Back home

Well, I'm home from my grandmother's house.

I had a really good time. I helped out at the store.

Now I just got back from my appointment with Michael, the therapist.

....... Apparently I have a lot of water energy. I am also an empath. I read other people and their energies.

He advised me to hug other people when I meet them instead of shaking hands. This would avoid a sweaty mess and it would also shout that I am approachable and friendly. He thinks this is a very brilliant idea of his.

Well, I will give it a try.

He predicts I will have a boyfriend at Las Po and that his name will start with a "J". He's like, "Jason, Jacob, something like that." Yes. We will see.

He's kind of a nut. But I like him, and he likes me. He thinks I will "kick ass" some day.

Whatever you say, Mike.

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Now I don't know what to do. So I will just sit here, thinking of something to say.

Well, I can't think of anything. Sorry.

More interesting things will come in December, I promise. Right now I am sorta not doing anything.

I hope you all are having a good day.

And Joellymo, happy belated birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were thinking of you on Thanksgiving, even though that wasn't your actual birthday. Anyway, we will see you soon. Like in the summer.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, Cirque du Soleil was pretty amazing. This photo is from the one we saw, Kooza.

The tight rope walking was very impressive, as was the juggling act. There was a cool unicycle trick too.

But most amazing was something that I cannot possibly explain. Just trust me. ....Yeah, I don't even know where to begin.

Anyway, we all had dinner first at Momo's, right across the street from AT&T Park. I had the Yankee pot roast. It was very good.

So today is Thanksgiving. We are going to San Francisco again. My mom has been instructed to make an apple pie, but that's all the cooking we have to do. My grandparents are doing everything else.

For Gram

Yes, I am definitely coming to your house after Thanksgiving!!

I am looking forward to it.

Bummer

Well, registration for classes started today.

I stayed up til midnight so that at 12:01 I could start registering before anyone else. But the website said registration would start at 7 am.

So I decided I would do it as soon as I got up in the morning. I woke up at about 10, but I had severe cramps. I also couldn't stand for more than 5 seconds because I felt really lightheaded. Someone did not want me to register.

I laid on the floor of my room, with the web site up. Every couple seconds I was able to register for one class. I got my ASL, English, and math. But all the biology classes were full. There were about ten bio classes. All full.

So I signed up for American History. This class is required to transfer.

Now I only have one class on Monday. The history class is two hours on Wednesday only.

No classes on Friday. So that leaves four days to potentially work at the zoo.

Gah. Next semester I am waking up at the exact moment registration begins so I can get that stupid biology class.

But I've always loved American history. It's the first half of US history; next semester I will take the second half (Civil War to present.)

I was supposed to meet with Michael, the therapist, today, but he canceled the appointment.

But this week is still very busy.

Tomorrow I am seeing Cirque du Soleil with my grandparents, aunt/uncle, and cousin. And parents. I think this will be really cool. It's at AT&T Park, the baseball stadium. A big tent on the parking lot.

I always watch this on TV.

Then on Wednesday, I am seeing my dermatologist. I am going to ask about laser acne treatments. Blech. I think I will feel much better if I get that.

I am also seeing my psychiatrist on Wednesday. She doesn't know that I have been seeing Michael. I feel like I am cheating on her or something. Oh, well.

Then Thursday is obviously Thanksgiving. We'll have a big dinner with everyone at my grandmother's house in San Francisco. I think my mom is making apple pie.

Then after that..... I don't know.

A lot of anxiety has left me since I have finally registered. I was worried that my classes would all be full. And that did happen for one of them. But everything is ok. I'll just take bio next semester. Unless some idiots try to mess up my plans again. Idiots. That class should be for ME.

Anyway, this week will be good. I will have something to do instead of sitting around the house watching Extreme Makeover and What Not To Wear.

Ah yes, Extreme Makeover. You have to see it to believe it. People who have "ugly " faces and overweight bodies apply to be given, well, extreme makeovers. Extensive plastic surgery.

We're talking nose jobs, eye lifts, ear pinning, liposuction, breast augmentation, fake teeth, ..... on and on. At the end, these people look absolutely nothing like they did when they came on the show.

My mom is worried that I am getting ideas about plastic surgery. No, I am not. I just think this show is fascinating.

Max (dog) has the beginnings of a lesion. I don't really know what that is. It is completely independent of his spinal arthritis. We have been giving him some very strong pain killers and now he can actually walk again. Why does Max have so many problems? Is it because he's old?

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Now I don't have to worry about school until January 22. That will relieve a lot of stress.

Ok, I am going to get in the shower. Bye!


OK I DO NEED BONEHEAD MATH. But, bio actually counted for FOUR units, so those classes would have added up to 15. Heh.

And now that I am not even taking bio, I only have 14 units. AHHHHH! So next semester I need to take 16 units.......

Idiots. Messed up my plan!!!!

I'm excited

I just got back from the zoo orientation.

It went very well. A volunteer docent explained about the operations of the zoo and all the volunteer opportunities available.

I want to work in animal management. This entails cleaning and feeding and other dirty things.

I don't want to work with children. That was a question they asked me in the interview.

Then we went on a guided tour of the zoo. The docent we had spent many minutes talking about each animal and explained various anecdotes. It was a little tiring hearing her talk on and on, but I did. Her husband works with the elephants, and she probably spent twenty or thirty minutes talking about them.

She kept asking questions about the animals, like little facts. "What's the difference between a monkey and an ape?" "How many vertebrae do giraffes have in their necks?" I was the only one who knew all the answers. I know that if someone else stood there giving all the answers I would be very annoyed. So I guess I was annoying. Oh, well.

She didn't go through the children's zoo, where some cool animals are. The alligators and tortoises are there. So are my good friends the lemurs. Afterward I had lunch there and went to visit my friends. They weren't in the back, high up in the trees like they usually are. They were huddled together in little balls on the very bottom of their encloser. I should have taken a picture of them with my phone camera.

Apparently at this time of year the zoo keepers like to put pumpkins, or parts of them, in with the animals. We saw a lioness playing with one. She tried to keep it from rolling down a pretty steep hill, but it fell anyways. Then she fell right after it.

Days are divided into two shifts for volunteers. The morning shift starts at 8:00, two hours before the zoo opens to the public. This would be a great time to see the more shy animals come out. Of course you would have to get up super early.

I have to wait about two weeks, due to the holiday, to be contacted by the zoo and set up for another interview and scheduling. I would be assigned to what is called a string. Strings are headed by one particular keeper, in charge of several different species. Keepers don't work with just one specific animal. One string has 200 animals from 30 different species. That is the extreme though.

So I don't know what animals I would be working with.

Only eight people showed up for this. Six of us went on the tour. I didn't really know how many to expect.

I am very excited about this. I'm bummed I have to wait so long to get started. But oh, well.

When school starts I will have Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off. I can work on any of those three days.

You have to be willing to work at least six months. That's easy for me. After all the training you have to go through, you need to give some of that time back.

I had to give written proof that I've had my tetanus booster and tuberculosis test done. So I did that. Most people didn't have theirs.

This could be a very cool experience. I am really looking forward to it.

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I signed up to take American Sign Language for my fourth class. You need to take a semester of one foreign language, so that's that. The other ones offered are French, Italian, and Spanish. (Boring.)

I'm all set

That orientation last night was very cool. We each got a whole packet of stuff, including a daily planner.

My test results indicated that I can go right into transferable unit classes. In other words, I don't have to take Algebra 101.

All the classes I will be taking will count for UC and CSU credit. So that's good.

You need 12 units per semester to get an AA degree from Las Po. To transfer you need 15 units.

English 1A is 3 units, Math 20 is 5 units, and Biology 31 is 3 units. So that's 12 units right there with just three classes.

So now I need to find a fourth class, worth at least 3 units.

I have no idea what to take. The counselor recommended I take something that "uses the other side of the brain."

There a lot of classes that interest me, but I am not sure these use the other side of the brain. Like marine biology. But I am already taking a biology class. I'll save the zoology class for the fall, I guess.

I like the Intro to Drawing class. That could be fun. Or maybe I should take some sort of history class.

I have a list of all the subjects and areas I need to take classes from in order to transfer. So I will look at that.

I also know I am not going to sign up for anything that starts at 8 am.

Anyway, I am very excited about this.

Tomorrow is the volunteer orientation at the Oakland Zoo. It starts at 10. I am also very excited about this. You have to fill out an application and do a little interview.

My mom says I need to dress nicely for this. She got on my case when I delivered my Sanrio application in not so nice clothes. Ok, I get it.

I don't know how this will be organized. Maybe you sign up for different sessions. Like some volunteers will start in December, and some will start later or something. I don't know.

I just need to be able to work during December and January.

Or maybe they won't even accept me at all. Then I'll really be in a mess.

I also don't know how many people will be there. The orientation takes place in the education center, which I think is one really big room. When I spent time at the zoo over the summer, we always met in this room at the beginning of the day. But I'm not sure that that's the real education center.

I figure I will go in early, like 8:30. You don't have to pay for parking when you go in this early. Then I will probably pay for entrance into the zoo and look on the map for the edu. center or just ask someone where it is.

They also take you on a tour of the zoo. Even though I know where all the animals are, I will do this with everyone else.

The weather people on the news keep changing their minds. First they say it's gonna be nice on Sunday, then they say it's gonna rain. Now they say it's gonna be nice again.

I really, really hate this weather. I admit that yesterday felt very nice outside, but I want the cold to come back.

I guess what I mean is I really like the weather, it's very pleasant, but it's coming at the wrong time. Am I just over-reacting??

Sigh. (I hope my mom will just drive me to the zoo tomorrow because I don't like driving there myself. This will probably annoy her.)

In other news, Barry Bonds has been indicted. What is the world coming to?

So.... I hope you all are having a good day!

My mom just told me she isn't going to drive me tomorrow. Oh, well.

*cries*

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Nothing new has really happened.

Well, last night I took the assessment tests for English and math at Las Po. They were ok. The math had a lot of pre-calculus stuff on it.

Today I am going in for a counseling orientation to discuss my "educational goals." I'll find out what classes I'll be taking. Or signing up for.

I am very sad today. My dog has really bad arthritis in his spine. Starting a couple days ago he has been limping severely. He can barely walk. So my dad is going to take him to the vet, hopefully today.

This problem that Max has is eventually gonna kill him. One day he won't be able to get up at all, not even to eat.

So I don't know how much longer he will make it. This really upsets me and I am not happy right now.

I know everyone loses pets at some point in their life. My two rats died the summer before last. I was really sad about that because they didn't live as long as rats are supposed to live. One died of a nasty skin infection and the other one died shortly after due to loneliness.

I sat with Bernie, my cat, for a long time this morning on the couch. He likes to drink water out of the fridge dispenser. So I filled up a little bowl for him.

Bernie is very fat, and he's getting fatter. The vet said that he should not gain any more weight. We feed the cats both low fat and regular food. Of course we can't make sure Bernie eats the low fat food, because we put both kinds out for them. I don't think we could get Bernie to eat at a different location than Posey.

So my pets are kind of a mess.

Max just looks horrible, with his one eye and that sad look on his face. I can't stand it.

Anyway, I will report back later today after my school orientation.

It can't be!

I just got back from the Golden Skate.

I really am no good. My sister changed her mind about going. So it was just me and my mom, and my mom didn't skate.

There were a whole bunch of little kids running around all over the place and then a couple of really good adults. I was the first person to start skating.

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On the news the other day, they said just before commercial: "The Giants resign top veteran." And it's like, Bonds??? But no, it's Omar Vizquel, who is great.

Yuck

It took me a couple days to get all the signatures I needed to leave. Some Foothill staff and administrators needed to sign.

But now I have them all and I am all checked out.

On Thursday my mom suggested I go to the mall and buy something in honor of this occasion. So I bought some jeans and a pair of shoes.

Today we are going roller skating at the Golden Skate in San Ramon. I always like doing this.

One of the people that needed to sign my form was the campus supervisor and she needed to have my parking permit back. The attendance lady said she would sign for this instead, but she wouldn't sign until I gave her the parking permit. Well, the parking permit this year was a sticker that goes in the lower corner of the windshield. I could not get this thing off the car. I tried scraping it off with my key, and that didn't work. Then I tried using a razor blade. Some of it came off in little shavings. So the next day I saw the actual campus supervisor and she said not to worry about the parking pass - she didn't need to see it all. Now there is this ugly blue and gold mess on my windshield.

Last night I saw Man vs. Wild: Sahara Desert. This time he ate a live spider and a live scorpion. He also came across a cobra and tried to get it to bite his bag of supplies. Then he peed on his shirt and wrapped it around his head. On the previous episode, I forget where it was, he drank his own urine. He just drank it straight out of his body.

Next is part two of the Sahara. Apparently he dives inside a dead horse, looking for water.

Ok, so now I am waiting until it is 12:00. Then we can leave for the skating rink. I used to be really good at ice skating, but I am very bad at roller skating. So we'll see how it goes.

I'm done

Well, that's it. My Foothill days are over.

This morning I hauled all my books into the office. The receptionist filled out a form that had a place for all my teachers' signatures. There was also a place for my exit grades, which were actually a lot better than I thought.

Mrs. Bradley wasn't at school today, so I have to go in tomorrow to give her my books.

Today was test day in bio, but I obviously didn't take it. A.J. noticed this and asked me about it in the car. I told him today was my last day. He's like, "are you serious?" Then he said, "yeah, Foothill sucks."

So he understands perfectly.

I also remembered to ask him if he has an i-pod, but he doesn't have one.

I ran today in P.E. along with all the other kids. It was a good way to end my P.E. career. I have P.E. second period, so I had to carry my clothes and shoes as well as my books with me all day.

Everyone was very nice and said they were sad to see me go.

But I'm not sad. I'm happy.

Gram: how would you feel if I came to stay with you for a couple days starting tomorrow or Friday?

Bye bye

Tomorrow is my last day of school. That three day weekend has turned into a two month weekend.

I met with Ms. Edwards today and I forgot to bring my GED scores to show her. She said she needs to give them to some other person who will take them to the principal and then who knows what happens. So I told her I would bring them in tomorrow.

But then at lunch I went in to buy an official copy of my transcript to give to the people at Las Po. For some reason I mentioned to this transcript lady that I got my GED. She asked me if I am going to exit the school. I said yes and that Ms.Edwards is taking care of it for me. But then she said that this process goes through her, not Ms. Edwards. She has a form that I fill out. Tomorrow she wants me to bring in all my books and then sign this form. Then I'm done. That's all I have to do.

So, yes I am feeling very good right now.

The drive to Las Po isn't so bad, but I got a little lost on my way home. I didn't know what I was doing but I was doing the right thing. Heh.

Today the Newb did something very strange. He dressed up in safari clothes and shot magic markers through a laser gun at a dancing stuffed gopher...... This was to demonstrate something that I don't remember. Kids were taking pictures of this with their cell phones. Yes, very strange. He had a lot of fun with it.

I still haven't told A.J. about this. He's gonna wonder why I have all my books when he drives tomorrow. My mom wants me to ask him if he has an i-pod so we can buy him an i-tunes gift card. But I keep forgetting to ask him. My mom is going to stick a note on my body reminding me to ask him in the morning.

So I won't have any more Bradley updates or strange stories about the Newb after tomorrow. No more Mr. "again, chwenty" Lipman. No more stressy Mr. G, who I haven't talked about much.

Mr. G (calculus) is probably the best teacher I have ever had, but he stresses me out so much.

I'll say goodbye to my "friends" - the people that say hi to me when I see them.

I will miss my biology teacher, Mrs. Hansen. She's very cool.

.... I guess that's it.

I won't miss anything else.

So... I don't know what else to say.

I hope you guys are having a good day!

(I have to remember to bring home my P.E. clothes.)

Continuation

So this Michael person wants to meet with my mom and dad later this week. He's really more of a family counselor rather than an "individual" counselor, you know what I mean? I like that. This should work out.

I just got back from Las Po. It's a very nice campus. Tomorrow I am going to drive out there on my own to deliver my high school transcripts. They want those.

I have high hopes for my future there. I do NOT want to be disappointed.

Anyway, the Newb really ticked me off today. We were working out a projectile motion problem. Apparently this baseball player back in the thirties thought it would be cool to see if he could catch a baseball dropped from a blimp 260 meters in the air. Yeah. Well, he caught the ball, but he also broke his jaw and lost a couple of teeth. So this problem was to figure out how fast the ball was traveling. It turned out to be 160 mph.

Then the Newb asked what pitchers today can throw 100 miles per hour. This boy behind me said Randy Johnson, the Big Unit. Well, he used to throw that fast, but the Newb acknowledged that. Then I said Joba Chamberlain. But the Newb must not have heard me. This other boy said Tim Wakefield. He also is has been, but the Newb said "Oh yeah, Wakefield!" Ok, Joba is throwing 100 right now. So I said loudly JOBA CHAMBERLAIN!!?! The Newb did not acknowledge me. .... it is so strange because when I walked into class at the beginning of the period, he's like, "hey Gracie, how are you?" .... so why, Newb? Why didn't you "hear" me?

Whatever. I don't care.

I am so tired today. But I have a three day weekend coming up. Yay!

In the last couple days I've been trying to submit my application to Las Po online, but they won't accept it. They think I am trying to apply as a concurrent enrollment student, someone who attends high school while taking classes in college. I don't know why.

Saturday I received a catalogue of courses for the spring 2008 semester from Las Po and inside was an application. It's two pages and the one online is seven pages. So I just filled that out and when my mom gets home we are going to turn it in in person.

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I was very tempted to avoid those freshman boys today at lunch, but I didn't. I went to my usual lunch spot and I didn't see them. So I didn't have to avoid them. I bet if I had tried to avoid them, I would have ran into them.

But today these two sophomore girls came to me and wanted to talk. They were very nice. I guess I just scream for attention when I sit on my little bench. Huh.

Anyway, Ms. West called me in to see her today. She wanted to know how my visit with my new therapist went.

Oh yeah, Ms. West signed me up to see this guy Michael Rose, some sort of therapist that gets paid by the school.

He is responsible for contacting us when he has time to set up a meeting, but he didn't do this. So my mom called him and he didn't return our call for a while. Ms. West got very annoyed by this and she almost reassigned me to someone else. But he did call back.

So my mom and I went to see him on Friday.

....... he's very interesting. He says the F-word a lot. But he's a lot better than my last therapist, who would have never said a bad word in front of me. Not that that makes her a bad therapist. It's just that it got to the point where she was treating someone else's problems and not mine. I got kinda dishonest with her after a while. Did I already talk about this?

Anyway, Michael is a cool guy. He asked my mom and me millions of random questions. He's very realistic, which is something my last therapist was not.

Ok, I have to go to Las Po now. So I will continue this post when I get home.

New pics

Here are a couple of Halloween pictures, and some pics from my sister's/dad's birthday party that we had today.

There is a slug on the carved pumpkin if you can see it.

???

I walked in my room today to find a certificate on my desk that said: Congratulations! You did it: You passed your GED exam. We are so proud of you!

I got a perfect score on the reading and writing sections.

So that's done. Yay!

Today I totally ran a red light by accident. When I was pulling out of the school parking lot. I may be good at reading and writing, but I suck at driving. Gah.

Random people have been saying hi to me recently. People I don't know and that I've never seen before. One of those people is in my PE class but I had never spoken to her before. She was my partner today in ping pong and she seemed really excited about it. She's like, "you're my partner?" Then at lunch these freshman boys came up and introduced themselves to me. They want to eat lunch with me every day now. The chocolate milk I had bought was leaking pretty bad and they bought me a new one. What is up with this? Why am I getting all this attention all the sudden? Usually when this happens, when someone wants to be my friend or whatever, I don't let them get any closer to me. So I'm not gonna do that this time. I am not gonna avoid them like I usually would. But then I'll be out of school and I won't see them anyway. So oh, well.

I ended up not going out last night. I just didn't feel like doing it. I took a sleeping pill and went to bed early. I fell asleep on the couch and at around midnight my mom told me to go in my bed.

Bradley update: Today Mrs. Bradley revealed that her idea of hell is to be chained to a chair listening to hip hop music. Yeah, that would suck.

We have a ton of extra candy from last night. My mom always buys bags and bags of it, but we don't ever have a lot of trick-or-treaters. It's enough to last til next year.

I guess I'm done with trick-or-treating. It seems like work to me now. I feel bad about last night because my sister really wanted to go with me. She went out with my dad but came back because she was wasn't having any fun. I sort of ruined Halloween for my family.

My mom said she should have known I would do this. I really just decided that I didn't want to go while I was in the shower that afternoon. My mom thinks I was planning this for days but didn't say anything until yesterday.

So now I'm on their Hate List. And I should be. I was very selfish.

Today during the last few minutes of school the other support counselor, Mr. Callaway, called me in to see him. He wanted to check up on me because apparently one of my teachers notified him about my e-mail. I told him that I have been seeing Mrs. West pretty frequently. Since she's not at school every day, he said that I could come in to see him any time.

Along with the mean, horrible, ignorant kids come the nice, compassionate, smart kids. These kids are making themselves known to me suddenly. Through all this hate I have for Foothill, I am feeling love now. Not for Foothill, but towards me. What is happening? Why is this so complicated? I still think leaving FHS is the best choice for me, but I admit there will be some things (people) that I will miss.

I have mixed emotions right now. All of this is butchering my face, making me break out like crazy. Jesus. Lord. The Holy Spirit.

I don't know if my mom will still be mad at me when she gets home. She's the one who put my GED letter on my desk, standing up on my computer. So there is something positive there.

Tomorrow is no school. I don't know what I will do. I will think of something.