Crazy Novel Job

Dearest you,
Wow I haven't written in forever. Oh well, there's no time like the present to start back. I got a job this past week at Christie Cookies. It's at the Opryland hotel, which is pretty cool. Christie is a man, just in case you were assuming it was a Ms. I went through a seven-hour orientation today with Gaylord...got to learn all about the hotel, eat a nice lunch, and tour the newly-refurbished building. It's pretty spiffy. You should come see it (and me :) when the hotel opens back up on Monday (the 15th). Guess what color our uniform polo shirts are? Lime. Green. What? You couldn't come up with a color that looks worse on people? Haha, at least I like green :P
Other noteworthy point of the month: November is National Novel Writing Month. That being said, I'm challenging myself to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I'm on day eleven and only a few thousand words behind schedule :D I initially thought to post my story each day, piece by piece. But after realizing how rough, rough draft-ish it is, I've reconsidered. Maybe you'll see some of it in December, once I've had a little time to revise. :P
So now I'm going to be busy with a new job, a 100+ page novel coming straight from my imagination with no pre-planning, and my senior year in high school (which equals college applications, essays, scholarship apps, etc, as well as a pretty heavy load of school :[). Crazy.
And with all that, I must bid farewell for now, as short as this post is. Not sure if I'll blog again soon or not--as mentioned above, I do have a novel to write. Wish me luck!
Praise God for imaginations. Without them, all I'd have is a blank page.

Con amore,
Sophie

County Fair

Dearest you,
I'll blog about the rest of my summer at a later date. Figured I might as well get something on the board while I'm in the mood, to get my foot in the door, so to speak. Never mind that analogy, didn't really make sense upon editing but I'm leaving it up nonetheless.
So...Wilson County fair tonight with the family. Kind of an annual tradition. Other than the rather, shall I say, less-than-intelligent traffic cop, we had a very enjoyable time. The monkey/dog races were adorable. And my dad liked the tent he affectionately calls "Chickens and Such", aka Poultry and Rabbits.Us girls, sticking to our flip-flop-only rule in the summer, were delighted (facetiously meant, of course--by the way, before you think I'm a spelling nerd, I had no idea facetious was spelled thus) to traipse through the wet mulch which covered half the fairgrounds. Bet you had to read that sentence twice, the parenthesis-enclosed portion so long :P Anyways, foot-washing party back at the house! The free lemonade, chocolate milk, dum dum pops (for those not vain about brain cells), popcicles, ice cream coupons, dorky advertising fans, and random pieces of paper which everyone tosses into the garbage anyways were highlights of the night. Free stuff is always good, right? Anywho, if you've been to the county fair you'll know precisely what I'm talking about--it remains the exact same year after year. You know, the bluegrass singers, the elderly man making brooms, the human canon ball, the pot-bellied pig races (during which Evan won a blue ribbon--applause is appropriate here, since he went to all the trouble of volunteering to cheer the winning pig to the finish line), the little girls dragging their pageant dresses through the dirt, the petting zoo--complete with camels and porcupines (don't freak out, you couldn't actually pet the porcupines. Silly :P), et cetera and so forth. And even though we see this every year, somehow we all end up grinning like kids in a candy shop. Or something like that.

Praise God for family nights :)...and traffic cops on what-seems-like their first day on the job :P

Con amori,
Sophie

It's about time...

Dearest you,

I feel the need to apologize to those of you who have been looking for a post from me these past...few weeks. I've been too lazy to write, which sounds so odd even to myself, but considering the state of our computers, working with them can often be more of a frustration than a pleasure. At least I'm on facebook less now :P
Anyways, I guess you're wanting an overview of my life since I last blogged. Music camp lasted a week, and yes, there were music nerds there. Or music geeks. I have yet to determine the difference between nerds and geeks. Anyone care to enlighten? The camp was fun nonetheless. The food was amazing, as always. I memorized over 70 pages of music for choir and musical theatre. I practiced my violin for two and a half hours each day which is WAYYYY more than normal for me. I learned more music nerd-ish stuff during theory class. Oh, and some cool dance moves during theatre :P Fun times, fun times...

The next week was catching back up to the real world. Tough stuff out there, did you know that? No one ever told me life would be easy, but I never really considered how emotionally draining situations could be. And before these past few months I had never really felt a gazillion different emotions at once. Sorrow and anger go hand in hand sometimes, don't they?

Last week I worked the concessions stand at a Little League park with awesome co-workers Gen, Blake, and Evan. Funnel cakes don't smell so swell when they've been swarming around you for five hours every night. And nacho cheese sauce never really smells--or looks--great. And gigantic pickles aren't all that appealing. But it sure was nice to get a paycheck today :D And it was fun to be all professional-like and work a cash register. And watch the young umpires try to flirt with Gen and I--Good thing our brothers tagged along :P

Gen's deserting me next week to go to Seattle, WA. Ok, just kidding. She's not deserting me :P She IS going to Seattle, but it's her graduation/birthday present/vacation with my dad. I'll miss her though :( Today we went shopping to secure a few more memories before her departure. Old Navy, JoAnns, JC Penny, Ross, Target, and Panera were all on our itinerary. More fun times :)

And while she's off gallivanting in Seattle (with relatives), I'll be counseling at a day camp for 30 little eight to eleven-year-old music nerds :D Which should be a lot of fun. I shall tell you all about it at its conclusion :)


Praise God for His everlasting grace! And His daily reminders to extend that grace to everyone else.
Con amore,
Sophie

So long, farewell...

Dearest you,


(Tuesday)
Today I coaxed Gen into driving me to Jo-Anns in Rivergate to find several last items I needed for a sewing project...that's due the end of this week. :/ Somebody's procrastinating again... Anyways, I was designated Navigator, and with the help of Prudence, (haha, you thought I was referring to the characteristic :P Prudence is our GPS) we arrived--and left--safely. We took a couple wrong "turns", but were none worse for wear. Success!

Then we went to Cici's for lunch. Did you know that this pizza place is the most popular diner for police men? Yeaah, Gen and I were surrounded by men in blue uniforms...liiiitttle weird. But semi-comforting at the same time. You know, Gen and I could meander around the buffet without fear of our purses being stolen from the booths :P

Following our lunch with like ten cops, we went to Walmart, where this really old lady glared evilly at us (and possibly cussed--our windows were fortunately rolled up :) because we were driving in the parking lot where she wanted to walk. And then it started raining, a lot, and we had to run back to the car. I was wearing flip-flops with absolutely no whatever-those-groovy-bump-things-are on them. And so I chose the smart route--I removed my shoes and decided to run across the parking lot in the rain looking like a barefoot idiot rather than slip in a puddle and look like a bigger idiot. Smart choice? Smart choice.

As Gen was driving home on our street, she cautioned me about puddles on the road. "They may look shallow and harmless, but they're really out to get you." Ok, Gen, whatever you say :D

(Sunday)
This week I have been sewing like nuts. I had a temporary best friend for the week--Ruby. She's a bright red seam ripper. Yep. :D And then there's Miranda, a female mannequin. She was a lifesaver, particularly for Gen, who no longer had to be my model and risk injury by pins. I finally finished the prom dress for the contest, took pictures of it while I modeled, and submitted them. Now to cross my fingers until the finalists are announced :)

Tomorrow morning I leave for a week-long music camp. Yes, it sounds nerdy, but what can I say? Hours and hours of musical theatre, theory, ensemble groups, choir, concerts, and a jam-packed, deafening mess hall sounds like loads of fun, doesn't it? :P Really, it is fun :)
Oh, and by the way, all electronics are banned, including (but not limited to) cell phones, music players, and computers. So basically we have no contact with the outside world. I'll let you know how I survive next week :D

Farewell until I return!

Praise God for designs!

Con amore,
Sophie

puzzles

Dearest you,

Puzzles..........good stress relievers. There's something comforting about them--they're often challenging, but you know that no matter what, the pieces DO fit together. (Unless of course they don't go to the puzzle.) There's no complicated mystery, no unexplainable reasoning. Just jagged and abnormal pieces of cardboard shuffled together to form a picture.

Praise God for simple things--they prove life isn't composed of ONLY complex, un-logical (yes, I know 'tis "illogical"), and thoroughly-confusing matters.

Con amore,
Sophie

P.S. Of course there are MUCH deeper, more intelligently created "theories" of puzzles I could go into, but today their purpose is to relieve stress, not make life. understandable :P

A wee bit tardy. My apologies.

Dearest you,
So I haven't written in a couple weeks. My bad. One excuse being that our schedules are a bit chaotic since our home is being redone (result of flood damage). Another excuse being that the computer I generally blog on is, well, a bit under the weather. It throws tantrums at random will, causing far too many exclamation!! points! and ! not enough! periods! !! Which would have resulted in this entire post (which will be quite lengthy, I should warn you) being as annoying as the past sentence. You should thank me for sparing the tiny voice in your head from yelling every other word you are now reading :D
And while the computer has been a jerk, I've found productive ways to occupy my time. Like playing farm girl in 90 TN heat. Fun times. (house/pet-sitting for family friends). Most of my siblings and I were just shy of parent-less for nearly a week. Innnnteresting. We braided miniature hoses' manes. We renamed my friend's cats. Gen and I made up a theme song while fishing bugs from the pool. Which we all then swam in. I bruised myself on the water slide while my little siblings came away grinning and un-scarred. Ironic. I laughed my head off watching Evan being chased by three horses and five miniature horses, trying to coax them all to the barn. He succeeded, in case you were pitying him :) Then I tried to catch my first firefly of the season. I failed. (It did seem much easier when I was younger--a jar with a lid, an untouchable amount of energy, and a careless attitude to the smell that lingers on one's hands. Admit it, you've noticed it too. :P)

Several days last week Gen, Evan, and I had colds. We were driving around one day with country music blaring (we do live in Music City, so it HAS to be one of the channels we frequent). And singing at the top of our lungs. You should have heard us--actually, you probably could. You'd have to be pretty deaf to miss our hoarse, tuneless yelling. Or maybe you just mistook the din for...something else. There, I just saved you from insulting me yourself:P

Oh, and by the way, I discovered that I'm pretty much beast at reverse driving down sloping, winding driveways. Just in case that info ever comes in handy.

In the midst of all that action, it was a pretty relaxing week. Lovely. :) At the end of the week as we were leaving to come back home, the eight horses were all waiting at the gate to say/neigh goodbye--so sweet :)



A few weeks ago I was volunteering at an after-school program for elementary students. As I was walking with two little girls, they were each exclaiming how old they were (for example, "I'm 87!", "I'm 592!") At this point I interrupted, saying, "I'm infinity!"
One of them asked, "How do you write that in numbers?" To which I hurried to find an acceptable response, "Um..." Yep, that was all I came up with.
And then I was assisting with homework. Also loads of fun :) One child told another, who was acting rather crazy, I must confess, "You're a hobo!" Not really sure what that had to do with anything, but maybe it was just thrown out there as an attempted insult? The un-offended child claimed "I'm not a hobo--I'm just a wild, crazy boy!"
Well, at least he knew it too. But maybe the humor in this was only in the moment. Nevertheless, I shall resist deleting it :D

Since I've been home, I've been sewing, playing "Mechanic Sophie" in the no-longer-new coveralls my dad and brothers bought so they could work under the house, reading some lovely historical novels, debating my little siblings over brownie/ice cream points (and who qualifies for what points, and to which category :), and planning who wants to travel to which country with me when I'm rich and famous. Knowing that you are curious, I'll post the results of our discussion: Blake wants to travel to London (and England :P), Evan wants to go to Ireland (where we'll raise sheep for several weeks--one of his goals is to be a shepherd), Vivienne desires to tag along with me to New York and Paris (she loves to shop and figured they'd be good places to start:D), and Lilly wants to see Florida and California (she's satisfied with only national flights :D). Now to work on the rich and famous part...

I went to the library the other day--one of my favorite places, but you'd already know that if you know anything at all about me :) I scanned book shelves with my head turned sideways. Bad for your neck, alright. They really should stack the books vertically. Of course, that would be impractical when one attempted to remove a book. Just imagine an entire stack crashing towards you. I don't think the stereotypical librarians would appreciate that very much--doesn't promote quiet-ness very well. Obviously.

I've been thinking recently--which is not a recently acquired talent, I assure you--that all the fairy tale-type stories do go to some people's heads. I always considered the romantic, cliche books and movies (you know what I'm talking about--those happily-ever-after type stories) to be innocent, harmless. I thought everyone had enough common sense to realize they are FAIRY TALES and not REALITY, much as we wish them to be so. Not every Prince Charming is THE Prince Charming. The prince can be charming, but that doesn't mean he's yours. Make sense? Probably not. And yet I shall continue in this useless line. Have you noticed how most movies in particular portray the parents as idiots? And they ARE generally idiots, in the movies. But might they not have reasonable, realistic reasons for trying to persuade this child from falling in love with so-and-so? Or forbidding their kid from doing thus-and-whatever? Wisdom really does come from age, I've determined. And you shouldn't have to make every mistake to learn from them. Life's too short to make them all. I think there's a quote about that. Can't remember the author, though.

Random one-sentence notes--I've got three tonight:
(1)Circle analogies are fun. They're good weapons for confusing people. Oops--that was two. And now three. At least I can count.
(2)Selfish living makes life meaningless.
(3)It's a sad state of things when your little sister prays for things to be "normal."

Praise God for relatives, 'cause I've got two of them in town this weekend! I love my Aunt Angel and Grandmother Vicki! :D

Con amore,
Sophie

Nonsensicality

Dearest you,

Duuuuuuuuuuuh, dunh dunh dunh dunh dunnnnnnnh. Dunh dunh dunh dunh duuuuuuuuuuuunh, dunh dunh dunh dunh duuuuuuuuuuuunh. aka The Phantom of the Opera theme song. We've been watching the movie over the past few nights...illegally :P

The other day Gen and I took a walk in the rain. Then we jogged, and ran and danced in the rain. Did I mention we were wearing rainboots several sizes too big and weren't wearing socks? Now we each have a set of twin blisters to show off. Healing blisters = itchy skin.

FYI, add stress to my imagination, and I go super creative.

Gen's been driving us all hysterical with her impression of a hamster voice. She tells jokes in it, and sings...songs like the macarena, the hamster dance (appropriately), and the hoedown throwdown. Yeeeep.

And then a cockroach decided to appear on my bed inches from my face. Gen's a superhero with a fly swatter. Cockroach near bed = checking covers before hiding underneath them.

After Gen and I made a quick run to Walgreens this morning, she was driving no more than 7 miles on our street. And I calmly inquired, "Genny, why are you driving like a granny?"
"I'm coasting."
"Riiiiight. Because we're really going to save a lot of gas by coasting the half mile to our house." She didn't go any faster :D

I gave an impromptu Italian lesson to kindergarteners who can barely speak proper English. I was teaching them how to say, "How are you, whatever your name is?" And they each asked, "Can you put my name in it? And so-and-so's too?" Sure, whatever floats your boat. Or makes you happy.Or cures your ADD-ness for a minute.

Oh, and I've decided that my beta fish, Fitzwilliam Darcy, is a survivor. He survived being pet-sitted (or however your say that correctly) by a seven-year-old BOY for a week who swapped his clean, purified tank water with chlorinated sink water. He is also a pig. The fish, that is. He would eat a dozen floating meals a day, if I let him. But those dried worms are expensive, you know. Like three bucks a bottle. And it'll only last him for a year or two, or a dozen. So he gets two meals a day.

I had a cereal date with Blake tonight. Cereal = dessert this evening. He wouldn't let me read the newspaper, instead insisting upon sitting awkwardly at my elbow as we chatted about absolutely nothing in particular but having a wonderful time nonetheless, listening to Gen play "Moon River" on the piano. That hit the spot. Which spot I have no idea, but it must have hit one of them.

My dad just came in to wish us all a good night. He gave us each very enthusiastic high fives and thumbs up. And then we all had a group huddle, like a football team, chanting whatever it is they chant and leaning to one side then the other in a frenzied manner. Goodnights in our house = awesome.

Annnnnd if you're wondering why there are so many equal symbols in this post, it's because I finished geometry last week and have been deprived of math for a few days. I love math. NOT. But I just felt like I needed to equal something. You know, to make sure my itty bitty parallel lines stayed in shape.

Praise God for playdough! Without it, I would smell normal.

Con amore,
Sophie

P.S. OK, so now I'm listening to "Pants on the Ground" with Gen. Wieeeerrd. *shrug

P.P.S. Sometime you need to go insane for a moment, in order to rescue your sanity. Vero? Right? :)
P.P.P.S And I've been informed that my blog doesn't make sense, but it makes people laugh. Therefore, the title.