Catching up?

How can I describe this weekend? I suppose I could start at the beginning – on Friday morning, we got out of classes to do a dress rehearsal. That exhausted us so thoroughly that Mr. Graham wrote an email to all the teachers excusing us from afternoon classes. There were a few free periods, and then the freshmen class. Mr. Graham had to leave, but Nathan and I were still there and he put us in charge, telling us to have them fold the programs. So naturally, we did. I’m not afraid to say that I was very mean to them! I was pretty tired at that point. My Froshie, Andreas, even said “What happened to the nice Marissa, and how can we get her back!?” I told him that nice Marissa was about three chocolate bars away, and to get back to folding. HA. Then it started snowing, and I flipped out all excitedly, and which freaked them all out even more, hahaha…. Good times.

It was even better when they all left, because then I took a nice nap on the couch until call time. It was glorious. I woke up, had a Nalu and some yoko wok, and was ready to go! The show was excellent, and afterwards I cried because it was so amazing and people were saying it was so amazing and that I was so amazing. Awww. That night I almost couldn’t go to sleep because I felt so amazing and was afraid that I wouldn’t when I woke up!

But it was still pretty spiffy when I woke up, and then Christian came! We baked brownies, and took a walk, and talked, and it was wonderful. And then was Saturday’s performance. Mr. Graham said we were amazing Friday night, but then we took it even to the next level and outdid ourselves! More tears, more triumph. They were happy tears. That night even had been the mess-up when we had to improv because Boone’s mike-pack fell down his pants and so he had to open them (they were breakaway pants) to fix it. That was pretty funny. We were like, “Oh yeah, breakaway pants! See what they can do? It’s so useful!” It was hilarious, and we actually pulled it off too!

On Sunday I was really really tired at church, but picked up energy in time for the show of course. And we thought that oh well, it won’t be as good as Saturday because Saturday was just that good, but whatever. But you know what? WE OUTDID OURSELVES AGAIN. Woah.

And then there was the cast party. It was snowing quite a bit by that point, so thankfully we didn’t have far to go because the Lyon’s house is like 30 seconds walk away from school, and Mama Lyon was kind enough to host the party. Aww, Mama Lyon is so sweet. And yes, that is actually what a number of us call her. Heck, she’s the mother to the whole wrestling team because that’s where they usually all gather… lol. Anywho. There was food and guitar hero and champagne, which wasn’t so bad, actually. And before you get your knickers in a knot, let me remind you that the drinking age in Belgium is 16. Yes indeed. It was a fun party, though, especially after Quinn had had about five glasses of wine… that boy is hilarious when he’s tipsy, no joke. He also has to have some supernatural talent, because he was plastered by the end of the night; and the next day? No hangover whatsoever. CRAZY. Crazy like the fact that Boone only needs 4 hours of sleep a night, the lucky dog! Seriously not fair.

 

At about 11pm, because the snow was so bad, I went and slept over at mr. Graham’s house, which is not awkward at all because I love his wife and kids and they love me. Apparently I missed the funniest part of the party where it was pretty much just the boys being hilarious because they were plastered, but oh well. Probably for the best, eh? XD And then the next morning, the car had broken down, so we walked to school. And I didn’t have my glasses, my school bag, clean clothes, or a decent amount of sleep after the energy that I had expended, so I looked and felt pretty horrible. Thankfully I survived, bummed lunch off of my loverly friend Christianna, and then had drama and then a double free. So I got snuggle time and naptime! Hoorah! After I got home, I took a shower and pretty much felt like a new person. Holy diver. 

 

k. time for a funny story, ya? Hehe. So yesterday after I took my shower I looked in the mirror and really hated my hair. So I went and asked my mom when I could get a haircut or something, and she said not until Saturday… well, that really didn’t work so well for me, so I went into the bathroom with my scissors and came out several inches of hair lighter. The funny thing is that after mom got over her initial shock, she laughed and said that she had done the same thing many times, including on the morning of her wedding!

 

And honestly, considering that I did it myself and wasn’t able to see the back of my head, it looks pretty nice! Ha, go me.

 

On Tuesday there was no dance, which made Alex and I sad. So we tangoed by ourselves to his ipod for like an hour! J very fun. Alex is a superb dancer. After that I diddled around, waiting for it to be 6pm, because then a bunch of us drama kids were going to take a bus to Cirque Du Soleil! Quidam, to be exact. It was amazing! My mouth was hanging open pretty much the whole night, for real. And now of course none of us feel like we have any physical talents whatsoever. XD but anyways. When mom and I got home at 11:30 or so, she asked me if perhaps wouldn’t it be better if I slept in a bit?

 

Ha, I wasn’t about to say no!

 

Then there was choir, and the interesting incident of Nahum. On the way to the bus stop, I walked with Maxine, Kal, and her younger brother Nahum. Now, the whole way he was asking for money so he could get something at Quick, which is right by the bus stop. We all said no, naturally. Until he offered to loan his lunchcard to whoever loaned him money! This I judged as a good deal, seeing as his lunchcard has like 20 euros on it. So I lent him the money, 2 euros only, and he got his pop as Quick, and then since he didn’t have his card with him, we arranged for Maxine to get it on the bus to school on Thursday, since they’re on the same bus. However. Maxine didn’t take the bus the next morning, and on top of that, he was in assembly so we couldn’t get it from him, and even if we had, the cafeteria was closed because it was only a halfday! Now, I hadn’t brought any food because of this promise of a lunchcard. Thus, I was starving. Thankfully, I have good friends – I was getting a hug from my friend Jonas, and I mentioned that I was starving to death, and had no money for food. So this extremely sweet freshman gives me 5 euros to get food! Awwww. And then I had drama, and since I hadn’t had a chance to grab food yet and my stomach was rumbling quite audibly, Mr. Graham gave me cereal. Aww. And then a bunch of us 11^th graders went to Yoko Wok and had lunch with Stefan.

 

Speaking of Stefan – he was supposed to have another round of chemo this week, but he wasn’t strong enough, but he was strong enough to go to his smaller classes, aka drama and biology. Hurrah! He’s losing his hair, though. L I can’t pet his really soft hair anymore because it comes out uberly easily, and he’s starting to have bald patches. Rawr. Poor dear.

 

Anywho, Thursday afternoon was pretty fun, because I got to hang out with Gathrights/Nathan for the whole afternoon! Hehe. His little sister Ria and I ganged up on him for a tickle fight, and we totally owned. Then Nathan fell asleep, which was cute, and so I rubbed his back and then woke him up when it was time to eat. Johnna came for dinner too, which was fun. And then we played charades. And then I fell asleep snuggling on the couch with Ria and Nathan, and then we had to go. L but today will be FUN, because after school I’m going over to Christianna’s house, and then we’re going to Snug, and then I’m sleeping over at her house! Yay. 

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG.

SO GODSPELL WAS EFFING AMAZING. 

OMG.

wednesday

Mk. So. Yesterday afternoon was pretty fine, because Mr. Deitrich/Master Wolff is back! That means no more awful substitute!!! YAY!! But anyways. Rehearsal was pretty fun of course, and today is going to be fun too, because today we are performing one of our songs (the big exciting one, actually) in assembly as a sort of teaser to make people want to come to the play. And we the cast are all wearing our costumes to school! Hooray, I get to wear a tutu!

 

Actually, this morning I looked like the hobo fairy, because I got to my bus stop a bit early and so sat down, but with my fingerless gloves, flannel, and huge water bottle, it was a rather amusing picture. My huge water bottle especially… its 1.5 liters, and I am attempting to drink it all today before lunch time. Halfway done, and I’ve only been up an hour! Go me. Hydration rocks – Mr. Graham said that he got over bronchitis in two days just by drinking a couple liters of water a day. It makes sense, too – I mean, if our body is 70% water, then if you can refresh that water, then you can probably flush out the icky stuff!

 

Holy Excess of Exclamation Marks, Batman! Ha, I’m doing it again….

Tsop... Tpos... Ptos... Pots... Spot.... POST!

Mmmm. So this is pretty cool – Christian might be coming from Germany to see Godspell! Heck yeah. Also, I would like to say that my ipod on shuffle is rather amusing. With my song ADD, this is what it sounds like: (caps = screaming)

“I’M NOT AFRAID FOR THIS IS REAL, WE’RE NOT SLEEPING AT ALLLLL… was your lips touching mine in the photobooth… Spiderman, Spiderman! Does whatever a spider can… so let the flames begin oh glory, this is how we’ll dance when they try to take us down, this is how we’ll sing… AAHAGAHGAHGAHGAHAAA…. In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight… So stand in the rain, stand your ground, stand up when it’s all crashing down…. I’LL BREATH FOR YOU, I’LL BREATH FOR YOU…. Out one day, walking one day, out one day with you hallelujah, we found a wood with trollies on wheels… (orchestra)… Tick tick tick boom!

 

You get the idea.

 

So I totally brought like, 5 packs of tissues today, because at rehearsal we’re going to run the second act. AKA, hawt number, big number, smaller number, sheep and goats, the goodbye scene and death scene, the latter two basically being a sobfest because I’m surrounded by such freaking good actors. LOL.

 

Rarg. Bumpy roads make for loss of typing skills.

 

I’m re-naming my TOK and Religion classes: ‘Snore-fest’ and ‘State the Obvious in the Most Confusing Way Possible 101’.

HA, aren’t I clever. And wearing a beret. OH SNAP. And yes, I do know that that didn’t make much sense grammatically, but really, since when do I care?

 

Stefan got skype, so now hopefully we can webcam his classes.

 

It’s Monday morning, to my great dismay. Aka, I didn’t sleep well at all the last two nights, and after working as hard as we did at rehearsal, I am SO not ready for today. There are FIVE! Yes, five essays I should have had done by today (or before today) but when exactly this weekend did I have a chance to work on them, huh? Let’s go through yesterday. Woke up as tired as when I had gone to bed, got up, ate, packed my bag for the day, and drove to rehearsal at 11 where I was on the stage all day until 6, at which point I went home, ate dinner, and went to bed. Well you could have worked during the breaks you had, Marissa. Oh really? OK. After you’re done eating and going to the bathroom, you try and wrench your brain from concentrating entirely on Godspell, to the world of The Great Gatsby, or Onion Root Slides, or Empiricism as explained by John Locke! AND THEN, after maybe 10 minutes of that, go back to Godspell!

I THINK NOT.

 

Ok, I will try to stop ranting now… I do love Godspell, I really really do. And even though Mr. Graham can do professional shows during high school with no problems, I can’t so well, ok? Honestly, no one better say anything about homework today, or I will rip into them! And you know, I think I would be able to deal with all of this if I had gotten some quality rest. But did I? NO.

 

Man, I need to get a grip. Ok, deep breath, deep breaths. I need to calm down and get to work on my essay.

 

Monday on the whole wasn’t very stupendous, although I managed to finally perk up somewhat about halfway through rehearsal, despite the lack of dinner. By the time I got home at a quarter to nine, I was rather hungry! And then this morning, Tuesday that is, I feel more like a human being! Hallelujah and thank the Lord for actually sleeping decently! So I hope to actually function today, and maybe even get some work done, although I kind of doubt that most of it will get done before next week!

 

Ha, I just noticed how many exclamation marks I used in the last paragraph. LOL! Funny. And I even have the energy this morning to listen to Demon Hunter… Which Eric Moodie would totally like, by the way. Yes, you would. Promise. J

 

So what other news do I have? Hmm, not much. Christian is coming for sure, on Saturday, which is happy, and the show is just really going to be amazing. The audience will laugh SO FREAKING HARD, gasp with astonishment at our amazingness, and then we’ll make ‘em bawl their eyes out. XD Muahahaha.

 

Hey, that’s a cool picture out the bus window… I wish Will Peterson was here to capture it. He is a very good photographer, you should check out his deviantart.

 

Ok, I guess I’ll start working now… but on what? I have an essay on The Great Gatsby, a poetry analysis, a biology lab report, a philosophy essay, and a religion paper that I probably won’t end up doing. And of course, the math homework I never even take home, the French I never study… etc, etc.

 

Brrr. I’m cold. 

Devious thought, devious thoughts...

I typed yesterday (Wednesday night) but ALAS! I guess the internets ate it. Main points:

·      Nathan is absolutely ADORABLE when he is completely exhausted, like a clumsy puppy or something… AWWW.

·      I love 'My Moon My Man' by Feist

·      If a scene can make all us actors sob the first time we try running through it, it’s sure going to make you, the audience, bawl your eyes out! MUAHAHAHA.

·      God rocks my socks.

·      ‘The Historian’ by Elizabeth Kostova is an EXCELLENT book.

·      Parker is my fuzzy buddy.

 

K. So this morning is Thursday, my lovelies, and I have double philosophy, which normally is awesome. But, as Master Wulf/Mr. Deitrich is still on paternity leave, we have a sub. And the sub is… not as fun as MW/MD. He doesn’t even let us sit on the tables! Sigh.  And my eyes still feel icky from crying yesterday at rehearsal. Alas. 

This afternoon... actually i don't remember anymore, fooey. But Stefan can't come to school anymore. :'[ his red blood cell count is too low.

Oh! But hey! I figured out a way to create a murder mystery party with the characters and plot without actually knowing who the murder is! go me. so yeah, i'm doing that.

Post #222!!!

This weekend was pretty short – well, ok. Technically it was the same length as most weekends, as there were no funky time-warp things going on (that I know of), but it sure SEEMED shorter. Saturday I slept, went over to Johnna’s for an hour or so, and then went to rehearsal. And that was pretty much the day, because when I called mom to see where she was, she was shopping, so I went home with Nathan and by the time mom picked me up, it was late. Sunday I stayed home from church to work on homework, but kind of wasn’t as productive as I could have been. You know how that goes! I even got as distracted as to be making brownies… but they’re really yummy, so that’s all good.

 

Today I have double Bio (oh joy) but also my afternoon is pretty spiffy because I have drama and then a double free. Which I suppose I will use to do homework. Ick. Not that I’ll have time to do it any other time, because tonight after rehearsal (that runs until 7pm) I’m going to Ailya’s birthday party. And then tomorrow, Tuesday, it’s a random Belgian holiday so we don’t have school, but we have rehearsal and then I’m going to Parker’s birthday party! I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited for it, it’s a murder-mystery costume ball party! OMG. I get to be a Vampire!!! (squeee) Don’t worry, I’ll give you a full play by play, Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. Haha, I am SO betting on the murder either occurring in the Vampire House or the Were Clan. That is where the drama has been going on! LOL. I’M SO EXCITED!!!!

 

On a completely unrelated note, I quite enjoy doing tai chi to Nightwish.

 

K, so I didn’t make it into to Honour Choir, which is pretty disappointing… maybe if I had auditioned as an alto. Ha. Boone, Taehwan, and I’m pretty sure Parker made it, and Claire-Marine is #6 on the waiting list.

 

So Monday night, despite a rocky start of not being very hyper at rehearsal, was epically amazing. Ailya’s party was fantastic, because it was some badly needed girltime! We talked, we laughed, we painted nails, we ate, we tried tying cherry stems with our tongues… it was a blast. And I totally got that cherry stem! Haha. It took forever! XD Therese and I in particular had a good chat about boys and life in general… and Lee and some of us were totally planning her 17^th in January. It’s going to be wicked awesome. Yeah, so that was Monday night. On Tuesday, it was a Belgian holiday, so there was no school, but we still had our 6 hour rehearsal, which went well. This one song, “We Beseech Thee” is basically… SHAABAAAYUUMMMMM!!!! I mean completely epic. Cartwheels and hula-hoops and backflips and jazz hands and air guitar and high kicks and yours truly trilling a high ‘C’ for a few bars!!!! HECK YES, I did say high ‘C’. and it will be all by myself. Wow… but yeah. Awesome number.

After rehearsal, we all piled into the Deal-mobile and went to Parker’s house for his murder mystery party! OK, so my character was Cynthia (ew, gross name!), a scion to the prince of vampyrs, which basically means he controlled me, read my mind, and I was his second in command. But then there was Gregori, who was also a vampyr and a lifelong friend of Prince Allendro. The thing is, Gregori and I were seeing each other and were going to marry, but Allendro didn’t realize it was that serious and took me as his scion, which meant I couldn’t marry. Gregori felt betrayed, stopped speaking to Allendro, and (although I didn’t find out until the end) negotiated a deal with Bastet, queen of the werewolves. Bastet had a beef because a, vampyrs and werewolves never get along, and b, Allendro had used me to put her under mind control. So they made a deal: Gregori would help Bastet get her mind back, and Bastet would help him get me out from under the prince’s control so we could marry.

Now, because of this drama, I rather expected to be plotting with Gregori to get rid of Allendro so we could marry, even though I had received a piece of info that told me that Allendro really didn’t mean to hurt his friend Gregori. Odd, right? But things didn’t really go according to plan, you see. Gregori, played by Boone, was there (LOL we were so totally in character…) but Allendro wasn’t. AND THEN, 15 minutes into the party, Gregori DIED. Which was extremely frustrating, to say the least. (Vampyr flirting = fun) So my motivation became to find his murderer. But I totally screwed up by A, not communicating with Bastet (played by Liesl), B, suspecting Allendro, (whom Boone became, go figure…), and C, completely not paying attention to Professor Jackson, the egotistical mortal, aka Nathan. Even if I had just worked with Allendro, things would have worked out a LOT better. So, that’s drama, but only what, four characters? Five, counting Nathan. On top of this, we had Shashank playing Anubis, Bastet’s loyal protector who was secretly planning to take the throne, we had James as King Arthur, Rebecca as his wife Guinivere (who was secretly seeing Allendro!) Christianna as first the mortal Keiran, but then she died and was Morganna. Am I missing anybody? Oh yeah. PARKER. He was Puck, a very annoying fae. OMG. So, it came to light that Bastet might be under a spell, or maybe she was just going insane. She was forced by Allendro to resign, and although the council had decided to give her Dragon’s Blood that would revoke any spell, she was forced to give that also to Allendro. MAN, Boone played him well - and by that, I mean well but rather obnoxiously to my stupidity and Leisl’s frustration! Boone, I mean Allendro, ordered me first to go upstairs with James/King Arthur and ‘talk’. AKA kill him, but in an odd twist of events, he had a spell card that made my weapon and then his card NULL. Allendro wanted Arthur dead of course so that he could marry Guinivere. Most people didn’t remember that if the prince doesn’t marry by a certain time, he goes insane. (That would have been funny, but alas.) Well, then since Arthur wasn’t dead, Allendro decided to just make Guinivere want to leave him… which he achieved by ordering Bastet/Liesl and I, who were still both under his control, to flirt with Arthur. Awkward much? Ha.

So then… um. Rebecca/Guinivere faked her own death for some reason, and the game kinda ended because we out of time. Turns out, though, that Professor Jackson (He’s GOOD. goshdarn you, Nathan!) was behind all the murders. Oops?

 

That was somewhat frustrating. Ok, a lot. But I blame my ADD, so… yeah. Ha, epic fail! LOL. It was still SO fun, though- I haven’t roleplayed in FOREVER, and not with so many people! Whee.

 

And I got home at 11pm. And I will be hurting today. ESPECIALLY since I have double TOK first thing! Oh. My. Goodness. Shoot me now, please! 

____________________

Taehwan got me a bagel. <3>

Wheeeee...

So on friday. We had rehearsal (of course) and then I got a ride with Lee (She has the CUTEST dog!) to Alicia's house, where a bunch of people in my grade were throwing a party for Stefan. That was pretty fun! We cooked dinner (Taehwan made sushi!), made a Carrefour run for S'more-making ingredients, danced, and generally had a fantastic time. 

Today, I went and hung out with Johnna before rehearsal, which was very productive today, thank goodness!

oops, bedtime. xD but that's ok, because that was about my day anyways.

Thursday

Well, Obama won. Aaaaand most of my school was celebrating – I’m pretty sure there’s like, less than ten conservatives in my whole school. And everybody else is like “YEAH, OBAMA FTW!” ha. And then I put my foot in my mouth during drama class… whoops. Oh well, what’s done is done.

 

I just would like to document the fact that I was home before 7pm last night. WHAT A CONCEPT. And what I had for dinner: a grilled cheese sandwich with tomatoes, and then I dipped it in guacamole. Yummmm.

 

This morning probably won’t be that great, particularly the second half – double English, French, religion and math – but this afternoon will rock, because I’ll have all three of the classes I have with Stefan. And then rehearsal! Real rehearsal, where we actually learn stuff and block out scenes. Hurrah!

 

Ok, funny quote from after choir yesterday:

“You’re not mean, just sadistic!” – Nathan

 

HA. This amuses me.

 

Thursday night:

Well, I was right – this morning was very, very LONG. And then I had to take a math test during lunch, which only made me oh so happier! HA. The upside? Well….

 

Hold on, I have to think about that.

 

Ok, a good thing about today: Stefan is going to be able to come to some classes after all!

 

And rehearsal was dancing then blocking, but I had reeeeaaalllly bad stomach pains, so it wasn’t nearly as much fun. And then I couldn’t find my phone. And then I was trying to work on this bio work sheet again, and I think. That I will fail that class.  Because I had my notes from class, Therese’s notes from class, and the freaking TEXTBOOK, yet I still could not find the information I needed. OY VAY.

 

 

Quinn is cute, and a real sweetheart. But it would be nice if he didn’t say ‘f***’ all the time, you know? Even if he WAS quite frustrated. Psh. 

blarg/blog

TUESDAY

Well, my eyes hurt and I’m yawning uncontrollably. I was so distraught last night that I didn’t think that I’d sleep, and so took like 5 sleeping pills. I ended up crying in mom’s arms until I dropped off, and then not waking up until 10 minutes before I had to leave to catch my bus. Thankfully I managed to get out the door and to my stop in time, and am now sitting cross-legged on the bus, wishing that I hadn’t put eye makeup on so that I could rub my eyes safely. Needless to say, I did no homework last night, but I worked on some this morning, somewhat distractedly. I’m currently listening to Clair De Lune by Debussy on repeat, because it’s kind of calming and nice.

 

I have religion this afternoon, and a niggling suspicion that there’s an essay or something due soon… but then again, I really don’t care.

 

Tomorrow I have to dress up like V for Vendetta. “Remember, remember, the fifth of November, of gunpowder, treason, and plot!” I’ve only seen the movie once, spring of freshman year on my little DVD player, sitting outside on the grass after school with Josh Gross, but I really really liked it, and this is the first time I remembered before the 5^th. Ha.

 

I think I will listen to Paramore now. Curse this long bus ride! I don’t know what to do with myself right now.

 

WEDNESDAY

Well, so much for remembering to dress like V today – although, I could raid the costume room or something. I’ll probably just make a pin with a V on it.

Anywho.

Yesterday morning continued to be pretty suckish, but right after lunch I cheered up immediately. <3>

 

Oh! I almost forgot to tell about the über pathetic excuse for a pep rally! So STJ hasn’t had a pep rally since like, the 80’s, so this year one was organized. The whole school attended, but the er, responses differed. The grade schoolers rocked, and totally got into it. If everybody had followed their example, the pep rally would have been a resounding success. The middle schoolers were ok. And the high schoolers… oh dear. I was extremely ashamed to call myself a high schooler at that moment! I was probably the ONLY one in the audience who stood up and screamed the cheers. UGH. GOSH.

 

That was about my whole day. And this morning, Wednesday morning, I am hoping and praying that Mr. Graham is well enough to join us.

 

Currently listening to: Beautiful Dying Day <3

 

This morning after French, I had drama, and Stefan wasn’t there. Somehow, a group of 6 people seems SO much of a smaller group than 7! Mr. Graham is back, healthy again, which is very nice – we all missed him. But ick! Class is just not as… warm, as close as when Stefan is there. Thankfully, drama is in the afternoon tomorrow, so he’ll be there then, but it’ll be the last time for a while. After this weekend, he’s not supposed to be out in public, because of the chemo.

 

I’m not crying anymore, but I’m still pretty upset. I miss him so much in the mornings! And it will be much worse when he’s not there at all. Unfortunately, I won’t have much time to visit him for a while, either, because of Godspell, which he won’t even be able to see! XP 

 

RAWR. How awful.  

BLARG.

Mk. Which is like ‘OK’, except with more of a ‘Hmmmm’ sort of sound. Anywho, It’s finally Monday morning… good because it’s ‘A’ week and thus I have double drama first thing this morning, bad because I still do not have an English essay. If I was a genius and actually knew what to write, then I could write it here during my hour on the bus and then print it in the Library during break, but I honestly have no clue what to write. I am NOT happily anticipating talking to Mr. Savage… he has a way of making me feel SO guilty! I mean, I should be, because I didn’t write my essay and that’s my own fault. As much as I’d like to make excuses, it’s my own darn fault that I couldn’t make myself write it because I am the one who’s let myself slack off with all these bad study habits for years and years.  And now I’m paying for it again! Well, perhaps I’ll try and work on it during my free today.

 

Ugh. I’m sitting in the middle of the bus today, and the toilet REEKS like sewage or something else outhouse-ish. EWWWWW!!!

 

It’s 7:32am.  School starts in about an hour, at 8:35am, about an hour later than Concordia. Well, technically 8 hours ahead considering the time zone, but you know what I mean. STJ gets out an hour later than CA though, so it evens out. I’m not sure which I prefer… although if STJ started an hour earlier, that would mean getting on the bus at 6:15am!! Ouch, that would hurt. But then I’d be getting up at 5am, which is 10pm MN time, so I might be able to talk to MN people! That would rock. Ha.

 

I had a hard time falling asleep last night- I actually had to do some yoga-type stretching before I could relax enough – but that probably owes in a large amount to the fact that I slept 13 hours on Friday night, and stayed up until 2am on Saturday. (I was talking to Laura on Skype! :D )

 

Someone on this bus wears a very similar scent to Grandpa Jerry’s cologne. I like it, and it’s certainly an improvement on the biffy smell!

 

Haha. Bumpy roads make typing funny. :]

 

Evening-

 

Well, today was pretty much awful. For one thing, we didn’t dance in double drama today because Mr. Graham wasn’t there, and he wasn’t there because he’s really sick, and got so dehydrated because of that that he had to go to the hospital. And then I found out that someone very dear to me has cancer, and is freaking starting chemotherapy TOMORROW.

 

HOLY TAPIOCA PUDDING, BATMAN.

 

So then on top of that, rehearsal was an epic fail today, especially my song. I practically killed it. xP

AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Today is a chocolate day.

OK, so here I go: an update.

(I feel I must mention that the reason why I can now update is because I now am the owner of Kaytlin’s old computer, and have decided to make good use of my numerous hours spent in transit by writing, an activity I greatly enjoy but rarely get to do as much as I would like.)

Anyways, My life has pretty much separated into a few distinct portions: Home, School, and Theatre. Home is the flurried time in the morning, spent getting ready for school, and the few tired hours in the afternoons, spent with flopping on the couch, sighing with fatigue, and generally putting off homework. This past weekend, these first few days of November, has been my only ‘free’ weekend, really- Although calling it ‘free’ is quite generous on my part. It was free only in the sense that I didn’t have to go anywhere besides church on Sunday morning… On Saturday, after sleeping off the exhaustion of the previous day’s travel, I cleaned my room. To some, this is not a big deal, but for me, it’s pretty monumental. It took ALL DAY, no kidding… and even though there’s still a bit of clutter left to sort through, you can now see a large amount of floor! What a concept. Haha. Then, we had guests for dinner, the Jonkers, and that was fun if not interesting. Anyways, from Monday on I will probably be rather busy every day until Christmas, because Godspell will take up all my spare time, and more. We have rehearsal several hours every day until performance, although I have to say that since I enjoy it so much, the only pain is sleep deprivation, which is always inevitable when so much time is taken up by one thing.

School has settled into a relatively comfortable and familiar pattern of rushing to classes I like and dragging to classes I don’t, trying to keep up in spite of missing classes for one reason or another, and daily interaction with my classmates and teachers, positively or otherwise. I suppose I should mention WHY I’ve been missing classes, besides the obvious occasional hooky –Oh, who said that? I never deliberately skip classes, don’t be ridiculous! Ha. But the reason that I’ve been missing classes (particularly Maths and English) is because I had gotten whiplash from the car accident mom and I were in awhile back. So, I walk 30 minutes or so to the chiropractor’s office, get my back/neck adjusted, and then walk back. This has been happening about twice a week, resulting in my missing a fair amount of classes. Now, I was on my last appointment when I slipped while dancing one afternoon and fell, getting lateral whiplash. Thus, more appointments. Needless to say, my teachers are not so happy about this.

I have a lot of homework to do this afternoon. An English Essay, and Lab report for Biology.

The largest portion (or so it seems, at least in importance!) is of course Theatre, a category that encompasses both theatre class, and Godspell rehearsals. These times are my favorite, because I get to do what I love with People I love! Speaking of Godspell, you are all cordially and excitedly invited to come see it at St. John’s International School, on November 21, 22, and 23 at 7pm, 7pm, and 2pm respectively. I really hope you can make it, it’s going to be a great show.

 

Spain, as you may know, has an average of 360 days of sunshine a year.

….guess which ones WE were there for? XP Ugh. I mean, I had fun, but not as much as if it would have been sunny the whole time instead of just one day, and the rainy windy weather made a few people downright cranky! But, I got to see not only my siblings, but Karin (hurrah for jabbering!) and three of the Steens, who have been our friends since before mom and dad were married. That was a party. AND, can I just mention, the owners of the villa we stayed at were Scottish, so they had British television that had a channel with Stargate on ALL THE TIME. Also, a fair amount of A-Team and Who’s Line. Very fun. In Spain, we hiked, drove around, enjoyed the food prices that were 1/2 of Belgium’s, and sat on the beach – well, ok. Restaurants right next to the beach, because it was cold. But I went swimming in the ocean three days, not just the one sunny one! Go me. Um. Kaytlin got sunburned A LOT in the one day of sun. We saw orange trees, and ate about 57 oranges a day. YUM.

Friday (which was Halloween but I didn’t get a chance to dress up) we flew back. We left the villa at 9am, got to the airport, ate a snack, and went to go wait for our 12:40 flight.

The flight didn’t leave until 4pm.

It was beautiful, though, coasting down through the clouds, seeing Belgium by night. I gazed down at the brightly lit roads, the veins of the country, that looked all the world like strings of Christmas lights dropped haphazardly on the ground.

I miss you. I really had hoped that perhaps not only would I be able to go to church and see everybody, but also arrive before Concordia let out of school for Christmas break, so as to see everyone! Otherwise, getting everyone together seems highly improbable.

Beginning our 11th month

We have just returned home from a disappointing "beach" vacation.  The weather was a record low temperature.  Being there was a fair amount of rain in addition to the cold, & it was 'off season', our choice of activities was VERY limited.  The good news is, we did have some spectacular views, & a great time re-connecting with old friends who have been living in Spain for 15 or more years.  All in all, I'd have to say Spain presently ranks as my least favorite vacation destination!  

Kevin's work term has been officially extended beyond December 2008.  We still don't know the full ramifications of that, only that we won't be moving back at Christmastime.

For Kevin the news doesn't change much of his day to day approach.  For Marissa, she is very relieved & excited.  She has so many terrific opportunities this year with her schooling (extra curricular in nature), that for her to return to the states in December would have been extremely disappointing.  As for me, I was trying to remain neutral in my thoughts prior to the decision being announced, but I have noticed that since finding out,  I am feeling like I need to refocus & figure out where I fit now.   Not that I feel more connected to my life in MN, but my life here has different dynamics now than last spring, so I need to find my niche. 

We are looking forward to visiting some smaller cities within easy drive of Brussels to experience their "Christmas Markets", which we've heard are really interesting.  The ambiance of the old world flavor, the foods, the sounds, the lights, the handcrafted ornaments....it should be a very unique experience. 

Besides a possible visit to Scotland while Kevin is on business, I think the markets will be the last of our travel for awhile.  Although there is a wealth of things to experience, real life also has to happen.  So until spring break, we will be available for house guests should anyone feel inclined!  

Comment response

In reply to the person who wanted to know about occupational therapy in Brussels.  My friend is being treated at St. Luc Hospital.  I think the proceedure is to first be evaluated by a doctor, then he will refer to pyhsical &/or occupational therapy as is needed.