"New Coat"

So I just realized that I get called my name far less than I get called one of the following;

~ New Coat

I have no idea where this even came from. My Aunt Carol started calling me it and I was like ok. But then everyonee in my family started calling me it. I was like, I am not a piece of clothing! Not even a new piece of clothing.

~ E Coli Emishi (E coal-E Em-E-shi)

This one I came up with. One day I was recordiong the Nancy Drew Mystery story hour for my Mom and I realized that it needed some spicing up. I decided that an opera singer would do the trick. So for some odd reason the first name that came to my mind was E Coli Emishi. Don't ask me why. And no, there is no connection between this and the fact that when I was little I had e. coli. They are not even pronounced the same.

~ Nico (knee-koh)

I think this was my first nickname. It was the beginning of Super Nico and Nico Wondergirl. Only my parents call me this.

~ Nink (neink....I dont even know how to describe this one. It's like "mink" but with an n.)

My absolute favorite one. I love this nickname. It really frustrates me that I can't spell it. My Dad started this one by going, "Nink Nink, nah-Nink Nink." And I'd go, "Dah-dah, da Dah-dah." I used to love it because I thought my parents only used it when they were happy with me, so it was associated with good memories. But I realized recently that they use it when they are ill-disposed towards me, too. Kind of a bummer. Only my parents call me this.

~ Super Nico and Nico Wondergirl

When I was little, my Dad was the Tickle-Monster and the only thing that could save my poor, defenseless civilian sisters was me, Super Nico!

~ P

Mostly the sisters and I say this, and sometimes my Mom joins in. Sometimes people at school say it, too. It means pretty! :)

~ Princess

Carlos started this one last year. I was never really interested in Disney Princesses until last year, when I wrote a persuasive essay about why I should be a Disney Princess. my class loved it and I was told many times that I would make a jolly good Princess. How lovely. Then, at the end of last year, Carlos started calling me "Princess." I guess a lot of people caught on because now many people call me Princess. It is one of my proudest achievements :)

Alright so I really don't mind all this. I love nicknames. But really, if I did not have the idea firmly in my head that my name was Nicole, I would go a little crazy. If I were a baby, I would have no idea what my name was.

Good-bye March!

And good riddance. This has got to be the worst month of the year. March never shuts up. It just keeps going and going and never gives us a break. Thank heavens today is the last day of it. But of course it wouldn't be a day in March without a ginormo list of things to do....

~ Band

Practice for chair placement. And howw many chair placements does this make??? I am not practicing tonight because I left my flute at the school. Get at me.

~ WHAP

Three homeworks I do believe. But today I got my gradesheet and it says I'm missing like, a billion homeworks which is nottt legit. Whatever. I hate WHAP. Like so much.

~ Anatomy

Bring in a composition notebook because pig dissection starts tomorrow! I'm kinda excited :) And did you notice that tomorrow is not March anymore?? Yeah, that's because if we started the pig dissection in March it would SUCK, but because it starts in April I think we'll be good.

~ English

Stupid essay. English is so gay.

~ Intern Mentor

I deserve to be shot for taking this class. Display board plan, abstract, final paper with mentor comments and hours sheets for February and March. HA.

~ Misc

Of course no day would be complete without the Music Department breathing down my neck. I still need to turn in senior pics and paper for slideshow. Yes I know it's late. One word: Senior.

So that's the end of this post and the beginning of a late night. Yee-haw.

In My Head

Ok so this post is dedicated to my personal feel-good things :)

Songs

In My Head Jason Derulo

Miracles Happen Myra

Beautiful Akon

Miss Independent Ne-yo

Taylor Swift. 'nuff said.

The One Backstreet Boys

So Magical Martina McBride

Smells

Love Spell Victoria's Secret

Freshly-cut grass

Blue Knob (yes it does have a smell)

Snow (that has a smell, too)

New school supplies

Activities

Reading

Writing

Sighing

Napping

Cleaning room (after the room is clean you feel better)

Practicing flute

Crimping hair

Painting nails

Talking with friends

Shoe shopping (money is necessary)

One Spot at Target :) :) :) :)

Smiling! :D :P :) ;)

Justin Bieber

I love this boy.

My New Future Take Three

So today I went downstairs fully expecting to plop down onto the couch and watch Made of Honor or that new Disney movie about the frog. Princess and the Frog! that's it....I really need to see it. Anyway so I was planning on doing that. So I sat down and turned on the TV and it happened to be on the Fox News Channel. They were talking about the Health Care Reform that may or may not be taking place and all that is dependent on what the vote is come Sunday. Tomorrow.

So I am interested in politics. I think they are fascinating, and as I was watching this broadcast and senators kept coming on and saying that they've changed their minds and now it's a "no" or a "yes" I couldn't help but think what in the world was going on down there? I wonder what kind of dirty deals are being pulled right now. I wonder what's happening in the private meetings President Obama and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are having with on-the-fence Democrats and Republicans.

I read this article and apparently Pelosi and Reid and Obama are pairing borderline Congressmen and Senators with stalwart supporters of the bill, and they are assigned to focus their efforts solely on this one person and their vote. I don't think this is a bad approach, but it kinda shows how desperate these guys are for votes.

Obama gave this speech that was a last-ditch effort for him to convince the House to vote for the bill wherein he said that we all have to make sacrifices for this bill. He's taken some hits and other people have, too. He said that it's up to the House representatives to do what they think is right for their people, even if it would cost them their next election.

Ok so this is a problem. If I went to a restaurant and said to the waiter, "I would like the spaghetti, please and water." And they brought me back some sushi and vodka, I'd be like, "umm....this isn't what I ordered." and then the waiter said, "Well I know but I think you would like this better." I would certainly not go to that restaurant again. Or else I would complain and make sure my waiter was a better one, one who knew how to do his job right, the next time I went.

This is exactly what is happening in those districts where the people are like, "we don't want the Health Care Reform." and the representatives are saying, "we know that you don't want it, and we know that you voted us into office with good faith that we would represent you correctly, but we really think that you don't know what you want. We do. This is going to make me apart of history, and surely you would do the same if you were in my situation. Plus, Nancy Pelosi scares me, and I don't want to piss her off."

What's happening is that these people are being scared out of doing their jobs. It is not your job to go around pleasing your fellow Congressmen. It is not your job to cave to the arguments Obama and Pelosi and your Grandma are throwing at you. It is your job to represent the people. You are merely the mouth in the body of your district. You are neither the brain nor the heart. The people are. So do your job. And if you do it right, which is by doing what your district tells you to do, you needn't worry about the next election.

After Obama's speech the people at Fox News had some guests. One of them was this old lady who was a Democrat and she had run for vice president awhile ago and was in the House of Representatives once upon a century ago (Here after referred to as "OLD" *Old Lady Democrat*). They also had a former Republican Senator from Pennsylvania there (RSP) as well as the news caster (NC *my initials! Maybe one day that'll be me :)*). This is how the conversation went....

NC: So let's talk about this bill one of the biggest things that are keeping borderline Democrats on the border is the deal on abortion. What do you have to say about this, OLD?

OLD: This bill will help people who don't have Health Care get the coverage they need. It will benefit 31 million Americans that don't have Health Insurance right now.

NC: Ok but let's talk about abortion. RSP?

RSP: This bill will help people to get coverage, but what Democrats are skating over is the fact that it will take tax-payers money and fund over 400,000 abortions. This has never been covered in a bill that has such drastic impact as this.

NC: What do you have to say, OLD?

OLD: This whole thing on abortion is being made into the center of attention when really all we should be talking about are the benefits of this wonderful bill. It will help 31 million people!

NC: Abortion is the elephant in the room we can't ignore it.

OLD; Yes we can this is not what it's all about. Think about the benefits rather than the drawbacks.

RSP: We can't just think about the benefits when something as huge as abortion is being pushed to the back room.

OLD: YES WE CAN! 31 MILLION PEOPLE!

NC: Alright we need to take a break here thanks for joining us. Up next....

I was disgusted. Ok this really irks me. Much as I would like to run around saying everything is hunky dory, I can't. Drawbacks are just as important as benefits, and it was crazy how much that OLD was bending over backwards to try to avoid the subject of abortion.

It's like you move into a new house and it has all these cool things like access to the community pool and travel choices and warm towels and stuff and oh bytheway, part of your money that you're paying for this will go to funding the gang down the hall. Or the Taliban. Or the training of the doctors who specialize in killing babies for irresponsible people who don't want to deal with the consequences of their actions. I'd be like, umm....no absolutely not. These benefits are not enough to make me forget my conscience.

So I have to go babysitting in like, two seconds but anyway now to the reason for the title of this post, "My New Future Take Three". After watching all this, I decided that I want to get into politics. Maybe. I still really want to be a Game Warden in Africa, but I think that I could help more people this way. Something for me to consider.

When life hands you lemons....

Make lemonade!

Well, life didn't actually hand me lemons, but I certainly did make lemonade. Reallll lemonade. I use lemons and sugar and water. Lots of each ingredient. It took me about an hour.

Now you're prolly wondering, Nicole, why did you make lemonade? Well the answer is rather simple. It was because I felt like life had handed me lemons. So I just squeezed those lemons until the life lemons went away. I got kinda carried away, I think. I ended up making enough lemonade to fill a glass pitcher, two four cup glass containers, one 2 cup glass container, and I still have like three cups left at least.

This put me in a rather good mood, so I will start making lemonade whenever I feel upset. Or orange juice or apple juice or nectarine juice. I am open to suggestions :)

Graduation Speech

This year I am a senior, and something I've always wanted to do is speak at graduation. I suppose this comes partly from the fact that I want to do something totally unique from my sisters. So without further adieu, here is my graduation speech....

Superheroes in ‘10

            One of the most difficult things I have done in my thirteen years of public school education is come up with an introduction for this speech. Thank goodness that’s over!

Let’s go back to elementary school, where we all sat around, criss-cross applesauce, and said what we wanted to be when we “grew up.” There were your doctors, your firemen, princesses, teachers, and then that one comic book-obsessed kid that wanted more than anything to be Spiderman when he grew up. Of course he wouldn’t ever actually be Spiderman, (PAUSE) sorry. But I have realized as I have grown up that we are much more like superheroes than we may think. Superheroes are determined, focused, brave, charismatic, dedicated, and willing to do what others cannot.

Like superheroes our determined character has made us both notorious and admirable. Green shirts anyone? We have raised funds for worthy causes, as well as awareness of disabled people. Our class has cheered our gator pride hoarse at champion-ship winning games, and was enchanted by the talents of our music and drama departments. The pride we have in our class has been infectious.

            But it is important to remember that we did not get to where we are by ourselves. Our success is due largely to our wonderful (LOOK AT THEM) teachers, administrators, coaches, and directors who have shown us what commitment and dedication truly means in their four-year effort to get us right here. And thanks also to Mrs. Thiergart, our class sponsor. You deserve a major vacation. And who can forget our roots? Our parents have forgiven our terrible twos and awkward pre-teen phases and finally our crazy hormonal teenage years. If not for anything else, our moms and dads deserve a round of applause.

            It’s been a good run, but thank goodness we’re done. And that rhymes! So speaking of poetry….Dr. Seuss, the superhero of all rhymes, penned, “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. You are the guy who'll decide where to go.” Ultimately it is your life, and your accomplishments or lack there-of can be traced back to only one person, yourself so remember, “you are the guy who’ll decide where to go.” So go somewhere great!

For years we’ve talked about this day. Get ready, because that stage of all talk is over. Can you believe it? I can’t count how many times I have heard classmates complain of that terrible disease, senioritis or how May 28th seems forever away. Finally the day we’ve been both dreading and longing for has arrived. We’re here, in our graduation caps and gowns, ready to get those empty diploma folders because, as superheroes know, sometimes praise is pending.

            You’re about to go out into a world where everyone is something, so be what you want to be, not what you have to settle for. I think that if Superman was giving this speech he would tell us to not let the world kryptonite us, that it is so important to never ever give up.

Of course, pursuing your goals is a risky business. Every person possesses the ability to walk away and leave their potential unused, and most do. Why else do you think you see only one superhero per city? It’s tough work, never giving up, but superheroes don’t and I expect nothing less from us.

Our abilities and potential make us powerful, but, as Spiderman says, “with great power comes great responsibility.” Test your limits, and like Superman, rise to the occasion because as soon as you do, your dream of becoming a superhero is no longer a dream, but a reality.

Everyday ask yourself; How far can I go? What records can I break? One person very familiar with record-breaking is Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games and supporter of each individual’s quest their inner superhero. He said, “the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.” Be the best you can be, whatever you are doing. Make your goals worthy endeavors and fight for their fulfillment. Be the Reservoir Rs, all fifty million of them. Remember 2010, superheroes are all different from each other. Spiderman spins webs, Superman is strong, Elastagirl is elasticy. Our differences make us strong and capable of accomplishment.

I know that every single person in this class is ready to put on their superhero suit, and I am so excited to see what we will do with our limitless abilities. Final advice; be smart, be kind, be brave, and be ready, ‘cause 2010, we’re a go.

Dear Ketty

Today I was at an indecision. I wasn't sure what I was gonna do for roommates for the Spring Trip. That, in short, was my problem. I was worried that if I talked to anyone about it, I would come off as such a big-headed beep, but when I explained how the altos wanted me in their room and so did Julia and Seul and so did Gina and how was I supposed to choose? You were perfectly understanding and not judgmental. You listened and then carefully went over all my options until we came to a conclusion. You made sure every aspect was discussed, and you were sooo nice the whole time. So thank you, Ketty, for being such a wonderful friend.

Love,

Nicole

Memo

So I am about to start a series of posts called the Letters. The title will be "Dear...." and then I will talk about someone who I think is pretty fabulous. Just FYI.

How Embarrassing

Ok so every year before Adjudication Mr Dubbs has us come in for an evening rehearsal and we have a really good band person come in for a clinic with us. In the clinics we play what we have while they take notes. After we're done, he'll jump on the stand and give us his suggestions and help us to get better. Evening rehearsals are a pain in general, so I was not looking forward to it. I showed up in my red dog checkered pajama pants, a t-shirt, and my purple aero hoodie with my purple penguin socks and my moccasins, officially making me the poster child for what not to wear. I had just taken a shower but I put on make-up in the car. Luckily. Why luckily, Nicole? Wellllll I'll tell you!

I was sitting there in between Seul and Mirae, passing notes with the former, when our first clinician came in. He looked nice enough. It was whatever. We played a bit and I was about to write Seul back when suddenly the most attractive man over 40 walked into my life. I was like, agok. My mouth dropped open. I couldn't help but stare. His graceful aging was matched only by George Clooney. I was like, holy cow. Holy cow.

However, I was able to get back to my writing Seul and our subjects of prom dresses and such were enough to deter my thoughts of the mystery man. But then, at 8:20ish, he was given the stand. I don't know what came over me. All the sudden my mouth refused to do anything but smile, and my eyes were riveted not to the note Seul was passing me, but to the podium. I think it was his charisma. He was so excited about the music. It most certainly was NOT infatuation as some people *cough Carlos Thomas Joey and Johnny cough* think. That leads me to my next point.

I suppose I looked rather silly, sitting there grinning my head off, but I never expected anyone to notice. People smile all the time. It's perfectly normal, according to me.

According to Carlos, it was not normal. "When Mr. Dubbs was up there you were frowning. But when Mr B. got up there, you were smiling so widely and happily the whole time."

"No I wasn't, Carlos."

"The WHOLE time."

Joey came up to me after rehearsal and was like, "Geez Nicole what's up with you never stopping smiling while Mr. B was conducting? Are you in love with him?"

When we applauded Mr B, which apparently I did too enthusiastically, Mr Dubbs grinned and winked knowingly at me.

And today when Carlos was talking about it in Madrigals, Johnny decided his two cents were worth a dime and I must hear them.

"Carlos, I smile all the time. All the time. I can't help it."

"Yeah but it wasn't that kind of smile. It was that kind of smile."

"This is-"

"Yeah, Nicole. It was pretty crazy."

"Johnny you didn't even see me!" I wanted to say that he was too pre-occupied with Claire, but I bit my tongue.

"Yes I did. And it's true."

So apparently everyone noticed my umm....appreciation of his talents, so Thomas felt it only prudent to tell me the truth. "He's gay."

"WHAT?!?!?!"

"He owned a house on a gay beach. He has a boyfriend. We all (Tim, Thomas, Marissa. They all took/take private lessons from him) know it." Thomas grinned apologetically, as if he was trying to let me down nicely. "But he is 30 years older than you...."

I stamped my foot, said how ridiculous that assumption that I was interested was, and walked away, rather in a huff.

So to set everything straight, I am NOT in love/infatuated with Mr B. I think he is adorably enthusiastic and talented is all. And that he ages nicely. I hope my husband ages that nicely. And yes, I am very sad for all the 40 year old single ladies out there that he is gay. The end.

Fears

So today I was in Mads and we had sectionals and it was just Heather, Holly, Ashley, and Liz because the other girls weren't there. So it was a really good sectional :) But something happened....

I was singing and Liz kept looking at me and saying patiently, "watch the tone girls."

Ok disclaimer: I have the worst tone ever. I'm serious. I just do not have good tone. DK calls me out allll the time about it. He says that the reason for this is because I have a more "pop-y" voice. He says it's not a bad thing, but for certain songs I need to work on it.

So I guess my tone was super bad today because Liz kept saying that. I know she wasn't trying to be mean to me or anything. That's the last thing Liz would do. But it kinda hurt my feelings all the same. I really was trying, but it just didn't work. So then someone suggests that I pretend to be singing opera and I thought, "Oh you really don't want me to do that."

You see, I have an alter-ego. Her name is Ecoli Emishi. Ecoli Emishi came to be when I first began the Nancy Drew Mystery story hour with my Mom. I decided that, as interesting as Nancy, Bess, and George are, constant reading about them can get boring. Enter Ecoli Emishi! Famous opera star and between-chapters entertainment. These days Ecoli hardly ever makes an appearance because she is simply too famous for that, but sometimes she drops by and it is such a treat!

So when I finally got up the courage to take their advice and sing opera, my ears were met with laughter. I was very embarrassed and wished that I hadn't done it, and Heather must've seen that because she quickly said, "Nicole it was good! Just totally unexpected."

And Liz said, "Yeah just tone it down a bit because we're supposed to be mezzo-piano not mezzo-forte." So I toned it down, but the entire rest of the sectional I was worried.

I worried that the other girls thought I sounded stupid, or that they were all saying to themselves, "Nicole never should've made it into Madrigals. She can't even get good tone without having to go all opera." But as I stood there and looked around, I realized that I was not the only one worrying about something.

Holly was singing quietly, quieter than usual. We have similar voices, perhaps she worried her tone was bad, too? Or maybe she was afraid of doing the wrong notes. But everyone makes mistakes, and its not like the mean one in our section was there who would sooner stab herself than give a compliment and rejoices in handing out criticism. So Holly did not need to worry. Plus, we were just learning the music, so it wasn't anything bad if she didn't know it. But still Holly worried.

Liz was really determined for us to learn everything. Perhaps she worried that the sopranos would be better than us? This is a silly notion. The end. But still Liz worried.

Heather was worried that we thought she was being really bossy and mean because she kept having to call our attention back to the music because let's face it, we all like each other and we wanted to socialize. Heather was taking charge because we wanted her to. Heather is very talented and helpful when learning music, and she is nice and willing to allow short moments for chatter and will always go over complicated parts with us. We love having Heather help us. But still Heather worried.

I dunno what Ashley was worried about. Maybe nothing, but I doubt it.

I think we all worry about something at any given time. Maybe its something as simple as will the last yogurt still be there? Will I be late? What did I get on that test? Sometimes its complicated, like with pregnancies and illnesses and college. Whatever the worry is, I'm sure everyone has one.

We worry that everyone is talking about our embarrassing fall, our pimple, our bad grade. But think about it. If everyone is worrying about themselves, no one is worrying about anyone else. So really, you're off the hook. I dunno, maybe I'm wrong, but perhaps we shouldn't worry so much.