Mental Health Day

Greetings.


Has anyone else heard of/taken advantage of a "mental health day"? I first heard of it in my third favorite romantic comedy movie (okay, this movie is a little bit more than a rom-com, i.e. a road trip movie, a music movie, but I just describe it as a rom-com and it's my third favorite) NICK AND NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST starring Michael Cera and Kat Dennings. In the movie, Cera's character, Nick, tries to take a mental health day in order to get out of playing a gig in the city that evening because he's still upset that his super mega-foxy awesome hot (*catchphrase copyrighted by A VERY POTTER MUSICAL) girlfriend, Tris, dumped him.

Obviously, nobody dumped me, but I needed a mental health day. Yesterday was just amazingly sucky - I didn't talk, barely smiled, I felt squashed - and I just needed a day to myself. Unfortunately, Bev and Bentley are home today too, so the day to myself is kind of defeated. (Darn! I can't walk around naked. JUST KIDDING. Ha ha.)

What have I done with my day? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING AND IT'S BEEN REALLY REFRESHING. In fact, I am debating whether or not to take a nap after I finish this. So far, the nap is winning even though I slept in until 10:30 this morning. Boy, I love mental health days.


Hugz
HM

Alone... and Hairspray

Greetings.


Why is it that when I want to be alone the most, people always come at me, demanding me to be social and hang out and "stop being such a grouch, HM, and play Scrabble with us!" I am fairly solitary, happy in myself and my thoughts. But then, when I want company the most, like when I'm driving home after school in Animal... I don't have anyone. Claire joined the stupid swim team (WHO THE HELL IN NORTH DAKOTA WOULD SWIM IN JANUARY/FEBRUARY?) and Joseph, Ernie, William, and Todd already have rides home the days that they don't have band practice. Or in AP English class. We're separated by sixes (sometimes sevens) into discussion groups all the time. I am in the back of the room all alone. I'm completely serious here. My AP English class is full of that rare breed of animal: the SMART popular jerks. So the one class I wish I had someone to talk to, they're busy talking about whose party whom went to, what Snooki did on JERSEY SHORE last night, and crap like that while I sit silently in the back of the class, six empty desks surrounding me (because when Mrs. Frost initially placed us at the beginning of the semester, she actually did place everyone in even groups, except no one listens to the seating chart), and don't speak unless Mrs. Frost calls on me. WHY COULDN'T JOSEPH BE IN THIS CLASS WITH ME? HE HAS IT, BUT THE PERIOD BEFORE MINE!

I'm sorry... I just had a really crappy day. I was all alone again, Dad and I had another fight (I'm not at Nana and Gramps's house, don't worry), Joseph mad me angry when he chose his band friends whom he sees for hours upon hours a day over me, and I just found out that this fifty-year-old woman got the part of Tracy in HAIRSPRAY that I just auditioned for on Sunday. That's right. You read it right. Tracy Turnblad, a seventeen-year-old chubby girl, is not going to be played by a seventeen-year-old chubby girl (ME) but by Rosanna Salazar, a late-forties fat woman with wrinkles all over her face. SHE'S PLAYING MY DREAM ROLE AND I KNOW I AUDITIONED BETTER THAN HER! Bev and Dad say it's politics. NO CRAP, SHERLOCK! I can't catch a break... this isn't my little junior theater troupe. No, this is the big leagues. These people are weird. If they could cast a twenty-year-old as little orphan Annie, they would. They ALWAYS cast old. ALWAYS. But I thought if I could go in and wow them with my songs, acting, and dancing, then I'd be okay. But no. I'm not old and fat. I'm young and fat. AND APPARENTLY THAT BARS ME FROM EVERY SINGLE GOSHDANG PART I COULD EVER PLAY, EVEN IF IT WAS PRACTICALLY WRITTEN FOR ME! And the worst part is that Rosanna is GOING TO HAVE TO KISS A YOUNG HOT GUY! THAT IS JUST SO MANY FLAVORS OF WRONG THAT YOU COULD PUT IT IN A BLENDER, PRESS PUREE, DRINK IT, AND IT WOULD HAVE THE COMBINED TASTES OF DOG CRAP!

I know I'm ranting, but I can't cry today so I am going to do as much online yelling as I dang well please. Sue me.


Hugz
HM

Poppy's Present

Greetings.

Yeah, I guess I haven't posted in a while. I could say I was busy, but that would kind of be a lie. I mean, I had stuff to do, but I wasn't BUSY busy. I think it might have been that I haven't had much to report. I went to formal (YUCK) and I had no fun. Allyson got a full-ride scholarship to USC. I'm proud of her, but I wish she'd stay close. I'm staying in East Westerfield, going to the community college and then to University of Mary. Sigh... I don't want her to go, but I want her to. I really hate this emotion. Yuck.

BUT ANYWAYS. My mixed emotions about my oldest friend's college choices is NOT why you are reading this. You want to know what Poppy's present is. Well, here it is: a bright red 2011 Chevy Raptor with two extra wheels on the back. Hell, yes. HELL, YES! My gosh, this thing is amazing! I LOVE the bigness! When I drive down the street, GUYS SWERVE THEIR HEADS AROUND AND LOOK AT MY CAR! AWOOOOOOOO!!! (insert Tim Allen grunt here) I feel amazing! And you know how I named my other little green car Kermit?

Well, there is only one name for my monster. ANIMAL! ANIMAL! AH AH AH!!! Hells, yes, this thing is amazing and it's all MINE!!!!!!!!!

Sorry. I just wanted to brag about my new truck. Oh, and another thing:

I'M BACK AND BADDER THAN EVER! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!

Hugz
HM

Girls' Day Out

Greetings.


For the males who read this (which happen to be none), girls love having days to themselves, especially if it's with a group of their closest friends. Traditionally, they'll spend the entire day shopping and spending your mortgage money, but this isn't always the case. Bev, Wanda, and their posse hang around at one of their houses, drink wine/beer, watch chick flicks, and gossip. Basically what I am leading up to is the entire after school day - from 3 p.m. to 10:45 p.m. (curfew's at 11) - became a girls' day out for me and Claire, except Joseph got thrown in at the end.

I drive Claire home almost everyday after school. We didn't have Gamer's Club and I didn't have to pick up Bentley from school, so we thought "Hey! Let's have a day to ourselves!" And we did. We went to see the 3:50 showing of TANGLED (pretty decent, really funny, better plot twists than normal. 4.5 out of 5 on the Disney scale.) at The Pagoda (Claire paid for the movie and snacks) and then we went to dinner at Jackson's Tex-Mex for dinner and CAKE!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!! CAKE!!!!!!!!!!!! (I paid for dinner and cake.)

On our way to Jackson's, Claire had a little mishap. She had placed the big tub of popcorn on the dashboard in front of her and after one stoplight she forgot to brace it... Well, let's just say that the mess that occurred took fifteen minutes to clean out in the parking lot of a local Costco and the butter stains on her crotch made her look like someone had given her a nasty surprise. After we ate at Jackson's, we went around the back alley behind Jackson's to get to Kermit parked on the other side, much to Claire's protestations. She rationed, "Something that only happens in movies already happened to us! Do you want to risk it?" Yes. Yes, I did. So she reluctantly followed me through the alley. I turned the corner to go into the alley and screamed. Claire nearly jumped out of her skin because I was joking. She almost tried to kill me. (She's almost a pacifist and she couldn't kill me even if she tried. Ha ha, Claire, ha ha!)

Now that covered until 7, so what'd we do for the rest of the time? Nothing. Well, nothing of importance. We went by Joseph's house. He wasn't there. We stopped by Kenny H's house. He wasn't there either. We dropped by Claire's house around 8 to use the bathrooms and then we went back to Joseph's and camped out in front of their house until they got home, around 8:45. It was awkward, but Joseph let us in and Claire's feet defrosted. (She was silly enough to leave her shoes at her house. She just thought we were going to go out to some field someplace and listen to music in the car. Wrong-o.) We watched a Fairly Odd Parents then went back into Joseph's room and watched him play SUPER MEAT BOY (it's actually fun to watch) and BIOSHOCK 2. When I go to Joseph's, I kind of have an established spot in his room. I lay diagonally on his bed with my feet at his nighttable and my head where Joseph's head is when he plays videogames and watches TV at the other corner. So basically I had my face in his hair. It was great. His hair smells really nice. I can't describe it but it smells clean. =) Plus, I was kind of playing with his hair and nuzzling his head and such and he didn't complain. Well, he complained once when I accidentally pulled his hair to hard, but that was because I accidentally laid on it. Oops.

We left around 9:50 and went to the field Claire was hoping for but on the drive there it was foggy and the fog was blowing at us so hard it felt like we were in Stephen King's THE MIST. We got freaked and I drove at a nice, slow 25 until we got to the spot. Claire said that Joseph and I looked cute and kind of perfect for each other (duh. ha ha) and we just sat and talked and listened to music until about 10:40 when we drove for five minutes to drop her off and then another ten seconds for me.

So yeah. GREAT night. I wish more of my sisters could have come - that would have made today absolutely perfect - but today was the best day I have had in a very long time and I wish I had something more to commemorate it. OMG! I FORGOT MY TICKET STUB! CLAIRE STILL HAS THEM! I HOPE SHE DOESN'T THROW THEM AWAY! (By the way, I collect ticket stubs from movies I go to and, since there are so few, I can tell you exactly whom I went with and what memory I have of that event.)


Hugz and hugz to infinity because I am in a great mood
HM

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Greetings.


Now, i am going to add to my ever growing list of my favorite things, on which I already have these items:

My sisters, Joseph, my friends, shamrocks, FAMILY MATTERS, NCIS, huge glasses, tight buns, Jackson's cake, clean hair, roses, good non-racist jokes, long flowy capes, stained glass windows, sweet-smelling grass.

And now I am going to add the following: Joseph's stinky sock feet.

Okay, okay, let me explain.

Joseph, Petrie, and I were hanging out at church yesterday as usual. And we were talking about video games and all sorts of junk like that, you know, like we always do. Well, Joseph and I were messing around on the couch, throwing pillows, hitting each other. (We must have looked kind of silly, but Petrie's cool so he doesn't care. It was when four other girls - one of whom goes to Horizon with me and Joseph - came in that I got a little flustered.) But one time, Joseph just decides "Pfft! Screw the pillows! I'm going to attack her with my feet!", takes his shoes off, and lays his feet on my chest, waving them in my face. I took a blanket and covered my face from the attack, and we just kept playing. It was a lot of fun. He was playing with me! Wheeeee!

So I hope that now you understand why I like Joseph's sock feet. They aren't really stinky, I promise.


Hugz
HM

Those Precious Moments

Greetings.


"To err is human." I don't know who said it, but I put it in this blog post for two reasons. 1) It's an awesome quote and I just wanted to use it. And 2) it's one hundred percent true.

Okay, as you guessed by the title, erring has nothing to do with what I want to talk about. It's just a cool quote. But you know those little moments in life that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside when you think about them? Yeah, I don't have a whole lot of them from recent years. I mean, some people can find at least one a day. I'm lucky if I find one once a month. Okay, sure, I love my friends and all very much, but I only get to see them for 40 minutes a day at lunch unless we work really hard to see each other. So my memory possibilities are very limited. Then I have my family, who does their own thing and leaves me alone for a lot of the time. Either that, or they just start yelling at me for no good reason and- okay, no, I am not going to get mad today.

So basically, those happy little moments are fairly scarce. But I have had a few that I would like to share with you.

Exhibit A:
Joseph, Claire, Bennie, Ernie, and our friend Todd Harvey (no relation to my psycho ex-one-date-guy/ex-friend) were sitting behind the band room at our school waiting for Todd's mom to pick Ernie, Todd, and Joseph up. I have been sick for about a week and I was feeling particularly crappy yesterday - not just because of that but also I hadn't had a single thing to eat that day - so I pulled Joseph closer to me and laid my head on his shoulder. He didn't make me move it. In fact, when I informed him that I hadn't eaten all day (I had been super busy at lunch so I didn't see him, nor did I get lunch, duh) he tried to make me eat a Rice Krispie Treat, which I hate, but his heart was in the right place. And he let me lay on his shoulder until Mrs. Harvey picked them up. I noticed Bennie and Claire were giggling over something so I stole the iPod I had seen them giggling at and read it. It was about how Joseph and I looked so cute together. I felt good, but still sick and hungry.

Exhibit B:
Any time I see Ally. I hardly ever see her and I miss her dreadfully. So every time I see her, I feel great and I don't miss her anymore. That is until she leaves. WAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!

Exhibit C: (I am not going to say anymore after this one)
The time in the car I have with my brother Bentley. When we talk or sing songs, I feel great. He and I don't get a lot of time together - he's a studly young guy and has a girlfriend as well as a show to do - so the little time I do, it's great.

While those aren't the only ones, these are some of the best examples. I love my friends and my brother. And I can tolerate my parents sometimes. But these are some of my favorite examples. (Also, pretty much any moment with Joseph counts.) ;)


Hugz
HM

New Years

Greetings.


Do any of you remember the post I had in mid-June - 6/17/10 to be exact - that I explained to you that you should always have a bat with you? I still sleep with a bat beside my bed and it actually makes me feel a lot safer. I just have to reach my hand over my head and BAM! Insta-weapon!

Off topic as usual, HM. Anyways, I was wondering if any of you made any New Year's resolutions. I did: be more patient, especially in my never-ending pursuit of Joseph Matthew Morton, but patience in general would be a good thing. I have no patience, especially with presents. Ironically, I am perfectly fine in restaurants. It's Nana who gets so hungry and antsy.

I've had a lovely New Years so far. We played a singing game, but then I went back into my room. Claire's here and she found a pretty cute guy to play Magic: The Gathering with. I was flirting with him first so =P!!!!! Not fair. Just because I am not interested in a card game...

Gotta go. I have to go steal the guy back! Ha ha!


Hugz and Happy New Year
HM

New Year's Apology (With a Resolution In There Somewhere)

Greetings.


Sorry I have not posted in a while. My email with Ally was down and she's the main reader of my blog, Claire a close second. I didn't see a point in posting for no one. Plus, I have been kind of bust. Not a lot, except for finals (easy), but busy enough. Speaking of school, I am bummed that vacation went by so fast and I STILL haven't started reading GREAT EXPECTATIONS. It just means a buttload of work when I get back to school and I hate that. Poop.

Anyways, Christmas was kind of bittersweet. I got to see Josie and Jeremy and Uncle Sam and (ugh) Aunt Gertie at dinner a few days beforehand and I spent all day Christmas Day with Josie and Jeremy. I love my little cousins, they are so cute. And I had my family - Bev, Dad, Bentley, Sam, Gertie, Josie, Jeremy, Gertie's dad Lorenzo, Josephine, Nana, and Gramps. But the bitter part: I got five items, out of thirty, that I wanted. That's not even twenty percent. It's like Nana and Bev are TRYING not to listen to me and they do a really great job. I know, I know, "HM, you should be thankful that you even GET presents! Think about those kids in Uganda who are dying!"

Screw you. I want my fricking presents. (Though I did donate my entire bank account - what little was left, about two hundred bucks - to the Invisible Children fund AND I made one of those Samaritan's Purse boxes. So stuff it.)

I threw Claire a surprise party yesterday. Her birthday is three days after Christmas so she rarely gets a party. We went to this karaoke restaurant that she loves - we call it the "NASCAR Bar" because of the rednecks - and surprised her so badly that she screamed. I just told her that Joseph, Ernie, and William were taking her to dinner for her birthday and we did technically but I think she peed her pants with surprise. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! She loved it. And, through the magic of Facebook (yes, we have Internet in South Dakota too!), I managed to get some of her friends that she hasn't seen in forever.

Speaking of people someone hasn't seen in forever, JAKE MICHAELS CAME TO TOWN! I don't know if I said anything much about Jake before, but during sixth grade at Southington Heights Christian Academy, he and Pauley Border were whom I considered my best friends. We have kind of grown apart over the years, but the three of us always have a movie night whenever Jake is in town. (He moved north to Fort Yates.) So today we went to see TRON: LEGACY. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't my favorite. I hate the ending. Anyways, I was so happy to see Jake and Pauley!

Hmm, what else? I haven't seen my sisters or Joseph all that much, which sucks, but I did get to see them at least once. Joss, Claire, and Joseph were at the surprise party and I've seen Bennie twice. The only one I haven't seen is Ally and I have four presents for her! Perhaps I'll go over tomorrow. I need to sometime.

Anyways, Happy New Year from your favorite fat cynic, Harmony Margaret Juniper Leeann Heloise Walker-Lowell. Also, Merry Belated Christmas, Happy Late Hanukkah, Merry After Kwanzaa, et cetera. =)


Hugz,
HM

THE NEW RULES OF HIGH SCHOOL

Greetings.


Category: Book Subjects.

Drugs. Sex. Alcohol. High Schoolers taking part in all of these things.

Ding! Harmony Margaret, what is your answer?

"Um, what are things that I NEVER EVER EVER EVER really want to read about?"

Well, if you understood that, then you get the idea of my reaction to THE NEW RULES OF HIGH SCHOOL by Blake Nelson. This book kept building and building and BUILDING to something awesome or interesting, but it turned to crap. Nothing gratifying came out of it. Nothing! Why is this author so well-known? One of his books, GIRL, is a movie. Why? If all of his books are like this, why would anyone want to read them? It has sloppy, choppy writing, no description WHATSOEVER (and, coming from someone who HATES description, is saying a lot), and no real point. There's a lot of dialogue, which I really enjoy, but it served no real purpose and added absolutely nothing to the story. Punctuation and well-developed syntax are completely ignored. The sentences are short and bland. WHY DID PEOPLE LIKE THIS?

Two good authors - an award-winning author and an executive editor of a youth magazine - seemed to adore this book, even going so far as to compare it to CATCHER IN THE RYE. ...Wow. Just wow. Why? I have never read CATCHER, but everyone I know who has read it deems it as a classic. (However, if it is anything like this book I just read, I think I'll stay away from it.)

Anyways, I just read a crappy book and it's two days of my life I will never get back. That. Sucks. Major. Rocks.

Oh, and I spent all morning with Joseph. We had a late start and I gave him a ride. WHEEEEE!


Hugz
HM

A Christmas Carol/A Charlie Brown Christmas

Greetings.


Well, I had an amazing day today and yesterday. So far, church was fun, I had brunch with Nana, and i am going to see TANGLED with Chase later on. But yesterday was awesome.

We had our last shows of A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS/A CHRISTMAS CAROL yesterday (Joseph, who played Bob Cratchit, made me cry every time and I hate crying) and we went to the cast party with Claire, Jasper, Joseph, Bentley, and all of Bentley's little groupies whom I care nothing about. At the cast party, Jasper, Donna (you know, the show off-y prima donna [oh, the irony] whom I don't care much for), and I were singing the song "Men in Tights" from the Mel Brooks film of almost the exact same name but we had used it last year in our production of ROBIN HOOD. Soon, the entire side room of Sammy's Pizza Parlor that we had invaded at the cast party was singing along with us and Jasper, Bentley, and another kid named Curtis performed the dance that they did in the play and at the Toby awards. It. Was. Hysterical.

On the way home, Claire, Bentley, Dad, and I had a very real near-death experience, I crap you not. Dad was driving because I can't drive after 11 p.m. until I turn 18 and it was 12:15. Out of nowhere, this drunk idiot in a Corvette (rare around East Westerfield) barely missed us and then continued swerving back and forth, back and forth, until he turned into his neighborhood. It scared the living CRAP out of us. Claire and I jumped and Bentley dropped his iPhone (which he never has out of his hands, I swear). We almost died. Scary as Hell. However, Ally knows what to do if I die early. So does Claire, but she was in the car too.

Anyways, I enjoyed all of the quality time I had with joseph and I cannot wait for the next show that we are in. Plus. Claire and Bentley had a lot of fun too.


Hugz
HM