A beautiful website that has changed, sadly

So in 9th grade, Tumblr was really popular, and suddenly EVERYBODY had Tumblrs (and I got one too which is good and bad, haha). Tumblr was so much fun back then because everyone was trying new things like:

• Promos - the kind that you reblog
• Blog of the month/week/day/night 
• Promo games
• Blog groups/networks! Where certain bloggers would get together and become friends
• People always used to make themes
• Bloggers would host tinychats for fun
• People used to use yourworldoftext

And there were a ton of new blogs and everyone had really different blogs! Like summer, hipster, winter, girly, personal, etc. 

But now, several changes have been made (one of the reasons that I will probably never rejoin permanently and be as into Tumblr as I used to, which is probably a good thing):

• Tumblr staff has put up a bunch of regulations for promos, so you can't really do promos as casually as we could in the old days
• No one does BOTWs and stuff anymore
• People are running out of ideas so instead  of broad genres for blogs, blogs have becomes things like "rosy", "organic", "soft grunge", "soft ghetto". Like..what does that even mean...
• Okay, actually if you were wondering, here are the examples of the genres that I just listed:
• Organic: http://iolitex.tumblr.com/
• Rosy: http://rosy-secrets.tumblr.com/
• Soft grunge: http://its-realistic.tumblr.com/
• Soft ratchet: it's either this: http://nada.tumblr.com/ or this: http://ridge.tumblr.com/ (I am really not sure because I am not familiar with this genre)
• Tumblr has changed its layout and has these huge Fisher Price style buttons now
• The only people who can get Tumblr famous are those who are already famous...and those people are really annoying and only care about getting more followers
• No one does networks or groups anymore
• No more good/unique themes, and no more tinychats
• Now people use JotLeaf
• Lots of the cool people who used to be on Tumblr have deleted to escape the addiction
• It's getting a little repetitive (the pictures I mean, because there aren't many new posts anymore)

Sigh. Good times on Tumblr. I hope that the people who used to be on Tumblr during the golden days are doing well in the world now. 

E- Ramblings

So the movie that we made about a battle in the Civil War for Social Studies (where my brother basically did all the work except the acting and writing the script hahah), well my brother was so proud of the cinematography of it that apparently he's shown it to some of his friends D: which is extremely embarrassing. But it means that he still has it! I need to try and get it from him!

Also, And, Chey, and I made a movie for French where basically the same thing happened (my brother did essentially everything) and I have that on my comptuter. And from time to time I'll stumble on it and watch it and it's really funny because of how different we look and it was when Chey was dating Mot and we made a reference to it in the video and we thought we were so funny (but it wasn't actually funny, but now its funny looking back on it). 

And, remember that book called Revolution that I lent to you but then took it back like last summer because I thought I was going to read it on vacation but I never actually did? Well I finally finished it and I actually thought it was a really unique and interesting plot. And there is some historical accuracy to some of it which makes it more intriguing. The ending was a bit unexpected and strange but overall I liked it a lot. So if you want to borrow it for China, And, you can.

Also, last Tuesday I got back from Washington DC! Which was a lot of fun! I went with my Grandparents for a week and we did basically as much as possible in a week. We did a lot of sightseeing, visited many museums, saw The Lion King at the Kennedy Center (which was absolutely amazing and if you ever get the chance to go, you should!!!!!), went to an orchestral performance at the outdoor theater thing (which was pretty cool), etc.

Also, Fourth of July was yesterday and I had a ton of fun! I did a 5k with my mom, went to Meg's house and swam in her pool with And, and France, and played fooseball (and somehow I was on the winning team multiple times), went to my grandparents' house for dinner and hung out with my extended family (except my cousin that I'm closest to :/ ), and then we went down to Sheridan to watch the fireworks that they do right up close! It was super fun!

S - Our movies and other productions

Remember in middle school when we were all obsessed with making our own film/music productions? And was usually the star of every movie/song, Esee was the co-star of backup, and I was always the manager/editor of what we had recorded.

In 7th grade, we had the Three Musketettes, where we sang really weird country love songs with me playing piano in the background. I actually have recordings of this on my iPod and somewhere in a flashdrive. I think I lost the flashdrive ones though. I remember it started when you guys all came to my house. Then I showed it to my violin teacher (don't judge) and she thought we could actually get somewhere and taught me more pro GarageBand tips to make our music sound better. HAHA.

In 8th grade, we made movies. It started when Andrea was at my house and we got bored, so we decided to make a Twilight parody. That was actually a really funny movie, and really good, except for the fact that our movie editing skills were REALLY amateur (unlike Esee's brother's). Then Esee came over and we made a parody of 17 again, but it was too long and kinda boring. But it was kinda cool. I think I have them somewhere on my laptop. I will try to find them, tee hee. We also had recorded another movie through Esee's brother. It was  REALLY good editing and camera quality. It literally would have been like a real movie except for the fact that we were really bad actors with bad costumes and also the historical content was really inaccurate and vague..BUT HIS EDITING SKILLS WERE REALLY PRO!

And after that our venture into the world of film and music kind of died out...But you never know who will bring it back...

A- My favorite books

These aren't in order btw

-Looking for Alaska: I don't understand why everyone loves the "Fault in our Stars" so much, it was pretty good but not amazing. This book is clearly John Green's best book. The characters were a little pretentious and talked in a way that teenagers don't talk like but whatever! The setting was so realistic and the experiences they had were so entertaining, especially the blowjob scene (which was my favorite). I found the main character kind of boring but Alaska, the girl, was pretty interesting. And if you have read both of these books by John Green, I also found it interesting how in "Fault in our Stars" Augustus Waters pretended to smoke cigarettes as a metaphor for not dying while in the book, Alaska smoked cigarettes in order to die faster.
-The Kite Runner: I just finished this book and it was homework for AP English 12. Mr. Child assigned it and I haven't heard the best things about him but he sure does have good taste in books! It was set in the Middle East which was a change from the usual Caucasian main character. It was pretty disturbing but in a good way. I expected it to be horrible since most books for school are but I'm impressed.
-Battle Royale: This was written before the hunger games, and basically has the same idea. Except that it's way better than the hunger games because it's way more realistic and its also a satire of the Japanese government which I found really entertaining. Most of the book is pretty interesting but the end really blew my mind. I usually expect endings or they aren't very surprising but I wasn't expecting this ending at all. And it didn't have a really bad love story like the hunger games, another plus.
-My Sister, My love: Joyce Carol Oates was an author that Mrs. Delliot recommended to me and I've read a lot of her books ever since. This book was super-super disturbing, like even more so than the Kite Runner. There was this one scene when the little boy (the main character) goes over to his friends house and the friend puts on porn that's a whole naked family doing "stuff" and there's other weird stuff like this that happens. And it gives a pessimistic view of rich people and everyone was really weird and their thoughts and actions didn't make sense.
-Harry Potter: Everyone has read these (well actually I'm dating someone who hasn't read these, what an abomination. I should really dump him for not reading Harry Potter). So I don't really have to provide an explanation

You guys should give me some recommendations for books to read since I'll be really bored in China this summer!

S - Fruit and WHO COMMENTED ON MY POST

OKAY WHO COMMENTED ON MY WOMBATS POST?!!?! They wrote "omg i love the wombats too" AND I NEED TO FIND OUT WHO THIS PERSON IS SO I CAN BE EXCITED WITH THEM. Was it you Esee? or And (even thoug you said you hate them)? Or Roxy...or someone else not part of the blog...anyway.

Today I am going to talk about various fruits.

Kiwi - Kiwi's are good, but only sometimes. I think that my experience with kiwis have been tainted by the frozen ones that they served in elementary school. Those were kinda good, but we had to scoop them out with spoons and the juice always ran down my arm. Also, in general, the hairs on kiwis are not cute, like they are on apricots. THat brings me to the next fruit.

Apricots - are really cute because they are soft and fuzzy. Also they taste really good. I like how they basically taste the same as dried apricots.

Mangos - Mangos are yummy but sometimes they are really messy. Actually they are ALWAYS really messy.  They smell really good. And they always look perf when you eat them the way when you cut them into squares.

Strawberries - Strawberries are really good! They are kind of like healthier sour patch that are way better because they are sweet AND sour. I also like their textures. It's kind of like cheese, but fresher and it doesn't stick on your teeth. But the seeds are kinda weird where they all bunch up at the tip of the strawberrie and fold it into a little seedy butt.

Bananas - Bananas are okay, they smell good sometimes but I like them better if you eat them with other stuff. The thing is that they are just really gooey and they don't really have any juice with them. To me, the juice in a fruit is the part that makes them feel the most fresh. Bananas are ok but they make your mouth feel gooey and your mouth tastes kinda weird afterwards.

Blueberries - BLUEBERRIES are really good, especially whn they are sour. I like to think of them as healthy popcorn. Same goes for raspberries. But when blueberries are too ripe, then I don't really want to touch them.

Cherries - Good, but a little bit too sugary.

Grapes - They are pretty good if there are no seeds. If there are seeds, the time that it takes to take them out exceeds the time it takes to actually eat them, and I just don't feel like it's worth it. Unless you really like grapes. Then you go, girl/boy, go and get those seeds out and eat them to your heart's content.

Watermelon - To me, it is hard to find a watermelon that is sweet enough. But watermelon is good for hot day since they are so watery, and they usually have at least some taste. I also really like their color because it is a very calming pink.

Apples - I like apples with the skin on. I like sour apples the most, but red apples are good too. Except here in Washington, we usually have an abundance of apples, so they are not as exciting as tropical fruits or berries.

Well this is basically all I feel like talking about, because the other fruits I do not feel like getting into (otherwise this post would go on for a very long time).

Have a good day, lovely children.

-Stella

E- Yesterday in History...

Well actually, the history of my life, not the history of the world as I made this sound, but oh well.
Anyway, yesterday was my birthday, and as I was showering today, I was trying to think what I was doing around this time of the year for the past five years, so I thought I'd share it to reminisce over the past.

2009- We were wee little 6th graders. I was so freaking excited for middle school- not really sure why now that I think about it. For my birthday, I had a party where we all did various games and won tokens which we then got to exchange for candy. In other words, I copied Andrea's idea and used it for my party too. Sorry Andrea... But it was still fun!

2010- We were in 7th grade, and I remember very few specifics of my birthday this year except that Shannon M. gave me two balloons (which I thought made me the coolest person ever- haha) and a cookie/pie thing. I also remember that for my birthday party, I did a scavenger hunt thing at the mall (because Andrea did it and I always copied her in general) and then we slept over at my house and watched Hairspray I think. And remember how that one girl (I feel bad actually saying her name here ahah) that I'm friends with stole Andrea's (I think it was her's) candy and then this whole big thing happened where Andrea got mad and was gossiping about her on Andrea's ipod with someone else and then we went to my mom for help. And then when we woke up that same person had put candy in my hair so that was kinda annoying. I also distinctly remember Andrea pointing out that while I was sleeping, I straightened up my sleeping bag (no surprise there). I also remember this was the year of bath and body works... Need I say more?

2011- We were in 8th grade, and I remember Maddy made me cupcakes and I think Andrea did something too but I don't remember... On my birthday I remember wearing my blue/grey skirt with the black band, a white shirt, and my purple tie-dye-ish scarf (which I had just received). This year to celebrate I invited a handful of friends to spend the night at my Grandparents' beach house (Yuan couldn't come :( ). We roasted marshmallows, played mario cart, ad watched a movie (I can't remember which). I also remember Andrea and Anna would NOT stop playing that punching game where if you look at the other's hand they got to punch you or whatever ahah.

2012- 9th grade! We were freshman! Andrea made me snicker-doodles and I remember she made those "macaroons" for french with the snicker-doodles too ahahah. I feel like Yuan made me brownies too. But on the actual day of my birthday, I had to play my flute at graduation -_- That sucked. And it was raining and took forever. I also remember that I was dating that one guy at the time and he brought me a present while I was sitting with the band right before it started and it was awkward haha. Also, this year Andrea and Megan threw me a surprise birthday party at Richmond Beach!! That was a lot of fun and I totally wasn't expecting it! But I remember you guys kidnapped me and for the first like five mins of driving I was able to figure out where we were.

2013- 10th grade! Yuan no longer went to the same school as us :'(. Andrea and Megan made me lovely cupcakes. I remember it was a Monday and I reallllllly wanted to get my license as soon as possible, but all the Department of Licensing offices were closed on Mondays EXCEPT this one that was 25 mins away but I didn't care because I really wanted my licence. But when we got there I didn't have my social security number so we went through this whole process of calling my dad and grandparents to see if they could get it for us. But finally we got it but it ended up that we stayed past the closing time of the office but the people were super nice and let me stay.

2014- 11th grade! This year! We are juniors (super close to being seniors... what?!), and other than that nothing exciting is happening. Thanks for the cake pops Andrea and Yuan, and thanks for the sugar cookies Becca! Calc was fun today playing pitch/cards with Anna!

Sorry this post is long and also kinda self-centered, but I wanted to document what was happening around the time of my birthday the past couple years.

A- Why I'm excited for school to end

Last year when school was about to end it came soooo fast because I was really freaked out that Sophomore year was about to end. I felt like high school had just started and then I was half way done! And I was all- it feels like just last year I was a freshman ect.

But now

I'm so over that. I don't care about the whole high-schools almost over thing anymore I just want the school year to end. Skip the sentimentality. And since I am looking forward to it and counting down the days it seems like 6 months have passed, even though its been like 2 weeks.
This summer, I'm actually doing things! Like last summer was nothing + China = boredom
Next Monday I'm going to the cheesecake factory with Elise, and I looove that restaurant (good choice Elise). A week after school ends I'm leaving to Maddy's cabin for a few days, and she has a boat so we'll be able to go inter-tubing! And I really miss swimming and I think I'm gonna swim a lot this summer. And then on July 28th I'm going to China, but this year Maddy is coming with me for two weeks and I'm also seeing a lot of my relatives my age so I won't be bored.

S - Music

The above is my new favorite band. I think it is a lot better than One Direction. You guys should listen to it because it is a lot better than One Direction. I' still crying over the fact that I liked One Direction. That is a memory I will prefer to keep buried beneath my more recent ones. This band is just SO PERF. I never knew that I would like this kind of band. But, I like there music with their lyrics and British accents. I have been listening to them a lot lately. 

If you ever have time,  LISTEN TO ONE OF THESE SONGS. THEY ARE SO PERF.

A- What I see as one of the biggest problems

The US has the 33rd highest suicide rate. Though there are countries with higher suicide rates with their own problems, the US probably has separate problems from those problems.

A few weeks ago I was in physics and Mrs. E asked us why we thought people would kill themselves. Depression? Yes. But depression is a mental illness that theoretically, would appear the same amount in countries but the numbers are drastically different according to location.
When I got my PSAT scores back, I was very satisfied and happy about them. I saw that I had done better than the average person and that was where my happiness came from, as there was no other numbers that meant anything. After a little while, I noticed that this was a weird kind of happiness. It was not the kind you got after a nice day spent with friends, or after reading a book you really liked. It was this selfish, sanctimonious kind of happiness. It was the kind of happiness I get on really rare occasions when I step into a room and I'm the most attractive person in it. My intelligence-genes in a reaaally narrow area were better than other peoples! Yippee!! But this kind of fades really fast, when suddenly the moment of achievement passes and you realize that you are still not the best, that you could still be better. That there are still a number people who did better than you and now that you have come this far you must also be better than them. And you may have gotten a good GPA but it wasn't the best and you could always do better. better. better. better. better. better. better. better. But what if I had gotten my score back, and it said: You have done better than 1% of juniors. Even if it had said: You have done better than 30% of juniors. 49% of the population will have received news that they are technically dumber than the average person.
And when I open a magazine I see that there are incredibly beautiful people out there. And at school there are stunningly gorgeous people that everyone seems to worship. And everyone's saying they want to be a doctor because- it sounds sexy! Doesn't the thought of being a doctor just make you feel like you are so much more of a worthwhile human-being than say, a janitor?
And one time I was with an unnamed person and they said, "You would like to think that all people were born with an equal amount of assets. As in, if someone were really smart they wouldn't be that great looking and if someone were really great looking they wouldn't be that smart." But then they said, "It's not that way. I feel that I have more going for me than most people." And it is assumed that is enough to make a person happy, being on the higher end of the genetic pool. But I know for sure that this person is incredibly unhappy. And I know that Ryan and Nora had a lot going for them too so this must not be it.
All my life, I have noticed that it has been stressed that what I want, what I need,  is to be the best. My mom is always saying, be a CEO, be a manager, be a SEXY doctor, you could be the best. But not everyone can be the best! The whole school system is based on being better than others, and if someone did bad from the beginning they have been told their whole life that they are STUPID. I am not hoping for a socialist/Utopian society where everyone is "equal", I am just saying that there should not be so many measures for how good you are based on really superficial things.
I know that I have small boobs (as I've been repeatedly told by certain people with orange hair over the years) and that I am incredibly lacking in common sense but I'll be the first to say that's okay! I know that I will still be influenced by these artificial ladders of intelligence and looks- and that I am rather expectant about my SAT scores but I hope they will never matter too much to me.
And I think that if America put more focus on people living out what they are good at and to just try their best or (probably something better than those motto's) that people wouldn't feel so bad about themselves.
\

S - cool stuff

UPDATE ON LIFE. I haven't posted in a while because finals and final projects and DECA presentations and a ton of stuff has been going on, but it's been like that for everyone, so we're all in this together. Anyway. Today I took my physics final and I'm afraid to look at my score.

I agree with you Esee - I've been thinking a lot about that too. It's going to be really weird and sad. I'm friends with a few of the seniors and I will actually miss them so much. Tomorrow I will be kind of sad at the senior assembly. But a lot of them are staying in-state so we can visit..so I guess that's good. Last year I didn't really care because I didn't know many of the seniors, contrary to you, Esee.

I'm really excited for summer! Only 4 school days left!!

I don't really know what to write about, but here are some really good bands I found:

• The Wombats
• Tame Impala

You guys should listen to them. Tame Impala is my definition of "stoner music". 

We should all hang out this summer! I haven't seen you guys in a long time!

And and Roxy need to post.

And Esee I was going to email you a thing I thought you would be interested in but I forgot your email/wasn't sure if you changed it from the oreo one.