Hey, guys! Yearbooks today! AND the exposition. I have to play the 2nd violin part to the Bach double (Tera's playing the 1st) and some of Prokofiev's gavotte from the classical symphony. Then I have to present my un-finished environmental architechure game. Yay - soooo nervous. No news, really. I was going to see if my 'rents would let me have lessons @ Hunter Hollow, which is in Coupeville, over the summer, but my dad said that we should try to save money. So there's a neighbor up the street who has a horse and likes V and she's going to give a little horsie camp, so me and some other little girls (probably Kailey, too,) will be riding! Excited - haven't ridden in two weeks. OH! and the instructors at HOPE quit 'cause of the exec president's attitude, so no HOPE this summer. But seventeen days until Jaz comes up!
Natasha

Hey you guys! This is probably one of my last posts of the year - school lets out on the 17th!
Anyway, nothing has really happened. Romeo and Juliet went well last week - except I kind of slammed into the balcony at the 'sweet sorrow parting' line, cause I had been sliding in socks earlier, but I forgot I had shoes on..... Oh, and I DON'T think Derek has a crush on me. It's just...no. Besides, he's turning 15 in August, so he's nearly three years older than me. And I just don't think I'm ready to get involved with someone yet. I might post later, but people are buzzing around. I'll give Derek the note when we go on our aquarium field trip on Wednesday after tomorrow. I'll be like 'could you give this to it's owner, 'cause it's not mine and it's probably jake's' and then run away and look at the penguins. I'm waiting until the last minute because I probably couldn't look him in the face afterward, and he's leaving for Orlando the day after, thank god. Anyway, I'll email later you guys!
Natasha
p.s. the group health 'teen awareness, decisions and tough topics' booklet came last night, and I read it, and it was soooooooooo boring, just how periods don't hurt, don't smoke, etc. and now I'm wondering if V is even going to mention it. I'm sorry, but I can't imagine. Like when I asked for a bra a few months ago, she was like 'women with much bigger boobs than you don't wear bras, you're fine', sooooooo yah............. I doubt she's gonna talk about it. Jaz is coming up in 15 days!

You guys need to comment NOW!!

Romeo & Juliet goes up tomorrow! I am sooooo freaked out! My stomach is really messed up. And... I'm worried I've signed up for more than I thought. I'm worried Derek likes me.



Like, in the prolougue, when we have to turn, hold hands, and walk six feet upstage before parting, he said "Actually hold my hand" when I just curled my fingers around his hand. And when just us & Ms. Ashley were working on the final death scene, we were seeing if we wanted to add lines, she's like running through them "...oh churl, though hast left no friendly drop for me, um, I'll kiss thy lips to get the poison from thee, you guys don't want to do that, right?" she says, only the last bit isn't really a question. Derek is lying on the floor, and I'm kneeling over him, cause I have to be able to draw his dagger, and he looks up at me and says kind of quietly so Ms. A can't hear, "she doesn't". And I shake my head. And now he's really sweet, and opening doors and stuff, and when we were debating in seminar where we wanted to go on a field trip, and I wanted to go to the aquarium, and everyone else was undecided, Derek said 'I'll go wherever you want to go' but I can't be positive he was talking to me, as opposed to the whole group, etc. So now I'm kind of scared. Maybe I'm overreacting, but if he liked me, I would be his third girlfriend since September.

I don't know what to do, you guys! Should I ask him about the note? Am I overreacting? Is there even a chance he likes me? I mean, Veronica is always around, being Mrs. PTA mom of the year, and I'm just about good as teacher's daughter! Please you guys, what do you think?

We worked things out with the riding people, so I get a discount with the riding people 'cause I help with lessons, but I think it's a one time thing, so, I still might have to quit riding this summer. I had to trot on a bareback pad, and I almost fell off, and I'm really, really, really sore, since I didn't have stirrups.

Monday: I was gone most of the day - my gma drove me everywhere, and orchestra went late, so I got home at 10:30

Tuesday: Riding lesson in the morning, really sore, I took the wrong bus, figured it out two blocks later and had to walk 17 blocks to school. The drama sub was not able to control the idiot middle school boys, and Pansy brought Derek's ex, so, yeah....

Wednesday: Sat alot at the hospital, V got discharged, went to choir, ate dinner, and read until bedtime.

Today: V sleeps most of the time. I had to be at a different school @ 7:30, so I got there, and I was meeting two people to show them where the Da Vinci Class was - 1. Trystan, Tera's brother, who's kind of cute, and 2. Garik, who was 45 minutes late and missed the science section on cold fusion. The day's going okay so far - Taylor Swift is stuck in my head.

Sorry if this is boring. And Cathi - please relax. V often gets t'ed off at me because I'm 'not pulling my weight' but she always apologizes. Just chose what you want to do. Try to go to a horse camp.
Nat

p.s. please don't mention my blog in your emails. My 'rents read my mail and they don't know about my blog. It's the only place I can vent without getting grounded. :(

Sorry I didn't post last week - our school receptionist kept buzzing around.

My riding stable is now under new management. I was worried about this. So I went to my lesson last week, and instead of Ms. Aarons, like usual, telling me to go get Gabby and that I'll be working on the flat or something, there was this 30-something guy with an energetic air who looked at me and said "Natasha King?" I said yes, and he appraised me. He said "Let's put you on Quicksilver, he's in the back pasture. Gray Arab, can't miss him," and sent me off. Quicksilver was, as he said, a gray Arabian with a darker gray mane and tail. He was very easy to catch. When I was going into the barn to look at my tack assignment, Mr. Jaccobs shook his head and told me to just get a bareback pad, saddle blanket, reins and a bridle. I was going to ride (semi) bareback! The second I swung my leg over, I was estatic! I could feel him under me, so alive and energized. Quicksilver is so graceful and flowing. Not mellow, exactly, but not a rush-into-things horse, that's for sure. It was a fantastic lesson - no courses, or anything, we mostly did flat work, with a few minutes going over a row of 2-foot jumps with no strides in between. I was sooo happy! Mr. J said I have 'outstanding balance'!

Then after school, when I went to help with lessons, my student didn't show up, so Mr. J put me riding again. He surveyed me again, and told me to get Molasses. Molasses is a Rocky Mountain Horse, and drop dead gorgeous. When I asked what tack I needed, he took a look at me and said, "reins and a bridle." I was really really really going bareback! It was so incredible! I was in a class of five, and we were practicing squirrels! which are emergency dismounts. Kind of like musical chairs, when Mr. J yelled 'squirrel' we would all have to squirrel, but last one off would go in the center. Next time someone was out, they would trade places. Everyone would trade horses, and get legs up. I rode (besides Molasses) Indian Summer, Ginger, Rising Sun, and there was also a little pony called Peanut Butter who I didn't ride.

It was amazing. However.

On the way home Veronica had a talk with me. The new management is charging two to three times what they used to. I might not be able to ride anymore. Money is tight, even though my dad makes six figures, somehow we can't afford my lessons. I am really mad and depressed and betrayed and heartbroken. I love riding! Not to mention that V is bugging me about school and is threatening not to let Jas come up, and I'm getting hounded about violin and I have to keep practicing the Shastokovich until August, and I'm dead sick of it, and V is getting surgery in her throat, and my dad is going to have to stay with me, but it'll be wierd and I want my grandma to come up, and my life is really messed up.

Natasha

Hello. On my riding lesson yesterday, someone had taken Gabby to a show, so I had to use a different horse - Ginger. She and I do NOT get along at all. AND we had to work on leading, which Gingi HATES, and I got hot and dusty and really p/o'ed. But in the afternoon I got to help with other lessons. Remember Olivia? The one with Gabby's stallmate, Willow? Well, she's Derek's sister! I just found out a week ago. She is so sweet. I'm probably going to help her again next week. She still hasn't quite got the hang of trotting.

I really wish my life was a movie. 'Cause it would be one of those real life Romeo and Juliet things. I'm not getting obsessed or anything, but I sort of miss the attention I got when I would read Juliet's lines and Maddie would giggle, and Tyler would look very seriously at Derek, and so on. But Derek's going to the high school next year, so even if we did go out - which is really unlikely, since he's 2 1/2 years older than me, and he'd be in high school, and I'd be in 7th grade, so that would be weird. I'll try to ignore him. But Livvy is adorable. Tera's brother, Ty, might have a crush on me, but most likely on a girl named Annie, who's also a cellist. Sigh. Sorry I'm getting all lovestruck here.

We've decided that in June we're moving to our Whidbey house! We discussed it, and Dad can commute, and it gets REALLY REALLY HOOOOTTTT in Seattle in the summer. I also heard V say something about 'Natasha' and 'emotional stability' and 'run free this summer' and I'm like, I'm sooo emotionally stable, but if it gets me to Whidbey, I'll be as unstable as possible! It's really nice there, too, we have like two acres, and a beach across the street. Plus the Rileys stay on Whidbey during the summer, too, and I have some friends there, like Jaccquelyn. And in late July, my family is flying up for a reunion, so I'll have a ton of cousins around then.

That's it, really. Sorry if this is boring.
Natasha

Hello! HIHIHIHIHIHIIHIHIHI!:D
I am back and it is SPRING! FINALLY IT IS WARM AND SUNNY! until it rains.
Canada was incredibly awesome - V came up for five days when my g'rents had to leave, and my cousin Kailey was there, too. I had six ski lessons (with K, who is unfortunately as good as me.). Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for two weeks. Here is what I thought of the instructors.

Sean: We were in a class of eight, and we just followed him down the hill. Boring.
Dennis: There was only one girl besides us, Grace, and Dennis called us Fred, Barney, and George. His name was Matilda, but we called him Millie. It was really fun, and we worked on our weight.
Tim: Had Barney w/us again, called Tim Tillie. We called eachother Fred Barney & George to confuse him. We called wipeouts 'bananas' and bad spills 'Madagascar'. We got lost in the woods and since we had so many wipeouts, we named those woods 'Madagascar'.

Shawn: Okay. We were stuck with two boys and had to go in some double black diamond trees, where I literally ran over a pine sapling.
Tamara: Awesome! She really gave me alot of confidence. We went on lots of black diamond moghuls, working on hockey stops, parellel turns, and always being one turn ahead of yourself. She is awesome! She skis during the summer in New Zealand, so she's really good. I think the best thing is just that I wasn't worried about failing, falling, or being too slow. I was just skiing, and I was confident about it! Oh, and Dennis....is her DAD! Is that COOl or WHAT???
Ben: Pretty fun. It was just us and a boy named Matt. The sign-in person stuck us in Level Five, but it had been easier than Tamara's level four lesson the day before! Wierd. Didn't like Matt. Oh well.

It was really fun up there, aside from the fact K kept flipping out at me. But I walked my g'rents chocolate lab, Charlie Brown, every day in the snow, which was really fun, and we went swimming at the swimming pool, which is outdoors, so we swam under the stars. Sigh. But now I'm back. New topic.

I have been kind of obsessed with 'How smart am I?' I mean, it is time for the dreaded WASL! Even if V hates it and I'm not taking it. I've been tested alot - SCAT, SAT, Robinson Center Stuff, etc., but I never see any results! I asked V and Dad about it at dinner last night, but all I got was a long lecture about 'how it doesn't really matter about test scores' and 'it's how hard you work' and as I 'get older, everyone is getting smarter. By the time [I'm] in college, there will be no difference.' I got really ticked off and hid in my room after dinner. V is always checking out all these books on gifted kids, how to create curriculum for them, etc., and I took some and studied them by flashlight after they had gone to bed (which was, inconveniently, for V, quarter past ten). So far as I can figure out, I can't be higher than Level Three gifted, because I'm better at language and writing (as Cathi, you can attest to?) than math, even though I'm working on polynominals right now. So now I'm p/o'ed at my 'rents, and worried I'll suck at swimming since I haven't been at practice for three weeks. That's my life so far. It's my b-day.