Finally

It has only been a couple of weeks, but it feels like ages since I last wrote. I graduated from high school with an honors diploma and started a full time job at a military merchandising company—I mostly work in a warehouse. I really enjoy it, I've been learning so much! I  assemble matted prints, help out in production, pull stock, file, and I'm going to keep learning more and more. I've never worked full time before and the weekend is a huge relief.

I sang a solo at graduation in the senior song. I was so nervous, but it went pretty well. :) It was so good to see my family. My dad and his parents were there, and my second cousin. There were also a bunch from Oregon. I've been trying to spend as much time with friends as I can before I leave for college in September, and it's difficult with so little free time. So far it's been going well though. I'm in the real world now...

I'd like to start a new blog. This one has carried me through high school, and I'm ready to start fresh. To those few that might possibly still read, I thank you.

http://foreverkfiz.blogspot.com/

Oh Brother

This evening my brother, Joe, and two of his friends created a black, cardboard cat with a dime for an eye and put it in the street to trick people driving by. They laid on the ground. To their surprise, a police car was the first to encounter the cat. The boys were then questioned, asked to clear out their pockets, and taken back to the house in the back of the car. The doorbell rang and the first thing my mom said was "I hope it's not the cops." And it was! He was very serious. My mom could not stop smiling, and Andy and I busted up a little in the front room. He was disappointed that we found it funny and said that they had wasted resources to do that. Someone had called saying kids were looking in cars.
Come on guys, really? I don't think 4 cars, including a big-ass suburban were necessary. No laws were broken, so it really was just a bit funny.

By the way, Prom was so fun!!! I went with my friend Royce. It was a really great time, one of the best this whole year. I'm sooo looking forward to graduating. Today I did homework for over 3 hours and then went to the swim and fitness center to swim laps. I thought swimming a mile would be a good goal...PSH! By the end of one 50m I was tired. I did 14 in a half hour–two 50m shy of half a mile. I was exhausted but it was great!

'Lil Blurb

My mom is seriously the best. It's been a bit of a struggle to stay motivated in school and senioritis is a serious problem. I've gotten my grades up alright lately but we're heading into the final stretch–the last month–and it's difficult to stay on top of work. I told this to my mom and mentioned that my grades were better last year, and she told me it's more important for me to have a well-rounded life. She's just happy I've had such a good year. I've been very social, and it's been wonderful. :)

There are so many great things from this year that I can reflect on. This year has mostly been about my relationships with people and involvement in things that I love. It was a challenge for me, but I stopped working and focused on school and friends and activities. And I'm glad I did, it's been good.

 I recently went to Seattle for a choir festival. These are just a few of my photos from the trip.

Wrapping Up the Break

I realizea lot of what I'm posting is boring, and it's probably because I'm on spring break at home with nothing to do, but I'll work on coming up with actual stories and things to talk about. Today I went down to my grandparents' house for Easter. There was a delicious potluck and a quite enjoyable game of Bump with my mom and uncles. School starts tomorrow and I'll be back to rarely posting, I'm sure. I had a great time with my family today. My grandpa turns 70 tomorrow and the day after that my grandma turns 65. Crazy! We're all pretending he's turning 60. ;) Other than that, I got shoes for the Mr. Thunder Pageant, I applied for a job at McMenamins, and I found my ipod! Yay.

P.S. I forgot to mention a while ago that I decided not to do softball. Too much stress with my classes and I just wasn't feeling up to it.

These are 3 of the 5 cousins I saw today and my brothers. And me.

Spring Break Continued...

I hope to balance out the last post with some positivity. First off, I finished the headband. I twisted it once before connecting the ends and it's quite comfortable. :) Second, I've actually had a lovely past few days. I took my wee cousins on a nice outing with a picnic and a stroll through downtown. They are the sweetest girls. I'm going to miss them so much. I also spent some time with Christian and when we were on the brink of utter boredom we decided to make a movie. It's 7 1/2 minutes long at the moment and not anywhere near finished. Who knows if it ever will be, but it was a very fun way to pass the time. I personally prefer directing, editing, and filming to acting. Jake and his friend joined us. Today primarily consisted of waxing, resume-writing (thank you Mom), and How-I-Met-Your-Mother-watching. I still have to start Wuthering Heights but if I read about 40 pages tomorrow and Saturday I'll be done. My desk is clean, I've been fitted for my dress for Mr. Thunder, and I unfortunately did not receive the General Scholarship from WOU. This is my break. And Sunday--Easter--will be a lovely time at my grandparents' house with my family. It's been really nice to have a break.
Crap... I have to catch up on Calculus homework.
Although my mom is probably the only person who will read this, I rather like how my blog has evolved. I'll probably try to advertise it more when I start the next one this summer. Only 2 more months (plus like a week). I gotta find myself a job...

Winter Break

It's winter break! But it's almost over! I had a wonderful break. My dad took me and my brothers to Venice Beach, Hollywood, and San Francisco. I got some great Christmas gifts from my amazing grandparents and dad, including a Canon Rebel T3i camera, pepper spray, and a Shewee (portable urinating device for women). I also received my graduation gift early: a Macbook Pro. It is so kickass I can't even--plus my grandma took me shopping. Ugh, just best ever. I can't wait to be obnoxious with the camera (more than I already am, that is) and be attached at the hip with my computer. :P I am so happy though. And I kind of doubt anyone reads this besides my mom so I'm putting the filter down a little right now. I love you Mom!!!! You're the best!
I have missed home a lot the past two weeks though and it'll be great to be back tomorrow. I can't wait to see my friends and hug them and take pictures of them. :)

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.

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.

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...