Playing Catch Up

Oh my goodness, has it been a crazy week. I've been out on a choir trip and now comes the lovely phase of life that follows any trip: playing catch up. So, instead of stretching my brain to come up with any brilliant post, I'm simply going to update you on what's been up :)

And the reason I have ketchup for my picture, is not just to make a pun. I actually got really excited one day when Mom said we were going to play ketchup in school. I was really bummed to find out it was catch up :P Now for the post.

~Life~

Is life ever not crazy? I memorized the alto (lowest female part) of around 15 full harmony songs in two months and performed them all around the states of Kansas and Colorado last week. It was SO fun, but it was also really exhausting. I have no idea how I managed the Washington DC tour two years ago, because this one was a breeze in comparison and we were all wiped out! 

Anyway, it was very fun because two of my siblings went as did all four of my grandparents and three of my cousins! It's my grandfather's choir and my cousins are in it, so that explains it :) We went to the Air Force Academy, my aunt's church, multiple retirement facilities, Pike's Peak, the Royal Gorge, Garden of the Gods, Focus on the Family, and probably some other places I've forgotten :P It was all very fun and low key, so it really wasn't a big deal that Papa forgot to give me and my sister one of our songs. We just "watermeloned" our way through it. (For some reason if you mouth the word "watermelon" in choir, it's supposed to be very hard to tell that you don't actually know what you're doing) ;) It was a new experience to have absolutely no idea what I was doing in a performance!

Unfortunately, the altitude finally got to me after being blown away at the Royal Gorge. I had already decided I was not going to succumb to peer pressure and cross the bridge because I had done so before. But the theatre was on the other side and I really wanted to see the video about the building of the bridge and the fire that came through. So I crossed despite the 50 mph winds and the slats that you can see through 1,000 feet below. Not my idea of fun. Just to give you an idea:

Needless to say it was really scary and hard to breathe and I felt pretty queasy from the motion once I finally made my way back across. I gave our last concert of the tour a shot that evening, but ended up stepping off after the second song. I threw up in the hall and then twice more once I made it back to the hotel. It didn't phase me that much because that has always been my body's response to anything new or painful. I just felt bad for the nurse who got stuck with my mess, but she was really sweet about it :) Seriously though, there were only two doors in the entire hall. No bathrooms, trash cans, and all outside doors were locked, of course, because they don't want residents drifting. Oh well. It really helped me catch up on rest and make memories!

~Goals~

Hehe. So when I signed up for the 300/4/30 challenge initially, I didn't take into consideration that I was going to be on the road for a week. Unfortunately, I did miss March 15 due to a crazy schedule and then altitude/motion sickness in the evening. And my very prestigious self doesn't even care :P I have forced myself to write every other day, though, and have always exceeded 300 words, averaging more around 4-500. It took me much longer to get my 300 words in on the trip than it should have since I was without a laptop and was writing by hand in a van of crazy teenage girls. But my brain's word generation speed tends to be about on par with my handwriting speed, so it worked out :)

As far as reading goes, I accomplished a whole 300+ page novel on the trip! I was so excited, because I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to read in the car, but my medicine did the trick :) I was so happy, because it's been months since I've felt like I could really sit and read. The book I finished was called Where Treetops Glisten and contained three novels each by a different author about a different sibling during Christmastime of WWII. I thought it was a very nifty idea and had been told to check out Sara Sundin, one of the authors, anyway. I had been wondering how co-authored novels worked, and now I know a little more :)

~~~~~

I hope you had a little more low-key Spring Break than I did! What did you do? Anything that needs to go down in history? How is your 300/4/30 challenge coming? Have you ever survived the Royal Gorge? If you haven't . . . you just have no idea ;) 

I also added a short story to My Writings page (you'll have to skip (or read) all my WIP stuff first). Or you can read all the entries over at Bethany's. She does some really awesome writing challenges :D