Monday: Visit to dear old Baton Rouge High. It was 12:30 on a Monday, so that was...12357...fifth hour? I can't believe there was ever a time in my life when that block schedule made sense. ANYWAY, I saw Mrs. Frost for the first time since graduation. She didn't mind at all that I interrupted AP Bio, and I know for a fact that the students didn't mind. Then I went and interrupted DParker's class, and KParker just happened to be walking down the hall, so I chatted with them both. Luckily, KParker didn't have a class that hour, because she wouldn't have tolerated an interruption. Finally, I visited Mrs. Bennett, who runs into my mom occasionally and always asks about me. She introduced me to her class as one of her favorite students...yet she never actually taught me. God, I miss high school.

The BRMHS visit was followed by some shopping, errands and eating out with Mom.

Tuesday: Visit to Mrs. Meeks, my senior guidance counselor (and mom of one of my closest high school friends). She has retired so I went over to her house. We had a really nice visit. Then there was more shopping with Mom, and after that we came back here and watched the Cadaver Ball DVD in its entirety. Even the Dean's skit... Mom laughed and exclaimed how much she loved it, as I covered my eyes and repeatedly muttered "Too awkward, can't watch." Maybe it's a generational thing.

Today: Went to Barnes & Noble for a little alone time. They had some sort of construction going on, so their escalators had become stairs. I wish that they'd put up a sign that said "Sorry for the convenience. We apologize for the fact that you can still get up there." That would've been the greatest moment ever. I browsed and read for a while, but ended up not getting anything.

A great moment that actually did happen was having lunch with Mattie. It was awesome to get together and catch up. I must get better about staying in touch with friends. Plus, it was great to talk about school with someone who understands, yet isn't at my school. No offense to anybody who's listened to me whine about med school, but you really can't fully understand it unless you've been through it yourself.

I came back here and tried to actually go over some Micro, but that was folly. I ended up just goofing off online for a few hours. Then my parents and I went out to this Chinese place for dinner. At one point I said I hoped I didn't ruin any plans they had for the week by surprising them. My dad replied, "You've been cramping our style for the past 22 years, why stop now??" Can you feel the love? Because I can.

Plans for tomorrow and Friday: More chillaxin'. Then driving back to Nashville on Saturday.

Shakespeare Tavern tonight, where I was reminded why "Midsummer" is my absolute favorite play. Such a good production. There were a lot of new (to me) actors, but they were all awesome. My favorite actor played Puck, which made me really really happy. Maybe my favorite moment was the "Bless You" he smoothly threw out between lines when this lady in the audience sneezed really loud. They should do comedies more often. It suits their rapid-fire style of line delivery a lot better, in my humble amateur opinion.

One thing always bothers me whenever I see plays that I read in high school. I'm always reminded of the crap I was forced to learn in my English classes. Don't get me wrong, I loved DParker and she loved me. But why in the world was it necessary for us to use brain space to remember that Puck disguised himself as a three-foot stool, not a four-foot stool? Or that Mote is the one that Bottom never actually talks to? Every once in a while tonight, I'd remember flipping through pages, to find and highlight pointless little factoids like that. Madness.

We used to have these wicked true/false questions on our tests. Of course, one false word made the whole thing false. Some of the things snuck into those questions were just plain evil. One that I'll probably never forget was from our test on A Lesson Before Dying. It was a paragraph or so of TRUE stuff. The answer was false, though, because somewhere in the paragraph, it said that the protagonist saw a white butterfly, when the butterfly in question was in fact yellow. I appreciate bits of trivia as much as anybody, but how did that contribute to my actual education? Hell, maybe it built my character in ways I can't detect now. Who knows?

Just a few minutes ago I was perusing journals randomly, as I am wont to do. There was a lot of Russian. The second journal I could read had an entry about a graduation that was earlier tonight. I read on a bit more, and suddenly realize that I know the people that the entry's about. I stumbled upon an entry about Baton Rouge High's graduation. I thought that was neat. Neat enough to merit a wows-a-mundo, even. What are the chances?

Yay for the BRMHS class of 2004; they'll always be the sophomores to me.

Went to Baton Rouge High today, for the first time since I walked out of there in my cap and gown. Man oh man, that was a great time. I think that I would gladly relive high school all over again. I owned that place! There were freshmen and sophomores (juniors and seniors now) literally calling out my name as I walked down the hall. My AP English teacher introduced me to her class as "this is the student I talk about all the time!" I was introduced to the new principal with "If I could clone one person in the world, it'd be this girl."

Hello. Meet the origins of LaKedra's occasional ego trips.

Whee. DParker seemed really really short! I suppose her 300-count 'em-300-count 'em-300 point tests made her seem more intimidating. KParker still talks a lot. She told me all about the Science Olympiad and Science Bowl teams..the tradition of excellence is continuing. I expected Handal to spaz out when she saw me, because she's a spaz and all, but she was very calm.

And oh, there's an elevator now.

Today, Korzmeister told my class that she wishes she could retire after this year..."I want to graduate with you, because I'll never have another class like you guys." Isn't that sweet!! I knew she liked my class better.

The words finally started to come for my long essay. I'm writing about my mother's illness. When I started, I had no idea that I'd have such a tough time writing about it. But once it started to flow...I already have a page, which is technically long enough. I hope to finish it tomorrow.
Wood wants me to play in the piano recital on the 15th....does she not know that I've been goofing off all year? I don't have a piece!! I hope she doesn't hate me forever.

So, I actually talked to people in "my group" at lunch today. It was nice that everyone sat together today, I could sit right between Susan and and Chia, I didn't have to choose a group. Because if I had chosen, I would've sat with Susan, because she had candy pumpkins. I LOVE those things.

Today was fun. Going to classes in costume was fun. Taking group pictures was fun. Fall Fair was NOT fun.

Harry Potter dressup went really well. A lot of people had really good costumes. I'm glad they didn't just show up in a sheet. I'm kinda sorry it's over with, but it was fun. We played Quidditch on the front lawn at lunch today.

My costume: a black robe, with a slytherin badge sewn on. A belt with pouches of potion ingredients attached. Bottles of potions (colored water) around my neck. One of the potions had glitter in it, but the other one was just green water. I took an occasional swig from the bottle just to freak people out. My hair was all stringy and greasy and nasty. In other words, I was a pretty good Snape.

Other notable costumes were a group of juniors as the alphabet...Five senior girls were the Jackson 5. More senior girls were Josie and the Pussycats. Mrs. Besson was MUdusa.

Like I said before, going from class to class today was fun. Fall fair was the opposite. For the Trihiy auction booth, I had to help lug a 29847239847-pound stage from the PAC to the track. And then back when it was over. Just as our auction was gaining momentum, we had to hand our stage over to ICA, so we didn't make as much money as we normally do. It was hot, I was thirsty, my black shoes got covered in dust...not fun. But I bet I'll miss it this time next year.

Well, it's my very last spirit week at BRH, so I'm going all out. Yesterday, for Green and Gold day, I did the Mardi Gras beads-as-a-belt thing. Today, for decades day, I dressed up in a bedazzled sweater, denim skirt(!!), and ankle boots. I'm not sure if I was the 80s, or just tacky. Tomorrow, I'm going to be Sammy Sosa, Thursday, I'm wearing a dress, and of course, Friday, I'm going to be Professor Snape.

Speaking of Snape, I started the second Harry Potter book today. Finished it, too.

I am trying to work on college essays, but my writer's block is huge. Every single thing I write sounds so incredibly stupid. I should've started really working on this long ago. I'm never going to finish in time...gah, gah, gah!

Beta district rally was today. Our quiz bowl team won, but it was much too close for comfort. We're going to have to study more. Our team chemistry could also use some working on. Well, today was just for practice, anyway.

Went to the movies with Becca, Sarah M., and Allison. We saw "Riding in Cars with Boys"...it was GOOD.

I will be glad when this term paper thing is over and done with and through. It's about that time of year, that time when schoolwork and stuff begins to pile up, and I think I'm about to go crazy. Gah.

I have two full pages of term paper! Whee!!

Harry Potter costume group got reached 30+ people today. I think Korzmeister might give the people who dress up bonus points. The people who coordinated it should get more bonus points? Hmmm.

I am such a ninny. I felt bad walking out on the rep from Salem College, so I stayed for her presentation. I should've used my Naval Academy excuse!! Gah.

The Harry Potter costume thing is really coming together. Or falling apart. People are dropping out like crazy, which we thought was bad, until we found out that there are more classmates than characters. What's awesome is that we've got two faculty members: Colvin and Meeks. I'm definitely Snape.

Katie has fallen in love with GA Tech.

La guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu.

Apparently, I got in Who's Who again.

I have a page and a half of my term paper typed. The deadline got extended to a week from demain. I am NOT procrastinating! Weehee!

So another long week at school has come to a close. Erin's doing okay, she had a big Euro test to keep her mind off of everything.
I actually did do my outline last night.
I can now play "Linus and Lucy" on the piano, and I feel very special.
I think I'm going to get to be Snape for fall fair.
I decided on Ancient African Civilization.
Okay, I've got stuff to do...

So, they did the revote for Best Leader and Miss BRMHS. The original winners were Joy for Leader and Erin for Miss BRMHS. After the revote, the results were switched. Despite the fact that both girls were still winners, there is a pretty big difference, prestige-wise, between Leader and Miss BRMHS, and Erin took the change pretty hard. Now for the bad part. My class didn't get to vote (14 seniors). Neither did Korzep's homeroom (15), Ms. Wood's (5), Ms. Achee's (12), or Ms. Lee's (24-27). That's almost 70, out of a class of 264, who didn't get to vote. Not because they didn't make the effort, but because their teachers messed up. So I protested. I went to Mitchell first, then I went to JB. He told me he understood my point, but they were going to keep the results the way they were. So. There's not much that can be done now, but it sure as heck isn't right. Erin seems to be doing okay now...she thanked me for going to JB, even though it didn't help. She actually told me, "You make my heart so glad it has a friend like you!!!" I almost cried.
So I guess that whole thing is over...what else is new? I got my source for term paper last night...I think I'll try to have an outline by the end of the night. I also found out about 3 more essay contests I want to enter. Whee! I have to decide whether to write about Women in African Government or Ancient African Civilization for one of them. By tomorrow. Hmm. Um, which is easier? The prize is only $100, so I'm not going to stress too much.

Senior favorites were announced yesterday. I got Most Intelligent, along with Sid. What an interesting yearbook picture that will be. Whee! They're going to have to do a re-vote for Miss BRMHS and Best Leader, I'm not exactly sure why, though.
Essay test on Harry Potter tomorrow.

Erin's birthday party was Friday night. It was a surprise party, so the best part was the surprise. She stiffened up, and I thought she was going to fall over, oh no, we've killed her. But she was okay. I gave her a teddy bear and a Harry Potter thing. (Mrs. Korzep has created 40+ monsters.) I spent the night at Katie's house, but I think it kinda messed up their weekend plans. Oh well, my parents' fault.

Today was pre-UN, my first official thing as state board. It was definitely not as much fun as I thought it'd be. I missed the planning meeting last weekend, so I really didn't have much of an idea of what was going on. It was frustrating, because there is a definite lack of communication. Everybody seemed to have their own idea of what they wanted to get done and what they wanted to say. I hope we didn't hopelessly confuse anybody.
My throat is hurting BAD. I bet I won't have a voice tomorrow.
English IV AP classes are (hopefully) going to do a huge group costume thing for Fall Fair...Harry Potter! Whee! Megan and I kinda took it upon ourselves to coordinate it. I'd like to be Snape or McGonagall, but I might end up as like Hagrid or something. I have to talk to the Korzmeister about it tomorrow...we want her to be Dumbledore!
Must go study Bio now.

We went from having a club meeting tomorrow to not having a meeting, to having one again. Gah.

I don't know what's wrong with me, but I can't seem to keep my eyes open. It's not like I don't sleep at night, because I do, but I'm still tired all the time. I've been taking my iron, so I don't know what the problem is. I can't even keep my head up to type this friggin' entry. Not that anything I have to say is all that important. Hey, I don't have to have my eyes open to type! Nice. But I digress. I always do. I have a bio test tomorrow. I've managed to learn the 7 functional groups, but that's it. To anybody who might stumble upon this journal, I'd like to apologize for being such a boring nerd. But the highlight of my day was starting the fruit fly genetics lab in bio today. And, getting that last physics test back with a big, red, 96 on it. Yay! It was a good thing I did that problem over, because it was definitely wrong the first time. Some people didn't do so well on the test. They ask me to be their study buddy, and I'm like, sorry, but I don't want to ruin any study habits you might have.
Oooh, in English, we're studying Harry Potter, and Korzmeister brought us some Every-Flavor beans! I got horseradish. It was quite disgusting. I want to go get some, though. There's booger-flavored ones! Susan and I did a stirring rendition of the Hogwarts song, each of us singing to a different tune. I did 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game.' I am so glad I'm in the funny english class.
I spent so much time this past weekend working on those stupid Candide questions, and today Dr. Handal tells us that we can turn them in Friday, if we'd like to. GAH! My weekend already sucked. I didn't need to do Candide.