Childhood Choices

When I was little, I wanted to be a famous singer (as well as the first woman president, an orphanage keeper, and an artist). The "famous" part was very important. I would bring CDs of songs I wanted to sing to church. After the service, I would play the CD through the sound system and use the microphones to live my dream.

I stared a singing group called Triple G (God's Girls Group) and made sign-up sheets for it and put them on the Information Desk at church. Members of the group came and went a lot, mostly due to the fact that I was what you might call a Bossy Little Snit at times XD

Although I wasn't singing to God for the right reasons, I learned a lot through all that. I learned that you can't treat people like crap and expect them to do what you say. I learned that true friends are the ones that will still love you even when you're being a jerk. I learned that not ALL grown-ups take people 2ft. shorter than them as a joke. I learned how to make things happen and persevere. I learned a lot of good Christian artists.

I recently rediscovered my #1 favorite artist of my Triple G club years: Rebecca St. James.

I must admit that even as a very strange child, I had pretty good taste in music. When I decided to go back listen to some of the "Transform" CD, I was prepared to be underwhelmed. But I still love some of the songs! They remind me of awesome times, and the sound is really cool. "Reborn", "One" and "Lean On" are still my favorites.

I also discovered that I freaking love Rebecca St. James' sense of style. Dude. I really picked a good singer to look up to.

~Kendra

Er, Don't Bother Reading

Play practice was today!!! YAY!! I really love it. I'm gonna be SO SAD when "Mulan" is over. I'll probably do another play, but I like this one!

We're continuing to just run through the show, and today we got to my all-time favorite "Mulan" song: "I'll Make a Man Out Of You". Our Shang (Matt B, not to be confused with Matt, my "little brother") does a great job of acting, and his singing is good, too. He didn't hit a couple of notes, but you could tell he realized it. I'm sure he'll be fine by showtime.

We went through my second Hun part, and afterwards, Matt B gave kind of a "good job" look and gesture. Cool.

*two hours later*

Sorry. I got interrupted for dinner, etc.

I'm so upset right now. Like, really, majorly upset.

Guys, don't feel obligated to read this girlish rant.

So, I had Facebook up, and then I had to go to dinner, and then I came back, and I had an IM message from Shang, only I hadn't seen it because I was at dinner and so now he's offline and he probably thinks I just didn't talk to him and so I feel really, really, REALLY awful, and I would have liked to talk to him too so I could have told him that he did well at practice because he's always telling me that and I never tell him that so that would have been the perfect opportunity to tell him only I missed it and he probably thinks I just ditched him or ignored him or something and he doesn't get on Facebook that much I don't think, so I might not get another chance to say anything for a long, long time and if he is ever on Facebook, he probably won't say anything to me because he thinks I don't want to talk to him or I'm rude or something!

...

*EPIC GASP*

HE'S BACK ONLINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And he said "hi" again! And now we're talking! And he doesn't hate me!

*wipes brow*

Um, wow. Okay. Sorry. Girlish tirade over.

I promise, I'm really not like this usually. All of you new followers, don't be scared off. This is really, really, really unusual for me to go all baserk like this.

*shakes it off*

Anyway.

Uhm, I have nothing more to say.

*feels stupid*

A Lame Award and Two Good Newses (Lol XD)

I had a soccer game today. More on that later.
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Award Day!!

The I-Know-You-In-Real-Life Award! :D I know, pitifully unoriginal and disappointing. Sorry.


It goes to Cavender, Gracie, Gabrielle, Lizzy, Ellie B, Meggie, Mr. Chris, Tori, David Bailey, Anna Lee, Cassie Roads, Nicole, Lisabailey and Ember! It's great knowing you guys!
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So, I had a soccer game today. We played the team with all the really good Mexican kids on it. (I'm not being racist, I'm just saying they're all REALLY GOOD where I live.) It was coached by a college guy named Luis, who's pretty much a soccer legend in my town. I didn't think we would win.

Which is why it surprised me when we did.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D I actually did okay this game, too!! Ben (The Dare Devil) even told me I did well, and he never says that unless it's true. Especially at soccer. He doesn't talk to me that much at soccer. So yay!! :)

Lizzy's party was today, but because of the soccer game, I missed pretty much all of it :( Ah well. It's times when she gets all her friends together that I actually like being the oldest. I get a lot of reverent looks from the younger ones when I tell them I'm a sophmore XD

No play practice today, but I have it tomorrow.

OH!! I didn't tell you about Thursday night. Okay, so, Thursday night at play practice, we started at the beginning of the show, and just did it up until a certain point with singing, dancing, lines and everything. My part came. Man, my heart was pounding, but I sang it out. (I actually sing better when I sing loud.) I sounded fine! I was so relieved. The second time through wasn't as good. I got a little nervous for no reason, and I didn't sing very loud, so I couldn't hit some notes :-/

We took a five minute break, and Matt (who's playing Shang, the main guy character) came up to me and told me, "Girl, you can sing! You sound good! You just gotta sing loud."

That made me feel SO GOOD. I was definitely beaming for a while. I was so afraid that I just sounded really bad, but apparently I sound fine. What a relief! And it was nice of Matt to encourage the New Girl.

Sorry. That was random and you probably don't care XD

That's all! Thanks for reading! Bye!

Memory Day and Lil' Miss...POPULAR??

FIRST THINGS FIRST: NEW FOLLOWER!!!!!!!!!!! :O Thanks, Kevin the Awesome for following! :D :D :D Made my day! Well, it was already made (read on), but you made it even further ;)

EDIT: *SCREAMS AT TOP OF LUNGS* SPARKLE4JC12 IS ALSO A NEW FOLLOWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :O :O :O :O IS THIS JUST FOLLOW-CARPE-DIEM DAY OR WHAT??

I AM SO PSYCHED! OMG! I CAN HARDLY BELIEVE THIS! DO YOU PEOPLE REALIZE I AM ONE FOLLOWER AWAY FROM MY LONG-TIME-SECRET GOAL OF FIFTY (50) FOLLOWERS??????

*SCREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMS*

Sorry.
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Memory Day:

The place where my church meets, there is a “huge” dirt hill. At least, it was “huge” when my friends and I were nine years old. I played on that hill with my friends every chance I got. We played on it after church, after Wednesday night Bible study, even after the classes for our homeschool group that met at the the church building. We played slaves on it after church and Bible study, but after homeschool classes, the Hill became a place of war. We homeschool kids had divided ourselves into two teams, and we battled for control over the Hill.

Needless to say, that hunk of dirt and weeds was a big part of our lives.

We loved playing on it. It was the best playground imaginable. We had trails coming off of it, we had carved steps into the back side, there was a hole in the side for treasure, it was a kids paradise.

That’s probably why the news of its planned demolition hit us so hard.

Well, it hit me hard anyway. When I found out the Hill was scheduled to be destroyed and flattened out to make the church yard a prettier-looking place, I was devastated. I asked my dad if he would tell the bulldozer guy not to do it. My dad said that the hill really did need to go; it was ugly and not useful to anyone. I kept pestering him, though. Finally he told me that if I loved the hill so much, I should do something about it myself.

Being, well, ME, I began plotting what to do, and decided that I would make a petition. I grabbed a piece of lined paper before homeschool group one day and labeled it Save The Hill. I went around telling the kids what I was doing, and before long, I had a ton of signatures. I did the same thing at church the next week. By the time I was finished, the paper had almost a hundred signatures. When the guy came to destroy the hill, I showed him the paper, and told him why we wanted the hill to stay. He actually listened to me, a little nine-year-old girl.

I finished explaining and held my breath. He shrugged.

"Okay.”

I was speechless. My idea had actually worked! The Dirt Hill is alive today, and still sitting happily behind the church building :)
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Well, play practice is just one big YAY after another! I had another one tonight, and it went probably the best yet. Gosh, people are so nice to me, I almost wonder if they want something from me. It's utterly ridiculous! All these popular people are coming up to me and talking to me. I really wonder if there's a catch to their friendship...The kindness is awesome, and I like everyone a lot, but it's crazy!

Things That Happened At Practice:
1. I got a compliment on my hair being so pretty.
2. I got a compliment on my pig tails.
3. I got a compliment on how cute my purse is.
4. I got asked if I had a Facebook by four people.
5. I got invited to someone's Sweet 16.
6. Someone made someone else move so they could sit beside of me.

*blink*

:O

Did I MISS something??? I don't think I'm really this giant popular-girl magnet! And get this: Mr. Lead Singer Who Plays Shang-the-Captain passes me and goes, "Hi, Kendra!"

*eyes bug*

:O

I hate to get used to this. I love it, probably more than is healthy, LOL, but it can't last, right? I mean...hmm...Any thoughts? I don't want to seem like an ignorant "home-schooler", but does anyone have any advice/guidance/suggestions/theories? Are these people just super awesome and nice, or is something going on?

You know what I think? I think I'm just too darn suspicious of everyone! LOL!

As for the singing, I wasn't sure what I was (alto/soprano), so the music lady made me an alto. Turns out, I usually sing soprano harmony. I CAN sing alto, no problem, I just natually hear the soprano and so it's hard for me not to slide up to that. I'm getting better, though.

Okay, anyway.

Classical went well today. We're getting back to our full selves now. It takes us a little while to get our class chemistry back. Cassidy is getting to see the real us more and more...*evil laugh* Hopefully we won't scare her off :P

Ben (the Dare Devil) got to read something something with a British accent, as he requested. I thought he would totally butcher it, but it was completely authentic-sounding. I was impressed.

We looked at a tape worm and some bacteria under the microscope. The tape worm had eyes. *blinkshudder* Ickkkk. And the bacteria was boring. But we also looked at a Hydra Budding, and that was AWESOME. It seriously just looked like a magenta squid. Very cool.

Well, I guess that's all that's been going on...

Thanks for reading, talk to you later! :D :D :D :D Don't forget, theories on people being so nice are more than welcome :)


P.S. Vote in the poll! Pretty pleaseeeee :D

**AUDITION UPDATE**

Well, I think the audition went pretty well!! I did fine with the song, and the dance combo was pretty easy. I didn't ham it up as much as some other people, though...I wonder if that's too bad...hmm...

I GOT A CALL BACK!! But before you get all excited, so did everyone else -.- But, I still did. It's tomorrow at 2 o'clock. So...YAY!

:D :D :D :) :) :)

I'm so glad the audition over with (well, most of it), but I really had a fun time doing it! I also met lots of nice people. Now I hope I get a good role, not just the chorus like I had hoped before.

I know you guys' thoughts prayers helped so much; thank you!

Question Day and NERVOUSNESS!!

Question Day!!

The wonderful Rochelle Blue asked:

"When did you decide you wanted to become a writer?"

This might be a more in-depth question than I thought when I first read it. I thought, "Oh, that's easy. I decided when...um...well...when DID I decide I wanted to be a writer??"

I recently looked back at the “books” I made when I was a little kid. I would draw pictures and then tell my mom what to write under each picture. I thought that I wanted to be an artist because I loved to draw the pictures so much, but now I see that really I wanted to be a writer all along! I just thought I was being an artist, when I was really being an author even then.

Being a writer is the only goal for my future that has never shifted once. My other dreams for the future have all changed or been dropped, but I have wanted to write stories for other people to enjoy ever since I can remember. Because of all the events and passions pointing to my becoming a writer, I do believe it is the one goal that I am certain about. I firmly believe that God’s purpose for me has at least something to do with my being a writer. While all my other career goals and dreams may shift and change, I think being a writer is something that will always be close to my heart.

So, long answer short, I honestly think I was born wanting to be a writer. Something about the way my mind and personality works is just perfectly suited to do that.

Thanks so much, Rochelle! If anyone else has a question for Question Day, feel free to tell me! Please... ;)

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*internally quivers nervously with teeth clenched* That's how I look when I'm really nervous: jaw tight, chill bumps, flat expression, noticable swallowing.

My audition is tonight. I've changed song AGAIN.

Turns out the original "Teardrops on my Guitar" is different from the karaoke version I bought. The karaoke version sounds nothing the same, and the stupid CD doesn't have any tracks with the lyrics on them so I can learn. So, my dad and I spend half the morning hunting down and downloading the sheet music to one of my favorite songs we sing at church: "My Savior, My God". I can sing that really well.

So, now I have a song and sheet music and I know the song and I can sing it.

All very good things that came from a long series of bad things. Isn't God funny like that? Just when you're ready to scream at him to stop messing up everything you try to do, he's like "ta da!" and everything is all fixed. *sigh* You'd think I'd have learned to trust him more by now, but I haven't. Still working on it.

I'm definitely nervous, though. VERY nervous. My dad told me that when I audition, I need to put all my inhibitions aside and be my crazy, wide-open self. He told me that I tend to act small when in front of people, but I didn't used to be that way. He told me that I should forget about nervous and go back to how I was when I was little. Easier said than done. I'm going to try, though.

School is going so weirdly. With birthday shopping on Wednesday and birthday celebrations on Thursday, I just didn't get a whole lot done. I've mostly caught up today, though, so I'm back on track. It's been a very stressful day, though. It's so hard to concentrate on how WAAAAAAAAAAYYYY much school I have when I'm freaking out inside about the audition. When I'm nervous, sometimes I get really short of breath 'cause my heart is beating so fast, and that, of course, affects my singing...*sigh*

If you wouldn't mind, will you guys keep me in your thoughts and prayers tonight? The audition is at seven. I know this really isn't a big deal, but it does mean a lot to me.

Thanks for listening, y'all. It's good to have somewhere to vent.


P.S. GracieTheFirst and Cavender are the only ones who responded to Fact or Fiction. Here's the answer:

Fact/Fiction: In Missouri, a man must have a permit to shave.

Answer: Yes and No. Not to shave himself, but to own a barber shop and shave others, yes, he does ;)

You both won in a way. Sorry for irritating Everyone-Wins??-That-Is-So-Lame thing, haha! In the future I promise there will be only one right answer. In the meantime, Gracie and Cavender both get this award:

Congratulations! :)

P.P.S. I recently got some new awards (see the right side bar thing right below the About Me) from Bethany! Thanks!

Audition??

NAME DAY!! I'm actually going to do three names: Chandar, Vega, and Levant. Their meanings? Sun, falling star, and moon. Isn't that great? Sun, moon and star! If I decide to use the name Vega for my assassin girl, her brothers will be Chandar and Levant.

I remembered the big thing I wanted tot tell y'all! Remember when I said I was thinking about becoming an actress? And how I might want to do some plays at the community theater coming up? Well, I got a little card in the mail about the play Mulan! The auditions are on the 28th, and I think I'm going to go. I have to sing sixteen bars of a song, and then a short dance combo is going to be taught. My mom says I can sing, and I've been doing dance all my life, so I guess I'm going. I don't think I'm an *amazing* singer, my range isn't very good, but I can sure carry a tune.

I'm super excited. What should I sing? Yikes! Mulan!

I also have poison ivy :'( All over my left ankle. And now my face is itching and there is a bump under my nose. I'M ITCHING EVERYWHERE! AHHH!! *moan* I've had poison ivy before, all over my face. It is NOT FUN, let me tell you. My dad is pretty allergic, and sometimes when he gets poison ivy in one place, he'll break out in all the places he's ever had it. What if that happens to me? What if I get it all over again? WHAT IF IT'S STILL THERE FOR THE AUDITIONS??

Sorry. I freak out about this stuff. (In case you A: haven't figured that out yet or B: don't know me personally.)

So, I found out when soccer practice starts. This Saturday at 10am. *MOAN* I am so out of shape it isn't even FUNNY. I'm going to die. DIE, I TELL YOU. HOW CAN I GET IN SHAPE IN TWO DAYS??

Sorry, sorry. I'm in the freaking out mood today apparently.

Under my nose is REALLY itching...

Harrpy Potter is getting a little better. I don't hate him anymore, and I really, really love Draco Malfoy, just like I thought I would. Evil little cuss >:D

The W Chronicles is going alright, too. I wrote a little of the first series, Woods.

Kieran and Vega tied for the names for my assassin girl (series Wars). I'm setting up another polls just between those two names. Sorry if it seems like this is going on and on.

Picture Day won for the favorite with 6 votes, followed closely by Name Day (yay!) with 5. Quote Day came in next with 3 votes, then God Day at 2 and Challenge Day with 1. Looks like Word Day and Carpe Noctem Day are OUT! Fine by me! But, I do need two days to replace them. I have some ideas, but I'd really like to hear yours. Leave a comment if you would, or email me at livinglovinglaughinglearning@gmail.com as usual. There may be an award for best idea...

So, if you would, vote once more on the poll for the assassin girl's name. Vega (VAY-ga) or Kieran (kee-ERH-in)? And if you have any ideas for what to do in place of Word Day and Carpe Noctem Day, let me know!

Muchas gracias!
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P.S. I also wouldn't mind an occasional prayer about the audition? And the poison ivy...Lol :)