houston, we have a problem

cause he's loving
he's touching
he's squeezing
another

"Any Way You Want It" mashup - Glee cast

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We watched Apollo 13 in physics this morning. Still not sure how it was relevant, but it's a freaking awesome movie. I was nibbling on Archer's cocoa krispies when she wasn't looking and curled up in a little ball in my chair going "OH GOD DO THEY DIE I DON'T REMEMBER."

Hopefully we'll finish it tomorrow...spoiler: they don't die. I googled it.

We had G-Pa over for dinner tonight, which was always nice. I love him so much, but sometimes seeing him without my grandmother shadowing him makes me really, really sad.

Maja's going to Vanderbilt! I'm so excited. That is so much closer than Arkansas. I like this new development - more time with my little fish is great news for me.

In other news, I have a muscle strain above my ankleeee. No fun. My ankle twisted under me at rehearsal on Monday and did something weird, but I was hoping I could walk it off -- nuh uh, not happening. I'm sitting here with ice on it because it huuuuuurts. And I can't put a brace on it or anything, it's in such an awkward position.

I don't likeee being crippled. Je ne l'aime pas.

Life is crazy and I do not have much time at all to blog. Actually, I do. But tumblr is winning me over. Sometimes pictures express what words cannot. A friend of mine has gotten kicked out of her house. Her parents have suddenly decided they're not okay with her being gay, and she's been disowned. Because she's in love, and it's with a sweet, beautiful person who just happens to be a girl. That just makes me feel physically ill. Please keep Meagan in your thoughts.

today was totally awesome

and I definitely thrive off these days when I need something to smile about def got into UVa and LeHigh in the same day, score def got $$ from LeHigh def want to go to LeHigh more than anything right now def love Eller and Sadie with all my heart def have awesome new music that I can't wait to drive and jam out to def love the rain def love my straight hair (only temporarily)

and baby you're not alone

and baby you're not alone
cause you're here with me
and nothing's gonna bring us down
cause nothing can keep me from loving you
and you know it's true.
It don't matter what'll come to be
our love is all we need
to make it through.

"not alone" - darren criss

--
Okay, I was seriously in the middle of posting last night at like midnight, but right in the middle of the post, my iTouch died. And not like 'oh, I'm just out of battery, charge me later' - no, it just went BAM, and it stopped working. Like, it would not turn on. Thankfully this morning it told me its battery was dead and I could charge it, but...still. Scary stuff.

--

Things I have been doing lately:
-I've been on Tumblr a lot - I really, really love it. I kind of joke that it's like my secret nerd cave, but it's true in a way. A lot of my posts are fandom related (Glee lately), and I follow people who are just as nerdy! It's a lot of fun.
-Frisbee golf & movie night with Amber on Thursday! That was fun, we had a good time. I'm kind of awful at Frisbee golf, but she's really good, and she was teaching me. I definitely improved by the time we got around the course. Then we headed back to her place and watched HP #1 and Glee ep #1 (I'm trying to get her hooked - so far it's working). It was a good evening.
-Waiting to hear if I've gotten into colleges. Grrrr. April 1st cannot come soon enough.
-A lot of piano-ing. One of the awesome things about break is having time to just go down and mess around with chords and sheet music and stuff.
-Reading! I've missed it.
-Sudoku
-Writing fic-swap stuff for some of my Tumblr buddies...huge time stealer, but I'm having a great time with it.

--

Also, I miss talking about music in this blog. Consider that a new feature from now on.

you breathed infinity into my world

So I'm definitely kind of obsessed with Rylyn Juliano. SD and I saw her in CHORUS LINE last Tuesday - she played the role of Cassie, who, if you don't know the show, is absolutely crucial to the show. Rylyn was amazing, gahhh. She's a beautiful dancer, and THEN she starts singing, and her voice is gorgeous - PLUS she can act like nobody's business. Definition: "triple threat."

Anyways. I emailed her with a thank-you-for-such-a-great-show, and she replied with the sweetest message. Basically she was impressed that I knew enough to say more than just "u r good lol," she was flattered to receive my message, and she was more than happy to answer any questions I may have about show biz.

Yeahso. Rylyn and I are talkin'. I feel like I'm talking to a star, it's kind of amazing.

This also happened back when Legally Blonde came through Chatt -- after the show I looked up some of the more impressive guys and gals. I'm friends with two of the LB stars on Facebook (one of them kind of a diva and friends all her fans - I talked to the other one on Twitter for a little while before I friended her). That's the fun thing about talking to these rising stars - they don't have the swarming masses of fans that movie stars and stuff do, so they're more than happy to reach out and thank their fans. Makes me feel kind of awesome.

Myeah. My life is not all that interesting right now, but break has been lovely. Amber and I are going to hang out and have a frisbee golf/HP movie night tomorrow, which I'm super psyched for.

beach-bound!

Hi chickadees! Sorry I've been MIA for the last few days - we're currently at the beach, and internet access here is kind of spotty.

We are at a beach called Rosemary - it's like two miles down the road from Seaside. Rosemary's generally a looooot more quiet than Seaside, but yesterday it was absolutely packed! Apparently a lot of people have left today though - literally half the crowd is gone. I'm a fan.

The weather down here is gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. It's mostly mid-seventies, getting up to eighty around the hottest part of the day, and there's a breeze down on the beach, which is perfect. And the water, you guys - the water is like something out of a painting. It's totally clear and a beautiful aquamarine color that just ripples over the sand. So beautiful.

Today Dad and I rented a sea kayak and went out into the waves while Mom and Emma stayed on the beach and fried - I mean, "tanned." And guess what? We were kayaking with dolphins! Bottlenosed dolphins, they must have been out there feeding or something (we could see them slapping their tails from a distance - they do that to stun the fish), but we were right up in there with them. Dolphins are positively GIANT. It's unbelievable. When you're right up next to them in the water and their shadows are just thick and so powerful under the water - it's absolutely mind-blowing. One of them swam under our kayak a few times. We even saw a momma and her baby! They would surface together with their little fins right next to each other, and the other two bigger ones would flank them.

Anyways, it was awesome, until I got seasick, haha. Like throwing up over the side of the kayak. So dad brought me back in and took mom out, but they didn't see any dolphins.

Other things we've been seeing? Jellyfish! Mom and I saw a Portuguese Man-o-War yesterday, floating way out in the ocean, and Dad and I have been seeing a ton of little guys called comb jellies. Apparently they don't sting - Dad held a tiny one in his hands - but I brushed up against one and swore it got me, haha. Anyways. Stinging or not, they're not exactly things I'd like to hang out with. I love looking at 'em though.

Guys, I miss Sarasota so much, it's ridiculous. I mean, I like beaches okay, but Sarasota Bay at sunset was the most wonderful thing ever. There would be pelicans and egrets out fishing out the sandbars and mullet jumping out of the water and horseshoe crabs dragging themselves in the shallows, and it was like something out of a travel brochure. I really, really want to go back. That program was amazing, and it's times like this that I miss Sarasota like I miss breathing.

one singular sensation

IOU: post re Chorus Line. Check back later.

happy pi day!

good lordy i have too much to do. graaaaaah.

-hairspray is going to be freaking awesome
-nisha's chapel talk! talk about pie overload
-annie haun is my lifesaver
-i get to see laura laughlin soon! i can do it.

spring break, why must you be so far away?

look at the stars, look how they shine for you

I would have gone to Terpsichord again last night if I could have, but it was Cousin David's birthday, so we were all over eating dinner with Uncle and Grandpa and the usual gang. Aunt Missy's an absolutely fabulous cook - she seriously overdoes herself every time we eat with them. She's also started making me a separate entrée since I've been a vegetarian, even though I tell her every single time that she doesn't need to worry about me.

Well, I didn't get to go to all of Terpsichord, but Emma and I slipped out with hasty goodbyes and happy-birthdays around nine o'clock (it was Derek's birthday, so she met up with some friends at Cold Stone) and I booked it to GPS to catch the end of the concert. I really, really wanted to see Urban Veil (Eller and Emily's) again - if it was the only dance I saw, I was cool with that. There wasn't any way I could make it to see any of the first act, so I was content with getting there for my favorite part of Act 2. And I made it! Barely. I slipped into the theater right after the junior number ended and got to see from there on out.

On Saturday I stayed for a little while afterwards to hug my friends and congratulate them and tell them how awesome they were and all that. I was a little hesitant to stay on Sunday - I mean, yeah, it's not a secret that I'm obsessed with Terpsichord, but I didn't want to be creepy and be all "oh hey yep totally came back again." Plus, I mean, it's their night, especially after the last performance. I didn't know if I wanted to see my girls crying - even the thought of it makes me want to rip my heart out. I'm sure part of it is me being in denial - that'll be me in a few months, after the musical's over. But with the musical, it's always the left-behinds that cry the most. Usually. I know as much as the GPS theater department has been my second home and the only family that loves me no matter what...well, I'm ready to move on. It's time to extend my boundaries in new directions.

Hey, speaking of college, I've still only officially gotten in to one (U Richmond), BUT I've gotten two lovely letters from UVa and LeHigh saying in essence "we really, really like you and hope you consider UVa/LeHigh, but we can't officially tell you anything until later in the month."

You guys, I would LOVE to go to LeHigh. Nothing would make me happier. I mean, I'll totally be happy anywhere I applied (I think? I never visited Bowdoin - Maine is too far away), but LeHigh is still my top choice. There was something about it when I visited - I just kept thinking god, I could see myself here. I would love it here.

But my dad went to UVa and he'll be pushing for it, especially since it will be (I think?) cheaper. I liked UVa and all, but it's just absolutely massive. And uber preppy.

gah. not looking forward to making these decisions

any minute now, a ship is coming in.

Dance...wow. I'm so full I'm not even going to try to describe it. But there's something extremely poignant, extremely beautiful, and extremely heartbreaking about seeing my girls up there giving their final salute.

I love dance. It's that kind of pure joy that's almost painful, because you know it has to end at some point in time. So. lovely.

I'm really, really going to miss this place. Or at least these people.

Sorry about the scattered blogging - life is just nuuuuuuts right now.

Things I have to get done before spring break:
- figure out how I want to design my lamp for physics
- design my lamp for physics (probably over the weekend)
- finish travel brochure for human bio
- meet with Annie and Valerie to plan/finish brochure
- email McLain and Molly re: powerpoint for human bio
- finish powerpoint for human bio
- start planning body project for human bio
- human bio test Wednesday
- physics test Monday
- calculus test Tuesday
- Stuff for Blair & Nisha's chapel talks (Friday, Monday)
- Terpsichord
- Study questions, OR live for human bio test
- keep writing Brittana
- rehearsal every day, plus Saturday

See you on the flip side, homies. Life is absolutely crazy until Wednesday.

Glee literally had me in tears tonight.

oh hey monday

Ohh Mondays. How I loathe thee.

People I adore:
Elizabeth
Teddie
SD
SCobble
Nisha (when she's actually being nice to me)
Jaya

That's all for now, blog buddies. So much to do, so little time. Such is the life.

testosterone overload

Mom and Em are in a tennis tournament in Montgomery, meaning it's another weekend with me'n'Popster. Weekends with him are kind of a mixed bag - on the one hand, I'm mostly left to my own devices, which is nice. But Dad's totally one of those people who thinks weekends/vacations are the perfect opportunity to get things done. I swear I hardly ever see him just...chilling out. We always joke about how our vacations are always go-and-do instead of chill-and-relax.

Anyways, this weekend's been a lot like that. I worked at our church on Friday night (helping out with a dinner and a movie thing for the younger kids and their parents) and got home and basically sleeeeeeeeept. Saturday I spent most of the day homeworking, though I didn't get a whole lot done...see, Dad rented a wood-splitter to attack his growing pile of pre-firewood logs, and he and Uncle and Cousin spent the afternoon under a canopy splitting wood in the rain. Cousin got bored after a while and came in and hung with (read: distracted) me, so that was not that productive. Later that night we went over to Cousin/Uncle's house (Aunt is out of town, so they were having a weekend like ours), went out for pizza with Grandpa, and then went back to their house to watch a movie.

I was kind of annoyed by the excess of basketball games, greasy pizza, and man-gossipping (yes, men gossip like crazy, especially lawyers) and I wanted to go home, but Dad convinced me to stay.

Sooo, we watched a freaking awesome movie called MAN ON WIRE, which is the story of this Frenchman who strung a wire between the Two Towers (illegal) and WALKED ON IT. It's a great movie, I really loved it. The fact that the people were French was even cooler.

Sometime towards the end of the movie, I found myself on the couch snuggled up against my dad. My uncle was sitting on the end of the couch, Cousin was between us, and one of their German Shorthairs Wally was sprawled out across us. I was squished and I smelled like dog and I don't even know whose hands and legs and tails were where, but I realized sometime about then how much I'm going to miss stuff like that when I'm at college. I really, really love my family, especially this little group that I hang out with all the time. It's going to be sad not going out to see movies and play board games with them.

Anyways, that's my philosophical thing for the night. In other news, Tumblr is awesome. Love love love.

Things to post about tomorrow

Dinner with fam
Man on wire
Neuroglia
Rain
Wood
Love my fam

Survive the week: check.

Huzzahhhhhhh. Now it's sleep time.

A massive part of my day involves looking for love.

and I threw us into the flames

I am extremely frustrated with a lot of people and a lot of things right now, so I'm going to make a lovely post about something that makes me smile.

I spent two weeks of this past summer at a marine biology-centric program in Sarasota, Florida. There were twenty-four of us in "fish camp," and while I didn't care for a lot of the other kids in the program (for the most part they were immatureeee. and really girls, talking about how people look gross in their swimsuits is not cool), I met a wonderful gal who goes by the name of Maja. (pronounced 'Maya' - she's Polish)

In icebreakers at the beginning of the program, Maja told us that she sings at local coffeeshops in her hometown in Arkansas, and a week after the program ended she was trying out for American Idol in Nashville. Of course we made her sing for us, haha. She had a beautiful voice, and we were all blown away by her. So I decided to be friends with her. :) That's how I roll at new programs like that, folks. A little friendliness goes a long way.

Maja didn't hang out much with anyone except her roommate McKenzie for the first few days, but I was persistent. A few nights into the program we slept over at an aquarium, and Maja and I put our sleeping bags next to each other in front of the amazing tableau of fish swimming all around us. We ended up "tenting" our sleeping bags so we could text without having our phones blind people, and we stayed up and giggled and talked about life until both of us fell asleep.

And from then on, Miss Maja and I were buds. She hung out with a group that called themselves the "Sexy Six" - one of them was McKenzie - but as we became immersed in our intense research projects and started bonding over dissections and lectures and dolphins she started always coming back to me. She might sit with the Sexy Six at breakfast, but whenever we'd walk across campus to do our morning lab work or wade into Sarasota Bay in the evening for field work, we were always together.

And let me tell you, it was nice. I haven't had a best friend since my elementary school bud Emilee, and having someone that I knew held me above everyone else was, well, special. For the first time since Emilee I wasn't paranoid about how I was interacting with someone or worried when they hung out with other people. Because I knew my little fish would always swim back to me.

I'll make another post about Maja another time - it's getting late and I'm losing my train of thought. We didn't have a relationship beyond anything platonic, but she's been one of the most important people in my life in the past year, and she warrants at least two or three posts.

I wish nothing but the best for you, too

I got nervous and edited out this post. So, in the meantime, here's a snazzy picture I found on Tumblr.