if grown-ups could laugh this slow

Yes, I know I began my last post talking about Melanie, snow, and Austria...but I just have to do again. She sent me pictures, and they literally brought tears to my eyes. Being in Epcot made me miss Europe enough, and then to see these amazingly gorgeous pictures - wow. I really have to go back soon. Anyway, I'm going to share these pictures with you all:


Austrian snow, and snow covered mountains

A snowy hill

There is also a picture of Melanie's city in Innsbruck, but for some reason, it's not uploading. So, when I put it online, I'll add a link - because I think it's the most gorgeous little city ever, and I want ya'll to see it! :-p

Oh, there's something else I wanted to share with everyone. A couple of posts back, I found this article by Tony Pierce about blogging, and I posted it because I found it humourous and informative. Well, this guy came and commented on this post of mine, telling me that he was flattered, and appreciated my grammatical corrections. :-p Anyway, I go to his website again and am looking around ... and it seems that he's really more than just a random guy with nothing better to do than blog. Okay, the second part might be true, but he's not really just a random guy. He's actually written a book, How to Blog, and I think, based on his bloggings, that he is very intricately involved with very important people in the blogging/computering/internet world. Anywho, I just found this extremely interesting - and if he ever comes back, please be nice to him. He has the power to shut down my blog and everyone else's with it. ;) Haha.

So, Epcot was an absolute blast. I'd never been there, along with lots of other people in my "walkaround group" so we had a fun time getting oriented. 10 of us walked around the park together, and it was awesome. At first, I felt very strange being at Disney World without my parents. Then, as the day went along, I realized that I wasn't sure I could ever go back to a theme park without friends. It was nice, because we weren't required to have a chaparone with us - in fact, Mrs. Dill flat told us that she didn't want to see us all day except for the 2 check-in times that we had. So, we were able to be "big kids" and make our own decisions and have a lot of fun. I mean, even waiting in lines was exciting! We were playing concentration, trust falling, making jokes, laughing, slipping; it was awesome. And, the only real conflict we had was deciding where to eat. But, what else is new? Haha. Italy was crowded (or saw we thought...), France didn't open until 5, the Pub food looked wierd, Mexico was too far away, we had eaten at China for lunch...so we just went to the Electric Umbrella and had hamburgers, hotdogs, sandwiches, etc. Ah, good ol' America. Anyway, I've compiled a list of some sort...


Liza, Erin, Rachel, me, Katie, Andrea, Victoria and Katie in front of the infamous fountain.

10 Reasons to go to Disney World/Theme Parks without your parents and with friends (in no particular order):

1. There are no obnoxious plans: "We have to do this organized. First, we'll walk this way and do this, then wa'll walk toward this and on the way do that, blah blah blah." You get the picture.
2. You are willing to wait in a line for 90 minutes, because you decide that that's the nature of theme parks, and there's not much else to do. Where as parents will get grumpy because they want to cram in as much as possible in the wee little space of time you have to be there.
3. You can have fun in lines. Rather than being in a line and arguing with your little brother about how much longer it's going to be based entirely on assumption, you can spend your time laughing, catching up, making jokes and skipping each other all the way through the tangled web of massive people - be it for 90 minutes or 1 minute.
4. You can eat as much junk food as you want (or as you can afford, since you don't have your parents standing beside you dishing out all of their cash) without someone nagging at you: "You don't need that. You've already had a cookie. You should eat healthy..." Give me a break. We're at Disney World! 99.9 percent of their profits come from the food we stuff in our mouths. You don't want Disney to close down, do you? :eek: Okay, sorry.
5. You don't have to go into all the boring places and read about all the boring historical stuff that we learn about in school. You see, parents have forgotten about all of that stuff, and for some reason, they feel the need to re-teach themselves all of this information that went in one ear and out the other, and they attempt to teach it to us, though we already know all of it. Haha. I had to laugh though when the group of us didn't even pay any attention to the buildings unless it had an "attraction" sign beside it. There were a few places I wanted to go in, i.e. the British castle, but it wasn't a ride, so we weren't allowed. :-p But, it was nice to not have parents trying to shove all of this information into your face.
6. You can spend as much time as you'd like in the gift shops. But, once again, not nescessarily spend as much money, because you don't have your money tree with you. Of course, whatever money you do have probably came from that tree, anyway. It's just limited at the present time (Mine was limited to $40, which barely covered my 2 small meals).
7. You can goof off and play with all the random toys without having parents yelling at you to "not touch something unless you're going to buy it." Blah. What fun is that? We tried on all sorts of hats and took pictures with them. That never happens with parents - unless you're going to buy the hats.
8. You can sing as loud as you want, and the only people who are annoyed are the ones around you, who usually don't have the nerve to ask you to shut up.
9. You can ride the rides as many times as you please.
10. You don't have to "be in [anyone's] sight at all times." Though a buddy system is a good idea. :-p

Well, I just thought I'd share those thoughts with you, since that's what a blog is for - I think. We have a competition tomorrow, and we practiced hard today, so hopefully that will go well. I'm also hoping to meet with Ellie, my mentoree, tomorrow for the first time, so I'll need lots of prayer for that! I'm praying that it goes well and that I'm an example for her. It will be a challenge, because she is 15 as well, so I really need to work on being her mentor, but keep her on the same level, since, she basically is (besides being in 9th grade). The scary thing is...she's probably taller than me! Haha. Anyway guys, I would appreciate prayer for this. Let me know if there's anything I can pray about for you all. Whether you're struggling with something, you need healing, whatever the case may be ... I would love to pray for you, so please let me know what I can do.

Have an awesome 3 day weekend, ya'll. :)

God bless,
lv

P.S. Yesterday was Spencer's birthday! I didn't see him at all :( But, if you guys see or talk to him, please give him some birthday love. ^_^

P.S.S. Another note: Blogger has updated its commenting structure, so you can now enter your name and webpage instead of posting anonymously, and you don't have to be a member of blogger. So, that way, I won't have a bunch of anonymous posts that aren't really anonymous! Fabulous, aye? I think so. Let me know if you computer illiterate people (no offense -- just stating facts :-p) have some trouble with this setup. :)

snow . sleep . stupor

According to Mel, it's been snowing in Austria for the past three days. I am insanely jealous. Well, maybe not insanely, but how incredibly beautiful must that be? Those gorgeous mountains just covered in pure, white, snow. I've seen the mountains in North Carolina covered in snow, and that took my breath away. I can hardly imagine a snow-covered Austria. I asked her to take some pictures for me...^_^

Well, I'm still very haggard and ill. I went to school yesterday, and hardly lasted first period. By third period, Katie was dragging me to the office and forcing me to call my parents. I didn't get a hold of them until I tried again at lunch ... and Dad came to pick me up at the end of sixth period (though I had been sitting in the office the whole time). Funny thing, I realized that of the 5 periods I went to, I slept in 4 of them; I never sleep in class! I guess everyone told the teachers that I was feeling very sick though, and they probably figured as much since they would never dream of seeing me ignoring them in such a rude manner. Mrs. Dill (First period - the class I didn't sleep in) even asked me to babysit for her this weekend; it would be Marissa's first baby-sitter ever! I had to regretfully tell her that I was sick. We were both sad. :( In Bio, we watched a movie and were quizzed on it, but I couldn't even focus. I felt brain fried. English, after I took the Vocab quiz (Got a 100%; my only accomplishment of the day), I put my head down and fell asleep. Mrs. Sylvia came over and was petting me on my head. :-p Brad says, "Could you please refrain from petting Leslie?" Mrs. Sylvia then replies, unimpressed by Brad's use of our easiest vocab word this year, "No, I will not. The poor lamb is ill." Sweet Mrs. Sylvia. Where would the world be without Mrs. Syvlias? There certainly wouldn't be many lambs around. After third, we went to Class Meetings and Clubs, both of which I slept through after being prodded by several teachers. Mr. Starkweather: "Trying to sleep, aye?" I looked up at him so pitifully, whilst my friends caught him up on my stupor state. "Ah, you don't look so good," he finally said before walking away. I just nodded. Bible, we watched a movie, and despite Mr. Overman's pre-movie speech to not sleep, talk or do other work, I fell asleep anyway. I couldn't keep my eyes open. As I was leaving, he gave me a hug and told he hoped I felt better. Atleast he understood. Then, in math, we had a sub, and we were doing some complicated concept that Mr. Cally never taught us ... so I just slept. Coats told Mrs. Hedges that I was sick, and she apparently let me sleep. By lunch, I felt so ill, I went and asked Spencer if he could take me home. He walked me to the office, and befriended Mrs. Rizzo. It's amazing how much nicer she is to me when Spencer's around! Jeepers - I should just take him with me everywhere. So, I called Daddy and got a hold of him, and he said he would come as soon as possible. I went and finished lunch (though I was too ill to actually eat anything), got my stuff together, and sat in the office for 30 minutes. I was so relieved to see Dad walking in the doors.

So, that was my day yesterday. After that, I came home, layed on the couch, and watched movie after movie after movie: The first part of Elizabeth (which finally came from Netflix on Thursday!), Paparazzi (which was extremely dissapointing), and Shall We Dance (which I found terribly boring, but it could have something to do with the fact that I felt awful and could hardly focus). Mom came home with a large soft-chocolate ice cream from Dairy Queen for me, so the 10 minutes I spent eating that I felt awfully good. It's very soothing to the throat. The fam watched TV for a little bit, and then everyone fell asleep (I was having trouble falling asleep because my sinuses were awful), so I took the portable DVD player to my bedroom and finished Elizabeth. Actually, I dozed off, and finished it this morning. It's a fabulous film! Granted, there are some disturbing moments, but it's so accurate to the 1500's. Cate Blanchett was brilliant as Elizabeth; she vividly and articulately brought her to life. I enjoyed it immensely, despite my awful state.

I woke up this morning, ate some toast, then went back to sleep for 2 hours. I want to sleep more, but it's so hard to fall asleep because my nose is so stuffy and my head is so heavy.

I only hope that you all are feeling well, and aren't under the same weather I seem to be stuck in. Have a fabulous weekend!

God bless,
lv

ugh

Is it just me, or is everyone and their mom sick? :sniff: I feel like my head is swimming around in a fish bowl. Oh, the joys of sinus infections. I know 3 people with mono, 2 people with bronchitis, classes have been half empty because so many kids are out sick. Is our world infested?

If you're sick, I'm officially issuing you a Get Well Soon Card. :-p

God Bless,
lv

[Sorry for the short post, I'm just hardly up to using my brain at the moment.]