Grade 11

That's right. Tomorrow I go back to school and start grade 11 - my second-last year of high school, or grade school period. It's so hard to believe, hard to believe that it's already September, that the summer flew by so fast... but I guess it shouldn't be. It was an amazing summer.

My ten days in Costa Rica were beyond incredible. Probably one of the most powerful experiences of my life, I learned so much and grew in so many ways, and of course had a great time. When I got home, I had the first surprise birthday party of my life and I saw one of my favourite singers, Chantal Kreviazuk, perform live. Then a family vacation to Idaho which was relatively enjoyable and took up a couple weeks. It included powering through the seventh Harry Potter book and feeling intense satisfaction, and a couple giant shopping trips with tons of bargain scouting.

Then in August, we had close family friends who we hadn't seen in a couple years come over - they have a daughter about my age, and we've always gotten along really well so it was great to see her again. The following weekend my cousins from Grande Prairie visited and we had a great time - I only see them a couple times a year but I love them to death and we always have a blast together. A week later, it was out to Camp Nakamun to plan orientation day at school, and I wound up having a bunch of fun.

Thursday of this past week, I had to be to my school for 9:00 am to set up said orientation day. That was a gruelling day - lifting chairs, desks, and tables, setting up the gym and classrooms, blowing up balloons... but I had a good time and got to know even better the people I had met the previous weekend. And then Friday was the big day. I had to be at the school at 7:30 am, since kids started trickling in around 8 and the day officially started at 9. I hadn't even woken up before 7:30 in ages, so that was a bit different, but not too bad.

The day was a long one though. I had to sit at a registration table and hand out mock timetables to the kids, telling them what classrooms they would be visiting that day. Then there was the pep rally, during which I did some technical stuff like cueing music, seeing as all my new friends are the techies and I'm a total wanna-be. I try though. Then I had to run a couple classroom activities, and it was a lot of fun, but I had to be upbeat, energetic and friendly all day. It came fairly easily, but it was exhausting! I didn't realize having that much personality could be so draining, but by the end of the day, I was absolutely wiped, and it was only 3:00. It was definitely a fun experience though.

Littered throughout the summer were phone calls to my friend in Australia, which are always so much fun, largely due to his wicked accent.

Then last night I got to go to Symphony Under the Sky with my friend Joanna, since her mom plays french horn in the ESO. It was a great show, especially since Tyler Hamilton, Canadian Idol season 1 finalist, was the guest singer. Haha. We talked to him in the intermissin and he's very friendly, but we'd also already met him way back, three years ago when Tyler opened for Ryan Malcolm. We were crazy fangirls back then though, and we didn't mention that evening to Tyler last night - we don't want to be remembered that way. :P It was fun though; I really don't see Jo often enough.

All things considered, it's been a madly awesome summer, and I really shouldn't be surprised that it went so fast. You know what they say - time flies when you're having fun, and fun I had.

And now quizzing has started again, school is about to start... I really need to get my binders and paper and pens and highlighters and such together, and I should give my room and bathroom a good cleaning today, cuz who knows when I'll get the chance to do that once school's started. The biggest difference this year will be the fact that for the first time since grade 1, I'm not taking piano lessons, but oh well, I can still play. I'll have to make myself do it - I really don't want to lose it.

So that's the summer in a nutshell. I guess I am excited for the coming year - I've got new friends and my old ones are... well, gone, leaving me with a fresher start and everything. It should be good; for now I'm staying optimistic.

~~~

"Nerdular nerdancy..."