I'm REALLY bad at days of the week

This week has been a mess.  I thought it was Friday this morning, probably because I forgot to turn off my alarm.  So, bright and early at 5:55 AM on a Saturday morning, I wake to that lovely noise.

It was a fantastic start to the weekend.  Not.

The point of that was to say, I'm sorry.  But it's okay to post this on Saturday, because my head is screwy anyways.  I liked the idea of it.

So here, you go.  This is the Friday 56 (on a Saturday)!

Hosted by Freda's Voice

Rules:

- Grab a book, any book

- Turn to page 56

- Find any sentence that's interesting

- Post it

- Add link of Freda's site

"Another time, on the country estate of Monserrate in Santa Fe de Bogota, he woke up screaming because he dreamed that while they were having lunch together, General Santander plucked out his own eyeballs because they interfered with his eating and placed them on the table."
-- The General in His Labyrinth

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

That's certainly interesting, especially taken out of context.  I haven't finished this book yet, but it's quite good.  It's about the South American revolutionary Simon Bolivar, which is funny because I have to play him in a AP World History presentation next week.

I like this.  I try to do it every Friday.  Though in that regard, I'm not off to a great start.

This has been bothering me for a while

Sorry to post yet another post about The Hunger Games, but I really need your input on this.  It's been bugging me.

So there are 24 kids in the Games, right?  12 girls, 12 boys.

12 girls.

If we say that your period lasts an average of five days, and there are 30 days in a month, that should mean that, at any given time, at least two of the female tributes should be on their period.

Right?

How the Capitol handle this?  Are there some boxes of Tampax hidden in the Cornucopia?  It wouldn't make sense if they girls' uniforms were made differently from the boys' to account for this, because then they might have an advantage in some way.  Are tributes responsible for bringing their own stuff?  So does this mean that any girl who'll be on her period during the Games would have to bring some tampons as their district token?  Cuz that would kind of suck.

Plus, it would give them a disadvantage in the games.  Do you really think a girl who's curled up with cramps is ready to fight to the death with some male tributes who don't need to worry about it?  Or what if there was water with sharks in it, and they smelled the blood?

Maybe the Capitol messes with their bodies so that they just don't have periods.  Wouldn't that make all the girls unable to have children?

I'm trying to remember if any of the female victors that we meet end up having kids.  Oh yeah!  **SPOILER ALERT** Katniss had kids!  **END SPOILER ALERT**

Clearly, that's incorrect then.  Besides, that would be unfair to the girls.  If they messed with the girls' bodies so they couldn't reproduce, they would have to cut off all the guys' balls or something, just to make it fair.  And Finnick makes it clear that this is not the case.

Anyone have any ideas on how this works?  Maybe I'm just reading into it way too much, but I've been wondering about this, and I'm stumped.

May the odds be ever in your favor (LIES)

The odds are clearly not in your favor if there's a 1 out of 24 chance of survival.  Favorable odds, to me, means that there's a higher probability of winning than there is of losing.  I'm not taking AP Statistics until next year, but I know enough to recognize that 4% is not particularly favorable.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, please go read The Hunger Games.  It's a fantastic book.  I don't feel like blogging about the Hunger Games, though, because of all the movie hype.  EVERYONE is talking about it.

Right now, I'm reading "The Hunger Pains," a hilarious parody starring "Kantkiss Neverclean" from District 12, the undesirable telemarketing district.  This book is the newest parody from the Harvard Lampoon, whom you might know as the author of "Nighlight," the Twilight parody.

It's freaking hilarious, people.  

But besides that.  Hunger Games are way too overdone at the moment (I'm seeing the movie tomorrow!)  Instead, let's talk about more awesome things, like, um...did you know it was 80 degrees yesterday?

This is pitiful.  I'm so pathetic that I'm talking about the weather.

So, do you guys remember about a month ago, when I posted about President's Day and listed all the US presidents in order from memory?  Well, that skill came in handy recently.  Sort of.  Ish.

I had a vocab quiz in American Lit, and my teacher included a random bonus question: "Who is Sylvia Ward?"*  The name sounded familiar, but I wasn't sure who it was.  So, instead, I wrote the following:

"I'm not really sure who Sylvia Ward is.  Sorry.  I instead propose a new bonus question: 'List all the US presidents in order.'" And I then proceeded to list them all on my test.

I didn't expect points or anything, but the next day in class, my teacher says "I was grading the vocab quizzes last night, and there were some...interesting responses to the bonus question.  For example, Anne said..." And she told the class my answer.

It was hilarious and my face turned totally red.  She didn't give me points, but I got a smiley face on my paper.  It was kind of funny.  Well, a lot.

Have you ever put "questionable" answers down on tests?  How did it work out?  All my friends were just like, "you're so nerdy" and I answered "yeah, I know."  One friend, who shares my history-geekiness, agreed that I was a genius, which was quite nice.

*In case you wanted to know, Sylvia Ward Dr. Heidegger's lover in the story "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" by Nathaniel Hawthorne.  Kudos to you if you knew that!

The urban dwelling resembling the village of York in England (and SCIENCE!)

My title is a cryptogram.  Can you solve it?

(Hint: It means I went to New York City.)

Didja figure it out?  It means "New York City!"  You must be so smart.

It was pretty darn epic.  I mean, it was a school trip, to go to Columbia University for a publications conference. It was a school trip, and they basically gave us free reign to wander anywhere we wanted in Manhattan.  Crazy fun things went down.

However, as cool as it was to watch my English teachers sing karaoke to Lady Gaga, I doubt it interests you.  And I would like to keep you interested.  I think the most interesting thing is my Science Olympiad competition on Saturday.  I mean, New York is way too boring.  But science?  Now THAT'S exciting.


 I mean, you can even write "science" in a science-y way:

Sorry it's blurry; it's my friend's cell phone camera.  I wrote it.  I'll tell you what each letter is, because I'm REALLY proud of this thing.  Took me ages.
S - DNA strand
C - magnet
I - test tube
E - It says mc^2 because E=mc^2
N - a bunch of rulers
C - It says 3.0x10^8 because that's the speed of light, represented by "C"
E - Not sure what the name of this molecule is, my AP Chem friend made it

O - gear
L - fingers (you know, physiology!)
Y - inverted lungs.  Yes, inverted lungs.  Quit laughing, it was hard to draw lungs upside down.
M - triangles with angles
P - phosphorus
I - rad -1.  i
A - deathly hallows symbol.  This was an object of controversy, but my argument was that it related.  Harry Potter is geeky, science is geeky.  It works.
D - atom. In a D shape (I was running out of ideas by the end)

You'll notice that we had a chalkboard in our "home base" classroom, where we relaxed between rounds.  So what did we do? Play games!

First, chalkboard chess.  This was easy, we just made up symbols for each piece (pawn was circle, bishop was triangle, etc).  I was shaded, my friend's pieces were open.  And we erased each piece and redrew it to move.  Simple.  I won after an hour, when I cornered her king and she had no more moves.

Second, chalkboard Monopoly.  This was far more complicated.  First, we redrew the board and simplified the rent amounts and property prices.  We used the random integer function on the graphing calculator as dice, and kept track of money on the side.  It was really complicated.  For chance cards, we had a friend make up things to say.  That was how I ended up losing $2000 in one turn.  The chance cards were all mean.

Third, Pictionary.  This was exciting because I instituted the rule of "abstract Pictionary," stolen from the idea of Metaphysical I Spy in Paper Towns.  Basically, it had to be abstract.  No physical objects allowed.  That's how we ended up trying to draw things like "Neo-Confucianism," "schizophrenia," and a "Mongolian Death Worm."  Yes, we are awesomely nerdy like that.  Let's see YOU draw the "Harvard Sailing Team."

I'm on a QUEST(ion)!

So I was tagged in a Question Thing by the lovely blogger Catherine, and, even though I'm bad at this kind of thing (I mean, everyone lies to make themselves sound cooler.  Yes, admit it.  But I'll try to be truthful at least 94% of the time.) I'll give it a go.

The Rules:

1. You must post the rules.
2. Post eleven fun facts about yourself on the blog post.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you've tagged. 
4. Tag eleven bloggers, however, you can break the rules and tag fewer people if you want. Make sure you hyperlink their names/blogs.
5. Let them know you've tagged them!
6. Have fun! 

1. What is your biggest fear and why?
I'm afraid of people ignoring me.  I have way too much to say for that too happen.  I might explode.

2. What are your plans for the future?
Go to college, get a well-paying job, get married, get rich, have 2.4 children and a dog, live in the suburbs with a white picket fence.

PSYCH!  Actually, I want to live on a mountain.  In a castle (with lots of secret passages) and mountains.  I like mountains.  And beyond that, I have no idea.

3. Do you prefer a nice stomach or a nice butt on the opposite sex?
When I first read this, I thought it meant actual stomach, like that they were good at eating, but I guess it means abs.  I say, I don't care. Just be nice overall.

4. What are your opinions on gay marriage? 
Very supportive. Very.

5. What do you think about Rebecca Black?
I think she doesn't deserve the fame she got when there are so many really good singers out there who could use that kind of well-known-ness.

6. How many pairs of heels do you own?
One, I think.  Maybe?  I don't like heels, even though I'm only 5'2".

7. Share the experience of your first kiss.
Kind of weird.  Let's leave it at that.

8. List 3 things you like about yourself, and 3 things you don't like.
I like my nerdiness, awesomeness, and craziness.  I dislike my shortness, awkwardness, and craziness.


9. What is the worst pickup line you've ever heard? (check out my last post titled - Pickup lines at their worst, for ideas if your stuck)
I love looking up nerdy pickup lines, so I'm just going to list a few of those:
"If you were sine squared and I was cosine squared, together we'd be one."
"Let's do some math: add a bed, subtract the clothes, divide the legs, and hope you don't multiply."

"If I were an enzyme, I'd be a DNA helicase so I could unzip your genes."

10. How many hours a day or week do you spend blogging?

Each post takes me one or two hours, depending on how long it is and whether it comes with pictures.  And I post once, maybe twice a week,

11. Would you rather have eternal health, wealth or love? Explain.
Not health, because then I'd sit there and watch all my friends die around me.  Love might be cool, I guess.  Saying wealth would make me sound all greedy-like, but I'm torn between love and wealth.  How about I have a bit of each?


Okay, now I tag people.  Whoopee!
Quirky Screamage-ism, and such
An Abundance of Rambling
[I Am Unimaginative]
Defenestrated Feet
Tangential Bemusings
Peace. Love. Rock n Roll. Various Other Things

My Questions for You Guys are the Following:

1) What is your favorite smell?

2) Who would win in a fight: Neil Patrick Harris or Darren Criss?

3) Tell us a nerdy joke.

4) Describe a situation in which socks and sandals would be acceptable footwear.

5) How will you ever get out of this labyrinth?

6) What food would you like to have growing on a tree in your backyard?

7) Compose a poem describing the nature of a stubbed toe at 3 AM.

8) What is a quark?

9) What is the best way to eat an Oreo?

10) Feelings about Kony 2012?

11) What would you do with a superpower that allowed you to use your toes as fingers?

Am I really the only one who sees the resemblance?

This is the Puma logo:


So here's what I noticed: what if you turn the puma sideways?  Looks something like this:

Which, I think, looks something like a deranged monkey doing the Thriller dance.  This is my sister, who doesn't resemble the puma as much as I'd like, because she was pretty stubborn when I asked her to pose like a deranged monkey doing the Thriller dance.  But seriously, am I really the only one who sees what's going on here?

Well, the point of this post was to teach you that a new way to look at a puma logo.  Go forth and share the enlightenment with the world!

It's a nice thought, but...

So I happened upon this comic:

It's a nice thought.  Aww, how sweet.  Math love.  The only problem is, it's a nerdy joke that wouldn't actually work on real nerds.  I read it, and I couldn't help visualizing the scene that would play out if anyone ever tried this trick on me:

...Yeah.  Not quite the intended result.

In other news, I spent the weekend on a ski trip in Vermont.  A great deal of the weekend was based on this comic, which I find hilarious:

So my friends and I would break out in song on the chairlifts (often freaking out the strangers riding with us) and throw our palms in each other's faces.

Um...Yeah...

I SET FIIIIIIIIRE TO THE RAIN, WATCHED IT POUR, AS I TOUCHED YOUR FACE

*virtually touches your face*

Snow Day!

This is what I put on Facebook yesterday, when it started snowing, and people were predicting the statistical likelihood of a snow day:

After that, I did notice there were fewer statuses that looked something like "It's snowinngggg!"  or "Guyz, its lyk snowing rite now!!!1!111!"

But whatever.  I'm not here to criticize annoying Facebookers.  I'm here to share the results of my snow day with you.

Did I start my history essay?  No.  Did I finish my history outlining?  No.  Did I research my forestry topics?  No.  Did I call my Gold Award project adviser?  No.

I had a great list of all the things I would do today.  Very few got done.  However, I made this!  IT'S A SNOW DALEK!

Who says I'm unproductive?  Psshh.