And So It Begins--Or Rather, Continues

This is a little update because I know you all have been missing me terribly and are so lost without any insight into what is new with me.

• At my first Speech tournament (which was Saturday), I broke to finals in Drama. I have never broken to finals before in my previous three years of competition (semi-finals, yes; finals, no). I was so excited that I started to shake and couldn't really breathe. I totally had not anticipated going to finals, considering I had not truly had enough time to prepare. Plus, we were having a difficult time deciding if my piece was a Dramatic or a Humorous piece. Well, I guess it is Drama because I placed 5th overall in Drama! This was such a great tournament for us--we sent three to finals in Drama, two teams to finals in Duo, two to finals in Poetry, and our CX team took 3rd place. And on top of all that, I was able to convince P to do a Duo with me, which is SO exciting because the best Duos in my opinion are male/female. I am so excited for this year...it is going to be the best!
• I am really enjoying reading Crime and Punishment.
• Work is going well, and I like all the people I work with.
• College applications are on their way to being done. I have an interview with CC on Thursday, so we'll see how that goes. I am so excited!

Well, I actually am ahead with my homework at this point, and I may actually get to bed at a really reasonable hour. So, that's all for now, folks. Check back later for pictures from my trip to Mexico from a couple of weeks back. Have a great life until then!

Happy Randomness!

So, Speech Nat Quals are this Friday and Saturday. I am so nervous. I hadn't looked at my piece since State Quals, and I worked on it for the first time since then today. Luckily, I think that working with Mrs. G today made it about 10 times more powerful that it was before. I am pretty excited...it would be so amazing to go to Nationals without going to State. And I have a decent chance...41 entries in Drama, and the majority of those are probably fillers, and sending three to Nationals. I'll let you guys know how I do as soon as I know myself.

Don't you just love how everything hits you in the face right when you least expect it? Such as actually getting an A on an AP Chem test. But then there are those things you know you have to do in the back of your mind that seem to linger there until it is almost too late. Like my HOBY Junior Staff application, which is due Sunday. Or AP tests, which are just a little over a month away. Ahh, how I long to sit back with a good book.

Speaking of good books, I finished The Picture of Dorian Gray the other day. I absolutely LOVE the ending. All of you MUST read it, just so you can see how amazing it truly is. I think Wilde is one of my new favorite authors...now I just have to read some of his plays.

Well, the procrastinating has been fun, but I really must go clean out my backpack now...you would not believe the junk I have accumulated in it. Ta-ta!

Spring Means...

...a lovely week-long break. But that was last week. And I got onto the computer a whooping total of one time. So, to catch you all up...

I was bored, so I made not one, but TWO trips to Barnes and Noble for books. I was super happy because I was in desperate need of reading material...and this time I was hitting the classics. I bought The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Walden and Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and one not-so-classic, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I absolutely adore Dorian Gray. Wilde's writing style is fabulous...I can't quite describe it. I love buying new books. It is so exciting, cracking open the fresh spine and turning the pages. My favorite thing about a new book has to be how it smells, though.

Break consisted of locking myself in my room for two days and cleaning EVERYTHING. And going shopping. I've never gone anywhere for Spring Break. I don't really feel that I am missing anything. I much prefer spending a good amount of time in my bed, catching up on sleep.

The cool thing was, I actually had some of my friends in town, too. So one evening, K and I went and saw Blades of Glory. That was an amazing movie. I loved the humor and the plot. It was just a great movie to escape from the world for a few hours. I highly recommend it.

Well, I better be going. I have some little bits of homework to finish, and I hope to get to sleep at a semi-reasonable hour tonight. So, until next time, have fun!

The Chilling Possibilities of the Future

I just found a new author to go on my favorites list. Scott Westerfeld is amazing. And when I say amazing, I mean truly and utterly remarkable. He wrote a trilogy that includes Uglies, Pretties, and Specials. The Uglies Trilogy examines our society, not as it is now, but what it has the possibilities to become. Okay, it is Sci-Fi, but it is really startling how much he is satirizing and warning us about.

These books take place in the future, only a century or two away from today. While they are still very young, the children of this society are brainwashed into believing that they are all Ugly until they turn sixteen and they have a special surgery to make them Pretties. The Uglies are treated as sub-humans; they have very few rights and are always seen as trouble makers. This is the basis for the story of Tally Youngblood, a girl who has been waiting for her sixteenth birthday all of her life so that she could be pretty and perfect, just like everybody else. Suddenly, however, she meets Shay. Shay despises the practices of the pretty surgery, and intends to run away, bringing Tally with her. And that is only part of the first book.

These books are truly eye-opening. They take the issues we, as a society, are dealing with today and project the possible consequences our actions may have if we don't change soon. Westerfeld attacks anything from war and conflict to self esteem and the "ideal" image that is forced upon us by the media. He even criticizes the idea if "peace" and what it truly means.

I highly recommend these books. While reading them, I kept noticing the cause and effects that we may not have seen before. And, yes, I do realize that they are fiction, but that doesn't mean we have to write them off as totally pointless. As we all know, the main goal of satire is to bring about change...

Make My Life a Teen Novel!

I just read the newest Meg Cabot book, Avalon High. Her books are my weakness, they fulfill my need for teen drama. Give me a volume of The Princess Diaries series, The Mediator series, or anything of hers for that matter, and I go nuts. She is what I spend my Barnes and Noble gift cards on more often than not. Yes, I admit, it is slightly sad. But I love them. A lot.

Every time I read one of Cabot's novels, or almost any other teen novel, I start to wonder why real life can't be that way. Ok, again, I must be losing my mind. But if you really think about it, the girl always ends up with the guy, and everything is happy in the end. It makes my life seem boring. I mean, in All American Girl, Sam saves the president's life, becomes the Teen Ambassador to the UN, and finds out that David, the president's son, likes her back, all while becoming an incredible artist and discovering who she really is. The Princess Diaries series is almost the same, except Mia finds out she is the princess of a small European country, then she also gets the guy, in this case her best friend's older brother. Ok, not so realistic, but it really makes me yearn for that kind of life.

I mean, who wouldn't want to get everything they want in the end? Life would be so nice. Call me crazy, but this is kinda my fantasy, to have the perfect teen novel life.

And while I'm at it, a shout out to Meg Cabot--Keep it up, and if you get a chance, could you rewrite my life?