16 Things to Look Forward to in 2016

     In just a few hours, it will be a new year. 2016. Has a nice ring to it...although I do prefer odd numbers...

     Anyway, as mentioned previously, I'm not huge on the whole New Years resolution thing because it just never really works out for me and I can't think of anything I really want to change about myself (sarcasm) so instead I am going to make a list of things I'm looking forward to in 2016. (Not in chronological order).

1. Graduating!!!!!! I guess I'm a little nervous about this but I'm also very excited. Yes, we'll have to say goodbye to high school and all of our teachers and friends but it's not like it's the end. There are bigger, better things out there for us and we've just gotta keep going forward.

2. Ski Club!!!! I may not be the best skier, but it's so much fun and this year I get to do it with MF and the SHS ski club! Hopefully the slopes will be open next Friday so MF and I can go and use our passes, but if not we're going as a club on the 22nd.

3. College!!!! In 8 months, we'll be in COLLEGE. How did that happen?! The thing about college is that there are so many "firsts" that come with it and not really any way to prepare you for it. You can't prepare yourself for living on your own except to live on your own. And you can't give college a "trial run" or whatever. It's one of those "throw you in the deep end" kind of things that's equally terrifying and exhilarating.

4. Dorm shopping!!!! This is a lame thing to be excited for, but I love decorating and I'm pumped to get stuff for my dorm and DIY different things.

5. Italy and Paris!!!!! This summer I'm going to Paris, Florence, and Tuscany with my aunt and eight-year-old cousin as a kind of helper/nanny/babysitter/chaos control and I am soooo excited. I've only been out of the country three times (Canada, St. Thomas, and Haiti) so this will be a whole new experience for me. I just keep thinking about what a loooong plane ride it will be and I don't know how I'll handle that because I have a very hard time falling asleep on planes and after a while I just get really antsy and have to get up and walk around but there are only so many trips to the bathroom you can take without annoying everyone in your immediate vicinity.

6. Grand Canyon!!!!! My brother picked St. Thomas as his "graduation vacation" and I picked the Grand Canyon and I can't wait. We're going to spend a night in Las Vegas before driving to the Grand Canyon, and then from the Grand Canyon we're going to go to either Zion or Bryce (or maybe both? I forget) and then back to Vegas. As much as I love water and lakes and the ocean, I also love the desert and it's been 10 years since we went to Utah and Colorado so it'll be interesting to see how accurate my memories of the desert are.

7. Senior Week (maybe)!!!! I don't know if we're going to do anything for senior week yet but we discussed maybe going camping or something equally affordable, so I'm looking forward to that possibility. I have no desire to party hard and make stupid decisions, so hopefully we'll find somewhere where no other reckless teenagers are.

8. Prom!!!! (Surprisingly) I'm more excited for stuff leading up to prom (like dress shopping with friends and hanging out beforehand) but hopefully I will manage to have fun at the actual prom, unlike homecoming. I will try very, very hard. And even if I don't have fun, it's still one of those "last hoorah" things that you just gotta do.

9. 366 more days of song recommendations! (Leap Day) It's a little bit scary to me that I will have to come up with another 366 songs to recommend, but I've done it for the past two years and fully intend on carrying on the tradition indefinitely. There is no shortage of good music in the world; I just have to find it.

10. Turning 18!!!! So many things I can do once I'm 18! Actually, not really...mostly I just don't need my parents to sign stuff for me or give permission for anything anymore. FREEDOM!!!! But it's not like my parents are oppressive or anything so it won't really feel all that different. Still. It's 18.

11. My friends turning 18!!!! Again, for the same reasons. Just one of those milestones.

12. Moving?!?!?! There is a possibility that 2016 will be the year I leave this humble abode behind and move to another humble abode in a foreign land...just kidding, it'll most likely be Frederick or Middletown or Braddock Heights or somewhere in the vicinity of an hour away. It'll be a huge change though, so the excitement is coupled with the urge to throw myself on the floor and scream "I'M NOT LEAVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

13. SNOW DAY!!!!!!!! Please????? If we don't get a single snow day this year, I will MAKE it snow. I will steal one of the snow makers from one of those ski resorts, haul it down to Smithsburg and turn it on full blast. We are having a snow day. Period.

14. Me Before You movie comes out!!!! So psyched. I have high hopes for this movie since the book was so good and the actors they chose are perfect.

15. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children movie!!! (which is for some reason called Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiars??? Okay.) This was another great book that I'm excited to see turned into a movie. I haven't heard of most of the actors in it, but I think it'll be great since the book already read like a movie.

16. All of the unexpected surprises that are sure to come. So many things have happened in 2015 that I never expected (in good and bad ways) and I'm looking forward to all of the fun, exciting, scary, sad, crazy, wonderful things that are sure to happen in 2016.

Day 768 Song Recommendation: "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell.

-SE Wagner