128 People, + you

Austin: Hey chica! Thanks for sharing an awesome day with me.

Jessica: I know, right? Let's totally recap what we did!

Austin: Sure thing! That sounds amazing!

Jessica: Ha ha! Okay, so.......first you came to my house, yes?

Austin: Uh, how detailed do we want to be? Like should we tell them that you ate Reece's cereal, or should we skip to something meatier?

Jessica: I didn't have a steak if that's what you mean.....

Austin: Thanks for following through with pith. Let's just continue shall we? I was rather impressed with your new doormat, I suppose that is worth mentioning for would-be guests to your abode.

Jessica: Yeah, or we could just tell them how we slayed a dragon and became princesses of another realm....or skip that part and go right to the drive...your call.

Austin: That is good to leave in there, oh and also how important it is to read labels and how easy it is to 'steal' ice!

Jessica: Oh man......calories are hidden everywhere! So yeah, we drove across Kansas while talking of EVERYTHING and listening to great music. :-)

Austin: Enjoyed a snack of delicious apples...which I'm pretty sure were NOT grown by a Kansas farmer...but I digress

Jessica: Those were good apples. Like, if someone had asked how I liked them apples, I would have said, 'I like them just fine sir and/or ma'am.'

Austin: lol Yes n'deed! It were some beautiful country we traveled through and some wonderful weather to go with it.

Jessica: Oh gorgeous!

Austin: We need to make a point of going back through Topeka to drive over the new clock bridge!

Jessica: Right, good call, I forgot about that. Ultimately, we made it to Manhattan, KS. I've never been before, super cute town!

Austin: I am really proud of you, jumping right in to help with the house work and climbing up the ladder to work on the roof with me!

Jessica: Oh man........ladders. They scare me. I swear that one was out to get me!

Austin: But you made it down safely and with style!

Jessica: cha..........scaredy cat style! :-D

Austin: *mreowr!* On your way to becoming a Wildcat! I had really felt like we earned our dinner once we were done.

Jessica: Ha ha! Yes, dinner was earned. Oh yeah, and our invisible friends were a lot of fun at dinner time. Thanks, guys! And what a lovely walk we took afterward!

Austin: A great night for it, there is so much still to show you tomorrow!

Jessica: I can't wait! Some of those stores looked really fun!

Austin: I think we wrapped it up at a good time though and I'm glad we made good on your idea of a Sonic stop.

Jessica: Yeah. They have frozen yogurt now. Who knew? Either way, it was a fantastic night to end an amazing day!

Austin: And how!

Jessica: Aaaaaaaaaaaaand how!

Austin: That's all she wrote!

I don't play games. I just have fun.

Went out to the ball park and practiced softball in the hot hot sun today. Since the schedule shifted over and Jason has Sunday afternoons free again, he decided to join me in the outfield. Yay! I did get more red on top of my redness from being at the amusement park yesterday. Bummersauce. I left improv rehearsal a little bit early tonight to go see a play with Austin and Matt this evening. Austin has been in Arkansas helping out with her grandma, so it was wonderful to see her and catch up. When we got to the theater, there were several other students from our school there, so we knew roughly 3/4 of the audience. It's nice to be from a big small town like this. Big enough to have plenty to do, small enough to run into people you know on a regular basis.

The Patriot is better when you ride it.

I went to Worlds of Fun this morning/early-late afternoon while Jason slept. They have discount tickets available at my school and a group of my buddies were going, so I hopped aboard the bandwagon. It was a blast! It's been sooooooooo long since I've been to an amusement park other than Disneyland (which is amazing but has no roller coasters). I left early with Corin, who was tired, and she dropped me off at the theater. We set up and then, since the girls were out of town, Jason came to the show! Yay! After cleanup was over we went out and had some dinner then took a walk around the Plaza. Kansas City is just perfect at night this time of year. Love you, gorgeous city!

Lemons, Roses, Grapes

The girls and I hung out today and when Jason got up we drove down and met his mom halfway so the girls could go have some grandma (and horses) time. Jason and I did adorable couple things like buy sodas at QT before he had to go to work, at which point I met up with some friends and we went out on the town for a bit, ultimately ending the night at Jimmy John's, because that is where all good evenings out should end. Well, there or IHOP.

No more teacher's dirty looks

Last day of school for the girls! Bet you can't guess which backpack belongs to which girl...didn't think so. Either way, we are now free to roam the world with less schedule constraint. Woo hoo! The exhilarating rush of travel season in this family is INSANE! We celebrated by having shish kebabs hot off the grill this evening. I also bought some tank tops and made sun tea. Oh, and for anyone who may be planning on coming out this way any time soon...we have lightning bugs! Loads of 'em. Lots of rain this spring=lotsa bugs! Let the great American Summer begin!

I've always wanted to do this...

I had a rehearsal this evening for Project Improv. When we finished we decided to grab some food so we headed to Jimmy John's. One of our number had to leave quickly and we all went in the same car since it's close to the campus, so the rest of us came back to the school and ate on the hill. I opted to lay on my back and watch the clouds roll by as I ate. Perfect! I love sunny days in which I have time to enjoy things like this. Rainy days too, but for a different reason. They're both special in their own ways. Just like African and Asian elephants. But I digress....

Don't act like you're not intimidated.

Leigha had her first softball game this evening. They didn't win, but they put up a pretty good fight. One thing I can't stand about children's sporting events is the overabundance of 'support' the parents in the stands feel it's necessary to give the kids. Seriously, while the pitcher was doing her part, every time she'd go to throw the ball her mom would yell out, "That's it, Libby, nice and easy, right over the plate, you're just playing catch." Literally every time she went to release the ball. If it was me, I know that would distract me and put me off kilter. Not to mention make me think I was about to screw up or royally disappoint her if things didn't go just right. Also, every time a kid struck out the parents would all yell out, "It's okay, you didn't do anything wrong." More than once I noticed a slightly surprised look on the girl's face, as if such a thought had not occurred to her until voiced by someone else. I dunno. I always thought it was tough being a kid, I still think it is. Poor little buggers.

Oh Kevie!

I hosted a pretty epic Daria watch party today. Seriously, it started at 4pm and went until 1am. Now, it wasn't ALL Daria, there was Guitar Hero and Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog as well, but the central theme was all about the D. A lot of the attendees hadn't even heard of Daria, they came for friendship reasons. It was great getting to introduce them to a supremely great show. Probably the best thing to ever have come out of MTV. Thanks, all, for coming and for those of you who were hardcore enough to stick it out from start to finish!

Pew pew pew!

Lazy Sunday afternoon. My body decided to take advantage of my non-traveling status and make me feel super stuffed up and groggy when I woke up this morning, so I took it easy today. I felt much better by late afternoon, which was nice. Hopefully that means I'm on the mend. The girls took advantage of the day by making a penguin dance on the interwebs. Something on the Disney channel's website. *shrug* I've played stranger games than that, in their defense.

I beat time....with a stick!

Today was one long race. I woke up and got my stuff together then Tiffany drove me to the airport. We had gotten a late start due to massive goodbye-ing with Chelly and the rest of the crew, so after I hugged her at curbside, I dashed through security and went to my gate, just in time to board. Yessss! We pushed back and I started my 'let's see if I can get some sleep' routine, but after a while it was apparent that we weren't going anywhere. The captain came on and told us there was a maintainance issue and we were going to be there for a bit. Everyone started getting worried and I heard several muttered conversations about the people who got stuck on those Jet Blue flights that had to stay there for like 3 days or whatever. As they gave us updates over the intercom I texted Jason and asked him how long it would be based on what they were telling us. He said, "not too long if it's a new plane. If it's an old one, it's going to be a while.' Meanwhile, they started handing out water and turning off the seatbelt light...great. You know it's going to be a while when they try to make you as comfortable as possible. After sitting there for two hours they finally said, "Yeah, we're changing aircraft." After another hour of shuffling from one plane to another, we took off. Woo hoo! We landed in KC at 5:15 (and I have to be at the theater at about 5:30) and the captain came on and told us we had to wait for another plane to get out of our gate before we could pull into it. Um.........yeah. So we were finally released at 5:45, three and a half hours after our original arrival time. Yikes! I got into my car and raced toward the theater. After all, I was performing tonight! I got there just in time to warm up and go on stage. *whew!* As I walked on stage to introduce the group I saw my friend Michelle sitting in the front row! She had told me she was coming but I got there late and didn't see her so I wasn't sure if she was still going to be able to, but there she was! It took me by surprise and I said, "Oh hi!" Then realizing I was in front of an audience I addressed the rest of the crowd, "Hey, everyone, it's my friend Michelle who I haven't seen in a couple of years! Michelle, this is everyone!" Awesome. The show was great and I had a blast, rounding out the evening with pancakes with Austin. Nice. And all this with a massive cold!

Black and white, ginger, and that song!

Went out to visit Tiffany today. I wanted to get away and visit some old friends as a 'semester's over' kind of thing, and it was a blast! Good to see you guys again, especially you, Chelly! G'night, world! Jessica out!

Cast and crew

Tonight we had a karaoke/one last hangout with Hilary before the Summer starts night. It was a blast, but I have a lovely cold and my throat is sore, so I sang a few songs, finished big, and went home. I'm exhausted! Sleeeeeep. Sleep is good.

The sweetness starts NOW.

So I suppose I'm technically a sophomore now? Do they give such arbitrary rankings to non-traditional students at community colleges? Either way the semester is over as of today. I was happily leaving the parking lot after my English final (seriously, if my car could skip, it would have been skipping. You know, if I hadn't scarred its face....) when I got a text from Rachel. "Girl, where you at? We have a puppy!" I put the brakes on, re-parked my car, and went back onto the campus, because, duh. Sure enough, Sarah had brought her cute doggy baby, "Nigel." He was very well behaved, too! We chatted and played with Nigel for an hour or so before I left campus and officially ended my first year of college.

I'm gonna miss these guys

This is my acting one class just after our final was over. I'm gonna miss these guys. See Corin and Austin? Hi guys! *waving* We all went to lunch together after the class. The woman in the center of the pic wearing green is Beate, she's our teacher and the head of the theater department at school. Amazing director. She knows exactly what she wants from you and if she doesn't get it...you feel her displeasure. But I love her! She came out to lunch with us and it was a blast! I have acting two with her next semester and I'm looking forward to it. One more final to go!

Ker-catch

Today I went to an improv workshop. Among other things taught, one was the concept of 'why are we watching this day? What makes this day important?' So today, dear reader, is the day that Jessica got into her first accident. I was running behind after the workshop. All I could think about was how I had to get home to the girls because they were going to be home from school. I was just about to the highway when I went around a bus that was stopping. The road had a slight hill and a bunch of construction equipment, so I didn't see the red light until it was too late to stop. I slammed on my brakes, but the anti-lock system kicked on and I slid into the intersection and clocked a minivan. We were both fine, but I hit her wheel just right and bent the axle on her car. I kept apologizing over and over, I feel terrible about ruining someone's day like that. We exchanged information and somehow I wasn't given a ticket, which surprised me. If I had to be in an accident, this was the best case scenario. For starters, the nice lady could have been a big scary yelling man or something. During the course of exchanging information I called Jason and told him to have someone go to our house and get the girls, who were sure to be home by that time. I went to our friends' house to get them and Erin told me that Brianna's response to the situation was, "Well, I'm glad my mom didn't die." That's better than I could have hoped for from that one.

Yes, really, I'm just fine. Thanks for your concern, you're sweet.

Rooting for the underdog

Austin and I met up before improv practice today to see what kind of trouble we could get into. We ended up taking the girls to a playground outside an elementary school and ran around taking pictures and playing on the equipment. So much stinkin' fun. I hadn't been on swings since....we stopped at a park on the way down to Atlanta in March. Wow, has it been two months? Must get around to playing on swings more often.

Motley Crew.

Tim graduated with a bachelor's in civil engineering today. For those of you who don't know, he's Jason's second to youngest brother........so, he's number three out of four. Jason is one. In fact, John (number two) has a girlfriend who calls them all by number instead of name. She's a doll. But I digress, Tim graduated! Yay! The ceremony took forever, but my legs look skinny in this picture so I'm okay with that. I was thinking a lot today about what it's going to be like when I graduate.....I have already decided that if the ceremony takes over an hour and a half or so, I'm going to find a way to skip out on the end of it. For goodness' sake that took FOREVER! Thank goodness for my iTouch. I am good at Tetris, btw. Really good.

Good friends even though you're vermin!

I had a wonderful day. I spent a good chunk of my afternoon improvising, which is always just lovely. There was a workshop with Dave Razowsky, who has worked with Amy Sedaris, Steve Carell, and a few other household names I can't think of at the moment. Needless to say, I got a lot out of it, and had written a full page of notes before we even got to the first exercise! Amazing. As soon as the workshop was out Jason picked me up and we drove down to his mom's house. Tim is graduating tomorrow and we're proud of him and whatnot. So we get down to the house and surprise, surprise, Sheila had bought four baby chicks! They are SO cute! Needless to say, the girls are already wanting to take them home. Yeah, no.

Cracker Cuties

Austin and I are totally sharing this pic on both our blogs today. Hooray! Today marked the end of my regular classes because both German and English will not be meeting tomorrow. Time for finals to begin.........next week! We decided to celebrate by going to Cracker Barrel. Sort of. See, I have this ginormous goose egg on my knee (yeah, it is possible to get them there. Who knew?) from running into the corner of the stage last Sunday (no shock there.) and it hurts like crazy. We're going on a week here and it's still swollen! I expressed my concern about the ouch factor to Austin before I sucked it up and went to my final yoga class, and Austin decided she would like to use her Girl Scout powers for good (as opposed to evil, like the rest of us) and patch me up. So we made plans to meet up after school. However, when I texted her to let her know I was done with my class I went to fill up my car. When I came back to my phone I had a couple missed calls from her so I called her back and heard, "Okay, I hope you're not too far down the road, because CRACKER BARREL!" (paraphrased.) I like the way she thinks! We shared grits and fried apples and pretended to be confounded by the triangle puzzle with the golf tees stuck in it (if you've never been to Cracker Barrel.......cry now.) then went back to her place and she got out the homeopathic spackle and patched up my knee. What a gal!

The best pegleg on the block!

Happy birthday, Jason! Poor guy had to work in the rain on his b-day. If that face is any indicator, though, he liked his present a lot. Love you! I had a great day in my classes, including a fabulous lunch with Austin as we practiced our scene for my acting class. I am going to miss hanging out in the theater kid area this Summer. I played drums again at church tonight. I think I'm getting better...but then keeping a basic rhythm comes a lot easier when you have a strong music background. Oh, and forgive my elementary writing style these past couple days, I have finals brain. Yargh............

Brides and zombies, trumped by Daria

Yes!!!!!! After too long, Daria has finally come out onto DVD! I am so very happy about this! So happy, in fact, that I passed over a picture of me with two zombies and two brides to bring you my 'Daria's out!!!' happy face. Why do you look annoyed with me? Merschk? So yes, Daria coming out was just the icing on my 'today was a happy day!' cake. I got to sit in on a small part of the stage combat class finals and posted a video of two brides duking it out on my Facebook. Just swell! This evening Corin called saying she was heading to my area so we hung out for a while. Sweet. I love my friends. I'm such a lucky duck!

Be Squared!

I'm pretty sure Joey was putting his game face on...either way, today was a very rainy May tenth. I like to hang out outside when I have time between classes and activities or rehearsals for class, but today it was (as previously mentioned) quite rainy. So I stayed indoors in the theater kid hangout. It's pretty awesome in our cozy encapsulated cave. Today everyone was running lines and rehearsing for finals. It's cool to not have to crack open a book for your final, but instead practice putting actions and subtext to words. Austin and I ran lines this afternoon, too. I forgot how much I used to love having a script and practicing emphasizing different parts of sentences and making new discoveries within the same scenes I know backward and forward. It's been a long time.

HYARRRRRRRRRRH!

Zak has an interesting habit of breaking things when he does improv. Nice.

This is way more fun than the pic.

Today was the potluck theater award banquet thingy at my school. An afternoon hanging out with the most amazing people under the sun? Sign me up! Before the banquet I went to Austin's house and we worked on our scene for my honors acting class. It was so much fun to do the scene, which takes place in a kitchen, in her actual kitchen! We had so much stuff to play with! Love it! Can't wait to run through it more this week and perform it on Wednesday!

Toss.

So just a typical Friday night in the story of Jess. This guy is one of Corin's friends, apparently. The members of Holy Cow! made up some awesome flyers so we went around the Crossroads and flyered it up! I had a great time with Cindy and Christian as we walked around. Corin came out with one of her friends as well and I hung out with them until everyone else got there. Good times!

Leigha's turn!

2 music programs in 2 weeks? Must be the end of the school year! Leigha's class got the added element of recorders at her concert. Now, before you cringe from painful memories of missed notes suffered during 'Hot Cross Buns' know this: Leigha's class did 'In the Jungle,' with harmony. That's right. Your fourth grade memories have been trumped! I'm actually quite impressed with the elementary level music program in our district! Bri's class had coreography and stuff, and Leigha's class had the harmony and non-painful eardrum blasting that is typically associated with the recorder. Way to go, kids! This is why funding schools is a GOOD idea, just in case anyone was wondering. I had a wonderful day at school as well, got to have lunch with my Austin, which is stellar, and as a powerpellet bonus, we ran into Sarah and Tom! Yay! I also got out of actually doing yoga in my yoga class because we are reviewing for the final. But don't worry, all the coughing fits from allergies are keeping my abs ripped!

First Sunburn!

Today was a ginormous load of pure awesome. I went to school and did my classes and blah blah (classes are just a sidebar on the way to a degree, right? Yeah, like I'd really relax enough to let my GPA slip.) and then I met up with Austin and we walked through the courtyard for the amazingness of Campus Craze or whatever they called it. There was free food, info booths for summer jobs and other colleges, just in case you want to transfer or go somewhere after you get your associates, and.......a live karaoke band. Yes! Sign Jessica up!!! I asked them if anyone had done Journey yet, they said no. *SHOCK!* It's karaoke! Someone has to do Journey! So Austin and I sat on the hill in the shade and our classmates came and talked to us periodically, and then my name was called. And I sang. I was going to post a video of it, but Blogger is having issues with me, apparently. So you'll have to look at my FB profile if you'd like to see it. Either way, I belted out 'Don't Stop Believin.' Aw yeah! I also knocked a couple of huge projects out today, which feels GREAT. I am not going to know what to do with my free time when Summer hits in a week and a half!

Uniformally Obnoxious

Tonight was a series of carefully coreographed pick ups and drop offs. Leigha had softball at 5:30 and it usually runs until 7pm. However, she also had Girl Scouts from 6:30 to 7:30, as did Brianna. In a completely different location. So at 5:15 we left the house, I dropped off Leigha at 5:30, went to Sonic, got us all drinks, went back to the softball field and picked up Leigha at 6:15. I dropped Leigha off at her Girl Scout meeting at 6:28, then drove Brianna to hers, walking her into her troupe at 6:37. I came home for a little while, did a small amount of homework, then at 7:15 I left the house, picked up Leigha at 7:28, drove to the other location and picked up Brianna at 7:37. *panting just a little bit* Man. Only having one driver for three schedules is TOUGH!

Twinkle twinkle little lobster

Wonderful day. Goodnight, world!

Faerie Circle

Me and my girls! Sarah and Austin are fantastic! We had so much fun tonight at Project Improv rehearsal. We danced around a lot and just got goofy. Love it! Austin and I had planned to get together before rehearsal to go over our scene for my honors acting class, but we ended up going to Wendy's with Leigha and Bri and Matt Yale. It's cool, we will be doing the scene tomorrow anyhow. I love the playful slacking off that the end of the semester brings! Sure, I'll get my homework done...when I FEEL like it!

Respect

Jason and the girls were at the camp until late(ish) tonight so I spent the day chillin' by myself and with a few friends. I love willfully ignoring homework so I can have some time to relax. I also love knowing that at this point, I know exactly how much work I have to do before finals and every assignment I knock out puts a visible dent in the list. Hooray! But enough about what I didn't do today. We had two shows at the theater tonight, both successful. That feels good. The end of our show season is also coming up and I'm looking forward to taking a break and getting away for a while. I love putting on shows, but it gets stressful dealing with certain elements of running a theater after a while. One reward from tonight, though, was getting to see the birth of yet another improv team, 'Screenplayas.' That's Tim and Dave, and they are trying to write a script for a movie. Fun concept, very well executed! Way to go, guys!