Graduation Day!

I GRADUATED!!!
Just thought I'd share that wonderful thought with ya'll. And I had an awesome graduation party because my parents are the best. I'm leaving for the bike trip in about 5 hours (with my brand new bike, complements of my awesome parents), so I'll try to leave some audio blogs while I'm away. As for now, I need sleep!

Beach Babes

Today I feel: relaxed

Today Sarah, Calyn, and I went to the beach. We went to St. Andrew's State Park in Panama City (the place we went on the bike trip last year with the cool jetty). It wasn't the best beach day because it wasn't very sunny, which wasn't very good for me, who was trying to work on my tan. Anyways, it was still a very nice, relaxing trip. Calyn and Sarah spent the night last night and although Calyn went to bed at 3:00, Sarah and I stayed up until 5:00. We were going to get up at 9:30 so we could leave by 10, but we accidentally overslept and didn't wake up until 11:30 (11:26 to be exact). So we got out a little after noon, but it still left us plenty of time. Because we were all so tired and the water was kind of chilly and it was windy, we spent the majority of our day laying on the rocks on the jetty. Let me tell you what, it is incredibly relaxing out there. It was beautiful. By the time we were leaving around 7 (8 our time) the sun had finally decided to come out completely. We got a quick dinner at Tay-co Bell and headed out. It was great to get some much needed time with two of my favorite people at a gorgeous place. I only wish I was doing something half that exciting tomorrow. Instead, I have graduation rehearsal at 8 am. Blah! So, I'd better get to sleep.


Man, it's tough being me...


...and Sarah...


...and Calyn.

The First Swim of the Season

I hadn't been swimming yet since it got warm, except at Wakulla Springs, but that doesn't really count because I really wanted to go pool swimming. So, I was going to go to Sarah's neighborhood pool with her to swim after youth, but we decided that we would probably get kicked out for being too loud after dark if a bunch of people came. But Shannon said that we could go to her house and swim in her pool, so we went.
It was Me, Sarah, Calyn, Alec, David, Linda, Daniel Tatum, and Dan Cutchins (and of course Shannon was there, but she didn't swim). Somehow guys + girls + pool always ends up =ing some type of wrestling and/or keep-away game. So, we all just kind of played around for a while and watched Alec jump off the roof into the pool, and then they started playing sharks and minnows, but the water was REALLY chlorinated and I didn't feel like opening my eyes only to have them chemically burned forever (not to mention the fact that I was still recovering from Daniel taking me down three times already). So Calyn and I watched them play one game and then we decided to play water polo. My team of Alec, Linda, Dan, and I lost 10-5, but I did score our first goal. Then it was basically guys vs. girls keep-away/tackle whoever has the frisbee. After gallons of water up my nose, a couple rousing rounds of the color game, and laughing hysterically while Alec attacked everyone with the frisbee, we headed out around 12:30. I'm really glad that I got to go swimming, I love swimming, it was so much fun. Ooooh, and I get to go at Todd's house on Tuesday. Fun fun fun! Of course, the best part about this all is that I was allowed to do this because I don't have school anymore!!! Woo-hoo! Dan and I were talking about how weird, yet awesome it feels to be graduating (he's graduating from Chiles). Anyways, I think I'm going to actually try to get some sleep now so I don't spend the whole day sleeping tomorrow. Adios!

Quickie

Just a quick post to tide you guys over. Not too much has happened lately. Last night was our chorus banquet. It was really fun seeing everyone sing together for the last time. I actually made it through "The Rose" without crying. Afterwards we joined up with the guitar banquet and they played some songs that some of us chorus people sang while everyone clapped, danced, and sang along. Call it a planned kareoke if you will. It was tons of fun, as expected. I'll put a picture up later, it's late and I'm tired and I just finished all of my graduation announcements (I seem to have a lot of time since I didn't go to a certain something today...) I know they're a little late, but ya'll will be recieving them soon (like tomorrow, or today, technically, since it's 12:22 am). Oh yeah, and I had a near-death experience today on our bike ride. I don't feel like typing it all, so ask me about it or read Paul's blog. So anyways, adios!

Random Quote O' the Day: "Let's not waste time here...my name's Jenrick." -Lisa Myrick

It's Over...

Today was a mixed feelings sort of day. It was my last day of high school, and my last day of grade school...ever. I was sad to leave the place that I've called home for the last four years. We sang around the lion (a big deal tradition in Leon Chorus) for the last time today in Caps and Melos. I cried. I hugged. A lot. Everytime I stopped crying, someone else would come up to give me a hug and I would start again. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm excited to be done with high school, I'm excited to start college, and I'm definitely excited that it's summer, but when you're that involved with a department, you can't help to be sad about leaving it. Not to mention the fact that some of my best friends are moving away. I don't even want to think about that yet, we still have the chorus banquet and dance tomorrow night and graduation next week. There's still time.


Melodears singing around the lion in the lobby

So, it's the beginning of the end, well, actually, it's kind of the middle of the end. We had senior awards night at school on Tuesday and the senior banquet at church tonight. Tomorrow is the chorus banquet and dance and Sunday is the senior baccalaureate, then next week is graduation rehersal and the senior brunch, and then finally, graduation. I really can't believe that I'm done with high school. It's all so surreal right now. I could swear that last week I was a freshman. Oh, it goes by so fast, and yet so slow all at the same time. To all you people with high school years yet to come: Treasure your moments in high school and make lots of memories. That's my bit of wisdom for the day.


Elizabeth, Amanda, Emily, and Katie at one of our last lunches on the lawn

Victoria, Kelley, Katie, and Me in the chorus room

Random Quote O' the Day: "Why do I keep smellin' this melon?!?"
-Ace McKay
Actually, this is from yesterday, but I didn't blog then.

Endless Summer Nights with Jazz and Pizazz

Those were the themes of Chiles and Leon prom (respectively).

Well, Prom was great fun. It worked out well because it turns out that one of my really good friends Amanda went to prom with one of Daniel's really good friends Matt. They were going to both Chiles and Leon proms too, so it worked out nicely. I had someone I knew at Chiles prom (Amy was there too and I knew her, but someone else) and Daniel had someone he knew at my prom.
My friend Katie and I turned out to have the same dress. I'm still not really sure how we didn't figure it out beforehand. She said she had an orange dress and I said I had a peach dress. So, we both ended up wearing the same peachy-orangy dress. It was actually quite amusing.
Everyone kept telling Daniel "Nice pink cummerbund and tie" and he had to keep explaining that it was "coral reef" to match my dress. They did kind of look pink though. Especially in the light we were in.
We took quite a few pictures. I never actually got any of me and Daniel dancing or anything. The end kind of snuck up on me. I didn't hear the DJ say that it was the last song, so when he was like "Thanks for coming, drive safely home." I was like "Oh, it's over." It actually went by pretty quickly, especially after we got to Leon's prom. Overall, we had a great time. We took our time at dinner at Steak and Shake and even though we got to Chiles prom at like 8:30 there was still practically no one there. Once things finally really got moving, we were leaving for Leon prom. After we left Leon's we went to Daniel's friend Steven Robert's house to hang out at his after-prom party for a while. We played some ping-pong and foosball and then headed home. I didn't get home till a little after 2 and then didn't get to bed till like 3 because my mom wanted to hear about it and stuff. Needless to say, I didn't go to church this morning. I actually ended up sleeping until 1:45 in the afternoon. I really didn't mean to sleep that long, but oh well.


Putting on Daniel's boutonniere



Me and Daniel at Lake Ella (one of many)


Amanda, Me, Katie, and Victoria

Well, Sarah, Alec, and Linda are back in town. School is actually coming to an end. I can't believe it. Four more days!

Let-Downs and Pick-Me-Ups

I really wish I could update every day like I used to, but it's just like the days have gotten shorter on me or something. I'm probably down to like 19 hours in a day now. So sad.
Jacob Morris, I'm mad at you. You deleted your blog. I specifically told you not to. I read it, Paul reads it, isn't that enough for you? Paul, on the other hand, I am very happy that you finally got a blog.
Yesterday was a really bad day. Actually, just the afternoon was bad. It's kind of a complicated story, but it basically comes down to me letting down some people that I really care about in a ministry that I am really dedicated to because of some circumstances that were beyond my control. Then I thought my mom wasn't going to be able to come to my concert, but she ended up coming and the concert was really good, so the night kind of cheered me up again. Other than that, I don't really remember what has happened since I wrote last. It has all kind of been a blur of being busy. It probably wasn't really anything of note anyway.
Tomorrow is prom and I'm very excited. I went and picked up Daniel's boutonniere today and my mom and I are going to try some hairstyles out today so we won't have to take forever getting me ready tomorrow. Great news: I don't have to go to Gainesville for Radooga training tomorrow. Although it's sad that I don't get to go hang out with cool people, this means that I will have all day to prepare for prom instead of a half an hour. So, exciting news. Ha, and I still get out of bike training because I can't come to either. :-)
Oh, and I got my yearbook today. Makes me happy. I'll try to update more often, Calyn, but I can't promise anything because you know how busy I am. But there are definitely prom pictures to come.

Quote O' The Day: "Habadajodge!" -Chris Myrick (man, he's been getting a lot of them lately)

Weekend Update

I am finding less and less time to blog. Sad.
Let's see, what has happened? My mom, Calyn and I found my prom dress and two other dresses (for graduation, banquets, etc...) on Friday afternoon. I love my dress (pictures to come). Then, Friday night we hung out at Kenley's for dinner and games. Good food. Good company. Good fun.
Saturday was bike training and I must say, it was a very good ride. And trust me, I don't say that very often. Then after I got home I went shopping again with my mom to find shoes and jewelry for my dress. Saturday I went to see "Kingdom of Heaven" with people for Daniel's birthday. We got kicked out of the mall after the movie was over because Jake and Daniel laid down on a bench. I think the security guards were on a power trip.
Sunday was Mother's Day so we didn't have youth, but we had practice for the Bike Trip. After we were done there, I came home for our Mother's Day dinner. We celebrated my mommy, who is the best ever. Mom, I love you!
And to wrap it up, I've got a funny story for today. My chorus teachers are in Washington DC for a contest with The Mane Event, so we had subs today during 6th and 7th period. In 7th period, like no one was there because half the people are in Mane Event, and some others had AP tests and other stuff. So, since the subs were being butt heads, the ten or so of us that were there went into one of the sound-proof practice rooms to hang out. We were just talking and laughing and trying to think of pranks to play on the subs, but we couldn't think of any good ones. Evan was playing around and he turned off the lights. So, one of the subs comes over and opens the door and tells us we need to turn them back on. Of course we were all laughing the whole time because we were just being stupid. We tried calling the phone in the choral office from a cell phone, but they didn't hear it. We debated several different ideas of playing with their minds and then decided that they would all get us into too much trouble. Eventually, we decided to see if we could fit Sheesley into a garment bag (she's 4'11") and as soon as we got her in there, in walks the sub again. We were dying laughing because it was sooooo funny. She was just hopping around until we unzipped her. Oh man, I'm gonna miss these kinds of moments at Leon. Great fun.
So that's the update in Jenshka's world. Talk to ya'll later.

Random Quote O' The Day: "How did the 'C' drip?" -Chris Myrick

It Was a Long Day

Thursday felt like it went on forever. I was going to write last night but Calyn spent the night and we didn't have access to a computer and we were tired and we were listening to N Sync and Backstreet Boys and a bunch of other CDs trying to find music for the Love series...so you see, I was quite busy.
Yesterday morning was my AP English exam. It actually wasn't that bad and now that I'm done with it, you know what that means:
1) No more AP Exams for the rest of my life
2) School no longer matters (not that I acted like it mattered before this)
3) I'm one step closer to being done with High School
4) I got to throw away all three folders of English stuff and all of my Spanish stuff
5) And lastly, AP movie fest in English class!
After my exam Victoria and I went to the Govenor's Square Mall for lunch and then we tried on dresses for a while. At 2:00 we had to be out at FSU for State Choral Festival for Capital Singers. We were there until 4 and then we all went to this girl Grace's house for our Caps end-of-the-year party. I stayed until like 6:15 and then I went to the church for drama video making. When I got there no one else was there so I just walked around barefoot in the rain and it was really fun. I know that's kind of weird, but I like that kind of stuff. I was in a really good mood and we were very productive. The videos are gonna be so awesome! Shout-out to Mr. Jim for all the help and for the incredible step up in technology that he has brought to our ministry (We used a green screen last night. How awesome is that?).
So yesterday was packed full of stuff and it felt like it went on forever. If you'll notice the time that this was posted, you will see that I'm not at school :-). Today is Senior Skip Day at Leon, so, I skipped. Calyn and I are meeting my mom in a little bit to go dress shopping for Prom and for Graduation and end-of-the-year banquets. Fun!

I'm Done With Spanish!

Just thought I'd share that wonderful thought with ya'll. My AP Spanish exam was today. This means no more Spanish class for the rest of the year, maybe even for the rest of my life. Don't get me wrong, I like Spanish, but this class was causing me some serious stress. Now I just have my AP English exam tomorrow. Luckily I am not worried about it and there isn't really anything I can do to study. Looks like another great night of sleep for Jenna (I got 8 hours last night, aren't you proud?).

I See the Light at the End of the Tunnel!

Anybody wanna take a guess at how many hours of sleep I've gotten in the last two days? I'm a procrastinator, so I had to finish a project two nights ago and I didn't go to bed until 3:30. That's 2 and 1/2 hours of sleep. Yesterday I came home and took a two hour nap. Then, I stayed up until 3:00 working on a take-home test. So for those of you keeping track, that's 7 and 1/2 hours of sleep in two days. Obviously, I am very tired, so I'm blogging now instead of my late night blogging that I normally do. (Then I'm gonna go take a nap! :-) Yay!)
My Senior year is winding down. I only have nine more days of school left. I don't have to go to school the rest of this week! There are some good things and some bad things that go along with this...
Last night was my last Spring Concert at Leon High School. Wow, I can't believe it. It seems like just last week I was singing in Girls Chorus as a ninth grader. It went really well. I love all but one song that we sang. At the end of the program, when we sang Midwinter (it's our theme song for Capital Singers and all of the alumni come up on stage and sing with us and we write new verses for it every year) people started crying. I was like, "Not yet. We still have state festival on Thursday and the banquet in two weeks. We can cry at the banquet." But it was really touching. It's one of the coolest feelings to be involved in such a tradition as that. When you're singing you can just feel that you are a part of something so much bigger than yourself, so much bigger than now. It's awesome. On the upside, Brandon will be singing with Leon Men next year, so I can go to the concert and be an alumni. Man, will that be weird.

Kelley, Katie, RJ, Me, and Victoria after the concert
Although I'm sad about leaving chorus, there are many good things about being almost done with school. 1) I turned in my last assignment that really matters today (the take-home test for English that I stayed up half the night to finish) so technically, no more work for me! 2) After my AP tests tomorrow and Thursday, school will be pretty much pointless. And I'm not even really worried about my AP tests. There's not much I can study for them, so I just have to look over a few notes and get some sleep. 3) Freedom! (Calyn, I'm tired of you complaining that you have no life now that school is out. I'll trade you any day, really.)
Well, I'm going to go take my much needed nap now. Sorry that I'm not coming to PCBS tonight, guys. My dad really wants me to chill and get rest before my tests and stuff. He thinks I do too much. I wonder where he gets such a silly idea as that...

From Pirates to Broken Bikes

I keep meaning to write and keep not being able to. Life is so crazy.
So, let's see. I wrote last on Thursday night. So, Friday...
Friday morning I received the Lion's Pride Award, which is apparently a big deal, but I didn't know what it was until the awards ceremony. Anyway, I got it, which was cool because only 18 people out of the whole school got one. Friday night I went with Chris, Jake, and Calyn to see "The Pirates of Penzance" at Chiles (hence the pirate music). It was really good, very professionally done. After it was over we went with Daniel, who played in the orchestra for the play, to TCBY and then we walked across the street to Taco Bell to get Calyn a meximelt. We talked and laughed and just had a great time. I love hanging out with you people! While crossing the street again, Jake dropped a bunch of napkins in the middle of the road and I almost got hit while I was picking them up. This experience and Calyn's recent post have inspired me to write a cinquain.

Friday
Walked to "The Bell"
Jake dropped napkins in street
I looked up to see headlights--Ahhhhh!
Good times

Wow, that was fun. I know mine wasn't nearly as good as Calyn's but everyone should try it sometime. So that was Friday.
Saturday morning, bright and early, I got up to go to bike training at St. Marks. We rode and we also did the Munson Hills off-road trail. I feel another cinquain coming on. These things are catchy.

Off-road
Legs so dirty
Soft sand is the devil
I kept up with Paul and Daniel
Work out

It was really fun except for the soft sand that really wore you out. But it was cool because you get to jump big logs and there are really narrow trails. It was fun, but I need to wait a while before I do it again. I definitely felt it by the end of the ride. The rest of the ride on the pavement was good too...until the last four miles. The bearing on the front wheel of the bike I was riding (notice I didn't say my bike. I was riding Brandon's and I absolutely HATE that bike. Needless to say, this incident did not cause me to like it anymore) totally stopped functioning. Basically, the wheel just wouldn't turn. This makes it pretty difficult to ride. So, it turns out that I was working way harder than I needed to be this whole time I have been riding his bike. Surprise, surprise. So I was gonna have to start walking and wait for them to come back and pick me up, which I really didn't want to do. But then Paul volunteered to stay back and let me ride his bike. I almost cried. Well, not really, but that was really sweet. Thanks again, Paul. You're awesome and I love you! So I rode back on Paul's really nice bike. Oh, how I want one. At the end, like the last mile or so, Mr. Robbin and I sprinted at 15 mph, which was fun. We took Kayla home and then we took Paul to his property where they are building his new house. It's really nice. And I mean, really nice. You can't beat a two story house on 20 acres with a huge pool (that's like 15 feet deep). Only downside: mosquitoes out the wazoo. I am so bitten up because we were there for like 45 minutes. But it was fun nonetheless.
When I got home my mom was on her Spring cleaning kick. Fun, fun, fun. I had to clean the rest of the day. Goody, just what I wanted to do. It is really nice to have everything so clean now though.
Today was pretty normal. We got a lot accomplished for drama for our next series. I am very excited about it. Wow, I always write so much when I don't write over a weekend. Sorry.
Okay, I've got one more poem to leave you guys with. It's a tribute to Brandon's bike.

Biking
Not the best thing
Bruised butt bones hurt real bad
I hate his bike with a passion
Take it!