December

It's December! This very important and hectic month means a lot of things, to me and to the rest of the world (but in different ways). Here are some of them:


*A busy calender. This isn't so much my physical calendar as my mental calender. I have so many dates for things stuck in my head; rehearsals, gig type things, due dates, breaks, dance recital things, babysitting jobs...it's ridiculous. This is the month where I live in constant fear that I'm going to wake up one morning and realize that I forgot to do something incredibly important, or that I have something to do that I haven't studied or practiced for. Usually that's when I wake up. But not in December. 

*When I find out my PSAT scores. I'll admit that I didn't really take the PSAT that seriously leading up to it, but I did do the practice booklet, and I think that I gave it a pretty good shot. I'm taking it next year anyway, and even that is just a practice for the SAT, but I'm still kind of terrified about what I'll hear. When I left that room after those three grueling hours in October,  December seemed a long way away. Not it's staring me in the face. I'll get that call to the IB room any day now. Any day...

*When the heat comes on. I hate it when cars get too hot, because I hate stuffy places and not being able to breathe. I also hate it when our house's heater is on too much, or when the fire in the wood stove make the house so warm that we have to open the windows. Last weekend I spent the night at my friend's house after going to see The Day of the Doctor and we slept next to the fire in her living room. It was incredibly hot all night long. It's not that I don't like heat, though; I just don't like excessive heat.

*The play comes together, and there is much rejoicing (yaaayyy). That means that I get to spend not only every Saturday, but eventually every day at the performing arts center, rehearsing, doing what I love. You may think that being in a pit, just as the background music for the main attraction, night after night, isn't very exciting, but it really is.

*Band concerts. Actually, just concerts of any kind. Time to straighten your bow tie, put on your pointe shoes, and tighten your bow, because everything having to do with the performing arts explodes into action in December. Parents want to see their kids in their activities during the holidays, as a sort of halfway checking point to find out how they're doing; you know, like fine arts conferences. It's all very festive, though, and very fun. There's also usually a lot of food involved, which is why people suddenly get the stomach flu before the holidays, or complain that they gained ten pounds.

*Frost. It doesn't snow on the Oregon coast, it frosts. And hails. I don't even think that "frosts" is a verb, but it might as well be. I can't tell you how many times in the past eight years that I've woken up and thought that it had snowed, only to find out that it was really just a stupid thin layer of ice crystals, or, even worse, millions of little ice balls pelting to the ground. The church on the street over, which I can see from my bedroom window, has a whitish roof, and it's tricked me so many times. It's not fair.

*"Decem" means "ten" in Latin, which means that December used to be the Roman's tenth month. It also means that the Tenth Doctor is returning (as in Vale Decem). I for one was very impressed with the Doctor Who 50th anniversary, but now I'm sad again because there's no Ten in the future to look forward to.

*The days are also slowly creeping towards saying goodbye to Eleven. SADNESS.


I am intentionally NOT mentioning Christmas in this post (except for this part), because even though it's awesome, that's an awful lot of hype for a holiday 24 days away. Nobody starts celebrating Thanksgiving on the first of November, so why should they celebrate Christmas a month early? Part of the beauty of that holiday is the fact that it's only twenty-four short hours long, and you have to make the most of it. Having a month to "prepare" (actually subtly celebrate) is like cheating.

Have a good December. I'll be back.