In a previous post, I noted myself winning a piano competition.  Prior to the day of the competition, I made a deal with my mother.  A couple of weeks ago, I received my phone, and I now text 24/7, which has made my mom very angry and threaten to cancel the plan, because it "distracted me from piano and school".  This deal was this:  If I won the competition, my mother could never ever threaten to take my phone away.  That had a great effect one me.  First, it made it so that I had to practice harder for the competition, because I needed that deal.  But second, it put a lot of stress on me, because if I lost, then my mother would be able to blame it on the fact that I have a phone, and it "distracted me from my practice"

Have any of you out there had a situation where, in school, someone has just started to despise you for a reason that escapes your mind?  There's this kid in my school that is seriously (I won't get too angry) making me mad.  And what is worse is that he has his bunch of friends that he hangs out with, and it has effected their thoughts toward me also (though not that much).

What is this world coming to?  Do you ever have a wish that you would die before it turns any worse?  Would you want to raise kids in that kind of an environment, with so much distractions and bad things?  I have thought about that a lot. 

For those of you out there who are computer/online game addicts, let me impress upon you how distractive and addicting that may be.  A while ago, I was....well...I wouldn't say an online game freak, but I was on the computer playing games very much.   It wasn't until after I stopped playing those games, that I realized what an effect it had on me.  While I do sometimes still play games online occasionally, it is when I am very bored.  Picture this.  With all the time you spend playing games, it could be used (I sound like a very annoying parent right now, so bear with me)  for more effective things.  You people out there should try it.  I has satisfying results

This weekend was one of the most stress free ones that I have had this month.  Why? Because on Thursday I won this piano competition, which made it so that I had a good excuse to not play piano:  "I deserve it"  And also, there is not much homework due to the fact that it is the end of the term.  So, this weekend all I have been pretty much doing is reading this very long book, The Count of Monte Cristo.  I couldn't say that it is tedious or boring, because, in fact, I like it very much.  It has a great story line.  What annoys me, however, is that it is 600 pages long, and I, having started over 4/5ths of the way into the story, have 350 pages to read in 4 days, which shouldn't be much of a problem for me, since I read very quickly, and have a pretty good idea what will happen.  

Due to the fact that i needed new contacts, I had to go to the eye doctor to have my eyes looked at, because they're REALLY bad now. Have you ever had your eyes dilated? I'm sure we all have. It's where they put these drops in your eyes that make your pupils a whole lot bigger. My eye doctor, whose name was Dr. James, told me that my eyes were WAY bad. It's probably genetics. What Dr. James told me was that if my eyes get worse enough, then I won't be able to have the LASIK surgery thingy when I turn 21. Scary right? Dr. James's assistant assured me, though, that that doesn't happen much. My eyes have astigmatism, which makes it so that I have to wear this other type of contacts. I used to only have one eye that had it, but now both do. That one eye's lense is weird, because it has these little marks on its sides that tell you which way should face up. It's been a weird day so far, because, as it takes a long time for the dilation to wear off, my eyes are really blurry.

I had to close my eyes for the trip home, because if I opened them, I would be blinded by the sun's rays. But when the car came to an abrupt stop, I just had to open them. In our ward, there is this CUTEST baby (well, I guess he's a toddler now) that my mom is obsessed with, and whenever she sees him she just freaks out and has to play with him. His name is Caleb Hall, and the Halls are very good friends of ours. If you saw him, you would have to agree that the Halls' baby is cute. When you shrug, and he sees it, he shrugs also. He also blows kisses at you and likes to hit people. (I don't know if that would be cute or not). His face is always a smile, and he doesn't cry much. I think if they voted, all the parents' votes in our ward would be that Caleb is the cutest. My mom is lucky, because she is the children's nursery helper in our ward.

I really hate that feeling when you have loads of homework due over the weekend. You know that you are going to do it anyways, but you can't muster up enough courage to actually sit down and do it like I am now. There is this thing in my english class where all the students' parents have to edit their character sketches. I don't really like the idea of that, because if my dad edits it, it'll take FOREVER because he is a literature maniac. I am jealous of this girl at school, because she had her parents edit hers, and it only took a couple minutes. There is also this other kid who had his done like two weeks ago. Drives me nuts.

I'm sure you all have had mean teachers.  Seriously, have you ever had those teachers who act like they hate their job, which passes on to hating kids?  I mean, if they hate their job, then why not quit, and save their students the pain of having to learn from them?  

You all know what a wii is right? I marvel at the technology of it.  motion sensored....etc.  Will it get any better? How can video games get any better than motion sensed?  Will they invent some virtual reality thing?  

Now, speaking of virtual reality, that would be pretty cool.  I don't know if it exists or not.  Two of my friends have told me that it does, but I don't really believe them.  I mean, that would be so advanced.

I've always had problems with swimming.  I don't mean that I can't swim well, for I am pretty good at it, but for some weird reason, after ten minutes of treading water, I lose my energy and have to hold on to something for support.  Does that ever happen to you?  It is interesting how my friends aren't even tired, and i'm exhausted!  I actually think it is because I'm not breathing right.  I remember playing tag with my friends, but I could never get them (well, I got them a couple of times) because I was always too tired and would have to rest. Something is wrong with me!

I have just entered a state of depression, because yesterday, it snowed! Yeah, that's right, in the beginning of the fall season, there is a three inch blanket of snow covering everything! Don't get me wrong, I love snow, but when it wipes out an entire season, then it gets to be too much.  The first snow of the year is always awesome, because it is so packable, and the earth isn't icky or mushy yet.  But when you get halfway through the winter, everything is wet, icy, icky,.....you know what i mean?  

I believe that the best thing about the snow is snowball fights.  Who doesn't like them?  I remember one time when My friend and I had a snowball fight with several girls that were in my neighborhood. I forgot what had started it, but it was fun!  Towards the end of it, this girl came up and hit my shoulder with an iceball.  (This is like the climax of the fight).  I remember her running away laughing, and when she got to the other side of the street, I aimed for and hit her head.  She pretended to be crying, and they all went inside.  Five minutes later, all the girls came out with make up on, and started chasing us!  It was sort of fun, until we ran out of breath and had to book it to my house.  

Do people use messenger that often anymore? It seems that none of my hundreds of friends are online that often. I haven't been on for a long while, because a little thing called facebook was invented. It seems that facebook is the new way of communication. For some.
Texting has also dominated the world of communication. Instead of calling people, why not do it the "silent" way? I've always wondered how the wireless texting networks work. Are there satellite signals everywhere?

I've always wondered what other sweet, awesome things that technology will provide in the future. Everybody has a hope of hoverboards which, I think, will have to be in the next billion years. But, now that they have cell phones, touch screens, new outstanding medical technology, I wonder if we are at the highest level of technology. Can we get any higher? What new things will scientists invent?

In a previous post, I mentioned these twins that were in my neighborhood that caught up to me in tennis. Well, I finally figured out the solution to that problem. (Because I'm selfish and HAVE to be better than them). My mom talked with my past tennis coach, and agreed to continue my tennis lessons, which I had stopped because of numerous piano competitions. So, on Friday, I went over to the Athletic Club that I go to. Othat day, there was a TERRIBLE storm, but still, all went well, because the club had this huge bubble thing over the courts, which protected it from all weather. In the lesson, I learned a more advanced forehand, that the pros on TV use. Instead of using your arm and wrist to swing the racquet, this technique required you to use your hip. I had to twist my hip back, and let it all go to swing at the ball. This helped me relieve the pressure on my wrist. My coach said that I had to practice for a time for my muscles to get used to it, so hopefully, my mother will let me out more often to play.

On Friday, I finally got a cell phone. I would've gotten it later had it not been that I had left a note for the UPS guy, or girl, to leave the package with my neighbor. That being said, I was frustrated for a couple of days because my picture messaging didn't work for some reason. That meant that I could not receive or send pictures, or any other type of file. So I called the service yesterday, and they had ACTUALLY FORGOTTEN to add the feature to my new phone! So I had them fix it for free, and I can receive stuff now!
Most people who have phones take them for granted. Before I got my phone, I was SO jealous of those who did. It killed me to see them texting away with their awesome phones, when I didn't have one. So, if you have a phone, be grateful that you do, because when I received my phone, It was like a dream come true!