So it begins (the summer, that is)

Since I last wrote, one of the many things I have done is studied (and TAKEN!) the SAT. Ugh. I'm very thankful that it's over. Anyway, while I was in the process of studying for it, I had to learn how to write an essay in twenty-five minutes, a feat I did not at first believe I was capable of. Included in this, I found that I had to write I certain way to please the mighty essay editor people. For one thing, you should never start a sentence with "and." And you should never start a sentence with "but." But most importantly (well, I don't know if it really is, but I'm saying so now), one should never ever even DREAM of starting a sentence with "so." So you see it is no small thing to write an SAT essay, because you really need to watch your p's and q's. But thankfully (oh, the gratefulness is overflowing in copious amounts!), this is not an SAT essay. This is my blog. So I can write exactly what I want. And that is pleasure indeed.

So how did my tests go? Oh, they went all right, as far as tests go. I bore through them somehow, and they could have been better, and they could have been worse. My scores definitely were not amazing, but I did decently enough so that my dad told me that I don't have to take it again. There's a relief, though I haven't decided for certain whether I'll take him up on that.

The only really memorable incident from that fateful trip at the high school was the time when I was standing in line for the restroom. A girl from my room was trying to make polite conversation with another girl in front of me, and turning to me she asked me where I was from and where I went to school. When I told her that I was homeschooled, all the heads in line swivelled in my direction. It was as if these people had never seen a real flesh and blood homeschooler before and they wanted to know what these notorious creatures looked like! I didn't feel too uncomfortable, however, because the looks weren't unkind, and one girl even smiled. Mostly, I was amused. I am an interesting phenomenon, am I not?

Bibleschool graduation came and went (I'm going to miss the third years practically to death!). School officially finished for me. My parents and I even went to Rhode Island for a couple of days, where we relaxed, drove around, watched Celtics and Red Sox games, went biking, and the like. Much of the time I was absorbed in reading Crime and Punishment, for some reason that I can't quite explain. The book horrified me while at the same time it fascinated me, boring me only a little at times. I just couldn't imagine the position that the character placed himself in. No, that's not true. I COULD imagine it, and that was my problem, because I felt guilty and haunted just like him, though maybe even more so. I finished the book in a week.

While I was in the midst of reading this book in RI, Mr. Dave H. came by one evening for dinner with his crew at the Browns'. Somehow or other they got to talking about crime, and how and why some people turn themselves in even when there isn't a lot of evidence against them. Wow, here was something that I felt pretty knowledgeable about, considering the book I'd been buried in recently. So from my corner I added my two cents to the conversation.

"Well, sometimes people just can't deal with the guilt that they're faced with, so they feel like they have to turn themselves in," [these weren't my exact words, but they were close to them]. "I should know," I added [these were my exact words].

There was a deep silence.

Suddenly, I realized.

"Not that I have any personal experience or anything," I laughed. "It's just that I'm reading a book about it."

Any tension there may have been in the air right then melted into chuckles.

"I thought you were getting ready for a confession there," Andrew admitted.

My second cousin Isaac's wedding soon followed this mini vacation, and I enjoyed it. I haven't been to a wedding for awhile. In fact, I am quite sure that I hadn't been to a single wedding since Brad and Claire's! Oh mah goodness. What's up with these people nowadays anyway? Doesn't anybody know how to get married anymore? I think some people need to get busy, they might lose practice (um, since most people might forget how since they get married so often. . . :). Anyway, I was happy to go to a wedding again. The wedding was great. The reception was great. The food was great. The company was great (I was assigned to a table with Bria and Aaron, whose family last minute wasn't able to make it so we had the whole table to ourselves). We tried to have scintillating conversation; I got to meet Anna, my second cousin-in-law (I likes her!); Ethan let me play with his Nikon D40; we watched Isaac and Arika dance, and finally we watched him drop her right on the dance floor. Twas quite memorable. All in all, it was a charming experience.

The following week involved a fair amount of studying. Chemistry notes we dusted and pored over, Spanish tenses were recited, and random historical facts were reviewed and scribbled down. Saturday morning came, and it was time to take my SAT subject tests. Since I had been to Conval to take the SAT only a month before, I felt like I knew the ropes better this time. Praying silently and trying to calm my nerves (which were actually more calm than I would have naturally expected, so I think someone must have been praying for me), I dove into each hour long segment, starting with chemistry. I was the only person in my classroom taking the chemistry test. Ha, chemistry is certainly not my strong subject. I did all right in school with it because I studied hard, but only because I usually studied hard. So needless to say chemistry would not have been my first pick to be tested on but hey, I just took it, so why not? May as well be tested on something while it's fairly fresh in my mind, or that's what my dad figured, and I had to agree he was right, even though I knew I wouldn't do too well on it. After an hour of being immersed in slightly confusing chemical concepts, we shifted gears and I picked U.S. History to do next. Ah, this was better. Not that I knew everything, but I think I would have made Chad happy to acknowledge me as his sister. Finally, for the third test I did Spanish. Not many people were left to take a third test (you pick how many you want to do with a max. of three), but the five of us remaining plunged into the third and final hour. Hmm, this Spanish test was not so easy as the practice test I had taken a few days before in which I had known most of the answers. These words and phrases were less familiar and I floundered some, but made it through alive (God must really love me or something).

Then I was free, free, free! No more tests hanging over my head, and now my summer could really begin.

And so my summer has begun (remember this is my blog so I can start as many sentences with "and" as I want). It's gone on through going out to icecream at Kimball's for our very cheery heart group:

"Uh, why is there so much pollen on me?" Jeff L., who was sitting near me on the picnic table, exclaimed in exasperation.

"It's Kayla's hair," Dave said. Ha. Right. Thanks, Dave. At least I've never had a contest to see how long I can go without showering. Yep, we have a cheery heart group.

My summer has also included our first church softball game the other night.

Danny (setting up the batting order): Okay, number two in line: six foot six, 240 pounds.

Brandon: Do you mean Kayla?

Me: Haha, thanks Brandon. (and for the record, the number two in the batting order ended up being Stephen A., who is neither six foot six nor 240 pounds--or, er, at least he doesn't look it)

Also during my summer so far we've watched a bunch of late night Celtics games. I was careful to wear green every day that they played and I painted my face every game as well. And we were extremely happy when they won. YEAH CELTICS!!!!

Kimberly and Danny were at our house watching the game the night that they won, and KJ and I were very annoyed at the announcers who kept on calling Kobe Bryant "the best player on the planet." Oh how amazing Kobe Bryant is, and what an incredible three-point shot he just made from way downtown! It's no wonder he's the "best player in the world." Hmm, the announcers didn't seem to say much though when Ray Allen tied the record with seven three-pointers in one game. "Hmm, he made even more than the best player in the world!" I exclaimed in mock wonder. Ha.

After the Celtics won their final game, I kept on wanting to say, "We're World Series champions!" But I always stopped myself in time to correctly say, "We're NBA champions!" But, oh yeah, we're both.:) It was well after midnight when I slapped Clyde (who was taking out his contacts) on the back and reminded him, "We're NBA champions!"

"Whohoo!" he replied, and we found ourselves jumping up and down together right there in the bathroom as we whooped softly, because our parents had just gone to bed. Yeah. We're NBA champions.

The last thing that I think I'll mention right now before I go is an interesting experience that I had yesterday. I almost drove off in someone else's car. It was one of the strangest things ever.

To begin with, my dad wanted me to start the mini van and make sure that the battery was working before he left for town, because I was going to need a car shortly to go to my violin lesson. Somehow or other I was pretty sure that he had told me that the mini van was down at Fairwood, so I walked all the way down to fetch the car. There was only one car in the Main House circle, and that was ours, so I hopped into the drivers' seat. The first thing that I noticed was that it was already getting dirty near the brake and gas pedal, even though I had just vacuumed out the car the week before. That was kind of discouraging. But thinking nothing of it, I put my seatbelt on (I like having it on even if it's just at Fairwood), pulled my seat forward just a little (I feel more in control this way), and reached for the keys in the ignition, where we (ahem!) usually leave them. They weren't there. I looked on the floor. They weren't there either. Then I pulled out a drawer. "What, there's all this stuff in here! I just cleaned the van out last week! And why is there a track phone in here? Is it real? Do we have a fake phone in our car for safety reasons?" Thus my thoughts ran. The phone looked real enough, so I put it back and was just about ready to give up and leave when suddenly I looked around and saw a kid's book.

Then I realized.

This wasn't our car.

Whoah! How weird is that? To think that I was so totally fooled! I know how to tell Danny and Ruth's van apart from ours, but somehow I had just assumed this was our car so I didn't think. It's a good thing Danny didn't leave the keys in the ignition, or I probably would have driven it home before realizing my mistake. In fact, my mom suspects that this actually happened with them before, because once our car was missing from the parking lot for a little bit and then it appeared again. Haha, that's what you get for buying the same kind (and color!) of car as your nextdoor neighbor. This story even reminds me of how when we were out West a lady climbed into the front seat while my dad was sitting in the car because she thought it was hers! Wow, kind of scary.

As for side things of interest in my life, I'm going to be attending Sound Foundations out in Indy! It's a fairly in depth nearly three week program that Craig and Kendra took some years past. You get to study music theory, music history, and song writing, plus you sing in choir, possibly play in an orchestra, and other sweet musical things. What's more is that since they weren't able to pay Craig when he worked out there for awhile, they told me that I can attend for free with only a reduced housing rate! So that will be a fun and busy adventure coming up for me in the second half of August. In the mean time, I'm studying a music theory course to get myself prepared for the kind of stuff I'm going to be learning. Should be fun.

Another exciting thing is that yesterday I got a random call that some strange girl I've never met is looking for a violinist to play at her wedding in July! So, long story short, it looks like I may be doing it. I'm a little scared about it (I told the girl that I'm not a professional or anything), but I trust that it will not only be a good experience but a fun one, and a little money will be involved as well, which certainly helps.

Now that you're practically updated on my life, I better go. I'm at Cara's now (she's at work), I have Klara and Becca coming to my house tonight, girls' week starts on Sunday, and then the Family Convention! Looks like the next couple of weeks should be adventure-laden! And I pray that we'll all be able to glean wonderful nuggets that will cultivate closeness with God (all prayers are appreciated!). Thanks for reading this. You're pretty amazing if you even still check my blog, but it's comforting to realize that you haven't given up on me.:)