2003-01-18 - 9:51 p.m.

Ooh, stupid me. So forgot. Real dumb of me to forget. I made Girls State! Whee! I'm going to be stuck at Pitzer College for a week with 540 other girls, some of whom are, judging from the other speeches I heard, fanatically patriotic, and others of whom are exceedingly liberal. Fun, eh? One of the girls, whose name I forgot but whom I shall call Scary Redhead, was terrifying. Scary Redhead, at one point, said we need to up money for education (no argument with that) in order to train kids because "children will rule the world," she said in a low, terrifyingly, dramatically urgent voice. I think she meant the next generation, but it made me think of Gray Davis being replaced by a 5 year old.

Anyway, I made quick friends with a girl named Shavonne from VHS (HA! Take that, traditional school rivalries), and we're both going (we freaked out and hugged when our names were announced; people stared), so that should be fun.

I'm wondering if I'll know the Westlake, T.O., Oxnard, and Santa Cruz delegates. That would be cool. . . . Maybe. It depends on who. For example, if Santa Cruz were to send Valerie from 5th grade, I'd have to throttle her. Of course, she's probably forgotten me, but . . . But if they sent Maia, I'd be happy. Hm.

La de da! I'm going to run for mayor and governor, and all that other stuff, too. Just in case I lose one election. . . . What worries me, though, is that one of the "grandmas" (they're there to spoil us, apparently — and ensure that we're outside when we should be, instead of inside resting or reading) seemed to be encouraging the use of patronage. I find that disturbing. This is supposed to teach us how American politics work. So we should employ the spoils system when running for a fictional mayoral position?