Happy Thursday! Okay so it is currently 12:15 AM and I am not tired at all like I had so much coffee and the musical is tomorrow night (technically tonight...holy shit) and I don't know how it's gonna turn out, we'll just have to see. I literally could not care about school any less than I do now, so I just want to stay home and sleep until I'm called for the musical but that's not gonna happen so I'll probably get around five and a half hours of sleep and I'm so hungry like can a girl get a brownie? Jeez. Well I just reread this post and I sound pretty crazy, I should probably go to bed (aka go on Tumblr). Good night and wish the cast of Into the Woods and me good luck!
Carpe Diem,
Brooke
Friday, March 8, 2013
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Bad Day Rant
Happy Wednesday! My Wednesday pretty much sucked. Have you ever had one of those days where it just seems that nothing goes right? Yeah, that pretty much sums up my entire day. So I woke up ridiculously tired not only because I got less sleep (thank you, rehearsal) but I also had this horrible dream that my dad died, and it just felt so real that when I woke up I actually had to think for a second about whether my dad was alive or not. Not a great way to start your day.
Next, we were running late as it was, and then like five minutes into my 20-minute commute to school, I realized I left my phone at home and I absolutely have to have my phone, so we had to go back to my house to get it, then resume driving. Then in Latin I didn't know how to translate any of the passage on our quiz, which made me feel so awesome. Even worse, in math we got our quizzes back and I got a 58%. Solid. And I did really badly on our last quiz, which means I probably have like a D in the class. And the quarter ends next week, and I have no clue what we're learning about right now, so I'm probably going to do really badly on the quiz on Monday (so stressed about that right now).
Later, before choir two of my friends (who are also in the musical with me) and I went to the bathroom and we started talking about another girl in the musical, and how perfect she was. Then we started to pick out some of her flaws, until (I'm ashamed to say) I was saying things about her that I would not have said to her face. In the middle of my sentence, our pianist for both choir and the musical comes out of the bathroom stall and I could see how disappointed she looked. She told us that if we didn't have anything nice to say, we shouldn't say anything at all, and we should think about what if it had been the girl we were discussing that was in the bathroom stall and we didn't know it. I actually almost cried. I consider myself to be a generally nice person, but there I was blatantly insulting a girl I barely knew. I hadn't felt so ashamed in a very long time. I definitely need to work on keeping my mouth shut.
To top off my bad day, after rehearsal our director told us we told a terrible job and if we want to have a decent show by Friday night we have a lot of work to do. Um, sorry, but this is a high school musical, not Broadway. I'm pretty sure he's not allowed to tell us that we're "terrible," and it honestly wasn't even that bad, considering that we are high schoolers, we lost four rehearsals because of the snow days, and Into the Woods has some of the hardest music in a musical ever. Ugh.
Thanks for putting up with my rant!
Carpe Diem,
Brooke
Next, we were running late as it was, and then like five minutes into my 20-minute commute to school, I realized I left my phone at home and I absolutely have to have my phone, so we had to go back to my house to get it, then resume driving. Then in Latin I didn't know how to translate any of the passage on our quiz, which made me feel so awesome. Even worse, in math we got our quizzes back and I got a 58%. Solid. And I did really badly on our last quiz, which means I probably have like a D in the class. And the quarter ends next week, and I have no clue what we're learning about right now, so I'm probably going to do really badly on the quiz on Monday (so stressed about that right now).
Later, before choir two of my friends (who are also in the musical with me) and I went to the bathroom and we started talking about another girl in the musical, and how perfect she was. Then we started to pick out some of her flaws, until (I'm ashamed to say) I was saying things about her that I would not have said to her face. In the middle of my sentence, our pianist for both choir and the musical comes out of the bathroom stall and I could see how disappointed she looked. She told us that if we didn't have anything nice to say, we shouldn't say anything at all, and we should think about what if it had been the girl we were discussing that was in the bathroom stall and we didn't know it. I actually almost cried. I consider myself to be a generally nice person, but there I was blatantly insulting a girl I barely knew. I hadn't felt so ashamed in a very long time. I definitely need to work on keeping my mouth shut.
To top off my bad day, after rehearsal our director told us we told a terrible job and if we want to have a decent show by Friday night we have a lot of work to do. Um, sorry, but this is a high school musical, not Broadway. I'm pretty sure he's not allowed to tell us that we're "terrible," and it honestly wasn't even that bad, considering that we are high schoolers, we lost four rehearsals because of the snow days, and Into the Woods has some of the hardest music in a musical ever. Ugh.
Thanks for putting up with my rant!
Carpe Diem,
Brooke
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Pondering History
Happy Tuesday! Today in history we had a discussion regarding President Truman's decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan in 1945. I'm certainly no expert on the matter and there's probably a lot more that I should know about it, but for some reason I've become fascinated with the subject. Think about how hard it must have been for Truman to make that decision, knowing that people were going to hate you for it no matter what you chose! I seriously have so much respect for that man, even though I wish the bombs hadn't been necessary. I have come to the conclusion that as President of the United States, your first priority is to protect American lives, and Truman had to choose either ending Japanese lives or risking American lives, and in the end it saved more lives than it took. I am absolutely, positively, 100% always against war and violence, but in those circumstances, when we had already been in a second world war for three years, and American soldiers were dying, the war needed to end as quickly as possible.
I think this situation is very interesting and complex, and to some degree can even apply to decisions we make in our own lives. We know now about radiation-related illnesses that have affected the Japanese, but at the time we knew nothing about it. Maybe they should have done more research? But would that have changed Truman's mind? What if we dropped the bomb from 20,000 feet instead of 2,000 feet? What if we only dropped a bomb on Hiroshima, surely a second one in Nagasaki wasn't necessary? But then that might have made Japan think that we only had one bomb, with two bombs it was a message to them that we could have more and that we weren't afraid to use them. What if we weren't trying to prove a point to the Soviet Union? What if we knew that Japan was planning on surrendering? The list of 'what ifs' goes on and on. My point is that we can't look at history from what we know now; we have to imagine ourselves in that time period, knowing only what they knew at that time.
Sorry for this whole spiel about American history, but I find it interesting that we really can relate this subject to our lives, like when you have to make a tough decision and you sometimes have to commit a necessary evil, and you have to think about whether the ends justify the means. Just something to think about!
Carpe Diem,
Brooke
I think this situation is very interesting and complex, and to some degree can even apply to decisions we make in our own lives. We know now about radiation-related illnesses that have affected the Japanese, but at the time we knew nothing about it. Maybe they should have done more research? But would that have changed Truman's mind? What if we dropped the bomb from 20,000 feet instead of 2,000 feet? What if we only dropped a bomb on Hiroshima, surely a second one in Nagasaki wasn't necessary? But then that might have made Japan think that we only had one bomb, with two bombs it was a message to them that we could have more and that we weren't afraid to use them. What if we weren't trying to prove a point to the Soviet Union? What if we knew that Japan was planning on surrendering? The list of 'what ifs' goes on and on. My point is that we can't look at history from what we know now; we have to imagine ourselves in that time period, knowing only what they knew at that time.
Sorry for this whole spiel about American history, but I find it interesting that we really can relate this subject to our lives, like when you have to make a tough decision and you sometimes have to commit a necessary evil, and you have to think about whether the ends justify the means. Just something to think about!
Carpe Diem,
Brooke
Monday, March 4, 2013
Oh, The Places I Wish I Could Go...
Happy Monday! I hope you've had a good start to your week! My Monday went pretty well until rehearsal, when I literally stayed until 7 p.m. for no reason and I have so much homework. I'm not very impressed with my directors' organization skills. I probably could have left at 4:30 and I wouldn't have had to stress about getting my homework done! Anyway, while I'm worrying about trivial things like getting my reading for English done, I imagine myself in exotic places that I wish I could be in.
For as long as I can remember, traveling has been my top priority for what I want to do with my life. As chance would have it, however, traveling the world happens to be a little expensive. I've only been to 11 states, and most of them for very short stays (Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Tennessee, New Mexico, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Colorado). My mom was lucky enough to go to Japan as an AFS student when she was sixteen (paid for by her grandmother), and she went to Austria in college for an independent study. My dad has been to Germany two or three times to visit his German grandparents. Now where is my wealthy grandparent who can pay for me to go somewhere? I know I sound like a brat, but I will admit that I'm rather bitter that both of my parents got to go on several trips to countries around the world, and even though I would never tell my parents this, I wish they had found some way for me to be able to go somewhere. Unless you're like me, you can't possibly imagine how many hours I've devoted to planning out my trips across the world that will most likely never happen, imagining what foods I would eat, sights I would see, and things I would do. Sometimes I just look up pictures of cities and stare at them in awe.
Perhaps I wouldn't be so bitter about it if I hadn't gone to a private school, where almost every one of my peers is in the 1%. Having to hear about my friends' latest travels after summer, winter, and spring breaks are always painful to listen to; Rome, Spain, Costa Rica, Belize, Australia, England, Germany, Puerto Rico, Switzerland, and the Caribbean just to name a few of their family vacations. I've put a lot of thought into it, and if I could go to only five countries (even though I wish I could go to all of them) these are the ones I would go to:
1. Japan
2. Scotland and Ireland (I would go to these countries in one trip!)
3. France
4. Germany
5. England (the country I want to go to the most!)
Carpe Diem,
Brooke
For as long as I can remember, traveling has been my top priority for what I want to do with my life. As chance would have it, however, traveling the world happens to be a little expensive. I've only been to 11 states, and most of them for very short stays (Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Tennessee, New Mexico, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Colorado). My mom was lucky enough to go to Japan as an AFS student when she was sixteen (paid for by her grandmother), and she went to Austria in college for an independent study. My dad has been to Germany two or three times to visit his German grandparents. Now where is my wealthy grandparent who can pay for me to go somewhere? I know I sound like a brat, but I will admit that I'm rather bitter that both of my parents got to go on several trips to countries around the world, and even though I would never tell my parents this, I wish they had found some way for me to be able to go somewhere. Unless you're like me, you can't possibly imagine how many hours I've devoted to planning out my trips across the world that will most likely never happen, imagining what foods I would eat, sights I would see, and things I would do. Sometimes I just look up pictures of cities and stare at them in awe.
Perhaps I wouldn't be so bitter about it if I hadn't gone to a private school, where almost every one of my peers is in the 1%. Having to hear about my friends' latest travels after summer, winter, and spring breaks are always painful to listen to; Rome, Spain, Costa Rica, Belize, Australia, England, Germany, Puerto Rico, Switzerland, and the Caribbean just to name a few of their family vacations. I've put a lot of thought into it, and if I could go to only five countries (even though I wish I could go to all of them) these are the ones I would go to:
1. Japan
Carpe Diem,
Brooke
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Words of Wisdom
Happy Sunday! I don't know about you, but I know that my week is going to be absolutely crazy! The week of the musical is always the week that my teachers decide to give me a test in every class. Isn't that just lovely? This means that I will have rehearsal every night (which will most likely run super late because we're so far behind) when I should be studying for my test the next day! Every. Single. Night. I'm definitely not looking forward to it. I usually tend to curl up in a ball and hope that my problems will go away during times like this, so I decided that I needed some good motivational words of wisdom for my upcoming stressful week. These are my favorites:
1. "The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence." -Confucius
2. "Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence." -Helen Keller
3. "Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing." -Thomas Jefferson
1. "The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence." -Confucius
2. "Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence." -Helen Keller
3. "Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing." -Thomas Jefferson
A Thought-Provoking Saturday
Happy Saturday! Okay, so the musical has officially taken over my life. I woke up at 9, started my homework at 10, I had lunch, did more homework, then at 1:30 I left for rehearsal, which I left from at 5:45 in order to babysit at 6, which didn't end until 11. I have a history test on Monday which I have studied very little for, and I have rehearsal from 1-4 tomorrow, along with other homework I still have to do. Can you say stressful? Ugh I just want it to be over!
I titled this post as "A Thought-Provoking Saturday," because I thought a lot about a pretty major decision today: kids. Don't worry, I know I still have a very long time before I need to actually make that decision, but I will admit that I think about it a lot. I have quite a bit of experience with children. I've been babysitting since I was about 11 or 12, and I've worked a few summers as a camp assistant at the summer program at my school. I know the good, the bad, and the ugly of having children. I know that kids are cute, they're fun to dress, and it would be pretty cool to be needed by someone.
However, having kids is also the end of your life, and you can't deny that. After you have kids, every minute needs to be devoted to your children, which leaves very little time for you. I must admit that I don't like the sound of that. Also, kids can be loud, needy, messy, annoying, and a downright pain. All of these are things that I hate. Although most parents don't regret having kids, they miss the time when they were childless. I feel like kids would be such a burden! Not to mention having to cook two to three meals a day, doing the laundry, cleaning the house, driving kids to sports practices, all for three or four people, and with minimal appreciation.
I saw both sides of having kids today: the director of the musical (the drama teacher at school) brought in her five-month-old son and her two-year-old daughter, and they were both so cute. I even got to hold the baby for a while, and it was a truly special moment. He was just so happy and he was smiling at me! It was precious. On the other hand, while I babysat after rehearsal, the kids were just in really whiny moods and it wasn't as fun as it usually is. I still need to think about it, but for now I just can't see myself having kids. At least I have a while to decide!
Carpe Diem,
Brooke
I titled this post as "A Thought-Provoking Saturday," because I thought a lot about a pretty major decision today: kids. Don't worry, I know I still have a very long time before I need to actually make that decision, but I will admit that I think about it a lot. I have quite a bit of experience with children. I've been babysitting since I was about 11 or 12, and I've worked a few summers as a camp assistant at the summer program at my school. I know the good, the bad, and the ugly of having children. I know that kids are cute, they're fun to dress, and it would be pretty cool to be needed by someone.
However, having kids is also the end of your life, and you can't deny that. After you have kids, every minute needs to be devoted to your children, which leaves very little time for you. I must admit that I don't like the sound of that. Also, kids can be loud, needy, messy, annoying, and a downright pain. All of these are things that I hate. Although most parents don't regret having kids, they miss the time when they were childless. I feel like kids would be such a burden! Not to mention having to cook two to three meals a day, doing the laundry, cleaning the house, driving kids to sports practices, all for three or four people, and with minimal appreciation.
I saw both sides of having kids today: the director of the musical (the drama teacher at school) brought in her five-month-old son and her two-year-old daughter, and they were both so cute. I even got to hold the baby for a while, and it was a truly special moment. He was just so happy and he was smiling at me! It was precious. On the other hand, while I babysat after rehearsal, the kids were just in really whiny moods and it wasn't as fun as it usually is. I still need to think about it, but for now I just can't see myself having kids. At least I have a while to decide!
Carpe Diem,
Brooke
Friday, March 1, 2013
An Unusually Good Friday
Happy Friday! I hope you had a great week! Yesterday was super stressful, mostly because of the fact that the musical is next Friday and we just got our costumes today and we have no set, and no one knows any of their lines, nor the dance moves. Yeah, it's a mess. Thankfully I'm only in the chorus, so I don't really have too much to worry about, but I still want the musical to be good! Anyway, today was definitely a good day. Like a really good day. And good days really don't happen that often for me, so I have to tell you about it! :)
Firstly, we had a dodge ball tournament among all of the grades in the high school today, which was really fun to watch, especially since my brother was on the freshman team! He's very athletic, and he did really well. Secondly, today we had day eight in the cycle, which means that we drop and double some of our classes, and since yesterday I doubled, today I dropped! I only had three classes, it was pretty great. Thirdly, tonight was the YMCA Challenger Dance and it was so much fun. I don't remember the last time I had so much fun! About fifty kids with special needs came to my school, where (I think) ten other classmates of mine volunteered with me. It could hardly be called volunteering, we danced with the kids and played games with them! I wish it was more than once a year! I made so many friends, and it was so special because it just reaffirmed how much I want to be a special education. It was a night I'll always remember. :) Finally, when I got home, my package from Vineyard Vines finally came in, and I'm now in love with my new headband and belt. :) It was definitely a great day! I hope you have a great weekend (I'll be spending mine at rehearsal both tomorrow and Sunday. Wish us luck!).
Carpe Diem,
Brooke
Firstly, we had a dodge ball tournament among all of the grades in the high school today, which was really fun to watch, especially since my brother was on the freshman team! He's very athletic, and he did really well. Secondly, today we had day eight in the cycle, which means that we drop and double some of our classes, and since yesterday I doubled, today I dropped! I only had three classes, it was pretty great. Thirdly, tonight was the YMCA Challenger Dance and it was so much fun. I don't remember the last time I had so much fun! About fifty kids with special needs came to my school, where (I think) ten other classmates of mine volunteered with me. It could hardly be called volunteering, we danced with the kids and played games with them! I wish it was more than once a year! I made so many friends, and it was so special because it just reaffirmed how much I want to be a special education. It was a night I'll always remember. :) Finally, when I got home, my package from Vineyard Vines finally came in, and I'm now in love with my new headband and belt. :) It was definitely a great day! I hope you have a great weekend (I'll be spending mine at rehearsal both tomorrow and Sunday. Wish us luck!).
Carpe Diem,
Brooke
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