School...and I'm in pain

So, 3rd day of school.  I'm awake!  I'm alive!  Now I know what I believe inside! Sorry, have been listening to too much Skillet this morning.

So, I had my first day working yesterday- I'm a writing tutor at my community college, and I tutored my first student!  I think it went really well.  And that's all you'll get out of me because I have to keep confidentiality, so yeah.

I'm taking Intro to Theater, Nutrition, Ancient and Medieval World History, and Environmental Ethics and Career Development online.  Spent an hour and a half outlining yesterday for History and only got through 5 of the 20 pages in chapter 1. yikes.  Haven't even looked at Ethics or Career Development yet, but I did finish Nutrition.

I went riding for the first time in a very long time on Sunday.  Horseback riding.  It was fun, though the horse I usually ride, Angel, is limping, so that's sad.  My neighbor has horses and she lets me ride them sometimes.  Anyway, the saddle I usually used when I rode more was broken, so I had to use a different saddle.  Well, the reason why I used the one particular saddle was because it was the only one with the stirrups shortened enough for me.  Well, the saddle I used Sunday had one of the stirrups (the right one) short enough, but the left one hadn't been shortened enough.  I could still reach it, but it was harder and I could only get my toes in.  So whenever we galloped, I lost my left stirrup and ended up holding on for dear life, bouncing all over the saddle.  I've also been having issues with gripping things-I played one song on the guitar and my hand just about killed me it hurt so bad.  I also had an issue writing half a page of Calista's character profile.  Yeah.  I don't know why.  So, I'm gripping the pommel or horn of the saddle and my hand is protesting in pain.  I knew I was going to get saddle sore, but because of all the bouncing, I bruised my legs and may or may not have done something to my lower back.

That pain may have more to do with my 23 pound backpack. (Yes, I weighed it)  So now just about every part of me hurts.  I feel like an old lady.

In good news, I finished Twice Upon a Time!  You can like my facebook page, www.facebook.com/3kingdoms2girls1fate My mom was visiting her mom last weekend and my grandma had just finished When the Stars Fall.  So my mom told her about me finishing my screenplay, and she was really impressed.  She says to me, "You know, my friend knows Dan Disney.  When you get it edited, I could see if he'll take a look at it"
ME: OoO or something like that.  Trying to keep myself from screaming in excitment.  Hello, DREAM. COME. TRUE.
Everything's extremely iffy so I'm not getting my hopes up too far, but still- MY GRANDMA'S FRIEND KNOWS DAN DISNEY!!! What?????


Yeah.

I got a laptop.  I found a mac (I need one for the music program at Concordia if I go there) for less than $500, so yeah.  It was about $370, but my dad wanted to get a warranty, so we got a 2 year warranty for $105.  It's coming Tuesday and I'm so excited.

Oh, am Disneybounding as Flounder today.  Having too much fun with this.  Tried to get Elli to be Ariel, but she was too lazy to figured it out.  Thinking I'll be Terence tomorrow and Marie (from Aristocats) Friday.  I have a flourecent yellow and aquamarine striped tank top on right now with a blue shirt thing over it.  Two of the three items I own from Aeropostale.  My mom decided I needed to get them.  Didn't realize at the time how perfectly they'd work for a Flounder Disneybound.

OK, gotta go.  Class in an hour and I need to read through some history.

My random project of the weekend: a mock-up cover of Beauty is Blind:

I love the black background- it really shows her living in darkness.  And the purple text is perfect-am not a fan of the font, but Createspace doesn't offer much for fonts.  And the painting is one by Diego Velázquez so it's now public domain since he's been dead for a long time.  I'm still going to credit him.  It's called "Portrait of a Blind Woman" and it looks EXACTLY like I imagine Calista.  The only thing I don't like is the fact that her eyes are closed so you can't see that they're purple, but still. It's perfect.

How I went to prom for under $50

Prom!  I'm still waiting for the pictures to come up on facebook (the reason I got facebook- see below) but you can check on www.facebook.com/catholicprom.  I'm the one in the short red dress- and yes, I found a prom dress!  First dress I tried on at Kohl's.  Ironic, huh?  Even more so because of the color.  I was planning on making a red or reddish dress for my graduation next year, since one of my high school's colors is red, and red is the main color of both of my top two colleges, St. Benedict's and Augsburg.  Lo and behold, a modest dress that is short (no hemming required!) and fit, and was on sale for like $30.  I remember praying in the car: Okay, God, I'm going to Catholic prom.  And I need a dress.  Modest would be awesome- then again, you want me to find a modest dress, I'm sure.  And under $50 would be great.  Thanks.  Love, Haili.

It turned out that most of the stores didn't open until 10:00.  I was at the stores at like 9.  So I ended up going to the one store that was open on a whim- Kohl's.  We frequent this store often and I knew they had some formals, but I was really banking on some consignment stores and Goodwill to have a nice dress.  Not Kohls.  But Kohl's had a $78 dress on sale for 60% off, and my mom had an additional 15% off (like I said, we go to Kohl's a lot.  My parents will walk out of there after paying $300 for a whole bunch of stuff and having saved like $900 [yes, we've saved $900 at Kohl's before- see why we like it?  Most of my dress shirts and dresses that aren't handmade are from this store]) So anyway, the dress was around $25.  And I was done shopping and it wasn't even 10 in the morning yet!  Yay!  So I went to the library and waited for lunch...

Prom was really awesome and I had a great time.  If you're curious about the post title, the ticket to Catholic Prom was $20 and that included mass, food, and entertainment.  Dress + Ticket= $45 (approximately)  If you don't count my shoes or accessories, which I already had.  The shoes were about $20 I think and they're fairly new- they're the heels I got to go with my easter dress- the silver ones.  My red dress had a silver buckle and I think they complemented quite nicely.  Still, that was $65 including the shoes- still well under $100 and not too far over $50.  The necklace I wore was a gift, and my hair accessory was also a gift- my little tiara.  There were two girls at prom, one named Sophie whom I dubbed Cinderella, because of her sparkling blue ball gown and jeweled headband and bun (she was brunette- that was the only difference.  She even had silver shoes!  And the best part was- she didn't plan it) and the other name Claire whom I dubbed Belle, because of her GORGEOUS gold ball gown.  It had a lace up back and the bodice was covered in tiny pearls and sparkles.  Her skirt was all tulle and sparkles and it was huge!  I was so jealous.  ;) Not really, but I loved it.  When I walked in, it was the first thing I noticed.  It was a ton of fun and I met two girls who shared my love of fairy tales, told and retold.  Whilst discussing Fairest and The Goose Girl and of course, Ella Enchanted, I told them about Beauty is Blind and not only did they love my title, but started spouting off stuff from the original fairy tale and when one started talking about Cupid and Psyche and I knew exactly what they were talking about... a friendship was born!

On to the explanation of the facebook thing above.  For those of you who know me, you will know that my parents have not let me get a facebook for the longest time.  Well, as of Sunday, I now have a facebook!  My parents are kinda paranoid when it comes to internet.  It's kinda funny- I don't have a curfew or anything, though I try to get home before midnight when I'm out and about (the only times I'm ever out that late anyway are when I'm a. babysitting, or b. at a few-and-far-between party, usually of the cast variety for a play.  And even then, I call my mom or dad first to let them know)  But when it comes to the internet, I made my own email at age 13 (the first really naughty thing I did- since I did it on my own- but once they figured out that I hadn't lied about my age to get it, they relented.  They were trying to set up an email through quest for me, but it wasn't working.  I just sped the process up.)  I made a website a long time ago that no one ever looks at, but if you're interested, it's www.misunderstandingsunderstood.webs.com but it appears webs has taken it down.  I made this blog, too, without their permission.  But I'm really careful online about stalkers and stuff.   That's why you won't see me posting where I live beyond something like my state, and why I use obscure nicknames for names on this blog to protect my identity.  I even have an online last name I use when I don't want to use my real name.  I have my real name on facebook, though.  I had to give my mom my password, but only so she can see what I see.  If I'm friends with someone she's not okay with or finds something she doesn't like, she's going to give me a chance to explain and/or fix it, and if I refuse, she has the right to change it for me.  At least until I turn 18, which isn't that far away.  I'm a good kid, and I don't think she's going to need to take those measures, but they're there just in case.  And I told her no going on and messing with my status or posting in my name like other people's moms sometimes do.  She said she wouldn't do that.  I trust her.

On another happy note, I'm done with classes (you already know this most likely) at college and have to return my books.  Only I was missing a CD set from my very expensive music textbook.  And I have to return them before June 8th.  But I had to find those CDs.  And I found them today and I'm really happy.  They've been missing almost all semester, so ironically, I never got to use them.  But now at least I have them.  So, YAY!

Things I like at this very moment:
M. J. Putney's books Dark Mirror and Dark Passage.  I'm trying to get ahold of the next book, Dark Destiny.  But it won't be released until July.  It's about time traveling mages in 1804 and 1940 England.  Just read it- it's good.

Margaret Peterson Haddix's The Missing books- Found, Sent, Sabotaged, and Torn.  I just finished Torn and really like it.  Again, time travel (wow, theme here I didn't plan)  It's about missing kids from history (Virginia Dare, John Hudson, Richard, Duke of York, and Edward V, and Leiserl Einstein, to name a few) who were kidnapped out of their time by time travelers (don't remember why- adoption?  Famous kids to be adopted?) Anyway, they're trying to fix all of history by putting the kids back.  The main character, Jonah is one of the missing kids from history, and the last book, Revealed, is supposed to tell who he is.  Between Torn and Revealed, there's supposed to be Caught (about Einstein's daughter) and Risked (supposedly set in Russia)  I can't wait this long, people!!!   This is why I hate reading new series.  You have to wait so long in between books.
Okay, I'm excited now.  But I've got to go to school...

Oh, more good news.  Finished typing Elli's novel the other day!  Now she just has to edit- it's longer than she thought.  She thought it was 6,000 words or something, but according to word, it's 7,515.  Yay, Elli!  And shhh- I'm buying her birthday presents, but I'm not telling because she's one of the two followers I have.  Come on guys- if you read this, follow it so I know that you read it!!!

okay, I'm out
-Haili

Updates and Aladdin

So after some research, I have come to the conclusion that I did, in fact, suffer from a grade 1 (ie minor) concussion on Thursday night.  I also talked to several people and figured out how I hurt myself.  Going back to the doodles, this is what happened:

Yeah, so... it was very interesting telling my college friends I had a concussion:

ME: Yeah, so I got a concussion last night...

THEM: *concerned* How?  What happened?

ME: Well, it's a weird story, but...I got thrown by a Beast on stage and hit my head.

THEM: O...kay...

WHAT THEY'RE THINKING: What?????

:D  I told my band director and she was like "You got a concussion?" It was kinda funny.  Apparently I take too good of care of myself to get concussions, in her mind, anyway.

So, I was watching Aladdin last night- forgot how much I loved that movie- but the DVD was scratched.  So I skipped from Aladdin's first wish- to be a prince- to Jafar taking the lamp and Jasmine trapped in an hourglass.  The movie skipped the whole second act!!! The best part!!!

However, I did not miss a certain part.  When Aladdin wakes up after Jafar traps him in the cave thing and he falls and all that- he says "Oh... my head!"

and I immediately thought "Oh my gosh, Aladdin has a concussion, too!!!!! AHH!!!"  Then the poor guy meets genie and is like "Maybe I hit my head harder than I thought!"

Oh..  Okay- I just really liked that

 I should really go work on editing stage play portfolios- I have dress rehearsal today and shall be very busy.  Adios!

I am soooo sick... yuk

yeah, so I have this super nasty cold right now and my ear is all stuffed up and congested and I've blown my nose so many times it's raw from all the kleenex.  I know what they're talking about in the Puffs commercials now... I feel like I've swallowed a bucket of nails and they've lodged in my throat, and my head is throbbing...

I had to play french horn in my band concert last night in this condition... I made it through the first 4 songs all right, but the last one, The Great Locomotive Chase (listen to a recording here) which happened to be my favorite, I barely made it through.  My dad thankfully zoomed the camera away from my face because even he could see I was having trouble.

We also were wearing these t shirts at that point that said "Band Rules" on the front, and "Brass Drools" on the back, since we say the back row of our band (the brass section) is a "splash zone" It had a picture of one of our trombone players who is moving away on it, and we surprised him by wearing the shirts under our concert clothes (black sweaters are great at hiding t shirts... this one won't stay normal for long, I can guarantee that.  Just give me a pair of scissors.... mwhahaha)

Well, on a happier note, I'm officially done with college for the semester, have gotten my books for next semester (and am such a nerd I'm already reading them... just the stage and screen ones though).  I'm taking Intro to creative Writing for Stage and Screen (how convenient, Script Frenzy is next semester...hmm), Small Group Communications, Astronomy, Intro to world music, and relationships, marriage, and the family... should be interesting.

Anyway, I should get going so I can sleep this cold off... see ya'll and have a merry Christmas! (and pray it snows here... there HAS to be snow on Christmas!!!)