First Week o' School!

I cannot believe that I've neglected you guys for an entire week without regaling you on the details of my first week of school-school! So, yup, first time I've been to a 5-day-a-week school, first time I've been to a Catholic school, first time I've worn an actual uniform-uniform.

My previous school was a charter school that I only actually went to twice a week, and the rest of the week I had work at home to do. They had uniforms, but they were super lax about them. Sure, the rules stated that you couldn't wear big dangly earrings or makeup or anything like that, but nobody bothered with that. We just wore the colorful polos with the name of the school on, and we were good. At this school we have to wear white polos and plaid skirts, the boys can't have hair touching their collars, and you have to be able to see your socks over the tops of your shoes. This quizzicals me. (BOOM! I just made quizzical a verb!)

Also, 5-days-a-week.

So. Not. Used. To. This. It seems like every afternoon I think, "No biggie, I'll just work on this tomorrow—oh, no I won't." I guess part of the problem is that I have a specific schedule I'm following every weekday until the end of August (and hence the end of Camp NaNo!), and, due to my parents ignoring my schedule almost entirely, it's all mucked up. Still, I'M NOT QUITTING NANO.

It makes me happy. I love it. It's a great experience. So, no, I will not be easing up on my writi-magating any time soon. At least, not in the next five days. Which is a helluva long time if you're not used to, like, leaving the house on a regular basis.

ANYWAY, school. It's pretty great. If I had to rate all of my teachers, then my music teacher, my science/religion teacher and my homeroom/language arts teacher would be my top three. Also, teachers love me for some reason. It's not like I do anything besides sit in the back of the room and be quiet. But I suppose I'm a lot easier to deal with than, say…everyone else in the class. Heh.

Ooh, friends. That always has to get mentioned in a big rant about school. In most of my classes, I sit next to Caroline, who is like a slightly less nonsensical Vanessa in some respects. (Yes, I am identifying almost everyone from this school with people from my old school. Come on, Ariel and Bailey would be best buds if I could ever get them to meet! Sadly, I'm missing several people on which to *ahem* force identification upon. There's no Noah at this school, or Skittles. No one can replace my Skittles.)

Today we got to meet our kindergarten buddies for the first time. Mine is named Will, and he's the cutest little thing ever. *squee* We talked about Playmobile and San Francisco and Chicago and Lego and otters and cupcakes and the color green and how I double-knotted his shoelaces for him and Phineas and Ferb. In that order.

Well, this has been a long, rant-y post about school and stuff. I love my new school, but I still miss my old one from the bottom of my heart. I wish I could see all my old friends—and Mrs. Landers—again.

Zoological

I went to the zoo this morning! They have some really cool animals there.

"I think it's a given for the zoo to have 'some really cool animals.'"

Whatever, Claudia. Whatever.

Cool animals, see?

Penguins! And puffins! Puffins, walking on the rocks right above my head! It's a wonder they didn't just jump off. I guess the likes of me will never know why…

My stupid phone camera has no zoom feature. These are flamingos, in case you couldn't tell.

There was a cool carousel, too.

Exactly what it says on the elaborate door.

That is, that there are birds inside.

Believe it or not, while we were there we spotted an animal outside of its enclosure. One of the more vicious li'l beasts too:

T. straitus, the eastern chipmunk. Genus Tamias, family Sciuridae. The horror.

D'aw, lookit the cute li'l monkey!

I'M A TURTLE! HAPPY HAPPY--GIMME YOUR MONEY!

And I spotted this cutie in the Herpetarium:

j/k

Oh, I tried to, but these buff guys with radios dragged me out of the zoo after I mauled a Dippin' Dot's stand.

And that is the story of my trip to the zoo. This uber-long post full of pictures makes up for not blogging yesterday.

Ce n'est pas un éléphant.

This is what's awesome today.

Kitty Pictures!

Do you know how incredibly hard it is to get a kitten to stay still for longer than a few seconds?

Even if you don't, I have great news:

I got a cat! Guys, meet Sally:

God, she's adorable. She's kind of hiding under my bathroom sink at the moment. I'm about to go check on her again, but I just wanted to post some adorable kitty pictures.

Ciao!

EFIT: "She'll love exploring all the nooks and crannies in your room," says my mom.

"She'll love leading me around and around in circles, no matter how many times I try to find her," says me. "This is supposed to be MY little empire! She's just the Archduchess!"

Now she's hiding under my desk and mewling. Here, kitty, kitty…

(Um, is it obvious I'm chasing her around my room or not?)