PFO Theatre Exp 2010-Sosa (758)

PFO Theatre Exp 2010-Sosa (758)
Originally uploaded by playingforothers

Positively Grateful

Holy crap, it's December already. I dont know how the hell that happened, but I do know that it's been a good 5 days since Thanksgiving and I never posted what I'm thankful for. This is borrowed from my amazing friend Emily, whose put it well when she said that during these stressful (college application) times, it's important to remember the positive things. Thus, I present

Things James is Thankful For, 2009

(in no order whatsoever)

Pixar movies
Lattes
Used Bookstores
Oscar Wilde
AP English
Handel's Messiah
The Avett Brothers
My car, Maxine
Playing for Others
Chic-Fil-A Fries
Turning 18
Lemonade
Southern Literature
Old Navy sales
Good grades
My (dreadfully out of tune) piano
New opportunities
Rained-out Jason Mraz concerts
A clean bedroom
Trips to Boston, New York, and Chicago
The musicals Billy Elliot, In the Heights, and Next to Normal
A full bookshelf
Mix CDs
The New York Times Magazine
Sweaters/Cardigans
New glasses
Get Fuzzy
Molskine notebooks
Scarves
Original artwork made by friends
Free periods
Cold water bottles
IKEA coming to Charlotte
Italian food
Neil Simon
Coffee shops
A trusty dog
New Hearing Aids
Talented musician friends (*cough* Charlotte Parrott)
Ice Skating
Thank-you Notes
Comfy pillows
Swimming pools at perfect temperatures
College (soon)
Gmail
College-ruled paper
Big open fields
Ink pens
Spontanious coffee dates
Cool high schoolers (as opposed to the lame ones)
Stephen Sondheim
Rainy days
CVS
Sporks
Home-made lunches
65-degree weather
25 Days of Christmas on ABC Family
David Foster Wallace
Tree swings
Convertibles
Vanilla-scented candles
Christmas Lights (all year round)
Electric Scissors
Bravo TV
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Having a dream to pursue
New friends
Old freinds
Newly-realized and appreciated friends
Steady friends
The Fam.
New days and fresh opportunities. There's always another one right around the corner.

<3

Lists of varying significance

Sunday evenings at the end of breaks from school put me in bad moods. So, I'll begin this with a rant. If you'd rather not dwell in the negativity pool with me, totally understand- simply skip over the list and I promise some happier things :)

But first.

Things I Currently Do Not Like

>The fact that I did homework every single day over break and STILL have soooo much left to do.
>College applications. No elaboration necessary.
>The fact that I've been steadily becoming more and more lazy. This is highly unlike me and very disturbing.
>The fact that I dont have a computer (of my own) that works which means no iTunes account which only depresses me on a regular basis.
>The fact that people find it necessary to use the word "totes" when they would like to say "totally." Ew. Please stop.
>The fact that it is not yet June, 2010 and therefore I am still in highschool.
>The fact that despite the years of effort I've put into things, I have yet to be thanked or acknowledged. Because this is a public blog, I wont go into details.
>The fact that people arent willing to put effort into maintaining friendships once they go off to college. The fact that I've called you numerous times and left you voicemail after voicemail and you never. call. me. back.
>The fact that my family drives me crazy.
>The fact that so many people find it necessary to act like a diva when really they havent accomplished anything at all.
>The fact that my online class is still happening and people are dumb.
>The fact that I do not have time to read for pleasure anymore.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest (and thank you for bearing with me...), we can turn our attention to happier subjects.

So, without further ado,

Things I Currently Like Very Much

>I had the best night ever yesterday with some of my most favorite people hearing some talented friends sing fabulous music and the drama percentage was relatively low compared to what I expected it to be.
>The fact that I had an amazing thanksgiving with good friends and lots of chill time.
>The fact that it's almost December which means it's almost Christmas, which is my favorite holiday.
>The fact that I have good taste in Christmas music and make my own mixes so I dont have to listen to the mess that comes on the radio.
>The fact that in the car on Thursday I listened to the Tarzan, Hercules, Mulan, and Aladin soundtracks in their entirety.
>The fact that Black Friday was very very good to me and I have nice things to wear all this week.
>The fact that I have wonderful friends who care about my well-being and take the time to remind me.

As always, the good outweighs the bad. I'm feeling much more positive now...so I'm going to knock out my English homework, submit another college application, and think lovely wonderful thoughts.

This post really had no point to it. Ah, well, such is life.

"O, my black soul, now art thou summoned"; in other words, why Books-A-Million sucks.

Today was, decidedly, a good day. School was fine. After school, I had the afternoon to myself. First of all, let me mention that this was the first afternoon I've had completely to myself since...August. Determined to enjoy this afternoon to its full potential, I grabbed my Starbucks gift card, enjoyed a Peppermint Latte (hooray for Christmas flavors!) and went to Books-A-Million. (It should be noted that my addiction to lattes is growing faster than my wallet can afford. I've consumed no less than 4 lattes in the last 5 days...major problem. Giftcards should last me a while, but...soon it will be back to my once-every-two-week latte routine. Whenever I move into my first apartment, the first purchase I will make is an expresso machine, I promise. Also, it should be noted that Starbucks is not usually my cafe of choice- waaaay to pricy...and mainstream. I prefer the local Julia's Coffee- much cheaper, and all proceeds go to Habitat for Humanity. But enough about coffee...I'm starting to get a craving).

I was excited to go to Books-A-Million because there was a list of books I needed to purchase for school (most notably, Paradise Lost for English. It is definitely the third copy of the book I've purchased in the past week...there is an explaination, but that would be a post in itself). (I have no idea why this post is so parenthetical). Let me just say, the Books-A-Million trip was an epic fail. Not only did they not have any of the books I needed...they didn't even have them in their supply so I could order them. Problem was...I had a $21 gift card to BAM that I was hoping to use to cover the cost of my school books. Oh well. I bought, instead, books I had been wanting- A collection of John Donne's poems (note the title of this post) and a collection of plays by Sartre (because I'm into metaphysical plays, all of a sudden...not really, I just wanted to extend my collection). Then I hightailed it to the nearest Barnes & Noble (my own personal favorite) to get what I needed.

Reasons why Barnes & Noble trumps Books-A-Million

1) They had all three books I was looking for.
2) They actually have a section devoted to plays and drama. Books-A-Million does not, resulting in a major point loss for them.
3) The staff is way more friendly and helpful and were sure to wish me a happy holiday.
4) They were not playing Christmas music before Thanksgiving.
5) They not only had the books I was looking for, but they had the specific required editions of the books I needed.
6) They sell music. And books about music. I mean, educated, scholarly books about music, as opposed to the fake introductory books sold by Books-A-Million.
7) They do not have half of their store devoted to the Bible and Christian fiction. Books-A-Million has not only that, but a shelf of shirts saying things like "get-out-of-hell-free card" and "I've been saved...ask me how you can be saved too!" (blech) (I'm not opposed to Christianity at all...I just would rather not have religion stuffed down my throat).
8) They actually have books by David Foster Wallace (my all-time favorite author). Books-A-Million does not. MAJOR point deduction for them.

So, $35 later, I walked out with the two books I needed as well as another book I had been looking for and hadn't been able to find. They may not be the used bookstore (always my first preference, although I rarely have good luck there), but it made my afternoon more successful.

And thus ends my rant about bookstores. Now, it's off to clean my room, listen to some Gabe Dixon Band, complete Online Psychology work (ew), and curl up in bed with a (new) good book.

"These morning shadows wear away,
But these grow longer all the day;
But O! love's day is short, if love decay.
Love is a growing, or full constant light,
and has short minute, after noon, is night."

-John Donne, "A Lecture Upon the Shadow"

Take 3

I've attempted to start a blog three times in the past year, and they always end after the first post. I think it's perhaps because I dont have the time nor energy to dedicate tons of time writing long, winded passages about my daily life. However...I still find blogs oddly attractive, and the itch to create one never really disappeared. So, in order to satisfy the blogging craving I've been having, thus I present "Nothing but Nuances". Essentially, I can just post random, short thoughts about my daily life and no one can say a damn thing about it. We'll see how this one goes...essentially it's a commonplace book, although not as eloquent as I usually attempt to be in my personal *real* commonplace book. But enough introduction...there are thoughts to record.

Today's current thoughts:

I like Milton...and Milton's Paradise Lost

I'm not such a fan of Mozart.

I'm really not a fan of doing 100 bullet points on Mozart's Symphony in G Minor for AP Music Theory.

I really should be working on college essays. It seems like my friends are so much more productive when it comes to completing applications than I am...never in my life have I procrastinated so much.

I have so many assignments due tomorrow. I have no assignments due Tuesday. I wish I could divide them up and have half due tomorrow, half due Tuesday, but alas.

I am not at all ashamed of the fact that I stayed up until 2:00 this morning watching Gossip Girl and The Real Housewives of Orange County. I probably should be.

I wish I had a month with no plans so I could only read and write and play music.

I've been 18 for over a week now and have yet to do anything significant.

Tegan and Sara's Sainthood is brilliant.

My room is a mess; I should clean. I probably wont tho.

This past weekend I played "Never Have I Ever" and it was the first time in my life I put more than 5 fingers down. However, they were not put down for exciting things, thus making me still feel vastly inexperienced.

I wish it would rain like it's supposed to.

Highschools that take a 45-minute production of Doubt to play festival should be burned.

Judges at said play festival who give top honors to said 45-minute production of Doubt dont deserve my respect.

I wish I had money so I could afford new clothes because I'm tired of the ones I have.

There's nothing like a spontanious coffee date with your best friend to make a Saturday better.

Sundays should be for relaxation, not homework. But here I am, ending this post to go do more AP work. Joyyyyy.