And All The Rest

So, Sunday, i was at Calvary. we've been doing this dancing skit thing, and it's pretty cool.
it's called Behold, The Dreamer Cometh.

http://vimeo.com/5521830

it's pretty cool.
anyway, i managed to cut my hand on a board that was sitting on the ladder. (annoying!) now my thumb hurts. it's a more exciting story in person, so stop me and ask me if you see me. =]

I'M DONE WITH SCHOOL! NO MORE SCHOOL! YESTERDAY WAS MY LAST DAY!

i'll miss all my friends. i'm sure i will. BUT I'M DONE WITH SCHOOL!
and Sunday, JCS starts. i'm. playing. Mary. Magdalene.
you guys have NO IDEA how excited i am.
(okay, maybe you do...)

in other news.
Okay, so, recently, i acquired a copy of our Mooresville (show choir) competition (which did not zoom in! yay! i can watch the WHOLE show, instead of various random and boring faces, unable to see the feet!) and, possibly more importantly, a copy of our Pike (Concert Choir finals) competition...

so, essentially, i got a copy of Spring.
-cries-
i'm listening to it. we didn't do too bad. (and by that i mean i think it's beautiful, stupendous, marvelous, wonderful, the whole shebang.) Mr. Shank is such a fabulous composer, and Mrs. Prather is such a stellar director...

i'm going to miss her. i don't think i'll like not have a choir like that. i'm going to miss being one of the Madrigals. (3RD IN STATE, KIDS, 3RD IN STATE! i mean, wait what?)
from now on, i'm just a singer. On my own. (pretending he's beside me. all alone, i walk with him till morning. [don't judge.])

anyway. JCS is next. (SO. EXCITED. YOU ALL HAVE TO COME. JUST SAYING. IT. IS. NECESSARY. I'M SINGING. LOUDLY. AND ALL BY MYSELF. DO EEEET!)

i feel like there was something else i wanted to say... hmm...
ooh. John the Revelator. -shudder shudder-
scary stuff. (it was kinda shaky. but you all knew that. =] that high soprano note after the clapping part is... scary. bad scary. eww scary. i think, at least. but we still did well. and Spring... Spring was amazing.)

Katelyn and Maggie and Tom and i went out to China's Best today for lunch. since we all sat together in lunch, we decided we needed a final hurrah, as it were. it was so super fun. i love them soooooo much.

oh, right. i remember what i wanted to tell you all.
i'm feeling gutsy.
do you guys remember that i'm writing a book? it'll be my third. and i really like it. it's about Greek Gods. well, i've been working on it. and Joelle has been reading it. and... i want an outside opinion. it's not done yet. but i have a good 86 pages right now, and i'm going on a writing spree tomorrow. (Dad will be at work, Mom will be at work, i'll be home. ALONE. hello, glasses, hello, pigtails, hello, sweatpants, hello, story.) and if you want what i have, remember, it's not done, but if you want what i have...
i'll e-mail it to you.
(I thought about just offering everyone i saw my story, but i figured i would chicken out. i really, really, really hate the idea of people reading my stories. yeah, i know, i'm a terrible author, but live with it.)

DawnofWednesday@gmail.com

i'm putting it up on my Skype, too. hopefully i'll forget it's up there.
i know it sounds silly, but seriously. i need people to read it and TELL ME WHAT THEY THINK. if they're like, "wow, you suck." then i can keep my writing happily to myself. if they're like, "Hey, this is good!" maybe i'll actually look into getting it published. so while i'm afraid of it, i have to do it. it's time. (i'm not ready!)

so, shoot me an e-mail. and please, please tell me what you think. THANKS! you guys are the best. i think. hopefully. =]

Prom, State, and Various and Sundry Other Things

Saturday was a rather important day, all around.First off, a soccer game. it was FREEZING. the wind was practically blowing my small children off the field. heck, it caught me and threw me around a few times. it was RIDICULOUS. i ended, like, five, ten minutes early, simply because my children were little soccer playing popsicles, and i couldn't stand the wind anymore. but they were pretty good sports about the whole thing--they played really hard, even though their poor little hands were FREEZING. at half time, they all piled on top of me for warmth. (Oh, so you know. Brock is creeping into my "favorite team member" place. But i still love all my kids. =])
anyway. Saturday was also State and Prom. so i got back from soccer, cleaned my room, grabbed a shower, and started getting ready. i painted my toenails, but not my fingernails, because of State. i live by the hard and fast rule of not having painted nails on stage. but my toes were pretty.anywho. (Hey, look, the corner of The Vile Village! That's what i read while my toes dried.) okay, seriously, moving on. i fixed my hair and went to State. we maybe a little bit were pretty much amazing. Cum Sancto was awfully pretty, Spring was stunning, John the Revelator... well, that one was shaky at best. (whew. it was scary.) but all in all, we did quite well. we placed third. YAY US! i'm really proud of us. Goshen was first, Heritage Christian was second. anyway. i went back home and Danielle and i got dressed for prom.

There we are. yay us. anyway, we put out food and set the table and got drinks and let our parents take pictures and all that, and by the time we were done, our boys had arrived. (Well, Cole was exceptionally late. but i'll still put up a picture of the four of us.)

Aren't we awesome? look how short i am. i'm wearing heels. -frowny face- oh well.
anyway, we went to prom, and had an awesome time, and danced and had fun and whatnot. After that, we all piled into the car. Now, while we were eating, Cole had said that he was a terrible driver. so, Ray was like, all right, "i'll drive down there, since Caitie will need to navigate, but you can drive home, that'll be easy." well, we got out to his truck, and we realized that he wasn't even parked on the curb. he was sort of veered towards the curb. anyway, Ray drove us down without a hitch. but then, when we got in the car on the way back, Cole was going to drive. he handed me his Tomtom, and i asked what i needed to do with it. he said, "hit the screen, then navigate to, then home."
turns out, someone had programmed that thing to take us to Mooresville. but Cole wouldn't believe us that we were going the wrong way. also, he was a terrible driver, and he tried to kill us four times. seriously. like, once, he was messing with the radio, and the road curved, and Cole didn't, and almost hit one of those big concrete dividers when Ray and i yelled at him and punched him. anyway, we got totally lost, and discovered how we all took that. Ray and i got antsy and focused and things weren't funny. we wanted to get home and we immediately made plans to accomplish just that, along with back up plans in case the plan failed.
Cole and Danielle, on the other hand, would have just wandered aimlessly for a ridiculously long time, and thought it was awesome. they kept saying things like "Isn't this a fun adventure?"
NO! NO IT'S NOT! WE'RE LOST! IT'S TIME TO FIX IT!
so, at the end of the drive, it was decided that we were NEVER going to let Cole drive again. Ray is the driver, i am the navigator, and Danielle and Cole need to sit in the back and shut up. all in a Christian loving way, of course. i'd just rather not die.
anyway. we stayed at Cole's house until after four, came home, and then Danielle wanted to chat. she had fallen asleep at Cole's house. anyway, she wanted to chat, so i fell asleep at, like, 5. then i got up early. (Mother's Day.) we went to Cracker Barrel for lunch. then i slept. it was a great weekend. =]

So, Ziplock Bag and a Freezer, or Do You Prefer a Rock?

--Warning: i'm sick today. not throwing up sick, but dizzy, tired, head hurt sick. nothing major, i've just been away from humans all day, and i'm likely to go on ridiculous tangents in what is probably going to be a long post. enjoy. also, i smell like mint from the stuff i put on my shoulders. it's weird.--

Ben has two frogs. (I'm sure i've talked about them.)
their names are Herbert and Little Scholar.
Okay, i'm lying to you. Herbert does not technically have a name. see, Ben doesn't name things right off--it takes him for freaking ever. Little Scholar didn't have a name for MONTHS, and we didn't know what to call him. he was just "the frog" (he's so cute. he's a dumpy tree frog.).
"Make your stupid frog shut up!"
"the frog jumped out of the bowl you had him in, and is happily croaking away in Mom's bathroom."
"I put the frog on Micah's head and he screamed like a little girl."
"Can i hold the frog?"
so we were all kind of surprised when one day, out of the blue, Ben was like, "His name is Little Scholar."
Us: ..............
Ben: i just decided this morning.
Us: you've had him for months.
Ben: Yeah. but i finally decided i like his name.
Us: okay....
so when Ben decided to get Little Scholar a friend, i put my foot down. i refused to wait months for a name for the new frog. so the moment i saw him, i picked him up, stroked his back, and said, "Hello, Herbert!"
Ben: his name is not Herbert.
Me: whatever.
Micah and Mom: we like Herbert.
Ben: HIS NAME IS NOT HERBERT.
Me: Right, whatever.
Guess what name even Ben calls him, even though he insists that it is not his real name?
If you said Herbert, you deserve a cookie. if you said anything else, you deserve a raised eyebrow and a cookie, because you're going nowhere in life (Or possibly everywhere, depending on the amount of sarcasm).
sorry about the tangent.

anyway, Ben has these two frogs, and he just discovered that Herbert is a cannibal.
And he might eat Little Scholar if he gets too hungry (Even though Little Scholar is MUCH bigger than Herbert).
Now, you must understand. Yes, my brother is twenty years old. yes, he has had many pets. but if Herbert eats Little Scholar, while Ben will be impressed, he will cry, and hate Herbert forever and ever. By forever and ever, i mean until he kills Herbert. Ben loves Little Scholar.
Think i'm joking? he researched it. Herbert is a Cuban Tree Frog. His kind are currently invading Florida. (Apparently, some people there are under the impression it's one of the plagues. that made me chuckle. Frogs is number two, by the way. when did the water turn to blood? Next is lice. don't try on any hats at the store, okay?) The people in Florida are taking care of it, though, the humane way. they catch as many frogs as possible, put them in ziplock bags, close the bags, and PUT THE BAGS IN THE FREEZER. (OMG, what?)
that's the humane way?

whatever. Ben says that he would rather be smashed with a rock, as opposed to what sounds like a slow, painful, chilly death. (He doesn't like cold any more than i do.)
also, he has told me that if Herbert eats Little Scholar and doesn't choke in the process, he plans to put Herbert in a ziplock bag and throw him in the freezer. i have offered to take Herbert off his hands. now i have to buy a frog lamp, so that i can remove the threat to Little Scholar (And get my own frog! ADORABLE!)

Now, for my next story. this relates, i swear, wait until the end.
So, yesterday was Shankfest. (YAY!) I think they called it something sensible, like "An Evening with Joshua Shank", but come on, people, how often am i known for being sensible?

anyway, i don't mind going to school for choir stuff. so we wandered inside, and i was immediately assaulted by Logan. (i wish he were my brother. he can act like a jerk, but i really see myself in him. i understand him better than most people, and more importantly, he's got such a great heart. i adore him. it's actually a good thing he's not my brother. i already spoil him. think how much worse it would be if we were blood related... whew.) but he gave me a big hug, and then we wandered into the auditorium. (fun fun fun!)
all the choirs sat in the front. also, we got to use the shell. (love.)

(Quick side note. i'm sorry. i was calling Danielle. do you know how weird it is to hear your voice on other people's answering machines? it's weird. i've recorded fun answering messages for a couple of my friends, and whenever i call them and get the machine, i'm like woah, that's me.)

okay. so, i don't know if you remember from my post way back in December, but Joshua Shank is my hero, and i was pretty darn excited to meet him. Remember the evil plan? yeah, i followed through. (i'm such a sad, sad little person.) i wore my Decemberists shirt. (Y'all know how hard it is for me to talk to ANY new people, let alone people i admire. Joelle, i see you nodding your head in agreement. thank you.) i'm... glad? to say that it worked. he talked to me. i talked back without saying anything completely stupid. (I said completely, i didn't just say stupid.)
well.
he (Joshua Shank) asked me to read the poem he used for Spring, before we sang it. (there was much geeking out at the lunch table. Maggie was giggling like a little girl, and Hannah kept telling me she was jealous. I'm proud to say, truthfully, that i didn't freak out... much. =] (The lack of freaking out may or may not have been due to the fact that there was an intense knot of nervousness growing in my belly. talking in front of people is not my forte.))
otay. so, the Blend sang. (You know how i feel about the Blend. lovelove.) it was gorgeous. simply splendid. and then we, the Madrigals, went up. We sang Go, Tell It On The Mountain. (I talked about how much i love that song in my Evil Plan blog, 'member?) Then we sang David's Lamentation. i don't know if i talked about it, but i adore that one, too. and then it was time for Spring. so i went up, and read, and managed not to shake and stutter and sound like an idiot. (you may clap, if you so choose. i will. -claps-)

and then we sang Spring. :D
and that's all i'll say about that (who needs to talk about a piece that beautiful?). because here's the funny part. (Not at the time. i honestly had no idea my face could be THAT red.)
As we were walking off stage, Bel Canto was up next, Joshua Shank walks up and hands me a folded piece of paper.
Him: this is for you.
Me: -in a state of utter confusion-
so i wandered off stage, opening the tri-folded piece of paper.
...
it was my blog. (this is the part where my Dad burst into laughter when i was telling him the story.)
all my boys in the Blend IMMEDIATELY knew something was up. i'm embarrassed easily, yes, but seriously, my face was so red my ears were burning.
he.
had.
read.
my.
blog.
including, ohmystars,myevilplan.
he knew. he HAD KNOWN. (and still talked to me?)
i knew exactly which post it was, too. the Evil Plan post. i felt like SUCH an idiot (red ears to the max. go ahead, laugh. he KNEW about my plan. DANGIT.). Yeah, i post online, but let's be honest, who reads this? not too many people, mi amigo. it's not even under MY REAL NAME.
so i went and sat on Elliot's lap, and switched pages. (there were two.) on the second page was a handwritten note that did NOT say, as i expected, anything to the effect of,
Caitie.
attached is a copy of the restraining order. i have kindly allowed you to participate in tonight's display, but if you come within fifty feet of me ever again, you stalker, i'll have you arrested. have a nice life,
Joshua Shank.

instead, it said that Google Alert had told him i had posted it. (and now, let's be honest, i'm worried it'll send him this. stupid Google, you traitor.) he read it, and said that he enjoyed the way i expressed myself. no restraining orders, no "you're a freak", he even signed it "with respect".
i'm feeling possessive of it right now.
You have to understand. i'm really not a stalker. really, i'm not. but where other people want to meet celebrities like Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, the only two people i have ever had the strong desire to meet, because i respect and admire them so deeply, are Joshua Shank and Garth Nix. (he's an author. he wrote Sabriel. Sabriel has held the title of my favorite book for a while now, which is hard to do.)
when i showed my friends though, they immediately were like, "HAHAHAHAHA! he thinks you're a FREAK!"
Ashley, God bless her, was like, "no, he said nice things."
I still had a pit in my stomach the size of an elephant. so i immediately went up and apologized, thanking him for not just calling me a freak.
and he thanked me. -read small amounts of confusion and disbelief-
and gave me a hug.
seriously, i'm ecstatic. still. (don't judge.)
Really. for someone as talented as Joshua Shank to tell me that i have "an immense talent"...
i don't even know how to explain it.

but i will say this. i'm still SOOOOOOO embarrassed. i can't believe he knew my plan! -facepalms- i'm such an idiot. :D
but i'm also strangely glad. (i mean, i am running the risk of him seeing this. Google, you traitor, i'll fight you.)
anyway. when i got home and Ben told me his plan for killing Herbert, my immediate response was 1) save him and 2) would you mind smashing ME with a rock?
and that's how this all ties together.

a few things before i go to sleep.
1) I told you all that we're doing Jesus Christ Superstar this summer, right? i suppose i neglected to post when Alison called me and informed me that yours truly will be playing the role of Mary Magdalene. i'm so excited (and nervous and anxious and OMG what if i do terribly? but mostly excited.). tell people. it's in July, i'll update you all, fear not. i mean, seriously, how long was it before i shut up about Godspell? (That's a trick question. i still haven't shut up about Godspell. :D)
2) I get to help put stuff away in the music library. :D
3) They didn't find out why i fainted. -rolls eyes- whatevs.
4) really, i'm sorry this is such a looooooong post. i just haven't been able to tell my stories today, and... yeah. but if you're reading this, you made it to the end. good for you!
5) also, i no longer desire to be smashed. i'm accepting it as good. :D

Spring Is In My Hands... Autumn Too.

Epic Beginning Tangent - i know, i know, it's supposed to be "spring is in the air."
well, it's not. it's freezing here in Indiana.
freezing. i hate the cold.

--let's get something straight--i like winter okay... winter scenes, really. i have an artist's soul--snow is beautiful, and grey skies are perfect, and bare trees stretching their thin hands to the cloudy heavens... it's poetic.

but i hate the cold. hate. hate. hate. i hate snow. i hate the feel of it in my boots (not under my boots, i like the crunch of fresh snow and the nice smell), i hate the chill it sends down my spine, i hate the feel of it on my skin, on my hands, i hate it i hate it ihateitihateitihateit. i hate when the sky's cheery and blue and pretending to be warm and friendly, only to trick you outside to realize that it's fracking freezing. it really cheeses my cracker.

Winter is mean and spiteful and wicked. mean. spiteful. wicked. i refuse to befriend it.
End tangent.--

You may be wondering why i said Spring AND Autumn are in my hands, as opposed to one or the other being in the air. well, i'll stop your wondering. no, they're not people, mind out of the gutter.
they're songs. Spring and Autumn, by Joshua Shank.
holy cats, guys, i have Spring and Autumn.
back story! -pensive expression-
When i was a freshman, Joshua Shank came to my high school... (i didn't get to meet him. -sobs-) they were preforming Autumn. when i heard it, i cried. I knew Madrigals was the choir i wanted to be in. and Joshua Shank became my hero. (I really love Gabriel's Message. go listen. do it.)
well, this year is my senior year. (How time flies.) and at the beginning of the year, Mrs. Prather informed us that she wanted to commission a piece from Joshua Shank for the Madrigals. i almost cried when i realized it would be next year, since pieces like this take forever and such. but then Joshua Shank was like, "No, i'll have it for you this school year." and i was like OHMYSTARSNOWAYHAPPYHAPPYHAPPY! (i may or may not have cried, but no one can prove it.) not only that, but now i get to meet him. end of back story! hey, that's not a pensive expression on your face, you look bored... or confused. it's okay, we're still friends.
i'm.
so.
excited.
and he wrote us Spring. -cries with joy-
it's beautiful. so beautiful.
it uses text from two of Sara Teasdale's poems. (Can anyone say I Am Not Yours from last year? you can? good. you may pass go, but you may not collect two hundred dollars unless you find me and sing it.)
Twilight and There Will Come Soft Rain...
beautiful beautiful beautiful.
here they are, if you're too lazy to go look them up. i'm going to go swoon. i bolded my favorite lines from each, because i'm just nice like that.

Twilight
Dreamily over the roofs
The cold spring rain is falling;
Out in the lonely tree
A bird is calling, calling.
Slowly over the earth
The wings of night are falling;
My heart like the bird in the tree
Is calling, calling, calling.

There Will Come Soft Rain
There will come soft rain and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;
And frogs in the pools singing at night,
And wild plum-trees in tremulous white;
Robins will wear their feathery fire
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire.
And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.
Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,
If mankind perished utterly.
And Spring herself when she woke at dawn,
Would scarcely know that we were gone.

Go, Tell It On The Mountain, Joshua Shank, And The Madrigals

i requested, yesterday, that my mother drive me to school this morning. See, the Madrigals, that is my amazingly epic choir, are singing for the Chamber of Commerce today. during 5th period.
(I GET OUT OF ECONOMICS, YAYAYAYAY!)
so i had to bring my velvets. It's this gorgeous black velvet dress with netting stuff at the top, and it's beautiful and very flattering. i actually look kinda good in it. But anyway. a Madrigal performance includes, at the moment, my velvet, my shoes, my socks, my make-up of various kinds, a comb, putting my hair up, a tin of bobby pins, and a dress bag. so i was like, "MOMMY, PLEASE DRIVE ME TO SCHOOL!" and she was like, "Okay."
so i woke up, threw everything into a bag, put that on a hanger with my velvet in a dress bag. and then i wandered downstairs, brushed my teeth (always important), and got in the car.
well, i got to school, walked in, opened the choir door, and was instantly greeted by a wall of sound. beautiful, glorious, Festival Deck the Halls type sound.
and i noted that i heard altos and tenors, but sopranos and basses were sadly absent. so i wandered over and realized that our president and my section leader, both of them sopranos, were there and singing, just against all of the altos and the tenors. so Paige, who's in my section, and i joined them. and then the basses showed up. apparently the tenors, altos, and basses had all three had sectionals. (mine were Tuesday and will be tomorrow)
So i joined them, and we all sang Go, Tell It On The Mountain. Joshua Shank's version.
i would like to say, here, that i am a major fan of Joshua Shank. his music is beautiful. like, he's my favorite composer.
and he's writing us the Spring piece in his Seasons Quartet... :D
i'm.
so.
excited.
like, you don't get it. i'm meeting one of my heroes. i'm.
so.
sooooooooooooooooo.
excited.
ecstatic.
delighted.
anxious.
nervous.
and he isn't even coming until the spring.
i collapse into girlish giggles when we talk about him. it's THAT bad.
:D
i even have a secret evil plan. mwuahahaha.
i'll tell you.
i love The Decemberists. sooo much. and their album, Hazards of Love, (a glorious rock opera) is easily one of my favorite cds, not just by them, but by anybody.
(Skillet and The Decemberists and Joshua Shank are all kind of on the same level of awesomeness in my book.)
well, i found this shirt that i want. it's a grey shirt with a tree on it, in, like, light red/pink, and above the tree it says The Decemberists, and below the tree it says The Hazards of Love.
and then i found out that Joshua Shank is a fan of The Decemberists.
(I read his blog, i'm not just a super creepy stalker... weeeeell... :D)
so my secret, evil, devious plan is to obtain and wear said shirt on the day that he comes, thus demonstrating how awesome i am. >_>
hehehehehe.
yes, i know, i have problems. but this is very exciting for me.
not only is he writing a piece of music specifically for us, for the Madrigals, for meeeee, he's coming down here to direct it and meet us.
i'm. ecstatic.
anyway, i digress. back to the story. the Madrigals were singing. and it was beautiful. it kinda clicked, you know? and it was glorious. so then i turned around and Logan walked in, so i jumped on him. because that's what i do. and then we all grabbed our stuff and left. and it just really put me in a good mood this morning.
hopefully today will be so much better than yesterday.
i like good days. bad days are not on my list of things i enjoy. (surprising, i know. :D)
but, so far, i'm in a marvelous mood today, and i plan on keeping it that way.
in just a few minutes, i get to go to Madrigals. i'm so delighted. i love feeling like this about my choir--like it's one of the highlights of my day.