i fear, mademoiselle, that you are a walking contradiction

i've apparently become one of "those new york city kids." haven't i been one for a while?

and everything i write is a poem. not really. but possibly. i don't know where this is going or what this is or what is happening at all, but it's lovely.

i swear i'll update more about my general life when i have time (do i have time? maybe christmas break), but as for now, i'm going to go jam to lady gaga (don't get me started on this new obsession of mine) and read montaigne for con west. and then kataev for my russia seminar. and then gopnik for writing the essay. ugh. yay!

happy thanksgiving. <3

nyu has taken over. i love it to pieces and wouldn't trade it for the world. i have found the best people in the whole world who are just as weird as i am and yet are beautiful and fashionable and hilarious and smart and will all be famous one day, i know it. i barely have any time to breathe. i got a job with the newspaper and have already had headlines published in print, which is big shit for a first-semester freshman copy editor. everything i study/talk about can be related to doc mott. i love my russian lit course. i love my life.

i met the chocolate man today.

wwjjd? he'd move to switzerland and write a book about it. everything is so joycean. doc mott would be proud. wwrd? we know the answer to that one.

i have a 9.30 voice lesson and then an 11 am class tomorrow, after which i am on home/"afternoon" duty for wsn (check it out: nyunews.com) and a general day of homework. broadway cares this sunday. harry and the potters for free in brooklyn on saturday.

i don't think i have ever enjoyed living as much as i do now.

"docta mottolese!"

<3

Life is beautiful. My APs are over. My graduation dress is lovely. I bought adorable shoes today. I have no finals to take. I had a one-on-one class with my favorite teacher yesterday because everyone else was taking a Calc AP. I have a newfound love for Daniel Radcliffe. Bingley is a dear; we survived our first major accident (a car spun out on I-95 and whacked my driver's side while I was driving to school). The federal government and the state of New York both sent me money in the mail. I went to Austria and cultivated a love of Nutella and the Alps and European trains. My six year old laptop is hanging in there and its screen is being held up by duct tape (otherwise it will fall off); I need it for two weeks until I finally go buy my Mac. I auctioned off a guitar signed by Bruce Springsteen & co. at the school's bi-annual auction. My hair is ridiculously long. And John Cudia's coming back to Broadway (for real this time): http://www.playbill.com/news/article/129013.html


all for now.

So December has been nice. I got my driver's license, seniors had our Skip Day, I've started rehearsals for (Scene)ioritis, I auditioned for The Boy Friend, and as of today I am an official member of the NYU class of 2013.

My life has been pretty good, I must say. My ED and EA applications are in, I've gotten my green cards back so I know my recommendations and supplementary documents have been received, plus both schools have sent me letters to affirm my information was correct (though Fordham said I indicated an Engineering Physics major, so I had to call them to tell them that that was completely false).

The first trimester ended today, meaning the last few weeks of my life have been ridiculously hectic. I've done more reading than ever, am still waiting to present on the Rose Revolution in Georgia and the Orange Revolution of Ukraine, am also still waiting to present that Emily Dickinson poem, am still maintaining my same average in both my Doc Mott classes, and am so completely exhausted that I don't know what to do with myself.

Alice in Wonderland is in two weeks, so I have to get into that a little more. I'm playing the Mad Hatter. It's quite exciting, jumping on tables and the like. In other theater news, I'm planning to direct a scene from Long Day's Journey Into Night for (Scene)ioritis, auditions for The Boyfriend should be near Christmas break, and I think that's it.

Our rugbies came in, and they're mad comfortable. I'm worried that washing it will maybe make it less comfortable, but I doubt they'll shrink. Even if they do, they're men's sizes, so it won't be all too bad.

Speaking of rugbies, which is also speaking of school spirit, I finally came to realize how much I love my school and my class.

Yesterday was the championship field hockey game against our archrivals (who have won the championships for the past 25 years or so). It was the first time my school has hosted, and because of this, the upper school organized a special schedule so we could go down to the fields and watch the game from 2:30 until it ended.

Only at my school would you have people emailing each other the night before to plan out what we were going to wear. All seniors planned on wearing their rugbies with spandex under their uniform skirts, plus we went down to the bookstore and bought paw print tattoos and/or green and white bows. We got posterboard and made at least one poster for every girl on the varsity field hockey team. And at 2:30, when everyone was walking around in green and white with green paws on their face and wrapping lime green bandanas around their heads or wearing those ridiculously ugly congé hats and making makeshift headbands out of green crepe paper, with green and white knee socks and white bows in our hair, we all walked down to the fields together, a sea of green and white.

It was not only seniors at the field; the whole upper school was there, plus the middle schoolers came down at 2:45 to watch, plus the entire administration and faculty. There were about 15, 20 people, tops, for the other team. The seniors mostly sat on the sideline in a long row of green and white striped rugbies, holding signs and singing and chanting and screaming our lungs out and hoisting each other on our shoulders and doing the wave and hugging our headmistress and not really knowing what the hell the game was about.

About halfway into the first half, it started pouring, but since our fields are turf they didn't cancel the game. So Megan and I huddled under her vest, but no one left. My entire body was soaked, and the vest was mostly there to keep rain out off my glasses, and my spandex are probably still not dry, plus there are still rocks in my shoes, and my voice is still hoarse.

But yesterday was what defined, for me, just what my class is about. Complete silence overcame all of us as Aline collapsed because she was hit in the stomach with the ball, as Joan's little brother got hit with a ball ("You don't hit a Ziminsky!!!"), as Elise got whacked, as Tory took her penalty shot (and scored!), and as the game began to come to a close. We lost, 3-1, but what makes us stand out is the fact that as both teams were shaking hands, the seniors lined up on the side of the field and held hands. As soon as they were done, we flew off the sidelines, and ran, ran, ran until we came upon our team, screaming and yelling and hollering and hugging. We're not a normal class, we're not a normal high school, even. We're a little school on the top of a hill whose girls love each other, and who still throw parties over our losses.

The local newspaper covered the championships, and we all were talking today about how we absolutely love this picture:



And the caption:
"Despite the loss, the love of the seniors is clearly not conditional as their storming the field illustrates."

I don't think that anyone will ever really understand that I don't have classmates; I have 62 sisters. I didn't realize it myself until yesterday's game - and I still don't understand field hockey.

Congrats if you got this far; basically all I'm trying to say is I love 09.

yes, we did.

Senior year has certainly succeeded in not giving me any down time. Between my two English classes, plus Senior Seminar, I don't know how I'm managing to accomplish all this reading and actually get other work done, too.

I dropped off my recommendation envelopes with Doc Mott and Mr. Cushman on Friday, so that's taken care of. As of now, I have to finish the NYU early application (I'm no longer applying for music to any college, so there's that pressure taken off of my shoulders) as well as the Fordham one, and maybe an application that this school in Philadelphia sent me? I could always use another safety school, and it's early action, so why not.

Casting was done a while ago and rehearsals are well underway for Alice in Wonderland, and I'm both the Mad Hatter as well as the resident stage manager. Yay? This show is a little ridiculous, to say the least, but at least I'm finally getting homework done during rehearsal.

Senior privileges kick in tomorrow, meaning sneakers, college sweatshirts (once we get in...hmmm), and the ability to go off-campus during frees. Caitlin can drive, and we have all our frees together, so that's going to work out well.

Speaking of driving, I've been taking Bingley around a lot, and he simply gets no respect. I was rear ended twice a few weeks ago (by the same person who said I wasn't going fast enough), plus people simply feel that because I take up so little space, they can cut me off whenever they'd please.

I went to the annual BC/EFA flea market and I have to say, it was a bit of a bust. I walked around for about half an hour, bought two plays and something else which I've completely forgotten, and then I spent a few hours at the Starbucks on 45th street before meeting up with Jack for the auction. And apparently my parents would have paid $400 for the opening night tickets and party passes they were auctioning off for To Be or Not To Be, so I realistically could have bought them, but I didn't. It's okay. I'll probably be able to get some tdf tickets anyway.

What I wish tdf had tickets for is Equus. Apparently, according to all reviews I've read, Daniel Radcliffe is incredible and has shown that he can do more than just play Harry Potter. Awesome. I'd love for him to be a regular face on Broadway.

I really don't know what else is interesting. The election and the state of the economy is stressing me out a bit, and honestly, school is sort of a haven for me where I can momentarily forget the outside world and actually enjoy myself a bit more. Frankly, I'm worried about the future of this country. It's true, we need a drastic change in the way we operate. Hopefully people will be smart come November 4th and make the right decision.

Yesterday I was commissioned as a Eucharistic Minister at school; it was a little bit of a big deal, what with the bishop and all, and it was incredible nerve wracking. We got through it, though, and apparently things went very, very smoothly (especially for our first mass). Just another example of how awesome my class is, of course.

What else? I should go read Plato now. I have a Doc Mott midterm on Monday, a Calc test on Tuesday, and a multitude of Sister Cherry assignments with no definitive due dates on them. I'll figure it out.

All for now.

Let's talk about a few things.

(Senior year schedule and thoughts behind the ( cut. )

In other news, I stopped by school today to drop off my books (that's how I got my schedule). I also stopped at Anthropologie and bought this dress. I took Bingley out on the highway for the first time and managed to do rather well, though I still can't back up properly. I watched the first half of Doctor Zhivago and am planning on finishing the other half tomorrow night, as I need to have it done for Comp Gov. And I color-coded my schedule. I think today's been rather productive.

Tomorrow is the first day of school, though I'm okay with it. Kind of bummed out that this is my last "first day" at the school I've been at for the past 12 years, and also a little bummed out that it's only going to get worse. Oh, well - best to enjoy it while I can, I suppose?

All for now.

Oh wait Bristol Palin? Dear Sarah, apparently abstinence only education doesn't work. You might want to rethink that one. Love, America.

AND BEFORE I GO:

"ST. PAUL (Reuters) - John McCain and his fellow Republicans rallied behind his vice presidential pick, Sarah Palin, on Tuesday and his campaign accused Democrat Barack Obama of sexism for questioning her level of experience."

asdfjkl; this is getting ridiculous. I'm going before I go crazy.

I'm home! And I've just discovered the beauty of web albums through Picasa, hence the lovely image of my Maine friend here.

Of course, we went up to Boothbay Harbor, Maine, for two weeks, and got back on Saturday. Vacation was nice; Megan and her parents came up for a day and we went on a boat ride (I saw some harbor porpoise - I guess that was worth it? I don't like going on pointless boat rides). We went shopping a lot, drove around a bit, played mini golf twice - I lost miserably the first time, but beat both my parents the second time (my mother always wins, so that was quite a feat), but later that same day I found a beetle in my hair and was greatly distressed. Uh. Well. That's about it. I did a bunch of summer work there, bought a computer game from 1996 at a flea market and had a blast playing it, woke up at least once a night, had a few horror dreams about college applications/auditions, and mourned the fact that I only got the Daily News ~6 times out of 15. It was very disappointing.

Since coming home, Mom & I saw Bottle Shock, in which Alan Rickman plays Steven Spurrier, the man who organized the 1976 Judgment of Paris which established California wines as actually being quality wines. It was quite good, if I do say, but it was my sort of movie (aka a movie that very few people have heard of/want to see).

SPEAKING OF MOVIES, let me go off on a tangent about how I had to watch Random Harvest while up in Maine and oh my God what an awful movie. Not awful in the sense that it was a bad movie, but awful in the sense that I can't think about it for a long period of time without crying ("Smithy! Smithy!" asdlfkjadlsfkhaslk;ghalskdfj). In a way, it's worse than The White Cliffs of Dover, even though that one was actually a depressing movie that didn't have a happy ending like Random Harvest did. But still. Smithy!

Oh and also speaking of movies, I'm still up in the air about seeing this remake of The Women. What I do want to see, though, are Burn After Reading and Ghost Town, and maybe that new movie with Rachel McAdams? I hardly see movies anyway, so I'm not sure how any of those are going to work out. But back to what I was talking about before, which was...?

Ah, well, today I had to go to school for a few hours to be trained to be an Eucharistic Minister, which is actually very nerve-wracking. More than driving, actually! I've always been a hesitant driver, and I've really tried to avoid driving as much as possible, but this week I've started to get more comfortable with it and started driving more. I credit most of that to Bingley (my little smartcar), because he's just the sort of car I should be driving. Good thing he's mine, too, because I couldn't imagine taking one of the others to school. Bingley's just nice enough for me.

Speaking of Bingley, my mom was driving home from school today (I'm still not comfortable enough to get on the highway {since I've really been driving for two days}, so I'm making her do that for the time being), and we got on right after an identical smartcar: same color, make, everything. We pulled up in the lane next to it and the lady looked a little surprised, but we all waved to each other and formed a little instant bond. We'd actually never seen another blue smartcar on the road before - plenty of red ones (especially the one that was always parked within a few blocks of work) and a white one here and there, but never another blue one.

I drove home from CVS today, my first time driving in the dark, and of course there had to be two fucking raccoons practically on the same street. Never have I seen a raccoon on the road in my town except when I'm driving, of course. I managed not to kill them, though, so I suppose that went well.

I still have to finish reading The Portrait of a Lady since Sr. Cherry & Doc Mott exempted me from summer reading other than Three Cups of Tea and The Portrait of a Lady, because I guess they like me and like giving me a head start on my AP work since I'm taking both classes. I do like the story, but I hate annotating, so it's taking me far too long (as of right now I'm at 170/522). I'm working on it.

Tomorrow I have nothing planned (except reading...yay...), but Thursday looks like it's going to be insane: lunch at 3 Guys with Isaac, Emma's place for a bit, meeting at school regarding AUSTRIA (because I'm apparently going to Austria this spring break in order to sing), and then Olivia & Amy are coming over and I guess we're having dinner, maybe watching movies, maybe playing board games, maybe making smores. We're very low key.

I should go read now. School starts exactly a week from tomorrow (but I have the best locker spot in the world, so I don't mind all that much). And alas, my summer is coming to a close.

ps. if you like good music: this internet broadcast is brought to you courtesy of the university of edinburgh's streaming media service. enjoy!

All for now. It's Henry James time.

My life is so crazy busy right now that I barely know what to do with myself. I notice it's been over two months since I've posted, which I suppose makes sense. Basically: we went to Maine at the end of June, I started work on June 30th, I worked until July 25th, I volunteered at GLWD for the past week and a half, and we go back to Maine on Friday. Yay.

Work went well, overall. I had to deal with one girl bitching me out behind my back for, essentially, having my job working with the musical despite the fact that I've never been in a Broadway show. Thankfully 98% of the people I worked with were on my side and thought that that was absolutely ridiculous, so it wasn't that big of a deal. It was a big deal because she pretended to be my friend, both before and after this incident, which people know I can't stand. If you're going to bitch me out, bitch me out, but don't pretend to be my best friend the next day. You're definitely entitled to your opinion, and I don't mind if you voice it, but don't think that I won't remember and don't be surprised if my attitude changes. What was so weird was that I don't even think she got it - or she just likes to be a backstabbing bitch. Whatever. I got over it.

So, of course, I helped out with the musical this year, which is the show the 12-15 year olds who sign up for the class put on at the end of the month. It was Seussical this year. Frankly, I never want to see/hear Seuss music again, but I'm seeing Megan, Jake, Joey, Stephen, and other people in it tomorrow. I recruited Arielle and Jack to be part of my stage crew; Arielle and I then became Thing 1 & Thing 2 because we were the stagehands, and Jack pulled curtains and kept us company. It looked like a disaster the day of the dress, but the kids managed to pull it together, so it went over well. Thank God.

I was helping out with the dancersize class for the first two weeks, but they decided they wanted me to help with the mini-musical (the musical for the 8-11 year olds) because they needed me there. So, that got me out of a slightly ridiculous class and into another ridiculous class, but I basically got to spend an hour a day chatting with Dani and making sure little children didn't get too loud. That show went well, too, even though their final dress took about an hour and 15 minutes (it was supposed to be a 45 minute show).

The last two classes I helped out with were both fencing classes, and by the 3rd week, kids in both classes became a little obsessed with Jake (the other CIT) and I, and would often sit next to us and talk to us during class. The 4th period class liked to mimic me, while there were three or four girls in the 5th period class who loved to braid my hair. It turned out that for the festival (basically the last day of camp where their parents come to see what their children have been doing for the past month), the period 5 class was one short, so I had to suit up and fence again for the first time in at least three years. It went well.

The last day of work I had to bust my ass to get on the train home in order to go to Amy & Megan's joint birthday picnic on the beach. For the first week of work, I usually wound up on the 5:28 (and once or twice I go to Grand Central at 5:27) with no place to sit. By the 2nd week, I took a little more liberty in getting there, and took a wide range of trains home, plus I usually got a seat if I went on a train later than the 5:28. I found that a lot of businessmen liked to strike up conversations with me, and that they undoubtedly knew someone who was somehow or another very distantly connected to my life.

My week down in SoHo working at God's Love We Deliver was fabulous. Ho made me the teacher's pet, of sorts, and had me running to the pantry to fetch things and using the immersion blender to make various sauces and make a roux with 30 lbs of margarine and 75 lbs of flour and two vats filled with ratatouille, etc. The roux was killer, and I think it burned me through my gloves a little. Friday we all did pack out and crafted/packed ~1200 meals, and then we went back on Sunday, which was a little bit of a bummer. None of my chefs are there on Sunday, usually, but Cliff was there this week so it wasn't that bad. Monday was our last day (I got my 25 hours as of Monday), and we made cookies. It was very exiting.

What was better, though, was that Sal was there!!! When we went in for our crazy week in March to get my community service hours done for junior year, there was a volunteer who came in on Mondays and Wednesdays (and sometimes Tuesdays), named Sal. It was a bummer, though, because he was telling us about how he was preparing to sell his apartment and move down to Florida, so I went in last week expecting not to see him again. But apparently GLWD offered him a full-time job as corporate volunteer coordinator, meaning he's not going anywhere. Fabulous. He (and Scott, a Friday volunteer) were always my favorites.

Monday, after the shift at God's Love, we went out to Syosset to go to the dentist (yaaay), got some dinner and then went back into Manhattan to see [title of show]. Half of the theatre was empty, which depressed me, because I've been following these people for ages. I burst into tears at multiple times during the show, because a lot of what they were talking about really got to me (especially during Die, Vampire, Die! when Susan was talking about the vampire of despair - and I spoke to her about it afterwards). I don't know how long it's going to run, because it really is a show for theatre people, but it's also a show for anyone who's ever had a serious creative inclination. And for anyone plagued by vampires.

Today Amy's coming over and we're watching the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice, and then David might be coming up to come see Nunsense with me. I'm probably going to wind up seeing Nunsense anyway, because Caitlin, Michael, and Rachel are involved and I haven't seen any of them in ages. And tomorrow I go to see Seussical, and Friday we go to Maine.

I think that's about it, other than my mother and I finally got to go to the creperie down on Ludlow street, and now I'm addicted. They're fabulous.

Oh, and the NYU application is online. This is a little intimidating.

All for now...

Tomorrow is Extravaganza 2.5, which basically means that Ryan, Maria, David, Amy, Katie, Natalie and I are going in to Manhattan for a late lunch/early dinner at Veselka before we head over to see John Cudia in Phantom. Only Amy and I have seen Phantom, Natalie's never seen a Broadway show, this is Ryan's 2nd Broadway show, and I don't really know about the rest, but damn I'm excited. We have the right side of the 2nd to last row in the rear mezz. entirely to ourselves as we bought 7 tickets, and they were $25 each. And there's going to be John Cudia. You have no idea.

School ended Friday; that night I went to a bonfire at Natalie's house, which turned out to be quite fun. Saturday was the ITW "reunion", aka six of us going to Megan's house to play board games and eat take-out. Sunday I went in to Manhattan with my parents to do a shift down at God's Love, and my hands literally just stopped smelling of onions.

Sunday night was also the season premiere of The Next Food Network Star, and all I can say is that I'm hoping Shane will win. Lisa needs to go like yesterday, though I understand why they got rid of Cory so soon, but really. Lisa. Stop it. There is no reason for you to cook in 3 inch Burberry heels and to speak in French and Alton Brown hates you already and the Food Network stars have no idea what you're talking about so please just leave kthx. I'm betting Nipa gets kicked off next week, as they show her walking out of the evaluation room, which leads me to believe that she'll either withdraw from the competition or just be kicked off for lack of stamina.

And yes, I know Shane cried, but stfu. He's 19. He lost over 100 pounds by learning to cook properly and he graduated from the CIA and he already has his own company centered around fine food and I would actually cook what he did (not like Lisa's ldkf;hgalksdfj or whatever she did. I don't want to talk about her.) so plz Food Network don't be stupid like you were last season, kthx. [I'm still a little bitter about last season, because I'm convinced that getting rid of Paul was the biggest mistake they could have made.]

This morning I went into Manhattan again to have my eyes checked (they're fine and I don't need to change anything, yippee) and then went to school for an 08/09 Eucharistic Minister meeting. I spent the rest of the day at home, most of it in my basement looking for Russian novels. Specifically, I'm looking for One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich because it's apparently on my reading list for AP Comp Gov.; and, of course, I found pretty much every single book ever written by Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky but no Solzhenitsyn. I'm working on it.

For my own personal use, here's what I have to do this summer:
NYU App/Common App
read:
The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Crime and Punishment (which I'm now in the middle of)
The Red and the Black
Reading Lolita in Tehran
How the Irish Saved Civilization
Three Cups of Tea
watch:
Dr. Zhivago
The Killing Fields
Hotel Rwanda (which I've already seen, thank goodness)
Munich
+ a foreign film (maybe, I'm not quite sure)

And that's just so far. I had to email Casey to ask about summer reading because I'm taking two classes, and she asked Cherry and Mott, but I still haven't heard a definite answer. Hopefully the above are all I'll have to tackle...and thank goodness I a, like Russian literature, and b, have been meaning do do about halve of the stuff on that list for ages. Maybe that'll make things go by faster...?

And I thought the summer before junior year was busy.

All for now.

Finals started Friday - English and Math were all right, though I'm certainly glad they're over with. I have a French final tomorrow afternoon and a Bio Final Wednesday morning, and then I'm officially done. Wednesday evening I'm going in to Manhattan with my mother to see The Bully Pulpit, an off-Broadway one-man show about the life of Teddy Roosevelt. Thursday I only have to be in school for like an hour for prize day practice, and Friday is the last day of school!!! I'm so ready to be done, you have no idea. Friday night I'm going to a bonfire, Saturday there might be an Into the Woods reunion? Sunday I'm going in with my parents to volunteer at GLWD...finally.

Monday I have an eye appointment, plus I have to go back to school for Eucharistic Minister training. Tuesday it's the second installment of the New York Extravaganza...Maria, Ryan, David, Amy, Natalie, Katie and I are spending the day in Manhattan. And by "spending the day" I mean going to Veselka for a late lunch/early dinner and then going up to see Phantom. Funny thing is, I think Amy and I are the only ones who have seen it out of our whole group. Plus John Cudia is the Phantom. Plus we got a whole row to ourselves. Plus the tickets were $26 each. Plus this is going to be the best day ever.

Wednesday I have to go to school to rehearse for prize day & graduation, Thursday is prize day, Friday is graduation (Caitlin and I are cantors for the mass), and Saturday I get to take some more SATIIs. Hooray. I didn't do to poorly on the last two (720 US History, which I was a little disappointed about but it's still not a bad score, and 760 Lit, which astonished me because I didn't even look at anything beforehand), but I'm already registered to take Biology, but I might switch on the day of the test and take French instead. Who knows.

That's about all that's happening in my life right now. Oh wait, I'm kidding; today was the Memorial Day Parade & annual food fair in town (I don't want to get into the parade, because I had a breakdown and started sobbing while I was watching veterans go by), but I do have exciting news.

At the food fair, there's always a raffle for a car. This year it was for a Smart fortwo Passion Cabriolet, aka that cute little Smartcar convertible.

I WON IT.



Say hello to my new car, which only cost us $50. Apparently there's like an 18 month waiting list in the States to get one because they're just that awesome, and I have one!! Of course, we have to get it registered and the like, but still, $50 for a brand new car is the best deal I have ever heard of.

Now, of course, I actually have to get my license, but I don't mind as much. Parking with this baby (it's 8.8 feet long) is going to be a piece of cake. Plus, I won't feel as much heat as everyone else when it comes to gas prices: 8.7 gallons in the tank, plus it gets 41 highway miles per gallon. That's ridiculous. Then again, it does take premium gas, so I guess that makes up for it. But still!

I can't remember winning anything this big.

I have a smartcar.

I'm trying to avoid reviewing for APUSH as much as I can, so I suppose some mindless babble is the answer. What's been happening in my life? Not too much and yet a whole bunch, all at the same time. It's incredible.

Last Thursday, the choir from our sister school in Austria came; they stayed with us for 5 days, I think, and sang both at Celebration of the Arts (on Friday) and at the Spring Concert (Saturday night). They were all very lovely, I have to say, and they sounded great. Speaking of Saturday, that morning, my mother and I went in to Manhattan, ate lunch at Elephant & Castle, went shopping at some nearby thrift stores, and then went to go see Follies down on Christopher street. I am officially Sondheim'd out, because Follies put me in such an apathetic mood that I still haven't quite recovered.

I got my APUSH mock back last week, and I was 3/10 of a point away from a 5 (which is the perfect score). I got 5s on each writing section, but it was the multiple choice that did me in, considering she omitted 13 for us because we hadn't gone over the material by that time. Whatever, I'm still doing well in that class, so I don't really mind, it's just the 3/10 thing that pissed me off a little. What can you do?

May is coming upon us very quickly. I'm a little frightened. This Saturday I'm taking US History & Lit SAT IIs, and then going to the jazz concert at Regis. Next Friday is my APUSH exam. The 14th is the AP English Language exam and a concert upstate somewhere. The 16th I'm seeing Spring Awakening with Megan (it'll by my first time and we have onstage seats, apparently?), the 17th I'm not sure what I'm doing, and the 18th is the AIDS Walk in Central Park (whoo!). The 19th is my Ethics final presentation, the 20th is the last day of classes, the 21st and 22nd are reading days, and on the 23rd I have my English final exam in the morning and my Precalc final in the afternoon. I have a three day weekend for Memorial Day (the Saturday of which I'm actually going to a memorial service), then on the 27th I have my French final in the afternoon (I don't have to come in in the morning because I'll already have taken the History AP, meaning we're exempt from the final), the 28th I have my Bio final, the 29th I don't have a final (because we have a final paper for Ethics instead of an exam) but I have to come in for an hour for prize day practice, and the 30th is the last day of school. Whew.

I was trying to get tickets to see The Bully Pulpit (the one man show about Teddy Roosevelt that's currently playing Off-Broadway) for the afternoon of the 28th because I could leave at 12:30, but they apparently don't do Wednesday matinees. I might as well just go to the evening show, though, especially because I don't have to be at school until the middle of the day (and even then it's just for an hour or so). We'll see.

Speaking of shows, I have plans in the works to go see Phantom with a few people on June 3rd; it'll be great because the tickets are $33.50 each (including service charge) and John Cudia is playing the Phantom on Broadway. I died. He's here for two months starting the end of May, meaning I'm seeing him at least twice, what with June 3rd and my birthday tickets in July. !!!

The first week of June is also looking to be a little busy, but oh well. I've applied to be a Eucharistic Minister at school next year, and apparently they don't cut anyone, so I'll have to go to a training session for a few hours on June 2nd. I'll deal, though.

July, of course, I have work, and I might be doing some more volunteer work with God's Love in August - or maybe even after work some days, I don't know.

I spoke to Boyer today, and she gave me the complete go-ahead to apply ED to NYU Steinhardt next year. Academically, she says, I can get in instantly, but as the program I want to apply for has an audition process, that's what I have to worry about. Except I'm not really worried, because I've auditioned for a lot of professional choirs and the like before, so I'm used to it. Plus, they've all given me good marks on my rep. pieces, which is what I'd have to sing for my Steinhardt audition. Still, I have to pick pieces and make a CD over the summer so I can get that off and get an audition date, etc. Oh goodness gracious.

I just glanced at my icon and I remembered that I watched The Talk of the Town the other day. Now I just have to watch Only Angels Have Wings and Holiday and I'll be done with the movies I got for Christmas.

SPEAKING of Cary Grant (sort of?), prom was a few weeks ago. Caitlin and I went with Michael, who is absolutely adorable and I love him to death. My dress was from the 40s, and so I tried to get my hair to do the same sort of thing, so I did a whole bunch of pincurls (still curled, not taken out, if you get what I mean?) in the back. Sort of like Dunne's hair in my icon except all the curls were on the back of my head...? Maybe not.

I really should be studying for my SAT II. Once this APUSH exam is over (on the 9th, thank goodness), then maybe I can get back to reading Crime and Punishment. It's bad, though; I've been reading all these Robert Frost poems and images of Raskolnikov keep popping into my head. Ah, well.

All for now, I suppose.

edit: I totes almost forgot to mention that DGasch came back to Phantom for a month, and so I went and saw him twice. Apparently, he called us, but something with that fell through, so I went to see him anyway...? I don't know, I didn't know about the phone call until he asked my dad about it, and I was kind of like "???". He was filling in as Piangi for a month, and so of course we went to see him, and drove him home, and all the exciting stuff from the good old days. And, of course, as soon as I saw him, he asked me how French class was going, and then showed me pictures of Andrew & Molly Marie - who are HUGE. Geez. I'd forgotten that children actually grow up...Ah, well. I missed that man.

Briefly, the Shrek! The Musical cast is about the greatest thing since sliced bread (greater than Young Frankenstein):

Shrek: Brian d'Arcy James
Fiona: Sutton Foster
Donkey: Chester Gregory II
Dragon: Kecia Lewis-Evans
Lord Farquaad: Christopher Sieber
Pinocchio: JOHN TARTAGLIA

I'm out to dinner and a movie with Amy, so I suppose I'll post later on.

JTart. Back on Broadway. I missed him.

It's been a while since I last posted, and I suppose a lot has happened in my life, but not a lot of it is incredibly interesting. The day after my last post I caught at 36-hour version of the flu (which was awful, let me tell you), and the next week I went up to Hartford for the ACDA convention thing. I have to say, it was actually quite fun; singing for 6+ hours a day (in 8 parts, no less!!!) was something I'd never experienced before. The concert itself was astonishing, considering we'd only known each other/rehearsed as a group for the past three days. There are videos on youtube if any of you are interested - type in "2008 ACDA HS" and you should get a few videos of us. If you're really interested, we sang Gloria, The Cloths of Heaven, Insalata Italiana, Abendleid, The Quest Unending, and Swinging With The Saints. We were incredibly awesome, if I do say so myself.

March 1st and 2nd marked the opening and closing nights of Into the Woods, which was absolutely incredible. For serious, our puny theatre department has never accomplished anything as great as ItW was, and I doubt we ever will. I'm just glad I got to be a part of it, really - and chill backstage with our mini-orgy during Act II (since Stephen and I had "run off to a hidden kingdom" and Megan had nothing to do because she was just in charge of ordering people around). Stage left had the real orgy of this production, though, because during Act II there were ~25 people in the cramped space SL. SR was pretty much just the three of us chilling in a stairwell and playing with flashlights...it was wonderful.

My class went on our 3 day Kairos retreat for the 4th, 5th, and 6th, and we all loved it. Then was the science symposium (my last one ever!) on the 6th, and the 7th was our last day of school before spring break. On the 7th, my parents and I went to see the Roundabout Theatre Company's production of The 39 Steps, and I have to say, if you get a chance to see it, go see it. It's not the greatest play, really, but the stagecraft and the acting is incredible and awe-inspiring. 4 actors play ~24 parts, plus are their own stage crew, and they do everything flawlessly. Those four people are real actors, truly.

Anyway, this past week I've been going down to SoHo every day to work at God's Love We Deliver, and yes, I am a master at cutting carrots now. That fulfilled all my community service hours (to date, I have 25:58), plus it was fun, plus I went shopping pretty much every day. Plus, I got to see a few movies (yay!). I saw Bikur Ha-Tizmoret (The Band's Visit) on either Tuesday or Wednesday, I think. It was a cute movie, well done, but incredibly slow. I'd still recommend it, despite it's...crawling nature.

Friday I went and saw Die Fälscher (The Counterfeiters) with Katie, and oh good Lord, I cannot stress this enough: GO SEE THIS MOVIE.

SEE IT.

It left the both of us feeling incredibly depressed, but was incredibly impacting. Sort of like Schindler's List, in a way, but...oh man. I would love to see The Counterfeiters again...eventually.

And yesterday, Megan, Maria, Ryan, Stephen, Julie and I went to go see Horton Hears a Who!, which was surprisingly cute and well-done. Not really the waste of money I was expecting it to be.

Backing up, on Thursday, Natalie and I met up with Isaac to go see Regis Rep's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and we then went out for coffee with David and a few other people from the cast. That was quite an enjoyable evening, really. And speaking of Isaac, he's going to China soon, so Megan & I went in to Manhattan today (Manhattan - Times Square! - on St. Patrick's Day, I know, but it wasn't that bad) to have lunch with him.

Oh, and I also got my report card somewhere in that mix. Not very different than last trimester, though I did go up in two classes, which makes me quite the junior year anomaly. Breakdown, in case you care: English: A, APUSH: A-, Ethics: A, Madrigals: A, PE: A, French: A-, Bio: A, Precalc: B+.

Speaking of school, I got the okay from Casey & everyone else who it might have concerned, meaning I get to take two English classes next year and I've successfully dropped science. (: My classes, then, for next year are: AP English Literature, World Literature Honors, AP Comparative Gov't, Applied Calc., Senior Theology Seminar, and French V. Yahoo.

!! This just in! Intriguing! Acclaimed Comedy The 39 Steps Will Move to Cort Theatre. Apparently, The 39 Steps just announced that it's going to be moving to a different theatre for an open-ended commercial run, meaning that there are no more excuses: anyone who can see it, must.

With that said (written, rather), I'm off to read more Dostoyevsky and figure out if I have anything on my plate for tomorrow (as I am apparently going to see Young Frankenstein Wednesday night.

All for now.

ps. As it is St. Patrick's Day, and yours truly is incredibly Irish: Beannachtaí na Féile Páraic oraibh!

So, apparently, we're having someone from the Giants come to visit us tomorrow (surprise surprise). My school is really bad at keeping things to itself. Oh well.

Biology test tomorrow on the chapter of evolution, so that'll be a snap. I also have an English in-class essay to write, but that should be fine, too, especially because she's in love with me and she's recommended me for AP English Literature for next year. I'm far too curious for my own good and went online just to see if the course selections were up yet (as juniors always get first pick for the next year), and lo and behold, Rafferty and Dillane are really on top of things. Rafferty recommended me for both AP English Literature and World Literature Honors, and now all I have to do is talk to Mrs. Casey to ensure that it's a-ok to drop science and take both of those english courses. Which I feel a little bad about now that Dillane has recommended me for AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Environmental, and Honors Physics, meaning I could basically choose out of anything I wanted to do next year (but there is no way I'm taking a science course next year, sorry). Now that I know I'm definitely recommended for AP English, a whole lot of the excitement has been taken out of this course selection thing. I'm taking regular Calculus next year, I'm probably going to wind up taking World Since '45 Honors, and French V (considering there is no way in hell I'm going to take AP French, and that's if I'm even recommended for it). And then there's Faith and Reason, meaning that I'd only have two honors classes and one AP class next year. Oh well, it's fine. It's senior year, anyway, and the school I'm probably going to wind up applying ED to is 50% focused on academics and 50% on the audition, so.

That sentence was incomplete, but so is my thought. I just wanted to get some drabble about course selections out so it wasn't floating around my head any longer.

Until the next.

I'm not a football fan at all, but when it comes to New York (and the fact that the Pats cheated...), I can only say: GO GIANTS.

Life has not been exciting at all, though that's no surprise. Rehearsals for Into the Woods are continuing, I'm still attempting to fully memorize my ACDA music, plus I'm doing abnormally well in school (so much so that it's just slightly disconscerting, especially considering the whole "junior year is hell" mindset everyone's been in).

Friday was Silverball (aka the winter semi-formal at school), and I have to say, it was the best dance I've been to since freshman year. That might have had something to do with the fact that I knew three of the guys there (Joey, Ryan, and my new bff Michael), but it was just a really good dance. Saturday was a Manhattan stop for some wizard rock on the Whomp the House Tour, and where did they stop? Isaac's house (obviously), so Megan & I went for a house party. Megan had no idea what was going on, as she hates Harry Potter, but she apparently enjoyed herself. Obviously, it was intense, in case you couldn't tell from what's on the Whomping Willows' myspace:

Upcoming Shows ( view all )

Feb 2 2008 5:00P
Isaac’s House w/ Justin Finch-Fletchley and Catchlove (private party) New York, NY

Wow, private party. If by that they mean ~15 people Isaac knows sitting in his living room listening to three acoustic wizard rockers, then yes, it was a very private party, and incredibly exclusive, and awesomely fantastic. I loved it.

Uh. What else. Today I had rehearsal from 1-4, then mom & I went to the nearby H&M to attempt to buy this shirt, which Rufus Wainwright designed in connection with that new campaign H&M is doing against AIDS, but of course my nearest H&M fails and "isn't participating". Whatever. Then we went to P.F. Chang's, where I saw Joe and Chuck and failed at 20 questions (I couldn't get Spencer Tracy or Myrna Loy, goodness) before coming home.

Tomorrow I have part 3 of my mini mock for APUSH, plus some Ethics in-class essay test I have to do. Then rehearsal, and then homework, and then sleep. Tuesday is a long rehearsal (until ~7:30), I don't know what's happening with Wednesday other then I have stuff due for Bio, and then Friday I have a Bio test and an English in-class essay (or whatever she's calling it now).

But for now, I really need to work on that ACDA music. Ugh.

Until the next.

I've lost my voice. I don't know what happened. My speaking voice and my lower range are just fine, but my upper range is gone. It might've been because I had too much dairy before I attempted to sing, or it might've been because I'm tired, I don't know. I've noticed it getting weaker over the past few weeks, and it's throwing me into a tailspin. So now I'm resting my voice up and will try not to use it a lot until I talk to Jonathan about it tomorrow, and I'm just hoping it gets better soon. God, I don't know what I'm going to do without it.

I'm out of my Lindt Petits Desserts Crème Brulee bar, so now I have to finish up my Neuhaus Vanille Bourbon Madagascar bar, and goodness gracious, I'd almost forgotten how lovely chocolate tastes.

Three day weekend, so we're going to Philadelphia for Sunday & Monday in order to look at Swarthmore (...yay...), so I'm going to be doing a bunch of math drilling for the SATs while I'm there. I'm taking the SATs a week from Saturday, and the only thing that genuinely has me worried is the math portion. I know very well I'm not a math student, thanks, so stop putting pressure on me to do well on a test that doesn't stand for anything anymore, anyway. But I don't really care, I'm taking them now and again in March just so I can get them over and done with, because God forbid I'll have to take them again in May.

I have an APUSH midterm shortly which I desperately need to start studying for, especially because I need to maintain my average in that class. Goodness.

Isaac's show is on Saturday downtown, so Megan and I are going. Unfortunately, we might not be able to hit up Veselka when Etiquette (the two-person interactive piece of theatre they're doing there) is playing, but we'll see.

Speaking of downtown, Marc Jacobs has new merch available. I want that leather billfold in white and I still need to get those Paris boots. I should remember that.

We bought tickets for The 39 Steps, which just got fabulous reviews and is a limited run, so I can't wait for that. Oh, and Rent is closing, and I feel a little indifferent, to be perfectly honest. I also think it could not have happened at a better time, though that's all personal timing and the like that nobody would really care about or want to go into, so whatever.

And now, it is time for bed, as my Ethics paper was pushed back to Tuesday, meaning I had no homework (save French) to do tonight. Lovely feeling. Lovely.

Until the next.

I'm attempting to work my way through the abundance of tea we have stored up so I can actually go out and try new flavors, so that explains why I just used four teabags to make a pot of original India spice chai. It's nothing special, but I have 16 teabags left, and one pot is about five cups (goodness), so who knows when I'll be done. Perhaps if I start drinking tea in the morning, too?

Double rehearsals have been going on for the past three days, starting with Into the Woods and then moving on to the Scenioritis scenes (I'm playing Demetrius in Act III, sc. 2 from A Midsummer Night's Dream). Scenioritis is over on Friday, but tomorrow is the full dress and the run-through, so I'm not getting home until about 10. It's fine, though, because I also haven't had that much homework this week.

Yesterday I came home, ate something, and literally passed out on the couch because of how tired I was (apparently). My mother woke me up at 20 to 9 and insisted that I should just go upstairs and go to bed, so I tried. I did the going upstairs part just fine, but I couldn't really get to bed, so I decided to read a bit and see if that'd help any. Of course, I'm still in the middle of Pride and Prejudice (again), and of course last night I got to Darcy's first proposal and the whole letter detailing just why Wickham is a failure at life, so, naturally, I couldn't sleep until I finished all of that.

Cup number four now. I doubt that chugging this tea is good for me, as I think I'm still feeling the after-shocks of all that caffeine I had from a few days ago (when I drank about 12 cups of tea and stayed up until four am), but I don't really care. Once I finish all this tea, I have to shower and shave and study my lines and read a bit more and maybe write the essay that I'm supposed to be doing? Who knows.

Until the next.

ps. New Hampshire? Please. Don't even.

I suppose you're all due for a brief summary of what my life has been like for the past few weeks, so why not?

The APUSH roundtable went well: Scarlett O'Hara and Sarah Grimke very nearly got into a catfight over slavery, and while I heard that some people were playing (or had played) Scarlett as an ignorant Southern Belle, I chose to promote that annoyingly stubborn, strong-willed side of her. And let me tell you, she was not at all happy that those damn Yankees were trying to do away with slavery.

Cast list went up Wednesday, when we weren't in any classes anyway, so we found out about the middle of the day. I was cast as Cinderella's stepmother, who actually has more to do than I originally thought. When I sing (and when it's not a brief solo moment on my part), then I get to carry the harmony alone. Great, right? Cinderella and my daughters get the melody, while I have to bust out some ADD soprano harmony for no reason. I'm sure it'll be fun, though. Speaking of Into the Woods, rehearsals start on Monday, and since I really don't do much when you look at the whole show, I'm genuinely looking forward to rehearsals. I can actually get some homework done, plus a bunch of us are thinking of bringing in board games (namely Apples to Apples, Imaginiff and the Dirty Minds game) and stashing them in Megan's "office" backstage so we can actually amuse ourselves.

Oh, and speaking of Sondheim, I have seen the Johnny Depp/Helena Bonham Carter Sweeney Todd movie twice in theatres. First time was with Isaac and Danii at the Zigfield for Isaac's birthday, and thank goodness I went with him. I'm naturally squeamish, which I don't even attempt to deny, and he promised to tell me when to close my eyes, which he did. I flipped out at just the noises of throats being slit open, but still, I loved the movie. If anyone hasn't seen it, please go. You don't miss much if you close your eyes, because throat-cutting does not take up 3/4 of the movie (it's actually only about 1/3459th of the movie). I saw it again on the 2nd with Amy, Megan, and Katie, who apparently found it awesome. While we're on that topic, though, I figure I can briefly mention (just so I never forget) a few key points of that dinner: our awktrtl waiter, Joe the awkbunny waiter, Chuck, missing Mundungus yet again, and writing back.

Christmas was decent, I suppose. My parents were, as always, incredible at picking out gifts for me: a black no!no! (which is my new favorite thing in the world), a Cary Grant box set of movies (The Awful Truth, His Girl Friday, Only Angels Have Wings, The Talk of the Town, Holiday), a box set of "classic comedies" (Bringing Up Baby, The Philadelphia Story, Dinner at Eight, Stage Door[which is NOT a comedy at all, though I still loved it], To Be Or Not to Be, Libeled Lady), a whole bunch of chocolate, the Dancing at Lughnasa original movie soundtrack, and a bottle of Miss Dior Chérie (!!!), and Le Petit Prince original recording. I cleaned up nicely, if I do say so myself.

Dinner in Manhattan was...don't even. Neither my aunt nor my uncle like fiction (in fact, they abhor it), which provides me with another example of how I cannot possibly be related to them. New Year's was much better, as I got to spend it with the sane side of the family (aka my mother's side), where someone who I'm not actually related to spontaneously turned to me and said, "Follow your dreams." In addition, I finally got to see the picture of my great-grandfather handing Teddy Roosevelt a ballot, and now all that's left is to go and find just where it is in the Museum of Natural History. Prior to New Year's Day, of course, was New Year's Eve, which was spent at Megan's house, where we partied, watched Johnny and the Sprites, a Fred & Ginger movie, and did not go to sleep until about 7 am. Oh, it was fabulous.

Tomorrow is my first day back at school, unfortunately, and I still have a bit of work left to do. Not much - just have to outline two essays for APUSH and finish reading this chapter, because I was too busy watching The Wrong Box last night to actually do it.

As for right now, I'm sitting in the kitchen with my (incredibly awesome and transparent) pot of apple tea and my history textbook, and I'm in the middle of watching the Rufus! Rufus! Rufus! does Judy! Judy! Judy! concert on DVD. And yes, I do love Rufus more than ever, thanks for asking. I will, without a doubt, find a way to get in to opening night of Prima Donna at the Met in 2012, and will subsequently manage to get a part in it the next time they mount it. I swear, I can hardly stand to wait for him to finish writing it, and yet half of me wants him to get writer's block and delay it a few years so that I might actually have a shot at being part of the Young Artist Development Program by that time (because then I'd have access to all the rehearsals).

Still. Rufus + Opera = ♥. Then again, Rufus is incredible in any setting and he excels at everything he does. And I just finished watching this part of the London concert, and I highly recommend it, especially if you've never heard/seen Rufus do anything before. Damn, he's fabulous.

Until the next.