"The Amazon Truck is a-comin' down the street..."

On Sunday, I ordered some stuff from Amazon for the trip down to Florida (TWO days until the trek starts!). Although it was supposed to come tomorrow, seems like I got lucky.

Here's what I got:



For those of you who can't see the titles---and I don't blame you, as it was hard to position them all when I only have means up taking pictures through my computer's internal camera---it's Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, The Prince of Egypt, and Nightwish's CD Once.

I'm really happy to have these for the long drive, and even happier knowing that said long drive is only two days away!

Three Days

Three days exactly until we head down to Alabama, four until we tow down to Florida!

Guinea pig squeaks!

Weekendend

It's the end of the weekend!

I have to admit it, though---it's been a REALLY GOOD weekend. I got Misisng Triplets up, was able to webcam-chat with Quinn, edited some skits, got some clothes for our trip down to Florida (Five days!), and was able to see all of my Youth Theatre friends this afternoon.

I'm actually not dreading school this week. It ends on Thursday, and actually, I'm being picked up at about noon on Thursday so that we can roll into Alabama at around dinner time.

All I really have to do is a German oral presentation tomorrow. Then it's mostly going to be a lot of in-class work, like every day. I'm not entirely sure if we're doing a SECOND oral presentation in German (I think there's some Family Tree we have to do, but I'm not entirely sure).

Florida peeps---can't wait to see you!

Missing Triplets Productions

Remember that website I told you about last winter? Well, it's finally up. It's actually BEEN up for awhile (I bought the domain at the very beginning of September), and Maya, Quinn, Karen, and I have worked our fingers to the bone finishing it up this month.

It's a really big deal for all of us, but I think I have a little more sentimental attachment to the site (And yes, I know we all love it dearly). I did edit it over the series of a year, though, taking it through many layouts, trying to host images temporarily on Flickr (They're still there, I think---I should probably take them off sooner or later).

Anyway, if you're interested in the link (Which you should be), it's Missingtriplets.com. I think it turned out really well, and we're adding stuff all the time. After all, we're gonna keep writing skits, as well as adding original videos, art, stories, and more.

Well, it's no longer a secret. I've just let the cat out of the bag to my immediate world; now go tell all the people in YOUR immediate world to tell THEIR people, etc.

You're probably going to be hearing a bit about the site now that it's public. Hope you like Barney and Phantom!

Coming Soon!

I am, at least.

Fall break is only six days away! Florida peeps, looking forward to seeing you. I'm bringing the bassoon!

97

That's how many days until the end of the year, and, more importantly, Blog365.

All that aside---as I can have an emotional post when we get to, say, fifty (Only 47 away!) or even NaBloPoMo. I'm about to work on a paper for English on the Mayans; yes, English class. About the Mayans. Don't ask. It's a rather short report, as the only requirements were to have five paragraphs. Sometimes you need a break from trying to be an "overachiever".

This reminded me of my Youth Theatre times, for obvious reasons:

My Big Backyard

I was absent from school again today, mostly as a recovery day from Monday and Tuesday as well as not whipping out my go-bang-stay-awake energy before the funeral today.

However, I was upstairs in bed---probably watching Nightmare Before Christmas---and my mom yelled for me to come downstairs, get the dog hooked up to her leash, and come to the front. Curious (though mostly confused in the dazed sort of way), I did, and saw she was out with her camera.

Apparently, there was a fox on the opposite side of the street. The pictures she put on her blog are kind of blurry and remind me a bit of the pictures of "Bigfoot" and the video of La Chupacabra (Yes, I know I didn't post quotation marks around La Chupacabra). Still, it's pretty cool.

Oh, and she also got a picture of George.

Playing the piano

I ought to get sick more often.

Apparently, when I'm sick, I'm more creative. I created The Website's current layout when I was sick about a month ago, and today I was absent again. Therefore, I used AccessColor to make sure there was difference enough between my colors and stylesheet, then validated the code for EACH PAGE. Maybe that's just busywork, but hey---I learned the DOCTYPE was important. (I also figured out a better navigational system).

Odder yet was when I sat down at the piano this evening. I messed with a couple of songs I knew---"On My Own", "Beauty and the Beast", etc. However, then I actually started improvising. It might have sounded a bit better, but I've tried improv on piano before, and it didn't turn out well. This time, it actually wasn't half bad. I used some of the rhythm things that I've been thinking about over the week, but aside from that, I figured out whether to hit Bb of F quick enough to keep a little natural pace.

Kind of impressed with how it went, I tried piecing together a few songs I've enjoyed recently; "Children Will Listen" and "No One Is Alone" from Into the Woods, "Jack's Lament", "Sally's Song", "This Is Halloween", and "Making Christmas" from Nightmare Before Christmas, and "Ice Dance" from Edward Scissorhands.

Some went better than others. I've figured at least part of the melody for "No One Is Alone", "Children Will Listen", "Sally's Song", "Jack's Lament", and "Making Christmas". Sure, I found the first eight notes for "Ice Dance", but I don't really consider that "figuring out the melody".

I'm kind of surprised that I actually got to some of the possible bass clef lines for "Sally's Song", "Making Christmas", and "No One Is Alone". I have the definite first four bass clef notes for "Sally's Song", and the rest is mostly just "This sounds nice, even though it probably isn't what the real line is".

I can't figure out an Andrew Lloyd Webber piece or Evanescene song to save my life, even though I have sheet music. (Yes, I know that these guys are awesome and stuff, but other people just write more complicated stuff that make the orchestra beg for mercy.) However, I'm figuring out all of these Danny Elfman and SONDHEIM pieces by ear.

Is that weird?

Mom was right

I'm sick, and you're getting an LOLcat.

Blog365: Day 264

I suppose my mom's blog revealed the only news of the day, depressing as it is.

Other than that, all I can say is that I attempted to validate the website, edited one or two more things to put up, and listened to/watched a "Tibby and Bailey" video put to "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol. Tomorrow I'll wake up at 5:45, and thus will start Week Eight of the first quarter.

Last Midnight Homecoming

Not technically, though.

For the past three years now, I've spent Homecoming night alone at home. I actually kind of like it; nice a quiet, house all to myself, free to eat a little ice cream...

Tonight's activities consist of web design, looking for free versions of "Ice Dance" sheet music, and listening to said arrangements. Nothing terribly exciting, but a nice way to end my homecoming alone streak, cause I'm gonna be a freshmen next year! (Oh my gosh, I'm gonna be a freshmen next year)

My Place in the Sun

You know how a couple years back, my mom did this rapid Google search to see where her top hit was? I just found mine. In image search, of all places.

Many of you probably have caught on to the fact that I'm more or less obsessed with Kynt Cothron. In my attempt to make the world realize how awesome he is, I've been sending pictures around (Much to some of my friend's moans and groans) with cries of "Isn't he GREAT?"

Tonight I had to recruit Karen, so I googled Kynt Cothron in image search. After finding the picture I wanted, I noticed something odd; my blog logo was the last result on the first page.

Noticing I was on to something, I continued by searching Kynt Cothron hat, which bumped it up to the third result on the first page. Excited, I made the final search on Kynt Cothron hats and presto: I was the first hit!

It doesn't prove much besides that I've posted Kynt's name over and over again, but hey---it gave me a day's worth of post AND a feeling of accomplishment, no matter how useless said accomplishment is.

Something Finished

Maybe my day overall wasn't that much better than the last two (I think I'm getting kind of sick---I'm sore all over and freakishly tired), but there were a couple things that were actually pretty nice.

- Youth Orchestra. Playing bassoon for an hour and forty five minutes? Awesomeness!

- I finished this group project thing I had for social studies! I don't have a picture of the back (Which actually looks rather nice---the Democratic Donkey is walking down the 'Road to a better America' with good things about Obama in the crowd), but here's the front:



Personally, I wanted to do some major photoshopping for the back with said Donkey on said road: I would have loved to put Obama's face as the sun, like this:



And then, in no particular order, I'd put the faces of Palin, Bush, Cheney, and McCain in these little critters, possibly RIDING the Donkey to a Better America:



Doesn't that just make you feel all warm and fuzzy?

Nothing to Report

My idea that I would have stuff to post today was a blow. I'd rather not go into why my day was on the lower side of things, but yet again, I don't want to treat you all to another LOLcat.

Therefore, I'm just going to say that piano was fine, I didn't have any homework today, and I didn't faily my German vocabulary test. That's about it.

Feeling Blue

So here's an LOLcat to count for today's post:




I'd normally write more, but my idea for a post got...called off, so to speak. Hopefully, better content tomorrow.

This post was brought to you by procrastination

Yes, even with my beloved Remember the Milk, today I became the victim of procrastination. I could have spent my non-homework day studying my German or Science vocabulary, bassooning, practicing piano (Even though I did get about 10 minutes of practice on the ancient little keyboard in my room), or various other activities. Rather, I just edited my iTunes library by adding album cover art and grouping things together.

I feel like a failure.

Tomorrow WILL be my do-stuff day, much like Sunday was. I'll piano, bassoon in all four books/folders (Band, Youth orchestra, Disney Classics, and Weisenborn for bassoon lessons), practice my German vocabulary (I'll have my Science quiz tomorrow and won't have to worry about vocabulary for that class), and maybe even vacuum my room if I feel that good. Perhaps, if I have time, I'll also work on the website (Ever since it really got off the ground and with a little reminding from Maya, I've been trying not to say "my site"), send out some mail that I need to send, and finish off the day with a little DDR.

I guess I'm not alone, though. Looks like Mike had a fairly lazy day to kick off Homecoming Week:

Don't forget the milk!

I just joined Remember The Milk, and so far I totally love it! I've noticed myself just doing stuff so that I can cross it off---it's really fun, even if it is just click-press C-click.

I like it a lot more than plain written to-do's, as you can set up separate lists of to-do's that you have. For example, I have Personal, Music, and School right now. You can set due dates for all of them, as well as setting up priorities. They are then displayed by name, due date, or priority.

If, by any chance, you don't Complete a task by the due date you set for it, it is set as Overdue and is kept up, probably at the top of your list or in red or something. Even still, if you even forget to check THAT, you can set up a way for it to remind you. Right now, it's set to my AIM, so when I sign on to iChat with a missed task, a message will pop up reminding me to get OFF iChat and go do that task!

I haven't messed around with it very much, but I think I'm really going to like it! If you're looking for a to-do-er, I'd really suggest that.

On a more school-y topic, I have a book report tomorrow. I had to make a prop for my presentation, and I spent today and yesterday here and there finishing it. Anyone want to guess which book I'm doing?

Aubrey (Punkmoney)!

(If you are not Aubrey, then this post probably has no relevance to you. Still, just need to post this out)

Hey Aubrey (Not roleplay Aubrey---blog Aubrey)

I noticed that you set your blog to private, and I'd love to be able to still read it! I'd usually email you, but since I don't have your email, that makes things a little hard...

Just in case you still read my homey little blog, I just thought this might be the best way to both get a post out of the way AND tell you that I'm still a fan of your blog. Please gain me entrance!

-Alicebelle

Posting Actual Content

Okay, so I might have kind of cheated the past week, having every post contain a video, a picture of Kynt Cothron, or information on Kynt and Vxysin. Today, though, it'll be a REAL post.

I've been working off and on on The Website, mostly waiting for a couple people to turn in a few things. I'm also messing around with a few HTML, CSS, and HTACCESS codes. Total gibberish, I know, but it's pretty cool! I think I've gotten one to half-work, actually. I need a couple test pages to see if it really will work out. It's a really useful little gadget, and if I can figure it out, that would make my day. Then I'll set up a Sitemeter, make a couple PDF's, and if all things go according to plan, it'll all be finished by either the end of September or beginning of October.

There's also a few DreamHost gadgets that I need to ask my site people about, too. They have this package that lets you download a bunch of different widgets and gizmos (Polls, forums, e-stores, etc.), but it'd probably be best to ask everyone before I go downloading something I know hardly anything about and possibly corrupt the site.

I also have a book report that I have to do over the weekend. In my dreams and fantasies, I'm going to make a video of me practicing for it, as well as capturing the script I did awhile ago. Of course, I usually procrastinate on these things, so the possibility of making two videos in the same weekend is kind of a distant daydream.

I'm also going to be bassooning and piano-ing a fair bit. I have a lesson either tomorrow or Sunday, and I have to be ready for that. (Just found out---it's tomorrow morning. Haven't looked at bassoon book all week. Gulp. So much for "getting ready".)

All right, so that's five paragraphs, no pictures or videos. That looks pretty good for an uneventful day!

Just so you know

I'm watching the 12th season of Amazing Race. The Travel Channel, for whatever reason, is showing reruns of it. It really aired in 2007, but they decided to replay it.

I just thought I'd inform you so you don't all think I'm losing my mind. I do realize its an old season.

Oh, and even though I know the outcome, this little button still made me happy:

"Leave Vxysin alone!!!"

I just watched the second episode of Amazing Race tonight, and as expected---there was a fair but of jabbing at Kynt and Vxysin (The team I'm pulling for).

Considering I had nothing else to post, I decided that I'd throw a slightly Chris-Crocker style message. My idea?

"Leave Kynt and Vxysin alone!"

Of course, I'm being pretty sarcastic here, as you can probably (read: hopefully) tell. I probably would be doing this for, say, TK and Rachel if I supported them and kept a keen eye to see when TK was on. However, I don't.

Tonight, there was something in Holland where one member of your team had to vault over some bog...thing. Kynt, obviously not a very physical person ("I'm actually kind of prissy"), finished it on his second try. Even then, there was a mutter of "Let's see if Pinky can do it".

You'd probably get a better post if I could think of anything, but I can't. I have a science test tomorrow, and that's about it. As for now, don't go dissing my two favorite "gothic Energizer Bunnies"!

Anime!

Okay, I usually hate Anime. The only ones I've EVER liked at any point in time were Pokemon, Hamtaro, and Digimon. YuGiOh, Fruits Basket, and any of those other ones are just plain out of my mindset.

However, I admit for wanting to see some Anime films.

Spirited Away



Princess Mononoke



And Howl's Moving Castle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hbntEofuT0

(Embedding didn't work for that trailer)

Sore Feet

If I had a theme song right now, this would be it:



Character shoes do not agree with my feet---which mind you, already go in. I suck at walking in high heels, and dancing in them isn't any easier.

Ow.

The Weekend that Never Was

The weekend is REALLY over? I personally think we should have at LEAST another three day-break. Four days was great...but three would also be nice.

I spent even MORE time today on the website that my friends and I are making (;-) to Maya), and things seem to be looking good! We're hoping (Or at least I am---I'm going to assume positive intent here) to launch it by the end of next weekend, at latest. Of course, if I can never get a 404 error to work, that may be extended...

I have a science quiz tomorrow which I actually haven't studied for. It's ten vocabulary words, though. I really don't think it's going to be that hard if I study for it during BAT.

I have nothing exciting to report, though. I cleaned my room a couple hours ago; something I've been meaning to do for weeks. Here it is, all nice and pretty:

Lab Rat

I feel like a rat. Literally.

I'm going to be up fairly late tonight, working on my website. I learned how to do popup windows, which I'm actually not using...but it's a nice thing to know. I guess I just got inspired to finish it up before the end of the month. The way things are looking right now, I might finish it by the end of the weekend.

Once I do wind up finishing it, you can rest assure that I'll provide a link and a post for your enjoyment. However, until then, you're just going to have to wait some more.

New Kids on the Rock

Yes, it's a lame post. But I just thought I'd share one of my favorite videos here:




Find more videos like this on Hollywood East TV

Double bell euphoniums and big bassoons...

I joined the E-Town Youth Orchestra today on---what else?---bassoon! We're currently working on some songs for our Christmas concert, and the queue looks really impressive. We have a Dvorak piece, something called "Jupiter", and even the Star Wars theme lined up! We've only started the Dvorak piece, and so far, it has some pretty mean bassoon solos!

We're adding a couple cellos and a tuba next week, but this time it was just me and a cello for bass. Apparently, they haven't seen a bassoon in the orchestra for awhile, because quite a few people said something along the lines of either "So great to have you" or "Oh my gosh, we have a bassoon".

I think it's going to be a challenge, but pretty fun! I need to work on about six notes in my range, (Two of which I can hit but can't remember the fingerings for) work out some rhythm things, and then I'll be more or less set. The music we're playing sounds REALLY nice, and it's great to be playing with a piano and---even better---strings.

In other bassoon-y news, I'm switching instruments. Yes, I'm going to stop oboe in school and completely dedicate myself to bassoon. I'm really excited about making that my main instrument---it's been my dream since fifth grade!

Raining on My Parade

Every other day, I cross over from the Middle School to the High School for German. So far, it's been going pretty well. I know I'm going to have to bring a REALLY BIG sweater for when winter comes around, but that's cool---I have said really big sweater.
What I'm NOT prepared for is rain. It poured for the first time today, and lets just say the crossing was NOT fun. My friend Katie and I decided to go the "covered way". It was covered---for about ten feet. Then it was just as wet, with the bonus of walking on either soggy grass or through a huge puddle. Ick.

Besides that, the only thing going on with me is that I'm watching reruns of Season 12 Amazing Race. I meant to watch it last year to watch the goth couple from Louisville---Kynt and Vxysin---but it fell off my radar. For some reason, they're re-showing it, so I'm taking that as my opportunity to see how they do.\

For those who don't know of them, here they are:

Guten Aben!

Not entirely sure if I spelled that right. Anyway, I have a German test tomorrow. I think I'm going to do pretty well---just have to look over a few things. I know the vocabulary, so that shouldn't be an issue. I know the verb endings ("e" or ich, "st" for du, "t" for sie, so on and so forth), and I know a lot of the phrases. I think that the main thing I'm doing is just making sure that I'm not going to mess up on where to use Sie and where to use Du. Of course, then there's spelling...

Then I have a social studies test on Thursday. I'm not sure if I have anything Friday---hopefully not. Two tests in a row might not be as bad as three in the same day like last week, but it's still not very fun!

Postponed

Yes, I told you I'd have a video up today. However, I wasn't able to film today---my mom was really busy helping my brother with a project due tomorrow, and it was my dad's last day.

I'm going to try and film throughout the week when time permits, and when it's up, I'll definitely post it. Sorry for the delay!