HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Julie/Julia

After watching this sweet and adorable movie, I was inspired to blog because the movie revolves around two things: Cooking and blogging (In that order) which are two things that I enjoy very much.

Those who watched the movie with me were upset that Julie never got to meet Julia Child in the end (and one friend was upset that they never saw the mom personified - only heard her voice on the phone). But all things considered, it was a touching movie about following your dreams and doing what you love no matter the cost and about never giving up on anything (including your marriages, because both of the women were married to very sweet men even though Julie turned into an emotional wreck near the end). Also, Julia Child married a 5'9" man even though she was over 6 feet tall, so to all you tall female basketball players out there: Don't lose hope. ;)

Also, roughly half of the movie was filmed in FRANCE which I loved, and there was lots of French-speaking going on, so it was definitely my kind of film :)

In other news, my vacation at home (it still seems so weird to me that I have to PACK CLOTHES to stay at my own house) has been absolutely wonderful :)

There has been nearly a complete lack of stress and although it's a bit chilly down here, I know it's still about 30 degrees warmer than Virginia is right now so I am more than happy!

Speaking of the cold, miserable North, I got a new jacket today (pictured below, obviously)!! It's a cross between a trench coat and a pea coat and it will hopefully keep me warm up there.... hopefully. I have my doubts but have decided to give it the BENEFIT of the doubt.

I was excited when I tried it on because it fit nicely and actually looked slimming which is abnormal for coats. I'm pretty sure the whole intent of coat makers is to make people look large. But, the larger the coat, the warmer the person, so maybe my slim coat wasn't such a great idea after all.

If all else fails, at least I got it on sale.

Sincerely,

Amaryllis Foximus

RE: The Ugly Truth

My take on relationships, in response to Jon's take on relationships

Only two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the former. -Albert Einstein

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Haven't posted lately

So here's one :)

Sorry about the poor quality of the little subtitles.... It really didn't look that bad in the video editing software...

Lions! by LIGHTS

Give me a disaster, give me an emergency
Stand me at the head of the crusade without a remedy
Show me to the shipwreck, show me how your bones shake
And when I'm at the edge of sorrow's blade, show me how a heart breaks

Be steady on your feet
No matter the trouble you meet

Lions make you brave
Giants give you faith
Death is a charade
You don't have to feel safe to feel unafraid

Find me at the bottom looking at the vultures
Standing in the heart of the disease, following the hard curves
I'm looking for the thunder, I'm looking for the blackness
I'm learning how to get up off my knees and all it takes is practice

Be ready on your feet
No matter the trouble you meet

Lions make you brave
Giants give you faith
Death is a charade
You don't have to feel safe to feel unafraid

I'm not the hunter, I'm not the marked
Just looking for wisdom in the dark

Lions make you brave
Giants give you faith
Death is a charade
You don't have to feel safe to feel unafraid

I LOVE this song.
I'm not sure whether LIGHTS is a Christian or not (I'm just gonna go with "no" to be safe) but this song definitely has "Christian" characteristics.
My favorite part of this song is definitely the chorus (the "Lions" part makes me think of the Wizard of Oz):

Lions make you brave
Giants give you faith
Death is a charade
You don't have to feel safe to feel unafraid

To me, it's talking pretty plainly about how God puts lions and giants and trials (Oh my!) in our life to make us stronger.
I went through a time two years ago (almost three) where life felt so incredibly empty and that there was just no emotion whatsoever. I just felt numb and dead and I got upset and frustrated with everything and everyone around me. I felt like anytime anyone talked to me I would just break down and cry uncontrollably. Most of the time that's what I did, too.
But once it was over, oh man did my life get exponentially better.

People tell me that my optimism is irrational and obnoxious (they don't really, but I know what they're thinking) but to me, being anything BUT optimistic is just dumb. Yes, there are moments that call for seriousness, but I have been given a deep and undying joy from Jesus that no one can take away. I feel like my greatest witness is not preaching about God verbally but rather being an encouragement to others when they need something to lean on.
Since God has blessed me with this "obnoxious" happiness, I make it my goal to spread the wealth :)

I also like the "death is a charade" part because it shows how death isn't definite, final, or infinite for a Christian. It's simply a door into our glorious afterlife. Does that mean that we should just sit around and wait for our deaths or for Jesus to come back? Yes and no. Yes, we should be waiting for Jesus, but no we shouldn't just sit around. God doesn't let us know the exact hour of his return because He knows that we'd just slack off till then. Instead, He keeps us going to tell as many people as we can about how awesome and loving He is.

One thing that bugs me is when people say, "Those Christians just think everything is fine and dandy in the world and everything is rainbows and butterflies. They don't realize that our world is seriously hurting." In reality, it's not those who are talking that help the poor. It's the Christians. That's why we have Christian organizations such as Samaritan's Purse, World Help, The IMB, and others that get down and dirty in America and especially across the world.

This is one of my favorite quotes:

“The Christian is merry, not because he is blind to injustice and suffering, but because he is convinced that these, in the light of the divine sovereignty, are never ultimate.” ~ Elton Trueblood

Yes, we see that the world is taking a turn for the worst. But seriously: when has it NOT been that way? In the generation before mine, there was the Vietnam War. In the generation before that, it was WWII. We've had a war nearly every generation, and during each one, everyone thought the world was coming to an end. On top of that we've had terrible presidents and good presidents. We've had depressions/recessions and we've had economic prosperity. The truth is that none of what this world throws at us is ultimate, and God will never ever EVER give us anything that is too much to bear. Will he give us trials? Naturally. Will he test our limits? Of course. But will he ever leave our side for even ONE MOMENT?

Never.

So don't sweat it.
"You don't have to feel safe to feel unafraid."
He's got your back.

And so do I :)


~Amy

Psalms 4:8

Healthy!

My Weekend

15 minutes and 39 seconds.
Enjoy :D

Tried to get into the Hilton's pool cause the beach was sandy...sitting by a fire pit by the beach waiting for drinks...good vlog material for tonight ;)

Webcam sound works!

So I figured out what the issue is. And it's NOT cause I had a "blonde moment" like I mentioned in the vlog that you're about to watch. I found out that my webcam is indeed retarded and that the microphone on it only works when it feels like it. SO, I went into the control panel and changed the settings so that the built-in mic on my computer (which works wonderfully) is the one that I use when I talk with my webcam. So I've combined the video of the webcam with the microphone in my laptop to create a winning combination :)

FRUSTRATED.

I blissfully recorded 12 minutes of a jam-packed vlog only to play it back afterward and realize that there was no sound.
ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH
Whatev. I'm so sick of wrestling with this camera. It makes my life complicated.

I'll try again tomorrow and sum everything up.
GRR.

VLOG!!!!! :D

Get excited.
It's the first vlog since I was joyfully reunited with my webcam tonight :D

It's 10 minutes of pure Amy. What could be better?? ;)

BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!!!

Mommy and Daddy are coming tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That means:
I GET MY WEBCAM! (So I can make some vlogs!!!)
I get more JEANS that I've desperately been needing
And other misc. objects :)

The only thing missing from this picture is Darrel. I miss my brother. :(

One more thing to be excited about:
NO CLASS TOMORROW!
My only class on mon/wed/fri (besides marching band) is History, and my professor is going to be in Alabama giving a lecture about the 1904 Presidential Election or something awesome like that, so he canceled class!

I would just like to take this time to say that I. Love. College. :)

Goodnight!

OHAI!

YAY BLOGGING!

Today was good, I got ALL my homework done, got a 92% on my Theater Appreciation test (woop-de-doo) and have been relaxing ever since :)

Also! I added pictures to Sally's site... This is now the OFFICIAL SITE of Sally Privette.
http://sallyprivettemusic.wordpress.com/

I'm trying to work it out where I can put a playlist in there so that people can listen to music straight off of the site, but every playlist site that I've found doesn't let you upload MP3's from your computer. You have to either get them from a URL or you pic songs by typing in the artist, etc.
If I wanted one that I could upload to, I'd have to make one out of HTML coding or CSS, etc. And that takes ages.... maybe one day I'll tackle that, but for now, just go to her MySpace. lol

Chinese food for dinner tonight!

My day.

It's been very busy, and quite stressful too.

-Woke up at 9
-Went to Convo at 10
-Came back to the dorm
-Left for North Campus at 11:45
-Ate lunch at North (Turkey wrap and strawberry-kiwi juice. I've started having something new to drink every time I eat at North)
-Went to History at 12:25
-Went back to the dorm
-Went to marching practice from 2:30-5:00
-Ran back to the dorm to get my key and wallet
-Ran to DeMoss to meet with my Theater Appreciation group so we could pick a play to perform
-Ran BACK to my dorm to get a shower and look (and smell) presentable
-Went to The Muse (coffee shop) with Maddie, Josh, and Josh (yes, two of them) to hear my friend Aaron play piano
-Headed to Aaron's house with the sax section to pwn some nubs in a Mario Kart tourney :D

Good ending to a busy but fun day

Every Day

You said, there's no way the days should feel this short
As soon as one ends, the other starts
You said, all day I feel you're playing a part
When all you ever want to do is leave a mark

Every day, another one wasted
Every day, you get up and face it
Every day is a chance for redemption
Every day, every day

You said, time moves fast but you're still staying in park
As every chance takes off, you don't depart
But it's just the defense
For all the moments that name and define what we do
Well how about you?
We're all scared of breaking though

Every day, another one wasted
Every day, you get up and face it
Every day is a chance for redemption
Every day, every day

Every day, another one wasted
Every day, you get up and face it
Every day is a chance for redemption
Every day, every day

There's gotta be that something more that gets me through the night
I'm out of touch, it's obvious
I'm out of place and over this
There's gotta be that change that takes my path from wrong to right

You said life is way too short
As soon as one ends, another starts

Every day, another one wasted
Every day, you get up and face it
Every day is a chance for redemption
Every day, every day

Every day, another one wasted
Every day, you get up and face it
Every day is a chance for redemption
Every day, a chance for redemption
Every day, a chance for redemption
A chance for redemption
Every day, every day

This is the song that I start each day with. It's my constant reminder to not take my God-given day for granted and to "Depart with every chance that takes off." My goal in life is to make people happy and to do my part to light up their lives as best I can.
Sometimes I fail, sometimes I succeed, but every failure is a chance to learn, and every success keeps me pushing into the next day and striving for an even better day than the previous.
Mondays are my worst day of the week. My days starts with convocation at 10 (which mercifully puts me in a really good mood) then I have lunch at the Tilley Center before History class at 12:35. Then my day goes downhill. I rush back to my room to get my stuff for marching band, then I rush over to the field (across campus from my dorm) where I stay from 3-5PM. BUT WAIT. After that is our weekly scheduled sectional, so I'm there till just before 6, but I have to leave early so I can rush to the Vines Center to change into class-appropriate clothes for GNED (no time for dinner, mind you) which lasts till 8:30. By that time, the Rot is closed, so I trek back to my dorm to scrounge for whatever food is there. Then I do some homework, chill on FB, shower, then hit the sack.

But you know what?
I still love Monday's. Cause it's another day to have fun and enjoy life to the fullest. So that's what I'm doing today. This history class is going to be fun. Practice is going to be amazing (especially since we don't have to run laps this time), I'm not going to cry about not having dinner, and GNED is going to be a blast.

So there.
That's my roundhouse kick to the face of boring monotony.

In 12 hours or so I'll be in Pennsylvania!!

As Sally would say:
HUZZAH!

Anyway... it's 2:01 AM, according to the searingly red letters of my digital clock so I suppose I should retire.
"Retire" as in "sleep" not "quit working." Although that would be lovely....

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, good bye!

♥ Amy

I love Tuesdays.

Minus the waking up early part, I love my Tuesdays.

Theology at 7:40.... I would definitely enjoy that class if I could keep wanting to sleep instead of paying attention. We have easy open-book, open-notes quizzes at the end of every class period, so no sweat there.

Then I get a GLORIOUS napping period (which I am now wasting in order to blog) before Theater Appreciation at 10:50. Then I usually go to the Rot for brunch.

So yeah, I'll update as the day moves on, I suppose.

I LOVE THIS SONG. and the video. But the song is what makes the video :)



UPDATE:
So today was fun in that I got to relax and even *GASP* do some homework!

Also on my list of accomplishments:
-Put a storage crate on my desk to use as a bookshelf and organized all the craziness that was all over it
-Did ALL my laundry
-Had to re-run the dishwasher because my roomies obviously don't know how to load the dishes so that they actually get CLEAN

New desk layout:



Hall meeting at 10 tonight.... hopefully it'll be less boring than usual cause we'll be goofing off with the brother dorm.

Now I'm gonna get some sleep before that happens...

Liberty University: Kicking the other team's butt to the glory of God since 1971.
Final score: 35-10


Me = plumb tuckered out.
Goodnight :)

You Know What Today Is....

GAMEDAY!

Yeah. Get excited.

Gonna perform in front of 15,000 screaming fans.... it's a little nerve wracking. But oh-so-exhilarating :)

We're going to crush North Carolina Central to the glory of God, then pray for them afterward.

Nose Knows Nothing

I'm kind of surprised that no one has invented a nose-draining device. Or maybe they have and I just don't know it.

Either way, I need one. I'm too polite/well-bred to blow my nose in class, so the only option is to sniff every 5 seconds. Actually, I don't know which option my classmates would prefer: Me blowing my nose and getting it over with or the annoying sniffing. My guess is that they'd prefer the former, but I can't bring myself to do it. So I suffer instead.

This morning I apparently didn't hear my alarm cause Amber goes:
"Amy? Amy. AMY."
"*wakes up* Huh?"
"You should probably get up now"
-(It's 7:30, my Theology class is at 7:40)
-I sit up, try to talk, throat is sore, I feel dizzy.
"screw it, I'm going back to sleep"

So yeah, I slept till 10AM, after which I felt much better. And I had enough time to go to Theater Appreciation. We had a test that I aced, then I went to the Rot (Dining hall. We call it the Rot not because it's disgusting but because it's short for "Reber-Thomas").
After my lovely brunch I went to my New Testament Survey class, where we took a quiz that I also aced.
Now I'm done with class for the day and I'm "studying" in the 3rd floor reading area (it's SUPER nice... couches, honey hardwood floors, big floor-to-ceiling windows that let in sunlight, etc.).

Summary: Sickness is balanced with doing well on my tests, so I'm happy right now.


Time to drain my olfactory.


P.S.
My musical discovery for the day... I love this group :)
This song is my favorite so far, but they do a very good version of Adagio For Strings too.

Stress.
Building.
Up.

I need to release this somewhere.... Maybe a run around campus or something like that.
I just have so much to think about.

I miss my midnight walks around the neighborhood. Can't do that anymore thanks to curfew...

And I'm sick on top of it all. But it's not so bad that it prevents me from going to class. I almost wish it was, cause then I would actually have to force myself to lay down for more than 10 minutes at a time and actually - oh, I don't know - SLEEP for once.

I miss home.

Such A Freshman.

I'm sitting outside the classroom of my very first college class waiting for the previous class to end (oh look...it just did).
Being the cute little oblivious freshman that I am, I'm about 30 minutes early, because I thought I might have trouble finding the class.

I didn't (Thank you Lord).

So I'm sitting out in the hall like an outcast haha.
Anyway, now I guess I can go in and quit being such a nerd in the hallway on my laptop.

A teacher just walked by down the hallway, barefoot, carrying her high heeled shoes.

I love college.

Looks like Michael Vick gets to play again... I guess if youre a valuable player for America's favorite sport, you really can get away with anything.

Found A New Band

The video is a bit.... strange. But kind of cool.

Anyway, this is Drive My Soul by Lights :)




EDIT: turns out all her videos are like that. haha.... here's another.

TWO PARTS. o.O

Part 1. -Morning

Vlog Entry 2

Clothes and salad. kind of boring ;)

My First Vlog Entry... How Exciting!

And so begins the vlogging chapter of my life. Try not to fall asleep... it's only 4 minutes long.

So I was at the Mall the other day.

And I noticed something.
Why do people dress up to go to the mall?
I mean, I know the answer. It's because they might see someone they know, so they want to look their finest as if they didn't put any effort into the outfit that they so meticulously put together.
Anyway, I just find it funny.
It's as if the girls who wear their newest, most expensive outfits are waiting for a guy (also dressed in his finest casual wear) to come up to them and say "Hi! I noticed your well-planned outfit and perfect hair-do that you have there, and I heartily approve of them. Want to go out with me?"

But that's not how it is. Because, unfortunately, guys are waiting for girls to do the exact same thing. So it's a vicious cycle of people waiting to be noticed and then coming home with only their purchases (or nothing at all, if you think the mall is incredibly overpriced like I do. Sales FTW!)

:)

What am the sky? How does eat food?

Things that are on fire usually have fire on them! It's a dead giveaway.

Every New Day

The infinite possibilities each day holds should stagger the mind.
The sheer number of experiences I could have is uncountable, breathtaking, and I'm sitting here refreshing my inbox.
We live trapped in loops, reliving a few days over and over, and we envision only a handful of paths laid out ahead of us.
We see the same things each day, we respond the same way, we think the same thoughts, each day a slight variation on the last, every moment smoothly following the gentle curves of societal norms.
We act as if we just get through today, tomorrow our dreams will come back to us.

And no, I don't have all the answers. I don't know how to jolt myself into seeing what each moment could become. But I do know one thing: The solution doesn't involve watering down my every little idea and creative impulse for the sake of some day easing my fit into a mold. It doesn't involve tempering my life to better fit someone's expectations. It doesn't involve constantly holding back for fear of shaking things up.

For me, the solution is what I'm doing right now: enjoying the nights that I stay up until 4AM doing absolutely nothing of importance. Running outside every time it rains, just to enjoy how it feels on my skin. Eating peanut butter out of the jar with a spoon. Spending time with my best friend even though we already know each other inside out. Not looking at the calories on a bag of chips because I'm comfortable with how I look. Hugging my mom 5 times a day. Thanking God for clouds and rain. Laughing with my dad. Play-fighting with Darrel. Going to Wal-Mart with a purpose but ending up not finding what I needed, but finding something else that I needed more instead. Blowing on dandelions even though there's nothing in the world I need to wish for. Spending an entire afternoon in a field just looking at the clouds, or a whole night just looking at the stars. Opening my window when it rains at night because God couldn't have created a more perfect lullaby.

And I couldn't have asked for a more perfect summer.


♥,
~Amy

HP6 premiere! its hot and humid. argh.

Just outran thundering clouds of DOOM. Now i see why scooters aren't the vehicle of choice for Storm Chasers...

:)

Good day today.

It's these kinds of days that makes Summer amazing. :)

In other news, I got my saxophone and scooter back from their respective shops today. And it's about time. Recently, the battery on my scooter stopped holding any charge, which means the turn signals, electric start, and horn didn't work. Plus, a bolt was missing from the muffler pipe, making it sound like an obnoxious Harley every time I started it up haha.
So we took it in and they re-bolted it, and put in a new battery and a head gasket. All costing about $100.
For the saxophone, the next wouldn't stay in place even with the screw as tight as it could be, so Mr. Tom worked on that, plus he replaced some dirty pads and bent keys, and did some general maintenance. I'd never really paid much attention to MY saxophone because I used the one at school the most. Anyway, THAT cost about $130 overall (including two reeds)

So yeah. No more maintenance on any of my stuff for the next 4 years, I hope lol

~Amy

One of THOSE days.

Ever have a day when you pour the cereal without checking to see if there's milk in the fridge?
I do.
In fact, it just happened to me for the 50th time.
Maybe God hates cereal so he's giving me signs...

....Or maybe I should check the fridge before I get the cereal box out.

Off to Publix I go...

~Amy

Stumbling

I stumbled upon (www.stumbleupon.com) a great quote, so I figured I'd post it.

"She’s not perfect - you aren’t either, and the two of you may never be perfect together but if she can make you laugh, cause you to think twice, and admit to being human and making mistakes, hold onto her and give her the most you can. She may not be thinking about you every second of the day, but she will give you a part of her that she knows you can break - her heart. So don’t hurt her, don’t change her, don’t analyze and don’t expect more than she can give. Smile when she makes you happy, let her know when she makes you mad, and miss her when she’s not there."

— Bob Marley

Ttransformers 2

GO SEE IT.

It's epic.

Background

Got a new one!

I tried to make a collage of awesome pictures that I found on Flickr, but I couldn't get the pictures to fit exactly within the 1920x1200 dimensions of my screen, so I got frustrated, gave up, and did something completely different :) Yes, I know. My determined attitude is something to be admired.

Anyway, most of you know about my love affair with clouds, so here's what I made. Very simple, nothing special whatsoever, but I like it :)

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/415/cloudwallpapercopy.jpg
(found the quote with Google... didn't say where it was from/who said it)

:)

Had an awesome, relaxing, wonderful day today :)

"No other road, no other way, no day but today"
Good song from Rent :)

Anyway, I downloaded an electronic diary and it's pretty sweet. I've only made one entry, but I think that making diary entries is going to get easier and easier in the future as I find more and more to write about ;)

BIG NEWS.

I GOT A LAPTOP!!!

Most of you (or all of you) already know that but I'm putting it here simply for historical purposes. When I look back on my old blog posts I can be like, "OMG That's when I got my laptop!!" :D :D :D

So anyway, Summer's been pretty lazy for me. Yesterday I didn't do anything besides get stuff transferred from my desktop in my room to my laptop. It's taking awhile cause my computer is full of all sorts of silly files that I never delete + 1200 songs on my iTunes that I want to transfer over. AND the little device doing the trafficking is my little flash drive. Needless to say, it's taking awhile.
But it's worth it!!!! I ♥ my little laptop! I can't wait till I have all my stuff on it... I need to load Paint Shop Pro on here too so I can get back into graphics again... I should get back to practicing so I can be "ready" for college ;)

~Amy ♥

You go, Sarah Palin! Defend your daughters no matter what the press does. Youre an awesome example of how a woman should be!

We're going to Islands of Adventure!!!!!!! :D :D :D and im loaded up on sunscreen! (i hope)

Obama: "I am not ideologically driven either way about healthcare." Orly? Then why not adopt the Republican's HSA plan for everyone??

THEY WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 108-104! In other news, I'm in love!

GO MAGIC!!!! This game is so intense.... 101-104 with Magic in the lead. 1:00 left in the 4th. THIS IS SO STRESSFUL!

:)

Short and sweet:

♥ I love summer, and my life rocks. ♥

That's all :)

~Amy

First Day of Summer!

It's off to a pretty good start.
Now if only I had time to rest!! It's not likely, in the next week. Graduation is fast approaching (*tear!*) and there's a long list of things to be done. I should probably turn in my Geometry book... haha. I'll stop by school sometime during next week to do that.
Friday, gotta come to school to pick up my cap and gown... not sure when grad rehearsal is. Thursday? Friday? Lisa will know... she keeps track of all of these things ;)

The week AFTER graduation, however, will be SOOOO relaxing. Condo time! I'm gonna be sleeping by the pool constantly so don't be surprised if I'm sunburned. haha.
On that note, I got a new swimsuit! It's SO CUTE. Props to mom for picking one that's cute... most of the bathing suits that she picks out for me are for teenagers around the age of 60 but this one's a keeper! :)

Fun grad/Ross's birthday party this afternoon... I really enjoyed myself :D

Made $35 babysitting for Mr. L tonight so that's a plus! I was just thinking the other day about how I'm gonna need lots of money to hang out with my friends this summer and have enough leftover to survive on in college, so I'll be babysitting A LOT. I hope.
Another thing I was gonna look into is working at a summer camp for one of the kids programs around town: YMCA, Sun Country, Boys and Girls Club, O2B kids, etc.... Danny said that YMCA is hiring a lot of people to be counselors, so I'll probably check there first. Yay for money!

Exhaustified,
~Amy

Wow.

Is it really over?
4 years gone in a snap? a blink? a second?
I guess so, but I have yet to actually wrap my mind around the fact that I can sleep in till noon on Monday if I wanted! It's SUMMER!
Wow.
Too bad graduation is a whole week away... I feel like it should be tonight!

Today was pretty crazy. I felt like I should be trying to make the most of it but what was I supposed to do? I've waited four whole years for my last day of school and it's already over. Just like that.
Something exciting happened: FOOD FIGHT! I wasn't there (thankfully. It didn't end well, from what I hear) because we were in band, but apparently when the administrators tried to stop it, some of the kids turned on them... Mr. Perez got some food to the face....Yeah. Needless to say, some juniors are going to be getting an "early vacation."

In other news, Mark and I are no longer "together." We figured that since we're going to be 12 hours apart, it would be unrealistic to say that we would be able to carry our relationship through 4 years of college. It ended mutually, no hard feelings or anything. In fact, he was kind of surprised and impressed that I didn't "start throwing shoes." Haha... Good memories :)

My life just got a lot LESS complicated. I like that.

GO BARCELONA!!

Remember. It's the least you can do for them.

"...that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God, ...and that government of the people by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth." --Abraham Lincoln

Happy Memorial Day!
Take a few minutes out of your day off to consider just how much was paid to buy the freedom that we take for granted on a daily basis. I bet the families of those who died don't take it for granted.
We shouldn't either.

Hm

Things get complicated so easily...

And yet I don't want to fight it.

That might be a problem.

Classy!

Classy Cat ceremony was tonight!

At the end, all the seniors got to pick a question at random to answer and mine was "If the world was going to end tomorrow, what would you do today?"

I said that I would do a lot of life-endangering things like base-jumping, sky diving, and swimming with sharks!

I would totally do those things... but I would get married first :)
I want to be married before I die.

Oh, and I want to be just like Mrs. Smith when I grow up! ->

AHHHH!

A LADY PUT HOLES IN MY EARS!!!

Got my ears pierced :)

Hm.

Twisted every way; What answer can I give?

Fun Memories :)

Prom was about as fun as it could be...

Mark doesn't really "dance" he just kind of does his own thing... I managed to keep up though :)

I got three Blackjacks in a row at the table that Mrs. Smith was running, she was pretty shocked, seeing that I'd never played before. Too bad we weren't betting with REAL money or I'd have won big.

Afterward we went to Mallory's for a pool party which was wonderfully fun. And there was good food too!

There's a bunch of pictures on Facebook documenting our fun evening...
I'll remember it forever :)

PROM.

Tonight's the night!

I'll update tomorrow.

525600 Minutes.

Minutes in a year.

This song from Rent does a pretty good job of summing it up:

525,600 minutes, 525,000 moments so dear.
525,600 minutes - how do you measure, measure a year?
In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee.
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.
In 525,600 minutes - how do you measure a year in the life?
How about love? How about love? How about love?
Measure in love.
Seasons of love.

SOLOIST 1
525,600 minutes! 525,000 journeys to plan.
525,600 minutes - how can you measure the life of a woman or man?

SOLOIST 2
In truths that she learned, or in times that he cried.
In bridges he burned, or the way that she died.

COMPANY
It's time now to sing out, though the story never ends
Let's celebrate, remember a year in the life of friends.
Remember the love!
Remember the love!
Remember the love!
Measure in love.
Seasons of love! Seasons of love.

Lots of repetition, but they get their point across.
For me, my last year of school wasn't measured in minutes, hours, days or weeks.
It was marked by the wonderful times that I had with wonderful friends.
That includes laughter, tears, pain, happiness, and everything in between.

Thank you for a marvelous year.


Tonight is my final band awards ceremony....
UPDATE: Got the SUDA award for Spirit... Who would have guessed? ;)

Money Money Money

I need more of it.

Well, don't we all. But seriously, being a senior drains your pockets.
For example:

• Banquets
• Graduation necessities- Cap, gown, invitations, etc.
  
• Senior trips (Grad Nite was $120)
• Prom things (I feel sorry for Mark cause all I have to pay for is his boutonniere- $10)
• Other random things

But it's all worth it to make this year awesome!
Oh yeah, and I'm trying to convince my parents to give me $80 for a yearbook...

The Reason Why I Smile

There is a story of one man who jumped off the edge of the Golden Gate Bridge. But before he did, he left a note on his dresser back at his apartment. The note read:

"I’m going to walk to the bridge. If one person smiles at me on the way, I won’t jump.”

You can never know what's going on in the lives and minds of the strangers that you see in a daily basis. There are millions of Americans who are clinically depressed and millions besides who have had serious intentions of suicide.
For the man that wrote the note, one smile is all it would have taken for him to turn around and go back to his apartment and family.
But no one did.

I want to be the one person that smiles.

Liberals.

When Liberals start saving babies,

I'll start saving trees.


Nothing against trees. I love trees! But they're not humans. And they're renewable resources.
Technically speaking, babies are too. But they're also precious gifts from God.

And it's not murder to cut down a tree.


Choose life.

Tree hugger nonetheless,
~Amy

Happiness Is

"Finding happiness is like finding yourself. You don't find happiness, you make happiness. You choose happiness. Self-actualization is a process of discovering who you are, who you want to be and paving the way to happiness by doing what brings YOU the most meaning and contentment to your life over the long run."

"Realize that true happiness lies within you. Waste no time and effort searching for peace and contentment and joy in the world outside. Remember that there is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving. Reach out. Share. Smile. Hug. Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself."

" Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."

"A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes."

"Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half sorrow."

"There is no cosmetic for beauty like happiness."

"Happiness is not merely a life lived by accumulating moments of pleasure. On the contrary, happiness is a long lasting enduring enjoyment of life, it is being in love with living. It is your reward for achieving a good character and personal rational values in life."

"Happiness... is not a destination: it is a manner of traveling. Happiness is not an end in itself. It is a by-product of working, playing, loving and living."


Don't worry.

Be happy.


Another amazing day in the life of Amy Fox.

Happily yours,
~Amy

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Commence the festivities!!
One more AP test to go and I'm FREEEEE!
Actually, the freedom has actually started. Take today for example:

• Simple reading quiz in 1st period Physics
• Disgustingly easy quiz in 2nd period Math
• NOTHING in 3rd period AP Gov. Movie tomorrow.
• Retarded things in band, as usual. Can't believe we have a dumb end-of-the-year concert. It's not like we haven't played enough already this year...
• MOVIE in 5th period AP French. A thriller about a guy named Anthony Zimmer who's being chased by the Russian Mafia, gets major plastic surgery done, and sends his wife to hook up with someone that looks the way that he used to so that they'll kill the innocent pawn instead of the REAL Anthony Zimmer! Pretty intense. And all in French.
• Corrected a practice exam that we took a few days ago in 6th period AP English, which I totally owned. I even did slightly better than LISA. Shocking, I know. Party tomorrow!!

So yeah, needless to say, my day totally rocked. Minus band practice. That's never fun. Don't get me wrong, I love music. But I hate waiting around not being able to do anything while Mr. K does trivial things with the other sections.

Anyway, yeah. Being a senior is pretty much the best, and was definitely worth 4 years of waiting. I totally recommend taking AP classes, because the 95% of the year that's spent cramming for a stupid test is TOTALLY worth being able to goof off for the 5% at the end of the year.

Yours with a song,
~Amy

Mario Kart

I finally unlocked Baby Daisy!!

Time for Dry Bowser.

After tomorrow...

My troubles will be over! ...mostly.
School-wise, at least.
AP Gov test at 8:00, AP French test at 12:00.

And yes. I'm studying.

Edit: I watched an episode of The Office and at the end, Michael Scott said "In the end, it's not about whether Cinderella gets her slipper back. It's about whether the Prince decides to pick the slipper up in the first place."
I thought it was adorable. :)

Cinco de Mayo!

It's not really Cinco de Mayo, but it's the Saturday before, so we had a party anyway.
Besides the food, there was nothing "Mexican" about our party ... unless blowing things to bits is what Mexicans do on a regular basis...

For example:
We strapped bottle rockets to skateboards to propel them (didn't work).
We strapped bottle rockets to a tiny kid's electric pocket bike to propel it (didn't work).

My awesome idea was to find a plastic/rubber hollow ball, pour black powder inside, stick a fuse in, leading from the outside to the powder inside, and completely cover it in black electric tape so that the fuse stayed in, and it was PERFECT. Exploded like a dream. And since it was wrapped securely in electrical tape, the ball stayed in perfect shape with only a small hole where the fuse entered so that the powder could explode.
So we used it over and over, and there was much rejoicing.

And Mikey Warden screamed like a little girl when we put him on the bottle rocket-propelled skateboard (http://www.axcessmypics.com/foxeygrl91/_entry/c885520d20e9b97f012103d2518f586f/jsps/entry?foneblog=1241327517029#).
A successful night indeed :)

Yours with a black powdered bang,
~Amy

Rock climbing hurts. Not the muscles (though I'll feel it in the morning) but the hands! 1 blister and 4 callouses. Ever tried to shower one-handed? It's hard.

Prom.

Prom is too difficult.

Honestly, it would be totally cool with me if I just went with Mark and didn't see a single one of my other friends. My life would be so much less complicated.

Oh we're going in this group! But WAIT! I wanna be in that group!
I don't wanna take pictures over THERE, I wanna take pictures right HERE!
Do we HAVE to go to that restaurant? I want to go to THIS restaurant.
I don't want her in my prom pictures!!
What do we do with people who have no date?
Do we HAVE to let Juniors in our group?
What about AFTER prom? Ice cream? Movie? Girls sleepover?
Who's driving? A limo is too expensive. My parents won't let me ride if he's driving.
What if the heel of my shoe breaks!?
My prom date and I won't be matching!!
I don't HAVE a date!

....

Too much drama for my mama.

Torn in too many directions,
~Amy

TIRED!

Maybe I should stop complaining about it and actually DO something about it. Like, sleep maybe?

Good night!

Yours with a yawn,
~Amy

Fred and Ginger

As *insert adjective that conveys difficulty* as AP exams are... We're really not doing much in class to prepare for them. I guess the teachers are starting to think, "Well, by golly, if they haven't learned it already, they're not going to within the next week!" And perhaps they're right. Which is why I've stepped up the studying. As soon as I got home today I actually studied for a whole hour!! Shocking, I know. Call 991 if you need a defibrillator.

In other news, I just want to take this time to say that I love Fred Astaire. Truly, madly, deeply! Except he's old. That's the bad news. Nevertheless, he is an amazing dancer.
PROOF:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFI0rFFp8j8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQxrTD7Hx-U

Of course, Fred does most of the work in the ballroom style dancing (first video) but lets give credit where credit is due: In the tap routines (second video; this one is my favorite!) Almost all of their routine is parallel (side by side) and Ginger does everything that Fred can do- And in heels!
Amazing.
I love every Fred/Ginger movie ever made and I learned any dancing that I know just from watching them work together.
(And I bought and read "Steps in Time" by Fred Astaire. I highly recommend it!)

Crazy fan girl? You bet.

Yours with a song (and a sore throat),
~Amy

Sick

But still happy. Well, content, at least :)

I don't usually mind getting sick cause I get Jell-O! ...and ice cream and ginger ale and orange juice and other delicious things. Oh yeah, and cough syrup. I don't like that so much...

Yours with a cough,
~Amy

MMMmmmm....

I love chocolate cheesecake.
FYI.

Sitting in band... Mr. K is working with the horns on Trittico. I'm just glad its not Mahler...

AWESOME DAY.

5 balloons.

2 batches of cupcakes

1 homemade snuggie

1 bottle of Dr. Pepper jelly beans
1 Broadway's Hits CD
1 box of Ghirardelli assorted chocolates
(they're together cause they're from the same person)

1 chocolate peanut butter cheesecake

1 AWESOME new hair dryer!

76 "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" wall posts on Facebook

Several "happy birthday" texts

Assorted candy

Cards

Money!

Homemade dinner with Daddy

Monsters vs. Aliens with Mark


Needless to say, I had an amazing 18th birthday.
Thank you, everyone. You make my life wonderful :)

I am a happy woman. (AND I CAN VOTE [once I register])

~Amy :)

Tomorrow is my 18th birthday! :)

Phone blogging!

Wow.

Grad Nite
Was
Amazing.

I was a little iffy about getting on the Rockin' Rollercoaster after nearly throwing up on the Star Wars ride, but I went anyway and it was awesome.

Lovely Day

Stormy and dark :)

I think it's ironic how I'm such a sunshiny person and yet I LOVE storms!
I've probably already talked about my love interest with storms on here before, but... whatever.
Bottom line: I like them. A lot.

In other news, I got a B on my OMG-freak-out research paper for AP English!
Not the most fabulous grade ever, but I'm still really happy because it's better than I expected! :D

Other fun things:
Grad Nite is Saturday! Yay for loading the buses at 5:30 PM and getting back at 6:00 AM! It's definitely going to be fun. [Most of] My friends will all be there minus Mark because he picked Epcot over Grad Nite but then the Epcot trip was cancelled and by the time he got his money back it was too late to get Grad Nite tickets. :(
Still, I'll be with all of my GIRL friends! Lisa, Sarah, Charlotte, and Karina are all [supposedly] on Bus 2 with me, so... I'm SO EXCITED! It's gonna be fun, even if it IS at MGM studios instead of Magic Kingdom. :(

Band dance/Awards Night is coming up!!! This is extremely bittersweet for me... the good news: No more band! The bad news: No more band.
I don't love it and I don't hate it, but I'm definitely going to miss it. So [minus graduation], the band awards night is kind of how the seniors say "goodbye" to high school band forever... *sigh*

8 days till my birthday.

51 days till graduation.

105 days till I report to Liberty University for the Fall Semester.
I'm scared about that, but that's a whole 'nother post for another day...

~Amy

My God Can Beat Up Your God Cause Your God Doesn't Even EXIST

False religions can't guarantee eternal life because all of their founders are dead.

Buddha is dead.

Confucius is dead.

Krishna is dead.

Allah is dead (even though he didn't exist to begin with)

Mohammed is dead.

But guess what.

Jesus is alive.

Know why?

They can't find his bones.

They won't find his bones, cause all he left behind was a neatly folded stack of burial clothes.

To put it simply:

My God pwns.

Happy Easter :)

~Amy

~Amy

The City That Never Sleeps

I was surrounded by dapper young gentlemen :)

The "European" couple

The Carnegie Hall group picture

Dinner/Dance cruise was fun but cold!

High-heeled shoes were "forbidden" due to uncomfortable walking distances, so...we smuggled them in our purses and then changed into them later :)

It really is true. This city doesn't sleep. I know, cause our hotel was sandwiched between Carnegie Hall and Times Square on 7th Ave. The Heart of the city.

I definitely didn't have any trouble falling asleep though, thanks to the late hours that we got back to the hotel:
Night #1: dinner cruise. Time we went to bed: ~12:30. Woke up the next morning at 6:30
Night #2: Phantom of the Opera. don't know what time we went to bed but it was late and we were tired.
Night #3: Awards Ceremony/going out to get NY cheesecake/Packing. Time we went to bed: ~1:00 AM. Woke up at 6:20.
Even with the lack of sleep, though, it was still very fun. Actually, I think that sleep deprivation makes things more interesting. People are much more fun to talk to when they're only half-conscious.
The worst part was all the WAITING. Took forever for our plane to leave the Orlando Airport, thanks to rain and general bad weather in New York, so we missed our concert in Central Park. Honestly, I'm not too sad about that. I don't know how stoked I would be about stepping off of the plane and right into a bandshell for a performance, PLUS I got some sleep on the floor of the airport :)
But now it's 1 AM and I'm tired and going to the beach (again! :)) tomorrow. This 80 degree weather is a nice change from the wind chill of New York!
I'll probably upload some pictures later.

Goodnight!

And Again...

Went to Paradise again (described in the previous post).

Seems to be becoming a habit now: free weekend = beach trip!

I'm pretty burned, which is sad because I look really bad in my pretty blue dress :( Sunburns and strappy dresses don't match, unfortunately....

Oh well! Hopefully it'll mellow out before I have to wear it. Time for more aloe!

~Amy

Paradise.

The beach is definitely my most favorite place to be.

Everything about it is so freeing: the gentle (or not so gentle) breeze, waves, soft sand, being surrounded by millions of tiny micro-organisms....

I love it.

The beach is everywhere I want to be.

Reseach papers eat lives. And they don't chew them, just swallow them whole.
I can think of at LEAST 3 other things I'd rather be doing (hence, the reason I'm blogging).

Also, I deactivated my Facebook account!!!! Are you shocked???
You should be. I'm totally a Facebook addict.

S&E State is coming up!! It's down in Ocala and I don't know if I'm gonna have a ride home since Clarinet Choir is at 8AM, and Jazz is at 9... After that, there's nothing for me to do except hang out with people. I don't know if anyone is coming straight home afterwards, so...I might be in Ocala all day! That's not a problem though, cause I'll be with my friends so it's all good. There's usually always some group or solo to listen to. :)

And now it's time to go back to watching my life be consumed by 1,000 words about Imperialism.
~Amy

(comic strip credit to Bill Watterson and Sally Privette)

Business As Usual

Clarinet choir got out 25 minutes late.

ANOTHER Band rehearsal tomorrow afterschool.

Research paper due April 3rd!

New Dress!

I'm pretty excited about this dress here.

It's pretty, swirly, silky and BLUE.
I'm planning to use it as a band dance/New York/prom (maybe)/Easter? (probably not)/anything else I need a fancy dress for.

I love dresses :)

Spring Has Sprung!

We were talking together
I said, "What's up with this weather?"
Don't know whether or not
How sad I just got
Was of my own volition
Or if I'm just missing the sun.

And tomorrow, I know,
Will be rainy at best.
And the forecast, I know,
Is that I'll be depressed.
But I'll wait outside
Hoping that I'll catch sight of the sun.

Because on and off,
The clouds have fought
For control over the sky.
And lately the weather
Has been so Bi-polar
And consequently so have I.

And now I'm sunny with a High of 75
Since You took my heavy heart
And made it light
And its funny how you find
You enjoy your life
When you're happy to be alive

And the temperature is freezing
And then, after dark,
There's a cold front sweeping
In over my heart

And we might break up
If I don't wake up to the sun

Sunny with a High of 75
Since You took my heavy heart
And made it light
And its funny how you find
You enjoy your life
When you're happy to be...
Alive.


My heart is definitely lighter today, even if my nose feels like it weighs a ton.
I HATE POLLEN!!!!!!!!

Happy First Day of Spring :)

~Amy

The Call

Can I just say that I love this song?
Cause I do.



On a darker note, everyone's depressed.
At least, I know the seniors are. We're so over this whole "going to school" thing. It's different from senioritis, IMO.
Senioritis = apathy. What we have is something different. Instead of dropping everything and saying "I don't care," we go to the opposite extreme and just freak out about everything.
Band doesn't help either, cause state S&E is coming up. Clarinet Choir at 8:30, Jazz at 9. And that's in Ocala, which means I have to be at school around... 6:30 AM. At the latest.

What a great life.




78 days to freedom.
And counting...

A Favorite "Hobby"

I'd forgotten how much I love walking.
Not running or sprinting, just... walking.

It started out as a way to condition for marching band but quickly developed into a sort of hobby.
Since I can't usually remember the dreams that I have at night (except when I have deja vu), I dream when I walk. It's the best time for me to think about everything going on in my life, what's coming in the future, what I could have done better in the past...
But that's not all I think about. I don't like to walk on main roads (noisy, exhaust-y, and too bright to see stars) so when I pass houses I like to think of what it looks like on the inside and what they people who live in it are like.
Speaking of stars, I was just thinking about those tonight (I think about them a lot because they're just so awesome).
For me, the stars are the most amazing part of creation. To think that all those little blinky dots up there are ginormous gobs of liquid fire that are way bigger than our puny little sun just blows my mind. Not only that, there's BILLIONS of them.
And that's not even the most amazing part.
The best part is that not only are there billions and billions of them, God can call them all BY NAME. As in, "Hey, Zephanon Alpha, what are you doing out of your binary orbit?? Don't make me supernova you!" etc., etc.
Incredible.

But back to walking.
It's my stress reliever, my relaxation technique, and a way to (mostly) stay in shape. Like I said, when I go out, it's usually to just walk, but when I feel particularly angry, passionate, emotional, or really happy, I run.

Fast.

I get an indescribable pleasure out of hearing all the leaves swirling up behind behind me and feeling the wind on my skin and through my hair... it's awesome.

Tonight while I was thinking about the stars, I decided to go up 39th a bit to the nice big field by Santa Fe College and do a little star-gazing, but before I got to the first traffic light, I decided that it would probably be around 11:30 before I got back, so I turned around and went back home. And now it's hot in this house.
I'm gonna go turn on the fan.

~Amy

The Next Day

Thank you, God for giving me this life.
Even though it sucks.
And it's hard.
And I want to curl up and die sometimes.
Thank you anyway.
Cause... there's those moments that make it so totally awesome. :)

Today wasn't too bad... minus the band rehearsal. Those are never really "fun." But we got out on time today! That was exciting :)
Don't know when I'm going to be able to get to the library to do research... Tomorrow, maybe.
Upward Soccer starts Saturday!

Oh, yeah... Happy St. Patrick's Day!! I wore yellow instead of green (I completely forgot.) but no one pinched me :)

It's a bird!... It's a plane! No, it's...*GASP* An Update!!

Time to blog. :)

Has anyone besides me noticed a trend?
Happy post, sad post. Happy post, sad post. HAPPY! Sad. HAPPY! Sad.

I've noticed.

Time to break that trend with an "in-between" post. Yay for mediocrity!! ...Ok, maybe not.

Anyway, life pretty much sucks right now. Not all around, but in the mainstream area.
SCHOOL for example. ASLDSDFJLKJWROWPOEISER!!

• Research paper due April 3rd (FML)
• Pretty much failing French. AP FTL. I should have stopped at French 3. That was when French was FUN and all we did was play games and sing songs and eat food and such. Yeah, that's all gone. Welcome to the happy days of quizzes every day, and switching between speeches and essays every week. (FML!!)
• Included in the School category is band, but I'm not sure I want to go there cause I might just get angry. Oh, what the heck. I'm past the angry stage. Time to break out the sub-categories (numbers) haha
  

1. There was no reason for us to have to record the march 8 times. Seriously, I think we made it with the first recording.
2. I didn't sign up for clarinet choir. In fact, I specifically asked if I could be left OUT of it.
   But you know best, Mr. K.....you know best.
3. I'M SO OVER THESE AFTERSCHOOL REHEARSALS GETTING OUT LATE! If you want us to respect your time by showing up early, then do us the favor of having a little respect for our time by letting us out when you say you will! Heck, you don't even have to let us out early! ON TIME is all that we're asking.

• AP EXAMS! I'm actually not really stressed about them. I only have three, which is cake compared to Lisa's 6 and Charlotte's 5... but they're still awful nontheless.
• French/Italian/German club trip to Epcot got cancelled cause there werent enough people!!!! ASDLFKWEJF I was looking forward to that :(
  

Those are the cons.

PROS! :)

• Prom is coming up
  
• Grad night is coming up.
• Beach trips are being planned
• a BUSCH GARDENS (my favorite place!) trips is being planned!
• Spring is here! Time to go camera crazy (more so than usual, that is)

There's probably more, but I'm exhaustified.
Thanks go out to Martin for letting me rant and giving me virtual hugs, and to Lisa for ranting WITH me and just saying "screw it. we'll try again tomorrow." You guys rock :)
Props to Sally for keeping me (mostly) sane through church-y drama. I thank God that I have you to keep me alive! <3

~Amy

College.

I have never felt so dumb in my entire life.

My SAT scores are maddening, I feel inadequate for college life, much less not even feeling that colleges even WANT me...

I got conditionally accepted to my dream school, but what if i can't keep up the good work??

Since I had the flu during my exams, I'm pretty sure I failed all the ones that I was able to take, so there goes my grades.

On top of that I haven't slept for two nights straight so my sleeping schedule is totally off.

I'm a mess.