The Morning After

Dear Clara,
This isn't a post about birth-control, sorry about the misleading title. No, this is a post about my least favourite day of THE WHOLE YEAR: They day after Christmas. This year it is especially awful, for a multitude of reasons. One, because we are separated. This is a time for family and friends, and now that you are this hybrid of family and friend, it feels wrong that we are not in close physical proximity. You know, they tell you that it's a time for family and friends, but everyone knows it's really just family. If you try and hang out with friends, your mom or dad look at you, and then say things like,
"Well, if you really think now is a good time." and
"Well, if its really important to you..." or,
 "Its two days before Christmas! Its family time." or,
"Its two days after Christmas, its still family time." it never ends.
Christmas: You will never see your friends again. Even if my parents don't say those things, I know. I don't even try anymore. And none of it even matters because my cuddly Poncho is  A GAZZILION MILES AWAY, FRATERNIZING WITH CACTI. Yuck.


Reasons number two: Homework. Winter Break homework is a bitch. (ooh, the black keys just came on my iTunes shuffle, so this is about to be a very angsty rant.) So, break starts, and the work disappears for awhile. You think: I'll do it after Christmas, its not that much work. Lies. I have so much work, and by so much work, I mean the fact that I have work at all. When we began attending SOTA, one of the many perks was that winter break was 3 WEEKS of fantastical, wintry playtime/sleepy time, AND that the semester ended at winter break! Ergo, three of the least stressful weeks you will ever have in your life. Well, we had that strike in September that screwed a lot of people over. I mean, the whole thing was just a giant poo-fest. And it carried over. INTO MY LIFE. Into my stress-free, fantastical wintry sleepy/play time. So, I am still in bed, staring at my pile of unwrapped goodies, trying to pretend that I don't have a veritable mountain of things to actually think about and accomplish.


Which brings us to the other portion of our program: Unwrapped presents. Presents are at the height of their being when they are in the process of being ripped of their mystique. Right now, however, they are sad. They are no longer presents. It's just a pile of stuff that's yours now. If we were between the ages of 2 and 7, this would not be the case. Well, maybe a little bit, because toys loose their magic a little, but at least it's a toy. When you get older, you don't get a lego set or a doll, you get clothes and useful things. It blows. Because come the morning after, you are sad that you have nothing to play with. The highlight of the 26th is running around between all the other depressed people at the mall, returning what doesn't fit.


Poncho, I miss you, because I got quite a few fun things for Christmas, but I don't have you to share them with. (By share, I mean let you look, you can't actually touch my new things. They are mine.) I can't wait for you to come back from Cactus-land, and I can't wait to escape the hellish gray of Kitsap County. Dear God, there are no useful buses here. It's a giant trap, made to look like a quaint, suburban  area. It's doing nothing for my disposition. I hate today.


-Hannah (the very unhappy holiday Llama)


P.S. Sorry for all the CAPS. It's a hard day for me...

Wish List

Today is the last day before we FINALLY get out for break. We have yet to write a wishlist, we have been consumed by essays and literary analysissisis and other school final-y things. So, as we finally wind down and prepare our selves for the festivities, we can think a little about what we want to do, not what we need to get done. Here is our holiday wish-list (eh hem hem... mom and dad) for this year!

1) Whirled Peas
2) The withdrawal of troops from Afganistan (Oh wait, that just happened! Thanks Santa! Or... Obama. Same diff.)
3)Smart Wool Socks
4) Unlimited iTunes spending
5) For Anthropology to magically be affordable (by either us winning the lottery, or them lowering their prices. Either of these scenarios will be acceptable).
6) A hot date. Heated to 97-99 degrees preferably.
7) No homework ever again!
8) A new, giant, super-mega-snuggly sweater.
9) Health care fo 'erry body!
10) Llama specific: A giant claw-foot bathtub and a wing-back chair.
11) Poncho specific: acceptance to NYU and full ride scholarship (that shits EXPENSIVE!)
12) No depression on December 26th (it's the worst day of the year, because the next Christmas is a whole year away.)
13) That house boat from Sleepless in Seattle
14) Yarn (yeah, we're both hella crafty)
15) A puppy!
16) A baby (please include the gift receipt, we only want it for day or two)
17) Cute things that make us explode with cuteness.
18) Cool books about cool people (maybe with some cool pictures) so we can keep being so cool.
19) Candy, cookies, cakes, potatoes, bread, tasty things.
20) And most of all, we want to have a really nice Christmas this year. It's our last Christmas as "kids". Next year we will be 18, and in the middle of our first year at College. Yes, Christmas has lost some of its magic (I no longer throw carrots on my lawn for the reindeer, I hope they don't mind...) but its a time for family and friends, and we want to get the most out of this one. For this year we will be given the gift of adult-hood. And I can't really decide if I want that gift yet or not. Sometimes I do, and some times I want to stay up trying to hear the sleigh bells ring as they slide onto my roof on Christmas eve. In any case, this will be a merry Christmas. We can tell, trust us.


Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!
Love
Llama and Poncho

Happy Chrismachanakwanza-time!!

Hello dear friends. Terribly sorry about the lack of bloggage of late. Dear Hannah and I have been slowly picking our ways out from beneath the giant pile of shit that is senior year. Here's what we look like right now:

Almost a month ago now we saw Noah & the Whale in Seattle. I expected it to be really mellow and nice, but it was loud and AWESOME! And it looked sorta like this:

And that was great. I'm having trouble formulating so here is a nice list for you.

1. Hannah applied to Pacific and PSU!
2. I applied to all 5 of my schools and submitted a pre-screen to the USC songwriting program
3. I learned to use a nifty knitter
4. I am now making hats for everyone I know
5. Hannah and I both read When Heaven and Earth Changed Places
6. Based on number five it is needless to say that we've spent the subsequent weeks very depressed
7. There was a lot of working social time
8. I learned to love members of the junior and sophomore classes
9. There have been a lot of performances that we've either attended or been in
10. Brownies have been consumed....along with carbs of all kinds...we don't discriminate
11. Hannah and I both wrote songs, and performed them
12. Someone made me the best mix cd I've ever gotten

The two of us are jolly as can be. Except not. We're actually just sleep deprived and are therefore tricked into false phases of euphoria to cope. Oh, our school was in the newspaper. It's pretty fabulous.

Okie doke, it's time for some shout-outs:

Ellie Fox--you're phenomenal and stunning and we love you. He fake cries but cries on bike rides.

Rosie Koppelman--you are a new friend to me and I love you. You're rad. And a great pirate.

Demi Glidden--oh my Swede. Ne'er have I loved a leggy blonde like you. 

Piper Foulon--I wrote you a song. And right now I envision Lord Lollipop as the accompanying minstrel.

Laurel Garrett--you're dating someone. good for you. But actually I love you. Sorry we're so goddamn bitter.

Barbara Sanchez--you light up my life. I adore dancing and singing with you. EVERYWHERE.

Nick Vargish--I want to congratulate you again on closing. Also you're a great volvo owning man.

Jordan Hightower--thanks for helping Hannah with her senior project. We adore you.

And to Clay Snell, Levi Gostelli, Adam Caswell, Livey Beha, Cody Kissner, Skyler Osler, Ian Jury, David Pierce, Mitchell Babbington, Alex Williams, and Shoshona Glickman for restoring our faith in underclassmen.

And to all the marvelous staff at our majestic arts school who put up with us every single day.

To close I would like to say that I hope your Christmas is cold, and wintery like this:

As opposed to deserty and not cold like mine will be.

damn you Arizona.

Well, happy holidays of all varieties, religions, etc. Enjoy the imminent winter solstice and take some time to snuggle down with your buds until the next post.