Leaving The Gateways To Fantasy

     I would like to start of this blog entry with a simple and plainly true statement: I love my friends. Every once and a while, I'll be the characteristic teenager; feeling like I'm alone, that no one understands, the basic angst. However, I am always - almost immediately - reminded that I am the opposite of alone. I have incredible friends that will understand no matter what. And even if they don't understand, they'll sit by my side, hold my hand, and tell me everything will be alright. Last weekend, I departed for Disney World with my school's marching band, a trip of a lifetime. When eighty high school band members are thrown together for almost every hour of every day for nearly a week, problems are bound to arise. Blossoming relationships, ending relationships; new friendships, and bickering between circles of old friends. I was scheduled to share a hotel room with three of my closest friends, and I love them each dearly. Honestly, I was expecting to be slightly annoyed with each of them at least a little bit by the end of the trip. It's natural when four girls share a room for several nights that eventually, they'll get a little sick of each other. I couldn't have been more wrong.
     After this trip, I love each of my roommates just as much, if not much more than I did coming into the experience. This vacation also brought me closer to a few new friends. I don't know if it was the bond of marching band, the sense of community after a twenty two hour bus ride, or maybe a little Disney magic, but I feel like we all came out of this trip better people than we were coming into it. It feels like we were all bonded together a bit more through being away from our families at the holiday, sharing the good times and the not so good, seeing each other at our best and our worst. Now that the "trip of our lives" is over, any time anything Disney-related is mentioned in our presence, my friends and I all feel a pang of "it's over" syndrome in the pit of our stomachs. However, I feel like I can come away from this trip with some amazing memories, great friendships, and no regrets.
     I don't want to feel sad that this trip is over anymore. Instead, I've decided to look towards the future. Instead of reminiscing how much we wish we could go back and do last week all over again, maybe we should plan a fantasy senior trip back to Disney World, even if we only ever just talk about it. Who knows? Stranger things have happened. And with the help of some Disney magic, anything is possible. I have dozens of examples of how my friends helped me, surprised me, made me smile, made me laugh, encouraged me, humored me, etc. But all I have to say is that - while it's extremely cliche - I can honestly say that on Thanksgiving, I was never more thankful to have such amazing friends.

P.S. To my wonderful roommates: Turkey Spooning and Everest Helen-Kellering For Life

187 Days Has Turned To 1

       The countdown started not 187 days ago. No, the countdown to this event began when I signed up for band as a mere 8th grader. I was all planned on quitting, I didn't want to have to do marching band. The silly hats, the extra practices, it just didn't seem like something for me. But then, my best friend and I heard something that changed both of our minds. Every four years, our high school's band makes a trip to Disney World. I had some reconsidering to do. While my reason for joining band may have been a bit selfish, I'm so incredibly glad that I changed my mind. I can't even imagine my life if I hadn't called up my councilor and begged him to fit band into my freshman year schedule. Band is something I enjoy and look forward to. It's where almost all of my closest friends have come from. It feels like - while not everyone necessarily likes each other - everyone loves each other like family. That's why tomorrow afternoon, dressed in sweat pants and no makeup, we will all board buses to embark on the 22 hour journey to the happiest place on Earth.
      The bus ride will be loud, excruciatingly long, and by the end, I'm sure we'll be smelled all the way from the Magic Kingdom. However, I'm actually looking forward to it. My friends and I have decided to look upon the journey as a good thing. Not a time to dread, but a time that we can spend with our friends; watching movies, playing card games, trying to sleep, failing at trying to sleep, laughing, and belting out Disney music.
     I'm wary of this trip for one reason, and one reason alone. I'll miss my family. We're traveling during Thanksgiving, my second favorite holiday. I'll miss my sister coming home from college, the most delicious food of any Thanksgiving anywhere (aka, the kitchen of both of my grandmas), and preparing for the upcoming Christmas season. This is all stuff that I look forward to every year, and I'll be gone. Not only that, but in my past, I've only gone to Disney World with my family. We all know who likes what rides, and which rides are the biggest priority for fastpasses, and where everyone loves to have lunch. With friends, it's a different experience. Not that it will be a bad one. Just different. I'll have completely different experiences and opportunities that I would never have if I was just going with my family. But that doesn't mean I won't feel a pang of sadness when I go on Splash Mountain and my Dad isn't there to scream higher pitched than his three daughters. When I go on Haunted Mansion and my sister isn't there to throw doll heads into the deepest pits of the ride (yes that happened, don't ask). When my Mom isn't there to obsess over Norwegian food with.
    I'll miss my family. But I'll be traveling with a different kind of family. My band family. No, it won't be the same. It will be great, new, and incredible, just in a completely different way. And when I am marching down Main Street, surrounded by Mickey and his friends, in front of Cinderella's Castle, it'll all be worth it. The days of counting down, missing Thanksgiving, it will all cease to matter. And with that, I urge you all to watch the Disney World Thanksgiving Day Parade, live streaming at www.banddirector.com

A Beautiful Mind

       Take a look around at our modern world. What do you see? What are the things that will be discussed by the future generations. Who will be the people written about in textbooks to come? It's rare to encounter someone who has impacted our busy and bustling world in such a way. Then take a look at your life. What do you see? What are the things that you will look back upon as what molded your personality and character? Who are the people that most impacted the things that you say, think, speak of, and act upon? In many cases, you will never meet these people that have such an influence over your life. However, this week, my Dad has been granted the opportunity to meet a person who both will be remembered in the pages of futuristic textbooks and someone he has looked to as somewhat of an idol throughout his career. This man is truly a "beautiful mind". This man is John Nash.
      For those of you who have never studied the work of John Nash, usually present in economics, known as Game Theory or the Nash Equilibrium, Mr. Nash is one of the few remaining brilliant minds of today's society. Or at least that is what I am told. However, what's so amazing about this man, is his story. His life, and what he's had to overcome. This is probably why a movie, one of the most highly acclaimed movies of all time, was made depicting his life: A Beautiful Mind. Nash went through life never knowing what was real and what wasn't. He could never be certain of whether the people he was talking to were actually a figment of his imagination. This is the life of a schizophrenic.
       When you think about it, how do any of us really know? How do we know that our lives aren't completely an imagination dreamed up in the corners of our mind. The people we see and interact with and love aren't really there. Who knows? These are the thoughts that can easily occupy my mind for hours at a time. I always search for an answer to this question; a way to know for sure what is real and what is a dimension trapped so far into our brains, that no one can really understand it. However, I always come up blank. John Nash is a man who suffered from this, and still does, ever moment of every day. Maybe it was because of this condition that he could think in the ways he did, allowing him to do the work that changed the world of economics forever.
       Yes, my Dad is now in Pennsylvania, meeting his career idol. A man who changed the world. A man who people look up to and respect, regardless of all the things he has been forced to deal with in his life. This is an example of a beautiful story, and a truly beautiful mind.

The Little Comforts

        My Dad has passed down many pieces of wisdom throughout my sixteen years of being his daughter. Always begin a request with "may I" and finish it with "please when it is convenient". Don't make noise just to make noise. Study hard in math and science. See a sock, take it off (his motto which I'll never understand). However, there is one piece of wisdom that he has begun to carry on from his favorite TV show (The Big Bang Theory), that has begun to hold a great amount of meaning to me. When someone is in distress or upset in any way, the first thing you should do is offer them a hot beverage.
      This year of school for me is especially stressful for me. AP physics tests, the looming ACT, college visiting, the future, it's a lot to face all at once. Sometimes, stress can just take over my entire mind. Everyone feels like this at one time or another. However, what gets us through times like these are the little comforts in life. That's why my Dad's wisdom is to offer one who is upset a hot beverage. In so many peoples' cases, one of the greatest comforts in life is to feel their sweet coffee or tea slither down their throat, warming their insides and reminding them that everything is going to be okay.
     Somehow a warm beverage is just something that offers a great amount of sympathy. Even if you don't like coffee, tea, hot chocolate, or anything of the warm beverage persuasion, just holding that piping hot mug up in between your hands can melt away your stress and fears. However, while a warm beverage is probably the most universal comfort (other than maybe chocolate), everyone has their specific things that will offer them relief from their internal turmoil. I think that different occasions merit different comforts.When a girl gets dumped by her boyfriend, you bring her anything involving chocolate and/or frosting, give her a hug, and say absolutely nothing. When you don't know what the heck is wrong with someone, you can't go wrong with a hot beverage. Sometimes I feel like I'm just drowning and there's no possible way I can fight my way back to the surface, these are the times I just wish someone would walk in, offer me a warm raisin roll with raspberry jam and tell me that everything is going to be okay.
    Next time someone around you seems like they really just need a pick me up, do as my Dad (and Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory) say, and offer them a hot beverage. You have no idea how much it may help them. Stress is something that bears down on everyone from time to time. It takes the little comforts to help us find our way back to the surface. Even if they don't want tea, coffee, chocolate, or anything else you may offer, just knowing that someone cares can do wonders.