I HATE BEING SICK!!

I hate being sick. Totally hate it. It ruins all the plans that I made and just messes up my life in general. And this is not a good time to be sick either.

So back on Thursday, I was not feeling well at all. I was running a fever, had a bit of an upset stomach, and for about a week the glands in my neck had been swollen (causing neck pain). Plus my head was hurting whenever I stood up, or did any other quick movements with it. So my mom took me to the doctors where they said they would check for strep and if it wasn't that I should go get blood work done to check for mono. The strep tests were negative, so tomorrow I'll be getting blood work done. Yippie! Just how I wanted to start my summer. I'm usually the work in the early morning hours- chills, night sweats, and I wake up with a crazy fever. Then I get taking some Advil (regular doses, no I'm not an addict) during the rest of the day and I'm pretty much fine. I'm a little tired, but not completely wiped out (once I get up and moving). The thing I hate is that I have to be careful not to over-do anything. And being a geek, I hate that I can't practice. But that's just me. So I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired.

This is also a really bad time to be sick family wise. We've been emptying out my grandma's house so there's been a lot of moving going on. And I'm getting new furniture in my room. Which means my room has to be clean so we can move stuff. However, I can only clean so much before I get tired. The system isn't working too well. So I just got some boxes and threw everything in there. That method "cleaned" my room in less than 10 minutes.

I realized yesterday that I've got one more week of freedom before Freshman Intros start. Terrific. Especially since I'll probably still be sick during my last week of freedom.

I am excited because in less than two months I'll know about All-State!!

I <3 Nothing Days

Summer is terrific. I can actually sleep in late, have mac & cheese for lunch (or breakfast, whatever you want to call it), watch movies all day, have Aniellos pizza for delivered in and go to bed when I feel like it. That was my Monday. And it was amazing.

Today I actually had to do stuff. Mainly my clarinet lesson in Vestal. Then there was another grad party to go to. I'm sick and tired of riding in cars. And I'm tired of eating food. I've got one more grad party this Saturday and then I'm done.

The fantastic news is that I have found my new clarinet. I've decided on the R-13 RC. It's top of the line, 15 years old and in great shape. I've got a top notch repair guy putting new pads on it, replacing some of the corks and realigning some keys then it'll be all set. I'm so excited!! It'll be in the repair shop for 2 weeks. Then there's the question of whether or not I should be really weird and name it like so many other people do. Personally I think it's a crazy idea and would probably never do it. Plus I have no idea what you'd name an instrument. Seriously. It's a combination of wood, silver and cork.

Umm...nothing else to write. Once again my life has hit a boring streak.

Untitled?

I can't really think of a title for this entry. That's usually when you call something untitled.

Saturday was great. I got to sleep in and then do nothing. Well, I did practice, but that's just because I'm a geek. And I like sounding good. Which I haven't been for the past few weeks since I've been rather lazy. Later I went to Chris' grad party. I spent a fair amount of time making plans with Ashley for the upcoming band season. Hey- we've only got 3 weeks or so until Freshman Intros so we better make our plans now : P I've talked with various seniors and we've got a bunch of great ideas that will hopefully work. Who cares if Benson likes them. He's just the band director anyway. Then I went to Steph's party where Leah and I talked about Mexico, college and vented about IB. And between those two parties, I ate a lot of food. Therefore, I was very full by the time I got home. Then my mom and I watched Ocean's Twelve. I liked it. Probably because most people don't like it. (see prior comments about liking Ocean's Eleven). So now we're figuring out a time to go see Ocean's Thirteen.

Today I went to Church and had a great Sunday School session. It's great having such a small group of people to connect with. Then I chatted it up with some of the adults during the fellowship time and then there was the actual service. Afterwards we had lunch and then got ready for a shopping trip!! Mom and I went out to Michaels and picked up some scrapbooking supplies then we headed over to Best Buy. I got a new camcorder! I'm not going to try to copy Tim or anything like that, I just love recording what goes on when I get together with groups of friends. It's usually hilarious. Then there's the band. Random video opportunities always come up (like the time those girls started doing step while we were waiting for a competition bus). So yeah.

Since then I've been basically doing nothing. I ate dinner and practiced the clarinet. I've got 2 clarinets on loan for me to test so I can decide which one to buy. Yes, I'm getting a "new" clarinet. Both of them are used Buffet R-13s (top of the line clarinets). It's better to get them used so the wood is in better condition. This is the kind of clarinet I'm going to need in college, so I'm going to find one this summer (okay, probably in the next few days since I've had these for 2 weeks now) that I can use at my college auditions in the fall.

Yes, I'm a geek

CONGRATS!!!!!!!

Congrats to the EHS Class of 2007!!! You guys have been great and I'm really gonna miss you : (

Even though your graduation was FREEZING cold, it was the most fun I've had at a graduation yet. Between trying to turn/hold pages of the pianists, Sarah making me laugh, making faces at Katie Chase, Benson making faces at me everytime the music stand almost hit my face (this happened 3 times), everyone sounding terrible (as usual) and everyone waiting to see what Wilson was going to do ("I love you Mom!"), it was a lot of fun. Very cold, but a lot of fun.

On a different note entirely, I finished my World Lit papers yesterday. And I dropped them off @ Caulfield's house (she lives on my block....how weird is that?!). Today I went in and sorted through all the uniforms with my mom. Benson did bring us donuts (to make it feel like a jazz band morning) and my mom bought me white hot chocolate. And Benson did tell me that he found where Jenna and I tried to hide the evil Christmas tree costumes. They're back in their proper place now, ready to torture the DMs for another year.

I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M GOING TO BE A SENIOR!!!!!!! I'm totally freaking out about it. It doesn't seem like the first major portion of my life has passed me by. And there's no way that I'm entering my 12th year of education. Or supposed education. Especially since I feel like I'm just beginning to get to know so many of my classmates. And it feels like freshman year band camp was just yesterday. I still remember being really scared of it all until I found Sarah F. "Hey- weren't you the girl who sat second chair to me in the elementary school band?". Hahahaha--honestly, I didn't mean to sound condescending, but other than Jeremy, she was the only person I knew (okay, so I barely knew her). Since then I've met many more people, made many more friends, probably made many more enemies and I've gotten to know so many more people this year it's incredible. And I can't believe I've only got one more year left with all of you! My experiences at EHS have been amazing and I love every single person (okay, well maybe not love love, but you get the idea). Band has been probably the most wonderful experience of them all. It's been great meeting so many new people through that, and I'm gonna miss the people that are dropping out (though I really can't blame them). I can't wait for Florida Trip '08!! And I can't wait to start bossing people around at the Freshman Intros and Band Camp. So, I guess I can't wait for my senior year to start, and despite IB, I've got the feeling it's going to be the best of them all.

So to the seniors who are leaving us-congrats. You survived. Especially the IB DP students. You guys were the lab rats that paved the way. I know I'm going to miss you guys (especially the band kids), and I hope to see you around town (and I know that there are band kids coming back to band camp). Best wishes on the rest of your life!

And to the Class of 2008- Let our senior year begin!

Just A Few More Days

Yesterday I took my final regents exam for the rest of my LIFE!!!! It was the Us History & Gov't exam. It wasn't too bad. The multiple choice questions were harder than I thought they were going to be. I got really confused on two different questions. I though I did ok on the thematic essay and the DBQ wasn't too hard. I really didn't include much outside detail though. They pretty much gave you all the possible information you could have used.

Last night I watched Ocean's Eleven with my family. I enjoyed it. Even though I'm the type of person who usually enjoys the films that get "B"s from the critics. I had a massive headache though, so I went to bed early. Which didn't help because I couldn't fall asleep. I'm still trying to decide if it was due to braindrain from the exam, or the lack of caffeine. Either way, feeling tired while having a headache is not cool. And not being able to go to sleep isn't cool either. Thankfully, I finally fell asleep.

I slept in till around 10:15 this morning, practiced the clarinet, walked the dog, ate lunch, and did nothing. It's been a very enjoyable day. I still have one paper to write for English and putting that off one more day was great. I think I'm going to pull a Tricia on this one.

And I'm excited because we're having Chinese for dinner. Normally this wouldn't be a cause for excitement, but I've been wanting Chinese for a while now and I was having random cravings during the exam yesterday.

Benson still hasn't sent me the music files for our field band show that I'm supposed to send to all the drum majors and anyone else who wants them. If you're interested in either the really bad midi files or the really bad live recording of the show, let me know and if he ever gets around to sending them to me, I'll get them to you.

Ummm....well....that's it I guess. Rather boring entry, but so is my life (occasionally)

So Close

One more week of this horror then school is officially OVER!!! And that's very exciting news.

Then I realize that thanks to IB I have homework over the summer, so school will never truly be done.

This past week I haven't done a whole lot. I've been in a cleaning frenzy, which is very funny if anyone has ever seen my locker (or my room when I wasn't expecting company).

Thursday and Friday were a colossal waste of my time. AKA I had the English Regents exam. 6 hours of my life to see if I know how to write. As I told several people "I'm an IB student. I shouldn't be subject to the New York State Board of Regent's mockery of the educational system!" Caufield said that if we got all 6s on our essays that she'd take us out to dinner. Oh darn. Looks like I won't get to go out to dinner with my teacher, since there's no way I got 6s on everything. The listening essay was on "The Power of Books" which was followed by the "graph" essay about "Lessening the Danger of Volcanoes". I really started to zone out on the volcano essay. I even noticed that the word "canoe" is in the word "volcanoes". Which got me wondering, why does canoe sound like "can-new". Should it be "can-no"? If anyone has an answer to that question, I'd love for you to tell me. Afterwards I had to drop off a check to Benson (we got paid for Colonial Days), and that was an interesting experience. I got to watch him try to take off his toe. The repair guys were there and Benson went over to ask one of them something and tripped over the edge of a bari sax case. Honestly, it was one of the funniest things I'd ever seen! I thought he was going to land flat on his face. Instead, he tore his toenail up with a lot of blood. At least I realized that there was a first aid kit in the uniform closet. Later on the repair guys were really funny to talk to. Apparently when they were in high school they were in marching band. One of them was as trumpet player and the other was a clarinetist.

The next day we had the paired passage about "Lessons Learned" followed by a critical lens on "heroism". And I totally messed up the critical lens. I used Janie from "Their Eyes Were Watching God" during the hurricane scene (which I didn't remember too well, except for something about a cow and Teacake getting bit by a rabid dog) and Alba from "The House of the Spirits" with that whole torture thing.

Thursday night I went to CACCB rehearsal. Not much to say about that.

Saturday was the Laurel Festival Parade. It's always too long and too hot, but I LOVE THE PEOPLE!!!!! There's a group that we call the "Corning Crazies" who are totally obsessed with us. They're amazing. We won (of course). And during one part a little girl ran up to me and gave me 75 cents! I totally freaked out and had no clue what to do. Later my parents told me it was some sort of a tradition that they give 75 cents to someone. I guess Guy got it once and Borsz got it one time. However, I am the only drum major in EHS history to have ever gotten tipped during a parade!!!!

Today I went to church and was still very tired from the parade. Later we gave my dad some Father's Day gifts. And I had a CACCB concert where I ended up sight reading the second part (even though I was sitting in the first section). Apparently the plan is that I'll switch parts every single performance to cover for whoever isn't there. Which means I'll be sight reading every single concert. Yahoo! Later I finished writing my World Lit 2 piece. I did a detailed study regarding the significance of the bed in "The Pickup". Okay, so it was a paper I wrote earlier this year and I just edited it.

The plans for tomorrow: do some cram practicing for my lesson (that I am totally unprepared for) and study some History for the exam on Tuesday. I've got the grad Band rehearsal followed by the second attempt at a recording session. Then I go to a clarinet lesson and come back for that IB thingy.

Random news: I finished writing the book on drum majoring. No joke-Benson actually had me write down what the expectations and duties of a drum major are. Like anyone is actually going to pay attention to them anyways, but it's a good effort.

After this week I'll be done with the last exam! And I have one more paper to write then I'm finished for this school year (well, I have to play at Graduation).

That's Life

Well, the school year is basically over. I've got the English exam (bleck) and the US History exam and that's it. I can't wait to get those exams out of the way so I can start relaxing and enjoying my summer. What little of a summer I'm going to have:

In the midst of studying for the 2 exams, I've got 2 World lit papers I need to write by graduation. Next Saturday I have the Wellsboro parade and next Monday graduation band rehearsal and the recording session afterwards.

After graduation, I've got about 3 weeks until Freshmen Intros start. They're only one hour each week, but they signify to me to beginning of the end of summer (and the beginning of my senior year!!) And then August hits with my final band camp! Somehwerei n there I also have to work on compositions for IB Music (wind ensemble, clarinet choir and woodwind quintet) and the comparitive music paper thing as well (the baile folklorico of Mexico vs. Aaron Copland's Rodeo) and I have to work on my extended essay ("To what extent did Aaron Copland's music create the American Sound"). So even though I'm "taking the summer off" and not working like everyone else I've still got lots to do, unfortunately. And I'm going to be doing a lot of work with the band when band camp starts.

And I really can't ignore the fact that the Colonial Days parade was yesterday. It's the hardest parade for EHS, mainly because the students still feel it's rigged. Whether or not that's the case, I don't know. All I know is that it's incredibly disappointing to keep trying hard year after year and never win, so I could sense that we didn't try as hard as we could have. However, Jenna and I had the worst of it, since we had to walk from the end of the parade all the way back to the park for the award ceremony afterwards. And we still had to have our uniforms. We tied for second place with Bath. One interesting fact is that one of the music judges (area #2) actually scored us a point higher than WHS!!! Even though we ended up 11 points behind WHS, perhaps there is a change coming?? Hahaha, I don't know, nor do I really care. I've got one more year left and whatever happens is going to happen.

That's Life - Lou Rawls (originally by Frank Sinatra)

That's life, that's what all the people say.
You're riding high in April,
Shot down in May
But I know I'm gonna change that tune,
When I'm back on top, back on top in June.

I said that's life, and as funny as it may seem
Some people get their kicks,
Stompin' on a dream
But I don't let it, let it get me down,
'Cause this fine ol' world it keeps spinning around

I've been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate,
A poet, a pawn and a king.
I've been up and down and over and out
And I know one thing:
Each time I find myself, flat on my face,
I pick myself up and get back in the race.

That's life I tell ya, I can't deny it,
I thought of quitting baby,
But my heart just ain't gonna buy it.
And if I didn't think it was worth one single try,
I'd jump right on a big bird and then I'd fly

I've been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate,
A poet, a pawn and a king.
I've been up and down and over and out
And I know one thing:
Each time I find myself laying flat on my face,
I just pick myself up and get back in the race

That's life
That's life and I can't deny it
Many times I thought of cutting out
But my heart won't buy it
But if there's nothing shakin' come this here July
I'm gonna roll myself up in a big ball and fly away from here