Giving Blood Can Wear You Out

Actually, I think it was all of the sugar I had after giving blood that is making me really sleepy. Believe me, I ate a lot of sugary things. And of course I've been drinking a lot of water too. Overall, I enjoyed my giving blood time. I think I'll do it again. The guy who took my blood was named John. He was hilarious. I know he made giving blood a lot better, though I wasn't nervous to begin with. He asked which arm I wanted to use and when I said whichever one woud be easier to find a vein, he looked at me and then at my arm and hesitated before he said left. However, once my arm had been squeezed and I squeezed on the fish (our squeezing thing) he felt for my vein and drew a face. Then he said to me, "Feel his nose, just feel his nose." So I did....my vein was huge!!!! I mean HUGE! I have Mom to thank for that. Thanks Mom! After giving blood, I got a very large Rice Krispy Treat. It was glorious.

9 days...

Lots of Love.

Fun Times

Musical Theatre was a blast. After mass confusion as to what room we were supposed to be in and a quick warm-up, we had a mock audition. We did a dance that we had learned last week, of course running through it a few times, and then auditioned. We did it 3 times before she pulled people out for call-backs. I was one of about 8 to get called back! Go me! However, from the 8 of us she was choosing only a few, so we danced again for her. Unfortunately, we don't know the results...and probably won't ever find out. I had a good time though. It was a really fun dance.

In piano we played Ode to Joy group style. My group was awesome. We played it at bascially the speed of light. And then my teacher had us lower it by 1/2 and then raise it by 1/2. That was pretty ruff, but fun at the same time.

I'm giving blood tomorrow. Unfortunately I'm giving it during a class. I thought I had scheduled the time 30 minutes after my class was done, but I forgot that the class is almost 2 hours...not 1 hour. Oh well. I probably won't miss much...and anything I do miss I can get at dinner.

I can't believe I am at mid-terms already. Crazy! My mid-terms aren't too hard, but I can't believe I am half way through Winter Quarter. Weird.

10 days...

Lots of Love.

Really Sore! And Almost Drown

Today in jazz, Sue came over and pushed me down over my legs. We were stretching forward over our legs and I was going as far as I could by myself. So she came over and pushed on my back and made my chest go past my knees (and my legs were together too). Basically, I'm going to hate moving tomorrow.

Yesterday in scuba we actually put on the gear and did drills. It was pretty fun, though really, really cold. During one of the drills (this is underwater of course), we were supposed to throw our regulator (the breathing thing) away from us and then retrieve it in two different ways. Well, my gauges and my regulator were on the same side, so instead of retrieving my regulator I kept grabbing my gauge. And since we are always supposed to breath (exhale while regulator is out of mouth) I basically ran out of air both times we did the drill. I grabbed my regulator just in time, but it wasn't too pleasant almost drowning. You may ask why I didn't just surface...well, we were sitting on the bottm of a 10 foot deep pool. So surfacing was kind of out of the question. Don't worry, the instructors wouldn't let me drown. Other than that, scuba was a blast. I'm really looking forward to the net time we put on the gear. I really enjoy scubaing. Weee!!!

So only 2 weeks until I come home!!!!! And what surprise awaits? Nathan's hair cut. I've seen pictures, but those are nothing like the real thing. I'm really excited to see his new hair. From what I've seen, I love it.

Lots of Love.

Snow!!!!

I love rolling down hills with snow on them. Good, good times.

So, it snowed today...if you didn't get that. I woke up to a winter wonderland. And I drove in it too. And obviously survived.

At Kirby's church I taught the Christian song. It was fun watching the kids attempt to spell out Christian really fast. The girl that was supposed to sing with Kirby didn't make it due to the snow, so I filled in. I really liked singing with Kirby. I'm not such a fan of the church service, but I really, really like singing for the kids.

After church, I went back to the dorm to see a childrens opera. Before the opera, I made a snow angel. It was glorious. The opera was cute. They put in Agony from Into the Woods...I don't really know why, other than to give the guys something else to sing. The opera was called Eloise. It would be fun to do.

Other big news: I did my own laundry today...like in the dorm. It was pretty exctiting.

18 days until I come home!!

Lots of Love.

Feeling Good

I am giving blood on January 30th. I've never given blood before. I'm excited. Yhe only thing I'm disappointed about is that my first time won't be with my dad...like I had wanted. But I know if I don't do it now, I won't do it for a while. So yeah. Go me!

I went to a free movie night tonight with Katey, Nathan, adn Breanne. We saw Night in the Museum. Good movie. I ended up winning a poster. It is of The Breakup. Never seen it.

Kirsten is a Stargate freak. Who would have thought? Tonight, she, Pam, and I had a Stargate marathon...well they were having the marathon, I was watching until I went to the free movie night. We watched season 2. I missed Stargate.

Guess what? Less than 3 weeks til I come home!!

Lots of Love.

Riding a Bike

I haven't ridden a bike in years. It was a lot of fun. Today, my uncle and two of his boys and I went bike riding...well my uncle ran, but the rest of us rode bikes. It was really cold outside and by the time we were done my hands were frozen to the point of burning once inside the house, but it was fun anyway. I should ride bikes more often.

This weekend I went to my aunt and uncle's house. I had a wonderful time. We celebrated Maggie's 1st birthday. I was introduced to some pretty fun computer games. I went to a rollerskating party. I was attakced by 3 little boys most of the weekend. I played ping-pong. I got no homework done. I got my car fixed. I ate pizza almost the entire time. And I worked out for like an hour and a half every night. I didn't even know I had gone that long. Crazy.

Lots of Love.

Don't Walk Outside In the Dark Alone

I am sick and tired of this. Who is thie guy? Or maybe it's who are these people? This is the third robbery at weapon point. During break, two different incidents happened. Both were at gun point. And both happened to females going to DK (aka my dorm). Now, just tonight, there has been another robbery...this time at knife point, however still to a female and still going to my dorm. What is it with these people? I wonder if these things keep happening what will happen. Will security guards just be all around? Will they close the school like they almost did in Harry Potter (not likely, but wishful thinking...lol)? Oh boy. So I guess I won't be going anywhere at night anymore. However, what I carry on me wouldn't do the guy much good. I have my keys, my cell phone, and my cardinal card. No money. No credit cards. And that's what's really important to robbers. Money. I definitely don't feel safe...not at all. Well at least at night I don't. I wonder why the sudden break out of robberies. I mean, nothing happened last quarter. Why suddenly now? Hmmm...

Lots of Love.

Studio Class

Modern was a lot of fun today. I loved the dance we did.

I'm singing this song called "How Did I Lose You?" from the muscial Myths and Hyms. It's really cool. It's a jazz waltz. I'm thinking, "Why didn't I know about this song for Jazz Cabaret? Michelle, you should check it out. You might like it. I had a studio class today. I sang Sommi Dei. It went alright. Could have done better. But I guess I acted really well. Yay!

According to Dad, my voice has gotten a lot more mature. I don't knwo if that's Harriet's doing or if I naturally am getting more mature or if it's a combo of both. I mean, I'm not learning anything new from Harriet, but I'm being reminded of things I need to concentrate on. Is that helping me? Yeah, I guess so.

Tomorrow is ballet. I can't wait. I love ballet. Have I ever mentioned that? lol.

Well dinner is approaching. I need food.

Sore? Oh Yes

I really liked my ballet class. It was pretty easy, but easy isn't always a bad thing. The whole class was barre (not my favorite, but what can you do?). We danced to celtic music. It worked pretty well too. I'll of course miss my classical ballet music, but celtic music will be fun. At one point, the teacher came over to correct me (for she had done so to everyone else); however, all she could do was look at me and say, "Good. Good." And what can I say to that? "Yeah. That's right. I'm a ballet fiend!" We did a really interesting stretch. I know I'm going to be really sore tomorrow. I'm looking forward to taking classes. I wish it was Monday already....just so I can dance.

What's on my list of exciting things to do tomorrow? Homework, homework, and more homework. Woopee. What's even better is that it's all for one class...the INST class I signed up for late. I'm 25 pages behind the rest of the class. But at least the book is interesting. I now know how to make a mummy. Cool huh?

I got my car today. Hooray!

Lots of Love.

Dance Classes Found Out

I found out what levels I'm in for the dance classes. I'm in intermediate/advanced for all of them. I'm ok with that. I mean, sure I would have loved to be in advanced ballet, but this way I can become better and move up instead of already being in the highest class and have no where to go. Also, advanced has a lot of people in it. Hopefully, this means that I can get more corrections than I would have if I was in advanced. Instead of tap, we're having a musical theatre class. And I think to myself...self...where's Bubba when I need him? I guess I'll have to survive musical theatre without him.

While in Billings, I learned a new game. It's called "Telepictionary". It's sooooo much fun. If you want to know how to play, ask Brooke or one of my family members...not me because it'll take too long to explain by typing. BUt it is a really fun game. I hope to play it when I come home.

Well, I have ballet soon. I should be moving along.

Lots of Love.

Looking Forward to Dance Classes

Well, at least ballet. Today's audition went really well. It wasn't too hard, but I still worked up a sweat (the usual when auditioning no matter how hard the class was). Near the end of the class, the teachers split us up into 3 groups (there were only 12 that needed to audition). I could sense that they were grouping for Intermediate, Intermediate/Advanced, and Advanced. I was put into the last group (or the possible advanced group). When we split into 2's, I was in the last group of 2's. Also near the end of the class, a teacher walked over to me and asked what grade I was in. I said a Freshman/Sophomore (because I have enough credits to be a Sophomore but it's my first time in college). The teacher said, "I thought so" in that tine that is slightly amazed that one is at the level one is for one's grade. All I can say to that is, "Thank you Elizabeth for helping me have wonderful ballet skills". Of course, I don't know what level I'm in yet. We won't find out until Thursday Evening/Friday morning. But I think I have a good chance of being in Advanced, at least technique wise. Eh, we'll find out. And of course I'll let you all know :) Tomorrow we have the Jazz audition. I'm excited!

So today, almost all of my teachers decided to give us homework. How lame. I also finally have my schedule figured out. I am taking the INST class I was taking in the Spring now and taking another class in the Spring instead. Hopefully, I'll get a Sophomore INST class out of the way. That'd be nice. Or maybe another required class...hmmm.

Scuba was interesting. We watched a bunch of videos, to get them out of the way so that we can play next week. We also had to fill out forms. I almost didn't get to scuba at all. The forms were health record things. Since I had some health problems as a little girl, I naturally marked "yes" to the corresponding questions. I guess what the teachers really wanted to know was if I had had any health problems recently...well why didn't they say that? Oh well. At least I still get to scuba. This class can get me certified! I'm pretty excited about that. I hope I do get certified. Then I'd be a scuba diving fiend!

Ouch, I'm sore. Oh ballet and your wild ways. :)

Lots of Love.

Session 2: Winter Quarter

Well, I started my second quarter as a college student. What have I done so far? Not slept, went to a dance class only to find out that it was a placement class so only if I wanted to move up a level did I need to be there, and went to my voice lessons. Lessons went well. I enjoy Harriet's teaching. I might end up dropping my theatre class. We're hanging lights and whatnot for a show and I will be out of town one of the weekends the show is performing. I guess that for every absence your grade is lowered...period. Also, I'm thinking that even though I'm interested in lights, I don't know that much about them (or don't remember much) and this class doesn't sound like a intro course. Man, am I confused. Also, I am probably going to add another class. My Tuesdays are pretty bare and my credits aren't that high. So I might take care of a few PE classes or maybe some elective music classes or maybe a sophomore INST class. We'll see.

I really miss home...a lot. I miss my friends, feel guilty for not seeing people I wanted to see in the 2 days I was at home (though I was extrememly busy in the 2 days I was home so it wasn't my fault I didn't get to see people I wanted to), I feel sick, scratch that...I know I'm sick. I wish I had more to do today. Then maybe I'd feel better about being here.

So I just got an email from the theatre suspervisor for the class. I have to drop it or suffer an automatic failure...or just not come home (which is not an option). So after all that hard work trying to get into the class, I have to drop it. Boo.

Tomorrow is ballet placement. I'm excited. I hope I'll be placed well. Thursday is jazz. I can't wait for that either. Then Friday we start dancing. Yay for ballet.

Lots of Love.