Wow. Time goes by fast. Only the other day did I have the realization that I was soon leaving for Hawaii. Several people have asked me if I was packed and ready to go, but I hadn't even started since I kept imagining the trip as always being in the distant future. However, I am now mostly packed and will be ready to fly away tomorrow. I'm really excited! This trip is going to be awesome. There will definitely be many pictures posted when I get back. =)
In recent news, my brother (Greg) graduated from high school. So on June 2nd we celebrated his graduation and his birthday, which was also that day. It was fun. He had a really good turn out for his party; some friends that I hadn't seen in a while even showed up, so I got to visit a lot with them too. June 3rd was Greg's graduation ceremony. It went well; there were some good speeches and it kept moving right along so we didn't have to sit there all day and listen to who got what scholarship. Greg actually got a pretty cool scholarship called the National Scholar/Athlete award from the Army Reserve. It's awarded to one boy and one girl who have participated in two sports during their senior year (or maybe throughout all of high school) and maintained a certain grade point average. He got a big medal for it, so it's pretty nifty.
Yesterday my family abandoned me to go to Iowa.
Okay, they didn't really abandon me. They left for Greg's orientation at Iowa State University in Ames. It's a two day process, so they spent the night down there. Greg's orientation is kind-a bittersweet for me. I'm super glad he's going off and getting his life started, but at the same time it reminds me that I went through a similar process and then had it all blasted away at the last second. It sucks, it really does. And then I have a couple friends who are home from school and I hear them start to complain about boredom and how they miss being off at college. Some days I come so close to telling them they do not even come close to comprehending what true boredom is. I have spent an entire year doing nothing. I would wake up in the morning and find there was no point in waking up: I had nothing I needed to do. Most people think, "Oh, she's lucky. It's like a long term vacation." No. It's not. On vacation, you have other people with you partaking in enjoyable activities. What I had was an empty house, albeit my dad was home most of the time, but he had to work so his company was minimal. So, as a warning, if I hear you say you're bored or I see it as your status on Facebook, I may hunt you down and slap you.
Anyways, enough ranting.
So while my family was gallivanting in Ames, I got to hang out with my friends. Yesterday we went to the mall and had makeovers done at the Clinique in Macy's (thanks, Anna!). It was an interesting experience; it was helpful seeing someone who knows what they're doing put makeup on you so that you may know how to do it properly in the future. After our makeovers we got lunch and loitered at the mall for an hour or so. At this point we decided a sleepover would be fun even though we all had to get up early this morning. But, being the crazy teens we are, we did it anyways. We all met at my house (keep in mind this is four sensible girls hanging out, not some crazy mixed-gender fiesta celebrating the absence of my parents) and mostly just sat around and talked. Ann and Laura had brought their laptops along so we had a big music swap, which was great because now I have lots of new songs to listen to on my MP3 player as I fly to Hawaii. After song-swapping we had some food and watched Mitch Hedberg and Bill Engvall on TV; both of them are pretty funny comedians, so we got some good laughs out of that. As I said before, time flies and by this time it was already about 1 a.m., so we threw some blankets down in my living room and went to bed. Everyone successfully got up on time this morning, and hopefully will have enough energy to get through their day.
This morning I had to get up to play for jazz band at the high school. Mr. Anderson, the high school band director, said they would be short some saxophones for a gig they have on July 3rd in Dover and asked if I would be willing to play with them. Due to my band-nerd nature, I agreed and therefore had to be at the high school at 7:30 a.m. for a practice. To my disappointment, hardly anyone was there (I was the only sax player) since today is the last day of school and people were either off cramming last minute facts into their brains or being lazy bums (my money is on them being lazy bums). But the practice was still fun; I haven't played jazz band tunes in over a year and it was refreshing playing something other than concert pieces.
Now I must tell about the highlight of my day. I was driving home from Eyota when all the wonderfulness began. First, I finally figured out how to use the cruise control on the Honda. I know, it's pathetic, but I was happy. I turned up the radio, browsed for the country stations that are broadcast out of boondock towns, and found one that was playing some good old tunes from the 90's (music from that decade will always beat the new contemporary stuff). So happiness was abounding and the sun was shining as I turned at the Conoco gas station by my house. I went along the curvy road and was just about to turn off onto my road when a deer leaped out of the ditch. Luckily I had seen it before it decided to cross the road, so I had easily stopped in time. So I sat waiting for it to scurry off, musing over the fact that I hadn't seen a deer up close like this during the day in my car ever before; however, the deer was not scurrying off. It was looking straight at me and then looking back at the other side of the road. At first I thought, "Oh no. This is one of those dumb deer who like to play mind games and frolic back and forth across the road." But then I saw why it hadn't run away: Out of the grass steps a tiny fawn. Oh. My. Gosh. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. It was only came up to about my knee and was covered in spots. I couldn't believe how small it was. The fawn took a couple steps out on the road and then wasn't sure if it was really allowed to cross, so it's mother came back to retrieve it and they crossed the road together. I wish I had my camera with me. It was so adorable! I watched the two walk into the woods and then continued the last bit of my journey home. But wait, there's more! To top it all off, a pair of bluebirds flew over my car before I pulled into my driveway. There is no possible way the day could get any better.
And so far, it hasn't, though it's still going pretty good. There was actually something of an incident, but that just resulted in me fretting a little and taking a tour of Marion Road (which is actually kind-a fun; Marion is a pleasant road). I think everything is resolved and will be okay, so no big deal. =)
Now I'm just chilling at home. I put away blankets and some dishes from the sleepover and will soon start loading the new songs I got onto my MP3 player. After that I'll probably go through what I've packed so far and make sure I have everything. I'm the most concerned about having everything for my cameras (yes, plural- I'm a geek), so I'll go through and check that I've packed all the necessary cords and accessories. That will also include determining how I will be transporting said cameras in my carry-on and what else needs to be packed in that bag to keep me entertained and happy (or as happy as you can be on a long flight).
I think that's about it. All I can think to say is that the weather man is saying we're in for some dreary weather here and that I'm glad to be leaving it behind tomorrow (unless of course the weather becomes violent and causes flight delays, which would stink). So, yay!
I'll be sure to post something when I get back, though it might be a little while after I get back since I'll be thrown into having chemo and appointments as soon as I return: The Clinic waits for no man! But there will be a post sooner or later.
Oh, I really wanted to show people this. For Greg's birthday/graduation I drew him a picture on my computer with the drawing tablet I bought. I thought it turned out really well and I just got it printed out for him at Ritz Photos a couple days ago. It's really cool seeing the work I did on the computer on a nice sheet of photo paper. So here it is, my art which is currently called "Ode to Greg" (until a better name is found):
And that's all the news I have to report, so I'll see you all when I get back from Paradise. =D
Much love,
Cheryl
P.S. Some of my friends asked me to start posting the song title to the song I make reference to in my post title. Here it is: "Time Flies" inspired by Mer Noire from Cirque du Soleil's Delirium
