No more NaBloPoMo

Today's the last day of NaBloPoMo, which means that I only have 31 more days left to blog this year. Of course, it also means that I only have 25 more days to do any Christmas shopping that I need to do (AKA a lot).

But I promised you a sample of my Saturday, and you're gonna get it.

We went to this local museum that my gradma has been trying to take us to for awhile. I have to admit, it was pretty cool. Two points that I found interesting were a barber's chair and a very certain piano.

The barber's chair looked like it could be fresh out of Sweeney Todd, so just to be sure that it wasn't, I checked to see if it had a flipping mechanism.

I think the piano really caught my eye. It was from the 1800's, so it hadn't been tuned in awhile. Some of the keys had kind of broken down, resulting in a piano that looked an awful lot like this one:



Yes, that's from Corpse Bride, which is exactly why I liked it. The owner let me play it a little, and so I played some of "Sally's Song". It's true what they say---Danny Elfman music sounds great on the untuned piano.

After the museum, we all went to a local park to take a family picture and a cousins picture:



We all went home for an afternoon filled with football, naps, or Adventures in Babysitting (Me).

Later that evening, though, my Aunt Meredith decided she wanted to give me a makeover with some of her Mary Kay samples. I really liked the way it came out. Pictures will come once my mom edits them, as many of them are sideways (And my Photoshop trial just ended).

Back from AL

We all had a nice drive back from Alabama. We dropped Dad off in Nashville, and had Cracker Barrel for an early-ish dinner. We rolled in here right about 8 PM eastern time, and things have winded down since.

Maya and I have wasted so much time looking back over old YTHC pictures that I've run out of time to post a real post about yesterday. I suppose it'll work well for tomorrow, as all I have for tomorrow is Cleaning and Homework.

Alabama Day

I'm blogging from my grandparent's computer, but I've had so much fun today! I can't post it all tonight (We're about to leave for the no-Internet lakehouse we're staying at), but in the car tomorrow, I'll type up a nice, long post describing today, full of pianos and makeup.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, all. I'm taking advantage of the Internet here at the hotel, so I just wanted to do a quickie-post before the NaBloPoMo and Blog365 ghosts eat me.

Wacky Wednesday

Today has just been full of surprises. We took off for Birmingham, Alabama at about 11 this morning (Eastern) and got here at about 6 (Central) this evening. We checked into the Embassy Suites, and it's rather nice! They allow dogs, which Ginger is very happy about. We got back from the pool about an hour and a half ago, and ordered pizza for dinner. I have a couple slices left, which I'll probably give to Dad when he comes.

The strangest thing happened this evening. After the pool, my PJ pants (which I wore over my suit), were soaking, and I didn't want to sleep in watery pants. I took them into the bathroom, grabbed the hairdryer we were provided with, and about 10 minutes later, came out with mostly-dry pants. I am wearing them now, and they feel fine.

NaBloPoMo: Day 25

I just received a wake-up call from the people at NaBloPoMo. Blogging every day for this year has made it such a routine thing, it's almost like brushing your teeth. Imagine getting an email from NaToBruMo (National Tooth-Brushing Month) saying that "We're in the final week, don't stop brushing! If you skipped a day, come up with a funny excuse and you might win a T-shirt."

That was what it was like to get an email telling me there was only a week left to blog.

I wonder if I'll get one of those during the last week of December. December's actually coming so quickly (Gack, Christmas shopping and end-of-semester exams in German and possibly Algebra!), it's strange to think that I only have to blog 36 more times until I'm done.

I'm just taking a break from packing for our trip to Alabama to write this. I have all my clothes packed, and now I have to charge up my cell phone and iPod, put together my DVDs, and power down the computer. I'll probably do that last.

"Sky-y-y-y yo ho"

I think I want to sing this for my next audition:

Back to normal

Mom's back from New York, and now (after the next few days) things will go back to normal. I have three shows in the next two days, and I'm currently missing my character shoes. I have my jazz shoes as backups, and they always seem to have some big bin of character shoes, so hopefully I'll be okay.

I do hope I find them, though.

Winter movie list

Every so often, I look through recent movie previews on FrontRow. I checked out a few trailers today, and have set almost a goal thing for myself: to be able to make time to see these before the end of the winter:

- Twilight
- Eagle Eye
- The Secret Life of Bees

Of course, there are several that I probably won't go see (But wish I could anyway), mostly due to ratings:

- The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
- Changeling
- The Duchess

I do know one think though: if it kills me, I am going to see Twilight!

Over

That's what Les Miserables is.

On the bus, I finally finished page 1463 of Book Nine in "Jean ValJean". I absolutely loved it, but now I'm not entirely sure of what to do. My mom nagged me to read Henry Orient. Maya nagged me to read this. I might be wrong, but I might have just about read almost every book on my shelf. The only ones I haven't covered are some of the books of the Anne of Green Gables series.

Any book suggestions?

Ought to go to bed

It's 10:17 and I'm involved in 2 IMs. I'm so glad tomorrow's Friday.

Reasons why I don't wear high heels

• They hurt
• They crunch my toes into the front
• They're hard on my heels
• They're hard to walk in
• Today at Musical Theare

We've had to dance in character shoes since day one, which always kind of freaked me out. I've never liked heels before, and I'm not coordinated. Therefore, the prospect of moving in them didn't sound good.

So far, I've been pretty good. Today, I decided that it was time to get a little personal with the dances. After a couple of chassés in Sisters, though, gravity decided to go against me...

My ankle hurts.

Meep!

Anyone who's ever seen The Breakfast Club knows about Allison, who had the jacket with the furry hood she always hid under:



Today, I finally got my new jacket in the main. I totally love it: the color looks nice on my, there are sweater cuffs inside, hand-warming pockets...the whole kit and caboodle.

However, another reason I love it is because I can be an Allison in it:



Versus:




Meep!

Lovely Monday

Today has been so laid-back, I've mistaken it for a Thursday (Or better yet, a Friday). Sadly, however, it isn't. It's only a Monday.

Mike had an appointment today, so I did all of my homework (AKA five algebra problems) in the waiting room. I wasn't feeling especially well, so I missed the optional dance rehearsal in favor of having a calm afternoon at home.

Not having homework, I was able to get some stuff accomplished. Sure, I did stay online for a good long while, but I also pulled out DDR after months. Right now, I'm currently watching The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (I heart you, Karen, MaiMai, and Bea!!!) and about to go to bed.

I hope that tomorrow will be similar, as I do believe that today (And the last few days, actually) have gone unusually well. I haven't had much homework, the school day itself has been surprisingly nice, and I've had nice afternoons.

The ending credits are currently rolling, so I'll wrap this up. If I have time tomorrow, I'll probably watch something else (Maybe White Nights if I start earlier. I do want to get some good DDR in tomorrow, though).

Cookoff

Katie and Sarah invited me over to Katie's house to make cookies this evening. I accepted (Who doesn't love baking cookies?) and took over a box of oven-make Halloween cookies.

Well, they already had a box of mix. A BIG BOX. It had seven or eight bags of mix, and technically, you're only supposed to use one.

We used all of them.

We kind of messed up on several of them. They called for flour, and we smart people put in sugar by accident, then realized we messed up and put the flour in. Sarah didn't especially like the idea for some odd reason, but we did it for almost every batch anyway. They tasted extra-sweet and amazing.

I've now eaten more crap this weekend than I think I ever had.

Coming to a desicion

My mom and Mike are at a swim meet, and I'm finally going to go through my blog posts, find pictures that have been taken off Flickr, and repost them. I'm coming across them every so often, and it's bugging me.

Eventually, I'll also take down the direct linking I used to use. That'll take longer, as I'll have to find the posts and see if the URL is Flickr or Blogger, and if it isn't, upload it to blogger, and do a bunch of other coding stuff.

I'll feel a lot better once it's done, though!

Into the woods...

...and home AFTER dark.

Mom and I went to go and see Into the Woods tonight, and it was really good! Everyone did a really good job, but my favorites were probably Little Red Ridinghood, Baker's Wife, and the two Princes.

It's 25 until midnight, so I'm keeping this short and simple. The weekend is here!

One more day

Tomorrow is by far my favorite weekday ever; Friday. Wednesday is great with getting out early, but an hour versus two days? There's no competition.

I have a little bit of homework tonight (All having to do with "critical thinking", thus making "level three" questions) and a test in science tomorrow. I really wish I had everything finished, but alas, I don't.

But still.

TOMORROW'S FRIDAY!

A long day

That's what today was: long.

I'm having last minute freak-outs with two of my extracurricular things, and it sounds like I just got signed up for another one without my knowing what it even is.

I'm watching The Breakfast Club right now to try and unwind. I finished all my homework at the dentist's office, so I'm good.

Dare: day two

Maya and I just exchanged our songs ("There's A Fine, Fine Line" for "Somewhere That's Green"). I don't think I did incredibly well overall, but some parts were better than others.

We have plans to try again on Saturday with the same songs. We're gonna compare the originals to the redos, and hopefully it'll improve.

Dared

Maya and I have gotten into another "argument" about voice hatred. In an attempt to convince each other that the other one can singer better, we're each making an MP3 tomorrow of us singing one of two songs.

My two selections:

- "There's a Fine, Fine Line" from Avenue Q
- "Cabaret" from Cabaret

Maya's selections:

- "Green Finch and Linnet Bird" from Sweeney Todd
- "Somewhere That's Green" from Little Shop of Horrors

One day week?

We don't have any school on Tuesday, so I really just go tomorrow and have a day off, then three more days. I kind of wish we didn't have to go on Monday, and that we could all just have a four-day weekend, but it'll be easy to just get through tomorrow.

Ow, I just cut BOTH my thumbs on the bottle cap for my root beer...

"The guy's only doing it for some doll!"

Tonight my mom and I went to go see Guys and Dolls at the John Hardin PAC. It was put on by the drama club of one of the local high schools, and was great!

My friend James (LeFou from Beauty and the Beast) played Nathan Detroit, and the role seemed to be designed for him---last minute, out of it, and insane. I kept thinking how much he needs to play Seymour from Little Shop of Horrors.

At the Meet-n-Greet, we were both able to talk for a little bit before we had to head back to Fortress Knox. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and the show is joining Music Man and the crew on my List of Musicals I Like.

Ready for the weekend

Yes I am.

This week has been so incredibly slow and hectic. Two days normally seem like nothing to me, but these seem especially long. Two entire days off: it's my kind of vacation.

Checking off the list

I'm actually beginning to flip out a little bit here.

I usually try to go to bed at nine, as to not be wicked tired the next day. Usually, that isn't a problem, as any homework that I have tends to take ten minutes or so.

Not the case tonight.

So far, I've had:

- German Review, sections 1-7
- Algebra I: increase and decrease percent, problems 1, 3, 4, 5
- Finish English writing prompt (If you suddenly aged 10 years)
- Study for science vocabulary test tomorrow
- Study for Kapitel Drei test in German (again, tomorrow)
- If possible, looking over this duet I wrote for band

I had to miss orchestra rehearsal because I knew that with about three hours out of the house, I wouldn't be able to do everything. I've been working since about 4:45, and I've so far accomplished:

- German review
- Algebra

The vocabulary test shouldn't be that hard, as it's only ten words that are in my notes. However, I'm really going to have to cram the German tonight---a lot of the test is "listening", and the tape that we have to listen to I swear was recorded by Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter. Not that I DISLIKE Tim or Helena, but they can be kind of hard to understand.

Oh, and they usually talk REALLY quickly.

I'm probably not going to be able to practice bassoon tonight, and I still have to put my laundry away. I'll have blogging out of the way, but that's only ONE task on my agenda.

Heck, I don't even have time to put my stuff on Remember the Milk, which is supposed to help you do stuff.

It's about ten minutes until seven. I had high hopes that I would finish my homework before then so that I could watch Edward Scissorhands before bed. That doesn't exactly seem likely, so I'm moving the deadline for the prompt up to eight. Then I can watch SOME of it as I get ready for bed, and look over my science notes as I watch. I'll pause every once in awhile to study my German (and I mainly just need to look over my vocabulary to prepare myself for "Timo Burton", as I call German Tape Speaker), and HOPEFULLY still get to bed by nine.

Hopefully.

Tired

I stayed up rather late last night watching the election. I mean, I'm glad I did (And even more glad with the outcome) but going to bed at 12:30 AM doesn't exactly mix with waking up at 5:45 AM.

Oddly enough, I've been feeling great all day. I wasn't tired, and just did what I needed to do all day.

Until now.

I have Youth Orchestra tomorrow, and I haven't exactly practiced my music much. I also have a German test on Friday, and a pretty big review that I need to do for it. I planned to bassoon tonight, and then tomorrow do all my homework and studying.

I think I've changed my plan. I believe that tonight I'm going to enter some of my music into Finale and check how it's supposed to sound. I mostly have tempo problems, and that's just with one song.

As for my German? I'll have some time tomorrow. I probably won't bring it to school, as it isn't due for another day, but I'll have time after school, in the car, after rehearsal, etc.

Goodnight.

Things I ought to be doing

- Studying my German vocab
- Studying my English vocab
- Going to bed soon

Rather, I am:

- Watching the election (Things are still tense, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Obama!)
- Talking to dad via mom's webcam
- Checking on my Adium, hoping that Maya or someone else will sign on
- Wondering what's gonna happen next in Lés Miserables (I'm on page 188 today---started at 46 this morning. Best. Book. Ever.)
- Blogging

Hopefully, I'll be able to concentrate sooner or later and get the Der-Die-Das thing under control and remember the difference between "Delusion" and "Reluctantly" (I do know them...but I need to check them out anyway)

Catching up on Google

Every so often, I scan around the blog and notice fads where I've posted tons of pictures or random content about random things. Examples include Kynt Cothron, Billy Martin, Orlando Bloom, and Missing Triplets. Then, finding these things, I search them in Google and see how far up I am in hits. I've been the first Kynt Cothron image hit (and still am on the front page) before, and many other things.

Search "Guten Aben", though, and I'm your second hit. I'm on the bottom of the front page. I'm the fourth for "MTP news".

You know what I'm the first hit for?

"ilikehats.blogspot.com"

Never would have thought that, would you?

NaBloPoMo: Day Two

I think I just had to most teenager-ish day ever.

I woke up at about nine, and spent about an hour and a half online, catching up on boards, emails, Photoshop, YouTube, etc. Once summoned away from the laptop at about eleven, I showered, put on my glorious green corduroy pants (And I mean REALLY green!), and walked the dog.

I was feeling lazy after eating so much junk for the past few days, so I decided to walk Ginger around the soccer field rather than just up to the school and back. Upon returning home, we "helped" my mom hook up the sprinkler for the grass. My friend Sarah was walking HER dog, so we talked a bit outside.

Once she put the dog (Cooper) back in the house, we remained outside with Ginger, as it was a rather warm day. We eventually decided to go inside, in which activities varied from eating Halloween candy, singing/playing "Be Our Guest" on the piano, and discussing our views on Christmas and what we might get for people.

Once she went home, I cleaned my room---but didn't vacuum---and walked the dog around the soccer field yet again. After the walk (and dinner), I went upstairs and practiced bassoon. I even used GarageBand and recorded some of it.

Now, I am blogging. I'm about to do the little bit of homework that I have, and I'll probably go to sleep by around nine tonight. All things considered, that's not half bad!

So that was my day. Boring? Yes. Blogworthy? Not exactly, but for our purposes, yes.

A whole new world...

...of YouTube musicians:

Forgetting the obvious

Sometimes I wonder what I'm thinking.

I'm here in bed, coding furiously at a page that will simply not look like, and wondering what to blog. Oh, sure, we did go out and canvas in New Albany, but you can easily catch up on that on my mom's blog.

Then it hit me.

It's the first of November.

It's NaBloPoMo.

DUH!

Although the Internet probably won't explode this month if it hasn't already from everyone posting for an entire year, it'll still be fun. I just sent my blog in for the blogroll, and doesn't my button look just dashing?