lastnightblues

Home from Europe! My mother, my French teacher, and a group of six students (including me) just returned from our eleven-day educational tour (EF Tours, great program, check it out) through England, France, and Italy. Words cannot describe how wonderful it was.

And so... Coming soon to a DW near you:  Pictures in (hopefully) four installments--

London, England

Paris, France

Italy, Part One (Florence, Assisi, and Rome)
Italy, Part Two (Pompei, Sorrento, and Capri)

And a quick preview:

( London )
( Paris )

( Italy )

Of course--OF COURSE--just as I was beginning to come to some semblance of a college decision, I hear back from Columbia and Yale. And I, uh, got in. To Columbia and Yale. Which I will be periodically re-checking all night, because seriously? Seriously? 

I just... *flails* I mean, I've been thinking about this stuff nonstop for, like, five months, and I am still COMPLETELY unprepared to deal with ANY of this. I have no idea how this happened to me, and I have absolutely no idea what to do now that it has. *collapses*

Whew! Okay. I have Calculus and Bio to do. I'm just gonna go... focus on that.

Apparently the best remedy for the February blahs? New fandoms! I should've discovered this years ago.

Merlin-- I want to shower this show with puppies and rainbows and kittens. It's adorable and fun and British and I haven't quite seen all of it yet, but love!  Any recs for fics, preferably of the Arthur/Merlin persuasion? 

Psych-- Recently bought the DVDs for this one, and I am very happy with that particular investment; I've been watching it for years and found it for cheap at B&N the other day. It's ridiculous and funny, and I can really use that in the dregs of second semester--instant mood lifter!

I also just discovered Psychfic (I don't know why I keep being surprised when I stumble upon these things, but I always am. They make West Wing fic? Did everyone else know that Dr. Horrible slash existed? *o_o* I've been in fandom for years, people, I should see this stuff coming!), and I signed up to write a Shawn/Lassiter fic for round ten of rounds_of_kink . I also signed up for SPN and Reaper fics, so I'll be busy! I've been looking for a way to stay awake during seventh period (a subconscious defense mechanism, I'm thinking, to save me from death o' boredom or from strangling my asshole-y teacher), and devising new smut plots may be just the ticket.

I need to catch up on the rest of Merlin, though, because, my god, that show is begging to be written for. And I got the strange urge to write Clois of all things the other day, so I may look into that. Hmm...

I'm having worries. So I go to Catholic school, and outside abstaining from uber-Catholic activities and not lying about my own beliefs when asked directly, I haven't rocked the boat much in these past three and a half years.

But. But now I'm a senior, and I'm president (former chief editor) of the school newspaper, and I already got into Stanford with a pretty generous financial aid package (ie., I'm not worried about getting scholarships from my high school). So I have this ability to speak, and I want to speak now. One of the biggest--and most administration-approved--movements at school is the Crusaders for Life, the pro-life group. If you're wondering what the pro-choice group is, believe me:  there's no option for one. The majority of my best friends are in this group and have even gone on the March for Life held every January in D.C.

I'm pro-choice. Strongly so. I don't get into it with my friends; we tacitly let that lie. But this opportunity has arisen for me to write an opinion article on the subject, and... I want to take it. So I wrote an op-ed entitled "A Culture of Life:  How a Pro-Life Movement Can Work With a Pro-Choice President." I wouldn't call it a pro-choice article; all I say in it is what I believe, which is that the pro-life movement going about stopping abortions the wrong way, and what I think the right directions would be.

I've prepared myself for the backlash:  from friends and mostly from faculty. I've prepared myself to lose respect from some people if it means that I can sleep at night knowing that I spoke when I felt I had to. But I'm still worried. Mostly because, even though I expect it, I hate to lose my teachers' respect--mainly, however, I'm worried that my journalism club advisor will face retribution. I don't want to jeopardize his job at all.

So. I don't know if I'm writing about this to garner opinions from my flist or just to set my mind at peace, but here it is. My plan at present is to send off the article and talk to highest administrator, whom I respect as a very fair man and who actually helped me get the newspaper started three years ago. Here goes nothing, y'all.

New Show tonight! I'm saving my reactions for later, because I'm just excited we're back. Also, here was my experience midway through the episode:

Uncle Dead!Ted:  "Augh, you smell that?"
Manpain!Dean:  "Every day."
My mother:  "Oh, bless his heart." 

My mother wins ALL of the adorable points. *nods*

Blech. School's back on and it is a sad occasion indeed. Second semester of my senior year, all my college apps are in... Oh, man, is it hard to care about classes. I'd much prefer to drink potfuls of coffee while I polish off the library's Margaret Atwood collection or finish that rounds_of_kink SPN fic I've been doodling. Or continue the Battlestar Galactica marathon my friend and I had over break, during which he and I mainlined the first season. Oh, it was awesome.

But! On the upside, most of my classes are the same, so I know what to expect workload-wise. The only new classes are Psych II and Christian Lifestyles (which is mandatory, believe me). Christian Lifestyles is just... Okay, here's the thing. I may be an apostate from my childhood Catholicism, but I've gone to Catholic school all my life, so it's not as if I'm unused to hearing religious doctrine I disagree with. But Christian Lifestyles is taught by this racist, sexist, homophobic, superior jerk who thinks his Dr. James Dobson videos dole out heavy helpings of wisdom instead of, you know, what they really dole out, which is bigotry. I'm getting the distinct impression that this teacher and I will not get along.

Ah well. My resolution for this semester is to try to enjoy my last few months at school with my friends and not let the stress get to me. After all, most of my friends are scattering for college (Missouri, Iowa, Texas, Indiana, Nebraska, Ohio, with mine being the farthest in either California or the East Coast), and I love them all to absolute pieces, so I want to hang out with them as much as possible. So here's to a new semester, my last semester!

Snow day, snow day, snow day! Ahhhh. It's probably not all that great, because now we have one less day of review for the Calculus-final-that-will-rape-me, Part 1 on Thursday--to be followed by the Calculus-final-that-will-rape-me, Part 2 next Tuesday--but whatever! Don't care! Now I have time to study Bio vocab, do my American Gov't project, and do a little independent Calc study. Preferably during a West Wing/Supernatural marathon. As well as catch up on some much needed sleep.

Slept past eight, took a nice long shower, made myself the customary chocolate-chip pancakes. Oh, my--if I end up at Stanford, this could one of my last snow days. \o/  I'll have to pass on all my knowledge to those who could use it:  turn your pajamas inside-out, do the snow dance at *precisely* ten p.m., put ice cubes in all the toilets, and place a spoon under your pillow. Works everytime *nods*. The fact that I live in a region of Missouri where we can get snow in May? So not the point. It's magic!