Rambling Because Life is Good

Bonjour mes amis,

As the title states, this post is me rambling. I don't have any specific topic, I just feel like writing, and I haven't in a few days since this was my first week back in school. But really? Life IS good. I'm managing my classes (Yes, even Physics! ... Thus far) pretty well and on Monday during my open period I get to go chat with my counselor to get the information I need regarding independent study for AP French Language and AP Psychology. I've also been submitting some more applications trying to find a job. Hopefully something will turn up!

Extracurriculars are going well. I'm going to be throwing together a French club as best I can this year, at the wish of Mme Hanson, the district's French teacher. Then the other four days of the week will be teching after school for the school musical. I might audition for the winter one acts or just tech again, I have plenty of time to decide though. In late winter, Speech will be starting and it's my first year doing it even though I thought it sounded like fun last year. Oh, and the information for Spirit Players should be given out at some point next week! I'll have to make a post dedicated to that activity to give you an idea of what the hell I'm talking about.

My social life is ~*amazing*~ thus far this year. I caught the attention of my dream guy over the summer and while I can't give too many details, I can tell you, he is wonderful. Also, I noticed this week during school I'm much more outgoing than I have been in the past and it's nice to see that my hard work is paying off and I'm finally breaking free from my shell. In all of my classes I have people I can chat with (well, except APUSH but all focus is on the teacher in that one) and I always run into random people in the halls I talk to, even if I don't have classes with them. Plus, while I haven't made many plans with people, I am going to go shopping with my friend after school this Friday for new clothes and to get her a dress for Homecoming. We're kinda short on money so I'm just using my dress from last year, all I need are new shoes.

Oh, and did I mention my braces are FINALLY getting fixed tomorrow at 4pm? YEAH!!!! For the past month, the wires have been out of the back two brackets and as a result have been slicing and re-slicing open my cheeks. Pain comes most when I am forced to say "Quebec" instead of "Québec" (although mental pain always accompanies that no matter what) and while doing vocal warm ups in choir.

Yeah, life is good. :)

À demain,

Mlle Delphine

Dear Summer 2010

Bonjour l'été 2010,

School starts in eight days. I didn't get much of anything accomplished that I had set out to accomplish this summer. I spent time with friends but not enough. I got a piano but no stand (still!) and thus never finished learning a song. I didn't practice sight reading for choir. I never finished reading Wuthering Heights (I got bored after Cathy died...) or bought a second pair of jeans. Although to be fair, the jeans one will be cured in a few weeks. I don't have an awesome tan, and will yet again stand out like a sore thumb next to all the rich students at my school who spent their summers abroad or just vacationing in the states. I never got in shape, although I am going to work out today. I didn't find my job, but I am still filling out applications and turning them in. I didn't stick to my idea of being a choir director, but I'm not sure I want to risk not finding a job if I become a French teacher.

Thinking about all of this a few weeks ago, I was mildly disappointed in myself, but then I stopped to think of everything I did do this summer. I came to terms with quitting Synchronized Swimming. I improved my relationship with my parents. I discovered that Eminem actually has a song I like. I got to know my awesome friend, Kayla, better. I finally saw (and cried while watching) The Notebook, and P.S. I Love You. I got my license. I helped make my Renaissance Festival costume. I got in touch with an old friend of mine that I hadn't spent time with in years. I stayed in touch with a friend I've known since my early years in elementary school. I found a man who makes me feel beautiful, and as amazing as I think he is! I never gave up on getting a job, even though nothing has turned up yet. I learned how to cook French Toast and mini cinnamon rolls. I rediscovered my inner artist and discovered that I LOVE to paint. I managed to keep brushing up on my French, even though I've had no one all summer telling me to do so; I did it because I love the language. I've decided that I want to study in Québec, for sure ,100%. And, perhaps most important of all, I've worked to pursue my dream of studying in Québec. I've researched tons and I know I want to be in the Montréal area, and I have my first choice for a university already picked out. I know all of the legal processes I'm going to have to deal with when I do study abroad (Passport, Letter of Acceptance from a University, CAQ, Study Permit, but I don't need a temp resident visa). I've set goals for the coming school year (4.0 GPA, baby!) and you can be damn sure I'm going to do my best to accomplish them, even at the cost of my social life. I'm going to audition for every theatre performance this year because I'm *going* to get some sort of role this year. When I don' make it, I'll tech like last spring. I'm finally going to join Speech like I've always wanted. And, I'm going to join Spirit Players!

Yeah, I'd say summer 2010 has been a productive one. Much more than summer 2009, that was filled with endless partying and unfinished summer assignments. Now to go finish my summer assignments for *this* summer...

À l'année prochaine,

Mlle Delphine

No "If"s, "And"s, or "But"s

Bonjour mes amis,

Be it reading poems (Wild Geese by Mary Oliver), listening to music (Taking Chances - Glee, Cave In - Owl City), glancing at the school website ("The real meaning of travel, like that of a conversation by the fireside, is the discovery of oneself through contact with other people." -Paul Tournier), or even reading Facebook statuses ("Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -Mark Twain), I am constantly reminded of my dream to go to school in Québec.

So I'm going to do it. No "if"s, "and"s, or "but"s about it. Where there is a will, there is a way, and boy do I have the will. If it means I don't get a nice pair of shoes or new clothes for the school year, if it means I have to continue playing my piano by sitting on my bed, if it means I have to hang out at home and save some gas money, if it means I have to skip lunch here and there... I'm going to find the money. I'm going to go to Québec for school. I filled out a few more job applications tonight and I'm going to pick some others up tomorrow.

I'm going to make my dreams into reality.

À demain,

Mlle Delphine

Tagging: Not Just for Facebook Anymore

Bonjour, mes amis,

I was just looking at random blogs and there was one saying she got "tagged" to answer a survey thing, kind of like how Facebook does it. Except at the end she tagged everyone who read it. I guess I can, I don't really feel like posting anything else super interesting and it gives me an excuse to start adding more than boring text to my posts. Allons-y!

1.What shoe size are you? Quelle pointure êtes-vous?
Size 8 - 9 depending on the brand, but usually 8 or 8 and 1/2.

2.Where do you work? Où est-ce que vous travaillez?

I wish I worked.

3.Favorite piece of clothing you own? Qu'est-ce que votre vêtement préféré?
My fedora, of course! Excluding accessories, I'll go with my newest shirt. Black, racerback with ruffles on the chest, loose fitting with the elastic on the bottom. Makes me wish I had some necklaces to layer with it.

4.Your favorite blog? Votre blog préféré?
I love reading all of my friends' blogs, but honestly, Two Beans or Not Two Beans wins this one.

5.Do you have any pets? Est-ce que vous avez animaux domestiques?
Yep! We have the family cat, and then I have a kitten named Sir Galahad. He's adorable even though he's not really a kitten anymore.

6.How many siblings do you have? Combien de soeurs et frères est-ce que vous avez?
I have a brother (25), a sister (22), a brother (19), a step-sister (11), and a half-step-sister (17). What's a half-step-sister? It's my step-sister's half-sister, of course.

7.If you could live anywhere where would it be? *Too lazy for conditional tense*
Québec. I love you France, but right now, I'm day dreaming constantly of college in Québec.

8.What were you doing before this? *Too lazy for French*

Ironically, tagging my friends on Facebook. It wasn't a survey-type thing, though, it was Henry Thoreau's "Friendship." :)


9.Your favorite food? Votre nourriture préféré?
Perogies, hands down. The real kind though, homemade, not icky frozen ones.

10.Do you have a middle name? *Hey, I don't have to write in French*
Yes I do.

11.Your favorite websites? *Lazy*
Facebook, Blogger, Youtube, StumbleUpon, Gmail, Dirpy, and College Fashion (no particular order to that).

12.Who do you tag? *Lazy*
French Bean, E, and Kayla!

Wow, I'm much more tired than I thought. Good night blogger, tomorrow I will catch you up on today's events!

À demain,

Mlle Delphine

Thus Far in my Quest to be Employed

Bonjour, mes amis!

Alright, I kept mentioning the job but never actually writing about it, so here it is. Wednesday, I got a phone call from Cub (it's a grocery store) around 10:30 in the morning. That's rather early for a girl who stays up until 1 or 2am regularly. Anyways, the guy on the other end of the phone introduces himself as Matt and he begins the phone interview process for me to become a cashier.

Matt: Name a time you had a big project to complete, and tell me how it went.

Me: Well, *Stifles big yawn* in my english class we had this optional project to do, *Stretch* ...

You get the picture. Well, he had great things to say about me, so he went ahead and sent me on to the interview process with the manager at the store. We originally scheduled it for the next day at 3pm but it turns out that there was a big all day "meeting" (I found out when I arrived they had done lots of wine testing) and so we rescheduled for Friday. At 10am. *Groan!* But I was too excited to be brought down by the fact I was getting up early for a job I didn't have, so Friday rolls around and I get dressed up and go to my interview (mind you, I woke up at 8:30 to get up and look nice and awake!). This man was very pleased with my availability and the like, and he even introduced me to the woman who would be my direct supervisor if I got the position. He said he would call "today or tomorrow." The rest of Friday afternoon I spent clinging to my phone like I was a mother with her newborn child. No call. Saturday I wake up, and start to think they're not going to call. Joy. So I try to talk to a friend about it.

Me: ... Yeah, and they really liked the fact I'm pretty much open whenever!

Justin: If you don't get the job they just found someone with more work experience, I know all about operating a business. That includes the hiring process!

Alright, so I've never actually been employed before... But c'mon, I woke up at 8:30am, got ready to go, and made it to my interview with fifteen minutes to spare and a smile on my face. Finally reading all of those silly news articles paid off! I felt confident, I didn't fidget, I didn't smile too much but I did when it was appropriate.. Things like that. And they really liked what I had to say.

Sunday comes, and I've more or less forgotten my hopes of the job. I wake up this morning to my phone buzzing.

Me: *Groans, smacks phone* .. Wait.. *Leaps out of bed, clears throat* Hello?

They had five people interviewed for the position. I was "very highly ranked" but didn't get the job, however, he wants me to get interviewed at another store for a produce position tomorrow. He said I'd be stocking shelves and that sort of thing. Most joyous day.. But hey, even though it's about twice as long of a drive (if not a little more) at least it's at 10:30am so I have time to get there without waking up earlier than before.

À demain,

Mlle Delphine

Non français... je suis fatiguée.

Yiruma; Reflections

Bonjour, mes amis!

I've been listening to this song on repeat all morning. And I was listening to more of Yiruma's pieces last night. It's eerily beautiful, the way it make me feel so peaceful and just forget all the worries the world holds. This is why I love music the way I do. This is why I could imagine myself dedicating the rest of my life to music... choir is definitely a favorite, getting to use your own body to create this type of magic is describable only with music itself. Yet, I've always loved the sweet sound of the piano.

I played the clarinet in fourth grade and liked it, but I hated practicing. I tried the flute the next year but I wasn't a big fan, so in sixth grade I returned to my clarinet. In seventh grade I gave up band, and therefore my instrument, in order to have other electives since I knew I wanted to learn French. How cruel, to make me choose between my two biggest passions, French and music! So for a Christmas present that year, my father signed me up for piano lessons. While I liked playing at the actual lessons, I hated practicing at home on our piano. It was out of tune, the keys were worn and chipped, and some of the strings must have been loose because a few keys, including middle C, you had to press hard on quickly to get any noise out of them. My teacher never knew I didn't practice, and she still called me a natural. I think she was just being nice, yet at the same time, I did quite well. Dad promised to fix it up but never did. He's forgetful and we aren't made of money. So, I quit piano lessons when the school year ended.

The next year I started voice lessons. I liked to sing but I was very nervous. I slowly became more comfortable singing with a piano and my voice teacher, but I still couldn't practice at home. My teacher was from New Zealand and she traveled back home for the holidays. I chickened out of calling her a month or so later, and we never heard from her again. We never got our money back, either. Little did I know, those voice lessons would help me get into the choir of my choice in high school.

I went to three Halloween parties that night, my sophomore year, and this was the last and the best of the ones. I went with my then-boyfriend who could conveniently drive to all of these places. He was also in band and choir, and he planned on majoring in music. At the party, I was sitting at a table with him and some friends who were chatting, and the friends got up to go dancing but I wasn't really in the mood to dance. Instead, I heard Cascada's Everytime We Touch, and started singing it with the best quality voice I knew how, just sort of having fun, you know? But he leaned in close to me to listen and I pulled away. Just like before, still rather shy when it comes to singing around others, though I'd gotten better. I kept singing. He did the same thing. I started laughing. Third time, I decided to ignore him and kept singing anyways. He told me I should join choir. So I did (with some debating, of course).

After some rushed practices with him and an old friend, the director gave me my voice check and decided to put me in the more experienced choir. While he felt that I was still at the other choir's level, he figured I would quickly outgrow them because of my prior music experience. I truly hope he was right about that, and I do feel like I grew a lot this year in my musical abilities. I had another voice check at the end of the year which would determine my placement in choir next year, either the same one or up to Concert Choir, which is the best and only mixed choir we have at the high school. This time instead of critiquing me, he actually complimented me. I'd say the hard work paid off.

As for summer? I'm dieing without choir. Every time I get in the car to go somewhere, I turn on the radio and sing along. An alumni was going to start a summer choir but never did. I begged my parents to buy a keyboard, fully intending on using it. Unfortunately it didn't come with a stand or anything, so we don't have any place for me to place that has a decent enough height got me to work with. If I get this job, which I will write about tomorrow, I plan on putting 1/3 of every paycheck away for college. The rest will be used for gas money and other things. The first thing I want to buy is a stand and stool for my keyboard. Then I can learn another one of Yiruma's beautiful pieces, "River Flows in You." The second thing I want to buy is an AZERTY keyboard. French and music are my two passions in life. I hope that somehow I can make them blend into my future, no matter what career I pursue.

À demain,

Mlle Delphine

Je suis desolée pour le petit utilisation de français! Mon réflexions était pense d'en anglais, alors je les écrivais en anglais.

AZERTY Keyboard

Bonjour, mes amis!

Premièrement (Firstly):

Je veut ce clavier (I want this keyboard). Pourquoi? Parce que c'est français!! (Why? Because it's French!!) I need to use everything in my reach to stay on top of my french skills, and I must say I hate typing in French because of the accents and such. Now I don"t have that problem! Although my typing is much slower, so this will likely be a much shorter post than last.

Deuxièmement (Secondly):

Mon clavier (keyboard) est Français!!! Okay, so I went cheapo with cutting up the paper, but fingers crossed I MAY get employed tomorrow! I will write more of that once I hear back from the company. Sorry for the bad lighting, but... voilà, mon clavier!

À demain,

Mlle Delphine

Wanted: Bilingual Spanish-English Telemarketing Representative in Aisle Six

Bonjour, mes amis!

Please, allow me the pleasure of a quick rant or simply skip this paragraph. Why do I need five years of experience to answer a telephone and do other clerical activities? Why do I need a degree to operate a cash register? Why must I learn Spanish to work at McDonalds? I'm dedicated. I need this job. If I want to go to college and have anything at all resembling a life so that I'm capable of helping others and making some sort of an affect on this world, I need money. And to get money? I need a job. If you know any company that's hiring, I would be ecstatic to work for them! J'ai besoin d'un occupation!

I do hate to rant, though, and my day has been quite lovely so I'll leave the unpleasant adult worries at that. Today I drove to Kayla's house with my recently obtained driver's license! We hung out for a few minutes before quickly deciding to go to Target. Here we bought some random things. I got a fedora (as pictured to the right) and she got a floppy awesome hat along with a flyleaf CD, toilet paper, and a few other random objects. While wandering the store, we accomplished many things. I had my first light-saber fight in the middle of an aisle, for example! We also took one of those giant bouncy balls from the metal cage and played catch in the middle of the same aisle. We (read: I) accidentally knocked down some things so we decided we should probably move along. After picking them up, of course. On our way back to her house and then when I was heading home, I wore my fedora and sunglasses-- très chik-- and felt like an epic ninja spy lady. It was legit. Then I went out to eat at Lakeside Supper Club in Montgomery with my mother, step-father, and younger step-sister (whom I will now just call my little sister)! Six ounce fillet mignon avec les champignons et frites (with mushrooms and fries). The strawberry smoothie was also *amazing*! What I'd do to get that recipe!

While I was sleeping on my ride home, my dearest friend Kayla had disaster strike her unexpectedly! She sang the National Anthem at a local raceway, and while walking in the bleachers, caught her foot and managed to injure both of them badly enough she can't walk without severe pain. Thankfully on our way home, we stopped at the grocery store and got chocolate chips. Tomorrow I will be making Puppy Chow and going to Kayla's to watch some movies with her! (:

À demain,

Mlle Delphine