The Joys of Being a Seat-Filler

Hi, folks! Whaaaaaat's happening? As for myself, Zach has just helped me to de-Christmas my diary! Yesterday, I helped Dad to de-Christmas the family room by taking the tree downstairs while Dad sang "G'bye Christmas Tree". De-Christmasing things is just no fun, is it? I find it very sad that Christmas 2002 is over. But, at least we still have New Year's Eve! Hoo-hoo! *Does a few sommersaults then hurts her back and sits back in desk chair*
My dad's girlfriend, Terry, tore a rotator cuff in her shoulder when she fell down 8 stairs at her house a couple weeks ago. She thought her arm was getting better, and she asked my dad if the two of them could go, see a fun show like the Rockettes Christmas Extravaganza. So, my dad ordered the 250 freakin' dollar Rockettes tickets, only to find out a few days later that she thinks her arm hurts too much to go to the show. My dad was mega-dissapointed, but it was okay because I was available to go, and when I was little and a dancer, I wanted to be a Rockette.



The show was fun, but my mom thinks it was just horribly rude of Terry to cancel on that really expensive show when she can go to work and all.
My Sims are having a good time with their new dog and cat, Felicia and Paulina. Paulina doesn't seem too fond of Yves the Caterer, though. Every time he tries to pet her, she's like, "Hisssssss!" It's a good thing my real-life pets are much more polite than those belonging to my Sims. Oh yes, I did take a break from the Sims a couple of times to see some movies. With Dad and Zach, I saw The Hot Chick T'was one of the coolest, funniest, sweetest, most overall awesome movies I've ever seen! I love it, and demand that all of you go to see it. Right now! Go, go!
Yesterday, Mom and I went to see Harry Potter & the COS again with my movie passes that I got for Christmas, and I notice that I dislike the closeness between Harry and Ginny when they're in the Chamber of Secrets. This 8-year-old kid kept going, "Aw!" whenever he held her hand or something, and I would have smacked her, but Mom didn't think that'd be a good idea for some reason. I mean, the kid was glaring at me when I said "Awwww!" about Harry and Hermione in the hospital wing! *Kicks kid while Mom's not looking* Dood, speaking of Harry and Hermione, check out this awesome website I found! Kindred Spirits. It's the luffliest of the HP sites because they specialize in Harry/Hermione, Draco/Ginny and Lily/James, just like me! Hurray for me and my nerdy obsessions!


And now, here's a survey, courtesy of Ashley!
What is your favorite band?: Lifehouse. All of their songs include lots of Jason Wade's husky goodness, and lots of luffly guitar sounds and such.

What band should just die?: Although I don't wish death upon any particular band, I do wish to stop Insane Clown Posse before things get too out of hand.

Pick a song for each mood:
-Happy: "Take Me Away" by Lifehouse
-Depressed: "Somewhere Down the Road" by Amy Grant
-Excited: "Albuqurque" by "Weird Al" Yankovic. It's so exciting, what with the whole, "If you'd like to make a call, please hang up and try again! If you need help, hang up and then dial your ooooooperator!"
-The World Can Kiss Your Arse for Whatever Reason: "Heart Attack" by Darren Hayes.
What is in your CD player right now?: Jennifer Love Hewitt--Barenaked. It's catch-ay!
First song lyric to come to your mind: "I've been down this road before. All that I've found points me right back to you. And I've watch you move from down below. Where do I go from here? I guess I'll find out as I go."--Lifehouse's "Empty Space"
What song describes you at this very moment: "All Right" by the fabulous Amy Grant.
Holly :-D

Chistmas Eve, Christmas Itself and Boxing Day

Hi there, folks! Whew, I haven't written since 12/21, eh? That's gotta be a record! I had a lovely Christmas, so I figured I should stop playing The Sims Unleashed, for God's sake, and tell you all about it! Oh, and by the way... I'M NO LONGER GROUNDED FROM THE COMPUTER! WOOOOOOO! *Flounces onto next paragraph*

Christmas Eve has always been the day that we spend at the grandparents Shoup's house with my mom's side of the family, which means we're in for a fun-filled day of presents, party-sized Blimpies subs and plent o' criticism from my judgemental cousins! Grandma has this awesome tradition where she fills out stockings full of apples, tangerines and nuts, like her family got in their stockings during The Depression. This year, while carrying presents into the house, I tripped over Carrie's shoes and went flying head first into the Christmas tree, surprisingly without getting injured. Then we sat down for subs and Zach entertained us by spilling six subs and a glass of pop on the floor. *Grins innocently* Zach and I just felt the need to bring some Zintel grace into the Shoup home. That night, I tagged along with Mom and Mike to my step grandma's house, and got yelled at for doing things like sitting on the piano bench and trying to sit on the couch without putting a towel down first. We sat and listened to Michelle sing opera before we could escape to church.

On Christmas morning, Zach came home from his 3rd shift job as a security guard, and woke Dad and I up at 7:15 frickin' A.M.! *Pats his head* I can forgive him for that because it was Christmas and he was excited. While we opened presents, I endured the sounds of my least-favorite movie, A Christmas Story since Zach and Dad love it so much. From Dad, I recieved the following: Michelle Branch--Spirit Room, Jennifer Love Hewitt--Barenaked, Faith Hill--Cry, Spider-Man, Someone Like You, Chocolat, Kate & Leopold, Charlie's Angels, The Sims Unleashed, Sim Coaster, three lovely new outfits, a might-ay comfortable desk chair and a Virgin cell phone. I found it rather humorous that my cell phone is Virgin brand because it's my first time having a cell phone. Zach gave me Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets for Gameboy, Shrek for Gameboy, the Daria--Is It College Yet? DVD and a stuffed Hedwig! She's luffly.

Christmas afternoon, we went to Aunt Barb and Uncle Don's house where we watched their digital cable--*pauses to drool*-- and ate Christmas dinner, then opened presents. Grandma & Grandpa Z. got me The Wedding Planner and Beauty and the Beast special edition DVD, and Aunt Barb made me a beautiful fleece blanket that I absolutely adore.

Aunt Barb, Uncle Don, Lindsay and Jennifer have this adorable 10-year-old Yorkie dog named Corky. He's from a puppy mill (remember, never buy a pet from a pet store!), so the poor little guy has a lot of problems. Right now, he's got a horrible skin irritation problem, and he's been chewing through his fur, and making himself bleed, trying to scratch his itches. Poor doggie.


I spent Christmas night at Mom's house, and in the morning, Zach and I exchanged gifts with Mom and Mike. From Mom, I got all sorts of fun Harry Potter merchandise--two calenders, a big gift-package of HP stuff including a Hagrid doll, Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, a Hermione toothbrush... I also got a beautiful, warm pink pair of pajamas. *Beams and pets fluffy new pajamas* Our pets, Chyna, Daria and Amy all had fun going through their stockings, and I think we all had a wondermous Christmas. I heart my family, and I also muchly heart soy nog. *Rubs stomach in a full-like fashion* I think Mommy and I are going to have to make a lunch date with my pals, Sarah and Samantha so I can give those two crazy kids their presents, and so I can go shopping with my new bunches of Christmas money! I just realized that, before Christmas break, I saw .:::ECHO EFFECT:::. Dave at school, and he gave me his E-mail address and told me we should get together and cook sometime, in all our vegetarian splendor! *Shrieks and throws Hedwig into the air in celebration*
*Hugs for all*
--Holly :-D

I'm So Family-Oriented

'Ello, folks! 'Appy Christmas and g'day to you and yours! *Drops the corny British accent* Look, I got to sneak on the computer while my dad was on his date! Hey, look, I even had enough time to fill out this luffly survey about my family! Check it out.


Back in the day, from left to right: Grandpa Shoup, me, Dad, Mom, Zach, Grandma Shoup, Grandma Z., Jen, Grandpa Z., Uncle Don, Lindsay and Aunt Barb.
1. What are your immediate family's names and ages? Mom--Wendy G. Killbreath--47, Dad--Kenneth William Zintel--47, brother--Zachary Kenneth Zintel--21.
2. Which one of them do you most get along with? Mom. She's my best friend, and she absolutely rocks in every way.

Me and Mommy

3. Which one do you least get along with? Dad. He's usually pretty angry about something, and I usually get yelled at for whatever it is.
Siblings
4. Do(did) you have any of the same friends as a sibling? Yup! In elementary school, Zach was my best friend, and I was also friends with (and had a crush on) his best pal, Tim. And Zach was usually pretty good friends with my pals as well.
-did it ever cause any problems? Did it?! In high school, Zach dated my best friend, Sarah, on and off for about four years. They had a horrible breakup involving lots of terrible insults and such. Zach still is quite vengeful toward Sarah, but she's still my best friend, and so... well, it creates some problems.
5. Do you look like them? I don't think so. Do you?

Me and Zach

6. Do(did) you ever go to school with them? Yes. I was in elementary with him for most of the time, and I went to the same high school as him his senior year. Plus I go to the same college as him now.
-were teachers always comparing you with them? Comparing and contrasing, yes. In 3rd grade, when we were learning to write cursive, we wrote "Zachary Zintel" for the letter "Z". That was neat-o. *Chortles*
7. Out of you and your siblings who is the best at?
-academics? Zach.
-athletics? Heh... uh, I think we both suck equally at that.
-manipulating? Zach.
-being lazy? Eh... I think we tie! We're both sooooo lazy.
8. Describe a fight between you and them? In 2000, Mom and I wanted to go to Vegas to meet Mom's online dude, Mike (not the same guy she's married to now). Zach thought the idea was ridiculously proposterous, and tried to forbid us to go. However, it was Vegas, and by Fred and George, we were going.
9. Have you ever dated any of the same people? (not at the same time, of course) Um... well he's a guy, and he's straight, and I'm a girl, and I'm straight. So... no.
10. Truthfully, who do you think gets the most love from the parents? They both love us equally. Seriously.
Parents
11. Do(did) they embarrass you going up? In high school, my dad pulled this thing where he made me write down all my assignments, then have my teachers sign the assignment sheet, and that was ridiculously embarrasing. My mom has never embarrased me.
12. What is the most prevailing quality(personality and looks) you get from your dad? We both stand with our feet out to the side, like a penguin and we both tend to quote The Simpsons in everyday conversation.
-mom? Our eyes are quite similar in all their bluish green glory, and we're both all nice and such. *Beams*
13. Do you get along with them? With my dad--not usually. With my mom--always.
14. What is the biggest thing you have in common with your dad? We both think it's funny on Funniest Videos when people walk into sliding glass doors, and animals beat up people.
-mom? Our animal rightsiness. *Holds out arms for birds to perch on*
15. If you don't get along with them, how come? I don't get along with Dad very often because he's usually in a bad mood.
16. What are their tastes on music? Dad listens to oldies, and Mom listens to good music (ex: country, pop, etc.).
17. What kind of car does your dad drive? A silver Chevy Impala with a luffly sun roof and such.
-mom? 1994 white Buick with the trunk smashed in (thanks to Mike).
18. Do you think their cars describe their personality? Dad--absolutely. He all thinks he's Mr. Cool, and the car just screams, "I think I'm Mr. Cool!" Mom--absolutely not. Because... well... just no. Some sort of awesome red convertible would suit her personality much better.
19. What do they do for a living? My dad councils drug addicts and alcoholics at GM, and he's all a big shot there and crap. Mom's a 3rd shift stock worker at Target.
20. Are your parents happily married? Em... I'd say no, since they're not married to each other at all anymore.
21. If they aren't married, how would your life be different if they were? It would probably suck. When they were married, and Dad would get in his yelling-around-for-no-apparent-reason moods, I had to sit there and listen to it. Now I can just go to Mom's when he does that.
22. If you still live with your parents and they spilt up tomorrow, who would you go live with? Well, they're already split up, so... yup. But if anything happened to them (God forbid... seriously *crosses heart*), I'd live with my grandma and grandpa Shoup.
Holly :-D

The Jingle Cats Are My Favorite Band

I'm sorry, I lied. Lifehouse is my favorite band. But the Jingle Cats are a close second! Check it out, they're playing on my diary description! *Happily meows along with their song* Zach and I met all the people from my theatre practice class for dinner last night, except for Monica, who apparently had better plans than hanging out with her classmates at a mediocre restaurant the week before Christmas. We all went to Luigi's, the 5th dirtiest restaurant in Flint (I'm not kidding, it said so in the paper a while back). I really wanted to get everyone in the class a Christmas present, so I spent $30 on 14 frames with group pictures of us all inside, along with a bunch of candy for everyone. They all seemed thrilled with the gifts, especially Morgain and Jason, since I included Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans with their presents.

*Looks up* Oh look, there's the picture I handed out to everyone! Yuuuuup. It's downright depressing that I don't get to see all these lovely people again for two whole weeks, but I guess I'll live. It really sucks, though, that some of the theatre practice folks will not be signing up for theatre again next semester, like Jim and Pat. I may never see those two again. *Cries* And that's just wrong. I tell ya what, though, I love these folks! Last night, Jason kept handing various unsuspecting people nasty-flavored Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and telling them stuff like, "Have a jelly bean, it's chocolate!" and then it'd turn out to be dirt or something. When it was time to go, there were hugs and goodbyes all around, and I think we were all horribly sad to see Pat and Jim go, and it was hard for me to leave. Everyone urged Zach to join theatre practice next semester, so he's going to think about it. Hurray!

[picture not found]

From left to right and back to front: Larry, Don, me, Monica, Jim, Leah and Nick, taking a bow.
Dood, there is a mouse in the freaking house. Ah crap, I wish that sentence didn't rhyme, it makes this sound like it's a humorous turn of events, and it's... just... not. I'm not afraid of mice or anything, but I would rather that they wouldn't hang out in my family room. I was just sitting on the couch last night, writing my fic, "Harry Potter--The Bachelor" when I saw something run by really fast. At first, I figured I'd just had too much garlic butter with my breadsticks at Luigi's, and thought I must be hallucinating. After all, their food does have a pretty bad rep, and I could have had food poisoning or something. But then I heard scampering coming from behind the plants, and figured I'd better get the heck out of there if I didn't want a mouse climbing up my leg. Huh. Maybe I am afraid of mice, and just never knew it, but now I'm scared to go into the family room. *Peers anxiously around the corner*
Zach and I took our dog, Chyna, to the vet this afternoon because she's been scooting around on the carpet like she had worms. She must have heard us talking about how the vet was going to stick her finger up Chyna's butt to feel around for worms because she would not stop shaking and cowering under the bench at the vet's office. It turned out she just had some kind of infection in her butt, and she'll be better soon, so that's good.
Well, I've gotta go, and I don't know when I'll be able to write again because my dad is off of work for two weeks starting tomorrow, for Christmas break, and I'm still grounded from the computer. *Cries* Oh well, hopefully I'll be able to sneak on here soon! Later!
*Hugs for all*

--Holly :-D

Let's All Try to Smile For the Picture

...and we'll hold it as long as we can. May it carry us through, should we ever get lonely... till the season comes 'round again."--Amy Grant's "Till the Season Comes 'Round Again"

Woo! We did it! We made it through all 3 performances! Well... at least, most of us did. But we'll get into that later.
Thursday, the first night of our play, The Elvis Monolougues, we were all extremely nervous. We got into costume and Monica did everyone's stage makeup, but everyone was eerily quiet. Finally, it was 7:50 and we all stood in a circle & held hands so Lori could give us a pep talk. She started with me, saying, "Holly has come a long way since she started theatre. She told us stories about skipping her classes because she thought her teachers and classmates looked down on her. Now she's one of our most confident actresses." She's right. The students in this class have been awesome for my self-esteem, and I love all of them for that. *Tear* When Lori had said something about all of us, Leah lead us in this prayer-- "Dear God, thanks for all these great people... and let us KICK ASS tonight! Amen." Heh, a little different, but helpful all the same. We all did really well that night, and I was thrilled to see Mom, Mike, Dad, both sets of my grandparents, Zach and his friend, Lindsay all there to see me! My dad gave me flowers. *Beams*
The second night of our performance was... *thunder and lightening effects*... Friday the 13th! None of us were very nervous because we'd already performed without a problem the night before. Regina flushed the toilet during our prayer, there weren't very many people in the audience and Larry's aunt couldn't keep her insane outbursts to herself throughout the show. Most of us forgot at least one line (that includes me) and it was clear that we'd lost our focus. However, there was one major upside to that day-- my FOD pal, 'Drea came to see the show w/ her dad and I was thrilled to meet her! 'Drea rocks! *Hugs for her*
Our last performance was Saturday, and the nervousness and focus were back! We all acted our arses off, but two people had been written our of the show that night. Regina (the pregnant woman) was in the bathroom, puking up bodily fluids until Monica's mom took her to the hospital, and Chris had to skip Saturday's show due to a bad case of laringitis. At the end of the show, we surprised Lori by calling her up on stage & giving her the flowers we'd bought her. Then most of the class went to Applebees, along w/ Mom, Mike & my grandparents. Afterwards, Mike informed me that he thinks I should marry Jason (*rolls eyes and hits Mike*) and Mom told me that Don had told her I was the class' best actress. *Blushes and denies it* Mom gave me Harry Potter merchandise, since flowers die and The Boy Who Lived never will, and my grandparents bought me a cake that says "Good show, Holly!" and gave me $10. Hurray!
We took a butt-load of pictures, but we haven't picked them up yet, so you all shall see them later! *Hugs for all*
--Holly :-D
Oh yes, and since we don't have the pictures from the play back yet, here's a picture of my lovely dog, Chyna.

Not only is "I Breathe in, I Breathe Out" a lovely song, it's also, more of less, the instructions Lori gave us for the day. That's right, tonight is opening night for our play, The Elvis Monolougues and everybody is freaking out. Lori told us that, until 8:00 tonight, we all just need to chill and let out hair down because the majority of us have been on edge all week.
People have been so nervous that heated (or shall we say... ridiculously loud) arguments have broken out amongst us. For instance, on Monday, Lori told Regina that she didn't want her to wear a certain dress that Lori thought showed (and it did) way too much cleavage. On Tuesday, Lori and Regina were screaming at each other till they were blue in the face because Regina was offended by what Lori said on Monday, and thought Lori was insulting her body. Then the entire class sat in the auditorium while Lori stood on stage and demanded to know if we thought Regina should be offended. *Shakes head awkwardly*
As stressful as it sounds, this week has actually been a lot of fun. For the past few days, we've been having dress rehearsals, and this means practicing our .:::ECHO EFFECT:::. STAGE MAKEUP .:::END ECHO EFFECT:::.

We decided that we should do the guys' makeup first, since they were so resistant. *Cackles evilly* We were jerks, heh. Lori told the bois that the lighting was best in the girls' bathroom (muahahaha!), so that's where we did their makeup. I brought a camera, and Morgan and I took pictures of the guys getting their makeup done in the girls' room. We all agreed that Kyle looks like a doll when he's all made up, and I think he may be plotting our deaths at the moment. Jason, on the other hand, is having a little too much fun with the fact that he "gets" to wear makeup, and bought himself some mascara, which is something not required for stage makeup.
But even during the usually fun putting-makeup-on-resistant-guys-time, things are a bit tense between some of the girls. For example, Leah said, "I want to do Jason's makeup so I can make him look like a whore!" to which Morgan replied, "Don't you get enough practice doing that on yourself?" Um... so Leah wasn't too thrilled with Morgan for a while. *Laughs extremely nervously*

Another thing that's freaking us all out is the fact that people keep forgetting their lines. Leah was so upset after a fight with Morgan that she went on stage and forgot entire paragraphs of her monolouge. Jim did the same thing, and even Don, our best actor, forgot a line. Gah! I think it's time for a prayer now. God, please don't let any of us forget our lines tonight, tomorrow night or the next. We're all under a bit of stress, and could use some guidance. Thanks a lot. *Hugs* Amen.

Hey, look everybody! I changed my name for Christmastime. I'm now "Hollylujah". Excitement, excitement! *Admires new name* Oh yes, and before I go, I should mention that my stepdad almost got electocuted the other day. A pipe in the basement had a leak, and the guy at the pipe-fixin' place told him to hold a hairdryer to the pipe... but well, Mike was standing in the water and... *makes horrible electricity-gone-bad noises* But he's okay. Well, as okay as he ever was.
Wish me luck, kids! I'm off to get ready for the play! *Crosses fingers*
--Holly :-O

BTW, we were in the paper! Next to a Harry Potter ad, even! And you know what the Newsies say... if you're in the papes, you're famous! *Shrieks*

Countdown to Showtime & the Sucky Dream From Hell

*Cries incessantly* I don't like being grounded from the computer. I haven't been online for 5 days! 5 days! Forget being drawn and quartered and all those various horrible forms of torture... being grounded from the computer has got to be the worst. Oh yes, and "periodic" cramps. I've had those for these past 5 days too. *Shakes fist at no one in particular*

Oh man, I had the suckiest dream I've ever had the night before last. In the dream, my mom was still living here at Dad's house. (In reality, my parents are divorced, and I alternate between my mom's house and my dad's.) Zach and I were sitting at the computer when Dad came back from his bike ride. Oh yes, and Mom had gone for a walk. Dad grimly explained to Zach and I that the Taliban guys were out front, and that they were taking random American families to live in a concentration camp, and that we had been chosen.

At the concentration camp, Osoma Bin Laden told us we could go back home for one hour and say goodbye to whoever (I know, doesn't sound like Bin Laden, does it?). Mom was still out for a walk, but my grandma and grandpa Z. showed up and drove us around the neighborhood until we found Mom. I told her what was going on, and she said, "Oh, now that just doesn't make sense. Why would they let you come back home to tell everyone where you were going? I mean, we could alert the media!" Mom had a point, but Dad, Zach and I still had to go back to the concentration camp. There, the American prisoners were running a college course on how to break out of there. However, one of the Taliban guys caught me reading the textbook, and was about to kill me when I woke up.

When I woke up, I was thinking, Okay, how long do I have until I have to go back to the concentration camp? Eventually, I realized it had been a dream, and calmed down. Oh yeah, but I did want to point out that during the dream, I kept thinking how greatful I should be that God let me have the time that I did with my family and friends, and how I'd taken my freedom for granted all this time. When I woke up, I was kind of like Scrooge on Christmas morning (especially since my mom's house it decorated like a Winter Wonderland). I hugged Mom and all my pets and told them how thankful I was to have them. So, as scary as that dream was, it actually taught me to really count my blessings. *Nods contentedly*.

Zach, Mom, Mike and I all kicked off our holidays this past Thursday! For those of you who don't know, my mom found this lovely Christmas tradition idea in a magazine when Zach and I were little. It's called "kicking off the holidays." What you do is put presents under a big, white blanket or towel, make it look like snow, and tie ribbons to the presents that are underneath the towel. Then each person grabs their ribbon, and pulls their present out from underneath the towel. My present this year was a Make-Your-Own-Snowglobe package, and it's awesome! You put your own pics in them. And we got Mom the new Shania CD. *Beams*

Me, Mom and Zach at Carrie's open house last summer

Mom and Zach came to theatre practice with me last Thursday! It was so much fun, and I think I did a better job with my acting, knowing they were watching. I was backstage with my "co-workers" most of the night, but Zach brought his camera, and we both took a few pictures of everyone acting out their parts and such. I shall have to scan them later, so you can all see my theatre pals that I never shut up about, heh. My mom agrees with me that Don has a sooper touching monolouge. She said, "I just liked having an excuse to look at him for a long period of time." Heh, so she agrees with me that he is one of the hottest guys ever, too. But he is taken. *Pouts* I'm actually getting kind of nervous now that showtime is in sight. Thursday night at 8:00 will be our first performance, and I think we're all a little anxious. Well, I s'pose I'd better be going so I can get ready for dress rehearsal tonight. *Freaks out*


--Holly :-D

Germans From Russia is the Part-ay of the Year

On Sunday, I went to the annual Germans From Russia Christmas party with my grandma and grandpa Z. My brother, Zach and my cousins, Lindsay and Jennifer used to come with us, but they all think they're too cool for it now. I, on the other hand, simply love Germans from Russia, and look forward to it all year long. We buy raffle tickets, eat a huge, delcious and extravagent meal, then sing Christmas songs and wait to see who won the Christmas gifts in the raffle. I sat across from a 9-year-old boy who really reminded me of Zach when he was 9. This kid, Alex, was an aspiring cartoonist (like Zach), seemed to enjoy trying to set his program on fire with the candle at the table (like Zach and Jennifer used to do) and could remember only the German number for "six"--"Sex" (like Zach). After we ate, 3 women introduced themselves as our entertainment, and began playing instruments that were said to be over 1,000 years old. The music was awesomely Christmasie, despite what Alex said about it. I had never won anything at Germans From Russia in my life, but this year, I sure did! I won 4 prizes, which is ridiculous, considering there are only about 12 prizes, and roughly 100 guests at Germans From Russia. I won a huge Christmasie table center piece containing aromatherapeutic candles, a Jesus tree ornament, a box of delectable chocolate praline seashells and a loaf of homemade rye bread. I think Grandma was kind of mad that I won all that stuff, as she usually wins a ton of stuff there. She said, "Holl, you won too much; I'm taking this loaf of bread you won." And she did, heh.

Zach and I at Bronners when we were littleYOUR HOLIDAY FAVORITES

1.) COOKIE: Peanut butter with a Hershey's Kiss on top. My mommy makes these lovely creations.

2.) CANDY: Reeses Christmas trees.

3.) MAIN COURSE: The Chic Max sub from Blimpies. The grandparents Shoup order us subs for Christmas Eve, and the veggie max that is fake chicken is simply delicious

.4.) STORE: Bronners in Frankenmuth, all the way.

5.) COLOR OF OUTDOOR LIGHTS: Pastels. We have the white icicle kind, but I wish to have pastels. *Pouts*

6.) TYPE OF TREE: Absolutely artificial!

7.) COLOR LIGHTS ON TREE: Numerous white ones, and they must be on that slow twinkle setting that looks like falling snow.

8.) TREE TOPPER: Angel! The one here @ Dad's has fiber optic wings, and she's simply luffly, but the one Mom's online friend made for her is full of angelic fun as well.

9.) ORNAMENTS or BALLS: Both. My favorite tree decoration is my first pair of shoes. They say "Holly Rachael" in fancy gold letting on the soles, and they're gnarley.

10.) GARLAND or TINSEL: Tinsel, all the way! Tinsel was my very first kitty cat, and I loved her muchly.

11.) HIDNG PLACE FOR GIFTS: Dad's closet.

12.) BEST TOY YOU EVER GOT FOR CHRISTMAS: My Belica doll, Rachael. Her hair was the prettiest thing I've ever seen.

13.) THING TO WEAR TO BED CHRISTMAS EVE: My new pajamas! For as long as I can remember, my mommy has given us our new pajamas on Christmas Eve, and she has excellent taste in comfy bed-wear. *Hugs Mom*

14.) TIME YOU GOT UP CHRISTMAS MORNING AS A KID: Around 5 or 6:00 A.M. I actually don't remember ever falling asleep on Christmas Eve, but I definitely remember waking up with my stocking in my arms. Mom always snuck into our rooms and put our stockings in our beds so we could go through them right when we woke up.

15.) TIME YOU GOT UP CHRISTMAS MORNING LAST YEAR: 6:30, but only because Zach made me. He got out of work and decided everyone should get up. *Makes an angry/sleepy face*

16.) DO YOU ENJOY SENDING OUT CHRISTMAS CARDS: Absolutely! Haven't done it in a while, though...

17.) HOW DO YOU DISPLAY THE CARDS YOU RECEIVE? We tape them up around the big wooden-frame (door substitute) that leads into the family room.

18.) HOT CHOCOLATE, EGG NOG or APPLE CIDER: Hot chocolate and Soy Nog with apple cider for desert. *Nods happily*

19.) ALCOHOLIC DRINK: I'm a proud no-alcohol girl.

20.) DO YOU HAVE A NATIVITY IN YOUR HOME? Indeed we do!

21.) HOLIDAY SONG: "Welcome to Our World" by Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith.

22.) HOLIDAY MOVIE: Prancer, The Santa Clause 1 & 2 and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

23.) BEST HOLIDAY EPISODE OF A TV SHOW YOU EVER SAW: One Life to Live in 1995.

24.) HOLIDAY TV SPECIAL YOU EVER SAW: Garfield's Christmas but I also love Charlie Brown's.

25.) DO YOU WRAP THE GIFTS YOU PUT IN A STOCKING: Nope.

26.) HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN YOU FOUND OUT THERE WAS NO SANTA CLAUS? Alright, now it's just a lie that there's no Santa Claus.

27.) HOW DID YOU FIND OUT? Well, Zach and Mom kind of sat me down and tried to convince me that there was no Santa Claus when I was 11.

28.) HOW DID YOU TAKE THE NEWS? I thought they were B.S.ing me then, and I still do. There is a Santa Claus, I tell you!

29.) DO YOU GO TO CHURCH ON CHRISTMAS EVE/CHRISTMAS MORNING? Christmas Eve night. It's always the highlight of my year; we have a beautiful candle-lit service where we all stand and sing "Silent Night" and "O Holy Night" for half an hour, then hand out hugs instead of our usual "May the peace of Christ be with you" handshakes, and everything seems right in the world. *Beams*

30.) WHEN DO YOU TAKE YOUR CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS DOWN? After New Year's.

--Holly :-D

The Town is Somewhere Under That Pile of Snow

We have just a bit of snow here. A tall guy might be able to go outside and keep his head about snow-level... maybe. It's nice to have a butt-load of snow, though, if you ask me. If you ask all the people driving 2 and a half miles an hour on the express way, however, they might not think it's so great.

Remember last week when I wrote about that house around the corner from mine where they had that standoff with police about how that guy threatened to kill his wife? Well... apparently, they didn't keep him in jail long enough. Friday night, Zach and I followed a couple of ambulances home. My dad had a date that night with a woman in Detroit, and Zach had to go to work. So, it was 11:30 at night, and I was sitting in the family room, watching Everybody Loves Raymond reruns and eating peanut butter crackers when the phone rang. I was nervous anyway because I don't like being home alone, and when the phone rang, I jumped 12 feet into the air and broke the remote control to the Christmas tree. My grandma Shoup was on the phone. She said, "Holly, is your dad there with you?" I told her he wasn't, and she said, "Well, there was a murder in that house that's right by you, and they haven't found the guy who did it yet."

To say the least, I was a bit freaked out beyond belief. I paged my dad, and he called me back, saying he was on his date in Detroit, two hours away, and they hadn't even ordered their food yet! I told Dad what was happening, and he didn't think there was anything to worry about. He said, "Holly, people don't just go on random killing sprees. You'll be fine." Well, geez, I'm sorry, but I don't know how a psycho's mind works! Besides, those sniper guys did go around, killing random people! I went to spend the night at my grandma's house, 'cause I sure as heck wasn't sticking around. The police have caught the guy who killed his wife by now, but I'm still kind of weirded out.

Well, to lighten this entry up, I'm going to take a song survey and show you all this Christmasie Harry Potter fan art! Woo!

Name the song that...
Makes you think of happy things: "1980 Me"--Darren Hayes
Makes you cry (or gets ya close): "Sweet Jesus"--Gary Chapman
Makes you laugh: "Albuqurque"--"Weird Al" Yankovic
Makes you want to dance: "The Macarana"
You never want to hear again: Every song by Eminem
You love that you wouldn't have known about if it wasn't from a movie: "You Belong to Me"--Jason Wade (Lifehouse) from Shrek.
Makes you think of being alone: "I Love a Lonely Day"--Amy Grant
Makes you just feel good: "Take Me Away"--Lifehouse
Makes you feel Christmasie: "Welcome to Our World"--Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith
Makes you feel sexy: "I'm Too Sexy For My Shirt"
Makes you get shivers: "Two People Fell in Love"--Brad Paisley
Strangely Relaxing: "Naked"--Avril Lavigne

--Holly :-D

Pretty Lights Are Everywhere, Shining Night & Day

"...Christmas can't be very far away." <---You know what that is? That's right, it's a line from one of my favorite of Amy Grant's Christmas songs! And you know what that means? That means the Christmas season is upon us! Eeeeeee! How spiffy is that? Why, that's positively spiffilicious! The only thing I don't like about this season is that some people seem to think it's hunting season. And to that, I say "grrr." Grrrrrrrr, I tell you! *Glares and kicks at the freaking hunters while holding deer protectively*.

*Takes a few deep breaths* AHEM. As I'm sure you can tell, I'm just a tad perturbed about all this "hunting" business. My cousin, Lindsay, seems to have chosen one of those... those hunter bois as her boyfriend, and I didn't take kindly to the fact that she freely discussed the fact that this hunter boi was out hunting, all through Thanksgiving dinner. *Sigh* Other than the talk of how Lindsay is dating this dude, and how most of my family members ate turkey, I think Thanksgiving was lovely. As usual, my brother Zachary and I had Thanksgiving lunch with my dad's family, and dinner with my mom's. At Grandma Z.'s, Zach, Lindsay and Jennifer had fun listening to the CDs of prank calls Zach has made, and then they decided to prank Lindsay's and Jen's boyfriends. At Grandma Shoup's, I read a prayer for the turkeys that Mom printed out, and Zach & Mike thought it would be hilarious to eat turkey and laugh during the prayer. *Rolls eyes* No respect, I tell ya.



Good Lord, I had the worst flu this past week. I figured I was going to have to go to the hospital. I just couldn't stop puking, so I thought I must be getting dehydrated, like I was last winter when I had to go to the hospital. Eventually, though, I was able to keep some Coke and clear Gatoraide down, and now I'm okay. *Gives a thumbs up* Apparently, everybody's got this flu because I went to theatre practice on Wednesday to find that only five of us attended! Not even Lori, the teacher, showed up, so we had some guy named Mike who acted exactly like Lori, so it was like she wasn't even gone.

Dood. Our show opens December 13th, in two freaking weeks! I hope people start showing up to class before then so everyone can have their parts down. Gaaaaah, only about seven of us have our lines memorized so far! *Goes to use inhaler* I'm okay. We put up the new Christmas tree that Dad ordered from QVC yesterday morning. It's pre-lit and pretty. I would go, sit in the family room and gaze at it, but there's a mouse or something in the attic, and you can really hear it walking around in the family room, so... yeah. I think I'll just stay here. *Hugs for all*

--Holly :-D

Cops Out Front, Snipers in the Bushes

Zach woke me up for school this morning at 8:00, and I was pretty dang tired, and didn't really want to get out of bed. But I ate my peanut butter toast nevertheless, and got ready to go to school. I walked out to the living room and started putting my shoes on, and Zach opened the drapes. As soon as he did, we saw a couple of cop cars in front of our house, and the cops were holding huge rifles, and blocking off the road. Zach went out to ask them what the heck was going on, and they said, "There's a situation behind your house; stay inside." So... we did, while Zach decided to open all the shades in the family room so he could see what was going on back there.

Zach walked out of the room with the phone so he could call my grandparents, who also live in this neighborhood, but I stayed in the family room. I heard a knock, and saw a guy all decked out in army garb with a big-arse rifle, knocking on my sliding glass door. I didn't think I should answer the door to this dude, so Zach went out front and asked the cops if we should open the door to this army guy. They informed us that he was a cop too, so we opened the back door, and the army cop was like, "Hey, there's a man with a gun right around here, so don't be getting up in the windows, and stay inside." We began shutting the blinds as we spotted a sniper hiding between the bushes in the back yard.

At this point, I was seriously freaked out, and Zach was calling my dad at work, my mom at her house, and our other grandparents and friends. We went down the basement so we wouldn't get shot through the windows or anything, but nothing really happened, so we came back upstairs after a while. We saw a few more snipers hiding in our next-door-neighbor's stairwell when we peeked out the window. Soon, the guy who lives across the street from us was cleaning out his camper, and the next-door-neighbors were outside, talking to the cops, so we settled down a bit. After about 3 hours, the snipers, army dudes and policemen all went back to their cars and left. We just saw on the news that the situation had been about this guy who was threatening his wife with a gun, but the cops arrested him, so I suppose everything is okay now. So... I guess I have a pretty valid excuse for not going to school today. "The cops wouldn't let me leave my house." *Nods* Okay, later.

--Holly :-O

ENFP Spells Holly

Ew. I don't feel good today. My stomach hurts, I seem to have a bit of a cold and there's a spider on the floor in the kitchen, so I can't get any Pepto Bismol from there. *Cries* Dude, Mike got a job. Yes, my step-dad, Mike. He got a job. A real one! And he actually gets a pay check and such. *Shakes head in wonder* I can't believe it. Mike is now Mr. AT&T, so he goes around to people's houses and tries his darndest to sell them on AT&T. Yesterday was his first day on the job. At one house, an old woman answered her door, informed him that he "Sure looks good," and promptly informed him that she didn't like AT&T, then slammed the door on him. I'd say it's going well. *Nods happily and gives a thumbs up*

I have a class called Career Exploration where we take surveys and basically waste an hour of everyone's day. A couple weeks ago, we took a survey called the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. The test informed me that I belong to a group of folks called "ENFP", which means that I am "Extroverted, Intuitive, Feeling and Perceiving." This is what that says about me: "Warmly enthusiastic and imaginative. See life as full of possibilities. Make connections between events and information very quickly, and confidently proceed based on the patterns they see. Want a lot of affirmation from others, and readily give appreciation and support. Spontaneous and flexible, often rely on their ability to improvise and their verbal fluency." Then it proceeded to give me a list of jobs that I'd be good at. I like the idea of Playwright or Screenwriter. I could be like Colin Hanks in Orange County. Anyway, so my new major is Creative Writing.



I muchly enjoy Theatre Practice. The other day, I realized that I sound a lot like the Band Camp Girl from American Pie when I talk about it. I'm all, "And this one time, at theatre practice, Kyle was doing his monolouge, and he kept saying, 'No, no, no, DAMMIT!' and it was so funny!" Yeah... I'm a nerd. But then there was this one time, at theatre practice last week, and Zach went with me. I did my monologue for an hour and everyone says I need to act more bitter and angry, so I've been observing divorcees. 'Tis amazing. I went to my cousin Allison's play a couple weeks ago, and their play (Charlotte's Web) makes ours (The Elvis Monologues) look like Cruel Intentions and their look like Sesame Street. So... yeah. I'm sorry, but ours is better. *Sticks tongue out at them*

Mike has recently developed the idea that I'm going to convert from Christianity to Paganism since I'm so into Harry Potter. He heard this dude on the radio say that a girl killed herself because she read Harry Potter, and then she looked up Divination on the web, and apparently, her horoscope or something told her she should kill herself. I couldn't even begin to tell him what was wrong with that. He told my mom, "Wendy, I'm worried that Holly's going to do something like that!" Yeah, thanks for giving me so much credit, Mike. Besides, Harry Potter doesn't promote Divination or anything, it basically makes fun of it! Geez... stupid people. So... *HUGS FOR EVERYONE except for you nutcases who think Harry Potter is evil*

I apologize if I haven't noted you back yet, but I'm still grounded from the computer and it's rather hard to get on here. But I will note you all as soon as possible. Thanks!

--Holly :-D

National Harry Potter Day

My alarm went off at 8:00 A.M. I sleepily punched the snooze button and pulled my blankets closer to myself as I snuggled up to my cats, desperately wishing my dog would stop crying to get out of my room so I could go back to sleep. When Chyna went into her usual early morning barking/whining routine, I realized I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, and went to tear my blanket off of me when I met a pair of brilliant green eyes, which belonged to none other than Mr. Harry Potter, who was printed all over my blanket. And then it hit me like the lightening bolt on Harry's forehead... IT WAS HARRY POTTER DAY!

I had to hurry up and get ready! It was already 8:04, and I had advance Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets tickets for the 11:30 A.M. showing! I hurriedly scarfed down my Multigrain Cheerios, took a shower and brushed my teeth. I let Chyna outside and saw that there was snow on the ground! I love snow, as it's a sure sign that Christmas and my birthday are coming soon! I had snow, Harry Potter tickets and Multigrain Cheerios, and so I knew it was going to be a great day.

Mom and I arrived at the theater an hour and a half early, just to make sure we got good seats. In the lobby, right under the larger than life Harry Potter posters, were two teenage girls all decked out in perfect replicas of Hogwarts (Gryffindor) uniforms. I was like, "DUDE! Where did you find all this stuff?" They informed Mom and I that they had made most of their attire from scratch, and I wished I knew how to do that sort of thing. Mom and I purchased two Harry Potter buckets of popcorn and watched as bunches of Hogwarts students pile in through the entrances. It seemed that everyone was in Gryffindor, and that they all either knew someone who was handy with a needle and thread, or went shopping in the Central Michigan University gift shop (CMU's colors as the same as Gryffindor's). I enviously chatted with these creative Potterheads, thinking how cool Sadora must look in her Slytherin-wear until it was almost time for the show, and the ticket-taking chick let us in.

We got very good seats, and Mom and I sat, listening to the folks around us chatter excitedly about the fact that we would all soon be witnessing the famous Flying Ford Anglia, the Burrow, Dobby, Knockturn Ally, Moaning Myrtle, Tom Marvolo Riddle, Colin Creevy, Aragog and the Basilisk, among other things that we had all only, so far, pictured in our heads. And then came the moment of truth. The previews ended, and we finally got to view the wonders of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Sure, there were things that were inaccurate about the movie... They didn't follow the entire book, and the took a lot of scenes out, but I had expected that. What I hadn't expected was how cool the Chamber of Secrets looked, nor had I expected how sweet and sad it was when Harry brushed his fingers over Hermione's frozen ones as she lay, petrified in the hospital wing and told her he needed her now more than ever. *Tear* I hadn't expected Lockhart, the Cornish Pixies and Moaning Myrtle to look exactly the way I'd pictured them. And did everyone see Harry and Hermione hugging in the Great Hall after she was released from the Hospital Wing? Heh... poor Ron, he only got a handshake.

The movie was, as Paula Abdul would say, two words: "phe" and "nominal". I'll probably have nightmares for the next 50 years after seeing that Aragog scene, but it was definitely worth it! Absolutely awesome, it was. Mom has said she's going to knit me a Gryffindor scarf for Christmas, so I'm rather happy. I must now go to bed, as it's past 3:00 A.M., so I'll leave you with this link to one of the best fan fics I have ever read. Fell So Deep by Fuyimi. Later!

--Holly :-D

Why Do All the A-Holes Live Here?

I was watching Cribs last night on MTV, and I tell ya what... I've never heard of any of the people I saw on there. Now, these rich folks have some very cool stuff, I admit. Home theaters, jacuzzies, closets that are bigger than my bedroom... Some of these people's backyards even resemble a waterpark or an exotic beach. Now I've got to say, as fabulous as all these things are, I think my dream house would be cooler. The first thing I'd put in my house would be an escalator, for I am lazy, and lot of my family members are caustrophobic. Then the jacuzzies would be added, as well as horses, namely shetland ponies. I think they would get along well with my dog and cats. The home theater would also be necessary. Hmm... I suddenly feel the need to play The Sims. Excuse me...

*Returns momentarily* Anyhoo, there was this weirdo on Cribs who ticked me off to no end. He had animal heads in every room of his house, along with whole dead animals. This guy talked dirtier than the cast of The Osbournes, had hair as greasy as Professor Snape's, and was actually married! And guess where he lived? Michigan! Now, I wanna know what's going on. Why do all the jerks seem to come from Michigan? We've turned out more scumbags than Slytherin, I swear! Eminem, Kid Rock, Madonna... what's the deal here? Honestly!

Huh. You ever notice how when you go through your favorites on FOD, it appears that all the names of FODers are in alphabetical order? Only... that's not alphabetical order, is it? Only on FOD does the alphabet not start with "A", but "*". That's a tad odd. *AHEM*.

So... who hasn't read my story yet? It's not finished yet, but hey. It will be. Hopefully. Ah, come on, humor me! Everyone who reads my fan fiction, Harry Potter--The Bachelor, gets a free cookie. From their cabinet. If they have any cookies. HEY! Speaking of Harry Potter, his new movie comes out FRIDAY! I'm going to see it with my mommy first. *Nods happily* You should all go see this picture here, since FOD won't let me put it on here for some reason. Harry and Hermione are hugging. *Glows in a glow-worm-like fashion*

--Holly :-D

Ah Crap, Not Again!

Well, that's just great. I'm grounded from the computer... again! On Wednesday, Dad came home from work and he somehow found out that I lied about re-taking my very first psychology test in September, so now I'm grounded from the computer again until I actually do re-take it. He started yelling at me like he always does, and I cried, and it wasn't pretty. So... I just thought I'd get on here and mention that to you folks while Dad's at work.

I went to see The Santa Clause 2 with Dad the other day, before he went crazy. I didn't think anything could be better than the first Santa Clause, but I was wrong. That movie absolutely rocked, and gets 5,000 stars and 7 thumbs up from me! Aw, there was all this sweet, mushy stuff and an adorable little girl and his little boy Charlie's such a cute little pre-teen now... The movie's just full of "aw"s and that's my favorite type o' movie. Bernard is cool, too. Can't forget that guy, with his gnarley yarn hair. I'm gonna go, see it again on Sunday with Mom and Zach. Ah yes, and while I was at the movies, I got this spiffy Harry Potter bucket! It was full of popcorn when I got it, and now I plan to take it to the beach sometime.

Man, I went to theatre practice the other day, and when I turned the corner into the hallway that leads to my class, it was pitch dark. It was like that nightmare everybody has about walking down the dark corridor, only I decided to not walk down it. I turned around and went down the alternate hallway... only to find that it was dark too! Finally, somebody from class yelled to me, "HOLLLLLLLLLLLLLY!" and I was like, "WHAAAAAAAAAT?" and they were like, "THE LIGHTS AREN'T WORKING!" and I was like, "NOOOOO CRAAAAP!" So I felt my way to the auditorium and we had theatre. Pat, our "tech man" tried to fix the lights, but he ran outta batteries in his flashlight, so I lent him my Gameboy batteries, and then there was light. During Nick's monolouge, we found that his friend had killed himself a couple weeks ago, when Nick began sobbing uncontrollably in the middle of his monolouge. It was really sad. Luckily, Leah did her monolouge right after that, and her monolouge gets the Hollarious Stamp of Approval. Heheh... she has man-slaves.

By the way, my diary's niftified now. Yup, Z-Bear helped me make it pretty yesterday. I made the collage. *Goofy, proud smile* That's Ron, Hermione and Harry; a family pic of Mom, Dad, Zach and I when I was about 3; Daria and Jane; Zach, Sarah and I; Rafe and Alison and... I think there's a pic of me now too.

--Holly :-D

Surveying My Inner Child

Hello, you delightful little kiddos, you! Let's see, what have I been up to? I didn't do much on Halloween because, of course, I didn't go to Larry's party party. I'll bet they really missed me at that party, too. They'll probably come into theatre practice tomorrow saying, "Oh Holly, the party really sucked since you weren't there!" and I'll be like, "What was that? I can't hear you. Maybe it's because I can only hear non-alcoholics." *Nods* Yup... that's what'll happen. Anyway, I didn't dress up for Halloween because I didn't go anywhere, and no one came over. We had about 8 trick-or-treaters, and only one of them had a costume. And 3 of them were 17.

Well, I no longer think very highly of Miss Avril Lavigne. My mom bought me an Entertainment Weekly that's all about Avril, and that sk8er girl is not nearly as cool as I thought she was. As it turns out, she's a hunter... and she's actually proud of it! And what's up with her breaking that guitar over that car in the "Sk8er Boi" video? If she didn't want the car and the guitar, I would have taken them! She didn't need to break 'em. The whipper-snapper...

The time has come to break out the Christmas CDs! Thanksgiving is coming, and so is my play and so... is... CHRISTMAS! Ooooh, excitement time for Holly! Yup. Well, guess what? I've got this awesome little book called My School Days. It's a keepsake and memories album, and it has a survey for every year of school (pre-k through 12th grade). Here's a picture of me as a pre-schooler. Don't ask me why I had those dorky bangs. But I like the dress, it's neat. I want a plaid dress...



Here's how I filled out a survey when I was in 1st grade (I was 6).
When I come home from school, I like to: Drink milk, eat popscicles and play with Jake's grandchildren. (Note from 18-year-old Holly: This must be why I'm allergic to milk now.)
At school, my favorite thing to do is...Hear stories, go outside and go to art class.
Once, at share time, I: Said that Daddy told me I could maybe have a baby kitten!
On Halloween, I dressed up as:Ariel, The Little Mermaid.
My best friend this year is: Shannon
But I also like: Ashley.
The tooth fairy came: 5 times
And I got: Toys and lots of money.
For my birthday: I had a Little Mermaid party & an Ursula pinata. I had a kids' party & a family party! Wow!
My best present all year was: Go-go Walking Pup.
My most fun trip was: To Myrtle Beach, S.C. We played in the ocean, collected shells, swam in the pool and shopped.
These are a few of my favorite things
School lunch: Chips, bologna and cheese. (Note from 18-year-old Holly: EWWW! I didn't go vegetarian until the next year!)
Sport: Dancing, biking.



TV show: Full House, Muppet Babies and Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Movie: The Little Mermaid, Annie and Heidi.
School clothes Little Mermaid shirt.
Holiday Christmas.
Doll (truck): The Little Mermaid.
Restaurant: Chuck E. Cheese.
Game Super Mario Bros. III

Well, it was fun to have a chat with my inner child. Now, I must go, as it's time to vote. Ah yes, and I'm working on un-Halloweening my diary, so don't think I slept through Halloween and don't know it's over or anything. *Shifts eyes nervously* Ta!

Holly :-D

Spending Devil's Night @ School

Wheeeeeew, I tell ya what! Party hardy! Where'd everybody go this Devil's Night? I'll bet you crazy kids spent the night drinking an overcaffienated beverage like Mountain Dew and playing Spin the Empty Mountain Dew bottle or something totally uncalled for such as that! Well, I bet I can beat all of ya for fun tonight. That's right! I went to... MOTT COMMUNITY COLLEGE, BABY!

Now I know it's customary for me to spend Devil's Night hanging out at home, eating the candy I originally intended to hand out to kids on Halloween, but I decided to do something cool this year, so I went to school. I know, I know... I'm such a rebel. I bet that you folks would just love to hear me drone on and on about my theatre practice class, but I'm going to rant instead. Sorry to dissapoint you.

I was planning on going to Larry's party tomorrow night, but Morgan informed me tonight that, "It's going to be a party party, Holly. I mean, you know, with drinking and stuff." And well, we all know that the strongest thing I drink is pineapple/orange/banana juice. Speaking of which... *returns with juice* Mmm... juuuuuuiiice... And so, I will not be attending Larry's Halloween party. Instead, I will be holding a Courage the Cowardly Dog-athon at my mom's haus. T'will be much more fun than the party party, I assure you. *Is pensive* But you know what I've been wondering? Why is a party only considered cool amongst college kids if it's a drinking party? I mean, I always thought the "cool parties" were the ones where folks sit around, playing Scattergorries and eating chips & salsa while Lifehouse plays in the background. *Shrugs* I guess I'm not "hip". And I'm probably not "down" either. So I figure I don't have the "411" and I'm most likely not "jiggy with it". Oh well.

Maybe on my 21st birthday, I'll have a group of hot guys over to play Naked Uno or something. I'm very good at Uno, so... yes... *Cackles in a Halloween-like fashion* By the way, I have decided on my big Christmas present from my Dad for this year. You see, my brother and I are a bit... well... how should I put this...? Ah yes--SPOILED ROTTEN. And since Zach and I are spoiled, Dad buys us one big present each, every Christmas, along with little presents like DVDs and other not-so-ridiculously-expensive gifts. For my big present this year, I have decided on... *drum roll* a CD player for my car! It's true, I don't have a license yet, due to laziness... and loneliness. I don't like driving a car by myself, and so I've been having people drive me places for as long as possible. But most of my friends are chain-smokers. And I have asthma and a strong dislike for cancer, and so I just can't ride in a car with my chain-smoking friends any longer. I shall get my license soon. That is a promise.

Okay, bed time for Holly. Night-night.

--Holly :-D

Bowling For Burritos

Man, I wish I had the makings for a bean burrito, or a car to go to Taco Bell in. Oh well. I suppose I'll just fill out this survey that I stole from Living in Excess.

list your favorite memories.
1. Getting my first pet for Christmas when I was 7. She was a gorgeous yet rather violent purr-cat named Tinsel.



2. Spying on my mom and a guy she met online with Zach and Sarah. We used code names and sat in a corner booth with menus over our faces. T'was luffly until Zachary blew our cover.
3. Going on a Vegas Vacation with my entire family. Grandma Z. stole a bunch of Luxor "Do not disturb" signs for all us kids and Zach and Lindsay had fun knocking on people's doors and running away.
4. Staying up late in the summer with Zach, watching Conan and Letterman.
5. Shopping in Tawas with Mom when I was little.

list the components of your perfect day.
1. Waking up at the Rio in Las Vegas.
2. Eating at Planet Hollywood in Caesar's Forum with my family, friends and J.K. Rowling.
3. Spending most of the day buying all the toys and various merchandise in the Harry Potter room at FAO Shwartz.
4. Hanging out with Dave at the Flamingo Hilton garden/pool area so we could play with the flamingos, penguins and Japenese Koi.
5. Challenging various unsuspecting people to games of air hockey in the Luxor arcade.

list the music that has changed your life.
1. Amy Grant
2. Lifehouse
3. Avril Lavigne
4. Wilson Phillips
5. Savage Garden/Darren Hayes

list some people who have really changed your life.
1. Mom
2. All my favorite family members
3. Sarah
4. Randi
5. All my theatre pals


list your addictions.
1. Harry Potter
2. Daria
3. Port Charles
4. Disney movies
5. Music. You know, the good kind.

Well, that was fun, but now I suppose I should mention that fact that I got Lifehouse's new CD, Stanley Climbfall, and it... is... AWESOME! My favorite songs on it are "Anchor" and "Am I Ever Gonna Find Out?" The lyrics to "Anchor" are exactly what I think Harry thinks about Hermione. Yeah, yeah, I know you people think they're fictional, but are you absolutely certain? *Grins dorkily* AHEM. Anyhoo, check out the chorus to "Anchor" and tell me it doesn't sound perfect for Harry and Hermione:
"I know I will never be alone. You will never let me go. You are my anchor. Hold my hand while I'm sinking in the sand. No one else could understand. You are my anchor."
*Dorky grin returns* I love it. My dad bought me a luffly light blue sweater-jacket-thing. 'Tis wonderful. *Hugs and handshakes*

--Holly :-D

Halloweenized

Hello, everyone! As you can see, Zach has helped me to Halloween my diary. *Hands him a pack of "fun-sized" Skittles from Halloween candy stash* Dad, Zach and I went to see The Tuxedo with Jackie Chan and Jennifer Love Hewitt today. I heart that movie. Tis rockin'. And my dad decided today that I'm no longer grounded from the computer! WOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOO! In honor of this awesome occasion, I have decided to fill out this Halloween survey that I filled out last year, once again. Happy "Holly"ween!

Section 1 - Obligatory Questions:


Name: Holly the Rachael Zintel

Age: 18

Location: Flint, MI.

Section 2 - This is my costume. Give me the damn candy!

What was your first Halloween costume? I was a Carebear. I couldn't eat any candy due to my lack of teeth, but it was still jolly good fun.

What was your costume last year? I was a costumeless dork last year.

What will your costume be this year? I shall be a Chinese person, for I have a cool Chinese novelty hat, and not enough time to put a good Hogwarts student costume together.

Has there ever been a reoccurring theme with your costumes? For three years in a row, I went as various characters from Daria--Daria, Jane and Andrea.

Through the years, what have your costumes been? A Carebear, a clown, Smurfette, Peter Pan, Ariel the Little Mermaid, a butterfly, Paula Abdul, a ballerina dinosaur, Miss America, a silly-looking witch, Todd from One Life to Live, a yin-yang... thing, some sort of freak made up of Smiley faces, an Egyptian chick, Daria Morgendorffer, a vampire version of Jane from Daria, my Grandma Z. and Andrea from Daria.

What was your favorite costume? Miss America. I was 7, and I loved the Miss America pageants. I felt all special, getting all dressed up in a glamorous-looking nightgown, heels and a cool, glittery sash.

What is your dream costume? A Hogwarts student. I'd be in Gryffindor.

Which do you prefer, store bought or home made costumes? Homemade. I've never had a store-bought costume in my life because I think they're uncreative.

Masks or make up? Make-up! Where's the fun in putting on a frickin' mask?

Have you ever dyed, cut or did anything else to your hair for a costume? My mom dyed my hair red when I was Ariel in kindergarten, and my dad dyed it black when I was Jane the vampire, but the dye got on my neck, and wouldn't wash off for weeks! Ah yes, and when I was Daria, I had my mom cut my bangs. I shouldn't have done that. It was not a pretty sight.

What is the longest time you ever spent working on a costume? I think it was when I was Todd from OLTL.

The shortest? The Egyptian one didn't take too long, because I just wore one of my dance recital costumes, and painted eye-makeup on.

What was the most expensive costume you wore? Grandma Z., I think.

The least expensive? Probably Smurfette.

Section 3 - Trick or Treat, smell my feet, gimme something good to eat.

What kind of bag or pail did you collect candy in? A pillowcase.

Did you ever get so much candy it spilled over the top? I don't believe so. I usually got too tired to stay out very long.

Broke the bag/pail? Nope.

Did you just Trick or Treat up your street or your street and everyone else's? Usually my whole neighborhood, but for the last few years, it was my aunt Barb's neighborhood, and once, my grandma Shoup's.

Candy that you hated to get? Rock candy. I felt like Charlie Brown.

Do you think Trick or Treating should only be done at night? Yes, but safely and responsibly. This 4 in the afternoon crap is getting ridiculous.

What is the perfect weather for Trick or Treating? Nice and warm so you don't have to put a coat or hat on and mess up your costume or makeup.

Section 4 - It's alive! ALIVE!!!

What is your favorite monster? The Cookie Monster.

Why do you like this monster so much? He bears cookies. What's not to like?

If you had the chance to be this monster for one day, what would you do? Eat a lot of cookies.

If you could be anywhere in the world on Halloween, where would you want to be? Home.

What is your favorite Halloweenish song? "Nature Trail to Hell" by "Weird Al" Yankovic. It's playing on my front page.

What is your favorite horror movie? Ernest Scared Stupid.

What is your favorite horror novel? In a Dark, Dark Room.

Have you ever been to a theme parks Halloween celebration (i.e. HallowScream, Halloween Horror Nights, ect.)? No. That'd probably be cool, though.

Is Freddy really dead? The guy on Scooby Doo? No, I just saw him yesterday.

What about Bela Lugosi? I... figure as much. (I have no idea who that is.)

Have you ever been to a real haunted house? I hope not.

Did anything spooky happen? Um... yeah.

Is 13 an unlucky number to you? Not particularly.

Oh man... I just went to Hollywood.com and it seems that Richard Harris, a.k.a. Professor Dumbledore, died! That's pretty dang upsetting. I don't want to sound like a jerk saying this, but... I wonder who will play him now?

--Holly :-0

An Outing With the Theatre Folk

*Looks up from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* Oh, hello! I just got back from Target with my mommy and grandma. Mom bought me a pumpkin so I can do all kinds of fun Halloweenie things with it, and she also got me some Virtual Eyes shadow. It's pretty. *Marvels at it* Ah yes, and Mom also bought me a magazine that's full of lovely Harry Potter stuff, and Grandma got me the big pack of Crayola Crayons. I amazed Grandma with my ability to name all the crayons before they came out of the box. One day, I'll be rich for that very special talent...

Yesterday was, of course, wondermous as usual. T'was Wednesday, and therefore, I had theatre practice. I didn't get to wow the class with my incredible fake-crying abilities this week, but that was okay because Morgan finally got to act out her part for us. She plays a slutty, obsessed-with-Elvis mechanic named Angel who performs table dances. *Applauds her*

When the class was nearing its end, Kyle suggested that we all go out for pizza, but only a few of us wanted to. Zach came to pick me up from school, but he didn't want to go out to eat with my theatre friends, so he went home, and I rode to John's Pizzeria with Kyle and Leah. It seems that most of my theatre pals are chain-smokers who are deaf. In the course of the 10-minute drive to the restaurant, I think it's safe to say that Leah and Kyle smoked about 3 cigarretes each while Kyle blared the Bloodhound Gang at a volume usually reserved for I-MAX theaters. Leah and I learned that Kyle has a very different rule about riding in his truck. He showed us a stuffed Pillsburry Dough Boy covered in spots, and informed us that each person who rides in his truck must put a new dot on the Dough Boy. I thought that was rather cute.

Walking into the restaurant, I realized that Morgan and Larry seemed awfully close, and that Kyle and Leah were flirting mercilessly with each other. I began to feel kind of uncomfortable... it seemed like I was intruding on a double-date. So I was really relieved to see that Don and Jim had arrived before us. I sat on the side of the booth with Don so the chain smokers could all sit together, and we discussed why neither of us smoke.
My Reasoning:
I rather enjoy life, and smoking causes cancer.
Don's Reasoning:
The first time he tried smoking, he accidentally set his workplace on fire.
Suddenly, everyone's attention was on Morgan and Larry who had begun kissing. "Are you guys going out?!" I blurted. When they said yes, I started shrieking like a 13-year-old girl at an 'N Sync concert, rambling on and on about how cute I thought it was that they met in theatre practice, and soon became a serious item! Everyone suddenly jumped into their own stories of how they met their current boi/girl. I wished I had a story to tell... *Sigh*

Larry gave me a ride home. It seems that Larry is even more deaf than Kyle. He played his music so loud, I couldn't hear myself think, and he, like Kyle, is an in-car smoker. While my asthma was acting up and a migrane was forcing itself into my brain, Larry decided to discuss the fact that his dad died a couple of years ago. I felt a bit disrespectful, yelling, "I'M SORRY ABOUT YOUR DAD!" over the racket White Zombie was making, but what could I do? I highly appreciate Larry and Kyle driving me all over, but I have come to the conclusion that I definitely need to get my license soon so I won't have to breathe all that smoke again any time soon, and so I can keep my eardrums unpunctured. Sheesh, and my family thinks I play my music loud!

Oh yes, I feel that I should probably mention this... I just got the mail and it seems that I got my high school equivalency certificate. In other words, I GOT MY G.E.D.! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Alrighty, laaaaaaaaater.

--Holly Rachael :-D

In 25 Days, the Chamber of Secrets Will Be Opened

*Hyperventilates* 25 days! I wonder if I should leave for the theater now so I can get a good parking spot. I'll need to buy my popcorn at least 5 hours prior to the first showing of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets... I might have to knock a few 8-year-olds out of the way to make sure I get a good seat, too. When I went to see Abandon the other day (it sucked quite badly, by the way), I noticed that they have these huuuuuge Harry Potter posters hanging up in the lobby! The movie theater doesn't know it yet, but those posters will be mine. Oh yes. They will be mine.

I know it's hard to believe, but I actually have bigger things going on in my life than my plot to steal the Harry Potter movie posters from Showcase West. *Hears everyone gasp* My step dad has no job and my mom only makes enough money to pay for groceries, gas and other necessities. Well, the guy they're buying the house from decided that if Mike doesn't pay the 3 bills that are due, he's getting a friendly little eviction notice. This is not really a problem for me or my mom, as I primarily live with my dad anyway, and Mom is welcome to move back in with my grandparents any time she wants.

However, this is quite a major problem for Mike and Carrie. The other night, while I was at Mom's house, Carrie came home and announced that she would like to move in with her mom. Now, the reason Mike and his ex-wife got divorced was that Alice (Carrie and Bill's mom) smoked pot. Carrie insists that she doesn't do that anymore, and wants to move in with her mom so she doesn't have to worry about being evicted. Mike thinks he can forbid her to do that. He was screaming at Carrie all... night... long.

Mom and I both agreed that Carrie was in the right. If she wants to move in with her mom, she can. She's 18! Plus, who can blame her for wanting to live without the worry of being evicted? Mike was pretty dang upset that neither Mom nor I told Carrie she shouldn't move in with her mom, so then he started screaming at us. When he began yelling at Mom, I freaked out and started yelling at him, defending my mom. When he got mad that I was mad, that's when Mom told him, "Mike, if you don't have the money to pay the bills in 15 days, I'm leaving and going to my parents' house. I don't care where you go." I think he may finally be worried that it's very possible that he could lose my mom, the best thing to ever happen to him.

During all of the arguing and yelling, Carrie started crying hysterically, and ended up getting so sick that she ran to the bathroom and puked for like, 15 minutes. And get this: Mike never apologized to her. I think the main thing that got her so upset was when Mike told her she'd never amount to anything if she moved in with her mom. He was being such an A-hole, and he doesn't think he did anything wrong.

Welllllll... I'm going to enjoy the rest of my computer time while I can. *Hugs and handshakes for all*

--Holly Rachael :-D

I Went to Los Angeles Last Night

...at least in a dream! (By the way, this entry was ALSO The Hot Chocolate Theory, but FOD won't let me delete it, and so, I am editing it into a new entry.) I've been having these really vivid dreams lately, and they're usually nightmares. *Cowers under the covers* Nightmares are never good things.

Here's my dream from last night: My dad and brother had just picked me up from my mom's house, and we were on our way to dinner. But, as usual, we couldn't seem to agree on a restaurant. Somehow, we managed to get to the airport without me noticing... and then we boarded a plane without me noticing. *Shrugs* My dream self is pretty oblivious, isn't she? Anyhoo, I'm sitting in an aisle seat, talking to my dad when I realize I'm on a plane. I was like, "Um, Dad, why are we on a plane?" He replied, "Well, we couldn't agree on a restaurant, so I told Zach he could pick tonight. He chose a restaurant in Los Angelos, so that's where we're going."

On the plane, I made friends with a bunch of people who had been to LA previously. I kept whining to these people about how my family usually goes to Las Vegas, and how I was very angry that we were going to LA. One of my plane-friends decided to open up a Rainforest Cafe giftshop right there, on the plane. She told me I should lose my amethyst ring, because it wasn't meant to be my birthstone. For some reason, I was like, "Oh, okay then," and tossed me beloved amethyst ring in the trash. My plane-friend replaced my birthstone ring with an ugly green ring that I didn't like at all, but I gladly paid for it.

Once we reached LA, Zach, Dad and I got off the plane, and walked into the airport. Only it wasn't an airport. It was a mall. Every shop we went into, someone would sell us something without us knowing. After about 15 stores, I realized that I was carrying a bunch of stuffed animals and shoes that I didn't want.

And so, that was my dream. Stupid dream-Zach, making us go to Los Angeles for dinner... Next time, he'd better settle for the Olive Garden! Alright, I'm going to go to my mom's to have dinner because theater practice is going to be from 6:30 till 10:00 tonight, so I need to eat early. Laaaaater.

--Holly Rachael :-D

The Hot Chocolate Theory

It is my belief that hot chocolate heals all wounds... well, you know, except for those external wounds. If you have those, I would advise you to get some Harry Potter band-aids and Neosporin immediately. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, Chris Rock's dad might think that Robitussen is the only medicine to use, but I think hot chocolate is.

My Hot Chocolate Theory started way back in the year of 19 and 99. My brother, Zach, and my best friend, Sarah, had started dating at the beginning of that year. Now, these two crazy kids didn't seem to go together at all. They were like vinegar and water, fire and ice, Ron and Hermione. They would make out, fight, make out, fight, day in and day out. And every weekend, my mom, Zach's best friend, Bobby and I would all have to put up with Sarah and Zach's fighting.

Well, one day, I just got tired of it. I wasn't sure I liked Zach and Sarah's makeout sessions any better than their fighting, but I was going to put a stop to one of 'em! Since I didn't know how to stop the makeout sessions, I decided to work on stopping the fighting. In the midst of one of Zach and Sarah's fights, I asked them both to come out to the living room, and I made them each a mug of hot chocolate. Once they were both well into their hot chocolate, I acted as Relationship Counceler, talking out their problems with them. This always seemed to help, right up until the day that Sarah and Zach broke up for good last year.

I'd forgotten about The Hot Chocolate Theory until last night, when I had a terrible migrain. I was watching Grumpier Old Men on TV with my dad. It was very cold in the family room, and the afghan my grandma made for the baby version of myself, wasn't helping much. After taking a Zomig (a migrain pill), I made myself some hot chocolate to help the fact that it was frickin' freezing in here, Mr. Biggelsworth. My dad went to bed, Zach went to work, and My Girl 2 magically appeared on the TV. The first mug of hot chocolate had really helped, so I made another one. The combined effect of the hot chocolate and the awesomely sentimental movie gave me feel very warm and at peace with the world. So, I'm glad I remembered The Hot Chocolate Theory. Everyone must try this, it works wonders.

Say, you know what? To completely change the subject, I just realized something. I'm totally paranoid! As some of you may know, I am grounded from the computer for the month of October, yet here I am, typing away while my dad's at work. Well, I keep hearing car doors, and every time I do, I peer anxiously out the window, afraid that it's my dad. He doesn't even get home until 5:00 or later, but I keep thinking, What if he came home early in some sadistic plot to catch me on the computer? He knows! Dear God, he KNOWS! Okay, folks. I have officially flipped out. I'd better go before I make everyone else paranoid. So... ta!

--Paranoid Android,
Holly Rachael

Drug Addicts Have Taken Over the TV

Wow, I got up at 9:00 today, and I don't even have to go to school! *Rewards self with Skittles*. I can't believe I went to bed at 1:00 A.M. I believe that's a new record for me, at least in 2002! I usually don't go to bed until VH1's Insomniac Music Theater has been on for quite some time. If this new behavior of mine keeps up, maybe I could even get on *gasp* a regular sleeping schedule! Or not.

Zach'ry brought his car home this morn'. I missed Zach's car while it was getting fixed. He accidentally broke it a couple weeks ago, and he's been having to drive my piece-of-crap car ever since. Perhaps someday soon, I'll go to get my frickin' driving test so I can get my license. Then I'll be most prestigious, driving around proudly in my piece-of-crap car.

Dude, Zach and I were watching TV this morning, and the Tellytubbies were on. In the course of the half hour that this show was on, these little multi-colored gnomes (or something) did nothing but jump around pointlessly on some astroturf, being amused by weird crap like the sun... which seemed to be a baby. When I noticed that there was a baby's head in the sky, surrounded by rays of sunlight, I was like, "Um... why is there a baby in the sky?" to which Zach replied, "Oh, didn't you know? The sun is a baby. That's why you're not supposed to look directly at it; you're not supposed to see the baby." Then the Tellytubbies decide to prance around this wall that was there for no reason. When they were done prancing around the wall, they're like, "Hey, let's do that again!" I have to wonder, what kind of drug addicts thought this stuff up?

I was at Target with Mom and Mike the other day when Mike spontaneously decided that we should all go to a Flint Generals game that night. I didn't much like that idea, but Mom was like, "It'll make Mike happy, so let's go with him." So, I purchased my Harry Potter wand, and tried to put the full body bind of Mike so we wouldn't have to go to the friggin hockey game, but it didn't work. And so, there we were at the Flint Generals game, Mom with her migrain pills, me with my earplugs & Gameboy, and Mike with a big goofy grin. Since there were so many annoying things at this hockey game, I've compiled a list to remind myself to never go to a hockey game again, no matter what.

Annoying Crap @ the Friggin Hockey Game
*The psycho girls in front of me who wouldn't stop screaming their heads off.
*The people all around me who kept jumping up and knocking my Gameboy out of my hands.
*The ear-splittingly loud announcer.
*The musically-challenged DJ who insisted on playing the worst music he could.
*The ridiculously cold arena.
*The drunken idiot at the end of our row who kept screaming obscenities at anyone who dared to come near him.

Alright, I think that about covers it. Laaaaater!

--Holly :-O

You Impotent Little Know-It-All!

Heh. My character in The Elvis Monolouges is cool. She's like, "No, it wasn't a command performance! My little brother introduced his act, you impotent little know-it-all!" T'will be fun to play her, for she is a jerk. Most of this week's theater practice was spent listening to Morgan's and Kyle's dirty jokes, watching Jason and Kyle act out their monolouges and editing the swearin' out of my script. Laurie informed me that I shall be acting out my monolouge first next Wednesday, so I haven't been doing much for the last two days besides working on memorizing my script.

I'm rather proud of myself. The other day, my dad started yelling at me about how irresponsible I am, which is a common occurance around this house, which almost always results in me crying hysterically in my room. However, this day was different. I don't know if it was the Lifehouse playing in the background, or the chamomile tea I'd just enjoyed, but I kept very mellow throughout the entire lecture.

When Dad stopped yelling to take a breath, I calmy reminded him that I could be a whole lot more irresponsible than I am. For instance, my step brother has been arrested twice for doing drugs, and being a drunk minor. I also pointed out that I don't compromise my morals for anything/anyone, I always stand up for who and what I believe in and that I think I'm a pretty good kid. In the end, he had to agree. *Beams proudly*

Oh yeah! Guess what?! I was watching the telly last night, and the news chick said "It looks like Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is going to outsell the Sorcerer's Stone, as Showcase movie theaters are now selling advance tickets for the sequel!" *Does the Super-Mega-Happy Dance* The only problem is, I DON'T HAVE ANY MONEY! And after I do work around the house and get my weekly allowance, I'll only have enough mula to buy my Halloween costume! Here's a list of all the things I desperately need before I go insane:
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets tickets
Hogwarts school uniform for my Halloween party
New Lifehouse CD
New Jennifer Love Hewitt CD
Michelle Branch CD
Hoobastank CD
The New Guy on DVD
Beauty and the Beast special edition DVD

What to do? Hmm... maybe I should get a job. ...Nah. I think I'll just sell some plasma.

--Holly Rachael :-D

I Buy Monogrammed Kleenex By the Ton

There's so much that needs to be done. I've got to drop that voucher off at school, I should clean this house before the dust gets too thick to breathe, my dog could really use a bath and I've got quite a bit of homework to do. But I figure, the thing that needs to be done most is this survey that I stole from Marie.

Chances are you probably have a crush on someone, what qualities does that person has that draw you to them? He's friendly, has a magnetic personality and shares my values. Oh yes, and he's very hot. Can't forget that...
A wall stands before you that goes endlessly in all directions. It cannot be surmounted in any way. What do you do? Cry. And if at first I don't succeed, cry, cry again.
If you were moving in a week, what things would you miss? Nothing! Because I would bring all the people and things I would miss with me. Ha! Guess I showed you...
Do you prefer hugs or kisses? Are we talkin' Hershey's here? 'Cause those hugs are might-ay good.
Mean people are taking over the world! If you could be a super hero, what would your super power be? I'd like to be able to eat my own weight in Bon-Bons so I could scare the mean people away while enjoying a large quanity of Bon-Bons.
There is a turtle lying flipped over in the desert. He cannot right himself and is dying in the sun. Will you walk on and leave him there? No, poophead. I shall bring the turtle home to live with me.
Which of your friends has the biggest hidden perverted side? None of them. They're all very out in the open with their perversion.
When you have the house to yourself what do you do? Hide under the covers, for being alone is not fun.
If you had only two days to live, what would you do? Call the Powerpuff Girls. There's got to be some way around this.
Who do you know that is the worst video game freak ever? I'd say it's a tie betweem Zach and Bobby. When they die on a video game, they tend to put holes through the wall.
Do you consider yourself to be popular, in the "middle class" of popular, just there, a dork, or an outcast? I'm in the "upper class" of dorkdom.
What was your favorite fortune from a fortune cookie? "Eat me."
What is the all around stupidest thing you have ever done out of all the stupid things we know you did throughout your life? I've never done anything stupid. *Goes to stick head in the microwave to get a tan*.
What would you do if you had a seventeen year old boy/girl in your bed? Oh, that happens to me every day at Mom's house. I just tell Billy's friends to go home.
Would you rather date the boy next door or the most popular guy in school? The boy next door is the most popular boy in school.
Your dream date? 9/9/99 because of all the 9s.
What's next to you right now? A plate that used to have a peanut butter sandwich on it.
If you could turn back time? I'd go back to last Thursday night so I could pay my phone bill on time.
What scares you? The end of a survey. I don't know what to do next.

I shall end this entry by saying that Dave was decked out in Michigan garb yesterday, and so my father would highly approve of him. I just hope Dave's not as much into football as Dad is... *looks panicked*

--Holly Rachael :-D

A Walk to Remember and a Drive to Forget

Last week was quite the eventful one, yet I didn't get to write about it due to the ever-so "convenient" fact that my dad grounded me from the computer. *Shakes fist at him* Oh well, I shall write now, while Father Dearest is at work. *Cackles evilly*

Wednesday, of course, was good ol' theatre practice. It wasn't nearly as much fun as it usually is because it was Role-Assigning For the Elvis Monolouges Day. So there was no pantomiming or improv. That was okay, though, because now I know who I'm playing!

I play this disgruntled, sarcastic 58-year-old woman named Tiny Pickins. Laurie told us we could edit our scripts if we wanted to. My character tends to talk like a drunken sailor, and my mom doesn't approve of swearing... and neither do my grandparents, cousins, aunt, uncle or even me, come to think of it. So Zach said, "When the script says 'sh*t', you could put in a funny word." I agreed to this lovely idea, and my script is now full of words such as "bullplop". Heheh... bullplop.

Thursday morning, I was ridiculously tired, and the last thing I felt like doing was going to school. But am I ever glad I did. *Grins* I was wearing my shirt that says, "Think you can be a meat-eating environmentalist? Think again. Give a damn-- go vegetarian!" I was sitting in intro to theatre, waiting for Mr. "Always 20-Minutes Late" Chapel, when I felt someone's presence in front of my desk. I looked up from my Gameboy and was suddenly face-to-face with none other than... *echo effect* .:::THE HOT VEGAN DUDE:::. He said, "So you're a hardcore animal rights supporter then?" When I said "Yeah," he gave me a high five, said, "You're awesome" and went back to his seat. *Is ecstatic*

When the class ended, I began my walk to the Prahl Center, and was super-happy to see the Hot Vegan Dude walking in front of me... but I was much less happy to see that he was walking with the attractive blonde chick that Mr. Chapel seems to have a crush on. By some miracle, though, the Hot Vegan Dude glanced at me, said goodbye to the attractive blonde chick, and began walking with... *gasp* me. He said, "Hello, there! I wanted to get your name." Once I told him, he introduced himself as Dave and shook my hand. As we ventured toward the Prahl Center, we talked about animal rights and what made us decide to go vegetarian. We stood and talked until he had to get to class, and in the ten minutes that I talked to him, I've come to this decision: Dave is perfect.

Friday was much less fun, but it was definitely eventful as all get-out. My mom came home from work that morning to see cop cars surrounding my step brother's truck. Apparently, Thursday night, Bill (my step brother) and his friend got absurdely drunk, then Bill drove the both of them straight into the strip club Deja Vu. Yes, into the side of the building. After using their fake I.D.s to get into the Deja Vu, Bill and his friend got back into the truck, and then Bill drove the truck straight into the side of the gas station. He did serious damage to both the Deja Vu and the gas station. Then the cops caught Bill and his friend, and thew 'em in jail.

Bill had to spend a little over 24-hours in jail due to the fact that he was legally drunk all that time. Since he was driving drunk at the age of 19, did serious damage to two buildings, used a fake I.D. to get into a strip club & was driving without a license (he had it revoked 4 months ago), he's in deep trouble. He'll have his arraignment soon, and then we'll see how long he's going to be in jail.

Whew! I think that's all that's happened. So... later!

--Holly Rachael :-D