I'm Only Me When I'm With You

OH MY GOD.

Shut the front door!

Yesterday was the most unbelievably best day EVER. EVAR. You don't have any comprehension of how great it was.

Allow me to put it in some perspective. (P.S. For context, understand that H and I have done pretty much no talking since laser tag.)

Well, last last night, I had a mini sleepover which Lauren, which involved watching "The Usual Suspects", which is one of the most badass movies around, and oogling Robin of Hotsley (otherwise known as Robin Hood) on the same named new BBC series. Anyway, we woke up, and went and volunteered for EcoTexas for two hours (NHS hours, hella yeah!), and then, as we were leaving, found an estate sale, where I got myself an absolutely gorgeous cobalt blue eighties suit jacket. Why, yes, you're saying. This sounds like a pretty good day.

YOU DON'T KNOW THE HALF OF IT.

Went home, chowed down, and then Lauren calls about going to see "Percy Jackson". I clean up and get dressed so quickly it would have made your head spin. (Seriously, you guys. About 20 minutes to finish eating, shower, and get dressed.) Lauren picks me up like a boss in her car and we zip over to the movies. Suffice it to say that the movie was pretty freaking awesome. Doesn't hurt that Percy Jackson is that cute guy that was in the British film version of "Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging".

Anyway.

We chillax at Border's for a while, then I go home and watch the Office baby special, and try to decide how to spend a giftcard for books.

Blah, blah, blah, you say. This still seems nice, but pretty normal. Well, we haven't even gotten the positively stellar part.

Now all this time, I know that I'm going to this surprise 18th birthday for H that night, but I don't know whether or not to get him a present. Earlier I called a couple of people, but it sounded like no one else was getting him something, so I hadn't. Closer and closer to the party, I began to repent, so 15 minutes before I'm supposed to go, I go to Congress and end up getting a fairly awesome present: hazelnut wafer-cookie-things and a Cold War unicorn dueling set. I runnnnn home, and I go to the house.

Well, there's a wicked sweet party set-up at his house, with a bouncy castle and karaoke inside, and a ridiculous amount of food and pretty much everyone who's ever set their foot inside the theatre. Everyone hangs and waits for H, which ends up taking FOREVER to show up, but it's all good. He seems pretty damned surprised when we all pop out and yell, "CONUNDRUM!" at him.

Party, party, party. I'm mostly hanging with girlfriends. Then I catch Bonnie up about my business with H, and she is definitely of the mind that he's being stupid and should totally ask me out. I agree emphatically, and she promises to ask S.D. about it. Party, party, party, and she pulls me aside again, and says that she has talked to S.D. and he says H really likes me, considered it a date, and only hasn't asked me out again because he wants to come up with a really awesome second date.

I am appropriately flabbergasted and happy. Bonnie promises she and S.D. will get on H's case about asking me out.

Party, party, party. The girls are singing karaoke, and that's kind of a downward spiral into Backstreet Boys songs. The boys are playing Magic (!!!), and I finally slum it and go to watch them and maybe convince them to go be humans or something. After a while, they do, in fact, stop and me and the boys go out to the bouncy castle, where they do a beautiful rendition of the pirate version of "I'm On A Boat". When that's over, we trickle/run inside to hear another song beautifully rendered: S.D. and H doing "Elephant Medley". That goes predictably horribly (otherwise known as great) and then as the Moulin Rouge karaoke CD keeps playing, Hutch and I end up singing "One Day I'll Fly Away". People drift off, and eventually it's virtually just him and me and we sing "Come What May" together.

Here I am thinking, "OH MY GOD."

But wait! There's more!

We join everyone else upstairs to play Beatles Rock Band, which is the BEST GAME KNOWN TO MAN. I sing a whole bunch, gradually getting worse, but have a blast. A bunch of the guys are sleeping over, and I end up being the last girl there, but everyone seems cool with that. At around midnight fifteen, my parents show and I hug H goodbye. Then our parents are talking, and we're in another room, and H asks me out on another date. Well, actually, it's more like he asks to ask me out (he's gonna email me), but whatever. I beam, and there's a moment where we maybe almost could have kissed, but we don't and maybe that's just as well, since we're not entirely good at this liking each other business.

And thus ends a day that could only be called legen-

Wait for it.

Wait for it.

And I hope you're not lactose intolerant, because the next part of this word is-

Dairy.

LEGENDARY.

Sweet Disposition

Yes, the last couple of titles have been the titles of songs I am currently adoring. Be forewarned- this trend will continue.

Anyway, what I have to say here is not terribly exciting, as I am without new news, per se (more on that later), but I wished to just let the breathless millions know what I was up to, as this blog provides me with the same sort of narcissistic outlet that Twitter does for a bunch of other people, only this allows me to drone on much more incessantly!

Onward through the fog- H remains silent on the ISSUE AT HAND, which is terribly distressing. He doesn't have the same awkwardness about him that he had post-Homecoming, but let's just say we haven't really gotten past "Hi" in FOUR DAYS. He seems perfectly nonchalant, too, which just continues to drive me to distraction. I swear, I was walking through the hallways today, feeling melancholy about who else, but then I see him, and tried to be extra cheery and inviting, like, "Hello, wouldn't you love to tell me all about your feelings?", and he looked all at ease, and said, "Hi," and kept walking.

I mean, how do you deal with that?

I'm kidding, of course. Ugh. The only problem with the written word it is the lack of inflection.

Anyway, my mental deadline for him is Friday. So boy best start talking....

On other fronts, the Jazz Band Dinner is on Saturday, and I will be singing two songs, "'Till I Fall in Love" and "Satin Doll", and I am rather frightened at the prospect. Oh dear. One more rehearsal, and I am rather hoping we decide to call the whole thing off, or at least postpone for a couple of more weeks. Also, I really wish H would come, and I know he won't. (We're sold out, and I'm not sure he even knows I'm singing at it.)

Second item of notice: after seeing the PBS/BCC adaptation of Emma online, I am completely besotted, with both the story in general, and that particular interpretation. The cinematography was positively gorgeous, and I thought the two leads, Romola Garai (Emma) and Jonny Lee Miller (Mr. Knightley), both gave beautiful, subtle, textured, and compelling performances. Also, my deep fondness for film and TV soundtracks certainly includes this series, as the theme (best represented in this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImAlox_ZlJ4) is perfectly lovely.

Finally, wouldn't have "Hamlet" ended differently if Ophelia had had a sassy gay friend? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnvgq8STMGM)

Let Her Dance

I am all smiles. Not ten minutes ago, I was dropped off at my house after THE most fantastic maybe-a-date I have ever experienced in my little life. Was it a bajillion times better than Homecoming? (Which was awesome in its own right.) YOU BETCHA.

Oh, I'm so happy, I'm not even ashamed that I just used a Sarah Palin catchphrase. Or, not THAT ashamed.

Anywhoooo, H picked me up at 5, on the dot, and this time, there were no slightly awkward pauses in our ride there, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Blah-de-blah-blah, we arrived at BLAZER TAG ADVENTURE CENTER, and went in, and bought us some tickets for the game that was starting in a minute (with excellent coupons, too) and voila! We played a game with five other players, and more or less acted as partners, taking out the little punks, and landing 1st and 2nd place. (I was number 2.) Then I completely failed at one of those driving games, we hydrated ourselves, and then returned to the battlefield......where we were the only players.

It was all very silly, as part of the time we just walked around it together, trying to find the secret jewels, but we did have a fierce rivalry going by the end. And WHO came up on top? This awesome chick named Rosalind, that's who! It was most excellent, and after re-re-hydrating, we departed....for Guero's, my positively favorite Mexican food restaurant! (By his suggestion, too.)

There was a twenty minute wait where we sat outside, admired the motorcycle badasses, and compared notes about Skymall surveillance devices, and then our buzzer buzzed and we got ourselves a little two person table in the center of the restaurant. Though it foreeeeeeeeever for the food to arrive, we contented ourselves with copious amounts of chips and salsa (3 baskets, yo!) and talked about plays and colleges and the Olympics and D.C. At one point, we lapsed into silence because the yumminess of our respective tacos and enchiladas was overpowering, but we soon regained the powers of speech. At the end, H asked me if I wanted to go out to dessert with him, but I sadly had to ask for a Lenten raincheck. He ever too generously picked up the tab, and then we departed. He drove me home, telling about theatre silliness, and then walked me up to my door. It was all very charming, even though there was, regrettably, no making out, nor any real physical contact at all at our parting.

In short, I had an extravagantly lovely time, and though I have no idea what he thought tonight was, I think it is safe to say that he doesn't hate me, and the ball is fairly in his court. (If he doesn't follow up by Friday, I swear to God.... I'll take over responsibility at that point.)

I have laughed so heartily, and run so much, and digested such deliciousness tonight, and I really and truly like this guy.

God Only Knows

He wants to play laser tag with me.

It's certainly a good start.

The Trouble With Love Is

WHAT UP, FAM. I am back.

Yeah, happy Singles Awareness Day and a belated St. Valentine's! For whatever camp you find yourself in.

Do I have anything interesting to say?, you wonder. Some madwoman hid in my attic? Or, at very least, an affair going on behind my friend's backs?

Oh, that sounds just like me.

But I don't. I have been spending my time either waiting for those apparently much more chivalrous and excellent college gentlemen to stumble into my life or bemoaning all of my recent romantic lackluster.

Honestly, as a teenager, it is a lot more difficult to "celebrate" being single. There aren't any teen dance clubs or anything. You don't meet anyone new. You languish in whatever hole you've dug yourself into, if you're the languishing type, or you have to cool your heels until you move onto a bigger campus.

Why, Rosalind, you seem to be in a rather dreary mood about love, you may be saying, with a vaguely British-looking affronted look on your face.

Aagh, I'm listening to the "Love, Actually" soundtrack. What do you want, people? Pluswhich, I stayed up til 4 in the morning last night watching the FANTASTIC mini-series "Lost in Austen", about, guess what, a modern woman thrown into "Pride and Prejudice", and it's not like that has completely ruined modern life for me or ANYTHING.

ARRRRRR. I am too young to be this embittered.

(This is the point at which my mood completely shifts because a new song comes on.)

AW YEAH. You know what is a classic song? "JUMP FOR MY LOVE", by the Pointer Sisters. Go turn it up real loud, you hear? Get down like Hugh Grant!

WHAT UP, FAM. BACK FOR GOOD. JUMP FOR MY LOVE!

Where do we go from here?

"...How do we carry on?

I can't get beyond the questions,

Clambering for the scraps in the shatter of us collapsed,

It cuts me with every 'could have been'."

-lyrics of Wait It Out, by Imogen Heap

Okay, I'm laying it on thick because I didn't write anything sob-story-ish when I did feel lower than a grasshopper's knee, a couple of days ago.

Yeah, Operation Get A Man/Fish In The Sea was a major bust, guys.

If you didn't already know that.

I told S.D. that I liked him very, very much on the 11th or 10th, and then had to wait FOUR DAYS only to be told that though in some other situation, he'd be interested, he's "not on the market" right now.

I nodded politely like I had any idea what the crap that meant.

He was all concerned that we stay friends and I assured him we would (in retrospect, a bad idea), and attempted to leave with my dignity.

However, as I walked away in the direction of my bus (we were talking outside the theatre), there was one of those metal tree support poles on the ground, and I wickedly stubbed my toe on it.

So I had to hobble away with my dignity, which, I'm sure, would have been fairly hilarious if it had happened in a romantic comedy and not in REAL LIFE.

BLURG.

Following day: Couldn't look at him at all, and walked around the theatre like I was always on a mission and couldn't spare the time to talk to anyone, much less him.

Needless to say, he is giving me my space. Which I guess I appreciate in that "Oh, why are you bothering? The damage is done!" sort of way.

I'm just counting my lucky stars for Christmas break, right, ladies and gents?

Happier notes commencing.

My house is ridiculously Christmas-y, and I couldn't love it more! My mama and I have been belting all sorts of songs in the car as we race around town getting the final presents and finishing the final errands! I have the swankiest, prettiest, Parisian-est new blouse from Strut, thanks to the gift certificate that Circe gave me for my birthday! I got a wooden kazoo in the White Elephant gift exchange we had at the last Hamlet rehearsal! My papa just came home with a new copy of "tiny titans"! (That's right; I read children's comic books. They're awesome!)

Basically, the break is fantabulously excellent thus far, although it got off to a dubious start.

Bet you didn't think this entry was gonna end this well based on the beginning!

Guess I pulled a switcheroo! Put that in your juice box and suck it!

P.S. Love to all my friends, wherever you are spending your holiday! I hope you are having lovely times!

I think I'll try defying gravity.

Dear lovely people who care about me dearly,

Oh, I haven't talked to you recently. Not because I don't love you. I do. So much. With a deep swelling in my heart.

"I feel so much better than before!"- Legally Blonde

I have cajones, yo. I may have been talking some nonsense about hobos and velociraptors (see Amani's blog, if you can) a few days ago, but now all I'm doing is singing songs from "Wicked" and other musicals really loud because I feel empowered!

To introduce another, even more blatant- I mean, awesome- set of code names, let's talk a little about Smutch and Blenser.

Brittney came up with that, and now I love her forever.

Anyway, talked it up with Smutch and was all, "I had an awesome time with you, but we don't really talk, and I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page, that we're not going out or anything."

And he was all, "...Yeah."

Seriously, that conversation was over in under a minute.

Not because it was terrible, but because it was so straightforward.

WHICH WAS AWESOME.

And liberating.

And I was so excited afterwards that I ran halfway around the school. True story.

So Operation Get A Man (or, alternately, Operation Fish in the Sea) goes into Part 2 tomorrow. You can guess what that is. (Hint: conversation with Blenser.)

And I think I'm gonna be fine.

I mean, I know what I WANT him to say, but I have this funny feeling that I'll totally survive if he just wants to be friends.

I guess I just feel to badass to sink over something like that.

After all, I got a freaking Tower of Power.

So....

BUH-BLAM!

Biiiiiiiitch, please.

Lots of love and Christmas cheer,

Rosalind

P.S. You can have Hanukkah or Kwanzaa cheer if you prefer.