Magnificat anima mea

I just wanted to report that after singing for two hours straight two nights in a row, my voice is remarkably husky and sexy sounding. This is a moment in time that I want to record. Thank you. Pass the cough drops.

It's Raining, It's Pouring

Well, life has been relatively uneventful since I've been home. I went to San Francisco with my mom, aunt and cousin a few days ago. That was interesting.

My mom had these ancient gift certificates for Saks Fifth Avenue, so the point of the trip was to buy makeup for her (which is pretty funny, since she rarely wears any). It was pretty fun. Makeup people can be scary, though! Three of them cornered me and were like, "Would you like us to put makeup on you, pretty girl?" I was like, Pretty girl? Who are they talking to? "Yeah, sure..." There was this other creepy saleslady at Neiman Marcus. We walked in, and she attacked us. "Have you tried our Vitamin C [lotion]? Would you like me to put it on your hands?" We were frightened. It was fun though.

Me: Cosmetics Counter :: _______ : Candy Store
A. Clowns
B. Chocolate Covered Pretzels
C. Little Kid
D. Boogey Man

Correct Answer: C

What else have I been up to lately? I'm singing Rutter's Magnificat with my parent's choir tonight and tomorrow. I've only been to like three practices. Hurray for being able to sightread successfully 94.7% of the time! So that's exciting. Full orchestra, open flames and synthetic fabrics, lots of music, etc. Oh, and my parents are pretty sick (I'm the only healthy one now! They're out to get me!) so I might be the only one in my family singing tonight. Haha. Wait, that's not really funny. Just ironic that I'll be up there and my parents won't, even though they're members of the choir and I am certainly not (you have to be a grown-up, and it's optional for you to have grandchildren). I may be an adult, but I'm really new at it.

Went to my little brother's basketball game yesterday. It was time for me to be a good big sister, since he recently dubbed me a S.W.I.N.E.S. (apparently: "Sister Who I Never Ever See"). Our cousin is also on the team. They lost, but it was close.

What else? I really liked "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." I had high hopes for it, and they weren't disappointed. Not everyone I've talked to was overly thrilled, but I just loved it.

I was going to put up some NYC pictures, but the internet doesn't want to let me right now, so maybe some other time. Okay, that' s it for now!

You Know You Need Unique New York

I know I do. In four days, we saw five Broadway shows, met up with two friends from California who now live in New York, did some shopping, some sightseeing, and basically admired the snowy city decorated for the holidays. Here's a not-too-brief account of our trip (so far, we're not home yet. We're visiting some friends of mine at Wellesley College, outside Boston, while my sister checks out the school).

Thursday basically doesn't exist. We woke up around 4:30am and didn't arrive in NYC until 4:30pm. Checked into our hotel, ate dinner at an organic food restaurant (Josie's? It was good, whatever it was called), and took a taxi downtown to see our first show, "Wicked." Unbelievably good. It's based on a book which is based on "The Wizard of Oz," and it basically tells the story of the friendship between Glinda and Elphaba, aka the Wicked Witch of the West (oh yes, it's true). The musical deviates from the plot in the book, but in some ways I think it's almost better because of it. The songs are great, kind of similar sounding, but still great. I was familiar with the music, too (actually, I was also relatively familiar with the costumes and sets from pictures I've seen online, so none of it was a big surprise in that sense), but it was amazing just to see how it all comes together. I'll admit, I got a little misty-eyed during the first song (and a few songs later, and again towards the end). So that was a surprise. I guess I just really liked the show. Anyway, I don't want to spoil the ending for anyone who hasn't seen the show, but I will say that it surprised me.

I'm trying to remember Friday. We went to visit Barnard College for my sister. I knew it was affiliated with Columbia, but I didn't know that it was essentially the same university, just different colleges. And I didn't picture the school being right in Manhattan. We really liked it, though. There was a snow storm that morning (I woke up and the sky was grey, and huge chunks of snow were falling), so the campus was pretty and snowy, and some girls were building a snowman and singing carols. We went on a tour, then went to eat lunch at a nearby Greek restaurant. My family visited Greece two years ago, and we definitely fell in love with Greek food (not to mention Greece and the people). So we were sitting around the table and all giddy because we were in New York and it was snowy and we were eating Greek food.

Next we went to the UN, because Becky wants to work there someday. We went on a tour, and it was pretty cool, although not all of the rooms looked quite as slick as the General Assembly (the cool room in "The Interpreter," which was not that cool of a movie). Some of them had some strange curtain decorations. Kind of odd. Anyway. The gift shop is amazing, though. They have stuff from all around the world, so that was exciting. The Ireland section wasn't quite representative of an accurate Irish gift shop - there wasn't any Guinness merchandise. They had some really cool Egyptian bottles, and there was a cool creepy looking wooden box from Romania. I was pretty excited about that. It probably was carved by Dracula or something. Or not.

Next we tried to go to an electronics store to buy some stuff (more accurately, my Christmas present: an iPod. Yes, I have decided to join the legions of the undead. And by "the undead," I mean those white earbudded types). However, it had closed at 1pm, and was definitely empty by the time we got there. And it was closed all day Saturday. That equals: Jewish! So that was pretty cool.

We got dinner food at Fairway Market across the street from our hotel. This place is amazing. It's like the New York version of Berkeley Bowl (the store where Dr. Wirth bought her weird fruit and stuff to show to her high school Spanish classes, if any of you were in those). Then we went to see "The Producers"! I was definitely very excited for that. I love Mel Brooks. I truly do. I've been watching the preview for the new movie for months now, and I'm even more excited now that I've seen the show. From what I can tell, the movie has almost identical costumes and sets to the stage version, so that's cool. When you're watching the movie, you should be thinking, "This is how the show looks on Broadway! Caroline told me so!"

Saturday we slept in. That was good. We met up with our friend Blair, who is a few years older than me and a grad student at Columbia. None of us know her very well, but she's my sister's idol, so that was probably most of the reason we got together. Also, she went to Wellesley, so most of the conversation was about both of the schools (Wellesley and Columbia). We had brunch at a little French cafe. Then we went to see "The Phantom of the Opera" at 2pm. It's my favorite musical, probably mostly because I saw it for the first time when I was eleven, and it was a formative experience for me. Obviously the music is good and the costumes and everything, but my favorite part has always been the story - the twisted love triangle, the Phantom's tortured soul, his power over Christine, that sort of thing. Anyway, this was our third time seeing it live, so not really any surprises there.

Afterwards, we met up with our friend, Susan. She's in the process of adopting twin boys from Guatemala, so we talked about that a lot. I've always wanted to adopt (not really sure why), so I was really interested in hearing about it. At one point we were at FAO Schwarz (damn the candy section!), and she was looking at the baby toys and stuff. I think it's really hard for her to wait for all of the paperwork to get finished. Hopefully they will be coming home in late January. We went to Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, went inside St. Patrick's Cathedral, looked at all the window displays at Bloomingdale's (unbelievable), and actually looked around inside. We ended up in the section with gloves, scarves, and...fur. Apparently Norwegian foxes come in burgundy and teal. Who knew? Then we went to Grand Central Terminal (not "Station," you touristy types, you) and ate at one of their restaurants. I finally gave into my craving for a New York hot dog, and I had some cheesecake, because apparently they were the restaurant that invented it. I feel like I owe them a lot. I talk about food too much.

Oh, Sunday. We walked over to Central Park (only a few blocks from our hotel) and ended up at the American Museum of Natural History. Amazing. They have tons of stuffed animals, in a taxidermical sense (I hope I just invented "taxidermical"). And fake animals, too, like the huge whale they have hanging from the ceiling. I was a fan of the fake sharks. I think most little girls went through a phase where they wanted to be marine biologists and study bottlenosed dolphins. I liked sharks. They also had lots of awesome dinosaur bones. I got a T-Rex shirt, because I'm just that cool. I hope it glows in the dark.

We went to this awesome store that sells newspapers and magazines from around the world. I found the January edition of "Empire Magazine." I needed to mention this because it was the highlight of my month. If this magazine was a person, I would marry it. Enough said.

At 3pm, we went to see "Spamalot." I love Monty Python. They are the best ever. There is no question. So, clearly any musical that is based on "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" is a good thing. They had a lot of the same sketches from the movie (from the coconuts to the Knights of Ni), and some new stuff (like the Lady of the Lake). So, definitely good stuff. My family bought the soundtrack for it a while ago, but I haven't even seen the box, let alone listened to it. So many of the songs were new to me. Funny stuff.

For dinner, we ate at a British-type pub around the corner (hurray for British-type pubs! I definitely chose the restaurant). Then we went to see our second show of the day, which was "Avenue Q." Hahahahaha. Hurray for politically incorrect, offensive and hilarious show. If you aren't familiar with it, it's basically about a neighborhood in New York. And puppets live there. Reminiscent of Sesame Street, albeit the adult version. Definitely not for everyone, but we enjoyed it.

Today we got up early and flew to Boston, and basically spent the day at Wellesley. My friends showed us around, Bexy had an interview, we took a tour, and have basically been hanging out. We had lunch and dinner (I've really missed college cafeteria food. It's so pathetic. I'll get over it when I go back to school). Tomorrow we're meeting with a faculty member who is a relative of a family friend, then probably hanging out in Boston, then flying home and gaining back those hours that we lost on Thursday. Hurray for that. Okay then, TTFN.

My Official List of BISP Quotes

"Maybe we should just try to use another lion." -Caroline

"St. Cuthbert was a saint." - Keith Beebe (in a lecture)

"Yeah, we thought it was weird, too." - Becca

"Did someone else say 'femur' at the same time as me?" -Katie O.

"All my children will wear meatskins." -Jeff

"Let's mourn when I won't be funny because I'm dead bones." -Tahlia

"I'd like two scoops of egg on ice cream with some hot water." -Kara

"Jordan, you said you're good with your bare hands, right?" - Katie Troxell

"Guys at Whitworth don't date, they marry." -Becca

"When a mullet starts to look good, you know it's time to leave the country." - Katie O.

"When I say I have crap in my room, I don't mean I have piles of dung." -Nathan

"Apparently the key is to slap Andre the Giant." -Katie O.

"The fruit of his loins was much." -Tahlia

"I was really depressed when I found out that I'd never have hair like Lauryn Hill." -Jordan
"That's a good reason to be depressed." -Tahlia

"They're probably like, 'We've been talking about this for years! Now we finally have an American to ask. What kind of bread do you eat?'" -Jordan

"Just think of the flames of renewal!" -Keith
"That's what I was going to say." -Jeff

"My socks are crispy." -Betsy

"Your mom is her dad." -Nathan
"Apparently, my mom is an asexual amoeba!" -Jeff

"I would ride Prince William." -Emily

"Ah, the joy of pills." -Cheryl

"How would you know I've been to Hawaii?" -Gretchen

"I would rather have a broken crotch than have Kara stitch it up with chopsticks for me." -Kristin

"The guy with the cool hair and I are practically dating." -Caroline

"Coif is the best word." -Jeff

"The person on this trip whose name starts with a 'J' and ends with an 'oseph.'" - Kristin

"Katie O. wants to have Jesus' babies." -Nathan

"The stench of desperation hangs about me like the stench of rotting fruit on a compost pile." -Katie O.

"I am a jelly doughnut...that is so rad!!" -Jeff

"What's with the beetles?...For the Beatles..." -Caroline

"Loud and clear!" -Leah (about Tahlia...)

"Take a picture of me reaching out to you!" -Tahlia

"I was like, 'I can sew!', so I made a trenchcoat." -Kristin

"You were a stone with boobs!" -Katie O.

"My first crush was David de Santiago." -Kara

"I wore Spandex pants until recently." -Kara

"Basically, the first guy who ever asked me, I laughed in his face." -Gretchen

"I'm a 'Hamburger' girl, I always have been. I never liked folding it 'Hot Dog' style." -Nicole
"'Hot Dogs' were dumb." -Becca

"Notice the fin." -Caroline (me as a mermaid)

"We were affirming the greatness of apples." -Jenny

"Why are these monkeys all robot monkeys?" -Nathan

"When I was little, I tanned like a little Puerto Rican child." -Jeff

"There's like a million of them...like three or five!" -Caroline

"Why are you looking at me like a fish?!" -Caroline

"They were big, too! If they got in a fight, they would take you down. Bite at your ankles." -Becca (about American Girl dolls)

Iconoclasm Essay:
"I don't like iconoclasm." -Katie O.
"I think it's bad." -Caroline
"The End." -Jeff

"You must be a sorceror, because your rock just turned into a bird!" -Jeff

"Did any of them question what they were doing?" -Kara (response to Magical Mystery Tour)

"I hate ladders in the morning." -Cheryl

"Where did they go? They're so sneaky, those Army men!" -Betsy

"Can you imagine a fight breaking out in a nudist colony?" -Katie O.

"I'm not marrying Rupert Grint!" -Kara
"Why not?" -Becca
"Because my last name would be Grint!" -Kara

"Look, it's like a 'Where is Mother Teresa'!" -Becca

"I don't like them, and I'm afraid!" -Kara (Burger King commercials)

"Why aren't you a comedian major?" -Becca (to Kara)

"I would marry Kara. I would laugh everyday, because I'd be like, 'Haha! I'm married to Kara!' And she's funny." -Caroline

"I wouldn't think: Dime - five cents." -Kara

"Montana's a free country. We don't need scary commercials to make us feel good about ourselves, thank you!" -Kara

"Taylor, you look so forlorn!" -Kara

"I took all my calcium ON THE SAME DAY." -Taylor

"I would be really Gollumy and tell her she was a tricksy mommit." -Katie O.

"Just goosh this little ear!" -Jordan

"That's like saying, 'I've never seen Jordan eat krill!' She always eats krill!" -Jeff

"I think you all are abusing your chopsticks." -Kara

"Are you rice-ist?" -Nathan

"Maybe they were defanged piranhas." -Caroline

"Cindy Loo-Who? No, Cindy Who-Who. Wait..." -Cheryl

"I'm going to use that as a band name someday - Cindy Who-Who and the Defanged Piranhas!" -Becca

"Why are you showing us Division?" -Jordan

"It's like a vampire popsicle." -Katie O. (Marc Quinn's Self)

"Either it's mold or it's a type of cheese." -Cheryl

"I saw the whole thing! She stole the see-through pajamas from the homeless man, and now he's a lot more naked than he was five minutes ago." -Jordan

"Is it a bad sign if your eyelashes look like mutilated spiderlegs?" -Caroline

That's it for quotes. I'm leaving for NYC tomorrow morning. Hurray!

Don't Try This at Home

My Top 3 Favorite Moments in the History of my Parents' Driving:

3. When my Dad was trying to parallel park in downtown Spokane and hit the car parked behind him. Then the car parked in front of him. Especially sweet since it was in front of a restaurant and the owners of the attacked cars probably witnessed the whole thing.

2. When my Mom was driving me to my brother's promotion ceremony from middle school and sped across the railway tracks when the bars were coming down. Then lectured me about how I am never allowed to do that.

1. When my Dad wanted to make a possibly illegal U-turn, decided against it as the traffic control vehicle approached, instead turned left, pulled into a driveway and turned around to discover that he was driving the wrong way down a one way street. Oh yeah, this morning.

My parents are usually exceptionally good drivers, but I am glad to have witnessed these exceptions in my last 20 years of riding in their cars.

And that's all I have to say for today. Remember to wear a seatbelt, and maybe a helmet isn't a bad idea either.

Do Wah Diddy Diddy Dum Diddy Do

Things I am Happy about:
1. Having tons of time to read and watch movies or do whatever I want.
2. Vocabulary: Yesterday I learned the word "soi-disant" and it's possibly the best thing in my life right now. I'm just waiting for a chance to use it.
3. Raiding my parents CD collection: As dorky as this activity is, I discovered a new CD by Libera, who are an insanely good boy choir. Their songs lean a little too much toward pop, but if my (future) kids sing like those boys, I will be a happy person.
4. December: For so many reasons. Christmas is in December. Movies are coming out. The Decemberists sing "Engine Driver." And after December is January, when I can go back to Whitworth and be a normal college kid again. And take 80% (or so) English classes. Oh the nerdity.
5. Singing Rutter's Magnificat with the adult choir at church. I was glad to discover that my vocal chords still work.
6. Taking a spoonful of peanut butter and eating it.
7. Getting new music. Kaiser Chiefs and Kasabian and a bunch of Queen. Wow, unintentional alliteration. I'm happy about that too.
8. The music video for Basement Jaxx "Do Your Thing." Watch it and I guarantee it will put you in a good mood.
9. Watching "Rent" and figuring out that it was based on Puccini's "La Boheme" all by myself. True, I watched "La Boheme" within the last couple weeks, so it was kind of fresh in my mind, but I was still really proud of myself. Way to be cultured.
10. Cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving. Yes, please.
11. Being able to straighten my hair again. Sure missed that in Britain.
12. In a week I will be in NYC. Hurray for seeing Broadway shows and visiting colleges for the sister.
13. Editing my friend's final paper, which makes me feel like I'm at school. And I love editing stuff. I wish I had a paper to write, and that is the sad truth.
14. Facebook, which has gotten cooler beyond all my expectations. Pretty much anything that allows me to keep in touch with BISPers (and lesser mortals) is probably awesome. And hurray for the photo albums.
15. Having access to, not one, but two pianos so I can mess around on them all that I want and pretend like I'm still actually any good. Although, not both pianos at the same time. The whole "opposite sides of the house" thing.

Things I am Sad about:
1. Having tons of time with nothing to do but find ways to entertain myself. It gets old.
2. When I was in Europe, my computer at home was in the shop and accidentally had all the data and stuff erased. We got the data back, but some things are lost forever. Not the least of these were my Best Times for Minesweeper. For the beginner's level, I was down to 3 seconds. That will never happen again. I don't know how I did that the first time.
3. Colds that last for more than a week. Especially when you've only been back for a little over a week, so you pretty much came home and have been sick ever since.
4. Being home when all your friends are away at school.
5. Spending far too many hours online (morning, afternoon, and night) while other people have lives. Not being emailed or called by people because everyone is busy with school.
6. Basically living a hermitic lifestyle in the most depressing way. Involuntarily antisocial.
7. My parakeet who sees me as a sex object. Eww.
8. Already having homework for my Jan Term class. Needing to plan a movie that I really don't feel motivated to do. What can you film in Spokane in January?
9. Madonna's new song that ripped off of ABBA. At least Vanilla Ice stole from Queen. But ABBA?
10. It's snowing in Washington but it's raining in California. Especially sad when I actually decided to go hike around the lake but it rained. And sad when I don't get to play in the snow.
11. Running out of the gum I bought in Italy which wasn't that good anyway but at least I had gum and now I don't.
12. Trying to make an omelet but it always turns out as scrambled eggs. Oh well. Eating it with cheese and salsa makes everything better.
13. Still not knowing where I'm going to live when I get back to school, and the fact that I probably won't get to room with the person I want to. These are sad tidings.
14. Discovering more words that I can't spell. Including the names Michael and Jeffrey (are you sure it's not Micheal and Jeffery?) and apparently the word omelet. Because I think "omelette" looks a lot better, but I was wrong.
15. Wasting so much time that it's not even fun anymore. Maybe I will go into hibernation until January. Or get a job.

Anyway, I figure I have the same number of happy and sad things, so I guess that means I'm pretty balanced. And it's only a few more weeks until people come home, so I can go do fun and exciting things again.

Christmas tiiiime is heeere...