The Best Times of My Life

Hello everyone! I know that I haven't written a blog post in over a year. The past year of my life has been challenging, formative, and necessary. I'm glad that what has happened in the last year happened while I'm still a minor, and I have lots of wonderful people around me to support me. However, I am not here to talk about the last year, but rather the last few months.

The last couple months have been the greatest months of my entire life. This is my last summer as a high schooler. I took this summer very seriously in the sense that I wanted to have a REAL summer. A summer filled with beaches and friends and pools. A summer where all I did was laugh until it hurts. A summer that I will always remember. I have met great people this summer. People that I'm glad are in my life. People that I want to be friends with until I'm old. Paxton, Gabrielle, Madeline and Ethan have become my best friends, and I wouldn't trade them for the world. The first half of my summer has been wonderful. I had a great birthday celebrated with my mom (We have the same birthday) and my best friends. On Friday, July 21st, I flew to NYC to stay with my Auntie Zoe and to take a film making class at the New York Film Academy.

Upon arrival, My aunt informed me that she had an extra ticket to The Burning Man festival. She invited me to go as long as my parents allowed me to. I called my mom as soon as I could to tell her the news. She told me that she would have to discuss it with my dad. I understood and did my best to not get my hopes up for the rest of the night. Saturday afternoon my dad called me and told me that I could go to the festival. I'm very excited. My Aunt Zoe has gone every year for the past 10 years. My Parents have gone twice. The festival is all about giving. It is held in the desert outside of Reno, Nevada. No one is allowed to buy or sell anything. People give gifts. Gifts might be jewelry, food, drinks, trinkets, or anything. People wear crazy clothes. There are parties all the time. I'm so excited to go. I will write all about my experience after the festival.

Meanwhile, I'm in NYC for the next three weeks. Friday night we went to an immersive theater performance called Sleep No More. The play is loosely based on Macbeth. It takes place in a 1903's style hotel. You are free to move around going to different floors and rooms. Everyone in the audience wears a white mask. You must keep your mask on at all times and remain silent during the entire three hour performance. Groups usually follow actors as they run around the Hotel performing scenes. If you're lucky you may get selected by an actor for a One on One. The actor may pull you into a room or closet alone and tell you a story or feed you something. I was VERY lucky. I have two One on Ones. First I was pulled into a wardrobe by a woman and told a story. She gave me a locket and told me to protect it. She pushed me out of the false back wall of the wardrobe and she was gone. Second, an old nurse was sitting in a hut in the back corner of a room that looked like a forest. She came out of the hut, grabbed my hand and took me into the home. I sat in a chair and she made tea for me to drink. As I drank my tea, she told me a story. The story was about a little girl who was alone and everyone in the whole world was dead. Everything was dead and she was sad and alone forever. She then stood me up and hugged me. She told me to take care of myself. I left the hut and went on my way. Sleep No More was bizarre. It was so unique and so fun. I would go again and again.

I will continue to blog the next few weeks. I want to post every couple of days. I am excited for my class, burning man, and the rest of my summer.