School Time Sadness

So school officially sucks.

I typically fall asleep while reading from a textbook

And don't argue with me because you know it's true.




I survived the week! But just barely...



This might sound weird but I actually learned a lot this week.


Not just actual school stuff but life lessons... I know weird.

So here they are:




1. The future is key 

I had a clarinet lesson this week and my teacher was helping me prepare for an audition for Wind Ensemble (the highest level concert band my high school offers). And it was just like a normal clarinet lesson but at the end she gave me some last reminders to make sure I do well on the audition. These reminders were: Confidence, Stay in the future, and Breathe- Lots of air! Now all of those pertain directly to the clarinet but I took away a few life lessons there.

Confidence: Literal- I have to have the confidence because if the confidence isn't there neither is the rest of what I have to show. What I took away from it- You should be confident in everything you do, even if it might be a failure, own up to the situation and do the best you can.

Breathe- Lots of air: Literal- Well duh! You need air to breath... but you need enough air to be heard, not just background music. The goal is to make music and you have to do that by being heard, not hiding in the shadows of other. What I took away from it- If you're gonna say it, say it loud. Make sure you're heard by others not just the person sitting next to you

Stay in the future: Literal- If I made a mistake during the audition, I had to forget about it and just focus on the future notes so I won't screw those up too. What I took away from it- But that's a deep subject... What's in the past is in the past. It's done. It've over. It's happened and there's nothing you can do about it. So begin to move on. And focus on the future.

Last time I asked him when I would get them off. And
his response was... a laugh. Photo Credit

Sorry for the whole #inspiration unless you liked it... I could do more of it. Although I know all y'all prefer my embarrassing videos which FYI there will be one next week.

2. I can't eat goldfish without having to brush my teeth ten times afterwards

Braces.

The reason for all this.

I JUST WANT THEM OFF ALREADY!!! (Is that to much to ask?)

3. School. Sucks.

It's not so much school I hate... it's the homework. And projects. And tests. And make-up assignments. And teachers thinking I don't have a life besides their class and I can stay up until all hours of the night doing their assignments & studying. Oh and I forgot some where in there is.... Track. Clarinet. Saxophone. Skiing. Eating. Maybe getting a few hours of sleep. And possibly actually having a social life. But that's what I get for taking all honors and AP classes. Oh joy.

And it's to that point in the year where everyone just feels like... blah. Am I right? or am I right? It's the "I really don't feel like doing this""I'm so done with school.""SUMMER!!!""I'm 100% done with all their homework & tests.""I don't even care anymore..." Which I say like every other word but then again... I still try my hardest which leads me to the next thing I learned... 

4. Hard work pays off

This past week I was swamped with make-up assignments, make-up tests, even more assignments and tests, an audition, reading assignments for English and Geography and reading notes. I brought stress to a whole new level, it was ridiculous! But I got almost no sleep so I could make sure I got it all done and studied for all my tests and lets just say the hard work payed off.

5. I'm counting down the seconds until I can go to Camp Daggett

So I found out I get to return to Camp Daggett this summer as staff and IM BEYOND EXCITED! I literally can not wait. I get to go for two weeks instead of just one! There are going to be many other kids that I went to camp with before and I can't wait to see them again. I'm a staff member!

WAHOOOOOO!

I literally can not contain my excitement!

I just want it to be July 13th already!


(Oh and I thought my title was pretty clever.... you know the song Summertime Sadness?  Who doesn't? Maybe you if you have less of a social life than me... But it's school time sadness rather than summertime sadness! See what I did there?)

As my parents call it, Morgan's Precious Camp Daggett

I'm missing the cruise life (and the bread)

On the weekends when I'm not doing homework, I'm at the
ice rink watching my brother play hockey

P.S. Do you wanna know a secret?























YOU'RE AWESOME!!!

I Don't Do Science

This past week I got to miss school to go to another school. I know, awesome!

But this school was wayyyyyy cooler!!!

It's in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and it's a school that's all about science, (called the Teton Science School.)

Instead of sitting in a class room all day just waiting for the weekend to come, I was outside learning science hands on.

Before I went on this trip, science was definitely my least favorite subject but after learning outside in the actual world rather than a classroom, it caused me to enjoy science so much more!

I heard from past students told this trip was fun.

But that my friend, was an understatement.

This trip was the most amusing, entertaining, exciting and all around awesome school trip ever.

Each day we were on the tips of our toes just dyeing to know what adventure we would encounter next. Wether it was snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, doing the dishes, singing every where ever we went or building snow sculptures. I definitely made many memories and funny stories I'll tell over and over again. (Most that include Ally & Caroline.)

Here are the highlights of my trip:

• Marty the Moose sculpture along with our flash mob at dinner.
• Watching Ally ride the struggle bus while trying to climb up the hill on cross-country skies
• Cutting down willow trees as a stewardship project
• MAFIA!!!

  

  We took selfies during the night hike even though we
  may have sacrificed our vision for the next few hours

• Caroline's animal call video
• Building the snowman that was as tall as me
• Our water baby experiment 
• Seeing Le Tetons (Muy bonita) 
• Going down steep hills that were hardly even a hill and epically falling
• The night hike and everything that happened along the way
• Cleaning Hoo-Rahs while singing and dancing
• The cursed YOLO
• Lane's story about chasing a coyote

And along the way we actually learned tons of stuff. (I know shocking, it's not like we're on a school trip while at a science school or anything like that...)


So I was told I had to make sure to use science words in this post so here's my list of science words:

• Adaptation

  

  Our bus rides were better than yours

• Snow Layers
• Scat & Tracks
• Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
• Facets & Rounds

Okay just kidding. I can actually put those vocabulary woods into context.

WARNING: DO NOT READ THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH UNLESS YOU ARE MENTALLY PREPARED TO SEE THE NERDY SIDE OF ME, AKA THE SCIENCE SIDE.

The first night here we learned about the GYE (Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem) and all the species that live inside it using the acronym ASCAR. (A for alpine S for sagebrush C for conifer A for aspen R for Riparian.) Later on we had learned about behavioral and physical adaptations species have to help themselves survive the winter. FUN FACT: Did you know aspens have a layer of sunscreen on them to protect their photosynthetic bark underneath. We also dug three snow pits six feet deep and learned about the snow layers along with the difference between facets & rounds. Sara also learned that she likes to dig holes along with her hibernation cave. It was really cool trying to identify tracks out in the wilderness and kinda strange observing animals poop inside a container. The final thing I learned was the French fur trappers must have not seen some ladies in a very very VERY long time. (Hence the name Le Tetons.)

This trip was so much fun and if anyone who reads this has the opportunity to go, I 100% hands down, recommend it.

P.S. If you want to check out the blog for this trip, you can find other students who went and their fun experiences here.

Crusin' Like A Norwegian

I used to think February Break was the most pointless break in the whole entire universe.  
(And it still is.)

This was the ship and see each of those red line looking
things? Well, each of those hold over 300 people and each
dot is a room balcony. If that gives you any idea of how
big it is. 

But this break wasn't so boring.

Because I was CRUISN' LIKE A NORWEGIAN!!!

I had the awesome opportunity to go on a cruise with one of my best friends Alexa and the rest of her family. We went on a new ship called the Norwegian Getaway apart of the Norwegian Cruise Line.

I can't even begin to explain how HUGE the ship is!!! Just imagine an eighteen story hotel that's 1,068.3 feet long floating in the ocean. And there ya go, there's my house for a week. But the weird thing is, by the second day we already knew our way around the whole ship.

I have so many great stories from this trip, I don't even know were to begin.

And to many pictures... I think this is almost an all time record so I had to condense them but if you really really REALLY want to seem them, just let me know.

So I've decided to give you My Top Ten Memories from this trip so if you care to know, no one's stoping you but yourself.




10. The Shows

One night we went to Legally Blonde The Musical which I thought was really good, the songs made it even better. One night we went to a magic show on one of the lower decks with lots of flashing lights which caused me to feel really sea sick. And let me tell you, sea sickness is ten times worse than car sickness! But the magic show was way cool! Some illusions I was like I 100% know how to do that and others it was a mind blowing moment.



10. H2Glow

We didn't figure this out until later in the week but each night they have a totally rad dance party on the top deck of the ship. The one night we actually went everyone was either wearing neon or white clothes so everyone was glowing. It was so awesome! It was just a giant dance party in the middle of the calm ocean.


9. Corn Rows

I felt bald, like a person from avatar, and a zombie.

Two hours of my life was spent sitting on the beach while some lady braided my hair. And it actually hurt, not a lot but just enough to make my head bleed. I know what you're thinking OHMYGOD THE LADY MADE YOUR HEAD BLEAD?!?! THAT MUST HAVE HURT A TOOOON!?! She said I had a sensitive scalp and that's why it bled but really it didn't hurt, that much. I still have it in, today makes it a week and I was originally planning on taking it out but I actually really like it.

8. Tree Linin'

One day when we were at the port of St. Thomas, Alexa, her dad and I did a zip lining excursion. It was one of my favorite experiences of the whole trip. It just gives you that sensation like you're flying through the trees and how cool would it be if you had wings and could fly? And the views from the platforms left me speechless, the water was bluer than blue along with islands as far as I could see. The part that made it even better was the guides helping you at each platform. They were hilarious with a great sense of humor that would just keep making jokes. Definitely my type of person.

7. My Bed

IT CAME FROM THE CELING!!! Enough said.

6. Ice Bar (And I wasn't drinking alcohol I promise, it's called a virgin drink.)

This was us in the ice bar with our eskimo coats.

There's this bar that's entirely made out of ice along with a bunch of cool ice sculptures. We called it The Freeze Your Butt Of Bar. You had to put these special coats on to keep you warm considering everyone's in shorts and a t-shirt, plus it was -6 degrees Celsius inside the bar. Even the cups were made out of ice! Well at least the part you drank from, the handle was plastic.

4. Walk The Plank

You know how in pirate movies they tell the bad people to "WALK THE PLANK"? Yeah well I had to, eighteen stories above the ocean. But once I jumped I swam fast enough to catch up to the boat so that's why I am still here today. Just kidding I was strapped on and never had to jump.

3. The Tube Of Death

First you step into a capsule that seems like one you would time travel in. You have a mat strapped to your back, standing on a solid surface, with water running behind you and then out the floor you're standing on. Then a robotic lady counts down: three, two, one and on one the floor drops out from under you you go flying down the water slide, up again and back down. I almost peed my pants the first time I went on it but then I went on it like every chance I could.

2. THE FOOD!!!

Each time I'd go between places on the ship either the pool, the room, the ropes course or any other place I'd stop at the Garden Cafe. What's at The Garden Cafe? FOOD! It has self-serve, soft-serve vanilla ice cream, the greatest bread I've ever tasted, delicious french fries and of course more food. Along with a 24 hour pizza bar, I think yes!

*Drum roll please*

1. I Am Forever Still In Love With Dolphins

This is my secret lover Gaya.

Dolphins. Are like my most favoritst thing ever! They have been ever since elementary school and I have no idea why. It's always been a life goal of mine to swim with dolphins because in fourth grade I got to pet a dolphin and other people got to swim them and I was forever envious of them. And this trip my wish came true.
It was one of the greatest sensations of my life. The dolphins seem to always be so happy, energetic and love to show off their tricks. I'm still in such shock I don't know how to put it into words. Words just can't describe the sensation, you have to go experience it yourself.

I hope one day all of you reading this can go on a trip that's as wonderful or just make as many great memories as I did.

Adios mis amigos! (And yes I speak Spanish.)

P.S. I bet you didn't notice I skipped the number five?

Swag Like Eddy

First and foremost I think this post deserves a round of applause.

Because for the second time ever I actually did my post before Friday!

I've officially completed all my life goals.

Anyways... last Saturday was pretty epic.

It consisted of skiing, ice castles and one of the greatest concerts ever.

It all started when Ullr decided to give us what we wanted.

Snow.

It's been coming down so majestically for the best few days and the powder Saturday was the definition of perfection and happiness. It was as if I was skiing on top of the clouds. One of the greatest feelings ever.

But now Mother Nature has utterly demolished my happiness.

Rain? Thunderstorm? Was that really necessary?




After skiing I went to the ice castles with my two friends Madison & Lane.

This is where we're gonna get married. (Don't judge.)

The ice castles were like the castle Elsa built in the movie Frozen. "Do you want to build a snowmannnnn?" Not that we have slush... OF COURSE!!!!

The ice castles had slot canyons made out of ice (hence the name), a maze, and two princess (Cinderella & Snow White.) Those princess's were the creepiest princess's I've ever met, and I've met many many princess.

But the coolest part out of all of this was the slide. You climbed up a claustrophobic tunnel in the castles that led to the slide. It was completely made out of ice that I kept sliding down that part I was supposed to climb up and it put some random persons butt right in my face, it wasn't at all pleasant. When I got to the top I had to do down feet first and make sure I tucked in my elbows. I was going about as fast as the Luge olympians, not really but you get the idea. But they should have worked on that slide a little better because so many ice bumps hit my back and it felt like I just got a thousand shots in my back.

After performing our wedding dance and many other strange dances inside the castles we went to a band concert at the Eccles Center.

It was a band called Stay Human, and I swear they are gods sent from above.

My awesome band friends and I with Stay Human.
(Then there's Lane...)

I can't even put their awesomeness into words.

But the saxophone player Eddy...

I almost have swag like Eddy?

Do you?

Probably not because Eddy is the swag master.

Who's Eddy?

I already told you, the swag master.

He's also in the band Stay Human, which I already mentioned above...

Last Saturday was one of the greatest days I've had in a while but I can't wait for this Saturday.

Why?

Guess.

What's The Superbowl?

So not many people know...

I'm a Patriot's fan.

Which causes much teasing

and humiliation.

Especially by Bailey.

I really appreciate all the teasing. It's my most favoritist thing in the world.

Yeah. We're cooler than you.

But let me just say, Tom Brady would NOT have screwed up as badly as Payton Manning did during this last Super Bowl.

You can make any argument you want blah blah blah but bottom line is, the Patriots would not have done that horribly in the Superbowl.

My flappy bird high score is even higher than the Broncos score was. (And I'm HORRIBLE at Flappy Bird.)

I mean if I was a Broncos fan, I would be so embarrassed I probably would have to leave the country. Maybe I'd go to Canada...

Okay that's a little over exaggeration. 

Mostly considering I don't watch football and I don't care about it... at all. I realize that makes no sense because above it made it sound like I really care but I don't.

(FYI: All that was mentioned above were opinions from other patriots fans that weren't me, I just so happen to agree even though at the same time, I couldn't care less) Does that make sense?

And you can say anything you want to about how you hate the Patriots and I won't feel a wee bit insulted. Sorry about that. 

But this Super Bowl I was determined to suffer through the pain and actually watch the game. (OH I JUST RHYMED AND IT WASN'T EVEN A CRIME! Boom ya!)

But after that first critical mistake by the Broncos I knew there was no way I was actually going to watch the game. Let's just say I'd rather be watching Honey Boo Boo and if you've seen the show, you know what I mean...

At the moment Alexa and I ditched the football scene so we could have our own party!



(That's if you consider partying, sitting in a room listening to music and wearing weird costumes.) Well for me that's a PARTYYYY!!

We were sitting around playing Candy Crush, I know it was real intense, no need to tell me. (FYI if you want to talk Candy Crush, I'm your woman. You could say I'm kinda obsessed.)

Long story short we ended up making a video using the app Video Star. We couldn't agree on a song so we looked through all the free songs and some of the songs are pure genius. Especially the one titled Girl Making A Duck Face by Parry Grip.

Surprisingly enough, that wasn't the song we chose. (Maybe next time.)

The video is pure perfection but the song is even better. It's actually quite creepy if you listen to the lyrics. (Which we did about a million times so we could learn them.) The song's about a girl who's got a crush on someone she met on the internet. STRANGER DANGER!!

Enjoy this video I've seen a million times and still laugh as hard as I did the first time.

P.S. The answer to the title of the post: A game the Broncos don't know how to play. 

The Results Of Boredom & Creativity

I just wanted you all to know that Ullr had a small problem truly understanding WE needed snow AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!!

I don't believe all of you did what I told you to do.

I'm ashamed of you.

The snow was delivered almost a week late and the snow was given to the east coast before us. That's 100% not acceptable!

Moving on....

So lately I've been into making movies.

Is that normal?

Eh.

Who cares?

Anyways....

Last weekend my activities consisted of homework, skiing, homework, scary movies, homework, some painting, homework, popcorn, and even more homework.

(By the way, teachers, I would really appreciate it if you would stop giving me so much homework over the weekend. The weekend is when I'm supposed to being #partyinghard not #doinghomework)

So it was a Sunday afternoon and I was supposed to work on my science fair project (Yuck!) with my dearest friend Tushig. But she didn't want to be seen with my in public (okay, just kidding that'd be 100% insulting although sadly I understand why.) So bored quickly engulfed me.

I was looking around my room trying to find something to do while thinking, "What is it that I could do on this horribly quiet Sunday afternoon?" 

FUN FACT: It was actually anything but quiet around the Fisher household. There were three fifth grade boys running around "working" on their science fair project.

My funtastic options included: cleaning my room (Nah.), making another batch of popcorn, helping my brother and his friends with his science fair project (No way José!!), or making some sort of painting.

So I went with the best option.

Painting.

And I had absolutely no idea what I should paint.

Then I remembered a post that a friend did on a DIY for tape art.

So that's were my inspiration came from with my own sort of twist to it.

But I wanted to make it even more exciting!



I decided to make a stop motion while doing the painting! I had never done a stop motion before so it took a lot of experimenting first.

I know you really don't care to know step by step on how I did this so here's a quick summary with how I did it and all the strange things that happened to me along the way.

My artsy pictures along with the totally awkward ones

I had to put my precious camera on my tripod that was raised all the way up, while aiming down at my painting table. (This is a lot harder than it sounds which also gave me many bruises that weren't appreciated from falling off the chair. Oh the joys of being clumsy.)

Then I had to make sure I took plenty of pictures while doing the painting. (Sometimes I forgot. Oops!) I know by the end of the project I had over one-hundred pictures. (For me, that's actually a bare minimum.)

But luckily pictures don't have the ability to capture smell.

Um... Morgan... That's a little random.

You should just be thankful that you couldn't smell what I smelt while doing this project.

My brother and his friends, thought it would be hilariously funny if they kept coming into my room and farting. And let me tell you, those farts were not pleasant in any sort of way.

I suffered through the farts and the falling of the chair without a broken bone or a loss of smell.

But overall my project was a success! The painting along with video turned out better than I expected or even hoped!

If you ever try this type of painting or a stop motion, I wish you the best of luck! ;) Oh and let me know how it goes!

P.S. Incase you didn't figure it out my stop motion is above and all the pictures above that are of my not-a-failure painting!

Excuse Me Ullr, I'm Over Here

This is a team effort.

I can't do this by myself.

I need everyone's help.

And when I say everyone, I mean EVERYONE!

But most importantly...

Your help!

What do I need your help for?

Calling to the snow gods!

Duh...!

(I know I'd be a great sales person, you don't need to tell me.)

My very intelligent father tells me that there's a Norwegian Snow God, named Ullr, and many sources from the internet confirm this. But, according to Wikipedia, there's also a Finnish Snow God named Heikki Lunta. So not only are we calling to one snow god, but two!

Why am I so persistent on calling to the Snow Gods? Simple. We. Need. Snow. It's just down right depressing how little snow we have.

Normally during Sundance we have a huge sledding party (Sleddance) on my GIGANTIC sledding hill but the past two years it hasn't happened. And currently it's dirt and bushes with a sprinkling of snow.

This is very imperative to call to the snow gods because currently they are very confused on where it is supposed to snow. Cause excuse me Ullr, but it's supposed to snow in Utah not the East Coast!

So I need your help to change this weather pattern, call to the Snow God, but most importantly, make it SNOWWW! And here's how I plan to do it.

The Four Steps To Call To The Snow Gods So They Will Make It Snow!

1. Sacrafice!

This is said to be the most important step because this is what initially attracts their attention. You could sacrifice your brother, mother or even grandmother depending on how urgently you need it to snow. Okay... just kidding! DO. NOT. SACRIFICE. YOUR. GRANDMOTHER. UNDER. ANY. CIRCUMSTANCES. I mean if anything sacrifice a brownie and some hot chocolate to the snow god. Maybe even a pig... Oink oink!

2. The Snow Dance Ritual 

Um.... I couldn't think of a better way to explain this than to show you myself. So enjoy this horribly humiliating video of me doing my snow dance ritual...

P.S. I don't have any friends to do The Snow Dance Ritual with but I'm sure you do. So do a snow dance ritual with them, because the more people you have, the stronger the force!

3. Hopes Of A Snow Day 

There are multiple things you have to do to convince the snow gods you are truly committed. You might remember doing crazy silly things in elementary school when there were hopes of a snow day. Yeah, well those silly little things are apart of this process of making it snow. And if you want it to snow you have to do each and every single one of these things.

Make sure when you go to bed tonight you wear your pajamas inside-out and backwards (bonus points if they're footsie pajamas) along with a spoon under your pillow. But before you do that you have to run circles around the table and flush ice cubes down the toilet. Make sure they are actual ice cubes, no crushed ice, it's a very common mistake. But most importantly you have to throw ice outside so they get the hint of exactly what it is you want.

4. Pray

Simple as it sounds. Pray to both snow gods individually and wait for the magic to begin.

Do I think these things actually work?

Of course I do!

Who do you think I am!?!?!

Jeez.

I mean my dad (the one who knows everything) did tell me about one time when my he was little, vacationing in Maine, he had a 103 fever and the forecast was rain. So you know what he did? He went and did a snow dance calling to the snow god, Ullr. Then he claims that his fever disappeared almost instantly and the forecast changed to snow.

That's enough proof for me and should be for you to.

Because you are going to call to the snow gods wether you like it or not.

At this point, you don't have a choice.