sonja

adibiase @ 11:44pm: anyone have 'we are going to be friends' by the white stripes or 'one week' by barenaked ladies?

i love music. very peaceful. sleep will be good. sorry to spam.

UH
ALSO
i have a list of one hundred classics to read this summer, but i need other suggestions. what do you folks consider to be amazing literary reads - not beach fiction, but things like jane smiley. beautiful book. got halfway through jane eyre before break, gotta find another copy of that. i love that.

I sometimes have a queer feeling with regard to you--especially when you are near me, as now: it is as if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably knotted to a similar string situated in the corresponding quarter of your little frame. And if that boisterous channel, and two hundred miles or so of land come broad between us, I am afraid that cord of communion will be snapt; and then I've a nervous notion I should take to bleeding inwardly. As for you--you'd forget me.

i loved that quote merely for the majesty of it. not because i am in love, but because i feel that way about anything. and mr rochester, such an enigma! i love him as a character. beautiful.

ok. done! for real. :)

adibiase @ 11:36pm: identity theft is not a joke jim!
so
after school ended, sam, will, keira and i went to southport island. house was right on the water (thank you grandfather clause)

beautiful pictures of the sea, need to find camera cord. i can tell ospreys now, even got to see a territorial dispute between three ospreys, a gull, and a motherfucking bald eagle.

went sea kayaking - fucking terrifying. my sleep patterns are still bad from the mono - would sleep up to thirteen hours if i could.

grades were excellent, nothing below a b. given this semester and my number of credits, i am pleased.

i am also home. i love this place. also job hunting. i hate this. i hope something pops up that give me good hours, and is flexible but pays well. need a few buckaroos.

gosh, i'm pretty stoked to catch some sleep. this place is so different when the weather is nice and i am not as sick as i was.

so, i am watching office videos and getting ready for bed. almost there. mom is making me a pretty corner...such a smart lady. idk what i'd do without my familiy. i often sit here and realize how lucky i am to have mom and dad and mary supporting me. i always feel bad when i feel sad because i have so much support, i should be good. i hope i feel this blissful forever. today, i was melting down a bit (sam left - i was sad. cried a bit. am having a hard time seeing this as anything but weakness). anyway, mom came and sat in the sand with me and we both teared up. then it reminds me of mary staying with me all night in the hospital, and how dad took real good care of me when i was really sick and how he sat with me in the rooms and put up with my horrible breath thank you pus. i am a very, very lucky girl. hard to show appreciation, but i do. def making phone calls. i even feel inclined to call friends and chat for a bit. maybe i am growing up, this whole wanting to be in touch and constant reflection. very, very lucky lady.


i applied to three places today! i could use a kind thought towards quickly getting a great job. i ask for far too much, want too much for how much i have. the last time i asked for kind thoughts it had amazing results. now, it is either there is something to good thoughts, or simply luck. i chose to believe in good thoughts. think negatively and you will court negative things. i do believe that.

i want to do some grilling soon. sausages. pepper. different than pan cooking those things.

do you guys ever get these ridiculous panic feelings? i get them all the time, but sometimes i feel pretty stupid. i keep panicking that i didn't flush the toilet when i left the house on southport, that there is grease on the silverwear, and i did damage to the carpet trying to get the egg yolk / blood blister blood (not mine, thank god) out. i dont want parents to hate me. that would suck massively. i tried really hard to get everything very clean.

what is the vote on lemon candles? are they any good? i want some. i want so much but i never need. then i feel bad about receiving. which is also stupid - i love to give.

also, i am thinking about getting either a bearded dragon or a water dragon. bearded dragon are really, really sweet creatures. water dragons dont seem to be that bright. i also set up a few fish tanks - got mom a beta for mother's day. really pretty guy. also babysitting a fish for my friend julie - it's a she, not a he (betas are beautiful, but the females not so much), and lives in this martini glass about a foot in diameter. also, if you folks ever have problems with hard water on thing, equal part of hot water and vinegar get rid of it. the fish is very excited. swimming around lot.

have any of you built a potato gun? i want to. also discovered a cool garden in a eight by three box today - cant wait to clear it up and plant something. veggies or flowers guys? your pick. mom has lots of flowers.

well, going to finish some videos and hit the hay. you folks enjoy your weather...hope its good. quite warm out. there is a on a kayak package. need to get out there to find out what' going on, see if they can extend it. .found the right of way today, in a cute spot. this house is so adorable. i like the cramped quarter. dad, i've never told you this (or mom), but the close quarters, even when there is no privacy, makes me feel safe. i hated our old house because it was isolating. no chance of that here my loves.

no more rambling. i could go on for hours. i am thrilled to be here, and will probably post often now. however, i am refusing facebook for the summer. email, call, or leave a note.

"forget everything you've ever learned about abdominal muscles."
"done"

i love the office.

labeled_girl @ 10:22pm: Word 191
Today's word was Dreamer. Katie suggested it yesterday, which was weird because yesterday I had been thinking about using Dreamer, but I used Powerful instead. So I used it today =). I picked it because I have a lot of dreams. It's strange, half the time I just think that life is useless, and the other half I want to do all of these great things. My realisticish dream is to become an English teacher, but to also have a degree in some sort of sexuality studies and reform health classes in public schools to discuss gender and sexuality issues, since I had such a horrible experience with high school health class. My unrealistic dream is to become the first female, Jewish, bisexual President of the U.S. Haha. Everyone has dreams, I think...some people just aren't motivated to achieve them. But I think, right now, I am. Reactions - Katie was happy I used her word. Rawley and Mark asked about it, and Mrs. E commented on it. One of the subs at my school saw me in the hallway and asked what my word was. I love it when subs randomly do that. Lemons was going on about how it was a nice, positive word, probably because he knows how annoyed I get when Dr. Mongeon tells me to wear positive words haha.

labeled_girl @ 11:14pm: Words 189 & 190

Friday's word was Searching. I chose it because I always feel like I'm searching for something. Something unattainable. As if my whole reason for living is to find this thing, but I never can. But on a more specific level - I don't know what I want to do with the rest of my life. I've said I want to major in English to become a teacher, but now I'm questioning it. What if English isn't my real passion? What if it isn't what I'm good at? What if it's not what I'm meant to do? I would love to major in art, but I know I'm not good enough. I would love to major in psychology and help people, but I'm not sure I could do that. I'm now in my last full week of high school, and I'm scared as hell. Reactions - Tricia, Lemons, and Mike all asked what I'm searching for. Baron ironically had a shirt that said "Lost" which was funny, and Rawley and Kat noticed it too.

Today's word was Powerful. I chose this one because I want to have a powerful impact on the world. I want to make a difference. That's the only thing I think is worth living for, to be able to make a difference in at least one person's life. Mrs. E, Katie, and Mark commented on it. Kiwi laughed when I told her what the word had been when Matt asked. I think she was kidding :P. Mark told me I am powerful, that I have made an impact. That made me happy =). I really hope I have. 

leanasidhe, posting in thefridayfive @ 11:21am: Friday Five for 09 May 2008
This week's set was suggested by beethovenette87.

1. If you knew that you had only one day left to live, what would you do for the 24 hours?

2. Do you think that life has meaning?

3. What was your favourite childhood toy/object, or some of your favourites?
(Remember childhood according to the United Nations is anywhere from 0-18 years, so this is a fairly broad span of time).

4. When you clasp your hands, do you put your right thumb over your left thumb, or your left thumb over your right thumb?

5. If you had to teach the most ignorant person on earth the most difficult thing you have ever learned, how would you go about doing it?




Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so here: http://www.livejournal.com/community/thefridayfive/1466.html

Old sets that were used have been deleted, so please feel free to suggest some more! Remember that we rely on you, our members, to help keep the community going.

labeled_girl @ 8:51pm: Word 188
I didn't have a word today because I had my AP English Lit exam, but my word yesterday was Obsessive. Mark, Kat, and Mike all asked why, and I said, "Because I'm a little bit OCD." Rawley suggested the word because she has OCD, and I am pretty sure that I have OCD. Not severe, but OCD nonetheless. Why do I think I have OCD? Well. I constantly wash my hands, especially in art class. If I'm in like a room that smells weird, I freak out and think that I will like absorb that smell and smell weird too. I can't eat certain foods because it freaks me out. I have a certain order that my room has to be in or else I can't concentrate or sleep. I have to shower everyday, and if I do certain things I have to shower again...like if I take a nap or clean my rabbit's cage. Those are more compulsions...we learned about OCD this year in psych and now I understand the name better. The "compulsive" part refers to compulsions, like hand washing. The "obsessive" part refers to obsessive, intrusive thoughts. I have those sometimes. For instance, I'll be driving and I think, what if I run this red light, what if I drive into that tree or hit that car on purpose...I know I won't do those things, but I won't be able to get the thoughts out of my head and I'll start to think that I'm actually going to do it. These OCD type things aren't anything I can't deal with, but they are a bit annoying and frightening at times. But I mostly wore the word for Rawley, since she has it much worse than I do. And I'm proud of her for being open about it and such =).

theljstaff, posting in news @ 5:49pm: May News

This month is Mental Health Awareness Month, so the LiveJournal team is offering users a chance to support the Depression and Bipolar Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping improve the lives of those suffering from mood disorders. Proceeds from purchases of the Emerging Sun v-gift during May will be donated to the DBSA, so feel free to buy one. Or, if you really want to rack up some good karma points, get a bunch!

And don't forget: Mother's Day is this Sunday. Be a dear and check out the v-gifts shop. Send something that'll make her smile.


L to R: Emerging Sun, #1 Mom, Gift Basket, Chocolates, A Dozen Red Roses


We know how you salivate over the prospect of new themes, especially when they're designed by users with a unique handle on both form and function.


L to R: Shiny, River at Night, Live and Learn, Vector Drips.

( Winners of the HP 'What Do You Have to Say?' Theme Design Contest )


We'd like to remind you that the nomination process for LiveJournal Advisory Board user-representatives has begun. If you think you're fit for the job, now's the time to nominate yourself! After all, you're the only who can do it. In two weeks, on the 22nd, the voting process will begin; we'll remind you about it again here.

If you're interested in keeping up with the nominations, watch lj_election_en. We'll post the results and announce the winner by the end of the day on May 30th. The new user-representatives will be seated on June 1st. Further details can also be found in lj_2008.

labeled_girl @ 11:09pm: Word 187

Today's word was Jealousy. I'm going to start with the reactions. Maegan, Rawley, Baron, and Kat all asked me what I was jealous of. I explained that I wasn't jealous of any specific thing, that's why I used the word "jealousy" as opposed to "jealous." Of course I've been jealous in my life, I just can't think of any specific thing right now. Well, I probably could if I thought really hard. Hmm. Oh, I remember. I was talking to a couple of girls while setting up for the senior art show, and we were talking about how the work of a couple of other kids was better than ours, and we we're jealous of their artistic talent. 

I was thinking about jealousy because of this book I read called Slut! by Leora Tannenbaum (I highly recommend it). The author cited jealousy as one of the main causes of slut-bashing amongst girls. Girls and women are often very jealous of each other. They'll be jealous of a girl who is pretty, a girl who has a boyfriend, a girl who has a lot of boys interested in her, a girl who doesn't care what others think, a girl who has the courage to break from the norm, a girl who is having sex, a girl who isn't afraid to be sexual, a girl who loves herself, a girl who loves her body, etc. So in retaliation, those jealous girls will often call the object of their envy a slut. No matter what they're jealous of, even if it has nothing to do with sexuality, the majority of the time girls will revert to the insult "slut." 

Generally speaking, a slut is the worst thing a girl can be. Girls are almost always told that their virginity is precious, that having sex before marriage is a horrible thing, that having sexual thoughts is a horrible thing, etc. If you call a girl a slut, you are directly attacking that one thing many girls have been taught is most important in life: her so-called purity. Jealousy can turn girls into vicious people. Jealousy can turn anyone vicious. And I think that what girls need to be taught is that all of them are good people, that they don't need to be jealous. Those who are single are just as good as those who are taken, those who try to fit in are just as good as those who try to stand out, those who are free with their sexuality are just as good as those who are not free with it. It's all about what makes you, as a person, happy. And if you're jealous of someone because they are different and because you want to be different, then be different, don't attack them in the hopes that you will feel better. Because you won't feel better. You'll make life worse for yourself, the attacker, and for the victim.

labeled_girl @ 7:05pm: Words 185 & 186
Friday's word was Identity. I chose it because that night I couldn't sleep. I was overly tired and thinking random things, and my mind turned to the question, "Who am I?" And although I can't quite remember what went through my head at 2 in the morning, I know it made me wake up the next morning and choose the word Identity. The thing is, I've never been very good at being myself. I've always tried to be who people wanted me to be, or who I thought they wanted me to be, or who I decided I wanted to be after not being happy with who I supposedly was. I was also thinking about how I've often tried to model myself after my best friend, Kiwi. She's very mature, confident, unique, etc. And I've always thought, I have to be more mature, I have to be less shy and awkward, I should be more like Kiwi. But really, why? Why should I try to be less shy and awkward and all of the things that make me who I am? Maybe I was meant to be that way. Maybe I'm happy with myself as I am. I'm not saying that Kiwi isn't an amazing person, because she is, but that doesn't mean that I should be like her, or like anyone else I admire. I should just be me, shyness and awkwardness and immaturity and all. And I realized that if you're trying to be someone else, then you're basically saying you aren't happy with who you are. So if you're trying to be someone else, you're not going to be happy. I doubt that anyone is completely and totally happy with themselves, I know I'm not, but I'm okay. I'm okay with who I am. Reactions - Katie, Mrs. E, and Mark asked about it.

Today's word was Degraded. This word brings up something that happened a week or two ago that I never addressed with this project. There was a guy I think I mentioned I went out with a couple times. It never went anywhere, and I met him at work but he ended up quitting. He comes in every once in a while to visit. Not to visit me, he ignores me. So one day I guess he was visiting and talking to one of the managers, and he told him that he wanted to fuck me and another girl. Just flat out said that. My manager told me, and I got really upset. I mean, that's just so disgusting and degrading. You don't just say that about someone. I guess that's been in the back of my mind, so I chose Degraded for today's word. Reactions - Kat, Rawley, Baron, and I were talking about it in art class. Rawley said obviously I'm degraded because I'm a woman (I think she meant that all women are degraded at some point). Emily asked me what my word of the day was, and then Mark was saying how all day people had been saying sexist things to him against men, and how it was the fault of the sexist-pig type men that he couldn't get a date. And the reality is, it does seem to be the majority of men that are sexist assholes. Even some nice guys can be sexist at times. In fact, the only guy I can think of who has never said anything remotely sexist is Baron. Go Baron =P.

By the way, I was checking my entries from last year and I guess I didn't do words on the days that I had AP tests, since I didn't want anyone to freak out about College Board rules or whatever. So I guess I only have 8 words left, since I have 10 school days and 2 of those days are AP tests.

theljstaff, posting in news @ 10:56am: Advisory Board Nominations Open
Advisory Board Nominations Begin

This morning we are opening the nomination process for the user-representative positions on the LiveJournal Advisory Board. A full description of the process can be found here.

To get you started, here are the basic things you should know:

- You may only nominate yourself
- Each nominee will need 100 motions of support in order to be eligible to be a candidate
- We ask that you keep your comments on the nomination posts to "I support this nomination" or something to that effect; be kind to those who will need to count the "supports", please.
- Although the nominations and election poll will take place in lj_election_en, you do not need to watch the community in order to keep up with the election; we'll announce everything here as well.

Everyone here at LiveJournal is looking forward to this first-ever User-Representative election! We'd like to thank everyone who is participating. Some words from our current Advisory Board members:

danah boyd: “LiveJournal is filled with very passionate users. These users have helped shaped LJ's various communities over the last decade and it gives me great joy that LJ is recognizing and incorporating users' voices into the decision-making processes. Having user representatives from different parts of LJ on the Advisory Board will help make sure that the company is meeting the needs of its diverse constituents.”

Esther Dyson: "I'm sure we'll learn a lot from the process, and later on from the two users selected as well. Especially, I hope that the discussions before the voting will be more meaningful and more focused on policy than those in some offline campaigns."

Brad Fitzpatrick: "It's cool that SUP is getting users involved with the LiveJournal decision-making process. I look forward to seeing who the community elects and the results of our efforts working together."

Professor Lawrence Lessig: “The user elections will provide a critical check on LJ's process of maintaining a valuable and trustworthy environment for the LJ community. The mandate of the elections will give the user representatives pride of place among the members of the Advisory Board. Each of us will look to them to guide us in our judgment about how best to make LJ the community we all aspire that it will be. I look forward to welcoming the user representatives, and learning a great deal from them.”


chasethestars has also made some banners for you to use, if you'd like to show your support for the candidate of your choice!

( Banners + code for you to use! )

apologiesqueen, posting in thefridayfive @ 9:27pm: Friday Five -- May 2, 2008
This week's questions were suggested by alysonl.

1. What's one of the nicest things a friend has ever done for you?

2. What's one of the nicest things a stranger has ever done for you?

3. What is a trait in another person that you instantly admire, and that draws you to them?

4. What is a trait in another person that instantly repels you, and prevents you from forming a close relationship with them?

5. Time to vent: tell us about something rotten someone has done to you.


Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so here: http://www.livejournal.com/community/thefridayfive/1466.html

Old sets that were used have been deleted, so please feel free to suggest some more! Remember that we rely on you, our members, to help keep the community going.

labeled_girl @ 8:59pm: Words 183 & 184
Wednesday's word was Beautiful. I chose it obviously because the word the day before had been Ugly, and I wanted to contrast it. Although many of us may feel ugly on the outside, most people are beautiful on the inside (and out, but inside is more important). As Anne Frank once said, "Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart." It amazes me how Anne Frank could have written that while hiding from the Nazis, people who were most certainly not good at heart. Reactions - Rawley, Mark, Maegan, and Kat noticed the contrast. Mrs. E said she liked the word, and Daisy said she liked this word better than Ugly. Emily asked what my word was. Mr. Grover said it was a good way to feel, and I explained that it was a contrast to the word I'd had the day before. He asked if I really did feel beautiful that day, and I said, "Kind of," and then he asked if I'd felt ugly the day before, and I said, "Kind of...I'm pretty neutral." Then he asked if I was hoping that if I willed it, it would happen, and I said I guess haha. This kid in my physics class Connor asked a little bit about my project, such as when I make my words and if I've done a different one every day. That seems to surprise people the most, that I've never repeated a word.

Today's word was Spontaneous. This story explains why I didn't update last night. I went to a Paramore concert! In school, I found out that this girl Steph was selling two tickets to the concert because she couldn't go (she and the girl she was going with had to work). I did something very spontaneous and said I would buy the tickets. Katie was in my next class, and I was looking for someone to go with. Katie loves Paramore, so she called her mom, who said it was okay =). So we bought the tickets and went to the show. It was amazing. It was a very spontaneous thing, I don't usually do stuff like that. With concerts I actually procrastinate a lot, to the point of never buying the tickets. I remember seeing this show advertised and wanting to go, but kind of talking myself out of it (which was stupid). Reactions - Katie, Kat, Olivia, Mark, and I think Rawley said something about my word.