This is it...

I realize that probably no one will read this, with maybe the exception of Marc considering he is still blogging himself. I think it might be time to remove this here blog for the wondrous "interweb" (as Roro would call it). Although it is nice to have it, just to vent sometimes or to catch up on some random stuff that has happened to my beloved 5th period classmates.
Popsicle Stand. has not been updated in a long time, and that was only because i was livid with the media so i had to tell someone. As both of the co-creators of this, being me and mmr, are going to college, I'd be very surprised to see this updated anymore after this. Although it's not hurting anyone to not have an updated blog, it would be hypocritical for me to keep it seeing as I was one of the most adamant for Roro to update his when the posts started to slow down.
So this is it, everyone, this is the last post, or at least for a great while.
~kd.

Thank You New England News Team.

So today's news was pretty interesting. A missile launched in North Korea both yesterday and today, which is being blamed on the US. Obama nominates Puerto Rican woman to Supreme Court. oh and...

BREAKING NEWS:
BIG PAPI DROPS TO THE 6TH SLOT IN TONIGHT'S BATTING LINE-UP.

There's something wrong here. Is the status of the redsox's DH "breaking news" worthy? Especially when it's surrounded by much more important, world-changing news?

Don't get me wrong, I'm quite a fan of baseball. But all that scrutiny I get for being a Yankee fan in New England just got interesting. Because there's no way I'm going to let this one go unnoticed.

~kd.

it's been a while

Oh hey. It's been a while since I've posted. Time for an update? Alrighty, here goes. So I went to Europe, Greece and Italy to be percise. Amazing pretty much sums that trip up. Greece just smelt so good, I dont know what it is. I think it might be all the beautiful orange trees just popping up everywhere. The view from our hotel of the Acropolis, especially at night, was incredible. Italy...I want to move there. Especially Sorento. By far my favorite stop on the trip. The cool little bungalows we stayed in (which also smelt very good) were so cute, and then there's that night at the disco...Rome was amazing with so much architecture and history. Plus, it was cool to see some things we had learned about in AP Art History. Speeeeaking of which, AP tests are FINALLY done. It's like a huge weight is lifted off us and now we can just coast throguh the rest of the year, which is quickly coming to an end. It's weird because I am so pumped to graduate and for summer and college, but a part of me always hates when something ends. So it's bittersweet I guess. So I'm just enjoying every minute of it, which is really all you can do.

-mmr

DC!

So over April Vacation I went to Washington DC for the first time ever. It was the most amazing place I've ever been. It's better than NYC, Boston, and Disney World combined. It wasn't until Tuesday that I really fell in love with it though. We got to see the Supreme Court in action. It was at that very moment that I realized DC is where I'm supposed to be. That is what I want to do. My mom always told me I can be whatever it is I want to be.. and well. That's it. So here it is, you guys, it's official. If I never become a supreme court justice, I will at least have a name for myself in the most amazing place in the nation.

~kd.

Porcupine Tree

i don't mind the wait

its feels like time is passing so quickly, its all going go by and i'm not ready. i mean, i'm pumped for college and something new and change and all that but everything just changed for me this year and again its changing. i was just getting used to everything, and now its going to pick up, move around, and change on me again. everybody wishes time would pass quicker, but me, i don't mind the wait. if we spend all our time wishing it would pass, then we miss whats happening now. and i know as soon as everything changes we're going to look back and wish we had more time. so thats why i'm enjoying the time thats left of this year, and making the best of it.


-mmr.

decision time.

So with the lack of getting into Brown and UVa, my choices are down to Clarkson, PC, and Suffolk. I have no intentions of going to Suffolk either, and they didn't give me all that much money, so that's out. I went to PC last weekend; it was nice. I'm not completely sold on it, but I went with my cousin who graduated there a while ago. Accepted students day is April 18th, so we'll see how that goes.

Clarkson, on the other hand, seems awesome! I'm going this weekend to officially view the campus and do all that fun stuff. I really hope I like the atmosphere because that could be the make or break part of the university for me. They have a ping pong club though, and I'm pretty sure that's all I needed to hear. (That's actually a lie because I absolutely suck at ping pong, but that's still wicked awesome.)

Any input?

~kd.

There Will Be Time..

Should I eat a peach? 

hahah. i found this and thought i should post it.

~kd.

AFRICA!!

So i'm putting off my reading a little bit. I wanted to mention that Africa is the only continent that hasn't looked at this blog. It makes me sad because we are SOOO close. 

oh well. completely random. but i needed to vent about it.

~kd.

Yay for Broadway!

Tomorrow I am officially going to see my 4th? broadway musical. So far I've seen Legally Blonde (which was awesome), Wicked (which was also very good), and the Grinch (which was ehh..). I feel like I've seen more than that, but I just cannot remember. Tomorrow's showing is Dirty Dancing. I'm wicked pumped, but I've only seen the movie once (which was a few months ago). 

I'm hoping it goes well!

~kd.

wait.. what?

So as soon as I thought I started getting into One Hundred Years of Solitude I realized that I'm not really enjoying it at all, I'm just motivated to get it over with.

oh, and p.s- Jose Arcadia Buendia reminds me of Buddha

~kd.

juh-eez.

I've never disliked a main character of a book so much. Not even K. from The Trial. No, Tommy Wilhelm from Seize the Day takes the cake. All he does is complain about his sad pathetic life, and expects his uppity father to sympathize with him and help him out. Yet he can't even help himself. All he does is make poor decisions he knows will turn out badly. You think he'd learn. I mean, he moved to California to become an actor against his better judgement. And we all know how that turned out. He got married to a crazy psycho lady against his better judgement. Now she's taking all his money. And now he wants to go into business with this somewhat shady "doctor". Admittedly, I'm only half way through the book, so I don't know how this all pans out; this is merely just a mid-book rant. I just want to tell him to take a shower and move to the country if he hates the city so much. I want to tell him to go find a job and make some money if his lack of it is causing him so much trouble. Stop complaining and do something about it. Jeez.

Ok, that's all for now.

-mmr

Creatures of Habit

"The getting out had in itself become the chief business. But he had realized that he could not keep this up much longer, and today he was afraid. He was aware that his routine was about o break up and he sensed that a huge trouble long presaged but till now formless was due. Before evening, he'd know.

Nevertheless, he followed his daily course and crossed the lobby."

--Seize the Day, Saul Bellow.

Wilhelm is the typical man: bored and in a sense unsatisfied with his life, but too scared to change it. His life has become a ritual. Everything happens as expected, at specific times, one event right after the other. It's like living in a constant deja vu. We've all done it; felt like we've done something totally bizarre before that we are sure we've never done. But life is habitual, and humans are creatures of habit. 

~kd.

"a gentle indifference"

"What really counted was the possibility of escape, a leap to freedom, out of the implacable ritual, a wild run for it that give whatever chance for hope there was. Of course, hope meant being cut down on some street corner, as you ran like mad, by a random bullet. But when I really thought it through, nothing was going to allow me such a luxury. Everything was against it; I would just be caught up in the machinery again."
-The Stranger, Albert Camus

Meursault stopped having hope, or allowing himself to hope, while he was in prison awaiting his death. Hope meant allowing himself to imagine his life if he were to live. Outside his cell, on the beach, with Marie. But that didn't matter. What mattered was whether or not they came to get him at dawn the next morning.


-mmr

Prufrockian Poetry

Since I didn't get to read mine in class, I decided to post my poem.

Slower than Slow

Let us go then, let us walk

With one last thought, one last talk

Within the confounds of these walls

"Please just stay" no one calls.

My life is changing,

Hopefully for the better.

I knew it was coming, ever since

I got the letter.

My last steps toward the door, slower than slow.

When I open the door

The future will lure

Me out of the past. 

The anxiety inside me better not last.

Unphased underclassmen go by and go by,

And all I want to do is cry.

As I leave one building, another awaits

Hesitant to go, but it is my fate.

I feel trapped, almost jailed

But I'm supposed to be free 

Surrounded by these people

Who just aren't like me.

Sophisticated, but a bit too cold

A little stupid, too loud, too bold.

As I grow older, I keep building a bond

With those I first envied, but now I am fond.

Unphased underclassmen go by and go by,

And all I want to do is cry.

Go back to the beginning but add four more years

Again through the cycle, again come the tears.

Another graduation, 

Another revelation.

Moving on and living life

Seems to bring so much strife.

But there will be time

To make a dime. 

In it, integrity may be lost

We all ask, "Is it worth the cost?"

And there will be time

To create and destroy crime

Time to condemn and punish ideals

Time to hide what time reveals.

I am not Cordelia, 

Nor do I want to be.

Neglected and abandoned--

No! That's not for me.

Ostracized for my word and thought

I stand by them no more nor less

Than I ought.

Will it be worth it,

To go for longer than just a visit?

A step beyond the door

And the same is no more.

Would it have been worthwhile,

To have bitten of the matter with a smile?

I grow old... I grow old...

I finally realize my future is my gold.

~kd.

V-day bashing.

The only cute thing about valentines day is this little story:

So my cousin Chloe, who is six, was showing me her Valentines she made for her class (oh the days of mandatory valentines for everyone). Batman for the boys and Hannah Montanna for the girls. She showed me the special one she made for her little crush, Owen. It had three sticker hearts and said "I love you". I told her that was so cute, and she asked me if I wanted to see a picture of him. She showed me and I said "Ouu Chloe, he's a cutie." Her response: "YOU CANT LOVE HIM TOO!!"

I guess what I'm trying to say is Valentine's Day is stupid unless you're six and have a crush on a kid named Owen. Other than that it's just annoying...

--mmr

Prufrock and Other Observations

For tomorrow's class, we are assigned to read T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." When talking to Nigel about what the poem actually means (which was hard for me to get right away), he gave me a poem that we'll be reading tomorrow. It is much like the assignment we are about to get, rewrite "Prufrock." It's called "Other Observations" by Connie Cooper, and to be completely honest, I find it more interesting, more endearing, and way easier to read than its origin. 

It's probably my new favorite poem. This one line sticks out in particular:

"Time to condemn and punish ideals,

Time to hide what time reveals"

I'm kind of excited to write my own version, especially if it comes out as good as Cooper's

~kd

woo film club!

We FINALLY watched a movie in film club! LA Confidential will go down in history as the club's first ever movie viewed. It was quite good. It reminded me of The Departed a bit, but that might just be because Exley looks like a cross between Mark Wahlberg and Matt Damon (both in The Departed). So far there's been prison beatings, murder rampage at a diner, drug deals, and movie star look-a-like hookers. Crazyness. I'm pumped to see the rest!

-mmr

Midterms..

..are finally over!!!

To celebrate, me and a few of my dearest friends decided to paint the senior lounge. What we thought would only take a few hours at max, ended up being 7! We were at school later than most teachers were. I actually only think the basketball team and spectators were at the school. As long and tedious as it was, it totally paid off. Not to be conceited or anything, but it looks awesome.

I have to admit, today has been quite a day. Waking up at 5 to go to the gym before school, my lit midterm, and 7 hours of painting. UGH! It's been extremely hectic, and I am beyond ready for bed. 

~kd.

Welcome World

So we have this new tracking device on our blog that shows how many people have looked at it. We have many places in America that have viewed Popsicle Stand. Not only that, but apparently someone in Belgium and in Canada have looked at it!!!

I'm wicked pumped about that... and I just wanted to say Welcome to all of those who have visted. (comments are much appreciated)

~kd.

best days

"It opened with the melancholy reflection that, in the lives of mortals, the best days are the first to flee."

That's mildly depressing. But I guess that's why we cherish the memories of those best days, and hold on to them tighter than any other memory. So in a sense, yes, the best days are over too soon. But then again, they're the ones we hold onto the most and so they're with us much longer. My Antonia for some reasons reminds me of the carefree days of summer. And to me, those are my best days, and to be taken back to them by reading this is quite nice.

--mmr

Jelinek knows the Doomed Youth

"I believe in prayer for the dead. I have seen too much... So I feel very bad for my kawntree-man to die without the Sacrament, and to die in a bad way for his soul, and I feel sad for his family."

Anthem for a Doomed Youth presents the same ideas Jelinek has in poem form. The somber, dreary sonnet presents separation of war and church, and how war ultimately negates religion. Owen believes that war causes unnecessary death and is a waste of young lives, which seems to be echoed by Jelinek and Grandfather.

~kd.