Hello. You wanna know what I've done today? Quidditch. Yeah, I joined the Quidditch team of my high school. It's new, small, but oh my goodness, is it fun. I rushed from church to my school, and met up with my friend Conor and Wyatt (who I think will become a friend as well. Like, saying hey when we pass by each other in the halls type of friends.) We headed onto a field, and yeah. Tyler and his, I assume, girlfriend (also the person who sits next to me in chemistry class), Jade, arrived. Lastly, Jen and Doria arrived. And then the game begun!
Lemme tell you, this game involves a heck ton of running. By the end of the first game we played, I swear, my lungs were on the verge of collapsing. I'm not... the athletic-active type, typically. So this was tough. After a water break, I was reenergized and the running didn't quite bother me anymore. 
In case you're wondering, yes, we ran while keeping a broom in between our legs. It took some getting used to, but it was pretty easy. 
The 'quaffle' (a volleyball) is very hard to catch/hold with one hand. I have to hold my broom up by squeezing my legs together so I could use both of my hands to pick the thing up. 
Wyatt, I learned, is incredibly good at this game. If you were on Wyatt's team, there was a 95% chance your team was going to win. Like, the ball was drawn to him like a magnet. It'd always go to Wyatt, and once it reached him, there was no getting it back. He was getting it to the goal. I don't know how the heck he manages, like he has a couple tricks up his sleeve that are utterly impressive, and if I attempted to do it, I probably would have tripped over my broom and fall to the ground. 
I love Conor's gaming tactics. In order to disorientate the other players before they'd score a goal, he'd run by them and scream very loudly. It's kinda startling as well as hilarious. 
Tyler's technique was to... I don't know, it mostly look like he was having a vertical seizure, but it kinda worked?
I think the dream teams ended up with Jen, Doria and Wyatt as one team, and me, Jade, and Tyler as another, and Conor as the keeper. I liked having Tyler and Jade on a team. I think our personalities match pretty well. Whenever we'd make a goal, we'd all high five each other, and yeah, that felt like the blossoming of friendship. 
We played with three chasers on two teams. At one point, we attempted to play with beaters, but that was complicated and sad. I can't imagine how the game would be like if there were enough people to fill all the roles. Chasers, beaters, keepers, seekers, the snitch, (& that one role that keeps the beaters away from the chasers. idk their name, whoops).
The practice was meant to be from 1pm to 3pm. I was amazed by how quickly time passed by. It was soon 2:30. In the last thirty minutes, the seven us basically circled together by the goals, drinking water, exchanging stories. 
At the end, we all walked over to Wyatt's car and bode our farewells. Conor stayed back with me to wait for our respective parents to come pick us up. In the meantime, we both did stretches together. The one where we put our feet together, hold hands, and lean forward and back. Nice stretches. 
Conor's dad picked up up, and he's a real nice dude. His name is Mike. I like him. 
Soon afterwards, my mom picked me up, and took me almost home, when I realized I had left my phone in the parking lot when I put it down to do aforementioned stretches with Conor. My mom had to drive me back, and thankfully, it was still there. 
And then I went home. 

Thanks for reading. Sorry if this post made zero sense. I just don't feel like explaining the rules of the muggle version on Quidditch. Too much effort, y'dig?
-Jess

Hello. It's mid October now, and my memory is hazy. Whoops. Well, I believe I left off on Space Needle? I will quickly sum up the happenings (HOLD UP I JUST CAME ACROSS DEANMON AND CAS ON TUMBLR AHHHH OMG THEY'RE GONNA BE IN THE SAIJFOSIJFOISDFO this is for another blog post, sorry hahaha) of Seattle that I have not mentioned yet. It won't be in complete detail, unfortunately, but I'd better get this down before it completely vanishes from my memory. It won't be chronological order because, quite frankly, I can't remember what happened before what. 

1. Returned to the homeland. Visited the hospital I was born in. It was pretty small. Also visited where my family lived in Bremerton. Can you say 'Ghost Town'? It was a navy neighborhood, and the thing looked structurally unsound. Like, the wood was rotting, and I was panic-y that the stairs and porch would collapse under our weight. My parents told anecdotes of my sister's antics while living there.
   It was apparently a long drive to Bremerton from Seattle. I wouldn't know. I was asleep for most of the ride. But we ended up taking the ferry back to Seattle. The ferry was ferry fantastic (badum-chh).
2. My Sister's 22nd birthday! I actually think this happened the same day as the one above. Oh yeah, this was on August 4th. Heh. In the morning, after brushing my teeth, my sister called me into the bedroom, where of the two of us held a birthday dance party to the song '22' by Taylor Swift. On the white board in our suite, the two of us did alegbra equations because THAT'S WHAT FUN ADULTS DO!We went to the mall, and she got herself two cupcakes (which she kindly shared with me), my mom bought her a Birthday Cake flavored ice cream, and then the two of us played around in Barnes & Noble. We took pictures besides relevant books. Like one titled something along the lines of 'You're Getting Closer to Dying' and 'How to Be an Adult'. One of the highlights of our time in that place was finding all these hand puppets. My sister played with a squirrel one and had it lip sync to a rap song. Hahaha. Good times. Later that evening, at my grandparents' house, my aunt was like "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ASHLEY!" and my dad freaked out because just then he realized it was his first born's birthday. Yeah. He forgot my sister's birthday. Like, I remembered. My mom remembered. My dad forgot. I bet he felt bad about that. He later asked me if I remembered it was her birthday, and I definitely did. 
3. Mount Rainier. The next stop was this really amazing mountain. I was told the night before that we wouldn't be hiking up the thing, just driving, so I wore skinny jeans and things. We did drive up it, but then it turns out my dad is a liar and I did end up hiking up the thing. Skinny jeans are not to be worn when hiking up a mountain. Had my father not lied to me, I would've worn shorts. Dang, dad. Why you gotta do this to me. And cutting to the chase, my mom was complaining and slacking as we got higher up the thing (not really up the mountain the land around it is definitely not flat), I decided "Okay, we can stop here and then start heading back." My mom was wearing sandals... not appropriate footwear for hiking. I thought I was doing her a favor. She later stabs me in the back when we returned to the level land by claiming that "I gave up." First off, 'giving up' is an awful phrase to use. If anything I would have said "Met my limits". Only I didn't. I noticed how she was struggling, I made the executive decision to start going back down. I never said anything back to her, but ugh I hate the phrase "give up". It implies that a full effort was not given. Like I didn't try. Hate it. 
4. Downtown Seattle. I got to ride in the Seattle metro-system. Pretty nifty. It'd be super cool if my town had something like that. It'd be really convenient. Unfortunately, I live in the suburbs, not the city. And something as cool as that is no available to me. In downtown, I really dug how everything was laid out. The bricked ground reminded me of the CityWalk or whatever it's called in Universal Studios in California. I remember thinking "I wish cities looked like this". That day, I learned that the city I was looking for was SEATTLE.
   THere was this really cool fountain that had a walkway that goes through it. I walked through it three times, I think? I know the first time I was by myself, and I rushed and screamed. Another time was with my sister, I think. I was in front of her. This time, I took my time. Walked. Took in the feeling. The water pouring to my left and right, getting sprinkled with water as it hit the ground below me. My sister, though, was going through the panic that I went through the first time, and kept pushing me to go forward.
   We were with my parents, my grandpa, and my aunt. My aunt led us to the first Starbucks ever established. There was a happy man playing the guitar, singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider, and implored everyone to sing along with him. The line for the Starbucks was hella long. Dude, I don't even drink coffee, so... and there are literally other Starbucks on every other corner. It's all the same coffee.
   After that, we went through the Public Market. I bought a painting to put up in my room.
   After that, we walked down stairs, and went to the infamous 'Gum Wall'. It's a wall covered in an amazing layer of chewed gum. I love it. It's gross, but like, wow. And people keep adding onto it. My sister contributed to the gum wall. I did not.
   Going up and down more stairs, we went to this seaside thing. There was a big ferris wheel that I would have liked to go on, but, like, money.
   Lastly, my aunt parted ways with us, and everyone else when on a Duck tour. Basically, a duck tour is on this WWII ship that drives on both land and water. We got front row seats of the tour. My sister and I sat behind Max, our tour guide. It may have been one of the most fun tours I've been through. That sound track tho. It was amazing.
   After this day, I knew that Seattle is definitely a place I wouldn't mind living in. Seriously. Next to New York, Seattle is on my list of places I'd like to reside in. 

Hello. Out of all of the Nerd Herd, Vicki, I'd say is one of the members I know the least about. Thankfully, though, I have a lunch period with her, and am learning more about her. From this I've come up with the accurate description of: "smart, sarcastic, and always knows the right thing to say". And it's true. She's in the top 20(?) in our class rank, which is hella impressive. I don't know where I land in the class ranks. I've never felt like checking in with guidance and finding out. Anyway, she's also sarcastic. And I love that about her as well. She basically rolls with the punches. She has a good friend named Jaimie. On her phone, she's called 'Lord Vickilicious', and Jaimie's boyfriend has talked about how he's allowed to look all through Jaimie's phone except for the messages under Lord Vickilicious. When asked "What could you be hiding?" she nonchalantly replies "My nudes." I thought that was pretty funny, hahaha. Her sarcastic humor is the best, really. And lastly, what makes her a great friend, is that she always knows the right thing to say when a friend is down. It's astounding. I wish I had that kind of talent. I'm too socially awkward to come up with something outside of "I'm sorry, that sucks." She actually knows how to console a friend. She always knows the right thing to say. 
Not too long ago, I was crying over a thing that happened, and I shared my woes. And what she said back to me was really supportive and, like, I don't know how much she realizes how great she is. In two sentences, she's managed to cheer me up. 
This event has inspired me to write this post dedicated to her fantasticness. None of my friends really know of my blog, (although in the 1+ years I've had this thing, I've only shared it with them twice.) so I don't think she'd ever see this. But in the event that Vicki does come across this, I just wanna say thanks. You're a great friend, and I'm glad that we get to share a friendship together. 

Thanks for reading.
-Jess

Hello. How are you? My junior year of high school is doing pretty well. Overall, I'd say I'm happy. I definitely more busy this year. Gotta do those things that'll appeal to college applications, y'know? (Even though I barely have a clue on what I want to do, or what college I'd like to go to...) I don't remember if I've mentioned any of this before. I've been trying to not post regular blog posts until I've finished typing out my entire summer adventures, but ugh, there's so much to write, and I just don't feel like writing it sometimes. I have a couple days left to write, and then I have my final summer weekend, which I spent in Virginia. 
SO ABOUT MORE CURRENT EVENTS!
AP Language and Composition is a less intimidating class than I had anticipated. From what I can tell, it's easier than the Advanced Honors English class (which is supposed to rank lower than AP). They're reading all those classic pieces of literature that is written in an older version of English, with different slangs, and stuff. Meanwhile I'm reading a bunch of speeches and articles, analyzing every single detail. For instance, you wouldn't think that the speaker's use of 'he, they, we, I, me' aren't so important, but it iS VERY IMPORTANT. It contributes to the tone, and the overall message of a speech. I've learned how to present an argument effectively. I'm not going to dwell much into that because this isn't English class.
My dear friend, Bailey, her mom is currently in the process of opening a coffee shop called Java Joe's. It's biking distance from my home, maybe, like, a 20-30 minute bike ride. Not bad! I plan on being a loyal customer there. When the news was released to the public, (I got first dibs on this coffee shop knowledge. Best friend privileges, man.) at school, it seems like anyone who remotely knew of Bailey was saying they were going to try to get a job there. Like, not even friends with Bailey, but people who just knew of her. Bailey has complained on how annoying it is. She's fine with having the Nerd Herd working there, but those other peeps need to lay off, basically. 
So, I'm excited for that to open up so I can eat sandwiches and things there. Not coffee though, I don't drink coffee. And yeah, if you were wondering why I'm not going to try to apply there (and I'm sure I'd get in. Again, best friend privileges), there are two main reasons. 1. I don't drink coffee. That'd just be ironic and weird. And 2. I'm allergic to tree nuts, and other people like to have those fancy nutty things in their drinks. If I come in contact with that nonsense, bad things will happen. 
What else... Oh yeah! I've joined my high school's Quiddich team! Yes, quiddich is a real thing in the muggle world. It's like a merge of rugby, handball, and soccer? I haven't gotten to play any yet. But it'll happen, and it'll be pretty neat-o. I'm excited to see where that takes me. It'll be the first sport of any kind that I've joined, and of course the first and only sport I join is Quiddich. Why wouldn't it be. I think I've reached Ultimate Nerd status because of this. 
Around Rosh Hashanah, I had off from school, so Amy & I binged watched almost all of the movies. 
Almost all caught up...
Yesterday, I attended my school's 'Complete Works of William Shakespeare [abridged]'. It stars three guys, and they cover all of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets in about 97 minutes. That performance has seriously changed my life hahahaha. No, but it was hilarious, I was laughing the entire time. There were a lot of innuendos. Only, it wasn't even innuendo, they just came out with it. They had hand puppets do the sex, and one of the guys said they were hung like donkey. Augh, it was so funny though. One of the best parts was when they covered Hamlet. It was the longest one out of all of the others. There was a part where they brought a girl from the audience to be Ophelia, and to help her understand what's going on in her mind, they had the entire audience help. The first four rows (which I was in), had to wave their hands back and forth while saying in a high pitched manner "mayBE! MAYbe not" over and over again. THen they had the back section on the left... do... something, I can't remember. BUT they had the beack right section of the audience yell "CUT THE CRAP, HAMLET, MY BIOLOGICAL CLOCK IS TICKING, AND I WANT BABIES NOW!" So they had all of us do all that at once and it was just a roar of fabulousness. 
When they finished their performance of Hamlet, they were like "Oh hey! We have extra time! Let's do it again! But FASTER!" So they did it again, faster. And when they finished that, they were like, "LET'S DO IT AGAIN. BUT EVEN F A S T E R!!!" So they did that, and it was so great. And when they finished THAT, they were like "Okay, one more time! Except... BACKWARDS." And they did it again, backwards. It was so great, and I loved it. I would love to watch it again. 
I love school plays, man. They're so great. Especially the actors. One of them, Roland I think is his name, he looks like Brad Pitt, and all the girls fangirl over him after his performance in Spamalot, which is funny, because he played Lancelot, who, in the play, turned out to be gay. We all saw him wearing a cod piece. Magic. 

Okay, that's it!
Thanks for reading. 
-Jess