Worst. Timing. Ever.

Tennis elbow. The day before tryouts start.

Michael Phelps

IS GOD.

But thanks to him, my family now thinks I'm crazy. What, jumping up and down and screaming at the tv isn't normal????

Back-to-school shopping!!

Here's my list...

Supplies:

• Pencil case
• Book socks
• Desk calendar
• Whiteboard and marker
• Binders
• Planner
• Flash drive? maybe...
• Pens
• Construction paper
• Glue stick
• Eraser caps

Clothes:

• 2-3 pairs of jeans
• 1-2 dress shirts
• 2-3 long sleeved shirts
• 1-2 sweaters
• Light jacket

Is there anything really obvious I'm missing? I have pencils and looseleaf already.

The plan is that my parents will supply my sister and I with money and drop us off at the mall. We'll shop, then probably have lunch there. Then they'll take us to Staples, and we'll buy fresh binders and folders and pens and all that good stuff.

Tentative date: next Saturday, ten am. I can't wait!

Things not to say to a beginning driver.

• Follow them! [referring to pedestrians, animals, or cars going in the opposite direction]
• [gasp]
• Eh, nobody does that. [referring to a traffic law]
• Do you know how close you just got to that car/tree/person/etc?!?!?
• Look over there!
• Well, at least you didn't hit anything...
• A few more months of practice and you'll be good!
  

I'm officially female. The internets said so.

Likelihood of you being FEMALE is 100%
Likelihood of you being MALE is 0%

Site	Male-Female Ratio
google.com	0.98
yahoo.com	0.9
msn.com	0.92
aol.com	0.82
myspace.com	0.74
youtube.com	1
amazon.com	0.9
facebook.com	0.83
target.com	0.67
comcast.net	0.89
whitepages.com	0.75
webmd.com	0.69
nytimes.com	1.13
bestbuy.com	1.11
monster.com	0.82
sears.com	0.98
wunderground.com	1.22
foodnetwork.com	0.63
tv.com	0.96
kmart.com	0.63
accuweather.com	1.2
epinions.com	1.17
oldnavy.com	0.59
gap.com	0.71
staples.com	0.98
nymag.com	0.92
hotmail.com	0.83
sparknotes.com	1
collegeboard.com	0.96
bathandbodyworks.com	0.4
navy.mil	1.33
columbia.edu	0.87
freetranslation.com	0.89
neopets.com	0.72
fanfiction.net	0.65
upenn.edu	0.82
johnmccain.com	1.27
gmail.com	0.9
audible.com	0.82
usa.gov	0.92
ratemyprofessors.com	0.69
uchicago.edu	0.89
hm.com	0.57
usanetwork.com	0.59
bravotv.com	0.44
delias.com	0.57
dreammoods.com	0.42
sc.edu	0.89
princetonreview.com	0.89
tudou.com	0.85
sallybeauty.com	0.36
thebreastcancersite.com	0.25
northwestern.edu	0.9
njtransit.com	0.83
brown.edu	0.94
freetetris.org	0.83
tufts.edu	0.92
collegeconfidential.com	0.96
kaptest.com	0.79
panynj.gov	1.08

Now, keep in mind that my sisters and cousins have all been on my laptop (uh, neopets? yeah not mine.), but they're all girls too.

Wow.

(From Bitch, Ph.D.)

Just got back

I taught little kids tennis this morning!

I had to wake up early, but it was worth it. Yeah, they're pretty bad. But I think I saw some improvement in two of the kids. (One of the others was already decent, and the fourth kid just kind of wandered around obliviously. Don't really know what to do about that.)

Dentist appointment in half an hour. Last time they told me I had the beginnings of a cavity that may or may not turn into one. I'm PRAYING it's not.

I hate the dentist.

An alternative to Purel

Now, I love sanitizing gel. I mean, I LOVE it. I love that you can just stick a bottle in a pocket and know that your hands are clean. Maybe it doesn't help as much as I'd like to believe, but it gives me peace of mind.

I've never had a problem with them smell of Purel. My sister has always hated it (which might explain why I don't) and thus has never really used it. But, as a gift, she got a bottle of Bath and Body Works' sanitizing gel that smells like yummy vanilla! And she lets me use it! Yay!

One month to go...

and I have a lot that I want to do. Some of it's practical, some of it's not, but there's only one month left! And only two weeks before tennis starts up.

Warning: this post RAMBLES. A LOT.

I was miserable in tennis. Twenty hours a week, for what was going to be five weeks, was WAY too much, even ignoring the obnoxious twelve-year-old boys who practically turned me into a homicidal maniac. It helped, obviously. My coach, who hasn't given me any private lessons since the beginning of camp, was watching yesterday and told me that I've improved a LOT. Over the past couple days, since I've been trying to look for little bits of happiness at tennis, I have been noticing that I make a lot more of the "touch" shots, that are all about precision and control, than I used to. I can even handle myself at net now, unless the ball comes too fast at my head. But, since I was miserable and lonely, we managed to cancel the rest of camp sessions I was going to do. Instead, I'll play with my dad and take a few private lessons. Plus, I was asked to help teach little kids next week at the indoor tennis place I play at in the winter! (Only con: it's at nine a.m.)

So all of a sudden, I have a bunch of free time! Yay! I already went to the library. While I was on vacation, I read Election and Little Children by Tom Perrotta, and The Firm and The Street Lawyer by John Grisham. Then, this week I read The Abstinence Teacher, also by Perrotta, and I have Closed Chambers and In Our Defense out from the Library.

Perrotta's books were recommended to me by my freshman Lit teacher. Little Children and The Abstinence Teacher were both good. I clearly didn't like them as much as he did, but they were interesting, and Perrotta is REALLY good at developing characters. I mean, REALLY good. The problem with that is that by the end of the books you could half-predict what would happen. Election, the other book of his that I read, was way more enjoyable, probably because it focused on a student council election, and I could see parallels between characters and people at school.

John Grisham is John Grisham. I don't think much more explanation is necessary, other than saying that I thought all the main characters in The Firm were seriously fucked up. And the guy in The Street Lawyer was awesome.

I've also been watching lots of TV (bad postscript!) and just sitting around. This is good for me, I think, because I'm STILL feeling the stress from last year weighing down on me. Plus I know about all the different Law and Order shows, so I have figured out why I like SVU much more than the others. I think it's because I've always loved shows with strong and (maybe overly) idealistic, yet flawed, female leads (like Allison Janney in The West Wing and Amy Brenneman in Judging Amy). And neither of the other L&O shows have that.

The other day I had a doctor's appointment and successfully argued my way out of TWO OF THREE shots they were going to give me. Yes! But the doctor told me that he could tell I was right handed because the muscle in my right shoulder is apparently VISIBLY bigger than the one in my left shoulder. I'm still trying to decide whether that's cool or weird. I mean, I can't tell. But he could. Weird.

I've been doing a lot more little things, but I feel like doing nothing. Maybe I'll write some more later. Or maybe not.

Things yet to come this summer: Volunteer work. College visits. Phone calls and emails. Shopping. And, of course, summer reading.