Wowowow!

The title says it all! Okay, so last night I fell asleep watching Chocolat with mom, dad and Kyra (at least, until they booted me out sayin' they need sleep, haha), and when I woke up I finished it with Kyra (I was up early enough to say g'night to Alec, too!). So most of the day so far Sir Johnny Depp has been in my mind.




And when it's that hunk, whose mind isn't he on?

So, after drooling over him for half the day, I take my shower, and my mom reminds we have another movie that we need to watch... one that we got yesterday, by my awesome dad.







Thaat's right! We got it! So instead of Johnny Depp, I got to fantasize over another hunk (or both, y'know, I'm a girl... I can multi-ogle)







My dreamy-eyed Sir Guy of Gisborne!! Oh, and after watching the first episodes of Robin Hood, I'm reminded how terrible he is... after only three episodes, I've lost count of how many people he's murdered.

But when he's got eyes like that, that cute smile and pretty hair, and the tolerance to wear black leather in Hungary at 80 degrees... I forgive him.

All right, so...

♥ Johnny Depp ♥

♥ ♥ Richard Armitage ♥ ♥

♥ ♥ ♥ Robin Hood season one ♥ ♥ ♥


Life, my friends, is GOOD!

A Different Life - Poem

Well, here's another poem about another depressing subject about another person not satisfied with their life. I'm actually kind of embarrassed that I find inspiration in this sort of thing, I mean-- the life I lead is amazing! Filled with happiness and joy! Maybe, just maybe, I find inspiration in this unknown. I write about things I have never experienced, and thus I am curious to write about it?

Curiosity, fear, and inspiration of the unknown!

And without further ado...

A Different Life

Trapped, I'm trapped
Within the confinements of this maze
Solitude, no escape,
Sanity is becoming a haze

Overturning every rock
Every glance, I find a lock,
I'll search until I am long gone,
So no longer, I will be a pawn

I'm running through this endless tunnel,
It's getting smaller - harder - like a funnel
The darkness is slowly pressing in,
The silence is overwhelming; I hear the dropping of a pin

Passageways are left and right,
I doubt I will survive this night
I'm losing my whim, my will,
But I'm still sane enough not to kill

Madness is threatening,
Giving me a taste of freedom;
To leave this life,
To be redone.

The stars above should lead the way,
But they shift in place, secrets they will not relay
Should I beg? Worthy to plead?
I'm desperate enough to bleed

Take me out of this cold, brutal night,
Just take me away, I won't even fight
I want to be relieved, I want a new heart
A new cast and crew; given a different part

This Goddess is so unforgiving,
This is a life not worth living!
My haze of sanity is no more...
...I'm left with me, a soul that has tore

More cooking!

Uh-oh, what's Abbi up to now...? Judging from the mess she's left behind this time...




COOKIEESS!!


Yeah, unfortunately, when I was done putting these perfect scoops on the pan, I realized I forgot to put Crisco across it!! So, I had to pick 'em all up, and lay 'em across the counter...


...while I Crisco'd the darn pan.


And there it is!!


It's the damned Crisco!! Oh, how I loathe you so. It's almost as scary as those creepy eggplants!


And voila! Le finished project!


Beautiful. I have many more, but this is all that I had finished at the time. I have so many, I fill up almost two jars to the brim!


Enjoying the creation.



I made these cookies for those certain guests that're plannin' to show their faces here, around 6! Can't wait to see you guys, and Happy Birthday Hayden!!

My French Camp Experience (Part 3)

Wow, I'm on a writing spree, no?

French meals... amazing. Truly and utterly spectacular. A friend of mine (Sophie, the girl I have a picture with in Part 2) had been talking about what it was like at Italian camp. Apparently she didn't like the food very much... she kept mentioning how the more and more meals she ate there, the more she was missing ramen, chicken noodle soup, macaroni & cheese, and subway.

Quite the opposite for me, when I was there at French camp. The more French food I ate, the more difficult it would be for me to grasp the idea of returning to chicken noodle soup again, or store-bought baguettes.

I would miss all of the food I had there! La mousse des chocolat (chocolate mousse), le poulet (chicken), le porc (beef), la pommes de Français (French apples, pshyeah), la mousse des fraise (strawberry mousse), la fraise bonbon (strawberry bonbon; French candy)... I'll miss all of it, EXCEPT........

...le poisson. Le poisson est du poison!

Ah yes, the evil poisson. Le poisson est "fish" en Anglais. Yes, French fish is awful!! One of the most frequently used phrases at French camp (excluding "Merci," "salut," et cetera) would be "Je deteste le poisson!" I know I shouldn't laugh, but what was always funny for the bit more experienced French-a-iers, was hearing people say "J'ai suis deteste le poisson!" That would mean, instead of "I hate fish," "I have am hate fish." Heehee...

Meals were so long, too! I mean, that should only be expected at French camp, but really. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, because I'm fine with it, but they're sometimes so long, I would have to go to the bathroom two times, while everyone's still eating! I guess it elongates the dinners when there are announcements afterwards, and such.

Oh! Speaking of announcements, I said I was going to explain the pin-thing on one of the parts. I might as well here.

Well, as one of the games that all of Lac du Bois plays, it's called "Mono mystérieux". About three Counselors (or 'monos') are chosen every day to be the "mystère" Counselor, in secret. (Mystère means "mystery," and mystérieux means "mysterious") Those "mystère" counselors would secretly watch around, and see who spoke a lot of French. At the end of the day, after dinner and during the evening announcements, we would all play a really cheesy game with a detective, trying reveal who the mystère monos were that day.

Once the detective found the mono, they would give hints about one person they thought spoke a lot of French, and eventually they would scream their name, and they would run up between the tables to get a little pin, that said that they spoke a lot of French! It was a real honor to get one of those pins; only a handful of the camp got them throughout two weeks.

I was one of them!! It's kind of funny, it happened to me on the very last day, and the exact way I had always imagined.

To be fancy at the last day, all of the tables had little pretty candles on them. One of our wilder and crazier friends was even more of a pyromaniac than I! (And that's sayin' somethin'!) The difference between she and I, is I have common sense and reasoning. She would light a napkin on fire to see what would happen, and all of the Counselors would have to run over here and put it out, then they'd scold her in French, and she'd say it was worth it.

Anyway. All of the candles were blown out, because we didn't trust her (Katia is her name) with the fires being lit. So to entertain ourselves, she and I were both digging candle wax out of the candle-holder, and rolling it into stuff! Snakes, little balls, squares, flat-things... I gotta say, it was pretty darn fun. She and I were giggling, and then trying to pick the wax that got stuck in our fingernails out, and working the dents out of our wax-creations, when suddenly I heard...

"Giséle!!"

I looked up, and had a really stupid "huh?" expression on my face, as the detective was scanning the rows of kids for where this Giséle-person was. I looked over at Jackie (a good friend of mine from my cabin) and asked her if they were talking about me... she replied "No, the other Giséle that has blonde hair, brown glasses, loves chocolate mousse, and is a first-year at the Language Villages. Now get up there!!"

Next think I knew I was walkin' up between the tables to get a little pin that said I spoke a lot of French, from my Lac du Bois dinner mama', Amiko! (I'll explain families later, too) And now I have a pin! Here's a picture of it:



It's the blue pin attached to the top; it's a bit blurry, but it says "Agent Secret {{star picture}} Spécialiste en français". Hee. :)


Well, let's see... what more do I have to say before I conclude this part 3? ...eehhh... nothin' is coming to mind. I hope this doesn't end up being a 10-part story. Oh well, doesn't matter that much if it does, anyway. It could be!

That's all for now. Bye-bye!

My French Camp Experience (Part 2)

I learned so many dances while at French camp! I don't know why, but I did. But if you're looking for something mind-boggling... why in the world did they teach an Indian song? Or Romanian?? We learned (and this is my favorite) the "Tanuk Tanuk Tun" dance! Otherwise known as the Male-Draenei dance, for those who play World of Warcraft. It is in fact, originated from India. Here's the video:



We also learned "Dragostea Din Tei", also known as "The Numa Numa" song, which is Romanian!! Oh well, I'm glad that we got a variety of different songs and dances. Obviously the majority of the dances were French. My favorite (and the most popular in general) French song/dance was "La Baloncé". I'm not sure if that's how it's spelt, but it's how it's pronounced.




Here's a picture of me doing it at the Closing Ceremony:




Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of any other dances. Kyra's planning on doing the Tanuk Tanuk Tun song at the Unschooling Conference Talent Show though, so if any Unschoolers (that are goin' to L&L) are wanting to see how it's done, check 'er out!

Moi et Morgane!

Left to right: Odessa, Giséle (moi), Fatou!

Segoléne (REALLY cool gal), me!

And last but not least, Sophie (a girl from my cabin) and me!

This is Paris, where we ate our meals, and I took French Poetry (not quite as cool as it sounds...) It's also the only place with fans and some-what-working air conditioners.



As far as the first and second Activités go, you're sorted into them two ways. Y'know how I said you have two Activités in a day? Well, the first one you choose at the beginning of each week. You're given a sheet of paper with eight different Activités, and you are given the choice of which one you want. The way you do this, is you write three preferences. The first you want to do you write "1," second "2," third "3". Pretty simple, so if you don't get the first one you want, you get the second or third. Whichever you are put into, that is Activité 1, which you go to after cleaning and singing (those two are after breakfast).

After the first week, you get to change your first Activité. You get a new sheet, with new and different Activités, and you're given three more preferences choices to spend.

Well as my first preference in my first week, I chose 1: Poetry, 2: Cooking, and 3: Filming. I got Poetry... which... wasn't fun. My advice to anyone who ends up going to Lac du Bois, make sure that your experience in French is more than .1, if you want to sign up for Poetry... it's not a great way to start your French-learning experience.

Oh, and I'll also point out. I explained Activité 1, but not 2. The second Activité of the day is completely random; one of the other seven that you didn't land on, that were originally on the list. So overall, you get to do everything! The first Activité is plainly so you get to do more of what you want.

Anyway. The second week was much better! I got a taste of Poetry, and I knew I didn't want it. I got new preferences! 1: Cooking (it looked so fun... unfortunately, EVERYONE wanted to do it, so it was a slim chance for everyone else) 2: Fencing (yes, fencing, with swords. How cool is that?) 3: Graffiti.

I figured, this would be cool. I wasn't desperate for cooking, or fencing, or Graffiti. So whatever I landed with would be good.

I got graffiti! The graffiti instructor's name is Anthony (pronounced "Ant'ony"). He was really nice to us all. I seemed to have a natural talent for graffiti-ing! I had already picked up my own style of disfigured-letters! The first how-many-classes, you're just drawing whatever word or name you want (a name can be anything obviously, but the word must be in French). This way, you are practicing your letter-disfigurements. It felt like downtime for me, because I was just drawing. It was great... an Activité without the normal pressure of... everything.

At the end of the second week, everyone submitted one of the artistries that they drew, and that would be made into a banner, which would be hung in Paris! Once all the drawings were chosen, everyone voted. Mine got chosen, hee!

And here is the finishing project:

I'm really proud of it.

Once again, I find that I have written away another hour, of another day! I'll close this off as the end of Part 2, and I'll write more later.

Au revoir!

My French Camp Experience (Part 1)

Okay, I know, I've been neglecting my blog. Well if you're expecting my first (or second, I guess, if you're including my Armitage one) post to be in French, you had better forget it! Geez, camp was... well, I would like to say it was hard, but only in a perspective.

It's hard if you're expecting to understand EVERYTHING that's going on around you. It's pretty easy if you smile and nod every time someone speaks to you in French. I hate it when people expect me to do that... I would see one of my friends listening to a mono (counselor) speaking to them in French, presumably explaining something to them. They were nodding and saying stuff like, "Okay," "yeah," "I get it," "thanks," "I'll try to do that," et cetera. Then she would walk back to us (me and other friends) and I ask her what that was all about? What was the counselor explaining? Her reply: "No clue. What's for lunch?"

I've always been one to non-stop attempt to understand what someone is sayin' to me. I'll keep guessing and guessing and guessing, until I get it! Sometimes I got the feeling that I was bugging some of the counselors when I didn't get it... I have the tendency to expect people to keep trying until I got it. A lot of people were nice that way, and they would continually help me as far as understanding goes, but some other people... "c'est bon, c'est bon," waving their hands dismissively if I didn't get it. "Decour? Decour. Salut!" Ugh.

Well, I'll explain my schedule (which everyone has taped on the back of their name tags): Oh but before I elaborate, let me point out, that this isn't an exact translation, only what I know it to be. Sometimes I'll know the literal translation (which I'll point out) but if I don't, you'll have to look it up in a French dictionary (I always had one on me at camp!):

8h00 Réveil - Wake up
8h30 Petit déjeuner - Literal translation: small lunch, AKA Breakfast
9h15 Nettoyage/Réunion de staff - Cleaning up/Meeting for the counselors
9h45 Chansons (à l'amphi) - Singing songs
10h15 Activité de loisir 1 - First activity!
11h15 Goûter - Snack
11h30 Grande Odyssée/Odyssée/Cours - You heard it! "Grande" Odyssée for t'weekers (two-weekers)
12h45 Présentation du repas - A little play that the counselors put on.
13h00 Déjeuner - Literal translation: Lunch!
13h50 Annonces du temps libre - Announcing what areas/activities will be available during free time
14h00 Sieste/courrier - Quiet-time for the t'weekers (where we take naps or write letters) and "courrier" for the monthers (for further explanation on "courrier," ask Scotty!)
15h00 Course magnifique/Cours électif - Leaning about the course magnifique for t'weekers, "cours électif" for monthers.
15h30 Pause pour les 2 semaines - Fifteen minute break!
15h45 Activité de loisir 2/Portfolio - Activity 2 for t'weekers, portfolio for monthers.
16h30 Temps libre - FREE TIME!! The ONLY time you can buy anything, too
17h30 Odyssée/Cours - Odyssée for t'weekers, and Cours for monthers.
18h20 Plaisirs d'amour - ...no clue. Sorry, I'm racking my brain and I cannot think of what I did at that time. The translation is "Pleasure of love" or "love pleasure"... and I know I didn't do anything sexual while at camp.
18h45 Présentation du repas - Another skit!
19h00 Dîner - Literal translation: Dinner!
20h00 Pause - A few announcements, and a handing out of awards to those who speak a lot of French (I'll go into deeper detail about that soon)
20h15 Veillée - An after-dinner activity with the whole camp
21h15 Feu de camp - Goin' back to le pavillon (cabin) to sleep

Wow, now that I look at it, my schedule is a lot longer than it is on my name tag.

Well I would like to point something out before I elaborate on anything else. It says that people wake up at 8:00AM? Well, I always woke up at 7:30AM to take a shower. Just gettin' that out of the way.

I have to ask. What in the world is wrong with the USA? WHY do we have "AM" and "PM"? Why do we go up to 12 twice, instead of 24 once? The rest of the world is doin' it! Yeah, the rest of the world also goes to school and listens to their elders and everything, I know... but changing from a more reasonable, sensible, and simple way of telling time to AM and PM just complicated everything, and made it harder for other people to understand the time if they were to go to another country. Thanks a lot, whoever thought that up.


I really didn't like the Activités, unfortunately. They were all really boring, and unlike Odyssée, they (the counselors) would babble in French, and expect everyone to understand. And when we didn't, they might get a little irritated, but just blow it off... then we'd play a really easy and boring game. Sometimes we'd even play it in English, for the Counselor's benefit (a few of the counselors don't speak English very well, as it turns out).

It's sad how, even here at Lac du Bois, where people are paying to get in, almost half of the kids still don't want to be here. They'd constantly be complaining about being there, and being away from their computer, and MySpace, and their iPod, and their dog, and their friends, and--... geez. I ask them "Why are you here?!" They reply, "My dad thought it would be cool if I could speak French," or "my aunt teaches French, and my mom wants me to speak it with her," et cetera. All of the sad "they wanted me to" stories.

Anyway. My favorite counselors were Odessa, Morgane, and Anaiis!! They're great, I love 'em so much. Morgane and Anaiis were my first Odyssée teachers. Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, some of those people who don't want to be here or learn French, or put any effort into learning it at all... a handful of those people were in my Odyssée class. (Odyssée classes were sorted by language experience and level.) A lot of the kids (if not all) didn't know French. Including me, of course, but my willingness to learn and endless effort came to my advantage. Sometimes, while everyone would be practicing how to say "salad" (with is "salade" by the way, big yippie there) one of the teachers would step away to explain grammar and speech with me! About separate stuff, not salads.

Most of the time we would be speaking of negations, and "which word is masculine, which is feminine?" It may sound kind of boring or simple, but I learned a lot from them, especially with the masculine and feminine. The nouns are always masculine or feminine, but some adjectives change, depending on which noun they're describing. Sometimes they're neutral! I found that really interesting, how nouns are the superior and reigning word, while the adjectives will change their spelling and pronunciation depending on which noun it is! Then my Odyssée class switched, and... well, I was used to the amazing classes, and the new ones were just as bad as the le Activité.


Okay, I've typed a lot so far today, so I think I'll cut it off as the End of Part 1. I'll tell more about it later! See ya!

The Armitage and I

My most recent obsession (Richard Armitage)



Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Richard Armitage plays Sir Guy of Gisborne, the "Sadistic Lieutenant", right-hand-man to the Sheriff of Nottingham in the popular BBC TV show Robin Hood. There's a better picture of him here:



Him and his sexy perma-scowl...

Oh, to everyone and anyone! I highly recommend the BBC Robin Hood; it's very, veery good... you can find it on Netflix here, and on IMDb here. The only warning is this: HIGHLY ADDICTIVE. Currently only the first season is available, and the second season is in the making. It'll be aired in Europe this October, but who knows when it'll come to the U.S., or even on video to rent...we (my family and I) will have to wait practically a YEAR until we're capable of seeing the second season. Oh, the horror!

And if you're a fan of romantic/drama period films, I very highly recommend another Richard Armitage movie: North and South. (Nextflix, and IMDb) And, you can watch it for FREE at Netflix Instant Watch! (No, I'm not advising or suggesting that you give away your email, your last name, your zip code, your address, your bank code, or your social security number. This is free.) You can find that link here. You can watch the WHOLE series (which is a little about three and a half hours) right here. Veeery good watch. I loved it. Richard is a bit more gentleman like in that movie, but tough and... well, kind've mean. But misunderstood, and sweet, and lovable, and sexy, and-- *swoons*

Okay, that's all I have to say for now.

Oh, and as you all may have guessed...

I'M BACK FROM FRENCH CAMP!!

I'll write more later. Bye!