Chronic Giggling

It started around around noon. I don't know what triggered it, but since then I can't stop laughing. It gets even worse when I TRY to STOP laughing, because then I'm able to restrain myself for a few minutes... but the laughter explodes and I start snicker/giggling/snorting at increasingly odd times. Over-laughing this much has made me realize: I HAVE A VERY WEIRD VARIETY OF LAUGHS.

1. Short laugh: Begins most laugh spasms. A normal, one-syllable laugh used to express mild amusement over something that is actually funny.

2. Snorting: I SNORT. I snort and I am PROUD of it. I snort at anything I find overly-rib-crackingly HI-LARIOUS. Not used often, but today is quite a different story...

3. Maniacal ROTFLMAO laughter: Unstoppable at this point. Must succumb to the BWAHAHAHA MWAHAHABWAHHA HAHAHAHA... (continue for 6 minutes, or until the oxygen runs out)

4. Giggling/"Concealed" laughter: Trying VERY, VERY hard to stop now. Begin odd cheerleader squealing. Close mouth. Stranger sounds.

Lather, rinse, repeat...

This has come to such a point that I am TRYING to conjure up the most depressing thoughts I can think of. Still more Evil-scientist-kitty-drunk-on-catnip laughing behavior. Finally, I THOUGHT I had come up with the single SADDEST thing on the planet: DEAD. BUNNIES.

Did you know there are about 2,090,000 Google Image results for "dead bunnies"? This alone made me laugh. Most of them are from "The Big Book of Bunny Suicides"

Yea. I said it. Example:

Wait, nothing showed up within the body of this blog. It SAID it worked! DUMBO BLOGGER! :P

Can you tell I'm acting more like a 3 year old than usual today?


heeheeheheheteheheteeheeeheeeheh... HAH! HAHAHAHAH! BWAHA BWAHAHAHAHAHA! HAH! HAH! HAH!

Please post depressing comment so I can FREAKING SNAP OUT OF IT!

a children's story

Today I thought that I would just relate to you all a little story I wrote when I was approximately three and a half and four years old. Technically, I didn't write it; I dictated it to my dad, who then typed it up on the computer. I'm on a mass room-cleaning expedition, and I rediscovered this while I was cleaning on my desk. I suppose it's a trilogy, because I only ever wrote/told three stories, but here they are in all their glory (I kept all punctuation and capitalization the same, too). Enjoy! ;)
(By the way, they don't make all that much sense, but I think that is part of their charm. Oh, and if you don't think they're funny, that's okay; I'm pretty biased on the adorable three-year-old front and thus am not overly objective. ;) )

Anna Goes to the Circus
February 14, 1998
One day Anna was going to the circus, and she was very excited. She asked her mom and dad, "Are there going to be any driving elephants in the circus?"
"Well," her Dad said.
Anna said, "What did you say dad?"
Her dad said, "There'll be elephants in the circus but no cars."
"Well", Anna said, "Oh, I thought there was going to be cars in the circus, but now it turns out they're all going to be imaginary."
"Well", her pet dog barked, "that's going to be a circus memory."
"Well", said her mom, "that means she likes the circus if she says that."
"Hmm", said Anna. After she said "Hmm", she told her mom that her cat likes circuses too, and she said, "But Mom, we can't go to the circus because the dog and cat will be barking and meowing too loudly."
"Well", said her mom and dad, "they are already getting pretty nice to each other."
"Oh", said Anna.
The End

Anna's New Pet
March 15, 1998
Anna was very excited and was going to the pet store. She loved going to the pet store. "Why was the day so exciting?", asked Anna. "Because", said her mom and dad, "We are going to buy you a new pet." "Oh my", said Anna, "I want a pet named Annabelle."
"Well", said Anna, "That's a very fuzzy pet you're going to buy for me." Anna said, "I want a pet and I want my pet to be a dog." "Well", said Anna, "That must be a very funny dog you buyed me."
"Well", said Anna's mom, "We did not buy you a pet. There is a toy pet for your birthday."
"Well", said Anna, "I figured out that my dog is a real dog for my birthday."
"Well", said her mom and dad, "That cannot be a real dog for your birthday, Anna."
But her mom and dad did not know that soon her guests were arriving.
Anna said, "Well mom, you can't know everything you know."
"Well", said Anna, "I can know everything."
"Well", said Anna, "This is a very unusual place you're going to take me."
Her mom and dad were very surprised.
"I told you the guests were arriving soon." said Anna.
"Well", said Anna, "there must be a different party every day of the week."
The end

Anna's Day at School
June 28, 1998
Once upon a time Anna and her parents went to visit Anna's school. Anna was very excited even though she was even three.
Finally they arrived at Anna's school. Anna was very happy.
"You should have seen it before.", laughed her parents.
"Of course I saw it, I saw children go in and out of it.", said Anna.
Anna and her parents went to meet the teacher. Anna was very excited.
"That's very nice.", said Anna's teacher.
"Of course it is.", said Anna.
Her parents laughed.
The End.

Home-skooled Life: part 2

I just got the newest Microsoft Word (2007) and I'm absolutely fascinated. Have you guys ever used OneNote? It is completely awesome. There's all these different features on PowerPoint, which I also love. Awesome is all around

You Burning Questions ANSWERED!

How do you get your gym credit? And isn't Health class (or specific aspects of it) awkward?

I have to log all the physical activity and also write these horribly boring "PE essays", about leadership and participation and stuff. It's really lame.

I've never had a health class so it's not awkward. Everything I know about "Sex Ed", I've learned from books and movies.

How do you apply to college? Like, what about recommendation letters and things? Just the whole process.

I'm not too sure about the college scene, but I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually. I do know someone who was home-schooled forever and is now at university, so perhaps I can ask her. Come to think of it, I'm not even sure how "normal" people apply to college. I know there's a letter and an application, but I don't see how my filling out of the application would be different. Maybe someone could explain the college process to me?

Do you think you have less friends because of it?

I probably do have less friends, but it doesn't bother me that much. I have a good circle of friends, and my sisters, and sometime I wish I knew a few more boys (meeting guys as a home-schooler is probably one of the biggest downsides. Most of the home-schooled boys I know are under the age of ten. The others are mostly, well, weird. I know, that's rich coming from me, but still, I have standards.)

Have you ever thought of going to a school instead?

I have thought of going to school. It kind of comes in different waves. Some years I'd want to go to "normal" school, and other years I don't. At the moment I'm happy homeschooling but I'm sure another yearning for "the building" will come eventually. I do think that I will go to high school for a year before I graduate (just not this year) so I can get that experience. I want to have a year book and prom and teachers I hate and teachers I love. But somehow, at the same time, it can wait. (Probably grade 11 or 12)

This probably sounds very stupid, but how do you graduate? I mean, obviously you DO graduate, but how does that work? Who/where do you get your diploma from?

For my credits, I have the same transcript thing as everyone. So I have to do a certain amount of courses (online or paper) and then i get credits for that. I think you have to have like 42 and then there's other stipulations like you have to do the core courses and you have to do PE until grade ten, and other stuff.

I think I'll get my diploma either from the school I finished at or right from the BC Ministry of Education. My two older sisters haven't graduated officially, so I don't really know the deal.

Do you like being homeschooled? Do you ever wish that you went to a public/private school, or are you happy as you are? Have you ever been enrolled in a public/private school?

I like the freedom and flexibility of being home-schooled. I like sleeping in and wearing my pajamas all day, and hanging out with my mom and sisters. I've done some extra work (in movies and TV and one commercial) which I probably wouldn't have been able to do if I'd been in school. I don't have homework bogging me down. My learning is more focused on fun than grades, which is great. But I would say that, yes, sometimes I want to go to school and have teachers and projects and school friends and everything else that comes with it. But I can't have both and at the moment I'm okay with what I've got.

Do your parents teach you, or do you have a tutor type person, or do you take those online school/classes at home?

For the past two years, I've been doing online courses which means that I sign up with a special school and I go in for an orientation and a "teacher" tells me about the course and then I leave with textbooks and passwords and do my work at home. Every course is different, but usually you do a module and then go in for an exam and there's about four modules and then a final exam. So I do all the work at home and email it or take a picture and then email it. Some minor tests and quizzes I do at home.

I can't remember my mom ever "teaching" me. She reads with me and help me on a project or assignment, but she doesn't ever lecture us on topics. That would be odd.

On another note, I'm glad we all took the test. It was interesting. Did anyone else notice that all three of us are in the category of Idealist (FJ)? I'm not even surprised by that. Also I re-read my description and realized it's pretty bang on. I'm a natural leader, I'm good at expressing my feelings, I love to work with people. (I think I was in the Teacher subsection of Idealist.) So yeah, interesting...

In which I kind of fixate on death a little too much.

So. I blame my mom for what I'm going to blog about today. That just sounded really weird, but I explains:

My mother is only slightly younger than MJ. (was) (I found about about this on youtube and I was like "OMG no Maureen Johnson is dead! NO!" Then I was like "Oh, duh... nevermiiiinnnddd...") This freaked her out. Despite the fact that she is absolutely nothing like Michael Jackson. At all. Thankfully. And that the average lifespan for an American female is 79.1 years. (81.2 years for those in Canada, Alex. Lucky you. :) )

She has also made me watch the entirety of the Thriller video. 20 minutes, one freaked out Rena.

Only mildly, but that cemented my position on team Unicorn. Think about it. Which do you EXPECT to kill you: brain-munching zombies who hunger for human flesh, or adorable, shiny happy white unicorns? They're magical ponies! :D That's why I like them. They're sneaky. They could brutally murder you and you would think everything was peachy-keen until you lost concisousness. It's always the one you neeeevvver expect, isn't it?

This also brings up all those cliched questions surrounding death in general. Where do we go, exactly? What happens? Will we find happiness in death? Relief? Or will we wallow in guilt and misery, haunted by our past, no matter where we end up? Will we be granted the privelege to right our wrongs in some way, just to acheive peace in the afterlife? Did we ever really find the meaning of life? Is the meaning of life death itself? Am I being creepy now? Should I shut up?

Shutting up about that now...

I don't think my parents have ever thrown out a record in their lives, so boxes of them consume about 50% of the space in the closet under the stairs. Whenever a musician/person made a record either of my parents own dies, it is practically required I be present in the listening to said records as a type of tribute. Very good music, actually. Hopefully the fact that he used to be a terrific performer will precede, "Wow. Shame he turned out to be a creep, huh?"

Well, it's late now. I can't remember if there were questions to answer, but I'll just answer them Tuesday.

Mindless Personality Filler

Okay so ALEX wrote THIS:


Just thought I'd post something in case you wanted to come back to this and edit it and it would still say it was posted on Friday (I think that's how it works anyway).

...I did a personality test today and I discovered that apparently I am an intuitive leader who is very good at expressing feelings.


Personality tests confuse me, and I have to say I'm very inconsistant with my answers. For instance, I am a control freak for organizing. When I start organizing, whether it's the songs in my iTunes or the files in my mom's desk, I abolsutely love it. I love ordering things. One time I went to the library and re-order the paperback alphbetically by author and series and number. It was so much fun.
Then on the other hand, my room and also my desk are completely messy and cluttered. I've been sleeping on my couch for the past two nights because my bed is covered with my summer clothes that I'm doing inventory on and trying to assess what I need and what I need to give away.


And then there's all the social questions. Would you rather spend time by yourself or with a big group of people? Blah, blah, blah. I'm inconsistant about that, too, because as much as I love meeting new people and hanging out with my friends, sometimes I need to be alone at any cost. I think everyone is like that to a certain extent. But how do you answer the question?


So I think the test was pretty right about me. I can communicate well, and I respond to how I'm feeling. I'm also good at expressing how I feel. My personality type is like Oprah Winfrey and Margaret Mead apparently.


Here is the test, Vita, if you wanted to take it and share your results on this same post if you ever have a moment when you get back from being oriented to college life... http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

And RENA wrote THIS (I think):

EDIT: My type is ENFP, and I wasn't that consistent either. I checked yes to both, "You prefer to spend time alone" and, "You enjoy spending time with others, shopping, ect..." I think the test was as accurate as it could be based on the answers I gave it. I am a very feeling, sensitive perciving person. How I express my feelings and communicate with other people depends on what mood I'm in, really. Does this make any sense? Apparently I'm 1% extravert. I think it's a little more than that. Wouldn't that mean I'm 99% intraverted? I don't think I'm that shy... I believe there's such a thing as an ambivert, meaning I'm a mix of both. I have the same type as Oprah and Mark Twain. (woot! Jealous much? hehehe...)

And VITA wrote THIS:

Apparently, I am type "INFJ," which means that I am "33% Introverted, 38% Intuitive, 75% feeling, and 11% Judging." I am a "moderately expressed introvert, [have a] moderately expressed intuitive personality, [have a] distinctively expressed feeling personality, [and have a] slightly expressed judging personality." Famous people with my personality include John Bradshaw, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, John Calvin, and Nicole Kidman. I only know who three of them are, but I suppose it's cool to have a similar personality to Nelson Mandela, although I'm pretty sure I'm not like Mother Teresa AT ALL, especially as far as the religion thing goes. I would be a good social worker, educator, librarian, or lawyer, and some other medicine/sciency things, which is funny because I AM BAD AT SCIENCE and I am also not a fan of it. According to the Keirsey description, I am a "counselor."

I agree that personality tests are confusing and usually not 100% accurate, because people aren't consistent. You guys said that you had some conflicting answers; so did I. I think that I am a fairly "feeling" person, in that I tend to have strong emotions and they usually influence how I act or what I say. I don't think I'm too judging of people, although I guess I can be when somebody does something that directly conflicts with a really strong opinion of mine. All in all, I think the test is pretty close to my personality, but it's definitely not perfect. People are just too hard to pin down. :) Thanks for suggesting the test, Alex; I love taking those kinds of quizzes. :)

Home-skooled Life: part 1

This is going to be a long blog, maybe even two parts, so I'll just skip my usual nonsense and cut to the chase. You'll notice that I use some "quotation marks" in this blog. Honestly, I'm just tired of the word normal, and I don't actually believe it's relevant to anything, hence the quotes.

There are various diverse ways of homeschooling. I will quickly try to explain the two main types.

School from home: This version is what most people think when they think of home-school. This means that a parent, or tutor, teaches a student, giving them assignments and tests and grades. Basically it is what kids do at school, only at home. School at home people work off a curriculum and cover all the things people do at "normal school".

Unschooling: This version is ever-changing and hard to nail down in a short paragraph. Typically, it means a family who learns through living, with no formal testing, assignments or lessons. Some see it as the most natural way to learn, others see it as child abuse. It is a bit controversial.

It's a varying scale with many subgroups. Mostly I've been somewhere in the middle of this spectrum.

The technical process is that you have two choices once you decide to home-school; you can register as a home-schooler with the Ministry of Education ("hey, my kids aren't going to school, hope that's cool with you guys") or you can enroll in a home-school "school". The benefits of the first is that there are no strings attached and you can basically do what you want. The benefits of the second is that they give you money for school supplies and other educational services (music lessons, gym passes, etc.).*

I've been home-schooled my whole life. I went to preschool and after that stayed home with my mom and three sisters.

Homeschooling is difficult to describe because there are so many methods. Even after ten years of it, I'm not an expert. People write books about this stuff--entire books! This is just one short, or long, blog, but I find a lot of people are interested in how it works, so I'm hoping to provide rel event information from my perspective.

The Early Years

When I was younger, I used to use workbooks (for math and English), and worksheets (for science and social studies). I never did book reports, or tests, I just read, learned and lived. It was pretty great.

At times I wished I went to school like a "normal" kid, but my friends wouldn't be able to play because they had homework (which I thought seemed lame), and I got to hang out with my mom and sisters all day, so I never really pushed the school option.

When we moved from Ontario to BC, things changed. There's different standards and regulations here, and soon enough we were signed up at a home-school "school". At said school we had to go in three times a year for "Collaborative Reports". The week before these meetings were some of the most stressful of my elementary school life. We had to run around and get together math worksheets and art, and I wrote my first book report, all so we could show some teacher who sat there and judged us and told us we weren't good enough and we should do more "schoolwork".

I was driven to tears at one of these Reports, but I repressed that memory and forgot all about it until my mom brought it up one time. Yeah, a woman made me cry. I was in grade five and deeply scarred. I've never really liked teachers. I find them controlling, bossy and patronizing, but that's just my limited experience. I'm sure there's great ones out there too, if anything I see on One Tree Hill is true.

The upside of the reports is they give you money to buy school supplies and books. The school also plans field trips and classes, so I learned to play the recorder and had gym class once a week and also did some French lessons which I was terrible at.

In high school things changes. If you "enroll" at a home-school school, you can choose from paper courses, which means you fill out modules and assignments and send them to have them marked (this is what my older sister had been doing lately) or you online courses where you get assignments online and email them back to your "teachers" who give you marks (this is what I've been doing for the past two years).

This is me trying to be brief about homeschooling. I guess it's not easy to be brief about something that's a massive part of your life. Also it doesn't help that the topic is so complicated. I'll answer your all your questions on Sunday. :)

*this is strictly in BC. I'm not sure about other provinces and states, but it's probably about the same.