The back-up singers called in sick because it's snowing outside so heavily.

So yeah, I'm 15 now. Well, I'm technically not until 8:38 PM, the time I was born, but I don't care, I'm going with that anyway.

So... I didn't have a party... I didn't get an insane amount of useless presents, though the ones I did get are amazingly beautiful and valuable. *points to her golden bracelet* And I got a lot more greetings on the Internet than I got birthday cards, but those are just as good. Thanks, you guys! *hugs her friends*

One present I did get and love is my Polaroid Digital Picture Frame!

It has the weather, too, in case you didn't notice.

Although I did have a good 15th birthday, I didn't get a party, and I prefer it this way. I'll spend all Sunday... probably reading in my pajamas. ^.^ We're COMPLETELY snowed in so I don't think we'll be able to get to church, unless we risk slipping on the sleek roads and dying. I'll try to take some pictures for you. Last night we were at 18 degrees. The roads are pure ice!

I owe you a long blog post, so here goes.

First of all, I should take some time off to honor one of my saints. He's St. John of the Cross, and his feast day is December 14th (my birthday!) so I'd like to take some time off to explain a bit about him. (Yes, I got all this info off of Wikipedia, so what?)

Saint John of the Cross (San Juan de la Cruz) (24 June 1542 – 14 December 1591), born Juan de Yepes Alvarez, was a major figure of the Catholic Reformation, a Spanish mystic, and Carmelite friar and priest, born at Fontiveros, a small village near Ávila.

Saint John of the Cross was a reformer of the Carmelite Order and is considered, along with Saint Teresa of Ávila, as a founder of the Discalced Carmelites. He is also known for his writings. Both his poetry and his studies on the growth of the soul are considered the summit of mystical Spanish literature and one of the peaks of all Spanish literature. He was canonized as a saint in 1726 by Pope Benedict XIII. He is one of the thirty-three Doctors of the Church. When his feast day was inserted into the General Roman Calendar in 1738, it was assigned at first to 24 November, since his date of death was impeded by the then existing octave of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. This obstacle was removed in 1955 and in 1969 his feast day was moved to his date of death, 14 December.

Patronage	contemplative life; contemplatives; mystical theology; mystics; Spanish poets

So he was a writer. Uh, a poet, but it doesn't matter. <3 St. John of the Cross is a Doctor of the Catholic Church.

While I'm at it, I'll stop to honor the saint with which I share my middle name, St. Cecilia. This is also from Wikipedia.

Saint Cecilia (Latin: Sancta Caecilia) is the patron saint of musicians^[3] and Church music.^[4] Her feast day is celebrated in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches on November 22. She is one of seven women, excluding the Blessed Virgin, commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass. It was long supposed that she was a noble lady of Rome who, with her husband Valerian(us) and his brother Thateus, suffered martyrdom, c. 230, under the Emperor Alexander Severus.

The research of Giovanni Battista de Rossi,^[5] however, appears to confirm the statement of Venantius Fortunatus, Bishop of Poitiers (d. 600), that she perished in Sicily under Emperor Marcus Aurelius between 176 and 180. A church in her honor exists in Rome from about the 5th century, was rebuilt with much splendor by Pope Paschal I around the year 820, and again by Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrati in 1599. It is situated in Trastevere, near the Ripa Grande quay, where in earlier days the Ghetto was located, and is the titulus of a Cardinal Priest, currently Carlo Maria Martini.

The martyrdom of Cecilia is said to have followed that of her husband and his brother by the prefect Turcius Almachius.^[6] The officers of the prefect then sought to have Cecilia killed as well. She arranged to have her home preserved as a church before she was arrested. At that time, the officials attempted to kill her by locking her in an overheated sweat-house (bathhouse). However, the attempt failed, and she was to be beheaded. The executioner attempted to decapitate her three times unsuccessfully, at which time he fled. Cecilia survived another three days before succumbing. In the last three days of her life, she opened her eyes, gazed at her family and friends who crowded around her cell, closed them, and never opened them again. The people by her cell knew immediately that she was to become a saint in heaven.^[4] She was a friend to all.

The skull of Saint Cecilia is kept as a relic in the cathedral of Torcello.

"Martyrdom of Saint Cecilia," by Stefano Maderno, one of the most famous examples of Baroque sculpture.

Her Feast Day is on November 22.

Okay so enough of that.

Right now I am actually reading something. It's The Darkangel by Meredith Ann Pierce. It's among my favorite books now. What? You haven't read it yet? I don't care. Go read it. What? You're busy?! So what! Buy it and read it next weekend. It's really a very quick read, though I wish that it would never end. I have to run and get the sequels.

And I'm editing my NaNo novel. 96,000 words are now almost 102,000 words and I'm only on page 85 out of 222. By the time it's published it's going to be nice and shiny.

Now my rant is over. :D I need to get busy taking pictures for my picture frame!

-Mariella
(Future New York Times Bestseller, Nobel Prize Winner, and sole achiever of total world domination. Really.
And the Voice of Doom.
And the Empress. That's what everyone calls me anyways. Bwaha.)