Struggles

I'm sure I've said this before on this blog, and I'm sure I'll say it again some time. This is a public venue. What I choose to publish here is visible to the world, and I'm aware of that. Because of that, the life that is represented on this blog isn't a full representation of who I am. And anyone reading this is probably aware of that. I don't think anyone really expects me to bare my soul on here every day.

With that said, I do a lot of writing that I never publish on the internet, or submit to a teacher. When I'm worried, or sad, or just having a bad day, I write about it. I'm a pretty wordy person. That's what I do. Sometimes, I go back and read some of the things I've written and think, "Wow, somewhere in here, there's a great blog post." Usually, that blog post is buried under personal stories and names, and other details that aren't appropriate for such a public space. But in there somewhere is an idea that is worth writing about, and worth expressing to the world.

And that brings me to what I want to talk about today. I haven't been doing much writing on paper, or on a keyboard lately, but I've been writing in my head (which I do sometimes when I can't actually write), and I have some ideas that keep coming up.

It all boils down to a collection of words for me. Right now, those words that sum up what I'm feeling are "loss," "uncertainty," "hope," "fear," and "choices." Here are a collection of my thoughts about those words. It's a tad incoherent, but it gives some insight into my psyche.

Loss. Why loss? Lately, I've gone through some experiences that make me feel like I'm losing some things from my life. A person who is instrumental in my life has moved away, and that's been hard. Being the word oriented person I am, I wrote her a letter that I gave her before she left. It started out as a quick note to attach to some chocolates, but it ended up being over a page and a half long. Why did I write that? Because it was important to me that she knew how much I appreciated her, and how influential she had been in my life. Because I needed the closer that writing it provided.

Uncertainty. I am constantly uncertain about how people see me. I think that I am relatively bad at portraying emotions, and I often worry that others don't really see how I feel. I worry that the people I love don't really see that I care about them. The uncertainty about where I stand is hard. That's another reason that I wrote that letter. I wanted to make sure she knew that she is important to me, and is a person I care a lot. I can't necessarily say those things easily, but I can write them.

Hope. Uncertainty takes other forms too. I'm also uncertain about much of my future. I just don't know what's going to happen. But I do have hope. That hope is hard to find some days, but it's there. I know that there are a lot of good things that can happen. Hope is also something I need more of. I need to be more hopeful, because it's really true that there are lots of good things that are yet to be discovered. I have moments when a friend texts me a random thought which clearly says that they have been thinking about me. That gives me hope that I'm not terrible at relationships.

Fear. Fear is the flipside of hope. I hope good things will happen, but I fear that they won't. When I don't know if people realize I care about them, will they still stick with me? Where will I be living in a year? Will I be happy? What if I can't fix all the problems I have? What if I can't keep up with all my classes? Uncertainty leads to fear.

Choices. In the end, there is always a choice. People have been telling me that for years, and I've spent plenty of time arguing against it. "Yeah, sure, I can choose not to be so worked up about this, but did you hear what he said?!" "Okay, whatever, so I can choose not to spend time thinking about this, but what will happen if I don't figure out what to do??" Those are still hard for me. I'm not good at choosing happiness. I'm not good at letting go of things.

But in the end, choice is often the difference between fear and hope. I may still be fearful, but by choosing to wallow in the fear, it's possible to close doors that lead to a more hopeful outcome. I want to be ready to choose hope when it comes knocking.  I don't want uncertainty to force me to choose fear because it's familiar.  Sometimes loss happens either way, and that's the way life is.

Right now, loss is at the top of my mind. And I'm choosing to be sad, because I need to be. Honestly, I'm not very good at letting myself be sad, but I'm choosing to allow it to happen. But in the long run, I'm trying to convert uncertainty to hope, while still recognizing that fear has it's place.

One Week In

Well, we're one week into school, and I'm a lot happier about it than I thought I'd be.

I wasn't really looking forward to this year. I'm taking Math and German, two classes I wasn't excited about. I knew college applications would have to take up a lot of my time. I knew from experience that 8:30 classes aren't a lot of fun.

But then school started this week and a couple of things happened. I realized that if I took showers at night, I could get up a full twenty to thirty minutes later in the morning. That may not sound like a lot, but 6:00 and 6:30 are a world apart.

I went to my first  few Math classes (I'm in Math 99, which is the second quarter of Algebra II), and discovered that not only do I really like my teacher, I also know a lot of the material already. I have also discovered the joy of 50 minute classes. Last year, I had all 90 minute or 2 hour classes, and those one hour classes are awesome. They feel so short!

I discovered that my Philosphy class has very little homework, and much of the grade is based on a few papers. Not just that, but the papers aren't  graded on whether you mentioned certain facts, or got certain things correct, but instead on the process, writing quality, and thoughtfullness. It is Philisophy, after all. I am feeling like this will be an easy A for me. Not just an easy A, but a fun one too.

I'm still nervous about German, but the teacher's pretty cool, and there are a couple of guys sitting by me who are really nice as well.

I spent a lot of time hanging out with friends, both those who I know from outside WCC who are going there this year, and those who I know from school last year. I like that I can be on campus most of the day and see ten or twelve people I know. With some, I might just wave and continue on, with others, I'll stop and chat for a few minutes, and some I spent hours hanging out with between classes.

I'm still nervous about this year, but school isn't as big of a worry anymore. I think school will end up being a stable factor, a place where I'm comfortable. Homework causes stress, but it's totally manageable.

For the first time, I'm really looking forward to this school year.

Tuesday 9/22 and Wednesday 9/23 {Beginning of School!!}

It happened! School started! I wasn't really looking forward to it at first (for totally legit reasons), but I've actually really enjoyed it so far. Some friends of mine just started this year, so expect to see some new people in here often. :P My general policy is to use initials for those under 18, and names for those over, unless they've asked me to do otherwise. I'm using 1st and last initials for most people, except for C, who I've been calling that long enough that it would be confusing to switch now.

Tuesday!

1. I got up at 6am (ugh), took a shower, and got dressed and ready. I grabbed a granola bar to eat later (I get nausous when I try to eat that early in the morning.), and caught the bus to WCC. I was there early, so I got some tea from the Kulshan coffee cart, and then waited until I could go to my math class.

2. Math went well. It was mostly just the syllabus day. Almost the entire 50 minutes was spent talking about the schedule, grading, books, etc.

3. I had an hour off, during which I met up with JC (it was his first day at WCC), and helped him find his classroom. I then hung out for a while before heading to philisophy.

4. My Intro to Religions class was also good. I think our teacher is sorta crazy, but I like him. He seems tough, but I think overall it'll be an easy class. The grade is based off of take-home reading quizes and a few (3 or 4?) essays, two of which are more like outlines.

5. I headed to meet up with people in Syre. We hung out in the Interculteral Center for a while before moving to a bench down the hall where C and I spent a ton of time last spring. JC and HW were there, plus C and I.

6. JC and C both headed to classes, then HW and I wandered around for a while. We checked out the new gym (which is super fancy), and then I took the bus to Barkely.

7. My mom picked me up and took me to an appointment I had. After that, we headed for my dad's, where we had steak for dinner.

8. I came home, watched Lost, took a shower, read The Time Traveler's Wife, and went to bed, totally exhausted.

Wednesday!

1. Got up a little later (showering at night gives me that ability), around 6:20, then got ready and took the bus to school. I got to school even earlier (I took the 7:20 bus today, while I took the 7:35 yesterday), and sat around tiredly for a while.

2. Went to Math class. After that, I ran into Ken at the bookstore while I was buying pens. I then got tea at the cafeteria, and hung out with Lydia for an hour before Philosophy.

3. Philosphy consisted of watching a movie about this guy named Thomas Berry who believed that the age of humans is ending, and the age of ecological reconstruction must neccessarily begin, and that this is in part because of the Judeo-Christian tradition. It's complicated. You can google him if you want to actually know more about it.

4. Directly after that I had my first German class. It was a little weird, since I've never taken a foreign language class before, but it was fun. I think I'll like that class.

5. After class, I met up with C and JC and talked for a while til C had to go to class. I hung out with JC for a while and downloaded Hearthstone (which took 35 minutes to download on the school wifi).

6. JC left for parkday, and I read my philosphy textbook for a while til C's math class ended. At that point, I briefly saw him (I yelled at him down the hallway) and then Jake, who I've known since last year, and who is also in C's math class, came over to where I was sitting and hung out with me for a few hours. We chatted about our parent's divorces, dating, friends, our futures, etc. Normal stuff.

7. At four, I went to a WWU personal statement writing workshop. It was aimed mostly at transfer students, so a lot of it wasn't applicable to me, but there was some useful stuff.

8. Mom and Isabelle picked me up and we went home and ate tacos. I took a shower and did some math reading, then watched Lost, read The Time Traveler's Wife, and went to bed.

At the time of writing, not all of those things have happened yet, but it seems unlikely that they will not. If things changed, you will be duly notified. :P

Friday September 18, 2015 {Happy Birthday Mom!!}

1. The day started early, when mom left for work. We took some time to shower, eat, and generally get ready, then the preparations began.

2. Today was my mom's birthday, and Isabelle and I had decided to clean the house. My mom is a wonderful person who does a lot of things. She works full-time, homeschools, and is a single parent at that. With all of that, there are some things that slip through the cracks sometimes, and I know it bothers her that our house is often not as clean as she would like it to be.

3. Isabelle and I had high hopes, and we did our best. Due to extenuating circumstances, our basement is still torn up and it's just generally a disaster. We knew there wasn't much we could do down there, so we focused on what we could do: the living room, dining room, kitchen, and bathrooms. It took most of the day, but overall, I was happy with the results.

4. When mom got home from work, we headed out to dinner at D'anna's, a terrific Italian restaurant downtown. Though mom didn't know it yet, I was texting people all through dinner (yep, I was being a typical teenager). I was texting the families of our homeschool group however, giving them updates on our progress through dinner.

5. When we left D'Anna's, we walked a few block to Pure Bliss for desert, and Mom was very surprised to find all of our friends waiting there! I am honestly a terrible lair, so the fact that we pulled off this surprise party without her knowing anything is kind of amazing.

6. We hung out at Pure Bliss for a few hours, which was really great. I spent a lot of it talking with HW about all sorts of geeky stuff, including iPhone (which he has) vs. Android (which I have), various apps and podcasts, flags (the New Zealand flag redesign is really pretty exciting to watch), dance, Doctor Who, computer games, and Star Wars. The Star Wars segments were mostly him getting really exciting about things and telling me lots of things about it, only a small portion of which I understood. I don't share his excitement about all things Star Wars, but I can appreciate and enjoy his enthusiasm. :P

7. Afterwards, some of us walked to the Commerical Street Night Market, which is pretty cool. We didn't stay very long, but it was neat to check it out.

8. The Winslows dropped me off at home (mom and isabelle went home without going to the night market).

9. Read The Time Traveler's Wife, and went to bed.

Happy Birthday Mom!! <3

To NaNo or Not to NaNo?

A few weeks ago, I had decided I wasn't going to participate in NaNoWriMo this year. I have way too much on my plate right now, and it just wouldn't be smart. But then over the last few days two of my friends have been trying to convince me I should do it.

Here's a little of my NaNoWriMo history. I first participated in 2011, when I was 13. I hit 50k on the morning of the 30th, in time to go to Girl Scouts. I had a solid story, and while it was absolutely terrible, I did see it through to the end. In 2012, when I was in 9th grade, I did it again. This time, I didn't have a plot all lined up, and I switched narratives a few times. 2013 was similar. I started with one thing, ended with something else. The best thing about that year was that I had my own laptop! The first two NaNos I did, I could only write on the shared family computer. I was really sick for about a week (I had to miss Thanksgiving, my family went to my grandparents house without me), and it's amazing I finished at all.

Last year, 2014, was my fourth NaNoWriMo. It was, by all measures, the most challenging one yet. I again switched stories part way through. Even when I have done that, I still call it a win because I wrote over 50,000 words of new fiction in November. The challenging part was that it was my first year taking college classes, plus the week after Thanksgiving was finals. I had a final exam, a research paper, and a group presentation all due the between December 1st and 3rd. I was also in a production of the Nutcracker (admittadly in a very small part), and had just finished a production of Dracula the last week of October.

On November 30th, I babysat for three hours, did some homework, came home, and wrote 9,000 words. That is something I'd like to never do again. Last fall, I also had a bunch of personal issues going on and drama with friends to deal with. It was a stressful time. But I still won (hit 50k) for the fourth year in a row.

So why not do it this year? Because I am now taking three college classes, instead of one, plus I have college applications due November 15th that are causing me a lot of stress. I also may be in a production of the Nutcracker again. My mental health has been all over the place, and it's probably just not a great idea to add more stuff.

But if I won this year, I could have finished NaNoWriMo five times before my 18th birthday. Gah, I don't know what I will do. I have people like my mom, and my friend C. (whose oppinion I hold in high regard) who think I should not do it. After all, I have won four times in a row. And, really, I can always do it next year.

Then I have people like my friend NV and HW who think I should just go for it.

The problem is that one of two things is likely to happen. One, I decide to do NaNoWriMo, get overwhelmed with everything else, don't manage to finish, and beat myself up about it for months. Two, I decide to do it, and do manage to win, in the process forgoing all sleep, food, and do nothing but go to school and write. Neither one is good for my mental health. In fact, both are quite bad.

But, maybe, just maybe, I do manage to make it work. If I can find time and make it happen, then what's there to lose?

In case you can't tell, I still don't know what I'm going to be doing this November. But be assured, once I make a decision, you'll be the first to know.

The End of an Era

Earlier this week, my Irish dance teacher officially announced that she is moving away at the end of the month. She's not moving too far away, but far away enough that she won't be able to drive to Bellingham to teach our classes anymore. I'm sure we'll all keep in touch with her and see her periodically, but our time taking class from her is coming to an end.

When I first heard this news, it was hard for me to process what exactly it meant for me and what my future of Irish dancing will look like. There are still a lot of things I'm not sure about, but I think that right now it's important not to think about the bad things that might happen, but instead think about the good things that did happen.

When I first started Irish dancing in September 2011, I was terrified. I totally didn't want to do it (as is the way with me), but once I said I would try it, I couldn't back out. The first few months, there were just four of us, Isabelle, two sisters who are friends of ours and who we've known for many years, and myself. It was the best possible group. If there had been people who I didn't know, I would have been much more likely to quit early on. 

By the end of that year, we had three more girls who had joined our class, and we all had a bit more experience. At the end of that year, we did our first ever performances at The Leopold (a nursing home in Bellingham), and at the Bellingham Highland Games. It was scary, but fun. A few months later, we danced at Birch Bay State Park for the first time, on an old basketball court.

Over the summer, we took classes in both light and hard shoes. Our hardshoe dance that summer was a hornpipe I thought I'd never be able to do. Hardshoe dancing terrified me. I couldn't figure out how to do half of the moves, and the ones I could do I could only do at half the normal speed.

That next school year, our classes shifted a bit. We got to dance in the big studio, which was awesome. We combined with the class above us, meaning that we were dancing with Hailey, and Heidi, two great friends. We did both light and hardshoe, and we learned a lot of awesome steps.

For much of that year and the next, I felt somewhat inferior to many of the other students because they knew more steps than I did. Heidi, who had been in the class above, knew a lot of steps we hadn't learned, and she taught them to the other girls. I often felt like because I didn't spend time outside of class learning extra things, I wasn't as good of a dancer, and the attitudes of the other girls sometimes made that feeling stronger. As time has gone on, I've learned many of those steps, and I've also come to realize that knowing less steps doesn't make me a worse dancer. The amount of choreography you know isn't directly related to how good of a dancer you are: your form and sense rhythm are. 

I slowly got the hang of that hornpipe, and two reels began to help me build my hardshoe confidence. My form got a lot better, and I got a lot better at staying with the music and counting out steps. In March of that year, we were invited to dance at The Firehouse Performing Arts Center in Bellingham with Northwest Ballet Theater. We were actually the main attraction, and got to do a 20 minute performance piece. Around that time, we also danced at several nursing homes and similar places for St. Patrick's Day.

Summer that year was great too. We danced at the Highland Games again, doing three shows in one day, which was exhausting, as well as at the Northwest Ballet Academy spring recital. We also performed again at Birch Bay State Park with the band Celtic Roots. This year, they had built a new stage that we got to use, which was awesome. Summer classes that year were fun as always. Our hardshoe step was a set dance called St. Patrick's Day, which is one of my favorite dances. Our light show step was called the Duke reel, which is a long, but fun dance for six people.

The third year was our best. We were back in the small studio, but that was fine, since that was really our home. I've spent a lot of time in that space. We learned some great steps, including a very fun three hand that we did to the Adele song "Rolling in the Deep," that has to be my very favorite light shoe dance. We didn't learn as many hard shoe steps, and honestly, I still don't feel comfortable with the ones we did learn. I feel like it always takes me a while to really grasp the hardshoe dances, longer than most of the other students. 

I often felt inferior in those classes, for various reasons, but Heather, our fabulous teacher, was the saving grace. She knew each of us well, and knew our strength, weaknesses, and insecurities. She was always great and knowing when to correct a mistake, and when to let it slide. She understood that sometimes it took me longer to grasp a step than the other girls, and didn't make me feel bad about it, and she also knew that I was willing to work until I got it.

In December, we performed an Irish piece in the Nutcracker. It was our biggest performance ever, to the biggest audiences we've ever had. It was great. In January, we danced for the Burns Dinner, a Scottish banquet that happens every year to fund local Scottish heritage events. We were paid to dance there, another first for us. 

The Nutcracker at Mt. Baker Theater

In March, we danced a small piece in the Spring Dance Festival at The Firehouse, and also at a number of nursing homes for St. Patrick's Day. Then, we hosted an Irish Ceili, which was totally awesome. 

In June, we danced at the Highland Games and the Northwest Ballet recital. In August, we performed at the Whidbey Island Highland Games, which we were paid to do. For the third year, we performed at Birch Bay State Park on a beatiful summer day. A few days later, a handful of us went to Boundary Bay Brewery to dance in the Beer Garden with the band Gallowglass. It was spontaneous, but fun, and it was so much fun.

Bellingham Scottish Highland Games 2015

Over the summer, we had classes too. We learned a very cool hardshoe set dance called The Blackbird, which I am still woefully bad at, and a great lightshoe eight hand to St. Patrick's Day.

 Heather and I at Boundary Bay Brewery.

Every year of Irish dance has gotten better and better. It has gone from an hour a week that I was terrified to go to to a large part of my life and identity. I'm an Irish dancer. That's who I am. And that's due to Heather. She's leaving us now, and that's sad. It' sad for us to lose her, and I'm going to be a bit presumptuous and guess that it's hard for her to lose us.

Over the years, we've gone from being a group of students taking classes from a teacher to a group of performers, led from within by one of us. We are a performance group now, and more than anything I'll be sad to lose that piece of my life. That's not to say that's gone forever, or even that it's gone at all. Who knows what this year will bring. But whatever does happen, I'm so happy that I got to dance with Heather these last few years.

All of this is why I am sticking with Irish to the bitter end. With Heather leaving, some of the people in our class are seriously considering leaving for good. They say that Heather is Irish dance, and that without her, it's not worth it. 

But for me, it is worth it. I certainly love Heather and the time I get to spend with her. I am very sad to see Heather leave, and I'm nervous about what the future is going to bring, but giving up on Irish would be giving up on Heather. She's spent the last three years teaching us and preparing us for the dancing world. We know how to dance, we know how to communicate with other dancers, and we've learned her dance style very well, modeling our own styles after it. 

We also have so much more we can learn from this new teacher. I certainly wouldn't say that I've learned all that I can from Heather, but I know that I have a lot that I can learn from our new teacher. Giving up on Irish dancing would be putting all time and energy Heather has given to us to waste. I'm certainly not gong to do that.

Reading Habits

This is one of those book tags you find on YouTube and Tumblr. I wasn't tagged to do this by anyone, but I'm just doing it cause it's fun. I might do a few more of these in the next few weeks.

1. Do you have a certain place at home for reading?
Not really. I mostly read either in bed or on the couch. I do a lot of my reading while on the bus, so not at home at all.2. Bookmark or random piece of paper?
Random piece of paper. I used to have a lot of bookmarks, but i don't bother keeping any any more since I always just end up using whatever I have on hand anyway.3. Can you just stop reading or do you have to stop after a chapter/ a certain amount of pages?
Usually I can stop anywhere, but I prefer to stop at the end of a chapter or section. 4. Do you eat or drink while reading?
Yes. I know you're not supposed to do that, but my reading time is limited and I often need to eat while I read.5. Multitasking: Music or TV while reading?
I prefer not to. I like having some ambient sound when I read, since I find silence distracting, but I don't usually want something else that's going to be vying for my attention.
6. One book at a time or several at once?
Usually more than one. Right now I'm reading three.7. Reading at home or everywhere?
Everywhere. If I only read at home, I'd never get any reading done.8. Reading out lout or silently in your head?
I prefer to read silently. I sometimes read out loud to my sister, but I'm not very good at reading out loud, so I don't do it often.9. Do you read ahead or even skip pages?
Only if it's a book I don't like very much. 10. Breaking the spine or keeping it like new?
Books are meant to be used. I don't see a point it making sure the spine doesn't break. It's just extra work, and I don't rally think it's all that necessary. 11. Do you write in your books?
I always write in school books. Since most of the books I read for fun are either library books or books I'm checking out from the local bookstore to review, I can't write in them. 

Some Changes

You may have noticed that there are suddenly a ton more posts in the backlog now. The reason is that I combined this blog with my blog Reading Writing and Graduation Highschool. I imported all posts and comments from that blog to this one. The reason is that I am finding it hard to keep up with both blogs at the moment. The serve somewhat different purposes, but I don't see why that all can't happen on one blog.

In addition, the title of my old blog, while it was appropriate when I started it, is soon going to be outdated.

The idea is that this blog will have all the posts that would have gone on both blogs previously. There won't be less of what there was, just more other stuff. I'm hoping this will make things easier for me, and that it will make things easier for people reading my blogs as well.

I also really, really, really hope that those of you subscribed by email didn't just get over 150 new post notifications. If you did, I'm really, really sorry. :(

Back to regularly scheduled programming!

August 30 - September 5, 2015

Sunday, August 30th

Sunday morning, we woke up and there was power! Yay! Mom tried to clean up the tree debris a bit, then we went to pick up my friend HW. Mom dropped us both off at NV's house. For a few hours, we played some games (including The Resistence!) with N and his brother and his brother's friends. Then the three of us hung out for a while and chatted about stuff. I love hanging out with them, but there were a few moments when I distinctly noticed the fact that I was the only girl there. It doesn't bother me to hang out with boys all the time, and most of my closest friends are boys, but there are rare moments where I feel a little out of place. 

Carolyn picked H and I up and dropped me at the house where I was babysitting. For the next three hours, I played with the kids, then the dad dropped me off at my house. When I got there, Lydia was there! The Winslows still didn't have power, so she was staying at our house.

Monday, August 31st

I got up and didn't do much for most of the morning. I did some random chores around the house, read, played some games on the computer. Lydia and I went to the library to volunteer at 3. When we were done there, we walked downtown to get drinks at Cafe Adagio, then took a bus back to Haggen, where mom picked us up. Because the Winslows still were out of power, Lydia stayed another night.

Tuesday, September 1st

Again, a pretty boring day. Lydia left in the early afternoon. 

Wednesday, September 2nd

The morning was pretty slow. I went to park day, where there was a torrential rain storm, thunder, and lightening. That was exciting.

Thursday, September 3rd

The morning was again rather quiet. In the afternoon, we went to our dad's house for dinner. We had some left over cake, since it was our step-brother's birthday on Wednesday. 

Friday, September 4th

We spent the morning cleaning up all the debris from the tree. We hauled a bunch of stuff in our neighbor's trailer to a place the city had set up for people to dump storm debris. We went to Boomer's for lunch, then came home to do stuff around the house. Mom and I went to WCC to buy books before realizing they aren't open on Fridays in the summer (augh!). None of us were at all hungry for dinner, so we just ate popcorn while watching Lost.

Saturday, September 5th

The guy who was doing our carpet came back to finish. I was at YARC, where we had pizza and cake, because it's our one year anniversary! Mom couldn't come pick me up til the carpet guy left, so I had to wait for another hour and a half after the meeting ended. On the bright side, I read 135 pages of the book I got! It's super fantastic.

Saturday August 26, 2015 {WIND}

1. Saturday morning, Isabelle and Mom left for the farmer's market right after I got up. Isabelle was going to sell her stuffed dogs.

2. After they left, I didn't do too much. I listened to music, read, and hung out for a while.

3. Throughout all of this, it was really, really windy. It was warm, probably about 70, but really windy. The power kept flickering on and off all morning, and at about noon, it went out for good.

4. We have these trees behind out house that are very tall, and that sway a lot when it's windy. Two years ago, we had one of them fall when we were gone (we were in Florida at the time), but it fell at such an angle that it didn't come near the house.

5. Today, a little before 1pm, mom called to say that they had closed the market early because the wind was getting too dangerous, and were sending everyone home. A few minutes after that, one of the trees in the back fell straight at the house. Luckily, it didn't break at the roots, but snapped halfway up the trunk, and also luckily, it was a very flexible but not too heavy tree. 

6. I was standing in the kitchen watching as it fell into the back windows of our house, and, amazingly, did not beak through, but instead slid onto the ground. It was still leaning against the house, but did no major damage.

7. There was lots of commotion for a little while as neighbors ran over and looked around and all decided that everything was fine. 

8. After mom got home, we did stuff around the house for a while, then went to Haggen to eat dinner, and then went to my dad's house, since he still had power, to change our phones.

9. We went back home,played some card games, read The Time Traveler's Wife, and went to bed.