01.30.08
Winning the Beauty Contest
Hillary totally pwned (pardon my three year old l337 speak) Barack last night in Florida. The so-called ‘Beauty Contest’ didn’t provide any delegates to the leading lady, but, it did provide her campaign with the extra momentum that it needs to conquer Super Tuesday. The most unfortunate part of last night’s race was John Edwards slow and gentle descent to the end of his campaign. John is such a wholesome, wonderful character had some great ideas for this country, but I believe his lack of an Oprah endorsement or former President spouse kept him down from really competing with the two front runners. I hope that he’s focusing on what he can do next and making connections to team up with whoever gets the nomination.
But besides my little victory dance that Hillary won, yesterday was great. I’ve caught up with all of my classes from my week in the sun, and I’m preparing for the Herald3 to go to press next week. My college classes are revving up from the post-Winter Break hump and are slamming me with tests, papers, and busy work that seems to never end. But I’m keeping myself from drowning in my errands and am hanging on until May 18 at 7 p.m. Prom committee, Relay for Life, and the Student Leadership Team at my church are all sources of stress and joy from my life. I just can’t wait to go to Mizzou! I can’t say that enough.
I’m off like a dirty shirt.
01.28.08
the pillars of my life
This week is monumentally busy. Yes, I said it, monumentally. All my days and nights are wrapped up in activities, work, and spending time with my friends. Oh, and did I mention I’m this busy without having a job? I’m almost completely out of cash after California and that’s a very, very sad feeling. I didn’t even buy a purse when I was in Cali! Ughz.
My senior year is winding down quickly. Already first semester has flown by, and second seems to be over my head so high that I can’t even see how fast its moving. Graduation is four, wait, no…three and a half months away, and I’m totally unprepared. I recently was ‘promoted’ to being a co-head of prom committee, plus I’m the Relay for Life Coordinator for NHS, plus I have to get out two more newspapers by the end of the year. I wanted to stay busy my senior year, but I didn’t want to strangle myself with activities that don’t even matter anymore. But there is a perk to being this busy, I guess. I’m not so bored that I see the days slowly, slow inching closer and closer to graduation and I’m plugged in so that I’m stuck here, making sure my grades stay up and I don’t blow it my last few weeks.
My parents are freaking out though, a bit. It’s now really starting to sink in for my mom that I will be gone in August to Columbia and my life at home is about to come to an end. I’m so, so excited about going to Mizzou and really getting out on my own, but they are just trying to get a few last precious moments with me. This weekend, for example, my dad took me out to eat on Friday night and we saw I Am Legend. After a day with James on Saturday, I promised my mom that I would stay home and help her on Sunday afternoon, but instead, she surprised me by taking my grandmother and I out to lunch and then to see Juno. Both movies I enjoyed, but my parents haven’t gone out of there way like that for me for a long, long time. I know I’ll miss them once I’m out of the house, but my life needs to move on from Springfield, Missouri. I can’t be trapped on this pleasant plateau any longer.
Tonight I’m going to a class at OTC with James called Perspectives, which is devoted to the impact world religions on society. I’m excited about it and spending time with James. A girl I talked to yesterday that used to be semi-acquainted with James said that she “didn’t even know that he talked to girls.” Haha. He’s such a good guy, I just wish people could take the time to get to know him.
01.23.08
fun in the sun
Good morning, Springfield.
California was so, so much fun. After a short stay in the Tulsa and Dallas Fort Worth Airports, we arrived on Tuesday evening to a glorious, windy night with Santa Ana wrapping its arms around us. We ran to the Downtown Disney District and I purchased a pretzel and a medium Sprite from Wetzel’s Pretzels for $7.21. Oh, but this insane price for a small snack was just a taste of the amount of money I’d end up spending on Disney’s magical property over the next six days. I went up to my room and unpacked my belongings, arranged my hairspray and make-up products on the counter, and tucked myself into bed for the night.My room mates, Erin and Aleshia, giggled until the earliest hours of the morning at my stupid jokes and we eventually drifted off into a slumber.
That next morning we rolled out of bed and arrived in the lobby of Disneyland Hotel as a group to go to Disneyland for the day.We walked the quarter mile to the park and negotiated our terms for a magical price of Disneyland. Instead of the $91 for one day park hopper we negotiated the price down to $53 for the entire staff. I was peer pressured into riding every single ride in California Adventure Land and hated every second of Tower of Terror. I don’t really do well on roller coasters, but I usually do okay before and after. It became a running joke on the staff that someone had to sit by me for a really good laugh. But I had fun regardless.We ate lunch at a cute little Italian restaurant in California Adventure Land to celebrate Fran Olive’s (a girl on HTV) seventeenth birthday. That made the day even better.
After a day and night in Disneyland and a short phone call to James I went to sleep. At 6:30 a.m. I woke-up, got ready, and woke up the other girls in my room. The contest of the day was the Sweet Sixteen Contest, a moment where we had to collectively bring together every element of our staff and create a show based off of one word in sixteen hours. HTV Magazine won the first place award last year and programs all over the country had been gunning for months to snatch the award from us.
After we chose our topic from a list of sixteen words we went up to our adviser’s suite and had a staff meeting to discuss our stories.After deciding who went with who and who was doing what, we dispersed with our equipment and got into the HTV zone. Our stories were shot and edited in sixteen hours, and we were significantly less stressed than last year. I was in a team with a fellow Senior Kendra and a junior Rob and we edited our story rather quickly. I helped out everybody who needed an extra pair of hands and stayed calm. We finished our show twenty minutes before deadline and then we all went up to our rooms to hang out for a while.
The next morning, Friday, we went to the opening ceremony to the Tell the Story convention for the Student Television Network, the entire reason why we came. The ceremony was very well produced, as usual, and our keynote speaker was Bob Dotson, noted broadcast journalist and an excellent writer. We attended a breakout session, hosted one, and then ran around for a while. I watched our team produce their music video and was thrilled to see our confident they were about their final product.I went to bed earlier than I usually do because of my contest the next morning that began at 6:15 a.m.I rolled out of bed and went downstairs to my contest room in my pajamas and converse to my contest, Broadcast News Writing. I can’t remember anything of what I wrote during the contest.
But I went back to bed and then took a shower and did very, very little productive things on Saturday. We went shopping, went to Downtown Disney again, and laughed a lot.The STN showcase was that night, and we watched all of the best music videos submitted by schools around the country. The top ten were shown, as well as a few documentaries, and then the top three were awarded trophies. Brook Linder, a student from Glendale who accompanied us on our trip, directed our music video and was extremely nervous about the peer judging of the contest. When first place was announced, Hillcrest High School, we all jumped up and screamed in joy. Brook looked euphoric and no one clapped for us in the entire assembly, but we were the best, and its all due to Brook. We all ran up to our hotel room and hung out for a while, drunk off of adrenaline from winning, and then eventually went to bed.
The next morning was the STN closing ceremony where all the major awards were announced. The first few didn’t matter to us, but then the hosts did a little tease about the words that are used in broadcast journalism and their importance. I had no hope for winning, but my heart was pounding regardless. Honorable Mention, the only award I thought I had a chance of receiving, went to another person, and I gave up. But then my name was announced for second place and I think I screamed. I had no idea what to do, received my award, and sat with a smile on my face for the rest of the ceremony. We won first place in the Sweet Sixteen contest, we won the STN Excellence award, and won Third place in the STN Sports Feature challenge.
I was thrilled with our results, and then we ran away to Huntington Beach, California for the rest of the afternoon. Huntington Beach was beautiful and we ate a Ruby’s on the pier, a restaurant that overlooked the entire ocean with great, classic American food. I had a peanut butter cup milkshake that was to die for, and then we went back to the hotel to watch the season finale of the Amazing Race.
One of my friends, Kendra, is just a big of fan as I am, and was ecstatic when TK and Rachel won. Then, after we watched the show, five girls and myself decided to go to a late night show of 27 Dresses. It was so, so cute, and I was glad I paid the $9.50.
We travelled home via Dallas and Tulsa and I got into my bed at 12:30 p.m., hoping for no school the next day.
And my prayers were answered!
Now, I get to go see my boyfriend this afternoon, after nine days apart. I’m so excited! But I think this blog is long enough, so I’m done now.
01.18.08
from cali
Good afternoon, friends.
My entire life I’ve been really, really, really busy. Constantly running around, doing errands, having fun, being obnoxiously involved in my community and submerging myself into a realm where my entire world is a series of to-dos and senseless completions. But being in Anaheim, California at a convention that is one, gigantic, obnoxious to-do list fries your brain so rapidly you can’t even begin to comprehend it until you’re on the way back home on the last flight to Springfield.
It’s not that I’m having no fun, but it’s really, really difficult to find a moment for yourself in this high-stress, deadline filled, we-have-to-win atmosphere.
Oh, and ontop of all of that, I miss James. A lot. A lot a lot. I miss hearing him laugh as I’m drifting into a quiet dream and having him to hold onto at the end of a stressful week. He’s my boy, and I guess I had gotten a little spoiled by all of his affection and attention. He’s such a great boyfriend and an incredible part of my life. I just miss him and it’s a constant dark cloud in the clear, blue California sky.
I’ll be home soon enough, though,
01.08.08
oprah’s the better candidate
Have I told you lately that I’m voting for Hillary Clinton? 
I know, I’m pretty much the anti young American voter and I should be worshiping Barack Obama’s “world changing” feet, but I just don’t see the appeal of a zealous young Democrat who hasn’t proven to me that he can actually accomplish what he’s declaring in his stump speeches. I’d rather be evil with Hillary than unprepared with Barack.
But, as the votes are cast in that great state in the north, I’m worried about Hillary’s future. She has the resources behind her from the New England delegates who secured he spot in the Senate the first time and a husband who is deeply rooted in the machine that is Arkansasian politics, but I’m still worried about her campaign. Iowa wasn’t pretty; Hillary was clearly defeated by Barack, but the biggest blow was her swift and short defeat by John Edwards, a man with a fraction of the financial resources backing his campaign. She came into the race a confident, experienced, viable woman who was the obvious nominee for the democrats to defeat the GPO. But now at the quarter-mile mark of the 29-state marathon to the nomination and Hillary’s campaign seems to be running out of steam.
I’m scared.
I don’t want to vote for Barack Obama!
But, on the other side of the political fence, John McCain seems to be causing quite a stir as Rudi “I-love-terrorists-because-they-make-me-famous” Guillani falls behind in the polls. I like John McCain, I like his experience, and I love his character. If I had to have a Republican president, I would accept and be pleased with John McCain, even though my liberal heart longs for change. But wouldn’t you want that happy old man that wears a suit to church every Sunday leading your country? I think so.
Super Tuesday’s around the corner, and I’m off to register to vote this afternoon at my local library…which happens to have a Panera Bread Company right next to it. Political action, tea, and a bagel? I think I’m in.
