Spring Break 2012!!

That's the title of many an album that I've seen on Facebook with all of my friends in sunny places on the coasts, getting tan, throwing up the deuces, and what have you. Unfortunately, I'm not there. But I don't really like vacationing in warm places (I'm more of a London and New York person than Miami and LA) so I guess it's all for the best. I went on my own adventure this week, anyway.

It was college visit time for my mom and I. 5 colleges in 5 days. We figured that if we were going to be that far away from home, we might as well make our trip worth it. It was a great trip; I realized I have a lot of options out there for college. My mom and I weren't tired of each other by the end of it. 1749 miles. My butt was quite sore. Except it wasn't as sore as my dad's.

I feel so bad for my dad. He had to have surgery on Friday. For the second time in 8 months. When we were gone. His parents came down and so did his brother since we weren't there. And then he was supposed to get discharged yesterday, but the doctor never showed up. So Easter was pretty memorable for him, as was his birthday 'cuz that's when he had his other surgery.

I played my French horn at a church gig for Easter earlier today. 100 bucks coming my way. Nice.

Envy

Do you ever have those times when you find yourself glued to Facebook and think to yourself "I wish I had her/his life," while looking through someone's pictures and statuses and friends?

Sometimes I'm so envious of other people. Maybe not necessarily as extreme as wanting their life, though, because I do love my life and I'm so lucky to have been given the life I have. I'm sure we all have those times in school where we think "I wish I got his quiz score." There are times at the mall when we think "Oh, I wish I had her hair." There are times in the grocery store when we think "I wish I could eat the brownies in his cart instead of the carrots in mine."

I sometimes make lists of the pros and cons in my life.

Pros: I've been able to life a privileged life, my parents trust and respect me, I work hard and I do good work, I have many talents, I'm very unique, I have been given opportunities that most others have not been given, I have so many friends and a family who support me in all that I do and will pick me up whenever I need it, people around me hold high standards which makes me push myself to do my best, I'm happy and healthy, I'm very blessed materially, physically, mentally, and emotionally, I have great relationships with so many people in my life that I know will carry me on to a great future.
Cons: I'm a perfectionist, I'm self-depricating, I'm envious.

So I really shouldn't be envious of other people.

I have a great life.

Surprise!

My friends are the best.

Two of the things near the top of my bucket list are 1) throw a surprise party and 2) have a surprise party thrown for me. I've always thought the second one would be hard to achieve, considering that my friends may not know that I wanted a surprise party and then also persuading them into giving me a surprise party would have turned it into not a surprise at all. So I'm very glad that people just assumed I would like a surprise party!

Have I said surprise party enough?

SURPRISE PARTY!

I love surprises! And now I know I love surprise parties! Couldn't stop smiling all night. It's nice to know that so many of my friends care enough about me to put this together and keep it a secret for 2 whole months. But actually, I'm so surprised someone didn't accidentally say something to me. I wish I would have looked nicer, though. Thank you all!

On My Birthday...

This is the song I've been singing the whole day.

I'm cool, you know it.

Conflict

I don't like to fight.

I don't try to fight.

I don't need to fight.

Yet somehow I always end up fighting.

I want to stop.

But I can't.

Whole Foods Extravaganzas

I love Whole Foods.

Yeah, it may be one of the stereotypes that white people like but, in case you haven't noticed, I am white and I would probably still love going to Whole Foods even if I wasn't. Take that. It's become tradition to stop at the new Whole Foods that opened in Minnetonka down by Ridgedale every Saturday after I have MYS rehearsal (concert tomorrow at 6:30, y'all should come).

What a plethora of spectacular food items there are! I'm torn whenever we go there between getting my tried and true favorites or trying some new things that may eventually become a favorite. So many choices. So many good things. I love their Wild Mushroom Soup and their Vegetable Lasagna and Vegetable Quesadillas and the Baked Potato Soup. Those are just the main dishes. I also love their Smoked Mozzarella Pasta Salad and their Edamame Salad and the Winter Cous Cous and the Greek Tortellini Salad and the Orange Beet Salad. That's not even including the bakery items. I love their Cornmeal Muffins and their Soft Pretzel Rolls and their Pay-by-the-Pound cookies like their Dark Chocolate Almond Laceys and the Almond Cookies and the best Brown Butter Cookies ever in the world. They even a taquiera, a pizza station, and a sushi station, but raw fish creeps me out.

I had the Wild Mushroom Soup today. Now I am content.

On another note, it's Girl Scout Cookie season!

My Schedule is Bipolar

Or maybe I should rephrase that and say my schedule for next year is going to make me bipolar. My schedule is divided completely in half, with one side being "Fun Classes For Meredith" and the other being "Classes That Meredith Would Rather Not Take If She Didn't Have To." I take that back, it might be 5/8 fun and 3/8 not fun, but that all depends on if I get the English course I'm signing up for (*cough cough poetry with Cardona cough cough*).

Here's what my schedule for next year looks like:

Marching Band (gonna be a BLAST)
Honors Music Theory (buncha band kids)
AP Music Theory (even more band kids)
Music History (what do you know? band kids)
Wind Ensemble
**If you've been counting, that's a total of 8 credits = half of my year.
Range of Poetry (so hoping this works out in my schedule. hoping hoping hoping.)
Physics X (ew)
Mo Pro (double ew)
AP Calc AB (triple ew)

You may say "HOLD YOUR HORSES THERE, MEREDITH! Gurl, whatchu thankin' with all those music classes." I would respond "Well, I'm planning to major in music in college so those classes are kinda necessary to take with that career path in mind." In case you haven't guessed by now, that's that part of my schedule that I'm really excited about.

I'M A NERD.

Ha.

And I love it.

The End of an Era and Inspiration

Class is done now. An era has come to a close. However sad I may be that it ended (which, by the way, is very sad), I always needed motivation and inspiration to get me through the week. So to round off the whole experience, here are some quotes that I really appreciate.

The future depends on what we do in the present. -Mahatma Ghandi

The surest way not to fail is to determine to succeed. -Richard Brinsley Sheridan

There is only one succees - to be able to spend your life in your own way. -Christopher Morley

The power of inspiration makes us infinite. -John Muir

You miss 100% percent of the shots you don't take. -Wayne Gretzky

When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us. -Helen Keller

Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of traveling. -Margaret Lee Runbeck

Just Another Post About My Cat

I know you're probably sick and tired of these posts about my old cat Dave and my new cat Stanley. You're probably thinking "This girl is obsessed with cats. She talks about nothing else." False. I'm pretty sure I talked about Thanksgiving in one post... along with cats. Dang it.

I'm just basking in the glory that is kitten-ness. It's been 13 years since I've had a kitten. I deserve to boast about him a little bit. Now, look. Look at his curiousity.

You enjoyed seeing that, didn't you?

Stuff White People Like: Links

Stuff White People Like

#48 Whole Foods and Grocery Co-ops

#8 Barack Obama

#97 Scarves

#130 Ray-Ban Wayfarers

The Process of Attempting an Index Poem Which May Turn Out More Like a Glossary Poem

Analysis
     what we were supposed to do
     what can easily be confused with summary
     what has now become ingrained into every fiber of our being
Arguments
     everything is one
Bitzer
     the most confusing man on Earth
     the one who taught us early on to hate rhetoric
     the dude with the exigence and rhetorical situation
BLA
     blah
     The Omnivore's Dilemma: aka the longest and most repeptitive
     book ever
     Outliers: aka the book that everybody read term 2
Blogging
     Weekend Updates
     the thing that exposed my technological incapabilities
     Tidbits and Trinkets
     Yeah, Write
     Stuff White People Like
Cardona, Mrs.
     the person in charge of this whole thing
     the one who often takes the brunt of Max's attitude
     the only one who can sass him right back
Class
     Abram
          the one in cahoots with Max
     Adam
          the one with the really cool hat
     Alex
          the one who accidentally spilled tea that one day
     Alicia
          the one who gets messages on the white board nearly every
          day
     Alison
          the one really got into spirit day
     Andrew
          the one who has the coolest profile pics
          cult, 5
     Annie
          the one who I rant to at lunch
          also the one who always waits for me after class
     Ashton
          the one with the really intense blog posts
     Caroline A
          the one who was going to get me through this turbulent
          class called AP Comp
          also the one who texts me in texting lingo just to make fun
          of it
     Caroline C
          the one who always smiles to brighten the day
     Emily
          the one who always seems so prepared
     Eric
          the one who pulls out the "my mom is a teacher" card as an
          excuse or reason for everything
     Graham
          the one who adds a nice brevity to the class
     Heather
          the one who was rightfully reluctant to read our first BLA
          book
          the one we should have listened to about that
     Jenny C
          the one who has to put up with Max
     Jenny L
          the one who is constantly so sweet
     Jessica
          the one who is so fashionable
     Julia
          the one who isn't afraid to write on the white board and be
          the mediator
          cult, 5
     Kara
          the one who wears scarves every day
          cult, 5
     Max
          the one with the attitude
          the one who stole my ostrich
     Megan
          the one who made the best treats ever
     Mitch
          the one who would use big words all the time
     Ruth
          the one who takes pictures of the disfunction in our class
     Ryan
          the one who would always contradict the answers when
          taking a group test
     Sarah
          the one who tried to persuade people to come to her
          volleyball games
     Sereen
          the one who never really said much
     Shreya
          the one who calls me Mederith
          cult, 5
     Taylor
          the one who was brave enough to raise her hand at the
          beginning of the year
Comic Sans
     use it
CRJs
     the crappiest things ever at the beginning of the year
     quite confusing
     less confusing but still crappy at the end of the year
Cult
     the group of us 5 over by Mrs. Cardona's desk
Diction
     something I often lacked
Essays
     oh, the pressure
     50 of them
     the two things that determine the majority of our grade
     (see Power Writing)
Failing
     get used to it
Greek words
     ethos
     pathos
     logos
     never actually use any of those words
Humor
     satire
     parody
     not Max
     the things Cardona says to Max
Irony
     passing this class
Just Kidding
     (see irony)
Logical Fallacies
     often hard to decipher
     ironically, they seem to make sense
Me
     slowly dying in this class
     having fun while doing so
Orwell
     class mascot
     wrote the first thing we ever read
     that's not his real name
Power Writing
     angst
     so much competition
     one little, red, fleur-de-lis stamp
     what essays are based on
     (see essays)
Quizzes
     expect to fail
     ruin your grade
     become a source of dread
Rhetoric
     the whole point of this class
     something we better know how to use/identify by now



(P.S. This is just a start.)

MEET STANLEY!!

My family had to put our beloved cat of nearly 13 years, Dave, to sleep in November. This loss, which occured right before Thanksgiving, really made me appreciate what was still there. It also made me miss Dave more. It's true, absence does make the heart grow fonder. It wasn't unexpected, his health had been deteriorating over the past year or so, and it wasn't before his time, he was almost 13 and had already wasted 6 of his 9 lives. That's just the thing, though. He still had 3 lives left.

Life went on as it always does after the loss of a loved one. Gradually we removed the things that were his: his cat bed, his toys, his litterbox, his scratching post, etc. We moved on. Yet, I could never get past the fact of him not waiting for me after school, or sitting on the toilet seat after I took a shower. It was then that I decided we needed to get another cat.

With the agreement of my parents, we started searching for a cat. I volunteer at the Animal Humane Society so I'm always surrounded by an abundance of cats who need a new home. Easy to find one, right? Wrong. Here's where a wrench was thrown into our plans. Both of my parents are really allergic to cats and I'm kind of allergic. There are a few cat breeds that are "hypo-allergenic." (That's in quotations because no cat is truly hypo-allergenic, but there are many that are missing the protein in their saliva which is what people are allergic to.) We had lived just fine with a Devon Rex for 13 years, but when we went to go visit a Devon Rex, my mom broke into hives and my dad got wheezy. With our plans thwarted, we trudged back home with ouur hopes defeated. However, not long after that, we came across a breeder with Cornish Rex kittens. Longing for a cat and willing to risk another allergic reaction, on New Year's Day we went to visit these kittens. Success. Neither one of my parents were allergic and, on our way home, we decided to get one of those kittens.

I haven't had a kitten since I was 4 years old when we got Dave. I didn't remember how very small they are. We ust took him to the vet earlier today and he weighs 3 pounds, 11 ounces. He's black and white and scrawny and kind of shy and talkative and lively and cuddly and cute and just really great. His name is Stanley.

People always said he would never be able to replace Dave. That's true, but we're not looking for Stanley to replace him. Dave will always have a place in our hearts and Stanley will create a new place all his own. He's already a great addition to our family.

Are You an Outlier?

I read this book.

It was written by this guy.

You should read the book that guy wrote. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell was written around the question "Why do some people succeed far more than others?" Throughout the book, he investigates this question, using data from previous studies, facts he researched himself, and personal examples. He argues that, though talent and ability are necessary to succeed, people succeed more than others because they are provided with certain opportunities that place them at an advantage. Hockey players born in January have an advantage because they will be the oldest at the time to choose teams. Computer techies born in the mid-1950s have an advantage because they will start college just when computers start to become very popular. These opportunities are where the Olympic hockey players and Bill Gates and Bill Joy came from.

It matters what generation you were born in, what class you are, where your family came from and what your culture is. It made me question if I really was talented at what I do, or if I just think I'm good because of opportunities I've been given or lack of competition. Even though the book kind of makes you feel untalented, it makes you feel undoubtedly lucky becuase you have these opportunities to become famous or successful. For those reasons, it's a feel good book and I would highly recommend it.

Gladwell writes his book in an accessible way. Though it contains scientific research, it's not presented in some elite science review that makes it almost impossible for an average person to read it and understand it. For that reason, he doesn't include trivial facts experiments or intense vocabulary. He simply present the conclusion to allow regular people to understand it. His tone during the book isn't detatched because he likes what he is writing about, it's just not as fully involved becuase he doesn't have any personal relation to it yet. However, when he gets to the end, you realize that he wrote this book because of the lucky opportunities his mother got when she was a child. It was a nice way to end the book because it tied everything together.

Read Me In 5 Years

Dear future self who is hopefully unbelievably successful in the musical world,

As of right now, you're a pretty cool person. I hope you're satisfied and still following your dreams. You need to follow your dreams. Even when you have your doubts about ever being able to be a musician or ever being good enough, just know you are. You rock at French horn, girl. Just keep practicing. I know, I know. It's not always fun to practice. But if you want to play in orchestras, you better practice your butt off. Also, you get so much better when you practice. Just remember to always put a rag on the floor next to you. You don't want to dump spit on the floor. Especially in your moden apartment in the middle of New York City or London.

I know you're probably reaching the most stressful point in college right now. Just keep pushing through. Book some gigs, chill with friends, practice, eat, practice, shop, practice. I hope you're going to one of the colleges you really want to go to: Indiana University, Northwestern, Rice University, University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, St. Olaf, and, oh yeah, Juilliard. Remember when you were searching for colleges? Yeah, it sucks, doesn't it? Even if you can't go to one of your top colleges because it's too expensive, work hard to keep getting financial aid, try to get your masters, then become a famously rich musician and pay your parents back. Also, when you become rich and famous, buy your parents a Tempurpedic bed. Dad really wants one.

There are some things I've learned in my 16 years that are good to remember not to do again. I know you probably have a bajillion things going on in your life right now, so I'll just give you a little reminder of some tips to survive in life.

• Pretend you're a vegetarian when ordering sushi. Except for crab. You like California rolls but nothing else. Just eat them and cucumber and carrot sushi.
• Stay in contact with your friends after high school and college and stuff. I'm making some really good friends here and it would be nice to keep them later on in life.
• Don't buy wire rimmed glasses again. You look so much better in plastic glasses. And you tend to like glasses more than contacts.
• You like fleece blankets, just don't wear them with fleece pants or else you create static.
• You look really good in bangs, they're just high-maintenance. It might be a good idea to not get them again. And don't die your hair. It looks good brown. And long and curly.
• Wear red lipstick. You love it.
• Eat cheese and crackers more often.
• Always, always buy pants that are long enough. Buy clothes that are unique.
• Sometime when you have the time, have a Friends marathon. 'Cuz that show is hilarious.

If you have any questions, feel free to create a time machine to come back into the past and contact me. I'd love to hear the things you've been through.

Love,
the 16 year old you, pining away for a chance to become musically famous.

A Whole New Trash Frontier

It's finished and it's BEAUTIFUL.

Sailors Call It the Doldrums

My video is about ocean habitats and how they are being overtaken by garbage that humans carelessly leave around and how they are creating horrible and dangerous living environments for sea animals. I want to make my audience not only aware of what we are doing to these animals but I also want to make them feel guilty for what they’ve done. I do that by incorporating pictures of cute animals living in and trapped in garbage. For my argument to be effective, I’m making a warrant that people want to help save the environment and that they would feel bad for causing unnecessary suffering to animals. I’m assuming that the audience would be affected by the sheer amount of trash in the oceans to do something about it. My intended audience is people who care enough about the environment and the ethical treatment of animals to do something about the trash problem in our oceans.

I grouped my pictures into three sections. In the Pacific Ocean, there is a ring of plastic twice the size of Texas, which is what I mainly focused my video on. So I wanted to make an effect with the first 5 pictures by showing how much trash there is and how much area it covers. I chose the first image especially because from far away it doesn’t look like trash, just a mosaic, so as the video zooms in and more pictures are shown, it really shows how much trash there is. The last two pictures of that section I included because I wanted to show how the trash is also affecting people, not just animals, to persuade the audience to make a difference.  In the second section, I wanted to show how the trash isn’t just covering the surface; it’s sinking into the ocean and invading animal’s habitats. The first picture I chose because it shows the difficulty that animals would now have making their homes on the ocean floor. The rest of the pictures I chose because they were aesthetically pleasing and interesting (so they would draw in the audience) and they show how the trash is trapping animals inside and limiting their movement. I also wanted to choose really colorful pictures because they represented the lyrics “filled with colors the sea has never known,” meaning they're unnatural. The last section of pictures is where I really played on the audience’s emotions by directly showing how animals have been affected, tortured, and even killed by the trash. I chose pictures of helpless, innocent animals trapped in plastic bags or in the rings from soda cans. These pictures also don’t have as many bright colors as the sections before and I did this to show how devastating trash can be to animals and how dull their lives are with it. The pictures of turtles eating plastic are very effective because 1) it shows how they don’t have any other food to eat and 2) they don’t know the difference or that they’re eating trash. The pictures of turtles and birds trapped in plastic rings have a real emotional value, especially the turtles, because it shows how their bodies have been contorted by living in the trash. The picture of the whales, though it doesn’t show any trash, was taken near the Pacific Ocean and the whales were dying because of the trash in the ocean, so I used it for the shock value and background meaning. Then I end with a picture that both shows the amount of trash on beaches and one that also sends the message of my essay to protect the ocean and take care of excess trash.

I like my song. I stumbled upon it when I was looking up information about trash in oceans because it was actually written as a response to the trash gyre in the Pacific Ocean. Given that, the lyrics are so fitting and very insightful.  The song itself is very simple: just a guitar and voices. Her voice is so pure and the melody is very catchy, but sometimes she’s hard to understand. I plan for that to make the audience listen even closer. In the melody, she goes higher for a few notes and then goes back down into the low register which almost symbolizes waves in the water. The tone of my whole video is light and fantastic, as represented with the clouds, and the music represents that because you can almost picture someone singing it while floating or dreaming. It also creates lightness because there are only two instruments used and a clear, simple melody. It’s also a very heartfelt song, which I hope will make the audience see that I’m passionate about my topic and the impact I want the video to have. And the lyrics are phenomenal. That always helps.

The sailors call it the doldrums

‘Cuz there’s no wind here

Just a whole new trash frontier

Water blue as a gem stone

Filled with colors

The sea has never known

I want to take it back

All the dirty things I’ve done to you

Please let me trace my tracks

And wake up in the sapphire blue

Works Cited:

http://www.badlani.com/blog/2007/09/10/obesity-impotence-cancer-%E2%80%A6-still-want-to-use-plastic-bags/

http://www.grayareasymposium.org/blog/6355

http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/chris-jordan-takes-shots-at-the-trash-patch.html

http://lindseyhoshaw.wordpress.com/2009/09/21/what-trash-looks-like-tangled-in-the-ocean/

http://feww.wordpress.com/2009/12/28/oil-exploration-tourist-boats-noise-kills-150-whales/

http://scurvytunes.blogspot.com/2010/09/on-nature-postcards-from-poseidon.html

http://gph171-tingey.blogspot.com/

http://lincolncityhotel.wordpress.com/2011/09/14/the-coho-monthly-september-edition/

http://animalnewyork.com/tag/trash/

http://www.greenerfootprints.com/plastic-bag-facts/

http://cltampa.com/dailyloaf/archives/2009/06/10/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-the-worlds-largest-dump-video

http://www.gamespot.com/forums/topic/27019458

http://www.oceanday.net/2006.htm

http://www.marineinsight.com/marine/environment/what-is-the-pacific-ocean-garbage-patch/

http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-slideshow.html

http://spectrumville.net/topic609.html

http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/photos/solutions.html

http://bigblueorb.wordpress.com/

http://blog.epromos.com/promo-news/la-to-join-bag-ban-club/

http://coastalcare.org/2009/11/plastic-pollution/

http://animalish.com/2011/animal-pictures/turtle-trapped-in-plastic-ring-cut-the-rings/