tomorrow would be 5 months since I last posted. Well, sorry...high school is eating my life. Christmas is almost here! making a present for my mom, and its taking foreverr. Ha I dont even know if it will work out yet. Well yeah my blog is spammed so dont expect too much from here on out.

Busy.

Past three weeks....helping out with anthropology camp...obnoxious kids...wow kind of exhausting....
Really interesting though. Screaming, pushing, kids having meltdowns when leaving their parents, climbing all over siblings, refusing to go inside at the end of recess...thankfully not all at the same time, but still really tiring. Haha.

A ton of new inside jokes between all the helpers, the biggest of which is the counselor. We told the kids that if they needed help, they could ask any of the counselors for help. One kid asked what a counselor was. One helper said (to confuse him) "a counselor is a camel but with 3 humps instead of 2."

I know, i have no life, right? Because that's pretty much the funniest thing that's happened during my summer so far. Volunteering nonstop. I've gotten to sleep in like, twice so far. Oh well.

summer

Volunteered the past two weeks at a retirement home, it was ok I guess, though I'd definitely rather be whitewater rafting, haha. the 3 activities assistants I work with at the home trained me to do all their morning errands like getting mail and coffee, so I think I work harder than they do haha. (just kidding)


next 3 weeks, I'm volunteering at Anthropology camp. looking forward to it :)

Summer so far

Friday--watch Karate Kid

Sunday--my sis goes to governor's school. 6 week camp kind of thing, where students are chosen for special qualities. My sis got in on instrumental music, which also needed an audition: other areas only need an application.

Monday--friends come over from the mountains.
Tuesday--we go bowling
Wednesday--we watch Karate Kid (yeah I've seen it twice now:D)
Thursday--we take those friends back to the mountains and stay overnight
Friday--we go whitewater rafting!!!! it was fun, the water was freezing, I almost fell out at the end. altogether really really awesome.
Saturday--we wake up, go downtown, drive back home.

Fun week :) next week, though, I go volunteer at the retirement home. not too bad I guess, but not nearly as fun as this week...

Today

My sister went to governor's school. There was a parent meeting and after it was over, it was pouring rain. So I ran to the car to sit inside. and then figured that leaving my mom standing under the roof of the building was probably not a good idea because she would never come to the car because she'd get wet. So I run back with an umbrella. and she takes it and there's not enough room for two, so I'm walk back without one. then I go back again to help someone else to their car with the umbrella. and again, I didn't have one. So, long story short, I got soaked. and I wore a white shirt. ugh...but it was an adrenaline rush. :)

Last Day of School

97 on English exam, I guess that's really good haha but my teacher said "she was expecting a 100." Oh well.
Latin exam was good, I think. Band exam was just plain pointless. Since he's required to give an exam, he made us write an autobiography on our musical life. Haha that was yesterday. I had my band exam in the afternoon and none in the morning, so I went to the band room and stayed there in the morning even though I wasn't supposed to; I was supposed to go to the room that everyone else who had no exam was supposed to go. But I didn't. I love breaking the rules! :) anyway, so I finished my band exam while the morning people were taking it and socialized for the remaining 2 1/2 hours...went to 1st lunch with them. Went to my friend's sophomore Seminar English II class and hung out there during 2nd lunch because they were watching a movie, they made me go return their library books for them (like, ten of them. Don't I have great friends?) 3rd lunch I went and sat with my sister. Then went back to the band room for the afternoon exam (that I already finished). Yeah. Yesterday was a pretty chillaxed day, haha.

Today...totally different story...had my SM World History exam, was studying for it since last week, good thing I did too because even with all that, there was still some stuff I didn't know. But I guess it went pretty well. After exam, I got picked up by my mom at lunch and went to the university's library's Starbucks, got an Extra Coffee Caramel frapiccino (or however you spell that), went to the upstairs study room/balcony thing, and watched Avatar. It was awesome. My friends were jealous when I told them. So was my history teacher, haha.

grades

98 on Geometry exam. 98 on Biology exam. English exam was today, I don't know how I did yet.

Exams started today. Fun.

Yeah, sooo...we have 11 days of exams, which is pretty ridiculous. EOC exams are first, so if you don't have an EOC for that class, you go to that class and review for the whole exam period. Which is almost 4 hours. Way too long. I think I have restless leg syndrome. not really, but I really hate sitting for so long. We get breaks but they're only five minutes. So today I asked my teacher if I could sit on the floor, she said no. (no surprise there, but it was worth a try) :D

......

aaaahh really long week...

Projects

Half-procrastinated on two projects due on Monday. One's about done, but needs a lot of finishing touches.
The other one for Geometry class....about 1/4 done...its supposed to be done with a partner and my partner and I haven't had time to get together yet :D We have to make a bug out of geometric shapes and write a story about it and why its made of those shapes. Gonna make it out of a kleenex box.....

YESSS

So I got a new roll of athlete's tape :D I'm pretty excited...my blisters are saved!!! got huge ones from last week...it was the highlight of my day...

musical

so yeah, the musical was pretty good :D

I realized last weekend that I have a really bad sock tan from winter, and I really need to tan that out...

So yeah, I also realized how much grammar I've learned in English this year and how bad I was before...haha I was rereading a paper I wrote last year and I found sooooo many mistakes it's not even funny.

photo shoot for Youth Symphony is tomorrow...have to wear concert clothes...I get out of Jazz Band rehearsal 45 minutes early

Musical! :D

Opening night of the school musical is tomorrow! :D I'm excited, my friend and I are going to the nearby Japanese restaurant to eat dinner, then walking to school to go watch the musical.
(meanwhile, my friend is freaking out........)

HAIR!

Have I ever said anything about how my hair takes forever to dry?? It takes FOREVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My sister can wash her hair after me and it'll be dry in half an hour. Mine takes like, 2 hours to get mostly dry.......................................its soooooooooooooooooo annoying!!!!!!!!!!!

I got an 82 on a math test on areas of polygons.....it was the hardest test I've ever taken....but I guess it was pretty good compared to other people....most people got in the 60s and 70s. One person got a 48....one had a 34, and I heard one guy got a 2....

Does anybody else besides me have this thing happen where I'm totally fine before class starts, then once the bell rings, I start sneezing? Its like, more than a coincidence, it happens every day and it's really weird and I always have to get up and get a tissue in the middle of class. And it's always just during 1st period...

But anyway, I'm finished with homework and it's only 10:15, which is a record, pretty much. This week, I've had the least homework I've had in about 2 months. Or maybe it just seems like that, because I've been stresses out about at least one thing since March. Early March was All State Auditions, then some other crap, then the week before spring break, teachers were cramming and I had to get ready for New Orleans trip, then when I came back, I had to prepare INSANELY for black belt testing, and had a DNA project for Biology that some people in my group were really immature and annoying, then missed school last Friday...I feel soooo relaxed now because everything's over...but anyway...can you tell I'm bored? I'm rambling.

I really need to cut my fingernails.

Allergies suck. A lot.

For All-State Band clinic, I have to room with the only other girl who made it--the one that I thought was shy who's really not. Hahaaaaaaaaaa that'll be fun/interesting....

OOOOkkkkk I'm going to go to bed. Maybe.

Testing

sorry I haven't been able to post about anything....freaking busy weekend

So last Thursday evening, we had All-County Orchestra. Then on Friday, we had it again all day, so I missed school. Haha on Friday the conductor said "Enjoy life because you'll be my age tomorrow" and he had said that yesterday...ummm...unless I'm mistaken, I'm not his age yet...
Concert was pretty good; we played some Symphony, an Overture, and Carmen Opera Suite.

Anyway, so that was my Friday. Then on Saturday, I got up, went to taekwondo at 9:30 AM, practiced until about 10:30, went to the school gym where testing was, practiced line-ups and basic movements with all the other people who were testing until 1:00, then went to the Jazz Festival at my school to play with my jazz band, went back after that ended at 3:00, got back to the testing location at 3:20, testing started at 3:40 and went until 7:30 or so.

It was super long day. Testing is sooooooooo long because the people are all divided into groups of about 8 or 9 and they rotate--there were 6 groups testing for 1st degree and each had to do 3 forms and self defense. That took awhile. Then my group went and did 3 forms and then while the 2nd degree testers were doing their forms, we changed into our sword uniforms that look like samurai outfits and did our sword form. Then we changed back into regular uniforms and each group rotated doing sparring. Our group went last on that because we have to spar 2 on 1. Haha our instructor plotted against my sister--he was telling us to do flying sidekicks at her and stuff, it was funny.

Aaaand then we all did board breaking. I did a punch power break (which is twice the thickness of normal breaks) and a step-turn-behind roundhouse kick power break, then a running-sidekick-punch thing. Kind of hard to explain what that is without pictures or something.

But yeah. And now it feels weird to go to school because of the crazy stuff I did over the weekend.

Oh, and we had All County Orchestra on Thursday and Friday.

Oh, and Jazz Festival yesterday :D I had a busy weekend.

testing ;D

Tested for 3rd degree black belt today :D

Spring is here now

A Story of the Indestructable Fly

Once upon a time, there was a fly named Superman. Superman somehow got into Rae's house. He loved the house because the kitchen had food in it. He buzzed around the kitchen happily all day and when time came for the girl named Rae to wash the dishes, she saw Superman and swatted him with the fly swatter. He disappeared into a safe place, and Rae thought she had killed him. Five minutes later, he came back into the kitchen to eat leftovers. Rae swatted him again. and again. and again. and again. Finally, he died.

The End

:D

Speaking of flies, I caught one bare handed yesterday. :D

THIS WEEK.....GAHHHH

Is anyone else INSANELY busy this week?

Thursday after school--All-County Orchestra clinic
Friday all day (i get to miss school!)--All County Orchestra clinic and concert
SATURDAY--morning--maybe possibly Jazz Festival at my school and duet at Solo and Ensemble Festival...either that or go to class at taekwondo to practice line-ups for third degree black belt testing
--afternoon--third degree black belt testing @3:40

Is it karma or something that everything was scheduled for Saturday??!?

Puns

we were talking about puns in English class because of Romeo and Juliet, and my teacher told some really good ones!

"I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger and bigger. Then it hit me."

"Someone tore a hole in the wall of the nudist colony. The police are looking into it."

XD

grades

got all A's for third quarter.

Seminar English teacher is suddenly SLAMMING us with homework....Biology is too...my Latin teacher left on maternity leave (and had her baby 3 days ago, BTW) and her substitute gives a little homework, which is more than SHE gave...

Anyways...it's gotten suddenly hotter here, time to break out the t-shirts and shorts!

ALLERGIES!!

during school today--

me-"ACHOO!!!.....................AAAAAAAAACCHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"


grand pause.....


ten seconds later.

my teacher-"bless you."



...slow reaction time...? *in a sarcastic tone* nice to know I'm loved!

XD

New Orleans

Trip to New Orleans was pretty awesome! Went with my jazz band. New Orleans = birthplace of jazz.

We left on Monday at 8 PM...16 hour bus ride down there and got there at about 1 PM, chilled at the hotel for 3 and a half hours. Then we met in the lobby and walked around the French Quarter to dinner at Bubba Gumps and everyone was all excited because apparently Forrest Gump was filmed there but I've never seen the movie and when I told them that, they all freaked out and pretty much shunned me for the next five minutes. Anyway, the food was good. I was boring and had a cheeseburger, but it was a REALLY GOOD cheeseburger.

After dinner we went to Preservation Hall to listen to some jazz. I stood on a ledge in the back so I could actually see, which was pretty nice :D and the bass player totally lowered my self-esteem because he was really good and I could never ever play like that but I've only been playing for like, 2 months so I guess its not really the same, but whatever...

Then we went to Cafe du Monde's to eat beignets. They're like French donuts with powdered sugar on them. They tasted exactly like funnel cakes except more fried and oily.
went back to the hotel at about 10:30 and my roomies and I chilled until about 12:00. I slept on a cot because we had five people in our room--the only girl's room on the whole trip and the rest were all guys. Which was pretty nice, because then we didn't have to wait in line at the bathrooms and they did, for once.

Then on Wednesday, we went on a 1 and a half hour long walking tour of the French Quarter. The French Quarter was pretty cool because of the old buildings and the HUGE cathedral.

After that we went to Mardi Gras World because New Orleans is the birthplace of Mardi Gras. We saw where they make the huge floats for the parades and they were awesomeee! They make them out of syrofoam for the most part and spray paint them and They look really life-like.

Went on a Cajun Swamp Tour after that and saw a bunch of alligators and turtles and blue herons. Fed the alligators marshmallows. Saw a little gator and we named it Jeffy and fed it marshmallows and it pretty much waited for us to come back because we saw him again on the way back.

Went back to hotel to chill, then went to Palm Court Cafe and Jazz Band 1--I'm in Jazz Band 2--played about an hour of jazz at the restaurant and there was a crazy "drunk" lady there with an English accent who was the owner of the cafe. She was dancing (really badly, I might add) and she pretty much forced the girls in our group to dance with her. I feel so sorry for one the jazz member's little sister because the crazy lady just grabbed her and started dancing with her and she was looking at us with a "help, get me out of here" kind of face. And then we ate dinner there, went back to the hotel.

On Thursday we went to the World War 2 Museum and walked around for 2 hours and went to see a 4-D movie about WWII, then both bands performed in the atrium. Apparently almost no one in Jazz Band 1 knew I played bass. My solos actually weren't that bad, at least not as bad as in practice.

After that, we had free time for about 4 hours. My group and I wanted to go to Hard Rock Cafe to eat lunch, but none of the parent chaperones wanted to go with us so we had to go eat with them and we were pretty annoyed because we had about 10 chaperones and they all wanted to go eat at the same place...but we got over it :D and ate at another place. Then we went to the French Market and shopped for awhile. We spent like, half an hour at this sunglasses place because my group and the group behind us wanted to get sunglasses and tried on pretyt much every pair. The owners of the place spoke Chinese and I talked with them and one of them was from Singapore (I don't know why she spoke Chinese if she was from Singapore) and the other was from Taiwan....he got really excited when I said that that was where I was from too, then got mad because I couldn't understand what he was saying. He had a crazy accent! I swear, he is definitely not from Taiwan...

After that we went on the Natchez Steamboat Cruise and ate dinner on the boat. It was pretty fun and there was live jazz on the upper deck.
Had an hour of free time after that and then went back to the hotel...

On Friday we got up, ate breakfast, got on the bus, and drove 16 hours back home.

The End.

:D

yesss

leaving for the trip in ten minutes!!!! will post pictures when i get back

TRIP TIMEEEE!!!

Going on a trip with the school Jazz Band next week for spring break! I am SUPER EXCITED!! we're going to some cool places!!! we have to drive for 16 hours there and 16 hours back, but...oh well. Knowing us, we'll have tons of fun on the bus trip alone. Haha.

Oh and on the subject of Jazz Band, I have a weird blister formation on my right index finger from plucking the string bass. I had a blister on Monday from practice, then yesterday morning it turned into a callus and a new blister formed under it, then today's practice gave me a blister under that blister. so I can literally see the 3 layers of skin/blister. I think it's really cool, but my sister thinks it's nasty. XD

MPA

Our Music Performance Adjudication was today, got out of school for half the day and pretty much literally just got back...

Basically, three judges hear a band play a march and two other pieces and grade them on tone, balance, musicality, intonation, etc. and another judge in another room hears them sight-read a piece. Grading scale is 1=best and 5=poor. My band got straight 1's. :D ...after like, one month of insane hard work. way to go, guys!

bus ride there and back was interesting, I sat beside this senior flute player. When I met her I thought she was shy. Hehe not since All District weekend when I had to room with her...hoo boy, she is faaaaaarrr from shy :D from those 5 hours I sat next to her today and the other 2 hours we were waiting to play, there is an insane amount of new inside jokes......

Soreness

I am INSANELY sore from taekwondo yesterday. As in, I was going down the stairs this morning after I got up and I almost fell because my quads are like, dead stiff. and don't even get me started on carrying the laundry up the stairs, my shoulders are so sore I feel totally off balance (and then I fall over because I'm so sore I can't regain my balance after I lose it) :D

-------------------

*update* playing basketball is really hard when you can't raise your arms above your head. FYI.

Tomorrow

My sis has to take the SAT :D and I'm going to go see Alice in Wonderland. It looks kind of creepy/weird but good.

My printer just totally broke down.

All State Band

I made it :D 9th chair which isn't that bad but I'm kind of mad because I know I could have done sooooo much better.....for those music people--my scales were ok, but my Eb scale tongued was pretty crappy (by the way, they spelled "tongued" wrong on the sheet on the stand). and my G-scale wasn't that bad but I think they took off half a point because I played it 3 octaves instead of 2, which they aren't supposed to do, but whatever....my solo was ok, I was semi-sick earlier this week so I had a cough attack during the 32-notes part. My sight-reading was ok too, considering it was in 6/8 time and there were weird sixteenth note rhythms in it :\

anyway, that is the 1 minutes summary of my audition, if you could understand it :D

but yeah. yesterday, right after my audition, I went to taekwondo for the mandatory 5 hour class to test for my 3rd degree black belt, and it was boring as **** (fill in any 4 letter word you would like there). we went over the basics for 5 hours--it wouldn't have been as bad if I hadn't done the exact same thing at the 5 hour classes before testing for 1st degree and again at 2nd degree...but yeah, I felt special because I got to miss one hour of it because of auditions :D

Oh Shoot

All State Band auditions tomorrow....time to start freaking out :D

not really, I don't get nervous anymore. ever. which is good. I have a friend that hyperventilates when she auditions, which is bad...wind instruments don't sound good if you can't breathe. And I have another friend that starts crying because she's so scared.

but yeah, I was on strike from practicing the solo we have to play for auditions because I practiced it so much for All District audition in January and started practicing it only last week...so I wonder how that's gonna go tomorrow...

ICE SKATINGGG

I love it.

We went yesterday and my friend and I totally OWNED my other friends. One of them almost killed me (not really) dragging me down and another ran into me to stop and it was funny because I barely moved and she was the one who fell down, but anyway...

School tomorrow. Jazz band after that from 4 to 5:30. Youth Symphony after that from leaving the house at 6 to getting back at about 9:20. and then homework. yay.

CANCELED

AAAAAAAAUUGHH Western Regionals was canceled because of snow up in the mtns.........now I actually have to go to SCHOOL tomorrow and I was sooooo looking forward to not having to....gah...

It will be another busy weekend...

going back to the exact same place as last weekend (but a different hotel) for Western Regional Orchestra clinic. gah music is starting to eat up my lifeeeee. I have to miss the next 2 maybe 3 academic team practices on Tuesdays because of orchestra MPA (Music Performance Assessment) and I've already missed the last 3 because of it. Jazz Band started again on Mondays and Wednesdays are Academic Team matches...oh, and I have 3 major tests tomorrow....

SOOOO busy

My teachers chose a great time to suddenly pile all the homework on me...last week I had in-car from 6:45 to 8:45 and I was up in the mountains Friday, Saturday, and just came back today for All District Band clinic...but it was pretty fun, my roomies were fun. I roomed with the only other 3 girls who made the band, and this senior that I've known for awhile who I swear was really shy because she doesn't talk in band class is really very very loud. She locked me out of our hotel room when I went to go ask the guys next door to us something. Then she wouldn't open the door and when she finally did, the deadbolt was chained. Gah. :P
Watched the Olympics each night, freaked out my roomies when I was on the phone with my family because I wasn't speaking English, threw a snowball at a roommate's head.

Altogether a fun, productive weekend. :D

snow again...maybe

this week's schedule--snowed last Friday, out of school Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Two hour delay Thursday, and school closed tomorrow, Friday because of the "snow/ice." (it hasn't happened yet.)


so I'm, again, going to procrastinate on my project.

Rubber Bands

Agh I got rubber bands for my braces yesterday they are really annoying.

had a 5 day weekend because of snow and I have an assignment due Friday but since we havent been in school I dont feel desperate enough to really do it. So I'm only 3/4 done. Which seems like a lot, but I want to be able to look over it. Gah.

Snow

hope for snow tomorrow! getting out of school early would be so awesome, you have nooooo idea. Just like that day right before Christmas break, we got out 2 1/2 hours early!!!!

sleep with your pajamas inside out, everyone. and add an ice cube under your pillow just for good measure :D

Band

AAAaahhh I got 2nd chair in All District Band and 4th chair in the Honors Western Regional Orchestra! I seriously thought I did terrible but I always think that........but yeah.....both are out of town in the mountains at the exact same place one weekend after another, get to stay in hotels with my music buddies!

Exams

EXAMS ARE OVER YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS i'm so happy
I got an 88 on English, but they added a 5 point curve, so technically I got a 93 -- but my average is still a B! :(
Uhm....got a 99!! on World History, thank god, because I studied all weekend.
Don't know anything else yet.....
All-District Band and Western Regional Orchestra auditions tomorrow! Yeaaayyyy.......ugh it really bugs me how they put them right after exams....I can totally imagine the Bandmasters Association saying, "Hey, we should schedule auditions so no one will have time to practice before them!"

SMA

Found this from the Williams' blog--

If you are a member of Facebook or know someone who is, please take the chance to do something incredible!

Chase Community Giving is awarding $1 million to one charity and $100,000 to the five runners-up! The Gwendolyn Strong Foundation is working to find a cure for Spinal Muscular Atrophy - and they could use the money!

Fast Facts:

- SMA is the #1 genetic killer of infants under the age of 2
- 50% of those diagnosed will not live to see their 2nd birthday
- kids with SMA lose the ability to sit, stand, walk, talk, eat, swallow, and breathe
- 1 in 40 people is a carrier
- the National Institute of Health says that SMA is the #1 CURABLE disease if given research funding
- right now there is NO cure and NO treatment
- right now SMA is a DEATH SENTENCE

Want to change that? Vote for the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation on the Chase Community Giving app on Facebook! You have five votes to tell the world that you want a CURE for SMA!

Tell your friends and blog contacts - let them know they could be part of a MIRACLE - be part of a CURE - and give these kids a FUTURE!

Here's the link to vote:

http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/710566

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQkUwDEou7Q&feature=player_embedded

and watch that video, its only a few minutes long

--

I'm not on FB anymore so someone vote on this for me!

Exams

Exams start tomorrow. I have my Life Skills exam first--ooooh I really have to study for that one...that was sarcastic, for anyone who didn't catch that. :) Anyway, tomorrow, our exam is watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and we have to list character traits.....
Tuesday I have World History. Freaking out about that one.
then Wed. I have English (the only subject I have a freaking B in!) and if I don't ace the exam I'll be stuck with a B on my transcript :'(
Thursday, Latin and Band (no studying there)
Friday, Gym and Geometry (a little studying in Geometry but not really)

So I guess I'm a whole lot better off than a lot of people, I only have to study for 2 of them, and kinda for 2 others.

Jazz

I sure hope that you guys know I play the clarinet by now; but if you dont--I play the clarinet as first instrument, violin as secondary.

But now my band teacher is making me play string bass for Jazz Band. I really do think its fun, but its in bass clef, soooo......I'm trying really hard to learn how to sight-read in bass clef (and connect the notes on the page to the actual bass) and so far its kinda working. I have two notes down pat! Open G (which is an E on treble clef) and the A above that (which is an F on treble)! I personally think thats a miracle. :)

Owie

I smashed my finger in the car door. Well, not really...I was using one hand to open the door to get something from my mom because it was too cold so by other hand was in my pocket. Aaaannddd, the door closed on my finger while I was reaching out to take it. so now its swollen. :'(

Check out this link!

Its my friend who is an amazing violin prodigy! this is my favorite piece. feel free to comment too, to make his parents feel good :D

I'm following myself

on this thing

:D I signed up to follow my own blog....IDK why, I was really bored....haha....anyway, we won our first Academic Team Competition! yeeaayyyyyyyy