Have been pretty busy this week... my best friend Ashley is here from Florida! We have been having an awesome time together, even though I'm having to work and do some school.

We looked at colleges on Monday and Wednesday together, which was exciting. I loved Elon, was surprised at how much I actually liked UNC Greensboro, wasn't liking Wake Forest too much (which at over 42,000 a year, is probably good), and don't think I'll even apply to Meredith. I think I'll also look at UNC Charlotte because I've already seen their dance studios and program and it's very good, and ECU because I know some people who are going there and know I can get in, so eh, why not. I'm going to apply a lot of places to give myself some options. All this looking at colleges has convinced me that I MUST start finding ways to coordinate everything in my schedule with dance. I am going to start taking a modern class at Infinity on a regular basis, and a Wednesday night class whenever I can. Otherwise, I'm going to look somewhere else that can accomodate my schedule better. Dance is everything to me, and I have to find a way to make it work.

Work is sort of taking over my life, but I guess it's good for me. You really do learn things about the real world that no other environment can teach you. I'm enjoying meeting so many different kinds of people and learning to judge them quickly. It's fascinating the things you notice in that setting....

And the one last "big deal" in my life right now? Kent has signed his contract. He's now officially employed by the United States Marine Corps. I'll miss him, but I'm very, very proud of him.

Anyways, just thought I should do a quick update. I haven't in quite a while, so there ya go. Something new to comment on.

It amuses me that after only two days on this new xanga, certain nosy people have already found me. Eh, I guess I should be honored that I am so entertaining.

Anyways, I got a job this week at Panera Bread! Finally, someone is willing to hire a 17 year old. And their food is not half bad. MUCH better than working at McDonalds( no offense to former or current McDonalds employees). I also have started dancing again, and am not quite as out of shape as I thought I would be. All of my self-taught barres in front of my  dresser mirror have paid off! And my yoga/stretching. I'm definitely more flexible, at least. It could still be a while before the pointe shoes come on... but ya can't have it all.

Speaking of dance, I have been working very hard on my choreography lately. I'm suprising myself with how natural it is for me. Even though this break from dance has sucked, it's forced me to be more creative on my own, and filtered into my choreography experiments. I've actually done something with the ideas that have been playing around in my head for years. I guess sometimes good things can result from bad things.. I'm not saying there's a "reason for everything" because I hate that, but just that it's usually not impossible to find something good in a situation, or because of a situation in my case.

I'm much happier now. I have dance, I have a job, school is going along fairly smooth....life is starting to take on a pattern and a purpose again. I need to have those things in my life that I can depend on, maybe not today or tomorrow, but it will always be there. Dance, especially, does that for me and to have it back in my life again is very comforting. It gives me some hope that there are a few good things in life that don't change. Whether they are constant or not, they're always there, a significant part of you that the world cannot change.

My first entry on this site...  I can't think of a better intro to this new xanga than to talk about the person who has stood beside me and encouraged me in the drastic change that happened over the course of my last xanga.

Anyone who knows me well, knows Kent always takes me on his famous, amazing, surprise dates. And tonight was no different. I thought we were just going to go sit in a Chic-Fil-A somewhere, eat fries and talk... but as soon as I got in the car, Kent said he had a surprise for me. We grabbed some stuff at Taco Bell (*gasp* yes, Rachael ate junk food) Then we drove all the way over to Raleigh/Garner (near Lake Johnson, for those of you who live in the Triangle) and took me on the date that was ended when my mom had her seizure/brain bleed/ kidney failure this past fall. (Kent is obsessed with every date being perfect and making up to me things that don't work out that way.) So... we went putt putting! Correction, we really went go-carting, but hey, we sorta played putt putt too. Cheated like hell, of course, but we played and tried to throw each other in the little pond thing (guess who won). I screamed when I saw where we were going, though. It was such a gorgeous day, and it was just... perfect. We rode around the go cart track at least a million times, with me driving by myself once and Kent driving both of us the last couple of times. Anyone who knows Kent knows that you just can't be with him and not have fun... at least as long as you aren't too uptight or too quiet. Waiting in line is fun when you're with Kent... but anyways. We basically beat everyone's ass all the way around the track, except this one 10 year old kid who we screamed at and knocked into the wall all the way around the track. And the damn kid still stayed just ahead of us. It was great. After that we quickly finished the putt putt game we had quit earlier because Kent threw both of our balls over the fence ( he says I was supposed to have caught them... wouldn't you duck if someone bounced a golf ball at you?). He scared the crap outta me by holding me over the very edge of the pond, and then we decided to go inside and play some games. On the way in we saw this huge jungle gym we had joked about going in earlier. We figured it didn't matter so much if we got kicked out now and there were no little kids around so we crawled over the rope ladders like we were either fat kids in kindergarten, or totally stoned. We hid in the slide when we heard people coming, and Kent got stuck (he was in front of me) so we laughed hysterically til we pushed ourselves through and ran inside. Then he FORCED me to play DDR and I watched him cheat at skee ball. We got a bunch of tootsie rolls with our ticket things, and he got me a 5 token gold ring and asked me to marry him. On the way home we stopped by dairy queen and got sundaes. Kent almost made me pee I was laughing so hard because he ordered both our sundaes acting like he had a heavy Pakistani accent and knew rudimentary English. I don't know how he can do stuff like that and seriously keep a straight face.

I can't imagine anyone else making me laugh the way he does. I can't imagine being that comfortable around anyone else.  I can't imagine letting anyone else see the things I let him see. I don't know how he does it... how he makes the ordinary stuff seem extraordinary, how he drives me crazy but completely entrances me, how he can just be himself and not have a care in the world no matter what else is going on in his life at the time. How when I'm with him, I feel the same way. I know other good boyfriends... I've heard all the sweetest date stories, I've heard all the perfect match stories.... but I wonder if those couples that are so completely wrapped up in their classic, charming, 100% compatible relationships, can order their sundaes in a fake Pakistani accent with a straight face and hide in jungle gym slide when they're 20 and 17 years old.