Wednesday, December 22, 1999

I feel bad about my total lack of dedication to this site. But I can totally rationalize it, which I will right now. Every weekend this month, I've had work. (But now I'm off until March, so we're done with that excuse.. I mean, reason.) Also, there's this school thing. For some reason, I've been really into doing all the work I'm supposed to do for all my classes, so that's been taking up some time. It's nearing the end of the quarter, so on top of finals I have a history paper, German project, physics bridge-building project and article outlines to do. There's going to be this great surge of stress on my life in the coming weeks, but after that things should calm down and go away. Extra-curricular-wise, I'm applying for this annoying scholarship and working on the development of my school's website. So, in short, it's not like I've been sitting on my ass and neglecting this. I've been busying myself while neglecting this.

The Indigo Girls' concert was absolutely spectacular. I love concerts in general, but this one was really enjoyable. I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as a mild Indigo Girls' fan. From people I've met, they either don't know of them, don't like them, or love them. There's no "yeah, they're alright, I guess." So the concert was great, because it was this gathering of people who adore them, who have most of their albums and have memorized all the songs on those albums. There were a lot of sing-alongs, and screaming and cheering. Laughs too- Emily Saliers forgot the words to their second song, so they just played for a while until it came back to her. It was just fun, and I love that kind of stuff. I can't wait until the next concert comes along- I'm hoping for another Liz Phair show, or possibly the Dixie Chicks. I would say Semisonic, but that would be too good to be true. Ah, music is good.

Speaking of music, we had our holiday concert at school about two weeks ago, and I'm left feeling uneasy. This year I'm part of a new choir made up of 28 girls who can carry a tune and really want to sing. We don't all have the top voices in the department, but I thought we were good. The top choir is one above us, mostly made up juniors and seniors, and there's a lower chorus for freshmen and such. Anyway, for the past two months or so we were all psyched about how well we were doing, and going to choir everyday was fun. Last year the old chorus didn't sound so great, but this year we really thought we had improved. So we do the concert, all smiles and happiness. But reaction wasn't so great. People thought the song we did badly was better than the song we did well, so doesn't that say something about the song we did well? And I was told we were breathy, and others kind of tripped over their words. Perhaps I'm just being paranoid, but I was kind of expecting a definite "you guys sounded good" and I got something less than that. It's just disappointing, is all.

I understood trigonometry for the first time this month. I almost had the urge to track down my retired math teacher from last year and telling him the good news. Last year it took me three tries to get a B on the stupid test. This year, all I had to do was turn to my brother for help and in ten minutes it clicked. It's still shaky and takes me a while, but it's there. Why am I so happy? Because I hate my math teacher, and this definitely saved me the trouble of having to go to him for help or losing my A in his class. It's all about spite.

I'm going to Washington D.C. at the end of March with Erin, my history teacher, and a few other kids. It's this program that introduces kids to some things related to government and such. I've heard only great things about it, and since I'm considering majoring in politics, I'm really excited about it. The problem is that I'll be flying there. Ah! I'm going to be terrified. Erin won't be any help; she's not exactly of the nurturing type. I'm already planning the whole thing out. I'll have gum- lots and lots of gum, and my Liz Phair CD that casually describes her inspiration while on a plane, and my eyes will be closed, and my hands will be clutching the arms of my seat. I'll just be scared. It'll be okay- like a roller coaster that doesn't end for two hours.

Kinda a scary time we're living in, isn't it? The whole Y2K thing is bugging me beyond all belief. I can handle the idea of the electricity going out, and I can handle the idea of computers being kind of not all there for a while. What I'm having a hard time handling is all these weird reports I'm hearing about people being stopped and arrested because they're carrying bombs and weapons and such. I can't believe that there are people out there who want to make the New Year some horrible event- the theory that the world is going to end anyway, might as well take people with me thing is not good. I don't know how it'll turn out, I'm worried though. But maybe I'm just being paranoid. Be safe anyway though- that's the most important thing. Everyone should be safe as they celebrate with the people they love most in the world.

I hope you're having a wonderful holiday season. I love this time of year, so I hope you do too. I hope you have snow that you can turn into a snow man or angel, or possibly sun that you can bask in every morning. I hope you have love and happiness now, and I hope you laugh a lot in the coming weeks. I hope you get hugged and kissed, and thought of with affection. I hope you hug and kiss and think affectionately. I hope you have a dream you want to follow, and I hope that you achieve it some day. I hope you feel beautiful and good, and make others feel that way too. I hope you spread a wealth of goodness as much as you possibly can. I hope all these hopes aren't in vain, and I hope I'll update this page in less than a month. I hope you come back to check. See you next year! @-----> Love, Rose