First thing's first.

I've been accepted into JV Jazz Band for next year. I didn't even have to audition. :D

I have recorded a total of 49 songs from various Nintendo games, most of them come from Brawl, but I've got some from Rune Factory and Kirby and such. Just from Nintendo games. I intend to get to fifty by the end of today.

I put together 2 of the seven boxes at Sonoma Mountain for Rudger's Eagle Project.

I found out the Jazz Band is playing at the Eastside Band Festival as a separate group. I'll be leading them.

Progress in the back yard has been made. We've drilled the holes and, hopefully, will be pouring cement this coming Saturday.

Okay. I'm hungry.

Today has gone well.

I've been rather stressed out the last few days, but today was nice to just let me know that just because you had a bad day yesterday does not mean it will the next. This whole schedule thing is leaving me barely any time to get homework done, and with all sorts of projects, jazz band, track, scouts, school, regular homework, regular band... it's starting to take it's toll. But it seems that it is getting better.

First of all, my endurance to be able to withstand track has already changed dramatically since I first started last week. When we do our five minutes warm up jog, I'm not gasping for air at the end. And it didn't just change from one day to the next, but it's been getting exceptionally easier as the days pass by. And part of it may be because of my enthusiasm; you come in thinking it's going to be lame, then guess what? 99% of the time, it'll be lame! I've also tried to apply this to others areas of my life, but it's helped with this one particularly.

Anyways, I may be a tad bit behind on homework, but as soon as I shift things back into gear, I'll be right back to where I used to be... hopefully.

My productivity level has also changed. I still go on the computer and IM whilst doing homework at the same time, but I feel part of a team like I did with Soccer. It's like, something was taken away from me when I quit that and now, all of a sudden, it's back. As corny as that may seem, it's true. And, it feels nice to be able to use that time in Track to my advantage for P.E.

Unfortunately, the potentiality that I used to see in Jazz Band is just not there anymore. It's fun and great to go to... once a week now. Practice after practice for Wednesdays are being cancelled leaving me with only one day to practice with the band each week. And, as much as I hate to say it, it isn't fun anymore. But who knows... maybe it'll change.

Anyways, it's too much to explain in just one entry and it's late. I'm going to bed.

So today's been an interesting day. I can't type for long, but I think that I need to.

To start off, I am in my room right now on my Wii and I'm liking the set up that I have with it regarding internet usage with regard to homework, IM, and LJ. Yes, I found out a service that allows me to IM from my Wii (and you don't have to download it!!) over the web. And, now that I've moved it, I'm getting a lot faster connection. But the best part has got to be setting this up to my new massive Pioneer speakers that Grandpa gave to me (I really need to get some pictures of these beasts... they're massive...). Anyway...

The Brass Quintet goes well. I just found out today that not only am I counting us off and cutting ourselves off, but I'm also announcing the piece and everybody's names and instruments. I wanted to tell Mr. K, You couldn't have told me this earlier, could you?, but I think this will be a growing experience and I hope good will come out of it.

I think today I decided to take the Honors Science test for next year; not necessairely to take the class, but to see if I can get in.

Hmmm... that's about it. No Jazz Band this entire week for me. Monday, the power was out at the school, today as cancelled because of a meeting all the teachers had to go to (same for Track) and we've cancelled Friday practices at least until Track is over. Kinda nice.

Well, bed calls. Oh wait. I'm on my bed.

English: Grading Period-A; Semester-A
Band Adv: Grading Period-A; Semester-A
US History: Grading Period-A-; Semester-A
Algebra 1: Grading Period-A-; Semester-A-
Physical Science: Grading Period-A; Semester-A
P.E: Grading Period-A-; Semester-A

Got some very good comments, which is saying a lot considering they are limited in what they can say.

I get the feeling the Mr. Eklund was playing a big part behind my nomination for Student Of The Month back in November, which is rather ironic, for me at least.

Back when we left for Utah to take beisbeis to college, he was the only teacher that seemed to give me a rough time about "not telling him earlier", but we only had one A day since then. And the only thing that got me to like him was my grade for my Powerpoint, which was a straight A+. And even then, I wasn't sure if I liked him then. He was cool, but I wasn't sure if that was a good thing.

He made a very cool comment when I was telling his student teacher that I was going to be missing Thursday when he overheard that I was going to be gone because gigiss and I would be going to MacWorld all day. And I have decided that I officially like him. :-)

Haha. Who could forget Mr. K's comment either...? He started to panic when I said I was going to be gone all day on Thursday. He thought I was going to be gone for Friday and Saturday as well since it is the Honor Band. And when I confirmed that was false, I almost started cracking up. His expression completely changed.

I saw Mr. Stanley on the way to Jazz. He nodded a hello (and a smile with it!), even though I'm not in his class. He's very humorous and very funny unless you're in trouble (which...er... has happened to me... before...). I can't say if I completely like him yet, though.

I saw Ms. Toal walking her dog after Jazz. That was very amusing. She's really cool.

Had Jazz. What can I say? It goes well and I think that, after a very good discussion with mom, I am going to continue taking band next year. I can't say anything more than that because I don't even know for myself.

P.E. goes well. Partner Dance is the unit and it's actually been enjoyable. We'll see how it goes for Friday.

And time to get ready for Macworld (HAVE YOU SEEN THE NEW MACBOOKS?!?!?!)

I think I've gotten back into the feel of things with regard to school.

We've started Partner Dance in P.E. I remember last year I was awesome at just regular dance and got an overall A+ for that unit. Partner dance, for a first day perspective, it somewhat the same, but it gives a tad bit difference that still proved to be a challenge.

Jazz Band is going extremely well. I soloed three times today. We're going to be playing a Miles Davis tune that I soloed on today. I won't be necessarily soloing for that song in the performance, but I feel a lot more comfortable about soloing in that song for rehearsal or performance. It goes well.

I haven't looked over that stuff for SCHB. Probably should do that soon.

Okay. More soon, but time for bed.

Whoo. Where to begin?

Thursday and Friday were the Elementary School tours. I had a demo on Friday and the Jazz played for two of the four concerts, both of which I soloed in. I'm grateful for opportunities like this that boost my confidence to the max and I've realized that it hasn't been so hard to do it anymore. It the short weeks that I have taken the class, I believe I have significantly gained something from it.

And as a result, I have plenty of make-up homework that I haven't quite started on that may in fact be due on Monday. Some of which I can't even start because I don't have and because I'm unaware of the assignment.

I feel guilty about this since I asked mom to force me to get my homework done on Saturday so I can fly free on Sunday. However, not that some of this should've taken precedence, I did have the Christmas Tree Flier Pick-Up Distribution this morning, which went well. We finished at 11:30.

I didn't really eat breakfast before, which was a huge mistake. I got a headache. Bunge's delicious 12:00 breakfast mess was a significant way to stall it, but only stall it. I tried to take my mind off of it, convincing myself that a glass of water is all that would be necessary. By 2, I was miserable. I went to the bathroom, desperately looking for some pain reliever and discovered that the ibuprofen was out, except for 2 gell caps. I can't swallow those without killing myself so I found some tylonel meltaways (Haha. Funny that.) and got in the tub.

I woke up later when mom announced she was going to run some errands, one of which included Gamestop. She asked if I wanted to go. I wanted to, but I felt rather sick even after the medication. However, Gigiss came in the the bottle of ibuprofen he had in his bag that he found and I swallowed one of those and went with her. It was gone by the time we reached the outlet malls.

We got Brain Age 2, my last Christmas present, at Gamestop. It's sad that I know about all of this, but hey. The new Fire Emblem game was for Wii and therefore is more expensive, even for Amazon. So I figured that since Brain Age is a 1-8 multiplayer game using one card, it'd be cool to get it.

We got back around 5:30. Most of the day gone.

I don't know what it was, but I was not up to doing homework at all. *sigh* Now I'm mad at myself for being so reckless.

I will gain progress on Algebra tonight- whether or not I finish it is still in question, but I will gain ground before I hit the sack.

It is 9:53. Time to get to work.

What a day.

So, many things have happened recently.

We have the stuff for the elementary tours. That happens on Thursday and Friday. Goin' to Somo and other schools so that's pretty exciting.

Jazz Band goes well.

Extremely. Well.

As a matter of fact, we had a Jazz Gig (they're NOT concerts; they are GIGS! 'Cause we earn money from them!!!) last night at the Baptist Church. I soloed. It was friggin' awesome.

I was talking to Greg D. who is the best soloist I've ever heard. The guy could pull off Lifescapes on the Trombone if he wanted to; he's crazy. But we were talking before the thing in the waiting room and I was telling him that my solo sucked since Mr. K decided to bump the solo section for each player up to 16 measures instead of 8, making the prepared piece unusable. He was having the same issue, however, what sucks to him does not suck to any of us. But then I said something just to get some humor in there and to take away some tension and basically said that we should do the exact opposite of what we were doing and maybe it'll sound awesome. He laughed; but I was somewhat serious. Not at the time, but still.

So when we got to "Senorita Fajita", the final piece, I soloed and did the exact opposite. It worked! I would say that it was a victory.

Anyhoo...

Today was crazy, though. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd period was crazy because of the Gig, I was rushing to complete my homework last night, not finishing the history worksheet (I finished it at lunch. Whoo!). 1st period went well, 2nd period was terrible (Band. Go figure.), and then at lunch, we had an ultimate ball game (we won our first game) coming in at a terrible loss at our second. Then I went to third period, which was fun. I think I like Mr. Eklund, but I'm not sure. Only time will tell.

Then we had a rehearsal for the Elementary Tours at 2:30- 3:45. It was there that I was brought to the attention that another trumpet is competing with me for the instrument demos for the tour. The Rehearsal was okay, but we got through with not having to practice on Wednesday at 6:50 in the morning.

Then I went home, took a breath, played some of Yoshi's Story (Yes, I downloaded it yesterday... Classic), and went to Jazz at 6.

Once again, huge success. I'm going to look over the solo section for "So What" by Miles Davis since I'm going to be featured most likely, but I was complimented on "Basic Basie" which I am starting to really like the riff on that.

Then, I talked to Mr. K about the recruiting tour instrument demo.

To my surprise, he didn't even mention anything about the other trumpet competing with me; he just went with me.

We talked for a while about other things. Then, I really had to go and finish my math due tomorrow. So I did.

And now I'm here.

What a day.

Last night in Jazz Band, a discussion that popped up somehow was that I don't have a big enough ego and being the first chair in jazz (and concert, mind you!!!), I need to bump it up a notch. And now "I'm Rudolph leading Santa's slay". (don't question... please... ^_^) I'll just say it: I don't play loud enough. :P So now, to prove myself, I got a prepared solo (I also improvised for my first time in class last night which was very impressive) that I nailed tonight and intend to have it ready for tomorrow.

Christmas music is on for tonight. Seeing that we plan to get our tree next Friday, it only seems right to start it. I figure this way I have two months to listen to the music that I will pack up for the other ten.

Today was very successful.

Had English. Got assigned some homework today that I thought was due today because I wasn't there on Thursday. *sigh*

Went to band and got our results from Analy. Did excellent, although there is always room for improvement.

We also got some songs for our elementary school tour that we had for the ESBF last year, except one, Wipe Out. I think this year will be a good one.

Had History. Nothing too special.

The main highlight today was the first Jazz Band meet, which went excellent. We're moving fast though. We've got method books and scales and a piece of music on the first day, which is good. We're not dawdling and we're getting work done. Klemenok automatically put me on 1st. For jazz, we've got 1 first, 1 second, 2 thirds and 2 fourths, so we'll see how that'll work out this year.

And our folders are very trippy. So awesome. I'll have to get a picture of them soon. They are quite righteous.

My only regret is that I wish I did Jazz last year...

Hokay. Recent events regarding everything that has happened this week include the following-

*Jazz Band Results. I am so in. :)

*After School Band Rehearsals. We had a competition at Analy today. I had a solo. Just had a few days after school to put stuff together with third period and second. T'was good.

*Got Sick. Missed Thursday at school. Thanks a lot Billy.

*Presented A Power Point. That was fun; I put the notes that I read while I'm presenting it on my iPod. Unfortunately, I had to make some last minute changes on it, which I can't do from the iPod itself- I have to program it from the computer. Thankfully I had a backup piece of paper with the same stuff on it. So I didn't use the Pod, but it was okay. It's done. I can relax. At least for now.

*Practice For The Mile Test. Like last year (except this year is about 7 months earlier :P), we have a mile run test for P.E. Last year, I got 7:47 for my last time. I have to improve on that by about 20 seconds in order to get an "A". Shouldn't be too hard.

Oh, and the best thing about the mile test thing... I can bring my iPod while I'm running. I can use the stopwatch feature on it to know if I'm behind and need to speed up while, at the same time, I can listen to my music. I'd better jack that 4 gigs up with all the music I can before Tuesday.

I think that's it...