Short and to the point.

Hello everyone. Sorry for my complete absence over the past month. A lot of things were going on and I needed a breather.

I have the pictures from the October challenge!
As promised, no editing (besides flipping the ones that were sideways), and all are awesome aspects of the Ursinus campus. :) I really do love it here. Everything's pretty.

Hm, what else can I talk about that people would actually want to read...?

Oh! The Merchant of Venice went really well. Two months of rehearsal, four shows, and one AWESOME cast party later, I have made some great friends and learned a lot. The magic of theatre, ladies and gentlemen.

And, yes, it is that time again! Challenge time! Get at me! Gimme your best shot!
Keep in mind I'll be spending half of December back at home. Maybe do something connected to Christmas or the New Year? :)

Rachel goes places?

So! A lot has happened since the last update.

Weekend before last, I visited Zack for his birthday!! :D I tell you, public transportation is my mortal enemy... It was a pain to find a ride to the train station, then I was late for that train because of dreaded Philly Traffic, finally got to DC, took a subway to where my neighbors picked me up to drive back to WV, but of course DC had traffic too!! D:< I was traveling for precisely eight and a half hours, didn't get there til 11PM. In a car it would take only three hours at most, but of course freshmen are not allowed cars. RAAAAGE. Well, at least Zack was happy to see me. :) He was completely surprised. We hung out all weekend, ate sammiches, had a lot of fun. It was nice being in Martinsburg again. I got to see my kitties, or at least two of them. My poor baby, Max, has not been sighted... I hope he's okay... probably just adventuring out in the wilderness as he is wont to do, but... I'm really worried about him. :(

(That face! I miss him a lot...)

Newman and Puupuu, at least, were extremely happy to see me. They followed me all around the house, and Newman just wouldn't shut up. Poor babies must be so confused being in an empty house like that.


After spending the weekend in West Virginia, a week passed... then the following Friday, fall break started! I couldn't afford another train ride of horror to WV, so I went to my buddy Dan's house in Doylestown, about 40 minutes away from Ursinus. That was a lot of fun! I got to meet his best friends, and we stayed up til 6AM playing Little Big Planet (above) and Katamari Damacy. That was a blast! The rest of the break, I spent my time playing Final Fantasy X and shopping at thrift stores and flea markets and being taken really good care of by Dan's marvelous parents. ALSO REAL GOOD FOOD. Fresh apples, chowder, and the like. :D

The photo challenge for this month is going better than expected, mostly because I live on such a beautiful campus! I have a couple pictures already, so I should be okay to have this done by November.

In closing, a Merchant of Venice Update: I HATE THAT FRIGGIN COURTROOM SCENE. SO MAWCH TO MEMORIZE.

The end.

Love,
Rachel

This! Is! No! Answer!

Thou! Unfeeling! Man!

Hey guys, happy October! This month happens to be LGBT History Month, so go spread awareness and love and rainbows, guys. :) National Coming Out Day is on the 11th; I'll be wearing much rainbowness on this day, and you can do the same! Even if your not homosexual, bisexual, or transsexual, or otherwise-oriented, you can still help the cause. Any show of support from anybody, LGBT or not, makes a huge difference!

As far as my personal life goes, everything is going pretty smoothly.

Rehearsals are so tiring lately! We just finished blocking the IMMENSE courtroom scene this morning. It took three rehearsals. Speaking in a King Neptune voice for that long really does a number on your vocal chords! But I'm having a lot of fun with Merchant of Venice. Bev, our director, really makes Shakespeare entertaining to act out, and the cast is amazingly fun to work with. Of course, it's an all-female cast, so that helps.

Okay. Someone is now opera singing outside in the quad. He's not bad. But... what the balls, dude? O_o

I've just delved into the happy world of Happle Tea. For those of you unfamiliar with HT, it is an adorable, whimsical (and quite frequently mythological) webcomic with adorable, whimsical art to match. The rumor ranges from political to religious to memeical.
Also owls.
Just go check it out.

Also... drum roll please...
I HAVE COMPLETED THE SEPTEMBER CHALLENGE!!
I was challenged by Mr. Kiy aka ESTEEM TEAM GO to learn 5-10 phrases in Norwegian. I have done ten! Here is video evidence of this development:



So now, it is time for someone to give me a challenge for October! Things might be a little crazy this month, so please... please, nothing too difficult... I beg mercy...

Til next time, adjø, mine venner.
Rachel

Depressingly Inspiring

I keep meeting people I am jealous of.

I have this horrible problem with life-envy... I want to be these people.
These people are so confident, so adventurous, and have so much love in them.
I won't go into details, but maybe one of these people is reading this right now. Hi. You make me wish I were you. Welcome to this blog that no one reads.

I try so hard to become as confident as these people, but all I end up doing is mimicking the actions they carry out that I find endearing or cool. I can't come up with my own "thing", really. I am failing to progress my writing, and I'm losing interest in art, and I can't put a story together to save my life, and I'm too lazy to learn.
All I really want to do is create things. All kinds of things. But, this is kind of a curse. None of these things will end up being spectacular because my attention will be spread thin across all of them. My artistic attention span is infinitesimal.

I want others to look at me the way I look at the people I envy, if that makes sense. I want to be proud of something I create. I want to make many, many things. And I want it to be dear to someone like, say, Questionable Content or Stranger Than Fiction or Six Feet Under or A Great and Terrible Beauty are to me.

Don't mind me, it's just something I've been thinking of a lot lately, especially since it won't be long til I have to choose in a very definite way what I want to do with my life. Freakin' college, man.

So much love,
Rachel

Alright then.

I know, I know, I'm late again.
I'm in college now, gaiz!! :D And jeez, it's pretty great and even busier than I could have guessed.

My roommate is great! Her name's Caroline, and she's a Lady Gaga/Labyrinth/Office fan. Okay YES.
I've made awesome friends too. Andrea, Dan, Ammar, Derek... you rawkkk. We play video games and dork out on Dungeons and Dragons Online.

I got a part in our all-female cast production of Merchant of Venice!! I get to be Bassanio. Metric crap ton of lines. But hey, I'm so excited!! First practice is on Tuesday! If you're around November 17th-20th, please come check it out. :)
I have joined a couple clubs: Ninjutsu/Self-defense Club, Riff Club (watching bad movies and making fun of them-- last night's was Space Mutiny), and Breakaway (student theatre group).

ALSO!! IMPORTANT! Andrea and I have snagged a spot on the college radio station this Sunday, 8PM-10PM. You can hear us by going on this website and clicking on the iTunes icon up top. Here's hoping it sounds okay!

Classes are pretty cool. Nothing that I can't handle. Psych has a lot of vocab, and we have to read a chapter in our Creative Writing text every two days, but otherwise I love it.

Well I'm gonna go eat breakfast nao, but before I go: HIT ME UP WITH A CHALLENGE THIS MONTH! :) I'll try and complete it before the 30th.

Thank you so much guys. So much love,
Rachel.

So I guess

No one cares about this blog anymore? :/

You know what?

Fuck this rejection.

Someone take all this rejection, the hurt, the fucking bitterness, and flush it down the toilet. I hate this.

The thing is, the people who've been rejecting me probably won't even read this.
They're much too busy with their own lives to deal with my bitching.

I've been taking it, hoping it was misunderstanding, the failure to connect all just bad timing... but the consistency is really starting to dig its way into me.

Every time I think of these girls, I feel like someone's pulling my heart out of me, gripping tight, squeezing it til it swells up in protest. Do they not realize that losing friends HURTS? I used to cry with these people... Laugh with them... Think with them... Create with them...

Why do they think it's okay to do this to me? In what universe is this humane or RIGHT?
When did they stop loving me, and what could I have done to prevent it?

Just because we change as we grow, doesn't mean we have to leave behind friendships, not always, especially when we still laugh and smile when we see each other. ESPECIALLY if we've made the specific promise to be there for each other.

I'll be here for YOU, girls. After all we've been through, after all I've done for you, why is it so hard to be there for me?

Eheheh, Late Again...

Sorry guys! It's been a busy past few days, what with CATF, hanging with Zack, my mom's birthday, Fourth of July, and seeing my mom and sister off to Texas.

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Well, I have the house to myself right now guys. And it's super lonely. I have no motivation to do stuff like clean dishes, do laundry, or go out to buy bread... This living alone thing is hard... I have to do this til I leave for Europe on the 26th.

Okay. Last month's challenge was, well, quite the challenge! I managed to get my brain around the chords for Say Anything's "Ahh... Men." However, I never could get a hang of singing along. Grr. But hey, I accomplished something! Yay!

Now it's time to pick A NEW CHALLENGE!! So post away, and I'll pick something to accomplish this month. ♥

Keep in mind that from July 26th to somewhere around August 10th, I'll be traveling around Europe with Cass. So, maybe you wanna play off that for my challenge? :D

In other news, dancing vaginas.


That is all.

Love you,
Rachel

What a lovely little update this is.

I haven't been on in a while, and so here's some random thoughts I've had recently, that I frequently save in my phone's Drafts when I want to remember them.

>To read: James Joyce love letters to his mistress.
>"Pressing dimples into my pillow..."
>A sign on the road boarded up-- all you can see is the bottom, which says, "It's the law".
>A sex shop on Middlesex Rd.
>"I shine my lights and the fog glows back in response."
>"Smiling out loud."


That's pretty much it, except plot ideas I want to keep secret... :3

And now for some pictures on my hard drive.

Bears

Tuesday and Wednesday were amazing.

Allow me to catch you up.

I attended the Ursinus Orientation Overnight, meeting a surprising number of new friends, including a roommate-to-be! Her name's Grace, she shares my love of Saiyuki, and is insanely cool.


We were all put into groups, and we played some rather interesting games to get to know people. "Honey I Love You"... This past year's Theatre III/IV class should know this one. XD


After much Wii and intense volleyball, we made our way back to the dorm to sleep. Neither I nor Grace brought sleeping materials, so we both experienced the joy of sleeping on a bare bunk mattress... (Luckily we'd scored a corner room, as you can see!)


The next day we went to various meetings and seminars on campus life and programs and classes and such... What's exciting is I have a proposed schedule!

Common Intellectual Experience (CIE): Tu Th 1:30-2:45
Introduction to Creative Writing (ENG106): M W F 1:30-2:20
Elementary Japanese I (JPN101): M Tu Th 12:30-1:20
Introduction to Psychology (PSYC100): M W F 11:00-11:50
Psychology Lab: Tu 7:00-7:50

If you paid attention, you'd know that this means I don't have to be in class until 11AM! (12:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. :3)

I have to say, the theatre program at Ursinus is more than impressive! I can't wait to get into it. Auditions, crew, even student directed shows are open to all students! :O

~


Now I can't let this post pass me by without mentioning my... interesting first day at the CATF apprenticeship. Now, originally I was assigned as a helper for the costume department, but Props was so understaffed that I may be helping them out for the next couple weeks while the costume department works out the design plans.

And so my day consisted of painting stripper silhouettes on matchboxes, filling garbage bags with pillows and creepy-looking teddy bears, labeling EVERYTHING (I think they know what a spoon looks like), and three whole trips to the outrageously distant "Prop Barn". Literally, the Prop Barn is a worn-out white barn with countless years' worth of dust and random knick-knacks inside. You guys thought the HHS costume loft was bad...? Ughh...

Well, needless to say it was a very tiring 9 to 5. I can see now that my summer is going to be veeery busy. Or at the very least, sweaty. Ah well. Even if I don't get any money or college credits for this, at least I'm getting some experience. And some connections; ya know, in case I need to drop some names to make it big in the contemporary theatre world or something. ;)

~

And as for learning the song... I have 20 days left and I've made zero progress... looks like this song will have to be EXTREMELY simple. "Lotion" only has four repeating chords the whole time... hmmm...



Wow, what a long post! o_o Hope you guys actually read it... Well, either way, that's it for now. :)


Sleepily,
Rachel

I'm a lesbian! I'm a lesbian!

...This title, of course, means that I have beaten Persona 4. It will be a loooonnnggg time til I have to hear that battle music again. I got the true ending and everything, with much assistance from Chao Min Wu's game guide. :)
My next task is to beat Persona 3 with completely maxed Social Links, and then P4 with the same goal. We'll see how much time I have for that during college... ehehehe.

In other news, today I was accepted into an apprenticeship for the Contemporary American Theatre Festival! Kinda freakin awesome! I'll be in the costume department, sewing up costumes and assisting with quick-changes backstage. This will take up a lot of my summer, but there's still enough of Rachel to go around. :)
I start next Thursday and go alllll the way to July 25th, upon which I will jet off to Switzerland with my good buddy Cassie to take Europe by storm! Then... college. Oh my... o_o

Finally, I picked the challenge cuz I was getting impatient. :O I'm going with my lovely Zack's challenge:

"ummmm... you shoulddddd....learn a simple song on guitar. maybe three or more chords (maybe SA?) and then keep playing until you can sing and play"

And so, by June 30th, I will complete this challenge! Thanks so much Zee. :)

Well that's pretty much it for the day. Thanks for reading!

Yours,
Rachel

Well gosh I'm behind... [CHALLENGE TIEM!!]

Okay well, I've been kinda busy lately, what with graduation. Ahhh my aunt and grandmom came over and we had some fun! :)

Sorry I'm late on the challenge. I was at Cassie's for the past 3 days or so. :P

IT'S (past) JUNE FIRST!!
TIME FOR A CHALLENGE!!
WOOOOOOO!!!

For more info on this whole challenge thing, check out the first blog post I made.

So you guys all post some challenges that you want me to complete this month. Then...
Uh...
I guess I'll draw one out of a hat?
Unless I can figure out some kind of voting system, that's what's gonna happen!

Lovingly (and begging for mercy),
Rachel

So That's That

Today was my final day of being a subject of the public school system. Now, I've taken my first steps as a true adult. I've had my final day of high school.

Okay wow.

I've been waiting 13 years for this. From that first day of aching separation anxiety and tantrums when I walked into Mount Vernon Elementary. Then in 3rd grade, when for reasons I can't recall, I transferred to Jefferson Houston School for Arts and Academics, a school that shaped the way I looked at creativity. A quick move to West Virginia, and I found myself in Country Day, a private school. Then on to Spring Mills, which I count as my turning point in life. After all, I met Alex and Lizzy there. :) Finally, I entered my final chapter: Hedgesville High School.

Here, I learned more than I ever could have guessed. I found out a lot about myself. I cut my hair, learned to love writing, and came out. I fell in love (kinda twice) and fell in lust (kinda eww) and fell all over myself trying to find out what the hell I was doing.

And I freakin loved it all.
Even when I cried,
I loved high school.
Because of my friends.

Those reading this most likely count themselves among that number I call friends. Know that I love you, I cherish you, and I will use what little I learned in math to find a common meeting point between ALL of our colleges.

So there.

See you later,
Rachel

wut is this i dont even

This is something like a blog now, yes?

I have... no idea what I am doing.


But I think I might have a plan here.

Along with this being a sort of public diary for you all, narrating my ascent into college life, I've added a twist.


On the first of every month, you all may "challenge" me.


You comment, giving me a challenge that I must complete within the month. I'll update you on how it goes.

Now a challenge can be anything from "bake a batch of cookies" to "make a new friend" to "climb onto the roof and shout various breeds of dogs at the top of your lungs". It'll be fun.

...right?

That can start June 1st. It'll give me some time to spread the word that this blog actually exists.
For now I'm not giving myself deadlines on posting... just gonna see what happens. However, that might change someday.

Anyway, I love you all so much.

Love,
Rachel.

PS: I gotta poo.