Copper Cup

My favorite quote of the day is, "It was funny when you were talking to yourself for no reason," by Eliza. I have no topic that I am overly passionate to talk about right now, so I will tell you about the craziness of right now. Copper Cup is coming up in awhile, and it is really taking a toll on my house. Copper Cup is this huge ice skating competition that, through a strange turn of events, my mom and her friend now have to run on their own pretty much.

Before last year Copper cup was run by some lady, but last year she decided a little too late that she hated the Bountiful Rec. center, so she quit. Don't ask me how my mom got put in charge, but she did. After Copper Cup was over last year my mom said she would never do it again...But here we are again, and here she is running it. 

Last year my mom got put in charge of Copper Cup, and it actually ended up really good. Bountiful has an Olympic Medalist that skates with them, which helps in a lot of ways. The skater's name is Jozef Sabovcik, but everyone just calls him Jumpin' Joe. He does backflips and is 47 or 48 years old. He is the only 40-somthing man I know who can pull of skinny jeans and long hair. He is just really awesome. Here are some videos of him, I didn't see one of him at the Bountiful Rec. Center immediately, but here are some other ones. The one that has yellow spot lights on him is from 2009 and he does a backflip and some really cool spins. He doesn't really do any jumps besides his backflip in it, so I got you another one that has jumps in it. It is from 1997 and is a a US open competition I think. It shows some good jumps and two backflips (Plus his five year old son, who is pretty adorable). The 1996 one is the one with a close up of him in a blue shirt, and it has commentators, so it tells you more about him. I was going to just tell you were to go to see the backflips, but it is pretty awesome, and your just going to have to see his other jumps I guess.

Back to the story! Last year for Copper cup Joe got some foreign skaters to come. They were from Austria and they looked pretty awesome.

I was going to tell you about all of the day of Copper Cup drama, but my mom says I need to be done, so I will summarize it very quickly.

The day of Copper Cup my parents asked me if I wanted to go, and I was tired and it was early, so I said no. A while later my dad called about something, and he had to come home to pick it up or something. After I was done talking to my dad my mom called and told me that Rachel (Adrienne's skating friend's sister) really really wanted me there. Rachel is about 12 or 13, and she is really cute. She is shy and she never really talked to me, so I didn't think she noticed me at all, but I guess she did.

Since Rachel wanted me there a whole lot it sounded like, I hurried and got ready and went to the rink when my dad came to pick something up. When I got there I was assigned to sell stuff.

Rachel and I got to sell like flowers, stuffed animals, tee shirts, and Jamba Juice. It was a long time with not a lot to do, so I finally got to talk to Rachel. She was just as quiet as she always was at first, but she loosened up after a while and was really funny.

Skaters came by once in a while, and they had an air of "I am better than you" about them sometimes. One girl acted a little too much like a teenager for me, like acting too cool for Rachel and me. When I saw my mom I told her this and I guess the girl is actually really sweet and nice, she just wanted to look grown up because I was a year or two older than her.

Another skater was acting like Rachel and I, although more Rachel, were lower class citizens or something. She thought she was all cool because she actually skates, we were just there to sell stuff and because our sisters skate. It didn't really bother me too much until I saw how much it bothered Rachel. This girl knew that I was older than her, but Rachel was about the same age, so it was easier to boss Rachel around. Rachel got sick of it and said very matter-of-factly, "Well, my mom, and her mom set this whole thing up." That statement got us some instant credit and made the girl stop it for a second.

There were some nice skaters, the one who acted like a teenager was actually nice, too, I just judged her before I knew that she was nice. Besides the nice skaters and the Jamba Juices there were some other perks. One of the perks was Rachel and I got to go into the Judges' room. The room had snacks galore and we looked important being able to go in there (although I had to tell some people that my mom set this up and she told me to go in there, a few times).

We also had hours of nothing to do. We ended up doing a lot of weird trying to sell the stuffed animals, and by the end of the day we had named two of them. We found these two cows that were shaped like spheres. They made me laugh because they reminded me of Angry Birds. We named them Pig 1 and Pig 2. By the end of the day Rachel realized that just because I was a little older than her didn't mean I was better or super mature. The stuffed animals we didn't sell went back into storage, but we made sure to keep Pig 1 and Pig 2 were they wouldn't be lost, but so they wouldn't be sold either.

Now Rachel and I are not like super close because I rarely go to skating practice, and I think she is the same way, but I think we are friends. She has pet bunnies, and once she brought them to the rink.... Now that I think about it, the only time I go to the rink is if she wants me to, or if her mom says she's going to bring pets or something.

There is a lot more I could say about skating (it is more interesting than you think, kind of like a soap opera meets sit-com), but I have to go to bed. Maybe I'll talk about skating another time, but for now, goodnight happy next week starting tomorrow!

Adopted

I don't know what to post tonight, so I will tell you about how I go to extremes. You know Billy Joel? He has a song called "I go to Extremes" that I think describes me pretty well. I tend to defiantly go to extremes in almost everything. I do it sometimes just to prove to people that I am not who they think I am. When people assume something about me I try to prove them wrong. It bugs me like none other when people make assumptions, even if it is right, why do you think that you know? I have noticed that a lot with being adopted. Today in church my mom talked about my adoption for something, and everyone kept looking at me and after this girl came up and hugged me and said that you would never know. This didn't bug me, like at all, but it reminded me of what I have heard people assume. It almost always starts out with, "I don't want to offend you, but..." or, "So.. wait, never mind, I don't want to make you upset," or something along those lines. If you have said one of these then please don't be offended. Here are some of the things I have heard:
"Don't take this personally, but are your parents' murders?"
"You're adopted? You don't seem quiet or antisocial at all!"
"Umm... don't be offended, but what was the orphanage like?" (I am not an orphan FYI)
"But you don't seem adopted at all, you can't even tell!"
"Okay, but don't be offended... I was going to say that you must be adopted because your mom didn't love you."
I like these quotes because they are real and they show how little people know. I also have noticed from this and other things that have been said that being adopted is like a bad thing. I want to tell people, "Well, that just shows that my parents who I am living with are good have shown that they are good and can take care of me, your parents did not, they could be crappy and you are stuck with them, no guarantee that they are good like mine." Okay, I have only wanted to say that to the your-mom-must-not-love-you one, but still. Why is it a bad thing that I am adopted? Why is that to be pitied and looked down upon? It is not always, but really, why?! Maybe my parents don't have to both be dead or have murdered someone for me to be adopted! Also everyone assumes that it just kills me to even say it, but it really doesn't. With a few exceptions, I don't really feel much overwhelming emotion over that. People also ask me often, when they hear I am adopted, if I remember my parents, if I see my parents, and of course what they did. "Yes, I was 11 when I was adopted, Stupid" I want to tell them, because why do you assume I was a baby or something? I also like to answer the "do you ever see them?" question with saying that I see my dad sometimes, but my mom is dead, because it has a shock effect for some reason.
It is really annoying that being adopted is "bad." Like I said, it guarantees that my parents are able to take care of me, they have had to prove it. In seminary my teacher asked who in the class was adopted, and I was the only one who was brave enough to raise my hand. One kid (who was adopted) shouted that he wasn't and there was no chance that he was and stuff like that, and I think that there was at least one other person in the class besides us, but why is it something to be ashamed of I had to wonder. After I was the only one to raise my hand the seminary teacher said, "Ok, only Skittles," or something like that, and yeah, I felt embarrassed, because it was like saying that I was different and everyone stared it seemed like. I know that you all say that adoption is good or whatever, but maybe think before you say the first thing that comes to your head, because if you say, "your mother must not have loved you," even joking, you may have just said it to someone who was actually having a hard time because it was their dead mom's birthday and there may just be some back story you fail to see. I don't see why you judge or assume I need your pity, because odds are I really don't.

Cruise

Sorry, I haven't posted for a few weeks, but I will make up the 500 words from last week and this week (as if anyone really cares and counts, but you get the point). So, you wanna hear about the Disney Cruise? I can practically hear your excitement at the idea, so I will not keep you waiting any longer.

This spring break my whole extended family went on a cruise ship for the week. First thing you should know to understand the weird dynamics is there are only four people per cabin. My family has five people in it, so I stayed in a cabin with my cousins and great aunt. The exact people in it were my great aunt April, my cousin Roo, my cousin Serena, and me. April was pretty quiet, she was just chill throughout the week, but I really like her, she is funny and really easy going. Roo was who I was excited to room with because she is really funny, and she knows it. Part (okay, most) of what makes her funny is how funny she thinks she is. She will say something kind of funny thing, then exclaim. "I am so funny," or, more commonly, "I am a comedian!" She always says comedian really funny, so it is hard not to laugh. The first night at dinner Roo and I sat diagonally across from each other. She started out dinner by staring at me until I started laughing. Now, I laugh pretty easily, and Roo is the master at making me laugh without saying a word. She  looks at me and says something like, "Tickle, tickle, tickle!" and I will start laughing so hard it is a little bit rediculus. Usually looking at me is not going to make me laugh hysterically, but that night it did. By the time we got back to our cabin Roo was the one that was laughing so hard she looked drunk. The ship was rocking  lot, so she kept on falling, plus she kept saying that she was a comedian and laughing hysterically. We saw my four year old cousin on our way to the cabin and when we saw her holding a free beer card (don't ask me where it was from) Roo lost it completely and was just laying on the floor in front of an elevator laughing for a really long time.

On the first full day we were just at sea. Roo, Serena, and two of my other teenage girl cousins, Josie and Chelsea, wanted to suntan. I was a little slow with understanding what they were doing, and I didn't want to layout and suntan, so I kept a coverup on. I got bored with the suntanning, and after a while I fell asleep. I was bright red when I woke up and I was a little bit mad when I saw that they had all gone back inside. I went back to my cabin, and low and behold, who was there? That's right, the four who had totally just left. Only Josie looked a little bit embarrassed and she assured me they were going to come back and sorry they left me. I thought it was nice she said something, but I was still mad at the rest of them. They were heading off somewhere, and I decided not to follow. I fell asleep in the cabin and woke up only when someone came in. Either later that first day at sea or the next day we did a scavanger hunt that was one of the boat's organized activities. We won, but after we won we were all so hot we decided to go swimming, and when the swimming pool was like full to overflowing "we" decided to go tanning. I decided that I would go tan in front of the TV in our cabin, which worked out pretty well.

On the second day at sea I got in trouble at dinner because I guess Roo and I were distracting (although I think I may be the only one who had anything said to them...). The third day we were in Portia Vallarta (Sorry if that is bad spelling). While we were there most of my cousins and I went zip lining. Zip lining was a lot of fun, and after we were done we went to an outdoor restaurant like place where we got to swim, eat, play on the beach, and (you guessed it) sun tan some more! I didn't suntan nearly as much as Roo and the others because I don't want skin cancer and everyone was already making fun of my sunburn. (If you are going to suntan, don't wear a coverup, you may end up with some funky designs on your back.) My cousin/sister Migi and I spent a lot of time together that day and on the second day, so I spent a bit of time just talking to her in the shade. My sister Adrienne saw a snake sitting in a cage and asked me to hold it. I tried to say that I didn't want to ask one of the employees at the place we where at if I could, but she offered to come with me to ask and went right up to some guy and asked if I could. He told us to find the guy who took care of the animals, and when we did Adrienne told him I wanted to hold the boa constricter. It wasn't huge, but it was really cool. She took a picture of me, and after a minute everyone started to gather round us. My cousin/sister Rae asked to hold it next. After Rae held it Eliza (my 7 year old sister) wanted to hold it. It looked huge when Eliza held it, and everyone was amazed she was so brave. When the guy who takes care of the animals took it off Eliza's neck he tried to give it to Roo, who we now know is very un-okay with snakes.

My Grandma lives in Portia Vallarta, so I went and visited her while my cousins went shopping (she is my grandma not on their side). We had fun and I met this 11 year old girl who spoke almost no english. She knew a little bit, and I knew a very small amount of spanish, so we kind of talked, but mostly she did tricks in the pool and I gave her thumbs up. My dad speaks spanish so he translated a little, but we still didn't say a ton.

Later that day (the fourth day) we were at sea again. I don't know where to say this, since it happened all week, but I think here is as good a place as any to explain how a couple things worked. There were two four year olds on the trip, Trin and May. Rae and Trin live in Arizona, so they are close. May is living with Serena's family. Everyone wanted to hold and take care of Trin and May. Trin is used to undivided attention since she is so much younger than everyone, but May is the same way. They developed a little rivalry for attention and everyone thought it was so cute. I have never met May before, so I was very interested in her. Trin I know more, and she is a little more hyperactive. May is sweet and is very into cuddling and love. May will crawl on your lap and give you a kiss or hug you. Trin, if you try and hold her, will kick you in the jaw until you let her go. I am not saying that one is better than the other, but I do think it is a little sad that Trin got more attention sometimes, which made me have more of a chance to hold May.

The fifth day we went to Cabo San Lucas. Migi was at my side from the beginning of the say asking if this boy she knows named Lucas was really my friend's little brother. Migi likes to talk, but she seems to talk to me by arguing and insulting me. It is cute because I know that she really can't hate Lucas all that much if she happens to know what shirts he wears everyday. She also loves to hate one of my friends. She calls him names and says how stupid he is, but again, I don't think she hates him all that much if she loves insulting him every chance she gets.

In Cabo we went snorkeling. There where some cool fish and it was pretty awesome. There was this blue fish that I saw that was really cool, and some guy gave me and my uncle each a cracker which made the fish swarm around you. On the boat from where we were snorkeling back to the main island there was like an hour or so ride. I fell asleep on that, but it was nice.

Hey, I will finish this later, but I am tired, so goodnight.