These summer LJ entries of mine haven't been very frequent, have they? ^^;; It's not just my imaginaton - the Ack! Drug meds ARE giving me lack of motivation. o.o;; I'm trying my best to overcome it, though. :3

     Haven't had a proper entry in a while... where should I start? Hmm... I guess I'll start with the ADVENTURE I had on the night of the 3rd! XDD
     It's usually a family tradition of ours to go to our city's 4th of July baseball game in our stadium. (which occurs on the 3rd of July XD) This is their most special baseball game of the year because they put on a huuuge fireworks show afterwards, whether the team won or lost, and we all get to go and sit on the grassy baseball field to waid said fireworks! <3 As for the game itself, watching it's never been very interesting for us (I think watching baseball is boring ^^;;), but the atmosphere is fun... plus the food is great. :'DD XDD
     Well, this time, it had been particularly cloudy/stormy/rainy for the past few days. During the whole game, we watched as dark clouds surely threatening rain filled the sky... >.> Then, at the very very very end of the game, it started raining. I love rain. <3 But then it shortly began to absolutely POUR. XD People quickly began to retreat into the cover of the area behind the seats of the stadium where you could buy concessions and stuffeh. But so many people were trying to get in there at once, the lines became stalled - people outside couldn't move an inch, and were isntead stuck in the pouring rain. My sister was one of these people that had tried to quickly retreat... but my parents and I had remaining sitting in our seats, knowing the lines weren't gonna move any time soon. XD
     My parents had made me wear long jeans to the game, so I had also brought a light jacket which me, so I put the hood over my head. And I had also brought a beach towel to sit on on the field once it came time for the fireworks, but instead put it over me like a blanket in the rain as I continued sitting, enjoying it all. XDD My parents, meanwhile, were covering themselves by keeping a plastic cover thingy lifted over their heads. But since everything covering me was all cloth, it did not take long for me to become wet, so I just gave up - it was a lost cause anyways - and decided to go join my sister standing in the pouring rain to keep her company. XD ^^ It did not take long for me to become absolutely SOAKED - it was like somebody had pushed me into a pool with all my clothes on. o.o;; I wished my parents hadn't made me wear long jeans, because they were soaking weight and weighing me down and clinging to my legs. XD;; But then, as all of us stuck outside in the pouring rain were laughing at our wet selves, the loudspeaker suddenly began to play the song "Sweet Caroline"! Immediately everybody outside in the rain began to sing along "Sweeeeet Caroline... (BUUM BUUM BUUUUM!) Good times never seem so gooooood!". With all of us singing aloud to that song in our present situation... it was absolutely hilarious. XDDDD
     Eventually my parents joined us, and the four of us managed to get inside the covered area. Now we had to decide what to do... since it was raining, we didn't know if the fireworks would still be on or not, and they hadn't said anything... and my sister and I were soaking wet, especially with our long jeans clinging to us. ^^;; So my parents decided we'd just go home. Well, my dad has a habit of parking his car very far away from wherever our destination is, so we had to walk a looong way to get back to the car from the stadium... probably just a little less than a mile... at nighttime in the still pouring rain. XDDD We went with the logic of "Well, it's impossible to get any wetter than we already are.." XD
     Earlier that day when we had been walking from the car to the stadium, my parents had once again complained about me wearing flip-flops, which they do a lot... but as we were walking from the stadium to the car that night in the pouring rain, we had to walk through many flowing "rivers" that were now on the streets and sidewalks. My parents and sister's shoes and socks soon became soaked and wet and squishy, but I was fine with my flip-flops and bare feet. :33 XDDDD
      During the whole trip, I could not stop grinning. XDDDDD Eventually we reached the car... and it stopped raining right before we got in. o.o

      While driving home on the highway, we looked out into the distance... to find that they had gone on with the fireworks show afterall. We missed it. >.> Even though I was disappointed we missed the fireworks show, I was still happy with the adventure we ended up having instead... IT WAS SO FUN! XDDDD :'DDD

     I ended up getting soaked all the way through my underwear. o.o Once we got home and I got in my room, it felt soooo good to totally strip down and change into dry warm pajamas... mmm... ~.~

     Hmm, what else did I not get to mention because of my lack of LJ entries... ^^;; Well, last Wednesday I had another swim meet... and it was in a pool that was THREE FEET DEEP - the whole length. Which meant, yes, we had to DIVE off BLOCKS into water that was only three feet deep. O_O And yes, that's dangerous... but oi, nobody got hurt so it's all good, right? ^^;; And I never hit the bottom since my dives are good and I can reach far out, but they were still slightly scary when we were doing them for the first time during warm-ups, especially since I'm 5'9... when I dived into the water, the bottom of the pool was immediately RIGHT THERE very close to my face. o_o
     ...To move into a different lane while I was already in the water, all I had to do was step over the lane rope. XDDDDDD

     Other stuffeh too... I was still able to watch fireworks from our backyard (well, though the window in my room upstairs, which faces the backyard) on the 4th of July. <3 And after a long break, I've finally started working on Okami for the Wii again! :3
     And... is it just my imagination? I dunno, but something has made me hopeful. It was so small but made me so happy. ^^ And so I shall hope...

     My dad wants me to give him piano lessons starting this weekend. o.o

     Speaking of piano... I FOUND THE SHEET MUSIC FOR THE PIANO VERSION OF THE SILENT HILL THEME SONG! <333

     Quite a few of you who may be reading this already know what Silent Hill is (and have played the games), but for those of you who don't, Silent Hill is a horror genre videogame... there are four of them out now, I believe. (EDIT:: Okayness, one of them Silent Hill gamers *cough*LaPoap*cough* commented this entry to tell me that there are actually FIVE Silent Hill games, plus one for the PSP and a remake of the first Silent Hill coming out in a few months. XD) I actually haven't played a single one of them, but I really love a lot of the music. ^^;; ESPECIALLY the piano version of the main theme!


     Well, I had been searching around online for the piano sheet music to that song for a looong time, and I finally found it! <3 I've already started playing it. I can't believe how amazingly beautiful it is.

     On Wednesday, I swam at my second swim meet. ^^ This time I did backstroke in a Medley Relay, a breastroke event (<3), and a freestyle event. I was also supposed to be a freestyle relay, but it got canceled. ^^;;
     Earlier in the day, I wasn't sure if the swim meet would be canceled or not, because it was storming pretty badly. But by the time of the meet, it was hot and sunny (not a single cloud in the sky) again! The weather here is craaazeh... it can change so fast within a few minutes. XDD;; Well, more than hot, it was VERY hot... and the water in the outside pool ended up feeling AMAZING! :'D I've never swam in an outside pool that felt THAT good. Mmm. 8D After getting out of the pool, I didn't feel cold or hot outside. I felt very comfortable the whole time. I felt bad for all the non-swimmers there, though... ^^;; I know for a fact that Jill (the coach) was in a very grumpy mood the whole time because she was feeling miserable in the heat.
     The whole place itself was very nice, because this pool is in an incredibly expensive country club. (Attending these free swim meets is the only way to get in that pool! XD) The locker rooms were AWESOME! They were CARPETED (very rare for locker rooms for an outside pool), had tiled walls and ceiling, sinks and a mirror and fancy folded paper towels on both ends (it was a rather large locker room), a couple bathroom stalls, showers with curtains... wowzers. o.o;; It was like being in a fancy hotel! XDD;;
     Anyways, as for how the actual meet went... well, I ended up being the only 15+ girl who did that breastroke event! o.o So they combined me with the 15+ boys' breastroke event since they had an open lane. I was racing at the same time as them, but I wasn't technincally racing AGAINST them because you only compete against your own gender. Well, the thing about comparing girls' swimming times to guys' swimming times... generally the girls' times always faster. UNTIL. Until the guys reach around age 15... then the guys' times are always faster. XD;; Sooo, even though I was only technically racing against myself, my expectations for how I'd do against the guys(I know at least one of them was 18) weren't very high. XDD;; And nope, I didn't beat them, but... I kept up with them!! O_O Those big older muscular guys... muaha, breastroke really is my best stroke. Also, after I got out of the pool from that event, one of the younger girls waiting behind the block from the other swim team told me, "You're a really good swimmer!". That was touching. ^^
     The rest of the meet went by smoothly and faster than last week's meet. :3

     After swim team practice the next day, we got a ton a food! XD It was one of the guy's birthday, so we had cookie cake... we also each got a candy bar. And one of the other coaches generally bought us a pack of half-sized gatorade bottles. (They were strawberry kiwi flavored!) o.o :'D Aaand we got our ribbons from last week's meet. ^^

     Yesterday, not only did I manage to find that Silent Hill piano sheet music online, but I also got a whole big book of piano sheet music for various Coldplay songs. :3 (none from their latest album, though) Aaand, I finally managed to buy Coldplay's first album, "Parachutes"! That was the only Coldplay album we didn't have, and I've been really wanting it. <3 I'm gonna add "Shiver" and "Yellow" to my Zune as soon as possible!
    

     We had our second marching band rehersal two days ago. :3 Buuut, my old athletic shoes are horribly beat up from last year's marching season, so my mom took me out to buy new ones last weekend. The athletic shoes have to be able to fit my orthotics for my flat feet in them, and they have to be all material that doesn't let water leak in, 'cause sometimes we have to march in mud and puddles too. >.> In other words... the only pair of athletic shoes that ended up fitting and working that we bought were boring plain white.
     So of course, the first thing I thought when I saw them was that they needed more COLOR! :D Since they're plain white, it's like they're an open canvas, except they're shoes! So after we bought them, I colored on them with markers. 8D

     ...Well, the markers aren't permanent or waterproof, so there were several times where I accidently ended up getting marker all over me... my fingers, palms, legs... XDDD;; During marching band, before we went outside, we were sitting down to listen to this guy lecture us on what we had to do for fundraising. (I have to sell frozen food. >.>) That's when my friends noticed my shoes. Melissa kept pressing her hands against the red stars I had drawn on my shoes to make prints of red stars on her own hand. XDDD And some other people touched my shoes, only to discovered that it was staining their fingers. XDDDD And then later when we were outside and stretching, we did that one-legged stretch where you take one leg off the ground and hold the foot of that leg with your opposite hand... we did that for both legs, and afterwards I looked at my hands and there was marker ALL over them. XDDDD

     That marching band rehersal was also a movie night. After rehersal ended at 9PM, you could stay after to watch a movie in the band room while eating and drinking any snacks that you brought with you. :3 The movie we watched ended up being... Elf. o.o Well, the freshmen were talking so loudly that nobody could hear the movie, and that's pretty much what the rest of us wanted to do, so all of the upperclassmen started leaving. ^^;; I didn't care whether we could hear the movie or not, but all my friends wanted to leave, so then I left early too. It was nice while we were there, though. :3 But it was also especially nice waiting outside... I love being outside at nighttime in the summer for some reason. ^^ <3

     The next day, I decided I better get some PERMANENT markers to draw on my shoes with, so they wouldn't make such a mess and wouldn't be washed off in the rain. XDD;; I used my own money to buy them, and washed off the old marker from my shoes before drawing with the new permanent markers. And this was the result!:



     ......
     As you can see, the point was to make them as colorful as possible, whether that turned out pretty or not. XDDDDD But now instead of being boring plain white, my marching band shoes are AWESOME! 8D :'DDD

     And last but not least, I'm leaving in a little over an hour to go to my first swim meet today! ^^

     THE COLDPLAY CONCERT LAST NIGHT WAS AMAZING!!! O___O;; <333

     ...Yes, I had to type that in all caps. XDD Oh man... I'm SOOO glad I saw it... whoa, so THIS is what it's like to be a big fan of an individual band... o_0 XDDD Well, I'll go in backwards order and start with the Coldplay-related stuffeh first. XD

     They played a ton of songs... lesse here, the ones I can remember are: Life in Technicolor I, Violet Hill, Clocks, Yellow, Cemeteries of London, Glass of Water, 42, Fix You, Lost!, Talk, Postcards From Far Away, Strawberry Swing, Politik, [maybe] Now My Feet Won't Touch the Ground, Viva la Vida, Lovers in Japan, and Life in Technicolor II.
     ...They played even more than that actually, but there were a few songs they performed that I wasn't familiar with either because they were on one of their older albums that we do have but that I don't have on my Zune, or they were on their first album ("Parachutes"), which is the only album of theirs that we don't have. And I really wanna get that first album now! XD ^^
     The first seven songs that I listed were played in that order. Life in Technicolor I is a PERFECT song to start up with - I had predicted that's the first song they were gonna start with. :3 It doesn't have any singing in it, and the sounds are just... it's hard to explain, but I always imagine the sun rising and a new day beginning when I listen to it. ^^ And since they started with Life in Technicolor I, it was also perfect of them to end the concert with Life in Technicolor II. (which is longer and has lyrics) ^^

     Listening to a song in a concert is so different from just listening to the radio or album version. When I'm I'm searching for music on YouTube, I can't stand to listen to the videos with the songs performed live because I've always greally preffered them NOT live. But listening to a song RECORDED live, and actually BEING in a concert WHILE it's being performed live, cannot be compared. When you're in a concert, all of the songs automatically become 100 times more intense. If you didn't know there was bass during certain parts of a song, you'll sure find out during a concert XD - every single bass note rumbles your whole body. I can understand why even a deaf person could enjoy going to one - you can FEEL pretty much everything being performed. <3 Though, this is also means that if somebody really dislikes loud music, they probably wouldn't like going to concerts. ^^;;

     I was only disappointed (and surprised) that they didn't perform Speed of Sound... but other than that, I was happy with their song choices. =D Well, they didn't play Twisted Logic, which is one of their songs I have on my Zune, but I'm not surprised - it's not on their latest album, and I don't think it's one of their more popular songs. ^^;; The majority of their songs came from their latest album (well, latest two, actually - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, and Prospekt's March, which both came together), but they also performed some from their previous albums too.
     When Clocks started, I mistakingly thought they were starting Speed of Sound... I always seem to mix up the beginnings of those two for some reason. o.o I was glad to learn my mom does the same thing. XDDD But when I realized it was Clocks instead, I thought, "Oh, well this is good too! =D". XD In concert, Clocks was VERY impressive. Might've been something about how they had all the pretty lights going during the whole song, but it was just... it was one of the most impressive songs of the whole concert, I think. <3
     I was very pleasantly surprised when Yellow started (the song lyrics I posted two entries ago.. I just recently discovered this song and already love it), because it's from their very first album and since it was still towards the beginning of the concert, I didn't know if they'd play anything from their very first one. But I should've known... Yellow's their most popular song from that album. ^^ Anyways, during the whole song... well, you know how sometimes during huge crowd events, there will be giant beach balls being tossed everywhere? Instead of giant beach balls, there were HUUUGE yellow BALLOONS that were being tossed everywhere in slow motion. o.o They weren't all the same exact size, either... it looks like yellow massive blobs were slowly bouncing around everywhere, because of their different sizes, their slow motion, and the way they never stayed perfectly round and would jiggle when hit. XDDD ...Wow, that whole description sounded REALLY perverted. o.o XDDDDDDDD Eventually it was discovered that there was bunches of yellow confetti in each balloon. At the end of the song, the main Coldplay singer asked for the audience on the main floor up front to get one of those balloons up there, so they did. He then stood back a bit, watching as the huge balloon slowly came down towards him... and then JUMPED with the top of his guitar aimed at it, popping it so that all the yellow confetti fell on him. That looked really awesome for some reason. XDD

     The lead singer... that poor guy... he was SO exhausted during the whole concert. XDDD;; And I'm not surprised - he kept moving and jumping and running around during the whole thing! During concerts, the performers get REALLY involved in what they're doing. o.o <3 There were screens that gave you closer views of what was going on on stage, and you could see on them that his face was constantly dripping in sweat. o_o At the end of performing 42, when he was playing the piano and only had maybe two lines left of the song, he paused in singing and just kept playing the piano chords and was breathing heavily and giving us these looks... I thought for a moment that maybe he forgot the lyrics, but no, he was just so incredibly winded! XDDD;; 
     He joked around with his exhaustion, though. ^^ Like at the very end of performing Viva la Vida. (which everybody cheered for the loudest of any other song when it started, by the way XD) But first I guess I better explain something... here's the music video of Viva la Vida:
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44xirQ55IgA
     (It won't let people embed it.) You know how starting at 3:01, there's this sang "Whooooaaa oh whoooaaa oh" in the backround that goes on? During the concert, they didn't do that part themselves - they had US, the audience, sing the "whoa"s in the backround instead. XDD ^^ Well, in the actual song, the "whoa"s stop at around 3:35, but we kept going until the very end... and more. XDDD Because after he was finished singing, the lead singer just went and COLLAPSED down onto the ground on purpose... and didn't get up. XDDDDDD But all of us in the audience kept singing the "whooooa oh"s over and over even though the rest of the song was done, and the lead singer went along with it and eventually went "whoooa oh" in this really strained and kinda off-tune voice and would attempt to get up from his lying down position whenever a new "whoa" started, but then he'd collapse back down. (this was all an act, by the way) XDDD 
     ...Oh yeah, and apparently they DID have the same bell you see in that music video, in the concert. Because after the concert, my mom asked my dad and I, "Did you see that huge bell the drummer kept hitting during Viva la Vida?! :D", but neither my dad nor I saw it because we weren't watching the drummer. ^^;;

     Yeaaah, they played the song I had been dreading the possibility of them performing - Fix You. (I wasn't sure because it's not on their latest album, and I don't know how popular it is.) >.>; Well, actually, I have to admit it - there was a tiny part of me that actually WANTED them to perform Fix You, for reasons unknown even to me. I was all "meh" about the possibility because it's one of the few songs I have trouble listening to because I always directly relate it with some bad memories, but listening to it in concert was strangely... clarifying? Refreshing? Uplifting? I don't know what word I should use to describe it. But it definitely wasn't painful at ALL to listen to during the concert. It only succeeded in making me feel much better. I'm glad they performed it. <3

     I was SO not expecting them to play Postcards From Far Away!! o.o XDD;; It wasn't how it usually is, though - they added some bass chords. I knew they wouldn't just play a short pretty little piano solo at a concert. ^^;;; But I was still glad they played it. :3
     AAAAAHHHHH they played Strawberry Swing! :'DDDD It's on their latest album, but it's not a radio hit and they didn't perform ALL of their songs from their latest album, so I didn't know if they'd do that one or not... I was very glad when they did because I really love that song. ^^

     Holy shiz. You have not heard Lovers in Japan unless you've heard it in concert. O_O;; Well, SEEN it in concert, actually... it was beautiful! During much of the song, from the ceiling they realized not confetti, but tons and TONS of paper butterflies in different colors that glowed in the dark! Since we weren't sitting on the main floor, none of them were over us, but it was still so incredibly beautiful to watch. Wow. <333
     Now I can say that I've seen/heard my ultimate favorite song (Lovers in Japan is my favorite over all others both Coldplay and non-Coldplay) live in concert. ^^

     There's so much more I could say about the concert, but... *looks up at everything I already typed* Looks like I've already said enough. XDDD;;
     Ahh, now I don't want to talk to about the non-Coldplay related stuffeh! XDDD;; Well, to make things really short, Howling Bells and Snow Patrol also performed before Coldplay did, I've known Coldplay was British for a while now but I had no idea Snow Patrol was from Ireland o_0, and our seats were completely relocated, which made my parents unhappy. ...The End. XDDD

     <3

     Last night during swim team, I received the team swim cap and t-shirt we ordered. :3 And YAYNESS, the swim cap is made out of silicon! :'DDD The ones that aren't made of silicon are a lot harder and more painful to put on. ^^;; And the swim cap and t-shirt are both... bright orange. o.o;; That's my least favorite color, but ah wellness, I can get used to it. XDDD 
     They didn't get the team swimsuits yet (which AREN'T orange XD), but Jill (the coach) said hopefully they'd come in next week. ^^

     Today I went to the spine doctor so they could take an x-ray of me in the back bending brace I wear at night. My spine's worst curve is naturally 41 degrees, but we found out that when I'm wearing my brace at night, it bends me enough so that the curve is reduced to 30 degrees. :3 None of it is permanent, but if I'm good about continuing to wear the plastic brace every night, hopefully my spine's curvatures will stop increasing, and I won't have to get spinal fusion surgery! ^^

     Tomorrow night, I'm seeing COLDPLAY live in concert! AAAHHHH, I'M SO EXCITED! :'DDDD XDDDD I'm excited because Coldplay is one of the only bands I can actually say I like, because the average number of songs I like from one artist is usually two. ^^;; But I like a TON of Coldplay's songs. <3
     And not only that, but there's going to be two artists performing a little before Coldplay, too... the first one I've never heard of and I can't remember the name of, but the second is Snow Patrol! o.o The only song of their's I'm familiar with is "Chasing Cars", but I love that song. <3 I listened to a few of their latest songs on YouTube too, to try to get more familiar with them.

     Oh yeah, and... my mom says she's not going to let me get a driver's permit until next summer, because she says my brain hasn't matured enough to learn how to drive properly. >.>

Look at the stars
Look how they shine for you
And everything you do
Yeah they were all yellow

I came along
I wrote a song for you
And all the things you do
And it was called yellow

So then I took my turn
Oh all the things I've done
And it was all yellow

Your skin
Oh yeah your skin and bones
Turn into something beautiful
D'you know you know I love you so
You know I love you so

I swam across
I jumped across for you
Oh all the things you do
'Cause you were all yellow

I drew a line
I drew a line for you
Oh what a thing to do
And it was all yellow

Your skin
Oh yeah your skin and bones
Turn into something beautiful
D'you know you know I love you so
You know I love you so

It's true, look how they shine for you
Look how they shine for you
Look how they shine
Look at the stars
Look how they shine for you

Look at the stars
Look how they shine for you
And everything you do

     I'm back from my trip to Branson, Missouri! :'DDD

     Oh man, it felt goood to get away for a little while. ^^;; I'm definitely no longer in the strange mood I was in during my previous entry. ^^ Though the Ack! Drug might've had something to do with it, I think those last few busy weeks of school and no sleep and sickness and studying for finals and worrying over my Spanish grade increased the chance of that drug affecting my mood. But now I'm fine! Instead the Ack! Drug has just been making my lips ridiculously dry... chapstick hasn't been helping at all. ^^;; But I can deal with that. :3

     This is the second time we've gone to Branson - we also went there three years ago. I even wrote about it in this LJ. XD (Well, it happened early enough that it was originally written in my Gaia journal, and then transferred over here.)

     We left on Saturday to drive there, and it took one day. At first we stayed at a regular Days Inn hotel. Sunday morning, we decided to eat breakfast at the hotel's continental breakfast thingy, but my sister stayed behind in the room while my parents and I went because she was feeling sick during pretty much the whole trip. =\ The hotel's breakfast had AMAZING waffles, by the way... so fluffy... 8D~ 
     Well, each table was square, so each table could seat four. Since my sister wasn't there, we had one empty seat at our table. Shortly after we sat down to eat, an old man walked by us holding his own breakfast, and in an awesome European accent, cheerfully asked us if that seat was taken. When we said no, he asked if he could sit there, and I kinda thought he was joking... but when we said he could, he did! XDD 
     Ends up he was a 70-year-old from England who had moved to the US twenty years ago. And he was SOOO chattery! o.o;; He did probably 98% of the talking. XDDD;; It was nearly impossible to get any word in unless he asked you a question. o.o I didn't mind his chattery-ness at all, though... (and I never do, no matter who it is) especially since it allowed me to constantly listen to his awesome English accent! ~.~
     On Monday morning we did the same thing - my parents and I ate at the hotel's continental breakfast while my sister stayed behind in the room. And we met the old guy from England AGAIN! XDDD Of course he sat with us again and chattered away. He's so friendly! :3 This time he said that I look studious. >.> 
     ...And then the last thing he said to me as we all stood up to leave was "Whoa, you're tall, dude!". XDDDDDDD

     The majority of Sunday was spent in Branson's theme park, Silver Dollar City. We went there the first time we went to Branson too. :3 It's kinda hard to explain what it's like... it has the theme of the Ozarks in the 1800's, (Branson, Missouri IS the Ozarks) and even though it has some rides and roller coasters, it has a lot more stores and shows than rides. And when I say stores, I mean some pretty unique and awesome stores. 
      Buuut, just like last time we came, my sister and I are opposite in that she'd rather browse around the stores, while I'd rather go on the rides. XDD;; 
      We went on a wooden roller coaster called the Thunderation, but it was kinda mild... but still fun! :3 Later I also went on two rides that aren't roller coasters. 
      Well, they DID have a really big roller coaster called the Powder Keg that I hadn't gone on the first time we came here. I decided I was gonna ride it this time! Looking at it though, I was kinda unsure... but I mean, you'll never know if you don't go, (like this entry's title :3) and I've never gone on a roller coaster and NOT liked it. XDDD So I got in the long line... and since I also wanted to ride in the very first row, that mean I had to stand in an even LONGER line. ^^;; Well, lots and lots of time passed... finally, it was almost my turn... when they suddenly told everybody they had to leave the ride because it had to be shut down for maintainance. NUUUUUUU! O_O;; T_T ^^;; 
     So we tried to find a different roller coaster instead, called Fire in the Hole. But that was already shut down for problems too. >.> And towards the end of the day, we tried riding the Thunderation a second time, but then that got shut down too! o.o I dunno if there was a lack of repair peeps 'cause it was a Sunday or something, but it seemed like all the rides were closing down. So, I didn't get to ride on any big roller coasters. Ah wellness. ^^;;
     My favorite store we visited was one dedicated to selling all types of honey... because you could taste as many free samples as you wanted! =D Now, I actually don't like straight honey - it's kinda TOO sweet for me. ^^;; But since this was tasting just a little at a time, (you just dipped the end of a popsicle stick in the jar you were sampling, no double-dipping allowed) I did it anyways. Lesse here... I tasted vanilla honey, peach honey, blackberry honey, and even chocolate honey! (the chocolate one was my favorite) ^^ My sister ended up buying a jar of blackberry honey since she loved it so much.
     Just like the last time we came to Silver Dollar City, it was incredibly steamy hot... but the major difference between this time and three years ago is that three years ago I had to wear my scoliosis brace underneath my clothes at the time, but currently I don't have to! Wearing a plastic brace around myself just made me even hotter under the already intense heat, but this time I didn't have any extra weight on me. :'DDD
     When we came back to the hotel from Silver Dollar City, I was EXHAUSTED. o.o;; We watched Casper (>.>) the Friendly Ghost on TV, which I hadn't seen in absolutely FOREVER, and then went to bed.

     That exhaustion ended up staying over the next few days, actually... I was so sleepy during the entire trip. I think after the many last weeks of school where I only got a few hours of sleep every night was finally catching up to me. I just wanted to sleep and sleep. ^^;;

     On Monday, my parents had to go to some three-hour informational talk that they agreed to attend in order to get a lot of discounts on our trip. So they dropped my sister and I off at this place in Branson with bunches of stores - most of them not-so-cheap flea markets that had pretty much EVERYTHING you could imagine. o.o;; 
    Later that day, went attended a show called Sheppard of the Hills. It's a drama based off a book about a tale that takes place there in the Ozarks in the late 1800's or early 1900's or something like that. The whole thing took place outside, and there was horseback riding and stuffeh... it was very well performed! :3

     Branson, Missouri is a fairly small city, with a population of about 6,000, but it thrives on tourism - Branson has TOOONS of shows and music! 

     On Tuesday, we rode a train with lots of big windows, just to look at the scenery. I liked that. =D And then later that day we saw a performance by some Chinese acrobats from Shanghai! And they were AMAZING! o.o;; Out of all the shows we saw in Branson, this one was my favorite. <3

     On Wednesday, we rode a ferry around this really huge lake in Branson. It had two levels, with the first being enclosed and the second being outside. My family and I sat on the second level. :3 And during the whole trip, you got to eat pizza and drinks! 8D It was all very beautiful and relaxing. <3
     Later that day, we saw the Broadway-ish version of Peter Pan performed, with Cathy Rigby as Peter Pan. (Cathy Rigby won tons and tons of gold medals in the Olympics for gymnastics in the past.) It was really good!

     And then on Thursday we left to drive home. It felt so good to get away, but it's also nice to be back. ^^   

     Sooo, I got the blood testing done on Friday morning. Since I had to fast for it, I wasn't allowed to eat starting at 7:45PM on Thursday night... so right before that time, I stuffed myself full until it hurt to eat any more. XDDD I was actually more anxious about the not eating part than the needles part, but it wasn't that bad. :3 When I woke up the next morning, my stomach was growling, but it didn't hurt terribly... and yeah, I got hungrier as time went on, (my appointment was at 7:45AM, and we left at 7:15 'cause it's kinda far away) but never hungry enough that I got dizzy, which was what I was worried about. And at least I was still allowed to drink water. :3
     I'm not afraid of needles, (Unlike WDG, who I had been talking to on MSN the morning this happened XD) so the part where I got my blood drawn was easy too. They tied a band around my arm, and when they were drawing the blood, it hurt a little, but it didn't last very long. I just stayed perfectly still the whole time. XD
     And then I got to eat pancakes at McDonald's afterwards! :'DDD I looove their pancakes... 8D~

     Now that I've gotten the blood testing done, been on the birth control pills for a month (and I have to continue to take them), and answered the questions online that I have to fill out every month, I'm finally ready to take the Ack Drug. My first Ack pill will be taken today. >.> I'll have to be on the lookout for any of those many possible side effects... o.o

     Saturday was my first day of summer SWIM TEAM! :'DDD (Actually, Tuesday was the first day and Thursday was the second day, but I couldn't come because of the chior concert and homework. XD) On on the same team I was last summer - our nearby (it's three minutes away from our house XD) YMCA's swim team. It's increased in size since last year... last year we were a tiny class C team, with only 14 people, but this year we've moved up to class B because we have 24 people. =0 
     There's supposedly supposed to be a 17-year-old on the team this year, so I won't be the oldest one, but since they apparently weren't there on Saturday, I WAS the oldest one by far again. XD I didn't recognize very many of the kids, but at least we have the same main coach as last year - Jill! We talked a bit before practice began. :3
     I am SO out of shape. XDDD;; And I'm not surprised, since I haven't excercised since November (when marching season ended) or swam since October (when my Fitness Swimming class in school ended). ^^;; I became VERY exhausted afterwards, and then the next morning I was REALLY sore... and actually, I'm STILL a little sore. XDDD;; But it'll get better once I get into the regular schedule of having swim team three days a week. I can't go tomorrow 'cause of homework, but I should be able to go on Thursday and Saturday this week. :3
     It sure felt good to be back in the water, though. <3

     We have today off from school for Memorial Day, but then Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are three straight days of finals... and then Friday is a half day (we get out at 12PM) and also the last day of school! Sooo, off I go to study more for those finals... >:3

     I probably won't be online very much for the next days because I have to study superultramega hard for finals that are happening next week. But here's a very interesting meme I found for you guys:

So, say you were meeting a new person, a new friend. And you wanted them to have some idea of what kind of person you are, and who you are. But you can't actually tell them in so many words. Instead, you have to give them a box, with 15 things in it for them to look at/read/listen to/taste/whatever. What would you put in the box?

1) Sunflower
2) Stuffed animal cat
3) Swimsuit 
4) Clarinet
5) Handwritten piano sheet music
6) Vanilla-scented candle
7) Glow-in-the-dark stars
8) Printed out version of my [unfinished >.>] fanfic "Placing the Pieces"
9) My Zune, with all my music on it
10) X-rays
11) Tickets to an amusement park
12) Seashells
13) A photo of hot air balloons
14) Kite
15) Cattail

     Sorry for the lack of LJness - it's because I was grounded. ^^;; For those of you who aren't TPTFers, (or if you just didn't see my post on TPTF XD) I was grounded from teh internetz for a couple days because I "didn't listen" to my mom. >.>
     I probably needed the break anyways, though... I don't know what was with me last week. o.o I was rebellious AND sick. XD I got the sore throat on Monday, and then all the other cold symptoms the rest of the week... I was sick on Tuesday but went to school anyways, stayed home sick from school on Wednesday, went back Thursday but got sicker again after I got home, and stayed home sick from school on Friday. o.o

     Last night I saw the Broadway musical "Wicked"! It was SO amazing! :'DDD That's definitely my favorite musical now! <3 The songs and singing and plot and script and EVERYTHING... it was such an awesome show!

     I'm now officially signed up for summer swim team! The same one I did last year. <3 My first day is Saturday! ^^ ...Well, actually, the first day is tomorrow and the second day is Thursday, but I can't come to either of those because of homework. ^^;; But I can come on Saturday, and there's only two more weeks of school, so soon I'll be swimming three days a aweek again! :3

     I've just been full of these short little talk-about-whatever entries, haven't I? XDDD

     One genre of music I usually don't like are oldies in general. (With some EXCEPTIONS! :3 There are a few I do. I have "She's A Rainbow" by Rolling Stones and "Time In A Bottle" by Jim Croce on my Zune, the two oldest songs I have on there.) My dislike for oldies may be because I was forced to listen to my city's oldies radio station every single day during those half hour car rides to downtown with my mom for years when I was in elementary school. ^^;;;

     But one oldies artist I LOVE is... THE BEATLES! <3 

     There's just something about all The Beatles songs that I really like. They just make me feel so good! :3 In my old Biology class during the first half of the school year, occasionally our teacher would play some oldies music while we were working... and one day she played a BEATLES CD! It had been a very long time since I had listened to the The Beatles, and I found myself enjoying it very much while I worked. ^^

     I'm having trouble finding the songs (I also wanted their song "Help!" to be on here), so here's just ONE for you. XDDD;;

     *listens while I'm doing my homework*

     Today during band we received sudden unexpected sad news - Mr. S, one of our two band directors, (There's Mr. K and Mr. S, with Mr. K being more of the head band director.) is leaving after this school year. Not to go teach somewhere/something else - he's going to quit teaching to instead be a travel agent. Something about how he promised his friend that if her business got big enough, he'd help her, or something like that. But aww, that's sad. He won't even get to go to the Parade of Roses in California with us next year! We'll all miss Mr. S lots... everybody likes him. (And most dislike Mr. K because of how strict he is. ^^;;) Two people in the band are going to design t-shirts that have a cartoon drawing of Mr. S on the front and say "Beam me up, Scotty!" on the back (don't ask XDDD) for everybody in the band to pay about $5 for if they want on. I'm definitely going to buy one. It's too bad that I only got to have Mr. S as a band director for one year of high school. I hope he finds success being a travel agent, though.

     I also went to the orthodontist today... and now I only have to wear my retainer when I go to bed, instead of all day! Teh yayness of it all! :'DDD XDD But I also found out that I ended up getting all four wisdom teeth, and I'll need to get them pulled out sometime in the summer of 2010. ^^;; But wowzers, I can't believe I'm almost completely done with orthodontial work, after almost ten years of it... just think, after next year's final checkup appointment and getting my wisdom teeth taken out, I'll never have to go to the orthodontist again!! O_____O;;

     I succeeded in getting some sunflower seeds - not the type you eat, the type you PLANT. <333

     I can't wait to plant them. <3 I just don't know where that's going to be. XD;; Somewhere outside the house, obviously... but I don't know where I want to plant them, in the front yard or the backyard. I wonder if I have enough seeds for both?

     Yes, I'm posting an LJ entry just to say this. XD;; Don't mind me... mmm, I just can't wait until we have sunflowers growing in our very own yard. You can never have too many sunflowers. <3

     In case you can't read the top (I know it didn't scan well), it says "Es tan resbaladiza!"... and this is supposed to be a slide in the park:



     ...I'm so gross. XDDDDDDD

     Crazy hard four-page clarinet solo - the first movement of "Grand Duo Concertant" by Mara von Weber - today, in front of a judge. AAUUGHH I'M NERVOUS! O___O;; I've never played in front of a judge before. Let alone a really hard piece. This song definitely tests my limits. o.o <3

     It's exactly 9:47AM at the moment. My solo is at exactly 1:48PM, the last one of the day. (how nerve-wrecking XDDD) But we're supposed to get there an hour before. I'm right after Jordan A. (not the Jordan I've usually mentioned previously, a different Jordan), who is the senior 1st chair clarinetist in our band... and is absolutely AMAZING. I have to play right after him, with the same judge. Ahhh, do you know how that's gonna sound?! XDDD;;

     But this isn't supposed to be a competition, it's supposed to be a learning experience... ~.~ *meditates*

     Also, last night I got a COLD SORE on the TIP OF MY TONGUE for seemingly no reason, and it's still there. o_0 XDDDDDDD;; I hope this doesn't affect my clarinet playing, with the tonguing... I'll see when I do some last-minute practicing in about ten minutes. >.> (Maybe it will actually help me tongue faster? XDDD) My mom's still asleep I think, but ah wellness. I really need to get this last practice in.

     Don't mind this entry... I just need to find a way to vent my nervousness. XDDD;; I'll talk about the longness and crazyness that was yesterday, and how today's solo goes (!), in my next entry. XDD

     Today we had a presentation in the auditorium from a Holocaust survivor, Livia Bitton-Jackson, also author of the book "I Have Lived A Thousand Years" (which is a non-fiction story about her experiences in the Holocaust) that we had to read for English two weeks ago or so.
     She actually currently lives in Israel, but a girl I don't know in one of Mr. C's classes (he's an Honors English 9 teacher, but I don't have him, I have Ms. M instead) was so inspired by her book that she looked online for a way to contact her, and sent her an e-mail. When Livia Bitton-Jackson e-mailed her back, she printed it out and showed it to Mr. C. All of Mr. C's class then began corresponding with her by e-mail, and sent a photo of their class to her. Eventually she asked them, "When do you want me to come over?". But Israel is very far away overseas and she has some health problems from old age, (she was 13 during the Holocaust) so Mr. C's class did some fundraisers and stuffeh to earn $10,000 to help Livia Bitton-Jackson come all the way over here, to Omaha, Nebraska!

     Even though her book "I Have Lived A Thousand Years" is completely non-fiction, no exaggerations, you can't help feeling like it's almost fictional, just reading it there on the pages. But actually SEEING her in person, HEARING her talk about it, is so... emotional.
     And inspiring. <3
     Neither me nor ANYBODY I know will ever experience anything as horrible as she did. NEVER. All of those horrors she went through during the Holocaust, in the concentration camps... nobody I know will EVER have a past as horrible as hers. And yet, there she was... smiling. Even humorous and light-hearted towards us. Caring. Constantly making comments whenever she saw someone in the auditorium yawn, saying that she really didn't want to make us tired. Joking about her own cellphone going off in the middle of her presentation. 
     Even with all the horrors she went through, even though she says she's permanently lost her innocence now, she still found hope and love and faith. Of course, not everybody has the strength to do that, but the fact that you can regain all of that even after the horrible events of the Holocaust is so inspiring and lifting. <3

     Sooo, on Facebook, I did a "Which decade are you?" quiz and got the result "70s groovy hippie". XDDD In the very end of the description of the result it says "..and used drugs such as cannabis and LSD to explore alternative states of consciousness..", so I commented on my own results saying, "...I'm a druggy?! o.o XD".
     So I received a comment about the drug part of it from three IRL friends and Finny. One of the IRL friends was Katie, who joked that it was understandable, after the some of the conversations during lunch that we've had. And then all of this happened...

     Cameron = Absol, from TPTF
     Katie = IRL friend, from school

     WARNING: Katie uses lots of caps lock and exclamation marks. XDDD;;

( An online friend an an IRL friend meet online... )

     This trailer is fairly new, and is DEFINITELY the best Harry Potter 6 trailer so far. :'DDD It shows a lot of stuffeh the other trailers never showed.

     "It's over."



      The release date was moved from July 17th to July 15th. o.o Yayness, two days sooner! :'D XDD

     (NEEDS MOAR SNAPE)

     I've noticed that on MSN, I seem to be the only one that enters a nickname for each person I put on my MSN buddy list, so they show up as whatever I want to call them, instead of their own display name... That includes me too, since I'm on my own buddy list with the nickname Kitten instead of my display name A Rainbow. XDDDD
     Well, last night I was in a group MSN chat with Taileh, LaPoap, Absol, and even Finny for a brief time. It's not too hard to imagine what Absol REALLY meant to say in that first message there, and since we're all a bunch of dirty-minded peeps... >.> XDDDDD

Absol says:
My pen---nevermind XDD
Kitten says:
o.o
Taileh says:
<.<
Absol says:
brb, attempting to multitask
Kitten says:
Your pen that you write with, right?
Taileh says:
"write" yes
Kitten says:
With "ink"
Taileh says:
White ink
Taileh says:
Or yellow
Taileh says:
Or red
Taileh says:
<.<
Kitten says:
"ball"point pens
Taileh says:
XDDDDDDDD
Kitten says:
XDDDDDDDDD
LaPoap says:
mmmm
Kitten says:
Absol, did you see all of that?
Taileh says:
I'll give you ball point pen
Kitten says:
Sometimes you have to put a cap on it, though
Absol says:
OMG I LEFT AND...... XDD

     I'll never look at ballpoint pens in the same way again... O_O XDDDD

     Sooo, I just got back from the dentist not too long ago. I had to get three caveties filled. >.>;;

     Just like the previous time, they let me watch TV. And also just like during the previous time, I flipped through the channels not really caring what I found since I'm not much of a TV watcher, so I just found Animal Planet and stuck with that. (I also didn't know which stations were on which channels at all, since we don't have cable at home. XDDDD;;) So, nope, no silly "Ewww, they're eating an ARMADILLO!!" comments from the dentists like the previous time. (yeah, I still find that amusing for some reason) ;-; XDDDDD
     And once again, by the time they were drilling in my mouth I couldn't hear the TV at all (they let you wear headphones that are connected to the TV) anyways... instead I only heard the two dentists having a conversation with each other as they worked over me. But I wasn't actually paying attention to their words, ya know? I was just kinda listening to their voices. XD But a few times they also made a comment about what they were working on, so there was this one time when after I hadn't been paying attention, something one of them said to the other DID catch my attention because I thought they were talking about me at first:
    
     Dentist: I just hope that stuff doesn't come out and leak into her...
     Me: o____o;;
     Dentist: ...basement.

     XDDDDDDDD, I swear the timing was perfect... there was this big pause between "her" and "basement" for some reason, and so I kinda went "O_O" mentally, before I knew they were still talking about her mom instead of me. XDDD

     Unlike last time, I had fewer caveties, so therefore only had to get anesthetic shots on the right side of my mouth instead of both the right and left, pretty much everywhere possible. And there were also only those two dentists the whole time, while there was a whole GROUP of dentists the previous time, most of them just observers... maybe they were using me for a demonstration or something the last time? >.>
     I don't think they gave me enough anesthetic for the top tooth, because it was slightly painful while they were drilling it, but ah wellness. I could've easily asked them for more but I didn't... all I could think about was the previous time where they kept giving me shot after shot after shot of anesthetic because I could still feel stuffeh whenever they asked, until I had received ten shots. o_o;; So I kept silent and just let them work on and put up with the mild pain. I didn't mind. Yayness for high pain tolerance. XD

     Since I wasn't really focusing on the TV, my eyes kept wandering... sometimes I looked DOWN at the tools they were using on me. >.> XDDDDDD There was this one point where they took this tool with a long pointy end out of my mouth, and something stringy with blood on the end was on it. Man, I dunno what the heck it was or what the heck they were doing to my tooth, but it sure looked gross! ^^ XDDDDDDDDD
     I have no idea why watching stuffeh like that happen to other people makes me wince and cringe and get restless legs, but watching stuffeh like this done to ME (including getting shots at the doctors, where I WANT to watch myself receive the shot) has no effect. o.o But when I told my mom about wanting to watch the tools used on my mouth and stuffeh, she told me, "You sure are... different". XDDD

     Aaaand, putting on chapstick when your mouth's been numbed by anesthetic shots is the stangest sensation... o_0 XDDDD

     Oh yeah, and I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning, too. >.> XD