I’ll post it when it’s complete. Ciao!

Then she went to the Junior High. She had more homework than before. She started tennis every day after school. She became much more busy and her beloved website took the backseat for a while. She was sad about this, and was sure (or at least hoped) that other people were sad as well.

But something unexpected happened next—or rather, something so expected and wished for that it came as a great surprise when it finally arrived—it was summer! Haley’s best friend came to visit from Texas. Time for her website was still virtually non-existent. And besides—she didn’t even know what to do with her site! Visitor content? Portfolio? She wanted it to be something different, something unique compared to the hundreds of other sites out there just like it.

Then her best friend left to go back to Texas, and Haley woke up the next morning with a thought. She was startled to discover that her subconscious had been formulating a plan all those weeks, somewhere deep in the back of her mind. When she awoke to the realization that she had actual time for Clompish, well, that plan just came right out!

So she sat down at her computer (after walking her dogs and focusing on her physical well-being, of course) and started typing. She started typing this, this thing that you’re reading right now. As an explanation, so to speak… because she feels bad for disappearing for so very long.

Haley has decided a few things and wants to express them.
1. She won’t talk in third person in any more posts after this
2. She still isn’t quite sure what to do with Clompish, but has some ideas
3. She is working on a totally brand new website and can’t wait to show you all when it is finished
4. She is regaining touch with old websites and friends
5. Clompish is going to become something better, sometime really soon
6. New layout? She thinks yes.

Now, Haley also wants you to tell her a few things! Please comment on this post and help her out. She’d really appreciate it.
1. What do YOU think she should do with Clompish?
2. What do you like most about the site as it is, or wish it had more of?
3. How’s your summer going so far? (yes, she doesn’t care only about her own site)

Thanks everyone! <3

And not to mention that the file size is massive and not something I want to be cluttering up my website with. Tell me as soon as you have the file, so I can delete it.

This link should take you to the file..again, I hope it works. I can’t promise it will.
click here!

Good luck!

Be patient with me. I still don’t know what I want to do with the site.

First—tomorrow is Shoeless Tuesday. Please, watch this video and then decide if you’d like to participate in this movement.
It is not a fundraiser or anything of the sort—it is simply raising awareness, so no money is involved.

As for my family and school, my mom contacted the health department already—they said it was perfectly fine for us not to wear shoes. The school system has absolutely no excuse to make us wear them, especially when it is only one day.

People have been telling me that this is fake and pointless, but it’s not. It puts you in the position of those who can not afford shoes and really makes you think about how much easier shoes make our lives. I think it’s important. I’m doing it.

I wanted to say good job to everyone else who is as well.

And secondly, I want to thank Heidi for her comment she sent to me recently. Small as it was, it made my day and has given me new resolve, new inspiration, new determination to work on Clompish more and to be my best. Corny, I know. Forgive me.

I’m going to open up a personal portfolio soon, that’s for certain, but I’m not sure what to do with Clompish in the meantime. I suppose it could still be my blog, but if my portfolio is going to be for graphic design and website design as well as writings, what do I have to put on Clompish? And would my blog even fit here?

I’m really quite confused. I love this website and want to turn it into something grand. I want it to stay mine and stay special to me, but I am just unsure how right now.

If you have any ideas, please tell me. I’m thinking that maybe this can still be my place for visitor content whenever I feel inclined to make it, and a few other things like that, but I am unsure.

I probably won’t be returning to the internet until next Sunday or Monday, as well—we leave for spring break tomorrow (at least driving to a hotel) and fly out to Florida the day after.

Have a wonderful break if you haven’t had it yet, and if you already have had it, I hope you enjoyed it. Please, give me your input on my Clompish dilemma.

I’ve been insanely busy getting ready for spring break and dealing with this incredibly annoying cold that I have—it’s been going on for roughly two weeks and isn’t really letting up at all.

Today is a snow day, so no school—I’m hoping to go through and clean up the site a bit, content wise and such. Perhaps I’ll add a few things as well.

We fly out on Saturday to leave for spring break, and I’m sure I’ll have plenty to blog about upon my return.

Have a wonderful day everyone.

I had Shinedown stuck in my head.

Oh.. maybe this one wasn’t made only a week ago. Tehe.

Charlie Brown tree! It’s never too far away from Christmas for that.

I was inspired by a picture my mother took of roses.

Maybe I’ll really blog tomorrow.

I’ve always been a person to make lists and countdowns—currently I am checking off the days until spring break, as well as next Christmas (yes, it is a little early). It amazes me how I’m so organized with many things, but I’m not at all at school. For example, spring break is 39 days away for me right now, and I already have a complete packing list made. On the other hand, my student planner/homework binder is filled with about a million papers for all of my different classes, in no order.
A little bit strange? Yes, I think so.

I’ve always puzzled myself, if that makes sense. I can never figure out why I do some of the things that I do, or why I feel the way I feel about certain things. When I’m excited for something I’m more likely to really think about it and plan for it, whereas if it’s school or something of that sort.. it’s just not my cup of tea.

Don’t get me wrong—I’m a great student. Straight A’s with a few B’s here or there, 99^th percentile on all state standardized tests, and all honor classes are my game, and I play it well. I just don’t find it all that interesting.
I’m really more apt to be intrigued by social events and my friends in school than the work, unless it’s a subject I care about immensely (such as English).

I’m such a confusing and mixed up person, but when I think about it.. we all are. Whether we love academics, sports, talking or making lists like me, we all have our quirks. And even quirks within our quirks.

I’d mention more of mine, but I think you’d all find me completely OCD if you knew that I must have the TV volume on a multiple of five. Tehee.

From Pittsburgh we are flying to Tampa, and from there we are driving to this beautiful area called Indian Shores, or Indian Rocks Beach. This will be our sixth time going to this area for spring break, and our fifth time staying in the same condo complex.

Some people like a lot of variety in their vacations—they want to explore everywhere and always go somewhere new. While I’ve always loved that experience as well, I can’t express my adoration for Indian Shores. It’s almost like a tradition to go their every spring; we sleep on the beach, take a boat to a small but amazing island called Shell Island (where you can find about fifty whole sand dollars in under an hour), drive down to John’s Pass to watch dolphins… there are a lot of things we do every year.

We don’t like going to big amusement parks or anything—they tire us out so that by the time our vacation is over, we need another one! Mostly we stay within thirty miles or so of our condo and putz around in a few of the shops and such, but the vast majority of our time is spent on the beach.

In 2008, we actually found an Atlantic Pygmy Octopus inside of a fan shell. We put it in a bucket, merely wanting to observe it for a short time, when it came out of its shell and we realized there were eggs on the side of the shell. We spent the next hour watching baby octopi emerge from their clear shells; they were all about the size of my pinkie fingernail (and I was only in fifth grade). If you want to read more about this story and unique species of sea life, please go here, to a website I created for a seventh grade science project.

We haven’t found any creatures that amazing since then, but there’s always something new at Indian Shores. If this tells you how excited I am, I already made a complete packing list and travel times/information list.

It helps that this year we are traveling with the families of two of my best friends—Matt and Madi are bringing the whole gang along.

Maybe I shouldn’t be quite as excited… but patience is not, and never has been, my strong point.

It was eating up a lot of my time, but the History Day Fair, which is like the finale of everything, is next week. Soon it’ll all be done and over with and I can let the whole memory fade like a bad dream (although it really wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be).

With my return I wanted to give a little something to my beloved website, besides merely the return of its keeper—a new layout! It’s called Exploding Nature, but I’ve kind of dubbed it “Firework” in my head. The header image is all photography that I or my family has taken, blended together.
I think the fireworks added a nice texture, honestly. That’s probably my favorite part of the whole thing. I’d love to hear what you guys love and hate about it, as well as if there are any bugs in your browser or screen resolution.

Lately I’ve been feeling the urge to blog more and more. In the next few weeks Clompish is probably going to drift away from a graphics and resource site, and become more of my real personal website. Of course I’ll still offer the resources I do now, but I realize that most of my visitors don’t come for my free use codes and such—they come for my blog.

It makes me feel rather special, aha. I’m also working on registering my name/nickname as a domain, so that that can be my writing portfolio, journal, and everything-about-Haley website. I’m about an eighth of the way through the entire writing/editing/revising process of my first novel, and hope to get it published within the next few years.

I have a lot more to blab about but will save that for a later date—for now I have a lot of updates to make on the site, and a bit of cleaning up to do around here (if you haven’t noticed, it’s gotten rather cluttered).

♥(:

Sorry to disappoint you stalkers.

If I die young, bury me in satin
Lay me down on a, bed of roses
Sink me in the river, at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song

So put on your best boys and I’ll wear my pearls…
- The Band Perry, “If I Die Young”

I’ll see if I can find them but until then, know that the topics were Escaping the Odds, Holidays and School, Snowy Days, and Christmas Vacation (which starts Thursday for me).

Thanks for understanding, I’m trying to retrieve everything.

Okay, so somehow my post for yesterday was deleted. D; I don’t have the time to re-type it right now, so I’ll just do the one for today and see if I can somehow retrieve yesterday’s.

I think that gifts are an important part of the holiday season. Even if they aren’t expensive, they show you care about somebody enough to get them something. I’ve never been big on spending a lot of money on presents—to me it means more if you make something yourself.

I’ve been known to gift people poems and songs and such before. I’ll write about that person if they inspire me, and then give them what I’ve written. It makes a great gift for a best friend or a person who has been there for you.

To me, nothing beats GETTING a present that has real thought into it. It could be some cheap McDonald’s toy or something out of an inside joke that costs a quarter and it could mean the world to someone. I love the look on the faces of my friends or family when they realized I actually thought about their gift.

But the absolute best present really is your presence. Just being there with someone during the holidays, standing by their side, supporting them when other people won’t… it means more than any material thing could.

It’s never what you have—it’s who you have, and maybe most importantly why you have them. I have my friends because they’re trusting, honest, and always there for me.

And they have me as a friend because they must see some good friend characteristics in this rather messed up head.

In all, the holidays are a time for gifts and presents and toys and all of that. But they’re also a time for personal things… connections on a deeper level.

If you don’t know what to get someone… write them a poem or a song. Get something to remind them of an inside joke. Or just say, “Your present this year is me.” and spend some time with them.

Poem today!

So often in the past, 355 days
I’ve turned, made sure everyone’s looking away
And then I’d, do something I regret now
And then I’d, make a fool of myself

I’m sorry for the little things,
I’ve done,
I’m sorry for the nasty things,
I’ve become,
I know that all is forgiven but,
I still can’t help but thinking what,
What came over me, at those times of action
What was I thinking, as I looked ashamed?

What would I have done differently
If I knew the future
And what would I have said
If I knew you were listening?

So now it’s Christmas time, and
I’m looking back at my year
2010 came and went with a lot of fears
And I overcame, and I looked away, and I smiled
I smiled at the things you did

I’m sorry for the stuff I said,
I’m sorry for the fun I cut dead,
I’m sorry for the everything I’ve done wrong,
And that might be why I am, writing this song,

I think I’ve been a good girl this year,
But I don’t know everything you did hear,
Did you see me lie? And walk away,
Did you see me leave? When I should have stayed?

It’s all forgiven and done with, now
A new year’s coming, coming out
So I say please let go of all the troubles I’ve caused
And I’ll still be good again, Santa Claus…

Today seemed like a good day for a poem… song. Parody remix thing. Of “Oh Christmas Tree”. Enjoy.

Oh Christmas tree, oh family,
You are amazing to me,
Oh family, oh friendship tree,
You make life worthy for me,

And all the time, we fight and hate,
Could be spent alone today,
So I’m glad, that we are close,
Even when we yell you know.

Oh parents and, oh family,
You’re still all knowing to me,
Oh sister friend, no passing trend,
You always know who I should be.

And in ten days, we will wake up
Then fall asleep, good enough
And the next morning, we will find,
Presents and loving eyes.

It’s kind of pathetic. A bit of a poking fun kind of thing. But still I love you family & friends.

So often in the wintertime I see birds flying north instead of south. I just want to shout to them to got the other way if they want to be warm, and make them turn around.

It’s hard to watch, when they look so adorable up in the sky, and they’re only flying towards colder and colder weather. I always shake my head a bit and wonder how their internal compasses get so messed up and how they end up flying the wrong way.

Then again, humans don’t even have that good of internal compasses, so maybe we shouldn’t be talking. I mean, I can kind of tell where east and west are, but that’s usually only because of the time of day and position of the sun.

It’s kind of crazy to think that—for the most part—birds know where they are going. And as humans, what do we know? Nothing. I need a road map or compass or at least the sun and stars to tell where I am, and if I’m sitting in a dark room I couldn’t tell you which way is which.

I don’t know where I am going in life, either. I really want to be an author/poet/songwriter, but who knows? Chances are that won’t work out, and what then? It’s strange how people think they can plan their whole lives. You always tell kids to dream big and they can do it. This is true to a point, you can make things happen and take opportunities, but you can’t choose which curve balls life throws at you.

I think the big part in life isn’t knowing which direction you’re going every moment; it’s knowing which direction you want to go. You can then make little adjustments, turn yourself bit by bit, until you’re right where you want to be and headed in the right way.

It’s not what happens, necessarily—it’s how you react to what happens, and if you let that gust of wind or messed up cloud force you to change direction… or if you keep pushing on.

So here’s to the birds who know where they’re going! And to those that don’t… South is the way. Unless, of course, you want to end up in Canada.

There are a lot of ways to celebrate the holidays. Here are a few of my favorites.

Make cookies.
Yup, old fashioned, homemade cookies. Get messy with the flour and frost your faces—it’ll be a blast. It’s perfect to make cookies with family members and friends, it doesn’t matter. And of course, after you’re all done perfecting the treats, you get to eat them.
What’s better than that?

Christmas is meant for eating your body weight in fatty foods. Doesn’t good old Santa Claus set a nice example? I think so.

Decorate.
Decorating always gets me in a very Christmas-like mood. Hanging tinsel, stringing lights… it’s all great and beautiful. Turn up the radio or find Christmas music online and blast it through the house as you hang decorations everywhere; it’ll be fun for everyone.

Soon you’ll have your whole family singing badly and hanging a lopsided tree. It really is a good time.

Build a snowman.
Bundle up and get out! Get your friends together and build a snowman or snow fort. Have a snowball fight, slide around in your boots on sheets of ice on your driveway, dig tunnels through the piles the snowplow makes… there’s so much to do with the fragile white flakes.

What? You might not have snow? Well, make a sandman if you live near a beach! It’s the same concept, you just can’t roll the balls for the head and such. Even if sand and water aren’t available, you can make a ‘man’ out of whatever is available—dirt, grass, sticks… there’s a lot you can do to get in the holiday mood.

And if worst comes to worst and nothing else works, get out some paper, crumple it up, tape it together and draw on a face. Wullah. You’re very own paper snowman.

Go sledding.
To me, nothing says Christmas like bringing out the sleds and getting a face full of snow at around 10 miles per hour while flying down a steep hill. My friends and I often go to George Street sometime during the winter, and it’s a real blast.
Once I almost ran over a two year old. Whoops.

And once again, even if you don’t have snow, there’s a lot you can do to sled. Who says you can’t sled down a dirt or sand mound? Trust me, it’s been done.

Spend time with family and friends.
It’s the most important thing on this list, and there’s no doubt about that.

You’re lucky to have each other no matter what. So act like it.