"For the First Time in Forever"... Friday

   Hey guys!
   Wow... it sure has been a while! How are you all? I'm doing relatively well, considering the past few days. In case you haven't heard, I was admitted to the hospital on Sunday. On Monday, they removed my port, which was very much infected; and on Wednesday the doctors sent me home with a drain. Today is Friday, and I still have not been allowed back to school! Apparently, I am "contagious" as long as the drain is in. I find that rather odd; wouldn't you think it's the other way around?
   I've been sitting around the house, desperately looking for something fun to do... I've emailed all my teachers so that I can catch up on schoolwork. I've worked a bit on the novel I'm writing (I'll tell you more about that in a later post), I've played piano and violin a bit... Last night, my parents went to church, and my grandpa took me and my siblings out to eat. That was pretty fun. I've also worked A LOT on my anime drawings  that I've been working on! I'm now "taking orders" from some of my friends at school; they tell me the names of anime characters they really like, and I look the characters  up and draw them! I'll see if I can figure out how to upload some of my pictures to this post.
   All right, time for a major announcement! You guys ready? September 20-26 is Mito Awareness Week!!! Make sure to wear lots of green, and if your friends ask why... tell them all about mitochondrial myopathy! If you have any questions for me, about mito or my life with mito, please post them in the comments section! I will be going through and answering them throughout the week. I'm also trying to make a few more short, informational videos... I'll upload them as soon as they're done! And, if you would like some cool ideas for how to spread awareness, you can go to this link: http://www.umdf.org/site/pp.aspx?c=8qKOJ0MvF7LUG&b=7934679
I want to try the Light Bulb Campaign, myself! I wonder if people at my school would buy the light bulbs? Well, you never know until you try, right?
    So, that's about it! I will be posting all throughout Mitochondrial Myopathy Awareness Week. Have a great day, and I'll give you guys an update soon!

These characters are Edward and Winry, from the
anime show Full Metal Alchemist.

Edward and Winry are usually shipped together;
their ship name is EdWin. Aren't they just the
cutest?

This is Romeo, a fire mage from the anime
show Fairy Tail. He doesn't usually have
cat ears... I just thought he'd be cute as a neko!

This is Wendy, also from Fairy Tail. Her magic
type is Air Dragon Slayer (meaning, support and
healing magics). She doesn't usually have
cat ears, either.

I have to say, this one is my favorite! The character's
name is Skylar Val. And unlike the others, she is not
from an anime or manga. In fact... this is one of the
characters from the novel I am writing! I drew her how
I envisioned her. Skylar's a pretty cool girl.

Friday with Friends

    Hey everyone!!
    I don't know about you, but I've been having a pretty fantastic week! Usually, I complain about summer being completely and totally boring... but this week, not so much.
    On Monday, my friends Ameena and Jake went to the library with me (we spent almost as much time talking as we did looking at books!) and then we went back to my house to hang out. I turned on the karaoke machine, and we had a lot of fun singing! ... My sister and I teamed up to get a video of Jake and my brother, James, singing "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley together. It was awesome!
    After Jake left, Ameena and I did some more karaoke, and then we turned on Just Dance 4. We danced to a couple of songs (she kept winning...!), my mom asked me to go check the mail. That kind of surprised me for a few reasons: It was hot outside; I had a friend over; you have to go down the stairs and walk to the street, then back up the driveway and go on the stairs again to get inside; my brother was right there, and he could have done it! Even though I was a little confused, I walked out onto the front porch -- and saw something even more surprising. There were three cars out in the driveway.
    One of the cars belonged to my mom, and it was normal for it to be there. However, my dad's car was also there, when he should've been at work! I didn't recognize the third car, though the driver did look familiar..... I was getting ready to walk back inside and call for my mom, when the door on the passenger's side of my dad's car opened, and someone stepped out. It took a minute for me to recognize her... but when she said, "Hi Mattie!" and laughed, I realized it was one of my best friends, Carlee!!!
    See, Carlee used to live about five minutes from my house, and we would hang out all the time. But then, because of her dad's job, she had to move -- all the way to Maryland! We email and text all the time, but it's not quite the same. And all summer, we've been trying to figure out a way that she could come visit for a week or so, but every time I asked her about it, she kind of avoided my questions. So I was thinking that I wasn't going to get to see her at all. But apparently, everyone had known about her visit since April -- everyone, except for me!! (Even my brother knew, and he's terrible with secrets!)
    When I realized that it was her, I may or may not have screamed. And it's possible that I might have run down the stairs and tackled her. And then screamed some more. Yes, some of my neighbors were outside, and yes, they were staring. Honestly though, I don't really care if they think I'm crazy... because right now, Carlee is sitting on the couch in my living room!! :) She's staying for a couple of weeks, and flying back home right before school starts. We've already done a lot of fun, crazy stuff together, and we have a lot of time to do even more fun, crazy stuff before she leaves!! So, um, wish my parents luck... because they're the ones who will have to deal with this Dynamic Duo!

~ Mattie (aka Matt Matt, when talking to Carlee)

Speedy Sunday

I know I've already posted two different things this week... but today was so exciting, I just had to tell you guys!
I didn't do a whole lot today. I slept in this morning, and ended up skipping church because I was still kinda tired. My mom and I stayed home while everyone else went; she and I cleaned up some, and then we just sat around (me on my phone, her on her computer). When the rest of the family got home, my parents left to go shopping for school supplies. My siblings and I did a little more tidying up, and then I played around on Facebook and YouTube (I'm watching this awesome anime show called Fairy Tail... I may have gotten my brother addicted to it as well!).
When my parents got back home, my mom told me to go get dressed -- because yes, I was still wearing my pajamas. I asked where we were going... but she didn't really give me an answer, and just sent me to put on some regular clothes. When I came back upstairs, she kinda threw my phone (which contains my learner's permit and library card) at me, and we left. I was still confused, but got in the car anyways.
She drove us to this gigantic church parking lot. Our car was the only one there, and there were no other people around. I started to get excited, figuring out what was going on... and my suspicions were confirmed when she got out of the car and switched seats with me!! My mom showed me how to use the blinkers, put the car in reverse, park, brake, and turn. It was absolutely AWESOME!!!!!
I will admit that I nearly hit the curb. Multiple times. But hey, this was my first time behind the wheel! The fact that I didn't hit anything is pretty impressive -- to me, anyways.
After about an hour or so, my mom asked if I wanted to drive home! I was pretty shocked/excited/terrified, and of course I immediately said yes!! So we took some back roads to get back to our house, driving very. Very. Slowly. When I first saw another car (some guy working for Papa John's) behind us, I kinda freaked out, thinking I would have to start speeding up. Thankfully, he didn't follow us for long, and I never actually had to go faster. Of course, I did face a different, scarier obstacle... cars coming the opposite direction! I may or may not have screamed when I saw the first one. (And the second, and third.)
But, we did make it home without hitting anything! I got awfully close to the curb a few times, but never hit it. I managed to pull into the driveway without driving into the mailbox -- bonus!!!

I wonder if anyone will take me out again tomorrow....
~ Mattie (soon-to-be NASCAR driver!)

Free-verse Friday

When the TV is on, but nobody's really watching,
When the dogs are all laid out on the couch and floor,
When they're hyper and running all over the place,
When you can wear whatever, whenever,
When there's some song you know playing in the other room,
When you can sing along and no one judges,
When it doesn't matter whether your shoes are on or off,
When you just can't find the matching shoe,
When you can read a book in peace and quiet,
When there's no peace or quiet to be found,
When dinner is magically served right on time,
When you have to brave the fridge to find your dinner,
When everyone's arguing over who gets the computer,
When you complain about the phone dying - but it's currently charging,
When someone spills juice on the carpet, but no one knows who,
When no one wants to take the dogs outside ("it's your turn!"),
When you have a headache and shut yourself in your room for an hour, and no one questions it,
When they all welcome you back when you feel better,
When you want to kill anyone who suggests you take a nap,
And when you go pass out on your bed voluntarily around noon the next day...

That's when you know you're at home.

Movie Star Monday

Hey guys!
Even though my birthday was waaayyy back in April, I never really got the chance to celebrate it with my friends! So on Friday, my mom let me have a party with three other girls at the house. I wanted to go all-out.... Hollywood style!
My mom put this really pretty tablecloth on the kitchen table, with a candle in the middle. In fact, there were multiple candles all around the living room! I made little name cards for everyone, and on each card I wrote their full name, as well as their "Hollywood career". For example, since my friend Kathryn is in the middle of writing a book, I made her an author of novels and short stories. Emilia plays the flute, so she was a musician; and Ameena loves any kind of art or fashion, so she became a fashion designer! I was an author and musician.
For dinner we had cheese fondue (and pizza, of course), with sparkling cider to drink and chocolate fondue for dessert! I may or may not have gotten chocolate all over my face at one point.... but it tasted good!
We all played Just Dance 4 on the Kinect, and sang karaoke very, very loudly! We also had many long discussions and debates about this anime show, Fairy Tail, that we all watch. There was a lot of talking about boys, crushes, and boyfriends. And we played Truth or Dare for a while. Some of those dares were crazy...!
Two of my friends left later that night, but Kathryn was able to sleep over! My mom gave the two of us a bedtime of 1:00 am, which was a pretty big deal for me. After all, I usually have to go to bed at 8:30 pm during the summer! In the morning, we talked some and ate French toast before my friend's dad came to pick her up.
I have to say, this was probably one of the best birthday parties ever! I really enjoyed hanging out with my friends and being crazy. Fashionably crazy. Hey, can you name a single star who isn't/wasn't crazy during their career? In a way, pretending to be famous is a whole lot better than actually being famous -- though when I become a best-selling author, I may feel totally different about that. ;-)
I hope that you all had a great weekend, too!! I'm going to try to start posting more often, so be looking for another update from me! Oh, and I would love to hear about what your dream career would be. Please post it in the comments below!! Thanks!
~ Mattie (pianist, violinist, author, artist, movie star)

Terrifying (and terrific!) Tuesday

Hey guys!
So as some of you may have heard... I had a great weekend! I was invited to act in a commercial for the Jim Ellis car dealership -- and I was a zombie! Yep, you read that right.
My dad took me to the dealership, where we would be doing most of the shooting. We were supposed to be there by 7am, which meant that I had to get up at 6 o'clock! On a school day, I don't get up until 7:30, so that was pretty early for me. Before I even got my makeup or costume on, I was already feeling like a zombie!
I'm not going to spoil the "plot" of the commercial for you; you'll have to wait until August and watch it for yourselves! It will start running when the Walking Dead comes back on. Fortunately, it shouldn't be hard to find. I think they're going to play it on Facebook, YouTube, and a bunch of different TV stations. (I'm going to be famous!)
Two guys from the Walking Dead came to do our makeup and costumes! We all looked terrifyingly gore-geous. :) There were eight actors total; two of them were "the couple" and the rest of us were zombies. There were three "featured" zombies and I was one of them! The featured zombies got extra (scary) makeup, and we appeared in more scenes.
With the makeup, some of us literally looked dead! It made it seem like our skin was rotting off... which was both gross and cool. Outside, it was so hot that some of the makeup started to melt! Thankfully, it was mostly fixable. Oh, and it was kind of weird -- when one of the guys started to sweat, his sweat turned orange! But none of the makeup he was wearing was yellow, red, or orange.... strange, right?
About two minutes before we filmed the first scene, we went through Zombie 101: where you learn to act like a zombie in five minutes or less! (I came up with that myself.) They showed us how to walk like the undead -- shoulders slumped, arms dangling, shuffling forwards with one foot dragging. It felt really weird, and some of the others were acting a tiny bit embarrassed, but it was fun too. I thought I did the "zombie stare" really well, if I do say so myself.... the key is to keep your eyes unfocused, and let them just sort of wander.
Almost twelve hours after we started shooting, we finished. My dad and I drove home, where I got to show off my beautiful, grey-green face to the rest of my family. My brother helped me peel it off -- which is more difficult than you would think! The latex/cotton that was around my eyes really didn't want to peel up, but it had no qualms about cracking when I smiled. (In case you were wondering: a room full of smiling zombies on their phones, talking, joking around and waiting for the filming to start looks pretty strange.)

On Sunday, we had a great Father's Day!!! My mom, brother, sister and I all wrote letters to my dad. We gave him subscriptions to magazines about building and woodworking, new clothes, a fishing rod my brother picked out, and a bag of Candy Crush candies -- "chocolatey drops with sprinkles", according to the package. At church, they had popcorn, games, and little photo booths for all the families. There was a drawing for the dads, where they gave away a Big Green Egg to one of the fathers at the church; a man named Pat won. He's an awesome guy, who's really nice, and everyone was really happy for him!

I hope that all of you had a great Father's Day!
Mattie

Spoken-word Sunday

To see today's blog post:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx0U1sPS8k5WVE15MVR6cEpqTE0/view?usp=sharing