Hi, I'm Stellar, and I wasn't sure what to title this post, so I'm not gonna give it a title. Tuesday, September 4, was my first day of school, so I'm sort of going to summarize it. Except not really, because if I were to do that, it would look like this:
Class 1- AP US History (or as we all call it, APUSH): Our teacher gave us a syllabus and went over class expectations.
Class 2- AP English: Our teacher gave us a syllabus and went over class expectations.
Class 3- Gym: Our teacher gave us a syllabus and went over class expectations.
You get the point. We took pretests in a few classes, but not much else happened. The most noteworthy thing about this year of school is that they decided to try block scheduling for the first time. In case you're unfamiliar, this means we have four 90-minute block hours that change with the quarter or semester, as opposed to the normal eight 55-minute hours. Some of the classes are called "skinnies", which means they're a shorter 44 minutes and you have them all year. My skinnies are my three AP classes and band. If you want a skinny, you have to find another class to fill the second half of the block, and a lot of the time, they'll throw you into a random class you didn't sign up for. A lot of people were unhappy with their scheduling, including myself. I had my heart set on taking Spanish 3 this year because A.) four years of Spanish will look GREAT on college applications, B.) Considering the growing Spanish-speaking population in America, it's extremely useful to know, and C.) I like it and feel pretty confident in my Spanish abilities. However, the only times they were offering Spanish 3 were second semester, at the times I'm taking advanced algebra (which is required) and band (which is not required, but I would never quit band). So yeah, I'm not taking a Spanish class this year, and I'm extremely agitated about it. Other than that, I'm against block scheduling because I don't have a long attention span and I can't handle doing the same thing for 90 minutes. A lot of people I've talked to, students, parents, even a few teachers, were against block, and yet the school administration went along with it, sadly.
So, other than the change to block, there really wasn't much noteworthy that happened today. I was having a ton of anxiety before I left, but it turned out to be over nothing, really. The really heavy stuff that's actually worth worrying about will come along in the year. So here's an overview of my schedule to round out this recap of sorts:
Block 1A: APUSH
Block 1B: AP English (I have the same block 1 all year)
Block 2A and 2B: Gym first quarter, financial planning second quarter, chemistry second semester
Block 3A and 3B: Foods (basically cooking/home ec) first quarter, European history (they sort of randomly dropped me in this one, I didn't want to take it) second quarter, advanced algebra second semester
Block 4A: Band (the dopest class of all time)
Block 4B: AP Psychology (I have the same block 4 all year as well)
That's all I have for this week. Next week I'm not sure if I'll post, because I'll need to ease into the school year and I don't want the blog to distract me. I'm also not going to post when I have finals or if anything big and noteworthy pops up, but I'll let you (whoever you are that's reading this) know. I'm Stellar in Neverland, and I'll see you next week. Peace!
Stellar
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
Wednesday, July 25, 2018
Vacation Recap/ Updates
Hi, I’m Stellar, and welcome to Stellar in Neverland. Today I’m going to recap the recent vacation I took. I had originally planned on writing this beautiful, thrilling narrative story to tell about the trip, but my anxiety has been horrible lately so I haven’t had much time to write. I’m going to briefly sum up every day of my trip. This probably isn’t the post you were expecting about my trip, but I just haven’t had time to write that amazing narrative. I will always put my physical and/or mental health first, and I want you to do the same, whoever you are that is reading this.
Day 1 (Friday, July 13): We weren’t even sure if we were going on the trip at first, because my youngest brother (he's seven) was sick the day before. Luckily, he was feeling better by the time we left Friday morning. The highlight of today was going to the Field of Dreams. This is a baseball field in the Middle of Nowhere in Dyersville, Iowa, and it’s where the 1989 sports fantasy movie Field of Dreams was filmed. They have a field you can play baseball on, a cornfield, and I'm pretty sure you can take a tour of the house used in the movie, but you have to schedule it beforehand. I had only seen the movie once, but it's one of my family's favorites, so they were more excited about it than I was. It was probably my least favorite part of the trip because I'm not a huge baseball fan and it was around 90°. Another "highlight" of the day was when my youngest brother got sick again at a Culver's. He had a sore throat and was tired. He was fine after taking some medicine for the time being. We stopped in Fairmont, Minnesota that night, at a Holiday Inn. The hotel was right next to a Perkins', which is one of my favorite breakfast restaurants. We went there in the morning.
Day 2 (Saturday, July 14): We left Fairmont in the morning and headed to Sioux Falls, South Dakota around noon. We decided to do one tourist-y thing while in the city. Mom had heard that the butterfly house and aquarium was cool, but it cost money to get in. Instead we checked out the Falls Park, which was free. My family enjoyed exploring the park and seeing how powerful the waterfalls were. The park is really big (it spans 123 acres) and the falls are pretty cool, so I'd recommend this one if you just want to walk around and see the sights. There's one part where you can see fish jumping out of the water, trying to get food. That part is awesome. We took a detour in Pierre for dinner and went to a sports bar called Drifters'. After that, we went to the Wall Drug because a friend of mine recommended I go there to try their donuts. The funny thing about the Wall Drug is that they have signs for it like 500 miles away. Like, you'll be just barely into South Dakota and you'll see "Get your free ice water and homemade pie at the Wall Drug!" My brothers decided against Wall Drug donuts and wanted to stop at the Dairy Queen nearby, which was fine with me. We ultimately stopped in Rapid City, where we stayed for three consecutive nights- in three different hotels! The first Rapid City hotel we stayed at was the Baymont, and this was probably my least favorite one because I had to sleep on the floor :(
Day 3 (Sunday, July 15): This day is ALL OVER THE PLACE. So it turns out that youngest brother had a virus similar to strep throat, and he had to go to an urgent care clinic. He was prescribed to take three pills a day for ten days. After that dilemma, we headed to Mount Rushmore! Except this was a total disappointment, because my other brother (he's thirteen) got carsick on the way up the mountain and puked thrice. It was probably because he didn't take his medication beforehand. Also disappointing was the fact that it was FOGGY. You couldn't see ANYTHING at Mount Rushmore, and we were incredibly disappointed. Because my other brother and my mom weren't feeling well, we stopped at the second Rapid City hotel early. This hotel was a Home2 Suite by Hilton, and it was the best hotel we had stayed at to that point on the trip. It was the first hotel we had stayed at with a pool, and it had a nicer TV, access to restaurants, and access to a WATERPARK. The waterpark was called WaTiki, and although the cost of $18 per person was a little expensive, my dad and brother went and had a great time! There was one waterslide which featured a funnel-like tube and it was an incredibly fun ride. This day was all over the place because the fun stuff was really fun and the not-as-fun stuff was horrible. I felt so bad for my brother!
Day 4 (Monday, July 16): The other brother was feeling a little better and was ready to try Mount Rushmore again. This was great because today it was actually clear and we could see everything! You'd be tempted to shrug Mount Rushmore off before seeing it because it's just four faces in a rock, why is that interesting? But once you see it in person, you're awestruck. It's amazing how much work and detail was put into it, and it can really bring out feelings of patriotism in anybody. After Mount Rushmore, we went to the nearby Custer State Park. This was one of the lesser parts of the trip for me because there was a massive drive up a hill that was even higher up than Mount Rushmore that really triggered my anxiety. Once we got to the park, it was kind of nice just to drive around, and I had my favorite music playing the entire time. However, I was expecting to see a lot more buffaloes than we actually saw. On this night we stayed at the Comfort Suites in Rapid City, and it was probably the best hotel of the three we stayed at in Rapid City. True, it didn't have the waterpark the Home2 did, but my parents had their own separate room and the kids all got their own beds. We went to Olive Garden for dinner and it was the best meal I had all trip. They've been doing this "Build Your Own Lasagna" thing, and I decided to give it a try. It was a four-cheese lasagna with alfredo sauce topped with cheese ravioli and a generous portion of Parmesan- hands down the cheesiest thing I've ever eaten, and one of the best. Although it was ENORMOUS so I barely made a dent in it before getting too full.
Day 5 (Tuesday, July 17): Today we stopped at the Badlands National Park. I didn't know what to expect from the Badlands, but I had heard from some friends that they were really cool and pretty so I was excited. The Badlands are these giant rock formations that were amazing to see. You can take a drive through the park, stopping to take a hike or look at the views whenever you want. My dad, thirteen-year-old brother, and I went on a very short hike and saw some cool views. My favorite part of the Badlands were the rocks that had all different colors, reds and yellows, in them. They were gorgeous. After the Badlands, we drove for some time and I had gas station mac and cheese (which was better than I expected, but still nothing special). We stopped for the night back in Sioux Falls, where we stayed in the StayBridge. My family decided this was the best hotel room of the trip because it had...wait for it...TWO bathrooms! All of the kids also got their own beds once again, which was nice. I tried Ruby Tuesday for the first time in Sioux Falls, and I got this peach tea-marinated chicken that was really good.
Day 6 (Wednesday, July 18): This was the last day we were in South Dakota, because we spent the first part of the day driving into Minnesota! We stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge in Minneapolis, because it was right by the Mall of America. Originally we planned to go to the Mall of America today but we decided to just check out the stuff at the Great Wolf Lodge instead. The room we had at this hotel wasn't the best, but there's so much stuff to do there I can't help but recommend it, especially if you're in a family with younger kids. My youngest brother had a ton of fun there. The whole family got to spend time at the waterpark there. Despite the fact that I had a panic attack at the waterpark (the less said about it, the better), I had a great time there! There was one group tube slide where you get to go in the dark, and it was so fun I rode it three times. After the waterpark, we got dinner at one of the on-location restaurants and I tried Ben & Jerry's for the first time. It was a life-changing experience.
Day 7 (Thursday, July 19): Last day of the trip, sadly. Fortunately, it was probably the best day of the trip. We checked out the Mall of America and it was kind of overwhelming in how much stuff there was to do. We spent four or five hours there and we barely even made a dent! At first my youngest brother was disappointed that we weren't doing the Nickelodeon Universe theme park, but he forgot all about it once we went to the aquarium. My family really enjoyed the aquarium. We got to touch coral, see sharks, and marvel at the beauty of sea turtles! Sea turtles are my favorite aquatic animal because I just think they're so cool to watch. After the aquarium, we went to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. for lunch. I didn't know what to expect considering the fact that I've never seen Forrest Gump (yes, I know), but it was pretty great. I ordered this shrimp mac and cheese and it was amazing and so flavorful. I let both of my parents try it and my dad said it was the best mac and cheese he had ever had. We actually didn't buy much at the Mall of America. We mostly just looked around at the many, many stores there. I did get a souvenir: I shamelessly spent $25 on a Mall of America-exclusive Build-A-Bear. It's a moose and I named her Maggie and I love her to death. We also tried this one place called Dough Dough, which is a place where they have nothing but cookie dough. We got seven different flavors to see which one was the best. I'm partial to the puppy chow flavor, so get that one if you're not allergic to peanut butter. After our amazing time at the Mall and on this trip, we had to head home. We drove for four or five hours to get home, only stopping at Subway for dinner and a gas station for gas and snacks. All in all, we spent 40 hours in the car.
So that's about it for my trip experience. Honestly, there were some not-so-fun things that happened on this trip (both of my brothers getting sick, Mount Rushmore being disappointing on the first day, etc.), but it was all worth it for the fun moments. Besides, even if the trip ended up being a total failure, I'd still be grateful for it because I love traveling and I love spending time with my family even more. On that note, I'm gonna end this with a few updates, basically telling you all about my planned schedule for the rest of the summer.
Wednesday, August 1: A music-related post that will be both lengthy and concise. How is that possible? Tune in next week (winks)!
Wednesday, August 8: I'm planning on taking my youngest brother to see Teen Titans GO! To The Movies at some point, so I should have a review then. Otherwise, I'll find something else to do.
Wednesday, August 15: To build up hype for Ariana Grande's new album Sweetener, I'm counting down my top 10 favorite episodes of Victorious, the Nickelodeon sitcom on which she got famous. It might be a collaboration with one of my friends, but I have to ask them tbh.
Wednesday, August 22: I'm reviewing Sweetener. My expectations are so high for this album I swear to God.
Thursday, August 23: Surprise, I'm posting on a Thursday! This is for my one-year anniversary of making Stellar in Neverland, so I'm going to do something to celebrate!
Wednesday, August 29: I sort of owed it to myself to end the summer with my Top 20 Favorite Fall Out Boy songs, considering the fact that I'm pretty sure I outright promised it in some other post. Get hyped.
Okay, so that's all I have for today. See you next week, everyone!
Stellar
Day 1 (Friday, July 13): We weren’t even sure if we were going on the trip at first, because my youngest brother (he's seven) was sick the day before. Luckily, he was feeling better by the time we left Friday morning. The highlight of today was going to the Field of Dreams. This is a baseball field in the Middle of Nowhere in Dyersville, Iowa, and it’s where the 1989 sports fantasy movie Field of Dreams was filmed. They have a field you can play baseball on, a cornfield, and I'm pretty sure you can take a tour of the house used in the movie, but you have to schedule it beforehand. I had only seen the movie once, but it's one of my family's favorites, so they were more excited about it than I was. It was probably my least favorite part of the trip because I'm not a huge baseball fan and it was around 90°. Another "highlight" of the day was when my youngest brother got sick again at a Culver's. He had a sore throat and was tired. He was fine after taking some medicine for the time being. We stopped in Fairmont, Minnesota that night, at a Holiday Inn. The hotel was right next to a Perkins', which is one of my favorite breakfast restaurants. We went there in the morning.
Day 2 (Saturday, July 14): We left Fairmont in the morning and headed to Sioux Falls, South Dakota around noon. We decided to do one tourist-y thing while in the city. Mom had heard that the butterfly house and aquarium was cool, but it cost money to get in. Instead we checked out the Falls Park, which was free. My family enjoyed exploring the park and seeing how powerful the waterfalls were. The park is really big (it spans 123 acres) and the falls are pretty cool, so I'd recommend this one if you just want to walk around and see the sights. There's one part where you can see fish jumping out of the water, trying to get food. That part is awesome. We took a detour in Pierre for dinner and went to a sports bar called Drifters'. After that, we went to the Wall Drug because a friend of mine recommended I go there to try their donuts. The funny thing about the Wall Drug is that they have signs for it like 500 miles away. Like, you'll be just barely into South Dakota and you'll see "Get your free ice water and homemade pie at the Wall Drug!" My brothers decided against Wall Drug donuts and wanted to stop at the Dairy Queen nearby, which was fine with me. We ultimately stopped in Rapid City, where we stayed for three consecutive nights- in three different hotels! The first Rapid City hotel we stayed at was the Baymont, and this was probably my least favorite one because I had to sleep on the floor :(
Day 3 (Sunday, July 15): This day is ALL OVER THE PLACE. So it turns out that youngest brother had a virus similar to strep throat, and he had to go to an urgent care clinic. He was prescribed to take three pills a day for ten days. After that dilemma, we headed to Mount Rushmore! Except this was a total disappointment, because my other brother (he's thirteen) got carsick on the way up the mountain and puked thrice. It was probably because he didn't take his medication beforehand. Also disappointing was the fact that it was FOGGY. You couldn't see ANYTHING at Mount Rushmore, and we were incredibly disappointed. Because my other brother and my mom weren't feeling well, we stopped at the second Rapid City hotel early. This hotel was a Home2 Suite by Hilton, and it was the best hotel we had stayed at to that point on the trip. It was the first hotel we had stayed at with a pool, and it had a nicer TV, access to restaurants, and access to a WATERPARK. The waterpark was called WaTiki, and although the cost of $18 per person was a little expensive, my dad and brother went and had a great time! There was one waterslide which featured a funnel-like tube and it was an incredibly fun ride. This day was all over the place because the fun stuff was really fun and the not-as-fun stuff was horrible. I felt so bad for my brother!
Day 4 (Monday, July 16): The other brother was feeling a little better and was ready to try Mount Rushmore again. This was great because today it was actually clear and we could see everything! You'd be tempted to shrug Mount Rushmore off before seeing it because it's just four faces in a rock, why is that interesting? But once you see it in person, you're awestruck. It's amazing how much work and detail was put into it, and it can really bring out feelings of patriotism in anybody. After Mount Rushmore, we went to the nearby Custer State Park. This was one of the lesser parts of the trip for me because there was a massive drive up a hill that was even higher up than Mount Rushmore that really triggered my anxiety. Once we got to the park, it was kind of nice just to drive around, and I had my favorite music playing the entire time. However, I was expecting to see a lot more buffaloes than we actually saw. On this night we stayed at the Comfort Suites in Rapid City, and it was probably the best hotel of the three we stayed at in Rapid City. True, it didn't have the waterpark the Home2 did, but my parents had their own separate room and the kids all got their own beds. We went to Olive Garden for dinner and it was the best meal I had all trip. They've been doing this "Build Your Own Lasagna" thing, and I decided to give it a try. It was a four-cheese lasagna with alfredo sauce topped with cheese ravioli and a generous portion of Parmesan- hands down the cheesiest thing I've ever eaten, and one of the best. Although it was ENORMOUS so I barely made a dent in it before getting too full.
Day 5 (Tuesday, July 17): Today we stopped at the Badlands National Park. I didn't know what to expect from the Badlands, but I had heard from some friends that they were really cool and pretty so I was excited. The Badlands are these giant rock formations that were amazing to see. You can take a drive through the park, stopping to take a hike or look at the views whenever you want. My dad, thirteen-year-old brother, and I went on a very short hike and saw some cool views. My favorite part of the Badlands were the rocks that had all different colors, reds and yellows, in them. They were gorgeous. After the Badlands, we drove for some time and I had gas station mac and cheese (which was better than I expected, but still nothing special). We stopped for the night back in Sioux Falls, where we stayed in the StayBridge. My family decided this was the best hotel room of the trip because it had...wait for it...TWO bathrooms! All of the kids also got their own beds once again, which was nice. I tried Ruby Tuesday for the first time in Sioux Falls, and I got this peach tea-marinated chicken that was really good.
Day 6 (Wednesday, July 18): This was the last day we were in South Dakota, because we spent the first part of the day driving into Minnesota! We stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge in Minneapolis, because it was right by the Mall of America. Originally we planned to go to the Mall of America today but we decided to just check out the stuff at the Great Wolf Lodge instead. The room we had at this hotel wasn't the best, but there's so much stuff to do there I can't help but recommend it, especially if you're in a family with younger kids. My youngest brother had a ton of fun there. The whole family got to spend time at the waterpark there. Despite the fact that I had a panic attack at the waterpark (the less said about it, the better), I had a great time there! There was one group tube slide where you get to go in the dark, and it was so fun I rode it three times. After the waterpark, we got dinner at one of the on-location restaurants and I tried Ben & Jerry's for the first time. It was a life-changing experience.
Day 7 (Thursday, July 19): Last day of the trip, sadly. Fortunately, it was probably the best day of the trip. We checked out the Mall of America and it was kind of overwhelming in how much stuff there was to do. We spent four or five hours there and we barely even made a dent! At first my youngest brother was disappointed that we weren't doing the Nickelodeon Universe theme park, but he forgot all about it once we went to the aquarium. My family really enjoyed the aquarium. We got to touch coral, see sharks, and marvel at the beauty of sea turtles! Sea turtles are my favorite aquatic animal because I just think they're so cool to watch. After the aquarium, we went to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. for lunch. I didn't know what to expect considering the fact that I've never seen Forrest Gump (yes, I know), but it was pretty great. I ordered this shrimp mac and cheese and it was amazing and so flavorful. I let both of my parents try it and my dad said it was the best mac and cheese he had ever had. We actually didn't buy much at the Mall of America. We mostly just looked around at the many, many stores there. I did get a souvenir: I shamelessly spent $25 on a Mall of America-exclusive Build-A-Bear. It's a moose and I named her Maggie and I love her to death. We also tried this one place called Dough Dough, which is a place where they have nothing but cookie dough. We got seven different flavors to see which one was the best. I'm partial to the puppy chow flavor, so get that one if you're not allergic to peanut butter. After our amazing time at the Mall and on this trip, we had to head home. We drove for four or five hours to get home, only stopping at Subway for dinner and a gas station for gas and snacks. All in all, we spent 40 hours in the car.
So that's about it for my trip experience. Honestly, there were some not-so-fun things that happened on this trip (both of my brothers getting sick, Mount Rushmore being disappointing on the first day, etc.), but it was all worth it for the fun moments. Besides, even if the trip ended up being a total failure, I'd still be grateful for it because I love traveling and I love spending time with my family even more. On that note, I'm gonna end this with a few updates, basically telling you all about my planned schedule for the rest of the summer.
Wednesday, August 1: A music-related post that will be both lengthy and concise. How is that possible? Tune in next week (winks)!
Wednesday, August 8: I'm planning on taking my youngest brother to see Teen Titans GO! To The Movies at some point, so I should have a review then. Otherwise, I'll find something else to do.
Wednesday, August 15: To build up hype for Ariana Grande's new album Sweetener, I'm counting down my top 10 favorite episodes of Victorious, the Nickelodeon sitcom on which she got famous. It might be a collaboration with one of my friends, but I have to ask them tbh.
Wednesday, August 22: I'm reviewing Sweetener. My expectations are so high for this album I swear to God.
Thursday, August 23: Surprise, I'm posting on a Thursday! This is for my one-year anniversary of making Stellar in Neverland, so I'm going to do something to celebrate!
Wednesday, August 29: I sort of owed it to myself to end the summer with my Top 20 Favorite Fall Out Boy songs, considering the fact that I'm pretty sure I outright promised it in some other post. Get hyped.
Okay, so that's all I have for today. See you next week, everyone!
Stellar
Wednesday, December 27, 2017
Stellar's Last Post of 2017...For Better or For Worse
I'm Stellar, welcome to Stellar in Neverland, and I KNOW I promised that I would make a list of my favorite songs of 2017 to end the year. But for a few reasons, which I'll go over in a little bit, I decided to abort that idea. So how am I going to end the year? Random rambling about the year as a whole, as well as me listing off what I got for Christmas, because why not?
 |
| This represents how I felt about the year pretty well, TBH. |
Let's begin with answering the question I know you're wondering based off of my intro: WHY AM I NOT DOING MY FAVORITE SONGS LIST? Well, I was originally planning on doing it and a large part of it was written until I really started thinking about it and I concluded a few things.
1. It was WAY TOO LONG. Which, yeah, I had expected. I knew it would be really long, so I was gonna split it into two parts for your convenience. The problem was most of it was fluff. I could've easily trimmed each section about each song into about five sentences, but I'm too lazy to rewrite, and besides:
2. I've already talked about most of the songs on the list in other posts. Like, half of the list was in the Fall 2017 Playlist, and I made references to other songs on the list and my enjoyment of them in other posts, like the two Songs I Don't Know The Names Of posts and the homecoming post. I really wasn't adding anything new.
3. I'm really not feeling all that great. I've been feeling really cold and tired (which means that I'm 99% likely to get a fever, because those are ALWAYS my fever symptoms) and I have a really sore throat. It shouldn't be anything serious, but it's taking a little bit of a toll on my ability to write really long posts like that.
I'm not making a full retrospective of the year like I had planned to with the songs list, but I still want to recap how the year went for me. And for me personally, this year blew. Everybody likes to talk about how 2016 was a horrible year, but minus all the political stuff and celebrity deaths, I actually had a really good 2016! That was the year I got into Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco (among other bands), and despite those bands being labeled as “emo”, they were why my happiness was at its peak in 2016. 2017 was the complete opposite. I’m not gonna say I was depressed during 2017, but for a lot of it, I was in a terrible mood. I dealt with drama with my friends and having to put up with people who made me want to scream every time I saw them. School put a lot of stress on me, as well as starting to drive, and I made a ton of stupid mistakes I regretted instantly. On top of all that, my band director, whom I look up to greatly, was diagnosed with cancer, adding even more stress to the pile. Last year also had some sucky moments, but the happiness I got from the music I was passionate about significantly outweighed the bad moments. The big difference between 2016 and 2017 for me was that I really didn’t have a constant refuge this year like I did in 2016. However, there were a few good things that happened to me in 2017. I went to some amazing places, had a blast with my friends when there wasn’t drama going on, got my first iPhone, began playing the bass clarinet, and started a blog where I created things I was genuinely proud of.
Now, I'm going to end this post by listing off my Christmas presents because I got some cool things I would like to share. Think of this as being like a haul video on YouTube, but in text form hahaha.
- One of my family's traditions that we love is Christmas Eve Eve, which is where my mom makes a really big dinner (steak and crab legs for this year, yum!) and we exchange presents amongst the parents and the kids. This year, my present (as well as my brother's) was supposed to be my iPhone 7, but I got it about two months early because my parents figured that if they were going to be paying for the phone service, then we should get the phones then.
- In band, we do a Secret Santa tradition this year. Obviously I'm not going to reveal who had me, but they gave me a pair of fuzzy socks (a recurring theme in this post, which you'll see), Sour Punch candy, and a box of Sweet Tarts. We did that on December 22nd.
- For Christmas Eve Eve, my parents gave each of the three kids envelopes. We opened the envelopes to find pieces of paper with pictures on them of the Badlands, the Field of Dreams, and Mount Rushmore. We found out that we're going on a road trip over the summer, which I'm really excited for! I love traveling and I've never been to any of those places, so I look forward to seeing places I've never seen before.
- On Christmas morning, we got our presents from "Santa". I got some pretty cool stuff:
- This year, the school music department started selling music-themed merchandise. I got a sweatshirt, sweatpants, and a pom-pom hat. I'd post pictures but I'm not going to reveal my school's name for obvious reasons.
- A pair of suede boots that I've already worn a few times and LOVE
- A pair of purple Under Armour tennis shoes
- Just Dance 2018, which I have only played once because my brother got Madden 18 and has therefore been hogging the TV
- The Awesome Game of Meme, because memes
- Turtles All The Way Down by John Green and Far From The Tree by Robin Benway
- A pink leather tote with a really cool design on it
- A box of stuff from Bath and Body Works, including a scented candle, body wash, and a bunch of lotion
- Two more pairs of fuzzy socks, these two I believe are from Bath and Body Works as well. One of the pairs has penguins and the other has polar bears.
- Then on Christmas Day I go to my grandma's house on my mom's side. At her house, I got:
- Cash. I knew I was getting some because my grandma just straight-up told me she didn't know what to get me so she'd get me cash to spend on whatever I wanted. I'm not gonna say how much though.
- 3 Take 5 bars, because Take 5s are the best candy in the world
- 2 boxes of peanut butter M&M's because peanut butter M&M's are the second-best candy in the world
- A bunch of brain teasers
- Then we have the stuff I got yesterday at the party I go to with my grandma and my aunts and uncles on my dad's side:
- A colorful sweater
- A pair of earrings with shamrocks on them because my family on my dad's side is very Irish
- More cash
- Stickers
- One last pair of fuzzy socks (which I am NOT complaining about because fuzzy socks are my favorite thing ever)
- A Barnes and Noble gift card
- A clarinet ornament, which I was really excited about because I play clarinet
- Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo, which I'm excited to read because I'm a feminist and I love learning about inspiring women.
If I remember correctly, that's all I got. I'm sorry if this post wasn't what you expected and if it seems a little rushed, but this is what I want it to be right now. Next week's post will mark my first of 2018, and it will probably be a Pitch Perfect 3 review. It might also be a 2-in-1 review with The Greatest Showman, but I don't even know if I'm seeing that. I'm Stellar in Neverland, and I'll see you next year. Peace!
Stellar
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
5 Things You Might Not Know About Me!
Hi, I'm Stellar, and welcome to Stellar in Neverland! Let's do a few updates:
-I got an iPhone last Tuesday (10/17!) It's a rose gold iPhone 7. It's the first phone I've ever had (I know, I'm really late to the party) and I LOVE it. I'm obviously not going to give out my phone number because, well, duh. I don't even have a reason for bringing it up, it's just that it's a big part of my life and I want to share my excitement on here.
-In slightly less serious news, I also got a giraffe onesie this week! It's what I'm going to wear for Halloween (I already wore it to this past Friday's Halloween-themed football game) and it's pretty much my favorite thing ever. It's ridiculous and impractical, but it makes me feel cute and cozy. I'm actually wearing it as I write this. I got it from Target, and here's a picture of it (though not of me, obviously):
Okay, now that those updates are out of the way, I'd like to say that I had a really hard time coming up with an idea for what to post. However, I did come up with something! This week's post is 5 things you might not know about me. These are things I have (as far as I can remember) never shared on Stellar in Neverland or the Brick Wall as well as things that people who aren't super-close to me might not know. I might do a sequel to this if I'm really bored but that's highly unlikely. I don't have much else to say for the intro to this so let's get just get this started.
#1. I went through a Webkinz phase in elementary school.
In case you're unfamiliar, Webkinz are stuffed animals that come with a secret code tag that you can enter on the Webkinz site and use to play with online. I got my first one for Christmas in 2006, and from that point to about 2014, an addiction was born. My brother and I were obsessed. We got as many as we could and we played with both our physical and virtual animals. We had hundreds of them yet still managed to remember every one of their names, we shipped them, and we even watched videos about them on YouTube. Seriously, Webkinz videos were how I got into YouTube in the first place, and I considered making my own Webkinz channel. I still have all of my Webkinz stored in my room and although I don't play with them much (occasionally I will if I'm feeling bored and want to relive the memories...shh, don't tell anyone!), I still will never want to part with them because of how much sentimental value they have to me.
#2. I'm a logophile.
You're probably wondering what a logophile is, and to be fair, I didn't know either until I looked it up. A logophile is, quite simply, a lover of words, and I am one. I'm fascinated by words and I'm very specific about ones I love and ones I hate. There isn’t any common pattern between words I love and words I hate, other than I would describe the words I love as “pretty” and the words I hate as “gross”. Some words I love are “symphony”, “rendezvous”, “wanderlust”, “vivid”, and, of course, “stellar”. A few words I hate are “chunky”, “boogie” (well that one’s not really gross, I just hate it), “crusty”, “absorb”, and “gurgle”. I have a large vocabulary and I’m weirdly great at spelling, so I can spell the majority of those words.
#3. I use some slang words ironically until it gets to the point where I can’t stop.
From one word-related fact to the next. This one’s pretty frivolous (another word I love), but I wanted to mention it anyway. There have been quite a few instances where there’s a slang word that gets popular among teens. I start out thinking it’s ridiculous, just the stupidest thing ever, so I start saying it ironically amongst my friends. I mean it as a joke. After I’ve been saying it for a while, I end up becoming the kind of person I was making fun of, the kind of person who says these things seriously. There still is a hint of irony to my usage of the words, but I do say them unironically for the most part. Just so you know what I mean, a few examples of words I’ve done this with are “litty”, “yeet”, and "y'all". This applies to me dabbing as well: doing it ironically until I can't stop.
#4. I have quite a few dream jobs.
Whenever anyone asks me what I want to be when I grow up, I panic because I have multiple answers. The career path I'll most likely take is in education, specifically in high school. It's practical, realistic, and well-paying. Another job I've considered is a psychologist. I don't actually know much about it but I find it interesting. I've also thought about having a career in marketing. I'm a creative person and I think it would be cool to come up with ideas for marketing campaigns. My dream job (that is actually somewhat realistic) would be to work for a record label, but not as a performer. I'd specifically want to be a talent scout, looking for fresh artists to add to the label. I think that would be an amazing job, allowing me to deal with my passion for music even though I'm not that good of a musician. And speaking of being a not-good musician, that brings me to my absolute dream job that I will never have: a singer. In a perfect world I'd be a huge pop star, having an amazing voice and living a glamorous lifestyle. But alas, my singing voice sounds like a tone-deaf cat being strangled AND I'm unattractive (which matters, because looks/image is important to being a pop star, sadly), so I've accepted that this will never happen. Still, a girl can dream, can't she?
#5. I wrote the worst book of all time in fourth grade (and the worst sequel of all time in fifth grade).
I've always had a passion for writing, whether it be writing fiction, journal entries (despite me never being able to keep a journal), or blog posts. I wrote a lot of short stories in elementary school, and while most of them were pretty crappy (I've improved exponentially as a writer, thankfully!), one of them really sticks out as being just atrocious. On rainy days in fourth grade, a few friends and I would get together and made a fake news show (no, not that kind of fake news, I simply mean we pretended to have a news program). It was one of those things that was embarrassing in hindsight but fun while it lasted. When I was in fourth grade, I thought it was so much fun that I came up with the genius idea to write a book about it. The result was News To You, a "book" (if you can even call it that, it was only ten pages long or something) so dreadfully abhorrent you have to read it to even begin to comprehend the sheer amount of evil contained in those ten pages. (Not gonna lie, I'm really proud of that sentence.) It has unnecessary product placement for products I had never even used at the time of writing, plot holes up the yin yang, flat characters, embarrassing writing from a technical standpoint, predictability, and emphasis on what the characters are wearing instead of a coherent plot. I cannot emphasize just how much News To You sucks. I wrote a sequel in fifth grade that isn't any better. I think I might post the stories on here at some point so you all can experience the suckage for yourself.
So that's a little bit more about me, in case you were wondering. Hopefully you enjoyed that angry rant at the end. I'm proud of it. Once again, I have no idea what I'm going to write about, so you'll just have to see next Wednesday. In a few weeks, though (November 15), I'm gonna do another First Impressions on the new Taylor Swift album. I don't know why. I'm Stellar in Neverland, and I'll see you next week. Peace!
Stellar
#1. I went through a Webkinz phase in elementary school.
In case you're unfamiliar, Webkinz are stuffed animals that come with a secret code tag that you can enter on the Webkinz site and use to play with online. I got my first one for Christmas in 2006, and from that point to about 2014, an addiction was born. My brother and I were obsessed. We got as many as we could and we played with both our physical and virtual animals. We had hundreds of them yet still managed to remember every one of their names, we shipped them, and we even watched videos about them on YouTube. Seriously, Webkinz videos were how I got into YouTube in the first place, and I considered making my own Webkinz channel. I still have all of my Webkinz stored in my room and although I don't play with them much (occasionally I will if I'm feeling bored and want to relive the memories...shh, don't tell anyone!), I still will never want to part with them because of how much sentimental value they have to me.
#2. I'm a logophile.
You're probably wondering what a logophile is, and to be fair, I didn't know either until I looked it up. A logophile is, quite simply, a lover of words, and I am one. I'm fascinated by words and I'm very specific about ones I love and ones I hate. There isn’t any common pattern between words I love and words I hate, other than I would describe the words I love as “pretty” and the words I hate as “gross”. Some words I love are “symphony”, “rendezvous”, “wanderlust”, “vivid”, and, of course, “stellar”. A few words I hate are “chunky”, “boogie” (well that one’s not really gross, I just hate it), “crusty”, “absorb”, and “gurgle”. I have a large vocabulary and I’m weirdly great at spelling, so I can spell the majority of those words.
#3. I use some slang words ironically until it gets to the point where I can’t stop.
From one word-related fact to the next. This one’s pretty frivolous (another word I love), but I wanted to mention it anyway. There have been quite a few instances where there’s a slang word that gets popular among teens. I start out thinking it’s ridiculous, just the stupidest thing ever, so I start saying it ironically amongst my friends. I mean it as a joke. After I’ve been saying it for a while, I end up becoming the kind of person I was making fun of, the kind of person who says these things seriously. There still is a hint of irony to my usage of the words, but I do say them unironically for the most part. Just so you know what I mean, a few examples of words I’ve done this with are “litty”, “yeet”, and "y'all". This applies to me dabbing as well: doing it ironically until I can't stop.
#4. I have quite a few dream jobs.
Whenever anyone asks me what I want to be when I grow up, I panic because I have multiple answers. The career path I'll most likely take is in education, specifically in high school. It's practical, realistic, and well-paying. Another job I've considered is a psychologist. I don't actually know much about it but I find it interesting. I've also thought about having a career in marketing. I'm a creative person and I think it would be cool to come up with ideas for marketing campaigns. My dream job (that is actually somewhat realistic) would be to work for a record label, but not as a performer. I'd specifically want to be a talent scout, looking for fresh artists to add to the label. I think that would be an amazing job, allowing me to deal with my passion for music even though I'm not that good of a musician. And speaking of being a not-good musician, that brings me to my absolute dream job that I will never have: a singer. In a perfect world I'd be a huge pop star, having an amazing voice and living a glamorous lifestyle. But alas, my singing voice sounds like a tone-deaf cat being strangled AND I'm unattractive (which matters, because looks/image is important to being a pop star, sadly), so I've accepted that this will never happen. Still, a girl can dream, can't she?
#5. I wrote the worst book of all time in fourth grade (and the worst sequel of all time in fifth grade).
I've always had a passion for writing, whether it be writing fiction, journal entries (despite me never being able to keep a journal), or blog posts. I wrote a lot of short stories in elementary school, and while most of them were pretty crappy (I've improved exponentially as a writer, thankfully!), one of them really sticks out as being just atrocious. On rainy days in fourth grade, a few friends and I would get together and made a fake news show (no, not that kind of fake news, I simply mean we pretended to have a news program). It was one of those things that was embarrassing in hindsight but fun while it lasted. When I was in fourth grade, I thought it was so much fun that I came up with the genius idea to write a book about it. The result was News To You, a "book" (if you can even call it that, it was only ten pages long or something) so dreadfully abhorrent you have to read it to even begin to comprehend the sheer amount of evil contained in those ten pages. (Not gonna lie, I'm really proud of that sentence.) It has unnecessary product placement for products I had never even used at the time of writing, plot holes up the yin yang, flat characters, embarrassing writing from a technical standpoint, predictability, and emphasis on what the characters are wearing instead of a coherent plot. I cannot emphasize just how much News To You sucks. I wrote a sequel in fifth grade that isn't any better. I think I might post the stories on here at some point so you all can experience the suckage for yourself.
So that's a little bit more about me, in case you were wondering. Hopefully you enjoyed that angry rant at the end. I'm proud of it. Once again, I have no idea what I'm going to write about, so you'll just have to see next Wednesday. In a few weeks, though (November 15), I'm gonna do another First Impressions on the new Taylor Swift album. I don't know why. I'm Stellar in Neverland, and I'll see you next week. Peace!
Stellar
Wednesday, October 4, 2017
The Stellar in Neverland Homecoming Experience 2017!
Hi, it's me, Stellar, and welcome to Stellar in Neverland. Let's do some quick updates:
-I'm finally done with driver's ed! I took my temps test this past Friday and I passed, so now I can legally drive a car, which scares me, to be honest. Anyways, driver's ed made me feel really stressed out because it just meant I had less time to do everything I needed to in a day. Now that it's done I feel like I have a lot of weight off of my shoulders and can focus more on school and the blog. Of course, school will always be my top priority but I'm going to focus on the blog as well.
Today's post is basically a rundown of homecoming, specifically the dance on Saturday. I would say homecoming was overall pretty disappointing compared to last year's but there were some good things that happened. The dress-up days for Spirit Week weren't as good as last year's and somebody decided that the Homecoming Court should ONLY be seniors, which is so unbelievably stupid. I think that homecoming is about the school coming together and celebrating our awesomeness together, and our school is more than just the seniors. They also got rid of powderpuff, which was stupid because powderpuff is a tradition that a lot of people really liked and they really didn't have a good reason to get rid of it. Then there was the bonfire, which I didn't go to because it was the night before my temps test and I needed to study, but I heard it was pretty bad. Apparently they were having technical difficulties in various aspects and it rained throughout. I'm not the only one who thought it was disappointing this year, I've heard a lot of complaints from others too. I know my school was trying their best to make us happy but this year homecoming just fell flat and I hope they listen to our complaints and fix the issues next year.
However, Friday was a really, really good day, even with the lame pep rally. Even though I had to wake up really early for marching band rehearsal, it was still a great day. Aside from passing my temps test, I played the halftime show with the marching band (we did "Ex's and Oh's" by Elle King, "So What" by Pink, "Best Day Of My Life" by American Authors, "HandClap" by Fitz and the Tantrums, and the school song) and I was really proud of how we did. We sounded great and our movements looked sharp, even though I messed up in a few places. My school's team also won the game, which was awesome. The entire student section got to go out on the field and celebrate, which was really fun. It was the best day I had had in a while.
Friday was awesome yet exhausting, so I slept in late. I was supposed to be ready to go to my little brother's flag football game by 9:30, but I woke up a little after nine and I knew I wouldn't be able to get ready in time. My mom let me stay home and I ate a Pop Tart, went on the Internet, and watched That 70s Show. At 11:00, my mom and brother picked me up and we went to the local diner (which I'm not going to reveal the name of) for lunch. I had a barbecue bacon cheeseburger, which is what I always get there. It was great as I expected it to be.
After lunch, we went home and I proceeded to get pampered. My mom gave me a pedicure (OPI's To Eros Is Human was the base color and she did a flower design in OPI's Dancing in the Isles on my big toe, if you're REALLY curious, but I can't imagine why you would be). It took about 45 minutes to put on all of the coats or polish and dry. The next step in the pampering (for lack of a better term) was getting my hair done. My mom did my hair in curls with a small braid on the right side (I have no idea how to describe this, and I can't post pictures because I don't want to reveal my face). As she did my hair, my mom and I talked about, well, pretty much anything, but especially school, marching band, and life in general. We talked for about an hour and it was pretty nice. She then did my makeup, which was difficult because I had a cold and was sneezing and coughing. My makeup looked really good though. Mom didn't put on too much makeup, just enough so that I was able to look my best.
After the hair, makeup, and pedicure, I put on my dress. I wore a blush dress by the brand Speechless that I got from Macy's. I went to a wedding a few months ago and we bought the dress and another dress a few months ago for it. I was actually planning to wear my homecoming dress but it was light-colored and I got my...monthly gift...the day of the wedding so I chose to wear the navy dress. It was probably for the best, since the dress I wore for homecoming felt more like a homecoming dress than the one I wore to the wedding. I loved how I looked in the dress and I got compliments from quite a few people. Here is a picture of my dress if you want to see it (and also since I'm not good at describing things):
I wore the dress with nude Fioni Women's Prize Flat Sandals (yes, I looked up the exact name) that I got from Payless and wore to the wedding I mentioned before as well. They were really cute and fit with my dress perfectly. I also wore some dangly earrings my mom let me borrow and a cute bracelet I got from my grandma for Christmas a few years back. After I was fully dressed and ready for the dance, my mom took a few pictures of me in our backyard. My brother joined me for a few as well.
We then went to some gardens about twenty minutes away. Banana_Elephant was going to this girl in our grade's homecoming party and they both allowed me to tag along. We first took pictures at the gardens and I thought they turned out pretty good. I'd post them but I don't want to reveal my or my friends' faces. However there was this one part where this bee was practically on me and I was so scared. I stayed calm and stood still so it didn't hurt me, but it was still pretty scary. Next, we went to the girl who was hosting the party's house for Buffalo Wild Wings. I tried the garlic Parmesan wings for the first time and they were a little spicy but overall really good. I accidentally dropped some on my dress but thankfully the sauce was my same color as my dress so you couldn't tell. Everybody was required to bring a dish to pass so my mom made little ham and cheese sandwiches and fruit. After dinner we just hung out, talked, and checked our social media to see our classmates' homecoming pictures. The radio was on, and there was this one really awesome moment where "Bodak Yellow" by Cardi B started playing and Banana_Elephant (who really doesn't know ANYTHING about any music that isn't Hamilton or classical) was correctly able to identify that it was "the Cardi B song"! I was so proud of her.
Finally (after some struggling to get my seat belt on), the hostess's parents took us to school at about 7:15 to go to the dance! Our school has three gyms and usually the dance is in the small, crappy gym but this year it was in one of the good ones. We had to wait awhile to get into the school because of the long lines but we did get in. One of the students in the class ahead of me was the DJ. He DJ'd the dance last year and he did a really good job both years (although he didn't play "Get Low" by Lil Jon this year, which I'm pretty sure is committing a cardinal sin of school dances). Here are a few highlights:
-The DJ really didn't play that many currently popular songs from this year. Most of what he played was throwbacks to a few years ago that most of the people there knew the words to. Some of my favorites to scream the words to were "Titanium" by David Guetta, "Clarity" by Zedd, "Party in the USA" by Miley Cyrus (everybody got super into this song, it's a classic) and, of course, "Shut Up And Dance" by Walk The Moon (my favorite song ever).
-This year they gave us glow sticks to use during the dance and it was cool until I got one thrown at my forehead during Jason Derulo's "Want To Want Me". It wasn't fun. Oh well, I still love that song.
-The DJ just randomly told us to sit down halfway through the dance and everybody was confused. He asked us "What do you do when you sit down?" and we were still confused. Then he told us "you be humble!" and proceeded to play "Humble" by Kendrick Lamar. I've had that song on repeat for most of this year and it's a total banger so everybody got really into it. When it got to the part where Kendrick says "MY LEFT STROKE JUST WENT VIRAL" everybody screamed that line. It was great UNTIL HE CUT IT OFF IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SECOND VERSE WHICH IS THE PART I CAN ACTUALLY RAP AHH
-After "Humble" we did the Cupid Shuffle, which was fun. It's one of those songs that gets played at every wedding and school dance ever but you don't care.
-He also played "Location" by Khalid, which isn't really a "hype" song but everybody got excited when he started playing it. I've been listening to that song a lot lately so it was fun to groove along to.
-Banana_Elephant's brother was on the homecoming court and every year the seniors do this thing where they fake-strip and that song from Magic Mike that I don't know the name of plays. So yeah, she saw her brother pretend to strip and was absolutely mortified. I tried to film it but I couldn't get my camera to work in time. I was mainly just going to use it to embarrass her.
-I missed a group slow dance to "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran. That was probably for the best.
-There's this one Jay-Z and Kanye West song I really love and know all the words that I probably shouldn't say the title of since it has a...not-PG word in the title and they played it and I got so into it. I don't think Banana_Elephant (a Kanye hater) approved.
-About two-thirds of the way in, my group and I took a break and went outside for fresh air. My ears were ringing from the loud music and screaming. It obviously had had some effect on my brain since I said something about a "third ear". It was a mess.
-There was this one girl in my group who was just consistently going HAM to every song. Quidditch_Turtle and I were super-impressed.
-There was also this random guy I had never seen before (I don't think he goes to my school and I had no idea why he was there) but he was going pretty HAM too. Everybody seemed to know him except for me and my crew, who were totally oblivious.
-When the dance was almost over, I was complaining about how the DJ hadn't played "Yeah" by Usher, a school dance staple. Guess what the very next song played is?
-Not really a specific highlight but I was surprised by how many songs he played that I didn't know. There were these random trap-rap songs that everybody in the place seemed to know but I had never heard in my life. I pride myself on my great knowledge of music and the fact that I didn't know a few songs really made me angry. I guess I'll have to wait to go on Beat Shazam.
-Finally, the last song was "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey, an all-time classic that literally everybody in attendance knows the words to. We all got into a big circle and screamed the words.
At 11:00, the dance was finally over. My dad (who was at a football game with my brother all day) took me home and I took my dress and makeup off and my mom helped me undo my hair. I went to bed at about midnight, feeling satisfied and trying to process the amazing night I had had. I had thought the dance was disappointing at first but now that I'm writing it all down a few days later I realize just how much fun it was. I had a great time and I can't wait to do it all again next year.
Sorry this was long. If you read the whole thing you rock. I have no idea what I'm going to do for my next post, so you'll have to tune in next week to see. I'm Stellar in Neverland and I'll see you next time. Peace!
Stellar
Today's post is basically a rundown of homecoming, specifically the dance on Saturday. I would say homecoming was overall pretty disappointing compared to last year's but there were some good things that happened. The dress-up days for Spirit Week weren't as good as last year's and somebody decided that the Homecoming Court should ONLY be seniors, which is so unbelievably stupid. I think that homecoming is about the school coming together and celebrating our awesomeness together, and our school is more than just the seniors. They also got rid of powderpuff, which was stupid because powderpuff is a tradition that a lot of people really liked and they really didn't have a good reason to get rid of it. Then there was the bonfire, which I didn't go to because it was the night before my temps test and I needed to study, but I heard it was pretty bad. Apparently they were having technical difficulties in various aspects and it rained throughout. I'm not the only one who thought it was disappointing this year, I've heard a lot of complaints from others too. I know my school was trying their best to make us happy but this year homecoming just fell flat and I hope they listen to our complaints and fix the issues next year.
However, Friday was a really, really good day, even with the lame pep rally. Even though I had to wake up really early for marching band rehearsal, it was still a great day. Aside from passing my temps test, I played the halftime show with the marching band (we did "Ex's and Oh's" by Elle King, "So What" by Pink, "Best Day Of My Life" by American Authors, "HandClap" by Fitz and the Tantrums, and the school song) and I was really proud of how we did. We sounded great and our movements looked sharp, even though I messed up in a few places. My school's team also won the game, which was awesome. The entire student section got to go out on the field and celebrate, which was really fun. It was the best day I had had in a while.
Friday was awesome yet exhausting, so I slept in late. I was supposed to be ready to go to my little brother's flag football game by 9:30, but I woke up a little after nine and I knew I wouldn't be able to get ready in time. My mom let me stay home and I ate a Pop Tart, went on the Internet, and watched That 70s Show. At 11:00, my mom and brother picked me up and we went to the local diner (which I'm not going to reveal the name of) for lunch. I had a barbecue bacon cheeseburger, which is what I always get there. It was great as I expected it to be.
After lunch, we went home and I proceeded to get pampered. My mom gave me a pedicure (OPI's To Eros Is Human was the base color and she did a flower design in OPI's Dancing in the Isles on my big toe, if you're REALLY curious, but I can't imagine why you would be). It took about 45 minutes to put on all of the coats or polish and dry. The next step in the pampering (for lack of a better term) was getting my hair done. My mom did my hair in curls with a small braid on the right side (I have no idea how to describe this, and I can't post pictures because I don't want to reveal my face). As she did my hair, my mom and I talked about, well, pretty much anything, but especially school, marching band, and life in general. We talked for about an hour and it was pretty nice. She then did my makeup, which was difficult because I had a cold and was sneezing and coughing. My makeup looked really good though. Mom didn't put on too much makeup, just enough so that I was able to look my best.
After the hair, makeup, and pedicure, I put on my dress. I wore a blush dress by the brand Speechless that I got from Macy's. I went to a wedding a few months ago and we bought the dress and another dress a few months ago for it. I was actually planning to wear my homecoming dress but it was light-colored and I got my...monthly gift...the day of the wedding so I chose to wear the navy dress. It was probably for the best, since the dress I wore for homecoming felt more like a homecoming dress than the one I wore to the wedding. I loved how I looked in the dress and I got compliments from quite a few people. Here is a picture of my dress if you want to see it (and also since I'm not good at describing things):
I wore the dress with nude Fioni Women's Prize Flat Sandals (yes, I looked up the exact name) that I got from Payless and wore to the wedding I mentioned before as well. They were really cute and fit with my dress perfectly. I also wore some dangly earrings my mom let me borrow and a cute bracelet I got from my grandma for Christmas a few years back. After I was fully dressed and ready for the dance, my mom took a few pictures of me in our backyard. My brother joined me for a few as well.
We then went to some gardens about twenty minutes away. Banana_Elephant was going to this girl in our grade's homecoming party and they both allowed me to tag along. We first took pictures at the gardens and I thought they turned out pretty good. I'd post them but I don't want to reveal my or my friends' faces. However there was this one part where this bee was practically on me and I was so scared. I stayed calm and stood still so it didn't hurt me, but it was still pretty scary. Next, we went to the girl who was hosting the party's house for Buffalo Wild Wings. I tried the garlic Parmesan wings for the first time and they were a little spicy but overall really good. I accidentally dropped some on my dress but thankfully the sauce was my same color as my dress so you couldn't tell. Everybody was required to bring a dish to pass so my mom made little ham and cheese sandwiches and fruit. After dinner we just hung out, talked, and checked our social media to see our classmates' homecoming pictures. The radio was on, and there was this one really awesome moment where "Bodak Yellow" by Cardi B started playing and Banana_Elephant (who really doesn't know ANYTHING about any music that isn't Hamilton or classical) was correctly able to identify that it was "the Cardi B song"! I was so proud of her.
Finally (after some struggling to get my seat belt on), the hostess's parents took us to school at about 7:15 to go to the dance! Our school has three gyms and usually the dance is in the small, crappy gym but this year it was in one of the good ones. We had to wait awhile to get into the school because of the long lines but we did get in. One of the students in the class ahead of me was the DJ. He DJ'd the dance last year and he did a really good job both years (although he didn't play "Get Low" by Lil Jon this year, which I'm pretty sure is committing a cardinal sin of school dances). Here are a few highlights:
-The DJ really didn't play that many currently popular songs from this year. Most of what he played was throwbacks to a few years ago that most of the people there knew the words to. Some of my favorites to scream the words to were "Titanium" by David Guetta, "Clarity" by Zedd, "Party in the USA" by Miley Cyrus (everybody got super into this song, it's a classic) and, of course, "Shut Up And Dance" by Walk The Moon (my favorite song ever).
-This year they gave us glow sticks to use during the dance and it was cool until I got one thrown at my forehead during Jason Derulo's "Want To Want Me". It wasn't fun. Oh well, I still love that song.
-The DJ just randomly told us to sit down halfway through the dance and everybody was confused. He asked us "What do you do when you sit down?" and we were still confused. Then he told us "you be humble!" and proceeded to play "Humble" by Kendrick Lamar. I've had that song on repeat for most of this year and it's a total banger so everybody got really into it. When it got to the part where Kendrick says "MY LEFT STROKE JUST WENT VIRAL" everybody screamed that line. It was great UNTIL HE CUT IT OFF IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SECOND VERSE WHICH IS THE PART I CAN ACTUALLY RAP AHH
-After "Humble" we did the Cupid Shuffle, which was fun. It's one of those songs that gets played at every wedding and school dance ever but you don't care.
-He also played "Location" by Khalid, which isn't really a "hype" song but everybody got excited when he started playing it. I've been listening to that song a lot lately so it was fun to groove along to.
-Banana_Elephant's brother was on the homecoming court and every year the seniors do this thing where they fake-strip and that song from Magic Mike that I don't know the name of plays. So yeah, she saw her brother pretend to strip and was absolutely mortified. I tried to film it but I couldn't get my camera to work in time. I was mainly just going to use it to embarrass her.
-I missed a group slow dance to "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran. That was probably for the best.
-There's this one Jay-Z and Kanye West song I really love and know all the words that I probably shouldn't say the title of since it has a...not-PG word in the title and they played it and I got so into it. I don't think Banana_Elephant (a Kanye hater) approved.
-About two-thirds of the way in, my group and I took a break and went outside for fresh air. My ears were ringing from the loud music and screaming. It obviously had had some effect on my brain since I said something about a "third ear". It was a mess.
-There was this one girl in my group who was just consistently going HAM to every song. Quidditch_Turtle and I were super-impressed.
-There was also this random guy I had never seen before (I don't think he goes to my school and I had no idea why he was there) but he was going pretty HAM too. Everybody seemed to know him except for me and my crew, who were totally oblivious.
-When the dance was almost over, I was complaining about how the DJ hadn't played "Yeah" by Usher, a school dance staple. Guess what the very next song played is?
-Not really a specific highlight but I was surprised by how many songs he played that I didn't know. There were these random trap-rap songs that everybody in the place seemed to know but I had never heard in my life. I pride myself on my great knowledge of music and the fact that I didn't know a few songs really made me angry. I guess I'll have to wait to go on Beat Shazam.
-Finally, the last song was "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey, an all-time classic that literally everybody in attendance knows the words to. We all got into a big circle and screamed the words.
At 11:00, the dance was finally over. My dad (who was at a football game with my brother all day) took me home and I took my dress and makeup off and my mom helped me undo my hair. I went to bed at about midnight, feeling satisfied and trying to process the amazing night I had had. I had thought the dance was disappointing at first but now that I'm writing it all down a few days later I realize just how much fun it was. I had a great time and I can't wait to do it all again next year.
Sorry this was long. If you read the whole thing you rock. I have no idea what I'm going to do for my next post, so you'll have to tune in next week to see. I'm Stellar in Neverland and I'll see you next time. Peace!
Stellar
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
Stellar's First Day Of Sophomore Year!
Hi, it's me, Stellar, and welcome to Stellar in Neverland. Today's updates:
-I started school on Tuesday, September 5th, meaning I am officially a sophomore in high school! This may affect my posting schedule at some point, but for now you can still check in for updates every Wednesday!
This is also a good transition into my post for today. Originally I was going to do some kind of music shuffle challenge but I'll save that for another time. Sometimes my blog posts will be like journal entries where I document a day of my life. These posts will be tagged under "life" for convenience, like this one. This post will just be a quick rundown of my first day of sophomore year.
I woke up at 6:10 and took a shower and got dressed. Then, my mom helped me do my hair. As she did it, I told her about how I was having some anxieties about starting this year. Basically, there were a couple of people who I just didn't want to see for multiple reasons (I did see them, but I'd like to keep my feelings to myself in case they read this). My mom told me that everything would end up being fine and there was no reason for me to freak out. After that, my family headed outside for a few first-day-of-school pictures and then went to some neighbors' for doughnuts. I had heard from a few of my neighbors that we were getting a new bus driver, which got me excited because I really don't like the one I had before. Well, actually the one I still have. Much to my disappointment, we still have the driver from the past few years, and this year was even worse because I was almost late to school because of him.
I got to school and my first class was gym. I hate gym, but I'm actually looking forward to it this year. The gym class I'm taking this year is more laid-back, and we get to do activities like biking, rock climbing, rollerblading, and softball, all of which I really enjoy. We spent the first twenty minutes going over class rules and expectations (a common theme in my day), and then we got to pick out our lockers. At the end of the hour my teacher just let us shoot hoops. I met up with a few friends and we played PIG, which I sucked at, but mostly because it was early in the morning and I wasn't trying. I'm excited for this class because my teacher is really nice and I have Banana_Elephant and Doglover (because I'm still calling them by their Brick Wall names haha) in the class.
Next we have band, which is my favorite class of the day. I've always felt that band never really felt like a class, but more like a club that we randomly go to in the middle of the morning. I've played the clarinet for five years and will continue to play it for marching band, but this year I'm switching to bass clarinet for concert band. I was pleasantly surprised to see my director at school today. My director was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year, and part of me was expecting him to not be there because of the treatments and side effects of them, but he was there. Today we got an explanation of what to expect from being in band, most of which I knew from last year. I look forward to another fun year with the band fam :)
My last class of the morning is geometry. A bunch of my friends took this class last year and nearly all of them had good things to say about the teacher I ended up getting. I feel like geometry will be one of my most fun classes of the day because of the teacher and my classmates. One of my classmates wants the teacher call her Sharkeisha (not her real name, of course), leading my teacher to say that she'll eventually hate it while he'll always find it amusing. That was one of the funniest moments of my day. I've liked the geometry I've done in previous years, so I'm expecting to like this class. My teacher seems like a pretty chill and funny guy, and I look forward to having him for a teacher (and finally understanding those inside jokes Banana_Elephant and Doglover won't shut up about)
Next is lunch, which is abnormally early. My lunchtime is at 10:37, which is more of a brunchtime than a lunchtime. I didn't know what we were having for hot lunch, but I decided to take it anyway. I regretted that choice, because the mini corn dogs were disgusting. I would much rather have eaten the leftover fettuccine alfredo I had last night. I talked with my friends about how my day had been thus far and what classes I was looking forward to.
After that was RtI. If you're reading this and have no idea what that is, it's a thing the state (I won't say which one because there are at least 14 that do it) requires us to do where we go to a teacher's room and study. If a student needs extra help in a subject, they can go to a teacher who specializes in that subject, but for most of us, it's just a study hall. I have one of the art teachers for RtI this year even though I'm not taking any art classes. It was one of my least favorite parts of my day because I didn't have anything to do. I didn't have any homework because it was the first day and I forgot to bring a book or my phone. My RtI is also filled with a ton of really annoying people. However, I do like my teacher and I hope it gets better.
I also didn't really like biology, my next subject. I expected that, since one of my friends who took it last year straight-up wrote "Biology sucks" in my yearbook. My biology teacher actually student-taught for my class in seventh grade, and ever since then, I've seen him in the most random of places and I like to joke that I can't escape him. To start out the year, we did an activity where we had to build a tower made of dry spaghetti noodles, string, duct tape, and a marshmallow on the top. We did this in groups and my group and I didn't really know what we were doing, making our tower a failure. We then talked about the lab, which was boring. I don't really like doing labs, I'd prefer to just take the notes. That's pretty much the reason why I don't think I'll enjoy biology as much as the rest of my classes. I like my teacher though, even though I can't escape him.
Thankfully, the following three classes were all fine. The first of these is English, although I'm not doing any regular English class. I'm doing the honors program, which I also did last year. This is probably the class I'm most nervous for because I know I'll have to work hard to keep my grades up. My teacher seems to be pretty sarcastic and he seems to like joking around with us. He made one of my classmates recite a tongue twister for the class in exchange for an A for the semester, only to want to take it back when she did it. I would say the books I'm probably most excited to read in this class are The Book Thief and Julius Caesar, which isn't really a book but I'm still excited to read it. Today we just took notes and went over the course expectations and it was pretty laid-back.
The second-to-last class of the day is Spanish, which was one of the highlights of the day. I loved my first year of Spanish last year and I think this year will be awesome too. I had heard that some of my friends didn't really like Spanish 2 so I expected to feel the same, but the class just seems like last year's. I had also heard some bad things about the teacher, but she actually seems pretty nice based on my first day. We picked our Spanish names (mine is Catalina!) and went over basic review like the alphabet, numbers, and colors in class today. I love Spanish because I enjoy learning about other cultures, it comes easily to me, and I think learning a second language is a helpful life skill. Out of all of my classes last year, I got the best grades in Spanish, and I hope I can continue that streak.
The final class of my exhausting day was health. I actually have the same teacher for gym and health, so I get to begin and end with that teacher. I don't have a problem with that because I've had her for middle school gym and I like her a lot. By this point, I was starving because I eat lunch so early, so I quickly had a package of sandwich crackers before class began. Like with most of my classes, we went over the syllabus and what to expect in the class. The teacher also assigned us to write a letter to our future selves, allowing us to put whatever we wanted in it. I'm going to make mine be pretty funny. I'm actually surprised at how excited I am for health. I thought it would be boring but my teacher's description sounds interesting. This is where we talk about things like sex, drugs, alcohol, mental health, suicide, and a whole bunch of other stuff I can't even remember. I know it won't be the most fun class ever, but it's important that I know these things.
I got out of school around 3:20 and went to go pick up a T-shirt made to raise money for my band director's treatment. It was a bit of a hectic mess, but I got the shirt in time to catch the bus. Well, I would've probably made the bus anyway because our bus driver was late AGAIN. I hope this doesn't end up being a regular thing. My brothers and I got home about a half hour later and told our parents about our days. At around 4:30, my mom treated us with a delicious dinner of steak (my brothers' favorite), chicken tetrazzini (my favorite), dinner rolls, and Boston cream pie to finish. I spent my evening relaxing and writing this, being nervous for the new school year, but also excited.
Okay, so that was my first day of school. Hopefully it wasn't boring. I'm mainly doing this for myself, because I plan to read it on the last day and see how much of it still is true. Next week's post might be the music shuffle challenge, but there are some other ideas I'm considering. Tune in next Wednesday to see. I'm Stellar in Neverland, and I'll see you then! Peace!
Stellar
-I started school on Tuesday, September 5th, meaning I am officially a sophomore in high school! This may affect my posting schedule at some point, but for now you can still check in for updates every Wednesday!
This is also a good transition into my post for today. Originally I was going to do some kind of music shuffle challenge but I'll save that for another time. Sometimes my blog posts will be like journal entries where I document a day of my life. These posts will be tagged under "life" for convenience, like this one. This post will just be a quick rundown of my first day of sophomore year.
I woke up at 6:10 and took a shower and got dressed. Then, my mom helped me do my hair. As she did it, I told her about how I was having some anxieties about starting this year. Basically, there were a couple of people who I just didn't want to see for multiple reasons (I did see them, but I'd like to keep my feelings to myself in case they read this). My mom told me that everything would end up being fine and there was no reason for me to freak out. After that, my family headed outside for a few first-day-of-school pictures and then went to some neighbors' for doughnuts. I had heard from a few of my neighbors that we were getting a new bus driver, which got me excited because I really don't like the one I had before. Well, actually the one I still have. Much to my disappointment, we still have the driver from the past few years, and this year was even worse because I was almost late to school because of him.
I got to school and my first class was gym. I hate gym, but I'm actually looking forward to it this year. The gym class I'm taking this year is more laid-back, and we get to do activities like biking, rock climbing, rollerblading, and softball, all of which I really enjoy. We spent the first twenty minutes going over class rules and expectations (a common theme in my day), and then we got to pick out our lockers. At the end of the hour my teacher just let us shoot hoops. I met up with a few friends and we played PIG, which I sucked at, but mostly because it was early in the morning and I wasn't trying. I'm excited for this class because my teacher is really nice and I have Banana_Elephant and Doglover (because I'm still calling them by their Brick Wall names haha) in the class.
Next we have band, which is my favorite class of the day. I've always felt that band never really felt like a class, but more like a club that we randomly go to in the middle of the morning. I've played the clarinet for five years and will continue to play it for marching band, but this year I'm switching to bass clarinet for concert band. I was pleasantly surprised to see my director at school today. My director was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year, and part of me was expecting him to not be there because of the treatments and side effects of them, but he was there. Today we got an explanation of what to expect from being in band, most of which I knew from last year. I look forward to another fun year with the band fam :)
My last class of the morning is geometry. A bunch of my friends took this class last year and nearly all of them had good things to say about the teacher I ended up getting. I feel like geometry will be one of my most fun classes of the day because of the teacher and my classmates. One of my classmates wants the teacher call her Sharkeisha (not her real name, of course), leading my teacher to say that she'll eventually hate it while he'll always find it amusing. That was one of the funniest moments of my day. I've liked the geometry I've done in previous years, so I'm expecting to like this class. My teacher seems like a pretty chill and funny guy, and I look forward to having him for a teacher (and finally understanding those inside jokes Banana_Elephant and Doglover won't shut up about)
Next is lunch, which is abnormally early. My lunchtime is at 10:37, which is more of a brunchtime than a lunchtime. I didn't know what we were having for hot lunch, but I decided to take it anyway. I regretted that choice, because the mini corn dogs were disgusting. I would much rather have eaten the leftover fettuccine alfredo I had last night. I talked with my friends about how my day had been thus far and what classes I was looking forward to.
After that was RtI. If you're reading this and have no idea what that is, it's a thing the state (I won't say which one because there are at least 14 that do it) requires us to do where we go to a teacher's room and study. If a student needs extra help in a subject, they can go to a teacher who specializes in that subject, but for most of us, it's just a study hall. I have one of the art teachers for RtI this year even though I'm not taking any art classes. It was one of my least favorite parts of my day because I didn't have anything to do. I didn't have any homework because it was the first day and I forgot to bring a book or my phone. My RtI is also filled with a ton of really annoying people. However, I do like my teacher and I hope it gets better.
I also didn't really like biology, my next subject. I expected that, since one of my friends who took it last year straight-up wrote "Biology sucks" in my yearbook. My biology teacher actually student-taught for my class in seventh grade, and ever since then, I've seen him in the most random of places and I like to joke that I can't escape him. To start out the year, we did an activity where we had to build a tower made of dry spaghetti noodles, string, duct tape, and a marshmallow on the top. We did this in groups and my group and I didn't really know what we were doing, making our tower a failure. We then talked about the lab, which was boring. I don't really like doing labs, I'd prefer to just take the notes. That's pretty much the reason why I don't think I'll enjoy biology as much as the rest of my classes. I like my teacher though, even though I can't escape him.
Thankfully, the following three classes were all fine. The first of these is English, although I'm not doing any regular English class. I'm doing the honors program, which I also did last year. This is probably the class I'm most nervous for because I know I'll have to work hard to keep my grades up. My teacher seems to be pretty sarcastic and he seems to like joking around with us. He made one of my classmates recite a tongue twister for the class in exchange for an A for the semester, only to want to take it back when she did it. I would say the books I'm probably most excited to read in this class are The Book Thief and Julius Caesar, which isn't really a book but I'm still excited to read it. Today we just took notes and went over the course expectations and it was pretty laid-back.
The second-to-last class of the day is Spanish, which was one of the highlights of the day. I loved my first year of Spanish last year and I think this year will be awesome too. I had heard that some of my friends didn't really like Spanish 2 so I expected to feel the same, but the class just seems like last year's. I had also heard some bad things about the teacher, but she actually seems pretty nice based on my first day. We picked our Spanish names (mine is Catalina!) and went over basic review like the alphabet, numbers, and colors in class today. I love Spanish because I enjoy learning about other cultures, it comes easily to me, and I think learning a second language is a helpful life skill. Out of all of my classes last year, I got the best grades in Spanish, and I hope I can continue that streak.
The final class of my exhausting day was health. I actually have the same teacher for gym and health, so I get to begin and end with that teacher. I don't have a problem with that because I've had her for middle school gym and I like her a lot. By this point, I was starving because I eat lunch so early, so I quickly had a package of sandwich crackers before class began. Like with most of my classes, we went over the syllabus and what to expect in the class. The teacher also assigned us to write a letter to our future selves, allowing us to put whatever we wanted in it. I'm going to make mine be pretty funny. I'm actually surprised at how excited I am for health. I thought it would be boring but my teacher's description sounds interesting. This is where we talk about things like sex, drugs, alcohol, mental health, suicide, and a whole bunch of other stuff I can't even remember. I know it won't be the most fun class ever, but it's important that I know these things.
I got out of school around 3:20 and went to go pick up a T-shirt made to raise money for my band director's treatment. It was a bit of a hectic mess, but I got the shirt in time to catch the bus. Well, I would've probably made the bus anyway because our bus driver was late AGAIN. I hope this doesn't end up being a regular thing. My brothers and I got home about a half hour later and told our parents about our days. At around 4:30, my mom treated us with a delicious dinner of steak (my brothers' favorite), chicken tetrazzini (my favorite), dinner rolls, and Boston cream pie to finish. I spent my evening relaxing and writing this, being nervous for the new school year, but also excited.
Okay, so that was my first day of school. Hopefully it wasn't boring. I'm mainly doing this for myself, because I plan to read it on the last day and see how much of it still is true. Next week's post might be the music shuffle challenge, but there are some other ideas I'm considering. Tune in next Wednesday to see. I'm Stellar in Neverland, and I'll see you then! Peace!
Stellar
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