Christmas is over! A bittersweet thing...much more bitter than sweet though. And yes, I DID feel the Christmas spirit, which I'm very glad about. I'm also incredibly glad that my talk went well today and my quartet sang beautifully, and all I have left to do in my room is finish finding places for everything.
OH! I just realized I forgot to mention that. For the first time in at least ten years, I slept in my own room last night. When I say 'my own room' I mean, there was no one else in there because the room was ALL MINE! We kind of officially moved my brother out of his room and moved my sister in, gave her the bunk beds she and I had been sharing, and put me into my new big bed, a nice hand-me-down from Uncle Chris! (Thanks, by the way, for wanting a bigger bed at Grandma Sherry's house!)It finally looks like I HAVE a room, not just a hollowed out section of the house where we crammed two beds, two dressers, some shelves, and a desk. I'm not ashamed to invite friends up to SEE my room anymore either, because you can actually move inside it AND I have a floor AND there is room to THINK! The ONLY problem I have encountered with the arrangement is that I have two under-bed storage boxes left, and there is no 'under the bed'. The drawers work well, I s'pose. I just have to go through them still. AND! I got a bookcase! Because I no longer have a headboard that can hold all my books, and they really don't belong in the family bookshelf, Mom emptied out an older bookcase we had and now it is in my room! The scary part is, the 3 shelves are already almost filled with all my favorites.
Now tomorrow I'm going back to work, and Tuesday night my family will leave to visit my dad's brother in Hurricane, Utah, for New Years. I'll also be going to the New Years Stake Dance with my 15 year old cousin, so that will really be different. Then I'll be back home on Friday (I think) and then back to school on Monday! *dies inside at the thought*
Oh oh oh!!! I just saw The Best Two Years for the first time today. WHY had no one ever Velcroed me to a chair and made me watch it before? I LOVE that movie now! It was so incredible and inspiring!
Also, big shout out to my new "blogging" friends, Mama Youngest and Mama Jeager, my beautiful Young Woman's leaders! HI!
I'll get around to posting my New Years Resolutions sometime this week I hope, but we'll see.
I also had a question for my readers. I've been getting warned by a few different people that because I'm going to be filling out college applications soon, I need to get rid of my facebook, blog and other things like them. I've been told that the college admissions boards will check all these things when I apply, and see who I associate with and things like that, and that will be a very heavy factor in the admissions process. So, my question is: Do I need to delete my social networking pages? I know I'm not linked to anyone that really would put a black mark on my name, but still... so what do you think?
Love to all, and Happy New Year,
KT
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!
Christmas day is on it's way the signs are everywhere!
Up and down across the town the Christmas spirit is there!
Joyful sounds and sights abound, the streets are filled with love!
All in celebration of a child sent from above!
(I believe the song is called 'Christmas Day is on it's Way', but I'm not sure. I sang it with my stake Youth Creche Choir)
Christmas Eve is in...about... an hour and a half. It's EPIC!!!! I am SO bummed that it's almost over! I feel like I haven't even fully grasped that's it's Christmas!
Oh well, I have a day or two left.
So I have to give a talk in church on Sunday... even though I just gave one two months ago. (They're trying to catch up, I think, since they didn't ask me to speak in church for a good 2 1/2 years between the time I was 13 and the she spring of my 15th year ) I almost want to take it as a bad omen though. My very first talk ever was on the Sunday after Christmas, and it didn't go well. At all. My friends still get a kick out of my mess-ups, four years later. But it's all good, I'm actually kind of excited! I'm talking on 'The Healing Power of Forgiveness', a talk given by Pres. Faust in the Spring '07 conference, and it will be my 3rd talk this year.
Also, we had a work party today, which was incredibly small, since the Doctor only keeps a staff of 8 people. But we had an Italian potluck and Secret Santa. For my Contribution, I brought Jared's special Pizza, and came incredibly close to cutting off the tip of my finger in the process. I even have the slice in my fingernail to prove it. Then I gave my closest friend in the office a copy of 'One Bright Shining Hope'(I think) and received a copy of Fever Pitch from one of the other really nice women. Then the dear Dentist said some really nice words about each of his staff members, and it was incredible for a few reasons: 1st, he said something nice about EVERYONE! 2nd, he said that, even though he doesn't show it, he cares about each of us, thinks about us individually occasionally, and appreciates our efforts, and 3rd was the simple fact that HE WAS SPEAKING FOR AT LEAST 5 WHOLE MINUTES STRAIGHT!!!!!! I was astonished! He is normally such a quiet, but gruff man. It gave me warm Christmas fuzzies inside.
I'm also officially registered for my spring college course, ASL II, and am SO excited for class to start. I'm taking through the same teacher that I had ASL I with, which will make the transition from class to class feel like practically nothing. I ALSO found out that I only missed a total of 6 points on my hundred point ASL I final!! I know at least two of those points are because I was late and missed the first phrase my teacher signed. I ended up passing the class with a 97%. I think that may be the best I've ever done in any class, but then again, it's the only class I've ever taken where I'm learning to speak.
Tomorrow I'm off to see all those crazy people I'm related to, and I just hope I'll be able to feel the Christmas spirit with all the madness.
Merry Christmas everyone, and remember the Reason for the Season!!!!!!
Up and down across the town the Christmas spirit is there!
Joyful sounds and sights abound, the streets are filled with love!
All in celebration of a child sent from above!
(I believe the song is called 'Christmas Day is on it's Way', but I'm not sure. I sang it with my stake Youth Creche Choir)
Christmas Eve is in...about... an hour and a half. It's EPIC!!!! I am SO bummed that it's almost over! I feel like I haven't even fully grasped that's it's Christmas!
Oh well, I have a day or two left.
So I have to give a talk in church on Sunday... even though I just gave one two months ago. (They're trying to catch up, I think, since they didn't ask me to speak in church for a good 2 1/2 years between the time I was 13 and the she spring of my 15th year ) I almost want to take it as a bad omen though. My very first talk ever was on the Sunday after Christmas, and it didn't go well. At all. My friends still get a kick out of my mess-ups, four years later. But it's all good, I'm actually kind of excited! I'm talking on 'The Healing Power of Forgiveness', a talk given by Pres. Faust in the Spring '07 conference, and it will be my 3rd talk this year.
Also, we had a work party today, which was incredibly small, since the Doctor only keeps a staff of 8 people. But we had an Italian potluck and Secret Santa. For my Contribution, I brought Jared's special Pizza, and came incredibly close to cutting off the tip of my finger in the process. I even have the slice in my fingernail to prove it. Then I gave my closest friend in the office a copy of 'One Bright Shining Hope'(I think) and received a copy of Fever Pitch from one of the other really nice women. Then the dear Dentist said some really nice words about each of his staff members, and it was incredible for a few reasons: 1st, he said something nice about EVERYONE! 2nd, he said that, even though he doesn't show it, he cares about each of us, thinks about us individually occasionally, and appreciates our efforts, and 3rd was the simple fact that HE WAS SPEAKING FOR AT LEAST 5 WHOLE MINUTES STRAIGHT!!!!!! I was astonished! He is normally such a quiet, but gruff man. It gave me warm Christmas fuzzies inside.
I'm also officially registered for my spring college course, ASL II, and am SO excited for class to start. I'm taking through the same teacher that I had ASL I with, which will make the transition from class to class feel like practically nothing. I ALSO found out that I only missed a total of 6 points on my hundred point ASL I final!! I know at least two of those points are because I was late and missed the first phrase my teacher signed. I ended up passing the class with a 97%. I think that may be the best I've ever done in any class, but then again, it's the only class I've ever taken where I'm learning to speak.
Tomorrow I'm off to see all those crazy people I'm related to, and I just hope I'll be able to feel the Christmas spirit with all the madness.
Merry Christmas everyone, and remember the Reason for the Season!!!!!!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Nothing
You know when you reach a point in life where you just have to take a step back, and decide what happens next? I'm there.
I pretty much had to decide between: a)working myself dead, but getting my make-up history work finished, even if it means four more 1 am nights, or b)just give up here, forget about it, try and do well on the final, but ultimately take the failing grade, and if nothing else, just take the simple, boring, average 11th grade History class as a senior, get the credits, and pray everything still turns out ok. I mean, I'm in a college US History class. Some people just aren't cut out for that kind of thing. I might not be cut out for that level stuff right now. Well, I MIGHT not be cut out for it, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to take option A. I'm going to stay up all week and finish my work, and I'm going to try as hard as possible to pass that class.
I also had to take into consideration my math class. I tool the easier class this year, which is out of my character, but it could have been one of the better decisions of last semester. I had to consider, however, do I stay in Pre-Calculus, even though it's a challenging class that will only get harder, or do I flake out and take the much easier trigonometry class? Yeah, typical me, I'm not quitting that class either. I don't learn well, do I?
And then this spring, I will take the AP US History Exam, the AP English exam, the SAT and the ACT, and begin my college applications. Ooo I'm so excited I could scream! [heh heh *nervous twitch*]
I pretty much had to decide between: a)working myself dead, but getting my make-up history work finished, even if it means four more 1 am nights, or b)just give up here, forget about it, try and do well on the final, but ultimately take the failing grade, and if nothing else, just take the simple, boring, average 11th grade History class as a senior, get the credits, and pray everything still turns out ok. I mean, I'm in a college US History class. Some people just aren't cut out for that kind of thing. I might not be cut out for that level stuff right now. Well, I MIGHT not be cut out for it, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to take option A. I'm going to stay up all week and finish my work, and I'm going to try as hard as possible to pass that class.
I also had to take into consideration my math class. I tool the easier class this year, which is out of my character, but it could have been one of the better decisions of last semester. I had to consider, however, do I stay in Pre-Calculus, even though it's a challenging class that will only get harder, or do I flake out and take the much easier trigonometry class? Yeah, typical me, I'm not quitting that class either. I don't learn well, do I?
And then this spring, I will take the AP US History Exam, the AP English exam, the SAT and the ACT, and begin my college applications. Ooo I'm so excited I could scream! [heh heh *nervous twitch*]
Friday, December 12, 2008
Why English is Evil
After staying up until 11 o'clock or later for the past week working on a final project for English, which was a giant essay filled with 18 normal size ones, I finally turned it in today at a final size of 25 pages, MLA format, with a bibliography.
And last night was the best...I didn't go to bed until around 1:30, never really did read all the way through my essay to proof-read, it's actually missing a section because for the life of me I could not find a professional literary criticism of Fahrenheit 451 at one in the morning, and I drank more water while writing than I do in an average week.
My sweet mom tried to stay up with me the entire time, but she only made it 'till about 12:30.
Also last night, I had to get my sister ready for her first middle school choir performance, which took a good hour out of work time, and THEN the fun began. about half an hour before I had to drive Bailee to the school, a salesman knocks at the door, asking for the heads of the household. I didn't open the door wide, because I was using one leg to keep the dog in, but I still got a pretty good look at the guy. 15 minutes later when I went to get my binder out of the car, he was there, just leaning against the streetlight across from my house. Now there are only houses on one side of my street, and I'm towards the end, so I thought it was a weird place to stop and wait. another 15 minutes passed, I had to take Bailee to the school, and he was still there. I didn't like the looks of him, so I double checked that all the doors were locked. I mean, I TOLD him my parents weren't home, and now we were leaving. needless to say, I BOOKED it to the school and back, and when I came back, he was gone, but my doors were in tact and the dog was peacefully in his kennel, but he didn't leave my side the rest of the night, unless he was guarding the door.
I went back to essay writing, but out of curiosity, I got up to peek around my Christmas tree at the light across the street, and he was there again. Almost right then, one of my neighbors calls me up, and asks if I knew him, but I didn't. She was getting worried too, but she had to leave soon, so when I told her I was home alone, she called one of my other neighbors, and asks him to go see what's up, but he wasn't home yet. So neighbor #1 calls the police and asks them to check the guy out. I was on the phone with my mom at this point, telling her what was going on, and was still on the phone with her when police came a few minutes later. Neighbor #2 came over as soon as he got home, and said he talked to the guy, who just said his ride wasn't here yet. My neighbor also invited me to stay with him and his wife for a few hours, so I wasn't home alone, and brought in my trashcans and mail so I didn't have to go outside again. I'm so glad my neighbors are bigger guys. I sat in the window behind my tree and gave my mom a play-by-play of the police-stranger interaction. He pulled up, shined all his big lights right in the guys eyes, and talked to him for about half an hour. I saw stranger hand over his ID, and his little black book that he'd been carrying around. The policeman continued talking to him, gestured at all the houses a few times, then eventually left, with the guy still sitting on the curb.
I figured the guy's story checked out, so I went back to writing while my dog laid down in front of the door, and I turned on my house alarm system. I had probably lost a good two hours of writing by now. I checked outside and hour later, and the guy was gone, but 15 minutes after that, he was back again.
Neighbor #1 called a while later to tell me she and her husband were home again, and neighbor #2 came over to tell me that the guy had been gone for a while. He gave me his cell phone number just in case I had any problems, told me to just keep my doors locked and reset my alarm system, and he was gone too. I finally went back to writing my essay for the next 5 hours. Maybe that is why mom tried to stay up with me...
Talk about neighborhood watch. I want to bake my neighbors cookies or something, to say thanks for watching out for me last night. I know the first one let the police know there was a 16 year old girl home alone, and the police did do a few drive-byes. It reminded me of when my mom left me home and I was littler, and I kept hearing strange noises and got really scared, so I set the alarm and locked the doors that time too, until daddy came home.
AND THEN after about 4 hours of sleep, I went to seminary, slept in the back of my friends van before school, then made it all the way through first period, turned in my essay, and heading straight for the nurse during the passing period. I told her I felt sick and just wanted to go home, but she wouldn't even talk to me except to tell me I needed a pass! So I walked all the way to 2nd period, walked straight to my teacher and said "please write me a pass to the nurse. She won't see me without one." He took one look at me, handed me the pass and said "I take it you're not feeling well." I managed a weak smile and left, because I really did feel sick by this time.
I then waited for 10 minutes while the nurse finished a call about some exciting new property for sale. She finally comes over and says,"so you've got a cold?"
"I had mono a few months ago and..." she didn't let me finish my sentence.
"Ok, go ahead and give mom a call, let me talk to her, and if she says it's ok, I'll send you home." My mom and I were already secret cohorts though--if the nurse didn't let me out, she call and check me out. But I was excused, drove home, crashed in bed and slept for the next 6 hours, only waking up because my head was throbbing and I was hungry.
And that long tale is why English is evil. I blame the essay.
And last night was the best...I didn't go to bed until around 1:30, never really did read all the way through my essay to proof-read, it's actually missing a section because for the life of me I could not find a professional literary criticism of Fahrenheit 451 at one in the morning, and I drank more water while writing than I do in an average week.
My sweet mom tried to stay up with me the entire time, but she only made it 'till about 12:30.
Also last night, I had to get my sister ready for her first middle school choir performance, which took a good hour out of work time, and THEN the fun began. about half an hour before I had to drive Bailee to the school, a salesman knocks at the door, asking for the heads of the household. I didn't open the door wide, because I was using one leg to keep the dog in, but I still got a pretty good look at the guy. 15 minutes later when I went to get my binder out of the car, he was there, just leaning against the streetlight across from my house. Now there are only houses on one side of my street, and I'm towards the end, so I thought it was a weird place to stop and wait. another 15 minutes passed, I had to take Bailee to the school, and he was still there. I didn't like the looks of him, so I double checked that all the doors were locked. I mean, I TOLD him my parents weren't home, and now we were leaving. needless to say, I BOOKED it to the school and back, and when I came back, he was gone, but my doors were in tact and the dog was peacefully in his kennel, but he didn't leave my side the rest of the night, unless he was guarding the door.
I went back to essay writing, but out of curiosity, I got up to peek around my Christmas tree at the light across the street, and he was there again. Almost right then, one of my neighbors calls me up, and asks if I knew him, but I didn't. She was getting worried too, but she had to leave soon, so when I told her I was home alone, she called one of my other neighbors, and asks him to go see what's up, but he wasn't home yet. So neighbor #1 calls the police and asks them to check the guy out. I was on the phone with my mom at this point, telling her what was going on, and was still on the phone with her when police came a few minutes later. Neighbor #2 came over as soon as he got home, and said he talked to the guy, who just said his ride wasn't here yet. My neighbor also invited me to stay with him and his wife for a few hours, so I wasn't home alone, and brought in my trashcans and mail so I didn't have to go outside again. I'm so glad my neighbors are bigger guys. I sat in the window behind my tree and gave my mom a play-by-play of the police-stranger interaction. He pulled up, shined all his big lights right in the guys eyes, and talked to him for about half an hour. I saw stranger hand over his ID, and his little black book that he'd been carrying around. The policeman continued talking to him, gestured at all the houses a few times, then eventually left, with the guy still sitting on the curb.
I figured the guy's story checked out, so I went back to writing while my dog laid down in front of the door, and I turned on my house alarm system. I had probably lost a good two hours of writing by now. I checked outside and hour later, and the guy was gone, but 15 minutes after that, he was back again.
Neighbor #1 called a while later to tell me she and her husband were home again, and neighbor #2 came over to tell me that the guy had been gone for a while. He gave me his cell phone number just in case I had any problems, told me to just keep my doors locked and reset my alarm system, and he was gone too. I finally went back to writing my essay for the next 5 hours. Maybe that is why mom tried to stay up with me...
Talk about neighborhood watch. I want to bake my neighbors cookies or something, to say thanks for watching out for me last night. I know the first one let the police know there was a 16 year old girl home alone, and the police did do a few drive-byes. It reminded me of when my mom left me home and I was littler, and I kept hearing strange noises and got really scared, so I set the alarm and locked the doors that time too, until daddy came home.
AND THEN after about 4 hours of sleep, I went to seminary, slept in the back of my friends van before school, then made it all the way through first period, turned in my essay, and heading straight for the nurse during the passing period. I told her I felt sick and just wanted to go home, but she wouldn't even talk to me except to tell me I needed a pass! So I walked all the way to 2nd period, walked straight to my teacher and said "please write me a pass to the nurse. She won't see me without one." He took one look at me, handed me the pass and said "I take it you're not feeling well." I managed a weak smile and left, because I really did feel sick by this time.
I then waited for 10 minutes while the nurse finished a call about some exciting new property for sale. She finally comes over and says,"so you've got a cold?"
"I had mono a few months ago and..." she didn't let me finish my sentence.
"Ok, go ahead and give mom a call, let me talk to her, and if she says it's ok, I'll send you home." My mom and I were already secret cohorts though--if the nurse didn't let me out, she call and check me out. But I was excused, drove home, crashed in bed and slept for the next 6 hours, only waking up because my head was throbbing and I was hungry.
And that long tale is why English is evil. I blame the essay.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Me...whining
I've been pretty busy lately, with homework and holiday preparations and festivities. A lot of homework has been thrown around, with a dozen page essay due this week, a model of a cochlea that I'm *praying* will get done, anatomy tests, a lot of history that needs to be studied, and some gigantic ASL finals that I'm not TOO scared of...but I definitely want to do well. I also had a piano recital and then an orchestra concert last Thursday. If I can get a recording from my teacher, I'll post it; she recorded my entire recital performance.
Hmm...the essay is for my English class...the one that I'm only passing with a decent grade because I can spin off some awesome smaller essays off the top of my head. Anyway, this essay is supposed to be basically 5 or 6 essays all bunched into one nice one. I'm writing mine on Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
As for anatomy...I believe the Cochlea may be one of the hardest things to build. Ever. Like harder than that bunny rabbit I made out of a milk carton in 2nd grade, and even harder than the mouse trap powered car I made in 8th grade. One of the hardest parts though, I have to admit, is working in a group. I've worked in too many groups where I either end up getting left out or doing all the work, so when a teacher mentions "group project"...I cower in fear. And I didn't know we COULD work on this one alone...which apparently we could. So after pretty much planning, organizing and building most of the project, I did my least favorite thing: I drove it to one of my partners houses...and left it there for her to work on. I wouldn't have done it if I had time to work on it tomorrow, but I don't. It will have to be a lesson for me in learning to trust people I guess.(Because in general, I don't. Sad but true.) The Ear is also one of the hardest parts of the Human Body to study and learn about as well. It's one of those organs where a tube can be fully connected and has one fluid running throughout it, but the fluid on one end has one name, and at the other end has another name. I'm getting SO confused with all the scala vestibuli's and scala timpani's and timpanic membranes and EVERYTHING!! Because the eardrum is NOT the eardrum anymore. Nor is the ear the ear. It's the pinna, or the external auditory something or other... get my point?
History...I'm studying it...I guess just not the right things...which is why I keep failing tests supposedly. I'm working on it though.
Sign Language: I have to learn and memorize 2 minutes worth of signing on my favorite movie, which is Pride and Prejudice. Then my teacher will sign phrases and words, and I have to translate it on paper. Should be easy enough, but I get such shaky hands when I'm nervous, and my teacher commented on it once. It's not good to have shaky hands when you are using them to speak.
Today was an undoubtedly different Sunday for me, because for the better part of the day, I was on my own. I woke up and no one was home, so I drove to practice for one of the 3 singing performances I have this month, got all nice and ready, and ALMOST ended up sitting by myself all through sacrament meeting. But luckily, I arranged to sit with Bri, so it was ok, But it still felt weird being at church alone.
I posted a link to one of my favorite sheet music downloading place, here, so check it out if you want. I just downloaded Come Sail Away, performed by Styx, for my mom. It's fun to play, not too hard. But now I should probably go study...or sleep. Whichever comes first. Or dominates over the other.
Hmm...the essay is for my English class...the one that I'm only passing with a decent grade because I can spin off some awesome smaller essays off the top of my head. Anyway, this essay is supposed to be basically 5 or 6 essays all bunched into one nice one. I'm writing mine on Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
As for anatomy...I believe the Cochlea may be one of the hardest things to build. Ever. Like harder than that bunny rabbit I made out of a milk carton in 2nd grade, and even harder than the mouse trap powered car I made in 8th grade. One of the hardest parts though, I have to admit, is working in a group. I've worked in too many groups where I either end up getting left out or doing all the work, so when a teacher mentions "group project"...I cower in fear. And I didn't know we COULD work on this one alone...which apparently we could. So after pretty much planning, organizing and building most of the project, I did my least favorite thing: I drove it to one of my partners houses...and left it there for her to work on. I wouldn't have done it if I had time to work on it tomorrow, but I don't. It will have to be a lesson for me in learning to trust people I guess.(Because in general, I don't. Sad but true.) The Ear is also one of the hardest parts of the Human Body to study and learn about as well. It's one of those organs where a tube can be fully connected and has one fluid running throughout it, but the fluid on one end has one name, and at the other end has another name. I'm getting SO confused with all the scala vestibuli's and scala timpani's and timpanic membranes and EVERYTHING!! Because the eardrum is NOT the eardrum anymore. Nor is the ear the ear. It's the pinna, or the external auditory something or other... get my point?
History...I'm studying it...I guess just not the right things...which is why I keep failing tests supposedly. I'm working on it though.
Sign Language: I have to learn and memorize 2 minutes worth of signing on my favorite movie, which is Pride and Prejudice. Then my teacher will sign phrases and words, and I have to translate it on paper. Should be easy enough, but I get such shaky hands when I'm nervous, and my teacher commented on it once. It's not good to have shaky hands when you are using them to speak.
Today was an undoubtedly different Sunday for me, because for the better part of the day, I was on my own. I woke up and no one was home, so I drove to practice for one of the 3 singing performances I have this month, got all nice and ready, and ALMOST ended up sitting by myself all through sacrament meeting. But luckily, I arranged to sit with Bri, so it was ok, But it still felt weird being at church alone.
I posted a link to one of my favorite sheet music downloading place, here, so check it out if you want. I just downloaded Come Sail Away, performed by Styx, for my mom. It's fun to play, not too hard. But now I should probably go study...or sleep. Whichever comes first. Or dominates over the other.
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