Lucy, the lovely and very lively hamster on HamsterTracker.com, has passed away. She is survived by Mathijs van der Pauw, the Dutch software engineer who took care of her and made her the focus of his daily photoblog.

She looks so peaceful.

We miss you, Lucy.

People are strange. Especially people my age. That's all I can say. They're very strange…

My last AP test of the year is tomorrow. Yep. AP Biology. I've been failing this class all year.

So… things I need to get out of the way after APs: my short story (yep, I still haven't finished it), my English project (which involves reading a boring book that has a condescending attitude toward atheists), and my biology project (which involves designing a lab-in-a-box for unscrupulous kiddies). And then, at the very end of May, I have to rapidly pack up and prepare for me trip to the People's Republic. You know, the commie country.

Sigh.

Oh, take a look at this actual footage from the White House correspondents' dinner, featuring a humorous speech by Barack Obama. I was actually surprised by the kind of jabs he made at Joe Biden and the Republican Party; part of me thought it was another brilliant joke by the Onion News Network.

Today, beginning 8:30 pm and finishing at 9:30 pm, the global event known as Earth Hour will take place. The cause is to promote awareness of the consequences of global warming and the need to take action. For the time stated above, all participants are asked to turn off all unnecessary lights for one hour. This year, "nearly 4,000 cities and towns in 88 countries" are joining the event, including Paris, Sydney, Geneva, Bucharest, New York City, Beijing, Shanghai, Bangkok, the Great Pyramids in Egypt, and Scott Base in Antarctica.

Read this article for more information.

I hope you guys participate tonight and lend your support! Unfortunately, the event clashes with the scheduled airing of Legend of the Seeker, so I'm on tenterhooks right now on whether I should turn off the TV, too.

Just one more hour, and the presidency of George W. Bush will end. Just one more hour, and the history of the world will be altered forever. Just one more hour, and Barack Obama's name will be in every history book, every living memory of our generation, and his portrait, finally, will be in the updated version of that white, plastic ruler I bought, several years ago, while on an excursion to Washington, D.C… the one with the chronology of U.S. presidents.

Just think. One more hour.

It is 11:14 am. A large knot of librarians and students, in the high school library where I am currently situated, has gathered in front of the flat-screen TV. The transfer of power is due to occur at 12:00 pm. We're all waiting.

It's hard to believe, but there's only seven days left until Barack Obama's inauguration. And with only seven days remaining of George W. Bush's stay in the White House, I have to admit… I feel a little sorry for him. He's an idiot, of course. But a well-intentioned one. These articles pretty much sum it up.

In other news, monster snow storms are sweeping across this part of the U.S. (if there isn't a snow day tomorrow, I'll club someone), and I have officially received two college acceptance letters. One of them has already invited me into their honors program. I'm still waiting on the other one.

Your hot dance/homosexuality-themed video pick of the day:

What? I like girl-on-girl action.

Wait… actually, that guy-on-guy thing was hotter.

Midterm exams next week. Test on calculus tomorrow (assuming no snow day, of course). And a whole lotta odious volunteer work to be worked on over the weekend. Gah.

Update (1/15/09): I'm going to club someone.