New York is Big

I have actually zero time to write this... 

This post is due in approximately 2 hours and I am busy so this is gonna be quick and poorly written so I apologize. 

How is this photo a thing?

Ok, for those of you who give a shit about how my life is going (yay you!) I am in New York right now which is one of my favorite places in the world. Why? I love the city so so so much and needles to say, Park City, Utah isn't exactly a city... Ok, yeah Salt Lake City is a city but let be real, its in Utah and I personally believe that Utah is boring as hell. Thats right I said it, Utah is boring and I know I live in the place with "the greatest snow on earth" but - friends I apologize for this- I don't like skiing... I'm not saying I didn't try to like it I really gave every lesson my all. But when your a 7 year old who moves from Las Vegas, Nevada where your literally burning in hell year round, to a place who's temperatures range from freezing cold to a "warm summer day" in Antartica, it's kind of hard to adapt. Every. Single. Person (minus like 4)  I know, loves to ski. (or snowboard but were not getting into that argument just yet). They're all like stupidly good at it too. I mean, they've been doing it since birth so why wouldn't they be? They could probably go to the next Winter Olympics and bring home the gold at the age of 15. I am not kidding. 

So its been established that all my friends are hard core skiers and I am...well.. not. 

This brings me back to why I love cities so much. Theres no mountains around here and frankly I've been surrounded by mountains my whole life and I honestly believe I can live without them. Here in NY theres less mountains, skiing, ridiculously athletic fetus's, and the same amount of coldness. But here theres more people and more smiles and laughs and ideas and stories and restaurants with good food, and clothes and theaters ( ;) ) and lights and cars and buildings and book stores ( ;) ). 

So in simpler terms: PC = small, NY = big. 

I like big.

New York always has something going on, from a play every night to the naked cowboy in Times Square, you’ll probably never be bored. 

As the attractive Italian waiter said to me today, “ my life is boring in Rome, So I mov to New York” his English was shit but his face sure wasn’t. 

In Park City there’s a lot of beautiful mountains, which I’ve expressed I’ve seen enough of.

I have strong feelings towards Utah…

Needless to say, I do not plan on living there for very much longer.

But New York is great, I just saw Wicked which was fantastic. I realized after working on Shrek, that there were quite a few similarities between the two, and the plays both being musicals was not one of them. The main characters both being green wasn’t one either…. (although that did occur to me much later than it should have). I started to notice the things that I feel like most people wouldn’t. Like where they put their microphones (on their forehead) and how the flying monkeys are actually able to fly ( someone puts on a harness and throws them across the stage). It was quite interesting actually to see all this. But again Wicked, and almost everything about New York  is interesting so I’m happy.

Not that any of y’all particularly care about my well being but I don’t really care…

See ya!

Olivia

 P.S. Ya’ll should just start expecting another fabulous booktuber  at the end of all these: Her name is Sasha and yes, she's fabulous

"Shrek the Musical" and Some Advice as it Relates to Theater

Well it's official, I've heard "Its's a great big beautiful world" 500 more times than the average person should hear it in a single life time. 

For those of you who are unaware, that is the opening song of “Shrek the musical” which my high school is performing and I am on the stage crew for. First of all let me just say that I love theater but I am not an aspiring actress because I can't act for shit. Second; this play is so. Much. Fun. Being apart of the stage crew, is even better.

Does anyone ever have that feeling where you all of a sudden feel like you "belong"? Like I'm not tying to be the depressed, loner, "my life is so hard", "I don't belong anywhere” high school student; what I'm talking about is on a much broader spectrum.

Let me take it back.

Nope, she's not Shrek.... Sam Bedworth

For those of you who have read my first post ever, you know I was quite a shy and awkward child. Not much has changed except that I'm not as shy, and just more awkward. But recently, I have decided that I am going to be less awkward, and try as hard as I possibly can to just not let myself be uncomfortable in situations that can seemingly lead to complete and utter embarrassment. 

I’ve learned from being apart of the production of this play, is that  things won't affect you unless YOU let it. In other words, if you are hit in the head with a rock, stabbed in the chest, or shot in the heart, you can be sure that there will be some kind of a negative affect. But if someone told you that you look like shit, it's you who decides if that comment bothers you, if it will make you cry, if it will make you feel bad about yourself. We automatically assume that when someone insults us we should feel insulted, ridiculed, or put down, but the thing is that we don't have to feel that way unless we chose too. Obviously its not nice to tell someone that they look like shit, but this is planet earth, and we are all humans who aren't very nice all of the time. 

We can be rude, vulgar, horrible creatures, but only if we choose to be. So next time someone tells you that you look like shit, turn around, smile at them, say thank you, and go get some pizza. The next time that you want to tell someone that they look like shit, realize first, do you have something against this person? Second, realize that if you are trying to hurt them for some unknown reason, that may or may not be justified, know that insults are weak, and I personally believe that they are kind of pathetic. 

So I'm not worried that people are going to insult me; I'm worried that I am going to either do or say something that will cause an unwanted effect. So I'm the one who ends up standing alone in the corner with my mouth locked shut, and my feet in the same position they’ve been in the whole time.

I worry that I’ll say the “wrong” word, walk the “wrong” way do the “wrong” thing, and feel guilty afterwards for doing absolutely nothing! But if I do the “wrong” thing, its me who chooses if I go cry in the corner about it or just laugh it off. Just last night I was talking to a new friend, and I started a conversation (this is huge for me, I am the antichrist of conversation starting). It was all going great, I didn’t stutter, laughed, this kind human talked back, but then I walked away thinking that the conversation was over, but as the stage door closes behind me I hear that he is still talking. I immediately regret walking awday and my brain decides to jump to the conclusion that this human hates me and I am consumed with uncontrollable guilt all because I walked away from a conversation the I thought had ended. But then I think, why? Why would this be a reason for them to hate me; its not like I murdered his family or chopped off his leg, I made a mistake that doesn’t need to result in me feeling guilty for the next who knows how long. I decide to not think about this minuscule mistake but think back on how I made a new friend, and I am no longer consumed with this uncontrollable guilt. 

  It might seem impossible to do this because their your feelings, and feelings happen no matter what, but what happens after you feel that little bit of regret or shame, is up to you.

Damn… when did this post turn into an advice column? Whatever, this is some inspirational shit right here so I'm gonna keep going. 

But back to that feeling of belonging; I felt it when I worked on this musical. 

While sitting back stage and singing along to literally every song, I wasn’t worried I would say, or do, or wear something that would make for an awkward situation, because everyone else is either wearing ridiculously fabulous costumes, or singing a really catchy (and honestly, slightly annoying) song. The rest of the stage crew was focused on the story being told. 

Part of why I love the theater so much is while an actor is doing their job, its all up to them, no one else. If they make the audience cry, smile, or laugh its them who choose the effect they have on the audience. On the opening night Fiona’s crown came off which could have been really bad (I remember all of our simultaneous intakes of breath as this happened), but instead of letting it fall to the ground, she grabbed it, smiled, and made the audience laugh. She chose to not let this effect the story, but to make it even better instead. 

So yes, Shrek the Musical was fantastic and while most would think it to be boring as hell to sit around and move scenery on and off the stage - don’t get me wrong it totally was at times, all of us just wanted to go home - but I have absolutely no regrets.

Well the only thing I may regret is hearing “Its a great big beautiful world” 5000000000000000000000000 times, and it will probably haunt my dreams for the rest of eternity. 

See Ya!

Olivia

P.S

This has absolutely nothing to do with this post but heres another fabulous book tuber because why the hell not. https://www.youtube.com/user/jessethereader/videos 

Its a Miracle

Its a miracle!!
I'm actually reading!!

Ok I'm reading like 5 books at once but at least I'm doing something other than homework so I'd say life is pretty good. 

I haven't actually finished any of these 5 books yet and they are probably not gonna be finished until like Thanksgiving break. But who knows, I may finish them all tomorrow; but probably no, lets not get  ahead of ourselves here.

Okay enough of that really boring intro: this week I am going ti give some descriptions about these 5 beautiful books.

The Martian By Andy Weir

So I started this like 50000 years ago and I am still only 150 pages into this 300 page book. It's not that its bad or anything, its just that - although I like to think otherwise - my life has been taken over by homework assignments and the stress of school. Also this book has a lot to do with math; I am someone who does not like math. At all. What so ever. Nope. So I take a break every now and then.

But this book is actually amazing; if yawl haven't already seen the movie then read the book AND see the movie because its actually fantastic. This book follows Mark Watney; an astronaut who was left alone on Mars after the rest of his crew decided that he had died in a really bad storm. After the rest of the crew leaves Mark is of course found not dead and he has to figure out how to survive on Mars completely alone. He thinks there is not hope, that he'll most likely die on Mars just a few days after everyone thought he died.  But of course, this book was turned into a Hollywood blockbuster, not some no budget independent film, so we can all expect a happy ending that seemed virtually impossible.
Not that I'm trashing Hollywood, those guys are fantastic.
Bottom line is go read the Martian & see the movie because Matt Damon...and a bunch of other really cool people.

Point of Retreat By Colleen Hoover

It's about time everyone here learns about my love for the fabulous Colleen Hoover.
Heres what you need to know: This lady can write like no other. Her writing style doesn't really follow any specific format, each book is different and amazing. Specifically her characters are what I read her books for. They are so cool!! I know, i know, a lot of things are "so cool!!!!!!" but there is really no other better way to convey the epic-ness that is Colleen Hoovers wonderful characters.
Point of Retreat is the second book in the Slammed series that I started back in like July. I had started the second book but then I ended up needing internet to continue reading, but while being at a Lake House in Friendship (Friendship) Wisconsin its as if I went back a couple hundred years to when internet was not a thing.  Needless to say I didn't start it till this past Sunday. This series follows Lakeyn and Will who have both recently lost their parents and now have to take care of their 11 year old siblings plus they endure many hardships along the way blah blah blah, you get the point. Needless to say its absolutely fantastic.

Anna and the French kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Ok I know, the title is pretty crappy as far as title goes but DO NOT be fooled by the cheesiest title of all time. Stephanie Perkins is actually a guinness. This one follows Ann who has been forced to move to paris to attend boarding school for her senior year of high school where she meets a bunch of really cool people and a really attractive french, British, American guy. I've read it 3 times so that should be enough convincing.

Lastly I would like to mention Winter by Stephanie Meyer, which I currently am not reading right now because of all the other books i've got going on at the moment. But this one like just came out so here is Ms. Meyer's website and the unbelievable beautiful cover

AHHHDHHG ITs SO PRETTY usatoday.com

See ya!!

Olivia