Seventeen Muses

I was bored and couped up in the house for a time so I decided to make this.

Finally, I got my site up, Sayarynth. It's going to be a fairly static portfolio site. Not all the pages are up (clearly) but it's the first time my site has had a layout since March.

I love summer for the ability to get into all my old hobbies again, such as web design and photography. It's turning out to be a pretty good post-Italia summer. Not at all bad.

Visit Sayarynth.com?

This post is not for the light-hearted.



Cinque Terre, Italy: the most beautiful place on earth.



Home of blue, sparkling waters...



...and sharp rocks...



Hey there rocks, please meet my back which is just dying to be ripped open by you.



6 numbing shots, 3 horse-sized stitches, and a pain-killer shot later...



And there is going to be a most excellent scar from this.

I got back to the states and got the stiches removed two weeks later. I quote, "Wow, look everyone, Italian stitches! What the heck are these made out of?" says the doctor.

But who cares because the Italian doctor rode up on a bike. How awesome is that?

Go see it. Blew my mind.

I move out mid-September. I love my home, I love my parents, but I could not be more ready to leave this place and live on my own. There is nothing left for me here and college dangles like a carrot in front of my face. I am ready to start the rest of my life. Being here feels like waiting at a roadblock that is stopping me from obtaining my freedom and progress.

Don't get me wrong, I'll miss home when I move out but after Italy I know that I'm ready for it and I can handle it. I mean, I got three stitches in a foreign country surrounded by people I had known a week! But that's a story for another time.

For the time being, I have to try and enjoy this summer of waiting, try and get a job and recover some money. It won't be easy but I know I should try and savor time at home before I go away to college. Two months.

Basically the coolest thing since sliced bread.

I got into California at 10:30 last night. My return flight from Italy took 2.5 hours more than the trip there which was devastating and I was about an hour late to New York which gave me an hour to get through customs and on my next flight. It was hellish. And then the airline left my suitcase in New York so it's landing soon and being sent over to us today. Everything of value is in that suitcase. I have a headful of stories to tell so I'm going to begin sifting through my pictures and posting some things.

The return is bittersweet. Yes, it feels amazing to be home. I took a shower without flipflops last night and slept in real PJs instead of a reduced version of what I wore that day. My towel got me completely dry before feeling soaking wet and I put on clean socks. My bed felt like the softest thing in the world and my pillows actually raised my head more than an inch off the mattress.

At the same time, there is a part of me who will always feel like Firenze is my home. These last three weeks were the most intense of my life. I have two homes now and while I am glad to be in the one most deeply rooted in my heart, part of me will always yearn for Firenze.

For the time being, I am glad to be home and I need to be home. I'll explain in my stories later but I am pretty beaten up right now and if I didn't come home today, I could have been in some serious trouble out there.

Glad to be back. :)

Sorry I can't be there. I'm going to try my best to call you!!!

Love,
Angela

Tomorrow I leave for Italy bright and early in the morning. I'll arrive there about 3:00AM California time on Friday morning (it'll be noon Friday in Italy). I won't be able to blog, update, or talk to people in general for a month. I come back July 3rd close to midnight.

CIAO!

The highlight of the night was the guest speaker.



Koli Palu worked at my school so he was asked to speak at my graduation as the keynote speaker. It was truly the coolest thing that happened to me that evening.

And then I stayed up until 5 in the morning eating gummy worms, getting my mind blown by performers, gambling, and playing on jumpies.

Next stop: Italy.

High school is officially over. I'm on to bigger, better, and badder things.



And I could not be more ready.

The perfect metaphor for how I feel now that it is almost over:



I'll give you a hint: I am not the cheetah.

From the Academy of Sciences trip.





I wish I were a butterfly. I could decide who I wanted to be just with a flap of my wings.

This is from our SF Academy of Sciences trip I took with my folks and Robyn. This is the view looking up from the aquarium into the jungle. It was spectacular.







More photos will be coming!

More showers in May?!?!?!



Something is wrong with this world.



Where are you, summer???

I was so happy when winter finally came to an end. The harsh cold and frost receded and everything bloomed. Now that spring is ending, I'm having a hard time believing I was excited to see it in the first place. It rained like crazy. So here's hoping the rain is gone (especially since it's supposed to rain on graduation) and that the sun will rein from here on out until September.

My mom's Clementius has lost all its lovely petals. These were taken in April when it was in full bloom.







My mom and I found a gap in the flowers and we decided to stick our friendly feline Skittle in for a picture.

"Where the heck are you putting me?"



"I don't belong in there."



And then the panic sets in.

"Lemme go!!! Lemme go!!! Lemme go!!!"



"I hate you all."



If a cat doesn't want to do something, you cannot force them (unless of course you enjoy scratches on your face). Even the pincer bug didn't want its picture taken.



Farewell spring. I can't say the rain will be missed but the flowers sure will (except by Skittles).

Between the raccoons that ravage our gardens looking for grubs and the blue jays that drink the hummingbird food, we ought to have purchased a gun by now. Last week, the case to buy a gun was strengthened with a little visitor we had.



What's that?



A bird???



A WILD TURKEY!!!



He clucked around our yard for a while but if we got too close or too loud, he jumped the fence and was gone into the vineyard. I love where we live. The snakes are worth living with for the occasional wild turkey sighting.

I might possibly will cry.

Sunday night, I will be glued to the TV. Who cares about the critical chem final I have the next day? Lost takes precedence. I have four years to study chemistry but there is but one more night of Lost. I will chow down on leftover cake and ice cream. It will be epic.

I'm going to go insane.

31 days. 31 days. 31 days.

I decided to go easy on this month because I have so much happening. This month...

I have AP exams.
I turn 18.
I have finals.
I graduate.
Is the last month before I leave for Italy.

Here goes my resolutions!

...

Really, I tried. I can't think of anything I need to get done or anything I want to pressure myself into doing.

I guess there's no real resolutions this month. I'm just going to keep doing what I've been doing and focus on reading, writing, school, and enjoying life.

I think I can do those things. And I have a feeling this is going to be a very, very good month.

Following up on my April Resolutions! I did pretty well this month. New resolutions coming out tomorrow.

1. Make a firm, happy decision with colleges and submit my intent to register before May 1st so that I avoid any and all server fiascoes
Check!
In the words of Snow Patrol, Just Say Yes (funny because this song just came on Pandora--it's a sign!).

2. Get my running up to 2 miles by the end of the month
Check!
Funny because I did this today on the last day of the month. Today I ran a 5K, which is about 3.1ish miles. So not only did I complete this, surpassing my 2 miles but I ran 2 miles of it, intermixed with walking of course. I got my run up to two months but out of the 3.1ish miles I did, I ran a solid 2! This is a huge accomplishment for me. I've never done a 5K. Next weekend I want to walk a 10K with my mom.

3. Finish Grapes of Wrath, Watership Down, and one other novel
Half-Check!
I finished both Grapes of Wrath and Watership Down but I have not completed a third. I'm a bit over halfway through Ender's Game and I'm going to try and finish it tonight but I may finish it tomorrow.

4. Finish Nightingale
Check!
I did the impossible!

5. Make an awesome senior project presentation!
Check!
I was freaking out about it but I got up there and I was myself and I feel like I did justice to Nightingale. I passed with Honors!

6. Create a days-till-I-graduate countdown
Check!
I did this on our refridgerator whiteboard.

It's updated as of today! 20 days!

7. Apply to a few scholarships
Check!
I applied to three very good local ones, all of which I have a chance at getting. I also recieved another small check from a local organization for being student of the month.

8. Blog more... ?
Failed...
Uhm, no comment.

9. Take more photos (at least once a day???)
Failed...
No.

10. Work on doing one pull-up/one push-up
Half-Check!
I worked on both for sure. I still can't do either. I guess that's not entirely my resolution but I would like to do one of each at some point.

Hey, I'd say I did pretty good this month! Lucky because this has been a really tough, long month. Needless to say I'm looking forward to May. I have AP exams next week and my birthday is the week after.

I finished Nightingale.

I don't even know what to think or feel but it's done and printed and beautiful.

150 pages.

109,000 words.

2 years.

Wow.



Now what?

My presentation on Nightingale is Tuesday night and that morning, I have another presentation for Rotary Club for winning a Senior Student of the Month award where I have to also talk about Nightingale. Big day on Tuesday. I'm very excited and very nervous. I haven't done public speaking in about a year so I'm going to be in front of my mirror today for at least four hours. Wish me luck!

Felines live in such a delicate balance between cuteness and laziness. Typically it seems they lay in one trait or the other.

I haven't decided which Skittles is.



I'm leaning towards lazy.

I've been getting a lot done recently (except for blogging). I have a couple other posts planned but that would require digging up my camera and effort.

I ran 1.3 and 1.5 miles Thursday and yesterday respectively. I haven't run a mile in about three years. My leg muscles feel a bit like Jello and ball bearings mixed together but I am unbelievably proud of myself, albeit, not proud enough to post my times. I will say that day two, I ran the first mile in about 2 minutes less than one mile had taken me the day before. I'm trying to work up to two miles by the end of the month but because of the patchy weather, I'm not sure that'll happen.

Nightingale is actually going well. I feel the end and I am unbelievably sad. I have six scenes yet to write but I've been putting it off because I know when I'm done, the emptiness of not having a such a massive project on my hands will come.

In other news, I graduate in 6 weeks. It could not come sooner. I've decided that I hate high school and I'm bored in all of my classes. AP tests are really the only things that matter anymore. I'm counting the days till I walk across that stage and get the insignificant piece of paper that really isn't a good enough reward for the life-consuming work I've put into the last four years. Leaving the country a week later is the true reward.

My school's Prom is tonight which means I'm going out to Thai food tonight with Robyn (and thus not going to Prom). Neither of us have had Thai so it's going to be a real experience. I'll take pictures of my food and post them to make you jealous and hungry.



On a totally random note, this picture makes me miss my short hair like no other. It also makes me miss the amount of eyeliner I used to wear. Why don't I wear eyeliner anymore?



And this picture makes me miss my long, beautiful, straight hair. I'm determined to have long hair again but I hate, hate, hate the growing out process. It's awful and wavy and cut stupidly right now. I can't have hair like that in college though. I'll break my hairbrushes and spend all my limited budget on shampoo.

I leave for Italy in two months.



I know that seems like a long time but I cannot contain my excitement.