Crash Course on the Month of October

So if you didn’t notice, I dropped off the face of Newsletter land during week five of last quarter! My apologies! Of course, I never want to leave you out so here is a crash course of what I remember from the last two weeks of October, which were weeks 5 and 6. Week 5 I applied to go on the Theatre Department’s spring break immersion trip, Teatro Catalina, in Nicaragua which is pretty much giving the Catalina community a week-long festival of theatre. My schedule says I “literally slept all day” on October 21st and that I saw a wonderful Sam Shepard show in San Jose on Sunday of week 6. Funny story about that show: Emma (my roommate) and I walked to the show from dinner and google maps took us in a 2-mile circle back to the restaurant. We were both in heels. We found our way! On the weekend of week 5, I got to see the premiere screening of Night Skies, the short film I worked on with Aldo! It was a huge success, and Aldo pulled me onstage without telling me ahead of time. I had a modeling gig in the middle of week 6! I also had tech week of The Foreigner during week 6! No wonder I didn’t get a newsletter out.

“I literally slept all day.”

Thank You

To my dear family, we may not always be civil. We may argue over petty things. We may slam doors and refuse to agree on some things, but I love you with all my heart. Thank you, grandma Cheryl, Grandpa Bill, and my momma RaeAnn for always being willing and ready to hold me as I cry, listen to me as I release, and pick me up as I try again. Thank you for never allowing “giving up” to be an option, and thank you for going to the ends of the earth to try and understand what it’s like to battle a chronic illness every minute of every day and night. There is so much that you all do that no one ever sees. Your integrity, love, and compassion you show towards me only make me want to show your love for me too as much as I can. Thank you.

A Few Words on Weeks 7, 8, and 9

Week 7

Went to a Halloween party at the Globe as Stitch, with my beloved Meleah as Lilo! Spent actual Holloween in our first dress for The Foreigner.

Week 8

Had a ridiculously pointless housing meeting. Took a Spanish test I almost cried in! I registered for Winter quarter classes and missed every event I planned on going to that week. And The Foreigner was stricken on Saturday!

Week 9

I modeled for the LEAD program on Tuesday, and it looks like everything I had was due on Friday, which means I most likely did nothing but homework and studying all week long. Exciting.

You All Probably Know Where I was for Thanksgiving if You’re Ever on Social Media.

After week 9 comes Thanksgiving break! I went to Oahu, Hawai’i! We flew out on Saturday and settled in that night. Sunday was a day of beautiful Waikiki. Monday we jumped on a boat at the crack of dawn and snorkeled with sea turtles for a few hours! It was absolutely breathtaking. Tuesday we took the car out and drove to the opposite side of the island all the way to Haleiwa and Turtle Bay. It was a rainy morning but it gave me some fun energy. Emma and I had a huge breakfast in Haleiwa, we hit all the shaved ice shacks we could find, and we watched the huge Northshore waves crash as we drove home through Turtle Bay. On Wednesday we went to where the family is, Kailua and Lanikai. We had a full morning of shopping in Kailua and Lanikai (FYI Kailua has AMAZING ice cream sandwiches) and we spent the whole day at Lanikai beach. Being with the locals made me feel at home quite quickly. Thursday was Thanksgiving! We bopped around downtown Honolulu (where we stayed with Emma’s dad) and had a small but delicious Thanksgiving dinner. Then Black Friday hit and Emma and I were crazy enough to get up at 7:30am to get to Ala Moana mall by 8am or so. We were in the mall for SEVEN HOURS. I don’t know whether to be ashamed or proud. The deals I got were actually pretty impressive either way, and Emma scored a lot of great clothes too. Saturday we had a lazy day and we walked around Honolulu again a went on a hunt for as many murals as we could find, many of which were beautiful. Saturday night we jumped on our red-eye flight, and came home to SCU early Sunday morning completely ill-prepared for week 10, the week before finals. Week 10 was actually a little bit of a calm before the storm. I got a 48/50 on my Spanish II oral exam and I definitely cried tears of joy. I also had to turn in a 20-minute long vocal technique video this week, but that was about it. As for finals week… they went splendid, and I have never been so successful at time management in my life! I aced all my finals, I saved my grade in Spanish, I completed my BOOK on Hannah from the Bible for my religion class, and I finished my 40-page play for my playwriting class. It was a successful, dense, and crazy quarter. I was taking foreign language, my weakest subject by far, and I pushed through with the help of many friends who allowed me to scream and cry and vent every day and night as I sat looking at my homework that always left me exceptionally overwhelmed. I learned I’m really good at playwriting also, which I didn’t know was a strength of mine. Anywho, I spent a week with the Creach family before flying back to Oregon and we had a wonderful, wonderful time together and I still swear that they have the comfiest guest bed on the planet. While the kids were at school and Andy and Bridget were at work, I spent my time finishing up my school projects and scrambling to start my study abroad application for the fall of my junior year! I auditioned for a play via online, which is always a sucky move, and I don’t expect to hear anything back, but hey, I did it. When I flew back to Oregon, most of you know what happened because I was home with you! I successfully applied to study Theatre and Shakespeare at Queen Mary University of London in London, England but I won’t hear anything for quite a while. The rest of winter break was comprised of reading plays, getting the family to play new games, having friends over, watching The Mission and Cinema Paradiso, going to the Tower Christmas, celebrating Christmas, and hosting the Stompors for a week! I got cavities filled, headshots done, reconnected with friends, read some plays and books, replanted myself in my faith, and got prepared for the new quarter. Here’s to the SparkNotes version of the end of 2017!