Life of the Bored and Taskless.

Thursday, July 29, 2004

New School Delayed

DOYLESTOWN, PA-July 29, 2004 — It is supposed to be a state of the art facility when it welcomes high school students in for the first time this September. But Central Bucks South won't be ready in time for that first school bell.

And it's causing headaches for students, parents, teachers and administrators.
Two very different stories are emerging as to why this project will not be open on time. The problem some 1600 kids are in limbo.

With an 83 million dollar price tag, it is a building that impresses those who constructing it.
But this impressive new home of the Central Bucks South Titans is months behind schedule. In a surprise district officials abruptly signaled the new school will not be ready opening day. So what to do?

Several ideas are kicking around. One is to delay Central Bucks South's opening by weeks or months. Other ideas include mixing South's 1600 kids into existing schools or setting up split shifts, some kids going to class in the morning, others in the afternoon.

At a community pool, we caught up with a couple of South Bound sophomores working at the a snack bar. Jared Mason would opt for the delayed opening.

So why the delay? No one from the school district would talk today. Its web site charges the contractor failed to meet its obligation but contractor Frank Skepton says wait a minute.

Skepton says actual construction began months behind schedule because of sloppy prep work by another contractor which had been overseen by the district. He says maybe no one told the school board members but other officials have long known of the delay. (ABC News)
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...At this point, I don't know what to say. It frustrates me that nobody was told about the delay, although I personally questioned its progress. I am at a point now where I'm comfortable with the idea of the "split," and I've emotionally prepared for the challenges that next year will unravel, but now the school district threw me a curveball.

I'm quite excited of the possibility of a delayed opening. I'll see my South-bound friends again, but if it's not for a whole year, there will just be another heartbreak to endure. It's also at a very bad time, I mean, right before college? I love how the bigshots of the CBSD fail to factor in the emotions of students, but hey, they need luxury vehicles, so screw it.

The whole split schedule thing happened to Council Rock. Some liked it, others didn't. For senior year...it might not be bad. Senioritis crept up on me last year, so at this point, I'm open to any possible ways to get more sleep or slack off. Not completely...but, you know.

Basically, I don't want to get my hopes up. Things could change, and it's better to think that it probably won't happen at this point, so if it does, I will be absolutely ecstatic.

5:57 PM | Jacquie | 0 comments

Wednesday, July 28, 2004

So Lock Haven and Bucknell were awesome. Very different in their respective ways...including campuses...and chances of acceptance...and costs...and I'm getting depressed. *Smacks face*

ANYWAY, I got the chance to drive through a bunch of sleepy coal mine towns, get "friendly" stares from hicks, get some free college "gear," (man, I'm lame) and I dried off after a 5 minute shower with towels that smelt of Indian food. Indeed, a very interesting experience. I even drove through the city that is the Penn State campus. People, I get lost within my own house, I don't know how I could survive there. I also don't like football NEARLY enough to even be considered a human being in State College, PA.

Well, it's nice to be back in Bucks County.
*Hears 4 little boys making chundering noises*

...Maybe not...

8:23 PM | Jacquie | 0 comments

Monday, July 26, 2004

This weekend was amazing. So amazing that I'll describe every single detail down to what everyone was wearing, the barometric pressure of each respective day, and the fluctuations in my pulse rate...just kidding. I will type a lot (when do I not?) so be warned.

This weekend was the opening, as well as closing, of the Phillip's Mill Teen Players production of William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar." The first show was at 8:00 on Friday night. After a miserable day at archaeology camp, I needed something to cheer me up. With the help of Dan and the cast and the turnout and performance itself, I was cured of my emo-esque behavior.

Unfortunetly, a couple of personal mishaps occured during the play. My cobbler scene went without flaw, as well as a servant scene. After that, I missed a cue, my horribly rushed backstage costume change resulted in a rope from my servant outfit getting wrapped around my shoe (When I went out to read a letter as Caesar's lover I noticed it, as well as the many fixed gazes at my foot, and said "Oh." and then kept going) and I went out at the wrong time at curtain calls with Marina. Other than that, everything was excellent.

The next morning, I arrived at Phillip's Mill at 12:30. Only problem...Sean had the key and wasn't there yet. He showed up 10-15 minutes later, and we prepared for the 2:00 show. I'm not sure if this show was better than the one on Friday night, but it went well. Instead of missing my cue altogether, I went out too soon. Oh well. This time, Justin mustered up a few tears, which was great. Only about half of the house was full, but it was a good preparation for the 8:00 show.

Inbetween shows, we had dinner catered to us by one of the stage managers, and we watched the DVD of last year's performance of "Twelfth Night," which was hilarious. Our director, Mrs. Landley, gave us each a "Caesar bear," which were stuffed bears with garland wreaths glued on their heads and red sashes. I got slightly nervous, not to mention slightly sick, before the 8:00 show, but there was no reason to, as it went better than the other performances. Justin absolutely sobbed, I only flubbed a minor line, and the energy and everything else was amplified. I guess the show truly did go out with a boom. I hope that this performance, or at least most of it goes on the DVD.

Yesterday, I went back to Phillip's Mill to help cleanup, which lasted about 2 hours, which was followed by the cast party at Anton and Stefan's house. I rode with Sean, and we followed Zach (who knew where he was going) and Marina. After watching the odd movements of Zach's car, we were led up a weird web of driveways and stopped in front of a sign that said "The Perrys." They got out and laughed triumphantly at us. Thank you Zach for showing us the way to your lovely abode. Then, we were led in a circle and FINALLY ended up at the right place.

After we were taken on a tour of their farm and property(and I spilled ginger ale purposely on Zach), we went inside and ate chili. Justin brought with him a horribly cheesy video from the 80's Clue VCR game (which I own as well), and we laughed at the horrible acting. After each scene from the video, it instructed us to play a round of personal facts, so we did. We each shared our most embarrassing moment (the watermelon story), the person in the room that we'd sleep with (Eric, because of his "huge junk") , what celebrity we'd marry (John Cusack or Conan O'Brien), and a special talent (my sex voice) among other questions. It was SO much fun!

When that was over, and a couple of people left, the remainder of us watched a couple of episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus, Colorful, Space Ghost and Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Good stuff. After that, we watched High Fidelity, which I've been wanting to watch again for awhile.

At one point, I went to the bathroom in the back of the house, and Stefan, who was opening the door to get in from the outside didn't know I was there...yeah. That was a pretty good embarrassing moment.

I said my goodbyes and left around 10. Man, I'm going to miss them, but then again, there's always next year to look forward to! We're either doing "Macbeth" or a comedy (possibly not Shakespeare) so I can't wait!

In English this year, Ms. Kelly commented that at one point, we'd all have that moment when we realize that Shakespeare was really damn good. I've always known this, but I truly realized it backstage when I heard the following phrase from Marc Antony (Justin):

"Blood and destruction shall be so in use and dreadful objects so familiar, that mothers will but smile when they behold their infants quartered with the hands of war."

Damn, that's good. I couldn't help myself from reciting it along with him.

This morning, I woke up after having a very strange dream, which is actually relatively normal as far as my weird dreams go, but here's the Reader's Digest version of what I can remember. It was the upcoming election night, and I was at some place (which looked a lot like the auditorium of Tamanend Middle School) where the winner of the presidential race was to be announced. Standing next to me was John Kerry, who I hugged and I told him that I hope he'd win. George W. Bush was also there, and he was seated in the center (we were off to the right). When it was time for the winner to be announced, everything seemed like it was in slow motion, and it turned out to be George W. Bush. The left side of the auditorium erupted, while everyone else seemed dissapointed.

After that, I went home and called Dan. As I was talking to him, I walked into my room and there was only a foot of my bed left leaning against the wall. Strange. He told me that a French pop star was coming over and wanted to know if I wanted to go out with them tonight. I agreed, and he showed up with her at my house shortly thereafter. After a few remarks from her, I cursed her off a bit, and then we started talking about the French language. She asked me in French if there was anything to see or do around here, and to my surprise, I actually understood her. We went to a restaurant in Doylestown and she ordered from the menu, and I attempted to order from...a food magazine. After I finally ordered from the right thing, I woke up and decided that I should stop eating hallucinogens instead of cookies with my milk before going to sleep.

Today, I'm leaving to go visit Lock Haven and Bucknell, and I won't be back until Wednesday night. I'll have my cell phone if anyone needs to reach me.

10:11 AM | Jacquie | 0 comments

Saturday, July 24, 2004

Come see Julius Caesar at Phillip's Mill at 2 and 8 PM today! It went well last night, and today's sure to be better!

11:05 AM | Jacquie | 0 comments

Tuesday, July 20, 2004

I love formulas. Here's one that can be applied to my current situation:

A box of 100 gloves + A faucet + 15 children + 1 Jacquie = 1 REALLY *&%#^@! PISSED OFF JACQUIE *heavy breathing* *rips out heart of nearest person and eats it* *with a side of fava beans, of course*

Archaeology camp is not fun. And no, ARCHAEOLOGISTS DON'T DIG DINOSAURS! GAR!

Good thing I'm not on the rag, or else there would be children hanging from trees by the plastic same gloves that they use to fill up with water and smack me in the face with.

One of them left their tortilla chips behind. I will spear whoever that was.

Tomorrow the newspaper's coming...I hope they don't catch me strangling the kids. That would make an excellent photo, though. Hmmm...

Oh, and the play is going...eh...we need more practice. I hope it doesn't suck, now that there are people who I know are coming.

Oh well. At least I'm getting Dan to possibly lke Ben Folds (with and without the band)and I'm making him a CD. Making CDs for people is a natural high for me. Wow, I have no life.

1:32 PM | Jacquie | 0 comments

Friday, July 16, 2004

Due to my odd habit of thinking A LOT before I go to sleep, I had time last night (at about 2 AM) to make some symbolic connections, which is a common thing because I attach symbolism to a lot of things...even at times when it is not needed. In this case, I didn't think it was overly tacky or a sad attempt of sounding wise or philosophical, so I'll share it with all 3 of you that read this. Maybe 2. Or just me.

In the past month, I've been driving almost daily, and it has occurred to me that driving and life in general have a lot of similarities. I'm beginning to enter the world of adulthood, and I have gained more responsibility and a little more control of my life. Like the maturing process, driving at first was horrifying. Being in control is something that I was not used to because certain people controlled almost every aspect of my life, excluding my social life.

When I first starting driving a couple months ago, all I looked at was the yellow line in the center of the road. I based many of my decisions on this line, which resulted in disaster at times. Like the road, I needed boundaries in order to feel safe in my life, as I was not used to thinking without them. Life is not supposed to be objective, but I felt very unsafe making my own decisions without any guiding force. So, I frequently questioned my parents before even thinking about things myself, which occured many times while driving.

Gradually, I am learning to stop looking at one minor detail, and focus on a larger scale. This has been challenging, but through the guidance of warning and stop signs (friends) and rear and side-view mirrors (teachers), I have learned to wake my head from its safe resting place in the clouds and stay alert to the road as well as my life, in which I am now a driving force, and the decisions I will have to make very soon. College has been an ongoing process, and I've started to narrow down where I will apply to and...well, the financial aspect of it is another story. Yet, for the first time in awhile...I'm not frightened by the future. I'm trying to take control of my life, and so far I've steered myself in the right direction. As long as I look out for my future by making decisions based on what I think is right, I think I'll be fine in the end.

8:36 PM | Jacquie | 0 comments

Wednesday, July 14, 2004

"According to our calculations, you are expected to live to the age of 80.9."

Eh, not bad. Maybe I should exercise more...nah. Take it and comment on what you received as a result. Let's see who can outlive one another, mwahahaha...

Life Expentancy Test (Warning: It's an Australian website, so just pick a random thing under "State")

1:16 PM | Jacquie | 0 comments

Sunday, July 11, 2004

You know when you've had a great experience because of the lasting effect it has on you. Eventually, it will wear off, but right now...I'm still in a sonic euphoric state. I can't even begin to describe it without getting hyper and crazed. I'm going to attempt to write a Reader's Digest version (not really) of my first-hand account (eep!) of the Rufus Wainwright/Ben Folds/Guster concert. If it ends up long and rambly...I don't care. Overdosing on nostalgia is alright from time to time.

Ok, I need to calm down. In the words of the great 20th century thespians Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell..."Awwww here it goes!"

Bridget picked me up at 4:30 on Wednesday and we met Marina and Christina at Christina's house. On the way to Penn's Landing, we heard "Brick" on the radio which made me even MORE excitied with anticipation than before. I still can't believe that I saw Ben Folds.

We arrived at Penn's Landing and met up with Brittany who had the tickets. I spotted a group of people from East and talked to Kyle Schuster briefly. We stopped to buy t-shirts (I bought a red Ben Folds shirt for myself and a blue tour shirt for my little brother, who I have made a Ben Folds fan) which I promptly shoved into a plastic garbage bag, which was primarily intended for wearing in the rain.

We squirmed our way through a good portion of the crowd (it was all general admission) and listened to the best mic check I've ever heard. I forget what the guy said, but we all thought it was hilarious.

Rufus Wainwright came onstage and played through his set, which I found way more enjoyable than everyone else in our group (excluding Marina). He made several comments in between songs including how his clogs were floating because of the rain, the last time he came to Philly was to see Ween with the lead singer of the Scissor Sisters but that didn't work out, how there was "A light in the distance...a light in Virginia" then mentioned John Kerry (which drew much applause from everyone) and how he commented in a newspaper or radio interview about how the sun usually followed him on tour, but unfortunetly it was not the case this time. I felt bad for him because he seemed to be pouring his heart out and totally engrossed in music...and not that many people were paying attention to him, especially the loud group of drunk college kids right in front of us. He played "California" (the only song that I knew of his) and "Hallelujah" (yes, the one from Shrek) and in all, I enjoyed him a lot, especially his voice.

After his set, we got food (which I was not initally persuaded to do, since we had a good view of the stage) and while chowing down on fries, the loudspeaker played "Kung Fu Fighting" which everyone danced to. Ben Folds then entered and played "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head". Originally, I thought he was going to go on last (from what it appeared to be on the ticket) and when I realized it was him, we sprinted to the stage and found a nice spot that was an almost head-on view of Ben and the piano. Then he played "Zak and Sara" which was nothing short of awesome and included the "asshole" part. After that, a group of people directly in front of him screamed "Rock this bitch!" repeatedly, and Ben began to play a little piano part and made some stuff up revolving around the "Rock This Bitch" theme. Hilarious. At one point around this time, he said it was hot and he can't do anything with his hair in this weather, while someone simultaneously shouted "Take it off!" and said "What, my hair?"

From then on, the chronological order evades me. He played "Army" and told us beforehand that on the live album, when he mentioned the audience could do a "bitchin' horn section," some people thought he said "bitch and whore section" and said "so you guys (points to left side of audience) can be numbnuts and you guys (our side) can be fucktards." Go fucktards. "Army" was incredible, as well as the other songs he played, including "All U Can Eat," "Gone," "Philosophy" (yessss), "Steven's Last Night in Town" (with the drummer/bongo player from Guster, who he played the drums with while he bongoed (sp?), "Gracie Girl (?)" (I think that's what it was called; it's a new song about his daughter) "Careless Whisper" (a George Michael song) with Rufus Wainwright (and his nice falsetto), which I thought was one of the highlights of the show, and two songs with Guster: "Not the Same" (including an audience harmony) and "Fair." I'm probably missing some, oh well. At one point, he began to play "The Luckiest" but the "Rock this bitch!" chant continued, so he began to play the melody he played previously and made things up. At one point he sang some of the Beverly Hillbillies Theme Song but stopped and said he was waiting for inspriation. Then he began to sing the melody of "Don't Worry, Be Happy" and substituted it with..."Rock out...with your cock out" I think I almost wet myself. He led a chant of "Rock out! Cock out!" which made my night. I might be missing something, but this entry's only for the super attentitive anyway. I don't know anyone who really is, including myself.

After closing his set with a bang and a Guster, a whole group of people near us moved, so we moved over and had a better view of the whole stage. The only problem: we were standing in a puddle. It was worth it, though. Coincidentally, Jon Kroberger and Meredith Badler were right next to us, who we said hi to. Guster began, and they were incredible. Prior to the show, I had been somewhat of a Guster virgin, but believe me, they were GOOD. I can't list the songs as I did before (thank God) because I don't know them that well, but they played "Amsterdam" as well as many other songs that just...blew me away. I fell a little out of place because I wasn't one of the many Gusterites, but by the end of the night I was eager for more. More of everything, I guess. I even danced during Guster, which, if you know me says a lot. While the piano was being moved out on stage, Ben Folds played the drums in Guster's rendition of "Unchained Melody," and the final two songs were accompanied by Ben. During the concert, Guster mentioned how there was a voting registration by the entrance, and although they didn't want to shove their "liberal agenda" on us (at which point Kroberger shouted "Yeah, liberal agenda!") we should vote (Kerry). Agreed. Guster was honestly like a spiritual event for me. I guess you could say that I attended a service at the Church of Rock. Witnessing a great band while discovering their music at the same time is utterly amazing.

After their set, we uncramped our legs which were REALLY stiff and hung around for a bit. I chatted quickly again with Kyle, and then we left. Bridget's parents picked us up and Brittany went back to N.J. The car ride home was almost silent because we were exhausted, but my head was buzzing with excitement, and still is for that matter.

So there it is. Whew, a lot of typing. I think I did that primarily because I wanted to relive it a little and share it with everyone. I wish everyone could have gone, even if you don't particularly like those bands...it was the energy that drove the whole thing. I loved the energy of the performers, and it was intensified even furthur when one performed with the other. You could see the overwhelming joy that they felt when performing. A musical syngergy occured in the audience that night. The feeling of being in this massive chorus of voices and just losing yourself in the music was indescribable. Words can't justify what it felt like. I felt like my happiness couldn't be contained in my body, especially during Ben Folds and Guster. The rain eventually cleared up, but it didn't matter. To me, it never really rained. The only proof of the rain was my pair of soggy sneakers.

I'll stop now, or else I'll rattle on forever, trying hopelessly to convey how I felt during the concert. Just trust me when I say that it was amazing, eye-opening, uplifting, everything. Can I get an amen?

7/12
Edit: I forgot to mention that in one song, Guster began to play "Chariots of Fire." I really missed Dana at that point. Also, I wore my "I ♥ Nerds" shirt with matching "I ♥ Dorks" socks from Dana. Can you get the message I'm trying to convey here?

6:12 PM | Jacquie | 0 comments

Thursday, July 01, 2004

Driver's Ed never ceases to amaze me.

Yesterday, we had to watch a horrible (yet VERY amusing) video from the 80's called "Buckle Up!" It featured a plethora of B-list celebrities saying 80's phrases and there even was a cliché 80's song to go with it, which was sung by The 5th Dimension (you know, the group who sang "Age of Aquarius"...or maybe it's just me) that went like so:

Buckle up, buckle baby,
Before you drive,
Buckle up, buckle baby,
To stay alive.
Buckle up, buckle baby,
Don't be a fool
(Best part of the song...)
Don't you know dying ain't cool?!
(I thought death was "in"! Now I'm going to have to stop cutting myself!)
BUCKLE UP! (low voice: baby) Buckle down!
So you don't get thrown around.
BUCKLE UP! (baby) Buckle down!
Everybody spread the word around.

Well, it sure got me to buckle up, because now it plays in heavy rotation in my mental radio station. Thanks alot, 80's!

I went for my first out of three driving lessons with my instructor, Ed. He's a cool guy with a good sense of humor, and we discussed everything from politics to how lame Justin Guarini is.

Last night, I had a dream (You: Oh dear God, not another one) that I was Roxie Hart in the play Chicago...as if they couldn't get anymore unrealistic and screwed up. The weird thing is that I didn't know ANY of my lines, and the show was about the start. I kept running around a hotel with one of the guys from the play (possibly the guy playing Billy Flynn)to find a script, but I forgot my purse and did various other things to make life harder for myself. I ran by Jeff and he dismissed me because he (and I) thought that I really didn't deserve the part of Roxie in the play. I woke up during this dream and decided that Broadway wins over getting out of bed, so I fell back asleep. Maybe something useful will come out of my eccentric dreams one day...then again, probably not.

Speaking of dreams, as I was going through some old disks and found a list of goals that I had to make for myself for English in the beginning of 8th grade, as well as Brittany's, and here it is(with commentary from myself in parenthesis):

Jacquie Baker
Period 1
9/19/00

*Goals*

*To go to an Ivy League college (No, not really. More like Billy Bob's trucking school), and major in journalism (I can't write to save my life.) and acting (I certainly was more confident with my acting ability then).
*To raise a family (questionable), have three children (How about a maximum of 1?), and take them (me) on foreign trips.
*To have a pet dog (finally, something that will probably happen) and keep in touch with my Tamanend friends (I certainly hope so...).
*To go to Antartica and the north pole (Nah).
*See one of the Olympics (Nice one, 8th grade self!).
*To see the northern lights in Alaska (You're on a roll!).
*To go over the time meridian (...Ok, you lost it.)
*To go to a tropical island one year with my family for New Years Ever (Yeah, definitely went over the edge or lost good ideas. It's creative, I give you that, Jacquie).
*To be successful and donate some of my profits to charities (Awwww).
*To write a best-selling book (On what, weird dreams?) or be in the newspaper staff (What did I say about journalism?).
*To be a lead in a Broadway (Yeah, Dream Chicago! Woo!) or television show (Hick Hijinks...coming soon on Fox).
*To win an Emmy, an Oscar, or an Academy Award for best leading actress in a comedy series (Cool thought, but very unlikely. Hey, aren't Academy Awards given AT the Oscars...for movies...oh well, I guess I didn't know.).

Some of those were reasonable (unlike Brittany's "Navy Seals officer" goal) and some were a little out-of-reach, but I was a dreamer. I still am to a certain extent, but I don't think I'm going for Broadway (My singing isn't even "satisfactory" for that) and a TV show...I doubt it. My dream job at this point is probably a stand-up comedian, but I'm not extremely funny, and they're typically "starving artists." It would make me extremely happy, though. For me, making people laugh is sort of a natural high. Oh well, who knows, it could happen. I'm going to keep my options open and stick with something science-related for now.

I'm off too bed. Maybe I'll dream about watching an awful 80's video pertaining to seat belts and how semi-celebs want me to "Buckle Up!"...oh wait, that already happened!

10:45 PM | Jacquie | 0 comments