Happy Summer

School is over. Vacation has begun. Well, sorta. I'm taking a summer school class at avc. Fundamentals of Music. It should be fun. But it's only Mondays and Wednesdays, so I'll still have plenty of time to be bored this summer. Well, besides my cousin coming from Maryland, camping at the beach and going on vacation with family. So I guess it will be a decent summer.

High school graduation was last night. It was a good time with Priscila and Marcea. We were being really mean, but it was really really funny. They're such bad influences... It was all fun until the seniors (I mean graduates) came over and started saying their goodbyes. I'll miss them, but I didn't know many of them personally. So there isn't going to be such a drastic change for me. But I congratulate those who made it through high school, and I can't wait to see all the amazing things they do with their lives.

Last Monday was a holiday, so I invited some friends over. Half of them didn't come, but the other half showed up anyway. I was really sick a few days before, so I didn't do such a good job entertaining at first. (Sorry about that guys. I know how bored you were.) But eventually we started having a good time. Josh and John challenged each other to a Tabasco sauce eating contest, which led to a huge mess of water on the rug. Thanks Josh. Oh wait, it was my mess, right? So yea, Josh lost... pretty bad. John didn't even flinch while Josh was over there choking. It was entertaining. Then we played Nerts. It's a really fast and sorta confusing card game. Then we played telephone pictionary, which is always fun. Oh, I also found out that Josh is a communist. I knew he was a fan of Russia, but I think that's a little extreme, no?

The Band Banquet was last Tuesday. I'd never been to one, and I'm really glad I went. The band video is great, thanks to Casey. I got an unexpected award. "Most Improved Freshman". It was pretty cool, and I'm honored to have been noticed by Mr. Mcq. And then I got a department award for Concert Band? I'm not really sure what that was, all I know is that my name was called twice. But the most exciting part of the night was when Mr. Mcq announced section leaders, drum majors, and next years field show. Danny Elfman. Fun? Congrats especially to John and Britney, our future section leaders. Also to everyone else who was chosen. It looks to be a good year next year, from the leaders we are getting.

Okay, I think I'm done. Now to get ready. Visiting family again! Like I always do. That's what you get when you have a high-functioning family that loves each other. Darn...

-Julia

School/Family/Band... School. What a nerd

Yep that's me! Sorry... Haven't blogged in a while. I was going to a few weekends ago, but I was with family. I was going to Friday, but I was gone. Then Sunday, but I was busy. Then Monday, but I couldn't. So, here I am.

A couple Saturday's ago I went to my family's monthly "taco night". It was great. It was small-ish, but nice. We talked about O.J. Simpson and Israel. Some other things too, but those were the fun topics... Then we spent the night and stayed for Mother's Day. I hope you all love your mothers because I sure love mine. We celebrated and ate food and we were all family-like. Good stuff.

Last weekend I drove up to Stockton for a cousin's graduation from the University of the Pacific. Longest ceremony ever... 6 hours. Insane. So boring... Some speaker came up and started talking about gorilla meat, and zoos, and the Ebola virus. But it was fun to support my cousin... Staying with my family is exhausting. The first night I didn't get to sleep until 2 am. And the second night I had to force myself away from the party and go to sleep at 11.

I finished Ender's Game a while ago so now I'm reading Shadow of the Hegemon. It's the third book in the series. Before it was Ender's Shadow. So this is following those characters back to Earth and Greece and Armenia and stuff. It's pretty cool. More political than the other ones, but I'm enjoying it thus far. But soon I have to start summer reading... Oh well.

Six more days of school! Wow. Graduation is the 30th. I don't know that many seniors, so I can't say I'm going to miss all of them. But I sure will miss a few of them. Mostly band people... Yea, all band people... Most of them have been really nice to me, and I appreciate that. I look up to them. Well, I look up to the ones that don't scare me (*ahem* Paul...)

Next year is... intimidating. I'm nervous. Band Camp, it's just going to be starting all over again. I'm going to do horribly and trip over myself. Yep, I can see it now. I hope I'm next to someone I like next year... I enjoyed my spot this year. 59 I think. I was next to Brittany, who was hilarious. And then next to Sheena which was cool. I was two away from Clark, which kinda freaked me out, but it wasn't that big of a deal. Parades though, I was right next to him. That was scary. He's funny though... sometimes... It's entertaining. So next year should be okay... We'll see. Change kinda scares me. I don't hate it. I'm just nervous for it.

And some other issues are the college classes. I don't think anyone is doing Clarinet Choir with me next year, which would suck. But I'll still do it anyways. And then Monday Concert Band, I don't think they'll let me in. I hope so, but I don't think so. I'll audition either way... But next year isn't looking so good for me.

And then I'm nervous about lunch too. It's a silly thing to be scared of, but I'm curious who I'll be with. This year most of my freshman friends didn't have my lunch. Which was okay because I had Josh and Sheena. And they were great and I got to know more people because I didn't have those freshmen to cling to. But next year... I don't know who I'll be with. And I have to figure out how to regulate my friends. With non-band friends, and all my different band friends. I don't know... I'm probably just making a big deal. And now I'm ranting, so I'll shut up.

I just came back from my last Clarinet Choir. It was sad, but it was a great lesson. It was just us 5 QH people, which was more comfortable, and enjoyable. Dr. Price is hilarious. He just goes off sometimes, but he's an amazing player, and I really learned a lot from him this past semester. Thanks all you guys that helped me get into that class.

Monday I played at LPAC with Clarinet Choir. We sounded okay, but the Concert Band was great, and the Wind Ensemble was good too. I really enjoyed listening to them. Then yesterday was our much less exciting concert with just QH. It was okay. Our concert band is icky, but the other bands sounded better. It wasn't as interesting or as fun as LPAC, in my opinion, but it was still something so it was good.

Finals week coming up... I have a tests in Geometry, Biology, Spanish and History... I think. Then band I don't think I have anything. And in English we're doing this really fun thing with Romeo and Juliet. We're picking scenes and performing them in class. It should be good. So I'll be busy. Well, busier with this than the nonsense my teachers gave me the rest of this year.

Well, I think that's all. Sorry, no pictures. Have a survivable week!

-Julia

Is he Canadian?

Yep. I just saw an episode of House, and this abnormally nice guy was one of his patients. So he asked blatantly if he was Canadian. It was good. Here's the clip. It's about 3 minutes into it or so. I only laughed because I know a few Canadians myself. And most of them are like that. Super nice, or just obnoxious.

I've started watching this show called Stargate Atlantis, on the Sci Fi channel. It's actually better than I thought. In this last episode, there was this whole thing with exploding tumors. Weird, but intriguing. This Scottish doctor- Dr. Carson- died. You could kinda see it coming, but it sucked. He had an accent. It was cool... Oh well, It's still a good show. I like Sheppard. Oh and Rodney. He's Canadian.

A couple Friday's ago some friends came over. Highlight of the night- We played this awesome game called telephone pictionary. If you've never played it you should. "Viva Mexico!" ... "What the heck is the giant thing below the U.S.A.?" Sorry Josh... My brother is not my fault... So yea, it was a good game.

Then the Sunday following, some of us went over to Sheena's house. It was kinda last minute, but it was fun. We played telephone pictionary, again. And it was good. During the game, we promptly started insulting each other. Mostly John and Sheena, but hey, it's healthy, right?

I've played almost 11 hours of Kingdom Hearts. When I admit that, I feel like I don't have a life. But I guess that's true to some extent. I finally got out of Mulan's world. I just missed the stupid exit. It took me like, 30 minutes to figure out what I was doing wrong. But then I went to Beauty and the Beast's Castle, then to Hercules. And then to the Disney Castle. And now I'm at the Pirates of the Caribbean part. I'm actually making progress, and it's exciting.

STAR testing is finally over. Now for all the rest it's AP testing and finals I guess. Good luck, by the way, to all those who are taking those tests. I'll be taking two next year, and I think I might actually be looking forward to it, in a weird geek-ish sort of way. AP Euro and AP Chem.

I finished Speak and all assignments associated. So I started re-reading this book called Ender's Game. The author is Orson Scott Card. It's sort of Science Fiction, but not completely so don't judge it without reading it first. There's some history thrown in there and a few military terms. I won't try to explain the plot, because it would take to long. It's good though. I like it a lot. Read it.

A couple of weekends ago I went with my mom and my sister to get her wedding dress fitted. Then after, we went to this Korean restaurant. It was so good, and it was so much food. There was this amazing soup and then these side dishes that were red and spicy. Then chicken and rice and sushi and fried vegetables and... a lot of food. Aww, so good. Then I came home and told my Korean friend about it. I showed him pictures, he called me white, and that was the end of that. Then last Saturday I went back with my sister to pick up her wedding dress and now it's officially hers. Four and a half months till wedding day!

Okay, I think that's all for now. Oh by the way, sorry about how long it took for me to blog again. I was tired, didn't have time, too much homework, you can pick your excuse.

-Julia