So I stood in that line starting around eleven. I was inside Barnes and Noble around one o'clock, and back in my hotel room at one thirty. I read until 5:30 in the morning that night. The next night, I actually fell sleep at about 1:30 for some reason. But last night/this morning, was different. I couldn't sleep. I had to keep going-- keep reading. I couldn't stop, never stop. And may I just say, when it comes to Harry Potter I read very slowly.

I finished the book at 7:05 am, and then went to sleep, only to awake a little over an hour later for my first day of work. Fun.

My grandfather passed away on Wednesday morning. He had pancreatic cancer, and yes, it was certainly expected. But can you ever REALLY expect it? I mean of course, I wasn't surprised, but it's still not really happening. Today was the funeral, and it just wasn't HIS funeral. I was talking about it with my dad today, and we agreed on this. Every time they spoke his name, it was as if they were wrong. It just sounded to weird to hear that name, knowing I was sitting in a funeral. It was as if they had gotten the name wrong, and should be embarressed, even though we all knew it was right.

But I was really fine for most of it. I got teary-eyed, of course, but that's really all. The one thing that really got to me was when they lowered his coffin. I just lost it at that point. But apparently that happens a hell of a lot. My mom was standing across the area we have to walk across after dumping dirk into the hole, and I just walked practically into her and let out huge sobs. But honestly, what else is expected?

The good part is I got to see my cousins who I don't get to see too often. They are amazing, and we're planning to start seeing each other at times other than occasions, especially the sad ones like these. Some relatives in our family to tend to start to drift apart a bit, and we said that wasn't going to happen, although we already go a few years without really even talking at times, so it doesn't look too promising. But I've seen them 3-4 times since the older one had twin girls, which was three years ago, which is a bit better than before. At one point we had gone over 3 years without seeing them. Not fun at all.

Anyway on another note, I'm still going to prom tomorrow--err, tonight. He would have wanted me to go, and I'm going to need to have some fun. Although, my family makes it fun anyway... we're really good at mixing fun into any emotional time, while not taking away from the reason for being together and such. But yeah... I'm going to prom, which means I'm not doing the family thing tomorrow, but I have Sunday, and all of next week after school or whenever I go.

I'm really tired... It's been a loooong few days. Talk to you soon.

~ El

So today's my half birthday. I remember a couple years when my mom would buy me  a little half cake for my half birthday. And once I got a present, but I think it was only because Harry Potter had happened to come out on DVD the day before, and she was going to get it for me anyway and decided they might as well make it a half birthday present since the timing worked. But anyway, today's my half birthday. My 18th half birthday. That's so weird! I will finally be 18 in six months. After 18 years of being a kid, I will finally technically be an adult. Spooky, huh?

Anyway, I lost my election. But that's really comepletely okay. The girl who won really did deserve it, and how often can somebody say that about somebody who just beat them? So of course I was a little upset, but I even surprised myself with how well I took the loss. Maybe it will really turn out to be for the better. But I've never won a position I've actually ran for. Every election, I've ended up sliding to another position and winning that one. But that's life, right?

We had a meeting today about senior trip. Going to Floride with over 200 of your peers? Priceless. I'm pretty damn excited, even though I get sick on planes. When I went to Israel, I got sick 4 times on that plane ride... but I don't feel like really getting into that hahaha.

Oh! Prom's a week from this coming Saturday. I have to lose 3 lbs to fit into my dress, and I don't see that happening since all I eat is sugary fried delicious but fattening food. But I'm cutting out my super sugary drinks, which will actually probably do a lot, and I'm starting to do a few crunches every night, which should also help, according to my mom. But I finally got a date yesterday, and I might have found a group for a limo today. So if all the limo's are not taken and we can find a small one (for 7 people) for a decent price, that will totally work out. Because I didn't want to be like the only loser driving to school, especially since my date's a sophmore and can't drive yet. Hmm. And driving in a huge prom dress? I can only imagine how difficult that would be, not to mention the heels.

And I am happy to report that nothing happened in my school on Friday. Although apparently we had over 1,500 absences that day. I think it was probably the safest day to be at my school, but apparently a lot of people disagreed. But whatever. Everyone lived and there was no harm done at all, so it is perfectly fine. Except now because we missed a day of math my math test was moved to tomorrow rather than today, so I have both a math and vocab test tomorrow. And I don't know any of my vocab.  I should probably be studying right now. I'm running out of things to say, anyway.

~ El

PS Wish me luck on getting a limo!

PPS I'm thinking about starting to maybe post my stories here on LJ. What do you all think?