Challenge Yourself for No Reason At All

If you are one of the millions of adults who has graduated from high school between... well, ever and now, you know how stressful it is. You know about the college entrance exams (if you live in Asia), the SAT/ACT (I got a 21 on my ACT Plan... not exactly on pointe if I want to get into Northwestern. Plus, four people [yes, I calculated] scored higher than me on the English component in my school. So I gotta outscore four of these chickens), the extra-curriculars, the community service, the academics, and then the increased load that comes when you actually start applying to colleges. So far, I'm looking at:

Northwestern University (Illinois; Big Ten; my dream school)
Howard University (Washington, D.C.; Historically Black College & University; secondary dream)
New York University (New York)
Olivet Nazarene University (Illinois)
Wright State University (Ohio)
Bowling Green State University (Ohio)
Xavier University (Ohio)
Penn State University (Pennsylvania)
And who knows? Maybe one of the Ivy Leagues. But if I apply to one of them, it'll be U Penn.

So, of course, since I am applying to all of these schools... okay. I know you're only supposed to apply to like, three, but because musical theatre is a very competitive major, I need to apply to as many schools as possible. After all, I'm not really that confident in my acting skills, to be honest. But since I am applying to this many schools, I need to have a lot of extra-curriculars. I have done and plan on doing:

4-H (didn't like it too much, but I was the secretary for two years, which I enjoyed)
Junior Council on World Affairs (this year was my first; my team won third place at the Quiz Bowl)
My little cake business (no business yet and I'm kinda sorta locked out of my e-mail, so I hope no orders are coming in...)
Theatre camp (I actually get to see Million Dollar Quartet this year)
Jazz/ballet/acro (haven't started yet)
Community service at my local library
Community theatre (haven't started yet)
School play (this spring)
National Honor Society (hoping I'll get in this fall)
Key Club (maybe)
And much more...

Every single one of these activities are geared towards a goal. The school play is for my acting resume. NHS looks impressive to competitive schools. However, I realized I may be a little too focused on getting to my dream school, to the point where it's becoming tunnel vision and I'm barely doing anything for the fun of it.

So, I came up with a fun challenge. To read 200 books by the end of the year.

I was inspired by Kelli from "Blimey Cow" who did a similar challenge to read 100 books in a year. However, I'm probably going to be there by June. So, for no reason at all, I'm reading 200 books this year. I'm already in the forties. I guess I do have an underlying reason... to outscore the four bumbanuts who scored higher than me on the English component of the ACT Plan. BUT! It's mostly for fun *eye twitches*.

Here's what I've finished reading (this year) so far:

Bleach 1-19 by Tite Kubo
Line by Yua Kotegawa
Alive: The Final Evolution 1-5 by Tadashi Kawashima
Sailor Moon 1-2
Wedding Planning for Dummies
The New Teen Titans: Who is Donna Troy? (DC Comics)
The New Teen Titans: The Judas Contract (DC Comics)
Attack on Titan 1-6 by Hajime Isayama
Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
School Rumble 2-3 (I read the first book last year)
Brave Music of a Distant Drum
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Twisted by Sara Shepard
Seiho Boys' High School 2

I'm also reading the third Gossip Girl novel, Wicked, some musical theatre books, and The Strange Case of Jekyll & Hyde. If anyone has book recommendations, let me know.

Also, I made other goals that you can try too.

-Learning a new language. I'm already taking Chinese, but after all my anime-watching and manga reading, I've decided to take up Japanese as well. And Zulu, for some reason.
-Learning new songs on guitar. I'm going to start playing my guitar again and try learning "Ain't That Peculiar," "Shiawase (Happiness)" by PUFFY, and "Alchemy" by Kyler England.

What are some little goals you can set for yourself?

OMIGAH it's HOPE!

Thanksgiving time means....

More stuff.
More blogging.
More writing (and finishing up the last chapter and epilogue of "Unspoken"--- yay!).
More food.
More music.
More time with me and my dog (I am petting her with my left hand and typing with my right at this moment).
MY FAMILY IS COMING TO MY HOUSE!!!! FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!!

About the stuff...
So, for my birthday, I got the entire "Dark Kiss" collection from B&BW, plus a shimmer mist that I'm wearing right now. I also got a beginner's guitar book, and I'm not a beginner so I know most of the stuff in the book, but it shows how to read music and I don't wanna learn that but it will be handy when I start playing cello. I got some guitar picks... not as thin as my lucky guitar pick so I can't holepunch them (bummer), but they'll be handy, too. I got some body sprays that smell REALLY GOOD and I'm putting them in my cubby at school--- one for when I first get off the bus, one for after lunch, one for after P.E. My favorite gift was a pair of headphones--- I NEEDED THEM! They're Sony headphones, and it took awhile to get used to the different kind of sound, but they're worth it alright. Earbuds never worked for me... one bud always popped out or something crazy like that, and even though they're more convenient, I'm a music geek that cares about the sound more than anything, so headphones are the thing for me. (note: listen to "Time" by Hans Zimmer with headphones instead of earbuds and it's magical!)

About Unspoken...
I'm working on the last two chapters in the rough draft. The book is moving by quarters. It's supposed to move by school quarters, but I'm really behind because my school's first quarter ended waaay at the beginning of this month, so I need to pick up the pace. Then, for quarter 2, I am taking out a few chapters and typing it up. For Quarter 3 I will have some friends and maybe some teachers proofread it and then I will revise it. For Quarter 4, I will start getting ready to publish and getting in touch with Morris Self-Publishing. And in the summertime, the book will be set to release. Then I will begin work on "The Interstate," and start the process all over for freshman year. My sophomore project will be "On Death's Edge." Then, I'll probably take a break to focus on my junior and senior years of high school and work on my music career. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

FOOD!
I love food soooo much! In fact, I will be posting a recipe on here really soon! Possibly today! And I just noticed today is Thanksgiving, so have a happy one. I'm thankful for Church's Chicken. And no, I didn't get to eat it Tuesday. And I was really looking forward to it.

More music!
I've been looking everywhere possible for tracks for all my Fine Arts Festival stuff. Right now, I'm working on my Spanish vocal solo, "How Great Thou Art", Carrie Underwood's version. It's actually really easy--- It is the first song I've ever done in high key, but despite that the Spanish lyrics are quite simple to memorize. I am also looking for songs for my ASL solo, and am currently torn between "Desire" by Deas Vail and "Who I Am Hates Who I've Been" by Relient K.

For my normal vocal solo, I am trying something else new. It's not in Spanish, and it's not in high key. BUT! For the first time ever, I am doing the music--- myself! I'm playing guitar along with my vocals! The song is "Something Beautiful" by NEEDTOBREATHE. This is gonna be interesting. It's pushing my range a lot, like on one part I have to go really low, and I'm not gonna take the easy way out and sing it the normal way--- I want people to hear how low my vocal range really is! I don't want people to hear the same baby that sang at Fun Arts in sixth grade. I don't want people to hear the same little kid that sang a song in low key and had to stop and catch her breath in the middle of a verse in seventh grade at the Fine Arts District Festival. I don't want people to hear the girl who had to sing soprano notes in "Excuses" every time the lead vocalist wasn't there before Nationals. I want them to hear the message the song has.

Also, if you want, go check out "Take My Hand" by The Cab. I had it on replay for around three hours last night and am still not tired of it! And check out "Go to the River" by Yael Naim. She's an indie folk artist, but trust me, you've heard a song or two by her (like this one that was on a lot of Apple commercials: "I'm a new soul...").

And, I'm working on a cover of "Lovers in Japan" by Coldplay. I've got the guitar chords down, all except for G. I don't think I'll post it on YouTube, but maybe. Besides, I don't wanna be one of those annoying commenters that say "I don't think anyone will see this but someone will see this..."

Good news!
My family is coming to my house this Thanksgiving! Yay! I can't wait for them to see my guitar and ferret calendar (don't ask...) and string bass/cello and autographed Deas Vail poster and random church pew... yeah. Excited.

So... see ya later.

*~~~ImagineThat~~~*
Hope!

The Sound of Music is the Sound of Love

My passion for music is something indescribable. Like, seriously. I can't verbalize it. Music is something so beautiful there isn't much to say. So, I decided to write an entire blog post about my love of music! I'm going to try my hardest to put this stuff in words.

I haven't always loved music. In fact, I just started actually listening to music last year. You may be thinking, "How is that possible??? We can't be friends!" I've always been surrounded by music but I took it for granted, you know. Like, remember when I first started using a blog playlist and had over 100 songs on it about a year and a half ago? Yeah, I honestly didn't really like at least 75 of those songs. So that explains why the playlist is so little right now: I have songs on it that I actually like.

Music is in my genes. It's the one thing that I love about my family. With my mom playing alto clarinet in high school and my dad being a bassist, I was almost guaranteed to have some sort of musical talent. My mom is one of those people that can play an instrument but later decide they don't wanna do it anymore even though they got to play in orchestras. My dad is one of those people that can figure out any instrument you put in front of him. You give him a trumpet, he'll play it. You give him a guitar, he'll strum it. You give him a bass, he'll go crazy without it. You put a drumset in front of him, he'll... he'll do something with it.

And then there's me. Seemingly the only child in the house that has received musical talent from them. My sisters (no brothers, as you'd imagine there's a lot of drama) are good at school stuff, Charity is good at tennis and track, and then I'm the odd woman out. Cheerleading, gymnastics, piano... you name it.

I remember back in first grade in Sunday School at church, we were making "guitars", the tissue box kind. I had done it many times before when I was younger, but it was that moment when the guitar was finished that I noticed something strange. It clicked in my head that this "guitar" would never work, because:

1. The rubber bands sounded more like a bass than a guitar.
2. There were no frets. I didn't know what frets were, but I knew that something was missing.
3. There were no tuning things.
4. There were only four strings, ahem, rubber bands.
5. It was too small. It was the size of a ukelele, but the sound was on the other end of the spectrum.
6. It was ugly.

And it was that moment that I decided I wanted a guitar. A real guitar. I begged my parents for months until that snowy day of December 2006, beginning of second grade. Finally--- my own guitar. Pink, acoustic, small enough for me to play, and meant for a left-handed person. It was perfect, and still is. I still play it to this day, because, I just started playing it this year. It's a long story... let's just say that I took my first guitar lesson from my dad in January 2007 (big mistake) and he was trying to teach me all these four-finger chords when guys, I could barely hold that guitar. He was trying to get me to read sheet music when I was positive he was trying to teach me Chinese. So yeah... not the best music experience I've had... let's just say I started crying and never wanted to even see that guitar ever again. But, guitar isn't that painful. Four-finger chords are not the devil. Do they hurt? Heck yes, but I'll live. However, sheet music still is the equivalent to Chinese. Good thing I'm taking Basic Chinese next semester at school with a whole bunch of my friends!

And I'll never forget the first time I strummed a guitar and felt the vibration make its way to my nerves.

Not long after getting my guitar I got a keyboard. I fell in love with that like that. I'm not big on piano now, but I play it every chance I get. I play by ear because of that whole Sheet Music/Latin/Chinese thing. Plus, I've never played a piano chord in my life. Oh wait, that's a lie... but I don't think that chord really existed, so yeah. Never played a piano chord in my life. But I'm working on it. I've figured it out.

And after that, I began singing. Now, it may take a while to convince some of you that I actually can sing. I'm not conceited, either. I don't think I have the best voice on earth because I've got work to do, but my voice is something I am very confident about. If you know me because of school and I gave you my URL, you're probably thinking, "Hope. Can't. Sing." And I am alright with that. Because when I sing "Friday", that's technically not my real voice. I'm not purposely singing out of tune, I'm just putting no effort into it. I'm not gonna walk the halls singing like Regina Spektor, y'all. So, I wanted to start singing in fourth grade, but I made a lot of excuses, so I waited until fifth grade in which I made too many excuses. In sixth grade I forced myself to make a move, and next thing I know, I'm leading the vocals (thanks to the actual leader being in Paris) in the band on a Sunday night in front a fair amount of our church and singing harmony at Nationals in Phoenix. All in my second year of singing.

And then after that (you may be thinking, "How many more instruments will this girl talk about before I fall asleep on the keyboard?"), I was just sitting in my house, all done with my seventh grade homeschool stuff, as bored as a dog (sorry, Lexi...). Faith and I were just listening to music and she decided to turn on some Regina Spektor music. Now, don't get me wrong, Regina rocks, but.... These were some annoying songs Faith was playing. So, she turned on "Fidelity". I was so freaking bored. I wanted to try something new. I turned around to see the 6 feet tall bass that had been standing there, way out of tune, in need of a repair, for no less than two years. No one had touched it since it had entered our house. So I turned up the music, walked over to the lonely bass sitting in the corner, and started plucking it. Just plucking and picking whichever string seemed right. "That actually sounds pretty good," Faith told me. It sounded great. So simple. I wasn't playing any notes or chords... just plucking. And that's the day I fell in love with bass.

AND THEN, a couple months ago I was playing with a drumset... ALRIGHT, THAT'S ENOUGH.

And then, it finally clicked. And then, music revealed its beauty to me.