Pleasure is a shadow, wealth is vanity, and power is a pageant; but knowledge is ecstatic in enjoyment, perennial in frame, unlimited in space, and indefinite in duration.

I saw a "Toddlers and Tiaras" today, and I couldn't help it.
First item -The mothers. How could they do that to their children? I understand wanting their children to be the best, but really! Giving them super sugar drinks? Telling them to show the judges their bellies? Spoiling them so much? They may be "winners" now, but what about when they get in to the real world? When they aren't the center of everything? Maybe one or two will be able to model, or be a pageant winner, or whatever, for a few years, but then what? Marry a rich guy and keep living off him for the rest of your life? No! That's not acceptable! Do they think that teachers and other students will put up with those little baby b****s in training (I apologize for the bad word- I can't think of another one)? They are destroying the lives of their children! Setting them up for failure, and teasing for the rest of their lives. And some of them, they let their children hit them, and do anything they want! They can't do that out here! The rest of us won't pick up their slack! We won't put up with their spoiled little "But Mommy let's me do anything! She says I'm better than everyone! Mommy doesn't make me do that!" attitudes! No! Just no.
And some of those poor little girls hate it! They don't want to be pageant winners! Their mothers are forcing them to it! It's not fair to that girl to ruin a girl who could have been very successful in her future, but they had to go and spoil them and teach them to think they're better than the rest of us. They are not better than the rest of us, and it's going to be hard for them to adjust. Did their mothers think they could just keep their little girl with them forever? Because they can't.
Two- The girls themselves. There was one girl I saw who actually looked like she might be decent - until she started talking about herself, and how she was going to win because she was better than all the rest of them. They hit their mothers, they are conceited, they think they can be successful because they are pretty. Only a few people can do that, honey. Only a few can succeed because of their looks. The rest of us have to rely on brains or athletics (though I have problems with athletes, too, just not as many, and I guess I'm an athlete too, so- actually I don't have problems with athletes. Never mind) or just plain perseverance, because those stars and models are a very small percentage of the world. But mostly it's the mothers that p- tick me off. Ruining the successfulness of their children's lives. If I could smack them across the face, I would.
Forgive me. Another rant about horrible people. I seem to have a lot of those lately. Especially because of that one teacher - I actually have materials, like reference book and book of quizzes to prepare myself for the ending test. I apologize. I really dislike people like them.
This is the clip I watched. A waste of six minutes I will never get back. Watch it to understand - it will make you want to rant too.

"A person who lives right, and is right, has more power in his silence than another in his words"

People are never as interesting as they think they are.

I know I'm not interesting. I don't try to be. I like being the person behind the scenes, who no one knows and no one sees. Like teachers. People never think of them really having a life. I want to be a teacher. Until I become an author, at least. I want to be a famous author, so I can live off it, but not so famous that people bug me all the time.

Other: I'm typing this on my brand-new laptop! Well, not brand new. My father gave it to me over spring break. It was his second, the one he doesn't ever use except when he doesn't want to carry his upstairs so he just used this one. It's two years old, but still works really well. I like it. It looks good on my vanity. I'm waiting for a friend of mine, Emma-Kate, to decide if she is going to give me her old desk. I need a relatively small desk, 'cuz my room is running out of room. Haha, that sounds funny out loud. Anyway, she has two desks, and the one I might get is relatively small with a hutch on top. It would look good with my furniture, and there's a spot in my room where it would fit perfectly. But if she decides not to give it to me, I'll just find another one. Go Craig's List.

So, I painted my room. It's green. As soon as I get a desk(hurry up, EK!) and put up shelves where they're going to go, I'm putting up my whiteboard and a ton of posters I have living under my bed.

We just got back from Spring Break, which was nice. The fam and I went to the beach, and I got a shorts tan from walking for like 2 hours. Easter was nice- I got a sugar rush from all the candy I ate, and ended up rolling the die for everyone and moving their pieces for them. My sisters told me it was scary to watch. I just remember laughing and trembling.

Today we had school again. Ich. my English teacher is teaching us different stuff to help us with the EOCs. Which is ok, but not any fun. We're writing argumentative essays too. We just turned in our rough drafts and I just know when I get mine back it will be covered in red marks. EEK! My math teacher was absent, my history teacher was dull as usual, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to fail the science EOC, thanks to my horrible teacher who I completely and totally despise. She is incompetent, lazy, ridiculous, disrespectful, unworthy of respect, stupid, horrible, a complete and total imbecile. She moves our seats nearly every day because she doesn't understand that WE WILL TALK. NO MATTER WHAT SHE DOES. WE WILL NOT BE SILENT FOR AN ENTIRE CLASS!!!!!!! Urgh! I feel like I will scream whenever she speaks! Her very existence can destroy my chances of being in a high-level class next year! I hope she gets fired and breaks her arms and legs falling off a cliff. Anyone who knows me should know that is not something I wish on people. I usually just hope they disappear from my life, never to be found by me again. Or something of the sort. Usually I'm only teasingly mean to my friends. But she just- ugh. I can't stand her. I may even hate her- which is very unusual for me to say, because I don't believe people should be hated unless they are like Hitler or Stalin. (For this piece, you must ignore the title and think of "A voice is a human gift; it should be cherished and used, to utter fully human speech as possible. Powerlessness and silence go together.")

My book is coming along nicely, for those who care. I'm going to start typing it in to my computer instead of having it just in a notebook soon.

So long.

(Did anyone notice how I've begun capitalizing again?)