Cuts, Bruises, Gashes Oh My!

I have been fascinated with the art of stage makeup for a while now. In other words, I love creating fake injuries. It started out with a simple cut, then once I perfected that I moved onto bruises. I create these wounds using a little watercolor set I have. I've made skinned knees, gashes and burns. One day I was watching a special feature on Lost Season 2 that talked about the makeup they did for the TV show. The segment showed how they applied this white pasty stuff so that they could paint the inside of the wound and it looked like it was deep. It made me curious as to what other substances I could use. That's when I noticed a bottle of glue on my desk. I started doing what looked like gashes. I used glue, which made the skin look stretched, my usual paint, for the gash part, and olive oil, which I put on the gash once I finished painting. The oil makes it look wet. It was very fun experimenting and trying new things.

Yesterday my friend Ventana came over and she decided she wanted a cut on her leg. I made a gash on her leg and one on mine, once her mom arrived we explained that we were trying to skateboard down the hill together on one board and fell off. To make a long story short, she only realized it wasn't real when we all burst out laughing. When Ventana went home she told the same story to her dad, who also thought it was real.

I decided that I wanted to do something a little bigger. So, I painted a long knife-like wound on my upper leg. I applied glue, olive oil and more glue. Then I thought, well why not make a glue piece of skin separately and put it over the whole thing. So thats what I did. On a sheet of palette paper I made my piece of skin and let it dry. My mom suggested I try using matte medium so I made a piece out of that to. Once they were dry I tried both "on" and realized the matte medium worked better. I asked Greg if he could mix some paint to look like my skin tone then I painted the white matte medium over the top. After much retouching I decided I had done all I could for the day. It turned out good, but next time I have to smooth out some bumps in the matte medium a little and the skin color was a little off. It still turned out pretty cool. I'm looking forward to experimenting a lot more in the future and maybe one day I'll be on some DVD explaining how I did the makeup in a movie.

Twilight

I heard about the book Twilight some time ago, but I never decided to read it until recently. My friend Lindsay had recommended it to me so I asked her to borrow it. I started it on Tuesday of last week and I never wanted to put it down. Everyday on the ride to school I was glued to the pages. When school ended I read every morning and every night before I went to sleep. I finished it yesterday morning. It was an amazing book! Although not a lot happens you can't stop reading. Something about it just makes me want to keep reading it forever. Maybe it's because I feel like I can connect to the main character, Bella, on more ways than one. Or maybe it's because you can't help but fall in love with the character Edward while you're reading. It could be something else entirely. Either way it is one of the best books I've read this year. I could sit for hours just reading, the whole time a smile on my face. That's saying something when the reader is smiling while reading. I wish all books did that to us. Twilight tells the story of 17 year old Isabella Swan who leaves sunny Phoenix to live with her father in Forks Washington. She hates the little green town, and the only thing that keeps her sane is the mysterious and beautiful Edward Cullen who goes to school with her. Soon Bella finds that she is completely captivated with the strange and gorgeous boy, but is there more to Edward than his beautiful appearance?

I highly highly recommend Twilight to anyone wanting a good read. It in the top five of my favorite books and I eagerly wait my chance to read the rest of the series. It is a really wonderful book.

Great Expectations

Last night I watched Great Expectations with mom and Greg. I was looking forward to seeing it for many reasons, the first because I love Charles Dickens stories, and second because there were actors I liked in the film. It was a very very good film. It was beautifully shot and the lighting was amazing. Your eyes never got tired watching the movie. The story was excellent as well. The acting was also very superb. Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow were both marvelous. Their characters were realistic, you liked one moment, then disliked them another. In all it was a film that I would love to see again. It was well made and beautiful. I highly recommend it!

School's Out!

Well, the school year is officially over as of last Friday, the 13th. Ninth grade was full of surprises, fun and challenges. It was so different than what I expected. At the beginning of the year it was hard for me to adjust to the new atmosphere of high school, but as the year progressed I fell in love with it all. The big 11th and 12th graders were still scary but I loved them none the less. And of course I made a bunch of new friends who I can't imagine not knowing! I guess it just goes to show how change is not always a bad thing!

I'll always remember our class trip to Joshua Tree, climbing in caves and eating bizar pudding. It was a trip unlike any others before and yet it was so much fun!

One thing I miss most is doing the play "The Mouse That Roared." I had one of the best times this year. I got to know so many amazing people and the experience taught me so much! After the play was over me and other cast membered often talked about how much me missed it. That's one of the things I look forward to most next year! Although it's going to be a musical, I'm still very excited. Plus one of my favorite teachers, Corby, is going to direct it.

Even though our class lost Spirit Week it was still an amazingly fun event. I know everyone had lots of fun and that was part of the reason everyone in the High School loves it so much. Next year we are going to try twice as hard, and have fun doing it.

Another thing I enjoyed about this year was the classes. First off, orchestra, which I joined in the second semester. It was fun laughing with everyone and attempting to keep up with the songs. We had some great times, like when paper airplanes were thrown around the room while we were playing a song. Another of my favorite classes was golf which I also joined in second semester. I hadn't ever played golf before, but I wanted a change in my PE class so I decided to try it. I had friends in golf, which was another plus. I enjoyed many bus rides talking to Joey, Yoni and Dusty. Another plus was the fact that Valerie, an 11th grader, was also doing golf for the first time. We quickly became friends and talked LOST together while walking to our next hole. I had tons of fun and I can't wait to do it again next year.

The last day of school is always a happy and a sad one. Of course everyone was excited for summer, but I was also sad because I would not see everyone for a couple months. It was also sad because all the seniors were leaving. I said goodbye to all 12 grade friend and make sure they will come and visit in the future. I rushed around the last week of school making sure I got all of my friends to sign my yearbook. By Friday night the six blank pages in my yearbook that were there to be signed on were completely covered.

When I look back on the school year I realize how much fun I really had. Ninth grade was a really good year for me. I made a bunch of really amazing friends and I got to know a lot of people. If it weren't for my friends, I don't know what I would do! I love you guys so much and I miss you all!

Although the year had it's hard spots in I wouldn't trade the memories for anything! Thank you to everyone who helped make my year the wonderful experience it was. Whether it was my friends or just high schoolers in general.