Busy (But Good) Times

I, along with the rest of the band department, am heading into a busy time. A week from last Friday (this Friday, which is now tomorrow), we're hosting our biggest fundraiser of the year- a Valentine's Day dance. It's not uncommon for us to raise enough money to sustain the band and (partly) percussion program for the whole year- about $20,000. I helped with set up today. My dad's taking pictures and my mom's managing the student volunteers. This year we have a major fundraising push because of Hawaii (which is 10 and a half months away!!!!), so we're hoping for a good turnout. It'll be a good benefit event if all goes as planned.
After that, we have a recruiting drive for the entire band program grades 6-12 called Band-A-Palooza after February break, which is where each section of band plays music with all the ensembles below it. So that means we're playing with the 8th grade band, 7th grade band, and 6th grade band. Plus the Wind Ensemble plays a more complex song with us. It's a nighttime concert and a lot of the kids from the elementary schools come and see if they want to be in band. Plus we're a bit... inspirational... to the younger bands. 
With the Wind Ensemble we're playing Esprit de Corps, a Grade 5 (the scale goes up to Grade 6) piece that's quite fun to play even though I'm not perfect at it. I'm pretty sure that will be the premier part of the evening, so we're working at it. 
After that, auditions for Wind Ensemble are due. I am trying out. I'm also going to see about trying out for Junior Varsity Jazz, the precursor to Varsity Jazz. If all goes well, I'll be in both Wind Ensemble and JV jazz. :) I'm practicing every night to have a good chance of getting in to both of these. 
After those tryouts have passed and we all know if we succeeded or not, we have region solo & ensemble in March. I'm also doing a bunch of stuff for St. Patrick's Day with dance, so I'll have band and dance to practice. 
We have a band concert in there somewhere. An early spring concert. 
Come April, we have our last or second-to-last concert.
In May, the concert band season comes to an end. I think we have a very-end-of-year concert for the rest of the school. On Friday the 13th of May, I take the AP Human Geography test. I know, bad day for it. 
In the 3 days of school we have in June, we have beginner's camp for marching band, although we all go anyway just for the fun of it. 
Then it's MARCHING BAND SEASON!!!!!!!!
All in all, the next year will be very busy and planned out plus I have to take driver's ed in the summer. 8(

Life.
trompete.ru

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone, although I find little to actually celebrate in the holiday other than family and close friends. Whatever, it's all good. :)

Travels

NOTE: THIS IS GOING TO BE A REEAALLLY LONG POST ABOUT TRAVELING SO IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ A LOT THEN JUST SKIM THROUGH IT.
Like many people my age, I like and appreciate traveling. Unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to do very much of it in my lifetime, although things like band trips help. Then you get to leave the 48 contiguous United States for the first time and vacation on a tropical island with your family, the marching band. 
Shocking fact (for some of you): I have never been outside something like an 800-mile radius from where I live. That encompasses pretty much the west coast of the U.S. and nothing else. However, there are a lot of good things to see within that area and I've been to a lot of them. Here are some that I recommend to any traveling family:
McCall, Idaho
What it is: a small vacation/resort town built around beautiful and big Payette Lake, which accommodates motorboats, sailboats, and has a large, tidy marina. They also have a nice sandy beach area for swimmers. You can only go out about 8 yards into the water- the rest of the lake is for boats- but it feels nice in the summer. The lake's surrounded by montane forest with nicely smoky air in the summer. There are a few big mountain ranges around, but right near the lake you're in a nice valley with some rolling hills instead.
Where it is: Idaho, USA, about 100 miles above Boise
What's nice about it: The lake is really beautiful and it's a hopping resort town in the summer, so it's fun to roam around town and meet the other people that are vacationing there. There are a good few lakeside condos for rent right on the lake's shores (although those are ALWAYS reserved), and it's nicely designed to be a tourist destination. If you can't get one of the lakeside condos, there are also campgrounds for both tents and trailers just out of town, or there are nice vacation homes for rent. There are also a multitude of good restaurants and cafés. If you go over 4th of July weekend, be sure to get down to the beach on the night of July 4th to watch the huge fireworks display they do. Additionally, there's no shortage of rentals available, including but not limited to kayaks, canoes, mountain bikes, horses for trail rides, etc. There are also plenty of hiking trails outside the more built-up part of town. In short, you won't be bored here.
What's no so great: As most resort towns do, it gets super packed around the 4th of July and you have to drive awhile to get there. I believe it took us about 4 or 5 hours to get there from Boise, with several stops for gas along the way. It kind of depends on how fast you drive and how often you stop. Be prepared to wait in restaurants and cafés, especially during the evening rush, and always have a back-up plan in case something you want to do gets booked out before you get there or something else comes up. Also: CAUTION, boat owners! On the weekend of the 4th it gets pretty rough out there on the lake, and the lake police tow in many, many boats with unruly drivers. WATCH. YOUR. SURROUNDINGS. Resort town + crazy holiday = caution. That goes for anyone, really, be it with fireworks, boats, or televisions (more later on that). 
How my trip went: It was really great, other than the fact that we were sharing a four-bedroom, three-bathroom, too-small vacation home with about 16 other people. It was for a family reunion with my dad's side of the family. That being said, that vacation home was very nice and would have been really great without all the people in it. We weren't very organized, so we spent a good amount of our time sitting in various spots around the kitchen finishing breakfast and debating what to do. Also, we were the last ones of the family to get there and since our family all drove separately the garage was given to the first people to get there. We had to park in the street. I also have complaints about the mud room. I brought about 3 pairs of shoes on this trip- like everyone else- and the mud room was literally five feet square, and there wasn't a shoe rack. There was no point putting my shoes in the garage mudroom/washroom, because our car wasn't in there. Much to my dismay, the shoes in the front mudroom got mixed up and scrambled every time someone decided to come in or out, plus my cousins aren't very tidy due to their young ages. I ended up keeping all 3 pairs of shoes in my duffel bag, which was my whole suitcase during the trip. Also, the bathroom use was unevenly distributed: 5 people had the upstairs one, 4 people had the back downstairs one, and the other 9 of us rotated between the remaining main bathroom. But it was fun other than that! We would go do stuff around town in the morning hours and then come back for lunch and the afternoon. Some of the stuff we did in the mornings included a trip down to the lake beach to swim and a hike on a trail right outside of town. On 4th of July night we went to see the huge fireworks display. In the afternoons we kids would watch movies on the TV (be careful with how much you watch), play foosball on the table upstairs, and play outside in the backyard or in the spot next to the house on the mini-playground thing. For dinner we'd eat on the back patio (it was nice and warm well into the night), serve dessert, and then either go back inside or make liberal use of the hot tub on the patio. We were lucky with the weather too.
What to learn from my trip: 
Get a space big enough for your whole group.
Be prepared for delays, backed-up stuff, etc. especially if you go over a holiday.
Have a pretty solid plan. 
Schedule in time for driving.
Have fun with it!

Some of the beautiful scenery you'll see outside of town. Creds to my dad for taking this photo.

The waterfront + marina.
dmbrealtynetwork.com

Utah's 5 National Parks:
I have been to all five of these, although I don't remember going to Canyonlands because I was really young- like, 2 or 3. 
The one I remember best is Bryce Canyon because we've taken several camping trips there in the recent past. This one's pretty well known, as it's a photographer's heaven and it's one of the things people go see when they do the one-four-day-weekend-all-five-national-parks tour thingy. (Hint hint: I don't recommend doing that because you'll only have a tiny bit of time to spend at each park. NOT a good idea.) 
Where it is: Southern Utah. I think it's about 5 or 6 hours from Salt Lake City. 
What's nice about it: The entire park, of course, is cool for it's interesting displays of geology! But in terms of traveling there, the facilities are nice. The campgrounds accommodate both tents and trailers with a 10:00 pm no-generators time. There are bathrooms (not showers, those are elsewhere) in the campgrounds and it's pretty quiet, somewhat sheltered by huge pine trees. Each campsite has a picnic table, fire pit, and space for 1 or 2 4-person tents. Given that it's also close to the other 5 national parks you could easily go visit the other parks on the way in or on the way back.
What's not so great: You have to drive to one of the lodges for the showers, and a lot of the trails in the canyon itself are also super steep and difficult to hike if you're not an advanced hiker. Also, some people leave lights and stuff like their radios on for most of the night, so be prepared to be bothered by that. Additionally: DO NOT take a trip here during the monsoon season, which is early August! You'll get rained out every night when you go outside to cook dinner over the fire 'cause the rain hits around 4 or 5 every evening. I'd recommend July or June instead- then it wouldn't be as ridiculously hot either. The only other not-so-great thing is that in the summer it's always thronged with foreigners- meaning not Americans- and they try to ask you questions and of course since I don't speak Chinese-French-Spanish-Korean-WHATEVER, it gets a bit bothersome. Just try your best to help your fellow campers out as much as you can.
How my trip(s) went: I've taken several different trips here, all of them camping in a tent, and it was fun. Other than that one year when we managed to catch the monsoon rains and everything was pretty much permanently soaked, all our trips have been great. It's a bit cold in the morning, but that's to be expected. Nice red rocks down there. Very pretty, geologically speaking.
What to learn from my trip:
Always have a road map, especially if you haven't driven there before. (GPS's DO NOT COUNT!!! They'll take you on the longer route than is necessary.)
Go in the middle of the summer, when it's not raining all the time.
Don't try to hike all the trails unless you're a high-intensity trail runner or something; and also, don't try to see all 5 parks in one weekend. 
Be ready for foreigners, campfires, noisy generators, lots of people, etc.
If you've never been camping before, practice in your yard first and get advice from an experienced camper. (that really goes for any camping trip but whatever.) Also know how to set up your tent before you go. :)

Looking out/into the canyon.
www.vegas-online.de

Denver/Colorado Springs, Colorado
Where it is: Central/Northern/Western Colorado (I'm not sure exactly. Look on a map.)
What's nice about it: As the capital of Colorado, Denver and the surrounding areas (ex. Colorado Springs) have been built up pretty intensely but they have a lot of nice green space too. They have a nice downtown in Denver with offices for things like the Denver Post, shops and stores, a semi open-air mall, and more parking space than you could ever need. There's also a very nice street in front of the semi-open air mall that's open only to pedestrians and public transit, so you can walk and shop without having to be concerned about traffic and getting hit by cars while you carry your purchases back to your car! The other nice thing is the Park Meadows Center, in Lone Tree, which is a big, very nicely put together mall that has 2 of my favorite stores in it- Lego and American Girl! I highly recommend this mall to anyone looking to shop, or even just look around at clothes and Legos and stuff. Good restaurants there, too. I've been to Denver for the same dance competition for the past 2 years, and both times we went to this mall to shop and look at stuff. I think it's my favorite attraction of the Denver metro area. The other stuff I can recommend in Colorado is elsewhere. First I'd say, go ride the Pike's Peak Cog Railway. It takes you up the mountain to about 14,000 feet. They have a nice gift shop both at the bottom and the top, the trains are nice, and you can see all the way to Kansas once you get to the top. It's a long ride, so plan ahead, and it's expensive. Book your tickets well in advance because every train gets full. If you finance your trip, both in time and money, you'll be fine. If you do go, go in the summer because it's closed in the winter due to all the snow. And there's some snow on the summit year round, so don't wear summer clothes up there no matter how summery it may seem at the base. There are also a lot of good restaurants, most of them at the previously-mentioned mall, but my favorite one other than there is a small (emphasis on the small factor) pizzeria outside of Denver, in Old Colorado City (an outer part of Colorado Springs), called Pizzeria Rustica. It's very small and narrow, just a little shop in a row. It gets busy at dinner time and there aren't many tables, but it's worth waiting for because their pizza and appetizers are authentic and amazingly good. We also found a little independent Mexican place in Colorado Springs in a tiny strip mall that was actually surprisingly good because it was run by a Mexican family. Keep an eye out for things like that on any trip you take- you may strike gold!
What's not so nice: There are a TON of people and cars in the urban areas of Denver, causing a lot of clogs and congestion especially at rush hour, as with most urban areas. There aren't many super nice hotels outside of downtown, which are expensive, so create an account on Trip Advisor and look up other places you can stay (this past summer, we stayed in an apartment-thingy that these people had built off their house). Parking in downtown is also TERRIBLE. Get everywhere early so you can get the best space possible. The area's crowded. Etc. It IS a city, after all.
How my trip went: Both years that we went, I had a great time. It was fun for me, both for the dance competition, the shopping, and the fact that it was travel, which we hardly ever do. Overall it was just the kind of thing you can only describe with the word, "Great". 
What to learn from my trip: Pack and plan efficiently. Be ready for changes and/or delays due to weather, traffic, or other weird factors. Look for unexpected good things (ex. hidden restaurants). 

The downtown Denver cityscape.
www.mccormickbarstow.com

Places I want to visit, worldwide

• the British Isles
• France
• Hawaii
• Monaco
• Morocco
• California
• Kentucky
• Australia
• New Zealand
• the Caribbean 
• Italy
• Maldives
• Dubai

Downtown Dublin
www.curbfreewithcorylee.com

Countryside Ireland
theodysseyonline.com

Someday I will get to these places. As you may have guessed from the pictures of Ireland, the British Isles are one of my first priorities, because they fascinate me. Plus I can do a pretty good Irish accent, so I'd probably fit right in. 

Dubai and Monaco follow as the next places I want to go.

High-rises of Dubai
www.suitcasesandsippycups.com

Monaco + expensive yachts
www.slideshare.net

I'm not sure why I'm doing this post, perhaps because I wish for a trip of some kind right now. While drafting this I was sitting in my computer tech classroom listening to The Police (a popular 70's band) on Pandora and writing this, having finished everything else. My brain was pretty much shutting down for the weekend, and it isn't really willing to absorb or process much information.

I wish for summer.

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)