It comes that time where I sit down with my iPhone 4 (I’m stuck in 2012) and I scroll through my memories. While 2015 has consisted of a copious amounts of loss friendships, failures, and eating too much dip, I am not here to reflect on the bad. I’m here to reflect on what made my 2015… um… decent?

I’ll do a nice old fashion count down so we can relive my year together.

15. Junior Year Prom

As Vice President of the 2015 Junior Class I got to plan prom side by side with my sister, Brooke (the president). We spent a ton of free time picking themes, decorations, and all sorts of tacky things. We got to skip school and go taste test the food, which is never a bad time. Prom ended up being like every other lame school event, but it wasn’t as bad as I originally expected.

14. Real Life Big Brother

The above picture is Brooke and I pulling an “Audrey” while being the first two on the block in Real Life Big Brother. This was a game hosted by my nerdy friends in Raymore. I ended up being the first one voted off the game and I assume it’s because I was a huge threat. You’ll hear more about this group later, but for now I would like to send a huge “F” you to those boys & a lot of love to out beautiful host “Julie Jen”.

13. Our 4th One Direction Concert.

Brooke and I have been to every One Direction concert they’ve ever had. We aren’t very cliche teenage girls, but One Direction is our weak spot. We had a blast jamming to the hits of their 4th album, but lets be real… nothing will ever beat the “Take Me Home Tour”.

12. Accepted to the University of Central Missouri

With graduation quickly approaching it was time to make some decisions on where I want to educate for the next 4 years of my life. There was a battle between UCM and Rockhurst University. After touring the campus and meeting with the theater officials, I finally CHOSE RED! I’m very excited to continue my theater education and room with my sister.

11. How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying/Blue Star

While this was not my (or a lot of people’s) favorite show we have put on, H2$ will always hold a very special place in my heart. This was the first musical I got to run the soundboard for and it truly ended up being my passion. I’m so incredibly grateful that I got to work this show with the lovely “Crewnited States of Crewmerica”. I am such a firm believer that we have one of the best crews around. This show was also our most Blue Star nominated show. It was an honor being apart of it.

10. Cell Block 6

How did this group form? After seeing UCM’s ‘Spring Awakening’ we ditched the boys and stood in the parking lot and screamed the lyrics to Chicago’s ‘Cell Block Tango’. These 5 girls helped me make some of my favorite memories during the summer. From nonsense talks in the basement, to vandalizing the boys’ cars, to our late night drives that always ended up in Buckner. Though I’m not as close to most of them anymore I will cherish the memories we made. Thank you for laughing at my dumb jokes and thinking the boys were dumb.

9. 17 Years Old and Finally Licensed

After countless driving lessons with my mom, I passed my drivers test on my first try! I now drive my beautiful 2006 Red Equinox named Ariel Mattathias.

8. God of Carnage

As a junior I had the honor of co-directing the first one act that came out of BSHS in a long time. I got to direct this with a guy I admire and love dearly, Elijah Reynolds. After compromising on this script that we both liked we casted and almost killed ourselves pulling this show together. Eli was the nice director, while I was the mean one. Though we didn’t qualify we ended up placing 3rd, which was so much better than we ever expected. So glad I got to be apart of it!

7. Hilda Hatchet

Out of all the moments on the list, this might one of the ones I am the most proud of. When I learned that Claire chose “Dogsbreath Deveraux” as her one act I only had one role I knew I wanted, Hilda Hatchet. Hilda was the evil, ugly, nasty nurse who was in love with the main character. I told everyone I wrote down, auditioned, at got one role. This was my first and last lead role and I am so excited I got to do it. Hilda brought out a different side of me and I loved playing her for the short time I got to. Hilda taught me that the more you come out of your shell, the more fun acting is. Thank you Claire for seeing this tech girl’s potential and allowing me to play my favorite role ever.

6. “Miss Electricity”

Everyone on my speech and debate team has wanted me to do an HI since I was a freshman. I never had time, but this year I picked up my baby “Miss Electricity”. I have never sweat so much performing a piece until this year. I love getting to tell Violet’s story every weekend. Every weekend I break semi-finals, but never finals… and I’m okay with it. I just thoroughly enjoy doing this dumb event. And it’s great reassurance that I’m hilarious.

5. Twitches Take Districts

Okay so we didn’t take “Twitches”, but we did take a piece that was very near and dear to our hearts. We stressed out, argued, and had a lot of fun going to districts together. We didn’t qualify, but we made our goal and learned so much. I will cherish nothing more than doing duo with the best partner I was given.

4. Homecoming Princess

Who would have thought I would have been nominated for Homecoming Princess? It started as a joke and took off from there. This was also the week I was bullied for standing up for my beliefs and ultimately shutting down the gay shaming football theme. Though it was a hard week, it certainly was a rewarding one. Thank you to everyone who supported me and a HUGE “F” YOU to everyone who tried to hold me back. Look how great I looked.

3. Winning Dowling

This was my 3rd year attending the Dowling Tournament in Des Moines, Iowa and I had one goal in mind: place in something. When I was a sophomore I received 2nd place in prose and that was the highest I’d ever gotten in Iowa. I went to Dowling this year TRIPLE ENTERED. I took my HI, POI, and Prose. Then tragedy struck… I lost my voice. I thought that did me in for my final go around at Dowling. To my surprise I double broke to semi finals in POI and Prose. Very shortly after I gave a decent performance in both I saw I broke to finals in Prose. It was like a repeat of sophomore year all over again. Before I went into the round Mrs. Young’s son gave me the best advice ever, “This is your last time at this tournament ever. You might as well win this mother f****er.” That line now holds a place in my heart. I was the only funny prose in the room and I naturally owned it. When I was standing on stage and didn’t hear my code called for 2nd place I immediately burst into tears. I MEAN LOOK AT THAT TROPHY. So incredibly proud that I got to redeem myself. Thank you Dowling for treating me well.

2. The Infamous GroupMe Game.

The above picture is me and the host, Jonah Desenaux on finale night. This was a dumb Big Brother/Survivor type game that we all played over text message. I lost so much sleep over this game. Though it was stressful I made some great friends through the stupid game including: Drew, Hannah, Cole, and Logan. It was the worst game, but it was the funnest dumb thing I got to be apart of. I had so much fun playing this game with people who shared my love for strategy and humor. Thank you, nerds. AND I DIDN’T GET VOTED OUT FIRST.

Before I reveal #1 let’s look at some honorable mentions. I wish I could put in a slow motion like on America’s Funniest Home Videos, but I’m too lazy.

Honorable Mentions:

-Learning to tie my shoes

-Getting nominated for Jonah’s humor awards.

-Perfecting my guacamole recipe.

Okay those were all kind of jokes, but now the #1.

 

1. Getting Elected President of the BSHS Speech and Debate Team

This is a position I’ve wanted to hold so badly for 4 years. I’m so honored to be able to lead the program that I truly love. I’ll write more about it at the end of 2016, but I truly believe that I get to lead one of the best teams ever. I’m so proud of everything we have accomplished this year and have yet to accomplish.

 

Well those were Bailey’s Top Moments of 2015. I can’t wait to see if 2016 gets any better. Thank you to everyone who was apart of my life in 2015. Whether you made it worse, better, funny, or sad… You made it a year to remember. I hope.

I might have made a mistake coming into this album listening with a headache, but nevertheless I made it through the entirety of “Cameron and Michael Sleigh Christmas”. These boys are the epitome of the idea that “anyone can record a Christmas album”. There were several hidden gems, but also some rocks that maybe should have stayed hidden. I would rank all of the songs, but that might require me to go back and listen to them again, so instead I will reveal my top 6 with explanations.

Top 6

6.Sleigh Ride (ft. Drew): Drew did very well delivering this song. It may have been one of the cleanest on the album. I find Drew’s voice oddly soothing and decent. I would have maybe liked to see some more humor out of the boys for this song, but overall well done.

5. Where Are You Christmas (ft. Logan and Trevor): something about this odd rendition of the usually sad song made me laugh. The song was almost done in a very angsty early 2000’s boy band fashion. I enjoyed it more than I expected.

4. Christmas Shoes (ft. Mattathias): Mattathias nailed this song. I felt so much emotion coming from this guys soul (it’s funny because he is also a red head). Mattathias totally embodied and impersonated the original singer. Very well done. Almost brought me to tears, but then I remembered this is a Christmas album recorded by some nerds.

3. Dreidel (ft. Nate): Nate brings a ton of hilarity and emotion to the album in just under a minute with this Hanukkah classic. Though he isn’t Jewish I like to think that Nate did the community proud with this little number. I’ve never heard a lad so hype to spin a wooden top.

2. The Christmas Song (ft. Sawyer): Does this one even need an explanation?

1. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas: I might be biased, but this is my favorite Christmas song of all time. It also happened to be the ending song, praise Jesus (who was featured in track 2). I think this was a nice sentimental wrap up to the album and had that nostalgic feel that this song needs.

Problems I had with the album:

-Why did Jonah not get his own song? This was perhaps my #1 tragedy. It seems like all of “Friends Group” got a song except Jonah. Yes he got speaking roles, but I wanted to see if we could uncover some talent from the kid. I feel like his humor could have added something. Oh and I guess Loar didn’t get a song, but I don’t really know him so that doesn’t phase me.

-Some of the microphone work was a little off. That’s to be expected with first albums though. Also I think someone coughed into the mic? That was weird.

-I would have liked to see the individual personalities of the boys come out more. These are funny guys and I feel like we lost some chances for humor with so much concentration on some singing. But I did enjoy the humor I was given.

Final Conclusions:

I enjoyed this album a lot. I like seeing what these boys come out with. One of my favorite things (And trust me there weren’t many)* was the little narrations between songs. The album was a pretty raw and realistic view of these boys. It was no Michael Buble, but it might rank in my top 8 Christmas albums. I hope on the next one to see some original songs or perhaps just funny bits in classic songs. Producing a 16 track album is hard, but these boys kind of did it. The comedy within theses boys will always be some of my favorite. Well done Michael, Cameron, Friends Group, and some others.

Overall Rating:

7/10

 

*A joke. Probably.