Report from the Distant Battlefields- February 21-26, 2014

Greetings, Readers. I send news from the lone adventurer.

Rachel no sooner began on her perilous adventure through the campus of USC when she was overtaken by enemies. Nevertheless, we hope she possesses skills and tools to make it out of this alive.

Friday the 21st news was relatively good. The land was ripe for exploring and roaming. Weather was fine, the natives were friendly and she even ran into a familiar face once again. Chloe from home came back, and Rachel was able to give some advice in regards to her friend's journey into college campuses. Hopefully, Chloe will follow in Rachel's footsteps and be another to explore the wonders of Southern California.

Despite happiness in seeing old friends, Rachel was fearing an enemy close on her tail. She got a glimpse of it as she struggled to finish a character biography in time for her rehearsal of Fortinbras, yet made it through on a close call. She accomplished this by finishing the project and not getting to go to rehearsal anyways, yet the air still clung to the scent of homework approaching.

Her duties were going slowly, as crew member of Art of Success. This gave her plenty of contemplation time... perhaps a bit too much. Not a lot of homework was finished this night, but was instead filled with taking in as many details of this new show as possible in a very short amount of time.

Saturday and Sunday, we lost nearly all contact with our adventurer. An enemy had advanced that Rachel had not seen coming- tech rehearsals!

Yes, tech rehearsals. All day.

Art of Success marched along through the run of the show from 10am to 10pm for two days in a row. Although exciting and invigorating, Rachel reports little progress in staying ahead of the homework enemy during these few days.

We heard back from her Monday, where we learned that because of these delays and the sheer size of the enemy's strength and numbers, she had been overtaken.

The battle began Monday evening. She faced her enemies on the stage of Art of Success, furiously attempting to find order and accomplishment over homework. Homework's weapons included distraction, duty to the show, and intensity in numbers and difficulty. It was super effective.

Yet Rachel tarried on and successfully won the battle of Monday night. It was a slight victory, as much of the homework was left alive. There were a few casualties as well- sleep time, part of self-confidence, physical health. A victory is a victory however. With what little communication we had with our heroine, we urged her to escape these battlefields to a safer part of the land.

But the battle was not yet completed. With daring bravery Rachel rushed into the heat of it again on Tuesday night. After a distant attack away from the frontal battlefields, the forces during Art of Success were less oppressive than the night before. The enemy was recovering from several casualties, yet so was Rachel. The result of the war was much the same as the night before: a victory, but hardly so. It was only a victory by the standards that the homework left alive was not primary enemy material to be defeated.

Again, we urged Rachel to escape, but now she could not. The enemy was gaining power in increasing numbers from the South of these lands; Writing class.

Wednesday night we didn't hear from Rachel. The worst was feared. Has Rachel perished in the heat of battle? Where is the battlefield now? Who will defeat the enemy if Rachel cannot?!?

In the early wee hours of the morning, a report came in. Our heronine was indeed defeated by the power from the south. Writing class seemed to perceive a power that stretched across boundaries and lands, weakening our adventurer before she even approached the battlefields. It slipped into her mind, draining self-confidence and willpower. It drew her towards temptations of Facebook and Youtube. It nearly shut down her brain. We quote, from the report:

"I'm completely exhausted, I don't feel right, I'm completely overwhelmed and I have no idea what to do or how to start anything."

This could have been a terrible blow right from the start- Keeping your wits about you at all times without exception is a crucial, life-preserving tool in these dangerous places and times.

In preparation for the battle, the enemy's power subsided, and our heroine found new strength. But hark! Gathering what was left of her courage, she found a new tool: Optimism!!
It was effective, but not super effective.

The enemy came on with the most intense forces of tech week activity, duty, and high-tension than ever before as the show went through an open dress rehearsal. It raised the strongest shield imaginable- no laptops allowed backstage. Rachel was left, exhausted and worn, with optimism as her only defense, and was forced to retreat back to her meager lodgings to regain her strength.

Alas, if only she could have done so! The enemy followed her back to her residing place and tortured her through the night with distractions and one, very large homework project. Into the wee hours of the morning she battled, but still arose this morning to find her enemy not defeated. Only significantly wounded.

This enemy, whom Rachel has named "Writing 150 Paper," has gone back to the enemy camp to regain strength and nurse his wounds. Rachel is also in the process of forming new battle plans, despite our urges for her to escape.

There must be another way!!! But if Rachel does not fight, the homework enemy will take over the entire land of USC and destroy the lives of those happy citizens residing therein. She cannot let her mind be poisoned and destroyed by these vicious foes to the peace and well-being of humanity!!! Yet the odds are against her. She has done spying near the edges of the camp and foresees more battle on the Art of Success stage, as well as formidable enemies being prepared for war. They include horrific creatures like "Sociology Midterm" and "Theater 210 Midterm";  skilled assassins like "130 paper", "Scene study midterm presentation and rehearsal," and "130 midterm project"; as well as the strongest warrior mankind has ever known: the returning Writing 150 paper. With them come the minions and evil citizens seduced by the power of the enemy- the readings, the rehearsal journals, the articles, the rehearsals, the practices, the dishes, the laundry, and the overwhelming desire to consume everything made out of chocolate.

Rachel could not yet reveal to us her specific battle plans, nor the tools at her disposal for fear of alerting the enemy and allowing them to prepare for her attacks. We suspect that this excuse is a lie and that she doesn't know what the heck she's going to do herself.

Nevertheless, we will be always on alert for news of our adventuring, daring, heroine, and will report back when we hear anything.

Fight on. Fight on indeed.

I'm So a Theater Person- February 20, 2014

I think I chose the right major.

Today was pretty crummy, when it started out. Yes, I did get to sleep in because my Writing 150 class was canceled, but I didn't feel quite right and was still pretty sleepy. But I got my planner put together and made it to Theater History class.

I find it really amusing how nobody likes this class. It's funny how quickly people can bond over something they mutually dislike. It seems that whenever I run into another theater student, all I have to ask is, "Are you in 210?" and we're automatically bonded. Though I enjoy the complaints of others much more than giving my own, for some reason. I wonder why that is!

Nevertheless, we once again survived Theater History today. It actually wasn't all that bad, since she used clips the London Olympic Ceremony to make a point about spectacle. Every single class though, we have to turn in a "Lecture Exercise." Basically, everybody gets out a piece of paper, writes down the answer to a question or a response to whatever she asks us to, and then there's a mad flurry to hand it in to the TAs at the end of class. It's only real purpose is to be an indirect form of taking attendance, but it's more annoying than anything. Ugh.

Writing 150 was cancelled today because of writing conferences we each had with our professor. I scheduled mine right after Theater history class, so naturally I went there next. We discussed my thesis and topic sentences, and she really liked my idea and my argument!!! There was one point I made that she disagreed with though. Not that it was a bad point, she just had a different opinion. We discussed it a little bit, and I admitted- I don't know all of my opinions yet. I have an idea of what I think is right and wrong and what I think in general, but I'm not certain of all the details. And she totally was ok with that... I don't know what I expected, but... yay, I guess! I'm allowed to be conservative! She also mentioned challenging those ideas, though. I don't remember her exact wording, but it was something along the lines of challenging my ideas to help them form. I like that. I think I'm going to adopt this perspective in general, it's a good one to have.

I don't think I've written about this on the blog, but I very often find things I think or believe to not be the normal or "right" way of thinking of things around campus. Mostly politically. Most people here are pretty liberal. I'd like to consider myself more moderate, but I'm still moderately conservative. So... a lot of what I think has been challenged here. I just didn't really think of it as a challenge before. I like this mentality a lot though. When something you believe is challenged, it becomes a lot stronger, and it can become stronger because of that. It's more about standing up and facing what other people say than trying to avoid it in order to nurture any tension you feel as your ideas are being countered. This could also be more stressful. We'll give it a try and see!

Anyways, tangent. Sorry.

I am WAY too good at going off on tangents. I'm pretty sure if you gave me a microphone and a topic to start with I could just talk and talk and talk and it would turn out to be something fairly entertaining. Or not. But it would be interesting, because I wouldn't stop until I either caught myself or somebody told me outright to shut up.

Maybe I should be a video blogger. I can record my random little thoughts and people can listen at will, if they want. Or they can skip ahead in the video. It gives all this talking a purpose though.

Dinner tonight was a nice little treat for myself. I walked all the way out to Parkside with my Lord of the Rings book and had dinner there before walking all the way back to the McClintock Theater. I could've just eaten at EVK or Cafe 84, which are closer to my starting and ending destinations... but I wanted the food at Parkside more. So why not? Plus, I really enjoyed the walk and the time with my book. It's a good thing to give yourself a little time to just be alone and sink into a book, you know?

Anywho, to the real point of the blog. Finally. Sorry...

These next two weekends are going to be quite interesting. Remember how I worked backstage on a show last semester, even though I didn't really have to? Well, this semester I have to. I'm working on "The Art of Success" written by Nick Dear and performing in the McClintock Theater next weekend, but tech started today! So instead of going to Fortinbras rehearsal, I went to the first Meet and Greet night for Art of Success.

I'm working with the same Stage Manager as Lady Windemere's Fan, which is awesome. I love Jen! She's adorable and awesome and just all-around great! I'm also doing the same kind of job- deck crew. But there's a lot less for me to do, since there aren't many scene changes, so I'll mostly be filling in at every little area that someone needs to be at- Costumes, sets, props, whatever. It'll be a blast!

We were supposed to see a run through of the show, but the show isn't actually all together yet. Jen let me go early, since Fortinbras was literally rehearsing next door. So I did end up in rehearsal after all!!! And I LOVE rehearsal. I love this show. I love my fellow actors. I love the director.

But seriously, I'm working with an incredible group of people. I don't do a whole lot in this show, so most of the read through we've been doing lets me sit back and admire everyone else's work and watch as they work through their respective material. It's just... it's all so cool. I really do admire what everyone is doing. They're all perfectly cast! Plus, I'm learning as I listen. :) We're all getting along pretty great too!!!

By the way, I learned Hamlet's real name- Kapil. Also, Horatio is Austin and Ophelia is Stephanie. Hopefully I'll remember that! Anywho, Kapil and I sang more of "Love is an Open Door" after rehearsal. He was excited to show me that he learned some of the chords on the piano, which was AWESOME. I also learned that both of our favorite Disney movies is Aladdin, so I played "A Whole New World" and it was equally grand. He walked back with me since we were both going in the same general direction, and we talked more about music, and then science, and then time travel. Yay! I have a new friend!! :)

The whole reason I'm happy right now is because of rehearsal though. All day today I've been feeling crummy on and off, worried about all the work I have coming up these next few weeks, trying to figure out how I'm going to juggle rehearsals and working at tech, and through all this not knowing where to begin and worrying about it all. But being in the theater... it makes everything better. I'm so grateful for being in a show. I'm grateful that it's this show! It's going to be a great 6 weeks :)

Scratch what I said when I started writing- I know I chose the right major. This is exactly the type of environment and people I want to be around and the type of work I want to be doing every single day of my life. Hands down.

Fight on, friends

Let's Go on with Rehearsal- February 19, 2014

I can't decide what the best part of my day was today.

I woke up a bit earlier than normal this morning in order to get some scene homework done for my Scene Study class. I still didn't finish, and John gave me a stage slap for it, but he still let me email it in before 4pm. So hey, I guess it could've been worse... I feel bad for not finishing though.

I also had to bring my bike to that class today, so that Matt and Aubrey (two people in the class) could use it for their scene!! We didn't get around to working on it, but I'm excited to see how they work the blocking with the bikes in such a small space.

But the best part of Scene Study class today was seeing a really familiar face before class started, and all through class!!! My friend from PYT, Chloe!!!

She told me she'll be in LA all this week doing some college shopping and looking around. Today was her USC day, and she got the chance to sit in on a class. Turns out that class was my class!!! It was really fun for me to see a friend from home!!

Those of you who don't know Chloe, she played Elle Woods in Legally Blonde with me last summer, though she wasn't in my cast. We were also in Beauty and the Beast Jr. and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat together, plus she was in Hairspray when I was ASM. She's a remarkably talented young lady! But she liked my college, so I'm happy! Hopefully I'll see her around this campus in a couple of years!

My time in between classes was spent doing the character homework I didn't do for John, so that I could get it emailed in on time. Sociology was... well. It was. I didn't really like it today. I didn't learn anything, some of the stuff we did talk about was frustrating, and my notes are incomplete because he skips over some slides and tells us to do it later, even though we got out a few minutes early and definitely could have had some time to copy down more of the powerpoints... So that wasn't too pleasant.

I probably should've gotten more homework done earlier... Doing it late at night is a very bad habit.

Well, I stalled, and ended up running to Cafe 84, shoving food down my throat, then briskly walking to rehearsal right after. It didn't affect my rehearsal experience though.

Ok, this might've been the best part of my day. I LOVE rehearsals!!! I love this cast, this director, my role, everything. It doesn't even feel like I have a small role, even though I totally do. We all have a lot of work to do, but we're getting along quite well, and the show is already getting me excited on the second day. I think the last time I was excited about a show this early on was Jam Jar Sonnets. Granted, that was just a year ago, but it ended up being one of my favorite shows I've ever done, so this is encouraging!

We started with a few character exercises, just to explore how our character looks and moves physically. Then we began table work, moving slowly through the show and breaking down parts. And that was the bulk of rehearsal.

I didn't get stopped for anything, but I need to learn how to say a few phrases in Polish. Can anyone help?? Seriously. If there's a website that'll teach me pronunciations as well as the Polish words, or something, that would be awesome. 

In the course of rehearsal, we discussed not only the show and our characters, but the favorite foods of our characters. We also broke out into "Let it Go" during one of our breaks (I didn't start it!!! I wanted to, but it started anyways. So yay!). I sang the whole song through with my cast mates who play Horatio and Ophelia. It was awesome. Then after rehearsal, Hamlet and I sung a bit of "Love is an Open Door" and vowed to learn all of it. Hooray!!! (Don't worry Stephen, if you're reading this. We can sing it together too <3)

The quote of the night though?

Mary/Osric- "We went from talking about favorite foods to procreation..."

Me- "Welcome to theater."

There's no business like show business!!!

Sorry for using character names for now. I'll learn everyone's names at some point, but it's only been the second day!

By the way, if you're confused about the characters, "Fortinbras" is a parody of Hamlet. Well, it's more like a farce. It takes place immediately after the events of Shakespeare's play, with the first scene of our play being the last scene of the original. However, ours is a comedy, much unlike the Bard's original idea. Characters that died in the first play do make a comeback (hence Hamlet and Ophelia), but the main plot is centered around young Fortinbras, the prince who comes in at the end of the original play. I'm playing one of two Polish maidens. I would tell you more about my purpose in the play, but it would involve more philosophizing about it than is necessary at this point. So I hope that's an ok enough explanation.

But yeah. Rehearsals are great. I'm so excited for the next one, and I left this one feeling really happy!!!

Since then, I've been procrastinating... and doing homework, I guess. I've really got to get my act together on this homework thing. I think my problem is I don't have a cohesive to do list right now. I always work better with to do lists. 

Put that on the To Do list: Make a To Do list. 

Anywho, I hope your day was lovely too! And if it wasn't, I leave you with this fantastic song that I rediscovered during my procrastination tonight. It always makes me happy, for some reason, so hopefully you'll enjoy it too.

Hellooooooo, Nurse!

Fight on, Friends.

New(ish) Start- February 17-18, 2014

Well, I'm back at school again. Weekends don't last forever, unfortunately.

Yesterday was difficult though... Waking up after the last night in your own bed for a good month or so, packing everything together, saying goodbye to the siblings... You don't really realize how much you miss home and how special and important it all is to you until you have to leave it. It was really hard to go.... But I needed the break. So I'm glad that I went in the first place.

I had an awesome flight though! Not only got some homework done, but had no one sitting next to me. I got to sprawl out and do whatever I pleased and just relax. That was nice.

Not much happened when I got back to school. I discovered that I forgot my headphones and my retainer at home.... ugh. I had to get myself new headphones today. My orthodontist would be so mad at me if he knew how little I wear that retainer though... He'd probably make me get braces again, so nobody tell him, please.

But I had a lovely surprise in the evening!!! Jinny, Sneha, and Kieryn had a belated birthday present for me. It's the first Hobbit movie!!!!!!!!!! Extended edition!!!!!!! I'm so excited to watch it and very very grateful for it!!!! Hooray!!!!!!

I also got to FaceTime my beautiful sister Melissa, who I miss quite dearly. It was good to talk to her and see her face.

Today... today was interesting.

I slept through my 8am class.... I still feel guilty about this. I know it's not a huge deal, and probably won't make or break my college experience, but I feel awful!!! I shouldn't be missing class, especially when it only meets once a week!!!!

But I've been feeling really crummy all day too, so I guess that's a bit of an excuse. It feels like that cold from last week came back for an encore in full force. Here's the weird part though- I went to the Health Center to get it checked out (cause I felt that blegh), waited an hour to be seen, and was then told that I am absolutely fine and there is nothing wrong with me.....

Uuuhhh... Ok....

I told this to a couple other people later in the evening who also had colds, and their response was, "Oh man, never go to the Health Center." Basically, they don't know what they're talking about. I think the lesson learned here is only go there if you've got a lot of concrete evidence in your body that you have some sort of disease. But at the same time, they've been right before... I don't know who to trust.

Anyways, tonight was the first rehearsal of Fortinbras!!! I love it already. The cast is perfect, the director is super nice, and the crew is awesome. We read through the whole play once, then got to have a big Q&A session about the show, our characters, our casting (yes, even our casting! Our director was really open with us, which was so nice), and any other particulars we were confused on. The director's name is Jen, by the way. She's really focused on the characters and bringing them to life, no matter how small the role may seem. I'm really stoked to work with her. It's going to be hard work, but it's going to be great! I can't wait for the next rehearsal tomorrow night!!

I also spent a lot of today working on my Scene Study scene! It's from a One act called Laundry and Bourbon, and I play Hattie. She reminds me a lot of my grandma (on my mom's side), which makes her a ton of fun for me to play and explore. Elizabeth is played by Francesca, who I'm very happy to be working with. We're getting some good ideas, and I'm enjoying myself thusfar.

We worked this evening in Francesca's dorm room, since her roommate was out, and I have to say that I feel a tad cheated by my Pardee dorm room now. She has so much more floor space and closet space, plus more drawers and a nicer wall!!! She doesn't even have the popcorn ceiling!! I'm jealous. I like my little dorm room, don't get me wrong, but still. Dang.

Speaking of housing, I officially have housing for next year! I'll be living in Troy East with Jinny, Jessie, Joyce, and Sarah. Joyce was awesome and had the first housing selection time, so she got us in right where we wanted to be really early in the selection process. Score.

Anywho. This cold requires I sleep. I'm going to do that now.
I really miss home... but I'm getting back in the swing of things. Getting back involved in classes and work will help, but please pray that my stress won't go up again. That nearly did me in last month.

Love you all, and Fight on, friends.

To Love From Hell- February 10-16, 2014

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Yes, that was a few days ago. Sorry... I was going to write this all up then, but didn't quite get to it.

I mentioned in my last post (which was about a week ago) that the upcoming week was going to be pretty tough. It certainly was.

Monday morning I woke up with a cold, which certainly complicated the rest of the day. I was feeling pretty awful all that day, even though I needed all that time to catch up on homework since I spent the majority of the weekend getting caught up all for one class.

Tuesday I was up very late at night finishing a Sociology paper. I finished the first draft around 3 in the morning and stopped there.
One of the best parts of Tuesday though was a nice long conversation I had with my mom. I was feeling really tired, pretty sick, and really worried about my paper, so I called her and said "Mom, I need a pep talk." She's really good at those, and talking to her certainly perked me up :). The other awesome thing that happened on Tuesday was Mark Study! I'm really enjoying going through the book of Mark like this. This time, we were discussing a particular passage that mentioned "the secret of the Kingdom of Heaven," but Brian (our leader) left us for a bit to discuss it on our own. By the time the large group of us came up with an answer, he told us we were "so close" but it was about 10pm and time for us to go... unless we were all willing to stay for 10 minutes or so later in order to work through it. Nobody left, and he led us through. We got the answer and it was totally worth it!! Plus, we got cookies for being willing to stay later, and I got to make some new friends.

Wednesday was a race to finish the paper from the night before. It was far too long, so I had to work hard to edit it and make it more concise and shorter. I finished just in time, with about 20 minutes to spare so I could run to my dorm and get my music binder for my voice lesson later.
I really need to be practicing my singing more. I apologize in advance to anyone in the dorms who may be forced to overhear this in the future.
Wednesday night I had another entire paper to write, this time for my theater history class.... ugh. I found a little bit of enjoyment out of it since I felt oddly energized for a lot of time time I was writing it. I thought I was going to end up pulling an all-nighter, since I had Writing homework to finish too, but around 3am, my brain was not working anymore. I slept until about 5:30, then got up and finished the paper at around 8:30 in the morning. Poor Jinny was up pretty late too. She also slept about 2 hours, except she went to bed at 6 and got up around 8:30 or so. It was a rough night for both of us.

Thursday, we were both understandably exhausted. I didn't end up finishing my Writing homework, but I made it through the day somehow. I rewarded myself with a nap after my theater history class, planning on getting up just in time for the 3:30 discussion session that I hate.
I got up at 3:45 and decided it wasn't worth it. Chalk that up for my first college class I've skipped on purpose because I didn't feel like going. I was told later I didn't miss anything, so oh well!!

That night I spent packing, and I got to go to InterVarsity to make caregiver kits for people in Africa that take care of people with HIV and AIDS. I had an awesome time. It feels so good to do something for people in need, even if it's really small and across the country!!

Phew. Friday was quite a hectic morning though. I was planning on getting up early so I'd time to actually get ready and pull my stuff together before class at 9, but got up late at 8:30! Yikes!!! I barely got to class on time, and actually didn't, and then didn't do well on the quiz at all since I didn't read the play I was supposed to this week... papers! Sorry!!! Nevertheless, it was a nice discussion session where we got to talk about how we felt about the class and the play as well.

Then it was a rush back to my dorm room and to get all my bags together and to the airport!

I came home for the weekend!!!

Getting to the plane was a bit stressful. I was moving basically nonstop from the moment I woke up this morning all the way until I sat down on the plane... but it was a nice ride, and Grandpa picked me up so I got to see him, and then I was home...

You know the feeling of going 1000 miles per hour and then all of a sudden slamming on the brakes? That's what being home all of a sudden felt like. As if this entire past month has just been a whirlwind of a dream but now I was back in reality... It feels so nice.

So my Valentine's day this year was about family love, and I was completely enveloped in it. These past few days, I've been surrounded and comforted and encouraged over and over again by my siblings and parents. I needed this trip home so much. I've gotten to sleep, eat much better food (my family's been eating really healthy since I've been gone!), and talk to my parents. They give me so much of their encouragement and wisdom. I appreciate it so much. I know that Mom's been going out of her way to make me feel a lot better since I've been back too, and I can tell. I'm so grateful. I have the best family in the world. Thanks guys. And especially thanks to you, Mom and Dad!!! I love you!!!
I got to go to my old church today too, which was even more of that encouragement. I love our pastor there. He too has a lot of wisdom that he got to share with me. God's been totally speaking through all these people in my life the past few days. My goal these next few months or so is going to be to take all of it to heart and act on it. I need to be taking better care of myself.

I can't say enough how much I love being home. Every time I come back, I never want to go back to school. That goes for tonight too. I fly back tomorrow, and I know that it's inevitable and that it will turn out to be ok, but for the time being I wish I could stay at home forever. No wonder some people camp out in their parents' basement and try...

I won't. I'll go back. But I'm going to miss home a whole lot when I do. I love it here.

So yeah... It's been a really nice escape to somewhere loving after a week that felt pretty awful. This upcoming week is looking to be easier on schoolwork, but more theater stuff is starting up. Rehearsals begin when I get back for Fortinbras, plus I'm working backstage on a show again these next few weekends. Life never fails to stay interesting. Let's just hope I'm more ready for it after this break.

Fight on, friends.

Rachel's Good at Tangents- February 6-9, 2014

Whoops. Guess it's been a few days.

Though, I have something slightly tragic to announce:

I'm sorry to say that I suffer from a common disease known as FOMO.

I am currently doing my nails, in Sneha and Kieryn's room, with them and Jinny, watching Dr. Who,  when I have a ton of homework that I should probably be doing.

Because I'd rather do my nails with friends than do homework, even if I have to watch a show that makes me feel physically dizzy and thoroughly creeped out. Sorry to offend all you Whovians, but I really don't like Dr. Who. I don't. I'm sorry. I can't do it. I can't. Well, I can, but barely. Depends on the episode and who I'm with. I will never ever ever watch "Blink" again though. E.V.E.R.

But I do like spending time with friends, and I know that I would feel sad if I wasn't hanging out with them. So... FOMO. Fear of Missing Out.

Well, might as well blog while I'm not doing homework.

When did I last blog? Thursday?

The last blog I wrote, I wrote during my discussion session on Thursday. Class that day went well- I'm finally finished with my first Writing 150 paper. I was pretty tired throughout the day because of it, but that's what caffeine is for, right?

Theater History wasn't too fun. But is it ever? Sorry... I guess I'm just bored with that class very often.

Like I said, I wrote my blog during discussion that day. Then IV that night was really nice!

There was only one moment during the day that wasn't so nice... well, I suppose it was bittersweet.

I found myself on Facebook, wasting a bit of time, and then I ended up on Walker's Facebook page.
I went through his entire page... from his first few posts up to his last birthday up through the posts that everyone put on his wall last October.

It's painful. Painful and bittersweet... I miss him so much....

Friday was almost productive. I was going to get some homework done all day, but I spent 4 hours wasting time on YouTube... whoops.

Yesterday was FAR more productive. I spent all day doing homework, with only a few breaks.

One of them was while I was working outside, in the quad. The grass was nice, and the sky was beautiful and blue. I stopped working for a while to watch the clouds go by and find shapes in them... Tell me- when's the last time you've done that? Just watching the clouds go by... It's a peaceful and lovely activity.

Then I went to see a play called "The Glory of Living." My friend Francesca was the stage manager, and it sounded interesting. It turned out to be a pretty heavy show, with lots of murder and crime, but the ending made you really think about whether the title was sarcastic or not. I was fascinated by the whole thing.

What else did I do on Saturday.....

Oh yeah. I went to a frat party.

First one! Yayy! A friend of mine invited me to the party, since he's in the fraternity, and I know you don't technically need an invitation but honestly, I probably wouldn't have thought of it otherwise. So I'm grateful. I'm also glad I went!! I saw a good handful of people I know, and met some new friends as well! I don't remember all their names, and somehow, I don't think they'll all remember me. The only way I can honestly tell if someone's drunk or not is by the smell of them when you're in a place like this, but I'm still pretty sure that most of the new people I met were fairly inebriated. It's hilarious how little there is to drink that doesn't have alcohol in it though. Don't worry, I managed. And no, I didn't have anything alcoholic. But it was still a great time!

I guess I should write about today too, since it's the end of the day!!

There's not much to report though. I'm tired, but that's a given. I got a lot of homework done, but I still have a ton to do. This week is going to be H-E double hockey sticks as far as homework goes, so I think I'll just skip the work for now and cuddle up with Lord of the Rings while I still can.

I only have about 100 pages or so left in "Fellowship." I would give you my thoughts about it here on the blog, but I don't quite have an hour to spend writing at the moment.

It's funny- I considered myself quite the bookworm back in middle school, but really fell out of the habit during high school. I've always loved to read, but I just got so much more drawn into the movie culture that I haven't considered myself a huge bookworm at all since. But after people being genuinely surprised at seeing me at the fraternity last night, and the realization that I hardly know up from down if I'm not in the library or in my dorm room... I guess I am a book nerd. I mean, I knew already I was a bit of a dork (Lord of the Rings and Disney obsessions? Yeah. That'll put you in that category), but this... this is new.

Do I like it? A little bit. I don't like to be defined by any specific title if I can help it, but I also like most of the connotations of this particular title. Nevertheless, I do wish I was a bit more street smart. At the same time, you have to go through some pretty tricky situations and make quite a few mistakes in order to get that way.

...Maybe I can disguise them as adventures and go from there. As long as dragons are involved. And swords. And archery. And pirates. And maybe a few mermaids or even better armies of elves and woodland creatures who rush to my aid but an enemy overtakes them so suddenly it's up to me and so I can swing out my bow and arrow like Katniss and....

...and this is why I'm single. And why I'm a dork. *sigh*

All this rambling is telling me I should probably get some sleep while I can.

So I shall. May your day be an adventure of epic proportions, my friends, and Fight on.

Happiness Recovery- February 3-5, 2014

Sorry about getting behind. The Disneyland post was just such a big one that it took me longer than normal! Plus, I was pretty darn tired that night I got back, and have been trying to get to bed on time since, so it took me a while.

But Monday through Wednesday! Here we go!

Monday... man I was tired on Monday. It was totally worth it though. Every time during the day I felt even slightly overwhelmed or completely exhausted, I could think about the day before. It doesn't quite feel like I had a birthday... I don't feel any different. I suppose that's normal, but it feels like I should feel some sort of difference, you know?

Scene study class and Sociology were both nice. After my Sociology class, I had office hours with my professor to just talk with him about what Sociology really is, and a little bit about his own research. He's really nice, and nice to talk to. He is also extraordinarily humble, which I thoroughly appreciate!

I should have gotten more homework done on Monday, but we're back into a pattern of getting totally distracted by everything and anything, and therefore absolutely no productivity... yeah... it's not good.

Tuesday was about the same, really. Nothing new- though I felt like a total idiot because I forgot to print a hard copy of my rough draft for my writing class. I turned it in properly online, but didn't have a hard copy with me to work on in class, which was a bit awkward.

Again, I got homework done, but what is happening to my productivity?? Seriously?!

Also, I've officially committed to Mark Study with Intervarsity. It's every Tuesday night, and I like it a lot. It really teaches you how to read into the Bible deeper and pick it apart to get as much out of it as possible. Plus, the other people are all wonderful! So that was fun!

Wednesday was a little more productive at least. I finished my final draft for my paper in the evening, plus started thinking about plans for the upcoming weekend.

Life in college is a big bundle of work between one weekend and the next. Weekends are where it's at. That's when you actually feel like you have time to breathe, get things done, relax, and have fun before you run the race of the school work week again.

These past few days, I suppose, have been a slow point for me. I just need to keep reminding myself that okay, now that I've had my fun, it's time to keep your life together and focus on the important stuff that you need to have done. Catch up, get work done, stay on top of your health (haven't been too good on that one either...), etc.

I haven't been completely useless though. Well, I have as far as school and health goes- I've been on YouTube a bit too much. However, in the past few days, a video came up in one of the channels I watch that sent some bad news as an explanation to why videos haven't been up often lately.

The man who runs this channel, Cory, was engaged to a girl from another channel, Kate. I started out watching Cory's channel since... Middle school or so, and when Kate became a friend of his I got into her videos too. However, Cory posted the following video that made me really sad:

Man, talk about tough times. You can tell that there's more going on than he can explain in a video, for obvious reasons, but... I just felt like I had to do something.

Cory doesn't have a PO box anymore, but Kate does. I've never sent either of them anything before, but I thought that maybe I could send something to show them some encouragement and love and hope during these difficult, stressful times. 

So I wrote Kate a letter. I told her how I came about watching her videos, since she's probably never heard of me before, and just tried to send as much encouragement as I could. I told her I'd be praying for her as well. I don't know if she's Christian or not, but her dad (who's made some video appearances) is, so I told her I'd be praying for both of them. I hope she gets it soon, and that it will make her feel better. I wish I could do the same for Cory, but a very short comment on the video will have to be enough. 

Tough times are tough, no matter what.

Well, time aren't too tough for me yet. They're going to get pretty stressful in this next week though, and there's a TON I have to do with the rest of today and the weekend. But I'll write about today later tonight (I'm writing this on Thursday)

Fight on, friends.

Best. Day. Ever- February 2, 2014

I was looking forward to Sunday more than anything else in the world for the past few weeks, and especially last week.

Sunday, as I made a bit too obvious, was my 19th birthday, and I wanted to do something new, fun, exciting, and as an escape from the mundane stressful world of college. So, I asked my parents for a Disneyland trip on the day of my birthday. They agreed!!! So that was my birthday present :)

The next trick was getting people to go with me. Corona's birthday is the same day as mine, so she was in. After a lot of searching, Corona found a friend in band with her who was willing and wanting to go. Her name is Emma. Also, Corona's parents insisted on driving us there and back, so we had transportation.

And with that, we went to Disneyland!!!

I woke up Sunday morning feeling more excited that we were going than I was cognizant of the day actually being my birthday. I don't know if you've ever gone to Disneyland with me though. If you have, you know exactly what I was like. If you haven't, I'll give you an idea:

Imagine a puppy, about 10 weeks old, who has been home alone for an afternoon for only the second time ever. All of a sudden, it hears the garage door open and knows that it's loved ones are finally home to love it.
Now put that feeling and that imagery into your mind, and you have me.

I was up and ready in a flash, and got to breakfast before either of the two girls. Luckily, I saw Thomas and Annelle there, so I got to talk with them for a bit before I met up with Corona and Emma! I miss those two- I don't get to see them a lot this semester.

Anyways, Corona's parents piled us in the car and we were off!!! It was only a half hour drive, which was awesome :)

We got dropped off at Downtown Disney, and made our way directly to the entrance gate. Unfortunately, it was much more crowded than we had anticipated and hoped for. But, as I said way too many times throughout the day, "That's okay." Whenever something wasn't quite right, that was my reaction: "That's okay." I'm glad I do that.

And we were in!!!

The first thing we did, upon my request, was go to Town hall and pick up birthday pins!!! Corona and I each got one with our names on them, and they proved to be very handy for the rest of the day. :) I decided not to get my age on mine, so I can rewear it when it's my birthday in the future, even if I'm not at Disneyland :)

I finally have a birthday pin!!!

What's the best first ride to start out your Disney day?

Space Mountain. Duh.

 The line for Space Mountain was already pretty long. We didn't get to the park until around 9:45, anyways, plus the park was crowded, as I mentioned. So we waited a good 40 minutes or so for the ride. It gave us a chance to talk, and be excited, and be sung to by a group of kids in front of us in line! So that was fun! As we got closer, we were standing in an area where the welcoming and information speech was repeated quite a few times....for quite a while. So, we memorized it, phrase by phrase.

"Welcome, Space Travelers. Space Mountain is a high-speed, thrilling, turbulent, roller-coaster type ride that includes sharp turns, sudden drops, and stops. Before you embark on your adventure, please place all hats, glasses, and loose possessions inside the storage pouch located directly in front of you. To prepare for launch, pull the black bar toward you. You are now ready for your intergalactic adventure. Thank you, and have a great flight."

Girls, correct me if I got something wrong. ;)
It was so worth the wait though. Plus, front row!!!

 The other Tomorrowland rides were pretty long, so we cruised through Fantasyland on our way to Frontierland/Adventureland to see what else we could see.

But don't forget castle pictures!!

Classic!!

In Fantasyland, I told the girls about the golden
spike that used to be Disneyland's center. So, classic
spike picture was necessary :)

We ended up being just in time for the Mark Twain Riverboat! So we rode that for a relaxing ride around the Rivers of America!

And took plenty of pictures with this life raft...thing
It has a name. What is its name?

Then it was Haunted Mansion time.

Yeah, the line was only a tad nuts.

I love the Haunted Mansion. It makes me really happy, even though it's supposed to scare you. I don't know... I guess I just find the whole thing absolutely beautiful and fascinating. I love those types of rides that contain all that detail and creativity and pull it off wonderfully, you know?

Also, we got stuck in the bride room for a bit, which was actually fun! I finally remembered the bride's name though- Constance. Constance and her late husband...Reginald?  I don't quite remember his name. But oh well... "Til death do us part...." as Constance would say...

We got lunch after that in Critter Country

Pretty view!

Emma really wanted to meet Winnie the Pooh, so we went looking for him! We got super lucky- we saw Eeyore leave and got to wait in line for Pooh! We were the oldest kids in line... but hey. He was so huggable and adorable that it was totally worth it.

Emma's best day ever!

He's so huggable!!!

Then, another Disney classic.

Dead men tell no tales. 

Pre-ride pictures!

A lady with an adorable baby took this for us. I think she found
us pretty amusing during the whole wait!

Birthday girl!!!

Band buddies <3

 I learned a lot about myself during the wait for Pirates. Mostly, that Disneyland is my absolute playground. I just go nuts with having fun and taking risks and just being hyperactive just for the heck of it. I had facts to spew out, I was energetic, I sang "Do you Want to Build a Snowman?" after knocking on the door that you pass by in line both inside and outside. (When we passed it inside, the girls sang with me! I hope the people outside heard us). Oh, and everyone in line heard me do this! I whistled at the parrot (but I always do that), and... I don't know! I just had fun!!! It's fun to have fun and have nobody care if you're having fun!

Also, about Pirates: I love the smell and the feel of that ride. It's got an old, crusty, chlorine smell to it, but there's nothing like it. It just fits the entire atmosphere perfectly. The effects are nostalgically beautiful. I notice something new every time I ride it. I just love it! It's a classic for a reason, I guess! :)

I had Corona pose with a hat at the gift shop afterwards

After Pirates, we did something new that I've never done in the park before!!! We went on the canoes and canoed around the Rivers of America!!

Corona really wanted to do it, and it did look pretty fun, so we tried it out. I liked it a lot! It's like the Jungle Cruise, but you're doing a lot more rowing than you are watching. Our guides were great though. One of them even gave me encouraging words on working for Disneyland someday <3

Also, we saw Corona's dad! Turns out that her parents were spending a nice day at the park themselves!

When we left through Adventureland afterwards, we were about to go into Fantasyland again when I saw something I've been wanting to see for ages- a green cap with a red feather sticking out of it.

All three of us raced to try to catch Peter and Hook, but they went backstage and we missed them... :( On the bright side, that put us in line to meet the Hatter and Alice, which I've always wanted to do!!!

I just missed them singing "Let it Go" here. They were both pretty hyped about "Frozen!"

We also saw Merida and Snow White and a band as we waited! I called to Merida, "Hey Merida! Can you teach me how to do a Scottish accent?" She called back, "Come to Scotland and visit me!!" Will do, princess. Will do.

When it was our turn to meet the Wonderland duo, I was first. I told them I was excited to meet them, since I've always wanted to. They liked that. Alice grabbed my hand, looked at my nails, and then started singing "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" at the Hatter. They had a little banter about Frozen. He asked her, "Why do you keep singing that?!?" and she replied, "Because she has Anna nails!"

It's true! I painted my nails after Anna's dress, from Frozen. I'm so surprised Alice actually recognized them! So that was a fun interaction we had!

Then the Hatter asked if it was actually my birthday. I said, yes, it was, and that it was a shame I wasn't meeting him on my unbirthday. Isn't that ironic though?!? So he said he'd sing me a song, so I dragged Corona over and told him it was her birthday too. So he sang the following for both of us:

I love these two. Definitely recommend meeting them, for anyone going to Disneyland.

Emma got her own picture!

 We were told Peter would be back out in a half hour or so, so we made our way back into Fantasyland. I stopped to sing into Snow White's wishing well first. I know the well song, and the well was singing the echo of the song if you listened enough, so I sang Snow's part. She was actually meeting guests right nearby, and there were a few other people looking into the well as I sang. Corona and Emma say I impressed them. I wonder what Snow White thought! But she was busy with other people.

See? This is what I mean! I was just having fun!!! But at least it was entertaining

 By the way, it was possible to meet Elsa and Anna, but the line was REALLY long. It was basically a two hour wait, which was so definitely not worth it. Maybe next time...

I do regret not getting to interact with the
Olaf animatronic though

Carousel time!

Hang on!!!

Carouselfie!

After that ride, we took a shot at the Sword
in the Stone!

 Since we were still just chilling at that point, we decided to head over to the Teacups and make ourselves super dizzy. Woohoo!

And ok: Here comes the sad part of the day.

We were waiting in line, and Peter Pan ran by. I went to the edge of the line and called, "Hey, Peter! Where are you going?"

He stopped and said, "That way!!"

"How long will you be there??"

"I can't promise for long! Come and find me!"

And that was the most interaction I've ever had with him, and the most I'll have until next time. 

I will find you, Peter... I will... :( Oh Peter... 

We did try to hunt him down after the teacups, but gave up and went back to Adventureland to check on the Indiana Jones wait time. It was awful, so here's some awesome pictures from the Tarzan treehouse!

It's Mrs. Potts and Chip!!!!

 Not even Aladdin was here today :( I miss my handsome prince.

By this point, we were all a little on a character streak. The parade was just starting, but I had a really good hunch about the princess wait time... Boom. 30 minutes. Best it probably was all day, so we all decided to wait.

This is the first time I'd been inside to meet the princesses at their new little corner in front of the castle!

But I got to wear the character host's hat

It was sparkly. I told him he looked nice
in it.

 The Character hosts were really cool!!

First up was Princess Aurora!!! Holy cow, was she absolutely beautiful. She wasn't too high energy, and we didn't know a whole lot to say (even though we'd picked out questions beforehand), but it was still really neat!! She's my second favorite princesses. And did I mention how gorgeous she was? Wow!!!

I didn't do all the talking, I promise. I did ask her about her
birthday cake though, since we were talking about birthdays!

Remember how I said the Character hosts were really awesome?

They were really, really awesome :) (she had my phone to take pictures of course!)

Next was Ariel. I was a little worried about Ariel, because when I've met her before, I've never really liked her too much. But today, she was INCREDIBLE. Beautiful, totally the character, super bubbly, and we suspect she's been to the USC kingdom a couple of times... Emma was wearing a USC shirt, and Ariel pointed it out!

We had a long, lovely talk with her! We decided to ask her for advice on finding a prince and also what she likes most and least about Prince Eric. She doesn't like that he gets to sleep longer than her, but she loves when he does sweet things for her.

By the way, she was so excited about our conversation, she brought in her friend Cinderella to join us!

So we talked with BOTH AT THE SAME TIME! And they were both adorable and sweet and wonderful!!!

Nope. Not fangirling at all. 

Ok, maybe a little.

I love them so much. Can I PLEASE be a princess
already?!?

I think the Character host with my phone was a tad bored
with how long the conversation was!

But I LOVE the selfless all the same!

Cinderella went back in her own room, and we took a picture with just Ariel.

 I love Ariel.

Well, we then got to talk with just Cinderella. After talking with her and Ariel though, it was a breeze.

I was telling her a story here!

We talked about Princes, glass slippers, our
day at the park, her stepsisters... it was
wonderful

We also agreed that Prince Charming should
try something new with his hair sometime. He
always parts it the same way. Cinderella suggested
gel and a little spike. We agreed, and said it would
be nice and modern!

Cinderella, can I just be you?

So, yes. I am even more encouraged in my love of Disney princesses. They are the best ever and I want to be one.

Also, we saw Belle from a distance

 We all really wanted to ride Dumbo, so we waited in quite a long line for him as we made a game plan for what we wanted to do with the rest of our day.

Magic feather!!

Birthday girl Dumbo!!!

Also, this place is gorgeous

Dumbo was our last ride before dinner. Corona's parents wanted to have dinner with us, and insisted we meet up with them on Main Street so we could go eat somewhere.

Beautiful.

 We thought that we'd end up eating outside the park, in Downtown Disney, but instead we found a nice little cafe right on Main Street! We got seated outside too, so we had a lovely view of the parade

 The food was great, and our waiter was really nice! Corona's parents surprised us with cupcakes and candles!!!

Yes, I'd already taken a bite... whoops. Isn't it pretty?
The sprinkles are Mickey shaped too!! 

 The cafe also brought us ice cream, since they weren't anticipating us having cupcakes.

 Alright. Here's where more adventure starts.
As we were finishing eating, it started to sprinkle outside. This went away really quickly, although it made outside a lot colder. We headed off to Indiana Jones, at last, and looked forward to the queue inside. Brrr!
What was funny was as we were walking towards Adventureland, there was a flood of people headed out to leave the park. Haha!! The rain is a bit much for people, I suppose! That or there was something else happening. Maybe they wanted to go to World of Color or something. Who knows?

But Indy was really fun :)

This rock fit a hand grip perfectly

Do not look in the eyes of the idol!!!

 We tried to spot the Eeyore in the movie room, but the Cast Member didn't have a flashlight. She did our best to point it out to us, and we think we saw it... we hope we did at least!

The ride itself is awesome. One of my favorites!!!!
Corona had been wanting to ride Autopia all day, so we scooted around the crowd waiting for the fireworks and  headed to Tomorrowland next

Beautiful <3

 I haven't been on Autopia in a while, but man is it fun!!! Corona took her own car, and Emma drove a second one with me as a passenger. Halfway through, we decided to have me work the gas while she worked the steering wheel. I had a bit too much fun!! It was really fun though, and absolutely hilarious!!
Not to mention that the fireworks started while we were on the course, and we could both see and hear them all. Have you ever driven around Tomorrowland at night with the fireworks exploding above you while you laugh your head off? Awesomeness. Pure awesomeness.

Star Tours time!

I love R2D2!!!! 

Star Tourz fo Dayz. #swag

 I was the rebel spy!!!!!! It was awesome!!!! A light went up on me when my picture came up. The Storm troopers approached us first, then we went to the Wookie country, and then Yoda spoke to both us and RIGHT TO ME. Yoda. I love Yoda.
The second place it took us was some sort of star battle field and the city in Episode 2 that I don't know the name of... Any Star Wars fans want to help me out there?

When we got out of Star Tours, the rain had come back HARD! It really started pouring!!! We only had time for one more ride, so we thought it would be fun to try going on the Matterhorn, especially during the rain!!!

We raced through the rain to the ride, only to discover that it was closed because of the weather. Drats.
So back to Tomorrowland we went, for Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters!!

Happy! But wet from the rain...

By this time, we were approaching our curfew for meeting up with Corona's parents again. On our way back to Main Street, I took a video on accident (EDIT: There's been uploading errors. I'll keep trying to get it up)

Seriously though. I love this place so much. I cannot wait to work here someday.

I ran into a Main Street store and bought myself a new lanyard for my keys, as well as a princess pen. Then it was time to go :(

Oh Disneyland, how I'll miss you

 We left the park around 9:45/10ish, and I really wished we could have stayed for much longer. That is, until we got back to USC. Then it hit me how absolutely exhausted I actually was. It also hit me... today was my birthday. It almost hadn't felt like my birthday, even though I was wished happy birthday several times, got cake, got sung to, and got to celebrate.

In my opinion, it was a great way to celebrate. I got to go to a place I love, make new friends, and altogether, just be happy to be alive. That's what your birthday's all about, to me. You made it another year, yes, but that's no small feat. Being alive is a wonderful thing, and I think it's something to celebrate.

When we got back to school, I got hugs from all the girls on the floor, a wonderfully hot and lovely shower, and quite a few lovely messages from my Facebook friends as I was wrapped up cozy in a warm, soft blanket. Then I got to read my book. *sigh* Perfect.

I think Rapunzel sums the experience up pretty well:

Well, here goes being 19!! Fight on, friends. I love you all <3