Potter Pastille?

So this week I found myself in an overwhelming sense of Potter Pride. It all kind of started when I watched the final trailer for DH Part 2. It was simply amazing and I can't wait to watch it in a few weeks. I then went on to finish up my re-reading of Goblet of Fire since I started it and the other books a few months ago, but school got in the way. This week I finished it and then promptly began Order of the Phoenix. I have been talking to all my friends about the premier and re-reading books and re-watching movies. It seems like I fell from my normal life of boring routines to thinking about Harry and his amazing world near 20+ hours a day. 


Oh, and let's not forget about the craziness of the highly-anticipated "Pottermore." I have a confession to make. I was up at 11:30, waiting as that countdown went closer and closer to the zero mark. I eventually realized that I had to get some sleep, seeing as I had school in the morning. I was sooo close though, only 1 and a half more hours... Anyway, I woke up the next morning, watched Jo's announcement video, and thought what everyone else was thinking "What the f#$@?!" 


I continued to ponder this exciting, yet, uninformative declaration, and didn't seem to fully understand the scope of it until I came home and watched THIS video. It seemed to make more sense to me, and it seems as if it as the potential to be a genuinely new and cool idea. But, I guess we just won't know for sure until we ACTUALLY see it for ourselves. 


It's ending. The final chapter is finally coming. I haven't really become a dedicated fan since recently, and I guess that has caused me to appreciate it even more now. I think that we should all take this short time we have left, and just completely nerd out as much as we can because, what other chance will we get? 


Awkward Moments: 35
Pages Read: 1419 
Why Today Was Awesome: Movie Day
Something I Learned: Rocks are Heavy
Song Stuck in My Head: "Always Remember Me" 
Email Subject of the Day: "660!!!" (June 24, 2011) This is, of course, in reference to my Bio SAT Subject Test Score. 

Jen's DALLAS Post

All right, before I start typing what I physically wrote out on my notebook last Tuesday, June 14, while I was sitting inside our hotel room in Dallas, Texas, let me just say that I am using Internet Explorer to write this post, something that I haven't done in a long while (I think since the early beginnings of this blog--I like Safari a lot). So this means that there may be some funky errors (which is why I am doing this with the least amount of formatting possible in order to avoid that).

All right, let's do this, I'm just gonna straight up copy what I wrote down, nothing extra and no corrections:

TODAY IS TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 2011
8:51pm (Dallas)
3:51pm (Hawaii)

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz.

I. AM. TIRED.

So I feel like this post should not be an update of Nationals at Dallas because I'm sure next week's post will be exactly just that.

So, should this be--what? Gah. I'm tired. I already said that. Huh. (See?!)

Okay, it's list-making-and-everything-in-between time.

#1: Number of times I wanted to just cave in today (we had the first four prelim rounds of debate): Too many times

#2: Number of times I actually did cave in: Never? Maybe a couple of times--but not completely. Never completely!

#3: States we've hit so far: CA, OK, MO, WI

#4: Times I've hated the judge: 468.342222221

#5: Times I've thought it was cold: 2 (That one time by  Gloria's restaurant and that one night we stayed up)

#6: Average number of hours of sleep for the past several days: 5-ish?

#7: Pounds I've gained since I've been in Dallas: 6? 8? I'm fatter!

#8: What I think about Dallas' food: SPICY. AND OH-SO-GOOD.

#9: Today's wish: I wish we could go down to the hotel pool--or the jacuzzi, if there is one--so I can soak my aching feet/legs.

#10: Highest temperature so far: 106°F

#11: Sausage links I've had: 0.5

#12: Times I've listened to music on my iPod: 1 (just this one time):

#13: Cool things I've seen: Too many to count (no worries, I will tell you all about them in a later post!)

Today.......
I really loved... HOMEMADE GOURMET RED VELVET TWINKIES!
I smiled because...these Okalahoma guys were surprisingly nice to us during our Round 2.
Lyrics playing at this very moment as I write this portion of the blog:
"Our relationship is complicated, sometimes it's hard to remember that you're even there..."
(Duet With Myself by Charlie McDonnell)
Friend of the day: Paquito
Hours of sleep last night: 6

----

And that is it for now. I will post later on this week and give you a summary of what went down in Dallas and that one will be considered my second post for this week. I'm working on it. I really missed Hawaii and its good, clean and tasty tap water.

-- Jen :)

P.S. Thank you for being lenient on the posting rule. I didn't want to come home to horseradish.

I'll Bake You Pies!

Hello!
How are you today. 
Good. 
That's good.
I like your shoes.
Are they new?
You should go to that new shoe store.
Oh, that's where you got them? 
That's cool.
I want new shoes.....


Oh hey. So the reason that Jen is unable to post this week is because she is currently in Dallas, Texas for Debate Nationals. Now, she physically wrote out her post on paper, but hasn't had the chance to put it on the Internet yet, so she is excused. This time. I could tell you about some of her debate adventures right now, but I will take the suspenseful approach and let her tell you about it when she gets back on Tuesday. 


This week, Summer School started and I have had Concept Physics which is a four hour class Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and six hour class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Now, I expected it to be a lot worse, but I am actually kind of enjoying it. The class goes by quickly, we are learning interesting and easy material, and the things we do are kind of fun. I also like how it is a small class of just 9 people, so it is kind of close. Oh and we have to do a blog, which I am enjoying, so if you want to see that, click here. Yeah, I'm a nerd. I'll fill you in on more as it goes, hopefully I will continue to enjoy it for the next 5 weeks. 


On the reading front, I finished "The Bully Book" which was an online book that was pretty much AMAZING. I loved the story and the feel of the whole thing. My only problem was that it was edited poorly. So it was pretty much like one of my blog posts....... Anyways, I started to read Goblet of Fire, from where I left off a few months ago, seeing as the last movie comes out in less than a month. Can I just say that that new trailer was amazing? It was amazing, right? Yeah, it was. 


Well, it's Father's day so my family is gonna go out to dinner soon, so I should be going. Jen's TWO posts are coming soon, so get excited. Alonsy. 


Awkward Moments: 34
Pages Read: 1299 
Why Today Was Awesome: OOT 
Something I Learned: Physics is actually kind of fun. (NERD)
Song Stuck in My Head: "I Wanna Go" by Winter Spring Pro (Parody of Brittney Spears song)
Email Subject of the Day: "ha ha yeah......" (June 19, 2009) 

And I'm Just Getting Started

What is this blasphemy? Kendall posting a full 24 hours before necessary? Poppycock. Well, yup, here I am, ready to spill my hopes, dreams, thoughts, insights, fears, desires, hungers, and anything else that flows through the seemingly empty void that I call my head, to YOU. YOU. The non-exisitent follower of this oh-so exciting blog. Is that how I address my posts? I honestly don't know. Do I talk to YOU, the reader? Do I talk to Jen? Or do I just talk to myself. Well, I don't want to look back at the rushed, terribly written, teenage angst ridden posts that I have posted in the past, so from now on, I will address these posts to YOU. 


So, how have you been? Good. That's good. Me too. Do YOU see THAT?!?! That is my failed attempt at small talk. If you weren't aware by now, I am what some people call "awkward." I know right, that's ridiculous. Me, awkward. Psh. But that is what some crazy few think, and that includes small talk. That's the worst right there, small talk. It's so superficial and unnecessary. I mean, you can ask someone how their day was or how they are, but when you do, you have to mean it. Just saying it for the sake of a conversation is outright ludicrous. All conversations should begin with the hard stuff, the juicy stuff, the important stuff. *SLIGHT TRANSITION STARTING NOW!* This reminds me of a quote from John Green, "Random questions are the least random of all questions." Do YOU ever do that? Ask someone a seemingly random question, but you are really asking it just to see what their answer would be? Sneaky, but obvious. Don't worry, I am guilty of it too, but it just seems like something interesting, another way for us to be more indirect than we already are. 


Anywho, did YOU read Jen's post yesterday? It was kind of amazing. Just saying. I don't know about YOU but I thought that it was one of the best pieces of work that I have seen in a while. Speaking of pieces of work, I am currently reading "The Bully Book" which is a terribly sad and depressing story about a kid who is bullied in 5th grade. I'm sure it will have a happy ending, but still. Sad. 


I start Summer School on Monday. Yay. Four and half hours of pure Physics fun. Oh and six and a half hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Meh. I think it will be fine. Right? It's only six weeks. Twenty-nine days. One-Hundrend Fifty-Four and a half hours. Nine-Thousand Two-Hundred Seventy minutes. Easy. Well, uhhh, bye. 


That wasn't an awkward outro was it? 


Awkward Moments: 30 (Oh boy) 
Pages Read: 1131 (Do online pages count? Because I have been reading an e-Book. Nope, they don't.) 
Why Today Was Awesome: LEGO HARRY POTTER.....
Something I Learned: I'm Dumb. Not that's new or anything.
Song Stuck in My Head: Still Alive by Luke and Ryan (NOT the Portal song) and Ruckus by The Young International
Email Subject of the Day: "AHH! Report cards!" (June 11, 2009) 

Shotgun on the Second Cookie

I leave for Dallas tomorrow! Woot! :) 


In another life, I would have been in China right now (probably on an overnight legit train ride to Hogwarts--ope, I mean Xian!!) with four other incoming seniors, an incoming junior and a coolio chaperone-io, off to teach little Chinese kids conversational English, live the life of an international volunteer, and eat legit Chinese food for three weeks (I'm salivating as we speak--next to Filipino food, Chinese food is my favorite . . .). 


But in this life, I'm packing up to go to Nationals with my awesome debate partner, our little LD princess (who is coming with us as a sta--I mean, observer, haha!), and our two rockin' coaches, off to debate US foreign military presence against mainland "spreaders", improve our now-terrible Southern drawls, impress and awe mainlanders with our Hawaiian one-ness with "da 'aina", and, of course, eat lots of the "nasty fried and oily junk food they have up there, all of which are not good for [my] skin" (haha, the words of my dermatologist's assistant!). And I'm excited. Like, REALLY excited (no sarcasm there, I'm serious!).


See how quickly a single weekend can change your life?


Before practice even began for States, I was set on going to China. Every time someone mentioned anything related to China, this explosion of daydreams would go off in my head: Great Wall! Chow mein! Terracotta warriors! Kung pao chicken! The Bird's Nest! Sweet and sour pork! The Forbidden City! Beef broccoli! Dim sums! Wonton soup! . . . you get the idea. 


But when I heard Mr. Teter call our names as State champs that night back in April? All of the daydreams began to come together, blurring into each other until they slowly began to look like a lumpy ball of . . . stuff. As I looked out into the sea of bodies, the whole room cheering and clapping (the loudest being our team!), I saw the lumpy ball becoming more compact, slowly collapsing inward toward its center. As Mr. Newkirk handed us the trophies, the ball got smaller and smaller and it continued to do this as Rachel and I walked off the stage, dazed and smiling, with our trophies, certificates and plaques. Then I looked at Rachel and she said, "Too bad we can't go!" and the ball completely disappeared. The next thing I know, the words "I want to go to Nationals" were coming out of my mouth and a huge smile started spreading across Rachel's face and her hand was tugging mine to go outside the ballroom to talk to Mrs. M and Mr. T right then and there and my fingers were dialing my mom's cell phone number and my voice was yelling into the speaker: "I'm not going to China, I'm going to Nationals!"


See how a single weekend can change your life? Except, I'm not really sure if it was the weekend, really, that made the difference. 


Was it Friday night, the night we broke finals? 
Or was it a single round--the semifinal round or one of the rounds before we even broke? 
Or was it a single speech--a constructive or a rebuttal? 
Or was it a single specific argument--maybe a stock issue argument or one of the disadvantages managed to secure a judge's vote, a critical one that pulled us up to the top four?
Or was it a single scrimmage prior to States? 
Or was it a single piece of key evidence that we printed out on Friday morning?
Or was it one of the qualifying tournaments--Districts, IDT, NIT?
Or was it one of the non-qualifying tournaments--Kahuku, Le Jardin?


Or, maybe, it was the moment that Rachel agreed to be my debate partner for this season.


--Jen :)


Today......
I really loved... packing.
I smiled because... of all the Chinese food mentioned in this post.
Lyrics playing at this very moment as I type this portion of the blog:
" . . . Undertaker, please drive slow for this lady you are carrying, Lord I hate to see her go. . . "
(Will the Circle Be Unbroken by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
Hours of sleep last night: 10 (I've been waking up at 9 every morning so far...)
Friend of the day: StarKid Potter


P.S. So I was checking out our Stats Tab yesterday and I find it weird and funny that someone got to this blog by clicking on a link on a website called "Save Marriage with Psychology." Ha!

Cropsey gave me babies.....

What is up with me and the last minute postings? I really need to get better at blogging throughout the week. Since it's summer, maybe I will be able to do that, but not really since summer school starts in a week. (Yay.) Notice how that "Yay" didn't have an exclamation point. Yup. 


Anyways, I was looking around my room and I saw my HP DH Part 1 calendar on my wall that was just very recently opened up to June. This month, it has some pictures of Xenophilious (did I spell that right? [Jen-edit: No, but close--Xenophilius]) Lovegood, and the Trio's trip to his house. It reminded me of the Deathly Hallows and how there have been tons of pictures of the Hallows on tumblr recently. It just got me thinking about how I never really understood why J.K. decided to use the Deathly Hallows. 


I mean, I get what they are, how they are used, and I understand their importance, but why? The book is already driven by so many other things. It wasn't like the other books that needed a new plot point to be introduced, just to have a story. Hallows or no Hallows, they would have had to go off to find Horcruxes and kill Voldemort. So why were the Hallows necessary? 


The Invisibility Cloak didn't really need a back story, the Resurrection Stone was nice in the end, but no where near necessary, and the Elder Wand seemed to have come from no where. Now I'm not complaining. I do like the aspect of the Hallows and the interesting plot points that they bring, I just don't see why she had to include them in the first place. She could have easily tied up loose ends in other ways that weren't as random. Either way though, the book was fantastic, regardless of the awesome yet random story inclusions. 


Yup. Anyways, I watched the mid-series finale of Doctor Who last night after graduation. Freaking Moffat. Again, Mo-effed. I took an extra SAT subject test just for funsies yesterday--that was a party. I ate some food. Yup. 


Awkward Moments: 29
Pages Read: 1121
Why Today Was Awesome: Crazy Circles 
Something I Learned: [Jen-edit: Nothing?!]
Song Stuck in My Head: Falcor the Urinator...........
Email Subject of the Day: "please tell me you haven't PRINTED anything yet!" (From Jen to me June 5th, 2010) Although something more interesting happened when I was looking for an old email from June 5th. I saw around the 7th that I sent an email to Jen with the subject line "Cropsey gave me babies through the Costco food court window..." 'Nuff said.  

I WANT TO CUT MY HAIR

I've made it a tradition of mine for years now to cut my hair every summer and leave it to grow over the school year. Since I started attending 'Iolani, getting my annual haircut after my last exam of the year has become more of a liberation thing--doing away with the past and getting ready for a new (and really hot) summer.


Except this year. 


Um, I wanna go to the playground so I'll come back and finish this later.


----


All right, I'm back. As I was saying, sadly I'm NOT going to cut my hair as a symbolic way to wave goodbye to junior year and welcome summer this year. I'm going to schedule my senior portrait over the summer (so I won't have to worry about it once school starts), and I'm gonna need long hair for that. But I will cut my hair IMMEDIATELY after the last photo has been taken (or maybe I'll wait until the pictures come out, first, just to be safe . . .)!


I REALLY WANT TO CUT IT ASAP. I've been wearing it up for most of these past couple of months because it just gets so heavy and gross (when it's humid) and irritating and ugh I just want to chop it all off. I have the thickest hair in my family. My mom and my sister both have really thin hair, so even if my sister's hair is as long as mine, my hair still has more volume. 


I've been playing with the idea of sporting a boyish 'do but I haven't really gotten a very enthusiastic response from those whom I asked. They don't think I can pull it off. But I used to wear my hair really short when I was little because I used to be very tomboyish and it gets really HOT in the Philippines any time of the year. I'm talking Demi Moore from Ghost kind of boy hair. Need a visual? Click here! Okay, maybe just a tad bit longer than that, but you get the general idea.


Anyway, YES, I am finally DONE with finals! *HAPPY DANCE*


I still have SAT Subject Tests this Saturday, but those will be all right. I'm not worried.


My summer does not OFFICIALLY start until June 5 (the day after graduation). I have exactly 78 days of summer if I count June 5 as Day 1. 78 DAYS TO MAKE THIS THE BEST SUMMER EVER!


Today....
I really loved...playground time!
I smiled because...I'm done with finals (finally!).
Lyrics playing at this very moment as I type this portion of the blog:
"...And IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII will always love youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...."
Friend of the day: Um, his last name is Smith, but I forgot his first name . . . 
Hours of sleep last night: 8


--Jen :)