My Ideal Reader?

Dear Steven Spielberg,

You are an amazing director who I really look up to. Your films have inspired me to take my time on the videos I make and work hard to make them look good. I really admire your work and hope to one day make films like yours. I especially love your film Super 8, which I had mentioned in one of my other posts and always love the classics like Jurassic Park, E.T. and Indiana Jones. I would love to someday meet you and even work with you, I think it would be an amazing experience and I would be honored to meet the person that has directed so many wonderful films.

Photo courtesy of One Life Success

I make YouTube videos, and always think of how much time and effort you must put into your films as motivation to try my hardest. I would like to become a successful director like you. You are someone I look up to and I appreciate all your work. You have inspired me to work hard on the thing that I love and put forth effort and time to make the end product. I hope to someday meet you or direct films similar to ones you have. My goal is to make movies that people enjoy and love and share with their friends because they enjoyed it so much, just as I do with your films.

I am a ninth grader who aspires to one day be as talented of a director as you. So far my blog has not mentioned my love for film much but in the near future I would like to share more about my hobby and love for film. I really admire you and your films, and you have inspired me to do what I love.

I know you, Steven Spielberg, will probably not see this blog post but if you ever did I would be incredibly amazed and honored. If you did ever see this post, I want you to know what an inspiration and amazing director you are. Your films are amazing works of art and just all around fantastic. I have enjoyed every film I have seen directed by you and know I will continue to love ones you direct in the future.

I look up to you for everything you do, you truly are an amazing director. Thank you so much for inspiring me and for making the wonderful films you have directed.

~Ariel

Old School, 2015 and 2016.

So 2015 has come to an end and we're already a few days into 2016, as well as semester one is coming to it's end. We have been having a lot of finals, and projects and large assignments due. This means a lot of studying, and last minute work, and all sorts of other school related things that take up time. I'm not saying doing these things is bad, but I have realized how much effort and time goes into your work, not only towards the end of the semester or quarter.

Coming from a private school, Treasure Mountain Junior High is very different; there are more finals, projects and assignments that count for a large part of your grade. Although this makes it hard and a bit more time consuming to get a good grade, I like the effort that you have to put into your work. I know a lot of kids feel lazy and usually don't like these types of things, and I don't either but as quarter to is ending I noticed how much I have enjoyed the school year.

At my old school the eighth grade class was composed of fifteen students. This made it very difficult to make friends and meet different people. Although our class was very close, it felt weird not being able to go to a class with other people and make new friends. Coming to TMJH for ninth grade was a huge change, there being so many students and classes. At first it was overwhelming and difficult to adjust to but after coming here I have made new friends that I feel closer with than the other friends I had before. I have had a chance to meet a lot of new people and experience things I didn't have at my private school. I am looking forward to semester two because new semester means new classes and meeting new people. I am very shy but am hoping to become more open and meet new friends.

At my old school things were a bit different, not only because it was smaller but the teaching styles were different and I like coming to TMJH because it's new and a good change. I had been going to Park City Day School, the private school since I was in kindergarten and am very happy to be at a new school.

Picture of my friend Marea and I

Now switching gears to look back on 2015 I would say it's been a pretty great year, and although we're already 14 days into the new year I'm excited to see what the rest of 2016 holds. In 2015 I made some great new friends, had arguments with old ones but eventually found our way back together, and went through hardships but I wouldn't want my year any other way. I am so lucky to have the opportunities and friends I have, especially my closest ones who I can tell anything. My friends are so supportive and I'm so glad to have them in my life. So, to conclude this post, I know it's already 2016 but cheers to whatever the future holds!

~Ariel



P.s. if you want to check out my friend's travel tips blog you can click here, and if you want to check out my other friends blog for pretty much anything click here! :)

Surprises, Cracker Barrel, and Claw Machines.

The day after Christmas my dad woke my mom and I up, then immediately asked, "Do you want to go to Alabama?" At first I hated the idea, I mean sure I love seeing family but I hate having to leave after visiting. I didn't want to go, I didn't wan to have to cry when we left. But after waking up a bit more and coming to my senses, I decided taking a trip home to see family would be fun. We planned to leave in two days and fly from Salt Lake to Atlanta, Georgia then from there to Alabama and not tell anyone. It was going to be a surprise, and I knew it would be super fun so we all packed and two days later we got on the plane to head to Alabama.

Our plane got into the Atlanta airport at 7:05 and our flight to Huntsville, Alabama was supposed to leave at 9:15. When we got off the plane and checked our flight the display board read that the flight was delayed tim 11:36. We figured that couldn't be right so we checked the next closest display board and it still said our flight was for 9:15. We walked to the displayed gate and when we arrived there was no one at the gate, so we checked and all the display boards had updated to 11:36 departure at a gate on the other end of the airport. After walking back and forth about four times to different gates we eventually decided to ask customer service. The employee we asked had no idea what we were asking about so we finally decided at around ten, that it would be more convenient to just drive, so we rented a car and started on our five hour drive to Russellville, Alabama.

We arrived at our hotel at around 2:00 a.m. and decided we would surprise everyone the next day. The next morning we woke up, got ready and headed off to my grandparents' house to surprise them first. Both were very surprised and we spent a little time with them before they had to head to work. My dad went back to the hotel and my mom and I decided to surprise my cousin next. I told her I wanted to Skype and she explained that she was at her Nana's house and could Skype whenever. I suggested to call each other in thirty minutes before driving to her Nana's house. We knocked on the door and no one was home so I called and it turned out she had just left three minutes earlier to go to lunch. My mom decided we could go surprise my aunt then come back to surprise Alayna, my cousin later.

(Picture of my cousin and I)

We bought lunch and showed up at my aunt's house then enjoyed time with her before the three of us headed back out to track my cousin down. After many texts, calls, a trip to Walmart and three different houses we finally found her, and her reaction was great. We surprised most everyone else and ended up having a good trip. The whole family went to Cracker Barrel, our favorite southern restaurant, and had a great time. We later went to a Mexican restaurant called Casa Mexicana and my cousins and I attempted to win a stuffed animal from the claw machine, but all failed. Even though we wasted about six dollars trying to get cheap stuffed animals we knew we wouldn't win, it was still very fun.

The time to go home came around and I was sad, but tried my hardest not to cry, knowing what a great time I'd had surprising all my family and spending time with them. My trip to Alabama was great and a perfect ending to winter break. I hope everyone had as fun of a winter break as I did!

~Ariel

Christmas Spirit!

Christmas is coming up very soon. Now I'm not going to pretend I don't know how many days till Christmas, because I totally do. It's 12 days away. I've literally been counting down the days since the day after Halloween, no joke. Now it's finally approaching faster and I've noticed I'm still one of the only people wearing festive Christmas outfits this past week. I understand some people don't celebrate Christmas, but I hope that at least if people don't show their holiday pride at school they show it at home!

Another thing I'm going be totally honest about, I've listened to absolutely nothing but Christmas music for the last few weeks as well, and I have no shame! Also, aside from when I'm at school I have literally lived in my reindeer onesie that I got around the time of Halloween.

Photo taken by me from camera's self timer

So, although I'm super excited that Christmas is only 12 days away, I'm also really sad because that means it's 13 days away from Christmas being over. With that comes less Christmas music, less time spent with family, and less really really good food. That is the part that makes me sad. And honestly the holiday season is my favorite time of year, so it's hard when it also makes you sad. Well, I'm going to quit boring you with why I love and also don't like Christmas being so soon at the same time.

Let's get onto the fun stuff! Here is what a typical Christmas Eve and Christmas Day is like for me starting on the night of Christmas Eve. I usually open one present early and then spend some time with my family watching a Christmas movie or listening to old traditional Christmas music. I usually go to bed at around ten or ten-thirty and wake up a few minutes later wondering if it's Christmas yet. This continues to happen about fifteen times during the night until eventually I can't stand it and I just decide to stare at the ceiling and pretend to sleep.

Once it's around six a.m. I can't wait any longer so I go wake my parents up and make them get up even thought they hate getting up early. They still love me though... Right? Then I run/fall down the stairs since I'm going so fast and rush towards the tree. I then usually spend all morning opening presents and don't eat breakfast till noon when I feel super sick! Although my Christmas doesn't sound super fun, it's my favorite day of the year.

That's my Christmas "ritual" that pretty much happens the same every year, give or take a few things. I hope you enjoyed hearing about my love for Christmas, reindeer onesies, and all the other things in between! Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas, or happy holidays if you don't celebrate it! See you on my next post!

~Ariel the reindeer

Oh, and p.s. incase you want to count the days down with me you can check out this Christmas countdown site!

Moab

Picture taken by me!

A few weeks ago I went to Moab with my family for UEA vacation. We rented a huge RV and when my parents picked me up from school in it, it was a little awkward and embarrassing, but I ended up having so much fun. On my trip to Moab I learned how to drive, bought a pair of super awesome socks and had some really good gelato. I learned how to drive in a razor, which is kind of like a golf cart except faster, and meant for rock crawling; by rock crawling I mean in the vehicle which is very scary.

There were many times in the razor where not only did I think I was going to cry or throw up, I thought we were actually going to die... Luckily we didn't, which is great. Most people probably would not have reacted the same as me but when I was sitting in the backseat of it looking directly up into the blue sky it was pretty freakin' scary. Multiple times I thought, this is the end, we're gonna flip. 

Picture of me freaking out taken by my mom.

Anyways, even though I thought we were going to die I had a lot of fun and got to drive which was very cool. After all of the excitement, we biked into town and shopped around a bit. We had pistachio gelato at a local store and went to a very cool art gallery. Then we came across a tourist shop and they had many amusing shirts, pants and socks there. I decided to get a pair of ten dollar socks. I know that is expensive for socks, but they were a necessity and trust me you'll understand why. The picture of the socks I got says it all.

Image courtesy of Blue Q Socks

My trip to Moab was very fun and filled with near death experiences, as well as joy, socks, and yummy gelato from a local gelato store. In the end, I was sad to go home because I had tons of fun there and made some memories I will never forget. Make sure that if you go to Moab, check out the tourist shop and for sure look at the socks! Thanks for reading, see ya in the next post!

~Ariel

The Neighbourhood, Valfre, and Super 8.

Over the past nine days I worked after school and on Saturdays for Shrek the Musical I got a little bored and sick of listening to the music from it. I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy the musical, but after seeing it about 5 times I got a little bit tired and probably wouldn't be able to handle listening to the whole thing six more times. Luckily on Monday of this previous week I discover The Neighbourhood's new album, Wiped Out. Ever since I have been kind of obsessed with the album and especially a few songs on it. I particularly love the songs Cry Baby, Daddy Issues, and R.I.P 2 My Youth by The Neighbourhood if you happen to check out their album. It's right below so you totally should!

Image courtesy of iTunes and The Neighbourhood

Not only did I avoid boredom by blasting music in my ears over the sound of the musical, I also sort of stalked Valfre's Instagram. Lately Valfre's style has really impacted my drawing style as well... Haha, oops. Honestly, I'm not really sure where this blog post is going right now, but I figured I would tell you guys about my new obsessions.

Left picture by me, right image courtesy of Valfre

Image courtesy of IMDb

Last night, during our intermission break for Shrek the Musical I was invited to join someone's film club, which I think will be really fun considering I love film and animation. After they invited me to join they told me that their cousin was a film double/understudy for the main girl character in one of my favorite movies ever, Super 8. I was very happy to first of all not be the only one who loves that movie but also was blown away imagining how great of an experience that must have been for his cousin. She got to work with Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams! I'm so jealous.

For those who haven't seen Super 8 (which you totally should watch if you haven't) it is about a group of kids who make science fiction mini movies. One night they go out to a train track to film a scene and a truck drives directly onto the tracks, colliding with the train. What no one knew though, was that in the train was a creature from outer space. The story follows the kids on their mission to keep the alien from attacking and killing may people.

Anyways, that's about all I can think of to say for this post. I guess that's why procrastinating probably isn't always the best choice, but hey, I still wrote another post! Two posts down, only one more to go. So thank you for reading guys and look forward to another post really soon! Love yall!

~Ariel

Shrek.

Fabulous picture by me!

It was about eight o'clock on Wednesday night at our final dress rehearsal for Shrek the Musical when I realized.... I still have to write three blog posts. Not only do I have to post three blog posts, I have to make three different DIY projects! This was going to be very difficult for me since I still had stage tech after school on Thursday and Friday till ten o'clock, and on Saturday from one p.m. to midnight. How was I supposed to do this all? That's when I decided my blog topic probably needed to change.

Now, flash forward to Saturday and it is our last day of Shrek. I still have only written half a post and I can't think about what to write about. I then figured I would write about all the behind the scenes tech stuff I got to participate in. In the end, even though now I have seen Shrek the Musical a total of eleven times I thought it was a really great show.

Obviously, after the whole crew seeing it eleven times, we were pretty sick and tired of hearing the song Big Bright Beautiful World in the beginning and over-joyed when we heard I'm a Believer at the end. That being said, I still really enjoyed seeing the show every time I did.

Although the tech things I did weren't that complicated and difficult, I felt very accomplished and proud of the show the crew helped put on. Throughout the nine days we worked I became a lot less shy and made some new friends that I probably wouldn't have without this production. At the end of our Saturday double show I even had a really awesome moment that was kind of like the lift from Dirty Dancing but way less cool and I almost fell on my face.

Image courtesy of Popsugar

So, after all of that, we striked. Striking is pretty much just cleaning up all the props and taking the drops down and taking apart the wagons. Striking isn't necessarily fun but Dave really helped us make it so much more fun by giving everyone in the crew flarp. If you don't know what flarp is, it's noise putty. It pretty much is silly putty that makes fart noises. Thanks Dave for going to Walmart at eleven p.m. on a Friday night and buying forty flarp containers. That must have been awkward...

Thanks Walmart for Flarp

Overall, I really enjoyed being part of the stage tech Shrek the Musical crew. Also, Kat I'm so glad you were ogre-joyed with our performance, I know that Chris and I are the best bride ever! I hope everyone on the team had as much fun as I did in the end, and thanks to Will once again for slapping me in the face with flarp. Se ya next time!

~Ariel the gargoyle