Oh my goodness! I have not written in forever! I have been so busy with the last bit of school that the computer has almost completely slid off my To-Do List. Well, I'm back on. The last day of school has come and gone. I will now be a Freshman! More good news: I have already earned a spot on my High School's Student Council! I will miss 8th grade- the carefree, the friends, all the familiar faces. But now I will get to see friends that I have not seen for years because of the school boundary lines. Summer is already in full swing down here in Texas! I don't plan to do much, so if you have any plans, please comment!

I have been babysitting the past few days and will be again tonight! I have found the time to clean out my room. I have given it a complete dust down, sorted out my jewelry, redecorated in some places, and have thrown away a lot of trash. It looks great, but isn't done yet!

I hope to be better at posting more often. Thanks for checking!

I am writing this post on my new laptop!!! My grandma gave it to me for a birthday present. Well, I love it and am so glad that I don't have to fight with Mom for the computer anymore.

Spring Break is over; I am sad. I was really enjoying the break. At least I will be positive on Monday since it is my birthday. I won't let anything bring me down from my good feelings. I will be very optimistic!

Grandma came into town and we had a lot of fun together. The week was full of botanical gardens, shopping, eating out, and hugs. I miss her already. It is so fun when she is around. Another happy face in the family. Well, I have already spent too much time on this laptop, so got to run!

A Victory, A Flooded Bathroom and A Countdown

I made the tennis team, as I think I have already mentioned. Well, last Thursday, my school played our No. 1 rival and I was pretty scared. However, I pulled through and won my first singles against another school! I am ranked #3 on the girls' side now and am excited for next week's game.

Last night, I was babysitting Josh when the toilet flooded. Josh freaked out and would not stop crying! Well, I remained calm, called my dad, and went over to my neighbor. She came in, stopped the flow, and helped me to vacuum up the inch of water on the floor. Now the foot of carpet in the entryway to the bathroom is ruined. I feel bad, but it wasn't my fault. There was not nearly enough toilet paper inside to flood, but who knows. It seems everything in our house is breaking; the fridge, oven, microwave, printer and other things. Hopefully this stops!

Only 23 days to my birthday! I turn 14!

Great News and Great Wolf

Yeah! My dad is home from India for good! And he couldn't have come back without bringing gifts. ☺ He gave me a Pune Hard Rock Cafe T-shirt and a couple others with cool designs.

Tennis tryouts went great. I made first cuts, but had to miss the next practice since my family decided to take a little vacation:

Thursday morning my mom picked Josh and me up early from school and the family drove to Great Wolf Lodge. Great Wolf is a large hotel with an indoor water park, O.K. restaurants, relaxing spas, and over-expensive gift shops. It was fun to play in the water and have all the fun in the sun without, well, the sun. The water room was kept at a balmy 84 degrees, which isn't that warm in Texas. We're used to 94 degrees. Overall, though, it was a relaxing getaway.

Josh and I spraying each other on little, immovable jet skis. I couldn't wait to escape to the huge water slides in which it is impossible to stay dry in.

Playing Bingo in the CubClub. The card I am holding up only had two markers on it the first round, but ended up being a lucky winner the second!

I love Steak'n'Shake milkshakes. This one is a yummy banana split flavored.

At Great Wolf, there is this game called MagiQuest. All around the 8 floors of the hotel are chests, crystals, and jewels which you wave your magic wand at to become a Magi. I am a nerd, so I loved helping Josh (aka Magi Surfer Dude) win gold and experience points. I read from The Ancient Book of Wisdom for clues and hints. As a family, we won all the quests and adventures, except one. We could not beat the dragon and save the village! Oh well! Dad and I were ready to give up after the fifth try, but not Mom (Josh was too scared to even enter the room with a TV displaying the dragon). Mom made us stay for another 30 minutes that ended in failure. Better luck next time.

Josh had a meltdown after the fifth attempt to slay the dragon. We sat down and ate ice cream, but Josh wandered into the MagiQuest gift shop (have I already said that they were over-expensive?) and found a stuffed dragon. "I need it!" he cried. As Josh sobbed, Dad pulled out the camera and started taking pictures. Having received this treatment when I was younger, I had sympathy for Josh and tried to convince my laughing parents to stop.

Exhausted

Sorry, again, it's been forever since I have written. School, projects, and the recent exams have taken over my schedule. I have had some time for fun. Let's start from the beginning. Finally, after two weeks of constant frustration, I completed a 1000 puzzle, pretty much by myself. The rest of my family gave up hope and stopped working on the tropical scene, but once I start something, I have to complete it. I love the challenge. However, dismantling it almost broke my heart.

The completed masterpiece. Look at all of that sky that looks exactly the same. The trees were what took the longest to figure out though.

I am still practicing the piano, every morning for half an hour. I have been pushed back though. Now that Josh is learning to play, he gets the 15 minutes before me. Right now, I am learning my first cross hand piece. It is ranked a 1 difficulty (the highest) in UIL. It is pretty hard and for the most part, both hands are playing right on top of one another.

Look at me, a real Beethoven.☺

I passed all of my exams! Not only passed, but made all A's except for one B. The Athletics test was made up of easy questions, but I don't know anything about the coaches or basketball and volleyball. Of course, there were no questions about tennis.

Last Monday, I was able to play at Putt-Putt, a dirty mini golf course with an arcade inside. It was fun and I even made a hole in one! However, my score did not show that. I know what I need to work on for golf season!

Waiting for Josh to come up to the green.

Watching Josh swing like a maniac. I don't know why, but my mom didn't take any pictures of me putting!

Inauguration day, January 20th, 2009. Where was I when the first African -American president was sworn in? In science class, learning about waves while every class around us was watching Obama on the big screen. When we asked our teacher, she said that, "It wasn't a part of our curriculum." Well, obviously it was a part of everyone else's "curriculum". So I wasn't able to watch it live, but thank goodness for the Internet.

Mom took this picture on the T.V. It's going in her Project 365 scrapbook. Did you know that the same day as the inauguration was also National Penguin Awareness Day?

On that note, yesterday was National Pie Day. We celebrated by eating chicken pot pie for dinner and our own pies for dessert. Dig in!

Stress Galore!

It's been a very busy couple of weeks. Let me start from the beginning. It iced a couple of days ago. All of the trees, fences, and buildings were covered in icicles. Of course, all of this happened while we were in school. When we walked out of the school doors, nature had been transformed into a world of ice. Ice encased trees and branches, turning them into thick spears. The world was quiet, as if appreciating this rare moment in Texas history. The next day, the 80 degree sun had melted all of the frozen drops and the world was back to normal, for Texas standards. The weather has been like this this passed month. Texas is a wonder!

Then, I had a relaxed weekend, but had to work on my new book report. Let's not forget finals this week! Why do they make one test so important? I'm not worried about what I'll make. I'm just sick of studying and having the teachers put so much pressure on us kids. I believe that the teachers are responsible for making the students stressed out in their classes. On top of all this, tennis tryouts are in a couple of weeks. So much practice. It's hard having to juggle all of this!

Mom has been cleaning out all of the photos in the house and putting them into albums. So many embarrassing moments brought back to my attention. However, I did discover an old movie my friends and I made. It was a project in Science where we had to make a commercial for our homemade window cleaner. It's great! I can't really figure how to put it on the blog, though.

I am so proud of myself! In Science today, we graded papers. I received my paper afterwards and found a mistake; the guy said that I missed 1 when I really missed 2. Many people complained how students mis-graded their paper and their grade was really higher. My partner told me not to say anything, but I knew I would feel so guilty afterwards. So I told my teacher that I needed a grade change. She asked me, "So you made a 100?"

"No, I made a 90," I replied.

My teacher was shocked, said, "Oh!"and quietly replaced my grade. The class responded by saying how stupid I was and how I should have kept my grade, but they don't understand how terrible I would've felt after class. Go me! ☺

Honesty really is the best policy!

A Warm Welcome, a Couple of Sad Goodbyes, and Some Goals

2009 is here at last. To celebrate the coming of the new year, I first had a nice fondue dinner with the family, including my cousin Aubrey and her husband. Next, I went to my friend Alexis' party. There, we talked, played Wii, talked, took a nice stroll, and talked some more. I left at about 10:00 because I didn't want to sleep over with the girls. I had a bad experience at a sleep over before, so I don't usually stay the entire night at those kind of parties. No offense to anyone. So my dad picked me up when he was coming home after dropping off Aubrey and Curtis at their hotel. They had to fly early in the morning, so they didn't stay up. Then, at home, I played Yahtzee with my mom and dad. I had to wake them up for the count down because they ended up snoozing!

My dad left back to India for the next month. For those who are wondering, he comes back for good on January 30. It was nice to have him over for the holidays.

I am dreading having to go back to school. For one, finals are coming soon. Second, I am getting a new Spanish teacher. I loved my old one; he was so relaxed and we didn't have to do a lot, but we still learned a ton. Mr. P (this is abbreviated) had to go to Mexico to help his dad with his business. We'll miss him! I don't know who my next teacher is going to be, but they would have to be very good to beat Mr. P.

For this year, I have a few goals to help me succeed. My top ten are:

1. Keep my room clean.
2. Be grateful.
3. Go to bed early (on school nights).
4. Watch less T.V.
5. Practice my piano and guitar.
6. Hang out with friends more.
7. Eat healthy (like everyone else).
8. Play tennis and golf more.
9. Read 5 new books (The Jungle Books, The Power of One, Life of Pi, Friday Night Lights, and The Last of the Mohicans).
10. Actually keep my goals.

If any of you see me slacking on these goals, help me get back on track! ☺

Getting Back to the Cube

A couple summers ago, I could solve the Rubik's cube in under 2 minutes. I spent a couple of weeks memorizing the moves off of a solution on the Internet. Well, two years later, everyone at school is trying to solve the cube. You are "super smart" if you can solve one and "super cool" if you own one. Well, I decided to re-memorize the steps. I'm doing pretty well; yesterday I solved the cube in under 5 minutes with some help from the instructions on the hardest step.

My cousin, Aubrey, and her husband flew in today, Tuesday. My mom picked me up early from school so I could spend some time with them. It was so cold! About 25 degrees. I had fun hanging out with them; they are so funny! Anyway, Aubrey is supposed to come back on Friday (Curtis, her husband, is a pilot and Aubrey is a flight attendant. They fly to Dallas sometimes). I can't wait to see them again!

Aubrey and my brother, See the Rubik's cube in Josh's hand?

Hi Again

It's been a long time since I last wrote and I apologize for that. It's been a crazy past couple of weeks with all kinds of school work, piano, etc. Well, my dad is doing great! He went to see the Pune Zoo and found that the tiger, if he really wanted to, could jump out over the railing. Pretty scary! He's lost a bit of weight, but he is healthy.

Life's been good. Yesterday was the Church Christmas party and, with my mom in charge, I didn't really get to spend the time with my family. It was fun though, chatting with friends and relaxing.

Thursday was a bit of a stressful day for me, not for anything really bad, though. In Science class, we had to build a mini roller coaster out of flexible pipe and tape. My group was doing great; the day before, we had practiced building the thing and were confident in our "Frostbite" (the name for our awesome coaster). However, we only had 30 minutes to build on presentation day, so we were a bit rushed. We were making great time when, suddenly, the marble wouldn't finish into the cup placed at the end. We kept at it, but by minute 29, we were pretty frantic. Why? If the marble made it through the roller coaster, you made an A; if it fell off, you received an F for the project. We responded in different ways: I was pacing the floor trying to think of a solution, one of the team members actually started praying, and everyone was a mess as we saw the teacher walk slowly towards are project. Finally, D-Andre said, "Put a piece of tape right there!" We were pretty game for anything, so we did as he said. We dropped the marble, Suzy, at the starting point and after 2 seconds, the marble landed safely in the cup. We tried again: it worked again. We were so happy, that when the teacher walked up to grade us, we were dancing together. My grade? 100! In my opinion, our roller coaster was the best after all that hard work; it displayed a paper tunnel, flags showing where inertia was overcome, where the speed changed, etc, and little signs saying things like, "Please enjoy your ride" and "Please exist to the left" (I was rushed so I wrote 'exist' instead of 'exit'). I was very proud of my group; we worked well together.

So that pretty much sums up the past week, fretting over little school projects, papers, and benchmarks. How was your week, Be Happy readers?

I'm Famous!

A family friend is a graphic designer. He drew the Indiana Jones Monopoly cover, the Star Wars III video game cover, etc. Well, his new assignment was to create an ad for a new adventure park in Tennessee. He took pictures of me pretending to be on a zipline, looking over a balcony, and pointing at someone. Then, using the photos as a guide, he drew me into the scene. Pretty good if you ask me. Yes, the pictures below are drawings, not photographs.

There I am up front! And if you click on the pic, you can see me two more times in the very back.
My mom also had the opportunity to model. She accepted reluctantly.

The other day, I applied for the Bobby Bragen Youth Foundation scholarship. I found out that my teacher picked me to go onto the school finals, where a boy and girl are chosen. Then, 32 out of 242 students are chosen to get the $2500 scholarship. We had to write an essay about our role model. I chose to write about my 6th grade teacher. He was really a great teacher and I had a hard time keeping to the 700 word limit.

Bad News, More Bad News, and a Thank You

Well, the results are in...(drum roll, please) my group did not place in the Winston Science competition. The thing is that the officials didn't even say if we got the solution right or if we just didn't explain ourselves enough. Oh well, better luck next time. I wish we knew how we did though.

On another note, athletics is shut down at school. A.K.A., no more P.E. Why this horrible tragedy? Well, the 500 students in athletics (7th and 8th grade, boys and girls) are failing a total of 740 classes (still straight A's for me). I am disappointed because unlike most who do well in sports and need help in academics, I am vice versa. I need the athletics, but am denied. Instead of helping our bodies to function and become healthier, we are enjoying a 1 hour and 30 minutes of Study Hall, a wonderful thing with no talking or comfort, just reading, doing homework, and secretly sleeping on the hard gym floor. I like the reading for so long, but I need the workout! Plus, the floor is making me stiff. This is supposed to last for three weeks, but we'll see.

Another thank you to Allie! I have had so many compliments on the bubble wrap. It was all your idea! Thank you! If you have any ideas that will make Be Happy happier, just comment and I will see what I can do.

Skippin School

Yes, I did skip school, but it was my dad who wanted me to, so is that considered skipping? Well, my dad and I drove to Houston yesterday morning so that he could pick up his visa to go to India. He is leaving on the 10th and will not return until January on work business. Anyway, we had a great time walking the trails in Memorial Park, reading in the warm 90 degree weather, going through the Japanese garden, and visiting the different parks. It was a fun day, especially since I spent it with my dad.

Sam Houston!!!!

Me sitting on a miniature Washington Monument. How cool! I actually visited a momument of a monument!!

The squirels in Houston were very fat. We couldn't resist taking a picture of one. He actually posed for us, while another ate right out of a kid's hand.

Yes! We filled up for under $2 on our way!

I hate to admit it, but I think I am catching my first cold of the season. Darn, starting out bad already. My allergies are bad, I'm coughing like crazy, and I have a bad headache. I'll try to toughen out though!

Red Ribbon Week

Last week at my school, we celebrated red ribbon week! As many of you know, most schools have a different topic each day about stopping drugs! I helped pick out the topics; it's one of the only things student council can do. The topics are Crazy Hat Day (Hat's off to RedRibbon Week), Black-Out day (Black-Out Against Drugs), Tacky (Mix-Match) day (I'd Rather be Tacky then do Drugs), Groovy Day (Groovy Without Drugs), and Slipper day (Give Drugs the Slip). Mom decided it would be a fun idea to take pictures of me these different days. We started a little late, but we did get the most fun day: Tacky Day!

Me dressing mix-matched! Everyone loved my tights (as did I).

Finally, Vice President of Something

Today I had a National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) meeting. During the gathering, we elected the officers. I decided to go for VP and the vote was unanimous, I was elected (actually, I was the only one running for the position, but facts are facts). I also made the yearbook staff but had to choose between StuCo or yearbook. My school had the brilliant idea that you could only be in one club (NJHS meets before school so I can stay), so I chose StuCo. Hopefully we do something this year. I have been doing well in school; I get my report card next week. I am having some problems with a couple teachers, but I can be flexible (maybe).

I got my haircut yesterday! It was getting a little long and the layers were long gone, but now, I feel great! I was needing one badly. I also had my braces tightened. The orthodontist replaced two of my brackets and added on another three. I hurt! They also said I wasn't finished. Oh great!On another note, I am reading a really good book now for the second time: A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. I am using it for a biography in Language Arts. I recommend this book, but it is a little unthinkable.

Postponed

So today was supposed to be the school election, but the teacher in charge left early today and took the ballots with her. I guess I will have to wait for the election. Here's pictures of what I'm doing. I made pencils, shirts, hair ribbons, and posters with my slogan pasted everywhere.

I mentioned in another post about attending a city meeting. Well, I looked in the newspaper and found the article about it; I wasn't mentioned, but my dad's friend was. The journalist got it ALL wrong. He said that "Bob" thought a dog park necessary; I heard "Bob" say the exact opposite. My dad's friend did not agree with "Bob", which genius put in the article as well. That goes to show, do not believe the news, kids.

The Race is On

As I said in another post, I am running for Vice President of my school's Student Council. Little did I know that 4 other people are doing the same thing. The election is on the 23rd (my half birthday!!!) so I have a busy weekend ahead. I am making T-shirts for me and my friends to wear, posters to hang on the wall, and pencils to hand out that say "Vote Madi B. for V.P." I am just so anxious to get this over with. I am tired of students coming up to me and saying, "I'm not voting for you!" O.K., I don't care if your voting for me or not, but please get out of my way. On top of the election, I have to talk in front of my church, play piano accompaniment for a choir, do homework and projects, babysit, blah, blah, blah. Oh yeah; tomorrow I get to wake up at 5:45 in the morning to go to a party. It's going to be fun, but why not 7:00, or 8:00. This is where my handy optimism comes in. Hopefully it will be enough. I can tell already this is going to be a no-nap weekend.

Madi B for VP

So Long No See

I have been so caught up with school this week. I am so glad it is the weekend. My school is introducing all of their clubs this week; it is overwhelming. I am thinking that I am going to try for Yearbook Staff, Student Council (How do you like Madi B. for VP?), Peer Mediation, Whiz Quiz, and National Junior Honor Society, along with Tennis and Golf. Yeah, I'm a pretty busy person. I am so rushed with all these deadlines and stuff. I'm dedicating this weekend to me (hopefully that works out).

Today in Science we made our own salad dressing. My group aimed for a sweet, but tangy taste, so we used raspberries. All was well until we tried squeezing the berries. They didn't have any juice like we thought. So we mashed them and threw them in the bottle. Other than that incident, pouring way to much vegetable oil in the mixture, spilling the bottle, tasting the sample and almost puking, running out of salad, and other accidents, everything went great. The end result actually tasted pretty well. The teacher liked it! Our recipe you may ask? Well, we guess that we used:

175 mL of Red Wine Vinegar
15 mL of water
30 mL of vegetable oil
pinch of pepper
1 shake of Paprika
1 shake of garlic salt
2+ tablespoons of sugar
30 mL of lime and orange juice (freshly squeezed)
1 tablespoon of poppy seeds
And, don't forget...
20 or so mashed raspberries
*Results may vary!!!

Last night, my town had a meeting to decide what kind of parks and entertainment we needed in the city. My dad is an avid mountain biker, so I went to support him and to represent the USTA(national tennis association; my coach asked me to). Small town only has three public tennis courts that are in pretty bad shape. Anyway, I was the youngest one at the meeting. We were split into groups so I was away from my dad, but with one of my friend's mom. I spoke about how we need more mountain bike trails, more tennis courts, and how our activity center needs more fitness activities for young teens (the only ones are for ages 3-10 or 18+). A reporter started quoting me and eventually asked how old I was, etc. I'm guessing I'm going to be in the newspaper. Overall, I got to fight the man and eat cookies. Pretty cool!

Be happy, my friends, and have a GREAT weekend!

A Killer Workout

Today was a great day at school. I had to turn in a project yesterday, and am working on another. It was absolutely beautiful weather; only 79, 20 degrees below normal. the wind was blowing and it was overcast. Thank you Hurricane Gustav. Though it was nice outside, in Athletics it was sweat, pain, and more sweat. A few girls came to class late, didn't dress out, or talked during Study Hall. So, as a group, we had to do 150 air raids (squat, push up, squat, jump; that's one), plus our daily workout, lunges, jump rope, crunches & push-ups, and hurdles. I hurt a bit afterwards. I like to be pushed hard, but couldn't we have done it outside instead of a cramped gym?

Anyway, my labor day weekend was a blast! I went to the water park, babysat (with a friend), and went to the water park, again, except this time with a friend. I can't believe it's almost fall! And with that, my mom is having a give-away on some of her necklaces to introduce her new fall collection. Trust me, there's some good stuff. Go to: www.alteredartdesigns.blogspot.com to get entered in. You won't regret it.

Another Week

My first week of school was O.K, I guess. I've already been assigned two projects and have had tons of homework, but that's school I guess. I am so glad for the weekend, though, especially the three-day break. I'm hoping to go to the movies with some friends, and of course the water park that's near my house. It's been a pretty so-so week overall. I've had my highs and lows, but nothing too huge.

My dad is in Canada right now, attending my great-grandmother's funeral. She was 96; it was her time to go. I still miss her though; the family reunions just won't be the same.

On another note, my brother and I are hooked on the Mario and Sonic at the Olympics game for Wii. We can't get our hands off of it. It's hard though!!!

First Day of School

It's here! Summer is officially over while school begins. My first day was O.K, not as disastrous as it could be. I can't believe I am actually in the eighth grade. My day started out great; I had my cute first day outfit picked out and got to school O.K. My first period: Spanish. I can tell I'm going to like this class because the teacher is so relaxed. Next was Algebra, then Language Arts. I didn't eat lunch until 1:45, though, thanks to the first day confusion. I like my classes, though one of my teachers kind of creeps me out. She's a little weird. Finally, Athletics, then the final bell. I was able to find at least one friend in each class, but not as many as I was hoping for. I wish I could at least eat with my friends at lunch; instead, we have to sit in the order we come into the cafeteria. Oh well, I'll deal with it. Tomorrow includes U.S History, Science, L.A., then Athletics. Hope I find even more friends.

How was your first day? Was it as great as mine? Leave a comment to share your experience. And don't forget to share "Be Happy" with your friends. Thanks!!!