the words we say

I promised myself these would be more frequent. I am now calling bullshit on myself. I never keep promises. Sorry.

I thought you might like to know that last Saturday (November 21st) was my 19th birthday. Was it happy? Not entirely. There were few highlights:

-Spending the weekend in Orlando (and by weekend I mean half of Thursday and Saturday, and all of Friday)
-Finding glasses at Spencer's that look just like Lady Gaga's (from the Just Dance video)
-Finding a Silversun Pickups shirt at Hot Topic, and getting a Fangtasia shirt with it
-Getting cupcakes from Sara at rehearsal. She says her caramel cupcakes are to die for but they weren't my taste. Those funfetti cupcakes, on the other hand...
-Going to Red Lobster for dinner, Gaga shades and all, and not being surrounded by people singing that fucking annoying birthday song.

Lowlights? Writing my term paper, not going to the Rock The Wreath concert on Friday ("It's a frat party!" - my mom) and not having the first season of True Blood in my hands. Seriously, WHOSE HOUSE GOT BURNED DOWN?! I don't know and it's bugging me! I don't know who has a blue house on True Blood. Bad fangirl = me.

Basically? I think I'm just gonna give up on birthdays. Especially as a college student, it's just another day anymore. It's your birthday? Cool. You also have a research paper to work on, a theory final coming up, and don't forget your term paper. It's due tomorrow. fuck.

But it's over and I had an excuse to wear a tiara to church. hah

On another note I did my recital yesterday. Since it was our "Broadway Day" and I don't know shit about musical theatre songs (despite taking musical theatre classes...bad me), I did what I know, which is pop music (and Mrs. Maclean approved, since I was playing piano with it). Since I was going to be the only one on stage that day, I added an extra song at the last minute. So my recital consisted of Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" and Kelly Clarkson's "Already Gone" (the program listed the composer as Ryan Tedder which scratched a few heads. He's the composer, dorks, Kelly didn't write it I think). It started out dazzlingly and was happy when it was over. I'd lived my dream. Thanks BCC for helping a little 19-year-old's dream come true.

But when you're talking shit about me and my performance? That hurts. One of Mr. Baker's students was talking about something along the lines of, "Is Broadway Day always that boring? I'm sorry, I didn't like what that girl did." And then the waterworks. It hurt, really. Because that's my passion. That's what I feel happiest doing. That's my art (well...an artistic rendering of another artistic rendering, maybe. Am I using the right wording, here?). I put my soul out there and you trample it. It's like being Leonardo da Vinci and watching someone shoot an arrow right through the Mona Lisa. At least to me. That is the only thing I know. I feel like I'm an entertainer at heart and I feel that if you weren't entertained, I didn't do my job. That's the one thing I feel like I excel in. If only I could make a living doing that. Is it possible?

I feel like I was doing something unheard of, and was even a little apprehensive. I didn't know how people would react. Me, doing pop songs on a musical theatre day. It's typically frowned upon but no one else signed up but me. And since I did it "so well" (Mrs. Maclean's words, not mine), they let me through. Mr. Bishop even said he was impressed and I thought he'd be a tough critic. Made me feel better. I'm not saying that girl can't have an opinion, but it just hurt me. Opinions really are like assholes. In fact, it might even be opinions that make us assholes. Ashlee said something about it building character though. It's best to listen to Ashlee because she knows things and I don't. My mind doesn't think logically.

Ok, done whining, sorry. Lately I just feel like I want to lock myself up in my room and cry all day. I just feel like nothing's going right. Okay, now I'm really done. Sorry, I have a tendency to whine.

If you were curious as to what some of my covers sound like, I have some up on my YouTube (yeah, I went there): http://youtube.com/user/daylightdancerxx

Also, I found my new favorite website. I really love this. It was co-created by Rainn Wilson and it's a really neat philosophical (probably not the word I should have used but it was all I could think of) kinda thing. http://soulpancake.com Check it out.

And also some lovely sounds...http://myspace.com/destrymusic

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Alex.
[carrying her lipstick like a cigarette]

What a fucking night. I can't believe how awesome this Halloween was.

Where to begin. Oh. I know where to begin.

Friday, October 30th. Mr. H actually did something cool and treated this game as the Halloween game and let the band dress up. Me being a MIHS band graduate now, I still get to pal around with the band like a groupie. But not a groupie. So I put my wig and hood on, and took my Gaga strut to Viera High School for the game. Mustangs vs. Hawks, Mustangs win as usual. Of course, Mustang band sucks. I love 'em to bits but they sound horrible. The Hawks' football team is shit, but their band is awesome. So they kind of cancel each other out.

So right before halftime I go down with Sam, Jeremy, Chris, and Kyle to find a spot to watch the band. Of course, I'm not actually watching the game, so I didn't notice until way after that there was a player injured on the field (one of Viera's guys, I think he'll be ok though). During that time, we all went down to the home side (where the band faces when they play) to watch, but since we're at a standstill, we go back to the home side for now. I try to follow my friends, when I get stopped by a bunch of kids shouting in the stands, "Lady Gaga! Lady Gaga!" They all come down to me to get pictures taken. Go back and read that again if you need to. They took pictures with me. I find that surreal. Kids took pictures with me. You know who else took a picture with me? The Chick-Fil-A cow. I thought it was Kyle because he usually is the cow. And I'm mostly sure Kyle does not like me (well fine by me). But I noticed it couldn't have been because it willingly hugged me. It was a match made in heaven. I could live on Chick-Fil-A. If I could afford to live on it.

Then some kids said I should sign autographs. Too bad I didn't have a pen, lol.

So I go back to the home side to finish the game and watch the band fail. Jordan (back in colorguard? seriously?) is giving me dirty looks from the stands (why isn't she on the field?!), I know it. She's a bitch anyway, like I care. You can't call me out for dressing like a whore when you actually are one. Sorry, I digress. We leave during third quarter so we can beat the crowd. On the way to the parking lot I get stopped again. It's a girl, I want to say she's in choir because she wears a shirt that says, "Vocalist". She says to me, "Thanks for coming, Lady Gaga! When's your next concert?" And so I say, in my best Gaga voice, "I'm so glad you asked! January 3rd, Orlando, dress accordingly!" Which reminds me. My birthday is November 21st. You should get me tickets for my birthday. Or the first season of True Blood on DVD.

So that ends and my feet are killing me. I'm ready for actual Halloween.

Actual Halloween happens. I put on my hood and lightning bolt (metallic wrapping paper and eyelash glue ftw!) and head to the mall. Looks like I'm not the only crazy there, just the only one in Books-A-Million. And the only Gaga, too. I was surprised. There were more generic costumes out there than there were Gagas, or even Michael Jacksons (I was very saddened by the lack of Billy Mays costumes. Very). Once again, I walked the Gaga walk (and by "walk" I mean strut, which was more like a powerwalk. Look for The Fame short film on YouTube to get an idea), and talked the Gaga talk (you know, the voice). One of the girls in Books-A-Million said, "Look at her! She even puts on a show!" That's what I do lady. I need to work at Disney World or something. I never--EVER--broke character. Except after the costume contest when I switched out my shoes. My feet were killing me in those heels. I had to pack extra flats.

Oh, speaking of that costume contest. I lost to a scarecrow and a very clever potted plant. Lady Gaga was not enough. Not even the emcee handing me her mic and me saying, in character voice, "My name is Lady Gaga (not including: "and this...is my...haaaaaaus")". How is that for character, eh? HOW'S THAT, POTTED PLANT?! You're not even an animate object. Suck my disco stick.

Oh, but strutting through Merritt Square Mall blasting music through my phone was a treat. I just loved every second of it and didn't want it to end. While I was in Macy's, a dad passed me by and said, "Hi, Lady Gaga! My daughter is a big fan of yours." His daughter was so cute too. She was staring at me like, "Is that Gaga? I don't think that's Gaga. Wait, maybe it is...nah, maybe not...I'm confused". She was in a very colorful fairy costume. I was feeling the Halloween love. Only on Halloween though...

But then I called my mom around 8:30 to pick me up and take me to Ryan's.

Reason: I was to go to my first Rocky Horror Picture Show. What funnnn.

And what an event it was. Ryan decided to be a lame-o and not dress up (he said he was going to cross-dress, but at the last minute opted not to). I still in my Gaga gear had enough fabulous for both of us. When we got there, I met a boy who recognized me from the Viera game. Nice. Then when we got into get our goody bags, I met Drake from my acting class. Small world? Yes. I told him I was a virgin and he laughed (virgin in Rocky Horror terms means that it's your first time at the show. get your head out of the gutter...). Then so after this encounter Ryan and I took our seats, where I met a fellow Gaga. Although a bit half-assed compared to mine. I think I heard the girl next to her say, "A challenger appears!" as I sat down. This girl had just the tights and black tank top with rhinestone panties. Eh, an A for effort. Not even a blond wig? In her defense she was naturally blonde...but not platinum blonde. I pulled out all the stops. So then two girls asked us to move (which we did, because we're not assholes), and managed to end up behind some of my MI friends. There were Kayla and Ashley (the front ensemble roadies as we referred to them), along with Mandy and Melissa. Small world? Yes. Next to us? Katy and Briana from colorguard (when I was in colorguard). Small world? Any doubt in your mind at this point?

So the show. I've never even seen the movie. So I was trying to watch the play and the movie at the same time (they had a shadowcast who was miming the movie as it was playing). I guess it's better when you've seen the movie. Anyway. Doing the time warp is impossible in heels, especially when you're slipping on rice. I got lipstick in my wig. Michael Jackson does not like being upstaged by Patrick Swayze. And other things I cannot quite remember.

So now here I am, writing it all down in pixel, legs sore, skin ravaged from makeup and lightning bolts, and I need to write all these acting assignments and make them up. Priorities? What priorities?



Halloween hangover Gaga says good night.

Alex.
[help I'm alive my heart keeps beating like a hammer]

So this theory thing. Still kicking my ass. Brandon and I studied last night (Hannah was here too, she's in my class. I never saw her up until then because she sits in the front and I sit way in the back) and, with my luck, none of the material we studied was covered on the test. Yay me. I studied the scale degrees, order of sharps/flats, roman numeral analysis, etc etc. Only I forgot the roman numeral analysis thinger, and how to find the number of sharps (it's different from flats. why.), and macro analysis. Fuck any kind of analysis, when am I going to use that? I just throw some chords together and hope they sound cool. I'm not going to sit here and transpose The Killers' "Andy, You're A Star" for violin (I'd transpose it for viola). Besides, we don't get songs like that anyway. I don't know where half our material comes from. Oh well.

So in addition to my last post (the True Blood/Inuyasha bit) I seemed to totally neglect one that was right under my nose the whole time. Sam Merlotte = Shippou. They can both change shape, but that's about it. Sam plays a bigger role in True Blood than Shippou did in Inuyasha. Shippou was more of a comic relief/token cute sidekick. Sam? Sam can turn into a dog (a cute dog at that! his preferred form is a collie). Ok done fangirling/overanalyzing. See, I can analyze live action/anime relationships, but not Vivaldi.

Speaking of vampires and vampire shows. Donna is trying to get me into The Vampire Diaries. I told her, "No, Donna, I'm not a lame-o who watches the CW." But she's hellbent on it. I'll try it I guess. I'm open-minded. Selectively open-minded. Hey, at least the vampires are attractive and not sparkly.

( And now...some photos for no reason at all )

Bought The Resistance a few weeks ago. Loving it. Loving it. Absolutely fucking loving it. Not the best music to study theory to, but why am I listening to music while studying anyway? I gotta say I'm digging "Undisclosed Desires" and "United States of Eurasia". That was what was playing in Hot Topic when I went in to buy it. I liked that. If there were a Muse musical...hot damn I'd be all over that. If Green Day and the Spice Girls can have a damn musical, so can Muse. (I'm actually looking forward to a Spice Girls musical, but come on. Muse + musical theatre? Think of the possibilities!)

In other news...Lady Gaga announced a show for Orlando. Huzzah. I want to go, it's not concrete yet. If I start saving my money now, I can do it. I got a paycheck for $90 for cat feeding, so if I refrain from buying the college's delicious-yet-overpriced food, it can happen. Especially if Mrs. Harrison decides to go out for the holidays...wait, when does the spring semester start again? oh and I'm pretty sure I can rely on Lady Gaga to hit FL at least once on her tours...unlike CERTAIN BANDS FROM LOS ANGELES WHO TOUR EUROPE ALL. THE. TIME. AND CERTAIN BANDS FROM DENMARK WHO ONLY TOUR THE BIG CITIES ON THEIR US TOURS. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE. Grr.

ok ok ok. I decided. I want to have a Halloween party. For serious. I have wanted to have a really over-the-top Halloween party since I was 14. I still do, but I can't really afford to make it "over-the-top". Instead, I'll get what I can afford from some random places. I thought about a Fangtasia theme but I don't know how I'm going to pull that off. Hopefully Ryan will bring his 360 so we can play Rock Band. Brandon won't let us use his. Jerk.

Ok, done now. I have run out of things to say that I can think of off the top of my head. Other than this: that new Death Cab song is kind of fabulous imo. Ok, now I'm done for real.

Alex.
[nothing left beside this old cathedral]

Well, thanks in part to my mom (as well as a sweet theme song), I've become a True Blood fangirl. I didn't think it would happen but it did. I love it. The eye candy isn't too bad either (hellooooo Eric Northman and Jason Stackhouse). Plus, the vampires don't sparkle. That's a breath of fresh air from the vampires that have been shoved down my throat for the past year.

However, I also managed to stumble upon episodes of Inuyasha on Hulu. I used to be a huge Inuyasha fangirl so I went back to some of those old episodes for nostalgia's sake (they've also added animated versions of the last chapters of the manga...why skip the rest of it? probably because it took TOO DAMN LONG). I came to a startling conclusion.

Inuyasha - bullshit = True Blood.

( Allow me to explain... )

So we all just saw Toy Story 1 & 2 in 3D and loved it. There's a lot that you miss in the first when you first see it when you're a kid. Like where Potato Head takes his lips off during Woody's speech and presses them to his rear. :ba-dum-pshhhh: Or two of the books behind him (one is called Knickknack, a Pixar short. The other is by an author with the last name Lasseter, named after John Lasseter). Now that I get all the jokes, it makes the movie that much more hilarious.

But before that Ryan and I saw Jennifer's Body. Yes, it is absolutely horrible. But Amanda Seyfried looked cute. The best parts were probably Adam Brody confirming Maroon 5's affiliation with the underworld, or hearing Silversun Pickups in Needy's room toward the beginning. Now I really wanna see Zombieland, though...

I promise, when I have a clear head, this'll all sound better. I just had an iced mocha from McDonald's today. Ah, the sweet taste of addiction.

Alex.
["you see the hat?! i am mrs. nesbit!!"]

Good morning world. I hate mornings. However I got a glorious ten hours of sleep last night, for once. This whole waking up early bit is screwing me over. Alarm set to 6:30, hit the snooze button five times, get up an hour later, hair/makeup/girly shit, and be out the door by 8:15, to get to the school around 8:30. Depending on the day, spend however long in the practice room, head to class and hate life for the rest of the day. Yeah, it was cool at first, but now I'm kinda tired of it. Also I thiiiiiink I'm failing theory. I think. Because I suck at it.

So as it turns out I am NOT going to the Silversun Pickups show in Gainesville next week. I finally got around to telling my mom about it. She said Sam would not be able to drive me around Gainesville and get home safely, even with a GPS. Then, $30 per ticket, plus Ticketmaster fees, gas, tolls, etc leaves me with about $10 to my name (and that's not even enough to get a T-shirt, if they cost anywhere near as much as Lady Gaga's, which hopefully they don't), at least until my next paycheck comes in. So what does that mean? No, Alex, it's not gonna happen. If it were Orlando, it would've been different. Even if with Orlando, the show still started at 9, you have two bands (An Horse, then SSPU, unless Cage The Elephant is also on this date. The website didn't specify), you can still hopefully get home by at least 2am? If your ride doesn't stop for gas first, or you don't spend a good hour chatting up the headliner like you did with Hawthorne Heights that one time. That was nice. Getting home at 2am wasn't. That show was done by like 11pm, but it started at like 8 or 9, with just two bands. So talking from experience. Either way, I'm not going, and waiting (and fading and floating away...sorry, I had to) for them to return to Orlando. I don't think they've been to Orlando since the Snow Patrol tour, and that was 2007ish. (which I'm still mad that I missed, I love SSPU and SP). It's been too long, come back.

Ok, done whining.

Of course this leaves me a lot of money that I've freed up for other things. Things like Halloween parties. Sam and I might have a Halloween party on...uh, Halloween. Idk who we're inviting, what we're doing, and all the other specifics yet, but it's in the works. We still have a month. haha. But I'm psyched because I've always wanted to have a Halloween party. I've never been able to because 1) all my friends would be all, "no, I'm going trick or treating", or 2) my grandma, a Jehovah's Witness (or J-Dub as Jed calls them), would think we're celebrating the devil. Please. Candy, friends, and Rock Band? Yeah, that's totally evil.

( speaking of Halloween... )

Muse. My god. Is America catching on just now? The Resistance debuted at #3 this week, making it Muse's highest-charting album to date. BH&R hit #8 I think? And "Uprising" is #1 at alternative radio. Is it the Twilight factor? I want to say it is but I hope it's not, just because it's Twilight. However, that does kind of have some advantages. I've seen a few people who liked what they heard on the Twilight soundtrack and wanted to know "what other songs to check out" etc. See where I'm going? In a way having that song on the Twilight soundtrack (as well as the new one that's going to be on the New Moon soundtrack) is kind of a gateway into...well, more Muse. Which, there's nothing wrong with more Muse. :)

My tummy is telling me it's time to stop writing and get some nom noms. Have a good one.

Alex.
[spaceman says everybody look down, it's all in your mind]

You know what, I could use some cake about now. My sweet tooth is raging and we have nothing sweet in the house. I should've just told my mom I'd drive if it meant winding up at 7-Eleven so I can get my sugar fix. ::is fat::

( A little bit of tl;dr Disney ranting... )

On that Silversun Pickups show I'm supposed to be going to. I haven't told Mom about it yet. She's probably gonna say no. So Sam said we could just skip the show and go to Orlando. BUT SAAAAM THE SSPU SHOW WAS WHAT THE TRIP WAS ALL ABOUT!!! So I still don't have enough money for two SSPU tickets. Waiting for my last paycheck from Mrs. Harrison. If it gets here. In the meantime I entered a contest that Dangerbird Records is holding for two tickets to a SSPU show. I entered for Gainesville. Let's hope they hook me up...

Just like Shockhound hooked me up for the SSPU/Outside Lands sweeps. Which they didn't. I instead spent that weekend in Miami, listening to mediocre Christian music (ever realize they ALL sound like Hillsong?).

Oh, Hillsong. Let's get into that. Longest weekend of my life (a few weeks ago). Me, my parents, Brandon, Gib, Gilson, and Sara (and sometimes Leslie and Michaela) in Miami, shuttling back and forth between the University of Miami and different restaurants and our fancyish hotel. First night was ok but no one told me it was just one big concert. We hoped that it was a bunch of workshops, but that wasn't even half of it. It was all concert, basically. It just seemed so commercialized. You complain about overcommercialized Christmas, yet you can arrange a whole arena-rock show complete with LEDs and fancy shit all about "Jesus Jesus Jesus" etc etc. Don't get me wrong, the band is good. It's everything else that bothered me. Like one of the Papa John's booths not taking my debit card to get pizza. Bullshit. And being called out on taking videos (I wanted to do a little video diary much like Silversun Pickups' 2007 tour diary video but I don't have a codec or something. Go figure.
What was eventful though.
-Waiting in Denny's for an hour for our food before ultimately deciding to leave (and constantly being hassled by Maria, who kept telling us to wait five more minutes, before telling us her name a thousand times).
-Going to McDonald's too much (one in Tamarac has this nifty 50s theme...liked that).
Sara doing the "oh-oh-ohoh" from CIY during "Today Is The Day".
-Taco Bell with the rents and Gib. And the lady at the counter saying she'd seen my shirt a billion times.
-Taking pictures looking like a crackwhore in my Hillsong "Hope Rise!" T-shirt (the one Taco Bell chickie commented on), doing my best Taylor Momsen for the camera listening to some obscure electronic music on UM's radio station (90.5FM THE VOICE in Coral Gables...check it). That bathroom had some sick lighting.
-The bidet in our hotel bathroom.
-Sara experimenting with the bidet, and laughing like a hyena after seeing what it does.
-The wooden giraffe across the street from the hotel.
-The bicycle race on the way to breakfast on Saturday.
-Watching the E! True Hollywood Story on Michael Jackson, and being shocked at just how up-to-date it was (they just ruled his death a homicide that Friday?, and they included it in the show)
-Finding out Fame was a TV show. I thought it was just a movie. Slash musical.
-Brandon and Gilson exchanging Spanish jokes.
-Me not understanding what either of them were talking about. Maybe that was best.
-Going home never wanting to go on another church trip again.

And then that week we get back, there's another trip announced, just for girls, for two days in Orlando. October 30-31. Fuck that I'm not skipping Halloween for that. I'm planning to have my first ever Halloween party. I hope people actually show up this time. Flu season is coming earlier this year. Oh my.

So The Fray were in Orlando yesterday for an acoustic gig. Apparently it was a secret and you could only get tickets through MIX 105.1. Shit, if I'd heard about it I'd be all over that. I didn't know until Dave (the guitarist) said on his Twitter that he was in Orlando for a radio show. ::sigh:: fml, fml.

And now I'm starting to get a bit of a headache. Probably telling me to stop writing. I've said a lot.

Alex.
[we'll figure it out on the way]

Elitism sucks. Kings of Leon were good then, and they're good now, just not as good. Get your heads out of your asses and move on.

On that note. College still rules, albeit a bit less now. I'm always falling asleep in Theory. Sight-singing was a nightmare for me on Thursday because I couldn't sing that day. I was sick. Sam had been sick too but it looks like she's much better now, as am I (rumor has it a good bit of the MIHS band has or had swine flu, and Sam went to the kickoff game that Friday, whoops...). Fortunately we're back in fighting shape so maybe no more falling asleep in Theory.

Uhm, what else. We're singing U2's "MLK" in choir. Funfunfun. well, idk. I mean, it sounds great, but...I can't stand U2. Well, I guess as long as it was 80s U2. They were better then at least.

What else else...I performed another impromptu concert for a kid named Sam (not my sister) from my acting class, and his boyfriend Justin. They requested "Lucky" by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat so I had to learn it on the spot. I did. Kind of. They sang along and it was so cute and exciting and aghhh. I'd love to be able to do this for a living. One day.

Ohhhh oh oh. I mightmightmight be seeing Silversun Pickups in Gainesville in October. Unfortunately that is as close as they're getting to here. No Orlando. There's a date in Ft. Myers, and another in Jacksonville. Gainesville is October 2nd and the only one that works out in our schedules (no Friday classes, so we can spend the whole day in Gainesville exploring). Opening for SSPU are An Horse and Cage The Elephant. idk much about An Horse but Cage The Elephant are kind of ok. That song "Ain't No Rest For The Wicked" reminds me of Beck's "Loser", vaguely. But SSPU will tear the shit up. They're ridiculous. Too bad tickets are like $30 a pop. I thought they'd actually be a lot less. It'll be worth it though. They don't come to Florida often so I'm taking advantage of this. Sam will hopefully be driving by then so she can take me and we can have ~sisterly bonding~ in Gainesville, exploring and stalking rocking out to SSPU.

University of Florida is in Gainesville. Go Gators? Haha. We might have to check that out while we're there. I have to say though I love Tallahassee, where Florida State University is. It's like a more urban version of Merritt Island, kinda.

I'm wearing red lipstick again. A little too much though. I have a feeling it's laced with crack but who am I to know.

I'm really digging Raquel Reed's music. Check it out. "Key Largo" will be stuck in your head for days, and days, and days. http://myspace.com/ewraquel

And mine, while you're at it. http://myspace.com/melodystarlight (I changed my name from Azalea to Melody Starlight. There's already a metal band in Florida called Azalea and I'm not about to deal with that)

I had a really cool idea. I really love Audrey Kitching's pink-on-black hair that she used to have, but I can't pull off black hair. So I had a really cool idea to put pink over what I already have, so it tints the brown (like a purplish) and colors the blonde. It looks cool in my mind, but it will probably just look like scene wannabe irl. I've been there before haha

"More people should have seen Spice World." - Hayley Williams

Alex.
[wannabe]

Though I can't stand his ass, I think Asher Roth spoke for me when he said, "I love college". I didn't think I'd like it but I LOVE it. No, I don't love getting home at 6pm as opposed to 4. But it's basically like having after school play rehearsals every day without having after school play rehearsals every day.

On Mondays and Wednesdays I basically sing all day. Not too different from a regular day for me (ha!), but let's just say I'm not singing "Poker Face" between 10:50-1:30. I have concert choir from 10:50, to somewhere around 11 or 12, and then madrigal ensemble until 1:30, which gives me just enough time for lunch (not to mention an hour-long vocal lesson at 9:30 in the morning). And for the rest of the day I can hole myself up in a practice room with the piano (::insert angelic choir here::) until my mom or dad get to the school to take me home. I learned how to play "Bright Lights" by Matchbox Twenty in that practice room. I also learned "Decode" by Paramore for Jazzy...she loves that song.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I take my music theory and aural skills classes. Dr. Kim is the bomb. She's so cool. I just hope she's not too pissed off that I don't have the right theory books yet. See, here's the dealio: I originally signed up for Fundamentals of Music, but tested out (while Patti, Ashlee, and Clayton apparently failed the theory test and ended up in fundamentals, so it was kind of like a tradeoff?) into theory. And unfortunately, Brandon's theory book was not the one required for the class. And then when we went to the bookstore to get our books, we got the wrong ones. However, Brandon did have the right books for sight singing and aural skills, so that's fine by me. Plus, I'm selling Patti the fundamentals book I don't need anymore. For $20 less than the bookstore price! Someone's getting a good deal...

Oh, the bookstore. I love how it's like having a little Wal-Mart on campus (minus all the Disney and such). School supplies, textbooks, and hell, snacks! I can get a bag of Pop Tarts for 80 cents. Frick yes! Or I can get a coke, or some dividers, a bookbag, the new issue of Rolling Stone (seriously!), earbuds (they have the ones I like for less than the Target price...hallelujah), some pens, a BCC hoodie, Revlon mascara, gum, it goes on and on. Unfortunately the lines are usually pretty long. But when you get past that, it's great.

Oh, and everyone was right. College OWNS high school. Cliques are a thing of the past. Everyone is so welcoming and cool. Especially in my acting class. There is this kid named Patrick who always compliments me on my shirts (his are pretty awesome too). And after class last Thursday, I actually had people tell me, "have a good weekend, Alex" or "See you later, Alex", THAT'S AWESOME! I FEEL WELCOMED! I DON'T FEEL EXCLUDED! THIS IS AWESOME!!

And the other best part: No Friday classes. I only have class four days a week! YES!!! So it's like having a three day weekend every week.

Long story short: College rules.

Funny story. Today I was texting Devonne and she tells me she's already in Chicago. Not long after, who else should I run into at Hot Topic than Dakota. Funny, because Dakota was in Boston for a couple months. So almost as soon as Devonne left, Dakota came back. Although, it was AFTER I GRADUATED...boo, loser. jk.

Is it weird that I want to have a Halloween party in August? No. Not weird. It'll be October before we know it.

Speaking of plans. I can go to Disney World for free on my birthday. It's a Saturday so I might just do that. My hope is to find Ariel so she can sing me Happy Birthday. That's been a lifelong dream of mine.

Alex.
[turn yourself around and come on home]

Look who finally has a college sort-of schedule. I say sort of because I think it's a schedule. I'm taking six classes, three of which are online, one of which is an online orientation to the online classes. At the actual campus, I'm taking choir, fundamentals of music (which is theory and such), and acting. Online, I'm taking psychology, world religions, and that orientation. I really wanted to take contemporary literature because they're offering a special topics course just for the fall based around Harry Potter. They would watch all the movies and read all the books (like Devonne and I did a few weeks ago, only without the books). Unfortunately this did not work with my schedule. Anything that did was full up. Damn...

Oh, and I was finally able to bring my Zune back from the deadish. I hadn't used it since DC because my computer crashed with my entire Zune library. I figured Zune and iPod operated about the same way when trying to sync on a different computer (you can't). Instead, I have all my old music (only on the device, unless I copied it to the library), along with new music. See, my iPod is pretty busted. I don't know what happened. Maybe it was trying to use the case as a mirror in M.A.C. the other day (bought a lipgloss for $18, and now I only have a little over $1 in my balance...damn impulses) and it fucked a bit with the headphones, but I can only hear sound out of one side. So I brought the Zune back and I'm in love with it again.

I saw Transformers 2 with Ryan on Saturday. It's bad. Really bad. Megan Fox can't act. She's kind of like Kristen Stewart where she's dead behind the eyes. My friend Jordan knows a girl from California (she was at church on Sunday) who saw Megan at Disneyland once. She waved to her, but Megan didn't wave back. I expected that. Shia LaBeouf is better, but I'm not crazy about him. He'll always be Louis Stevens to me. Sorry.

And it was that day that I realized what I'm really going to miss about high school: talking to Ryan about absolutely nothing. Yeah, that's how we roll.

I'm posting this because I'm in love with it. And it's not just because the super cute bassist from Silversun Pickups is in it. Okay, it is. But the song is also really really good. Both Peter (lead singer from Eulogies) and Nikki (SSPU chickie) have cool voices.

"Two Can Play" by Eulogies


Alex.
[they call her love, love, love, love, love]

I'm home, y'all. Home sweet home. Remember when I said I missed FL more than I ever have coming back from DC? I take that back. I've never missed Florida anymore than I did this past week.

For those of you that are clueless: I spent the week in Tennessee to take part in the Christ in Youth conference (aka MOVE). Not entirely by choice. I was paid for behind my back and thus forced to go.

First off, I'm going to say this: Devonne was right, the weather was mostly pleasant. We spent three days in Ocoee at Horn's Creek resort, aka hell. Call me a materialist, but I could not stand not having my cellphone signal there. I just wanted to talk to my mom, is that so wrong? While in Ocoee, we went to a traditional church service (which was a lot like our services before we went all high-tech. we're talking hymnals and organs and everything. we're all about powerpoints and Hillsong and the electronic drum set I hate). The pastor reminded me of Gary Coleman. He was cool though. Then we went to Wal-Mart and I got myself a notebook and some colored pencils. And then I went again and got a $3 VH1 shirt (leftover from the 4th of July...come on, it was cheap and I was running low on clothes, and it looked cool), and headphones for Sam, and hairclips. Annnd THEN when we got back we held a mock redneck-style wedding for Starkey and Bailey (I have video). Annnnd THEN that Monday we went to Nantahala Outdoor Center for some fancy whitewater rafting (and in this boat: Sam, myself, Sara, Jed, Stacey, and Mirina). I was terrified at first but then after I got it over with I found that I enjoyed it. I almost fell out of the raft but if not for Jed's catlike reflexes, grabbing my hand before I could fly out, I would've been finished. Thanks for that.

So then Monday we hit Lee University. First off, really, really pretty campus. I mean really pretty. Everything is brick on the outside. But it's faaaaancy. Sam and I settled in in no time. The dorm rooms are tiny, but enough I think to accomodate us, unlike those cramped cabin rooms at the campsite (and no bugs either...that's another story). Oh, and they had DESKS. Which meant my notebook was going to be put to good use.

So evening session 1. I don't remember it too vividly. But we were all given four cards at random, kind of like a MASH deal. You know, like that game you played in elementary school? You get four cards: an occupation, how much money you make, where you live, and what your ride is. I was a professional tetherball player, who made $25,000, lived in the White House, and drove a '69 Beetle. Not a bad hand. I would've gladly switched out tetherball player for rock star but hey, that still doesn't suck. haha.

Since Sam and I were the only two high school graduates in our group, we were sent to a special class for high school graduates. I remember vividly something our speaker said. Something like, "A lot of the things we worry about never seem to happen." I wish someone told me that before. It was so true. I was so afraid I'd fall out of the raft during rafting. And I didn't. That one time on the Mummy ride? I was afraid I'd lose something or get sick. Didn't happen. I was afraid I'd get lost in DC. Didn't happen. Geez...I think he was speaking directly to me or something. I've got a lot of rides to conquer at Sea World, I guess...

Evening session 2. Here's where everything happened. Everyone got really emotional, except Sam and I. Sam just has an inability to cry or get emotional (there was an exception to when Buddy died). Me? Oh. Well, we were given wristbands to represent being prisoners to sin. They were looped up like paper chains on our wrists. My problem? I left my purse on. Of course Mirina's mom had to point that out during discussion time...thanks Mary. Thaaaaanks. After that session, though, we had three people out of our group decide they wanted to turn their lives around. The two Joshes, and Kevin, who I don't know, were baptized in the school fountain the day after. Sweet deal. What did I do? I drew a bunch of pictures. Much less exciting.

Day 3 was a little less exciting. In fact, I hardly remember it. Day 4, since we had so much free time, we went down to Cherokee National Forest to chill by the river. Too bad it was so hot out. I collected a bunch of rocks while poor Valerie almost got lost in the river. The river was higher than a good percentage my 10th grade math class too (that's saying a lot). Fortunately she survived, but she lost her shoe. Ever the hero, Starkey went into the river to retreive it. He was successful. Way to go dude. But unfortunately we missed our dinner time, so the adults bought us all Pizza Hut. Yay.

We were all waiting for Day 5 because it'd be the last day. It was actually my favorite. The last performance by the band was so much fun. There was a guy dressed as Uncle Sam, another dressed as a mountie, another in a gorilla suit, some of the Christian college reps, and some of our speakers all joining the band onstage for one last hurrah. Now, you know the rock cliche of the drummer throwing his sticks into the crowd? Yeah, he did that. Only here's the catch--I actually got it. It's funny. At all of the shows I've been to (and been fortunate enough to be close to the stage...Hawthorne Heights comes to mind), I never get the stick. I was faaaaaaar off from the stage. But I managed to get it anyway. Sweet. Oh, and the drummer looked like Jeremy from Paramore. Seriously...

The sessions weren't what bothered me. It was everything else. The rides to and from places, being stuck in the wilderness at several points, hiking to and from at the campsite, losing sleep, tight schedules, morning texts from Sara, my phone alarm, losing headphones, THUNDERCATS! OHHH-OHHH-OHHH, "Hey! Hey! Listen!", Eric, and a lot of other things I will not miss.

And now a picspam of pointless photos that I took with my pink picture-taking apparatus. ( WARNING VERY VERY IMAGE HEAVY )

So, anyone up for Disney movies and pizza at my place?

By the way. I'm rereading the Harry Potter books...it'd be nice if everyone (ahem, Erin) would stop spoiling them for me. Thanks.

Alex.
[remember the time]

So yay for me making it into BCC choir, and getting a partial scholarship. My mom really wants me to major so I can get a full scholarship but maybe that's not what I want to do. Alex not majoring in music, what? What is this? You're crazy. I'm not. I know what I want, and it's not in choral/classical music. I don't give a shit about the history of the romantic era and the importance of Franz Schubert. Honestly, I could care less (and now that I've said that, every music major ever, including my mom, is hunting me down). It's not going to work anywhere for me unless I want to be a music teacher. Which is NOT what I want to do. I'll never settle for that. I want to be on stage, performing for thousands of people. Call my goals unrealistic. But isn't that what I am? haha.

When it's hot it's hot. But when it's cold it's freezing. I need to invest in some fluffy slippers.

I'm watching MTV more than I should lately. I really kind of like It's On with Alexa Chung. Okay, I was actually watching yesterday just for Rob Thomas. I have a thing for him lately. He's kind of funny. They were having a hot dog eating contest earlier in the show and at the end, after Rob's performance, Alexa gave him one of the leftover hot dogs. He takes a bite out of it and then gives another part of it to the guitarist next to him. Random, yes. And then I've also been watching 16 and Pregnant and Room Raiders. Room Raiders is usually kind of entertaining. There was one girl who was like some huge Cobra Starship fan and she had these questions written up that she was asking Gabe Saporta in her mind. Funny, that sounds like me and Silversun Pickups. haha. MTV still sucks though. Teen Cribs is such shit. It's just a bunch of rich nobodies showing off their multimillion dollar party houses. Lame ass. But they have Scrubs now...I love Scrubs.

Have you seen those ads for the new 10 Things I Hate About You? It's some new show on ABC Family based on the movie. There is this horrible cover of "I Want You To Want Me" in the ads by this band called KSM. I did my research...they're a Disney band. Unsurprising. They sound like Millionaires (don't google them...save yourself the torture) if they sang. Valley girl voices. udskjfsjflksfd. That is my least favorite kind of voice, ever.

I leave for Tennessee on Friday...or Thursday. idk. but this week. Let's pray my allergies don't severely act up/we don't get lost/I don't act like a total bitch. I have a tendency to do that.

My room is a mess. I can't really clean it until I can move my computer. I can't because I need a new AC adapter and if I move my computer, the current one will come disconnected and I won't be able to recharge it. Does that make sense? The wires are coming out. Not good...

There are 24 parts in a day that divides me from you.

If you're in the area, see the production of Miss Saigon at MIHS...I'm not in it but a bunch of my friends are. I plan on seeing it before I leave for TN.

And then listen to this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrnuC1jl9Fo this is my obsession.

Alex.
[if you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and then make that change]

I'm such a slut for movies lately. I can't even begin to explain why. I'm pulling out practically every movie I have (except for a few), and then some (of my grandma's) and watching them. All the time. Mostly Disney, but that's mostly my grandma's.

Out of my collection:
-Across The Universe
-Van Helsing
-Queen of the Damned
-The Little Mermaid
-The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea
-The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning (I'm a completist)
-Underworld
-Underworld: Evolution (almost bought Rise of the Lycans last night...until I realized that renting first would be better)
-Good Burger
-Spice World (I have fallen back in love with this movie, srsly)

Out of my grandma's vast collection of DVDs she never watches:
-Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
-Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (and I will lol immensely when "Jack Sparrow" comes on...)
-Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
-Cars (which I might not even get to...this isn't one of my favorite Pixar movies. Where's my copy of WALL-E?)
-The Fox and the Hound
-The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
-The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
-Oliver and Company
-Cinderella
-The Aristocats

I also have the entire series of Azumanga Daioh thrown in for good measure.

Let's see. I bought Spice World on Monday or Tuesday, I think. I love it so. I forgot how much I loved it. $10. Not bad. And found Good Burger at Publix for just under that. It's widescreen though and I normally tend to get movies in fullscreen. Widescreens look better on wide screens. Mine is as square as square can be. But it does what it needs to. I rather like it.

I almost bought Juno though. I liked that when I saw it (even though I saw it after everyone else did. HBO ftw). Then I decided not to. Then I looked for more Disney movies and found a few used ones. Mulan, used, is still practically the same as it would be at regular price, as was Sleeping Beauty (not that I care for that one). I was entirely heartbroken that they did not have Treasure Planet (underrated in my opinion) or Toy Story (I think they had the sequel though). skhfdjkjdf.

And before that I got the first five Harry Potter books at a church rummage sale for $10...not bad I guess. But I've been watching movies so much lately that I haven't been reading them. Maybe I should get those movies too.

Sam and Ashley and I almost saw Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen last night, but by the time Ashley got here, the movie had already started and the mall was closed. Bleh. I heard it sucks anyway. I didn't care for the first one either. But I know I've got to see Up. I might see it with Dad because he loves those movies.

K, enough movie talk, Alex. Let's move along here.

Okay, okay, fine, fine.

( My new project )

Today's Brandon's birthday. I might be going to his birthday party at Donna's tonight. Sam and Ashley are going shopping to go to Rocky Horror in Orlando on Friday. Guess I'm not invited. I never am. More time for movies, I guess.

Alex.
[I want to be the girl with the most cake]

ok not really.

first off my ACT is tomorrow. Oh lovely lovely lovely. We got our calculators and our admission tickets and all that lovely stuff. We're armed. But not ready. Math? Oh god no. Reading? Eh, I might live. I did ok on the Work Keys test (silver is good, right?). Writing? No thanks (we didn't sign up for it). But in short, fml.

thennnnn I'm being pushed into a church trip I didn't want to take in the first place. I hate peer pressure. Seth AND Lacey AND Jed would not shut up until I signed up for the stupid trip. I did, and I put Sam down too, but both as question marks. I think Sam wanted to go because Kevin and Will might be there (Mirina will be, I'm sure, but idk about Will/Kevin) and Sam/Will/Kevin are like bffl. But I'm dreading it. Because every time I travel, my allergies act up because I'm in a new place. Mississippi wasn't so bad until I met my cousins' cat. Washington was a nightmare every night (woke up at 2am, or was it 4? I couldn't breathe). July 12-18th I should be gone unless I find a way to weasel myself out of it (Lacey did, but she has to take care of freakin' cute little Haddie while Seth is gone). I mean, the travel sounds kinda neat. I know it's gonna be my last opportunity to go on a youth trip. Well, better pack the Claritin and inhaler...fml again. DEVONNE IF YOU PLAN THE SEA WORLD TRIP DURING THAT WEEK I SWEAR I'M GONNA cry my eyes out ;_;

And and and AND! My mom says I need to get my HPV vaccine. yeahnotlookingforwardtothat. because 1) I hate needles, forever. Which is the reason I don't plan on getting any tattoos or piercings. And 2) I've heard some Gardasil horror stories. Audrey Kitching was particularly outspoken. She got two of the three shots and they basically turned her into a zombie. Basically there's a kajillion metals and stuff in Gardasil (we're talking sodium borate, aka roach killer. Sodium chloride, aluminum, all that good stuff) and so she basically got metal poisoning. They put her on a metal detox diet (read: no wheat, no gluten, no soy, no sugar, no dairy, all organic). I know what some of you are saying, "don't listen to Audrey, she's a stupid internet celebrity trying to scare you." It's happened to more people than her. Knowing my luck I'll be one of those people who get sick or die (people have died from it). So not taking my chances.

Miami. Oh Miami. How I hate you so. Maybe you are not what I should be taking my anger out on, but my brother. Here's what happened. Brandon had to go to Miami to get his passport for the mission trip to Haiti (he should be coming home soon), but my mom figured that since Susana and the kiddies were going too, it could be a little vacay. Yeah not so much. One of the days we went to a little mall. I'm talking little. There are little stores with little things in them. One had some really cute jewelry and clothes but that was it. Everybody spoke Spanish though and while I know really basic Spanish, that's about it. Basic. I could probably say something like, "That pink dress is so cute, how much is it?" but nothing beyond that. But I did find a reallyfreakincute pearl headband at Ross there. $2. Once I was done there I wanted to explore a little more, but I inadvertently found Mom and Susana, along with Vanessa. Turns out it was time to go, because Brandon was done at the immigration office. Cut to the next day, an even bigger mall. Yes, massive. Better store selection too. FYE, Hot Topic (almost bought a Muse shirt there like the neon No Doubt shirt I almost bought in MI), Neiman Marcus Last Call, Icing, even a Sam Ash store (which I didn't go to, but the one in Orlando has some lovely lovely keyboards). Buuuuuut ever-so-conveniently, as I'm exploring, I manage to run into Mom and Susana again (Susana: "Alex I have to geeve you a beeg hug" because somehow I managed to find her at the right time), and they tell me we have to leave so soon, because--guess what--Brandon's done at the immigration office again (he had some difficulties the day before). So it all revolved around his schedule. Yay us.

The hotel was nice though. The internet sucked. But I downloaded a ROM and an emulator of Sailor Moon: Another Story. I'm at the part where you're about to go to Juuban Junior High with Neptune/Uranus/Saturn and meet Sin. I still need to get the proper accessories for the ladies though. Where to find the gemstones? Why can't we fight as the villains? Why isn't there a PGSM game? Is there a PGSM game? I want it.

Speaking of things I want. A life. And Spice World on DVD. My quest has not yet ended. If I can get to Target tomorrow or Sunday, I shall scour Target for it. It will be mine one day. In the meantime I downloaded the Spice Girls greatest hits. I'm on a massive Spice Girls/Silversun Pickups kick. What an odd combination.

Speaking of SSPU, Swoon is still in near-permanent rotation on the iPod. Second only to Spice Girls. And Lady Gaga. But mostly Swoon, and maybe a little Carnavas/Pikul here and there. Listened to Carnavas and Pikul while sleeping on the way to Miami. It's a long drive. So Carnavas took up half of it. I must've conked out somewhere in between "Future Foe Scenarios" and "Kissing Families", so I slept through a good portion of Carnavas. But halfway into Pikul I kinda got irritated. "All The Go-Inbetweens". Too freaking long. Pikul's good, but everything after "Creation Lake" (which is love, even though SSPU didn't write it, Nikki sounds beautiful singing it) is eh. But Swoon and Carnavas are pretty near flawless in my book. For sure.

I smell like chlorine. Yay for three hours in the pool.

One day I'd like to invite all my friends over for swimming and Disney movies and eating pizza until we explode. Just like elementary school, when people weren't scared of me. Cleaning my room would be a prerequisite, though...

Alex.
[don't worry, she likes your butt and your fancy hair. yeah, i read it in her diary.]

I haven't listened to Paramore in a whiles. Go figure.

I'm obsessed with Silversun Pickups of late. Did I mention that in the last entry? May as well now for good measure. I've been listening to Swoon nonstop since DC. "Catch and Release" and "The Royal We" are so good. And I think I have a crush on their bassist. She's so cute. And wears really neat clothes/plays bass really really fucking well. Go Nikki.

I have my ACT next weekend. Fanfuckingtastic. I hate standardized testing but Devonne says it should take about two hours without writing. So it's like FCAT. Great. I love FCAT. Grrrrrrrrreat.

I've been going to sleep around 2am lately. dunno why. The internet distracts me. But I think it makes me have bad/weird dreams. Try this one on for size. I begin at church, where I have to sing for Sunday morning. I at least do the rehearsal, until I remember the creepy guy who I think tried to hit on me at the picnic last weekend. He's older. Way older. So I tell my mom that I'm going to Target. But I instead am in this little snack bar thinger (not the Pizza Hut/Starbucks thing they have going on there), with my friend Emily from Spanish class. Dunno why she's there. But I'm casually eating until I see this bug. It's a little pink and yellow critter. Apparently it's highly dangerous, so I get the fuck out of there and hide behind a rack of shirts, which have my friend Lauren's face on them. Why? I don't know. So I escape. Somehow I find myself looking at a vinyl of Carnavas (here it is again, the SSPU obsession) which for some reason has four tracks of Nikki chanting something. Why? I don't know. The actual album doesn't have that. So I leave it be and start exploring. I have some kinda T-shirt and dress with me and I leave them somewhere. Then when I go back to find them, I can't. So the rest of this dream has me looking through these aisles of Halloween paraphenalia (all dark, with glow-in-the-dark shit in them) to find it. I run into a few people from Secret Garden, the ones I remember being Chris and Clayton, and I think Clayton's girlfriend. Which is weird. Because I hardly ever talk to them ever. Then I'm in a swamp kinda deal with all of them and Bob. Looking for the dress/t-shirt. So I move this stump out of the muggy water thinking they'd be under there and I see these snakes underneath, so I put that stump right back where it was. I see Bob trying to move a rock, but we find out that that "rock" was really an alligator and it's coming for him. This is a fucking huge gator btw, coming after my little brother. That's where I panic and...

...wake up and realize it's 11:30am, and What's Love Got To Do With It is on VH1, again. And that's when I realized that my dream may have been more fucked up than that movie (it's basically the story of Ike and Tina Turner. Need I say more?)

Is Spice World on DVD? Someone get it for me. Unless Target has it. It shall be mine.

I'll be in Miami from Thursday (6/4) to Saturday (6/6). Why? I don't know. It started as a trip to take Brandon to get his passport for his missions trip to Haiti (wish him well). But now it's a mini vacation. We're meeting Brian and his family there. Apparently they have really nice beaches and big malls. Count me in.

So I ordered a few things. My first real online shopping experience. Got the two Lady GaGa T-shirts (the album shirt is fine, albeit a bit long. The Haus of GaGa shirt is way too small so I'm giving it to Devonne). New York Couture necklace (I'm getting a lot of compliments on that...but no one can seem to read it somehow), and that coveted Audrey Kitching T-shirt (which is a little too small as well, but that's as big as they came. It fit better than the Haus of GaGa shirt. Why couldn't it be a V-neck or something?). Remind me never to buy T-shirts online. Ooh, Silversun Pickups and The Fray have online stores! SOMEONE STOP ME

Ryan and I saw Star Trek on Monday. It's really really good! I didn't expect to like it but I looooooooved it. Mostly because I was ogling Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto. And Zoe Saldana is really pretty. But I was sold by Anton Yelchin as Chekov. I couldn't understand a word he was saying and I found it really cute. It was actually really funny in some places, but everything about it was just so fantastic. These alternate timelines bother me though. I won't go into further detail for those of you who haven't seen it yet (WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU)

MTV Movie Awards. No, I didn't see Kristen Stewart('s award) eat shit. I saw her look like it though. Converse with a dress? Please. Who are you, Avril Lavigne? No one gives a shit. RPattz looked pretty hot. I adore Andy Samberg, even if his humor is kind of childish (I'm easily amused). The Twihards rigged the voting. Twilight over TDK for Best Movie? What kind of fuckery is this? A three-minute commercial for gum? I don't know who to feel sorry for. That "Big Pak" character for putting up with three minutes of Hayden Panettiere, Hayden Panettiere for having to spend three minutes hawking gum, or America for having to put up with three minutes of Hayden Panettiere hawking gum. I don't need to feel sorry for Amy Poehler being awesome. She won an award for Baby Mama. I watched it recently for the first time and it's good. Not as good as Star Trek, but good! Oh, and I hope Kiefer Sutherland was faking that whateverwasgoingon with Ben Stiller and Zac Efron and Triumph. It was a little weird.

Oh, yeah, and Sacha Baron Cohen and Eminem. Yeah, it was scripted. It was kinda funny though. Bruno's kinda hot. In a gay way. But still hot. And and and and. Kings of Leon were really good. I'm not just saying that. They were really really fucking good. About 1000x better than Eminem. A backing track, really? Why? YOU MAKE NO SENSE

It's 2:30am. Time to pack Stella for Miami. I hope this stupid hotel has internet.

Alex.
[you know that I could use somebody]

So I'm officially a graduate of MIHS now. Huzzah. With the diploma and all that good shit. Yeah. With that came a graduation party. $310 from friends/family/former teachers. Not counting those gift cards that I got from Ryan/Seth/Lacey/teachers/Project Grad.

OH Project Grad. Not really a ton of fun so we left early. But Rock Band with Jeremy/Will/Kevin was hilarious. Jeremy FAILZ at vocals so bad. But I fail at drums, so we're even. How does he not know We Got The Beat? hahaha

There are definitely going to be a lot of people I'm gonna miss, just off the top of my head: Devonne, Kayti, Jenni, Kyle W, Arielle, Ashley K, anyone I went to Mila with, Madison, Daniella, Tayla (WHY?!), Lauren C, Travis, Jordan G, Jessica B, Terri "TJ", Ms. Davis, B, Mr. Davis (no relation), and anyone else I may be forgetting. I love you. Anyone else I didn't list, either I don't know you, you're going to BCC (Jamie/Patti/Ashlee), or I hate you. ;)

So I had this $20 Hot Topic gift card from Christmas that I never used because I was trying to get an Audrey Kitching T-shirt. Problem is, the only place in the central FL area selling them is Altamonte Mall and they say they're out, and I can't get them with the card online because the site rejects my card. So I gave up momentarily on Operation Audrey Kitching T-shirt, because I FOUND A NO DOUBT SHIRT!!! I'd been trying to find them at little places (I found a few in Old Town last spring, kinda ugly) and fell short, but HT has the old-school ND logo shirts (the one on the cover of the self-titled/Beacon Street Collection). One is in pink/green/yellow neon and the other is silver foil print. I got the silver one because the neon was a bit snug. I love the silver one. <3

But now my grandma is giving me $50 more. So I was randomly going through the Lady GaGa store because I knew they put the tour merch on there. So I was just looking through it and I see that they marked down all the shirts to $25 and are having an annual Memorial Day sale ending Wednesday (buy one/get one free on all apparel). They have all the shirts, even the Haus of GaGa shirt (but not the "Where are my keys I lost my phone" shirt), which was originally $50, now it's $25. So I can get the tour shirt and the Haus shirt. Huzzah. The ugly "Where are my keys I lost my phone" hoodie is still $50 though. And it's ugly. Thought I'd say that. SO IT WILL BE MINE! GOOD THINGS DO COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT! :D :D :D

Congrats Class of 09. And all that good stuff.

Alex.
[a real love survives]

Life. It's crazy. Sometimes. I like to think of it sometimes, especially around now, as an explosion in reverse. The stress gradually piles on and on and on until suddenly there is a calm. Is this making sense? This is my philosopher impersonation. I'm not a philosopher at all and I don't want to be. But sometimes things just pop in my head.

Only sometimes though. Sometimes I just wish that I could come up with some big epiphany. Or something that would just inspire me. Or motivate me, or all of the above. To do something. Like, maybe, clean my room (blasting the entire Silversun Pickups discography did not work). Something that would make me happy.

I've always been Sandy. In my mind I'm Frenchy. But I'm finishing high school (in a week!).

Enough of that, haha.

We're shooting a video in my musical theatre class for next year's Mustang Roundup. I have very little involvement in it (I wrote a few scripts and that's it). It's like an old-school silent film with little Billy (Emily K) on his first day of school (with narration by Tyler's movie announcer voice). We're getting some of the faculty involved and such. What's really lulzy is seeing Jakey in the back dressed as a goth kid (and he's pretty far from it, too. We're talking designer glasses and Hollister shirts) in every single shot. Except today, since he was absent, we replaced him with Jamie's life-size ("it was life-size when I was five") Barbie doll, dressed to look like Janis Ian (played by Lizzy Caplan) from Mean Girls. We're talking black eyeliner (read: pen), black lipstick (read: pen), teenytiny black jeans (which, I wouldn't be surprised that Jamie may be able to fit into), and an Armor for Sleep hoodie. It almost looks like a doll version of Jamie as a freshman. It's either that or Jake in the back of every scene just staring. Staring. Staring. And Lauren says he looks like a scene kid in his black wig (the same wig Ashlee used as Colin for Secret Garden, I think). He does, kinda. The hair's not straight enough though.

So we got our yearbooks, and in the senior section, they list all the seniors (the ones with pictures, anyway) and their full names. I realized just how many people in our class have the middle name Nicole (myself included). I found Kayla, Ashlee N, Ashley K, Shymyah, and a whole bunch of other girls have Nicole as their middle name (and also a lot of Elizabeths, that's Sam's). I THOUGHT I WAS SOOOO UNIQUE. not really. But damn, it is a lot of them. I thought Lynn or Lee was popular.

Prom. It was eh. I figured I'd go since it's my senior year and whythehellnot. It was just eh though. Sam was a killjoy for most of it and really did nothing but talk to Ashley V and Shymyah, while I wanted to attempt to socialize (which failed--it's hard to talk when they're BLASTING Lil' Wayne). Which reminds me. The DJ sucked. There was no variety, at all. Even homecoming was better than this shit. At last year's homecoming, they at least had, like, MCR and stuff, but this year was all rap and Top 40, but no rock at all, not even something like Fall Out Boy or Metro Station (and I hate both, but come on, not even?). Afterward, Sam, Ashley V, Summer, and I all left 5 minutes early to go out to Denny's. Sam got food poisoning, I assume from that Hershey cake. The cake is a lie, Sam, it always is. It only looks delicious but it is a hotbed of EVIL! You think she'd figure this out by now.

Oh and my dress was pretty hot. Long blue gown with silver studs across the collar. Problem was, it was really high-waisted (like, right under my boobs, a really high empire waist) and made me look about 5 months pregnant. Which I'm not. Which meant belting the thing. But it still wasn't enough, so I added black gloves, my studded bangle, and the obnoxious silver bow that the band hates. Good thing I hate the band. ;)

Alex.
[guess the lure was enough]

I've never missed Florida as much as I did in Washington, DC this past weekend.

( Warning: TL;DR content ahead )

I'll post pics in a bit, when my brother gets off the computer. The Macbook doesn't have a memory card slot.

Alex.
[you know I'm a dreamer]

I'll be in Washington, DC until Sunday night (I'm hoping around 10pm?). No internet, so I won't be able to get on LJ, or much of anything for that matter. I'll post pics upon my return home. And I will have a lot of them. ;)

Until then, I have Secret Garden pics on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=243319&id=519730074&ref=mf

if that doesn't work then idk.

till then ;)

Alex.
[no sleep in heaven]

Secret Garden is here y'all. A bit of a rundown of how each show day has gone...

Thursday: Opening night, but we can't open before we run the show for one last rehearsal. So we run it. I had to be graceful and trip on a platform on stage. I'm so over cautious, but I can only focus on one thing at a time. Today it was exiting smoothly without sounding like an elephant coming off stage. Didn't work. I didn't see the platform ahead of me and ate shit. Thank god Katie was there to assist me. Unfortunately I landed on the same knee I mildly injured when I tripped at the Gaga show, so it HURT LIKE  HELL. It seems to be healing though. There were a few technical issues, one Joe issue (missed his cue for the dreamer entrance on the finale) and one Alex issue (this has been recurring throughout the week...there is a set of stairs and I have to look down and feel for them lest I trip again). And some minor musical stuff, but nothing no one will notice (except for people who are picky about that). Other than that, pretty smooth opening night for the most part. The audience sucked though. They didn't pick up Martha's "tha' forgot the rope" joke. They got my "what you have here is a medical problem!" joke though. Yay!

Friday: Interesting to say the least. We played a show at 10am for some elementary school kids (Gardendale and Holland, I think) and Jefferson (one of them being Joanna and Mary's sister, Caroline, who was in Titanic last year...god, she grew a loooot between Titanic and now). Those little second graders were an unusually good audience. So well behaved and they laughed at all the jokes (mine got a big laugh. It does every night :D). We did a meet and greet with them, as we do after every show. Those little second graders were so damn cute. One of them is a little blonde girl, who hugged a bunch of us. First Andrew, then Joanna, then me. She was so adorable! They were all so pleasant. And my ugly age makeup didn't scare them! Yay! There were a lot of issues during that show, because we weren't used to running that early. Poor Ashlee made a major flub on Round Shouldered Man, and cried about it during intermission. Ms. Davis had to come in and assure her that it was no big deal. And it wasn't. She handled it pretty well onstage, but it's okay to have a little cry afterward. It's called catharsis, at least that's what I'm learning in my English IV class.

After that show, we all had time to nap. And holy crap, we needed it. I took a nap around 1:45 and woke up around 3:30ish to get some dinner (McDonald's is right down the street...how convenient). While I'm walking, this douchebag in a white car (and mirrored sunglasses that looked like they came from Pacsun) is screaming at me, essentially calling me fat all the way. Stuff like, "Work that ass, bitch!" "I got a new oven...so we can bake those rolls" "QUIT BLOCKIN' TRAFFIC, FATTY!" I'm not making this up. oh, btw, I wasn't even in this douchebag's way. I was on the OTHER SIDE. IN THE GRASS. Am I blocking traffic? Uh, no, asshole. There was a girl in a red truck in front of him who rolled down her window and asked me, "Hey, was that guy talking to you?" I didn't know who she was, or the douchebag for that matter. I tell her, "I don't know", even though I was probably the only one in the area over 120 lbs. She then says, "Ok, 'cause I'm gonna cuss him out." I don't know if I want to say that's nice of her, but, uh, thanks for standing up for me, I guess? So I went to McDonald's, got my wrap, went back to the dressing room, and cried. Becky must have caught me, and started talking to me. Then Lindsey O joined, then Emily C, Vanessa, Jamie, Ashlee N. It became this whole Dr. Phil fest. Essentially, he's a douchebag and probably is way self-conscious and needed to bring someone else down to feel better about himself. I've been trying to tell myself that lately, even though I had an incident with Jordan and some random girls at lunch ("I really like your bow/dress" /sarcasm) that Wednesday and figured that was what people really felt about me. I felt much better after talking to them and so then afterward we all told jokes with Joe and Taylor. Theatre kids are some of the best people you'll ever meet, especially MI theatre kids. :D

The night show ran soooo well. That was, in my opinion, our best show by far. There were very little tech issues. Everyone got their cues and words right (some of us have pitch issues though, not naming names). Other than those little things, we had our best run that night. Then during the meet and greet I got to talk to my parents, Sam, Brandon, Kayla, and Ryan. Brandon even ran all the way to Wal-Mart to buy me flowers. Awww!! Then I went out to Steak N Shake with the cast. Chris scares me sometimes. Just sayin. Oh, and before we left for Steak N Shake, Ashlee and I hung out in the shop and talked to Devin, who goes to Space Coast and was in Sweet Nothing in my Ear (I also went to Mila with him. Small world). He doesn't remember me, but he did like my character. He didn't recognize me without my wig and age makeup, so he asked me, "did you play music? (like in the pit band)". I told him, "I was the old lady." And his tone just suddenly changes. "HOLY SHIT!!! YOU WERE SO EPIC!!! Man, that girl was yellin' at you, it was so funny..."

Saturday: There were a few more issues  here. Mostly music, people RUSHING. AHH. I WANTED TO PUNCH WHOEVER WAS BEHIND ME (which I think was Clare, so I laid off on that because she could probablyyyyy kick my ass. plus I knew I'd regret it either way). It was the child singers, dreamers, CHRIS, Ashley and Raquel, agh. It was just an off day, I think. We had a 11am call time. Some people don't eat breakfast, I guess...I did see Jennifer L at the meet and greet, as well as Kayti and Kyle and Adam and Sam L.

Today after the show we decorated the dressing rooms for the underclassmen as kind of a going-away present from the seniors. Lindsey G and I hung up streamers (the ones that I wanted to use for my birthday...but I guess they came in handy in the end!), while other people wrote on the mirrors (with Expo markers...as not to anger Steve), and blew up balloons (there was one particular balloon that Jennifer dubbed the "nipple balloon" because it looked like a pair of tits. It was supposed to be a heart. Raquel wrote on my mirror my medical problem joke. Because that seems to be my most memorable line (because everyone laughs at it!). And, uh, let's not ask about Andrew's mirror. His character's name is Dickon and he carries a big stick. Enough said. Then it was Steak N Shake again with Ashlee N, Jamie, Brittany, and Ashley K.

Okay, we have a lot of Ashley/e's and Emily's and Lindsey's. But there's only one Alex hahahaha

So basically my router broke on opening night so I haven't been able to get online since we opened. Until tonight, I guess. But it's still not working properly (not getting anything in my room, signal is intermittent, can't get on some sites). And I have a few pics and videos that I need to upload, but my mom went to go see Sharon's show and my bag is in her car...idk why I didn't take it to Steak N Shake with me...stupid me.

oh, & Stella crashed again. Bye bye files.

Alex.
[come to my garden...come sweet child]
WE CLOSE SUNDAY AT 2!! BE THERE!!!!!

 tired and sore and aghhhh.

Devonne and I saw Lady Gaga last night and it was like a religious experience. She's kind of that person. idk why.

Let's see...the opening bands generally sucked. Cinema Bizarre was like a low-budget Tokio Hotel, Chester French was scenester shit (but OMG they covered HELLA GOOD!!!!) and White Tie Affair was the same "let's party"/glow-in-the-dark/ironic scene band I read about on AbsolutePunk all the time. TWTA covered Kanye West...that didn't make it much better.

And it took forever to get to Gaga...after TWTA they put down a white sheet and projected an image of Gaga on it, hanging on to a ladder or something holding the discostick. I got a few good pics of that just before my phone died. And the show itself, but I accidentally deleted a few videos.

Before the show started, they took down the image of Gaga, and replaced it with the "Who Shot Candy Warhol" video that intros Gaga's set on all the Fame Ball Tour shows. Then she comes out with Paparazzi, and stays still for a good bit until she starts singing.

From what I remember, this was the rest of the show:
-LoveGame
-Beautiful, Dirty, Rich
-The Fame
-Money Honey
-Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)
-Space Cowboy Interlude
-Poker Face Acoustic
-Future Love (new song, I seriously thought it was a new version of Again Again which she didn't play, and it made me mad)
-Just Dance
-Boys, Boys, Boys
-Poker Face

They're a bit out of order, but my mind's a blur. 

She had some impressive costumes (BUBBLE DRESS FTW) and some discostick action. Her merch was sooooo overpriced though. I missed out on the chance to meet her but I'm not too heartbroken. I never have that kind of luck anyway.

I did lose Devonne and freaked out for a bit, but I got over it and enjoyed the rest of the show. Then I lost her again after the show because my phone died and I couldn't reach her (how does no one have a cell phone? for all the people that were standing around us texting on the floor, no one had a phone? reeeeally) and didn't know where she was. I haaaate paranoia. But I found her and all is well. I did trip though, and I have a bruise on my knee as a result. I'll get over that too.

All in all, I had a great night and Gaga is a fucking intense performer. So yay Gaga! :)

(also orlando is fucking boring...just saying)

Alex.
[let's play a lovegame]