Of Test Scores and Teeth

Well, I'm sixteen now! Not that that has anything to do with test scores or teeth, but still. It's a pretty big landmark.
On to test scores: I took my first ever AP test in May...this was unusual because I was only a sophomore, and AP courses are traditionally only open to juniors and seniors. My school was gracious enough to extend enrollment to sophomores, and 18 of us took AP Psychology. After being out of town for several days, I picked up our mail, and to my surprise, there was a letter from my school. I opened it, and here's what it said:

"In the fall of 2007, _ _ HS opened several Advanced Placement classes to a few of our top-performing sophomores. You were one of only 18 tenth grade students who elected to participate in the Advanced Placement program.

Throughout the school year, the feedback from your instructors confirmed your ability to rise to the challenge. With the receipt of your test scores from the College Board, I want to congratulate you on your outstanding performance on the exam. Earning a "5" on an Advanced Placement exam as a sophomore confirms your ability to excel in the most rigorous of our curriculum offerings.

I look forward to your continued academic achievements, and am proud that you have received the highest score awarded by the College Board to the nation's most dedicated scholoars. Well done!"


yaaaaaaaaaaaay!
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In other news, I got my top braces off today, and my teeth feel all smooth and slippery. Awesome!

Trident Gum Screwed Me Over.

No, srsly. I am addicted to Trident White Cool Colada, which is wonderful chewing gum with a pleasing coconut-pineapple flavor. In the past two hours, I have devoured two and a half packs. So....good. And, being a graduate of 2nd period AP Psychology, I have diagnosed myself with an oral fixation. According to Freud, something happened it the oral stage of my development, and I am stuck in that same stage. Which makes sense, because I eat like no one's business when I'm bored and I'll eat an entire bag of cough drops when I'm reading a book at night for no other reason than the fact that they're available.

I scare myself. In other news, my 16th birthday is in 6 days. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY.

Driver's Ed

Dear Driver's Education,
I have been driving for 10 months. That means that I have around 2 months until I can get my Driver's License. Now, I understand that getting a break on insurance is a very pleasing prospect, but I seriously don't get why Driver's Ed must be SO FRUCKING BORING. Not only do I have to revisit the cafeteria at my high school for several days, Mr. Stockstill is our main teacher-type guy. He co-teaches with Coach Howard, who cracks me up. Still, Howard's weird Southern humor does nothing to dull the effects of Stockstill's boring drawl on how to correctly position your hands on the steering wheel. I've been driving for 10 months, I think I know how to steer, thankyouverymuch.
Also, I pride myself on never having fallen asleep in class. I can't say that anymore, because I did today. Another reason for hating you: I cannot go to the mall with my friend and her sister tomorrow. I must freeze in the purgatory that is Driver's Education. And I mean freeze literally. The temperature in the caf must be around 50 degrees. Positively glacial, if you ask me, Florida girl that I am.
To close, Driver's Ed just needs to die. I'll take the 10% discount of my insurance policy without the needless torture of forced learning. And some McNuggets with an Oreo McFlurrie.

Thank you, and goodnight.
Red.

Celtic Thunder Makes My Legs Go Melty

Dear Celtic Thunder,

I love you. Seriously. Not only does your music appeal to my Irish roots, you are all undeniably hot. Yes, even you, George Donaldson. You Sweeney Todd type man, you. No joke. He looks EXACTLY how I picture Sweeney. But I digress. Celtic Thunder, I don't care how many people say that you are a campy boy band from a backwards country, I love you. And I think I always will. Especially Keith Harkin. Oooooer.

Love, Red

Celtic Thunder

It's ALIIIIIIIIIVE

Hoooo Boy, it's been a while since I've written. I kept forgetting my login, so yeah...that hindered the posting. I saw CATS last night.

Oh, lord. What an experience. And I mean that in the most reverent and awestruck way possible. I was sitting in the orchestra pit (!!!!!!!!!) and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my young life. I'm still in a fog of joy and wonder, so I will collect my thoughts in a coherent fashion at a later date. I'll post the cast list, though.

Alonzo.....William Sweet

Bombalurina.....Bethany Moore (Autograph)

Bustopher Jones/Growltiger.....Christopher E. Sidoli (Autograph)

Cassandra.....Amy Ling

Demeter.....Meghan Starr (Autograph)

Ghengis/Mungojerrie.....Andrew Parker Greenwood (Autograph)

Griddlebone/Jellylorum.....Kendall Kelly (Autograph)

Grizabella.....Tricia Tanguy

Jennyanydots.....Cara Michelle Fish (Autograph)

Macavity/Plato....,Daniel A. Rysak (Autograph)

Mr. Mistoffellees/Quaxo.....Chris Mackenthun (Autograph)

Munkustrap.....Justin Huebener

Old Deuteronomy.....Seth Lerner (Autograph)

Pouncival.....Joshua Schulteis

Rumpleteazer.....Kristy Cavanaugh (Autograph)

Rum Tum Tugger.....Zander Meisner

Sillabub.....Sari Feldman (Autograph)

Skimbleshanks.....Felix Hess

Tumblebrutus.....Andy Mills

Victoria.....Sara Michelle Reardon

I got a lotta autographs =D

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Let's see. I bought some music off iTunes tonight. No, can't say that I'm a music pirate. I'm too scared that my beloved computer will succumb to a virus if I download Limewire. Also, I'm technologically retarded and can't figure out how to use it. How 'bout a roundup of the songs I bought?

• "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina"-Sarah Brightman. This is now my 4th version of this song. I'm such a packrat.
• "Piano Man"-Billy Joel. Hmmmm, guilty pleasure.
• "Duel"-Bond. Oooooh, dueling string instruments!! Soooo cool sounding
• "I Kissed a Girl"-Katy Perry. Damn you, Katy Perry. Damn you and your catchy hooks & choruses.
• "If You Were a Sailboat (Live)"-Katie Melua. Some people say this song doesn't make sense, but I think it's pretty and quirky sounding. So there.
• "I Whistle a Happy Tune"-The King & I. A counterpart to "My Favorite Things" in my opinion...a nice feel-good song.
• "Getting to Know You"-The King & I. Once again, Broadway called.
• The soundtrack to "Mary Poppins". I love this movie. I love Julie Andrews. I love Dick van Dyke. Mary Poppins brings back so many memories.
• "Caledonia"-Celtic Women. I first heard this song sung by Celtic Thunder, but unfortunatley, their version of the song is not on iTunes, and Celtic Women's was really pretty, so here we are.

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Fic Update!

Getting close to the end of my epic oneshot, "I Won't Grow Up". It's been giving me some trouble lately, and I've had trouble determining where I want it to end.

"Blushin' Blankets" is sort-of typed up. I'm copying it out of my notebook, but as I type it I notice things I wanna change, and I have to make executive decisions.

I did a challenge the other day (I forget who's LJ I got it from...my bad!) I put my iPod on shuffle and wrote until the end of a song. No reviews so far on FF.Net; I'm assuming just because it got overlooked (I won't tell myself it was a failure. I won't!!)

This was the little section I was most proud of, though:

(If there’s nothing missing in my life, then why do these tears come at night?)

Lucky-Britney Spears

Every day, Spot Conlon woke up and put on a fresh face. No emotion left over from the night before ever showed up on his face the next morning, be it sad or happy. He goes through the day and doesn’t let anything faze him. Spot knows that people look up to him, praise him for his utter control over everything. Spot also knows that it’s best to let people think that someone is in control of everything, because his world would be engulfed in mass panic if there wasn’t a sense of order. But at night, when no one is watching, Spot lets all the problems of the day bubble up to the surface, and he sinks into a slimy shell of guilt and regret, and he wonders if anyone ever guesses.

-

Kind of funny that it was brought on by Britney Spears. Thanks, Brit. Only complaint: I kind of screwed up my verb tenses between past and present.

I really liked the drabbles, even if they were kind of angsty. Except for the Blush one; that one's like crack!drabble.

----

I have Driver's Ed tomorrow, so I'll probably post after that. Peace, y'all.

Friday the 13th

And nothing unlucky has happened to me so far. *knocks on wood*

Go figure.

Happy Day!

YAAAAAAY! The desktop computer is back! That means I can update Newsicals, which I sort of forgot about. But anyways, I'm doing I Won't Grow Up from Peter Pan, and it's an angsty-esque Sputchy fic, which makes me happy. Should be updated later today, so YAY!

Finally, I'm getting something done.

&& I've also started that one Untitled fic, the Blush, OC/random newsie ModFic. It's pretty schweet so far, but I don't want to post the first chapter until I have a beta.

Peace ya'll.

Food, Glorious Food

Damn, I'm hungry.

Pretty much spent the whole day cleaning, and reading slash fics. And not writing Blushin' Blankets. Why? Oh, I don't know. I don't like the first couple paragraphs, and I've been tossing around other ways to write them, but none of them seem to work quite like I want them to. They don't flow. Which is so totally not fair-because it's a damn good story [if I do say so myself], and I want to get it out there so my shameless ego can be fed with reviews.

Also, I'm thinking I might try to watch Moulin Rouge eventually. Never seen it, and it sounds cool. But I have a pathological fear of seeing something new and then totally obsessing over that and end up losing my current fandom, which is what happened with Twilight.

Think mom's home with the food now, so....peace.


[there wasn't much about food in this post, was there?]

Late Nite Musings

It's pretty late & I've snuck the laptop into my room so I can read fanfiction. I'm bored with that now, so I'm posting here.

Gas is effing expensive, ya know? I don't drive for another 3 months, but I still have to be thinking about how I'm gonna pay for 4$ a gallon. Eeep.

Went to the beach today. Now my whole face is peeling. Attractive, no? I've got an Urban Plunge meeting tomorrow, so that means facing Mush [why can't I decide who I'm into-why why WHYYYY?] with a nasty, onion-skin face. Damn.

Also, my wisdom teeth hurt. I'm only fifteen years old, and I have wisdom teeth. Something is wrong with this picture, seriously. Good news is that I can get the top braces off soon. Yaaay. It's been two years. Jeez-didn't think it was that long.

Kind of a short post-but, then again, I am the queen of lazy.

Ripping off my skin

Ugh. My nose is peeling. I guess that's what I get from going to the beach and only reapplying sunscreen once. Gaaaaaaah.

I think I'm going to the beach again today. It'll be fun-hopefully MRK, MAS and KAY will be there. MAW, JRP and AL are all at camp in Georgia, so...yeah.

I hate my stupid nose.

Quote

"Wonder where Trey is...."
"He's dead, fucker, and you're next"

"Anybody seen Trey?"
"Who cares about Trey-where's my fuckin' chair?!"


haha. Gotta love Blood Drips Heavily on Newsies Square.

Eh.

Well, school is out tomorrow. The gals & I are going to a mexican place for lunch, then maybe I'll hang out with MRK. Yaaaaaay.
Pardon my non-jubilance, but the desktop computer is being a butt-face, so I still have to use mom's. Which means that Blushing Blankets is still not freaking published. I guess I can work on it on mom's comp, but that runs the risk of her....seeing it. Gaaaah.

Yep, this post was pretty much just me ranting.

whatever.

Just A Quickie

So, I'm supposed to be studying for Spanish & Chem. Which I sort of am. Hace cinco minutos que lo estudie.

And I betcha you can't do mass-mass conversions like I do. Fanfictions are diverting, though. I mean, slash is so dang appealing. <--wow, I sound like a freak. Eh. But Blush and Sputchy are so...pretty!

Okay, I'm really going to study now.
Adios, muchachos!

Thank You, Thank You. Thank You Very Much

Well, I finished "studying" for the two finals that I have tomorrow-Algebra II and World History. Yaaaay. Actually, I wrote down notes for Algebra, because we're allowed to use them on our test (yesss!). The sad thing is though, I still abysmally suck at math, so they'll probably only help marginally...NO! I will not think that; they will be a huge help and I will ace the test...ace the test...ace the test.

And World History's a joke-I didn't study for the midterm and I got a 98%, so not much to worry about there. No, my real worries lie in Chemistry and Spanish II. NEB is having her sweet 16 party in the Big City this weekend; she's rented out an entire Thai restaurant (yum). So, I'll be at her house Saturday and Sunday...which leaves Friday afternoon and Saturday morning for studying. And, since I already took my AP Psychology final today (which I got a whopping 96% on, by the way) that means I have almost two hours on Monday morning to study for those exams....ugh. I don't wanna study.


FIC UPDATE:

Sunburst-until my inspiration arrives again, Jake and Katie are stuck in limbo.

Newsicals-still working on a sticky Sputchy installment (haha, I made an alliteration!). Expect the next chapter to be slash.

Blushin' Blankets-Blush slash, obviously. Moreso sweet than sexy. It's still in the notebook-writing stage, so once I get it where I like it, I'll publish. (I need a Beta over here!)

Untitled-Modern day Blush, SpotOC, Javid fic. Mush is Cat's gay best friend. Cat wants to go to the Spring Fling with Spot. Blink is Spot's best friend. When Mush attempts to get Spot to ask Cat to the Spring Fling, he falls for Blink in the process. (Reaaally gonna need a Beta who can keep me on task. This'll be a summer project.)

The Sound of Newsies- 1899 AU-ish/crossover-ish fic. Basically, if you mix Newsies and TSOM together, you get some cranky OC's, a lovesick Spot, and some good fun. Sounds campy, I know...but bear (bare?) with me! I've already got the whole thing outlined, chapter by chapter, in my notebook, so I have no reason to give up on this story!!

Untitled (Newsies/Evita)- Another musical crossover thingy set several years after the strike. Jack and his new paramour are trying to unite the working class together under one banner. CAST: Juan Peron=Jack Kelly. Eva Duarte de Peron=OC, working name is Marisol Juarez, street-smart immigrant. Che Guevara (or just Che if you're a fan of the movie) Kid Blink.
There's a lyric in "Oh, What a Circus" that goes something like this "And who am I, who dares to keep his head held high, while millions weep? Why the exception to the rule, something something something straight-up fool? Or just a man, who grew and saw, from 17 to 24, his country bled, crucified, she's not the only one who's died!
Now, this got me thinking. Sexy Che=Sexy Blink. And what's Blink without Mush? See where I'm going with this? No? Well, change "She's not the only..." to "He's not the only..." and voila! Slash and het in one happy, shiny, Andrew Lloyd Webber package!

Wandering Child-another working title. I'll be continuing the story of the Phantom of the Opera into another generation! If you've read Phantom, by Susan Kay, you know that Erik & Christine have a son, Charles....but Raoul, being the generally good guy he is, doesn't let Christine know that he knows it isn't his kid, and raises him anyways. Now, what if Christine also had a child with Raoul, like she was supposed to? Meet Madeleine-the product of a C/R lovefest! After Christine dies of cancer, and Raoul dies several years later, Charles, his pregnant wife Pascale, and Madeleine move to America. Brooklyn, to be exact. Charles, the musical prodigy that he is, will make money in music halls, Pascale takes up work as a midwife-even though she herself is due soon, and Madeleine ends up as a seamstress. Yep, this is a Spot/OC romance. I'm not going to give too much away, but if you're a "phan" of the Opera Ghost, you'd probably like this story!

So, if you're interested in beta-ing for any of these stories that I've indicated need or will need a beta, please email me, message me at FFN (I'm Across the Stars on there).

Indroductions, Anyone?

So, you've stumbled across my little blog on the big 'ol interweb. Huzzah!
You might know me as Across The Stars [ATS], SRF, Catalina, or, if you've been around a reaaaaly long time & can't keep up with the username change that happened about a year ago over on FFN, you may know me as icyfingers13. See why I had to change it? Across The Stars is a MUCH better name.

Here's what's going to be going on here at Observations.

1) I rule the world. Well, no. I rule this blog, so don't presume to tell me how to do it.
2) Personal info is not given out. Nada. Zilch. Never.
3) I can do whatever I want on here. I may post pictures. I may post short fics (beta, anyone?), or I may just squee about Newsies for an entire post.
4) If you visit, please leave a comment and tell me how you found this blog. Yes, my ego needs frequent stroking.

That's all for now, because I'm supposed to be studying for my finals.