Three Days

Just one weekend away from the wedding. That's... nerve- racking. Tomorrow is the rehearsal lunch/ family lunch, then the bachelorette party. Then Sunday is a wanna- be Taco Night. Basically, whoever is in town from either Tyrel's or our side of the family is coming to have dinner at our house. That should be... interesting. It means I have to socialize. And I finally get to see Tyrel tonight. Next blog, I'll be writing about the wedding and posting pictures until no one will want to know anything else about this wedding.

School is fun. I like how it keeps me busy. Just not to the point where I only get an average of 4 hours of sleep a night. I know I shouldn't complain because I know some juniors and seniors that have it much worse than I do. But for the third week of sophomore year, I don't think it is supposed to be this difficult. My math homework alone takes me about 2 hours. I like Chemistry, and I'm actually caught up on the homework and classwork. I've found that I go through about 2-4 cds a night when I listen and work. For this reason, I've been slowly running out of cds to listen to. So far my homework soundtrack has been: Relient K, Vampire Weekend, Cold War Kids, Franz Ferdinand, Switchfoot, Coldplay, the soundtracks from Beauty and the Beast, Moulin Rouge, and Once, Bach, Death Cab for Cutie, MuteMath, Earthsuit, Snow Patrol and Five Iron Frenzy. I think that's pretty much it so far. Now I have another stack that my dad gave me, so that might last me for a while.

Last Tuesday night was my AV Fair Trolley shift for band. Marcea and I worked on the trolley my dad was driving from 9:30 pm to 12 am. We had a really good time, especially with Rachel S. and Kalen K. with us. Sometime around 11 they had a whole trolley full of strangers sing me happy birthday. Before they did some guy was like "You know, we really don't care." I appreciated that remark. I'm sure none of them did. I hope that doesn't happen again.

After we took Rachel home, Marcea, my dad and I went to Denny's to celebrate my birthday. Then we got home at 2 am, slept for 4 hours and went to school... That was fun. It sounds stupid, but I felt so special. I didn't think that many people actually remembered my birthday. I got a mess of baked goods. And a piece of gum from Mookie. Oh and Ryan's cookie from his lunch... Yea, those two were the most thoughtful presents I've ever gotten. All that is still on my counter. And I got a lot of really sweet cards, and some pretty funny ones too. So thank you, to anyone who got/ made me something. I really appreciate it, and it made me feel loved.

I'm going to be in Pep Band. That is, if I don't quit by the first football game. The rehearsal last week was really frustrating and I'd rather not go through that again. More exciting than that- I'm going to be in the Monday night band at avc. Wednesday's should be fun this semester too. I'll have pep band until Clarinet Choir starts. Then straight from there I'll go to my lessons. (My birthday gift from my parents this year.) I won't get home until 5- ish. Then homework until 11. Sounds good, right? I'm actually looking forward to it, as crazy as that sounds.

I want to read, but I don't have anytime. I still haven't finished Shadow Puppets, which I started during summer. And now I've inherited stacks upon stacks of books from my sister as she was packing up her room. I miss reading, and taking your mind off of everything else. Maybe I'll be able to finish that book in... November. Yea, I think I'm free sometime in November.

Tomorrow I get to see my cousin that just came back from Israel. And Sunday I get to see my other cousin who just came back from semester at sea. I can't wait to hear all of their stories. I have Chemistry to finish. And an English paper to write. And a toast to think up...

-Julia

More School, More Band

That almost sums up my life right now. I've been pretty busy, which is why I haven't blogged in a while. Sorry about that.

Band Camp was last week. It was much easier this year than it was last year. Just because it isn't all new to me. I'm number 28 in the field show between a sophomore named Kyoko and a senior, Kyle. At first I was disappointed with my spot, because I wasn't near anyone I was good friends with. But by the second or third day, I was content. I found out how hilarious Kyle was. I didn't ever talk to him before, but when we did start talking, we had some pretty good conversations. Whenever he says something I can elaborate on his comment, and then we just keep going for a while. I don't know many people I can do that with. He insults people a lot too, and it's rubbing off on me. I also have his tolerance level when it comes to marching band also. That's not necessarily a good thing, but at least it's entertaining. Sectionals with Dr. Price were great, because he helps so much with everything. (Speaking of Dr. Price, I just signed up for Clarinet Choir today.) I like this years field show music, but last years actual show. At least at this point.

Oh there's also a few new freshmen that Marcea and I knew from Hillview. Fortunately for us, they aren't too cool to talk to us yet. They've grown up a lot since the time we met them, and it's really cool to see them and QH now.

We just finished off the first week of school. My schedule:

1st- Alg 2/ Trig- Shy
2nd- Symphonic Band
3rd- English 10- Moreno
4th- AP Euro- Cassady
5th- Chemistry- Lebeau
6th- Spanish 2- Reyes
7th- PE Drill

I'm happy with most of my teachers. Really excited about Cassady, because my sister had him some 7 years ago. So he actually knows my name already. I hear Mrs. Shy is a great teacher, but now she just has to prove it to me. So far she's not doing so good.

Last Saturday was my sisters bridal shower. My cousin Jessica threw it at her families house. Allison got a ton of gifts, and two of her college friends helped me make the bouquet for the rehearsal dinner. If no one knows what that is (like I didn't)- the maid of honor makes a bouquet looking thing out of all the ribbons on the brides gifts. It's not really that important, but I was excited to do it. Wedding plans are coming along. Two weeks...

Marcea is having a quincenera and she asked me to be a dama. I was ecstatic when she told me about it. I'm so excited to get things started and help with things. We went dress shopping on Monday... It was actually kinda painful, being there for so long, but we got things accomplished so it's worth it. The other damas are Priscila and then two of my friends from elementary/ middle school.

At the end of last month my dad had the radio to KCRW, a station out of Santa Monica College. They were playing a piano piece and afterwards they were talking to the musician that played it. He's Chinese and his name was Lang-Lang. Then when we went to the recording of So You Think You Can Dance a few days later I saw a book with him on the cover. Then my tivo recorded an episode of "Great Performances" on PBS, and one of the guests was Lang- Lang. Then, sure enough, he played during the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. So in the period of 3 or 4 weeks, I've heard his name, and seen his face multiple times.

I'm going to go watch National Treasure 2 with my little brother now. Definitely a history geek movie. Oh well, it can be pretty obvious sometimes. Maybe I'll watch Stardust after that. I miss movies.

-Julia

The Beach (Beaches)

Jeez, it's almost 9 and I haven't eaten yet. The family and I have been at Newport beach since Thursday. We have some friends that live down here. It's really great. They have a house right on the beach. But it's not even a crowded beach. It's like they have their own little cove. So we've been relaxing and being a family and stuff. They have a son that lives in Switzerland with his family, and they're all down to visit. It's really cool listening to Tim talk about all of his stories. Like the wedding he went to in London, or the trip to Vienna. But another cool thing to hear is his two daughters talking to each other. They speak Swiss- German, along with some english. So I'll try to get some pictures up here later. However, this isn't my computer, so there's not much I can do.

We went camping last weeked, at yet another beach. My aunt and uncle came, as well as two of their daughters, Jessica and Ashely. Then their aunt, uncle and cousins came. Also their other cousin, Hailey (the one I consider my cousin) and her mom... I lost track... I think that's everyone. So the total was 16, I think. It was a great time. My cousin Haley from Maryland told us to use Reese's instead of chocolate with our smore's. I think my mom said it best- "It'll be hard to go back". It was really good... I went on at least 5 bike rides on a path along the beach. It was really refreshing. I think I'm addicted. I'll get some pictures of that trip up later too.

Mark went home on So You Think You Can Dance. It's depressing, but I'll get over myself soon enough. The finale is next Wednesday. And then no more of that show until next year... Too bad.

I have a cousin that's on semester at sea. I don't know if anyone cares, but her and her boyfriend started a blog. The only thing that I think any of you would want to see are the pictures of these great places. They've already been to Canada, Italy, Norway and Russia. Pretty cool stuff... So it's pseurotrip.blogspot.com.

I'm going to go play Nerts. (I know, obsessive.) Still waiting for dinner...

-Julia