I have Kristin Chenoweth's The Girl in 14G stuck in my head: I'm tackling it for Festival this year, along with Darkening (an Emily Brontë poem set to music by Chester Duncan) and a reprise of Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better (Annie Get Your Gun) with 4+x.  Fun.  That's all in March, just before I head off to Montreal for a week on a band/jazz trip (by bus, ack).

end of November: band workshop, jazz radiothon, math/chem tests probably, braces appointment, finish Twelfth Night budget, schedule, sponsors and site plan, Il trovatore at the MB Opera (we'll see)

December: history essay due, Medea at MTC (twice), CBS blood-donor clinic, band and jazz concerts, band gig, carol sing, braces appointment (one-year mark), Twelfth Night reading (at least one), set-making, Christmas-present project, Advent/Christmas, dialogue jeunesse provincial

January: Twelfth Night costumes, practices start, mid-terms, Jitters at MTC, braces appointment

February: The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead at MTC, Candide at the MB Opera, braces appointment, Lent

March: SEMF Musical Theatre/Vocal, Montreal band/jazz trip, braces appointment, Doubt at MTC (will have to switch out for another performance), spring break

April: Easter, Madama Butterfly at the MB Opera, braces appointment

May: The Boys in the Photograph at MTC, a best friend's wedding, Twelfth Night dress rehearsals, IB math exam, braces appointment

June: Twelfth Night performances, exams, provincial math exam, band/jazz concerts, braces appointment, RCM exams (?), youth leader's wedding

July: IMC (musical theatre/drama, we'll see), SERVE 2008, braces appointment, a summer job would be nice (linked to IMC)

August: braces appointment (and let's hope for a job)

September: second year of IB starts, must have decided whether or not Vox viduarum will stage another play, 17th birthday, should have started university application already plus planning audition, braces appointment

...

December: braces should come off (whee retainer), band/jazz concerts, carol sing, Advent/Christmas

...

May: IB exams (ack)

June: graduation

...

September: start at BU, hopefully

...

Time passes quickly.

Prayer is entirely necessary.  I feel so often lately like I desperately want a map: where do I go next?  Fifty paces north, take a sharp turn east and head for where you're supposed to be going ... in the dark ... on blind faith ...  I am struggling.  I know I don't need a map when the Almighty is directing my footsteps.  (But how do I know, how can I tell I'm following in His light?  You have to trust!  It's faith!  Stop worrying, He knows what He's doing ... )

It's far past time to take a step back, entrust myself to His arms and relax.

1. One of my best friends is engaged.  (How much more about this could I say?  I'm still in shock.)
2. I have no alias for my ... what is he?  My SO?  I could call him 17 I suppose, it's his favourite number ... how many obscure references could I make here?  Plenty I'm sure.  Blue-eyed boy?  Hee.  Wonder how many of you will get that - although I suppose I hardly fit that one: my eyes may turn many colours but they've never been brown.
3. I'd really like to learn the entire lyrics to We Didn't Start the Fire, so I could sing it along with [insert name I haven't figured out yet].  He knows all the lyrics - I only know the chorus.
4. I'd also like to find my mother's copy of Just the Way You Are.  Except I'm pretty sure it's in sharps.  But she transposed it!  Hm ...
5. On the subject of songs, I've been writing many of them. 
6. I just realized the next song on the CD I'm listening to is subtitled Anthony's Song.  Guess who I'm thinking about?  XD
7. I've been struck by the inspiration bug lately.
8. Chords are fun.
9. I've been very confused lately.
10. I think I'm going to stop at nine.  I have a half hour left or so, and I should type up this new song.

What time is it?  00.33 CDT
Name: Kay.
Nicknames: Kay
Parents' names: Mom and Dad
Number of candles that appeared on your last birthday cake: Supposedly 15, but I don't know if we had that many.  XD
Date that you regularly blow them out (birthday): September 2nd or around there.
Pets: Strawberry and Mookie.  Yes, I have a pet strawberry.
Height: 5'6,5"
Eye colour: Green.
Hair colour: Blonde - but naturally ashy brown.  So I dye it blonde.
Piercing: None, but I want to get my ears pierced.

HAVE YOU EVER...?
Had the drink Calypso Breeze: Probably not. It's hard to drink a breeze.  (Totally stealing HH's answer.  XD)
Been in love?  Mm hmm - at least, I think so.
Been toilet-papering?  No.  There's no one fun to TP who wouldn't kill you around here.
Loved somebody so much it makes you cry?  Yep.

THE FUTURE:
School: Right now I'm in high school, and once I graduate I'd like to go to Brandon University.
Where do you want to live?  Somewhere on Earth.  I dunno, I like Canada ...
How many kids do you want? Two or three.
Girl names: Christine, Katherine, Lily, Irene, Iwona.
Boy names: David, Erik, Cyrano, Alphonse (must be a middle name though), Victoire/Vittorio
What kind of job do you want?  Singer, actress, host ...
Do you want to get married?  Yes, I rather do.

WHO:
Makes you laugh the most?  HH, Josie ...
Do you go to for advice?  Mom, Jess, Adrienne, HH, Tuan ...
Knows the most about you?  God.
Is your best friend?  Several people.
Has it easier: guys, or girls?  Depends on what we're talking about.

WHICH ONE?
Croutons or bacon bits: Croutons, but darn good ones.  Homemade?
Two- or four-door car: Four.  Two-door cars are a pain.
Mr. Pibb or Dr. Pepper: Dr. Pepper.
Coffee or ice cream: Coffee-flavoured ice cream.
Shampoo or conditioner: Both, but conditioner can't be replaced by soap in a pinch, so ... conditioner.
Bridges or tunnels: Both.  Ha.
One or two pillows: Two, but one if it's a really good pillow.

WORD ASSOCIATION:
Rock: Roll
Green: Leaf
Wet: Water
Cry: Sadness
Peanut butter: Jelly

FAVORITES:
Salad dressing: Caesar
Coluor of socks: Black
Memory: Singing at Brandon.
Toothpaste: Colgate.
Food: Depends on the day.
Song at the moment: My Redeemer Lives
TV show: Mythbusters
Toothbrush: One that isn't wrecked by my braces
Subject in school: Math
Flower: Roses, lilies, gardenias, jasmine, orchids ...
Colour: Blood red, midnight blue
Non-alcoholic drink: Milk
Sport, to watch: Hockey or curling
Country song: Bleh *sings like a country star* My dog died and my wife left and my house flooded and my car done blowed up!  (Stealing HH's answer again (albeit modified slightly) 'cause it's just too funny, and so I must share it with the world!)
Sesame Street character: The Martians.
Disney character: Syndrome, because he pops to mind.
Warner Brothers character: Wile E. Coyote

RANDOM QUESTIONS
When was your last hospital check in?  I don't think I actually checked in when I broke my foot, so ... never.
Do you drink?  Nope.
How many times did you fail your permit and driver's licence test?  Haven't taken it yet.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?  25 ... taking my Master's, maybe married.
Who is the last person that you got mail from before this quiz?  My brother, oddly enough.
Have you ever been convicted of a crime?  No.
Which single store would you choose to max your credit card?  Chapters.
What type of car do you drive now?  I don't.
What do you do most often when you are bored?  Something that isn't boring.
Name the person that you are friends with that lives the farthest away from you: Tuan or Day (Sweden/Singapore)
Are you in a gang or a club?  No.
Motorcycles?  Give me a reason why.
What is your favourite article of clothing?  Good shirts.
Are you closed-minded?  I try not to be.
Are you open-minded?  Not so much that my brains leak out.
Are you a player?  No.
Can you be in love with two people at the same time?  Maybe.  It'd be really tough though.
Bedtime? Sleep good.
Who do you think will respond to this fastest?  Anyone who wants to do it.
What time is it now?  01.13 CDT.

I'm in the midst of some friendship troubles lately, and every time they rear their ugly head, it's hard on my temper.  I don't know how many people who read my blog have seen the full extent of my temper (I keep it under wraps and I've been blessed with an increasing amount of patience as life goes on - though it's still less than Dad's, for instance, or Toro's), but it isn't fun.  Unfortunately, whenever I get annoyed because of these problems, I tend to raise my voice more often and lose it slightly with my siblings.  This frustrates me to no end, because they really don't need to be snapped at.  ><  I'm tired ot having to apologize to them.

Just praying for more patience. 

Ugh.  And here I thought I'd never have to touch biology or physics. 

The way IB is supposed to work, you have a choice of courses.  I do.  But the school will only offer the two courses that get the most people registered.  I want to take Spanish.  I do not want to take physics or biology, which would be the other two choices.  Whatever I take, I take all the way to graduation. 

I can't stand the physics prof, and biology presents a moral conflict in the subject of evolution: I would simply rather not learn about it, as I am Christian and do not agree with it.  I do not mean to say that others cannot, but I would just rather not go there.  It does not interest me to be in a class that disagrees with my morals and does not let me do so. 

As science-heavy as the world is, chances are they won't offer Spanish, and I'll have to take a science.  Ach. 

If I drop out of the IB diploma program and take IB certificates instead, I would do every course in IB ... except Spanish.  I would take Spanish in the regular program.  But like heck I'm dropping out of the diploma program. 

This is very frustrating. 

Again thanks to Dave Kellett of Sheldon for setting me onto this vid.  This bird is super-cool.

Someone caught it on tape.  Forever to be preserved.  Aaaaack.  (Okay, so it isn't that bad, but 'cause I know where all my mistakes were ... )  This is Chicken Scratch, from the December 2007 jazz concert at my high school.  I play the trombone solo.  Can I hide now?

XD  It's not an easy one!  But then, when have I ever done easy?

I've been on a bit of a Nightwish hype lately (they're a gothic/symphonic metal/rock band from Finland, a bit like Evanescence).  Their old vocalist, Tarja Turunen, is quite the lyric soprano (spent many years training), and as I can sing her part I tend to gravitate more towards the nine-year stretch with her as opposed to their new vocalist, Anette Olzon (whom I like, but I prefer Tarja's voice so far).

On that note, it's terribly difficult to find sheet music of their songs, and it isn't particularly easy to transcribe them, either.  They published one songbook, of their album Once (which I would love to track down, as it has many of my favourite songs, including Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan), but I cannot find the darn thing anyway, not even on eBay.  I downloaded a trial of TwelveKeys transcription software from NCH SwiftSound, which is very nice ... but still necessitates that I write it all down.  XD  I would love a program that transcribed music for you. 

I'd also love a keyboard I could connect to my computer ... a digital keyboard, as opposed to a synthesizer, which is what I have at the moment.  I'd also like some music-transcription software (I have my eye on Finale PrintMusic, or really anything in the Finale suite of programs that would be a step up from their freeware NotePad, which is what I'm making use of right now.  There's this lack of money and money-transfer methods, though ... oh well.  Wishes for another day, perhaps.

It's 3:32 AM and you're wondering why you haven't gone to bed yet.

You take a look at your computer screen, and besides the Facebook window, you have open:

1) Microsoft Word - 2,354 words on Social Identity Development for your TOK Extended Essay
2) Microsoft Word - Physics Electric Motor Lab Write-up
3) Microsoft Word - 3 pages of your Lit Commentary on Madame Bovary
4) Google Language Tools - Because sometimes that dictionary is just too far away.
5) Microsoft Excel - Physics Coefficients of Friction Lab Data Chart
6) Microsoft Word - Biology Lab Write-up
7) Google Search Results - SEARCHING SEARCHING.
8) GALILEO - Looking for a flipping History article, ANY opinionated article on the causes of the American Revolution
9) Microsoft Word - El Guia del Teatro para La Clase de Espanol

...
"Good thing I only have a little homework left."

You Know You're In IB When ...
1. You are already planning where your lockers will be next year.
2. At least 4 of your classes (history, English, TOK, psychology) are talking about almost the same thing, or at least you think they are ... it could be an illusion ... maybe you're not in class at all ...
3. You start walking in geometric circles.
4. You start analyzing random books, song lyrics, and street signs.
5. You say the same sentence over and over again, not realizing you've said it before.
6. A good night's sleep is 5 hours.
7. You say the same sentence over and over again, not realizing you've said it before.
8. You can't enjoy a heart-warming cartoon because the French grammar is wrong.
9. You have made up complicated metaphors relating your love life to a card game and have fun doing it.
10. 16 + 2 = ... wait, let me get my graphing calculator!
11. The idea of "going off on tangents" is hilariously funny.
12. You start overanalyzing the rainbows on people's clothing.
13. You write a newsletter half in Latin.
14. Your Physics teacher knows how to say "outstanding" in over 30 languages, yet chooses "cool beans!"
15. You need a graphing calculator to bake.
16. You're disappointed when you only get 100% on a test.
17. You're smarter than all your teachers ... no, that just means you're in public school.
18. You relax vicariously through your non-IB friends (wait, who?).
19. You forget to breathe.  Or you book time for it.  Or you have an oxygen IV.  Your pick.
20. Your backpack is heavier than you are.
21. You realize that something is missing when your backpack feels too light.
22. You say the same sentence over and over again, not realizing you've said it before.
23. You complain that you can't store notes on your graphing calculator for the IB English exam.
24. You write parodies of Faulkner's work for fun.
25. You attempt to do your extended essay on Dr Seuss.
26. Your idea of a 3 AM party game is analyzing the socio-political commentary in Dr Seuss.
27. You complain about studying for your foreign language exam ... in multiple foreign languages.
28. You write stories and give them to other people to analyze for you because you don't understand them.
29. You were a pair of antennae (deedleyboppers) on your head and think you're a water molecule.
30. The fact that "wear" is spelled wrong in #29 bothers you. A lot.
31. You forget the meaning of the words "free time" yet remember the meaning of "literary analysis" 
32. You have complicated dreams about graphing circles and ellipses.
33. You take over the hallways in the morning before school, unloading your bookbag and settling in for a 30-minute homework party.
34. You walk in the movement patterns of a knight to improve your chess strategy while you nap on your way to your next class.
35. You have theological discussions at parties.
36. You have theoretical physics discussions at parties.
37. The number on your screen name corresponds to the page number that character you use for your screen name has an appearance in the book you got it from.
38. Whenever you're watching a movie you find all the motifs and themes ... without trying.
39. "Friends" and "fellow IBers" are interchangeable.
40. You go to bed at 3 AM and think, "Oh, it's an early night!"
41. Your favorite saying is "If I get a hundred on every test for the rest of the year ..."
42. Social life? Sorry, what decade are you from?
43. You've fooled yourself into believing that colleges actually care whether you're in IB or not.
44. You try to wake up fast enough to catch yourself sleeping - and succeed.
45. You talk to yourself in the third person.
46. You write sentences on multiple choice tests.
47. It's okay to fail, so long as you are not alone.
48. You frequently catch yourself saying "What?? We had homework??"
49. You say the same sentence over and over again, not realizing you've said it before.
50.The Sun is too loud.
51. Trees begin threatening you.
52. You can see individual air molecules vibrating.
53. While writing a TOK paper, you begin to actually understand the material.
54. You explore the possibility of setting up an IV drip of espresso.
55. You wonder if brewing is an essential step in the consumption of coffee.
56. Things become "Very Clear".
57. You begin speaking in a language that only you and channellers can understand.
58. You believe that if you think hard enough, you can levitate.
59. You heart beats in 7/8 time.
60. You and Reality file for divorce.
61. It appears that people are speaking to you in binary code.
62. You have great revelations concerning Life, the Universe, and Everything else, but can't quite find the words for them before the white glow fades, leaving you more confused than before. ... Oh well, ice cream time!
63. You discover the aesthetic beauty of school supplies.
64. You begin to talk to yourself, then disagree about the subject, get into a nasty row about it, lose, and refuse to talk to yourself for the rest of the day.
65. You yell: "STOP TOUCHING ME!!!" even though you're the only person in the room.
66. You manage to complete a semesters' worth of homework the day before the term ends.
67. You finish your extended essay shortly after midnight. Your smile of satisfaction fades when you remember to start on your World Lit paper.
68. You've sold your soul … and have to wait 4 years to get it back.
69. You cloned yourself so you could sell your clones' souls to each of your teachers.
70. Desperate to fill up your CAS hours, you claim watching a black and white movie as "creativity" and walking your dog as "activity", and your teacher approves it.
71. You have a special "test writing sweater" that you wore to all the IB exams.
72. Your idea of impure thoughts is whether or not to copy math homework.
73. You can count your first math quiz grade on one hand.
74. You wonder if there's SparkNotes on the Calculus book.
75. You don't really cheat - you just tell people the answers.
76. Cheating became too difficult, so you took up telepathy.
77. You have a tab running at Barnes & Noble.
89. BN.com, amazon.com, and Books-A-Million offered to give you a free shipment/order each so you took full advantage of it and are now banned from those stores/sites (it took 6 semis to deliver the orders!)
90. You understand that the list skipped from 77 to 89 for one sole reason: LACK OF SLEEP.
91. You've consulted tarot cards for hints on a History test.
92. You have the library on speed dial.
93. You've developed an imprint of your book bag in your back.
94. Your best hope for most classes is either divine intervention or a strategically placed lightning bolt.
95. Your books weigh more than you do.
96. Your thesis for the Extended Essay is whether or not Bert and Ernie are gay.
97. Your alternate thesis for the Extended Essay is why IB jokes/checklists are so prolific and the amount of fact contained within them.
98. You plead insanity on a research paper.
99. Your plea is accepted by your teacher.
100. You do your essays on the plane ride to school.
101. You can lead your way through a frog's intestines with your eyes closed.
102. You have to stop twice and get gas to make it all the way to school.
103. You've been out various times looking for the Abridged Cliff's Notes.
104. You consider giving up going to the bathroom permanently to give you more time to study.
105. Your backpack is only comfortable when it weighs >30 pounds.
106. You have convinced your parents the "1" you received on your IB Chemistry exam was really the "top 1% of all IB students worldwide".
107. You skip breakfast so you can get to school early to get in some extra cramming time to gain that "upper edge" on the rest of the class.
108. Your home becomes a "home away from home".
109. You think the meaning of life is: G = -RTlnK.
110. Your favorite equation is e(iπ)+1=0
111. Said equation comes up on a test.
112. You go insane from trying to work Pythagoras' constant and the golden rule into said equation.
113. You succeed in mathematically correctly adding above to said formula without changing number bases.
114. Pressed for time, you conclude a history essay with, "And they lived happily every after. Amen."
115. You get into a slugging match over priority for the library photocopier.
116. It's essential to learn to live with occasional failures.
117. Can we say EXTRA CREDIT??
118. You actually worry about the 105% you have in math.
119. You find that you overreact when you get 2 points marked off on your homework.
120. You find that you spend more time sleeping in class than at home.
121. You are 18 but can't drive.
122. You have 15 library cards each under a different alias.
123. You searched all the books in the local public library, so you found a loophole that allowed you to check out books from the local university stacks.
124. Your list of excuses for not doing your homework is the length of Anna Karenina.
125. You exceed the 4200 word limit on the Extended Essay (by over 1000 words).
126. The simplest words you know are at least 10 letters long.
127. You ask what your summer reading assignment will be in October.
127. You come into school at 6.00 to do Biology and don't complain.
128. You get dirty looks from the Regular Kids in your homeroom.
129. It takes more than one trip to carry the books you need between your car and your locker.
130. You carry around SAT vocab flash cards to whip out in your free time.
131. You can list all 5 definitions on vocabulary tests.
132. When you are home sick, you can't help but wonder what work you're missing and what your homework is.
133. When you're watching TV, you feel guilty because not all of your homework is done.
134. That was a lie, you don't watch TV (except for NBC News at 6).
135. You show up 4 hours late to an IB test and still manage to get a "5".
136. During a Chemistry test, instead of doing the work, you write a random answer program in your TI-83+ Silver Edition and get the highest score in the class.
137. Your idea of great art is simultaneously graphing the sine, cosine and tangent graphs on your calculator.
138. You have functioning electrical appliances in your locker.
139. You can type 70 words per minute -- on a TI-89.
140. You actually believe "mental health days" are excused absences.
141. Brewing coffee takes too long, so you just eat the beans.
142. You're afraid of sunlight since you haven't seen it in 3 years.
143. Breakfast?! What's that?
144. The bags under your eyes are heavier than the ones carrying your textbooks.
145. You always seem to have one continuous headache.
146. You haven't seen light in so long you glow in the dark.
147. You find yourself thinking "Without stress my life would be empty."
148. Your contacts are so thick that you have trouble closing your eyes.
149. You can count the number of hours you sleep each week on one missing hand.
150. You've taught yourself how to take naps while walking to your next class.
151. You actually put the apostrophe in front of the word " 'cause. "
152. You think MTV is a formula for mass, temperature and volume.
153. You clean up your room and find a bed.
154. You wonder about things like what would happen if your car traveled at the speed of light and you turned your lights on.
155. Everything you know about sex, you learned from the English reading list.
156. You enjoy finding out the hard way why normal distribution should work.
157. It's the little things that confuse you.
158. You have the chemical formula and steps of synthesis for caffeine memorized.
159. You still think Beavis and Butthead is a true-to-life TV show about "normal high school".
160. You find all the "glitches" in movies.
161. You use your ToK background to analyze Winnie the Pooh's Book of Quotations.
162. When asked what significance Hitler had to Racial Social Darwinism, you say "Well, he didn't like Jews."
163. You look forward to hell week because you think hell would be an improvement on your current situation.
Free time?
164. You've mastered the art of procrastination so well that your research paper finishes printing just seconds before you have to leave for school.
165. You get to college and realize the classes you are taking seem really familiar.
166. Your college professors' grading systems seem a little too lenient.
167. You dread the word rubric.
168. You managed to write 4,000 words on the subject "Hitler was a nice guy, wasn't he?" (sarcasm not included)
169. You've managed to get through an entire year of History of the Americas without reading one page of your test book.
170. You hold "parties" to study.
171. You look forward to your parties.
172. Your fellow IBers look forward to your parties, attend them, and do actual studying there.
173. Your pick-up lines include compliments on the quality of her (his) epidermis and the wonderful shape of her (his) occipital plate.
174. You forget your brother's name because you haven't seen him in three years.
175. Wait ... brother?
176. When on vacation, you visit other schools.
177. You have races with your friends to see who can say the entire periodic table of elements the fastest.
178. You'd go into severe spasms if you ever lost your IB herd.
179. You see your Extended Essay advisor more than you see your parents.
180. You talk in your sleep -- in Spanish.
182. You resort to communicating with classmates through a series of clicks because languages take too long.
183. You love the "Macarena" not because it's a neat-o dance, but because you actually understand what those Spanish guys are saying.
184. You say the same sentence over and over again, not realizing you've said it before.
185. You no longer speak English -- You speak a combination of English, German, Spanish, French, Portugese, Swedish, Dutch, Chinese, Russian, Norwegian, Hebrew, Arabic, Japanese, Korean, and Polish.
186. Fellow IBers understand and use the same combined language.
187. You convert it to 36-bit words converted to hexadecimal numbers to communicate as it is faster.
188. You write a text-to-speech program that uses this hexadecimal linguistic conglomerate.
189. You modify your text-to-speech program so that it also works as speech-to-text, and is eerily accurate.
190. You know how to integrate a chicken and can take the derivative of water.
191. You scoff at others’ lowly TI-83s while you caress your TI-93+ with pride.
192. You debate about physics during lunch … and usually win.
193. You know the chemical composition of the ugly brown stains on the ceiling tiles.
194. Your calculators are an extension of your body.
195. You feel guilty if you go more than a week without homework or some form of schooling.
196. You're sad, because you can only take four HL tests.
197. You hack the school’s network and duplicate your records so that you can take another three HLs, then merge the records together after you take your senior IB exams.
198. You actually think you have a shot at passing the physics HL exam.
199. You make a date to do homework together and you actually do.
200. You derive formulas for fun. From first principles.
201. You write your "What is Truth?" ToK paper entirely in Newspeak.
202. You celebrate pi day (3/14), mole day (10/23), and pi approximation day (22/7 (d/m), as 22/7 is very close to pi).
203. You haven't studied for American History all year, and the week before semester finals you think "Why should I start now?"
204. It rains and you place the umbrella over your bookbag instead of yourself.
205. You know how to spell "Baccalaureate".
206. You crash your calculator.
207. You skip school to do homework.
208. The word "ponder" induces hyperventilation.
209. You're American and you write everything using British spelling.
210. You focus your WHOLE LIFE around the Group 4 project.
211. You accidentally type "LOOL" instead of "LOL" in an IM conversation and explain it as "Laugh out ostentatiously loud".
212. Someone tells you to relax and you go into spasms - "Relax? RELAX?!?"
213. "It's a beautiful day outside to do that science experiment."
214. You are so accustomed to being stressed, that when you aren't, you have a panic attack.
215. You sleep with your eyes half open because you don't have the energy to close them all the way.
216. You rush to the IB workroom immediately when 2nd block ends, type up your whole 500-word essay (that you wrote on paper by hand in 1st block), print it out, and make it to 3rd block before the next bell rings.
217. The cure to your depression is concentrating on homework.
218. You start working on your presentation for History of the Americas 3 minutes after you have already started presenting.
219. You persuade your History teacher that everything you have said in that half hour of presenting makes sense and has a point, even though you don't know what that point is.
220. When people ask you if your community service is for a crime and you reply with, "no ... it's just school."
221. The school administrators stop everyone around you for being late, but you breeze right past.
222. You spend more time on college applications than on homework.
223. You keep your candidate number more secure than your social security number.
224. You begin to form verbs using book titles, and use them often in everyday conversation.
225. During the holiday break, instead of greeting you happily at the door, your family asks, "Who the hell are you?"
226. You're late for graduation because you are sneaking around to do chem labs.
227. Everything you notice everywhere seems to be ''ironic'' or ''symbolic'' of some deeper meaning or other.
228. Your IB dropout friends from IB HL Math tell you that AP Calculus is a piece of cake, and you're jealous.
229. Your elective is an AP and you feel like your IQ is declining rapidly while sitting in that class.
230. You are intimately familiar with all the grading scales and manipulate them to exert the bare minimum effort.
231. You finish your homework before midnight, but find some excuse to stay up until 3 AM ... like compiling this list, just because it makes you laugh.
232. You can't watch a movie without organizing who knows what and how much time is passing.
233. Forget your favorite band. The only good sounds after 10 PM are from Xerox, HP, or Lexmark.
234. Every computer in your school has a strategically saved copy of some work you did. Furthermore, you know which computers they are and what you left there.
235. Your history teacher is the one who reminds you your break starts tomorrow.
236. You go to school on senior skip day worrying about getting behind, and turns out, all your classmates are there too.
237. You freak out about class-specific or music-related school trips because of all the class and work you will be missing. Four months in advance.
238. You stay in class until the very last minute to make it onto the bus that you're taking with the soccer team to an away game, even though players were asked to leave class 30 mins early to get ready.
239. You spend more time trying to decide when you'll do your homework than actually doing it.
240. You get nervous when you have free time.
241. You spend more hours getting your CAS forms signed than the number of hours written on those forms, because you wait until the last minute to fill out the forms. Naturally; it would be a waste of time otherwise.
242. You broke your stapler because every paper you write has too many pages to staple together.
243. You've read Crime and Punishment, twice, in Russian, over the summer, actually know what the hell is going on and who the hell everyone is and who the hell said what.
244. You and your friends choose among you which ones are most like each of the characters.
245. Over the summer, you miss the routine of getting less than 3 hours of sleep a night.
246. Your summer doesn't feel like a break from school at all. You feel guilty for going away on vacation (even though you bring your homework).
247. Your only social event on the weekend is the community service trip to the nursing home.
248. You stop looking forward to weekends because weekends are simply the time when you do the work that school got in the way of.
249. It annoys you that 248 ends in a preposition, and that this list ends at 249.

However (in)accurate it is, we can all identity with 93.4% of it. 68%? 21.5%? 114.97%?
Pick your favorite number ...

Someone very special (HH) tagged me.  ^^  Watch me be happy!

THE TRIFORCE QUIZ  (:P)

TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE ABOUT YOURSELF
Wisdom: True
Courage: True
Power: True

Ha.

Real quiz!

THE THREE QUIZ

THREE SCREENNAMES YOU GO BY:
i. Kay
ii. Inyalin
iii. Kaylotta

TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE: (not necessarily in that order)
i. I can solve a Rubik's Cube in 52 seconds.
ii. I have been an extra in a movie.
iii. I tried to make my own radiator.  It worked.

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
i. Eyes (they are green.)
ii. My waist
iii. My hair, when it behaves

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU DON'T LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
i. Rounded fingertips (I want them pointy.  XD)
ii. Super-frizzy hair (it is evil)
iii. My knees.  I don't know why.

THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:
i. Bohemian
ii. Bavarian
iii. Norse

THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:
i. Things I can't explain
ii. Becoming irrelevant
iii. Not being able to help

THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:
i. Foundation
ii. Computer
iii. Glasses

THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:
i. Bracelets (three: silver gift from John, Panama Canal gift from Olferts', glass beads in support of children's cancer research)
ii. Hair clips (imported from Japan: gift from HH)
iii. Cross necklace (had it for years)

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE BANDS OR MUSICAL ARTISTS:
i. U2
ii. Evanescence
iii. Nightwish
Newsboys
... ... ... (the list goes on and on)

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE SONGS:
i. Music of the Night; music ALW, lyrics Charles Hart
ii. Your Love is Better Than Life (St Petersburg Remix), Newsboys
iii. Electrical Storm (William Orbit Mix), U2
... again with the going on and on

THREE THINGS YOU WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP:
i. Christianity, love and respect
ii. Intelligence and humour
iii. Embrace of culture in many forms, definitely including but certainly not limited to music
Hee hee, I fit lots more in.  :P

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS ABOUT THE PREFERRED SEX THAT APPEAL TO YOU:
i. Tall
ii. Lanky
iii. Wiry
(all of these things equate to cuddlability ^^)

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES:
i. Playing any music I can, whenever, on whatever
ii. Learning
iii. Devouring books (*picks binding out of teeth*)

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:
i. Be done my History essay
ii. Be ready for Optimist, Big Band and Brandon
iii. Not be in gym class

THREE CAREERS YOU'RE CONSIDERING/YOU'VE CONSIDERED:
i. Operatic soprano
ii. Actress (TV/Film/Theatre)
iii. TV broadcaster/host

THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION:
i. Tahiti
ii. England/Wales (Cardiff!)
iii. Tour of Europe (ha)

THREE KIDS' NAMES YOU LIKE:
i. David
ii. Erik
iii. Cyrano
Yes I'd like to have girls ... I just don't have names for them right now ... >>

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
i. Sing Christine in a full-fledged production of The Phantom of the Opera
ii. Stand under Apollo's Lyre on the top of the Opéra Garnier (and sing)
iii. Début a CD, publish a book, star in a movie ...

THREE WAYS THAT YOU ARE STEREOTYPICALLY A GIRL:
i. I play with my hair
ii. I love wearing pretty dresses
iii. I could never have too many shoes

THREE WAYS THAT YOU ARE STEREOTYPICALLY A BOY:
i. I love blowing things up
ii. I'd probably pick an action flick over a romance (but drama kinda tops the list, in its many forms)
iii. ... I'm very good at procrastinating?  No, I don't think that's stereotypically masculine ... I don't know. 

THREE PEOPLE THAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE TAKE THIS QUIZ NOW:
Mom, Bailey, and ... John, because I'm pretty sure he's reading this.  :P

Props to Dave Kellett of Sheldon for finding this YouTube video.

Also, this 22 Minutes sketch entirely made my day.

I got the extra job, I am in, which means money at some point for me to go towards my dress and stuff!  W00t!  (As a plus, I am getting very little homework and John has revealed himself as back from the ether.)

I am dancy and happy and lookit somethin' shiny!  *sprints off, skipping*

To use a Toronian expression that basically means whatever you want it to mean, in context.

Life is frustrating right now.  Here's why:

1. I need to save money to pay for my dress and associated expenses (hair, shoes, jewelry, etc), which I'm entirely willing to do. 
2. Because I'm in pre-IB classes I get a lot of homework, much of which takes a long time to do.
3. To take the pre-IB classes, I go to school in the city, meaning an hour lost every day in simple commute time.
4. That loss of time, plus the time spent doing homework and practicing for my various musical commitments, means it seems infeasible to get a job, which is obviously the best solution to this problem and one I am willing to commit to.
5. Any idea I have to make money on  my own terms, mostly via performing in some fashion, is also infeasible because it would either take just as much work (and as a result, time) to do - or very difficult to start, seeing as performing on my own would require I have the proper technology to do so ... and there's this qualification thing, which I don't have a lot of.

This all piles up to make it very difficult to want to do anything at all, as it all seems rather fruitless and pointless.  *grr*  After which of course I scold myself for not having done anything, and then the work load just piles up and I end up criticizing myself more.

Of course, the added stress of friendship-difficulties is not helpful either.

But one thing at a time.  (I wish.)

I am booked.  Like, solid.  Until March.  ><  As John would say, "Do you happen to have any time booked off for breathing?"  Exams, Optimist festival for concert/jazz band, Big Band night (oh, and you can buy tickets off me for that last one: I believe they'll be $8), vocal competitions in February/March, and Festival du Voyageur in February.  Yeesh.  April and May have nothing yet.

Braces update - I have had two teeth removed so far and will lose another two on the 30th.  The brackets are still only on the top half of my mouth, and I'm not sure when I get the next set.  I hate needles.  They had to use somewhere around ten.  On the plus side, the rest of it didn't hurt.  XD

Exam update: I have started my French composition exam, and it's going well (even if I'm writing a lot XP).  I received the essay-question choices for my geography exam today, and I'm not sure what I'll do yet.  Revision is ... going slowly, for everything but math.  I'm well into my revision for that one.

What I'm into right now: Epicon, by Globus.  This CD is what you might call "movie-trailer music" - or more properly, cinematic or symphonic rock.  I'm currently rocking out most to Europa and Diem Ex Dei.  A video of the former:

Alsru got me onto Globus' music and I really like it - as it's cinematic rock, it has a very epic feel to it, and it's very good for writing.  And for feeling inspired. 

Note to myself: I need to buy, within the next couple weeks:

• foundation
• conditioner
• figure skates
• bus tickets

The only problem with this is that I really have no money.  >>  And no job.  Anyone know of anything I can do to make some cash?  Anything legal, I should specify?  I expect to get a summer job this year, but there's really no way I can keep a job down during school.  I just have too much to do.  It's quite frustrating.

As most anyone who reads my blog likely knows, I am a hopeless romantic.  I'd fit in rather well in the period this extract is from - the late eighteen-hundreds. 

This extract is a translation of the same scene in Cyrano de Bergerac, a French play by Edmond Rostand.  It is called the Balcony Scene, and in this scene the three main characters, Cyrano, Roxane and Christian, have a ... 'discussion'.

Cyrano and Christian are both in love with Roxane, who is what one would call a précieuse.  Women of high enough stature in the time period this was written (the late 19th century) were very much romanticists.  As such, women liked to be wooed with poetry, romance, you name it.  Cyrano, who has a very large nose, is excellent at this, though women turn away at his ... proboscis.  >>  Christian, on the other hand, is quite handsome, but can't speak to save his life. 

Cyrano, who was Roxane's childhood friend, agrees to help Christian woo Roxane's heart.  In this scene, Christian has just tried to woo Roxane on his own, and has failed miserably.  They are beneath her balcony, and they get Roxane's attention by tossing a couple of pebbles at her window.  Before now, Cyrano has written letters for Christian to give to Roxane.

They start by Cyrano whispering the words to Christian, but soon they switch as it is getting difficult, and Cyrano finds himself talking to the woman he loves in the cover of night while pretending to be another man.

I must say that this is much prettier in French than it is in English, as much as I like English poetry, but this will definitely get the point across.  It's so pretty.  ^^  The translation I am using is by Anthony Burgess, and is copyright 1985 and 1988.  I have taken a few liberties with the verse and scene directions where I feel it is closer to the original French, but it is otherwise untouched.

Roxane: Was somebody calling?

Christian:                                Me.  I.

Roxane:                                               Who?

Christian: Christian.

Roxane (disdainfully): So.

Christian:                     I have to talk to you.

Roxane: You’ve nothing to say to me.

Christian:                                         Oh, please – please –

Roxane: It’s clear that you love me no longer.

Christian (to whom Cyrano whispers the right words):
                                                                    Such heresies …
Such unjust slanders … Oh, you divinities …
Whose name is justice … witness that I love
More than mere words … can bear the burden of …

Roxane: Better.

Christian:        Love … that I had thought … a quiet child
Discloses moods … so intemperate … and wild …
He crushes my … cradling heart.

Roxane:                                  Hm.  Better still.
But is it not best to break that unruly will
And strangle such a monster?

Christian:                          Heavens, I’ve tried
To commit that … venial infanticide,
But… the tough atomy… I thought to seize…
And crush … turned out an infant Hercules.

Roxane: Good.  Very good.

Christian:                       His first act was … to ride
And rend … two hissing serpents … Doubt and Pride.

Roxane: Quite excellent.  But, since you mention doubt,
Why do our words come so – haltingly out?
It’s as if your fancy suffered from, well –

Cyrano (in an approximation of Christian’s voice):
                                                               Gout?
Roxane laughs.  Cyrano whispers urgently to Cyrano.
Quick, this is getting difficult.
They trade places.

Roxane:                            Tonight
You hesitate so strangely.  Why?

Cyrano:                                 A good
Question, and my answer is: each word
Gropes through the darkness, looking for your light.

Roxane: If that were really so, my own words would
Limp, just like yours.  Come, try as less absurd
Explanation.

Cyrano:       Very well.  Taste this:
My heart is open wide – your words can’t miss
So large a target.  Or, heavy with the honey of
Desire, it zigzags to the orifice
Of your tiny ear, and buzzes blunderingly
Seeking its way in, its winds a haze of love.
Or, should these not suffice, then, finally,
Since your words fall, they yield to gravity:
Mine have to rise and fight it.

Roxane:                             It seems to me
They fight less hard now than they had to do
A moment ago.

Cyrano:        Ah, but a moment or two
Of loosening up in the gymnasium
Works wonders.

Roxane:        Am I so far above you still?

Cyrano: So far, I fear, that one hard word could kill,
Crushing my heart like a stone.

Roxane:                                Oh, then I’ll come
Down to you.

Cyrano:      No!

Roxane:            But I want to see you.  Stand
On that bench there –

Cyrano:                 No!

Roxane:                       Such a vehement no.
What is the matter?

Cyrano:               To hold in my hand
Such exquisite joy – I dare not let go
This precious chance to speak to you – unseen.

Roxane: Unseen?

Cyrano:             A disembodied spirit, clean
Of the clogs of accident and delay.  You see
A cloak of trailing blackness; you to me
Are a white gown of summer.  I am a shadow
And you the quintessence of light.  How can you know
What it means to roam this transitory meadow
Sunlit through the darkness? If ever – oh,
If ever I was eloquent –

Roxane:                       You were –
Very eloquent.

Cyrano:          But you have never heard till now  
My true heart truly speaking.

Roxane:                           Why not?

Cyrano:                                        There
Was a certain obliquity, a sort of haze
Caused by this vertigo, this drunkenness
That afflicts all those who tremble in your presence.
But this one night it seems that I address
Your heart for the first time.

Roxane:                             The first time, yes.
Your very voice is changed.

Cyrano:                           My heart’s true essence
Is emboldened by this darkness to speak out.
It is myself that speaks.  Where was I?  Oh, forgive
This confusion, which is to me a heap
Of rose petals, a fantasy of sleep
So new, and so delicious.

Roxane:                       New?

Cyrano:                                To live
A moment breathing your sustaining air,
Freed from the choking asthma of the fear
That you might laugh at me –

Roxane:                              Laugh at you?  Why?

Cyrano: Because of the unworthiness of a fool,
An insufficiency that seeks to clothe
Itself in a sunset of words.  How often I
Come to pluck Hesperus out of the sky
And end by plucking flowers because I loathe
A presumption that might spark your ridicule.

Roxane: There’s good in flowers, there’s sweetness.

Cyrano:                                                               Yes, yes,
But not enough sweetness in all the flowers of the earth
For us, tonight.

Roxane:           You have never spoken like this,
Never before.

Cyrano:        Shatter them all, these tokens –
Valentine hearts, arrows, the tinselled quiver,
Stale words, stale honey sipped in finicking drops
From tarnished gilded cups. What are they worth
Compared to the wild urge that shorts, that beckons
Our bodies to plunge and drown in the wild river?

Roxane: But the soul, the spirit – ?

Cyrano:                                      You mean the petty rhymes
Wrung from what petty spirits call the soul.
I have made enough of those for you at times
When I did not dare to bare myself, as now,
To the overwhelming torrent of the night
With its panic perfumes.  Oh, my word, must we
Insult nature by burbling nugacities
When those gold nuggets, myriad on myriad,
Enflame the heavens?  Our little alchemy,
Distilling civilized exquisitries –
Might it not, in its crass self-regard,
Volatilize true feeling to the wind,
And, dripping wordlets, miss the one true word?

Roxane: Oh, but – poetry.  You can’t say that
Of poetry –

Cyrano:      Poetry – rhyme – a game of words.
Ah, love’s too stark a force to tolerate
Such tinklings, such tinkering.  A moment comes -
And God help those for whom it never comes –
When love of such nobility possesses
This shaking frame that even the sweetest word,
The ultimate honey, stings like vinegar –

Roxane:                                                If so,
What, when the moment comes for both of us,
What words will you say?

Cyrano:                        In that most precious
Instant, I shall take all words that ever were,
Or weren’t, or could, or couldn’t be, and in
Mad armfuls, not bouquets, I’ll smother you in them.
Roxane, how I love you, I choke with love, I
Stumble in madness, tread a fiery region
Where reason is consumed.  I love you beyond
The limits that love sets himself.  I love,
I love.  Your name, Roxane, swings like a brazen
Bell, telling itself – Roxane, Roxane –
In my heart’s belfry, and I tremble –
Roxane, Roxane – with each bronze, gold,
Silver reverberation.  Listen, I swing
Down the rope to earth’s level, to each small thing
– Trivial, forgettable, unforgettable by me –
That ever you do or did.  A year ago,
The twelfth of May it was, at noon’s striking,
You left your house with your hair dressed a different way,
The former way not being to your liking. 
And you know how, when you’ve been looking at the sun,
You see red suns everywhere, embossed
On everything, so that solar flood of your hair
Blinded me and bequeathed an after-image
Of heavenly goldness touching everything
With a royal touch.

Roxane (shaken):   Yes – this is – love.

Cyrano: Love, the parasitic heavenly host,
A terribly jealous god has seized me with most
Wretched fury – and yet he seeks not to possess,
He is only mad to give.  So my happiness
Is there to augment yours –even though
You forget, or never knew, the scourge of its flow.
I ask no more than to listen, twice, or thrice,
To the laughter born out of the sacrifice
Of mine.  Each glance of your eyes begets some new
Virtue in me, new courage.  Oh, can you
See this, feel it, understand?  Do you sense
My heart rising towards you in this intense
Stillness, whose perfumed velvet wraps us close?
This night I speak, you listen.  Never in my most
Reckless unreasonable dream have I hoped for this.
Now I can gladly die, knowing it is
My words that make you tremble in the blue
Shadow of the tree.  For it is true –
You do tremble, like a leaf among the leaves,
Yes, and the passion of that trembling weaves
A spider filament that seeks me now,
Feeling its way along the jasmine bough.

Roxane: Yes, I do tremble, and I weep, and I
Am  yours.  I love, you have made me –

Cyrano:                                            Ah, to die,
Death is all I need now after this
Summit gained.  I ask one thing –

Christian (bluntly breaking the spell):
                                                  A kiss.

Roxane: What?

Cyrano:         Oh …

Roxane:                 You asked for something?

Cyrano:                                                       Yes –
(aside to Christian, under his breath)
You're going too fast.

Christian:               You got her into this
State.  Why shouldn’t I get some benefit?

Cyrano (aloud, to Roxane): 
Yes, it’s true, I did ask.  But I was too
Impetuous.  I was – hurled into it.

Roxane: You ask no more than that?

Cyrano:                                         No more?

Christian (eagerly)                                        No.  Yes.

Cyrano: No more is no more than a void, a nothingness.
I asked too much, I ask you now to rebuff
My importunity.

Christian:       Why, why?

Cyrano:                         Enough.
Shut up, Christian!  [Note: this is actually translated as, “Be quiet, Christian,” but in my view this is closer to what the original French means.]

Roxane:              What did you say?

Cyrano (shaken, getting back on track):
                                                      Oh – myself
Was being angry with myself for going
Too far.  I said, “Shut up, Christian.”

Christian (under his breath, forcefully):
Get that kiss for me.

Cyrano (same):      No.

Christian:                   Get me that kiss!

Cyrano: No!

Christian:  Sooner or later –

Cyrano (exasperated):                        
                                           Yes, yes, sooner or later
It has to be, that labial conjunction,
A historical necessity, since she
Is beautiful and, all unworthy, you
Glow in the perfume of the unearned unction
Made up of youth and strength and comeliness.
But I must be the agent of her yes.

Roxane: Are you still there, my friend?

Cyrano (speaking louder, to Roxane): Yes.

Roxane:                                                  We were speaking of –
Of a –

Cyrano: Kiss.  The word is sweet enough,
And yet your lips are shy of saying it. 
If the word burns them, what is your presage of
The thing itself?  Fear should consume you. Yet
After all you’ve glided insensibly
From mockery to a smile, from a smile to a sigh,
From a sigh to a tear.  Now slide from a tear to a kiss.
It’s but a heartbeat’s distance from that to this.

Roxane (overwhelmed):
Stop it.

Cyrano (comfortably settled in):
             I will stop momentarily.  How
Shall we define a kiss?  The sacrament of a vow,
The lightly stamped seal of a promise, the endorsement of
A promissory note on the bank of love,
The very O of love in the expectant lips,
Eternity in the instant the bee sips,
The music of the spheres on the lark’s wing,
A flower-tasting eucharist, a ring
Forged of two rings, red alchemized to gold.

Roxane (breathily) : I said …

Cyrano:                                So noble a thing, that, so we’re told
The Queen of France could not, from her fabulous hoard
Find a richer jewel to bestow on an English lord.

Roxane: Indeed … ?

Cyrano:                     Indeed.  And, like Lord Buckingham, I
Too have had my mourning silences, my
Unspeakable adoration of majesty – in you.
Like him, I am sad and faithful.

Roxane:                                 Like him too
You are beautiful.

Cyrano (returning to his senses with a bitter smile):
                            So I am.  I’d forgotten.

1. Put your iPod/WMP/etc on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. Write that song's title down.
4. Any commentary goes after the title in parentheses.

1. How would you describe yourself?
U2 - New Year's Day

2. What do you like in a guy?
Phantom of the Opera Original 1986 London Cast - Think of Me

3. How do you feel today?
Evanescence - Good Enough

4. What is your life's purpose?
Newsboys - Your Love is Better Than Life

5. What is your motto?
Stacie Orrico - Hesitation

6. What do your friends think of you?
U2 - Love and Peace or Else

7. What do you think of your parents?
Sting - Russians

8. What do you think about very often?
Frank Sinatra - You Make Me Feel So Young

9. What is 2 + 2?
Les Miserables Original Broadway Cast - Confrontation

10. What do you think of your best friend?
U2 - All Because of You

11. What do you think of the person you like?
Phantom of the Opera Original 1986 London Cast - Wandering Child ... /Bravo, Monsieur ...

12. What is your life story?
Metric - Combat Baby

13. What do you want to be when you grow up?
Benny Goodman - Sing, Sing, Sing

14. What do you think of when you see the person you like?
U2 - Beautiful Day

15. What will you dance to at your wedding?
Frank Sinatra - Fly Me To The Moon (Dang that fits.  As long as we get to sing, though ... there are a couple songs that should be done at my wedding.)

16. What will they play at your funeral?
U2 - Ultraviolet (Light My Way)

17. What is your hobby/interest?
Celtic Woman - The Voice

18. What is your biggest fear?
U2 - Staring at the Sun (I'm seeing a pattern here.)

19. What is your biggest secret?
U2 - Do You Feel Loved (Seriously now.)

20. What do you think of your friends?
U2 - Peace on Earth (Honestly, there are other bands in here.)

21. What will you post this as?
Sting - A Thousand Years (See?)