How I Decorate/Celebrate @ Christmas

Last year was my first memory of Christmas but I must take you to Halloween 2009 to begin this story. I had been an orphan at St. Michael's and won a Halloween photo contest in Midian City (only rule was the pic had to be taken on that sim). When I arrived at the Art Gallery to see my entry on display, 2 women were looking around. One of them offered to buy me a meal and after enjoying our time together, she asked to adopt me and I accepted. I settled into her penthouse apartment there and was very happy til she met a Gorean man one month later. Instantly, Mama fell head over heels for him :(  When she moved into his home, I was not allowed on his adult sim so I became a throwaway child on the streets for Christmas. This season is not an easy one in Midian City but the only homelife I had known was in that hardscrabble region so I hung around hoping to find a warm parent like the one I recently loved. One day, in my wandering, I came across Santa just relaxin' in a seat....so I leaped onto his lap with joy! Apparently he was off duty and did not appreciate my disturbance so he spanked me :(

                                 

Needless to say, I became fearful of Santa after that. But one day, Sister Darkness (at the orphanage) told us Santa would be coming to visit in neaby Apocalypse the following night. She said he had someting for us and we all became excited for the event. But after a long, long, wait literally "chillin on de street", Scary-Santa sneaked up on us from behind. He was grimy and skinny and apparently in a diet-rage as he was packing heat: Never ever did we imagine what he would have for us would be bullets! I ran way and hid out for de holidays.                                



Christmas Tree Lighting

Last night was so special in many ways. The tree lighting event in Little Wonders was sensational, especially with the live singer Samm and Rockefeller Center (who made the woww golden statue?) and um....what else am I forgetting?....um....oh ya, SANTA. haha, I dint really forget him as I neber do. The highlight for me though was to have a parent attend a school function for me. I neber had that caring before. Early yesterday, my newly adoptive Dad asked about the ceremony. At the time, he was shirtless but sported some tattoos. I said: "Dad, please dress nicely as you cannot wear just tatters and tats!" LoL he arrived at Little Wonders in his magnificent flowing cape and brought along my hilarious-has-us-in-stitches blue-haired uncle all pimped out in his blue tux and carnation. hehe now I was underdressed, what can I say? Except ty for coming. <3 When Brace finally came online and TPed in, I tried so hard to get a foto of me with my fave guys but kept crashing so in the end I DID get a foto of us four but let's just say I was more mist than misty-eyed (see above pic) Can you spot me?  :P



My highlight was the chance to be with Santa. I was glad to see him and I hope he brings me what I asked for. I trust him a lot and he said he'd see what he could do. I tant ask for more than that. xoxoxox for you Sanna.

What I am Thankful for

YO! This is a time of thanksgibing and I'm very grateful for many things but since this journal is written at my school desk, thoughts of appreciation for OSE surface. I lob my teashers and I wike my blogs (ya I have a second one now too---http://sloanew.blogspot.com/ ) and my photography class and lotsa inneresting things. BUT. (That but is so important that it rates a sentence all by itself). But....something at my school does worry me and eben though I have kept this secwet to myself, I tink it's time I share the 411. Namely, there are two administrators who MAY be dangerous: Miss Jill and Miss Kendwa. I KNOW WUT YOU THINKIN as I can hardly believe it myself. It all started a few days ago when class pictures were being taken. After mine was finished, I passed by the huge camra and wondered why it so BIG? And it had a suspicious screen on it. Huh? This needed further investigation, I decided. So I crept back to the gym after midnite and found my way to de G11 Canon by emergency lighting.

It was tricky to see well as I had on my hitman glasses but need them to help me discern phoniness which I then assassinate. Sometimes I do it by just holding out a mirror...but I digwess. Anyway, as I drew closer to de lil monitor, this is wut I snapped (with my own pocket Canon SD1400 IS)....



WOW. Someone is privately instructing Miss Jill and Miss Kenwa. Zoom mode at de speed of light is commanded in clear white text....dis is why Miss Jill is always zooming around....she's directed to do dis. (Maybe she is NOT our director, maybe she is a spy takin orders.) Now for the SB-28, Hmmm... OH of course, it stands for Student Body-28 (main avs). ALL de rest be alts, dis place is cwawlin with em! Wut de SSS beside tha capital M means? I scratch my bwain....I hab it!  Mollify with Sweetness, Sammiches and even Samores at camp. Wut about all the numerals on dere? Well dey add to total the school population, prolly. The plus and minus? Some of us will remain but the rest will be offed! Oh no. How I know THIS? Cuz of the letters STBY: Shoot Them By Yearend. *cries* Surely it means to shoot those pupils with camra lens, right? Wrong! IF the "mm" signifies that 2 mausers are hidden inside dis humongous camra for these 2 admins!

Just then, Mama wondered why my journal-writing went into overtime and she arrived in my classroom. After looking ober my shoulder, she shifted straight to bossy boice and said, "Sloany Bear, you forgot to interpret "SEL" under L E D window. Sel is french for salt and this whole imaginative tale could only be swallowed with a large chunk of it....even considering it's a work of fiction. No more Nancy Drew books for you, Missy". Then Mama putted me to bed with cuddly hugs and I remembered that expressions of love are mostly what I give thanx for.

How I Get to School

With my enlightenment hopes set high I spring into air and become one with wind whistling along earth's curvature, my hair blowing and flowing (yesh, all three inches of it extend mightily), plaid skirt billowing like my spirit as the Mary Janes kick off earthly dust to pick up heavenly stardust....and when I spot the familiar green bloom of Lil Wonders, I drop to my cool school at the speed of childhood.

How was my First Day of School this Term?

With the warm echoes of last year's HKE class greetings still haunting my present yearning, I lagged through OSE's corridors into my new term with Miss Neby. WOW, we have moved from gloomy attic status to a sparkly beginning in a classroom with so many windows that bright ideas and enlightenment are bound to seep in and "that hope" inside me that refuses to tamp itself down merged with my joy to be situated beside our playground where sounds of residual laugh gestures filter through walls to my essence.

Then, I set down a Hello Kitty colouring sheet as the first item on my work surface which is bound to end up like what I once told McKennah: "My desk always looks like one prim short of a fancy bordello decor". (Not that she knew what I meant, of course, and neither did I for that matter :p )

Write on Something You Like & Don't Like about Yourself

Here is one ting I dun wike about myself: I seem to hab burglar/thief tendencies or sumpin. Scary! And I will take a dare too---dis is a bad combo. It all started when Brace Badger joined my HKE class last year. He was funny and charming and vewy bright. On class trips, he would dare me to do stuffy and the more this happened, then the more we bonded. BUT one day in May, Miss Jesie had a RL singing engagement so Miss Lena was substitute and she caught him challenging me to jump off a high bridge as I was poised on de brink of full kiddie crush! She had a hissyfit and forbade us to do anymore daring so we had to graduate (pardon de pun) to after-school shenanigans. We dun do dis often but sometimes we go to a role play sim and um....how I put it?....well, we become junior sim-masters and create our own "role play". Once, we went to a pwace called Richmond City and heard a BangBang as we were walking down de street. We sneaked into de house to find a grownup had just shot a guy. Brace hurried off to raid de fridge while I stood amid de crime scene, callously primping my hair! The killer said "You kids should not be about when your parent's not online and Brace quipped, "But you just shot our daddy!" Then we rushed off to the big cheese---Crack Den's Hathian. My bf decided the ultimate would be to steal a police cruiser but they were all locked down and had annoying sirens (Hey, dun they know no party sounds are allowed in a serious rpg?) Anyway, we were cheesed off so even though the police station has official codes for entry, we managed to break in and scarf down some donuts in the officers' grungy lounge. Then, we explored de whole premises till we located the Captain's office and Brace filed a citizen's complaint. Said he wrote it in his profile and left a message for it to be found there. When I proofread it for spelling, dis is what I saw: "Sloane teached me how to hotwire a car but her hotwired my heart."

This brings me to one ting I love about myself: Beloved Brace!



Here he sits on some sargeant's detective mags while we chill to electronica rhythms of Hathian's static-y police scanner. Then Brace sent out an All-Points-Bulletin on his own name ---he weally did!---and we took off at full tilt run.

What I learned in school so far~~also likes & dislikes

I learned who has the guts to make their own decision about me without blindly following the impressions or grudge of another.
I have learned that those who say they dislike "drama" create it overtly and covertly at times, just in their own way, but don't seem to recognize it as such.
I learned what a struggle forgiveness is but mostly, I can do it.
I learned if or when I go to another class, I'll be ok as I will take me with me...
I learned how amusing McKennah is:

[10:43 PM]  McKennah Starbrook yawns

[10:45 PM]  McKennah Starbrooks: I better get to sleep *sighs*
[10:45 PM]  McKennah Starbrook: tired
[10:45 PM]  Sloane Woodford: kk
[10:45 PM]  Sloane Woodford: nini
[10:45 PM]  McKennah Starbrook grins
[10:45 PM]  McKennah Starbrook: night sloane
[10:47 PM]  McKennah Starbrook: I need to take a building class someday
[10:48 PM]  Sloane Woodford: u r so GOOD u built de yurt really fast
[10:48 PM]  Sloane Woodford: tho lost yer notes for presentation
[10:48 PM]  Sloane Woodford: haha
[10:49 PM]  McKennah Starbrook: pffft
[10:49 PM]  Sloane Woodford: oh yes i will rub it in forever
[10:49 PM]  McKennah Starbrook: k, right
[10:49 PM]  McKennah Starbrook: sleepin now
[10:49 PM]  McKennah Starbrook: lol
[10:49 PM]  Sloane Woodford: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
[10:49 PM]  McKennah Starbrook pulls the covers over her head
[10:49 PM]  Sloane Woodford: YOU WOKE ME!!!
[10:49 PM]  Sloane Woodford: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
[10:49 PM]  Sloane Woodford:  zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
[10:49 PM]  McKennah Starbrook grins and whispers reeeeeealll quiet "night sloane"
[10:49 PM]  Sloane Woodford: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
[10:50 PM]  Sloane Woodford: U WOKE ME, WITCH!!!
[10:50 PM]  McKennah Starbrook: fAKER
[10:50 PM]  McKennah Starbrook: LOL
[10:50 PM]  Sloane Woodford: hahaha
[10:50 PM]  McKennah Starbrook hurls a pillow at you
[10:50 PM]  Sloane Woodford: omg u r a fun fwiend

I learned there are some other classmate-friends too: you know who you are and I value the friendship. Your kindness did not go unnoticed.

What I liked best in class was when Miss Neby called me Sweety two times vewy warmly, when I learned how to make 1 prim animals for my biome project, when I rezed my pink punkin and saw this: "[18:21]  Giselle Melune: I lobe yours sloane!"; when we drew impromptu pix of our art partner, OH it was the best class ever! When Miss Neby said she was hurting, it made me feel her humanity and know I'm not alone. (I liked her opening to us a little, that's what authentic relationships are about.)

Subject-wise I hated spelling so much, especially the sentences. (Drudgery is not fun at all) My fave subjects were ART, blogging and cool games, the mystery story that was started, decorating punkins & eggs. (Open-ended decorating is simple but can be very creative fun...Like did you see Sharaye's pumpkin, for instance? Or Melody's?) I think the hardest task in class (for me) was to have words FLYING BY rapidly but I have to watch keyboard when I type so I missed some text for sure. Please forgive me if you ever greeted me and I did not respond. Likewise, my avatar does not maneuver smoothly* so I apologise if I ever bumped you---cuz I might have occasionally---but could not type sorry while on de move LOL, therefore I say it now and mean it.

*private reason for this

WHO WAS I ON OSE's SUPERHERO DAY? (and pwease dun ask me why I holding my cwotch here--I tink it was a bafwoom issue!)

I was/am Ghostie Super-Buster...My powers are to detect filmy presences in de distance so they dun scare me too muchie when I come near. This way, I can shriek first and maybe scare dem into a sudden sheet-wilt. Haha Then they will be a little more respectful of peeps just knowing that we can frighten back, right?

At the age of 3, I was in some woods on what I thought was a foggy day BUT when de sun came out, the mist was still there....& it said "Ooooooooh" so I wan away!

But I wike having power to sense when ghosts are nearby--then I dun freeze wike an ice sculpture if they twy to....um...."surprise" me, heh heh. Guess wut? Once time, I was in a haunted housie and knowed a ghost was waiting at top of stairs for me....so I sneaked up de back stairway and jumped a BOO! behind him: he shocked himsewf right thru de roof and spread his shivery haze all over town!!!



PS. It was fun to have Aeryn Toland as my Superhero partner.

Am I an optimist or a pessimist? Why?

Umm is dis de classic question of whether the glass is half empty or half full? NEITHER! Cuz when it's chocolate milk, I scarf it all down....bad example, hello? haha. But I will explain dis in another way:

I am basically a positive thinker but it is stoopid to not reality-check in some situations. What do I mean? Well, if I am walking down a nice optimistic path of roses then life is fly and I am chill. But if the bushes grow closer together and thorns scratch me...well, okay, I can apply bandaids when there is a clearing. But if the the plants grow dense from more thoughtless seeding, then I get continued cuts and my skin rips while I drip streams of haemo-hurt. Should I go on being positive that things will work out? Well, aren't I worth more than wearing slashes and scars? I tink I am (and I tink everyone is). And should the shoddy planter not become aware that careless actions are not acceptable? My plan might then be to switch to a path of carnations--less fragrant but less damaging. So would I be a pessimist to have left the first path, thinking all was lost there? No, not at all--this would not be a case of "Sloane be's a quitter"....it's a case of Sloane refusing to be an enabler of unfair circumstances...and sending back that message to the originator so pruning (or unforced dialogue) might take place. Dat's all. And it's important to recreate happy thoughts in the new circumstances...heal myself & others with smiles and with forgiveness all around (including to my own fallible self). It's not always an easy route but I do tink it's the best in hurtful situations or negative circumstances.

Btw, I was writing generally (here) about how I tink & act philosophically, none of dis is about specfics.

What Halloween costume will I wear and why?

Prologue: When Mama took me to see Captain Jack Sparrow in "Pirates of the Caribbean", I developed a crush on Johnny Depp. Too old for me? NO...cuz you know chill is always cool, right? But lately, thoughts of Derek Hough in "Dancing with the Stars" have paso dobled into my mind so I thought I might put together a glitzy DWTS costume for this Halloween.

Last Friday night, Kennah and I ventured out to several Fifty Linden stores. The convo went something like this--
Sloane: Do you tink this owange & black spinster dress would look good on me?
McKennah: Hmmm, you know what's weird? One of your eyes is open but the other one is shut tight.
Sloane: Muss be an SL issue?
McKennah: You want me to punch you in de other eye so they match?
Sloane: No way!
McKennah: Maybe you've developed an optical prob. Here, I have an eyepatch I'll give you.
Sloane: YaY, it has a tiny Jolly Roger on it and I like the look.

Postscript: So now I think I'll create a pint-sized Halloween pirate set (Sloane-style), maybe eben with a bandana wike Capt. Jack wore. Then I can be a cute piwate like Depp who dances at our party like Hough.

PPS. Dis was one sly way to get pix of my 2 crushes into dis blog, haha. Shhh!

                                                                        

What animal would I like to study?

     I was invited to spend my eleventh summer in Bermuda where my grandfather lived. I swam daily at a nearby beach that had a lifeguard. One day, a young girl (frolicking at the shoreline) stepped on the tentacles of a large, live jellyfish. The child screamed and writhed in pain as welts and lash marks reddened her foot and shin. I was stunned, became fearful.

     Near the end of the trip, my granddad took me on a long ferry ride: It happened to be during a week when locals said jellyfish were abundant. While exploring the ferry, I chanced to look over the stern and was transfixed by the ballet below: Countless jellyfish were billowing, slowly swirling as if in the dying moments of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake". Then the vessel's powerful propellers sucked them into a death spiral and chopped them to bits right in front of my eyes. It was so contradictory to see beauty dancing to ugliness and senselessly destroyed. Scared though I was of these creatures, compassion surged through me---not unlike what Coleridge wrote of the drifting sailor's epiphany (after cursing sealife earlier) when watching electric eels in RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER:

"....Beyond the shadow of the ship
I watched the water-snakes:
They moved in tracks of shining white,
And when they reared, the elfish light
Fell off in hoary flakes.

Within the shadow of the ship
I watched their rich attire:
Blue, glossy green, and velvet black,
They coiled and swam; and every track
Was a flash of golden fire.

O happy living things! no tongue
Their beauty might declare:
A spring of love gushed from my heart,
And I blessed them unaware:
Sure my kind saint took pity on me,
As I blessed them unaware.

The selfsame moment I could pray;
And from my neck so free
The Albatross fell off, and sank
Like lead into the sea...."

     And my point is? Just that jellyfish mesmerize me---I would like to learn about them in the animal kingdom.

Once when you were frightened, what happened?

The scariest thing that happened to me in SL occurred last year. A little red-haired boy befriended me and he was funny as well as bright. We went to several sites together and were always laffing. One day, he asked if I would like to see where he lived. I said "Sure!" figuring he had a nice home and we would play in the yard. But he teleported me inside a skybox VERY high up and it was completely closed (no windows or doors). Inside, it was kinda dark. There was a dense forest with a river in the middle. Beside the water was a bench and a rug. I was confused, then decided he prolly lived outdoors with a furry family and slept on the lil carpet. We sat on his bench and talked and joked for a few minutes, then (with a chuckle) the boy said: "If you take off all your clothes, Sloane, I will wash them for you in the river." I was so shocked that I was not sure I got the words right. I checked and oh, I did! So I TPed away from there immediately as I did not want Linden Labs to think I even contemplated such action. A few weeks later, I heard he was banned from SL along with some new girl he had met.

How do you feel about Halloween?

I do not feel Halloween as much as IT touches me: stretches its long bony fingers to scratch my back kinda like calcified chalk scraping my spine. Silent shrieks form and echo, somehow. Halloween widens my eyes to view Fear's landscape: lonely...except for...what ARE those? entities? Now it floors my blood-pump til heartbeats rev to full throttle. Mist slides film around me and I finally wake to discover this was just a clammy nightmare! Then October 31 plays out its 24 hours and repeats the above in "real time" shivers.



What have I learned in class so far?

that i need a quote from google here or sumpin...

"We do not learn; and what we call learning is only a process of recollection."

Plato And I recall plenty... 

What if cows gave root beer instead of milk?

Mmmm in concentwate form, it could be added to cwushed ice for a slurpee! THIS would look so good on McKenNOH NOH no I must not think like dis! I love McKennah and want her to stay dry cuz winter is coming. Also, Miss Neby does not wike slurpees flung about! Aww. Too bad. Drinks should be enjoyed in many ways and that's my philosophy. However, not everyone has my point of view (Utoh, please dun take that last word as a cue to begin ranting about SL viewers, I am all viewer-talked out atm, tyvm!) Also, I'm very thirsty now, gonna go make me a slurpee.

PS The biggest drawback to this no-more-milk plan is that ice cream cones would taste substandard, mark my words.

Journal prompt: Tell your fave things about FALL

Autumn: just the word creates anticipation for punkin pie

Halloween BOO! sites to visit~spooky & kooky~*major trip hint 4 Miss Neby*

scrunchy leaves become background music for reals
aroma of burning leafies reminds you how fun they were to dive into

thoughts of Christmas grow obsessive till December's blizzard of shoppin
crows fly away and stop waking me at sunrise (Dun huwwy back!)

sea smoke dances vewy slinky on our harbor in cold mornings
And de best part of dis season? ADIOS heatwaves!

Topic given: If you were a mouse in your house for the evening, what would you see your family doing?

hey! i'm a tiny mouse *squeaks to prove it*. there's a mystery in the hole-in-a-wall that's my crib :P i need small crumbs* to sustain my tute ears/perky whiskers but the floor here is nuffin but bare pixels. all i know is that no one's home today: the gwownups are all workin late and the lil blond kid, what happened to her? last time she was in SL, she'd just finished her Biome Box project, gone to class and then muttered sompin like "huh? how could miss neby ask me to be a wodent?" fwankly, i dun unnerstand what's goin on or eben where Sloane went...

*small crumbs is a two-word phrase coined by Winden Wabs' Department of Redundancy Department.

What Does September Mean to Me?

September 3 is/was my RL mother's birthday, she died younger than she should have. Oh the longing to be with her, laugh with her, once again cherish her so intensely that my love becomes almost an invisible, breathing entity in the room, pulsating a cloak of security woven in the colors of I-would-never-want-any-other-RL-Mama-than-you...the yearning to duplicate that will never fade till I search the clouds and see her on a distant cumulus puff of JOY, joy at last! This month is many things to people (especially the 11th) but to me it is gratitude for the memory of what was...the hope for what will be...                                                                                                              

PS. too grownup a topic for kiddie lingo today

PPS. Here's a simple poem I wrote shortly after she died:

LIKE CARBONATED PEACE

“All her numbers are going down”

said the doctor

on Mama’s last afternoon:

“We might as well shut off

the oxygen.”

“NO” I stressed

with a volume showing

my decibel numbers

were going up.

He left her, then, in a coma

and drifting

to the soothing sound of bubbles,

the musicality of bubbles…



like in the restaurant where we loved

seats by the aquarium



or our family’s fish tank

with bloated guppies we’d overfed



like the glass-bottomed boat ride

over cypress roots at Silver Springs



or the filtered swimming pool

where she’d held me up

till I could float.

What Would Happen if Children Ruled the World?

BIG idea, big and bad....no it's not a beachball or a Charlie Chaplin silent mobie clip. We ex-cyst in a "circle of life" round plan-it* almost like some supersized multi-atmospheric biome containing all our "junior" biomettes along with people and skunks and french fries and Barbie dolls and oil spills and iPads and churches and landslides and hospitals and gangstas and daisies and war-stoppers...but war-starters too. Etcetera. Ewww what a responsibility! I do think kids would wike to rule the world till the going got tough though: "Dad, you're grounded for gibing me such a puny allowance!" Most children would forego school in favour of a television education (let's develop our memories by learning when our fave shows will be broadcast). Food would be junky meals (today's supper is soupy ice cream slurped up through licorice Twizzlers). Wardrobes might be whimsical, hmmm they are already!...so in order to rebel, we'd have to manufacture fully functional clothes (how drabby) ! But what would happen when a bully-nation decided to prank eberyone with "new-kill-ya!" arms? Then what? We would all be blast inside an atomic mushroom wondering if Linden Labs adults had the foresight to create a heavenly Third Life game before handing over the ruler-reins to us pipsqueaks :P

*PS. Plan-it better!

Which quality (or qualities) most describes your life in sl or rl?

Hmmm, a mishmash: both my lives are creative and funny and happy and sad and exciting and busy and tiring and fulfilling and fwustrating and joyous and scary and loving and peaceful and agitating like most lives. Sometimes, all in one confusing day! rofl. (jk) I go up one rung in life's ladder and slip down two...and vice versa...just like a lot people. The folks ya gotta watch are some of those (not all) who act like eberything is wonderful about them: Look close enough and you'll see stress cracks created by trying to hold together a "perfect" image. But don't be a poseur on my account, please, I enjoy relaxing with peeps... and being ourselves.

I remember the RL time we took an elevator under Niagara Falls to see "Journey Behind the Falls". I was fwightened in the slippery tunnels but then we met a professor who said, "Do you see all the stress cracks formed in this limestone?" I couldn't wait to get outta there...but when we got back to street level, the Horseshoe Falls seemed sensational, flawless. !!

http://www.niagarafallslive.com/journey_behind_the_falls.htm

If I could be any animal, what would I be?

If I could be any aminal, I would prolly not be a cat as I would love my beauty so much that I'd waste away just admiring myself in de mirror! So let me be a seagull who can teleport without the help of Linden labs. I would patrol sky and ocean: For instance, if I saw a dolphin and shark swimming along, I would dip my wings in salute like a plane in an airshow...but if de shark got too close to swimmers then I would splash water nearby so ppl could see the fin! And in between saving lives like a winged coast guard officer, I would sing my haunting ballad out loud to let folks know summer is here and to remind kids they are welcome to share snack treats with me!

PS to Santa who sees all so prolly my blog, too: Santa? Please look below for my #1 choice in Christmas wish list, kk? xoxox Swoane

                                                                         

BIOMEs (especially a desert biome)

Biomes are parts of our world with same temperters and this is the reason why land there---and plants and aminals---are alike. Some people say dere are only 5 main types of biomes: watery, desert, forest, grassland, and tundra cold-ground. But others split biomes further into sub-groups wike rainforests and coral reefs. I should pick one of those last 2 to write more about since they're exciting...but to my thinking, I find Joshua trees so WOW that I will seize dis chance to get a photo of one right into my blog!

A desert biome is an awea where very little life exists cus not much water is there unless you wanna live near an oasis with springs (no, not de boing! kind but de "swim me & dwink me" type). Scientists say one-fifth of our planet is desert and there are two different types: hot and dry (such as the Arabian and Sahara deserts) and cold and dry (such as Antarctica and the Gobi desert). Deserts can be found on every continent except Europe but IMO, prolly de most beautiful desert biome is the Mojave desert in southwestern USA. Why? Because dat's where you can see this AWESOME spiky Joshua tree plant which makes you shout "Owie!" if you back into it. They grow fast and can live for hundreds of years, some eben for thousands, no kiddin'! Snakes, lizards, fwogs and camels also do well in deserts and of course, penguins are happy to shimmy their cheerful wobbles in Antarctica.

OH, btw, how did the Joshua Tree get its name? It was given by a group of Mormon pioneers over 150 years ago: The tree's special shape reminded them of a Bible story in which Joshua reaches his hands up to the sky in prayer.

That's all I hab to say about a desert biome for now. If I knew much more then why bother studying it, right?

Why is it Important to Save Endangered Species?

Well it is vewy important to save all species as they might return de favor someday. Seems unlikely you think? Well, ya never know! For instance, poachers like to hunt down white tigers for Chinese medicine but it is better for us to hide em in Disney World, yes! Then when those aminals not ex-stinked anymore, they can roam our streets freely! Hmmm, I hope I have thought this through clearly *thinks part of my plan seems a bit scaree* Anyway, if we save all de white tigers and someday a terrorist's charging a group of us, some hungwy tiger might bite off the badman's head. Then we will be saved by one of those we saved. Karma at its best. Not beast, btw, I said best!

What do you Think about People who Take Advantage of Others?

I do believe that when peeps are together, we all take from each other a little bit. Like, if can't find my pencil case, a friend might give me her spare HB showing Hello Kitty Ballerina in a pirouette of pinkness. But I will share my baloney sammich with her if she forgets her wunch one day. (Whadya mean she gets short end of the stick? lol.) The problem with users, though, is that they are often takin', takin'. "Me, me, me" they cry---kinda like an opera singer stuck on the same note when practicing her scales....do re mimimimi! Then, the constant taker gets as annoying as a pigeon who wants your whole bag of popcorn and what do you get for your kindness?

Poopie on yer headie. Grrrr!

The Best Starfish Story of All

In case you don't know this short tale, here is a special treat I offer you (written by Loren Eiseley)...
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art8236.asp
Enjoy!
PS. Just move your cursor over my dark grey address line and the link will pop up wike magic.

What Superpower Would I Like to Have?

I'd wike power to have stayed calm through the stress test that I flunked today: I tried to connentwate on what I wrote in school but had to watch chat text as well and scan for typos with my brain's built-in Spelchek while at same time, scout keyboard to prevent more slipups and then messig 2 friends that I'm in school so cut the IMs please. No sooner was I done wif that than I whined to Cog, my creator-pal, "Hey, stop sending me TPs---I dont want all those pix you just dropped on me as they cover my screen and I'm unable to see if teasher's cross cuz I prolly missed 411." He badgered, "Just come for a minute! You must see this: I made grouse avatars and a bunch of customers are in the shop wearing them!" (See sample pic above.) My guts clutched in dis dizzy-tizzy but OH NO, not true *winks*....I forgot I had dis relaxashun Super-Power-AO now so I put my feet up on deskie and jus chilled till Miss Nevy said, "Sloane, git yer shoes back on the floor cuz I say so and I have de superest power in this classroom." :P

What does August remind me of?

hi, I tink Augus is awsome-awesome cuz I saw some lil crickets this morning and they were jumpin! Bop, bop, hop. Is dis 5 sentences yet? I gonna count now....1 2 4 5. Yep! All done, no biggie. School is eezy.


By Swoane
(Note: She is into present-moment living, has not settled down yet...and has little concept of "month-ness".)

current stream of conscious blog-thought:

dis is all about my starfishy class me Mookie and the others my teacher too the way crayons taste and play doh smells and learning how laptop paint doesn't lap like waterpaint which flows almost as cool as ice floes kinda wike words bubbling up when you know you're misundertood but in the end you just float along or drift away while waving rhythmically like the surf and calling above the splashy roar..."thank you for visiting this distant shore"