I'm stupid.

The End.

So my life doesn't COMPLETELY rock.

But pretty damn close at the moment.

Yay. Happy.

Yup.  I know there are some older entries down there that aren't protected.  I'm working on it.

Today was the first day of crew where I felt like I actually knew what I was doing. We went out in the 8, and there were lots of us, and I felt like I did okay, apart from Anne's oar stabbing me in the back every three minutes, and all the spiders. Poor Colleen doesn't feel like she did good. Poor baby. she's so much stronger than me, she shouldn't be complaining.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

1.smoked a cigarette - No

2.smoked a cigar - No. Was offered.

3.made out with a member of the same sex- NO. I'm straight.

4.crashed a friend's car - hehehe...no. My friend DID take my brothers tractor and ride it down the driveway, falling out at the bottom. (lisa is laughing now)

5.stolen a car - No

6.been in love - ...no, I can't say that I have.

7.been dumped - other way around. It's much harder than we make it out to be, HONEST!

9.been fired - No *wistful sigh*

10.been in a fist fight - Does my brother cutting my wrists with his fingernails count?

11.snuck out of your house - My house could give white house security a run for their money.

12.had feelings for someone who didnt have them back- Yes.

13.been arrested - No.

14.made out with a stranger- well...there WAS that one time...



xD jk ya'll

16.lied to a friend - Yes. I feel guilty about it FOREVER. i feel guilty for bad stuff I did in KINDERGARTEN.

17.had a crush on a teacher - No.

18.skipped school- Pretended to be sick. It worked. So yes.

19.slept with a co-worker- I am changing this to co-student, and I can safely say I've never slept with anyone at our school.

20.seen someone die - I would've watched my cat die, but my mom wouldn't let me.

21.been on a plane - Um...I was in africa for the past three weeks...

23.taken painkillers - Can you say "braces"

25. laid on your back and watched cloud shapes go by - Maybe once.

26.made a snow angel - who hasn't?

27.played dress up - Isn't this what halloween is for?

28.cheated while playing a game - See 26.

29.been lonely - Recently? Yes. But you guys rock and will never let me feel lonely for more than three hours or so.

30.fallen asleep at work/school - Wish I could.

32.felt an earthquake - Yes.

33.touched a snake - Yes.

34.ran a red light - No.

35.been suspended from school- After my brother peed on a kid in 1st grade, I stayed away from anything that would give me detention/suspension.

36.had detention - See 35.

37.been in a car accident - No, fortunately.

38.hated the way you look- Lots of the time.

39.witnessed a crime - Does my brother picking his nose and wearing sunglasses with flames on the side count?

40.pole danced - um...I almost knocked my bed over because I was swinging around on the post.

41.been lost - Yes. In a Safeway. How lame-ass.

42.been to the opposite side of the country- Manhatten, the June before 9/11.

43.felt like dying - Yes i have.

44.cried yourself to sleep - Yes.

45.played cops and robbers - erm...cops and robbers? Oh yeah, yes I have.

46.sang karaoke - i save myself the shame.

47.done something you told yourself you wouldn't -Repeatedly

48.laughed till some kind of beverage came out of your nose - Yep. I have more fun laughing at Reva and Alex doing it to each other though.

49.caught a snowflake on your tongue - Yes. i should think so.

50.kissed in the rain - Do I LOOK like Kirsten Dunst?

51.sing in the shower - Yes. And get this: my mother and my brother are the only people who tell me I can't sing. = (

53.had a dream that you married someone - Had a dream about my children last night. I had two this time. One was blonde. She was cute. The other was a guy. He was red-headed.

54. glued your hand to something - umm...no.

55. got your tongue stuck to a flag pole - no.

56.worn the opposite sex's clothes - No.

57.been a cheerleader- HAHAHA!!! THAT'S A GOOD ONE!

58. sat on a roof top - I THINK so...

59. didn't take a shower for a week - Can you guys say...AFRICA?

60.ever too scared to watch scary movies alone - Um...duh? It's RACHEL, remember?

61.played chicken - Hahaha, Yes. And then got in trouble.

62.been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on - Yes.

63.been told you're hot by a complete stranger - Being told I'm hot at all is fairly unknown to me...

64.broken a bone - Technically, my ankles should be broken permanently, but their not.

65.been easily amused - Yeah. Potter Puppet Pals...yeah...good times.

67.mooned/flashed someone - I choose to suffocate my cleavage. hehehe...reva... =P

68.cheated on a test - Yes.

70.slept naked - Yes. And boy, I swear I heard rapists in the closet every five minutes.

71.gone skinny dipping in a pool - Um..I live next door to this guy who used to spy on me...so no.

72.been kicked out of your house- No

73.blacked out from drinking - I drank a Mike's Hard Lemonade once...damn that stuff tastes good! =P

74.played a prank on someone - Yes.

First day of Vancouver Lake Crew.

Yes, Sara, Neil is there, but since he's been rowing for two years he didn't hang around with us novices.

It isn't as hard as I thought it would...but then again, we didn't get in the water today. Just sorta practiced on the machines and watched safety videos.

So...I got lots of "I'm sorry's" from my last LJ post. and i forgive you guys.

So, good day!

-Rashell

You know what I just realized?

The last time I've ever been invited to someone's house was when I went to see the Ring at Colleen's house, just before 8th grade.

It's really weird, because most of you guys have been to my house before, and it's really weird knowing I haven't gone to someone's house in about a year now. It's like...I'm being used...but by all my friends. It's like people are only friends with me because we have a huge pool and I have my own computer and stuff.

I know this isn't the case, and I know you guys don't mean for it to come across like that, but this sort of thing has been eating away at me since the 4th grade. And I don't know if it's just an accident or if people just don't really count me as their friend.

The only friends that don't do this are people who live in like, California and Bellingham.

What a bad day to start off a morning.

You know what I just realized?

The last time I've ever been invited to someone's house was when I went to see the Ring at Colleen's house, just before 8th grade.

It's really weird, because most of you guys have been to my house before, and it's really weird knowing I haven't gone to someone's house in about a year now. It's like...I'm being used...but by all my friends. It's like people are only friends with me because we have a huge pool and I have my own computer and stuff.

I know this isn't the case, and I know you guys don't mean for it to come across like that, but this sort of thing has been eating away at me since the 4th grade. And I don't know if it's just an accident or if people just don't really count me as their friend.

The only friends that don't do this are people who live in like, California and Bellingham.

What a bad day to start off a morning.

Oh dear god. I cried. I can't believe it.

 

He's dead.  How is that POSSIBLE?  He wasn't supposed to die, much less get MURDERED...and by HIM...oh my god...but it was a wonderful plot twist...it'll be quite a plot in book 7 if Harry and Ron and Hermionie...

hehe...not gonna spoil it for you!

It took me 6 hours and 39 minutes to read that book.  Should i be worried about this?

-Rashell

We have been waiting for this day for so long.

We have stood there, with baited breath.

We have watched with revered eyes as they began handing out the books.

We have waited so long.

And it's finally here.

Well...yesterday was an interesting day.

I had lunch with my cousins William and Emily (ages 4 and 2). And it really is amazing how articulate William is, considering I just spent three weeks with a five year old who talks like he's just learned to. So that was really weird. And Emily kept talking about how this elephant pooped in it's cage at the zoo.

We got our Africa pictures on CD. So that'll be cool.

Anyway, back to yesterday. Around one pm, Colleen and Reva showed up at my house wanting to go biking. So we did, (we walked up Bernie) and met up at Shelby's house, kidnapped Shelby. We biked to Colleen's church where she rode right into the building. We ate cheez-its and were on our way again. Then we biked downtown to my dad's bank and left him a message. Then we biked to Ester Short Park. We hung out by the fountain and ate ice cream. Then we biked back. It was mostly uphill. O_o

We got back to my house, and of course, I puked. Grr. But then we went swimming in the pool and debated on whether or not Jesus was actually a woman. Mom decided to actually be cool and ordered us pizza and cheesey bread. And Jon Yearout, with whom I have not spoken in over three years, decided to ask if he and his friends could jump in our pool as part of a scavenger hunt. I was like "ummm...no!" So, that was interesting. We watched Lucy and Lily try to float on a water noodle, they really looked interested by the water in the pool. Then they didn't go home until about 8:30. It was really fun.

It was interesting, because I dunno shelby that well at all, so it was nice to talk to her and get to know her.

And today, nothing. Finished 1st harry potter book.

So here's part three. I left off at ngorongoro crater, yes?

We started the insanely long drive to the Serengeti. As we were arriving, we saw three male cheetahs walking in the middle of the road. Good sign.
We camped in these tents in the middle of the serengeti. Every night we could hear the hyenas barking and the lions roaring and the warthogs squealing. We saw the most AMAZING things in the serengeti. We saw TWO (count 'em) TWO leopards. They are the most beautiful animals ever. We saw this cheetah mother with four cubs, and we saw her run as she chased down and killed a baby gazelle. you can't even see her run. You just see a blurry speck and lots of dust. And cheetah cubs are so CUTE!!!

The last day at the serengeti we drove three hours to see the wildebeest migration. There are thousands of wildebeest EVERYWHERE you look. It's like a sea of wildebeest. And then we stopped ofr lunch, and when we came back, they were almost all gone.

The best part of our last safari? On the way back we stopped at this suspension bridge. And I walked across it. And there were about seven crocodiles in the lake below. So that was REALLY cool.

Oh, one more thing: we saw a horny elephant. Its thing was like, two feet long.

So, there are my adventures. I lost my retainer on the flight to London. oops.

Hope you enjoyed! I missed you guys, and I'm so glad to be home!

-Rashell

Here it is! AFrica, Part Two! I left off at Tarangerie, right?

After two days at Tarangerie, we took the two hour drive to Lake Manyara. Manyara was a pretty boring place, all we really saw were hippos and flamingos and baboons. But my mother and I got into a pretty interesting fight. Well...ugly, is probably a better adjective.

One of our guides, Alan, has a daughter who's 15 years old. While we were in Africa, she was trying to get her visa to come to the U.S. for high school. If she got it, she would go to Stevenson high school. My aunt, my grandma and my mom were talking about it at lunch our first day in Manyara. My mom started criticizing Eva's (that's her name) choice for Stevenson high school. "Stevenson is SUCH a tiny community so it MUST be a tiny school" and bitch bitch bitch like she does so well. Now, my mother has criticized my school a lot in the past, like judging people by the way they dress and the art they make and the poems they write. It's quite sickening. She will make assumptions about people without talking to them. I was so sick of her talking bad about my school, and I wasn't going to let her talk bad about Eva for wanting to go to Stevenson. So I said "Mom!" and apparently my tone was too confrontational, because she REALLY flew off the handle. I wasn't supposed to share my opinion and I wasn't supposed to contradict her in front of her sister and her mother and bitch bitch bitch some more. So then later, I explained to her that I felt that she was unfairly criticizing Eva's choice to go to Stevenson, and she got even MORE pissed and said "Am I not allowed to have an opinion?" when she was really just yelling at me for having an opinion different than hers. So I got super pissed and didn't talk to her. Then later, my dad came up to me and started bitching at me some more, like I hadn't already been bitched at enough that day. "You aren't supposed to criticize your mother in public" "You aren't supposed to interuppt your mother while she's talking with adults". Soooooo...if you're having a heart attack UPSTAIRS, and mom's talking to Lynn on the phone DOWNSTAIRS, I'm supposed to let you die while she finishes her stupid, pointless conversation. So, I was mad at my parents most of the day. The best part about this whole fight? BOTH my aunts and my uncle were on my side. My aunt meg (mom's sister) especially, because mom apparently was bitchy to her growing up too. My uncle ron (aunt megs husband) who always tends to make a joke out of everything said "When you run away you can come live with us" ;D But don't worry. It's a long train ride to seattle, and hitchhiking isn't really my thing. I don't think I'll be running away anytime soon.

We only spent one night in Manyara. The next day (after many, MANY souvenir stops) we drove to the Ngorongoro crater. It's this HUGE crater, I can't remember how big it is exactly, but it's one of the natural wonders of the world, I think.
In our three days at Ngorongoro, what did we see? We saw an elephant with tusks longer than it's trunk, i swear, this was the hugest elephant I have EVER seen. We saw a cheetah carcass in the tree, with a leopard nearby. Leopards are so endangered you have to be really really lucky to spot one. (You'll here more about leopards in part three). We saw lots of hippos, and baby hippos. But there was only one day when we saw monkeys. (hehehe, alex and colleen are laughing their heads off if they're reading this now.)

We stopped at a picnic stop for lunch. We noticed there were lots of monkeys hanging around; in the trees, in the sink of the bathroom. Our guides told us "Do NOT let them into the car, because they WILL try to take your food and they WILL bite you and you WILL get rabies and you WILL die." Now, the top of the Land Rovers comes off, so you can stand up on your seat to get a good view of the animals. So, my cousin Owen and my mom were sitting in the backseat, eating lunch. Suddenly, a monkey JUMPED into my cousin Owen's lap. Owen yelled (owen doesn't scream, he yells) and PUNCHED the monkey out of the car. My dad grabbed his apple and THREW it at the monkey, hitting me in the head with his arm in the process. The monkey CAUGHT the apple, and ran off to eat it. We've got some cute pictures of a monkey sucking on a hard-boiled egg. Our guide Joseph said it was because we were white. So now MONKEYS are racists?

I think I'll end it here for now. Hope you enjoyed! I'll be out with part three soon.

-Rashell

You scored as Wicked. You are born with emerald-green skin, smart, fiery and misunderstood. OR beautiful, ambitious and very popular. Looks aren't everything, ya know - learn to show the real you! </td> Wicked 67% Cats 67% Avenue Q 63% Les Miserables 46% Grease 29% Hairspray 25% What MUSICAL are you??? created with QuizFarm.com

This is cool! Well, maybe I'm just obsessed with Wicked.

Okay, now that i'm almost over jetlag, i can begin to tell my story. Sort of.

On June 22nd we took a two hour flight to San Francisco. After two hours in San Francisco we took an overnight nine hour flight to London. We had business class, so that was fun.

We spent two days in london. Because like, three people have asked me this already, NO, we were not in London at the time of the bombings. We did ride the subway, however. So I was kind of freaked out for a little bit. In london we went and saw Westminster Abbey, the Abbey where they buried Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary. (Bloody Mary). Together. We saw Tenth Downing Street, where the prime minister lives. We walked to Trafalger Square and then went to this pizza place in london that my aunt kept dreaming about. We went to the British Museum, and they had all these human skeletons. My cousin maya was really freaked out. We went and saw the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham palace, except it was so crowded we didn't really see much.

In london we stayed at the Marriot County Hall. It was right across the river from Big Ben and the Parliament house. You could see the London eye from our window.

One more thing to say about London? When we were going through customs, the guys from Simple Plan were ahead of us. No, there were not girls/fans swarming about them. Maybe there's less mob risk in Europe or something, because there's no way this would happen in America and someone not be killed in the rampage.

From London we took another overnight nine hour flight to Dar Es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania. From Dar Es Salaam we took a two hour charter flight to Arusha, a small town north of Dar Es Salaam. The people inARusha live in what would be called Hoovervilles in America, and there is garbage on the side of every street, piled high. There are baby goats running around everywhere, and no, i did not bring anyone back a baby goat.

We spent the night at a coffee plantation in Arusha. Then the next morning, we met up with our guides, Alan, Joseph, and Amini, and drove two hours to Tarangerie National Park. Upon arriving at Tarangerie, we saw four elephants at the water tower just outside our tents. (This was a tent camp). We spent two days at Tarangerie, where in that time we saw an elephant charge two lions, an elephant charge our car, a lion charge our car, an elephant fight, AND a lion fight. We also saw these monkeys who had blue balls. Like, sky blue balls. Yes. Balls. And we saw about thirty baboons, and i think baby baboons are pretty cute. They will sit on their mothers back like they're riding a horse and pick bugs off her ass and eat them. It's pretty cool.

That's all i'm gonna say for now, stay tuned for Africa-Part Two! :P

well...it's been a while.

I could give you, a million words to describe what's happened to me in the past three weeks...but none of them seem quite appropriate.

This is not going to be a vacation where i'll just file it away in the scrapbook with a "well, wasn't that fun?". this is going to change my entire outlook on life. i am going to want to take my children there. I am going to learn to speak swahili. but most importantly, i am going to tell people about this.

There is a village we visited, in the ngorongoro crater. A maasai village. They live in houses about the size of the music rooms at school. These houses are made of mud, sticks, and cow shit. And they're happy! Happier than we are with our internet connections and cable tv and fancy cars and two story houses! They would rather die than live the way we do.

And you know what else? There's hardly any crime in Tanzania. There's no kidnapping. A muslim can marry a christian, and that's okay. Sure, there's garbage piled high on every street, but they're HAPPY!

Well, this is my last LJ post before I leave for my three week trip in Africa!!! Aaaahhhhh!!! Next time I post it'll definately be a much longer post, filled with details, undoubtedly...

It feels weird, knowing I'll "technically" be a freshman on friday. It feels like I was just entering as a 6th grader yesterday. Hmm...of the three years so far, which has been my favorite? Hmmm...O_o...they all have their highlights, I suppose. 6th grade was probably theatre class, because we had ms. white and we got to do all sorts of awesome stuff, including advertising the Magazine sale. So that was cool. 7th grade...I had a lot of fun running around with Sara and Athena. We were really crazy, we wanted to make a band, and we thought we were all cool, when in actuality we were probably just bitches. My infatuation with...that one dude...in 7th grade really seems to make it memorable, though him going away doesn't exactly make it a pleasent one. And 8th grade: hmm...lots of drama this year...Sara and I in a fight, spanish in zero period, and my caffeine addiction growing ever stronger. Ceri caused more drama than she was thought possible. Ryan was an...interesting boyfriend, for the month we went out, and God bless him for not wanting to shoot me TWELVE GILLION X 123109823571237456127834102938471873452497851.5 times, considering all the stuff I drove him through. Then there was Alex. My mother wonders how I went seven years before connecting with Alex. Alex and I theorize we were seperated at birth. According to Colleen, I am Alex's "Kitchen Bitch". Which makes me laugh, because it's true. This also makes alex laugh, because she knows it.

Then there was my 14th birthday party. Awesome party, LOTS of drama when we came back to school. (You can tell I"m still slightly annoyed at ceri, huh?) I wish Liz could've been there, because it was awesome and she would've had fun. The tractor song, (WITH HAND MOTIONS) and wrapping the end of the last piece of ice cream cake in plastic wrap and passing it down the line as we sat on the HUGE mattress on the floor, watching The Birdcage. Reva and Alex pushing each other off the bed. Alex eating like, 24 rolls in one night. Anna being calm and serene the whole time (not carr, for those of you who are wondering. My friend Anna from Ridgefield who I've known since I was in diapers) while the rest of us were being INSANE. Colleen singing off-key and super loud on the beach while people gave her crazy looks. Wading out waist-deep into the ocean even though Mrs. Kimsey told us not to. Reva and Alex playing sims back at my house. Reva yelling "And I can be your child!" Alex laughing so hard she had to spit her soda into the toilet. The soda/spit being chunky. Reva and Alex trying to make each other laugh the whole way there, spitting water all over the backseat. Colleen phone-sexing ryan. No cell phone service because silly Rachel forgot her phone. Trying to save a bird on the beach. Watching it die as the waves got it. Reva forgetting her jeans. Walking up to Reva and saying "I have your pants!". The look on Joshua's face as he heard it. Coming home to a house smelling like brownies. Discovering JACK made them. Brownies actually being good.

Then there was; Screwing up at the piano recital. My teacher not killing me. Long hours spent discussing important issues such as "How little Jimmy will bring World Peace and little Annie World Destruction" with Charles. Long hours spent with Ms. Lilly, the dictator. Muttering "Yes, Hitler" under my breath when we're supposed to say "Yes ma'am." Mr. Olson's class. Mr. Olson giving me permission to throw stuff at ryan. How I never got in trouble in Olsons class. How I probably should have. Mr. Tangs class. Having to live with the the fact that this was my third year with Tang. Luke getting in trouble when I'd be talking. Mr. Hagins class. Mr. Hagin being AWESOME. Jolly Ranchers. Theatre level two. 17 people. Too many days spent with Fuente Ovejuna and how Coyote Brought Fire to the People. How Andy saved our asses last minute. Us never doing what Ms. White said we were going to do. Us not caring. Ms. White talking too long. Us loving her anyway. Lit. Arts level two. Sixteen people. Awesome writers. Best writers. Me being the youngest. Them loving me anyway. Heidi's amazing stuff. Oh hell, EVERYONE'S amazing stuff. Worrying for hours on end about whether or not my short story was good, and them loving it. 16 people. Lagsdin being random. Lagsdin promising journal time. Us never getting it. Loving the class anyway. My discovery of AIM. Being reunited with Chris Elliot (united? We never knew each other before this year) Organizing Alex and jacob's two month anniversary gifts FOR them. Not caring. My one double date at Starbucks. Alex and Jacob owing me a combined sum of $31. Having to divide it when they broke up. Both of them encouraging me to give the other the bigger sum. Being stuck in the middle of all that drama. My OWN breakup, with no drama. not getting into any of the shows. Seeing them all anyway. Day of Caring. Writing in Thai. Colleen's drama with Dylan. Colleen pretending like she didn't care. Watching her hide behind me whenver she saw him. Knowing she did. My 6th grade friend Kate. Kate being insane. Kate being friends with all 8th graders. Knowing Kate was gonna be stuck being a 7th grader when we all go on to be freshmen.
Being the "elder" students. Not acting like it. Loving every minute of it.

I'm gonna cry today, I just know it.

-Rashell

I figured out how to work my mp3 player last night. Since that time, it has stopped working at least 5 times, including turning itself off and freezing.

It only works again once I throw it across across the room. :P

*chucks mp3 player out window* *breaks window* ooopss...

What is it with people making shallow accusations about my family this week?

Yesterday in theatre I was talking about how I'm more like my dad's brother and my mom's sister than I am like my parents, so ryan goes out and says "So THAT'S why your parents hate you."

The night before I had talked to him for a long time about how much that kind of stuff bothers me, especially from people who don't know my family or have never met them.

and he said it anyway.

I didn't cry this time. So ceri is the only who made me cry. I'm just pissed off.

He KNEW this bothered me, he KNEW I had cried over this, he KNEW that it was a shallow, tactless thing to say and YET HE SAID IT ANYWAY.

I'm just complaining now though.
Ryan's being an ass.
So what else is new.

At least he won't read this and practically EXPLODE like ceri. As a matter of fact, Im still waiting for any signs that ceri's read this. and I know when she does there's gonna be SO MUCH FRUCKING DRAMA that reva and I are gonna DIE.

a;a;lsdkjvasdl;fjdsporiueqwal;sdffj;kasdlkfj stupid ex-boyfriends

Rashell

You know that awkward silence when someone's said something offensive and hurtful without really realizing it?

That happened today in spanish.

I was talking to Ceri about how my brother didn't get to have a friend spend the night because my parents were out and she said "Your parents are out AGAIN? Don't they even care about you?"

Enter the awkward silence.

I don't think she meant to say it to hurt me, or to put me down, but it's the first time in a while something has hurt that bad.

I know ceri's gonna get all p.o.e'd at me for writing this and stirring up drama, but God, Ceri, that fucking HURT.

Especially since I'd just got into another fight with my mother earlier that morning.

So, Alex spent the night Friday...and we were up until about 2 in the morning. She's half-awake now.

Lesse...my parents were out thursday night and friday night, and NOW they're out saturday night and sunday night. I feel so neglected. You should all come over and bake. BAKING PARTY! YAY!!! :P

Poor colleen was stoned on zyrtec yesterday, she just about passed out in vocal. Poor colleen. You'd say something to her and she'd be like "...*startled* what?" Stupid allergy medication.

Well, alex is waking up now, so bye!!!