JK Rowling’s Christmas gift:

Find the different the different hidden “buttons” you have to click on in order to find the title of the new Harry Potter Book!

Clue 1: Turn off the lights…

(ask me for more clues if you want!!)

I started doing cross-country after school every day this week with all the other girls who have been doing it the entire summer. First day was pretty good, I ran two miles non-stop. The second day was good too, we ran a mile in a thunderstorm, I got around 8 minutes. Then, on the 3rd day we were supposed to run 5 miles, but I cramped up real bad and wound up having to walk 3 of the miles. I almost walked home because we ran by my neighborhood twice. I kept with it though. The 4th day we sprinted up hills, it was better than the day before, but I still got stitches in my sides. I didn’t stop this time though. On Friday, I was informed that in order to run in the first meet, I would have to do time trials the next morning. We’d have to get to the school at 7:30, stretch and warm up, then run 3 miles in under 30 minutes, so we only had to run a mile and a half to our destination, rest a little and stretch, then run back.

This morning I got up at 7, got dressed, drank a little water, stretched, and headed up to Brookwood. All the guys had their time trials that morning, so we had to wait until they were done. They pretty much sprinted the entire three miles and were done in no time. The girls who were running that morning had all either gotten over 30 minutes the first time trials or were new, I think I was the only new one. We were all ready to run, I had my new black and pink Iron Woman watch all set to count down from 30, most girls had it timing themselves.

We started running and I started in third. By the first mile I was running with about 4 other girls in a line for second. Then, on the second mile, these two other girls took off and I went ahead as well, but not as fast as them so I could conserve energy. Then, my stomach began to hurt. I walked for 10 seconds, but then began to go at a slow jog. Two more girls passed me. I sped up to get ahead of them. My stomach was aching badly, but I kept going. I had no idea how much farther we had left, and I started to get worried I wouldn’t make it.

I saw a place I recognized and it was near the end. I started sprinting, ignoring the nausea. I could see the end, I began to cough and gag. there was spit running down my my chin. I wiped it off. “Keep going, just a few seconds and you’ll be there,” cheered a girl on the street. I crossed the street and my stomach started lurching up. I got down, put my hands on the ground and started gagging, and coughing, all the while looking at my watch, wondering if I should just run to the end throwing up. I decided to stay down, there were 3 minutes left. Behind me I heard three girls pass by. Finally a little water came up and out of my stomach (good thing I didn’t have anything else to eat that morning or I would have been there a lot longer). I got up, wiped my face with my hand, wiped my hand on my short, and ran as fast as I could in my condition to finish with a time of 28 minutes and 35 seconds, and in 7th, but I still qualified to race at the next meet.

The varsity coach was impressed with me. He said, “We have Kel… Kelly Cashel with 28:35, she’s new, she just started this week. Kelly? Where’s Kelly?”. It was real silent when everybody looked my way, one girl said, “Good job”. I don’t know if everybody was stunned to silence or what was going on. The coach was quiet for about 10 seconds. My dad said he was trying to remember me. I think I’ll stay with cross-country.

First week of high school was the longest week in my life.

Schedule:

1st Period: Chorus — Mrs. Peeples

2nd Period: Gifted Geometry — Mrs. Case

3rd Period: Latin 1 — Ms. Newmann

4th Period: Guided Study (Lunch and study hall) — Mrs. Wright

5th Period: Health — Coach Fowler

6th Period: Gifted LA — Mrs. Cloward

7th Period: Gifted Biology — Dr. Rawlins

I like all my teachers pretty well. My math teacher, Mrs. Case, is crazy. She is in love with shapes and thinks that “squares are the most beautiful thing she has ever seen”. everybody started twirling their fingers in the air to indicate her insanity, but she’s nice so I’m fine with her. My most exciting class is with Dr. Rawlins. A bunch of people say that he’s evil and really hard, but so far it’s pretty much the only class I’m enthusiastic about. Latin 1 is probably next in line. Even though I did not get “Bobby G” (that’s what the teachers call him, students call him G), it’s still a fun class because we’ve got all these sophomores.

The worst part about this week was waking up at 5:30 AM… and trying to fall asleep. Overall, I’m pretty excited about the year.

Here are my favorite entries in the style contest:

Page 2: The Bahamas, Mood Rings

Page 3: Cartoon, TV Signal

Page 4: My Personal Spectrum, Star Crash

Page 5: Summer

Page 6: Tune it Up, Sunflower Valley

Page 7: Bulletin Board, Tropical Dream

Page 8: Circled, The Yard Scene, Sunflower Delight

Page 9: Pretty in Pink

Page 11: Child’s PLAY

After spending the day at the pool with Claire, Hannah, and her brother Zach, Hannah had me over for hamburgers at her house. Her family was nice, it was interesting to be in a house full of boys. (Hannah has 3 brothers) When the table had been cleared, we went outside to jump on the trampoline with Zach.

They taught me a game called fish out of water where you run around and find something to jump on so your feet are not touching the ground. For an example, you could stand on a rock, or you could sit on something so your feet were dangling in midair. If the person who’s it calls “fish out of water”, and you’re touching the ground, you’re it. I was it every other time until her other 2 brothers joined us. 🙂

Then we went inside to make milk shakes. Hannah had some Starbucks coffee left over from the morning so we made coffee shakes. They were delicious.

We had 2 other people over and played kick the can. I didn’t know this game either. There was a “jail” (their trampoline) with a can outside of it. What you do is go and hide while the person who is “it” counts. They go and tag people who then have to go the jail. In order to free the people, somebody who has not been captured has to go kick the can. The people who were in the jail have ten seconds to escape, but the person who kicked the can can be tagged.

It was pretty fun. The game lasted for a couple hours.

When everyone had to leave, we went inside and try to play this Star Wars game on their XBOX. Hannah rarely plays on it and I had no idea how to work the controls. But it was funny nevertheless.

I went home exhausted at 11. Hopefully I can do this again some time.

It was a long day after Claire’s soccer tournament, and we had to rush home to get to 6:00 mass. Claire had told Dad she was in the mood for Chinese. So, when we came back from church, we ordered takeout from Mah Jongs. Everybody ordered one dish, but we shared. My mom got this vegetable thing with eggs, i got sweet and sour chicken (YUM!), Claire got sesame chicken, and my dad got this black pepper shrimp (which he turned out to be allergic to). I had everything except for the shrimp because I hate spicy food. It was all delicious and I ate a ton! Mah Jong’s is great!

Did my research. From what I can tell the duo iSkin seems to be the best option for my iPod nano’s case. It comes with a removable belt clip and a hard-plastic screen cover.

http://www.iskin.com/duo_nano/features.html

Checked the reviews, mostly 5 stars.

The other thing I wanted to go with was the Incase Neoprene Sleeve, but the plastics sticks to the screen and scratches it. Not everybody expressed this being a problem, but I think the humid air in Georgia would make it a problem for me. ( I saw this one at Target, it has a flexible plastic covering).

The nano tubes are neat, but they provide no screen protection… plus I don’t want to have to buy 5, that’s a waste.

So, I think either the iSkin or a nice, expensive leather pouch would be great. Just kidding about the leather.

I just got my report card… straight A’s! This is my last time in middle school. I had 3 more dollars left to have my half to buy an iPod Nano, but my dad’s going to pay the other 3 dollars as a gift for the good grades. Tonight we are going out to find a black nano!

Summer Break began officially: May 24th. Here’s a summary/list of everything I’ve done so far:

~Read 2 1/2 books

~Watched “Fun with Dick and Jane” with the Fam (minus Claire)

~Taken naps on the hammock

~Watched the TWO baby turtles swim in the pond

~Went to the pool every day since it opened (except Sunday)

~Ate hamburgers/played kick the can/tried to figure out how to play XBOX games/jumped on the trampoline with Hannah and her family

~Went to a free blues concert

~Had Chinese takeout after church

And now you are up to date on my summer break so far. I’d be happy to go in depth on any of these topics if requested.