Music Trip!

Well, tonight, about a third of the school is going on a bus to depart for Nashville, where we will make music, sleep on a bus, and (probably) hear more country music than any of us wants to hear ever again.

I'm kind of excited, to be honest. I mean, there was this annoying thing about the rooming this year (I signed up with one friend, but since nobody else signed up in our room, we got split up. I don't mind; my new roommates are reasonably cool, as are my friend's roommates, so it could be a lot worse). I know some of my friends aren't very excited, but I am. See, epic stuff seems to happen on the music trips, simply because it is the music trip.


A recap:

Year One (Atlanta): I found out I passed my black belt test. And the Aquarium was REALLY cool. And we went to the Coca-Cola factory, where I had to give up my Lenten Sacrifice (no soda) in order to participate in the international tasting room. It was worth it.

Year Two (Philadelphia): We went on a Ghost Tour of Philadelphia, which was REALLY cool. I also ate too much of food that had expired and threw up for the first time in a few years. But I got a really good book called Stupid History.

Year Three (Disney World): It was Disney. Need I say more? Also, we sang Vivaldi's "Gloria" (sans the solo bits), which is epic just on its own (if you have never heard it, look it up, even though it's like half an hour long).


I predict that the most epic thing that can happen is that we meet Dolly Parton at Dollywood (she's scheduled to be there the day we are). However, since I'm not a huge country music fan (I'm middling; I don't hate it all, but it's not all I listen to), I may not be able to appreciate it as much as some other people I know. But who knows? Something epic and totally unrelated to Dolly Parton could happen. (I don't know what that might be, since it hasn't happened yet, but whatever).

It's going to be AWESOME. And if it's not, I'm going to be very disappointed, because it's my last year on the music trip. I DEMAND AWESOME!


As a side note, on the topic of Awesome:

I had to do a group poem project thing with a few friends on Monday. Our poem was one by Tolkien: "All that glitters is not gold." When I was doing a bit of research for a biographical perspective, I found out that Tolkien was inspired to write the Misty Mountains when he went trekking, starting in... wait for it... INTERLAKEN, SWITZERLAND.
That was about an hour away from where we were staying in Adelboden. We visited one day.

So, my wondering why Lord of the Rings was not filmed in Switzerland?
Totally justified.
Just saying.

The Awesome Stuff You Learn At School

Okay, I admit I was kind of creeping on some of the physics kids outside at lunch today.  Why?  Oh, for the simple reason that they are using whips for their physics fair project, and they were learning how to use them today.  One of our teachers was showing them how, because she used to work at a Renaissance Festival.

I got a lesson on how to do it.  And it was awesome.

Okay, my technique was rather off at first, so I kind of whipped my hair (not back and forth) in the back, but whatever.  I eventually got the hang of it, which felt really cool.

Apparently, the whip is less of a muscle weapon and more of a movement sort of weapon. With things like swords, you have to put some grunt behind an overhand if you want to do any real damage (and if you want to move the sword at all, in some cases), but with whips, you just have to get your arm movement right, and then people with very little arm muscle can knock someone over from six or eight feet away.  And trip them up.  And stuff.

Apparently, tripping people up is really easy because the whip is designed to wrap around stuff it gets flung at.  Our teacher demonstrated (gently) on one of the people there.  Even though the impulse in her arm was very light, and she was using an eight-foot whip, and it still went around the kid's legs a few times.  If he had been running from her, he probably would have been tripped up and done a faceplant.

Anyhow, that cracking that occurs when a whip is at its full extent is a breaking of the sound barrier because the thin, whippy end of the whip is moving so fast.

Anyhow, it felt REALLY cool to learn how to use a whip.  Definitely writing that into something one of these days.

And I'm probably ready to just quit school and become Indiana Jones.

If that were legal.

stuff and stuff

Well, guess what I did today?

Today, I wrote a paper.

That's about it.

Also, I waited for half an hour for my government teacher to show up.  Turns out he has not been around all day, and we, the class, only found out about it after half an hour of waiting for him, when someone called another history teacher and asked him where our government teacher was.

And that's about it.

Well, I also sang some, and did some stuff about the Great Banks Cod Fishing Collapse, and studied some integrals and stuff.

But that's it.  Yeah.  Really boring, I know.

I think that is partially why I have not been posting as much as I used to - I am really busy, and the stuff that makes me busy is just standard high school stuff, unworthy of reporting across the wide Internet.  That, or I just plain do not have the time anymore.  And big stuff has not really happened.


Oh, yeah, I forgot to post here.  I got rejected from theatre school.  It sucks, I know, but I know I am not brilliant, and theatre is ridiculously competitive, especially for girls.

But whatever.  Moving on.


You know what would be a really cool job?  Choreographing stage fights.  You get to fight, except not beat anyone up for real, but still feel awesome, and make people look really badass.  And it is a very valid excuse to stay really active.  Doing martial arts.  And fencing.  And stuff.


I just did a google search for fight choreographers, and wound up discovering that Pirates of the Caribbean may or may not be becoming a musical.  Which is rather ridiculous, just saying.  WHY ARE THEY TURNING PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN INTO A MUSICAL?  It is rather unjustified, just saying.  It would probably be really hard to pull of an epic PIRATE MOVIE on a STAGE.  It will probably suck, but I will probably wind up going to see it anyway, if it comes to my area and does not close in previews.

Still.

A musical out of "Pirates of the Caribbean"?  WHY?

Harry Potter v Twilight

So, I just found this post online that's completely bull**** about how Twilight's better than Harry Potter and how Harry Potter sucks. Well, no offense to any twi-hards out there, but I don't think that's very true. (the article can be found here).
to refute that, I'm making a list of my own.

WHY HARRY POTTER IS AWESOME:

1. It has a plot. A good plot. It follows the Hero's Journey, in fact. I think. The point is, they have a quest, and they are on it. And they go forth and conquer.
2. It has reasonable character development. The main trio had the chance to surprise you, as did most of the supporting cast. Like Neville.
3. No character is totally perfect. If someone is beautiful, they have a messed up home life (like Draco). If they're really nice or smart, they're probably not attractive (like Hermione).
4. There are themes - friendship, bravery, doing what's right even when you're heartbroken. That's something I didn't really learn from Twilight.
5. It actually has humor. And good villains. (and by 'good villains,' I mean 'villains that are developed, have motives, and who I want to punch in the face at times.' Unlike the Volturi, who were a threat in theory and not in reality.)
6. I nearly cried when Dobby died. Though I did feel kind of depressed when Bella threw herself off a cliff, I think it might have partially been because she didn't die.
7. Dumbledore. Not much more needs to be said. He's brilliant. And who says elderly gay dudes are creeps? I know no creepy gay dudes. I know no creepy gay people, period.

WHY TWILIGHT ISN'T BRILLIANT:
1. Bella doesn't act; she reacts. The one time she acted she did it for love (to stop Edward from going out in the sun and bugging the Volturi), which is noble and all, but it was sort of like... why? Jacob made her happy. Why couldn't Edward have come back and had there been tension while she had feelings for both of them.
2. Edward. Ew. Sure, he's hot, but he's... I dunno. Sketchy? Creepy? Obsessive? He watches her in her sleep, for crying out loud. Sure, I mean I guess that's romantic, but I wouldn't want a boyfriend doing that. I might not be able to sleep if that happened.
3. The Volturi were cool, but they didn't pose much of a threat. I mean, they didn't really DO anything. They didn't really pose any threat, and they didn't have any annoying rules that Bella had to get around until the end of the fourth one. Which brings me to my next point.
4. The end of the fourth book. Ew. It could have redeemed a good chunk of the series with its epic battle and the desperation to make sure everyone good came out alive, and probably could have had some tragic, tear-inducing deaths. But it didn't. It was just Edward and Ari having a thought-discussion. Bella wasn't even in on it. AND THEY HAD AMASSED A FREAKING ARMY. WHY DIDN'T THEY DO ANYTHING WITH IT?
5. There could have been some tension with possibly introducing any of Bella's human friends into the supernatural world. One of Bella's human friends could have had an idea and have tried to get in on it and stirred stuff up. Edward even specifically said that Carlisle could barely pass for the age he was claiming to be - why wasn't someone outside of Jacob's community suspicious of it?
6. Most of the characters, with the possible exception of Jacob, are completely flat. Harry, Ron, and Hermione can surprise you. They have depth. Jacob was the only one who actually was pained by any decision he or anyone else ever made.





In short:
HARRY POTTER: Plot, characters, surprises, action, crying.
TWILIGHT: some action, bending of rules of grammar and supernatural beings.

Wuthering Heights

I recall a post that I wrote several years ago around this time (which can be found here). This post stated (in case you decided not to follow the link) that my dad had learned that Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights had been deemed the most romantic book ever, or something to that effect.

Well, I have been assigned to read said book, and, after laboring over it for five hours yesterday (reading 210 pages in the process), I must say, I DO NOT AGREE.

If it were the most romantic book ever, Catherine Senior would not have died and Heathcliff would have been able to chill enough to stop being abusive and win her heart. Also, Linton wouldn't have been so whiny and I'd have been cheering for Hareton and Catherine Junior to get together. (I must admit, I was rather excited when they got together, but there wasn't enough buildup for that, so that's beside the point).

Maybe part of the reason I don't really see the whole romantic side of it is because I read most of it in one day.


At any rate, here are My Two Reasons Why Wuthering Heights Is Not Very Romantic:

1. Heathcliff. Sure, he was sort of cool in the beginning, but he started acting like an idiot towards the end. One could say that it was romantic that he was acting weird because he was seeing the spirit of Catherine Senior, whom he loved dearly, but I dunno. If he loved her so much, why was he so mean to her daughter?

2. Linton. That boy needs to get himself some guts. Also, he needs to get himself some compassion. Really. Catherine Junior helped him through a tough winter by writing to him, and both of them fancied themselves to be in love because of the secret correspondence and their guardians maybe not being cool with that. Sure, it was adorable. But then Catherine Junior's feelings faded slightly, and I think that if she wanted to marry him, she wanted him to propose to her properly, instead of having Heathcliff forcing them into it. As Heathcliff forced her into a union she was unsure about, and wouldn't let her go back to tell her father what was going on or where she'd gone (the dude is DYING, and her only immediate family remaining), AND locked her in a room, of COURSE she'd have a breakdown. And what did Linton do about it? He ranted about how he was more worthy of shedding tears than she was. Sure, that's good in the LONG RUN, but she's freaking UPSET, and he's not doing ANYTHING! How non-romantic is THAT?


Honestly, my favorite character was Hareton. He had the most to be confused and anguished about, and it was nice to see him finally get together with someone cool.

I just wish it wasn't Catherine Junior, because she was a bitch to him for most of the book, and I wish he'd gotten together with someone before chapter 30 of 34, so Catherine could feel torn. Really.

hiking and procrastination

Well, I AM procrastinating (a bit) on doing my calculus homework, but it is already mostly done, so it is not TOO bad...  right?

Anyhow, I am pretty sure I am officially going to Philmont.  As such, I have to go to a ton of training hikes, and I have to train every day on my own (this is partly to prove to my mom that it is NOT one of my lunatic ideas and that I really do intend to go hiking in the New Mexican mountains for a week this summer, so she will contribute to my Going to Philmont Fund).  This is all well and good, I guess.  However, training hikes are HARD.  For example, I slowed everyone down today on a thirteen-mile hike by actually packing up to weight.  Admittedly, it is not the sort of weight one would normally carry on the trail - textbooks, sweatshirts, and the sleeping bag I am most assuredly NOT taking on the trail - but it was still weight.

Eventually, one of our adults got frustrated with my being consistently behind, so he took out two of my textbooks and gave them to one of our other leaders (who had not brought much, because this was her first training hike) and to his daughter (who was slightly annoyed that she had been issued my calculus textbook).
Now my legs hurt.  Like, a lot.  And I get to do homework, even though I am exhausted!  Huzzah!

Not really.  I admit, I brought it on myself by not doing homework yesterday, though I DID get a water bladder (one of those water bottles - mine is made by Camelback - that is basically a water pouch and has a straw that feeds through one's backpack so one can drink water without having to carry one's water bottle outside of one's pack, thus leaving one's hands free to do as one pleases) and I made vegetarian lo mein yesterday.  It was exciting.

I now can cook for myself!

Admittedly, I will not get much protein, since I did not put chicken or tofu in the lo mein, and I will probably have bathroom issues from too many vegetables if I make it every day, and I will probably gain a lot of weight because it can get really fatty, but I can SURVIVE ON MY OWN!  WOOHOO!!!!!!

Well... roughly speaking.  I guess.

Anyhow, enough procrastination (for now).  ON TO HOMEWORK!




p.s.  I TOTALLY forgot about it, but sixteen days ago (record lateness FTW!) was the blog's third anniversary.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BLOG!

auditions and stuff

So I had my college audition today.
I don't think I was horrible, to be honest.  I'm not going to say I was brilliant, because I definitely could have slowed down a LOT, but I don't think I was the worst person ever.
So yeah.

lunacy and stuff

Well, life is going to get really hard, really fast.

Or something like that. (I kind of just wanted to say that because it sounded sort of epic).

But really, though. I have got a hat and a half to knit, eight bracelets to design and knit, a bag to design and make, a thesis to write, a project to do, a book to write, lots of books to turn in, cast lists to worry about, calculus to figure out, school to be on time for, homework to do, ad stuff to write. It's kind of ridiculous.

Welcome to real life, I guess.


Well, in good news, at least I'm getting paid for the bracelets, and the bag will not have to get started until after Valentine's day. Though I really want to finish the novel, I guess it IS optional. Also, I'm not wholly sure where I left my notebook, so there's that to figure out. And the thesis isn't due until next week, but that comes with the expectation of it being really good. The trouble with that is that I haven't started it yet, which is kind of horrible.

I need to work on my procrastination problems, honestly.

Anyhow, in knitting news, I've started working with embroidery floss. I wasn't sure how it would work out, but it's going reasonably well - better than I expected, at any rate (though I didn't expect much, so I'm not sure if that counts or not).

And in Klondike news, I CAN GO TO THE DERBY!! WOOHOO!! I thought I would want to be out all weekend because of the audition, but I don't, really. On the other hand, it officially means I won't be able to do any homework until 3:00 on Sunday, and on Sunday there's a conflict of having a Philmont meeting and having an ASP meeting, both of which are mandatory.

But those are details... that are important. GRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In college news, I have an audition on Friday for my top theatre school. Sure, I've already gotten in to a school that I want to go to, but its theatre program is TINY (along with the rest of it). And I'm auditioning for a theatre-only program of an all-arts school. The school is REALLY good - fourth in the country for education, and first in terms of value. The only trouble is that it is REALLY competitive.

For example, out of the freshmen last year, 250 people auditioned and 35 people got in.

Yeah. This is going to be hard.

Along with everything else.

But who said life was going to be easy?

Excitedness

Well, I am nearly done with the five hats for Klondike.

Well, actually, not really.

I started the fourth this morning, and I only just learned I had to do a fifth, which is slightly terrifying.  But whatever.  Since the fifth I had NO idea about and only found about half an hour ago (she did not tell me her colors when I posted in the group a few weeks ago), I'm giving her really weird colors (maroon and orange, or something to that effect).


Anyhow, in other news, I am getting SUPER pumped about my senior project, because it is perhaps the dorkiest thing ever.  It started off as the fashion line thing and sort of developed into this, which I am TOTALLY excited about, by the way.  It is knitting a large garment and two extra things based on adventure/ sci-fi movies, particularly Indiana Jones (vest, satchel, wristlets), Pirates of the Caribbean (vest, sword sash, belt), Lord of the Rings (shirt, belt, coin purse), and Star Wars (Jedi tunic, belt, wristlets).  It is going to be rather difficult to get it all done, particularly in three weeks, but whatever.  I really want to get this done.

Also, I have already found people who are willing to be models for it.

The one I ham most excited about is the Star Wars one, even though it is the most complicated (Jedi tunics are hard) and the largest (THREE FREAKING PIECES!).

I'm not selling any of the larger things, by the way (I might majorly piss off George Lucas and the Government for selling his copyrighted stuff), though I may work on some of the vests (neither of which directly appeared in the movies) and sell those, and I'm probably going to work on developing the belts and wristlets to sell as well.

I'm really excited.

Okay, my dork rant is over, and I have to go to lunch.  Farewell.

Senior Stuff and Musicals!

Well, opening night for the musical is tonight, and I am kind of majorly terrified. Okay, not majorly, but still sort of nervous. See, even though I've been in 21 shows (counting this one), the only times I've ever had solos were in Cabarets, where EVERYONE has a solo unless they are deliberately singing in a group. Also, I'm notoriously bad at keeping my own pitch when there is a full orchestra playing under me (I think this is partially due to a severe lack of experience of having a solo with a full orchestra. Funny how that works. You don't get solos unless you have experience holding your own pitch; you don't get experience holding your own pitch unless you get solos). So there's that. However, I HAVE gotten better, which is good. Rather than being notoriously bad, I'm now just cautiously okay.

In other news, I have some ideas of what to do for a senior project. The top three are writing a novel, doing some sort of theater internship, and knitting/ designing some sort of fashion line thing. I know I could do the novel; the theater internship might be harder to secure. The knitting... I'm not so sure.

However, I've been sort of captured by the whole knitting thing (even if knitting is not a warm-weather activity). The only problem with this is that, should I choose to pursue it, I'd be knitting somewhere in the vicinity of five to ten hours a day, including weekends (the senior project rules require that you work at least 25 hours a week). There's no issue of me being able to find the time - if I do senior projects, my teachers generally let me out of class (except for my chorus teacher, but that's only until the spring concert is over), and I don't doubt I will be able to buy cotton yarn somewhere and work with it. The trouble is that whole knitting-ten-hours-a-day thing. I mean, in order to pass the senior project committee (we ARE getting graded on it), I have to do something substantial. And something substantial involves knitting a LOT. Also, what would I do about models? What would I do about actually SHOWING it?

I already have an idea of what I would make - three or four major things (a dress and two shirts; two dresses and two shirts.... something like that), and an array of accessory type things - bags, belts, stuff like that.

The trouble is, I tried knitting a dress in three weeks. It didn't work. It came close, but it didn't work. Partially because I was epically procrastinating on it.

That's another potential for disaster - with an entire afternoon off (and more, when chorus is over), how much TV time will I be logging, and how much will I use TV time to procrastinate on the epic amounts of knitting I'll have to be doing?

I mean, I have to train for Philmont as well, which means I'm going to have to take at least an hour out each day to do some sort of physical exercise. I should have started training months ago, which means I need to start exercising in earnest, like, now. That is a mandatory thing.

If I have to knit ten hours a day, and I'm going for an hour run and getting back at one, that means I will finally put my needles down at 11:00 every night, and that is if I don't procrastinate epically.

Who needs epic knitting three weeks before school lets out, anyway?

Any thoughts?

musicals and stuff

Greetings!

Well, the stuff that I was most worried about with regards to the musical have finally been solved. I have a costume! And we rehearsed the song we need to rehearse! So things are good in that regard. Okay, I don't ENTIRELY like my costume, but at least it exists, and it sort of fits my character's personality! Huzzah!

On the other hand, there's a little over a week until the show goes up, and our set isn't fully built and a lot of people still desperately need to work on their lines. I'm pretty much good, because I only have two lines, but some of the main people really need to work on it.


Also, I'm going to have to miss musical rehearsal in its entirety for the first time ever on Saturday. In the four years I've been doing my school's musical, this is the first time I'm going to have to get out of rehearsal all day.

Of course, I haven't been a senior for the last three years, so I wasn't applying to college the other three years, so that doesn't really count.

On Saturday, I'm going to go for a scholarship interview for a college that's among my top three. I applied early action there and regular for the other schools, so I have heard back from only this one and a few others as of yet.

The whole thing is just sort of panic-inducing because I'm missing rehearsal so close to the show, and it's for something that will affect my future a LOT. I want to get both right, but it's kind of hard to pull off without a Time Turner.


Also, I have awesome news on the knitting front. I've finally started binding off on the Dark Mark Flag, and I actually LIKE how it turned out. Okay, the top could be better, but MOST of it looks cool.

Now I have to start working on the hats that I'm making for the Crew. They aren't matching in color, but the Dark Mark is a recurring theme. The main reason for that is because I don't have enough gray and green yarn to make six or nine hats with; I probably don't have enough gray and green to make ONE hat. But I DO have a lot of other colors and a Dark Mark intarsia pattern, and we DO get points for team spirit at Klondike. Why not add some creativity?


Anyhow, I have homework to attend to before a four-hour rehearsal today. Farewell.

Knitting For Awesomeness

GUESS WHAT!?!?!? I get to knit something! It's a totally awesome something! And the totally awesome something is going to be TOTALLY AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You may think how utterly Not Exciting this is. And, I admit, me knitting something is totally Old News by the standards of pretty much everyone I know. But I get to knit something AWESOME this time!!! And it's going to be AWESOME! (can you tell that I'm excited about doing it?)

Before I say what it is, I need to digress for a second. (It'll make more sense when I actually get to the bit about what it is I'm making).

So, as you probably know, I'm in a Venture Crew. (Venture Crew is essentially co-ed Boy Scouts.) We can do all the stuff that normal Boy Scouts do, except we do it more awesomely because we're co-ed (and we wear different uniforms because we're not actually Boy Scouts).

Anyway, my Crew is sending the first all-girl team (I think - I don't know whether we will be all-girl) to the Klondike Derby (where you drag sleds around, even when there's no snow, and do Boy-Scout-y things). At each of the towns, where you perform each of the tasks (knot tying, first aid, stuff like that), you get little nuggets, which are basically your points. You don't get any nuggets for the things you don't do right, and whichever team gets the most points wins the thing (yes, it's a competition). You also get points for team spirit, which entails a Flag, a Team Name, and a Team Cheer, among other things, I think.

And that brings me to Why I Get To Knit Something Awesome. That Awesome Something is our Team Flag, for which you get points for originality and execution and stuff as part of the Team Spirit Points. Since I can't go to the Derby (which makes me very sad indeed), my contribution to the endeavor of Winning Klondike is making the flag. I have to design and execute the intarsia for it (intarsia = motifs = single-image things that you knit. Fair Isle can be found on all those weird knit sweaters from the 80's). And the intarsia that I'm designing and knitting onto the flag is that of the Dark Mark from Harry Potter. It's based off of the Dark Mark design from the book rather than the movie, because the Movie Dark Mark is more complicated and harder to design for a Newbie Intarsia Designer like me.

Nevertheless, I'm supremely excited.

I've already started working on it, and it's turning out a lot better than I expected. It's also going a lot faster than I expected. I don't know why this might be, but it is. Maybe I've found more time to knit during the school day. Maybe I've gotten faster at knitting. Maybe doing intarsia makes the process going faster. Maybe I'm just supremely psyched to see how the intarsia worked out and am therefore knitting really fast to see how the proportions worked out and stuff so I can have time to go back and do some frogging if I need to (frogging = undoing).

Well, I have to go knit now. Farewell.