2013: Looking Back

I'll bet you're all shocked that I'm posting. Preciosa and I decided to both write year review posts for our blogs (her blog is Really Kool Posts), figuring that the most shocking thing that could happen would be for us to post on both blogs!

Whether you are interested or not, here are my highlights of 2013.

January: Lots of fun times with family because I was on winter break from school. Starting late in the month, I began my second semester as a freshman. I took four classes, and Women's Choir (Creative Writing, Short Story, Introductory Sociology, Everyday Gender and Sexuality, my first Women's Studies class). This remains my favorite semester thus far in my college career, though as with all semesters, it had its frustrations.

February/March: I really don't think anything of note happened to me other than going to school.

April: interviewed for a job at my school (at an ice cream parlor) and got the job! This was during Spring break, and I was overjoyed to have gotten a job for the upcoming summer. The end of April to the beginning of May was spent finishing the semester and training for my new job.

May: Successfully finished my freshman year of college but didn't get any less busy because this is when my summer job really kicked up. Starting in May, everybody who's anybody wants ice cream, and they want it now. I quickly discovered in working with the public that this can be a tall order. I began to learn to scoop more quickly and efficiently; yes, there is an art to scooping ice cream.

June: Kept working, but what was fun about this month was that my best friend Preciosa came to visit! She was even here for my 19th birthday. We had so much fun together, going places, watching movies, and just plain hanging out! I was so sad when the visit was over and hope to see her again before too long! As far as turning 19 goes, it's a kind of crazy feeling! The party my family and friends threw me was awesome, though.

July: Hardly had time for anything but working throughout the rest of June and July, and work just got busier and busier as it got hotter. At work, we changed the system from ordering ice cream and then paying, to ordering and paying at the same time. It was a way better system for everybody in the long run, but a lot of people got really ticked off. Some would ask us if the new system really was better, and when we answered in the affirmative, they would still be very unconvinced. That's just the way it goes!

In the second half of July, my mom and I took our second trip to Peru, though, if I really want to go into detail on this, I should probably write this trip its own posts. In short, it was a good trip and great to see all our friends again and make new ones, too.

August: More ice cream. Work got busier. And busier. And, oh, busier. My last day of my summer job was the day before I started back at class as a sophomore. I am unsure whether I will go back to this job or if I will do something different; I kind of want to work at the Women's Center at my school.

The Fall 2013 semester started at the end of August, with a full roster of classes, and Women's Chorus: American Literature, Poetry, Problem Solving, Feminisms and the Arts, and Literary Studies.

September/October: School. School. School.

November: School, and an amazing Thanksgiving break spent with family and friends.

December: Finals! That was a crazy time! I did my very best and then happily began my Christmas break, full of preparations and fun with family and friends. I went to two movies in December, both of which were good and fun!

This brings me to the movies of 2013. I went to a total of five; here they are in order of not so great to really good, according to me:

5. Star Trek: Into Darkness (May 2013): Mostly just explosions and people getting into various kinds of grotesquely violent altercations. Not Star Trek.

4. Les Miserables (January 2013): I hate to put it so far down the list, so close to the Star Trek movie. In actuality, this movie was pretty good and this musical has some great music (though not all of it was given its due justice by some of the singers). This movie did have some amazing aspects to it; visually, it was an extremely beautiful, particularly on the big screen. Though, I liked it much better the second time around.

3. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (December 2013): I liked this movie, though I thought the first Hobbit was better. I was disappointed by the lack of musical themes which Howard Shore had composed for the first movie; the main heroic theme in Unexpected Journey was gone from this Hobbit movie. However, the characters were right on again and I liked the addition of the elf Tauriel, who in terms of female characters in the LOTR and Hobbit movies combined, is almost as cool as Eowyn and definitely better than Arwen. The barrel scene was great and Martin Freeman's Bilbo Baggins carries on the tradition of thoroughly lovable hobbits.

2. Gravity (October 2013): I had difficulty deciding whether this one should be #1 or not. This movie captivated me. It is well-made and has an intense story. I saw it in 3D and it is the best 3D movie I've ever seen. In this case, the technology definitely did work to create a fuller experience. My main problem with this movie is that I don't think it will be enjoyable to watch without a big screen and 3D technology. However, with these two aspects, to experience this movie is an amazing thing and I think even without them, the story is exciting and captivating, and powerful.

1. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (December 2013): this movie earned top space because it is the first entirely enjoyable movie I've gone to in a long time. It's been quite a while since I just sat down and watched a film like this, just an enjoyable story with no grotesque violence or incessant swearing and excessively steamy romances. This was just a great story and very well-made to grab your attention and keep it.

Though I have numbered these movies in terms of how much I liked them, I would recommend all of them except for Star Trek, particularly if, like me, you are a fan of the real Star Trek. The other four movies are definitely worth a watch, depending on your own personal movie preferences.

Happy 2014, everyone. I hope the new year is full of great things (and great movies) for you.

SURPRRRRISE!

Someone is actually posting on here!!!! Please do me a favor and don't all die of shock! Thank you! Much appreciated!
Anyway this has been a lively year on this blog, what with all SIX posts. That's one every other month! Except not really cause most of them were in January, and the year I guess still has like a month and half left... Oh and this is the seventh post of the year so anyway this is going nowhere.
Well anyway... It's the day before Thanksgiving, sooooo HAPPY THANKSGIVING! :)
Anyone want to take a wild guess at what made me decide to post on here? DING DING DING! you guessed it! I was bored! It's the night before Thanksgiving remember? So none of the holiday fun has started but all the pre-holiday work is done. :)
Anyway so if you all are looking for some great new music, I would just like to suggest the Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack. Seriously, even if you don't like the movie the music is really good! Both the score and the other stuff. The score is composed by James Newton Howard who I have never heard of before but he did a really good job! So if you like the scores from movies I defiantly go give it a listen and then the other music has some great songs on it too, Coldplay has a song on it called Atlas which is really cool, most the other people I've never really heard and to my knowledge haven't really heard any of there other stuff but I like their songs on the soundtrack! :) Plus if you are looking for a movie to go see Catching Fire was amazing!!! I plan to go see again if I can! Just be warned it is kinda sad, and I was supposedly crying for like half the movie (I don't think it was that much of the movie but w/e) but a movie that can make me cry that much must be good! And actually it's not really THAT sad.  However if you want a happy make you feel good movie I'd probably pick a different movie go see. Oh and for all you LOTR fans, there was a preview for the Hobbit before Catching Fire when I went which was pretty awesome so you could always go just to see that. ;)
Welp anyway once again HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! have a great weekend!!! :) Be Thankful, be happy and eats something yummy!


p.s. I'll to post again before the end of the year, but I don't make any promises!

Improvements

I have made some improvements on here; now you may easily share posts on the most commonly used forms of social media.
Additionally, I urge you to take a look at the new page on my blog, The Travelers gallery.
Also, since I have not done this yet (although Preciosa has!), Happy New Year, everyone. I hope 2013 has so far been good to you, and if not, I hope the year gets better for you.

Looking back on 2011

2011 has been a year of change for me. It has been joyous at times, trying at others, sometimes fun, sometimes far from joyful.

The Winter of 2011 brought a lot of cold and snow. In January, on the 12, my brother John turned 22.

In April we had our Women's Chorus Spring concert. My brother, Daniel, turned 19 on the 6th!

In May, I took the SAT for the first time. My friend Rene was the first of the three of us (Rene, Preciosa, and I) to turn 17 on May 9th, quite a life-changing birthday! :)

June was my birthday month! I turned 17 on the 9th, and although I didn't feel much different, I can now see that, wow, 17 is quite different from 16.

An amazing opportunity was fulfilled in July. I was able to travel to Peru with my mom; we traveled with a family we had met through one of our friends. I was able to see one of the oldest cities in the world, Lima, and meet the children of the small Andean town of Huambo. My brother John moved out right before we left for Peru, so that was sad, but we are also very happy for him because he is happy.

August 3rd was my friend Maria's 19th birthday. The 24th was my Dad's birthday!

September brought several notable events. My parents and I took a short trip to Cape Cod, where we had fun walking on beaches, on trails, riding our bikes, and relaxing. My friend Preciosa turned 17 on the 22nd! Sadly, my grandmother died on the 23rd after battling several illnesses.

October was a tough month for me. It started out good, as I took the SAT for the second time and was pleased with the results. Glad that was over with for the second time, I moved on with my life. A bit later, I got the news that JW, a very special horse to me, would need to be put down because of his health and age, and his owner, and main caretaker feeling it would be cruel to put him through another winter. It was extremely hard to say goodbye to J, and I miss him very much.

On November 22nd was my mom's birthday. We also had a very nice Thanksgiving on the 24th! The Monday after Thanksgiving, our new family member, a white and black cat whom we named Oscar, came into our lives. I completed my Uconn application on the 29th. Still waiting to hear from them.

December 4th was the Women's Chorus Christmas concert. We sang a great variety of music, with one main theme: snow! On the 5th, my mom and I and a friend of ours went on retreat to the Weston Priory in Weston, Vermont. Of course, the 25th was Christmas! :)

The coming year, 2012, holds much promise. I am excited about visiting Missouri in June, to finally meet my awesome friends in person and spend time with them! I am going to be graduating this coming May. Hopefully, come next Fall, I will be starting my freshman year at Uconn.

Happy 2012, everybody! I hope all of you have a great new year.

New Year, New......?

Everyone gets tired with routine and wants to do something new. That's right, i'm a little bit bored. ha ha. That tends to happen to New Englanders when we're trying to see the end of winter........(it reached about 50 degrees today!!!) Anyway, this is what I want to try: musical theatre & theatre. I think it'd be cool! & fun. & nerve wracking (BUT how do you get over that sort of nervousness?? YOU DO IT!!!) I should at least try it..........after all, I only live once. Anyway I didn't just think of this out of the blue, I've wanted to do it for a while now. But this town RARELY has opportunities like that for people like me.
Anyway............who else has something they really want to do but opportunity rarely presents itself?