amylicious!

Last week, I voted for the first time. It was wonderful, ah! I had a bit of a crisis in the voting booth, as John Edwards was still on the ballot and I really, really wanted to vote for him — but I held back and decided that my vote should go towards a candidate who is actually still in the race. So I voted for Obama. But really, at this point I'd be okay with either Obama or Hillary.

On Tuesday, I get to present to my english class the song about which I wrote my research paper. I chose "Save Ginny Weasley" by Harry and the Potters, and boy oh boy is it going to rock so much. I think that Michelle and I are also going to sing a song for our class, as well. I'm just supernervous about getting a good grade, because Mr. Liimatta's told me that he has high hopes for my project. But we'll see.

Last week, I also went to Louisville with Michelle to see Drew Danburry play. He's all kinds of wonderful. But before he played, this guy named Nicholas Megalis performed as well. Oh, be still my heart! Unfortunately, Michelle made her claim to him before I did, so he's her future husband. But still. I can't stop listening to his music. He's amazing, you guys. Amazing.

I only have four more days of school left — and I won't even be attending four whole days, really. Tuesday is the last full day of classes, I am showing up for half of the day on Wednesday, I might stay all day Thursday for we have graduation practice that day, and Friday... who knows. But man oh man. I'm not sure how I feel about the end of high school. Sure, I'm excited, pumped for the next chapter in my life and my education, but I'm really afraid of losing touch with my friends and... well... I think I'm sort of just afraid of growing up. I like being a youngster. I'm not sure I really want to move on.

It doesn't help that NYU still hasn't sent me the financial aid information. So chances are, I'll be rejecting their acceptance offer just because I never received all of the necessary information from them. I only have until June 1st or 2nd to send in a housing deposit, meaning I have about a week left to decide. And I can't even check the mail until Tuesday. Federal holidays suck sometimes.

(It's not like I'm not happy with Juniata. I love Juniata, really. But... NYU. I got into NYU. I could quite possibly attend NYU! How astounding is that?)

I need to get a job.

This is just a list of my life since May 1st. Yeah, there's a week or so missing there since my last update. But that was just a week of school, rehearsal and not enough sleep.

Lists seems pretty darn good to me.

Wednesday, April 30th:
• Urinetown opened. It rocked a lot. We actually pulled it together.

Thursday, May 1st:
• Turned 18.
• Sent off my deposit to Juniata College (and over the next few days, signed up for an orientation, began putting together a tentative schedule for next fall, etc).
• The cast of Urinetown sang Happy Birthday to me.
• Got cake and cannolis.

Friday, May 2nd:
• Woke up with a crazy sore throat and a cough.
• Voice deteriorated, asthma triggered. Am still trying to recover from that, but unfortunately I never seem to have time to rest.

Sunday, May 4th:
• Urinetown ended. Even with my crappy voice, I still managed to sort of sing in the shows. It was actually a total blast.

Wednesday, May 7th:
• Took the AP Calculus exam. Not that bad, I guess.

Thursday, May 8th:
• Ate breakfast at Tolly Ho with a bunch of my classmates, Coach Reed and Mr. Liimatta. Mr. Liimatta is the coolest EVER. He did his chicken and monkey prank noises for us, and when the mayor walked into Tolly Ho (apparently he eats breakfast there, like, every day?), Mr. L asked him to give us a pep talk — and he did! It was fantastic. Somehow, life is always amusing when Mr. Liimatta is around.
• We did the breakfast and pep talk because this morning, I took the AP English Lit exam. I think I did okay. We'll see.
• Mentoring showcase. It was actually supernice. I was smiling throughout all of the presentations. Everybody did such great projects! I'm really proud of my classmates, really really.
• Ate a quick dinner with James, Brian, Saskia and Portia at McDonald's tonight after mentoring. Was amusing. I love my friends.

Friday, May 9th:
• Got into NYU (off the waitlist, baby!), and requested the official acceptance packet and financial aid package. Wouldn't it be cool if they gave me lots of monies? :)
• Went to the Urinetown cast party.
• Did a lot of karaoke and killed my dying voice.

Saturday, May 10th:
• Sat around the house all day, sickly and gross.
• Went to the orchestra pops concert (my final concert :( sad!).
• Got the senior gift, which is a gorgeous and shiny jewelry box (and boys got beer steins, ahah).
• Surprised Mrs Neff with her new podium — which is amazingly beautiful, Mr Reynolds did a fantastic job, seriously.

Sunday, May 11th:
• Sat around the house all day, even more sickly and gross.
• Ate food from Belle Notte that my dad brought from the restaurant, because I felt too crappy to actually go out and eat. I kind of put a damper on mother's day :(

Monday, May 12th:
• Ate breakfast in Mrs Minor's class.
• Taught Newton's Method to my Calculus class.
• Confirmed the notion that I am the suckiest math teacher alive.

Now, I am sitting in the living room, actually in a pretty foul mood. I am still incredibly sick — I thought it was improving, but I think that karaoke on Friday night set it all off again. Now it's to the point where when I sit down from walking around the house for a few minutes, my chest hurts and the coughing only makes it worse and why can't I just get better already, because this has persisted since May 2nd, my god!

I also would like to be reviewing a few topics for my psychology AP exam tomorrow — the one I actually have a chance on — kids, say no to AP Chemistry, unless you're really really smart — but I can't find a quiet place in the house to do so because my mom is in the TV room clacking away on the computer and my sister and her friend are upstairs cackling away in her room (though I asked my dad to tell her no friends until after tomorrow — she'd yell at me if I tell her, and I can't handle it when she yells at me because she never listens, just yells and yells) and no matter where I go I will hear one of these and it will drive me insane. I can handle the faint sounds of kids playing outside, or of neighbors mowing their lawns. But the sounds of the keyboard or of people eating/talking/laughing — I just can't do it. I love how nobody in this house is at all considerate of the girl trying to finish out her senior year of high school.

Tomorrow I will:
• Take (and most likely fail) the Chemistry AP exam.
• Eat lunch in the car.
• Take (and hopefully ace) the Psychology AP exam.
• Die.
• Go to Lexington GSA.

Someday I'll blog about "exciting" things again. Hopefully. If I survive the next two weeks, anyway.

First of all, as Amy G requested: college talk!

Well, more of it anyway.

I'm currently trying to decide between Hampshire College and Juniata College. I'm leaning more for Juniata right now, but sometimes I'll be leaning more for Hampshire. I simply can't make up my mind :/ And to complicate matters, I'll be visiting Transylvania University on Friday because they called me up yesterday and convinced me that I should come and sit in on a class, because I shouldn't rule out going to school in Lexington just because it's in Lexington! Plus, the woman I spoke with was so nice and understanding about the whole "GET OUT OF KENTUCKY" mindset, that I realized hey, I could at least give Transy a fair play (also considering they've given me the nicest financial aid package). Soo. Basically, college is annoying and confusing and yet I still don't even know where I'll be going next year. Rough!

Here's my total list of schools applied to and my status:

• Juniata (accepted)
• Wittenberg (accepted)
• Kenyon (wait-listed)
• University of Kentucky (accepted)
• Transy (accepted)
• Centre (accepted)
• NYU (wait-listed)
• Tufts (rejected)
• Hampshire (accepted)
• Sarah Lawrence (wait-listed)

I am pretty curious about the wait-listed schools, though. Will I get in?! Who knows!

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And now, pictures from Memphis and Oxford! I promised these, and so I shall deliver :)


Obligatory foot picture. Saskia's foot on the right, mine on the left.


After eating dinner at Rendezvous, we went up to greet the Peabody ducks in their "penthouse" and get group pictures.


My teacher, Mr. Liimatta, climbing over the Mississippi River. COOLEST EVER.


After the big group picture, my little group of friends got our own picture taken :)

>
Saskia is a good boy so far.


The next day, we went to hang out in Oxford. First we visited Rowan Oak, William Faulkner's home. SO GORGEOUS THERE, LET ME TELL YOU.

>
When we boarded the bus again, Mr. Liimatta forced us all to smell the wisteria. Except Saskia, who was wearing it in her hair.


We chilled at Faulkner's grave. Mr. Liimatta read sections to us from The Sound And The Fury, and Michelle (my fellow Wand/Literature gal) preached to us the words of Rev. Shegog.


I chilled a little with Faulkner myself, and very much enjoyed the wonderful town of Oxford. Ohhh. It was a marvelous trip.

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I'm headed off to prom this Saturday, which is going to be fun, I hope! I have a pretty dress and I'll be riding in a limo with a few of my friends and it's going to be so wonderful :)

I didn't even really care about prom until January, when some of my classmates were talking about it. I suddenly realized, "Hey. I want to be able to say I went to my senior prom."

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On a final note, I'm registered to vote! And on May 20th, I'll be voting in my state's primary election. Oh, how exciting.

So I just got back from a pretty interesting English trip. We went to Memphis and Oxford, Mississippi (hgfujdksdhsfajk the latter of which was AMAZING). My english teacher, Mr. Liimatta, is fantastic because he played Harry and the Potters for us. Honestly, he planned this amazing trip down to the littlest details — dedication, right? Oh man. Pictures soon, I promise. (I know I've promised pictures for multiple things lately, but I have so many from this trip, that I really can't keep them away.)

My group of friends and I, though, are kind of, um. Discombobulated. And I get the feeling some people are particularly pissed at me because I don't really voice a lot of my concerns/issues/etc., and I kind of avoided some people, or at least it seemed like I was avoiding some people (when really, I just wanted to sit outside and enjoy Oxford some more).

It's pretty scary, actually, that we still have all of this unresolved issues with each other, yet in little over a month it'll all be over. School, that is. High school. We'll be off doing summer activities and then boom! college. I don't even know yet where I'm going to college (Hampshire? Juniata? Somewhere I got waitlisted, like Kenyon or NYU? Of course, this depends on if I end up getting in anyway, I guess).

fhdsiujfksla. This still freaks me out so much. Saskia's going away to Kalamazoo next year, a bunch of my friends are staying in-state, I'll be going who-knows-where but I know it won't be near here. And I'm scared out of my mind at the idea of making new friends. I like my friends. I don't want new friends. Sometimes, I get this overwhelming urge to stay in Lexington just because of my friends — thought I've promised myself (and Saskia) that no decision should be based on this, at least not one as important as the next four years of my life. But honestly, the idea of not having these people, of not having Saskia and Vincent and Brian and Tati and Lauren and James — why do I want to be without the people who have pulled me through high school? I have no way of knowing if I'll make good friends in college, I have no way of knowing how long it'll take me to do so, and I have no way of knowing (and this is what kills me) if I'll keep in touch with my current friends throughout college. At least with high school, I've known that no matter which way I turn, I'll have somebody to lean on and hug and talk to and hang with. But after this summer, I don't know a thing. And I can't stand the thought of not having a glimpse into my future.

I should be working on mentoring because I need to e-mail my mentor. And I need to work on Lit Mag stuff with a friend of mine. And I need to do french. Oh dear. This week is going to be stressful.

(Ahahaha. What a lame title. But that's all that's on my mind, so la!)

After spending most of the week in the brown, wet northeast, imagine my surprise when I arrive home to find it green. And there are even flowers in bloom! Oh, it's pretty. So, so pretty.

Of course, my dad is like, "If you like the greenery, then why are you going to school up north? It won't be green up there for at least another two weeks!"

Oh, hush up.

Yes, I have been up north for the past week (well, got back yesterday, but I fell asleep before thinking of blogging.)

Last Sunday evening, Monday and Tuesday, I was in wonderful NYC, hanging out with my dad. We walked around the NYU campus briefly, went to the Apple Store on Fifth Ave (SO. BEAUTIFUL.), saw two Broadway shows (RENT and Spring Awakening), had lunch with Amy G. Walked a lot.

RENT was a last minute decision and a fantastic one at that.

Spring Awakening... oh man. Whenever someone asks me how it was, I turn into this big blubbering mess of, "Oh man, amazing, astounding, my entire life, ahhhhh!" Honestly, it lived up to everything I was hoping for, and then even more and more and more.

Then of course I got pictures at the stage door with various actors and fhgujkas meeting them is like a dream come true. Jonathan Groff is so freaking nice, seriously, and, and Jonathan B. Wright smiled at me! CAN YOU SAY LOVE? Because that's all I've been thinking. Love love love. Love everything about Spring Awakening. Ahhh.

After NYC, we left for a night in New Hampshire with my nana, and then the next day went to visit Hampshire College. I'm absolutely in love with Hampshire, but I don't want to make my final decision for at least another week. I mean, I've visited Hampshire much more recently now than I have Juniata, so of course it's going to overshadow Juniata. I'm also worried about after May 1st, when I hear back from the schools I've been wait-listed at — what if I get into one of those and decide I like it better? My dad would rather I go to Kenyon than Hampshire, for instance. But fjdiksfjk I don't know. Isn't it enough that I love Hampshire right now? I spent the afternoon with Saskia and we both went on and on about how we're so afraid of making the wrong decision.

If I go to Hampshire, though, my dad figures I'll be getting on the Amtrak every weekend so that I can go and see Spring Awakening alllll the time. PLZKTHX IF YOU INSIST, DEAR FATHER. Ahaha.

Ohhh man. But actually, I'm really tired of all things education right now. Being a second semester senior pretty much means I can't remember that I have work I need to do, and that I'd much rather be elsewhere, that soon I'll actually be elsewhere. I can't wait to get to college and care about learning again, because it'll be so nice to choose interesting classes. I mean, seriously, I could care less about Chemistry and Psychology now. Just want an escape!

Unfortunately, that escape is a little less than two months away. Until then, I guess I'll be reading books, writing out vocabulary, and cramming for tests. Worst. Ever.

Wish me survival, because I honestly don't feel like getting through the rest of this semester. Sleep beckons, but I must push it away — stupid homework. Why do I insist upon staring out the window on those long car rides, instead of doing productive things? Who knows, who knows....

I am exhausted, you all. It's almost spring break and I am pretty much wiped out. My teachers have been crazy with piling on the work, I had a calculus test today (which I think I did pretty well on, surprisingly) and I have a chemistry test tomorrow (hopefully, I'll do better than my last one). I heard from one more school (Kenyon — wait-listed), I didn't get the Juniata scholarship (though I'm over this — so glad I didn't dwell too much).

I wish I could say that I'm going to sleep a whole lot over the break — wait. No I don't. I don't care about getting sleep over spring break. Screw sleep! I'm going to see Spring Awakening!

"Oh no," you say. "Not this again."

FHUDJSKF I AM SO EXCITED, YOU ALL. SO EXCITED.

But I'll leave it at that. I'll elaborate on my excitement as showtime nears, or maybe even after the show.

---

I feel so bad, I've not been improving in my blogging here. I'm such a slacker. Blame it on senioritis, okay?

What was I even going to write about here?

You know what? Bleh. I'll get back to you with a real blog entry. Eventually. I promise. I think.

So I've been gone, I know. I haven't posted in a while.

Well. Last week I was in Disney World with my school's orchestra. We did a fantastic workshop in which we got to record Beauty and the Beast, which was then put to the actual scene in the movie! Oh man, fabulous. The next day, we played a concert here in Magic Kingdom:



That's my friend Cara with me. We took a bunch of fantastic pictures with Disney characters. I love Cara so much, haha.

And, of course, we romped around the parks. It was magical, beautiful, wonderful. There's no place like Disney World.

The day after returning, Michelle and I played our first wizard rock show at the library downtown.



Yeah, I wore my Mickey pirate ears. I was (and still am) on a Disney-high. But oh man. It was amazing. Some people actually knew the words to one of our songs! And afterwards, people wanted pictures with us! And we got to sign someone's guitar! And we sold CDs! Add to my Disney-high a Wizard Rock-high and, man. I was just going crazy with love.

We played with a very lovely band called Tom Riddle And Friends.



And by lovely, I mean hot hot hot.



How about one more, yes?



*heartflutter* After they were done, they came and chatted with Michelle and me and we hugged them and all that was going through my mind was, "IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING." I am such a hormonal teenage girl.

After TRAF was Gred & Forge. He is so hilarious. And at the merch table afterwards, he gave me a copy of his CD for FREE. How cool is that?!

Unfortunately, most of my pictures of him totally sucked, so only one :(



But after him was The Remus Lupins, one of the more well-known Wizard Rock artists. Alex Carpenter is so amazing.



(And okay, attractive. I had to say it.)

This wizard rock show? The best I've ever been to. Yes, because I was in it. But, I mean. To be on the other side of the curtain, to be one of the bands instead of just one of the fangirls (well, in my case, both now)? dkjsfdmk. So happy-making.



On Wednesday, our orchestra attended festival (straight Distinguished scores! ROCK!) and then had our concert on Thursday.



My last high school festival. Next-to-last high school orchestra concert. It's starting to dawn on me that this is my last semester of high school. I'm so going to miss this orchestra when I leave for college. hfjiksjf. Stopping with the sadness right now.

Friday was Pi Day. We had a party in orchestra for the end of festival and for Disney World and stuff, in which I ate a small piece of cake, a brownie, a few cookies. It was bad. Then it got worse, because in Calculus, we had pie. I had two small pieces of pie. dfjikf. So much eating.

Then at home, my sister and I made pizza (it's a type of pie!) and strawberry pie.



We just used this Chef Boyardee box mix stuff, where you make your own dough and then it has some crappy cheese and pizza sauce. Yeah, we put on better cheese and some pepperonis. Delicious.



Working on the strawberry pie, our first (store-bought, of course) crust kind of... failed. Epically.



So we had to go out and buy another crust. Graham cracker crust probably isn't the best for strawberry pie, but we dealt.



It looks kind of messy (and a little too sharpened in this picture, sorry — it was blurry!), but it was delicious nonetheless.



It kind of fell apart on the plate, haha.



And, all right. Yamapi had to make an appearance on Pi Day. Yamapi. Pi Day. IT WORKS, ALL RIGHT? So I made this image of Yamapi's head on a strawberry pie (cough, fueling my need for strawberry pie) and then printed it out and put it in a pin. Which now is on my backpack. dfhkjsd. You love me, don't lie.

So now I'm at Saskia's house, where we've been chilling, making cookies, chilling, watching a video on volcanoes, chilling, listening to music, chilling. Tomorrow, we're going for brunch at Alfalfa's and then I'm going to the Apple Store in Louisville (the hard drive on our family computer has crapped out, and so what better time to finally visit the Apple Store?! Which, by the way, could most definitely be renamed Heaven).

Now, I'm going to go chill and listen to more music and finish crafting an e-mail to Harry and the Potters and think about how to write my music critique on Serge Gainsbourg's Ballade de Melody Nelson. Hopefully, I'll start posting more frequently again soon :)

Oh man. So I love going onto Wikipedia and looking at the birthdays and past events of each day. I don't usually look at the deaths, but for some reason today I did.

Serge Gainsbourg died March 2nd, 1991.

I think today needs to be a Serge Day. Serge music, at least for a while.

Also, happy birthday to Jon Bon Jovi. And on this day in history:

• 1919 - The first Communist International meets in Moscow.
• 1949 - The first automatic street light was installed in New Milford, Conn.
• 1953 - The Academy Awards are first broadcast on television by NBC.

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There's a lot of random stuff that I've been wanting to write about here. Jocelyn brought up skinny, Jordyn brought up distant friendships. I found an article that made me continue to think about the internet being girls' territory. But for some reason, when I begin writing stuff out, it gets all jumbled and messy and incoherent.

So maybe soon I'll have a good, interesting post. But until then, you can do what I do to have fun. Browse Wikipedia for birthdays and events. Does anyone else enjoy this as much as I do?

Seriously, we have another snow day today. A one- or two-hour delay, I might have been okay with. But a snow day?! It doesn't look like the roads are even that bad! And as far as I know, all we got was snow — not our usual ice. Ugh! At this rate, I'm not going to graduate before June (and definitely not before the country fair), and it's looking like graduation will be held on the football field, not in Rupp Arena. What the crap. Whyyy? Why do they suddenly get so snow day-happy my senior year?! It was nice the first two or so, but now it's just annoying. Bleh!

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You know how, at least in public school (and maybe in private school, I don't really know), they're required to have monthly fire drills, which tend to be really annoying because you never know when to expect them and chances are it's going to be raining or something?

I can now say that in all my years of public schooling, I actually experienced a real fire, meaning a real fire alarm at school.

Yeah, yesterday, second hour, Mr. Strohmeier runs in, "We need your fire extinguisher!" Mrs. Minor gets it for him and he's halfway across the room when the fire alarm goes off. There's a very distinct groan as we know it's too late, we actually have to go outside — and Nick informs us that it's raining (as he's just walked in late — and apparently he saw the smoke in the bathroom down the hall as he walked to class). Yes, because some idiot decided to light something on fire in the bathroom, the entire school was forced out of the building into the rain, where we stood for, oh, maybe thirty minutes or so. Then, we were ushered into the gym (which is in another building) and had to sit for around fifteenish minutes before we were allowed to go back to second hour, where we stayed until the bell for fourth hour rang. Yeah, we skipped third hour completely.

As amusing as it was at first ("Wow! An actual fire!" — we're really not all that fazed by these things, I guess), it simply turned into annoying once we realized we'd be outside for a while.

What a year to load up on AP classes, right? Five or six snow days and a fire! Wow! What luck. Um.

Mrs. Minor made light of it, though: "Those private school kids don't get stories like these! You go to college and they'll all be wanting the dirt on public school!"

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Yesterday, after orchestra rehearsal, Michelle and I took the bus (I used LexTran for the first time ever, haha) downtown and then walked to Third Street Stuff, where we consumed delicious food items and wrote a song called "Ollivander and Me." Honestly, it's the cutest song we've written so far, haha. The only thing we need now is a xylophone, because the chorus will not be complete without a cutesy xylophone transition. We're so stoked for our March 10th show (with the Remus Lupins, what!). We just need to get cracking on putting together songs and a set list, because for the few days before the 10th, we'll be in Disney World with our orchestra class, so we'll have no time to put together songs (unless Michelle finds a way to bring her guitar to Disney, haha). Well, we'll get it together. Eventually.

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We had to write a poem recently about something ugly. Of course, I wrote yet another stupid thing involving the internet (an ongoing theme in my english class for me, I guess). I'm not sure if it really qualifies as ugly, but I wrote about Wikipedia's murder of the fanpage (inspired by this post). Maybe you'll enjoy it, haha.

abandonment:
Skeet Ulrich, circa 1998,
not even a trace of frames anymore,
cast across the floor
alongside Calvin & Hobbes,
X-eyes and frayed seams

starshine backgrounds replaced
with the most horrific of phrases:
"Bandwidth Exceeded"

taken down with the Wiki sword:
Enchanted Forest, its magic no more
Television City unplugged and sparkless
Hollywood set ablaze by its own starburst effects

no more independence
only flocking to one place
the Mecca of fandom
Wikipedia, the death of individuality
GeoCities, your pages no more

(Warning: I think I use the word "apparently" a little bit too much here. But bear with me, plzkthx.

And because of my usage of plzkthx, I now am going to overload this post with lolcats. Thank you, I Can Has Cheezburger?!



Because who doesn't love lolcats?)

I've kind of unofficially decided that I'm going to Juniata next year for college. I mean, I still am going to wait until I hear from the other five schools I've applied to, and it definitely also depends on if I get the scholarship (pleasepleaseplease), but I kind of adore Juniata now. Really really. :)

So how was my day yesterday?

• 9:45 AM: Arrival — William Swigart Enrollment Center



Crazy. Tons of kids in the Enrollment Center, my dad had to go off and find somewhere to park. There's not a lot of parking right outside their admissions building. And with twenty-four families in there yesterday, yeah. It was pretty crazy. But once more, I felt special the moment I walked in the door because they handed me a folder with a schedule and everything! I had a name tag! And I talked to random people! And then someone escorted me to my first event! Oh man. I felt important. I was important, haha. Or so I like to think.

• 10:00 AM: Experience the Classroom: The US Since 1877, Professor Jim Tuten — Good Hall, Room 102



This class helped to cement why I absolutely would adore going to Juniata to study History. Professor Tuten? He was kind of kickass. He made a lot of cracks, namely about NASCAR and Mick Jagger. What kind of sucked is that many of his students definitely didn't laugh or react or anything. Not a lot of kids spoke up! This saddened me. I've decided that, should I go to Juniata, I'm going to break my own classroom silence and speak up more! Yeah! But overall, I did enjoy the class (the topics included Prohibition, women's right to vote, The Great Migration and jazz, and the Scopes trial) and the professor.

• 11:30 AM: Instrumental Music Session, Professor Jim Latten — Departs from William Swigart Enrollment Center



This was a little chat between Professor Latten and a few of us scholarship prospies about the music program. He went over aspects of it — lessons, concerts, rehearsals, etc. — and then took us to various places where rehearsal is, where we can store instruments, etc. He was pretty great. He was a little bit sad when none of us were percussionists, but, sensing this, I spoke up about having played steel drum in freshman year, and he was pretty excited at that. Apparently they have a steel drum! Haha. I might have to take it back up, just because, um, I can.

• 12:00 PM: Scholarship Luncheon — William J.von Liebig Center for Science, Sill Board Room # 2075



This could have been an incredibly awkward luncheon had there not been a random student at our table there to mingle with us. I told him I was interested in history, which was perfect seeing as he ended up being a History POE (Program of Emphasis, Juniata's version of the Major). He was pretty cool. He also talked about Juniata's choir, how they usually go international for concert tours but how they're touring the south this year. Two other kids sat at the table, one Arts kid and a Leadership one. I had to leave the lunch early, but my dad said that the Leadership guy was apparently a big track star back home, and that after I left he ate two more plates of food.

Also, Professor David Hsiung spoke briefly before lunch started. He's the professor I spoke with when I first visited Juniata, who was kind of the reason I first decided to adore Juniata so much — just so that I could come and study history and take all of his classes! Because seriously, he is that cool. Well, after I left, my dad said he talked with Professor Hsiung a little bit, and that he remembered me! Whoa! He asked how my novel is going, haha, and was apparently impressed to hear that I'm in the revision stages, etc etc. Man oh man. I wish I could have talked to him myself. Yeah, I think I need to go to Juniata. And take his classes. All of them. Um. Coolest. Ever.

• 1:00 PM: Experience the Classroom: Modern China, Professor Doug Stiffler — Good Hall, Room 221



So I skipped out on the end of lunch for the History of Modern China, which involved the period from 1912 to, um, sometime before the 20s. Professor Stiffler was very enthusiastic, which was wonderful. He prompted the class to discuss a bit, he had us (me and the other Arts scholarship kid who was sitting in on the class — competition, oh noes!) introduce ourselves to the students (we both expressed interest in US History, to which he replied, "Which is why you're in a history of China class." Oh, indeed, right?)

(By the way, you all. If you haven't listened to Drew Danburry, go. Now. Listen. Love. And then check him out this spring on his tour, because yes he is touring the country again and I am so excited because he is so amazing and can you tell that I'm listening to him right now? Because I am. But back to our regularly scheduled program, kiddos.)

I'll tell you, though, I haven't actually learned about China since sixth grade. Sure, I should count AP World History in sophomore year, but like anyone learned anything in that class, let's be honest. And listening to Professor Stiffler teach made me think, "Hey. Maybe China more interesting than I thought." And that's what a professor is supposed to make you think, right? I have to say, I loved it the most when he made the class say the Chinese names. (How weird is Chinese pronunciation?) But I mostly loved how enthusiastic Professor Stiffler was, because you can tell he really loves what he's teaching.

Man oh man. All of the history professors I've met have been so fantastic. Love. :)

• 2:15 PM: Nomination Scholarship Interview: The Arts — Halbritter Performing Arts Center, Office 3



Of course, after I left the interview, I came up with a million and one extra things that I could have said, should have brought up, etc. But I'm trying to keep myself from dwelling. "You were good, anyway, Amy!"

Honestly, I can't think of what to say with this. The interviewers were supercool. Once we were past the initial six questions that every finalist was asked, it was great just chatting — about Red —

(Back to Drew Danburry: OH MAN HOW AMAZING IS THIS SONG. Fight it, deny it, I'll fight it, deny it, I won't let myself fall in love... fhguigkj! Okay, Amy shouldn't listen to Drew Danburry while trying to write up posts of substance. He just takes over my brain.)

— about the pronunciation of Appalachian, about Kentucky, and most likely about other random things that I can't remember. So even though I didn't mention things I might have liked to discuss, it was an enjoyable experience. And I leave it at that.

• 3:00 PM: Meeting with students from AWOL— William Swigart Enrollment Center



This was admittedly a little awkward. I didn't know what to ask or talk about really. A note: AWOL stands for All Ways Of Loving, and it's like their equivalent to a Gay/Straight Alliance. The people I talked to, though, were so fun, really talkative, really nice, and it was nice to get a student perspective on Juniata from people who weren't involved in the day's Official Activities.

• 3:45 PM: Wrap-up with Terri — William Swigart Enrollment Center



Terri? Amazing. Fantastic. I love her, haha. She was so cheery, so wonderful. She made a great comment when she was leading the group to lunch — that my dad could be a college professor, what with his outfit and how he walked and held his laptop bag. My dad turned and said, "Good guess!" and she freaked out, "Oh my gosh! Are you serious?! Oh my gosh! I'll be telling this story for at least a year!"

The wrap-up was basically time for last questions, her informing us of when I should find out about the scholarship, last-minute chatting. She also told us to eat at Mimi's for dinner, and when I mentioned the play that my interviewers had brought up, she said she'd call and get tickets set aside for us so that we could go see the production of Our Country's Good that evening.

After that, we were held up for a few more minutes before leaving, as we spoke with two other people (one of whom remarked how it's neat that I'm from Kentucky but I don't have an accent — I loved that comment so much for some reason, haha), and then halfway to the car I remembered that I had left my coat on the hanger in the building, haha, and my dad went back to get it for me while I sat in the car (I had a sweater, so it's not like I was freezing).



We chilled at the hotel a while, ate at Mimi's (yummy), and then saw the play. It was interesting. I wasn't sure what to make of it at first, as I had no idea what it was about. But I thought that the production was amazing — the theater so cool, the actors fantastic, the lighting and costumes and soundtrack wonderful. Overall, a great production. The play was still weird, though.

And now I'm home and tired and am going to do homework stuff tomorrow because I don't feel like doing anything else tonight. Except maybe eat a really late dinner. I'm exhausted!

Okay, I feel really bad. It's been a while since I (or anyone else besides Amy G, it looks) has blogged on here! It's not even that I've been busy — really, not that busy. More like senioritis has set in when it comes to every aspect of my life — school and non-school lives alike. Let's see, when was the last time I posted? Oh, like, last Sunday? My gosh! What's happened since then?

Well, Darwin Day was February 12th, and that was also the last day we had Professor Steve Steve around.



We took him to meet with the Darwin Day event peoples, joining them for dinner at the café at Joseph-Beth. Look, they had a menu made up 'specially for him, ahaha. (And that horse there is Dr. Ginger Kasey. God, all of the stuffed animal love. So hilarious.)



And yes, my gosh, they even brought him drinks. He's a party animal, that Steve Steve.



And he stole away to the teen section of the bookstore to sneak a peek at Red ;) (Look! We get a little sign on the bookshelf!)



Then we headed over to the UU church for the Creation Museum presentation and the panel discussion. Professor Steve Steve indeed had his own spot on the panel.

Overall, a very eventful day. The twelfth, see, was also a snow day! As was the thirteenth. And man. Those were good days. Good days. Just relaxing and reading and enjoying my general laziness.

Seeing as February has become my "read whatever you feel like it!" month, here's a book update: I finished the Gemma Doyle trilogy — lovelovelovelove, need I say more? Then I read, um. Hairstyles of the Damned by Joe Meno (it was interesting, I'll say — good, though not really the style I'm into at the moment), Fight Club (which was, um, weird, haha), and Violet on the Runway by Melissa Walker (she was at the RED release party, so of course I had to read her book!). Now I'm working on The Boy Detective Fails, also by Joe Meno — though I am enjoying this one much more than Hairstyles. It's interesting, and absolutely heartbreaking. Oh man. I love it. It took a while to get into it, I'll admit, because it's very unusual, but it's fantastic, really. Next, I plan on reading 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson, because I saw it on Saskia's bedroom floor when I was at her house this weekend and decided to borrow it because, hello, love Maureen Johnson. (I keep putting off The Psychology of Joss Whedon, I know. Eventually, eventually.)

Now, I'll be missing two days of school this week so that I can head up to Juniata for a scholarship interview on Friday. I applied for the arts scholarship (I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it here, I sent in a wonderful portfolio with a copy of RED, an excerpt from my novel, a few poems, a letter from Amy G, two Literatures CDs — I think I totally beat out anybody else who applied for it, haha, I'm that confident!) and so along with the interview, there's a luncheon (gosh, how awkward will that be? All of us competing for six scholarships, having to eat lunch together? Um, should be fun, er), and then I plan on sitting in on a history class and attending an instrumental music session and a study abroad session, as well as chatting with some people from their club that is equivalent to a Gay-Straight Alliance. Should be a very eventful day! Hopefully I won't be sick then, though, as I have an icky cold or something, and it makes me sad :(

And now, to remind everybody that Saskia's created a monster in introducing me to Johnny's Entertainment, Yamapi, etc., a few videos that make me happy and that maybe will make you smile or dance or what have you (because honestly, how pretty is every single member of NEWS? So pretty!):

• Snow Express: Such an amazing song. And Yamapi rapping? HOW MUCH LOVE? SO MUCH LOVE.

• Sayaendou: I love the "bravo bravo!" bits, haha. And when they fly, it makes me happy :B

• Koyama and Shige being hilarious in their hotel room: Oh my god. Their giddiness makes me so giggly. I seriously want to be best friends with them, haha.

Okay. Enough dorkiness from Amy. Like you all even watch the videos, ahaha. I just figure, you know, maybe I can convert more people ;) ahaha.

Oh! And one last thing: chances are good I'll finally be seeing Spring Awakening over spring break ;) rock!

It's sunny again!

But very cold.

But sunny!

And I had my delicious chicken salad sandwich. (Though Arby's makes it too fruity. I prefer the sandwiches at Third Street Stuff. But one cannot always be so picky.)

And now I leave you be.

It's been raining a lot lately. Earlier last week, we had those horrid storms that brought in terrible winds and even tornadoes (god, storms scare the crap out of me). It's been very muddy everywhere I go, caking my shoes and making my green fleur-de-two-lys shoes not quite so lovely. I suddenly find myself wanting a very brightly-colored raincoat.

It was nice and sunny yesterday. For the thirty minutes that I was at school for Urinetown rehearsal (which was then cancelled, due to the dance instructor not being able to come), we were in the connector building, surrounded by glass and happy that the sun was out and all seemed happy. My friends and I chatted about how we should have more rehearsals in the connector building. The sunshine definitely beats out the theater lighting.

But now it's dreary again.

I don't really like this time of year very much. It's always dreary. Gray and wet. I don't like hearing the wind gusting outside my window, the tree branches scratching the sides of the house, the rain slapping the windows. It just sounds cold and gloomy outside. No screaming, laughing kids running around the street. I prefer sunshine.

But no matter. I can find a way to make the best of today. I plan on eating a delicious chicken salad sandwich (from somewhere — I don't particularly care — I've simply been craving chicken salad since yesterday afternoon) and watching some videos and writing and doing homework and reading. (I finished the Gemma Doyle trilogy yesterday — so amazing, oh man. Now I'm working on a borrowed book called Hairstyles of the Damned. It's okay so far. I'm not sure it's really the sort of book I'm into, but I borrowed it and my friend wants it back and so I'd better get on with reading it. It'll probably get better. Keep an open mind, Amy, sheesh!)

I also plan to hang out more with Professor Steve Steve. His last day in town is also nearing. Did I show you any pictures of when I brought him to school this week? No, I don't think so. (The pictures aren't that fantastic — I'd forgotten my actual camera, so I had to use my camera phone. Boo.)



He came to science club, where he already knew Vincent.



And he introduced himself.



We took a tour of the chemical storeroom, where he classified himself as "Generally Safe."



And he meets OSHA requirements! Yeah!



We cleaned him up a little bit...



...so that he would be respectable enough to meet the Pope Mole! (And that other dude is his Charles Darwin sidekick.)

The Professor's last day in Lexington is Tuesday, as he gets shipped out on Wednesday to do other important business. He's even been invited out for dinner on Tuesday evening! How lovely. Then after dinner, we'll be heading over to the UU church, I think, for a talk some guy is giving about his visit to the Creation Museum. Should be exciting!

Oh! One last thing! Completely random, but no matter. I came across the most amazing necklace ever today. Honestly, I wish I could have it. So much. Isn't Etsy so fantastic? Ah!

Yesterday, I mentioned the fact that I had to write a paper about something absurd, and that I was having issues thinking of a topic.

Well, I decided to just start writing and see what came up. Um, here it is, ahaha.

Note: it started out merely about, um, absurdity. And then turned into obsession. And ended up here.

LiveJournal Love Affair

Over the course of thinking of something truly absurd to write about, I kept getting sidetracked. Books to read, online videos to watch, stories to write! How am I supposed to find the time for schoolwork?

Of course, the minute this thought occured to me, I realized: what the crap, Amy. You know what’s absurd? You are. Or at least, your priorities.

In attempting to keep a wonderfully serene attitude this last year of high school, I somehow managed to distort my priorities. Seriously distort them. Homework and school don’t come first. No, I come home and I have to fulfill my daily obsession quota. This is brought about through my LiveJournal friends’ page, filled with rants or videos or pictures or questions galore. From cupcakes and music to shampoo and shoes. Suddenly, ten o’clock rolls around and what work have I done? Oh, my mind has wandered to my backpack on occasion. That counts, right? Points for effort?

Probably not.

What’s truly absurd is indeed the fact that I can’t stay away from LiveJournal. And it’s probably ruining my life.

I’ve been holding this love affair with LiveJournal for four or so years now, and it doesn’t ever seem to let up. I even shelled out the money for a permanent account, so that I could have the entire 140 user pictures, the voice posting, the ten gigs of photo hosting. What’s even crazier is how LiveJournal, my longest-lasting obsession, won’t stop spawning new ones. Thank you, friends who come and go and introduce me to new things! Thanks to whomever brought random Japanese Idols onto my friends’ page and into my life, for now I cannot stop watching dramas and listening to music that use a language I can’t understand at all! Thank you, various communities, for providing me hordes of people with whom I can obsess over Ugly Betty and Gossip Girl! Even America’s Next Top Model, a show I don’t actually like a lot, but that I watch anyway just to read silly catty comments in the discussion post for each episode! Indeed, what could be more absurd than watching shows I can’t understand along with shows I can’t even stand? And it’s all thanks to you, LiveJournal.

Writing this out, I begin to worry about my level of sanity. I go through this worry at least once a day, wondering, Should I let up? Should I try to stop? But even if I tried, I know I never really would. (Honestly: I tried the hiatus thing once. I think it lasted a month. But it was only a posting hiatus, and I still read entries and commented every day.)

I understand the absurdity of obsession. Of not being able to tear yourself away from something you claim to love, even though it’s tearing you apart. I know that LiveJournal has permanently damaged my social skills, and that it can’t be healthy when sometimes I don’t even realize that I’ve wasted four hours simply refreshing the page to see if more people have posted. But you know what? I like to think that LiveJournal has done some good for me. I write all the time now! That’s good, seeing as I like to think of myself as a writer. And I keep in touch with friends, people from camps or past schools! I may not be able to socialize face-to-face very well, but when it’s online, I think I’m pretty darn fantastic.

So I’m going to hurry up and finish writing this out. I haven’t checked my friends’ page in about twenty minutes. Who knows what might have happened since then!

Since we finished Crime and Punishment, I've developed a much more serene attitude. Perhaps it's because our next unit is poetry, meaning we don't have to read any novels until after spring break! It most likely has a lot to do with the fact that I can now read whatever I do so desire. I finished A Great and Terrible Beauty the other day and am now nearing completion on Rebels Angels — finally, finally I can read The Sweet Far Thing! And then The Psychology of Joss Whedon! And who knows how many other books! Oh, this is so exciting. Books, books, I love books!

Of course, another thing continuously drags me away from the joys of reading. It's called the computer. I love the internets and I love musics and I love love love , um. Yamapi. WAIT. THAT'S NOT WHAT I WAS GOING TO SAY. But whatever. It's out once more. First on the blog it was Spring Awakening, now it's Yamapi. What next? Who knows! Oh dear! But since I'm on the subject, let me link you to two videos:

• Gomen ne Juliet: I heard this song and saw this video and my adoration was cemented. Oh dear. So beautiful, though *_* (do I mean the song, or Yamapi? Oh who knows...).

• I ZA NA I ZU KI: I decided that I needed to venture away from Yamapi a little bit and so I got more into his band (ahaha), NEWS. This song is so fantastic! And Yamapi's dance at the beginning: wonderful! Even though he looks a little funny in his skirt-thing. And Shige's lip action on "kuchizuke wo," oh man. SO MUCH FUN TO IMITATE. (And now I sound like a lunatic. But ah well.)

I often wonder, "Do I blab too much about my obsessions on my RED blog?" Most likely. But then I click the link to view my blog and see that it says, "Maybe I'm a little too obsessive." So maybe my obsessions are like the main theme of this blog. That makes it all okay, right?

I shouldn't be watching Yamapi videos right now. No, I should be thinking of an absurd topic or event or idea or object for English. We have to write up why it's absurd and the like. Maybe I could choose obsessions... except that's way too, um. I'm not sure. Weird? Yeah, yeah, weird. And I'm not sure I want my entire class knowing how crazy obsessive I get, er.

Lauren says I should write about Buffy. That would be lovely.

Hmm. I should get off of here and, well, do my homework. Shame on you, Amy! Shame! Allowing the computer to drag you from your responsibilities!

Oh, but before I go: I'm super happy because I got word last night that I'm one of the six semifinalists for the arts scholarship (full tuition!) at Juniata. Rock :). Now to prepare myself for the interview on the twenty-second. How fun >.<