I hate spam. I hate it so much. I logged on to my email a few minutes ago to find that I had no less than 9 emails telling me I had comments on my blog from people like “Edwin” and “Diane”. They were all something about how cool my site is, and what a great web designer I am, and how I should visit their site too.

…Earth to spam people; I used a pre-designed layout. You’d think people would be a little smarter about this sort of thing.

Anyway, I fully plan on posting for real sometime in the near future. A lot has happened, but I just don’t feel like writing right now. And I’ve got school to do. And I’m not in the best of moods. So later, maybe.

Okay, here’s a post with actually recent news. I was going to wait until later to write it, but knowing me, I’d just put it off until next Christmas or something, so I figured I’d better do it now instead of finishing my schoolwork quickly so I can watch Star Trek. Dave sent me the first season of Voyager, and I’ve been itching to watch it, but my computer doesn’t read the type of CD it was burned to. Mom’s does, though, so I have to use hers whenever I want to watch them (correct usage of ‘whenever’ just for you, David). He also sent me Battlestar Galactica, which I plan on watching with Dad as soon as he has the time. Tara’s told me all about how cool of a show it is, and I can’t wait to see for myself.

Tara came to visit for two weeks even, and she left today. We told her it was a good thing too, because visitors that stay for more than two weeks have to start paying us per day for room, board, food, and travel guide services. And we’re not cheap. Ask Melissa. Despite just barely missing money collection from Tara, we had a great time having her here. The house didn’t seem so empty when she was around. Not that it does now, since Marvin and Winnie -good church friends from PA, in case you didn’t know- have come to visit, but in the week or so before, Mom and I were getting to be very grouchy with just each other for company during the weekdays. Anyway, when Tara was here, we spent the first week and a half home, doing a few things around our island, then went to Kaua’i and spent four days there at the Hilton. I’ve never stayed at a Hilton before, so this was a completely new experience for me. The pillows were feather pillows, we had people carry our luggage up, and the beds… Ah, the beds. They were so soft and cushiony, and the comforter felt like it was filled with feathers. Actually, I think it was filled with feathers. I haven’t ever been in a more comfortable bed. Ever. I probably would have slept the best I ever had if we hadn’t been in such close proximity to my parents, who have nightly snoring matches. Mom always wins, but some nights Dad makes a valiant effort. Poor Tara. She wasn’t used to it like I am (I had to get used to it reeeeeeeally quickly when we first moved here and stayed in hotels for two weeks or more). The first night, she spent a few hours lying awake, then finally moved outside and slept on the lanai. When we went to Wal Mart the next day, she bought earplugs and was happy the rest of the trip. During the morning, I would get to sleep ’til nine or so while the parents got up and went somewhere until lunch time. Tara would wake up early every morning and work several hours until we all piled into the car, got lunch, and drove wherever we were going. Well, to be truthful, we only did that for two of the days. The first day was spent completely at the Hilton because Mom was having horrible stomach problems and didn’t feel up to going anywhere. The second was spent driving around to places like Barking Sands. On Saturday we went on a catamaran tour of the Na Pali cliffs -which were gorgeous, by the way- and the next day we drove up to the Waimea Canyon and took pictures. And on the last day, we hung out at the hotel until the afternoon, did something else (I don’t remember what, exactly), and went to the airport to fly back home. Out of all the islands I’ve been to, I think Kaua’i wins for beauty. The Big Island is still my favorite, though. Volcanoes rule. =)

The 30-Hour Famine was a few weeks ago, and as always, it was tons of fun. Well, the activities and games were tons of fun. The lack of eating, not so much. I’m not even going to try doing what I did last year with writing out the schedule- for one, I don’t have that much time on my hands. And I kind of forgot some of the things we did, anyway. My memory can be notoriously short. I do know that, with everyone’s generous help, I managed to collect somewhere around $1045 for the cause. Definitely the most I’ve ever collected for any type of fundraiser. You guys who donated are awesome. I think that’ll probably feed about two and a half children for an entire year! (I know children don’t come in halves, but that’s just to give you an idea of how cool it is.) Oh yeah, Peter has to bleach his hair since we reached our first goal. And since some of us worked really hard to get his hair blue and it didn’t happen, he said he might dye a little tuft of it blue. Just enough to notice, but not enough to distract people. Works for me. ^_^

I’ve got about a million songs stuck in my head, and they’re all from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Tara’s gone and got me stuck on it. It’s like the more I watch it, and the more I listen to the music, the more I like it. And the more it gets cemented into my brain. I woke up several times last night with one running through my mind, and I just had to sing it, or else it wouldn’t go away. It didn’t anyway, but it was still fun. Tara said that when I come to visit in the summer, her and Dave and I are going to watch it together, dress up as some of the characters, and sing along. It’ll be dorky, but still good fun. For now, I have to keep listening to the music and learning it, so I’ll know enough of it by that time. Maybe even have it memorized. Whoohoo!

I can’t think of anything else to write right now, and I’m kind of tired anyway. I’d better finish up my geometry so I can go to bed. Our vacation has turned me into a wimp- I can’t stay up past 11 anymore without pretty much dropping over, and I keep waking up at -gasp- 8:30 AM, for no good reason! It’s horrible! I hope to remedy that very soon. >.<

Note: This post has been written for… oh… a month. The original date is February 6th; I just never got around to publishing it. So sorry, it’s all really old news. I’ll try to post more sometime in the near future.

That’s right folks, I’ve been converted. Ever since that trip we took to the Bellows cabins before Christmas, when a Star Trek: Voyager marathon was on, I’ve been hooked. Recently, and to my great delight, I discovered that Spike airs episodes of Voyager from 3 to 5 PM. So now I have an incentive to get my work done by 3, and even if I don’t, my benevolent dictator (you can thank Peter for that phrase) lets me do some of the less demanding work while I watch. Yay for Star Trek!

About my resolutions, goal two seems to be coming along better than I thought it would. I’ve actually managed to start exercising two or more times a week! I originally wanted to exercise five days a week, but I s’pose I’ll get there eventually if Mom keeps motivating me. And by ‘motivating’, I mean threatening to make me walk early in the morning if I don’t do DDR instead. Since I don’t like walking or mornings, and I do like video games, I opted for the latter. As for goal one, I’m not too sure about that one. It’s kind of hard to be mature when you’re a hormonal puddle (and you can thank Joy for that phrase). I just get these urges to bother my mother until she has to shoo me away, or to flop on the couch and whine like a little kid about random things that bug me. In between mood swings and other less-than-pleasant teenage traumas, I’m doing my best to be more mature and stop complaining so much. And lastly, the third goal… the hardest, and the one I think I’m doing the worst with. Sure, I do my devotions every day -that’s definitely a change- but I still don’t feel like things are any better. Some days I can’t get enough time with God; other days I don’t want to spend time at all. It’s odd, and makes me feel lousy when I realize I’m no closer to my goal than when I started. I’m going to have to do some serious work on this one.

By the way, four days ago, I turned sixteen years old! I don’t feel any different than I did when I was fifteen, and actually, I’m still not sure what all the hype is about turning sixteen. But hey, I’ve heard good things about it from friends like Joy and Arlene, so it can’t be all that bad! My birthday party was awesome- we went to Debbies on Friday for our Tuesday night dinner (it was moved so Bianca could get her school done on Wednesdays), and since it was my birthday that day, we had a party! Okay, it was more planned than I made it sound. The normal bunch of dinner friends was there, minus Christ (oops… I meant to type ‘Chris’), Monica, and Moriah, who were on the Big Island. It was Pirates of the Caribbean themed, with everything from a Captain Jack Sparrow and Will Turner tablecloth to PotC temporary tattoos. Kyle, Bianca, Karis, Klacy and I had a lot of fun with the tattoos, which we put on just before we ate dinner. And dinner was pasta- what else could it be if it was my choice? After dinner, I opened presents from everybody (which were awesome!), and then we had my substitute for a cake: triple chocolate brownies and slices of cookie dough. (Yeah, all I had to do to convince my parents to let me have them was whine “But it’s my sixteeeeenth!”) You know, if I didn’t know better, I would say that the adults were more excited about the cookie dough than we kids were… ^_^ Anyway, after all that, we played board games like Outburst, Taboo, and iMAgiNiff. While the adults played Phase 10 (I despise that game), I hung out with Bianca and Kyle, my now unofficial little sister and little brother. Beth, Jon, Kelly, and my parents and I ended up staying until twelve in the morning! All in all, I’d say it was one of the best birthday parties I’ve ever had.