Lots of smiles indeed. I've surely had an adventure of a month, no doubt about it. England/Ireland/Scotland/Wales were amazing, quite possibly one of the best experiences of my life. There were a great many exciting occurences while I was in London as well, a few of them being:
-two stabbings
-Picadilly bomb scare
-Glasgow bomb explosion
-Spice Girls reunion
-the wettest day in 50 years (yes, I was in York getting heavily drenched that day.)
-Tony Blair's last day as Prime Minister

So yes, there were a great many interesting things going on. Lots of hubbub. We even started out with a bang, because as a result of terrible weather in Houston, we were several hours delayed in going to Newark, and thus we missed our connecting flight to dublin. Luckily, they had enough seats on the next flight out to get us all over, but that flight wasn't for anouther 24 hours. Well with 13 teenagers and 2 adults, you can't expect us to wait in an airport, can you? At about 3 in the morning, they got us rooms at the hotel next door, and managed about 4 hours of sleep before we headed in to New York City for the day. That also was an adventure. I won't recap the entire 17 days, because that would be quite tiresome, I'm sure. We hit all the main tourist attractions, and also managed to throw in some...ahem, cultural experiences. While in Wales, five of us decided that with nothing better to do but sit in a hotel room at night, we purchased a variety of foods that we'd never tried before, got a disposable portable grill, and went out by the river (in the rain, I might add) to cook it. Among the foods were swordfish, some odd melon-esque fruit, carbonated limeade with splenda (yeah, that was utterly disgusting), and various delightful British chocolates. There was an incident with certain neon green beverages reappearing on a street corner after a chugging contest, but that need not be described. Scotland overall was completely and totally gorgeous, and is probably my new favorite place in the entire world. England was inspiring in its own way, with so many places to go and adventures around every corner. In our own little group of travellers, I made what I can only hope is a very close lifelong friendship, and became good friends with many others. Of course, I also lost one, but that is to be expected I guess. I have much to write about now though, which is always cause for a smile.

Since I've gotten back, I've been completely busy. I start work on Tuesday, which is a new thing for me. I've made attempts at writing music for my so-called songs, and I've actually done something worth remembering, which is a start! Hmm...yes. Thinking about painting my room light orange just for a change. That should be interesting. But for now, I think I shall go listen to music and try writing some more. Adios for now.

Kristen

PS Joshua Radin and Schuyler Fisk, both individually and singing together, are my new obsession(s). Check them out.

Yeah yeah, I haven't updated in a long time, get over it.

I shall be spending the next 17 days in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Please excuse me for one moment.

HOLYCRAPI'MSOEXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes.

I was in Wyoming last week, I might find some good pictures to post. Been long enough. But yes.

Not much interesting has happened at all. At alll. Whatever. Went through a whole semester without anything exciting happening. Hahaha that's weird.

See y'all when I get back from the UK.

Gina


PS AHHH!

Yay for Christmas time! Even when it doesn't feel like it. Really, stupid Houston, what are you thinking, being 80 degrees the week before Christmas? Oh well, 'tis to be expected.

So it you take a look at the list above of things I'm doing right now, you will find three of my latest addictions. The first being Five Iron Frenzy and ska in general, but specifically the song. Very good song. Also, DDR. Every break from school, my sisters and I always bust out the DDR mat, dance the heck out of it for a week or so, then we have to go back to school. Stupid school. Thirdly, cran-raspberry juice. This stuff tastes really good. Okay, so that rant is done now.

In other news, hooray for being finished with exams! I think I did pretty well. I also really hope I kept my top ten status. I'm currently number 7, but my GPA went down a tiny bit. Then again, I think everyone's did.

I've done pretty much no Christmas shopping, nor have I been writing as much as I intended to. I get the document open, and then I get distracted. I'll try again after I finish this entry, but I don't know...the DDR is looking really tempting.

So I just looked over at the sidebar, and it looks like I've done a pretty good job of updating every month up til now. Oh well. I'm not really inactive. I look at everyone's pictures, but just rarely comment. I should, I know, but...I don't. I'll try to be better.

This was probably the most random and jumping from topic to topic entry I've ever done. But that's okay! Adios for now.

Yes, not really anything much to say. I'm pretty happy with the way things are going right now. I'm slowly shifting back over from photography to poetry, but I'm probably not going to post alot of my poems, just like I don't post many pictures. Most just aren't really good enough for public display, I guess. Not the point.

I've been listening to lots of Five for Fighting lately. Super super band. I guess that's what puts me in the pondersome mood, which is why I've been writing more than I've been taking pictures. Anyway, I'm working on it.

I've also just had a large chunk of time opened up to me which I can use to do whatever I please. Oh, man, that's a nice thought. I've barely had time to stop and breathe lately, much less do what I like.

Hmm...in life? Homecoming was last weekend, that was ever-so much fun. And then this weekend I am going to a red hot ballroom gala for ballroom dancing. Formal dresses and dancing, I'm psyched.

As far as ballroom dancing goes, my first competition is the first weekend in November. Partly nervous, mostly very very excited. I feel like this year is starting a completely new chapter in my life. I finally quit ballet after 11 years (I loved it at first, but my passion for it rather died out this year, as there's no more to progress at my dance studio). Just lots of new stuff, and yet nothing really new at all. Just life.



"The earth has music for those who listen." -William Shakespeare

"The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think." -Edwin Schlossberg

"In the long run, we get no more than we have been willing to risk giving." -Sheldon Kopp

Ahhh. My computer has officially died. Or maybe we'll just call it permanent suspension from life. Anyway, I don't know whether my 4000+ pictures and 2000+ songs were deleted or not, but it still makes me angry. I know some of you probably have more than even that saved on your computer, but that was pretty much all my work from forever there. My dad seems to be convinced that we can get the data back, but I don't really see how when the computer won't even start. grrrr.

In other news...I love ballroom dancing. Holy cow, its my favorite thing to do now. I'm going to start competing soon, and I met up with my partner yesterday to get to know each other and start working on our routine. Eeek, I'm so looking forward to it.

Umm, also, I've just basically been having a really good past few days. Yeeah.

So...yeah, that's it for now.
-Gina


Now Listening: Thriller, Michael Jackson
Mood: Super awesome