Today's my half birthday.

Yep. It's March 7th today. The day I turn 17 and a half. It's been 6 months since I got a year older. Do you keep track of when your half-birthday is? I normally don't, but it's something I noticed. I've gotten pretty used to the idea of being 17 by now. Kind of like after 2 months and a week, I've gotten used to the idea of the year being 2009. Whoa, isn't that scary? 2 months and a week? Thinking like that makes me feel like I've accomplished so little!

Lately I've been doing a lot of SAT studying. Another frightening fact that involves time is that it's now exactly a week from my official test. *scared squeak* 7 days from now I'm going to be stuck in some classroom, working my brain and bubbling answers for 3, nearly 4 hours. Now, I'm not quite so frightened or worried as that. I'm a smart person, a good test taker. I've been working my math muscles and I feel pretty confident about my chances. Ironically enough, the part of the SAT I'm most worried about is...

the essay.

Isn't that funny? I love writing, but I'm scared of the thought of writing an essay. Especially in the conditions they give you to write in, right? It's the first thing they make you do in the test. You're in a classroom, surrounded by other test-takers, forced to write on a specific topic. You have to form some sort of opinion or argument and make your stand on the subject with solid examples. Ideally the essay should have good organization and reveal a good flow of thought with few grammar mistakes. All this you must accomplish in about 25 minutes.

Okay, I'm going to move to a different subject, because all this talk of SATs makes me worried. Um, my improv class on Thursday was pretty fun. Yeah. I know everyone's names and we play lots of good games. The games are all completely different every session, it seems. I don't know what to expect. Like in one game, a person sings a couple lines from a song he knows, then another person taps him and takes his place singing another song that has something to do with the first song. Here's an example of how this can go:

"The sun will come out, tomorrow! Bet your bottom doll..." *tap*
"Here comes the sun, dootin doo doo. Here comes the sun, and I say it's alright. Little darlin..." *tap*
"It's alright, it's okay, we can beat them anyway. Goooo team!" *tap*
"2, 4, 6, 8, who do we appreciate?!"*tap*
"2 and 2 are 4, 4 and 4 are 8, 8 and 8 are 16..." *tap*
"I am 16 going on 17..."

You get the idea by now, right? Totally fun game. You don't know what's going to happen next. Of course, it only works best when you've got at least 10 people playing.

I've made a breakthrough in the 39 clues website. Before there was this game that wouldn't work for me, not even on a library computer, so I couldn't really get the clue. So I left it for a couple days and then tried again. Now I've completed 2 whole missions. This means nothing to you unless you've signed on 39 clues. Which you probably haven't. Not that I blame you. I recommend the book, not the game. I think I'll reserve the 2nd book.

Oh, and I almost forgot. I wrote that Imazia girl back. This is what I said:

Dear Imazia,

Thanks a lot for the email. I would never have guessed that a name I randomly invented would actually exist as someone else's name.

I basically came up with the name 3 years ago, when I had the idea for my book. I started playing with the word "Imagine," toying with the letters. Imagic, Imazine, Imazi, imaginazia... that sort of thing. I was trying to come up with something that had a Fantasia sounding ring, like Narnia or Terebithia or something. Imazia was my final decision. It had just that touch I wanted.

I am curious myself how you got to have the name Imazia. Does it mean anything? Are you named after someone else? Did your mom or dad come up with it or did neither?

I'm glad to make your acquaintance over the internet.

Sincerely, Bettina.

I sent the email a couple days ago. She hasn't answered yet.

I guess that's all I have to report. So... see ya later.

*Goes off to a corner, singing to self* Happy half-birthday to me, happy half-birthday to me........