I just got my scores from the ACT back... and almost puked. Or something else dramatic, I don't know. It was shocking.
Now the first time I got a 28, which is a pretty good score. I've heard somewhere that students usually get a lower score on their second time. I have no idea if this is true, but let's just say I was expecting something in the same range. Not... that.
So I sit at the computer thinking, I've got to tell my mom I have my scores. I swear, she's been way more anxious than me. This time around, truthfully, I didn't even care. But she came into the room and I ended up just staring at her. I couldn't say the words.
Because I am just not that smart! I got a freakin' perfect in reading. Okay, not entirely surprising, but...
...a 34 is just ridiculous.
I still have to wait for the written scores, and that will change things up. It's the only one I really cared to know anyway.
Now I just have to show Mom.
Feeling ridiculously... something, and all "Oh God"...
Shine,
Thursday, April 24, 2008
The ACT... again
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Chosen by Ted Dekker
(Okay, I must apologize sincerely for not getting this up on time. Better late than never? Anyway, sorry, sorry, sorry.)
I read this book as soon as I could get a hold of it, because, well, it was Ted Dekker. 'Nough said. It didn't disappoint. *grins*
It's April 21st, time for the Teen FIRST blog tour!(Join our alliance! Click the button!) Every 21st, we will feature an author and his/her latest Teen fiction book's FIRST chapter!
Thomas Nelson (January 1, 2008)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ted is the son of missionaries John and Helen Dekker, whose incredible story of life among headhunters in Indonesia has been told in several books. Surrounded by the vivid colors of the jungle and a myriad of cultures, each steeped in their own interpretation of life and faith, Dekker received a first-class education on human nature and behavior. This, he believes, is the foundation of his writing.After graduating from a multi-cultural high school, he took up permanent residence in the United States to study Religion and Philosophy. After earning his Bachelor's Degree, Dekker entered the corporate world in management for a large healthcare company in California. Dekker was quickly recognized as a talent in the field of marketing and was soon promoted to Director of Marketing. This experience gave him a background which enabled him to eventually form his own company and steadily climb the corporate ladder.
Since 1997, Dekker has written full-time. He states that each time he writes, he finds his understanding of life and love just a little clearer and his expression of that understanding a little more vivid. To see a complete list of Dekker's work, visit The Works section of TedDekker.com.
Here are some of his latest titles:
Adam
Black: The Birth of Evil (The Circle Trilogy Graphic Novels, Book 1)
Saint
Our story begins in a world totally like our own, yet completely different. What once happened here in our own history seems to be repeating itself thousands of years from now,
some time beyond the year 4000 AD.
But this time the future belongs to those who see opportunity before it becomes obvious. To the young, to the warriors, to the lovers. To those who can follow hidden clues and find a great
treasure that will unlock the mysteries of life and wealth.
Thirteen years have passed since the lush, colored forests were turned to desert by Teeleh, the enemy of Elyon and the vilest of all creatures. Evil now rules the land and shows itself as a painful, scaly disease that covers the flesh of the Horde, a people who live in the desert.
The powerful green waters, once precious to Elyon, have vanished from the earth except in seven small forests surrounding seven small lakes. Those few who have chosen to follow the ways of Elyon now live in these forests, bathing once daily in the powerful waters to cleanse their skin of the disease.
The number of their sworn enemy, the Horde, has grown in thirteen years and, fearing the green waters above all else, these desert dwellers have sworn to wipe all traces of the forests from
the earth.
Only the Forest Guard stands in their way. Ten thousand elite fighters against an army of nearly four hundred thousand Horde. But the Forest Guard is starting to crumble.
one
Day One
Qurong, general of the Horde, stood on the tall dune five miles west of the green forest, ignoring the fly that buzzed around his left eye.
His flesh was nearly white, covered with a paste that kept his skin from itching too badly. His long hair was pulled back and woven into dreadlocks, then tucked beneath the leather body armor
cinched tightly around his massive chest.
“Do you think they know?” the young major beside him asked.
Qurong’s milky white horse, chosen for its ability to blend with the desert, stamped and snorted.
The general spit to one side. “They know what we want them to know,” he said. “That we are gathering for war. And that we will march from the east in four days.”
“It seems risky,” the major said. His right cheek twitched, sending three flies to flight.
“Their forces are half what they once were. As long as they think we are coming from the east, we will smother them from the west.”
“The traitor insists that they are building their forces,” the major said.
“With young pups!” Qurong scoffed.
“The young can be crafty.”
“And I’m not? They know nothing about the traitor. This time we will kill them all.”
Qurong turned back to the valley behind him. The tents of his third division, the largest of all Horde armies, which numbered well over three hundred thousand of the most experienced warriors, stretched out nearly as far as he could see.
“We march in four days,” Qurong said. “We will slaughter them from the west.”
Friday, April 04, 2008
God and Daydreams
What do you do when God taps you on the shoulder? I swear, sometimes I think He does crazy things just because He can. For example...
Okay, you remember way back when, when I posted about getting my reading position at WRP? (Going well, by the way.) Yeah, well, I... didn't tell it quite how it happened.
Yes, Georgiana D did lead me to the site. But I mean, what the heck kind of reader goes and looks in the employment oppurtunities section for the fun of it? Not me. Not usually.
But that sunday, as I lay in bed thinking, daydreaming, I came up with an idea. A situation to throw myself into recklessly. For the heck of it. I do it all the time.
Every night, or every morning, especially during those times when you're half asleep and the dreams come like music, I take characters, mine own, from books, myself, whomever, and toss them into situations, clash them against people, that I could never do in real life. Or in a real book. *grins*
But then I started getting excited about this idea. I said to myself, What if it really happened? Wouldn't that be cool? And then I started saying, But no, it couldn't happen. It's just my head getting to me.
Never say that when God's listening.
Fortunately, I was careful what I wished for. And when I went downstairs, trying to calm my tense stomach and fluttering pulse, I got on the computer and went straight for the WRP employment opportunities, knowing that it couldn't possibly happen.
Who, after all, would want a sixteen-year old girl to proof read a manuscript?
Apparently, the Wild Rose Press.
There was one thing, one small detail, that wasn't exactly the same as my daydream, but I didn't care. Nothing could disappoint me. I was on top of the world. Nothing could bring me down.
Last weekend, we went to Randy and Cindy's house, my dad's brother and wife (with a baby due in June! awww). Saturday we went shopping around some, got a flippin' awesome smoothie... etc. We had planned on going to Half Price Books, but just didn't have the time. We would go the next day.
That night in bed, listening to the TV downstairs, so tired I felt feverish, I wildly abandoned myself to a daydream.
Half Price Books, back corner clearance shelves, browsing the $1 shelve... and I stumble across... Coyote Dreams. This book was on my mind because I had just picked it up the day before at the library after waiting over a month for it and I to converge there on the same day. I finally had my sweaty little hands on it. And I couldn't read it yet.
But I'm patient.
Next day, we go into Half Price Books and Mom and I head for clearance. As I mentioned in my last post I'm broke. I even forgot to take my purse. The only way I was buying a book was if I found it real cheap and borrowed the money from my parents until we got home and I could pay them with spare change. Most of it in pennies.
So we browse. And then I stop, my mouth gaping and odd sounds coming out of it. Sort of like a high-pitched "Unhh..." Mom looks at me and I at her, and I say "Last night, I dreamed..." and on.
So I pull Coyote Dreams off the shelf and borrow $2 from Mom. Because it wasn't on the $1 shelf after all. But I didn't care. I was on top of the world. And this time I was staring down at the world around me in awe.
I read the book that day, no more waiting.
So now, God's tapped me on the shoulder twice. You've got my attention. Now what?
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