Paper

What is this world coming to? I just took two of my finals on the computer. We don't even have those cool little test booklets anymore. I never thought I'd see the day, let alone participate, when we had no use for paper anymore. It's a strange feeling. We don't write letters, we email. We don't write notes in class, we send texts (not that I do, if my mom is reading this). We don't keep journals (unless you're my sister who hasn't missed a day since she was probably twelve and she's, what, 24?), we post blogs. We don't need to print pictures, we have electronic picture frames where you just have to plug in a flash drive and it goes through a slide show of all your family pictures. We don't even need test booklets anymore, we take it on the internet. I guess I can't see them replacing toilet paper any time soon. Thank heaven!
Last night I performed in the St. George Tabernacle with my choir. It was really neat. For one of our numbers that we do with the Large Choir they went up on the balcony thing and encircled the room. The song was an old chant-type thing that monks used to sing in monastaries, so it sounded really echo-y and cool. I just love singing. It's my absolute favorite. Kimber, my exquisite friend, if you read this, we definitely need to do a lot of trios while you're down. I borrowed a ton from my grandma for this very occasion.
The girls in the picture above are me, Kimber, and Stacia, two of my best friends. They also happen to be the other two girls in our ladies trio. Our voices blend so amazingly well that sometimes even we can't tell who's voice is who's.

Who knew!

Who knew blogs could be so fun! I'm quite certain that is everyone knew, everyone would have one. I've just spent the whole morning decorating mine. I haven't even gotten ready for the day or eaten breakfast yet!
I have now seen Enchanted 3 times. I absolutely love that movie! It is just a completely happy movie. A happy ending for everyone (except the villain, of course). If you haven't seen it yet, well, SHAME ON YOU! In fact, invite me and I'll go with you. You'll be walking around for the rest of your life (or at least the next few weeks) singing about true love's kiss. I was in my cooking class the other day and we were supposed to clean up our kitchen units. I started singing the working song quite unintentionally and several people joined in. In my math class on Wednesday we had a substitute teacher so we were all working on assignments we hadn't finished and I happened to have the Enchanted soundtrack in my backpack. The minute I suggested it everyone (yes, even the boys) jumped on the idea and the sub let us put it in. My class was in a very happy mood after that :)
I am of the opinion that the reason our country has such a high depression rate is because people dwell on unhappy things. Every single book we've read in AP English so far has been depressing and ended horribly. If people would be more optimistic and read happy books-even if it's not exactly realistic-they wouldn't be so down on the world. Cullimore was trying to convince our class that happy endings were not possible. We all argued with him. I said that they were possible and he asked us to name someone who we thought was living a fairy tale life. I say that you don't have to live a fairy tale life to live happily ever after. My parents are living happily ever after, in my opinion. They may not have everything, but they love each other and our family. What else matters?
Have you noticed what a amazing effect music has on movies? Think about the part on King Kong when the T-Rex's are fighting. Now think of it with It's a Small World playing in the background. The scene looses all tension and fear and is actually confusingly funny. You wonder what style of dance involves biting each other's heads off. I don't think the composers are given enough credit. The music totally makes the movie. The reason you get scared and tense up for a scary part is because the music is building and building or else it's completely silent.

Everybody's doing it!

Well, I decided that it was time I started my own blog. Everyone who's anyone has one, and I absolutely love reading other people's blogs, and I figured it must be just as much fun to write them, so here it is: The Life and Times of Susan Vilate.
I will begin by telling a little about myself, not that anyone who doesn't already know me will be reading this. First, the name. My name is actually Clarissa Chamberlain, but I have many nicknames, Susan Vilate being the most commonly used. When I was little and learning to walk my family thought I looked like I was drunk, and the name Woosey was quickly attached. Woosey rhymes with Suzie. Suzie Woosey evolved to Susan Woosan, which shortened to just Susan. Then my parents went through a genealogy-doing craze and discovered that I had a great- great-grandmother named Susan Vilate Spilsbury Kleinman. The rest is history.
I was born and raised in the tiny town of Toquerville, Utah. I am actually the 6th generation of my family to live in Toquerville. I live right next door to my grandparents, which has both advantages and disadvantages. My room is on the side that faces their back door, so my entire family always knows when I go to sleep, but grandma has amazing toast and sharp cheese. Everything just tastes better at grandma's.
I'm a senior at Hurricane High School who is suffering from major senioritis. In fact, right at this moment I should be writing a three-page paper on a book I haven't read yet, that's due tomorrow. Oh well.
I have the most amazing family imaginable, and I'm counting my in-laws in that. There are five kids in my family, 3 boys and 2 girls. I'm the baby. My brother that's just older than me is on a mission in Eugene, Oregon, and he comes home in 2 months and 1 day! I'm not excited or anything.
Today I had a disastrous blonde moment (which are starting to come more and more often. Senior moments? I am a senior in high school, after all...). They had the annual blood drive at school, and I was in a particularly charitable mood, so I decided to donate. Afterwards I was feeling understandibly light headed (hello, they just took a pound of blood from my arm!). My mother, bless her heart, asked me to come to the library where she works after school and pick up a stack of letters with our Christmas cards in them, put return addresses and stamps on them, and take them to the post office. I happily did as she told, and my best friend Kimber called me on the way to my car. The reason I tell you all of these details is so that I can somehow justify my stupidity. When I got the my car my hands were full (cell phone, purse, backpack, letters), so I put the letters on the top of my car so I would have a free hand to open the door and toss my junk in. Well, I tossed my stuff in, got in, and drove off, all the while carrying on a steady conversation with Kimber. When I got home I gathered up my stuff quickly, since the mail was leaving soon, and realized that I had left the letters on top of the car. I felt horrible! My parents had spent hours the night before making, printing, cutting, and addressing those blasted envelopes! I drove back to Hurricane (going slightly over the speed limit), looking for a bundle of white around the road. I regret to inform you that my tale doesn't have a happy ending. I never found them. Maybe the Spirit of Christmas will inspire whoever finds them to complete the process that I, through my own stupidity, was unable to.