How I Rang in the New Year

On New Year's Eve, I went to see The Fighter with Jen J. It was really great [but that gets its own post].

After that, I showered and got ready for New Year's Even festivities. Mum and I went to the Royal Buffet [the one on Rt. 10?] for dinner with a bunch of Mum's friends, and then we went CONTRA DANCING! I had a lot of fun and met some people. I didn't dance much because I'm too shy to ask other people myself; I just wait to get asked. Eventually, Mum got mad at me so we went home.

I wanted to do something "meaningful" as my first actual action of 2011. So I decided to watch The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

The New Year, however, was actually rung in this way: I was IMing Liam, while changing, while getting FotR ready for viewing, so the actual 11:59 to 12:00 moment was spent with me looking for my xbox controller with no pants on and a trillian conversation window open on my desktop. Classeh. I couldn't find my xbox controller so I brought everything downstairs and watched the beginning of FotR and continued chatting. And then my eyes started doing the whole WE'RE TIRED SO WE'RE GOING TO MAKE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE burning thing. So I turned off FotR [only at the Prancing Pony! *sob*] and headed back upstairs for a long nighttime nap.

If the first hour of the year is any inclination, 2011 is going to be a really weird, probably painful year, with some good sprinkled in. Uh-oh.

Now, with that all said, I just want to wish you an amazing new year, filled with luck and love and happiness. See you in 2011.

Heads Will Roll

So I spent the weekend at home. I really needed it, and it was pretty great.

I caught a train at 11:17 on Friday morning, after Euro. I tried to pack light this time ^-^ On the ride, I was able to completely finish my Euro essay/sermon about Charlemagne.

It was about 2:30 when I got in, and Jesson and Mum both met me at Newark Penn Station, where we wandered around and grabbed some lunch [I don't eat breakfast on Fridays, so that was good].

After that, Jesson had a chem lab, and I was still hungry, having not really eaten when we got lunch because I was promised an awesome early dinner. Mum and I drove back home, but the car was a little broken and the back door wouldn't shut all the way, so it was beeping the whole ride home. Mum was not amused. So after we got home, we stopped at the gas station and waited there for a really long time to see if they could fix the door, and they did. And then we were off to dinner!

We drove to Pane Vino, and I sort of really love that place ♥ Mum and I talked about Drew and stuff, and I got a pretty positive reaction from her that night, which made me optimistic. This opinion she held would change by Sunday afternoon.

After dinner, we went to Borders and "made out like bandits" as the saying goes. I can't believe it's closing! That's really unfair. That whole shopping centre is gone now - first Circuit City, previously my electronics store of choice, then Linens 'N Things, for those days when you didn't feel like driving all the way up to Bed Bath and Beyond, then Old Navy, one of my favourite clothing stores [luckily there's one in the mall], and finally, Borders, one of the best stores of all time. Yeah, angry face. So I bought some really cheap movies, books, and CDs: The Producers [old one, with Gene Wilder], and Much Ado About Nothing [Kenneth Brannagh, Robert Sean Leonard]; Cyrano de Bergerac - I hope it's a good translation lol; Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack, and The Rite of Spring and Petrushka by Stravinsky. Also some chocolates.

Finally, that evening, I called up Vigg and Jesson and we all went to see The Wolfman, with Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, and Hugo Weaving ♥♥♥ You'd think that with a cast like that the movie would be AMAZING, and it could have been. The acting - except SPOILER ALERT Benicio's death - was phenomenal by all parties, and the story, though slowly paced, was intriguing and gripping. And then there were fight scenes. The CGI was awful and the wolf prostetics looked like Jean Cocteau's 1946 La Belle et la Bête. It's 2010 now...

Not kidding.

And then we all went to our respective homes. Upon dropping Vigg off, we made tentative plans for the next night to see a movie, but that never happened. Back home, I online scrabbled with Vigg and DavidLi until I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.



So on Saturday I woke up at 8:15 because Mum told me she was leaving at 8:30. She didn't, but I said goodbye to her and went back to sleep. When I finally woke up again, it was about 10:30, I believe. I watched Jeopardy! recordings and I filled in a survey, and I also walked the dogs and spent some time dilly-dallying on the computer. I had a bowl of Raisin Bran for breakfast/lunch/meal, and I did some work.

Later, I called Dan, and we decided to go to a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner and then to go roller skating from 8-10. So I started asking other people if they wanted to come, too, but I didn't get many positive replies. I fed and walked the dogs, and then I went to pick Dan and Ying up, and we went. The service at the restaurant was pretty slow, and Dan said that the soup wasn't even that good. It was 9 before we got to go roller skating, but that was okay. It was amusing because Ying hadn't been in a really long time and they didn't have any blades in Dan's size so he had to get skates; watching them wobble around was SUPER FUN.

After that, we dropped Ying off and picked up Jesson. Still hungry, we went to the Golden Touch Diner. I got pancakes, Jesson got buffalo wings, and Dan got a super awesome Belgian Waffle Royale. I also had hot chocolate. Good meal!

We went back to my house and watched Sleepy Hollow, but Jesson had to leave very soon into it. Dan and I stuck out the rest of the movie, but we were very tired, and then I drove him home. I probably went right to sleep as soon as I got back. It was nice that no one was home, because I could sleep with my door open and let all the dogs in and out as they pleased. Most of them stayed on my bed the whole night, which is always adorable :3




On Sunday, Darcy kept coming in and purring and sleeping on my bed or on my stomach, but at one point Pippin growled at him and he never came back in again. When Mum got home, all the dogs left my room, and though I wanted to sleep more, I couldn't fall back asleep. I decided to take a really long, nice shower, the kind you don't get in college, and then I made the mistake of blow drying my hair. Oh, is it the eighties?

Mum and I went to Staples, where I bought such exciting things as pencil lead, rubber bands, post-it notes, and tape! And then we had brunch at the Original Pancake House, even though the line was SO LONG. The crêpes were great, as usual [not real crêpes, but still really good for whatever they are]. We then went to Marshall's to buy a small weekend bag [I'm sick of either bringing my stuff home in a large suitcase or in a plastic bag], and then we bought bubble tea at Kam Man ♥.

We had only a short bit of time at home before my train was supposed to leave at 4:25. We got to the train station early, only to find that the train was approximately 1:45 late! AAAAAH. We sat in the station for two hours before the train came in - it left at 6:24, almost exactly two hours after it was supposed.

The train ride was interesting. I was in the quiet car all by myself, and the woman in front of me's phone went off. And then it went off again and she answered it. Then some jerk came over to me and said, "This is the quiet car; cell phone use is prohibited." He wasn't a conductor or anything, just some jerk. I meekly informed him, "I'm not the one on the phone, she is," gesturing to the woman in front of me, but he didn't say anything or care. He's one of those guys who like to pick on younger people to make themselves feel good, but he wouldn't dare confront an older person like the woman in front of me. He didn't even apologise. I bet he's a high school teacher. Well, seeing as I was having a pretty bad day, I started crying, by no fault of my own; I really couldn't help it and I did all I could to stop, but not after many tears rolled down my face. I hope he saw, that jerk. In New York a bunch of people got on the train, including this woman who was sitting next to me who wouldn't stop talking to me, despite being on the quiet car, despite the fact that I was reading The Prince, and despite the fact that my headphones were in. Annoying! And she wasn't even getting off until after me. Sigh.

So my train came in at 9:30 instead of 7:30, and I waited in the cold for half an hour for a taxi to show up. What a great evening.

That same night, I also found out that my roommate is sick with a stomach bug that according to the doctor is only contagious if we're sharing cups, etc., but according to the Internet is very contagious. Which brings me to where I am today, Tuesday: I'm sitting on the couch in the common room upon which I've just slept. I've barely been in my room for two days. YAY.

Eighteen days until Spring Break.

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.

Fall Weekend

October 23-25 was Fall weekend! This is also known as Parents' Weekend, and Harvestfest. We have a lot of events on campus for students, alumni, and parents, and on Saturday, we have a Harvestfest sale, which is basically a huge fundraiser for the dorms and clubs, etc. So Mum came up, and I was really happy that she did. It was cool, getting to see everyone's parents and families, but it was better getting to see my own mother. We went exploring the neighbouring towns - the first time I'd been off campus besides coming from and going to either New Jersey or the train station. One night, we had dinner at a really nice pasta place. But it was really cold, and we were sitting outside on the porch. The most exciting part was... this kid and his father came and sat down at the table next to us, and I started freaking out, "MUM THAT KID IS A JEDI!!!" He had short/average length hair [a little longer than a Jedi's, but still 'socially acceptable' for a boy], and one long, thin braid coming from behind his ear, just like Ewan McGregor had in Phantom Menace and Hayden Christiansen had in Attack of the Clones!!!!!!!! Totally made my night. On the Sunday, I watched our school's production of The Tempest, which was great. I also had to work on the strike for a few hours, which wasn't as fun, lol.

Here, I didn't take many pictures that weekend, but these are the window clings I bought that weekend and hung on my window!

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.

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 :'(

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Weekend at Home

For anyone who doesn't know, I had the pleasure of spending last weekend back home. It was fantastic.

I finished packing on Friday morning and went to German; after German, Mum and I took off, around 11:45. I hadn't eaten lunch, but we didn't want to waste time driving, so we stopped at Friendly's and got take-out Sundaes! ♥ Mine was Cookies & Cream [we don't have Cookies and Cream ice cream in the dining halls here, so it's been a while :( ] with Hot Fudge and Butterfingers, with Whipped Cream! So good :3 Any way, that would have to be the highlight of the three hour drive.

I got to Livingston a little after 2:30, and it was probably quarter to three by the time I got to LHS. The first person I saw was Phoebe, and then I saw Jimmy and Blair, and then I headed inside because there was a bakesale [and people]. I saw Paula, which was awesome. I miss her a lot. She gave me part of a brownie ^^. I went to visit Madame and Monsieur, and we chatted for a while. I also visited with Dr. T. and Mrs. Lee. I was very happy to see everyone, because I'm very homesick here and miss all these familiar faces terribly. After school, Mum and I bought bubble tea! More ♥. Another first-since-August.

Then I had to go shoe shopping, and I bought these really fun shoes and some boots because it gets wet up here. We got home just about the same time as Andrew got to our house, hehe. I was so happy to see him :D We tried to have dinner at Mistuba in Chatham, but it ran into my dance lesson, so I had to leave him and Mum there while I ran to dance. I had a great lesson, and then Andrew and Mum started to watch, so Victor went into show-off mode [which I do not like very much *cry*].

Once home, I taught Andrew how to play the violin [just a little tiny bit] and then we went to sleep. A very wonderful day. Saturday!

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Let me just say, it was Andrew's idea to wake up at six, but that loser was still in his sleeping bag by the time I came back from washing up and getting dressed O: I had to wake him up, but in his defence, he is A LOT easier to wake up than Greg. Yep. So when I asked Andrew what he'd like for breakfast, he said PANCAKES. So we ended up at the Original Pancake House :D I had crêpes, as usual, and they were delicious. We got to Jesson's house at 8:10, just like he'd asked us to, and we had to wait for Mrs. Hartmann to pick us up. Oli was going to cosplay, but we weren't.

We got to NYAF super early. The registration lines were... well, non-existent. We had to wait in this massive line until it opened.

Overall, I was not so impressed. I think AnimeNEXT was a lot more fun, and I did not like how the emphasis was on the vendors.

I actually bought less, too. But I got this really cute Bubble Tea / Kitten bag and a lunchbox and a necklace with a cloud on it :3

I also got some of those speech bubbles [ellipses] for Ying and Liam, because they both wanted to go but couldn't. Watching Uncle Yo was fantastic, and I taped the whole thing [now I just have to figure out how to put it on YouTube or FaceBook... heh... it's too long. Oh dear.


Because Andrew and I were not-so-impressed with NYAF, we left around five-ish and took a 6:11 train back to Livingston. It was sad because that meant I'd have a little less time with him, but I knew he had to get home any way. We said our sad goodbyes, but I'm sure we'll see each other again before the loser decides to move to Hawaii or something -.-

After that, I went to see the Marching Band perform in their first competition! I'd love to post the video; I'll see if I can get that working some time soon. I thought they were fantastic and they held their own decently, but they got last place [despite an award for Best Music]. I still think they were great.

I had to remove the video from Youtube, though, because of general stupidity -.-



I got a call from Greg that night. Turns out, we all met up at Applebee's for old times' sake. It was great :D It was Kenny, Greg, Wendy, Arianna, Josh [who was asleep], Dan, and Kevin. I hope that's it.... It was a lot of fun [but we were all very sleepie].


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On Sunday, Mum and I went to see Hamlet at the NJ Shakespeare Theatre. It was fantastic!! I loved it ♥.

That night, Mum and I also saw Inglourious Basterds, and despite the bad reviews, I thought it was great. I mean, it's not amazing and all that, but it was so good as an entertaining movie. If you haven't, go see it.

I took the train back to school on Monday afternoon. That was fun.

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If you missed me, I'll be back next weekend, so make sure I see you!! [This means you, Vigg.]
Check out all the photos from the weekend here: on Facebook!