End of the End (D)

Think about the title. What is at the end of the end?

In my case, it's January, the first month of Blog365, and swim season! I can't believe that the year is going by so quickly. (Hopefully, it'll continue that way)

Swim season seemed to have gone on for so long, though it only started in November. Despite aching for days due to zillions of flutter kicks, push ups, sit up, and sprints, I think it's been worth it. For one, I think I'm a bit more flexible (Stretching every day has its benefits) and for two, considering I joined at the beginning of the year, I didn't have enough time to sit around at home and moan about school.

It's so weird. Swimming has always been so routine, and I had gotten used to it. I remember back in December, wondering if it would ever end. Heck, I used to be counting down the days until it ended. Even though I'm going to have a lot more free time, I'm almost a bit upset that it's ending. I really like swimming laps, and my dive has gotten a lot better. I've even gone away from freestyle and now swim backstroke---I'm swimming 100 yards of it at Regionals tomorrow!

On the note of Blog365, I think that I've really gotten back into the swing of things since NaBloPoMo. I think I had 5 posts in December, at most, and that's probably because I didn't need to. Even though nobody's going to kill me if I don't follow through with Blog365, I feel an obligation to it. Sort of this guilt if I forget a day.

On on the third end: I just hope the rest of the year goes by just as quickly, so then we can get to spring break, then summer break, then fall, then winter, and it will all turn out quite pleasent.

I'm really looking forward to April. Not that thing is happening (as far as I know), but then my Good Charlotte calendar has a big picture of Billy on it. Then again, so does May, June, and November. We all have our things to look forward to.

Running off Schedule

I've usually found myself going to bed at 9:30 or later. With Regionals coming up, I've been trying to get to bed at 9 or eariler, yet my efforts go in vain.

Today I decided to try and change that. On a piece of scratch paper, in my favorite purple marker, I made myself an afternoon schedule:

AFTER SCHOOL

In this order...
-Hang up towels
-Rise bathing suit
-Dry off
-Walk dog
-Get snack
-Homework
a. Map
b. Discussion Question
c. Math Questions
d. Science pack
-Practice oboe
-Clean up
-Go to bed

In bed by: 9:00 PM
Up by: 6:00 AM

I thought that writing it down would help me go by it, but I still stayed on the computer until 6 or so. However, I did pretty well...ish.

I scratched off everything until "clean up". I'm still working on that, and as I'm writing this, I'm clearly not in bed. Because I'm writing this at around 9:15, I also failed at getting in bed by 9.

However, I did make SOME progress. I got my homework finished before homeroom, remembered to hang up my towel. I actually practiced oboe today, and for a solid 30 minutes. Yet, I STILL can't seem to get in bed at 9!

Tomorrow I'll probably try again. I'm just about to make a new to-do list. Hopefully, it'll actually work.

Rants and Raves

I'm feeling frustrated, so I'm going to rant.

First off- my homework isn't done. We just had a power outage, and only recently have the lights come back on. So much for my hope of going to bed at a semi-decent hour. (The lights just flickered again, actually.)

Second- I'm trying to work on this project for social studies that's due in 2 weeks, and I've found NOTHING. I'm doing a photo album on Thai celebrities. I need at least 10 pictures, and so far, this is what I've found:

-A monk
-A prince
-A king
-A whole lot of strippers (Most of which are wearing bikinis or nothing)

Truth to be told, I've probably found over 20 of those, but I can't imagine getting a very good grade with that, ahem, content. I also have to write a "What I learned" page, and that wouldn't go very well. Most of the people in my group are thriving with tons of pictures (Mainly the one doing animals---Thailand's specialty apparently is having weird animals)

Third- I've recently noticed that a lot of people say "Be yourself to make friends and you'll really fit in." Although it would be great if that worked, it doesn't always. Sometimes "Being yourself" means not watching Disney Channel, not thinking Zac Efron is hot, and thinking tattoos are cool. In that situation, "being yourself", unless you go to Jack Black's School of Rock, doesn't really equal "fitting in just fine". I haven't had many problems recently, but it still bugs me (As you could explain me with the last three definitions).

I've been reading too much American Girl "Susy was an average kid" stuff.

Hmm. 7:50. Homework still not done.

Drat.

God, It's Good!

I've been searching EVERYWHERE for sheet music to Sweeney Todd, and finally, my mom found it! A few days ago, we were in Lousiville, and she offered to look for the music while I was at Bootcamp. In the car, she gave the the book. It was pretty small, and didn't have the song I needed (Pirelli's Miracle Elixir) but it's pretty darn good.

It has Ballad of Sweeney Todd, Johanna, Pretty Women, Wait, By The Sea, and Not While I'm Around. Although I usually use my sheet music for my oboe, I've noticed that due to Sondheim's large note range, my oboe can't hit notes too high or too low. Therefore, I play pretty much every song on flute (Which I'm finally getting---I've been teaching myself since December)

I'm still trying to find a longer version with Pirelli, Green Finch & Linnet Bird, Worst Pies In London, and Kiss Me/Ah, Miss. However, for right now, I'm rather happy.

Bits and Pieces

Even though it hasn't been a very eventful day, I'm trying to train myself to make my posts longer than "Today was boring. Here's a Youtube video".

First off- I finally got my logo up! I've been jealous of my mom with her permanent logo, so I spent some time on it and prettied up the page. I think it looks pretty nice. As usual, I give credit for my little South Park person to South Park Studio

Second thing worth noting- I've decided to officially begin making certain skits into books. Some skits are, in Maya's opinion along with my own, too good for just one version. You could say we're going overboard with The Colonial Skits, though: we have the skit, and we're planning on editing it again, putting it in book form, making it a play, movie (I think), and even an original musical! I found this really nifty program called Finale Notepad, and we're probably going to use that to make the music. It has all the notes and rests from whole to 32nd, ties, slurs, pretty much any instrument you can image, all major and minor keys, a lyrics tool, and best of all, it's a free download!

Third thing worth noting- The mystery website I hinted on in November is nearly done! It's gone through about 5 or 6 re-modeling sessions, and I only recently found the perfect layout. It looks pretty professional (OK, so some of the images are low-quality if you really inspect them---it makes the page load faster), and it's been a lot of fun making. However, I can't wait to get it up and posted!

There was a fourth thing worth noting, but I haven't fully decided if it's worth noting. Chances are, I'll post it in a few days.

Hm. I've done pretty well for a boring day.

Do I Dream Again?

Today was the first day of my third season of Broadway Bootcamp. This time, we're doing a huge, gigantic, enormous Andrew Lloyd Webber fest. The little kids are doing CATS, Starlight Express, and Joesph and the Magical Technicolor Dreamcoat. I'm part of the older group, and we're focusing on - get this - Phantom of the Opera.

We're only doing 4 songs, but I think we're pretty well-rounded: Angel of Music, Phantom of the Opera, Masquerade, and Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again. We're actually using masks for Masquerade, so I'm imagining that will be a lot of fun.

I wore my Prima Donna shirt for the first day, and am planning on wearing my mom's old Bolshoi Ballet sweatshirt next week. Every season, there seems to be a prima donna who snags the most and longest solos, and it hasn't bugged me for the last two seasons (Sure---"Where Is Love" was a bit dull and "I Just Can't Wait To Be King" were only solos, but they looked rather nice in the end), but this season, I'm trying to be noticed. This is the first time we've done shows that I not only like, but obsess about. Getting a solo in the open rehearsal would be awesome. I'm actually deciding to sing loud enough to be somewhat heard in voice class this time, too.

I have no idea what the younger kids are singing, but I can't wait to see the final product. Anything Andrew Lloyd Webber is awesome, and Cats sounds adorable with younger kids singing it.

It's going to be a great season!

I wish I could have worn THIS to the first rehearsal:

Oh, Mr. Todd!

I'm so happy, I could, eat you up I really could...

I finally found the video for By The Sea, one of the main reasons I want to see Sweeney Todd. It's low-quality, but hilarious!



Toby building a sandcastle....classic!

We find the defendant...

Guilty!

As I said in my post "To think that I saw it on Mulberry Street", my literature class is doing "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street". Today, we did a mock trial to see if Charlie should go to jail for the death of Pete van Horn. I played Prosecuting Attorney, and last night, my dad gave me some (OK, a lot) of tips and pointers for my case. I walked in the room today with new notes and my mom's black jacket to look all professional.

It was a rather close trial, but the late night paid off! I won the case, because, as the jury put it, "It could have been the President for all I care".

All that Law and Order paid off!

Blog365: Day 23

Although I'm a major-huge-colossal fan of Good Charlotte, there are some songs that I don't like, The Truth for instance.

However, Karen sent me a really cute Youtube video, and I watched it because of her promise of Billy pictures. I was impressed:



(I like Grumpy Billy, Billy playing DS, and Benji and Joel Bear Hug best.)

DancesRoleplays with Wolves

I recently joined a roleplay site about wolves. Maya convinced me to join, so I whipped up a random wolf based on one of my skit characters and hopped in. Here's my wolf:



Name- Hahnee (Means "Beggar" in some Native American language)
"Wolf" age- 17
Coat- Tan with silvery-brown markings on face, back, and chest. Sort of dirty/ragged. Sort of on the skinny side, too, but not in an unhealthy sort of way.
Eye color- Dark brown
Personality- Skittish, loyal and friendly if you know him well, nervous or untrusting if you don’t. Recently out of puppyhood, but not just out. An Anthony-from-Sweeney-Todd type character.

Faboo.

"All About Maya"

I'm talking to Maya as I write this, and she's telling me to talk about her. This is what she wants to say:

"I like musicals. I like musicals. I like musicals. I like musicals. And POINTE SHOES! The end."

There's Maya for ya.

Walking on Thin Ice

Not that I'm in trouble or anything...

Behind and across the street from my house is this little woodsy area with a stream/creek thing. In the summer, it isn't incredibly fun because there's ticks everywhere, and it's sort of muggy.

In the winter, however, it freezes over, and is great fun to slide around on. The trick, though, is that not all of it freezes over, and part of it is slush, really cold water, or paper-thin ice.

Today I walked Ginger down there, and for awhile, everything was all fun and games. Then we walked a bit farther, and it turned into slush. It was getting really cold, so we started sliding back home.

Let's just say I found out that my boots aren't waterproof.

Swim Week

No, not swim MEET. Swim WEEK. We had 2 meets this week, and now I don't have any more until regionals.

My mom took video of today's meet, but hasn't uploaded it yet. However, here's the footage of my 50-yard freestyle on Thursday:



I'm shaking my head in shame at my form. Maybe it's because I was totally neck-to-neck with that other girl for the entire race, but I wasn't really paying attention to technique.

Apparently I'm swimming 100 backstroke at regionals. My backstroke has been declining, so I'm, in a way, freaking out. I'm cool with 50 back, but 100....ugh.

I'm an American Girl!

Between ages eight to eleven, I was a loyal reader of the magazine American Girl. Recently, I say that I've outgrown it, but usually can't stop myself from buying the magazine or checking the website.

The site has 2 sections that I read: "Help from You" and "You Said It!". Every week, a topic or question is entered, and the most interesting, helpful, or wholesome are selected. If I find the topic interesting, I enter something, not really expecting to be selected.

This week's You Said It! was "Amazing Adventures". Naturally, I posted a few lines about my time in Germany, posted the required information (First name, age, and state), sent it in, and forgot about it.

Wouldn't you imagine my surprise when I saw THIS on my screen:

I lived in Germany for two years, and during that time I traveled to more than 15 different countries, including Russia, Italy, and Austria. It was an incredible adventure.
-Annabelle, age 12, Kentucky

Yes, ladies and gentleman, I got posted! The topic changes every Friday, so I'll be on all week. I've never been published before, so I was seriously freaking out.

I think I'm going to take a screenshot...savor the moment. Hmmm...

Tired and going to bed

See above title. I'll do a real post tomorrow.

Good night.

Lazy Wednsday

Today was totally laid back, and I completely loved it. The school library finally had "Firestarter" by Stephen King checked in, and I'm about 50 pages into it. My mom went to the public library and checked me out a few other books, too: a book on Les Miserables, Phantom, and the script to Fiddler on the Roof. The Les Mis and Phantom books also have scripts in the back of them, too!

I didn't have much homework, so I'm planning to do it during homeroom, lunch, and recess tomorrow. I want to curl up in bed with my books tonight.

I coded some more of my site today, and transferred several pages to the new layout. It still remains a work in progress, though, so I won't be posting any more hints! (A few nights ago, I also "save for web"'ed all my images, made them smaller, and decreased quality so it would look the same, but work on more browsers and load faster. Everybody wins!)

Tomorrow I'll probably have more homework, and I also have a swim meet. I'll probably get to bed late and wake up tired and achy.

But today...today was good.

To think that I saw it on Mulberry Street

In literature, we're looking at the script for "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street". Tomorrow, we're doing a trial to see if Charlie was trying to act all heroic like or if he meant to murder Pete Van Horn.

For those of you who don't know the Twilight Zone series, here's the collection of videos making up the episode:

Part One:


Part Two:


Part Three:


Personally, I like the Lego version better:

Fanthom Phrenzy

I actually got to see Phantom last night! It was incredible, and it just made me even more excited about seeing Sweeney in February.

The cast was amazing, and although some scenes were stronger in the movie (Chandelier crash, for example), "Notes", "Hannibal", and "Final Scene" were all to die for. They were incredibly well done, and I was on Cloud Nine the entire time.

After the performance, I got this really nifty Prima Donna shirt. I'm wearing it right now:

Who Rocks the Blocks?

Knox rocks the blocks!

Yesterday was the 6th Annual Rock the Block swim meet. I was only in 2 events (50 free and 50 back), but I think I did pretty well on them! I increased my time by 1 second on my 50 free (from 37 to 38), but I lost 10 seconds on my 50 back (from 52 to 42). Someow, I won both events.

I also learned something: XYG, as in, "Examine Your Goggles!" On both events, my goggles broke. Seriously.

Maybe broken goggles help you win? Hmmm...

EDITED TO ADD- (5 minutes later) I just found out that Joel Madden is officially a daddy!

"Harlow Winter Kate Madden was born Friday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and weighed 6 lbs. 7 oz."

Non weekend

I'm blogging about my non-existent weekend tomorrow. I woke up at 6 all week, today I got to wake up at 6:40 today for a swim meet, and I get to wake up at 6:30 to babysit. Then for another week, it's back to waking up at 6.

Wah! (I want my weekend back---I also have homework!)

Swimming stuffs

Yesterday, we had stormy weather, so during swimming practice, we swam for about 40 minutes rather than our usual hour and a half. To pass the time, we had several things going on:

1st: Stretch & duck walk/lunge around the pool several times (I'm really sore)
2nd: Do homework or more duck walking
3rd: Wrote our swimming goals down

Oddly enough, my goal was to "Get back to where I was at the beginning of the season." My time for my first meet was the first time I ever got last, but it was also my best time. I'm currently at 37 seconds for a 50 meter freestyle, and I want to get back down to 34 seconds by regionals.

Some people want to go away from their beginning times. I think I'm about the only one who wants to go back there.

Blog365: Day 10

I have absolutely nothing to post. So enjoy Sacha Baron Cohen's version of The Contest:

Blue Suede Shoes

Well, actually black, white, and hot pink leather shoes with a bit of suede, but I got new shoes today. My boots are insanely small, and I don't want to have to continuously borrow my mom's shoes.

However, today my mom and I went to Pac-Sun and found a really nice pair that are comfy and cute. And they fit.

Nothing else happend today, and normally I wouldn't blog, but I have a Blog365 obligation, so I can't just ignore today.

Blog365: Day 8

I had another swim meet tonight. I cut 4 seconds from my 50 meter freestyle time (From a terrible 41 to a so-so 37), and my relay team is getting better.

Besides that, nothing really happend. School was school-like, and I wish we could stay on square roots longer in math (I'm actually pretty good with square roots).

End of post.

*Insert Witty Title Here*

Today was the first day back in school. I'm trying to start out fresh with an empty binder and open mind (and to occasionally pay attention in math---I sit in the veeeeeeeery back row, so it's easy to get lost).

It's recently occurred to me that for 13 years, between 5 and 18, kindergarten through 12th grade, kids don't really get "time off". The longest time you'll ever have away from school is 2 months, and then your homework level just keeps getting higher.

Yes, I'm probably just negative because the end of break means:

a. Waking up at 6
b. Having no free time AT ALL
c. Homework
d. Paying attention for 8 hours straight.

No, my homework isn't completely done. But I'll finish it at recess. I'm going to bed.

Happy Epiphany Day!

According to Maya, today is Epiphany Day, so what better way to celebrate than to listen to Epiphany?

Attend the Tale (Again)

After creating that trailer, I've been in a huge Sweeney Todd craze. Mainly because I'm not allowed to see the movie.

However, I remembered the Phantom characters I made awhile ago, so I got bored, and went back to South Park Studios and whipped up this little beauty:



I admit that I photoshopped the Beadle's hair to fit the top hat, and I also did up Johanna's dress to make it a dress and not a belly shirt and a skirt. I still give all credit for the pieces to the creator of the site.

For left to right: Beggar Woman, Sweeney, Mrs. Lovett, Toby, Pirelli, Judge Turpin, Beadle Bamford, Anthony, and Johanna

(I didn't find out until I flattened the image that the "flower" on Mrs. Lovett's shirt is actually a marijuana plant. Oops!)

Bassoon-ery

Today I actually decided to get serious with the bassoon. My mom printed out a really good fingering chart, so I sat down with the monstrosity of an instrument and played for about 20 minutes. However, I played hard. I had never really gotten any further than the first two pages on my method book before, but I tossed the book aside and pulled out my trusty Lion King sheet music. I tried "Can You feel The Love Tonight", but soon deemed it rather difficult. I chose "be Prepared" instead.

Now, after a good long session of straight bassooning, I think I've actually accomplished something. I can play about half of the entire song, and I can play about a quarter of it fluently. Tomorrow I'm planning on forcing myself to spend an hour on that song and just plain nail it.

Next stop- "Music of the Night"
Final destination- "March of the Heffalumps"

Anthony! (Todd, Todd) Anthony?

The only thing worth posting at all today are a few pictures I scanned and edited for Maya a couple days ago. I was obsessing about Jamie Campbell Bower over the phone with her for the past week, and I got a really good book about the Sweeney Todd movie with lots of Jamie-Anthony pictures. She wanted a few, so I scanned them and sent them to soon hear her squeal with delight. Have a nice squeal yourself:

Attend the Tale

The Sweeney Todd Movie Site has recently become one of my favorite sites. It used to have nearly all the music on it, it had a cool design, and the ecards are adorable. (How about a snack with heart?) Recently, they added another feature: the trailer-maker.

Maya told me about it, and I decided to mess around with it for awhile. After about an hour, I came up with this:



Personally, I think it's pretty good.

I can hardly believe I'm doing this

My mom convinced me to join Blog365. As in posting every day besides February 29 (We get a day off because of Leap Year.)

My New Years resolutions were actually pretty average before Insane blogging got on the list. It mainly consisted of finishing my website, writing a really good skit, learning Flash and Java while improving my HTML and CSS, working on and primping the websites that I made when I was 7, attempting to get a good grade in math, staying same, etc.

But now I have to blog. Daily. I find it really hard to find something to post weekly without mentioning something about school drama. I am looking forward to seeing my blog post-level to rise above double-digits, though.

"Let's post until the Internet explodes."