Friday, 20 July 2012

Letter #11

Dear Erica,
I'm up to episode 17. Thats 765 minutes or 12.75 hours. Didnt do anything today. RMTTY: squashed plans, and 30 minute phone calls.
Love,
Stephanie

Letter #10

Dear Erica,
I really miss you right now. I wish I could call you to tell you about everything instead of writing it to you, but alas we are seas apart and you are off on an adventure. It's a pretty dumb reason why I suddenly missed you, it's because I was just watching Switched at Birth (obsessed. Watched 9 episodes in 2 days. That's 405 minutes, or 6.75 hours of watching this show. Can you say no life??) and I really needed to tell you why I don't like the character Bay. I can't remember if you watched this show or not, I feel like you do. I'm watching wayyyyyy more TV lately than I would ordinarily so bare with me while I waste my time sitting in front of a screen watching pretend people. Anyway, I wanted to tell you that as captivated a I am by the story I really disagree with the mindset of these characters. Both families are trying to get to know the other daughter--their biological daughter, and both feel very possessive over both daughters which of course causes mayhem and drama galore. Honestly though, if I was told tonight that I was adopted or switched at birth or dropped off by the stork, I really don't think I would care that much. Yes, I would be shocked and sort of confused and perhaps angry about why nobody told me, but aside from that I wouldn't feel like I need to find my true family because this is my family. These are the people that have raised me and the people I feel connected too, and it makes no difference at this point whether or not we share some chromosomes. They are my family no matter what. Furthermore I just dislike Bay in particular because she has had 3 boyfriends in 9 episodes which I think is just too many. Plus she doesn't even deserve Emmett! (I still don't know if you know what I'm talking about but oh well...) Emmett is so honest and sweet and she's constantly getting mad at EVERYONE for no justifiable reason. She lies, and is selfish, and I don't like her. Today I went to a baseball game with the fam. (I would have written our home team's name but to all the creepy Internet people reading this: sorry dudes but I'm not gonna tell you where I live. Haha! Thought you could trick me! Well not this time!) The game was really fun. (even though it had just rained so everything was slightly damp) There were a couple of men a row or two behind us that kept shouting thoughout the game, "COME ON JOE, WAKE UP!" No, there was no player named Joe. I kind of thought of it as "an average Joe" kind of nicknaming. When we won the game by 4 points I gave high fives to my broskas and parental units and looked back to see the dudes holding up their hands waiting for their high fives. (which I kindly gave them) After that my Dad gave us a mini tour of the citayyyy and went out for dinner. On the way home, Andrew took off his shoes to go to sleep and the whole car smelled like dirty socks the entire time. Had I not Immediatly assumed the pinched nose position, who knows if I would have survived. Well, I'm going to go eat a doughnut.
LOVEEEEEE,
Stephanie

Wednesday, 18 July 2012

Letter #9

Dear Erica,
I haven't written you a letter in a few days honestly only because I've been pretty boring. Nothing really exciting to tell you. Sunday after I wrote you that letter I tried to go to the mall with my Momma, but after she got back from visiting my grandma (who just had knee surgery--good times...) and by the time we were both ready to go it was 5:20. Lets just say we got to the mall at 5:45 and the mall closes at 6...Again, good times. But we hit up Kohls instead. I'm pretty sure my entire wardrobe is from there. Monday my broskas (aka brothers) came home from camp. I was glad to have them back. It was too much alone time with the 'rents if ya know what I mean. Its nice to not have all the attention on me. Then again, I do miss having the bathroom all to myself and not having to compete for the computer or TV. Yesterday I can't even remember what I did. I don't think I did anything really. Like always on these beautiful summer days I slept in until like 11 or 12 and hung out all day until my aunt and uncle came over (on their motorcycle no less) We were all super excited to see them since they only come in town a few times a year. Its kind of a long trip when you're coming from China. Today I was boring as usual. I woke up late and went to babysit. While the cutsie I was watching protested taking a nap with all of his might and cried for his mom he ended up falling asleep on the couch. Just as I had planned...maybe...(insert evil laugh here.) While he slept I got even more boring and started studying for the ACT. My dad bought me this HUGE book with some practice tests and general test-taking advice and strategies. To answer the question I'm sure you're thinking by now: yes, it really is as boring as it sounds. When the cutsie's older sister came home we played with play-dough and made stop motion films. I'm a creative babysitter, I know I know. (My day is just so exciting! I'm sure you are already asleep reading this. I might just fall asleep writing it...I need more dot dot dots and parenthesis to keep me awake..........))))) When I got home I tried to make some lunch for myself only to find that my kind and dearest brother had made mac n' cheese. For himself. Left the milk, butter, and his dirty dishes out. And to top it off left the dirty pot sitting on the stove. For MEEEEEE to clean if I wanted to make myself food. GRRRRRR! SIBLINGS SOMETIMES NEED TO BE PUSHED DOWN A SLIGHTLY STEEP HILL! (I'm not THAT mean, I only said a SLIGHTLY steep hill...) So yes, I cleaned the pot, put away the ingredients, even went so far as to unload a dishwasher and switch the laundry. (insert your vast praise for my kindness and overall perfection here) My day got even better when I tried to make myself pasta, got as far as trying to pour cheese onto the noodles to melt it when I realized that the freaking cheese was MOLDY. That's right my friend, I ate it anyway. AFTER I did my very best to scoop out all the green parts. Really, there wasn't that much  mold, but it stunk up EVERYTHINGGGG. Talk about the stinky cheese man!!! I was the stinky cheese GIRL. Grosssssssss. After that I became thoroughly obsessed with the TV series switched at birth, watched 4 episodes of that, and played brick breaker on my phone for a long time. Long enough that I'm too embarrassed to tell you how long I actually spent playing that dumb game. (For the record, I still haven't lost yet and I beat all 34 levels only to find out that if you beat the game it just resets and you're back to level one. Not like I still have 23 lives left when you only start with 3 or anything plus I currently have more than double my high score...I know. I have no life.) I just finished an episode of Beverly Hills Nanies. Another obsession. Okay, I'm done telling you about how I have no life. I'm going to go watch another episode of switched at birth.
Love Stephanie
P.S. If you only knew how many words I used spell check for in this one letter.....haha....oy.

Sunday, 15 July 2012

Letter #8

Dear Erica,
Last Sunday was the moment of truth. Flying home alone. 7 am waking up in the morning, slept in my clothes, gotta get outside. Ok, enough of that... I got into this van that drove me and a few other kids to the airport where I was dropped off (with Ross) at my terminal. I felt like such a dummy walking in holding some papers and tapping on the self check-in kiosk and trying to do something. I had to go to one of the airport people so she could help me figure it out. She gave me that look that said, "honey, you clearly have no idea what you are doing and are perhaps too young to be traveling alone. DIMWIT!" Maybe not the last part, but it felt like it. I checked our bags (and received the same look and the same "How old are you??") I made it to the gate though! All by myself! (sort of...I had Ross. But still!) I was so proud of myself! (I think this was the moment when I called you and told you this already, but you know what? You can hear it again.) I got on the plane and WALKED onto it from the ground. It was SOOOOO cool. I asked a lady to take a picture of us but my phone HAD to be a stupid dumb butt and not save the photo. STUPID PHONE!!!! I got home and made to baggage claim and claimed my baggage. (Sigh, I'm just so independent!) I took a nap when I got home and that nap was from 4pm until 10:30 pm. Then I ate dinner, and fell back asleep at like midnight and slept until 12. Monday I didn't do anything, just TOOK A NAP AGAIN. Man, I was just snoozing all over the place. I vid chatted with my roomies that night because I missed them already. It was so cutsies! Tuesday I started Summer in the City with D-bomb and we painted a building and got yelled at periodically for doing nothing. I know, I'm a troublemaker like that. RMTTY: Heath, peed on books. No no, Heath did not pee on the books, those are 2 completely different topics. Wednesday I slept in and didn't do much else the rest of the day. Thursday I went back to summer in the city and hung out with some kids at this school and they were SOOOO cute. I made a bff and took a picture with him. We bonded over Spongebob. See, there was a lady there talking about nutrition and she asked the kids if they had ever eaten pineapple. One of the kids asked what pineapple was, so I turned to D-bomb and whispered to her: its what Spongebob lives in! Clearly! And then precisely 2 seconds later the kid turned to the friend and said "Its what Spongebob lives in!" I just looked at him and whispered to D-bomb, "We're gonna be friends." We played freeze tag with them on their graffitied playground and I made a kid do 5 push-ups for cursing at a girl. I taught a girl to play piano because I'm an awesome person like that. (ok, actually it was just because her banging was driving me out of my mind) D-bomb and I hung out afterward and made Popsicle out of pop and ran through my sprinklers. Then we went to the pool and breathed a little. RMTTY: Taylor look alike? Friday I visited with both grandparents but in between the two I went to Birmingham!! I was even wearing the same dress as I wore when we went! Saturday I did nothing. At all. I stayed in my pjs until this morning. I kid you not. But what I DID do was I READ A BOOK!!! *insert applause here* I read a book. The DaVinci Code to be precise. I watched 2 movies also. 21 Jump Street which was HILARIOUSSSSS plus had Channing Tatum in it so it was automatically magical. My mom keeps calling him Channing Tatum-tot and it just ruins everything.  ITS NOT TATUM-TOT MOTHER! Its CHANNING BEAUTIFUL-HUMAN-BEING TATUM. I went kayaking and tubing this morning and am hopefully going to the mall now.
YESSS! I'm back on track. yay productivitiy! Btw, loved your fb message to me. Glad you're having fun!
Love,
Stephanie

Letter #7

Dear Erica,
I realize that since I missed a few days here and there writing to you I am writing about events that happened 2 weeks ago, which means I have 2 weeks of stuff to tell you and I need to stop with the procrastination! Ok, so 2 Tuesdays ago I was still doing art and fashion. I was probably finishing spray painting my shirt and cutting it to be cool. (They only had larges and as you may have noticed, I happen to be a rather small human being. This meant that I looked like I was wearing a dress when I put on my t-shirt so I hipstered up (I realize that is not a word) and cut it. P.S. I just had parenthesis WITHIN parenthesis. Craziness.) In fashion I worked on my dress. Later that evening (ew, that sounded wayyyyy to formal) we went to the movies and I saw People Like Us. It was a rather intriguing film which I enjoyed greatly. (I didn't cry or anything!!) Wednesday was...well... a Wednesday. It was just the usual. In art we basically just watched movies for the rest of the week since we had finished our t-shirts and didn't feel like starting anything new or being productive. Fashion I continued working on my dress. (Is that obvious? Well, in case you weren't aware, I was still working on my dress throughout the whole week) During electives there was a water gun fight which I sneakily avoided since I strongly dislike water in general. Most of the time. REMIND TO TELL YOU HERE: cursing, presents, accent, towels. Since it was July 4th (possibly one of my favorite days of the year, yay patriotism!) we went to a near by high school to behold some awesome fireworks. It was sooooo pretty and I bought ice cream which went perfectly with a warm night and pretty lights. It was a jolly evening. On the bus ride back I enjoyed talking to the French kids while they attempted to teach me French. Lets just say , even my "Bonjour!" sounded wrong. Grr. French is harder than it sounds. Thursday, well you know the deal. Movies in art and dresses in fashion. RMTTY: (like my abbreviation?) buses and flip flops, running into fireflies, secret spots, hallucinations, and walking solo. That night we had casino night, which although sounds like it would be fun, was borrrrrrring. I don't know how to play any of those games, so I played a round of bingo (...I know) and learned how to play one of the games which I played with a councilor and 2 French kids. This scenario was the definition of: mer. It wasn't unpleasant, just boring and...well...mer. Later that night me and one of my roomies ran (as we did several nights...and I'm not actually sure if this story took place on Thursday but oh well.) and we hung out on the swings and had a blast. Fridayyy we...wait for it... watched a movie in art. SHOCKER RIGHT!? In fashion I FINISHED MY BEAUTIFUL DRESS!! I brought it home and will proudly prance around in it for you when you come home. We all got dressed up that night and took pics which now reside on facebook. What I'm about to say comes completely out of chronological order, but I can't remember if I told you this before. One of the nights of the first week my roomies and I were extremely bored and it was only like 11 so we threw a party in the lounge which really bad speakers. It didn't work very well but whatever. Back to 2nd week. Saturday was pretty chill, I mostly packed all day and prayed haha. RMTTY: rocking chair, rain. I played cards with some friends and hung out. That was boring to even type. This entry is getting too long so I will end it here and start a new letter.
Hope you're having fun wherever you are on this planet right now!
Love,
Stephanie

Wednesday, 11 July 2012

Letter #6

Dear Erica,
Ok, I admit. I've been super bad about keeping up with this blog. I would like to extend my sincerest apologies. Anywhooooo, I'll do my best to catch you up. I know I talked to you on the phone about some of this stuff already, but what the heck I'll say it again. I left off telling you about my gross sunburn (which since then has almost completely healed--PHEW!) which was last Sunday. Soooo Monday I switched activities to art and fashion. Art was coolio right from the start. We began drawing and cutting out stencils that we would later use to create spray paint shirts. In fashion I started sketching out a dress that I was going to make. WE INTERRUPT YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAM FOR SOME BREAKING NEWS: ok its not actually news, or even newsworthy, but I was just taking a break from writing this (I think I have writers block. Is that even possible when you're just writing down the things you did?) to watch my true love Charlie McDonnel and OMGGGG this face he makes at 3:57. I can't even describe it. I just laughed so hard I almost peed in my pants. Not actually. But check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LV5O_rCV6Q&list=UUmQXOAse-VnzuXHebX5I77g&index=1&feature=plcp. Ok, calm yourself Stephanie. Its not THAT funny. Back to Monday. Monday night we went to the King of Prussia Mall (which happens to be the second biggest mall in America) which was pretttttty cool. While searching for a store that would sell aloe (for my gross sunburn) my friends and I found this awesome machine that looked just like the security machines that they have you go in in the airport that you have to stand with your hands above your head and watch that thing spin around you or whatever. You know what I'm talking about right? The new TSA security shindig? The X-ray do-da? Well it looked just like that except that it found your proper size in all different brands of jeans in all the stores in the mall. It was super cool. We found some cute clothes and tried on sunglasses with mustaches. My friend got a free pretzel because the guy at the cash register thought she was cute, and I bought a doughnut. The mall was so huge though, and we barely had enough time there that we couldn't really see a lot of it. :( Its 11:40 now and I have to be up bright and early to volunteer in the citayyy so I'll continue writing to you tomorrow! REMIND ME TO TELL YOU: bus ride, hair, anonymous
Love,
Stephanie

Sunday, 1 July 2012

Letter #5

Dear Erica,
Ok, I'm up to Thursday now.(I'm secretly writing this Sunday night, but we're going to pretend like I wrote this Thursday night)In music we went to a legit recording studio to record our song which was AWESOMEEEEEEE! It was in some guy's house so it was slightly strange and super cramped. There were like 4 other bands there while we were there and the only place to hang out was the teeny tiny living room. We were pretty good in our recording though! We got a copy of it on a cd which has been playing non-stop throughout the dorms. Apparently people like listening to us! And they also think we are really good! I would estimate that 5 times a day since the recording was handed out to all the music kids, I have been told that I'm "such a good singer!" and asked "Will you sing something for me?!" It's both annoying and flattering. For electives I went to "girl talk and venting with Danny" (the guy councilor's name isn't really Danny but for privacy reasons I won't say his name... I know I know, I'm being really nice and stuff by hiding his identity) At first, it was just me, Danny, and Ross, but eventually lots of other guys came. I feel that it is important to point out here that this was supposed to be GIRL TALK. It was so funny! That night we went to Dave and Busters. It was sort of fun, but I'm not really into arcades so I was glad to leave. At night my roomie and I went for a midnight run around the track. That's right! I'm suddenly into running! (ok, so fine it wasn't midnight...it was like 10:30 but before curfew and we just felt cool but close enough.) Friday was performance day for our band. I messed up the lyrics like twice but I tried my best to cover it up and kept going. Dance turned into planning a flash mob that is happening after I'm gone anyway so I just kind of waited for it to end. We didn't have any electives so I decided to spend forever running and hanging out, then decided to do some laundry. After finding out that I wouldn't have enough time to dry my clothes I quickly determined that I would only wash delicates and things that I could hang to dry. The problem is that even though I hypothetically knew how to do laundry, I had never actually used a washing machine before. After a minor panic attack I figured it out (sort of) and my laundry got clean. (it was so embarrassing. I first put in my clothes and then my money before putting in detergent so it started to wash without any soap. I freaked out and poured in a guesstimated amount of detergent into the bleach compartment--only to find out later that you could just pour the detergent on the clothes. Sigh.) I wound up hopping around repeating to myself "shoot shoot shoot! Why can't I figure out how to use a stupid washing machine! It shouldn't be that complicated!" but it was def an experiance. I did better the second time around the next day. Speaking of which, the longest letter ever continues, Saturday was SOOOOOOOOOOO (plus 100 more o's) boring. We woke up and prayed for 3 hours, then learned with our floor and councilor, then learned with the rabbi. By the time we were done, it was lunch time and straight after that was back to praying. I was going to explode. After we finally finished praying, I went jogging again with my roomie and then went on a nature hike with some other friends. We had a jolly time even though we were bored out of our minds. Saturday night as you may have guessed from being told that I was doing laundry again, was not a very exciting night for us. We did nothing except for sort of clean our rooms. We were going out of our minds--we literally were climbing the doors and screaming of bordom until we decided to start a dance party in the lounge and get as many people there as possible. We wound up with a decent crowed, but the iPod speakers were really quiet, there wasn't good music, and basically everyone else sat there but me and 2 other girls who danced like nobody was watching. Today we went to Ocean City and hit the Jersey Shore. It was lots of funsies (see fb for pics) and we ate lots of ice cream. Tonight we did some more nothing and I tended to my sunburned back. Eek. Anyway it's late and I'm going to sleep. Love, Stephanie