My Little Review

Okay, so the choir trip to the Ordway was amazing!  I had a lot of fun.  We saw Irving Berlin's White Christmas.  It was awesome just like everyone said it would be.  There were a lot of cool costumes and great voices.  At the end it even snowed!  I loved it!  Okay, so here's my review:

Irving Berlin's dazzling "White Christmas" is a show you will never forget.  The exquisite costumes play tricks with your eyes and they sparkle like Christmas lights in the night.  The music will have you singing along.  Even though the Musical has a different plot than the movie it still keeps you guessing.  I give Irvin Berlin's White Christmas 5 STARS.  I would recommend the show to everyone at any age. 

Choir Trip to the Ordway!

Today is the varsity choir trip to the Ordway! I am so excited. We only have to go to our first three classes and then lunch so that's a bonus, too. We are going to see a White Christmas. It's supposed to be a really flashy, fun show. It should be really good. Ms. Heaney, our choir director, said that Mr. Root (our Principal) just went to it this past weekend. He said it was very flashy and that we would like it so that's good. I can't wait!!! I hope our drive up there goes well because the weather and the roads don't look very good. It's so cold!!! But anyways I'll get back to you on how the show goes. I'll do a little review. :)

Love... Does anyone know?

Love. What is it? What's the definition?

1. To have a deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward (a person): We love our parents. I love my friends.
2. To have a feeling of intense desire and attraction toward (a person).
* According to the American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language

Okay, so now we know the definition but what does it mean? How will we know when we find this deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and attraction? Maybe we think we've found it but we really haven't. Maybe we have this picture in our head of what it should be like but that's not it. What if it's so much more than that? What if it's no where to be found? What if one never finds it?
I believe I've found it... in the arms of a new Mom, in the eyes of our families, and in the one we "love". It's something that no one can explain. Not even a dictionary but we all know it's out there and it's ever changing.

Snow Day - 12/9/08!!!!

The Snow Day we had yesterday was awesome!!! It was nice to have an extra day to relax especially after we had our choir concert. I was so excited when my Mom told me!!! Both my parents are teachers so they got the day off too. They enjoyed having the day off a lot also. Everyone always wonders who calls the snow days. A lot of people think it's the teachers but it's not. My Mom said if the teachers did get to decide we'd have tons of snow days. :) It's actually the transportation guy and the Superintendent that decide. So, we can thank them for the Snow Day. It ended up not being that bad yesterday. Oh, well. I'm just glad we had the day off. It was fun. My friends and I went to the B&B for Breakfast. Their pancakes are amazing! I love eating there. After we went to the B&B we hung out and played the Wii. My boyfriend just got one and they are very cool. So, anyways it was an awesome snow day.

My bell ringing.

My bell ringing was good. It was actually pretty fun. I saw some people I knew and I got to talk to them so that was fun. I had a really hectic day though! It was crazy! I woke up a little before 11 and 5 minutes after I woke up I got called to work from 11:30 - 7:30 - I work at St. John's. But I told them I couldn't because I had to bell ring. I really wanted to get my hero project done and it would have been hard to reschedule the bell ringing. They couldn't find anyone else to come in to work and they really needed me. So, I went in to work, left work, bell rang, and then went back to work after I was done bell ringing. It was a crazy day but it was fun. I'm glad I got a chance to do both. I need the money and I wanted to put in my community service hours/project. Bell ringing is definitely an easy way to give back to your community. If your looking for something to do for your project bell ringing is a good idea. Just give the Salvation Army a call. They'll be happy to hear from you!!

Brrrrr... It's freezing out!

It is so cold outside. I mean should we really have to go to school when it's this cold? :) JK but it is super cold! It was my first time driving on icy, wintry roads on Tuesday. It was kind of scary but I think I was mostly scared because my Mom had just freaked out about driving carefully because the roads were bad. I swerved twice but I was going really slow so it didn't matter. When I got home though I pulled into the garage and rammed into my Dad's workbench with the car. Oops! Shh... don't tell! :) Good thing my Mom wasn't home! Everything was fine on the car and the workbench so it's all good. They'll never notice. I just hope everyone out there is careful this winter. You can slip and slide at any time. It's important to be careful. Now I feel like my Mom.

Hero Project - Lights, Camera, Action

In my journalism class at school we were assigned this project... a Hero project. We have to research a certain person who was involved in humanitarian work. I think for that part of the project I am going to research Eleanor Roosevelt. She seems like a "hero" to me. I don't know much about her yet but hopefully I will. The second part of the project requires us to get involved. I've been trying to think of something to do for a long time and finally my Mom said I could bell ring for the Salvation Army. I thought that was a really good idea so that's what I'm going to do. I'm kind of nervous. I'll be all by myself. I just have to smile and say "hello". It should be a good experience. This project actually has a lot to do with a blog I wrote a while back - the one about Night by:Elie Wiesel. We all need to start getting involved and take care of each other. WE can't let something like the Holocaust happen again so let's not just stand by.
Oh, and if you want to come say "hi" to me while I'm ringing I'll be at Herbergers from 4-6 on Saturday.

Thanksgiving...

Thanksgiving was really different for my family this year.  We just stayed at home and no one else came over.  Usually we go somewhere or some of our other family members come over but this year it was weird.  A lot of my family was in Missouri for a Thanksgiving celebration there.  My Dad and Mom decided for us to stay at home.  I had dance and some other things going on that would have conflicted too so it was just easier to stay home.  My Mom was a little heartbroken.  I think she really would have liked to go.  On the other side of my family my Grandma is pretty sick.  She has too much bacteria in her stomach - she got some medicine to help get rid of the extra bacteria but she broke out from that.  I heard today the she is not doing very well.  I hope she gets better.  It will be fun to visit her soon.  So, because of all the other stuff going on we just stayed at home but it was nice.  I had a good day.  I hope everyone else out there had a fun and relaxing day, too.  And ate a lot of turkey!!!! 

Dance Concert

Hey!  Tomorrow is our dance concert at the Marion Ross Performing Arts Center.  I'm really excited.  I hope it goes well.  There are many interesting dances - including the Jazz Nutcracker and Cinderella.  I'm only in ballet.  Sometimes I wish I were in jazz.  It looks like so much fun.  We've been working on the dances since the end of June!  It takes a lot of work to put on a dance show.  Everyone has to know the moves and everything has to be synchronized.  If you've never been to a dance show you should come check it out.  It's a lot of fun.  My Grandparents, Mom, Dad, and Brother like to come.  Even my boyfriend likes to come.  Everyone seems to enjoy it!  So, if you have time tomorrow at 3:00 come out and see us dance.  I think you'll be impressed.

The Play!

The play went really well last night! It was awesome! I've gotten so many comments on how the pit orchestra sounded. I can't imagine how the actors and actresses must feel. There was almost a full house - tons of people. Tonight we might totally sell out. That would be awesome. Oh, and my Mom got to see it with her third grade students and they absolutely loved it!!!! It was so exciting. I don't want to give any of the parts away but they got really, really excited during one part. It was fun to hear them. And then of course when the Prince and Cinderella kissed there were some eyes covered. :) But if you get a chance you should come especially if you have kids or little siblings. They would love it and I think you would, too. It's at 7:30 tonight and tomorrow night.

Cinderella - AL High School Musical

Hey, everyone! Cinderella is playing this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday! You should all come check it out. I'm in the pit (band) for the show and I've gotten to see some of the play. I wish I could watch the whole thing. It's really fun to watch and the actors and actresses are very talented. It is super funny in parts (stepsisters :)). I hope you all get a chance to see it. My Mom is a third grade teacher at Hawthorne Elementary and she gets to come see it on Wednesday with her students. She says her students will for sure enjoy it. We have dress rehearsals today and tomorrow. And then the Wednesday performance! It's coming up soon! I'm really excited! I hope you can come and I hope that you enjoy it! I think you will.

Pearl Harbor

I just started watching the movie Pearl Harbor last night. I love it!!!! It's a very good movie but I have cried so much. I can't believe something like that could happen. Over 3,000 Americans died on that day in a very short period of time.  That's crazy.   My Grandpa was a part of WW2.  He fought in 53 missions and lived through all of them.  He is a hero.  I know it's past Veteran's Day but I think that it's very important to thank our Veterans.  Pearl Harbor (the movie) made war so much more real to me.  I couldn't believe what happened to America.  So many died that day, Dads, boyfriends, girlfriends...  It's so sad.  It's still happening today.  I would never be able to be as brave as they are.  They are amazing. 

Dating in high school???? Is it worth it?

Dating in high school is a big deal. I've heard many comments about it. Good or bad. Some people say it's not worth it and probably in some ways it's not. I agree with that but I also think that it's important to have some relationships that don't always work out so that we can learn from them. It's also important to find out what qualities you want in a your future husband or wife. I mean once high school is done, you go on to college, graduate, without ever dating. It might be tough to get out there. I think for some people it's probably right and others it's not. Some people might not be ready to date. I'm a romantic at heart. I love romantic movies and books. When I grow up I want to become the perfect super mom and have that perfect life :). My aunt and uncle were high school sweethearts and have been married for 15 years. They have 3 daughters that are beautiful. My boyfriend's parents were high school sweethearts also. They have been married for probably about 20-25 years. That's amazing! And I think it goes to show that dating in high is sometimes worth it. You just have to find the person that's right for you. Some find them in high school, others might find them after college.

Obama

Obama's name was heard throughout the U.S. on Wednesday.  He is our new President and the first African American President ever in the U.S.  He will go down in history no matter how his presidency goes.  I think it's really cool to be able to live during a time like this.  When I'm 94 I'll be able to tell my Great-Grandkids that I was there when our first African American President was elected.  It's crazy.  I can't imagine all the pressure he's under right now.  I mean any President has a huge responsibility but right now our country is going through a tough time.  He is the one that has to make the big decisions for us.  I hope he turns everything around for the better. 

Election Day! The end of the political ads!

It's election day! Finally! It seems like the campaigning has gone on for decades! In our high school today we had a mock election. Obama won by a landslide. I think he had about 68% of the vote. Even though I don't really know much about the two candidates it was fun to hear the results. A lot of people at my school fought with each other about which candidate was the best. In every class I heard that if McCain wins he'll die and if Obama wins he'll be assassinated. I think that's a little crazy but I guess however you want to look at it. The results of the real elections should be even more fun to hear. I've heard that it will be a close race. And after the votes are in the political ads will be over with! That's exciting news. Have a great election day.

Night by:Elie Wiesel

We just finished reading Night by:Elie Wiesel. I loved it! I think that we are so used to hearing facts about the Holocaust but this book tells and shows us the emotions. It's a really short read and once you start you will not be able to stop. Elie Wiesel is an amazing writer and the topic he's writing about is heart wrenching. Here is the summary on the back of the book:
Born in the town of Sighet, Transylvania, Elie Wiesel was a teenager when he and his family were taken from their home in 1944 to the Auschwitz concentration camp, and then to Buchenwald. NIGHT is the terrifying record of Elie Wiesel's memories of the death of his family, the death of his own innocence, and his despair as a deeply observant Jew confronting the absolute evil of man. This new translation by his wife and most frequent translator, Marion Wiesel, corrects important details and presents the most accurate rendering in English of Elie Wiesel's testimony to what happened in the camps and of his unforgettable message that this horror must never be allowed to happen again.
This book is amazing! Read it! You'll be glad you did.

Band Concert Tonight!

Hey, everyone! Tonight there's a band concert at ALHS in the auditorium. You should all come to support the bands. It should be good. I don't think you will regret it. We have worked really hard and we sound pretty good. Our choir concert was on Friday at St. Theodore's. It was amazing. I'm in the girls choir this year which is the middle choir and usually they don't sound very good. Guys are important to a choir because they sing the bottom but anyways my parents said we sounded really good. I don't know if that's true because parents kind of have to say that but we watched the video of us in choir and we did sound pretty good. I am very proud of us. The concert choir (top choir) was amazing!!!! They gave me chills. But everyone should come out and support the music "teams". It's important to support every activity in our schools.

My Confirmation

Today I was confirmed.  It was so amazing!  I had a great time and I got to see all of my family members and even some of my friends.  I can't believe that 3+ years is already done.  I feel like I just started confirmation classes.  Life goes by so fast.  I need to remember to live in the moment and not worry about things so much.  I tend to over think things a lot just like my Mom but that's okay.  Anyways, I just wanted to thank God and all of the people that have helped me through my faith journey.  I plan on keeping active in the church and I've been teaching sunday school.  I love it!  Teaching kids all that I know about faith and God is awesome.  I just feel that now that my classmates and I are confirmed that everyone stays active in the church.  I think that that is really important.

Political ads gone too far

Have you been watching t.v. lately?  Have you seen the multiple ads attacking different candidates?  I'm sure you have.  There are so many!  If you haven't seen one just turn on the t.v.  There you go.  You'll see one after the other.  It's crazy and most of the ads aren't positive.  Probably about 98% are negative.  That's pretty sad.  I even hear them on the radio!  I think that the ads have gone way too far and I think that they do nothing to change the voters opinions.  They are just annoying.  I think that the ads shouldn't be a allowed unless they are positive. 

I'm so glad that we have vacation!!!

It's MEA/fall break for every elementary, middle, and high school student in Minnesota! YAY!!! I'm so happy to have a break! It's only 2 days but it should still be nice to relax. If only it were longer... :) I'm going crazy right now trying to finish my homework so that I don't have to worry about it for the rest of the week. I didn't get a lot and I thank my teachers so much! Last year I got a lot of homework over break so it ended up not really being a break which isn't great. But this year I only have homework in a couple classes so it's not bad at all. I kind of wish I had some plans for break though. I guess I'm just going to hang out at home and go to work on Thursday and Friday. I'm sure that my family will do something fun though. Both my parents are teachers so it's nice for them to have a break, too. Well, everyone else enjoy your break!! I hope you don't have much homework. I don't think homework over break should be allowed. It takes the break away and adds stress. So, I really hope that everyone can enjoy a homework free break. Have fun!

Umm... the road block's not moving.

I live just outside of my town on a dirt road and they just recently started doing road work on the roads around my house. Actually, they are adding a road to transport old garbage from the old landfill to the new one because the old garbage is leaking into the lake. So, it's pretty important business. They have put up a lot of road blocks because the new road is right on top of two other roads. It's super funny to watch all the cars finding various ways to get around the road blocks! Plus the new road is a huge hill so the cars have to go up over it to get back down to the other side of the road. I sit in my living room a lot now just to watch all the cars. The funniest thing that anyone has done so far is just sit in front of the road block. That's all they did. Just sat there. I don't think the road block was going anywhere. After a couple of minutes they must have figured this out and they turned around and drove away. Genius. I've also seen people step on the gas and fly over the huge hill of road. I can understand why people are trying to get around it though because the detour takes you all the way back around town. It's kind of a bummer but hopefully it won't last for long. Oh, and today there was a police car sitting there all day just to make sure no one went around the road blocks! We all better watch out now. :)

Teen driving laws - ???????

I'm a sophomore in high school and I'm sixteen. I got my license this past summer in July and I am so happy to have the freedom to drive myself around! It's amazing!!! But the thing is I can only have one friend (or other person, that is not related to me) in the car with me... or can I? I've heard tons of different things. One of the things I've heard is that if you got your license before Aug. 1 you can have as many people as you want. Well, that's super cool!!!! Idk if it's true though. I wish the state would have somehow given us more information on it. I don't want to get in trouble just because I didn't know the laws. All of my friends have questions on the laws, too. Hopefully we'll be able to find more information about the driving laws soon.

Band Concert - October 28, 2008

This year's new band director is doing really good things for the program at ALHS. I have seen so many changes. The guy we had last year tried his best and he was a really nice guy. He had a tough time though. This year has been totally different than last year. It feels like we are already ready for our concert and we still have two weeks! I'm really excited for everyone to hear us. I think all the parents of us band students will be really happy and proud. I can't wait for our concert. It should be good so if you can you should come check it out on the 28th. Hope to see you all there!

It's the DeVries!!!!!!!!!! :) Extreme Makeover AL Area

The DeVries were chosen!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited for them!!!!!!! I can't wait for them to get started on the house! It's so weird for this to all of a sudden happen. It must be so weird but super exhilarating at the same time to be the chosen family! I would probably be in a daze! I'm in one now and I am not even a part of it! Congratulations DeVries!!!! I'm so happy for you! And Derik we'll miss you at school but have tons of fun! :)

Extremem Makeover Home Edition Coming Soon!!!!

Extreme Makeover Home Edition is an ABC show that is super touching! I've watched so many episodes in tears. I love it though. The show helps so many deserving families. And guess what? It's coming to the Albert Lea, MN area! I know two of the families that are nominees and they are both very deserving. I would really like to go and volunteer to help build the house but I'm not old enough but I'll for sure go cheer everyone on. I've always thought that nothing like this would happen in the small town of Albert Lea but it is!!!! I have always hoped! Is everyone else as excited as I am?!? I think whoever gets the new house is very deserving and I'm sure they'll be very thankful. I hope everything goes well in building the new house! Good luck!

Tennis 2008

The 2008 tennis season just got done yesterday. I had a really fun time and I had a pretty good season. I can't wait for next year and I'm sure I'll be out playing this summer. I hope that I improve a lot over the rest of the year. Some of my friends think that tennis is really, really boring but that's only when you're watching. Although I think it's pretty fun to watch. It's super fun to play and it's a sport that you can play throughout your whole life. So, I would recommend tennis to anyone who's looking for something to do. And in the surrounding towns there is probably an indoor tennis courts center. So, you can even play in the winter. If you think tennis is boring I think that you should try it at least once to see. It's really fun and challenging!

The Pressure's On

The Pressure's On... what does that mean for us? The pressure to do our best, the pressure to do something that we know is wrong, the pressure to look good, the pressure to fit in, or the pressure to show everyone someone we're not. Pressure comes in a lot of shapes and forms throughout our days and it never stops coming. I'm a high school sophomore with things coming at me 24/7. I am in band, choir, show choir combo/band, tennis, dance, I am a Sunday School teacher, and I just recently got a job. All of these things involve pressure and stress at at least one point during my day. It's tough sometimes but I know that I have to keep at it to succeed. I really want to be a pediatric nurse when I grow up and I think what I do now in high school will bring me there. But I know that without hard work I go nowhere. So, I try to push the pressure out but I know one person who I'm close to that can't. My cousin has been battling depression for a year. She can't push those pressures out so she breaks down. All my life I've looked up to her and it's been scary seeing her fall apart. And you don't understand the disease until you see what it does to someone you love... I've learned that. It's hard watching. I can't imagine going through it myself. I just think that the pressure from her peers and teachers became too much. She was so involved. She loved everything she did but it just got to be too much. There's got to be a limit. I think that our schools could do something to help limit. My brother went to school when we still had the 4 period day. He only had 4 classes a day... so only 4 classes to worry about. 7 classes to 4 doesn't seem like much but I think it would make a huge difference.

Tigers Try

Homecoming was last week for my school. It was an awesome week and I think it ended well with our football game. We played a team that was at our level of play and I think we played really well. We were ahead for a long time in the game. The game ended in OT with the score being 34-35. :( We lost by one point! We tried so hard and I think the guys deserved to win. But... unfortunately that's not the way it turned out. Some people think our football team is really bad but I think they showed what they can do. So, even though the score didn't show it and some people don't believe it, I think we (The Tigers) were the real winners. No matter what anyone says our team played like winners. They should be proud. I am.

The Election - Can we all get along?

I'm sure you've all heard about Barack Obama and John McCain choosing their running mates. And we all know their names: Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. We also all know that these 2 parties/teams don't always get along... but it is a race for the U.S. presidency. Right? I live with 2 parents that belong to opposite parties. One republican and the other democrat. I've heard many good things about both parties and the people running. Sarah Palin has a 17 year old daughter that's pregnant. Does that make Sarah a bad person? I don't always know what to think but I for sure know what each party thinks and what each of my parents think. So, what I am supposed to believe? I don't really know. It doesn't really concern me at this point in my life because I can't even vote yet. But I'd really like to tell you how I feel about these elections. I feel that no matter who gets selected to be our next president and vice president will do a great job. I also feel that we should all stop fighting in a neverending war and I'm not talking about the Iraq War. I'm talking about the war here in the U.S. between two different teams. I think we just all need to start getting along. That's what I feel. Let's be nice to each other for awhile.

Grrr...

Grrr... blurp... "What's that noise?", a peer in my fifth hour biology class asks and quietly I answer, "That was my stomach, sorry." It's about 12:30. Biology is about to end and the mad dash to the lunch room will begin in 2 minutes. At my high school there are three different lunches: A lunch, B lunch, and C lunch. I have C lunch. It is a really late lunch, where A lunch is a really early lunch. A lunchers eat at about 10:30 - 11:00ish. I think that is super early to be eating lunch but that's how it's done at my school. By the time my lunch comes around I am starving! I wish that the somehow the times could be altered a little bit so the everyone eats at a decent time. The lunch times work really well in the schedule but it's just not the best for the students. Hopefully next year or the year after the lunch times will be changed. It may just seem so drastic to me now because school just started. I'll probably get used to it. :)