Wow... I have so many things to talk about! But I don't really feel like typing forever because it's a Friday night and I have better things to do. Go ahead, you can laugh and say "yeah right"....I hate to say it, but you're right anyways. I really don't have anything better to do...sigh. Anyways, I'm going to pick and choose what to talk about today and when I reach a slow point sometime during the next week when i have nothing to write about, or when I'm bored again (could very well be in like 20 minutes or so) I will talk about all the other stuff I have to say.

So, hmm...what was I going to say? Ok, I guess I'll start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. Wednesday, I was suppossed to go to Racebrook school to start an afterschool french program with Sahar and Guantong. I was all ready to sing "head, shoulders, knees and toes" with them in french, excited really! I had practiced! Well...we went. There was only one, tiny problem. None of the kids showed up. It's not that they all could give, as Mr. Bouchard would say, a flying piece of fecal matter about french. It was some stupid mistake with permission slips or something...so none of the 25 seven year old angels could stay after school. Well, we considered just going home, but what fun is that? And there were all these cookies and a whole thing of apple juice just sitting there that we brought to share with the kids. So, what did we do? Left a trail of cookies throughout the hallways of Racebrook! No, silly...we had a picnic! We managed to finish off a whole box of cookies and down a few cups of juice each, all the while reminiscing about favorite junior high memories...the times when school was easy and field trips were often. Sigh. On a side note I must say thank god I'm graduating this year!(total randomness)

Right...anyways. After we finished our after school snack we went on the swings and the playground. Fun times, fun times. Some highlights include hitting my head pretty badly on the top of the enclosed slide (my head still hurts), and falling off the balance beam...so much for dance giving me more balance. I also did some hardcore "rock climbing", which included climbing up three step like structures while holding onto a rope for support. I was even kind enough to spend some of my precious playground time spelling "HI!" on the twisty color block things for all the little elementary schoolers to see, even though I'm sure some first grader probably went to play with them without noticing my message. All I know is that it definitely wasn't a sixth grader who would mess it up because these blocks were way too cool for someone of that age to play with. Basically, I sampled everything the playground had to offer. I highly recommend that you all plan your next day off from school visiting all the fun attractions. I kicked over what I think was some kid's ice sculpture covered in grass of a turtle and what was either a lion or a seal... I'm still not too sure which one. We played hopscotch, realizing how pointless it is. Seriously, if anyone out there knows the purpose to this "game" (it doesn't even deserve that title) please let me know.

You're probably thinking, "ok Trisha. You are the biggest dork I've ever met", but come on now...you don't mean to tell me that none of you have ever wanted to play on a playground again and eat a whole box of chewy chips ahoy cookies in one sitting?!? I'm sorry. But I simply don't believe it. **Warning!** If you still think I'm a dork because of what I did, then you better not read the next section because then you will never be able to look at me again without screaming "There goes a nerd!". After a few hours on the playground we went over to THE map. You know the one. It's painted on the pavement with all the states in bold, bright colors. The universal, found-on-every-elementary-school-playground, United States map. Naturally, we go to name every state. I won't go into great detail here, but after we walked across the map naming as many states as we could we decided to make a list of all the states, trying to figure out the ones we missed. Afterwards, we would try to place the names we came up with with their appropriate spot on the great U.S. map. It seemed like a foolproof plan... When we completed our list, we only had 39 states. Ms. Duffy would have been horrified. One of the states that we missed was Florida...another was Hawaii...and the saddest of them all, so was Connecticut. I kid you not. The only other thing I have to say on this matter is...Utah. Utah, Utah, Utah. What a state! Don't ask, you really don't want to know...not that you really care about anything else I'm saying, but just trust me on this one...don't ask about Utah. In conclusion, I had much fun frolicking among the lands of Racebrook while madly chomping chocolate chip cookies, kicking over turtles, and pondering over where on earth Nebraska is. The most fun I have had in a while. Wow...I really am a dork.

I came back from Punta Cana a few days ago. For all of you who are geographically challenged (I can use that term because it includes me) Punta Cana is in the Dominican Republic. It was a relaxing little vacation. Just getting away from the freezing temperatures up here was worth it. That's right, while all of you were shivering in your sweatshirts I was down in the Caribbean...lying on the powder white sand in 85 degree weather and swimming in the crystal clear blue ocean...hahaha. I can't help being mean sometimes- it's too much fun in this case. I relaxed on the beach for like...I'd say 81.7% of my time down there- which is a good thing. It helped me get over my sickness, and for the first time in my life I didn't mind getting a little sunburnt- it was worth it. It was a little creepy though when I first got there...I thought I had walked onto the wrong beach. The first thing I saw were eighty thousand topless women. Guys- before you start to book your trips to Punta Cana I'm telling you it's NOTHING you want to see. There were like old people of all shapes and sizes and trust me on this one... it wasn't a pretty site. Maybe they were all topless because everyone else at the resort was from Europe. I swear that we were like the only people there from America. Everywhere I turned I heard Spanish or French, French or Spanish. It was cool at first but when you start to get sent food you didn't order and bottles of soda when all you asked for was a can-opener it can get kind of annoying. The food was a whole other thing on it's own. It was terrible. Flat out...no other way to say it. There were some good laughs though when we got sent what was basically a pile of whipped cream that they called lemon mousse. Forget 'basically'- we were all convinced they just handed us a plate of whipped cream that they decided to call lemon mousse to sound elegant, probably assuming we were stupid Americans who wouldn't dare insult their "ethnic cuisine". A little more disturbing than funny however was when we realized that our complimentary soda bottles that were stocked in the little fridges in our hotel rooms were actually from 1996 and they just kept refilling them with soda from the machine downstairs. Speaking of drinks....ahem...they have some strange obsession with alcohol in Punta Cana. It was everywhere... which is funny because like no one was drinking obsessively or walking around drunk (except for one lady who couldn't stop talking about bubbles...). I'm not even kidding you though. I asked for a diet coke and they automatically spiked it. I'm not talking "oh, they may have put a little alcohol in there". Not at all. They handed me a glass filled with half rum, half diet coke. I bet if I had ordered milk there they would have even put alcohol in that. Even their ice cream had some type of liquor in it...all joking aside, it was some STRONG ice cream. Alcohol was in virtually every edible thing there and everything liquid except the ocean.

I'm not normally the type of spoiled brat to complain ;) but I would have been bored just sitting around on the beach all day, everyday. Luckily, they had a disco there (which I didn't know until later was only 18 and older. This age requirement, as I came to find out, is because of their legal drinking age...not that they wouldn't give 7 year olds drinks anyways). Needless to say, I managed to get in by mistake and it was SO much fun. I learned some crazy, racy and risque, spanish line dance thing that was hysterical to do. It was like a rated X version of the electric slide...if you can imagine such a thing. Some drunk 40 year old started to dance with Anna and me which was a little more than just a little creepy...especially the way he was dancing. Probably a rapist. Other than that though the disco was a buncha fun...a nice change of pace for the end of each day.

Before you get the wrong idea, not everyone in Punta Cana was a drunk rapist or an 80 year old nude Spanish lady. People there just dance and sing in the street for fun...which is kinda cool really. If you ever did that in America, people would like call the cops on you because they'd be so afraid of such a crazy freak but there it was really common. You were actually kind of an outcast if you weren't a free-for-all I-like-to-dance-like-an-idiot-to-amuse-myself kind of person. They're all really nice too, unless they just seemed that way as they spoke to us in their broken English and while they talked to each other in Spanish they were really making fun of our hair or something. Two native Punta Canians (I made up that name for them but you get the idea...they were from Punta Cana)...what was I saying? Oh yeah, two native Punta Canians, including one Sean Patrick Thomas look-a-like (aka gorgeous guy), told me I was beautiful. Then again they could have been crazy rapists too for all I know. The only people who really bothered me out of everyone there though were the stupid airport folks. These airport workers had something against me, I swear. First, the Punta Cana customs guy didn't trust me or something and he looked at my drivers license picture for like 83 minutes to convince himself that it was indeed me in the picture and not some crazy terrorist. Then, on the plane some other worker guy came up to me and asked for my boarding pass before the plane took off to make sure I didn't sneak on the flight. And even after that, the stewardess made me lift up my sweatshirt to check that my seatbelt was on...she wouldn't take my word on it. I really thought by the time I got to the airport in NJ they would have held me captive in the cockpit for the safety of other travelers or even worse, accused me of smuggling cuban cigars into America. Other than the annoying airport workers, drunk rapists, old nudists, terrible food, my infected sunburn, and nearly breaking my neck on the stairs because the lights went out (ooo-didn't mention that one to ya!) it was a thoroughly enjoyable vacation! Some high quality good relaxation...really, I mean it.

Ok, that little elevator sickness I was talking about before....forget it. This is the sickest I have been in my entire life! I literally feel like I am dying or something. I slept for a straight 22 hours the other day...that is insane! 22 hours! Not even kidding! I can't win here! I get up out of bed and feel dizzy, ready to pass out. I figure this means I need to eat something to give me energy so I have someone grab me some food (because remember I can't get up). I have to literally force myself to eat...I have no appetite. Yesterday I didn't eat at all and today I forced myself to have half a bowl of soup. I feel full from eating nothing. And then I am constantly exhausted! Even after my 22 hour "nap" I fell back asleep in 3 hours. The doctor's calling it the flu...I same it's some strange disease or something. It is terrible! I won't get into horrible details (meaning the gross, or as I prefer to say, just "icky" stuff) but imagine every possible sickness you have ever had and combine them all together, magnified by like 98% and maybe, just MAYBE you can imagine how I feel now. This is perfect timing too....I'm going to Punta Cana in 2 days!!! I can miss a week of school before vacation and not mind the makeup work...but I can NOT miss out on the fun in Punta Cana! GRRRR!!! I hate that elevator. Yes- I am still blaming it on the elevator because it gives me something to blame it on. Now, if only I can prove it was the elevator that got me sick maybe I can sue the hotel....especially if it is some mad crazy disease and not just the flu. Hmm...something to think about. I'm back off to bed...if I can make it there. Just had to come and type this so that all of you feel bad for me. If it didn't work and you really could care less...then I wish my strange disease on you!!!! Not really, but I figured it would be fun to say anyways. sigh...

I just came back from a dance convention in New Jersey and it was so much fun! We had 5 classes a day then free time to watch the dance competition, swim or....whatever we wanted =). After we first got there and checked into our rooms we started to explore a little. We found out that the pool was open until midnight (or actually 11:59...don't ask me why) as was the workout room. Even the little souvenir store was open until midnight. But the bar was only open until 10:30. For some reason we found this hysterical...that the bar closed earlier than everything else in the hotel. I don't know, maybe you had to be there.

So, anyways...we had our first day of classes which was a lot of fun. It wasn't that tiring while we were actually dancing, but the day in itself was exhausting. The classes were over at like 3:00 (because we started at 8:00 in the morning...way too early for me) and we decided to go swimming. Now, this entire hotel was FULL of dancers...I'm talking like a thousand of them. And apparently they all had the same idea to go swimming after the classes. So, we only stayed in the pool for like 2 minutes because there were eighty thousand other kids in there screaming and splashing around. This was the point when I started to feel bad for anyone in the hotel who wasn't there for the dance convention or competition. Instead of swimming, we go to watch the competition. We were all like asleep in our chairs by 7:00. I'm not even kidding. It's not that it was overly boring (although many of the dances were really bad), but we were just so tired from dancing all day. At like 10:30 we go back to our rooms and then I don't know what happened to me. My overly tired, sleepy mode changed into overly tired, hyper, energetic mood. So what do I do? I go back to the pool with Steph (because remember, it's open until 11:59). I dance in the pool for a bit...think ballet in the pool, not synchronized swimming. Then I go in the hot tub for a half hour or so. I spun around in circles in there the entire time while singing Heartbreaker. Yes...I looked like an idiot and yes, there were other people in the pool. We stayed in there until about 11:58 and then went to walk around the hotel for no good reason. We checked out the lobby where all the dance teachers were drinking and we thought about stealing some of the dance clothes they were selling but there was this sketchy guard guy blocking them. We sat in a little corner cubby thing in a hallway for like an hour or so. And I made it my mission to get back to the room without any of the security cameras seeing me. How did I do it? Mission impossible style baby...diving on the ground and crawling or hiding behind pillars. Yeah, it was fun. That was the end of the first day.

Second day we didn't get to steal any clothes...but we did manage to steal some coffee from the cleaning lady's cart. I held the door open for Steph while she ran in the hall and took it. We're partners in crime. The most memorable thing about the second day though wasn't stealing the coffee...it was the audition. They had all the girls in the convention take a number, then they taught us a combination and we danced for the "judges" 10 people at a time. The audition was to win some scholarship thing. Now, one of the big things about these dancers that we found hysterical was that they could be the worst dancers in the world and yet still turn like crazy. They ALL could do these mad hard turns that we've never even attempted at Lee Lund. So, of course in the audition combination were these impossible turns that everyone could do except us. There were 200something girls auditioning and we were literally like the only ones who couldn't do these turns. Some of us attempted...not too successfully (except Lindsey who did them well), and others didn't even try and just did some normal turns. Needless to say, we all got cut the first round. It was fun though...a good laugh.

I know this is a really long post but I have to add one more thing. I came back from the convention really, really sick. Now...obviously it didn't have to do entirely with this...but I blame it on the elevator. It was the fastest elevator in the world and you could feel it in your stomach like the tower of terror. Now, I never get motion sickness or anything and I was fine ON the elevator. But every time that I got off of it I was light headed. I literally thought I was going to faint like 12 times while at this hotel. By 3:00 Sunday I could barely walk because I just felt so lightheaded....at least we were leaving to go home soon. When I got home I was so exhausted that I went to take a nap. I couldn't really sleep much but my lightheaded feeling from before was still there... now complete with a fever, stomach and head ache, and all over muscle soreness. I couldn't move without like screaming. And it was that really annoying sickness where your head is boiling hot and the rest of you is shivering. Like I said, I blame it all on that stupid elevator. The perfect ending to a fun weekend in NJ.

I came to a realization a few days ago...and this was a FUN one. For those of you reading who aren't Lee Lunders I have to give you a little bit of background info. Don't worry...I'll be brief. This year at dance we're doing five different dances from the musical "A Chorus Line". I demonstrate for another class that is also in these dances with us. (For those of you who don't even know what demonstrating is...too bad. I don't feel like explaining. For the sake of this just consider it like assistant teaching...but really it's not.) So, anyways- the studio did this same Chorus Line medly back a few years ago. My job, as a demonstrator, was to learn all of the pieces from watching the old video and teach them to all of the classes that are in the medly. Now, you can imagine that while I'm teaching these dances to a couple of classes that natuarally I have been asked a lot of questions on the choreography, counts or whatever it may be. The great thing is...and this is my realization...I can answer however I want. If I want to change a movement nobody's stopping me. If I don't like it...consider it changed. I haven't been caught yet, but I have changed a few minor things I didn't like in the pieces. It's been fun. I feel like I have so much power. The other day Krissy told me she watched the video and saw that one thing was different from what I taught them. So I let her in on my secret. -No, Krissy...I didn't mess up. That's right. I changed it on purpose because I didn't like the movement. Consider me a rebel.- The best part is that no one thinks that I would ever do this. So if I'm "caught" I can just say I made a mistake and they would totally buy it. Personally, I think I should be listed as an additional choreographer...but I guess that will give it away huh? I don't know. Maybe that's carrying it too far- I haven't changed all that much. But it's fun messin with people...and changing it so that I like all of the dance. Who cares what Lee Lund thinks...please! She's only the director. It's about what I want! Ok, I'm exaggerating just a LITTLE here...but I really could change whatever I want with almost no one knowing. bwahahaha. Oh, the things I can do... :-P

OMG you won't believe what happened to me today! Are you ready for this? Ok, really nothing happened. I know...you're all so dissappointed. That was just to draw your attention caz there's nothing funny or even all that interesting about this post...just some of my thoughts. I've been going through a really hard time these past few months. Those of you who I'm close with know exactly what I'm talking about, and if you don't know...well, then don't get upset...just because I haven't told you doesn't mean I don't like you. Of course it's possible but don't automatically jump to that conclusion ;). So, like I was saying, I've been going through something really hard and I haven't been feeling too great about much of anything lately. If you've noticed, I've been leaving up sad away messages on AIM a lot. I also told a few friends what I have been going through and my guidance counselor who then told all my teachers. So, a decent amount of people know at least somewhat what is going on with me. It's amazing how much people are willing to help you out if you just let them know what's wrong. I have gotten so many phone calls from people, random visits, cards and so much support. Even my teachers have offered me help in numerous different ways. I really appreciate everything that everyone has done for me. I haven't been feeling great lately (that's an understatement) and for awhile I felt like I would never feel better even in the future. But knowing that so many people care seems to give me hope. If you have been there for me throughout this in any way I want to thank you so much. You have saved my life. If only you knew exactly what I was going through, maybe you'd understand how much I appreciate your support. I know this is getting kinda cheesy and sappy and junk like that so I'm gunna stop now. See- like I said...nothing funny or overly interesting, but I felt a need to talk about this anyways :).