The Story So Far

Blogger vs. Myspace, etc.

2007-07-11T10:33:00.000-05:00

I know it seems like that's all I've posted about on this blog for a short while at least, but this bit is at least semi-interesting to me.
True, I much prefer MySpace because of it's many different features: various forms of comments (profile, blog, picture), bulletins, private messages, easily used picture galleries, the media database for the blogs, the email notifications of all actions...
However, there is, as I realized early in the school year, one thing which might place blogger above the rest: its accessibility.
With the advent (however old that advent may be) of MySpace and Facebook (I don't know anything about Xanga, if that's even still around) and all of the problems occurring with minors being stupid and falling victim to child predators, a blind eye has been cast to the site which, correct me if I'm wrong, I believe, started it all. At school, as well as in most places of repute (businesses, libraries, etc.) MySpace is blocked (I don't know about Facebook--I don't use it). However, all firewalls blocking Blogger have been lifted, it seems. How many people remember the days before MySpace, when we used to want to check Blogger at school, and did so successfully until it was blocked? Well, I discovered this year, in the midst of the masses using all those proxy sites and "myspaceunblockers", that you could still access Blogger the normal way: by typing www.blogger.com in the address bar. It was completely open. You could view blogs, view comments, sign in, post, do everything.
Plus, I'm now realizing that Blogger has included an autosave function to ist's posting page, which fixes one of the major problems I had while using Blogger exclusively, which was that entirely too often a post would be lost while attempting to publish it to my blog. It looks like that might not happen anymore, as it autosaves every minute.
Maybe Blogger is stepping up to the challenge now that its entire market is switching to other networking sites.

Let me just say

2007-06-22T13:35:00.000-05:00

That I HATE compuers.

Good day.

WTF Blogger?! WTF!?!

2007-05-16T23:01:00.000-05:00

I'm all for improving things, but there are some screwy things that should have been sorted out. I avoided my blog for a while for no particular reason. The fact that they were switching everything over to google accounts kind of helped me avoid it, but that wasn't the only reason. MySpace was just a better venue at the time. Every once in a while, however, I feel obligated to check on the blogs of people who stil blog in the traditional sense. (I'm also getting really fucking fed up with all of the spam messages I'm getting from people named "Angel" and "Par!s" and "Kitty" and the like. And the bogus friend requests. It's more annoying than when we were all getting those soliciting comments about insurance and such on blogger.
Anyway, while I was looking at Chris's blog, I decided to comment. The comment page said I could log in with my google account, or using my old blogger info. I typed my old username and old password, did the word verification thing, and it said I had the wrong password. I tried every password I've ever used for anything, even though I was absolutely sure I had the right one the first time. I tried at least 20 times to no avail. So I tried to sign in straight through blogger.com and, guess what, my password worked. Thank you for wasting my life blogger. So anyway, after that it prompted me to switch to a google account, which I did (obviously) and then successfully commented on Chris's blog. This is too much work.
Sooooo...maybe I'll use the blog more, maybe I won't. Aside from the spam, MySpace isn't giving me any problems. I'm sure I could fix it all by making my profile private, but I didn't want to have to do that. I might end up having to sometime soon, though. I have decided, however, not to jump in with the facebook crowd, because I've already gone through one transition and there's no need for a second. I don't need a facebook on top of everything else. What's the point. Yay groups. Guess what, MySpace has groups, among other things. And Blogger and MySpace both offer much more privacy, if that's your thing.
In conclusion, life is a pain sometimes, and I hate technology occasionally.

And now to that bone

2007-01-03T00:56:00.000-06:00

Well, maybe it's not that bone, but it is a bone that I meant to pick a week or two ago. I don't really remember which bone I was referring to in the previous post, but I'm sure it was good and valid, and if I remember it, oh, you'll hear about it. But now, to a humorous and sad story about when Becky, Mark, and I went to see a movie Night at the Museum, which was surprisingly good.

It's only sad in that the stupidity of man is pathetic.

We stopped at the McDonald's in Frisco south of the first main intersection, by where Brookshire's used to be, to eat before the movie. First, there was a misunderstanding and error in Mark's order, but that's not important. He was confused. What is important, however, is that after we finished eating, I had to use the restroom. I've already gone off about people pissing on the seat, so obviously I'm not going to hit on that again. As anyone knows who's been to this particular McDonald's, there is only one stall and one urinal. In the stall there was no paper. I needed paper. I had seen the janitor-person before I entered the restroom, but when I exited, unserviced, I could not find said person. So I went up to the counter and asked, figuring that the people working the register and in the "kitchen", the people handling the food, would not leave the food area to go service the restroom, "Who do I need to talk to to get some toilet paper in the bathroom?"

The people, there were two or three standing there when I asked, looked at me blankly. One guy, who looked very awkward - that's the only way I can describe him; he was just an awkward person - finally got this shocked expression and exclaimed/asked "Some kid threw up in the bathroom?!"

"No" says I, "I need toilet paper in the bathroom."

Then that same guy gave the hesitant, drawn out "O------kay" that people give when they don't understand but don't want the other person to go on any further.

I just left the counter and stood leaning against the wall they have set up for the booths, waiting. I turned around and saw this guy talking to some of the other people behind the counter, relaying what had just happened. He said, "This guy needs 'toilet paper'," and I swear he did the finger quotes thing and changed his voice when he said the words "toilet paper". Everyone knows the voice change and the finger thing I'm talking about. This guy did it on "toilet paper".

I couldn't believe it. I walked back up to the counter and said the following: "No, there's no [I did the finger quote thing] about it. In the bathroom, on the wall next to the toilet, there is a thing that holds paper that you use. It's called toilet paper. That's what it's called. And there is none of it in your bathroom."

Then he gave this stupid little "Oh" and a manager-looking Mexican came out from the kitchen with a big roll of toilet paper. I pointed to it and said "That stuff." The manager-looking guy took the roll to the bathroom, did his thing, and everyone was happy.

What I don't get is how anybody could be as stupid as that guy I happened to get behind the counter. I don't understand how somebody could not understand the statement, "You need more toilet paper in your bathroom." And if you're going to choose part of that to not understand, it shouldn't be the words "toilet paper". It's not like I walked up there and said, "Excuse me, your hygenic tissue dispenser requires attendance, as there is a lack of tissue to dispense." It's not as if I was speaking a different language. The guy obviously spoke English. He was just stupid. Grrrrf.

If I remember that other societal bone, I shall expound on it later.

Happy new year!

December 24, 10:00 pm, Eastern Standard Time,

2006-12-24T21:00:00.000-06:00

I can’t believe a year went by so fast
(to finish the quote/reference I started last year).

Honestly, the end of last school year went by really quickly, and this year…well…I’m glad it’s over.

I’ve got yet another bone to pick with society right now, but I’ll leave that for another day.

Merry Christmas everyone!

I've been meaning to post this for a while

2006-12-10T13:40:00.000-06:00

While I don't regularly post preachy things (like some of the end of this), just because I don't feel a need. Reading those things annoy me a little bit for some reason, if only because it seems like stating the obvious, and it makes everyone feel guilty even if they aren't. But Ben really did make some excellent points and I agree with him completely, and it goes hand-in-hand with several things I've posted in the past, and, given the current trend of world society, will again in the future. Enjoy.

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him
on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary:

Herewith a few confessions from my beating heart: I have no
freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of
People, Us and The Enquirer constantly when I am buying my dog
biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery
stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it
change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they
so important?

I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I do not
care at all about Tom Cruise's wife.

Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked
if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are.

If this is what it means to be no longer young, It's not so bad.

Next confession:
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish.
And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those
beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I
don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas"
to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in
a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all
brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't
bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key
intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a crèche, it's
just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I
don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being
Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of
getting pushed around, period I have no idea where the concept came
from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it
in the Constitution, and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come
from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to
worship God as we understand Him?

I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.

But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and
Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a
laugh this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke;
it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show
and Jane Clayson asked her "How God could let something like this Happen?"
(Regarding Katrina)

Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response.
She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are,
but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of
our government and to get out of our lives.

And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly
backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His
protection if we demand He leave us alone?"

In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school
shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was
murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our
schools, and we said OK.

Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school.
The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love
your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our
children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be
warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed
suicide).
We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no
conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't
bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can
figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE
SOW."

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then
wonder why the world's going to hell.

Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question
what the Bible says.

Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they
spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the
Lord, people think twice about sharing.

Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass
freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed
in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing?

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people
think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just
discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this
thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is
in.

My Best Regards... honestly and respectfully,
Ben Stein

Sad, Sad Little Blog

2006-11-08T22:24:00.000-06:00

My poor little blog, how I've neglected you, left you so barren for so long. Working on three months. It's pathetic. What's even more pathetic is that I still don't have something substantial to post. Everyone knows (or I think they know) what I would post, so I won't.

I will however suggest that everyone who likes this type of music to buy the new Meat Loaf album (but not from Target), Bat Out of Hell III. I only say not to get it at Target because it much much cheaper at, say, Wal-Mart. Either way though, it's good and pretty much worth the money. It sounds, overall, more like Couldn't Have Said It Better than the other Bat albums, which isn't bad, but it's a little different. I like Couldn't Have Said It Better a lot, but I do miss the old sound and subtle, odd humor of the original Steinman Bat songs. I do like the fact that some older Steinman songs, like "Bad for Good", which went previously unrecorded by Meat Loaf, were included, because I can't find that Steinman solo album Bad for Good anywhere. I mean anywhere. I do also really like the return of the sinister theme from "Good Girls Go to Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere)" (Bat Out of Hell II), and the reference to "Everything Is Permitted" in "Seize the Night". That and the intro to "The Future Ain't What It Used to Be" sounds a lot like "Lost Boys and Golden Girls", also from Bat II. It seems to try to tie together all of the Steinman/Meat Loaf collaborations into a single, really long thought. I'm sure there was some Bat Out of Hell reference that I just didn't catch yet. It's also cool that there's some Spanish on the CD for no apparent reason.

I'm sure all of you normal, non-Meat-fans find all of this very interesting, but at least I know Chris will enjoy reading it. I really just felt bad for not posting anything for so long.

I know this is just an echo,

2006-08-21T21:47:00.000-05:00

But I would like to follow suit with Andrew's last post and talk briefly about the past week of school and the freshman classes over the years.
I must agree that lunch sucks. Humans are creatures of habit, and I am very human. I managed to sit in the same spot at the same table practically every day of my high school career. Down to the first day of my senior year. First day, I got the spot, maybe even the second day. But then these over-assertive freshmen (I assume--they may just be other underclassmen) completely crowded us out because they managed to get in first. Plus, even when we did have the table, we really didn't have enough band mass to repulse them, so they crowded in anyway. It was weird.
We, as seniors, in band and in school in general, are too nice. We are too lazy, too laid back, and too "nice" to the underclassmen. This "nice" may really just be apathy in disquise, but still, someone needs to "whip those little ingrates into shape". The freshmen specifically, as the years have progressed from our freshman year, are increasingly less "afraid" of the upper classmen and seniors in particular. There really is no seniority in our school anymore. Freshmen clutter the hall and talk loudly and get in seniors' ways and keep upperclassmen from getting to class and their lockers, and steal rights, traditional places, and other understood things that upperclassmen have a right to have since they were underclassmen before. There needs to be some ladder of progression, something to work for as an underclassman. Freshmen need to think, "I can't wait to be a junior/senior so I can do that". Instead, freshmen just take what they want when they want it. It makes me sick. And our grade(s) as a whole just don't care enough to do anything about it. Hell, I haven't even done anything about it except complain.
I should have figured this would happen, just based on the other freshmen classes. I should have known from the beginning of the summer that this would really be the end of all of the little traditions we had begun to live by, just from the whole leadership camp thing. The social ladder and the understood fear of upperclassmen is part of the high school experience. Without it, it's not high school. These incoming freshmen still think they're the "big fish" (please excuse the cheesy, cliche metaphor); 8th grade transferred over with them. And nobody is showing them otherwise. I can relate with the rest of our grade, I guess. Why bother, really? It's not worth it. As long as we can have our little group of seniors to hang out with in our own little senior corner, screw everyone else. Let the underclassmen be as annoying as they want to, take everything that want, be as disgusting as they want, drink as much as they want, screw as much as they want, get arrested as much as they want...just leave us alone. Which brings up another interesting point: these lower grades are atrocious. The things they do...the stories I've heard (true stories, mind you)...Right now, these kids have no future outside of unemployment and prison. They need a social structure, they need assertive seniors, they need the real high school experience.

I'm going to stop here before this just become a real rant.
In closing, lunch does suck, just because we only have our group of almost 10 band/ex-band kids. I miss my seniors. I miss my juniors. I miss my sophomores. Even when I was a freshman I was never isolated in a group or shoved aside like this. What the hell is going on?!

I Need Y'all's Help

2006-07-06T14:17:00.000-05:00

I need to make sure the dates are okay, but I want you guys to set aside July 19, 20, 21, & 24, if you can, for my Eagle Project (pending prompt approval). I'll be cataloging, organizing, and cleaning the entire band library, and I need lots of people to help. It's inside, obviously, so there's no heat factor. It's not hard, just tedious. We'll be starting at 8:00 am on those days and working until whenever, probably around 3:00 or 4:00, but I'll stay as late as people want to help. I know we can get it completely under control and actually usable if we just work on it. Andrew's made a lot of headway, but we need a couple solid days of man-power to actually get everything done. I'll talk to Mr. Carey about getting it approved for Beta community service or any other community service you need, so it's not just open to scouts.
Please let me know if you're interested. You can email me, call my house phone (please leave a message because I'll be out of town), or my cell if you know it. The more people we have, the faster it'll all go.

3 down, 6 to go

2006-06-30T12:35:00.000-05:00

At least.

Now Phantom, Wicked, and Les Miserables are checked off my list, but I still need to see at least Cabaret, Chicago, Evita, Fiddler on the Roof, Jesus Christ Superstar, Rent, and Sweeney Todd. I do also want to see Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, along with numerous others, but those are the main ones, because I already have and love the soundtracks (except for Cabaret, which I don't have).

Look Down, Look Down

2006-06-27T15:10:00.000-05:00

Down from the balcony...

My thoughts on the performance:

*Javert's mic crapped out in the very beginning, cutting out his first line, and I couldn't even hear that the guy was singing. A couple of times I feel he could have done better, but overall he was a very good Javert. No voice like Philip Quaist, who IS Javert, but good even still. I think it was very original and interesting how they did his suicide. I wonder though if anyone who didn't already know the story knew what was going on.

*Valjean worried me at the beginning for some reason. His voice in the first couple of songs didn't impress me, but as the play progressed, I think his voice got better and better, which actually fits with the development of the character, coming from very rough and becoming more sweet and refined. It works. I personally feel he was better than Colm Wilkison, but then again, I've never really placed Colm as the best Valjean, even though pretty much the rest of the world does. I like Gary Morris, even if he is a country singer. But this guy, Karrak or something, I believe, was amazing, especially in Act II and specifically in "Bring Him Home". His voice was so sweet and pure in that upper register. It seemed like in most other parts he stuck to singing lower than most of the other Valjeans I've heard, but that showed that he could do the upper register stuff and still sound amazing doing it.

*Fantine, I felt, was very good. She sounded different than any Fantine I've heard. She actually sounded a lot more bitter at parts, which was good. She had a powerful voice. I just love those lower female voices!

*The prostitutes were very good, and they added a new stanza to "Lovely Ladies" that I'd never heard before. I don't remember what it was, but it was good and fitting.

*Young Cosette wasn't really annoying. I'm surprised.

*The Thenardiers can't go wrong. There are some people who, just hearing them, don't seem very good, but I think that anyone you see playing the Thenardiers will be amazing because it's just a fun role to play and everyone always loves them because they're funny and inappropriate and just filthy/sleazy.

*Gavroche didn't have an annoying British accent, which is always a plus. He played it very well, I think. "What the hell" is not "cussing", and either way, what else are you going to rhyme with "San Michel".

*Eponine was amazing!!!! I think she might have been the best in the cast! I loved her from the first line she sang, which puts her above Valjean, I think. Don't get me wrong, I love Valjean too, and he has soooooo many good songs, but I really love Eponine and this Eponine was simply amazing. She had a wonderful - correct me if I'm wrong because I'm not sure if this is the right range - alto voice (see comment above about lower female voices) and she just had excellent control of everything, and really made me sympathize with her, which is a necessity in that part. I wish she had more songs. In comparison to other Eponines, I know she definitely comes above Francine Ruffle, and I put her above Lea Sologna because I really didn't like how Lea over-enunciated everything. Other people loved her, but I didn't really like listening to her. I loved her as Jasmine, but as Eponine something just didn't click for me. I think that seeing this live creates an attachment to the character that can't be formed through a recording, so I'm even going to put her above Kaho Shimada, whom I also love. She was just really, really good!

*Enjolras was pretty good. I don't really have any complaints about him, but he wasn't amazing. I much prefer Anthony Warlowe from the CSR, but I think this one was better than Michael Maguire from Broadway and the TAC. Maguire wasn't bad, but I like Warlowe and this guy better.

*Grantaire's character, I know, was not understood by probably anyone, but that's not the actor's fault. If you don't know, he was the guy that was laying around, slumped in the chair with the wine jug during all of the battles and important parts at the barricade. That's just his character. He was a wino prety much, who loved France and believed in what the Friends of the ABC wanted - he was a friend - but since he was a wino, Enjolras didn't want to trust him with important stuff. When conflict started, he was already pretty drunk, and he kept drinking. I believe he passed out and the others took him down to what they had turned into a munitions store room, where they later put the old man that died putting the flag up (not in the musical) and Javert. He woke up after the barricade was stormed, and by the time he got to where the fighting was, everyone but Enjolras had died. Unlike the musical, in the book, Enjolras is the last, not the first, to die in that last battle. Grantaire joins Enjolras against the wall, cornered by the national guard, and they shout stuff like "Viva le revolution" or something and get shot, refusing to surrender. He's not a bad guy, but in the musical it doesn't look like he does anything. I hope I cleared that up a little bit for everyone out there that was lost.

*I think that the only real detrements to this performance were Cosette and Marius, who should really be the secondary stars to Valjean and Javert. Marius came a notch above Cosette, but I really didn't care for either of them. There were times when they were good, but overall I think I would have rather heard somebody else trying to do their parts. Marius just didn't have a very good voice and actually got annoying in some parts, but then again I have been spoiled by listening to Michael Ball all the time. Cosette, on top of having a slightly annoying voice, just over-used vibratto so much that it was really hard to understand much of what she said. I knew what she was saying, so that didn't bother me, but the vibratto was still over the top. There were at least two spots where she did something that she should not have been allowed to do. She took the last notes of at least two songs up almost an octave (or almost two octaves). I say almost because she didn't quite make it. She either overshot or undershot, but whatever it was it was really nasty. It made me cringe. The first instance was at the end of "Heart Full of Love". I felt especially bad because this piercing, out of tune, quavering-with-vibratto high note was completely covering up Eponine, whom you already know I am love. There was another instance at the end of "Every Day", I believe, which, believe it or not, reprises "Heart Full of Love". These two were not nearly enough to ruin the performance for me. I loved it!

*I was expecting there to be at least some dialogue in the musical, which is why I now say it's more of an opera, except for the simple fact that it's not in Italian.

*A lot of the lines were hard to understand when I didn't know what they were supposed to be saying, which was never, but I did still realize that if I didn't already know I would have a hard time understanding. I'm sure that affected some people's attitudes toward the performance as a whole. But, even if you couldn't understand what was going on, it could be treated like an opera or something, and you could just listen to it for the music and the sound of the voices. It was good even if you couldn't understand it. Do you think I understand Japanese? Or French?

*The Finale was all it needed to be. It was so moving, excluding Marius and Cosette, I loved how everything sounded, and even they weren't too bad. The end of it was big and amazing and strong and powerful. And that last horn line really gave me goosebumps and and just grabbed my heart. If you've ever experienced real music, you know what type of horn line I'm talking about--those soaring jumps.

*I think that the set was very cool, and the barricade was awesome. The gunfire during Gavroche's death scene was very good.

*It made me so mad, even if I couldn't help but laugh a little on the inside at the unlikelihood of the timing, that that cell phone went off. It was just like those movie theater commericals. The rebels were singing the second half of "Red and Black" and Gavroche had just interrupted, getting their attention by yelling "General Lamarque is dead!" There was dead silence on the part of the rebels, as there should have been, out of shock. Right as he finished saying dead, somebody's cell phone when off on the first level, with the standard Nokia tune. It stopped ringing before they went on, but I couldn't believe that it happened. Then, I've heard, somebody's phone went off in our group. Tsk, tsk. I don't know who's it was, and I didn't hear it (which is surpising and a bit disturbing to me), but you need to be more careful next time. I'm not going to bite your head off, but seriously, you should know better than to leave it on, especially after they made that wonderful announcement before Act I.

*Some of the choreography (as Becky and I discussed last night) was a little stupid. Specifically the end of "One Day More!", when all of the rebels and Valjean did the whole step forward, step forward, step backward, step backward, repeat thing to look like marching. That could have looked so much better if they'd done any of three or more other things: rocked back and forth on one foot (step/lean forward, rock back, repeat); advanced slowly, like every measure or every phrase instead of every beat, then not gone back at all; or just marched in place. The back and forth looked kind of stupid to me, and I don't want anything about that song to be stupid because it is SO AWESOMELY GOOD!!!

So, overall, I thoroughly enjoyed myself last night, got not nearly enough sleep, but couldn't be happier right now. It wasn't quite what I had expected, but that is in no way a bad thing. It's an entirely different type of musical than anything else we've seen. I might have some more thoughts on it later, but for right now I will leave it that it is still my favorite, and always will be, and I can now proudly say that I am no poser -- I have actually seen it on stage!

Ooohhhhhh!!!!!

2006-06-16T00:08:00.000-05:00

"My theater never closes and the curtain's never down."

2006-06-11T08:52:00.000-05:00

Okay, we're going with basically the same plan as we did for Wicked. For those of you who didn't go to Wicked or, like me, just don't remember, we'll be meeting up at the band hall around 3:00, leaving around 3:15, stopping to eat somewhere--an actual restaurant, not fast food--on the way (give me suggestions), then arrive there about 7:30 or something like that so we have enough time to get to our seats or buy stuff if you want it ahead of time. Les Mis is longer than Wicked, much longer, so we'll be getting home pretty late.

Let me know if there are any more question.

*10 bonus points if you place the quote.

Still got it

2006-06-08T14:48:00.000-05:00

I still messed up a bit on the theory test, but I'm still the Oustanding Performer, so it's more than fine. That makes two really big medals for me so far. Yay.

I feel weird

2006-05-10T21:56:00.000-05:00

The only thing I can think to actually post about right now is news about Les Mis. For those of you who weren't in band on Tuesday, the tickets will be $36, plus about a $1.50 bus fee if you choose to take the bus. It is still on June 25 (not July 2) at 8:00 pm. Sorry for the confusion earlier. We would have had slightly better seats at the July 2 show, but, given that it was 4th of July weekend, more than a couple of people wouldn't have been able to go. And we probably wouldn't be able to get a bus. Plus, and this is afterthought from me, that is THE LAST show in Dallas of the tour, so the cast and crew might be tired. I know they're a tour cast and have been performing as a tour group for probably 3 years now, but every new stage brings a new-ness to it, that, once you get to the end of the run, wears off and the performance can get flat. At least with non-professional plays and such. I don't really expect that from any of the touring musicals, but it's just something else that could help me reason out of getting the better tickets.

Also, the new(ish) Blue October CD, Foiled is very good. Me gusta.

I am really looking forward to not having to take finals this year.

Forgive the long quotation...

2006-04-29T23:01:00.000-05:00

...but I feel like I need to post it. It's nothing important, just something humorous to think about. Not that it really requires though, but it's still funny. It begins in medias res:

The Bistromathic Drive is a wonderful new method of crossing vast interstellar distances without all that dangerous mucking about with Improbability Factors.
Bistromathics itself is simply a revolutionary new way of understanding the behavior of numbers. Just as Einstein observed that space was not an absolute but depended on the observer’s movement in space, and that time was not an absolute but depended on the observer’s movement in time, so it is now realized that numbers are not absolute, but depend on the observer’s movement in restaurants.
The first nonabsolute number is the number of people for whom the table is reserved. This will vary during the course of the first three telephone calls to the restaurant, and then bear no apparent relation to the number of people who actually turn up, or to the number of people who subsequently join them after the show/match/party/ gig, or to the number of people who leave when they see who else has turned up.
The second nonabsolute number is the given time of arrival, which is now known to be one of those most bizarre of mathematical concepts, a recipriversexcluson, a number whose existence can only be defined as being anything other than itself. In other words, the given time of arrival is the one moment of time at which it is impossible that any member of the party will arrive. Recipriversexclusons now play a vital part in many branches of math, including statistics and accountancy and also form the basic equations used to engineer the Somebody Else’s Problem field.
The third and most mysterious piece of nonabsoluteness of all lies in the relationship between the number of items on the check, the cost of each item, the number of people at the table and what they are each prepared to pay for. (The number of people who have actually brought any money is only a subphenomenon in this field.)
The baffling discrepancies that used to occur at this point remained uninvestigated for centuries simply because no one took them seriously. They were at the time put down to such things as politeness, rudeness, meanness, flashiness, tiredness, emotionality or the lateness of the hour, and completely forgotten about on the following morning. They were never tested under laboratory conditions, of course, because they never occurred in laboratories—not in reputable laboratories at least.
And so it was only with the advent of pocket computers that the startling truth became finally apparent, and it was this:
Numbers written on restaurant checks within the confines of restaurants do not follow the same mathematical laws as numbers written on any other pieces of paper in any other parts of the Universe.
This single statement took the scientific world by storm. It completely revolutionized it. So many mathematical conferences got held in such good restaurants that many of the finest minds of a generation died of obesity and heart failure and the science of math was put back by years.
Slowly, however, the implications of the idea began to be understood. To begin with it had been too stark, too crazy, too much like what the man in the street would have said “Oh, yes, I could have told you that.” Then some phrases like “Interactive Subjectivity Frameworks” were invented, and everybody was able to relax and get on with it.
The small groups of monks who had taken up hanging around the major research institutes singing strange chants to the effect that the Universe was only a figment of its own imagination were eventually given a street theater grant and went away.

Needless to say, this was written by our dear friend Douglas Adams, and I only bring it up because I just recently re-saw the movie. This excerpt is from Life, the Universe, and Everything. As off-the-wall and ridiculous as this may seem, I find that it is surprisingly accurate, as I'm sure many of you will agree.

On another note, AP testing begins this week, which means that I will once again subject myself to the complete and utter self-humiliation of taken a test on which I have no reasonable chance of passing, let alone acing. Except for the English test. I feel pretty good about that one. We should all make at least fours, I believe. So that gets half of them out of the way. I know I'm now over-reacting about my lack of confidence and my inevitable incompetence on the history test, but I don't like failure. It's just like computer applications--Kendra understands, and so does, probably, Auburn.
All of you sophomores about to take the world history test, good luck. Coach Hutson's covered a lot more of the material with you guys, since he's had another year of practice. Y'all need to pass, y'hear!

Holy Crap

2006-04-15T11:29:00.000-05:00

It's been a long time since I've posted anything. Same goes for everyone else, too.

Well, Phantom seems to have gone fine, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. If you liked that, I seriously urge you to consider going to see Les Mis this summer. If Phantom seemed a little too slow for you at parts, Les Mis will(should) not be slow. There's much more excitment and the music is more energetic in the first place. I'd like to set somewhere on the first floor, maybe in price level 2 or 3, which could be about $50 or so. Otherwise, we're back up where we've been for the past two shows, which isn't horrible, but could be much better. I need a count very soon because tickets go on sale Monday at 10:00 am. I'd like to place an order no later than Tuesday night to make sure we can get the show and seats we want. I'm planning on a Thurday Matinee (2:00 pm), like Phantom except on a Thursday, because that's the cheapest show and we want good seats for less. If anyone is unsure and wants to check up on the show, go to www.lesmis.com. You can watch the flash intro w/ music, read up on the history and plot and such, listen to samples from the Complete Symphonic Recording, watch videos of different performances, and lots of other stuff. It's a good site.

I've Eliminated Another College

2006-03-03T10:26:00.000-06:00

I could never go to Texas Tech; Lubbock is far to boring/crappy.
Actually, according to the CollegeBoard, there does not exist anywhere in the US a college that meets what I filled out in their "college matchmaker" survey.

We're still BPA-ing here in Lubbock. I did my competition yesterday morning, and the small business management team is currently preparing for their presentation.
Why do teachers assign so much work? Sure, we don't have any after-school activities this week, so we've actually probably got more time than before, but there is not enough time to do all the make-up work we need to do. Especially since 14 hours of this whole trip are spent in the car. The weather is weird, but we're at state so it's fiiiiiine. I hope somebody makes it to nationals.

Marble Machine Mascot?

2006-02-26T00:36:00.000-06:00

As most of you already know, our marble machine is Greco-Roman themed. But it might as well have been Industrial Revolution themed, since we almost over-used the concept of interchangable parts. Or at least removable/ repositionable parts. Therefore, as Becky, Auburn, Kendra, and Scott had the "Marble Man" made out popsicle sticks, we have Eli Whitney in a toga.

I HATE Marble Machine

2006-02-26T00:31:00.000-06:00

And state BPA is keeping me from destroying it.

-By the way, Andrew, I releved the table for about an hour, set the ramps up, cleaned out the insides of all the PVC ramps, and it worked perfectly. Except that we need a new piece of tape for the elevator. We'll do it tomorrow and it WILL work.

You can call me Cain, if you wish

2006-02-19T23:23:00.000-06:00

I really hadn't realized exactly how much time had passed since my last post. I've just been waiting for something I felt like I could post. Lots of stuff has happened, but nothing I felt like posting.
State was, as always, an experience. Our clinician was uber important - second only to Dr. Fennel, as Mr. Rutherford put it. The music was pretty cool, especially the Wagner piece we closed the concert with, "Elsa's Procession to the Catherdral". Very cool. The jazz band was amazing this year. The concert band sounded great. I finally saw the top of the dome, and Keyes got pictures.
I think I've almost got the OAP sound worked out, but who can really tell with the cuts that have been made? I assume you guys had rehearsal while Keyes and I were gone, so how did it go?
RENT comes out on video on Tuesday!!! Evita is awesome, and Mandy Patinkin is perhaps my new favorite male singer. Patti LuPone was not unbelievably amazing, but I definitely wouldn't tell her to shut up.
I am completely unprepared for the officer try-outs tomorrow. I should probably look over my routine and listen to the CD a couple more times before tomorrow, but I'll get to that later. I can review the routine in BCIS II.
I'm sorry this post couldn't be more substantial, but it's a lot like Vietnam right now: I have to censor all the news so I don't end up screwing myself over. Just like any wise person would do. There are just some things I decided long ago that I wouldn't post, and that's all that's really been happening besides the monotony of marble machine, concert band rehearsals, and OAP.

And now, for your enjoyment/amusement/annoyance...

2006-01-16T22:21:00.000-06:00

Here are some Japanese tongue twisters I found at alphadictionary.com after taking the yankee/rebel quiz from Chris's blog.

バスガス爆発
Bus gas explosion
東京特許許可局
Tokyo Patent Licensing Office (No such office exists.)
貴社の記者は汽車で帰社します。
Your company's reporter is returning to the office by steam train.
生麦生米生卵
Raw barley, raw rice, raw egg
庭には二羽鶏がいます。
There are two chickens in the garden.
隣の客はよく柿食う客だ。
The guest beside me is a guest who often eats persimmons.
坊主が屏風に上手に坊主の絵を書いた。
A monk skillfully drew a picture of a monk on a folding screen.

"I Be Goin' Up Ta Jesus!"

2006-01-15T18:46:00.000-06:00

I just finished writing that psalm for OAP. I personally don't think it's that stupid. I'll bring a recording and sheet music on Tuesday.

Region band was alright. The clinician was much better than Fred J. Allen, or that other guy from my freshman year who had never seen Harry Potter.

So much work to do...music, marble machine, reading, blah...

For the sake of my non-French friends...

2006-01-10T22:16:00.000-06:00

With the will of the people
And the health of Remplis progress
Your heart of a wine rebels
And at faithful friendly tomorrow
We want to make the light
In spite of the mask of the night
To illuminate our ground
And to change the life

It is necessary to gain with the war
Our furrow to plow Déblayer misery
For fair ears of the peace
Which will dance of joy
To the high wind of freedom

To the will of the people
And with the health of Remplis progress
Your heart of a wine rebels
And at faithful friendly tomorrow
We want to make the light
In spite of the mask of the night
To illuminate our ground
And to change the life

With the will of the people
I make of my will
If it is necessary to die for it
Me, I want to be the first the first name engraved
With the marble of the monument of hope

To the will of the people
And with the health of progress Remplis
Your heart of a rebellious wine
And at faithful friendly tomorrow
We want to make the light
In spite of the mask of the night
To illuminate our ground
And to change the life

So this is probably the best song ever

2006-01-08T23:46:00.000-06:00

À la volonté du peuple
Et à la santé du progrès
Remplis ton coeur d'un vin rebelle
Et à demain ami fidèle
Nous voulons faire la lumière
Malgré le masque de la nuit
Pour illuminer notre terre
Et changer la vie

Il faut gagner à la guerre
Notre sillon à labourer
Déblayer la misère
Pour les blonds épis de la paix
Qui danseront de joie
Au grand vent de la liberté

À la volonté du peuple
Et à la santé du progrès
Remplis ton coeur d'un vin rebelle
Et à demain ami fidèle
Nous voulons faire la lumière
Malgré le masque de la nuit
Pour illuminer notre terre
Et changer la vie

À la volonté du peuple
Je fais don de ma volonté
S'il faut mourir pour elle
Moi je veux être le premier
Le premier nom gravé
Au marbre du monument d'espoir

À la volonté du peuple
Et à la santé du progrès
Remplis ton coeur d'un vin rebelle
Et à demain ami fidèle
Nous voulons faire la lumière
Malgré le masque de la nuit
Pour illuminer notre terre
Et changer la vie

Remember the days when we could post at school?

2006-01-06T09:56:00.000-06:00

It ended up being too late last night to say anything, but I did end up receiving the French Concept Album of Les Miserables. Let me just say that it is AMAZING! Oh my God it is so musical. Quite possibly more musical than any other recording. And, and this is a very big plus, this recording has the only young Cosette I've ever heard who wasn't annoying as hell. She was actually quite pleasant to listen to. Yay original recordings.

Bleh

2006-01-02T14:10:00.000-06:00

Yeah, so I've once again come to the realization that when this school year's all over, some people will actually be gone...makes me think of this song. I've probably posted these lyrics earlier sometime, I honestly don't remember, but they still hold true.

"Time" - Pink Floyd
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an off hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it’s sinking
And racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in the relative way, but you’re older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death

Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the english way
The time is gone, the song is over, thought I’d something more to say

Home, home again
I like to be here when I can
And when I come home cold and tired
It’s good to warm my bones beside the fire
Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells

Happy--

2006-01-01T02:46:00.000-06:00

Yes, happy new year, etc.

Why are these breaks never long enough to actually acomplish anything. I've given up on trying to make this marble machine "just right", so now I'm resorting to the regular methods of building such machines, which are surprisingly easier yet still functional.

Mrs. Reed said Rev. Hale needed books. Big books. So along with new music, I'm bringing some big-ass books to the next rehearsal. And some nice, old books too. In these books the devil will surely stand stripped of all his brute disquise. I may not have anything about your inccubi and succubi, or your witches that go by land, by sea, and by air, or even your wizards of the night and of the day, but I'm sure that Little and Ive's Complete Book of Science has at least something to say about all the invisible world.

*A note: No scripts were consulted in the writing of this post

Here's an idea

2005-12-30T20:25:00.000-06:00

What say ye if I try to score the entire play with Pink Floyd. It'll work, I can feel it.

It's Okay Now

2005-12-27T23:00:00.000-06:00

So I finally bought my copy of the Broadway recording of RENT, along with a couple other CDs. I must say, the Original Broadway Cast is growing on me. No question, I love that it is the full score, and what a wonderful score it is, but there are certain things about the Motion Picture soundtrack, primarily in orhcestration and production that just make the sound quality better. But then that live spark kicks in and you can feel the emotion from the OBC. Then Mimi's voice get's a little grating, then she's singing fine, then it's grating again, then the grating becomes characteristic and I can't really tell if it bothers me that much anymore. It has definitely become a comparison much like the two Phanotm recordings. With both musicals, the film soundtrack tries to stay very true to the stage version, but there are cuts that had to be made, lines that were changed (in the case of Phantom, probably changed by Andrew Lloyd Webber himself or something like that), and the orchestra/band behind the singing sounds fuller, clearer, and better. But I keep going back to the fact that the OBC is complete, or at least as complete as any available recording gets.
There are, however, now several songs I wish they hadn't cut from the movie. Unfortunately, the didn't want to make an 3-4 hour movie.

December 24, 9:00pm, Eastern Standard Time

2005-12-24T20:00:00.000-06:00

From here on in we rehearse Act 1 without our scripts.

Well, everyone’s here and everything’s seemingly done.
“Christmas bells are ringing! Christmas bells are ringing!”
And yet, it still feels somewhat incomplete.

I love it when cartoons hit home

2005-12-20T15:39:00.000-06:00

You all know there are those times when you are faced with someone or something so stupid they don't even deserve acknowledgement of any sort. Aren't those fun?

I've noticed this too over the past couple years

2005-12-20T15:19:00.000-06:00

I know for a fact that my mom was not allowed to display "Christmas" decorations in her office at the school in Frisco because it might offend someone. Excuse me?! First Amendment people, First Amendment! I'll display whatever the Hell I feel like displaying. If I want to put up a Chanukah bush and light a Menorah, I will. If I want to display a crucifix, or a statue of Buddah, I'll do it. If you don't like it, don't complain, just don't look. People can choose what they get offended by, so if it bothers you, then choose not to look at it. It's very simple people.

I received the following in an email:

Will we still be the Country of choice and still be America if we continue to make the changes forced on us by the people from other countries that came to live in America because it is the Country of Choice??????
Think about it .

All I have to say is, when will they do something about MY RIGHTS? I celebrate Christmas, but because it isn't celebrated by everyone, we can no longer say Merry Christmas. Now it has to be Season's Greetings........

It's not Christmas vacation, it's Winter Break. Isn't it amazing how this winter break ALWAYS occurs over the Christmas holiday?

We've gone so far the other way, bent over backwards to not offend anyone, that I AM now being Offended. But it seems that no one has a problem with that.

This says it all! This is an editorial written by an American Citizen, published in a Tampa newspaper. He did quite a job--didn't he? Read on, please!

IMMIGRANTS, NOT AMERICANS, MUST ADAPT.

I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Americans. However, the dust from the attacks had barely settled when the "politically correct" crowd began complaining about the possibility that Our Patriotism was offending others.

I am not against immigration, nor do I hold a grudge against anyone who is seeking a better life by coming to America. Our Population is almost entirely made up of descendants of immigrants. However, there are a few things that those who have recently come to Our Country, and apparently some born here, need to understand.

This idea of America being a multi-cultural community has served only to dilute Our Sovereignty and Our National Identity. As Americans, we have Our Own Culture, Our Own Society, Our Own Language and Our Own Lifestyle. This culture has been developed over centuries of struggles, trials, and victories by millions of men and women who have sought FREEDOM. We speak ENGLISH , not Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part
of Our Society, learn the language!

"In God We Trust" is Our National Motto. This is not some Christian, right wing, political slogan. We adopted this motto because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of Our Schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as
your new home, because God is part of Our Culture.

If "Stars and Stripes" offend you, or you don't like Uncle Sam, then you should seriously consider a move to another part of this planet. We are happy with Our Culture and have no desire to change, and we really don't care how you did things where you came from. This is Our Country, Our Land, and Our Lifestyle.

Our First Amendment gives every citizen the right to express his opinion and we will allow you every opportunity to do so. But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our National Motto, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great American Freedom, THE RIGHT TO LEAVE.

I can't remember where I found this

2005-12-14T23:09:00.000-06:00

I Know You Want to Know

2005-12-08T23:01:00.000-06:00

If anyone really loves me and wants to get me something for Christmas, but isn't sure what to get...I really need/want/whatever the 1980 French Concept Album of Les Miserables. I need it. Target used to have it online, some of you may recall me saying, but it was always going to be available in 4-6 weeks. 6 months of that passed and now it's not even an item on the website. But I've found it other places, I just can't get my hands on it.
Just an idea.

In Case You Missed It, Or Just Need To See It Again

2005-12-04T03:05:00.000-06:00

That's right, it's coming back right in time for our graduation! And tickets are really about to go on sale. They're selling tickets more than a year ahead of time! Insane! I plan on going again. Is anyone else?

Damn Straight

2005-11-27T20:35:00.000-06:00

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 8/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

I even got the "What is the electric charge of a neuron?" question right. "Neuron"?! Seriously now, typos typos typos...for shame.

It's probably right again

2005-11-27T20:28:00.000-06:00

Slow and Steady

Your friends see you as painstaking and fussy.

They see you as very cautious, extremely careful, a slow and steady plodder.

It'd really surprise them if you ever did something impulsively or on the spur of the moment.

They expect you to examine everything carefully from every angle and then usually decide against it.

How Do People See You?

Too Many Quizes?

2005-11-27T19:51:00.000-06:00

Your World View

You are a fairly broadminded romantic and reasonably content.
You value kindness and try to live by your ideals.
You have strong need for security, which may be either emotional or material.

You respect truth and are flexible.
You like people, and they can readily make friends with you.
You are not very adventurous, but this does not bother you.

What Is Your World View?

You scored as Albus Dumbledore. Strong and powerful you admirably defend your world and your charges against those who would seek to harm them. However sometimes you can fail to do what you must because you care too much to cause suffering.

Albus Dumbledore

90%

Hermione Granger

85%

Ginny Weasley

85%

Severus Snape

80%

Ron Weasley

70%

Harry Potter

70%

Remus Lupin

70%

Lord Voldemort

70%

Draco Malfoy

65%

Sirius Black

60%

Your Harry Potter Alter Ego Is...?
created with QuizFarm.com

This doesn't exactly make me feel confident about myself

2005-11-27T19:46:00.000-06:00

You Are 50% Boyish and 50% Girlish

You are pretty evenly split down the middle - a total eunuch.
Okay, kidding about the eunuch part. But you do get along with both sexes.
You reject traditional gender roles. However, you don't actively fight them.
You're just you. You don't try to be what people expect you to be.

How Boyish or Girlish Are You?

And sparknotes says I'm female.

Quizes are indeed fun

2005-11-27T15:44:00.000-06:00

Your Career Type: Artistic

You are expressive, original, and independent.
Your talents lie in your artistic abilities: creative writing, drama, crafts, music, or art.

You would make an excellent:

Actor - Art Teacher - Book Editor
Clothes Designer - Comedian - Composer
Dancer - DJ - Graphic Designer
Illustrator - Musician - Sculptor

The worst career options for your are conventional careers, like bank teller or secretary.

What's Your Ideal Career?

You Are Cranberry Soda

Pucker up!

What Jones Holiday Soda Are You?

Your IQ Is 140

Your Logical Intelligence is Below Average

Your Verbal Intelligence is Genius

Your Mathematical Intelligence is Genius

Your General Knowledge is Genius

A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

You Are Cream Pie

You're the perfect combo of simplicity and divinity
Those who like you life for understated pleasures

What Kind of Pie Are You?

Isn't that amazing!

2005-11-27T15:30:00.000-06:00

It was actually a tie, but how can I choose between sleep and being misunderstood.

You scored as The Beast. Your alter ego is The Beast! But that is only a name... you are kind hearted and sweet, people just misunderstand you.

The Beast

75%

Sleeping Beauty

75%

Donald Duck

69%

Goofy

69%

Ariel

50%

Peter Pan

50%

Cinderella

44%

Snow White

31%

Pinocchio

31%

Cruella De Ville

25%

Which Disney Character is your Alter Ego?
created with QuizFarm.com

Reflections on stage musicals vs. motion picture interpretations

2005-11-26T00:31:00.000-06:00

Just because I can.

First of all, this is the Original Broadway Cast of "Rent":
* Adam Pascal - ROGER
* Anthony Rapp - MARK
* Wilson Jermaine Heredia - ANGEL
* Jesse L. Martin - COLLINS
* Taye Diggs - BENNY
* Idina Menzel - MAUREEN
* Freddi Walker - JOANNE
* Daphne Rubin-Vega - MIMI

This is the Motion Picture Cast:
* Adam Pascal - ROGER
* Anthony Rapp - MARK
* Wilson Jermaine Heredia - ANGEL
* Jesse L. Martin - COLLINS
* Taye Diggs - BENNY
* Idina Menzel - MAUREEN
* Tracie Thoms - JOANNE
* Rosario Dawson - MIMI

Auburn, I'm not trying to be a prick, but that speaks for itself; you can't argue with the facts.

Now, for the main purpose of this post. I have found that in recordings of stage productions there is always at least one regrettable cast member. In "Wicked" you had the Wizard. In "Oklahoma", you had whoever sang that horrible "I Just Can't Say No" song. In "Les Miserables" you always have Cosette, sometimes Fantine, and sometimes Eponine. In "Phantom of the Opera", Carlotta is supposed to be annoying, but it's maybe a little too much, plus there are times when every cast member can get annoying. In "Rent", it just happens to be Mimi. There are other little things that I didn't like about Freddi Walker as Joanne, but I thought she was very good overall. Daphne Rubin-Vega, though, just didn't do it for me. For one thing, I don't find her voice pleasant at all. When she is singing alone, I would rather be listening to anything else. At the end, it's okay because she actually sounds like she's dying, but the problem is that she sounds that way throughout the entire musical. She sounds like she's been smoking for 45 years, even though she's 19, and she has pitch problems.
There is also another problem that I have found in recordings of stage musicals that they don't have to deal with in motion picture adaptations. It occurs more often in female cast members, but I'm sure there are males that do it too. People like Daphne, I'm sure, are used to performing on stage, projecting, and enunciating everything in an exaggerated way so that it can be understood in the back of the theater. But now in big theaters, all the cast members have microphones, so they don't need to over-enunciate. Since they have microphones, what would have sounded perfectly fine without a microphone sounds disjointed and unmusical being amplified through the theater. They just need to be able to sing normally and fluidly now, without worrying about enunciation and projection too much. I found this problem in Lea Sologna in the Dream Cast Concert of "Les Miserables". I've found it in countless members of other casts. I've found it now specifically in Daphne Rubin-Vega, as well as Freddi Walker, and even Idina Menzel in the Original Broadway Recording of "Rent". I am in no way cutting down the OBC of "Rent". I personally loved it. But I feel that some of the cast members could have been picked better. In regard to the movie soundtrack, I love the way it sounds. I love the way that the cast members have matured since the OBC, and how some of the interpretation is a little different, offering a different side of some of the songs. I like how it sounds full and clean. I only wish they had done more of the songs. Personally, I plan on owning the OBC, but for enjoyment, I think that I'll mainly end up listening to the OMPS. However, in comparing my favorite song from both soundtracks ("Goodbye Love"), I feel much more emotion and chemistry in the OBC, but then there is the sound of the OMPS. It's a tough choice, but I think the OBC wins that round. You can't beat a live performance.
And if you're seeing a live performance, all bets are off. There's probably no one on any cast bad enough that will keep you from loving and swearing by the live performance. It's the magic of the theater.

In response to Andrew's post

2005-11-24T23:02:00.000-06:00

...and because I'm part Bohemian.

To days of inspiration
Playing hookie, making something out of nothing
The need to express
To communicate,
To going against the grain,
Going insane
Going mad

To loving tension, no pension
To more than one dimension,
To starving for attention,
Hating convention, hating pretension
Not to mention of course,
Hating dear old mom and dad

To riding your bike,
Midday past the three-piece suits
To fruits to no absolutes
To Absolute--to choice
To the Village Voice
To any passing fad
To being an us for once, instead of a them

La vie Boheme
La vie Boheme

So that's five miso soup, four seaweed salad
Three soy burger dinner, two tofu dog platter
And one pasta with meatless balls
And thirteen orders of fries
Is that it here?

Wine and beer!

To hand-crafted beers made in local breweries
To yoga, to yogurt, to rice and beans and cheese
To leather, to dildos, to curry vindaloo
To huevos rancheros and Maya Angelou

Emotion, devotion, to causing a commotion
Creation, vacation
Mucho masturbation

Compassion, to fashion, to passion when it's new
To Sontag
To Sondheim
To anything taboo

Ginsberg, Dylan, Cunningham and Cage
Lenny Bruce
Langston Hughes

To the stage
To Uta
To Buddha
Pablo Neruda, too

Why Dorothy and Toto went over the rainbow
To blow off Auntie Em

La vie Boheme

Bisexuals, trisexuals, homo sapiens,
Carcinogens, hallucinogens, men, Pee Wee Herman
German wine, turpentine, Gertrude Stein
Antonioni, Bertolucci, Kurosawa
Carmina Burana

To apathy, to entropy, to empathy, ecstasy
Vaclav Havel - The Sex Pistols, 8BC,
To no shame - never playing the Fame Game
To marijuana

To sodomy,
It's between God and me
To S & M

La vie Boheme

Yea!!!

To dance!

No way to make a living, masochism,
Pain, perfection, muscle spasm, chiropractors,
short-careers, eating disorders

Film!

Adventure, tedium, no family, boring locations,
Dark rooms, perfect faces, egos,
Money, hollywood and sleaze

Music!

Food of love, emotion, mathematics,
Isolation, rhythm, feeling, power, harmony,
And heavy competition

Anarchy!

Revolution, justice, screaming for solutions,
Forcing changes, risk, and danger
Making noise and making pleas

To faggots, lezzies, dykes,
Cross dressers too

To me!
To me!
To me!

To you, and you and you, you and you
To people living with, living with,
Living with
Not dying from disease

Let he among us without sin
Be the first to condemn

La vie boheme
La vie boheme
La vie boheme

Harry, Music, and OH MY GOD!!!!!!

2005-11-19T00:05:00.000-06:00

Harry Potter IV was pretty amazing. Some inaccuracies, but more accurate than III. Marvelous movie. I was worried about the fact that John Williams wouldn't be doing the sound track, but the guy that replaced him tried really hard to sound like him. If I hadn't known before-hand, I probably wouldn't have noticed. Plus they used all of the old themes along with the new stuff.
I am not complaining, but I don't understand exactly why the Stonebriar AMC is looping the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Wicked as their background music. "Popular" was playing in the theater before the movie. "Defying Gravity" was playing in the bathroom afterwards. And I heard that it was being played in the morning too. Props to AMC for good music though.

Jim Steinman is the COOLEST GUY EVER!!! Not only does he write awesome music, he's an awesome guy.

Hey Brian! Thnx for the great letter! Sure! Go ahead and send me the file and use HERO for ure band.
I hope it works great! Dont worry about legal stuff. YOU GOT IT! I hope u treat ure trombone terrifically and tell me "where is your marching band"? Thnx.
Jim Steinman

I love actually having permission and enthusiasm from the original composer. It makes it all more real and awesome. Ahhh!!!
Anyway, I think I'm going to fiddle with the alto sax part a little bit and print the parts up for Monday. Yeagh!

My First Picture

2005-11-15T22:35:00.000-06:00

I probably should have added this to my long post about Les Miserables coming to Dallas, but I didn't think about it. I followed all of the links, and realized that this is the 20th Anniversary Tour of the show. The 10th Anniversary had an enormous concert in the Royal Albert Concert Hall with a "Dream Cast", and they even made a concert DVD.

Anyway, enough about Les Miz. All-region jazz actually proved to be not only bearable, not only slightly enjoyable, but actually fun this year. The clinician was cool. I got to sit in a triangle of cool people that I could talk to. We overpowered the top of the section by playing mezzo-piano. We had much fun making fun of Kelsey (and Adam, and Keyes, and Mr. Weatherman, and Mr. Gilmore, and Mr. Rutherford, and even me I'm sure). Everybody, ask Kelsey to tell you about "Stomp". I think it will be amusing.

I hope that everybody is praying for Mrs. Hill. This seems to be not a good year for life in general. I dearly hope that everything works out alright. Which reminds me, I need to check Andrew's blog for any news.

I'll work on getting the new parts together by the end of the week, but I can't make any guarantees. I won't know anything about it for sure until probably after Thursday.

Good luck to everybody (football included) on Saturday.

More music for Andrew

2005-11-14T00:32:00.000-06:00

I finished the score for the new stands tune. I'm turning it in tomorrow. I'll get parts printed later.
But what's really exciting is that I just now emailed Jim Steinman, the composer, about it. For anybody who hasn't heard me singing the praises of Jim Steinman, just know that he is a compositional genius. He has pretty much defined rock-opera. Everybody loves him, even if you don't know who he is. He wrote "Bat Out of Hell" and all subsequent Meat Loaf songs like that, "Total Eclipse of the Heart", "Holding Out for a Hero", and numerous other amazing songs.
'Twill be muy coolo

This was funny

2005-11-13T13:54:00.000-06:00

Christina sent me this a while ago, and I'll share it now.

learn Chinese in 5 minutes...:-D

Ok read the english meanings and then OUTLOUD say the chinese words...

(You MUST read them out loud or it doesn't make as much sense... unless you pronounce things correctly in your head, of course)

1) Thats not right........ Sum Ting Wong

2) Are you harboring a fugitive................... Hu Yu Hai Ding

3) See me ASAP.............. Kum Hia Nao

4) Stupid Man................................ Dum Fuk

5) Small horse.................. Tai Ni Po Ni

6) Did you go to the beach?.................... Wai Yu So Tan

7) I bumped in to a coffee table................. Ai Bang Mai Fa Kin Ni

8) I think you need a face lift...................... Chin Tu Fat

9) It's very dark in here........................... Wao So Dim

10) I thought you were on a diet............... Wai Yu Mun Ching

11) This is a tow away zone....................... No Pah King

12) staying out of sight.............................. Lei Ying Lo

13) He's cleaning his automobile................ Wa Shing Ka

14) Your body odor is offensive.................. Yu Stin Ki Pu

15)Great..................... Fa Kin Su Pah

OH!!! MY!!! GOD!!!!!!!!!

2005-11-02T21:49:00.000-06:00

I received an amazing email just now. I followe the link to see more. Let me sum it all up:

Les Misérables
June 21 - July 2

Anyone interested, look at or or .

For anyone unfamiliar with the story (beware, this reveals pretty much all of the plot):
Les Miserables

Jean Valjean, released on parole after 19 years on the chain gang, finds that the yellow ticket-of-leave he must, by law, display condemns him to be an outcast. Only the saintly Bishop of Digne treats him kindly and Valjean, embittered by years of hardship, repays him by stealing some silver. Valjean is caught and brought back by police, and is astonished when the Bishop lies to the police to save him, also giving him two precious candlesticks. Valjean decides to start his life anew.

Eight years have passed and Valjean, having broken his parole and changed his name to Monsieur Madeleine, has risen to become both a factory owner and Mayor. One of his workers, Fantine, has a secret illegitimate child. When the other women discover this, they demand her dismissal. The foreman, whose advances she has rejected, throws her out.

Desperate for money to pay for medicines for her daughter, Fantine sells her locket, her hair, and then joins the whores in selling herself. Utterly degraded by her new trade, she gets into a fight with a prospective customer and is about to be taken to prison by Javert when "The Mayor" arrives and demands she be taken to a hospital instead.

The Mayor then rescues a man pinned down by a runaway cart. Javert is reminded of the abnormal strength of convict 24601 Jean Valjean, a parole-breaker whom he has been tracking for years, but who, he says, has just been recaptured. Valjean, unable to see an innocent man go to prison in his place, confesses to the court that he is prisoner 24601.

At the hospital, Valjean promises the dying Fantine to find and look after her daughter Cosette. Javert arrives to arrest him, but Valjean escapes.

Young Cosette has been lodged for five years with the Thenardiers who run an inn, horribly abusing the little girl whom they use as a skivvy while indulging their own daughter, Eponine. Valjean finds Cosette fetching water in the dark. He pays the Thernardiers to let him take Cosette away and takes her to Paris. But Javert is still on his tail...

Nine years later there is a great unrest in the city because of the likely demise of the popular leader General Lamarque, the only man left in the Government who shows any feeling for the poor. The urchin Gavroche is in his element mixing with the whores and beggars of the capital. Among the street gangs is one led by Thernardier and his wife, which sets upon Jean Valjean and Cosette. They are rescued by Javert, who does not recognize Valjean until after he has made good his escape. The Thernardiers' daughter Eponine, who is secretly in love with the student Marius, reluctantly agrees to help him find Cosette, with whom he has fallen in love.

At a political meeting in a small cafe, a group of idealistic students prepare for the revolution they are sure will erupt on the death of General Lamarque. When Gavroche brings the news of the General's death, the students, led by Enjolras, stream out into the streets to whip up popular support. Only Marius is distracted by thoughts of the mysterious Cosette.

Cosette is consumed by thoughts of Marius, with whom she has fallen in love. Valjean realizes that his "daughter" is changing very quickly but refuses to tell her anything of her past. In spite of her own feelings for Marius, Eponine sadly brings him to Cosette and then prevents an attempt by her father's gang to rob Valjean's house. Valjean, convinced it was Javert who was lurking outside his house, tells Cosette they must prepare to flee the country. On the eve of the revolution the students and Javert see the situation from their different viewpoints; Cosette and Marius part in despair of ever meeting again; Eponine mourns the loss of Marius; and Valjean looks forward to the security of exile. The Thernardiers, meanwhile, dream of rich pickings underground from the chaos to come.

INTERM

The students prepare to build the barricade. Marius, noticing that Eponine has joined the insurrection, sends her with a letter to Cosette, which is intercepted at the Rue Plumet by Valjean. Eponine decides, despite what he has said to her, to rejoin Marius at the barricade.

The barricade is built and the revolutionaries defy an army warning that they must give up or die. Gavroche exposes Javert as a police spy. In trying to return to the barricade Eponine is shot and killed. Valjean arrives at the barricades in search of Marius. He is given the chance to kill Javert, but instead lets him go.

The students settle down for a night on the barricade and, in the quiet of the night, Valjean prays to God to save Marius from the onslaught which is to come. The next day, with ammunition running low, Gavroche runs out to collect more and is shot. The rebels are all killed, including their leader, Enjolras.

Valjean escapes into the sewers with the unconscious Marius. After meeting Thernardier, who is robbing the corpses of the rebels, he emerges into the light only to meet Javert once more. He pleads for time to deliver the young man to a hospital. Javert decides to let him go and, his unbending principles of justice having been shattered by Valjean's own mercy, he kills himself by throwing himself into the swollen River Seine. A number of Parisian women come to terms with the failed insurrection and its victims. Unaware of the identity of his rescuer, Marius recovers in Cosette's care.

Valjean confessed the truth of his past to Marius and insists that after the young couple are married, he must go away rather than taint the sanctity and safety of their union. At Marius' and Cosette's wedding the Thernardiers try to blackmail Marius. Thernardier says Cosette's "father" is a murderer and, as proof, produces a ring which he stole from the corpse in the sewers the night the barricades fell. It is Marius' own ring, and he realizes it was Valjean who rescued him that night.

He and Cosette go to Valjean, where Cosette learns for the first time of her own history before the old man dies, joining the spirits of Fantine, Eponine and all those who died on the barricades.

Check It Out

2005-10-30T01:12:00.000-06:00

We're going to State!! I'm so happy. The film actually surprised me. Let's keep on working and show 2A that we can march better than Argyle.

Goodness!

2005-10-23T22:14:00.000-05:00

It's been almost 1 week exactly since my last post. Not good.

Robotics ended up being a semi-mess, leaning more on the mess side. But that's fine, I guess. Maybe they'll all understand it enough next year to get everything right.

I would say a bunch of things about band and such, but what I was going to say will do no good. I don't agree with everything that is going in the band on individual levels (not just people messing up, but attitudes as well), but we don't have time to mess with all of that. We just need to get past all of these things somehow and start working together again. I hope that every band blogger sees this and realizes that we need to put everything else aside and focus on one thing: doing it RIGHT. Everyone has room for improvement, and everyone should be thinking, during every run-through, about those areas that need improvement on their part. We have presented everyone with all of the information that we can. We have given everyone as much instruction as we can think to give them. We have offered everyone more time than we have to offer. Whether or not those resources were used doesn't matter*--the product must be the same regardless. We have to perform as if we've got a field of solid freshmen out there (freshmen in college, of course). Meaning, in a round-about way, that we have long since passed the point where it was okay to not know/play all of your music, where it was okay to not hit a set, where it was okay to be in the process of correcting marching style, where it was okay to be not doing everything the way it's supposed to be done. It has gotten to the point where these things are not okay and deserve criticism and reprimand, but that's not going to help. If everything else we've tried hasn't helped, and the first bouts of criticism and screaming didn't help, then more isn't going to help. We can all just hope that everyone now sees that we need to all want it to get it. We saw Argyle's show. They are not marching gods. They can mess up. Which means that we have to be at the point where we don't. Just don't. That is really the only way we're going to force those judges to advance us - we just don't mess up. If anyone is not focusing on doing everything as close to perfect as humanly possible all the time, we're going to get deductions, and we're going to miss it. We cannot now count on Argyle messing up, on Howe messing up, on Holiday and Whitewright and all those other bands messing up. We have to perform at a level so much above all that that there is no doubt that we deserve what we have worked for.
I also hope that everyone was listening to the guest speaker at Friday's pep-rally, because that applies to us too.
I don't care who you are, what you've done in the past, how I get along with you, what I think of you, etc., we just need to get out on that grid/feld and get it done. You should know by now what you need to do. You have the tools. Do it.

It's a post!

2005-10-15T01:03:00.000-05:00

Not quite a substantial one since I still don't have time to type all of my thoughts. I must sleep. That post will come later. But for now, reflect on these lyrics, all ye who compose the entity known formally as the Celina band. I was listening to this on the way to school today, and once again realized how well it realates to our situation as a marching band.

"Right Now" - by Van Halen
Don't wanna wait 'til tomorrow
Why put it off another day?
One by one, little problems
Build up, and stand in our way. Oh

One step ahead, one step behind it
Now ya gotta run to get even
Make future plans I'll dream about yesterday, hey!
Come on turn, turn this thing around

(Right now) Hey! It's your tomorrow
(Right now) Come on, it's everything
(Right now) Catch your magic moment
Do it right here and now
It means everything

Miss a beat, you lose a rhythm
An nothin' falls into place. No!
Only missed by a fraction
Slipped a little off your pace. Oh!

The more things you get, the more you want
Just trade in one for another
Workin' so hard to make it easy
Whoa, got to turn. Come on, turn this thing around

(Right now) Hey, it's your tomorrow
(Right now) Come on, it's everything
(Right now) catch that magic moment
Do it right here and now
It means everything

Said a lie to me
Right now
What are ya waitin' for? Oh! Yeah!
Right now

(Guitar Solo)

(Right now) Hey! It's your tomorrow
(Right now) Come on, it's everything
(Right now) Catch that magic moment
And do it right, right now (Right now)
Oh, right now!

It's what's happening
Right here and now
Right now, it's right now
Oh!
Tell me, what are ya waitin' for?
Turn this thing around

Seriously, what are we waiting for? We need to turn this season around and start doing things right. And we need to do it right now. We only have one chance at a 1 at UIL. We only have 1 chance at advancing to State. We only have one chance at advancing to finals. We only have one chance at blowing them away at state. We need to make everytime the best time so that we don't screw up those one-shot opportunities. At every reheasal, catch that magic moment. At every performance, catch that magic moment. That's what it should feel like, and I think that's what people don't understand. There should be that feeling right after the final "DOWN!" that fills your entire body with an unimaginable euphoria. The music should really happen. The drill should hit. When that happens, it is magical. Every moment of it is magical, and that is all that matters: the here and now, the performance. Every time you play through the show, you are performing. Every time you perform, you have one chance to make it the best it can be; one chance to make the audience feel, to move them and show them what we can do.

The band, as a whole, lacks the sense of urgency and drive/desire that we desperately need. The time has long passed when it was okay to not feel these things and hold them as a major priority. Everyone needs to pull their weight and contribute to the magic moments. We can't do it without everyone who is out there giving it their all. That means you have to play all of your part beyond the best of your ability and march your spot with better technique than ever before. Only then will we be able to improve, and only then will we succeed.

That is all for now. Feel lucky and happy - this is much more positive than the post I had intended to make if I had more time.

Me so tired

2005-10-04T22:43:00.000-05:00

I've just been so out of whack recently. I keep thinking that I need to get Mrs. Kelly her tickets, but I gave them to her some time in August. On that subject, we got details worked out today. I'm pretty sure that I'm not screwing anything up because I can't remember it, but, if I'm not mistaken, we will meet at the band hall at 3:00, leave at 3:15, eat at a Posados somewhere between here and Dallas, get to the theater with plenty of time to get to our seats with programs and whatever else you need to do in an unrushed fashion, start the show at 8:00, experience absolute bliss for 2 1/2 hours (with intermission), leave the theater, and head home. I don't know when we'll be back. Probably around midnight or later.
Dress for this, in case you were planning on wearing jeans/shorts, a tee shirt, and flip-flops, is going to be dressy-casual, I guess is how you would put it. More on the dress side. For band people, pretty much solo and ensemble attire. Slacks and a nice shirt (could even be a polo) for guys. Girls, you know what you're going to wear. That is the way it is.

The Plan

2005-10-03T21:44:00.000-05:00

So far, I, personally, have minimal details worked out about Sunday. I talked with Mrs. Reed today, and I assume that she's not only going to figure out when we need to meet up, but also contact the restaurant. I need to ask her tomorrow. Oh, right, restaurant. Everyone, we'll be eating at Posados before the performance. I hope that's alright with everyone. (Auburn and Andrew, remember to bring your whatever-they-ares.) We'll probably be meeting up between 4 and 5 to allow enough time to eat, get stuck in traffic, and still get to the theater enough ahead of time. Hopefully there will be an announcement about all of this stuff soon. Like tomorrow.

(This is my 190th post on this blog.)

Just for Becky

2005-09-30T00:04:00.000-05:00

Okay, I kind of lost track of time with all the work I have to do. Everyone else knows what I'm talking about.
So...what to write, what to write, what to write...

Wicked is approaching quickly and steadily. I need to sit down with Mr. R tomorrow or Saturday and work out the specifics of when we're meeting. That reminds me, I need to give Mrs. Kelly her tickets.
Sarah, should I just give your mom your ticket along with Lori's? How do we want to work that out.

Who else isn't riding the bus?

I love "Total Eclipse of the Heart".

Becky, Dad finally saw the impact of all that music I copied the night before you left, and he just asked me about it yesterday. I think it used up alost 20 GB.

Mr. R is currently (not exactly at this moment) looking for my UNT CD.

The robot is coming along quite well. I think we'll have it completely built and functional in another week, maybe a little more for the electronics (hopefully not). Then, we're going to sand it, engrave it, contour it, finish it, airbrush it, polish it, re-brush it, and sit back marvelling at the beauty and genius that is our robot. Too cool. Plus we've got good drawings and plans.

Becky, I don't know what else to say. My days have consisted of school, band, robotics, eating, sleeping, and The Scarlet Letter. You remember what that's like.
BTW - I got your yearbook today (finally) because there was some discrepency in your payment, but it's all sorted out now.

Amidst the deep

2005-09-25T22:07:00.000-05:00

...there must be nostalgic relief.

The Monster In The Mirror
Words by Norman Stiles
Music by Christopher Cerf
sung by Grover (Frank Oz)

Saw a monster in the mirror when I woke up today
A monster in my mirror but I did not run away
I did not shed a tear or hide beneath my bed
Though the monster looked at me and this is what he said:

He said "Wubba wubba wubba wubba woo woo woo"
Wubba wubba wubba and a doodly do
He sang "Wubba wubba wubba" so I sang it too
Do not wubba me or I will wubba you
Do not wubba me or I will wubba you

Told the monster in the mirror, "No, I am not scared"
Then I smiled at him and thanked him for the song that we had shared
Well, the monster thanked me too, he smiled right back and then
The monster in the mirror sang his song again

He said "Wubba wubba wubba wubba woo woo woo"
Wubba wubba wubba and a doodly do
He went "Wubba wubba wubba" so I sang along
Yes, wubba wubba wubba is a monster song
Wubba wubba wubba is a monster song

Wubba wubba wubba wubba woo woo woo
Wubba wubba wubba and a doodly do
He went "Wubba wubba wubba" and I sang along
Wubba wubba wubba wubba wubba wubba
Yes, wubba wubba wubba is a monster song
Wubba wubba wubba is a monster song

If your mirror has a monster in it, do not shout
This kind of situation does not call for freaking out
And do nothing that you would not like to see him do
'Cause that monster in the mirror he just might be you

Singing "Wubba wubba wubba wubba woo woo woo"
Wubba wubba wubba and a doodly do
Wubba wubba wubba you can join in too
Wubba wubba wubba wubba wubba wubba
Yes, if you wubba me then I will wubba you
If you wubba me then I will wubba you

Going wubba wubba wubba is the thing to do
Everytime you wubba us we'll wubba you

It's much better to actually see it on Seaseme Street. Andrew will be happy to know that it had Whoopi in it.

Due Time

2005-09-25T21:38:00.000-05:00

This miserable and wearisome page has been calling out for a decent and substantial post for quite some time now, and I can deny it this no longer.

Since, however, my mental facilities are still completely tapped with all that is going on in school and such, I shall have to borrow a topic from someone else, and expand upon it, perhaps going in an entirely different direction with my interpretation.

I am referrring to Chris's post about "Masquerade". He did a very good job extrapolating a deeper meaning from that song, which there undoubtedly is, but I have a different perspective.

Ideally, there could be a world in which nobody "wore masks". Ideally, communism would work out. But these things cannot be, just because of human nature. Not just human nature, but nature itself.

People will instinctively act differently around different people. People will instinctively have prejudices. It is unavoidable. It protects us and keeps us in a comfortable, safe place. Some people do take it too far, but it is necessary to mask oneself around others, to some extent. If everyone was entirely open about everything, it would actually be horrible. I am not talking about masking in the same sense as Chris was. I am not referring to people who try to be something they aren't, but to people who keep feelings, thoughts, and other things to themselves. It is vital to survival that these things are not always on the surface.

See these lyrics from "Ugly Side" by Blue October:

I only want you to see
My favorite part of me
And not my ugly side
And not my ugly side (Ugly side)

Hopefully, there are people whom you can trust to share these things with, but it is not something that should be expressed everywhere and to everyone. We hide the things inside because that is how we think and how we exist. It is not necessarily bad, just somewhat sad. It is sad that we cannot trust a majority of the human race with things that we desperately and most need help with. Problems often go unsolved because they are not exposed. They are not exposed because people are afraid, or because they just cannot open up.

Every once in a while you will come across someone who does not mask themselves at all in any way, and you will notice a drastic difference in them from everyone else. It is odd. It is unnatural, and they usually end up in pain. Others are only completely open and unmasked because they have no inhibitions because of a defect or mental condition. These things are unnatural.

To recant, yes, society does need to stop trying to standardize itself and conform to the latest trends, diets, looks, and other insane things like looking like Hillary Duff, but we do not need an unmasked society (for more on that subject, read The Restaraunt at the End of the Universe, when they talk about Disaster Area and the highly intelligent race of beings who were cursed with telepathy). Hopefully, everyone will be able to find at least one person that they can unmask themselves with, and hopefully they will find more support than that.

I know that I, personally, do put on a mask quite often. But there are people with whom I can be unmasked, and that is really important.

There you go: long post, insight, advice, lyrics, reference to Hitchhiker...My post is complete.

I always found this one interesting

2005-09-25T18:20:00.000-05:00

"Decomposing Composers" - Monty Python (Michael Palin)

Beethoven's gone, but his music lives on,
And Mozart don't go shopping no more.
You'll never meet Liszt or Brahms again,
And Elgar doesn't answer the door.

Schubert and Chopin used to chuckle and laugh,
Whilst composing a long symphony,
But one hundred and fifty years later,
There's very little of them left to see.

They're decomposing composers.
There's nothing much anyone can do.
You can still hear Beethoven,
But Beethoven cannot hear you.

Handel and Haydn and Rachmaninov
Enjoyed a nice drink with their meal,
But nowadays, no one will serve them,
And their gravy is left to congeal.

Verdi and Wagner delighted the crowds
With their highly original sound.
The pianos they played are still working,
But they're both six feet underground.

They're decomposing composers.
There's less of them every year.
You can say what you like to Debussy,
But there's not much of him left to hear.

{Spoken}
Claude Achille Debussy-- Died, 1918.

Christophe Willebald Gluck-- Died, 1787.

Carl Maria von Weber-- Not at all well, 1825. Died, 1826.

Giacomo Meyerbeer-- Still alive, 1863. Not still alive, 1864.

Modeste Mussorgsky-- 1880, going to parties. No fun anymore, 1881.

Johan Nepomuk Hummel-- Chatting away nineteen to the dozen with his mates down the pub every evening, 1836. 1837, nothing.

The same could be said for a band officer in AP classes, robotics, and OAP

2005-09-25T15:20:00.000-05:00

Just another little funny thing...

An engineer was crossigna road one day when a frog called out to hima dn said, "If you kiss me, I'll turn into a beautiful princess."

He bent over, picked up the frog and put it in his pocket. The frog spoke up againa nd said, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful princess, I will stay with you for one week."

The engineer took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it, and returned it to the pocket. The frog then cried out, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I'll stay with you and do ANYTHING you want."

Again, the engineer took the frog out, smiled at it, and put it back into his pocket.

Finally, the frog asked, "What is the matter? I've told you I'm a beautiful princess, and that I'lls tay with you for a week and do anything you want. Why won't you kiss me?"

The engineer said, "Look, I'm an engineer. I don't have time for a girlfriend. But a talking frog...now that's cool."

Hell

2005-09-24T18:56:00.000-05:00

The following is supposedly an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid-term. The answer by one student was so "profound" that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well.

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.

One student, however, wrote the following:
First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving.

As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different Religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state that if you are not a memeber of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell.

With birth adn death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionally as souls are added.

This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding ata slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, "it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you," and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number 2 must be true, and thus I am sure thtat Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct...leaving only Heaven thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting "Oh my God."

This student received the only "A".

How shall we remedy this deplorable situation?

2005-09-22T23:29:00.000-05:00

I have noticed that, of late, my blog has been lacking the depth and intellectual insight that once characterized its existence and sparked genuine intrigue from others. It seems that I have resorted to merely supplying information about upcoming events, nostalgic lyrics, and available merchandise. How sad.

But, alas, it has been a long day that has taken a bit out of me, and I am not currently in an adequate position to muse or dwell on anything in particular, so the renewal of the intellectual stimulation once offered here will have to wait for another day.

A Mild Proposal

2005-09-22T21:49:00.000-05:00

If we could organize even a small, quickly-assembled group of people to go see Blast! at Bass Performance Hall sometime in the first week or so of October, how many people would really want to go? If there's any interest, we may take a group, separate from the band if necessary, to go see it. I'm not sure how expensive it is, and I know that Wicked is almost right after it, but it's a thought. When it came through here a couple of years ago, we went with the band to see it and it was quite amazing.

And, if people are interested but just don't want to pay and go and such, I do have the DVD, which is also very good.

Pass it along

2005-09-21T19:10:00.000-05:00

My dad got this email and we all thought it was quite humorous and worth sharing.

A major research institute has recently announced the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science.

The new element has been named “Governmentium.” Governmentium has one neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons and 224 assistant deputy neutrons giving it an atomic mass of 312.

These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of particles called peons.

Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A minute amount of Governmentium causes one reaction to take over four days to complete, when that same reaction would normally take less than a second.

Governmentium has a nominal shelf-life of four years; it does not decay, but undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium’s mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.

This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as “Critical Morass.” When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium—an element which radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

Sometime later, in the near future, I'll type up the full and "correct" version of that college term paper Adam V had up on his blog. It just wasn't quite right and it needs to be fixed...

And now, a word about our sponsors...

2005-09-18T13:57:00.000-05:00

Mr. Rutherford is no longer going to Wicked. Don't everybody get too excited because, no, there is not now another extra ticket. Mrs. Baldridge will be going in his stead. (He did what the sign said to do if you couldn't come) If anybody else is going to be unable to go, I need to know ASAP so that arrangements can be made to fill your spots. I don't want empty seats, especially when there are people who want to go but aren't able to because the seats are taken. Currently, there are no problems, but if there are...let me know.

Whoa! Scary Quiz!

2005-09-11T22:30:00.000-05:00

Your Birthdate: April 30

Your birthday on the 30th day of the month shows individual self-expression is necessary for your happiness.
You tend to have a good way of expressing yourself with words, certainly in a manner that is clear and understandable.
You have a good chance of success in fields requiring skill with words.

You can be very dramatic in your presentation and you may be a good actor or a natural mimic.
You have a vivid imagination that can assist you in becoming a good writer or story-teller.
Strong in your opinions, you always tend to think you are on the right side of an issue.

There may be a tendency to scatter your energies and have a lot of loose ends in your work.
You may have significant artistic talent and be very creative.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

That's scary accurate.

For Becky

2005-09-09T23:54:00.000-05:00

I know she remembers this one. We both do, but I must admit that I didn't really remember any of the verse lyrics. This was one of the best because it was all interactive. By that, I mean that my mom would "fly" us around the room when it was on. Good times.
Before I go any further, I'll ask ahead of time: Does anyone else remember the weird cartoon that went along with this song?

"Above It All" (knownst to us as "Above, Below It All")
Above it all
I love to fly
Above it all
There in the sky
The world's below
Above am I
I was above it all!

Below, some dudes out for a sail
Below those dudes
There swam a whale
Below the whale
A submarine
Below is not where I was seen

Above it all
I love to fly
Above it all
There in the sky
The world's below
Above am I
I was above it all!

Then, one day, I heard a sound
Came from above
Turned me around
To my surprise
I saw a dove!
I was below
He was above!

Above the dove
Clouds were in flight
Above the clouds
Sun shining bright
I asked the dove
"Is something wrong?"
"Oh, no," he said
"Just change your song."

Above it all
I love to fly
Below it, too
There in the sky
The world's below
Above my eye
Above, below it all!
(Above, below it all!)
At last I know it all
Above, below it all!

And Now Just for the Hell of It

2005-09-08T22:19:00.000-05:00

I actually saw this on Seasame Street some time recently as we were flipping through channels. I love it when they replay old segments. Ahhhh.

Hip To Be A Square
sung to the tune of Huey Lewis' "Hip To Be Square"

I'm a square, look I'll show ya
I got four sides on me
All my sides are the same size
Like a good-looking square should be
Well I look like my friends here
We look the same, but hey
When I go 'round the neighbourhood
Not everybody looks this way
Well I like to hang around
With the others that I find
Still I always keep in mind

It's hip to be a square (hip, hip, so hip to be)
It's hip to be a square (hip, hip, so hip to be a square)
It's hip to be a square (hip, hip, so hip to be)
So hip to be a square (hip, hip, so hip to be a square)

When I go to the playground
And a triangle says "How do you do"
Then comes in a circle
And a rectangle shows up too
Well I play with the triangle
And the circle can join the game
I play with the rectangle
Who cares that we're not all the same
'Cause no matter where I am
No matter where I go
No matter who I'm with I know

It's hip to be a square (hip, hip, so hip to be)
It's hip to be a square (hip, hip, so hip to be a square)
It's hip to be a square (hip, hip, so hip to be)
It's so hip to be a square (hip, hip, so hip to be a square)
I said, it's hip to be a square (hip, hip, so hip to be)
It's so hip to be a square (hip, hip, so hip to be a square)
It's hip to be a square (hip, hip, so hip to be)
So hip to be a square (hip, hip, so hip to be a square)
(fade out)

Just for Tara

2005-09-08T21:29:00.000-05:00

These are 2 of my favorite Seasame Street songs. There are several others, numerous others, but these are just 2 of my favorites.

We Are All Earthlings
Words by Sara Compton
Music by Jeff Moss

Some of us have feathers
Some of us have fins
Some of us are furry
And some of us have skins
We swim and hop and slither
And leap and soar and run
And we all live together
On a planet of the sun

We are all earthlings
We are all earthlings
Spinning around together
On a planet of the sun

We live in the desert
We live inside a tree
We live high in the mountains
Or deep beneath the sea
We live in tents and cabins
In houses just for one
And we all live together
On a planet of the sun

We are all earthlings
We are all earthlings
Spinning around together
On a planet of the sun

Floating down a river
Swinging through the trees
Climbing up a mountain
Going with the breeze
All of us can have a happy healthy place to be
If we can float and swim and climb in earthling harmony

We are all earthlings
We are all earthlings
Spinning around together
On a planet of the sun

Spinning around together
On a planet of the sun

-And-

Imagine That
Written by Jeff Moss
sung by Ernie (Jim Henson)

Sometimes I imagine
That I would like to be
A knight in shining armor
In a castle by the sea

A knight in shining armor with a princess by my side
I'd have a magic feather and a horse that I could ride
And the king would say, "Sir Ernie, you're so handsome and so brave
Please rid us of this dragon breathing fire in his cave"

And I'd get on my horse and I'd start to ride
I'd travel my way through the countryside
I'd come at last to the dragon's cave
And I'd yell, "Mr. Dragon, you'd better behave!"
And the dragon would be so scared of me
That he'd run away, and the kingdom would be free!

And I'd tip my hat
Imagine that
Imagine thaaaaaaaat
Imagine that!

Sometimes I imagine
That I would like to be
A daring bold explorer
Sailing far across the sea

I'd set out on a sailing ship to find a distant land
I'd gaze across the ocean with my telescope in hand
And the captain would say, "Ernie, there's a big storm drawing near,
You're our finest bravest sailor; you must grab the wheel and steer!"

And I'd grab the wheel in the wind and rain
I'd steer the ship through the hurricane
I'd guide the ship with a steady hand
I'd lead the way toward a brand new land
I'd spy the land lying safe and near
And I'd cry "Land-ho!", and the crew would cheer!

And I'd tip my hat
Imagine that
Imagine thaaaaaaat
Imagine that!

Sometimes I imagine
That I would like to be
A person who's named Ernie
Who looks quite a lot like me

Who likes the things that I like
And who does the things I do
And I don't have to imagine
Because I'm Ernie!
Me, that's who!

(nifty Ernie laugh)

And I'd tip my hat
Imagine that
Imagine thaaaaaaat
Imagine that!

ToMorrow

2005-09-04T18:18:00.000-05:00

I bought a 4-disc set of the Muppet Show last weekend, adn I found this song...interesting. It's better to hear it, but you can get the gist of it from the lyrics.

Traveler
I started on a journey just about a year ago
To a little town called Morrow in the state of Ohio.
I've never been much of a traveller and I really didn't know
That Morrow was the hardest place I'd ever try to go.

So I went down to the station for my ticket and applied
For tips regarding Morrow, not expecting to be guyed.
Said I, "My friend, I'd like to get to Morrow and return
No later than tomorrow for I haven't time to burn."

Said he to me

Clerk
"Now let me see if I have heard you right.
You'd like to go to Morrow and return tomorrow night.
You should have gone to Morrow yesterday and back today
for the train that goes to Morrow is a mile upon its way.

"If you had gone to Morrow yesterday now don't you see
You could have gone to Morrow and returned today at three,
For the train today to Morrow if the schedule is right,
Today it gets to Morrow and returns tomorrow night."

Traveler
Said I "I'd like to go to Morrow, so can I go today
and get to Morrow by tonight if there is no delay?"

Clerk
Well well I said to him, and I've got no more to say,
"Can you get anywhere tomorrow and get back again today"

Traveler
Said I "I guess you know it all but kindly let me say
how can I get to Morrow if I leave this town today"
Said he

Clerk
"you cannot go to Morrow anymore today
for the train that goes to Morrow is a mile upon its way".

Traveler
I was so disappointed, I was mad enough to swear
The train had gone to Morrow and it left me standing there.
The man was right in tellin' me

Clerk
"you are a howling jay,
You cannot go tomorrow."

Traveler
Well I guess in town I'll say.

Bass Player
I don't get it.

Oh Goodie

2005-09-04T17:59:00.000-05:00

Maybe.

Andrew, if we're all lucky, I might have your CDs done for Tuesday. I'm recording Mr. R's APC crap currently, so there will be no burning tonight.

History tomorrow.
Les Miserables today and the rest of tomorrow.

Suckage

2005-09-04T14:11:00.000-05:00

I know we hadn't worked on Gavorkna all week, but that's no excuse for that mess. And that's all I'm going to say.

This week (Pilot Point) is Becky's last (and first) football game of the year. It's also her first and last chance to see the show. To eveyone to whom that means something, help get eveyone else ready. Also, please work on your U.P. parts if you can't play them, because I would really like to have that together for this game too.

I'm so proud of myself. Aside from my ROR, I now only have to read history. Vocab's not due for a while, right? It's nice to actually start getting back into the groove of things. That was scary for a while.

Robotics kick-off next Saturday. I have an impending feeling of doom about this year's competition. For one thing, if it is on I-beams, I have absolutely no idea how to get it to work. I haven't worked on the electronics - actually worked on the electronics - ever, so this should be interesting. I can solder though. If we don't mind getting adult help, I know that my dad knows all that crap, and so does Keyes'. I would feel a little more comfortable about all this if Mitchell hadn't decided to be so secretive about the robot last year, building it all on his off-periods and at home without filling me or Keyes in on anything. Experiment time. Hope everything works. If not, we'll still have a kick-ass notebook.

Thanks to Mr. Ferrito

2005-09-01T22:34:00.000-05:00

He said something early in the session that reminded me of this song, so I decided I would have to post it. It was when he was talking about the world we are leaving for future generations, and how his father had worked in the factory...

"Is This the World We Created" - Queen

Just look at all those hungry mouths we have to feed
Take a look at all the suffering we breed
So many lonely faces scattered all around
Searching for what they need

Is this the world we created?
What did we do it for?
Is this the world we invaded
Against the law?
So it seems in the end
Is this what we're all living for today?
The world that we created

You know that every day a helpless child is born
Who needs some loving care inside a happy home
Somewhere a wealthy man is sitting on his throne
Waiting for life to go by

Is this the world we created?
We made it on our own
Is this the world we devastated
Right to the bone?
If there's a God in the sky looking down
What can he think of what we've done
To the world that He created?

I love this song.

Les Miz Update

2005-08-31T18:11:00.000-05:00

If you're interested...

1988 Complete Symphonic Recording. I averaged the prices I paid, and that puts the price at about $50. I will probably be able to negotiate that price if I need to. There is a valid reason for how expensive it is. I have now found one store carrying one copy of it. Aside from that, Target sells it on line for about $65 plus shipping. You can find it cheaper online (like $32 at one point), but that all requires credit cards and memberships and such, which I'm are a hassle and a risk. Some people take those risks, while others, like my parents, will not. Plus, even though it is a "used copy", I can guarantee that it is in superb condition. In that case, why am I selling it?
My personal CD player (1 out of 7 in the house) has a problem playing it, as I have discussed before. To be specific, it stutters indefinitely at 0:29 on Track 3 of Disc 2. I can fast-forward past it, but I loose at least a second of song that I have to fast-forward through. But this is only on my CD player upstairs. Everything else plays it fine. But since the upstairs CD player is mine, and thusly the one I use, I do not want it to skip on my favorite CD. If, for some strange reason, it does end up skipping/stuttering on someone else's (the buyer's) CD player, I'll refund your money and take the set back. No problem. I don't sell faulty products. It won't skip though. There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of the discs. It is just an act of God/Devil that is keeping my CD player from playing this one particular second of this one particular song on this one particular CD out of the hundreds I have played in it. It makes no sense.

Chris Ra, I'll bring a copy of something, like I said before, for you to sample on Friday. I think you'd be one of the people who would appreciate/like it in Japanese, just because of how musical it is.

Return to Normality

2005-08-29T16:02:00.000-05:00

I have decided now that I am physically incapable of having fun and having a life while still maintaining the standard of performance I demand of myself. I refuse to lower my standards, so it seems that the only way to remedy this situation is to go back to being the reserved, unsociable person I was before. It was fun though, but I can't live with what's happening to me. It's not okay.

Yay for Sheet Music!

2005-08-28T22:29:00.000-05:00

So I finally got that cut for "Under Pressure" finished. It's now 70 measures long. Score is 10 pages instead of 18. Everyone has one flip-folder page. It's okay, but it's not the same incomplete. Oh well.

I bought that new My Chemical Romance CD (with "Helena" and such), and I've been listening to a mixture of it, History for Sale, and Les Miserables all day whilst doing homework and printing music. Andrew, that means you have copying to do tomorrow. I tried to print them a certain way, but it didn't work out and it's not worth it to reprint everything now. We'll just have messed up originals.

Who's ready to learn drill?
Seriously though, let's not suck tomorrow.

For Sale?

2005-08-28T14:54:00.000-05:00

For all you musical lovers, or those of you who claim not to be, I have a proposition.
Would anyone like to purchase (from me) a complete copy of Les Miserables (complete with case, liner notes, lyrics, etc.)?
Let me know and we'll negotiate a price.

Share and Enjoy

2005-08-27T02:01:00.000-05:00

I felt, for some reason, that I had to share this with you. It is from H2G2, so you can than Douglas Adams for it. Enjoy.

"Share and Enjoy" is, of course, the company motto of the hugely successful Sirius Cybernetics Corporation Complaints division, which now covers the major land masses of three medium sized planets and is the only part of the Corporation to have shown a consistent profit in recent years.

The motto stands - or rather stood - in three mile high illuminated letters near the Complaints Department spaceport on Eadrax - "Share and Enjoy". Unfortunately its weight was such that shortly after it was erected, the ground beneath the letters caved in and they dropped for nearly half their length through the underground offices of many talented young complaints executives - now deceased. The protruding upper halves of the letters now appear, in the local language, to read "Go stick your head in a pig", and are no longer illuminated, except at times of special celebration.

At these times of special celebration a choir of over two million robots sing the company song "Share and Enjoy". Unfortunately - again - another of the computing errors for which the company is justly famous means that the robot's voices are exactly a flattened fifth out of tune and the result sounds something like this, only slightly worse.

The lyrics to the company song are as follows:

Share and Enjoy
Share and Enjoy
Journey through life
With a plastic boy
Or Girl by your side
Let your pal be your guide
And when it breaks down
Or starts to annoy
Or grinds when it moves
And gives you no joy
Cos it's eaten your hat
Or had sex with your cat
Bled oil on your floor
Or ripped off your door
You get to the point
You can't stand any more
Bring it to us, we won't give a fig
We'll tell you, 'Go stick your head in a pig'.

Listen to "Share and Enjoy" here.

My apologies

2005-08-21T23:48:00.000-05:00

Those of you to whom I promised CDs by Monday, I regret to inform you that they will not be ready. Sorry. I'll get them done ASAP, but this weekend was quite busy. Tomorrow doesn't look much better, and I wouldn't count on being able to get it done during the week unless I really luck out. I do have the CDs in my "copy queue", so it well get done. But now, I must sleep.
Yay band.
Go bobcats.

Withdraw?

2005-08-21T16:40:00.000-05:00

I think not.

To those of you offended by my post on the deplorable status of Celina's AP program, I am somewhat sorry that you feel that way, but I stand by my statements. I will, however, add this to said statement:

There are instances, as in most teacher recommendations, when a student was previously misplaced and genuinely does deserve to be in the advanced classes despite their lack of a prerequisite. This, however, I feel, is not the case for most people in the classes in question. Some new additions are to be expected, along with some losses, but this drastic increase in size is blasphemous to the whole concept of the AP system.

For example, I refuse to believe that Miranda Kidd has been recomended to be in Pre-Cal; or that Sarah McCloud, Kristina Flemming, Madi Duffield, and the rest of that crowd, should be in AP English. The history class is a little bit different, because I do not know a lot about other people's standings in that class, but I don't think that the current number of student's enrolled is proper.

What's a good euphamism for "amp crew"?

2005-08-20T21:34:00.000-05:00

I am now accepting applications for amp crew. All you people who are dying to see what's goin' on with the sound stuff, let me know and I'll hook you up.

Ooooo, Andrew that's a tough one

2005-08-20T01:03:00.000-05:00

When I first read on your blog that you didn't have a single complaint about any of the classes, I thought "what's he smoking?" Then, as I thought about it, I realized that there's really nothing wrong with any of the classes. True, there is a lot of pre-cal homework, but that is not a bad thing, and certainly does not warrant complaint. There really is nothing to complain about.

Except the English department.

Since this seems to be the current subject of choice for many AP bloggers, I shall expound further on the subject.

It seems to me that the drastic increase in AP enrollment is not a reflection on an increase in capable, hard-working, AP-worthy students, but rather a decline in AP-standards. Just as a thought, how many AP world history took the AP test? 12? 16 at the most. How many people were enrolled in the class? I know that there were two periods, and my period had more than 20 people in it. Why are so many, for lack of a better word, undeserving people allowed in these classes? There are those who do work hard and make the grade, or at least try to make the grade. There are people who don't try and don't make the grade. And finally there are those who don't try, cheat, and still make the grade, throwing off the entire grading system and potentially damaging honest student's chances at higher education. I may be old-fashioned, but I recall a time when only students of the first category were accepted in AP classes.
And what is it with allowing people into AP English who didn't take the prerequisites. Hell, if I'd known you could switch from Advanced to Pre-AP (which you weren't able to do before), I wouldn't have read those 7 books last summer. And if I'd known that those 7 books weren't actually going to count for anything, I would have blown them off like everyone else did. It bothers me that the school, and the entire educational system, does not stay consistant. We were all told that these test must be taken over the summer by these designated dates. The grades of these tests would determine whether we would actually be enrolled in the AP/Pre-AP class, and would also serve as our first test grades. How then, could over half our Pre-AP class openly admit to not reading/not testing/not passing a single book over the summer? And how was this then shrugged off by allowing them to stay in the class and making the grades not count? At that moment, the class should have been cut down to an acceptable size, including only those students with enough iniciative, drive, and self-respect to do what they need to do, instead of keeping the deadwood in the class, only to add more dead wood next year. This does happen in other classes, but it is definitely most evident in English.
Becky always spoke of having fun AP classes, classes in which there were 7 or less people. In these classes, students could actually learn at an AP level. True, you will be quite hard pressed to find a college class with a class size comparable to this, but we are not yet in college. And to even begin to assume that there are this many students in Celina High School who are capable of handling college-level work is proposterous! There should not be two Pre-AP/AP English classes! Yet that has been the case with the grade below us (current sophomores).
Not only are these AP classes being stuffed with non-AP students, but the work is being lowered to the standards of non-AP students. We are not in elementary school any more!!! There is a time when flash cards are helpful. This is not one of them. The SAT is not going to have a section where you select the correct vocab word "based on the picture above", so why must we draw pictures in English? Why are we lowering the standards of our upper level classes to focus on what is required for TAKS, the standardized test for regular classes. By forming a curriculum around a standardized test, only certain material is covered, most of which is review from years past. The TAKS test will not ask questions of an appropriate level for AP students, because that would be unfair to the lower level students. That is quite alright. But the AP students should not then focus on "trying to pass the TAKS". That should be a given.
I firmly believe that you should have to pass an oral and written exam in order to be in a Pre-AP/AP English class, because there are entirely too many people in these classes that cannot speak, nevermind write, proper English. Grammatical rules we learned in fourth grade, and that we have review every year since, are still being ignored. Does this bother anyone else?

Enough about English for right now. Let's move on to Pre-Cal.
There are people in my Pre-Cal class that have absolutely no reason to be in there. Period. End of story.

How about US History?
Same thing: way too many people who have no right being in an AP class.
True, I, alas, did not pass my AP World History test. The cat's out of the bag, as those of you in my US history class will know. Everyone just assumed I had passed, and I didn't necessarily want to correct them because of my own pride. But, in my defense, I had, in the weeks prior to the test, had practically everything stolen from my locker. While I did manage to obtain copies of all notes and necessary materials to complete and pass the class with a high A, the stress of all of it undoubtedly hindered my performance. Plus it was a really hard test, and standardized test graders have never liked my written responses for some reason. It is a rare occasion when my short answer question answers (that's awkward) are "acceptable" on the test, but I never have any problem when a teacher grades them. My responses must not be standard enough.

I feel now that I have let enough out for a while. I have put off doing my weekend homework tonight by sleeping, watching The Sound of Music, and now posting, which means that I am now condemned to work all weekend. Pity. I was so looking forward to, well, not working on the weekend. Oh well.

WHAT--

2005-08-17T20:54:00.000-05:00

the Hell!?

It's the second day of school and already I've had more work to do than any time over the past 2 years. Even when we had projects due and papers to type. I might just seclude myself in a practice room tomorrow to take that English AP test. I won't be interrupted.

I don't have any of the supplies I need yet. Everything I could possibly have to make any of this easier was stolen from me last year by some cheap son of a bitch, so I'm pretty much up a creek with no paddle, a nasty hunk of balsa wood, and fine sand paper.
I swear though, if any "psychotic, ath-hole bastard" tries taking my stuff again, there are going to be federal inquiries at the school.

I seriously don't get what we're supposed to be writing those poems about. Is it just an about me/I am poem, or are we actually supposed to follow the format of the "Where I'm From" crap. Plus, I really don't think I'm going to be able to create my own word.

Does it bother anyone else that despite the massive work load already, they are doing everything in their power to dumb down the English class by making us do flashcards. My God!!! Are we still in elementary school!? Just let me study a freaking list for cryin' out loud! "Write your vocab word on the front of the card and draw a picture that helps you think of the word. Then on the back write the part of speech..." What the Hell good is that going to do!!!??!?!?!? Do you know what reminds me of the word "abstract"? The letters "a", "b", "s", "t", "r", "a", "c", and "t" all in that order.

I think I'm just going to make it through this year through pure determination and will.

On a brighter note, I also like the new grading system. BCIS II is quite awesome, as is lunch. Mrs. Pack seems like a very good teacher, and physics will undoubtedly be hard-fun.

2005-08-13T15:53:00.000-05:00

Congratulations! Everyone (excluding Mrs. Kelly) has now paid for their Wicked tickets. Yay.
I just got an unexpected phone call and now I can't think straight anymore. I'll try to catch my train of thought again. Not that what I had to say was terribly important anyway.
Andrew, you missed one hell of a lake day. We learned Mr. Rutherford's middle name, and the origin of his first name. We had fun in the water, played with the new Celina Band volleyball, and searched for Auburn's lost ring.
My knee still hurts from the rocks though. And I'm sure Preston's wounds will take at least a couple of days to heal.

And for Andrew as well

2005-08-13T01:33:00.000-05:00

It seems that most of the songs that you hear these days on the radio played by the disc-jockeys, apart from Rock-n-Roll and other childrens' records, tend to be motion-picture title-songs. Apparently producers feel that we will not attend their movies unless we have the titles well drilled into our heads in advance.

Of course, we don't go anyway, but at least this way they make back on the song some of what they've lost on the picture. With the rise of the motion-picture title-song, we've had such hits in the past few years as The Ten Commandments Mambo, Brothers Karamazov Cha-Cha, Incredible Shrinking Man, I Love You. I'm sure you're all familiar with these, but a few years ago a motion picture version appeared of Sophocles' immortal tragedy Oedipus Rex. This picture played only in the so-called art theaters, and it was not a financial success. And I maintain that the reason it was not a financial success...

(You're away ahead of me.) ...was, that it did not have a title tune, which the people could hum and which would make them actually eager to attend this particular play. So, I have attempted to supply this and here then is the prospective title song from Oedipus Rex.

From the Bible to the popular song,
There's one theme that we find right along.
Of all ideals they hail as good,
The most sublime is Motherhood.

There was a man, oh, who it seems,
Once carried this ideal to extremes.
He loved his mother and she loved him,
And yet his story is rather grim.

There once lived a man named Oedipus Rex.
You may have heard about his odd complex.
His name appears in Freud's index
'Cause he loved his mother.

His rivals used to say quite a bit,
That as a monarch he was most unfit.
But still in all they had to admit
That he loved his mother.

Yes he loved his mother like no other.
His daughter was his sister and his son was his brother.
One thing on which you can depend is,
He sure knew who a boy's best friend is!

When he found what he had done,
He tore his eyes out one by one.
A tragic end to a loyal son
Who loved his mother.

So be sweet and kind to Mother,
Now and then have a chat.
Buy her candy or some flowers or a brand new hat.
But maybe you had better let it go at that!

Or you may find yourself with a quite complex complex,
And you may end up like Oedipus.
I'd rather marry a duck-billed platypus,
Than end up like old Oedipus Rex.

The out-patients are out in force tonight, I see.

Why the Hell Not?

2005-08-13T01:22:00.000-05:00

These are for Sarah.

The Elements
"Now, if I may digress momentarily from the main stream of this evenings symposium, I'd like to sing a song which is completely pointless but which is something I picked up during my career as a scientist. This may prove useful to somebody some day perhaps, in a somewhat bizarre set of circumstances. It's simply the names of the chemical elements set to a possibly recognizable tune."

There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium,
And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium,
And nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium,
And iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium,
Europium, zirconium, lutetium, vanadium,
And lanthanum and osmium and astatine and radium,
And gold and protactinium and indium and gallium,

And iodine and thorium and thulium and thallium.

There's yttrium, ytterbium, actinium, rubidium,
And boron, gadolinium, niobium, iridium,
And strontium and silicon and silver and samarium,
And bismuth, bromine, lithium, beryllium, and barium.

Isn't that interesting?

I knew you would.
I hope you're all taking notes, because there's going to be a short quiz next period.

There's holmium and helium and hafnium and erbium,
And phosphorus and francium and fluorine and terbium,
And manganese and mercury, molybdenum, magnesium,
Dysprosium and scandium and cerium and cesium.
And lead, praseodymium, and platinum, plutonium,
Palladium, promethium, potassium, polonium,
And tantalum, technetium, titanium, tellurium,

And cadmium and calcium and chromium and curium.

There's sulfur, californium, and fermium, berkelium,
And also mendelevium, einsteinium, nobelium,
And argon, krypton, neon, radon, xenon, zinc, and rhodium,
And chlorine, carbon, cobalt, copper, tungsten, tin, and sodium.

These are the only ones of which the news has come to Ha'vard,
And there may be many others, but they haven't been discavard.

New Math
"Some of you who have small children may have perhaps been put in the
embarrassing position of being unable to do your child's arithmetic homework
because of the current revolution in mathematics teaching known as the New
Math. So as a public service here tonight I thought I would offer a brief
lesson in the New Math. Tonight we're going to cover subtraction. This is the
first room I've worked for a while that didn't have a blackboard so we will
have to make due with more primitive visual aids, as they say in the "ed biz."
Consider the following subtraction problem, which I will put up here: 342 -
173.

Now remember how we used to do that. three from two is nine; carry the one, and
if you're under 35 or went to a private school you say seven from three is six,
but if you're over 35 and went to a public school you say eight from four is
six; carry the one so we have 169, but in the new approach, as you know, the
important thing is to understand what you're doing rather than to get the right
answer. Here's how they do it now."

You can't take three from two,
Two is less than three,
So you look at the four in the tens place.
Now that's really four tens,
So you make it three tens,
Regroup, and you change a ten to ten ones,
And you add them to the two and get twelve,
And you take away three, that's nine.
Is that clear?

Now instead of four in the tens place
You've got three,
'Cause you added one,
That is to say, ten, to the two,
But you can't take seven from three,
So you look in the hundreds place.

From the three you then use one
To make ten ones...
(And you know why four plus minus one
Plus ten is fourteen minus one?
'Cause addition is commutative, right.)
And so you have thirteen tens,
And you take away seven,
And that leaves five...

Well, six actually.
But the idea is the important thing.

Now go back to the hundreds place,
And you're left with two.
And you take away one from two,
And that leaves...?

Everybody get one?
Not bad for the first day!

Hooray for new math,
New-hoo-hoo-math,
It won't do you a bit of good to review math.
It's so simple,
So very simple,
That only a child can do it!

Now that actually is not the answer that I had in mind, because the book that I
got this problem out of wants you to do it in base eight. But don't panic. Base
eight is just like base ten really - if you're missing two fingers. Shall we
have a go at it? Hang on.

You can't take three from two,
Two is less than three,
So you look at the four in the eights place.
Now that's really four eights,
So you make it three eights,
Regroup, and you change an eight to eight ones,
And you add them to the two,
and you get one-two base eight,
Which is ten base ten,
And you take away three, that's seven.

Now instead of four in the eights place
You've got three,
'Cause you added one,
That is to say, eight, to the two,
But you can't take seven from three,
So you look at the sixty-fours.

"Sixty-four? How did sixty-four get into it?" I hear you cry.
Well, sixty-four is eight squared, don't you see?
(Well, you ask a silly question, and you get a silly answer.)

From the three you then use one
To make eight ones,
And you add those ones to the three,
And you get one-three base eight,
Or, in other words,
In base ten you have eleven,
And you take away seven,
And seven from eleven is four.
Now go back to the sixty-fours,
And you're left with two,
And you take away one from two,
And that leaves...?

Now, let's not always see the same hands.
One, that's right!
Whoever got one can stay after the show and clean the erasers.

Hooray for new math,
New-hoo-hoo-math,
It won't do you a bit of good to review math.
It's so simple,
So very simple,
That only a child can do it!

Come back tomorrow night. We're gonna do fractions.
Now I've often thought I'd like to write a mathematics text book because I have
a title that I know will sell a million copies. I'll call it Tropic Of
Calculus.

There's a Delta for Every Epsilon
(I have not,unfortunately, actually heard this one)

There's a delta for every epsilon,
It's a fact that you can always count upon.
There's a delta for every epsilon
And now and again,
There's also an N.

But one condition I must give:
The epsilon must be positive
A lonely life all the others live,
In no theorem
A delta for them.

How sad, how cruel, how tragic,
How pitiful, and other adjec-
Tives that I might mention.
The matter merits our attention.
If an epsilon is a hero,
Just because it is greater than zero,
It must be mighty discouragin'
To lie to the left of the origin.

This rank discrimination is not for us,
We must fight for an enlightened calculus,
Where epsilons all, both minus and plus,
Have deltas
To call their own.

Harvard, the Fierce Fighter

2005-08-12T11:31:00.000-05:00

Now that I've started posting this guy's lyrics, I can't stop until I get all the most important ones out here. What's scary is that Harvard actually uses this fight song.

"I know it's very bad form to quote one's own reviews, but I would like to mention something that the New York Times said about me a year ago which I've always treasured -- they said: 'Mr. Lehrer's muse is not fettered by such inhibiting factors as taste'.

"Now we come to that peculiar bit of Americana known as the football fight song. I was reminded not too long ago, upon returning from my lesson with the Scrabble pro at the Harvard club in Boston, of the days of my undergraduacy long ago when there used to be these very long Saturday afternoons in the fall with nothing to do -- the library was closed -- just waiting around for the cocktail parties to begin. And on occasions like that, some of us used to wander over to the... I believe it was called the stadium, to see if anything might be going on over there. And one did come to realize that the football fight songs that one hears in comparable stadia have a tendency to be somewhat uncouth, and even violent, and that it would be refreshing, to say the least, to find one that was a bit more genteel. And here it is, dedicated to my own alma mater, and called Fight Fiercely, Harvard."

Fight fiercely, Harvard,
fight, fight, fight!
Demonstrate to them our skill.
Albeit they possess the might,
Nonetheless we have the will.
How we shall celebrate our victory,
We shall invite the whole team up for tea
(How jolly!)
Hurl that spheroid down the field, and
Fight, fight, fight!

Fight fiercely, Harvard,
fight, fight, fight!
Impress them with our prowess, do!
Oh, fellows, do not let the crimson down,
Be of stout heart and true.
Come on, chaps, fight for Harvard's glorious name,
Won't it be peachy if we win the game?
(Oh, goody!)
Let's try not to injure them, but
Fight, fight, fight!
And do fight fiercely!
Fight, fight, fight!

Catholic-ism for Dummies

2005-08-12T11:29:00.000-05:00

Just because...

Keep in mind, though, that this song was written in 1965.

"Another big news story of year concerned the ecumenical council in Rome, known as Vatican II. Among the things they did in an attempt to make the church more commercial was to introduce the vernacular into portions of the mass, to replace Latin, and to widen somewhat the range of music permissible in the liturgy, but I feel that if they really want to sell the product, in this secular age, what they ought to do is to redo some of the liturgical music in popular song forms. I have a modest example here. It's called The Vatican Rag."

First you get down on your knees,
Fiddle with your rosaries,
Bow your head with great respect,
And genuflect, genuflect, genuflect!

Do whatever steps you want, if
You have cleared them with the Pontiff.
Everybody say his own
Kyrie eleison,
Doin' the Vatican Rag.

Get in line in that processional,
Step into that small confessional,
There, the guy who's got religion'll
Tell you if your sin's original.
If it is, try playin' it safer,
Drink the wine and chew the wafer,
Two, four, six, eight,
Time to transubstantiate!

So get down upon your knees,
Fiddle with your rosaries,
Bow your head with great respect,
And genuflect, genuflect, genuflect!

Make a cross on your abdomen,
When in Rome do like a Roman,
Ave Maria,
Gee it's good to see ya,
Gettin' ecstatic an'
Sorta dramatic an'
Doin' the Vatican Rag!

Funny(ish) songs

2005-08-12T11:14:00.000-05:00

For some reason I have had these two songs going through my head for the past couple days. Just one of those songs that you hear, laugh at, forget, and remember at random.

First, the more acceptable one:

"The Irish Ballad" - Tom Lehrer
[I actually found a site with a transcript of the live performance, which is quite awesome because he's a very funny man. The actual lyrics are in italics.]

"Now I'd like to turn to the folk song, which has become in recent years the particularly fashionable form of idiocy among the self-styled intellectual. We find that people who deplore the level of current popular songs -- although I admit they do seem to be recording almost anything these days. Have you heard Sesue Hayakawa's record of Remember Pearl Harbor? These same people who deplore the level of current popular songs and yet will sit around enthralled singing Jimmy crack corn and I don't care or Green Grow The Rushes, Oh! -- whatever that means. At any rate, for this elite I have here an ancient Irish ballad, which was written a few years ago, and which is replete with all the accoutrements of this art form. In particular, it has a sort of idiotic refrain, in this case rickety-tickety-tin you'll notice cropping up from time to time, running through, I might add, interminable verses. The large number of verses being a feature expressly designed to please the true devotees of the folk song who seem to find
singing fifty verses of On Top Of Old Smokey is twice as enjoyable as singing twenty-five.

This type of song also has what is known technically in music as a modal tune, which means -- for the benefit of any layman who may have wandered in this evening -- that I play a wrong note every now and then.
[piano]
This song though does differ strikingly from the genuine folk ballad in that in this song the words which are supposed to rhyme - actually do.
[piano]
I, ah, I really should say that - I do not direct these remarks against the vast army of folk song lovers, but merely against that peculiar hard core who seem to equate authenticity with artistic merit and illiteracy with charm.
[piano]
Oh, one more thing. One of the more important aspects of public folk singing is audience participation, and this happens to be a good song for group singing. So if any of you feel like joining in with me on this song, I'd appreciate it if you would leave -- right now."

About a maid I'll sing a song,
Sing rickety-tickety-tin,
About a maid I'll sing a song
Who didn't have her family long.
Not only did she do them wrong,
She did ev'ryone of them in, them in,
She did ev'ryone of them in.

One morning in a fit of pique,
Sing rickety-tickety-tin,
One morning in a fit of pique,
She drowned her father in the creek.
The water tasted bad for a week,
And we had to make do with gin, with gin,
We had to make do with gin.

Her mother she could never stand,
Sing rickety-tickety-tin,
Her mother she cold never stand,
And so a cyanide soup she planned.
The mother died with a spoon in her hand,
And her face in a hideous grin, a grin,
Her face in a hideous grin.

She set her sister's hair on fire,
Sing rickety-tickety-tin,
She set her sister's hair on fire,
And as the smoke and flame rose high'r,
Danced around the funeral pyre,
Playin' a violin, -olin,
Playin' a violin.

She weighted her brother down with stones,
Rickety-tickety-tin,
She weighted her brother down with stones,
And sent him off to Davy Jones.
All they ever found were some bones,
And occasional pieces of skin, of skin,
Occasional pieces of skin.

One day when she had nothing to do,
Sing rickety-tickety-tin,
One day when she had nothing to do,
She cut her baby brother in two,
And served him up as an Irish stew,
And invited the neighbors in, -bors in,
Invited the neighbors in.

And when at last the police came by,
Sing rickety-tickety-tin,
And when at last the police came by,
Her little pranks she did not deny,
To do so she would have had to lie,
And lying, she knew, was a sin, a sin,
Lying, she knew, was a sin.

My tragic tale, I won't prolong,
Rickety-tickety-tin,
My tragic tale I won't prolong,
And if you do not enjoy the song,
You've yourselves to blame if it's too long,
You should never have let me begin, begin,
You should never have let me begin.

"The Scotsman" - Mike Cross

Well a Scotsman clad in kilt left a bar on evening fair
And one could tell by how we walked that he drunk more than his share
He fumbled round until he could no longer keep his feet
Then he stumbled off into the grass to sleep beside the street
Ring ding diddle diddle I de oh ring di diddly I oh
He stumbled off into the grass to sleep beside the street

About that time two young and lovely girls just happend by
And one says to the other with a twinkle in her eye
See yon sleeping Scotsman so strong and handsome built
I wonder if it's true what they don't wear beneath the kilt
Ring ding diddle diddle I de oh ring di diddly I oh
I wonder if it's true what they don't wear beneath the kilt

They crept up on that sleeping Scotsman quiet as could be
Lifted up his kilt about an inch so they could see
And there behold, for them to see, beneath his Scottish skirt
Was nothing more than God had graced him with upon his birth
Ring ding diddle diddle I de oh ring di diddly I oh
Was nothing more than God had graced him with upon his birth

They marveled for a moment, then one said we must be gone
Let's leave a present for our friend, before we move along
As a gift they left a blue silk ribbon, tied into a bow
Around the bonnie star, the Scots kilt did lift and show
Ring ding diddle diddle I de oh ring di diddly I oh
Around the bonnie star, the Scots kilt did lift and show

Now the Scotsman woke to nature's call and stumbled towards a tree
Behind a bush, he lift his kilt and gawks at what he sees
And in a startled voice he says to what's before his eyes.
O lad I don't know where you been but I see you won first prize
Ring ding diddle diddle I de oh ring di diddly I oh
O lad I don't know where you been but I see you won first prize

Dr. Tim, minor thirds, Howe people, and more band...

2005-08-11T19:05:00.000-05:00

This past week has been fairly uneventful. Some of the awesomeness and novelty from band camp is starting to wear off and fade away, but I know we can keep going. We have to keep going. We ARE going this year!!!

Anyway, for anyone who didn't go last night, Dr. Tim was awesome as always. I actually went up and thanked him before Mr. Rutherford had everyone go up to thank Mr. Cruz (the host) and they all "high-fived" the good Dr.

We went on a bus with a bunch of Howe band people and their director, Mrs. Earnhart.

Did you know that the "screaming interval", that is the interval between the two pitches of a word shouted by a mother or mother-like figure when they are calling up to you (e.g. "Joh-n! It's time to get u-p!" & etc.) is a minor third. The same thing is true whenever someone drags out a word to make it 2 syllables. If you were paying attention last night you would have picked up on that merely because of the fact that he said it.

Anyone who did not at least feel like crying during Jeremy's letter is completely heartless and does not deserve to walk on this earth.

Hopefully the lake party won't be crappy. It usually isn't, but you never know...with the decreasing amount of upper class/senior participation in band functions, it may end up being not quite as fun as past functions.

I honestly can think of nothing more to contribute to this post. I pretty much did everything that Andrew did all week, so if you seek further details on the happenings of said week, check his blog.

So there, Auburn!

2005-08-07T20:45:00.000-05:00

Since Auburn seems to think that 20 hours is far too long to go between posts, I shall post about the uneventfullness of today.

We basically shopped the entire day away, taking advantage of the "no taxes" thing. I got new shoes, since the inside of my right shoe is completely worn through at the toes from halting with intensity. I also got a new shirt and some ties. Isn't that exciting. We spent way too long in Frisco accomplishing not much, but spending quite a bit of money. Everyone (except Sarah) needs to pay a $1.50 boarding fee to get on the bus to see Wicked in order to pay for Miss Ada Fay's ticket etc. "Why doesn't Sarah have to pay?" you may ask. Why, that's simple: she already did.

Becky got her laptop for college yesterday, and she's getting it all set up.

I really wanted to have journalism this year. I had big plans. The paper was going to be standardized, uniformity was going to be enforced, extreme editing would occur, and I'd have a cool title. But now all of my ambitions are crushed and taken away from me by the Bible, by another Baptist. They're actually getting more annoying.
Nobody take any actual offense at that. I happen to be good friends with some Baptists. Although I do have to say that Catholics and Methodists are far cooler. Episcipaleans (sp?) are cool too.
Oh well. On the bright side, I will have a class with Mrs. Huddleston again this year. She'll be pleased about that. Plus, it will now be easier to get those "advanced measures" I need because my schedule will work out easier next year, allowing my 3 tech courses to count towards a "distinguished plan". Funny how things can still work out.

Does anyone want to help me publish an underground newpaper for the school?

Cells...?

2005-08-06T23:41:00.000-05:00

I haven't quite decided or figured out if "cell" phones would be eukaryotic or prokaryotic. Either way, I've got one now. I won't say that I've exactly been counting the days and holding my breath until this would happen, or that I in any way excited by the phone like some people, but I can see how it could prove to become convenient.

On a much different note, how many of you would keel over and die of shock if I added a links section to my sidebar. I'm toying with the idea, but I think that such a drastic change to the bland and boring nothingness that is the signature of my blog might be a bit much.

I would post on a substantial and otherwise not-trivial subject, but I can't think of anything to write about band camp except that the water sucked, but we had fun anyway. Form, shuck, pop, boil, cream, butter, roast, salt, stick, eat, and pick that corn!
"Under Pressure" should finally end up being passed out Monday afternoon. I have made yet another revision to the score, but that doesn't really matter, seeing as how nobody has a copy of the old version because it didn't get passed out yet. Again, trivial.

Lori, I need you to pay for your Wicked ticket before Friday or it is going to be sold to Mrs. Larsen. I don't care how you get the money to me, but I need it ASAP or you can't go. Sorry, but that's how it is. Mail it, leave it at the band hall, send it with someone...just do something. Believe me, we'd all rather you pay on time than have Mrs. Larsen take your ticket.

Once again, we didn't actually give out any band camp awards. We started working on it this year, but I guess we never actually followed through with it. Oh well.

Everyone remember to pick up their schedules on the 10th. Mrs. Hemby called today to tell me that my there is once again a problem with my schedule. I love Mrs. Kelly, but she is going to get a stern talking-to from me about dropping journalism. Oh yes she is.

Anyway, I feel that I've covered enough subjects thus far to warrant an end. Plus I'd like to sleep.

Whoop-de-doo

2005-07-28T18:35:00.000-05:00

Freshmen Orientation went well today. I'm quite tired though. I really don't know how I'm going to make it through the band work outs this year. More so than previous years. Maybe I should run or something. But I guess it's better that I'm starting from scratch because I'm using the band work outs for my 6-week exercise program for the physical fitness merit badge so I can get Eagle.
I got my liscense today. (And there was much rejoicing. "Yay.") So I've got my liscense and all I can think about is how much more I'd rather sleep than mow my neighbor's yard. Wah-hoo.
I know that Scott got his Eagle last year, and I know that Charelton is closer to finishing his than I am, but I have something to say about that. I don't want to sound bitter or anything, but when I get it, I'll be the first person in our troop to actually earn it. I'll be the first person to actually complete all of the requirements for all of the ranks. No skipping Tenderfoot and Second Class for me. While everyone else jumped ahead at summer camp without actually doing anything, I've completed every single requirement in the book. No one else identified all of the native plants. No one else had to practice all the safety afloat stuff before they could get First Class. No one else was expected to do everything and do everything well. I know i said that I didn't want to sound bitter, but I am. Even though Keyes is still, thankfully, behind me, he didn't even do everything. By not going to all of the summer camps, I have successfully done more than anyone else in the troop. Odd, isn't it. Not enough camp outs to be in the freakin' Order, but I'm the only one so far that deserves my rank.
Sorry for that. I know that you're all just so interested in the workings of our crappy troop, but I had to say something.
It has been decided that we will take a bus to Wicked, so everyone will need to pay at least an extra dollar, possibly more if there's an extra charge for ordering the ticket late.
No other news right now.

Almost there

2005-07-25T22:13:00.000-05:00

Despite the amounts of time I have had to do so, I am still not quite done reading. I'm almost there though, so continue being vague and secretive for my sake.

Okay, feedback time! Everyone who's going to Wicked in October, I have a question:

Do you want to take a bus, or do you all want to find your own transportation?

Let me know, and I'll try and talk to other's who don't blog.
If we go for the bus option, everyone will need to chip in like $1 extra to pay for "Miss Ada Fay"'s ticket.

This summer has definitely not been long enough. Has it always been this short, or does it just seem that way because of everything that's been going on?

And also, for anyone who did not understand the "High Nazi" reference, I was referring, jokingly, to Tara. "High" was not to be a status description, but rather to say that she was "high as a kite", one might say, because of her drugs. Sorry for any confusion. I didn't think it would be too difficult to understand, but then again my mind has never worked normally.

Finally!!!

2005-07-23T17:44:00.000-05:00

I don't feel like recounting the clingy unpleasantness of last night, so I won't. If you were there, I assume you know what I'm talking about. Instead, let us look at something good.
I finally started reading Half-Blood Prince!!!!! About freakin' time, too.
Does anyone know if the library is ever going to be open this summer? I honestly don't see any point in doing the summer reading if by the time they decide to open the library I've already forgotten what book I read. It's insane.
Band camp is approaching steadily. I should probably start trying to get more in shape for everything. Maybe I'll do that when I'm done reading...

Houston and the High Nazi

2005-07-18T15:19:00.000-05:00

We got back from Houston around 6:00 this morning. The following is not a full account of the trip.

We went and saw the space center on Saturday. It was very very cold. You wouldn't expect to freeze to death in Houston in the middle of the day in July. But we did. Escpecially in the theaters watching the videos. There is so much stuff to see, but we saw pretty much all of it. Then we drove around aimlessly until it got really dark, eventually ending up on a beach in Galveston with a bunch of weird people.
Sunday, we went to church (obviously) and there was a new priest starting at the church we went to, so he gave a very, very long homily. He was Irish. After church, I spent the rest of the day away from the family and with Christina (of leadership camp).[]
That evening, we went to see Phantom of the Opera. It was the most amazing/best experience I have ever had. Everything was wonderful. If anybody gets a chance to see Phantom performed on stage, do it.
Wicked will be going through Houston after it leaves Fair Park in Dallas, so if anyone doesn't get a chance to go with us who wants to go, you can see it in Houston in October.

Officer training is starting tomorrow. I didn't realize that it was actually starting tomorrow. I knew what date it was sent for, I just hadn't realized the passing of time. I still have a lot to read and a lot to do before school starts, which seems to be approaching steadily. I am really not looking forward to the band work outs, as always. But I'm sure they will be fine.
Tara was released last week and just returned from her immobilized quarantine. Maybe she'll be too loosened up by the drugs to be barking at us at training and freshmen orientation. No offense, Tara. We all hope that your ankle heals properly and such.

2005-07-13T14:35:00.000-05:00

So yesterday we almost did destroy the band hall, but there was no pizza involved.

Mr. Weatherman needs to learn how to put originals in score order. Even putting all the originals so they face the same direction would be an improvement.

Mr. Rutherford has way too many publishing company demo cds. Especially cds of concert repertoire.

I met the new choir director yesterday. She seems nice. A lot different than Mrs. Nguyen (not intended to mean that Mrs. Nguyen want' nice).

Congratulations, Leah.

Stands tunes Mr. Rutherford needs to pick:
Under Pressure
Little Bitty Pretty One
Come On Feel the Noize
You Can Call Me Al
You Shook Me All Night Long
All Day and All of the Night
We're an American Band (?)

Stands tunes Mr. Rutherford needs to never pick again:
Slide Your Bones

Stands tunes Mr. Rutherford will inevitably always pick:
Just a Closer Walk
Theme from Naked Gun 33 1/3
Land of 1000 Dances

Okay, 3 days until I'm pulled from my boredom. So many good things happen this weekend...

Harry Potter, Headaches, and Mr. Rutherford

2005-07-08T21:29:00.000-05:00

So, for the past while I have been rereading the 4th and 5th books to prepare for the 6th one. In doing this I have only reemphasized to myself how much information I fail to retain. I had forgotten pretty much every good thing from the 4th book and just started No. 5 today. After all that reading, I'm going to have to read the 6th one before I even consider doing my summer reading. For that reason, I have decided to read Death of a Salesman and The Awakening. It should take me 4 days tops, unless something goes horribly wrong or The Awakening ends up being crappy.

For some reason, I have been experiencing these quite awful headaches recently. I think it's because of the lack of activity and such because I've been mainly staying inside. For some reason, every time I start working on "Under Pressure" I get this odd feeling and a headache starts to form. My body doesn't want me to finish. But nevertheless, I still have only to finish adding the chordal structure to the end, then write all of the percussion parts (sans mallets, which have already been written in). The bridge with the drum solo and Mercury screaming sounded okay before I added the chords to it. Now it sounds like a bad interpretation of O Sifuni. Oh well, I'm sure it'll sound better with the drums.

Mr. Rutherford called today to congratulate me for the TSSEC theory test. He just got the letter from UIL. He also said that the band hall is a complete mess because he had to move everything out of the choir room, so it's looking like we'll have to get to the band hall earlier than planned tomorrow to get ready for Parents' Night Out. And all the officer type people need to start trying to come to the band hall during the week to get stuff fixed. Don't forget to work on your handbook stuff. I need to write mine. Plus, Mr. Rutherford's going to be up at the band hall a lot from now on, so there'll be plenty of time to play him my show idea that everyone loved. And time to show him all the scores I'll have for him once I get them finished.

People who still owe me money for Wicked:
Auburn
Justin Vitz
Mrs. Reed
Lori
Mrs. Kelly

I still need to meet with Chris to work out what other music needs to be done for that new movie of his, which means I'm going to need a scriptish thing, or at least a basic plot summary and key music points. So, if he happens to read this, or if anyone can help me pass this along to him since when I called nothing ended up happening, we could really try to get this thing rolling.

Julia, I have taken a Les Miz sabatical before. I actually took a musical sabatical. One of these sabaticals was called Leadership Camp. The others are just times when I take it out of the CD player and listen to my other stuff for a long time. My other CDs start feeling rejected, so I have to listen to them too. If I go too long though, my sabatical turns into withdrawal. Hence the new recording. I had to counter the witdrawal with an overdose. It has worked. Now I'm listening to Aladdin, followed by Little Mermaid, followed by Queen's "Jazz" album. Good fun.

Despite my greatest efforts not to, I have created a fairly substantial and half-way decent post. Damn. I was on a streak of crappy, unimportant, inconsequential, short posts, but that is now broken. How sad.

Did anyone hear about that sex offender in Idaho who was keeping a blog about everything. About 6 weeks ago he beat 3 people to death, then kidnapped to children (brother and sister). The sister was found last weekend. He took her to a Denny's late at night (watch out Chris[tina]), and the waitress working the evening shift thought it was odd. She semi-recognized the child, so they called 9-1-1. Good call. The brother, unfortunately, never turned up. When they checked his background, they found that he had broken into a house, tied up a male child, raped him, and then burned him, when he was 16! That is sad/sick/whatever!!! He was sent to this sex offender rehabilitation center, but he refused treatment, was sent back to prison, refused treatment and reform, then was released on bail! Why do we keep putting these monsters back on the streets?! That's all I'm going to say about that. If you want to read more about it, look it up somewhere. It shouldn't be too hard to find. It was on Dateline tonight. My mom and I watched it for some reason.

It has arrived

2005-07-05T23:20:00.000-05:00

My 5th recording of Les Miz arrived today. That is correct, I have all 4 English versions I know of, so know I have moved on to foreign casts. Since the original French recording is still not available yet, I ordered the Japanese Red Cast Recording. Tara would like it.
I actually find it to be refreshingly new. It has a completely different feel about it. You can tell that it was recorded while they were performing the musical, not just singing. You can hear the movements and the props and such. There is an excitement and an emotion in this recording that I must say I don't think I have heard in the other ones. Their voices are quite pleasant most of the time, except when the Valjean (Takeshi Kaga - the host of some cooking show) starts to get, overly excited I guess is what you could say. I just know that his voice is sweet, then it changes to a rough, growlier timbre.
I'm finally enjoying this French musical the way it was intended to be heard -- in Japanese!

While this recording is very interesting, I don't know exactly where it ranks among the others. I know for sure that it is better than the Broadway recording, but that would probably hold true for a recording of our school performing it.
No offense to any members of the Original Broadway Cast who may stumble upon this site.

Good Thing I Don't Have Any Younger Viewers

2005-07-04T17:17:00.000-05:00

Some material in your journal may be inappropriate
to younger or closed-minded people.

Blah - I'm Tired

2005-07-01T18:56:00.000-05:00

Today started out with too much activity for my liking right now. I'm usually not this lazy, but for some reason I have been overtaken by sloth...And I would speak more on this subject, but I'm much too tired.

We had to go pick up 2 cows worth of beef from the butcher in Pilot Point. Exciting, eh? After all that heavy lifting and dropping a cooler on my toe (really hurt because of the cut) I sat around and veged. For the first time in forever, I watched The Great Mouse Detective. I remember that it used to be quite scary.
Did anyone realize that Vincent Price was the voice of Ratigan?! And that the voice of Flavosham was also Scrooge McDuck in Mickey's Christmas Carol?! After reading Hound of the Baskervilles, I have a new respect for how very much they made it similar to Sherlock Holmes. I'm sure Andrew already knew this, though, since he's such a crazy fan.
After that I watched Jeopardy and would have been quite well off if I was competing. Oh well. Since then I have been sleeping in random places in our house. My mind is numb with boredom.