Kelly Proclaims...

Honestly, I wasn't looking forward to graduation. I thought it was going to be long and boring and full of awkward, over-emotional moments. It was a fantastic time though.
"Better than any birthday, even," as my best friend Jessie put it.

I understand why people like performing so much.

Walking out in that stadium packed with people cheering was incredible. Sure, the families and friends were cheering for the individuals they had come for, but it felt like they were all cheering for me. It was a fantastic feeling. Nobody could keep from smiling as we walked through all our old teachers and saw them smiling at us with a crowd of thousands jumping up and down in the stadium ahead of us.

We felt special.

It was exciting to hear our reticent Valedictorian speak more than a paragraph.

For the next few hours all the hardwearing barriers between cliques were lowered, there was no status quo. This is a rare thing. Brookwood is notorious among the other local high schools for its tight-knit circles. The fellowship was as fair as the weather.

As I walked between the rows of chairs to get in line to receive my diploma, people widened their eyes, "You're too chicken, you won't do it."

For weeks I've been planning this. I had been challenged by my math teacher to purposefully trip and fall when I walked to get my diploma. Everybody I told wanted me to do it, but nobody believed I actually would.

This would be my last chance to show I didn't really care if people made fun of me. I didn't care what they thought at all. After years of constantly worrying about what the popular crowd thought and constantly being judged, I was done. I would never see most of these people again, and I had begun to wonder why I had even bothered.

Going through with the trip would be my small tribute to this.

Plus I'm not very well known at school. Maybe people wouldn't remember my name, but who could forget the girl that took a massive fall at graduation?

So I did it. People were shocked. There was nothing to trip over, yet I had managed to face plant on my way to receive my diploma. How does this happen? Isn't that everybody's worst nightmare?

My friends were given dirty looks from nearby teachers as they laughed.
I'd never been more proud.

An overall successful graduation.

After turning out tassels, throwing our hats, and taking pictures I went home for barbecue, mi favorito.
I was more than thrilled to receive presents.
Claire and Danny pitched in to get me an iTunes gift card.
Grandpa and Sue got me some mazooma.
Grammalie got me a nice Bible with my name engraved on the front.
And Mom and Dad got me a MacBook (which I am currently using).

These were all great gifts, I am pretty excited and can't wait to use them all so thanks to everybody. You'll be receiving thank you notes from me soon. :)

We rushed over to "project graduation" where I received many handshakes and even had my autograph requested until 2am when I had to leave early because I got sick. Too much fun for one day I guess.

A day as what I would imagine being a celebrity is like.
It was nice.

(PS: If you want to see the video of my fall its on facebook)

AKA: Playing with a match and water droplets on a mirror.

I could never get the focus right on the match though.

We've had the past two days off of school because of the flooding.
There are rumors we aren't having school again tomorrow because F-Hall of our school was flooded with a foot of water and the ceiling in C-Hall collapsed. I for one, actually hope that it's not true. We're going to have a lot to catch up on at school and they're not giving us back the days we missed until next semester.

I think it would be better to take away two days from the beginning of Christmas Break and add them to the end, then take away our four day weekend in February. That way we'll be able to catch up with everything we need to know for this semester since there are two separate finals we get.

I don't know if that makes much sense typed out, but I think other students would get what I'm saying...

Anyway, yesterday was a bit of an adventure because the power kept going out and it was cool to watch the rain, but today it was just hot, humid, overcast, and an overall gloomy day. So I've been experimenting with Photoshop using some of our own photos or random photos taken from the internet.

It was pretty neat. Here's one of the things I did:

It's kind of weird... I got the quote from Claude Chabrol. The quote doesn't have much significance other than the fact that the pictures in here were taken in mirrors, and I thought it was clever [the quote that is...].

I rediscovered a post I had never published.
I won't publish it now because I don't necessarily agree with the things I wrote anymore, but it was about the presidential inauguration.
At the end there was a video clip from the inauguration prayer, and I'm telling you I will never forget this:

[click] Malia and SASHA! [click]

Don't watch the whole thing... it just repeats.

Even though I remember it sounding funnier the first time I heard it, it still makes me laugh.

That's all really. :]

This year I'm entering reflections with a video project, and I have an idea of what I want to do. I'm not going to put all the details on here just in case there are snoops Googling ideas for their own project.

The theme is "Beauty is..."

I'm just trying to figure out what's beautiful to different people for now, so maybe you guys could comment what you think is beautiful? Thank you.
I'll post more later :D

There are many dangers about using the Internet, and with social networking these issues have become more prevalent. Information about people has become so accessible, all you have to do is Google a person's name, and if they haven't done a good job keeping their personal information private, you can find out anything you need to know. Websites such as Facebook and MySpace make it so people can actually contact you, and with a little conversation a stranger who's intention is to harm you can find out enough information about a person to find them. Simply by telling a person your first name, the weather, and what activities you enjoy can help a person track you down, especially if they know what you look like.

Some of the most ubiquitous offenders include: cyber bullies, stalkers, and sexual predators. More often than not, victims of the listed culprits will have some relation with the above prior to meeting online, but the danger is nonetheless present. The following are news stories I found on what can happen if you are irresponsible in your use of the Internet:

[NOTE: I named the social network that was used. The hyperlink is to the actual stories, not the social websites themselves.]

Justin.tv: A 19 year old boy who suffered from clinical depression and bipolar disorder had threatened many times online that he would commit suicide. Eventually they were not taken seriously, and so he turned on his webcam and began to OD on many pills. Meanwhile many viewers egged him on and threw insults at him. The police were not called until viewers realized that he was not moving anymore. Cyber bullies have become of of the biggest problems online.

Teen Chat Rooms: Chat rooms made specifically for teens and preteens are exactly where pedophiles go first. A reporter went in multiple chat rooms acting as a 14 year old girl and was immediately bombarded with vulgar messages and requests to chat on MSN or AIM. Many of these chat rooms did not even require you to make an account making them a hot spot for online predators to lurk until finding a person willing to give them means of further contact.

MySpace: Heather Kane was upset at another woman for contacting her boyfriend on myspace and sending him pictures. Using the information and pictures from this girl, Heather plotted to murder her through a hit man. This uncovers the danger of revealing information about yourself though public comments and posts.

Facebook: George Appleton from Greater Manchester used Facebook as a tool to stalk his ex-girlfriend and came in contact with girls he met through dating websites; this led to the murder of his girlfriend as well as sexual assaults on at least 4 women. He has yet to be caught but his Facebook reveals that he very much enjoys horror films. Police have reason to believe he goes under other aliases on Facebook as well as other websites and warn women not to add him.
.
Yahoo:
Alicia Kozakiewicz met Tyree in a Yahoo online chat. She was later convinced to meet him when he kidnapped her and took her to his apartment where he tortured her. It was only by luck that she was found 5 days later. Alicia was tricked into thinking that Tyree loved her because she did not fit in with people at school. It can be easy to be deceived online when you can't hear how the person types what they do and interpret what you read the way you want to hear it.

While all of these situations may seem very scary, there are ways to stay safe on the Internet, things such as keeping your profile on social networking websites private except to your friends who you have met in real life. And if you don't feel comfortable with people seeing certain things about you, you can keep them private on most websites, for example on Facebook you can keep your wall private from other people. It's recommended that you do not post your pictures online unless they are on private websites. In naming your pictures, its best you don't use words but a bunch of numbers as well so people will not be able to search things like "teenage girl" and use them inappropriately. Another step you can take is to alter your name and location, and keep different activities you enjoy hidden.

Also, remember to act suspiciously if meeting a person online, If there's no way for them to prove to be who they say they are, you have no idea who's on the other side of the screen or what their intentions are. It's usually best to avoid these people if at all possible. If you don't talk to strangers in real life why should you online?

Don't forget that people's accounts can get hacked as well, If a friend is acting strangely you should probably avoid talking to them online and ask the person about it on the phone or the next time you see them. Keeping all this in mind, your Internet use can be safer.

This week is homecoming week... which means spirit week.
Every day is a different themed day that you get to dress up for.

Monday: Cartoon Day
Tuesday: Toga Tuesday
Wednesday: Superhero Day
Thursday: Nerd Day
Friday: Spirit Wear

I typically don't dress up because its too much of a hassle and takes some time when it comes to planning, plus its aimed more at the seniors [[i plan to go ALL out senior year, you can win gift cards for having one of the best costumes and if you win on spirit day you get the part of most spirited in the yearbook]].
So today was "Toga Tuesday", and I was actually pretty excited to have a Roman spirited day, but sadly, it was not so.

Nearly everybody wore their togas WRONG! And I don't know what some of these people were wearing because they were definitely not togas, just white see through dress things with golden accents. Then other people just had it tied up or pinned at the top instead of wrapped properly.

Some people's togas went just to their knees or above.
Others had it draped over their right shoulders.
And then still I saw people wearing YELLOW togas which, for those of you who are up to date on your Roman history, meant you had a very inappropriate occupation.

This mockery, as a result, made me have a pretty bad day. I had to channel my anger in to a hate note to all the toga misusers, which was taken from me and laughed at.
It was almost as bad as when we had to read "Julius Caesar" by Shakespeare last year, I almost cried at the scene where Caesar was stabbed 23 times.
[Shakespeare says 33 >:[ but the scene was pretty heart-breaking]
I had an infatuation with Caesar last year... my "historical crush". ; ]

I asked the people on student government to please not support the toga tuesday idea next year unless they provide pamphlets on the proper wear next year on account some people were offended...

Historical inaccuracies don't go by well with me.
Especially when it comes to Rome.

Like a memory I'm slowly fading.

Before you know it I'm gone.

In your dreams I'll appear to you

And you'll know I was there all along.

When the breeze brushes you cheek

Or the sun kisses your face

Or when a rainbow smiles your way

When the summer grass hugs you,

The autumn air fills you,

Or Winter's first snow tucks you in...

And when spring comes 'round

there's new life everywhere.

And you'll know...I was there

Today we got up early, ate pancakes and bacon, then left to Chastain Park for MLK day.

It was a productive 4 hours of raking leaves and snow.
Less than half of the people who had volunteered to come actually came, so it was pretty tough, but we actually wound up finishing earlier than planned. It was pretty fun... and pretty hard work, I wish it hadn't been so cold though. I was shivering through 5 layers of clothing all of which were long sleeved and one of the layers was under-armor which I wore on my legs as well.

I suppose I should write more entries, but there's not much to talk about.

I just thought I would inform everybody that it has been made official, St. Augustine will now be my confirmation Saint, I've been thinking about choosing him for 5 years, so I guess there was no denying that I was gonna choose him. I've just a;ways admired him I guess.

His feast day is on my birthday.
[[But that's not why I chose him]]