bedlamsbard: natasha romanoff from the black widow prelude comic (look at that bassline)
I -- did not hate the Glee finale, just parts of it, and some parts of it I really did like. SHOCKING.

The major problem I have had with Glee, all along, is that it's unrealistic. Which, well, it's a TV show, what do I want out of it? The thing is that I did do high school band (in a small rural town, at that), and I had a lot of friends that did choir (although my high school didn't have a show choir, so I can't speak for how different those two experiences are), and Glee is so over-the-top most of the time that watching it makes me scream. Especially parts where I just want to leap up and yell, "But that's now how high school music competitions work!" (I have given up on character with Glee, but the high school music competition thing drives me insane.)

I really liked high school, and I really liked my high school band. We didn't have much of a budget, so we didn't march the way most bands do; my freshman year the town and the parent group, after something of a kerfuffle following the Veterans Day parade, which we marched in street clothes because it's too cold in November to wear our pep band polo shirts, managed to raise enough money to buy us jackets. (That's what you can see in my icon, vaguely.) The following years contained constant bitching about the jackets from students that had come in after the kerfuffle, which was mostly carried on through the letters to the editor section of the local newspaper. We only wore them twice a year, on the two occasions we marched -- once for the Rodeo Parade (we used to wear the polo shirts), which was our only actual competition, and once for the Vet's Day Parade. We only had a handful of other competitions for concert band -- two, I think. But we were good. But again -- we had no money. We got invitations to go and play in various places across the country, but we had no money. My band director? Was also the band director for the middle school's three bands, the high school jazz band, the pep band, the marching band, and the two high school concert bands. No money to do anything else, no time to work with the students we had.

In conclusion, the show that I would like to see would be the Friday Night Lights of high school music. Preferably marching band, but I'm a little prejudiced, since I was a band geek myself.
bedlamsbard: natasha romanoff from the black widow prelude comic (warrior (illuxtris))
Now I'm emotional. Jesus. I went to the high school and picked up my diploma, sent off my final transcript, talked to my band director, drove my friend home, went to the library, saw Narnia again -- still fantastic, thank you very much -- and came home to put my diploma in its case. And...

That piece of paper is thirteen years of blood and sweat and tears and ink. That piece of paper is Dammann, and Morgan, and Ellensburg High. That piece of paper is English and history and calculus and physics and band. That piece of paper is Shakespeare and the Revolutionary War and derivatives and 9.8 m/s/s. That piece of paper is Furioso and October and March to the Scaffold and the fucking Hey Song -- that piece of paper is the Fight Song. That piece of paper is the National Anthem. That piece of paper is late nights and early mornings, bus rides and AP tests, laughter with friends and redhot anger at betrayal, graphite smeared into the side of my hand and blood on the inside of my lips. That piece of paper is time, thirteen years of it and everything I had.

I didn't cry last night at graduation, and I didn't cry during the assembly or the luncheon. I cried when I held that piece of paper in my hands.

GUYS

Jun. 6th, 2008 11:43 am
bedlamsbard: natasha romanoff from the black widow prelude comic (the die hard way (likefluffy))
I...have graduated high school! I am an official high school graduate!

Well, okay, I don't have my diploma yet, but I have to pick that up today.

All the dirty details. )

That said -- NO MORE HIGH SCHOOL!

OH MY GOD

Jun. 4th, 2008 07:31 pm
bedlamsbard: natasha romanoff from the black widow prelude comic (Default)
Today was my last day of classes. Tomorrow I'm graduating high school.
bedlamsbard: natasha romanoff from the black widow prelude comic (bright lights (yummy_sushi_pjs))
The Senior Excursion was fun!

The zoo was...well, I'm not as thrilled about zoos as I used to be, because I kept going, "Oh my God, cages, why do you have all this info about how animals need miles and miles of space to roam and you pen them up in cages?" but it was still fun. The Woodland Park Zoo is getting a new flamingo exhibit that's opening, uh, tomorrow (and the butterfly exhibit opens today, boo), but the flamingos were already there; we just had to look through the fencing, which wasn't so bad. Granted, for those who know, I have a pretty extreme fear of birds, which made running into a peacock on the path -- running into a peacock walking around the path -- fairly panic inducing. Seriously. Birds? Freak me the fuck out. And peacocks most of all. (Funny thing is I'm fine with birds of prey, it's just birds like pidgeons and seagulls and robins that scare me.)

Wandered around downtown Seattle for a little bit with a couple friends -- not who I would have been with otherwise, but the suburban wasn't with the busses, so I ended up with the girls in the suburban, who I know, but wasn't planning on spending those few hours with. As a result, I didn't even set foot in a bookstore and thus spent no money on anything besides food.

The harbor cruise was pretty dang awesome, although not according to anyone else. "We didn't go anywhere!" one of my friends protested, and I stared at her and said, "It's a harbor cruise. Around the bay." "I wish the tour guide would have stopped talking!" lamented another friend, and I stared at her and said, "It's a harbor tour, and I thought it was fascinating." (Granted, I was also taking mental notes and going, "Hmm, how would this apply to a space-based port?" but there you go.)

One more hour on the Waterfront for dinner, which resulted in one of my friends going, "I hate fish! Isn't there anything but seafood here?" and me replying, "We're on the Waterfront. NO." We ended up going to Ivar's -- thank you God, Ivar's -- and she got chicken strips and I got fish 'n' chips and clam chowder. Oh, Ivar's.

And then we went back to Ellensburg.

Also, my camera had no batteries, so I have no pictures. GOD DAMN IT.
bedlamsbard: natasha romanoff from the black widow prelude comic (bright lights (yummy_sushi_pjs))
Tomorrow is the Senior Excursion. YAY!

(The school and the parent group blow a pretty serious amount of money on us -- I think, like, $7000.)

We're going to Seattle. There are three separate groups: one to the zoo, one to GameWorks, and one shopping downtown. I'm going to the zoo. Then we're driving to the Waterfront and Pike Place Market for lunch and shopping, and then we get a cruise -- a one-hour harbor cruise, which is supposed to be really good. And back to the Waterfront for dinner and more shopping, then back to the 'Burg. It's an all-day deal.

And then we have a four day weekend, because Friday's a snow day and Monday's Memorial Day. AWESOME.

re: prom

May. 18th, 2008 01:27 am
bedlamsbard: natasha romanoff from the black widow prelude comic (black powder (madamtorsion))
OH MY GOD WHY DO AUTOMOBILES HATE ME?

Details tomorrow.
bedlamsbard: natasha romanoff from the black widow prelude comic (the die hard way (likefluffy))
Prom today! Prom, prom, prom!

No date, but I'm going with friends. Okay, to be more specific, I'm going with friends, acquaintances, a couple of strangers, and one enemy.
bedlamsbard: natasha romanoff from the black widow prelude comic (the die hard way (likefluffy))
One AP test down, one to go. The CollegeBoard satellite is probably in full orbit these next two weeks. *stares at sky*
bedlamsbard: natasha romanoff from the black widow prelude comic (bright lights (yummy_sushi_pjs))
Creative Writing Club went to Seattle after school on Friday to buy books for the school library. We stayed overnight, then went to the Elliot Bay Book Company the next morning.

We were there for kind of a while.

And by a while, I mean, oh, three hours or so. We bought $400 worth of books for the school library, and then books for ourselves. Hey, when a girl needs her books, a girl needs her books.

See? )

Then we went and saw "My Fair Lady" at the Paramount Theatre, which was awesome. After that, we went to Borders, but did not buy any more books. Then we went back to Ellensburg.

We did not, alas, do any writing. We also did not make it to the Waterfront, Pike Place Market, or the Science Fiction Museum, all because we spent too much time at Elliot Bay. OH WELL.
bedlamsbard: natasha romanoff from the black widow prelude comic (dodging bullets (aretria))
Oh my God, I finally sit down to start doing the chemistry homework after two weeks -- due last Friday, by the way -- and get all the data set up, start doing the problems -- and just as I input the numbers and hit enter, what happens?

My batteries die. And we have no AAA batteries in the house!

I mean, I can do the write-up for the lab that didn't have any calculations, but the other two have calculations. For the love of the gods...

...I wonder if my Chem teacher will take that as an excuse for why I don't have it done?
bedlamsbard: natasha romanoff from the black widow prelude comic (black powder (madamtorsion))
You know those days when you're simultaneously so laidback you wouldn't notice a nuclear explosion and so wired that the smallest thing has you jumping? Yeah. Yeah. Not the best thing when you're driving.

God, I'm so tired of school. Six more weeks...but with senior project over (THANK GOD) it feels like school should be over now. I'm trying to figure out if I can still pass Chem if I do nothing but labs the rest of the semester, because I have no idea what's going on. At all. Of course, that means I don't understand the labs, either, but they're slightly easier to BS than the actual assignments. Which we never have, except for today, apparently!

All I want to do is write. Except I don't really want to work on my novel, either. I suppose I could work on the SGA pirate AU plot-kernel. (It's, like...timeline? What timeline? It's awesome, and from poor put-upon Lorne's POV. "They'd given up having the coin toss and just had Lorne pretend to be the poor shipwrecked passenger every time, since Cadman claimed the Marines needed her and McKay was not only a bad liar, but claimed that he had to be back on the Atlantis in case something went wrong with the tracking device.")

*grim*

Apr. 27th, 2008 02:28 pm
bedlamsbard: natasha romanoff from the black widow prelude comic (the die hard way (likefluffy))
Wow. I'm going to fail Advanced Chem because it's a lab-based class, I've missed two of the last three labs for various band-related reasons, and now I don't understand what they're about. Oh, and I only have data for two of the last three labs; not the first one.

Oh, yes, and it was due Friday, so now no one else has their lab notebooks so that I can copy beg for help/comprehension.

(I'm an arranged study, which translates to "never knows what's going on.")
bedlamsbard: natasha romanoff from the black widow prelude comic (Default)
The last piece of my senior project is over. *collapses*
bedlamsbard: natasha romanoff from the black widow prelude comic (usaf cam (dragonlady981))
I did my job shadow for FCI today, up at Central...with the AFROTC Detachment, there. Which mostly involved me following around various cadre members and soaking up information and sadly coming to the conclusion that I could not phrase various research questions in such a way that they would actually make sense outside of context, but also involved me talking to cadets.

Cadet 1: So, why are you interested in the Air Force?
Me: Oh...you know, actually, probably judicious watching of Stargate.
Cadet 2: I LOVE Stargate! I totally want to get into deep space radar telemetry! *goofy grin*
Me: *dies*

Cadet 3: So, do you know Stargate?
Me: Yes.
Cadet 3: Daniel Jackson is totally my hero. It's probably the reason I'm a language major. I'm also learning Dutch.
Me: *dies again*

You know, I wonder how many people the Air Force has actually recruited by use of Stargate. Because, seriously...now that would be interesting.
bedlamsbard: natasha romanoff from the black widow prelude comic (Default)
Reading prom horror stories is probably not the best idea ever.

Of course, in order to go to prom in May I actually need a dress. A date would be nice too, but I already have friends and a dinner reservation. I just need a dress.
bedlamsbard: natasha romanoff from the black widow prelude comic (Default)
Right, because there's nothing better than getting four rejection letters on the same day. Man, I really hope I get into Vanderbilt, if only because I don't want to be rejected by more schools than I've been accepted to.

At least I got my Amazon shipment. *cuddles books and SGA S3*

And I'm in the Top Ten Percent! That means I get to go to the Top 10% luncheon in May. Also, I get cords at graduation.
bedlamsbard: natasha romanoff from the black widow prelude comic (black powder (madamtorsion))
I'm doing last minute English journals on Kipling's Barrack-Room Ballads, and the fact that I had to rewrite the theme of the Widow of Winsor into something not, "Don't mess with England, because she will fuck your shit up," greatly amuses me.

*uses badass Norrington icon for extra-special effect*
bedlamsbard: natasha romanoff from the black widow prelude comic (marching band '03)
ELLENSBURG IS UP FOR A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP! 2A Girls basketball, tomorrow at 9 pm in the Tacoma Dome! The band is going!

...I am not. God damn it, Tulane is the worst weekend ever. State championship.
bedlamsbard: natasha romanoff from the black widow prelude comic (marching band '03)
Yesterday was performance day. WindFest has been going on up at the college for the past three days; EHS performed first thing Saturday morning. We played; I went home, changed, and ate something, then went back to Central to spend the rest of the day at the music building watching bands play. Some of them were okay -- nobody was horrible; WindFest is invitation only -- and some of them were really good. The CWU Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble also played.

The Symphonic Band played the first movement of a piece called Ghost Train, and holy cow, amazing. Amazing. (Okay, that was weird. I'm listening to Marc Cohn right now, and what just came up was his song Ghost Train. Creepy!) Ghost Train is about a ghost train in the desert, and you can hear it -- hear the train, slowly creaking to the life, and oh my God, I really can't adequately describe how amazing it is.

The Wind Ensemble played Music for Prague 1968, which was...God, amazing, but it's not a pretty song. It's not supposed to be a pretty song. In 1968, Czechoslovakia was invaded by the Soviet Union; this piece symbolizes that. There's a piccolo solo, which my flute teacher plays; she describes it "as the only beautiful part of the whole piece". It symbolizes hope. The third movement is all percussion; the snare drum symbolizes the military marching on Prague. Prague is also the city of a hundred bells, which have been used to warn of approaching armies for centuries; the chimes and bells imitate them. In the last movement, it's -- basically organized chaos. The vibes go nuts, imitating the sound of human screaming as the city is invaded and the tanks roll in. I left after that; a couple of band kids from another school said, "Now I never want to listen to music ever again."

Olympia High School played Red Cape Tango, from the Metropolis Symphony. Based on Superman. No, really. And -- I can't flutter enough here -- it was the most amazing thing I've ever heard. Just -- Red Cape Tango came out in 1993, which is the same year Death of Superman came out, and Michael Daugherty, the composer, deliberatley based his piece on that comic. He noticed that in some of the panels, it looked like Superman and Doomsday were locked in a deadly dance, almost resembling the tango. And so he wrote Red Cape Tango as part of his Metropolis Symphony (composed for the fiftieth anniversary of the Superman comics; he released one movement every year), and god, my friend Ellora's friend from Olympia High was right: it's epic. There's this thing with the cymbals -- I was watching them, and there are two cymbal players, one on either side of the hall, and they're playing back and forth, just off each other, like a clash of the titans. And there's the Dies Irae, played by the bassoon and the, I think, either chimes or timpani, symbolizing the death, and it's -- the Red Cape Tango because of the dance, and because of that iconic image of Superman's red cape fluttering from a lightpost, and just -- oh my God. *waves hands*

And also, I saw the musical again tonight. And really want to write fic. But I can't, because I have to work on my novel.

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