I'm suuuppper sorry I haven't posted in almost 2 weeks! Yes, I'm still alive. And yes, I'm okay. It's not like me to go this long between post, I know. But, I've been really tied up with scheduling my classes for next year, and with studying or final exams for the end of this trimester. ButI finally have a free weekend now, because the last exams were today. I have freetime...
...Freetime? What's this... freetime you speak of?
I'm serious. It's been so long since I've had no obligations, nothing to do. Nothing to have on my shoulders. I don't even know what to do!
Today was fun though. I was home from school early because of the testing, and my mom and I tried to make a Northern Spanish dish my great grandma, who was Spanish, always made, and my grandpa always ate it. Well, I hope they had a good laugh looking down at my mom and me from heaven today, I truly do. Because when they made it, it looked pretty. It's called Tortilla de Patata, and it's basically potatoes, egg, and onion. Ours tasted good, but it was not pretty. It stuck to the pan, and fell apart because we didn't use enough egg. We had such a hard time just slicing the potatoes, too. The first two came out too thin, and I ended up just putting olive oil and salt on them and popping them in the oven to be potato chips, since they were beyond use for the tortilla. A half and hour project turned into two hours for us. (But how it tasted made up for everything.)
Friday, February 28, 2014
Monday, February 17, 2014
A letter
I know I said I'd quit writing about LGBT stuff, but this weekend, at the girl scout conference, I met the most amazing person. I just had to write a letter to them (for lack of me knowing their correct pronouns).
Dear person I met at girl scout thing,
You are amazing. I was so impressed when we had to go around and say our names and an interesting thing about ourselves. Usually I don't like those kinds of games, but just the fact that you were able to say that you're bigender made it so amazing for me. To me, you became an excellent role model that instant of a queer person who can walk into a group full of 20 girls you don't know, who may or may not accept queerness, and say it in such a plain and public way. I was even more thrilled the next day, when I finally got the guts (and a moment away from my possibly queerphobic friend), and say how cool it was that you could say something like that, while in public I'd never be able to announce my asexuality. It turns out that you're asexual, too!!! Eeeeee!!!! I've never even talked irl to another queer person, much less one who is ace like me, and even though I'm cis and you're not to me it felt really special, and we talked for a moment that I sort of wished was longer about cake and how good cuddling is. You can't possibly understand how much those 2 seconds meant to me, or how much I hope we see each other again someday, or that you're on Nano, too, or maybe you read my blog, and I'm hoping you'll read this. I'd have told you it all myself if I'd had the chance. Last night, when two of my roomates were laughing about the "ghetto girls" and I knew they were talking about you and your friend, who is openly lesbian, who I wish I'd talked to as well but didn't, I wanted to slap them. I couldn't even say anything, though, and I wish I had. You were nothing but awesome, to me and everyone, and I hope someday people can see that just because you're bigender doesn't make you a "ghetto girl", when really you don't even identify as a girl. That makes me mad, that those two girls didn't even care to get your gender right. When you talked about your goals you said that you wanted to make at least one person's life a little better. Well, you've made mine better, by being such a huge inspiration, and by being so nice, and sweet, despite what some people treat you like. And today, when your mom got here to pick you up, and you turned around and hugged me, it was quite possibly the best moment of the weekend. I'm actually tearing up writing this and I don't cry easily. I don't know what you were trying to say with that hug, with someone you barely met, but I can guess at it and it was really special to me, like you'd picked up on how much I needed a hug because of general queer issues, and you were in my life when I needed it the most. This is so long, but I could go on for days. Thank you so much.
Someone who now has a huge squish on you,
Mckenna
Dear person I met at girl scout thing,
You are amazing. I was so impressed when we had to go around and say our names and an interesting thing about ourselves. Usually I don't like those kinds of games, but just the fact that you were able to say that you're bigender made it so amazing for me. To me, you became an excellent role model that instant of a queer person who can walk into a group full of 20 girls you don't know, who may or may not accept queerness, and say it in such a plain and public way. I was even more thrilled the next day, when I finally got the guts (and a moment away from my possibly queerphobic friend), and say how cool it was that you could say something like that, while in public I'd never be able to announce my asexuality. It turns out that you're asexual, too!!! Eeeeee!!!! I've never even talked irl to another queer person, much less one who is ace like me, and even though I'm cis and you're not to me it felt really special, and we talked for a moment that I sort of wished was longer about cake and how good cuddling is. You can't possibly understand how much those 2 seconds meant to me, or how much I hope we see each other again someday, or that you're on Nano, too, or maybe you read my blog, and I'm hoping you'll read this. I'd have told you it all myself if I'd had the chance. Last night, when two of my roomates were laughing about the "ghetto girls" and I knew they were talking about you and your friend, who is openly lesbian, who I wish I'd talked to as well but didn't, I wanted to slap them. I couldn't even say anything, though, and I wish I had. You were nothing but awesome, to me and everyone, and I hope someday people can see that just because you're bigender doesn't make you a "ghetto girl", when really you don't even identify as a girl. That makes me mad, that those two girls didn't even care to get your gender right. When you talked about your goals you said that you wanted to make at least one person's life a little better. Well, you've made mine better, by being such a huge inspiration, and by being so nice, and sweet, despite what some people treat you like. And today, when your mom got here to pick you up, and you turned around and hugged me, it was quite possibly the best moment of the weekend. I'm actually tearing up writing this and I don't cry easily. I don't know what you were trying to say with that hug, with someone you barely met, but I can guess at it and it was really special to me, like you'd picked up on how much I needed a hug because of general queer issues, and you were in my life when I needed it the most. This is so long, but I could go on for days. Thank you so much.
Someone who now has a huge squish on you,
Mckenna
Friday, February 14, 2014
Busy!!!!
My life has been so busy over the past few days! We had a rehearsal for our orchestra concert 2 days ago, and the actual concert was last night. It went really well, by the way :D
Anyway, yesterday during Spanish Class was... interesting. We got new seats a few days ago, and now I sit next to Eliza. She never does her work, and we've had at least one class together every year since 7th grade. We always seem to end up sitting next to each other, too, and she always want to copy off of my work or make me give her the answer to something.
But I would never be expected for what happened yesterday. We had homework where we had to highlight between two different verb tenses. She asked me at the beginning of class, "Will you highlight my paper four me?" I didn't really understand what she was asking, and thought that I had missed something. I couldn't actually believe that she was asking me to do her homework for her. So I said, "Uh, I'll give you high lighters if you want so you can so it really fast."
She gave me this really weird look as she took them, and a minute later put her paper on my desk and said, "Here, can you just do it?"
I stared at her kind of weird and she said, "Oh, Kenny, (because she thinks using nicknames will make me like her,) "you're so silly and stupid. Yeah, I'm asking you to do it."
I didn't even look at her, just said, "No. I'm not doing your homework." And put it back on her desk.
Wow. I don't even know what to say to that.
Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day!!! What'd you all do? I don't have a valentine, and will forever be scarred by being forced to see even more kids than usual smooching in the hallway, but I got candy and chocolate from my friends, so I'm hyper and it was all good!
I'm going to be gone all this weekend, too; I'll tell you all about it when I get back.
McKenna out.
Anyway, yesterday during Spanish Class was... interesting. We got new seats a few days ago, and now I sit next to Eliza. She never does her work, and we've had at least one class together every year since 7th grade. We always seem to end up sitting next to each other, too, and she always want to copy off of my work or make me give her the answer to something.
But I would never be expected for what happened yesterday. We had homework where we had to highlight between two different verb tenses. She asked me at the beginning of class, "Will you highlight my paper four me?" I didn't really understand what she was asking, and thought that I had missed something. I couldn't actually believe that she was asking me to do her homework for her. So I said, "Uh, I'll give you high lighters if you want so you can so it really fast."
She gave me this really weird look as she took them, and a minute later put her paper on my desk and said, "Here, can you just do it?"
I stared at her kind of weird and she said, "Oh, Kenny, (because she thinks using nicknames will make me like her,) "you're so silly and stupid. Yeah, I'm asking you to do it."
I didn't even look at her, just said, "No. I'm not doing your homework." And put it back on her desk.
Wow. I don't even know what to say to that.
Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day!!! What'd you all do? I don't have a valentine, and will forever be scarred by being forced to see even more kids than usual smooching in the hallway, but I got candy and chocolate from my friends, so I'm hyper and it was all good!
I'm going to be gone all this weekend, too; I'll tell you all about it when I get back.
McKenna out.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
A stalker
Guess what? I may have my own personal stalker! How lovely, I know! But yes. About a week ago I posted about being indirectly asked out by a random guy through his friend, who I'm friends with. Today, at lunch, my friend gave me a note. It said- To McKenna Oberon, from... we'll call him Ryan Alastair. It's close enough to his name. It also had written on it for my friend (Ty) not to read it. I opened up the note, and it had 4 questions on it for me to answer. (I also found out this guy is homeschooled and has no other means of communication with me, but that makes it no less creepy.)
Here they are:
1. Are you single?
2. Do you have a boyfriend?
3. Do you like Ty?
4. Are you interested in a date with me?
I answered "potatoes" to every question, and just about died laughing while doing it. This guys is obviously a creeper. What else was I going to do? But I did write at the bottom, "Sorry, but I don't know you and I don't want a boyfriend."
Apparently, this is how he found out I existed.
Ryan: So Ty, met any cute girls recently?
Ty: No.
Ryan: What about lunch? Do you sit with girls at lunch?
Ty: Sometimes.
Ryan: Are any of them cute?
Ty: By your standards, all of them.
Ryan (starts getting excited): Are any of them blonde?
Ty: Well, two. Emalie and McKenna.
Ryan: How tall are they?
Ty: Emalie's pretty tall, and Kenna's a little on the shorter side.
Ryan proceeded to google me, look me up on facebook, and try obsessively to find out everything about me. Ty told me it will all blow over and by next week it will be another girl's turn.
I have my own personal stalker. Should I be flattered? Creeped out? Both?
Here they are:
1. Are you single?
2. Do you have a boyfriend?
3. Do you like Ty?
4. Are you interested in a date with me?
I answered "potatoes" to every question, and just about died laughing while doing it. This guys is obviously a creeper. What else was I going to do? But I did write at the bottom, "Sorry, but I don't know you and I don't want a boyfriend."
Apparently, this is how he found out I existed.
Ryan: So Ty, met any cute girls recently?
Ty: No.
Ryan: What about lunch? Do you sit with girls at lunch?
Ty: Sometimes.
Ryan: Are any of them cute?
Ty: By your standards, all of them.
Ryan (starts getting excited): Are any of them blonde?
Ty: Well, two. Emalie and McKenna.
Ryan: How tall are they?
Ty: Emalie's pretty tall, and Kenna's a little on the shorter side.
Ryan proceeded to google me, look me up on facebook, and try obsessively to find out everything about me. Ty told me it will all blow over and by next week it will be another girl's turn.
I have my own personal stalker. Should I be flattered? Creeped out? Both?
Thursday, February 6, 2014
The post I owe you
I was going to talk about the orchestra feedback yesterday, but I was really sick yesterday. I went to bed Tuesday night just fine, and at 6:45am I woke up because my stomach had started hurting like I'd never felt before, like I was being stabbed. I was covered in sweat and I felt so horrid I couldn't even move.
My mom thought it was my appendix, so she and my dad drove me to the hospital where we spent five hours in the ER. They did a bunch of tests and couldn't find anything wrong, and when I got home, to be honest, I wasn't really thinking about posting on here.
I felt a little better by last night and I still feel kind of crappy today but I think I'll be okay; most likely I'll go back to school tomorrow. Maybe I just had a really bad stomach bug, minus the throwing up a ton part.
Ok. So now that that's over, orchestra results!!
When I got the paper, it didn't actually say anything about us messing up! I was really surprised, because I thought that'd be a major thing. But they just gave us little technical notes, like what part of the bow to play in and how to make dynamics (loud vs. soft) sound better.
My mom thought it was my appendix, so she and my dad drove me to the hospital where we spent five hours in the ER. They did a bunch of tests and couldn't find anything wrong, and when I got home, to be honest, I wasn't really thinking about posting on here.
I felt a little better by last night and I still feel kind of crappy today but I think I'll be okay; most likely I'll go back to school tomorrow. Maybe I just had a really bad stomach bug, minus the throwing up a ton part.
Ok. So now that that's over, orchestra results!!
When I got the paper, it didn't actually say anything about us messing up! I was really surprised, because I thought that'd be a major thing. But they just gave us little technical notes, like what part of the bow to play in and how to make dynamics (loud vs. soft) sound better.
Monday, February 3, 2014
So my dad bought a punching bag...
...and boxing gloves.
Need I say more?
Well, I guess I do because 7 word posts really don't cut it. But yes. Last weekend on a random whim he went out to the sporting goods store and bought boxing equipment. Maybe it's part of my mom's whole health spree lately. I don't know.
Anyway, he's made me go down to the basement with him to practice twice now. We start at the bag but usually end up boxing each other. Easily and clumsily, because we're really not trying to hurt each other and we're both completely inexperienced. So we only took shots we knew could easily be blocked.
I kept changing my stance though, trying to figure out if I box orthodox or southpaw (right or left handed.) It should have been easy but in writing I'm ambidextrous.... I think I box left now but that is beside the point.
The point is that m dad accidentally bopped me in the nose, and pretty hard, too. I have this amazing bruise there today, but at least it isn't numb anymore. And even though I had to give a presentation in school today... the wonders of make up.
Sorry for the boring and distracted post, I had nothing to write about.
Oooh! But I got indirectly asked out today. I've been asked out plenty of times before, but I didn't expect one of my guy friends to tell me that one of his friends wanted to know if I would consider having a boyfriend now that I'm single.
It took all my power not to run. I just hope the boy won't come up to me himself, because I wouldn't do well in a situation like that.
Oh, who am I kidding? Today when I was indirectly asked I just looked at the guy who told me, felt my face go bright red, and sprinted like Jesse Owens. (I actually probably ran faster than Jesse Owens. And I was wearing ballet flats!)
Need I say more?
Well, I guess I do because 7 word posts really don't cut it. But yes. Last weekend on a random whim he went out to the sporting goods store and bought boxing equipment. Maybe it's part of my mom's whole health spree lately. I don't know.
Anyway, he's made me go down to the basement with him to practice twice now. We start at the bag but usually end up boxing each other. Easily and clumsily, because we're really not trying to hurt each other and we're both completely inexperienced. So we only took shots we knew could easily be blocked.
I kept changing my stance though, trying to figure out if I box orthodox or southpaw (right or left handed.) It should have been easy but in writing I'm ambidextrous.... I think I box left now but that is beside the point.
The point is that m dad accidentally bopped me in the nose, and pretty hard, too. I have this amazing bruise there today, but at least it isn't numb anymore. And even though I had to give a presentation in school today... the wonders of make up.
Sorry for the boring and distracted post, I had nothing to write about.
Oooh! But I got indirectly asked out today. I've been asked out plenty of times before, but I didn't expect one of my guy friends to tell me that one of his friends wanted to know if I would consider having a boyfriend now that I'm single.
It took all my power not to run. I just hope the boy won't come up to me himself, because I wouldn't do well in a situation like that.
Oh, who am I kidding? Today when I was indirectly asked I just looked at the guy who told me, felt my face go bright red, and sprinted like Jesse Owens. (I actually probably ran faster than Jesse Owens. And I was wearing ballet flats!)
Saturday, February 1, 2014
A slight moment of panic
Today, my friend and I played a viola duet at the event that has literally comprised the past 2 months of my existence. Well, only three weeks has been full of playing this particular piece. We had another one before that, but my teacher found out it wasn't on the list of pieces we could do at the event...
So anyway it's been crazy, learning this piece so fast and then having to perform it in front of judges today. We were only able to practice it together twice before today, so we spent the two hours before our performance practicing our butts off and just trying to stay together. We played it once through perfectly about 5 minutes before we were on.
As soon as we were standing in front of the judges and began to play, I just had this bad feeling in my stomach, like something was about to go terribly wrong. I tried to forget about everything but the sheet of music in front of me and my friend, playing at exactly the same time as me. We got through the first page perfectly. I messed up a little at the top of the second page just because my brain didn't transfer quickly enough. The moment was over, and I wasn't just in the music anymore. I suddenly felt the eyes of my teacher in school, the judges, one of the judge's brother, and my mom, all bearing into me, scrutinizing my every note. I swallowed and hoped my mistake -in a part where I had the melody, no less!- hadn't been very noticeable.
We kept playing, and about halfway through the second page I realized we were off. Only by half a beat, but it was enough to make the music sound like a mess. I felt my friend tense a little next to me, as we both frantically scrambled to try and find each other. We only got further apart. I focused on my music alone, unable to do anything else without making the entire piece fall apart.
My friend stopped playing.
This was my moment of panic. For a whole measure that seemed to last for an eternity, I was the only one playing in an unwritten solo, in a part near the end that was supposed to be in perfect harmony. I did my best to play in tune with a steady beat, feeling my face grow hot, and glad I was too short to see the judges scribbling down notes over the black music stand.
Finally, she joined back in. It was over. I relaxed, and allowed myself to breathe as we played the last note- in tune, together, and beautifully.
It was only supposed to take 15 minutes for the judges to put up our score, but we waited an hour and half. We ate lunch in the cafeteria of the school the event was at and waited anxiously, speculating.
On a scale of 1 to 5, we expected to get a three. Maybe a 2 if they were lenient, a 4 if they were strict.
But no matter what, we were not expecting a 1. The highest rating.
We receive the notes that the judges took in school on Monday. Personally, I can't wait. I want to know how to improve, want to see what made them give us such a high score when we messed up so badly.
But all this time, our private lessons teacher had been right.
The most important thing isn't whether you get lost or not. It's whether you find each other and end together. I never understood until now what that meant. If the piece was a wreck, it didn't matter how the ending sounded. It was still a wreck, wasn't it? But no.
I've learned more about music today than I have in the past 4 years since I started playing.
So anyway it's been crazy, learning this piece so fast and then having to perform it in front of judges today. We were only able to practice it together twice before today, so we spent the two hours before our performance practicing our butts off and just trying to stay together. We played it once through perfectly about 5 minutes before we were on.
As soon as we were standing in front of the judges and began to play, I just had this bad feeling in my stomach, like something was about to go terribly wrong. I tried to forget about everything but the sheet of music in front of me and my friend, playing at exactly the same time as me. We got through the first page perfectly. I messed up a little at the top of the second page just because my brain didn't transfer quickly enough. The moment was over, and I wasn't just in the music anymore. I suddenly felt the eyes of my teacher in school, the judges, one of the judge's brother, and my mom, all bearing into me, scrutinizing my every note. I swallowed and hoped my mistake -in a part where I had the melody, no less!- hadn't been very noticeable.
We kept playing, and about halfway through the second page I realized we were off. Only by half a beat, but it was enough to make the music sound like a mess. I felt my friend tense a little next to me, as we both frantically scrambled to try and find each other. We only got further apart. I focused on my music alone, unable to do anything else without making the entire piece fall apart.
My friend stopped playing.
This was my moment of panic. For a whole measure that seemed to last for an eternity, I was the only one playing in an unwritten solo, in a part near the end that was supposed to be in perfect harmony. I did my best to play in tune with a steady beat, feeling my face grow hot, and glad I was too short to see the judges scribbling down notes over the black music stand.
Finally, she joined back in. It was over. I relaxed, and allowed myself to breathe as we played the last note- in tune, together, and beautifully.
It was only supposed to take 15 minutes for the judges to put up our score, but we waited an hour and half. We ate lunch in the cafeteria of the school the event was at and waited anxiously, speculating.
On a scale of 1 to 5, we expected to get a three. Maybe a 2 if they were lenient, a 4 if they were strict.
But no matter what, we were not expecting a 1. The highest rating.
We receive the notes that the judges took in school on Monday. Personally, I can't wait. I want to know how to improve, want to see what made them give us such a high score when we messed up so badly.
But all this time, our private lessons teacher had been right.
The most important thing isn't whether you get lost or not. It's whether you find each other and end together. I never understood until now what that meant. If the piece was a wreck, it didn't matter how the ending sounded. It was still a wreck, wasn't it? But no.
I've learned more about music today than I have in the past 4 years since I started playing.
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