Hiatus

Well I have a very busy summer schedule, and probably won't be able to post anything for... eh, about five weeks. Busy summer! For the time being, about everything is on hiatus for a while, until after I get back on track with life and everything.


Love you all!

How to Build a 1:20 Scale Model of the Doctor's TARDIS: Phase 1

Yes, you read that right. I am going to attempt to make a miniature TARDIS. I imagine it will take a bit of work, but it will be awesome!

Today, I completed Phase 1: Math.

I decided to make my TARDIS 1:20 scale, because I wanted it to be 6 inches tall. That meant that a TARDIS that is 10 feet tall is equal to a TARDIS that is 6 inches tall when you divide it by 1/20, or .05.

I found a picture of a TARDIS with the height next to it. It was probably in meters, but I decided that It was in feet. I'm not good with the metric system. I calculated that one foot was equivalent to approximately 18 pixels, so I set up two basic formulas:

(p/18)12=f, where p is the number of pixels in a particular measurement and f is the inches the full scale TARDIS measurement is.

  f           i   
  1   =   .05, where f is the value we got from the last formula and i is the inches the scale measurement should be.

That's basically what I did for each measurement. If you want all of the measurements, here they are!

FINGERS ON LIPS!

This is one of my favorite scenes in Doctor Who yet. I've started to wonder if this attempt to watch various sci-fi TV shows this summer has turned into an obsession...

Yes, yes it has.

I've been watching for around four days, and finished a whole season in one day... For the past two nights I've stayed up until... oh, around 4 AM watching Doctor Who and talking about it with my friend Katie. Bahaha I love her to death, I don't know of anyone else that would stay up watching Doctor Who until almost morning. (Well, except for me, of course)

It's gotten to the point where all of my thoughts are in a British accent... That's loads of fun! It's great, my mental British accent is magnificent, but my real one is awful. I also keep thinking about what I would do if I had my very own TARDIS... That would be fantastic!

I was really sad at the end of season two... If you haven't seen it or you don't want it spoiled...

SPOILER ALERT!

Well.. Now that that's done, lets get to the good stuff. I loved Rose! She had been traveling with the doctor for two seasons. She can't just go and figuratively die! It was at least a clever way to write her off. When the Eccleston doctor regenerated into the Tennant doctor, I was a little disappointed, but now I love Tennant!

Well that was a fun little rant. Off to-- you guessed it-- watch Doctor Who. :D

Tired...

Last night, I stayed up until about 4:00 AM watching Doctor Who. It's late now, so this is going to be all for tonight.

Greenroll'd

I love my friends. We came up with this new idea called Greenrolling.

It's like Rickrolling, where you give someone the link the Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" unsuspectedly. It's one of the most popular ways to troll.

Basically my friend Carl made a bunch of green photos and put them on Facebook. It was for a video he's making. I went and tagged him in all of those pictures, so the default pictures on his profile were all green. Then his brother Christian did the same thing to me, so then all of MY default pictures were green, and thus Greenrolling was born. Have fun with it!

The Open Door: Day 4

I had a good day. I went to my brother's 8th grade dance. It was fun! I decided that tonight I'm going to write something short, since it's already 9:30...

I have a summer project. I am going to watch as many sci-fi TV series' and movies as I can. I'm starting with Doctor Who, and I'm probably going to watch Stargate next. If you have any suggestions as to what I should watch, let me know!

The Open Door: Day 3

Hm... day three!


I didn't really do anything today other than sleep in, so I don't exactly have anything to write about. I posted on Facebook to give me suggestions, and my friends Addy and Olivia suggested pie. I was never told what exactly about pie, so I guess I'll have to include everything.
_________________________________________________________________________

Pie: A History

Pie is a baked dish, usually composed of a crust and a filling. The crust can either be more of a shell, where pie has an open face exposing the filling, or in can completely encase the filling. The filling can be... well, anything you want to put in a convenient pastry. Pies can be either sweet (for desert) or savory (as an entrée, appetizer  side, basically anything else) and can be made in sizes anywhere from big pies with multiple servings  to one-bite pies.

It is believed that the ancient Greeks are the origin of pie pastry. They used a flour paste (basically flour mix with fat, the most simple form of a pastry) to encase meats to seal in juices, help in the cooking process, and it was much easier for soldiers to carry at sea. 

In Europe, meat pies are much more common than in the United States. They are almost like the European version of fast food, because they are very convenient. However, the United States is known for their pot pies with flaky crusts and creamy meat fillings. Fruit pies in America are often served à la Mode, meaning they are served with a scoop of ice cream. It is also common to put excessively large amounts of whipped cream (or Cool Whip, which is common with pumpkin pie) on top of pie.

In popular culture, cream pies are often used as props and are thrown into people's faces. The term for throwing a pie in someone's face is called pieing. 

_________________________________________________________________________

Unless Addy made a typo, I believe this short essay will do nicely. If, in fact, she did mean pi, here's another essay.

_________________________________________________________________________

π

Some people are like pi. They're simply irrational.

Pi is a mathematical constant, representing the ratio of a circle's circumference to its 

diameter. It is a never ending decimal, and it never repeats.

For more information, please click here.

_________________________________________________________________________

I would write more, but the Wikipedia page on Pi is longer than the page about life. That's a liiiitle sad.

Addy and Olivia, I hope this was satisfactory.

The Open Door: Day 2

Why hello there, internet peoples!

Today was a good great AMAZING day. I took my foods exam (EASY!) went to the pool with some friends, and I've basically been doing nothing since. I have over two months to do whatever I want. YES! I really just want to have an epic dance party. This feels awesome, to not have to worry about ANYTHING for TWO MONTHS!!!! *flails like a crazed muppet* It's great doing actual school and stuff, but this summer is going to rock.

One thing I'm doing this summer is going on Footprints. Footprints is basically a week long hiking trip along the Appalachian Trail (AT) with girl scouts. I went in 2009, but I ended up falling a spraining my wrist. Again, in 2010 I was supposed to go, but that whole spine fiasco took place. I FINALLY get to go!! I love hiking. It really is a good experience. I love going places where most people can't say they've been to. Tops of mountains are also great places to take pictures!

Another thing I'm doing is going to the beach. I really just want to do and do absolutely nothing. We usually spend a week in the outer banks, but we couldn't do it this year because of school schedules. But we're gonna go deep sea fishing, go to a bunch of awesome restaurants, and just do nothing!

An ongoing thing that I'm doing this summer is selling cakes. I like baking, so I decided to make it a summer job.

My friend Carl who's on Team PyroTech with me likes video editing. He showed me this contest where you have to make a short video about duct tape. We decided that we're going to team up and make an epic video and win the $5,000 grand prize!!!

I love life. Isn't that nice? I think I'm going to go find someone to hug now. Bye!!!

The Glass Door: Version 2.0 - The Open Door: Day 1

If you are reading this, chances are that you have read my blog before. Assuming you have read this blog before, you probably have not even thought about this blog for about five or six months. The reason you have not thought about this blog for five or six months is probably because I haven't posted on this blog for five or six months. I am about to tell you why.

Hello, my name is Megan, and in the past six months, I have completely changed as a person.

Even though I may not have known it, I have always wanted to be an aerospace engineer. It's a dream that I've been pursuing my whole entire life, not even being aware of it half of the time. I had the grades, the attitude, the ambition, until I hit a small bump in the road.

It all started around January or February of this year. The new semester had started, the FRC build season had been kicked off, my back was starting to feel a heck of a lot better, and life was good. Really, really good. 

Classes were going smooth. I liked all of my teachers. (or could at least tolerate all of them...) I was doing the work, turning in my assignments, usually with little effort involved. That's usually how it's gone with me. I've never really had all that much trouble in school. 

I was having so much fun with robots, it basically took over my life. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it was in some cases. During the first quarter, I would say to myself "Well, I have an A in the class right now. Missing one homework assignment wouldn't hurt..." and boy was I wrong. I just stopped doing work. My grades were slipping. I became really stressed and not my normal self at all. My teachers were getting mad at me, my parents were getting mad at me, but most of all, I was getting mad at me. 

Regionals happened. Probably the greatest experience I have ever had in my entire life. Our robot, Team PyroTech's robot, the robot that 12 dedicated students put all their time and effort into (for the first time even!) was going to compete. We all had it in our minds that as rookies, we would place low and just have the event be a learning experience. After the first day of tinkering, testing, and practice matches, we still had that idea. But after the first day of actual matches, we all realized that we had a shot. This thing that we had all created, together, was amazing. It had brought us far, in the competition, in outreach, and in our team. This 'thing' I'm referring to is not the robot at all, but the bond that we created, the family that we built, in such a short time, to create Team PyroTech. In this period of time, we managed to meet, build a robot, and become a family .At the awards ceremony, we won the Rookie All-Star award. That meant that we basically were the best rookie team there. It meant that we showed effort, enthusiasm, and most importantly, gracious professionalism. That was the absolute best feeling ever. It also meant that we had a spot at the FRC World Championships. Let me say that again-- WORLD. CHAMPIONSHIPS. Very few teams had the honor of going, and a tiny team from rural North Carolina, got to go. 

During the short three days of the competition, I realized that the dream I was pursuing, to be an aerospace engineer, wasn't going to happen if I didn't step it up. 

About a week passed, and I was doing better in school, but not great. I was still missing assignments in some classes, and grades weren't up by much. But still, my parents were kind enough to let me go to St. Louis for Worlds. 

You know that thing about the regional being the greatest experience in my entire life? Scratch that. Worlds was amazing. It litterally changed my life. Dean Kamen, the founder of FIRST (and the inventor of the Segway! :D) was there. Woodie Flowers, the co-founder of FIRST was there. Will Smith was there. Morgan Freeman was there. The Black Eyed Peas were there. Yes, THE Black Eyed Peas. (I did have fun stalking Will.I.Am xD) Seeing all the famous people was fun and all, but that's not the point.

Dean Kamen and Woodie Flowers are the kind of people who make you feel like you can do anything if you listen to them talk for five minutes. When I heard their speeches about being the future of tomorrow, I knew that I really had to kick it up a notch.

In that short period of time that I had with my team, I learned more about life than I had... ever.

I came back wanting to kick it up a notch, and that's exactly what I did. I brought my algebra grade up from a high D to a high C (literally about two tenths of a point away from a B...) my programming grade up from a D to a B, and my biology grade up from a C to an A. For the last ten days of school, I spent two to three hours at a math tutor so I could get my grades up. I stayed for after school help, and that did the trick. 

I've been thinking about the title of this blog lately. "The Glass Door." I like it. But stating that there's a door implies that you cannot enter. From now on, this door will be open, to all and to anyone.

Being on that robotics team has really changed my life for the better. Every time I think about the experience that I had, I just feel like hugging every one of my team members. I truly cannot express the love I have for that team. Next season will be even better. To all of my family, I love you, for... well... basically everything. My friends, the same. To all members of Team PyroTech, expect a giant bear hug from me next time I see you. For now, I have to sit back, relax, and enjoy my summer. After that, tenth grade, here I come.

Day 21

*doesnt have time to poat or use spell chexker or proper grammaer*

Ohaithere... I dont have time to post or use spell checker or propper grammer. Good nifht. :3

Day20

I'll explain later.....

Day 20

*post*

Day 19

I've had another fun weekend! But I don't have time to type. I've made a new schedule for my day. I will get home from school around three, go for a walk ASAP and get back around four, do my homework and as soon as I finish that, I'll write a blog post. Then, I'll go to my Pyrotech meeting, take a shower, and go to bed. I think it sounds like a good plan!

I have one more thing to say: Fergie ruined Sweet Child of Mine.

Day 18

Today was fun! I made bumpers for a robot. It was very difficult but fun. Now, I'm just jammin' out to some Rhett and Link music!  I should be in bed, but I don't really feel like going to sleep... Oh well... Well I am getting tired, good night!

Day 17

I'm sorry for the short post last night. I've had some short ones, but that was one stinking word... I've had a busy week. I'll to a long post tomorrow, I'm going to bed...

Day 16

*post*

Day 15

Over two weeks! Yay! :D Ugh... short post D: 


Today was kind of fun. All of biology class was spent blowing bubbles. Mine was almost 30 cm. in diameter! 


I've been posting almost nothing for quite a while... By the time I go to write stuff, I have to go to bed... Which would be now actually..... Goodnight :P

Day 14

Well I originally started to write this in Programming again, but the bell rang. I'm at the hospital now, getting a checkup after my surgery. This should be fun... I know I have to get x-rays, and we're probably going to do some exams and stuff like that.

Day 13

I'm at school again. I've already done all my work... I guess this gives me the opportunity to blog. :)

-Back Story Back Story: Part Three-

First, I'll start off by saying something that actually happened before all the back pain. My friend Taylor had scoliosis, and had to get rods in her spine. I went to visit her in the hospital a couple days after her surgery. Her mom showed us the x-rays and we were shocked how much straighter her spine was. Now before I go on, let me point out that Taylor is the tallest person I know. Before the surgery, she was 5'8". I was 5 foot even. Immediately after the surgery, she had 'grown' two inches. She didn't actually grow, her spine was just so curved that it was making her almost shrink. When I saw her in the hospital, I jokingly said to her, "I wish I could have some growth-increasing surgery!" If this isn't ironic, there is obviously some small monkey in your ear giving you a false definition of the word.

So anyway, back to lets say... July. I was very stressed out and worried about everything. I just remembered, it was July that I found out about my back, not June. It's funny, when I'm stressed, I bake. Remember, stressed spelled backwards is desserts! :)

So I was pretty much doing the same thing from August to December. Those last few days of school were kinda stressful, but I had some friends come visit me the night before I went to the hospital. My friend Lauren, who I've known for almost ten years, spent most of Sunday night with me.

This would be part four, but that would be too many parts for a Back Story. Anyway, this is the actual surgery portion of the Back Story.

I woke up at about five that morning. I had to be at the hospital at 6, but I didn't really have to do anything. I literally rolled out of bed and got in the car. In the car, we put this stuff on my arm that made it numb so I wouldn't feel it when I got stuck with  needles... It didn't work... :(

We got to the hospital, and went to the front doors, but it was dark inside. The door was locked. We had to go through the main hospital then into the children's hospital, but it was still funny. I got checked in, and they brought me back to the little holding room thing. I brought my stuffed giraffe Herbert, that I got at my pre-op at my last surgery. I changed into my gown and everything, then they started to prepare me...

It was pretty easy at first. They had to connect some wires to my head, but the only bad thing about that was the glue... After all the wires were connected, they came over to work on the IV...

Six times they tried to get the IV in. At first I didn't mind, because the numb stuff was working, but apparently that stuff shrinks your veins so it's harder to get a needle in. Eventually, they had to go away from the numb areas. Have you ever had to be stuck in the wrist? It hurts!!! Eventually, they decided to just knock me out then do the IVs. (Yes, multiple.) I was perfectly fine with that, until I realized that they had to give me the loopy stuff through the IV... So I was perfectly conscious and aware of everything while they were wheeling me down the hall to the OR. That was probably the scariest thing ever... I remember I was lying in the bed thing and they were getting ready to knock me out. My mom was standing over me, along with about 20 other people. One of the nurses sort of laid the gas on my chest, so I could breathe a little of it, but it wasn't enough for me to sleep. I was sitting there trying to inhale as much as I could, and I can imagine I looked pretty funny. Finally, they decided to put the mask on my face. They put Dr. Pepper chap stick in the mask, so now I was pretty much inhaling my favorite soda. In a few seconds I was out. I do remember my mom telling me that she would be there when I woke up though.

When I eventually did wake up, I was still in the OR. I looked around for my mom, but she wasn't there. I was kind of sad actually... I asked where my parents were, and a nurse told me they went to get something to eat. I was wheeled down to the ICU, where I stayed for probably one of the worst nights of my life. After a few minutes of doctors and nurses running around me trying to get me hooked up to various pain killers and machines, my mom and dad walked in. Apparently, during the last half hour or so of the surgery, a nurse came out and told them that they should go get something to eat before I came out. They finished up a little early. The surgery lasted five hours. I am SO glad it felt like a few seconds!

In the ICU, there are two patients separated by a curtain. While I was on one side, a small baby was on the other side. She was about three months old, about the same age I was when I had my first surgery. She was in there after a de-tethering surgery with Dr. Fuchs, the same surgeon I had. Coincidence? I think not.

That first night was really hard. There is almost no room in there for other people, only enough for the bed, nurse, and all the IV stuff. There was one chair for someone to sit in, but it was probably the most uncomfortable chair ever. My dad was awesome and stayed with me that night, since my mom was going to stay with me for the whole week. His plan was to stay until around seven in the morning, but my mom had to come around four. I don't know why, but other people can't sleep in the ICU rooms. Also, the baby on the other side of the room was crying most of the night, and to try to calm her, some of the nurses were playing a 10-second loop of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star all night. From about 8 that night until 10 that morning, all we heard was that song... Eventually, we got to my more permanent room. It was painted lime green and had crayon trim all around it. I liked it! I don't really remember much more, except for the fact that I had some awesome visitors. (my Girl Scout troop, some friends who brought me awesome food, family, and just other awesome people) Well, the bell just rang, I'll continiue this later!

Day 12

I am very sorry for that short post yesterday... I got home at around 11 and didn't even think about the blog until about 11:59... 


I don't feel like continuing my Back Story, so I'll just tell about my weekend. It was just about the most fun I've had in a while. Friday night, I was at "The Lair." The Lair is the townhouse that my robotics team, Team Pyrotech, works at. For the past couple of weeks, we've been working our butts off building a robot for this awesome competition. Here's the link to the competition video. It should be really fun! So on Friday, we did get some stuff done, but all the mentors that were helping us went to a meeting upstairs, so the bottom floor was pretty much a bunch of teenagers blasting music and eating snack foods. It was so much fun! Saturday, I also went to The Lair. We got some of the pneumatics done, (phnewmyatics, as we like to call them) and then took a five minute break that turned into a 20 minute break. Saturday night, it was one of the team member's birthday. We all went to his house, ate pizza, cookie cake, and soda, then watched Inception. It was a really good, really confusing movie. But the whole thing was really fun. I had a blast!


Today was a very good, laid back Sunday. Although I woke up to my dad yelling "BREAKFAST IS READY!" at around 8 am and walked downstairs half an hour later to find two slices of bacon, it was still good. I got some homework done, which I actually sort of enjoyed. After that, I went with my mom, brother, aunt and uncle to see their new dog, Mary Ann. I got attacked! My face smelled like puppy. That makes me smile :)


After that, I came home for a little bit then went to see The Green Hornet with my dad and brother. Every once in a while, my dad will just randomly ask my brother and I if we want to go see a movie, usually on a Sunday. I really like it when we do this! My dad is usually so stressed out about everything-- work, scouts, just other random things. It's nice to spend time with him on the weekends. 


After the movie, we came home to a fabulous dinner made by my mom. We were having steak, but because of my slight dislike for red meat, she cooked up a chicken breast just for me! Along with that, we had mashed potatoes, broccoli, and some very good mushrooms sauteed in balsamic vinegar. After that, I've been doing pretty much the same thing: nothing. Well I think I've written enough. Thanks to everyone who made this weekend awesome! Love you all!! :D

Day 11

[post]

I love Darren Criss. Goodnight.

[/post]

Day 10

I'm at school right now. I know, I know, I'm such a rebel. I finished my work and I decided to blog! :D

-Back Story Back Story: Part Three-

First, I'll start off by saying something that actually happened before all the back pain. My friend Taylor had scoliosis, and had to get rods in her spine. I went to visit her in the hospital a couple days after her surgery. Her mom showed us the x-rays and we were shocked how much straighter her spine was. Now before I go on, let me point out that Taylor is the tallest person I know. Before the surgery, she was 5'8". I was 5 foot even. Immediately after the surgery, she had 'grown' two inches. She didn't actually grow, her spine was just so curved that it was making her almost shrink. When I saw her in the hospital, I jokingly said to her, "I wish I could have some growth-increasing surgery!" If this isn't ironic, there is obvioudly some small monkey in your ear giving you a false definition of the word.

So anyway, back to lets say... July. I was very stressed out and worried about everything. I just remembered, it was July that I found out about my back, not June. It's funny, when I'm stressed, I bake. Remember, stressed spelled backwards is desserts! :)

Day 9

*blogblogblogblogblogblog*


GAHH IT'S 10:45!! I'm sorry I keep procrastinating... I had a meeting tonight that ran until 9:30... So now I'll talk about my friend Katie! :D


Katie is freakin' awesome! She really is my best friend. We've both been through a lot, and we've always been there for each other.


We met in fourth grade I think. I don't really remember. But what I do remember is that I kept flinging K'nex at her and she was yelling at me. Haha it was awesome. 


Katie, I love you, and you're awesome! 


PEACE OUT!! *sleeps*

Day 8

You know what? I'm going to continue my story tomorrow. I know, I know, I'm procrastinating, but this is going to be a long post and I'm going to be up all night if I try to start writing this now. I'll start it tomorrow, and write a little each time I'm at my computer, so by the time I go to post, I'll already have something started. Sound good? Tonight I'll talk about my grades.

So I ended up with three B's and a C. Not bad, per say, but I could have done better. My parents keep saying that considering the circumstances, it was good. I keep telling myself I could have done better though.

I know this was really short, but I'm tired, my back hurts, and I have school in the morning. I will elaborate tomorrow!

Day 7

Hello again. So I know I promised Back Story Back Story: Part Three today, but I just don't have time and I don't want to rush it. I guess I'll just talk about my exams today.


So first I had my English 9 test. I have never liked English exams. They always have too many subjective questions. For instance, one asked how to properly combine two sentences for the best clarity. The thing was, there were two or three sentences that were grammatically correct. One that may be clear to me may not be to someone else. In this case, I usually just pick the most dumbed-down answer and move on. That's what I don't like about English in general. The question is basically asking "Okay, so you know what YOU want to say, now can you tell us what WE want you to say?" That's why I like math and science more. There's always just a definite answer. 


The following is directed towards the NCDPI-- HOW DUMB DO YOU THINK HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMEN ARE??? There was a definition of the word trundle, which I can understand, and some people may not know what a trundle bed is. The description was somewhere along the lines of the following: Trundle- A bed that is on wheels that rotate and allow the bed to move... blah blah blah. Wheels... that... rotate??????? They let the bed move? AHHH! I AM SO CONFUSED!!! I had no idea that wheels rotated!! State of North Carolina, where would I be academically without you?


So first they expect us to read their minds to get a subjective question right, then they have to explain to us that wheels rotate? Please, make up your mind!

Day 6

-Back Story Back Story: Part Two-

If this story were a musical, this would be Act II. Act one was just setting up the more interesting part of the story. Well, in my opinion, this part is definitely more interesting, probably because I can remember most of it. So, I'll start sort of where I left off. Lets see... June of 2010...

School was over. I was so excited, ready to begin the rest of my life. 8th grade was pretty bad. I had lost some great friends; Some were just jerks, and some were begging not to go. High school was going to be a fresh start. Until I started having back pains again... Five years... Five years since this has been an issue. For five years, I thought I was back to being a normal kid. For five years, I was led to believe that I wouldn't have to worry about my back any more. For five years, once a year, I was told that I was fine and that I was going to grow without any other issues. Wrong. For five years, my problems progressed. For five years, a condition that could have been found sooner is I had just opened by big mouth, could have been solved. I've never really told anyone this, but since this blog is a glass door, I'll let the world know now. Ever since I told my parents about how my back hurt when I was nine, and I had to get the MRI that eventually let to surgery, (Read day 5. Back Story Back Story: Part 1) I have been absolutely horrified of telling people how I feel. I guess I figure that if I don't tell anyone how bad it is, it will eventually go away and I won't have to go to a doctor or anything. So if I start complaining how bad my back hurts or anything, you know it hurts. At the end of eighth grade, when I started to have all the back pain, I figured it was always there but I just never noticed it. I never actually told anyone about it until school was out. I told my mom on the last day of school that my back hurt, and she just figured the same thing as me, but she didn't know how bad it actually hurt. The week after school ended, I was a counselor at a Girl Scout day camp. That week, the pain got very bad. I was outside in the sun, standing, running around, and had kids hanging off me all through the day. I told my mom after the first day, and she was worried. Honestly though, I think I was more worried than her. I took it pretty easy for the rest of the week and went to our local urgent care that Thursday.

Since they were just an urgent care, they couldn't really do much more than take x-rays. We would have gone to see our regular doctor, but the next week, I was supposed to drive up to Maryland for a week long backpacking trip on the AT. I've been in a situation where I had to leave a backpacking trip once, but that's another story. Anyway, they took the x-rays and told me that I had 50 degree scoliosis. We had no idea what that meant. So I got sent to Duke, and got an MRI to make sure that it wasn't anything nerve/ spinal cord/ brain related. Mom and Uncle Mike, you can back me up on this one, that was probably the scariest thing I had done in my life. I had heard that some of the MRI machines at Duke played iPods and CD's, so I came prepared. Lucky me, I got the only one that didn't. Not only that, but they surprised me with an IV. The IV was bad, but inside the actual machine, it looked like Wolverine had a tantrum inside. It seriously looked like there were claw marks on the inside plastic. It also looked like a middle school locker room- there were a bunch of Sharpie marks inside. Worst two hours of my life. I would have much rather go on a roller coaster- which I am deathly afraid of- than repeat that night. 

So nope, no nerve stuff. Thanks, could have told you that. So, I went to go see a surgeon that my friend who just had the same surgery recommended me to. He was awesome! Other than the fact that that was where I found out about my kyphosis, it was a good visit. In a nutshell, my scoliosis wasn't bad. It was only at about 20 degrees. The kyphosis, however, was bad. He said that the only was to fix it was surgery, and he usually tried to stay away from that. He was actually our second opinion that we went to see first. Since his clinic and everything wasn't covered on our insurance, we went to see the pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Duke. He also said that I would have to get surgery, but he said it in a not-as-nice way. So by then it was August. I had already missed a lot of things I was going to do over the Summer, and I was determined to not miss any more. Too bad! I missed two and a half weeks of school.

I just realized how much I've written and that it's 9:30. I should be going to bed- I have another two exams tomorrow. By the way, I felt really good about my history exam today, and I got a 97 on my computer apps. exam! 

Back Story Back Story: Part Three will be out tomorrow. It will continue the time leading up to the surgery and the surgery itself. PEACE!!

Day 5

Full work week! 5 days! I think this is an accomplishment. 


Today, I went to see The Lion King on stage. It was amazing! My mom and I were talking about it over dinner, and she said, "The opening actually brought me to tears. Is that weird?" while during the whole opening scene I was crying and trying to cover it up like an idiot. But I'm not here to talk about an idiot.


In case you didn't know, I just had surgery in December. We'll get to that. But first, a back story!!

-Back Story Back Story: Part One- 

So when I was born, there was apparently an annoying little bump on my back. Two days and an MRI later, they found out it was tethered spinal cord. Pretty much some baby fat wrapped around my spinal cord, so as I grew, my spinal cord stretched and that was bad. When I was two months old, the amazing pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Fuchs performed my first (yes, first) spinal de-tethering surgery at Duke. Nine years later, some scar tissue basically did the same thing as the baby fat and I had to get surgery again. I don't really remember much, but I'll tell what I do remember.


In elementary school, I knew going to see Dr. Fuchs was a good thing. All I would do was go see him, walk around for ten minutes, then go on my merry way. Plus, I would get out of school for it. (I knew what was up, I was a smart kid!) So one regular day in the fourth grade, I knew I had an appointment. I got checked out, skipped out to the car, but was confused that my dad was also there with me. It's not that he wasn't supportive, (Daddy, I love you! I know we butt heads sometimes, but no matter what, you'll always be the number one man in my life!!!) it was just that usually my mom brought me because there wasn't ever anything different. I asked why he was there, and my mom explained to me that I was going to have to get an MRI. After my mom explained it, I was really scared. I remember one thing from that car ride very vividly. For the full 45 minute ride, I was staring out the window silently, but I kept wondering why my eyebrows kept raising. We eventually got there and I did the MRI. This was around December, so I got a little Christmas themed beanie baby that had a jingle bell in it. I ended up never seeing Dr. Fuchs that day. A few days later, I had to get another MRI on my brain. What I remember from that is the fact that it felt like I was in Chick-fil-A the whole time. No, I was not on any meds. 


When I finally did go see Dr. Fuchs, both my parents went and looked very worried. I didn't know any better; I just thought we were going to see Dr. Fuchs and I would just have to walk around on my toes some more. We get in the room, the doctor does all of his usual things, but we had to wait for a while. He walked back into the room. I was sitting on the table, my mom and dad next to me in chairs. They were holding hands. I had no idea what the doctor was saying, so I just kind of zoned out. What I do remember hearing is that I might need another surgery, and I thought to myself "Oh, my mommy and daddy would never make me do that. That wouldn't be fun." Well, surgery time!! I don't actually remember anything from the surgery other than the pre-op. I got a really nice stuffed giraffe, which I named Herbert. (That's Dr. Fuchs' name) Oh! The last thing I remember was the OR. It had Spongebob Squarepants wallpaper. :]


I'm going to leave this as a cliffhanger. Story continuation tomorrow!!

Day 4

I am currently typing on my iPad. Please excuse... Everything...

My dad got a new router today, because he always complains that our wireless Internet is too slow. I don't know why... My laptop was pretty fast. My iPad was pretty slow when using Netflix, but that hasn't changed much. I guess it's better; whatever makes my dad happy, I'm fine with.

Tonight's not going to be a terribly long post. As a matter of fact, I'm probably not going to write anything on the long side until Wednesday. I've been sick and have all my exams to make up... Scratch that, Tuesday. I'll write something long on Tuesday. One of my "This is what goes on in my mind on a regular basis" kind of posts. Tonight will be...

My mother and popular culture.

That works. I can scratch another one off the ever-growing list! Well the other night, my mom was hungry. Usually when it's 10 o' clock at night, my mom just makes spaghetti or ramen. On this particular night, she chose ramen. Creamy chicken flavor to be exact. So she got Her little mini saucepan out, filled it with two cups of water, and put it on the stove to boil. After about five minutes, her water was boiling. By this time, she had been anticipating her ramen so much, she was practically jumping for joy. My mom threw the pantry door open, flung her arm to the shelf where the ramen resides, but was let down at the fact that no one was home. She looked up at ke and said "As P!nk would say, 'This sucks!'" I laughed... Very hard.

So just now, I checked Facebook. I'm on my iPad, so it goes to a different window and everything. I go back to this window, and I see that all of the above paragraphs are deleted. I was very mad, so I just made a new containing the following, and it was all I was going to post for the day.

Ya know what? No. I'm not writing anything tonight, I have no Internet on my laptop, the only thing I can properly type on, so I decided that I would do it on my iPad to keep my word. I wrote about 6 paragraphs, then went to check Facebook real quick. Turns out drafts don't save automatically on iPads. Thanks, Apple. Means a lot. I'll just write it tomorrow... I'm tired. Peace!

I was seriously about to post that until I went back to check my drafts. Maybe you didn't fail me, Apple, but I'm still a PC girl at heart!

*Is tired* I'm tired... Goodnight people! :)

Day 3

I... Am... Tired...

So yesterday, I decided not to talk about my exam. I have no idea why I didn't, it was one of the few interesting things I did that day. (interesting being a relative term) I guess I'll talk about it today... Well, I went into the classroom, talked with my friend Olivia for about two minutes, and then answered random multiple choice questions for an hour and went home... Yeah.

Hm... this is interesting. I'm actually forcing myself to write something. Usually I have to stop myself before the post gets too long. Well let's see what I have in the idea box. *checks idea box* Okay, two things. The relationship I have with the copy/ paste functions, and my tendency to switch words.

First things first. Last night, I was playing with my iPad (yes, I have an iPad. Don't judge me.) before I went to bed. I was bored, so I decided that I would make my Facebook status the last thing that I had copied. I touch 'paste,' and I see this:

And I was like
Baby, baby, baby ooh,
Baby, baby, baby, noo,
Baby, baby, baby ooh,
Thought you'd always be mine, mine

I was absolutely horrified that Justin Bieber personally found me, hacked into my WiFi network, got my iPad password, found the lyrics to his song, copied them, and left, knowing that I would find it and be scared for life. (or at least that's the story I'm going with...) Well I've broken the rules of this blog on day three now... Okay, honestly, I have no idea how that happened. Seriously.

As with the whole word switching thing-- I switch words around. A lot. The first time I did it and it was really funny, I was at school. My friends and I were having a very intense debate, and as usual, we forgot what the debate was even about three minutes into it. By the end of it, I'm pretty sure I had won, so to bring it to a close and end that conversation, I said "My argument is valid." At least, that's what I said in my head. What came out of my mouth was "My valid is argument." In my opinion, that flows better. I don't know what I was thinking... What I do know is that whenever I'm having a debate and using big words to make myself seem smarter, all of that "topical knowledge" (that's my new word... Don't you love it? :D) flies away when I end with "my valid is argument."

Well this was fun, sorry I bored you to death. I was actually going to do something interesting today, I swear. I have a two liter bottle of Pepsi and a roll of Mentos all ready for tomorrow. I promise video!

-Megan

PS- For some reason, the posting time on here is wrong. It's really 10:45... not almost 6. Anyone know how to fix this?

Day 2

Hello there!

Well I think this is going well so far. To start off, I think I'll talk about why I decided to do this in the first place. I explained it a little in my last post, but not in much detail. I pretty much thought it would be cool to know what was going on with me when I'm older. What I was interested in, what I did, all that stuff. I like to look at each day as if it were a book, each chapter being something different that happened that day. On Facebook, I have a bunch of friends doing this thing called "Project365" where they take a picture every day this year. And even though a picture may speak 1,000 words, those 1,000 words may only be part of one chapter. Although I may only talk about a few things per post, I think it's better than just a simple picture of a tree just to get "credit" for the project.

Another thing I've thought about is daily vlogs. Basically carrying around a camera everywhere I go and shoving it in people's faces asking what's up. The issues with vlogs are that they take forever to edit, and I don't know how happy my teachers would be with me filming myself take a test. The blog is so simple because I can just write down my thoughts and click post. There may be a bit of revising and editing, but nothing that can't be done in a minute or two.

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Last night, I was helping my friend Katie think of a name for her blog that she decided to do. After explaining the meaning behind my name, her and I set out to think of a good one for her. The Open Book is what I came up with. (No stealing!!) But then I thought about it for a little while. Anyone can write anything in a book, not necessarily just the truth. Maybe the saying "I read you like a book" isn't so truthful. It implies that you could tell what they were saying and the truth behind it, but it could just be a cover-up. The Open Book may not be so close to The Glass Door as I thought. But, I still thought it was a cool name, so I suggested it.

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Another thing that happened last night was the following conversation with my mother over Yahoo chat while I was upstairs studying:

                Mom: How are you doing? :)

                Me: Good :)

                         I heard the little ‘pop’ from the IM, I was scared for a second

                Mom: Oh! Sorry… :)

                Me: Haha no, it’s okay. I just thought for a minute there that I farted.

                Mom: Well… I hope that you know you farted… without having a computer sound alert you to it!

                Me: I know, I was worried.

I always like to speak in a way that I sound somewhat smart, because most of the non-teenage human race has this idea that teenagers have never seen a punctuation mark or capital letter in their life. (Go ahead, call me a hypocrite.) I just laughed and laughed for a solid 15 minutes at this though. 

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On to something that actually happened today- the conversation I had today in the car with my dad. I was on my way to school when the car in front of us was trying to turn right in the left-turn lane. My dad started complaining about how some people in this world are just stupid and idiotic. Don't ask me how, but it ended with me getting out of the car with my father reminding me that 'People, including you, are dead weight and are worthless to society if you don't pay taxes.' And no, I already asked him, sales tax does not count.

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iTunes is a great program, right? It is. I love it. I don't know how many times I've gone to listen to a song online, then completely forgot the name or artist. I've been thinking about a song from Carolina Liar a lot lately, and I've been meaning to find/ buy it, but I forgot what it was called. I searched Carolina Liar, knowing that I would recognize the song as soon as I saw the title. While the search was loading, I said to myself "Come on, I know what I'm looking for, just show it to me!" Seconds later, I found myself in a fit of laughter with the song I was looking for on my screen. "Show Me What I'm Looking For" by Carolina Liar. Oh, irony... you never fail to amuse me!

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I already have two followers!! :D Katie and Aunt Tracy, you rock! Not only the two followers, but two comments on the first post! Uncle Mike, you get props for the first post. *high fives* Aunt Tracy, you can have a high five too if you must... *high fives* Just kidding, love you two!!

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Alas, it is here. The end of the quite successful day two. I'm going back to studying for the test that I'm sure I will end up failing tomorrow... Bye! :)

Day 1

Hm... Well this is interesting. Every time I press one of these little squares on this rectangular plastic thing, a letter pops up on my screen. Let's do a little testing, shall we?

My name's Megan, if you didn't know. I've decided to start a blog and document everything that I do for a while, because I'm sure that I'll want to know what I was doing one random Wednesday night back in 2011. Starting a blog, that's what. Anyway, it's my goal to write/ post at least something every day for at least a year, maybe more. 

I guess I'll start by saying what I'm doing right now. Well at the exact moment, I'm typing, but I am also currently working on some review things for exams coming up. I have my computer apps exam tomorrow, and my CET test Friday. Tuesday and today I was supposed to be taking a history final and an English EOC, but I've been sick for the past few days. I've been studying hard, and I hope I do really well.

As usual when I get sick, I find some new TV series to watch. Thank god for Netflix and instant streaming. This time, its Lie to Me. Probably the best mystery TV show known to man. Even better, it's based on real studies. Apparently a man named Paul Ekman studied the relation of emotions and facial expressions. He figured out that every little flinch on your face can be translated into a basic emotion. Cal Lightman, the main character in Lie to Me, is based on Ekman. He runs a company called The Lightman Group that works with the FBI, police, or whoever to squeeze the truth out of people. 


Why and I ranting on and on about this random TV show? It inspired the name of this blog. You see, the building that The Lightman Group works out of is made of glass. I had never really thought about it before, but it's not just a fancy modern-looking building. They worm the truth out of witnesses, victims, criminals, and put the partial truths together to form the whole truth. Having the whole truth means that they have nothing to hide, so the glass lets outsiders see that. My goal with this blog is to tell the whole truth about my life, no matter what. So, the metaphorical glass door will let you, the reader, see that truth. 


This is gonna be a fun year!


-Megan