Old Photos I Want To Upload

Well I’m back

*Slams into room at mach 3, disheveled* Wow! Hello there! It’s been a while since I’ve been here! How long has it been? *Checks last date update* Three years? Yeesh, I missed a lot of high school… The time I had promised myself to blog during… oops… Sorry.

Well now I’m back, so I’m going to try my hardest to remedy that!

Well now, where the hell have I been? As I said, it’s been, what? Two, three years since I’ve been on here? Going to need to update soon. Oh wait, that’s what I’m doing right now. Missed all the rest of high school, and what fun I had then.

But surely I’ve evolved since then. Oh yes, most surely. I’ve done many things, gone on many trips, learned many things about many people. Gained a few friends, lost a few friends, hell even reunited with a few. I’ve grown in knowledge, plenty of knowledge. My interests continue to change, but that’s not surprising. But even all of this is minor. I’ve done many important things.

Now what could count as important… hm… I got a boyfriend. Does that count as important? I think that counts as important. I got into all of the colleges I applied to, I graduated, and I’m in college, I think that’s important too… I got a job at the zoo during the summer. Oh! I reunited with an old camp friend! Turns out that there’s actually four girls here that all went to Rockbrook Camp for Girls, including myself and my cousin (well technically she’s my second cousin, but we’re not going to deal with that too much…). Speaking of my cousin, she’s here too! By the way, I’m beginning to see the similarities between her and her sister… Sorry, Reba. But that isn’t nearly as important as going to college.

But I have done so much more than I have listed! I have many stories to tell, much to say, and I am ready to tell the world about them! If anyone even remembers of this place… I will tell my stories to the ones who will listen.

For the future, I promise to try and post at least once a month. I want to try and be more social out there, which is why I mostly didn’t blog while I was in high school; I was trying to, as I say and fear and know deep down will one day inevitably be my doom, live. I want to do more things, partially because I want more to blog about, but blogging takes time that I can use for being social, and being less social means I got less to write, which means I spend less time blogging and more time living, which means I got more to write… It’s cycle and a balancing act, and with college homework the time I have left over for free things is also more limited, so I’m going to be trying my best. But who knows? I may even update the style of my blog! (But knowing myself that may take a while…)

Another thing is that I’m going to try is to write about things that are relevant to me; things that I’m doing, things that I remember about in high school and as a child, things I’ve been thinking about, photographs, etc. I may even post some short stories or blurbs of longer stories I’m writing. Perhaps I’ll even write what story ideas I’ve had but haven’t been able to write yet or don’t know how to write yet.

I want this to be my way of letting you inside my head.

For example. Recently I’ve been starting to feel… maybe anxiety? I’m not sure. I’ve just been getting waves upon waves of what I could only describe as regrets. Failure to do things or things that I did do. This is partially why I’m writing these once more, because I remember one of my old classmates, Giselle, telling me that she loved listening to my blog posts while she worked, and I feel like a failure not writing these. I have many failures (and when I mean many, I mean MANY) that plague me, some of which can be remedied, some of which cannot. I, of course, may one day post about them, sort of as a vow to myself to do better, even when it’s hard.

Such as these posts.

It is difficult for me to put these posts up, not for writing them, that’s quite easy (possibly a little too easy) but actually posting them. It seems almost every three sentences I write the writing space likes to freeze up. It gets harder for posting photos, but that’s for a different reason. It won’t tell me what photos I’ve already posted, and what photos I haven’t, so it’s a guessing game and a challenge for me to figure out what photos I have posted and what photos I have not.

Anyways, I just want to say thank you if you have been reading these, and I will try not to fail you in the future.

Thanks, and see you later. Bye!

Scholarship Work Day and School News!

I know this seems pretty random and out of the blue (sorry for that, but school work comes before blog posts and I have had a LOT of school work to do), but today we had Scholarship Work Day!

What that means is that a pretty decently sized chunk of the student body got to work as volunteers working for others to either clean or do something for them, and in return, we get money to help fund our scholarship program. This is actually a good thing since forty percent of our student body is here on some part of this scholarship program. I’m happy that we got to do this today since had such nice weather today when the past week has been pretty muddy,  and on top of that, it’s Dandelion day! It’s a festival Carbondale celebrates for the weekend for a reason I do not remember at this time. Anyways, we took a break just as this parade came by, and it was the cutest thing ever.

Also, I should probably apologize for any bad descriptions or anything, I’m terribly busy and a little frazzled from school. Good thing we’re almost done with it! I really need a break from school.

Anyways,  I want to wrap up this blog post by saying Happy early Mother’s Day, as it is tomorrow! Shout out to all you moms out there!

Also, I want to ask; should I add a notifications thing to this site, just so that you can see when I post next time? I feel like that can help you guys see when I post next time. Should I? Let me know. Well, thanks!

I am terrible at this blogging thing…

So, as you guys can probably tell, I’m not keeping up to my promise of posting a blog post as often as I can. I mean, I had meant to post a blog post the day I had gotten back to Ohio for Spring break and for one when I went back to school, but obviously that never happened. I was even supposed to make a blog post yesterday about Formal dinner and my most recent story writing, but I wasn’t able to do so because of… Reasons. *coughcough*homework*coughchough*wifiturnsoffat10:30*coughcough* Anyways, this post from here on down is written as if it was last night (April 6, 2017) so keep that in mind when you are reading it.

 

So, today has been a crazy day for me. For starters, I have just finished editing my most recent story for the third time. Now this may not sound like a big thing to many, but considering how I’ve been writing this entire story (outline, rough drafts, everything) by HAND on PAPER in all of my free time and the fact that I have now written one hundred pages to said book and that I am nowhere near to the climax really says something about how much I’ve put into this. Another thing to add is that today is formal dinner tonight, and all of the redheads had been put at the same table for dinner! All that we did though was play trivia games for bread. Will, a four-year senior, stole most of the bread because he seemed to know everything. I’m actually writing this during the Senior Recital during his song “Aw Shucks”. I better get back to watching so have a good day!

Interim has arrived and announcement

So, today was the first day of Interim, and we have already done some fun things. In case if you don’t know, Interim is a week long thing where students take a break from normal classes to focus on one topic of their choice. You can go places like the Bahamas, Mexico, or Washington DC, or you can stay on campus and do things like CG art, making your own skis, chemistry, or Glassblowing. I chose chemistry, and so far it’s been quite fun. We have made soap, lava lamps, and sacrificed gummi bears in a blaze of glory. Although I will say, I am the only girl in the group, and while I cannot guarantee anything, there will be things blowing up. Whether or not they are planned, things are going to blow up. As for my announcement, I’m going to try to post something every Saturday at least. I’m trying, I really am, but sometimes nothing noteworthy happens during the week, and I don’t get much time to write. I hope to change that soon, but currently nothing is happening. Well that’s all I have to say so thanks for reading!

I got the braj award!

SI probably should have posted this post earlier considering how it’s not as recent as I wish it were, but I only recently got the time to actually write this down. Anyways, you guys are probably wondering “What is the braj award Katherine?” Well I’ll tell ya. The braj award was created a while back by this really outgoing student whose name I have forgotten. He created it in Silversmithing class out of this piece of bronze and the biggest chain he could find, and made this sort of necklace out of it. I think it has been the biggest thing to ever come out of the silversmithing hut to this day. Anyways, it was created as a way for students and faculty to recognize people that they perceive to be the “brajiest” person on campus, which varies from person to person as the student never really gave a definition as to what being “brajy” means. To some it means holding up all the standards that the founders of this school built this school on, to some it means being a great student in class (this is most of the time used by teachers to give to their students), to others it’s when the receiver is known to have a lot of perseverance and happiness when it comes to sports and trips (this is often given to students from coaches), and to yet others it’s to their mentors and friends (this is how the braj is given to students of other grades and to teachers). The award is given to the next receiver by the previous winner every week at the end of all school meeting, as well as this little black book that is also passed around with the braj. We even have like this little cheer like-thing to signal when it’s time for it to be passed on. I don’t remember how long the tradition has been going on, but I’m pretty sure that it’s been a long time, and I’m proud to say that I’m now a part of the history of the braj award winner. But, to be honest, I didn’t really think I was going to get the braj award. I’m not on any teams here, I’m not the greatest student to come to this school, and I’m not really close friends with people who normally get the braj award, so you got to understand that I was really surprised to hear my name called for it. It was given to me by Jim Gaw, my Chemistry teacher, who said this little speech about me that explained why he was going to give it to me. Forgot to mention, there’s often this little speech people give before handing it off explaining why they’re giving it to the winner, and then after they give the next receiver the award we like to yell the same way we yell “braj” “speech”. Even while he was explaining his reasons and things that I did last year as compared to this year, I didn’t even realize that he was talking about me. Well, I kind of did. I kept on thinking that he was talking about some other girl who set a goal to keep their room clean and to do better in Spanish and is also quiet, but it was always in the back of my mind “is he talking about me?”. I was even thinking that he must have called someone else’s name because in the past I have mistaken my name with someone else’s, like Patrick (how do you even get from Katherine to Patrick? I have no idea.). Apparently, I was also one of the first people, at least this year, to listen to the request of the audience for a speech after receiving it, cause everyone went nuts. I am very proud and humbled at the same time, if that’s even possible, and I can’t wait to write down what I want to write into the black book. The closest example I can think of for you old saint Michael students is the student of the month award, except its only one student getting the award and it’s given to them by anyone else. Speaking of which, I’ve heard something has happened to it. Hmmm….

Anyways, thank you you guys for reading. Hope you guys are having a good school year!

First entire week of school finished

So my first week of school has been finished, and already I have had a crazy week. Last weekend was something called the “Sophmore Retreat” (why sophomores get this and not other grades like Juniors as well is beyond me, but I’m not going to complain), where my entire grade and I went out into the desert to sleep in teepees and do team building exercises. During this time, I had brought along my fairy lights, and I decided to wrap them around myself and just go booking it down the line once it was time to go to bed (it was dark out so the only thing people could see was my fairy lights, not me). The intention was to make people laugh, and judging from all the laughs I heard from behind me as I was running, I can most likely say that I was successful. But it also rained a lot during our time out there, which makes no sense since it was A DESERT! But we had a fun time anyway, and I got a whole bunch of funny photos of my classmates doing some silly things, such as a spitting contest (the people playing are supposed to get water into their mouth, and the first one to spit it out laughing loses. Most of the time though, it got onto their opponent, so it was basically a lose-lose situation) and finding an old deer archery target on top of a ledge (it was really creepy). This week during school, not really much happened besides meeting one of the authors of one of the books we read over the summer (Below One Forty Eight, I highly suggest reading it). But this quarter, my actives and work crews are really interesting and fun. My work crew is glassblowing, and while the lottery for students to get into work crews, such as Glassblowing or Blacksmithing, is weighted towards the older students, sometimes younger students (such as myself) can get into them. The sport I play is horseback riding, and since I did it last year, I’m in the advanced group this year. And I can tell that Brain Balance (something I did over the summer that I can talk about if you want me to in a later blog post) helped me out a lot this year. I’m actually keeping my heels down, and I can actually ride my horse Sugar properly at the canter (she’s fast and leg motion is very bumpy). Last night though was one of the funnest nights I’ve had in a while; we played Dungeons and Dragons. Although it took us about two and a half hours to make our characters, I can honestly say that it was definitely worth it. I won’t suggest it though if you are in a rush, cause from the words of Matt Nordin “This ain’t no Snapchat Motherf…!” (He caught himself before he completed it, but you know what he meant). Anyways, I’m looking forward to a new school year, and all the stress that comes with it. And my question for you is, how’s school going with you guys? Everything ok so far? I’d like to hear what you think. Anyways, till next time, bye!

Getting back from camp and going back out

So, a few days ago I got from camp (which was awesome by the way, and if you want me to I can do a blog post about my time out there), and school is coming fast around the corner. Now my sister is going to be starting school tomorrow (oh the horror), and school for me is going to start in about a week. And you know what that means… Packing time!! *Insert gagging noise here* And I have learned a few things from my time at school last year, and I thought that it would be a good idea to share with them with you! So the first, and probably the most important thing to know is that less is more. When you live in a small dorm with someone else, you don’t have that much room to store stuff, and that includes clothing. Don’t bring more than you normally wear and keep the extra to a bare minimum. The second rule that helps refine what you are bringing is to know the three W’s: Where you are going, when you are going, and what you are going to do while there. What do they mean? Well, let’s start with the first one; where you are going. Going somewhere with a beach? Makes sense to bring along the bathing suit and sandals. Not so much if you are going somewhere that is renowned for skiing. Second one; when you are going. Just because Aspen is almost world renowned for its ski resorts, that doesn’t mean that you should be planning for a winter wonderland after school lets out for the summer. And last but no means least, what are you doing. If you’re going down to Florida for your cousin’s wedding it’s most likely a good idea to bring along a nice formal outfit for the occasion, unless they tell you otherwise.

Girl Scouts

Girl Scouts. I love them. I actually used to be one of them, but even if I wasn’t a girl scout veteran, I would still love these girls. Now, if you haven’t heard about this group, (and you somehow are reading my blog) you are missing out and are probably confused, so I’ll simply explain a short history. The Girl Scouts of America was founded by Juliet Gordon Low around 1912, and was based off of the Boy Scouts of America (which was founded by Sir Robert Baden-Powell). Both groups work towards the goal of teaching young children how to be prepared in the wilderness, and to be prepared for later life, including teaching kids business skills and money management through selling some products, and the Girl Scouts are famous for their cookies. Even if you aren’t a or was Girl Scout, you could probably remember seeing them selling their cookies at the store or going door to door in your neighborhood selling the cookies (and maybe magazines, but usually it was the cookies). And today while I was shopping at Whole Foods, guess what I see across the way? A group of Daisy Girl Scouts, selling cookies. Now, let say, when I was a Girl Scout, we usually sold our cookies when the days were warm and clear, like during the spring. But no, these girls were selling their cookies while it’s snowing, and they’re just as happy as Daisies. Now yes, they have lived here longer than I have, but their attitude! They were so nice! I don’t remember their girl scout number, but I just want to give them a shout out. It takes a lot to be a Girl Scout -and I should know, I used to be one- but if you are willing to put in the hard work (which I think may have been the reason why my group disbanded, I think most of the girls and leaders didn’t want to put in the hard work anymore) being a Girl Scout is a experience that would change your life forever.

Photos from Georgia

Black Skimmer 3Great HeronJump offWalkin Down The StreetMajesticnessTooLazyUp close with a pelicanRaven