Organizng My Thoughts: Back to School/Seventeen "The In-Between."

Okay, so it's been a whirlwhind of a last few days, but when I look back on it, I think it's been amazing. The first two days of school kind of sucked, but the birthday chronicles were worth all the crap. So, prepare for itemized thoughts over the experiences of the last few days.

Item #1: The First Days of Junior Year
Slightly emotional. I got sad when I figured out a large portion of my friends were sitting in the blue chairs on the floor. Kind of depressing, but meh. Got over it. Part of the suckitude of my schedule is that I have double AP on blue days. AP English so far is pretty great. I enjoy Mrs. Schoeff, she's fun. :) I'm looking forward to reading the Scarlett Letter too, even though I know it's going to be tedious. After AP English I have Madrigal, which is exceptionally weird so far because a lot of things have changed, like Mrs. Hardy no longer being with us, a great deal of the leaders being gone, and the new kids that I DO NOT like, not naming any names (*coughcoughjordanbeavercoughcough*). Anyhooooo, after Madrigal, I have APUSH. I like Mrs. Anderson, and the work isn't too overwhelming yet, but I'm not going to get behind, I'm staying up on it. Then finally, I have Spanish last on blue days. I'm in a class full of idiots, but that's okay because Senora and I get along really well, a lot of it having to do with the fact that she and I talk back and forth in spanish a lot. She enjoys that. On gold days, I have an EB first which is a prime location for that class. Algebra II homework will probably be reserved for that time, since I have it next. The BEST part about my new schedule is that I have Humanities with HUDSON, MICHAEL, CAROLYN, AND KORTNEY! :D XD This semester is going to be great. And I have Chemistry last with Mr. Coppess. LOVE him already, he's fun to listen to, because he inserts little quirks that you only catch if you're paying attention. I remember my freshman year when the fire alarm went off during the first day assembly and we all had to get out at once. THIS year, those of us who were crazy enough to be at school at 7:15 all got kicked out for a "suspicious smell." No matter what anyone says, EMILY KILE STARTED THE FIRE.

Item #2: Favorite Quotes from the First Week of School

"I have a map..." --- Lucia Borgmann (Yeeeaaah, you had to be there.)

"I like Bri cheese!" --- Mrs. Evers

"My assignments are cake. It's a cake WALK. You can walk AROUND it..." ---Mrs. Anderson

"I don't want to see objects lodged in any orafices." --- Mrs. Anderson

"I love it when you talk Spanish to me!" --- Senora Brown

"Alright, everybody, what word do you guys see in the word ANALYZE? And please don't say "anal." --- Mr. Coppess

"Don't make the school constipated, it's not nice." --- Mr. Coppess

"Air force defense systems......That sounds like an AWESOME responsibility!" --- Mrs. Schoeff

Item # 3: Turning Seventeen
I'm not sure why, but for some reason, turning seventeen feels different than turning sixteen was. Maybe it's because sixteen is so over stereotyped that most of the hype was sucked out of it by tradition and pop culture. Seventeen is that age between sixteen and eighteen where nothing is over-done or over-celebrated. But the last three days have just been a parade of birthday-related stuff. :) Friday was my actual birthday. The only slightly annoying thing about that day was that mom woke me up at the asscrack of dawn before she went to bed to wish me happy birthday. I got sung to like three times, once from Drama, once from Madrigal and the third one I can't remember. Michael went withe me and my family to Olive Garden and we all had a great time. I love how easily he and my parents get along, especially him and my dad, and to my mom, he's the son she never had. And by the same token, I get along well with his family as well. We spent half the day together on Saturday when we all worked the far, and they were my ride to and from. Michael's dad decided he liked me because I have an awesome sense of humor. Not that I blame him. The car parked next to us in the employee lot had a bumper sticker that said: "If you're gonna ride my ass, at least pull my hair." Then I went to IO's back to school/bday party thing and I finally brought Apples to Apples over. awesomeness. Mama Batka made me a birthday cake!!! I love her so much. ^_^

My birthday party was amazing tonight. :) Not really dynamic or everything, but it felt awesome, you know? The presents my friends got me really illustrated how well they know me. I almost felt bad, because I liked most of my friends' presents than my parents presents (with the exception of the new phone, which wasn't techinically supposed to be a present, my phone just happened to break the day before my birthday, HOW CONVENIENT!!!) My fabulous gifts are as follows:

From the parents:

Diary of a Mad Black Woman
Madea's Family Reunion
Madea Goes to Jail
The Uninvited
Folie a' Deux
Apples to Apples

From friends:

A giftcard to Kohl's --- from THEE Lauren Prazeau
iTunes giftcard --- from Alex
What I call "hair de-frizzlement," Skittles, and Sour Patch Kids --- from Jayme
Two memory sticks for my new camera and a SHAMWOW! --- from Fred (Chris giggled! XD)
Two Hershey chocolate bars --- from IO
Sour Twizzlers --- from Michael
A 1 year subscription to Popular Photography magazine!!!!!!!!!!!!!! --- from Chris :D :D :D I LOVE YOOOOOUUUUU!
A waffle iron --- from Ellen and Kasey. NOT KIDDING! A WAFFLE IRON. The best part? They wrapped it in pages torn from a Topics textbook. XD XD XD

And I still have some stuff to come, so we'll see. :) Hopefully Lex is getting me the Ball State hoodie I've wanted for ages. ^_^

Fruma Sarah! Fruma Sarah! Fruma Sarah!

Let me start by saying to the two of you reading that Fiddler was one of the best theater experiences of my life. My brother loved it, too, and he is now not only a fan of the musical but a huge fan of Chris' as well. ;) The music for me is now so much more exhilarating because I have a visual to go with the music. When I hear Tradition, I see you all in your neat lines across that stage. In Tevye's dream, I always get chills and goosebumps when I remember Gloria rising over the back of that bed (*coughcoughsputterhackcough*) and I always tear up when I picture Brian during the Chava Ballet Sequence. You guys all created something totally real and relatable. :) You should all be very proud of yourselves.

There's just something incredible about musicals that no matter what kind of person you are, it always leaves you wondering, "Hmm, if my life were a musical, what would it be like?" With the way I feel right now with this APUSH nonsense, I'm thinking dark comedy. Last night I had a dream that I was crucified by Mrs. Schoeff for using 11 point font on my Crucible essays. The only thing that would have been better is if she broke into song and dance, wearing a tophat and twirling a cane. For God's sake, I can already feel myself going in over my head with the AP crap. Not so much AP English of course, but APUSH has already stolen my soul. Other than all of that, I guess I'm kind of excited to be going back to school. :) Getting back into a regular schedule will at least keep me rooted, if not bored. I can already tell by the impending workload that I'm going to have to manage my time a little better. I hope I can calm down enough about it to enjoy next weekend. Two parties! IO's and my own. :) I can't wait.