The Happiest Place on Earth

Hello, gentle reader! I apologize for not blogging direct from California, but we were at the park from opening to closing every day, and there just wasn't time. So, I shall now give you the highlights of our Disneyland adventure in a format similar to this post from last year (which is also a fun post, if you care to go look at it.)

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We met Mickey Mouse first thing Day One, which I thought was rather fitting. His autograph looked the same as last year, which entertained me (though I don't know why... it's not like he would randomly change his signature... hehe.) 

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FLYNN RIDER GAVE ME THE SMOLDER.

"You're so dashing!"
"Girl, he's MINE." 

Yeah. It happened. I mean, he was actually trying to teach Matthew how to do it properly, but I was the guinea pig. I'll take it.
Also, why isn't Rapunzel a short-haired brunette now? I mean, that's what happens in the movie...

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A conversation I had with Ariel:
Ariel: "So where did you come to Disneyland from?"
Me: "Colorado."
Ariel: "So did you swim here?"
Me: "No... it's a land-locked state."
Ariel: "Oh good. People always say yes and I always wonder how."

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We waited in line for TWO AND A HALF HOURS for the new Cars ride. And it was almost worth it.

It's called Radiator Springs Racers, and it was pretty dandy. You get in a car that seats six people and drive around Radiator Springs (did I mention they built the Cadillac-fin-rocks like from the movie? They're HUGE. Whenever Dad posts pictures on Facebook I'll steal them and put them here.) At one point you go past the huge waterfall like in the movie, and it was truly breathtaking. And the animatronics are ridiculous, man. I have never seen ride robots so lifelike. Or big.

So yeah, if you go, ride Radiator Springs Racers.

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When addressing Disney royalty such as the Queen of Hearts or Snow White's Evil Queen, one must use the utmost respect. Otherwise they'll unleash their wrath on you.
For example, the girl who requested an audience with the Queen of Hearts directly before me talked to Her Majesty as if she were a common peasant. The Queen responded by throwing the girl's autograph pen on the ground and shooing her away. Getting the message, I bowed to the Queen called her Your Highness, and politely begged the privilege of an autograph.
.... I still got shooed away afterward, but at least she didn't throw my pen on the ground.

You think she's full of herself, you should see the Evil Queen (straight out of Snow White). Being as vain as she is, she responded far more favorably to my veneration. After I called her "Your Highness," she said, "Finally, someone who knows how to address me! Your Highness! Correct!" After we took our picture she said, "Print out that picture. Frame it. Hang it on your wall. Study it every day and just trrrryyyy to look like this."

It was great. I loved her.

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Where was Peter, you may ask? Well, THE Peter... um... flew back to Neverland a while ago, so if you see a Peter in Disneyland, it's clearly one of his Lost Boys he's sent in his place. The whole "show up when they tell me to" thing obviously wasn't working out for him. The new "Peters" naturally aren't as good, because Peter made especial effort to make sure they wouldn't be. He's so vain, you know.

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When you're celebrating something, you can go to City Hall on Main Street and they'll give you special buttons. Since Mom and Dad were celebrating their anniversary, they got buttons, and EVERYONE wished them a happy anniversary. I mean, EVERYONE. The Jungle Cruise skippers, the people sweeping trash, Pooh Bear and Minnie Mouse, all the princesses, every Cast member we saw. Just another reason Disney is so awesome.

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As a die-hard fan of corny jokes, I love the World-Famous Jungle Cruise, and this trip we had THE BEST skipper I have ever had, ever. Usually I'm inwardly chuckling at the jokes. On Patrick's cruise, I laughed so hard I cried.
Some favorite jokes:
--"Those spiders can grow up to eight feet.... and... legs..."
--"MAN-EATING PIRANHAS! Quick! Women and children, protect the men!"
--"There's a boa constrictor. Sitting in a tree. H-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes... asphyxiation."
--"That limestone over there? Most people take it for granite." *I laugh* "My sediments exactly."
--"That over there is Trader Sam. You know, I went over to his house the other night and I said, 'Man, your wife makes good stew,' and he said, 'I know. I'm gonna miss her.'"
--"You know, Sam was the first one in his family to go to college. He got kicked out for buttering up his professor."
I laughed SO HARD, guys. SO FUNNY.

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I came away with a lanyard full of pins, a messenger bag for college, and a Tinkerbell necklace, but my favorite souvenir of all was a drawing of Tinker Bell from my sweet brother and Dad.
They have Disney artists in a few of the shops, and you can sit and watch them draw. It's really incredible watching how easily it seems to come to them. You can order pictures, and given my connection with Tink, we thought it was fitting.

Lovely artist Carrie drawing my beautiful Tinker Bell

It says "Find the joy in the child that you are," which is a line from the fireworks song, which is enough to make me tear up just thinking about it. It's perfect. :)

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Why do I love Disneyland so much? The nostalgia. The magic. The technical incredibility. The emanating joy. It is, quite simply, the happiest place on earth.

“To all who come to this happy place; welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past...and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and the hard facts that have created America...with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.”


Mission accomplished, Mr. Disney.

Smorgasbord

Isn't that a great word? Smorgasbord. I'm pretty sure the goose in the old cartoon Charlotte's Web sang a song about a smorgasbord. This post is going to be an informational smorgasbord, a word which here means, "Melissa is going to tell you a bunch of random things about her life the last month she hasn't blogged."


Well, I graduated from high school. You would think that would be a blogworthy thing, but no matter how long I sat here thinking of something to say, I couldn't come up with anything profound to say. It was all very simple: I wore the robe and cap, I walked across the stage, I took my diploma, I turned my tassel. In the course of a mere two hours, the world changed its 18-year-deep opinion of me and decided to consider me an adult. No revelations about the rest of my life, no nothing. It just happened. My world expanded, but I remained exactly the same. I don't really know what else to say about it. Maybe the full significance will hit me later.


The last day of school seemed far more significant than graduation itself. Where graduation is stiff and formal, the last day contained a full spectrum of maturity, from farewell tears to a shaving cream fight. I've already given my sap to the people who needed to hear it, so I'll just say this: D'Evelyn did so much in making me who I am, and I'll forever be grateful for God's awesome plan in getting me there.


Alright, enough deep sappy stuff. Back to my usual overly peppy banter.


Guys, guys, guys. I started watching Doctor Who.
I'm not going to lie, I came in biased. Way too many people had told me how much I would love it before I started watching it, so I figured I would. They were happily correct. I've only finished season one, because I have to get them from the library, because I'm the last person on the planet without Netflix, but yeah. I started watching Doctor Who. And Christopher Eccleston's Doctor is fantastic, by the way.


And they sell sonic screwdrivers at Tradesmart and I want one.


Hey, it's raining! I like rain.


Have I mentioned Disneyland here? Somehow I don't think I have. Blogging has been so spotty. I'm going to Disneyland again soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


So excited. I'm sure I'll blog again. I'm planning on keeping a video diary of the entire trip, but I also said that last year and it didn't happen, so we'll see. I'm beyond excited. Cross your fingers that it's not too crowded for us!


I despise and loathe the weirdness of the spacing, by the way. Blogger has done weird things with my layout and I can't stand it. Facebook changes enough, Blogger!!! Why must you change too?? Harrumph. 

But anyway, I reread Peter Pan this week. I hadn't read it since I was a little kid, and while I've always loved the story,  I didn't realize what a masterpiece of literature it is. There's Biblical allusions and satire and deep symbolism and yeah. I geeked out just a bit. Also, did you know that J. M. Barrie started writing it shortly after the Wright brothers flew their plane? What a time to write about a kid who can fly...


I'm speaking at a girl's rally in September and I found out not too long ago that my topic is ESTHER! It's one of my favorite books of the Bible, so I'm super excited. Did you know that Mordecai is mentioned more times in Esther than Esther is? I find that fascinating. The book ends with Mordecai too-- the last three verses are telling you what happened to him in the end. I'm honestly beginning to think the inspired focus of the book was Mordecai, and then someone just called it Esther.


And finally, in commemoration of the first time the Beatles recorded at Abbey Road Studios fifty years ago today, Eight Days a Week.

(This is one of the songs they recorded.)

So, dear Readers, there's your random update on my life. I'm leaving out everything from the comedic pangs of young love to the Avengers, but there simply isn't time or will power for all that at the moment. You're excellently patient Readers. Return to your normal activities.

Defying Gravity

(This will most likely be one of those horridly inarticulate posts where I am far too excited to write well. You've been warned.)

 Last night, I went to see Wicked. *scream*

 For those of you who don't know, Wicked is a musical prequel to The Wizard of Oz. You get to see the entire story from the perspective of the Wicked Witch of the West, who finally gets a name, Elphaba. An outcast all her life due to her green skin, Elphaba is a very sympathetic character, and you can't help but cheer her on. The whole show plays with the ideas of "goodness" and "wickedness"-- neither Glinda the Good nor the so-called Wicked Witch are as black-and-white... I mean, pink-and-green... as they appear.

 Nerd confession: I've owned the soundtrack for a while never having seen the show. The music kept coming up on my Pandora and I just loved it, so I bought it. It was awesome to get to hear the music in context and figure out how essential it was to the plot. Elphaba (played by Mamie Parris) was just INCREDIBLE. That woman has PIPES, man. "Defying Gravity" (the main song-- look it up on YouTube if you care to) was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen/heard. My feeble words really aren't doing it justice, but seriously. It was awesome. Exceptional. Stunning. Fantastic.

 Glinda, played by Alli Mauzey, was nothing short of hilarious. She perfectly captured the ditzy, popular girl character, charming and obnoxious all at once. The whole show was hilarious-- so many witty one-liners. At one point Glinda insulted Elphaba's broom, to which Elphie replied, "Well we can't all come and go by bubble!" There were several jokes referencing the Judy Garland movie as well, which I enjoyed.

 Some of you might remember my beefs with The Wizard of Oz-- so many of them were totally resolved by this show! The script and story are truly brilliant-- figuring out how everything ties together is so fun. There were so many ironic hints with wordplay and the suchlike as to how things were going to turn out, but there were definitely a few curveballs.

 I'm adding Elphaba to my list of roles to play before I die... "I think I'll try defying gravity..."

 :)

Misslissalaneous

Hey there party people. I'm blogging. Are you shocked?
I'm just trying to get my creative juices flowing again... so have ten random facts about me that no one cares about. Yaaaay.
(Also, the title of this post maybe one of my favorite puns I've ever come up with. Ever. Including Academia Nut.)

1. I obviously like the Beatles, but have I mentioned that I mostly like-1964 Beatles? After Sergeant Pepper's they just get a smidgen weird for me. The early stuff is so polished and Chuck Berry-ish. I dig it.

2. I am FINALLY on Pottermore (if you don't know what that is, you're not as big a nerd as I am), and have been sorted into Hufflepuff. I was sure I was a Ravenclaw, but alas, no. My wand is hornbeam and phoenix feather, 10 and three quarters inches, slightly springy. :)

3. Since my early childhood I have had objections to certain numbers simply because I think they're "mean numbers." I never thought six was very nice. Why? No clue.

4. In one of my notebooks I have a list of every book I've read in a year since 2006. The steady decline the older I get makes me sad. (Again, why do I have a list? I don't know.)

5. At this very moment my fingernails are orange and my toes are alternating shades of blue.

6. So the other day I was at the (very hilarious) school Improv show and they played this game in which a bachelor has to guess the bizarre personalities of three bachelorettes. One girl was Superwoman and made a pun about Marvel. I was internally bothered because Superman and his compatriots are most definitely DC.
And then I felt super nerdy.

7. I collect Disney pins. My collection currently consists of a Little Mermaid California Adventure pin, a key from the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, a glow in the dark Haunted Mansion pin, a Pirates of the Caribbean wheel (it opens and there's a skeleton pirate inside), Peter Pan, a Fantasmic dragon, Tinkerbell flying over the castle, a mechanical-looking Mickey Mouse, and a Grape Soda pin (like from Up). I like my pins.

8. I'm seriously considering chopping my hair off above my shoulders after graduation.

9. In creative writing last semester I wrote a short story about a kid who stops time when he sneezes. I don't think I'll post it here, 'cause that would scream, "Free short story! Take me!" but if you know me personally and want to read it I will show it to you. It's a cute story.

10. I realized the other day that I'm a conglomerate nerd. I'm hardcore nerdy about a few things (see 2 above), but for the most part I dabble in nerddom. I like Star Wars, but I can't tell you the names of all the ships, and I like Lord of the Rings, but I can't speak Elvish, etc. etc.

Congratulations. You wasted ten minutes reading this. Return to your normal routine.

Eight Na-Na-Na's a Week

This is just a lovely song. And it's a live video! Yaaay! Although by this point they had started to look strange. Except Paul McCartney. Who was always adorable.



"Take a sad song and make it better..."

Eight College Visit Days a Week

How long has it even been since I did Eight Days a Week? I don't even know. Far too long. I'm getting myself back on track.

So this last weekend I visiting Harding University, and I kinda fell in love with it. They have a good English department, a good theatre department, they're sound (with the exception of a few avoidable Bible teachers), the campus is gorgeous... need I go on? However, Harding is in Arkansas, so guess what I did ALL DAY Monday?



HAHAHAHA.

But seriously. Sixteen hours. LOTS of car time.

Late Night College Essay Party

Hey guys.

I will spare you the details, but between being exhausted from losing an hour of sleep this weekend, being stood up by a cadaver lab instructor, and figuring out that the honors college application due Friday was FAR more extensive than I previously thought, Monday wasn't the best of all days.

However, as a result of the aforementioned realization about the college application, I cranked out a college essay in the last hour or so that turned out pretty well and I thought it was blogworthy. The prompt was to write about the importance of academic excellence in 300 to 500 words, and this is what I came up with. (It's 500 words exactly. I was proud.)

Academia Nut

I failed my first AP Calculus test.

The red score at the top of the page might as well have been a stab in the heart as I, the hardcore intellectual, the straight-A student, the never-less-than-a-B-in-the-class academic, stared in bewilderment at the tear-jerking failure in front of me. My specialty had always been English, but I normally excelled at everything, whether it be poetry or trigonometry. But there it was at the top of the page, a blazing twenty-three out of fifty, a sobering reminder of my inevitable fall from perfection.

Test corrections were available, and I managed to bring my grade up to a C— small comfort for a girl accustomed to acing exams. Nevertheless, I maintained a positive attitude and a B in the class. Everyone has bad days, I thought. Mine had to come eventually. It won’t happen again. Blessed with a wonderful memory, I had never had to study for tests, particularly not math tests, but in fear that the devil grade had been a result of my neglect, I practiced several problems prior to the next test. I would not have my near-perfect grade point average ruined by something so petty as an inability to integrate differential equations.

I got a D.

One sub-C grade in a person’s lifetime is permissible, even if that grade does happen to be less than a fifty percent. However, two scores on the wrong side of the Bell curve is enough to threaten your status as a nerd for life.

The next assessment arrived shortly after in the form of a low point-value quiz. While I managed to scrape a B, the elusive A, the mark I truly craved, evaded me still, despite much practice and study. Test corrections and routine homework assignments kept my grade in the class tottering on the edge of a B and a C, but I might as well have been tottering on the edge of a cliff overlooking a pool full of piranhas. I was ashamed of the few B’s I had received in my high school career, and one C would surely jeopardize my chances of ever gaining admittance to the college of my choice. In my distress, I did what every tough go-getter does— I talked to Mom.

She said she wasn’t worried about it.

I eyed her with disbelief. This woman who got A’s all her life, the valedictorian of her graduating class, doesn’t care that I might have a C in the class?!?

“Are you doing your best?” she asked.

I nodded.

“That’s good enough for me.”

I was awestruck. Never in my life had my best been anything less than an A, but maybe, just maybe, this time it was all right.

What is academic excellence, anyway? Is it getting A’s, or is it throwing yourself wholeheartedly into your work, learning everything you can, and accepting whatever grade comes with your effort?

I still haven’t gotten an A on a calculus test.

Somehow I’ll go on.