So the wheel of life keeps on turning, as it does, and things keep on happening, as they do, and wow I sound melodramatic. I am sure that's something anyone-who-actually-reads-this-on-a-regular-basis has missed.
I haven't written a post in awhile, despite the boatloads of time I have, mostly because I am lazy. I feel bad; I know there aren't really loyal readers out there or anything, but I really don't want this to turn into another side-project that I forget about and never revisit. It's just that senior year was absolutely 100% insane at the end, and then I was hanging out with friends and trying to do real life stuff as much as possible before I left for camp, and then I didn't feel like I had anything to talk about, and yeah. That's how you end up with three posts in 5 months.
Andbutso, I now have lots and lots and lots of things to talk about, and I don't know how. So, to steal a page from the vlogbrothers' book, I'm going to separate this post into parts; 7 of them to be specific, in chronological order
1. I got home from camp, and wrote a letter to camp because I was campsick, which is like being homesick but for camp. Yes. Sometimes I think the things I write would be so much more effective if I were reading them out loud, or rather, if John Green were reading them out loud. Like that sentence for example, try to imagine John Green reading it aloud in his fast voice, and it becomes so much better. If you're reading this and you don't know who John Green is, you should click the link to the vlogbrothers' Youtube channel above, because he and his brother Hank are awesome. We'll come back to this topic later.
2. After coming home from camp, I hung out with some people for a couple days, and then I went to Mackinac Island for our now-annual family get-together for my mom's side. It was not altogether that enjoyable, especially when we had to do the actually-hang-out-with-family portion. Like, I like my nuclear family - when I was just with my mom, dad, and sister, I had fun. And I like my extended family in small doses of time, when no one is stressed and there are adults supervising their own children. But I do not like being assigned the babysitter, particularly after a month of basically being a babysitter but also having real authority and not needing to deal with 5-year-olds, and actually being paid and yeah. I might have gotten a little angry after being forced to sit at the kids table one night for dinner. Also, our hotel was really far from like everything else on the island and also on a giant hill, and there's only bikes and horses on Mackinac, so guess what we did everyday. That's right. BIKED UP A GIANT HILL. Not so much fun.
3. I got a French exchange student, soon after I got back from camp. She was cool. I liked her. We did stuff. I also hung out with more friends during this period of time.
4. Exchange student went home, and I did more things with friends and people started leaving for college and I started vaguely trying to pack for college.
5. I found out where I will be living at college! It's the "communications" dorm, which means it has a lot of Radio/TV/Film (RTVF) people living in it and also two screening rooms and it seems awesome and I live in a single but that is okay because the rooms are suite-style so I sort of have like 7 roommates who I don't actually have to share a room with and there is a kitchen on my floor and a place to put luggage and bikes and my dorm's blog is actually legit and awesome and I am so excited fer kerllergeeeeeee.
6. I started work at the state fair. It alternates between mind-numbingly boring and semi-painful for my feet/knees/back, but I sort of like some of the people who also work there, so that's cool (also, making money is happyful). Many of them are under the impression that I'm about two years younger than I actually am, but whatever.
7. General books/movies/shows over the summer: separate post, because this one is already long and there are lots of things.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Friday, July 27, 2012
A Letter to Camp
Dear Echo,
I don't what it is about you that keeps me coming back exactly. Everyone always talks about being who they are and the freedom to act like yourself - but honestly, I think I'm just as much myself at home as at camp. Looking at my experience from the outside, it doesn't seem like I should enjoy my time at camp as much as I do - all my good friends are at home, I don't know people as well.
And yet.
There is something undefinable about you, something that makes me miss you the second I'm gone. It's what makes me look through photos on Facebook, and sing campfire songs to myself in my kitchen.
You give me perspective all the time. You remind me how easy it is to have fun, without needing much planning or extra equipment. You show me how much difference one person can make, and how little effort it takes to pick up that piece of litter lying on the ground, or be patient with someone when they're being difficult.
You allow me to push the limits of my comfort zone every year. You have taught me that it's okay to ask questions, that people are seldom as scary as they look, and that the effort I put into something is directly proportional to the reward I receive from it.
I love so many things about you. Campfire songs, taps talks, kissing the moose (on the lips). The way the sun sets on the lake. Flo bread, weather characters, Wacky Wednesday (and MuuMuu Mondays). The stars on a clear night. Hot chocolate at every meal, the smell of campfire on everything, A&C, snaps, sleeping on the porch during a thunderstorm, music in the mornings, quotes at flag raising. You are my second home, the thing I wrote my college essay on, the place I will someday send my children and my grandchildren. I do want to wake up in the morning at dear old Camp Echo; it is indeed the finest place I know. Without a doubt.
Love, Anri
I don't what it is about you that keeps me coming back exactly. Everyone always talks about being who they are and the freedom to act like yourself - but honestly, I think I'm just as much myself at home as at camp. Looking at my experience from the outside, it doesn't seem like I should enjoy my time at camp as much as I do - all my good friends are at home, I don't know people as well.
And yet.
There is something undefinable about you, something that makes me miss you the second I'm gone. It's what makes me look through photos on Facebook, and sing campfire songs to myself in my kitchen.
You give me perspective all the time. You remind me how easy it is to have fun, without needing much planning or extra equipment. You show me how much difference one person can make, and how little effort it takes to pick up that piece of litter lying on the ground, or be patient with someone when they're being difficult.
You allow me to push the limits of my comfort zone every year. You have taught me that it's okay to ask questions, that people are seldom as scary as they look, and that the effort I put into something is directly proportional to the reward I receive from it.
I love so many things about you. Campfire songs, taps talks, kissing the moose (on the lips). The way the sun sets on the lake. Flo bread, weather characters, Wacky Wednesday (and MuuMuu Mondays). The stars on a clear night. Hot chocolate at every meal, the smell of campfire on everything, A&C, snaps, sleeping on the porch during a thunderstorm, music in the mornings, quotes at flag raising. You are my second home, the thing I wrote my college essay on, the place I will someday send my children and my grandchildren. I do want to wake up in the morning at dear old Camp Echo; it is indeed the finest place I know. Without a doubt.
Love, Anri
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Hunger Games AVENGED
So in the scatteredness (is that a word?) of life and stuff, I forgot to write a blog post after I saw The Hunger Games. That is about to be remedied
I went twice, once at midnight and once with my family at a more normal hour. The midnight one was sort of weird; I felt a little dead and empty by the end, just because it was so late. It was nice to see it again while I was actually able to comprehend and detox after in a coherent way. At the same time, it wasn't like I didn't understand or felt tired during the first viewing; I just couldn't really spend time thinking about it afterwards.
Thoughts are as follows:
-The book translated SO WELL to screen. It really read like a screenplay, so the transition to film was beautiful.
-I love how they managed to work in details about the arena and the world in the movie; in the book, Katniss internally narrates, so it was great that they used things like commentators to provide that background information
-Lenny Kravitz as Cinna was creepy. Sorry to everyone who loved him, he just did not do it for me. In the books, Cinna is very clearly NOT interested in girls; Lenny Kravitz didn't manage to convey that in the movie. There were times when he seemed gay, and times when he seemed oddly touchy and it was like the two had a Thing. Which was not okay.
-At first, I thought I didn't really like the way President Snow was played, since I pictured him as a walking skeleton, but on the second viewing I decided I was okay with Donald Sutherland. It wasn't exactly how I pictured it, but it worked.
-JOSH HUNKERSON WELL HELLO
-The scenes with "I volunteer as tribute!" and Rue were heartbreaking but amazing.
-I don't like that they turned Haymitch into a "ha ha funny sarcastic drunk guy who supports Katniss" instead of the cynical, caustic, and extremely traumatized alchoholic that he should be.
-I LOVE YOU STANLEY TUCCI NO MATTER WHAT COLOR YOUR HAIR IS
Also just saw The Avengers.
-It was epic
-It was awesome
-It was funny
-HI CHRIS EVANS
-HI MARK RUFFALO
-HI JEREMY RENNER
-HI ROBERT DOWNEY JR
-ScarJo is a badass and awesome and yes.
I went twice, once at midnight and once with my family at a more normal hour. The midnight one was sort of weird; I felt a little dead and empty by the end, just because it was so late. It was nice to see it again while I was actually able to comprehend and detox after in a coherent way. At the same time, it wasn't like I didn't understand or felt tired during the first viewing; I just couldn't really spend time thinking about it afterwards.
Thoughts are as follows:
-The book translated SO WELL to screen. It really read like a screenplay, so the transition to film was beautiful.
-I love how they managed to work in details about the arena and the world in the movie; in the book, Katniss internally narrates, so it was great that they used things like commentators to provide that background information
-Lenny Kravitz as Cinna was creepy. Sorry to everyone who loved him, he just did not do it for me. In the books, Cinna is very clearly NOT interested in girls; Lenny Kravitz didn't manage to convey that in the movie. There were times when he seemed gay, and times when he seemed oddly touchy and it was like the two had a Thing. Which was not okay.
-At first, I thought I didn't really like the way President Snow was played, since I pictured him as a walking skeleton, but on the second viewing I decided I was okay with Donald Sutherland. It wasn't exactly how I pictured it, but it worked.
-JOSH HUNKERSON WELL HELLO
-The scenes with "I volunteer as tribute!" and Rue were heartbreaking but amazing.
-I don't like that they turned Haymitch into a "ha ha funny sarcastic drunk guy who supports Katniss" instead of the cynical, caustic, and extremely traumatized alchoholic that he should be.
-I LOVE YOU STANLEY TUCCI NO MATTER WHAT COLOR YOUR HAIR IS
Also just saw The Avengers.
-It was epic
-It was awesome
-It was funny
-HI CHRIS EVANS
-HI MARK RUFFALO
-HI JEREMY RENNER
-HI ROBERT DOWNEY JR
-ScarJo is a badass and awesome and yes.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
A New Layout for Blogger and Nostalgia
I leave for what? A month? And this is what I come back to. A completely new layout. I have to say, it's much prettier than the old one.
Things have been happening, as they often do. This being senior year and all, a lot of those things are lasts. Tonight was my last high school orchestra concert, and tomorrow will be my last high school band concert. Neither of these facts have hit me yet; I haven't felt the urge to cry, I haven't gotten too nostalgic. It doesn't really feel like I'm leaving. I am though.
The thing is, sometimes I feel like I realize things earlier than other people seem to, but the true weight of the realization doesn't hit me until long after. I realized at the end of swim season how final this year truly was, but now I just don't feel all that emotional about it. When other people start talking about how sad it is, then I get sad. When I really think about it, I get a little upset. But unless I try and make myself feel these emotions, they just aren't really there.
When we moved it was like this too. I knew all the facts early on; I had resigned myself to moving two or three years before we ended up leaving. My dad kept being transferred, from Washington D.C. to San Francisco, and then to St. Paul - and every time I was told we might move. So that by the time we did move, it was no longer a surprise. I'm not sure I cried when we left, or in the weeks before it. I was upset, to be sure, but it wasn't until we were in Minnesota that I really got into it. After I came home from camp, I cried myself to sleep a couple of times. So right now I'm excited for college, but I'm sure two weeks after everyone's left I'll just have a breakdown.
That was the first thing I wanted to say about nostalgia. The other thing is slightly more complicated, and harder to describe.
As backstory: I am a nostalgic person, in case you haven't figured it out. I own nearly every Disney soundtrack to the movies I grew up with. I regularly rewatch movies from my childhood. Reliving the past is something I do on a semi-regular basis.
Today, as I mentioned, we had our orchestra concert, and afterwards we went out for ice cream. There was a large group of us, so we ended up outside, and in the course of our conversation, I brought up the fact that when I was little, we had a very large (and I mean, really large) bin filled with toys from McDonalds. I had nearly every character from Anastasia, Tarzan, Mulan, Hercules - I would re-enact scenes, and have characters from different movies meet each other.
Anyway though, so I mentioned this bin, and right after I said that we had all the Tarzan toys, one of the people I was with started flipping out. He was almost crying, but happy at the same time - the way you get when you feel nostalgic. That's what was happening. He said he was "remembering his childhood" - as if somehow, he had managed to forget it.
I couldn't understand. The other people I was with started to remember other things too - like the Beanie Babies you could get for a while - and he was getting more and more freaked out and agitated, but again, happy too. After awhile I left, because it was getting out of hand (we were outside, it was pretty late, and it didn't seem appropriate to be screaming). But I can't get over what he said at first - "I'm remembering my childhood." How could you ever forget that much of it? Maybe it's just because I'm constantly reminding myself, but the things from my childhood are never far from my mind. When I start to get excited about old toys or shows or movies with people, it's because I'm excited by the fact that someone else remembers them too - not because I ever forgot. I always thought that was normal, but maybe I've been wrong. Maybe sometimes people do lose track of what the past was like.
The weird bit for me was that this guy is someone who's very in touch with his inner 5-year-old. So for him to become so upset and seem so completely awestruck by these memories was unsettling. In the end, I feel like it mostly just ends up being a product of the energy of so many people combined with the emotion of our last concert, but I can't help but wonder if that's how everyone else lives - forgetting about the past and being surprised when it does appear. It would explain a lot about politics.
Things have been happening, as they often do. This being senior year and all, a lot of those things are lasts. Tonight was my last high school orchestra concert, and tomorrow will be my last high school band concert. Neither of these facts have hit me yet; I haven't felt the urge to cry, I haven't gotten too nostalgic. It doesn't really feel like I'm leaving. I am though.
The thing is, sometimes I feel like I realize things earlier than other people seem to, but the true weight of the realization doesn't hit me until long after. I realized at the end of swim season how final this year truly was, but now I just don't feel all that emotional about it. When other people start talking about how sad it is, then I get sad. When I really think about it, I get a little upset. But unless I try and make myself feel these emotions, they just aren't really there.
When we moved it was like this too. I knew all the facts early on; I had resigned myself to moving two or three years before we ended up leaving. My dad kept being transferred, from Washington D.C. to San Francisco, and then to St. Paul - and every time I was told we might move. So that by the time we did move, it was no longer a surprise. I'm not sure I cried when we left, or in the weeks before it. I was upset, to be sure, but it wasn't until we were in Minnesota that I really got into it. After I came home from camp, I cried myself to sleep a couple of times. So right now I'm excited for college, but I'm sure two weeks after everyone's left I'll just have a breakdown.
That was the first thing I wanted to say about nostalgia. The other thing is slightly more complicated, and harder to describe.
As backstory: I am a nostalgic person, in case you haven't figured it out. I own nearly every Disney soundtrack to the movies I grew up with. I regularly rewatch movies from my childhood. Reliving the past is something I do on a semi-regular basis.
Today, as I mentioned, we had our orchestra concert, and afterwards we went out for ice cream. There was a large group of us, so we ended up outside, and in the course of our conversation, I brought up the fact that when I was little, we had a very large (and I mean, really large) bin filled with toys from McDonalds. I had nearly every character from Anastasia, Tarzan, Mulan, Hercules - I would re-enact scenes, and have characters from different movies meet each other.
Anyway though, so I mentioned this bin, and right after I said that we had all the Tarzan toys, one of the people I was with started flipping out. He was almost crying, but happy at the same time - the way you get when you feel nostalgic. That's what was happening. He said he was "remembering his childhood" - as if somehow, he had managed to forget it.
I couldn't understand. The other people I was with started to remember other things too - like the Beanie Babies you could get for a while - and he was getting more and more freaked out and agitated, but again, happy too. After awhile I left, because it was getting out of hand (we were outside, it was pretty late, and it didn't seem appropriate to be screaming). But I can't get over what he said at first - "I'm remembering my childhood." How could you ever forget that much of it? Maybe it's just because I'm constantly reminding myself, but the things from my childhood are never far from my mind. When I start to get excited about old toys or shows or movies with people, it's because I'm excited by the fact that someone else remembers them too - not because I ever forgot. I always thought that was normal, but maybe I've been wrong. Maybe sometimes people do lose track of what the past was like.
The weird bit for me was that this guy is someone who's very in touch with his inner 5-year-old. So for him to become so upset and seem so completely awestruck by these memories was unsettling. In the end, I feel like it mostly just ends up being a product of the energy of so many people combined with the emotion of our last concert, but I can't help but wonder if that's how everyone else lives - forgetting about the past and being surprised when it does appear. It would explain a lot about politics.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
La dee dah
I would just like to post so that no one thinks I'm dead. This time of year is hectic.
I found out from five of my college so far: in at University of Wisconsin (that happened a while ago actually), in at Smith (they let me know early, I sort of flipped out), in at University of Washington (...though they never actually sent me an acceptance letter, they did send me financial aid, so...), in at Northwestern (with double legacy, so make of that what you will), and waitlisted at University of Chicago (which is pretty much cool, because that means I don't have to figure out the whole no-engineering-program-but-a-really-strong-economics-program-what-do-I-want-to-do-when-I-grow-up thing).
I got the National Merit Scholarship; $2,500, which isn't much, but you take what you can get.
This upcoming week I find out about everywhere else; to be honest, at this point, it just really isn't all that exciting. Too much build-up; I was ready for this news two months ago. Now I just want school to be OVER.
My ethnography is almost over - I just have two more sessions this week and then some interviews. Did I ever talk about that here? I talk about it so much in real life that I've forgotten...
Well, on the off chance that I haven't, it's essentially just an assignment for English that involves me joining a different subculture temporarily and studying them. And then I write a paper about it. So. I chose an arts high school semi-nearby - they have to audition, people come from all over the state. It's been kind of really interesting actually, and I'm really liking it. There was some initial drama involving getting enough hours and shit, but it's all worked out for the most part.
Let's see, what else is happening in my life...Ultimate has actually, legit started...grad parties are being planned (there was some minor drama with that too...)...oh and prom. Prom, prom, prom. People have started getting asked, even though it's not until May, and let me tell ya: it's more than a little depressing. Much as I may talk the talk of not caring, I do. Not overly so, but still; it'd be nice to get asked. It's okay, I've already resigned myself to some classic RomComs for that night.
I found out from five of my college so far: in at University of Wisconsin (that happened a while ago actually), in at Smith (they let me know early, I sort of flipped out), in at University of Washington (...though they never actually sent me an acceptance letter, they did send me financial aid, so...), in at Northwestern (with double legacy, so make of that what you will), and waitlisted at University of Chicago (which is pretty much cool, because that means I don't have to figure out the whole no-engineering-program-but-a-really-strong-economics-program-what-do-I-want-to-do-when-I-grow-up thing).
I got the National Merit Scholarship; $2,500, which isn't much, but you take what you can get.
This upcoming week I find out about everywhere else; to be honest, at this point, it just really isn't all that exciting. Too much build-up; I was ready for this news two months ago. Now I just want school to be OVER.
My ethnography is almost over - I just have two more sessions this week and then some interviews. Did I ever talk about that here? I talk about it so much in real life that I've forgotten...
Well, on the off chance that I haven't, it's essentially just an assignment for English that involves me joining a different subculture temporarily and studying them. And then I write a paper about it. So. I chose an arts high school semi-nearby - they have to audition, people come from all over the state. It's been kind of really interesting actually, and I'm really liking it. There was some initial drama involving getting enough hours and shit, but it's all worked out for the most part.
Let's see, what else is happening in my life...Ultimate has actually, legit started...grad parties are being planned (there was some minor drama with that too...)...oh and prom. Prom, prom, prom. People have started getting asked, even though it's not until May, and let me tell ya: it's more than a little depressing. Much as I may talk the talk of not caring, I do. Not overly so, but still; it'd be nice to get asked. It's okay, I've already resigned myself to some classic RomComs for that night.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
The Band Went Down to Nashville
...and it was equal parts badness and goodness.
Badness:
-Two 18-hour overnight bus rides + staying up late cause I was with friends + early morning wake-ups both days we were in Nashville = total of 28 hours of sleep, tops, over the course of 5 days. I do not do well without sleep; the day after we got home, despite taking a nap and having a full night's rest the day before, I had this horrible empty feeling and a splitting headache all day. It disappeared today, probably because I slept for 12 hours last night.
-Despite the fact that the trip was only four days long, we still managed to have some drama/conflict/annoyances. Yay.
-Though I love large crowds of people, I hate when all the people in the crowd are from the same place/are together - i.e., 250 students on a band trip together.
-The first day we were there, it poured all day.
-I think I lost our family's copy of Spirited Away.
-Nashville, while certainly not without its charms, was not as cool as New Orleans, which was absolutely beautiful.
Goodness:
-Travel is pretty much always good; it's just really nice to get away.
-I'm so happy I roomed with the people I did, because they were/are awesome. In general, the people I hung out with on this trip were great; the drama came from people I didn't spend much time with.
-I didn't feel the need to buy as much while in Nashville, so I spent a lot less than when we went to New Orleans.
-The final day in Nashville was much, much warmer, which made up for the first day.
-In fact, that final day in general was awesome. We got to see the choir perform at the Rhyland, the jazz band played at a restaurant where we ate, and I learned how to line dance.
Badness:
-Two 18-hour overnight bus rides + staying up late cause I was with friends + early morning wake-ups both days we were in Nashville = total of 28 hours of sleep, tops, over the course of 5 days. I do not do well without sleep; the day after we got home, despite taking a nap and having a full night's rest the day before, I had this horrible empty feeling and a splitting headache all day. It disappeared today, probably because I slept for 12 hours last night.
-Despite the fact that the trip was only four days long, we still managed to have some drama/conflict/annoyances. Yay.
-Though I love large crowds of people, I hate when all the people in the crowd are from the same place/are together - i.e., 250 students on a band trip together.
-The first day we were there, it poured all day.
-I think I lost our family's copy of Spirited Away.
-Nashville, while certainly not without its charms, was not as cool as New Orleans, which was absolutely beautiful.
Goodness:
-Travel is pretty much always good; it's just really nice to get away.
-I'm so happy I roomed with the people I did, because they were/are awesome. In general, the people I hung out with on this trip were great; the drama came from people I didn't spend much time with.
-I didn't feel the need to buy as much while in Nashville, so I spent a lot less than when we went to New Orleans.
-The final day in Nashville was much, much warmer, which made up for the first day.
-In fact, that final day in general was awesome. We got to see the choir perform at the Rhyland, the jazz band played at a restaurant where we ate, and I learned how to line dance.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
One more thing
And also, I will be seeing The Hunger Games at the midnight premiere. I am extremely excited.
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