Meditation

We had our final practice interviews for Sterling Scholar today. As some of you may know (because I've been venting about this all day), I started out these interviews spectacularly. But as time went on, and as I listened to and heeded the opinions of approximately 30 different people, I kind of began a self-destruction pattern. My interviews got worse and worse. Today was the worst one of all time. I don't know if it's because I'm just trying to please everyone or if I am just strung out beyond all recognition. But either way, it's not good.

Part of my problem is that there is one question I can never answer: "Tell us about yourself." What does that mean? Do I talk about myself in an English sense? Or as a person in general? If I go with the latter, do I talk about myself academically, socially, religiously, personally... what? So I asked the lady that's been helping us with the interviews these questions, and all she told me was "It sounds like you need to get to know yourself better."

I really took that into consideration, and I spent the rest of the day wondering what that meant. Obviously, I'm pretty well acquainted with myself. I know my likes and dislikes, my favorite movies and music, who I dig these days, etc. I wondered what Mrs. Helper Lady meant by "get to know yourself better." So I decided to pull a Joseph Smith and go wandering in nature to find out what was going on with myself. I located my long-lost bicycle, cleaned him up, filled up the tires, and I was off.

I found a nice little place that was far enough off the road that I wouldn't be seen by passing Germans, but not so far that I had to hike very far with my bike. I sat on a blanket and passed the time by reading and responding to some missionary letters, reading my book (East of Eden by John Steinbeck. Quite riveting.), and recording my thoughts.

I don't know if I've exactly "reinvented" myself or anything to that effect. I did not learn anything new about myself. There were no epiphanies great enough to shake the very foundations of my existence. But I did sort out a few thoughts and emotions that I've been struggling with the past couple of months, and it gave me a chance to let go of the awful day I'd been having and allowed me to start over at 4 in the afternoon.

The overall experience gave me a sense that I'd just received a mental massage. Usually "me time" involves a bubble bath and a self-inflicted (yes, inflicted) pedicure and some form of a chick flick. But this was different. This time, it wasn't about making myself feel good. It was about giving some credit to the good feelings that I aleady have that have been overshadowed by the worried, strung-out, depressed feelings brought on by Sterling Scholar, school in general, and whatever else. I don't think this whole meditation thing was a quick-fix to make me suddenly 100% happy all the time, but it really gave me a drive to re-prioritize my life.

I really am a happy person in general. And I guess sometimes, I just need to remind myself of that.

Success!

We had Region Solo & Ensemble this past Thursday in Beaver, and I'd say it was a pretty successful day. I went with X-Press ton sing 3 songs as a group, plus I had 3 small groups that I was involved in. These were: "Homeward Bound", a duet with my dear good friend Chelsea; "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need", a group with Kelsie, McKenna, Chelsea, Aaron, Matt, and Landon; and "Cantate Domino" with Chelsea, Jamie, Kelsie, Ben, Ian, Matt, and... Andrew I think? Anyways, "Homeward Bound" and "Cantate Domino" both got the highest rating available, so we get to go to State. Unfortunately, "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need" didn't do well enough to move on to state... bummer.

The trip was fun though. As soon as I got there, I went inside the church where the individual groups were performing, then I remembered that I'd left something on the bus. So I turned around and started haulin back up the stairs, but then a pretty solid thing stopped me. I looked up and saw my good friend Rendon! He thought he was pretty funny. But then I just said "Well hi. 'Scuse me." So I hurried past him, only to be trucksticked and bear-hugged by Rendon's little brother, Dallin. By the time I finally got outside, the bus was just barely pulling away. Dang those boys.

Anyways, the point is that we did pretty good at region. Both judges gave us a Superior rating on our group songs ("Let go, why do you stay me?", "When Allen-a-dale went a-hunting", and "Carol of Joy"), so that made us feel quite nice. Oh yeah, the lady that was judging mine and Chelsea's duet was the director at Honor Choir--go figure. So I knew from experience what she wanted to see and hear... so I gave it to her. I was like making eye contact with her and gettin to be all kinds of emotional. When we got our judging sheet back, it said something like "Part 2: Thank you for showing how much you care for this song and allowing the passion to show in your face." That's right. Go me.

Well, I suppose that just means I've got work to do for State so that I can improve on everything. The main reason Chelsea and I are doing "Homeward Bound" is because anyone who's group gets a Superior rating at state gets to sing that song at our end-of-the-year concert... and my mom really, really wants us to sing at that concert so she can hear it. What a cute lady. (:

That's all for now. Tune in next time.

California!

As some of you might be aware, the KHS music department usually takes a trip every year to California to do some kind of competition, performance, and/or workshop... and of course, to play for like 3 days. This year was the last chance I had to go with X-Press, and I took full advantage of it. (:

Day One: We left after school on Wednesday the 3rd and headed to Vegas to see "The Lion King" performed at THEhotel. Let me just say... that play was amazing and a half. The costume design and choreography absolutely baffled me. Everything about it (except for young Simba's voice... that bothered me. It was extremely nasal for some reason, and you could tell it was on purpose.) just blew me away. And I have to confess... I was absolutely bawling when Mufasa died. It was really sad, okay?!

I know you can't see our faces, but I was goin more for the sign.

After the play, we loaded up on our chartered bus (most of us changed into pajamas of some sort), got a bite to eat at the In-N-Out in Las Vegas, then we were off to California!

Day Two: We arrived at our hotel in Anaheim at like 4:00 in the morning... that was fun. /: We all pretty much crashed immediately, only to wake up at 8 to be at the gates of Disneyland at 9:30. Hurray!


My roommates--Jamie, Chanelle, and Chelsea--and I waiting for Disneyland to open! I'm really not sure why I'm making that face... but I apologize.

I finally found my Knight in Shining Armor!

We loved the Teacups!

The four of us just played around all morning in Disneyland, running around from one attraction to the next. See, Chanelle has never been to Disneyland before--shoot, she's never even been to California before--so we felt it necessary to get all kinds of fun things in, even though we were fairly sleep deprived.

Later in the day, everyone in X-Press met at the gates of Toon Town so we could go to our workshop. Of course, me and my friends got there early so we could play and take some pictures. (:

Aww... what a guy!

Didn't take us very long, did it?

Once we all got together, we headed to the "back stage" of Disneyland. You might remember me telling you about the California trip as a sophomore when we recorded in one of their studios. Well we did that again this year! What it was, we all went into a recording studio, they gave us music, and we learned 2 Disney songs ("Steady As The Beating Drum" from Pocahontas and "The Circle of Life" from The Lion King) and recorded us singing, and put the track over the movie. So we got a copy of the DVD that has the clips of those two movies with our voices singing. It's pretty neat, actually.

The rest of the day was left up to us to do whatever we wanted, as long as we were back at the hotel by 9. (Since it was Thursday, Disneyland closed at like 10.) We went to the regular rides, such as Small World, Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Indiana Jones, etc. My favorite part about these rides were probably the pictures that they take during it. Most of the time, the four of us would say "Okay, what faces are we gonna make for this one?" But a couple of times, we'd either say "Just make the scarediest faces you can" or they would just come.

Somehow, I got roped into being in the very front of the ride. I was not happy about my wetness. Hence the unhappy face. ha

This was taken mere moments before I lost my footing, fell backwards, and whacked my head on a decorative rock that left a lump right behind my left ear. Ow.


We had fun entertaining ourselves in line for Indiana Jones. At one point, we were trying to take some weird picture with some of the scenery, and Chelsea turned to the family behind us and said "We're so sorry. You can go ahead of us if you want. We're just being ridiculous." Then the lady said "No, that's okay! You girls are pretty entertaining!"

Somewhere along the way, two of the boys with our school group joined up with our little group, making it from four to six. But then, when we were heading for California Adventure, Chelsea, Chanelle, and I were running. Then Chanelle veered into some novelty store to get something for Kelin, and Chelsea and I lost her. We turned back to find her, eventually did, but we'd lost the other half of our group. We thought about getting back up with them, but decided that we might as well just make it easier to keep up with everyone and have it be just the three of us.

After a couple more hours, we decided to be done with Disneyland for the day. So Chelsea, Chanelle and I went back to the hotel, changed out of our still-wet clothes and into our sweats, then went next door to IHOP. We were all still absolutely delerious from lack of sleep, so everything was hilarious. We ordered our food, and enjoyed every bite of it. Our waitress was a really nice girl that just made everything that much better, so we left her a nice note saying where we were from and that we really appreciated her "cheerful demeanor." After IHOP, we went back to the hotel, changed into our swimsuits, then went down to the pool area and just hung out in the hot tub. We didn't have to be back in our rooms until 11, but by the time Mrs. Terry came around to make sure everyone was there and to put tape on our doors, all of us were pretty much asleep. When she knocked, we all called "not it" to determine who'd have to get out of bed to answer the door.

Day Three: This time, we had to be ready to be on the bus by 8:45 and dressed in our formals. The bus took X-Press to an auditorium-type-thing about a mile and a half away from our hotel, where we went in and warmed up for like 20 minutes. Then we went out on a stage and performed three of our songs ("Neighbors Chorus", "Gloria Hodie", and "I'm Gonna Rise") in front of national-level judges. When we were done with those, we went back to our warm-up room and worked on our madrigals. Then we went back again and sang "Let go, why do you stay me?" and "When Allen-a-dale went a-hunting"... not my favorite songs. But oh well, I still try my best on them. Anyways, the point of all this wasn't a competition, but it was more of a rating system to see kind of how we rank nationally. We ended up getting a Silver rating (top 20%) in both Chamber Choir and Madrigals, so that wasn't too bad. My only problem with the whole thing was that I was exhausted. After we sang, there was some middle school jazz band that had to perform, so we had to wait like 45 minutes for the awards, then we could leave. I wish I had a picture of us all waiting, though. When the jazz band wasn't playing, every single one of the altos were curled up in some position in the seats trying to sleep. Fortunately, I always wear my SUU sweats underneath my formal dress, so I was all kinds of comfy.

Eventually, we got back on the bus and headed back to the hotel so we could change before going back to Disneyland. Except this time, we decided to go to California Adventure!

There wasn't a J, so I had to settle with the "A" for my last name. (:



Oh we're goin places.

Like I said, Chanelle had never been to any of these places before, so of COURSE we had to take her to the Hollywood Tower of Terror! That one is definitely my favorite ride at California Adventure. We got Fast Passes for it, then waited in the regular line and rode it the first time. Then we came back like 15 minutes later to use our Passes to ride it a second time. Then later in the day, some lady gave us 7 Fast Passes that she didn't want to use, so we gave away the 3 extras and rode it a third time.

This was supposed to show how "scurred" we were... but this is actually genuinely frightening picture. Chelsea looks like an alien.


We weren't too scared after all. (:

Ironically, the Tower of Terror was actually not what scared us the most. It was Mickey's Fun Wheel that killed us almost. That's the big ol' Ferris wheel that has the sliding cars, if you have any idea what I'm talking about. The line for it was fun, though. We got behind these 4 guys that were about as funny as it gets, so we were all line buddies. But once we got on the ride, and Chelsea's deep fear of Ferris wheels kicked in... that's when it got a lot less fun.

This is obviously a staged picture, but we were actually scared once it started going. Like, to the point where we all ended up sitting on the floor of the thing and we were all holding hands.

Later in the day, we decided that we wanted to go back to Disneyland after all. Once again, our friend Ian joined up with us, so we had 5 people in our group. We did Splash Mountain again (why?!), and got possibly one of the greatest pictures ever. It's almost a close tie with the Splash Mountain picture of sophomore year.

This was sophomore year. Common denominators: me and Ian.

Yikes.

Double yikes.


Chelsea really, really didn't want to get soaked. So what did she do? She stuck her souvenirs inside her big purse and used the plastic Disneyland bag as a poncho. Genius.

After that, we went on the Haunted Mansion, Space Mountin, and various other rides. Finally though, we were just worn out again. We didn't stay for all of the fireworks, so we got out before the mad rush of people swarming the EXIT gates. The girls and I swung by McDonald's and got some dinner to go, then we sat in our room and ate while watching "Friends" before passing out for the night.

I couldn't not take a picture. It was perty. (:

Day Four: We had to wake up early enough to get ready and pack, because we were finally leaving Anaheim. For the first day of the trip, we didn't have any kind of music-related activities to do... it was just a fun day to play at Six Flags Magic Mountain! Unfortunately... it was like 40 degrees, and it was supposed to rain. All day. So what did it do? It rained. All day. Actually it was more sprinkling and it was off and on, but still! Chelsea, Chanelle, Jamie, and I were among the first like 20 people of the day to ride X2, and our faces were being pelted by 50-60 mph rain the whole time... not that awesome. The same kind of thing happened with The Goliath, but we worked out a system:

Cute, I know. At first, all of us were being really bitter and complainy about the situation, and we were actually keeping in touch with Mrs. Terry to see if we could possibly leave the park earlier than planned so we could get home sooner. (We weren't going to leave until the park closed at 6.) But as we were sitting at a food court eating genuinely awful $12 lunches, I looked at Chelsea, Chanelle, and Jamie and said "Why are we being all pissy? We're here. We paid a lot of money to ride these rides and have fun, not eat gross food and whine. So as of right now: we are happy and we are having fun." And it actually worked. For the rest of the day, we just dealt with the rain and had fun despite it. We even found out a plus side of being forced to stay at Six Flags from open to close: that anyone else who lived nearby decided that today wouldn't be a good day to go play... so the park wasn't too busy. We actually got to stay on the Goliath like 3 times in a row. We also had fun on Tatsu... ha.

This ride is done while you're hanging from the rail. So after the ride is over, and you're waiting for the nice Six Flags employees to let you down, you're kind of just suspended in the air. That's why my face looks so red. Oh well.

Anyways, we spent the rest of the day just playing. Like I said, there were barely any lines for the rides. The longest one we waited in was for the Terminator: Salvation, which was ironic for two reasons. 1) We didn't even want to go on it. We were just killin time before we could get on the warm bus, and 2) It's a brand-new ride, and we didn't even know that. But it actually ended up being really cool. The whole pre-ride thing was way intense.

FINALLY, we got to get on the bus. Our self-discovered good moods had begun to wear, and we were ready to go home. All of us were wet and cold and ready to change into our comfies and snuggle with some blankets. We drove until Barstow, then we stopped for food, then headed the rest of the way home after that. We got to Kanab at about 5:00 am, and I still had the half hour drive home... it was unreal. As in, I was still delusional, and the huge amounts of fog combined with the icy slush covering the road made it feel like a whole new demension as I drove home. In the end, I finally got in my own bed at the exact same time that I usually am getting up for school.

In the end, this California trip was, without a doubt, my favorite one ever. Between having my best friend with me, spending time in good weather (for the most part), and a complete lack of high school drama (don't judge.), it was freaking sweet. I guess the third time's the charm, right?

I love us. (: