Bucket List

I made one about 2 years ago but I lost it so here's the new and improved version incapable of being lost:

Bucket List circa 2011

• Take fencing lessons
• Tap dancing
• Learn how to drive a stick (completed!)
• Drive a super car
• Kiss in the rain
• Bake a cheesecake (completed!)
• Bake the perfect pie
• Go paintballing
• Go backpacking
• See a bear (completed!)
• Visit the East Coast
• Visit New York
• Visit South America
• Mosh pit
• Write a memoir
• Get a college degree
• Go to a sporting event
• Go snorkeling (somewhere tropical)
  
• Push myself (skydiving, bungee jumping, or a roller coaster)
• Go polar dipping on New Years
• Go skinny dipping
• Get in a whipped cream fight
• Eat rabbit
• Run a 5k
• Run a marathon without removing my spleen
• Watch a horror movie
  

I'm sure it will grow and change as I grow and change and I'm sure I'll think of more as soon as I publish this post, but this is what I could think of right now. It's a good start.

Life and Other Oddities

I realize I maybe give the impression that I no longer use this blog. This is incorrect. Like any child of the 21st century, I feel obligated to maintain, at least sporadically, each social media outlet I have begun. Consider this, then, my sporadic update.

I have been part of AmeriCorps now for close to 3.5 months. It has been an interesting experience thus far, although being an Individual Placement (IP) member has drawbacks. Exhibit A - networking activities for 20-somethings planned by 50-somethings. Think crosswords about AmeriCorps history and Karaoke and you'd be about on target. I did the crossword for lack of anything more substantive or pertinent to do and avoided the Karaoke like the plague. I also learned Yakima has the 6th highest automotive crash fatality rate in the nation - down from 3rd highest last year! What improvement!
My AmeriCorps presence at my actual service site has been much less...unproductive. In all honesty, I absolutely love my job. We provide nursing and rehabilitation services and social programs to vulnerable adults through adult day health. It is one of the most worthwhile things I have ever done and, as the baby boomers age, it is an area of expertise that will only come in more handy as time goes on.
My age, though, is the one thing that I felt surprisingly tender about and I have only recently began to be more comfortable with it in this setting. First of all - all of our clients are at least 30, with the average age being 74 (or is it 76?) Then, all of my co-workers are far, far older than I. The closest co-worker just turned 23 but even she has already gone to college and is probably going to be getting married next year. I feel very misfit at times, which is why I avoided telling anyone my age for a few months. Gradually, however, it leaked out and I had to endure people gasping and saying, "I had no idea! You act SO much older."
I'm getting used to that now, I think, so I just shrug it off, laugh at their surprise, or make a joke about it. Still, it is awkward when my co-workers talking about their kids in front of me and I realize that they are my age and the encounter begins to feel very much like I'm talking to my mother's friends. c'est la vie.
But enough about work! It takes up enough of my time as it is. Besides work, I am now judging high school debate - a position I happen to like very much. I also had a brief stint in the UW-Bothell's Ultimate team and will be playing mixed winter league which I am very much looking forward to. (I ended my sentence with a preposition. Sue me.) I am also a lector and EM at Church and play the piano, cook, etc. This is starting to feel like a mini bio. Which it is not.

Well, I think Louie is finally awake. Time to rot our brains out playing WiiSports. Viva the Weekend!!

WAY overdue

The Amazing Summer of Miss Michelle has already been underway for quite sometime; however, my vague, incomprehensive (which I hereby christen a real word), rambling, sporadic updates fall deplorably short of offering any real insight into this most wonderful month and a half. Therefore, this is going to be one hell of a long post. Get ready.

June 11th, 2010:
I graduated from high school. Commencement was satisfying, if a bit awkward. 31 psudeohomeschooled students who made no pretense of knowing each other. Outfits which ranged from prom-worthy gowns to jeans and a t-shirt. Blissfully short speeches (including my commencement address.) Agonizingly long slideshow. Hideous blue gowns. Unique and admittedly touching actual graduation ceremony. Old friends, family, cheesecake. Hurry home and crash.

June 12th - June 19th 2010: NFL Nationals
3:30am up and leaving for Nationals!
Nationals was definitely an interesting tournament. It was bittersweet because it was my very last high school forensics competition and quite possibly my last forensics competition ever because the odds of me in college debate are shaping up to be pretty slim. It was slightly odd as well, because the event I qualified in (DX) I had only done three times before as a joke and had never actually received a ballot or watched another competitor so I pretty much had no idea what I was doing. However, I ended up just really savoring the opportunity and concentrated instead on making the most of the experience as opposed to trying to be competitive. Honestly I am disappointed with how I ended up doing overall for my final Nationals, but I was proud of my record in DX (my cumulative scores was 40 and they broke at 27 so not all that bad. My round ranks were: 4,2,4,2,3,3 which were the best in DX (and extemp in general sans Mitch Murdock) from WA and also incredibly respectable for someone as inexperienced in the event as I.) Supplemental events were where I really started to unravel. I was getting sick on Wednesday and while my first two (guaranteed) rounds of EC were the absolute best EC speeches I'd ever given the later two sucked and I was eliminated painfully early. In fact I was feeling so sick I skipped my consolation event altogether on Thursday and instead used the morning and afternoon to rest and recharge. Many of my friends were incredibly successful at Nationals, though, and I am so so proud of them all. Seeing Kansas City and experiencing my first club (Jardine's) was also a fun experience.

June 29th - July 4th 2010: Club Rust

Club Rust contrasted Nationals in many ways. Accommodations, weather (no humidity :D), purpose, etc. Rancho La Paloma is, in your author's humble opinion, one of the most beautiful places on earth. It is so completely relaxing and peaceful and I look forward to going back again and again for the rest of my able-bodied life. The food was incredible as only authentic Mexican food can be, I felt useful and (somewhat) more competent on the worksite and again made wonderful new friends while rekindling old ones. I got to practice my Spanish a little and made friends with the two neighbor girls helping on our house - Miriam and Liz. The last day they went around and had each person from our house write on their shirts, then asked me if they could write on mine. I soaked my shirt in vinegar and hope their messages stay on it forever. I am continually amazed by how much we can convey when languages don't match. It was almost more of a language bridge than a language barrier. I pounded nails on the latrine roof with Erika and Jorge, mudded drywall with Miriam, and (at her insistence) recited the alphabet and counted to 100 in both languages with Liz. In addition, I renewed engagement vows, got engaged a few more times, and even became married in the back of the bus early one morning on the way to the worksite. I love Club Rust not only because what it holds - lifelong friends, relaxation, beauty, delicious food, cold showers - but also because of why - bringing Christ and stability to a region ravaged by poverty, American greed, and the drug war one house and family at a time.

July 9th-July 11th: Long Beach
On a spur-of-the-moment weekend vacation the Herman side of my family made the trek down to Long Beach at the treat of my Uncle Jeff. We enjoyed a freezing pool (although once we discovered the root of its polar temperature - a hose spewing freezing water into the pool - and shut it off the temperature warmed considerably), the Buck Hunting Game, long walks on the beach, go-karts, bumper cars, Mexican food (not NEARLY as good as real Mexican food but at his treat I wasn't going to complain), and time with my family. My little cousin Lauren is just getting old enough that she remembers me and playing with her is such a treat. I love finally having a cousin (two, counting Seth.) It was a fun break from daily living but I'm ready to stay home for a while.

Now that all of my travels have been elaborated upon I briefly considered delving into my summer reading and movie plans but decided against it. For now, travels recounted will suffice. Maybe I'll do some movie/book stuff tomorrow. Who knows! I love summer.

A whole lot can change in six days

It's June! So why is it raining, cloudy, and cold?
At times I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle against the lethargic northwest weather. It can't be bothered enough to get really hot or really cold so it just kind of clouds over and leaks.
Thanks a lot.

However, in brighter news I just finished my final English research paper which incidentally happens to be the final English paper to the final undergraduate English class I'll ever have to take. Good riddance. I am celebrating this joyous occasion with a momentary break which I'm using to post on my blog. Now all I have left in the quarter is my oral defense of paper, possible psych final, golf paper, and my STUPID HATEFUL SPANISH ORAL FINAL. 7-14 minute presentation on (for me) Bolivian wind instruments as well as Bolivian history and geography all in Spanish and all memorized. My teacher changed my assignment at the last minute which is why I'm presenting on something as boring as Bolivian wind instruments. I was going to talk about Spanish card games (did you know there is a separate Spanish set of playing cards?) and board games but...whatever. I'm done complaining.

This week is a big week for me. Although one stalker commented on my apparently distasteful use of lists, I resent those implications and present another list:

Michelle's Final Week of High School:

Monday -
- English
- Golf
- Research Spanish like Hell
- Spanish class with Final preparations
- Frisbee practice?

Tuesday -
- English
- Research Spanish like Hell
- Debate in which I research like Hell and begin memorizing my expos

Wednesday -
- English Oral Defense of Paper
- Golf (turn in paper)
- Research & Prep Spanish Oral like Hell
- Give Spanish Oral Presentation (like Hell?)
- YFL?

Thursday -
- Turn in English Research Paper
- Debate which includes any final, frantic research and expos memorization
- First Frisbee Game
- Pack for Nationals

Friday -
- Continue packing for Nationals
- Finish up any last minute school assignments that teachers random assign
- Graduation preparation
- Graduation
- No party

Saturday -
- 5am at airport
- 7am LEAVE
- 4:30 arrive in Kansas City
- 7 Jazz Club Reservations!!

The next week will be completely and utterly full of debate. Sunday is registration/service project/site seeing then basically from 6am Monday morning to about 6 or 7pm Thursday night or sometime Friday afternoon if I make finals, non-stop competition. When I'm not competing I'm preparing and when I'm neither competing nor preparing I'm catching a precious few hours of sleep. Although Ali and I have concocted an ambitious plan to watch a classic horror movie each night we're at Nationals so the sleep part might not actually happen.

My schedule for this coming week also fails to mention my necessary trip to the mall to get my ears pierced and get some last minute clothes for graduation and nationals as well as setting up my interview for ElderHouse NW (local Americorps site...fingers crossed)

However, in the midst of the craziness I still find time to enjoy the simple pleasures of life, as should you: http://xkcd.com/64/

a little bit of pie

Well dear readers, it has been a very long time since I last posted my thoughts.

But like any good blogger, I cannot forsake my blog completely. And seeing as how I'm on summer break for the week and it's 5pm and I have absolutely nothing else to do (except go get candy, but I can wait...) and I just read Erin's blog and got inspired I might as well pour forth.

So far my summer has been interesting. I just got my spring grades back an hour or so ago and I still have a cum 3.7gpa. Curse them, I want my 3.8! My quarter gpa was 3.8 but noooo still 3.74. It's a little infurinating, but I'll just have to work harder. I'm still really grateful for them, though, don't get me wrong. And I'm still safely in the net of PTK honor membership so life is good.

I got back from Birmingham and Nationals was amazing. I didn't break in congress but I met some really hot guys (it blew all my stereotypes about no such thing as a sexy debater completely out of the water) and flirted with them. :D Good times... I did a lot better in supplemental events, top 60 in expos out of 307 (Code E116) and top 35, more like 30, in Extemp Commentary out of 486 (Code C128). Considering I BSed extemp comm from the start, it was pretty awesome.

The social aspect of the trip was also exceedingly interesting, and I think I'll leave it at that.

In other news (other, older news), I got a 2080 on my SAT (740 Reading, 690 Writing, 650 Math) which is competitive for all the colleges I'm applying to so that makes me happy. As far as colleges go, I'm going to apply to UW, Gonzaga (possibly honors), and PLU definitely. Georgetown just sent me random crap out of the blue yesterday about their nursing program, so they might warrant a look into but if I do apply I doubt I'd actually go there. Like, give it a 5% chance I'd go there, if that much. Both UW and Gonzaga have big pluses and minuses and I'm hoping it's not going to be an epic battle of the century to figure out which one (provided I get into both) I will go to. But I'll take that in stride when it comes.

I've posted some failblog stuff up here and I'm going to add that website (www.failblog.org) to my list of site picks because they are hilarious. fmylife is okay, but most of the stuff on there just isn't believable. Photoshop disaster is also pretty hilarious, although some of it just goes plain over my head. :)

Well, I really must remedy my candy situation, so I think I shall bus down to QFC and buy eggs for mom and candy for me. I love living in America! Be good little readers, and I will try to post more often this summer.

(I was just looking through my tags and I saw "intelligence". haha, I love myself. It sounds like classified government information. Excellent.)

kefir vs. yogurt: epic showdown

Well, the answer is actually rather obvious. If you don't know what kefir is, I'd suggest you take this moment to go look it up so you can make an informed decision. Drink some sometime also, (if you have the nerve.) >:)
*moment*

And we are back! Well, Happy New Year! I am SO happy it's 2009! I hope this will be a good year. I have four solid back-to-back quarters of Biology this year culminating in Microbiology in the autumn. I've heard nothing of horror stories about it, but hey - what do I know? My first Biology (201 - intro to human anatomy and psychology) starts tomorrow. Yup. Yay me. So I thought I'd start a list of all the things I will do in the next year, which should be pretty fun. I encourage you all to do it as well - it'll a be a year of things to look forward too!

- Get my Drivers License

- Take the SAT (on my birthday, if you hadn't heard)

- Possibly get my Wisdom Teeth removed

- Apply to colleges!!!

- Survive 4 quarters of Biology (still working on that one)

- Qualify for State (hopefully)

- Qualify for Nationals (hopefully!!!)

- Go to Mexico, twice, and build houses for the poor

- Watch a bunch of my friends leave for college. :(

- Start volunteering at Stevens

- Take a bowling class, hopefully, during the summer

- NOT faint. At all. Nope. It's my New Year's Resolution. (Resolved: I will not faint this year.)

- Get our kitchen remodeled!


And I'm sure lots and lots of other wonderful things will happen, I just can't think of them now.

In the mean time, Louie is in shock that I don't want to buy his old MP3 player for $5. I've explained to him countless times that I don't WANT an mp3 player, and I certainly don't NEED one and I don't feel like spending $5 for something I don't want or need because I'm a spendthrift. I told him I'd buy it for $1 but he doesn't like that idea. hahaha.

Other than that, I'm going in to get hooked up to electrodes after fasting so they can monitor my heart and see if that might have been the problem with my fainting etc. And I have to get more blood drawn. Seriously, they've been drawing SO much blood! And I hate the way they draw it at Group Health - at Childrens they draw it so I didn't get a huge bruise but at Group Health it's all gas n' go. Or whatever. Blood n' go. Kind of sucks. Maybe I'll tell them how to draw blood. Novel idea, I like it. :D

Well I'm going to UPS this weekend (Saturday only, unfortunatly) so that should be fun, and in the meantime I'm looking at a lot of school, crazy Tuesdays and Thursdays, debate (<33333333) and various other aspects of my social life (boys).
And on a completely unrelated note, Colin's birthday is Sunday; he'll be 19.

I hope you are all healthy, wealthy, and wise in mind, body, and spirit and I hope to see all of you sometime soon!

P.S. The answer to the kefir vs. yogurt: epic showdown question is obviously yogurt. Kefir is disgusting. Not nearly as bad as kvass though!

Confirmation...

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if you wouldn't mind saying a quick prayer. I'm getting confirmed next year (May 12th!!!!!!!!) and I need to choose my confirmation sponsor. The two women whom I've narrowed the choices down too are also praying, but I would be incredibly grateful if yo uwould as well. Basically I cannot decide. It is dead even, they are both wonderful Catholic women and good friends of the family and I love them dearly etc... So I kind of need to make up my mind, because the first class is like January 13th, so I would be very grateful for some prayers.

Martial Arts, Speech and Debate, and of course...LIFE!!!

Hey Ya'll!

I trust life is joyful for you, I can say for the most part it is for me. Actually, lately I've really been into the whole 'life's road' thing. It's kinda cool. :) Allow me to elaborate:

"It's a new road I travel on,
It's a new life I make my own,
It's a new time, a new world, a new beginning,
and I can make it all my own."

then...

"Down a dusty road,
To embrace my fate.
Though the road may wander,
it will lead me to you."

and finally but not lastly...

"...or how the road can seem so long."

Also, I tested for yellow belt at Martial Arts today. Wohoo Meechy! Austin and Louie tested as well, and it was pretty fun. HAHA! oh right, forgot about that part..yea, it was fun. :D

I am also *drum roll... JUDGING MY FIRST TOURNAMENT ON SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm super super super excited about that. It's the KAmiak novice tournament, and I get 8 NFL points for it and the experience and awesome times. I'll be the judge for people older than me, but since I'm in open and they're all newbies...ah...it'll ROCK! YES!!!!!!! I know already I'm going to LOVE judging. :D