a different kind of drama

2010

yoest.littlechar@gmail.com (LittleChar) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 05:17:00 +0000

I messed up my painting. I'm really upset about it. And the family watched the worst movie ever tonight. Is it really 2010?
I want to go dancing. oh well.
Tomorrow my mom and I are going to try the Leek purge devised by Mireille Guiliano. My last ditch effort to try and get that whole weight situation under control after the holidays, in order to save my chances of making lightweight in time.

Cheers to the end of a terrible no good very bad year.

Goals for the year:

make lightweight
paint more
laugh more
write more
read more
get better grades
find a college I like/get recruited
get into college and survive the first two quarters of senior year
make CRASH-B

16th bday

yoest.littlechar@gmail.com (LittleChar) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 02:56:00 +0000

Family in Georgetown after dinner at the Sequoia

Today was amazing...
and I am actually lying down and going to write a real post on why it was so good.
first off, this morning sucked. plain and simple.
I hate school, lord help me if I have trouble getting out of bed in the morning, it is what it is.
So woke up normal time to my parents singing happy birthday which was nice, but then I didn't want to get up so there was a little bit of drama over me actually rising.
However it turned into a beautiful day.
I got to have dinner with my family by the river and ran into one of my friends Prom group which was funny.

And about 5 months later I don't remember a thing....I do remember that one person out of the some twenty who had promised to make me a cake did and it was a very pleasant surprise!

yoest.littlechar@gmail.com (LittleChar) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 00:45:00 +0000

The rain cometh soon! They are forecasting one crazy storm...

So, I guess I have not been quite as regular in this posting thing as I should be so I figured I would post three or four pictures to make up for my recent lack of photosharing....
I have no real caption for this one.

yoest.littlechar@gmail.com (LittleChar) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 03:20:00 +0000

Today is Tuesday... and what a Tuesday it was!
With English skit performances, chemistry labs, and phone repairs, it was not a bad day.
MY PHONE FINALLY WORKS AGAIN!!!!!
In chemistry our class has effectively been taught three units in the past eight days, today we started a lab. Tomorrow I have to make up a couple quizzes I missed. Thursday I have to make up a math test I missed. Friday I have to deal with in class discussion on Brave New World, which as it so happens I actually read! But finished forever ago...and am at a loss trying to remember all the nitty gritty little details.

But, this all does not take away from the fact that I survived performing in 19th century grab, hoop skirt and all, a play that I had all of 14 hours to memorize before being video taped by an unsympathetic classmate. Knowing my English teacher, I probably did not receive the best grade, I'm thinking C maybe B, only because my group got so turned around saying our lines. Oh well.

Today is special though, because my mom went to the trainer and nutritionist today... personally the woman did not tell my mother anything she didn't already know. She just said it all using bigger and fancier words. So now my family is on another health kick. I have to eat 9 to 10 vegetables and fruit a day for a week, before the introduction of sugar creeps its way back into my life.

I feel bad though, I splurged in a moment of weakness and bought ice cream at lunch today, horrible I know, but it totally ruined my little good streak of exercising after the end of the crew season. Speaking of which, I am so sore, it is unbelievable.

yoest.littlechar@gmail.com (LittleChar) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 03:25:00 +0000

This is a picture of an activity my class did in AP world trying to figure what event was most influential in our history...

Today was interesting, I finally turned in my English essay on the relationship between the Lee/Custis family and the slaves at Arlington House. Oh research papers....
I am not a fan...

DAY 1

yoest.littlechar@gmail.com (LittleChar) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 01:23:00 +0000

The Richmond Marathon is months away and training has commenced.
Today I pulled out a bunch of my summer clothes and decided I would wear a long black sheath dress with T-strap wedge heels. It was nice to be able to just pull into a little dress and enjoy the fresh air.

Barefoot freedom

yoest.littlechar@gmail.com (LittleChar) — Thu, 28 May 2009 21:47:00 +0000

Small rocks submerged at Mercer Lake New Jersey. I took this picture while watching boats race at Nationals.

The rain is crashing down in one glorious sheath. It smells so good. I am out on the porch and the May rain is misting in through the screen. It comes and goes in degrees of intensity, but it is so wonderful.

Thunder booms and cracks adding to a symphony of rain drops and swirling water on the street below.

My heels are black from the shoes I wore yesterday. They are these cheap little ballet flats that I adore. But whenever I get them wet the soles of the shoes rub against my feet and leave a black residue that you have to scrub to get off.

A picture of my little yellow umbrella that I took with a disposable film camera, thought it was fitting for the circumstances.

Moving into today though, I walked home barefoot in the rain. It was lovely. I had been wearing rubber flip-flops that were giving me blisters that hurt like the Dickens. I abandon any hope for the salvation of my feet and put the water logged plastic footwear in my bag.
It was a lovely end to a hectic day.
This morning I awoke at 7:30ish. This unheard of. I do not wake up early...nine, I consider early. I don't really function like a normal human being until 10... at least. But today I woke up early for no reason what so ever and realized some six minutes after waking up that I had a total of five hours before I had to be at school.
This was a wonderful revelation. That was soon dissipated.
My parents decided it would be nice if I tagged along with them again (YES!) to the doctors office (...oh...)
It was nice though, I accompanied my mother to her check up in Georgetown and sat in the car while she and my father unloaded boxes full of shirts and hats carrying her companies insignia, once we got to her office on K street. After dropping mom off, I drove (*gasp*) my father and I all the way to Best Buy. At this point I was grinding my teeth with growing anxiety concerned about getting to school and finishing an English essay. But! It all worked out. I was able to purchase a spiffy new power cord for my computer to replace the one I lost (yes I loose everything) and made it to school with ten minutes to spare! I dare anyone to try and beat the time I made getting from Bailey's Cross Roads all the way back to Arlington.
School was pretty much uneventful, except I missed my AP World Presentation because I was printing my AP World Presentation and the computer in the library hated me. So the rest of my group winged it and apparently did very well explaining to our teacher that we would be doing a documentary on George Washington...in outer space?
Strange things happen in that class.
The rest of the day went by smoothly and I learned that my essay is actually due tomorrow! instead of today...

You never know whats coming for you

yoest.littlechar@gmail.com (LittleChar) — Wed, 27 May 2009 03:18:00 +0000

This is my "hmm, that sure is nice" face

This quote is from the popular film Benjamin Button. It was a very beautiful movie in my opinion and although I really could not connect with any of the characters in much of any sense at all, I do have quite a few stories that could go along with that quote about not knowing whats going to happen.

Like today for example:

SOL week has granted me a strange and wonderful opportunity! I do not have to be at school until noon all week.

With this said, I slept in until about nine today, awoke wonderfully refreshed and ready to conquer the day. Given that today was the day that the President was said to be announcing his choice for the vacant Supreme Justice position, my parents schedule was a toss up and race around the block type of situation. My mother works for a non-profit organization where the competition is everyone and anyone who might get there press release out faster than her organization might be able to. She tends to be pretty good at what she does:

Washington Post

Associated Press

AUL!

What a fun day rushing about in downtown DC!

And! It was the last day of crew!!! I can hear the Hallelujah chorus...
All in all I learned a lot this season, I dropped about 20 seconds off my 2k time (!) and can sit happy and proud on a 7:39.2 time! Yes this year had its ups and downs, but it was probably one of the bests I've ever had.
For our last day at the boathouse we put away boats and through our coxswains in the water and took pictures. That was about it. I bought my friends ice cream and we enjoyed ourselves immensely. I was not elected to be our class representative but I figure you can't have everything. Next year I will be the vice president of our class, hopefully make it onto first eight again, and be taking a good number of art classes.

Trust v. lust

yoest.littlechar@gmail.com (LittleChar) — Wed, 27 May 2009 00:23:00 +0000

I thought this picture of a lily that I took a few days ago was fitting, its all wrapped up trying to hide from the rest of the world just like me. its really sad. Hiding its wonderful colors from the rest of the world, I set in B&W just for the irony.

The other night my neighbor threw a very successful party...

I did not attend.

*sigh*

As I have already explained I can not join in such festivities as those that took place next door the other night, should I wish to remain in my parents good graces.

It was the most terrible feeling in the world sitting out all day on the porch, hoping for something unexpected to happen out of the blue. Meanwhile I read my English book (*gasp* God forbid I actually finish a reading assignment on time this year!) Brave New World. Troubling. That is the word I would use to describe writings such as Aldous Huxley's. The "brave" soulless clones of a futuristic London went about there preordained work and encountered the fascinating discovery of a savage born of a civilized woman (the embarrassment!), all the while my mind wandered and battled to concentrate on those depressing words of genius concerning the future of mankind.

The title of this post goes out to that night when my parents decided we should have movie night. We watched Bedtime Stories. Very cute. Very family oriented. Anyways afterword John and I ran next door, it killed me, it really did to see all my friends having a ball and not being allowed to go inside. John and I stayed out on the porch for all of three minutes while we asked our neighbor how it was going. Distracted. That would be the one word analysis for that interaction. Sad and disappointing if you want to go a little deeper.

I don't particularly like thinking about why I even went over there in the first place when I knew I would only leave even more disappointed than before. But I know why.

This was all Saturday. Sunday was a blur. I can not remember a thing. No crew for one thing (!) we didn't go to church either? Odd. I finished Brave New World. A friend of mine really wanted to hang out, she is a bad influence so I didn't go off with her. Monday was one long chore. Memorial Day. I sorted shoes. Very ironic to have to sort worn out shoes covered in mud on a day we are supposed to set aside for remembrance of those who trecked far and wide to protect freedom. It wasn't that bad, really. It felt like a waste of an afternoon, but it made my mother happy and it seems as if that is the only reassurance other than grades that I have to validate any work I find myself doing.

Rowing. my day of under currents

yoest.littlechar@gmail.com (LittleChar) — Sat, 23 May 2009 03:10:00 +0000

This is me. Courtesy of my little sister. This is my "are you kidding me?" face. Today day was one of those days where I wore this face perpetually...

I row. It's a race.
And today I let myself think I was done with it.

Today was the first day of the Scholastic National Regatta. My boat raced in the heats and got fourth so we had to race in the repecharge race instead of moving on straight to semi-finals. We came in fifth at reps when we needed to make third.
The problem with this race was that our lane (lane six), the steak (I doubt that is the correct way to spell that) boat (the mini floating dock that has a person on it to hold the boat in place before the race/helps keep boats in alignment before the race) had sort of deflated and they didn't want to put a person on it for fear that the whole contraption would sink or otherwise fall to pieces endangering the person in charge of being the steak-boat holder.
The problem with this scenario is that you need a stake (I think that way is more correct...not positive) boat for the start when the race isn't going off a floating start or a head race start. So to fix the problem the officials pushed my boat into lane 7....instead of a stake boat there was this little tin can of a boat tied down, that they put the stake-boat holder in...to hold our boat for the start.
To further complicate this whole transaction the wind and current decided to change up on us and push in every which way except for that in the direction of the make shift stake-boat. Eventually after a good few minutes of trial and error our coxswain managed to back us into the lane and get alignment for the start. The officials called a count down start. Generally they just go "ATTENTION....GO" no, today they had to go: "ATTENTION...ALL HANDS ARE DOWN...WE WILL DO A COUNTDOWN START NO HANDS WILL BE ACKNOWLEDGED...5......4..........3.............2.....................1...................................GO"
They literally called this the second we got allignment. Usually they wait and drag out the drama of it all for a good minute before calling the start after all the boats get in position, apparently we wasted their patience and they called the start immediatly while we are still recovering from the nervous energy and anxiouty caused by the dumb move of pushing our boat into lane 7.
Our start was a mess with the adrenaline and our nerves flying everywhere. One girl missed water and the rest of us just tried to follow stroke. We roewed as if the devils own were after us.
We where on it. We rowed so together it was fantastic. The most intoxicating race. One that you love to watch because it is such a fight and you never know who's going to make a move and win. Six tenths of a second. The time difference between us and making it to semi's.

So that was the race that I ended my season with. Or so I thought.
Our team is upset, tired, exhausted, you think of an adjective we feel it in our bones.
We went out to diner at Ruby Tuesday's, fun stuff seeing as since we don't have to row tomorrow we can eat anything we want...then we get some *good* news: we are in the semi-finals.

...

So my season isn't done? Oh.
Does that mean I can't eat my New Orleans Seafood plater?
Wait? I had planned on a nice evening consiting of Ben and Jerry's and a couch...does this mean thats going to be called off???

I had my shrimp, my ice cream, my headache...all I am waiting for now is the nervous breakdown.
This year has shot my system. I can bearly lift my arms I am so tired and sore. I am begining to genuinly hate some people. I have lost the motivation to push onward.
This season was one week, just one week, too long.

Tomorrow we will race yet again and I really at this point don't know what to think. It's as if everything is going wrong and I can't fix any of it.

A day on the beltway

yoest.littlechar@gmail.com (LittleChar) — Wed, 20 May 2009 23:09:00 +0000

This is a picture of my friend Helen all dolled-up for the Opera a few nights ago, I just like the picture not much to do with this post unfortunately

Well seeing as I am currently locked away and chained to my computer I thought I would keep this whole blogging thing going...

I came upstairs to fetch my brother for my neighbor. Unbeknown to me my brother was employed by my father working on footnotes for some paper my mother had written (this ladies and gentlemen is the most efficient form of child labor) and he was miserable.

I came up and offered to help him, at which point I ran downstairs to retrieve my computer, because I was just as anxious to go next door to see our neighbor.

This was my mistake. Not only does John immediately throw the entire paper, some 16 pages, at me and say "Screw this" he then ran out of the room to go next door. Cruel...the only word I can think to describe this situation I so often find myself in.
I am constantly wondering why I never seem to accomplish anything or finish projects I start. I do believe I have found my answer: I have tendency to not say "no." And it would appear those that lack self discipline, case in point, my brother, have taken to exploiting this little habit or mannerism of mine.

At this point I am a bit resigned.

Oh well. John has been coming and going, Hunter (my neighbor) came with him both times... terribly annoying for him (John) to be hostile towards me about being in his room while I finish his work...

Well that would be my current situation, the rest of the day has been not quite as melancholy. All the same it was a bit of an emotional roller coaster. The whole family accompanied my mother wig shopping. Here is the set up:
Chemistry SOL: 9:28 am
lunch
World History
Drive to middle school to get my sister, who turned out to still be testing, so I figured I would run home, grab food, change and come back and pick her up. This scenario would have been perfect had I not left my rowing gear at home when I went inside to change.
This one simple act of forgetfulness cost me $28 and a panic attack and more than enough frustration with a few girls on my team who could have been a tad bit more helpful, say even considerate, but wait, no! It really would have killed them had they taken two seconds to think of someone other than themselves.
Anyways this was all prelude to going into the wig store where my family helped in deciding on a cranial prosthesis. There where no major meltdowns much to my surprise. I am not counting mine because I figure it was purely due to hormones.

After the wig shopping we drove on down to boathouse with me teeming with anger directed at a few girls who shall remain nameless. The result of my lack of appropriate attire was fixed by a dash (by dash I mean full on sprint through Georgetown traffic) into Running Company, where I spent literally four minutes selecting and buying a pair of shorts by Nike. This I accomplished while in four inch heels.
A word to the wise: wedges are not entirely difficult to run in...stilettos are the ankle killers. In the end my parents drove me down the rest of the way after I dove into the car. I still had to run a good block and a half to the boathouse from the Swedish Embassy (again still in heels...this time in spandex instead of a dress though.) My arrival was not exactly dramatic, but given my catty-wompus attire it was unusual...out of breath in running clothes while wearing four inch heels? Welcome to my life.

the tipping point

yoest.littlechar@gmail.com (LittleChar) — Wed, 20 May 2009 02:08:00 +0000

this is a picture I took of the boathouse where I row...

Today I reached my limits.

I am not a morning person, never have been, never will, and most certainly was not this morning at 7:30.
I am woken up by the sound of an elliptical spinning while my father "runs," and erg fan turning as my mother rows, and my lovely younger sisters bickering about nothing.

The previous night I had gone to sleep not to late with the assistance of Tylenol PM, hoping to combat a cough I had picked up over the past few days. The reason for the late hour in which I fell asleep is mainly due to the fact that I had promised a friend I would draw a few sketches for a project she was looking to finish. I willing accepted and naturally forgot. So at around 10ish I broke out pencil and paper and threw down a jot basic enough to fit time restrains, but also dynamic enough to fit my friends idea of a finished drawing. The drawing, however, did not take that long and seeing as I would finish earlier than expected I decided I might read a few chapters in the book I had been reading by Ken Follet: Whiteout. It is very good and I highly recommend it.
This is all pretense to the fact that when I awoke this morning I was groggy and not in any mood to wake up before 10. Seeing as I had no tests, no quizzes, absolutely nothing to turn in for any of my classes, today would have been ideal to stay home sick. I am not, I am afraid, quite clever enough to have realized this the previous night. In which case, had I been clever enough to pull the day into perspective, I might have been able to play the "sick and exhausted" card and stay home.
But no. I slaved through the day, coughing, miserable, doing absolutly nothing of purpose in any of my classes, two of which I watched movies in. It was horrible, I was late to every single class I think. I was so tired.
Then at practice this afternoon, naturally the one day I do not bring a tank-top it is terribly hot. I had not eaten lunch due to a lack in funds, I was quite dehydrated, exhausted from practice the previous day, and still trying to emotionally recover from the race at Stotesberry we had just come home from.
In short, I was tapped out and running on empty.
This does not bide well for three-by-twelve minute pieces with twenty stroke bursts on choppy water.
By the second piece I was crying behind my sunglasses in exhaustion. It was as if every stroke was heavier than the one before it. And every worry and concern I have been carrying around the past month seemed to crash down around me in those few minutes.
In the past few months I have managed to effectivly lose:
my wallet (with my permit inside)
my phone (the only nice electronic equipement I own besides my camera)
all of my rain gear ($170 coat, GONE.)
a pair of my shoes that just disapeared
the battery charger to my camera
any number of homework assignments I either forgot to do or simply left at home, never to be seen again

and I have begun to bite my nails again...a habit I have not engaged in since elementary school

My grades have fallen from bad to worse. The beginning of the year I had all A's and B's, second quater I caught pnemonia, and my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. My grades fell to C's and D's. Third quater nothing spectacular happened and I pulled most of my grades back up and won a Principles award, and was elected to be vice president of our class for next year. However this quater comes around and throws me for one. Midterms came out: all time low. D's and E's. This quater, the wieght of the year bore down hard.
The fact that I have to enroll in summer school for the first time really bites. The fact that I threw my brother a huge birthday party that he will never fully appreciate and that I won't be able to have such extravagance on my birthday because my mom will be too sick by then to handle it. The fact that I will never be able to both go to parties on the weekends with friends and have my parents trust at the same time. The fact that crew is ending in five days, and it isn't soon enough.
I am a complete mess.
The money I had saved up to get a hair cut with ended up going towards my art lab fee. This would put getting a hair cut out of the realm of possibility for a good time now, seeing as tomorrow after I take the chemistry SOL I will be accompanying my mother wig shopping. She just started chemo and will be loosing her hair soon.
She's trying to put on a brave face.
But it doesn't help at all.

All these thoughts, all these internal struggles that I can usually just push down inside me, they all found their way out into the light at 5 PM today somewhere on the water between Key Bridge and the Boathouse. It was literally all I could do to hold onto that oar and keep from screaming.

After practice a few of the girls asked what was wrong.
I said I was fine.
I didn't know where to start.

All I knew was that I was done.

Take a peak

yoest.littlechar@gmail.com (LittleChar) — Tue, 12 May 2009 04:57:00 +0000

FLICKR

yoest.littlechar@gmail.com (LittleChar) — Tue, 12 May 2009 04:55:00 +0000

Hannah Yoest's Profile

Create Your Badge

Somedays you wonder

yoest.littlechar@gmail.com (LittleChar) — Tue, 12 May 2009 04:44:00 +0000

So seconds ago I was chatting on facebook with one of the most intriguing people I know. And come to find that she has a wordpress: MAKAY

So since she was kind enough to let me take a peak at her little world of writing, I realized how neglectful of my own I have been.
I propose since, on flickr without a pro account you can not submit more than 200 photos, that perhaps I would do my 365 days project here...

new camera

yoest.littlechar@gmail.com (LittleChar) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:36:00 +0000

HUGO create

yoest.littlechar@gmail.com (LittleChar) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:52:00 +0000

So this is my entry into the HUGO Boss create competition. You have to take their logo and make an ad thing based on a monthly theme. This rounds theme was small planet that you would design with your favorite things from Earth. My little catch phrase is: "the world in your eyes is enough for me."

So check out the competition and rate my design here: HUGO create

Flashmint.com Christmas Contest

yoest.littlechar@gmail.com (LittleChar) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:40:00 +0000

Show off your skills in a competition for any talented people and bloggers at Flashmint.com, a well-known Flash Designs supplier, to win from $50 to $800. Get the details.

So I am working on a new project and I thought I'd let you all in on it too:

Flashmint.com starts Xmas and New Year contest.

"Write “www.FlashMint.com” at some original and unusual place or scene, take a picture of it, send it to FlashMint and get $850 in cash. Nice gift on the threshold of holidays, isn’t it?

The contest actually consists of two parts and you are free to take part in both of them or pick only one that you feel passionate about. However, let’s relate the contest parts as they take place.

Starting from today, we are launching a Christmas giveaway of $500 to the best shot of “www.FlashMint.com” and make sure you send it to us within one month, that is prior to December, 15.

Anyone from around the world can enter the contest with no age restrictions. We will publish all the submitted pictures at our blog allowing everyone to review the shots and to get inspiration from them. This may be anything from “www.FlashMint.com” written on your car bumper to the sign on the roof of the skyscraper. (We are not responsible for any damage or self-injury you may get within the contest participation.)

We do not limit you in the number of photos you may send us, we will publish the best of them at our blog. However, please note that you should choose only one picture for the contest voting.

Entries must be received by Monday, December 15, 2008, at 11:59 p.m. EST. After the contest period expires (December, 15) there starts the 1 week voting.
You may also publish the picture at your website, blog, social network page and encourage anyone to support your entry and vote for it. This may be your relatives, friends or anyone you know. Besides, if you submit your shot at your own blog and send us the link, we will add 10 voting points even before the voting starts.
Interested in getting these points? Then please insert this code into your web page: Get the code here.

However please note that you may not spam or send bulk emails requesting to vote for your entry.

For this 30 day competition, please send us the high quality pictures with no Adobe Photoshop used; however, minor digital enhancement is permitted. Our Photoshop experts will easily disclose all your tricks, so this will not make sense to anyone to cheat on the contest.

Every visitor can vote for the photo he/she likes and we count the votings. However we do check votings from inside (IP of the voter, etc.) and cancel cheating votes + blacklist cheaters.

We also must have a way to contact you if you win a prize, please bear this in mind as well.

Every author sending the photo on the competition wants to hear the reference about it, so we would like to invite you to vote more actively on the website :). And, of course, your comments and notes are more than welcome. Because everybody wants to see any kind of replies about his/her work.

Any of your entries will never be used by FlashMint in any manner for advertising or sale without author’s permission. Photos must be appropriate for posting on a public website. Obscene, provocative or otherwise questionable content will not be considered. FlashMint retains sole discretion as to what constitutes inappropriate content.

So, think of the best and most genuine image and fly to the contest to get $500 in cash.

Happy competition and may the most creative one win!

But this is not all! The second part of the contest is of great interest for the blogging community. Bring the largest number of visitors to our website from November, 17 till December, 15 and win $200, $100 or $50 for attracting the first, second, third largest number of visitors respectively.

What should you do? The rules are quite simple:

* write a blogpost about our Contest and link back to Flashmint website from your blog by adding a code fragment into the post: Get the code here.

* just add the code fragment under your latest post Get the code here.

Of course you may slightly change in the text of the paragraph at your discretion, the only request is to leave the anchor texts just as they are, and the links should be “dofollow”.

Thus, if you participate in both parts of the contest, you may get $850 prior to the holidays and spend this money to whatever you like.

Do not hesitate to participate even if you do not feel confident that your blog can attract a highly competitive number of visitors! Besides, we will provide a free PR 5 backlink to all participants whose blogs will not have scored enough referrers for the first three places. Both contests results will be announced on Monday, December 22. Good luck to anyone!

P.S. Below you may see the minor sample of “www.FlashMint.com” that first crossed my mind when thinking about the contest. Enjoy and feel free to comment!"

Apologies and warning

yoest.littlechar@gmail.com (LittleChar) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 09:28:00 +0000

So I'm pretty much the laziest blogger out there, so sorry, my fault, I'll work on it.

Yeah, it's 5:30 in the am, and so in an hour, in a perfect world I would be waking up from 12 blessed hours of beauty sleep, refreshed for the miserable 14 mile run I plan on enduring for three hours after I load up may siblings into a double jogging stroller and hike them down to the track to clock in 56 laps while my parents board a plane to Chicago to acquaint themselves with the head-quarters of my mother's new job. So with the 'rents out of town, I will be installed as overseer of the household preparing for our grandparents in the evening who will be crashing with us for the week while mis padres scope out the Windy City.
So anyway back to that 14 miles thing I'm supposed to do in about an hour, my long run prep has consisted of grocery shopping and volley-ball tryouts (Made JV, a fact I am extremely bitter about, since my friend who is of equal ability and who I played club with, made Varsity, her in would be some extra 3-4 inches and leaner frame than yours truly). Yeah, then I had to go and chug one of those "Cranenergy" 46 oz. drinks at 11, so brilliant. Midnight, my mom finishes packing and kisses me goodnight and says go to sleep since lately I've been barely regaining consciousness somewhere around 1 in the afternoon for the last week, seeing as all I've had to attend where v-ball tryouts at 5:30. Anyway point being I have to babysit four exceedingly "extra-grace-required" children all day and if I sleep through the whole morning lord knows what kind of gory and war-scene like disarray I would find in the living room when I came down stairs. So I genuinely tried to will myself to sleep after setting an alarm for 6:30, the time mom and dad where getting up at to catch the plane. I figured I'd see them off and just put the sleeping babies in the stroller get my run out of the way and take them for ice-cream at Baskin-Robins after they woke up, figuring we get to the track at 7:30ish, I go steady 10:30/11:00 min. I could be done by 10:30-11 o'clock and if they managed to sleep comfortably in the stroller they very well could sleep through my run which would make my job so much easier.
OH! So, back to the "Cranenegry" thing, so by 1, I put my book down and make an honest attempt at sleep, give up at 1:30 and dig my book back out and grab a glass of water, by 3 I've got groggy wanting sleep feeling in my stomach so I try, honestly, to go to sleep and can't, I pull out Proverbs and do a late-late-late night Devo, yeah no luck, I'm not wired but I'm not sleepy at all, I'm semi-bored-exhausted-saggy eyed just out of it. So now after knocking out some 7 odd chapters in my book, it's 6 in the morning and in a half hour my phones going to start it's unholy ringing telling me to get my butt to the track and start actual training for that marathon I keep telling myself I'm going to run. Last I pulled it off with my parents at a semi-run/walk hybrid motion, involving pumping your arms while bouncing on your toes, for seven hours. It was like rapid Chinese water torture on the balls of my feet and the simultaneous burning of my quads and calves. So yeah, I'm so looking forward to this year...

The Essays

yoest.littlechar@gmail.com (LittleChar) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:21:00 +0000

For English this year we had a huge writing folder project, in which we wrote about 30 essays, short stories based on prompts like:
What's your favorite room in your house?
Write a story based off the beginning paragraph of a novel.
Write a story only six words long.
Make an event come alive sing descriptive sentences.
Write a "name" piece where you talk about your name and how it relates to you.
etc...

The whole point of the folder was to take one essay that was five pages long and re-write some five times throughout the year making it that much better every time you re-wrote it. The only rules on the piece where that it had to be all five pages long and it had to be a true story. For my paper I wrote about the first time I read Agatha Christie, and in the end it may have been a good essay, but it really wasn't my favorite work and I know I have pieces I've written better.

I won't give you all of my essays since there where a few I pretty much blew off, or more likely it was just really poorly written. So even if you don't get to see all of essays you will see a few.

Dear Reader

yoest.littlechar@gmail.com (LittleChar) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 02:09:00 +0000

I disapeared. I've decided to come back. Heres whats been happening:

The Crew season is coming to a close with Stotesbury and Nationals around the corner; the drama is thick and the battle between rowers to get a seat in the boat is cut throat at this point, luckily I'm safe in my seat and am hoping to keep my head above water with all the teen angst my team is dealing with.

Today I rowed three races. This is the very definition of insanity. there is only one other rower in the entire Regatta who had similar pressure and had to physically endure hell along side me. Thank you Shannon. I rowed stroke all three races. We got second in the novice 8--this is the slower boat--and where able to advance to finals. Where we were DFL(Dead F**king Last). Then in the Frosh 8 we pulled a miraulous first with open water on Sidwell, rich snobs didn't know what hit them. the last race however, we kept the stroke rating within what our coach wanted, granted faster at the the start than our bow four could handle and they felt the need to shout grievious cries to *SLOW* down. Exucse me? Shut up and keep up. For the record, we have gotten the stroke rating up much higher than that in practise. I also contacted a beautiful burn on my shins, arms, shoulders, face, and chest. As if a uni tan wasn't enough. I was in a foul mood for shame to be sure.

And this is only the outer skin on the onion with crew, but I won't go into all that drivel.

SCHOOL. Next post, I've got to log off, but I'm back for sure.

stay tuned...

Going home. Looking back.

yoest.littlechar@gmail.com (LittleChar) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 04:18:00 +0000

(so really it's feb fourth, sorry didn't post this I was waiting for pictures off my moms machine...)

We are driving back to Virginia. Where after a few stops with the relatives, we will promptly be re-enrolling in three of Arlington's brightest schools including: an Elementary school, a Middle school, and a High school.
Us Yoests have pitched a tent down in Alabama for the night with our mom's brother and family. Naturally John and Gib are happy as ever to see their cousins and will be sad to leave in the morning.
So back in New Hampshire I wrote down all Mrs. Huckabee's stories she had picked up of a couple supporters and families who had gone the extra mile or something inspiring had transpired for Huckabee to gain there support. I left out one. The one I left out is a little different. The family actually had a member on staff for the Huckabees. They also had their three older children volunteer too. They came out to Arkansas early December to help at Headquarters, where their mom (the paid staffer) started out, her work was a bit more high level then the kids could help out with so they helped with answering the phones. After Christmas though, she was relocated and joined the Governor out campaigning in Iowa. Her husband then packed up the kids and drove 10 hours out to Des Moines to help out there as well. So their mom went out with Governor Huckabee and his entourage on the Huck-a-bus and the kids and their dad helped with calling local residents to remind them to come out and caucus for the Governor. Iowa was one big excitement after another for everyone. Till caucus night and everyone holding there breath all day praying for the Governor to win, he did not disappoint! After the big win and celebration, promptly the Governor and company (along with the press) flew off to New Hampshire. The family was a little slower following this time given to 22 hour drive from Des Moines to Manchester, NH. They made it though after a night stay in Erie, Pennsylvania. NH was a bit different then Iowa given the circumstances, so the family tried to inhibit the time old adage "children are to be seen, and not heard." Their mother did remain thoroughly active on staff with the Governor at that point though, and their oldest children tried to help as mush as possible with what ever work they could. Come primary night, the Governor came in third and off to South Carolina and Michigan he went. At this point the family had to clear somethings up back at home, and their mother had to return to Headquarters for some reason or other. Nevada and Michigan came and went, no surprises really, then the fight for South Carolina. Nail-biting all night since no one would call it, until finally Associated Press confirms their worst fears, McCain had won South Carolina. The following morning in the wee hours of day-break the family drove off (another 14 hour drive) for Arkansas again. They arrived only to pick up their mother after hearing the bleak news that she would no longer be on staff with the campaign.

SC primary pt. 2

yoest.littlechar@gmail.com (LittleChar) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 02:19:00 +0000

AP called it, then Fox called it, McCain has won. I'm just going to go and sit in a corner and cry now.

Nevada

yoest.littlechar@gmail.com (LittleChar) — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 18:06:00 +0000

So Romney won. Oh well, luckily it seems to have no impact on South Carolina. This is going to be such a delegate race....

Huck and McCain are neck and neck. Let the blood-shed begin.

South Carolina Primaries. Pt. One

yoest.littlechar@gmail.com (LittleChar) — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 05:37:00 +0000

So it would be half an hour into the new day, but I figure it's enough to count and will show up under the 19th anyway. The future is looking very blurry for the Yoests and their always exaggerated road-trips. It would seem SC decides it all if we stay or if we go, now I would much rather we all just hop in the car first light this morning, some few hours away, but alas we have to drop off football gear. So typical. We are going to kill an entire days worth of travel and opportunity to make one stop in Maryland, for four hours, just to wait in line (or something, at this point I honestly have no clue as to just how long it will actually take) and drop off equipment, that we had already been reassured we could just mail in instead.

I hope he wins. I honestly and dearly wish and pray that he wins tonight. We are in margin for error poll rankings with McCain and everything hinges on tonight.