12-15. We blew up Diet Coke and Mentos all over Rachel and filmed it. All for extra credit in Calculus!

The rest of December was spent taking finals and wrapping up classes.

Semester One Grades: Straight A's. Yeah!

Sunday 23 played my violin with Candice in our churches Christmas Carol Service. our song was What child is this? which goes to the melody of Greensleves.

I spend the first half of Christmas Break compiling my Yale Application. It was due on the 31st. got in turned in. whew.

Christmas morning I was feeling sick to my stomach so I stayed home from brunch. then at noon went to Grandmes to finish cooking dinner. we ate and then I came home to my house and served our dinner. I made Ham. Yum. green bean casserole too.

Saturday the 29th went to a New Years Dance at Rachel's Church. Candice, Rachel, and I dressed up and went to the 2$ theater ahead of time to see Resident Evil: Extinction. Later I danced, danced. such fun.

New Year's Eve I went to Phil's House and Hung out with Phil, Candice, and Nolan. Ate some Lasanga and salad. Followed by some great cinnamon apple cake with caramel icing. Watched Little Miss Sunshine. We started watching Once, but stopped due to the excruciating nature of the singing. We blew noise makers for the New Year and toasted some sparkling grape juice. Ended the evening with some intense Texas Holdem style poker. Get 'em.

January 3rd. Back to School. Ugh.

LAST BLAST

10-3/10-9

     I spent all week getting ready for the Last Blast. Monday NFL meeting and work. Booster club meeting and judges clinic on Tuesday. I picked up tophies on Wednesday.

     Friday went well. Our tournament was on time. As Tournament Director, I checked in coaches, filled in competitor drops, and checked schedules in the first hour. Then I stalked the building checking that rounds were on time, monitoring the event chairs, and keeping tabs on tab. All ended well.

    Then Saturday the weather screwed us over. I arrived at the school as the rain started. The roads were clear; there wasn't a single problem. And then the rain froze on everything. Within an hour of arriving at the school we had to cancel. Buses were doing 180's and 360's on the highways. So I had to shut down my tournament. : (.

     Boy was that a procedure. we had to check every room and lock it. had to call judged and tell them not to come. had to clean up messes in cafeteria and lobby. then shut down tab. Above all, the biggest problem was the Hospitality room. Pounds and mounds of food stacked to the cieling. I sent people to eat and and we ate and ate and ate. and still had problems. I brought home 15 pounds of potato salad that my Daddy had nicely donated, but had not been used. we had a grande bucket of tortilla appetizers. We swore that we wouldn't eat Potato salad or tortilla apetizers for a year. (We lied. I actually made tortilla apetizers for the first time today. so we lasted about 2 months.)

     So do I pass as a Tournament Director. well it is hard to call it. Friday went well, but I missed many responsibilities I would have performed on Saturday. I guess we will never know.

Halloween I dress as a Vampire. Yummy blood splattered on my pale white face. add a nice black cape and I was pretty scary. : D. we take her little children around and gain a nice haul.

November 2/3. Lees Summit Candice and I do Puff. we go 3-1 and don't break. Snake! it was a nice showing but I don't place in anything. oh well.

9/10. Hunting! don't get anything. but we have oodles of fun anyway.

17/18 Park Hill South. break to sems oo. 3-1 in LD. No break. Snake! David breaks on a 3-1 due to op record and goes sems. woot. LD mafia is getting some great new blood.

11-20. Go out to eat with Candice, Felice, and Aurora at Fud Ruckers. Fun and yummy.

11-21. No School; first day of Thanksgiving break. The truck wont start after Dad gets out of work. he has to hitch a ride home. hmm, we were planning on spending thanksgiving in Nevada, we ponder will we make it?

11-22. Happy Thanksgiving! we end up staying and eating dinner in Raytown. we don't know whats up with the truck but now it starts just fine.

11-23. We (Whole family- as in Mindy, Candice, Daddy, and both doggies) decide to go to Nevada. I ask my Dad what is going to guarantee that the car will start once we are down there. he responds, "well really there is never a garuntee that the car is going to start." Ok, so truthfully Candice and I are a little skeptical. But yeah! Lanii road trips are so much fun. we go hunt with the muzzle loaders.

11-24. Hey Guess what?!? The Truck Won't Start! Dad messes with it for a long time. eventually it starts and we pack our bags and hit the road late in the day.

11-26/12-2 Starting to really get ready for LAST BLAST. assigned jobs and told people their rolls. on Wednesday we have a call party/copy day to copy ballots and call more judges in. New LD topic - "Resolved: In the Unites States, Plea Bargaining in exchange for testimony is unjust. Debate Tournament is at William Chrisman. LD mafia likes the new topic and we slaughter. we close out the reg devision. Tiffanesha and Rachel Walker close out, taking 2nd and 1st respectively. In Champ Division, all four break to 1/4's. Kelsey takes 4th. Candice goes to finals in her bracket, leaving David with 3rd. I go to sems and win. Candice and I close out finals. I take first! Yeah! I Love LD so much! It is just too fun.

October 3. Rachel's 18th Birthday! Candice and I pick her up at her house with a dozen roses and may cards. we get cupcakes for our entire 4th hour calculus class in celebration. Extemp 101 work session after school.

October 4. First mentoring session with Adam at Mid Continent Public Library. goes well. I think I scare him a little. Oh well.

October 5/6. Belton! it is fun to get back into debate gear. Friday I get stuck being the Presiding Officer first round. Evidentally I suck at that. scores were pretty abismal. (I was asked to go have a smoke with a few kids after round one. Wow, this is the first time as a teenager that anyone has ever offered me any drugs at all. I am laughing inside as I decline. This gives me some semblance of being like a normal teen right? I mean kids offered me drugs!) I come back in session two and three with great speeches, but round one scores affect my placement. I give one speech in Super Session. It was on Advertising for political campaigns. My intro was. "Hi, I'm Melinda Lanius, and I approve this message." It was great, all the competitors laughed. and Then Candice immediately followed me up and her intro is, "Hi, I'm Candice Lanius and I don't Approve this message." Ah, I just love the utilization of environment. Brilliant display by Candice. I place somethin or another, maybe 6th. Candice places 4th or 5th I think. Then some other people who I was surprised to see up there. Phil places 1st. He absolutely deserved it. by far the best competitor there.

Sunday Candice and I sing Amazing Grace, My Chains Are Gone in church. We did pretty well, for people who can't sing. : D.

10-8/10-14 Barely anyone shows at the board meeting. monday mad. Mentor Adam thursday at the Library. Coming along nicely. Debate Judging  is cancelled. Go to Homecoming on Saturday. Brendon takes Candice, and I take Rachel. We go out to eat at El Maguays beforehand. I inhale a half order of beef nachos. we have spare time and go to REWs house for some Dance Dance Revolution. go to dance, and dance, and jump around, and have a super hyped up amazing time as usual.

10-15/10-21 Recycling Monday. Dermatologist after school. Turns out CL and I have Tenia Versicolor, or an overproduction of skin yeast. It makes our skin not produce pigment properly, thus the odd red and white patches of skin. but no worries it is genetic and not contagious at all, and will go away within the month. we take drugs for like 10 days and it goes away for some indefinite period of time. (I don't know this at the time but it doesn't come back until February 2008, I need to go get the prescription refilled. I just found some weird pigmintation on my back again. Probably because I started exercising a lot for soccer. Doc. said tons of exercise and sweating can trigger it.) Tuesday I have a practice round with Brett. Poor kid. he practically just says vote for me in his first affirmative rebuttal. So I am nice to him in my NR. and he only says "vote aff" in his 2AR and then sits down. So I am thinking, ok, got this. obviously won. but then MH chews me out because evidentally I was TOO NICE to Brett. Ok, even though they admit defeat, still pound them into the ground. Wednesday I go to the Orthodontist to make retainer impressions. I get my braces off in a week and 2 days! yeah finally! we are in my fifth year! Early Release Friday. go to debate tournament. get 1st DX. Break in LD, hit Sarah and lose 2-1. hmm that was odd. I thought I had won it. (This starts a long tirade that stretches across the entire year into February where she is defeated by Mindy in a time when it counts! he he he! foreshadowing!).

10-22/10-28 start selling NHS candy bars as a fundraiser. I suck at fundraisers by the way. sell like 2 bars. My Dad ends up snatching about 20 of the 42. Luckily he pays me 20$ at the end of the week. (I still have some of those bars in my freezer, months later. Pathetic saleswoman I am.) Tuesday we have our first Orchestra Concert. Candice and I have solo's in the Pride and Prejudice arrangement. we play that jig from the town hall dance sequence. No school Thursday or Friday. 8:30 Friday I get my braces off and get my retainer! Free at last Hooray! go to Oakpark. Candice stays home sick. I sweep the floor of everyone. I take 5th OO, 6th DX, and 3rd LD. we have another encounter with Sarah. hit her 4th round. she is neg on the same topic and same side as when  I hit her a Blue Springs. after analysis I think she beat me at BSHS because of my case, so 15 minutes before I go into the round I rewrite my aff just for her Neg. Round goes great and I think I beat her. Problem is the judge didn't listen to what the resolution said. It says "society" my judge heard "Government". Due to this one technicality I lost the round. Hate it when judges don't listen to what is happening. but anyways, she loses in 1/4's to someone else and I win my round, so I go further in the tournament. There is some semblence of comfort there.

9-10/9-16 Have had several NFL board meetings by this point. I have assigned tasks to everyone for the year. Having some problems with attendance and other board members complaing about it behind my back. ACES tutoring on tuesday. Study for the first spanish test with Heather at the library on Wednesday. We are all a little nervous. College spanish! Thursday go to Mrs. Sonnenmoser's Kansas City Kansas Community Orchestra rehersal for the second week. It is fun. I play First Violin. It is good to get a little extra practice. Friday Daddy gets me out of school and takes me to Lee's Summit for an orthodontist appointment at 11:00. We had never been to this location before and got lost. the address in the online phone book was incorrect and Dad was mad. but we got there in time and ok. Took the ACT on Saturday. (I didn't know this at the time, but I get a 34. he he, oh yeah!) Church on Sunday.

9-17/9-22 Second NFL Meeting. I am getting used to being President. Running the meetings relatively smoothly. At 6 I go speak at Blue Ridge Elementary about Nationals. ACES on Wednesday. Community Orchestra Thursday. NFL Squad date friday at Colman park. I rented one of the shelters and we had hotdogs and a lot of desert - such as cookies and brownies. yum. Not a ton of people showed, but maybe 15. we play some football, frisbee, soccer, and basketball. It is fun. then we end with some Tag. Devin is fast. very fast. Candice and I then leave to go play a gig with Mrs.Sadler, Ashlee, Krista, Anna, Maddie, and Selene. It is for some dinner at the Ballet Conservatory on 40 Highway. pretty nice. Then we go out to eat at buffalo wild wings. yum.