Hopeless attempts to decrease bullshit output.

It's official. Thanksgiving break has begun. At 11:00 this morning, the 4 1/2 day weekend began. Loving it. See, the problem with the half day is that we do periods 1, 2, 3, and 7. So basically, I was in a double period of Euro, then Chem, and then Italian. Terrible crap. And Shep decided we have to do review questions for the end of the chapter now since we're becoming a 'spoon-fed' class. Total shit.

Haibon cracked me up today. On the elements quiz the other day, I wrote "GO YANKEES!". When we got it back today, the top of my paper looked like this:

Hello, my name is Laura Fiorenza and I'm CHATTY! GO (HOME) YANKEES!

Good crap! And I might have actually done okay on the quiz today. Morgese brought us munchkins today - she's actually good for something! Amazing!

So last night, I discovered Josh Rouse. He is seriously amazing - Sad Eyes was on Grey's last week and I just downloaded it. Seriously, though, all the songs of his I've heard so far are amazing. Good stuff.

This week has been a good week...for a lot of reasons. I learned a lot of things. I learned that being half asleep in school makes it go by faster since you're not paying attention anyway. I learned that when you least expect it, people surprise you. And there really are some great people out there. There really are some guys who aren't jerks. And I guess in making yourself happy, what it comes down to is faith, faith in what you don't know for certain. Great things can happen if you let them. Take a risk, risk it all. You never know.

Now that I'm done preaching, I'm just going to relax. The Devils play Florida tonight at 7:00. We better win. If we don't, I'll get pissed. Speaking of which, Jen and I gave our list of grievances to Armida -- a true classic. I love it.

See you later!

Matt Nathanson is truly amazing. I've been listening to him all night and he's really just perfect. Music-wise, I was at Best Buy tonight and bought Hot Hot Heat's CD, Elevator. It's pretty good - they're very unique.

We went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire today at 12:30. I just don't like Harry Potter. It's annoying me. But Gina wanted to see it...so blah. Nothing happened before the movie time since I woke up just in time to get ready. Oh, and I needed clothes but the parental units were as USUAL in a rush to leave. Actually, Dad just wanted to eat. Speaking of which, we had Chinese tonight. It was awesome. Ocean Empire is amazing.

After the food, I watched the Devils game. We played Ottawa tonight, the now leading team in the Eastern conference. We played our hearts out tonight and ended up with a 5-4 loss. And you know what? I'll take it. We were down 5-2 and I didn't think we'd come back. But I was wrong and we came back alright. We played the game of our lives. And it was enough. I think it was enough for all the fans.

Speaking of which, we beat Montreal last night 5-3. How about that shit?! They're 2nd in the Eastern conference. We are amazing. And the other night, the Rangers lost 5-1 to the Hurricanes. They beat them today but that doesn't matter. Oh, and the Islanders lost the other night as well and came back to win today. So it's all good. At least the Devils hit the 20 point mark.

Tomorrow, we're spending the afternoon (basically, my day) at Jim & Antonella's for Alessandra's 2nd birthday. Basically, it'll be hell. I mean, we're going to see little Damien child, Michael Brandon, and at the same time deal with Jim and the freaking Irish shits known as his family. It's going to be bad, quite bad. It sucks to be the only one around the age of 16. Sucks like there's no tomorrow. And it's not fair.

I'm going to kill Mom, by the way. After Harry Potter, she asked every stupid question in the book. SHE DIDN'T GET IT! She couldn't even remember the names of the main characters, for God's sake! And then outside Best Buy, while thinking about what Gina would like for her birthday, she's like, "What about that video iPod?" WHERE DOES SHE GET OFF SUGGESTING THAT FOR HER WHEN SHE WON'T EVEN SPEND A HUNDRED BUCKS ON ME?! SHE'S NOT INTERESTED IN MUSIC SO STOP BUYING HER IPODS! SHE ALREADY HAS ONE! My God. I just can't.

I talked to Steve on the phone tonight, which pretty much made my night. It cheered me up from my pretty much bad night. So I'm grateful to him for that. Keeps me smiling.

:) Ciao.

Things have been pretty good lately. People have put me in a better mood and I like it. :) We had a forensics competition today at Suffern HS. I tied for 5th out of...16 or something. Got a compliment from one of the judges though, so I'm happy. As for the rest of the team, Edwin and Raj took 1st and 2nd in poetry, Travis took 2nd in impromptu, and Esosa took 2nd in prose. We did damn good. Oh, and Travis was freaking hysterical in the finals. Loved it. Some people are just bad, though. Seriously. This guy was up there in the finals going on about democracy and the people and the party - whatever else he said. He can also be quoted as saying, "You are not gasoline! You do not explode!" Really, now? And yet, he won. Who knows.

The Devils lost last night. It seems we can't keep a winning record by more than 1 game. We lost to freaking Buffalo, for God's sake. We started off so well and had a pretty good game going overall but it just...ugh. It was pathetic. 4-1. But the Rangers lost too (to the Leafs), so I'm not as pissed.

Steve got me back into my obsession with OK Go. They're my new band of the moment. They're seriously awesome. And apparently, this band Gob is pretty good too. Real punk - not that newer Green Day crap. I hate mainstream...most of it, anyway.

Tomorrow, Shep and Armida are going to be absent. Basically, that's a double period of Enlightened monarchs for Euro. And for Armida, we'll probably have to do some stuff with 1984. I hate that book. Sparknoting the last part.

I just realized I haven't updated since Grey's Anatomy this past Sunday. Great episode, as usual. I'm glad Addison/Sheperd are making a decent effort to fix their marriage. I don't think it's going to work - actually, I know it won't - but it's good that they're trying. I think Meredith should respect him for that. Loved her voiceovers this week, by the way. George pissed me off this episode. He needs to contain some of his excitement. All that 'carpe diem' crap got annoying. Did feel bad for the guy who jumped and killed the pigeon though. (LMAO) Classic. Next episode is going to be great, though. Thanksgiving will involve Burke and Izzie making the turkey ("I need suction!" lmao) and George going turkey hunting with his psychotic family.

Speaking of which, 'psychotic' is my new favorite word. It describes me as well as my family pretty damn perfectly. My family is insanely dysfunctional. Can't wait for Thanksgiving. Always a fun holiday with the family. Guaranteed to be dangerous.

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

I had started to write an entry last night but I got distracted. So here I am, updating you on yesterday and today. This will all most likely be out of order.

The Devils beat the Caps on Friday and Saturday, by scores of 4-3 and 3-2 respectively. Marty has come through with two wins upon his return. Thank GOD. So now, we're in the top 8 in the NHL again. Next step: beat Ranger ass. Oh, and then take on the Red Wings.

So I got a haircut yesterday, which I love. My hair's a couple of inches shorter and more angled. I like it. Oh, Zio Bruno came over after that. He's completely lost his mind, I swear. I mean, the entire family is basically insane.

Speaking of which, we were originally going over to Zia Teresa's for Thanksgiving. However, plans have changed. Since she's scheduled it for 2:30, which means 5:30 over there, my parents have decided we'll end up at Nonna's instead at 1:00. Much better. I hate Zia Teresa's cold cutlets and well, that side of the family kind of weirds me out as it is.

I finished Bridget Jones's Diary yesterday morning. I absolutely loved it. Actually, I went out and bought the sequel last night so I can read continuously through the life of Bridget Jones. Highly recommended reading, by the way, for anyone.

Our forensics competition is Wednesday at Suffern. I'm kind of doubting that I'll end up in the finals but it's possible, considering half the people who get up there forget their monologues. Anyway, we'll see. I really should work on polishing it off now, actually.

Grey's Anatomy is on tonight and I am definitely looking forward to it! Very excited. In fact, I've started a countdown in my AIM profile for the show each week. I live for that show. Next to hockey, of course.

I just had ADD for about ten minutes. Moving on, it's already dark outside, one of the things I hate about winter. I've been invited to go play tennis tomorrow but I will probably not be able to go since I have forensics for three hours.

We're off tomorrow! I love staff development days. Must go though.

I shall return to the Phillipines!

My day has been particularly uneventful so far considering I woke up at 12:30. It was nice catching up on all the sleep I lost this week. I was basically an invalid for the duration of the school week. Speaking of which, for the first time in her life, Fremont didn't have all our tests graded by the next day! It's a miracle of God, actually. Psycho.

Last night, I went and babysat Satan's children across the street. They actually weren't bad considering I was practically asleep and not in the mood for very much. The little one was more tolerable - that kid loves me. The older one was kind of...annoying.

I heard the funniest thing on earth last night: Italian OnStar. Definitely the most amazing thing in existence. The woman and her husband basically freak out at OnStar. It's great! Italians are insane - I love my heritage.

Anyway, my Devils are playing the Caps tonight. I swear, if we lose to the CAPS, I will die. For God's sake, they're the 2nd worst team in the NHL. According to my statistics, anyway. And the Rangers won again last night. I really do despise them.

Oh, and new love interest. I really must stop this.

Ciao tutti!

Today was nothing spectacular. I can't think of anything too amazing that happened. In Haibon's class, I caught up on my sleep during the fireworks video. Actually, we watched a video in Shep's class too. Easy morning, actually. Fremont's test was easy, though everyone was cheating anyway. She seriously doesn't realize that everyone's copying off of each other. Then Morgese was her usual overly excited self. She's going to drive us all insane. We did Socratic in Armida's class -- it wasn't so great this time. And there's a certain someone in that lovely English class that I want to hit.

Morgese thought I was cheating on my Italian quiz today. She saw me looking over at Katie's quiz. Whatever. We had to write a paragraph for Armida on our goal for the quarter. I think my paragraph is the biggest load of bullshit there is. And I don't care. He's posting these up somewhere too, so I put my name in really small print.

My phone is completely screwed up so I need a new one. Until then, I can't really use it. Ugh, but tomorrow night, I have to babysit Satan's children. Lee called the house since he left a message on my cell and I never got the message. I really hate those kids like nothing else. They better not be all riled up like usual. I'm gonna be dead tired after school. Seriously.

The Rangers won tonight on the shootout. Jagr missed his shot pretty badly though - great stuff. He didn't even get off the shot, actually. I hate Jagr like nothing else. The Devs are playing Friday against the Caps. Let me tell you something. If we lose to the freaking CAPS, I will lose it. Honest to God, the CAPS! Ugh.

So my whole 'I'm not going to bother' deal with guys is working out fine. I just don't think there's a normal guy out there who actually wants a relationship. They all want to "hook up" or be "friends with benefits". Hopeless cause.

I tried to study Euro but I kept falling asleep while I was reading. So basically, tomorrow before first period, I'm gonna study. I really just...I'm so tired, it's ridiculous. Why am I still here, then? I don't know. And I just broke one of Shep's writing rules. Ah, and I have an Italian grammar quiz tomorrow that I should have studied for.

Lizzo stole my shoe today at lunch! :P Definitely unfair. But I got it back thanks to Casey! What I just told you was completely unimportant but it was funny. Oh, and the hot dogs were...weird today.

Anyway, I'm out. Much love.

The Devils decided not to play tonight. There was a scheduled game. There were players out on the ice. But no one bothered to play. They fell all over the ice and overskated the puck. They took stupid penalties and watched as their goalie lost stupid goals. And the fans could only look on at how pathetic their team skated.

Moving on from that, I spent the morning at Katharine's with her and Amanda. We watched Love Actually and ate Chinese food. Good stuff there. And then I had to go to a forensics meeting. I actually have my piece memorized. How about that?! I'm thrilled. We have our competition next week. It's at Suffern HS and we better win a few categories. I think we have some potentially good pieces.

Oh, and I decided I'm beyond caring about guys. I think it's a complete waste of my time and energy to worry about people who don't waste a second of their time and energy on me. I just need someone who wants what I want out of a relationship, and that's not some random hookup. Maybe I'll find him at some point in time.

I think I'm pretty content with my realizations for the night. I guess I just needed to get over my cynical outlook on life. I'll be back to it after my next Bridget Jones reading. That book is amazing.

I think I'm just going to go finish reading 1984 Sparknotes and then go to bed.

Ciao tutti.

I'm feeling like a vapid narcissist tonight. Excuse the pessimism.

There seems to be this thing with people not understanding me correctly. I must give off 'misjudge me' vibes or something because every five seconds of my life for the past two days has involved me being extremely nasty or just generally being a jerk. There must be some errant thought-releaser in my brain telling me to think terrible, negative thoughts.

Sorry for those of you who have been exposed to "bipolar Laura". I blame my mother. You should too. I find it's quite effective. But anyway, I've basically come to the realization that only one in one million guys actually want a relationship. Oh, and that one guy is gay.

So I managed to successfully repel every potential love interest I had in a matter of 5 minutes. It was lovely. There's this craze swallowing the male population - they just want to hook up. Maybe I'm being a bitch with high standards but frankly, I think I deserve better. I think women deserve better. Okay, I'm stopping myself before I launch into a feminist rave. But basically, I came to the conclusion that I intimidate guys. I have this terrible "I'm going to kick the shit out of you" effect on them. That could be a result of my telling them I'm going to every 5 seconds. I'm so done with this crap.

I spent the day at and around Columbia University today. There was a journalism conference, not that we actually went to all of the workshops. We spent a good amount of time walking around shopping. It's a gorgeous campus, by the way. I'm definitely applying there and considering it as a possibility. I might not get in, but it's still there.

By the way, Starbucks has this Vanilla Creme that is absolutely heavenly. I swear, I loved it like nothing else. And we ate at this sandwich place. The sandwiches there were AMAZING. Amazing like nothing else.

There was also this guy in a photography lecture we sat through. Meaghan guessed his name was Peter. So there were a couple of 'love notes' drafted. It was interesting. Oh, and then at this "Encouraging Chaos" lecture, the lady was completely insane. There was something seriously wrong with her mentally. There were such issues there. But Alla and Meaghan kept today interesting for me. :)

Grey's Anatomy last night was amazing, as usual. Derek and Meredith will get back together eventually, as is proven by McDreamy/McSatan's pathetic appearance in therapy. She's only moving to Seattle because of the position Webber offered her. Alex FINALLY gave Izzie her goodnight kiss. It's about damn time. And naturally, Burke/Cristina were amazing. George was surprisingly funny as Burke's "go-to guy". I was proud of Meredith in this episode. She told off pregnant guy's "spectators" and topped that by telling off Sheperd. He had it coming. And Bailey stopped him from talking to her - she was right on target there. She's that car wreckage everyone's slowing down to look at. :(

Anyway, day off tomorrow! I'm going to hang out with people - we plan on eating Chinese food and watching Love Actually. Amazing way to spend a day. :) Yay!

So I'm out of here. And to all a good night.

A good movie should be good from start to finish. I thought, as I watched Prime today in the movie theater, that maybe this one would be a good movie. Well, it was until the end. The movie collapsed into itself in the last scene. As funny and well-acted as that movie was, it lost me at the end. I was ticked off. And I think everyone else in the theater was pretty dumbfounded too. Terrible.

I bought NHL 2k6 for PS2 today, since our X-Box has chosen not to read disks all of a sudden. Dad's gonna buy me an X-Box 360!! Insanely excited about this. You have no idea.

I spent the day at the mall with Amanda, where I actually managed to not spend every dollar of my money. I was proud of myself. Oh, and I got to meet Jackie! We ended up at the mall at the same time! Greatness. We're going to see Rent together soon!

Turns out I'm too chatty in Chemistry, according to Haibon. That went over real well with the parental units as you can imagine. Had to talk my way out of it. On a positive note, Math ended up being my highest average, a 99. I don't understand how Math of ALL subjects ended up at a 99. Chemistry was a 90, English a 96 (thanks to the 1984 pop quizzes), Italian a 96, and AP Euro a 92. Okay for first quarter. Gotta bring them up, though.

I get to go on a field trip Monday to Columbia University. Awesomeness. And I'm going with Meaghan! Even more awesome! I love missing school.

Apparently, Dad's going away for a week to DC the day before the Devils game we got tickets to. So, since Mommie Dearest can't go, she's dropping me and Gina off at the game and going to her Mrs. Shankey's 70th birthday party. I can't WAIT!

Oh, and there was this awesome preview for The Producers today in the movies. I can't wait for that to come out. HITLER IN THE SPRINGTIME!

Farewell comrades.

My father is the source of tonight's now shitty mood.

Oh, and I think we replay the badminton championship tomorrow. I'm in the retard bracket. We're gonna lose. Oh dear.

My deal with Morgese has held up well, indeed.

Mom comes home from Princeton tomorrow.

I must go study Euro. Oh, and I must find something else rather fascinating to do. I'm not sure what yet.

Ciao.

Today, I witnessed the deterioration of society at its best. Naturally, this was in English class. We had a 'writer's workshop' that began by each of us writing down a favorite song lyric on a sheet of paper. Then, we rotated around the room and wrote part of a story based on the quote. I just...I can't even begin to understand why every SINGLE quote was emo. From 'pardon me while I burst into flames' to 'I would die to impress you', they were all about death and dying.

What is so GREAT and APPEALING about 'emo'? Did we all have this secret inner desire to self-combust that was just DYING to be revealed? Why do we like to hear about bursting into flames, about slitting our throats? Is thinking about death exciting? Because apparently, I'm missing out.

Our parents must love hearing this crap. They must love hearing that their child's favorite song is about slitting wrists and crying till the day is done. This must be really encouraging for them.

I think we're all doomed. I think that someday, some 'emo' artist is going to write a song about the world ending and someone's going to decide that's a GREAT idea. I just...I don't underSTAND. If the lead singer of Jimmy Eat World said that dying was the key to happiness, half the teenage population would dive off a bridge.

You're not COOL for listening to death music. You will never BE cool. And all these damn bands that keep coming out with songs about murdering each other and slicing their hearts in two need to stop. Any idiot can sing a song about his broken heart and get it released. And everyone loves it. I don't understand why, but it's true. Every band sounds exactly the same. And every person who has ever heard an emo song is encouraged to dress in all black and sulk.

Ultimately, this is the decline of civilization. We must all prepare.

I've had it. Can you tell?

The Devils lost in overtime tonight. Correction: they came back from a 3-1 deficit to tie the game in the 3rd and THEN THEY LOST IT ON A PIECE OF SHIT SHOT THAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER GONE IN. We got a point, but that's not good enough. Off that topic.

My Chem binder has been sitting in my lap for God knows how long and I refuse to study it. I just...I can't read anything about orbitals right now. Not to mention every quiz I screw up on, Haibon decides to count as "a test". I just...whatever.

I'm in some kind of mood right now that I can't even put my finger on. It's somewhere between extremely pissed off and extremely exhausted. I guess it's my late-night 2AM mood, the kind that eventually wakes me up feeling dead exhausted in the morning.

Boston Legal is on right now and I really don't feel like watching it. I just...don't. The only show half worth watching nowadays is Grey's Anatomy. I worship that show. And Derek and Meredith WILL get back together.

I should recap Halloween for those of you who missed out on the godliness. My costume involved a giant hat (I'll have a picture soon) and some majorly flashy beads and earrings. Brandon managed to get down on his knees in front of everyone's houses and beg for candy. Oh, and everyone has to hate NR now since we ran around yelling RAIDER PRIDE the entire night. :D Oh, and this lady told me my hat was spectacular. MADE. MY. NIGHT.

Palmero says I have to go back to my old piece for the competition. Basically, I have to memorize like a BEAST for the competition. Ugh. This oughta be good.

So dead tired. I'm just...ugh, I'm out.

Nite everyone.