rainrainrain

it's quite humid and cloudy outside, so i hope that means it's going to rain soon. i love thunderstorms. they're so fantastic. i love being inside doing something, most likely reading, and hearing thunder and lightning. it makes me feel safe. oh hey, i just check edkcrg, and it looks like there's a tornado warning, and storms are likely tonight. woohoo! also, tomorrow i am interviewing berniece for my essay, and i am excited. she seemed really happy when i asked if she'd be willing to do an interview. oh! i will now rant about graduation. a particular band director told us the wrong time, so myself and several of my friends were late, forcing us to take the orchestra bus. i was mad for about two minutes, until i realized how funny the whole situation was (i'm too lazy to go into specifics). graduation was too long. the only part i liked was when the superintendent gave his speech about his mother-in-law, because it was really happy. it was kind of sad this year, because i actually have good friends that are leaving now. i don't think i said goodbye to any of them, either. i don't like saying goodbye. it sounds so final.

secret weapon no. one

i have an intense love for old books. maybe it's genetic, because my dad also loves them. there's something great about them, and i don't know if i can describe it very well. old books always have this great smell, and it's cool to know that someone a long time ago read it too. it's like a connection with the past or something. what i really love is to see the notes people wrote in them when they gave them as gifts. over spring break, i read gone with the wind (which, by the way, is a really great book. you should go read it). the copy i read was printed in 1938, and my great grandmother, erlene, read it to my grandpa when he was a little kid. i also found the bookmark they used, which was an old paper from the store they ran in iowa park, texas. (it was called bradford furniture and hardware co.) erlene also had a bunch of shakespeare plays that we have now, many of which contain her personal notes and quotes she underlined while reading them over sixty years ago. i also love to find old books at half-priced books. i found this haiku book there that had this note inside, dated august, 1965.

My dear Sister Rosannika,
Haiku is a Japanese form, but now and then an Irishman tries his hand-this, my attempt for you-
Warm summer friendships
Caressed by mountain breezes...
A silent "So long"
Fondly, Donna

isn't that great? i think it is. hurray for old books.

noi the albino

the other day, instead of doing my physics homework, i watched a movie. and it was definitely worth it (plus, my physics teacher didn't even collect it, so it was even better). but anyways, at first i couldn't decide if i liked it or not. sometimes i get the feeling that people say they like something because they think they should because it's artistic or intellectual or something. and because of this i always try to be honest with myself. and i think i really did like this one. it was definitely different from the american formula of chick flicks (see lea's blog) and any other american formula, for that matter.
this is when i give away the entire movie: the movie is mostly about this kid in iceland (it's also in icelandic, which is really cool) that is brilliant, but never goes to school. he meets this girl,iris, and they break into a natural history museum type thing and walk around a bunch of stuffed dead animals, hand in hand. pretty romantic, eh? they make these half-joking plans to run away to hawaii. his grandmother gave him those red picture viewing thingies (see picture) and one of the slides is this tropical beach, similar to where he and iris want to run away. eventually, everyone that is close to noi is killed in an avalanche, and he's left completely alone. the movie ends with him looking into the red thing at the tropical beach, and after a few seconds, the picture becomes real, and you can see the waves crashing onto the beach. i couldn't decide how i wanted to feel at the end of the movie. did he go to hawaii? did he stay in iceland and just have an intense daydream? is he happy now? did he kill himself? i'd like to think that perhaps he went to a tropical place to try to start his life over. but that's just me being optimistic.

estoy emocionada

summer is so soon. i think it's about... 13 days? somehow it seems like we went from february to may, and i missed everything in between. but i think i'm okay with that. i realized that i've had a fairly splendid year. i did better in school than i have the past two years (probably because of more ap classes), and i've definitely learned a lot more. i started reading a lot more nonfiction stuff (woo!), and i started learning some latin. i feel good about myself when i know i'm actually getting something out of getting up everyday. oh! and if you know me, you've heard me talk about my new friends berniece and sally. that's another thing i really liked about this year. i discovered how amazing old people are, and how much fun i can have with someone seventy years older than i am. also, music wise, i did a lot more. i learned how to play the trombone (and then joined jazz band), tuba, bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet, and the e flat clarinet. and i started working this year, too. it's really great to be able to make my own money and not feel so dependent on my parents (although i still totally am, but whatever.) aaaand let's see. i can't think of anything else, even though i know there's more. i became better friends with a few people, which is always good. i think i'll stop there. but the point is, i had a fantastic year, and i am quite ready for summer to come so it can get even better.

para el verano

i am about to make yet another list. it will consist of a few of the things i plan on doing this summer.
-attend the national hobo convention (they even have a parade! and you can visit the hobo museum)
-watch more french movies (they all seem so good)
-ride my bike as much as possible (and it'll save money, too)
-see a few meteor showers (it always seems to be too cloudy when i try to see them)
-practice la tuba
-paint
-play intense amounts of scrabble with berniece and company
-go a week without shoes (just to see what it would be like)
-learn some russian (i like how it sounds)
-eat large amounts of fruitzen
-bake! of course
-go to a really good concert (i'd like to see the swell season, except everywhere near here is sold out. lame! or maybe see jaymay. that'd be amazing too)
-kite flying
-read all the books on my list (there are over one hundred.. so that might not be a realistic goal..)
-minimize (this is my biggest goal. i hate feeling weighed down by possessions. usually they're so unnecessary. yeah. i read a book about a guy that had 75 possessions. i don't think i'd be able to do that, but i definitely want to get rid of a bunch of stuff)

operation megabrownie

so we're doing service projects for ap psych. and the group to which i belong is going to bake brownies and distribute them to fifth hour classes all over the school. it should be a good time. brownies are delicious and such. anyways, my mom and i used some amazing estimation skills, and figured that one batch (twenty four brownies) will cost about $2.72. which kind of adds up when you want to make about 1000 brownies.. but i think it will be successful. you know, the whole feel good-do good phenomenon. maybe because of our brownies someone will decide to pick up trash (high five!) or save a kitten from being put through a paper shredder. maybe.

also, i have no idea what i want to do for my ap lang essay. i'm a fan of radio essays, especially with those little music clips during transitions. in fact, i had a dream last night that a bunch of people from this american life came to my ap us class, and that i got to meet ira glass. anyways, i'd like to do an anecdote of some sort, except i can't think of a good story. which is kind of holding this whole process back a bit. oh well, i'll think of something. someday.

mwwwarrgh

i'd like to say i'm one of those people that doesn't worry about ap exams, and doesn't put of their studying. but that would be a lie. this is the only time of year i get truly anxious. i feel guilty if i don't study (which still doesn't seem to prevent me from doing other stuff). this year, i have two more exams than i did last year. you'd think that would be a motivator to study more. nahhh.. i think i've studied less for these three collectively than the one i had last year. impressive! hopefully i'll be able to use these brilliant study skills in college in a few years. i've already finished the ap us exam, which was the one i was looking forward to the least. i didn't do much in class this year, so i assumed it would go terribly. and i was wrong, luckily. now i just need to get through these next three days, and my anxiety will leave, and i will be a happier person. unless i get hit by a car today. not that i'm going to go jump in front of a moving vehicle. this is probably my most boring blog post yet. who even cares that i'm stressed out about stupid tests that won't matter in ten years?

i think i'd be good for you

lately, i've been listening to mostly just folk. i'm not anti-other music or whatever...it's just been fitting my mood lately. anyways, i still have a guilty pleasure. and their name is weezer. i suppose it's not a truly guilty pleasure, or else i wouldn't be willing to admit it. so yeah, weezer. they're not even close to being the most amazing band on the planet. and yet i still love them. they have quirky, sometimes cute, lyrics, and really catchy melodies. it's impossible to listen to them without singing along. in my opinion, the blue album (1994) was their best album. although i'm a big fan of the song el scorcho (from pinkerton. apparently some of their songs are on guitar hero and stuff. i find this annoying for some reason, i'm not sure why. maybe it's the thought of them getting butchered? anyways, i already mentioned the fact that some of their lyrics are cute. there's something nice about listening to happy lyrics about how people are in love. i'm just a cheesy person like that, i guess.

do you believe looooove?

so my super stylish ’92 buick only has a cassette player. i have an ipod adapter dealy, but i find that to be really distracting while I drive, so i decided to switch it up. my dad has a bunch of old cassette tapes that, for some reason, he hasn’t gotten rid of yet. i went through them yesterday and found about ten or fifteen interesting ones. some of them have lovely 80s pop (supertramp, huey lewis and the news, etc.), while some have random classical music (mandolin solos, bassoon concertos, etc.). i also came across a mix tape that my parents got as a wedding favor in the early nineties. it’s quite entertaining. one side is titled “mary’s side” and has a bunch of u2 songs and a few other cheesy love songs, dedicated to her husband. The other side, “vince’s side” has an assortment of equally cheesy love songs, proclaiming his undying love and all that jazz. Although he does have some okay songs, so perhaps i can forgive him. oh, and i found a few decent greatest hits tapes, including the byrds, the hollies, and chicago. i was also pretty excited to find a bob dylan one too. all in all, it was a pretty successful cassette tape raid. so if anyone happens to hear me driving along with the song “higher love” by depeche mode blaring, just blame vince.

the clue of the whistling bagpipes

i loved nancy drew when i was younger. like, i wanted to be a detective when i grew up. i would spy on people and do other semi-creepy things like that. i guess it didn't seem creepy to me when i was seven, but looking back on it is kind of funny. so my best friend and i (i suppose i should keep her nameless? her middle name is irene.)would always hang out at my grandparents' house when we were in elementary school and early middle school. we would hide stuff, and talk about what people would think of it when they dug it up hundreds of years later. yeah, we were cool. so i went to my grandparents' with my mom for a few minutes tonight. and i remembered a particular note i had written and stuck in a random book, so i went on a hunt for it. i found it rather quickly, actually. i had stuck a folded-up neon pink post-it note, written in sparkly purple ink, in an old copy of macbeth (copyright 1911). i think someone got it for a gift, because written in pencil in fancy cursive is "feb. 3, 1922." so anyways, this note. i don't remember if i thought it was profound at the time, but i cracked up when i read it this evening. here's the note, word for word:

"Hi! This note was written by Caitlin Bradford on March 9th, 2003. I am in 6th grade at Franklin Middle School. I have a Hamster named KC. My favorite color is kelly green. I like pandas."

as we can see in this note, i was obviously a child prodigy, with many deep thoughts running through my head at all times.

diente de león

i've always liked dandelions. they're a nice color when they're new, and they look really cool when they become clocks (the wishing stage). so of course, i had to read the wikipedia article on them, right? apparently the name came from butchering the french "dent de lion," which means lion tooth (because of the zigzaggy leaves).also, in modern french, i guess they call a dandelion a pissenlit, which means urinate in bed. pretty appetizing, eh? they're supposedly thirty million years old, too. and they have lovely antioxidants! i still make wishes on dandelions. i make wishes on most things, except on 11:11. for some reason that seems stupider than other things, which i guess doesn't really make sense. but anyways, dandelions are one of my favorite parts of spring.

the powder blue dream

so in the dead of winter, i got a new bicycle. new to me, at least. i got it for free from someone at my church. i used to ride my bike everywhere in elementary and middle school. there was something i always loved about it, i guess. after i outgrow my first schwinn, i never got a new one (i'm not sure why). but anyways, when i saw this bike at church, i was really excited. i did a google search for it, and i found a nearly identical one from 1971. so i'm thinking i have an authentic retro bicycle now, which i find exciting. the only difference from the picture is that mine is a girl model, while this is a boy one. i found the picture on some guy's blog that restores old bicycles. he paid 75$ for his and had to do a bunch of repairs, while mine was free and in nearly perfect condition (except for the back brake pad.. i'll probably replace it sometime). it's name is maude (yeah, i name inanimiate objects). so today i took a break from ap us studying and rode it around my neighborhood. it was lovely. i'm thinking about starting to ride my bike to school, too, now that the weather is nice. the only problem is that my backpack is sometimes grossly heavy. but it might be worth it, considering i just spent a million dollars for gas filling up the tank in my car.

heyletstxtloljkttyl!!!

i hate texting.

very little is generally accomplished by it. sure, there might be a few good uses for it, but for the most part, it's just annoying. i think it's rather pathetic to be in a class where 75% of the class is texting (many times each other)while the teacher is trying to teach. do people really not care enough to at least pretend to pay attention? do they realize there are kids in the world that would give up their right arm to go to school? seriously. if you're going to text, do it some other time. and also, who has an actual conversation through a text? just call them. or talk to them in person. another thing i hate about texting is that it seems to tell the person you're with that they're not as important as the person you're texting. there are a few friends of mine that will text while we're hanging out. and it's like "oh, am i not interesting enough for you? sorry about that.."

disclaimer: if for some reason someone is actually reading this, and they text, just know we can still be friends. (unless you're a creepy stalker)