Band Camp NEver to be forgotten... not for good reasons
I got back from band camp on Friday afternoon. We left Sunday morning for Ferris State where we spent almost 10 hours a day on marching band-related material, some days marching those whole ten hours or sometimes about 7 and then indoor music rehearsals for 3. It was grueling, but that was the least of my problems. The instructors, getting sick, and general crap made it worse.

Sunday: First off, Annie quit the day we got there... Demitria, the color guard choreographer (Characterization in a nutshell: Bipolar, Short tempered, Talented, holds grudges towards Troy) intimidated her or something, so from day one we had a hole that isn't guaranteed a person. My mom, a chaperone, also got told off by Gillette and Demitria for not handling her correctly and letting her go home. They both said they should've been the ones to handle it. One thing to get straight: Annie sat in my mom's room for an hour. She was afraid to talk to Demitria she told my mom, and for that whole hour Mr. Gillette never came to talk to her, instead kept working with the band and then sat in his room. He, when asked by my mom if he ever knew anything about Annie besides her name or ever talked to her, said "No". Let's analyze this: Annie is scared to death of Demitria so talking to her will only make her want to leave more, and Mr. Gillette neglected to ever get to know her, or let alone talk to her, and neglected her in the midst of the situation HE should've been handling...








Who's fault is that?




Monday and Tuesday were straightforward, long days where we did basics and the start of our drill. The major occurence on those days was the genesis of J.R. Trimpe's stalking of Adrienne and Lacie. J.R. is the dude who wrote our music, and came to do music and sectionals. On Monday at sectionals he 1) Sat next to Adrienne and said "We're gonna become great friends this week!" and 2) told Lacie to "Blow, don't suck. *Wink*". Lacie asked nervously, "What?", and he said "You heard me." Tuesday he did it again, when he tried to get Lacie to double tongue a note, and not very surprised when she couldn't do it, he said "I'll show you how to double tongue later. *Wink*"

Also Monday night Demitria and some of the other instructors went to a bar, and upon coming back, Troy, sitting in the hall, asked Demitria is they were all drunk, jokingly. Last year they bantered back and forth, but Demitria, seemingly drunk as i heard, slapped him on the head and said "Don't speak to me that way" and some other things.



Wednesday started to make everything terrible. JR went home for a day, but Chris Lewis, the guy who graduated 2 years ago who played trumpet really well, went out with Kristine Piotrowski, was rather nice and humble even to me at the time, a lowly 8th grader, a freshman in marching band, made life hell for me. He pointed out everything I did wrong: Not traversing, feet not totally together on a standstill, marching style, stomach not sucked in quite enough... Sure I wasn't perfect, but he was out of line. VERY out of line:

1) It's band camp. We'll make mistakes
2) He commented on my playing once in a while. He's not my section leader or music instructor. I'm a woodwind, not a trumpet.
3) Others were making more mistakes right in front of his face but he didn't point them out. (Ex. Mel and Lisa in from of me in a line were not traversing, lisa was two steps behind melanie, and they were shuffling their feet. I did all of that right but my shoulders weren't quite parallel to the sideline, and he pointed out my mistake. Worse yet I could not point out that others were making mistakes at that moment or I would be running laps)
4) He specifically pointed me and a few others out by name by yelling across the field, but with those not on his hit list he made general statements or talked to them quietly alone. I notices three of those hit-list people were me, a freshman girl and Dan Chandonette. Dan may not have noticed it, but David Breed seems to think it is because Chris might be afraid Dan is as good or better then he was in his senior year. Katharine, the freshman, needed a lot of work, but pointing her out was out of line. Me, I have no idea why he did it, but every other thing he said was about me.

Wednesday also brought more controversy. Demitria, unprovoked, threatened to punch Troy in the throat if he didn't shut up. She then told Mark, the Percussion instructor, to shut up, and proceeded to tell the drumline what to do. Troy took off his shirt on the field in the afternoon, and later at the waterbreak Demitria was talking and at the end she added "Troy, put your shirt back on." When asked why she said some junk about discrimination against girls, and how since girls can't take off their shirts at all then guys can't... and a fight ensued. Dan and Troy vs. Demitria, the black tyrant and her puppet named Gillette(He just pretended to be authoritative but really only repeated what Demitria said), and Dan had some good points about how none of the girls cared, why can't the girls just take off their shirts too, and why JEnnifer, the permanent, season-long instructor, was wearing a Bikini top when it says that girls can't take off their shirts. Demitria countered by saying she was an instructor and that rule was for students and you could read it in the student handbook. Analyze this: Instructors should have rules of decency around students too, right? Can they go out and have a beer, wear just a bikini top, or threaten students with injury during a school day? That's in a sense what this is since it is a school activity. That's like Mr. Earnest going out back for a joint after lunch...

So everyone went to their rooms at 3:30 pissed. All students, girls and bos united were against 'Black Hitler', 'Ventriloquist Dummy Gillette', and wereamazed at Troy. When threatened with laps if he misbehaved more during the fight. he ran one, put his shirt back on during the lap, and took it off again. So he ran another lap. That took balls. Then he sang, loud enough for the instructors to hear him, parodies about how much he hates band and the instructors. Here's a small sample:

(To the 80's song "Tainted Love")

Sometimes when Marching I just want to

*Thump Thump*

KILL Myself I want to

*THump Thump*

Kill Myself.

I thought up my own (To "Jack and Diane" by John Mellencamp)

Little Diddy bout our marching band
I pissed off Demitria so she broke my hand, singing
"Oh Yeah I say we're living in hell
They threaten to send us home but it's just as well"



Thursday was more hell from Chris, and I started to get sick. In the morning, my sinuses plugged up, my headache started, and my Colitis flared up. J.R. stood outside the window of the sectional room in the basement and just stared at Lacie with this weird look, like Michael Myers in "Halloween" stared at the guy he killed and hung on a wall. Then, after the afternoon practice, he stood outside their open door and watched Lacie and Adrienne sleep. Lacie woke up when she heard Mark stop to talk to the idle J.R. in the hallway right outside her door, asked why they were standing there, and tried to go back to sleep. Mark walked on, so Lacie opened her eyes again and J.R. was still there. She got up and left, freaked out as anyone would be.

In the evening there was more hell, considering my headache was becomeing a migraine, I was getting sun poisoning, and I was about to collapse. But I made it. Then we had a candle ceremony where we pass a flame around and say what we were thankful for. I said what I wanted to say, and added bullshit about Chris. Everyone besides him knew it was bullshit.


Friday we left after a morning rehearsal that I didn't go to. Matt told me to go back to bed cuz I looked horrible... and I did. I slept about 3 hours because I kept waking up so congested I couldn't breathe David said My whole body was sick: Full body stiffness, sinuses, stomach flu, migraine, colitis, dehydration, chills/sweats, and a touch of sunburn. But then we got home and the little cousins were there, and we had some fun. I rode back to school in Mrs. Devrie's Van because everyone thought I would overheat and get sick on the bus. The AC gave me uncontrollable chills and chattering teeth, so it didn't help much but I got some sleep. But I was home.


And it's over.







But I might quit. I'm seriously considering.








I need time to think about the good stuff, so I'll post that later

Update
Well this was a busy week...I've worked 4 days at Ruth Anns and my usual 2 at Main Street, and both days right after Main Street I had to go straight to Ruth Ann's.... Tiring, long, tedious 8 hour days... (This is the part of the Journal where you say: "But when you work full time this will happen every day..." Yadda Yadda. Truth is, I just turned 14, and I'm not ready for that, and especially in jobs like these... RUth Ann's mainly.)


About RA's.... Lynn almost fired me because the night before some menial tasks like rinsing out rags and cleaning two garbage can lids didn't get done... only about 20% my fault because Jim and I divided the tasks up, but since I worked the next afternoon and Jim didn't work until two days later I got the blunt of her rage... (*oh no, the pail with water in it didn't get emptied... fire me, I'm such a bad worker!*)


THe exchange students left this week... And I didn't get to say bye to any of them except Annette (not saying bye to Imke wasn't much of a heartbreak... but Katerin and I became somewhat of friends during the year so that was a bit sad) Marcus, the student we had like 2 years ago was visiting this week also, and my mom saw him while she was out... That's kinda cool too. ANd in other exchange student news; the new batch is coming a bit earlier then usual, and Insa (from last year) is coming back to visit in a few weeks too! yay!

Band camp is coming this next week, and I don't know what to expect. I'm rooming with Breed which will be great and all, but Juno said the drill is like half finished, we've had no music rehearsals/ marching rehearsals beforehand, Pat isn't coming back and we're getting someone new... This is gonna be a rough year.


I don't know what else to talk about... But I need to go eat dinner, then go to Mr. Johnson's wake (Judy Johnson's husband) and pack for camp. Peace Out, I'll have company when I get back so I probably won't be able to post again til next Saturday evening most likely.

Cleveland
I'm finally back from that 3 day wedding fiasco and I’m finally able to post... It was fun. Thursday I worked outside thru the rainstorm (I'm already breaking like 3 child labor laws there must me a clause about bad weather too lol) and we left after that (Dad and Kate put the boat in the water that morning too... soaked.)

Harry Potter was good... I finished it Tuesday(Might've told u that already)

Went to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Friday. Absolutely amazing... they had everything from some of Hendrix's guitars and artwork to David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust costumes to famous rock star cars. There were all sorts of cool exhibits and films, and to top it all off (literally too) there was a 2 floor exhibit about U2 on the top 2 floors.


U2 r00ls.


There was another cool exhibit called "Video Killed the Radio Star" about Music videos. There was a glass column with TVs inside and they had a 20 minute video with clips of music videos, with a rather, ahem, dramatic, soundtrack in the background (THink Carmina Burana.) They had all sorts of old ones like Tom Petty's Mad Hatter video, Talking Heads, Thriller, and even one I vaguely recognized with dancing chickens (no not live ones, like the ones you buy in the meat case at the store... no feathers, no head... )


There was this really good looking girl at the reception and rehearsal dinners and the wedding itself… not family… I never found out her name. Damn.


After the wedding on Saturday dad and I got tickets from our cousin’s business contact to an Indians game.


First Row.

Behind the Tribe’s dugout.

30 yards from the plate.


Schweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!



To top it all off on Sunday ( My birthday… Not too fun cleaning up and eating left over wedding food on your birthday but oh well) I got a GameCube.


Schweeeeet!

God I'm finally able to get on the computer... It's been a few days... I've been working so much, except for yesterday, which was consumed by getting up early and immersing myself in Harry Potter, then going to MIchigan's Adventure with David and Brian, then Erin's Graduation party. (Haven't Finished Harry yet... only 300 and ... 12 pages into it. I'll tackle 150-200 later tonight.)


Good News at the Party last night. Trey got Third spot on the GVSU snareline... 26 tried out, and six made it. he got I guess the equivalent of 'third chair'... He said it was really grueling... the first thing was like... something like 20 minutes of one constant, nonstop roll.


THe Frantz's are also back in town for a few weeks...

I'm done talking now.




Bye.











You can go now...

I am wiped out
I've been working non stop since Wednesday. Wednesday I worked at lunch and then from 6 to 10:30, and in between I was doing gardening. Thursday I did more yard work almost all day, then worked again from 6 to 10:30. Today is like Wednesday, though I get a break this afternoon... all I have to do is roll up a hose that's defective and do a few things to the boat (yes, we still haven't put it in the water...)


We got a truck yesterday. My Dad's first impulse buy over 100 dollars. And it's a truck. My thinking would be he would start impulse buying stuff that's cheaper- like a 200 dollar grill... but I guess my reasoning is off.


RObin WIlliams says:

"Shakespeare Now. *moan in the crowd* Yes, a bit of culture, sorry. On an improvisational subject you will choose. Time's Up."


*Long Rambling chaos...*

"Shakespeare Now!"

*horn noise*

*Munchkin Voice singing: We represent the Phillip Morris Agency*

"Entertainer time when all seems simply strange, the radiation causes chromosomes to rearrange.

My father worked at the atomic plant thus hither, and send me forth from my arms thus wither.

But Yet!

I am not afraid. I am merely here to lay forth my words and let you sit upon them and think.

Fear Not!

If if I see my words fall out and land in pieces, they land upon the ground like simple feces.."


Trust me, it's funny. I'll send it to you.

Adventures in Ohio
I just got back from visiting the family in Ohio. The 18 other cousins (only 4 older than 12 including my sister) were insane.

It was a dual Father's Day/Send off the weird Arkansas-say-the-mass-in-Latin-make-the-12-year-old-daughter-take-care-of-the-two-babies-because-the-father-is-oppressive-and-the-mother-doesn't-want-to-take-care-of-them-and-father-wants-to-move-the-family-to-the-most-remote-places-even-though-he-was-offered-a-better-job-right-near-the-family-because-he-is-psycho family. *heavy breathing*

My Uncle Tony took a razor scooter and but a chainsaw motor on it, and we rode it all around the neighborhood. We got it over 25 MPH wich was pretty cool.

And I've been sick all week as you know if you've read below, and sunday when I woke up as we were leaving for Dayton my throat wasn't hurting but my voice was all raspy. Then on Monday is got even more raspy, and I couldn't talk at a certain pitch or talk loudly. Now today when I woke up I could barely speak, and not in my usual range, so I had to talk really low.... I think I have laringitis cuz it's getting a lot worse... i can barely talk now... thank god I don't have bloody stumps for arms lol

So I need to lose a few. Ok.

Report Cards and Schedules
Alrighty... Report Cards. Straight A's. Nobody's excited.

Schedules... (Everyone's excited.)

I've got Dovick 1st hour... I guess thats OK, then I've got Dornbos (Yay! A Lit teacher that isn't bad or insane--- *cough Kellar cough Hab cough *) Third hour I've got...

FRIESNER! YAY! LET'S CELEBRATE!!!!!










No. I'm serious. Really. Friesner's prolly my favorite teacher in HS I've had so far.

(Mr. Ollivander: "I expect great tings from you, Mister HOLT!" lol)

Then it's Band (yay.)/ Yearbook (YAY!) split 4th hour, and fifth is... I think Chemistry. 6th is FST with... NETCOTT! Let's celebrate again! No Charron! I might learn something!

The day culminates with Mrs. Saggyboobs herself, Bertoia.

Sick.











I'd rather take French, but going medical entails now that you learn Spanish, so might as well learn the basics in High school (Even if it IS with Bertoia) so I can go straight to mastering it in college. So I'm keeping my options open. (I can take French and/or Japanese/German/other languages our school doesn't offer when I'm older, I guess)

Today is a good day. Yesterday wasn't bad either.

Yesterday I slept in late (Yay) and after watching an hour or so of music videos on VH1 I got in gear to go to work. No, not at Ruth Ann's, at Main Street. I got a job there dishwashing, and I like it better than Ruth Ann's, I dunno why. I get free ice cream at Ruth Ann's, get to goof off at Ruth Ann's, talk with other people my age, etc. At Main Street I don't. Oh well. I guess I'm not good with people and retail and always smelling like campfire smoke. On a trial basis I'm doing both; The dishwashing is 11-2 twice a week, and Ruth Ann's is 12 hours, usually in the evening. So I'll do both, get some more cash than a measly 3 bucks an hour only (I don't know how much more... I haven't quite brought up that detail yet with Carol at Main Street)

I got foot surgery yesterday. I don't want to go into the details. But if you really want to know my toe is all cratered like the moon.p

Last night I went to Paul Scholten's vocal recital. He is fricking amazing! He sang a lot of Schubert and Vaughn Williams including this one called "The Vagabond"... I liked that one.

Now I can go places without Mommy Dearest! Katie got her liscence yesterday. And I don't have to work tonight at Ruth Ann's... I got off on account of my toe. Yay! And I don't have to work tomorrow, because of a doctors appointment and my siter's dance recital! yay!

I saw Corky Romano last night. So stupid it's funny. Still, you gotta see Spirited Away. It's so great.



Peace, Love, etc.

"A Thousand Years"
A thousand years, a thousand more,
A thousand times a million doors to eternity
I may have lived a thousand lives, a thousand times
An endless turning stairway climbs
To a tower of souls
If it takes another thousand years, a thousand wars,
The towers rise to numberless floors in space
I could shed another million tears, a million breaths,
A million names but only one truth to face

A million roads, a million fears
A million suns, ten million years of uncertainty
I could speak a million lies, a million songs,
A million rights, a million wrongs in this balance of time
But if there was a single truth, a single light
A single thought, a singular touch of grace
Then following this single point , this single flame,
The single haunted memory of your face

I still love you
I still want you
A thousand times the mysteries unfold themselves
Like galaxies in my head

I may be numberless, I may be innocent
I may know many things, I may be ignorant
Or I could ride with kings and conquer many lands
Or win this world at cards and let it slip my hands
I could be cannon food, destroyed a thousand times
Reborn as fortune's child to judge another's crimes
Or wear this pilgrim's cloak, or be a common thief
I've kept this single faith, I have but one belief

I still love you
I still want you
A thousand times the mysteries unfold themselves
Like galaxies in my head
On and on the mysteries unwind themselves
Eternities still unsaid
'Til you love me

Shape of My Heart
He deals the cards as a meditation
And those he plays never suspect
He doesn't play for the money he wins
He doesn't play for respect
He deals the cards to find the answer
The sacred geometry of chance
The hidden law of a probable outcome
The numbers lead a dance

I know that the spades are swords of a soldier
I know that the clubs are weapons of war
I know that diamonds mean money for this art
But that's not the shape of my heart

He may play the jack of diamonds
He may lay the queen of spades
He may conceal a king in his hand
While the memory of it fades

I know that the spades are swords of a soldier
I know that the clubs are weapons of war
I know that diamonds mean money for this art
But that's not the shape of my heart

And if I told you that I loved you
You'd maybe think there's something wrong
I'm not a man of too many faces
The mask I wear is one
Those who speak know nothing
And find out to their cost
Like those who curse their luck in too many places
And those who fear are lost

I know that the spades are swords of a soldier
I know that the clubs are weapons of war
I know that diamonds mean money for this art
But that's not the shape of my heart

I am #41!

#41


What Dave Matthews Song Are You?
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Spirited Away
I'm still feeling sick, but enough better to say I'm chipper. I've been laying around all day watching ER and Music videos. They showed two classic ER episodes today, the one from last season where there was the inquiry on Doctor Green about letting the criminal die in the elevator. Then they showed the one where Melucci and Chen kept paging Weaver but she lost her beeper, Corday was having baby blues and Luca and Abbey broke up (I think this was the 6th time they did lol)


I saw a few good movies over the past few days. Besides Italian Job, I watched St. Elmo's Fire the other day and Miyasaki's "Spirited Away" last night. Spirited Away was amazing. It's a fantasy/adventure story about a girl who moves to a new town and while she and her family explore an abandoned theme park weird stuff starts to happen, and she matures when she starts to work at a bathhouse for some, umm "non-human" guests. It's over two hours long, and it was made by probably the world's best animator, Hayao Miyazaki. It's a masterpiece


I suppose it is an acquired taste that few might not like; It's anime that hasn't been 'Americanized', and if you don't know a little bit about Japanese culture then you might question some of the things they do in the movie. Some of the characters are pretty grotesque, but remember: It's fantasy, so everything isn't supposed to be realistic.


A definite rental for everyone. If things are too bizarre for you in the movie, keep watching the whole thing. It'll be a fufilling experience. While you're watching, look out for some of the sub-themes of the movie: Greed and how children can be more wise than their parents sometimes.