Horrrible [CLASS] Field Trip

My not particularly bright [class] teacher decided to make us all (all of the agriculture classes, actually) go on a field trip to Cornell. It was mandatory, and part of our grade. My one friend managed to weasel her way out of it, but then she had to write a research paper.

As you know, I've already missed two days of school this week, and was not that happy at missing another. But what can you do? I asked Ashley to get my homework for me, and after homeroom went down to the cafeteria. 

It was 30 degrees out this morning and raining, which was not particularly promising for a great day.

I fell asleep on the way there. 

The first place we went to was to the (dormant) apple orchard, while a guy called Dr. What'shisface Justincasesoasnottooffendanyone Pseudonym rambled on about root structures and grafting and pesticides while we stood in the rain-sodden grass and caught pnemonia.

A NOTE: Some of these topics might be kind of interesting if they were standing alone, but the rain ruined any fun, and I'm not allowed to enjoy it, anyway, as that would make me an agriculture freak. Again, not that there's anything wrong with agriculture, that's just not my interest and also not the image I want to present to the world. 

Then, after an hour or so of torture disguised as academics, we got back on the bus and rove to the Cornell "plantation". The name plantation is misleading. It's actually a garden.

Admittedly, I liked this place the most, though it was kind of hard to fully appreciate it with the dull lectures, cold rain, and idiotic boys. My favorite gardens were the herb garden, which had an English/Oxfordian feel, the summer garden, with its yellow dogwood and giant magnolia, and the rhododendron and azalea garden, because of the beautiful lenten roses. 

Afterwards, we went to the lab of Ornithology. I love watching the birds and playing with the telescopes, but at the time I rathered to be with my friends...not that I could find them, as they all mysteriously disappeared. 

For lunch we went to the Ithaca mall. The table was full so I sadly ate my bag lunch alone at another table because I'm too mild mannered to tell them to budge over and let me sit down. I'll have to work on being ruder. 

But then Tirzah, Julia, and I all went to Borders for about ten minutes, which really lifted my mood.

But then we toured a sheep farm and a beef cow farm, and listening to dull lectures in the cold amidst noisy animals and the smell of livestock quickly served to make me miserable again. 

I fell asleep on the bus ride back again. 

There's No Place Like Home

I am so happy to be back. Nothing beats coming back from a vacation and getting back into routine and work and stuff.

Yes, I know, this is an atypical reaction. But frankly, vacations are great and all, but home is where I'm happy. It's where I know how to act. And I don't just mean my house, I mean school, too. I got to see all my friends today, as well as my non-friends and people I don't know. I also saw my teachers, and got a bunch of lovely homework. And I saw my sister and got into a large fight with her (at home). And I saw my first track meet, which drove any last possible urges to join track straight out of my head. And I also saw my room again, which is the best place in the world, truly it is. My room is the epicenter of the universe (well, at least my universe, which is admittedly rather small. But at least they know me here.)

Three cheers for home, everybody! 

I wrote a short bit of a story a few days ago. Actually, I couldn't put it down and was scribbling on it on a bench in the park and during dinner (this was in Sanibel). It's not that great, but I just had to get the idea out. I might post it, I might not...it's kind of long, and not my best work ever. In fact, it's rather disjointed, as I started slightly before the climax of the story again. I don't know why I always start there rather than at the beginning. It's difficult to write a story backwards.

Oh, and did you hear? Tamora Pierce's latest book came out: Beka Cooper: Bloodhound. I can't wait to read it, as this is my favorite series yet. I love Tamora Pierce books, but at least I'm not quite as obsessed as Ashley. She has almost all of them except three...and there are at least twenty. *grins*. Though, honestly, I wouldn't mind having all of them either (with the exception of the Circle of Magic Series. The characters really bug me in that one, and I'm trying to put my finger down on my problem with it. I haven't had much success yet, but for some reason the people just bother me.) I have been planning to get Beka Cooper: Terrier for a while now, but I may have to just buy it for Ashley and save up for another copy for me. Ashley's birthday's in May, and that's what I'm intending to get her (which is obviously much better than last year's present, or at least longer lasting. Last year I got her Little Debbie Nutty Bars--they were gone in a week, let me tell you.) 

I'm also following another incredible series...this one is the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull. (In case you haven't guessed, I'm a fantasy freak). These books are written really well. They have realistic characters and exciting plot lines, and the world that is created in them is really well crafted. The fourth book recently came out, and Emme got it for me for Easter (I guess I should be nicer to her, huh?) It was amazing! I was afraid to start reading it because I was worried that the author might screw up the plot or the mood or the characters, like another author did to a really good series. That worry didn't last long, of course. I'm glad to say that the book did not disappoint, though the betrayal at the end was hard. And it was one of my favorite characters, too! *sob*.

One last thing: Shannon Hale conducted an interview of Brandon Mull, and frankly, it's pretty funny. Here's the link. 

Well, fare well, wherever you fare, and may the wind under your wings bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks (This is the polite thing to say among eagles - I'm just as wise as Gandalf. The Hobbit - an awesome book. If you haven't read it, you must). 

Till your eyries receive you at the journey's end! 

Sanibel

What a week this has been! I can't believe that I only have two days left here. It's depressing ... though, admittedly, I do kind of miss home ... and all the books I forgot to bring. 

The prime activity I've done this week is bike. Bike, bike, bike. Yeuch. I am so exhausted at the moment that walking across the room is an Olympic feat. 

We went to J.N. "Ding" Darling reserve two days ago, where we went canoeing with Sid, Sadie, Aunt Peggy and Uncle Jeff. It was pretty fun, though I started to bake towards the end. We saw starfishes, egrets, and striped fish. We also saw two three foot long fishes jumping out of the water! It was incredible! (Though I was slightly disappointed that they weren't dolphins.)

We went to the time-tested Trailer Park, which is a small zoo. There are parrots and ducks, and even a few lemurs. It was nice, as always, but I've seen it several times before, and was, consequently, not that interesting.  Pumpkin and Fred the macaws are my favorite.

 Tennis is harder than it looks.

There's a lighthouse only a little way from us that we biked to yesterday. There were some parasailers by it. It looked like so much fun. I would love to do that. 

Today we biked to Sid's condo and went swimming. I got even more sunburned than I was already, which is just lovely, isn't it? I feel like a lobster. Owww...

Goodnight, kids. I'm too tired to focus for any longer.

Ocean

I spent a good portion of my day at the beach. The rest of it was walking to the bike rental, three miles away.

I much preferred being at the beach, though, kind of obviously. The water is incredibly shallow for ages, and really warm. Also, the waves really aren't that big. I must have been in the water for an hour, jumping into waves. The highest wave was only slightly taller than me, which isn't that big if you think about it, and especially if you're jumping it. And methinks there was only one or two waves like that, actually. 

I'll try not to make you jealous. 

Seriously, though, what I'm enjoying the most is being able to go outside and not have to brace yourself for colder temperatures. And everything is so green. It's so alive down here! Also, there are tons upon tons of lizards everywhere. You can see them every ten feet on the bike path, and there's more hiding in the trees. I really don't know what to compare them to up north. I don't think they have an awesomeness counterpart, unfortunately. 

I haven't tried to catch one yet, and I don't think I'll be able to. They're incredibly fast.

Lighthouse Cafe all the way! 

Planes, Trams, Unstable Suitcases, and Sanibel At Last!

After going to bed at 11:00 last night, I still had to wake up at 6:00. I can be so brilliant some times. But it didn't really matter, apparently, since it's eight o'clock and I still haven't crashed. Though the couch is very comfortable, and the warm breeze from the ocean is relaxing...

But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

I hate flying, I've decided, though it's okay if you have a window seat. If you're stuck in the middle, however, it can get really gross. Ginger ale helps, and that's pretty much all that I ate today...excluding complimentary peanuts and chocolate. 

In the Detroit airport, we got temporarily stuck on a tram. We got to our station, but the doors wouldn't open, and the emergency open wouldn't work. Eventually we got off, quite a ways from where we wanted to be. We don't know what caused it.

I am incredibly uncoordinated. I kept running my suitcase into things, including myself, other people, and stationary objects. 

Flying from Detroit to Atlanta, someone had a seizure on the plane. I didn't see, but we were worried that we'd have to land somewhere else. We didn't have to in the end, though, because we were close enough to Atlanta. 

From Atlanta to Fort Meyers, we got rerouted around the thunderstorms over southern Florida. It didn't delay us, and I barely noticed. I ususally find it hard to sleep on air planes, unless I can lean against the wall, as I did today. That was incredibly relaxing, actually, and I didn't feel sick. 

And now, it's eight thirty in Sanibel, Florida! It's pouring and thundering out, but it will be gone by tomorrow (or so my sources tell me), and as I wasn't intending to go out anyway, the breeze and the smell of tropical rain is just so...perfect. *happy sigh*

Who wants me to bring them back shells?