This School Year In Review

So this school year was pretty good. No major complaints.

My classes went alright. I managed to survive history, which is a complete miracle. If I do well on the final I can even end the year with an A! I also made it through AP Bio with a B, and through AP Lit with...well I don't know what I had in Lit...I'm just relieved to be done with it finally! So this year, academically speaking? Success.

I'm coming out of this year with some new friends and leaving some behind. I've gotten INCREDIBLY close to a few people I never thought I would. I guess I have theatre to thank for that, but that's its own category. I went through some rough patches with some really close friends, which tore me up, but we're as good as new now, if not better. I've realized how truly strong some of my friendships are, no matter WHAT they go through. I've also managed to pull the "Oh, I'm going to get REALLY close to these people in a matter of a week or two and then be miserable when I don't see them anymore" trick again. Thank you theatre, again. I'm also wondering about some of my friendships. I wonder if they're what I think they are, more, or less.

Theatre. Completely epic. I can't imagine life without it anymore. All three of the shows I was in this year were successes and I was so proud of them and everyone involved. Drama strengthened so many of my relationships, as well as helped me to form new ones. I'm also much more confident thanks to it. I recently auditioned for a local production of "Into the Woods." I didn't get in, but this time two years ago, I would NEVER have imagined myself doing things like this. I hated singing in front of people, but now it's all I want to do. 24/7. Ask my friends, they'll tell you! And now everything is acting to me. I'm myself, but I'm also whoever I want to be. I kept my own personality and collected about a million masks to put on and characters to play when I'm bored or looking for a good time.

Sports? What sports? I played sports? Really?

So that's basically it. This year has been incredibly crazy. However, there are tons of things that I learned, experienced, and witnessed that I wouldn't trade for anything. I've learned about who I am, who others are, and how to live my life so that I am completely 100% happy and myself. I've experienced things that have awoken new emotions and feelings in me, and now I feel emotionally stronger, like these emotions and responses have been added to my arsenal of feelings and experiences. It's hard to say what I mean, but I feel like I can take on a lot more knowing what I know now. On top of this, I've witnessed incredible things. I've witnessed, as well as experienced, love. Not some mushy, stupid, teenager lovey couple thing. I mean the real thing. That thing where you care about people to the point that just the thought of losing them scares you. The thought of them being hurt brings you to tears. You just want them to be there all the time because you know that no matter how bad something is, they can make you happy again. You just want to tell them everything. I've witnessed real courage. I've witnessed confidence. I've witnessed hellos and goodbyes. I've witnessed tears and laughter. I've witnessed miracles and disasters. I've witnessed a group of people pull together and succeed beyond their wildest dreams in the face of failure. I've witnessed them beat the odds. I've witnessed them earn every bit of respect that I have for them, and every bit of love that I give them. Most importantly, I've witnessed the life I've always wanted. Where I am now is exactly where I want to be. I've learned to live in the moment and love every second of it.

Dear friends,
Thank you and much love. Always.

Concentration Fail

So over vacation I had a few very simple assignments. Read some stuff, summarize, comment, done. In fact, one assignment was so easy, all I had to do was buy a bowl, donate to Haiti, watch some really good acoustic performances, and label some schools on a map. Easy? Absolutely. Urgent? Absolutely not.

I saved all of this work for the past two days. TWO DAYS. I had all of vacation to do them, and I waited until now. Why? Because I have problems. Let me just run through what I did over vacation INSTEAD of the work that would have taken me a VERY small amount of time to complete.

Last Friday Night: Faculty Coffee House. This actually helped me complete part of an assignment, but my point is that I was not doing work. I bought a bowl, I listened to music, I talked and joked with friends, I went home and slept.

Last Saturday: Not gonna lie, I don't remember what I did last Saturday...I probably watched curling.

Last Sunday: Yeah can't remember this either...but I think I promised myself I would do all my work and get it out of the way. Funny joke. We watched Couples Retreat. We went to Smokey Bones. I watched curling till 2.

Monday: I got up. I drove from 10-12. I came home. I did nothing all day. Then I watched curling. Till 1:30.

Tuesday: I went curling. I went to my friend's house for a little while. I came home. I watched curling till 2. I went to bed. Still no work done...

Wednesday: I got up. I drove from 10-12. I came home. I debated starting some quiz corrections. I did 4 questions. I watched curling. I went to bed.

Thursday: I got up. I...um...don't remember? I probably just sat on the computer until curling was on...then I watched curling. I didn't do much else...

Friday: I got up. I drove and observed from 11-1. I came home. I watched The Time Traveler's Wife with my family. We went out to eat at Fishbones for my mom's birthday. We came home. We watched the women's curling gold medal game. Sweden beat Canada. I was thoroughly saddened.

Saturday: I got up. I did nothing for a while. I went to Barnes and Noble with my mom and got Wicked the novel (SO good). I went to a hockey game. We won. I went home. I watched the men's curling gold medal game. Canada beat Norway. Poor pants. But YAY CANADA!! I did homework until 2. Awesome.

Today: I got up. I was supposed to have rehearsal at 1. That plan died for multiple reasons. I started doing homework. Now I'm doing this. I've been reading Wicked whenever I have time. Curling isn't on anymore. It saddens me. I'm gonna go make dinner with my brother.

That is all. That was my vacation. Exciting, I know. Please try to contain yourselves.

A (Hopefully) Long Awaited Hello

^---Canadian Third, John Morris

Hello all! All being my...2 followers?

Clearly I have been slacking on my blogging duties for the last month or two. So I figured we could take some time to catch up. This will not be deemed a "Various Rants" post, simply a "Let's Get You Up To Speed on My Life. Not That You Care" post.

I am still obsessed with Wicked. My last post, about how amazing Wicked is, was merely the product of mild obsession. It has grown. A LOT. I listen to the soundtrack daily. Well, daily as in AT THE VERY LEAST once a day. Some days it gets up to four times...I know you just laughed and said "That's retarded" in your mind. Don't lie.

I've been watching the Olympics lately. Shocker, I know. Here's the strange part. My favorite event? Curling. Hands down it is THE MOST INTENSE Winter Olympic sport. Go ahead. Disagree. I know you are. You don't even understand. I've tried it. It's really fun, but it is so difficult, and the Olympians make it seem SO easy. Well it's not. It takes a lot of work, and a lot of skill, and you WILL fall on your first ever delivery. And probably on many more. That said, many Olympic Curlers are also very attractive. Plain and simple. 'Nough said.

I am sick. I ALWAYS get sick over vacation...it sucks.

I'm currently playing for the Nashua Chamber Orchestra. Feel free to be awesome and contact me for concert dates and locations. If I know you, that is...If you're some random creeper just searching through random blogs, then don't contact me. Ever.

We're doing Guys and Dolls for the spring musical. Just sayin'. Hopefully it'll be a blast...if all the drama drama blows over...

I can't think of much else to say...that's basically my life in a very small nutshell.

Switzerland Third, Carmen Schaefer (When her hair was short...)

USA Second, Nicole Joraanstad

Swedish Skip, Niklas Edin

Swedish Third, Sebastian Kraupp

Wicked is Love

I saw Wicked the musical today. It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. Ever. I loved every second of it. It was INCREDIBLE. I cried. A lot. If you've never seen it, see it. Or at least listen to the soundtrack... I can't even put into words how wonderful it was.

Various Rants III

-- What happened to Tic Tacs? You never see them anymore...it's like gum and various other mints took over? I found a new pack of orange flavored Tic Tacs in my drawer the other day. I have no idea how long they've been there...but I'm eating them anyway.

-- Junior year is awful. Just throwing that out there.

-- That Ben Franklin thing I told you about? Yeah we got tested on it. Without going over it. I got a 65. Then we retook it and I got a 45. That was bumped up to a 60. She took the 60 instead of the 65...

-- FarmVille. 'Nough said.

-- We're doing the play Much Ado About Nothing right now. I'm really excited. It's a hilarious show. I'm Dogberry, and I'm really excited about it :) haha

-- Speaking of junior year being awful, I have a LOT of homework I should be doing right now...so this is all I have time for today...

Various Rants II

I believe a good day of venting is in order. I've been in a really good mood lately, defining happy actually, to the point of tears. So here's some thoughts.

-- I hate when my parents leave, and don't tell me that people are showing up at the house. My mom just left with my little sister and two random guys from Aquatime Pools just showed up? My mom says to completely ignore them, but they probably now I'm here because I was singing loudly in a front room with many open windows. Oh well.

-- I'm currently drinking Powerade. It says ION 4. I don't know what it means. I don't think many people know what it means. I certainly know that no one really cares. I don't care. I just want to drink my Strawberry Lemonade Powerade, thank you very much. I don't care about its advanced electrolyte system with sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. I just care that the stuff tastes like Nerds. And I like that.

-- The OK button on the outside of my EnV2 no longer works. Nor do my "*", "0", or "#" buttons. Apparently, this happens to all EnV2s at some point, and I was simply out of the loop. I think that's a rather awful bit of design and planning on LG's part...don't you?

-- Our history teacher gave us an essay test today. She never told us what the question would be, just that it was about The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Turns out it was about his virtue system thingy...like she couldn't have told us that last week when she told us we'd be having a test. Fairness does not exist in junior year I've decided.

-- I bought a class ring. It's gonna be SICK. Silver with a music design on one side, drama on the other. Antique finish. Perfect.

-- I am the only trombonist in my school's jazz band this year. Did I mention I'm also the only girl? This year should be quite interesting...

-- On the front of the Crayola Crayon 24 pack sitting in front of me, there's a little blue ribbon with a checked off box next to the words "Preferred by Teachers." Why would anyone buy that? Why did WE buy it? Who cares what the teachers think? They're CRAYONS. They never even get used in class! They just put them on the supply list to get your hopes up about the year being maybe just a little fun, and then they crush your dreams. Maybe that's why teachers like them. They're a good tool to use when destroying the souls of children everywhere.

-- I've had the same background on my phone for the past...4 months?

FLO in Real Life

This morning, when I opened my internet browser, I was greeted by Flo, the car insurance enthusiast from the Progressive commercials.

Upon clicking her picture, I was introduced to the real Flo, Stephanie Courtney.

She's a comedian. That's all I really got from it. But hey, there was this video, that I personally enjoyed, and figured that if I enjoyed it, why deprive my small handful of readers? So here it is!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRZiMUJ8bqE