Band and Choir Concerts

Blog BOOM: The Band and Choir Concerts

Monday and Tuesday, 12/7 & 12/8, were very long days.

Monday night was the band concert. I had to be there the entire day because of my Chemistry class in the morning and the Piano class in the afternoon. Thing was, that morning I had forgotten my concert attire for the concert... So Taka quickly took me home to change right after Piano--

During Chemistry, it finally sunk in with Susan Surrandon that I was leaving on January 4th for Santa Cruz, permanently. There were a few dozen hugs here and there. She promises to keep in contact, thanks to the modern technology we have. She also promised to BLOG more often, starting when I leave. She was so sad though that "Susan Surrandon" won't be tagged in my blogs for awhile... That'll just be more work on my part. XD

During Piano, King and I had to do a duet on the upright. Heidi had noticed the one or two flubs on my end but she still passed us. After class, I was just fooling around on the computer, playing notes I remembered from the Romantic piece I did, the Tchaikovsky waltz, when Heidi had interrupted asking what piece it was. When I told her it was my Romantic piece, she told me that I should replay it on Final... Like I didn't already have enough to do...

--After we went on our trips home to change, Taka, King, and I went back to ARC to meet up with some Band folk. Kaitlyn ended up having to save Sarah

After the concert, Taka, King, Abril, Jacob, and I ended up going to Denny's, like last concert. Denny's this night wasn't as packed, not like after the Choir concerts. There were only a few people in Band, like Dictator Roze and Sergeant Pepper, Kevin, who was the percussionist in Choir and stole my timpani parts, and a few other people.

That table was crowded though. I ended up at the end of the table with minimal leg room. Then Lyle and Kevina arrived and sat at a nearby table, so I took that as incentive to move to that table for more legroom. I easily forget how conversations with gay guys usually end up. I tried changing subjects from transsexual teenage daughters to Scooby-Doo with no success, but I ended up being Kevina's father, with Lyle as the mom... XD

Tuesday was Choir concert day, which also ended up being an extremely long day.

The day started out suckish because of how lousy we started rehearsing for the Choir concert. I knew that I did not look at the older music to remember the words. I kinda believed that seeing as I started to sing a part of Battle of Jericho early, it got the loud tenor next to me to sing it, which snowballed to the point where it confused the majority of the Choir. Then I had to study for a Statistics test I had to do. I want to say I did pretty good on it, but as far as the tests went, that one seemed the hardest. At least Justin Pratt's doughnuts made it the feeling a little better. XD

After I dressed into my tuxedo in the ARC bathroom, I walked over to the theater once more for a second rehearsal. This rehearsal was basically for Ellen DeGeneres's practice on the two pieces she plays french horn on. This rehearsal went a little better, but it was still far from expectations.

After rehearsal, most of the Choir sat in the reserved seats in the back of the theater. JLyn arrived in tears just a few minutes later, freaking out about how Dr. Hughes was going to fail her for completely skipping rehearsal. Honestly, if someone is affected by being late that much, I think a decent human being would let it slide. Still, I thought it was a very over the top reaction. Sensitivity is fine, but only in doses.

There turned out to be limited seats, so half of the Choir had to sit in the aisles to give up their seats for the paying customers.

Most of the concert seemed okay. I know the all mens piece could've been loads better. The only time I ever spent on that piece was during the two rehearsals before the concert. Sorry, but listening for the women only piece, I could say the same thing only because there was no energy, no energy for a hyped up Xmas song... I was worried most about the Io V'amo piece, because that one was my favorite. I think this was why Dr. Hughes assigned me to be part of the octet for that piece. I remember Justin Vaughn commented on the octet after the concert, but only saying that it was cute because I was singing it...

The collective pieces, Alleluia, In Remembrance, and Betelehemu, sounded pretty good. Pratt stood next to me for the Alleluia piece, which helped because I was able to base my notes off of him instead of the loud tenor on my other side.

In Remembrance was really good. I think the only reason it was any good, sorry to say, was because of Dr. Hughes's introduction. He dedicated the performance of this song to Bert, a tenor that was part of the Choir who passed away recently due to cancer. During his introduction, I could solemnly tell that he was going to cry, only because he said the words, "I'm going to make this brief." It never turns out brief if you start with that. I looked over at Heidi, who was trying to stare at her music because she also knew of the tears welling up in Dr. Hughes's eyes. As he turned to us, trying to continue his introduction, I could hear just about a hundred sniffles all around me. What I did was I smiled and kept composure, just to try and catch Dr. Hughes's attention so that he could focus a little more. I believe the piece went extremely well because of the organic emotion that was now released because of the teary intro.

Betelehemu was just a breeze, even more for me because I faked singing it while I was playing the tambourine. I messed up on one of the beginning rolls and ended up doing alternating triplets and rolls to make up for that mistake.

So, overall, the concert went pretty smoothly, according to the many audience members I saw while I was looking for JT. While he was searching for his lost keys and music, I managed to change into my street clothes. JT drove me, Jordan the Mormon, Connie from Frisbee, and Shae. Jordan ended up shifting gears for JT while he drove with his foot from the back seat. I only encouraged it because I took off his shoe.

Pratt had sat with Taka, Abril, and King, so I sat next to him. He ended up talking about how cute one of the guys, "Dug", from Choir was. Kevin, the percussionist from the night before, also sat near us. Pratt had commented that he was freaked out by Kevin, apparently Kevin was actively flirting with him. He asked if Kevin realized what his orientation was, but just as he said that Kevin yelled out to Pratt, "Hey why don't you come over here big boy!" That answers that question...

Since the Choir had increased in size, the amount of people there increased as well. Kaity, our friend from Italian and recent member of the Choir, was there, hugs and all. Literally. All she was that night was a source of many hugs. Well, I'm not annoyed that she gives out hugs, on the contrary I'm glad because that means everyone else will expect less hugs from me, which apparently has grown to be my reputation as of late. What kinda annoyed me was the number of hugs she gave me. 32. Not even joking. That night had totaled up to 32. The most I noticed she gave anyone else was like 2 or 3. JT's hugs ended up being like 6 or 7 that night at Denny's. It just got me puzzled. It's this and other reasons that make me want to boycott hugs for awhile... XD

And yeah. Afterward, JT took me home. It was overall a pretty good couple of nights. C:

The Everything Pizza, Jim the Biker, and The Legend of Zelda Final Battle

Blog No. 7: This Week in Summary

Wednesday, 12/2, after Piano, Taylor decided to do something. I didn't know what it was, but I was being kidnapped anyway.

Taylor, Abril, and I ended up going to the nearby Little Caesar's where Taylor's sister was working. I should have predicted it because Taylor had mentioned over Messenger that he had calculated the most expensive pizza one could get there and that he wanted to get one. He beckoned her over to take our order, but he ended up going through the employee door with a set of his own keys.

I know he works at the Little Caesar's franchise, but it got me thinking what other keys he might have... It got me thinking about other places he might have keys to.

What Taylor Might Have Keys To List:

1. The wardrobe door to Narnia.
2. A Volkswagon Scirocco
3. A secret stash of Morgan Freeman memorabilia.
4. The moon.
5. The Coldplay song, "Doors."
6. The Batmobile.
7. The Castle Church in Wittenburg. (The 95 Theses)
8. Kingdom Hearts.

Anyways, twelve minutes later, Taylor's sister comes out with this square pizza completely covered with toppings. Deep dish, extra sauce, extra cheese, extra pepperoni, ham, pineapple, beef, jalapeño, bell pepper, olive, onion, and mushroom pizza, or, for those who don't like long names, the Everything Pizza. He had taken so many pictures with his phone of this pizza and the process you almost have to wonder if he is a little bit too obsessive with pizza... But of course, it's pizza's job to be awesome.

A while later, we walked to this secluded area [details withheld] where we decided to eat the pizza...

... Where Taylor proceeded to take more pictures of this divine creation. XD

Both Taylor and Abril had two pieces and I was struggling with the one. It was so good though. Every taste of the Everything Pizza had a different taste to it. It's like how he says, "If you taste something you don't like, there's plenty of other toppings to make up for it!"

On Thursday, 12/3, I noticed that I have had been with Taka for the greater portion of that day.

I had called her up in the morning after sleeping in to pick me up, then we went to McDonald's for breakfast, hung out in the cafeteria, had Choir, and headed back to the cafeteria where we stayed for a few hours. Even though she went to her English class and I skipped my Stats class, she left behind her laptop where I used it to experiment with Tumblr. Then, after her class, we get a call from a random Choir person, saying that she had Taka's phone. Taka dragged me along with her to retrieve it, partly because the person called my phone, partly because she was afraid that it was the alto in Choir that made the alto section look bad. I wouldn't blame her. When we rode down that street to her place, we could feel an odd tension as a few dozen people looked at us. That was one ghetto street... Then Taka and I picked up Yowty at her place, to return back to ARC to drop me off and pick King up.

When I got back on campus, I didn't know what to do. I ended up going to the music rooms where I practiced for my final in Piano. I also tried texting Mama Compton to see where she was. Apparently she was running late, so she couldn't see me before class. What I ended up doing was walking to Davies Hall, hide from the asian lady asking for donations while ordering a coffee at the kiosk, and sat down to wait outside Mama Compton's classroom to wait for her hug. While I was waiting, I realized that I wasn't going to be able to go to Italian all of next week, seeing as Tuesday there was the Choir concert at 7:30 and then the trip to Santa Cruz for the Winter Orientation for Friday. This wouldn't be a problem if I didn't have to do an Italian presentation on something Italian on Thursday. I told Mama Compton this and she was all, "I had the same thing happen when I was in sign language class. I ended up going to that class in my choir dress and leaving early!" Which might be my case if I have to do the presentation on Tuesday instead of Thursday... Not in a dress, but a tuxedo. XD

After Italian, I walked over to the new gym in the freezing cold to wait for Dustin to get out of class. I asked him to take me home because my mom wasn't able to make it out there. Dustin was kind enough to say yes. C:

In the car, he had put on an Owl City CD, which I told him I just got. He told me a couple of the songs I should listen to, or rather which ones were his favorites. Owl City seems to be a nice and mellow song to drive home to after a long day of school. He had also offered to take me to his place instead of going home, which I would've if only I didn't have to babysit or practice my duet the next day...

So, Dustin and I ventured to a Starbucks, where I tried a seasonal caramel flavored drink and Dustin ordered the large, extra caramel, caramel frappucino.

He likes his frosting. XD

We just pretty much hung out there for an hour. He and I rummaged through our wallets and looked at their contents. I showed him some baby pictures of Lennox and he showed me some of his family photos. He talked more about his addiction to chap stick and his fitness class. I talked about Santa Cruz and some family stuff. I also mentioned how I usually saw someone at the Starbucks, so he would ask every once in awhile if I found one yet. He pointed over to a biker outside and asked if I knew him, obviously not. Then we joked about what his name would be. Dustin called him Jim. I was trying to think up a hypothetical fake conversation I would have with the biker to make him believe he knew me. And yeah... Dustin and I just pretty much sat there talking and hanging out. It was nice. XD

Today, Friday 12/4, I woke up early to go to ARC with King to practice our duet. Jacob had come along too, I suppose to just hang out because that's all he did. We took over a practice room where we both worked on our parts separately for about an hour. Then we tried pulling both parts together, but I found that I couldn't really do much with my left hand. I definitely need to practice more of that. XD

Then, King, Jacob, and I went to a Sutter Medical building where King got his blood drawn. Jacob and I did a random Xmas word search puzzle that was on the counter. I found most of the words first and I was trying to be sneaky and not tell him where they were, but whenever I found a word Jacob would immediately find it a few seconds later. DX

We went to Burger King to get some food and we saw that Dr. Hughes was waiting in his truck in front of the restaurant. We tried to persuade him to come to the band concert on Monday, but he had to stick with his plans with the Master Singers. Dr. Hughes commented on how much he missed King, which took me to weird images in my brain for some reason. XD

After we picked up some Burger King, the three of us went to Gamestop, where Jacob bought Darkside Chronicles. While he was paying, I found a random Wii game called "A Boy And His Blob." The title caught me off guard, but when I looked at the book it seemed like a pretty interesting game. King and Jacob just laughed at the title. Afterward, we headed over to Jacobs, where we ate our food and played some Brawl. On one of the battles, where Jacob was Link, King was Gannonndorf, and I was Zelda, I had attacked the smash ball and shot an arrow right into Gannondorf's eye. The attack had a perfect angle of the hit for the dramatic affect that really looked like a good ending to a Legend of Zelda game, especially on the course Jacob made into the shape of a triforce. XD

At 3, King took me over to the apartment where I had to babysit my nephew with my mom, seeing as she still can't lift her arm as much right now. Mom was showing me a concert on PBS with this A Capella group called Straight No Chaser. The singers were actually pretty good. They were 12 guys just singing with their voices different variations of Xmas and popular songs. They did a song where they combined Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" with Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's "Somewhere Over The Rainbow", which explains why I felt that Mraz's song sounded familiar. My favorite was their rendition of "12 Days of Xmas" which is pretty slapstick:

And that pretty much ends my day. The rest is basically catching up on facebook and blogger, editing my tumblr, and figuring out my financial situation for UCSC. This week has been pretty random, so who knows what tomorrow will bring? C:

Ponytail to Matt Bomer

Blog 6: Ponytail to Matt Bomer

Let's talk hair.

While I was in Santa Cruz, Kaylah and I decided to get our hair "whacked." It feels like almost two years since I ever cut my hair. I told her how I wanted to cut my hair for awhile now and that I've been trying to find a new hair style I would be comfortable living with. She kinda egged me on, more like pressured me into getting one... And to be honest I was seriously contemplating on getting a haircut while I was in Santa Cruz anyway.

So as my act of spontaneity for the year, I got a hair cut.



Now I got a number of mixed reactions.

Kaylah loved it. She remarked it as, "Oh my god! It's the 7th grade again!" Truth is, my hair was shorter in the 7th grade. XD

Mom shrieked like a teenage girl who just touched the Jonas Brothers. Before I even got in the car, she had to give my head a squeeze.

When I saw Taka and Abril the next morning, I could see and feel the awe on their faces. Seeing as Abril was in the backseat, I couldn't see her face until I turned to peer over my shoulder as she ran her hand through my hair and I saw her mouth open.

Susan Surrandon gave her death glare. She thought that Patric was going to kill me and that I could, "no longer be Rabbiman." I talked with Patric later and he actually weighed the differences and voted that short hair was better on me anyway! But basically, I freaked her out a little bit. She kept staring at it through Chemistry. An hour into the experiment, she finally accepted it. Whether or not it was a reluctant acceptance is a different story, but in the end she told me she liked it.

Susan Surrandon had also sent Dustin and Phillip a picture of my haircut and she got the reply, "Who is that and where did the real Rabbiman go?" XD

I wasn't sure what Piper was going to say. I did send her a picture message because I had talked to her on the train and let it slip that I had gotten a haircut. When I saw her, she took a quiet minute to absorb it in. She ruffled my hair a little bit, though, and decided that I looked good. [Insert giant sigh of relief here]. I mean of all the people to get good approval from, she's high up on the list. C:

The rest of the week was pretty much filled with that. The funniest moment was when I first walked into Choir. I walked in with Taka and immediately I heard like a wall of gasp. It felt like eyes were on my every move, which was kind of weird because some of those gasps and awwestruck faces were from people I didn't know... I denied noticing it though. Some people I actually knew, like Danny and BLAH, walked up and commented on how my hair looked. Dawn's reaction was pretty funny, that kind of awkward, taken off guard kind of look. XD

When I was over at the apartment another day, my mom commented that my hair kinda looked like the guy off of the show, White Collar.



I wish I could pull off the Fedora!

Anyway, the point of this blog is to say how funny it was to get so many different reactions, all of which being positive. It felt like I needed the drastic change. XD

The Spinning Wheel of Death

Blog 5: Seriously Lagging

I find that I procrastinate way too much recently.

I genuinely suffer from it in every aspect of my life. I haven't been drawing in my sketchbook, I haven't been blogging as much as these dedicated bloggers even though I sparked the whole thing, and now I've been seriously lagging on my studies. The results of this is both good and bad.

For Chemistry, I periodically turn in my lab reports late. This is not news. I do the work, just a little later than expected. The simple reason is that I'm not motivated in this class. The Weissbart is somewhat aware of this and I got a mixed response from him. Seeing as Susan Surrandon and I are both lumped together in that class, we'd periodically be late on assignments together. However, I don't think that The Weissbart doesn't really mind. We still show up to class every now and then and we always show up for lab. I guess he just tolerates us as we are, which is a good thing because most of the time it feels like we're the peanut gallery in the class.

This feeling of laziness after Chemistry usually spools over to my Piano class. I was worried of coming back to Piano earlier last week, seeing as I missed a week and a half of it. Heidi is not the stern type, but she is the kind of person you would hate to disappoint, not in the sense that she has a back handed scheme brewing in the works but more like the relative that went into so much trouble preparing a dinner that you never bothered showing up for.

For Statistics, I haven't been going. I guess I missed a few quizzes. Thing is, Truong is an easy grader and the grades are based on the tests, which are multiple choice. Plus, learning math is one of my strong points. So really, for not going to class all the time, I'm really ahead in the class seeing as I find myself trying to explain to the other students around me what Truong is trying to teach. I'm technically at a "C" right now without even trying...

Concert Band is still Concert Band to me; Just a class to play off some emotions, make sure I know my music, and to hang around other awesome musicians. Because I'm still not enrolled in that class, I have the freedom of going or not going to class as I please. I still do, only out of respect for Ellen DeGeneres. There's nothing really to procrastinate on.

The only class I'm not procrastinating with any work on is Italian. I always liked this class because it's where I feel I'm actually learning. Thing is, I'm also starting to lag a little more in learning the vocabulary in that class. I would sometimes space on a word that we had already learned and whenever Martinelli asks me a question in class, I would find myself stalling and just space out on what I was going to respond. I think what it is about this class is that, because I signed up for Choir, my days at school are longer and I simply end up exausted by the end of the day, which is when I'm attending Italian. What I've done to try and counteract this is go to Professoressa Martinelli's office hour before class and I would just try and talk to her. She so far asked how I was doing in Choir, how my "girlfriend" in Santa Cruz was doing, and whether or not I was attending Italian 411 next semester. She also showed me some Italian operas that are opening in San Francisco and what their storylines were. She's fun to talk to... Or at least try to talk to. XD

The only class I haven't really missed yet was Choir, and I haven't done much rehearsing for that class. Apparently, Dr. Hughes thinks I prepare for his class because I got an email Saturday morning, saying that I, along with a few other people in Choir, showed that I came prepared for class with notes learned and offered us to sing a soloist section part of the song. The sad thing was that I hadn't looked at any of the new music at all and never bothered to touch my music that entire week. So apparently I rule at sight reading... I guess that's going to have to change now. XD

And yeah... Assuming I wouldn't procrastinate on this blog, I'll keep you updated on other things as they pop up.

Some Face Time and Binary Code

Blog Start: 01011000 01000100

So yeah. Thursday, 11/13, was a pretty good day.

After choir, Piper was complaining to one of the Jennifers from Chamber Singers, Mama Compton, about how she didn't get invited to come along to JT's one night when everyone was there.

Mama Compton is one of those hey I'm cool with everyone and like to be hyper all the time, but I need my personal space kind of people, which was very odd to me. I hear stories of these misadventures with Mama Compton and how random she can be, but whenever I saw her around some people she didn't know she closes up. It took me all of 2 weeks to try and get a hug out of her. XD

As to Piper's complaining, apparently some of JT's friends, along with Mama Compton and one of the gay Justins, decided to hang out. They ended up going to Molly's to watch Up,which Piper hasn't even seen yet.

Okay, just as a side note: Piper has been hanging out with JT and different variations of Chamber folk/JT's 'friends' at least 3 times a week. We both had hung out with JT for like 2 weeks straight during the summer and we both have grown attached to this style of life. Now, Piper gets the chance to hang out with him more than I do, which gets kind of annoying and sad when you hear about something going on that you were not a part of every night during a phone call, the phone call which usually happens to occupy time until another hang out session is going on.

Piper realized this and decided to orchestrate some hang out time that night and including me. So she calls JT to ask if the four of us can hang out tonight after his Chalice rehearsal.

First, Piper, Taka, and I took a trip to Piper's house to get her laptop and cell phone charger. Then, I went to Statistics where there had been a quiz planned, but it turned out that the teacher decided to postpone the quiz until next week. Notes were clear enough to understand, but the review was a little hard to get a grip on so I'm going to need to study some of that this weekend...

After class, I went back to the cafeteria to wait with Piper. The both of us ended up watching some of Howl's Moving Castle in the secluded cafeteria hallway that echoes toilet flushes from the adjacent bathrooms. The movie seems really good so far I can't wait until we finish it! I did some research online and found out that, not only was I right that the voice of Calcifer was Billy Crystal, but also that Christian Bale, the guy who plays the new Batman, is the voice of Howl. XD

At 7, Mama Compton got out of class. I, begrudgingly, called JT to tell him we were on our way. We walked through the stadium parking and continued off on the road behind the school where it was completely dark for most of the walk. Piper had out my handy dandy flashlight/glowstick/ravestick/rape whistle to lead the way. We talked about random stuff like yoga class as choir sectionals, played the ABC game using random cool words, and even took pictures of a cute little raccoon.

When we got to the edge of JT's street, Piper told us to hush down so that we can all be stealthy ninjas. I commented that we needed our own theme music, and that was when Mama Compton started to go "Wa wa wa wa wa wa waaaa!" in hushed tones. We sneaked into the back yard, in the dirty ditch, and quietly walked through the living room and into JT's room, not distracting the few people singing around an upright piano.

So there we were in JT's room, swish swashing on the water bed and listening to choral music. I sat on the computer, checking JT's then Mama Compton's facebook. On Mama Compton's facebook, I had to play Scrabble for her with a couple of her other friends. She apparently rules at that game. XD

We all went up on the water bed, where Mama Compton and I started making waves and Piper ended up being swooshed back and forth between us. It was an amusing hour in the dark. Mama Compton and I ended up cuddling on Piper when JT walked in and turned on his light. XD

The four of us laid on the water bed for a while, just talking and mulling over what we wanted to do. Piper has been mentioning that JT had made some milkshakes so I definitely wanted to try one of those this time. Mama Compton also mentioned Soul Calibur on the walk over.

So that's what we did. The four of us just pretty much sat on the couch, playing Soul Calibur and drank JT's milkshake. I had made a character on JT's XBox, based off of the nun chuck guy, and we spent the greater part of the night trying to work my character up to a higher level. I'm usually a button masher when it comes to these games. During the night, I started to use some more defensive moves, as well as tried to learn some super cool ones. However, it took me like a half hour trying to do this one move where my character basically windmills his weapon around a few times and comes in to do a vertical attack and sky rocketing the opponent. I kept on going back and forth between getting it almost there and not being able to start the combo at all. XD

JT's character, Fro, had so fit with his personality. Both of them fence, both of them like showing off, and both of them bite other people on the neck. It got kind of annoying when JT kept on poking me to death, but I'm pretty sure he was annoyed with my constant kicking attacks. XD

It was time we had gone home, so, after I failed at descending on the 5th floor, JT drove each of us home. JT had a blister, so I shifted gears for him as he drove me home. We almost got lost. I recognized that, when Mama Compton got dropped off, I recognized some of the streets that connected Natomas to Rio Linda, so I suggested we follow those. We finally ended up by Kaylah's dad's house when I figured out how to get home.

~~~

Updates:

It feels like I'm getting a handle on things in my life, some friendships, some classes, and it has started to become routine. However, it also feels like there's something looming on the horizon. Right now, my biggest worry is our financial situation. No we are not going bankrupt or anything. What it is, basically, is that we need some cash flow at some point to feel more secure and it doesn't help that my move to UCSC is coming pretty quick.

All that aside, it feels I've gotten closer to some of my friends. Ever since I've gotten back from Santa Cruz, I've certainly noticed the increase in texts and phone calls from Kaylah from every once in awhile to once everyday. XD

I'm also glad I've had Taka and Abril the past few weeks, what with the support and insight as to some situations I've been having. They've given me some advice and provided me some good distraction. Right now, I'm having a conversation with Taka in binary code.

It's real easy to do by hand.

01010011 01100101 01100101 00111111

It's like a mathematical formula. You read right to left in each set of 8 numbers. Then, where ever there's a one, you take the corresponding placement number and add them together to get a total.

Take: 01010011

Placement numbers: (126)(64)(32)(16)(8)(4)(2)(1)

Add: 64+16+2+1=83

You take that sum and open up Microsoft Word or any word processor available. Click "Alt+(Your Number)" and the corresponding character will show up.

Result: S

This is how you translate binary.

This was how I translated binary in Taka's note on facebook. Then... I realized about after 25 characters that I didn't know for sure that Taka knew all the fancy number codes to this trick, so I looked up a website that translated text into binary and vice versa. XD

Blog End.

Swimming in Open Waters

Blog Redux: My Views On Love Pt. 2

Refer to Previous: My Views On Love

What is this feeling?

So sudden and new?

I felt the moment

I laid eyes on you...

[That's from the song, "Loathing", but believe me it's not about loathing here.]

I've been having these strange dreams lately, dreams of a rather intriguing nature. I'm trying to describe it here, but the words in my head doesn't fit for how... unsettling?... exhilarating?... how strange it feels.

... I've had this dream for 2 weeks straight, so I think I can write it down as concise as I can.

Basically, I'm having dreams about someone who I'll call Hedwig, (origins of that name is basically the creepy owl snow globe staring at me, plus she is my favorite character from Harry Potter, even if she's an owl!). I stare off at my checkerboard, (always a sign of a vivid dream to come), then a hand comes across it and pulls a chess piece from out of my POV into the center of the board.

A voice calls out, "Checkmate."

I look up to find the hand's host, Hedwig, smiling in my direction. Her head is haloed by a glistening sunlight from the conveniently placed sunset. I could feel a familiar tension in my chest I have yet recognized.

"So what do we do now?" I felt the words climbing out of my throat.

I remembered Hedwig's voice oh to well. "Well, how do dates normally pan out for you?"

I can feel an increasing tension in my chest and something stretch across my face. I look to the side as I felt my face heat up. I could see grass and trees all around us. Apparently we were at a park in New York because I could also see some sky scrapers. A breeze picked up and my eyes followed the leaves as they were swirling around in dizzying circles, losing my head in the trance.

"What do you think of the wine?"

When I looked back at Hedwig, everything changed from a breezy day at the park to a rosy and cozy deep red restaurant. Hedwig and I were in our paisley red booth, staring into each others eyes. I can sense that we were both in a conversation, but it was muffled as I only heard strumming of a mandolin and a harp.

It felt like I recognized the place. Maybe that was where the conversation was at that moment. I beckoned over to the crystal chandelier at the center of the restaurant. That's where Kaylah walked in in a chef's outfit. As soon as I saw her, I immediately recognized the place. It was what my mind identified as to what Kaylah's dream restaurant looked like.

Kaylah bowed slightly at us, then I waved her off. She didn't need to bow like a servant, I thought. That's when I noticed that I waved her off with my left hand because my right hand was in Hedwig's hands. I immediately joined my hands together in hers as she fiddled with them sensually and looked up at Kaylah to see her half smile and slight nod.

Hedwig and I got up, and a few steps later I was on a stoop to where Hedwig had supposedly lived. This is where the cliched part kicks in... Hedwig fiddled with her keys. I looked at her as the lamp glowed on her face. I come in a few inches. She comes in the rest of the way. Kiss. [The next part is censored]. I 'wake up' right next to her on her large, four post bed. I smiled, she smiled. The morning glow on her face somehow thralled up the tension in my chest, which I recognized as my heart racing, the kind of heart racing I felt before... when there was love in the picture.

"French Toast?" Hedwig had said.

I just simply nodded, and watched her get out of bed to put on a blue robe. I somehow had a white one next to the bed beside me. So I put that on and followed her downstairs.

Hedwig was standing in front of the stove as I embraced her from behind, lips near her ear. Hedwig returned the sentiment as she turned around and kissed me back on the lips. We ended up at the bar side table, both of us sitting across from each other. I stared intently into Hedwig's eyes and tried to sum up the words that has been in the back of my throat. I could feel my heart race faster and faster as I said them:

"So where does this leave us?"

That's where the dream stops. I can feel my heart race right now...

...

So where does that leave us?

Obviously, I'm harboring some feelings. Thing is, of all the people it could be, I never thought it would be Hedwig. No matter how hard I try to imagine it, I'm not seeing a clear picture as to what I want, what I would like to see, and whether or not it can work with Hedwig.

Maybe the point of the dream wasn't about Hedwig. Maybe my mind manifested Hedwig's face as an example of what I want, of what I need. Maybe it means that I need some sort of human to human contact, something I bond I can share with one and only one person. Just a relationship. Just to get myself out there and not be... alone.

But why Hedwig? And how did Kaylah fit into this dream? ... Maybe it's some sort of subconscious confirmation... Maybe my mind is telling me to go for Hedwig, using Kaylah as a way of saying that the people important to me will approve? Maybe, what with all the theatrical lighting in this dream, that the universe approves? Nah... I'm getting ahead of myself.

Don't get me wrong, I like Hedwig. She's an awesome person! But... I'm not sure if I'm ready to put myself out there, to feel vulnerable, and I'm not sure if Hedwig is the person I want to be vulnerable to... There's really nothing else, other than my fear, that's keeping me from asking Hedwig out... Maybe I'm also afraid of how people will react to... But I'm mostly afraid of how Hedwig will react...

So what should I do?

I could do nothing. I can interpret it as feelings for Hedwig, but lie in wait, observe for awhile and see if I get any hints from her. Maybe find an opportune moment until I know for sure that she shows some interest too... It sounded okay in my head, but it sounded even more ridiculous as I typed it...

Well, I can see that the dream wasn't necessarily pointed in the direction of Hedwig... But it did point in a direction. I have been feeling as if there's a void somewhere in my life and maybe I do need to put myself out there... But something tells me that I should do something soon.

...

So I woke up today, considering these possibilities, and decided to blog them to you. Maybe you have a suggestion? I'll probably spend another week or two sorting things out...

It feels like I should take the plunge... But... I can't swim.

So What's Been Going On?

Blog No. 1: So What's Been Going On?

So what has been going on during the hiatus? Well...

Santa Cruz Part V: The Blonde Strikes Back

Surprise, surprise. I went to Santa Cruz to visit Kaylah once again.

This time around, it felt like it was more independent. Since I last saw Kaylah in Santa Cruz, she was still in a single room in a dorm with about 8 other dormmates. Now, she lives in an apartment adjacent to UCSC with Terry, Beth, and Dan. She took Grace, her car which I so expertly named, with her so that she could drive us around instead of taking the buses. Hallelujah! We could go anywhere we want at any time! We went to a doughnut shop at midnight just because we could! XD

Kaylah, unfortunately, got a little under the weather. I was worried so I didn't push her to do too much. I believe she wanted to go to the beach at one point, but I knew that wouldn't happen. A lot of the time we just relaxed and slept on her bed. I didn't mind. I would never mind it at all so long as I spent my time with her! C:

It was the first time I went to visit Kaylah at her work at her new sous chef job at Gigi's! Both times I went to the restaurant, she served me these AMAZING ribs. I never really had ribs before, hence the few times I chewed on some cartilage... But still, she makes it with this super sauce that just turned the meat into a 5 star cuisine! Bellisimo! XD

Other than the new, we did a lot of the old. Lunch at Erik's, Coffee at Lulu's, souvenir shopping, ragging on Kaylah off and on. The usual! C:

Bonfires and Ninja.

The last few weeks of summer consisted of bonfires at JT's. There's something about fire that just soothes the soul... Up until it is 3 in the morning in the cold with no jacket. XD

Ninja... is a turn-based game in which the goal is to eliminate everyone around you by striking their hand with yours in fluid movements... It's easy to explain in demonstration. JT always ends up putting me in awkward positions, like putting his foot on my back as I was bent over. XD

There was a time of Epic Win that I'll never forget. After a few rounds of JT trying to get me out, I figure it was time to get on the offensive. I saw my only opening when I was behind him, when his hands were relaxed and his legs were open. So I scooped in between his legs and landed my hand on his crotch region where his hands were. He had moved out of the way in time, only to try and strike at my hand and miss. Then I bent my arm back to his crotch, again, only this time I finally eliminated him! XD

Rindy.

She is a friend from high school that tragically died in a car accident during the start of the semester.

Am I still grieving? Probably. I'm not fully over her loss, nor am I yet comfortable with talking about it too much. I think I have a process when I actually grieve.

I tend to withdraw myself. I couldn't go to Rindy's funeral service or Rindyfest at all because I felt like I couldn't deal with other people in a setting where we were grieving for the same person. I only went to one funeral in my life, for a distant baby cousin that had died drowning in a pool, but I didn't feel any real emotion until I was surrounded by people crying all around me.

It wasn't until the day after the accident that I actually felt like crying. What I ended up doing was I tried to distract myself on the internet. A part of my grieving process usually involves soft serve ice cream. It was usually what my mom gave me because the McDonald's by my house had a 24-hour drive thru. Taka was online and asked what was up. I told her that I was down and wanted some soft serve ice cream. I will always be grateful to her because she had sneaked out of her house to drive to my house with some McD's sundaes. She spent at least an hour with me as I looked through some of the old Youtube videos of her audition pieces. She did see some tears, but she comforted me. C:

Meeting New People/Seeing Old People.

With the new semester, I come across new people.

I finally met Susan Surrandon's "Boyfriend." After hearing about him for a semester from Susan Surrandon, I thought of what he was going to look like. Somehow, whenever I think of the name "Taylor," I always think of Taylor Lautner, (Jacob Black from the Twilight movie), turning into a wolf... Well, Susan Surrandon's Taylor is most definitely NOT a wolf. C:

I'm also continuing my Italian studies here at ARC. Professoressa Martinelli, my Italian teacher from last semester, teaches my class. It pretty much feels like last semester but more open. She either feels more loose around us, reminiscing about Italy or sharing music with us, or she feels tired of us, which only happens around test time. She's a really cool teacher and person to talk to. Her only fault in my opinion is that she always tries to get me to speak in Italian. She sometimes asks about Kaylah, only because I mention her on my temas. XD

The Italian class pretty much divides somewhat evenly into a seating arrangement. We have the old people near the door, the Sierra college people in the middle, and continuing ARC people by the window. Kaity, my Italian partner from last semester, sits next to me in this class now, the girls with the black hair sit in front of us, and Terri, the girl who always spaces out and asks stupid questions sits off to the side of us. I get the feeling that the four of them think of us as some sort of superhero club or something. It feels like I need some decoder ring or something with these folk. They always talk about meeting out of class but plans always fall through because I was unable to go to help them see if they were on the right track. Am I some sort of leader or something? XD

In my Statistics class, it always feels like a golf game, only less interesting. Always quiet, always staring intently on the one thing that's moving... There's this girl, Jenna, who does a lot of sports at AR apparently. I only talked to her that one time, "Can I see your calculator for a moment?" And it somehow turns into a weird friendship... She calls me her "Stats Buddy"... I'm not sure how I feel about that. I'm trying not to think about it too much because she helps me with whatever I missed for class. However, it always feels like only Jenna and I that talk during class so I sometimes feel twenty or so eyes look in our direction, eavesdropping...

That's it for now. Until next time!

I Haven't Forgotten About You

Blog No. ???: I Haven't Forgotten About You

To the readers: I haven't forgotten about you.

A cycle of events, time still passing, and general laziness has hindered me in things blog wise. I apologize for taking this unannounced hiatus for so long and giving no clue as to when and if I would return.

The truth of the matter is, I came at a crossroads where I had to choose between having a life and writing about one everyday and, when it came down to it, I'm more of both an adventurer and a responsible human being than I thought.

Then I get a text from Kaylah. She has been sick for quite awhile and remembered I had a blog, so she decided to catch up on my writing escapades when I was actively blogging. She basically scrolled down the side and saw that she was labeled a good number of times. So she read through all 35 blogs that mention her, (as well as the 5 blogs that mention her boobs), and texted me back, "I haven't laughed so hard in a long time."

With that, I tear through the countless blogs I've written, some meaningful, some funny, some pointless, and realized that I wrote the blogs for a few good reasons: to remember the random times I've had on my journey and to never forget those little moments I have with good friends.

So where does that leave us, Blogosphere?

Well, there is no way in hell I will be able to blog everyday what with the amount of responsibilities I have now. So the 365MMIX thing is over with as a project, sadly. However, it doesn't mean there can't be a 365MMX in the works...

I can, however, start blogging thematically instead of daily. Basically, I would be writing to you about some connected events in the span of a week as opposed to every event as it takes place, so expect a blog at least twice a week.

I also want to start making video blogs when I can. When I get a webcam, I will be able to update you through a more visual account to make up for the lack of a daily blog. As soon as I start these up, I should be expecting them to be uploaded to my Youtube account, which I'll give at a later date.

I might start out fresh, get a new page on the blogs to separate them, but I might be too lazy to do that...

So yeah. Expect a blog later on this week. All I can say now is I'm glad to be back! XD

The Key to Immortality

Blog No. 203: Kinda Backwards

Wednesday was my last required quiz and an optional class at that. All King and I really had to do was walk in, take the quiz, and walk out. This allowed the possibility of an all out awesome-fest, for a lack of a better word. :P

So King picked me up after he picked up Jacob and we went back to the asian's house. We pretty much sat around, watching an episode of Bones and Whose Line is it Anyway? and looking at their camp photos. The camp photos were mainly of people, the majority of whom were asian, from Alaska to California. XD

The King and I had our quiz. It took us all of 10-ish minutes to finish. King took his notes for the next class, while I packed my stuff, and we left! Taka and Jacob barely had any time to do much else.

Then we were wondering what to do from there. We could've gone to my place and played more Brawl, but I think we were getting tired of that game. In the end, we ended up going to our motto, "When in doubt, default to Sizzler!" XD

So that's what we did. I pretty much get what Taka gets, which this time was a 6 oz steak with mashed potatoes and a Dr. Pepper, along with our endless salad bar. I remember back in my childhood that I usually confused the word "endless" witht the word "bottomless" and questioned how the "endless" salad bar worked. Are the plates acually bottomless or does the salad magically regenerate on its own? XP

During our entree, Piper called me from camping, wondering why I didn't call. I usually called during my break during the Western Civilizations class, but this time we didn't fully attend. I was surprised that she was expecting a call, partly because it seemed I was distracting her recently. I told her where I was and she told me where she was. I told her to call Kaylah for when she and Difuentez are at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. However, she didn't want to call her, but instead she wanted me to call because she didn't feel like she wasn't in the loop enough, I guess. I did influence her to call Kaylah after I said, "Well imagine all of the embarassing, prepubescent David stories she could tell! I can't control the conversation in any way, seeing as I"m not there, so you could ask Kaylah anything about me!" Piper was immediately set on calling Kaylah. She amuses me so. XP

After our food, we just started piling stuff into an empty cup until it just overflowed into a concoction no one in their right minds would drink. We were joking around, saying that we might've stumbled onto the potion for immortality. XD

Then, after roaming around Natomas, we stopped at the Barnes and Noble. We played yet another rendition of the Barnes and Noble Game, which we taught Jacob who suggested we mainly used whatever was closest to the manga section. XD

Ragnarok Online Still Hates Me

Blog No. 202: Ragnarok Online Still Hates Me

Tuesday, my free day between two school days of quizzes. So I wake up early and try and log on to Ragnarok Online so that I could level up a ton before Piper and Difuentez got back from camping. However, when I tried to log on, I get an error message back, "Failed to connect to server!"

Great... The world is out to get me.

So I looked online. Apparently, an answer was that I had a faulty connection. So I unplugged and replugged everything involving internet cables, and I even tried to diagnose the problem through McAfee to try and see if they banned Ragnarok for security issues. After all of that work, what do I get?

"Failed to connect to server!"

So I thought maybe, just maybe, they have way too many people online for me to sign in, so I shall try back in an hour! When I returned at 9, I still got that error message. I returned at 10, 11, noon, 1, 1:30, 3, 5, 5:45, 6:15, 7, 7:30, 9, 10:30, 11:15, and midnight, during which time I occupied myself with guitar strumming, Brawlin, chores, cheese quesadillas, and Gilmore Girl episodes. Each time I'd logged on, I still got the same error message.

"Failed to connect to server!" as if mocking me for this constant persistence.

I told Piper of the hoops and hurdles I went through, voicing very clearly that RO is an internet demon. Piper replied, "Well they close down the game to do maitenance for a few hours."

Why thank you for telling me! I feel so in the loop! You know, out of all the FAQ articles I've torn through, there was no mention of shutting down due to maitenance. >_<

To which I verbally replied, "They do maitenance from 8 AM to midnight?"

Silence...

At least I'm not crazy! XD

Then I texted JT my dilemma, to which he replies, also, "Silly boy, they do maitenance on Tuesdays!"

"The entire day? I've tried logging on every hour on the hour I've been up today!"

"Hmmm... Maybe Ragnarok does hate you!"

So much for that ounce of hope. DX