this is my town, THIS IS MY PRIDE, these are my friends, this is my life

Well if you need to know anything about cloning in the next several days I'm the one to ask, apparently. I just finished a three-and-a-half page essay about the godawful subject. Grace and I coauthored the lovely paper, and I'd say it's pretty good myself. If you'd like to read it, just ask. I'd love to give you a copy. And anyone can feel free to hop on MSN and proof-read it. It's only a huge chunk of my grade... And my mother is off to Arizona, so she's not here to comb through it. Yeah, you did read that right. Not only did my parents leave me and my sister home alone two weekends ago to go to Minneapolis without me, but now my mom has jumped on a plane headed to Arizona to celebrate her parent's fiftieth anniversary. Life's rough, I know. But a weight is off my shoulders now that this essay's done. I extremely dislike English papers.

In other news, it was GORGEOUS outside today. Obviously warm enough to launch a hot-air balloon, because I saw one on my way home from school today. Bizarre, I know. You don't need to tell me. Sure, it was wonderful at fifty degrees at ground level, but up in the air? Most likely not. There's probably an icicle-encrusted hot-air balloon laying about the city somewhere with a dead body falling out of the basket. Or maybe I've been watching too much Supernatural.

Well there's your first February update! I figured you wanted one, but that's about all I got.

What is Melanie listening to right now?: Pages - There For Tomorrow
P.S. Despite popular belief, there's still four more days to endure before the five day break. FRICK!
P.P.S. Our power went out today when I sat down to write the English essay today. DOUBLE FRICK!
P.P.P.S. I have noticed that no one is attempting my lovely contest. It can't be that hard, people! Not even one comment! FRICK YOU!!!

For all I thought I’d ever need, it's hard to face the holidays without.

Ahh...Christmas break. Two weeks of FREEDOM. No more homework, crazy teachers, studying, semester tests, failures or stress for TWO WEEKS. It feels so nice. Last year around this time I really got down in the dumps. I don't know what it was, just the feeling of doing nothing I suppose, but not this year! I don't know what happened to me because this is amazing. Then again, it's only fourth day of break. But, thinking of school for the first time, I'll post you my semester grades and next semester schedule...

GRADES

- Geometry: 92.89% A
- Spanish I: 95.76% A
- Chemistry: 88.57% B (STUPID CHEMISTRY! I'm not complaining, though. I'm glad I passed with something better than a D.)
- Psychology: 98.02% A
- Acc. English II: 94.53% A
- Mod. Civilization: 97.79% A

SEMESTER TWO

1 - Spanish I w/ Oros
2 - World Geo. I w/ Pooley
3 - Chemistry w/ Bechard
4 - Geometry w/ Wilson
5A - Lunch
5B - Study w/ Powell
6 - Acc. English II w/ Klawonn
7 - Psychology II w/ Aukerman

Overall, I'm quite happy with both, especially with my next semester schedule. I was going to have a hard time letting go of my classes, especially Modern Civilization and Psychology. But alas! My schedule change went through and I got into Psych II and have World Geography I with Mr. Pooley. I was ecstatic. And I found that out on my birthday. Some things just work out so nicely. But please post comments! Tell me if you have any classes with me!

Speaking of my birthday...I'm 16 now! And my mom already wants me to get a real job...and I've been 16 for less than a week. Some of my family decided to come to the party on the day of my birthday. It was kind of a disappointment, but I don't expect much more from the Dumdei family. Then, on Sunday I had my party with my friends. The original plan was to go sledding, but I didn't think anyone wanted instant hypothermia in the -35 below zero weather. So, we played board games and hide and go seek and sardines and had a great time.

Well, just because I'm on break doesn't mean I have to do chores, so more later.

What is Melanie listening to right now?: Starving Your Friends - Envy On The Coast

The Life And Freakin' Times

Well, after being jipped of my All Time Low concert and taken to freakin' Disney World, this just had to happen. The time some decent bands come to Sioux Falls for an event not related to LifeLight, the only band I go to see cancels. I don't blame The Cab. They haven't said anything as far as I know, but bands only cancel if something bad happens, such as an illness, injury or van breakdown, etc. How would they make money otherwise? It's not their fault, it's just my luck.

Life is not looking up, especially after this little incident. After missing a week of school, my grades are suffering. I only have A's in Spanish and Psychology, my easy classes. Everything else is not good. B's in Geometry and English, a D in Chemistry and I am failing Modern Civilization. Seeing as I usually keep straight A's, this is not a good ordeal. My parents get pissed if I have B's, and midterms are coming home this week. Chemistry I completely don't understand, I wouldn't be surprised if that grade just sank lower and lower. Mr. Bechard is frustrating, and he doesn't really teach ANYTHING. We have a multitude of homework today, that I haven't completed due to my lack of understanding of ANY of it. Modern Civ, I'm not worried about, which sound odd. But, I just missed a test and Mr. Pooley entered the grade and mine is listed as missing. I intend to make that up tomorrow afternoon, and then I will have at least a B. I'm fine in that category. After the stupid English project is over, I won't be so stressed over that. There's no hope for Chemistry, but all I can do is pray that I understand it eventually.

We're studying stress in Psych these days, and I can't help but think of myself. Mr. Aukerman even found some stress tests specifically for me. I didn't take them, but the message was clear. It's not just me feeling I'm stressed out. It's obviously noticable. I don't seem to sleep enough every night, I always feel exhausted and brain-dead during school. That mindless feeling does not help me concentrate in the least bit, and I wonder why I'm bombing things and getting bad grades in classes.

Oh, yeah. I missed a freakin' week for the Happiest Place On Earth. Looking back, it wasn't magical. It only caused pain now.

What is Melanie listening to right now?: The Unwinding Cable Car - Anberlin
P.S. I'll post some Disney World pics on Facebook eventually. After I get out of this hellhole.
P.S.S. 3 days

"Pull those traveling pants out of your bottom drawer and come join the sisterhood."

I need to have a pack stain remover pens on my person at all times.

Last night, Jordynn and I went and saw Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street the musical at the Washington Pavilion, and it was there that I had a little incident during intermission...Red wine is awfully...red... So there was this guy who had a full glass of red wine in his hand, and for whatever reason I wasn't looking where I was walking and ran straight into him. Nonetheless, I'm glad I wear more black than I should. This guy certainly wasn't as emo as I though, for his nice WHITE button-up shirt lost the battle with the red wine. He was NOT happy. He didn't use his indoor voice... Oh well, there were a lot of richie-riches at this shindig, so he can just go buy a new $95 shirt and $15 glass of wine and get over himself. I still feel bad though, I was just waiting for him to come rampaging through the Great Hall, mass-murdering his way to get to me. My paranoia was not helped by the fact that we were at SWEENEY TODD. Which was great, by the way.

In non-Melanie-accident-related news, and in the light of another musical, Forgive Durden continues to blow my mind. They (or I should say Thomas Dutton, since everyone else walked out of the band), have a new album (but it's not really an album at all), coming out at the end of this month. It's called Razia's Shadow: A Musical. Several singers from other bands play characters in the plot:

• O The Scientist - Casey Crescenzo (The Dear Hunter)
• Bawaba Brothers - John Baldwin Gourley (Portugal. The Man), Kris Anaya (An Angle)
• Narrator - Aaron Weiss (mewithoutYou)
• Gargul The Oracle - Danny Stevens (The Audition)
• Toba the Tura - Chris Conley (Saves The Day)
• Sangara - Daniel Young (This Providence)
• Barayas The Spider - Max Bemis (Say Anything)
• Princess Anhura - Greta Salpeter (The Hush Sound)
• Pallis - Brendon Urie (Panic At The Disco)
• King Malka - Nic Newsham (Gatsbys American Dream)
• Doctor Dumaya - Shawn Harris (The Matches)
• Nidria - Lizzie Huffman (Man in the Blue Van)
• Adakias - Thomas Dutton (Forgive Durden)
• Ahrima - Thomas Dutton (Forgive Durden)

Everyone should go check it out at the ALBUM WEBSITE. There, you can see illustrations of the characters and hear clips of their parts. It's really quite amazing. Also, you can pre-order Razia's Shadow for only $12 at the Fueled By Ramen Store and you get the special edition, with the script in everything. I've pre-ordered mine, and I'm very excited. The first single, Life Is Looking Up, is also available wherever you get music from. It's really cool, and I may or may not be listening to it right now...

Well, I think I've advertised that enough for one day, so onto something else.

I hope I don't fail my Literary Analysis for English...I turned it in at Turnitin and it said I plagerized 8% of it without quotes from To Kill A Mockingbird. I didn't plagerize though, so this worries me. And since the school district only accepts a maximum of 3%...

School gets me down, so forget that.

Uh...REMEDY DRIVE. They're coming again! I'm pumped! October 15th, I'll see you there! Also, in much bigger news, the Plain White T's are coming to the Expo Building on the 18th of November with Meg & Dia and The Cab. IT'S HUGE! Bands suddenly like our humble, lifeless town!

More advertising. Wow. I should look into being a telemarketer...

What is Melanie listening to right now?: Belong With You - Remedy Drive
P.S. Anberlin's new album, New Surrender rocks!

Rule The World With Latex!

"We'll put condoms on their hands! 'You're fingers won't get pregnant today!'"

Apart from my sister being devil-child, the week has gone well. Finished all end of the year projects, and it feels good. Botched up the oral interp., we'll see how far my catapult goes tomorrow (more on this later), etc. Yesterday I met up with our new pastor at church and the other three girls who showed up and I had a great 2-hour conversation with her. Very deep. She's really nice, and I'm kinda disappointed that I won't be in her confirmation class.

Also this week in English, we met with Mrs. Klawonn (pronounced: klah-vonn, what a weirdo) and discovered that we have homework over summer. That bites. And apart from that, we have to write an essay AND take a test in the first week we get back to school over said homework. At least Wallenberg didn't give us hw over the summer break. I miss her already...


The above pictured is a rat trap, as compared to the regular bobby pin. Yes, I think it could kill small children as well as rats. Or at least crush my hand. You see, this is what Catapult A is made of. And yes, my hand has been crushed on the occasion. My knuckles do not look well. Some of you may also be asking "Catapult A? Are there more than one?" Why yes, there are. My dad got a little too into the project and made his own contraption, or Catapult B, if you would. Furthermore, it launches tape balls a good 50 feet if it goes well. So, if my science teacher accepts his simple machine, I think I got the competition in my palm.

The Widget thingy at the top updated today, and I suggest you watch the new videos. They're pretty funny, and the effects for the Honda Civic shows are sure to be amazing! And Panic's improved live from what I can see, and that's always good...

On a final note, the trailer for Twilight, the movie, was released yesterday and it has me ecstatic among other things. Go HERE to watch it.

Days Until the Panic at the Disco Concert: 23

What is Melanie listening to right now?: This Is Our Town - We the Kings

...So He Picked Up the Cow and Flipped It Over

Lots of excitement this week/weekend. My ears are shot, I'm exhausted and have a ton 'o homework. Not really, but I do need to finish my speech, find an Oral Interp. piece. Maybe get started on that stupid catapault thing. So really, more homework than I want.

But back to the excitement, 'cause there's really nothing more lacking in excitement than homework... On Thursday night, Maddy, Alissa and I trooped down to the local college to see a concert of the LifeLight kind. Bands included were: Bread of Stone, Remedy Drive, and Building 429. If you enjoy any of those, you were probably there...or went/are going to one of the other dates. It was great, though. I made a new "friend" with the drummer of Bread of Stone, but I won't go into the details here. Remedy Drive was amazing (we went there to see them), and Building 429 made Alissa want to have a child. Ask if you want, it's not as bad as it sounds. We left the concert with tons of merch (all Remedy Drive too, they don't lack in merch...), pictures with band members, and posters signed. All around, Thursday was a highlight of my week.

Last night, me and my dad went to the Blue Man Group at the arena. They were very...blue. And entergetic, exciting, fun. If that's not an oxymoron... The Blue Men and band were great. The music was amazing, and they played Baba O'Reilly. I was going to be disappointed if they didn't, but they didn't let me down. I can't even explain how fun and funny it was, so just go see a Blue Man Group show. Scroll down for pictures...

The Blue Men

The Blue Men and Band

Alissa, Paul (Remedy Drive Guitarist), Me

Remedy Drive Bassist, Philip

I've got like, two folders of pictures from the concerts, but I'm not gonna post them. I'll think you'll all live. I've been lacking in Favorite Songs of the Weeks. I'll post one for this week, and we can all say that I've posted one every week.

What is Melanie listening to right now?: The Feel Good Drag - Anberlin

I Haven't Been Feeling So Great Lately

Let's all hope I'll be at school tomorrow. Homework bites.

Juno was great. Waiting at Century Theatres for 3 hours...not so much...

HA! The quarter's mine!!!

What is Melanie listening to right now?: Sic Transit Gloria (Glory Fades) - Brand New

The People Inside

My deepest regrets for not posting in *checks* almost a week. I've been quite busy with things like my hero project (blach), my model (more blech), other homework and...other things. I can't quite remember the past days, so I won't go into what non-interesting things happened to me. I did go birthday shopping with my aunt, perform at my piano recital and play one of the three wisemen in our church program with two fifth grade boys. AAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWKKKKKKK - WARD. But other than that, no. Nothing much.

I'm pretty much stressed over semester tests. Today I took my first one for gym. IT WAS THE MOST AWFUL THING I'VE DONE SINCE THE TOWER OF TERROR AT WALT DISNEY WORLD! We had to run 25 laps in 12 minutes. For those of you who know me, Melanie does not run half a mile in her free time. Maybe at least four, but... So in other worlds it was painful and I pretty much died. I at least got 20 laps in, though, and only walked 3 of them. Impressive for me. I came out red-faced, in pain - barely being able to walk - and exhausted for the rest of the day. Otherwise, it was quite enjoyable. *pained smile*

Countdown to my birthday: 1 day!!!
Number of presents for Melanie under the Jon tree: more than everybody else!

I'll try to post more often, for those of you who care to read this. We'll probably get an update in after my birthday at least, to go over the presents I got! WHEE!

What is Melanie listening to right now?: Champagne For My Real Friends, Real Pain For My Sham Friends - Fall Out Boy
Sorry about the 3C4SR CD Alissa. Maybe I'll let you borrow it?

You're Ever So Inviting.

As you can see, I haven't posted in at least two days. I've been busy as of late with Jon shopping, end of the semester homework, and the rest of my life not on the computer. Although most of the homework was on the good 'ol compy. For not posting since Saturday, I sure don't have much to say.

While sitting in the locker room, waiting for my favorite period of the day to end, I had the insane urge to listen to Underoath. I've never liked Underoath in my life, but I've been a fan of Aaron Gillespie's side project The Almost for awhile. So why I am typing up this post, I'm hoping You're Ever So Inviting by Underoath is downloading. Also, today in Individual/Dual sports, we were playing a hardcore game of basketball when I think...well I don't really know what I did, but I hurt my thumb. And it hurts.

I'm finding it quite hard to remember what happened Sunday and Monday. Is that a sign of Alzheimer's? I think I watched Pictures of Hollis Woods on Sunday night instead of doing homework, though. Yeah, that's pretty much how it went down. It's quite a tearjerker, along with all the Hallmark commercials.

I got myself my own salt shaker, so if any of you people are at my house, just ask for me to show you my newfound talent. Or just start singing circus music.

Tonight, I have to start my model for Play Productions. That is my semester test for that class, which is 15% percent of my grade, so I think you'll be hearing a lot about the evil thing. Maybe I'll create a slideshow of pictures of the thing from start to finish...

Countdown to my birthday: 14 days
Number of presents for Melanie under the Jon tree: 0

Well, I can't think of anything more interesting (more or less) to say, so I'll end this day's session of pointless rambling.

What is Melanie listening to right now?: You're Ever So Inviting - Underoath
I'm not listening to that...but I wish I was...

P.S. My sweater guy was wearing his striped jacket today! (Where's the freaking sweater?!?)

You're Call Has Been Forwarded to an Automatic...

As I sit here in my house...alone, I think about what a life I've had, or lack thereof. You see at Lincoln the Winter Formal taking place right about now, even with several inches of snow piled up all over the city. Guess who isn't at Winter Formal? MELANIE!!! Zoey's there with Rich as well as Ron and the rest of the posse. Alissa isn't though. But she won't answer her phone. So we're back to me being alone. There is a job application sitting to my left, the computer before me, and homework to my right. I should be doing some of the homework, but instead I have been looking for new bands via PureVolume and iTunes for about the past two hours. I finished both my poster and program for Play Prod. though. That only took four hours...

Not much else took place today. I finally got out of my pajamas around 3:30. I was real motivated, you see. Now I should probably fold the four loads of laundry sitting around my house.

HAPPY DECEMBER FIRST!!!
Countdown to my birthday: 18 days

What is Melanie listening to right now?: The Ocean - The Bravery