So
It's only been a week (ish) since my last entry, but it's been an interesting week.
Spamalot was amazing. Some parts felt strange because they were so different from the movie, but every song was hilarious and the new story they wrote was interesting. Jokes about success on Broadway and sequins run rampant through my circle of friends. I already have the soundtrack on my iPod and have listened to it far too many times. ^_^ My parents rock for giving me such an awesome Christmas present.
I spent the weekend (and didn't go to school on Friday) doing two campus visits in North Carolina. Elon, a 5000-student college, was holding an elimination round for their scholarship competition. Before the weekend Elon was on the "eh, possibly a backup" list, but I got a very good impression of the campus, students, and faculty. One of the afternoon meetings was about internships that students get through the college, and one of the presenters talked about her time in the sort of internship I really want: working around Random House (a publishing company) to become acquainted with all the different steps in the publishing process. She gave lots of details, so I scribbled plenty of notes and grilled her afterwards. I felt sort of underdressed and uncomfortable at the Elon College (one of the scholarships) reception, but I had a lot more fun once I went over to the Honors (the other scholarship I’m up for) reception. People there were wearing geeky t-shirts and chatting about things like percussion ensemble and their favorite professors. It felt a lot less packaged and several of the students there reminded me of older versions of my current friends.
A fair chunk of Saturday was spent in a literature seminar, at the end of which I had to write an essay about a short story. At first I thought that it would be difficult, but it was a lot like what I've been doing all year in lit. After that I had an interview. I was really worried about it beforehand, but he had an xkcd comic taped to his door and we spent the first five or so minutes trading fantasy and sci-fi book recommendations. After that he mainly asked me about my potential major, why I though I was good at English but not math, and a few other academic things: in between those I just had a fun conversation about school, books, and computers. After all the pressure there really wasn’t anything to worry about. The campus food was good and the dorms looked better than a lot of the ones I’ve seen on campus tours. I'm hoping for the Honors scholarship, so keep your fingers crossed: it’s for a nice fat chunk of money and access to some Honors-only classes with a hardcore practice thesis requirement.
After the Elon stuff we drove to Chapel Hill, where I mainly explored the campus and got a feel for Franklin Street, home of the various stores and restaurants that the UNC students frequent. We went home the next morning and I managed to be on time for bell choir. This isn’t normally an important occurrence, but a lot of people were missing, so we can’t ring next Sunday as the director planned. People are missing on lousy excuses a lot lately, and the director’s upset; we’re the advanced choir, so we really need practice time to nail down the music.
Later that night, while I was writing my Latin paper and talking to Carol via Gtalk, she told me that Noah, a guy in our lit class, was inviting me to chat. He reads Pratchett and is generally entertaining, so I accepted the invite. We talked about Enter the Haggis, Spamalot, Terry Pratchett, school, the long-running codpiece joke; generally the sort of nerdy stuff I talk with everyone about. This went on for about an hour and a half before we got onto the subject of prom angst. In the midst of the following Spamalot banter (because the prom is at the Fox, where the touring Spamalot was performed last week,) contrary to all expectations I had for this May, he asked me to prom. I accepted, and the rest of the conversation remains classified. ^.^
Given that most people at school think he’s my mortal enemy, mentioning this has been entertaining (to say the least.) The reactions are split between “That’s so cute!” and stunned looks followed by interrogation.
The most memorable quote:
Daniel: (to Noah) And here I always thought she'd cut your head off if she ever got the opportunity to be within head-cutting distance
Spamalot was amazing. Some parts felt strange because they were so different from the movie, but every song was hilarious and the new story they wrote was interesting. Jokes about success on Broadway and sequins run rampant through my circle of friends. I already have the soundtrack on my iPod and have listened to it far too many times. ^_^ My parents rock for giving me such an awesome Christmas present.
I spent the weekend (and didn't go to school on Friday) doing two campus visits in North Carolina. Elon, a 5000-student college, was holding an elimination round for their scholarship competition. Before the weekend Elon was on the "eh, possibly a backup" list, but I got a very good impression of the campus, students, and faculty. One of the afternoon meetings was about internships that students get through the college, and one of the presenters talked about her time in the sort of internship I really want: working around Random House (a publishing company) to become acquainted with all the different steps in the publishing process. She gave lots of details, so I scribbled plenty of notes and grilled her afterwards. I felt sort of underdressed and uncomfortable at the Elon College (one of the scholarships) reception, but I had a lot more fun once I went over to the Honors (the other scholarship I’m up for) reception. People there were wearing geeky t-shirts and chatting about things like percussion ensemble and their favorite professors. It felt a lot less packaged and several of the students there reminded me of older versions of my current friends.
A fair chunk of Saturday was spent in a literature seminar, at the end of which I had to write an essay about a short story. At first I thought that it would be difficult, but it was a lot like what I've been doing all year in lit. After that I had an interview. I was really worried about it beforehand, but he had an xkcd comic taped to his door and we spent the first five or so minutes trading fantasy and sci-fi book recommendations. After that he mainly asked me about my potential major, why I though I was good at English but not math, and a few other academic things: in between those I just had a fun conversation about school, books, and computers. After all the pressure there really wasn’t anything to worry about. The campus food was good and the dorms looked better than a lot of the ones I’ve seen on campus tours. I'm hoping for the Honors scholarship, so keep your fingers crossed: it’s for a nice fat chunk of money and access to some Honors-only classes with a hardcore practice thesis requirement.
After the Elon stuff we drove to Chapel Hill, where I mainly explored the campus and got a feel for Franklin Street, home of the various stores and restaurants that the UNC students frequent. We went home the next morning and I managed to be on time for bell choir. This isn’t normally an important occurrence, but a lot of people were missing, so we can’t ring next Sunday as the director planned. People are missing on lousy excuses a lot lately, and the director’s upset; we’re the advanced choir, so we really need practice time to nail down the music.
Later that night, while I was writing my Latin paper and talking to Carol via Gtalk, she told me that Noah, a guy in our lit class, was inviting me to chat. He reads Pratchett and is generally entertaining, so I accepted the invite. We talked about Enter the Haggis, Spamalot, Terry Pratchett, school, the long-running codpiece joke; generally the sort of nerdy stuff I talk with everyone about. This went on for about an hour and a half before we got onto the subject of prom angst. In the midst of the following Spamalot banter (because the prom is at the Fox, where the touring Spamalot was performed last week,) contrary to all expectations I had for this May, he asked me to prom. I accepted, and the rest of the conversation remains classified. ^.^
Given that most people at school think he’s my mortal enemy, mentioning this has been entertaining (to say the least.) The reactions are split between “That’s so cute!” and stunned looks followed by interrogation.
The most memorable quote:
Daniel: (to Noah) And here I always thought she'd cut your head off if she ever got the opportunity to be within head-cutting distance