What's New and What's to Come

My, it's been a while. Many things have occured since I last wrote. I was accepted to Western Oregon University and I sent in my housing application. That was very exciting. :) I can't wait to get out of high school and be really independent. I have to send back a couple things to complete the admission process and just start working on scholarships. In January I'll have to work on financial aid things.

I auditioned for the winter play You Can't Take It With You, but I didn't get a part. I was good enough to be one of the more major roles, but other people just fit the certain parts better, and I get that. I was rather upset but I think it'll be good. Jake is in it and a couple other friends are too, so I'll definitely go and see it in February.

Thanksgiving was excellent. A whole bunch of family came to visit. I got to practice sign language with my cousins and I talked to my uncle about acting. One great thing about moving to Monmouth is that I'll get to be close to them. I'll get to hang out with my little cousins there as well. They are so adorable.

Today I made a turkey hand for my AP Government class (it has an amendment on it), added to my satire I'm writing for AP Literature, bought a ticket to the midnight showing of the Hobbit, spent a lot of time in front of the TV and the computer, and started my first scholarship.

There are only a little over 6 months until graduation, but it feels like the school year is moving pretty slowly. I can't really fathom what can happen in that much time. I want to make the most of it that I can. I'm very excited to graduate but it also scares me a bit, because, to put it cheesily, I'll be going out into the big, wide world and who knows what can happen. I'm going to meet so many new people and learn so many things. I'll be on my own, having to deal with a lot of things on my own. Most things that happen in high school are not going to matter. Of course all of these are just facts that I'm stating, but it's pretty insane to think about when I put it like that.

6 months.

Oh, and I got my senior pictures! Thank you Sarah McMurray! I'm gonna go with the bottom left with the red dress.

In the yearbook it has to be in color but I like these ones too. :)

P.S. I'm planning on playing softball in the spring.

The End of Fiddler

Last night was closing night, and it's all over now. Last night was definitely our best performance. Two of the funniest moments of this whole experience included my brother, the Rabbi, singing "Mazeltov, mazel--fuck," when he couldn't find his note during rehearsal and someone backstage saying "Who moved the goddamn box?!" during the show when their mic was still on. It happened during my scene, too. I'm so sad that I won't see everyone as much anymore. :( We're all just lucky we go to the same school. I can't wait for the winter play! It's a comedy...not sure what it's called. I wish I'd gotten into acting sooner. I had no idea how much fun this is.

10/25/12: Fiddler on the Roof cast, pit, and crew

Copyright © 2012 Matthew Lasala
www.lasalaimages

Opening Night

I never realized how it would feel after all the hard work. How it would feel, walking out on that stage to the sound of cheers and applause, throwing clasped hands into the air and down for a bow. Incredible.

Well that's about all the "good" writing I can handle for now. Last night was opening night for Fiddler and I am proud of us. :) We have worked our butts off for two and a half months and it has payed off. We have five more shows, tonight, tomorrow night, and three more next week. It'll be weird not going to rehearsal every day when it's all over. But I'm so glad that I did this. I've made all kinds of new friends that I never would have if I hadn't done it. It was odd how fast it seemed to go by. I'm very excited for my other family and friends to come see it. I've had SO much fun with this production and it'll be sad when it ends.

L'Chaim. Mazeltov. Amen.

Homecoming

Last night was Homecoming and I had more fun than I've had any other year. :) I went to Max's house to get ready. I was alone in the bathroom but it was fine 'cause who wants to watch someone curl their hair for over half an hour. Worth it. Christian was there and a new friend Torsen joined us. We all got pictures down at the park nearby. Next we picked up some other friends and went to dinner at Johnny Carinos. It's been a while since I've laughed so hard. We spent the rest of the evening at Lava Lanes, bowling. It sort of seemed like that was just the alternative place to go besides the dance. A lot of other people from our school were there. I bowled at 84. Pretty good for not having bumpers. I don't really know what else to say about it, except that Torsen made me and Christian laugh uncontrollably on the way to the bowling alley when he screamed something I shouldn't put on here. :)

Max, Me, Christian

Max, Torsen, Christian

At Johnny Carinos

Jake and Me at Lava Lanes 

Christian, Me, Larson, Jake

Movie Night & Plans

Today we had a movie night for Fiddler on the Roof and a bunch of the cast came. I was reminded how infuriated I get when people talk during a movie, and how anxious I feel when they aren't following along. I had  hoped people could see the movie and get a feel for how they should behave on stage, but I felt like I was one of the only people paying attention. Despite all the talking I almost cried about five times (I would have if there weren't so many people there) and I actually did once. I can say this has become my current favorite movie. I was also reminded from the movie, though, how sad I get at the sight of an old person crying. Especially (spoiler alert) when it's one of my favorite characters: the sweet, adorable, old Rabbi. I'm really worried though because we won't be able to make it anywhere near as good as the movie and it reminded me of how I felt watching all of the same scenes that we do in rehearsal. Now I feel like I should stop writing about all this because someone could read it and suddenly decide they don't want to come to the show or get mad at me or some other bad thing. Maybe seeing the movie again will at least help me put on a better performance.

In other news, I'm getting my senior pictures taken on Sunday by the oh so wonderful Sarah McMurray. I freaking love her. She's going to get some pictures of me with my mom as well! I have four outfits picked out. Very excited. :) I'm also hoping to send in my college application to Western Oregon University this weekend. I attended an Oregon universities visitation thing at my school and a representative from Western talked to a group of us about it. I'm very excited. With my GPA, Mrs. Future-Center-Unnamed-Lady said I could probably just go to a 4-year school right off the bat. So that's what I'm going to do. Western is one of the only universities in the northwest that offers a Bachelor's Degree in ASL Interpreting and it's the best in the country. I know I'm going to the right place. I consider myself very lucky that I don't have to go too far to get there and it's still in my favorite state. Oh boy it is quite late and I'm very tired. I wonder when I'll start doing some actual quality writing.

Shake Me Down - Cage the Elephant

I found this very moving. And I love the song.

Swap

I actually switched out of Writing 121 and into AP Literature. I can't get college credit for WR 121 and there's really no point. Plus, who wants to buy a $120 textbook. Just thought I'd mention that. Oh, and I'm thinking of joining Drama Club! And maybe softball...

Happy September

I feel so proud that I feel like blogging. Today was just very productive. I wrote my paper for AP Gov this morning and I'm surprised at how much I had to say. It was supposed to be about who you would vote for and why, but I wouldn't vote for either of them so I wrote about that instead. Also, I did my chores, pulled weeds, vacuumed out my car and washed the windows. Tomorrow I think I'll really wash it...it's filthy. And I ought to clean my room. But my oh my, as exciting as this story is, I have to end it here because I have nothing else to talk about! Perhaps I'll finish the Hunger Games...

Schedule 2012/13

Period     Course                                         Teacher

1             OPEN

2             Human Anatomy/Physiology          Colquhoun

3             WR 121: English Composition        Bedsworth

4             AP Calculus                                 Quick

5             Spanish 4                                     Gromme-Clark (Profe)

6             Summit Chorale                            Jacot

7             AP US Government & Politics        Smith

I'm very excited. :) This is probably the best schedule I've ever had, and I have 7th period with Christian, Max, and Taylor. My last class with either Christian or Taylor was in sophomore year and I haven't had one with Max since 7th grade. I also have 4th period with Max. I'm going to enjoy that open first period. My last open block was also sophomore year and it was just one semester. This schedule is all year. Ee! I'm so stoked for this year!

Call Me Maybe

Maya and I made this when I was in DC. We are very proud and we worked hard on it, so don't judge. :) This was soooo much fun to make.

Toms.

I drew this while I was in California. Might as well take an opportunity to show off my drawings since it only gets good on occasion. Yeah that's right. My drawing is good, I said it.

Moments of Pride

I learned how to play Mad World on the piano (Gary Jules), and it's very easy to play but still--great song. Also I'm drinking tea. I don't like tea. This stuff is good. I made myself drink it 'cause I'm sick and have junk in my throat and I have to have a clear throat so I can sing in Fiddler on the Roof and tea's good for that. It's almost 1 AM...I'm really just rambling right now. Today I helped Kate set up her basement for her party on Friday. We painted the walls black, or at least added another coat, and splattered neon paint everywhere. Also there are black lights and strobes, and we hung sheets and Christmas lights all over the place. It looks amazing. I'm excited. Also, I finished my homework for AP Calculus today (reading the first chapter) so now I just have to make a chart of political issues and write a paper on who I'd vote for and why. :P Blurgh. I don't even care about politics. I have 11 days to write that, clean my room, clean the bathrooms (because I'm weird and am getting OCD about them), and wash/clean my car. It's been gathering filth all summer. Darn...I'm out of tea. I want more. :( Maybe I'll clean my room tonight. I often feel jealous towards other blog-writers. They all seem so intellectual. I don't even try very hard to have exceptional writing so it just sounds like me talking. In other news, I asked a cute guy for directions today. I know him from school and I saw him on the way to drop a friend off at her friend's house. He smiled at me as I passed him. Then on the way back I stopped for directions because I actually needed them. I never talk about guys on here. I don't see why I shouldn't, at least little things like that. It's just something in my life, and here I go rambling again. I think I'm really tired. I have a lot of laundry to put away and some is in the dryer. At least tomorrow I can sleep in. Oh! It's Keala's birthday! She's 7! Gah these kids are getting so old. And geez, so am I. I've heard that the last year of high school is loads of fun and it goes by fast. It's a bit frightening, but I'm mostly just extremely stoked for it. I can't wait to see what happens to all of our lives, even if I'll be sad to say goodbye to people. I'm gonna be so sad next fall... But that's over a year away. Wow this is a random one! I'm gonna make more tea. At least now I can bring it to rehearsal and stuff since I know I like it. Well, this kind anyway. By the way, rehearsals are SO much fun. We rotate dancing, singing, and acting the last 2 hours of the day. Dancing is my favorite. It's going to be so great! I've invited a bunch of family to come see the show in October. I can't wait to get totally done with all the songs so we can practice with the band/orchestra in the pit. My, my I say I've written enough for one post, especially since this is so all over the place. If anyone still reads my blog, please feel free to comment so I know you're there... Even if no one does, I'm not going to stop posting! :)

Really???

At this rate I'm going to get very little sleep so I'm going to give the short version of the story until I get more time. Today I was on a plane, waiting for it to take off, and they announced that it was 480 pounds overweight. So of course I end up getting kicked off for being the last person to check in. Seriously, I'm probably one of the lightest people on the damn thing. I was furious. I'll be catching the next flight at 5:50 tomorrow morning. Thus, I need sleep.

Fun With Photography

Mom

Cousin, Koa

Christian

 

Kacie

Maya

 

Me

Max

 1990 Honda Accord

 Maya

Me

Joe

Taylor

Jake

Salmon

Well, to refresh things since my last post, I got straight A's but my AP Exam score was crap. I realize now that I'm just not good at taking big pressured tests like that. I'm at about the same intellectual level as my friends but they all did better on the SAT and the ACT. At least most of them, not totally sure. And the AP Exam for that matter. I get A's but those tests just kill me. Lame.

Also, I've decided to go to community college for a couple years before transferring away. In the end, if I'm going to learn the same things at both schools but one is way cheaper, I'm gonna go with the cheaper. Plus it would mean I wouldn't have to move away for a while. I want to live in the dorm though just to get that experience and be on my own, doing my own thing.

I'm hoping that this year I get an open 1st period. Plus it would give Jake more reason to hurry and get a car and a license and stuff since I wouldn't be driving him to school. That is, if he doesn't also have an open 1st...I'm going to switch out of AP Lit and into Writing 121 because at this rate I won't pass the AP Exam and I'm going to end up taking Writing 121 eventually anyway. Plus I wouldn't call myself much of a reader. Also I won't have to do summer reading. Yeah.

 In other news, I've been making more money doing random jobs and babysitting than my regular job. Things are slow during the summer. Also, starting the 13th until the end of the month I won't be working at all. I'm going to visit Maya in DC and then I'll be doing Fiddler rehearsals. I should probably take a look at my lines and the songs...

This summer has been great so far--Kacie came to visit from Texas last month and we took a family trip to the coast. And a lot more is to come!

(Jake and I went out on a boat at the coast and caught salmon!)

Summer!

Whoop!!! It's summer! We just got back from camping for a few days. Maya came with us. We took the boat out onto the lake (Lake Billy Chinook) and found a nice big cliff to jump off of. Jake and I never had before and it was seriously scary. But YOLO. I kept straight but I was tilted slightly backward when I hit the water, so I have a nice big bruise from my upper right thigh to my butt. The worst part was that my swimsuit just about cut me in half. It was a good experience overall though.

The next day, yesterday, we found a spot and Andy set up a zip-line. It wasn't very successful though and I zip-lined into/through a tree. My legs are all scratched up...oh well. :)

Jake, Maya, and I are all going to be in Fiddler on the Roof this fall. I'm so excited. I'll be playing Chava, the third daughter. I fall in love with a Russian guy who isn't Jewish and it's a big deal.

It's weird to have to make plans to see my friends all the time. It still hasn't really hit me that it's summer and I'm a SENIOR. In less than a year I'll be graduating high school. Geez. I'm still trying to decide if I want to take a year off before college. I've got a pretty good plan for after high school, I just need to figure out the nitty-gritty stuff. It's all kind of scary to think about, so I'm trying to hold off a little until it gets closer to all happening...I've started figuring out some things to take with me when I leave home. I have a box of kitchen stuff. I think I'm mostly worried about being homesick.

I should get my report card in a couple days. I'm hoping for straight A's...these would be the best grades I've ever had in my high school career. :) Kind of exciting. I should get my AP Exam score sometime in July. I hope next year is a good one...I would really love it if the drama would just go away...

Musical

My has it been a while...My junior year of high school is almost over. I made new friends, had new experiences, and it's very hard to believe now that I'm almost a senior. I'm quite exhausted right now--very long day. Basically what's new with me is that I'm auditioning for the school musical, Fiddler on the Roof, on Monday. I'm very excited. I've never been in a real play before, and especially not a musical, so this will be a very unique experience for me. Also this evening I dropped my phone in the river. Fantastic! I'm about to fall asleep...Perhaps I'll write some more again soon and it won't be 5 months later...

Update

Alas, we are heading into midterms and the end of the semester. It will be nice starting fresh though. We just have to make it past the wonderful finals. There's a boy's basketball game tomorrow, which will be my first one this year. I find them just so fun. :) I sort of just felt obligated to write tonight. Nothing significant or exciting has really happened for a little while and I don't want to talk about the weather.
Last night my aunt Elissa had a baby girl, Pearl! She is so beautiful. I can't wait to meet her. My other cousins, Noe, Keala, and Koa came over this afternoon and I participated in a pretend ball. I let them put make-up on me and I got all dressed up and they did the same. Then we danced to classical music. It was splendid. :)
Sometime next week or this weekend I need to take my form down to the district office and sign up for online health... I am determined to suck it up and get it over with. That way next year I'll be able to have an open block for the whole year. I have a bit of pressure from one of my friends to try out for the other jazz choir at school, but if I did (and actually made it in), I wouldn't have any open block--totally full schedule like this year. I kind of want a little bit of freedom in my senior year. I'm shooting for an honors diploma. All of the classes I'm planning on taking anyway lead to it...except science. I could just go without a science class next year (preferably) but I have to have 4 years of it for my plan to take place. So I'll take forensics. It's way easier than physics, and there's no way I'm taking that.
Anyway, I'm done blabbing now. Perhaps there will be something amazing for me to write about soon.

Good'un

I love times like these. The good weekends. When I planned to go to the library I ended up eating a quesadilla and climbing an awesome, huge tree with Taylor. A little while later I got an urge to help my uncle clean up his kitchen and it was nice. :) Today I'll be turning in cans and bottles for gas money with Maya and doing math with Max. The only bad thing this weekend is the spider lurking on the ceiling above my bed...

New Year Resolutions

It is officially 2012. That last one was quite lengthy and now I'm ready for a new year. I'm going to actually try to make resolutions this year...I'd like to work out (seeing as I won't be doing softball this year), and take an online health class. I think there was one other thing but I can't remember. If I remember, perhaps I'll post it. I don't want to set too high of goals for myself. This has been short but nothing else is really new. Ta ta for now.