Tonight (actually, not too long ago) was the Baccalaureate Service for the Class of 2008 (both East and West High). It was an incredible evening!
First of all, I had to be there at an hour early for sound checks and whatnot. So I got to hang out with Will and Eleanor. Then Luke showed up. Pretty much that's all that needs to be said. For those of you who don't know Luke, he graduated 2 years ago, taught me how to be a drum major, we both played clarinet, he went to the Air Force Academy and is (allegedly) transferring to Houghton this fall for music. He is also one of the most fun and most goofy guys you'll ever meet. After he played my clarinet (gross, but there's been worse), we spent some time catching up on all the irony in our lives (since we speak the same music language) and then everyone had to go out and get lined up in the lobby for the rest of the ceremony.
HC and Tom-tom played as we walked in, and Tom-tom gives a good name to trumpet players. This was followed by the Kayla giving a lovely opening remark or two and then introducing me (gee thanks) so I played my piece and got it over with (yes, I was very nervous). Will's dad (who happens to be a Pastor...and doesn't have a last name apparently) was the first speaker. To summarize: if you want success in life, you have to find happiness. And if you want to be happy, you must serve God and serve others. He was an amazing speaker, and it was very powerful (I know, I'm making this all seem really boring). Next Hannah and Amber sang "For Good" from Wicked and they sounded great. The featured speaker of the evening was Senora Tunison and she spoke about facing adversity, and what she went through just a few weeks ago. She is an amazing, incredible woman, and I'm going to miss her soooo much!!!! Joe and Bri followed her by playing a violin duet entitled "The Lover's Waltz" and they sounded fantastic. The final speaker was Rev Turnbole who spoke on how this is our time. The last musical performance was the quartet of Emily, Eleanor, Will and Aidan (2 WHS, 2 EHS) singing "In What Time We Have" and they, of course, were great. Except for Will. He was trying so hard not to laugh because we were all sitting there smiling at him (we were smiling because we were trying not to laugh as he was trying not to laugh....). Finally, everyone gathered in a huge line at the front to light the candles and sing the alma maters. Hannah started the EHS one, but she was on the other end of the line from the majority of EHS people (at least the ones who knew how to sing the Alma Mater) and thus, there was a bit of phasing. Of course, Luke was trying to make me laugh at that point, and I'm a bad enough singer as it is, so that was an...interesting experience. All the WHS vocalists were grouped up together, so they sounded a bit better. Finally we all walked out, and the picture taking commenced.
As I have already said, Senora Tunison is an amazing woman. Many of us have had her for 3 years, the rest for only 2. But she has had such an impact, we wanted to do something for her. So some people sent me some pictures and I put together a scrapbook for her. (I procrastinated beyond belief....I did it today in 3 hours, which is a world scrap booking record I believe). It had highlights from Mexico, Spain and from this year, with pre-decorated pages for her to add the other pictures she collected from us. She was so close to tears. : )
My Dad videotaped the service, if anyone would like a copy let me know
Also, I will be hosting several badminton games at my house over the summer at the request of Senora Tunison (because she wants to come and play) so it's basically going to be whoever wants to come, feel free to stop by. I'll make sure to get the word out when we start having them (probably mid-July, but we may have one sooner). I've got a total of 9 usable rackets, so if you have your own and would like to bring it, that would be amazing!!
I'm ready to graduate on Saturday, but I'm going to miss all of you so much!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
2 books, One day? Wow
Well, I just finished another book today! This makes me feel so productive! I finished "Much Ado About Nothing" By William Shakespeare. I"m not familiar with a lot of Shakespeare's works (I've read "The Comedy of Errors" , "Romeo and Juliet", "Macbeth" and "Hamlet", and I watched "As You Like It" when our school put it on) but this is one of my favorite works. It includes love, intrigue, gossiping, eavesdropping and mistaken identities. And of course, everything turns out well in the last scene. So it's a bit of a romantic story, but with so much more wit in it than you would normally find. I thought it was terrific!
"Blue Like Jazz" and Passing the Torch
I have finished my third book of the summer. I finished "Blue Like Jazz Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality" by Donald Miller. This was a fantastic book. It's exactly what it says it is - it's a book of thoughts. Each chapter follows a different thought that the author has about Christianity. Here's what Miller says in his note at the opening of the book:
"I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn't resolve. But I was outside teh Bagdad Theater in Portland one night when I saw a many playing the saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he never opened his eyes.
After that I liked jazz music.
Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way.
I used to not like God becasue God didn't resolve. But that was before any of this happened."
I would recommend this book for anyone who would like some new thoughts on what can sometimes be considered a dull religion.
According to my original list, I have 17 left to go. A friend of mine gave me another book as a graduation present, so now that's been added to my list. It's "The Double" by Jose Saramago.
******************
Passing The Torch
Saturday was the Laurel Festival parade. It was the last parade of the season, which also means it was my last EHS Band event ever. I have always loved this parade. Sure, it may be our longest parade (2 mi) but it's the best. Simply because of the Nicholas Street judges. Or as we affectionally call them, the "Corning Crazies". Trust me, we don't say that in a negative way - we love these people. Why? Because they love us, and we can't understand why. They have all these signs to support us, and there was a huge crowd this year - more than I've ever seen. My favorite sign, which they have every year "Give us a Corning concert!" : ) They also have a tradition of giving 75 cents to their favorite group. We got it this year (again!). I have to say, I love it when they send a little girl out to give it to me (even though I accidentally knocked the money out of her hand because I didn't see her). They make the entire parade season so much better in the end. I will miss that so much!
We started a new tradition at the parade. Sort of a "changing of the guard" for the drum majors. For the last time running through the song, Jenna came up to the front and I saluted her and turned the band over to her and Jen and Spencer - next years drum majors. Katie C and I stood over to the side with their instruments. It was so cool. Seeing Jen and Spencer in action was great (especially since they've never conducted and walked backwards before) and it was good to have that moment of transition, to switch the leadership of the band, rather than just dropping everything and walking away.
When we got back to the school, I just wandered around between the bandrooms and the lobby. I was really tired and it was emotionally exhuasting. As I was standing in the lobby though, I just couldn't believe it. That was it. After 4 years, 1 on the field, 1 being an assitant, and the past 2 years having the band as my own, it was over. It's not my band anymore - it's Jenna's. It's a weird feeling. I feel a little sad, but not really sad. I know I've done my job. I poured myself into the job for 2 years, and now it's time to move on. I've gotten everything ready for Jenna to lead, and it's her turn. Now it's my turn to become a student again, to learn rather than to teach. It's exciting. Of course, I'll still come back to band camp, and then I'll be a staff member and I'll be there to help and teach when I need to, but it's all different. And all so exciting.
"I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn't resolve. But I was outside teh Bagdad Theater in Portland one night when I saw a many playing the saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he never opened his eyes.
After that I liked jazz music.
Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way.
I used to not like God becasue God didn't resolve. But that was before any of this happened."
I would recommend this book for anyone who would like some new thoughts on what can sometimes be considered a dull religion.
According to my original list, I have 17 left to go. A friend of mine gave me another book as a graduation present, so now that's been added to my list. It's "The Double" by Jose Saramago.
******************
Passing The Torch
Saturday was the Laurel Festival parade. It was the last parade of the season, which also means it was my last EHS Band event ever. I have always loved this parade. Sure, it may be our longest parade (2 mi) but it's the best. Simply because of the Nicholas Street judges. Or as we affectionally call them, the "Corning Crazies". Trust me, we don't say that in a negative way - we love these people. Why? Because they love us, and we can't understand why. They have all these signs to support us, and there was a huge crowd this year - more than I've ever seen. My favorite sign, which they have every year "Give us a Corning concert!" : ) They also have a tradition of giving 75 cents to their favorite group. We got it this year (again!). I have to say, I love it when they send a little girl out to give it to me (even though I accidentally knocked the money out of her hand because I didn't see her). They make the entire parade season so much better in the end. I will miss that so much!
We started a new tradition at the parade. Sort of a "changing of the guard" for the drum majors. For the last time running through the song, Jenna came up to the front and I saluted her and turned the band over to her and Jen and Spencer - next years drum majors. Katie C and I stood over to the side with their instruments. It was so cool. Seeing Jen and Spencer in action was great (especially since they've never conducted and walked backwards before) and it was good to have that moment of transition, to switch the leadership of the band, rather than just dropping everything and walking away.
When we got back to the school, I just wandered around between the bandrooms and the lobby. I was really tired and it was emotionally exhuasting. As I was standing in the lobby though, I just couldn't believe it. That was it. After 4 years, 1 on the field, 1 being an assitant, and the past 2 years having the band as my own, it was over. It's not my band anymore - it's Jenna's. It's a weird feeling. I feel a little sad, but not really sad. I know I've done my job. I poured myself into the job for 2 years, and now it's time to move on. I've gotten everything ready for Jenna to lead, and it's her turn. Now it's my turn to become a student again, to learn rather than to teach. It's exciting. Of course, I'll still come back to band camp, and then I'll be a staff member and I'll be there to help and teach when I need to, but it's all different. And all so exciting.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
It's All Over (and another book finished!)
Yesterday was my last day of high school. Ever. It could hardly have been better.
The morning (and frankly, the rest of the day) was made amazing by the successful silly stringing of Peter. Last weekend my mom and I had gone to the dollar store to get washclothes to freeze for the band. While we were there, I saw some silly string. At one dollar a can, I figured I might as well get 5 cans. At that time, I still didn't know what I would use them for, but it seeme dlike a good idea anyways. Well, Peter was very deserving of getting silly stringed for a variety of reasons that I won't go into now (dealing with stolen instruments, etc) and out of all the people in the band, I figured no one would get too upset at him getting stringed, and I didn't think he would be too upset about it (but I couldn't really guess what his reaction would be). So after some deep thought and consulations, a plan was made for when to ambush him. It was decided taht right after Tom-tom would talk to us after band on the last day of school (since we usually meet up on the grassy median at that point). As soon as she finished her little pep speech, the people with the silly string would brutally attack Peter. Keister, Caleb, Jackson, Andy and Tim were all more than willing to do it. I made sure I had my camera ready, and it went perfectly. Here's the short video clip:
It was awesome. He smelled awful, and it did stain his shirt a bit, but it was still awesome.
In English we had a breakfast party and then Chris J had won a bet against GR, so we got to have a techno party. It was interesting.
Then 3rd period came. My last 3rd period in the LGI, my last music class with HC. *sniff* The great sadness of the moment was completely overshadowed by the fact Will had brought in his copy of OUR Les Mis production (Sunday night). So that's when the Les Mis marathon of the day began, with virtually a cast reunion at one point.
4th period we gave Mrs. Taylor (our Bio teacher) a cute little picture of the 5 of us, then headed out to Hokey Pokeys for ice cream. Then we got back during 5th period, so we went and watched more of Les Mis.
6th period Sarah F and I went to the Crystal City Bakery to pick up some pizza for lunch. Then we came back, and -suprise!- watched more Les Mis!
7th period, Eleanor, Katie and I skipped out of Hurd's class to - watch Les Mis!
8th period, I went to ToK for a bit, (to help start the organization of GR's gift), then left to....go watch Les Mis! At the end of the period we went and have GR an inner tube that we signed because "she's our lifesaver"
9th period I hung out in the LGI while Hannah and Eleanor rehearsed "For Good".
Afterschool, Peter had saved the silly string and balls of silly string were seen flying through the band room as we chased each other (until Peter hurt himself...not my fault, btw!)
After that, Sarah Jane, Beth, Ben and Carole came with me to Hokey Pokeys for ice cream. And I did the obnoxious senior thing - honking the car horn as we drove away from East.
After ice cream, I went up to Kayla's house for an afternoon/evening of badmitton using rules from badmitton, tennis, baseball, volleyball and racketball. Then a water gun fight ensued. Followed by a water balloon fight. Then dinner, a walk around the neighborhood and then just laying out in the grass, doing nothing. It was AWESOME!!!
Basically, it was an AMAZING last day of school!
***************
Today I finished another book! Which means that's 2 down, 18 to go! I finished "Sundays at Tiffany's" by james Patterson. It was a quick. light read. It's about a girl who has an imaginary friend, who see meets again later in life, and he's actually a real person. Yes, many people would consider it a chessy read, but it was a nice change from what I normally read.
The morning (and frankly, the rest of the day) was made amazing by the successful silly stringing of Peter. Last weekend my mom and I had gone to the dollar store to get washclothes to freeze for the band. While we were there, I saw some silly string. At one dollar a can, I figured I might as well get 5 cans. At that time, I still didn't know what I would use them for, but it seeme dlike a good idea anyways. Well, Peter was very deserving of getting silly stringed for a variety of reasons that I won't go into now (dealing with stolen instruments, etc) and out of all the people in the band, I figured no one would get too upset at him getting stringed, and I didn't think he would be too upset about it (but I couldn't really guess what his reaction would be). So after some deep thought and consulations, a plan was made for when to ambush him. It was decided taht right after Tom-tom would talk to us after band on the last day of school (since we usually meet up on the grassy median at that point). As soon as she finished her little pep speech, the people with the silly string would brutally attack Peter. Keister, Caleb, Jackson, Andy and Tim were all more than willing to do it. I made sure I had my camera ready, and it went perfectly. Here's the short video clip:
It was awesome. He smelled awful, and it did stain his shirt a bit, but it was still awesome.
In English we had a breakfast party and then Chris J had won a bet against GR, so we got to have a techno party. It was interesting.
Then 3rd period came. My last 3rd period in the LGI, my last music class with HC. *sniff* The great sadness of the moment was completely overshadowed by the fact Will had brought in his copy of OUR Les Mis production (Sunday night). So that's when the Les Mis marathon of the day began, with virtually a cast reunion at one point.
4th period we gave Mrs. Taylor (our Bio teacher) a cute little picture of the 5 of us, then headed out to Hokey Pokeys for ice cream. Then we got back during 5th period, so we went and watched more of Les Mis.
6th period Sarah F and I went to the Crystal City Bakery to pick up some pizza for lunch. Then we came back, and -suprise!- watched more Les Mis!
7th period, Eleanor, Katie and I skipped out of Hurd's class to - watch Les Mis!
8th period, I went to ToK for a bit, (to help start the organization of GR's gift), then left to....go watch Les Mis! At the end of the period we went and have GR an inner tube that we signed because "she's our lifesaver"
9th period I hung out in the LGI while Hannah and Eleanor rehearsed "For Good".
Afterschool, Peter had saved the silly string and balls of silly string were seen flying through the band room as we chased each other (until Peter hurt himself...not my fault, btw!)
After that, Sarah Jane, Beth, Ben and Carole came with me to Hokey Pokeys for ice cream. And I did the obnoxious senior thing - honking the car horn as we drove away from East.
After ice cream, I went up to Kayla's house for an afternoon/evening of badmitton using rules from badmitton, tennis, baseball, volleyball and racketball. Then a water gun fight ensued. Followed by a water balloon fight. Then dinner, a walk around the neighborhood and then just laying out in the grass, doing nothing. It was AWESOME!!!
Basically, it was an AMAZING last day of school!
***************
Today I finished another book! Which means that's 2 down, 18 to go! I finished "Sundays at Tiffany's" by james Patterson. It was a quick. light read. It's about a girl who has an imaginary friend, who see meets again later in life, and he's actually a real person. Yes, many people would consider it a chessy read, but it was a nice change from what I normally read.
Friday, June 6, 2008
More books? (and other stuff)
Okay, so I know I have a massive summer reading list. But that doesn't stop me from going to Barnes and Noble to help the economy.
Here are my lastest purchases (to add to my list):
Blue Like Jazz - Donald Miller
Sundays at Tiffany's - James Patterson
Much Ado About Nothing - William Shakespeare
The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
Wives and Daughters - Elizabeth Gaske
So that makes a total of 20 books on my "to read" list. And I've only finished one.
19 to go. This is going to be one interesting summer...
And onto other stuff:
The other night was HC's end of the year party, which was so much fun! It was especially cool since I was a non-choral person invited (or as I prefer to be referred to: a "choral groupie"). We hung out, ate food, watched people play pool, played some amazing volleyball and badminton, and had a huge fight over my camera at one point (I won, by the way). Overall, it was a nice time to just chill with my friends at my music teacher's expense.
Band is going pretty well. (It's the only class I can talk about since we're not doing anything anymore in any other class). We sound so much better on the music than we did before, and we added in some visuals that are starting to look pretty good. I have to ask the question though - what is with our band and snapping? Can our visual designers PLEASE come up with a move that doesn't involved snapping? Snapping is cool and all, but I think that's run its course. At least we're not singing. Or clapping. Or crossing our legs and doing things with our hands. So I guess when you think about the crazy visuals we've done in the past, snapping is the least of our concerns. And yes, this may seem like a bunch of ramble, but EHS people know what I'm talking about. (Actually "about which I am talking"....happy Peter?)
Today there were about 5 seniors at school (it was the Senior Trip/2nd Senior Skip Day) so I spent the entire day either in GR's office (with the AC) or in the band room. Then I hung out afterwards with some people in the band room, which always lends itself to wacky fun.
Oh, and I'm officially finished with all my projects and whatnot. PARTY TIME!!!
And I'm in the middle of a chat with future Houghton Music Ed people (we're being all music geeky) so I'll go focus on that since I have nothing more to write.
Here are my lastest purchases (to add to my list):
Blue Like Jazz - Donald Miller
Sundays at Tiffany's - James Patterson
Much Ado About Nothing - William Shakespeare
The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
Wives and Daughters - Elizabeth Gaske
So that makes a total of 20 books on my "to read" list. And I've only finished one.
19 to go. This is going to be one interesting summer...
And onto other stuff:
The other night was HC's end of the year party, which was so much fun! It was especially cool since I was a non-choral person invited (or as I prefer to be referred to: a "choral groupie"). We hung out, ate food, watched people play pool, played some amazing volleyball and badminton, and had a huge fight over my camera at one point (I won, by the way). Overall, it was a nice time to just chill with my friends at my music teacher's expense.
Band is going pretty well. (It's the only class I can talk about since we're not doing anything anymore in any other class). We sound so much better on the music than we did before, and we added in some visuals that are starting to look pretty good. I have to ask the question though - what is with our band and snapping? Can our visual designers PLEASE come up with a move that doesn't involved snapping? Snapping is cool and all, but I think that's run its course. At least we're not singing. Or clapping. Or crossing our legs and doing things with our hands. So I guess when you think about the crazy visuals we've done in the past, snapping is the least of our concerns. And yes, this may seem like a bunch of ramble, but EHS people know what I'm talking about. (Actually "about which I am talking"....happy Peter?)
Today there were about 5 seniors at school (it was the Senior Trip/2nd Senior Skip Day) so I spent the entire day either in GR's office (with the AC) or in the band room. Then I hung out afterwards with some people in the band room, which always lends itself to wacky fun.
Oh, and I'm officially finished with all my projects and whatnot. PARTY TIME!!!
And I'm in the middle of a chat with future Houghton Music Ed people (we're being all music geeky) so I'll go focus on that since I have nothing more to write.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
The Call
This is a great song which I felt was so appropriate for all of the members of the Class of '08 (it's from the movie The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian)
The Call - Regina Spektor
It started out as a feeling
Which then grew into a hope
Which then turned into a quiet thought
Which then turned into a quiet word
And then that word grew louder and louder'
Til it was a battle cry
I'll come back when you call me
No need to say goodbye
Just because everything's changing
Doesn't mean it's never been this way before
All you can do is try to know who your friends are
As you head off to the war
Pick a star on the dark horizon and follow the light
You'll come back when it's over
No need to say goodbye
Now we're back to the beginning
It's just a feeling and now one knows yet
But just because they can't feel it too
Doesn't mean that you have to forget
Let your memories grow stronger and stronger
Til they're before your eyes
You'll come back when they call you
No need to say goodbye
You'll come back when they call you
No need to say goodbye
The Call - Regina Spektor
It started out as a feeling
Which then grew into a hope
Which then turned into a quiet thought
Which then turned into a quiet word
And then that word grew louder and louder'
Til it was a battle cry
I'll come back when you call me
No need to say goodbye
Just because everything's changing
Doesn't mean it's never been this way before
All you can do is try to know who your friends are
As you head off to the war
Pick a star on the dark horizon and follow the light
You'll come back when it's over
No need to say goodbye
Now we're back to the beginning
It's just a feeling and now one knows yet
But just because they can't feel it too
Doesn't mean that you have to forget
Let your memories grow stronger and stronger
Til they're before your eyes
You'll come back when they call you
No need to say goodbye
You'll come back when they call you
No need to say goodbye
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