Librarians do Gaga

Some University of Washington librarians did a spoof on Lady Gaga's "Poker Face." Sadly my mom (who works at the UW) isn't in it. It's really funny and I suggest you all watch it. One of the librarians (Sarah Wachter) changed the words and then spent a whole day shooting it. Without further ado I give you "Catalog:"

Just teaches you, librarians are cool.

From a ordinary middle schooler - Happy Memorial Day.

PS. I know you can't see the whole video so here's the link to Youtube: Librarians do Gaga

Long Post for a Busy Two Days

So I had a very boring week last week but these last two days have been full of things to blog about. I'll start with yesterday.

First in science we had random history lessons. We covered a lot of subjects that didn't have anything to do with science. Here are the things we covered:

• First we talked about World War 1. This was because my science teacher had the song "The Gangs all Here" stuck in his head. Then he looked up the lyrics and played the song for us. Then the whole class started singing along. It was pretty cool.
• Before I tell you what history lesson we had next in class you'll need to know some additional information: Everyday in science my teacher puts a quote up on the board and we have to copy it down. The quote he put up yesterday was from Gandhi. My teacher asked if anybody knew anything about him and no one offered any information. Long story short, he gave us a short history lesson on Gandhi.
• The next history lesson was a short one about the Jonestown Massacre. We spent a very short time on this so I won't go into detail. In short, one man got over 900 people to willingly drink poison.
  
• World War 2 got covered next, more specifically we talked about the Holocaust. All those innocent lives lost. It was really sad to be talking about a subject so moving.
  

The next two aren't history lessons but current events:

• We talked about how Greece is in an economic downfall.
  
• Then we talked about the Gulf Oil Spill. We've talked about this several times and my teacher urges us to keep up on current events.
  

You're probably wondering what we're studying in science. It's a really cool subject -- we are learning about environmental health -- how the environment affects human health.

While I'm on the subject of science I should say that we also get to watch some music scenes from popular plays. We've done this twice so far this year. First we got to watch two songs from "Les Miserable." We had a lot of fun watching those and my teacher says if we can ever have the chance we should see the play. Just last week though we got watch the song "Razzle Dazzle" from the musical "Chicago" We all had fun watching it! My teacher also says that the play is much better than the movie (which I haven't seen.)

Next, in PE we got to learn CPR. The fire department came in and taught all the PE classes CPR and the Heimlich maneuver. It was really fun and actually interesting. After we were down practicing on dummies our class go to play dodgeball with the firemen.

Next, it was the last day of an after-school program we have at my school and we had a giant water balloon fight (though I didn't participate because I didn't want to be wet for the 1 hour bus ride home.) It was so FUNNY! The staff had filled garbage cans with water baloons and water. Pairs of kids started picking them up and dumping them on people. It was the best time of the year.

Finally in English today we were really loud so our substitute teacher told us to be quiet or else she'd call the office. So our class started being really quiet, I mean silent. Then suddenly out of nowhere this boy pops his head into our classroom and asks, "Has anyone seen my muffin?" Then we all started laughing uncontrollably and couldn't stop. It was hilarious. Then we notice that a girl in my class is drawing oxen and mushrooms on the front board. That was when our class lost control.

This is a super-long post but I told you it was a busy last two days. By the way I might not be able to post this weekend because I have a lot of homework.

That was a very, very long post by an ordinary middle schooler.

Boring Week.

I know I haven't updated in one week. So today I'm going to recap what happened this week (which wasn't very much.) I've had so much homework at school that I haven't had time to update. Also it wasn't the most interesting week.

The funniest thing that happened this week was when my cousin (who's 18) drove me, my mom, and grandma to the mall. We used one of my dad's cars. When my cousin put the key into the ignition the windshield wipers went on full speed and the radio started blasting. It was so funny.

That's really all that happened last week, so you can see why I didn't update.

In other news there's only 17 days of school left!!! Summer is almost here!!!

A boring week for a middle schooler and full of lots of homework.

Big Rivalries

I had so much homework yesterday that I didn't have time to update. This means that some of the updates are a day old.

Today's theme: Big rivals.

Now if you haven't figured out that I live in Washington state, I'm telling you. Now any sports fan in Washington state knows about the big rivalry between the Huskies (GO HUSKIES!) and the Cougars.

My science teacher is a big Cougar fan. In science we were learning about food chains and webs. In the diagram in our textbook the cougar was the top predator. My teacher went on about how it is very hard to kill a predatory animal. Then a boy in my class (who's a big Husky fan) said he knew what can kill a cougar. Sadly my teacher fell for it and asked, "What?" The boy replied, "Huskies kill Cougars!" We all enjoyed that, well everyone but the Cougar fans, who protested.

Another big rivalry coming up this week: the big track meet. Tomorrow our track team goes up against our district rivals. It is also the last home meet of the season.

There was some very good news today: MSP testing is over. I'm finally done with our big state testing.

Also in the news: I found out another one of my friends has a blog. Here's her link.

Lastly I want to wish luck to all the people that are trying out for the talent show tomorrow. I especially wish my friends that have been working hard on a "Wicked" (pardon the pun) rendition of "Defying Gravity."

It's been a big day in the life of an ordinary middle schooler.

Interview with a Bus Driver

There is so much I could write about today but I decided that this would be the most fun (and have the best title.)

This started on the ride home from school. One guy asked our bus driver (affectionately named Mr. Bus Driver) what he does during the summer.

He replied, "Nothing, just like you students"

Then the same boy stated, "You don't even work all day, do you?"

He again replied, "You're right, but I also work at Cascade High School."

Then again the boy said, "Doing what?"

"I teach autoshop."

We all exclaimed, "You're a teacher?"

"Yep."

The boy again exclaimed, "I want you as my teacher, I'm taking autoshop next year."

This is funny because Cascade High School isn't in my school district.

On another note. More of my friends started a blog, here's the link to Andestese.

I've got to do some middle school homework now. Lessons learned today: blogs are getting more popular and how to interview a bus driver.

Brace-ism and Loser-ism

Yesterday I didn't have time to update, so everything I'm writing about is a day old.

Okay first - Brace-ism. Someone came up to me in PE and said that if anyone said that they wouldn't let you borrow a pencil because you had braces, to say your being brace-ist. This is a new initiative to stop brace-ism in schools started by students.

Next, losing is the new winning. Okay, I know that didn't make any sense. In my PE class kids seem to be celebrating when they lose. Why they do this, I don't know. It does seem to fluster the winning team when the losing team celebrates. I thought this was interesting. I'll keep you updated on this breaking news story.

In other news -- my friend started a blog. Here's a link to A Day in the Life of Me.

Just another day in the life of an ordinary middle schooler.

Mercury - No not that one...

In my science class we are learning about environmental health -- how the environment affects human health. Specifically we are studying mercury poisoning. It was hilarious - some kids thought that they were talking about mercury the planet not the element.

Today also marks my start with the MSP (Measurement of Student Progress), the Washington State test of academic achievement. Today was my first (of two) days of writing. Each day we have about 2 hours to write an essay (pre-write, rough draft, revisions, editing, and final draft.) It was insane. Some people finished in 45 minutes, other didn't finish until 4 hours. We get extra time in the library if needed. Also the schedule is all mixed up because of testing, we have 3rd/2nd period AFTER lunch. That is just wierd. Tommorrow we have the MSP math test, so wish me luck.

In English we have to make our own folktales and put them on videos. My group is having trouble. The little footage we had got erased so we had to start over. We'll have to finish it outside of school.

So videos, mercury, state tests, and a lot of middle school chaos. That's just a normal day in the ordinary life of a middle schooler.

The Guy in the Purple Shirt

The funniest thing happened on the bus today. Here's the story:

On the bus ride home today we saw a guy in a purple shirt taking the garbage can into his house. My friend sitting next to me started waving and trying to get his attention. Then my other friend sitting in front of us yelled "Everybody wave to the guy in the purple shirt." Now most of you would think that all of us on the bus would probably not do anything. You'd be wrong. All the people on the side of the bus facing the purple shirt guy not only started waving but they also started pounding on the windows. Yes, when one girl told the bus riders to do something - they did. Middle schoolers aren't known for following directions so this was interesting. It was also even more hilarious when the purple shirt guy did the you're crazy middle schoolers eyeroll/headshake/pretend to ignore us combo.

At lunch there was surprise. Remember the game that all parents and teachers used to get students to be quiet in first grade? The game was ironically named "the Quiet Game." Well my table started to have a competition of who could go without talking the longest. Does this sound familiar to you? Now this might be weird for seventh graders to do but not astounding. This isn't even the weird part, that's when they decided to have a one minute time out. Who does a timeout in the quiet game? That doesn't even make sense. The astounding part is that sometimes it takes up to ten minutes for us to quiet down so we can be excused for our 15 minutes of free-time after lunch. The kids at my table kept quiet for over ten minutes! Maybe if the assistant principle wants us to quiet down he should say "Everybody, it's time to play the quiet game."

Middle schoolers are unpredictable, but that might be the best thing about them because without it I wouldn't have all these funny and enjoyable moments to blog about.

Meeting Lisi Harrison

Okay awesome news: I got to go to a Lisi Harrison (author of the Clique and Alphas series) book signing and meet and greet. I got my books signed and even won a t-shirt.

Here is a link to her blog.

My friend Anna even got mentioned by name in her post. I'm also in the picture and had a great time.

Make sure you look under the Third Place Books section under Seattle on the post Mocktail Hour.

It was so fun and can't wait to see more of my favorite authors.

Perfume - not Just for Girls

Perfume - that smelly stuff that might even be worse than body odors.

Boys wear cologne that reeks. It smells so bad. One boy sprayed it while on the bus and I almost suffocated from the bad smell. This astounds me because I was almost ten seats in front of him. The cologne literally gives me a giant headache.

Boys aren't the only one with smelly odors. The one that girls wear isn't stinky, it's the name that makes me cringe. The name of the new popular perfume that the girls wear is called "Sexy." That's right 12-13 year-old girls are wearing a perfume called "Sexy." This isn't right, I don't think that these girls should be wearing this kind of perfume - we're 12 not 20.

These are just some of the thrills and smells in middle school.

Myths in the Middle

There are quite a few superstitions I've encountered while going to school. Some of them are weird and some are just ridiculous. All have been believed by classmates at one time or another.

• One that came up during my 4th grade year only had to do with girls. People said that if a girl twirled her hair backward they were dumb. If a girl twirled her hair forward she was smart. Looking back on this one may think the boys just wanted to get girls to twirl their hair.
• Before going into middle school, there were many rumors going on about what could happen in middle school. One of these rumors talked about a nervous girl who literally licked her lips right off. Yes. She licked her lips so much they disappeared.
• Another one talks about your birthday. One is said to have a lucky or golden birthday when there turning the age they were born on. Okay reading that you might not understand it. For example if you were born on the 15th of May, then your lucky/golden birthday is when they turn 15. Some say you get luck for a whole year others say it is only for that day.
• There was another superstition that also varies. It is that you can make a wish(es) when the numbers on the clock are the same. This mostly happens at 11:11, but some say you can do it at 12:12 or 10:10. Another way this superstition varies is that some argue that you can only make one wish, while others say you can make as many as you can in a minute.
  

These are some of the most popular myths in middle school. It's amazing how many kids believe them. Some are plain ridiculous and they still believe them. But these are just some of the myths in the middle.