BEDA 2: of car dancing, airports and ice cream

This evening I hadn't really planned on anything but just cleaning my room and having dinner with my mom, a typical evening. But me being me, I went and found something spontaneous to do with my friends that just happened to be going to Wichita to the airport to pick up one of our friends that has been in Florida for the entire summer.  My mom wasn't pleased about this plan when I only gave her less than a hour's notice that I was going to Wichita with my friends. I don't think she would have been irritated with it if I hadn't been randomly roped into going to Wichita yesterday with my best friend to the mall and then proceeded to hang out with him all evening until ten.  She got it over it though and let me go, it seems like she understands that summer is coming to an end, and that I've spent most of it at home, doing nothing relatively productive.

Anyway, so my friends came and picked me up and we headed to Wichita. The scariest part about this little adventure we went on was the fact that nearly EVERYONE knows that I'm horrible with directions...and I managed to get us to the airport with absolutely no problems. Let me tell you, I feel extremely accomplished and probably a little too proud of myself.  I mean, considering I was sitting in the backseat dancing the entire time, I'm surprised we ended up in the right place.

The last time I was at the airport, was I want to say about six years ago when we went to pick my brother up when he first got to come after he got back from Iraq.  So I wasn't sure what to expect out of the airport, especially considering there were so many freaking orange construction cones and signs that kept getting in our way.  But really, once we got inside it didn't look like a single thing changed. Except maybe they have better carpet then I remember, but that's not the point.

The most uncertain thing of the evening was we had absolutely no idea what flight our friend Kayla was on, so we didn't really know how long we were going to be waiting for.  But it was alright, between people watching and joking around with my three other friends it was a good wait for Kayla's plane to land.  I kept talking about how much I wanted to go through airport security just to see what my hip implant does to the metal detectors.  I mean, it's not completely metal, but I bet at least 3/4 of it is and it's bound to set of the metal detectors.  But we all decided I wouldn't try it today because even though I had all the appriate cards to hand over they were busier than normal and I didn't want to get in trouble for not having a ticket and trying to get through.

Eventually though, we figured out Kayla's plane was the one coming from Houston and it was a joyous event when we saw her coming down the hall past security.  I'm most positive that EVERYONE who was waiting for people off of the Houston plane was staring at us because, let's be honest, my friends and I are nerds and don't mind being crazy in public.

Kayla was hungry so we decided to go to McDonalds down the road from the airport so she could eat and the rest of us could have ice cream, though I opted out of actually getting ice cream because I had too much of it last night.  We get to McDonalds and it was busy and of course, there was even more construction going on there, so we just ended up at Wendy's across the street instead where we just sat around and hung out talking about our summers and listening to Kayla's adventures in Florida.

Eventually though, as fun it was, we had to head home and we piled back into the car and then the pressure was on me again to get us back to town and not get lost.  I successfully did my job once again, though with less dancing.

Sitting at the airport with my friends really made me think about that itch I have about traveling when I get into college.  I told my friend Rachel while we were people watching that I wanted to go to the desk and tell me to put me on the cheapest flight out of Kansas just to go some where and have an adventure.  But considering I had only a pair of sunglasses, no money and my wallet full of my identification cards for my hip, I decided I wouldn't do it...plus I don't think they would have allowed it considering I'm still seventeen.  But it was a good thought, I can't wait for the day when I can take an adventure some where without any plans what so ever and just see where God takes me.

BEDA 1: august already?

It's nearing 11 in the evening as I'm writing this, and if it hadn't been for the thought of checking my YouTube subscriptions to see what was new since I was out all evening, I wouldn't have seen a VEDA video which in turn wouldn't have reminded me that it is in fact the first of August which means it's BEDA time.

Honestly, I'm still trying to grasp that fact that it's already AUGUST. It seems like it should be the start of June, not August.  I mean, I go to enroll for senior year of high school on Thursday and I start school in like two weeks.  It's completely nuts for me to understand right now though I don't understand why.

I'm actually really really REALLY looking forward to school this year.  Partially because it's senior year and I'm ready for the next steps in my life, even if it means that I'm officially becoming an adult and having to make big important decisions on my own, I'm ready for it; and I'm ready for school in general.  I actually really enjoy going to school, I love to learn new things, I think that's why I do so well in school (if only I did my homework more often) because I enjoy learning and I don't try to fight the process like other kids might.

Out of all the things this next school year offer, I'm especially excited about the upcoming debate season.  Mainly because in debate I'm always learning something new whether it's from a new evidence card that I find, or if it's from hearing other people's arguments, I seem to also be absorbing things; though unfortunately sometimes I don't remember half the things because there's so much to it.  Debate holds a really special place in my heart, and it's not just because I get to argue without getting in trouble, it's because with debate you really have to work at it.  It's not something that comes naturally to everyone when they first try it.  There's a lot of things that make up debate that you've got to understand before you can even debate, and you usually don't understand any of it until you're stuck in the middle of a debate round and you've got to use it.  Then it all makes sense and it all clicks.  Debate really makes your brain work, and I really think it teaches you a lot of skills that you have to teach yourself.

Anyway, after all that talk about me not understanding how it's August already, talk about school and of debate, I just want to give you a small run down about BEDA. If you don't know what BEDA is it stands for Blog Every Day August (or April, but in this case it's August).  Basically, it's exactly what it sounds like, you blog every day of the month.  I'm not going to try and be one of those people who plans out their blog posts for BEDA because I KNOW without a doubt that once school starts I won't stick to it.  So you're probably going to end up reading a lot of random things throughout this month, and I hope you stick along for the ride.

backyard beauty

Today at two my mom, dad and I piled into my car and left for western Kansas; specifically Plains, Kansas.  Plains is about four hours away if you take 160 from Wellington, but it's a bit shorter if you take 45 out through Pratt, but I decided to take 160 out for the scenery; and let me tell you I'm happy I did.

Here would be where I would put several photos of the beautiful scenery that we saw as we went up and down the numerous hills; but I was the one driving and as talented as I am, I can't drive highway speeds on a hilly road and take decent photographs will out seriously screwing something up.

Anyway, I was a little hesitant about my decision of taking 160 out here because of the lack of towns.  Since I had my hip replaced, they told me that I need to get up and walk at least every hour, including car rides so I wouldn't get extremely stiff in the hip to the point where I couldn't walk. But eventually I made the decision to take 160 out mainly because I had never driven that way before and sooner or later I'd have to get used to driving new places by myself, so I might as well get a little jump on it now and put my poor directional skills to the test.

Once we passed through Medicine Lodge and got about ten to twenty minutes out we hit what the state has called the Gypsum Hills Scenic Byway.  Let me tell you, it is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in Kansas.  And what surprised me the most was the fact that I don't remember much of the Gyp Hills from when I was younger when we'd drive out that way at least once a year.

The Gypsum Hills, which are normally referred to as Gyp Hills and the Red Hills, are located in central Kansas just north of the Oklahoma state line.  Traveling 160 it seems like someone just plopped down the road on top the hills and everything. I found it almost difficult to stay focused on the winding road and going up and down all the hills at over 65 mph and not stare off to look at the rolling hills, mesas and canyons that make up the Gyp Hills.  I tried stopping at each of the scenic outlooks and historical markers to "stretch " and "walk my hip" but my parents saw through that and knew I just wanted to bask in Kansas' beauty and made me keep on driving.

There really aren't words to describe the Gyp Hills, even if I could find the right adequate words it wouldn't be enough to express how beautiful they are.  Even the photos that I found of the Gyp Hills do it justice.  It's one of those things that you just have to see for yourself.

hatin' on trollz

Let's talk about something that really really really REALLY irritates me. Something that irritates me so much I wanna just bang my head against a desk all day and scream pointless things; I mean really irritates me.

TROLLZ

That's right, I wanna talk about trollz, (though normally spelled: trolls).  Now, if you don't know what a troll is, then you don't spend tons of time on the interweb.  A troll is basically just a person who either says mean, rude, hateful things or just spams.  Take my word, if you've never seen or experienced a troll, they're irritating.

Now, I've been thankful to not have encountered a troll, -knocks on wood-, but I see them all over the place.  I spend a fair amount of time on YouTube and when I get extremely bored I'll read through comments on some videos.  Invariably there is usually always a troll.

I don't see why people can't just be nice to others, I mean, if you're going to be rude, mean and hateful about something or someone, just don't do it.  It's such a simple concept that so many trollz just can't grasp.

Well, that was my ranting blog for the month. Glad we got that out of the way, though I'm sure that trollz will still irritate me greatly, because obviously someone thinks it okay to do it. -head desk-

the story of my nerdiness

Hello internet! Long time no blog, eh? Sorry 'bout that. I've been in one of those funks again, or maybe it's just the fact that it's summer now and I can do whatever I want...regardless, I feel guilty for not blogging as often as I know I should be.  But today we're going to be discussing the history of my nerdiness, this mostly pertains to the Harry Potter series. You have been warned.

I have always loved reading, I just always have.  I remember when I really started reading though, more than just the occasional book outside of class.  It was fifth grade when I really got into the Harry Potter series.  I kept a stack of books on the corner of my desk in home room.  The stack always had a Harry Potter book in it some where, I remember it took me a long time to read them, but I loved them regardless; and then there would be three or four other books stacked as well.  I remember I got a Star Student certificate for being, and I quote, "A lean mean reading machine."

Out of all my friends, I would venture to say that I am probably the nerdiest out of all of them.  Don't get me wrong, I think EVERYONE is nerdy about something or another, but I'm really the only one that doesn't care if my nerdiness shows.

In middle school, I went through a hard core Harry Potter craze, it got to the point where my best friend just nodded her head and listened to me talk and talk for hours. There were several occasions when in English we'd have to write certain things, and nearly all of them can be traced back to my Harry Potter crazed stage.  Even now, as a senior in high school, I still have a very deep love for Harry Potter.

I've had a rough child hood, and I could always remember having the Harry Potter books to read and to help me escape whatever it was that was going on.  I felt like I was in a new place and I could be anyone who I wanted to be.  It was a nice feeling to just to let go and let my imagination roam.  I think, had I not discovered the Harry Potter series, that I wouldn't be the person I am today; I'm a friendly and open minded person.  There aren't enough words to express how much J.K. Rowling's writing means to me, she developed something so magnificent that I think even the fans don't even know how much it really affects us all.

On to other nerdy stuff, I absolutely love to write, although writing is one of my weaker points when it comes to keeping up with it.  I tend to start a project and get side tracked, never end up coming back to it.

I have however, have become obsessed with Doctor Who over the last couple of months, and though I just recently started Season 3, I freaking love it.  My goal is to get caught up with the series by the time school starts.  And since I'm talking television shows, I've also become addicted to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I plan that I'll have Buffy finished by school starts as well.

What's your nerd history?

a different town

For all of my 17 years of life, I have lived out in the country, on the same property around the same neighbors.  This past week, my mom and I moved into town into a two story, with a basement, house that had been modified into apartments.  We're on the main floor, and it's really quite nice here, so nice, I've given the place a name; the Nest.  The Nest sits besides the road that bends around from the railroad down to main street.  Let's just say there's so much traffic that I can't even count the number of cars I see, or the trains that pass.  So much traffic, I like to sit on the front porch and wave at people as they pass by.  I'm thinking about making cookies or something and when the trains come by and the cars are all backed up in front of the Nest, go sell them for fifty cents each...but that involves a city permit or something too much work for a simple act of awesome.

Anyway, this is day three of staying in the Nest and there's just so much new stuff.  The sounds are so different from living out in the country.  Instead of hearing birds and wind, now I hear cars and trains.  Really, that's about it, aside from the three birds that were playing outside one of my bedroom windows, and the occasional crappy car that clunks it's way around the road.

I'm about to embark on a journey.  From the Nest down to Main Street to the public libary, walking.  After my hip replacement my surgeon said the best thing to do to that hip is to just walk.  Considering the fact that I enjoy going on walks, and that I wanna do the 5k run/walk that's coming up sometime within the next month, I'm excited to get to walk around the town that I've been passing through and doing various things in for my entire life.  It's practically like it's a new town almost, there's so much "new" things to me.

Oh, and a side note, about two months ago I had started a "50 books in a year" thing, but I lost all my stuff I had written down...which reallly wasn't much.  So I'm starting over, today officially.  And so I won't be losing my stuff, I'll be blogging about it...kind of.  More details within the next days.  Book suggestions are welcomed, I'm always up to try a new book.

come on brain

I'm in one of those funks.  The type of funks that you don't really want to do anything.  Well, actually, I take that back.  I have a long list of things I want to accomplish and work on, but alas, my brain of mine won't put in the effort to work.

For example, I had attempted on several several occasions the last few days to write a blog post about something some what important and relevant.  But my brain basically shut off on me a couple sentences into the post.  I fear my brain is finally getting back at me for over loading it in the fall. I mean, if I was my brain, I would revolt about now.  It's the crucial part of the school year...even if I do take my classes online.  But everything right now effects senior year and if I graduate on time or not.

The only thing that my brain has really permitted me to doing is watching stuff on Netflix, granted though, I'm not entirely wasting my time away watching pointless movies. I mean, the vast majority, and I'm talking about like 99% of the stuff I've been watching has been documentaries. The other 1% has been a mixture of things from Doctor Who to Greek  to dramatic movies.  Just yesterday, I watched three documenties and a movie that I'll most likely end up watching again today.

Such a pointless post.

taking a stand

Yesterday I definitely didn't forget to be awesome.  I attended and participated in the second annual Walk Against Gang Violence in Wichita, Kansas.  I hadn't heard of this gathering before this week when I was cleaning out my e-mails of 2,000 and still counting when I came across an e-mail from my youth leader asking me if I wanted to go.

I had no idea that it would be such a massive event.

I knew that there would be a good deal of people there, maybe five hundred at the most.  Nope, estimations are that there were 2,000 people there.

This year the walk was in honor of a 13 year old boy who had been shot and killed at his home.  The coordinators of the walk changed the route the of the walk to lead by the house where this 13 year old boy was killed.  The family of the boy were standing in their driveway watching as the walk continued by their house, you could see pain on their faces still, but they were happy to see so many people participating in an event that was helping to decrease violence in general in Wichita.

One of the things that I thought about as we began the almost two mile walk around this very sketchy neighborhood, was that people of all races had come out that morning in support of not only the family of the 13 year old boy, for everyone who has been affected in some way of violence in the Wichita area.  The area of the walk was mostly Latino based, or at least that's what I'm assuming by all the Mexican based restaurants and stores along the route we walked.  But it wasn't just Latinos that showed up, there were African Americans, the average white person and Asians.  It just showed that it didn't matter your race, we were all there for one reason.  To stand up for those who can't against violence.  We were all there for one purpose and we made our voices heard.

Yesterday was a day of decreasing world suck, and I'm happy that I was apart of it.

Article about the Walk Against Gang Violence ---> Click
Youtube video from the Wichita Police Department (this is from 2010, but shares the basis of the event) ---> Click


Fish caught this month: 0
Miles biked this month: 0

insanity

If you haven't heard of the wave of tornadoes that have devastated a large portion of the country, you must live under a rock, I'll cut you some slack if you're not from the U.S. though.  Living in Kansas I've been through several very severe storms.  Including a too close for comfort encounter that scared the crap out of me and has made me freak out slightly at the sound of a tornado or severe storm being any where near that location.  Unfortunately for the people of the more eastern states, they've had to experience tornadoes at their worst possible moments.

On April 27th, there was over 160 reported tornadoes across the United States. To a person who has lived in Kansas all of their life, even in just 17 years, I can remember the countless nights during the summer, several nights in a row, watching the local television station cover several tornadoes that had popped up seemingly out of no where.  One particular tornado that I remember clearly was the Greensburg tornado that wiped the town off the map.  Even today, a few years after it happened, driving through the town you can see damages from the treelines.  It's a hard concept to grasp, that such damage could be done all over the nation within a 24 hour range, damaging buildings, vehicles and taking several people's lives.

Another concept, one that is far more complex to me, is how when a disaster of any sort happens, there is a good portion of people who will jump in and do nearly anything including risking their own lives to help people who have been affected.  But it isn't until these disasters occur that we see such a large helping hand of normal citizens.  We're all in this together.

Photos and articles from the April tornadoes ---> Click
Map of reported tornadoes in April ---> Click
Facts and radars from the Greensburg tornado ---> Click
Article on the anniversary of the Greensburg tornado ---> Click

remember when

 

circa December-ish 2007 (8th grade)

concessions at a basketball game 

This was me four years ago, and I've come a long way.  Straight teeth, somewhat controlled hair that isn't always shoved up into a ponytail, an outspoken personality.  I can remember when this photo was taken, it's one of the few occasions from middle school that I actually remember, or at least I haven't blocked from my memory.  I remember when I found my love for Harry Potter two years previous this photo, and eventually became obsessed in 8th grade.  I was actually good at math, or at least I passed with a B or higher.  I remember this was around the time I got into theatre.  This was also the time I decided I wanted to be in the film industry.

 circa April 2011 (11th grade)

Kenzie on the right, myself on the left after our club sponsored Mr. Wildcat Pageant.

Fast forward four years to the present. I would have never thought, four years ago that I'd have changed my mind several times about what I wanted to be when I "grow up" and eventually land on wanting to be a history teacher.  Never would have thought that I'd still be obsessed with Harry Potter, though I do admit, I have kind of backed off a little in the last couple years...or that I, who absolutely loves acting, gave up a chance to be in one of the most classic musicals we've done at Mulvane High school to be behind the scenes.

It just goes to show that nothing is for certain, I might change my major in college, though I find it difficult to believe I would because I'm so happy with the decisions regarding college that I've been making recently...but I could.  And though I find it hard to believe that, I wouldn't mind it.  If it's what my heart and gut are telling to do, and it'll make me happy I'll end up doing it.  I wouldn't be where I'm at personally if I didn't follow my heart and gut.

I had a moment during sophomore year where I just wanted to quite theatre.  That it wasn't going to help me later in life and that it was taking up too much time from other stuff, and I wasn't quite concentrating that well on school.  But I eventually rolled around into my senses when I unofficially joined the costuming/makeup department of our theatre department during our spring play production of Fools by Neil Simon when a senior trusted me and only me to help with his quick change.  And that then lead to me cleaning out and organizing the costumes and makeup cabintes and closests later that spring.

 

circa November 2010 (11th grade)

Curtain call for Fiddler on the Roof

I took over as head of costumes and makeup junior year, and put together a new system and trained new crew members while I figured out what the hell I was doing.  Honestly, I don't know what the hell I was thinking that spring, and that summer, and then that fall when I went up to our drama teacher after class and said that if he would let me I'd take over.  Let me give you a little background, previous to Fiddler on the Roof.  I couldn't braid hair, I couldn't curl anyone's hair if my life depended on it.  The only makeup I could do, was stage makeup, on my own face.  I had never used special affects, including spirit gum and the similar likes.  I had never in my life been in charge of clothing 30+ people.  And then on top of this, I was in charge of my crew, who was basically as new as I was to the costuming and makeup side of theatre.

Junior year of high school has been my worse, and my best year of high school thus far.  Fiddler on the Roof is a good example of this.  Late October, early November was when I really began having bad hip issues.  And if you want a detailed summary of these issues, go back to my other blog posts in the beginning...I somehow managed to continue everything that I was doing through this horrific pain I was experiencing when half the time I could barely get out of bed.  I ran my ass off during that show, literally being every where at once, and it seemed like I never let myself breathe.  The last week and a half of the show, I worked in my wheelchair.  I couldn't walk much.  But it was me pushing myself to not let down anyone, and make everyone shine that helped me.  This show, as much stress as it gave me, it payed off.  I really found a part of who I am in the process.  Even the things we thought we could never do, that could never work, could work.

The unexpected can be a great thing, we just have to give it's chance.

And to think, it's killing me sitting here, having absolutely NOTHING to do with our current spring show that I can't work on because I'm currently home schooled due to having my hip replaced.  I mean, Night of the Living Dead.  Black and white version, I've freaking freaked out over this several times, that I'm missing this awesome costuming and makeup chance to shine...