Weekend Review: Dancing, Shopping, and The Giver

It's been another busy week.

On Monday, I went to ballet class, volunteered at the library, and went to Irish dance class. This week was the last week of summer dance classes, and so Monday was my last day until fall.

Tuesday, I had Driver's Ed.

Wednesday was park day, and then I had rehearsal for Dracula.Then, because my mom was hosting a "Mom's Night" at our house, my friend's dad picked us both up after Dracula, and we went back to one of the other family's houses, where we joined a bunch of other kids and dads, and we ate dinner. Then, most of the kids and dads went to the driving range to for some golf lessons, but some of us stayed behind and hung out for a few hours.

Thursday, I had another rehearsal, and my mom and I went driving before that.

Friday, my sister had soccer in the morning, and after that my mom and I tried out the city buses. We took the bus to the college,  from there downtown, which is where the library and my dance studio are, and then from there back to where we started, which is a few miles from my house. There isn't a convenient bus stop close to my house, but there is one a few minute drive away. Then, we had an Irish dance performance Friday night in the beautiful Birch Bay state park, on a stage overlooking the water.

Saturday, we went shopping with our grandmother.

Today, my sister is doing a mud run, and then I am going to see The Giver with a friend this afternoon. I'm a bit nervous about The Giver, because I've heard some not so good things, and the trailer wasn't promising, but I promise to write a blog post about it tonight after I see it.

This week, I read two books I really liked: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, and Thirteen Reasons Why. Thirteen Reasons Why is a book I read for the first time probably five years ago, but it was fascinating to read it now, and connect with it in a whole new way. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry was a beautiful book that made me so happy and so sad at the same time. I am writing a review of it right now, and it will be published later this week.

NaNoWriMo Update: Two-Thirds Done! + Mini Life Update

Let's try to pretend I'm not almost a whole week late on this one... I'm just going to combine Homeschool Friday posts again, since I did not get the one for last week done.

According to the calender, November is 2/3 of the way over, though my word count does not reflect that at the moment. You can always see my current word count in the side bar, and right now that is 26,332 words. This is a lot less than I would like, but I'm not yet TOO worried about it. In 2011, I had 26,928 words on the 20th, and in 2012 I had 31,479. The 2011 numbers are very close, and I still managed to come back and win that year.

This NaNoWriMo has been the hardest one yet. My story is coming together, sort of, but my other life keeps getting in the way. School has been demanding a lot of time and attention, and it remains my first priority most of the time. I have also been sick nearly the entire month, which has resulted in having several days with no writing.

I had a cold in late October which never quite went away (there was a nasty lingering cough), and last week it seemed to come back in full force again. I don't know if this is something totally different, or if I have relapsed, but I have been feeling pretty terrible for the last week or so, which has negatively effected my writing.

I have also had a lot of other stuff going on that I have been doing. I agreed to go to three Scottish Country Dancing classes so that I could perform with them in three weeks at the port festival (I have never done any Scottish before in my life, though it is similar to Irish, which I have been doing for over a year now). I also have several choir performances coming up. I know I have some local readers, so as the time gets closer, I'll post some dates and places that you can come see me sing or dance if you so desire.

NaNo itself has been going okay. My novel is still very strange, and I sometimes hate it, but I am feeling a little bit better about it. Last Thursday, I went to a Write In at a local coffee shop (my first in three years of NaNo), which was fun. I was nervous because I knew I would be the youngest person there (I was, the rest of the people were college students), but it was still fun. One of the people asked where I went to college when I first got there, which boosted my confidence level a bit.

I was going to go to another one last night, but this cough I have has gotten so bad that I didn't think it was a good idea. Even though I didn't feel too bad, I would certainly have disturbed everyone else with my literal non-stop coughing fits. If I feel up for it, I'll go to the Thursday one again this week.

I think I'll go and try to get some school done. I think I am going to block three thirty to five as my dedicated writing time today, so I have until then to do as much school as possible.

How are you all doing on your novels? Are you feeling confidant, or are you getting nervous?

What is Perfection?

I have so many posts that I have promised to write on all sorts of subject, particularly book reviews. I am getting super behind on posting this summer. Unfortunately, I'm not going to get started on that list today, but instead I have some more ramblings. Bear with me, and things will go back to normal after school starts (on September 2nd).

I have a problem. I worry too much. I plan too much. I think too much. Sometimes those are good things, but more often then not, they hold me back. For example, my mom goes back to work in a week, effectively meaning that summer is about over for me. My first reaction is to freak out. I naturally would spend that whole week worrying about how boring and sad things are going to be when she goes back to work, and I have to get up early and spend the days with my dad.

I need to stop doing that. My goal this week is to not worry about that. I want to enjoy every day of summer, and spend time with my mom while she is home all day. When the day comes, and she has to go to work, it will be sad, and it will be hard in lots of ways, but there is no reason to worry about it now.

Another way these tendencies of mine hurt me is my perfectionism. There are many things I am terrified to do because I am afraid I won't be perfect. When I started dancing last September, I was so nervous because I was sure that other students would be better then me, or would learn faster then me. Over the last year of dancing, I have found that I really love it. It's true that I am not the fastest learner in the class. I don't have the best rhythm. But my teacher has told me that my form is great, and that my best quality is my persistence. 

It is still hard sometimes, because I know that most of the other girls remember the choreography better then I do. I know that they will probably perfect the new steps faster then I will. But I also know that once I learn a step or a dance, I will never forget it. If I put in the time, I will learn it, and I will learn it well.

I need to stop worrying about being perfect. Dancing has helped, but I have a long ways to go. The stress I feel when things don't go according to plan is not right. I know that I don't need to have perfect grades, or the best posture, or the best hair, and in a way, I don't even care. But something in me cares so deeply.

I'm working on it. It may take a lifetime, but I've already made the first steps. What is perfection, anyway, and why should I need to attain it?

I hope that was not too boring. :) A little window into my brain!