Douglas Anderson School of the Arts

Have you ever been to a place where you felt like you were in a heaven-on-earth? The day we took a tour of Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, I felt that way. Even though the school was a little old, and for most people is just another school option, for me it was a place I knew I would be able to escape and to express myself freely. You have to audition to get in, and mine is tomorrow!!!!!!!! I'm actually auditioning twice- once for creative writing tomorrow and once for voice on monday the ninth. I'm pretty tense about it. I'm feeling a lot of pressure about it, too, since there's already enough stuff going on. I know for a fact that if I don't respond well to the questions they ask me, that could prohibit me from getting in, even if i have a great portolio or if I sang really well. That's the part I'm the most nervous about. I always want not to be too nervous, because then I will sing worse. I'm singing the Italian aria, "La'chia Chi'o Pianga" from the opera Rinaldo, by Handel. It's a really pretty song, and I enjoy singing it. I also have an estabished portfolio with about five different genres: poetry, essay, fiction, editorial, and tall tale. I just hope it will al be enough and I have won't have to worry too much about the questions they ask. Still, I'm preparing to memorize a couple answers to questions they will probably ask. Anyway, wish me good luck. If God wants me there, then I'll be there.

Here is the link to their website; I encourage you to watch the video in the top right corner!!!
http://www.da-arts.org/

Twilight

I know you must be tired of hearing about the amazing new vampire saga, "Twilight", by Stephenie Meyer. Well, guess what? You're gonna get to hear about it some more! Really though, the books are great. Meyer uses a lot of detail, and she's skilled at making good, funny, enjoyable dialog. It's like realistic fiction within a fantasy, which are my two favorite book genres.
When my friends started reading Twilight, and then everyone at my school followed suit, I decided to check it out at the library. I read it in a week (which is actually pretty slow for the average bookworm/twilight nerd), and my mom was impressed. I really enjoyed it! After reading a few other books, I picked up New Moon, the second book in the saga. It was good too, but not nearly as good as the first. Most people will agree with me on this because Edward (the main vampire whom the main non-vampire character had fallen in love with) was not in most of the book. Anyway, I just started Eclipse, the third book in the series, about a week ago. It's just as good as the first, and I'm eager to find out how all of the problems are solved at the end of it.
Another thing I really like about Twilight is the fact that it has a good amount of romance...the kind of romance I like. Normally I can't sit through a romance movie or book for ten minutes or less. I love action movies that have a little bit of romance (star wars and national treasure, for example). Twilight is different because the way Meyer illustrates the romance is perfect, and I go "awww..." instead of cringing. It's really sweet and touching.
If you haven't read any Twilight, I suggest you at least try it, even if fantasy is not your thing. Really, it's a story about a bunch of normal people and seven very....not normal people...and their struggles. That's an awfully bad way to describe it, but trust me...the books are good. And the vampires are too.

Orla...Gone!

As many of you who read my blog know, I absolutely LOVE the Irish supergroup Celtic woman. You also know that I was upset when my favorite member, Meav, left to pursue her solo career. She's had fabulous success and I'm no longer sad or angry that she is gone from the group. I enjoy listening to her solo music and can't wait to sing with her in the future. But now a very important member of the group has decided to follow in Meav's footsteps. Orla Fallon, best know for her voice's haunting Irish qualities and her quick Gaelic tongue, had decided to pursue her career and to focus on her family. I'm very glad she wants to spend more time with her family; I often think about how the families of these girls (especially the children of Lisa, and Meav when she was a "Celtic Woman") deal with them having to be gone all the time. But Celtic Woman will never, ever be the same. A lot of people have half-hope for the continued success of Celtic Woman because three of their best singers left (Hayley Westenra, a 2007 guest with an already great solo career). I do think that Lynn and Alex are definately not as good as the original five ever were, but I would like to be in their shoes. They have a chance to be successful too, and I don't think we should give up on Celtic Woman completely. We can still listen to them on the CDs and remember that their still out there purusing their dreams (I had to think this when my Meav left). Even though Orla, Meav, and Hayley will be missed, I hope that Celtic Woman will still have success. I believe their group will never be as good as they were again, and it would be disatrous if Lisa, Chloe, or Mairead left. Don't lose hope in Celtic Woman, though. They're still a great group with lots of Irish talent. Maybe that's why their 2009 tour is called "Isle of Hope"!

New Pet

I'm so sorry I haven't written since October!!!! it's been busy,(we've been out so many nights this month and with school and stuff) and I haven't had much time to go on the computer. I guess that whenever I was on the computer, I was doing something more imortant than blogger:) So yes, I'm sorry. But I'm writing to you now on Christmas Eve (I know, right!?!), so that means that I've had this blog for more than a year. I'm really excited about Christmas, even though I'm sad that its almost over. I dont think I'm going to get all the things I really wanted off of my Christmas list, but this is probably because my sister and i got a HUGE gift- the greatest gift I've ever recieved. Want to know what it is? We got a kitten! We both really wanted a pet (especially a dog), but it's impossibe for our family to have one because they're so high maintenence and we're not home enough to take care of them. But cats are SO much easier to take care of. They're extremely easy to potty-train-all you have to do is show them where the litterbox is! And they're so playful, especially at a young age. Out parents gave us a letter two days before Christmas Eve, saying that they wanted to get a family pet. So the next day, we went to a local animal shelter and adopted a foster cat that they just brought in that morning. We took her into a room and played with her and cuddled her. She is brown-grey, and black tabby cat, while her stomach is a buff color. She has a very sweet nature-she loves to be held and she purrs extremely loud. We adopted her, and then went to the pet store and bought her some food, litter, and toys and took herhome for all the family, and extended family, to see. Yes, did I mention that our Virgnia family is here? My grandma, grandpa, aunt, uncle, and their dog. we're going to have to be careful putting the two animals together, but it should be fun. I can't wait til Misa (what we think is going to be her permanent name) gets completely adjusted to us and our house, and she realy becomes part of our "pride". I won't post again til after Christmas, so Happy Holidays!!!!!!!!!!!!

Princess Leia/Carrie Fisher

Carrie Fisher is an American actress, screenwriter, and novelist. She was born on October 25, 1956, in Beverly Hills, California to parents Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. Her paternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia. Her parents divorced when she was two (sad, huh?), but she began appearing on stage with her mother when she was 12, so it was clear that she would go into the family business: acting. She appeared on the Broadway show Irene after leaving high school early to join her mother on the road.

In the 1970s, Carrie enrolled at London's Central School of Speech and Drama for 18 months. She made her film debut in 1975 in Shampoo. In 1977, she appeared as Princess Leia in Star Wars Episode IV- A New Hope. The huge success of Star Wars made her internationally famous. Then Fisher appeared in the music video for Ringo Starr's cover of "You're Sixteen" as the love interest in 1978 on Ringo's TV special of that year.

In the 1980s, Carrie appeared in The Blues Brothers (cameo role) and on the Broadway show: Censored scenes from King Kong. Then she appeared again as Princess Leia in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back(my personal favorite) and her final Leia appearence in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. After wearing the metal bikini (aka, slave girl outfit), Carrie became a sex symbol whom all boys in the adolescence stage fell for.

Some of the other films Carrie has appeared in are: The Man With One Red Shoe, Hannah and her Sisters, When Harry Met Sally, The Burbs, Postcards From The Edge, Drop Dead Fred, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Scream 3, These Old Broads, Hook, and many, many more. She appeared in Broadway shows, and even does the voice of Peter Griffin's boss in Family Guy. Carrie has written Postcards from the Edge, 1987, Surrender the Pink, 1991, Delusions of Grandma, 1993, Hollywood Moms, 2001, (introduction) and The Best Awful There Is, 2004.

Carrie recently joined Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne on Saturday evenings for The Essentials with informative and entertaining conversation on Hollywoods best films. She guest-starred in the episode titled "Sex and Another City" from season 3 of Sex and the City with Sarah Jessica Parker. This episode also featured Vince Vaughn, Hugh Hefner and Sam Seder in a guest role. On October 25, 2007, Carrie guest-starred on 30 Rock for the "Rosemary's Baby" Episode 4 of Season 2 for which she received an Emmy Award nomination. She starred as Rosemary Howard. Her last line in the show was a spoof from Star Wars: "Help me Liz Lemon, You're my only hope!". On April 28, 2008, she was a guest on Deal or No Deal.

Carrie was married to musician Paul Simon in a relationship that lasted them several years (pretty good for Hollywood) and was in one of his music videos, and mentioned ina few of his songs (Hearts & Bones, Graceland, Allergies, and She Moves On). After their (i guess) divorce, she had a relationship with Bryan Lourd. They had one child together, Billie Catherine Lourd (born July 17, 1992). The couple's relationship ended when Lourd left her for a man (isn't that just sad???). She was linked for a time to Senator Christopher Dodd and was briefly engaged to Dan Aykroyd. She also dated broadcast reporter Bob Tur in 2004-2005. Carrie has publicly discussed her problems with drugs, her battles with bipolar disorder, and overcoming an addiction to prescription medication, most notably on ABC TV's 20/20 and The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive with Stephen Fry on the BBC. Carrie was raised as a Protestant, but often attends jewish services.

Carrie Fisher is very talented, and altogether my favorite actress. I first discovered her when I first saw Star Wars, but she has apeared in over 30 films. I have chosen her for my Halloween costume this year. Even though she has had some problems with drugs, and relationships, she could be a good person to follow in terms of career and personality. Who doesn't love a pretty heroine with a sense of humor?

Club Penguin

I've been playing Club Penguin for about a year and a half now. If you don't know what it is, then I'll tell you. It's a website where you can be your own penguin. You can waddle around in a little world called Club penguin. You can talk to people, make friends, play games to earn coins, and tons of other stuff. You can also dress up, which is my favorite part.
A while ago, I was just a regular penguin. I was relatively new, and I had a few clothing items, colors (yes, did I mention your penguin could be any color you want?), and player card backrounds. I wished I had more clothes, but I didn't know how to get them. Then I discovered a little thing called the giftshop, where you can use your coins to buy shirts, hats, shoes, jewelry, and even wigs. I immediatly started saving up to buy everything I wanted, which was practically everything. After all that was done, I waddled back to the giftshop only to learn that I was unable to spend my coins on all those wonderful items. Why? There was something called "membership". Then it hit me: you could pay money to be a member on club penguin and be able to get all those awesome items. I spent the rest of the day sulking, and I also learned that members could buy special igloos, instead of just having the teeny, plain white one that everyone got for free when they signed up. They could also buy awesome furniture in the furniture catalog, and I saw some other stuff that was just as cool as the clothes in the gift shop. I started begging my parents to ge me that membership, and after a few months, they finally let me and my sister have it, who wanted it just as much as I did. We were sooo happy. But after, like, a year, the whole thing started to get old. We cancelled our membership because we never played it anymore.
A few months later, my sister started playing on it again, but as a non-member. I eventually joined her, and soon enough, we were craving membership again. Now, it's early/mid-October. Our report cards come out on Halloween. My parents said that if we get straight A's, they would strongly think about it.
Now i'm trying extra hard in school so I can be a member again. It's the circle of....well, club pengiun. I hope it never repeats again.

Mark Groves/Carols By Candlelight

He's our new music minister! We've been without one for 18 months now. Our old music minister was awesome, and he and his family were so nice. But then God started speaking to him, and he felt God was telling him to take a job at a church in South Carolina. So he and his family moved there, and since then, we haven't had a permanent music minister. We've had a few interims, like Mrs. Susan Reed, Mr. Bruce Pafford, and Mr. Mark O'Conner. My dad even helped out a lot-he helped cnduct choir rehearsals numerous times, and even led church quite a few sundays. But recently, at the beginning of September, our new minister of music was put into office. I don't really know him that much, but he seemes like a nice man, and I've been able to hear our music ministry improve just in the short time that he's been here.
I've been asking my mom recently if I could sing in Carols By Candlelight-an annual program at our church where the choir and orchestra preform together at Christmas. It's really a special time for everyone. I was asking my mom to do this because I am unable to sing in youth choir (math tutoring), and I'm not exctly allowed to sing in the adult choir full-time, but I did come to a few of their practices during the summer (when youth choir had annually been put on hold), and I even sang with them in church one sunday. I loved coming to those practices because i haven't sang with an ensemble since sixth grade, and everyone there is sooo nice, and they all said they were sohappy to have me joining them. But, my mother has neglected to ask him time after time, and now she says that I can just come (without an invitation-i'm sure it will be fine). Tonight was supposed to be my first night, and I hope it will be, because my parents won't be there (meeting). Ihope I enjoy the time, because I've been looking forward to it all week. And I hope that mr. Groves will welcome me just as all the choir members did.