they have and go through with it, often getting bored halfway through. I see this all the time in art classes especially. I'm in a very talented ceramics class right now, but there are definitely some people, (who are perhaps new to art, to be fair) who go with the kind of standard, run-of-the-mill projects that have been done by other students in the past and are easy to execute. Projects like this often turn of fine and dandy, but are often missing that "wow" factor. I know these projects can often be attributed to people not caring enough about the class, or not wanting to put in the time and effort. However, imagine what amazing things would be done if people weren't afraid of their great ideas and let their creativity flow. We would live in a much more vibrant world, that's for sure! I also see it in backpacks and boys' clothing. Blue, black, grey. Yawn.

LETS HAVE A WORLDWIDE TIE-DYE PARTY

Harry Potter fun fact of the Day!

Flitwick's original appearance early in the series

 

Davis as Griphook

Flitwick's appearance after the change, now choir director

Filius Flitwick and Griphook are played by the same man, Warwick Davis!!
This here is from Wikipedia: In the film adaptations, Flitwick is portrayed by Warwick Davis. In the third film, Davis plays a music conductor, credited simply as "Wizard". J. K. Rowling said: "I must admit, I was taken aback when I saw the film Flitwick, who looks very much like a goblin/elf (I’ve never actually asked the filmmakers precisely what he is), because the Flitwick in my imagination simply looks like a very small old man."[3] However, Rowling mentions on her official website that Flitwick is human, with "a dash of goblin ancestry."

His appearance on screen noticeably changes in the later films, taking the appearance of the Wizard conductor. He takes on a more human look, and many of the elf-like looks he had in the first two films are gone. 

This. Is. Mega. Switch up

Whoooooooooooooosh.