I've been thinking about blogging lately. I've slowed down on my posts between freshman year and now, but I'm not the only one. Most of my friends that I follow from LHS '09 have ceased to write new updates. I was wondering why this was. Of course, we're all busy on and offline, but surely we're not much busier than we were at this time last year?
I think I've figured it out.
Last year, everything was new. We left our homes - some of us *coughcough* having never had the opportunity to live in any other town for more than three weeks at a time. We left friends, families, and the comforts of homes. We were pushed into many new worlds, including academic and social ones. We had to adapt to the new, unsupervised lifestyle of the college student, and we had to scramble to find our place in the new social scene. And we were blogging. Blogging itself was new, but we were blogging because of that which was new.
Now, we've adapted. We're sophomores. This is our new normal. So while still 'new' in the sense that we've only been living this routine for about a year out of our almost twenty, it's still old. We're used to it now.
I'm not saying that this is the only reason we've stopped writing new posts, but I'm sure it's a huge prat of it. I can't imagine any of us think that 'oh my gosh another day in ___ class' or 'hey did you see that really obnoxious thing that happened on Saturday night' could possibly interest our fellow high school graduates any more, for the simple fact that they've probably seen much of the same in the last year. And to be completely honest, how exciting does it all seem now to us, the writers?
Of course, we're also really busy.
Showing posts with label Bryan Lin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bryan Lin. Show all posts
Friday, 12 November 2010
Saturday, 13 February 2010
Saint Valentine's Day 2010
So tomorrow is St. Valentine's Day. In the spirit of that wonderful holiday, I've decided to write a blog entry - that, and I'm embarrassed that, not only has Bryan written since the last time I have, but Will has written twice. Lol.
This is the story of Saint Valentine, as remembered by me, as told by other people, and supplemented with probably much truer facts from Wikipedia.
According to Wikipedia, "Saint Valentine (in Latin, Valentinus) is the name of several martyred saints of ancient Rome. The name "Valentine", derived from valens (worthy), was popular in Late Antiquity. Of the Saint Valentine whose feast is on February 14, nothing is known except his name and that he was buried at the Via Flaminia north of Rome on February 14. It is even uncertain whether the feast of that day celebrates only one saint or more saints of the same name."
The story that I remember comes from my pastor. She told us that Valentine was imprisoned and sentenced to death. During all of his imprisonment, he wrote copious amounts of love letters to his family and friends, expressing his undying love for all of them, and probably some other things like how boring it was to sit in prison all day. And he probably mentioned God a few times, as well. The idea is, acccording to my pastor, that we celebrate St. Valentine's Day on the anniversary of his death to honour not only his outstanding love for all around him, but God's love for all of us and our love for each other.
How true is that story? I'm sure that the Wikipedia research I am about to do will address that... [all of the following facts come from here.]
The first time we really hear any sort of story about him, or see a picture, is 1493 in the Nuremburg Chronicle. He was imprisoned by Claudius II, or Claudius Gothicus when he discovered that Valentine was aiding Christians, who were, at the time, persecuted, in Rome. During his imprisonment, apparently Claudius "took a liking to this prisoner" , but when he tried to convert Claudius, he was sentenced to death. He was beaten, stoned, and beheaded, somewhere around 269, 270, or 273.
The official list of Catholic saints, the Roman Martyrology lists seven Saint Valentines, and the Russian Orthodox Church has more.
[The following facts come from here.]
Ultimately, his holiday was removed from the Catholic calendar because he was too unknown, but some groups of Catholics still celebrate his feast day in a religious context.
So it would appear that my pastor's story was nothing but a faerie tale, but that's okay.
As I've been doing this 'research', I've noticed a lot of allusions to Chaucer, and now, it would appear, I am about to find out what, exactly, Chaucer may have done to create this chocolate and hearts holiday.
In his Parlement of Foules [Parliament of Fowls], a poem to commemorate the first anniverary of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia, Chaucer wrote "For this was sent on Valentine's Day, when every bird cometh there to choose his mate." "Readers have uncritically assumed that Chaucer was referring to February 14 as Valentine's Day; however, mid-February is an unlikely time for birds to be mating in England. Henry Ansgar Kelly has pointed out that in the liturgical calendar, May 2 is the saints' day for Valentine of Genoa. This St. Valentine was an early bishop of Genoa who died around AD 307."
The bit about the Medieval period and the English Renaissance is also extremely interesting, and I just wish I could quote the whole thing, but that would be silly. Check it out; it mentions the "High Court of Love" established in Paris on 14 February, 1400 and love poems, the fact that Ophelia mentions the holiday in Hamlet [1600-1601], and John Donne using bird imagery in the same way that Chaucer did.
The late seventeen hundreds to early eighteen hundreds ushered in the wave of mailing pre-written Valentine's Day sentiments to women, and 1847 saw the first mass-produced valentines for sale in the United States.
The article goes on to talk about Valentine's Day traditions in North America and England, and it has a section for Similar Days for Honouring Love all over the world.
But I love Valentine's Day. Obviously, I'm a huge fan of purple and pink and heart shapes and chocolate, so how could I go wrong? Not to mention getting letters and candy ;D But it's so much more than that. It's a day to celebrate love in all of its forms, and that is precisely how I spend it. It doesn't have to be about romantic love, and it doesn't have to be about "Singles Awareness Day" or any of that. Never having had a boyfriend does not mean I can't celebrate my love for so many other people. I love my friends and my family to death, and I wouldn't be who I am without them. That is why I celebrate Saint Valetine's Day.
It feels go to be reminded that somebody cares about you. With that in mind, go out and tell the people that you love that they matter to you! Tell your best friend or your mother or that hobo on the street that you love them! It can really brighten someone's day :D
♥ I love you!! ♥
This is the story of Saint Valentine, as remembered by me, as told by other people, and supplemented with probably much truer facts from Wikipedia.
According to Wikipedia, "Saint Valentine (in Latin, Valentinus) is the name of several martyred saints of ancient Rome. The name "Valentine", derived from valens (worthy), was popular in Late Antiquity. Of the Saint Valentine whose feast is on February 14, nothing is known except his name and that he was buried at the Via Flaminia north of Rome on February 14. It is even uncertain whether the feast of that day celebrates only one saint or more saints of the same name."
The story that I remember comes from my pastor. She told us that Valentine was imprisoned and sentenced to death. During all of his imprisonment, he wrote copious amounts of love letters to his family and friends, expressing his undying love for all of them, and probably some other things like how boring it was to sit in prison all day. And he probably mentioned God a few times, as well. The idea is, acccording to my pastor, that we celebrate St. Valentine's Day on the anniversary of his death to honour not only his outstanding love for all around him, but God's love for all of us and our love for each other.
How true is that story? I'm sure that the Wikipedia research I am about to do will address that... [all of the following facts come from here.]
The feast of St. Valentine was first established in 496 by Pope Gelasius I, who included Valentine among those "... whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God." As Gelasius implied, nothing was known, even then, about the lives of any of these martyrs. The Saint Valentine that appears in various martyrologies in connection with February 14 is described either as:
- A priest in Rome,
- A bishop of Interamna (modern Terni), or
- A martyr in the Roman province of Africa.
The first time we really hear any sort of story about him, or see a picture, is 1493 in the Nuremburg Chronicle. He was imprisoned by Claudius II, or Claudius Gothicus when he discovered that Valentine was aiding Christians, who were, at the time, persecuted, in Rome. During his imprisonment, apparently Claudius "took a liking to this prisoner" , but when he tried to convert Claudius, he was sentenced to death. He was beaten, stoned, and beheaded, somewhere around 269, 270, or 273.
English eighteenth-century antiquarians Alban Butler and Francis Douce, noting the obscurity of Saint Valentine's identity, suggested that Valentine's Day was created as an attempt to supersede the pagan holiday of Lupercalia. This idea has lately been contested by Professor Jack Oruch of the University of Kansas. Many of the current legends that characterise Saint Valentine were invented in the fourteenth century in England, notably by Geoffrey Chaucer and his circle, when the feast day of February 14 first became associated with romantic love.
The official list of Catholic saints, the Roman Martyrology lists seven Saint Valentines, and the Russian Orthodox Church has more.
- a martyr (Roman priest or Terni bishop?) buried on the Via Flaminia (February 14)
- a priest from Viterbo (November 3)
- a bishop from Raetia who died in about 450 (January 7)
- a fifth-century priest and hermit (July 4)
- a Spanish hermit who died in about 715 (October 25)
- Valentine Berrio Ochoa, martyred in 1861 (November 24)
- Valentine Jaunzarás Gómez, martyred in 1936 (September 18)
The Legenda Aurea of Jacobus de Voragine, compiled about 1260 and one of the most-read books of the High Middle Ages, gives sufficient details of the saints for each day of the liturgical year to inspire a homily on each occasion. The very brief vita of St Valentine has him refusing to deny Christ before the "Emperor Claudius" in the year 280. Before his head was cut off, this Valentine restored sight and hearing to the daughter of his jailer. Jacobus makes a play with the etymology of "Valentine", "as containing valour".
[The following facts come from here.]
Ultimately, his holiday was removed from the Catholic calendar because he was too unknown, but some groups of Catholics still celebrate his feast day in a religious context.
Legenda Aurea still providing no connections whatsoever with sentimental love, appropriate lore has been embroidered in modern times to portray Valentine as a priest who refused an unattested law attributed to Roman Emperor Claudius II, allegedly ordering that young men remain single. The Emperor supposedly did this to grow his army, believing that married men did not make for good soldiers. The priest Valentine, however, secretly performed marriage ceremonies for young men. When Claudius found out about this, he had Valentine arrested and thrown in jail. In an embellishment to The Golden Legend provided by American Greetings, Inc. to History.com and widely repeated, on the evening before Valentine was to be executed, he wrote the first "valentine" himself, addressed to a young girl variously identified as his beloved, as the jailer's daughter whom he had befriended and healed, or both. It was a note that read "From your Valentine."
So it would appear that my pastor's story was nothing but a faerie tale, but that's okay.
As I've been doing this 'research', I've noticed a lot of allusions to Chaucer, and now, it would appear, I am about to find out what, exactly, Chaucer may have done to create this chocolate and hearts holiday.
In his Parlement of Foules [Parliament of Fowls], a poem to commemorate the first anniverary of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia, Chaucer wrote "For this was sent on Valentine's Day, when every bird cometh there to choose his mate." "Readers have uncritically assumed that Chaucer was referring to February 14 as Valentine's Day; however, mid-February is an unlikely time for birds to be mating in England. Henry Ansgar Kelly has pointed out that in the liturgical calendar, May 2 is the saints' day for Valentine of Genoa. This St. Valentine was an early bishop of Genoa who died around AD 307."
Chaucer's Parliament of Foules is set in a fictional context of an old tradition, but in fact there was no such tradition before Chaucer. The speculative explanation of sentimental customs, posing as historical fact, had their origins among eighteenth-century antiquaries, notably Alban Butler, the author of Butler's Lives of Saints, and have been perpetuated even by respectable modern scholars.
The bit about the Medieval period and the English Renaissance is also extremely interesting, and I just wish I could quote the whole thing, but that would be silly. Check it out; it mentions the "High Court of Love" established in Paris on 14 February, 1400 and love poems, the fact that Ophelia mentions the holiday in Hamlet [1600-1601], and John Donne using bird imagery in the same way that Chaucer did.
The late seventeen hundreds to early eighteen hundreds ushered in the wave of mailing pre-written Valentine's Day sentiments to women, and 1847 saw the first mass-produced valentines for sale in the United States.
The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year worldwide, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas. The association estimates that, in the US, men spend in average twice as much money as women.
The article goes on to talk about Valentine's Day traditions in North America and England, and it has a section for Similar Days for Honouring Love all over the world.
But I love Valentine's Day. Obviously, I'm a huge fan of purple and pink and heart shapes and chocolate, so how could I go wrong? Not to mention getting letters and candy ;D But it's so much more than that. It's a day to celebrate love in all of its forms, and that is precisely how I spend it. It doesn't have to be about romantic love, and it doesn't have to be about "Singles Awareness Day" or any of that. Never having had a boyfriend does not mean I can't celebrate my love for so many other people. I love my friends and my family to death, and I wouldn't be who I am without them. That is why I celebrate Saint Valetine's Day.
It feels go to be reminded that somebody cares about you. With that in mind, go out and tell the people that you love that they matter to you! Tell your best friend or your mother or that hobo on the street that you love them! It can really brighten someone's day :D
♥ I love you!! ♥
Saturday, 2 January 2010
A New Year's Story
Now is the time to be pensive. New Year’s is a time for remembering the past and thinking about the future. I spent all of my New Year’s Day looking through my old pictures from 2007 – the first picture of the year, my birthday, Anna’s and Bryan’s and Julia’s sixteenth birthdays, my trip to China, my first marching band adventures, fencing. Before I got to the China part, awful memories came flooding back, filling my mind. My sixteenth birthday marked the beginning of the rapid decline of one of my best, truest, and most comfortable friendships, and after that date, things only got worse. I found myself thrown into an inescapable depression, despite the best efforts of other, wonderful friends, and I was never able to trust or love anyone so fully in the years that followed. During that time, all I can remember is unbelievable pain and confusion. My grades were slipping and my other friends were drifting away because I could not hold on to them; all of my energy was wasted trying to imagine what I had done wrong and what I could do to at least have her talk to me again, to smile at me when she walked by, or to at least stop pretending that I was just another object in the room. Sophomore year remains a black hole for me – I can recall very little of my academics, and though I made new friends, few of them stuck. This was the year that Oh! Gravity., the sixth Switchfoot album, came out, and after this dramatic turn of events, I fell to sitting by myself and finding refuge in lines like “All of my world hanging on your lies”. I became increasingly pessimistic about everything, and I lost any value I had had for myself. My way of thinking was that, if she couldn’t like me, how could anyone else? How could I? I think I’ve made my point very clearly: to say this was the low point of my high school career would be an extreme understatement. This person broke my heart, but also my trust, self-esteem, and self-worth.
As for my future, I can’t say. My hopes are that I remain close with the people I’ve met this year and the people whom I’ve had to leave in this last year. I want to be able to be a best friend again. I want to continue to record my life in writing and in photographs, and I want to continue to educate myself on anything and everything. I finally feel like I have a fair balance, for the most part, and I want to keep that, and make it stronger. Those are all my hopes; of course, there are little things, like get good grades, etc., but these are the things that I consider the most important because they have been a part of my life, a part of me, in the past, and they really feel right, so I need to work hard to keep them a part of me in the future.
I hope the new year brings you peace of mind, and that you can resolve the be optimistic and try to salvage any bad situation fate may throw your way. Take it from someone who has been there, it’s better that way.
But, as I was gathering photos from my past to compile for my scrapbook, I took a trip down memory lane. I was surprised to see how many photographs were filled with friends and smiling faces, and I realise that I let everyone around me down. It’s not my job to allow silly drama get to my head; no, I am the one who helps pull those around me out of its sticky claws. Friends, some who hadn’t even known me for more than a few months, tried their hardest to cheer me up, to remind me that life goes on, but I ignored them, and I stagnated in my own cesspool of self-pity and worthlessness. There has never been another time in my life during which I had been so self-centred and blind to the kindness of those who still remained by my side. I was actually surrounded by people who cared about me, but I was too wrapped up in the insignificant opinions of one girl to even notice.
That summer, though, everything changed. I needed it to. I changed my appearance dramatically, cutting and styling my hair in a way that was so different from anything I’d ever attempted before, and I bought new, thick-rimmed glasses that made me look like an entirely different person. I didn’t feel different, though. I went to China and made amazing friends and memories. It was truly the trip of a lifetime. I joined marching band, too, and even devoted my entire summer to learning a new instrument, and I became closer with many band geeks with whom I’d already been friendly, and met even more fantastic people. I got a job and started ballroom dancing! I remembered that I had a life to live, and that I didn’t need that one person to live it – I’d survived the first thirteen years of my life without her, after all. Grades, self-esteem, and social vitality all rose from the deepest depths, when I never thought they could.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that 2007 was not as awful a year as I’ve always remembered it to be. Instead, I learned how to fight for my self-worth, how to adapt, and that I didn’t need people who were going to hurt and belittle me in my life. Three of my best friendships, Dan, Jesson, and Andrew, were all kindled during that heart-wrenching year, and it is truly a blessing and an honour to be able to have them in my life, as cheesey as that may sound. Perhaps, if the dreadful things that passed in those early months of the year hadn’t, I would never have created these three strong, life-saving bonds. And I don't hate her. Maybe I need to be thankful. Maybe I need to say, “*********, thank you for breaking my heart, because, in your attempt to hurt, confuse, belittle, and destroy me, I learned some things about myself. I learned that I have power beyond your control, and I learned how to love other people and myself, and I learned that I can survive. And that is the best gift you ever have – or ever could have – given me. Thank you.”
I know that it’s a cheesey song, but it really is a confidence booster for me when these little self-esteem nightmares, rooted in this incident, start to set in. I always remember Gloria Gaynor’s immortal I Will Survive, sung with all the gutsy confidence in the world.
First I was afraid, I was petrified / Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side / But I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong / and I grew strong, and I learned how to carry on.
It took all the strength I had not to fall apart / kept trying hard to mend the pieces of my broken heart / and I spent oh so many nights just feeling sorry for myself / I used to cry, but now I hold my head up high / and you see me, somebody new / I'm not that chained up little person, still in love with you
Go on now go, walk out the door / just turn around now, 'cause you're not welcome anymore / weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye / you think I'd crumble, you think I'd lay down and die / Oh no, not I / I will survive/ as long as i know how to love I know I’ll stay alive / I've got all my life to live / I've got all my love to give / And I'll survive, I will survive.
As for my future, I can’t say. My hopes are that I remain close with the people I’ve met this year and the people whom I’ve had to leave in this last year. I want to be able to be a best friend again. I want to continue to record my life in writing and in photographs, and I want to continue to educate myself on anything and everything. I finally feel like I have a fair balance, for the most part, and I want to keep that, and make it stronger. Those are all my hopes; of course, there are little things, like get good grades, etc., but these are the things that I consider the most important because they have been a part of my life, a part of me, in the past, and they really feel right, so I need to work hard to keep them a part of me in the future.
I hope the new year brings you peace of mind, and that you can resolve the be optimistic and try to salvage any bad situation fate may throw your way. Take it from someone who has been there, it’s better that way.
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
Thanksgiving
On Tuesday I went home! Yay! It was awesome. Not really. Actually, my one class was cancelled, after weeks and weeks of the professor saying, "I'm not going to cancel class on Tuesday," so I didn't have anything to do until 3:00, and I could have taken the same train twenty-four hours earlier if I had only KNOWN. Ugh. Oh well. After being home for a very, very short while, Mum and I went to NYC to pick up Elisabeth!! Yay! And then, our super fantastic weekend began~
I woke up early on Wednesday, but Elisabeth didn't want to. Makes sense. Why be crazy like me, if you don't have to, right?
So I went to the high school that morning! I started the day in Mirsky's first period AP English, where we played the 'surrealist game'. Basically, everyone writes a question on a piece of paper, and then folds the paper so no one can see. Then they pass the paper on to someone else, and then everyone writes an answer on their new paper. Then, they read the combined question and answer and try to interpret it, lol. Mine was something like "Why are there no chipmunks here?!" and Vigg's fail answer was "Blue." But there was a funny one: "Where will ___ go to college?" "Pretty pretty rainbows".[I don't know the kid, so I don't think it's fair to publish his name, but they assure me he's pretty flamboyant and... yeah.]
Second period, I went to orchestra, and third I went to Madame Steffener's French class, and her son was there and he is SO CUTE. For fourth, I visited Dr. Walsh in AP Enviro, even though I have never taken that class myself. And then for fifth, I went to Gov, another class I have never taken. It took Mr. Safran a really long time to notice I was there. I went to band for sixth period and sat with Josh, texting Eric and confusing him about. For seventh, I got to go to 'my' Chinese class, and I ended up taking notes for Johnny. -.- Eighth was World Film, where we watched 400 Blows, and then I left.
After school, Elisabeth and I went to the Original Pancake House, and we were planning on meeting Bryan and Alex there, but they were slow and I had a dance lesson to go to. We ordered, and when our food arrived, so did Bryan and Alex, so we ate and talked to them. Then, when we had to leave, their food showed up. Funny, but it worked.
Then I went to my dance lesson, which, as always, was a lot of fun. I think Elisabeth was slightly impressed [Victor was in show-off mode, of course! Ugh!], but I was fairly embarrassed.
Then I had to go to the mall to get a haircut. I ACTUALLY LIKE IT and it's as short as I want it! I know, right? Lol.
<-- Me, plus new haircut, making a grumpy face ['cuz it was really late at night]. That night, we had dinner at Pane Vino, and then that's where the fun began. It started with kidnapping Vigg, and culminated with twelve-ish people watching THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX. That movie was fricken fantastic, as the name might suggest. If you haven't seen it, go see it now. If you have, well then go see it again.
After the movie, we went back to Bryan's house, where we played things and stayed up really late. And Vigg thought Arianna was a b-tard. And it was amazing and fun. Yay. ♥
Thanksgiving itself was pretty low-key. We woke up in time to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade [bizarre, as usual], and then we got ready to go to Aunt Mary's. I felt sorry for Elisabeth, having to repeat the 'I'm French, but I grew up in Tokyo, and now I'm at Middlebury, Vermont' speech so many times... We hung out until four, when we had dinner. This wast the first time we'd ever had dinner at the same time and the same table as the adults. But the Mahoneys weren't there, and neither was Uncle George & co., and the Maine McDonalds were MIA as well, of course. We were finished with dinner by five, and had dessert at six. By seven, we were ready for bed, and we left around 7:30, getting back at nine. At ten, we were sound asleep.
We had a lazy day after Thanksgiving. We both woke up relatively early - Elisabeth at eight and I at nine - because of our super early bed time. Well rested, we spent the day doing a little bit of nothing, and attempting to do homework. Notice the attempting.
Ying came over because she wanted to play violin with me. She'd brought some duets from anime, and one was from Tsubasa: Resevoir Chronicle, which is one of my favourites, and it was really cool to be able to play a song that I know. After she had to go, I just kept practising [once you pop the fun don't stop?].
Mum tried to fix her computer, but it turns out she needs a new hard drive [yay -.-], so we went to Best Buy. Elisabeth came too , because she wanted to see what it was like. We looked around the entire place, and I drooled over some gadgets and games I might enjoy, but most importantly, we found no hard drive for Mum. She'll have to order one online... for which she'll need a computer... yay?
At 6:30, we went to Arianna's house for her After-Thanksgiving-Day Party [or, You're Welcome Day Bash], and I brought the chocolate cake Mum had made. A lot of people were there, including Bryan, Greg, Kenny, Kim, Virginia, Cassie, Lori, and Justina and Stephanie, so it was really awesome. I was happy to see them all, and I feel like, if it weren't for this, I wouldn't have seen most of them this weekend. Dinner was wonderful - everything was homemade from scratch! - and so was Mum's chocolate cake.
Elisabeth and I left at midnight and went to bed soon after.
Saturday was the day that Elisabeth and I had arranged to meet Kristen, our mutual friend from Explo who lives near me, and so I really have no excuse for not seeing her for over a year. Mum made scones when Elisabeth and I woke up, so we were well fed for the morning. At twelve, we went to the Short Hills mall to meet Kristen at the California Pizza Kitchen, and we watched her eat lunch. Then we went shopping for a little while. The Gap was having a great sale, and all t-shirts were only ten dollars [including those men's waffle shirts I'd paid so much for before!!], so I bought two, a red waffle shirt, and a purple and black striped shirt. Kristen eventually had to leave [*sadface*], but Elisabeth wanted warm pajamas, so we went to Macy's. There, we found super soft and fluffy bathrobes and we each bought one. Leaving, she asked me, "How do you call this warm fluffy thing we just bought?" I don't know why, but I thought that was cute, lol.
After the mall, Jesson wanted to hang out. He originally suggested seeing Ninja Assassin, but that looked really crummy, and movies in Livingston are so expensive... So did all the other movies nearby, and The Road and Men Who Stare At Goats were just too far away. We agreed to rent a movie instead. I brought Elisabeth to Jesson's house, where we looked through five or more photo albums. We drove to Eric's house - our first successful Eric-napping! - and then to Blockbuster, which is going out of business [*sadface*]. I bought There Will Be Blood and some half-price popcorn, and Elisabeth bought Atonement and Speed Racer, and the guys bought Speed Racer [blu-ray], Superbad, some anime, and something else... Back at my house, Mum made us rice and chili, and then we watched Superbad in my room. During the course of the movie, Sara, Greg, Tara, and Pascal all made their way to my house, too, but Greg and Tara left.
When the movie was over, Greg wanted us to come hang out at Littel People's Park with them, so we walked there. We were almost to the parking lot when Greg calls me and says they'd left already. What? Sorry, but aren't you supposed to call before you decide to leave, if you're expecting people? He said they were going to Riker Hill Art Park, so we walked back to my house, got my car, drove to Jesson's house to get Oli's car, and called Greg again, but he'd left the art park and was going to Eddie's house. No, that was a party I just would not crash. So we ended up at Wendy's [fast food] instead.
Sunday was the 'chill' day. Or at least it was supposed to be. Elisabeth and I woke up, took long showers [because we won't get another as comfortable for three weeks], and ate breakfast. I did my laundry, and we packed. Then we made a last minute, spontaneous trip up Route 10 to Kam Man to get bubble tea.
After that was when it stopped being chill.
We drove Elisabeth to New York City for her 2:45 bus. We thought leaving at 1 was plenty early. Good thing we did, because there was so much traffic around Weehawken and the Lincoln Tunnel. Finally, we stopped at where her bus was supposed to be - it was 2:30 at this point! - and it wasn't there yet. So she and I got out and looked around; we found some of her friends from school, I said good bye and went back to find Mum's car. It wasn't there. I stood in the spot where she'd left me for half an hour, and I even tried calling her but she left her phone at home. I was quite upset. She found me after almost thirty minutes.
Then we drove down to Newark. The traffic wasn't nearly as bad on the way out. We were about an hour early for my train, so we stopped at a CVS and bought a water bottle and a Butterfinger for the ride.
When we got to Penn Station [Newark], we wanted to sit down, so we went up to the track on which my train was supposed to come in. The television board told us that the train was delayed twenty minutes, but when a train pulled in only five minutes late, Mum was convinced it was mine and sent me off. A conductor told me I was going the wrong way! South! To Newark Airport! AAAH! I asked him what I should do, and he said to get off at the next stop and find a train to NYC. That's what I did, but the next wasn't until 5:03, and it was only about 4:40. I frantically called my mother, even though I knew she didn't have her phone [!!!] and left her a message telling her my predicament, when what do I see but a train pulling in on the opposite track labelled 'Amtrak'. Well, I might as well try my luck. I asked a conductor where this train was headed and he said it was the one I was supposed to be on, so I got on at the very last second. Thank goodness it was so much delayed, otherwise, I would never have gotten back to school.
Back at school, I fooled around with Kelsey, Ariana, and Dan. It was very amusing - poor Kelsey! If I ever need to blackmail her, I'm pretty much set... Haha.
On Monday night, we had a potluck. And it was amazing. Yay! And then Kelsey wrote a letter to my German teacher about how amazing his photocopying skills are.
And, as always, you can check out all of the photos on Facebook.
Sunday, 15 November 2009
Halloween
The week before Halloween, I felt ill. I almost skipped classes because of it [but didn't], and I wanted nothing more than to be at home with Mum taking care of me. I'd call her almost every day and I'd cry daily, too. I felt so out of place and like I needed to get out. There's nothing I want more when I'm sick to be safe at home in my own bed with my mommie taking care of me.
So Friday afternoon, after a week of begging, I packed my things and caught a four o'clock Amtrak right into New York. Sitting in the New London station, Mum called to make sure I'd gotten a ticket and hadn't missed the train. She then asked if I'd remembered my costume and I assured her I did... until I realised I FORGOT MY HAT IN MY CLOSET!!! AAAAUGHHH. That was pleasant. Later, we got held up for about twenty minutes waiting for two other trains to pass. When we finally got into NYC I ran from the Amtrak to the NJTransit, so scared that I'd missed the connection because of the twenty minute delay. I got on just as it was about to leave, found my seat, and breathed a sigh of relief.
Arianna picked me up at the train station in South Orange. We drove back to my house, and I asked her if she'd like to come to dance with me. I put on my Halloween costume, and fitted her with a cape and a feather boa, and left. That's when I realised I'd forgotten my camera, too. *Cry* But, I had a lot of fun. None of the teachers knew I was coming, so they were all delightfully surprised. I loved everyone's costumes, too! I wish I could still dance as regularly as I had been. Sigh.
After the dance, we decided to visit the marching band. Where would they be? Applebee's, naturally! So we went. Again, everyone was quite surprised. I had a lot of fun catching up with people. Since I was still in my costume, I told David Li, "Look, I have something to show you!" I proceeded to take off my jacket and model for him: "This is a purple vest." He groans. It was awesome.
Finally, I decided I needed to go home. It had been a long day, and I'd been home for hours and still had yet to see my mother.
Saturday was Halloween. That was pretty awesome. In the morning, Mum and I did trivial things, and then we bought bubble tea [yay].
I showed up, fully clothed as Willy Wonka, at Eric's house, much to the relative surprise of everyone present. It was Tilly's birthday, too, and she turned twelve, so I took her out with us. We trick-or-treated in Eric's general neighbourhood, even after it started raining. Poor Tilly got so scared because of the noises from a haunted house. We went back to Eric's for dinner, and after a while, decided to continue trick-or-treating in my and Jesson's own neighbourhood. We even looked for Ying, but she was no where to be found.
Eventually, Oli and everyone else went back, but Jesson and I went to Ying's house and talked with her for a while. Afterwards, we went to Vigg's house because that jerk refused to pick me up from the train station [lol]. It felt like we were crashing something... 'cuz we sort of were... oh well... And Jesson was happy because he got his money back.
Well we had made up our mind to go back to Eric's, again, but Vigg didn't want to go along, so we left him.
At Eric's, we decided to watch Watchmen, the director's cut. It was really awesome, but I couldn't stay up and realised I had to go home. I needed to wake up in the morning! But I really wanted to watch Watchmen, so I put it on in the background while I slept haha.
Sunday was an emotional day. I did not want to return to school. I was just sad and wished I could stay at home forever. Well, we got into a huge traffic jam. Mum said that some dignitary was coming through, which is why they would have closed off the most important roads. When we got to the station, she asked someone, and they told her that it was the president himself, driving through Newark, of all places. Well, despite being late, I didn't miss my train. The trains were two hours or more delayed, so, after much debating, begging, and persuading, we decided to switch my ticket for a cheaper one on Monday that wouldn't get in until after all my classes were over. That was great. I feel like that really was what I needed.
As upsetting a day as Monday was, having to leave, I felt okay finally to be going back. I mean, obviously I'd have rather stayed at home, but I didn't feel like I was going to freak out and break down on my way to school. That's good, I suppose lol. But as if coming back to school wasn't bad enough in my current state, one of the first things I did when I got back to my room was to break my little purple dinosaur! I started crying and couldn't stop no matter how hard I tried. Crappy day.
But overall, a wonderful weekend.
So Friday afternoon, after a week of begging, I packed my things and caught a four o'clock Amtrak right into New York. Sitting in the New London station, Mum called to make sure I'd gotten a ticket and hadn't missed the train. She then asked if I'd remembered my costume and I assured her I did... until I realised I FORGOT MY HAT IN MY CLOSET!!! AAAAUGHHH. That was pleasant. Later, we got held up for about twenty minutes waiting for two other trains to pass. When we finally got into NYC I ran from the Amtrak to the NJTransit, so scared that I'd missed the connection because of the twenty minute delay. I got on just as it was about to leave, found my seat, and breathed a sigh of relief.
Arianna picked me up at the train station in South Orange. We drove back to my house, and I asked her if she'd like to come to dance with me. I put on my Halloween costume, and fitted her with a cape and a feather boa, and left. That's when I realised I'd forgotten my camera, too. *Cry* But, I had a lot of fun. None of the teachers knew I was coming, so they were all delightfully surprised. I loved everyone's costumes, too! I wish I could still dance as regularly as I had been. Sigh.
After the dance, we decided to visit the marching band. Where would they be? Applebee's, naturally! So we went. Again, everyone was quite surprised. I had a lot of fun catching up with people. Since I was still in my costume, I told David Li, "Look, I have something to show you!" I proceeded to take off my jacket and model for him: "This is a purple vest." He groans. It was awesome.
Finally, I decided I needed to go home. It had been a long day, and I'd been home for hours and still had yet to see my mother.
Saturday was Halloween. That was pretty awesome. In the morning, Mum and I did trivial things, and then we bought bubble tea [yay].
I showed up, fully clothed as Willy Wonka, at Eric's house, much to the relative surprise of everyone present. It was Tilly's birthday, too, and she turned twelve, so I took her out with us. We trick-or-treated in Eric's general neighbourhood, even after it started raining. Poor Tilly got so scared because of the noises from a haunted house. We went back to Eric's for dinner, and after a while, decided to continue trick-or-treating in my and Jesson's own neighbourhood. We even looked for Ying, but she was no where to be found.
Eventually, Oli and everyone else went back, but Jesson and I went to Ying's house and talked with her for a while. Afterwards, we went to Vigg's house because that jerk refused to pick me up from the train station [lol]. It felt like we were crashing something... 'cuz we sort of were... oh well... And Jesson was happy because he got his money back.
Well we had made up our mind to go back to Eric's, again, but Vigg didn't want to go along, so we left him.
At Eric's, we decided to watch Watchmen, the director's cut. It was really awesome, but I couldn't stay up and realised I had to go home. I needed to wake up in the morning! But I really wanted to watch Watchmen, so I put it on in the background while I slept haha.
Sunday was an emotional day. I did not want to return to school. I was just sad and wished I could stay at home forever. Well, we got into a huge traffic jam. Mum said that some dignitary was coming through, which is why they would have closed off the most important roads. When we got to the station, she asked someone, and they told her that it was the president himself, driving through Newark, of all places. Well, despite being late, I didn't miss my train. The trains were two hours or more delayed, so, after much debating, begging, and persuading, we decided to switch my ticket for a cheaper one on Monday that wouldn't get in until after all my classes were over. That was great. I feel like that really was what I needed.
As upsetting a day as Monday was, having to leave, I felt okay finally to be going back. I mean, obviously I'd have rather stayed at home, but I didn't feel like I was going to freak out and break down on my way to school. That's good, I suppose lol. But as if coming back to school wasn't bad enough in my current state, one of the first things I did when I got back to my room was to break my little purple dinosaur! I started crying and couldn't stop no matter how hard I tried. Crappy day.
But overall, a wonderful weekend.
Monday, 19 October 2009
Fall Break
Fall Break
My fall break was fantastic. It was supposed to start "Thursday at 5:00 pm", but my theatre teacher cancelled class for that Thursday. That being my only Thursday class, I could leave as soon as classes were over on Wednesday, which is precisely what I did, catching a 3:07 train back to NJ.
It was great being home.
On Thursday, I visited LHS. I tried the side door, but it was locked, so I turned back to walk around to the front, when I heard the door open and Josh Kim yell my name. That was convenient, and great to see him. I stopped by the band room with him and Anton, but I wanted to visit Mrs. Lee, so I did, but she wasn't there! The Spanish sub that always subs for her was there, and I asked if I could just say hi, so she said I had "two minutes". It took a little longer than two minutes, yeah, but she kicked me out after a while. A lot of people to see in that classroom :( Hopefully next time, Mrs. Lee will be there and I can spend more time!
I didn't know what to do, since I told Mum not to pick me up until 1:04 [when seventh period ends], so I went to orchestra. Dr. T. made me play o__o;; It was pretty unnerving when she said "Oh you can sit next to Deborah!" Hah -.- Except I played the second part on the harder songs. Hehh. It was really great to see everyone, but there was much more weekend to go!
Mum and I practised making rainbow cupcakes. I also had a dance lesson on Thursday night, and I brought the cupcakes to dance to share with everyone there. Yay dance! Woo. That made me happy. I miss it so much :'(
********
On Friday, I went to LHS again for the GSA meeting. I was really surprised at the underclassmen turn-out. It looks like there's hope for the club yet! Yay! I brought a rainbow cake, too, because it was a Coming Out Day party. Everyone loved it [but it's hard to eat something with so much food dye].
That evening, I went to see The Invention of Lying with Vigg. It was cute, but not as amazing as I'd expected [I don't really know what I was hoping for, since my hopes weren't very high; it wasn't even a bad movie, in fact it was very good, but... well I don't know]. Afterwards, I kidnapped him to my driveway for about forty-minutes, not telling him where I was taking him next.
Then we went to Applebee's. That was wonderful! I got see Bryan, Arianna, Alex, Kevin, Dan, Mike, and many more amazing band geeks. Life is weird without them =\ Any way, we tried to smush ten people into this little tiny booth, which was only built for six, max. That was fun.
********
Saturday was fantastic beyond belief.
I went to the mall because Mum wanted to buy ...who knows what. And I needed tights. I ended up stopping at The Gap and getting fall-wear, too. I love their boys clothes. So great haha.
I got all dressed up in a knee-length striped sweater/dress and my tights and my Mary Janes, and I even straightened my hair yay. I went to New York City, where I met up with Sharon and Maria for a little while, as I headed to the Radio City Music Hall. Alice was with them, too. That was great. I miss having Sharon's smiling face and Maria's sense of humour~ Last year, I sat between them every day, and now I don't :(
Halfway there, Mum yelled "SHIT" and grabbed my arm - not joking. Turns out she forgot the tickets. WTF. I was VERY angry and scared they wouldn't let us in. When we got there, they only let one person in to the box office at a time, per party, so I had to stand on the street and wait. That's when I saw Stephen Colbert. He was there with two of his kids and the man said 'only one at a time' and he was a little mad with him and said, "I have kids with me, I'm not going to leave them out here alone." I wasn't paying attention, though, 'cuz I was scared for the sake of my own tickets. I didnt' realise it was Stephen Colbert at the time, either.
We got in.
When the show started, I almost cried three separate times out of sheer excitement. It was a concert of The Fellowship of the Ring music, performed by a massive, live orchestra, and three choruses, with the movie projected on a giant screen in the background! AHHHH.
The scariest/most amazing part was intermission. I went out into the lobby to buy a programme, and four feet in front of me, I saw Howard Shore walk by. I have never been so starstruck. My mouth and eyes opened wide [ =0 ] and my feet wouldn't move... at all. He was right there, shaking hands with someone, and I was right there and couldn't do anything about it. I went back to my seat to see if I could find Mum and tell her, after I'd lost him into the crowd, but then I remembered to buy a programme. As I continued searching for Mum, I found Dan [H., from school] and told him about this. Sooo excited. I started crying a little bit, again, haha. Tears of joy!
After the second half, I heard that there was a signing. There was such a long line, but I finally got there. Howard Shore signed my Fellowship of the Ring CD that I've had since middle school. AAAHHH.
********
Sunday was the chill day. Mum and I woke up very late haha. We also had to buy a new suit case, because I've been using my sister's. But this one is superiour, really. And I also bought bubble tea! Yay! I don't know if there's any of that up here, still -.-
I caught a train back to school that evening, and worked on a paper during the three-hour ride.
********
Fall break was great. The next time I'll be back will be for Thanksgiving. See you then :D
Pictures coming soon... I just left my camera at home so I have to wait for this weekend when Mum brings it up.
My fall break was fantastic. It was supposed to start "Thursday at 5:00 pm", but my theatre teacher cancelled class for that Thursday. That being my only Thursday class, I could leave as soon as classes were over on Wednesday, which is precisely what I did, catching a 3:07 train back to NJ.
It was great being home.
On Thursday, I visited LHS. I tried the side door, but it was locked, so I turned back to walk around to the front, when I heard the door open and Josh Kim yell my name. That was convenient, and great to see him. I stopped by the band room with him and Anton, but I wanted to visit Mrs. Lee, so I did, but she wasn't there! The Spanish sub that always subs for her was there, and I asked if I could just say hi, so she said I had "two minutes". It took a little longer than two minutes, yeah, but she kicked me out after a while. A lot of people to see in that classroom :( Hopefully next time, Mrs. Lee will be there and I can spend more time!
I didn't know what to do, since I told Mum not to pick me up until 1:04 [when seventh period ends], so I went to orchestra. Dr. T. made me play o__o;; It was pretty unnerving when she said "Oh you can sit next to Deborah!" Hah -.- Except I played the second part on the harder songs. Hehh. It was really great to see everyone, but there was much more weekend to go!
Mum and I practised making rainbow cupcakes. I also had a dance lesson on Thursday night, and I brought the cupcakes to dance to share with everyone there. Yay dance! Woo. That made me happy. I miss it so much :'(
********
On Friday, I went to LHS again for the GSA meeting. I was really surprised at the underclassmen turn-out. It looks like there's hope for the club yet! Yay! I brought a rainbow cake, too, because it was a Coming Out Day party. Everyone loved it [but it's hard to eat something with so much food dye].
That evening, I went to see The Invention of Lying with Vigg. It was cute, but not as amazing as I'd expected [I don't really know what I was hoping for, since my hopes weren't very high; it wasn't even a bad movie, in fact it was very good, but... well I don't know]. Afterwards, I kidnapped him to my driveway for about forty-minutes, not telling him where I was taking him next.
Then we went to Applebee's. That was wonderful! I got see Bryan, Arianna, Alex, Kevin, Dan, Mike, and many more amazing band geeks. Life is weird without them =\ Any way, we tried to smush ten people into this little tiny booth, which was only built for six, max. That was fun.
********
Saturday was fantastic beyond belief.
I went to the mall because Mum wanted to buy ...who knows what. And I needed tights. I ended up stopping at The Gap and getting fall-wear, too. I love their boys clothes. So great haha.
I got all dressed up in a knee-length striped sweater/dress and my tights and my Mary Janes, and I even straightened my hair yay. I went to New York City, where I met up with Sharon and Maria for a little while, as I headed to the Radio City Music Hall. Alice was with them, too. That was great. I miss having Sharon's smiling face and Maria's sense of humour~ Last year, I sat between them every day, and now I don't :(
Halfway there, Mum yelled "SHIT" and grabbed my arm - not joking. Turns out she forgot the tickets. WTF. I was VERY angry and scared they wouldn't let us in. When we got there, they only let one person in to the box office at a time, per party, so I had to stand on the street and wait. That's when I saw Stephen Colbert. He was there with two of his kids and the man said 'only one at a time' and he was a little mad with him and said, "I have kids with me, I'm not going to leave them out here alone." I wasn't paying attention, though, 'cuz I was scared for the sake of my own tickets. I didnt' realise it was Stephen Colbert at the time, either.
We got in.
When the show started, I almost cried three separate times out of sheer excitement. It was a concert of The Fellowship of the Ring music, performed by a massive, live orchestra, and three choruses, with the movie projected on a giant screen in the background! AHHHH.
The scariest/most amazing part was intermission. I went out into the lobby to buy a programme, and four feet in front of me, I saw Howard Shore walk by. I have never been so starstruck. My mouth and eyes opened wide [ =0 ] and my feet wouldn't move... at all. He was right there, shaking hands with someone, and I was right there and couldn't do anything about it. I went back to my seat to see if I could find Mum and tell her, after I'd lost him into the crowd, but then I remembered to buy a programme. As I continued searching for Mum, I found Dan [H., from school] and told him about this. Sooo excited. I started crying a little bit, again, haha. Tears of joy!
After the second half, I heard that there was a signing. There was such a long line, but I finally got there. Howard Shore signed my Fellowship of the Ring CD that I've had since middle school. AAAHHH.
********
Sunday was the chill day. Mum and I woke up very late haha. We also had to buy a new suit case, because I've been using my sister's. But this one is superiour, really. And I also bought bubble tea! Yay! I don't know if there's any of that up here, still -.-
I caught a train back to school that evening, and worked on a paper during the three-hour ride.
********
Fall break was great. The next time I'll be back will be for Thanksgiving. See you then :D
Pictures coming soon... I just left my camera at home so I have to wait for this weekend when Mum brings it up.
Saturday, 5 September 2009
Omg College.
Oh man, I finally updated O: Lol, I've actually been working on this for a long time, as you can see, and wrote every entry on the day of the title. I didn't put it up because I hadn't compiled all the videos and pictures I'd wanted to. But now I have, and here you go! Don't hate me too bad.
Wednesday, 9 September.
Today was pretty awesome. First, I didn't have to go to my Gender & Society class. Of course, it's a shame to miss it, but I'm glad that I didn't have to wake up for it lol. My German homework that's assigned for Friday is very easy: find the weather for Friday morning in some German speaking city. I picked Vienna. If you're wondering, they're going to have a high of 74 and it will be mostly sunny.
I went to my mailbox today, too, because I was expecting a package from Mum. She was going to mail me two books. What I wasn't expecting was a BULBASAUR POSTCARD FROM SARA ♥ !!! That totally made my day, because, as awesome as the package was, I was not expecting the postcard. My package included the two books I'd asked for and also the last installment of Fruits Basket ♥ and some little things for school like a super awesome portable stapler and tape dispenser that sticks to stuff with suction power. Don't worry, she knows how easily amused I am, so these were good gifts =P . Oh! And SOCKS.
Music theory class was total B.S. because we only went over everything we "learned" from the reading last night. Which was NOTHING. KILL MEEEE. Only when I'm in that class, though; please arrange it so I live for the rest of the week. I biked around, ran a few errand-type-things I had to take care of, and biked to an early dinner, just for the fun of it. Then I came right back to the dorm and did all my theory homework just because I knew I wouldn't want to be bothered with it later. Ew.
And Victor called! He finally told me I could start going to group lessons at the Niantic Arthur Murray. But I tried to figure out the bus schedule, and it wasn't so easy. Then I realised that I might not be able to go at all because it seems the bus to Niantic only runs until early evening, before the classes even start, so forget about getting back. I might call a taxi service, or maybe just give up the idea entirely [though I feel bad, putting everybody involved through all the effort :'( ], or maybe try to convince Mum that I can bring the car back with me after I visit home *coughcoughcough*.
Oh yes, I never watched Heaven, and the phone people still haven't showed up.
Tuesday, 8 September.
Today was so chill. I had my theatre class, so I got to sleep in until about 9:30. I was ready by 10 and so I had breakfast in the Smith dining hall, which is like three steps from my dorm. Theatre class was fun. We did some mini-performances and I got quite embarrassed when I received a lot of compliments. I'm not very used to that at all. We had lunch in Knowlton again today, but despite sitting at the Spanish table, we did not speak Spanish. That's probably because there was no one at that table that we didn't know, hahaha. It's 3:24 now as I write this, and I've long since finished all my homework, besides a quick Music Theory article I was supposed to find [but I came here instead...], oh well. I'll do it eventually. I really hope I can watch Heaven tonight!! :D
"I said play it, bitch!"
Monday, 7 September.
I had my first Gender & Society class today, which was really cool. The teacher seems very chill, and she seems to remind me a bit of Madame Steffener. Also pretty great, she said she'd be out of town on Wednesday, so we don't have class again until next Monday.
We called the people to fix our phone and TV again. Hopefully they'll show up tomorrow. -.-
We had lunch in Knowlton, the language dorm. We had to sit at the Spanish table because French was full and we don't actually have a language in common between Najam, Kelsey, and me.
I also had my first Music Theory class. Apparently, I've had some awful scheduling mix-up v__v;; Oops.
I think I found my audition song! I'm going to see "As Long As He Needs Me" from Oliver!, but obviously not in the same key as in the musical >~< . I can sing it decently, I hope.
Sunday, 6 September.
It's so weird being here. Certain things about it seem so wrong or so temporary. I can't bring myself to call my room or dorm 'home' or even 'house' because it is not either of those things, physically or emotionally. I'm hesitant to call the people here my 'friends' because they're not. I've known them for a week. Everything I do feels temporary. Even using this laptop as opposed to my old one, which is still at home, feels like, oh well it's not really my laptop. Showering in these little tiny stalls. Trying to go to the bathroom while other people are in the room. Thinking of doing something like band without Jesson or Bryan or Greg.... And feeling like, oh, I don't need to get too attached to these people... I have my real friends back at home and I'll see them soon enough. It's all so bizarre. I'm here. This is my home for the next four years. And yet...?
Saturday, 5 September.
Today was... wow. I got to sleep in :D That's always a plus, lol. Kelsey wasn't around all day, and I basically spent the day moving between my room and Harris for food. When Kelsey finally came back, I was pretty happy [yay, company!].
We went to dinner [we being Benito, Andrea, Tanaha, Kelsey, Najam, Kevin, Eric, and me]. Najam told us a funny story about how he was playing a guessing game earlier that day. He had a card with an animal on the back, and he had to give his friends clues about what the animal was, so he said, "Okay, it likes peanuts." Tanaha guessed "Elephant" and Najam said, "You're right, it's an elephant." The picture was of a rhinocerous.
Back in the room, both Kelsey and Wendy were doing homework. This upset me because I had no one to talk to =P But we had a little drama, about which it would probably be impolite for me to go into detail. After three hours of uncomfortable silence and complaining, I went to the boys' room. That was a nice change because Eric and Benito were cracking up, and I could make noise O: Benito dragged me to a rave, which was fun. I actually danced *everyone gasp!*. After that, I watched House at like 12:30am with Eric and Ben and some other people. It was season four, episode two, which is the one where the intern games begin. If that means anything to you. Then I came back and went right to sleep :]
Friday, 4 September.
I slept rather poorly last night, but I got to sleep in this morning, which was great. My class was Elementary German at 10:25 am in Blaustein. I found it okay, miraculously. German is an intimidating language o___o;; and starting the class in a completely foreign language is equally as intimidating. He told us, "Guten Morgen! Ich heiße Jim McFarland. Wie heißen Sie?" And we all had to answer him O__O;; Lol. But I'm very excited. And I have easy homework: learn colours lol.
I ate lunch with Najam, Andrea, Benito, Eric, and Tanaha. We wanted to eat in Knowlton, because we would sit at the French table there and speak French! But it was closed. So we spoke a little tiny bit of French in Harris instead, lol. Kelsey went home for the weekend, and I basically just fooled around in my room all afternoon, until I realised it was evening and would probably be wise to get some food. I ate alone, but decided to wait for Najam. He was slow though, and I ended up dining with Dan [not the one from Montclair... oh this is going to get too confusing too fast o_o], Kevin, Bo, and two new acquaintances, Brian and Jesse. After that, Dan, Jesse, and Bo and I went to see if the game room was open yet. It wasn't. I ended up going to an a Capella concert for about half an hour; it was amazing, but too stuffy, so I left. It's crazy how many people turn up at these a Capella performances!
After that, I came back here. All in all, a boring day. As I sat at my computer, Najam walked in. Apparently there was something of a party going on in his room, but he had to read EIGHTY pages for bio and asked if he could study in here for the time being. So of course, I let him. After a while, though, Benito came in and apologised to him. He was saying things like, man, we made those roommate agreements, what I did wasn't cool, you just have to say something, you know 'man I gotta study,' and we'll leave. I felt like that was really mature of him, and... well I don't know. I just liked that he did it. And the party moved down to South Campus somewhere, just like that.
Thursday, 3 September.
Today, I got to wake up at 9:30. That was fabulous, except I skipped breakfast. I found my theatre class after much searching. Awesome two hours. At the end, I got talking to this kid, Dan. Turns out, he's from Montclair! And he used to date Blair, lol. He knows a few people from my school and he's even seen a play or two LHS. Pretty awesome, lol. We had lunch together, and met up with Najam, Eric, and Kelsey, and also Benito. Dan and I made waffles, and the waffles have CAMELS on them O: It's really awesome :3
After lunch, we went back to the poster sale, and I bought yet another, larger, cooler, A Clockwork Orange poster. Heh. Since we'd both finished the day, Kelsey and I basically hung out all day and didn't do much. We took short naps, and some random girl just walked into our room -- it turned out to be Tanaha, but Kelsey and I were semi-sleeping, so we were freaked out -- because apparently Wendy gave her our key -.- We had to a Convocation ceremony, which is basically a reverse graduation lol. It was awful. I read A Brave New World and Bo was sleeping [and snoring]. We decided to skip on the whole-school-and-then-some picnic, and we ate in Oasis, the snack shop in Cro. I had a toasted bagel :] I'm still full lol. We haven't... done anything... all night, lol.
Wednesday, 2 September.
Today I had to register for classes. Registration opened at 8:30, and you sure as heck had to be online ready to go when that clocked turned. Well, in our room, we had so much trouble even just getting in the page. After a good fifteen minutes, I still hadn't even logged in. So I had to go to D'Larys' room to do it. I missed out on the "Introduction to Mathematical Thought" class, but, eh, small loss. I've ended up with my freshmen seminar, "Gender and Society," an acting class, "Elementary German," and "Foundational Theory for Musicians." I have to go buy books, which is going to suck.
Oh. I bought books. The day sucked. We bought all these posters at a poster sale. I bought two from A Clockwork Orange and one from Taxi Driver.
We came back, found a necklace in the stairs, and smelled smoke. It got stronger as we entered our floor, which worried us, considering this is substance free housing. We knocked on someone's door to ask about what we should do with the necklace, and when she opened the door, the scent grew stronger, flooding out and surrounding us. We kept our cool but freaked out once we were in our room =*( And then, after that, we were just chilling in our room when we hear a scream. Wendy turns and looks out the window just before we hear a crash. Kelsey and I are a little slower to the window. Wendy shouts that that girl just hit a parked car! She went out to help, while Kelsey and I watched from the window. We were so freaked out, we didn't know what to do. We couldn't get a good view to see what state she was in, which only made us freak out more. Wendy went to the emergency room with her. We went out to see the damage on the pick-up truck, and it looks like it was hit by a small car! Kelsey called her dad and I called Viggi. So much freaking out in one room o__o;;
Two hours later, on Skype with Vigg the whole time, we had to go to a house meeting, which, in itself, was awful. We came back. I showered, and Najam was in there the whole time, singing "This Little Light of Mine."
Tuesday, 1 September.
Happy September! Today I slept through breakfast again >_<;; I was just so tired. I did, however, hear the national anthem playing at eight in the morning. That was fun. I woke up finally at 10:30. I muddied around for a while until I had to go to an adviser meeting at 11:30. That went well, but I don't know what to do about French. Classes are being picked tomorrow.... I just hope the Internet doesn't die before I can submit O: I went to check my mailbox because I was told that the college puts mail in them to get us to go see if we can get it. Mine was full of a few papers, a letter regarding my AP scores, oh, and a condom. "Proper attire is required for entry" decorates the wrapper. I asked around all day though... no one who has been to their mailboxes have found condoms inside. Then I ate a sandwich for lunch. On my way back, I met Andrea, and we decided to meet at two to get our IDs. I tried to set up my television [finally!!] but I don't have an extension cord I can use :( and I can't get the cable to work. Long story, though. At two, I went to get my ID. Well... it looks like me, at least. We went to Cro to look at books, but I was lazy and didn't buy any. We chilled out for a while and went back to my room while I tried to fix the cable but to no avail. We went to dinner with another friend and Marisa even came and sat with us too! We had to go to a skit series which was AWESOME. There was a performance of some Michael Jackson - Beat it and Thriller. It kind of made me miss Bryan :P Check out the video!
Oh, and after the skits and such, I was attacked by flying condoms. One just flew from the sky and landed on my lap. Another was slingshotted [is that a verb? lol] into my chest -___-;; I'm starting a collection, and I have plans for it.... mwahahha. But I can't say them online because it's a surprise O:
We came back to the dorm and hung out for a while. I met some kids, one of whom is a big Switchfoot fan, which was awesome. Alex. He said he was going to perform in Open Mic Night and that he might play "The Shadow Proves The Sunshine." I told him that if he did, I would wear the shirt.
So at ten, we went to Open Mic Night. I taped a comedian and Alex. Alex actually gave me a shout out and asked me to stand up, which was quite embarrassing and I turned pretty red. Any way, check out his rendition of this awesome song.
After a few more acts, we headed 'home.' And we basically did nothing. A little hanging out, a little chatting, but nothing huge. And now it's time for bed. Big, early day in the morning.
Every day since Saturday.
On Saturday I woke up at 5am and headed out at sixsomething. It was a long car ride, but I got to eat a bagel. Also, there was torrential downpour hurricaine weather for much of the drive, which is really scary! When we showed up, around 10ish, we were greeted by some very enthusiastic [and wet] sophomores in ponchos, and a dancing camel. I moved in and met my roommates, who seem great. Kelsey is very nice, and Wendy knows everyone, so our room, being SO HUGE, is something of a social centre between the hours of 10 and... three. Ew. But Kelsey and I have learned to appreciate sleeping! *Yawn* I'm making other friends, too, but I'll write about them more later. Here, enjoy my photos thus far.
Wednesday, 9 September.
Today was pretty awesome. First, I didn't have to go to my Gender & Society class. Of course, it's a shame to miss it, but I'm glad that I didn't have to wake up for it lol. My German homework that's assigned for Friday is very easy: find the weather for Friday morning in some German speaking city. I picked Vienna. If you're wondering, they're going to have a high of 74 and it will be mostly sunny.
I went to my mailbox today, too, because I was expecting a package from Mum. She was going to mail me two books. What I wasn't expecting was a BULBASAUR POSTCARD FROM SARA ♥ !!! That totally made my day, because, as awesome as the package was, I was not expecting the postcard. My package included the two books I'd asked for and also the last installment of Fruits Basket ♥ and some little things for school like a super awesome portable stapler and tape dispenser that sticks to stuff with suction power. Don't worry, she knows how easily amused I am, so these were good gifts =P . Oh! And SOCKS.
Music theory class was total B.S. because we only went over everything we "learned" from the reading last night. Which was NOTHING. KILL MEEEE. Only when I'm in that class, though; please arrange it so I live for the rest of the week. I biked around, ran a few errand-type-things I had to take care of, and biked to an early dinner, just for the fun of it. Then I came right back to the dorm and did all my theory homework just because I knew I wouldn't want to be bothered with it later. Ew.
And Victor called! He finally told me I could start going to group lessons at the Niantic Arthur Murray. But I tried to figure out the bus schedule, and it wasn't so easy. Then I realised that I might not be able to go at all because it seems the bus to Niantic only runs until early evening, before the classes even start, so forget about getting back. I might call a taxi service, or maybe just give up the idea entirely [though I feel bad, putting everybody involved through all the effort :'( ], or maybe try to convince Mum that I can bring the car back with me after I visit home *coughcoughcough*.
Oh yes, I never watched Heaven, and the phone people still haven't showed up.
Tuesday, 8 September.
Today was so chill. I had my theatre class, so I got to sleep in until about 9:30. I was ready by 10 and so I had breakfast in the Smith dining hall, which is like three steps from my dorm. Theatre class was fun. We did some mini-performances and I got quite embarrassed when I received a lot of compliments. I'm not very used to that at all. We had lunch in Knowlton again today, but despite sitting at the Spanish table, we did not speak Spanish. That's probably because there was no one at that table that we didn't know, hahaha. It's 3:24 now as I write this, and I've long since finished all my homework, besides a quick Music Theory article I was supposed to find [but I came here instead...], oh well. I'll do it eventually. I really hope I can watch Heaven tonight!! :D
"I said play it, bitch!"
Monday, 7 September.
I had my first Gender & Society class today, which was really cool. The teacher seems very chill, and she seems to remind me a bit of Madame Steffener. Also pretty great, she said she'd be out of town on Wednesday, so we don't have class again until next Monday.
We called the people to fix our phone and TV again. Hopefully they'll show up tomorrow. -.-
We had lunch in Knowlton, the language dorm. We had to sit at the Spanish table because French was full and we don't actually have a language in common between Najam, Kelsey, and me.
I also had my first Music Theory class. Apparently, I've had some awful scheduling mix-up v__v;; Oops.
I think I found my audition song! I'm going to see "As Long As He Needs Me" from Oliver!, but obviously not in the same key as in the musical >~< . I can sing it decently, I hope.
Sunday, 6 September.
It's so weird being here. Certain things about it seem so wrong or so temporary. I can't bring myself to call my room or dorm 'home' or even 'house' because it is not either of those things, physically or emotionally. I'm hesitant to call the people here my 'friends' because they're not. I've known them for a week. Everything I do feels temporary. Even using this laptop as opposed to my old one, which is still at home, feels like, oh well it's not really my laptop. Showering in these little tiny stalls. Trying to go to the bathroom while other people are in the room. Thinking of doing something like band without Jesson or Bryan or Greg.... And feeling like, oh, I don't need to get too attached to these people... I have my real friends back at home and I'll see them soon enough. It's all so bizarre. I'm here. This is my home for the next four years. And yet...?
Saturday, 5 September.
Today was... wow. I got to sleep in :D That's always a plus, lol. Kelsey wasn't around all day, and I basically spent the day moving between my room and Harris for food. When Kelsey finally came back, I was pretty happy [yay, company!].
We went to dinner [we being Benito, Andrea, Tanaha, Kelsey, Najam, Kevin, Eric, and me]. Najam told us a funny story about how he was playing a guessing game earlier that day. He had a card with an animal on the back, and he had to give his friends clues about what the animal was, so he said, "Okay, it likes peanuts." Tanaha guessed "Elephant" and Najam said, "You're right, it's an elephant." The picture was of a rhinocerous.
Back in the room, both Kelsey and Wendy were doing homework. This upset me because I had no one to talk to =P But we had a little drama, about which it would probably be impolite for me to go into detail. After three hours of uncomfortable silence and complaining, I went to the boys' room. That was a nice change because Eric and Benito were cracking up, and I could make noise O: Benito dragged me to a rave, which was fun. I actually danced *everyone gasp!*. After that, I watched House at like 12:30am with Eric and Ben and some other people. It was season four, episode two, which is the one where the intern games begin. If that means anything to you. Then I came back and went right to sleep :]
Friday, 4 September.
I slept rather poorly last night, but I got to sleep in this morning, which was great. My class was Elementary German at 10:25 am in Blaustein. I found it okay, miraculously. German is an intimidating language o___o;; and starting the class in a completely foreign language is equally as intimidating. He told us, "Guten Morgen! Ich heiße Jim McFarland. Wie heißen Sie?" And we all had to answer him O__O;; Lol. But I'm very excited. And I have easy homework: learn colours lol.
I ate lunch with Najam, Andrea, Benito, Eric, and Tanaha. We wanted to eat in Knowlton, because we would sit at the French table there and speak French! But it was closed. So we spoke a little tiny bit of French in Harris instead, lol. Kelsey went home for the weekend, and I basically just fooled around in my room all afternoon, until I realised it was evening and would probably be wise to get some food. I ate alone, but decided to wait for Najam. He was slow though, and I ended up dining with Dan [not the one from Montclair... oh this is going to get too confusing too fast o_o], Kevin, Bo, and two new acquaintances, Brian and Jesse. After that, Dan, Jesse, and Bo and I went to see if the game room was open yet. It wasn't. I ended up going to an a Capella concert for about half an hour; it was amazing, but too stuffy, so I left. It's crazy how many people turn up at these a Capella performances!
After that, I came back here. All in all, a boring day. As I sat at my computer, Najam walked in. Apparently there was something of a party going on in his room, but he had to read EIGHTY pages for bio and asked if he could study in here for the time being. So of course, I let him. After a while, though, Benito came in and apologised to him. He was saying things like, man, we made those roommate agreements, what I did wasn't cool, you just have to say something, you know 'man I gotta study,' and we'll leave. I felt like that was really mature of him, and... well I don't know. I just liked that he did it. And the party moved down to South Campus somewhere, just like that.
Thursday, 3 September.
Today, I got to wake up at 9:30. That was fabulous, except I skipped breakfast. I found my theatre class after much searching. Awesome two hours. At the end, I got talking to this kid, Dan. Turns out, he's from Montclair! And he used to date Blair, lol. He knows a few people from my school and he's even seen a play or two LHS. Pretty awesome, lol. We had lunch together, and met up with Najam, Eric, and Kelsey, and also Benito. Dan and I made waffles, and the waffles have CAMELS on them O: It's really awesome :3
After lunch, we went back to the poster sale, and I bought yet another, larger, cooler, A Clockwork Orange poster. Heh. Since we'd both finished the day, Kelsey and I basically hung out all day and didn't do much. We took short naps, and some random girl just walked into our room -- it turned out to be Tanaha, but Kelsey and I were semi-sleeping, so we were freaked out -- because apparently Wendy gave her our key -.- We had to a Convocation ceremony, which is basically a reverse graduation lol. It was awful. I read A Brave New World and Bo was sleeping [and snoring]. We decided to skip on the whole-school-and-then-some picnic, and we ate in Oasis, the snack shop in Cro. I had a toasted bagel :] I'm still full lol. We haven't... done anything... all night, lol.
Wednesday, 2 September.
Today I had to register for classes. Registration opened at 8:30, and you sure as heck had to be online ready to go when that clocked turned. Well, in our room, we had so much trouble even just getting in the page. After a good fifteen minutes, I still hadn't even logged in. So I had to go to D'Larys' room to do it. I missed out on the "Introduction to Mathematical Thought" class, but, eh, small loss. I've ended up with my freshmen seminar, "Gender and Society," an acting class, "Elementary German," and "Foundational Theory for Musicians." I have to go buy books, which is going to suck.
Oh. I bought books. The day sucked. We bought all these posters at a poster sale. I bought two from A Clockwork Orange and one from Taxi Driver.
We came back, found a necklace in the stairs, and smelled smoke. It got stronger as we entered our floor, which worried us, considering this is substance free housing. We knocked on someone's door to ask about what we should do with the necklace, and when she opened the door, the scent grew stronger, flooding out and surrounding us. We kept our cool but freaked out once we were in our room =*( And then, after that, we were just chilling in our room when we hear a scream. Wendy turns and looks out the window just before we hear a crash. Kelsey and I are a little slower to the window. Wendy shouts that that girl just hit a parked car! She went out to help, while Kelsey and I watched from the window. We were so freaked out, we didn't know what to do. We couldn't get a good view to see what state she was in, which only made us freak out more. Wendy went to the emergency room with her. We went out to see the damage on the pick-up truck, and it looks like it was hit by a small car! Kelsey called her dad and I called Viggi. So much freaking out in one room o__o;;
Two hours later, on Skype with Vigg the whole time, we had to go to a house meeting, which, in itself, was awful. We came back. I showered, and Najam was in there the whole time, singing "This Little Light of Mine."
Tuesday, 1 September.
Happy September! Today I slept through breakfast again >_<;; I was just so tired. I did, however, hear the national anthem playing at eight in the morning. That was fun. I woke up finally at 10:30. I muddied around for a while until I had to go to an adviser meeting at 11:30. That went well, but I don't know what to do about French. Classes are being picked tomorrow.... I just hope the Internet doesn't die before I can submit O: I went to check my mailbox because I was told that the college puts mail in them to get us to go see if we can get it. Mine was full of a few papers, a letter regarding my AP scores, oh, and a condom. "Proper attire is required for entry" decorates the wrapper. I asked around all day though... no one who has been to their mailboxes have found condoms inside. Then I ate a sandwich for lunch. On my way back, I met Andrea, and we decided to meet at two to get our IDs. I tried to set up my television [finally!!] but I don't have an extension cord I can use :( and I can't get the cable to work. Long story, though. At two, I went to get my ID. Well... it looks like me, at least. We went to Cro to look at books, but I was lazy and didn't buy any. We chilled out for a while and went back to my room while I tried to fix the cable but to no avail. We went to dinner with another friend and Marisa even came and sat with us too! We had to go to a skit series which was AWESOME. There was a performance of some Michael Jackson - Beat it and Thriller. It kind of made me miss Bryan :P Check out the video!
Oh, and after the skits and such, I was attacked by flying condoms. One just flew from the sky and landed on my lap. Another was slingshotted [is that a verb? lol] into my chest -___-;; I'm starting a collection, and I have plans for it.... mwahahha. But I can't say them online because it's a surprise O:
We came back to the dorm and hung out for a while. I met some kids, one of whom is a big Switchfoot fan, which was awesome. Alex. He said he was going to perform in Open Mic Night and that he might play "The Shadow Proves The Sunshine." I told him that if he did, I would wear the shirt.
So at ten, we went to Open Mic Night. I taped a comedian and Alex. Alex actually gave me a shout out and asked me to stand up, which was quite embarrassing and I turned pretty red. Any way, check out his rendition of this awesome song.
After a few more acts, we headed 'home.' And we basically did nothing. A little hanging out, a little chatting, but nothing huge. And now it's time for bed. Big, early day in the morning.
Every day since Saturday.
On Saturday I woke up at 5am and headed out at sixsomething. It was a long car ride, but I got to eat a bagel. Also, there was torrential do
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