Stressful Craziness x 6(factorial) = My Life Right Now

These past couple of days have been absolutely CRAZY. Here is a general recap. WARNING: Prepare yourself for constant changes of emotion and writing styles as well as a little complaining and over happiness.

Thursday: Thursday night was my Girls Choir Concert. It was crazy. I had to come straight from a track meet. I literally walked into warm-ups (late, I might add) wearing my track uniform, throwing shoes, and my hair was in a bun on the top of my head... my director was about to kill me. The concert went wonderful! I am so proud of all of the girls, especially the younger ones! I had two solos, one entire solo song "Draw Me Nearer", and the first verse of "What a Savior". When we hit the a capella part of "What a Savior", I was almost in tears. It was beautiful. After the concert,  Mr. Boehr, the man in charge of the Children's Music Department at my church, came up to me and grabbed my hand. "Ms. Stofer, both of your solos were absolutely wonderful. They sounded beautiful." I smiled and said, "Thank you, I really appreciate that." He still had my hand, and he was just starring at me and smiling. I kept waiting for him to say something when finally he said, "I'm sorry, I was just letting this moment sink in. It is so great to see a young lady who uses her God given talents to give Him praise." I lost it. I started bawling, and I hugged the man. After that, my family went out to eat, at the restaurant, as Izzy and I were walking to our table, a lady came up to me and said, "Excuse me Miss, I just wanted to say that you two look very elegant. It is not very often that I see young ladies dressing appropriately." I smiled and said, "Thank you!" Then as she turned away there were tears in her eyes and she said, "No, thank you, Miss."

Friday: In the morning, I went to school early and had to collect all of my homework assignments from my teachers because I was going to be gone all day. To where, you might ask. A Math Competition! I was representing the Syracuse Math Club for the Geometry Division of the competition. It was at Peru State College. In the morning, when we arrived, we had to go to an opening assembly. Before this started, I looked around the room and saw a familiar face, Tom. Tom goes to my church and he has a son in my grade. He is also a math teacher at Norris. He came up to me and said, "Annastazia, I didn't know you are Math nerd." I smiled and said, "Guilty!". He laughed and told me to make sure that I went and said Hi to Keith. After the assembly, we had to take an individual test. It wasn't that hard, we had gone over most of the postulates and theorems in class already, so I found it quite easy. Upon completion of the test, we were dismissed for lunch. As I was walking out of the classroom, I was attacked from behind. I turned my head around to find an old classmate of mine hugging me from behind. Her name is Meri Beth, and she was in my class when I went to Sterling (Nebraska, that is). I had no idea that she was there. After lunch, we returned to the room to take a team test. My team consisted of two freshmen from my school and myself. That test was hard. After that, we had to face-off with other schools in a Quiz Bowl tournament. During the awards ceremony, we found out that our team got first place on the team test out of 14 schools. I was shocked; I thought we did terrible on that test. I loved that competition. If I had a choice between going to school and going to a math competition everyday, I would definitely choose the math! That night was Academic Awards Night. I was inducted into NHS, I lettered in Academics, and I received various other nerd awards.

Saturday: I had to be to school really early in the morning to throw in the "Capitol Conference Track Meet". I was all excited about making varsity for shot put until I realized that I had to waste a Saturday freezing my butt off after only throwing the shot put 3 times. 3 times! They made me stay all day for only three throws. Also, I need to find a better place to put my phone during track meets, apparently I accidentally called like 3 different people. Knowing me, I probably said something stupid during the small time that this was occurring. Gracefulness: 0.

Sunday: I had to drive into Lincoln at 6:45 with my sisters. Our Girls Choir took a small trip out to Henderson, Nebraska, to sing at a small church. And by small, I really mean small. The church itself was about the size of New Hope, but as the members filed into the auditorium, I noticed that there were more of us than there were of them. It was strange. After the service, I was talking to an elderly lady. She told me that there were usually about 60 members on a good day. I was so shocked. I come from a church that has roughly 1,000+ members on a good day. It was so interesting to see the faces of the girls who had never been to any church but Indian Hills; they were all so shocked. I love small churches. I really wish that Indian Hills was a little smaller. When we returned to Lincoln, rather than driving all the way home, my sisters and I decided to go to my Grandma's house for a while since we had to be back to night church in a couple of hours anyway. On the way to Hickman, I noticed that my car was doing funny things. It rattled and shook violently when ever I put it into first gear. We spent the afternoon helping Grandma organize the food pantry that she is in charge of at her church (the Lutheran church in Hickman). That night at church was the Childrens' Music Program. Mr. Boehr had asked me last week if I could conduct the instrumentalists so that he could focus on the choir. I eagerly agreed! During the concert, I wanted to pull out my hair. I made the tempo quite clear, but they still rushed it! I gave up on conducting in four and just moved my hand up on the off beats and down on the beat. There was one girl who never knew if she was playing at the right time, so she would give me this look of terror, and I would smile at her and mouth "great job" to assure that she was doing it right. Unfortunately, she evolved into one of the tempo violators. On the way home from church, my car started smelling funny, and the engine would rev up at awkward times. I pulled off of Highway 2 at Palmyra and called my Dad. He told me to try to get it home, so I did. I got about 5 miles down the Palmyra-Douglas highway when the smell came back very strong. I would know that smell anywhere: burning clutch. Soon after that, I could only get my car to go 30mph. I kept looking for places to pull off, but there was no where, and the ditches were way too steep to pull to the side of the road. So I put my flashers on. As I was coming up over the last hill, an angry farmer passed me, rolled down his window, and flipped me off. I was so angry. I started yelling. "I am a teenage girl driving a manual and having clutch problems. Leave me alone." My sisters were a little confused, thankfully he didn't hear me because the windows were rolled up. I pulled off at the K section and called my Dad. I told him that when I pushed in the clutch, put it in gear, and eased off the clutch, that the car wouldn't move. The first thing he asked me was, "Do you have the E-Brake on?". This made me mad. I may be blonde, but I am not stupid enough to put the brake on and wonder why the car isn't moving. He came to the rescue, and the tow truck wasn't far behind. Although before he got there, I had to deal with 3 angry farmers who couldn't get their tractors past me because I wasn't in the ditch enough. I kindly apologized and said that I couldn't move. Some where more understand than others. 2 out of the 3 of them cussed at me. What happened to all of the nice old-guy farmers? Where did they all go? Why did I get stuck with the grumpy young ones? The final diagnosis: a torn/broken clutch. Much to my dismay, the first thing my Daddy said was, "You women can't drive manuals correctly!" I looked at my Momma and she said, "Gregory Dean, if we are so bad at driving manuals, why did you buy it?" He rolled his eyes and said, "Because I enjoy driving them!" Thus ended the conversation.

Monday: I don't want to talk about Monday. Some of my friends are driving me crazy right now. How could they be so blind and childish? I HATE DRAMA!

Today: This morning I found out that I made Student Council! I have been trying every year since 7th grade to be on Student Council, and this year is the first year that it happened! I am very excited! I also found out today that it is going to cost me a little over $500 for all of my dance team uniform this includes dance pants, dance shoes, a performance shell, a "uniform shell", pom-poms, a warm up jacket, and warm up pants. This is insane. My parental units were a little surprised that it is so much for so little, frankly, I was too. I mean, I'm only going to get one year out of this stuff anyway. Tonight was our spring Band Concert. It reminded me of my last Band Concert in Ogallala. I remember Micah and I  walking around saying "My oboe is sexy and YOU know it!" Let's just say people got annoyed with that quite quickly, but it was fun! I remember crying afterward with Syd. I remember cracking my oboe reed right before we performed, typical Annastazia. Awkwardly enough, I cracked my reed on my tooth this morning. The concert was okay. It definitely was not great, but everyone seemed to enjoy it. The thing that I really hate is that we don't have any sort of stage or place to perform except for the gym, and in a gym, an oboe sound is multiplied by like 50 million. So I was constantly getting the "Shut-up or I will kill you!" look from Poe. When I got home, I found out that Daddy fixed the brakes in the Excursion, so now I don't have to have my parents drive me everywhere like a child anymore. He said I could drive that until my jackwagon car gets fixed!

P.S. 6(factorial)=6x5x4x3x2x1=720

MUIOF!

Dear YouKnowWhoYouAre,

You are ruining my life, honestly. You don't come around for two months, and then all of a sudden... BAM! You show up when I least expect you. Our relationship is quite tender. I dislike you, and you try to become part of my life once a month or so. I was hoping that this was it, that I would never have to see you again, but I was wrong because you showed up today. Really? You chose now? I have a supper busy next couple of days, and you are going to make them worse. A Track Meet and a Girls Choir Concert tomorrow, math day at Peru and Academic Awards Night/NHS inductions on Friday, Conference Track Meet on Saturday, Girls Choir performance on Sunday, Track Meet on Monday, another Track Meet and a band concert on Tuesday. You chose the worst possible time to show up. Newsflash, I don't want you around. Please go away. I don't like you, as well as every other woman in her right mind on this earth. MUIOF!

Sincerely,
Your Most Hated Victim (that's me, by the way)

Inhumane

Maybe it's the murdering of thousands of innocent people. Or maybe it's the shrill screams of children crying for their mother. Or the man hiding in the piano, and then he climbs out and starts playing, only to get shot. Or the little child hiding under the bed fearing for her life. Or the doctor who tried to save a woman, but she was shot in his arms, her blood splashing all over his white lab coat. Or the man who escaped in the sewer only to find that his wife did not. Or the doctors and nurses rushing to give patients medicine that will make them die, so that they will not be beaten or murdered, yet they are shot anyway. Or the child who has to watch his father get shot, only to get shot soon after. Can you imagine? The last image in your head is your father being murdered. Or the mother who made her children swallow precious jewelry. Or the woman who would not let a child's mother into the hiding place, the screams of the child ringing stridently through the air. Or the engineer graduate woman who is shot because she tried to tell the general that the barracks where not structurally sound. It's the combination of all these things that just makes me sick. In World Cultures, we are learning about the Holocaust. Currently we are watching Schindler's List. Today in class the movie covered the Liquidation of the Ghettos. I was not remotely prepared for what I was about to see. All of these things aforementioned and many more. I was even more shocked when a date appeared on the screen. The date of the Liquidation of the Ghettos was March 13, 1943. I will never ever think of my birthday the same way. How could I? I cried all the way through class. I couldn't handle it. I had to force myself to watch it, but only because I knew we would probably have a quiz over it. Something that really upset me was when one of my class mates, the drama causing guy in my class that I have complained about before, laughed when the little boy was shot after watching his father get shot. He laughed. How could he be so heartless? Honestly.

I couldn't bring myself to make eye contact with anyone that entire period. I'm sure I looked like crap, and I felt like I was going to blow chunks. I don't know why I can't handle these videos. It was the same way last year in American History, I just can't stomach things like this. Mr. Fruit was very considerate of this last year. Every time a gory, nasty part would come up, he would look at me and nod. So I would put my hands over my eyes, and on some audible parts, he would mute the video. Mr, Krecklow isn't considerate at all, he lets the movie run through all of the most gory parts.

I think the saddest part of the movie for me so far is when the little girl hides under the bed and covers her ears. She is all alone, and she is too young to comprehend what is going on. Another part that really made me upset is when the Nazis were separating men and women. A little boy was ripped out of the arms of his mother. He screamed and screamed, "Mama! Mama!" This woman struggled and struggled, but she could not get to her child. I cannot imagine going through this. It was just so horrible and inhumane.

Because You'll Want More

"Honey, it ain't gonna zip." This was the last thing I wanted to hear on the morning of District Music Contest. I was already running late, as usual, and I still had to retrieve my band uniform, choir robe, oboe, and music before the Encore bus left for Nebraska City in roughly 9 minutes. Poe wanted Encore dressed and ready to perform before we left the school. It took three people to get my dress zipped. Two to push my shoulders back, and one to zip it up. The zipper was about halfway up when Mikayla asked if there was another dress in the uniform closet that I could wear. Unfortunately, the only dresses that were left were sizes 3-4, 17-18, and 22. Frankly, none of those were going to fit me. We finally got it zipped, but I could barely breathe. The whole way to Nebraska City, I had to sit up perfectly straight because when I bent my back, the two wires that run down my stomach/chest would dig into my skin. I had bruises from it.

When we arrived in Nebraska City, we basically walked into our homerooms, dumped our crap, and left for warm ups. In the warm up room, there was an entire wall that was covered in mirrors. "If you are mature enough to handle it, you can warm up facing the mirrors." Ms. Poe said sarcastically as we entered the room. Let's just say, we weren't mature enough to handle it. Let me rephrase that... Our tenor section was not mature enough to handle it, the rest of us were. As we walked onto the stage, the announcer came up on stage. Apparently we were the first group. I looked out in the audience and saw an entire section of Syracuse  people. There were 108 of us students total. "First up, we have Syracuse. This is their madrigal group." she turns to Poe, "I don't know what you guys call yourselves." Ms. Poe turns toward the audience and says, "Encore: because you'll want more." And then she turns around to cue the starting pitches of our a capella french song. Perfect timing. Encore went amazing, and we received a 1+, despite random grimaces of pain from poking wires. Seriously, what idiot puts pointy wires there?

As soon as we arrived back at the homerooms, we had like 10 minutes to change and then get into robes for Women's Ensemble. The practice went terrible. Absolutely terrible. I was almost crying. Somehow we managed to pull it out of our rear-ends for the performance, and we received a 1+ as well. It was amazing.

As soon as we arrived back at the homerooms, we had roughly 7 minutes to get ready for band. Somehow I managed to put my silver braid thing on the wrong arm, so I had band moms practically attacking me after I got my uniform on. Then I received a long lecture that entailed, "You are a sophomore in high school, it is time to learn your left from your right." (This is something I really struggle with. For my driving test, I had to  write L and R on the backs of my hands. It was quite embarrassing.) One thing I forgot to do was remove my "Encore lipstick", so I managed to dye my oboe reed pink. It is really pretty. Band went pretty good, it wasn't our best performance, but it also wasn't our worst. We ended up getting a 2, the best thing is that I didn't break my reed like I did last year at contest! I also ditched the water cup! Saliva is perfectly acceptable. No more Dixie cup for me! (I was so sad, I didn't have anyone to randomly switch oboes with this year. I miss my wonderful oboe buddy, Micah!)

After band we had an entire hour before choir, I took advantage of this time to go eat lunch along with some of my friends. During lunch, a wave of nausea and tiredness hit me, so Ally, John, Britton, and I went back to the homeroom. I pulled up a piece of carpet and fell asleep in the back corner of the classroom. I  was woke up by John tapping on my head with his foot saying, "If you don't wake up, you're going to sleep through choir, and we all know that that would be bad." I managed to peel my aching body up off the ground and put on my robe. I looked over at Ally, John, and Shae, and Shae said, "Darlin' you look like you are about to pass out." She came over and started rubbing my back. I closed my eyes, and then her hands were gone. They soon returned to my back. I leaned my head back on what I thought was her shoulder and was just about to say, "Shae, you are a doll." when I realized that it wasn't Shae, it was John. I swear I jumped like 3 feet in the air. "Holly crap, Stazia, what's your problem?" "John, you scared the crap out of me, I thought you were Shae." That dummie was laughing at me. Just then Ms. Poe said it was time for choir to warm up. Warm ups were sketchy, at best. It sounded wonderful, but I felt like I had just been hit by a bus. All of my Alto 1 babies were doing wonderful, so I didn't have to make very many comments.

As we walked on stage I felt even more sick. Festival Sanctus cheered me up a little bit. I love the part at the beginning when each section enters with "Sanctus!", it is so pretty. That was the best performance we had ever done of that song, and the basses and tenors didn't screw up the part that they had never done right before! Next up was Sure On This Shining Night. This song makes me cry. The guys only part at the beginning is just absolutely beautiful. Our guys section can actually sound amazing if they apply themselves. I stand right next to Britton, and he has an amazing voice. I was crying before we even got to "The late year lies...". The song was just absolutely beautiful. Emotions do weird things to me, and that's all we'll say about the end of that song. As we were walking back to the homeroom, I was hysterically crying. Poor John, I think I scared the poor kid. He asked me, "Stazia, are you okay?" I took my hands away from my eyes and said, "John, I'm an emotional wreck right now. What do you think?" Then he said, "I meant physically." "Oh, no, I feel like I am going to vomit, keep your distance." That dummie didn't talk to me for the rest of the day. Choir ended up getting a 1+ as well. Jazz Band got a 2.

Today was the small ensemble day. I participated in a solo song and a duet. My solo and duet both got 1's! It was a very successful weekend for the Syracuse Choirs, as for band, not so much.

Contagious Crappy Days

I swear that crappy days are contagious. Last night one of my good friends was telling me about his crappy day, and today the crappy-day germ was passed onto me. This icky snowy/icy weather didn't make my day much better either. This morning as I walked into the band room, John looked at me kind of funny and then said, "Oh my gosh guys! Stazia is actually showing her arms!" I rolled my eyes and sarcastically said, "If you're nice to me, you may actually see my ankles next week!" There's a difference between being conservatively modest and dressing like a pioneer woman from way back in the day when shoulders and ankles were considered intimate. Sometimes I think my friends misinterpret my reasons for dressing modestly.

Speaking of dressing modestly, I had to get fitted for a dance team uniform today. Holy-not-modest. Let's just say, I definitely need to get into shape over this summer or my uniform will look quite disgusting on me. (I also found out today that for the Otoe County Fair parade that I have to march in sometime in August, I have to wear my dance team uniform while I march in the band. Sketchy. We'll see how this goes. Especially with the whole chair-step thing.)

I have been asked to smile so many times today. It drove me crazy. Honestly people, they are just teeth. Just because they are not covered in disgusting metal anymore, it doesn't mean that you have to make a big deal about it.

On a positive note, choir was amazing today! Our accompanist was here today (she only comes once a week), and we ran through all of our contest music. And much to my pleasure, it brought tears to my eyes. Good tears. Tears as in, we won't make complete fools of ourselves at contest!

The rest of my day kind of went down hill from there. Spanish class annoyed me. As it always does. I'm pretty sure I bombed my Savings and Investments test in Personal Finance, and I am not excited for this dumb stock-report that we have to do. In World Cultures we watched a video about the French Revolution. So. Many. De-headings. It was so disgusting. After watching Marie Antoinette get her head chopped off about 5 times, I almost vomited. The video said that the guillotine would cut-off up to 800 heads per day! That is insane! I was really upset after that class. In biology we recently got a new seating chart. Much to my dismay, I have to share a table with Britton. He laughed when she said our names; I almost cried. He kept bothering me, poking me, and touching me all through class. I wanted to punch the kid! Some people just don't understand boundaries!

Track was terrible as well. Because of the snow/rain/ice/sleet stuff, we had to stay inside for practice. Which meant that the throwers had to do a hard workout. First we did "Dynamic Warm ups", then we lifted weights, then we did a exhausting jump rope workout, then we had to pull each other across the gym in harnesses, and then we had to do a medicine ball work out. I wanted to cry. That was the hardest work out that we have done all season long. I am so sore.

It's Here

It's here. It's real.
The eerie color of the sky,
the constant pitter-patter of rain,
the low grumble of thunder.
It's here. It's beautiful.
The flash of lightning that lights up the yard,
just enough so that the barn becomes visible.
Outside your window you look,
mesmerized by the hail banging on the ground.
It's here. It's wonderful.
The sudden rush you get when a flash of lightning catches you off guard,
or when a loud BOOM of thunder takes your breathe away.
The calming sensation of the steady flow of water,
down the roof, into the gutter, and down the pipe,
so vividly radiated.
It's here. It's welcomed.
The ground cries out for moisture,
and the rain drops readily answers back,
flooding the yard with muddy hydration.
It's here. It's here.
A beautiful spring thunderstorm.

Discombobulation

On Saturday, I somehow managed to roll my lazy butt out of bed before the rest of my family, which was a very good thing because I had not packed at all. I bustled about the house in a quick manor, grabbing the things I needed, over-packing (aka: "pulling a Lauren"), and getting ready for my busy day. We left the house around 9; Tripp bound! Tripp is a tiny town in South Dakota that you have probably never heard of in your life. Some dear family friends of ours live there. The Schafers family. Paul and Tara have three kids. Payton is my age, Noah is Rudy's age, and Ripley is Izzy's age. This is the family that we went to Gavins Point Dam with this summer. As we got onto I-80 at the Greenwood exit my mind rushed through memories. I had not been on that part of that road since before we moved to Ogallala. My Grandparents used to live in Elkhorn (aka: "the annexed part of Omaha" but if you mention anything about that to my Grandpa, you'll find yourself in a heated debate). As we drove on, I remembered the hundreds of times I had been on that road anticipating seeing my grandparents. It was a little bitter sweet. One thing I really took note of was the beautiful glass catholic church on top of the hill about one mile away from the Gretna exit. It is so pretty. We drove through Gretna and it made me think of all of the lucky Gretna English students, who have the wonderful opportunity to be taught by the most amazing English teacher that I have ever met.

Soon we came up on the intersection that leads into Skyline Ranches. Much to my surprise, Dad turned! We were heading to Grandma's old house. It's amazing how things change so much. I didn't even recognize some of the houses that I had seen a million times. As we approached Grandma's house, tears started forming in my eyes. It was so different, but yet the same. The large tree in the front, the big red barn with the long black separate drive way, the cherry tree in the side yard, the cracked driveway where I had learned how to ride a bike, the pool I swam in every summer (it was also the pool that one of the horses decided to take a swim in as well. That didn't end well.) The place my family gathered at every holiday, the place where my Great-Grandma Dreessen had passed away, the place where my Dad had accidentally shot two nails into his knee, the place where I had unloaded so many trailer loads of hay, the place where I rode my first horse. (Her name was Blue because if you looked in the right light, her mane was blue.) All of these memories flooded my brain, sending my into a weird emotional state. I was happy and smiling, but I was crying and sad. My Momma was crying as well, this had been the house that she spent her high school years in. A house is a house. It can trigger memories, but it doesn't have the capability to keep them, we do. That house had six bedrooms, and the family that bought it had a ton of kids. They had a couple of their own, and at the time of the purchase, were in the process of adopting a couple more. It's their turn to make memories in that house.

After our little adventure we got-the-heck-onto-Dodge (oh man, that was a good one... Pun intended! You Omaha area people will get it!) and we returned to our South Dakota Bound adventure. We finally arrived that afternoon, and we spent the entire time with our wonderful friends. That night, Payton said that she was inviting two of her friends over, and that all four of us girls were going to enjoy a bon fire outside. Despite my hatred of fire, I was excited. I couldn't wait to meet her friends. Paul started the fire, and Payton and I went on a hunt for lawn chairs. A couple minutes later, like 7 people of various ages and genders showed up in her yard. I was confused, I thought it was just going to be us girls. Payton introduced me to everyone. I was a little scared. These people were creepy, they looked like the druggie kids at my school. The entire time, all they did was say cuss words, make inappropriate jokes, and talk about naughty things. I felt so out of my element. One creepy guy mentioned having alcohol in his car, and I was just about to go inside making a false sick-claim. He left, so I decided to stay, but I promised myself that the instant he came back, that I would go inside. He never came back thankfully, and there was no more talk of such things. If this is what normal high school age kids do for fun, I do not think I am missing out. These kids go out and party and get drunk every weekend. That is insane. Call me crazy, but I would like to impact my future positively, not ruin it by slumping to the pathetic level of the evil deeds that peer pressure leads into. Some people. I swear. After everyone dispersed, I practically ran into the house after being left alone to put out the fire (a task that I hate doing... fire really scares me) and told my Mom about everything that had happened. I was so discombobulated; I didn't know what to think. Frankly, I just went to bed with out bothering to take out my contacts or change into my pajamas, I was just laying there crying. My phone buzzed a couple of times, but I completely ignored it. At one point I chucked my phone across the room into a pile of Payton's clothes. I love Payton like a sister, but I don't know why she chooses to surround herself with such terrible people. I am so thankful for the amazing friends that I have.

Hace viento!

This morning was absolutely lovely! I only had to go to school for one period: Band! And shortly after band, we left for our track meet in Waverly. It was a varsity meet, so there were only 16 of us girls going, which meant that we had to share a bus with the boys. As we pulled up to Waverly High School, a wave of tiredness hit me; I suddenly had the urge to fall asleep. That urge was soon replaced with excitement. As I stepped off of the bus, a cool breeze of air hit me, sending goosebumps and shivers all throughout my body. I quickly put on my sweats and hustled over to the tent with the rest of my team. Shot put was first. We went to check in. I was in the second flight out of four. It wasn't bad considering I was an underclassmen at a Varsity meet. "Stofer, Syracuse, in the whole!" as soon as I heard that I started peeling of the layers of sweatpants/shirts/shorts that I had on. The cool breeze whipped around my almost bare body. Now completely shivering, in my head I could picture my fitted under armor and my running leggings sitting in the trunk of my car, where I had promised myself I wouldn't forget them. Story of my life. My best throw was 28' 11", which is a personal best. I was really hoping for 30', but at least my throws are increasing.

Next up was discus. I was really dreading this event. We had to throw directly into the wind. Your release had to be just perfect, or the wind would blow the disc back toward you. My best throw was an unmentionable distance, it is just absolutely terrible; the only reason I didn't scratch it was because I needed a mark after fouling-out my first two throws. I took off for a jog after biffing my last throw. I needed to calm down. When I returned, I plopped my self down on the ground next to my coach's empty chair. When he returned, he kicked my foot and said, "Keep your head up, kiddo. Everyone has to deal with that stupid wind. Don't worry about it."

By the way, "hace viento" is Spanish for "It is windy!"

Back at the tent, I waited for about 3 hours, and then started warming up for the event I was most excited for: the field-event-person relay! Our relay team was made up of three throwers and a triple jumper, and much to my displeasure, I was the 4th leg. That meant that I had to run in front of the grand stand, where everyone is looking at me. (People always watch the throwers' relays just for the pure enjoyment of watching fat people run. I do not find it amusing.) Also, the wind was coming straight out of the south, so I had to run against the wind the entire time. As we got lined up, the tension was building inside of me. I felt like I was going to vomit. As the gun went off, I watched intently. As I watch Ratchet (her real name is Rachael, but we call her Ratchet..) run down the back straightaway, I realized that we were in the lead. As she passed the baton to Griz, we lost our lead, and when the baton got to me, it was a three way tie between Syracuse, some other town, and Norris. I completely biffed up receiving the baton. As I sprinted down the front straightaway, I felt like I was floating on a cloud. It was a strange sensation. The other team's girl was an actual sprinter, so she took the lead. However, the Norris girl was right behind me, and when we finished I was a few inches in front of her. We got 2nd place! I was so happy. I thought we were going to come in dead last. I have grown quite fond of "weight-womens' relays". In fact, I think I may start running more. Psh. Who am I kidding? I love running just as much as I love my boyfriend. I don't have a boyfriend. Enough said.

Complaints. Emotions. Musicality.

Tuesday night at Encore we had just finished singing our a capella french song. Chatter emerged soon after Poe cut us off. "Ms. Poe, could you play that last B natural? I don't think I sang the right note." She plucked out the B natural, "Nope, Annastazia, you sang it right, you're fine." I breathed a sigh of relief and scribbled a note in my music. Kensie, a fairly conceited alto, said, "Annastazia, I'm pretty sure that's a D natural." A confused look made it's way across my face as I searched through my music, "No", I said pointing at the note, "It's a B natural." She glanced at the note and then quickly responded with, "Oh, I'm sorry, you see, I used to play trumpet, so I read different notes. It would have been a D natural on a trumpet." I was about to nod my head, but then I actually thought about what she said. There were so many things wrong with that statement that she made that I just bit my tongue and turned away. I called Syd later and vented to her about my anger with people who think they know what they are talking about, but then are completely wrong and conceited. It's wonderful to have people like Syd who will listen to my awkward complaints and not judge me because of them.

Easter!

This weekend has been absolutely crazy. 18 people. Only 2 bathrooms. I love my family, but sometimes it gets a little crowded when all of us are together in the same place. I loved being with all of my cousins this weekend! Since I am the oldest, I usually get stuck taking care of the small children, which I do not mind at all. My cousins are all quite younger than me. My closest-aged cousin is Sarrah, who is in 3rd grade.

Friday, I had track practice in the morning (I found out that I will be throwing on Varsity for both shot and discus on Friday at the Varsity meet in Waverly! I didn't think that I was going to make varsity, I did terrible in my throw-offs!), and then I had to help sell yummy treats at our softball team bake sale. I found out that I didn't make it onto the 18s team this year, which is what I was really hoping for. So, it looks like I will be playing 16s for another year. The way they have this set up really angers me. Oh well. There's nothing I can do. Anyway, we have to raise money so that we can pay entry fees into tournaments. At our little bake sale, we had it set up outside, and I forgot to put sunscreen on, so I got fairly sunburned. The bad thing is that one side of my face got more sunburned than the other, so I look quite dumb. When I got home, my Uncle Darren and Aunt Betsy who live in Minnesota were already there with my adorable twin cousins, Elizabeth and Olivia... aka: Libby and Livvy. We had an awesome evening with them.

On Saturday, we woke up early, and went to the Live Like Addie run in Syracuse. Addie died from cancer last year on March 26, two days shy of her birthday which was March 28. Addie was in Elle's grade, and she was always a very happy girl. She also loved animals, she always came up with creative ways to raise money for animal shelters. I couldn't participate in the run because of NSAA rules about being in a sport season and participating in a competition, so I just volunteered as a water girl! Needless to say, more water got spilled on me than actually went into runner's mouths. After that, I drove to Hickman to help my Grandma with her food pantry stuff. We were putting together Easter meals for the needy families in the area. (Speaking of driving... The engine light in my car finally went off! It had been on since the morning of All-State auditions... October 13th. I have no idea why it was on, but I hope it stays off!) After returning home, I enjoyed dinner with all 18 of us, and once again I was on baby duty. Baby Ellijah is so adorable, and he is such a happy baby. He only cried a couple of times.

Sunday was crazy. There were 12 people all trying to get ready for church at the same time. I have my Sunday routines down to a science, and when something in my routine doesn't happen the way it;s supposed to, I get a tad grumpy. Let's just say I was fairly grumpy. Church was amazing, as usual. The orchestra was breath-taking, but I wasn't that impressed by the choir. The message was very convicting, and our pastor must have been planning this for a long time because the "Easter sermon" fit right into our study of the book of Hebrews. I was quite impressed.

Lunch was amazing, as always. I'm so glad that I live in a family of women who can cook delicious meals. I really hope I inherit that. My Grandma Dreessen and I were having a lovely conversation during lunch about me. According to her, I have little Dreessen in me, and I am all Illg (her family) and Stofer. She said that the only Dreessen trait that I received was my curly hair, but that also comes from Gregory as well. She also said that one of my most defining Illg characteristics is my Illg-laugh. I don't think any of you have ever heard my real laugh. It is almost scary. All of my grandma's siblings and my mother have it as well. It really is strange. It's really funny when we all get together because it is Illg-laugh after Illg-laugh while people are shouting over each other because we all have loud voices. And don't even get me started about Illg family reunions.

After lunch, I took this little guy into my possession, and I was baby-hogging him all day. I really think that out of us kids that I was the only one to hold him all day. This is partly because every time I tried to pass him off to a cousin, he would start crying. Baby Ellijah is so adorable. He is cutting teeth right now, so he slobbers everywhere, but some how I over-looked that. I was trying to get him to say my name, but he can only say "Dada". I was quite disappointed. How hard could it be? "Ann-a-sta-zia". I don't understand why babies can't wrap their little brains around saying my name. (On a side note, right after this picture was taken, that little booger grabbed my earring and pulled really hard. I thought he was going to rip it through the skin.)