song recommendations

hey guys. okay, so i am completely stealing this idea from erica but i would love, love, love some song recommendations from you all. like, i’ll adore you. i am constantly listening to music and with that, i am constantly searching for new music as well. i promise you i don’t just listen to taylor swift so please don’t feel obligated to tell me ur favorite taylor swift song as a rec. pls just tell me your favorite songs or idk, something you think i’d like. i’m really open to anything. i have been listening to a lot of mac miller recently and i always have sza on this continuous loop (along with taylor but that’s beside the point). but like, i wanna listen to anything and everything so just let me know! okay thank you im leaving now. 

p.s : okay sorry just got this idea. i’m gonna link my spotify and if you guys want to do that too, that would be so great. still give me the recs but i am so down to just go down a rabbit hole of all of ur playlists. 

https://open.spotify.com/user/mt60une8eyq7yaqo9ffrp4xpv?si=qopr0wxhToGdWDeZOVFJZA

love, catherine 

I am so bored

 Okay, my last post was satirical, obviously, but if we're being real here for a minute, ISS is so boring. In case you don't know anything about it (like I didn't, before it actually happened to me lol), it takes place in the top section of the library, the one closed off by the curtain. I knew I was just going to be sitting in a room for eight hours with nothing to do, so I decided to leave all of my homework to today. And I mean ALL of my homework. My current assignment are: finishing my creative writing piece; blogs; answering questions on an article for religion; Spanish assignments; reading metamorphosis for the lovely Ms. King; my daily drawing assignment; possibly making another poll for y'all (I was thinking about doing an aesthetic poll to see which of the many aesthetics we think match each other. Let me know if y'all want this, and I'll save it for next week). So, yeah, a lot to do. And, of course, because I'm in this top part of the library with the curtain closed, my laptop wouldn't connect to the wifi. So, basically, I spent the last two and a half hours sitting around and doing absolutely nothing, because I can't go to a different room with better wifi, and all of my work is on my laptop. But. Mrs Riess got me a lower school laptop to do my work on, thank God. Mrs. Riess is a real one. So, yeah, I'm getting blogs out of the way first because they're quick, but I have lost valuable time because the wifi is trash. Hopefully I can get all of this done, but I suppose it's not like I have anything else to do.

A Letter From Prison...

 Hello, friends,

It has been too long since I have last seen you. Oh, how I wish that I could tell you all of the things I have seen, all of the things I have done while I have been away, but alas, my contact with the outside world has been stripped from me. I write this letter to you on borrowed time, time given to me by my wardens. It hurts me to say, dear friends, but I do not know when I will be allowed to see you again. For now, I can only sit and do my work, do what the system requires of me, in order to stay out of trouble- well, less trouble than I am already in. It seems that I am destined for hardships to follow me wherever I go, even when I do not invite them into my home.

Your faces remain nothing more than a distant memory to me, though I strive to keep you in my thoughts every day. The reminder that even though I can not see you all, I will always have you in my corner, is what is keeping me going through my imprisonment. I pray that one day, hopefully soon, I may see you all again. However, until then, I must bid you all adieu. Please, remember me.

Faithfully yours,

Laura K. McCrary

Ryn's Netflix Pick

 Grace and Frankie

This is actually a really cute comedy about two senior women who experience the later years of their lives together as friends. The two have always been rivals when the show began, both complete opposites. That is until their husbands come out to their wives claiming they have been having a love affair for the past ten years. This shakes their entire world and leaves them left with nobody but each other to rely on to get through the new changes coming in their life at the point when they thought life changes were over. The entire cast is filled with classic Hollywood stars from the past all reuniting in a reunion of sorts, oftentimes playing characters similar to the ones they were known for in the past. It is honestly refreshing and uplifting in many ways.

King Cake

I don’t know if you recall my previous post about wedding cake but I mentioned that I love king cake. Now I know I say this a lot and I’ve had a lot of people tell me “oh my God I love king cake too” but when I say I love king cake I mean I literally eat king cake three times a day every day until all the stores I know stop selling it during Mardi Gras season. And this is only because my parents decided to put me on a king cake diet of sorts because I was literally eating an entire king cake a day. I don’t like to brag but this was after I managed to eat 2 1/2 king cakes one day.

To explain my love of king cakes I must first start with the symbolism of the king cake. So many cultures have created their own version of what king cake symbolize in Catholic school I was told that it represented the birth of Jesus Christ: The colors representing the three gifts he received. Then once I was told that the colors of the king cake represented the general spirit of Mardi Gras with the colors symbolizing highlights throughout the entire carnival season. The entire beauty of the king cake being analyzed and adopted into numerous cultures is one of the reasons I love the cake.

I also love king cake because of the flavor. Cinnamon has always been a flavor that I adore. The icing with the cinnamon of the king cake that makes it kind of like a cinnamon bun but not exactly like it because it’s not as dry literally is a dream come true in my mind.

Lastly of course I love king cake because I love Mardi Gras and I’m from New Orleans and if you hate Mardi Gras or king cake then you are not allowed to call yourself a New Orleanean.

Also another mini tangent having tried all the king cakes New Orleans has made, and proudly considering myself a connoisseur of king cakes. I have made it a personal sport to try any new king cakes that come out that year or any family recipes so please give me any suggestions as I have literally eaten all the King cake recipes that I know of, the major king cake bakeries and the minor ones, and I would love to make sure that I’ve tried them all so I can see my next statement with 100% confidence. The best king cake is from Antoines or or Randazzo‘s. Yes you can say the king cake from Hi Do bakery is good or the king cake from Rouses is good, but that is a lie.

A long winded in very confusing way of saying that I love king cake and I will be eating some every day this week three times a day.

Happy Mardi Gras

Reminiscing

 Hey y'all, 

A year ago today I got to play at Carnegie Hall. It was the must incredible (and terrifying) experience I've ever had. In July 2019 auditioned for a program called Honors Performance Series, and in late October, I was accepted. In late January, I travelled to New York; I arrived on Thursday night, and met some of the most passionate, kind, funny people I know. We had an awesome time going to a world market for dinner, and I was introduced to dulce de leche ice cream, which is now my favorite flavor of all time. On Friday, I rehearsed with the orchestra during the day and then at night, we went to see "Phantom of the Opera", which was awesome. I remember going to get milkshakes before we went out and thinking that I'd never had this much fun in my life. Then on Saturday, we rehearsed again during the day, and that night we visited "Top of the Rock" (Rockefeller Center) and Times Square. The view, the company, and the whole experience were incredible. Then on Sunday morning we rehearsed for about an hour or so and then waited for the performance that afternoon. I was so nervous to play in Carnegie Hall, especially because I was first horn, so I had a solo in the second measure of one of our pieces! I'd never felt so relieved in my life as I did after I played the solo haha. We played Tchaikovsky 5, movement 4; Dusk by Steven Bryant; Hungarian March from "The Damnation of Faust" by Berlioz; and Comedian's Galop by Kabalevsky. Y'all should check them all out! (Honestly, all of Tchaik 5 is amazing, not just the 4th movement...) My solo was in the second measure of Dusk. 

         That night, we all went on a cruise on the Hudson River! It was so fun. The boat had a dance floor and of course we all danced. You could see the statue of liberty if you went outside (even though it was freezing haha). On the way back to the hotel my new French horn friend gave me a piggy-back ride. It was the most fun I think I've ever had, and I'm still friends with a lot of the people I met. (In fact, I just sent my French horn friend a king cake haha.) Overall, the entire trip was incredible, and I will never forget how exhilarating it was and how I felt I was among kindred spirits. The next day (Monday morning), I got up at 4:00 am to catch a plane so that I could arrive and go to half the day of school that day (since I'd already missed Thursday and Friday). The main reason I wanted to go to school was that we had long math, but of course, that day, our teacher was caught up with a disciplinary issue and she wasn't there for class, so I could've stayed in New York that whole day and slept in. Anyway...

        A year later, and so much has changed. I may be able to do something similar to this trip this summer, depending on how the distribution of the vaccine goes. We'll see. Anyway, I hope y'all enjoyed this post. If you haven't tried dulce de leche ice cream, I strongly recommend it. I might be a little biased since it reminds me of this incredible trip, but I also just love the taste. Anyway, that's enough reminiscing for today. Carnegie Hall was truly an unforgettable experience.

Love from 

Clara

Quiz Bowl Guy Update

 Hey y'all, 

I know many of you were interested in the Quiz Bowl guy who slid into my DMs during the tournament last weekend. Unfortunately, I have some sad news. :( He stopped DMing me after 2 days. I was a bit disappointed, since we seemed to have a lot in common, but I didn't want to keep DMing him when he clearly wasn't interested. Anyway, the Quiz Bowl guy from the previous tournament and I still talk, but since he lives 5 hours away, it's doubtful that anything will ever happen between us (also I still don't have my driver's license haha). 

        Sorry that I don't have more interesting updates to tell y'all, but I wanted to let y'all know that I'm still "looking for my Jack" haha. I'm sure he'll turn up at some point. 

Love from 

Clara