SADIES went 80s

ah yes. another typical dance blog post. but this was my last Sadie Hawkins, and my second to last Girls Choice dance. I'm getting old. but (don't tell the others), this date is definitely one of THREE that is tied for my favorite. (I don't have a favorite; all of my top 3 take the cake for different reasons.)

I decided to ask one of my oldest friends way back from elementary school. I have no pictures of how I asked, but I left a jar of Swedish fish on his door, and cut out pieces of paper with letters of my name and hid them in there. I said, "of all the fish in the sea, you are the SWEDISH one. come to Sadies with me?"

well, a few weeks later, the doorbell rings, and I'm in my sweats, and my brothers tell me it's for me. I see a group of German exchange students at my door, they ask, "are you Miriam?" and I say "yes" and then they start singing. and I'm so confused as to what's going on, but they say "Zane", "dance", "Sadies"..... and then at the end they say "and he will say YES" and I just look at them speechless, and finally I can say, "thank you SO MUCH" and they say in their thick accents "it was our pleasure!" and they run off.

the theme, as stated in the title, was the 1980's. I'm not one of those people who claims to be "born in the wrong generation", but the 80's is definitely my favorite decade of the past. I love the music, the movies, the outfits, and the hair. but I knew that most people would dress as your typical 80's workout people, and I wanted to do something different. so I texted Zane and asked if he would want to go as Marty McFly from Back to the Future and I would go as his girlfriend, Jennifer Parker. he thought it was a great idea, and as you will be able to see in a few paragraphs, we pulled it off really well.

our group split for the day date, so while 3 couples were doing yoga, me and 5 other couples all met at our friend Dathyl's house, and she drove us around in a 12 passenger van on an adventure to go on a space mission! getting to the place was the real adventure. in Pleasant Grove, there are 2 different "space mission" centers: one is an old elementary school, and the other is some private school that is in this really nice neighborhood. well, we showed up at the old elementary school, and the guy inside told us we were at the wrong place, and that he would call the other one and tell us that we would be on our way. so, he did, and we got lost again, but eventually we found it. on the door of the school, it said "Happy Birthday Liam", and I think it was my date who said, "hey guys, it's Liam's birthday" and I said "NO WAY!" and kept that in mind in case we were to run into a younger boy there. then, the lady in charge (who was probably a year younger than us) gave us assignments, and we went into this big room for a space station simulation. we all had different positions: Captain, Officer, Science Dude, Communications Officer, Engineer, Security Dude who Shoots People with Guns, Operations Officer, and Operations Power Dude (me). My job was to send codes to the Engineer to fix the ship, and to control the engine power, missile power, and all that stuff. it was a very vital position! somehow in the middle of the mission, Zane figured out how to hack the real computer (not just the simulation) and started printing out random things. when our mission ended, the girl in charge came in, and Zane handed her some fake credit that he printed off and she was SO CONFUSED, and finally said, "I cannot accept that, I only accept chocolate milk". so he opens that one painting program that everyone played on as a kid, "painted" the words "CHOCOLATE MILK", printed it out, and handed it to her. she looked even more confused and asked how the heck he did that, and we all just laughed so hard. she gave us a really bad score for creativity (BUT REALLY MY DATE HACKED HER SYSTEM SO WE DESERVED MORE).
well, as we were walking out, we indeed saw a group of little boys running around. so I asked, "which one of you is Liam?" and one boy yells "ME! ME!" so our whole group yells, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIAM!" we either really scared him or made his day!

exactly 2 hours later, after my mom curled and teased and sprayed and blew dry and sprayed my hair, I picked Zane up again, only a few minutes after he finished running around town acquiring his costume. but dang we looked good. we got our pictures taken at Mckenna's dad's studio with the funky blue background, and we all looked so good. (but Zane and I looked the best. everyone was close though.)

 this is how Marty and Jennifer were posed in the movie. however, the real life height ratio between Zane and I made it hard to look exactly like Marty and Jennifer. but we were pretty dang close.

 front row: Madisen and Sam (the glam rockers), and Lindsey and Josh (Charlie and Maverick from Top Gun). second row: Isaac and Ali, Nate and Raya, Sophie and Ben (they are wearing Sophie's parent's student government sweaters from the 80's!). third row: Joel and Cami, Levi and Dathyl, Brady and Mckenna, me and Zane

 front steps: me, Raya, Madisen. next 4: Ali, Sophie, Cami, and Lindsey. the 2 in the back: Mckenna and Dathyl

after we took those lovely pictures, we went to Mckenna's house for dinner. we had the best Cafe Rio style burritos, and dang those were so so good. I could've eaten 20 of those. we were finished by 8:00, which is when the dance started. but usually, people don't start making appearances until 9. but our group was determined to be the first ones at the dance. so, we were. this was definitely my favorite theme. Timpview played it old school and held it in the old south gym and there were balloons everywhere. the decorations were amazing. glow sticks were handed out at the door. Zane picked up every glow stick that was on the floor and put it on my wrist. he said, "I want you to have more of these than any of us!" well, it worked and I came home with about 23 glowsticks! the music was so good, and everyone looked so good. it did get pretty hot inside, so every other song, we just stepped outside to take a breather, but once a good 80's jam came on, we would run back in and start dancing! we owned that dance floor! we got into it more than anyone else, and I probably embarrassed him by singing (sorry, yelling) out all the words to every song, but I didn't care. we were having the time of our lives. and everyone knew who we were dressed up as, so more points for us!

after being at the dance for a record of 2 hours, we went to Lindsey's grandparents and ate pazookies. if you haven't had a pazookie before in your life, then you are missing out big time. they are cookies baked in mini pie tins topped with ice cream and hot fudge. we also enjoyed deep conversations about car washes, top ramen, hairstylists, and many other things. it was definitely a date I would never forget!

the time I was a cheerleader

first off, I'd just like to say that I've been very busy. I'm starting college applications, I'm a senior in high school, I'm involved in a lot of things, but everyone else is also very busy and I don't think anyone even reads this anymore, so why do I start with this really dumb forward?

when I was around 8 years old, my best friend told me she wanted to be a cheerleader, and without thinking, I said, "that's really dumb." and she asked me why and I said, "all you do is do flips and stuff and cheer at sports." I didn't want to tell her the real reason I thought it was dumb was because she could do a back handspring, and I couldn't, no matter how hard I tried. so, in my little 8 year old brain, if I couldn't do it, it was dumb. my mom was a gymnast in her younger years, and she thought that because I was her only girl, I was her only hope of carrying on the tradition. so when I was 5 years old, I got enrolled in a gymnastics class. and I SUCKED. I wasn't flexible, I fell all the time, and my grandma even came to watch a lesson, and she told my mom, "you're wasting your money on this." so, after a year, my mom pulled me out of gymnastics, and all I really knew how to do was turn a cartwheel. so I knew, at a very young age, that I would never be able to make it as a cheerleader.

fast forward to 8th grade, when all my friends decided that they were going to try out for cheer in 9th grade. now this was around the time when I started to actually enjoy playing tennis, so my plans were to defy everyone and join the tennis team instead of the cheer squad. but part of me wanted so desperately to fit in with all my friends, so I began listing all the reasons to why I would be a good cheerleader: I was cute, short, full of energy, I had a loud voice, and I would look so good in a cheer uniform. I would get to go to every football game and everyone would be watching me. I told my best friend that I wanted to be a cheerleader (the same one I tried to convince that cheer was dumb), and she said, "well, you better start taking real tumbling classes, and you better actually learn how to do a back handspring." and then I decided to be rational and I realized I am a horrible dancer, I can't move in sync with anyone, and sadly, I cannot do a back handspring. my freshman year, I didn't end up trying for any athletic teams because my dad's sabbatical in Japan interfered with my first term. but when I went to my first football game, I watched my friends cheering and I thought, I really just want to go down there. just once. I have school spirit. I'm not a gymnast, I'm not a dancer, but I can get the student section pumped up. I learned all the cheers from being in the student section, but as I became more involved in tennis and other things, my desire to be a cheerleader diminished.

until Halloween.

last year, I dressed up as Ron Burgundy, and everyone thought it was super funny. the year before, I was a Duck Dynasty guy and even brought a fake duck that my grandpa uses for hunting, and covered it in fake blood and everything. that was also memorable. but this year, I didn't have any ideas, and since I was a senior, I thought that dressing up was starting to get lame anyway. but then, I remembered that I lost a bet on the first day of school and I was supposed to wear my old ugly tennis outfit from sophomore year on the first day. but I chickened out, didn't do it, and who knows where that uniform went after that. So I thought, well it's Halloween, no one will question me if I wear it on that day! but I knew I wouldn't be able to find it. so I asked my best friend on the tennis team if she still had hers, and she said she only had the skirt, but if I wanted, I could wear it with her old cheer top from freshman year, and go as a cheerleader with an ugly skirt. (she actually ran into me at the gas station that night, and she had the clothes IN HER CAR so in our weird gas station rendezvous I came back with my Halloween costume.) Halloween was on a Saturday, so that Friday at school, I wore the cheer outfit and a lot of people told me I looked good (even though I didn't), but it just wasn't Ron Burgundy or Duck Dynasty. then, I got a brilliant idea.

the next day (which was actually Halloween) was the first round of the playoffs for football. I figured if I show up to the game in the cheer outfit, people would think it's funny and just think I was dressing up for Halloween or showing a bunch of school spirit. but when no one would expect, I would hop over the fence and onto the field and join the cheerleaders and see how long I could get away with it before I got kicked off.

during the second quarter, good things started happening in the game, and it was my moment. I told the student section to move out of the way, hopped the fence, and stood by the cheerleaders. my really good friend Lindsey who also happens to be cheer captain, just starts laughing, hands me her pom poms, and says, "Stand up on my box while I take your picture! and you can lead a few cheers!" everyone looked confused (mostly because the cheerleaders dressed as zombies for Halloween and I just looked like a normal one in an ugly tennis skirt), but then they started laughing and cheering for me. so I led a few cheers from the cheer captain's box, front and center. I didn't care that I couldn't move my arms in sync with the other cheerleaders or that my pompom was in the wrong hand. it was so fun. I couldn't believe that I had the impulse to do it, and that I followed that impulse. so I decided to make the most out of it. after a few minutes, cheer captain needed her box back, so I just stood off to the side next to the JV squad and was completely off sync, but it was so funny to see all my friends walk into the game, look at me, look confused, and then start laughing. I didn't care. in that moment, I wasn't a tennis player or a senior in the student section. I was a Timpview cheerleader.

well, after like 20 minutes, the cheer coach finally notices that something isn't right, and someone let an impostor onto the field. she walks up to me and tells me that I stole a freshman's pompoms and when she comes back, I need to go back to the stands, and asked me why I was even down there. well, since I wasn't a real cheerleader, and it was my senior year so it was really the last time I could really do whatever I wanted, I said, "I'm cheering! It's Halloween! Only this one time!" and she is not amused and tells me not to go down there ever again because it's some liability thing, and I guess I sassed her some more, but as soon as the freshman came back, I returned her pompoms, and she looked very confused, but I didn't want to explain to her, so I just went back to the stands.

well, everyone was just laughing. I was greeted with, "you are my hero!" "you're a freaking legend!" "I could never have the confidence to do that!" and "you looked so good down there!"
and I felt good. people asked why I did it, and I said, "well, I just......wanted to do it. it's my senior year, and maybe it was kinda a senior prank." I knew I looked totally stupid down there, but I was having a good time, and I'm just glad that the cheerleaders didn't kick me off or tell me I was doing a bad job. so maybe the next time I get an impulse like that, I shouldn't act on it. but I'm just glad I could live to say I did it once. and it was indeed, the best Halloween ever. one week later, I'm still getting praised for it.