Get Back in My Life....Come knock on my door.

Hello people! I'm sorry for being gone so long, but you know, for being a high school student who doens't really do much in her free time....i'm busy. I've recently finished an autobiography which now consists of over 100 pages of my life: from birth to current. It's called "I Haven't Done Much" and before you say that I have indeed done a lot, it's SUPPOSED to be IRONIC.

Nothing really significant has happened recently, besides the fact that, oh yeah....I GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL! The ceremony was pretty cool, but mostly I was just glad that I didn't fall down the stairs. That's always one of the biggest fears at those things right? It also rained right after the ceremony ended, so I got all wet and gross and it was just not fun. Eventually the rain stopped though, and it cleared up in time for me to go to dinner with Dad and some of his family. We went to Cheesecake Factory and it was DELICIOUS as always. OH! I have a great idea! Since my autobiography is up to current I will cut and paste my senior year chapter, because I'm extremely llazy and I would basically be reiterating the same information. Here you go:


My senior year started out fantastically and
ended up better than ever before. Being a senior at Broadneck, you’re
automatically on the A-list for every student event. As far as classes go,
seniors can take as many or as little classes as they would like. I originally
decided on four: Culinary and Hospitality Management II, AP Calculus BC, AP
Literature, and AP Chemistry. First semester, I was assigned two classes for
each day. On A-days I had AP Chemistry first period, and AP Literature the
next…then I got to go home. On B-Days I had AP Calculus second period (which
means I got to sleep in until 8!) and then Culinary for third period. I worked
most of these days after school, but it was still really nice to leave while
everyone else still had class.

Speaking of leaving, one of the biggest pains in
the first semester was my parking spot. There are two parking lots at
Broadneck, one in the front and one in the back. I was assigned to the back lot
for first semester…but that wasn’t enough. Because my last name is so far back
in the alphabet, my parking spot was ridiculously far back in the parking lot.
I was assigned number 36 and it was literally the farthest parking could get,
without actually being AT the library. Not only was parking there the worst
thing ever, I had to walk all the way up to the school, which meant I had to
arrive at least ten minutes early. But it was slightly okay because I had
someone to walk with most days. I drove Becca to school because her house was
really close to mine, and she didn’t want to ride the bus. It didn’t hurt that
she paid me five bucks a week for gas too though. Our schedules met up and so I
gave her a ride every morning, and then occasionally I gave her a ride home.
This continued into second semester, but I only gave her rides on A-days that
semester; but I’m getting ahead of myself.

As far as my classes go, I loved them. AP
Chemistry was consistently interesting, and we took lots of notes. I’m a note
taker, because I learn mostly by repetition. The one thing I didn’t like about
the class is that Mrs. J typed out most of the notes, and then just had us fill
in a couple blanks when we went over it. It was a good way to learn, and I
guess it helped not having to keep up with notes, but still…I learn better when
I can take notes my way. Needless to say, I added a bunch of little notes in
between the lines of the typed sheets. AP Literature was also very interesting.
Mrs. Stewart is such a character, but she’s a good teacher to learn from. At
first, I was worried that I got her because I had heard horror stories from
Jessie (the neighbor girl) and her family. However, when I first walked into
class she was really nice, and rarely got angry with someone unless they
deserved it. Again, I’m getting ahead of myself. There is a story that goes
along with right before I walked into AP Literature the first day. I was
meandering down the hallway with my schedule held out in front of me like an
idiot looking for the room. I walked past it twice, up and down the hallway
before I finally stopped for directions. Unbeknownst to me, the woman I asked
for directions ended up BEING Mrs. Stewart and I was standing RIGHT in front of
the room. I was a little embarrassed but she didn’t seem to notice, so I just
brushed it off and went in to find my seat. That class was one of my favorites
for first semester because I had a bunch of my friends in it, and the books we
read were consistently interesting. For the first semester, we read The Return
of the Native (By Thomas Hardy), Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales (By Geoffrey
Chaucer), The Tempest (By William Shakespeare), Hamlet (also by Shakespeare),
and Heart of Darkness (By Joseph Conrad). We read various articles also, but
they weren’t necessarily the focus of discussion. Out of that list of books, I
disliked only two of them. I absolutely detested The Return of the Native
because we had to read it over the summer before class, and it was the most
boring soap-opera-ish book that ever there was. Then, we had to write a giant
paper on it during the first month of school. It was pretty much the worst
thing ever, even though I did well on the paper. The second book that I
disliked was Heart of Darkness. Going into the book, I had been told that it
would most likely be difficult to read. Not only was it difficult, it was also
the most boring book ever. I’m not trying to step on anybody’s toes, so if
Heart of Darkness is your favorite novel: good for you, but I hated it.
However, I probably wouldn’t have hated those books so much if we didn’t have
to rip them apart and analyze every single detail. It’s like that joke on the
internet with the sentence “The dress was blue.” A teacher asks what people
think the author means and they go into a long and grueling discussion about
the connotations of the color blue and what it means to the writer. However,
all the writer really cared about was that THE DRESS WAS BLUE and didn’t mean
anything else about it. Anyway, AP Literature was pretty good. I remember one
day when we were reading Hamlet in class, Mrs. Stewart was acting out Hamlet’s
part with a couple other students. She got to one part, and just absolutely
SCREAMED the lines. It was pretty terrifying but then everyone laughed because
there was another English teacher hiding in the back of the room. All the English
teachers are friends (most are women too!) and Mrs. Geotzke walked in the room
to talk to her nephew. She knelt beside his desk so Mrs. Stewart couldn’t see
her and then when the yelling event happened, she just stood up, laughed and
said “I’m coming back next class to see the rest!” She’s a pretty hilarious
teacher; I think it’s because she’s so young so she can really relate to the
students.

AP Calculus was and is my favorite class from
high school, and I took it twice. Mr. Rundle was the teacher for BC Calculus
for my senior year and I had him all year. Since it was his first year teaching
BC Calculus, he was still figuring out how to teach things. However, since I
had him for the second semester of AB Calculus, he already knew me. We (my
friends and I) would make jokes and funny comments with Mr. Rundle because he
was always so witty! Even my parents loved him; he’s just an all-around good
guy.

Culinary and Hospitality Management II was pretty
much the same as last year. We learned some things, and we cooked some stuff.
This year was a little different as far as class size goes though because they
split the Culinary II class into two classes that each sat in with one of the
Culinary I classes. Luckily, I was in a class with some of my friends so it
wasn’t bad. Mrs. Zell still pegged me as her favorite student and even let me
teach the baking chapter to my classmates.

In November of 2011, I took the SATs for a second
time. However, I had other things on my mind during the test. After the test, I
was headed into Downtown Annapolis with my friend Hailey to participate in the
Capitol Chase. The Capitol Chase was a scavenger hunt put on by the Friends of
the Lighthouse and entailed walking around all of Downtown finding clues and
working with strangers to figure out where to go next. The day before the Chase
started I received a phone call from a “Friend” who told me where to meet up
with our group; this place ended up being the middle of the Eastport Annapolis
Bridge. We arrived early and then met up with our group. We headed over to
another place to be introduced into the game and then head off on our hunt.
Throughout the day we walked all over Eastport and Downtown, including the
Naval Academy, and then ended up at a reception for the people who finished it.
When we were finished, Hailey and I still had to walk seven blocks back to the
garage, and then went over to the mall for dinner at Johnny Rockets. Needless
to say I couldn’t walk the next day, but the experience was well worth it and I
made some new friends along the way.

One MAJOR thing happened this year: we were
blessed with a granddaughter/niece. Glenn’s daughter Brianna and her husband
Vinnie brought a beautiful baby girl named Diana into the world! She is the
cutest thing you ever did see, and she grows bigger by the minute. We got to
spend a lot of time with her on Christmas Eve Eve and I held her for the first
time then! I’m not big on holding babies, but she might be one of the
exceptions in the future.

Speaking of baking, Glenn and I competed in the
Historic Annapolis Gingerbread Contest for the third and final time in the
winter of 2011. Now, you’ve heard all about our Southern trip and we decided to
do a house inspired by those in Charleston, complete with double staircase. We
started planning in October, and started building on Halloween (since I didn’t
have any other plans). After one month of work, some hefty mess-ups, and one amazing
trip to Ocean City we came up with what you see below.



















It was huge, but I think it was one of the best
so far. We even ended up finishing a day early! It was displayed in Irish
Traditions on Main Street in Downtown Annapolis, and on December 10th,
we were informed that we did indeed take first prize again; in Karen’s words:
“It is kind of disgusting that these people won again.” We figured they were
urging us not to compete, but with me in college next year, we had already
decided not to.
Christmas of 2011 was one of my favorites so far.
I actually had a list which I gave to Mom and she got almost everything on it!
Those included: a Learning Mandarin CD so that I could learn to speak Chinese,
many different books (including one on knitting), Who Wants to be a Millionaire
for the Wii, Footloose on DVD, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer books. Now, Mom
went a little overboard with the Buffy books. I had expected numbers 2 and 3 of
a trilogy series that I had started and what I ended up with was all of the Buffy
and the entire Angel book series stretched in a line down the stairs and up to
the tree. All in all there are maybe 75 books, and I love each and every one of
them. This Christmas was also one of my favorites because I had money to spend
on my friends and family. I got Glenn a really cool ornament, some kitchen
supplies, and a scarf. This was not just any ordinary scarf; I MADE IT. I knitted
it with my own two hands! This scarf was the second that I completed and it was
a nice deep purple. The first scarf I made was given to Karen for Christmas and
it was a turquoise blue-ish color. Both of them loved their scarves and I am
currently working on the ones to be given out next Christmas. I got Mom some jewelry, a Black Eyed Peas game,
Baby Mama on DVD, and a Hidden Object game for her computer, among other
things. It’s almost impossible to remember every gift but I did get and give
some amazing things this year and I continue to use the presents I got on
almost a daily basis! Oh! And I’ve almost learned Chinese! Also for Christmas,
Mom bought me antlers and a nose to put on my car which I loved to show off
every time I went out. They were pretty snazzy.

For Mom’s birthday this year, Mom, Glenn, Bubby,
Aunt Teresa, Uncle Roger and I travelled into Annapolis to McCormick and
Schmick for dinner. It was pretty much a hit and miss as far as dinner goes; I
loved mine, but Mom’s had too much sherry etc. Remember, Mom’s birthday is on
New Year’s Eve so every restaurant is going to be crowded. We went there
specifically because Mom wanted lobster, however when we sat down we were
informed that they had run out…at 7:30 PM on NEW YEAR’S EVE! Mom was appalled,
but we stayed anyway. When we returned home, Glenn went to bed and Mom and I
stayed up to eat ice cream cake and watched The Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
It was a pretty good movie, although now I’m concerned about chimps taking over
the world. We watched the ball drop at midnight, finished the movie and then
went to bed.

Normally in January I would participate in the
Polar Bear Plunge. However, this year I decided that I would rather not jump
into the ocean in January. Of course, this ends up being the year where the
water is unnaturally warm, but that’s just my luck. When we returned to school
after the Christmas/Winter break, we prepared for midterms. Midterms are pretty
much the big test at the end of the semester, but this year the grading
changed. It used to be that if you got an A in both marking periods, it didn’t matter
what you got on the midterm: you’d still get an A. However, with the new
grading system (which every student in the county hates) you could get A’s in
both marking periods but then you’d have to get at least an 85% on the midterm
to keep the A. Doesn’t sound too bad? Well, that’s just the high end of the
spectrum. For example, I got a B and a C in AP Chemistry for the first two
marking periods respectively. With that average, I would have to get at least an
85% on the midterm to be able to get a B in the class and keep my GPA up. It
was horrible. I ended up doing badly on the exam anyway, but that’s just how it
goes.

After midterms, the semester switches and
Broadneck students get assigned their spring classes. Mine didn’t change for
the most part because they were all year classes; however my AP Literature
teacher changed. I went from having Mrs. Stewart to having Mr. Whewell. I was a
bit concerned because I had heard that Whewell was laid back and I was
concerned with the AP test coming up. However, once the semester started I
really started to like Whewell and the way he taught his classes. In this
semester we read Pride and Prejudice, Sound and Sense (a poetry
text), and The Importance of Being Earnest. I really liked Pride and
Prejudice; even though I thought that we spent way too much time on it. I
really enjoyed the story line, and did well on the reading check quizzes. Sound
and Sense was not my favorite only because I’m not a fan of poetry; I
understand it, I just hate reading it. To add salt to the wound, we had to have
a chapter read and a poetry explication due every class AND we were assigned a
chapter to present with a partner. My friend Michelle and I did Chapter Three
just so that we could get it over with. We did well on the presentation and it
was really fun hanging out to film the project. While we were working with Sound
and Sense we also got the choice of a book to read for Literature Circles,
which are basically a mini-seminar. I chose to read An Arsonist’s Guide to
Writer’s Homes in New England. I really enjoyed it because it was really
funny, and it was written in an informal style so it was easy to read. As far
as having friends in the class, I didn’t have many but I made a couple new
ones. Lee, Philip and Elena all sat at my table and they were very nice people
who I was acquainted with before; it was nice getting to know them.

My other teachers didn’t change, but the students
in Culinary II changed. I was stuck in a class with Kenny (who I’m not a fan
of), and some other people who don’t really do work. I guess I should explain
my dislike of Kenny; he’s just sort of degrading toward women and one of those
guys who’s cocky and annoying all the
time. Knowing that, I bet you know what I did next. Yes, I switched out of the
class. Since there wasn’t any other class that I wanted to switch into I became
a science aid. This basically means that every second period on A-days I went
around to all the science teachers and asked if they needed any help. I mostly
made copies and punched holes but every once in a while Mrs. Groh would have
something interesting for me to do. I’ve talked about Mrs. Groh before so you
know that I was already good friends with her. I enjoyed getting to know her as
a friend as well as a student throughout my high school career. I was an aid
with another student named Tyler. We had known each other from AP Language the
year before but it was also nice getting to know him as well. It was also
really nice on the days when we weren’t super busy because I was able to work
on my AP Calculus homework that was due the next period or catch up on reading.

AP Chemistry remained the same for the most part;
I had it at the same time, with mostly the same people. The class size went
from 20 to 30 which wasn’t that pleasant, but I dealt with it. My A-Days
consisted of AP Chemistry, Science Aid and AP Calculus. Now, AP Calculus had
B-lunch which means that halfway through the period we went to lunch. Since I
was a senior and tried at all costs to avoid the cafeteria, a couple of my
friends and I would meet in the library to play cards during lunch. It was
really nice having a break in between calculus problems.

Throughout the year I continued to work two or
three days at Miss Nancy’s Fancy Bakery. I may have forgotten to mention this
but we provide desserts for a restaurant called the Old Stein and on New Year’s
Eve in 2010 it had a fire which greatly diminished the restaurant. It took almost
a year for them to rebuild but in August of 2011 they reopened. Needless to
say, in August the bakery got really busy with all the orders from them, which
is both good and bad. Being busy is good for the business because Karen makes
money, which then means that I make money; however sometimes Karen gets really
stressed because not only does she own her own business but she also teaches at
Anne Arundel Community College.

Speaking of college, in the fall I applied to
seven schools to continue my education. They were: Salisbury University,
Stevenson University, Rutgers University, University of Vermont, Johns Hopkins
University, George Washington University and UMBC. On December 7th,
I received my first acceptance letter to Salisbury! Somewhere in January I was
also notified that I was accepted into Stevenson, Rutgers, UMBC and University
of Vermont! Each of those also gave me amazing scholarships and it was a hard
decision.

As far as other events go, I attended a Trivia
Night put on by the Music Honor Society in January. My team of new friends
placed near the bottom, but we weren’t last and we had fun which is the
important thing. In late January, our water heater sprung a leak which then
caused the water to be shut off for two days and for Glenn’s apartment in the
basement to be flooded. However, Glenn did manage to fix it all by himself and
all was well. There was one night though where I desperately needed a shower so
I called up my friend Kelly and asked if I could come over and take one at her
house. She said I could, so that was good and I got a shower that night. Also
in January, I went to an allergist appointment where we found out that my
allergy to dogs had become worse. I was prescribed two allergy medications that
I took daily which really helped but for a while I couldn’t even be around
Greta because she shed so much.

In the beginning of February, Glenn and Mom went
to a conference in Ocean City and I was allowed to stay at home by myself for
FIVE days! I made some plans with friends and family but still, it was really
nice to have the house to myself and pretend like I was living alone. School pretty much continued the same way and
I ran up to the mailbox every day when I got home. Scholarships and acceptance
letters kept rolling in (not to toot my own horn) and I got really excited for
college.

In March of 2012, I became involved in the Kony
2012 movement. For those not familiar, the Kony 2012 movement is a campaign to
help arrest Joseph Kony who is the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army in
South Africa. The movement is put on my the Invisible Children Incorporated and
there is a half hour video that you can watch if you would like to get
involved; even just a few dollars a month can help fund other fundraisers and
raise awareness to this very important issue.

As far as National Honor Society goes, I got
really close with the people in the Animal group. I was already friends with
most of them but there’s something about doing community service with someone
to really make you close. We did trips on Saturdays out to the Animal Rescue
Foundation on the Eastern Shore, and we did monthly food drives for the SPCA
outside of Graul’s grocery store. In the spring, the National Honor Society did
their annual Quidditch game which I luckily escaped by having to work because I
did NOT want to attend. According to Carl, it was extremely unorganized, and
not very fun.

If we can go back to March for a little bit, I
have a couple things to talk about. In the beginning of March, I went to work
on a normal Saturday and then planned to have lunch with Dad afterwards. Once I
downed the two pretzel dogs that we bought at the Amish Market in the Harbor
Center, we went over to the Parole Center to pick up a form that I needed (more
on that later). We ended up park behind the Blood Bus from the Anne Arundel
Medical Center. When we got back in the car, the bus was still there and Dad
was on the phone. During this phone call, my brain decided that it was a good
idea to convince me to donate blood. Little did I know, this would start a new
tradition. I went in, answered all the questions quickly, and ended up with a
needle in my arm before I knew it. Now, I don’t want to say that I “enjoyed” it
for fear of being judged for someone who likes
having a needle in their arm; however, I did enjoy having the option to do
something really good for the hospital and it felt good to help. About a week
later, I received a slip which indicated my blood type (which I’m not going to
tell you…creepers) and my next appointment. I’ll come back to this appointment,
because it’s much later in April.

On March 9th, 2012, I attended
Broadneck High School’s rendition of Little Shop of Horrors. It was a good
production with very funny comedy and amazing singers. The next night, I spent
some time playing cards with Grandpa and Myrtle which is always a fun thing to
do. Later in the month, on the 17th, I had dinner with all of Dad’s
family at Bertucci’s in Annapolis. This night is where I actually premiered the
first draft of this autobiography; but of course, it didn’t yet include this
section. During this dinner, I also met Dad’s girlfriend’s daughter who was
very nice; however, she was hard to converse with as far as carrying on a
conversation goes.

In the end of March, I found myself taking a
liking to clouds. Being the nerd that I am, I went straight over to the library
and checked out a book about them. I learned immense amounts of facts about
clouds, and continue to amaze my friends with this trivia, however trivial it
may be. See what I did there? Teehee, I’m funny.

Anyway, on March 24th (which was a
Saturday) Emily and I decided to take a trip down to Ocean City. We awoke to an
overcast day around 8:30 AM and went to McDonald’s for breakfast before hitting
the road. We spent the next two hours driving through a ridiculous amount of
fog, and finally made it into Ocean City. Now, in the city, the fog got even
worse! One could barely see one’s hand in front of her face! Needless to say,
driving got incredibly difficult the longer we stayed on the road, so we
stopped to play some miniature golf at one of the indoor courses. We had a ball
playing around and video-taping the golf for future viewers. I believe that the
score ended up that Emily won by one point, although neither of us was able to
get a free game with the last hole. After golf, we headed down to the Boardwalk
to get some Thrasher’s fries, which are a Maryland staple. Mine didn’t have
enough vinegar on them, but they were still delicious. The funny thing is, on
our way up the Boardwalk, we ran into MY DAD AND PIXIE! I feel that this might
have been addressed before, but for those who don’t know, Pixie was my Dad’s
girlfriend at the time; and depending on when you’re reading this, she may
still be! Anyway, it was just so weird that out of all the people down by the
ocean that day, we would run into them! We chatted for a while, and I found out
that they came down for the weekend, regardless of the crappy weather that was
currently happening. When we separated, we scoured the Boardwalk to find Emily
a pretzel, and then headed back to the car. We then took a pit stop at Candy
Kitchen, which resulted in a ridiculous amount of money spent, and then headed
home. Since we arrived home around 5 PM, Glenn was still making dinner so we
all ate together and then made s’mores by the fireplace. During this time, we
all decided to watch the 1982 version of “The Thing” and it…was…TERRIFYING. I
don’t mean like mildly scary and I just wanted to make it scarier; I mean that
literally our whole family was screaming at the screen because it was just so
scary! That being said, I’d recommend it for those of you who enjoy horror
because it was good in that aspect.

The next week, Carl and I saw “The Hunger Games”
in theatres. I had just finished the book that day and I felt that with the
material that the movie company had to work with, they did an amazing job
turning the novel into a flick. It was AMAZING and I did NOT want to wait until
November 2013 to see “Catching Fire” which is the next movie in the series.

That weekend, Emily and I travelled to Bowie to
judge the Devour a Book contest at the Bowie Library. Now, I’ve talked about
this before, but this year was different because I was the only one
representing the bakery. I mean, yes, Emily attended as well and was a huge
help with the judging, but what I’m saying is that Karen wasn’t there. It went
pretty well; however some of the cakes weren’t as good as we usually saw. A
couple of the cakes were amazing, but some were just plain…amateur? I know, it
sounds horrible that I’m critiquing children like this, but I’m also talking
about some of the cakes made by adults that weren’t that good.

The first week of April consisted of my Spring
Break. On the first day, the whole family went out to see “The Hunger Games”
again with Bubby. It was even better the second time because I picked up some
details that I had missed before. The Tuesday and Thursday of that week I worked,
but work is usually fun, so it wasn’t like I would have rather been somewhere
else. The Wednesday of that week was one of the most fun days that I’ve had in
a while. My friend Christie invited a bunch of people to go to Mago Vista Park
to play games and hang out. We ended up playing kickball, ultimate Frisbee,
capture the flag, hot lava, spud, and just plain lying around and chilling. It
was so fun, even though I was in an amazing amount of pain the next day because
I was so out of shape. That night, Hailey (one of my best friends during this
time), Mom, Glenn and I went out to the Mexican Café for dinner. It is pretty
much the best Mexican food downtown Annapolis that I have ever had in my entire
life. I would definitely recommend it to ANYONE. For the rest of the week, I
basically relaxed until Sunday which was Easter. I made a really cool Easter
cake, which I must say was one of the best cakes that I have ever made. Below
are some pictures of the amazingness that was that cake.




Later in the day, I came back to Mom’s house to
find an Easter basket filled with yummy treats and a book that looked oddly
familiar. It turns out that the new book was called “The Hunger Pains” which is
a parody on “The Hunger Games” done by the Harvard Lampoon. I had read the
parody that they did with “Twilight” and it was really good, so I expected good
things from this book. As of the time that I’m writing this, I haven’t read it
yet, but that’s only because I’ve been ridiculously busy with school books.
Even later, that day, Brianna,
Vinnie, and baby Diana came over for Easter dinner. We had ham, macaroni and
cheese, and broccoli. It was very delicious and just after dinner I captured
two of the cutest pictures that I have so far of Baby Diana. Here they are:











Alright, now it’s time to get back to that form
that I had to get the day that I ended up donating blood. Remember that? Well,
it was only a couple pages back so if you don’t, go refresh yourself. Done?
Okay, let’s proceed. Well, I was in the Parole Center because I had to pick up
a form to send off for FREE tickets to be in a Jeopardy! audience! It ended up
that they sent us back four tickets so I got to ask Hailey (who is also a fan
of Jeopardy!) if she would like to attend. On April 21st, we all
drove up to Washington D.C. to see the show! We waited in line for about a half
hour, just as a thunderstorm rolled in, and then finally got to our seats. We
were on the side, and pretty far up in the arena, but we still had a pretty
good view because we were near the end of a row. The tournament was pretty
good, and I can’t necessarily talk about the contestants under Jeopardy! oath
so that’s basically all you get.

Let’s go back for a moment because this next
topic warrants a bit of explanation. Now, you all know that I took all AP
classes this year, which all culminate in the AP test at the end of the year.
Those AP tests take place in the middle of May, from the 9th to the
18th. Well, each class has different review techniques. In calculus
BC, Mr. Rundle allowed three weeks before the test to go over review topics and
take practice sections. In chemistry, Ms. J decided that we would just take a
full-length practice test (which basically killed me) and then go over it
before the test. Finally, in lit, Mr. Whewell focused mostly on the essays and
helping each of us figure out how to write each of the three essays that are
required. I found Mr. Rundle’s technique the most helpful but that’s beside the
point. The real topic of this section is the practice AP Chemistry test. I
ended up getting 2 out of 5 which is not passing, but it’s not a 1, so I guess
that part is good. Well, the test itself happened over two class periods which
consisted of a Wednesday and a Friday. On Wednesday we did the multiple choice
section, and on Friday we completed the free response questions. The Tuesday
before I had decided to designate for studying, but after five hours and a
practice test, I fell into a complete mental breakdown. I threw my review
books, punched my pillow, screamed and finally settled into a shaky sobbing
fit. Mom and Glenn came upstairs and helped me through it, and I finally calmed
down but it was scary for everyone involved. Glenn helped me realize that this is just a test and that I didn’t need to
get so freaked out. About a week after this happened, I read an article in Scientific American about how when our
brain gets extremely stressed the prefrontal cortex shuts down! The whole thing
just stops working! All of the functions that are normally done there
(judgment, critical thinking, decision making etc.) are transferred to other
“less evolved” parts of the brain and we are less able to make complicated
decisions! Isn’t that weird?! The days after that happened I spaced out my
studying more evenly, and ended up feeling more prepared for the free response
section.

On the 28th of April (which was a
Saturday), Emily, Hailey and I travelled to Davidsonville to help cater a
wedding! Annette, who is a family friend, had a friend who was getting married
and needed a couple people to come and work at her wedding. Annette called and
asked if I would like to help, and I agreed. Anyway, we went to the wedding
dressed in our white dress shirts and black dress pants ready to serve food to
a bunch of hungry wedding guests. When we arrived, we learned that our
responsibility was actually a lot larger than we originally expected. Things
were well designed in theory, but as time went on, we basically had to make
things up as we went. It ended up that we were responsible for setting the
tables, lighting the candles, pouring water, filling water glasses during the
night, decorating the wedding cake, cutting the wedding cake, serve the head
tables, clear plates, plate dessert, and then clean up afterwards. I’m not
going to lie: we basically ran the whole wedding. We were running around from
4:30 to 11:30 and didn’t return home and get to bed until 12:30. It was just so
much stress! Between the drunken people, loud music, and the caterers not
bringing enough food for everyone, we were ridiculously busy.

The next day, we awoke at 8:00 in order to get
ready for the 2012 SPCA March for the Animals. While running on four hours of
sleep (I slept in the bean bag chair ‘cause I gave Emily and Hailey my bed), I
ran around setting things out and organizing. Once everyone arrived, we piled
into the cars and headed up to Baltimore. The March went really well, and some
people I haven’t seen in a while were able to attend so that was really great.
I hung out with a bunch of friends, and finished my NHS service hours while I
was at it! All in all, it was a very busy and very stressful weekend.

Very importantly, in the last couple weeks of
April, I decided on a college to attend in the fall semester. What was it?
Well, it was Stevenson University. I decided to be a mustang! Looking back I
find it so funny that I wasn’t even considering the college seriously until I
went and looked at it. The school is small which I like, and the teachers all
seem incredibly qualified. After making the decision, I went ahead and bought myself
a Stevenson sweatshirt, and even put my name on the back. Yeah, I one of those kinds of students.

Going
into the first week of May, I was starting to really grasp the concept of
graduating at the end. On the second, I went back to Anne Arundel Medical
Center in hopes of donating blood again. If you don’t remember, I was turned
away the previous week because I was two days early for my appointment. So, we
get into the office, and I go back to the small room to answer the questions
and get my finger pricked. This time, I made it all the way to the excruciating
finger prick before being turned away for having an iron level that was below
the hospital’s standards. I was already having one of the worst weeks of the
year and that just added to the pile of things that was slowly suffocating me.
What happened that week? Well, AP tests were coming up and I was stressing
about that, as well as my computer breaking down, not being able to donate
blood, having a constant sinus headache, and just generally being very
fatigued. The week did eventually get better though because I had dinner with
Jessie on Thursday. We went to Ruby Tuesday and let me tell you, the service
was AMAZING. We were so well taken care of that I never wanted to leave! It was
amazing! The food was really good as well, but as soon as I got home, Glenn
scarfed up my leftover ribs. I let him have them, so it’s not like he stole
them, but the next day I regretted letting him eat them. The next day I
actually ended up staying home because I was really not feeling well.

The
weekend before AP tests, I really did try to designate for studying. It didn’t
work out as well as it should have, but at least I wasn’t having a mental
breakdown. In significant news, on Friday May 4th 2012, “The
Avengers” came out in theatres and shattered every opening weekend record EVER.

On Monday May 7th, 2012 I took the AP
Chemistry exam. Surprisingly, I thought I did better on the multiple choice
than on the practice. Now, legally I can’t discuss specific questions with you
but for the most part they were “medium” difficulty. The free responses were a
different story. I’m pretty sure I was talking out of my butt for the last two
questions because I had absolutely no idea what was going on. Afterwards, I was
looking forward to going out to lunch with Dad only to find out that he had to
work. I was disappointed, but we rescheduled and it was all okay.

Tuesday May 8th is going to be a
day that I will remember for the rest of my life. After the calculus test, Dad
and I went out for a celebratory lunch at Red Lobster. We were celebrating the
fact that I was done with chemistry for the year. Anyway, after a delicious
lunch at Red Lobster, I proposed that we go and see if my iron had gone up
enough to donate blood. For the previous week I had been taking iron
supplements and eating iron-rich foods in order to bring up my levels. Just ten
minutes later we were in the blood office and I was about to be stabbed in the
arm with a needle. Oh, by the way, my iron was in the “excellent” category.
Anyway, I got stabbed, and donated my pint of blood. Dad also donated, but I
was done before him. When the ladies who worked there sat me up, I began to
feel extremely dizzy and nauseated. Within ten seconds, I was leaned back in
the chair and having ice packs put all over my body. I didn’t necessarily
“faint” but I felt as if I was drifting in and out. The ladies constantly kept
me talking and gave me some ginger ale. Apparently, when I sat up my blood
pressure was way down because I didn’t eat breakfast that morning (oops!).
After about fifteen minutes, I was gradually beginning to sit up and walk
around. I finished my ginger ale and talked with Dad for five minutes before
the technicians said that it was safe for me to leave.

WARNING: This next part is graphic and
disgusting. For those who are squeamish, I recommend skipping over the next
paragraph!
Dad and I walked out to the elevator and my
stomach felt a little weird but I thought it was normal because I felt like
that the first time I donated. We waited for about two minutes to get in the
elevator, and started the descent to the parking lot. There were two other
people in the elevator when I started to get a little dizzy. I told Dad that we
should probably go back up, so he pressed the button. One person got off at the
next floor, and we rode down one more floor for the next person. In between the
third and second floor, the light in the elevator became so bright that it
blinded me and my eyes began to ring so loudly that I couldn’t hear. I started
to slump down and Dad caught me. While he was holding me up, I threw up on the
floor twice, and then drifted in and out of fainting again. The lady who was
still on the elevator basically sprinted out of the elevator when that
happened, but I don’t blame her. Dad was angry that she didn’t offer to help,
but she wasn’t a doctor, and honestly I probably would have done the same
thing. So, I walked out of the elevator supporting myself and fairly conscious
and went straight back into a chair of ice packs. The ladies at the blood donor
center were extremely nice and took really good care of me. Before I left I
learned that their names were: Laura, Jennifer, Tiffanie, and Robin. Just to
make sure they knew how much I appreciated their care I sent a little card
after a couple days. Well, five ice packs, one bottle of water and two ruined
shoes later I emerged from the blood donor center only mildly traumatized. It
turns out that when we got in the elevator, my blood pressure TANKED. It took
about twenty minutes to restore it to even a normal low. Eventually, we
got it back to normal, and I was fine. Regardless of this bad reaction, I vowed to
myself that I wouldn’t let that stop me from donating because it’s a really
good thing to do that for people.

On Wednesday May 9th, 2012 I took the
AP Calculus BC exam. Going into the test I felt really good, and as I came out
I only felt a little worse than really good. Overall, I thought I did well on
the multiple choice, as well as most of the free responses. Again, I can’t
legally discuss specific questions, but a lot of the other students agreed in
saying that it was most definitely easier than the practice tests we were
taking. After the exam, I went out to lunch with Hailey. Well, actually we went
bowling. It was quite enjoyable! We bowled three games and ate a whole tray of various fried foods. My arm
started to hurt a little where I was stabbed the previous day, but I worked
through it. I even ended up breaking 100 twice!

On Thursday May 10th, 2012 I went in
to school to take the AP Literature and Composition test. Honestly, I felt that
the multiple choice were easy, but the free response questions were ridiculous.
I was prepared for the one on poetry, but the one on prose and the open-ended
questions were harder for me. I’m not one of those people who can just read
something and then write a composed essay on it. My mind just doesn’t work that
way, but I felt good about my answers regardless. I did the best that I could,
and that’s all that anyone can ask for. After this test, I went out to lunch
with Hailey, Elora, and Carl. We went to Applebee’s and even though the food
wasn’t that great, I enjoyed spending time with friends.

The next few days of classes went normally. I did
not do much because I had taken all my exams already. Actually, in calculus we
(my friends Leah and Genevieve, and I) played cards. Occasionally, Mr. Rundle
would sit down and play a couple rounds with us. We played a game called
President in which if you lose you get called “scum.” Mr. Rundle didn’t like
this idea, but he played anyway; he even won a couple times!

For Mother’s Day of 2012, I constructed two games
of Jeopardy! for Mom and Glenn to play in the morning; except it had one twist:
all of the clues and categories had to do with the family! There were
categories such as “Family Favorites” and “Vacations.” It was great fun, and I
even made money to hand out to the winner of a particular question. I believe
that Mom was the one who won in the end, although Glenn was the only one who
knew the answer to the Final Jeopardy question. In addition to this, I gave Mom
some presents and we went out to breakfast.

On May 19th, Elora, Hailey and I
travelled into Washington D.C. to go to the Smithsonian museums. Oh, by the
way, did I mention that this was the day of PROM?! Oh, yes. Elora, Hailey and I
had decided not to attend prom because we do not like being in huge crowds, dancing
or wearing frilly dresses, which is basically all of what prom is. Anyway, I
picked everyone up around 10:30 and we drove down to catch the metro at the
Landover station. I was pretty excited because I have never ridden the metro
without being accompanied by an adult. We purchased our tickets and then got on
the train for the twenty minute ride into the city. When we arrived, we found
out way out of the underground and onto the Washington Mall. As it turns out,
The George Washington University was having its “commencement ceremony” the
next day and there were chairs ALL across the mall. It was a bit ridiculous. We
made our way to the Natural History museum first. The first thing that we all
saw after getting in was the IMAX theatre and it’s presentations for the day.
Immediately we all decided on seeing the Dinosaurs 3-D program. We had some
time beforehand so we walked through about half of the Mammal Hall, then made
our way up to the auditorium for the movie. The movie itself was riveting! I
felt as if dinosaurs were about to chomp off my face! After the movie, we
headed down into the cafeteria to get some of the extremely high priced albeit
delicious food. One cheeseburger down, we headed back into the museum to peruse
more of the exhibits. We saw dinosaurs, mummies, insects, ocean creatures,
mammals, and the Hope Diamond!



Having exhausted the Natural History museum, we
started the hike over to the Air and Space museum. However, on our way over we
saw an advertisement outside of the Hirshhorn modern and contemporary art
museum. Now, I’m not a huge fan of modern art but this exhibition seemed
amazing! It detailed an exhibit which used light in new and creative ways. Of
course, we were intrigued and HAD to check it out. We walked around for a bit
before coming to the exhibit but when we did…oh. My. God. There were these
rooms where one would wear booties on one’s shoes and then walk through rooms
painted entirely white. However, there were neon lights of red, blue or green
on the ceiling. The colors bounced off the white, and the participant actually feels the colors. Elora and Hailey
didn’t get it, but once we walked into the red room I did actually feel the
color. It wasn’t a feeling which gave me a particular emotion, but it was as if
I could feel the presence of the
colors. It’s hard to explain, but trust me, it was SO COOL. There was even a
string exhibit you could walk through:

After that exhibit, we explored the Hirshhorn for
a while, and then walked over to the Air and Space museum. For some reason, Air
and Space seems to be the most popular of the Smithsonian institutions because
it is always so ridiculously crowded. We walked around for a bit, but it was
just too crowded to have any fun. That being said, we walked back across the
mall and got on a train to head home. Once we got back to the station, we
discovered we had about an hour before our dinner reservation. We went back to
my house to play some cards and talk to my parents before heading out at 7:15.

We had dinner reservations at Kyoto in Severna
Park. We had our dinner cooked in front of us, caught shrimp in our mouths
(well, I did) and then headed back to play Quelf before heading out to see
Battleship at 10:20. For those who don’t know (which is pretty much everyone)
Quelf is a game which is very weird. There are a bunch of decks of colorful
cards which all have different stunts, or questions, or things that you have to
act out. It’s a really funny and very quirky game and I’d recommend it to
everyone out there. After we played for a while, we headed over to see
Battleship at the mall. It was a pretty good movie, but at that point I was
just so tired that I didn’t want to stay awake to do anything else. Originally
we had planned on going to prom breakfast, but we all agreed that the sleep
depravity of the past week wouldn’t allow us to stay out any later than we
already had.

The next day (May 20th, 2012), Mom,
Glenn and I headed over to Home Depot around eleven to get flowers and
decorative things to put in the yard. We spent almost two hours and $250
dollars on such things! When we arrived back at the house, we set out some of
the flowers and got to planting. Glenn had already mowed the lawn, so we spent
a lot of the time out in the yard cleaning up and getting things organized.
Over the next couple weeks, we continued working on Sundays to get everything
planted and beautiful before my graduation party on June 3rd (but
that comes later).

Fortunately enough for me and my brain, Monday,
Tuesday and Wednesday of the next week were HSA testing weeks. For those who
don’t know, the HSAs are High School Assessments which are given in Biology,
Government, Algebra One, and English 10. Being a senior, I had already taken
mine. In fact, I took Algebra One in SEVENTH grade and passed! Anyway, most of
the students (except those actually taking an exam) come in late, however the
schedule is weird for seniors. Having had [mostly] perfect attendance leading
up to this moment, Mom let me skip all three days. The Friday of this week I
only had to attend one class and then I went home; well, actually I went to
work but you get the point.

On Saturday May 26th, Dad moved into a
smaller apartment with his girlfriend at the time, Pixie. Being the amazing
daughter that I am, I volunteered to help them move. In actuality, it took a
couple times of Mom telling me to to make me actually want to do it. After a
while, I figured “what the heck?” and volunteered. It didn’t take that much
time which was nice, and then I had pizza with Dad and Pixie and Pixie’s
daughter Kelly. The cable guy was there too (installing the internet hook-up)
but he didn’t eat.



On Memorial Day of 2012, all of the pools opened
up, including the one in Dad’s new apartment complex! I was so excited because
I basically live my summer life in the pool. Around noon, Hailey and I headed
over for some fun in the sun. We stayed and swam for about three hours and then
headed home. I took and shower and then got ready for dinner! Brianna, Vinnie,
and baby Diana came over for dinner and then hung around for a while. At this
point, Diana was just beginning to “crawl.” The reason that “crawl” is in
quotations is that I use the word very loosely. At this point, she could propel
herself on the ground by sliding on her belly, but one could see that she was
beginning to point pressure on her knees and lift up her butt a little more. I
took another billion pictures to show my friends; here’s one of my favorites:




The following week was met with emotionality and
stress. It was the week of graduation! On Tuesday I attended my last class of
high school, and had my last high school literature seminar. I didn’t
participate any more than usual, but that’s to be expected. In addition to
leaving a lasting impression on my friends, I made sure to write out special
letters to those teachers I felt had left a long impression on me. The letters
were met with thanks and I truly believe that more students should do this at
the end of the year. I myself got the idea from a teacher’s wall which had a
letter from a student framed on it at the beginning of the year.

On Wednesday and Thursday of this week, I
attended graduation practice along with the whole senior class. We went over
etiquette (both for students and parents) and then practiced the whole
ceremony. I received my cap and gown and although they were unusually large, I
was so proud to be wearing them.



On Friday June 1st, 2012, I graduated
high school. Clad in white gown, cap complete with tassel and the number 12, I
walked across that stage, received my diploma and turned the tassel to the
left. Luckily, I didn’t trip down the stairs and make a fool of myself. The
ceremony was great, albeit ridiculously long. The two salutatorians and the
valedictorian made some good speeches, and they kept them short so that was a
plus. After the ceremony was over, I walked back into the tunnel and got some
hugs and pictures with friends. I walked out and found my dad, but then it
started to rain. All of a sudden, the skies just opened up and water poured
down on everyone. I shoved my diploma and diploma cover into my gown and took
off across the parking lot with my Dad and my Aunt Ellie. When we got into the
car, I called my mom and she was a little angry that she didn’t get to see me
after the ceremony. After sitting in traffic in the parking lot for a little
while, we cut across a field and went over to see Mom’s family at their car. I
got hugs and pictures with Bubby, Brianna, Glenn and Mom. After that, I got
back into Dad’s car with Aunt Ellie and Dad and drove over to the Cheesecake
Factory at the mall. We met Pixie, Grandpa and Myrtle there for dinner and had
lots of fun at the restaurant.





On Sunday June 3rd, 2012, Mom’s family
all came over for a graduation party at our house. We had more than enough
burgers and hot dogs and fruit and chips and dip for everyone. I got TONS of
money and cards and presents. Karen made me a wonderful cake that had the
Stevenson logo on it and it was incredibly delicious. I spent a lot of time
with the baby on this day, and I was especially glad because I got this
picture:

Oh, and I got this picture too: Now look that
baby in the eyes, and tell her that she is not just the cutest thing that ever
walked this entire world.




On Tuesday June 5th, I left for Ocean
City with Hailey. We were going down to spend a day or two of Senior Week with
our friends. We left about 8 in the morning and got there around 10. We went
out and lay on the beach for a couple hours, where we both got ridiculously
sunburned. In good news though, here was our view:


After that, we got some lunch on the boardwalk,
played miniature golf, and had dinner with Katie at Dumser’s Dairyland. After
that, we went back to the boardwalk, rode a couple rides, went through the
funhouse, played some games and came home. Everyone else was out at a party,
but since Hailey and I don’t like parties, we set down to just watch some
television and nurse our sunburned backs. After about an hour, we heard a huge
BANG right outside the sliding door. I waited a minute or so to get up and
check what it was, but when I did, I almost wished I hadn’t. Someone had picked
up a large rock, and chucked it at one of the glass doors on the balcony (we
were on the first floor). The door had almost completely shattered from the
impact. I called Megan, since the condo was her parents, and she came back from
the party. Together, we called and talked to the cops who then made a report
for the insurance company. I even got to keep the rock! All in all, senior week
was full of fun, sun, and friends: just the way it should be.

For Glenn’s birthday on June 11th, I
made a treasure hunt, which ended with him finding his present. I got him a
spatula from William and Sonoma. It sounds pretty stupid as a birthday present,
but that’s really what he wanted!

For Father’s Day 2012, I made a beautiful cake, and
travelled over to Uncle Rick’s house for a barbecue. I made picture frames for
both Dad and Glenn and they each had their own theme. I made a backgammon one
for Glenn, and a tree one for Dad. They both very much enjoyed their presents,
although I think Glenn liked his card the best. It had a bear on the inside
that danced; pretty great right? Oh by the way, here’s a picture of that
beautiful cake I mentioned:





For the next couple weeks, I worked two or three
days a week at Miss Nancy’s, while trying to get a second job. On June 21st,
I attended Mustang Day at Stevenson. My mom and I drove up to the university
around 9 AM and stayed there until 5. We went through student and parent
seminars, got to meet some new people, and even got my student ID. The picture
turned out really well, which is good because a lot of the other student’s
didn’t.

The next night, I had dinner with my future
roommate, Katie. This Katie is from Harford County, Maryland and we met on the
Facebook group for Stevenson Class of 2016. We texted and Facebook-messaged for
a couple months before deciding to meet, and the meet turned out really well!
We met at the halfway point between the two of our houses, which ended up being
a Friendly’s in Dundalk. The drive there, at least for me, was completely
terrifying because there was a HUGE storm rolling in. On the upside, I did get
one of those really cool monster sundaes with the mint chocolate chip ice
cream. They look like this:

The next couple weeks went around normally, with
basic days of work and then watching television with the family at night. We
finally got our entire trip itinerary figured out, and booked all of the hotels
in the eight cities we decided to stay in.

For my 18th birthday, I had Brianna,
Vinnie, baby Diana, and Bubby over for dinner. In addition to that, Dad took
me, Aunt Ellie, Grandpa and Myrtle to Cracker Barrel for another celebration.
On July 13th, we set off on our Northern trip!

There you go! My senior year, in a really long blog. I hope you enjoyed....and I hope you stayed to the end. I apologize if the format is weird; when I copied it, there were pictures.

Hugs and Cake,
Emily