OK, I was homeschooled, right, so I really don’t know too much about normal school. Well, everyone I kept talking to said college is really difficult. I honestly kind-of think that once you hit a specific point, the material doesn’t get that much harder (at least in subjects like history), just more detailed and specific. And you are just expected to think more. It’s not as bad as everyone made it out to be. Plus we have tons of free time. Miss B.’s friend gave her a scrapbooking kit and she said she might let me work on it. That would be so cool – I’ve never scrapbooked before. Hope is still trying to trick me into doing Relay for Life. I don’t want to. Harper said she is going to do it, and Sam said she probably will then too but really, I would just feel uncomfortable. Hope is totally pumped about it, Harper’s kind-of embarrassed (why, I am not sure), and Sam doesn’t want to leave me alone if she doesn’t do it, but I can tell she’s really trying to support Hope.
16 random things about me (idea stolen from Miss B.’s facebook):
1. I am a competitive ice skater and just placed third in nationals.
2. I have made my own ice skating costumes ever since I started. My mom and coach help.
3. I am really good friends with my coach, Coach OH!
4. It takes me a long time to trust people. I make friends pretty quickly but my very good friends are few and I’ve known them for a long, long time.
5. I am pretty outgoing and some people might describe me as brutally honest and/or blunt.
6. I am fascinated by medicine. I want to be a pediatric oncologist who specializes in leukemia.
7. Coach OH! is supposed to move to Omaha soon, but in the meantime I am working with a new coach who is really cool, but he’s really demanding. I like that in a coach.
8. If I had gone to “normal” school I’d have missed so many days I would have probably been kicked out.
9. This past spring and summer I sailed around the world with my venturing crew.
10. I was never a Girl Scout, but I did take ballet. Those are like the two essential elements of girlhood. I am back taking ballet now because of skating.
11. Miss B. has this box of popcorn on her shelf that she won’t share with me, and popcorn is my favorite food. When I smell it, I can’t resist making a bag myself or stealing some from wherever it is. It’s like an addiction.
12. Contrary to a lot of homeschoolers, I’ve never taken an online course. I like having someone there in person to teach me. I have taken classes with other kids before I came to college.
13. I’m not sure if I want to have kids, but I think it would be after I got my career established. But I do want a big white wedding. And to marry a lobsterman and live on an island in the blue bay. No seriously.
14. I am still waiting for a prince to come whisk me away on his white horse. I LOVE Disney films.
15. I like to go around singing random lines from songs, really off-key. Currently my favorite is “How Lucky We Are” by Meiko. It tends to drive people crazy.
16. I can tie every knot in the Boy Scout handbook, except for the noose. I refuse to learn that one, for obvious reasons. I love tying knots. Learning them can be hard at first, but really rewarding, at least for me.
You know, there are five gazillion things going on in the world than whatever you were complaining about right now. So just stop.
I know awhile ago I was talking about how I’m not really sure if I believe in God. Well that hasn’t really changed, but I want it to. Hope, Harper and Sam all have really strong faiths, even though they believe in different things. I don’t know what I believe. But I was listening to them last night – not really doing anything, just listening (Miss B. was watching Grey’s like obsessively… so if she was doing nothing, we felt justified). And one of them was complaining about something and Sam said, “Well, I’m going to pull a Mrs. M. here, but you just need to shut up and offer that up to God. There’s noting you can do about it.” Wow. Imagine letting it just disappear and leaving it up to someone else. Sounds good, right? (Mrs. M. is one of Miss B.’s friends, by the way.)
So then I thought that I would really want to be able to do that. I’m technically Catholic, but I don’t really practice or anything. I have a lot of questions and doubts. I get really pissed off at my life a LOT. But what Samantha said made me think – maybe I brood too much.
Then I heard this song by Meiko – I’ve heard it before, but I really listened this time… and I kind-of got from it not that she totally hates where she is in life at that time, but more that she has hope it will get better, and that hope makes her feel like her life will be ok. My life is OK, compared to a few years ago. According to that song, I’m kind-of at the point where I can say how lucky I am. I mean, I could go to the Olympics. That’s pretty amazing considering the rest of my life.
So I think maybe I like my life. Or I will soon. I feel now that that acceptance needs to come with me thinking more about my religion. But it is really nice. And when that morning comes, I’ll make coffee and you’ll read the paper. We’ll talk about our plans and I’ll keep saying how lucky we are.
In honor of Miss B. I posted the Cleveland performance… haha.
Before I say anything… let me say that I am still obsessed with “Boys with Girlfriends”. I don’t even know why, because to be honest it really has nothing to do with my life. But it’s just so catchy! I can’t stop singing the refrain. And Meiko’s voice is so unique which makes the song even cooler. I am listening to it right now. If you haven’t heard it yet, WATCH THE VIDEO. I even posted it for you!!
I think it is really cool that I am making some online friends. Hi Sophie and Sabine!
So I’m at Creighton! Cool, no? Although I did some extra classes with other kids, I am totally used to homeschooling with just me and my brothers. It’s weird, but really fun to be in class with other kids. I’m so used to commenting on EVERYTHING though that I am not sure if the other kids are used to that. On one hand, it’s a little intimidating because all of these other people are watching me, but again, I have done classes with other kids before so it’s not totally new, and I’m so used to just discussing everything automatically. It should be a good experience.
I’m doing pre-med. I’m going to be a pediatric oncologist. I haven’t decided though what I actually want to major in. Since I came in second semester I am taking General Bio II. It honestly seems like review so far, but I did a lot of bio in homeschool, since it’s my favorite science. My favorite class though, is my history class. I did a ton of AP testing so I actually have sophomore standing. I am taking a class called History of Plagues, Epidemics and Infections. It is basically the most AWESOME class ever. When I go to the library, my favorite books to check out are either nonfiction ones about medicine, or memoirs having to do with medicine. Well, in this class we are reading all these cool books about epidemics that have happened – or MIGHT happen – like cholera, the plague, bird flu, TB, and cancer. It is so so so interesting. And on the first day the professor asked us what our favorite disease was. I had to think. I am still not sure, my default is CML, but there have got to be more exciting things than that.
Like over break, Miss B. and I read this book called Bitten, which is about the weird things that happen when you get, well, bitten. You can get the WEIRDEST infections. Then we were watching Mystery ER and they have these multiple-choice things before the commercials where you have to guess the disease. Leishmaniasis was on there and we knew it. It was so exciting. It’s this disease spread by a sand fly in South America and Asia. It causes these weird sores which we looked up and are pretty disgusting. But anyways, it was a good book, and I considered leishmaniasis for my favorite disease just because I got it right on the multiple choice! (Even though I usually get those right, if only by process of elimination, like knowing what the others are or that it would be a genetic disease, etc.) So I know that is a really weird question and it probably grossed you all out… haha. Harper, another girl at OWT, likes to watch those shows too, so she usually watched them with us. It was fun. Miss B. says she usually makes Sam watch them because she has funny reactions and is too nice to say she won’t. I think it’s really cool that I found someone who watches the same shows as I do.
Hope is here at college with me. She usually goes to Julliard, but Miss B. told her about how we’re having a Broadway star, Michele Pawk (Mayzie in Seussical), living on our floor this semester, so Hope decided to do an exchange program so she could live with her. As far as I can tell, Hope is really obsessed with celebrities, especially Broadway actresses. And apparently it’s really easy to do exchanges between any schools that any of the other OWT girls are at because you just room with them and the College Connections program transfers credits and stuff. (I don’t know why I’d leave Juilliard to go here though!!) Hope isn’t in my history class, she is in History of Musical Theater. But she listens to me go on about it and seems understanding. She is really into Relay for Life, and keeps trying to get me to do it but I think it would be a little weird. Anyway.
Harper and Sam are supposed to get here today. Hope and I took some pictures of ourselves, so I should have those up soon. Today I forgot that my history class was only on Monday and Wednesday, so I flipped out about getting the homework in online, and then almost went to class! Luckily I checked my schedule! The whole classes-on-different-days thing is really strange, but kind-of nice because you have a lot of free time. Miss B. is rushing sororities so she is never here. Hope wanted to, but she can’t because she’s not an actual Creighton student, and they don’t have sororities at her college. I wasn’t really interested, and since I just got here thought I’d do it next year if anything. Kit-Kat sent us an email that they are rushing (they are back at OWT doing some sort of “self-study” semester…?!). Anyway, their sororities are Kappa Iota Theta and Kappa Alpha Theta. Hmm.
Also, I think it’s kind-of funny that I had to make a separate tag for Hope (“Hope S.”) because apparently I talked about “hope” already. Haha.
Let me tell you the story ’bout the call that changed my destiny.
I was talking to the kids at the rental counter yesterday, and we actually have a boy working there now which really balances things out. I remember the first time I worked there and my blog post was about how catty and unintelligent it was. The girls are a lot nicer now, and maybe I just have issues being social. Well anyway.
“Boy”, a.k.a. Trent, and I got into a conversation about how schools let kids know that their relative is dying or whatever. Great conversation, let me tell you, especially since I’m home schooled, so I was basically just listening to him about how that day some girl in his class’s grandpa was in critical condition or whatever, and everyone knew about it, and she got called down to the office and it was pretty awkward.
And that led to a discussion of “The Call”.
Generally meaning, when you find about about said death or critical condition. And he was talking about how this one time someone he knew was out of town and they had to be contacted by their airplane line or something to tell them to turn around and come home. How could they handle that? he wondered.
Oh, easy. You pack up a bunch of chips, rent a car, and drive. No biggie.
- But you have so much time to think alone!
Yep. Except at that point you’re in adrenaline mode and you’re not breaking down on the side of the road. You’re in shock, you’re steaming up, and all you have to do is get home. You don’t make rest stops unless absolutely necessary.
-Wow.
I’m totally shock-proof.
[I mean, not that I've had experience with this or anything.] I proceeded to tell him about how doctors like to call you at least five times until they reach you because they don’t want to leave you a message, and it’s always the actual doctor, and they’re always like, “you need to come into the office immediately”.
Instant fail.
SO THIS ONE TIME… I was at a skating competition. It was like one of my first ones, and my dad had gone with me. Well, okay, I think it was one of my first competitions where I’d actually gotten through all the levels. And my mom called my dad and he “knew something”, he was acting really weird… it was the first time I’ve experienced that, but definitely not the last. And I got home and my mom showed me this printout with a bunch of numbers on it. Well, naturally, I had no idea what they meant. And then my mom explained it to me.
I don’t know why they told me that way, but the numbers fascinated me, and although I was scared, those numbers also sparked my interest in medicine and science.
And I was in the lovely hospital the next day. Story of my life. That was not the last Call. That’s why I know getting “The Call” wouldn’t shake me up or even surprise me. I’d just be like, “okay, let’s do this again.”
Sorry.
-Shocked face.
Sorry about the crap video length. All the real ones were “embed-disabled”.
I’m sorry for not posting… but I was so dangerously tired. Well, maybe not dangerously. But seriously, I have been totally exhausted the past few days.
Let’s start with Coach OH!’s reaction to me being allowed to skate. I told her the minute I got to the rink. And instead of congratulating me for being able to continue, she flipped out in typical Coach OH! fashion. “Cate, what does that mean that your platelet counts are low? Because if that’s dangerous, you need to take care of yourself before you collapse on the ice.” I sighed. She always gets her medical stuff wrong, but it’s cute how she does. I love medicine, so I don’t mind explaining.
“Coach OH!, it’s red blood cells that would make me faint. If I was anemic or had a low red count. Low platelets just meant I was not having a good clotting day. Dr. K. said it was probably just a fluke – lots of people have extremely bloody nosebleeds. It’s not anything to worry about.”
Coach didn’t seem convinced, but I didn’t really want to talk about it so I just went and twirled around and then she yelled at me for being unprofessional, because I wasn’t practicing my actual routine. Well, no, I was just celebrating my ability to skate. Apparently that didn’t fly because I missed the morning anyway. She worked me SO hard! And then she threw a curveball at me. She wants me to start taking ballet, because it would help improve my flexibility. Mom thought this was an amazing idea when I told her after I got home. I really don’t. I mean, ballet is pretty, but I really don’t have time. They both thought it would also help me break up my routine and get a little more enthusiastic about skating practice.
Enthusiastic? I about killed both of them. I’m the one who was pushing to KEEP skating, and now Coach OH! and Mom both thought on their own accord that I need to be more enthusiastic about skating. Like they weren’t telling me five minutes ago that I should stop skating. And like I don’t want to go to the Olympics. I am totally dedicated. I really don’t get it. But I guess I’m doing ballet anyway. So guess when I have ballet? 8:30 – 10 pm, every Tuesday/Thursday, and from 9-12 on Saturday. That means Tuesday and Thursday I’m going to be rushing straight from work to ballet. And then on Saturday, when I’m supposed to be recovering from being totally sore all week, I’m doing ballet, which will make me even more sore and tired.
I guess I am a little excited though, mostly about the beauty of it. I think learning ballet will add a lot to my choreography. I can be a lot more lyrical and poised. But I don’t think I need to get more flexible. Who knows. I’d fight it, but if it’ll help me get to Vancouver… than I really can’t complain.
The rental counter Monday was fun. I had that mom come up who wanted the new-but-broken-in-skates, and she thanked me for the info on buying skates. That was really cool. Then Chrissy, the girl who runs the counter, invited us all to go rollerblading! I’ve actually never been rollerblading. It’ll be really fun. I wonder if I’m any good? The counter was fun at first on Tuesday – we were all talking and laughing at this one boy who was trying to learn how to skate backwards. I know, I know, we shouldn’t be laughing… but seriously, it was hilarious. Then the conversation changed and I got totally annoyed. We were talking about what music we like to listen to, and Abby said her favorite band was Rascal Flatts, and she loved “Skin”.
I flipped out. I hate that song, because it reminds me of all the bad stuff that comes with being an oncologist. And I can’t take my patients to the prom or something, I can only try to help them get better. I hope I encourage my patients. But who knows. And Abby knows totally nothing about leukemia or anything. She was just like, it’s cute at the end.
Oh and, by the way, if my life wasn’t exhausting enough, I’m leaving in two hours for Massachusettes to go to regionals! I’m doing my “Jupiter” routine for the long program. (We developed it last spring because we knew I’d be out for awhile.) Should be fun.
I’ve had those stupid new skates for about a week now and I think I’m FINALLY starting to break them in. The only problem is I haven’t improved! Well, okay, I only fell once during practice today, which was an accomplishment seeing as I was there from 6-3, but still… I’m not feeling “the vibe” yet. I got a job working at the rental counter because my mom is killing me about paying for costumes. Maybe she should’ve brought this up awhile ago… like in high school? Then again, I did have school – and I was working way ahead because I know it’s cheesy but I enjoyed school. And I did have the greatest teacher ever… my mom Anyway, I’m now working at the rental counter and it’s pretty fun. I work from 5-8 every day which is when they have group lessons. Half the kids can’t see over the railing, it’s so cute! Plus, I realized I’ve never been “backstage” at the rink. Weird, right, considering I’m Coach OH!’s little advisee for the Big O, aka the Olympics. Haha. So it’s cool to talk to the manager and see how things work. I don’t think I’d go into business (more on my career later) but it’s definitely interesting. If I’m not busy, I’m allowed to demonstrate for the classes, which means I get a bonus! The girls I’m working with are great so far. I love this job; I don’t know why I ever thought of working here myself.
For those of you who don’t know, I’m going to be a doctor, probably an oncologist. But that’s if I can get through Vancouver and fit college in with training. I know I can’t skate my whole life so I definitely need a career. And I’m really interested in medicine… we’ll just leave it at that.
Right now we (Coach OH! and I) are trying to figure out what song I’m going to use for the Long Program. I’m really leaning towards Sarajevo 12/24 (Carol of the Bells) or just a medley of Trans-Siberian Orchestra songs. I LOVE them; saw their show a few years back and it was AWESOME. They are pretty much the coolest classical musicians… if you can even call them “classical”. I’m not sure if S12/24 is long enough, but we’ll see. I’m kind-of upset I can’t use “An Angel Came Down” or “This Christmas Day”, but I’m totally adapted to the no-lyrics rule. In fact, I think I’ve unconsciously saved TSO for my qualifier routine. Well, not really. I’m not THAT cool! We were just throwing some ideas out there. Honestly, if I had to pick another classical song, I think I’d go with Pachebel’s Canon. I know, so cliche, but I love it. Not sure how much of a routine you’d get out of it compared to TSO though. I’ve done instrumentals in the past too. We shall see.
To "flutz" is to screw up a lutz, basically, and it's the last thing you'd ever want to do at Nationals, Worlds, or Olympic Trials.
However, I have been known to flutz. Even double-flutz. We shall see.
"Flutzing to Vancouver" is a fictional blog told from the point of view of the character Cate Flannery. It does not represent anyone actually involved with US figure skating. For more information on the OWT Girls visit [here].
Anyway, I’m now working at the rental counter and it’s pretty fun. I work from 5-8 every day which is when they have group lessons. Half the kids can’t see over the railing, it’s so cute! Plus, I realized I’ve never been “backstage” at the rink. Weird, right, considering I’m Coach OH!’s little advisee for the Big O, aka the Olympics. Haha. So it’s cool to talk to the manager and see how things work. I don’t think I’d go into business (more on my career later) but it’s definitely interesting. If I’m not busy, I’m allowed to demonstrate for the classes, which means I get a bonus! The girls I’m working with are great so far. I love this job; I don’t know why I ever thought of working here myself.
so I definitely need a career. And I’m really interested in medicine… we’ll just leave it at that.
