Kalypso The Odyssey

For the past week or so, all of the local news sources have had one overlapping theme. Remember how about 4 years ago, the rest of the country was complaining about ‘Katrina fatigue’? My city seems to be going through something almost similar, only instead of having heard enough of other people’s misfortunes, the people here have had enough of their own stories. Most of the people that live here, especially the ones that stayed during the storm, seem sorta on edge. It’s as if the city is giving off simultaneous moans of pain that originate from all the same remarks.

Lots of the stuff that’s come out recently, while perhaps painful, is extremely powerful. Spike Lee’s most recent documentary was REALLY good, if you haven’t seen it, do. The Rising Tide’s program this year was pretty amazing. Dave Eggar’s Zeitoun speech at Tulane, a few of the articles in the paper. And with all of these things, I think I’m finally starting to get it. Why people were so crushed and shocked by everything. At the time, I think that I was perhaps a bit too young to understand the full impact of the storm and it’s aftermath. But recently, I’m beginning to understand why no one who lived though this event can ever, or should ever forget what happened five years ago today.

My dad’s been asking me what I thought about staying here after the storm, and honestly, before he posed the question, I had never seriously thought about it. I can’t imagine my world without New Orleans. When I grow up and (hopefully) discover whatever field I wish to move into and pursue as a career, I might move away for periods of time. However, I will unconditionally visit, and I shall do so frequently. This city has made its place in my heart, as I know it has for many of my friends. Sure, New Orleans can be more than frustrating, but this city is alive and kicking. Breathing. Pulsing. And I probably can’t say too much more without this getting sappy, or maybe it already has. But I can’t tell you enough how much my town means to me, and how much less my life would mean if I didn’t live in this beautiful, beautiful city.

Schools started back again. Two days in and I’m back to my old habits, barely scraping by, procrastinating as much as possible, wishing summer was back around the corner but knowing it won’t be for many long, painful months. Thus is my life as a teenager. My schedule is as follows:
A days
1 free enterprise
2 algebra 2
3 music
4 french

B days
1 english 3
2 PE
3 music
4 chemistry

Classes seem like they’re going to be fun. All of my teachers are great, most of them seem smart and experienced and just generally know what they’re doing. Only problem is that between homework, track, music, and biking back and forth between school, I don’t seem to have much time for facebook. But i guess that’s okay, my english teacher keeps on claiming that it gives you cancer. Everything seems to give you cancer nowadays, so who knows. The way I see it, I’m better off having marxism occupy my mind, as opposed to all of the latest gossip. “OMGOMG, did you hear that sarah-joe and bobby-bob like totally just broke up???” No, and I think that if the alternative to knowing that is cancer, I’ll probably manage without knowing. At least until lunch time when I hear all of this anyways. But speaking of gossip, my dad has been telling me to say something about my hair, for relatives sakes. So yeah, I cut it. With a razor. I’ll take a picture and upload it to flickr later.

One last note before I go and forget about this site for four months: WE GOT CHICKENS :’D they’re SUPER cute and will LAY EGGS. They smell quite a lot, but other than that I think that they’re perfect. I hope that they will grow up and be beautiful and and healthy and that they won’t become my responsibility to feed. Goodbye world, have a nice four months

So me and my friends were chilling at story land on friday. We were all sorta in costume and were taking artsy photos, some of which turned out to be pretty cool. I might post a few? But during the whole thing, this lady came up and introduced herself as a fairy-god mother. She then proceeded to ask us all what age we were, or more specifically, if we were over 18. I’m sure the same thought an through all of our heads: “OH SHIT, we’re about to get busted! Wait. This is story land… What?” After an awkwardly long pause, someone said our ages and she then, to our pleasant supplies, she offered us all summer jobs. So, basically we have to schedule interviews, and if we get in then we get payed about 20 to 30 dollars a day! This whole set up sounded grate until someone called me later and informed me that if we worked the whole day, we would be getting payed less than minimum wage. So, I’m just going to schedule an interview and ask what’s up. I think I would still be willing… This seems easy and any amount of cash right now would definitely be a good thing.

So it was held at my school this year, and was the first year I went. My first impression: why have I stopped writing? My second impression: god, these people are cool! (there were these two fantabulous goth chicks that I definitely wanted to hug, but I got the feeling that they wouldn’t approve :[ ) And then I remembered THIS! I HAVE A BLOG! (I should go back and count how many miles im supposed to run by now. Stupid commitments… -_-) So anyways, it was really cool. People from all around the country came and I got to sorta meet Matthew Dickman. He signed my arm at the end I do have some regrets though… I kept on meaning to ask him more about his music taste, but whenever I was actually around him, I was just sorta like “Wooooow…. It’s Matthew Dickman……. *-*)

I really hate titles. Just a couple of words to sum up the entire point of the passage. Choosing one is so impossible, I think I’m just going to put in random things from now on, hence the title of this.

this is something i wrote for english class. nothing big, just a one page story that had to include something about “metamorphosis.” So basically, someone has to undergo a dramatic physical transformation, or something like that. I wrote mine in a really small amount of time, and think it turned out sorta well :] i mean, its full of grammatical errors, but other than that… so, um, here it is:
The sound of waves crashing against the shore became less faint as I ran towards the setting sun. The path to the beach had become overgrown since I had last been home. My house, however, looked exactly like it had when I had gone away. No, when I had been taken away. But I was free now, and I rejoiced in this fact, and everything else as the ocean finally came into view. It had to be the most beautiful thing in the world, especially now, with the pinks and yellows and deep, dark, crimson reds reflecting of its surface. But it would only last a few more minutes before the sun had to set, and night would overcome the day, the moon taking its place in the sky as the cycle went on.
I heard a noise behind me, a growl ever so faint. I turned to face the creature, but saw nothing where it should have been. I ignored the thing, possibly a mere figment of my imagination, and continued on my way down to the sandy shore. Night was setting in now, and soon I would have to turn back, but I wanted so badly just to feel the warm waters of my home, so I continued on.
Just as I had stepped onto the shore, an utterly horrid and terrifying shriek erupted from the mouth of some unearthly beast, and I fell to the ground. Ever so slowly though, I opened my eyes, and my worst nightmare lay before me.
I was back: back in my cell, back in my prison, back in my own personal hell. So, it was all just a dream.
But my prison was not my own, and the moans and cries of other people surrounded me now. I was lost in hear, lost in all of the insanity. And I wanted to be back home so badly that for a few minutes, I allowed myself a chance to let my emotions overtake me, and I cried myself to sleep.
I woke up to the sound of the prison guards opening my door, as well as many of the others cells, allowing those of us in my wing the chance to go into the courtyard and stretch a bit before breakfast. I complied, but never felt totally safe when I was outside of my cage; the other prisoners had a tendency to crack every so often, and when they did, there was no guaranty that the guards would act fast enough.
I went off into a corner and looked up. The prison walls blocked out most of it, but I could still see a small portion of the sky. But the walls, they were so incredibly massive. They broke everyone. No one had anything to live for inside these walls. And now, as if they were teasing me, the walls seemed to be growing taller, if ever so slightly. I sighed and looked down…
And almost died of shock! The walls had not grown taller, I had shorter. And not only that, I had turned into a beautiful, fully grown albatross! I spread one wing and then another. Then, I flapped both, and I was in the air! Not ten seconds later, I was out of the walls and flying towards the sun, and towards freedom. Flying ever so high above the ocean, away from my prison, away from all of the chaos of that place and from what it had done to my mind.
But, somewhere, deep in the darkest corner of my soul, I knew something that my conscious self would never understand: it was all just a dream.

hope you like it <3

Considerably, I’m doing pretty good. The first race i went to this year, i ran 2 miles and got 18.45 as a time, places 16th. thats ALOT better than what i used to get last year(20 mins and in the 40’s.) The second race was yesterday and i ran 3 miles in 28 minutes and some seconds. were not sure about the place yet though, but ill try to remember to post it when i find out. the night before though, i was up until 12.30 partying at ben franklin’s homecoming. prolly wasn’t a good idea, but who really cares…
so, for a while there wasn’t a high school team, but when my parents found out about that, they got involved, and things happened. now, there are a enough people for an over all team, but aren’t enough girls for lusher to count with races in that division. so, i’ll try to get a few of my friends to join. anyways, i’m glad that i’m in a sport, and that i’m getting better at it.
the coach is really cool, i think he said he coaches at delgado, and is better at conditioning us. so, with him and the fact that i have to bike like 5 miles to school everyday ( :/car problems…) im getting to be pretty healthy!

hrm… well, i guess on a whole, its better than middle school… there work load is sooo hard to keep up with though, especially in the AP class im taking. oh, incase you didn’t know, heres my schedule:
A days: Orchestra, Gym, Human Geography, World Lit
B days: Orchestra, Physics, Geometry, French III
(i follow a different schedule depending on what the day is labeled. its done like this so we can have longer classes and its just easier. We don’t have to haul around as much crap, and have more time for homework! :D)

i’m taking two sophomore classes and 2 junior ones, so i guess i should expect more work. but other than academics, there’s just a better vibe in high school. maybe its school spirit? but that couldn’t be right, cuz i don’t like my school. oh well, what ever… :/

on another note, i plan on attending NONE of mah school’s dances, but ill crash all of the after parties! XD but the dances that my school holds tend to suck really hard, so its not worth paying the admission fee. i do, however, plan on going to lots of other school dances, like the ben franklin homecoming that i went to last friday. It was pretty cool, and was being held at the superdome! The music selection was shit, but thats to be expected when the majority of the people attending the dance enjoy listening to things like disney… *cough*dumbassshallowpreppies*cough*

right… so, I blogged! :O wow, its been a while… i seem to spend all of my time online on facebook… *sigh* (i sound so shallow in this… i guess thats normal though, cuz im a teenager! :P)

Je suis dans Paris! I think the only way to efficiently sum up the trip is with the following video… so, enjoy!

For the summer, we ordered this. We also got another harmonica, making our total harmonica count two. Me and my father plan to pay for our entire trip with these on the streets of Paris. I can already play all of the easy songs like twinkle and Alouette and the most complicated one that I can play so far is you are my sunshine. Im trying to learn some of the stuff from the Nightmare Before christmas sound track, cuz i finally found a great site for the sheet music. I can play part of Sally’s Song, which is really pretty, but its sorta hard because the only sharps the thing has are F’s. So everything else is natural, which makes playing songs with key signatures dificult b/c if your playing frum sheet music, you have to change everything. But Im getting better at it, and should able to play alot more in a few weeks.