That's what you get for waking up on a ferry...

Or, should I say, for waking up in Mackinac.

Yes. I believe I promised a post on the senior trip to the lovely Mackinac Island? Well, here it is--yes, a bit late, because I had to blog about my Movie Sunday first, but after the looong wait, here it is: The official Senior Trip Mackinac Island Post.

Here goes...

This year, our trip was on September 19th, which was a Sunday. And, as some of you will remember from my previous post, there was a Coffeehouse the night before. Okay. So we all have to be checked into the cafeteria by--I'm not exaggerating--FIVE THIRTY IN THE MORNING. Can you guess how much complaining occurred because of that? Well, anyway. I was awake and hyper because, well, that's just me, but I can tell you, half the people in that cafeteria looked more zombie than human. I honestly thought it would come down to a battle between the awake-and-hyper-and-annoying and the sleepy-and-zoned-out-and-annoyed. (Thankfully, it didn't.)

So we board the buses and we're out of there by six. The idea was to divide us up, alphabetically, into four buses. I was on bus four, with the last of the alphabet, and thinking I'd be awake for most of the trip, asked a good friend to be my bus-mate. Well, so much for that--we were both asleep within half an hour of the bus taking off. I meant to stay awake and watch the sunrise--and, for a while, I did--but then the whole no-sleep-on-Saturday-night thing kind of caught up to me and I just passed out, and didn't wake up until we got to the ferry.

The ferry ride was a treat in itself. Honestly, it was worth getting up at four-thirty just for that ride. I didn't have my jacket on, just a t-shirt and a veeery thin flannel shirt, and I FROZE. Not kidding. If I wasn't awake before the ride, I sure as hell was after. Even if I hadn't froze my ass off, there was the noise that the ferry made before it took off, which I can only describe as...

WHAAAAAAANNNK!

I can't put it any better than that.

Anyway, so the ferry went for about forty-five minutes and then we got to the island, where we were given bag lunches and turned loose. We were warned ahead of time not to wander around the island on our own, so naturally I looked for some friends to meet up with straightaway. I ran into the trio of MPAs I like to call "The Trifecta" and asked if I could stick with them. One of them (*coughHARRYcoughcough*) said something cryptic, most of which I didn't catch thanks to the surrounding chaos. At the exact same time, the ferry, which was about to pull away from the dock, made another loud noise. This was followed by:

Me: Was he (Harry) telling me to get lost? I can never tell.

Aaron: The boat? I think the boat was saying "Get out of the way or I'll hit you."

Me: No, not the boat, Harry! I KNOW what the boat was saying, it's your roommate I can't decipher!

Jeff: ...Wait, you speak boat now?

*insert me throwing myself off the dock out of frustration*

Eventually they decided to go get some bikes, and because biking and me are roughly as compatible as Artemis Fowl and Opal Koboi, I decided to latch onto another group, so I went off on my own and, after a brief search, found Ariel and Lucie (a.k.a., the birthday girl from my Sept. 9 post). We had breakfast at a cute, tiny little cafe and then went off to explore Main Street, did a bit of shopping, and then did something that I absolutely had to do but probably won't do again.

We. Went. To. A. Butterfly. Conservatory.

I'm not kidding.

This is just one of those things that I'd never do on my own, but with a couple of friends it's like, "Yeah, that sounds great!" You know what I mean? Because seriously, I'm not that interested in butterflies, and had I stuck with the others, I might not've even considered it. But when I went with Ariel and Lucie it was like, "Hey, let's go to the butterfly conservatory!" "Sure, why not?" "Okay, let's go!" End of discussion. I don't know exactly how long we were in there, but I know that it was awhile, judging by the sheer number of butterfly conservatory pictures I have on my camera.

So THEN it was off to Marquette Park, where we ate lunch, checked in with our counselors, and then spent some time chilling out in the sunshine. I reconnected with the Trifecta (yes, I WILL persist in calling you three that), then decided to break off on my own. Yes, I KNOW this was technically not allowed, but I specifically asked the counselors and they said it was fine as long as I stayed in town and didn't go hiking all over the island by myself.

This was when I had my first taste of Mackinac Island fudge. I will tell you something--this is the ONLY time I've eaten something and thought it was better than homemade food. No joke. You haven't had fudge until you've had Mackinac Island fudge. It doesn't matter which shop you get it from--it is absolutely amazing. Not a chocolate fan? No problem. There's mint fudge, black cherry, vanilla, peanut butter, and--this was the only one I regretted eating--pistachio. The rest of the food on the island, judging by breakfast, isn't much better than anywhere else in Michigan. But let's just say, there's a reason why Mackinac is famous for its fudge.

I spent a good part of my afternoon lounging in Marquette Park, reading, and eating waaay too much fudge. At one point I went back to main street and met up, once again, with the MPA Trifecta in, of all places, a toy store. I won't go into details--you pretty much had to be there for this. But I will describe two of the high points:

1) Watching Harry shooting a wooden toy rifle and actually hitting the mark numerous times, leading to a rather cliche pun on his last name. Also using a wooden revolver on Harry and asking first, "Hey, do you mind if I shoot you?"

2) Seeing a little toy dog that rolled over and barked--and did nothing else. I couldn't decide if it was cute or creepy.

This was followed by more sunbathing and chilling in Marquette Park (along with a shit-ton of picture taking), and then MORE fudge consumption, before I finally got back to the ferry (and let me just say, the ride back was EVERY BIT as cold as the ride there), and FINALLY got back on the bus. I wish I could say that I didn't fall asleep on the way from the ferry dock to the fast-food place where we ate dinner...but I did. I wish I could say that I didn't fall asleep on the way home...but I did.

Hey, that's what you get for waking up in Mackinac... ;)


STOLEN DIALOGUE:

Person one: This morning I woke up spitting out my own hair.
Person two: This morning I woke up spitting out Harry's hair.
Person one: How is that even possible? You sleep on opposite sides of the room!!

"We shall make love on the ostrich!"

"What the hell...these Kleenex smell like pie!"

(holding up a scooter)
"What is this?"

Person one: Is this going to be permanently awkward?
Person two: No! It's not going to be awkward! What the hell would make you think that?
Person one: Well, no, it's not awkward now, because you're insulting me again.
Person two: Yes, you little bastard. See?

"We haven't gotten out of Hugging 101 yet."

"Just so you know what an idiot this guy is...he takes five minutes to take attendance."

Person one: I'm sorry for the awkwardness of the documents.
Person two: They never know what to say, they're so awkward.

"He is the token tranny of Interlochen."

Person one: Right now, everyone has A's in this class.
Person two: Just like in public school!

"I kinda wanna hurt you right now...but I'm thinking of the kittens..."

Person one: I'm going to list you as my brother on FaceBook.
Person two: Oh, awesome!
Person one: Except...he [person 2's boyfriend] is already listed on my FaceBook as my brother.
Person two: Oh...well, we'll just pretend we're in the south.
Person one: Oh, that reminds me, there's this movie we HAVE to watch in GSA, it's about incestuous brothers!

Person one: I climbed all up in the Harvey [theatre].
Person two: That sounded a little creepy!

"We made a film called Language of the World. It's terrible, but it's better than anything else in the contest!"

Person one: He was all made up as the ghost from A Christmas Carol.
Person two: You mean Bob Marley? Oh wait, JACOB Marley...I'm not on drugs, you guys, I swear...

Person one: I chopped up some poles in theatre tech today!
Person two: Uh...I don't know what that means!

"Dude, you can't blame language for your problems!"

Person one: What did she just say?
Person two: I don't know, it just flew right over my head!

The Good, The Bad, and the Horrible

...Dr. Horrible, that is.

Yesterday I watched three movies. Nope, not joking--three freaking movies. In one day. And what makes this even funnier is the three I chose to watch: The Godfather, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, and Labyrinth. Find three movies that are more different from each other, I dare you. (Well, in all fairness, Labyrinth is slightly similar to Dr. Horrible, what with the inclusion of music and whatnot. However, these two musicals are EXTREMELY different--anyone who's seen both of them knows what I mean.)

I'd never seen Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog before, I'd just heard of it and brushed it off because I figured something with that much hype couldn't possibly be as good as cracked up to be. Well, guess what? I was wrong. VERY wrong.

For those of you who live under a rock and didn't know, Dr. Horrible is a forty-five-minute-long musical short starring Neil Patrick Harris and Felicia Day, written and produced during the Writers' Strike and created by Joss Whedon. I'd go into more detail, but in the interest of not boring you, I'll spare you my ravings about Joss Whedon and NPH.

What I WILL rave about, at great length, was the sheer epicness of this film. The stripped-down indie feel was what hooked me at first--think Funny Ha Ha as a vlog--but then in came the music, and I have to tell you, I never would've thought that the first musical number in a film about an evil scientist with a blog would be set in a laundromat.

Dr. Horrible is well-written, sweet, sad, and most of all hilarious. It had me cracking up from start to end--even the ending, which I won't spoil here, made me laugh (but I don't think it was supposed to). Between the musical numbers (I want the soundtrack!!!) and the acting (Nathan Fillion is my new hero), I don't think I stopped at least SMILING the entire time. The only thing funnier than the songs is the dialogue--"These are not the hammer" = BEST MOVIE INSIDE JOKE EVER. (No, I'm not going to explain this--see the damn movie if you don't know what I'm talking about.)

What I love most about the movie has to be the bare premise: We're rooting for someone named "Dr. Horrible" who is trying his hardest to be an evil scientist, and booing the "good guy," the town hero. Yes, I'm aware of how many times we're booing the town hero in other films, but the twist here is that we're rooting for the BAD GUY. In The Dark Knight, we aren't yelling, "Go Joker, KILL HARVEY DENT!" are we? No, we're rooting for Batman, the ultimate good guy. But here we're pulling for the would-be evil villain (Dr. HORRIBLE, guys, come on), and Captain Hammer the would-be hero, is a world-class jerk. Gotta love it, right?...

...No? Okay, how about the fact that this was shot in six days--twice the amount of time that Interlochen seniors are given to shoot their thesis films--by a group of friends--cough cough, thesis crew--and distributed completely free online? I think the reason that I love this so much is because this is exactly what I want to do when I'm out of college: Get together some friends and just MAKE A MOVIE. Does it have to be a Sundance winner? Hell no. Does it have to be a major motion picture? Of course not. All I want to do is make movies, and if I have to put up with bachelor science (BS, get it?) to do that, so be it.

Getting off my high horse about movies now...

Or maybe not, because I still have to talk about Labyrinth and The Godfather.

I will admit that the appeal of Labyrinth is mostly the crappiness of the film. As an MPA major I should despise that film. The script is horrible, at the time it was shot Jennifer Connelly couldn't act her way out of a paper bag (she has since improved, thank God), David Bowie is a better singer than actor, the most interesting characters are the Muppets, and no one and nothing makes any sense whatsoever.

All that being said, I love it.

To me, Labyrinth is just one of those God-awful movies you can't help but love. For me, the appeal lies mostly in the music, the Muppets, and the nostalgia (as in, a time when I would've considered this thing a piece of cinematic art). It's mostly a kids' movie (hence, the presence of Muppets), so it's pretty much one big extravaganza of nonsense, with the underlying message, "Don't take anything for granted." I assure you that should I ever have kids, I will quite happily show them this film. I will not, however, tell them that when I was sixteen I had a crush on David Bowie (don't worry, it was fairly short-lived).

The thing about Labyrinth is that it doesn't HAVE to be "good" as far as acting, script, cinematography, etc. The point of the whole movie is that it's FUN. And believe me, as far as fun goes, that film hits the mark. Just TRY to keep from at least smiling a few times during that film. Even us cynical, art-student teenagers managed to have a good time watching it last night, even though we were outside and freezing our backsides off in the Interlochen Bowl.

On to the movie which everyone swears is the greatest thing since sliced bread: The Godfather, which I skipped church yesterday to watch (ooh, I'm SUCH a rebel...) and spent three hours wondering for what purpose this movie was ever created.

Yes. You read that right.

I am well aware that all of the MPA alumni from last year, as well as a good half of this year's department, read this blog. And I am also well aware that saying anything bad about The Godfather will inspire the Movie Mafia to come after me and beat me to death with production slates and C-stands. But you know what, I'm entitled to my opinion. Just like some people are allowed to think that Breaking Dawn is a good book, just like some people are allowed to think that recycling is for losers, just like some people are allowed to think that Nick Jonas can sing, I am allowed to think that The Godfather is in the top ten worst movies I've ever seen.

To begin with, the script is just plain disastrous. Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola commit every conceivable storytelling sin, including the unforgivable one of confusing the living hell out of their audience. I couldn't follow the story at all. I was told "It's supposed to make you think." Well, here's what The Godfather made me think: "Who is that? Where'd he come from? Who's that chick? What's up with the horse? Why is there a horse's head in that guys bed? Why does Marlon Brando mumble all his dialogue? Why did that guy just get shot? Why'd they just strangle that guy? What? Huh? Who? ?????"

I should add here that nine times out of ten, the lack of understanding was heightened by the fact that I could not understand a damn thing that anyone was saying. Brando was the worst perpetrator of this crime, but the only person who bothered to speak clearly was Diane Keaton (and, on occasion, Al Pacino).

Random things happen at regular and frequent intervals in this movie. At one point, Al Pacino's character randomly decides to marry a girl in Italy, who is later blown up by a car bomb. Why does this happen? Hell if I know. Why did he marry this girl in the first place if he had a girlfriend back in America? I was told that this signifies "loss of innocence." I'm sorry, but the gangsters did not force him to marry that girl. He did it of his own accord. And to me, marrying someone else when you have a girlfriend does not signify "loss of innocence," it signifies, "being an asshole."

Added to that, I felt no sympathy whatsoever for the characters. I'm sorry, but if you want me to feel invested in a film, I have to care about the characters, and in The Godfather, all of the characters I cared about were either killed off or simply vanished from the story. Subplots are never tied up neatly, leaving you wondering, "Wait, whatever happened to the guy with the horse head in his bed?" Characters disappear and then reappear, adding to confusion and detracting from character sympathy. If you want me to cry when someone dies, make it so that I KNOW WHO THEY ARE before you kill them off. They only pulled off one death scene (I won't spoil this one, it's the only death scene worth watching), but that was one of exactly TWO moments in the movie that stirred any emotion other than confusion. Two moments out of three hours? Not good.

I will be fair: The movie DOES have good points. Diane Keaton never fails to impress (her character was one of the few sympathetic ones in the film), the music nearly made me cry (that being the only thing in this movie that did so), and the cinematography was beautiful. My compliments go mostly to the composer, the director of photography, the gaffer, and the camera operators. The script may be a hot mess, but a few select actors--namely Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, and James Caan--give strong performances.

I will admit right now that I was extremely disappointed in The Godfather, after all the hype surrounding the film and knowing that it has ranked extremely high among critics and gained a cult following, I expected more.

I'll also confess that I'm a bit nervous expressing this opinion--yes, me, the one who proudly blogged about her obsession with Michael Jackson and complained about her thesis adviser in a very public way, which could've ended in much more trouble than a few Godfather fans saying, "Are you out of your mind?!" But knowing the rabidness with which I defend my own favorites, and the intensity of a movie's fans, I'm a bit scared of what people are going to say to me, both online and in person, after reading this post.

Addicted to Coffee...House

Tomorrow's Mackinac Island trip doesn't give me a whole lot of time to post...but I have to, because so much incredibly epic shit happened to me today. Also, it has been nine days...once again, I fail.

So this is an insider post, meaning that if you are not from Interlochen, you probably will not understand it. (But since this is an "Interlochen Blog," I don't have to worry about that, right?)

Tonight, at Coffeehouse, I witnessed...

A kissing chain
A white boy rapping (and doing a f#$%ing good job, as I, the non-rap listener, can eagerly confirm)
A REALLY intense rendition of a Jewel song (Sierra, you ROCK)
Photography
A mini-dance party
Secret-spilling (which I actually took part in, to be honest)
Stripped-down acoustic awesomeness (this happened more than once)
The Vagina Monologue (am I going to get flagged inappropriate simply for typing that title? I hope not!)
Inside jokes made into songs
A medley about liking girls (which included the most soulful rendition of "I Kissed A Girl" that I've ever heard)
Poetry readings (again, I did this too--I'll explain later)
Marco as the Coffehouse Host
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Evil plots involving Moldy Peaches songs

And that is just the START of what happened tonight.

This is just one of the many things that I love about Interlochen. To me, this is more important than the "community meetings" that they drag us to once a week. This builds our community far more than anything that the admins can force on us. There were roughly two hundred people packed into that place at one point--I can't think of anything that strengthens a community more than packing into a huge space, bringing acoustic guitars, a piano, some lyrics, a poem, a monologue, WHATEVER your medium, and sharing our talents with each other. I don't know about you, but I have to feel pretty damn safe before I stand up in front of 200 people and read something that basically sums up my unrequited feelings in about three stanzas. Same goes for the people who play songs they've written, sing songs that they've heard and found meaning in (just pretend that was grammatically correct, ok?), or read sections from plays (yes, Marco, I'm talking to YOU).

I think that's the thing about Coffeehouse. I didn't know most of the people there tonight, to be sure--but I knew I wouldn't get laughed at, and no one would roll their eyes, and no one would think less of me for reading something I'd written. And honestly, I think that's pretty cool, just to be able to express yourself like that...don't you think?

Okay. One more thing concerning Coffeehouse, and then I will move on.

This, for anyone who missed it, is the poem I read tonight, title omitted (because it doesn't exist):

I found a place where I knew I could be safe
You took that place and made it yours
You stole things I could never take back
Stole time I could've spent with someone else--
Someone more important to me
Than you can be in years of friendship.

And it never rains, it just pours like hell
And I'd beat you up if I weren't kicking myself
You make it so bad sometimes that I can't cry
Because I'm screaming so loud my throat hurts
And I wish I wasn't your freaking third wheel
But damn it, I am, and I let it be that way because it's so easy.

Because you never want me around
Until you want something from me.
And then when you want something
Suddenly I'm the most important thing to you
And your stupid friends
And all the people who shouldn't matter--
But they do.

And for the record, I DO have friends.
Friends better than you, exponentially better
And I love them so much more than I'll ever love you
And I really do hate you sometimes
And I have never hated any of them, for even a second
Because they've never hurt me, but you have.

Oh, but you have power.
You have power over me, and no matter what
I know I can't take that power away from you
Because it's yours, and you know, sometimes
I really think it's meant to be that way.


That concludes the sappy portion of our show.


On to the random list of the night...

SONGS I LOVE BUT DIDN'T KNOW I HAD ON MY iTUNES:

"Girl Next Door" by Saving Jane
"Pictures of You" by The Last Goodnight
"Bless the Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts
"I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred (Yes, I AM a geek, thank you for asking)
"Compassion" by Todd Rundgren
"Bullet the Blue Sky" by U2
"Phantomrider" by Tokio Hotel


And now for everyone's favorite...

STOLEN DIALOGUE

“Of all the topics I did not think we’d cover tonight, rat testicles would have to be number one on the list.”

Person one: Who are your suitemates?
Person two: Ronald Regan and Hitler.
Person one: What?
Person two: No, T and J.
Person three: Same difference.
Person two: Wanna try and figure out which one is which?

Person one: My teacher told me a story about a drunk chimpanzee this morning.
Person two: Yeah, well, last night, my hall counselor told me a story about a taxidermied squirrel with its own cult following.

“Hello, gentlemen! Would you mind terribly if I stand here and cleaned your already-spotless table just for the sake of doing something?”

Person one: What if we were all trapped in here by the serial killer and had to choose someone to die, and we all chose Jeff, but the serial killer just killed us all and set Jeff free?
Person two: Then Jeff would think you all deserved it!

Person one: "Love, Lust, Letdown?" How can that be the title and plot of the movie if it's just one person?
Person two: He loves himself, he lusts himself, he lets himself down.
Person one: He lusts himself...wait, what? That makes NO sense!
Person two: Oh, come into our room sometime late at night, you'll see him lust himself.
Person one: I SO didn't need that image in my mind before workshop, thank you...

Person one: Want to help me assemble this bike?
Person two: Dude, I can't even do Legos!

"You can go to the bathroom whenever you want, but if you're gone for a long time I WILL call Health Services...'Hello, I think we have a diarrhea student here...'"

"I can't think how to protect you except for kicking someone's ass. So, if you will kindly direct me to the ass which needs kicking, I will proceed to do the kicking of the aforementioned ass."

Person one: I love you guys!
Person two: I love us too!



And with that I sign off, because I have to sleep tonight, because tomorrow...

IT'S MACKINAC ISLAND TIME!!!!

(I WILL do a post on that, I promise.)

The party don't start til we walk in!

What the...EIGHT DAYS? Ok, I am officially ashamed of myself. (Though considering my track record, nine days is NOTHING...)

But anyway! Here's the lowdown of the first week of Inty:

1. There was a dance the first night back. I didn't attend this, but I heard through a community meeting led by our student deans that there was some stripping involved. From what I heard, the worst thing involved was some bras and boxers (as in, no actual nudity), but the deans deemed it appropriate to say at the first community meeting: "Okay, guys...here's how it works...at an Interlochen dance...WE KEEP OUR CLOTHES ON."

2. Welcome Wagon and Lisa Melnyk led a scavenger hunt...in the pouring rain. It started raining just as we walked out the door to start the scavenger hunt. Rain + tired, hungry students + annoying Freshmen Mentors who liked withholding clues and messing with us = AWKWARD. And not all that fun, to be honest. Oh well...it was a bonding experience.

3. Getting-to-know-you business such as community meetings, senior meetings/class meetings, and my personal favorite, Opening Convocation, complete with reception. I took a thousand pics at Convocation...to my Interlochen buddies, just so you know, as soon as I get enough good Inty pictures from this year there WILL be a new facebook album, so keep an eye out for that.

4. THIS was not a campuswide activity! My friend Lucie E. turned eighteen on the night before classes started. To celebrate, a handful of us gathered for chocolate fondue and pizza in her apartment-like dorm room. One of her presents was an inflatable mannequin (not anatomically correct, unfortunately) named Bradley, which we dressed up in clothes from the Share Box and propped in the window, much to the delight of the very immature teenage girls (yes, I include myself in that) present at the party. It was absolutely epic.

5. First day of classes! Yay! I made a fool of myself in Spanish class (hey, it happens to the best of us), got bumped from a poetry class that I desperately wanted to take (but, good news--I'm the only one on the waitlist for second semester!), and--FINALLY, some good news--got into a kickass film aesthetics class, got a kickass phsyics teacher, and got a group of EPIC new people in my major.


Shoutouts to the following new MPAs, whom I've gotten to know and like over opening weekend (if I leave you out, it's not because I dislike you--it's because we haven't gotten to know each other well yet, so please don't be offended!):

Travis C.
Sam K. (a summer camp crossover!)
Nicole A.
Connor E.
Connor B.
Aimee R.
Nic W. (another camp crossover!)

And of course, the awesomealistic returners:
Cat A.
Harry H.
Aaron T.
Jeff K.
Colin C. (my workshop buddy!)
Kylie C.
Lee Won P.
Jamie T-R

I'm glad to have such epic people in my major, you guys rock!

To the other newbies: I look forward to getting to know you and working with you, this is gonna be a good year! :)


Some other happy moments that occurred this week:

• First workshop of the year! (MPAs, YOU know what I'm talking about!) I love, love, LOVE the people in my production workshop class this year. Shout-out to all new and returning juniors and seniors--good luck with your thesis films! (And hey...if anyone needs an art director, grip, or AD, I'm here...just sayin'... ;) )
• I actually wrote a letter in Spanish, for an assignment...now, this was a MAJOR accomplishment, seeing as I haven't written/spoken Spanish in school since I was a sophomore and couldn't remember for the life of me how to spell ANYTHING...it took forever, most of that time spent looking up words in the dictionary...but it was worth it!
• I had a blast doing Welcome Wagon and meeting a shit-ton of new people...including about a billion new theatre majors and MPAs, chilling with Mishka when I wasn't on a shift, and saying hello (and hugging the crap out of) people I hadn't seen all summer.
• I went to the mall on Monday with my roommate and intended to get stuff for the room, but instead I ended up with a cute new jacket and a rather inappropriate--but so epic and so fun!--little black dress, which I plan to wear to our...
• ...Home-LEAVING dance on September 12th! Just found out about this today: We have a Homeleaving dance, instead of a Homecoming dance...apparently I can thank my awesome suitemate, Sarah B., for that. So thanks, Sarah, this is gonna be EPIC!
• A few of us have been gathering nightly to watch movies in the DeRoy Boys' Lounge (which, despite being female, I AM allowed to enter between the hours of 9:30-11 PM on weeknights), tonight we're finishing American Beauty, which I was pleased to find out is an AWESOME movie. It's funny...last year I was barely friends with any of the MPAs until mid-year...and now this year, I'm already making friends with the newbies and it's barely a week into school...YAY COOL NEW PEOPLE! :D

This is just a TASTE of what's been going down the past week (well, almost TWO weeks since I came to IAA now), and honestly, despite the hard work in Physics, Spanish III, Fairy Tale Literature, Production Workshop, and Film Aesthetics, I'm having the time of my life.



STOLEN DIALOGUE

Person one: The Orphanage is a great movie. You should watch it.
Person two: Will it scare the living hell out of me?
Person one: No, just the dead hell.

"I can only imagine the FaceBook statuses that will stem from this conversation..."

Person one: I hate Ellen Page!
Person two: I hate Jane Eyre!
Person three: I hate YOU!

Person one: Was that yesterday when we had that stare-down, or was it Wednesday?
Person two: With Harry, every day is a stare-down.

[while doing a class exercise involving information from the internet]
Person one: I should've gone on that website last night.
Person two: Not really...I went on there last night and it didn't do me any good.

"The only difference in the food this year is that it is whole-grained crap, instead of white-bread crap."

Person one: Talking to you is like knitting a sweater out of mashed potatoes.
Person two: I've never done that before.
Person one: Do you knit?
Person two: I don't knit with mashed potatoes.
Person one: Actually, it's about as fun as knitting a sweater out of potatoes too, because--
Person two: Whoa, is that a compliment or the other way around?
Person one: I was SAYING, if you'd let me FINISH--yes, it's about as fun as knitting with mashed potatoes, because it's such a novelty. Every conversation is different, you know?
[silence, while Person Two looks at Person One like P1 is insane]
Person one: Oh, come on, admit it...you're glad to have me in your life.

"This treatment is one big serving of What the Hell."

"I loved seeing those two together...it was like Beauty and the Beast...only, you know, he was too cute to be the beast...so, like, Beauty and the Horny Theatre Major."

"This has got to be the first bad idea that Lisa Melnyk has ever had."

Once Again...I AM INTERLOCHED

So, I have heard the complaints..."You never finished your countdown, you evil person you!" Yes, I know. And believe me, I am as disappointed as you are--I really liked my countdown. BUT. When you are staying in a hotel that charges you ten dollars an hour for wireless internet, it's a bit hard to do a post every day (3 days, 3 posts = $30. Not good). And then the problem of the Interlochen registration, and not getting my computer permission form on time...well, you get the idea.

But never mind, blogging will now resume regularly. (In my defense, I WAS more frequent with the posts this month, until the no-internet situation kicked in. And that WILL continue, I promise). And we are starting off the lovely month of September with...

THE INSANITY THAT IS OPENING WEEKEND.

I think their mentality here must be, "We will PRETEND we are caring of new students...but really, we shall overwhelm them as much as possible." ;) Just kidding, Interlochen...only not really, because here is the schedule for this weekend:

Thursday - Registration, a.k.a. Chaos in the Concourse, commences at eight AM. Move into dorm as soon as you're registered. This madness continues all day, until 5 PM, when we breathe a sigh of relief, change out of the uniform, and go to dinner (or, for some unlucky Welcome Wagoners, dinner is postponed because we have to help people move into McWhorter). Mixer (dance) at seven. Dorm meetings after sign-in.

Friday - Continue unpacking. Continue the madness of registration. Major meetings at nine AM, for me this isn't a problem because it's right in my dorm. Then continue to try and meet people. Finally, go to a community meeting/scavenger hunt at seven-thirty, toast some s'mores, and have a hall meeting (which is actually different from a dorm meeting).

Saturday - More meetings and such. More "let's get to know each other" activities...

Sunday - See Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Monday - Ah, finally, something new: Shopping buses in the afternoon. (Although I think--I THINK--they might do this on Sunday, too.)

Needless to say, they do not let us take it easy our first weekend here. And then Tuesday, it's straight into classes. I have a class this year with a teacher who told me, upon hearing that I was in his class, "Get ready to have your head taken off."

To which I replied, "It's okay, I'm an MPA. We get our heads taken off all the time. We just take them and put them back on, and move on with our lives."


It's so weird to be back, and to realize that even though this is the same place that I know and love, it's CHANGED. So many people are gone. So many new people are here. It's so hard to not be possessive of this place...seriously, it's so hard not to do stupid things like refuse to go someplace with someone because it used to be your go-to place with someone else, you know? Okay, I'm not making as much sense as I should be. But what I'm trying to say is, this place isn't static. It changes. No duh, right? Well, I didn't really understand that--REALLY understand it, I mean--until I came back.

No Jess.

No Andrew.

No Seneca.

No Tressa.

No Jake.

No Zac.

No senior MPAs...hell, now I'M a senior MPA.

Now, I'm not trying to be melodramatic. Really, I'm not. Because there are so many amazing people here, so many people I am already friends with and so many people I hope to be friends with, and it seems so silly to complain about who isn't here and who couldn't come back.

Am I the only one who feels weird about being back here? I've talked to so many graduates who've said, "It's so weird not going back." But it's weird being back here and see something so similar, but know that it's changed. You can't re-create your Interlochen experience.

Ugh. I promised to start off September with a Happy Post, and look what I write instead! Let's punch up this sappiness with some good old-fashioned STOLEN DIALOGUE!

(Oh, how I've missed this...)

"Oh my God, SLOW DOWN! The speed limit is 55! Can't you see the flashing yellow signs? They say "Slow down! Things are f#$%ed up around here! You aren't used to this car, you aren't good with this car, and you're driving like a damn MANIAC! SLOW DOWN!"

"I think this redefines the phrase, 'You're screwed.'"

"Those of us in the day-glo obnoxious orange shirts will be delighted to help you. Those of us who are not wearing day-glo shirts just aren't as helpful."

"I have an idea. Let's just throw the refrigerator through the door. That way we won't have to open it."

Parent (hearing our mixer music): "Oh my God, this music is going to make these kids want to have sex!"

Person one (on the phone): I am very lucky to have a friend who will throw me a going-away party that includes ecstasy, clowns, and balloon animals.
Person two (reentering after leaving the room): Ooh, I came back at just the right time!

"I don't have a plan. But that doesn't make me the Joker."

(discussing zombie outbreaks)
Person one: Always gotta be prepared.
Person two: Absolutely.
Person one: That's how I live, you know.
Person two: ...In fear of a zombie apocalypse?