Hello....

Hey, It's me,on my birthday! (Yes, I am a Leprechaun.) I'm eating Matzoh with butter and it is delicioso mi amigos! Yo tengo muchas tarea, so I have to leave. But, I'd love to have some requests for How-To posts...I haven't had any for a WHILE. Hahahaha. Well, I hope to hear from you! :)

Heyyy

Hi, it's me and Emz my accomplice/homegirrrrrlllllll and Haley my awesome (if burp-ey) friend. We're getting ready to go hang out at the park with Libby, Una, Peter, and Jake (Fishbullet!)
We had a dance last night and it was INTERESTING. Jake wouldn't stop picking us up princess-style and snapping pix, and I slow danced with my ex-boyfriend, plus Jake, and an awesome dude named Tyler who happened to be drenched and dripping from head to toe in sweat. Emma danced with Peter (her boyfriend,) and debated whether or not to kiss him....(she might today when we meet up with them.)
Anyway my life is being rather dramatic/traumatic at the moment.....but still having a blast! How're you guys? I have the need to know whats going on in your lives. (Not that I couldn't find out if I wanted to!)
:) :D :) :D :) :D

Nellie's New Year's Story!!!

Hey, so you know the New Year's story contest? Well we only had one entry......by Nellie! (*cough cough my new favorite*) :) So here's the winning entry!!!!!




I was staying up till the New Year at my grandpa's house. Both of us were a little sad because it was our first New Year's Eve without Gram—she had ripped her throat screaming with joy last New Year and bled to death.
The wind picked up suddenly and the lights went out.
“Oh, no,” said Grandpa, rocking back and forth. “Oh, no, no,no.”
“It's okay, Grandpa,” I said quickly. “I know where the candles are.” (My grandfather is extremely low-tech—he has no flashlights, has only bare bulbs for lighting, and has a wood stove for cooking and heating.)
I fetched the matches from the kitchen cupboard, and then got the candle and candle holders from the sideboard's drawer. I lit the candles.
Ten...nine...eight...seven...six...five...four...three...two...one...
And as the clock struck twelve on New Year's Eve, my grandmother, pale, transparent, and blueish, drifted out of the front of the case, singing Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds under her breath.
My grandmother's ghost.
Then Gram-the-Ghost stopped singing and looked straight at Grandfather. Pointing at him, she said quietly, “I've been having a grand time in there. Ark, ark, ark.”
I stared at her. Gram, singing Beatles songs? Gram, making corny jokes? Gram, who in her life had always meant everything she said one hundred percent? Gram, who had sung only at church? Gram, a ghost?
I'm dreaming, I told myself. I'm dreaming. It got too late, and I fell asleep.
But Grandpa looked straight back and said, “Well, good, Loretta, because you're going to be stuck in there for a long time.”
“Nooooooo,” Gram moaned. “You promised. You promised!”
Grandpa stood up from his Morris chair and roared, “Go back! Go back, Loretta!”
“You promised,” Gram said. “You belong with meeeee.” Gram's voice voice got smaller and smaller. The last thing I heard was, “Come to me” before she disappeared.
Grandpa whirled on me. “Go to bed, Nellie.”
“But—”
“GO!”
I ran to the room I slept in whenever I visited Grandpa, then quickly made a list.
Things Around Here That Are Weird:
Gram is a ghost.
She thinks Grandpa belongs with her. (In the land of the dead?)
He doesn't want to talk about it.
I reread my list, the opened my door a crack. I tiptoed into Grandpa's library and ran my fingers along the spines of the books. When I got to the white leather section, I pulled out all the books on ghosts I could find, and came up only with the following:
Ghosts are the imprints of dead people left here on earth.
Whether ghosts are real is highly disputed.
Often ghosts will kill to get what they want or for revenge.
Ghosts are often treated the same way the Salem witches were.
It wasn't helpful. I knew all that already, darnit!!
I could hear Grandpa snoring. I tiptoed into his room and looked around. I spied his journal, picked it up, and went out quickly. Then, knowing it was wrong but doing it anyway, I opened it up and read the last entry.
Today Loretta's ghost came and said I belonged with her. I don't!! When she was on her deathbed, I said, “Oh, don't die, I'll kill myself if you die!” I didn't mean it of course! But she said, “Promise?” I said, “PROMISE?!” She said, “Thank you,” and died. So she thinks I have to kill myself. But I meant, “Are you crazy?” ! I didn't mean “Yes, I promise.” I wish I could burn her!
I put the journal back and went to bed to think.
Grandpa wanted to burn Gram, or Gram's ghost, I guess. I guess this was what the book had meant about the Salem witches, not that they were feared!
Then I heard anguished cries coming from Grandpa's room. “No!” he was sobbing. “No! Let me burn you! Then you'll be alive again! And I won't have to commit suicide! If I burn you you'll be alive again.”
Okay, so that was what the book had meant.
I heard what sounded like Gram's voice, only very high, very thin, and very haughty. “You promised...or must I kill you myself?”
“No! I didn't promise! Let me explain!” and Grandpa did.
“Oh." Gram's ghost said. "Oh, noooo!”
And then Gram started to wail—a wail that started deep and gradually got higher and louder and more bone-chilling, a wail that froze my blood, a wail to rival that of a banshee.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhoooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” she wailed, and then I heard a puffing noise, like a man smoking a pipe, and then I heard a rushing noise, like wind blowing through the house; and I knew my grandmother's ghost had vanished forever.

GREAT JOB! :) Now I am off to do my STUPID IDIOTIC English homework. Yeah, Mrs. Sarkar, take that! (I've had so much homework it's unbelievable-not much time to blog :( I will when I can, though!)

How To Be Fearsome

Ever wished that you looked scary? That people wouldn't come bother you or bully you, because they were scared of you? Well, it's easy to build an appearance that would scare away a member of the mafia.





CLOTHES


Black. As I am absolutely sure, you all have a good amount of black clothing in your wardrobe. Now, black is well and good, but it's even better with a heavy military-style cargo vest over it. Pinning random, small, dangerous-looking metal objects onto the jacket and filling the pockets with random heavy things to look like your loaded and dangerous. (No guns, too fake.) Baggy black jeans and a black long-sleeve shirt complete the "look".





MAKE-UP/HAIR:


Making yourself look like you have purple bags under your eyes is VERY forbidding. Some plum/gray eyeshadow under your eyes makes you look exhausted and short-tempered. Some really dark reddish eyeliner under your eyes makes it even better! Some dark eyeshadow very lightly brushed with a blush brush over the hollows of your cheeks, to make the hollows look hollow-er. (Not too much or youll look like a Halloween display!) As for hair, brush it so it's partly in your face. Whatever you do, dont pull it back or out of your face!





ATTITUDE:

Duh. Don't smile, except maybe a random sneaky-looking one, as if you're thinking of something sinister. }:) Don't raise your eyes to meet anyone's, but if somebody tries to talk to you, lock eyes with them and imagine icicles are going from your eyes into their pupils. Set your jaw. Look dangerous. Slump while you walk, drag your feet. Keep your hands in your pockets, it's mysterious.



Good Luck! And wish me some too, because I'm getting ready to go lay violin at a stupid school concert. Yay. Maybe I could look scary there, too......;)

CONTEST!

Hey, I'm staying up all night and I am PUMPED for the new year! SO here's a new contest!


Write a short story. Make it good. The Catch:

It must include this sentence:

"And as the clock struck twelve on New Year's Eve......"

Write away! Entries due by the end of January. Don't make it too long PLEASE! :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

EDIT: Send your entries to i.mastermind [at] hotmail.com. (They're really hard to read on the comments.) Thanks!

Underwater 2008

Hey! I was going to do a really cool post on the top underwater photography of 2008. (I get Scuba Diving Magazine, and their annual photo contest come up with AMAZING results!)



BUT I can't post my favorites here because I can't save them from the site. :( So here's the site with ALL of the photos. Some of them have cool stories, somehave amazing scenes, and most of them have vivid colors. Check them all out! (Up top there are 4 categories to check.) http://www.scubadiving.com/2008_photo_contest
Make sure that you see all of them, on the side of each pic there's a little arrow to see the rest. :)

BY THE WAY- I JUST REALIZED THAT THIS IS MY 101st POST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAHHHHHH!

Enjoy!!!

Happy Holidays!

Well, today is a very special day, seeing as it's Hanukkah and Christmas. :D

Feel free to rave about your gifts here, personally I got some shoes I've wanted (Blowfish boots,) 2 CDs (Green Day and Paramore,) a Green Day poster, and some books. :)

Gifts I gave-

FRIENDS: I made Twilight T-Shirts that look real. :)

MOM: I wrenched the keys off an old keyboard and made keyboard alphabet magnets for her.

DAD: A nice picture in a frame, and a duct tape tie. (Oh yeah.)

SISTER: I abducted her American Girl doll and dressed it in new clothes and doll UGG boots (What is this world coming to?!?) and put a charm bracelet for her around it's neck.

Happy Christmahanakwanzaa everyone!