Grammys, YEAH MAN

I love the Grammys! I had totally forgotten about them until my parents yelled at me while I was downstairs creeping on peoples facebooks, telling me to get upstairs and watch them!
Of course, it opened with the one and only Lady Gaga, I love her! She is definitely unique and genuine, which is truly what makes someone really remarkable. I love it when people can actually perform and sing almost exactly like they do on their CD's or music videos, and she surely doesn't have a problem doing that!
All I really got to see of the Grammys tonight was the performances and some of the awards, because we kept switching back and forth between this and this SNL special showing that was broadcasting. My dad and I usually watch SNL together, so tonight wasn't unusual; it was so hilarious! I think it was a look back on the sports clips that SNL did. Some were eh, a little too old for me to get, but then there were some that were kind of new and real hilarious. For instance, there was a skit with people acting like Tiger Woods and his wife, ex-wife, whatever, and I almost died! Then, there was a skit where two guys were being news reporters and one was supposedly an alien, and he was just hysterical. I can't get enough of that show!
Anyways, back to the Grammys, I tuned back and got to see Pinks performance. She did this song where she wound up in this white blanket thing and hung from the ceiling, doing acrobatic type moves. Of course, at the time, she was sing beautifully, but there was no way that she was singing live then. I mean of course she could have very well been singing live, but I am a singer and I know that it is kind of hard to even talk when you are bent over backwards. No matter that, it was still really good. Then came Beyonce, who is probably one of my top three favorite singers. She can dance, sing, act, and she is truly a role model. I haven't heard of any bad things about her, like I do with most other pop stars who get in trouble with there shenanigans.
There were a lot of things that went on tonight, like Taylor getting her first ever Grammy award and such, that was cool to see.
I love the Grammys!

Hmm, very peculia

I am very surprised with myself; I just realized that I have never really talked about concert choir! Nothing really interesting happens in it, I guess, but lately we have been singing the weirdest, but really cool, things.
Contest is coming up, so we have to sing a couple of all girl songs, all boy songs, and then songs altogether. I have no clue what the boys are singing for their little songs, but I know that ours are just really out there and crazy! There is this one that is about vacuuming. Yeah, I know right, what?!? It sounds really stupid, but the song is really really neat. All the different parts, alto, soprano two, and soprano one, have different sounds and beats that make the song sound really cool. Words like hoom, wye (why-ya), and cu cu ru(coo coo roo); it is really strange but I like it!
Then we have another song that has weird, but cool, beats like the vacuuming song. I forget how it starts, but I know that at the end of the songs, things get REALLY crazy. We all say this line, "tucka tucka tucka tucka tee tucka ton" but on different levels and it sounds so legit. Since I am singing in it I don't get to hear how cool it sounds, but our director told us that if done right, you hear "tee tee tee, ton ton ton" from the lines fitting together just right.
I am really excited to get these two songs down because I know how amazing they will be, but right now we are definitely not there.
Although those two are my favorite, the songs that we sing as a whole are pretty nice too. We're singing a Mozart one, eh, and another choral one that is like Mozart, but it isn't. They are both songs that are very proper, sort of slow at parts, but sound really pretty.
That is basically all that is really going on right now in choir, the longest class of my school day, but I am sure once something else comes up that interests me, I'll be blogging about it.

I am sixteen, going on seventeen

Ahh, the Sound of Music. That movie is just the greatest thing ever! I haven't seen it in a while, but if it ever happened to be on television or I would happen to see it in our big mess of DVDs, I would totally watch it! The thing I love the most about it is all the music in it; there is the puppet song (don't remember what it is called), the "DO RE ME" song, but most importantly, the song "I am Sixteen, Going on Seventeen". Why is that song so important? Well, there is a national holiday coming up for this one girl who is, weirdly enough, sixteen and turning seventeen! Yes, that is right, it's ME. So what could I write about? What I hope I am getting? Nope, I know what I am getting, sad enough. It all, strangely, goes back to Christmas.
On Christmas Eve, around ten or so at night, my cousins and I were all just hanging out in my cousins basement, in Indiana. I happen to have had to go to the bathroom, so I halted my texting session with a friend and plopped my phone in my back pocket... not a good plan. Next thing I know, my phone is half way in the toilet, floating around like an inner tube. Now I know what you are thinking, and NO there wasn't anything IN the toilet.. ew! But still, my phone was IN THE TOILET. I frantically took it out, drying it as fast as I could, yet in the end there was nothing I could do. Turning it off and blow drying it, laying it in a bag of rice, nothing. So I had to talk with my parents about what to do because, in the long run, my plan for my phone wasn't going to be up for quite sometime and I was going to need a new phone, pronto. My mom, unfortunately, had to tell me that I was getting a camera for my birthday and that she needed to know if I wanted a phone instead of a camera, or the camera, cause she had to return the camera soon if I chose the phone. Luckily enough, I found out that my plan was over February 28, so I only had to use one of my old working phones for a couple of months! With that said, I was very pleased, yet disappointed that I knew my upcoming birthday gift.
So instead of talking about what I want, I want to look back on my sweet sixteen. It actually was one of my best years, so far. I went through a lot, but I grew a lot from everything. There has been new and amazing people that I have met and are now my best friends, and there are some things that I have left behind. I went from being afraid of a lot of things, to letting myself go a little and learning what I could from my mistakes. I know I have become way more responsible with my school work and life outside of school, and I am more open about things. I've learned that, no matter what, be yourself. In the end, even if you lose things that you thought were what you needed, everything will be where it is suppose to be. I've lived one of THE best sweet sixteens that anyone ever could, but tomorrow, a new page is being turned.
At 7:30, I will be officially a woman... well, at least someone with new driving hours!

Sweeney Todd

So for our schools musical this year, we are doing Sweeney Todd; I am kind of ecstatic.
If you haven't seen the movie, first of all, than you definitely need to do that pronto! Before I even had seen this movie/musical play, I thought it sounded really weird. I didn't know it was a broadway play, only a movie, so I couldn't help but wonder why they were making a movie like this. To me it just seemed out of the blue. After I went to see it with my family, I was so surprised; I loved it! The storyline, though full of gruesome goriness and blood, was really clever and good.
It is set in London, and is about this man, Benjamin Barker, who was a barber and who married this beautiful woman. They had a daughter, Johanna, and the family lived happily ever after... until the judge of the town made a scheme that sent him (Sweeney) far away from London so that he could have Sweeney's wife all to himself. Sweeney eventually comes back to london, years later, full of revenge and anger towards this judge. Then comes all the blood and goriness as he kills men, in hopes to kill the judge and get his family back. That was a really short description, but you just really need to see the movie for yourself.

Wii Fittin' it up

It was Christmas day, and as all the gifts were being passed out there was one in particular that stuck out to me. It was abnormally big and on the top there was a sticker labeling the gift as our family's; I was pumped! Before I knew it, the wrapping paper was being ripped off this gift and there laid the most amazing thing ever... Wii Fit!
Ever since that fateful day my Wii sat untouched in my living room, longing for the attention of my busy family and I. About a couple of weeks ago, I was sitting on my couch and noticed it all alone, and I knew I had to get this thing-a-ma-gig going. Literally ten minutes later, my mom and I were setting up our accounts. My mom, of course, got bored of the game and decided to go back to her other daily tasks, so I took over and started playing.
There are so many things to do! You can do yoga, aerobics, strength training, balance games, and so much more! All the games have there different ways of helping you get "fit", and boy do they really work you. I decided to go to the aerobics games and play "super hula-hooping" the other day and by the time I was done, I was about to collapse on the floor! I know that I am really out of shape, but I never knew I would get kicked in the butt with this one little game. After that, I tried this dance step game, a punching game, and this one where you actually take a "jog". The aerobics really tired me out, but I kept up my workout! I went to yoga and strength training, and those were even harder. You have to focus on all these things at once, like your posture, what muscles you are using, how to breathe right' it all just makes you wanna fall over and die... but it is really good for you.
Before you can even play the little games, you have to do this body test. They go through all these little facts to help you understand everything, and then you have to take a balance test, give it your info, and then it measures you. It's actually kind of cool to see how healthy your body is and how fit you are. The game even gives you what age it thinks you are by all the tests it did on you, and it thought I was 17; perfect! I had to laugh when one of my friends, who is really big and buff, told me that the game thought he was 47.
After awhile, I got the hang of it all and now I'm practically using it like everyday. Who wouldn't want to get into shape by playing a simple, fun game that is produced with a simple click of a Wii control? Well I am for sure and absolutely positive that this game is the best thing ever. That is, until I get really tired of it; lets hope that doesn't happen soon!

On to State!

I've talked a little bit about our speech team and the musical theater gig that I am doing for it, but nothing has actually happened until yesterday. Yesterday was the big day, districts, and I am sure that everyone was a little nervous. There were so many different schools there with all their groups of people that it was all just so crazy!
It was another early morning for me; 3 am to be exact. We all had to meet at Kennedy at 545, load the buses, and take the long ride to Monticello. When we got there, we all packed ourselves into the gym with the other hundred people; it was so packed! So many schools were there, all getting themselves ready for their different shows. Our show, Spring Awakening, was scheduled to go around 9:30 am, so we immediately got ourselves ready and dressed into our nice clothes. Sooner than later, we were humming our short show and warming up our voices for the performance. Right after we went, I felt satisfied. I knew we were pretty good and that it wasn't very hard to go onto State, but there always those small details that could cause us our chance.
With the long day ahead of us, we decided to go and watch other groups. There were a lot of very good ones, like miming, one act, choral reading, and a lot more. For Kennedy, I'd have to say that almost all of our groups did amazingly well. We even had a choral reading where everyone in it got their make up professionally done, making them look like real demons which is what they were. Also, we had another musical theater group that did RENT, and they did exceptionally well. Everyone was pumped and happy about there performance, and at the end of the day we all found out our scores. I am almost positive that all of our groups went on to State, except for a few, but overall that is quite good!
For other schools, I think the percentage of who made it on and who didn't was a little different. Some of the performances out there were just awful! One group, a musical theater one, had girls who couldn't sing one right note or people who would, while acting, look at people in the audience and basically forget what they were doing. I know it is my first year doing this, so I am not a pro, but I do know how to pick out a good actor/actress in a performance and someone who shouldn't even be up there. It is kind of harsh, but I mean seriously people!
Overall, everyone tried their hardest and I am so happy that I did speech this year! I can't wait for the rest of the season.

Speech Team: Spring Awakening

I haven't talked much about this, but I have been in it for quite some time. Speech team has been going on for about a couple months now, and it is truly an experience. Its my first year and I am already loving the little musical that I'm in, called Spring Awakening.

So at the beginning of the year, there were auditions to be on the speech team and I didn't think anything of it. A lot of the people I knew were signing up and all excited about it, and I was just like... what. Then the leader of it all, the theater director, pulled me out of the hall and asked if I was going to try out for the team. I looked at him and answered no when he gave me the try out sheets and told me he wanted me to do musical theater. I walked out of his room and thought, maybe I should do this. So with that, I practiced and practiced my music, trying to learn all the notes and words in one day because, well, the try outs were that next day. I showed up to the try outs, did the little speaking skit, a skit between me and one of my friends, and then the song. I did alright for only practicing it a day, but I wasn't expecting to make it at all. The next day, we had a meeting for everyone who auditioned; I soon found out I made the musical! I was so happy!
Ever since then, we have been practicing our three songs and the main skit in between. Our first song is called, "I believe" and it sort of opens the show, which is about a sort of touchy subject. This teenage girl doesn't understand what sex is, and during the song her and her boyfriend are doing the confusing thing. The girl tries to talk to her mother about it, to learn, but her mother doesn't want to explain, and it is all just a confusing thing. That is the skit, between the mother and the daughter, but before the scene there is a song just with the main girl singing. Then, at the very end of the show, everyone comes together and sings "Mama who bore me". That song is more of a moody one, where we are suppose to be upset and angry at the mother who wouldn't "reach" to her daughter and help her through all her confusion. The little 10 minute show is actually pretty good, and we have our first performance this weekend at districts. I am, of course, really nervous because I have never done this before, but then again I am so excited! I can't wait to see what will happen.

Viterbo... onto Supernova

So Saturday we had our second competition at Linn Mar Highschool. Luckily this one was in town, so there was no waking up at three in the morning to go to school to ride a bus for four hours scenario. We didn't have to be there until 10 in the morning, so I got myself up, ate some breakfast, and headed over to the long day that laid ahead.
Walking into the auditorium with all the hard curlers in my hair, I and all of Protege and Happiness cheered on Chantuers as they performed at their first ever competition. They did really well too! Anyways, the day slowly went on slowly as everyone tried to busy themselves by walking around the school about a hundred times (well me and my friends did at least!). Finally, around one o'clock, Protege performed and we all went back to watch them kick ass. They did amazingly well, as usual. Then, it was all a blur of make-up, costumes, and noise as Happiness got ready for their show. We were all in our own zones. Viterbo didn't go as we had hoped, and this weekend we wanted to prove to everyone that we had worked our butts off and were ready to do the best show EVA! With that said, we went onto the risers, out into the bright lights, and performed what we knew best. Sooner than later, all the groups were done performing and we all gathered into the gym for a short dance party and then awards. Chantuers ended up getting second out of two groups, but hey, they did their best! Protege wound up in second behind Vitality from Urbandale with only about 1 or 2 points difference! They were a little upset, but were still pleased I think. Then came the 6 finalists for the night round and we had made it! We found out after the awards that we were in fifthh for the day round and we knew we had to kick it up for the night, and thats what we did. All the groups did so well! Washington, Urbandale, and best of all, Tatino Grace. They were THE BEST THING EVER. After we performed, we went to watch them and i literally almost peed my pants. I had never seen a showchoir be so good in my LIFE. We all knew they were going to win, and they ended up getting first. We, on the other hand, got... third!!! It isn't winning, but going from fifth to third was a HUGE success for us.

The Lovely Bones

This movie was one of those movies that, when you watch the preview, sort of gives a different impression of what the movie is really going to be about. That was how it was for me, anyways. The preview left me thinking that this girl was murdered and she came back as a spirit to help her family find the killer. Well, that was partly what the movie was about, but there was a whole other level in the movie that wasn't guessed at all.
The main girl in the movie, Susie Salmon, grows up in a loving family and neighborhood. As she becomes older, though, she becomes troubled with a new crush, her parents growing apart, and no one really understanding her love for taking photos. She is fourteen years old and is murdered by a man that was living in her neighborhood. She winds up in this weird world, between heaven and earth. There, she learns the truth behind her murderer, and reaches out to her family to show them what really happened. Not only was the storyline really good, but the movie itself was really weird and different. It definitely doesn't fit in with a lot of the other movies that are usually made, and I think that's why I liked it so much.
After I left the movie theater, I felt kind of strange. For some reason, this movie really bothered me. I'm guessing it was the murderer, because that guy was really weird! Huge creeper! I was talking with my friend who went with me, and we were saying that we felt really bad for that actor. Since he did so well at his part in being a huge creeper killer molester man, it'd be really hard for us to see him in person and not be creeped out.

And the season begins

We had our first showchoir competion this weekend, the earliest Happiness has ever had one. Last week, we practiced and practiced, doing our show over and over until we thought we were ready. It was a tiring week, but I am so glad that we did it. We finally felt ready to do show our whole show, but we hadn't known how much we needed to "want it" until we stepped into the doors of Viterbo.
It was Saturday morning, around four am, and everyone, excluding Chantuers who weren't going, was standing in Kennedy's choir room, half asleep and unaware of what was going on. As soon as the buses arrived, we all loaded ourselves onto it, ready to go back to sleep for the four hour ride. Before I knew it, we were all at the College, and it was sort of crazy. No one really knew where they were going and everyone was becoming anxious about what was about to happen. With the crazy emotions filling up our heads, we headed to our separate rooms and settled in. Me and some of my friends decided to go get some breakfast, while Protege had to get ready for their early performance. Before we knew it, all of the families and Happiness were sitting in the audience, excitingly waiting to see the brilliant performance that we knew was going to occur.
After they performed, time was drawing closer for Happiness to go and we were all getting more and more anxious. I kept thinking to myself, are we ready? Can we pull ourselves together and surprise those who have been doubting us? It was like I blinked, and we all were in the warm up room, dressed and about to go on to perform. This was my first ever performance as a member in one of the top twenty showchoirs in the US. You wouldn't believe how nervous I was! I had to pull myself together, though, for it was the time; time to show everyone we were ready.
We found out that we got third in the day round, and we were bummed, but we still had finals. The awards came sooner than later and Protege had won in the prep category! They went up against only two other groups, but we were so proud of them. Then came the list of those who made the finals, they kept listing off different groups, but where was Happiness? All of a sudden we heard our name and were ecstatic! Then, out of the blue, Proteges name was called. Everyone was full of joy, and we were all so ready to do the show again.
That night, everyone really got into the zone. Even though we got third earlier in the day, we didn't let that affect us. I started to feel everyone actually wanting this, wanting to do good. Right before we went on, we all decided that we would "leave it on the stage"; we did the best show we ever had.
The awards for the night round were announced; we got third again, losing to Linnmar in second and Xavior in first. Everyone was surprisingly okay with things, including me. We knew this was an early competition and yeah, we should have been more ready, but we knew now what we had to do in order to get ready for this weekends competition.
Whoever is going to Linnmars competition should probably be scared, we're not coming without a fight.

Silence of the Lambs

The name sounds just as weird as the movie is. It's kind of an oldie, yet even today I hear people sometimes talking about it. When I was with one of my friends, I decided to go up to my sister's room and pick one of the movies. I was looking up and down the racks, trying to pick out something that I thought I would like, yet I couldn't seem to find anything. Most of the movies were ones that I had already seen, and others just looked like something I could easily fall asleep to. All of a sudden, I saw Silence of the Lambs and immediately knew we should watch it. It was one of the few that I hadn't seen AND it seemed really interesting; mystery and crime, my favorite!
The movie is about this FBI woman in training who is picked to solve a crime on a serial killer, known as "Buffalo Bill". This killer supposedly kills woman, skins them, and leaves them in a variety of places for the police and such to find. The trainee, Clarice Starling, first goes and talks with Hannibal lecter who used to be a well-known psychiatrist but became a cannibal, and tries to get information out of him about the case. The movie goes through all these small details that, if missed, will throw you off in the end. The ending is, of course, twisted in its own way.
The one thing that stuck out to me that made the movie so scary and frightening was how the director filmed it. There aren't any jump out scenes or loud surprising noises, but the angle of how they filmed the characters makes you so uncomfortable. They film straight on into the peoples faces when they talk, making it look like they are talking right at you even though they are talking to whoever is in the scene. For instance, when Claurice goes to talk with hannibal lecter, each one of their faces is slowly, but surely, zoomed in on, until it fills up the whole screen. I literally had to look away at one point because it was so overpowering.
It all was such a well thought out movie and very clever. I know some of the hannibal movies today are pretty good, so I've heard, but this is the only one that I have seen. I guess I better go and see those other movies now because I loved this one!

Top of the mornin' to ya laddy!

While we all get up each morning, do our own thing, and come to the same old school every same old week, my sister gets to go to classes in probably the coolest place ever; Ireland.

She signed up for the study abroad program at UNI about a year ago, wanting to go to Ireland to learn all she could in a whole different environment. It is not something everyone is able to do, and it isn't the cheapest thing ever, but it is so rewarding! We have old family friends who have went to France, Argentina, and Italy while they were attending their own colleges and they have repeatedly told us how much they learned and how much they grew from the experience. So with all this encouragement and loads of payments, my sister is now officially gone to the amazing country.

She left on December 31st (yeah, no new years party for her, sorry sarah) and has been there for a couple of days now. My family and I have skyped her a couple of times, and it is kind of weird. For instance, last night we were talking to her around 5 o'clock, and it was almost midnight there! Pretty weird, eh? Also, she was saying that her and one of the girls she went with, Molly, were so poor that they had bread and mao for breakfast. Gross! She is already getting a little homesick as well, which makes sense from someone who had to come home half way through a week at camp. Yeah, now she is going to be gone for 6 whole months! I know she will be okay, though, so it is all good.

I might as well tell you what she is studying to be; a history teacher. She was telling me about all the classes she is going to take in Ireland, and they sound really interesting. Nazi-ism and American History sound the coolest of them all. American History might not sound that cool, but to get the european perspective of our life history is really fascinating. When she comes back, all changed for the better and stuff, I can't wait to talk to her about everything. What she saw, did, what it was like, everything!

Then again, I might not need to ask her about everything she saw because my mom, my dad, and I all are going there for a whole week! We're going to see the historical sites, probably travel to London, and do whatever else there is to do. I will most likely be blogging about that experience once it occurs.