No, I'm not dead...

To whom it may concern,
Hello there. So I KNOW I haven't written in several months, and I'm not going to try to come up with some stupid excuse because, let's be honest, everyone can see right past those, anyways. But I have been busy. Being a sophomore is HARD. And I'm only in high school...think about college...ugh. So, anyways. I'm going to keep this one pretty short because I HATE blogging from my iPod...the keyboard is super-de-duper-de annoying (yes that is now a word..it just is okay?! Just accept it!)

Oh I thought I should tell you people... I'm done with crew. It just become too much...like WAY too much. Everyone is very very competitive and I started to not enjoy it so much. So I'm currently running track and I really love it- it's lots of fun. I'm hurdling, and though I may not be the best, I'm not the worst and besides, I just started. But everyone is very supportive and nice, and I have a lot of friends on the team. I mean, of course I had a bunch of friends on crew, but I also have a lot on track.

Ok people so thats basically it for this post. Told ya it would be short.
Au revoir!

School's OUT and Summer Plans

School. Is done. I am a SOPHMORE.

I honestly can't believe it. This year has flown by, what with crew and all my homework. But now I've got 2 1/2 months of summer to look forward to. And I'm leaving for Greece tomorrow, so if I have internet access at any point I'll definitely be posting :).

This summer is going to be really fun. So I'm going to Greece and Rome (and possibly Ireland? Fingers crossed!) for 3 weeks, and then I will have some free time. After that I have to go to Dallas for a reunion with my family... should be interesting. After that I have crew camp, and then I'm going to California! I will also be posting more often, seeing as I don't have school anymore. Bittersweet? I'm looking forward to next year, yet I'm not. This year was so much fun, and a lot happened. But we have to do a lot of public speaking next year, and let's just say that's not my strong spot.

It just doesn't feel like summer, though. I think it's because we had exams, which I'm not used to having every day at the end of the year. I got a B on my math exam. They just posted that one. UGH I WANTED TO DO BETTER THIS MEANS I GET A B IN MATH FOR THE SEMESTER!! I am not happy about that AT ALL.

Well, I gotta go. Ciao!

You Know You Row Crew When...

15. You find yourself calling your boat mates by their seat number instead of their real names.
14. Your "free time" consists of you sitting at home not knowing what to do.
13. You hate anyone who has a better erg score then you.
12. The sorer you are, the better.
11. There is no such thing as perfect. Ever.
10. You can't seem to think about anything else. And stop trying- it won't happen.
9. There are two seasons- competition and winter conditioning.
8. You continuously deny that it's a cult...even when secretly, you know it is.
7. You wear your spandex with almost every outfit.
6. You don't giggle when you hear the phrase "cox box."
5. It's nearly impossible to hold a solid conversation with people outside the team because you don't know what to talk about...
4. ...Because all you ever talk about is crew.
3. "Erg" is not a sound you make when you're annoyed.
2. You will probably never be able to find living skin cells on your hands for the rest of your life.
1.
And no matter how upset you get, you won't stop. Ever.

They Give Us Dirty Laundry, so please- Don't Stand so Close to Me*

*The title will make sense later :-D

Well, it's been a while, to say the least. But I have more time to blog now that crew is over.  But the next few weeks are the best part (yippee) of school- exams. That was sarcasm, by the way.

So. Anyways. Rather than focus on how long I've been gone for, let's get right to the blogging.

The classic rock station in the DC area is 100.3. I used to listen to 99.5, which is the new "pop" music. Personally, I think it's just really, really bad.  I don't know if I should even go into how bad I think it is.  Hey, if you prefer Nicki Minaj to the Police, that's OK. I WILL RESPECT YOUR OPINIONS. Phew. But when I wake up in the morning, it's nice having something to look forward to, even if it is a radio station. And if any of you guys wanted to check it out, even if you don't live in the DC area, here's the link because they do have some really great music.
http://www.thebigdc.com/main.html

What else? Oh yeah. DRUMROLL PLEASE...

So you know how we all have those hobbies that are more or less unexpected? Well, I'm on that bandwagon. I scrapbook.

Yep. You heard me correctly. I don't know why, but there's something about scrapbooking that I just really enjoy. I find it really neat to be able to pick stickers, paper, embellishments, photos, and the list goes on and on and on...

In fact, I have a youtube channel. And because I love you guys, those of you who take teh time to read my blog, so much, here is the link to my channel.  I also have book reviews and some stuff on writing, in case you would like to know.
http://www.youtube.com/user/NataliaMurad1?feature=mhee

Also, there is one 18 minute-long video on my channel. It's an unedited school project and I haven't taken it down yet. My friends and I were attempeting to create a video sumamry of Cosette from Les Miserables. It's actually kind of funny. So if you have 18 minutes to spare, take a look. :))

And now I'm going to do a new segment I like to call My Top 10, where I post my top 10 favorite songs at this moment in time.

10. No Milk Today- Herman's Hermits

9. We've Only Just Begun- The Carpenters

8. Message in a Bottle- The Police

7.  Every Breath You Take-The Police

6. I'm into Something Good- Herman's Hermits

5. Doo Wah Diddy- Manfred Man

4. Sweet Home Alabama- Lynard Skynard (I just wish they didn't use the stars and bars...)

3. Double Vision- Foreigner

2. Dirty Laundry- Don Henley

1. Don't Stand So Close to Me- The Police

I feel like one of the best ways to know someone is through the music they like. So here ya go. Hope enjoy. And also, please take note that none of it came out after 1990.

Alright guys, that's all for today.
See ya 'round,
NATALIA.

Our TV is Messed Up

Have you ever tried watching a show on TV and about every 5 seconds it gets pixelated, stops, and then starts again.

Then you know what I am talking about.

We have Comcast, and we have had this ongoing problem where the TV gets pixelated and then pauses, interupting our show. Even when you're not watching, it's annoying. This is kind of what it sounds like.

"H-uh-i."
"H-uh-ello."
"Wh-uh-t's u-uh-p?"
"N-uh-ot m-uh-uch. Y-uh-ou?"

The "uhs" represent that annoying sound it makes when the tv stops. It's actually kind of hilarious because sometimes when it stops, you will see a picture of, for example, a guy's open mouth for 3 seconds.

This is kind of what it looks like when the TV gets pixelated.


OK, well not really. But you get my point.

So that's all I have time for tonight. It's Sunday, and I still haven't finished my homework.

Auf weidersein!

Justin Bieber- He's finally growing up

Justin Bieber.  The name alone is enough to make millions of girls (and yes, some boys) swoon. 

I personally am not a fan.  I admit his voice has gotten deeper, but I still don't like his music.

But I think he finally might be "growing up."



This is from rollingstone.com.  There was an article about him, and in it he discussed his view on sex, fame, politics, etc.  Some of the things he said were, well, interesting.

For example: He isn't sure what political party he'd support if he was old enough to vote. "I'm not sure about the parties," Bieber says. "But whatever they have in Korea, that's bad."

Well, Biebs, I agree.  The situation in Korea is very bad.  But is that really all you could think of?  I mean isn't he 17? 

But this just took the cake.



Well, Justin, looks like you've finally grown up.  And no, Selena, just because you are covering your face with your hand doesn't mean we can't tell it's you. 

But in Justin's defense, he probably be more famous than any of us.  Probably.  Not definetly. 

To be honest, I was actually obsessed with Justin Bieber for about a year.  I actually would pretend I was his girlfriend.

Please don't judge.  I was 12. Or mabe 13.  But I don't think I'm the only one.

Then one day I realized that I personally didn't like his music.  I found something better- the classic rock station on the radio.

Now That's What I Call Music. (No copyright infringement intended)

So what do you think? Have you been infected with Bieber Fever?

I don't like teachers

You know how there are always those teachers who you just can't seem to like and you know they don't like you?

My science teacher is one of those people.

See, I had mono the two weeks before final exams. My other teachers gave me all the info I needed and posted stuff online. But my science teacher didn't post anything on the last unit we did, which I missed completely, even after she told me she would. So I ended up faint thy part of the exam. I also had to take a test on that part, and she gave me a fill in the blank study guide without answers. I looked in the textbook, but because it was worded so horribly, some of the info was not in the textbook, as it made no sense. Then when I went to take te test on a day we didn't have school, she was late! And there was nothing on that test that was on the study guide, either.

Whew. Ok then. That felt nice.

Although I do have some good news. I got a 98/100 on my history essay. That is the bet grade I have gotten on an essay this year for history.

So have a good night everyone. And remember- don't be an annoying teacher:).

Popped blisters and wood under my nail

Hello. So today at crew two very exciting things happened. My blister popped on the oar handle while I was rowing and I got wood stuck under my nail from the dock. I was in a great deal of pain on thr bus ride home, and then when I got home my parents had to dig the wood out from underneath my nail with tweezers. And you can imagine how that went down... Thank god it was on the edge of my nail.

So now I will talk about something else. And that is boys. One boy in particular who I like right now. We have been friends for several years, and he really liked me to my knowledge up until the middle of the first semester. Then I did something I will never forgive myself for (ok well maybe thats being a bit dramatic).

See, he had asked if I wanted to go to the school musical with him and I said yes I would. I thought we were just going as friends but then heard from some other friends he was going to ask me out. I had no clue what to do, so I had one of my friends tell him I didn't like him, and obviously that didn't make him happy.

Here's where it getsxi tricky. I started liking him a couple weeks ago. It seems like he still likes me but I don't know. I'm on the verge of asking him out. Well I am seeing him tomorrow at six because of crew (yes he does crew). So maybe I'll get things straightened out then?

Come on. Don't tell me you didn't think a post about a boy wasn't coming :D.

I hope they're ok...

Hey everyone. So I said I would write 3 blogs during the week and here's number 1. It's from my iTouch, but it still counts, right? :D

So yesterday at crew Practice, we were doing 6 inches(you lift your legs up about 6 inches and hold them there), and our coach's dad came over and said two boats had gone in the water! They were apparently in there for 15 minutes and had to be taken to the hospital. Why? The Potomac is freezing cold in the winter an being in there for thirty seconds could hurt you. But it sounds like they are all alright, which is good. The wind was really strong too, and they were apparently rowing away from the Key Bridge, where trees are scarce.

But this stuff happens very scarcely. It's not like we jump into the water on a daily basis...haha...haha.

So this is all I have time for, but don't worry- more is coming tonight!

-Natalia

It's Oscar Night! My predictions...

Well it's finally Oscar night again!  I look forward to this night every year and always stay up late to see who wins what.  But, to be honest, my favorite part of the Oscars is the opening with who ever is hosting.  This year it's Anne Hathaway and I believe James Franco.  A couple years ago it was Hugh Jackman.  He sang a song that, I have to say, was pretty amazing. 

Well the Oscars are starting in a matter of hours.  So here's who I think is going to win.

Best Picture: Black Swan

Actor in a Leading Roll: Colin Firth for The KIng's Speech

Actor in a Supporting Role: Geoffrey Rush for the King's Speech

Actress in a Leading Roll: Natalie Portman for Black Swan

Actress in a Supporting Roll: Helena Bonham Carter for The King's Speech

Animates Feature Film: Toy Story 3

Art Direction: Inception

Cinematography: Inception

Costume Design: Alice in Wonderland

Directing: Black Swan

Documentary Feature: Gasland

Documentary Short Subject: Strangers No More

Film Editing: 127 Hours

Foreign Language Film: Dogtooth

Makeup: The Wolf Man

Music (Original Score): The Social Network

Music (Original Song): Toy Story 3

Short Film (Animated): The Gruffalo

Short Film (Live Action): Na Wewe

Sound Editing: Inception

Sound Mixing: Inception

Visual Effects: Inception

Writing (Adapted Screenplay): The Social Network

Writing (Original Screenplay): The King's Speech

Alright.  That's all of them.  I guess we'll just have to see who wins (but I have a feeling that I'm pretty dead on :D)

Until Next time,
Natalia

I need to keep up with my blog. And Google logos.

Hi everyone.  So I have not blogged in about 2 weeks.  So I am going to make a promise.

I do solemnly swear that I will blog at least 3 times during the week and both days on the weekend. Or so help me God.

To be honest, not much has happened over the past couple weeks.  I have had crew practice every day, and actually I had it this morning.  I have been up since 4:45.  And I haven't actually slept all day.  Oh, well.  I guess this is preparing me, as my old Publications teacher would say, "for the real world."

I also went to a running store today.  It's called Potomac Running and it is so nice.  They have a treadmill and you fun on it.  The guy who works at the store watches you run, and then tells you what shoe would work best.  So I was on this treadmill, and the guy was, I guess you could say, assessing my feet.  After I was finished, he tells me that I have a conditon that affects only 5-10% of the population.  See, my arches are inhumanly high and therefore anything you do on your feet I do on my toes and the balls of my feet.  This includes running.  This also means that when I run a lot my feet swell up and my arches start to burn.  This has happened at crew practice before, and I can tell you it was not fun yesterday sitting out while everyone was erging with their wrists connected to a cord.


This is an erg, for anyone who has wondering.

So because rowing is such an high endurance sport, we do a lot of running. 

In other words, I was really bored today so I decided to look up some of the special Google logos.  Here are some cool ones I found:







I thought those were pretty neat :). 

Well to be honest not much has happened over the past few weeks that I can think of.  Although I did write an 11 page essay about the Holocaust for history class.  A lot of it was stuff we hadn't learned.  See, for some reason I've always had this weird obsession with books and movies about the Holocaust and the Holocaust Museum.  Maybe it's the fact that one man could be in charge of the horrible killing of 11 million people that sort of blows my mind.

I hope I don't get marked down.

So this is where the story ends for now.  As John Gay said, "We only part to meet again."

So a poster CAN make you feel better

Hey everyone. So this is officially my first real post, not counting the intro. So let's go.

I had a very interesting conversation in the car today with my dad. See, we were planning on going to Greece for about a month and a half or two months over the summer. But we are having some financial problems. I mean, we have never been the wealthiest people in the world, but I mean we have never been poor. And we are not poor, not even close. No, that's not what I am saying at all. But the source of this problem is that we still own the house we bought in Florida, and we have been leasing it out for a couple years while we are renting up here in DC. So we bought that house for $600,000. Yeah that is a lot of money. The problem is we have put a plethora (vocab word of the day- check) of money into that house, more than it is actually worth. So what I remember from this conversation is that my parents are trying to decide whether to foreclose it and let the bank take it or continue putting down small payments on it every month. If the bank took it, we would still owe $160,000 on it, because we have payed a certain amount on it... or something along the lines. I'm not sure. Can you guys make sense of this? So we cannot afford (as of right now) to really do anything this summer because of all the money we are putting into that house. No summer camps, vacations, rowing camp.. I sound incredibly spoiled right now, don't I?

Anyways, the point is not that I am extremely upset about not being able to go to Greece. I mean I am upset, but I understand. We have to put the money where it matters. The point is that I now feel like this is somehow my fault. My rowing is costing us A LOT of money. I told my dad that if it became too expensive I could stop. But I just can't shake the feeling or stop worrying about this. Actually, the author Frank McCourt just came to mind. Angela's Ashes- what an amazing book. At least I have a roof over my head and food and clothing. He hardly had any of that, and there are still so many people who are in the same situation as he was. So I guess when I really look at it, it's not that bad.

But when I was outlining a section of my textbook for homework, I came across this image:


And I don't know why, but it just made me feel about 10 times better, and I felt really hopeful, too.  It's a very cool poster.  I think it's an old poster for the Women's Ordinance Workers in World War Two. 

On another note, I finished watching the french movie, "Les Choristes," yesterday.  And if you don't know who Jean-Baptiste Maunier is, let me show you.



I am currently obsessed.  But it is a really good movie, and I recommend seeing it.  It's about troubled boys in a boarding school post- WWII.  A new prefect comes and gets them in order by forming a chorus.  I love the movie, and there are a lot of great songs in it.  But if you don't understand French, I would recommend getting the DVD, so you can use subtitles.

Well that's all for today. 

Until next time,
Natalia

Welcome!

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I've tried doing some of these before but I guess I just gave up. This time, however, I am going to continue with this one. So I guess I should tell you all a bit about my self.

My name is Natalia and I am in ninth grade. I am orginally from Los Angeles (well ORIGINALLY from Greece but that goes back a little farther), and when I was about a year old we moved to the DC area. Then we moved to Annapolis, Ft. Lauderdale, and now we are back in DC. I row for my school and was on a swimteam for nine years. But my coach took me off the school team because I had mono... well that's another story.

I have a 12 year old brother (Vince), Mom, Dad, dog (Rocky), and cat (Lucy.) I really enjoy writing but I want to go to London School of Economics and eventually end up on a stock market, preferably London or New York.

Alright, now you know a bit about me. So if you would like feel free to read my blog, and I hope you guys enjoy.