Josie and the Day of Depression

This day has turned out horrible.

1) Jared and I were taking an acting class, and Mom is one of the teachers, and she doesn't want to take Jared back to the class because he was always being provoked and acting up.
2) I just watched S3: E1 of Kyle XY, which turned out terrible.
3) Nora Ephron, one of my favorite directors, has died.
4) Grandpa is going to die any time now, from the looks of it.

I've never had anyone die important to me in my life.  After all those times I complained that once he gets talking and never stops, how his teeth gross me out, how he takes forever in the bathroom, and how he's so lecture-y, I completely regret that.  I don't want to lose Grandpa.

You know, when I started taking trumpet lessons when I was little, Grandpa said that when he dies, he wants me to play some jazz at his funeral.  Now I wish I could do that.

I love you, Grandpa.

You just got PUNJABBED!

Josie and the Dear Old Friend

How long has it been, Sarah?  Eight years?  It's not like you're reading this, though.

Sarah was my best friend in the whole world when I was little.  Then something happened with our moms and we didn't see eachother again.  But we were practically twins.  She was the twin sister I had always wanted.  I have videos of her at my fourth birthday party, we were in dance class together, I drew pictures of her, and from what it looked like in the videos, and from what I can remember, we had the best of times.

Now, I see Sarah on Facebook, and she's changed a lot from that curly ponytail toddler.  And I've changed from that platnium blonde Junie B. Jones girl, too.  Sarah's a cheerleader.  At first, I thought, What if she's turned into a snob?  I mean, I'm kind of a nerd.  Maybe I'd embarrass her.  But then Mom told me that she writes music AND plays piano, too, and I'm just thinking, WE HAVE GOT TO GET TOGETHER AGAIN!

Unfortunately, Mom recently discovered that Sarah's mom has unfriended her.  Even though Mom's asked several times if we could get together, she doesn't reply.  And it's not just, "Maybe she hasn't seen it yet."  I mean, the lady posts every day.

When I get my own, Facebook, I am going to have to friend Sarah, and we're going to need to do something.  You don't count off a friendship this big.

You just got PUNJABBED!

Josie and the True Alarm

Sorry about that Ke$ha reference.

I GOT MY BRACES TAKEN OFF!  WOOHOO!  I never knew my teeth could look so good!  And I don't even have a spot!  But I have to wear a retainer.  Good thing it's clear and no one can see it.  But, since they didn't pull any teeth, my teeth won't cave in (yes, pulling teeth usually makes them cave in later in life) but they're slanting outward.  Mom said that as my face grows more, they'll straighten out.  Let's hope so.  It's kind of weird.

Mom got Jared the Super Mario Bros. Piano book.  He's having the best time with it, and I'm enjoying it, too.

Did you know that most people can't sing the Mario theme correctly after the first few measures?  I can get pretty far, since I know most of it by heart (thanks to my brother's obsession over it), but a lot of times I forget the last parts.  Oh, pooh.

I wrote a funny skit for the song, The Phantom of the Opera.  It's hilarious.  It's basically the whole POTO story in 10 minutes, with a little tweaking by me.  Over the summer, I will produce it and several other skits, music videos, parodies, and maybe even a movie.  My production company is B4I8.  If you steal my name, I will sue.

I'm just kidding.  I don't have the money to sue!  But still, don't steal the name.

You just got PUNJABBED!

Josie and Grandpa

I feel horrible right now!  Mom was going to come in later today, or, she is, and she was supposed to come last night, and I had to spend the night at Grandpa's, and he asked if I wanted to wake up for church or stay here until my mom and brother get home, and I said that I'd wait.  I completely blanked out.  I FORGOT TODAY WAS FATHER'S DAY!  I should have gone with him to church!  Now I feel horrible!

Okay, he gets home in about 30 minutes, I need to do something special for him to make it up.  Maybe I can act like this was my plan all along.  Then I need to call Dad.

BTW, Mom got a new car!  It's amazing!  It's a Hyundai Accent 2012.  It has Sirius XM radio, with a Broadway station, a built in phone, and it's very comfy!  I'm not sure what MPG it has, but I'm pretty sure it's good.  I think.  The only problem is that it smells like new car.  I hate that smell.

You just got PUNJABBED!

Josie and Aunt Nadine

I would have posted sooner, but I've been at my Aunt Nadine's house while my mom's going to pick up Jared, and her computer doesn't work very well.  I went swimming, though!

I'm sorry, I can't post Day 2 yet, I don't have much time.  I'm making a really long video of all my footage from Chicago, though, and I'll do the same for camp.  If it doesn't take me forever, I'll upload it to YouTube and post it on here.  Would you like that?

Good puppy.

You just got PUNJABBED!

Josie Goes to Chicago

(Note: I am writing in present tense, even though I'm already back home.  YAY FOR MY BEING BACK!  I'm writing this as though it's a book.  And, no, Bakerson is not my real last name.  That's just whatever I use when I put something online, and Fairview is not where my church is.  That city is the most common name for a city, so I picked it only because of that.)

The Charter Bus drives off at 11:30 PM on June 8, 2012, with the entire Collide crew, including myself.  I look out the window, trying to get a final glimpse of my mom, who is waving me goodbye, her words still echoing in my ears: "Josie, I love you, and I'm gonna miss you."

My name is Josie Bakerson.  At age 13, and turning 14 in July, it seems to me that my life has only just begun.  Most teenage girls feel like their life can't go by fast enough, but me, I want to cherish every moment.

Collide is Fairview First Baptist Church's youth choir, in a way.  We do acting, dancing, instruments, skateboarding, and many other things as well.  Every year, we go on a mission trip to some place far away.  Last year, we had visited Oklahoma City.  This year, we were going on a 15-hour trip to Chicago.

On the bus, the girls sit on the left and the guys sit on the right.  I sit in the very front row next to Hannah, a friend of mine who's in my Sunday school class, Cheyenne, a tenth grader, sits behind me, and Charity, who is also in the 9th grade along with Hannah and I, sits beside her.  Cheyenne and I have window seats.

Hannah is in charge of voting for movies.  She has three movies to choose from at the moment: To Save a Life, Night at the Museum, and Enchanted.  To Save a Life wins by a long shot, when I was really hoping for Enchanted.

I don't even get 20 minutes into the movie before I begin to doze off.  Being in chairs, everyone finds it impossible to find a comfortable position to fall asleep in.  Some people slept in the aisles.  Me, I didn't bring a blanket with me.  I only had a pillow and a giant stuffed dog, so I tried to make the best on a 60 degrees Farenheit bus.  As I fell asleep, I began to dream about what miracles might happen on this trip.

You just got PUNJABBED!

Josie is Packing

Guys, I'm gonna be away for a while, in case you haven't figured out that I won't be able to post in Chicago.

Today, I was getting ready for the trip.  Yesterday, it was raining like crazy, but I had to go buy some clothes, a sleeping bag, and some no-show socks.  Mom also got some hot cheetos.

Today, I finished packing everything, had to clean my room, charge my camera, tried to edit my cover of Phantom of the Opera (unsuccessful), and later, Mom and I are going to go get some snacks.  She also gave me $40 bucks for the trip.

Currently, I am charging/syncing a MP3 Player I found.  It's very long.

Mom and I wanted to go do something on our last day.  She said that we should go to the Wildlife Park, but I said it was too mushy.  So, we're gonna go see Beauty and the Beast in 3D at the dollar theatre.

Beauty and the Beast is beast (no pun intended).  It is the best Disney Princess cartoon ever.  I just wish that Belle had gotten a solo before the musical.  But all the Disney cartoon musicals are awesome!  The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Shrek, Mary Poppins, etc.  I have never seen any of those live.  I have seen a hilarious high school version of Beauty and the Beast, though.  This is the funniest scene.  You'll see what I mean.  Beast is hilarious, and I congratulate all the cast, crew, and ESPECIALLY the director. 

I would LOVE to play Belle in High School, though, along with:

• Belle from Beauty and the Beast
• Christine from Phantom of the Opera
• Fran from Once Upon a Matress (but my high school already performed it)
• Anya from Anastasia
• OR Bartok from Anastasia
• Juliet from Romeo and Juliet
• Maria from West Side Story
• Nancy from Oliver! (but the school already performed that)
• Annie from Annie
• OR Miss Hannigan from Annie
• Penny from Hairspray (but another school already performed that)
• Ga/linda from Wicked
• OR Elphaba from Wicked
• OR Madame Morrible from Wicked
• Dorothy from Wizard of Oz
• Miss Holbrook/Hilly's Mother from The Help (if they ever made a high school play/musical out of it)
• Eva from Evita (if they made an appropriate high school version of it)

I think that's it.

I have HIGH expectations!  Yay for high expectations!

You just got PUNJABBED!

Josie Gets Rubber Bands

Okay, this next appointment, I am 100% sure that my braces will be gone!

I didn't get anything off.  I got something added on.

The orthos gave me rubber bands, and they hurt like crazy.  Not to mention I'm going to look like a freaky vampire when I sing on stage in Chicago.  UGH!  I'm having a hard time saying "My First Love" properly.  I end up saying it slow.  Plus, also, there's this part inside my mouth where I bite it in the middle of the night, sure, it keeps me from biting it, but now that bitten part sticks up and gets caught behind the rubber bands.

Relax, Josie.  It's only until the 19th.

I have 14 days until I get my braces off.

Oh, joy.

You just got PUNJABBED!

Josie and the Seven Things

Hannie inspired me with this.  Thank you, Hannie!

1) I have now seen The Boy Who Could Fly.  It's kind of cheesy, but hilarious and sweet.  I was looking at movies on Netflix and saw that, and I noticed that it was about an autistic boy who thought he could fly.  I know Mom likes movies about autism, so I put it on Instant Queue.  It's so cute!  And Eric, the autistic boy, is cute as well.  Milly is just gorgeous, and they look perfect together!  The special effects are kind of bad though, during the dream scene.  My favorite part is at the end, with Lewis and the water pistol.  He he....

2) I GET MY FRICKING BRACES OFF TOMORROW!  WOO HOO!  I am 80% sure of it this time!  The ortho people said they wanted to talk to my mom about keeping them on or off.  YEAH, BUDDY!

3) I got my marching French Horn today and I finally decided a name for it.  At first, I wanted to name it David, but Mom wanted me to give it a girl's name.  No.  So I came up with Jamal, Draco Malfoy, and then finally, BETELGUISE (Beetlejuice)!

4) I started to write an amazing song last night that made me cry.  I completely forgot the melody, but I remember the chords.  The chorus goes

I'm sorry to see you sad
I'll dry your eyes as much as I can
Just know that there's still good in the world
And that it takes tears to become a man
Trust me, don't give up
Just because life comes crashing down
So do me a favor and smile
Cause the sun is going down, oh

5) I go to Chicago on Thursday night!  In case you didn't know, I'm going on a mission trip with Collide (aka Youth Choir) to Chicago.  It's gonna be great!  We get to go to Navy Pier, and a Chicago Cubs game, and we get to hang out at Lincoln Park, and set up a fair at a school, and eat with homeless people, and sing for them, and perform at a church, and it's gonna be great!  Remind me to bring my travel diary!

6) I'm so close to getting 1,000 views!  Keep it up, guys!

7) Okay, if anyone's reading this, if someone following my blog has Zel following their blog (probably Miki or some stalker of hers), will you please tell her that she got written in the story?  I commented her, but so far, she hasn't continued the story.  Maybe I should just tag back Miki.

Hellooooooo!  Anybody reading this?

You just got PUNJABBED!

Josie and Sheldon

Guess what Grandma got us?

A WII!  WII NAMED IT SHELDON!

Grandma wanted to get Jared a Wii, and Wii did!  Instead of it coming with Wii Sports, it came with New Super Mario Bros. and the Super Mario Galaxy Soundtrack.  Wii're also going to buy the Super Mario Bros. piano book that Wii saw at the Music Store.

Oh.  My.  Gosh.  Somebody died yesterday!  Well, people are dying every day, but somebody got stabbed in my Grandma's neighborhood!  That harldy ever happens here!  What the heck?

When Grandma and Mom went to go get the Wii from the store, part of the street was blocked up with crime scene tape.  Murders never happen here!  No where in the city!  Well, except for last year, during a robbery, but they never happen.

You just got PUNJABBED!

Josie and the End of the Year Party

Kasiah's having an end of the year party at 4 and I'm invited, of course.  I have a feeling a bunch of people are gonna be there: Gabriel, L, Squirrel, Erin, Jewbie, Morgan, Giggles, HNBT, and of course, me.

Mom has been getting Blockbuster at Tom Thumb a lot.  So far, we've seen The Help, Captain America, Thor, and The King's Speech.

The Help - A hilarious movie about the colored help in Jackson, Mississippi, and a woman who is writing an illegal book about their experiences of working for white families.  This movie has absolutely phenomenal acting by Voila Davis and many others, but the best parts are the commodes and the famed pie scene.

Captain America - Short, 90 pound, mid 20's Steven Rogers tries to enlist during World War II, and finally gets into the army when a scientist wants to use him for an experiment to turn him into a super soldier.  This movie is funny, but also heart-breaking, and this time doesn't have the extra snip-it with Patches after the credits, but before.

Thor - When the soon-to-be-king of Asgard, Thor, gets banished to Earth, and his brother Loki becomes king instead, Thor gets taken in by astrophysisists Jane, Erik, and Darcy, who try to help him out as much as possible.  Meanwhile, Thor needs to defeat the evil Frostgiants of Gotenheim with his hammer, Myuh-meh and escape S.H.I.E.L.D., a top secret alien communication company that erases all evidence of there possibly being alien lifeforms.  This is hilarious and touching, and has the first bad guy that I kind of rooted for.  Again, Patches appears after the credits, but he talks to Erik the scientist, not Thor.

The King's Speech - Based on the true story of King George VI of England who has a terrible stutter, Alfred, the Duke of York gets a speech therapist to help him with public speaking.  This is hilarious and allows a lot of acting, considering there are no special effects, and it is very touching.  Warning: this has a lot of language.

You just got PUNJABBED!