Lying

"Have you done your homework, Freedom? I know you have that math test today. You studied, didn't you?"
"Of course! What do you think I am, a liar? You don't need to check up on me all the time, you know!" I said as I frantically looked over the study guide for the first time, stuffing it hurriedly in my bag as my mother came up the stairs.
That happened once, in sixth grade. Naturally, I aced the test, but that's not the point, really. Kind of, but no. (An "A." 97%, people!) There was this study on the Yahoo! homepage, the recent news part, that people lie. A lot and unconsciously. And my mother-and maybe even my brother-will be perfectly happy to let you know that I am no exception.
I found this-the study, not my compulsive lying-very interesting. Especially the part that said humans are programmed to lie. That people lie three times in ten minutes while getting acquainted. What would the world be without lying, do you think? Better, or worse?
On the one hand, there couldn't be any lying, about anything. I suppose that's very good. No lying about anything shady or anything like that. But what if just telling the truth, that thing that is so revered, you could wipe out a whole species of animal? What if you lose a friend because of blunt honesty, you tell a secret that they trusted you with? What if you make a friend because of your honesty?
Enough 'what ifs.' (What if I finally shut up? Yeah, right.)
I guess lying is okay, in moderation. You will have no life whatsoever and will probably end up completely alone in life if you tell either lies or the truth all the time.
But I guess that was obvious. Unless you're a liar.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090819/hl_time/08599191721500

Quote for Wednesday, August 19, 2009:

Don’t lie, but don’t tell the whole truth.

-Baltasar Gracián, Maxim 181, The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)

(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dishonesty)

Yuck. It's Seventh Grade.

I was reading the fabulous blog of Libba Bray, the author of A Great and Terrible Beauty, and the most recent post was of something that I hated.
http://libba-bray.livejournal.com/50319.html
YUCK! I hated seventh grade. Hated, hated, hated, with every fiber of my being. Sixth grade was just bad, but seventh grade was sixth grade with a dollop of stress added on top. And poison. And rat's tails. Not cool. It seemed like every single person was growing up exept for me. I don't want to grow up, of course, and I'm trying not to, but it's very depressing when people become bratty idiots who you cannot stand for more then three minutes.
And one commenter said something extremely lovely, not to go to school dances, that's the solution.
Why do they even have school dances? No one even dances. It's just an excuse to waste lots of time and money going and embarassing yourself. I went to two dances in sixth grade and I never will again. It was a scarring experience. And Libba's discription does not make me eager to go to anything else.

Quote for Sunday, August 16, 2009:

Do not take life too seriously; you will never get out of it alive.

-Elbert Hubbard

(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Elbert_Hubbard)

School Shopping

Does anyone else here enjoy back to school shopping? It sends me into a frenzy, of course, because I worry about everything, but if I ever stopped worrying I'm sure I'd love it. It has an evil sense of foreboding, naturally, but I like the smell and the look of it all. The smell of freshly sharpened pencils with their sharp silvery points, pink rubber erasers that you can flip around on your desk, new bookcovers, packs upon packs of fresh, white lined paper that just beg to be written on....

If I sound vaguely dorkish, let me assure you lot- I hate going to school. If we could just shop for school supplies, and everyday I would just stare at it very admiringly and not use/break/smudge/chomp/lose/lend any of it, EVER, that would be fine by me.

Dialouge for Saturday, August 15, 2009:

Artemis: Holly, how did you find me?

Holly: Oh, I saw a huge explosion and wondered: now, who could that be?

-Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox by Eion Colfer

(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Artemis_Fowl)

More About Books

Today, instead of doing math while eating breakfast, I was reading a book (of course). Saffy's Angel, by Hilary McKay.
I've read this book about thrice in the past eleven months. (I believe in Jane Penderwick's rule- once you have read a book, you cannot, simply cannot read it again until it's a few months later.) For some of my friends, that is two times too many. No one I know has read Harry Potter as many times as I believe I have, for instance. The Penderwicks on Gardam Street? I'm famous in class for reading that about six times during the year. But the Cassons, it's something new each time I read the series, because as the books progress, the characters change so much. It's nice going back to Saffy's Angel and seeing Indigo Casson as an anxious little boy who was scared of heights, or Permanent Rose as so very impermanent, or Saffron as so fierce and doing her homework on the bus. (Do you know how strict Saffy and Sarah are about homework now?)
But that's why I reread books too many times (in my mother's opinion. Especially Harry Potter.) because each time, you find something new, a witty line your favorite character said that you missed the first time around, a whole (gasp!) page that you didn't read, little bits of foreshadowing that you'd only know the second time. It's kind of like finding out pleasant secrets from your best friend. You notice things that seem out of character, things that make you go "I like that guy," to your very confused brother/cousin, anything. There's a little bit of magic in that, I think. Kind of like a friend. And nowadays, we need all the magic we can get.

Quote for Friday, August 14, 2009:

Anybody who watches three games of football in a row should be declared brain dead.

-Erma Bombeck

(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Erma_Bombeck)

Random, Completely Uncalled For Explaination

I have decided to explain the name of my blog, Everlasting_Freedom. This is because soon, I will have no time to do anything whatsoever, and I had better explain right now.

The first one is obvious. My name. I used to think about what it would be like to be immortal. When I was younger, I really wanted to be. As I grew up, I thought that it would be scary and boring to live forever. So maybe I could be Everlasting in a different way? I have no idea.

Next is, of course, a story I began! In that story, a character, named Ferne, started a blog. She used a fake name, Freedom R.A.S. Her username, for everything, was everlasting_freedom. I wanted to use that somehow, so I named my blog Everlasting_Freedom. I don't write about freedom, but I think the name is lovely. And someone who does want to write about actual freedom is free to use it.

I will be very surprised if anyone really cares about this, but it's just one more thing you know. You can brag about this fact, that you know why my blog is named thus, and cause general confusion, if you want. I would be extremely pleased.