I deeply apologize for the sloppiness of my font lately. You may find that in these next nine days this blog will be revolving aroudns choolwork. Who would have known Blogger would be an excellent way to showcase and create your work?
I am making a pop-up book for STEM Foundations and needed a font form a computer. Only Blogger has the Geo font, and that's what I'm using, so you will will find many drafts for my project.
And if I ask what you would think if I tried something new, could you reply? I'm getting a grade for it.
I know, I know, I shouldn't be using my blog---which was made to be an escape from life---as an extra school project. But I should end the year on top, shouldn't I?
I am sorry if this bores you, but there is a font that I can only find on Blogger that I need for a school project. Yes, I'm still in school. No judging.
~~~~~~
Why are there volcanoes, you may ask?
Scattered across the land and sea?
Underwater,
Above the surface
With magma chambers
Like a fiery furnace?
And why are there earthquakes,
That shake the earth beneath
And why do they happen
Thousands of feet deep?
It's called plate tectonics.
Somewhere far below they're moving
And they're moving apart,
Together,
Next to
Each other.
They make mountains and trenches
They cause earthquakes and eruptions
And much, much more.
There are many things the plates are responsible for
But let's start with the theory of continental drift.
As fast as your fingernails grow
The plates move
Over a long period of time.
They were together
But it couldn't last forever
And in time they split.
The place called PANGAEA
Split into the world today
So now we're left with fossils
In places they normally wouldn't be
Leading us to this conclusion in this way.
So this leads us to the ocean
Where all this evidence can be seen
Where the ranges are new and the trenches are old.
The new crust forms mountains
The old crust subducts
And this is the movement that causes the continents to drift.
They have to keep moving to keep growing
And that's the process of seafloor spreading.
How is this possible and how are they moving?
It takes heat
A convection current
With energy to release.
Info:
Igneous rocks: Formed through cooling and solidification of lava.
Metamorphic rocks: Formed from intense pressure and heat.
Sedimentary rocks: Formed under heat and is a combination of many rocks.
(add next lesson, apparently number 7 never existed...)
Yup. This girl, who started this blog as an elementary school home-schooled student, is entering high school. No more being treated like I'm little anymore.
In clubs today, this came across my mind. We separated our club by high and middle school, which I honestly wasn't a fan of because I'm friends/acquainted with many of the high schoolers, and I was the oldest of the middle school students, which many of their maturity levels weren't... well, you get it.
We were practicing a skit and our teacher said, "Why don't you stand in the doorway so I can see you." That doesn't happen when you're in high school because she is a high school teacher and lets them do their own thing. But no. We're younger so we get treated like babies. And I'm sick of it.
I'm sick of being blamed for the stupid acts of one group of kids. The whole middle school half of our school gets a bad reputation because ONE group of kids decides to be bad. All the high schoolers hate us (even my sister), though not personally, especially since they know me.
And another thing about being a freshman? In the middle of the year I almost wanted to be homeschooled again. But then I heard how many kids are leaving for high school, and now I'm psyched for freshman year. Pretty much all of the rude, ignorant kids are leaving and making the school a better environment. Just wait until the sixth graders come in...
Hopefully the maturity levels will grow. And when new kids come---because I know they will---I will find some friends that have the same beliefs as me. Why? Because lately it seems that I've been practically preaching at my friends... like because they don't believe what I believe I've been trying to form them into what I want them to be. And that's not who they want to be. A lot of us are Christians, but a lot of them stand for not-so-conservative stuff... same-sex marriage, homosexuality in general, the idea that there's "seven layers of heaven" and no hell, Jesus not being God's only son... yeah. Lately it seems that I can't get along with my school friends on anything spiritual and it's sad, because I should be able to look to them for encouragement. But if we don't believe similar things, it'll just end in another argument. I do have one school friend that I agree with, though, aside from baby baptism, which I don't really have a side on.
I guess that's where my church family comes in. I love them to death. Literally. I would do ANYTHING for my church family. ANYTHING. Some of my absolute best friends I met at church and I'll be going to the same college as some of them in... oh my gosh, four years. I feel like I could tell them anything. And every time I do a performance for Fine Arts, I always feel amazingly supported (not always extremely confident, though), so I try to return the favor. My church is awesome. And we all believe similar things, LoL.
Along with freshman year comes... dun dun dun... the worship team. You thought I was done talking about that, didn't you? Well honey, I'm not. I'm joining for real this time, in July. So excited. I finally get to give MY feedback, people get to hear MY voice, it'll prepare me for NFAF, and more importantly it's MINISTRY, MUSIC, PRAYER, POETRY and PASSION. Any better combination? Didn't think so.
Your school year is only as good as the summer that comes after it. To fulfill my dream since fourth grade, I'm working extra hard on my vocal solo---because I never knew I could sing until sixth grade and it was just a dream to make Nationals---so that I can make it into the Top Ten. It's gonna be hard--- this is my first year alone at Nationals, this is my second year period, and there are hundreds of singers at Nationals. Hundreds. But I'm gonna try to hit those high notes and be one of the best. Top Ten out of hundreds? And that's the Top Twenty out of like, five hundred girls? Top Fifty out of EVERY SINGER THERE? Impressive.
^^^I'm SICK of this song.^^^
And I get a netbook! However, yesterday ruined my desire for that. I used Faith's netbook to record a song for a History project and... I hate talking about it... I was using Audacity and BAM! deletes an hour of recording, guitar, piano, harpsichord and all. I was excited to get a netbook BECAUSE of Audacity, but now I don't want a netbook at all...
And I get to be in the high school hallway. Maybe.
And I can boss around sixth graders... okay, maybe not.
And I can dye my hair red.
And my boyfriend and I were just talking... JUST KIDDING, no boyfriend here. Yet.
And the bets part---
I get to take ART CLASS! YAY!!!!
Who doesn't love Art? Then again, who doesn't love leaving middle school?
Under the bus,
That's where you threw me
To die
To rot
For the bees to swarm
For the vultures to eat.
You made me less than who I wanted to be.
You killed me.
In ghost form I write
As the winds carry down my soul
And I write this letter to you.
You need to hear it
How selfish you are
How you sucked the life out of me.
We were only children,
I thought you were my friend.
You weren't,
You threw me under the bus.
I sound like a murderer,
Sorry,
I won't kill you.
But what I will do is hope that you know where you went wrong.
I wanted to be your bestie
You never wanted to be mine.
So, those that know me or have seen my "It Sounds Like We Would've Had a Great Deal to Say to Each Other" (a line taken from "Airplanes" by the Local Natives) know that I LOVE "Doctor Who," a British series on BBC America and the other BBCs. It is... almost... appropriate for all ages excluding occassional language and violence and frequently creepy monsters. But trust me, parents, the show is way more fun for families than it sounds!
I want a TARDIS for my birthday.
Now that that's out of the way, I can show you what I mean when I call myself "obsessed with Doctor Who."
MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITES OF WHAT'S BELOW:
"I Will Always Fight on For You" ('Gifts and Curses,' Yellowcard)
"Sometimes When I Close My Eyes" ('Echo,' Jason Walker)
First of all, who else takes the time to make a DW playlist on YouTube? Here's an example of what's on the playlist:
To see all videos (because you know I'll add more), you can check out the playlist on @Gymnastix1710's YouTube channel.
And then on another playlist not specifically for DW, I have clips from the show... of course, here are some!
And then my three absolute FAVORITES:
David Tennant... is he always in the places he shouldn't be???
My favorite Disney song + My all-time favorite show = LOVE.
I told y'all how I can't upload photos to save my life. So... before I buy myself a good camera for photography, I gotta start from level 1. It's like gymnastics. You gotta get good at it before you move to the more advanced stuff. Unlike with how you have to wait until level 4 to compete in gymnastics, I'm competing in photography next year. So... I gotta get a move on and work on the basics between now and September.
And random news: I might get to go to Worship Camp this summer! It takes place during my last week of school, but I'll only be missing the last two days. It'll be fun, though--- I will be placed in a group to do band and we get to practice with Cedarville University's worship team. I'm gonna try to get some kids from my church to go with me. Still, I wanna say goodbye to my classmates (some aren't coming back for freshman year). Reminds me of how much has changed...
I know, I know, I mention this pretty much at least four times a year, but... Fifth grade. I was in the fifth grade when I started this blog... golee, that seems so long ago. And I was ten. And that was 2009. And I was homeschooled. And I couldn't upload pictures.
Now it will soon be the summer between eighth and ninth grade. I'm thirteen. This is 2012. I'm basically private-schooled. And I still can't upload pictures... ah, some things never change:)
I figured out how to upload from iPads, though! Here's one of my favorites of the fuzzy photography! Again, I am yet to get a higher quality camera. Maybe one day I can make a hobby of photography like Drew or be a pro at editing like Mrs. Jenilee. One day... one day. But until then, I'll have to rely on Charity, my naturally-talented-at-photography-and-photo-editing sister. Maybe she and Drew can take my graduation photos (*cough* in four years *cough*).
But for now, here's mine!
So proud of myself... looks less pixilated on the computer than it did on the iPad! Yay!
I have a few friends that come from more traditional churches, just to start off. My church is having this thing called May Madness and one of my friends' mothers has a slight theological problem with the Assemblies of God, but didn't want to offend me--- which is alright because she has a right to believe what she believes and she's a Christian too, for all I care.
I didn't know what problem she had with AG churches--- we take communion, we believe in the trinity, we believe there is a Hell, we believe Jesus died for our sins. Don't Presbyterians believe that, too?
So, I looked up problems with the Assemblies of God on Google. Knowing me, I got off-task and ended up searching Jehovah's Witness locations and how old Luke Conard is and how fat William Taft was. But after about thirty minutes being off-task, I remembered what I was looking up.
I was lead to an extremely preachy person's website. There's nothing wrong with being preachy, but this person was the rude kind of preachy. Yeah. Many of the problems the author held against the Assemblies of God were things that you can't judge an entire denomination with. One of his main problems? In later posts I will address the other issues, but here's one:
Our worship is "contemporary" and we no longer just use an organ and hymnals.
Now, you would really have to visit the church on that one. As for mine, we have an organ that overpowers many of the other instruments on the worship team but it got struck by lightning, so... it still works, but not really as loud. And we DO have hymnals, we just don't use them. Some people (referring to teenagers who have since left our church for college) have disrespected our hymnals and one has the name "Mikey" written on it.
Dear Mikey,
I was here, too! I don't know who you are but it's nice that everyone knows your name!
And as for pianos, DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED. We have at least ten pianos in our church alone. Like, seriously, and only half of those are actually in use. I'm not even gonna list them. I know we have two keyboards in the youth room, a normal piano in the kids' room, a piano in the sixth-eighth grade room, a baby grand in the elderly people room, a real grand and a synthesizer in the sanctuary, a REALLY out-of-tune piano in the garage that was never sold (you may wonder why...) and there's probably a few hiding up in the belltower--- ooh, I forgot there's one or two in the choir room! But my point is you don't know what instruments might be hiding in my church... where do you think the string bass came from? They've probably got a cello hiding in there! If so, I want it!
My REAL point is why does it matter if you use Hymnals or Hillsong? Let's see some lyrics...
"I see the King of Beauty/Coming up with clouds, with fire/The whole Earth shakes/The whole Earth shakes/Yeah.../I see His love and mercy/Washing over all our sin/The people sing/The people sing/Hosanna/Hosanna/Hosanna in the highest..."
That did not come from a hymnal, that's an alternative song. Many Christians are divided about the concept of Christian rock music, and especially rock worship music. There's nothing wrong with using drums and electric guitars. We don't want to be of this world, correct. But the lyrics are what matter, not the bassline. Agreed?
"You/Are/My/Vision/Oh King/Of/My Heart/Nothing else satisfies/Only You, LORD/You/Are/My best thought by day or by night/Waking or sleeping, Your presence, my light/Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oh/Ooh, ooh ooh ooh ooh/You/Are/My/Wisdom/You are my true Word/I ever with You and You with me LORD/You're my great Father and I'm your true son/You dwell inside me/Together we're one/Oh oh oh oh/Oh... oh oh oh oh..."
That's not from a Hymnal, either. That's from Rend Collective Experiment's new album. But it was originally a hymn. So it kinda was form a hymnal... wait, Rend Collective has another song!
"Whatever I have/Whatever I hold/'Cause nothing compares/To having You close/True intimacy/Is my desire/To catch Your whisper/To carry Your Fire/You're my/Ambition/My destination/More than living/More than breathing/You're the reason/My heart's beating/There's nothing greater/Than knowing You/You wind up my joy/You wake up my osul/Forever I'm Yours/God, forever You're mine, mine/The wonderful truth/That You are my light.../You're my/Ambition/My soul's/True mission/More than living/More than breathing/You're the reason/My heart's beating/So/I'm giving/Freely yielding/You're the reason/My heart's beating, YEAH!..."
That's not from a hymnal. It's a song recorded in someone's living room. Or how about this one...
"At first I am afraid/But not because of fear/But the Holy of holies/Is drawing me near/Your voice like thunder/Shakes the gorund I'm on/To hide my face in the shadow of Your wings, oh LORD/To hide my sin in the beauty here before Your throne/Your throne/Hallelujah for the blood of the Lamb that was slain/Hallelujah for the blood of the Lamb that was slain/And so we/Enter in to see Your face/Yeah/Enter in to see Your face, Oh God..."
That one is almost a direct Bible verse. Again, that's not form a Hymnal. It was recorded in a studio.
My point?
I think you can see the point. You don't need a hymnal to worship God--- you don't even need music. You just need a thankful heart and desire
and that's worship for ya! But when it comes to worship music, all you need is genuine lyrics an da genuine love for God!
Here's to the girls who prefer guitar over piano...Who prefer metal over alternative...
And alternative over pop...
Here's to the girls who sing basslines...
To the girls who can sing lower than most guys...
AND ALL THE GIRLS OUT THERE MAKING MUSIC!
iHeartRadio is having a Rising Star competition. This means?
Whoever wins gets to open at the Macy's 2012 iHeartradio music festival. All the biggest stars in music will be there... it will take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and dude... 30,000 people in the audience! That makes Fine Arts, talent shows, and occassionally singing in church sound super small! The most people I've performed in front of I'd say would have to be... 250 people, because when I did Christian Band last year and we made Nationals, we performed in front of the entire adult congregation on a Sunday morning, and that's a lot of people. But... compared to this, that might as well be 25 people.
The most people Megan and Liz have performed in front of? 2,000. And THAT doesn't even compare to this opportunity.
These girls are amazingly talented. They may be pop artists, but I still love them despite my negative feelings toward that genre of music. I mean, they sound great recorded
and live
and everything in between!
These girls truly deserve this. Like, seriously. They moved all the way from Michigan to continue their music career in Nashville, Tennessee. Either way, they live near the state I currently live in.
ABOUT MEGAN
Full name Megan McKinley Mace. She's the oldest twin by one minute, and the brunette of the duo. She has been playing guitar for over five years. Is a pescatarian.
ABOUT LIZ
Full name Elizabeth Morgan Mace. She's the youngest twin by one minute, and the blonde of the duo. She is beginning to play the piano. Is a vegetarian.
ABOUT MEGAN AND LIZ
They were born in South Bend, Indiana and raised in Edwardsburg, Michigan. They graduated from Edwardsburg High School, at which they were also cheerleaders. Both girls have Tumblr blogs and love singing and songwriting and have published 22 original songs.
PLEASE vote for these girls! They are in the lead currently, but they still need your vote. You cna vote for them up to 25 times today and then 25 times tomorrow and 25 more times everyday until the contest ends on May 13th.
Finally, a contest that doesn't require a Facebook account. All you need is an e-mail account. Like, seriously, that's it. Just click this link:
And then go down until you see them and click VOTE. You can even listen to "Are You Happy Now." Come on, let's help two (rival) bloggers out!
P.S. 30,000 people at a concert? That's A LOT of people! And guess how many pageviews this blog has? 20,000! The readers of this blog can fill up two-thirds of that stadium! Thanks for reading!
My mind is cleared of worries
I can put my soul at rest
Only temporarily, of course
But this feeling is the best.
It's a simple summer day
In Ohio,
Today
And it's just me and the river
The forest
The sun
And a few close friends
A time of year when everyone's a bohemian---
Floral dresses, shirts, skirts
Flowers in their hair.
I love the feeling of belonging.
Then there's freedom.
No:
"Remember to check ProgressBook"
"You're gonna be late for your bus"
"I'm too busy"
It's just the life I've wanted to live all year.
I get to do everything I've wanted to:
Out of school,
Violin lessons,
Learn new guitar chords,
Play my piano
Admire my bass
Practice my vocal solo for Nationals
Summer camp
County fair
Legendary funnel cakes
And swimming in my friend's pool.
I don't have to deal with snobs for another whole three months and I finally have time to focus on what really matters to me.
I can't think of a better feeling,
But then again,
That's just me:)
In what I do,
I'm relentless
'Cause without You
I am nothing
I'm just a wandering soul here on this lonely earth
A desert in need of an oasis
Dry bones impossible to live again.
So all I ask is for You to fill me again
With Your love,
With Your grace
To be relentless for You
To show the world all the light on all this earth
The power of your love
It's real, it's true
It exists
It's You.
I'm relentless
Because You're relentless
You died
So I could live
And now You're alive
Alive in heaven
Alive in my heart
Because You're relentless to love me.
