Euphoria and Elation

You know that time that you did something that made you so proud of yourself? That feeling of elation and euphoria that just lifts you up to the ceiling, and you keep on going? Or even those days of total adventure, one exciting surprise after another, that leads to a brilliant evening. Whatever is particular to you and fits this description, that is what I felt like today.

I entered a writing contest about two weeks ago, right after spring break. Let me back up and say that I don't always take writing contests that seriously. I enter them on a whim, usually with something I wrote in about half and hour, get it edited, and turn it in. Most of the time I leave it until two days before the due date. When I do well, I look back on my writing and think oh crap I should have changed that or why did I do that, and then I vow to do better the next time. With this one, though, I actually really enjoyed writing it AND reading it back to myself, which is a good combination. For a small writing competition at a local library, with about 25 participants in high school and middle school, I didn't really know how I was going to do, but I gave it a try anyway. The rest of that story will be at the end of this synopsis of my day.

Today was a pretty special day for two people that you will only know about if you watch Doctor Who: David Tennant (the Doctor) and Camille Coduri (Jackie Tyler, Rose's mum). Since my friends and I are weird, the three of us decided we were going to walk down to a local 40's style restaurant and eat ice cream or whatever. I changed their names since even I don't use my real name here, but the adventure went something like this:


Paige: All right, Forrest, we're leaving! We'll be back in about an hour.
Paige's brother Forrest: All right, I might be gone when you get back, so don't burn the house down or anything. *Resumes playing video games*
Me: Isn't this so weird? I mean, we're the only people in the world who would do this, except for maybe creepy people on the Internet. Well, I guess there's a lot of people like that. Then again, we haven't gone to a restaurant by ourselves before.
Vivian: Yeah.
*Engage in a long conversation about homeless people as we make our way down to the highway, realizing too late that we were talking really loudly with some homeless people in close earshot (way to go).*
Paige: Well, I guess it's open...
Vivian: This is so awkward (she says this a lot).  Do we just open the door or something?
Me: ...Yes. I'm guessing.
*Open the door and realize we are pretty much the only people here*
Waiter: Hello, ladies. Table for three?
 Vivian: I think...
Me: Well, are we just getting ice cream, or are we eating?
*Gets blank stares from the other two*
Me: Okay, I guess we'll have a table.
*Sit down*
Paige: Wait, how much money do we even have?
Me: Well, I went to the bank today, so I have about thirty five dollars, plus five in quarters.
Vivian: You went to the bank? Me, too!
*WOW moment*
Me: Okaayy...how about you, Paige?
Paige: I have ten.
Vivian: Should we split the bill or is that too confusing?
Paige: That's too confusing. We'll figure it out later.
Me: Well, I have a twenty, a ten, and a five, so that's all the bills I can contribute.
Paige: Hey, look, I just found a twenty dollar bill in my fuzzy purse! So THAT'S where it was hiding.
It went missing, you know. Stop looking at me like that! It was a very distressing time!
Waiter: Can I take your drink orders?
Vivian: We were going to get malts, right?
Paige: I don't know.
Me: Um, I guess we'll start with appetizers, if that's okay.
Waiter: That's fine.
Paige: We'll have mozzarella sticks, please.  And half an order of waffle fries. Would you like some sauce?
All: Ummm....
Waiter: Threw you a loop there, huh?
Vivian: I think we're okay without. 
Waiter: Is that all for now?
All: Yes.
Waiter: Okay, I'll get you started and then I'll be back to take drink orders.
Me: (Realizing something as soon as he leaves). Oh my gosh, guys, how much do you tip at a restaurant?
Other two: Umm...
Me: And how do you pay? I've never seen someone pay with cash. It's always credit!
Other two: Well...
Me: So neither of you have any idea?
Vivian: No...and I went to England, too. But it's different there.
Paige: I do have my calculator with me, though!
Vivian: That's great, but we still don't know how to do this.
Me: Should we ask those workmen over there how this works.
Vivian: Are you joking?
Me: Yes.
Paige: I have a great idea! Let's call Forrest! He'll know what to do!
*Takes out Vivian's phone*
Paige: Hello, this is the IRS. Your taxes are overdue. No, really, Forrest, don't hang up! We need help. (Lowers her voice). Listen, how much do you tip at a restaurant? I can't hear you. Okay, well how do you do it? You just leave it there? Yeah, we have a calculator. Fine, go mow the stupid lawn. *Hangs up* Well, he said it's generally between ten and fifteen percent and we leave it on the table.
Me: That makes sense.
Vivian: Let's go look at ice cream flavors for our malts!
*Two minutes later*
Waiter: All right, here are your appetizers. Can I get you some drinks?
Vivian: I'll have a s'mores malt.
Me: And we'll have two rocky roads, please.
Waiter: Okay.
Me: I never realized how scary the real world is. I mean, I need to learn a lot in four years. Like how to pump gas.
Paige: I know. Of course, I never go out of the house. I sit in my nerdy shrine all day and watch Doctor Who and pretend I'm in the IT Crowd.
Vivian: We know.
Me: Here, while we're waiting I'll calculate the tip. How the heck does this dumb calculator work? It doesn't make any sense! Why won't this work!!!??? Oh, wait, I figured it out. Never mind.
*The malts come and we drink them*
Paige: Okay, I say we get out our money and just pile it together when the check comes.
*The check comes*
Paige: It's blank! Why isn't there anything written on it?
Me: You have to turn it over, Paige.
Paige: Ohhhhh.
Vivian: Here, so it's $24.20. I'll put in my two fives.
Me: I have my ten.
Paige: And here's my ten.
Vivian: Wait, that's thirty dollars.
Me: Okay, so here's your five back.
Paige: What about the tip?
Vivian: Oh, yeah. Well, we should probably tip about three dollars, so we can use your ones for that.
Paige: Not this one! It has a legalize marijuana stamp on it!
Me: Okay, then we can use my quarters. Here's a two dollar tip, and then we'll give her 25 dollars, so it evens out.
Vivian: Right.
Paige: We should leave a message or something, to explain this.
Me: Voila! Invisible ink!
Vivian: You brought your sonic screwdriver to a restaurant?
Me: Why not?
Paige: Okay, we'll say that we're very sorry that we don't know how to tip and we hope that this is okay.
Vivian: This is dumb. I say we get out.
Waitress: Would you ladies like your change?
All: No.
Paige: Let's go NOW!
Waitress from behind desk: Bye, ladies! Thanks for coming!




 After that exciting incident, I went back to Paige's house for an hour, only to be picked up to be taken to my rehearsal for my duet. My partner is a really nice and hilarious girl who also happens to be my neighbor, and her teacher is equally hilarious, and much different than my teacher, who took charge of the rehearsal yesterday (since it was my lesson). We played the concerto about seven times, talked about viola concertos and viola jokes (I don't have perfect pitch. Whenever I throw the viola in the trash can I hit the sides) and then talked about our future as the double concerto twins.

And then it was time for the writing contest.

I have to admit, my heart was pounding really hard as we walked into the library. A lot of my friends had entered, and we're part of a group of good writers at our school, so the competition was pretty close, especially since we were also competing against kids from all over the district. The first and second place winners for middle school and high school were called, and by the time we got to grand prize I was literally about to have a heart attack. When my name was called, I pretty much died.

Have you ever seen that old Oscar clip of eleven-year-old Anna Paquin winning the Academy Award? She got up there and hyperventilated for about thirty seconds before delivering her ten-second speech. I felt like I did the same thing, only not as major. I would write more on the subject, but writing out that entire dialogue took forever and now I have to go to bed. So much for being a good writer. The point is that the whole thing was amazing, and like I said before, if I could go back in my own time stream, I would go back to the thrill of being called up as the grand prize winner, and live it all over again.