Living Stations and Disney Medleys

Almost a year ago, I posted this snippet:

We picked parts for my church's passion play on Sunday.  It's called the Living Stations of the Cross.  I'm a junior this year, so I was hoping for a good part, like Mary Magdelene, Pilate's wife, or Mary, wife of Clopas, or Mary, mother of John... or even a flash back Mary (we have a LOT of Marys) but I look nothing like the girl who got the part of Mary, my friend Heather.  She'll love it that she can hold the baby Jesus at the beginning (we start with the presentation in the temple- there's a flashback when Jesus dies and two girls stand with a baby doll and the kid who played 12 year old Jesus... I can't do the 12 year old Jesus flashback- I'm 4'9" and not only is my friend like 6 ft tall, but the kid playing 12 year old Jesus is taller than me...yeah, I'd look real motherly.)  So anyway, I was hoping for a part where I get to do a lot of crying, since according to Elli, I'm really really good at fake crying (who knew?)

Yeah.  I'm a serving girl.  I get a towel chucked at my face (if I'm lucky) and I stand there with a straight face.This should be interesting

Well guess what?  It's that time of year again!  Living Stations.  And I am a senior, which means I'm guaranteed a good part.

But before I get into the goodies of this year, I wanted to comment on my disappointment with last year.  My freshman year I was a weeping woman.  When I was a sophomore, I was the first girl to play the newly added part of the prophetess Anna (see presentation in the temple above).  My junior year I was a servant girl.  Not big parts at all.  As a weeping woman, I went up to Jesus during the 8th station and cried.  As Anna, I basically knelt and prayed, and watched Mary and Joseph leave with the baby.  As a servant girl, I gave a cup to Pilate to drink out of.  That's it.  But that's not to say that I didn't have a very big part.  Every year (and I've been doing this since 6th grade-I was in the crowd) I've come up with a story.
Freshman Year: I was Leehi, a pregnant weeping woman.  Here's my backstory.
Sophomore Year: Anna, the prophetess.  When we fastforwarded 33 years, I changed my headscarf and took of the creepy grey braid wig and became Anna's granddaughter by the same name, also gifted with prophecy.  I knew what was going to happen.  I'd seen it coming, but kept it to myself.  I was dreading the inevitable. I had a story written for it, but I never typed it.  I don't know where it is.
Junior Year: Terentia Octavia Camilla of Rome, aka Lira. I actually looked up how Romans were named so I could get an accurate name.  I wanted to switch the cup I held out for a lyre we had from when we did the David skits for VBS.  They never let me, but I kept Lira as my nickname.  I was a simple Roman girl who could care less what could happen to a Hebrew "Messiah."  But a miracle changed my heart.  You can read Lira's story here.

Well this year, I dropped my name in the hat for Mary Magdalene, because I love her story, and Mary, because, as a senior, I could, and why not?  (How we pick parts: you get two pieces of paper, write your name on them, and put them in the bowl for the character(s) you want.  The leaders then pray [so do you out while you watch last year's show on DVD] and pick one out of the bowl)

Guess what?  I'm Mary.  The Mary.  Yeah.  I'm praying the rosary on my way to school now...praying that I do her justice.  I'm not worried about the acting, but I should get my prayer life together if I'll be portraying the mother of God.  And ironically, this is the first "lead" role I've ever gotten in my life.  I'm so excited and so happy.  I was totally not expecting to be Mary AT ALL.

In other news, why I've not blogged in forevers:


We'll be performing it February 8th.  And my laptop's dying, which means I should go to sleep.  G'night.

I'm really good at procrastinating

I'm sitting at 44,500 words (88 pages).  I have Noteflight Crecendo (the super awesome paid version of Noteflight).  I have the ending planned.  I have 12 fretting pages to write.  That would take me an hour and a half, most likely.  Why am I not writing?

I'm too busy getting distracted by random stuff on pintrest and facebook and buying a laptop. (maybe-we'll see.)

In other news, Haili has been very busy.  Today she went to tutor training at her community college to learn how to be a writing tutor and offered to write a little blurb for the school newspaper about NaNoWriMo to see if she could get a group of people together for write-ins and stuff.

Why am I writing in third person?  Just another Really Random Me Moment...yep.

So...yeah.  I got a job!  I help people with their papers...so if you know me and know where I go to school (PSEO, not high school) come see me if you need help!  I'll be there Tuesday and Thursday mornings and Friday afternoons, plus one random hour on Wednesday at 2...but hey, it pays $8 an hour and I work 15 hours and get paid for training, so I've already earned...$52.  Nice.  And I Disneybounded my tutor picture- blue striped shirt and a white rose-lace trimmed cami, complete with a blue hairbow as a headband.  Can you guess?  Also had to take my senior picture with a panther for the yearbook Tuesday.  I brought When the Stars Fall and the panther read it with me.

I've also discovered that two things can go together.  Fairy tales + Bible verses = one happy Haili.
Whilst planning my novel for November (or looking for Beauty and the Beast wallpapers for my desktop...one of those options might be more truthful than the other) I stumbled across this wallpaper showing Adam (the beast) during/after his transformation.

And it dawned on me that bible verses could go with fairy tales.  I mean, fairy tales and the Bible are kind of teaching the same thing- how to live a better life.  The fairy tales just go about it in a more entertaining and sometimes odd/disgusting way, that's all.  (Though you Prodestants don't know what you're missing- Tobit is a fretting awesome book.  Tobit goes blind because he didn't put cloth over his eyes, slept outside and birds pooped on his eyes and he got cataracts.  Then the archangel Raphael comes down in disguise and helps Tobit's son Tobiah go on a journey, and free a woman from a demon that killed the last seven husbands she had...just read it.)

So, realizing this, I went into research mode.  And found this gem: 1 Peter 3:3-4. And if this isn't Beauty and the Beast, I don't know what is.

"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."
Or this:
"Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."
-1 Samuel 16:7 

I've also discovered a theme in this novel: the theme of light and darkness. Being blind, Calista lives in literal darkness.  Damien as well lives in shadow, but his darkness is more what's inside.  Both have to overcome the darkness to find the light.  Which is why this last verse is so awesome.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
-John 1:5

And now this child needs to go live in darkness for a few hours and get some sleep- after she writes 5 pages, that is. And there I go with the 3rd person again...geez.

Adios, peoples!

PS:
Where was this when I was looking for a beauty and the beast dress?

Dress (clipped to polyvore.com)

Of course, I don't think you can buy this. But still...

Okay...why do I write so many posts about dresses?

To answer that, it's probably because I'm at a time in my life where I need to get a lot of dresses (ie prom??)  And I don't think I ever mentioned to you guys what my prom dress looks like.  I bought it for next year in June on sale for $40.  The original price? $179.  Oh yeah, I'm good.

Anyway, here's what it looks like:
I like how it's purple, (my favorite color) but is still in the style of Belle's dress from Beauty and the Beast, which if you can't tell by now, is my favorite movie and she's my favorite princess... you get the picture.  This picture isn't all that great and it looks better on me than on the model.  I guess you can define better in your own way, but since I have bigger hips, the skirt puffs out more and looks more like a ball gown, without having too much dress.  I also like how the pickups are detailed with little jewels that remind me of stars, more specifically, stars in the Keidreian sky, which is described to be purple.  Also, it's a wonderful reminder of Calista and a great cross of my "Belle" and Disney's.  Here's a detail of the beading:

I immediately saw it and thought of a tiara.  I've always wanted to wear a tiara for prom because it's the one night of your life that you get to be a princess before your wedding.  I completely missed out on the cute little girl princess stage (I seriously never got a single Disney princess dress-up dress while my sister had a whole crate- I just wasn't interested)  I'm making up for it now.  Anyway, I found a few tiaras that matched it.


But I just couldn't get this little number out of my head:

It's $12 and it would be perfect on a small half-bun style like Belle wears.  And I'm not complaining about the price.  It's cheaper than Claire's!  Still, it's gold and wouldn't match the silver of my prom dress, so I had all but given up on this little simple circlet.
Until I remembered one tiny detail: I can't wear my prom dress for my piano recital! Or homecoming (if I go...who knows?)  As much as I loved my purple dress, in my heart, I still kinda wanted a yellow "Belle" dress.  And when I remembered my earlier fascination with Disneybound, I thought, what if I Disneybounded this?  So I've spent the last hour or so on the internet looking for a $50 or less yellow ruffled dress or a yellow dress with roses that would go with this, and it has to have straps.  I'm not liking the strapless thing very much, especially for a piano recital.  But a lot of the dresses have ruffles and flowers in places that would be highly unflattering on me but would look great on Elli (the bust area-yep, we're the extremes, I'm huge, she's tiny.  Not fair, but still)  And then there's this great one shoulder dress with roses on it that would be lovely, but it's not going to look good, I can already tell. Oh yeah, did I mention it had to be modest?  And that it either has to be knee length or floor length, nothing inbetween or I look shorter than I am?  Yeah.

This looks promising, if not really short.

However, those dresses that look kinda short on the models will look fine on little 4'9"er here. (nickname from my friend Goldie)

This is pretty, but a bit much for a piano recital...sigh $55, too...

Let's pay $40 for a fitted t shirt that got mauled by an angry person with scissors... and call it a dress!

Like I need sparkles there...and this is a shirt, not a dress.

Uh, looks like you forgot a piece of the pattern...can I have some fabric with my dress?

This is called Nom de Plume...now "One Jump" from Aladdin is stuck in my head...
one jump ahead of my doom, next time, gonna use a nom de plume...
Looks like a skating costume though.

Okay, done making fun of random immodest dresses... I need to go to bed.

PS:
I'm on the skit team for Vacation Bible School at my church this year. It's my last year, and I was hoping for a bigger part.  Most girls just end up being sheep or something.  This year's theme is The Luminous Mysteries, which is another way of talking about Jesus' ministry (Baptism in the Jordan, Wedding at Cana, Transfiguration, Institution of the Eucharist...something else I can't remember...) Anyway, the skits always do a wacky theme like Inspector Gadget, the Jetsons, game show... this year's theme was suggested by none other than me and Elli!

Elli used to sing this song on the way to church: "We're off to see Jesus, the wonderful Son of God!" sung to the tune of "We're off to see the Wizard"
...and yes, you've guessed it- we are totally doing Wizard of Oz theme this year!  whohoo!  It was like my favorite movie as a child.  And we just got parts today!  And I'm...not Dorothy, but I'm Glinda! The smart one who gives dimwitted Dorothy and her even dumber companion Scarecrow a Bible and tells them to find Jesus.  This means...I have to wear pink! ek.  Oh well, the things I do for drama... wonder what sort of costume I'll get?  Find out on August 5th, I guess.

G'night people...

What happens when you write about a blind girl...

Now, since I've been thinking about Beauty is Blind a lot, I find myself not turning on the lights when I go to the bathroom or enter my room.  Or I close my eyes when I'm at home and walk around.  Just to get into Calista's shoes.

We just got back from a road trip to my grandma's cabin- so first stop is by defult, the bathroom.  So yeah...there I am in a dark bathroom, with the door closed and peeing, and my poor brother's so confused because he hears someone in there...but the light's off!

Ah, the dangers of writing first person stories from a blind girl's point of view.

I'm going to try to do Camp NaNoWriMo again- I realized that I have been doing the work of 3 and the fact that I made it almost half way's a big achievement.  At least for a musical.

Need to apply for colleges (St. Ben's, Concordia, and Coe) *groan*
Need to find a job. *groan*

But I took senior pictures this weekend- they turned out pretty good- will be posting them soon.

Umm, have had a lot of weird moments with Calista lately.  Writers, do you ever feel like your characters are talking to you?  Like, literally?

Once, you may remember this because I blogged about it, I was working on a scene where Calista was locked in a cellar and had just come to and was trying to figure stuff out.  Then it started raining and I got the idea for Storm Children (Ciro, Elysia, Ferren, and Rain) So I abandoned poor Calista in Julian's cellar and worked with Rain and the gang for a while, nurturing a new story.
The next night, I went back to Beauty is Blind and Calista was none too happy with me for leaving her locked in a cellar.  I could've sworn the conversation went like this: (all in my crazy little mind)
Me: Hey, Calista, I'm back.
Calista: It's about time!
Me: What?  What did I do?
Calista: You left me locked in cellar, that's what! (she continues to rant and rave for a while)
Me: (thinking) maybe I should let you get angry more often...

And this morning, I'm trying to pay attention in church and the climax scene is stuck in my head.  It involves Calista accidentally falling into a body of water.  (She's terrified of water- she almost drowned in a watering hole when she was little, but Aurelia saved her.  She's been deathly afraid of it ever since.  There's water separating her from Damien in the climax) Anyway, she takes a step, (this is all slow-mo in my head) Briony tries to warn her, but it's too late.  Calista goes splashing in the water, confusion all around.  She panics...

I try to pay attention to church... but then I think of what happened the last time I left Calista in a precarious position... so I resolve to finish the scene... but I can't.  Yeah.  I think I tried to apologize to her.  Called her Callie, and she wasn't too fond of that nickname.  Yeah.

((okay, done being insane))

And my brother (Lee) put his shirt in the freezer before he left.  He's now wearing it.  Weirdo.

gotta go.  bye!

Mission, Haircuts, Camp, and just about everything else I forgot to blog about

Sorry, peoples.  Have no idea why, but I have not blogged in quite some time.  So I feel like I owe ya.  Lots of stuff has happened in my life.

Number 1. I got a haircut.  It's not short enough.  As of now, even though I just showered yesterday, it's filthy and hanging on my head like a rag.  Am going to go sit in the tub with a book after this- that's what I do to get clean in the summer.  Call me weird.  anyway, my hair was down just past my shoulders.  It's hanging at my shoulders now.  I think I want it more towards my chin.  I just have too much hair.  It's not long enough to pull back, but it's not short enough NOT to pull back.  *sigh*


Number 2. Just got back from a mission trip in... North Dakota!  My friend Mia of Aperture Mittens is off overseas in Ukraine or France or something, and my friend Amy, who does not blog, is probably in Mexico or something.  She usually is.  Still, I loved North Dakota.  The weather was nice, the people spoke English, the mission was only like $250 to go on, and the kids really needed it.  We ran a residential camp for 1st and 2nd graders in the area. We were always with them.  We never got a break.  It was always "I want a piggy back!" "Can you give me a shoulder ride!"  "I don't like vegetables!" "I want to go home!"  "She's calling names!"  (There was a lot of major fighting going on with a lot of the girls, even I got in on it the first night when my fellow counselors left me alone in the dorm full of little girls who decided to torment me and put me in "jail".  Anyway, I usually ended up helping diffuse these fights.  Surprisingly enough, that gave me great satisfaction when they all apologized.)  I prayed with the kids when they hurt themselves, and taught this one little girl, Kateri, who kept falling and hurting the same knee, to pray for her guardian angel to protect her.  Imagine my joy when she comes running up to me, saying, "Guess what? I almost fell, but my guardian angel stopped me!"

The kids are so open to God's love there.  There was a Pieta statue near the game field (for those of you who don't know what that is, this is what it looks like)

And the kids would just stand there and look at it.  They'd ask questions about why Jesus died, and I'd get to answer them.  They asked so many questions-they were so hungry for God- I really felt like I was on mission.  I've only been on one other mission our church offers (my church does like 5- most in the North Dakota area- I've been on the one in Missouri.) Anyway, during some of the fights, the kids would bring up that they learned it from their parents.  A dad tosses his three year old son on to the couch, a 4 year old little brother cusses up a storm, moms are drinking, dads don't care- these kids are in desperate need of love.  And being that our theme was "Love Never Fails" well... I hope we showed them.

Needless to say, I'm going back next year.  It was my first time on this mission, which we call CLC, and I loved it.  It was the hardest work I've ever done, I lost half my voice, but it was great.

Number 3. Camp NaNoWriMo.  *sigh* I hit 47 pages.  My telling my parents I would fail somehow triggered a series of events that set of a whole bunch of steam and resulted in a huge fight.  Not anything I did- it would've happened later, they assured me, but I just started it earlier by crying.  My dad tried to leave to give me some space, but my mom sat him back down in his chair (we were about to eat dinner, so my timing was bad) like a  2 year old.  Anyway, I was really upset for most of the night, especially since this happened the night before I had to leave for missions.  However, I discovered a happy place- the last scene of Beauty and the Beast (yes, with the Mob Song, Gaston and Adam/Beast's confrontation, and -eek- Adam's transformation and the happy ending- of course) I watched that and suddenly felt so much better.  Thanks, Disney. :D

But you know what I discovered?  Most people, when they write a screenplay, even if it's for a musical, don't write the lyrics or the music.  I took on 3 times the job of a normal screenwriter, and I finished half of it in the time allotted.  I'm pretty darn proud of myself, I am.  I'm going to give it a rest in July, and finish it during August.  And come November- it's BEAUTY IS BLIND TIME!!!!
Yes, I am happy about that story.  Though it requires some serious thought.  I have to work out a lot of stuff.

Also, I am Catholic, (in case you didn't know) and since there's not a ton of Catholic fiction out there (at least not as much as Christian fiction- Ted Dekker, Left Behind... you know what I'm talking about) I like to put some Catholic touches in my stories.  I was trying to work out a way for Beauty and the Beast to work without magic- just curses and blessings (there are legit curses- but no one calls them that anymore.  Ever notice how some families always seem to get divorced or a certain disease... my mom says that's a curse.  Or something.  she wouldn't really talk more about it.  Praying seems to get rid of 'em.) I'm having a hard time, since I want her stillborn twin Gabriel to play the "enchantress" character, as an angel, but since he's human, he can't be an angel and God wouldn't send him- he'd send an angel... and there was a bit with a demon I'm having issues with.  Both Calista (Belle) and Damien (Beast) are cursed- Calista, with blindness because of a deal her mother Elani made so that Elani's father would let her marry Flavian, since Flavian was a shepherd and Elani's father was a merchant, and Elani his only child. Calista's curse was Elani's price- maybe for not upholding her part of the bargain... hmm...

Anyway, someone has just pointed me in the direction of The Shadow of the Bear series.  They are Catholic Retold Fairy tales.  Am kicking myself for not discovering sooner.

Can't think of anything else right now- I'm hungry (there's no food in our house- I mean, I kept complaining and my mom's like "you have pancakes, beans, and bread"  What?  Yeah.  Oh, and protein bars.  Yum! Not.)
I have an eye appointment tomorrow- I think I need stronger glasses, so this'll be fun. whohoo.

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

Holy Week and Prom

Bought a prom dress yesterday at Goodwill for $18.99.  Wasn't planning to go to prom, but I guess I kinda have to now.  I'll post pictures of it later- it's black and hot pink, colors I definitely would not have chosen, but I like them just the same.  Anyway, the real reason I'm blogging is that I wanted to share a Holy Thursday story I wrote several years ago, called Agony. It's my experiment in second person.  Hope you like it.

AGONY

      You open your eyes.  It’s pitch black.  You see the earthen ceiling of your Jerusalem home near the Mount of Olives.

      There’s no way you’ll fall asleep now.  You get up and go for a walk.

      You go up to the Mount of Olives and walk to a ledge near the Garden of Gethsemane.  You hear a man praying, crying.  You’re cold in only a linen cloth, and wet, but you can’t leave.  It’s dark and you’re tired.  You might be able to get back to sleep now if you got back in your own bed.  But no.  The man’s haunting prayer imprisons you behind the ledge.

      “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you.”

      You peer up and over the side of the ledge and see a man in his early 30’s praying so hard he’s sweating.  No wait- that’s not sweat running down his face, you realize in horror, fighting an urge to hurl- it’s blood.  You can find no wound.  This man must be praying so hard he’s sweating blood.

      “Take this cup away from me, but not what I will but what you will.”

      The man pauses, and then leaves the rock he’s been praying at.  You scramble up the rocks of the ledge and follow him at a safe distance.  The rock, you see, has splatters of blood on it from the man’s sweating.  You hear him from behind some olive trees near your ledge waking up three other men.

      He says loudly, disappointed, “Simon, are you asleep?”  Immediately, all three men wake with a start, embarrassed, ashamed.  “Could you not keep watch with me for one hour?”

      Simon tries to offer some lame excuses, but the man cuts him off, repeating an apparent earlier command, “Watch and pray.  Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test.”

      “But Lord…”Simon begins.

      The man again interrupts, simply saying, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  The man’s coming this way again.  Quickly you run to your ledge and jump down just in time, scraping your knees in the process.

      You hear him again say, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; still not my will but yours be done,” he cried.  You see a blinding light suddenly brighten up the dark place, but think nothing of it.  The man continues to pray.  You continue to watch.

      Suddenly, the light leaves, the man stops, discouraged.  Shoulders slumped; he again dejectedly begins to wake his disciples.  “Peter, James, John, the hour has come.”

      Whatever happened to Simon?  You wonder, but before you can figure it out, you see torches light up the night.  Soldiers.  They are lead by a man dressed similarly to Peter, James, and John.  He walks up the man, says “Rabbi,” and kisses him.

      The man pulls away, with a look that drives shame into the other man’s face.

      “Judas,” he begins.  “You betray the Son of Man with a kiss.”

      You can’t tell if it’s a statement or a question, but you don’t want to stick around.  Bright torches and soldiers can only mean one thing- Romans.  And where there are Romans, trouble follows.  And a betrayal meant there would be an arrest.

      “Who are you looking for?” the man asks.

      “Jesus of Nazareth,” they answer.

      “I AM,” said the man.

      You’re right about the arrest, but you’re surprised.  This has got to be the strangest arrest you’ve ever seen.  The man- Jesus- goes willingly.  The man you believe to be Simon/Peter won’t let him go that willingly.  He draws his sword.  You shut your eyes.  A scream of pain reaches your ears.  You peek your eyes open and see of the Romans clutching his head, blood gushing from the hand covering the space where an ear used to be.  You might throw up.  The sight of blood makes you squeamish.

      “Put the sword away, Simon Peter,” Jesus commands.  So Simon was Peter, he just had two names. 

Then you see Jesus walk up to the Roman, touch his hear, and heal him.

Suddenly you get the urge to help this man.  For once in your life you’re making something count.  You won’t be a coward!  No, not anymore!  You are not afraid!  You crawl up the ledge, your skinned knees smarting the whole time, and stand near the bloodstained rock as you watch Simon put his sword away. 

You rush in, you don’t think.  You must be getting hypothermia from the cold; you can’t think straight.  There’s no way you stand a chance against those Romans!  If Jesus could heal a severed ear surely he’d save himself.  He doesn’t need you!

You realize your cowardly fear too late, and a Roman soldier grabs you by the cloak.  You don’t want to be associated with this man.  If he were to be jailed or killed, the same might happen to you. They’d never believe your story in a million years. 

You have a family to take care of; this can’t happen to you!  You run, ripping your cloak, leaving the soldier with just an empty cloth.  An empty shell that used to shelter your now-naked body.  Feeling ashamed and exposed, you run across the rocks barefoot back home, crying.

In the distance, a cock crows once.  

By: Haili G

based off of the gospel of Matthew

My crazy crazy week...AUDITIONS!!!

MY SCHEDULE (or why I won't be posting until Friday or Saturday)
Monday- solo and small ensemble contest: I'm playing "Nocturne" from a Midsummer Night's Dream by Mendelssohn on the French horn- wish me luck!  Get my sociology paper back

Tuesday: practice for large group contest after school... Flight of the Pegasus horn line at the end needs some serious work  Piano lessons.  Get my astronomy test back *crosses fingers*

Wednesday: youth group- my one day to myself this week

Thursday: Lee's birthday (remind me to post pictures).  Large group contest for band- have to skip Astronomy :( and be at school by 7:30 am.  AUDITIONS!!!!! AHH!!!!  Ahh!
-Okay Haili, are you done freaking out now?
-NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Okay, let me know when you are....

Friday- have to skip sociology because I have A honor roll lunch at Pizza Ranch... but I can only have cheese or fish pizza (do they have fish pizza???) or vegetarian...it's a Friday during lent and I'm Catholic.  CAST LIST!!!!!!! (I hope... otherwise I'll be insane all weekend... oh, wait, I already am!)

Quote from this morning:
Haili: Time to get up!  Time to get up and face the day, Lee!
Lee: (sleepily) What are you, some crazy person?
Haili: (without hesitation) Yep.  I thought we already established this.  I wrote a novel in a month, remember?