Something to watch

Hey everybody, So I know I haven't been blogging too much lately but I have big plans to change that! The thing is part of the reason that I haven't been blogging though is because I've been working on a brand new website! I'm going to try to keep up this blog as well BUT if you check out this website 2faced I will be posting blog entries, stories, poems and contributing to the advice column (though under a different name). So definitely come check it out and let me know what you think!

Yes! Yes!

Listen most of the way through.


I love summer.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9-CS2v8wcc&feature=related

Yes

http://dearoldlove.tumblr.com/

Optimism!

In the last couple of days almost nothing has gone as planned. In a couple of major ways, events did not pan out as I would have liked. So I spent the day or so feeling bad, as evidenced as the post below.

Today though at mentor training (which was mildly interesting and kind of a mini-first day of school), we kept tossing around "optimism". We had to answer all of these questions and the answer, very simply, kept being optimism. It was mostly a joke but it (combined with a long walk home) got me thinking. Optimism is sort of the answer to my doldrums. I expected some instant grand change in my world, which of course didn't happen because it never does. And then I let the bad stuff cloud my vision. But the truth is, all of this only make the potential for good things that much greater. I love this idea.

In other news I've been working out every day and I just feel so much better. I have ideas if you need them...

Also I'm thinking of starting a new blog with a friend of mine. Thoughts on blogspot vs. some other provider?

And now..

I'm getting a little frustrated. I traveled rather a lot this summer, did a ton of things on my own. And I felt like I changed a lot. But now that I'm home I remembered that the world around me hasn't. And that is disappointing.

I am a firm believer that a person creates their world. If you don't like it there's always something small you can do to change it.

I'm having a hard time taking my own advice.

Soundtrack to My Summer

Happiness from Charlie Brown.

"Happiness is learning to whistle. Tying your shoe for the very first time."

Don't Stop Believing by Journey.

"Oh the movie never ends. It goes on and on and on and on."

One Short Day from Wicked.

"Two good friends. Two best friends. Sharing one wonderful. One short...DAY."

I Do Not Hook Up by Kelly Clarkson.

"I do not cook but I can clean, up this mess."

Any Song from Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat.

"Any dream will do."

Paparazzi by Lady Gaga.

"We'd be so fantastical."

Homecoming by Kanye West.

"Do you think about me now and then?"

Never Ending Story Theme Song from The Never Ending Story.

"The answer to our Never Ending Story."

Livin' On A Prayer by Bon Jovi.

"We're halfway there."

Summer Loves

Maybe tomorrow (or the next day) you'll get an actual description of what I've been doing for the last couple weeks. For now, enjoy!

I love hand clapping games in the dark and the HA game on air mattress.

I love movies late at night and running the fan to fill the silence.

I love small streets in Barcelona and huge highways in Los Angeles.

I love the buzz of my phone and the click of a camera.

Going to bed late and waking up later.

Writing letters and buying keychains and.

I love warm weather and cool oceans.

I love new clothes and old pajamas.

I love the best movies in the world and the best worst movies.

I love sprinklers and lights and music.

Hot dogs and hamburgers and more hamburgers.

The Pie 'n' Burger and In and Out Burger.

I love my dogs and other peoples dogs and even birds that wake me up.

I love small doors and even smaller apartments.

I love the boys, the friends and the family in my life.

I love the smell of horse except that I don't but I love horses

Singing loudly down the stairs and reciting entire musicals.

Bad nicknames and even worse jokes.

I love beaches and boba tea and starbucks and gelato.

Most Amazingness

So there are some of the most amazing people in my life. And it's summer. So some of them are gone. And some of them are just in my life for the summer. But somehow that makes all of them just that much more special.

In the past couple of weeks, and the weeks to come, I'm doing things I've never done and I'm extremely excited and absolutely petrified. And all of these things are that much more amazing and that much more approachable slash bearable!

I'm CITing at a camp. There are 5 other CITs who I spend all my time with. Which could basically suck. Except that every single one of them is an incredible person. Who knows if I'll see any of them after Friday (the idea makes me sad) but I've never laughed or sung so much in a week, especially with people who I really don't very well. They may not know this but I can be shy. And my confidence in my singing voice... fleeting at best. Somehow in the last week, I sang, not just sang, led camp songs in front an entire bus. I got up on stage and sang an a cappella version of Journey. Somehow in the last week, I've gained a big sister, a nana, an aunt who used to be an uncle, and became a triplet.

Knowing these wonderful people, has made me miss the stellar people who are normally in my life and at the same time, appreciate them all the more. Today I did nothing because my mummy told me to. And that was lovely. My little sister made me breakfast. I have people I can call in the middle of the night. And I can be called in the middle of the night. People who make me laugh, who are there when I cry. Thank you, amazing incredible people!

Beginning

So this is the eve of the beginning. It's not the beginning of summer, but it is the beginning of my summer. This is where the adventure, the centerpiece of summer begins. CITing at a sleepaway camp for two weeks and then BARCELONA. I've never been anywhere outside of the U.S. (happy fourth of july by the way) let alone flown by myself. The flying alone has me completely freaked out (breathe you have two weeks breathe) but no way was I going to let that be the reason that I wouldn't go to BARCELONA.

For the next three weeks my life will be completely different (with the exception of my brief haitus home next weekend). That's sort've a weird thought because I'm used to this summer. I love summer. I love my town, I love my friends. I'm totally ready to be gone.

I've also got that continual sinking rollarcoaster feeling. Not because I'm particularly nervous to CIT. Not that any of this is anything I don't think I can do. It's just it's so much I don't ussually do. I'm not really a homebody, I'm just getting overwelmed in advance because I won't have the time or energy to get overwelmed later on.

Yesterday was the fourth of july. Oh joy! I love the fourth of july. I love holidays in general of any religion and especially the everyone-can-be-apart-of ones. Which made the fourth of july perfect. Also, added bonus, it was sunny. After a pretty solid two weeks of cold, wet, gray days. Something is very wrong when on July 1 there is some debate over pants or capris? Anyways, yesterday was gorgeous. And for the first time in my life, I branched out of my typical family style pjs on the deck independence day and went out. Okay just to my friend's house and we mostly watched Friends (highly highly reccomended) and I went to view the fireworks from this bridge down by the river. And that really made my day. Not only were there twenty thousand people I knew there, which just made everything better, but I could really see the fireworks. And I love the crowd, the lights, the people, the noise.

And now...

Right about now I'm ready to be home.

Not in general.. just right now. See here's what I've realized:

I love the beach every day from about 11 o'clock when I get up until 5:30 or 6. Round about then, without fail I get antsy. By eight I'm usually reaching for my phone looking for someone to text. Don't get me wrong I'm lovin' the beach, the sun, the people. But it's remarkably hard to turn off the striving to socialize. When I'm at home, nights are meant to be filled with friends and movies and late nights and the square and ice cream and public transportation. It's not that I'm not enjoying myself. Because I really really am! I've got a tan slash sunburn depending on the lighting. I smell like ocean and I've seen dolphins on the beach. Tomorrow I'm going running down the beach all the way to the fort. Last night we went to the boardwalk and had fudge and played skii ball and today I won at minigolf for the first time ever! The weather is gorgeous, it's sunny and I wear nothing but shorts.

But

butButBUT... I have that must-see-people-my-own-age thing kind've wired into me. Even though I'm on vacation and I don't really have anyone here to socialize with, I still feel like I should be getting out of the house and doing things and... As relaxing as this is, it's driving my crazy that I can't go anywhere alone. During the year, I'm always saying oh I just need a break from facebook/AIM/texts/socializing. And I've had that. Now I'd really like to vacation and relax in the mornings and afternoons and then chose what to do/where to be in the night. Is that too much to ask? Yes, yes it is. Somehow the not socializing has become more stressful because I'm being forced to relax. Sounds awful right? I know I shouldn't complain.


Go back to the beach state of mind. And until I get home... socialize for me!

Beachy

So I arrived at the beach house in the wee hours of this morning.

And immediately my whole outlook on love, life, day/night, time changed. You see the beach is not just a place. It's a state of mind, a way of being. And you can't really enjoy the beach until you get into this state of being. Usually, it takes a couple of days but on the (very very long) train ride down here, I mentally prepared myself. For relaxation. Sleep. Uncomfortable air mattress. Sun. Rain. Wind. Mosquitos. Arcades. The list goes on.

So far, we have done the following things: set up my room (my very own no one else just ME no four other people and a dog room), had two meals (the third is being made as I type) and gone to the beach. None of which sounds very exciting. But add in family, good friends, copious amounts of dancing/music and salty water and air. And then you have heaven.

I believe that a lot of the time you create your own atmosphere. And I intend to live, breathe, and BE the beach.

Are you ready for the summer? Are you ready for the sunshine?

So I never really went to summer camp. One artsy-fartsy very structured week and that was my experience of sleep away camps. This summer I'm CITing at the very same camp. And this weekend happened to be orientation. And it was more like camp- the stereotypical movie style (go see Meatballs with Bill Murray if I don't know what I'm talking about) than almost anything I've ever experienced. We played stuck in the mud tag in the dark (you need to go back to gym if you don't know what that is). And we ate at in a dining hall and I got bit by bugs and we had sleep bags. Granted we slept in dorms not cabins. And it was for a night, not the whole summer. But it felt like camp to me.

And the people! I can be shy or I can be super outgoing. But I made friends even before we'd gotten off the bus. All my life I've had friends who are girls and friends who are guys but guys sort've make faster friends? Platonic male friends are somewhat harder to come by but one feels so lucky when one finds them. The 24 hours or so that I was at "camp", I felt like I got to know lot's of people and liked the vast majority of them! Somehow that feeling leaves me feeling like I did good work this weekend. And I genuinely feel like there are a few people who I might become lasting real friends! And that makes me really happy and hopeful. New people give me a new outlook.

Bittersweet

So today was the last day of school. I think I speak for everyone when I say Thank Goodness. I don't think I've ever been so glad for a year to end. This has been a long long year. Some really really amazing things have happened that made my head spin and my mouth feel like it was about to fall off from smiling. And some bad stuff has happened. Some that was totally out of my control and some what-in-the-world-was-I-thinking experiences. And now, I'm tired. I am exhausted in fact. Today was the last day of finals (though we still have to come tomorrow but I'm not counting it). So I'm relieved. It's also kind've, mhm, nerve-racking because my grades are completely out of my control now. But mostly I'm happy because I'm so ready to get out of my town. I love my friends. I love my city. I even mostly love my school. But I'm done. I'm done with homework and tests and studying. I'm done with trying to fit everything everyone wants me to do into the two nights of a weekend. I'm ready to get out the city. Out of my schedule. I love summer. I love sunlight. I love the beach. I'm ready to be done to get out, new people, new places.

(but not a new blog because I like this one)

Today was the strangest day. It should have been sort've a relief but the whole day was a bit of a downer. Nothing bad happened (besides a very long Italian final) but I had a bittersweet feeling all day. I'm super glad to get out of school.. but there's all these people who I probably won't see over the summer. Not that I don't love my friends but, the highlight of my day today was two really random 30 second conversations I had with two random people I don't know very well and won't see over the summer but love anyways. I've been in a rut, pretty much. So I guess it's good school's ending. But can the summer really kick my rut in the butt?

Tweet Tweet

I made a Twitter.
I think they're sort've silly.
But I love it.

Things That Make Me Happy

Rather than studying (which I don't really enjoy).. A list..

• Comments
  
• When the bus pulls backwards out of the crosswalk so that you can walk by.
• When the bus stops in between stops for you (okay, going to try to not talk about the bus)
• Being woken up by my phone (as long as its after 10 o'clock)
• Songs in Italian (they're just.. so.. much.. better)
• Running in the rain
• Actually running in general
• "I Got A Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas
• Study parties (suddenly things are just better)
• Picnics... in any time of the year
• Sunny amazing shorts wearing weather after a long winter/very cold spring
• Enthusiastic "hellos" in the hallways.
• Watching movies with the little sibs.
  
• My brother dancing to 96.000
• My grandma dancing to Cats (okay now I'm getting stuck in dance)
• Taking the train instead of the bus
• Late night surprises slash loonng friday nights.
  
• Catapults
• Traveling (Barcelona/Maine/California/NJ here I come)
  
• Shared clothing (because that means you don't have to pay for all of it)
• People who offer to let you throw a party... at their house.
• Putting away dishes (just don't ask me to load the dishwasher)
• The sun
• "Playdates"
• Speaking Italian

And finally....
I have about 18 hours of school left in the year.

Beginings

Basically, I keep saying things that should be monologues. And I'm afraid I will forget them... So! Per my friend's request.. here is the beginning of what should be a monologue.

"My birthday is on Pi day. You know three point one four dot dot dot. So people are always giving me pies for my birthday. Except that I really like birthday cake"

Tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock

Today was something of a momentous occasion. It was strike for the spring play, the last day of the last play of the year. Which basically means... for the next, oh 32 school days, I am free! I have nothing to do after school, no rehearsal to go to, no lines to memorize... Which sounds lovely, right? Except that I've forgotten how to do nothing.

Oh, I have plans. I'm going to run, drink starbucks, see my friends on weekdays and have time to write more... It'll be more and more amazing the warmer it gets.

But the rapidly warming weather makes me realize that I have been consistently busy since September.

And thinking about September makes me realize how much has happened and how much has time has passed.

Which of course leads to me to realize that this school year is almost over! High school one half done? As someone said to me today "that's cray-cray".

And school being almost over makes me think of prom!

My school has a junior prom and a senior prom. And I'm a sophmore. So technically, I shouldn't be going at all... but through a strange slightly random turn of events I am going, with my ex-boyfriend...as friends (yes, that is weird).

Prom makes me feel old. I'm excited because I harbor a little girl's liking of dressing up but at the same time, I'm not. It might be really fun or it might be just okay, I'm sure I'll have a good time. It's just dawning on me how fast time is slipping by.

:)

I discovered this... okay well I saw it on facebook, when I really should have been doing my homework.. I suppose I really should show it to some guys but I thought y'all would enjoy it as well...


Ode to Nice Guys

Shuffled..

Wow, two posts in one day. I'm def steppin' it up.

So this is something silly I've been wanting to do for awhile... and at the moment, I have a moment or two, so here goes.

First ten songs that come up when my Ipod is shuffled (keeping in mind that this Ipod only holds 200ish songs):

"We Dance" (Once On This Island) ~ Opening from musical I teched for this fall.. oh, dear..

"Here (In Your Arms)" (HelloGoodbye) ~ Oh, so mellow.

"If Everyone Cared" (Nickelback) ~ Nickelback sounds like Hinder which sort've sounds like Daughtry who should've won American Idol.. but didn't.

"Away With The Summer Days" (Youngstown) ~ Princess Diaries... first CD I've bought, ah early 2000s.

"Fabulous" (High School Musical 2) ~ Oh, dear this is getting embarrassing.

"Accidentally In Love" (Counting Crows) ~ :)

"All I Want For Christmas Is You" (Mariah Carey) ~ Clearly have not updated this in a while.. It is the ultimate Christmas/holiday song though.

"Over It" (Anneliese Van Der Pol) ~ Exciting because the singer has my cousin's name. Also the perfect, angry/annoyed/moving on song.

"Can't Hate You Anymore" (Nick Lachey) ~ Another moving on/getting over it song.. weird...

"Superstar feat. Matthew Santos" (Lupe Fiasco) ~ This song is just plain addictive.

Hmm, so that selection completely does not represent me/my musical tastes. Fair enough. Coming soon.. another "currently on my ipod" post!

Celebrate!

It has been awhile m'dears. A million things (both good and bad) have happened and time slipped away, and I realized it's been forever since I've posted anything at all...
Today is Easter and last week was Passover. Even though I am Christian in name, I celebrated both this year. And found both to be meaningful and enjoyable in different ways. Passover more because of the company I spent it in, old friends who I'd forgotten how much I love/miss (but I now remember!). And Easter because I got to see how different members of my family like to celebrate. Because for me Easter (or Passover for that matter) is not about what some holy text says happened around this time. It's about how you chose to spend the day. How you chose to celebrate!

My mum, for instance, sings a certain hymn every Easter. Loudly. If not at church than at least in the car.

My grandparents go to their Universalist Unitarian church, where they sort've celebrate everyone!

Without fail, I will do an egg hunt, which for me isn't even a Christian practice, it's a thank-goodness-it's-supposed-to-get-warmer-slash-oh-my-gosh-we-survived-the-winter kind of tradition.

Easter for me, doesn't mean church or singing, it means watching Godspell (fabulous musical whether you are religious or not.. which I'm not) and seeing my family.

Your own Easter/Passover/Springtime/anything else I'm forgetting traditions?

It's easy to get caught up in what you don't have. I certainly have lately. Or in trying to conform to a certain religion or tradition. Right now the sun is shining and I am not without hope that tomorrow, while it may be insanely busy, will not be brutally cold. And that in and of itself is reason to celebrate.

Don't do this! Stay above that! This WILL screw up your life!

So I've been home sick for the last two days. Which translates into way too much t.v., an awful lot of water and some really bad commercials. I've seen some so many anti-drug, alcohol, and teen pregnancy ads, it's absolutely crazy! And they got me thinking.. what's the point? Because here's the thing. I don't drink, I don't smoke, I've no intention of getting pregnant. And all of that has nothing to do with any of those ads. Because they tell me what, exactly? That smoking isn't good for you? That you'll behave differently? But I already knew that! What else? Surprise! Having a baby at sixteen will mess up your life. Well, I think I speak for most teenagers when I say, well, that much has always been clear to us.

And what could they say? Well, I'm not quite sure. They could say, how to avoid becoming pregnant and what to do if you end up in that particular situation. They could, instead of being all cutesy about it, show us what drugs will do to your body when your on them, not what they'll do to your actions. And maybe they could tell you how to be safe, no matter what you doing. I'm not really sure what they say. But what I do know is that the anti-risky behavior X ads may not be doing their jobs.

To be perfectly honest, I think that you can't stop all teens from doing risky things. Physically, it is wired into our brains to have a bad sense of risks and consequences. Yes, we can try to prevent things. But I think it's just as important to help people deal with the consequences of their actions. An ad warning against getting pregnant at age fifteen isn't going to help her figure what to do if she is already pregnant. Prevention is fine, but it has to be tampered with some kind of coping mechanism.

Une Petite Poem

Poem I used for an audition piece:

I can't be this happy...
It really isn't fair.

And because it isn't fair...
I know it can't last.

And because I know it can't last...
I constantly look ahead-
- to find the end of the road ?
- a mountain to climb?
- a bend at least!

And because I constantly look ahead...
I forget to enjoy the view right here.

Sweet Sixteen

So as you all learned from my last post, I was in a play that was competing in the High School Drama Guild Festival. Last week was tech week and yesterday was the actual competition. Before I went all the actors/techies who'd gone before told me that this would be one of the best days of my life. And despite how much fun I'd been having I really didn't believe them. I was so wrong. From when we got on the bus at six-thirty yesterday morning to when I finally arrived home at ten-thirty, it was one of the best craziest most exciting days of my life. We competed against seven other schools, and while it was a competition there was so much camaraderie between schools. We all decided to be super friendly and ended up challenging another school is a dance off! It was an amazing mix of Irish step, backstreet boys, flamenco and hip-hop! It was the best performance we've ever had! Plus, the techies managed to set up the entire set (which is huge complex and breathtaking) in under the required five minutes- cutting about 45 seconds off there time!

Then came the awards ceremony which was an hour long affair with lots of screaming, clapping standing and jumping up and down. I've never been so proud of so many people in my life. We won multiple acting awards and awards of set, makeup and music and (a huge honor) the stage managers! It was absolutely incredible because we all had this shared joy! The judge couldn't say the name of our play which is Sakuntala and the Ring of Recollection, it was great! (Interesting play by the way check it out) And yes, we did move on! (One of only three schools to do so!).

What does this all mean? Why is this post called "Sweet Sixteen"? Well what this means is that we move on the to semi-final round. Which happens to be March 14. Which happens to be pi day (3.14). And Albert Einstein's birthday. And my sixteenth birthday.

Before going to festival, I really wanted to move on. But I won't lie, I wasn't amped about spending my sixteenth birthday in this competition. Now, I've done a complete three-sixty! I am incredibly glad that we have an opportunity to compete again - a chance at John Hancock! And it's a pretty amazing way to spend your sixteenth birthday, with people you love, watching good theater, doing something you love!

Longest Best Most Intense Week Ever

So this week is tech week for the festival play. Fondly referred to as H E double hockey sticks (pardon if I've offended everyone), it is the biggest rehearsal week right before the first show. I'm talking at school until ten o'clock, I never seen the sun, and all I can talk about is theater. Sound horrible?

On some level it is horrible, I'm up late every night doing my homework (witness the time of this post) and I don't do any socializing outside of rehearsal...

But at the same time this is the most fun I've ever had! We are a super tight cast, I honestly love everyone! It's fun and exciting and scary and overwhelming all at the same time. Rather than school being the main event of the day, school is that place you go before the real day begins. And it is a long day. But we laugh, we act, we cry, we ice my knees, I get picked up put down, kissed, spun around, laughed at, hugged, sad, happy, excited, scared out of my mind...

So yes, I'm tired, I can't remember the last time I was out of the school before it was dark, and I'd really like to see my friends... but it is so worth it.

Random Musings of a Blocked Writer

The last couple of weeks I've had writer's block. Maybe it's because I've been so busy or because It's not so much that I can't write, as it is that while I can, I just don't feel like it as much. I hate this feeling. But I also know not to push it. It'll come back when it comes back and until then I can write little filler pieces and I can get through my lit homework (wow, that's the second time in two posts I've mentioned lit homework). So enjoy another random compilation, this time of the time-wasters I've been filling my time with!

Facebook... the biggest time waster of 'em all.
Pride and Prejudice... A wonderful book!
Rehearsing... Technically not a time waster- but very intense!
Rereading... All those books you read when you're little are better the second time around.
Bad tv... It's just relaxing at the end of the day.
Thinking... Not doing anything is sometimes the most productive of all.
Doodling... I can't draw, but I wish I could. So I doodle to make up for it.

Thanks for the reminder....

Thank you for reminding me to post here!
I've been crazy busy with this drama festival play (does anyone else make a competition of a high school?) and then I got sick (which I still am) and something just always comes up... But I can delay the lit homework for a little bit to give an update... (these are some general thank yous)
Thank you for change!
I know I already talked about the inauguration but it warms my heart to see some of the changes
President (so great to finally say that) Obama has been making. A couple of days into his presidency my mum was near tears at breakfast because he ordered Guantanamo Bay to be closed
Thank you for reminding me that somethings really do happen like the movies... sort of.
Have you seen Madeline? The live-action version is absolutely adorable. Remember how she has to get her appendix out? Well, today the same thing happened to my friend. Get well soon!
Thank you for reminding me how much I love it here!
A certain homophobic church group is coming to protest my school's Gay-Straight Alliance, Project 10 East. So the student body is holding an anti-protest protest, which the city is completely supportive of!
Thank you for all the spectacular people in my life!
Not a day goes by that I'm not glad to know the people I do!

A Rose By Any Other... hmm.

When my parents lived in NYC before I was born, they read this comic strip by the very funny Lynda Barry. It was called Marlys and centered around a girl named Marlys (mar-LISS) and her friends and family. My dad read it MAR-lees (pronounced as though Marly had a a dog; Marly's dog) and fell in love with the character and the [mispronounced] name. Marlys herself is a spitfire of a girl; she's obnoxious and bossy and eccentric and kind of gets on everyone's nerves. What more could a parent want, right? So when I was born, they decided to name me after that comic strip character but change the spelling to match what my dad thought the name was. Thus, my name was born, and so started a life time of explaining how to pronounce it.
Both my siblings also have out of the ordinary names with more normal middle names. These, my mom says, were given to us so that just in case we wanted something less... weird. While my name is kind of a pain, because about 1 in 10 people say it right the first time (One of my best friends spent a year avoiding saying it because she was scared she'd get it wrong), I would never in a million years think of changing it, not even dropping the s! And if I were to alter something, it would be to give myself a more unique middle name, just so everything would match! My name is a huge part of who I am, it's a story to tell, even when the explanations get tiresome. I always find the "how I got my name" stories interesting. People can shape how I feel about a name too, so names I love simply because of who I associate them with. A rose by any other name would only smell as sweet if we never knew that it had been called a rose!

Obama-Rama!

I promised a piece about names is coming (and also one about hair which I've been dying to do) but today, on my caffeine induced rush, I absolutely have to talk about today's inauguration!

You all probably saw it (and if you didn't go find it online please), so I won't describe it for you. But let me describe the scene in which I saw it in. They crammed a little of 1/4 of my school of 2000 into the auditorium, while the rest huddled around tiny antennaed out dated tvs in homerooms. Now, I fully expected it to be loud and rowdy, as many school functions are; because, well, we ignore guest speakers, a tv projection, even something so momentous would be a sitting duck. But I was so pleasantly surprised! We stood and sat with Washington, we let out our cheers, we went wild with applause, we screamed that we had a black president. And we were quiet. You couldn't have heard a pin drop by any means but we listened.

This inauguration will always mean something to me. But it will mean more because of where I was and the atmosphere I was in. The shared joy and hope made it all the more special.

Coming Soon... To A Screen Near You

(Going for the corny title there)

Snowflake reminded me of a post which I've been dying to do for awhile! Names, names! Having something of a peculiar name myself, I have lots to say on the subject!

However, at the moment, it's snowing, Mamma Mia is playing, The Notebook is waiting, and I had something of a sleep under. All things combined... look for a more coherent post soonish!

Final Thoughts On Finals...

So I am super glad that my semester is almost over. My school runs by a block schedule so, all our classes change halfway through the year and we only take four classes at a time. Huge combo platter, the good, the bad, the ugly. Having fewer subjects at a time is absolutely stellar (the good) . But then, I'm in each class for over an hour, which can get tiring (the bad). And we have to go through the stress of finals and midterms for times total, once now and once in June (the ugly). Okay, well maybe that's not the ugly; it can be a positive. But right now, on the eve of the third day of four days of finals, I'm pretty much done. Today was a half day, which made life a tad easier. But still, I'm dreaming about this upcoming three day no homework weekend! Ah, can't wait! And then we rush right back into school- it's the first day of school without the long relaxing summer and the thrill of "oh did they change over the summer!". Craziness...

And at the same time, we're in crazy rehearsal for the festival play. The festival play is a 40 minute play we put on with just 20 people and 5 weeks; which then gets sent to compete against the rest of the state. It's super fun and super fast.

I'm a little all over the place in this one... But do you schools have drama comps? slash block schedules slash crazy finals?

Pshh.. Secrets

Pshh.. Secrets

January is always kind of a drab time of year. The snow is old and gray, it's evilly cold. We have finals and there's only February break and Valentine's Day to look forward too. Now, the combo
of these plus rehearsals, bad news, and a kind-of cold, has brought me way down. Which is a feat because I'm generally a very peppy happy person. I don't like to not be happy. So throughout my day I've found little glimmers of light and fun! Just thought I'd pass them on...

Post Secret...This is an absolutely delightful idea.
You have to see it for yourself. So click the title of this post.
Walking in the cold...with someone! My ultimate torture
is to be cold. Which I get easier. But a brutally early morning seems
so much better, so much warmer, when you have someone to share it with.
Naturally Curly... If you have even remotely curly hair, check this out.
I have wicked curly hair, and while this site is intense, it's a great resource/community/help.
"I Believe" by R Kelly... Yet another Obama song.
But regardless of politics, this song is inspirational. And a super
bright ray of sunshine for late night studying.
TV with your little sibs... Or any younger than...
Or older than. My sister and I watched American Idol together,
and it was amazing.
Overpriced Warm Drinks... Yes I know there seems to be a theme here.
But I really hate cold above all else.
Perspective... Don't lose yours. Very few things constitute the end of the world.
Your finals are important but take a break and read a really good book.
I promise you can talk on the phone with a good friend for an hour and
you'll feel much better. Get out of the groove, see old friends.

So, I'll sign off now because I'm much to cold. Keep hopeful, keep happy, keep warm!

O9!