http://ourstory.com/story.html?v=171926 Ourstory.com http://media.ourstory.com/62/91/71/6b1a420e0c161c5b78c3595b0192ce2d096e3303/3a50951205e94a6ceff1f9ac6ef5673ad5b50c4f-t.jpg http://ourstory.com/story.html?v=171926 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=462807 mctrance I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but I was at camp last week. I wish I saved my schedule so I could scan it, which would give you a good idea of what I was doing. Oh well. I'll mention the activities one-by-one (but this is by no means a list of everything I did).Carpetball: Not an activity that you schedule for, but something that kills all that free time you have. I did badly at first, of course, then I got to be pretty good and won a few games, then I lost what talent I had. I guess I played around 20-25 games for the week.Dodgeball: I'm not that good. I didn't have as much fun as other people from my church did. (There were three: Andy, Brad and BJ.) I only had one session of dodgeball.Paintball: This was the most fun. I only got shot a few times (I was sometimes shot with a ball that didn't break, but that doesn't count), shot a few people myself, and mostly lay in the woods behind a tree. I was pretty conservative with my ammo and was able to hand it over to someone from my team when I got out. Andy was shot at close range and had a wound that punctured the skin. Ouch. I had two sessions of paintball.Rock wall: I've rock-climbed before, so it wasn't as exciting as paintball or mountain-boarding. But I did have fun. The walls were 1-4, in order of difficulty. I got up 2, 3 and 4 without much difficulty. I tried 1 only as a challenge: climb up without using your legs. I only got up a few rocks. I also tried 3 as a challenge: climb up only using the red rocks. I almost made it, but not quite. I had three sessions of rock wall.Mountain-boarding: I barely made it down before falling over. Each time. The boards had no brakes, so the only way to stop was to wipe out. One guy went down the hill and grabbed onto the tire swing, which was specifically ruled out in the rules, so that was his last time down the hill for the week. Andy and Brad (who are brothers, BTW) were pretty good at it. I only had one session of mountain-boarding.Eh, more later. I don't feel like saying the rest now. Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:28:59 +0000 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=462807 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=462091 mctrance So my birthday party on Saturday--it was hardly a party at all. I waited like an hour and a half for Carla to show up, then John showed up. And they were it, besides my sister. So it was cards (Egyptian, War and Solitare) for an hour and a half, then more cards with Carla and John, but at least we were having fun. Then we played on the playground, ate cake. It only lasted like an hour, hour and a half. It was fun, though, I just can't make it sound fun.The reason that there were only two people was because I sent out invitations only 10 days before the party, and tons of people had work or vacation. One person was going to the "Blobfest." One person from school told me on Myspace that she would've gone and invited two other people I knew if she would've read her messages 4 days earlier. Noooooooo! Anyway, on to orienatation. I'll just copy+paste.---------------------------------------------------------I got back from orientation. I finally got my classes scheduled, got my housing assignment (my roommate's name is Anwar), met some people from my college and even major, and found out a whole lot of stuff I didn't know before. There's some funny stories, but most of them probably aren't that funny when translated on the internet. I've got one good one, though.Okay, I tried typing it and even this one is something you just had to be there for. But let's just say that one of the seminars went off topic into the topic of condoms (the speaker works at a "health empowerment" organization which is best-known for selling condoms 10 for $1) and I learned that there are grape-flavored and glow-in-the-dark condoms. They don't sell the glow-in-the-dark ones there, though, they're too expensive to sell 10 for $1. -----------------------------------------------------That seminar was pretty good. It was about how we organize our time at Temple, and for some of it she was like "yeah, you guys know this already" and skipped through the powerpoint, as if she couldn't wait to get to the part about condoms. The most useful seminar was about our core classes--how many classes from each department that everyone HAS to take. It's not that strict, actually. Core classes take up about a third of our total credits. The other ones are credits for our major, and credits from electives. Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:22:53 +0000 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=462091 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=460824 mctrance Okay. Sunday, June 4. I'm supposed to get to school at 2:30 for the awards ceremony, which starts at 3:00. I sit next to Sam and talk with him until Miguel comes. Miguel keeps asking Sam for $50 because Sam said he'd give Miguel $50 if he got up and danced on senior Saturday, which he did. Sam kept diverting the subject elsewhere, and Miguel kept bringing it back. It was pretty funny. They did this until we started. Meanwhile, I help Caitlin find a seat that is not William's, and is not near people that hate her.The program consisted of announcing people's names, and them walking across the stage to get their award/scholarship. There were too many speakers and too many speeches, so it lasted longer than it should have, about 2 hours I think. There were about 100 students, although some of them had their names announced twice. This was the first time I realized Steven, our class' valedictorian, is going to Harvard. A first for RHS? I'm not sure.Monday, June 6. Graduation. I won't cover graduation practice. We started out by waiting in the seats behind a curtain for an hour, then they had us go down, but we had to wait in a line for 20 minutes. We went to our seats but didn't sit down, said the pledge, then sat down. There were speeches, "remarks," but it was all boring. Except for a media presentation of things our school's been involved in, which was pretty interesting. I didn't pop up anywhere, but oh well.When they announced our names for coming up to the stage and getting our fake diplomas, there were two speakers which read the names, and they went back and forth. The rows formed two lines down the center. Each row took a few minutes, and there were like 20 rows, so...I dunno how long it took. An hour, maybe. The whole thing went until like 10, I think. Afterward, I shook hands with and said goodbye to a bunch of people. I tried to find Andrew, who was having a party that night, but with his black hair, cap and gown, it was impossible. So I went home. Sun, 03 Jan 2010 11:26:19 +0000 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=460824 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=460193 mctrance Danny Scholl (not my real last name): The Last Days. Of school, that is.Thursday the 25th, I had a math final. I've been fairly sure of myself throughout the school year with calculus, but the final exam was not tha easy. I had 8 "none of the aboves," and while my math teacher said that we shouldn't be afraid to answer "none of the above," I still don't really know if I got those questions right or not. There was also a problem that seemed to give too much information that I was worried about. For the rest of the day, I went to see Ms. Car 4th period, and went to lunch 5th period (normally my Chem and Spanish classes, but they were just studying for finals, which I didn't have to take.) We finished "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" in AMG and started "A Few Good Men." Lunch was boring, no 8th period, no 9th period final.Friday the 26th, I had Study Hall 3rd period. So while many others were taking a final, I listened to all of "Meddle" then talked with Juan. I went to lunch 4th period--Grant and Blair were there, and Grant suggested looking for Melissa, Julie and Lauren, who weren't there. "What are they gonna do, suspend me?" Grant reasoned. (Grant doesn't have a rebellious attitude, BTW, but the idea was pretty laughable.) We went to the music room to look for Julie, who wasn't there, so we just sat in the hall. I would've whipped out my Honors Pass and hopefully used some Sam Spade lines if a VP (read: Dr. Norman) would've tried to make me go to TPC, but that didn't happen. The rest of the day was blah.I didn't have finals for Tuesday or Wednesday (30th and 31st), which is basically all that they'd have those days, so I wasn't gonna come (I excused myself already, BTW). But I got a call Tuesday telling me that I had to go to the Principal's office Wednesday (nothing to worry about). I went, was informed about Sunday, and left.Thursday I went to the Senior Breakfast, ate breakfast and found out that I was okay with Graduation. Friday I went to homeroom, grunted because my name was on the "charges" list even though it wasn't the day before, put my cap and gown on, and marched to the Geigle gym, where we lined up on the bleachers to get our Senior picture taken. I stood next to Troy, who stood next to Chris, who stood next to Paul. Whoops, Dr. Norman realized rather belatedly (okay, so I don't know if it was his fault, but he was the one giving directions) that there were too many people for the bleachers, so a bunch of people moved to the balcony and a line of people (me included) had to move over. someone stepped on my foot, which Troy noted as the first time he heard me use the f-word. They eventually started "testing" the camera, which got a lot of groans from people who thought they were taking the picture for real. They eventually took the real pictures, 4 or 5 of them. We can buy the final picture for $20 unframed or $40 framed, which is way too much for me.I waited in line for 30-45 minutes to find out what charges I had. Then I ran up three floors to have my math teacher fill out and sign a paper saying that I handed in that math book, ran back down and handed in the paper. The secretary ripped up the paper with my charges. Yay! Sat, 02 Jan 2010 11:08:35 +0000 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=460193 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=459598 mctrance Since I already ranted about this somewhere else, I might as well post it here.I got a ride home from school, which is not the norm as I usually walk twenty-something blocks home. When I got home, I found that I couldn't open the door because my mom locked the bottom lock, which I don't have a key for. Nobody answered when I yelled inside.I went around the block to the back door, which meant going through a dirty alley and my backyard (which isn't notable because of its size, it's rather small actually; I just hadn't been in it in a while). The door to the back porch was locked, but the one to the kitchen was open, so I tried making noise but no one was there.I sat on the porch for about 15 minutes, reading my social studies book. I went to a neighbor's house (incidentally, the one who gave me a ride) to call my mom's cell phone and to call home; nobody answered either time. I left a message on both saying something like "it's 4:30, I dunno where you are, probably sleeping, I'm going somewhere and I'll be back by 5:30." (I would've stayed at their house, but it's rather depressing. That's another story.)I headed out towards the main library (I did this whole walk with my backpack on, BTW), but after a while I figured I couldn't get there by 5. So I headed towards a college library I thought might be open. It wasn't. I got home around 5:30, the door was open, mom was there. She explained that she locked the bottom lock by accident, woke up after the first call, and wasn't able to get to the second call for some reason.asksnsdIn conclusion, I should have my own key for the bottom lock.---------------------------------------------------------------Also, I saw West Side Story Thursday and Citizen Kane last night. Both very good movies, in very different ways. Fri, 01 Jan 2010 05:13:15 +0000 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=459598 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=459067 mctrance Spring Break is geeting a bit boring. I took a 3-hour walk this afternoon to pass the time.THREE NAMES YOU GO BY:1. Danny2. Daniel3. DanTHREE SCREEN NAMES YOU HAVE HAD:1. I AM ME2. Nobody3. Danny JoeTHREE THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:1. I'm imaginative.2. I don't make enemies easily.3. I've been born again into Christianity.THREE THINGS YOU HATE ABOUT YOURSELF:1. I take too long to get some things done.2. I'm a slow thinker.3. I don't have many people I can share memories with.THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:1. German2. Polish (German-Polish, weird combination, I know)3. Welsh, I thinkTHREE THINGS YOU'RE AFRAID OF:1. Computer viruses2. Not getting things done on time3. Having to stay here for life.THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:1. The Bible.2. My friends.3. The computer.THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:1. green shirt2. khakis3. a smileTHREE OF YOUR FAVORITE MUSICAL ARTISTS:1. Pink Floyd2. Five Iron Frenzy3. NewsboysTHREE OF YOUR FAVORITE SONGS AT PRESENT:1. "Echoes" by Pink Floyd2. "Aqualung" by Jethro Tull3. "God Is Not A Secret" by NewsboysTHREE NEW THINGS YOU WANT TO TRY IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS1. college2. Creation [But probably not :(]3. GraduationTHREE THINGS YOU WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP:1. Trust.2. Interest.3. Meaningful, intelligent conversation.TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE (you decide which is which)1. So far, I only have to take one final.2. My favorite movie is "Citizen Kane."3. I'm one of those few, special people who scored advanced on the math and reading parts of the PSSAs.THREE PHYSICAL THINGS ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX (or same) THAT APPEAL TO YOU:1. Smile.2. Eyes.3. Hair.THREE THINGS YOU JUST CAN'T DO:1. Read music.2. Turn my right arm clockwise while my right leg goes counterclockwise.3. Play football.THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES:1. Reading.2. Watching good movies.3. Hanging out with friends.THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:1. Talk to a friend.2. 50/50 Play GoldenEye with Jon and Dave.3. Umm...THREE CAREERS YOU'RE CONSIDERING:1. Film2. Do I need3. anymore?THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION:1. England.2. France.3. Austrailia.THREE KIDS' NAMES:1. Elsa.2. Mark.3. Dan. (not Daniel)THREE AWESOME MOVIES:1. 2001: A Space Odyssey2. Amadeus3. A Night at the OperaTHREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:1. Get married/have a family.2. Speak to...uhh...Werner Herzog?3. Say something profound. Thu, 31 Dec 2009 04:23:28 +0000 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=459067 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=458385 mctrance Let's see what's due for school by the time I get back from Spring Break.Chem Lab write-up (I did the lab already, now I have to write all about it)Chem Take-home Test (Somewhat bigger than the av-er-age bear test)Spanish Men (Create a restaurant menu. Can't be too hard.)And what's due by the beginning of next month.English Critical Analysis (About Siddhartha. 5 paragraphs.)Senior Project (I did my volunteering already, I just need to write about it.)So what else is left?Calculus Alternative Assessment (This hasn't been handed out yet. I'm not sure when it's due.)Yipes! Wed, 30 Dec 2009 02:48:35 +0000 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=458385 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=457651 mctrance I know my journal claims not to be too emo, but I just have to rant and rage here. There are so many annoying little things going on in my life right now that I don't know what I'd do if a big annoying thing came along.--Colleges and branches of the military I don't care about contacting me by phone. I also get mail and e-mail from them, but I can't just hang up on a phone call like I can throw out mail. That's not how I roll.--My mom sprained/twisted her ankle. It's not too bad for her, actually--she can still drive. Still, it's worth mentioning.--I gotta pay $400 so my place at Temple is reserved. So I gotta get a job, quick.--Too much important mail. I can't deal with it all!--My house is so dirty. It always has been, but it's been bothering me more than ever recently. Almost every room is dirty, and it's very difficult to find things. Which means I have to hear my mom whine (not the politest word, but if you heard her you'd agree "whine" is the only word for it) when she loses something. And of course, it's also disgusting.--Mom and the boys just cannot get along. Jon just disregards everything mom tells him/tells him to do, and David's the same way when he's around Jon. And mom just yells about how disobedient they are, and I don't want to hear it, and Jon and Dave yell back, and I don't want to hear that either. I have yet to meet and really get to know anyone who's worse than my brother Jon. Even the class-disrupters in school will respect some authority. Jon and I have been raised in the same house by the same parents, but we are quite different. I think the reason I am so well-behaved and Jon is not is this: I was sensitive to my parents' yelling as a child, so I tried to stop getting into trouble. Jon is not sensitive to yelling, or whatever other punishment my parents did (early on it was spanking, but they haven't done that in a while, now it's just yelling and grounding). And while they took him to Sunday school, they never bothered to really teach the Bible's principles to Jon (or the rest of us), and he just doesn't have a reason to care about anybody but himself. Tue, 29 Dec 2009 01:34:05 +0000 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=457651 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=456939 mctrance Gotta love Pink Floyd's "Echoes." The more I listen to that song, the better it gets.Me and mom saw "Capote" last night. Amazing movie...I didn't have much anything planned, so it worked out good. We got there early, but the seats filled up pretty quickly. There were more elderly people than I expected to see at an R-rated movie. Not that that's a bad thing. Gabby came when the previews were about to start, but I didn't talk to her or mention it to mom. When "sound test" came on, some of the old people started to complain about the volume. It eventually went completely silent (I think it's supposed to do that), and one man commented "that's perfect." Ho, ho. There were only two previews, but I've expect that from this theater, since it's an art theater with one theater and one movie a week (actually, this one was held over and in its third week). The Three Burials...movie looks good, although I probably won't see it. I don't see R-rated movies regularly; this was the first time I saw one in a theater. The film is about Truman Capote, a famous American writer. The movie starts in 1959, with the murder of a family of four in Kansas. Capote lives in Alabama, but that doesn't stop him from wanting to write an article about the murder. He says he doesn't care if the murderers are caught or not. The murderers are caught, and he gets to speak to them. He understands that he's not going to write an article now; he's going to write a book. There are several things that stand out about Capote. First are his strange mannerisms. "The way I am," he says, "the way I talk." Second is how Harper Lee follows him everywhere. I knew they were friends since childhood (he's said to be the basis for Dil in "To Kill a Mockingbird"), but I didn't know they were this close. When he calls her his "personal bodyguard," he's not exaggerating much. Third is how he manipulates people to get the information he needs. I won't elaborate on that. The film is rated R for "violent images and brief strong language." The language is indeed brief, and certainly couldn't have gotten it the R rating. The violent images are indeed violent--one of the Clutters has his head blown off, another his head partially blown off--yet the movie never goes for shock value. The violence is downplayed as much as possible.Okay, I've read a bunch of books since I've last updated on books, so I'm just gonna give out-of-four-stars ratings. "Capote" gets four stars, by the way."Thank You, Jeeves" by P.G. Wodehouse--three and a half stars"The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde--three stars"Siddhartha" by Herman Hesse--three and a half stars"The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde--three and a half stars"The Trial" by Franz Kafka--two and a half stars Sun, 27 Dec 2009 20:57:13 +0000 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=456939 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=456454 mctrance Whoo! Update! I wonder if I should update more than like, once or twice a month.The reason I update is because Saturday, Feb. 18, I went to my first, and probably last, school dance. Don't think it went bad or anything, I just say "probably last" because I think the next dance will be the prom, which I will probably won't be able to afford. Funny how the contraction for "will not" is "won't." Back on subject! The dance was a semi-formal, which normally just means no t-shirt and jeans. I think. I've never been to another semi-formal. But this semi-formal was entitled "The Black and White Affair," implied that we had to, or should, wear black and white, not that we had to go in interracial couples, or that Latinos and Asians were not allowed. Back on subject! I wore a long-sleeved white dress shirt and black dress pants, with tight pockets way up high. No left back pocket. I don't know why. No black overcoat or tie, although those may have gotten me nominated for "best dressed" if I wanted to be "best dressed." I had no date because I invited no girl. This is mostly because I felt that the girls I knew well enough were taken, or just didn't want to go. Actually, I could have and should have asked Jewelie, but I didn't. Not enough self-confidence to walk over to that other lunch table and ask her to go the semi-formal with me, I guess. I arrived at the fancy dining hall/dancing place which I will call "the castle" at 5:52. I was sure that it would've been later than that, considering how David cut his finger at the last minute and Mom took the long way to the castle, but no. I walked in the door: I was inside of a long hall with doors in front of me, and doors way to the left. I did not explore the doors, went back outside to the car to see if we had the right door. After all, shouldn't Mr. Bow be waiting outside? But then I saw Pat and his date, and I knew I could stay with Pat if things came to the worst. We waited in the hall, not exploring any doors. Justin and his date came in. Justin explored the doors in front of us, and it led to the right place. I saw Mr. Bow. I went out, told mom she could go home now, then went back inside. Mr. Bow, Pat and I talked a bit about Speech and Debate Club, I picked a seat, then picked a different seat. Pat and his date, Justin and his date, and I waited and talked a bit until more people showed up, and we did more talking. I met Steven, the #1 guy in his class, for the first time. He had no idea who I was, which I expected. I talked to Luis, who I hadn't seen since the Summer. We waited 'til 7, then we ate. I went up for seconds. Then some people started dancing rather provocativly, and most people just sat and waited. After a while, nearly everyone got up and danced. I realized that some people (guys) would just stand on the dance floor, just moving their knees a bit, and they didn't get laughed at. I did the same. Then eventually Juan and Phong prompted me to dance, and after watching them, I did. I didn't do it very well, but believe it or not, they seemed to like it more than my standing around. Some guys still stood around (or sat) most of the time, which was alright. Didn't look like much fun, though. There were about 3 1/2 hours of dancing; most of the time I danced by myself. I did get three dances with girls, though, and about 3 "all-together" dances like the chicken dance and YMCA. There were 4, actually, but I didn't know the electric slide and figured I'd just mess it up. And that's all, folks. School starts up again tomorrow. Sat, 26 Dec 2009 17:16:37 +0000 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=456454 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=455223 mctrance Today, the last day of school, was probably the most unusual school day I've had this year. The first four periods, normally my least favorite half of the day, required very little work. In the second half of the day, absences showed and it was not exactly the fun fest it usually is, and was even, in some parts, boring. In calculus, we were assigned some problems, went over the problems from yesterday, which were few. We had about 20 minutes left at the end of the period, which was spent talking about "Merry Christmas" v. "Happy Holidays," Christmas song parodies (including the 12 pains of Christmas), and being interrupted by the chamber choir out in the hall. In homeroom, Latasha noticed my rainbow shoelaces. And one girl sitting next to me laughed so hard (not at the shoelaces, something else) that she sort of fell on me, despite us both sitting down. That's about it. In gym...well, same old. I used the machines in the weight room then walked around the gym. In chemistry, we basically had a free period, but we had to use our time on one of our chemistry assignments (one was for extra credit, and he almost never assigns extra credit). Actually, I'm not sure if we had to or not. In Spanish, we watched "Fools Rush In," and took notes on it because we have to answer some questions on eventually. Not a good movie, but it's not as bad as the other two movies we saw this year. In American government, we watched "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." Mr. D has good taste in movies: the other movie we watched this year was "The Candidate." In lunch, it started out pretty normally. Jeremy and Carly played Canasta, which I don't know how to play, and I asked about how to handle a kiwi with the limited plastic utensils given me. Jeremy suggested scooping the inside out with a spoon, which I did, accidentally getting some juice in Carly's face. But at around 1:10, things started to change. Caitlin came to our table, talked to Jeremy about an Egyptian (card game) tournament, and then me and Grant followed her back to her table. At this point, everybody except for about three tables had mysteriously disappeared. Grant and I just sat there doing nothing, then eventually I went back to the other table 'til the bell rang. In English, we were given puzzles to do. I probably should've played Scrabble with Zach and Mrs. Palen instead, but I kinda ruined the last game we had. To be specific, I took up the good spaces with three-letter words. In Computer Art, we had a somewhat-new assignment (it's related to the last one we did) explained to us, and we started it. Fairly normal day. And in the end, I hung around at the school store. Thu, 24 Dec 2009 12:05:42 +0000 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=455223 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=454613 mctrance (Stolen from Lyndsey.)Take the first sentence (or 2) from the first post of each month of 2005. That's your year in review.January: I had a blast in the time I spent at church for New Year's Eve.February: Will my journal ever amount to much more than school and church stories?March: I'm currently reading "Life, the Universe and Everything" by Douglas Adams.April:I'm gonna have a hard time remembering everything from Saturday at ENC.May: I didn't tell you about how the art show went yet? Dang, I'm really behind.June: Adam and Lori had their baby.July: Megan's back from Creation!August: I got two CDs at J.O.Y yesterday: "The Everglow" by Mae and "Falling Down" by steve.September: What has happened down here is the wind have changedOctober: "School Spirit Week."November: First quarter's over. Yay.December: Ka ra ra boom-dee-ay! There is a two-hour delay! Wed, 23 Dec 2009 08:01:09 +0000 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=454613 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=454012 mctrance Ka ra ra boom-dee-ay! There is a two-hour delay!Anyway, back to stuff. Albright, Temple, Pittsburgh or Penn State? Well, I don't know if Temple or PSU accepted me yet (although I got something from Temple that lets me check my status online, which I haven't done yet). But I'll say which one I want anyway, and it is Temple. As far as the film program goes, it looks like Temple and Pitt are the best, I dunno which one's better. But Temple's campus just impressed me more all around. 1) It's easier to tell where you're at. Pittsburgh's campus mixes with the city too well, not to mention mixing with Carnegie Melon (another college near Pitt). As Phong described it: "I gotta get to my next class...oh wait, that's a mall!"2) Better cafeteria. All the schools I went to besides Albright had puzzling cafeterias, but Temple's range of food makes up for its complex system. Which I'll probably get over after the first week anyway. Pitt's cafeteria doesn't look like it has much more to offer than my high school's cafe.3) Closer to home. I'm not sure how much I'll want to be going home, but at least the option's there.I saw Chronicles of Narnia on Friday, it was good. It was fairly faithful to the book, but the details were changed enough to keep my interest.Now for my next journal! Tue, 22 Dec 2009 04:58:49 +0000 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=454012 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=453391 mctrance So I'm back from the University of Pittsurgh. I wasn't as impressed with it as with Temple University, and I can't figure out why...the best reason I can think of is that Temple was the first good college trip I had. Still, if I can't think of a better reason to go to Pitt than Temple, I'll probably go to Temple, since it's closer.Gotta do homework...argh! Mon, 21 Dec 2009 03:44:26 +0000 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=453391 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=452120 mctrance "School Spirit Week." Today was pajama day, but I don't wear 'em, so I didn't participate. Tomorrow's twin day, and I'm wearing a green shirt and black pants. I guess I'm gonna be Melissa's twin.You'd think that the twins moving into the attic into their own room, separate from mine, would stop all the fighting at night. And it has toned down a bit, but still. Consider this conversation from tonight, as Jon talked with mom about getting a blanket that was on top of a table in my room. Mom picked up some denim scraps on the table, threw them into a basket. Jon commented on how I don't take care of my room, although my blanket is still cat pee-less. Seeing the empty table (meaning that it no longer had Jon and David's stuff on it), I asked "Mom, did you move Jon and David's stuff from the table?" Then mom told me rudely that she was doing the best she could, reminded me of what happened to Jon's finger, and told Jon that I don't understand how she's only one person. Now let's think about what I said. "Mom, did you move Jon and David's stuff from the table?" Is that really such a bad question? (Mom did move the stuff, or somebody did, and she apparently forgot, or didn't notice. But nevermind.) Since mom almost never yells at me, why wasn't I surprised or hurt? Because, I think, it doesn't really matter if she's yelling at me or Jon or dad. It's all noise to me, and I think I'm just finally getting used to it. And I don't really think that's a good thing. Sat, 19 Dec 2009 01:50:09 +0000 http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=452120