All-State Blues

Can't write long, but I just wanted to get this down.

I'm bummed. I had a big exciting day: skipped school (don't worry, it's a field trip), sang for rich and famous people, got a picture taken with a couple of the players from the NY Nicks, went to Gameworks, and picked up some books I've been waiting for. But all I can think of is the announcement.

At our pre-show Starbucks run, Laura mentioned that she found out she was going to All-State. Apparently it was going on the announcements today, but she had found out early because she had stopped by the choir room and seen the packets. The way she explained it made it sound like there were quite a few of them.

In the bustle of figuring out how I'm going to avoid a serious tongue-lashing for not having my tie, the replacement tie, black slacks, or black socks, I forgot to ask Mrs. Alatsis if my name was on one of those packets. Post-show, she decides to announce it (probably didn't want any extra pressure on people), and the lucky people are: Laura and Joey.

So I've been depressed. On the upside, Mrs. Alatsis didn't see my lack of proper attire, and her comments afterward were solely about my confidence in how well I'd learned the notes. (I used the folder to cover my shirt, and was so sure she noticed the lack of a tie that I looked into it to avoid her gaze)

But just about all I can think about is not having the chance to go to All-State. Despite my lack of contact with most of the people I met there, last year's All-State is still a defining moment in my life. The music, the director, and most of all the atmosphere that alternated between the complete focus and zany randomness that only happens in the performing arts.

I'm not mad at Joey or Laura: they completely deserve it. They weren't even competition with me, because they sing Tenor and Soprano. But whenever I explain that to myself, a part of me answers "don't you deserve it too?" And on a very minimal level, we were competing, because each school that auditions two people of different voice parts is guaranteed to have one admitted.

I tried to explain to Joey what All-State Choir is, though I suppose I was really trying to explain what it means to me. He didn't really seem to get it, though we were both tired. We slept most of the way home.

One last thing that's been racing through my head. Since the day All-State was over, I've been dreaming about the next step up: All-Northwest Choir. It runs every other year, and next year is the year. Now I'm worried; if getting into All-State is so hit-and-miss, what are my chances of making All-NW next year?

Fortunately I've got more shows and party-planning to keep me busy.

-Chops


P.S. Another reason why this is such a big letdown for me is that a lot of the people I'm still in contact with from last year are doing it again this year.

Birthday planning

What I might look like with pigtails

Well, once again I've neglected sending Birthday invites until after Thanksgiving weekend. Generally that means that no one can make it, since by the time Monday rolls around I'm asking people only a week in advance.

Most of the reason I didn't get it done is that I don't have a clue what to do. I'm going to delay it 'till the weekend of the 9th through the 11th, to give myself and my guests time, but I don't want to have people sitting around with nothing to do.

Going to see Narnia is one obvious choice, but I don't want to just sit in a dark room for my birthday. Also, I've been alowed to invite as many people as I want... so long as it's at the house.

So in desperation, I'm asking for your help. Parties are spontanious, but I like to go in with some idea what I'm going to be doing and I'm drawing a blank. If you are reading this, chances are I'm going to invite you, so what would you want to do with a group of freinds? Any particular games or movies?

Also, is there any day that weekend that you wouldn't be able to make it?


Edit: Just noticed that Tolo's on the 10th. That means that at least Saturday night is out. I could do a sort of lead-in to Tolo, but that might be too much for one night. So basically I'm looking at Friday night, though Saturday and Sunday are still possibilities.

Random Pic:

'03-'04 Concert Choir in Italy. I dont remember the name of this town or the church, but it was a nice place to sing.

Again, I'm going in reverse chronological order. I'll probably do that a lot beacause I want to get immediate thoughts down quickly.

Tonight was the first concert of the year at Stadium. I was surprisingly calm about performing, and I'm told the choreography was leaps and bounds above Homecoming Assembly. There was however a minor crisis backstage on my part. See, I'm the pitch-blower for Concert Choir, but I forgot the pitch pipe. Not only did I forget my own, but Mrs. Alatsis' pipe too. After tonight, I owe John a BIG favor. He lent me his so the show could go on without any changes.

My uncle came to watch the show, and I hear my dad did too, as well as Mom and Dave. It was a pretty typical fall concert: all the choirs sounded one-tenth as good as they did at the end of last year. I have a lot of freinds in Mixed Choir this year, (Henry, Bryce, James) so it'll be good to watch their progress.

Speaking of a lot of freinds, I found out yesterday that my freshman fans are more extensive than I thought. I was hanging out with Saylor yesterday when we ran into a freind of hers. (Hmm, name starts with an L) After a moment she introduced me as "Chops" and Miss L got really excited. I think the only things she said for the next minute was "you're Chops?!?" and something about taking a picture.

Lemme back up a bit here to explain how this following of mine started: Ars Nova was booked to perform at the Howdy Assembly this year. The performance was a fiasco, but before we started we introduced ourselves. Every since then there's been about half a dozen freshmen who will randomly shout "Hey, Chops!" when they see me in the halls. I've been meaning to learn their names and get to know them, but it was quite a shock to find out it had spread farther than that. I've never been "popular" in any group, so I'm not really sure why people who don't know me are spreading my name around as a sign of coolness. The phrase "That's my name, don't wear it out" springs to mind.

I can't write anymore tonight, so g'nite all. I'll see most of you before you even read this post. 

My battle scars =P

There's the pic of me on Friday with "wounds and leisions," as Mr. Pierson called them.

Today I went back to the orthodontist. Again. One of the spacers fell out, so they had to put it back in. I'm getting sick of that office.

I decided to try out Google's Picassa today. I even got the file-sharing extension called Hello. Expect to see more pictures, because now I can upload them into a new entry in one click! Anybody else use Hello?

I also discovered Wikimedia Commons. There's a ton of cool pictures in there, all categorized and many already formatted to be a desktop. This is my new desktop.

Gotta get to bed now. -Chops

Of Moles and Molars

I spent more time at the orthodontist's today than I have since I originally got my braces! =(

I missed third period completely to go have my first appointment with my new orthodontist, Dr. Adab. I had already postponed my normal appointment for Homecoming Assembly, and besides that, a wire had broken loose, ripping one of the things that holds it in place right off. That meant they had to replace it and put in new wires, top and bottom. (BTW, call me wierd, but I like the feeling of my braces being tightened. Not so much the dull toothache afterward, just the feeling that they're actually moving into a normal position.) When it come to the top row, the assistant kept cutting the wire too short, so she decided to put it in, then cut it. Yeah. Let's just say my mouth may never be the same size it once was.

I got back to school in time for most of "Mole Day" in Chemistry. For those of you who haven't heard about Mole Day, it's named after Avogadro's number (6.022 * 10²³), the number of atoms in 12 g of Carbon-12. I think it sould be on June 22, but that would be during vacation, so it's good that it's not. Mrs. Colclaugh has people bring in puns on "mole," and we all watch a student-made Mole-cumentery. Steph, Sarah, Erik, and Bronson did this years, which was a spoof on safety videos. I brought Mole-chi and attempted to prepare it in the microwave, but it fell flat. Oh well.

At lunch I went over to eat with Saylor and... umm... I guess I'll just have to ask her name again tomorrow. Anyway, not my normal bunch, but sometimes I need a change of pace. I wasn't much company though, because the new wire on my braces had slipped out a bit and was latching onto the inside of my mouth every few chews or words. By the end of choir I had a sore spot the size of a dime.

So of course I had to go back. After the assistant sniped it shorter, Dr. Adab looked into my mouth and discovered that Dr. Parrott (the previous orthodontist, and yes, his name is pronounced that way) had decided not to put a brace on some of my molars. That, she explained, is why the wire keeps slipping out: it doesn't take a lot to put pressure on an inch-long piece of wire to get pulled out by chewing. She told the assistant to put spaces between my teeth so I can come back in a week to put the rest of the equipment in.

Easier said than done. A spacer is a ring that, although it's small, is five or ten times thicker than floss. The assistant attaches two pieces of floss to the spacer, then wraps them around her fingers and tries to force the spacer into the gap between my molars. The floss breaks. She tries again. The spacer goes in, but pops right back out. After the third try, she calls over another assistant, saying that her fingers have lost circulation from the floss tied around them. Finally, the last spacer goes in, and my dad and Lori take me back to my mom's house.

I decided a while ago that I would start taking walks around the neighborhood, (Tuscany neighborhood, btw) but so far have come up with excuses. I finally got around to it today, so there's something for me to be happy about.

Hmm, what else... My eye has been twitching for the last hour. I still need to do homework, so See you all later!

Fool Dancin'

Obviously this hasn't become habitual yet. Oh well, give it time. Rather than try and catch up for nearly a week, I'll just start with Friday and go back if it seems important.

The highlight of Friday was losing a fight with a makeup kit. All right, let me back up a bit. The library ran a raffle this week. You could "buy" tickets by bringing in books that you were reading outside of school. I brought in A Time to Hate, which I had just finished, Wicked, which I'm half-way through, and Star Trek: IKS Gorkon: Honor Bound, which I had just started. I got an additional ticket for attending the new Tiger Book Club, so my chances were pretty good that I would get something (a book of sudoku, btw). Also, there was a drawing to get facepainting done by Mr. Pierson. The winner didn't show, so I got to go in her place. Unfortunately only a few people saw it, but I hope to have pictures up for all by tomorrow.

The other big thing that happened was a meeting of Please, Don't Squeeze the Midget (a barbershop quartet I'm in). We settled on auditions next week to replace our Lead (2nd tenor) or Baritone, and the next set of songs we would learn. If I remember correctly, they include Ja-Da, and O Come O Come Emanuel.

Most of yesterday I helped move dirt from my grandma's house to my mom's. 'nuff said.

Last night though, I attended my first Stadium dance. I spent a large part of the day looking for my wallet, but it wasn't necessary anyway. Mz. Dennet knew I had an ASB card, so I didn't even have to pull out the expired driver's permit and last year's ID card, which I had found.

Pretty much everything I expected was true: loud music I haven't heard before, a lot of people I don't usually hang out with, heat, and more dry air than I would have thought. Since I hadn't been to one before, I wasn't much of a dancer, but I bobbed my head. Surprisingly though, I had fun! I knew that most of my neighbors weren't going, so I was expecting to hang out with choir people or the exchange students. When I got there I felt a bit like the odd man out: the first people I talked to were Mz. Dennet and my new counselor. Pretty soon though I found my group: Knowledge Bowl geeks! I got there about an hour into it, but when the lights started to come up I couldn't believe that two hours had passed.

Funny how life throws you a curve ball sometimes. Last year I was in Knowledge Bowl, it was part out of curiosity, part because of Ms. Lofton, part because I wanted to see how much I really knew. The people I hung out with there were the ones I already knew, so I wasn't looking for a new social group. It seems that I've found it though: the dance would've been a long, embarassing experience without those people that either I haven't talked to in a while (Bill, Jordan, Kim) or I am just getting to know (Saylor, Nikita).

And what about today? Well, I watched a quarter of the first season of Babylon 5. It's kinda cheezy, but it's got some great stories. Anyway, it's time for me to get homework done, so I'll see you all later.

Dancin' fool

Today way homecoming assembly, which means that Ars Nova did our Jazz Suite. We practiced for half an hour last night, leaving me completely demoralized. I just could not get the box steps right, and the final Lindy steps always catch me by surprise. We only stayed for an hour and a half out of the three hours we had allotted, but I was completely wiped out. I essentially babbled to Mandi all the way home, feeling sorry for myself in just about every way possible. I do that sometimes when I get tired.

The upside to all of this is that I got home in time for the second half of The West Wing. Cool episode, between the leak plotline that finally shows some signs of resolution, the assassination plotline that was slightly predictable, and the Intelligent Design vs. Evolution that managed to do a much better job than I could of explaining why ID isn't taught in public schools. After a phone call from Spencer that I should have cut shorter for my own sleep-deprived sake, I dropped right off to sleep.

I carpool with Mandi, so we both had to leave twenty minutes early for the girls' call time. We practiced straight through first and second periods. I was a bit better, but still suffering. My misteps were constantly pulling me out of character, which just made it harder to remember the next step. To add to it, my eczema was flaring up because of the sweat and tight collar.

I always forget how much better I do in front of an audience.I do get nervous beforehand, but once I'm onstage, nothing matters but my partner and the audience. In this case, Javo was sitting dead-center in the second row, her face lit up like a candle. For those of you who don't know her, Javo is one of those people that can look purely happy. I heard afterwards that Annelise and at least one other person were looking at Javo too.

Anyway, my dancing, while not flawless (Kaci and I need to work on our foxtrot, for one thing), was better than any other time. More importantly, I managed to get completely into my character (not too much of a streach, since my character is an exageration of myself a few months ago) and stay there for the entirity of the show. I was complemented a couple of times afterwards on my facial expressions, which came as a complete shock to me.

The first assembly got to see the whole thing, but we had to cut the first two numbers for time in the second assembly. If you were in that one, come and see us on the 27th at 7:30.

So long as I'm plugging the chior: is anyone's car looking, um, dusty? Choir is selling coupons for two and a half bucks off a carwash. Talk/IM to me if you're interested.

When I got home, I collapsed into bed again. Slept 'till 7, did homework, and watched a terrifically corny episode of The Prisoner, the sixties equivalent of Lost. I'm still drowzey, so I'm going to sign off now. See you all tomorrow for "unique fashion day!"

(Which reminds me, I didn't talk about spirit day, or post a photo. Oh well, I'll catch up tomorrow.)

Inaugural Post

I decided to finally try this blogging thing. I've previously signed up for myspace and xanga, but blogger seems to be the best to me. There's a number of reasons, but I won't get into that now. From your point of view, the big difference is that you don't have to be a member to leave comments! Also, it's fairly simple for you to use an ATOM feed to "subscribe" to the blog, even if you don't have a Blogger account. (I can even help setit up if you like)

The reason I'm starting this blog is that I feel like I've forgotten so many exciting experiences by trusting my brain cells to keep everything straight. The middle part of 2006 will have three of those events: my second All-State experience, the Ars Nova trip to California, and my summer trip to Chile. Of course, none of those are set in stone, but if even one of them happens, I want to be in the habit of writing things down and taking pictures. This blog will be the public form of that goal.

Finally, I'm hoping to use this to sort through some old pictures from previous trips. This one is from Hawai'i by a sea wall. We had to take this photo so many times, it might as well be first.

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Yesterday was mostly uneventful. Watched way too much TV. Drove with my dad over to his house for the weekend.

That evening though, I went to PLU's fall choral concert. I was really surprised to see how many people I recognized, on- and off-stage. I was already expecting to hear Marty Peterson, but it hadn't occurred to me that Sarah Voelpel would also be performing. There was also another girl from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers that I hadn't seen in a couple of years.

In the audience was the third member of "Please Don't Squeeze the Midget," a barbershop quartet that I'm in, (BTW, are there any guy singers interested in joining us? We need a Baritone or Tenor II) Alex Barnes(?) from All-State, and Sarah's younger brother, Jake.

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This morning was the PSAT. I think I did well, though there were two I didn't quite have time to go back to. There were a surprizing number of Juniors there, so I guess I'm not the only one who didn't get to it last year. (Though in my case it's quite literal: last year no-one remembered about the PSAT until 15 minutes before it started)

Alright, I'm gonna go watch some shows I recorded last night, (Firefly, Threshold, Numb3rs) so I'll see ya' around.