1:43 p.m. - 2002-04-25
4/1-4/7 update; yup, I'm taking it a week at a time
Time for another update-thing-ish.
4/1: The school paper was FINALLY distributed. My SAT article wasn't in it because it was too long, even though Ms. M said it was better than Gary's. :)
4/2: Carley was sick, so no classes with her. Mom and Dad had dinner with Esperanza, a friend of Mom's from college, and her boyfriend. Esperanza's so nice, but we don't get to see her that much (she lives in Geneva). We saw her in Geneva once, and once in Mexico City, and once she came to Utah with us at Thanksgiving. I had to do my phone calls that night. No one expressed any interest whatsoever in the Yankees game. I can't blame them.
4/3: Happy birthday Alexa!!!!! She turned eleven. Because we wanted to give her something on the actual day, even though the DVDs were her real present, we gave her some cool socks. She's obsessed with socks. It was also Picabo Street's birthday (a skiier). We made cupcakes, which was a lot of fun. Mom hasn't done that in years. They were yummy and fudgy and we were allowed to decorate them. Lots of fun. I had a French test in the morning, and Ms. M told us that we had to give an oral presentation on Friday. I was working with Justine and Ashley and our topic was the Oslo Peace Accord and why it failed. The problem was information, since almost everything was editorialized. I did find some stuff eventually, and went crazy getting it ready for Friday, then we didn't have to give it until Tuesday... more on that later. Anyway, Gramie, Grumps, Alexis, and Zip (Tibetan terrier) came for dinner for Alexa's birthday. G&G paid for Alexa's new ski jacket, which is different shades of blue, it's very nice. Mom and Dad got her a zillion pairs of earrings. Don't remember what else she got.
4/4: Happy birthday to Heath Ledger and (maybe, unverified) Hugo Weaving. We had mentoring program, and finished watching "Almost Famous." We started reading "Rhinoceros," a play by Eugene Ionesco, in French class. Alyce came to visit. She's Alexis' biological mom, and though she moves much more slowly than the rest of us, she is so much fun. She was always the one who stuck up for us when we were younger. Actually, she still does.
4/5: I had to mail my application for the spring conclave, which was due that day. :) I had to hand in a draft of my profile on Maggie, not pointing out that I interviewed her on March 18th. Anyway, Mom had bought tickets to the revival of "Oklahoma!" sometime in the summer, and it was that night. Alexis and Carley came with us. We had dinner at some Greek restaurant, which I didn't really like, and then saw the play. It's not a terribly profound musical, and far from my favorite, but it was fun anyway. The guy who played Curly was really good, as was Aunt Eller, and the guy who played Ali Hakim was hilarious, if a little politically incorrect.
We've almost always gone to see musicals around my birthday, because that was always my passion. "Tommy" (which I'm listening to right now), "Showboat," "Grease," "Candide," "Annie Get Your Gun," "Aida," "The Producers," those were all for my birthday. Then for Alexa's birthday, since ours are about a month apart, we'd usually go to the circus, either the Big Apple Circus or the Cirque du Soleil (now only the Cirque du Soleil, since they don't use animals). It's become a family tradition. We're seeing "Rent" this year for my birthday, which I'm REALLY excited about. Lauren saw it, but I was deemed too young at the time (hello? Alexa's 11!). I love the music, though, and just wish I could have seen it when Adam Pascal was in it. He was so good in "Aida."
Anyway.
4/6: We had musical theater, The Class Before The Performance, i.e. The Crazy Class. My song, "One Brick At A Time," had to be staged; we're throwing bricks, and we didn't have the bricks to THROW. So we had to improvise. It was hilarious, but EXHAUSTING! I had to bend down and up twice a second handing bricks to people, and then at one point two people were simultaneously throwing bricks at me to catch and stack, so no matter what I did, I would get hit with a brick!!! (Thank God they were imaginary.) Dad left for Moscow that day. We went out for dinner at a great Asian place with Aunt Dale, Uncle Jon, Allison, Scott, Alyce, and Alexis, and then went out for ice cream. Allison, who had been lying in bed for weeks, is almost always more lively with us, so that's good.
4/7: Alyce left early in the morning. I was supposed to go to the Yankees game with my youth group, but didn't, and I actually had a good excuse. I'm sure I've mentioned Sarah, from South Carolina, her mom Andy and my mom were good friends at Cornell, Sarah's the one who went to Israel with us. Anyway, her grandmother (Zaira; her dad's mom) died, and the memorial service was in New York, so Mom and I went. Dad would have gone, but he was away, and I thought I should go since I'm friends with Sarah. It was kind of freaky, because their apartment was a block from Ground Zero, and I hadn't actually been down there before. Their apartment was also right next to a sex toys shop, which Mom didn't even notice. :) The memorial service was supposed to start at 10:30, but it didn't until 12. It was kind of nice because it was in someone's apartment, not a synagogue, and even though I didn't really like the apartment (very modern furniture and all that) it still felt more homey. I didn't really know Zaira, but I do remember her from Sarah's Bat Mitzvah. Sarah had recently become anorexic, and was extremely skinny, and Zaira said something like "Oh, well I'm still skinnier," like it was a contest. And it was true. She was anorexic. She was apparently a very talented woman -- one of the first female psychiatrists -- but Mom said she always came across as cold, at least to her. The part I liked about the service, though, was that one of the brothers read a poem that she had written to be read at her memorial service. We left after one, and stopped at an amazing incredible bakery in Soho, which we don't get to often. We picked up some of their special pizzas and their FANTASTIC raspberry pie, and Mom let me have a slice. We did a couple errands -- Zabar's, H&H Bagels, Essentials (got a bunch of shampoo & conditioner, yay!) and Easy Spirit (got a pair of black sandals, which I really needed, I don't love them, but whatever). Then Mom met Renee at Barnes and Nobles for a cup of coffee. Renee is Dan's mom; he's the one at Yale, going with Lauren to prom, one of David's good friends since they were little, he's interning here this summer. She's nice. So I wandered around and FLIPPED OUT BECAUSE THEY HAD THE LORD OF THE RINGS bookmarks with rings!!!!!!!!!! I was so happy, I called Kelsey and Alexa to find out which ones they wanted. I also found Kelsey a bunch of her Mercedes Lackey books, and Mom got me this book, which I'm supposed to forget about since it's a birthday present. :)
And that's enough for now. I think I'm going to have some typing to do for Dr. Joan this weekend, so I need to get homework done.
Love,
Jessica
