Da Gang: CONTINUED.

              So now its just six of us in our 'gang'. Every once in a while we'll have a party, like the one on Halloween. We all went over to Jamie's house to go trick-or-treating together, although apparently we're too old. We went anyway. Sadly, I had to bring a sibling, though he behaved well enough. Well, I arrived and I noticed that everyone's costume reflected some of their personality, though in an abstract way.
             Jamie was a space pirate: that reflected her otaku-ness. Of all of us, I believe hers was the most creative. Zombie was a creeper, the human kind. When we were playing a game called park bench I had to sit by him, and to tell you the truth he really freaked me out. The sunglasses paired with how old he looks normally made the perfect costume. If I met a guy on the street looking like he did, I'd cross to the other side of the street. Coby was a- umm.... he was a- no, he was... Oh! he was a mugger. His costume was simple and didn't reveal much, though I bet if I knew him more I'd get it. (haha, reveal much) Tibs was a pokemon trainer and I loved that costume.  He even had a pokemon trainer hat! Stanny was a skeleton, totally classic-just like him.
              Anyway, I arrived and we all proceeded to gravitate towards the computer, and ended up watching Halloween related viral videos until it was time to go trick-or-treating. We all bundled out the door, with Jamie and Tibs in front, me in the middle, and the rest of the boys in back. I admit we kind of split up in scenarios like this, with me often trying to decide who to side with. I like talking to Zombie and Stanny, but sometimes I feel like I don't know the topic very well and come up short. Talking with Jamie and Tibs is easier, but sometimes pointless and confusing. So I end up flitting from one to the other. With random tidbits of conversation flying in the air, I usually remember the most pointless snippets like, "Blah Blah Blah...Leprechaun...Blah Blah Blah....going to people's doors..." etc.
              I also remember the snippets where moi was the topic, like, " Julia, are you wearing heals?" This one coming from Zombie.
          "maybe...." I replied, hoping to sound casual.
              *out take of breath*
           "hehe..."
Also I would pick up trash everytime I spotted any, which drove my friends crazy or at least that's what it sounded like. I love doing that. Anyway, that's a summary of Da Gang, and I'll probably be refering to them later on in my blog. Hope I didn't bore you to death!
          

Da Gang

            Because I'm random like that, (and because Deep Sea Zombie gave me the idea :P) I'm going to describe my bffs from school. (I'll use the same names so you don't get confused)
            First let me tell you exactly how we ended up a 'gang', as my mom likes to call us. I met Jamie in the summer before seventh grade at Harry Potter Summer Camp. I liked her immediately, and she seemed to be in the market for friends so it worked out well enough. Sadly, during the school year, we had zero classes together and totally different lunches so we kinda put our friendship on hibernate. Long story short: my bff from seventh grade betrayed me, and I fell back with Jamie in eigth grade. One day she invited me to her B-day party at Layton park, and me and a bunch of our friends had loads of fun. So we decided to make it a regular thing and we'd have a party at the park every Friday. After a while our friends kind of split up and there was only about eight of us left in our little group. There was Stanny, Zombie, Jamie, Tibs, Skittles, Justine Candy, Alice Vanderburg, and of course, me.  Over the year there were a few changes, such as Justine going to Centennial, Skittles hanging with new friends, and Coby joining in, but here's a few words about each.
             Stanny is a skinny guy with darkish blonde hair and some funky eyeballs. I swear he wears Aeropostal everyday, but it looks really good on him. He's really mellow, but he likes to freak out about the wierdest things. He worked with me and Jamie at Frightmares, but I won't go into that.
            Zombie is probably the tallest in our group with long blonde hair. He's in swim and loves to wear Layton hoodies and T-shirts. He's really quiet, but when he speaks you can tell it matters to him. He'll put up with whatever you're talking about, even if he's not interested because he's just polite like that. He's also a crazy person. (yes, yes you are.)
            Jamie is my bgf. (best girl friend...and like my only one :D) she's taller than me, but I like to cheat and wear heels. She doesn't dress or act girly, but I think that secretly she wants to dress up fancy and look really pretty. Don't tell her I said this, but all she really wants is to be loved. Anyway, she likes to wear simple clothes and loves playing with Zombie's hair, just because it bugs him.
           Tibs is cool, he's tall and likes to talk. He also loves to sing boyscout songs in the middle of the school cafeteria, really loudly. He has a knack for wearing clothes that most of the student body would label 'so last century' but they look alright on him. He also has a soul jacket, as we call it, that he can be found at almost any given time.
            Skittles is still my friend, though because of some reason or another she's not in our gang anymore. She's random and hyper with brown hair and stylish clothes. She can be shy sometimes, but she's really fun to talk to especially when someone's teasing her.
             Coby is pretty cool, he draws manga and he's much better at clothes than me. ( T_T ) He's the new addition to our group. The only reason I don't like him all that much is he lies, and even when I catch him in the act he doesn't come clean. Other than that, he's pretty awesome.
              And Justine. She was one of my bgfs when she went to FFJH, but now I'm not in contact her anymore. She's kinda bland, a normal teenager with a taste for makeup and clothes. Alice was pretty much the same.

           TO BE CONTINUED

Kawaii!!!!!!

Today, for my amazing blog, I will blog about the adorable, I repeat, ADORABLE baby tapir. This animal was featured on a blog titled Ugly Overload, and I totally disagree. Above is a video of Kejutan, the brand new baby malayan tapir born in Port Lympne Wild Animal Park.
           This tapir is the ninth successful birth at Port Lympne, although elsewhere the number of tapirs is rapidly declining. The malayan tapir is listed as endangered, and it's extremely rare to find one in it's natural habitat. Let me tell you a little about the tapir.  
            While the baby, or juvenile, tapir has a dappled coat with distinctive lines, the adults are mostly grey with a large patch of white extending from their shoulders to their rear. This coat acts as cammoflauge, making them look like a very large rock. The tapir is usually 6 to 8 feet and can weight up to 1,000 pounds. It is strictly vegetarian and eats about 115 different types of plants. Oddly, the tapir uses scents to mark boundaries, just like the wolf. On an average day, the tapir will walk slowly through its habitat, tropical lowland forests in Asia, sometimes following scent trails, and eating plants. When threatened, it can run quickly, which is odd considering it's remarkable bulk. The gestation period for tapirs is around 395 days, which means the mommas are pregnant for a very long time.After that a single baby similar to the one above is born, and it reaches maturity at around 3 years. Tapirs can live up to 30 years, in the wild or in captivity.
            I've always thought that the tapirs are interesting creatures that seem to come from the age of the dinosaurs.The babies are adorable, while the adults are considerably less so. It's also interesting to learn about the tapir because it is so different from other animals. If I were to sum up the tapir in a few sentences from what i've learned online, it would go something like this: The tapir is a large, fat & happy animal that is endangered due to deforestation. Most predators stay well away from it because of it's size and sharp teeth. Most people have never even heard of the tapir, and it's well on it's way to becoming distinct not only physically but also in the eyes of men. It won't be remembered like the cute panda, just forgotten.
         

          Looking at this blog post, I want to add: "And if you act now, you can donate $30 to save the endangered tapir...." but in all seriousness, this animal is dying off because of humans taking its habitat to use for paper, and killing it for money. Maybe those small differences I once mentioned can become big differences, especially to an animal like Kejutan.

         P.S. Kawaii is japanese for cute.

School Closed Due to Wind Damage

             Today is Friday, and I got to sleep in until nine. Why? Because yesterday winds up to 100 mph were recorded (as was the case in Centerville.) These winds were so powerful they toppled trees, semi-trucks, and fences. Power outages affected nearly 50,000 homes and businesses. All in all, there was tons and tons of damage and FFJH was sent home early. Although I've been told that Thursday wasn't an official off day, today definitely is.
              Now I'm not saying that I am glad for these gale force winds, or for the damage they inflicted, but they were beautiful. Sitting in school next to a courtyard full of whipping leaves left me breathless. At first there was a giant pile of leaves just sitting there, accumulated by the winds. Then the wind would steal a few leaves, and gently float them in a circle. It looked to me like they were dancing. Then  there was the exciting part: the wind mustered it's energy and sent the whole pile sliding across the windows, then up and out of the courtyard. For about two minutes, there was not a single leaf left in that courtyard and one by one they decided to come back. I would see and orange leaf slam into the corner, than a few amber leaves whip back and forth between the window panes. All I could do was sit and stare with my mouth open, not realising that the door was jerking, trying to open. I noticed too late, as the doors finally caved sending wind and leaves in all directions. I jumped from my seat, determined to close them before anyone noticed. I finally wrestled them closed, and stuck my book through the handles to keep them in place. After a few more jerky motions, the doors rested easy and I took my book back. I sat there, panting and thinking about how beautiful weather can be, yet how destructive.
           If you were to take a drive down any street in Kaysville, you would see giant uprooted pine trees, toppled poles, and countless caved in fences. There is so many accounts of damage that I get sad everytime I think about it. Luckily, my house was out of the way and we still have electricity and minimal damage was inflicted. Our garbage can tried to run away, and my dogs practically went crazy in the back yard, but other than that I was untouched. My friends on the otherhand have lots of things to clean up, and lots of damage to repair. One of them lost three giant pine trees, and is probably cleaning them up as I type. Coach Levelle from Layton High school had his truck smashed. 20-30 people with wind related injuries went to Mckay-Dee hospital, though most of them were from cuts or bruises inflicted from flying objects, some were in critical condition.
            It just goes to show you how terrifyingly beautiful storms and winds can be. How amazing they look, and yet they inflict so much damage upon homes and businesses.