Endings

Hi! Rachel's mom here just to let you know that Rachel has decided not to update her blog any longer.

Those of you who are sad about this development can contact Rachel via email to let her know.

Beauty and the Beast

As I mentioned in my last post-sorry, it's been awhile-I had a part in our school production of Beauty and the Beast Jr this semester. We had our last performance last night and it was absolutely an incredible experience. God taught me so much about Himself, myself, and my other co-stars during the past four months so I just thought I'd share some of those lessons with you.

There is a good reason hoopskirts are not still in style.

Guys who can dance are attractive.

When your friend is stressed, give her a hug and tell her you're praying for her.

If you have to carry four ten-foot poles across a college campus, wear gloves.

Fire escapes have many other uses besides emergency exits.

Power tools are not as difficult to use as they look.

The trees used to be alive. Don't talk to them.

If you want to feel amazingly talented for doing virtually nothing, work with high schoolers.

Lipstick is disgusting.

Never let anyone near a camera when you are wearing a wig. Especially if you're a guy.

Do not take sitting down for granted.

Kicklines are a lot less exciting when you must make them conservative.

When a guy comes in and asks for a manly lipstick, make as many awkward comments as possible.

Don't create choreography that draws attention to the fact that you are not supposed to be dancing.

Guys look really weird in tights.

Liquid nitrogen is awesome.

Being a freshman does not guarantee being Townsperson 3.

First impressions are often wrong.

Smile while it happens, because you'll cry once it's over.

Finally, my favorite:
"It's not stupid, it's stage!"

High School

I have been in school for a month now. (UGH) I like high school so far-it's actually pretty fun. I'm in Beauty and the Beast, not as a townsperson or obscure fork, but Mrs. Potts, the teapot. (PARTY!!!) I was pretty much shocked to hear about it, but it's been fun so far. I am in percussion ensemble, which is really fun but kind of hard for someone of my limited coordination. Our JV volleyball team is undefeated. I am actually acing Algebra I. (For now) I have all three of my sections said for Bible Quiz. I have made new friends. I have completed Rumplestiltskin and am in the the last stages of revision. I have everything I need for our homecoming banquet.
In short, life is good.

Ode to Summer

I start school on Monday. (Loud groaning noise in background) Yeah, I'm going to high school. No, I'm not nervous. I am looking forward to taking creative writing, being involved in the school play, Beauty and the Beast, seeing my friends every day, and playing volleyball.
It's the stuff in between I'm not looking forward to. Algebra 1, Physical Science, English (we're reading Great Expectations, yippee-doo), that stuff. And the getting up at six thirty is rather unappealing too. I value my sanity and sleep, and those are two things I will most definitely be lacking in once school really starts.
However, I have had a pretty eventful summer.
Highlights include but are not limited to:
-Visiting my cousins in Greenville-did you know that lightning bug guts glow in the dark???
-Going shopping with my friends. (You can fit four teenage girls on the Big Bird kiddie ride at the mall. It's just really uncomfortable.)
-Going to Mount Olympus with my friends and going down the insanely scary drop slide-FIVE SECONDS LONG!!! SO FREAKY!!!
-Working on my four writing projects. (3 Princess Tales, still not finished with Rumplestiltskin, ugh, as well as Shackles, my novel and pet project)
-Walking around town (mostly to the library)
-Which contributed to the 90+ books I have read since the beginning of summer.
-Spending 3 weeks in NY with my grandparents and seeing my cousins and going tubing and learning to ski. (Sort of. I'm not very good yet.)
-Getting a bloody nose on my final tube run as well as a swollen lip that earned me several stares and the nickname "Duck."
-Starting volleyball preseason (I have to get up for it now though and it's been seriously messing with my biological clock...can't sleep past 6:30 anymore...so sad.)

So, I guess that's about it. High school, here I come!!! (Ready or not. Preferably not.)

Taking a break

Rachel is offline for the next couple of weeks while on vacation in upstate NY.
This post was not authorized by the Mad Poet.

Funny Cat Picture

I do not understand this picture, but I still think it's hilarious.

Revision

Revision, as I have learned, is the art of taking something that's already perfectly fine in the first place and completely destroying it in the hopes that doing so will somehow make it better.

For example:
As I have said about 15,000 times before, I am in the process of writing a series of fairy-tale stories. The first one was finished in November of 2008, and I just started my ninth. The problem is, however, that I went back and re-read the four original stories. And since then, all I've been doing is going back to rewrite those. I started my rewrite of Snow White this week. My original Snow White I did in about two weeks, and I wrote the whole ending in about five minutes.

Let's just say if I had to pick a "Worst Story I Have Ever Written", that would be it.

This week, I also finished my rough draft of Rumplestiltskin, which I started work on in November. (NOVEMBER!!! NOVEMBER!!! NOVEMBER!!!) Admittedly, there was an incident in which I accidentally deleted all nine pages of my original draft, and then I took about a two-month hiatus to finish Rapunzel, but still!!! I've been working on this one story for nearly six months, and I still have to go back and revise!!! What's worse, I don't even really even like this story!!!

So, hopefully, Rumplestiltskin will be ready for reading by the time I leave for vacation July 24th. And if not, well, maybe I should take up a new hobby. Like knitting.

For Those of You Who Love Writing

I was going through my emails the other day when I found a website link that my mom had sent me. I decided to click on it.
The website link was to a site called "Fifteen Minutes of Fiction."
About an hour later, I had created a profile. This afternoon I spent about an hour and a half creating posts on said site. And now, I would like to post a link so that all my fellow logophiles can waste their time in a semi-creative manner.
If you'd like to look up what I've done on the site, my username is Ari James.
Enjoy!!!
Update: Sorry, the stupid thing won't let me post a link, so I'll do this the old fashioned way.
Go to your little browser thingie. Type in fifteenminutesoffiction.com. Be happy.

I Did the Stupidest Thing the Other Day

As I've said in previous posts, I have problems with my life. Stuff just happens to me, stuff I can't explain. (Or, when I do explain it, gets me a lot of laughs and weird looks.)
Another one of those types of things happened to me the other day.
My brother needed new body wash. So we went to Walmart and got him some. When we got home and I went to put the body wash away, I decided I wanted to see what it smelled like.
Somehow (and I still haven't been able to figure out how) I managed to get the body wash up my nose, and then somehow it kind of got down into my mouth so I not only got to smell it; I got to taste it too!!!
The picture below has become my new life motto. Click on it, and you shall see why.

Splitting Hairs

For almost my entire life, my hair has been short. No real reason; I was just lazy. Last year, I decided to grow my hair out. My friends and family had been pressuring me to do it, and I wanted to try something new, so I did.
90% of the time, it looked awful. I was in a play that year, and I couldn't cut my hair, even though I really wanted layers, so I ended up with a style that looked like I'd gotten up and gone to school without doing anything to my hair at all, even though I always washed and brushed and dried it before I left. After the play, I got layers, but my hair was still the same way: the ends flipped out and completely disguised all my layers, and I still hadn't figured out how to do things with it. (and it was barely long enough for me to put it in a ponytail)
Finally, last June, I snapped. I had just about had it with my stupid hair.
So I chopped it all off. Half an hour in the barber's chair, and I was left with a supershort pixie and the nagging thought, "What on earth did I just do to myself?"
And now, a year later, I can honestly say I don't regret going shorter. My pixie has grown out (obviously), and I've found a relatively low-maintenance style that really works for me.
Here are five reasons I love my short hair:

1. It's super easy to take care of; all I do to mine is mousse and dry and I'm done.
2. I have a smaller face, so short hair doesn't make my face look like it's being eaten alive.
3. I don't have all those long snarly hairs in my brush all the time.
4. It fits my personality better.
5. Have you ever tried to go through an 80 degree summer with long hair? Let me tell you, it's not fun.

My friends (same ones who told me to grow it out in the first place) think I should grow it back out. And who knows, maybe someday I will.
But for now, I think I'll enjoy my short hair.