A "Quick" Update

May 5, 2008

Hello all! So I've definitely been so busy lately that I haven't had a chance to blog about any of the things I've been going through or done this past month! So here's kind of an update on my life....

Did anyone watch Idol Gives Back in April? I ended up missing it because I got bored watching it. We were in a hotel in Cali and I think we ended up watching Elizabeth: The Golden Age. What a movie! I hated it actually.... I totally wanted to beat the guy up. If you've seen it, you know what I mean.... ANYWAYS, I found out that next week that the American Idol Top 8 (or something like that) sang "Shout to the Lord" together! I pretty much freaked out. Honestly, I didn't believe it at first. Then I found it on YouTube or on TV or something and watched it. Then I REALLY freaked! I think that's SO FRICKING AWESOME that they sang a worship song by my FAVORITE woman/worship leader on TV....AMERICAN IDOL none the less, which is watched by TENS OF MILLIONS of people every week!!!!!!!!! I was stoked beyond belief. I think that's just the most awesomest thing ever!!!!!!!

Which leads me to my next update.... My family and I spent spring break in Phoenix and LA this year. Very cool. Phoenix and southern Cali are beautiful! I will have to expand on the Phoenix part at a later date, but here's a bit of what went on in Cali. So basically, the purpose of our trip was to look at colleges for me to attend and to see if I even like southern CA, the schools, etc. I looked at Biola and Azusa Pacific Universities. I had really, really liked Biola on paper (except for the money part....dear God....) and was hoping I'd like it in real life. The campus is beautiful. I love it there! I felt comfortable and like I fit in, which is so cool. So now, it's definitely my dream school, but we'll see what God's going to do with that whole situation.... We also got to do some sightseeing. If you check out all my pictures, you'll see that we went to Hollywood Boulevard, Venice Beach, and Rodeo Drive. It was a lot of fun. The CA is so beautiful! Phoenix is also beautiful. Their freeways look cleaner for some reason.... lol The weather was also pretty good. When we first got to LA it was in the 60s, but by Friday, it was in the 80s! Phoenix was pretty much in the 90s the 4 or so days we were there, so I definitely got reacquainted with sunshine, which was so nice!

If you read my last blog, you know that I had laryngitis and then got a cold on top of that which lasted about a week. I'm fully recovered now, but what a crap week that was. An update on the Fine Arts Festival that I competed in: I did end up singing at something like 9:45am and I couldn't get my time changed, so I lowered the key (which I had only sang once EVER, which was that day in a practice room) and just did my best. It was really weird for me.... Especially because I knew that it sounded bad and I could do so much better! So the performance really wasn't "me," if that makes any sense. But I did it, got it over with, and will throw out the judges comments because they really don't matter! lol ;-) Unfortunately worship team didn't go as smoothly as we'd wanted, but I sang my guts out and everyone did their best. Apparently we got a time violation, so that really knocked down our score, so that sucked. But Daniel did make it to nationals for his drum solo, so that's good. Everyone did really well and made a few new recruits for our youth worship team!

I just got back yesterday from my high school's choir tour, which was fun. We went to Eastern WA and Idaho. Sounds boring, but it was actually really fun! We sang at Central WA University, a high school in Spokane, Silverwood theme park in Idaho, and in Leavenworth. We also went bowling (oh wow do I suck....), swimming in a "water park" that was connected to our hotel, and spent the day riding rollercoasters at Silverwood. All in all, it was a great trip!

School is "kinda-sorta" winding down, but it doesn't really feel like it. It's crazy how fast this year has gone by.... I'm almost a senior! Wow! I remember feeling like I'd never graduate, and now here it comes.... It's just crazy! So there you go....a general update on my life, travels, etc. :-)