Carakki

I'm going to Orlando this evening when my mom picks me up. I mentioned that my mom went to an AVID conference in Orlando; I'm just going to join her. I'll still be able to blog from there (they have free internet access). Don't forget to watch for opportunities for Grammar Points!

Finished. Joy.

I need to finish my online Algebra course, but all I really want to do is sort my Bionicle parts. Or make money. While I'm on the subject of sorting my parts, if anyone has some particularly innovative (or even well-working) way to sort their pieces, I'm open to suggestions.

So, my mom is going to Orlando until Tuesday for an AVID conference (she's a teacher). Before she left, I grilled her about ways to make money. She gave me three possibilities: -Clean Rosie's (the guinea pig's) cage: $5 -Prep the garage for cleaning: None, but clears the way for making money actually cleaning the garage when she gets back. -Nitpick: $10 per hour. Most of you are probably raising your eyebrows at the third option. No, my mother does not mean nagging, she means literally picking nits. Nits, for those that don't know, are lice eggs. My younger sister recently acquired lice. Though the lice have been eradicated, the nits remain. Nits must be slowly, laboriously, time-consumingly picked to remove them from hair. My mom hates lice, so she decided to pay me $10 per hour of nitpicking. In fact, she hates them so much, that she has offered to simply buy the phone for me if I manage to remove every nit from my sister's hair. Wish me luck.

Went to bed around midnight. Woke up at two in the morning. Went back to bed. Woke up again at ten in the morning. Went to church. Came home. Blogged. So, that's my day so far. But yesterday was much more interesting. You see, my mom is somewhat technologically impaired. That, coupled with a slight scatterbrain, has resulted in her being unable to properly use and keep track of a cell phone. Nine times out of ten, if you gave my mom a call on her cell phone, she wouldn't answer it. Sometimes it's lost, sometimes it's out of charge, sometimes it's out of minutes (it was a pay-per-minute phone) - so on and so forth. Starting about a year ago, my mom decided to begin integrating more technology into our lives (more specifically, hers) in order to become more up-to-date. The most noticeable effect of this decision, until yesterday, was her acquiring a laptop. However, yesterday, my mother finally decided to remedy her phone situation, and bought a T-Mobile G1, and a plan to go with it. For those that don't know, I'm the opposite of my mother in that I love technology. So, of course, I fell in love with the G1. My mom has agreed to add me to her plan as soon as I have enough money to buy the phone for myself. The G1 costs $100. I already have $40, $20 from mowing the lawn and $20 from doing some computer work for my mom. My goal is to get the G1 before July 11, or, failing that, simply before summer ends. But preferably before July 11.

Went to the school tonight and saw the play. It was okay. Not my kind of story. Not that I had the option to stay behind.

Can you do that in the US? I forgot to mention that it has to be doable, and I don't think my mom qualifies going out of the country as doable. Thanks for the idea, though.

The winner was Kelly Park. I'm disappointed that it wasn't Typhoon Lagoon, but I'm not complaining too much; Kelly Park seems like a really cool place. The next theme is to pick the coolest place or activity that begins with Q, X, or Z. If anyone has any ideas for this, shoot them my way.

The contest has been narrowed down to four entries based on popular vote: -Kelly Park, a tubing adventure with rock climbing on the side. -Segway riding, 'nuff said. -Go-Kart Racing, again, 'nuff said. -And yes, Typhoon Lagoon made it into the top four. The votes are all in, but my mother has ultimate power over the winner. The results will be announced within the hour. I hope it's Typhoon Lagoon, but I wouldn't mind Kelly Park (one of my brother's entries).

My sister got tired of waiting and coerced me into playing Dicecapades with her. It's a fun game (I won) with a lot of cool challenges. I think my favorite was when I had to roll 18 standard dice until they added up to 72 or more - in 30 seconds. Somewhat more interestingly, immediately following the game, we discovered a frog on our floor. I haven't the froggiest idea (ha-ha) of how it managed to get in, but it did.

So, I've decided to begin the reactivation of my blog by simply posting entries again. So, today is Friday, June 26. Not too much is happening today. My brother left at 10 a.m. with a friend, he'll be there until 4 p.m. There are two things I'm really looking forward to today: -The end of this week's contest. - Playing Dicecapades. I'll start with the first one. On Monday of this week, my mother announced that this week and each week of summer break hereafter, a contest would be held. The theme and objective would be different each week, and the winner of each contest (either by popular vote or mother's choice) would receive $20. For those who don't know, I have a 10-year-old sister and a 13-year-old brother that will be competing with me (I'm 15 years old). The contests open and close Friday nights at 8 p.m. This week's theme was to create a plan for a two-day trip. The destination could be anywhere in Florida (that's where I live), and you had to plan everything - times, cost, a hotel stay (if your trip takes two days; one-day trips are permitted). My entries (you can have as many as you like) are both one-day trips, one a plan for Blizzard Beach and the other for Typhoon Lagoon, both Disney water parks in Orlando. I suspect that I am not the only one that came up with these parks; investigation has revealed that all three of us have at least one 1.5-hour trip to Orlando as one of our entries (the parks take roughly 1.5 hours to get to from where we live). My brother mentioned that of his four entries, only two are good. My sister also has two entries. We'll find out tonight. Playing Dicecapades is the lesser item on the list, only there because we've owned it for almost a week and haven't played it. The game contains 133 dice of varying shapes, size, and colors, which you use to complete challenges and activities as you move around the board. Before I wrap up this blog entry, I'd like to reintroduce the Grammar Points system. If a reader ever spots a grammatical error in one of my entries, they will be awarded Grammar Points, and their name will be placed in a special content block along with the number of points they've earned. Spelling errors are worth one point each, and other errors will be worth two or three (depending on the individual error). I'll come up with awards eventually, but for now, good luck!

How does one decorate a blog? I need your help, mostly-nonexistent readers. Here are things I want to include in my new-and-improved blog: Set reviews.Bionicle Action Figure Game Reports.Me.Any ideas for decoration? Things I should include? I'm lost here.

Sorry to all that came here via the link from my Member Interview. I know my blog isn't very exciting. I'm thinking about picking it back up again. If you agree (or disagree) that I should, go ahead and leave a comment in this entry.

For when you get your Wii, I'm 100% willing to Brawl with you. Brawl is an awesome game.

It's good to be just Carakki again.

Yeah, I'm waiting.

I made it.

So, I'm in fourth period. The only thing I had to do today was take a quick 30-question test, after which I had free time. Have free time, the period doesn't end until 11:48. Today we had a variant of FCAT Writes that's essentially the same thing with a different name. As usual, it was easy. In cas it's illegal to disclose the prompt on the internet, I'm not going to. The good thing about this is that our schedule is altered to fit in the Writes. Here it is: Period 1: 7:33 - 8:13 Homeroom: 8:19 - 9:25 Period 2: 9:31 - 10:10 Period 3: 1:16 - 10:56 Period 4: 11:03 - 11:48 Period 5: 11:54 - 12:39 Period 6: 12:45 - 1:30 Period 7: 1:36 - 2:15 Period 8: 2:21 - 3:00 The writing thing was during homeroom. Until next time, folks...

Not so much. There's my smallish room with everything in the garage packed around it on three sides (the fourth wall is against the wall of the garage). Also, we don't put our car in the garage - no reason to.

Mornin', everyone. Not much going on today. My uncle's paying me a visit this afternoon to 'punch out' my room. For those that don't know, that's construction slang for 'add finishing touches to.' You see, I live in my mom's garage. No, seriously. Two years ago (roughly), my uncle built a simple room in the garage, and I moved into it. So, my uncle's coming over today to do some painting, caulking, and possibly wooden flooring. This process will probably last until the end of the week. So until then, where do I sleep? Also, for the record, I am fourteen years old. I'm allowed to live in my mom's garage with no harm done to my nonexistent social status.

So, I've decided to stop giving detailed reports of my day, mostly because nobody reads them. If you object, speak now. I forgot one very big thing when I made the List of Important Things That Have Happened Between Then and Now. Actually, it's so big, I'm surprised I didn't list it. As usual, here's some background: I'm in FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America), a club that essentially is about preparing you for a future in business. Every year, FBLA holds several categories of competition, from FBLA trivia to impromptu speaking to desktop publishing. Well, I love desktop publishing (which, for those who don't know, is the digital creation of printed objects such as fliers or edited images), so I entered the schoolwide competition. I was randomly partnered with another competitor (it was a team competition), who I later discovered to be the older sister of one of my younger sister's friends. Talk about coincidence, she attended my younger sister's birthday on January 28th (another thing I forgot to list). Anyway, during the Thursday meeting, the winners of each division of the competition were announced. Desktop Publishing at the high school level was announced near the end. The top seven teams are invited to state competition. Guess who got sixth place? So, in April, I get to miss four days of school as I enjoy myself in Orlando (yes, I live in Florida), attending various workshops, competing, and generally having a good time. Until next time...

Good luck.

Well, it's been quite some time since I posted an entry here. I plan to start blogging more often, and give my blog a theme. Anyway, here's a quick list of interesting things that have happened since I last blogged. A parent-teacher conference was held at my school Thursday night. My mom went with me, and I got positive comments all around. My mom tried to enroll me in AP Chemistry, and found that (as I told her) I have to take Chemistry Honors first.My mom got sick on Monday. She hasn't worked since then. It's a condition her grandmother had that has lain dormant in her for the past 29* years. So now she has to take about six pills a day, and gets both tired and thirsty very quickly.My mom finally decided to repair the dent in her rear bumper she got over a year ago when she backed into a truck. Of course, the truck was left unscathed.I've been playing Heroscape even more. Actually, I just suffered a miserable defeat at my younger brother's hands. Again, if you play Heroscape, let me know. I plan to make my blog more interesting soon. Stay tuned, folks!