Fires and Finals

Christmas break is right around the corner! We put a mini Christmas tree in our room for decoration. 

We also decorated Maddie's room to surprise her when she got back from Massachusetts. 

Just the other day, campus looked like this....

And then, on Monday night, it looked like this. 

     A huge fire started at the campground right next to campus. Campus got evacuated and we all drove to a church in Ventura. Then Ventura got evacuated, and the group I was in drove to the house of some alumni in Ojai. Late into the night, we weren't sure if we were going to get told to leave Ojai too, so we drove to Goleta, CA (near Santa Barbara) at 3am. We spent a couple days hanging out in Goleta until Emily's mom picked us up and now I'm at her house in Perris. On the way, we passed by some sketchy smoke-filled areas. 

     This fire is still 0% contained so far and has ravaged through 96,000 acres last I heard. They are calling it the Thomas Fire, which we don't really appreciate, since we didn't start it. Actually, campus is totally fine, even though everything surrounding it is burnt up and there's no power. So the authorities are trying to get us all back on campus in time to have finals next week. 

Marya put it well.

     Yeah, they still want to have finals. We've been without our books since Monday and had no classes, but I guess we could still take exams, right?

     We are all eager to get back to campus--and our possessions. It's been a rough few days, but we're counting our blessings. You don't realize how much you love everyone until times like these. I'm just happy I'll be heading home to SD soon, where there is no chance of fires. Until then, we're chilling with Emily's tiny dogs and waiting to hear from TAC.

Writing Update

Yesterday I finished the first round of edits, which means I've got a second draft now! I'm kind of amazed how quickly the editing went...but I'm glad to have the time to do more, because I'm reading a fantastic book on self-editing which will help a lot.
And!
I (finally) came up with a tentative title for my book! (I know, it's only been two years...)
So, for now, my first novel is called The Seventh Year. We'll see how many times it changes. But at least I can take out the "[Title of Book]" from the first page of my manuscript and replace it with some actual words.
Well, that's about it. Over and out!

Various Life-y Stuff

Wow, all my recent posts have been about writing or books. What else is happening in my life?
Thinking about it, I almost said "not much." But then I remembered...
-I'm working on several essays for contests, in addition to editing my book and freewriting.
-I received the "official" (mail) report of my PSAT scores today, and overall I'm in the 94th percentile, so that's cool.
-Thomas Aquinas College notified me that they are reviewing my application for the Summer Program so I should receive something about that soon.
-In piano, I'm working on memorizing pieces for Festival in early March.
-In voice, I'm working on my solo for contest, which will double as my solo for the Senior Honor Choir audition. Plus learning music for Regional Honor choir, which is next week!
-Preparing for Lent, which is weirdly early this year! I like it early, though, because that means my birthday isn't in Lent.
-Still slowly teaching myself German for fun, and trying to catch up in American history. In Church History I began the chapter on the Protestant Reformation today.
-Online classes (algebra 2 and chemistry) are plugging along at a good pace. We get a nice break for Presidents' Day, during which I'll probably work ahead in chemistry.
-I've been baking a lot recently, but expecting that to slow down with the beginning of Lent. Every year Mom and I do no desserts. Plus, I'm excited for lots of vegetarian dishes! For some reason I really like vegetarian food.
-Patrick is coming for a visit the day after Mom's birthday!
-I did a cool braid thing in Tessie's hair today.
Well, I think that about catches you up for the non-book-related things I've been doing. But really, it's mostly writing. And missing summer.

Writing Update

I realized I haven't posted one of these in a while.
Editing is going swimmingly. It's much less excruciating than I expected. My NaNo novel is on hold for now while I finish up editing the first one, which brings me to another piece of information: I REALLY NEED A TITLE FOR MY BOOK! I have come up with so many ideas over the past two years, but none of them seems right! It's stressing me out! *sigh* So if you have any ideas, please tell me.
Let me guess what you're thinking. "But Maria, how can I help you title your book without reading it?" I don't have an answer to that, but no one's allowed to read it until I finish editing. I haven't even read the whole thing straight through yet. I think I'd cringe too much if I read it before the plot made sense.

I do sort of have a deadline for editing, though. I'm planning to send my manuscript to Tuscany Press in June, so I'd better be done editing it before then. *gulp* They're pretty brave for accepting whole manuscripts.
I also plan to write a short story one of these days...there are a lot of short story contests out there. The trouble is, I have absolutely zero ideas for a short story (I do have a third novel idea, though), so I've just been freewriting until something hits me. Hence the Weekly Prompt Writing.
To conclude, I will post a link to a post that was very accurate for me: "10 things about rough drafts I learned from my first novel."

Huge Snowflakes

Have you ever seen them this big? Crazy!

Les Misèrables

I just finished reading Les Misèrables by Victor Hugo, and I loved it. (If you're thinking, but the musical was so boring and plot-less, that's because the musical has like 11.2% of the plot in it.)
There's a lot I could say about this book...first of all, that it is not for the faint of heart. This was 1200 pages jam-packed with compelling plot and character development, generous amounts of philosophizing and going off on tangents (what is it with Hugo and the Battle of Waterloo??), fascinating descriptions, and understated eloquence. You name a subject, Hugo probably mentions it in Les Misèrables. This is a book of epic proportions, especially theme-wise. He covered everything from street slang in Paris to the history of the sewer system, from life in a convent to the romanticism of poor law students. All within the frame of a thrilling plot about love, death, vengeance, justice, and redemption.

Some interesting points about Les Misèrables:
It's long. I know I already said this, but it merits saying more than once. It took me months to read, and not because I lacked interest. Surprisingly, though, it's not lengthy because it was serialized, like many books were.
It was written over a space of about twenty years. Victor Hugo finished the first draft in 1848, then didn't touch it for twelve years. It was finally completed in 1862. Within the novel you can see how the passage of time served to let the author's ideas mature and his writing develop into a uniquely concise and keen eloquence.
It's sprinkled with scores of perfect quotes. One peculiarity of Hugo's writing style is that sometimes (actually rather often) he ends a paragraph with a brief but incisive statement, thus leaving the present topic. It makes for numerous little gems and a lot of food for thought. Often I read one of these, put the book down, and pondered on just that one sentence for a while. I tried to find an example, but it's hard to wade through that much writing.
It has an overarching theme of hope, which Victor Hugo expertly lets bleed through every incident in the novel. It is called Les Misèrables, but it does not by any means give an impression of despair. Quite the contrary. Hugo was a master at theme.
It is incredibly detailed. As stated above. Have you ever wanted to know the life story of the bishop who has about three minutes of screen time in the movie? Did you ever wish you had a 50-page report on the Battle of Waterloo, emphasizing the role of the weather in the outcome of that battle? Or wondered about the Argot slang of Paris's criminals? Or wanted to know the history of Paris's sewer system, plus be treated to the author's opinion on said sewer system? And let's not even mention the smaller deviations. In fact, these feats of un-plot-related treatise earned themselves a T-shirt.

The chapter names are priceless. Some of my personal favorites:
     Excess of zeal on the part of Gavroche
     What to do in a bottomless pit except talk? 
     Questions that may be contained in a revelation
     An aspirant centenarian
     The goblin appears to Marius
     The hatching of crimes in the incubator of prison
     A group which nearly became historic
Just a sampling.
The plot is dramatic. For those of you who have seen the movie, you may be of the opinion that the drama was supplied entirely by the music and the cinematography. And you'd be right...about the movie. But the book is a different story. (See what I did there?) I especially remember one episode which I thought would make a great movie on its own. But the writers of the musical seemed to think it unnecessary.
It's worth the commitment to read. If you're going to read Les Misèrables, please don't flake out and skip all the random stuff. (See above.) It may not technically add to the plot, but it's fabulous writing nevertheless, plus it gives a great picture of 19th-century France and Victor Hugo's opinions on, well, everything. You won't regret slogging through that 50-page account of Waterloo when you get to the end. One of the things I like about the fact that it's such a commitment to read, is that it gives you a sense of going through it all with the characters. The plot spans decades, and reading all 1200 pages ensures you don't miss a minute of those decades. Plus, why not read more great writing? More room means more worldbuilding, character development, and plot twists.
You should read it. You may not have known this when you started reading this blog post, but it's true. I don't know why teachers don't make their students read Les Misèrables in literature class. It's certainly got enough substance. In addition to being entertaining, didactic, thought-provoking, and cathartic.

The end of NaNoWriMo

If you're still wondering what NaNoWriMo is (and maybe how to pronounce it), go here. Beyond that, there isn't much I can do to help you.
Anyway, I can't believe it, but I finished my novel. That's right, I wrote 50,000 words in 30 days. As I've mentioned before, the writing is atrocious and little short of deletion-worthy, but editing will fix all that. But first, starting in December, I'm going to edit my first novel. It's going to take a long time. But it will be a nice change from writing over an hour a day. And now that I'm sick of hearing from one set of characters, I can go back to the other. It's really a win-win situation.
My advice to people interested in NaNoWriMo: Don't do it unless you know you'll have an hour a day to spend writing. It's too stressful to try busting out thousands of words in one sitting. And it's not rewarding. The whole ordeal is really only slightly rewarding...you slave away in front of the computer for 30 days and all you have to show for it is 50,000 words of questionable writing. But even though I'm saying all this, I really enjoyed doing NaNoWriMo. It was a fun new challenge, and it taught me a lot about using my writing time as efficiently as possible.
At some point I'll start my third novel...yes, I have an idea for a third novel. But for now I'll be an editor.

The second half...

A few days ago, November 14 to be exact, I passed 25,000 words in my NaNoWriMo novel. That's right, I was one day ahead of schedule. Now my total is around 31,500. I've had a few really busy days and was only able to write 600 or so words.
I can't believe we're in the second half of November! The month is shooting by, with quiz bowls, tests, random events, and TONS of writing. It's fun.
It's strange because some days I sit down to write and feel like I was doing really well, then realize that I've only written 900 words. Some days it's the opposite. On Sunday I wrote 1,779 in one sitting, which was a bit much. The most important thing right now is that I have a writing group to talk to. It makes such a difference when you can talk to other people who are undertaking the same insane task as you are, and encourage one another. It's bad writing. It's awful writing. But, as they say, "you can't edit a blank page." So we're keeping our eyes looking forward, not back (thanks to light gray font), and plowing on despite the disheveled trail of abysmal writing we're leaving. There's always time to edit come December.

A fun (and warm) Saturday

On Saturday Nicole and Mrs. Gerdes came up for the event downtown known as the "Arts Crawl," or something like that. It was pretty laid-back and fun. There was a piano you could paint...

Nicole and I wondered what they do with the piano afterwards.

We played Heart & Soul, obviously.

And also my piano teacher just got a new studio, which was about four steps away, so we visited her and played some duets on her really nice new Boston piano. We strolled along, checked out the new cute kitchen store and sampled pies there, watched the street musicians, did chalk on the sidewalk, browsed for a while in the consignment shop, accidentally walked through a skit which was being enacted by the high school Improv Club, and saw this:

We enjoyed reading the different thing people had written, and added our own.

After a while we walked back home. Then after dinner Mrs. Gerdes got on the piano and Nicole and I sang some duets, apparently spending way more time than we realized, because I almost forgot to skype with the writing group. Thankfully I was only a half-hour late for the meeting and they hadn't done very much by the time I got there. So all in all, a very enjoyable day!

The School Year...and some fun stuff.

Today, Mom and I went school shopping.You know what that means! Notebooks! Hooray!

*Ahem* Anyway, we also signed up for online classes today and are figuring out my schedule for the school year. This year I am doing:

-Algebra 2 (online with Kolbe Academy)

-Chemistry (online with Kolbe Academy)

-American History

-Latin American History (online with Homeschool Connections) (yes, both histories, because why not?)

-Church History for theology

-Russian Literature with Dad

-The usual piano, voice, maybe organ lessons

-Fiction Writing Critique Group with Prof. Conroy

-Concert Choir at the high school

...So yeah, a fairly easy year, considering. 

And speaking of Concert Choir, we had our retreat on Monday. (For choirs, "retreat" means you take a day to learn songs and do team building.) It was somewhat overwhelming and exhausting but very fun! I'm looking forward to that...except maybe the fact that I'm gonna have to actually get dressed every day. Like a normal, school-going person. Hmm...

Shakespeare Camp Performance!

I've almost recovered from the week, so now it's time to blog.
The performance went quite well, and we had a ton of fun, despite being at the park on Saturday from 10am to 10pm. It was an exhausting but fantastic week, filled with lots of laughs, grumbles, tears, and yawns. My friends and I always joke that after Shakespeare camp week we never want to see each other again...until at least a week later.

Signing shirts!

The mad dash for line memorization 3 hours before performing. Photo from Mrs. Scott.

There were spots on either side of the stage for posters.

Imploring St. Genesius for help right before getting on stage.

 "Love's Labour's Lost" is my favorite Shakespeare play. I read it for pleasure once in 8th grade, and loved it. It is jam-packed with wordplay (even for Shakespeare standards). I will give a (hopefully brief) summary of the plot.

Ferdinand, the King of Navarre, wants to be famous. So he gets his buddies (Berowne, Longaville, and Dumaine) to join him in taking an oath, that for three years they will 1) fast, 2) study, 3) sleep three hours a night, and 4) see no women. Berowne, the extremely-talkative right-hand-man of the king's, has his doubts, but takes the oath with a prediction to his fellow votaries that he will be the last to break it. The king has made certain laws to go along with his oath, the prominent one of which is that any woman found within the king's court would have her tongue cut out (Longaville's idea--don't ask). Berowne reminds the king that he himself must break this law, because the princess of France is coming over to discuss political matters with him. The King finds a way out: the princess will camp in a field near the court.
Meanwhile, the fantastical Spaniard Don Armado (whom the king keeps around for entertainment) catches the clown, Costard, with a country wench called Jaquenetta. He writes the king a letter denouncing Costard's actions and requesting that proper punishment be enacted. The king talks to Costard, who "confesses the wench," and orders him to fast a week on bran and water, with Don Armado as his keeper.
Armado confides in his witty page, Moth, that he is in love with Jaquenetta despite her inferiority. He hates Costard for being caught with her and is happy to oversee his punishment. He gives Costard a letter to deliver to Jaquenetta.

Don Armado (Thomas S.) flirting with Jaquenetta (Maren), to the disgust of Moth (Mikaela) and Costard (Finn). Photo from Claudia.

The Princess of France then arrives a little way outside the court. She sends her right-hand-man Boyet (whom we changed into a girl part) to make sure her coming is all right, since she heard about Navarre's oath. Boyet returns with the information that they must camp in a field, and the princess is annoyed to say the least. The king then comes to meet the princess and immediately falls in love, as do his buddies with the princess's ladies in waiting: Berowne with Rosaline, Longaville with Maria, and Dumaine with Katharine.
Berowne gives Costard a letter to deliver to Rosaline (Costard still has the letter from Armado to Jaquenetta). Costard accidentally switches the letters, and Boyet reads aloud for the princess and her train Armado's boring, repetitive, self-centered, and somewhat insulting love letter to Jaquenetta. The ladies have a good laugh and go off to hunt.
Costard then gives Berowne's letter to Jaquenetta. She, being illiterate, enlists the help of Holofernes, a pedant, and Sir Nathaniel, a priest, to read it for her. They do so, and, finding out its writer and intended receiver, tell Jaquenetta to deliver it to the king, saying it is treason.
The king and all his buddies are down in the dumps for being forsworn so easily. Not knowing the rest are all in the same boat, each man wishes he were not alone. By stealth and deceit, the King, Dumaine, and Longaville all find out each other's secrets. Berowne rebukes them soundly for being in love, until Jaquenetta comes in with his love letter to Rosaline, which he tears up before anyone can read it. He confesses to the other men, and they make a plan to woo their loves.
The princess and her ladies have received several favors and letters from their lovers, and mock the men with mirth. Then Boyet comes in announcing that the men are approaching dressed as Russians to woo the ladies without being identified. They plan to know their ladies by the favor each gave his. The ladies switch favors and put on masks, so the disguised men won't know who is who and will make love to the wrong ones.

Katharine (Tessie) showing the Princess (me) and Rosaline (Ann) her letter from Dumaine. Photo from Claudia.

The "Russians" (Ethan and Will) speaking to the wrong ladies (Susannah and me). Photo from Claudia.

The "Russians" find out they've been duped and come back in a huff. The princess tells the king of their sport, and they are all reconciled. Then Don Armado comes in to introduce a play of the Nine Worthies, put on by himself, Moth, Costard, Holofernes, and Sir Nathaniel. The four sets of lovers watch the play with snide remarks until Mercade, a member of the French court, enters at top speed.
Mercade informs the princess that her father has died. The princess and her ladies immediately prepare to leave. The men wish to get married before they depart, but instead the ladies give them each a task to perform for a year, after which time, if they were still faithful, they would agree to be married. Don Armado brings in two songs, Spring and Winter, to send them off with. So ends the play, and such is the reason for its title: "Love's Labour's Lost."

Our lovely producer (Mom) and director (Mrs. Kane)! Photo from Claudia.

AP Latin test

Well, Latin ended yesterday. I took the AP test. It really went better than I expected, so that's nice. I also got a pretty cool award:

The National Latin Exam Committee sent it to me as a prize for getting a gold medal on the National Latin Exam four years in a row. Apparently I'm the first in the state--not very surprising, since few people take the National Latin Exam four years in a row. But cool all the same. It's a very heavy book.

I can wave good-bye to the *ahem* lovely writings of Caesar and Vergil. For now, at least.

Dad's birthday!

Needless to day, May is a birthday-filled time in our house. Happy 55th birthday, Dad! Thanks for being my poetry teacher, essay-writing mentor, fellow-Bach-lover, world traveler, and an awesome dad!

In Morocco last summer. 

In Santa Fe giving a lecture.

When he was little. c:

With Mom about 25 years ago. 

With Patrick in Prague last year. 

With Ceal and Finn during poetry!

Language

At the end of my sophomore year I'll have seven high school foreign language credits. Now what?

Something tells me the AP Latin test is coming up soon...

I might take dual-enrollment college-level French next year!

Wintery-ness and school-ish stuff

Snowstorms, extremely low temperatures, whiteout conditions...looks like South Dakotan winter is back. That lull of warmth and very little snow over Christmas was strange indeed.
We've been slowly getting re-accustomed to the school year, which has been more difficult than usual with almost a week of schools letting out early and starting late. Tessie has had comparatively little school homework to do, but for homeschoolers snow days don't exist! We save our days off for when we actually want to be outside.
All of my classes have restarted except writing and French, which begin next week. Soon I'll have to pick another novel to read in French. Also Latin was cancelled on Thursday due to the weather, surprise surprise. But I'm trudging along through book II of the Aeneid all the same.
During the slight gap of school-not-being-on-full-force-but-break-is-over, what else would there be to do but read? I am rereading The Rosary by Florence Louisa Barclay, and also listening to Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey again for some new insights. I always like books better the second time around. (Or the third, or fourth...)
Apart from reading, I've been doing a lot of writing as well. One of my New Year's resolutions is to write for at least 30 minutes daily (because, as my writing teacher puts it, writers sit in the chair and write!). My goal is to finish the first draft of the book within 2015. I'm also dabbling a bit in my other story (remember Sebastian and Antonio?), trying to come up with the perfect way for my two protagonists to meet. I still don't really have a plot yet for that story...but I have a while to decide, as I'm focusing on Helena right now.
Ah, what else is there to say? We've been mailing lots of packages to siblings who forgot half their possessions here (it seems like) and talking to others who accidentally took stuff that wasn't theirs (namely Claudia, who is inaccessible by post in Morocco)!
Also I've been having some reeeeeealllly strange dreams lately. One of them involved living in L.A. and traveling to London by train in 3 hours. Weird.
That's all for now. I think.

Poetry, and other things

In a couple weeks I'm going to participate in our homeschool group's Poetry Out Loud contest. You memorize two of the poems found in their anthology and recite them in front of a representative of the organization. Then she decides who did the best and whoever wins goes on to the state competition. Last year I got second.
The first poem I'm doing is by Seamus Heaney, who actually translated the version of Beowulf I read for literature this year. It's called "Blackberry-Picking."

Late August, given heavy rain and sun

For a full week, the blackberries would ripen.

At first, just one, a glossy purple clot

Among others, red, green, hard as a knot.

You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet

Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it

Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for

Picking. Then red ones inked up and that hunger

Sent us out with milk cans, pea tins, jam-pots

Where briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots.

Round hayfields, cornfields and potato-drills

We trekked and picked until the cans were full,

Until the tinkling bottom had been covered

With green ones, and on top big dark blobs burned

Like a plate of eyes. Our hands were peppered

With thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeard's.

We hoarded the fresh berries in the byre.

But when the bath was filled we found a fur,

A rat-grey fungus, glutting on our cache.

The juice was stinking too. Once off the bush

The fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour.

I always felt like crying. It wasn't fair

That all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot.

Each year I hoped they'd keep, knew they would not.

Isn't it sweet? I love the imagery in it.

My other poem is "Surprised By Joy" by William Wordsworth. (You may recognize this as the title of a book by C. S. Lewis--he took it from this poem.)

Surprised by joy—impatient as the Wind

I turned to share the transport—Oh! with whom

But Thee, long buried in the silent Tomb,

That spot which no vicissitude can find?

Love, faithful love, recalled thee to my mind—

But how could I forget thee?—Through what power,

Even for the least division of an hour,

Have I been so beguiled as to be blind

To my most grievous loss!—That thought’s return

Was the worst pang that sorrow ever bore,

Save one, one only, when I stood forlorn,

Knowing my heart’s best treasure was no more;

That neither present time, nor years unborn

Could to my sight that heavenly face restore.

It's got a very different tone. I like how he manages to get his sorrow across in a way that is melancholy but not desperate.
Now for the other things. 

We had an awesome Christ the King Sunday with great music. I'm so excited for Advent! I'm already singing "Creator of the Stars of Night" in my head. Advent is such a lovely time. It's so cozy and anticipatory yet solemn.
Also, after a brief two-day respite from the snow, it's started up again. It was literally snowing the ENTIRE week last week. But then a lot of it melted over the weekend. We had temperatures of a scorching 36°! T-shirt weather, for sure.
My writing class and I are Skyping weekly during our very long break between semesters. Our teacher purposefully made our break long so we could have more time to write! Isn't she nice? Oh, and while I'm talking about her, check out this news story on her son: http://www.ibtimes.com/blind-13-year-old-might-be-able-go-college-dance-thanks-google-glass-1726424 Pretty cool, eh?
Well, I think that's it for now. I've been knitting and crocheting a lot and soon I'll make a post about the projects I've done.
A bientot!

Fall??

Today it snowed. According to weather.com, it is 21° but feels like 5°. And it's supposed to be in the 20s all week. Then you remember it's November 10th, and you're like, whaaa?? 

Though I shouldn't be complaining. Normally it would have snowed several times by now. That's South Dakota for you. That's our version of "Fall." Still another month of this stuff until it is technically winter. And we still haven't turned on the heat. Yeah. 65° in the house most of the day. (Brr!) At least Advent starts soon! And we made tea and scones this afternoon. I'm trying to rationalize myself into not minding the weather. Ah, well, c'est la vie. Happy...pseudo-fall!

The lovely view from my bedroom window. Just lovely.

Debussy

I have not, in my experience of piano and voice, done much by Debussy. The only song I played by him was Clair de Lune:

But now--behold! I have three new pieces by Debussy at once. The first is one I'm doing in voice: Beau Soir.

The other two are piano preludes. La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin...

...And Minstrels.

Maybe after all this I'll take a break from Debussy for a while...

The Little Old Book

Once when Claudia visited from Morocco, she brought me a book. It is a Latin Mass missal in French and Latin, for the Masses of Holy Week. It also has an anthology of prayers. This book is very old; it was published in 1911. It has very thin pages, discolored with age, and some of the things it says are no longer the case.
I told my French teacher about the book, because she had said she was having trouble finding prayers for us to memorize. I lent it to her, and she happily took lots of French prayers from it and used them in class. I actually think she scanned every page before giving it back to me.
From my book we have learned the prayers before and after meals, the angelus, the act of contrition, the prayer for a good confession, the ten commandments, the prayer before a crucifix, and more that I can't remember.  It has been so fun learning prayers in French! And it amuses me that there are so many from that one little book my sister found in a market in Morocco.

The cover says "Quinzaine de Paques."

Beautiful old binding. 

This is the very artistic inside cover.

The only illustration--the most beautiful Annunciation I've ever seen!

The Archbishop of Tours granted the imprimatur. If you look closely, it says December 2, 1911. 

The built-in liturgical calendar. It only goes to 1951.

Word Study! (Don't worry, it'll be fun!)

Now, let's look at a word.

Happy.

hap·py

[hap-ee] 

adjective, hap·pi·er, hap·pi·est.

1. delighted, pleased, or glad, as over a particular thing: to be happy to see a person.

2. characterized by or indicative of pleasure, contentment, or joy: a happy mood; a happy frame of mind.

3. favored by fortune; fortunate or lucky: a happy, fruitful land.

4. apt or felicitous, as actions, utterances, or ideas.

5. obsessed by or quick to use the item indicated (usually used in combination): a trigger-happy gangster. 

(Source: Dictionary.com)

Now, let's think about other ways of saying "happy."

Delighted.
Pleased.
Glad.
Joyous.
Merry.
Elated.
Thrilled.

Delighted gives you the impression that someone is surprised by good news. [She was delighted when she heard he was throwing a party.]


Pleased gives you the impression that someone is mildly happy, more than content but less than delighted. [Yes, I'm very pleased she could come.]


Glad gives you the impression that someone is relieved about something. [I'm so glad it all worked out.]


Joyous is used more often for an occasion or event than a person. [It was a joyous day and all the birds were singing to the pervading sunshine.]


Merry is a more lighthearted kind of happy. [He was predisposed to be merry.]


Elated gives the impression of complete and utter happiness. [I was elated when I heard you were going to be married]


Thrilled gives you the impression of a more intense, moving happiness. [She looked thrilled when you said she could come along.]


Happiness comes in all shapes and sizes, so you can stay happy no matter what the occasion!