Well I had a terrific birthday on Thursday!!! =D

Just too bad I didn't have time to blog about it straight after, but yeah. ^^ I brought some of mom's awesome brownies to school to give out, and I'm sure that had something to do with the extra number of smiling faces around the hallways, but apart from that, I was really moved by how many people wished me happy bday, and would have whether the brownies were there or not. Throughout the day I think I must've received at least a hundred good wishes from people... pretty incredible.

When the first bell rang in the morning for us to go to our lockers, my Little Women mom, and two out of three sisters were waiting at my locker to tackle me with a great group hug. Then in first period, Mr Philip (drama/choir teacher) brought the choir in to my Physics class to sing happy birthday (actually this one is owed more to Lily and Wanissa, cuz they're the ones who told Mr Philip). I was shocked. Stunned. Open-mouth-flabberghasted. Like, WOW.

At lunch, we had our student council meeting. Suddenly Joanne's phone rang, and it was Mr Mark calling from the States: Mrs Malia was having their baby! Yeah, so their kid and I now have the same birthday, hahahah.

Last period, I was surprised again when Mr Robert had the class sing some funny happy birthday "remix" that he learned when he was a waiter back in the US. Apparently, it was Alliya who had told him it was my bday. =}

My dearest Beth and Meg (actually Ruthanne and Joanna), during their studyhall period, had gone and made a big "Happy Birthday Jo!" poster and stuck it on the green room mirror, where I saw it when I went for drama practice after school. Thanks, you two, really. Thank you. :D :D

So yeah, it was a wonderful day, and I LOVE YOU GUYS A LOT!! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Not to mention the blog tags, and the people who also wished me on msn and facebook. =) =) =) Quote Bobin Lee, "You're halfway done through your teen's.. and over to your twenties." Lol! Wowz...

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Yesterday, Friday, school was good too. After I got the second period AP Calc test out of the way, my day felt light as a feather. They showed some funny videos in chapel... in drama class I had a good laugh as dad worked with Jay on his German accent as Professor Bhaer.. after school I hung out with Becky D, had a really good talk, both jokey and serious. After that I went to Central with my family. I bought a book with some of the bday money mom gave me. ^^ It the World Atlas of Birds, and NO, before you call me a nerd, it's NOT for studying purposes. I got it because now I'm interested in drawing birds, creating my own, especially since I learned how wings and feathers worked. When I was at Asia Books, I saw this:

And had to take a picture, cuz "John Brooke" is the name of one of the Little Woman characters. ^^

We went to Pizza Company for diner, and saw Mr Robert there. We invited him to join us at our table, though he was pretty much done with his meal already. We all yaked for awhile, then he left. Then a bunch of my school friends showed up, around the time when my family was just done eating. Mom and Dad and Jana went of shopping for awhile, so I stayed with my friends. Met a new person named Danny there, a former ICS student who went away after 5th grade. He's back to Thailand on vacation, but is leaving soon. He's the one in the white shirt, bottom left. Continuing clockwise: david kim, Meeka (you can't quite see her tho), Richelle, Tim, Adam, May, Nathan.











Back home, dad wanted to watch Meet Dave. (Pirated dvd :P) So we all gather in the room, load the thing, go to language setup... and we're offered audio in two languages: Thai and RUSSIAN. XD XD XD XD And the English subtitles were so messed up too, and we decided to watch another movie. This time, dad chooses Mutant Chronicles. "Nah, it's not violent," he says. HAHAHHA, it's as bad as the Saving Private Ryan opening battle scene, except that it lasts a lot longer. XD After 20 minutes of the blood and gore and pretty language, mom made him press the stop button.

So we watched Little Women instead. ^^ Very interesting.. it helped me form a more 3D, realistic world in my head for which to base my acting on. Next week I'm gonna invite our drama cast to come over and watch it all together, cuz it'll do us good. Wheee~

Today, early morning, 5 am, I woke and and was trying to get ready for school. And then I realized it was Saturday. WHAT A FEELING to flop down on the pillow again and go back to sleep!! :D I woke up properly at around 10, had breakfast, did some hw.. then ended having a nap again just because the weather today is so nice. :)

And now, back to work. Hehe. ^^

My last day as a 15 year old! DOES TIME FLY OR WHAT. I rmb, with rather a laugh, back when I read the book, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 and 3/4, and thought, "Wow... it must be so grand to be 13 and 3/4 years old..." Lo and behold, 13.75 came and went, as did 14, as did 15, and tmr will be 16's turn.

As usual, I'm feeling that I don't want to leave this year, because it has been such a good one... I don't want to be called a sixteen-year-old, now that I've finally gotten used to being called a 15-year-old.. after I'd had to move on from my previous comfort zone of being called a 14-year-old... and before that I had so detested having to cross from being a 12-year-old, to being a thirTEEN-year-old. Because I didn't want to be a TEEN.

Yeah.

But you know what? Life goes on, and on hindsight, ever year has been as good as, or even better than the last. It therefore logically follows that next year will be even better than this one. I guess we're all just a bit edgy about crossing over into something unknown, something new. Cuz stepping from this year of being 15, into the next 12 calendar months of being 16... well yeah, it feels like I'm moving from my nice comfortable (albeit slightly cluttered) room, into a new empty one.

It's really cool tho, and nice, and comforting... and uplifting and encouraging... the number of people who somehow have been wishing me happy birthday the last few days. "Happy birthday Ariel! In case I forget on Thursday. =)" or, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY I'M GONNA WISH YOU HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVERYDAY FROM NOW UNTIL YOUR REAL BIRTHDAY! :D:D" XD Funny, dear, wonderful friends.

Today we finished the drama read-throughs. Tomorrow we start working more specifically, more intensely on individual scenes. :D Woop! This is gonna be 12 weeks of drama, almost everyday, hard work, tiring hours, but I'm gonna LOVE EVERY MOMENT OF IT. Ah, and then of course, when it's over... I'll probably cry about it for the next 12 years.

Yesterday (and then continued today), after we finished our first read/walk-through of the entire script, we were told to do the whole thing again from the beginning, but this time at hyper speed. Literally, like on fast-forward. Sooo funny! :D Apparently, my speech is still very clear even when we're all going that fast.... "because that's how she always speaks at home" - quote, my loving father. XD

And now, I shall get back to my homework... history... lots of it.... =S

So. I conclude this last blog post of my 15th year. I praise my God for bringing me this far, teaching me, helping me grow up right and well... thanks to all my friends, all the pals who stand by me... I'll miss you, 15, :P. You were a good year. I don't think 16 will sound quite as cool as you, but it's time to let you go. (Ah, I think I like 15 because that's Ichigo's age.) Dad just came in to say a prayer for me... reminding me and also thanking God for, all these years, honoring my parents' prayer for me before I was born: That I would love God, love people, and have a peaceful spirit. May that continue on into my 16th year. =)

Luv ya'll! :D

40th post! Hahaha. I think this is my longest-standing blog so far. If not, then at least far more frequently updated than the old Xanga I had, which may still have more posts, I dunno.

Right. Today was such a joy! I do love drama, I don't know how I get on without it. Mercy on us, I'm even starting to write like a regular March girl, here online. (Imagine the accent as you read this.) If I have ever said that I love drama, all the more I do so love it now. It's a peculiar thing that although we actors and actresses spend the most of our time relating to each other as our characters, there seems to form this bond that transcends the acting and stage dialogue, to become true friendship. It's perfectly splendid, how we all do get along so.

Ah, okay it's weird to talk like tt... one paragraph's enough. Back to normal now. So yea, even outside of drama class, we still call each other by our characters' names, treat each other accordingly, and so on. All the fun, all the laughs... Love it love it love it. Today we had 2 practices, one in class at 3rd period, and then for an hour after school. Those 2 periods between practices felt too long to have to wait through. =P We're right now still doing read-throughs, but it's already so fun. Instead of sitting around and just reading, we're already "walking through" the scenes, and get to throw in as much action and expression as we like.

One complaint only tho: the character that my Jo falls in love with at the end of the drama, is played by a freshie. Yes, a 9th grader. Yes, 2 years younger than me. *does the awkward turtle sign* I have a good mind to change the play... just go ahead and say "YESS!!" when Laurie confesses his feelings for Jo. Run off with him, then I don't have to go romance a freshie. XD =\

Practice was funny though, cuz there're a couple of scenes where- although Jo doesn't like Laurie as he likes her- they do hug or hold hands when he comforts her over her sister's illness. When Caleb (Laurie) and I read to that part of the script where it gave such directions, we were both like, "... ..." *look at Mr Philip* "We, uh... do we have to do this... now..?"

What Mr Philip then said to that was right, "The sooner you get comfortable, the better." And I agree! But... all Caleb and I managed to do was the holding hands part, which we made look more like a friendly high five than an emotional gesture. As for the hug, (the "flinging herself at Laurie, throwing her arms around his neck")... well we got as far as standing within a few inches of each other. Bravo, bravoooo~ *applause*

Maan, if I'm so awkward with Caleb, whom I'd actually say I'm relatively comfortable with... then WHAT ON EARTH AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THE FRESHIE?! >=X And it's doubly weird. The character he plays is like, 20 years older than my character. That's already icky. And on the actor-actress plane, he's 2 years younger than me. Ohhhh boy.

But that's what makes drama all the more interesting. XP School life, and life here in general feels like it has suddenly gone to a whole new level of intrigue and happiness (not that I wasn't happy before or anything!) No matter what comes, no matter what awkward situations befall me, no matter how the combined work load of drama and homework increases and drive me to the point of tears as it might... well. Call me Jo. =)

Saturday:

Did most of my homework in the earlier part of the day, and after lunch wanted my help with going somewhere to pick up a plastic toy house for the little kiddiegarteners.


Then we went to Central to get some stationary supplies and groceries.. ah, moving around in the grocery store (TOPS Supermarket) is like driving, but walking. There're so many trolleys around, and when coming out of a lane, you gotta indicate which way you're gonna turn, then you gotta slowly nudge your way out until there's a safe opening for you to take.

In the bathroom at Central, they had these advertising things... if you're standing in front of it, which the sensor will detect, the light switches off, so the panel serves as a mirror. When the coast is clear, the light comes on and you can see the advert.

The grass on our school soccer field's lookin' good!!

We came home pretty late, and I was doing some other stuff like preparing for yth worship, wrapping my textbooks, etc. If I'd blogged yesterday about yesterday, I would've had quite a lot more to say. But since today has come, with surprises of it's own, yesterday is but a rather short list of consecutive events, easily encapsulated in a few sentences.
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Today:

Church tiimme. The youth service (worship, in particular... the part I was in charge of) went surprisingly well even though I felt we hadn't had enough practice time. Sorta like what my dad likes to say: "Looking at all our mess-ups, God has more built His church despite us, rather than through us." Glory to God, oh definitely, today.

Here're pictures, picturess~

Some of the "youthfuler-youth", as Nathan referred to them.

My Little-Woman-youngest-sister, Amy. Rissa. =)

Practicing the skit

Elliot turned around right as the shutter closed. Brill! Hahahah. XD

Tim and Ben Talbot. It still goofs me up to see both of them together, when I've been used to seeing only one. It's like there's suddenly two of the same person.

Tim and Caleb, who'll be playing the part of Laurie in the drama

The youthfuler youth performing their special music item during offering

Peace!

Another group of youths did a skit, but I'll post that vid tmr cuz I gotta sleep now.

After church all the youths (and some of the parents) went out for lunch together. It was like what we did last month, same place, but this time there were a lot more people, I think almost 50 people? =)

Haha, yes, Jeremy Tan. A lot of ang mohs.

Today I discovered that I can now make myself cry for the sake of acting, hahahah. :D At last week's auditions for Little Women, I was surprised that I was starting to cry a little at one emotional scene we had to read. This afternoon, I was again caught off guard by how easily I started to tear when I read Beth's death scene in my script. I decided to see how far I could take those acting emotions... and pretty much ended up bawling over my "dead sister". :) This is coooooool.

Tomorrow's my real sister's bday tho. Jana's turning 9! Already, wow. It's her last few hours as an 8 year ollllld....