Sitting on the dock of the bay

I spent a wonderful weekend at a gorgeous location. It was my aunt's 50th birthday, and all the ladies in the family (the three girl cousins included) went to my uncles parents lakehouse for the weekend. Mom, Mema, and I got to the house on friday and ended up having to wait an hour or so for the rest of the fam, but that was ok, because I got to relax on the dock swing with a good book. :) That night, we went to see "Smoke on the Mountain" at some local theatre. It was an ok play, it just wasn't my favorite. (Not to mention that I had just seen High School Musical at Memorial and then CYT's Le Fantome de l'Opera the day before (which, btw, was an excellent play and made me sad that I wasn't in CYT anymore)) We didn't end up getting to bed until 1:00ish.

On Saturday Emily, MK, and myself decided to brave the risk of hypothermia. We put on our swim suits and waltzed out to the dock. We stopped on the way down there to get the Super Mable, which is a three person inner tube raft thing. We tied it to the dock and climbed on it so that we could attempt to get a tan before getting in the water. I happened to get into the water in a rather, um, unconventional method. Mk got off onto the dock first, then Emily and I both went to get off at the same time. Unfortuately, she got off a fraction of a second before I did, causing the supermable to flip, which then caused me to go head over heals into the lake. I came up shaking from the coldness, but less than 2 hours later, all three of us were in the water.

As we were all out there, we saw an old friend, Hall, drive up in his boat. We then hooked Mable up to the new speedboat and we all went over to their house for a while. Out of Hall and Molly's 3 sons, only Harry (the 9th grader) was there.

That night, we attended a four tops concert. That was interesting. Only one of the tops, the Duke, is still in the group. The other 3 members are newbies. They did a good job, I just didn't know a lot of the songs. Aunt Alice, Aunt Mary, mk and I went to Starbucks to get coffee afterwards.

I have SAT's on saturday. I'm a little stressed about the math section. It's the only one that I still consistently have a low score on.

Babe

We started our pig dissections in class on wednesday. I have to say these next few weeks are probably going to be the most, um, memorable ones out of the whole year. Several of us decided that our pigs deserved names. Mine is Babe (after the movie), Chelsea's is Bojangles (because she was craving it then) Blake's is Smithfield's (after the barbecue restaurant), Joey's is O.J. (after O.J. Simpson (he said that if he had to be cutting the pig up, it might as well be someone he disliked)), and Becca's was originally Wilbur (after Charlotte's Web), until she realized it was a girl. She tried to change the name to Wilburetta, but Blake pointed out how much it sounded like a gun. :)

We've already identified the outside structures, and skinned them, so now we get to start cutting them up. We have all pretty much decided that the one thing we will remember 20 years from now was when Cameron's dead, skinned, fetal pig pooped on him. I'm serious. It was nasty, and yet incredibly fun to watch his reaction. :P

In other news, I'm pretty much as stressed out as I've ever been right now. I have 2 major essays coming up, several ap exams, SAT's, scholarship essays, dissection write-ups, finals, three speeches to finish, and countless other things. I have to admit, it's a lot of stuff to do just for college. It's scary to think that your whole future may rest on one test, but it might. If I don't get a high enough score on them, there is no way I'll get in to William and Mary, which is where I really want to be. It also might decide my future career. If I can't do good enough on the SAT's, how can I ever do good enough on the L-Sat's? Anyway, I'm just stressed and not in the worlds best mood when it comes to homework. :)

addendum to previous entry

I was just informed by mom that I should clarify something: The mouse/snake incident was the 1st time I have ever seen an animal inside that house, so never fear, her house is not normally animal-infested (unless you can count my dog and my cousins 2 dogs.) :)

Wonderbar

So right now, I am soooo incredibly happy! These last two weeks have been so wonderful. I spent the last weekend in March at Grandma's. We went up there "American Big Band," which was a concert/theatrical production of the Big Band era. The show was SOOOO much fun! I LOVE that music, so I totally enjoyed it.


We spent Saturday night after the show with my grandma. I have always called her house a farmhouse, being as she lives on 1000 acres of farmland in VA. However, I was informed by my mom today that she doesn't live in a farmhouse. Therefore, I shall resort to using the term given her farm by my city's local paper, "an antebellum plantation." Anyway, farmhouse, plantation or otherwise, my parents and I stayed there on Saturday night. We had all gotten showers, and grandma, mom, and I were sitting in her little den talking. By this time, it was probably 11:45. I look over at the couch my mother is sitting on, and see this little "thing" come bouncing out from behind it. Naturally, I start screaming for Daddy to come and dispose of whatever I saw. Daddy comes downstairs, wondering why in the world I am screaming my head off. He looks in the corner of the room and discovers a mouse. We set mouse traps, but never did manage to catch the thing.

Then on Sunday, Mom wanted me to go get the clothes out of my grandma's drier, which is located in a damp basement. I went down, put the clothes in a clothes basket, and came back upstairs. I was walking down the stairs for the 3rd time to put the laundry basket back down, when I hit this pipe. I reached out to steady the pipe (no, I didn't break it) and happened to glance down. There was a foot-long copperhead snake that was hanging off of the ledge, that could have bit me 3 times, maybe more! Yet again, I called for Daddy, who came to the rescue. Did I ever say how wonderful Dad's are??? :)

That part wasn't sooo wonderful, but I did get to spend some time with my cousin, Emily, and "our" horses, Shy and Stevie. Note: I say ours, in reality, Stevie is more my cousins, and Shy is more mine.

The Monday and Tuesday following this little mis-adventure, I was downtown at the General Assembly building. It's always so much fun to be downtown. Then Friday, I went BACK downtown to the history museum in order to attend Trinity Academy's "Much Ado About Nothing." I got to spend time with my friends Lizzie and Sarah and their mom, as well as get to see some of my friends in the show. Saturday, my Aunt Martha was here, along with my cousin, Brian, for a swim meet. It was great to get to see them, as I don't get to see the two of them a lot. Though I must admit, I could have done without Aunt Martha's constant lectures on the necessity of me driving every day and the fact that I never could get into W&M, whereas my wonderful, 8-month-older cousin could have if he had wanted to. :)

Finally, this week was spring break for everything but civics/debate. That was....interesting, to say the least. I'm not usually accustomed to getting asked out by the line, "So, are you married?" :) (in case you are wondering, I did turn the guy down.:))Other than that, I've enjoyed not having any deadlines this week. :)

Well, Mom and I are about to go out and $hop!!! :) Happy Easter, y'all!

Wishing

I'm sort of procrastinating right now...I'm supposed to be writing a Lit. essay, but I don't feel like it. :)

There's one place I wish I could be and a few people I wish I could be with right now. I want to be on "my" horse, feeling the cool wind in my hair as I go tearing across the fields on the farm. I want to feel Shy's power, and yet be able to sense her gentleness at the same time. I want to have my "sisters" riding with me. I dream of the summer, and going down to Sandy Creek, putting my feet into the crisp clean water, building forts with the gang, and of course going swimming in it. I can't wait to go over to Joe and Tina's and go swimming in their new pool.

The only thing that is missing from all this is my granddad. It's coming up on the eighth anniversary of his death, and I miss him so much. I'm the second oldest grandchild, but I'm the oldest girl, and so I was always "Papa's fine girl". I miss that. He used to save his loose change in this old glass jar of his. It would sit on his desk in his office in the house (he had 3 offices on the farm), and it would stay there until I could get all the pennies I wanted out of it. I can't help but wish he could be here to see how much things(and people) have changed. I know he'd be so proud that Tyler is graduating high school (in fact, he'd probably want a front row seat). I don't want to go through and name everyone, but I know he'd be so proud of all his "fine grandkids". I am thankful that I had him for nine years of my life.

Anyway, I will see many of you at the tournament tomorrow. :) I love all ya'll!

Stressed!

Did I ever say that school defines my life? Well, it certainly is defining it right now. I have to write 3 more 6-minute speeches, finish typing one up and get it posted in a week. I also have two 1500 word essays due by the 1st week in March. On top of that, I have to finish our reading assignment by Monday, do my lab write-up by Wednesday, and then start studying for an Anatomy test. Oh yeah, and I should probably study for SATs!!!

Emily, thanks soo much for getting me started on the Agatha Christie books!! I am living the world of mystery and crime currently.

Off to be buried under a mass of homework. :)

Happy Valentines Day

I had a relatively good Valentines Day. I woke up this morning, only to be handed a card by my mom from my cousin. Emily sent it with Mom while we were up there this past weekend. And yes, Emily, I did wear the necklace to one class. :) I always find it's good to reflect on Valentines Day, and so I'll leave you with "the love" passage from the Bible:

1st Corinthians 13:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.