WOO-HOO!

The internet is working again! JOY!

Ok, it is ridiculous how much I have to blog about, because the internet has been down at Welly for over a week now, and so much has happened!!! First of all, I won third place in the Folk Song Festival--although, I think I may have already blogged about that...oh, yes I did. Well, the Honours Concert is extremely newsworthy, and I KNOW I didn't post about that. Here goes.

After the day of the Folk Song Festival, I just got really sick, and I hoped it would be gone by the Honours Concert, but it wasn't looking like it. So Wednesday the 18th, (interestingly enough, what would have been me and Geoff's two-year anniversary), I stayed home from school, and administered two doses of something called Friar's Balsam, which is an herbal liquid that you boil on the stove, and breathe with your head under a towel for fifteen minutes. It heals your vocal chords right up, and it worked so well on me. So I basically spent the day resting up, drinking tea, and water, and using my Friar's Balsam. By the end of the day, my throat had almost completely healed, and with a good warm-up (which I would have gotten, because the choir was performing at the Honours Concert, too), I would have done really really well. Yes--I said "would have."

Mom left to drive me up to MalU, and we were rushing because I was late. I hadn't done up my seatbelt yet, as I often forget to do when I'm distracted. We had just left my house, and literally at the very first intersection we came to (Park, and Ninth; Park Avenue has right of way there, and Ninth has a stop sign that people ignore because Park is a no-exit about there, and there isn't much traffic), we saw a car pull up to the sign. He slowed down to a rolling stop, we saw him, he saw us--and the he tried to keep going. We would have hit him, but Mom slammed on the brakes, and swerved, avoiding him, but losing control on the wet pavement. Initially, we started to go into a spin, but Mom over-corrected, and pulled out. Then she started fish-tailing down the road, and finally turned suddenly. We slammed into this embankment on the side of the road. Remember, I wasn't wearing my seatbelt, but Mom was. She hit her face on the steering wheel. I flew into the windshield, impacting with my face; my knee slammed into the dashboard. The force of the trunk hitting the bank on an angle (most of the force was on the driver's side) made our truck slide around, and bounce out of the ditch, back onto the road, where we coasted backwards until the backend of the truck hit the other bank on the other side of the road, and that's where we stayed. When my face hit the windshield, I broke my nose, cut up my face pretty bad, and split my lip. My hand hit the door, and my right ring finger was strained. My knee ended up with this blunt force impact burn, and bruising so severe that I was on crutches for three days. They thought it was broken, but when they x-rayed it, it was ok. There were a few dings and scrapes on the rest of my body, and my neck had whiplash. Mom came away with gashes on her forehead and nose, and a pretty bruised ankle. She never got checked out thoroughly though, so it's possible there's other stuff wrong with her.

When the truck finally stopped, people ran over, and opened the door. I was freaking out, screaming about my knee and nose. I tried to get people to call somebody's cell from choir to tell them I couldn't make it, but nobody ever picked up. I was freaking out about that, so much that I made the paramedics yell at me. They put a neck brace on me, and got me strapped down on a stretcher. They took me and Mom to the hospital in the ambulance. In the ambulance, they tried to put an IV in, but they couldn't find a vein. I complained that I hadn't lost enough blood to put an IV in, so they just left me. When we got there, they unloaded me onto a bed in the Emergency. I asked the nurse if I could use the phone, and called Sean. I told him I'd been in an accident, and asked if he could swing by the college and tell Mrs. Sinclair. I guess he kind of freaked out, cause he told me later, that the minute he got off the phone with me, his Mom ran right out the door, and got into the car without her keys, or purse, and he had to run back in to get them, wearing one shoe, and putting the other on as he went! After that, the nurses put a medication IV in my hand (which hurt like a bitch) and took my blood pressure a thousand times. They took my pants, which sucked, and made me take off my jewelry.

In the Emergency bed, my memory is kind of crappy. I was basically drifting in and out of consciousness, and I remember events, but not the period of time that they entailed. Like for instance, I had thought the entire amount of time we'd been in the hospital was maybe an hour and forty-five minutes, or two hours. Actually, it was four and a half hours. I was pretty doped up, I guess. A doctor came in, and checked me for broken bones, and internal bleeding, but I was fine, so all he did was send me to X-ray. They took a million pictures, on this really cold bed, and then sent me back.

After a while of lying around doing nothing, they let Mom, and Gramma and Sean see me. I was ucky. They never even cleaned the blood off my face entirely, and Sean spat on a towel a million times and cleaned my face as best he could because he is the most incredible boy on the planet. Eventually, the doctor came in and told me that my nose was broken, but my knee was not. He prescribedTylenol 3's laced with codiene for the pain, and crutches, but didn't put anything on my face, and told me it would heal up on it's own. He also made an appointment with an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist for me, which happened this morning. After that we could go, but I still couldn't leave, cause Mom had to go get the crutches for me before I could walk. They put me in a wheelchair, which was creepy.

Finally, at 10:30 at night, we were finally allowed to leave. Sean's Mom drove us home, because, of course, we were stranded. There, I was falling asleep on Sean's lap before his Mom pried him away. That night totally sucked. The T3's did NOTHING. They didn't help my pain, and while Mom told me they'd knock me out, they didn't at all, and I laid in bed awake, and in pain until the wee hours of the morning.

Of course this came at such a wonderful time, too, with MusicFest two days away. The next morning, I got up, and got to school, but neither of my teachers would let me stay for their classes, even though I had a test in each. There was nothing for it though, I HAD to go to choir, because I was NOT going to be left home at MusicFest time. So, I sang the entire rehearsal with a broken nose, and a scarred-up face, which truly hurt, but apparently my voice wasn't too bad. So Mrs. Sinclair said I was allowed to go to MusicFest!

Thus ends the car accident story, and thus begins the MusicFest story!!! The next morning, I got up super early, and Bonnie came to pick me up (Mom still hadn't rented a car yet). Along the way, we picked up Megan, and headed to the ferry. I was on crutches, and it was tiring, but we got on the ferry, and all was good. On the ferry, me, Brianna, Laura, Mel, and sometimes Nicola and Sasja sat together talking and reading on the floor by a bank of windows. It was awesome, especially cause Brianna gave me a bite of sausage roll! Life is good as a cripple! lol! That was pretty much entirely how we spent the ferry ride to Vancouver. We got off there, and headed straight onto the buses. The bus ride to the church where we were to sing was about forty minutes, and boring-ish. We talked and laughed, which was good, and ate food without fear of Bus Nazi! We got there, and listened to a thousand and one choirs, some really really good, some not as good. They included the Pacific Christian School! They're the "Short People" choir of awesemity.

We were at the end of our section, and because of that, the clinicians decided to make us, the demonstration choir for the clinic! That extended our clinic from a half an hour to forty five minutes of pure fantasmicality! Our warm-up sucked because we were in the littlest, horrid-acoustic-ed, hottest room on the planet, and I was right next to Lee (the ball-picker), which threw me off, and pissed me off. He looks at his watch three times a song, and sings downward, not opening his mouth, while scratching his hand obsessively. It made me want to pick up a chair and throw it at him! I actually told him to pay attention during a song, which I wouldn't do normally. Usually a look does it. Not with this kid.

Anyways, then we were on. The church was crazy! It wasn't that huge, or anything, and the acoustics seemed ok, from when we were watching choirs. But singing up there is like trying to sing harmony from a hundred feet away. The altos sounded so far away, and I couldn't hear a single other soprano other than myself, and I was in the middle of the section. It was scary! It was a space to throw choirs off, that's what it was. One more thing for the judges to look for, and base a mark on. I may be wrong, but that's my opinion.

So our clinic was right afterwards, and the clinicians were AMAZING!!!!!! The one was little and funny, and outrageous, and goofy, and everything point he made was accompanied by an allusion. And the funny thing was they all made sense, AND entertained! He was the most fabulous person ever, I am going to capture him, and lock him in a box to train every guy singer I ever work with. THAT'S what I shall do. The other was soemone you knew you;d really respect if you had him by himself. Unfortunately, he was kind of overshadowed by the little one (irony!) but he was still really super good. They even paid us a compliment while we were up there! The little one, turned around and said to Mrs. Sinclair, "I love how easy to direct this choir is, everywhere I take them, they just follow right along!" and I was like, 'Score!'

AAAAH! The bell just rang, I'll try to finish up quickly!

On Hold Me, Rock Me, they did this really effective rythmic excersize with us, to make us feel the rythm of it, by making us walk around the room in time to the song (which is HARD when you're going down stairs with a limp!) The clinic ended like that, and it was seriously the best one I've ever been to! I'm so glad I got to go to MusicFest!

Ok, now I have to go to choir. Those were my crazy big news things for the week! I should like comments!!!