Am I really that crazy?

Things that really piss me off: This list might sound completely crazy but it's who I am.
1. When we are late. Or going to be late.  I love to be early and I freak out. I get nervous and we still have like 2 hours until we need to be there.
2. Hiccuping. When people have hiccups and they do nothing against it. They just keep hiccuping. AND IT NEVER STOPS!!! It drives me crazy.
3. When people repetitively like try to rip their nail and they are like hitting it.  It's a low, hollow sound and they are not stopping. They just keep  going, loosening the skin around their nail.
4. Unshaven armpits. Legs for some reason are OK but OH MY GOD shave your pits. I think its disgusting. And then half the time, they don't even wear deodorant.
5. When people don't try in P.E. or in sports in that matter. You are playing and you just don't try. That is never gonna get you any where in life. If you are doing an organized sport, your parents are paying you are trying. Really? Like what you do and do what you like.
6. If you think that gay people are different. Gay people are just like us and they are normal people with a great since of style. They have normal life and I hate when people bully gay's. 
All 6 of these things drives me completely crazy. I may sound like a crazy kid but it's who I am.

JAKE!!!!

OH MY GOODNESS!!! Jake Shimabukuro came to Clayton and we saw him!! It was so damn intimidating though. He is so relaxed and he loves loves loves music and he plays with his body. He is crazy.
OK back up.  Who is this kid? Er, guy. Well Jake Shimabukuro is 35 year old Japanese-American from Hawaii. He plays ukulele like no ones business.  He started playing when he was 4. OH MY GOD!!! He is so good!.
Before the concert yesterday night, he told us to play with our body, our minds and our souls. Strumming isn't just moving your thumb down the string but actually knowing what you are playing and playing it with you body. Feeling the movements through your body. Centering and standing solidly on your feet and feeling the music rush through you.
It was so wicked. Before be played his last song, he wanted to thank people. He was saying a lot of um's and then he said "And I um would like to um thank a um, great group of um students um um from the Montessori Community School for coming out here tonight!" We all cheered so loudly in the back, it was a great feeling. Then he thanked KAREN RICHARDSON!! OUR MUSIC TEACHER!! She was blushing so much and was so shocked. It was so cool.
So the evening went wonderfully. We drove up there and had the workshop with Jake that started at like 6:45 and went for a half an hour. It was so cool to hear him talk.
I don't know how long the concert was but I'm guessing like 2 hours. It went by so fast. Even though we were in the back, it was great to hear him play. A lot of teachers and parents came and I think, and hope, that they really liked it.
Different topic but my sister got her licenses and it was so weird being in the passengers seat and she was the driver. It was a weird feeling, like something was missing.
I made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. There is also a plate of carrot cake cupcakes. You can now see how bored I was yesterday.  It was great fun.
I love Ryan Gosling. And Darren Criss. They both are really cute.  Just saying.
I am thankful for my parents.
I am grateful for Jake Shumabukuro and Karen.
I am thankful for all of my teachers, and my entire class.
I am grateful for life
Thank you for listening.

What my parents taught me

My parents are wonderful, hardworking, loving people that care. They laugh at each other and at us. There are always more than a few obnoxious comments at the dinner table as we snort over in to our food. They push me like no one else does. My parents seem always to be there with a bar of chocolate and an umbrella. The chocolate to swallow my sadness and get ready for the future and the umbrella to shield me from the outside world but the fabric is light enough to know what is really going on. My parents have a window seat with pillows and they make sure that it is always clean so that when I am sad, I can look out, while drinking tea and reading a book, I can look out at the sun and know that I will A OK.
1. They teach my to sit down at dinner and eat together as a family
2. My dad shows me old funky music from the '70's and before, including movies and 13+ days of music on iTunes, not including CD's
3. They tell me to take pictures and express myself
4. They show me what it means to travel and see the world, like looking at that the Blue Masque, headhunters and the South China sea
5. That every mountain in Switzerland, (OK, maybe not every single one) is claimable and that you feel so dang good afterwards.
6. Cousins and family reunions are the funniest combination ever! Sitting there and laughing at each other while everyone is looking at you is one of the more memorable moments in life.
7. The smiles of Karen refugees when they do something great in school is rewarding, sometimes even priceless at their first time doing something
8. That the only way to experience life is to take risks and do some things, or a lot of things, out of your comfort zone.
9. That no matter where you are, remember where home is and what family means to you
10. They taught me that we, the Steiner family, are insanely fortunate and that no matter what happens, life will  get better. We are an amazing family that cares and gives while having so much fun.

Relax

We did In To The Woods JR. I love performing. I.T.W is a collection of Grimm's fairy tales. I was Milky-White, Jack, from Jack and the Bean stalk's, cow. I looked like a fluffy snowball but with my cow mask, looked more like a cow. It was so much fun and loved all of the tech problems. Quick costume changes excite me and I love the lights and the smooth, dirty stage.
We went ice skating and OMG! it was so much fun. I love gliding (ish) over the ice. But I kept falling because I hit the ice too hard sometimes and know I have blue and purple bruises.  I have two Canadian teachers. Both were laughing often. It was actually kinds funny. I have pictures of people, (cough, cam, cough)  and they are on the ice, flopped. It's really funny.
I'm drinking lemon tea and listening to John Mayer. I love relaxing in the evening and just taking the time to sit back and breath for a little while.  Reading a good book and smelling the flowers in my room. The laundry is going and the laundry smells good. My hands smell good. My parents has great smelling soap and I love just washing my hands with that soap.
I am grateful for all of my teachers
I am thankful for my family, especially my parents
I am grateful for pencils and paper
I am thankful life and poetry
I am thankful for cameras and Facebook
Thank you for listening

Poem

The feeling The dread
The loneliness
Trapped in my own body
My head and
My heart
You don't understand
But you try
Thank you but
No thanks
Maybe I'm not as special
As I thought
Notice that I'm saying
I, Me
And not
You, Her
I'm trapped and
Can't get out
I want to so bad
I feel like
You don't know me
And don't want to hang out with me
You have other friends
Other people to
Spend time with
All I want is a
Friend

I danced in The Lorax on Saturday and I was a Truffela Tree. I love Dr. Suess. All of his books have an underlining message to them. Like The Lorax was talking about the environment and saving the Earth. His drawings are really cool and artsy. I had a long, blue mermaide skirt with a blue flower print unitard underneath. I had the same material for the sleeves and hat. The hat and the sleeves matched my fan which was yellow. I loved it, even if I was the first to be chopped down.
I had dress rehearsals and tech on Friday night. I was mad because my granparents were leaving that Sunday to go back to Switzerland and they were having a great dinner with the entire family. I had to be at East eating Dominos pizza. It sucked. But they left and I never really got to say a proper good-bye. BUT they are doing well and they already sent us an email.
I was weird, not having to go to reahearsals on Sunday. I felt like I was missing something. I went to the cast party and watched the show. It was a lot of fun to see it.
Yesterday, I didn't have school and I just kinds hing around. I saw Hugo which is the cutest movie. Asa Butterfield is adorble AND he is like 13!  All of these actors are getting to be so young, which is actually OK. We returned things and bought shirts and jeans!
I am soo excited for the play tomorrow! And Thursday. My costume kinds sucks but hey, that's the fun of these things. Crazy makeup and wacky costumes.
I am grateful for Kayla, she is juts so bubbly and fun to be around.
I am thankful for Melody, this was another great dance show.
I am thankful for all of the people that came to see The Lorax, it meant a lot to Alice and I
I am grateful for Peter and Melanie and Michele for pulling the show together
I am grateful for all of my friends and family.
I am thankful for Stefan and Jenny
Thank you for listening

I feel good

I got good grades today I learned. A lot better than last year. :) The show is going great and my friends are funny as ever. We took down the Christmas tree and that was sad, another year gone. Chocolate needs to eaten and books need to be read.
You think that you are doing well and BOOM! you are behind. You don't expect or remember what you didn't do and than you sulk for a while. I hate that so much. The teachers are mad at you and you are mad at them and you do a crap job.
This is going to be a really short post. My life seems to be getting better and I am happier than I have been in a while. There was this really heavy weight on me and now it seems to be slowly lifting off! I have all of my dances mostly memorized for The Lorax and In To the Woods is going well. I'm good in science/Spanish. That is a big relief. I'm prettying sure that I have a test or 2 to make up in math but I'm fine with that.
I am grateful for all of my teachers.
I am thankful for Play in the Wild and all of the kids that went.
I am thankful for Peter, he pushed me and made me care about my work
I am thankful for Melanie, she is so nice and gentle and always wants a hug
I am thankful for Sarah, Boom Boom Pow was way cool
I am grateful for my cousins, aunts and uncles
Thank you for listening

Good Life

I was painting sets today for The Lorax. I got paint all of my tights and hands but that is the fun of painting, getting dirty and having fun. We ran the show and it was so much fun. I messed up but Peter would always say, "You have to be bad to be good." So, I will be bad and then I will be  good.
I love the school show because I am the only one dancing and no will know of I mess up but in the dance show, there are other people on stage and you can tell if someone has messed up. 
This is a little much. Every year, dancers roles get harder and more advanced.  If you do drama and are on the stage, as you get older, the roles will get harder. There are always more expectations for you. Dance is really hard and a much as I love it, I have problems learning the moves the first time. I really don't like disappointing myself and my teachers.
Cathedrals by Jumping Little Children is so sad and beautiful. It talks about how these skyscrapers are casting shadows on all off the homeless in the really big cities. People look at the buildings and think that they have enough money. But really, there are still people who are homeless and need our help. Buildings are solving much of anything.
Chocolate can solve a lot of emotions. Pillows and rain boots. There is chocolate to engulf the hurt and pillows to hold the tears that the chocolate helps let loose. The rain boots are there for you to walk in and splash through the puddles of your tears and remember. With three things and throw in 2 or 3 good friends, you are covered.
I am thankful for my dance teachers and fellow dancers
I am thankful for Dr. Suess
I am grateful for my family.
I am grateful for my good life
I am grateful for clear nail polish and ripped tights
Thank you for listening