a beautiful thing

french braiding... set a record! braided and tucked eight girls, including Katie and Jessica.

mime-reading. awesome.

swing dancing on asphalt. new experience.

cleaning my room.

hearing something buzzing on my desk, and finding a (my) cell phone... thank you Grandma & Grandpa :)

swing dancing again. eep.

singing abbreviated hymns (for the sake of the inability to remember all the words) and praise & worship songs on the car ride home.

David's attempts to match pitch with me.

falling apart laughing.

home.

finally.

sleep.

I hope.

Kathryne

Sock Hop

epic.

legs tired.

was on the sewing machine for 5 hours.

then decorated and socialized and danced for another 6.

it was fun.

but my legs hurt.

Caleb danced! As did Wesley! And Mrs. Bond! I am proud of them.

and good to see Sandy :)

Kathryne

[insert heart symbol that is HTML-incorrect here]

Yesterday
-The Awkward Feely Conversation, during which Rachel and I both tripped over things because it was so Awkward and about Feelings
-"Rachel... the lawn gnome trucker!!!"
-Watched Titanic, finally. I enjoyed it thoroughly; it was a work of art. The motif of the hands is brilliant.
-Sleepover with Megan!

Today
-Saw Caleb a bunch for the first time in a while :)
-Began working on part of Christine's halfway present... yes, there will be one. muahaha. ha. ha.
-Learned tandem Charleston. The lead part. Partially. Ish. But it was fun. :)
-"Don't drool on me!" (my sister cracks me up)
-Dancing.
-Dancing in my sparkly outfit.
-Dancing lots of times and only hitting Mark in the face once :P
-Did I mention dancing?
-DADDY IS HOME!!!!<3

Kathryne

swing!

fabulous evening.

I had not danced in, like, 40 days. And it's weird that that would matter to me at all. I think I have been officially addicted... or something.

Christine, I danced for you! But I did not go so far as to ask *cough* people you normally would have danced with. Since I do not ask guys and *cough* guys do not always like to be asked.

Too many things made me smile. I spent some time sitting in a corner with my book feeling very lonely... it is funny how that can be true when you are surrounded by people... but about 15 minutes later a song with really ridiculous bass came on and forced me out of hiding. And I became grateful for that soon afterward. I think I was like yea close to effervescent. Almost. And when I was in the kitchen refilling water pitchers I thought I saw Christine, like legit saw her, like she was there, but then I walked closer and realized it was not. Funny how delusional you can get at these times.

Kathryne

So many reasons to celebrate!

• Four-hundredth post, right here!
• "Hundredth" is an awesome word to spell.
• Shopping with Kristina and Kristen... spending hours in thrift stores... Oh, Shabby Button, how I <3 thee.
• Swing dance at Lancaster! My first time! Actually, my first time dancing anywhere but church's swing... literally... unless you count my house when nobody but Kristen and I are home ;)
• Fell half-asleep on the way home, to the sound of squeaky windshield wipers and David saying something about lizards to which Kristina replied with something about crickets... David says I was asleep and dreaming, but I'm pretty sure I'm right.

I Learned...

A lot about following. Like, up until now I knew the cues and then what I was supposed to do next after that cue, but tonight I was dancing with a whole new crowd. Usually I dance with the same 4 people all the time. I know the moves they know. Mostly. But I certainly don't know any more. And tonight I learned a little more about how to simply follow and trust and not try to figure out what the cue means before acting (because that will only bring about back-leading, which is baaaad).

Kathryne/Katie/Kate/Kat/Katya/Katyenka/Kathy/Kitty/Kit/Trina/Tina/Nin/Katelyn/etc...

chipper :)

I have decided : I like the Charleston. And I like actually dancing at swing dance. It's a good feeling. Maybe I should leave early more often.

(Math: I dance more in the beginning, always. If I leave at 8:30, that means I probably spent about 75% of my time actually moving. If I leave at 10:30, it might be more like 30-40%. And did you know that 84% of all statistics are made up? but I'd say I'm close.)

And then when I ride home I can stare up at the clouds like the congealing, curdling clumps of brownish charcoal that they are. It's rather pleasant.

I Learned...

You should expect college interviewers to talk to you about politics and religion.

Kathryne

weird day

It was long, long, long. Almost fell asleep a few times.

I feel accomplished, though. I finished another college essay, did my Old Man and the Sea reading, and practiced Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence for Sunday.

And then there was swing dance.

Doug is the most hilariously awkward person I know.

Colin's math jokes! <3

And Livi's pepper joke... haha

I Learned...

I feel more awake the day after getting 5 hours of sleep than after getting 7.

Kathryne

the days since...

The Good:

every single epic thing.

photoshoot*~

swing dance~

barn dance~

mime performance :)

The Bad:

tried to get homework done at the library, and this... (I blocked out some of the numbers for privacy's sake :P)

The Random:

Dan, on Friday, during MadLibs... "I'm sorry, I can't help that I'm so SEXY."

...lol

Kathryne

* if you can't tell, we were the four seasons.

PS- Christine, I adore you, for real.

Swingswingswing

The Good: SWING! yay. Good, good times. Really good. Mostly because I wore my favorite shirt and an awesome pink lace hairbow, but... you know :P Also, learning Lindy! And, like, not-failing Lindy!

The Bad: Megan & Rachel both MIA from school. Christine MIA from Swing.

The Random: October is halfway over... this means... there are still 15 days of the best month of the year left! SO HAPPY!!!

Kathryne

:D

The Good:

• Working with Doug in Lit class :D
• My dad sent my mom flowers for her birthday... from China!
• Princess came to swing! and Christine did too! and DOUG! Hi Doug!

The Bad(ish): Had to learn lead for Lindy... which was not bad. But I was. lol.

The Random: They played Burning the Toast! That is now my song, btw. It is so very, very cute. It makes me smile :D

And... tehe... began composing a poem in study hall. It's interesting. I'll finish it soon and then post on Awesome Possum.

Kathryne

Three Days

Dear. Me.

8.20.10
I had a pretty fabulous night if I do say so myself. There were a gajillion people at swing dance, so… Christine! I danced enough for BOTH of us! :D
...and, I resisted the aerials! :P

Then Megan slept over, and even though we had to get up at 4 we didn’t turn the lights out until 12:15ish.

8.21.10
On vacation with my sister. (and my mom and dad and Megan, but they don’t cause quite as much uproar and/or entertainment)

Yeah, so, we left the house at 5! AM! Yay!

Then I slept for a long time. Then we stopped at some rest place in North Carolina, and I saw Brooke! It was absolutely crazy. We were going into Starbucks and she was coming out :P

Aaaaand I finished my section of the History of the American People monstrosity! At, like, 3pm. Because they had a book on tape going and I could not pay attention to the book. Because, while the book on tape was not terribly terribly engaging (it’s Lynn Austin, and I don’t care for her writing so much), it was more so than aHotAP.

The best part of the day, however, was Cookout. It is an amazing, drive-through restaurant. But you don’t go there for the food; ohhh no. For the same price as my ridiculously loaded-with-ice 12 oz lemonade at Starbucks, you get a 20 oz, super-filling, absolutely amazing “fancy milkshake” in one of about 40 flavors.

I got strawberry cheesecake :)
(which, by the way, was voted best-choice-in-car).

Now we’re here. And by here I mean a place at the beach in South Carolina. And by South Carolina I mean that muggy-hot, prone-to-tropical-storms, wonderfully-pretty place on the east coast of the United States. It’s great.

8.22.10
Watched Princess Bride. First question Kristen asks was when she saw Inigo. She asked, "What is his name?" (lol)

GOT INTERNET FINALLY! Short term, but it made me feel better to clean out the inbox :)


Kathryne

good things!

God did cool things for me today.

Like, I needed to go to the library to return Colin's Ted Dekker book. But my parents couldn't take me. SO I randomly posted on Facebook, "Anyone going to the library today?" and... 20 minutes before it closed for the night, my friend called. And wanted to know if I still needed to go. And... we went! and made it there 5 minutes before closing!! And I got 2 Regina Spektor CDs along with my next summer reading assignment!!!

ANDDD then there was swing. And I actually danced a lot. And... for the record, "The Chicken Dance" is the single weirdest Virginia Reel song EVER.

Now Erin is sleeping over.
Tomorrow I have, in a row:
CYMA small group leaders' meeting,
LIT & CYMA Leaders' meeting,
David's birthday party, and
2 graduation parties for people I haven't spoken to in about 5 years.


Kathryne

perfect night :)

Tonight I saw Christine and talked about everything. I love you!
Then I got to dance a wee bit of lindy hop with David. Yay! It makes me want to learn more. Later.
Then I saw Sandy! *fish face*

Then we finished packing for the Grand Canyon... yup, tomorrow at 4:45 AM I am leaving for an 18-hour transit from BWI to Chicago to LAX (no, Miley Cyrus, I shall not be wearing cowboy boots nor shall I be listening to Jay-Z) back to Sedona, AZ. There I shall meet up with my cousins and (other) grandparents and begin our adventure :)

As for now... the air smells like cotton candy snowballs, and the moon looks like a giant ball of aged parmesan hanging in the sky. The iHome is playing "What a Wonderful World" (string quartet version), and I concur wholeheartedly. Life is awesome. I could not wish for anything more (except maybe the ability to not sleep... Sandy, I'm going to be Ursula to your Ariel and steal your soul!)

Goodnight and goodbye!*


Kathryne

*I may find internet access throughout the week.

happyhappyhappyhappyEFFERVESCENT.

Good, good night tonight. Swing dance, of course :)

Swing dance used to have another area available for people to hang out in when they didn't want to dance, but they always broke stuff. So there were little signs up telling people to stay in the main room. Well, Christine and I were sorta bored and the signs were kinda itty bitty, so we made bigger, better, beautifuller signs!

(click on them to see full beautifulness)

Also, found a video that my sister took of my doggie... hehe.

Kathryne

PS- I soooo called that one :D

Fridays :)

I. Love. Fridays.

Seriously?

What is better than the feeling that you don't have any pressing need to clean your room or do this assignment or attend this function?

When you choose what you do?

When you can decide whether you want to stay at home and read a book for fun or go out all evening?

...Especially when (b) includes a wonderful rendition of your favorite Shakespeare comedy (Taming of the Shrew) and SWING DANCE and chocolate and people you love.

Quote:

"Give it a shot. If that doesn't work, get a bigger gun and try again."

Kathryne

Stuff. I guess.

Well, the Winter Formal last night went quite swimmingly.

This made me smile because I actually get to eat lunch on Tuesdays now instead of having meetings and sneaking food into the next class.

Question:

When you are wearing a formal dress, sans-pocket-or-purse, people are giving you money for at-the-door tickets, and none of the adults will hold on to it, what do you do with all the money you get until the end of the night so it doesn't get lost/stolen?

Answer:

What do you think?! =D

(Megan cracks me up)

(Christine & Erin, I'm sure you've got this one down... hehe)

Then, I came home from the formal to find TWENTY FOUR unread emails. 22 of them from pretty much the same thread. Oh-so-fun =)

and... hmm... Chemistry wasn't so bad today as I thought.

We're learning about oxidation numbers and other yucky stuff, but my teacher put it into an acronym:

L [oses]

E [lectron]--

O [xidation]

G [ains]

E [lectron]--

R [eduction]

Sooo, Leo (the lion) goes "GER!" because he is big and scary.

Dan, of course, just smashed it all together...

"Leo-ger."

"Leoger."

"L'oger."

"Hey, look, it's a French ogre!"

I felt sick all day (headache, tired, whatever... no biggie because I was out late; it's expected), so I came home and was just going to chill. BUT, a friend stopped by rawther unexpectedly, which was fun. Even though I fell over several times during the visit because I was dizzy.

Oscar Wilde Quote of the Day:

"To be popular one must be a mediocrity."

Kathryne

(Multi)Media!

So here are few things that made me laugh today (or, in the case of Sir Swing Mouse, last night)... lots of pictures etc for all you visual people =)

1) The Broken Chair (which, yes, broke AS someone was sitting in it) ... this is from a while back, I just found the picture

2) Cleaning my room-- after 3 weeks, almost finished!-- I found this...

(credit goes to executive CYMA videographer, Daniel the maniac-pianist)

3) This article, which references NEWSIES, an awesome movie and my personal guilty pleasure (oh, come on, you know you love it).

And yes, I am aware that it won the "Worst Original Song" award (High Times, Hard Times) and was nominated for the "Worst Director" (Kenny Ortega- same as High School Musical =P), "Worst Picture," Worst Supporting Actor," AND "Worst Supporting Actress." lol.

4) Sir Swing the Mouse, who we found at ...uh... swing, last night, before people got there. Also, Kristina's reaction when I asked her if she'd heard about the mouse later on =P

the thing was huge!

5) This song, which I think is just so cute but my mother absolutely despises... well, she doesn't like ANY of her music. Sad =(

Oscar Wilde Quote of the Day:

"The love that he bore him--for it was really love--had nothing in it that was not noble and intellectual. It was not that mere physical admiration of beauty that is born of the senses, and that dies when the senses tire."

Kathryne

Greatness

First:

When I grow up I am going to get a job that involves tearing duct tape. Is it just me, or is there something incredibly satisfying about that nearly-perfect RIP?

Second:

Tag.

my puppy =P

Third:

I love dancing.

to dance

it's just that feeling

when nothing else really matters

except the movement

communication

and synchronization

and the shift; and the smile

and it doesn't matter

and I hate to say it, but I've been looking for the kind of night I had tonight for a very, very long time. I got to hang out with 2 of the people in my Book of Awesome People!!

...and even received a compliment from one *blush*

...about my dancing, which is even more *blush* because it's one of those few things I can never tell if I'm doing well or horribly.

((Sidenote-- this basically means, I generally couldn't care less about compliments because I am very aware of what I do well, and also very aware of what I don't. So when somebody surprises me it's pretty ...thrilling =) ))

Oscar Wilde Quote of the Day:

"All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling."

Kathryne

EPIC.

I am writing this in the company of Christine. Christine has her OWN Optimism Initiative (yay!)

...and so should you!!

(*peeeerrrrrpresssuuuurrreeeeee!!!!*)

Where do we start.

um.

well, let's just say.... Swing is AWESOME.

and

we watched some friends play RISK (and one got pretty much demolished)

and

we daaaannnced!

and

we were the objects of a *certain bet*

made by *certain "well-meaning" friends*

about which of the two of us would dance more with

*certain unnamed parties*

...we tied.

(I COULD HAVE WON! HAH!)

just kidding.

now, we are going to

a) paint our faces blue,

b) eat fried hedgehog,

c) and watch Phantom of the Opera

(if you picked c, you might possibly have been correct)

we may post again later... sometime in the morning, most likely... whether it will be before or after sunrise is uncertain.

Kathryne (& Christine)

Laaaaa!

'ave you no compassion for my poor nerves?!

seriously though, I *heart* Pride & Prejudice. And found several occasions to quote it tonight.

Also smiled because...

conflict & confrontation are awesome!

and we had a 2 hour delay. YAYYYY for snow and sleeping in!

Kathryne

PS~ it is also better to give than to receive...

well, it's at LEAST almost as good.

gave a Christmas present that I've been hoarding since... well... Christmas, tonight at swing.