Easter Break, and the Pirates of Penzance

So there has been quite a bit of stuff going on over the last few weeks. To start out with, we had a week of Easter vacation situated in the weeks before and after Easter Sunday. Break was relaxing, and a wonderful vacation from schoolwork. The Triduum was lovely; the Masses were held in the commons as the temporary chapel is much too small to accomodate the number of people expected to be in attendance. The Easter Vigil was the nicest. It started at 11 p.m. Saturday evening and lasted until 2:30 a.m. Easter morning. It was mostly in Latin, with all sorts of wonderful music provided by the TAC choir (of which I am a member; hence I was singing with them). We even had a baptism/confirmation/first communion of a recent graduate who decided to join the Church. All in all, the Mass was beautiful. After that got over, a huge and delicious "brunch" was served, consisting of ham, potatoes, eggs, breads and pastries, specialty cheeses, pudding, drinks, chocolate, donuts...this list could go on. It was really good. There ended up being about 10 freshmen all crowded around this little table in the coffee shop, who were all ridiculously tired (hey, it was 3:00 in the morning), and yet insanely joyful also. We were all cracking the worst puns you've ever heard, eating way too much good food, laughing hysterically for no reason whatsoever, and randomly saying "Christ is risen! Alleluia, people!" It was a blast. :) Then at around 3:15 they cleared the tables and chairs out of the commons and started up the dance music. Yeah. We pretty much danced all night, until about 6:15. It was glorious. As I told my friend, "This is awesome! It's 4 in the morning and we're swing dancing!" After the dancing wrapped up a bunch of people went up the hill to the Painter's Shack and watched a non-existent sunrise. Sort of anti-climactic, but we looked at what we could see of the view and sang every Easter hymn we could think of, so it was a nice time anyway.

My Easter dinner was held at a friend of mine's house who lives about 10 minutes away in Santa Paula. There were 6 people from the college there, all good friends, and a ton of other people. It was a really good time. We college girls (and boys too, incidentally) helped fix dinner/dessert. :) After dinner we sat around a bonfire and roasted marshmallows and played with the little kids. All in all, it was pretty much an awesome Easter dinner, and an awesome day in general.

Okay, fast forward to the Tuesday after that. Last September, when we had the fire around here, they cut a big firebreak up the side of the mountain range to the north of the school, and I'd heard that it made for a great hike. So after the mountain climbing experience a month or so ago, I decided we could totally take it. So we (meaning me and three of my guy friends) did just that. I was fine for about...oh I dunno...the first 2/3rds of the hike, but then I had to be (almost) literally dragged up the hill by the arm because I was so tired. But the view from the top was completely worth it. We could see the ocean, Ventura, Santa Paula, Ojai, the valley going both directions, the campus waaaaay down below, and other things. I took a ton of pictures. On the way back down I spent most of the time literally sliding down the hill because it was rather steep, and by the time we arrived at the bottom, I had blisters on my feet and rocks in my shoes, could hardly walk, and had to be carried piggy-back from the trail-head to the campus by the three guys, which, of course, I mightily appreciated. I also got myself a nice dark red sunburn, which is now peeling like the dickens. Oh well, I had a fun time, despite the injuries incurred.

The other thing that basically took over my life for the last month or so was the choir's production of Gilbert and Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance." The last two weeks before the show were packed with rehearsals, dress or otherwise, and there was much to do regarding sets and the stage as well (one afternoon I spent 2 and a half hours painting rocks onto pieces of cardboard). People worked hard; sometimes time and tempers were short, sometimes things/costumes/set pieces got lost, but all the work paid off in the end with a practically perfect performance last Friday evening. There were several songs I was majorly worried about, but somehow we ended up pulling them off without a hitch. We got lots of laughs and lots of cheers, and I had a marvellously fun time. The impromptu cast party at 11:30 at night at the local donut shop after the performance was thoroughly delightful as well. After this first experience of being in a production like this, I eagerly look forward to doing it again next year.

Other than that, nothing too terribly exciting has been happening around here. We have a philosophy paper due this evening, which I finished earlier this afternoon and handed in. I *hate* philosophy...hopefully I'll get a halfway decent grade on it. In other news, I was also assigned the infamous Death Star prop in math class the other day, which I didn't mind, since I've secretly wanted it since the beginning of the year. So now I'm studying that since I'm scheduled to do it in class on Wednesday. Other than that, things are rapidly winding down to a close. I can't believe I'm almost done with my freshman year of college. Time flies when you're having fun, as they say. It will be wonderful to go home for awhile, but still, I know I'm going to miss everybody here a ton.

Well, I'd better scoot and boot now. God Bless you all!