Last Post of 2011!!

Hey guys. It's been a while, hasn't it? I guess my excuse for not writing is that I had finals week, and then I had the week-for-recovering-from-finals week, in which I got dreadfully sick. Twice. But I'm better now and things are well.

I'm at home now, which is a little weird. I haven't been here since August, and though I'm used to being back now, it was very strange at first. I walked into my room and for a minute it felt the way it did when we hadn't bought this house yet, when we were just looking: that it was a room, but not my room. Blank walls and other people's stuff all over. My dog remembered me, at least.

Christmas was good. As is our tradition, we went to visit my grandparents in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming. It was nice to see them again.

I miss Santa Barbara. I miss the warm. I miss my friends. You know, I don't think I really knew what it meant to feel homesick until I came back here. It's weird.

Also, this post is weird, isn't it? Kind of random. Sorry about that.

Ummmm. Well, anyway, to those of you who are still reading: I just want to let you know I still read all the posts even if I forget to write. This blog is one of the coolest things I've ever been a part of. Let's not forget about it.

Next week, and I'm making this official, let's write about New Year's resolutions, okay? That'll force me to think of one.

Alrighty! Keep in touch, my friends!

DFTBA,
Emily

Sorry this is a bit late...

Technically it's Friday. But it's 4am for me and I haven't gone to sleep yet so it still seems like it's Thursday night, does that count?

I was going to try and start getting better about being a bit more thoughtful while writing, but as I said it's 4am. So because it's something I can easily comment and write on here is how my week has been:

Good! Busy! As per usual :P

Christmas was really nice. Every year on Christmas morning we get up, open presents, and head over to my grandparents house for brunch. My cousins and aunt and uncle all go over as well and it's just really good to have all the family together. The afternoon usually varies, some years (like this year) we just go home for a few hours, other years all us cousins will go sledding together. Then it's back over to Grandma and Grandpa's for turkey dinner! I kind of feel like the two main parts of Christmas are Family and Food. So much food.

Did you all have a good Christmas? What did you do?

Other than Christmas it's been a pretty normal week. Work's calming down a little now that we're getting past Christmas and Boxing day. My sister had a "holiday get together" (or as I would call it a party) at our house tonight so that was fun. I've really enjoyed being able to spend time with my friends while we've had a break from school and everyone's home.

Also, Doctor Who Christmas Special. So good. I cried. Sometimes I forget just how much I love that show until I watch another episode and then the love just comes flooding back!

DFTBA,

-Kim

Well.. It's been a while.

First and foremost, an apology.
I'm so sorry that I haven't been keeping up with this blog. With the end of the school year and Christmas and other stuff.. I just couldn't find time. But I'm back now! And hopefully the others will come too.. Hopefully.

Secondly, Kim, Sim and Emily.
You three are amazing. When the rest of us weren't updating - you three were. Thank you! If it weren't for you three I may have forgotten about this blog.. But I haven't.

Thirdly, a promise.
I promise to post every Wednesday. As I should've been doing for the past few months.

And I guess that's all..

DFTBA? And I'll be back next Wednesday..
Caitlin x

(I'm bad at titles :S)

Well I'm finally finished this semester of school. One the one hand it's nice to have a break, no more exams to study for or assignments to worry about. Yet it's also completely terrifying.

I decided that there was nothing more for me to do at the university I'm at right now, I'm not working towards any specific degree and any credits I do earn aren't applicable for transfer to the kind of program I want to go into. So I won't be returning to school in a few weeks like most of my friends. Ideally I'll be going back to school in September but since I'm not yet accepted into another school there's a possibility that I'll be off for more than just one term.

For the first time in my life I really don't know what lies ahead of me. Until now there has always been a concrete plan, every step my life will take determined in some form at least for a few years at a time. Now I'm looking straight into the unknown. I do have short-term plans to carry me through a few months but after that I really don't know what will happen.

January I'm still here at home, working my same part-time job I've had for a while and working on getting the best portfolio together that I can. I'll try to spend some time getting some project type things out of the way; getting my drivers lisence for example, and first aid certification. I have a month to just try and get some things done that I feel I should do.

February follows and it's pretty much all traveling. First to London then to Vegas. Once I'm home the idea is to get a full time job somewhere, just work and try to save up money for school. If I get into the school I've applied to I'll just work straight through until september. If I don't I'm not sure yet what will happen. Maybe I take a year off, maybe I apply elsewhere. I have no idea where I'll be or what I'll be doing this time next year and that's kind of frightening.

I've been trying hard to just enjoy the now and take things one day at a time. Every so often though I realise just how fast time is hurtling past and have to brace myself for the onslaught of the unknown.

On a happier note, it's only a few days until Christmas!

Merry Christmas and DFTBA!

-Kim

Fancy a Cuppa?

...I'll just pop the kettle on then :)

Today was my last day of school and we now break up for the Christmas Holidays. I'm not too sure how I feel about it yet. Christmas is only a week away and I'm not really in the 'Christmassy' mood yet :/ Though the decorations are up and I've done the majority of my Christmas shop and my donations.

I've just sorted out all the work that has to be done before I return to school on the 3rd, and its ALOT. On top of revising for my January exams, I have to write an essay on gender roles in the three texts we've been reading. We get to choose the specifics of our titles and I've decided that mine is going to be ' An analysis of the portrayal of gender, sex and violence in the works of Angela Carter, Carol Ann Duffy and Charles Bukowski'. As the crazy person I am, I'm looking forward to writing it, but not looking forward to the 9 book pile of stories and poems and all the critics articles I have to read before I start writing it.

Other than that, I hope everyone is alright and that we can all hopefully get together next week on the blog before Christmas.

DFTBA

Sim

Just Popping in to Say Hi

Hi!

Sorry for the lack of post last week, and this week really. Gotta study for exams!

Hope you're all doing well!

DFTBA,

-Kim

Christmas Festival!

I cannot even describe to you all how epic my weekend is. We're in the middle of the college's Christmas concert festival, in which the orchestra and all of the choirs get together and put on a free concert of Christmas music. We're doing about half of Handel's Messiah, including the Hallelujah Chorus that everyone knows. It's epic. And I don't mean epic as in "dude, that's epic", but epic. 


These Christmas concerts are really popular. Last year, the tickets sold out in 2 days. This year, the tickets went on sale in early November and sold out in 40 minutes. We opened last night and the hall was packed. And it was probably the happiest audience I've ever played for.

I wish I could tell you guys all about it but you probably wouldn't be interested in the details anyway. Suffice it to say that I'm having an amazing time. It's exhausting to play the whole program every night but SO worth it.


I don't really have much else to talk about. Other than the fact that finals are coming up and I'm woefully underprepared in one of my classes and I should be studying for that right now....

In conclusion, listen to this:

Living in Colour

*

'I tried so hard and got so far

but in the end it doesn't even matter

I had to fall to lose it all

But in the end it doesn't even matter'
In the End - Linkin Park

*

Sometimes a downward spiral accelerates and becomes a slippery slope leading to a bottomless pit, a sort of oblivion. Feelings of sadness causing a disinterest in the majority of things you used to enjoy to do.

First things first, I'm not depressed. I'm not crazy. I'm not whining.

'People' don't seem to understand moods. Moods can change; up and down. The people who stay with you for both extremes and all in between are the people worth calling your friends.

*
'I fear oblivion'
The Fault in Our Stars - John Green
*

I've heard that life is long. I've heard that life is short. It can't be both, but recently I understand both. Life is mysterious and hard and confusing. You can spend your whole life trying your hardest and finally think you understand what's going on and it comes crashing down around you. I've seen this happen to people older and younger than me. Around me, life doesn't seem to be lived any more. People just do what they do because that's what they feel they need to do to get to the end of the day. This saddens me.

*

'On the day they gave out super powers, I was in the garden smelling some flowers.
I guess I missed out, cos I was a little too late. Now I feel more or less like a zero,
cos everyone around me is a superhero.
But at least the flowers in yesterday's garden smell great'
Yesterday's garden - Ed Stockham

*

Passion is the key. Find something you love doing and do it again. Hone your skills, perfect them. Watch someone do it better. Get upset. Get annoyed. Try again. And again. And again. Do it because you love the feeling it gives you, the fire it ignites deep inside your heart. Do it because if there was nothing else you had to do, you would do it all the time. Life is whatever you make it, so make it happy. There will be times where you'll be heartbroken; by someone else, by yourself. But that heartbreak, it's what helps you to strive to do better. It makes you want it more and in the end, it makes you a better person.

*
'You could be happy, I hope you are'
You could be happy - Snow Patrol

*

I've felt like giving up everything I've tried to achieve this past year. When it gets thrown back in your face, you don't know what to do. You aimless go through the motions and tell everyone that its okay. You know you'll be fine in the long run, but it still hurts now. Your confidence is shaken and you start to question practically everything.
Life becomes meaningless; those big philosophical questions hover in your mind, like they often do in those little unknown indie movies. What is life? What is the purpose of my being? et cetera, et cetera.

*
You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you'll escape it one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining that future keeps you going, but you never do it. You just use the future to escape the present'
Looking for Alaska - John Green
*

I was walking home today from my sister's house. The chill of the air nipping at my fingers and darkness setting in. My mind wandering at a thousand miles per hour when a particular song came on my ipod.

'I feel better and better and worse and then better
than ever, than ever, than ever'
I Feel Better - Frightened Rabbit

Listening to that song made me realise that all these questions I was asking myself, all these doubts I had about my intelligence, my passion and my ability to succeed in life, were pointless. Life is difficult to describe and harder to find a meaning for. At the end of the day, if you are happy and you've tried your hardest, then you've succeeded. We often forget that as we get wrapped up in the details we find imposed on us. Where are you going? What you doing with your life? How will you provide for yourself? All relevant questions, but we're still just teenagers. Our biggest worry shouldn't be these.

We should be happy and that's all that should matter.

Living in Colour - Frightened Rabbit

Hi There :)

I'm trying to keep my life organized, I really am, but it's becoming increasingly difficult. I have a to-do list that's four pages long, finals are coming up, and I have a cold. There seriously is not enough time in a day!

There was just the most gorgeous bird in my tree! It flew off right away but I still got rather excited.

Anyways, I'm trying to think of something to talk about that's not just "my life is busy!" because my life is never not busy, it just goes through phases of being more or less busy.

OH! Exciting news though! I don't know if I mentioned this but I had applied to a theatre design program at a school in London and I have an interview February 9th! So I'm going to London for a week in February! So excited! And if anyone has suggestions on what to do/see let me know :)

I already have a long list of shows I want to see and I know I can't see them all, but I'm just such a theatre nerd! I think the best shows I've ever seen/worked on are Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Spring Awakening, and Billy Elliot. They're all beautiful shows, which fill you with joy at one turn and sorrow at another. Each time I see them something new comes to light.

Do all of you see theatre sometimes? And if so what are your favourite shows?

DFTBA,

-Kim

November Vignettes

Hey guys, sorry for not writing last time. I'd give an excuse but... well... I don't really have one. So, just accept my apologies. Today, I want to share with you a few anecdotes from my life since I last wrote.

Life of a Westmont Music Student

i.

SCENE: Music office, afternoon. It's Saturday morning and Emily is sitting at the student worker desk, scrolling through an Xcel document. Her job is to take down information for ticket reservations from all the people who reserved tickets via phone-- meaning old people who don't use the internet. The phone beeps beside her and plays a pre-recorded message over the speakers.

Phone: This is the mailbox for...Westmont Christmas festival ticket reservation. There are...80 new and...0 saved messages.

Emily sighs and hits play on the first message. 


Phone (in the voice of an elderly woman): Hello... this is... Marian Smith. That's S-M-I-T-H. My phone number is 5.... 5.... um..................................what is it again?



ii.

SCENE: Dr. S's living room, Thanksgiving day. Dr. S is kindly hosting students who live too far away to be able to go home for Thanksgiving. Emily, Dr. S, and two other students are sitting on the floor around an aged board game called Dogfighters. Small plastic WWI biplanes cover the board. It's Dr. S's turn; he rolls the dice and after some strategic thinking, decides to make a move.

Dr. S: I'm attacking!!! VVVVVRRRRR woosh! rat at at at at at at! PRRCKKSSSSHHHHHHH!!!! You're DEAD.

iii.

SCENE: Dorm room, Saturday evening. Emily is lying in bed with her laptop, writing something. Even though nearly everyone on campus is gone for Thanksgiving break, and the shuttle isn't running, she's still trying to find an excuse not to do her homework.

She realizes it's her day to blog, and begins to type a post. Funny stories from the past couple weeks, she thinks; that'll make a good post. She writes two, but gets stuck thinking of any more. There should be three, she thinks, three is a good number.

But what to write about? She realizes what she wants to write about, as well as the fact that there's no un-cheesy way to do it. What the hell, she thinks.

She decides to write about what she's thankful for. The words come out fast once she realizes what she's writing.  She's thankful for friends. For the friendships she's made over the past few months. This summer, she didn't know any of these people; now, they've become more important to her than she can even say. She doesn't know how she'll be able to live without them when she goes home for Christmas break. Even the 5-day Thanksgiving break has been painfully lonely without them.

She looks at what she's written. Yep. It's cheesy. But that's okay. It's true.

Fin




DFTBA,
Emily

Thanksgiving on Black Friday

Well it's Friday again so hello people...if there is anyone out there :P

So this week marked Thanksgiving and though I do not celebrate it (for obvious reasons) I thought I'd give a shout out to things that I am thankful for.

- School: Yes, as much as I complain about school, I'm still incredibly thankful for everything my teachers and all the work they do for students.

- Family and Friends: With all the stress the past year has brought with exams and university decisions I wouldn't have been able to do it all and still be prepared for the coming year without them. So I'm extremely thankful for their support and I hope that I've been able to be just as helpful to them.

- Vlogbrothers/Internet Community: Like my family and friends, the nerdfighter community, and the numerous fandoms that I stalk on tumblr, have been tremendous support in times of needing stress free environments. Also you guys and this blog, I'm thankful for the place of creative release and a place where it's nice to attempt to connect with people outside of my comfort zone and home.

-Life: I'm thankful to be alive and healthy. I'm thankful to wake up every morning with the prospect of a brand new day, a brand new day to make a mark on.

Gosh that last point was a bit cheesy.
To those who celebrated Thanksgiving, I hope you and your family had a great time and to those who do not, hope your week has been equally brill.

Sim

Turkey Day

For those of you celebrating today,

Happy Thanksgiving!

DFTBA,

-Kim

Who was that girl?...

Hello All,
I've just been beamed back after intergalactic journeys, actually that's a lie.
I shouldn't lie and just come out and say it; I forgot. A lot.
Every Friday morning I would remember but then it would get to the evening and I would just completely forget for reasons X, Y and Z.

So let's pretend today is Friday.
HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

So an update...Well since my last post I've turned 18, WOOO! The most scandalous thing I've done so far is almost walk out the library with a book without checking it out. A lot of my time has been spent in the study section of my local library, I actually even spent my birthday in there. Other things that have been happening include my Oxford entrance exam. It was hard and it was confusing and I found out how I did on Wednesday, also if I got an interview the following week and I'm going crazy. I reeeaalllllyyyyy want that interview. Aside from that studying has been the major thing as I got my January exam timetable two weeks back. I only have a Biology and a Psychology exam to do, but we haven't finished the syllabus for Psych yet, so I hope that goes well...

I have parent's evening on Thursday, taking my dad as per usual. He doesn't want to go, he doesn't like it. He says my teachers don't give enough constructive criticism, but I like it that way 8-)

Just like Kim, I find it weird to believe that we are entering November and all the cold, yet Caitlin is entering November and the heat. I actually think it would be quite cool to have Christmas in the Sun, rather than in the freezing cold. Yet saying that I like winter, the coldness, the cosiness. Like this morning, I woke up to find I couldn't see out my window as it was so foggy, and it was cold, but cold here is like 5 degrees not -30 :/

On a side note;
To those doing NaNoWriMo, I hope it is going well and you are actually enjoying doing it.
To Chuck, Congrats for getting in to Bowling Green State University.
To Caitlin, Easy A is bloody brilliant!!

This post has been a bit rambly and a bit all over the place, but I just want to say hello again and hopefully try to get back into a regular rhythm of reclaiming my Friday's, its not like I have a social life on Fridays :P But from now on, I do here pledge to try harder.

OH RANDOM NOTE: What is this I here about Pizza being declared a vegetable in America?!?!

Good luck with the week, enjoy it and make the most of it,
and as always don't forget to be awesome,

Sim x

Just to note, the working title of this blog was 'We should go on a date...an Update'... I thought it was hilarious 8-)

Eeep!

I swear I never know what day of the week it is anymore! Tuesday I thought it was Wednesday, Wednesday I thought it was Tuesday, today I thought it was Friday (which is why this post is being written at 2am :S) and I just can't keep my life in order!

Pretty much not a lot is new with me. I used to work 10-15 hours a week, now it's 20+ hours. Plus I'm in school, just part time studies at least. And I know if I sat down to make a "to-do" list it'd be ridiculously long but I don't even have the motivation to think about everything I should be doing.

Also I had sent in an application and now I'm obsessively checking my e-mail to see if they've responded yet. It's only been a couple weeks and will probably take a lot longer but at the same time I'm like "It's already been a couple weeks! How long does it take?!"

So yeah, that's life; busy and stress-y. And I may be getting a cold. Or a cold I had a month ago never fully went away and is making its return. And my mother keeps saying "You should have gotten a flu shot!" and I keep trying to tell her "A flu shot does nothing for the common cold." "But Kim, a cold can turn into the flu." "Mom, I have never actually had the flu." "There's a first time for everything!" "I've never had a cavity and I don't intend on there being a first time for that."
*sigh* As you can tell things aren't very exciting around here.

DFTBA,

-Kim

Catching Up

It has been WAY too long since I've posted a blog, and let me just say that I feel like complete crap for it. I would like to apologize to my fellow bloggers for basically failing lately.

My senior year has been amazing so far. The first quarter just ended, which means that I only have about 8 weeks before I go to college.

Speaking of college. I got accepted to Bowling Green State University a few weeks ago and I plan on going there in January. (Go Falcons!) I'm sooooo excited. But lately I've really been thinking that I'm going to miss my friends like crazy. I'm sure once I'm there it'll be better, but I'm kinda nervous about it.

Also, I am currently doing NaNoWriMo. It's my first time and I'm already at a major disadvantage I'm a major latecomer however. I started on Saturday. I have about 5000 words written and I'm trying to write about 2000 words a day (I'm actually procrastinating from finishing my 2000 for today to do this). I think there's a definite possibility that I can finish on time.

I've missed you guys.

See you next week and DFTBA

-Chuck

Another Month

Hello all. Sorry about forgetting to write yesterday.

Here in Santa Barbara it's been getting cold. Well, ask a Southern Californian, and they'll tell you it's cold-- ask a Coloradan, and she'll tell you the temperature is perfect. The leaves here are finally starting to change (on the few trees that do), the air is crisp, and midterms are (almost) over. I love the D.C. (cafeteria) on cold nights-- at a small school like this, it feels like a huge, warm family celebration. Everyone's sitting with friends, laughing and having a good time.

My week was really stressful. Surprise rehearsals, take-home midterms, concerts, schedule changes-- I was incredibly glad when it was over. My weekend has been restful but not nearly long enough.

Sorry for being so random, but I was just thinking-- sometimes I take for granted all of the things I get to do here. It can be hard to appreciate, while cramming for, say, a Doctrine midterm, the depth of the concepts I get to wrestle with and discuss with other people. And it can be hard, in a discouraging dress rehearsal, to remember that it's a privilege to make good music with so many wonderful friends. When I sat down to write this post I had just finished studying for a music theory test (8am tomorrow! yay! ...not), and was thinking back over my day for inspiration on what to write about. I realized that in the past 24 hours, I've composed music, played duets with the music department secretary for a fundraiser, watched an episode of Nova about space-time that completely blew my mind, studied music theory on the floor of my friend's dorm room, lost my cell phone, and laughed more times than I can count. Life isn't a walk in the park (or on the beach, if you prefer), but it's also amazingly good.

Can we do a story week next week? I think I want to tell a story. Hopefully something story-worthy will happen to me and I can write about it; if not, I'll make something up. It'll be fun.

DFTBA,
Emily

Welcome to November

Once again I'm utilizing the Sunday catch up day, Thursday night I got into bed exhausted and sore from work and once I got all snugly and my eyes started closing I realized I hadn't posted. By this time however, I was just too tired to get up and do it, so here we are now.

It's November, a couple months into school for most of us, almost done school for others. It's so strange to think that for Caitlin it's almost summer while I'm getting ready for winter, pulling out the boots and coats, looking out my window each morning to see if it's snowed yet. I think we're supposed to get snow by the end of the week, which most people aren't thrilled about but I love winter. Well okay, most of the time I love winter. I'm not such a fan of waiting for the morning bus in the dark, while it snows, and is -30 degrees, especially since buses are NEVER on time in the winter. Not so fun.

What I do love is when it's a nice after noon. No snow coming down, but the ground and trees covered in a winter wonderland. When the sun shines in winter everything seems so much brighter, each ray of sunshine reflected off millions of particles of ice, the snow looking like it's covered in glitter. When the temperature is just below zero it's perfect for being outside, not terribly cold but not so warm that things are melting and getting slushy. And I love going skating outside, I'm not very good at it, but I love it none the less.

The days get pretty short, by the time we hit the shortest day of the year it's dark before 5pm. Christmas lights help though, when all the houses get decked out and glowing through the nights. Even inside the house the lights from the tree or a fire in the fireplace create a visual warmth to ward of the cold and dark of outside.

So many people complain about winter, the cold and the snow making them miserable. But I think winter, particularly around Christmas, is one of the most beautiful and magical times of the year. Living in the prairies this far north winter can be bitterly cold and it drags on for nearly 5, sometimes 6 months of the year. I think you have to be able to appreciate the beauty of it or it'll drive you insane.

It's a common theme explored in literature and film that there is a light side and dark side in everything and that's true even for something as seemingly mundane as the weather.

We live in an extraordinary world.

DFTBA,

-Kim

November..

So, the month that is November has finally dawned upon us. And wow, is it a busy month. ... For me that is.

As some of you know, November is the month where NaNoWriMo takes place. And NaNoWriMo is that thing that insane people do.. You know? The one where people all over the world try and write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days? Yeah. That one. Well, I'm doing it and this is my second year. My first year was an epic fail, but hopefully this year will be better. Second day in on my second year, and I've already gone past the 3,000 mark. I'm proud of myself.

November is also the month where exams take place. For those who have exams at this time of year this is. I'm not complaining that much.. We get to write a narrative for our English exam! But then there's the Italian exam. My oh my, that will not go well. But all exam dread aside, I only have 2 and a half weeks of 'proper' school left. Then a week of exams where I only need to be at school for a few hours a day, and then there 2 and a half months of holidays waiting for me. Then year 11. But let's worry about that when it gets here.. :)

So, how is everyone? And I've decided that Easy A is easily one of my favourite movies..

DFTBA, Caitlin x

Sometimes We Just Need to Laugh

Lately life has been very busy and very stressful. Too much to do, too little time. Work and school, retail coming up to Christmas and midterms. Then throw in some family events, a bit of regular homework, piano lessons, applications, and a rather long 'to do' list. Not getting enough sleep, not having time to relax, getting run down, and getting sick.

We all have times like this. We all push through and there's light at the end of the tunnel, or metaphorical light in the physical form of a bed to collapse on to. It's a rough time of year for many people, particularly students trying to get through exams. It's easy to get caught up in the stress and fatigue, being grumpy and unenthusiastic day in and day out. So take a night off.

Just one night. It'll make you feel a whole lot better. Forget about studying for a few hours, forget the work you have to do. Go out and have fun. See a friend you haven't seen in a while, or go to a movie, go to a show. Don't pick the heavy thought provoking stuff, pick the happy, fluffy, and comedic.

Smile and have fun. It's said that laughter is the best medicine and it's true. One night of laughter will rejuvenate you and help you get through everything going on. Shed the stress and worries and come back the next day with a smile on your face and a new plan of attack.

And Don't Forget To Be Awesome,

-Kim

It's Not Practical but Screw Practicality

Hey guys :) 

I hope it's alright that I post today, I had a midterm Friday morning and got caught up in studying on Thursday. I think the midterm went fairly well though!

Ambition is a funny thing. Usually when we think ambition we go straight to careers and goals associated with careers. It makes sense seeing as careers are a big factor in how we spend our lives. I do think, however, that ambition applies to not just what we do in life but in how we live it.

My ambition is to live life to the fullest, to do what makes me happy and never waste an opportunity. I want to travel, to see the world, to experience other cultures, to have adventures. I know it sounds wonderfully cliche, but really, how many people aspire to live a secluded life, tucked away in a corner of their town, living on the same schedule day in and day out? I have nothing against the people that do that, there are many different ways to live a happy life and to each their own, but I don't think it's really what anyone wants deep down. Even if we don't physically travel we still read books that take us to far away places, watch the news with stories from around the world, watch TV shows and movies about adventure and drama, read magazines about the rich and famous, and so on, and so on. 

The point is I don't want a life where I am stuck in a 9-5 job, sitting at the same desk, doing the same things day in and day out. This takes us back to careers. I want to go in for Theatre Design, specializing in prop making and scenic art, I love the theatre and I love art and it's the perfect combination of the two. I have had so many people tell me that it's a poor choice, that I wont make a lot of money at it, that it's long and weird hours, that it's difficult to make a go of it here in Edmonton. What people who tell me this is those are practically the reasons why I chose it. I don't care about money, as long as I'm doing something I love I don't need to be rich. As for the "stability" of a normal job I find it monotonous and would rather have the shifting, changing hours of theatre. As for the opportunities here, well I don't really want to stay here...

Edmonton is my home, it always has been and always will be, but as I said I want to travel and see the world. Theatre is something universal, I could go nearly anywhere and find some kind of work in it. And that's what I hope to do. 

There's only really two theatre programs here in Edmonton and neither of them are really what I'm looking for. I know I have to leave to get the education I want so why not go all out? The two best places for theatre in the world are Broadway and the West End. And in a choice between the two I'd rather live in London. So I'm working on an application for Guildhall School of Music and Drama in the Design Realization program. My biggest goal right now is to be there this time next year. It's the starting point for all the places I want to go and things I want to do in my life. 

No matter what nay-say-ers come along never let them get to you. Do what makes you happy because it's your life and no one else's. 

DFTBA,

-Kim

I wanna be...

the very best, like no one ever was!

Just kidding.

What do I want to be? It's nothing particularly grand, but something I really believe in, and I think that's important. You all probably know that music is pretty much my life, right? Well, if you didn't, you do now. My ambitions are all music related. Career-wise, I want to be a music teacher. I also want to continue to play the cello and compose music.

I love music. I want to be able to share music and my love for music with other people, which is why I want to teach. Right now, I'm in college studying music, and my life kind of revolves around it. I'm in orchestra, chamber ensemble, music theory, private cello lessons, and string pedagogy (a class on how to teach string instruments). I also work in the music office at the school. Yeah, it's a lot. I love it.

A rather shorter-term goal for my future is raising the money it will take for our college orchestra to tour China next semester. Although the trip has been confirmed, we still have a lot of fundraising to do, especially if we want to be able to fund the members of the orchestra who can't afford the expense on their own. To help raise money, I played at the local farmer's market with three other students this morning. I've never done street performing before but it was really fun and we made over $100 in two hours, which was pretty nice. (Also, one of the vendors gave us some snap peas for free--won't help us get to China but still).

I'm really looking forward to the China tour, as it will be a way to share the joy of music with people I would never otherwise be able to meet, in a place where I would never otherwise be able to go. The idea of going to China is, I'll admit, intimidating, but hey-- so is life. It'll take a lot of hard work, a lot of stepping out of my comfort zone, but ultimately it will be very very rewarding. And I have such good friends along with me for the ride. :)

That's all I have to say. It's 3am on Sunday morning and I can't sleep. And I have to play a concert in 12 hours... we'll see how that goes.

DFTBA,
Emily

Hopes and Dreams

Hey All,

So theme, well this post is going to be quite short as my main life goal is simple. I want to be an author.

Plain and simple.
All my life writing fiction was the one thing that I kind-of knew how to do and it always made me feel good. In this community where all my friends and family have been trained to say that they want to be, a) A doctor or b) a business person, being able to stand there and say 'I WRITE STORIES AND I WILL DO FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!' is pretty darn cool to me.

I think this all stems from my love of literature; books, novels, poems (to some extent), they all hold like this magical key that can unlock closed off sections of your mind. They can help you imagine things you could never fathom before, help you imagine places you'd never thought you could go. This is one of the main reasons I want to be an author, I want to help create scenarios and safe places where people can just go to escape real life, as some of my favourite books have done for me.

However doing this is going to be difficult and is the reason why I am not applying to do an English literature degree at university as so many other people assume. Yes, I have this love and Yes, I would love to that degree but unfortunately it's not practical, much to my dismay. After University having an Eng Lit. degree, it is increasingly difficult to gain a job. I need money to sit and home and write, and so to do this I am following my other passion, Psychology.

I'm planning on doing a Psychology degree so that I can go on to become a lecturer/teacher/experimenter of sorts. Aside from writing, my other favourite thing to do is to learn new and cool things. Very nerdy I know :P
I hope that research that I can undertake in the future will have positive applications to future generations, especially in the fields of abnormalities such as depression and schizophrenia among other mental illnesses. I find that public perception of these topics are very negative and can be debilitating to sufferers and the only way to change this is to teach people so they aren't ignorant any more.

I'll have time to write when I'm not doing that :)

Enjoy the weekend and dftba,

Sim x

Ambitions & Earthquakes

Hey guys! Sorry for last week.. I don't think none of us really know what happened then. Now I know this week is meant to be about ambitions, and I'll talk about that a bit later. But first I'd like to all tell you about something that has never happened to me before that happened at around 2:30 am this morning. An earthquake.

Okay, so before you freak out or anything. Calm down. We're all okay, it was only 3.4 on the Richter Scale and from what I know, no damage of any kind was done. Only my mum and I experienced. I remember waking up and seeing the whole room shake, like everything was moving. Well, I couldn't really see the room shake seeing as it was dark but I definitely felt it. It was like everything was vibrating in a way. At first, I thought I was going insane as it only lasted a few seconds. So I went back to sleep a minute or so after and when I woke up I asked my mum about it and she said she felt it too.. (So thankfully I'm not going insane. Yet :P) But yeah, it was an awesome experience. It was the first earthquake I had been in (seeing as I missed the one earlier this year..) and I guess that if it was bigger and there was damage done and then a tsunami or something to follow? Then I would say it wasn't awesome.. But even still. Pretty cool. So yeah, that's it on the earthquake biz. Now, over to ambitions.

I guess I'm not really too sure about what my ambitions are, but I definitely know what I'd like to do in my life. I'd love to be a triple threat. Acting, Singing and of course, Writing. I've recently gotten into acting and I'm doing it for the full year next year. I've always loved singing and music in general and I've been writing every since I was 7, that's more than half of my life. Though it's not for all the fame and the glory and the money. Sure, that'd be nice. It'd be like winning the Triwizard Tournament. But it's more for me and the thought that if I one day die, I'll want to be remembered by the world through something. Whether it be through a book, a film or an awesome song that wins loads of Arias and Grammys. ^_^ I guess at the end of the day everyone wants to be famous, but for me it's more making my mark on the world and they're the 3 things I can think of that I'm good at, enjoy and get to travel.. Along with helping people. If anything, my ambitions all come back to three things. Travelling, helping people and making my mark on the world.

That's all for now folks ;) DFTBA!

Caitlin x

Blue Like Jazz + The Count of Monte Cristo

Hey guys, sorry I forgot to write yesterday... I hope it's okay that I do it today. Books!

1. Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
This is an absolutely beautiful book, so if you haven't read it, I'd recommend it. Its subtitle is "non-religious thoughts on Christian spirituality" and it's fitting. Basically, the author just tells stories about his life, relating each event to how it has changed his view of, or influenced his relationship with God. This book is by no means your traditional conservative-Christian way of looking at things-- far from it. The writing itself is simplistic without being dull, and although it can take a little getting used to, it serves the book very well.

I can't recommend this book strongly enough. Even if you're not a Christian and you don't ever plan to be one, it's a moving read. And it's a totally non-judgemental view of Christianity, which is refreshing.  Here's a nice little quote:

“I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn't resolve. But I was outside the Bagdad Theater in Portland one night when I saw a man playing the saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he never opened his eyes. 

After that I liked jazz music. 

Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way. 

I used to not like God because God didn't resolve. But that was before any of this happened.” 

2. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas


This is one of the most epic books of all time, in the true sense of the word. You may have seen the movie; if you have, imagine that...times 10. Seriously. It has that much more action, intrigue, romance, subplots (oh the subplots!) and revenge.

If you don't know the story, it's basically about a guy who gets framed for a crime and his elaborate schemes of revenge. Napoleon is involved. It's probably one of the most unashamedly melodramatic classics I've ever read, in a good way. I can definitely say that the characters are not realistic, that the plot is really far-fetched, and that I'm completely and totally okay with that. (I can't speak for the writing style as it's been translated from French, but I do have what I believe is the Barnes & Noble edition, which contains lots of helpful footnotes giving historical context and whatnot. I like it.)

Anyway, moral of the story: read both of these books. If you want. I gotta go now! Hope you guys have a great week this week! :)

DFTBA,
Emily

My One True Love

Well Hello People of the Interwebs,

I hope your weeks are treating you well and lets just dive into this straight away. Books are like everything to me, the apocalypse could come but as long as I had some books I'd be a-okay.So I'm reading a lot of things at the moment so this might be a lengthy list;

-The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat written by Oliver Sacks who was a psychologist of sorts. This book is a collection of his case studies to do with illnesses affecting your memory and recognition of yourself and of others. It is definitely an interesting read, but is very boring for someone who doesn't understand the psychological babble, it did take me a fair few readings to get it through just the prologue.

- Othello is a play not a book, but I am studying it for English. Written by Shakespeare, this is possible my favourite play of his. I cannot stand Othello as a character and I adore Iago as a villain. If you do not get the chance to read the play, watch the movie with Kenneth Branagh in it (I think its a 1993 version) It is so very dark playing on how paranoid people can be when they are in relationships.

- Doctor Faustus is yet another play I am reading for English, I did get to see it two weeks ago on stage for the first time every and fell in love with the character of Mephistophilis, who reminded me so much of dear old Iago from Othello. I am also organising and directing our schools performance of Faustus and once I've finished this blog I have to go back to tweaking the script.

- Ham on Rye by Charles Burkowski is a semi-autobiographical novel written by a very bitter tainted old man. The book reminds me a bit of Fight Club as during the novel, though disgusted by what is going on you feel sympathy for the main character Henri. I would like to say that this book comes with the warning of 'Mature Content'.

- The Help by Kathryn Stocket, well I say I'm reading it, but it's more like I'm a chapter in and somehow lost the book under my bed somewhere. It seems interesting and I'm curious to read some more. It's not my typical style of book, which are normally gore, death and depression, which makes a nicer, lighter change. Hopefully I'll be able to find it and have the opportunity to read it before the Christmas Holidays.

I am also reading It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini, this is not something new I am reading, it's more of a re-read as its one of those books that lifts my spirit when I am getting stressed out. I think it is a must for all students, as should Looking For Alaska, which is why I've managed to make Looking for Alaska the first book for the Sixth Form (College) reading group.

Wow looking back on that, that seems like a lot to be reading at one time, but oh well, at least I enjoy it :)

I'm really looking forward to having a go at some of the books you guys have mentioned, enjoy the weekend
and dftba,

Sim x

Booksbooksbooks!

Guys I have the worst head cold. Actually, no, I've had worse, but still, not fun. I haven't been to school all week, I may or may not have an assignment due tomorrow, I'm not really sure... sick Kim become's highly unintelligent. Sorry, yeah this is going to be a short and highly illogical post. I'm using the backspace/delete key waaaayyy more than normal. Random too. Cohesive thoughts don't work well right now :S

However being sick I've had lots of time for TV, movies, and reading! Yay books! I just finished Goliath by Scott Westerfeld and it was FANTASTIC!!!!! For those of you who don't know it's the third in a trilogy, starting with Leviathan, of steampunk alternate history of WWI and they are SO GOOD. Goliath was in my opinion the perfect ending to the series, probably my favorite of the three. You should read them if you haven't. That is my highly sophisticated recomendation of the day.

Next I'm going to read Maureen Johnson's Name of the Star. I'm so excited for it! It arrived in the mail the same day as my diploma and I'm gonna be honest I was more excited for the book.

My only other reading lately has been excerpts of a translation of one of Marco Polo's travel logs, focussing around the Mongols and Genghis Kahn and all that fun ancient societal stuff. It's for history class of course, though some of it is actually kind of interesting. Also my Prof loves Marco Polo. Also my Prof is like a cross between Horace Slughorn from Harry Potter and Vizzini from the Princess Bride, it kind of makes class a lot more interesting.

Okay it's time for me to retreat back to blankets, humidifiers, kleenex, and Halls.

Keep healthy, best wishes, DFTBA,

-Kim

World War Z & Swimming Upstream.

Hey, Caitlin here.
So, at the moment I'm in the middle of reading two books; World War Z and Swimming Upstream. Both of them are completely different to each other.

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War.

World War Z is a book about the Zombie War. It's written like a collection of interviews. Interviews of this one man, a UN representative, interviewing all these people who were a part of the Zombie War and writing a report on it. I haven't gotten that far into it yet, I'm only up to the parts where it talks about how it all began. And these are the type of zombies that are zombies due to a disease, not the living undead. Personally, I recommend it to anyone who's into Science Fiction, Horror and stuff that's set in today's world but isn't exactly how the world is. And that's all I really have to say about it..

Oh, and after googling it to find a picture, I found out that they're making a film out of it. Set to be released late 2012. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816711/

Swimming Upstream.

Alright.. So, the other book I'm reading at the moment is an Australian book called Swimming Upstream. It's about the life of Australian swimmer Tony Fingleton. Swimming Upstream tells the life of Tony Fingleton, I'm about 100 or so pages in and I started a couple of days ago. It's not the type of book that I usually read but it has this captivating aspect about it that wants me to read more. So far it's good. The story's interesting and so are the characters. But honestly I can't see myself making this book one of those books that you just have to read. It's more of one of those books that you read when you have nothing else to do. 

Funnily enough this book has been made into a film with Geoffrey Rush as one of the main characters. I'll watch the film when I finish and get back to you guys on it.

DFTBA, Caitlin. x

Oh, and I watched this movie the other day with my cousin. It's called Crazy Stupid Love. And it's really really good. You should all go watch it. And it has Emma Stone in it. 'Nough said. 

Wildwood written by Colin Meloy and illustrated by Carson Ellis

This week we're talking about books that we are currently reading. Over the summer a children's fantasy novel called Wildwood by the lead singer of the Decemberists was released. Since I'm a huge fan of the Decemberists and I recently bought a nook I figured I would check it out.

My senior year has been so hectic so far so I haven't really had time to read much, but I'm about eight chapters into it and it's FANTASTIC.

Wildwood is basically about a 12 year-old girl named Prue McKeel (Not-so-interesting fact #1 The name Prue kind of reminds me of a mix of Prim and Rue from The Hunger Games...) from Portlandm Oregon who takes her little brother out with her for the day. She goes to a park and some creepy old lady comes up to her and tells her not to leave her brother by himself. He eventually gets stolen by a murder of crows who bring him into the Impassible Wilderness and that's where the story starts.

So far I'm loving it, and I would definitely suggest it to anyone who needs something new to read.

Just in case you've never heard of the Decemberists:

And an excerpt from the book:

How to make 8-bit music in GarageBand

Hey guys, I wasn't sure what to write about, but this is something I did in the music studio at my school today and I thought it would be cool to talk about.


1. Download the Plugin. The website is in Japanese and Google doesn't do a great job of translating, but it's pretty self-explanatory. There are three black download buttons near the bottom of the page; click the top one. 


2. Install the Plugin. This part sounds complicated but it's actually pretty simple. Open the downloaded file, and look around until you find something called "component." Drop it in Library > Audio > Plug-Ins > Components folder. 


3. Open it up in GarageBand. Open GarageBand, and create a new track. It will give you a few options; choose "software instrument." This next part is a little complicated because it's different depending on what version of GarageBand you have, but hopefully this will make sense. When the software instrument track is selected, there should be an option to the right allowing you to "edit" the track. Under "sound generator," select "magical8bitPlug." It should look a little something like this:

Following so far?

4. Play with it! This is the fun part. If you have a MIDI keyboard, it's a fun thing to use at this point; if not, just open Musical Typing (under "Window" on the top) and use your computer keyboard. Click on the yellow/orange circle icon in the picture above, which will open a control panel for the 8-bit sounds you can create. Use the slides to change the sounds, and experiment a bit to figure out how it works. Pretty cool eh?

I installed this plugin on my MacBook shortly after I got it a few months ago, and created a little song. I may have showed it to you guys before, but it's a decent example of what an amateur can do with the Plugin in about an hour. 

For an interesting, but very technical explanation of how 8-bit music works, check out Owl City's blog post on the topic: http://owlcityblog.com/2011/01/24/halcyon/

DFTBA my friends!


Emily

How to...make random snowflake-y things

Hey, hello guys and today I shall be helping you to make snowflakes. This is something that I do regularly during stressful periods and whilst watching tv shows.
These are NOT like the ones you made when you were five...these are infinatley cooler :D

Step One: Choose coloured paper of your choice, square or recantgular, it is your choice

Step Two: Fold coloured paper as many times as you want, they can be diagonally or in a criss cross pattern, or even if you know origami, the sqaure base fold. The more random the fold, the more epic the end product.

Step Three: Take your scissors and cut random shapes into your folded shape. Bare in mind which folds are you binding ones and which corner is the main corner holding it all together, if you cut these off then the whole thing will fall to pieces. Shapes that go well together are spikes and curves, semi circles are a bit predictable, but depending on what look you are going for it doesn't matter.

Step Four: carefully, and I mean CAREFULLY, pull out the snowflake shape, if you do it too vigorously you are likely to rip a part of it.

I know it sounds silly making these, however they really do recapture the fun of being a child again and to show you they can look epic, here are some I made earlier :)

If you ever find yourself with nothing to do, these can be just one thing to fill the void.

Hope everyone's week is going well, also for the Doctor Who fans, here's a picture of Arthur Darvill aka Rory Williams from last Sunday's performance of Dr Faustus and yes, I was that close to him for 3 hours :D

Dftba
Sim x

How to Procrastinate but Still Get Some Work Done

Procrastination.
It's something done by many young students on a daily basis. After long days at school we deserve a break right? No need to come home and start into homework right away. No need to rush into the chores. Kick back and relax before getting back into the work!

Unfortunately though it never seems to work out well. Sure you're pretty happy taking that break but in the back of your mind is the nagging feeling of stuff to do. You can't fully enjoy yourself with that knowledge lurking about. And when you're trying to push through the end of your essay at 1am you'll regret the procrastination.

What we need is to procrastinate in an organized controlled manner so you get the immediate benefits, yet don't have to deal with the consequences later.

Rather than just procrastinating as long as possible and cramming all your work in at the last minute break it up and spread it out. Set yourself small tasks and reward yourself each time you complete one.

Say for example you have a bunch of chores to do around the house yet Goliath by Scott Westerfeld is just crying out to be read. Do one chore, say dumping the garbages, then read a chapter. Then dust a couple rooms, read a chapter. And so on. The work doesn't feel so bad when you only do a bit at a time.

Another matter is the internet. This is probably the biggest factor in procrastination, it's so easy when you're typing up an essay to just click over to facebook or tumblr. Assert some self control, don't click every few seconds. Write a paragraph then take a couple minutes, and only a couple, to check out what's new, write another paragraph, etc.

Don't forget the usefulness of commercials on tv. Rather than sitting down for an entire show before doing your work try and get something done each commercial. Do you ever really watch them anyways?

Keep aware of time and try to balance it out. If you're short on time try to get slightly bigger chunks of work done before each break, keeping the breaks shorter. If you know going on tumblr will suck you in for an hour set an alarm for five minutes, or whatever time you think best.

If fun is completely cut out there's not much to motivate you to get your work done. Procrastination is not the enemy as long as you develop a good relationship with it.

DFTBA,

-Kim

How to.. Make Spaghetti!

Hey! It's time for a round of cooking with Caitlin!

Alright, well I'm going to tell you all how to cook Spaghetti. I think it's bolognese.. But who knows, it tastes good either way.

Ingredients:

• Garlic Salt
• Oil
• Water
• Mince (Can be anything.. Beef or turkey, in my opinion, is better)
• Pasta (Can be any)
• Jar of Bolognese sauce (Again, can be any brand, any type.)

Method:

A stove top is used for this. 

1. Okay, so first get out a fry pan and a pot. Both of them need lids that fit. Place the pot and pan onto the stove top. Bring the pot up to the highest heat and the pan up to something around a 7, high, but not the highest. Boil a kettle full of water.
2. Brown the mince in the frying pan. 
3. Once the water has finished boiling, pour it into the pot. The pot needs to be filled 3 quarters full with hot water, if the boiled water isn't enough, just use hot water from the tap. Add a dash of oil with the water in the pot and put a lid on the pot, let the water boil.
4. Once your mince has browned, pour in the whole jar of Bolognese sauce. Then, fill the jar with a bit less than a quarter of water, put the lid back on, shake the jar and pour the water in with the meat and sauce. With this step you can add anything in with it, like onions, carrots, peas.. etc.
5. Stir the meat. When it starts to bubble, turn the heat down to a low number (like a 3 or four) and place the lid onto the fry pan. The sauce has now been cooked, all you need to do is wait for the pasta to be cooked. Make sure to stir the sauce every now and then to ensure that the sauce doesn't stick to the bottom of the frying pan. 
6. Once the water in the pot has boiled and is bubbling, pour the pasta into it. Add some garlic salt and place the lid on the pot. Now, all the pasta has to do it cook. Stir it when you're stirring the sauce.
7. Check on the pasta occasionally and make sure it doesn't bubble over! You will know when the pasta is cooked by tasting it. It really depends on the how the person likes their pasta, but it should be soft. Though not too soft. With spaghetti, I think there's a trick where you throw a piece of it at a wall. If it sticks, then it's cooked. If not, well then it isn't cooked. (Well, something along the lines of that.)
8. Pour the pasta into a colander. The thing that looks like mixing bowl but has holes it in.
9. Quickly run the pasta over with water to get rid of any extra starch.
10. Serve and enjoy!

Some serving suggestions: Some grated cheese on top does nicely with a roll of garlic bread to accompany the meal is always nice too.. Garlic bread is easy to make.. Butter, garlic and bread. With an oven. 

Hope you guys enjoy the recipe and it isn't hard to understand. This is what I made for dinner tonight and it turned out quite nicely!

DFTBA, Caitlin x

11 tips on how to make a crazy-awesome mix CD (as a gift/just for fun/when you really need something to do)

(1) When creating a mix the main thing you want to focus on is that you're not making it for yourself. You can't make a mixtape with Guster and Monster Movie if the person you're making it for likes Blink-182 and All Time Low... they just won't like it. Just like you wouldn't have Brokencyde on a mix for your grandomther.....

(2) It can be as long or as short as you want it to be. Most of my mixes end up being about an hour long (15-18 songs) but I've made some that are 15 minutes and I've made some that are an hour and a half (which is pretty much the most it can be depending on the type of blank CD you use)

(3) If you have a microphone on your computer USE IT! From my experiences my friends like when I talk for a few seconds after every couple of songs.

(4) It wouldn't hurt to put something weird in there every so often too. Something they wouldn't expect like a spoken word poem or a spoken short story or an audio clip from a good movie.

(5) Try not to put two songs by the same band/artist. I don't know why this makes a difference but it always does for me. Like whenever I have two songs by the same artist on one tape the quality of it goes down dramatically. (There are exceptions to the rule. I.E. lyricless music. If you're making a mix and you want to add a jazz or classical piece that doesn't have lyrics the person listening to it most-likely won't notice)

(6) Make sure the songs go well together. When you finish listening to a song and another song that sounds somewhat similar to the last song but not overly similar you get excited without even really noticing.

(7) If you have a theme stick to it.. Also be sure to make your theme something that isn't TOO broad. I mean if the theme you want is "love" that could translate easily into 'love sucks' orrr 'being in love is great' automatically making it more specific.

(8) If you have music editing software (like garage band) use it to help blend the songs together (like the way DJ's play one song into another)

(9) Don't be afraid to delete a couple songs that might be unnecessary. Theses things can get bulky and if you feel like it's getting too long you might have some decision making to do.

(10) Decorate it. Everyone likes a pretty picture :)

(11) Have fun, that's the whole point of music after all. And if you don't have fun making the mix the person you made it for probably won't have fun listening to it.

DFTBA,

Chuck

Some somewhat interesting items

Indeed.

So, I think I'd mentioned last time that I was going on orchestra retreat last weekend. Well, I went, and it was super fun, so I'm going to write about it.

It was a two-day retreat, and we left from campus at about 7:30 on Saturday morning. Because freshmen (such as myself) can't own cars, I rode with one of the cellists in my section. We drove to a local youth center, where the city of Santa Barbara was hosting a big volunteer event called Day of Caring. As part of the retreat, we were assigned to clean up a local beach for the Day of Caring.

We had breakfast, and got some free T-shirts, and then we drove to the beach. I ended up in a group with the aforementioned cellist, Daniel; a percussionist (my friend Kellie), and the strings professor, Dr. Ficsor. The winds professor and current conductor, Dr. Mori, joined us a little later, and we just walked along the beach picking up trash. It was surprisingly peaceful. It was nice to be able to just talk to the people in my group; it was pretty lucky that both the professors were with us. They're really cool people.

We had lunch on the beach, and then we rode over to a local church where we spent the rest of the day either rehearsing or doing getting-to-know-each-other activities. The orchestra is a really fun community and I'm glad to be a part of it. Our big piece right now is a work by Debussy called "Fetes." Dr. Mori is making us play it right. It can get frustrating, but it's good for us.

We also rehearsed some arrangements of hymns, which we played for the church services the next morning. People cried, which Dr. Mori tells us is a good thing.

So, what else has happened? Oh, something really random happened to me on Thursday. I was leaving my cello lesson when my teacher suddenly asked me if I wanted to go sailing with him. I said yes-- so he took me sailing along with this other random person he had apparently met on the beach the other day. It was really exciting, especially when they lost control of the boat and two guys had to tow us back to the dock with a motorboat.

As we were driving back to campus, he said to me, "I'm crazy! I have to play a concert tonight."

"What are you playing?" I asked.

"Thirteen movements from the unaccompanied Bach suites," he replied. "From memory."

True. Story.

DFTBA,
Emily

Defying known Physics and other headlines...

Today marked the date of a conference, not any conference, but a conference in which many leading scientists where called in to scrutinize findings collected from CERN. These findings could potentially redefine modern day physics as we know it.

So I'm no Physicist, and I know if I say anything wrong my best friend who is a physicist will tell me off :P, but from what I've heard this is a BIG deal.
The Research: Something along the lines of the OPERA team have managed to send a beam of particles four hundred miles at a speed which is roughly six-billionths of a second faster than light. Now this may seem to be a stupidly small amount but they have repeated the experiment thousands of times and have found the same result each time. Now the speed of light is supposedly the fastest thing in the universe and if this is true this totally messes up with scientists ideas of time and causality. Now this is where brains can go crazy, things such as warp speed and time travel could even be the future of this.

But before we get ahead of ourselves, the scientists behind this have opened up this information with a tagline, to take the findings with a note of caution. Clearly this unexpected result has taken them by surprise too and they've all been trying to find any systematic errors or other mistakes in their research. This is one of the reasons the findings have been made public, they haven't been able to find any thing wrong so they've opened it up to the scrutiny of all the other scientists out there. If however, they find that there is nothing wrong, this could mean big changes for the way in which physics today is seen in the future.

Now I know some of you may not be big scientists so I'll skim over the BBC news headlines this evening and see what else I can find...
- 'UARS satellite return expected later', well it was meant to arrive today but seems like it could be coming in as late as tomorrow morning around 3 am GMT.
- 'First Irish case of death by spontaneous combustion', well they're still looking into it so...
....aannnnd there's not much else, a lot of things to do with the U.N and the struggles in the Middle East. Also some stuff to do with Nurofen Plus (Ibuprofen) being contaminated with anti psychotic medicene.

In family related headlines, my nephew has been named. Baby Boy is now being called Adam :D

Hope that everyone is okay, especially those we haven't heard from in a while,
for the rest of the week, dftba

Sim x

Events, Very Recent Events

So I had an event happen to me about 4 hours ago... I was in a car crash. Everyone is OK, just a little shaken up by it.

My mum and I were just driving down this one street, traffic was kinda slow, so we weren't going to fast thankfully, and the lane beside us was at a complete standstill. There was a guy going the other way wanting to make a left hand turn, his visibility wasn't great with all the stopped cars but he thought it was clear for him to turn. It wasn't, he turned right in front of us.

It's all a bit confused, one minute we're just driving, the next there's a car in front of us. Mum slammed on the brakes, cars came together, airbags went off, my glasses fell off or I knocked them off or something, I don't really know. There was a burning smell and some kind of smoke from the airbags, just lots of white and blurriness. I was barely even thinking, just responding to what was going on. The car was stopped, my mum was talking and moving, getting out, probably telling me to do the same. I got my glasses back on, got out and got off the road.

Then followed a very shaky couple hours of dealing with police and insurance and all that. Our car's front end was totally crushed in, the guy's front passenger side dented and the bumper out of shape. He didn't have any passengers with him so no one had been on that side of the car. No one with any injuries thankfully, all just in a bit of shock.

There was a lot of people who stopped to make sure we were okay, see if anyone needed anything, I really appreciate all the compassion shown.

Sitting in my room though things feel almost normal, like it was just some bad dream or something... it's been a strange and crazy day.

Hope you all are well.

DFTBA,

-Kim

o.O Events.. That have taken place.

Oh hey there stranger.

Okay, so this week's them is events that have happened recently or are happening around us now. And over the past few months, quite a few things have been happening..

To start it all off there was my school production of High School Musical. I'd mentioned it a couple of times in a few posts, but it finished a couple of weeks ago. I'm kind of missing it, this joke went around that those involved in it host Post High School Musical Depression, and I can tell you, I have PHSMD. It was a good, long, strenuous, annoying, time-consuming, but in the end marvelous time of my life that I will remember for the years to come and be one of the highlights of this year. In the end, I'm glad I did it. Even with a crazed director and an ever-changing Sharpay. The first girl didn't want to do it and the second girl moved schools at the end of term 2, so that role was a bit cursed. But in the end, it was brilliant.

Secondly there was the 40 Hour Famine. Now, I don't know if you do this anywhere else in the world but here in Australia there's this nation-wide event called the 40 Hour Famine. Run by World Vision, the aim of it is to give up something for 40 hours. Wether it be food, makeup, furniture, a limb or something like sight and or hearing. I gave up furniture and the internet. It was a bit hard, seeing as the internet is a key part of my life and I constantly sat on furniture whilst doing it. But I was out for the majority of the weekend, on the Friday I went to my Youth Group where it was themed around the 40 Hour Famine and there was no furniture so that made it a bit easier, yet on the Saturday I was at the shopping centre with a couple of my friends watching the Glee movie, so that was a bit hard. And the amount of weird looks I got as I sat on the floor in the cinema or at Hungry Jacks? Hilarious! In the end I raised $318.85. To me, that's a lot. I plan on applying to be the Youth Ambassador for SA next year :D So that shall be fun!

I guess that those are the two main events that have come and gone for me in the past few months, the biggest thing I can think of coming up is NaNoWriMo. Which I still don't have a plot for. Any ideas?

DFTBA, Caitlin x

Oh! And I pre-ordered TFiOS last week :D I CAN'T WAIT FOR IT TO ARRIVE!

Homesickness

Hey guys,

I'm writing today because I'm going on an orchestra retreat all day tomorrow and I won't have a chance to write.

I just got back from dinner at the home of the school's music secretary. One of the other cellists in the orchestra, a junior, invited my friend and I to a little informal Asian food dinner party sort of thing. It was wonderful. We crowded around the table in her little apartment and rolled sushi (something I've never done before). There were some other people there, recent graduates of my college. They reminisced about their time at Westmont and asked my friends and I about our classes.

It was really nice. I didn't realize how much I missed the simple act of making food. Don't get me wrong, the cafeteria food at the school is really good, but it's not a home-cooked meal. There's just something about making it yourself, you know?

Which got me thinking. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but I haven't really been feeling homesick-- or so I thought. Well, as it turns out, I am homesick. But not in the sense that I miss my home; what I miss is home in general. In the abstract sense. Home.

The dorm is where I live. And I love it-- honestly, I do. But it's not a home. I don't know if I'm even making sense but maybe you guys understand. My home is far away but home is a five-minute drive from campus-- all you need is an invitation and an upperclassman with a car. Home is a tattered welcome mat, an open door, a homemade meal, a family. Home is everywhere-- but it no longer belongs to me.

I'm not lonely. I don't miss Colorado-- or, at least, not very much. I love this school, and I love my life right now. But I'm homesick.

And on that note, my good friends, I leave you.

DFTBA,
Emily

Fridays

Hey everyone,
So I've been stressed, like really totally stressed out because of all of these university choices.
This is going to be a short post so I can go continue writing my personal statement.
Its a lot of me just talking about why I'm passionate about psychology and why the university should choose me for the course. and honestly I've been so stumped.

That's kind of all that's been happening, that's all that I've had time for.

Oh and I've got tickets to go see YouMeAtSix :D They're like one of my favourite bands and it was a birthday present from my best friend, even though my birthday isn't for another month. But yeah, I'm just counting down till that :)

I hope that everyone else is having a more chilled out/relaxed week,
Dftba,
Sim x

My Yesterday

Do you ever have one of those days that restores your faith in humanity? A day where you can't stop smiling because you're surrounded with genuinely nice people? I had a day like that :)

Most days are pretty standard: get up, bus to school, go to class, maybe see a couple friends, go home, do homework, go to bed. Nothing too exciting, not too much social interaction, but it's a school day, right? Weekends are when you socialize.

Well it was Wednesday, middle of the week. It started like a normal day, waking up after not quite enough sleep, getting ready for the day, and catching the bus. Normally the bus is my least favourite part of the day but as I was heading for a seat I saw a friend of mine with an open seat beside her. Needless to say the commute to school was a lot nicer than normal. Plus it was a chilly day and when we arrived at the university, half an hour before our classes, we went and got hot chocolate together. I hadn't spent much time with her since before summer so it was really lovely to catch up.

Waiting in line for our drinks we were chatting about what classes we had first. The girl in front of us in line overheard and it turns out she was in the same class as me so I talked to her a little bit, she was really nice.

Then walking through the crowded halls to class I spot a couple friends smiling and waving. Doesn't seem like a big deal but on a campus of 35 000 students you don't often pass people you recognize, let alone are friends with.

I walked into Physics with a warm drink in my hand and a smile on my face. It was only 10am and my day was already looking pretty darn good. Now sitting through an hour long science lecture may not be everyone's cup of tea but I love physics and I have a brilliant Prof, he makes it easy to stay focused and interested in what's going on.

Afterwards I met with two of my best friends for lunch and a new girl one of them has met. I personally haven't really met many new people yet so it was fun to meet someone new. She was a little quiet, and probably thinks we're a bit crazy, but she seemed like a sweet girl.

Speaking of meeting new people... After lunch there was some shuffling of who I was with and eventually it ended up being me and two friends hanging out "doing homework" (we all know how much homework gets accomplished when you're with friends). A guy was walking past and knew one of my friends so he stopped to say hi. A couple hours later and I have a new friend! Who it turns out is in one of my classes so no more being alone all the time!

So the day goes on and I'm getting off the train. I see a guy I kinda know, we've gone through school together and had some friends in common but never really talked much. I'm not sure if he'd even recognize me but we end up beside each other in the crowd and he smiles and says "It's Kimberley right?" Then followed probably the longest conversation we've ever actually had. Often when people don't really know each other they just awkwardly pretend they don't see each other even though they both know they do. Talking to him though was really easy and I'd never realized what a nice guy he is.

I should probably stop here, this is getting kind of long, hopefully not too boring. The point I wanted to make is not just that I had a fantastic day but that I have fantastic people in my life. I'm so appreciative of all my friends and even people I barely know who still have the ability to make someones day.

And that goes for you guys as well. I know lately we've been pretty slack with the posting but I hope we can get back into it. No matter what you post, when I read it, it makes me smile.

DFTBA,

-Kim