What a weekend

My show choir senior friends and I holding our 2nd place trophy from a different competition, Southern Wells :)

         Thisweekend has been very...interesting to say the least. Flashback to Friday, our school called a two-hour delay (thank you, Mama Nature) and so the schedule was turned all around and I started out with 4th period, Knight Vision (my school's show choir).  Things weren't going so hot and people were not focusing like they should have been considering we had a competition the next day. Everyone was ticked off by the end, but the bell had rung and we all went our separate ways.  Well that night I received a lovely forward by an underclassmen that claimed the seniors pretty much thought they were the shiz and commanded around everyone else (to keep it short and a lot more sweet than the message actually was).  And boom goes the dynamite.  The creators of the message and the seniors came to an agreement to disagree and cool off so we could come together and compete the next day.  So, next day.  My alarm goes off at 4 a.m. and I was actually in a pretty decent mood considering it was extremely early to be curling my hair.  We get to the competition and it's time to go!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE competing in...well, pretty much everything...so show choir competitions are like a high to me.  So fun :) We get out there and do our thang and it feels great.  There is really nothing that compares to the feeling of music running through your veins, all eyes on you, lights on your face, all of your friends and teammates surrounding you, all working for the same thing.  It's incredible (and I'm going to miss it so much next year. I can't think about it or else I'll get in a funky depressed mood and think I'm fat, and I can't deal with that right now).  My jaw practically hit the floor watching other show choirs strut their stuff onstage after we performed.  Some of them were nothing short of in.cred.eh.ble.  After one particular show choir (complete with knee-high candy apple red boots) was finished I informed my friends that I had to go throw out my very tasteless gum.  So I head out of the auditorium and walk towards a trash can.  I mindlessly throw my gum into the trash can as I notice a Red Boot sitting on top of a bunch of fabric.  I think to myself that it's so odd that someone would throw away a red boot when I notice that it was the costume bin of the last show choir to perform, not a trash can, that I had thrown my gum into.  I quickly grabbed my gum and made a dash for it as I ran into a very tall (and probably cute) guy, mumbling to myself the whole time. Flash forward to awards.  My friendly Caitlin and I were the presenters (*ahem* award fetchers) that day and as they were announcing awards for all class C show choirs my hands got sweaty and my heart beat irregular.  "Here we go! Here we go! Here we go!"<-----Mari's internal voice.  "And class C 2nd runner up, River Valley Blah Blah Blah!"<----announcer's external voice. "Oh crap, everything we were working for and everyth...." <---Mari's internal voice being interrupted by ---->"Class C 1st runner up, Crestview Knight Vision!!!!!!!!" <----announcer's very enthusiastic external voice. "AHHHHHHH!!!" <----Mari's semi-internal voice and body language as she bounce-runs down the risers and excitedly runs in heels to the trophy holder people.  "And Most Dynamic Performer Award goes to, Mari Young!"<----announcer's external voice once again. "Whaaaaa!?!?" <---Mari's internal voice as she is handed award and huge smile is splitting her face in half.
Now THOSE were the moments I had been waiting to happen for so long.  So in the end, we pulled it off and came away 1st runner-ups :) (I refuse to say 2nd place because 1st runner-up sounds so much better).
I <3 show choir.

Hogwarts, here I come

I'll be eating there next year. Chyeah.

I'm trying out a new font :) What an exciting life I lead.  I'm coming to a point in my life where I realize, "Oh crap, you're going to college and need to get crack-a-lackin on them scholarships" (my interior monologues are filled with incorrect grammar).  So the guidance department at my school hooked us students up with yet another scholarship opportunity (seriously, how many scholarships are floating around in the atmosphere? I'm telling you....there are literally thousands, millions, trillions?). But one particular scholarship was given to us on Monday, due Friday. <:O <---that is literally what my face looked like when I found that out.  Scholarships are obviously optional, I'm no boob...I know that.  But this looked like a scholarship that was fairly low maintenance.  So, I'm going for it! Please...hold your applause.  People have been asking me that wonderful little question that never fails to make me want to lock myself in a panic room and never come out again, "Where are you going to college?" Lady (I'm talking to a lady in this scenario), if I knew that then I probably wouldn't have this twitch in my eye (I have an eye twitch in this scenario)!  So this is why I have decided that I will be attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft (pronounced WitchcrOft) and Wizardry in their newly founded undergraduate program.  I will be studying the Dark Arts (muahahaha).  When I found out I possessed magical abilities I knew right away that I would be whisked off to Hogwarts, after all-it is the foremost school for educating young magical folk.  I got in on a full ride and, thanks to the wonder of technology, I've already taken a sorting hat placement test online and I will be in Gryffindor.  I know, I know, "Buh...but you're studying the Dark Arts? Wouldn't you be in Slytherin?"  No, my dear-the sorting hat placed me in Gryffindor, and besides-people are always telling us that we can major in anything these days, correct?  I'm so excited to be a part of Hogwarts Class of '15! (Assuming the world doesn't end before then).

The Prodigal Daughter Returns

This picture really has nothing to do with anything. I just took it at Myrtle Beach one summer and 'picniked' it with some lyrics of one of my favorite songs, "Paperweight". The link to watch "Paperweight" on Youtube -->

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb0kb7NSwKo 

My ear has stopped the oceanic waves of pain! Shout hooray and hallelujah.  And the weird, uncontrollable urge to touch my shoulder has left with it :) (for some reason I couldn't stop massaging my left shoulder, the same side as my piercing, for practically two and a half hours post-piercing)

As I was driving home from school today, I heard on the radio that Oprah was spilling some big, juicy family secret all over the media waves at precisely 4:00 pm.  I usually don't watch The Big O, but that got my attention.  Turns out she has a little half-sister, whom she didn't even know about, as her mother got pregnant without telling anyone.  Her mother gave the baby up for adoption and Patricia, Oprah's new founded half-sister, lived in foster care all of her life.  Patricia started to inquire and ask questions about who her birth mother was when she found out the shocking truth that she shared the same mother as Oprah Winfrey, Certified Television Goddess and Future President of the USO (United States of Oprah).  Can we say, "cardiac arrest"?  However, once Oprah had Patricia on the show, and the prying eyes of America tuned into this hot mess of family business, it came clear to me that the Winfrey family was just not too comfortable letting this person into their lives.  They kept thinking of Patricia as a reincarnated version of Oprah's deceased sister, Patricia (same name, different person...a fluke accident) which made me really sad.  This woman was her own person!  This woman had reached out to find her family, had not gone to the press to capitalize on her relations, and just wanted to complete the hole she felt had grown in her heart.  This woman came on to the Oprah show, had faced the mother that denied her existence, and sat through a Winfrey family Thanksgiving only to be told, "We're still processing.  Uhm....but you look a heck of a lot like our other sister, Pat."  Excuse me, but something tells me Patricia had some processing to do of her own as well.
I really am not one to judge, but this was just an observation I had while watching the awkward episode unfold.  I hope the family finds peace through this strange transitioning time and, most importantly, they catch up on the time lost.

Son of a Bee-sting!

OUCH! I just got my tragus pierced today and let me tell you, it HURTS! It's a little, annoying, burning, pain that spikes up every now and then like a wave in the ocean.  ughh.......
But I'm totally glad I did it, otherwise I would have gone through the rest of my life thinking "what if"...right? I took a friend with me to go get it done at the local tattoo place and they told me that the piercer wouldn't be in till 3:30. 3:30!? It was 12:00! Holy crap, I had mucho time to spare.  So we looked at some dresses in a new boutique, then went to Wal-Mart and made our way to a local Mexican restaurant.  We sat and talked for a really long time until she looked at me and said, "Uh, Mari-that guy is staring at me."  And he was...he was flat out, not even being discrete about it, staring at her...strange. So it was finally time and I was sitting on the piercers table.  He was so funny and really nice, so that definitely put me at ease.  Then he told me to lay back and BAM needle through my ear! I grabbed onto my friend so hard I think I cut off her circulation.  Oops.  And on top of that I started making these weird moaning noises that I was not in control of.  When he was putting the jewelry in I told him, "This is worse than giving birth!" Although I know full well that it isn't.  He confirmed what I already knew and I replied, "Have you ever given birth before!?" He just laughed at me...
Now my jaw kinda hurts and I'm late for a basketball game that I have to play my clarinet for. 

A tragus piercing

But I'm so happy I finally went through with it :) Only time will tell if it was the right decision to make, haha.

Split-Brain Research

Finally it's a friday! I feel like I was literally dragging my feet through the halls for a good two days of this week (and it was a three dayer).  Oh well, I guess that's what I get for throwing geometry on my schedule. Seriously, what was I thinking? If geometry was a burning building, I would not call the fire department. So I guess that's what I'll blame world problems on-geometry. Tsunami in the Pacific? Geometry.  Global warming? Geometry. Britney Spears shaves her head again? Yeah, probably because of geometry.  I'm a "right brain" thinker (learned that in psychology today) and the whole numerical this-answer-will-always-be-the-answer-until-you-die-and-even-after-that business that is math makes me want to scream just a 'lil bit. Because, if there is ANYTHING that Seussical the Musical has taught me it's that ANYTHING'S possible! <----They even made that concept into a song! C'mon, life doesn't get much better than living in oblivion thinking that anything's possible.  Or maybe not...do they have a medical term for people who believe that? Probably, they have medical terms for everything...and who are "they" anyway...

Kind of a strange picture, but...point proven

(I just learned how to change the font on my posts...score)

Life's a journey...or so I've been told.

First Post (I should have this documented or someth....oh wait)
 Okay, so I'm a conformist and have jumped on the technology boosted bandwagon known as "blogging".  I guess that makes me a bloggie...bloggest...bloggmister? Dunno. But what I DO know is I have about one million and one thoughts skittering across my mind at any given moment, and I often need to write them out. And to help me with this self-induced "therapy" I have c.r.e.a.t.e.d. this *sound the trumpets* blog! And I have to admit, kinda like it.
So this blog was c.r.e.a.t.e.d. (no, I won't do that every time) mainly so I don't end up in a nice padded room paid by my mother dearest (I think college will be enough of an expense). But if you (yeah, you)  come across this blog and like what you see, feel free to join in on the journey :)