Shinden no Ryu

Gotta Go!

2004-05-13T22:47:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I've switched to livejournal. Simply because this one was giving me too many problems with checking comments. Bah. If you even care, its http://www.livejournal.com/users/bakanoryu/ but whatever. I actually think I'll post more regularly there than I do here......well, maybe not. But thats ok. And I haven't left here either. Just...FYI.

No more tenor for me, but a four leaf clover?

2004-05-06T19:33:00.000-05:00

Um...wow. The calc AP was apparently really looooong. Longer than it should have been. And probably difficult, if I know calculus. As a result of ~60 juniors and seniors missing, and all the subbies being on a field trip, Chorus was awful. I was the only tenor and I had stuff in my throat ((I think it was cuz I ate a whole bag of cheese before I went to chorus...cheese cubes that is. And ate chocolate.)) and I tried to take a solo that sat on a high F (well, high for a tenor), so I didnt wanna use my normal voice, but I can't hit it really with my head voice either, so I sounded really bad...Also, in Requiem there was this one part where it was just Tenor & Bass. I was the only tenor there, so it was a REALLY exposed part, and instead of singing an Eb, I sang an F, and it sounded awful. Everyone heard it too and turned to look, so that was really embarrassing.

That was the final thing that happened to make me decide firmly not to sing Tenor part next year, even if it means we wont have a tenor section. I seriously dont think my voice can do it. Mabye I should practice...? But we dont ahve a piano and my toaster-organ is broken, and it would be stupid to use Finale to do it. I have to find someway to get a Piano from somewhere that I can use...but I don't even know where in my house we could put it, even if we had one. There's seriously no room anywhere. And it would be impossible to get through any of our doors I think. *sigh* life is soooooooo cruel.

So also the Japanese test was on monday and I thought it was on Tuesday, so I hadn't studied that much, so that sucked. And I got a bad grade on the physics quiz, and my paragraph for history sucked ((although I dont know what grade I got on it), and I spent english class catching up on french homework, but Mme. Lopez lost half of it, which really sucks.

Today, while cutting the grass, I just happened to see a HUGE four leaf clover ((huge for clovers anyway; it wasnt that big, but it caught my eye.)) So I went to look at it and right next to it was a FIVE leaf clover. It was really weird. I decided not to pick it but to leave it there until a later date where I could dig it up and plant it or something...then breed it and make lots of 4-leaf clovers!!! Actually, I probably couldnt do that, but hey, whatever. Its what I was thinkin about then.

So Ma'ayan passed out these ballots today...and we had to vote for people for doing stuff. Under "Best Crew", I wanted to put myself cuz I always work crew...but I figured that would be egotistical and I haven't yet...but I really want to...lol oh well. With that I'll just say that showers are good, and I'm going to go and take one. I just cut the grass and I feel yucky.

Stupid Homophobic Christians ((WARNING: CHRISTIAN CONTENT!!! DON NOT READ IF YOU WILL BE OFFENDED!!!))

2004-04-29T22:36:00.000-05:00

Its ridiculous how homophobic people can be, especially Christians. I'm saying this and I'm a Christian myself. My mom just decided to have this long talk with me about how homosexuality is a sin and all this other crap about it, and how the bible says all these things about it.

My whole thing is((I said none of this outloud, I thought it.)) "Well, you don't let your husband order you around, and the bible says that you should. You dont let him punish you for disobeying his commands, but the bible says he could. You dont let him stone us when we, his children, disobey him, but the bible says he should. The bible has only been translated about a thousand times by lazy humans who twisted it to say what they want it to say."

There were thoughts other than that, but its not really important. I really strongly believe that the most important thing Christians are supposed to do is to simply love your neighbor as yourself and love God, and thats that. I personally dont see what loving someone the same gender as you hurts your neighbors (unless you are married already, but thats a different story.)

And by the way, Jesus did forgive someone for cheating on their husband. I think thats waaaaaaaaaay worse than loving someone of the same gender. I don't know what anyone else thinks, but I think that if you are faithful to the one you love, you'll still get into heaven and God will still forgive you for it if it truly is something that pisses Him off.

One thing I dont really like is this "Love the sinner hate the sin" deal that goes around. I think some people have a lot of problems separating the two more than 60% of the time. One moment they can be perfectly nice to you (even "raping" other people (and sometimes of the same gender....hm....makes me wonder) or something) and then the next they have this whole "Don't come near me, it might be contagious!" attitude that leaves you feeling rather perplexed. Its really weird and shit. I don't understand people like that.

Ok, enough bitching about this, I think I've been really touchy about it recently...and I've been complaining about it a lot. I'll stop.

In other news, Barr FINALLY asked Kris (not me) to the prom. :-) so its all good. Lots of people are hooking up fast, Proms gonna be a blast! ((I like my rhyme there; did you?)) I have to get a TB shot on tuesday...yucky. But I think I'm gonna see the Urbana play with Betsy this saturday. Max might be coming...not sure how I feel about that. I already told Betsy that he HATES me, but...she doesnt think so. And I'm gonna go now cuz my computer is being a BITCH!!!!!!!!!!

Bye all! ^_^

Loooong Time since the Last Post

2004-04-25T00:31:00.000-05:00

Ok, so recently.....I've been busy as hell.

So first, we had college visits over spring break. Out of all the colleges we visited (5 in total) Georgetown wins. ((I may have mentioned this in the last post, but I dont remember and am too lazy to look it up)). American is second, but I might just go there for grad school. It definetely has lots of programs for that. Georgetown was really pretty and was like its own village inside of DC. American wasn't the nicest looking place, but it had a whole school dedicated to my field of interest.

After that, I came back and took the SAT where I had a really small desk and tried to use two but the people moved me over. They weren't very nice at all; no one liked them.

Then I took the ACT the next weekend, which was at Centenial. It was a lot better there.....nice people, nice desks, nice temperature, and lots of friends.

Then I had to write the music for As You Like It and rehearse it with the singers. Well, turns out that added another role int he play for me since I was one of the few non-main characters who COULD sing. And since Cahill left, it was almost a force for me. And then Ridey didnt wanna use Fifens piece, so the string trio played it during intermission. Overall, the play turned out well. I wasn't as excited or nervous as I was about Bye Bye Birdie or Spoon River. Probably because I didnt have any lines to memorize so I knew I couldnt screw up? Yeah, whatever.

So in terms of ICA, MAdelin and I stayed up late for 2 weeks to finish our project. Then, Madelin got sick (temp 103) and the data got lost, so she had to stay up by herself till 4 to finish it. Now she's being tested for Anemia (she had her appendix removed last year). It sucks for her. I hope she gets better really soon. Anywayz, our project was the best, but now ICA might be canceled!!! It really sucks.

More recently, I won the scholarship for Japan!! I'll be in Japan this summer for 6-7 weeks basically for free!! ((Less than $100 per week)). We pay a $500 donation YFU (which basically covers airfare) and they set up the arrangements for host family and tours etc. Its gonna be great.

Also, I have a prom date! :-) I was worried I wouldn't be able to get one, but I asked Hannah and she said yes, so thats a plus for me :-)

The spring fling wasn't that bad this year. Some of the songs sucked, but there were other good songs. We made lots of housing lines towards the end. The very last song I danced between Emily's boyfriend and Nick. It was fun. Shane and I realized two things: Emily dances better than most Black girls I know; Anything she can do on the ground she can do in the air. It was really cool. Shes magical.

Ok, so this wasnt very detailed, but it catches you up. Bye!

Back again

2004-03-27T21:50:00.000-06:00

I've kicked myself in the ass and I decided to write in this stupid thing. So I'll only put in the most memorable things that have happened in the past 3 weeks.

Ok, so I had confrontations with Mrs. Suslick a lot recently. the problem is that the play is on the same weekend that the ICA summit is. And I obviously choose the play, because last project I had to stay up extra late and finish most of the project. So yeah. Mrs. Suslick blew up at me for it, and she also got mad that I was a part of jazz band and I had missed meetings of ICA for a CLASS.

The next week, I came in a little late and she was like "oh, I thought you had quit on me, I'm sorry for last week, but this week, we really have to get a lot of work done." and I smugly put down our entire project and I was like "oh, anna and I already did the work." The "again" was implied. Loui didnt get on that night, so I couldn't get him to help. Bad Loui! :-P but yeah, he sent me some stuff, so now its cool I must finish it tomorrow. So we worked on that, and then she decided that since anna and I weren't going to the summit, we'd have to do most of the project. So now we have to somehow organize us filming in an actual studio. We'll have to do it, or else she'll get upset at us. Ah...life is so cruel.

Basically, lots of tests and stress recently. Play practice has been relatively uneventful. Mostly that we don't always get a lot done. However, Hugh and I finished our fencing scene, which is good. Now we will teach ariel and meredith. And maybe I will memorize my lines.

Lets see....spring break was good. My family and I went to NC and looked at UNC and Duke and visited friends and relatives there. Then we went to DC and looked at American, Howard, and Georgetown. Howard wasn't diverse enough, and American is really small, and Georgetown is slighlty secluded, but American and Georgetown are great universities. Now we have to look at Emury University down south (I REALLY dont want to go south, but my parents want me to look there) and then at the Ivy League schools a bit. We are hoping they all give need-based scholarships, because we really dont want to pay that much (even though georgetown was more expensive than most of them). So whatever, thats later on.

Um...music is coming along slowly. We will have a strong tenor tomorrow in chorus so I can actually sing bass instead :-) against Kinzies wishes though it may be. Hello to all my friends who I dont see anymore!! I miss you guys!!!

Ok, must leave now and get busy on school work and helping Kinzie with her French. Ta ta!!!

Stupid things

2004-03-06T19:22:00.000-06:00

This past week has been relatively uneventful. I now have a new piece to arrange for the string trio, and I am going to send an email to Mrs. Ridenour saying that I won't be able to be full time stage manager b/c I don't think I will be able to do a good enough job and I am worried about the outcome of the play. Or something like that. I guess. I know I won't be able to do it full time, its too big of a commitment.

Ok, so the merit badge seminar was a huge-ass waste of time. I can't wait to be finished with Eagle Scout--then I can leave for good and never go back. I saw Max Rich there and I swear he followed me around cuz whenever I was outta class he was there; it was strange. The only good thing was I got extra pizza cuz some guy didnt want his ticket and gave it to me.

During my afternoon class, someone called me on my cell phone about 5 times, and I was unable to answer each time. However, since my parents stupidly refuse to get caller ID and text messaging, I couldn't find out who was calling NOR could I send them a text message back or respond to one they sent me (which they didnt send me one, but thats besides the point.) Also, the person didn't leave me a message (now that I finally have voicemail), so I never will find out who called me.

This next part might not make much sense b/c I'm gonna copy-paste it from an AIM convo I had cuz I dont feel like typin it all over again.

well, I finally was able to get a chance to sit and watch satelite TV without some kind of sound enhancement (since my dad and brother need it cuz they are hard of hearing). and I was finally able to watch the first LOTR movie. but then my brother comes up from the basement (which has surround sound and all the enhancements). and then he comes up and turns on the surround sound up really really really loud, so that it puts me in physical pain to listen to it. so I say "No, if you want to watch it with sound enhancements, go to the basement, I've been watching this for an hour and you can't just come up here and do that." and so he says no and I say yes etc it goes back and forth and then he tries to fight me over it. so he blacks my eye and lands no other punches/kicks/slaps/scratches cuz I block them all (I'm better at fighting than he is though I don't look it). So I win the overall fight, but now I have a slightly blackened eye. and I hate fighting with people. it sucks. and I don't understand why he's so immature. then our dishwasher stopped up again cuz the builders of the house were cheapasses. I had to empty and dry most of the dishes by myself and dig around in the fuckin dirty water which sucked, and then my grandparents came in and fiddled with ti, so I went to try and pick up where I left off in the movie, but then my grandpa makes me go get some fuckin tools during the part I needed/wanted to see most cuz I didn't really read that much into in the book. so I miss it completely and totally. so now here I am. surrounded by loud Tchaikovsky. I still haven't done the history paper and now I'm too frustrated to do it tonight.

So basically today sucks, and since I haven't done my history paper I won't be able to go paintballing tomorrow cuz I have to do the paper AND go to an OA meeting. Not to mention my school life is so confusing right now, and I don't know where to turn now, and I'm already prayin lots, so there's nothing else to do. Life officially sucks.

I am so bad at posting...

2004-03-03T21:03:00.000-06:00

Yeah, well, I am. So recently whats happened.....yeah I don't quite remember everything, which is the problem about being busy. So this probably won't make much sense, but thats ok.

First off, I'm really stupid, becaues I agreed to be a part-time stage manager for the play we are doing, which is really stupid and horrible of me. I don't even understand why I said yes...I guess I jsut am really bad at turning people down for stuff. And I'm also in charge of some music stuff with the string trio. But at least apparently Anita is helping out with it to, so its not terrible.

Next...the string trio! Scarlet is still improving, but it still needs work as always. It has a few small dificulties that need to be worked out, but it will make it. I also haven't had much of a chance to work with them on the Primavera Classico one that I wrote, nor have we worked a whole lot on "The Pynk Pyritz Theme". But oh well, we'll get to it. I try not to take up too much of their time, cuz that would be selfish. I just really like hearing stuff I write/arrange. :-P but I can be patient, I love working with them so I have to be.

Next thing is music in general. I hate it after I write something and then a couple of weeks later I come back to it and I see so much stuff thats wrong with it. Its much more difficult to change music than to redraw something like you do with a personal drawing. Its not that its that much worse, but I see ways it could improve. However, I thikn what I'll do is write something new using those same ideas...cuz what I wrote is fine and I'd rather save my new ideas for a new piece I'm writing. Although I do need to finish the whole symphony. The problem is my idea doesn't blend in at all with that theme that keeps reappering...and its in a completely different key and involves much fuller instrumentation...so ya. Its different. And the second movement is starting along pretty well. Still needs LOTS of work though. As in completion so I can do the third movemtna nd the finale. Heh heh heh....I'm so bad at this...

Ok, so one this thats buggin me now is this: whats the difference between thinking you really like someone or if you think you like someone but its actually just a physical attraction? people fool themselves with that all the time...but how can you actually tell? And do you pick and choose who you like, or does it just happen? (lets not argue that its predetermined). The way I feel is that you may love a person for being who they are, but there has to be some sort of physical attraction involved to make yourself kiss them... if you have any kind of response feel free to share them.

Lets talk abotu people now...its scary that guys at our school think teachers are hott...Austin is the sweetest guy on the planet...I hope Kinzie's grandpa feels better soon...Diets are stupid...homophobes/homophobia are/is satan/ical...yeah, thats my bitching session for now. I wont go into details about it.

Lets see....scouts is really getting boring right now, and venture crew is imporving. I still need to finish merit badges and stuff though...Oh, I also met up with my friend from like 3 years ago? haven't seen him in a while, and its good to talk to him....

Ok, lets see, making guys jealous is fun....having good friends is great...history is boring me to death.....Japanese test tomorrow....the whole matter of love and liking people and dating is really confusing....homework sucks, especially when you let someone borrow your textbook and they lose your homework that was in it...

Yep, my life isn't going great but it could be a whole lot worse. I think I'll get Kinzie and Mr. Rayburn each a card hoping their respective relatives feel better. It would be nice of me, and I like being nice to people. Although sometimes I might be too nice and too patient with people...I dunno if thats good ro bad. I certainly don't THINK I let people take advantage of my niceness, cuz I think I would be able to see that stuff. But who knows in this day and age?

Ok, must go to bed and solve beef in the morning. Bye all. Go to Ariels forum and post poems and writings! (I gotta get my butt in there and post as well.)

Lifes the Shit until its not

2004-02-21T22:05:00.000-06:00

Ok, so Agora week was overall a kick-ass week. My classes were: Jazz Improv, Cooking with Freeman, Romantic Music Period, Cooking with Boyle, Euchre, The Cheese Course, Teens in the Media, Fencing. Jazz was fun, just really early, but Alex's dad and I had a good time working together on this one tune. We found a little background pattern to go with the soloist, so it was good. Cooking with Freeman was also very nice. We ate good food, alguht a couple of the days the stoves didnt really like us. Also, a few people couldnt cook at all, so that made things difficult. But it was nice. I learned a lot about composers in the Romantic era, which was good. Greg taught a good class, and I'm glad we went over Tchaik in more depth. It helped me learn a lot abotu composing. I've studied a lot of Bach and Beethoven, I ignore a lot of contemporary stuff, I've looked at jazz, but I never did look much at the romantics. It was good, and I think it influenced one of my more recent pieces a lot. Cooking with Boyle I got because I switched out of the Manga class cuz Allison wasnt teaching it. Then, I was heating up lunch and I asked for a brownie. Mr. Garvey really didnt care, so I got 2 cooking classes!! It was fun times, I enjoyed it mucho lotto. Euchre was good, except Max Rich kept getting mad at me cuz I went over to help michelle, even though no one else really cared (especially michelle). but whatever. On the last day, Michelle and I kicked his ass. That meant we had to kick Austins ass as well, and overall I felt bad cuz he had all the crappy hands. Max got some good hands, but austin couldnt compliment him with one of his own. Michelle ended up calling everything by having left, Ace, and King with the right buried. I was always soooo shocked at how lucky she was. The Cheese course was realyl great. We ate cheese, watched cheese movies, played cheese games, "played" cheese jepardy, and ate cheese fondu. yummy......! Stevies class was funny. We ended up making it a people bashing class for a really long time, but whatever. Who cares? We did talk abotu sex a lot as well. Fencing was awesome, I learned a lot. Its a really good sport, and Lauri and I want to do it. I got worried about lauri's knee though...and Jenny stopped liking it after she found out we weren't going to be slashing people like they do in the Asian Martial Arts. Those are really cool; I had done some bo work and a little Tsai before I moved (I dont think I spelled that right) and it was fun. Fencing was very different though. Hugh was pretty good compared to us, but he'd done it for 2 summers prior. Beitel was in the class for the first two days, but thankfully we didnt have to interact much. I know I wouldn't have been mean to him, but then since I'm a christian I already forgave him (but being human I haven't forgotten. I dont believe in "Forgive and Forget".) So that was Agora week, and it was fun. Nothing super momentus happened, so no elaborate stories to tell.

Friday night I went to the basketball game. We creamed Calvary badly. Our teams played not so great as well, and we still beat them bad. However, I must say that Socies family is REALLY loud. Its sweet of them to support their brother and all, but jeez......lets just say they are incredibly enthusiastic. After the game, Lauri and I went to IHOP to talk and eat. She got a huge ceasar salad and I got some weird side dish that I like and some strawberry crêpe. I still am not sure how to pronouce it; I always think I'm hitting the "p" too hard. Anywayz, it was fun and we saw roberts sister there. It was odd.

Saturday sucked so much ass. I got up and started panicking b/c I thought I had signed up for the Practice SAT at the Kaplan center for 10, and I got up at 9:10 (I live like, 25-30 minutes away from campus.) Then I remembered I hadn't, so I got up and began my chores. My mom came down and started talking to me about a practice ACT she had picked up and wanted me to do, and I was listening to her and putting together a swizzler at the same time. She kept telling me things I already knew, so I was like "Yeah, I know" several times. I really hate it when people don't tell me what it is they really want to say. All she really wanted to tell me was that she wanted me to take the test downstairs and then do my chores and then I'm free for the rest of the day. But she didnt want to say that; she had to beat around the bush for 15 or 20 minutes and waste our time, and then she got mad cuz she thoguth I was ignoring her and that I was being disrespectful and she went upstairs and cleaned out her closet. (?) So I finished my chores and then I went to her and asked for the test. She wouldn't give it to me, cuz she wanted me to do it when SHE was ready for it. So I waited abnd then took a Practice SAT I found online for about 30 minutes and then she came and brought the test in her hand, but that she wanted me to do laudry first. Ok, whatever, so I did that and then she gave me the test.

It took me about 2.5 horus to take. Then, she went out again after I had finished (she had already gone out while I was taking the test) and during that time, I was invited to a party. So I called her and asked if I could go and she said no, she wanted me to register for the ACT. Apparently its supposed to take 3 hours to register, but I did it online and it took me only 15-20 minutes. So then I basically sat at home bored all day long and she wouldnt let me go anywhere, then she decided that today I wasn't allowed to go anywhere either. I was pissed off all day at her for being anal abotu nothing. But we finally understood each other at like, 11:00 at night and she apologized. So we watched the movie "Left Behind" which was really good. I recommend it to you all, even if you aren't christian (b/c its christian based).

Then today, our new minister was harsh on the people who had killed our previous pastor. (Not killed as in shoot him but killed as in upset him emotionally, mentally, and spiritually enough for him to get a spiritual sickness.) He wasn't gentle about it by any means. He basically told them that he doesn't care that they were cheated of money 15 years ago, or that they've been at the church all their lives cuz people dont really care. Our pastor doesnt plan on preaching here long, cuz he's a trouble shooter. He lives in a $700,000 house, his wife is a top VP of All-State Insurance (or State Farm; I know it has "state" in it.), and hes a dynamic preacher that was paid quite a bit by his church, so they aren't even moving here and they live an hour away. The music was really good today, and so was the sermon. I felt better after church than I had before I had gone. I really think LIFE group should visit peoples churches and do that for a while before the seniors leave, because that will be sad. Afterwards, we went home and ate a snack and I finally saw the first part of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. I only saw part of it ,and the graphics were good, Legolas is really hott, The elf-girl who saved Frodo (who wasnt in the book) and is in love with Aragorn was really pretty, but they changed quite a bit from the book, including speech patterns slightly. The hobbits were funny, and Sam was really cute and funny. So was Pippin, he was hilarious. I have to see the rest of the series. Gimli isn't what I expected him to be, but whatever, its close enough.

At 4 we went to the China town buffet and I was home by 6:30, then we played cards till 8, then I got online and now I'm done with this post. Bye Bye!

Remember

2004-02-15T20:31:00.000-06:00

I now remember one thing I forgot to mention last time. The play got casted, and the list was rather...disgruntling. Some people who should have gotten in didn't, some people who didn't want to be in the play in the first place took away a good role from someone else, some people who are always casted even thoguht they have other activities that will take away from rehersal time were casted over people who would have done well, and mostly it was just casting more experienced people into generic parts. We are doing Shakespeare's "As You Like It" which has tons of roles. However, we all already know who got the lead roles. I really don't like plays where you have 2 main characters and a bunch of other people who don't do much of anything important to move the plot along. My character is william, and he's there for all of 2 scenes. But oh well, there is always senior year.

So anywayz, today I slept in really late and we had to skip church. Turns out someone went to my church looking for me. I don't even know who it was, but yeah...and so after breakfast and a little bit of computer vegging, I practiced two sections of an SAT (both math sections.) Then I realized how bored I was and tried to see if people were home ot do stuff with. Then I realized how distant I was from everyone else. Since I live almost 30 minutes away from most of my friends and I can't drive, it'd be hard for me to do stuff with them. A lot of the people who live close to me either can't drive or I'm not good enough friends with them to call them up and do stuff with them. I realized today how un-close I am with a lot of people. It was saddening. I can't even remember the last time someone called me and asked me to do something (except for Kinzie :0) *muah*). My parents are very convinced we like each other; its kinda funny.

So anywayz, today was overall boring. I helped to take down the christmas lights outside (wow we're slow...) and then we went out for my parents to run errands and then we went to Olive Garden, then more errands, and now home. I should have done part of my resumé, but I didn't feel like it. I'll do it tomorrow. I don't even know if we have ICA tomorrow or not...and tomorrow I have to work from 8-1 or something to work off my tardies. I have 14 of them, which is bad. I can't get anymore, or else I'm doomed. I've got to figure out a way to get rid of them.

Ok, since nothing is going to happen of interest tonite, I'll end this rant. Bye all!

HAPPY V-DAY!!!

2004-02-14T23:51:00.000-06:00

Ok, so first I'll congratulate Ben LeRoy on getting a 1600 on the SAT. I promise never to mention it again.

Ok, now HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!! Hope all of you guys with girls or guys had a good day (and nite in several cases.) The only thing I did was sing for my mom and give her roses. And then I went to the dance, which absolutely sucked. There were maybe 8 juniors there total, and way too many subbies and freshmen. There was a good group of sophomores, and a raher large number of seniors. There were a couple of beef issues that were sorted out, and we determined that the sophomore guys can't dance. I think Mandi and "Big Ho" should teach them :-) although they all managed to slow dance with girls.

Ok, so basically the week was long and boring. Absolutely nothing happened. Period. Although before the dance I worked on stats with kinzie. Actually, the only "work" we did was where we simply copied formulas. When we got to the point where we actually had to think, we stopped. Fun times.

Yeah, so mickey and lauri were in New York thursday and friday looking at colleges (aka shopping) so english class was really boring. Orchestra was no fun because the second clarinets were afraid to take mickeys solo so I had to take it and I'd never looked at it before in my life. But whatever. Speaking of music, I finally finished an orchestral piece, and it flows nicely from the 9/8 A major to the 4/4 E major back to the 9/8 A major. Its really cool, but I created the part for Bb clarinet instead of A, cuz E major was made for the A (as greg so nicely puts it. He's right of course; it looks a lot prettier on an A clarinet than Bb).

The Pynk Pyritz performed today at Schnucks for 3 hours. I heard they were good. Nothing to talk about tonight, so goodbye all!

Crap Crap Crap Crap...

2004-02-11T19:17:00.000-06:00

Bleh...Monday sucked. I lost my speech contest, because I stumbled in my recitation of the actual amendment. So I only got $150 bucks instead of $1000 and advancing to the next level. But no worries I guess, I'll just have to try again next year...I was really mad at my "sponsor" because he told me NO information at all about ANYTHING. As in he didn't even tell me the dates of the contest until it was almost too late. And he got us lost going and coming from Lincoln. So I was pissed.

Then Tuesday was ok. Sensei and I went over my speech, so it sounds better. Venture crew sucked cuz no one was there and the "president" of the venture crew had had a rough time at her bball practice and her and her mom were going at each others throats a bit. But that wasn't so bad, as we didnt really accomplish too much. And I have to look something up and I already lost the slip for it...oh well, I'll find it eventually.

Life group was pretty good I think. We had a good discussion about Church Beef and like, how people keep changing what church is really about, and how since we are humans we are imperfect and make mistakes. My church seemed the most corrupt though >.< it was bad and sad.

Wednesday (being today) was a normal day (as normal as my life gets...). I turned in test corrections for stats, I struggled with physics, we watched a movie in history, english was boring yet cool at the same time, only cuz Mr. Rayburn teaches it :D). The downpart of today was that my dad dropped me off at clarinet lessons 30 minutes early on accident cuz he thought my lessons were at 6 and there werent. Then he picked me up 10 minutes late. Alas. We had spaghetti for dinner, so it wasn't that bad. Now I must go memorize my japanese speech...and study for physics!!! (GOOD LUCK JUNIORS!!!)

Gr...

2004-02-07T20:49:00.000-06:00

Ok, the first "gr..." I have is for "Gargantuan" or whatever his/her name is. I distinctly remember not actually bitching about anyone in my last post, or complaining about anyone (especially since the things I do mention, everyone who reads my blogs probably already knows about it from school, so I'm just ranting.). I find it interesting that they feel they can say who's in the wrong when they know little about it. Especially since they were too chicken to leave a name I'd actually recognize.

Ok, so before I finish my "gr...."s, lemme describe my week. Wednesday...My day was just another day with a stats test (that I got a 43/50 on!!! My highest grade yet!!!...which is really pathetic...I'm such a dumbass...)So on wednesday night, I had to go get my award for my speech contest thing with the American Legions. So, I had to switch my clarionetta lessons...but that was ok. When I got to the post (which was really smoky...*cough cough*) I found out that I had to say my speech for them (which I hadn't looked at in over a week). So, I had to BS my way through it, and they still thoguht it was great. Oh well, I know I sucked. But osmeone called me in the middle of it on my cell phone. I am SO glad I keep it on vibrate, so no one noticed. However, I was happy when it was all over and I could collect my $225 check. :-) I was happy. But it all goes towards college *sigh* everything is for college...

So thursday, the most interesting thing was that we had band and clarinets were miserably out of tune (as usual) and we are playing a piece that only greg can play and I haven't looked at since before the winter break when we last played it.

Friday was a shortened day, and this is a good story to tell. So, I was supposed to go over barrs house for the weekend, but he and his posse left the school without me, so I had to wait around for a while doing nothign really. I was talking to Amirah when I spotted barr running around DCL. I called to him and he came over and explained the situation to me. It was some game they always play where they run from someone or something. This time is was Tomek. So, Barr, Amirah and I went to Kenney gym to drop my stuff off, and then we went to the union which was the rendez-vous point. We met up with the rest of the posse there and then we began to go somewhere else when Dan and Tomek started coming. To save the posse, Amirah and I pretended that we were going out and stalled Tomek and Dan for a long enough time for some of them to sneak back into the Union. Then, I got Dans phone number and ran into barr. I managed to trick tomek into thinking they were going to Paneras. Amirah and I and the posse that was there went to the corner of green etc. and set Moonstruck up as a rendez-vous without tomek knowing.

Then, Amirah and I waited at moonstruck to protect people there. Barr was the first to arrive, and Tomek wasnt far behind. He was coming up the stairs very quickly and I barely managed to stop him. Amirah covered barr with a coat and began "fiddling" with her stuff. I stalled tomek and called Dan and had him convince Tomek that they were at some special certain place. Then, he left towards some far away place and then we left. We began going to Grainger, our next rendez-vous point. But, Tomek came up behind us. Barr ran away and Amirah and I just kept walking. We managed to lose Tomek by pretending that Amirah needed to use the bathroom for a monthly. He left fairly quickly after that.

Then, we got to grainger after dodging him for a long long time and met up there with the posse. I had called Kris earlier and had had her meet them there (since I was the only one with her number). We hugged and stuff and made barr jealous, and then Amirah and I told our story to the posse. They agreed that we should get medals because we saved their butts. then, we went to La Bambas for a meal after Jerry and Max left.

Well, to make the next few hours short, me and barr and Kris talked for a long time, kris and I went to get ice cream and cookies, we watched to basketball game, I got to talk to robert a whole lot which was good, cuz I usually don't get to talk to him and I missed that all year. I also got my first hug from him, which was odd. He's not homophobic or anything, but I didn't expect hugging. Oh well, he's a good hugger, so whatever. We talked to Liz a lot and we kept secrets from robert for a while but eventually told him the secrets (that weren't really secrets, but you dont know that). I also figured out that I could recieve text messages, but I couldnt send them. Which kinda sucks, but oh well. After the games, I went to barrs house where we played videos games and ate toaster strudels until 12:30 and we talked a lot, which I also haven't gotten to do in a while. Found out interesting stuff, some of it not sure if I believe, but whatever.

Saturday was horrible, so heres a "gr..." I ended up not being able to go to the Freshmen Tournament game, so Mrs. Barr took me home. I had had to wake up at 6:30 because barr forgot to tell me he was going. I planned on going to the guys and girls games this afternoon, but my mom wouldnt let me, even though I had done all my chores. She wanted me to work on my speech. However, she DID make me go to my brothers game in bloomington (in which he got 30 seconds of playing time). Since it was icy and stuff, it took a little over an hour to get there and a little over an hour to get back, so lets say we spent about 2.5 hours in travel, not to mention the 2 hour we spent at the game. we left the house at 3 and got back by 7:30, so 4.5 hours total. There is no way my mom can convince me that I couldnt' go to even the girls senior night for a hour and then practice but that I could go to my brothers game for over 4 hours and get more done. So basically, my saturday was incredibly dissapointing and boring. I better win on Monday or else I will be really pissed. Its kinda stupid the way my mom works on that, cuz had barr not gone to that game, I would have been at the guys and girls games anywayz.

So now, here I am. I worked a little bit on some music and started a fugue in the middle of my orchestra piece on a complete whim. However, its starting out good with just oboe and clarinet, but I don't have a good place to enter in a third voice. I'm thinking I should write all of the top two voices first...and then add in others...

So, that was only two "gr..."s and I couldnt remember my others, but they obviously weren't very important anywayz...

Oh well, must be off to bed now. Ta ta!

Recently...

2004-02-03T22:38:00.000-06:00

Ok, so saturday was a pretty boring day overall. I didnt feel like doing my stats homework, so I didn't do it (shame on me...) and I had done most of my other work, so I was bored out of my mind. But then I went out with Lauri to Silvercreek and we had desserts (Hot Walnut Apple Pie and really good cheesecake I think it was, with raspberry sauce. It was sooooo good.) and we talked a whole lot about life in general. I tried to figure out what beef was going down in the lives of Uni students and learned a great deal, so I know that I can try and resolve a few peoples problems, especially between two of my best friends. And they know who I'm talking about, and they need to understand its a big miscommunication and misunderstanding thing on both parts, and they need to sacrifice a little bit of pride for a good friendship and just apologize and just be good friends again. But anywayz, Lauri was driving in stick shift because it was icy, and it was my job to remind her to change gears. She's a really good driver though. But there was this guy who was right on our asses, so I kept waving my hands for him to back off cuz it was scary!

Anywayz, then we drove around my neighboorhood for the five minutes before I had to be home and showed her our neighboorhood park (which is just a big field of snow at the moment with one tree). I got home at exactly 11:00 (and not a moment too soon either), so overall my saturday was fun. Then sunday was kinda boring again, and I just did homework and stuff all day and then went to my churches superbowl party. It was better than last years I think, cuz last year I didn't have much fun at all.

Monday was a crazy day. We were supposed to have our History test then, but we were behind so we used the whole day to catch up. English was ok, but I still neglect to do entire readings, just parts of it. PE was just exhausting (sometimes I just plain HATE doing fitness...), and French...lol I still havent finished my essay for it. *whap* bad me! Anywayz, Sensei still hadn't finished butchering my speech, so I just chatted the whole period with Beckaa and Nicole. I felt stupid again in Phys and Stats (stupid subjets...) But Monday was just a crappy day. Oh, I also had to do 50 simulations by hand for my stats homework because the java script wouldn't download, so I ended up staying up late at night doing it and studying for history. Then, in the middle of the night I got sick and had diarehha (sp? Like you needed to know that lol) but it turns out now that the whole reason I felt sick was cuz I hadn't eaten a salad in over 2 weeks, so my stomach was full of crap, and I wasn't drinking enough water. I got up early tuesday to study for history (which I still think I failed, though I knew the test was easy). My classes were all the same, except I'm still struggling on the Tchaikovsky piece in Orchestra. Its very unfamiliar to me, and its in a different style than what we are used to. Plus, every other note has some kind of accidental, so its a little mind boggling for me since I never practice (hm...connection?). Me and Mickey just don't practice. Clarinet seciton will be bad once Greg leaves (since he practices maybe 2 hous a day compared to our none per year?)...but yeah.

Ok, so at Jazz Band on Monday, Micheal Green lit some paper on fire with a match (don't ask me where he got it from) and then he threw it in the trash can. From what I got, the fire didn't go out so he poured water into the trashcan as well. Murphy told us he would be forced to report it to Kovacs. However, before Kovacs could find out what he had done, Green went up to her and said "So, Kovacs, did you hear what I did last night yet?" Please congratulate him when you see him next!

Tonight at scouts I saw one of my friends from ages ago. Zach came back, and his voice was sooo much deeper! He's changed a lot, but he's still cute :-) He's really nice and I remember I missed him when he left the troop for like, 3 years. It was good to talk to him again though. We didn't get a lot done at the meeting because one of the adults we needed to talk to didnt get in till late, but whatever. Everyone was tired and stressed, and its just a busy season for us all.

Well, thats an overall summary of whats been goin on in the past couple of days. I guess I gotta go and finish studying for a physics quiz/test and a stats test for tomorrow in consecutive final periods (Physics 7th, stats 8th. ugh.)

Bye all! P-sout!

sigh

2004-01-29T06:49:00.000-06:00

Well, the past two days have been better than the rest of the week for sure. All week, my work ethics were virtually non-existant. But thats ok, cuz we didnt have much work to turn in. However, I was mad today because I forgot to turn in some english homework all week and then I remembered today, but I had forgotten it at home. So I felt really stupid. >.< In addition, I left at home my Junior Packet essay, so I couldn't turn it in at all. Also, I worked with the Pynk Pyritz on the theme I wrote for them. The violins have counting issues...I admit it might be somewhat confusing since the cello is playing quarter notes as the second violin (with melody) has eight notes and the first has 16th notes, so I'm sure that when you are supposed to follow the first but shes playing twice as fast as you it might be confusing. But still, that gives no excuse to be 3 measures behind...

Oh well, I forgive you Angelina!

In other news, I talked a lot to Lauri this week about love/hate/neutral relationships flying around. Hopefully, she and her guy will just get together instead of dodging around each other at school forever. Apparently they still do stuff on the weekends, but at school its like, the extent of their convo is "hi". We also determined that a lot of guys at our school are homophobic assholes, or just assholes in general. Like, very few of the guys at our school will talk to me of their own free will. It makes me sad, cuz in physics Hugh is always fighting with robert to sit next to atul, but if robert beats him to the seat instead of sitting up front at my table he goes all the way to the back...and he used to sit with me, and it was a fun table. But I guess he hates me too, since he's catholic and isn't supposed to like me. So in the junior class, the only guys that would come up and talk to me are Barr, Robert, Brian, Kyle, and Tomek and Nick. A few others would talk to me but wouldn't initiate a conversation. I get the feeling that Andy and Henry and Hugh and Ben just hate me.

But whatever, thats just some of the stuff we talked about. We are also worried a bit about another friend...but hopefully we'll get it straightened out before major beef sets in.

Krista and I were really upset cuz Sensei had made us all write these speeches that we thought were a minimum of 800 characters/ 2 pages. However, thats the maximum, and the minimum is about 1.5 pages or 650 characters. However, both Krista and I had abotu 5 pages of box paper to write in, or around 15-2000 characters. So, we ahve to cut out a lot of our speeches, and I really just want to write a new one because the one I have is a good story topic and cutting anything would ruin it completely and totally.

And also, I'm NEVER EVER EVER singing tenor part in chorus again. I SUCK at tenor...at least I ahve been for a while. I guess I need a voice teacher to get my voice into shape, but still, its really bad. And today, I was the ONLY tenor singing, because one was at all state for clarinet, and the other was sick,, two more just dont sing, and alex is really supposed to be a bass (lik eI am) and he can't even sing a C, so I'm positive his voice goes really low. I can sing an E, possibly an F, but still, it doesnt sound well, and I'm not good at holding pitches...I dont know proper technique. I think I need to practice long tones, like I do with clarinet. And breath support. And singing in general. Yup. The only reason I'm in madrigals is cuz Murphy needed another "tenor" to have more voices on the other parts, not cuz I have any real talent. Its sad, but I'm sure its the truth.

So, I've gotten another few measures done on my piece, and after a friend suggested I insert a cadenza (which fit in really well) and I got a little done after that, I'm at a point where I'm not sure what to do. I'll probably figure something out.

Well, its time for bed for me. Bye all! (Not that many people actually read this...)

Finally!

2004-01-28T22:10:00.000-06:00

I finally got the comment section working. Now my next task is to figure out how I'm going to get this really cute Gundam Wing picture to be my background (and have different colored text to go over it). Its chibi GW characters sitting on a moon in all white, so since the background to the picture is black, choosing a color will be difficult. I was thinking something along the lines of red or blue...? Advice is welcome!

2004-01-28T17:45:00.000-06:00

Ok, so I've been waiting possibly for a livejournal account, then figured that this server was faster and better, so I'd just as well use this. Not much is happening in my life, good or bad. I've been writing lots of music recently to keep myself from being stressed out or depressed. I've finished a woodwind quartet, a string quartet (with an optional Bass part that mostly doubles other parts an octave or so lower), a piano concerto (actually, I just wrote a piano reduction. I originally wanted to write it for full orchestra, but now I have to write it out for the orchestra. Since I knew it would have a piano part, I wrote the two piano parts first...but now I'm thinking about not having a piano part....I wonder...) and a band piece (which people say is really cool). I am currently working on a Full orchestra piece. I hate how I wrote it in A Major, cuz that means clarinets have 5 sharps...I know from personal experience that over four sharps is a pain, although its still relatively easy (becaues you think of it as two notes not sharped). Its really cool, and I was inspired by A.) My friend Buzzy and B.) Tchaikovsky. I've been having an idea for a really long time thats been bugging the crap out of me, and now I was able to put it down on paper, because the Tchaikovsky piece we are playing in orchestra gave me an idea for the tempo and the time signature (not the key). Its in 9/8 time and its aroun 95-105 in tempo...I keep changing it and so far 96 sounds the best, although at 104 it doesnt sound to bad either.

In other news, I still have to finish my college esay for Lisa. I have so few work ethics sometimes...but thats fine too. And apparently, Max hates me for reasons unknown to me, Betsy got mad at me b/c I forgot to tell her that I saw her "friend" Cedric at Theatrefest. :-) oooops.... Also, I was shocked to see Krista in glasses, Cahill was gone (I'm sure she was suffering from major withdrawl lol) and Ariel and Tiffany lost a kit-kat bite. It was sad...

Ok, I must go off to clarinet lessons soon.

Ja ne!