New Year's Post (Friday December 30th, 2011)

Since this is probably the last thing I'll post this year...let's take a moment to consider...






Okay, enough considering.

Seriously, though, it's hard to even begin to consider all that has happened (the good, the bad, and the ugly) in the past twelve months...started my last year of high school, got accepted into college, went to Hawaii...started this blog and maintained it which, in and of itself, seems to be a pretty big feat for me, to be honest.

What I've learned this year is that I don't function well on numerous nights (let's say...more than seven) with severely inadequate sleep (and not nearly enough coffee)...I'll probably end up being a crazy math teacher...There's no book I'll probably hate more than Heart of Darkness...Tangled is the best movie for any occasion...I need to read for pleasure more...I should write more...I need to spend more time with my friends since, as it turns out, they're really cool people. Definitely some of the coolest people I know...

...and that I probably spend way too much time on the Internet. Buuuuuuut I wouldn't be here without it, now, would I?

Of course, there's plenty to look forward to in the new year as well...graduating from high school, moving out for the first time, possibly getting my first real job that doesn't involve office work or slaving away in a fast food joint, going to a Broadway show with a bunch of people whose lives have been tremendously changed since viewing the cinematic version of said show, a new book from one of y favorite authors, John Green (ten days)...prom (?)...going on trips with my friends without parents...being an adult in less than six months...Crap, I get to grow up this year as well...

I'll spend my New Years Eve how I like it: with friends. Unlike Christmas, it's usually with a different group every year, but we spend it just about the same. We eat, we drink, we play terrible board games, we watch movies, we stay up until midnight, then fall asleep shortly thereafter...and still sleep until almost noon the next day. That's my kind of party.

Last year, I spent it at home, with my mom. We had a nice, quiet evening where we ate Filipino food and drank cider and watched the ball drop on TV.

The year before that, I was in a hotel ballroom eating ice cream with one-hundred of my closest friends, ready and set to go to bed at 9:30 because of the 4:00 a.m. wake-up call to go march in the 2010 Tournament of Roses Parade. It's been two years almost to the day, and it's still very hard for me to believe that we actually flew down to California and marched for five and a half miles on New Year's Day in front of over one million people on the streets (and even more on T.V.). It still seems so surreal...I felt so young back then...


Luckily, this year, I don't go back to school until the 5th. Some years, they've made us go back on the 2nd. Ick.

Well, that's it for 2011, folks (guess you aren't getting the Hawaii blog this year...guess you're gonna have to wait until next year...). 72 days of school down, probably around 70 left (for seniors, at least). But I've discovered I like doing these odd posts every once in a while. Just for funsies. They may happen more often. But we'll see.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Watching: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1

Listening to (recently, not at the present moment): Mumford and Sons, Sigh No More (the entire album is brilliant); Ingrid Michaelson's "Can't Help Falling In Love", and old-school Coldplay

Reading: (for school) Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt); (for fun) Anna and the French Kiss (Stephanie Perkins), The Boyfriend List (e. lockhart)

Post-Christmas...Post (Wednesday December 28th, 2011)

Being off of school for two weeks, I didn't think I would allow myself to go that entire time without blogging...so I won't.

Christmas has officially come and gone around here (aside from the after-Christmas party that I'm about to go to where a few friends and I will, essentially, devour the rest of our Christmas cookies and talk and watch movies...but I'm not really sure if that counts). The space underneath our tree s empty. All the holiday tunes have been deleted from my iPod, only to be replaced by the newly purchased chart-toppers thanks to the plethora of iTunes gift cards received my various family members. The Christmas specials have stopped airing on TV (in a way, I'm kind of glad for that, though...not so much the programs themselves as I am thankful that the ads for said programs are no longer airing...I've been watching those since the day after Halloween. Only ten more months 'til they start airing again...yay...).

And so now begins the habitual playing with/testing out/wearing/spending the gifts we've received for the next week or so until we go back to school for another several months...and then wait for all this madness to begin again.

Don't cast me off as a Scrooge, even though the above comments may make me sound like one. I'm really, truly not. Those observations may be just based on the fact that I'm getting older, and I'm getting a feel of how Christmas really works...But, seriously, I love Christmas. I love the sights, sounds, smells, everything about it...but it kind of seems like I missed it this year.

I think part of the "Christmas Spirit" is taking part in all of the bacchanalia and preparation for the actual day...more so, to an extent, than the actual day itself. Think about it...at least a few days are spent putting up decorations inside and outside the house, at least one day baking goodies, several days shopping for resents to be given out throughout the holiday season...getting to drink seasonal drinks from Starbucks out of the red holiday cup (I love the red cups), listening to endless amounts of Christmas music from the day after Thanksgiving up until Christmas night...

And, for some reason, I feel like I missed out on a lot this year.

I've missed out more on other years...three years ago, we had a massive snowstorm and were snowed for almost a week, including Christmas day; my grandpa passed away the next year, so we were not very cheery, as Christmas was his absolute favorite holiday...but I still feel like I missed out on more this particular year. Maybe it's because we went to Hawaii right in the middle of the Christmas season. It was in full swing for almost a week before we left...when we got there, it didn't even feel like winter, let alone Christmas...and when we got back, we had a little less than two weeks to make up for everything we missed while we were in Hawaii. I missed going shopping in Seattle with my mom almost every weekend, walking through the streets all bundled up with a cup of hot chocolate in my hands, taking in the lights and the holiday carousel in the middle of the city...

I tried my best to catch up in the few days I had. I watched as many Christmas films/specials as I could (personal favorites are A Christmas Story, The Polar Express, the old Disney channel specials from Lizzie McGuire, Kim Possible, That's So Raven, Even Stevens and other shows; Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (both the animated and live-action), the old claymation specials  Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas [the second one's...okay...], and A Charlie Brown Christmas). I put all my Christmas songs on my iPod (Johnny Mathis, the Ray Coniff singers, Mariah Carey, Andy Williams, Mannheim Steamroller, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Vince Guaraldi (composer for Charlie Brown), Barenaked Ladies (yes), Burl Ives, John Lennon, Bing Crosby, and many others). But even that didn't seem enough to make me feel...ready for Christmas this year.


For the past few years, as I've seen there's been something not quite right with Christmas, I've made a resolution to make the next year's Christmas even better, even if it means throwing up some lights around the exterior of our house, or getting my friends awesome gifts or making six dozen Christmas cookies. But sometimes that doesn't feel like it's enough. It doesn't feel like the (and I'm about to get super cliche about this) magic of Christmas is there all the time. Sometimes I feel it, like there's peace in the world and everyone's friendly and I'll find myself walking down the street and it'll start to snow, or the off chance that there is a Santa Clause...and then something else comes along, something that pulls the sugar-coated, fairy-dusted rug from beneath my feet, reminding me that the world isn't made of sugar plums and elves that make toys...it's a much darker place than I once thought it was. And I wish I could go back to a time when I couldn't get to sleep on Christmas Eve, excited to find out what Father Christmas had left me under the Christmas tree.




Wow.

I still swear, I'm not a Scrooge. But I am getting older, growing up. I figured I was growing up when I couldnt' really figure out what I wanted for Christmas. Now that I'm more likely to carry money of my own, I never have the desire to really wait until Christmas to ask for it. I can just buy it myself. But I did get a few nice things for Christmas. a few scarves from my dad, along with a few DVDs (Season 1 of The Big Bang Theory, Season 1 and 2.5 of Glee, Wall-E) and a few books. It was a nice Christmas, truly. I spent Christmas Eve with my Dad's side (it's usually done on the 26th, but one of my cousins had to work that day), and spent Christmas Day with my mom's family. Pretty typical Christmas. This is the tradition every year.  I just realized this year that I've always been home for Christmas.

Maybe that's what I need. I need to spend Christmas someplace else. Somewhere that's completely foreign to me. Or at least somewhere not remotely close to the places I usually spend Christmas. I love my family (for the most part) and all but I think I need something different. At least for one year.

Next year will be definitely be interesting, though. It'll be my first Christmas coming home from school, after my first full quarter of college. And, for some of my friends, it'll be the first time coming home since college started (one of my best friends will be moving to Denver for school, so this applies to her...). After the post-Christmas party my friends and I decided that we're going to have a game night some time after Christmas to eat cookies, drink apple cider, play games (duh) and catch up on life, since that'll probably be the first time all of us will be together since leaving for school in the fall. New tradition, maybe?



Phew. I'm exhausted. Next step: Hawaii blog.

BEDSY Day 72 (Wednesday Dec. 21st, 2011)

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!! YAAAAAYYY!!!!

After ingesting many a Christmas cookie (bands kids should never be allowed to bake...you will end up with over 200 cookies...just saying), I helped my dad pick out a tree for my grandma, then we brought it over to her house and decorated it.

And now I'm exhausted.

Four days 'til Christmas, and I don't feel even remotely ready for it. Probably because my big family Christmas function is happening on the 24th this year instead of on the 25th...Oh boy...

BEDSY Day 71 (Tuesday Dec 20th, 2011)

Last full day of the year. Thank goodness. Took all five tests today. Don't know how well I did on any of them...and, at this point, I don't really care. I know that makes me sound like a bad student, but...this past week and a half has been absolute torture making up all of my absent work and keeping up with everything else going on all before break starts.

But, now that I finished everything today, I have nothing due in any of my classes until the second day back from break...which is the 6th of January. I can deal with this.

Half day tomorrow. Get out at 10:25. Secret Santa gift exchange in band as well, which should be fun. Lots of cookies are to be expected...Then I'm going with my dad to get a Christmas tree for my grandma :)

Let the holiday cheer begin.

Christmas Present from My Teachers: BEDSY Day 70: (Monday Dec. 19th, 2011)

Not really...

I had two tests today and FIVE to do tomorrow. Not joking.

It's like they want to squeeze as much out of us as possible before Christmas break...it might also be due to the fact that it's a really bad idea to go on a two-week break then come back and have a quiz or test on everything we covered before break. But doing it all in one week is kind of ridiculous...Though most of it is due to the fact that a lot of this is make-ups and retakes from when I was gone.

I'm going to go pass out. My brain's full to capacity for tonight...and then get up early so I can study some more.

'Night, kids.

Days 'til Christmas: 5

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner: BEDSY Day 69 (Friday Dec. 16th, 2011)

I was late to school Friday because I had to take my mom into work so I could have the car that afternoon. I parked in my usual spot in one of the lower lots (my school is located on a hill) and headed up to the main building. Just as was about to ascend the stairs into school, something caught my eye. It was a promotional van from one of our local radio stations. Shaking my initial beliefs from my head, I scurried up the stairs and into class...though a sudden burst of excited adrenaline was coursing through my body. There was only one reason why the

I got into class, received appropriated mockery from my teacher (since I'm often late) and sat down to finish some English homework. Fifteen minutes pass, and an announcement comes on, five minutes before the bell rings. Since teachers don't like it when class is interrupted (even homeroom), school-wide announcements are only made in dire situations. It was dire indeed.

The announcement was serving as a message to send all of the band kids to check into their first block class, and then head straight for the band room.

There are two other kids in band in my homeroom. When the announcement finished, we looked at each other rather coyly, but didn't say anything. I go out into the hallway, finding it almost cluttered with flustered band kids, rushing to check in with their teachers. It seemed they all knew what was going to happen as well.

The band room was packed, as always, but with more than just the band this time. A few parents were there, along with a few members of the faculty. As well as a full crew from the radio station whose van I saw conspicuously sitting in the parking lot. We were given no further instructions other than to get out our instruments and get into a concert arc.

The excitement level rose once the radio broadcast started. Against one of the walls in the front of the band room was a long, thin, rectangular piece of cardboard, facing away from the band. A check. One of those over-sized ones from organizations and whatnot when they make big donations. Or when they give out big prizes.

See, we entered into this contest through out local classic rock radio station. Each high school band who entered submitted a recording of the the band performing a classic rock song, as well as a video that went along with the song.  Voting was based on which school received the most votes (via text message), and the top ten schools advanced on to be judged by a panel. This was our fifth year participating in the contest. The farthest we've ever gotten in the competition was third place, earning us (from what I remember) about $2500 from the station manager. I'm not saying winning $2500 is bad (it's $2500 more than we would've had) but still...the product we put out that year, we thought, deserved more than that. But we couldn't do anything about the judging (which, most often, turned out to be rigged or heavily biased).

Initially, we weren't going to do the contest, considering our history of getting, essentially, screwed over by the judges. But a general consensus by the band decided that we had nothing to lose by doing the contest...and so we did. And, having done this the past three years, I believe this was our best recording of any song that we sent in.

What swayed us was how the entries were to be judged this year. Most times, the schools would win based on their videos, the visual, which we never put much effort into. We're all about the music. So, sometimes, the school with the really cool video and the really crappy sound would win (and there were a few of those). This year, thankfully, the entries were sent to two judges--one strictly for the audio, and one strictly for the video.

But, same as past years, you could only advance to the judging round if your school made the top ten. Which turned out to be our struggling point, the point when we honestly didn't think we were going to win. The voting went on for two weeks, and by the end of the first week, we weren't even close to being in the top ten of almost thirty other local bands. We made one final push, asking for the support of our school and community and, miraculously, we made the top ten.

Things got quiet after that. Even though we made top ten, there was still a lot of doubt of winning the grand prize of $10,000 (2nd got $5000, 3rd, $3000, 4th-7th got pizza parties from one of the contest sponsors). However, we figured that, regardless if we won the contests, we still got to partake in a lot of other, much more special things than any of the other bands got to. Such as go to Hawaii...

Like I said, we didn't really talk about it for a few weeks, aside from announcing the date when the winner was supposed to be announced some time the week of the 12th. Apparently the station would do a live broadcast from the winning school...We went to Hawaii, we had an amazing trip (entry still coming...I've just now gotten over my jet lag and being sick, so I can think properly), and the contest didn't really matter to us anymore.

Until I walked into the band room Friday morning, seeing all the radio equipment and the hosts, only to be floored by the unveiling of a check for $10,000 addressed to my band.

My God, we won.

We cheered and celebrated and took pictures of (and with) the check. Big, goofy smiles were plastered on all out faces for the rest of the day. We finally did it.

It wasn't about the money this year. Not really (though it is nice to say that we have an extra ten grand to add to our dwindling band budget). This year, I think, was about finally saying that we won, that we've established ourselves as a notable program over the past five years (in the least).

Later that day, I was thinking about the past five years of the contest, and how we've placed in each one of them, which songs we submitted. I could recall the past four years, but, for some reason, I couldn't remember what song the band did for that first year, five years ago...

Then it hit me.

The first year of the contest, our band entered, and didn't make the top ten, but the contest officials liked our song so much that they chose to include our recording on a compilation CD of the top ten bands. It was shortly after the contest concluded that my band director decided to audition for the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade. The seniors of my sophomore year were sophomores themselves, getting to march the parade their senior year...and it seems the seniors this year (my class) is finally finishing the job assigned five years ago.

Again, this year wasn't about winning 10k, but about showing how much hard work truly pays off, no matter how long it takes...and doing it for not only those who came before us, but also for those who are sure to come in the years ahead.

Days 'til Christmas: 6

BEDSY Day 68 (Thursday Dec. 15th, 2011)

I went and wrapped Christmas presents with my grandma, aunt, and cousin. And I just got home. Now I have to go to a butt load of homework. Poop.

BEDSY Day 67 (Wednesday Dec. 14th, 2011)

I apologize for yesterday's blog. Seriously, I couldn't sit upright. I would get dizzy and would have to lay back down. That was probably the worst case of jet lag I've ever had. And I only went through two time zones. That's probably the closest I've ever gotten to feeling high on drugs (and the closest I ever want to get, thank you very much).

Anyway, I feel much better today after taking a twelve-hour snooze last night.

Except I'm having to play major catch-up in school right now after having been gone for a week. You'd think I missed a month of school. And it was only the first week of the trimester. I guess teachers wanted to get at least one major assignment in the grade books before winter break...

Back to work. Gotta get up early tomorrow and take three quizzes on The Hound of the Baskervilles...

Jetlaaaaaaged: BEDSY Day 66 (Tuesday December 13th, 2011)

This is posted on the 14th and not on the 13th because this blogger was too jet-lagged and under the influence of too much cold medicine to even sit upright, let alone type out cohesive sentences.

That is all.

Second Third: BEDSY Day 65 (Monday Dec. 12th, 2011)

(Yes, even though I wasn't at school last week, there was still school, and therefore, today was my 65th day of school...)

Hawai'i blog is on it's way. I need a few days to recollect everything from that trip before I put it up here. Hopefully it'll be up by this weekend.

Well, since I wasn't here for the actual start of the new trimester, today was my first day of new classes. And it seems like I will enjoy myself this trimester yet again. I only have one "new" class this tri--AP Psychology, which I'm excited about. I'm excited to figure out how the human mind works and develops, especially since I plan on going into education. Plus I'll probably get college credit for this class at the end of the year.

Other than that, nothing's really new. I now have Wind Ensemble (first day is tomorrow) and I'm officially switched out of AP English. No regrets.

Looks like this is gonna be a better trimester.

Just in case you didn't know... (Pre-Hawaii blog; Saturday, December 3rd, 2011)

I'M GOING TO HAWAII TOMORROW MORNING!!!!!

This is weird...Like, really weird.

We found out about this trip almost exactly a year ago, and we're leaving to go on it tomorrow.

Time has gone by fast. Really fast.

I remember hearing about this. I was home sick, lying  on my couch when I saw postings on Facebook about it. I couldn't believe it.

I'd already gotten my "big trip" the previous year with the Rose Parade, so I wasn't expecting anything like this to happen again. But it did...and it must mean that it was meant to happen. 'Cause something like this doesn't happen every year. Rose Bowl happens every year. A big memorial doesn't happen every year. Especially when there are so few survivors left from Pearl Harbor. We actually found out this week that one of the first casualties from the USS Arizona graduated from my high school. That's kind of a big deal. We also had our schedule changed (several times, but that's a different story). Originally, we were slated to perform near the USS Missouri, which has much sentimental value to our area. Now, however, we are slated to perform AT THE USS ARIZONA MEMORIAL.

Holy $&*@.

That's, like, the site of the attack, where thousands of people lost their lives, that was the deciding factor in the United State's involvement in the war.

Oh, man...

I am excited to do all of the fun, touristy stuff, too, though. I mean...you go to Hawaii to do those things, right? Visit the memorial, hang out on the beach, tour the island(s), get a nice tan...

Who wouldn't want to go to paradise?

I'll see you guys in a week. : )

HOURS 'til Hawaii: less than 12

One Third :BEDSY day 59 (Friday December 2nd, 2011)

ALL OF MY FINALS ARE DONE!!! NO MORE AP ENGLISH!!!

LAST DAY OF THE TRIMESTER!!!!

Which means we're already a third of the way through this...

Oh, yes...This feels nice.

After three years of high school and three years of being on the trimester system (it's terrible...we're the only high school in the state that is still on the trimester system; everyone else is on semesters), I've determined that first tri is always the WORST tri and for many reasons. I talked with one of my friends about this the other day, and she thinks the is due to the fact that we play catch-up for the majority of the trimester after coming off of summer vacation. Plus the sophomores are getting accustomed to the high school setting, so there's a lot of chaos surrounding them figuring that you need to, you know...act a bit more maturely in high school. Not much, though....Just enough to not make people think you're twelve.

But the tri is now over, and I have my new schedule: Chemistry (with one of my best friends), AP Calc (with pretty much ALL of my friends), Wind Ensemble (again, with ALL of my friends), AP Gov, AP Psychology, Honors British Literature. And then I have jazz as a seventh period. So pretty much all of my classes have friends in them. Yessssssss...

Listening to: Franz Ferdinand

Watching: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Jim Carey version), The Muppet Christmas Carol

Days 'til Hawaii: 2

Days 'til Christmas:

Accepted: BEDSY Day 58 (Thursday December 1st, 2011)

In the midst of all this stress about finals week and Hawaii (three days)...I received my acceptance letter from the one college I applied to.

Heck yes. Such a big weight off my shoulders.

Now I just have two finals to not fail. And that paper I need to write.

Everything will be okay after tomorrow, however. Everything.

Days 'til Hawaii: 3

Crunch Time: BEDSY Day 57 (Wednesday November 30th, 2011)

Ugh. I hate crunch time.

I still have the majority of my packing to do (though I am slightly farther ahead then my mom) and I have to do laundry in order to complete said packing...mostly since I haven't worn (or washed) my shorts since...early September. Plus I have to finish my Senior portfolio by Friday (but I'm planning on turning it in tomorrow morning) and I have two finals on Friday I have to study for. And a paper that I haven't even remotely started, though it shouldn't be that hard to complete (that's what they all say).

Like I said, I hate crunch time.

OmgweleaveforHawaiiinfourdays...

Days 'til Hawaii: 4

Days 'til Christmas: 25 ( I think I messed up the days a few entries ago, but I think this is correct)

BEDSY Day 56 (Tuesday November 29th, 2011)

It's Taco Tuesday at my house tonight. Yes.

I have this really weird feeling that I haven't blogged for a while...even though I blogged yesterday. It might be due to the fact that I missed two weekdays last week since we had Thanksgiving Break. My blog feels empty...

I still haven't decided what I'm going to do next week when I go to Hawaii. I'm not sure if I want to just write everything down (since I'm not taking my computer with me) and post all of the days I missed when I come back, since I'm missing five days of school...or if I want to just do one massive post covering EVERYTHING on the Saturday or Sunday I get back. Probably the latter, though...

Days 'til Hawaii: 5

Days 'til Christmas: 26

AKfdfsgbsjdopdnsa: BEDSY Day 55 (Monday November 28th, 2011)

Don't ask me about the title. That's kind of what's going on in my brain at the present time.

So much to get done in the next five days...Next four days, actually, if we're only counting school days.

Whoever's idea it was to have our trip to Hawaii the week after the last week of the trimester needs to have their head checked. That was a terrible idea. It means finals. It means that every band class from now until Friday is crucial.

It means that tensions are high. Because people have been waiting for this trip for a long time, and now it's hard to believe that it's finally here. That we're leaving early Sunday morning. That we'll be there this time next week.

Here's hoping the rest of this week goes well. We need it.

Days 'til Hawaii: 6

Days 'til Christmas: 26

College Status Update:BEDSY Day 54 (Wednesday November 23rd, 2011)

Half day at school. Been free since 10:30 this morning.

Aaaaaand now I'm watching Mulan and doing my Calculus homework.

Today is going to be hodgepodge. I'm warning you now...

First off, I got notice from the college I want to go to that my application is complete (as if I didn't already know that when I sent in my application) and it's ready fro review.

Great. Now all I have to do is wait for an acceptance notification.

And my mom told me what I should study in school. I want to go into music education...but my mom said that I should get a minor in math. She said I had a greater chance of getting a job that way. I'm good at math, and I like math...so maybe this could work out well for me. Plus that means I would get to hang out with the cute, smart, nerdy guys in the math department. I could deal with that for four years...

Days 'til Hawaii: 11

Days 'til Christmas: 32

P.S. TOMORROW'S THANKSGIVING!!!!

We're Being Attacked by Hottentots: BEDSY Day 53 (Tuesday November 22nd)

For those rendered totally confused at the title, it's from Mary Poppins. It's a part of the "Step in Time" scene on the rooftops where the admiral sees all the commotion going on a few houses over.

By the way, this is one of my all-time favorite movies. And I'm watching it on a super stormy night. Absolute perfection.

Relief: BEDSY Day 52 (November 21st, 2011)

Something has finally gone right in my life. This pleases me.

The list of the people who got into our school's Wind Ensemble (which is the top instrumental group) went up. And I was on it. Seated in the chair I wanted. For those who aren't familiar with the world of  performing arts, one's "chair" determines the level of difficulty of the music they play. For instance, first chair plays the hardest music, and more often than not holds the melody within the section. That's not to say, of course, that the other parts aren't important. In fact, some of the second and third parts are often the most interesting, as they set the harmonies and the chord changes and whatnot.

Sorry. Talking like a future music major here...

Anyway, I'm happy. I've been nervous for the past few weeks, not necessarily about if I would get in, but about what chair I would get and what chair my friends would get (just about all of my best friends got in as well). But everything managed to work out the way we wanted it to. Sure, there were disappointments. There always are. There are ninety kids who can try out to get into Wind Ensemble, but only 35 are allowed in. Some people aren't ready their sophomore year, and won't be ready until their senior year. Some people were ready for the musical maturity and rigor since the very beginning, putting them in Wind Ensemble all three years. Some people, on the other hand, will just never be ready.

The thing about our Wind Ensemble...getting in isn't just about how well you can play. That's part of it. Our audition consists of playing a (hopefully) prepared piece. We receive a score, and that determines our position in the band. But that isn't everything. Our director considers who has the right attitude to be in the group. There are no egos. People have to take themselves out of the equation and put the band above everything else. People who don't do that aren't going to make the cut. You could get a perfect score on your playing test...but if you think you're hot stuff and put all others below you...you're not needed in that group. Sorry.

It's not about you. It's about the band.


All seriousness aside, I'm so incredibly excited for this group. There are so many talented people in there who have a great chemistry (that's another slight factor that is considered in picking people--who is going to work the best together to best benefit the band overall)...we'll do great things. We'll go very far.

Ain't no stoppin' us now.

Fortune's Fool: BEDSY Day 51 (Friday November 18th, 2011)

It's almost ten o'clock where I'm at, and everyone in my house is asleep. And I'm really close to heading that way, too. Just wanted to post before I went to bed.

To wind down the week, I'm watching Baz Luhrman's "Romeo + Juliet", which is my favorite film adaptation of the play. Oh, Leonardo...

I've spent a lot of time with this play this week. As a part of my humanities class, we watched our school's production of R & J. Which was very good. As are just about all of the plays that my school does. But this was still quite good. Probably because I knew about half the cast, and it was really cool to see them bring these characters to life in a different...voice than the one I probably heard in my head the first five times I read this play in school. Both Benvolio and Tybalt were played by girls. And they rocked it.

The only downside was the fact that the immature junior high kids who were there with us in the audience (as a way to "enhance" their comprehension of the play, since that's one of the big literary focuses in 9th grade) would not stop talking during the scene changes, nor could they contain their wolf-whistles and laughter whenever Romeo and Juliet kissed. Which was just about every other scene. Learn some etiquette, kids. It'll take you places.

Initially, when I first read this play, I didn't like it. I found the "love at first sight" scenario a bit...juvenile. Yes, I was thinking this as a fourteen year old. But over the years, I've developed a liking to it. Seriously. Some of the best lines in literature are in this play. Like I said, my favorite adaptation is Baz Luhrman's film. Yes, it's very visually...stimulating (my English teacher called it "R & J on crack" [or acid]) and it's a little odd hearing Shakespearean vernacular  in the context of a modern-day setting...But he does it so tastefully. And I think that is the difference between this and other "modern" takes on "Romeo and Juliet". There's another version I've watched, by Zefferelli, that was geared more toward using the actual sixteenth-century Verona setting. Traditional, I know...but it's been done before. Probably thousands of times. Sometimes, you need something different. Like substituting swords for personalized guns.


It's funny...we're introduced to the basic story of the "star-cross'd lovers" at a young age through just cultural permeation. I remember watching an episode of "Hey Arnold!" where the kids of PS-118 put on the play. But you hardly ever get the entire story until you read it for yourself. Which, typically, isn't until high school. And, often times, it's completely different than what we're exposed to.

I still prefer the original, though...


(Mercutio just died...sad day.)



(Ope, there went Tybalt as well...)

As a side note...while we studied this in ninth grade, my teacher showed us a video of this acting troupe called the Reduced Shakespeare Company doing the "abridged" version of Romeo and Juliet in about twelve minutes. I had never laughed so hard in my life. They (and by "they", I mean the three guys in the troupe) mess with the dialogue and makes jokes about the situations, but they're really smart about it. The version I watched even had a Star Wars reference in it. Shakespearean "purists" may find it blasphemous...but you have to have a heart of stone to find something in this worth your laughter. Not when you have two middle-aged men playing Juliet and the Nurse.

Golden Entry: BEDSY Day 50 (!) (Thursday November 17th, 2011)

Wow. Fifty days of school. Wow...

Relatively speaking, that's not very many. It's still less than halfway through the projected 180 days...and yet in some respects, it seems like a lot of time has gone by since I first started this project. I've had band camp (even though that was before school started), I've had my fair share of all-nighters (all because of English), we've already gone through an entire sports season, we've had homecoming...and now we're a mere week away from Thanksgiving. And just under two weeks from going to Hawaii.

Thus far, I'm glad I decided to do this...thing. I don't really want to call it a blog, because I don't really feel like I blog all of the time. Sometimes I blog about relevant things. But most times I'm complaining or ranting or rambling about irrelevant things. Either way, though, I relish in being able to write down whatever is in my head, whether it be good or bad. It's kind of been that way my whole life, though. I was never much of a diary keeper, just a thought-jotter. I have notebooks upon notebooks stacked up in various hidey-holes in my room, some more loved than others that I've doodled/wrote in over the past six years. But that's still okay, I suppose. Just as long as all of the thoughts get out...I know that I have my rants, and I usually feel better afterwards...but I apologize  for all of the negativity at times. I'll try harder to make things more positive around here. :)

That being said, here's to another 50 entries...plus another eighty.

Listening to: The Decemberists "Calamity Song"

Days 'til Hawaii: 17

Days 'til Christmas: 40

First Times: BEDSY Day 49 (Wednesday November 16th, 2011)

Today was a days of firsts for me.

Today was the first day I've ever had detention in school.

I'm a good student, I swear.

I got it for parking on school campus. Meh...The worst part, I suppose, is the fact that I can no longer drive to school for the rest of the month since I can't buy a parking pass at the current moment. Which also means I can't leave at 2:00...But I guess things could be worse. It beats having to stay after school for FOUR HOURS on a Friday.

Anyway, I had to sit in one of the small theaters at my school for an hour at the end of the day with the rest of the delinquents...and do my chemistry homework. This is why good students don't deserve to be in detention. We use it to do homework. It's an excellent study hall. But still...I would've like to go my entire high school life without getting any sort of demerit. I guess I could cross it off my bucket list of things to do while in high school...But I'm determined that this is my only time.

Five-O: BEDSY Day 48 (Tuesday November 15th, 2011)

(First draft of this got deleted...>.<)

So I figured I probably should tell you guys why I'm going to Hawaii in 18 days.

I've told you that I'm a part of my high school's marching band which, over the past five years, has built up a pretty extensive reputation. So we get invited to a lot of different places to perform. One of which was the 2010 Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, CA.

One of which is the 70th Anniversary Memorial of the attack on Pearl Harbor in Honolulu.

We're kind of a big deal.

While we're down there we get to do all the fun stuff you're supposed to do while you're in Hawaii: explore the beaches, luaus (complete with fire-breathers), touring the Dole Pineapple Plantation.

Not to mention visiting the USS Arizona memorial.

This is a very emotionally charged trip. Our hometown has a pretty big naval base that is the source of a lot of jobs in the area. Plenty of kids, past and present, in the band have parents who work there. Kids' grandparents worked there in the past. There are also a few students who had relatives in Pearl Harbor at the time of the attack. While we're down there, we're scheduled to give a performance on/near (I'm not sure yet) the USS Missouri, an aircraft carrier that was stationed at our navy base for a really long time. it was also the ship on which the peace treaty between the United States and Japan was signed, ending the war between the two countries.

I (and the rest of the seniors in the band) feel lucky to get another "big trip" during high school, my first being the Rose Parade my sophomore year. Our director only likes to do big trips every three years, so everyone get a chance at a big trip. But this was something we felt we couldn't pass up. This isn't the Rose Parade which (with the exception of  two or three out of 123) pretty much happens every year. This doesn't happen every year. This is an important day in my nation's history, to the people who willingly put their lives on the forefront to protect the freedoms we've been blessed with. Performing for them doesn't seem to be a big enough 'thank you' to them.

Aloha for now.

Days 'til Hawaii: 18

Days 'til Christmas: 41 ( I know yesterday said 41, but today is actually 41)

BEDSY Day 47 (Monday November 14th, 2011)

Slow Mondays are slow.

Days to Hawaii: 19

Days 'til Christmas: 41

Weekend Post: Things I Miss (Sunday November 13th, 2011)

Friday was Veteran's Day here in the U.S., so I didn't have school. No punishment. Not that I don't have any already...

God, I need to write. And not anything that pertains to school assignments or college essays or anything  part of BEDSY (although having this blog helps sometimes) but something that's in one of my journals or in the dusty archives of my hard drive that I haven't touched since the beginning of the school year. My creative juices have crusted over and it's becoming hard (at times) to get them flowing again. But I can still feel them welling up inside me. And I need to let them out. There are a few stories that I've been working on for almost two years, and I haven't touched them in weeks. I feel almost lonely without them. After I write this, I'm determined to pop in a movie and write. And write. And write.

It's nice to come here, though, and not have a word limit or page requirement. To just be able to let thoughts flow freely, no matter how much or how little there is.

I also miss reading. For fun, that is. I've done reading for school (which hasn't been nearly as much as usual, which saddens me), but I haven't read any of the books that are stacked up on my bookshelves. There are about a dozen books that I've collected over the past six months, and I haven't been able to read ANY of them. Which makes me sad. There is one book I'm reading--Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs--that I've had and been reading since the middle of summer. It's not a particularly difficult book, nor is is terribly long, and I enjoy reading it. (Plus there are pictures, or rather, photographs of strange, strange people and phenomena). But I'm still less than 75 pages into it. I just haven't had the time to read for pleasure. Which I think is a true crime. People shouldn't be punished or prevented from reading.

I was talking to one of my friends the other day (another sad occurrence is that having a conversation with any of my friends often consists of complaining about how much homework we all have) and she said she didn't start her homework until almost 10 o'clock the night before. I asked her why, thinking she had basketball practice and whatnot...She said she was reading. For fun.

This is the point at which I realized that I needed to get out of my AP English class (in addition to that all-nighter I pulled Wednesday night). When English starts interfering with my ability to read (oh, the irony), that's when I deem we have a problem with the system. Plus my English teacher says that we learn nothing from "happy" books, that they are boring and unnecessary, that everything we learn we learn from sad, depressing books. B------t. I understand that a pessimistic book makes both the subjects and the reader appreciative of the goodness in life, and some of my favorite books are sad (The Things They Carried, The Great Gatsby, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, The Grapes of Wrath)...But seriously. Disbelieving in the merit of "happy" literature is nonsense. I've read sad books with happy endings, and I've learned more from them than I did from Heart of Darkness. No wonder my entire English class is suffering from depression.

On the bright side, only seven more days in this class.

Days 'til Hawaii: 20 (When did that number get so small?!)

Days 'til Christmas: 42

BEDSY Day 46 (Wednesday November 9th, 2011)

Yeah. I know. I missed a day. (Last night was a baaaaaaad English night.) First one in 46 days. Punishment ideas?

BEDSY Day 44 (Tuesday November 8th, 2011)

Long-arse day. Long week. I have a massive homework project that is due on Thursday that I've worked rather minimally on.

Tired. Going to bed.

Short entry is short.

Fill yer Boots, Man: BEDSY Day 43 (Monday November 7th, 2011)

As weird as this may sound, I've never been happier to do push-ups. All 50 of them. It means that people are being disciplined. That people are finally understanding why we do what we do. It's a little late to have this realization, but...better late than never, I always say. People need to understand that they aren't entitled to any sort of reputation established by those before them. they have to earn it. And they have to work hard to earn it. I hope people will understand how big the payoff is when they do work hard.

Sorry for the ambiguity. But I feel that I would get in trouble if this was found by the people to whom this post is referring. Some people probably need to see this, though. Others don't deserve to see it, they don't deserve to be frustrated because some other people aren't doing their job.

It's been kind of a rough day. Started with forgetting my binder at home and having to turn around so I could go get it, which also meant that I didn't get the car after school. Tomorrow will be better. Wednesday will be better. Only four days this week. We have Friday off. Something tells me I'll be gratetful for that.

Anti-Bullying: BEDSY Day 42 (Friday November 4th, 2011)

Okay.

This entry was not really going to about anything in particular. It was simply going to entail something about our (official) last football game Friday night (which we lost) and how we had our first parade yesterday morning and blah blah blah.

Not anymore.

So I was watching a recent video from Mike Lombardo, a well-known YouTube musician/vlogger, and he talked about this new bill that was passed in Michigan that pretty much allowed kids to be bullied by anyone, including teachers, school administrators, volunteers, parents, and their peers, if they just happened to be gay, if the offender could provide ample "religious" or "moral" reasons for their actions.

Um. What.

The bill is called the Matt's Safe School Law. Oh, the irony. The bill was named after a boy, Matt Epling, who committed suicide after being victimized by his peers because he was gay. In a society that is pushing so hard for equal rights with regards to sexual orientation, in which New York just legalized gay marriage, how is it possible for something like this to pass? I don't care what party the state is affiliated with. This just isn't right.

This hits hard, considering a few of my really close friends just happen to be gay. I feel fortunate enough to go to a school where people don't get ostracized for being gay, at least not in a particularly noticeable or significant fashion. But still...School should be one of the safest environments for kids, especially if their home life  is less than stellar. Unfortunately, sometimes, school is one of the places kids avoid the most because they receive just as much ridicule as they do at home.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent". This bill is literally handing the consent to the haters on a silver platter. I don't care about your religious views. That doesn't give you the right to personally attack a child for being themselves. In fact, that's almost the direct opposite of many religious standings: treat others the way in which you would like to be treated. And this bill doesn't specify the age of the children this bill affects, either, meaning that students as young as first-graders all the way up to seniors in high school could potentially be victimized for their sexual orientation. As American citizens, people have the freedom to express what they believe, whether or not they argue that being gay is "moral" or "immoral" (not that people really have a choice in the matter). But those beliefs and opinions should not play into the well-being of others. Bullying in any way, shape, or form is not okay. Faulting someone for their individuality is not okay.

This post is dedicated to Matt Epling and all others whose lives have been negatively affected by bullying.


Link to the article: http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/michigan-gop-pass-bullying-bill-giving-license-to-bully/politics/2011/11/03/29580

BEDSY Day 41 (Thursday November 3rd, 2011)

Forty-one days and I have yet to miss an entry.

Even though there were times when I though it would be a better idea to go to bed than to stay up and extra twenty minutes and write and entry.

Like tonight.

Thursdays tend to be my late nights. Especially if I have English on Friday. English wasn't that bad tonight. We just finished our latest book, which was actually an independent novel project. I read Atonement. Perhaps I'll post a review of it over the weekend.

Busy next two days. Football game tomorrow night (first round of the play-offs) and a parade on Saturday. Woot.

's gon' be a looooong two days. Hope it doesn't rain.

On my parade.

Acceptance: BEDSY Day 40 (Wednesday November 2nd, 2011)

College stuff is starting to crop up again. In the past two days, tow good friends of mine have been accepted into the colleges of their choice. Just makes that unfinished application of mine that much more...unfinished. Most of the application process is just getting stuff organized. But lately, I have no time fro organization. Things just kind of end up happening. Goal: send off my completed application by next Friday. As I've decided to only apply to one school, it shouldn't be that difficult.

Tomorrow night we order our caps and gowns and graduation announcements and a whole bunch of other useless crap that people think we need to commemorate our Senior Year (sweatpants, duffel bags, jewelry, etc.). Whoever said public education was free was lying...

It's November!: BEDSY Day 39 (Tuesday November 1st, 2011)

Which means...

• Thanksgiving is in, like, three weeks
• I go to Hawaii in four weeks
• College applications are due in about a month (crap)
• The trimester also ends in about four weeks (thank goodness...my sanity level may finally rise above the You're-going-to-be-booked-into-and-insane-asylum level it's at now)

and finally...

IT'S NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH!!

Or, as true patrons call it, NaNoWriMo.

I've known about this phenomena for a few years now, but I've never actually been brave enough to do it. I want to do it one year. Maybe next year. I know it takes a lot of commitment, writing over 1600 words a day to stay on track. 50,000 words (the average length of a full-length novel) is a lot of writing. I write (obviously) and I want to write a novel at some point in my life...but not this year. Too many things going on this month. This is No-Panic November. So far, even that's not working out all that well..

For now, I think I'll just stick to doing Blog Every Day Senior Year.

P.S. Almost wrote October in the title today. Not used to November yet. Either that or it's 12:30 a.m. and I'm exhausted and have no brain power to pay enough attention.)

Halloween: BEDSY Day 38 (Monday October 31st, 2011)

In the car on the way home, I was putting serious thought into what I was going to blog about today, but nothing really specific came to mind.

Then I remembered it's Halloween. Holidays deserve an extra special entry. (Btw, first holiday on the blog!)

Halloween has always been one of favorite holidays, as it is for most people, purely because of all of the fun and creativity that goes into it. Some of my friends have been really clever with their costume choices over the years. One year, in elementary school, one of my best friends at the time dressed up as a Monopoly game board. I've was a tacky tourist one year, complete with sock/sandal foot attire, t-shirt with Mt. Rushmore on it, Hawaiian shirt,leis, sunglasses, and straw hat. It also gives us an excuse to watch that old Charlie Brown TV special "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown". All time favorite video ever. And you have to watch it either on TV when it's on, or watch it on VHS for the full effect. DVD doesn't cut it. MY grandpa introduced me to this when I was really young, and I've been watching it every year since.

Sadly, my neighborhood was never one for trick-or-treating. All there are is older people in my neighborhood, so I don't even get trick-or-treaters at my house. (Except  a total of nine kids [and their parents] just moved into the house across the street from me, as well as the house next door, and not one of them came to my door to ask for candy. Little punks...More Twix for me, then.*) So what I usually ended up doing was going trick-or-treating with my cousin, who had better luck at the houses around where she lived (which, oddly, is only  about three blocks from my house...) and get loaded with candy. Good candy. The year I raked in the most candy was, coincidentally, the same year I got braces four days before Halloween.

If I'm not trick-or-treating, which I haven't done in about three years, I'll be at a friend's house hanging out, doing Halloween-related things, like playing Qwelf (the slowest, most bizarre, yet entertaining game in the history of board games) or Apples to Apples (same applies...just with cards) or watching movies or playing hide and seek in the woods with only glow sticks and the full moon as our light source. But there is almost always food. Candy, for sure. Usually chili. I don't know why, but that's out traditional Halloween fare. When I'd go to my cousin's house, we'd always have chili for dinner...

This year, unfortunately, I feel extremely old and not festive in the slightest, aside from my Halloween shirt and socks. I guess that's what happens when you're taking three AP classes. You don't have the time for it. Plus Halloween this year's on a Monday. Talk about worst timing ever...Next year, though...I have plans. Or, at least, I plan to have plans...

Question for you guys: what was your all-time favorite Halloween costume? What is your favorite Halloween candy? For me, it would have to be Luna Lovegood and Reeses' Peanut Butter cups.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

P.S. 54 days 'til Christmas. Just thought you should know.

*As I typed this, we got ONE trick-or-treater. And it was one of the kids from across the street. SUCCESS!!

For the Seniors (Special BEDSY weekend post, Sunday October 30th, 2011)

It's me again.

Not that you would expect anyone but me here...

There are a few things I left out of yesterday's entry that I wanted to say, but I just couldn't fit them in. But after yesterday, I figured I should do this now.

Like I said, Friday night was Senior night. Last football game, last time some people would ever march a field show (like me, but I'm not that broken up about it, truly). But it's one of those milestones. Those last milestones of our high school careers. It's one of those times when we ban the use of the "L" word (last).

After our field show (in which we just stood on the traack on front of the bleachers and played our show. Our director calls this a "park 'n' bark"), the whole band got into what we call the "swirly" (we get into thie massively long line and, you guessed it, make a swirly around our director) and had our usual post-performance debriefing. Then our director dismissed the band, asking the seniors to stay behind so he could talk to us privately.

Senior Circle.

This is tradition, for our director (let's call him Grams) to address the seniors after our last football game. To give us words of wisdom for the months to come, to commend us on our job as leaders so far (if there is anything to commend). All in all, it's an emotional time. Nobody cried. But it wasn't a night for tears. At this point, it's a time of celebration of how far my class has come, and excitement for what's ahead of us. The time for tears is in June, when we have our other Senior circle, after our last parade. I'll cry then.

I'm so proud of the Seniors in band this year. I'm proud to call them some of my closest friends. We've been through a lot together in the past two and a half years (for some people, it's been longer). We started out being told that we were going to march in the Tournament of Roses Parade (the big one down in Pasadena, CA on New Year's Day, 2010) and we had to be in shape to march all five-and-a-half miles of it and play the entire time. We didn't have a choice between doing it or not. We just had to do it. And we've kept that mentality ever since. It's shaped the band over the past two years, and now we're better than ever.

Of course we couldn't do it by ourselves. We had help, by the two senior classes before us. The senior class of our sophomore year impacted us the most, even to this day. They taught us how to lead, how to set the example for the underclassmen, how to lead the band in the right direction. And Friday night, we paid tribute to them in the most awesome way we could think of.

Sophomore year, for the Rose Parade, we chose to play an array of songs, one of which was a medley of two Beatles songs (as a tribute to the band that initially auditioned to get into the Rose Parade, where the Seniors were sophomores) and two Bon Jovi Songs, "You Give Love a Bad Name" and "Livin' on A Prayer". We still think of that class, and Grams even said in his speech that our class and theirs are similar in many ways. So, Friday night, as a tribute to them, to the band that went to the Rose Parade (we're an almost extinct species), as the students ran out onto the field after our team won their last home game, after we played the school's victory song, our drum majors counted us off and played "Livin' on A Prayer".

And it was awesome. I hoped all of the graduates could hear it. They would be proud of us. Nay. They are proud of us. And I know the seniors this year will be proud of the band next year. Because we care about what happens after we leave. We never want what we had (again, that whole aspect of family) to disappear.

Take my hand, and we'll make it, I swear...

You live for the fight when it's all that you've got...


Songs of the Moment: Can't Help Falling in Love, Burning Love, C.C Rider, Hound Dog, Love Me Tender, Jailhouse Rock, Livin' on A Prayer...For the Seniors, past and present

Not Just a Bunch of Band Geeks: BEDSY Day 37 (Friday October 28th, 2011)

I'll actually put up a Friday blog on Friday. One of these days...

Last home football game at SK. I can now say this without fear of jinxing ourselves, but we went the entire season without rain during a home game (I say home games because I wen to the game last week, which was away, and it was poring rain). It was almost the opposite last year. I can't remember how many times we had to drag our the plastic rain ponchos (ugh!) Sadly, it rained enough during the day that the field was too squishy-squashy to march on without ruining our band uniforms. Gotta keep those uniforms clean...

Last home game also meant it was Senior Night, where all the seniors (and their parents) from cheer, football, and band are recognized. For some lucky people, it was a stark reminder of how supportive our parents have been of us over the past seventeen, eighteen years. For others, however, it was a stark reminder of how supportive they weren't. I was fortunate enough to find myself in the former category, and I walked across the track in front of the home team supporters while my name was called with my mom and my dad by my side. There were a few people whose parents didn't care enough to show up. Fortunately, we had some "surplus" band parents of underclassmen who were more than glad to act as surrogate parents for those parent-less students. There was one kid who was escorted by two students, two of his friends, who were in the student section. That's the thing I love about this band (and, frankly, our senior class)--there is the incredible, irreplaceable sense of family that defines us as a group.

In high school, I've figured out, in order to survive, you really need to find your own niche. Screw all the people who say avoid joining the dreaded "cliques" of high school. Sometimes they aren't that big of a deal. What is a big deal are the stereotypes given to those cliques and, sadly, very few students do anything to change that. People need something to latch onto in high school, whether it be a group of people who have the same taste in music as you, or a sports team or the theater or band. High school is a big place, and people need a commonality between their peers (not all, but some) in order to feel important, like they belong. Nothing's worse than feeling like you don't belong.

Of course, sometimes we hang out with the wrong types of people. We seek out the wrong commonalities. Partying.. Drugs. Alcohol. You try to hang out with the kids from the basketball teams, even though you're heavily into technology. It's okay if you figure out that you're hanging out with the "wrong" group of people, just as long as you remain true to what you believe in and don't sacrifice yourself.

Wow. That was cheesy. But it's true. Being a band kid, I already had a niche carved out for me when I went to high school. Or I thought I did. The first day of camp (which is in August) my sophomore year, I was told that the band was like a family, that no matter how many times we may have disagreements, we always look out for each other. I didn't believe it. So I was ignorant of it. Until life kicked me in the butt.  Long story short, right around Halloween of my sophomore year, right up until February, being at home around my family wasn't the easiest thing n the world (maybe I'll go into why, but I have to save that story for a later time). But what kept me going was the environment I entered the second I walked into the band room. Funny thing is, there's always at least one other person in the band room at all times. (We pretty much live there. Last year, we had two sleeping bags and a tent in there at one point.) And people can tell when you're having a bad day. Sometimes they'll ask why, but most times they'll just come up to you and give you a hug. It may not solve everything, but at least it makes everything alright for a little bit. It lets you know that at least one person cares. And sometimes that's all you need.

Ever since, I've tried to uphold that sense of family. Most people do. We all cry at the end of the year when the seniors have to leave because we've grown so tight as a group over the past year, and it's always weird at the beginning of every year because the seniors from the previous year are missing, and there are all these new people, messing with the dynamic that had been built the year before. But that's normal. But no matter who is in this band, we are family, and we look out for one another. Two weeks ago, at homecoming, I caught word of how one of our sophomores was ditched by her date (who also stole her money). I and the group of people I was with (all band kids) stayed with her and tried to track down the guy. We told the dean and invited the girl to come hang out with us for the rest of the dance. She said she had a better time with us than with her "date". Mission accomplished.

I love these people (you'll hear me say this a lot this year, but it just shows you guys how much I love them) and I would do anything for any of them, and I know that they would do the same for me.

'Cause we're not just a bunch of band kids. We're family.

BBT: BEDSY Day 36 (Thursday October 27th, 2011)

Totally watching The Big Bang Theory right now. I've never really gotten into sitcoms, but this is pretty stinkin' hilarious. It's the episode where the boys find an original Lord of the Rings ring and they spend the entire episode fighting over it. Oh, Sheldon...

"I'm going to make you want to pee..."

Pretty much winding down from a really long day and a short night's sleep on Wednesday night. Early to bed, though. Tomorrow's going to be short and really long at the same time. Last official football game tomorrow night. Which also means it's Senior Night. There will be tears. The winner of tomorrow's game determines who gets the last spot in the playoffs. We may actually be going to playoffs this year. Maybe...

Talking Politics: BEDSY Day 35 (Wednesday October 26th, 2011)

Today was pretty awesome. Even though I was late to school. Stupid half days with stupid 7:25 start....

Classes were only an hour long today. So that was kind of nice. We watched a documentary in AP Gov. on how effed up our democracy is. Apparently even the most technologically inept--yet politically passionate--person could hack into the voting machines and skew the results. And the companies that made the machines--who were notorious for accepting bribes from specific political parties (in the movie it was the Republican Party, but I don't think the bribes were coming from just them)--did NOTHING to fix the programming and codes on these machines...even when all of the codes were, at one point, online for public viewing.

It's weird to think that by the next time our country is ready to elect a new president, I'll be able to vote. But based on these findings...maybe not.

Had my first audition today. This was the big one, though, the one for Wind Ensemble. I actually feel really good about my audition, though. I hope I get the chair (that's parts for the music we'll play all year) I want. We'll see in a few weeks.

: BEDSY Day 34 (Tuesday October 25th, 2011)

Today was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Well, this morning was at least.

I had English today. No need to explain myself, yes?

I felt like falling asleep in class all day long. Luckily my seventh period class was cancelled to day, so I got to go home kind of early.

Half days for the rest of the week. Yay!!

Here's hoping tomorrow will be better.

P.S. Ten brownie points if you got the reference I was making in the beginning.

Terrible Twos: BEDSY Day 33 (Monday October 24th, 2011)

Today was a day of terrible two's.

Two tests.

Two timed writes in government (as a part of one of the aforementioned tests).

Two auditions. For some strange reason, I had neither audition today, even though I was fully planning on having both of them. One is tomorrow, for jazz. The second is on Wednesday, for Wind Ensemble, the top performance group in our program. Into which I've gotten the past two years. But that doesn't really mean anything. I'm still scared. Scared that I'm going to do something really stupid in my audition and have it hanging over my head for the next few weeks until the list of who made it is posted. I hate waiting.

No more terrible two's. I now understand why they're called 'terrible'.

Hodgepodge: BEDSY Day 32 (Friday October 21st, 2011)

...'cause that's what you're getting in this entry.

What a soggy, soggy day. It's been raining off and on for the past day and a half. But I like it. Most of my friends don't, but whatever. I enjoy it. This type of weather makes me believe that it's finally fall, which means fuzzy scarves and hats and boots and hot chocolate and pumpkin pie.

Went to an away football game with two of my good friends. We cleaned house. 60-28. I honestly thought the game was going to be closer than that. Guess not...Next week's game should be exciting, then. (Side note: the game took place in one of coolest stadiums I've ever been in. It was set up like an amphitheater, built into the hillside looking over the water. If it was a) not raining and b) not dark, it would've been one of the coolest views ever. There were big concrete steps all the way to the field., giving it kind of a Gladiator-esque feel to the occasion. Except they were a pain in the butt trying to climb up. I made the fatal mistake of leaving my rain jacket in the car and having to hike up the entirety of the stadium, four flights of stairs to get to street level, and one flight of stairs in the parking garage to get back to the car. Not gonna lie, I was sweating pretty hard by the time I got back to my seat. The school itself also looks like Hogwarts. No, I'm not joking.

After this night, I will be forever called the 'asthmatic band kid'. My friends love me.)

Watching "The Prince of Egypt" right now, since I've been so obsessed with the music from it lately. I love this movie, honestly. I've never been a particularly religious person (even though I was raised Catholic and went to Sunday School), but this movie kind of makes me believe in something that really is bigger than all of us, and I attribute that to the story-telling and the music. (You guys'll figure out that I attribute a lot of things to music.) It's something that touches your spirit, whether or not you actually believe in God or Allah or the Flying Green Spaghetti Monster. And I think that's what counts the most.

I'm going to a study party tomorrow at one of my friends's house, to, hopefully, study for our U.S. Government/Politics test that we have on Monday. Sad thing is we'll actually study...I want to do well. Our teacher wants us to do well. I like how our teacher teaches this class. She gives us facts and information, but then she makes sure we have a way to get it cemented into our brains (last week she had us remember a 19th-century court case by remembering the sound old ferry boats made...*gib-gib-gib-gib-gib-gib*), and she really encourages study groups and offers to host study sessions at our local Starbucks. And even at her house. You must really want your students to succeed if you are willing to let them into your house. Especially high school students.

Didn't mean to ramble and skip around a lot tonight. I feel like I haven't written very substantial entries lately, so I'm making up for it. My apologizes for the schizophrenic nature of this entry. Deal with it.

HEY YOU GUYS!!!!: BEDSY Day 31 (Thursday October 20th, 2011)

I'm watching The Goonies on TV right now (while doing homework). I love this movie. For those who don't know, it's about this group of friends who go hunting for long-lost treasure in order to save their home from foreclosure. It's the ultimate underdog movie. It's also kind of a cult movie.

GOONIES NEVER SAY DIE!!!

I've been watching this movie religiously since I was about ten. It's still one of my favorites. It's a great movie to watch growing up, even though I started watching it over fifteen years after it originally came out. I'll probably even show it to my kids.

I'm also reading Atonement at the moment for English. Not as bad as HoD. I actually like this book. I'm pretty positive the author is still alive. I enjoy the plot so far. This author (who is Ian McEwan, by the way) really goes into great detail about the motives and the thoughts of his characters but without it being written in the first person. Plus the perspective shifts from character to character every chapter. I like it when authors do that.



Now I must go back to reading.

BEDSY Day 30 (Wednesday October 19th, 2011)

Eff you, English class. Eff you for making me sleep-deprived enough that I want to go to bed super early tonight and not post and entry for today until tomorrow.

Riding Down the Highway: BEDSY Day 29 (Tuesday October 18th, 2011)

I am now an officially licensed driver in my state. WHOO-HOOO!!!!

(This has been a long time coming. I got my learner's permit the spring of my sophomore year. And I spent a good portion of the time between now and then bugging my mom to get me into a driver's ed class, which I ended up taking over this past sumer.)

Next step: get a job and/or a car. Probably'll get a job first. Baby steps, girl. Baby steps....

BEDSY Day 28 (Monday October 17th, 2011)

Almost pulled an all-nighter last night. Don't wanna talk about why.

Took a math test. Pretty sure I did well on it.

I take my drive test tomorrow afternoon. Everyone get off the roads.

This time tomorrow, I may be a licensed driver. Keep your fingers crossed.

Homecoming Part1: BEDSY Day 27 (Friday October 14th, 2011)

Homecoming game was tonight. It could've gone one or two ways (now that I think about it, that's how all games go...), and it when the way that was favorable to us, even with our running back out with an injured arm. We won. 38-7. And those seven points were gained (possibly out of pity) in the last three minutes of the fourth quarter. We probably let them have it. I felt kind of sad. For the other team. We had a full set of bleachers. They barely had ten people cheering for them. They didn't even bring their cheerleaders.

I am glad we won, though. It's tragic when you don't win your homecoming game.

One more game. And it's Senior Night. There will be tears.

When the Lights Go Out: BEDSY Day 26 (Thursday October 13th, 2011)

I have a test in chemistry tomorrow over the Periodic table of elements.

Apparently I think blogging about today is more important than studying. This is a problem.

...Just spent the past half hour doing online review games. Now I don't feel so bad.

Today was onw of those days that had the potential to be really really disasterous...but, by pure chance, it didn't end up that way. I love it when that happens. Sadly it doesn't happen all the time.

I was pretty much screwed for homework this morning, as I had nothing but English done, and I have no time in any of my classes to finish other homework...so...yeah. Same story as usual.

We got our new book assignments for English. Thank God. We're finally done with Heart of Darkness. If I ever hear those three words uttered in close context with one another again...heads are gonna roll.

So I got out of English. (I'm actually kind of glad that my desk is at the back corner of the classroom. That means I'm usually the first one out when the bell rings.) We weren't thirty seconds into passing when the lights went out. No power. 2300 kids in the hallways. Oh, man. But, as the civilized person I try to be, I made my way through the crowded, now dark, hallways out to the portables to Calc. All the way, I'd heard speculations as to how and why the power went out...since it wasn't even windy out. Not even a fall, maritime breeze to rustle the bronze leaves along the walkway. My math teacher thought it was a suicidal squirrel who jumped from the power lines that run to our school. Apparently that actually happened a few years ago.

So we did calculus in the semi-dark. Which wasn't too bad, since we normally have the lights off to see stuff our teacher is putting up on the projector screen. Plus we had windows. So we're sitting there...turning in homework. Except me. I didn't turn in my homework. Or at least the assignment that was due today. Because it wasn't done. I turned in the assignment that was due Tuesday, when I was absent. I wish this assignment was assigned on Tuesday instead of last Thursday, but I digress...So I'm sitting in the back corner of the classroom (again, except I chose this spot; I have no choice in English) freaking out because this would have been my ONLY missing assignment in math, and I have a 92.99% in the class. Don't judge.

Class goes on as usual. One kid tried to sharpen his pencil with the electric sharpener while the power was still out. We did review problems for our test on Monday. The  power came back on about halfway through class. We went to lunch, came back to class, and finished our test review. In the last few minutes of class, my teacher announced that, regardless of it you turned in your assignment, she was giving full credit to everyone on this homework assignment. The assignment that I had been unable to finish. Heck yes.

A similar thing happened in my next class as well. Didn't finish my homework. My teacher wasn't there. Finished my homework (plus the homework that's due the next time as well) while we watched a movie on Mt. Vesuvius.

And then I come home and have almost no homework. Aside from studying for the chemistry test. This happens quite often. I don't especially care for this academic schyzophrenia. It makes my eyes cross. And my head hurt.

Homecoming game tomorrow night. Should be lots of fun. Hard to believe I only have one football game left after tomorrow night. Yikes.


Listening to: Red Jumpsuit Apparatus,

McDonald's, McDonald's...:BEDSY Day 25 (Wednesday September 12th, 2011)

Today is my mom's birthday. And we celebrated by going to McDonald's.

Not really. I mean, we went to McDonald's and it was my mom's birthday...but they weren't necessarily connected in any particular fashion. It was mere coincidence.

Anyway, we were at McDonald's for a fundraiser for band. They do this think where, essentially, we "take over" the restaurant for a few hours by cleaning tables or handing out food or waving signs outside the restaurant. Or playing pep band songs with a small ensemble of kids to attract attention. Always my favorite part. : )

Short blog is short. Still mentally recovering from being sick.

Only two more days until the weekend...and only three more 'til Homecoming. : )

Sick Day #3: BEDSY Day 24 (Tuesday October 11th, 2011)

Yesterday was a holiday, therefore I had no school, and therefore, no blog. No punishment.

Still at home sick today. This is a nasty bug. I can't remember the last time I was this sick for this long. Regardless of how I feel tomorrow, I think I have to go to school. I've already missed two days. In the words of the infamous Matt McGuire: "Being sick is complicated".

Even though I'm lounging in my living room still fighting off a cough, a plugged head, AND A FEVER, I thought I should post something more...extensive. Especially since I'm much more alert than I have been for the past five days.

So today we're going to talk about movies, since watching them has pretty much been my pastime for the past five days...

...Four hours later and this is as far as I've gotten. I though about deleting the stuff about the movies, but I think I'll just leave it, just to show you guys my intentions...and how they don't always come to fruition. At this point, I blame the fever that I've had since Thursday night. You guys are lucky this thing is even grammatically correct. Or makes sense.

Non-fever-influenced entry tomorrow.

BEDSY Day 23 (Friday, October 7th, 2011)

Still sick today. Stayed home and slept. I'm missing a football game tonigh :(. First one I've ever missed. But I might be more of a hinderance if I went tonight...My head's all stuffed up and I had a fever this morning. My thoughts are going out to my band and my team. I hope they do well tonight.

BEDSY Day 22 (Thurday October 6th, 2011)

No title for today. Came home and felt terrible, so this is the extent of my blog. I'm going to bed.

Bring on the OJ:BEDSY Day 21 (Wednesday Oct. 5th, 2011)

Almost forgot to do a blog today. Almost.

I think I'm getting sick. This is not good. I have a football game on Friday that I pretty much can't miss. But my mom's also been sick. And I've been living in close proximity to her. Bring on the Vitamin C. Stay away from me, germs. I can't afford to miss any school. Not right now.

Listening to: Eric Whitacre's "Sleep". Beautiful piece. Maybe I'll write about it at a later time. But that would take time and a mind that isn't as exhausted as mine is now. But you guys should seriously go listen to this song. It's amazing. Even the piano part that establishes the pitches for the singers (since this is an a capella choral piece) is beautiful.

I'm  going to take Mr. Whitacre's advise and go to sleep. 'Night, all.

The Long and Winding Road: BEDSY Day 20 (Tuesday Oct. 4th, 2011)

Finally done with driver's ed. Heck yes. I like the feeling of actually accomplishing something.

*sigh* I told myself I wasn't going to do this anymore...but here it goes.

My English class is taking years off my life. I don't think I've actually ever hated English. Bu I do now. It's gotten so bad that it's starting to affect people's health. Physical and mental. No amount of college credit is worth this. COLLEGE isn't even this hard. And that's with, like, FOUR classes.

People are starting to switch out, and even getting their parents involved. This @!*& just got real. This teacher told us at the beginning of class that he really wanted to teach this higher level English class, and he'd been working with some of the other AP teachers in preparation for it...but if he wants a full class to actually take the AP test at the end of the year, he better rethink his teaching strategies.

Like that's going to happen.

This class completely sucks out all of my energy/attention span/cognitive power, leaving virtually nothing for any of my other classes (which are AP Calculus and humanities), and even less than that for after school. I almost came home today and took a nap. At three o'clock. And I probably wouldn't have woken up until just now. That's how sleep-deprived I am. And it's all from this stupid English class. The point where one class starts affecting my other six classes...I know something's seriously wrong.





On another note...we got our graduation packets on Friday. Like where we order our caps and gowns and announcements. Man, it's expensive to graduate. They make us endure thirteen year of FREE education...and then make us pretty much pay $200 to walk across a stage and shake our Principal's hand. Illogical world is illogical.

Dance, Dance?: BEDSY Day 19 (Monday Oct. 3rd, 2011)

Oh, man. It's Monday.

Homecoming is just around the corner at my school. And my friends have decided that it's not an okay thing that I haven't decided whether or not I want to go to the dance. And it's not just one friend. It's quite a few of them. Might I also mention that homecoming is next Saturday?

I've never actually been one for school dances. I don't know why...I'm not anti-school spirit or anything...I don't know. I just have this underlying feeling that I shouldn't go...but it's Senior year. I promised myself that I would have as few regrets about the year as possible, not going to homecoming being one of them, but...we'll see.

Sadly, I've been led to believe that one of my good friends is kidnapping me this weekend to take me dress shopping...Help.

Them Apples: BEDSY Day 18 (Friday Sept. 30th, 2011)

First Friday blog of the year!

I'm exhausted, but I SHANT leave you without an entry tonight. You know you're tired when going to bed at 8:30 on a school night sounds like a fantastic idea.

Pretty normal day at school. English is still killing me, though. It's gotten so bad that it's starting to effect y other classes. I can't handle that. Switching out is sounding like a better idea each and every day.

But we're not going to talk about English. We're going to talk about apples.

In celebration of the beginning of October, I'm going apple picking tomorrow. (It's not just because it's the first of October. It just happened to be the first weekend that was free...) My family has an apple orchard. And a vineyard. Neither are particularly big, but they're enough to make a small amount of money. But I guess that's not really important.

But what is important is that this is something I do with my dad and my grandma and a few of my aunts and uncles every year. Or at least we try to do every year. We make the three-hour drive over to the orchards, pick for about two hours, then come back home. We really try (or at least my dad does) to do this and involve as many people as possible since my family doesn't really get the chance to be all together all of the time throughout the year. We only manage two or three times at the very least when we actually have everyone together. This is kind of one of those times. We stop at the usual restaurants at the usual times (a bakery in the morning to get breakfast/lunch and cookies and a small butcher shop where they sell yard-long sticks of house-made pepperoni; one of the hydroelectric dams along the river just outside the orchard; a small, family-run diner for a hot dinner after spending the day being whipped by the wind out in the field). I'm driving over with my grandma and one of my aunts, who will surely keep me entertained while I'm not either sleeping or doing homework. I almost always seem to have homework to do on these trips as well. One year, I had to read The Odyssey during the drive.

Sadly, it may be my last time making this trip, at least for another year, since I'll be at school by this time next year and be unable to get away like I can now. My dad'll still do this every year for as long as he can, as will my grandma...but I don't know when my next time will be.

I guess another thing that I have to think about is who will take care of this place, this place that is, literally, as old as I am (the first trees were planted right around the time I was born)...I know my dad won't be around forever, and this orchard is kind of his baby. His other baby. He's a teacher, but in reality he's a farmer at heart. I wonder if he expects me to uphold this piece of land, to take responsibility for it when he can't do it anymore.

Don't get me wrong. This is the twenty-first century. We don't have to till the land ourselves anymore or water it by hand, or even spend weeks and weeks harvesting it. We have machines and other people to do that for us. But there's still the "overseeing" of the land that still remains, even in this time where machine has replaced man in many aspects of life...It's not something I can see myself faithfully doing in thirty years...but I don't want my dad's (and my grandfather's, actually) dream to go to waste.

This weekend just turned into a bigger deal than I thought it would be. I just wanna go pick apples.

Survival of the Fittest: BEDSY Day 17 (Thursday Sept. 29th, 2011)

We took part in the county-wide earthquake drill today at school.

Told you my life was exciting.

But the actual drill wasn't the interesting/funny part. It's kind of what would happen in the case of a real emergency (not that a natural disaster is, in any way, humorous...but just hear me out).

So, the first day of school, I walk into my government class, and we get to choose where we sit. I was one of the first people to class, since my previous one was, literally, right next door. So I and one of my friends got first dibs. We sat on the right side of the room (if we were to look toward the front).

For the rest of the seven-minute passing period (even though it really wasn't seven minutes, since it was the first day...it was more like nine minutes.), the rest of my class trickled in and we figured out the logistics of our seating chart (my teacher wants us to sit boy-girl-boy-girl in EVERY direction). So class starts. My teacher walks in and she smiles and point to the right side (the side I was on) and said that we were the smart ones. We all look at each other confusedly, so my teacher said "Let me explain."

She walks to the aisle that separates the two groups of tables and explains how the fault line of the school runs right down the middle of the groups of desks. Meaning that if the building were to experience an earthquake, it would collapse at the line. Specifically the left side of the line. So everyone who had to sit on the left side would probably die in the event of a real earthquake. Thus making us, on the right side, the smarter, more likely to survive bunch of students.

Except I'm on the very edge of the right side, like six inches from the fault line. So maybe I'll die too.

So while we were preparing ourselves for the drill, we, on the right side, were commenting on if we should leave the left side inside the building while the rest of us went outside to line up. Since, you know, they probably wouldn't be alive to make it outside. But we let them out anyway.

Interesting story for today is over. Tomorrow is Friday. Weekend should be interesting. I'll tell you about it in the next blog, though. I promise to actually put one up tomorrow. Especially since I won't be able to put one up until Sunday afternoon. We're not doing that two weeks in a row.

Listening to: more Hans Zimmer. This guy is magic. Also listening to my conscience telling me that I need to finish my English and Calculus homework. Should probably do that.

Grand Old Ivy: BEDSY Day 16 (Wednesday Sept. 28th, 2011)

Right. I was going to talk about college tonight.

Since it's Senior year and all, I guess it's okay to start talking about this kind of stuff.

My mom is making me turn in all of my stuff super early. Like October 10th, early. And I'm applying to three different schools. Oh my...Luckily, two of those schools offered me a free, expedited application, so I only really have to focus on the one other application. Which, funnily enough, is for the school that I really, really want to go to. But there's still a lot of stuff to take care of...

Like my essay. These admissions people (and I'm speaking for all of them) need to have some sort of creativity when it comes to the essay question. Most prompts include sharing an experience that really altered your life, your reasons why you want to attend their college, or a challenge that you had to overcome.

Really? Colleges want you to "sell" yourself. But what if you aren't particularly good at that...without sounding too pretentious or egotistic or narcissistic? Or boring? And then you have your activities. You feel like such an un-socialized loner when you have seven slots to fill in all of the clubs and activities you've done in high school...and you only manage to fill out one. Makes you wonder if you spent your time in high school wisely.

Not to mention you have to tell the school what you want to do with yourself for the next three, four, five years of your life. That's an intense decision. I know you can change it at any time and what not (I had a teacher who changed his major two weeks before finals his senior year of college. no lie) but it's still kind of a big deal. After much internal debate and little sleep, I think I've finally figured mine out. I think.

I've never been absolutely sure, but I've also been going back and forth on this for the last few years, which might actually mean that it should be the field I go into and study.

I want to be a teacher.

Don't ask me what I want to teach yet. I've just crossed the emotional and psychological hurdle of choosing a general career choice/field of study. I'll probably give myself and ulcer or aneurysm if I try to figure out what I want to teach. Give it time. I'll get back to you on that. Maybe.

Anyway, important decisions and accomplishments must be made within the next two weeks. *gulp*

I hope I make it. I hope I get in...

Samely Same: BEDSY Day 15 (Tuesday Sept. 27th, 2011)

It's Tuesday. Yay.

I've got to stop posting/starting these things at 10 p.m. I'm tired, and I should go to bed...but I still have an entry to write...and they end up being super short and uninteresting. Something I need to work on.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be the LAST day that I'll ever have to work on Heart of Darkness. I'm ready to put this book out of my mind. I want to read Crime and Punishment.

Promise to have a longer entry tomorrow, guys. And one that's posted at a decent hour.

Today was awesome because: It was supposed to rain today...but it turned out to be super sunny and warm. :)

I Scream, You Scream: BEDSY Day 14 (Monday, Sept. 26th, 2011)

First night in a long time that I haven't had that much homework. And the homework that I did have, I finished before I got home. But even that stuff isn't due until Wednesday. I have absolutely no homework due tomorrow. Hooray!!

Grades thus far are bearable...I know I shouldn't be saying this, since I expect myself to do well in all of my classes...but with the workload I have so far, I'm okay with less than perfect grades. For the time-being. AP Lit I can handle having a 'B' in; AP Calc--surprisingly, I have an A; Honors Humanities, I have not only an A, but also 100%...but I don't find that to be much of an achievement, since the work, while interesting, is quite easy. AP Gov on the other hand...I have a C+. At this point, I'm hoping the 25 missing points only is attributed to the fact that that particular assignment has yet to be put into the grade book. If not...we've got problems....

Hope everything is going well for you all tonight. It's really stormy and windy where I live. I like it.

Why today  was awesome: I had peanut-butter ice cream tonight. It was delicious.

Listening to: Eric Clapton's live and unplugged version of "Layla". This song...this song...there is not a more perfect live song out there.

Enough to Power a Small Town: BEDSY Day 13 (Friday Sept. 23rd, 2011)

Football game last night. We won. Against a team that we're pretty much guaranteed to beat whenever we play them. We almost couldn't keep u with the amount of times we had to play our school's fight song. 38-7 was the final score. Yeah.

Anyway, also had our first "real" performance of our field show last night, which went really well. Our theme this year is Elvis. Nothing like the classics to get the audience pumped.

Speaking of getting pumped and peppy, we also had our first pep assembly of the year. I have to hand it to our ASB. They're awesome. (For those who don't know, ASB stands for Associated Student Body, and they take care of all of the school activities like the dances and the assemblies and whatnot.) Like I said, they're awesome. And super creative. And not super focused only on the sports in our school. They gave the band a shout-out during the assembly, and we got our own little spot to perform. It was nice to be recognized for once. ASB last year kind of dropped the ball...

Not to mention they had a flash dance in the middle of the assembly. To "Party Rock Anthem". With glow sticks. 'nough said.

Next game is in two weeks, on the 7th of October. Hopefully we'll have the majority of the show music ready by then. It'd be nice to actually finish a show this year.

I really need to work on actually blogging on Friday instead of waiting until the weekend to do it...

Today was awesome because: There was so much excitement and energy around me all day long because of the football game and the assembly. It was electric.

Chopped, Vlogbrothers, and John Williams: BEDSY Day 12 (Thursday September 22nd, 2011)

Tonight is a night of recovery. My only homework that's due tomorrow is a review worksheet for a Chemistry test and about 10 pages of reading for AP Government. I like this.

So I've been pretty much relaxing all night, letting myself watch YouTube videos shamelessly. And TV. I haven't watched TV in about a week, due to the amount of homework I've had. I've been watching cooking shows and Jeopadry. This is how I spend my nights.



Why today was awesome: signed up for my last drive! :D

Alone in a Crowded Room: BEDSY Day 11 (Wednesday September 21st, 2011)

It's time to stop complaining about school and start being philosophical.

Or just stop complaining about school.

But I'd still like to talk about school. But in a more general sense.

I go to one of the biggest high schools in the state, based on population. This is because there is, really, only one high school in the town where it's located...so EVERY student in town goes there. There are a few who go to another one that is kind of in the area, but it's only consists kids whose parents have the time and the money to send them there...so not very many.

Anyway, yes, my high school has the biggest student population in the state, with respect to the physical size of the high school. Those are some crowded hallways. Your first year, you definitely get that "small fish in a big pond" syndrome. I'm sure any new high school student can tell you that that isn't very fun at all. You go through junior high/middle school and become really close with your group of friends and then 8th/9th grade comes around (depending on whether you went to a middle school or a junior high) and you make this pact to have these grand adventures in high school and always stick together and whatnot...

And then you realize that you don't have any classes  with any of them once you get up to high school. You rarely even see them in the hallways, if at all. Your paths rarely cross when you switch classes. It's unnerving, especially when you were so accustomed to being able to walk through almost the entire school during passing period in junior high. You're lucky if you manage to have a friend or two at lunch.

Sophomore year, my band director--for whom I have complete and utmost respect--told the class how important it was for us (as a band) to stick together, as a family. For how many students were in this school, no matter how "popular" you were, it was physically impossible to meet every single student. It just was. That being said, it was important to keep as many people, friends, colleagues, as close to you as possible.


Thus ends my serious rant. Back to your lives, citizens. (Ten brownie points for whoever gets that reference...)

Today was awesome because: I did my second to last drive for driver's ed. SO close to getting my license.
Listening to: "Dark Blue"--Jack's Mannequin

Will Work for...: BEDSY Day 10 (Tuesday Sept. 20th, 2011)

Nay, this is not a blog where I complain about homework.

This is a blog where I complain about ENGLISH homework. And how much of it I have.

However, today, I walked into my AP Lit. class alongside my fellow sleep-deprived classmates, to find that our teacher had brought us orange juice, doughnuts, and coffee.

THE MAN BROUGHT US COFFEE.

I trust anyone who brings me coffee. And it was GOOD coffee...like the big jug of Starbucks coffee that grown-ups buy for business meetings and whatnot.

(This was especially appreciated today since I had not the chance to get some this morning because we had no water in our house because one of our pipes burst last night.)

He also gave us an apology for not being super clear in what he wanted from us, and when he wanted all those assignments due. But, he clarified, that did not necessarily mean that the work would ease up...it is AP, after all. It was just an unfortunate occurrence that we started off the year with the hardest book we will possibly ever read. Ever. This did not help the situation at all. While this man is, perhaps, not my favorite teacher ever...I do have to give him props for manning up like that. I have some respect for him. Possibly enough to stay in the class for at least a few more weeks.

Maybe once this book is over, I'll start complaining about something else.