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