Kate of the Desert

Showing posts with label Cheer. Show all posts

It's amazing how a single phone call can really change a whole week.

I'd been trying to stay positive, but really nothing was going well. I'd spent the week working my tail off with two exams, eight quizzes, an essay, two other writing assignments among five drawings and other very long reading/video-watching/question-answering assignments. I'd been so sick with fever/chills/sweating/ache/sore-throat that I could hardly sleep at all and then on Thursday and Friday I had three hours of each at the cheer clinic learning two dances, a cheer, doing tumbling and stunts and then going home and spending every minute trying to memorize those things on top of making up my own dance. Only twelve girls were trying out and I had no idea how many they were taking. The coach said she "wanted to make the squad as big as possible" but had a set budget. Just my luck, after pouring all my effort and extra time into it, I blanked on part of the dance during my audition. Of course I smiled as big as possible and tried to wing it, but I got a call that night while I was out looking for a b-day gift for the missionary. They loved my spirit and could tell from my pretty tumbling that I was a gymnast but because of the dance part I didn't make it. They were only taking eight girls.

I wasn't even upset about the cheer part. I mean yeah it sucked because I had been really excited about the idea of getting back into something I'd spent so much of my life doing, and I was EXHAUSTED from working so hard for it... but I was just lonely. Apart from cheer I'd spent the entire weekend by myself and I just wanted to feel like I belonged as a part of something. I had absolutely nothing to distract me from, well, myself, and my constantly-running, self-critical, over-analytical thoughts.

Then late Sunday night I got a call. "Where are you Katie? We miss you! Come play cards with us!"

I certainly didn't change the rough events of the week, but to be remembered sure made a difference in how I felt.

Today is only Tuesday and already I am exhausted with the amount of homework I've received. Whoo-hoo, midterm week! But it's alright now. I'm actually really glad that I didn't end up doing cheer because I currently have very little free time as it is. I think life can be good if I try to remember the positive. At home, for example, I didn't get to spot sea turtles on a regular basis nor did I learn how to surf! Yes, I can check that off my bucket list. Paddling out there was way harder than I thought but after a little while I was able to get up on the board! I even experimented with tandem surfing. Now is that a good reason to choose college in Hawaii or what?!

out at Waimea with a bunch of people I just met, including the guy who taught me to surf and then made me dinner

Why is it so fricken hard to make up my mind? One minute I'm dying to be done, and the next I'm craving to continue the excitement of Highland cheerleading.

I love sporting my teal skirt and bouncy curls and obnoxiously big, sparkly bow, I love winking to a giant crowd on the top of the stunt and waving around my poms and screaming on the field or the court as the Hawks soar by a mere one point and dancing my heart out and whippin out a couple backhand springs at 100 MPH. Yet other times I dread the thought of being lifted by girls not much bigger than myself on one foot in an extension-liberty with my life quite literally in their hands, a mental block stands as a barrier to keep me at the same level as I was at my second year tumbling at eight years old, and I just plain want more time. I mean, my coach had to threaten me with ten laps {on top of the two we had already done} and a hundred pushups for me to do my round-off-backhand-spring-tuck without him spotting me. It's slightly ridiculous.

At this point, I think I've reached the decision to be done with it after this season. Next year I plan on taking an A-hour as well as continuing without a lunch period, and with it going to be my Junior year I am really gonna have to focus on my grades as I scout out for scholarships. Also, I'm not exactly harvesting money off trees, and I hate having to ask for yet another check every time a payment is required. Speaking of which, I could really use a job to start making money on my own. But really, if I want to be bumped up to Varsity with my friends on the squad, I'd need several thousand dollars more, fearlessness, and a huge time commitment, all of which I currently don't have. These girls go to national competitions and win!

I really despise the feeling of regret. But will I feel regret, or gratitude for this decision? I guess we always have to make choices eventually in life, and by doing this maybe I'll be able to taste a different road, indulging myself in new adventures as I have more time to sing and write and who knows what else?

Everyone just laughed at me when they saw the look on my face. It was kind of mean-- I mean, how could I help the shock that in a matter of two seconds had managed to seize my whole body when I entered the house and was greeted with a nice loud "Surprise!" from dozens of people?

Lets rewind. It had been a tiring day. First off, I woke up to discover that my lights were still on, I was still wearing my glasses, and the book was lying next to me without a bookmark. Then, according to my mom, my grandparents were coming from Utah on Monday and we had to get everything perfect. So even with General Conferece, we had to pick up everything so that we could hire the carpet cleaner and cleaning ladies to do much better than we could ever do at deep cleaning. While the inside of our house was stripped of dirt, I had the opporunity to clothe myself in it as I sadly tore out all my old garden plants and replaced them with new flowers and herbs that hadn't been brutally murdered by a hot AZ summer.

Then my friends requested me to hang out with them. Apparently it was a good that I hadn't turned that down despite feeling out of it. Since Chelsea's family were "going to a restaraunt," we couldn't stay for more than a few hours, but we watched a movie and watched Chels try to toss grapes into her own mouth. When I realized that her hair was curled, her brother who doesn't know me all that well wished me a "happy birthday," and my mom seemed really stressed out, I began to wonder.... But I quickly hushed the ideas. As my English teacher had told us, when we want something to be true, our mind will find unrelated things and tie them together to form a pattern that will satisfy that desire. That's all that's going on, I told myself. Yeah, I was wrong.

The whole house was decked out with glittering lights and lanterns. The dining room table and rug was gone to make room for a dance floor with a DJ. Food spilled across the kitchen. The pool was filled with balloons and a volleball net had been set up. And all the people! Friends I hadn't seen in forever or didn't even know that well had come to celebrate. A certain Slade who I hadn't seen in years also visited. I had thought he was way older than me, at least graduated, but apparently he's sixteen as well. He made seventeen paper roses and gave them to me one at a time, requesting that I not add the sixteenth and seventeenth to the bouquet till those actual birthdays.

A party? It definitely was one. Except I still couldn't get over the shock for about half the time I was there. I went from being broke {thank you vacation to Peru and an previous inability to get a job} to having a whopping $230 in cash and gift cards.

Seriously, it was a Sweet Sixteen that was more than I could ever asked for.

So that was on a Saturday, and my birthday was the next Wednesday the tenth. Although I did hit the snooze button, I had to get up bright and early. I had been up hours the night before working on homework, and now I had to get ready, wearing my cheer uniform for the last JV football home game. "Happy birthday!" my family chanted. But I was still tired. And during school, the three quizzes and an essay didn't help boost my energy level. Though I was pretty happy to receive balloons and have to sit on a stool while all the boys in my seminary class knelt before me and sang- alright the second was pretty hawkward.

Still, forgetting to take my medication for my ear infection didn't help the headache I had already developed after so many tests. Even after going home and then to Liberty Market for a tasty dinner, I wasn't feeling my best. Then I had to the game. Apparently the medication kicked in at that point though, because my energy was boosted. But even though it was our last chance to cheer on our boys at home, there was nothing as cool as the surprise that came up. And by cool, I mean chilling.
Before the game started, we lined up with our hands on our hearts for the National Anthem. The ROTC stood silently with the flags. But before the choir's recording could echo through the stadiums, an announcement was made. After being away at war for so long, Charles Haas had safely returned. At that moment, a soldier in uniform stepped out. Our friend on the squad, Savannah, could only stare in shock. "Go!" we encouraged her. Then she burst into a sprint and jumped into her father's arms. All the other cheerleaders? We bawled, every single one of us. Luckily enough, they hadn't caught us on tape when it all turned up on ABC News.
Unfortunately the excitement of game started was cut short for me cause I had to perform in the choir concert. One of the other girls and I scrambled to the other side of the school where we quickly tore off our uniforms and slipped on our dresses. I almost left in my giant teal bow. Fast forward and we were on stage. Ms. Scholz proudly announced that we, the Advanced Women's Choir, had ranked Superior with Distinction at the music festival we had attended the week before. Then we began our songs-- Music, Spread Thy Voice Around by Handel, Lakme's lovely Call of the Flowers, and then a slightly more modern piece called Accentuate the Positive. Now I've already mentioned how much I enjoy performing, but once we began our third piece... Well, it's a jazzy piece from the thirties and I, being me, prefer music like that over more classical styles. They had told us to snap. Okay, I could deal with that. So then I decided to have fun with the song and, with the entire auditorium filled, I allowed the beat to take over me as I sang.
I hadn't expected the audience's reaction once I left the stage.
"Girl, move those hips!"
"Dang, you're sassy!"
"All the girls in my choir were like, 'Is she in theatre?' and I was like 'Yeah, and she's my cousin!"
I mean, I knew when I was singing that I wasn't going to look like a robot, but geez. Apparently I went more full-out than I realized. I didn't even know till after my mom commented about it that I had been making faces, and it wasn't till the choir watched the video of it the next day for critique that I realized I was the only one to so much as snap with my hands raised above my waist. I had people I didn't even know coming up to me with compliments. When I tried to tell one of my friends about it the next day, he had already heard about it from one of his friends who hadn't even been able to remember my name!
Yeah, I let's just say that I hadn't even touched my homework when I got home at 10:30. But what the heck. I still couldn't get over the concert, so I just kept dancing around while I ate cupcakes and plugged numbers into the calculator. Then I couldn't help but laugh when I saw another present left by doorbell-ditchers: a foam sword with a note reading "To fend off all boys (except Slade)."
Can I just say I'm psyched to be sixteen?

Being a teen... Does that tell you all? I feel like I'm in one of those cliche movies, and guess what. I'm totally loving it.

I mean first off, my first date will be Homecoming. I'm a cheeleader, and I was asked with a rose by a football player, David. Of course I said yes {my cheezy response? "It would be sweet to go with you," as I handed him a giftbag with a cupcake and a caramel apple.} My birthday will be ten days afterwards, but I figure that "sixteen" isn't a number, but a level of maturity, and I seriously doubt that my personality will spontaneously and drastically change in just a week-and-a-half.

Except of course, just a matter of days after I get asked, I get a phone call from a girl who was on my cheer squad last year. She apparently was going out with David before and is curious if he and I are going to pursue a relationship after Homecoming, because she still has a thing for him. And not only this, but I have another guy trying to go out with me too. How great it is when both guys coincidentally run into you within just twenty seconds of each other after a football game. Yikes! Yeah, we'll have to see how this all works out with the four of us... {I don't like drama.... I don't like drama....I really don't like drama....}

Did I tell you how freaking scary cheer can be? Dude, I'm not all that afraid of heights, but when your life is in the hands- and I mean this quite literally- of the girls standing beneath you, holding you up... I'm sure you can imagine. But it is fun to be the center of the stunt! And it's also fun to visit your old elementary school in your cheer uniform, because all the little girls stare and point and gape at you because for some reason, they are under the impression that cheerleaders only exist in fairy tales, or so it seems to me. I'm not even kidding you, this one group of girls looked up from a cheer-leading catalog in time to see me. When they did, they got all excited and started flipping through the pages frantically, asking me what page I got my uniform out of. They were disappointed when I answered, "Oh, I'm sorry honey! I got mine from the high school!"

Alright, so then after the game on Thursday, I had all this homework and studying to do. But even though I knew I would be up till midnight working on homework, I knew it was inevitable. I mean, both Chelsea and Karissa had texted me to find out if I wanted to support my hawks tomorrow on TV! So by just after 5:30, I left the house with my teal skinny jeans, rhinestoned cheer shirt, cheer bow, and obnoxiously huge hoop earrings. I guess we had been misinformed about the time, because Channel 3 News didn't show up for another hour, but what the heck! We were on TV! Chanting for Highland!

After all the tests and and work of school, the girls and I all met up at Chelsea's before going to the mall to get some icecream and then- heck yeah! Watch House at the End of the Street on its opening day! Guys, why do I like scary movies so much? We were seriously cuddled up in less chairs then there were of us girls! Some of my friends closed their eyes and screamed while everything happened, but I never blinked as I clenched their hands and kept my feet up off the floor. It was so intense! And Jennifer Lawrence once again kicks butt. Except I'm pretty sure the previews for some of the movies beforehand freaked me out even worse- plenty enough of a reason for me to obey the no-seeing-rated-R-movies rule.

On Saturday, I was thrilled to meet this new baby. You see? A Saab, actually assembled in Europe, that looks brand-new and is so fun to drive around! I guess I probably shouldn't call it "mine," since I guess I'm not the one paying, but if Mom already has the Excursion/Big Green Machine... and Dad already has his little stick-shift Mini Cooper... and no one else in the family can drive... Can't wait to actually get me license. October, here I come!

I also had the opportunity to visit a nursing home with AYT. Back last spring, Rachel and I joined a ground called Flashback, and with a group of about ten other girls we got to create a short show about a group of reporters in the 1930's. Together we learned lots of old-time songs to dance to as well as history. We had no rehearsals than for about three months, with summer and everything, so by the time we got back together, cheer had started for me and a bunch of other girls didn't even try to stay involved. It was kind of hectic. But we managed to get things partially back together and performed. So even though we were missing half our group and a lot of lines were forgotten, it was really neat to do it. The folks there, though many have sadly reached a point where they can't hear well or speak well or their minds aren't as quick as they once were, many sang along to the songs they had known back in the 1930's. That enough was worth it.

Rachel, that night, invited Taylor and some other friends of hers over to hang out. It's now too late for me to still be blogging on a school night, but I insist on you taking a nice look at these two. Yes, they did blind makeovers on each other. And yes, I had had the world's greatest ab workout after laughing at them so much.
Yep. So close to being sixteen, and already life is spinning. How crazy. How fantastic!

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