I Built an X-Wing

My photos.

OK *sighs in relief* I know I just posted the "Assigned Thing", but that had to be done this weekend and I couldn't possibly leave it any longer due to the fact that I had good ideas for it and that it's due Sunday.
I am sorry to say that I have neglected this blog for a while due to a 4-day weekend last weekend and the weekend we just finished. Both times were very busy ones and I didn't bother to write stuff on here. I was working on a post on traveling before the 4-day weekend, but once the actual weekend rolled around I wasn't working on school stuff. I went to see Star Wars for the second time and went to the mall to look at Legos and stuff and I went to Barnes and Noble- I somehow managed to walk in and out of there without buying anything. I regret that now. But I'm going back over February break and will likely get the special-edition hardcover Star Wars book that's really pretty much a transcript of the movie plus some special freeze-frames in the middle on nice glossy pages. 
Other than all of that fun stuff, I survived the 3-day school week last week (there was standardized testing and for some reason we couldn't go to band), practiced trumpet, and built a prototype X-wing out of the Lego set I got for Christmas. This was perhaps the most monumental event of the weekend, as I did it in about 3 hours total and it was entirely of my own design. My dad came into my room while I was building, looked over my shoulder while I put on the finishing touches, and said, "Hmm... I think I know what I need to get you for your birthday now." I wonder what that meant. ;)
I also liked doing this because now I can say, "Yeah, I built an X-wing", all nonchalantly like they said, "Honey, I shrunk the kids" in that movie (which I happen to not remember). The minute I get home and finish my homework, I'm taking pictures of it on a nice white background. At the beginning of the year I promised myself I would use my mom's camera to take better pictures of stuff for this blog, so now you will be treated to high-quality, less grainy pictures off a Sony camera instead of the Photo Booth camera on my computer.
Ok, home now. Here are your photos.

From the side. 

From above.

The boarding ramp and spot for droids!

I'm not sure whether or not to be done with the building yet, because I have a lot of smooth plates and finishing pieces leftover and I want to make the whole thing as smooth as possible. I'll see what I can do. Like I said, it's hypothetical. There's not much space and it's not scaled to the Lego mini-figures, but if I had some more specialized pieces I could probably make it into a nice play set. The other problem is that the wings- s-foils- do move, but every time I try to move them I have to retract the wheels and the wings actually break off; the fastenings aren't too strong. 
Improvements needed, it's still pretty cool as far as viewing pleasure goes. For now I just move it around my room throughout the day as I need to, but after the first 2 weeks of February pass, I'll have break time from school during which I will build with Legos, finish this x-wing, listen to U2 and Coldplay, go back to the bookstore, and watch Episode VI of Star Wars since it'll be months until I see Episode VII again, as it doesn't come out on home video for quite a while. 
So, yes. I built an x-wing.

Assigned Thing

We as students in Honors English 9 have been assigned to "write a post that starts 'Dear ________' and fill in that person's name" (words of Mr. Parker, the teacher). Apparently it must be a person fairly famous in their field and someone that is somewhat related to the subject of our blog. Since I cannot think of anyone who is famous for being in a marching band, I write (and dedicate) this post to Daisy Ridley, who was cast as Rey in the recently-released Episode VII of Star Wars. Sorry. Can't think of anyone else.
Dear Daisy Ridley, 
I am not a significant person. I'm a high school girl with a blog for an English class and who loves band. 
I'm just another person that hasn't written you (or anyone) fan mail. One point of this letter to you is to tell you that there are lot of hidden fans out there; we just don't speak up. We are the introverts, the people without social media, the people that haven't bothered to reach out into the world, but, rather, observe it as it comes. This totally includes me, as I have an outdated flip phone that only texts and calls, and no desire to excessively peruse the Internet.
My being an introvert and a normal fear of mockery probably prevents me from reaching out to people, but I do have a group of great friends that couldn't be better for me. We are all in school band together. I play trumpet. My summer family is my high school marching band. The rest of my trumpet section very kindly got me started playing brass last summer. This December we're going as a band to Hawaii for the 75th anniversary Pearl Harbor Parade.
More stuff about me that's important in my life is music, horses, Star Wars (why I'm writing to you), Legos, and the like. Things I enjoy are marching band, Converse sneakers, aviator sunglasses, summer, sleep, good music, movies, shopping (not too much), and reading. I appreciate the upper-classmen in marching band and my band teacher for having infinite patience with me while I learned trumpet. I also look forward to hearing our high school's Varsity Jazz band play their awesome music. It's all great. I don't appreciate annoying guys, excessive loud blasts of noise out of the trombone section, and waking up early for school. Can't I just stay here in my soft bed and watch Star Wars?! Things I don't understand include hashtags, time, and the lack of girls that play brass instruments. Things that exist but aren't things include (but aren't limited to) Twinkies and Twinkie makers, Nose Basketball, Liquid Trust, and really, truly, completely playable drum t-shirts (see all of these here at Sparknotes). Things I learned today include multiple characteristics of mathematical functions, how NOT to entertain your classmates while trying to memorize poems (don't draw horses for them), and that Oscar Issac is from Guatemala (while looking at IMDb for you, actually).  

My constant conundrum when I go to buy a trumpet
All 3 trumpet pictures via http://www.cannonballmusic.com

Not that any of that is important. 

This is supposed to be about you. To be totally honest, I was a bit surprised but more than equally delighted with the fact that The Force Awakens had Rey as a key character and the first female protagonist we've seen in a highly-anticipated movie for ages. I think you did a good job as Rey. The only complaint I have about The Force Awakens is that the plot's the same as in the first movies, but that's nothing to do with you, that's my complaint to Disney. 
Anyhow.
I look up to you as a cool talented person, another actress we all know, and an integral part of the Star Wars family- cast, crew, fans, and all. 
All I really have to say to you is, you've broken into the film industry and will always be remembered as Rey. I wish you a successful rest of your film career. Perhaps someday I'll see you in the film industry if and/or when I possibly become a sound engineer, director of photography, set designer or the like. Etc. 
If you ever do happen to find this, you're amazing. And if not, that's OK. I'm simply yelling my thoughts into a void that will never be full. And it can stay empty. Just keep doing what you are- being a great actress.
Because like they say, it's the thought that counts. I've sent my thoughts out. Now it's simply up to you (and the online world) to find them.
--Emma
P.S. Jazz is a seriously cool middle name.

Dance Regionals- Part 2

I really kind of don't want to finish this story, as it happened so long ago, but I suppose I must and should, so as not to keep you waiting too far into this new year. At this point it was almost two months ago that I was dancing (where has the time gone???), but I haven't forgotten any of the details, really. I left off in Dance Regionals- Part 1 where I had figured out that I had recalled- meaning I had placed somewhere in the top six out of the fourteen in my competition- and was thus waiting for awards, which were supposed to be at 4 p.m. 
By the time I had found out about my recall, I think it was about 10 in the morning. I had danced at 7:30 or 8 and had been up since 4 a.m, but the excitement of the day kept me going. 
(Note: I've been composing this post for more than 2 months, too- I don't really want to finish it in great detail so I'll just prioritize and finish.)
I did recall, one of only 6 out of the 14 original competitors in my competition. Then we waited many hours for awards, which were initially delayed about an hour, but I did get an event sweatshirt while we were waiting, as well as folding a bunch of little origami stars. I didn't bother with homework until the next day, which was Saturday and thus the weekend. Awards started at about six in the evening and by the time I came out of there it was 7 or 8 o'clock and I had gotten second place. Yay. I got a nice white sash and a small vase made of irish crystal. 
Yep. It was cool, and I'm glad I got to do it. 

Irish stuff. In the middle: dance shoes. On the right: a spiral, or triskelle, as the ancient Celts called it. 

WAIT- guess what else is Irish? The popular 80's band U2! You may or may not believe that, but it's true. All of the original band members hail from Dublin, the capital of Ireland. One time my dad was in Ireland for a business trip and him and his colleagues were walking through Dublin looking for a good place to have dinner. One of his colleagues requested that they go to a place that was playing irish music- and he meant the kind that we dance to (traditional), not stuff like U2. And so on they walked. Sometime soon after that they walked up to a pub that was playing U2. My dad, who was the only one in the group that knew U2 was Irish, said, "Hey- there's some Irish music!" He told us that he said it jokingly, but even then he got some weird stares from his co-workers. So, yeah. There's your random factoid of the day. And yes, I got second place at dance regionals this year. 8)
Goodbye. :)

New Posts: Fictional Equine Champions + Champion #1

Over Christmas break, while I was stuck at home with my mild sickness, I had the idea of drawing the horses from all the stories I've written- most of them realistic fiction and fantasy. Yes, I'm a fan of writing stories. I've done NaNoWriMo twice now- this year and last year- each time with a different subject. I've also done random story writing based on random things during the regular year. Has any of this writing been really good? No!! But what my stories DO yield are some beautiful, interesting, insert-other-positive-adjective-here horses, usually the main subject or champion of the story! So I did draw these horses (although I didn't draw them all), and now I'm making a series out of it. I'm calling it Fictional Equine Champions (equines are horses, for all of you that don't know that) and each champion's post will include some background info and their picture. Yeah! 

Fictional Equine Champion #1: CrowntheSun

Breed: Arabian [purebred]

Type: Egyptian Arabian

Color: Golden palomino with medium-brown hooves and amber-colored eyes

From the story: My unnamed, unfinished NaNoWriMo novel from last year

Origin of name: I believe I got the idea from a picture of a horse silhouetted against the setting sun, along with the outline of a crown above it. 

Accomplishments: Winner of a U.S. National Futurity Yearling's competition (a competition to determine which horse will likely sire the most accurate foals, to be shown in-hand); also a successful national-level competitor in Park/Saddle-seat classes, in which the horse performs a high-stepping gait much like those seen in Tennessee Walking Horses.

Sired: CrowntheWind, Golden Sands IV (roughly Al-ramal Aldhahabi in Arabic), and SunFire

CrowntheSun- art by me.

Yep. So there you have the first Fictional Equine Champion! I'll try to do these weekly, or if not that much then every other week or so. It'll probably be less once we move into the spring months because I've got a lot to do. First our band program holds the biggest fundraiser of the year- a Valentine's Day dance- and we students are expected to help out with that. And no, I'm not asking anyone to go to it with me! I don't especially like dances but this one is extremely important because of the money it brings in to fund our band classes. Then, in March, we've got solo & ensemble competitions for band. I'm not sure if we have to travel or not for that, but either way it'll be busy. As we move into late spring, the marching season gears up to start (yay!), we have our spring concerts, and it's time for year-long finals! Plus I have to take the AP test this year for geography. :l So all in all, I'll be busy. But that's OK. I WILL SURVIVE!!! But moving on from the stressed-out schedule rant, that concludes the first Fictional Equine Champion post. Next I will tell you 2 pieces of news: 1. I have a pending schedule change request in which I will move from a visual arts class into jazz band! Fun. I hope it works. 2. Before Christmas break, all the staff members of the band department vacated their offices and disappeared off to Chicago for the Midwest Band & Orchestra convention, leaving us at home to try out the concept of chamber music (we did not succeed, unfortunately; rather, we fought and couldn't decide what to play. It was a relief when Mr. Taylor came back). Whilst in Chicago, Mr. Taylor talked with Fred J. Miller Inc, the company responsible for designing and bringing into existence our marching uniforms. This time around, they designed costumes for our color guard. At this point it's just a rough draft, but I think it looks pretty good (It pretty much matches our uniforms in the school colors). 

Yes. That is what I've been doing recently. 'Bye.

Objectives for the Holidays + Post-Christmas

I have 3 objectives for every school holiday:
1. Do not turn into a salty stressball.
2. Do not get sick.
3. In the midst of 1 and 2, enjoy the holiday.
This is fairly easy considering that we get two school-free weeks off, but also fairly hard because of the fact that those two weeks are soured by bits of homework. That's a small part of it, though.
To help myself with #1,  I didn't do much- in fact, any- homework before Christmas Day. I was also kind of sick before Christmas, so that wasn't fun and I didn't feel like doing much. I did draw a lot of nice horses, though:

Digital art creds to me.

He's a mulberry grey roan. I tried to make him more roaned, but since computers have nowhere near the blending capabilities of drawing pencils, I made it work with the tiniest size of digital brush I had. Compare his color roughly to the horse below. That's him in real life, pretty much. 

Mulberry grey is kinda like this guy's color....
www.prehorse.info

The next objective was to enjoy the holiday, which I did! I got a nice lot of stuff this year, including the Breyer models of both Secretariat and American Pharaoh! Wow, two Triple Crown winners in one Christmas. That's pretty cool. I also got a great Lego set from my dad- the Blue Power Jet from Lego's Creator line. It's actually a 3-in-one set, so you can make not only the plane but also a helicopter and speedboat/yacht. I'm pretty sure that the Creator 3-in-one sets are my favorites (other than the themed sets, like Star Wars) because they're dynamic and flexible! I like the other sets but it's nice to get three models in one set, and you can pick your favorites out of the three. 

We also got some great family presents. One is the new comic book from Simon's Cat, a popular Youtube channel of videos that are animated by hand about a funny cat that gets into all sorts of trouble (want to watch Simon's Cat? Search it on Youtube). The second present is a Bluetooth speaker from Bose that we use for watching movies and listening to music off iTunes on our family computer. It's really nice and we listened to Christmas music almost every day on it, as we were allowed to open it a bit early for our listening pleasure. The third family present is a really cool game called Forbidden Island. I'd seen it in the miscellaneous toy catalogs that we get every so often, and it looked really fun, so I was glad that we finally got it! It did turn out to be really fun and a good challenge. What happens in the game is that you're on Forbidden Island, which was a secret retreat of an ancient empire. They had the ability to control the four elements- earth, fire, water, and air- with four coveted treasures. You're working as a team with the other players to try and save the treasures- before the island sinks. The ancient empire designed the island to sink in case any intruders came to claim the treasures. So the island sinks and floods with every turn every player takes. It's a great challenge- we've only won it once- but it's quite fun. I recommend it- check out Gamewright to see Forbidden Island and the other games they offer.

Other than get awesome toys for Christmas, I tuned into the LA Times on New Year's and watched the first part of the 127th Rose Parade! For those of you who lost that tradition in your families, the Rose Parade is pretty much a New Year's Day parade like the Thanksgiving Day parade, although the Rose Parade accompanies the Rose Bowl for college football. It's in Pasadena and goes down Orange Grove and Colorado Boulevards- for 5 MILES. If you think about this from a marching band's point of view, that is SO LONG... and it's not cold in California in January. Just kind of in the mid-sixties. Which is nice, although, with band uniforms? And a five-mile parade route? And all the chaos of the biggest, most famous parade in the COUNTRY? Yeah, not so much. Despite all that, it was fun to watch! There were some great bands, impressive floats, and amazing horses. 

Yay, large band!
finotoday.com

The super-impressive Disney float, complete with the Millennium Falcon on the back! My favorite float of the bunch.
www.univision.com

Unfortunately it's too far away for us to take a family trip to go see it live, so I have to make do with seeing it on the screen. But I have hopes that someday we'll at least try to get into this parade, as Mr. Hughes, the organizer of our band department, sent out a message on New Year's Day and he said: "Happy New Year's to all the band kids! Is anyone watching the Rose Parade? Do you think we should apply to be in this parade sometime?" And I was like, YES YES YES YES YES YES YES! It would certainly be a fun thing to do. 

That same day, we went to see the new episode of Star Wars. At first (meaning before Christmas), I had been hesitant, sure that Disney had spoiled Star Wars, but I was certainly in for a surprise. It was mainly my dad that took us, who had already seen it twice who told us to see it... and at first I was skeptical. But then I saw it. AND I LOVED IT. SO MUCH! It was really great. If you haven't seen it and are a Star Wars fan, then I can now tell you truthfully: the Force is strong with that movie. I won't say anything more here about the story/plot, in case there are any of you that haven't seen it yet. However, if you have seen it, may I recommend this article from Sparknote's Sparklife. It answers some good questions the folks over at Sparknotes had and brings up some good points. Yep. I already want to see it again. It was that good! So I actually added some more Lego sets to my list from the Star Wars line. Hopefully I can earn some of my own money to buy them because I do have a Hawaii trip to pay for this year. 

That wrapped up my Christmas vacation. At this point I had been over my sickness for a while, and I wasn't at all happy to go back to school, but I hadn't seen my friends for quite a while and I was happy to see them. Also, on Monday or Tuesday, Breyer released some new models for 2016- including one on a mold that had been "locked in the vault" since 2011. "Locked in the vault" means that Breyer didn't use that mold since 2011. This creates larger demand for the models made on the mold. I'm glad it's out of the vault now because it's a great mold- a trotting Arabian mare with Egyptian type looks. The model they made was a portrait model of Rhapsody in Black- a top Arabian mare. Apparently she's the mother of several top honor winners in the world of Arabians, according to the Breyer website. 
So now, what with Christmas being over, I'm thinking about doing homework and surviving/passing my classes until summer and the start of the marching season!!!

What's up for you this year?

*P.S/update/whatever:* I'm changing my school schedule so that I can be in jazz band, yay! 8)