April Showers

It feels like it has been such a long time since I have blogged.  A lot can happen in two weeks.  The most important thing that happened was that I visited the two schools I was deciding between, and have finally made my choice!  I am so excited that I paid my deposit, signed up for orientation, booked plane tickets, and submitted my housing application.  I honestly cannot believe the entire college process is over, and I am happy with the result.  I am attending one of my top choices, and I was accepted into their honors program!  

While I am happy that college is all settled, these two weeks have honestly been pretty rough.  First of all, I am very stressed about all of my AP exams.  These exams are so important to me because if I get certain scores, I will be able to take more advanced classes and not have to repeat much of the course material I learned this year in math, science, and French.  I have a lot of studying to do before the exams, but the worst part is that even after the exams, I will not know my scores until July, which feels eons away.

Another random disappointment is regarding my favorite TV show, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.  Way back in January, I wrote that “Now that I am 18 I am old enough to enter the “lottery” to try and get tickets to see the show taped live in New York!”.  It is extremely difficult to get tickets.  You can enter at 3pm every Wednesday and by 3:01pm, the show will be sold out.  Even if you manage to enter, you are still not guaranteed to get tickets.  Well, I finally had a free Sunday (when the show is taped), so I entered the lottery.  I managed to submit a request at 3pm.  There was a certain day they said I would be notified by if I won tickets, but I never heard back.  Then, Saturday night, the day before the show taped, I received an email that they had an extra pair of tickets available if I wanted them.  I was so excited, but by then my dad who was going to take me had a commitment, and we could not go.  I was so bummed out.  When I watched the episode I would have attended on TV, I was even more sad because Lin Manuel Miranda (the writer/star of Hamilton) made a guest appearance!

However, my sadness over not being able to attend a show taping quickly faded that day when we received a call that my Godfather unexpectedly passed away.  I am extremely close with my Godparents.  They are basically family.  We get together for Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, and for many other events all throughout the year.  They come to see me skate and perform in drama shows.  I had just seen him when he came to see me perform my solo in the skating show this year.  I am still in shock that he is gone.  

It has only been two weeks, but so much has changed.  I feel like this is the beginning of a new chapter in my life.  Hopefully these April showers will bring me some May flowers.

Concerts

For the past few weeks I have been talking all about college.  While there is less than a month until I make my final decision (yikes!), I have decided this week I want to talk about something fun.

Many people look forward to vacations, sports games, and movie premieres.  I however, get the most excited about concerts.  I adore going to concerts.  I love music, and watching someone perform the song I have been listening and dancing to in my room live is always so surreal.

I also enjoy trying to get the best seats/tickets possible.  I cannot afford $1000 tickets or anything like that, but I always try to get the best tickets I can afford.

One of the fun things about concerts is going to all different types; ones with different genres, different audiences, and different venues.  I have see everything from Justin Bieber to Josh Groban, and I have been at every kind of venue from small places like the Paradise Rock Club to large stadiums like Gillette.  Each is fun and special for different reasons.

This Tuesday I went to the Charlie Puth concert; one I had been particularly looking forward to.  For those who do not know him by name, he wrote and sang the hit song See You Again from the latest Fast and Furious movie.  This concert was at a small venue similar to the Paradise Rock Club with general admission for about 400 people.  I was really excited and nervous because I had purchased a VIP package.  I have only once before bought a VIP package and this one was even more special than last one.  Myself, my friend, and four other people were brought into a small room to meet Charlie and listen to him sing an acoustic version of his hit “One Call Away”.  We were all so quiet and nervous.  I was the first one to walk into the room, and I could not believe he was just sitting there on a small couch, right there in front of me.  He sang the song beautifully.  Then we all had the opportunity to take selfies with him.  Again I panicked for a moment because I could not find my phone!  Once I finally found it, I handed it to him so he would take the pictures.  I am pretty sure that if I had had to hold the phone, my hand would have been shaking.  Then I gave him my little gift I made him.  Again, I froze I could not find the words to explain my gift, but he asked if it was a coaster and I told him “No, it’s a magnet”.  He told me he would put it on his fridge which was sweet.  

After this intimate experience, we lined up to take the regular professional meet and greet photos.  Again, I went first and I asked him if we could do a pose where we hug each other.  He said yes but we were off center so we had to shuffle (while in our pose) to move to the center.  Then, for some reason, they threw us all back outside in the freezing cold for an hour.  Once I could no longer feel my toes, they let us back inside, and I was able to secure a spot front row and center.  The entire experience was surreal, and will go down as one of my favorite concert experiences ever.