Flashback.

 I'm exhausted today and still have some homework. So you get to read something I wrote back in senior year for the cute kid in my AP French class.


What a Smile Can Do, 14 October 2008

from across a room i couldn’t help but notice
your smile.
how could i have never noticed
your smile?
it betrays a subtle something in you,
this smile.
a pure bright sweetness shows itself
in your smile.
and i find myself with
a sudden smile of my own.
don’t stop. it darkens the room
when you don’t smile.
i’d really love to know you - the boy
with the perfect smile.
but i’m having such a hard time. why?
how can i be afraid of such a smile?
maybe it’s because
you won’t smile for me.
after all,
who can smile for a smitten fool?
wait.
word on the street is you can.

=]

"Cubans don't eat cupcakes because cupcakes are happy and communism's not!"

Today you get a lot of sporadic thoughts and images. Have fun!

Some skills need to be constantly cultivated. Otherwise they go away. Like sometimes you're performing in Carnegie Hall one day and a year later you're struggling to sightread an easy alto part.

Today I found myself missing my long red hair. And New York. And Dallin. I like how this picture has all three.

I've also noticed that after I hear barbershop live, I impulsively have to say "Get some!"after every song. I can keep it quiet in a BYU-Idaho setting, but I just know that it's because of Diva Day '09. Good times.

Maddie is the coolest eleven-year-old ever. And I bet Minnesota wishes they still had the Lakers. (Even though Maddie is about nine in this picture and while we were at Staples Center, it was a Clippers game.)

I declared today a Day of Cupcakes. Since we were watching Obsession in my sociology of religion class today, we were supposed to bring food. I made Nutella cupcakes first thing this morning. Then I somehow found myself in The Cocoa Bean getting a Madagascar Vanilla Vanilla cupcake after my last class. Then I made myself stop.

I'd have pictures of all this, but they're all on my phone and I can't send pictures from my phone anymore. (Hey Dad, can we fix that, please?) So you get this one of Noah, Kendra, and Kylinn on top of the fort back home.

I like Butter Pecan ice cream. Except for the pecans.

The title of this post comes from the May 2009 Quote Book. I definitely said it in AP Bio, but I can't remember the context. Do any BiFs remember?

Songs to Sum Up 2009

"We don't live in a in a single song. We move from song to song, from lyric to lyric, from chord to chord. There is no ending here. It's an infinite playlist." ~David Levithan in Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

Heroes and Thieves--Vanessa Carlton
Empire State of Mind--Jay-Z
"Coronation" Mass in C K.317--Mozart
Gravity--Sara Bareilles
Larger Than Life--Backstreet Boys
Magic--University of Chicago's Voices in Your Head
White Houses--Vanessa Carlton
I've Just Seen a Face--The Beatles
In-N-Out (Animal Style)--We the Kings
Home--Vanessa Carlton

School Prom

hair.


Dress.


Face.



Josh, Katy Mel, Jenny, Jess, Melissa, Me

False Alarm

Disregard my last post. Due to monetary problems, Connor can't go.

Is Reagan still available?

What Has Two Thumbs and a Really Cool Prom Date?

This girl!

New York

THURSDAY: We met at the school at FIVE in the morning to catch our flight out of LAX at 8:00. We arrived at 5:00 pm in Newark, New Jersey. After getting into the city, we dropped everything off at the hotel and went to the Rockefeller Center for ice skating. I have little natural athletic ability, so David helped me out. We had a lovely time. The next day, I discovered that the skates had hated me...



FRIDAY: We went to the Actor's Temple and had a workshop with some of the cast from Phantom of the Opera. They taught us "Masquerade." They said that we were the best group they'd worked with in years. We were able to do the six part music and all the choreography correctly. We had so much fun!

That night we went to the Minskoff Theatre to see The Lion King, which was fantabutastic! My roomate Desiray and I love musicals and were very excited. And let me tell you. I have never seen so many hot black men in one place in my life. ;D


SATURDAY: After a four hour rehearsal in the morning, we went to Bubba Gump's for lunch. I hate seafood, but that was the best salad of my life. Lunch with Emma is always fun.




Then we went to Top of the Rock, where you take a big elevator up to the top of the Rockefeller Center. It was pretty much the only time I spent with my family the whole trip.

That night they let us loose in Times Square. That's when Emma, Kasey, Rachel, Katy Mel, Jen, Christina, Emily, and I got all our shopping done.




SUNDAY: After a two hour rehearsal, one of our chaperones took the four of us Mormon kids to church. We cut through Central Park. The cool thing is that this building is a regular stake center on some floors and the temple on others.






CARNEGIE HALL IS MIND BOGGLINGLY FANTASTIC. Just so you know. I'm front and center, just to the left of the really short girl. This ensemble was made up of a high school from Minnesota; a high school from Canada; the top two groups from Mount San Antonio College, a JC in Walnut; and UHS.

After the performance, all 150 or so of us went on a harbor cruise...but because of the blizzard, it ended up being just a dance on a boat. I had a good time because it was really the only thing we did with the other choirs. But it was kind of uncomfortable with some of the kids from MTSAC getting drunk out of their minds. Whose bright idea was it to open the bar??

MONDAY: We took the subway to Trinity Church, where we performed. The Chorale sang "City Called Heaven" from our fall set, but Ally, the soloist, didn't come to New York, so I took care of it for her. =]
We also went to Ground Zero and St. Paul's, which is the unofficial temporary 9/11 memorial. Estrada begged the people at the church to let us sing, so we sang The Star Spangled Banner and made everyone cry. Estrada kept getting us lost and it was soooooooo cold. This is the view from my hotel window that morning.


TUESDAY: We went home. =[

Senior Week, Diva Day, and More!!

The last week of January was "Senior Week."

Monday: College shirt day. I wore my BYU-Idaho shirt even though I wasn't at school. If you can't see, that's my ticket to Disneyland. The choir performed that day and there was much fun had.

Tuesday was "wear red" day, but I don't have a picture from that. Wednesday was crazy sock day. Andrea's wearing the pink socks, mine are red with the polka dots, and Ally's wearing the Muppet hide.

Thursday: Twin Day. Jade and I have been friends since fourth grade. We found out we both had this shirt on accident a few months back. When they announced twin day in the bulletin a few weeks beforehand, we didn't really discuss it, we just said "twinsies?" and it was done.

Friday was the Battle of the Sexes Rally. No pictures of that, either.

Diva Day is a festival the Harborlites Chorus puts on every year for high school girls. The Harborlites have been two-time champions with Sweet Adelines International, THE barbershop-for-women organization. Nine of us from Upland went, and it was amazing. We sang When I'm 64, All My Lovin', Lean on Me, and We Are Family. The Harborlites and quartets sang amazing little sets featuring songs like Dancing Queen, Unexpected Song, and Phantom of the Opera.

Okay, here's the nerd in me coming out. I love KFI, the local radio news station. My favorite host is the morning guy, Bill Handel. I sent him an e-mail and he read it on the air! I was so excited! For your reading pleasure, the letter.

Dear Bill,

I've been listening since I was in seventh grade, which make six-ish years now. As much as I love you and everyone else at KFI, I can't stand your commercials and I keep updated via podcast. I you have a great morning crew. I can relate to Rich's love for asians (just one boy in particular in my case), Gary's ridiculous laugh (I have one of my own), and Lara's having to deal with a bunch of immature men (I have four brothers).

Much to my mother's dismay, I don't mind most of the terrible, prejudiced, hilarious things you all say, but I did appreciate it when Michelle didn't post the picture of Mormon garments. (Yes, I'm Mormon.)

At seventeen, I'd always thought I was one of your youngest listeners. I would say THE youngest, but my fifteen-year-old brother loves you too. Then that Robert kid called in on Friday and I thought to myself "self, if kids like him end up as corrupted in thought as I did from listening to Bill, where will America be in twenty years?" Then I decided it was far too early to imagine such chaos.

Now to the reason I e-mailed in the first place: Thank you. Everyone at KFI, but you in particular, has sparked my interest in politics. Once upon a time, I thought I'd end up an English or humanities major, but thanks to you, I'll be studying policitcal science at either BYU-Idaho or BYU. Unlike most people my age, I realize how crappy things are in our government and want to fix it - so if you're still alive when I run for governor of Californina, you can totally take credit for getting me into it. (Oh my, what have I done??)

Sincerely,
Brooke

P.S. Tell Michelle congratulations for me. I'm sure she's gotten a million, but she deserves more. Anyone who deals with you all day should be honored when they stay a good enough person that they would be able to have a relationship, much less get engaged.

And lastly, the MOST important part. I got my denial letter from BYU, so I'm going to BYU-Idaho! I have my housing all reserved (Perkins Hall - Rachel, didn't we stay there during efy?) and my major declared (Polictical Science). Dang. I'm growing up. My poor mother.

December in a Nutshell and January Thus Far

1. The Elizabethan Dinner
Every year, the UHS Choral Department celebrates Christmas by putting on the Elizabethan Dinner (aka ED). The concept of the show is that Queen Elizabeth I (played this year by my lifelong friend Gigi) and her court (the Madrigals) are visiting the shire for Christmas. There's music, food, and all kinds of fun stuff. I had to take the whole week off work for practices on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and for shows on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. This was my fourth year as a servant. But I've moved up the ranks. I was a team leader - in charge of two tables.

This year was especially fun, as I had a marvelous team. Alex (shown above) and Sabby were my two table captains.

Sunday Night is Alumni Night. Because most people know how the show's supposed to go, we have fun. This year one of our gimmicks was for guys and girls to trade headwear - modeled here by Tyler and me.


2. The Rest
Christmas was good. We had two weeks off of school, and I did absolutely nothing. (Of course, that meant that my science fair project was procrastinated to this week -- I turned it in yesterday.)

3.This Month
I have no resolutions this year. I already make goals for the week, day, month...I don't need one for the year. And guess where I got accepted??

That's right- I'm goin' to college!! I'm still waiting to hear from Provo before I say anything to Rexburg. But at least I'm qualified, you know?

My World's on Fire, How 'Bout Yours?

Another reason to not live in Southern California: FIRES every summer. (and yes, it's still summer here, which, surprisingly, I don't like. Yes, world, I have succumbed. I can't wait for it to be cold!!) But I digress. Mom and I could see the smoke from the freeway on our way back from the Ontario Mills today. It's all that the radio will talk about and it's making headlines on MSN and CNN's websites. Scary stuff.

Now the good stuff. Last night I went with Crystal to the first Comedy Sportz game of the year, which was an alumni game. (For those of you who don't know what Comedy Sportz is, watch "Who's Line is it Anyway?" It's the same premise, but there's teams and the points DO matter.) It was an excellent match and the Alumni team won. I plan to go to every game I can this year, because I only went once last year and I missed out on so much!

Why I LOVE October 2008

#1 Homecoming! The theme was "Passport to Romance" and the dance was held at the beautiful Riverside Performing Arts Center. The first picture is my group. (left to right) Jordan, Lindsay, Taylor, Me, Heather, and Chris. We had dinner at the Rainforest Café before the dance and dessert at Denny's afterward. We had the greatest time. Next is me. Then is my and my "sister-in-law" Danielle (who was also in our group but missed that particular picture). And those guys in the suits...are the sons of my stake president and bishop, respectively.

#2 Chorale Retreat! All 70-something of us went up to Camp Edwards in Big Bear for a weekend super-rehearsal and retreat. It was great to be able to spend time with everyone in that kind of enviornment. It snowed while while we were there and everything!

Me and (left to right) Marisa ("Moe"), Megan , and Alyssa.

For one of our activities, we had to build a shelter. Our group decided it looks like Splash Mountain. Me and Charla were messing around during the building of said shelter, and Rachel posed with me as we waited our turn for the rock climbing wall.

That's me climbing the wall and climbing up to take the Leap of Faith. Once I scaled that pole, I walked across the beam to a small platform, then jumped to grab a handlebar.

At the talent show, Rachel, Lindsay, Katie, and I sang a song we wrote about meeting a guy named Trevor at Home Depot.

#3 Marleen! She came back from Germany to visit us during her autumn break. This is her at Sea World. She was sooo excited to touch a dolphin. She also took family pictures with us.

#4 Life is just plain good. No drama, school's good, and the future's bright. I'm going to start registering for BYU on Monday!