This Post I Owe...

...To the poor, neglected blog (and readers).

Yes, the last couple of weeks were very busy.

The senior recital/open house was pulled off. Whew. That took a lot more time and energy than I thought it would. But it went surprisingly well. I had started coming down with a sinus infection the day before, so I dosed up on Tylenol before the recital. Voice was performing at a kind of "meh" level, but I only had one very bad spot where I actually had to break during a phrase and clear my throat. Hopefully nobody noticed.

But, yeah. Everything else went very smoothly, thanks to the help. I have some very generous friends that loaned time and effort to the event.

(But I never want to go through that ordeal again. No parties of over thirty, thank you very much.)

Then the week after my open house, we did hay.

Uh-huh. My back still aches, and I wasn't even doing a majority of the stacking. Driving the tractor had its shining moments, but for the most part it was hot, greasy, stenchy, thankless work. I do not like harvesting hay. We have one more field to do, and then we'll be finished with first cut. Unfortunately, there are two other cuts to do over the summer, and five fields. So...

Anyway, moving on to brighter subjects.

...I don't have any brighter subjects at the moment. Check for shiny stuff tomorrow.

Recap of August

Sooo, what happened during August?

Nothing much out of the ordinary. I was asked to play with the pit orchestra of our local acting group’s production of The Wizard of Oz. I’m the only violinist, which puts me in a very scary position. I mean, just look at this music:

Anyway, I’m plugging along with that. Show doesn’t play until the second or third weekend of October, so I’ve got time.

Of course, I was looking through the music when I first got it and going, "What is that?". So we watched the movie to get the jist of things, and now everything makes sense. While we were watching it, the commentary was rolling:

"They had color in 1939?!"

"She's not wearing the shoes in that shot!" 

"Wow, compared to the Munchkins, the Winkies have pretty awesome voices."

"The Tinman untied the hot air balloon! He's a traitor!"

 It was much fun. ^.^

We went to the Civil War reenactment again this year. The kids just love (and I hate) to see the battle and hear those cannons roar. I like to stay to the back of the park while that’s going on; not too fond of gunfire. However, the shops were fun to browse through; they had clothing, cookingware, weapons, and all sorts of stuff from the Civil War era. They even had a drummer and a fife player, and some other random soldier who danced an Irish jig. We stopped at a woodcarver’s tent, and the lady gave Jesse quite a few tips to use on his own projects; Lydia was given some sewing lessons, and came away with some kind of handkerchief embroidery thing.

I’ve been keeping up with reading and writing, of course, and a little drawing. Just sketches of characters and random little people, really.

Oh, and another thing: I now have glasses. Not all-the-time glasses; these are just for reading because my eyes aren’t strong enough to handle the amount of reading that I’m doing. A source of headaches has been discovered; apparently my eyes get tired and just quit, and my head starts to pound. It’s funny, really; I, who have been an avid reader since the age of five, have weak eyes. Hmm. Well, that’s how it stands.

Here they are:

Yes, they are large and dorky. I liked the color (at least, over some of the others that were covered by insurance) so I snagged these (plus, the co-pay was much smaller).

Anyroad, not much else has happened this summer. I finished piano and violin lessons last week, and auditions for choir and orchestra are on Saturday. For violin, I’ve got Handel’s “Sonata in D Major” and for choir “The Infinite Shining Heavens”, which is an aria and I don’t know why on earth I chose it. It was under the list of songs for high voice. *Shrug* It’s in a horrible key and even worse time signature, but, oh well. Wish me grace.

Dia leat, mo chara.

Oh, and I almost forgot; I got this painting at the farmer's market in exchange for a bar of soap. I watched the girl do it entirely with spray-paint. Impressive, eh? It's hanging above my desk.

Firefox has crashed multiple times in the making of this post. Stupid, human-made technology. 

The Glad, Golden Days of Summer

We’re halfway through summer already, and it feels like I haven’t gotten anything done. School, my very last few months of school, is threateningly close (the last time, though. Ha!) and auditions are coming up. Not only do I have to audition, but three of my siblings do, too. So they have to be prepared. 

What have I been doing all summer? Laundry, mostly. I’ve moved mountains of it, trying to catch up by doing six or seven loads a day. The wasps and I have a slight disagreement over the clothesline zone, so hanging up the wash is a little dangerous. I’ve finally gotten the endless stream from my brother’s room under control (oh, and something wet just flew up against the window. I wonder what they’re doing with their spare time?). 

I’ve also been making stuff to sell at the Farmer’s Market, and playing violin at our table. I actually got my first “gig” there, as somebody among the listeners asked me to play at an event in August. 

The other day, one of my brothers managed to step on a rusty nail and drive the thing right to his bone. After letting off a railway-style shriek, he booked it for the house and got a nice trip to the ER. Funny how my brothers can scream at a pitch higher than I. Needless to say, he got several days off from chores and sat in the living-room like a little tyrant, ordering his siblings around. One of his subjects rebelled and gave him a nice earful of dishwater. I won’t say who, though it wasn’t me. 

I’ve been trying to do a lot of writing this summer, but haven’t really accomplished much. I’m still polishing up my Nano novel, Tempered, which had to be renamed The Listeners because of major, unexpected plot developments. When I finish up that, I’m going to start working on a story that I made up for my siblings, called The Motley Four. It was inspired by Edith Nesbit’s The Story of the Treasure Seekers and the sequels, The Wouldbegoods and The New Treasure Seekers. Those books always had me shaking with laughter when I was younger. Also in the works is a collection of short stories, only a few of which I have mapped out. “Survival of the Fittest”, “The Glass Heart”, “Weaving Words”, “The Paperback City”, and “The King’s Champion” are the only ones I’ve got typed up. If anyone’s interested, I could stick some up one of these days. Most of them are written for my siblings’ amusement. 

I actually want to be reading a bit more this summer. It seems like I haven’t gotten my hands on much, though I did read quite a few classics earlier in the year. Wuthering Heights (which, I thought, was kind of ridicules. All of the characters were downright nasty people, and there was no redemption or character-reformation involved), Jane Eyre, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, re-read Pride and Prejudice, The Cat of Bubastes, all of the Anne of Green Gables books that I have, snagged a bit of Shakespeare, and worked through everything that I have of Edith Nesbit’s, which amounts to nine books. I also re-read The Hobbit because Jesse had gotten it from the library and I caught it lying around. Also stole some of Dad’s commentaries. 

I suppose that the last few months haven’t really been uneventful, but they felt quieter than they usually are. There’s been plenty of time to play violin, read, think, and do housework. The garden is coming along nicely, the cow is about ready to calf, and the stupid goats snapped one of our apple tree saplings in half. I tried to tie it upright to a bar, so hopefully it will just grow back together. I’ve heard of grafting branches, so maybe this will work, too. 

And now, I really need to get off this thing so I can finish the day’s laundry.

Dia, mo chara

Character Survival Guide

This is something that has been done before, just for kicks, and I wanted to have my own. How I would act if I were a character in a story:

 

Character Survival Guide

1.       I will not be an unnamed guard. 

2.       I will not be the protagonist’s aged mentor who is killed right before the climax.

3.       I will try my hardest not to be the antagonist.

4.       If I must be a villain, and if I capture the hero, I will not sit down with him and tauntingly tell him my entire plan for world dominion. No; I will give him tea, lock him in a cell, and walk away. 

5.       If I am the antagonist, I will try my hardest to reform.

6.       I will not enrage people by killing the protagonist’s pet dog or something.

7.       In fact, it would be best if I were the protagonist. They usually survive to the end.

8.       If there is ever an expedition into a dark, unknown place, I will be neither the first nor the last member of the party. I will be safely in the middle, and not be eaten from behind or blunder blindly into a death-trap to be made an example of for the other characters. 

9.       I will not wander off from the campsite to gather sticks. 

10.   I will not leave my weapon lying on a log while I’m off doing something.

11.   I will not pick up mysterious objects from the protagonist’s dresser and then be eaten by the antagonist.

12.   I will not be the protagonist’s school rival, or anything like that. 

13.   I will not go downstairs in the dark of the night to investigate some strange noise from the kitchen. 

14.   I will not be a slimy traitor that everyone wishes would die.

15.   I will not be a loudmouth, rebellious child and go my own way. No, I will stay were I’m told, not try to go after people on my own, not sneak out the window after dark, and not open the door for strangers. 

16.   I will show strange and magical objects to my parents or mentors.

17.   I will inform adults if I am being stalked by strange individuals in trench coats and sunglasses. 

18.   I will always keep my cell phone charged, and not forget it or drop it into the river. 

19.   I will always grab a jacket, shoes, and a waterbottle before jumping into another world. 

20.   I will take some form of martial arts. 

21.   I will not say that the eerie sound coming from outside is just the wind. 

22.   I will not say that the strange creatures seen around the house are just imaginings. 

I was in a funny mood. There are many more, if only you have the time to think of them. ^.^

From the Edge of the Falls...

I have returned! After four amazingly strenuous days of tour, and several busy days since then (not to mention a dentist's appointment), I have finally found the time to relate my adventures.

What can I say? Tour was amazing! Traveling cross-county in a bus with seventy other musicians is definitely not an activity for the faint of heart.

We left Lansing at about 7:30am; my bench-partner (for lack of a better word) and I began chattering happily away as we got to know each other better. While we are both in choir, we sing in different sections, so we really hadn't been very close friends before. Then, something happened while we were cruising down the highway that neither of us will forget in a long time: the girl in the seat behind us got very sick.

Neither of us was aware of what had happened until after we spent several moments staring at the mess in front of us. It took a long time for us to recover afterward.

Despite the horrible beginning, the rest of the trip proved to be enjoyable; at least, after the four of us involved managed to get cleaned up. The bus, containing about fifty-seven people (the rest of the people traveled in a fifteen-passenger van to avoid squishing), was always very noisy. The people in the back of the bus (namely two cellists) amused themselves by singing Disney songs, Wizard of Oz songs, VeggieTales songs; and by quoting the movies The Princess Bride and The Lord of the Rings. The Somebody who quoted the clergyman from The Princess Bride was especially hilarious.

That, I should think, gives you an idea of what went on in the bus while we were traveling. Yes; those boys were singing everywhere that we went. Singing in very high-pitched voices, I might add.

Wednesday evening, we arrived in Niagara. Since we were late, our concert actually had to be moved back an hour, but everything else went as planned. We (that is, some of the choir people) ran around in the street trying to convince people to come into the conference center and listen to the music. Some people listened, some people kind of nodded their heads and continued walking; one dude took to his heels and ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction, before he had even reached us.
While the band was playing, those of us who were outside noticed a cop car driving down the sidewalk (which was very wide). He didn't seem to think that he was doing anything out of the ordinary; he simply waved to us, and kept driving. Perhaps cops normally drive down the sidewalks in New York?

After the concert, we went to see the Falls all lit up; on the way to and fro, some of us sang numbers from The Wizard of Oz; my particular favorite was the Winkie Marching Song. Quite Fun. We received many odd looks from passersby, as might be expected.

The next morning, we performed at a school; I had woken up with a raging headache from lack of sleep (we arrived at the hotel at about midnight, got to bed about an hour later, and had to get up at five. This was repeated pretty much every day of tour). The rest of the day we spent at Niagara Falls.

Lunch and dinner were eaten at this amazing park that was above the gorge and whirlpool.  We goofed off, relaxed, and played ridicules games; one of which was entitled "The Land of the Nice People", which I may explain to you at another time. It was extremely frustrating, I can assure you.

At the Falls, we went first to the Cave of the Winds, and then to the Maid of the Mist. I don't have any pictures from the Cave because it was far too wet for me to get my camera out. I was in the first group that went down. We rode an elevator down inside the cliff, came out into sea-gull-niceties land, and made our way over to the wooden platforms that clung to the rocks beside the bottom of the Falls.

It was awe-inspiring. We clambered around on those slippery red platforms, fighting the powerful wind and being engulfed in heavy sprays of cold water. The Falls roared over our heads, and the combined forces of the elements threatened to knock us right off into the churning river; at least, that's how I felt. I am deathly afraid of heights, and yet, somehow, I was able to climb around on those crazy sticks. I will never forget what it was like to stand on that Hurricane Deck (the "Rainbow Deck", as Someone called it), almost completely blinded by the icy water, and grinning up at my friends on either side. People were shrieking and howling (and singing) all around; one group of weirdos was dancing around in a circle and almost hurled themselves off the platform. The whole experience was terrifying and exhilarating at once. It made one appreciate the awesome, terrible power of one's Creator to stand, small and insignificant, next to that roaring, life-taking waterfall, and yet feel absolutely safe. I really can't explain it.

The Maid of the Mist was also quite an experience. We went right inside the circle of the Horseshoe Falls, where the mist was so thick that it blinded us, and my hair got drenched for the second time that day. the ponchos that they give you, by the way, are virtually useless. It's best to leave them off, and get soaked all the way so that you can get the full experience.

Many things happened on Tour; so many that I can't possibly record them all. The little things were actually the most significant to me. Like, while riding in the van with some other girls, we were playing the alphabet game just to pass the time. When it was your turn, you had to come up with an animal that started with the letter that you were on. When it came to her turn, one of the girls threw up her arms in frustration and said, "Rats! What starts with 'R'?" It took us a very long time to stop laughing.

When we performed at the Homeschool Conference in Rochester, we were actually fed a hot meal; and it was a black-tie, quite fancy meal at that. We were wearing our uniforms, so we were well-dressed for the occasion. After we finished eating, some of us figured out how to make our glasses hum, and we had a harmony-chorus going on before we were called onto the stage.

Rochester Convention Center = Pretty cool

We also toured Eastman School of Music; saw their giant crystal chandelier, and the orchestra rehearsing under it; we toured Eastman House, which is very cool ( the dude had organ pipes built into his wall in the sitting room). George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak (or it might have been Kodak Eastman; I'm not sure) was a millionaire and had a beautiful house and gardens (I loved the grape vines!), but, despite his wealth, he was very unhappy when he began to fall under the regime of old age. He shot himself after taking care of his estate, apparently. His suicide note was on display at that the house; and that, more than anything else, had an eerie effect on me.

While at the nursing home, some of us were out in the hallway, kind of relaxing after we had finished performing. A crazy nurse came by to take pictures of all of us, much to our dismay.

On the way back from Tour, we stopped at a pizza parlor in Toledo and enjoyed deep-dish pizza and a song sung by four of our people; they took one of the choir's songs (Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel?) and rewrote the words. The result was hilarious.

When we finally arrived back in Lansing, at 11:12pm (I remember!), we were all very much exhausted and wished for nothing more than a nice, soft bed (especially me, since I had to take the floor at the hotels). We unpacked, said our hasty goodbyes, and returned to the cycle of normal life (ha!) once more. I still can't believe how many good friends I've made on that tour; most people I had just passed in the hallway on rehearsal night and never spoken to. Not anymore.

There. Now you have the longest post in the history of posting; and that concludes my Tales of Tour.

Aren't I a Genius?

Forgo the grammar issue for a moment, dear Reader. Yes, my genius self has discovered a new way through which to obtain a concussion. No, I didn't actually get a concussion when I did it, just a bit of a head-smack. But it is possible, and I'm thoroughly convinced of it, to actually crack one's head open performing the following stunt.

You're probably thinking, "Kayla, your head already is cracked," and I won't deny the statement. But my most recent episode unfolded in the following manner:

I've always liked to go down stairs in a unique way. Sort of bound down them with a dotted-sixteenth rythm, and then skip the last two steps, hanging onto the railing and sort of sliding epically into the laundry room. Well, this time, everything went absolutely normal until the last bit. I was wearing wool socks, you see, and they slide gloriously well on a hardwood floor. They slid a little bit too well on the concrete when I made my triumphant leap off the steps, and, well, you can imagine the rest. Because I was still holding onto the rail, I didn't hit very hard at all. But I spent a few moments thinking of how much worse it could have been.

Will I learn from my crash, and change the method in which I traverse the steps? Not a chance. I will, however, not be so cocky when flinging myself off of them.

Oh, and the real reason for this blog post is actually my newest poem. Enjoy:

Journey

Midway through the tread of time
I stepped onto the road
With eyes cast down to mind the ruts
Precariously forward strode

Though scanned with mortal perception
Some pit would catch a hold
My cloak, though black and heavy
Did not fend off the bitter cold

A little further onward
And did my eyes perceive
A strange and stately figure
Hastening to meet me

We had but spoken little
When he suddenly took hold
And changed my blackened garment
For a dripping crimson robe

From that moment forward
Though still toiling up the road
His hand anchored when I stumbled
His presence made me bold

When at length, and weary-worn
I came to the shore of the sea
I left the sands of Time behind
And turned toward Eternity

I could not see the distant shore
My feet no longer felt the ground
I kicked my tattered shoes off
And He pulled me, safe and sound

And carried me up the opposite shore
And I, with awestruck delight
Looked down upon my garment
To see it gleam the purest white.

Revive the Thing

Okay.

I did not abandon my blog. Really, no. It could take care of itself for a little while, don't you think? But at last its wailing has brought me back around (perhaps a wee bit late?) and I'm going to try and breath some life back into it.

The past couple of months have been cram-packed with stuff. Good, wholesome stuff that took precedence over ole' bloggy here. I participated in two solo and ensembles, one for voice and one for violin; I worked at a health fair run by the hospital; I performed in two concerts; and in general my days were filled with much practicing and schoolwork. I calculated it out that if I keep on the way I am, I can finish 11th grade by the beginning of May. And then I shall start 12th grade immediately (well, somewhere within a couple months of that), and try to graduate this year. Yes, as in, be done with grade school forever. Aha!

For solo and ensemble (for those of you who don't know what that is, it's when you perform for a judge and that judge rates your performance on a scale of 5-1, 5 being the worst. Those who get 1's get to go to States) I got a 1 for voice, and a 2 for violin, so I'm going to go to States in a couple of weeks to perform again. Orchestra and choir are each performing at Festival, which is basically the same thing as solo and ensemble, except that the whole group performs. Exciting, eh?

So, yes; there is still much coming up in my life. At this very moment, my father and two of my brothers are collecting sap from my grandfather's sugar maple trees. Yesterday they gathered 400 gallons of the stuff, and hopefully they'll get just as much today. It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup, so really, it doesn't amount to much when you consider how many families we have to split this between.

Recently I've started helping with one of the younger choral groups in the Homeschool Music association. Now, my job is really to help the little noisemakers to sing their parts (it's a two-part chorus, so they're not all singing the same thing) and help them stay with the conductor and such. I'm not sure how much singing we actually get done, though, because all of these children are anywhere from six to eleven, and what they like to do best is chatter. For instance, one of the youngest boys told me, during practice, that he could put a whole banana in his mouth. Whether or not he really could, it wasn't relevant to the song that we were singing! The conductor's two youngsters are also in the room with us during class, and they seem to keep themselves occupied by ramming each other into chairs with the stroller.

I've also written a couple of poems in the past couple of months, which I shall put up shortly. One is an amusing ballad that involves a dragon and stubbed shins, and the other has to do with orchestra.

Waving from beyond the Edge of the Universe,

Yaya

(Oh, and did I mentioned that I am a published poet? Yes, indeed; I entered Awaken Life in a contest and got it published in an anthology.)

From the Time Vortex

Oh my.

 Yes, how on Raxacoricofalapatorious did I miss over an entire week of blogging?!
  (There is a reason, you know. A good one).

 *Ahem*

 I was, erm, minding my own business, slogging through life (yes, slogging is an appropriate term) when all of a sudden I heard this horrible whooshing behind me (this is where it gets really exciting). I was yanked off my feet, sucked into the Time Vortex, spun around a couple of times, and spit back out on the other side of the week with only half of my senses left.  (For my credit, most travelers lose all of their sanity in the Time Vortex. I kept half of mine).

 Oh, my indeed. Yes, that's truly what happened. *Cough*

 Anywho, I shall try to function normally this week post-wise; so fret not, dear Readers. Expect stuff later tonight or tomorrow or a post-frenzy on Saturday or something that displays that life still exists on this blog. If nothing appears, you can all shout at me to make sure I haven't made a wrong turn and ended up at the edge of the universe again. Because that does happen sometimes.

(Visit me, though, if I ever do get stuck there again. Some of the other folks there are a little ditzy, if you know what I mean.)

New thingy here

Soooo, I've got myself a blog...I am totally new to this, and we'll just have to see what comes of it! XD I'll see what sort of stuff I can stick up here....