Life is Good Today

This picture-though taken in the summer, describes my life right now. Interpret it as you will.

Sorry it's been forever and a day.

Life is good.

But tiring.

I got to school at 6:40.

Come home at 5:40.

Shower.

Eat.

Do homework.

Sleep.

It's a pretty good deal....

Oh! There is something exciting to mention.....

I, RatalieNose was lucky enough to be casted in Snoopy! The Musical, in the role of Peppermint Patty!!!

I am SO.STOKED.

My good friend Steven got the role of Charlie

and I just know we're gonna have a great time!

The shows in December so I"ll let ya'll know

the exact dates and such when it gets closer.

First football game of the season tonight.

A big group of us girls are driving out there even though it's away.

It's kinda weird....this'll be my last first high school football game.

Crazy huh?

Anywho, that's the latest and greatest of Ratalie.

Love you all!

High School Happiness Part Two

Yes, oddly enough, going back to school, starting my senior year, falls under "happiness" not "horrors." An interesting twist to my usual school starting attitude.... You might remember my post from a year ago, informing you of all the horrors that Junior year was going to bring me. Well, it didn't disappoint. Last year was one of the hardest my very short life, so I decided to give myself a little break-have a little fun with school.

Here's my schedule:

A-Cantori/Show Choir

1-Seminary

2-English 101/102

3-AP Gov

(with the best teacher known to mankind!)

4-Student Council

(Director of Staff and Student Recognition)

5-Honor Choir

6-Sports

but swim isn't till after school so I actually just sit around for an hour-LOVE it!

Holler at your right-brained girl!!!!!

Just thinking about my schedule makes me smile-no math, no science!

I mean, I'll probably pay dearly for this once I get to college...but for now, for once in my life, I'm living in the moment and trying not to get to far ahead of myself!

Goals for My Senior Year

1. Straight A's

2. Swim my 50 free under 39 seconds

3. Sail past Superman

4. Be a friend to everyone-especially people who are having a rough time

5. Finish the Book of Mormon

My Theme Song for the Year: Dynamite by Taio Cruz

"I throw my hands up in the air sometimes.

Saying ay-oh, gotta let go.

I wanna celebrate and live my life.

Saying ay-oh, baby let's go."

This is my year-and nothings going to hold me back.

High School Happiness

Believe it or not, there is such a thing!!

Thank goodness.

In fact, this year, the happiness has been equal to or MORE than the horrors, which is amazing! I think it's because even if you have less happy than horror, the happy means more, thus creating equilibrium.

Wow big word.

Okay moving on to the point.

Picture this with me. It's Tuesday, the last full day of the school year. Wednesday and Thursday are both final days which means half day. So Tuesday was the last day I would see EVERYONE. So how did I want to be remembered? Just look at the pictures. Bo Lao Shi-the most patient, longsuffering, and otherwise awesome Chinese teacher ever!
Brother Sell-greatest seminary teacher known to mankind.

The 3 Stooges

Now here comes the story:

It's Tuesday circa 6:45 am.

Last day of A-hour seminary.

But we weren't having a lesson, just chillin' signing yearbooks etc.

Me, Ed (Steph), and Hannah are sitting there wondering aloud where in the world Karla is because she PROMISED she'd come.

So I comandeer Hannah's phone so I can give Karla a piece of my mind.

And she claims to be landing her mother ship at seminary in approximately 15 minutes.

So I say, "let's jump on her when she gets here."

And Hannah, being BRILLIANT, says

"I still have those dress-ups in my car from the anti-prom party."

(Another post soon to come.)

"We should get dressed up and jump on her!"

So we got dressed and waited.

Ready to pounce.

And pounce we did!

I think we almost gave poor Karla a heart attack, but it sure was fun!

Anywho, we promptly got Karla into a stupid outfit.

Then we all made a pact to wear the clothes for the.entire.day.

YES!!!!

And we decided to keep our motives a secret.

If someone asked Stephanie why she was wearing her outfit, she said "Ask Karla"

If Karla was asked, she said "Ask Natalie"

If I was asked, I said, "Ask Hannah"

And if Hannah was asked, she said "Ask Stephanie"

It took everyone till about third hour to get that it was all a huge loop.

It was seriously one of the greatest days of the entire year.

Bless dress-ups forever and ever.

Amen.

Operas and Finals and Dresses Oh My!!!

Recently in English, we've been studying this CreeperMcCreeperFace: Yes, Edgar Allen Poe, was a genius, but he also creeps the heck out of me!!!

Anywho, to end our unit we were assigned to do a Poe Parody.

We could write a story, make a movie or write a song.

Geiser said that if we sing we get extra credit.

So what did Jessica, Sammy, Sarah, Suz and I do?

We turned The Masque of the Red Death

into

The Masque of the Red Death: An Opera in Five Parts

If you've never read the story, basically its during the time of the plague and a selfish bratty prince named Prospero gathers all the courtiers and they all hide out in an abbey until the plague is gone. At least that's the plan. During their Masquerade however, a hooded figure enters and once revealed, it kills the Prince and everyone else present. You can run but you can't hide from the plague.

Well we wanted to spice this up so we turned it into an "opera."

We split it into five parts and wrote a song for each part and each person sang (or rapped) a song.

The first song was

Can You Feel the Death Tonight?

(Can You Feel the Love Tonight? Lion King)
And it was all about the pains and evils of the plague.

Then came

Prince Prospero's Rap.

(Thug Story-Taylor Swift)

Talking about the Prince's selfish plan to hide out.

Seven Rooms

(Seven Things by Miley Cyrus)
Prince Prospero's Suite had seven rooms, one of every color.

Then we took Viva La Vida by Coldplay and turned it into a song about the clock.

During the Masquerade, the people would stop their festivities every time the clock chimed a new hour. It had an ominous tone to it that tripped everyone out.

And for the climax, we rewrote What is This Feeling from Wicked.

Instead of Loathing, it was Deathly, talking about when the plague appears in the form of a person and kills everyone.

This was pretty much the most entertaining project I've ever done!!!

In other news:

*Our Evening of Excellence for YW's was last night and it went fabulously! The theme was Daughters of a King so it was all about princesses!!!! LOVED IT!!! Can you tell that I helped plan it? The best part was that my AMAZING yw's president MADE ME A BELLE DRESS!!!!!

OH MY GOODNESS IT IS AMAZING!!!!!!

It looks JUST like Belle's!!

I'm. In. Love.

*This morning in seminary we had our Christmas conference which was AWESOME!! Students spoke and did musical numbers all centering around Christ and Christmas and the spirit was SO strong!!!

*My two hardest finals (trig and anatomy) are OVER!*

*TOMORROW'S THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR 2009!!!!!!*

SING PRAISES!!!!!!

Alyssa Kellogg

High School Horrors #3

So I was sick all day yesterday.

Ten minutes into seminary and I knew that school was out of the question.

So I missed all day Monday, and I'll also miss all day Friday for my Grandpa's funeral

(post to come)

If you can recall from the first installment of High School Horrors, my schedule this year is not one that allows many absent days.

So missing school today (Tuesday) was not an option.

My mom convinced me to sleep through A hour so I started my day off with Trig.

I'm taking a quiz and suddenly

all Hell begins to break loose in my body again.

I hastily ask if I can step outside and begin gagging and coughing.

Gagging and coughing inevitably lead to throwing up what little I had in my stomach.

And who happens to mosey on over about this time???

None other than Mr. Gates.

The foxy assistant principal on whom I have a HUGE crush.

"Natalie?"

BLAST him for knowing my name!

"Are you okay?"

"Y-y-yes, I'm fine.

"You need to go to the nurse."

"No really I can't go home I can't miss any more sch-

*insert vomiting noise here*

Yeah. Real convincing Nat.

"I'll call you in to the nurse."

Can I just say that I HATE school nurses??

It's like they're purposely mean so you won't come back!

So anywho, after getting my stuff and trying to ignore the stares I slowly make my way to the nurses office where she proceeds to snap at me and make me feel about two inches tall.

After taking my temperature (which was only about a 97) and listening to my sob story about not missing school, she orders me to lie down until second hour.

So all day long I meander around feeling like a truck ran over me 87 times.

In Anatomy, my pregnant teacher made me feel like a leper that was going to contaminate the world.

In choir, due to my not having a voice, I sat there like an idiotic mute.

All in all, not one of my greatest days at Westwood.

Obamafied

As most of you know, President Obama spoke to all of the school aged kids in America today.

The idea sent the whole country into a ruckus.

"He's got a hidden agenda!"

"He's gonna try and turn our kids into Democrats!"

"His soul is so unclean that pure water will melt him!"

Bull Crap.

*Note*

I am not a fan of Obama, however, he is my president and I will show him the respect he deserves.

Okay, back to the speech.

Want to know what his real purpose was?

His "hidden agenda?"

It was to motivate.

To get the future of America motivated about education.

That's it.

He spoke to us about setting goals and not making excuses.
He told us that education is the only way that we will succeed in life.

DUH!!!

I already knew all that stuff!

So, did I need to listen?

No.

But was it nice to know that my president cares about my future and the future of my peers???

YES!!!!

Dude

By writing this post, I'm breaking my personal rule of

"no computer until homework is done."

But not posting regularly here at EverybodyNose feels like child neglect!

And not reading and commenting on all my friend's blogs feels like....

well the first phrase that came to mind was animal cruelty...

but that makes no sense.

ANYWHO....

Some Tidbits From the Life of RatalieNose

1. Got my haircut a little bit ago, it looks just like it does in the above picture and I love it!!!!

Thank you Miranda!!!

2. Yesterday was early release so we went to our friends house and had this amazing Finnish breakfast dish thing that I can't pronounce. HEAVEN!!!

3. Assembly tomorrow = Shorter classes!!

HOLLER!!!

4. NO SCHOOL MONDAY!!!!

5. Date with Shirt Boy on Monday!

6. Anatomy test tomorrow....

Dude!

I better go study!

Love you all!!!!

Inspiration

So I've mentioned before that my plan in life is to become a third grade teacher.

Alot of people scratch their head at that.

"Why so specific?" they ask.

Well, look up at the woman in the picture.

There's your answer.

That woman was my third grade teacher.

Her name is Mrs. Medrano.

Bless her heart.

Here's some background about us:

When I was in second grade, choosing my teacher for third, I wanted Mr. Hulsenback.

He had snakes in his classroom!

SO COOL!!!

But my mom, (bless her!) had other plans for me.

I was told that I would be in Mrs. Medrano's class, and let me tell you:

I was NOT HAPPY!!!

And someone let that fact slip to her, so she was forewarned, and she worried about it all summer.

"Oh no, this girl doesn't like me, we're not going to get along, yadda yadda yadda."

Yeah.......

By the end of the year, she was my favorite teacher of all time.

I still go see her every summer before school starts.

So what's so great about her??

She doesn't take less than your best.

Her class is what got me serious about learning.

In her own words:

"She sticks a boot up your butt."

She pushed me.

Hard.

But was always there to dry my tears.

And was always the happiest person when I succeeded.

She STILL has my test scores and pulls them out whenever I complain that I'm not good at math.

Because of her, I realized what great potential I had!

Third grade was the year I made the most improvement.

All because of this sweet sweet woman.

So again, why do I want to be a third grade teacher?

So I can be, to some bratty, unfocused child, what she was to me:

Inspiration.

P.S.

Thank you all so much for your words of love and encouragement! I have the best blog friends on the net!

Poetry Shmoetry

Last year, for english, I had to compile 30 days of poetry into a book.

Everyday we'd learn about a different type of poem and then we'd write one in that style.

The book is made of cute scrapbook paper.

The cover is rubber duckys.

I love it!

So since I was having writer's block tonight, I thought I'd share some of my poems.

*Please don't judge! I'm a terrible poet!!*

This first one was a complete joke, please recognize that fact!

Just Because

Just because I'm beautiful

Don't be hatin

Don't be jealous

Don't be giving me crap

Just because I'm beautiful

I'm better than you

I'm happier than you

My life is easier than yours

Just because I'm beautiful

I've got rock hard abs

I wear Hollister every other day

I'm too good for you

Just because I'm beautiful, don't feel bad.

Rain

Rain tiptoes sneakily

Like Robin Hood and his Merry Men

It comes to rejuvenate

Like an energy boost for the Earth

It starts out slow

Then builds and pounds like a thousand jackhammers

Then, like magic disappearing into reality, it's gone.

My Chair

My chair has been with me through the good and the bad

It has seen me be happy, angry and sad

The chair used to be clean

Once a long time ago

But due to tears, nail polish and mascara, that simply isn't so

My chair has held me as I sat all alone

It's let me rest as I've talked endlessly on the phone

The chair and I have been through everything together

I love ite even though it's not made out of leather

In My Future

My future probably won't bring lots of wealth

But an education, life and good health

I hope that my future includes Prince Charming

Whose wit and good looks will be quite disarming

He'll find me, love me, and sweep me off my feel.

Then take me back to his castle, his parents to meet.

We'll have a large family, with lots of love

Our strength will come from the Power above

And then one day when I'm ready to die

I'll gather my children around me and say goodbye.

High School Horrors: Part One

I'm starting a new series here at Everybody Nose:

High School Horrors.

Be very afraid....

School hasn't even started yet and I already have my first entry.

Horror Numero Uno:

My Schedule for Junior Year

A- Seminary

(6:30 IN THE MORNING!!!!)

1- Trigonometry

2- AP Junior English

3- AP Anatomy and Physiology

4- Student Council

5- Honor Choir

6- Chinese Mandarin 2

Yes you read the right. TWO!!!!!!!

Why not one??

Because the only hour that it's offered is fifth, during Honor Choir!!!

AHHHHHHH!!!!!!

WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?????????????????

Now if that doesn't scare you, I don't know what will.

Edited to add:

Want more High School Horrors???

Go HERE and HERE!!

And for future HSH, just scroll down to the label that reads

High School Horrors.

Ode to the New School Year

School starts on Wednesday
I'm nervous and weary
Everyone says Junior year's pretty dreary
I'm taking some classes that are bound to kill
But hopefully my brain with knowledge they'll fill

Chinese, anatomy, trigonometry too.
Does the sound of these make you feel blue?
My job in student council will be lots of work
But even when I'm stressed, I'll try to not be a jerk.

I'm hoping this year to create a new me
To fix some things, be the best I can be.
I know it won't be easy and sometimes I'll fail
And my faithful blog readers will have to hear me wail.

But wish me good luck as I start this school year
With you all behind me, I'll go forward with
No Fear.