If You're Pushed for Time, Just Read the Italic Portion at the End

Wow, I've been terrible at posting. Like, really awful.

My birthday was great, I got four new books and the movie "Brigadoon." The books I got are "The Forest of Hands and Teeth," "Tex," "Incarceron" and "Across the Universe." I've read "Forest" and "Tex" and I'm on "Incarceron." I plan on posting some review-esque posts soon :)

I used to LOVE the movie "Brigadoon" when I was really little and we haven't been able to find it for years and years. We watched it the night of my birthday and it was really sweet :) Some lines and especially some songs brought back waves of childhood memories. The dancing in the movie is really great, too. I guess I was too little to appreciate that when I was five XD

Last Friday was the Father-Daughter Sweetheart Dance. It was basically like prom only with better music and dads instead of awkward guys. I had a blast :D Pictures possibly soon, my friend's dad took them and they haven't appeared on Facebook yet...

Yesterday, in case you don't know, was Valentine's Day :D I had a good one. We went out to dinner as a family + my grandma. The restaurant was actually the same one my dad and I had gone to before the Father-Daughter Dance. We saw the same cute waiter :3 He told me to have a good night. That may or may not have MADE my night...

I got to drive home :) Yes, in case I never officially said so, I got my permit :) I plan to post more on that later also...

So basically my life has been fine. Up until tonight. When something devastating happened (don't get too upset, I suppose I'm probably being a little melodramatic). First, a little back story.

Have you ever heard of the show Happy Days? If you haven't, you should watch it, because it's genius. It's set in the 50s and 60s and it's about this teenager named Richie and his friends. My personal favorite character is Fonzie, the greaser who's a shocking blend of freaking TOUGH and surprisingly profound.

Anyway, I started watching Happy Days every night at 10 o'clock around Thanksgiving when I was going through some internal crap XD It was so hilarious and fun and took my mind off things. I watched the two episodes and went to bed neatly at 11 o'clock. I went to bed happy and laughing over some of the lines.

If I was having a bad day, it was okay because I could watch Happy Days at 10 o'clock.
If I was stressed about school, I could make it through because I could watch Happy Days at 10 o'clock.
If I was struggling with what to do about something, there was a chance that I'd find wisdom in Happy Days at 10 o'clock.

Happy Days was something happy, something constant, something perfect and reliable that I could count on every night to make every day happy. Lately I've actually said during the day, "I'm so excited--Happy Days comes on tonight!"

XD I know, I'm a complete dork. But a happy one. This evening was great because I was looking forward to my daily dose of Fonzie and my close-second-favorite ChaChi. Good ol' reliable 10 o'clock rolled around and--

Holy mother of feathered cow gerbils. No Happy Days.

Yes. You read that right. No. Happy. Days. The show does not come on at good ol' reliable 10 o'clock, just in time for me to go to bed neatly at 11. No Fonzie. No ChaChi. No wisdom. No laughter. No happiness. Nothing to get me through the day or cheer me up.

I realize that it is only a TV show. I realize that it is not the end of the world. I realize that I really need to get a life outside of watching actors who are now pushing 50 years old IRL. But when I read "Next: Family Ties" I died a little inside. I am way more devastated than I should be.

I thought I could never hate Michael J. Fox.

I was wrong.

~Kendra

"The King and I"

I never liked the name Eliza, but now I love it :) It feels like a part of me. I've been Eliza for the past week, and I loved it. All the waiting backstage during the shows was pretty boring, but dancing is always so worth it. And this time there was acting involved, too. I didn't know I could act. I always felt like I could, but I'd never tried. Apparently I'm not too bad at it XD (Although yesterday, the day pretty much all my friends came, I didn't do as well with the acting *sigh* Of course.)

The costumes and makeup were crazy. I can't say that I liked the process, but seeing how different I looked was kind of fun :) Pictures? If you insist :) This was a great experience and I'll never forget it.

Captions on the bottom.

Momma experimenting with how to get my hair in a bun exactly on the top of my head XDDying my hair black :DAll the supplies for my bun XDMaddie, the cutest Siamese princess in the world.Me and my mom (note the black bun :D XD).Me and Danae. She was a fellow Hun in "Mulan"!Danae doing a pose from the ballet ("Small House of Uncle Thomas").Princess Ying YaowlakMore friends :DSIAMESE WIFE MAKEUP!!!! I could hardly recognize myself. It was so strange looking in the mirror.The dress for the song "Western People Funny" when the Siamese wives dress up like European ladies.The dance for "Western People Funny".The opening for "Small House of Uncle Thomas", starring.........Eliza! Played by yours truly :)Oh yes. And my baby. George.
Eliza and the Angel.A part of the ballet.Me before Eliza makeup.Me after Eliza makeup :) (Too bad I'd already taken down my hair in this picture :-/)Eva, Eliza, and Topsy :)Eliza (who looks awful in this picture XD) and her evil master, Simon of Legree! I really wish he'd hold up his mask in this picture, it's SO FREAKY. I'm gonna try to find a picture of it...Me, Lizzy, and Princess Maddie :)Me and Maddie.My hair after I took it down!

~Kendra

Mr. Sark and 12 Other Characters ;)

Okay, first, let me just say this: See that poll on the right? Can we get all 80 followers to vote? Yes? No? Let's find out. VOTE :)

NOW, let me introduce you to my latest and EXTREMELY STRONG obsession:

Mr. Sark.

*hyperventilates*

I completely do not know where to start. But, as always, I will try :)

Have any of you heard of the TV series "Alias"? It came on TV a few years ago, but I was too little to be allowed to watch it, much less appreciate it. Now my family has it on DVD and I am an avid watcher. If you like spy movies with lots of action, clever dialogue, unparalleled acting, and an amazing storyline topped off with the great director J.J. Abrams, this is for you! Fans of the Bourne movies will love it.

Anyway, Mr. Sark's character was introduced for the first time in an episode I watched today. The episode opens with him, and before I even had time to process anything, I exploded with an, "OH MY GOSH WHO IS HE???"

My parents (who also LOVE the show and watched it when it came on TV) laughed and told me I was going to LOVE this guy.

They were right. He's amazing, and I've only seen one episode with him in it. I haven't the slightest idea what makes him so amazing, I really don't. Something about him makes my eyes glue to the screen and my lips grin, even though he's evil. He's not the hottest guy in the world and he doesn't have particularly amazing eyes, but something about him is incredible. A real "you just have to see him in action" thing.

I.

Love.

Mr..

Sark.

It got better when he opened his mouth. His voice is perfect. Deep, soft-but-hard and--get this--HE'S BRITISH! :O

Okay, now for what you've all been waiting for. A picture. Fascinated ladies and indifferent gentlemen, I give you...

Mr. Sark:
That picture is now my computer wallpaper. Click to enlarge :)

If you're interested, here are a few more:

Another
Another
Another

****IMPORTANT: IF YOU WATCH ALIAS AND KNOW ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS, DO NOT TELL ME. I AM ON MY FIRST TIME THROUGH THE SERIES. I DO NOT LIKE SPOILERS ;)****

Okay, I'm done. Sorry. Now to Christmas :D

Twelve days until Christmas. Twelve days. That's like close to ten days, which sounds REALLY close, does it not? Hmm, what shall we do twelve of? Twelve...twelve...AH HA!

Top Twelve Most Popular "Christmas Characters" (compiled by me, haha):

1. Jesus

2. Santa

3. The Grinch

4. Scrooge

5. Rudolf

6. Frosty

7. The Nutcracker Prince

8. Burgermeister Meisterburger

9. Tiny Tim

10. The Sugarplum Fairy (the Nutcracker)

11. Jack Frost

12. Clara (the Nutcracker)

MERRY TWELVE-DAYS-UNTIL CHRISTMAS! And watch Alias. It's good :)

Last One :(

Hey! The last performance of Mulan was today :'( I think I'm gonna be really upset when it all sets in.

Ellie B is over right now :D She came to the play. So, I'm not really concentrating on this post at all. I mostly just wanted to say "hi" since I haven't posted in a few days. So...

HI!

:)

Talk to y'all later!

Awaiting the Sensation of a Short Sharp Shock... ;)

"Mulan" is over until the 31st when we do it one last time.

...

Um...I think I'm sad. But I can't tell yet. I don't think the "shock" has really hit me yet, you know? Not seeing people tonight...it'll be weird for sure.

The after party cookout last night takes the place of the coffee shop party as the best night of my life :) :) After what happened at the pizza place, I was determined NOT to get stuck with the little kids. I decided to make the effort and hang out with the people my own age.

It was awkward and hard at first. They weren't rude to me or anything at all, they were perfectly nice, but I didn't know what to say. I didn't know them all that much and I didn't feel like I had a lot to contribute to their conversations. I almost decided to cut my losses and just go back to the 8th graders, but I didn't.

As the night went on, they talked more, and I did, too. I actually think they liked me. They talked to me just like they did each other, and everything was great. Really, really great. So great I can't even really explain it.

They were all nice, but this girl named Emily probably helped me the most. She made sure I wasn't left out or left behind, and she made me feel more comfortable about myself and about everyone else. Shang helped a lot, too. He's always been nice to me, from the very beginning.

The hay ride was a lot of fun :) We took a short one while it was still light, but then we took a long one after it got dark. Small trailer, big crowd. It was...interesting ;) I was at the very end, so every time we'd speed up quickly, I'd go sliding to the edge and have to grab people, lol! There was a lot of that going on. We lost 6 out of like 10 bales of hay XD It was a complete blast.

I looooooooooooooooooooooooooveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee those people! Not because they're the "cool" crowd, but because they're actually nice and so much fun. I loved hanging out with them, and I hope I'll see them more. Really, really hope so. I think I miss them already.

Oh, and quite a few innuendos went around, as can be expected, and I actually got them. Not sure whether that's a good thing or not, but for now I'm just gonna count it as a good thing, lol XD

Well, now that I'm finished tell you about how amazing last night was, I'll tell you about today:

I am sick.

I have a really bad cold. Headache, aching body, sore throat, sore chest (might be muscle soreness, though), runny nose, stuffy nose, sinus pressure, and sneezing. The whole sha-bang.

Although I feel like crud, and I had so insanely much school work to do today that my mom actually EXCUSED SOME OF IT (can I get an epic *GASPPPPPPP*?), I don't feel quite as down as you'd think. Last night's glow hasn't worn off.

I just...

Um...

*shakes head* Sorry. Never mind. I don't know.

Hope this jumbled and ranting post didn't bore you to complete tears ;) Thanks soooo much for all your support during these past few stressful weeks! Y'all are awesome!

...Hi.

Opening night: worst performance so far, but not TERRIBLE.

Saturday afternoon: one of the best performances so far.

Saturday night: another of the best performances so far.

After party: ...

COMPLAIN ALERT!

I got to the pizza place FIRST, which is apparently a bad idea because then you don't get to choose who you sit with, they choose you :-/ I got stuck with all the 8th graders.

Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with 8th graders in themselves, just how they act. Highly immature, and just annoying. Of course, I didn't just want to stand up and go sit with the people my own age, because that would probably have been kind of rude to ditch the people I was already sitting with. But I ended up having 0 fun, and actually left super early. But that was also because of my being sick.

Oh, yeah, it finally happened :-/ I think I'm getting an exhaustion cold. *sneeze* :( Oh well. TAKE SOME TYLENOL SINUS AND DEAL WITH IT! XD

Over all, things have been going about as fine as one can expect. The last performance for a while (we perform again on Halloween) is today :( I'd probably feel sadder if I weren't so sick and sick of it, though, you know? I love this play, I love these people (some more than others, lols), but I'm just really tired! And school is killing me! No, more like hacking me to death with a bloody ax. I have about 2-3 days worth of work to do TOMORROW.

*closes eyes* I am trying not to think about that.

You might be asking why I'm not at CHURCH seeing how we have to be there at 8:30 for band practice. Well, my lovely family decided I could use an hour of down time, and they are coming back to get me in--oh. Twenty minutes.

Don't you love how time flies? -.-

Sorry for the complaining tone of this post, I'm just so tired. I'm really still having a good time, and I love, love, LOVE IT. Sign me up for The King and I in June!!!!!

Hey, did I just hear someone groan?

;) Thanks for listening and encouraging me these past couple of weeks! Don't worry, it's all coming to a close now. After today, you will be talking to a free Kendra!

:)

:'(

?

End of Chapter One?

No, I'm not done with my school work.

No, I'm not finished with my cleaning chores for the week.

No, I haven't straightened my room yet.

Yes, I am posting anyway.

BECAUSE IT'S OPENING NIGHT TONIGHT!!

I gotta post on opening night, right? :)

Unfortunately, this is probably the last you'll hear from me until late Saturday afternoon. I'm spending the night with a friend so I can go to the cast party, remember?

I'm very excited, and not as depressed that it's all ending as I would have thought. I still have three cast parties to go to, and it seems like the friendships I've made might be more long-lasting that I'd at first thought.

Am I finally learning to Carpe Diem?

Even though the performances are all only beginning, I feel like I'm starting a new chapter in my life. I have no idea why; I haven't done anything different or said anything final to anyone. It's the strangest feeling. I feel like I've grown up all at once and I'm looking ahead to a blank future just waiting for me to fill it up.

Well, wish me luck! Here comes the first moment of the rest of my life...

(No, THIS is...)
(No, THIS is...)
(Haha, sorry, couldn't resist ruining that solemn moment ;P)


P.S. Thanks for following, Aaron!!