Say you see through the folly but you do it for the fame

Don't you hate how foggy you feel when you first wake up in the mornings? It's like you haven't gained full control of all your muscles and everything you do is sloppy and exaggerated. The first thing I do on school mornings is shower, so usually this involves banging my head on both sides of the shower because I'm so tired. Yes, I do fall asleep in the shower. And my thoughts are extremely messy, so if I have a good idea in the first five minutes of my awake-ness it's likely to just go away.

Why am I talking about foggy things? Well, it's because of my cold. Fun indeed. I haven't been "sick" sick in over a year, meaning a fever and needing to stay home from school. However, every year around this time I just have a stuffy nose and head like nobody's business. This morning it took 4 cough drops and a glass of tea just to get my voice working. And worst of all, my head feels about seven times heavier on one side than the other. So I've got that foggy wake-up feeling all day long. I sort of feel like on some type of drugs, but ones that just sort of weigh you down. Maybe like the women in African countries who carry baskets on their heads? Except this is IN my head, and every time I yawn or blow my nose my ears pop like I'm on an airplane or something. Overall, it's just frustrating.

Do I have anything non-complaining to talk about? Well, in Maddi's Media News I've tried two totally unrelated applications on my computer, skype and sibelius. I think I'm going to like skype. It's certainly not as popular as facebook, but the chat doesn't randomly delete on you and video chats are always fun. However, I feel the need to point out the awkwardness of video chatting that doesn't happen with phone calls. There are certain pauses in a conversation that are totally normal on the phone but when you're looking at the image of someone just seem, well, uncomfortable. If you were hanging out with them, the conversation would be more physical, and if you were on the phone, more verbal. To me, video chat is this awkward in-between stage. Sibelius is something totally different. For those people who aren't familiar with music notation software, it's this thing that lets you place notes on a staff and create your own music. I'm trying to arrange things, but since I've never arranged OR used sibelius, it's proving pretty difficult. I'm like "rest." and it's like, "RESTRESTREST QUARTER NOTE." Um, no sibelius. That's clearly not what I just entered. At least I'm getting better with my piano-playing. I'm practicing some things regularly, and I can feel my hands getting stronger, and my knowledge of the bass clef improving. God, I hate the bass clef. Still, the piano is a skill it's useful to have, and maybe I'll really launch into arranging soon. If I have time...right.

Los Conciertos.

And what may I be doing tonight? Well until about an hour ago, I thought nothing. But I have been plucked out of the blue and told that I'll be heading to the Vampire Weekend concert. Why, what's Vampire Weekend? It's not a movie marathon of the "Twilight series during Saturday and Sunday." It's not a vacation with blood-sucking things. It's a sort-of alternative band that does the very cool thing of incorporating a whole bushel of instruments into their songs. Seriously, you could hear like 20 different instruments in one single song. That's more than I can say about a large majority of music today. They look kinda like this

So it made me think about all the other concerts I've been to in my lifetime. There aren't that many, sadly.

Bernadette Peters - This was the first concert I ever went to, and I was about 8 years old. I'm an avid fan of Into The Woods, and Bernadette is my favorite. It probably helps that she's a fellow short redhead. I went with my grandparents and she sang some stuff I was familiar with. Some songs gave me chills, because her voice is so amazing. I've been listening to the Into The Woods soundtrack since I was about three years old, I kid you not. And the best part was, I got to meet her after the show. Well not meet per say, but as she was leaving the stage door she said hi to me and I got an autograph. What a moment. I still remember being surprised at how short she was and how cool it seemed.

Regina Spektor - She's really one of my favorites that I listen to on a regular basis. Marion and I were in one of the back rows, and the theatre was really slanted but it seemed like we were watching it from above. It was really unique and I knew EVERY song she played except two. We were right near the spotlight too, which cast an eerie blue glow on everything. It was sort of an out-of-body experience, and unbelievable.

Taylor Swift - Now this was cool. Unlike the two before, this was gigantic, at Gillette stadium in fact. We were lucky enough to be in the 12th row and it was a really "Big concert" experience. There were flashing lights and a big digital screen stage and Taylor had about 8 costume changes. She was brilliant, even if all her songs are kind of similar. She really through a lot of energy into the performance and it was the last stop on her tour, which was cool. I was there with a bunch of friends and all of our happiness was pretty infectious. And I got a T-shirt. It's a pretty cool T-shirt.

Vampire Weekend - Well, we'll see. =]

Annecdotes about food

Ramen is a home-alone food. It's absolutely delicious, but I always associate it with being stuck in the house, alone. The reasons for that are simple - it's easy to make and has both starch and a smidgen of protein, so if you eat it with a fruit or vegetable you can even claim you're being healthy!

I quite enjoy gummy sharks. To me they're the best of all gummy candies, with the one exception being clear gummy bears. I can't figure out why on earth I like clear gummy bears, since I'm still vague about what flavor they are, but I do. Still, gummy sharks are the most fun because they have two different layers. One layer is the blue, gummy layer, and the bottom layer is softer and more like marshmellow (except of course, it's not marshmellow.) Like this:

My new favorite food since this summer would have to be a really good panini sandwich made with fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil. Honestly, it's pretty hard to beat that. I had about 7 of them while my family was in Ogunquit this summer, and now I think I'm addicted. I also force my friends to make them for me when I visit their houses. (Just ask Emily London.)

And finally, for a food I can't stand - the beautiful and fabulous SARDINES. Such a typical food for a kid to dislike, I know. But there's something about them that drives me insane. Actually there are a few things. 1. They are fish. I don't like fish in general. 2. They smell...well, fishy. Ugh. And the smell stays in the air for long periods of time after they've been consumed. 3. Some people put them on pizza. Why on earth would they think that's a good idea?

Oh, and school starts tomorrow, in case you hadn't heard. ...Yippee.

Time, Is, A Moment, Sir.

So unless you were one of about seven possible people, that title probably made next-to-no sense. It's a reference from (surprise!) a camp skit entitled Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread. I've never actually listened to the music by the actual Philip Glass, but I know it's classical. A little bit was piano, flowing, and didn't seem like the play one bit. The play was like a bunch of repeating pieces strung together in interesting ways. The five or so characters only had a few different lines, and a lot of them were one or two words, but they repeated so much and in so many different ways it made a spectacularly cool plot. "Time." "Is." "A Moment." "Sir," was repeated probably the most. And when you think about it a little, time is a moment. Or many moments. I don't know about you, but I don't remember my life in a big long flowing wave of time. I remember the moments.

So what moment is it now? Well actually, it's that time of year where I realize there's about seven thousand things I need to get done. I turn into this lady. Trust me, she's not fun to be around.

So I start with the list-making, I start with the panic-organizing* of my room. I know I'm in my second year of high school now, but I still feel like it would be useful for teachers to send us those lists of school supplies like they used to. I just have to guess around, get some binders and a few notebooks. Usually I end up dragging my mom back to staples for round two, once I know what I really need. I also have to read another summer book, so far I've read Bean Trees, the required book, and "Einstein's Dreams," which sounds dorky but is actually really cool. Fitting in with the theme of time today, (oh hey, I didn't even realize that) it pictures all the ways the world could possibly be. What if time flowed completely backwards? What if there was a place at the center of the world where time was at it's slowest and things were faster from that point? What if people higher up off the ground aged slower than people living right in the valleys? It's all pretty crazy stuff to think about.

Also, my camera broke. It still looks fine, but when you turn it on the viewing screen is completely broken. It looks like a broken window with random ugly rainbow lines on it. And technically it still takes the picture but you have practically no idea of what the picture looks like until you upload it. Come to think of it, that would make an interesting photo project - blind photos. But even so, I don't have my camera with me to document whatever happens to be going on. It's really been bothering me more than it should, considering I was never and never will be a photographer. Here for example, was a blind photo that I took, although it easily could have been something I took if I could see what I was doing. TA-DA

Yeah, I took that without being able to see what I was shooting at all. Well this has been a very unnecessarily long post, and quite frankly, I'm starving. Time for a delicious lunch of toast and veggie sausage! (Oh yeah, and somehow I'm still a vegetarian. Well the world's worst vegetarian, but it's something.)

*Panic-organizing ~ placing large amounts of STUFF from the floor on chairs, shelves, and under the bed. Possibly trying to categorize things together so I can feel like there's some order in my life. Letters, duct tape, return address stickers, and summer reading lists can all be thrown in that blue bucket, right? Of course right.

Of Course. It's Just Camp

What I love about it

-Being excited from the moment I open my eyes in the morning

-The carpool circle

-When there's music playing at the tentstage

-All the different kinds of art you see all around you

-Skipping from class to class without even thinking about it

-Singing with people better than you & not feeling competitive

-Improvising musicals, every day

-Wearing bright leggings

-Talking to bright people

-Trying to drink carton milk without a straw with your friends

-Being an apprentice & making younger kids laugh

-How every noontime show is fabulous

-Taking pictures for no reason at all

-Putting on an amazing show during rehearsals, start to finish

-Beautiful and crazy costumes

-Eating during A Capella

-Lying on the floor during A Capella

-Make moose noises during A Capella

-Actually singing in A Capella

-The fries from Isabella's, which seem golden on the best days

-Playing taps at the rock

-The opening night show

-The Friday night show

-Crying at cast parties because you need to get it out

-Realizing how amazing every single person there is

-How a single person can change your whole experience

-How a single camp can change your whole life

-The way people are smiling...it's simply the best kind of smile

Freaking Myself Out

So I just got back from visiting my grandparents. It's always fun to visit them, except for the fact that this obnoxious rooster is constantly going off (yes, like an alarm clock or something.) Aren't they only supposed to crow at dawn? This one crows at 7 Am. Then at 8. Then at 9:30. Then at 11. Then at two in the afternoon - we get it already.

Anyways, two nights ago we saw a production of Sweeney Todd. It was super amazing, and in case you’re unfamiliar with the production I’ll give you a quick summary. (If you do know it then sorry to waste your time and feel free to skip this paragraph!) It’s about this guy named Sweeney Todd (duh) who got wrongfully convicted of a crime by this judge who just wanted his wife. So then he comes back after prison and finds that the judge has been raising his daughter and that his wife is dead. He meets this woman named Mrs. Lovett and together they agree to get revenge on the judge. Mrs. Lovett also adopts this kid named Toby to help her. So they try to kill him but end up killing a lot of other people in the process (and making them into meat pies.) So finally he kills the judge, who had been planning on marrying his daughter, Joanna. (Gross, right, I mean he’s like 40 years older then her.) And then Sweeney discovers that his wife isn’t actually dead but she went completely crazy and he realizes that she was one of the people he killed. And so he kills Mrs. Lovett because she knew that his wife was alive but didn’t tell her because she was in love with him. And then the only one left is Toby and he kills Sweeney Todd because he’s gone mad and he’s also freaked out by him. And Sweeney’s daughter goes off and marries this guy named Anthony who she was in love with all along. So there was lots of love and death. But mostly death. Overall, the production was intense and awesome. Great music. One of my favorite things about Sondheim is how he repeats all his melodies in little pieces throughout the shows. The songs "Joanna" and "Not While I'm Around" both are in the same key, and even start the exact same way. They're both beautiful, and if they're sung by someone talented they'll definitely give you chills.

So between Dr. Who, Sci-fi in general, and Sweeney Todd I have been absolutely scaring myself to death lately. Don't get me wrong, I love all of the above but they are simply frightening. Dr. Who is less scary as you get used to it, but things like creepy psych dramas and sociopaths are still just as creepy day twenty-three as they are on day one. I've been looking around the corners before I go down hallways and dashing up the stairs after I turn out the lights. If you don't already, go watch Dr. Who. It's sort of a combination of a galactic soap opera plus Star Wars-esque action. And if you enjoy British humor then it's absolutely fantastic, as the doctor would say.

At the request of Ms. Vega

Inspired by Ms. Alli Vega, this post is about drugs. Not the using of, considering I am extremely against all that. (Honestly I think they're a horrible concept and they just show the lengths people are willing to go to in order to "relax.") But the way drugs are referenced through music. It's actually kind of amazing how much they come up.

First of all, there's the song Lucy In The Sky with Diamonds. The song goes through all of these strange images, most likely hallucination on the part of one Beatle or another. And it probably doesn't help that the letters to abbreviate are L, S, and D. The song is cool and well-written, but it's so hard to really like without feeling like a druggie yourself. Some people vehemently deny that idea and say it has something to do with paintings or something else entirely. You can never really know, but this one seems too heavy to ignore.

Next, "Nine in the Afternoon," by Panic at the Disco. This one's questionable. Honestly, I never thought about it that way until Alli pointed it out to me, so I can't say I see it entirely. However, if you think about the lyrics "Into a place where thoughts can bloom" and "Your eyes are the size of the moon," it would sort of make sense. Overall I find the song to be just a feel-good song and it was pretty well written. It's one of those songs where the lyrics just sound cool and make you think a bit.

And then there's the category of rappers and drugs. Eminem? It's amazing how much he changed. He had songs like "Old Time's Sake" talking about how great smoking is and he'll get pretty crude with those types of things. And then his latest album basically revolves around the idea of him giving up drugs completely and how much he's learned about life. I honestly think he was careless with his words and now regrets it. I read an article somewhere about how he feels bad about referring to women as "hos and bitches." Yeah, he should.

Overall, I hate the idea that loads of band people are druggies. And Alli Vega, I hope you go to bed at a decent time tonight. PLEASE. Three-thirty is not decent.