Hard to believe it's already the end of July. This summer has flown by pretty fast (even though it hasn't been the most exciting summer in the world). A few things coming up though...
*Saturday the 4th book in the Twilight series (a series about vampires, other mythical creatures, and romance if you didn't know) is coming out, and I must say I am one of those obssessed people who is very excited about it. Of course I'm not as obssessed as some who will stay up till midnight on Friday night to get it (did that with the 6th HP book and don't really want to do it again) I am still pretty excited about how she will end the series. I'll probably give a review for it later when I actually get it.
*On Tuesday we are going (once again) out of town to see my grandparents as well as my aunt, uncle, and 5 cousins who will be in town. This is the same grandmother who has breast cancer by the way. It should be pretty crowded and rambunctious, but it should be interesting. My poor mother though has to drive the whole 6-hour route because my dad can't drive because of his siezures (which are of course good). I offered to drive, but you can't drive out of state until you're 16. Plus I haven't had any experience driving the van yet so I probably shouldn't take off down the highway on it anyways.
*Besides a youth lunch today, I haven't really been doing much this week except trying to stay cool (it's as hot as you know where's down here). The lunch was pretty fun, even though they had sandwiches on store bought bread which I don't like because I'm used to my mother's homemade bread. Thus white storebought bread actually makes me feel sick afterwards. But hey it wasn't too bad and the Bible study was quite interesting. It was kind of random but oh well =]
That's it for now...
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Health Update
Yet another update on a few things....
My dad has been having these strange siezures lately that believe it or not are actually good. The doctors say it's a result from inflammation, which basically means the cancer is dying. The siezures themselves are quite strange. In one type he gets these wierd pains down his arms, and he gets really nauseous. He had one of these when I was driving to church and I had just pulled in the parking lot, which resulted in him suddenly having to jump out of the car and run around it like a maniac. I was pretty confused I'll say that...And then in the second type he completely zones out and goes as pale as a ghost and really doesn't seem to know where he is for a few minutes. Odd, but like I said before a good sign =]
As to my grandma, she still feels pretty bad and can't eat a whole lot, but she does have her good days. Also she had an MRI the other day which seemed to indicate her tumor has shrunk. So this is encouraging news and if she will stay off sugar I think it'll help her a lot. =] The only problem is the other day one of her friends brought her a whole tub of chocolate ice cream that she, of course, ate. Some friends huh? But what can I say I couldn't resist chocolate ice cream either....
That's all for now
My dad has been having these strange siezures lately that believe it or not are actually good. The doctors say it's a result from inflammation, which basically means the cancer is dying. The siezures themselves are quite strange. In one type he gets these wierd pains down his arms, and he gets really nauseous. He had one of these when I was driving to church and I had just pulled in the parking lot, which resulted in him suddenly having to jump out of the car and run around it like a maniac. I was pretty confused I'll say that...And then in the second type he completely zones out and goes as pale as a ghost and really doesn't seem to know where he is for a few minutes. Odd, but like I said before a good sign =]
As to my grandma, she still feels pretty bad and can't eat a whole lot, but she does have her good days. Also she had an MRI the other day which seemed to indicate her tumor has shrunk. So this is encouraging news and if she will stay off sugar I think it'll help her a lot. =] The only problem is the other day one of her friends brought her a whole tub of chocolate ice cream that she, of course, ate. Some friends huh? But what can I say I couldn't resist chocolate ice cream either....
That's all for now
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Batman and Other Things
Yesterday I went to see The Dark Knight, and I must say it scared the heck out of me. It was extremely intense, (but luckily I was prepared for some of the intenseness), the Joker was let's just say a guy you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alleyway (Heath Ledger did a spectacular job), and if there wasn't a gun going off in the plot something was wrong...hehe. but I did enjoy it and found it really moving at some parts (though I'm surprised the movie didn't get an R rating for all the violence and such). Basically if you liked the first (which was like a walk in the park compared to this one) you will probably like the second. However, if you hated the first, then just avoid this one okay? It has at least ten times the action and will have you on the edge of your seat the whole time. But the bottom line is I did enjoy this movie a lot, (even for its extreme violence and disturbing images). Plus the new woman playing Rachel Dawes will not disappoint like the last woman....
This morning I drove around downtown some with my dad, which was pretty enjoyable. I normally like driving with my dad except for when he yells at me for totally random things and is always comparing my driving to his...The thing he yells at for me the most is probably parking and backing out simply because I have the hardest time with those things. Plus he makes me do it absolutely straight. In my opinion as long as you get the car between the lines it's no big deal, but oh well. I'm getting much better thank goodness...Then after that we had a youth luncheon at church which was pretty fun (except the pizza was really greasy. I'm real particular about what kind of pizza I eat sometimes ehe). But it was still fun and I must say our youth group is extremely......entertaining? interesting? different? haha I still had a good time though =]
This morning I drove around downtown some with my dad, which was pretty enjoyable. I normally like driving with my dad except for when he yells at me for totally random things and is always comparing my driving to his...The thing he yells at for me the most is probably parking and backing out simply because I have the hardest time with those things. Plus he makes me do it absolutely straight. In my opinion as long as you get the car between the lines it's no big deal, but oh well. I'm getting much better thank goodness...Then after that we had a youth luncheon at church which was pretty fun (except the pizza was really greasy. I'm real particular about what kind of pizza I eat sometimes ehe). But it was still fun and I must say our youth group is extremely......entertaining? interesting? different? haha I still had a good time though =]
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Blah
A few nights ago I was lying in bed when I suddenly had these strange bursts of nausea in my stomach. You know the kind that travels up to your head and then makes you think you're going to explode. Not fun. Soon it got so bad that I was debating going to wake up my parents to get some sympathy or to make sure I wasn't going to die or something, but I decided not too because there was really nothing they can do about it anyways. Not to mention my parents get extremely grumpy if you ever so much as lift a finger in the middle of the night. So I lay there and let it run its course and finally fell asleep.
The next day was not much better as all morning I had these really severe stomach cramps. I literally had to go over to the house and curl up in a ball till they passed. Again not fun. To make matters worse I had to go to the orthodontist that morning for them to just look at my straight teeth and tell me how great they looked. Nice and all but a colossal waste of time. Though I felt pretty horrible, I had to go and I wasn't even sure if I was really sick anyways. Maybe I'd just get over it as the day went on.
After I made it through the ortho appointment I felt some better, so I decided to go to a youth thing at my church. It started out fine, but then my stomach started aching again and it didn't help that when we were washing dishes after our meal (it was a lunch thing) that an 11 or 12 year old kid kept trying to tell me exactly how to do it. I mean come on I might not be the brighest person out there but I can handle washing a few dishes, okay? I was in a bad enough mood as it was, so I barely managed to get out a polite response and then managed to ignore her the rest of the time.
I slept pretty bad that night and I spent the next day walking around feeling like someone had just hit me on the head with a board. To top it all off my mom said chocolate was bad for stomach cramps so I couldn't have any till they were gone. So this all made me rather ornery and I had to avoid my brothers at times because they tend to be the chief scapegoats of my bad moods. Yesterday, however, I woke up feeling much better, and today I feel great. I don't think I ever had a contagious disease or anything, but whatever it was I'm over it now at least. And that's a good thing too because me and a bad mood are not a good mix just so you know....hehe
The next day was not much better as all morning I had these really severe stomach cramps. I literally had to go over to the house and curl up in a ball till they passed. Again not fun. To make matters worse I had to go to the orthodontist that morning for them to just look at my straight teeth and tell me how great they looked. Nice and all but a colossal waste of time. Though I felt pretty horrible, I had to go and I wasn't even sure if I was really sick anyways. Maybe I'd just get over it as the day went on.
After I made it through the ortho appointment I felt some better, so I decided to go to a youth thing at my church. It started out fine, but then my stomach started aching again and it didn't help that when we were washing dishes after our meal (it was a lunch thing) that an 11 or 12 year old kid kept trying to tell me exactly how to do it. I mean come on I might not be the brighest person out there but I can handle washing a few dishes, okay? I was in a bad enough mood as it was, so I barely managed to get out a polite response and then managed to ignore her the rest of the time.
I slept pretty bad that night and I spent the next day walking around feeling like someone had just hit me on the head with a board. To top it all off my mom said chocolate was bad for stomach cramps so I couldn't have any till they were gone. So this all made me rather ornery and I had to avoid my brothers at times because they tend to be the chief scapegoats of my bad moods. Yesterday, however, I woke up feeling much better, and today I feel great. I don't think I ever had a contagious disease or anything, but whatever it was I'm over it now at least. And that's a good thing too because me and a bad mood are not a good mix just so you know....hehe
Thursday, July 17, 2008
The Dance Saga- Part Three
Finally the last part...
As time went on at this new dance school, I decided it was time to face the truth; I hated it. I watched the clock all the time during lessons, anytime a cloud appeared in the sky I said it was too stormy to go, and whenever I saw my dance teachers anywhere near me I attempted to hide in the nearest corner or behind the closest person. Besides all of this, I knew that if I continued I'd have a constantly disgruntled father (who now avoids all courtyards in this area), and two horribly bored brothers who might soon resort to skateboarding off the dance roof or something thus killing themselves. Not to mention my poor mother who has to deal with all of them. So one day on the way home from a lesson, I finally told my dad I wanted to quit. He didn't sound very upset about it I'll say that....
After this I found out a local charter school in our area had ballet lessons, so I decided to try there for the remainder of the year. It was actually quite enjoyable. All the kids were really nice (no snobs for a change), the teacher was....well I'll say interesting (but great compared to those other ones), and there wasn't any pressure on your head at all. Since no one else besides me did pointe, the teacher said I could come early to practice by myself if I wanted to. I think I did that once. For one thing pointe's painful and messes up your foot. And secondly who wants to practice by yourself anyways? hehe Anyways, I finished up the year there, and then decided that summer to just be done with dance and move on to other things like voice and piano. Though I really enjoyed it (some of it that is) I decided that I'd had quite enough dance experiences to last me a lifetime....
As time went on at this new dance school, I decided it was time to face the truth; I hated it. I watched the clock all the time during lessons, anytime a cloud appeared in the sky I said it was too stormy to go, and whenever I saw my dance teachers anywhere near me I attempted to hide in the nearest corner or behind the closest person. Besides all of this, I knew that if I continued I'd have a constantly disgruntled father (who now avoids all courtyards in this area), and two horribly bored brothers who might soon resort to skateboarding off the dance roof or something thus killing themselves. Not to mention my poor mother who has to deal with all of them. So one day on the way home from a lesson, I finally told my dad I wanted to quit. He didn't sound very upset about it I'll say that....
After this I found out a local charter school in our area had ballet lessons, so I decided to try there for the remainder of the year. It was actually quite enjoyable. All the kids were really nice (no snobs for a change), the teacher was....well I'll say interesting (but great compared to those other ones), and there wasn't any pressure on your head at all. Since no one else besides me did pointe, the teacher said I could come early to practice by myself if I wanted to. I think I did that once. For one thing pointe's painful and messes up your foot. And secondly who wants to practice by yourself anyways? hehe Anyways, I finished up the year there, and then decided that summer to just be done with dance and move on to other things like voice and piano. Though I really enjoyed it (some of it that is) I decided that I'd had quite enough dance experiences to last me a lifetime....
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Update
My dad got the results back from his latest MRI today, and unfortunately it wasn't as good as the last one he had. His original tumor is still basically gone, but there is a new one that has sprouted up. Thus I believe the doctors are going to hit him with some harder treatment, but I'm not totally sure of all the details on that yet. He'll still keep up with the diet, of course, so hopefully he'll be all right.
As to my grandma, her pain has become much more bearable due to larger doses of pain medication. She's still on mild chemo, so hopefully that is working to push her cancer back. If not, they'll get her on some stronger treatment in a month or so I guess. Prayers for our family are greatly appreciated, and I'll keep you updated. I hope next time I'll have some better news =]
As to my grandma, her pain has become much more bearable due to larger doses of pain medication. She's still on mild chemo, so hopefully that is working to push her cancer back. If not, they'll get her on some stronger treatment in a month or so I guess. Prayers for our family are greatly appreciated, and I'll keep you updated. I hope next time I'll have some better news =]
Monday, July 14, 2008
The Dance Saga- Part 2
Since this is part two, that means you must read part one to understand what is going on (I hope you already knew that but just in case). Soo if you've read part one read on....
On only the first day at this newest dance school I was already ticked off. Why? I had visited the place a few days earlier and the main teacher said I had to start off in a lower level than I had wanted to because she said I didn't have the correct posture she wanted her students to have at the upper levels. My knee-jerk reaction was to yell, "huh? what the heck are you talking about? I'm being held back because of posture? My other dance teachers were pretty dang good and they didn't say anything about that!" I managed to control myself, however, and not say anything. After all maybe my posture was really horrible. Anyways I was determined to prove this teacher wrong and move up to the higher levels as fast as I could.
During my first lesson I quickly discovered the first of my two new teachers was not to be trifled with. She may not have looked very imposing (she was as skinny as a stick) but she had rather frightening eyes that you did not want fixed on you and her voice was shrill and startling. When she called out (rather harshly) one poor girl for saying one whispered word to another classmate, I was determined never to open my mouth in this class if I could help it. Not only did she yell at you, she also nitpicked. Every single little thing you did she noticed it. Pretty soon, whenever she started looking my way I wished I could fade into the wallpaper. She also kept reminding us how important it was to do enough work to move up to the next level and subtly implied that if you didn't make it you were more or less a failure. I wanted to yell, "So we're pretty much nothing but losers if we don't achieve the next level? Thanks for the confidence boost!" However, I decided that keeping my big mouth shut was the smartest thing to do at this point. All I knew was that nobody in this studio was in it for fun. They all wanted to be professionals, something that I definitely didn't want to be. I just did it for pure enjoyment. But apparently no one in this studio knew the meaning of the words "fun", "enjoyable", and "nice".
Since I didn't dare talk in my first class, I didn't really get to know too many of the other students very well. However, in my next class the teacher was more relaxed (no one could have anything on my first teacher in the strict and cruel department) so I got to know one girl who was also semi-new to the school. We talked about a few random topics and then she asked, "So are you planning to be a professional dancer? That's what I want to do." I smiled politely and said, "No I'm just in it for fun." She looked at me as if I said I was in it to beat up senior citizens. She recovered quickly however and we moved on to more pleasant topics. Like how painful braces were. Much more pleasant....
A few weeks later all the other students were doing a dress rehearsal for a performance of The Hobbit that I had missed out on due to enrolling late in the year. This meant that yours truly was stuck with a 2-hour private lesson with my second teacher. Fun right? Not. I'm not really an attention seeking person and the last thing I wanted was to have her eagle-eyeing me and no one else all through class. I'm just glad it wasn't with my first teacher though. I'm not sure I'd be alive to tell the experience.....Anyways the private lesson went better than I thought, but once when I was doing some turns she stopped me. I was hoping she was going to say how much improved they were, but instead she said, "Did you know you have a funny habit of sticking your tongue out while you're concentrating?" I had a strange urge to punch her in the face, but I smiled and said, "No I sure didn't know that." They weren't much for compliments in this place...
Since I had enough to worry about in class, it would have been nice to know that my family (who had to stay the whole time due to distance constraints) was staying out of trouble. ha I should have known...During one of my classes (I found out what exactly happened later from my brother) my brothers got restless and decided they wanted to explore around a bit. Soon they found an interesting looking courtyard, and went in shutting the door behind them. After they were in there for a little while they got bored, and decided to go back to the main studio. When the older of the two tried the door, he discovered that it wouldn't open. He tried it again, twisting it this way and that. It wouldn't budge. "Uh, bro," he muttered to the younger of the two. "I think we're locked in." Of course this sent the younger one into a royal panic while the poor older one desperately tried to think of ways to get out before they starved to death or died of dehydration or something. After he tried every possible way to get out, he noticed a window to one side of the courtyard. When he looked in he saw a pottery class in session, and eagerly banged on the window to get their attention. No one answered. He banged again. This time he heard the teacher say, "Is everyone all right back there?" Still no one noticed. By this time he was so mad he almost punched the window out himself, but he didn't which was a good thing since we didn't really need to be sued at this point.
Finally the boys gave up and decided that sooner or later their father would wonder where they were and come looking for them. A few minutes later they finally saw him coming down the hall eating a bag of skittles. "Hi, guys," he said, opening the door and striding in. "Nooo, Dad!!" shrieked the boys. "We're locked-" it was too late. Dad had slammed the door behind him. So now all three very unhappy, ticked off, furious, guys were trapped in the courtyard. Dad tried calling Mom, but her cell phone was off. While he fumed about that the boys tried attracting the attention of the pottery class again, but to no avail. Dad, who had had about enough tomfoolery for the day and was probably wishing he had never come to this accursed placed, walked up to the window and banged on it so loudly that I'm sure everyone was quite terrified. It worked though. The teacher sent someone around to unlock the door, and they were finally free. They could probably sue if they wanted to, but heck it would be too much trouble.
To be continued (once again).....
On only the first day at this newest dance school I was already ticked off. Why? I had visited the place a few days earlier and the main teacher said I had to start off in a lower level than I had wanted to because she said I didn't have the correct posture she wanted her students to have at the upper levels. My knee-jerk reaction was to yell, "huh? what the heck are you talking about? I'm being held back because of posture? My other dance teachers were pretty dang good and they didn't say anything about that!" I managed to control myself, however, and not say anything. After all maybe my posture was really horrible. Anyways I was determined to prove this teacher wrong and move up to the higher levels as fast as I could.
During my first lesson I quickly discovered the first of my two new teachers was not to be trifled with. She may not have looked very imposing (she was as skinny as a stick) but she had rather frightening eyes that you did not want fixed on you and her voice was shrill and startling. When she called out (rather harshly) one poor girl for saying one whispered word to another classmate, I was determined never to open my mouth in this class if I could help it. Not only did she yell at you, she also nitpicked. Every single little thing you did she noticed it. Pretty soon, whenever she started looking my way I wished I could fade into the wallpaper. She also kept reminding us how important it was to do enough work to move up to the next level and subtly implied that if you didn't make it you were more or less a failure. I wanted to yell, "So we're pretty much nothing but losers if we don't achieve the next level? Thanks for the confidence boost!" However, I decided that keeping my big mouth shut was the smartest thing to do at this point. All I knew was that nobody in this studio was in it for fun. They all wanted to be professionals, something that I definitely didn't want to be. I just did it for pure enjoyment. But apparently no one in this studio knew the meaning of the words "fun", "enjoyable", and "nice".
Since I didn't dare talk in my first class, I didn't really get to know too many of the other students very well. However, in my next class the teacher was more relaxed (no one could have anything on my first teacher in the strict and cruel department) so I got to know one girl who was also semi-new to the school. We talked about a few random topics and then she asked, "So are you planning to be a professional dancer? That's what I want to do." I smiled politely and said, "No I'm just in it for fun." She looked at me as if I said I was in it to beat up senior citizens. She recovered quickly however and we moved on to more pleasant topics. Like how painful braces were. Much more pleasant....
A few weeks later all the other students were doing a dress rehearsal for a performance of The Hobbit that I had missed out on due to enrolling late in the year. This meant that yours truly was stuck with a 2-hour private lesson with my second teacher. Fun right? Not. I'm not really an attention seeking person and the last thing I wanted was to have her eagle-eyeing me and no one else all through class. I'm just glad it wasn't with my first teacher though. I'm not sure I'd be alive to tell the experience.....Anyways the private lesson went better than I thought, but once when I was doing some turns she stopped me. I was hoping she was going to say how much improved they were, but instead she said, "Did you know you have a funny habit of sticking your tongue out while you're concentrating?" I had a strange urge to punch her in the face, but I smiled and said, "No I sure didn't know that." They weren't much for compliments in this place...
Since I had enough to worry about in class, it would have been nice to know that my family (who had to stay the whole time due to distance constraints) was staying out of trouble. ha I should have known...During one of my classes (I found out what exactly happened later from my brother) my brothers got restless and decided they wanted to explore around a bit. Soon they found an interesting looking courtyard, and went in shutting the door behind them. After they were in there for a little while they got bored, and decided to go back to the main studio. When the older of the two tried the door, he discovered that it wouldn't open. He tried it again, twisting it this way and that. It wouldn't budge. "Uh, bro," he muttered to the younger of the two. "I think we're locked in." Of course this sent the younger one into a royal panic while the poor older one desperately tried to think of ways to get out before they starved to death or died of dehydration or something. After he tried every possible way to get out, he noticed a window to one side of the courtyard. When he looked in he saw a pottery class in session, and eagerly banged on the window to get their attention. No one answered. He banged again. This time he heard the teacher say, "Is everyone all right back there?" Still no one noticed. By this time he was so mad he almost punched the window out himself, but he didn't which was a good thing since we didn't really need to be sued at this point.
Finally the boys gave up and decided that sooner or later their father would wonder where they were and come looking for them. A few minutes later they finally saw him coming down the hall eating a bag of skittles. "Hi, guys," he said, opening the door and striding in. "Nooo, Dad!!" shrieked the boys. "We're locked-" it was too late. Dad had slammed the door behind him. So now all three very unhappy, ticked off, furious, guys were trapped in the courtyard. Dad tried calling Mom, but her cell phone was off. While he fumed about that the boys tried attracting the attention of the pottery class again, but to no avail. Dad, who had had about enough tomfoolery for the day and was probably wishing he had never come to this accursed placed, walked up to the window and banged on it so loudly that I'm sure everyone was quite terrified. It worked though. The teacher sent someone around to unlock the door, and they were finally free. They could probably sue if they wanted to, but heck it would be too much trouble.
To be continued (once again).....
Saturday, July 12, 2008
The Dance Saga- Part 1
I took dance for about 7 years at 4 different schools, and I must say that while part of it was absolutely wonderful part of it was absolutely horrible. So here are some of my experiences with dance....
I started at a dance school back where we used to live, which was my absolute favorite school. I loved the teachers, the other students, and there was a good balance of fun and seriousness. The recitals were huge and lasted forever (but were still awesome), and the Nutcracker was always an experience. My last recital was absolutely insane because I had to appear on stage 10 different times. I had to keep running back and forth and changing costumes and hoping my hair would stay up and at the same time attempt to do it all in a period of just a few minutes. It was a miracle that I didn't do the wrong dances at the wrong times, but I remembered which was a good thing or my teacher might have killed me. (Only because she cared of course =])
When we moved I had the option of either getting heavily involved in dance competitions (definitely out since they didn't focus a whole lot on ballet), driving 40 something minutes to a large dance studio, or going to a very small studio five minutes away. Let's just say we settled with option 3. I very much enjoyed the classes and all, but it was all a bit of a let down compared to the last school I was at. I was used to classes with 12 or more, and here we were lucky to have 2 people in the older class. I was the only person on pointe in the entire school, so I did get private lessons with that. However, I just wasn't....satisfied. There were no other really good people to push me, no Nutcracker, okay let's just face it; I was spoiled. So when I finally started getting over this feeling the school shut down. I tried to act all sad about it, but inwardly I was thrilled. Now I could go to the big dance school 40 minutes away that had a Nutcracker and everything. Soon my parents signed me up, and before I knew it I was heading there for my first class. I should have known it was all too good to be true...
For one thing all my classmates were snobs. They looked down their noses at you like you were some insignificant clump of dirt while they were the stars of the universe or something....By the end of the first class I wasn't sure I could stand another class with any of them again. Secondly the teacher was extremely annoying. She had broken her leg doing something retarded in her house (fulfilling her life long dream of sliding down the banister maybe?) and so she sat in a chair the whole class and yelled at us. I'll admit dance teachers have to be somewhat strict, but it was a little bit annoying to have her yelling at us like that when she wasn't expending a bit of effort herself.
The pointe work hit me real hard simply because I hadn't really been pushed a whole lot in my last school. While we were finishing up our pointe at the end of the first class there was another class that came after us (hip-hop I think) watching us through the window while they waited. I could have sworn they were laughing right at me. By this time I was so annoyed I wanted to tell them to get in here and start doing pointe work and see how much they liked it. (I didn't have too much sympathy for the sport of hip-hop at the time). To top it all off I discovered that they weren't even having auditions for the Nutcracker. Instead all the parts had been cast before classes had even started for the year, and I had been cast as a mouse which I had already been twice previously in my first dance school. Well this was about the last straw, and my parents and I decided that if I really truly didn't love this school then it wasn't worth driving 40 minutes for. I didn't even last three classes there...
After much searching around, we decided to try a place which looked a bit more serious, (that is the biggest understatement ever recorded), had actual auditions for performances, and was even a little bit closer than the last place. So we decided to give it a try. I desperately hoped that I would really love this place (even as much as my old one) and that I would get back up to speed on pointe and all that. Sometimes hoping can be a pointless endeavor....
To be continued.....=]
I started at a dance school back where we used to live, which was my absolute favorite school. I loved the teachers, the other students, and there was a good balance of fun and seriousness. The recitals were huge and lasted forever (but were still awesome), and the Nutcracker was always an experience. My last recital was absolutely insane because I had to appear on stage 10 different times. I had to keep running back and forth and changing costumes and hoping my hair would stay up and at the same time attempt to do it all in a period of just a few minutes. It was a miracle that I didn't do the wrong dances at the wrong times, but I remembered which was a good thing or my teacher might have killed me. (Only because she cared of course =])
When we moved I had the option of either getting heavily involved in dance competitions (definitely out since they didn't focus a whole lot on ballet), driving 40 something minutes to a large dance studio, or going to a very small studio five minutes away. Let's just say we settled with option 3. I very much enjoyed the classes and all, but it was all a bit of a let down compared to the last school I was at. I was used to classes with 12 or more, and here we were lucky to have 2 people in the older class. I was the only person on pointe in the entire school, so I did get private lessons with that. However, I just wasn't....satisfied. There were no other really good people to push me, no Nutcracker, okay let's just face it; I was spoiled. So when I finally started getting over this feeling the school shut down. I tried to act all sad about it, but inwardly I was thrilled. Now I could go to the big dance school 40 minutes away that had a Nutcracker and everything. Soon my parents signed me up, and before I knew it I was heading there for my first class. I should have known it was all too good to be true...
For one thing all my classmates were snobs. They looked down their noses at you like you were some insignificant clump of dirt while they were the stars of the universe or something....By the end of the first class I wasn't sure I could stand another class with any of them again. Secondly the teacher was extremely annoying. She had broken her leg doing something retarded in her house (fulfilling her life long dream of sliding down the banister maybe?) and so she sat in a chair the whole class and yelled at us. I'll admit dance teachers have to be somewhat strict, but it was a little bit annoying to have her yelling at us like that when she wasn't expending a bit of effort herself.
The pointe work hit me real hard simply because I hadn't really been pushed a whole lot in my last school. While we were finishing up our pointe at the end of the first class there was another class that came after us (hip-hop I think) watching us through the window while they waited. I could have sworn they were laughing right at me. By this time I was so annoyed I wanted to tell them to get in here and start doing pointe work and see how much they liked it. (I didn't have too much sympathy for the sport of hip-hop at the time). To top it all off I discovered that they weren't even having auditions for the Nutcracker. Instead all the parts had been cast before classes had even started for the year, and I had been cast as a mouse which I had already been twice previously in my first dance school. Well this was about the last straw, and my parents and I decided that if I really truly didn't love this school then it wasn't worth driving 40 minutes for. I didn't even last three classes there...
After much searching around, we decided to try a place which looked a bit more serious, (that is the biggest understatement ever recorded), had actual auditions for performances, and was even a little bit closer than the last place. So we decided to give it a try. I desperately hoped that I would really love this place (even as much as my old one) and that I would get back up to speed on pointe and all that. Sometimes hoping can be a pointless endeavor....
To be continued.....=]
Friday, July 11, 2008
Home Sweet Home
Made it back from our trip yesterday and I must say that I am extremely glad to be home. Overall the trip was pretty enjoyable, but parts weren't so great. For example my grandma felt bad the entire time (from her cancer. Prayers for her are really appreciated), on Saturday my mom threw her back now (luckily she's better now) and Sat. I got a cold and ended up sick for the next several days. So yeah that wasn't so fun (with a sore throat you can't yell very loudly at your brothers) but I did enjoy the second part. We got to play minature golf on Monday which, except for my two solitary holes-in-one (don't ask me how I did it cause I don't know), I officially stank out. It wasn't very complimentary. But oh well =]
The trip going was fine, but the trip going back was not exactly the best. At one point all traffic on the highway was stopped for what seemed like ages due to a wreck, which threw us back about a half hour or so. I can now say, however, that I stood in the middle of a busy highway right next to an eighteen-wheeler. haha Anyways after we cleared that we ran into extremely heavy rains which resulted in my dad almost having to pull over cause he could barely see anything. Plus all threw the rainstorm my dad was complaining about how at home we never got any rain. Little did he know, however, that while we were gone it apparently rained quite a bit. Also a tornado apparently came through because when we got to our neighborhood it looked like a war zone. (Okay a bit of an exaggeration, but still) There were split and downed trees everywhere, and the whole place just looked....out of the ordinary. So satisfied now, Dad? =]
The trip going was fine, but the trip going back was not exactly the best. At one point all traffic on the highway was stopped for what seemed like ages due to a wreck, which threw us back about a half hour or so. I can now say, however, that I stood in the middle of a busy highway right next to an eighteen-wheeler. haha Anyways after we cleared that we ran into extremely heavy rains which resulted in my dad almost having to pull over cause he could barely see anything. Plus all threw the rainstorm my dad was complaining about how at home we never got any rain. Little did he know, however, that while we were gone it apparently rained quite a bit. Also a tornado apparently came through because when we got to our neighborhood it looked like a war zone. (Okay a bit of an exaggeration, but still) There were split and downed trees everywhere, and the whole place just looked....out of the ordinary. So satisfied now, Dad? =]
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Leaving (again)
We're going out of town again tomorrow this time to see my other grandparents. I think we'll be back in about a week. Though the trip up there (finally we don't have to go down south for once) is not short, it's nothing compared to the 10-hour one we just took. hehe. Prayers for safe travel would be great, and also prayers for my sanity seeing as how I'll be stuck in the car with my brothers for six hours...ha. Oh well. Guess I'll make it. Ttyl
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Books
Just thought I'd comment on a few of the books I've been reading lately...
Acquaintance with Darkness by Ann Rinaldi is a historical fiction/mystery novel, which is one of my favorite kind of books. This book tells the story of Emily, who is left orphaned right before the assassination of President Lincoln. She plans to live with her friends the Surratts, but when Mrs. Surratt is convicted of helping John Wilkes Booth, she must live with her Uncle Valentine who she believes may be a body snatcher. The book was very fascinating, but quite dark as in it has a bittersweet ending. I would have liked to see a little bit more of a plot twist as in Rinaldi's other books, but overall I enjoyed it.
The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore tells the story of Christina; a teenager who is kidnapped in order to gain some money from her wealthy grandmother. When Christina is released after her grandmother pays the ransom, she discovers that everyone believes she organized her own kidnapping in order to gain money from her grandmother. Christina is determined to prove her innocense, and also tries to determine the third person involved in her kidnapping. Overall this was a great book. It was fast paced, exciting, and had a good plot twist. I wish the ending could have been a little more clear-cut, but other than that it was great.
The Lost Books series by Ted Dekker tell the story of four chosen teenagers set in another reality from our own world. They must collect the seven books of History before the Dark One finds them and uses them to his own evil ends. Along the way they must fight off the legendary Shatki (spelling) and the Horde army, and in the last book 3 of them are transported to Earth. This was a fairly enjoyable series, but sometimes hard to follow. Overall though it was fascinating and I enjoyed the comparisons of their world and ours.
Acquaintance with Darkness by Ann Rinaldi is a historical fiction/mystery novel, which is one of my favorite kind of books. This book tells the story of Emily, who is left orphaned right before the assassination of President Lincoln. She plans to live with her friends the Surratts, but when Mrs. Surratt is convicted of helping John Wilkes Booth, she must live with her Uncle Valentine who she believes may be a body snatcher. The book was very fascinating, but quite dark as in it has a bittersweet ending. I would have liked to see a little bit more of a plot twist as in Rinaldi's other books, but overall I enjoyed it.
The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore tells the story of Christina; a teenager who is kidnapped in order to gain some money from her wealthy grandmother. When Christina is released after her grandmother pays the ransom, she discovers that everyone believes she organized her own kidnapping in order to gain money from her grandmother. Christina is determined to prove her innocense, and also tries to determine the third person involved in her kidnapping. Overall this was a great book. It was fast paced, exciting, and had a good plot twist. I wish the ending could have been a little more clear-cut, but other than that it was great.
The Lost Books series by Ted Dekker tell the story of four chosen teenagers set in another reality from our own world. They must collect the seven books of History before the Dark One finds them and uses them to his own evil ends. Along the way they must fight off the legendary Shatki (spelling) and the Horde army, and in the last book 3 of them are transported to Earth. This was a fairly enjoyable series, but sometimes hard to follow. Overall though it was fascinating and I enjoyed the comparisons of their world and ours.
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