It’s worse than when your own relationship doesn’t work out, cuz it just sucks for you. But when someone else’s relationship seems to be soaring high, then goes crashing back down within a number of hours due to circumstances out of both of their control. (Controls?) Being an accessory to a relationship that is stopped by outer forces before it can even begin is literally one of the worst feelings I have ever had in my life.

It gives you time to get excited for them, to feel important, and be happy at what a great relationship they’d have, then all of a sudden. There is nothing.

Guidelines I have Created for Life:

1) Always accept people for who they are.

2) Trust people to make their own best decision.

3) Love comes in many different forms.

4) If you don’t let people “find themselves” they will become miserable human beings.

This is by no means a comprehensive list. Nor does it even give any real information about the situation at hand. This was purposeful. And it was just something I threw together on a last-minute basis. And I’m going to say the same thing here that I told him. Don’t give up. Never give up. Things have a way of working out, and from what I can see, you would be perfect for each other. Keep trying and eventually, something’s gotta give. LOVE YA BOTH!!!

Is it just me, or are our freedoms as American citizens becoming fewer and fewer everyday? The lastest big thing to talk about as far as losing freedoms goes is SOPA, but SOPA has been over-discussed these past few weeks, so I am not going to talk about SOPA.

I am, however, going to turn your attention to the subtle loss of our first amendment rights in other things. The first amendment does NOT just cover freedom of speech, but also the freedoms of religion and assembly. On Monday, January 28, as people demonstrated their right to peacably assemble in Washington D.C. at the March for Life, our right to free religion was being challenged, just a walk away, in Congress.

I hate politics and don’t like to enter into controversial matters, but this is important to me. As a firm believer in the Pro-Life philosophy, I was appalled to learn that at the very same time when thousands of people were gathered in our nation’s capitol, protesting abortion, our congressmen were busy passing a bill that would ensure that abortion will become more widespread. As part of the new healthcare reform, businesses will be required to offer abortion, contraception, and sterilization coverage in their insurance plans for their employees. When several states asked for a waiver, the only concession given was that they would have a year to implement these new measures.

Employers who belong to a religion that frowns upon abortion will have to either go against their conscience to offer their employees approved insurance, not offer their employees any insurance at all, or to face the legal consequences. Regardless of personal creed or ideological beliefs, I think we should all agree that Americans should be offered a choice in the matter.  Pro-Choice supporters argue that it’s all about personal freedom, so they, as well, should be infuriated by this decision.

I do not write to impose my ideas upon anyone else, or even to persuade, but merely to inform others about what is going on in Washington, because when you pull the thread, where does it end? Slowly, slowly they take away our freedoms: just slowly and imperceptibly enough that we don’t notice, that we don’t mind. But unless someone does something, we’ll end up with another China. Call your senator and demand your first amendment rights, whether for SOPA, or this, or anything else…remind them that this country is still safe for democracy.

(You see that stage??  Looks empty, doesn’t it?  WRONG!!!  We’re there.  You just don’t see us.  Cuz we’re ninjas!!)

So, (Wow!  I haven’t updated in ages,) we’ve been rehearsing for Noises Off, a fantastic farce play by Michael Frayn, ever since August at school, several days a week, for several hours on those days.  This week, we got down to our final stretch (we open on Thursday) and have begun everyday rehearsals.  But today’s rehearsal was not anticipated.  (No one knew about it till yesterday.)  And no one really wanted to go because it’s been getting really boring and long and monotonous…not because it’s a bad play, cuz it’s not…it’s really quite fantastic…it’s just that we’ve seen it 50 kazillion times and are so sick of it.  (So ready for this to be done with…)  Anyways…we have been losing brain cells sitting there in the audtorium being bored for a few weeks now, but today was apparently the final straw or something…cuz we just broke.

All of a sudden, we became ninjas…we started creeping around the auditorium, peering over the edge of the stage and rows of chairs, doing complicated turns (and handstands…) and trying hard to be surreptitiously obvious.

Then I realized, that when you’re bored, you’re just bored, but eventually comes a point where you’re too bored to just do nothing anymore, and as a result, you have to do SOMETHING, ANYTHING to entertain yourself.  So we became ninjas.  And it was fun.

We learned in AP Lang that every personal narrative has a moral, so I would like to suggest that the moral of this story is that whenever you’re bored, get bored-er so that you brain will be forced to survive by finding something to do.  Because this really seemed to work…anyways…maybe I’ll update more often…and better.  With higher quality.  But probably not…

This was a short post…

Theatrically yours,

G.

This one, (surprise, surprise, coming from me…jk) has a religious background.

I saw an awesome movie last night.  It was called, “One Night With the King,” and is based on the Novel Hadassah, which is by someone whose name I can’t remember at the moment, which is about the book of Esther in both the Christian and Hebrew bibles.

For those of you who are well versed in the bible, I probably don’t need to tell the story, but for the rest of you, here it goes:

A king of Persia decides to divorce his wife (he may have had her killed: this is debated,) because she would not attend his party.  He then calls for all the maidens in the land to come to the palace so that he can choose a new wife.  After a manditory period of beautification and preperation, the women meet the king.  Esther is chosen as Queen, but she is secretly a Jew, and through lots of perseverance and courage, saves her people.

(K…so I saw this movie ages ago, but it just published this-unfinished-right now…so I just tagged on that ending.  Sorry!!)

I have come a long way from the time they put a lizard down my shirt.

That’s right…my name is Maria Von Trapp…sitter extraordinaire!!!

Last night, I was babysitting for some family friends of varying (but all high) levels of energy and hyperactivity.  I absolutely LOVE this family because of my own high levels of hyperactivity, etc.  But despite a couple of small fires (video games getting stuck on fingers, a couple of small spills, one knee injury, negotiations about dinner and bedtime, etc.) everything went GORGEOUSLY!!!

We all had a lot of fun, mostly playing video games and chasing each other around the house, we have come a long way.

Like I said, the last time I went to their house, (very Sound-of-Music-like) I did get a lizard down my shirt…twice.  And then they stuck an (apparently poisonous) toad in my hand as well.  Needless to say, I kinda freaked out.  But THIS time, the lizards had died (  ) the toads remained safely in their tanks, and I only had 2 parakeets perched on my shoulder.  (Birds I can deal with…amphibians…not so much…)  And keeping with our theatrical theme of SOM, the kids also spent a great deal of time telling me stories about all the times they’d scared off other babysitters, screaming and crying and running away.

(BTW, I’ve got to give my mom some credit for the Sound of Music thing…she was the first one to coin the idea.)

You know, I’ve always wished my life would be comparable to a musical…I just never expected, well…this…

But as I say…interesting is always better than safe.  (Cuz safe is never fun…)

anyways, A Bientot, mes amours… <3

I, (Yay!!) just about an hour ago, put a hair feather into my own hair…all for the total cost of $1.99.

Genevieve approves.

For months now, I have been searching the internet for the best price on hair feathers, but…funnily enough…the best deal in town was actually in town.  Mine is actually a peacock feather.  Not AS good as the one in the picture, obviously, but I think it’s pretty cool.

Here’s how I did it:

1) Purchase a hair feather for $1.99 at H-Mart. (5 bead-clamp-rubber band things included.)

2) Wet, then twist a small section of hair wherever you want your feather to be.

3) Take a bobby pin, then put it near the top on that section of hair.

4) Take the bead and place it on the end of the bobby pin.

5) Push the bead over the bobby pin so it is transferred onto your hair.

6) Pull the end of your hair through the bead.

7) Stick the end of the feather through the bead, which should be near the roots of your hair.

8) Clamp the bead with pliers.

VOILA!!!!

Cheaply done hair feather.

Since I have loved reading from a very young age, yet have discovered that during the school months, I don’t do much of it at all that isn’t strictly required for schoolwork, I have decided…no…challenged…myself to complete a reading list by the end of this school year.

It consists of 30…no wait…32 books and is entitled…”30 Books Everyone Should Read Before They’re Thirty.”  (from http://www/divinecaroline.com/22189/98450-thirty-books-everyone-read-they-re/4#ixzz1TeSlZDji)

And consists of the following books:

1. Siddhartha- Hermann Hesse

2. 1984 by George Orwell

3. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

4. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

5. For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

6. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (that one should be fun…)

7. The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine

8. The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

9. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

10. The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin

11. The Wisdom of the Desert by Thomas Merton

12. The Tipping Point by malcolm Gladwell

13. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham

14. The Art of War by Sun Tzu

15. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

16. David Copperfield  by Charles Dickens

17. Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot

18. Catch-22 by Joseph heller

19. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Pitzgerald

20. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

21. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

22. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

23. Walden by Henry David Thoreau

24. The Republic by plato

25. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

26. Getting Things Done by David Allen

27. How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie

28. Lord of the Flies by William Golding

29. The Grapes of Wrath by John stein beck

30. The master and margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

31, (Bonus) How To Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

32. (Bonus) Honeymoon with My Brother by Franz Wisner

The last two, as the list dictates, are “bonus” books, so I may or may not read them…but they’re there.

The reason I’m posting this list though is primarily for accountability.  The second things get hard, I’m going to want to quit and just focus on schoolwork, WHICH I WILL NOT LET MYSELF DO!!!

I know that I could get everything done way more efficiently (and better quality, too) if I cut out the majority of my internet time, so, in other words…less Tumblr during the schoolyear.  Stuff like that.  I could instead fill that time with reading classic books that will expand my view on life.

Granted, I have already read several of the books on this list.  But that’s not a reason to get a whole new list.  This one looked interesting, so the few that I’ve already read (1984, To Kill a Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye, Lord Of The Flies, etc.) I’ll just skip.

On a related note, I have also assigned myself a list of 158 plays to read by the time I graduate from college.  I’m not going to bother listing those out for you, but I’ve already read 8 of them.  (Only 8??? Yikes!!)  Now I have another reason to live.  YAY!!!

So basically, Rachel…if every once in a while you’d ask me how I’m doing with my reading list, that should keep me on track.  Thanks!!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

<3

In Louisiana, where my family visits frequently, one of their favorite pastimes is to stop by a snowball stand and grab a few to eat.  Now, for those of you living anywhere else where there are not any snowballs, a snowball is, practically, a less-packed snow cone, but not in a conical cup.   (Whoever invented snow cones, I don’t know what you were thinking.  Snowballs are so much simpler and so much easier to make and eat…just saying.)

Now, at the typical snowball stand, of which there are many in any given city in Louisiana, the flavors list would look something like this…

If you can squint enough to see the different flavors listed, you can see that there is a very very wide variety from which to make a selection.  Actually, even if you can’t squint, you can still see that.  And no, this isn’t like some sort of super-snowball-stand flavors list I got from the internet.  This is honestly what the typical snowball stand looks like.

Again, if you can squint, you can also see the individual flavors.  There are “normal” flavors, such as strawberry, cherry, tangerine, green apple, and raspberry, as well as “weird” or “creative” ones, such as orchid vanilla, sock-it-to-me, pink squirrel, and popeye, just to name a few.

I have had many many many many many bad experiences with uniquely flavored snowballs, but have also had many good ones.  They can be tons of fun, but my willingness to try new things has greatly hindered my ablity to select a decent snowball many many times in a row.  Therefore, I have decided to publish a guide for the world on how to select the perfect snowball (which should have been more aptly titled, “how to not end up gagging to death over a nasty cup of some sort of unidentifiable syrup over ice.”)

1.  As a general rule, stick to “normal” flavors.  If it seems to make sense to put it over ice, then there is a much higher likelihood that it will taste good.

2. Fruit flavors are generally safe.  Many of them taste way too sugary, though, so it that bothers you, just be careful with that.

3. Red syrups always seem to be the best to me.  If you have trouble deciding, and one of them is red, it’s usually a good idea to go with that.  (Counter-intuitive to pretty much everything you’ve been told your entire life about red dye, I know, but it’s so true.)

4. Like I said, most places like to douse that ice in syrup, resulting in an overly-sugary mixture.  If that’s going to bother you, ask for less syrup.

5. If you don’t know what the flavor means, don’t get it.  (Unless you ask what it means, then they say it’s red, in which case, you should be fine.)

6. Do not ever eat a snowball named after a baked good.  It will not taste anything like its  namesake.

7. Be careful with the “diet” or “sugar free” flavors.  Unless you’re diabetic or have some other need for which to control sugar intake, they honestly aren’t that good.  If you’re choosing a diet flavor to avoid the overly-sugary taste of a regular flavor, it won’t work.  It’ll still taste overly sugary, just with asparatame, so it’s just chemically sugar-flavored.

8. There is a huge difference between spearmint and peppermint.  Spearmint is a good flavor, peppermint tastes like mouthwash.  Just letting you know.

9. Almond flavor just tastes like sugar and chemicals.  Don’t get it.  No matter how much you’ve been craving almonds.  *experience*

10.  Strawberry is always a safe flavor.

11. Diet Strawberry is the safest diet flavor, if you have to get one.

12. Lemon/Lemonade flavors vary greatly from one stand to the next and can be either really good or really bad.  Order with caution.

13. Other safe flavors include: spearmint, tangerine, blackberry, green apple, and root beer.

Now that you have safely chosen a delicious snowball, you can sit back in one of those little plastic chairs at one of those little plastic tables with one of those little styrofoam cups they give you,  relax, and enjoy.  (or not.)

But do it FAST because they will melt.

If I had written this post earlier, I would have been ranting about how it takes forever for a cast list to be put up.

However, now that it was actually posted, and I was on it, I can publish a less-emotionally-attached post.

Thank you for casting me.  I will thouroughly enjoy being a part of the production, Hairspray.  It’s a really fun one to do.

I am especially excited for the dance.  (Which is ironic, since I can’t dance to save my life…)

Thanks for the opportunity to learn, though.

(Also, I’d like to make future suggestions for your audition process.  1) for dance auditions, the first couple groups of people should be allowed to go again at the end.  either that or no one should be allowed to practice in the back in order to “level the playing field…”  2) fix the air conditioner.  when you have 100+ people all dancing on the same small stage, you need an air conditioner.  ’nuff said.  3) make sure there’s a backup plan for playing the music if the electricity goes out.  Just do it.  Please?  For the sake of the sanity of the actors and/or production staff.  4) talk louder when you introduce the directors.  i hate having to pretend like i know their names for the entire summer, when, in reality, i’m just awkwardly avoiding ever having to say it.  5) seperate people while doing choreography.  do groups of 50 at a time or something, cuz 100 don’t fit on the stage, nor can they see.  However, people can see from the audience and there is enough room for at least 50 people to dance in the aisles, so you could trade off that way like that next time.)

Yeah.  those.

Anyways…today, just so you know, I spent the entire day online, literally stalking the internet…clicking refresh over and over again until the list was posted.

Then I noticed a slight change in the setup of the webpage, realized that someone had been on, and stalked the internet even more vigilantly until, around 2 hours later, the actual list was posted.

I scrolled down, and didn’t see my name at first, freaked out, then kept scrolling.

I then saw my name and un-freaked-out.

Oh…and another suggestion.

Next time, if you could kindly tell the potential cast members the time at which you are planning to post the list, that would be incredible…because I FREAK OUT WAITINGGGGG!!!!!

I am a lot of things.

Patient is not one of them.

Especially not when, literally, my entire summer schedule is at stake.

But in case you take all of this to heart, please don’t.  I am very very excited to be a part of this production.

Sure…I am most definitely impatient.  But that doesn’t change a thing.  An integral part of the theatrical process is the agony and anxiety of waiting, and it wouldn’t be the same without it.

Thanks for casting me,

With much love (in a non-creepy way).

-g <3

*FLASHBACK!* do-do-do-do-do, do-do-do-do-do, do-do-do-do-do.

I was in the midst of cram week for the AP World exam…

learning more than I have learned all year…

reading about chinese dynasties and inventions, as well as European royal hierarchies and trade routes throughout the entire globe…

so…I was up this particular night till about 4 in the morning, studying from the moment I got home from school to the second I laid my head on that pillow.

(Actually, that’s a lie: I had been studying in bed, so technically, my head was already on the pillow.)

Whatever…

Anyways…let me tell you about my dream.

My studying-induced dream…

It’s kind of vague and sort of foggy at this point, but I’ll tell you what I remember anyways…

I was at school…which was filled with docks and water (as in ocean or sea…)

but there was a distinct inside part, and a distinct outside/dock/port/whatever you want to call it area.

And I was at my locker and stuff…and these huge Chinese junks show up and start trading.  Which was weird.  (For those of you who have less recently submerged your brain in studies of the history of the world…”junk” is the official name of a certain kind of Chinese ship.   They were larger and stronger and improved technologically from previous kinds of ships.)

So…I’m all at school and stuff…getting stuff from my locker…amazed at these huge ships that have just come out of nowhere (btw, background music is playing at this point…totally a la Pirates of the Caribbean,) when, Prince William (you know the one married to Kate?) comes walking by me with his little entourage.

Actually, that’s the highlight of the dream.

I don’t really remember specifics after that.

But I do know that Prince William and I were hanging out all the time and he was like my best friend.

Oh…and there was a tailor shop with a kid who rode a bike…

Anyways…lame post.

I’m sorry.

I started this a while back but never finished, so that’s what’s up with that.

Sorry…