Below are the 6 most recent journal entries recorded in joyfulnoizz's LiveJournal:

Wednesday, June 1st, 2005
3:36 pm	Wow... Hmm, does it show that I was homeschooled for highschool? You scored as Loner. </td> Loner 69% Drama nerd 44% Geek 38% Punk/Rebel 31% Ghetto gangsta 19% Prep/Jock/Cheerleader 13% Goth 13% Stoner 0% What's Your High School Stereotype? created with QuizFarm.com Current Mood: loner Current Music: Lonely at the Top - You've Got Mail Soundtrack (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 24th, 2005
11:18 pm	Summer has started! Whew! I have been 100% busy since my parents arrived in Tempe. I really have no time except at night...rather late sometimes. Well. Jake's Eagle Ceremony was on Sunday - and it was wondeful! It truly ws one of the highlights of my life seeing my brother being honored for his achievements. And it wasn't an ordinary Eagle Ceremony either. First off, we had excellent decorations. Mom and Dad and I worked on em in the week preceding the ceremony. Dad made memory boxes filled with all sorts of scouting things that Jake had collected. I made a scrapbook that turned out really well. It spans about 6 or 7 years of scouts for Jake. Mom made posters and enlarged photos. We turned the church where the ceremony was held into a eagle aerie, if you will. And then there was some excellent script planning to it. Just when you'd think the ceremony was gonna start to get boring a scout from the audience yells, "STOP!! I challenge this scout's right to receive the rank of eagle!" Some people just about jumped out of their skins! But it was all planned to keep the audience interested - seven other scouts also challenged in different ways. Then, one by one, people stood up to demonstrate how my brother was fully qualified to receive the rank of eagle. Then, after receiving his award, Jake made a speech. Now, I have never heard my brother speak in public before. I wasn't sure if it was gonna be ok or painfully awkward. Most people Jake knows don't know him like I do. Jake talks my ear off most of the time (in a good way) but a lot of people think he's really quiet and rather incapable of expressing his feelings. But from the moment he took his breath to begin his speech, he was poised, eloquent, funny, touching, sweet, and completely sincere. The tears were flowing freely down my cheeks. My brother expressed his thanks to all those who had helped him in such a beautiful way...I think he choked everyone up! I was so proud. Oh yeah, THEN...Mom had forced my sister and myself into agreeing to say something about Jake at the ceremony. Not having time to write something out, I relied on divine inspiration. Well...it came time to stand up and say something. The only problem - I was so proud I couldn't really breathe! I couldn't rely on Elsbeth to say anything - I saw her from the corner of my eye and she was already crying... My voice came out in a pinched, squeaky, high pitch. I really have no clue what I said but it must have been something about how proud we are of Jake and how he is the best brother on earth for us. It was short and sweet - all that I had breath for. Then Jake wrapped his arms around the both of us and we had a good sibling hug all together. There really wasn't a better feeling in the world... so much love. Oh yeah, I didn't mention the food. When the Swains put on a party, they put on a PARTY! We go the extra mile with everything. My mom decorates so everything is special. And the food is one of the main reasons why most people show up to our parties! I baked 6 batches of cookies - they were gone before the party was 3/4 of the way done! I had no idea that 100 people would show up for my brother! My mom had made potato salad, black bean salad, penne pasta, tabouleh, confetti coleslaw, fruit salad, chicken wings... and a lot of other stuff I don't quite remember..curried turkey maybe... anyway....the flavors were incredible. My sister and I made salsa (a Swain sspecialty). The only reason why we had any leftovers was because we had forgotten to bring out two dishes until the last half of the party! All in all, it was absolutely amazing, incredible, WOW! I love Jake so much!! Since then, Jake and I have been really busy doing fun stuff. I haven't laughed so much in months! Everyday is a blessing. I am surrounded by love here. My mom and I have tea and pour out our hearts to each other. Jake and I are practically joined at the hip when we aren't rolling on the floor with laughter! Els and I talk a lot on the phone - I am visiting her tomorrow in Ft Collins. And Dad and I laugh a lot at each other and we play poker a lot. I am just having a wonderful time. It is so great to play on my own piano now. I was thoroughly sick of the school pianos - they just can't compare to my 88 keys of happiness! And the Colorado weather is gorgeous!!! Current Mood: thankful Current Music: What a Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong (Comment on this)
Friday, May 20th, 2005
11:18 pm	Home Sweet Home I wake up every morning thankful to be at home. Even though my family is somewhat stressed right now, it just feels so wholesome to be here! The Colorado air is so refreshing - I feel cleansed from the smog. Life is just wonderful sometimes. If you slow down enough, you actually can really take the time to savor it. I realized today that clouds are made of frosting - cream cheese frosting. And do you know how much fun it is to pop the heads off of dandelions? It's actually really amusing! My brother and I found a ton of dandelions along our dirt driveway. We sprinkled it with the heads of the dandelions that we popped off! I felt like a redneck flowergirl or something like that. I have been baking all day. Name a kind of cookie - I've made it today. I feel right now as if I may have eaten too many... ugh. I still have a few more batches to make tomorrow. I forgot to make peanutbutter cookies. I don't know how I could have forgotten those today! I love peanutbutter so much!! I learned today not to take my dad's baking advice. I needed to melt 1/4 cup of chocolate chips. I didn't want to use our big double boiler so I asked my dad what to do since microwaving chocolate is out of the question. He invented his own mini double boiler using a measuring cup and a small saucepan. It was working for a while until I realized the chocolate could never get hot enough to melt all the way. I was stirring it faster and faster and all of a sudden - the water got into the half melted chocolate! It took me a half hour to do all that and then when I actually used the huge double boiler, it took 1 minute! I hate it when my mom has that "I told you so" look on her face - it is really very irritating after a kitchen crisis! But at least it melted. My brother took me to see the midnight showing of Star Wars. I really wasn't looking forward to it 0 but he is such a Star Wars fan, I couldn't disappoint him. All his friends are still in school and I was his only hope (like Princess Leia and Obi Won Kenobi if you will) So I chugged down a mocha and braved the long lines of ewoks and tuskan raiders. It was funny... their excitement was contagious! I found myself getting really curious about the movie. I love the originals, but the prequels were kind of disappointing. I can't tell you how much I hate the scene in the Attack of the Clones where Anakin and Padme are rolling around in the grass (Airplanes aren't the only places where they should have barf bags!) Anyway, I really enjoyed the film! It surprised the heck outta me, but I did! I really liked the action in it. The only drawbacks were Padme's weak acting (Augh! horrible!!) and the script. Other than that, it was pretty cool. There were somethings that were really awesome about it. I am glad I saw it. My great aunt flew in for my brother's Eagle Ceremony. She is 85! She amazes me sooooo much. She is a bundle of giggles and love. She commented that being here, where my home is in Colorado, is as close to heaven as one can get. I agree with her. There are somethings about this place that are heavenly! I really have to slow down to be happy here though. I feel like I can feel myself take every breath at times. It is kind of a joyful experience to be aware of breathing. It is such a gift we are given everyday of our lives! (How profound...) The other day I went to the Rockies vs. Giants game. Giants won of course. I love being a Giants fan. But they aren't doing so well in the early season - but I am a die hard fan and I can't be fickle just because they're in a slight slump... a mere 5 and 1/2 games back. Mmmm, I love going to baseball games. Such quality time to spend with friends and family. We talked about so much stuff AND got to cheer for the visiting team. The Rockies are the worst team in baseball - I don't know how anyone could be a fan, but there are quite a few in Denver. Tomorrow I have James Milek's graduation party to go to. Hope I don't get lost! Then more baking... Then Sunday is Jake's Eagle Ceremony and... unfortunately... the first time I see my ex-boyfriend in over a year. When I broke up with him I had hair down past my waist. He never wanted me to cut it. Now it's chin-length. I hope my hair made a really great wig for a child who lost their own. This could be an opportunity for healing though. I hope it is... The last time I saw him (last year, Valentine's Day ironically) he was so bitter that he couldn't even be civil to me. I hope it's different. He was a good friend and I am sorry we didn't make it. I should've listened to that advice about not dating one of your best guy friends... doesn't work. But I am really soooo proud of my brother. This is bigger then graduating from highschool or maybe even college! A lot of people make it through college, but not a lot of scouts make it to Eagle Scout. I think it's either 1% or 2% of all scouts make it that far. So many think its too hard or they don't have enough support. It's just incredible that Jake is going to be an Eagle Scout and have such an influence on other kids and help them to dream big. It teaches such endurance and to rely not only on your own strength, but the support of friends and family also. IT shows that great accomplishments are a group effort. There are so many people who have helped my brother on his journey to the rank of Eagle. It's just wonderful. I think over 100 people are coming to it! Well, gotta catch some z's before tomorrow. It should be an interesting weekend! Current Mood: content Current Music: Mediocre Bad Guys - Jack Johnson (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 17th, 2005
7:22 pm	Yay for Grades!! After finishing my first semester at ASU, I have a 4.0 GPA!! I got three A pluses, an A, and an A-. WAHOOOO!!! I am totally thrilled. This semester I accomplished everything I wanted to do! I gt a 4.0, made friends and I got accepted into the music school! Wow. There are just some times in one's life when they look back and realize that everything is good. Yeah, there were some rough spots, but the overall outcome is good. I had a great semester and I hope that each succeeding semester gets better! Well, I have been home for five days now. I'm not sick of it yet - which is surprising to me! I thought I'd have a really hard time trying to adjust to family life again, but after the roommates from hell, I look upon my home as a kind of paradise! Colorado is just beautiful. The Aspens are budding cute little green leaves. There is not a dull moment in Colorado weather. If it is not outrageously perfect, it is windy or thundering or raining or hailing - sometimes all of them at the same time. I love it when it is a perfect blue sky day on one side of my house and a black cloud pouring down rain on the other side of my house! I looked for jobs today... no such luck! Everywhere I've applied has already hired silly, inept highschool students! Don't they realize that I would be sooooo much more capable? They're still living with their parents full time - I NEED DOUGH!! I wish I could explain to them how imortant it is to me to make money so I can go to Oregano's with Maria? I mean, it's life and death! Pizookie or no pizookie! But I got good grades, so I guess I can wait to find a real job for later!! Current Mood: psyched!! (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, May 14th, 2005
4:56 pm	The nostalgia is killing me! Ok - I made it! I am now safely in Colorado. After an exhausting drive - I spent 16 hours like a sardine, we finally rolled into my driveway at 8:30 AM. I can't begin to describe how beautiful it was yesterday! Everything was so green! Believe it or not, Spring is just starting here. Back in AZ it's a full blown summer, but the buds are just barely coming out on th Aspens here. I was sleeping most of yesterday, but I was awake enough to unpack a little. I am amazed at how good it feels to be home. I think I was ready for a break from school. My brother is getting ready for his Eagle Scout ceremony next weekend. I am so proud of him! I can remember the first time I saw him in a scout uniform - I thought, "Oh man... my brother has become like all the other scouting nerds in school!" But now I couldn't be prouder to see my brother in his uniform! He makes it looks good and less nerdy. I am so excited for the eagle ceremony! So today, my mom had me look through a ton of old pictures for the good ones of Jake when he was a wee little scout. As I flipped through hundreds - maybe thousands of photos, I started drowning in an ocean of nostalgia. Some photos were awesome to see and remember the good times. But some photos I just want to burn! I had an awkward stage that lasted from when I was ten or eleven to sixteen! That's a lot of photos to burn! I have gone through some radical evolution! I used to look exactly like the kid in About a Boy... not joking. Then when I had braces, they overcorrected my huge overbite to become an underbite. I had an expander in the roof of my mouth that made me talk like I had a huge spoonful of peanutbutter stuck in my mouth... and then I couldn't control my saliva at times because of it... Then they spread my front two teeth apart so I had a huge gap in my front teeth, I was going for the Mike Tyson look. It's no wonder I never had any self esteem in those days! It still haunts me! Poor Alli! I found some really great pix though. Some of the Colorado sunsets are absolutely stunning! I found a couple of me when I was a kid - I was a very strange kid. There are so many of me dressing up in elaborate costumes for no reason. I found myself as the statue of Liberty - I made it myself... crown and everything. Then I was a greek goddess... and I also found one of me dressed up as a crazy cowboy and I named myself Slaughterhouse Bill. Oh and I used to wear lots of really loud colors and hats. Feather boas were a necessary accessory. Oh man... I am not normal now, but I'm more so now than I was then! I gotta go, I think my brother wants me to watch a movie! I love being home - but I also miss AZ... I'll write abou that later! Current Mood: nostalgic (Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 10th, 2005
12:57 am	My Very First Entry Well, here I am. It is two minutes to one o'clock in the morning. I don't know why I didn't start writing this at a more decent hour, I just kept putting it off... So I will try to keep this as coherent as I can. To tell the truth, I have hated writing in journals in the past. I used to write in one when I was thirteen and I quit when I was fifteen because I was sick and tired of hearing myself complain about things that didn't really matter. Some things you write in a journal you just don't need to remember. I refuse to write about crushes in this journal. It gets way complicated and crushes always end badly. I always want to forget crushes, so I don't want to remind myself through this journal. Now, if it ever gets serious, I'll definitely be writing about it...just for an update. This journal won't be completely truthful. I reserve the right to exaggerate stuff and exercise my imagination to embelish on otherwise boring days. This is cool though... I usually write Jake (my brother) these really long emails, but a journal is like an email to myself. I hope that I can get all my brilliant ideas, wonderful adventures, and funny thoughts recorded in this journal. Only time will tell... Alrighty then... My eyelids are drooping and I think I just stared at the computer screen for a minute without blinking just now - oh wait though! I want to talk about my day. I had a good day today and I want to remember it! It is the end of the semester and I have only one final left on Wednesday May 11 for Italian 101. I am so getting an A+ in that class. Yesterday I had a fabulous day with Maria! She took me to Oregano's and I had pizzookie (is that how you spell it? It's supposed to be pizza cookie combined, right?) for the very first time! It was awesome - Maria took a video of my first bites. I love the people who work there! They came to watch me eat it! We even got it for free! Then Maria and I went to church and we met Janay there - still drying off from a nasty ice water spill *shivershiver* It was the graduation mass. The last song was so much fun! We were dancing and singing and laughing. That to me is the best kind of worship when it is so fun and you are completely caught up in God's love that you just can't do anything else. Anyway, Later on that night Maria called me when I was at my apartment. She had a final the next day but she wasn't having a very good time studying in her dorm cuz of her roommate. So, I told her to come over and study. I fed her chai and pineapples. I really had the best intentions of leaving her alone to study... but she's just so fun to talk to that I forgot them! It was really late when we realized she probably should get some sleep before her final. Today I was busy packing and trying to figure out what I should do about housing next year. I wish I had come to a conclusion, but I haven't. I'll write about it when I do know though! Then I went to the Newman Center to study Italian. I met Megan there and we studied for a while. Maria called and invited us to Oregano's. Like I was gonna pass THAT one up... Megan and I J-walked three times getting there - what a thrill heehee! I'll make a rebel out of Megan yet! (yeah right Alli...) We had a gloooooooorious time at Oregano's. Cute waiters, good food, and good company can't be beat! Janay is done with Finals and Maria's roommate is moving out tomorrow (YAAAAAAAAAAY!!! *Clinking glasses*) That was fun. Megan and I seized the night at the library and studied together. I didn't last long though. I felt so tired - I was afraid I was going to fall asleep and wake up the next morning with my drool covered italian vocabulary - how embarrassing. So I left early. And now I am writing this journal and listening to Sarah Mclachlan. I love Sarah. Unfortunately the english language can't describe how great Sarah is, so I won't even attempt it. Anyway, Mom and Dad are coming tomorrow and I gotta sleep so I can be alert for them!! I am totally excited to see them! Goodnight LiveJournal. Until tomorrow...maybe. Current Mood: sleepy (4 Comments |Comment on this)