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.

Compositions

Wow... I'm super busy and haven't blogged in FOREVER!

Well, quick updates:
-I now have a pen name: Michaila Curtis.  Like me on Facebook if you haven't already, please!
-I'm currently failing NaNoWriMo.  As much as Calista wanted to come out of my head, her story wasn't fully developed.  That, and my life is insane.  Remind me later to tell you about car troubles.

I'm composing stuff!  Trying to figure out what songs and pieces to send in for a composition scholarship, so I shall post those that I have on Noteflight here: (beware, many of them are works-in-progress)

My latest project: Rain's Dream/Rain Dreaming/Storm Children:


"Princess at Heart" from my musical Twice Upon a Time
"Please" (just a start...need to finish notating)
"Perfect Mystery/Under the Stars" love themes from Twice Upon a Time (just melodies)
"A Day in the Life" from Twice Upon a Time (just look at the end part...first part makes me cringe)  Yeah, so that's about it.  I still have "Changes," a piano piece, "Chasing Mountains," a horn duet, and "The Promise," a clarinet/violin (part can be played by either), flute, and piano trio that need to be entered into Noteflight and/or re-notated.  I also have a guitar piece called "Daydreams"...need to remember to do that.

Random Quotes During the Past Few Days

Analyzing Dave and the Giant Pickle on Sunday over Elli's birthday dinner:
Dad: He must be a dill, because he sure isn't sweet
and
Elli: He's a giant pickle!  What's not to love?
(Elli once got a jar of pickles for Christmas.  Pretty sure it was her favorite present.  Not lying.  Just to give you some perspective)
All the while, I'm wondering "What if VeggieTales had stuck closer to the original Bible story and had Dave cut of Goliath's head?  Kids would just think someone cut a pickle.  But it's Nightmare Fuel for the Veggies.  Think about that from a Veggie perspective *shudder* On second thought, don't, if you're a vegetarian!!!

Elli playing with bubbles during a severe thunderstorm watch and there's 4 bubbles sticking together.
Me: Oh look, it's a baby!
Elli: ????
Me: That's what babies look like like two seconds after they're conceived.  Don't you know any biology?

And this, rather embarrassing gem:
Me: Look!  It's a multicellular organization!
Elli: Organization?
Me: I mean orgasm.  (realize what I just said)  No no NO!  I meant ORGANISM!!! ORGANISM!!!!
(Elli is not mortified enough to have comprehended this)
Me: Do you even know what an orgasm is?
Elli: No.
Me: Oh.  Good.  I didn't say it.  Forget it.

Spent the weekend camping with my family and my aunts and uncles and my cousin- oh, and three of Elli's friends from heart camp. (she has a pacemaker, and Camp Odayin is a camp for kids with heart problems.)  If you want something funny, watch The Secret World of Arrietty with a bunch of heart kids.  (and Arrietty- what a beautiful name!!! Wish I could use it.  It's like a fancy Aria)  Anyway, lots of fun, lots of skeeter bites.  I HATE getting them on my fingers and feet.  Guess where I got them?  Yep. *wrinkles nose and scowls*

I'm 17 and a half- officially.  Elli and I are exactly 2 and 1/2 years apart, to the freaking hour.  Not kidding.  December 10th, 1994, 6:54 pm=me June 10th, 1997, 7:02 pm=her.  Kinda scary when you think about it.

Umm... just wasted most of the day watching versions of fairy tales on Youtube.  Do you know how many versions of Cinderella there are?  Seriously, it's the most over-re-told fairy tale out there.  My favorite? Ever After.  Seriously.  Love it.

Had a mission meeting today.  I'm going to an Indian reservation in ND to run a residential VBS camp for 1st and 2nd graders.  I'm on the skit team, and our theme is "Love Never Fails"  So we're doing "The Lion King" and having Timon and Puumba teach Simba and Nala how to love and be friends.  Since our skit team is 2 guys and 2 girls and we have 3 guy parts and 1 girl, I ended up being Simba!  Haha!  Makes me happy.  Apparently, the kids there love the Lion King and that movie was watched like 5 million times last year.  Wouldn't know, cuz I wasn't there.  But should be fun!

That's it for now.

CAMP NANO UPDATE: 12,000 words.
SONGS:
"A Day in the Life"- don't ask. >( One verse is a major accomplishment.
"Princess at Heart"- FINISHED!!!!! I have finished my first song!!! WOOHOO!!! The tune is my own original that I rediscovered yesterday and set to rediscovered lyrics.  The tune was 4 measures long and aptly titled "Unexpected Triumph"
"That Girl" - mostly written, lyrics are pretty much done, just need to add them to my Noteflight thing.

There's something odd about that girl

There's something not quite right

There's something strange about that girl

Like something's changed overnight

I don't know what to do with her

She's not the same; anyone can see that

There's something odd about that girl

There's something not quite right

There's something strange about that girl

Like something's changed overnight

It's like she's forgotten everything

That we worked so hard to teach her

What's wrong with her?  It's beyond me to tell

What's odd about that girl

What is not quite right

What's so strange about that girl

What has changed overnight?

Oh, that girl!!

"Perfect Mystery" Jennie and Micah's love theme.  Less done.  Have lyrics, but the tune keeps changing so that I can fit it in with "Under the Stars" Also needs verses.

How did this come to be?

How did it work so perfectly?

It doesn't really matter to me.

It's a perfect mystery.

Perfect mystery.

"Under the Stars" Connie and Nolan's love theme.  Chorus is done, both music and lyrics.  Need to write a verse or two.

Here with you

Under the stars tonight

Love so true

And it feels so right

When you're here

By my side

It's crystal clear

This night is ours

Here with me

Under the stars

"That Girl (reprise)" more done than the first.  Just because the lyrics are done and the tune's the same. (villain's song)

There' something odd about that girl

There's something not quite right

There's something strange about that girl

Like something's changed overnight

It's got to be more than just something that she saw.

It's got to be more than what they say it is. 

There's something odd about that girl

There's something not quite right

There's something strange about that girl

Like something's changed overnight

I know it's more, it has to be. 

She's changed not once but twice. 

It's almost as if she's two different people.

Ahh...

I know what's odd about that girl

I know what's not quite right

I know what's strange about that girl

Something has changed overnight

Yes, those girls!!!

"Under the Stars/Perfect Mystery" a mosh of both love themes.  Here's the start I've got:

That's it for now

When you talk in song lyrics...

After this video made my friend Cy's day:

we were talking on the phone, seeing if he'd watch our new kitten Mocha this weekend while we were camping.  (Oddly enough, Mocha loves cantaloupe... weird, right?)  Anyway, Elli was talking to him, and I told her to tell him that I was "still alive"  So here's the conversation:

Haili: Tell him I'm still alive
Cy: We'll that's a triumph.
Haili: Yep, making a note here: huge success
Cy: It's hard to overstate my satisfaction about that
Haili: Why don't we have some cake?

Keep in mind, this was all spoken.  Not sung.  It was really funny, especially since Elli was playing mediator since I was driving.

I saw 2 police cars, 2 ambulances (one of which was going the wrong way down a one-way street I was on- yikes!  I had a red light and it went in the other side) and a fire truck.  Wonder what happened?  They half scared me to death.


Okay, on to wasting time.  For those of you who care: Camp NaNo=2,600 words.  I fail.  Miserably.

My excuses:
Friday: I don't remember, but I had one.  Oh yeah, I was doing mission hours all day.  5 hours!  Woohoo!
Saturday: Wedding.  All day.
Sunday: wasn't allowed on computer until my room was clean
Monday: babysat all day

When I did work on it, I worked on stupid things like this:

 And of course, I had to make the characters with this lovely dress up game that's inspired by Disney.  WARNING:  Will cause you to waste massive amounts of time.  But here it is anyhow.  Enjoy.

And this.  (yes, again with the Noteflight, Haili...)  This is the beginning of "That Girl" which has been stuck in my head all day.


Oh, and I'm learning to play this:

So epic!  Okay- I'm gonna go try to write now...

Story Epiphanies and Frustration

At the moment, I should not be on the computer, being that my room is not clean.  But I am on the computer because I have to re-sync my iPod.  "Why?" you might ask, "Why, Haili, must you re-sync your iPod?"  Because, oh curious blog reader of mine, my younger brothers though it was perfectly acceptable to take my iPod, erase it of my music (ALL of it) and sync it with whatever was in their wimpy iTunes library.  (which was sample music...)

Now, if you don't know my brothers, you won't know that they have sticky fingers and are always getting in trouble for stealing everything from my dad's sugar (he's diabetic, so when he needs it, he needs it.) to taking my sister's and my Easter candy.  You also will not know that I am the ONLY person in my house that owns an iPod of any sort (mine's a 4th gen iPod nano that I won in a drawing at Winterblast in 8th grade, a few days after my birthday).  Come to think of it, I'm the only person who own anything made by Apple.  My siblings have MP3 players, but they're all the same, so it's easy to see why they might take Elli's "on accident" And Elli and my brothers each got a mini DVD player (the boys share) and they're exactly the same.  Elli put some kitten stickers on hers and the boys have foil stars on theirs.  But they got theirs taken away and have stolen Elli's several times.  (Elli bought it with her allowance money, after the few weeks that we had allowances).

So, anyway, there I was, cleaning my room like a good daughter, and after finally getting my iPod boombox to work and failing to get Air1 to come in on the radio, I decided to find my iPod, which I had recently recovered from the boys, and put in some tunes.  Imagine my surprise when some Willie Nelson song comes on and all my playlists,(including a high-energy one that inspired last year's NaNoWriMo) are gone.  Let's just say I was not happy.  And a few less- than- savory words escaped my mouth.

But... I fixed it.  I can fix anything, right?  Right.

On to happier things.  After seeing the Avengers with my family (because it was a rainy day) we went to drop off a dresser at Salvation Army and my dad wanted to find some short sleeved dress shirts, so we went in.  That place is HUGE!!  I love consignment stores, so I had a hayday.  I only found four things- a pretty gold headband that I am currently wearing, an orange shirt with pretty little flowers on it, a brown/tan shirt with blue flowers on it, and my mom found a really pretty pair of heels that matches it exactly.  I'm wearing those and my jean skirt to church tomorrow... all of this for like $12.

Also, had a major story breakthrough on the Storm Children front.  While cleaning my room, (go figure) I found an old school library book of Elli's about fairy tales and proceeded to read it.  I came upon the last story, The Snow Queen, and remembered my attempt at retelling this fascinating fairy tale.  Then I realized- my storm children!  I renamed Rain Vallisri to Rain Gerdasri (ger DA sri) and made her into the Gerda character.  I made Ciro (wind) visible and gave him a last name, Ciro Kayten.  He's the Kay character.  I made Ferren Thorling (thunder) into the "Robber Girl" character (only he's a boy...) and had Elysia (lightning) be another girl the old lady at the beginning of the story has under her spell.  She and Rain escape together and Elysia helps Rain find Ciro.

Rain's still a gypsy girl, taken in by Ciro's mountain dwelling family after her parents are killed by the townspeople.  When Ciro goes missing/is kidnapped by the Snow Queen, Rain decides to repay the debt to Ciro's family by saving her best friend.  In the tale, Gerda often speaks to the river.  I may give Rain the power of water-speaking (to borrow a phrase from Shannon Hale, another retold fairy tale author).  And the other children similar powers.  Of course the Snow Queen and Rain's battle shall be interesting... cold and water...hmm...

gotta go- more later.

Long story short...

So, I didn't think I'd be going to prom this year because I just didn't really want to and my family couldn't really afford it.  But when I found a dress that fit (other than the fact that it was too long- but being four foot nine, that much is to be expected) for $18.99 at Goodwill, I decided that I should go.  No sooner had I done this than I realized that NOBODY, and I mean NONE of my friends were going to prom.  I was going to be alone on a boat stuck with people I barely knew and bored out of my mind.  Not to mention that the zipper on my dress went to poop and didn't work anymore.

So then I decided to sell my ticket; but I still wanted my dress fixed because I wanted to wear it.  So I brought it to the lady I babysit for since she's a seamstress.  Long story short, it would have to be hemmed 9 frikin' inches, a corset back and modesty panel put in, another panel in the front because I thought the dress was okay modestly, but she pointed out that because I'm so short EVERYONE looks DOWN at me- so I have to be extra careful.  So we'd have to put something in front, and add some off the shoulder straps for security since it was strapless.  Anyway, it would've cost $100 at least.  I didn't want to spend that much on it and I didn't even like the colors.  It was black with hot pink accents.

I had also recently figured out my "season" to find out what colors look best on me and come to the conclusion that I was a Warm Autumn.  Which basically means I can pull off golds and oranges and browns and greens and blues really well (just not ice blue) but my two big no-no colors?  Hot pink and black.  So that dress was about the worst color possible for me.

So, I decided to spend the $50 I would've spent on a prom ticket on a young women's retreat at my church that was going to happen this weekend.  Only, only four girls signed up.  My parents had also orchestrated it so that they were "kid-free" this weekend (and were probably going to celebrate their anniversary, which was Tuesday)  My brothers were on a Scout Camp and my sister was going to a friend's house and I was going to go on the retreat.  Well, that worked out well... not.

So turns out that there's Catholic Prom this weekend and my friend (who was also planning to go on the retreat) is going and wants me to go with her.  Basically, she's coming to my piano recital Friday night and I'm spending the weekend with her- so my parents ended up kid-free anyway.  So now I've got to find a prom dress before Saturday.  That's going to be my mission today- but none of the stores open til 9- it's 8:30.  *sigh*  Wish me luck!








*I'm gonna need it....

Epicosity Beyond Comprehension

Yes, I just made up that word.  But it's the best thing I can do to describe this:
It's Google Docs- for composition!  And it's free.  It's called Noteflight and it's seriously the best thing since sliced bread.  I can write and compose songs on any computer with internet- anywhere.  And it's way easier to use than Finale.

That was a 20 measure snippet of my latest project, a counterpoint duet for Connie and Jennie of "Twice Upon a Time"

I'm not going to win Script Frenzy; I've accepted this happily.  I have made great progress.  I finished my first outline EVER and it was 2.5 pages long.  WOO HOO!!!  Nothing I do is ever that short!  Anyway, I've had a major plot breakthrough.  Instead of the King and Queen sending  their daughter away to keep her safe, the bad guy kidnaps Connie, one of the twins, and accidentally looses her.  Maybe in the style of how Miss Gulch looses Toto in the Wizard of Oz.  Any ideas would be welcomed.  She ends up being raised by the Carver family until the day Jennie ventures out in the village and insanity ensues...

These are bits and pieces from their "I want" songs.  Connie's first, then they're together, (in a Distance Duet) and then Jennie.  I must say, I love Connie's melody.  It's so poignant; she's searching for where she belongs in the world.  I love it.

Anyway, good night.  I have to be at church by 7:45 tomorrow morning so I better get some sleep.  Yipes.

(wrote this post at 11:30 last night- coffee is a great thing :)
-Haili

Oh, Elli had her skating show last night.  She did "Colors of the Wind" and it was great.  I have a love-hate relationship with skating shows: I love them because they're so awesome and I like the costumes and the music; I hate them because I know that I'll never be able to do it.  I was talking to my mom about this last night.
When I told her that she said, "What do you mean, you can't skate?"
"I can't.  I don't think your skates fit me, and they hurt.  Maybe I need arch supports.  And you do not want to see me in one of those little skating outfits."
"If you skated, it would be a little skating outfit- skating is great exercise.  And my skates are formed to my feet.  You need to get them formed to yours.  And the place where we get Elli's skates has this oven thing they put the skates in and warm them up, then you put them on and mold them to your foot."
"How much does that cost?"
"It's free.  And you guys could do open skate at the Y this summer."
"We should do that then."
I've always felt like I never understood part of Elli's life, like my mom doesn't get my writing or music.  So, it would be really neat if I could at least learn to move around on the ice.  I used to hate skating because the skates hurt so bad I couldn't wear them for more than 15 minutes, let alone skate on them for more than that long.  and then we were always on the outdoor rink whenever I skated and it's hard to learn on that.  I also have flat feet like my mom, so I'm sure that doesn't help.  I still need to get inserts for my shoes.  My mom's trying to find an affordable pair.

Okay, gotta get going.

How in Keidreiy do I find these people?

So, I have this odd habit of finding people who could literally be my clones.

EXHIBIT A: Rebecca
I met a girl in my math class last semester named Rebecca.  Her favorite color is purple and she always wears these purple converse shoes.  I love purple, and my parents were going to name me Rebecca Rose.  I found out that her parents were going to name her my full name.  Weird, right?  Oh, and her favorite Disney princess is Belle (same as me) and she's even got a Belle sticker on her phone.  She's just as Disney crazy as I am and quilts, which is something I'd like to try.  She plays the violin and loves classical music.  I can play "Oh Come Little Children" on the violin and wish I could play more, and I love Vivaldi and Clementi.  And Beethoven, though my relationship with his music is more of a love-hate.  He's such a weirdo.  Seriously.  Rebecca also likes writing and if I remember right, she did Camp NaNo at some point.  She's also (legitly) ADD, something I think I have sometimes, so talking to her is so much fun because her brain moves as fast as mine.

EXHIBIT B: Mia (of Aperture Mittens, Hello World, and The Inkblots)
Ah, Mia.  (pronounced like Maya, by the way.  Will never look at Mee-a the same way again!)  Her full name is only a few letters off of mine and its very awesome.  Her initials are MMG and mine are MCG.  Kinda cool, right?  She's the one who introduced me to the insanity that is NaNoWriMo.  Yay!  She loves writing and reading and the Bible and playing violin.  She also loves photography. (see Aperture Mittens- that's her photo blog)  I would get into photography except I'm really bad with cameras.  I don't know why.  Their batteries die on me, SD cards get lost, screens break, pictures get deleted, camera gets lost... Maybe I should just avoid cameras altogether.  Anyway, Mia's awesome.  She also knows the ever-elusive Ellyn Gibbs, whom all of my friends are friends with (seriously, Melissa from elementary school knows her from church, as does Amy from the school I attend, and Mia from my college... it's weird... seriously creepy) Ellyn Gibb's book Torn Heart? Mia is the girl on the cover.  (apparently because she was the only one of Ellyn's friends with short hair- the heroine has short hair)  Cool, huh?

EXHIBIT C: McCaila (the creepiest of them all- I'm serious- she could be my long lost twin)
So about a year ago, Elli got a Make-A-Wish because her heart condition is life-changing. (stuff doesn't have to be terminal, I guess...) Anyway, we went on a Disney cruise, which was awesome.  I was hanging out in the teen area and they were having this get-to-know you game.  So they had us arrange ourselves by birthdays.  I hung out with the Decembers, and began asking, "Hey, what day's your birthday?" just to be friendly.  And the chances of a group having two people with the same birthday is something crazy- like 65%.  I was telling them my birthday, December 10th, and someone said, "Hey, she's got a December 10th birthday, too."  So I go over to say hi to this girl.  Here's our conversation:
ME: So, your birthday's December 10th?  What year?
HER: 1994.
ME: Whoa, me too!  That's crazy.  What's your name?
HER: McCaila.
ME: Me too!
HER: I spell it really weird.  (and here's where I started going bonkers)
ME: So do I!  How do you spell it?
HER: M C C A I L A
ME: M I C H A I L A.  Only like two letters off.  That's weird.
HER: Middle name?
ME: Christine
HER: Susan.
ME: That's my grandma's name!
SOME RANDOM LEADER: Okay, now arrange yourselves by shoe size.
ME and HER look at each other
ME: What size do you wear?
HER: 5 1/2
ME: Me, too!
HER: No way.
ME: Whoa.  This is getting creepy.
HER: What do you like doing?
ME: I play piano, french horn and guitar.
HER: I play piano and bass.
ME: Whoa.
Silence
ME: You like writing, right?
HER: Yep.
ME: Acting?
HER: Yep.  I directed a play and I'm writing one right now.
ME: Okay, that is downright scary.  I'm directing a play now- and I've written plays for years.
We continue to talk about Shakespeare and other random stuff.  She even looked kinda like me- brown hair, brown eyes, on the shorter side but still taller than me.  I sadly, do not have a picture of her- didn't have my camera with at the time.
The creepiest part?  I never saw her again.  I searched her on the internet, but couldn't find her.  I don't remember her last name and all I know is that she's McCaila Susan ???? from Canada who was born December 10th, 1994.

Yeah- I just searched the internet again.  I found a couple of McCailas from Canada.  Now, if I could just find her...

Hey, how's it going?

Well, the only time I'll be blogging will be when I'm at my college.  I'm extremely tired and sad that spring break is over.  It was a good time.  Anyway, I'm much to tired to write about Chicago, so let me tell you a few things so that you don't go crazy (like I am this week)

1.   I lost the privilege of internet access at home, so no blogging there or my high school, only here
2.   I am EXTREMELY busy this week and will not be getting home before 9:00/9:30 pm Tues.-Fri. due to the fact I have Living Stations at my church
3.   I also have play practice every night this week and will have to go straight from play to stations...
4.   It's raining (or at least feels like it's about to) outside and it smells amazing and I love it, but is making me very drowsy and I want to go to sleep
5.   I just signed up for Script Frenzy.  I am insane.
6.   I have two music quizzes, a music paper, and a writing quiz to take
7.   I'm pretty sure I have a quiz Friday in small group communications
8.   I need a to do list
9.   I have one, but I need to find it.
10. I can't think
11. I need to clean my room, BADLY

Updates on me:
*I got a hair cut, same length, more layers
*my brothers messed up my bed (which I am extremely particular about) while I was in Chicago, so when I got home at 12:30 am I had to make my bed before I could fall asleep (I had to sleep next to a snorer- and I mean, a really bad snorer, in Chicago, so believe me when I say I was tired.)
*my dad is having issues and I don't know what or why, he's just acting like he's PMSing or something.  I don't get it
*I'm checking out three movies from the library, The Invisible, Juno, and Beastly.  I'm excited, but will not watch them until Saturday.  I shouldn't even be on my blog right now, so after this I'm done.  I'm doing a media fast for Stations.

K, I gotta go.  Talk to you Saturday (if I get internet back...)
bye
-Haili
or Lira (my servant girl name in Stations)

Happy Spring Break, Everyone!!!

*singsong voice* And I'm leaving for Chicago tomorrow morning!

Now if only I could shake the sinking feeling that I've forgotten something...
toothbrush- check
toothpaste- check
underwear- check
socks- check
black pants-check
black shoes- check
jeans- check
tennis shoes- check
Band Rules, Brass Drools t shirt- check (it's even reconstructed...)
money- check (hehe, that's funny, cuz it's a pun...okay, never mind)
books, notebooks, and PENCILS- check
iPod- nope...
camera- nope
movies- don't need
lactase- check
snacks- check
swimsuit-check
hair brush- check
deodorant- check
Ijori-check (Ijori is my french horn!)
tag for Ijori- check
MUSIC!!!- ah, that's it- in my backpack
phone-check
phone charger- check
hair ties- one more wouldn't hurt
headband?  hmm...
plastic ziploc baggies- check
pads and pamprin...never hurts to be prepared ;) "Be prepared for the chance of a lifetime!  Be prepared for sensational news!  A shining new era is tiptoeing nearer..." Haili, are you singing Disney songs again? Nooo.... Are you sure? Nooo.... I thought so.  :D (I love it when I blog to myself on here...:D)
water bottle-check
luggage tag- need to get


K, I should go finish everything now...:D
adios!
(why do I always end my blog posts with "Adios?"  hm...I just noticed this.  Okay, this is random.  Good bye! ---hey, English!  Sweet!


Stop!!!
k, I'm done. *impish grin*

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?

Irish stuff!

Finished my music project this weekend- you can take a look here.  Enjoy.  I made all the videos (except the one at the end) and only had to record the 16 second Irish jig.  The rest I had from last spring... it was weird.
Anyway, in case you're too lazy to look at my project, I'll post the videos I uploaded on here. 

Irish Jig

It's like 16 seconds... it's short

Evening Reels

From my recital last spring

Be Thou My Vision

recorded this for a project last spring...never used it...

 and last but certainly not least

Loch Lomond

Did this in honor band in 10th grade...it was amazing!!! this video's long, but watch the whole thing, because it's totally worth it to hear the french horns (my instrument of choice) play at the end... I did all the videoing on this but did not do the music.  I LOVE THIS SONG!!!!

Other things I'm working on/excitited about

• French horn solo, the Nocturne from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by Mendelssohn
• Piano solo, Grieg's Puck (it's so fun!!! I've got it memorized...)
• The musical!!! I got the music and script to read and practice... need to get my voice up to the high f, and auditions are coming up at the end of the month.  Plus my friend just told me the other day that she wants to play Helen... so at least we're not going to be competeing for the same part.  That's nice since she's really competitive.  I'm not going to be mean about it, but it's just the way she is.
• Passed my astronomy test with an A
• am working on several screenplays, "Twice Upon a Time" and "Night at the Library" a short film my siblings and friends and I are doing or the library movie competition this summer.  It's kind of a mix between Inkheart and Night at the Museum. Who knows what happens after the library closes at night?  Libby Akona is about to find out...
• Am going to see 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee this Friday
• am going to Feed My Starving Children on Friday and get to spend the day with my friend...
• My idea for an awareness campaign in my small group communications class (our big project is running a campus awareness campaign this semester) will probably get picked.  It's how to use campus technology... and how not to save your stuff in a place where they'll be deleted...
• I lost 7 pounds...

I need to go now... I've got class in 15 minutes... adios!

-Haili



I am waiting...

for 294 videos to upload to my computer from the family video camera... the thing is, I only need about 10 of them... *sigh* this could be a long night.  I need them for my music project.

I got a 75% on my Astronomy test...plus extra credit brings me to a good solid 80.  In this class, anything over 75 is an A, and only about 60% of the class passes the first test... and now I know why.  Trick questions EVERYWHERE!
     x. List all the ways energy is created
    Energy can't be created, or destroyed!!!! Tricky, tricky!

I aced my music exam today but made a stupid mistake on my screenplay quiz...you'd think I'd know the difference between Interior and Professional... they're like opposites!  But my excuse is that it was early, I was tired, and it was online matching...I couldn't draw lines... oh well.  Still did well.

I checked out the script and music for our musical today... and spent most of the night playing the songs.  Dang, some of them go high!!  They have both Beauty and the Beast soaring up to that high f...I can barely hit it...strrrreeeetttch, vocal chords!! STRETCH!  Anyway, now I have "Can I Possibly Be Your Friend" stuck in my head... it's this super funny exchange between Beauty and the Beast.  The Beast keeps asking her to marry him and she says no, but there's more to love than the marriage kind, to which he's clueless and she tells him she'll be his friend, no matter what.  It's cute and very funny.  One of my favorite lines:

BEAUTY: (sings)

A true friend's a person with a giving heart

A true friend will tell you when you're not so smart

A friend won't desert you when the going's rough

A true friend will tell you when she's had enough!

BEAST: (spoken)

Like now?

BEAUTY: (spoken, teasing)

Like now!

BEAST: (spoken)

Sorry

I don't know, I think it's cute.  

Anyway, moving on... my videos have FINALLY uploaded--- seems that the issue was one of the videos had an error which is why it took almost an hour for video 90 to load.  I finally skipped it and had no further issues as it zipped through the rest of them... Anywho, I've got to get my project done.  Gus and I did a recorder duet today so I'll probably post it on youtube soon- I'll be putting stuff up for a project... gotta go

-Haili

What's happening with me today

I really shouldn't be writing this...I've got a project and a paper and a test... all due before Monday (test today... in about 40 minutes... Astronomy!  Yikes) Sociology paper due Friday, Music project due on the 5th and I spent most of last night trying to get a video off our camera for my music project and answering questions about baby names on Yahoo Answers... my favorite time wasting activity.  When all this craziness is done, I'm supposed to be working on my screenplay (Twice Upon A Time)...*sigh*  I'm WAY too busy...

I'm going to sing for my piano teacher today before my lessons- she also teaches voice and is Elli's voice teacher.  She's going to give me some pointers so I can be really good for my audition on March 1st.  I'm so nervous!!! And I'm getting myself all worked up about this...I've been excited about this for a year...no joke.  I really hope I get the part.  It's my favorite fairy tale, and a musical, the last one I'll be able to do at my school- The Enchantment of Beauty and the Beast- not the Disney version- but still...

I feel like a complete dork because I spent some of my birthday money on the 2 disc special platinum edition of Beauty and the Beast... and I'll probably go see it in theaters in 3D if I can get around to it.  We ordered a bunch of other movies, and they're all coming by Feb 3, but my movie won't come till the 24th!  *frustrated*
Oh well, wouldn't have time to watch it anyway.

I'm going with a bunch of friends to see the college's musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee in a few weeks, so that should be fun...

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

Okay, I just wasted 10 minutes... I've only got half an hour before my test!!!  Study, you fretting Haili, STUDY!!!!

okay.  I'm out.

I really should be doing something else...

Why do I like elipses (...) so much?  I use them constantly!
I need to be working on screenplays... and my music quiz... I really should go...

I'm babysitting my guidance couselor's daughter tomorrow, so that should be fun.  My weekend is insanely busy and our first Living Stations practice is Saturday... I'll explain more later... I REALLY should go do my work.

Adios... (there I go again...STOP!)
Haili

French horn solos and musical themes- I'm Bored!

So, I'm learning this song called "Puck" by Edvard Greig (youtube it- I can't play it near that fast yet) and it's based off of the creature Puck, made famous by Shakespeare's use in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" He's a pretty cool character, and I like him, and the song is fun to play.

Now, in band, we're doing our annual "solo and ensemble" concert, or Dessert Concert.  I have to play a solo or in an ensemble on French horn (my band instrument) because my band director won't let me do a piano solo, which I assure you, I have plenty of.  Anyhoos, I thought I was going to play a piece called "Andromeda" by Beethoven (I liked it at first because there's a character in When the Stars Fall named Andromeda who goes by Andi and I really like her and the name) But it cost almost $6 for the sheet music.  Then I found not one, but 2, possibly 3 (last one has some range issues I'd have to work out and arrange to be higher...it goes in the bass clef and for a french horn, that is LOW) amazing solos that I like better- and best of all, they're all free. (Thanks 8notes.com) So now I'm either playing the Finale from Swan Lake (the really mysterious and deep song at the end- it's gorgeous) or a Mendelssohn Nocturne from...wait for it... "A Midsummer Night's Dream"! Okay... I'm starting to catch a theme here...

I'm bored, but I've just discovered a way to entertain myself!  Watch skaters on youtube!!! Elli skates, and I like watching- I couldn't skate if my life depended on it... well, maybe... I may have to think about that.  I might be able to slip and slide and "skate" to flee someone, but if someone told me I had to win a competition or die- I'd die.
Elli wouldn't, lucky thing.

au reviaur
Haili

What happens if you marry in purple, that's what *I* want to know...

So I'm researching my Irish heritage (for my world music class) and found some very interesting wedding traditions.  Such as, do you know that the saying "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue," came from Irish tradition, and originally ended with "An old Irish penny in her shoe?"

Blue was probably a reference to the line of this little rhyme regarding the color of the bride's dress and what it signified:

Marry in white everything’s right

Marry in blue lover be true

Marry in pink spirit’s will sink

Marry in gray live far away

Marry in brown live out of town

Marry in green ashamed to be seen

Marry in yellow ashamed of your fellow

Marry in black wish you were back

Marry in red wish you were dead

Marry in tan he’ll be a loved man

Marry in pearl you’ll live in a whirl

What I want to know is- what about purple? That's my favorite color...I know purple and orange don't rhyme with anything and most people couldn't afford purple back then, but you'd still think they'd add a line about "Marry in lavender be a traveller" or something of the like... or maybe they had enough of that with grey and brown... still.  I'm also looking at getting a tin whistle...can't be too hard to play.  I already play recorder.

Anyway, I can't think of anything else to say at the moment, so I must bid thee adieu!

-Haili (and that was a random bit o' french for you from an Irish girl...tehe)

I'm catching up!!!!

Yes!!!  4,479 words later and I'm 1,918 words a day (doable) away from winning NaNo!  And guess what?  My story is moving along just fine!!!!!!  I've got a lot of places to go!

Okay, I've had an awesomely productive day!!!
Enough exclaimation points, already, miss Haili!!

Good morning world
hope you've had a fun black friday- cuz I spent it writing!  or getting distracted and not writing.

Yeah, in the time I was not writing, I figured out
1. my graduation cake
2. my graduation theme colors (red for both my high school and college of choice CSB SJU)
3. my prom dress color (also red, though my favorite color is purple)
4. the tiara I want to wear to prom
5. how to make andes mint filling a christmas cake I'm making, because there aren't enough birthdays in my family, and my mom always gets a strawberry pie and my sister always wants an ice cream cake, so I don't get to make their cakes
6. that I'm going to make Carmel Apple Cheesecake when I finish my novel

yes, I will post pictures of some of these tomorrow, or later today... whenever

Also, I'm currently listening to Air1 christmas
Do you like to listen to christmas music before Thanksgiving?  Someone got really upset because Air1 posted an online station for Christmas music in early Nov.  I frankly couldn't care.  I was practicing Melody Bober's Angel Medley in June, so it really makes no difference to me whatsoever.

I'll be playing background music at my church next weekend, so I have to practice. 
Anyway, I have to work tomorrow so I need to get to sleep (I'm going to MOA to work at Nickolodeon Universe with my mom to earn money to go to Chicago with my band this spring)