Summer life thus far...

Checking account: OFFICIAL! =]=]=]=]=]=]=]=]=]=]=]=]
Laundry: being accomplished.
Unpacking: major upswing! I can now walk through my room! Yahoo! But I'm not quite done yet...
Computer: apparently NOT fixed, so I'm leaving it off when I'm not using it. Bringing it back from sleep is easier than restarting.
Friday night: tennis and cake. Megan, Kristina, Andrei, Alguikas (I think I spelled that right...). Yay!!!! =]
Car update: not this summer. BUT. Next year, my mom is going to get a "new" used car, and her current car (a three or four year old Ford Focus, blue =] ) is going to be mine!!! =]=]=] So one more carless year. I *was* most likely going to get a used car of my own this summer, but it would be a really, really cheap almost beater, and since I'm using it to drive five hours away on a regular basis, my parents were a tad concerned. So I'll be getting a car that we (they) know the history of, which makes them happier. And it's more than fine by me.
Credit card: um...looking like a not yet. I mentioned it to my mom (a just in case thing, you know? Plus, you don't have *any* credit until you start things of that sort, and not having any at all isn't a wonderful thing, especially when I'll be living on my own in three years.). She's more of "you don't need it..." and "we're worried you'd use it too much..." (as though I'm incapable of judging my own limits). So it's a work in progress.
Cell phone: I think I'll be doing that on my own next year, as my parents want to switch providers AGAIN and I don't have a problem with what I've got right now.
I'm starting to feel very grown up.
And it's wierd.
And that is Rachel's world at the moment.

Hoorah! =]

I think I have FINALLY solved the problem that is my computer.
My wireless thinger was randomly throwing me offline. Sometimes every twenty minutes, sometimes not for mor than a day, depending on the mood it's in I guess.
Not just kicking me off, though. Saying the thing's been disabled when it hasn't been and not letting me enable it without restarting which takes a LONG time.
It threw me off two or three times today.
So I decided to go psycho on it and try to figure out what's going on.
Fifteen or twenty minutes later, after clicking on random things (I honestly don't know *how* I found it, just that I found it), there was a setting thinger saying that my computer can turn off the wireless thing when it wants to just to conserve energy.
So I told it NOT to.
And I'm crossing my fingers in the hopes that I've solved the problem and won't have to restart for that reason again.
Blasted computer.

Tales with tails...

I feel like a babysitter of the animals.
My mom's at the dentist, Nate is at school, so it's me, a beagle and my kitty.
Tink chose to have a hairball in my room this morning. Meaning she's ticked off (she normally does this on purpose). And that's either because I was gone last night or my room's a wreck, or a combination of the two. So she's trying to cuddle up with me because I'm mad and letting her know it.
Snoopy is just being Snoopy...cute. And following me.
Every time I give one attention, the other gets really ticked off. Pet Tink, get puppy eyes and five more minutes of being followed by Snoopy. Pet Snoopy, get the most evil of all evil glares from Tink and she'll most likely walk away.
Then I need to scold Snoopy for following Tink and sticking his nose either up her butt or in her face, or tell Tink to tell him off. The one I'm telling off with then proceed to be angered.
Right now, they're each being adorable and sleeping, but when they're both up...goodness. They're a handful.
I missed my little animals.
I'll put a picture up later. =]

I think this calls for a nap...

I'm completely drained today, and I don't know why...I got a normal amount of sleep last night and all.
=P
Last night...sleepover! We were the trio again. It had been way too long. And it was awesome.
We went to Oberweis for some ice cream. I had a hot fudge sundea with cookie dough... =]=]=] (Word to the wise: don't do the two scoop. It's freaking huge.)
Then we hung around and goofed off for an extended period of time.
I shared my thrilling tales of New York =]
Then we watched Forest Gump.
Which I hadn't seen before.
And it was amazing! =]
Today I saw Pirates again with my mom and brother.
We stayed for the stinger after the credits. And it was really, really cute.
I've still got the music stuck in my head. But it's very happy there! =]
After getting back and chilling for a while, I decided to run to the bank and get some info on checking accounts, as I want to open one soon. I could have sworn they were open until five. Nope. 430...I got there at 432. Ack.
My room is the biggest wreck it has EVER been...I can't unpack entirely because I don't have a place for everything. I don't have a place for it all because I need to go through my room and get rid of some junk. I can't go through my room because I need to unpack because I can't move for the boxes and bags.
Aaah!!!
Hopefully it will be sorted out by July...
So I've been goofing off and trying some of my skirts and such that I haven't worn in ages and ages to see how they fit. A lot of them look a lot better on me, which is exciting. I need an excuse to wear them now. One of my swimsuits is perfectly fine on me, but my back up old one that I wear mainly to the water park because I know that one won't travel anywhere when on slides now looks awful (I've only had it for six years...) so I'm thinking of getting one of the one pieces with part of it cut out so from certain angles it looks like a two piece...another bikini would just travel, and I don't like plain one pieces.
I finally played through my Phantom music book I got in NY the other night...!!!! It was amazing =]
One of my neighbors commented on my playing, too. He said something along the lines of how wonderful it is to hear that "blessed flute" again.
I hadn't practiced with the windows open in a LONG time. So that made me happy.
I miss Wartburg people a little already, but it's nice to be at home and around friends that I've hardly seen for goodness knows how long.
I think it's time for me to start unpacking...or at least trying to.
Maybe I'll clean out and unpack at the same time, somehow...
One last thing:
I was listening to my Spring Awakening soundtrack the other day, and there's this song at the end that's not part of the musical. I finally noticed the lyrics, and it definintely made me think of a friend or two. So I will leave you with them...it really has NOTHING to do with the musical.
"There Once Was A Pirate"

There once was a pirate
Who put out to sea
His mates all around him
No maiden on his knee
Oh sail for a little
A little little litte
Oh sail for a little
Til she finds him

There once was a maiden
Who wandered the mead
To gather blue violets
Her mama would need
A wail through the willows
All hollow through the willows
She’ll wail through the willows
‘Til she finds him

The sea was so violent
The crew went below
They begged him to join them
But he would not go
Oh sail a little little
For just a little little
Oh sail for a little
‘Til she finds him

Her heart was so laden
She fell by a tree
Sang of some pirate
Who haunted the sea
A wail through the willows
All hollow through the willows
She’ll wail through the willows
‘Til she finds him

A wail through the willows
(sail for a little)
All hollow through the willows
(the willow willows)
She’ll wail through the willows
(sail for a little)
‘Til she finds him

He’ll sail for a little
A little little litte
He’ll sail for a little
‘Til she finds him
He’ll sail for a little ‘til she finds him

Wow...

A year is done.
I'm sitting in my almost entirely boxed up, very empty room.
And there is no one else on this floor.
It's dead silent. No dry erase boards. No people, open doors, in and out of the bathroom.
WEIRD.
One thing I've loved about college so far:
People actually like me.
People I just met. And a couple I've known for a few weeks but I'm still really quiet around.
They're all "oh Rachel! Come here!" and they talk to me and try to draw me out of my little shell.
Back in grade school, people just let me stay in my shell and never tried to start conversations with me (a majority of the time, if I was still REALLY quiet around them or just met them). Even in high school.
This is new.
And I like it =]
So tomorrow.
Change of plans.
Wind ensemble has to stay through graduation. Not the band I'm in.
So I get to check out in the afternoon.
Do my band concert.
Stay in a hotel with my dad.
And head back Sunday MORNING instead of late afternoon. Putting me back in the early afternoon instead of late at night.
YAY!!!
I'm really, really excited now.
Annd it's back to packing.
More later.

Dreams...

Last night I had this dream...
Doc wasn't in Japan, he was working on May term band with us. I had found sheet music for POTC, and it had two flute solos in it, so I was really excited. One day, during a rehersal, Sarah and I were playing them for fun (even though we were sitting on opposite sides of the auditorium we were in) and Doc heard us and really liked the music, so he mixed the solos in with a piece we were playing that had nothing to do with POTC.
We were going to start playing them at the next rehersal.
Then, everyone else got back from Japan, including Dominique (my flute prof...*cringe*) who felt the need to spend ridiculous amounts of time showing off about how she got to play a solo with the band and a duet with this other student of hers. So Doc, being friendly, worked that solo and duet dealy into the piece he worked the POTC solos into. Then, the person Dominique was playing the duet with decided to be really rude and steal Sarah's solo. Doc got mad and ended up just giving me a huge solo.
Eventually, we decided to play the music on the football field, kind of like a field show but not really. We hardly moved, but there were formations, and during my solo the band parted and I got to stand in the middle, so I was excited. But no one could march very well, so I was just frustrated most of the time (when going backwards, everyone kept looking behind them and going down on their heels).
Then we had a dinner banquet type dealy that we had to walk to on our own. It was down a river from Wartburg, but I don't remember which river. I went with Melissa. We were confused when we got there because there was a really pretty upstairs dining room overlooking this river, but there were signs telling us to go in the basement, which was decorated for Halloween. And the stairs were blocked by these huge, creepy taxidermied animals we had to climb over. It was disturbing, but in my dream I thought it was a brillian decorating idea.
After we ate, we went upstairs and were told to change for our last performance and get in a boat to go back to school together. When we got up there, it was GORGEOUS...there was a deck that went right up to the water, a bunch of leafless trees in the water, a bit of a mist and the sun was just setting. I was mad that we didn't get to eat upstairs.
So I got changed into my old marching band uniform that I hadn't worn in forever and waited for a boat with Leah. The boats turned out to be refridgerators that went underwater kind of like submarines. Leah and I got in one and we were trying to get Sarah to come in, too, as she was mad because Jessica and Scott (her friends from home...who don't go here...) were already headed back, but they didn't know where they were going after they got back. She kept saying she wouldn't fit in there with us, so I got out and waited with Melissa Hageman (I don't know if I spelled that right) when I realized that everyone else was really dressed up and I was the only one in a marching band uniform, except for Melissa H. who was in her old cheerleading uniform. Then Doc came up to give us a motivational speech before we got in the last boat (and an actual boat, too) when he turned into Wellman (my highschool director) and I got all emotional because I was listening to Wellman's motivational speech while wearing my old uniform. Then we left. And I woke up.
WIERD.

NYC

So the trip.
Was freaking amazing.
And I kind of want to go back.
We saw a grand total of 13 shows in 14 days (!).
Including:
*Company
*Phantom of the Opera
*Pirate Queen
*Curtains
*Beauty and the Beast
*Il Trittico (opera)
*Inherit the Wind
*In the Heights
*The Drowsy Chaperone
*110 in the Shade
*Spring Awakening
*Mary Poppins
*Grey Gardens
The funniest ones were Curtains and Drowsy Chaperone.
My heart stopped due to the music in Phantom, Il Trittico, Company and Spring Awakening.
Il Trittico was flipping amazing and I want to see another opera...I LOVE operas...
110 in the Shade and Grey Gardens were my least favorites.
Beauty and the Beast was really good, but it was getting tired. I can see why they're closing it in July. Mary Poppins was REALLY REALLY AMAZING!!!!!!! I loved every second of it.
Inherit the Wind wasn't a musical. It was about evolution...the Scopes Monkey Trial. Christopher Plummer and Brian Dennehey were in it (and they were amazing...ESPECIALLY Christopher...) and I would give anything to see it again. It was one of my favorites by far. Intermission came and I was confused because it felt like we had only been there for fifteen minutes....It was just amazing!
Company was also really freaking good. I loved the music. And I could really really relate to the message it was sending...more than I've been able to relate to something along those lines before. I loved every second. It hit so close to home. And it was AMAZING.
Pirate Queen was pretty good...the only thing that bothered me with it was that it was supposed to have an extremely feminist message, but the main character was seeing someone and that aspect controlled a LOT of her actions...the message would have been stronger had she been a little more independent. But it was still good!
Phantom was absolutely the most amazing thing...ever...I can't even compare it to anything else. It is in a class all its own.
And those are the shows...Sandy and Rachel, I'm going to burn you each copies of the Spring Awakening soundtrack, I think you'll both love it.
More on the events of the trip later! =]

Annd I'm back!

In a cornfield!
Woo.
It is nice to be back, I must admit...
That trip was absolutely amazing.
I've got an uber long post brewing in the back of my mind.
BUT.
I'm dead and still slightly getting over my random allergy attack.
And I've got to be at work in the morning.
Normally, this time on a Saturday night is nothing...a mere warm up....but seeing as I've been walking almost everywhere and I haven't slept like a normal person since the Thursday night before I left, I kind of need to get to bed.
But I will leave you with the happiest news I've ever had to tell.
I got back normally and everything. Noticed that my dry erase board in the hall has been completely cleaned, which is odd, but ok.
So I unlock the door to walk inside.
And first thing I see:
Tile.
The carpet isn't there.
Kari's loft is gone.
With the TV, her chair, the microwave, food shelves, table lamp thing, half the curtains and all her stuff.
The devil incarnate has, indeed, officially MOVED OUT!
And I will never have to deal with her again!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm sitting on what was her bed right now. I've been kind of spreading out gradually, but not too much becuase I do have to pack this week.
But oh is it nice...
My own room.
And the horrors that were my roomate are now completely over.
Forever and ever.
And I can sit here and blast my Spring Awakening soundtrack (if you ever get the chance, GO SEE IT, it was one of my favorites of all 13 that I saw...if not *the* best one...) without disturbing anything.
More to come tomorrow!
Good night all =]

Things that stalk you in a bush in the night...

The lecture end of class we're going through this week has made me realize exactly how awkward and quiet I am capable of being...I'm growing kind of tired of it, but the only way to get past it is to be the opposite and SAY things, but how do you do that if you have no idea of what to say?
Argh.
Anyhoo.
Last night was awesome.
Sarah randomly asked me to join her on a walk around 1015 on the bike trail. It was all dark and cool-looking. We sat on a bench by a river and were just talking and enjoying the night when the bush started rustling. And moving. I get really unreasonably creeped out at night, it's not that bad when there's someone else there who doesn't because that usually makes me calm down a little, but a rustling bush kind of freaked me out. I'm all "AAH! WHAT'S IN THERE???" while scooting back on the bench and Sarah's leaning forward, not the least bit perturbed, going "Ooh I wonder what that is..." Then it stopped. Then it started again, closer and louder, REALLY freaking me out when Sarah gets up and kind of runs a few feet away from the bench, which kind of sent me over the edge of creeped outedness and I ran faster and it was interesting. She says she was running because if the thing decided to jump out at us, we had nothing to hit it with to stop it. I was just freaked out that there was something in the bushes. =P Other than the creepiness, it was a wonderful time! =]
I've decided that May term band is pretty much the most amazing thing ever. No one wants to play piccolo, Melissa Fox and Kelsey took one song apiece and just kind of handed me the other five or so with a picc part and at least two of them have solo type dealies...Snakes is by far the best, there's a whole section where the flutes aren't playing, it's me and oboes with the melody, and it ROCKS...the notes are REALLY high, up to the A flat four lines above the staff and I hold a G four lines above the staff a few times, but miraculously it stayed in tune and really sounded decent. I love playing picc... =]
Now I have to figure out exactly what I'm doing for a short presentation tomorrow, print out an app for the water park and finish it and fill it in, and try to pack just a little bit...
=]