College

All right. I shall now make a detailed, informative, and fun post about Central Washington University and my experience there.
I have been here for a week tomorrow.

Friday the 19th: Stayed up late packing the car. Up at like 8, out of the house around 10. We stopped by Shorewood during STAR so that Charlie could get some pictures of Meredith and me and my mom and other such combinations. After that we were on the road hardcore. I fell asleep like half of the time. Finally we got there and had a good lunch at the local Dairy Queen. After we got our car moved into the right spot, I was treated to the experience of moving all my stuff in while my mom and dad helped...argh. At least they made my bed. I brought my keyboard and we finally positioned it and the furniture just right. After we were all set up, we got to meet my roommate Travis. He is really cool and I will talk about him later. After that, we headed over to the dining hall for a barbeque--which turned out to be nothing special. There was a huge session thing about being at CWU...it was kind of like a rally but it had a really great speaker, this dating doctor guy who had lots of good stuff to say. We stayed up late talking with people in our hall and met lots of people. We went to bed really late--of course. Aaaaand I just said that twice. Yay for me.

Saturday: There were soccer, football, and volleyball games, in that order. I skipped soccer and went to a "trailer party" (read: free hot dogs) before the football game and then headed over to it. I stayed for one quarter because that was all I could take. I hate football. After that more chilling, and then later there was a festival thingy in the SURC, kind of like our SAC here. For this one, Travis got to be in the Wellington Wildcat suit, so I high fived him a lot and stuff. We played human foosball (big inflatable thing where you are tied on a fixed position, like soccer plus BDSM) and I also played laser tag with my friend Tessa, who is like a best friend to me. I will talk about my friends later in another post maybe. Anyway, that was cool and after: more chilling with cool people in my dorm! Yay!

Sunday: Today there was a sex talk by some dude. He was really funny and made jokes about coming. And he did some things that were slightly creepy. His humor was Mr. Guthrie-esque but with more tact. In fact now that I think about it his mannerisms and speech patterns were very much like Mr. Guthrie. After that we had some rotational sessions in different buildings on many different topics (like choose 3 from this list, etc). Those were mostly boring but I actually learned from some of them. That was it for the day; we reveled in the freedom to eat with our friends and hang out all the time.

Monday: MORE ROTATIONAL SESSIONS!!!1! THIS TIME REALLY LONG AND BORING ONES!1!!! This mght have been the day with the sex talk; in fact, it almost certainly was...so there was something less noteworthy on the other morning. Meh. After that we had a time slot for lunch and then finally we were done. I skipped marching band rehearsal today because I had just switched into choir, which I later learned did not count for replacing band, so the next day I changed back and went to practice on Tuesday. More chilling and at like 8 we went for $1 scoops of ice cream at a place not far from campus (we being the cool people of my honors dorm).

Tuesday: The first and only day of orientation not filled to the brim with activities. The upperclassmen had come on Monday so we were starting to assimilate into regular college life. I just saw my friends a lot and it was really cool. Also there was marching band practice which was not very cool, in fact not cool AT ALL!!
Later that night the local Fred Meyer hosted a "back to school night" where you could get lots of things at reduced prices, along with free food and raffles and prizes. I didn't go; everyone who did said it was a madhouse. I just stayed up late and mentally prepped myself for the first day of school.

Wednesday: TEH FIRST DAY!1@1! Today I had jazz band auditions at 12, which was too bad since I also had second-year theory at 12. I ended up skipping theory (after talking to my Russian teacher) and I went to the tryouts. I did alright, so that was good. After those I had my Intro to Music class, which is not terrible. I have to attend a set number of concerts and performances and write about them...but so far the lectures have been overly simplistic, designed for someone who has been playing for perhaps a year or two. After that there was marching band, which started to get a little better. Love not having to practice [very much XD]. After marching band we had our honors college colloquium class. Basically, for every class someone signs up to present an essay on what we read and talked about last time in our [technically separate but really just an extension of the colloquium] Honors College lecture class (Tuesdays and Thursdays). Signing up definitely didn't take the allotted two hours so we finished and then went for DINAR!!!!!

Thursday: Jazz band auditions at 12 was my first class today. I did alright mostly but then pwned up some noobs on a Basie solo that I had to play. That was cool. More MUS 104 (that's my intro to music), which was boring. I'll make a post about individual classes later but that class has a lot of people who talk way too much and act like we're still in high school...so dumb [Steven-esque shaking of the head]. Marching band again (balls) and then our first DHC (that's honors college) lecture class. The professor is a really funny old guy, but not as funny as the music department chair, whom I will talk about later (remind me). He thinks that Homer is not one person and he seems like a very cool and interesting guy anyway.

Friday: Clarinet audition at 10:48. I had to audition for placement in Symphonic Band, which I was forced to take in the first place because of how they screw piano majors. So I really did not want to practice for it, but I did get in a few (or maybe just one) hour[s] over the first couple of days. Apparently, it went pretty well; they seemed pleased overall with my performance, which I would have described as subpar. Then again, they've never heard my Toccata Marziale or Armenian Dances, so they wouldn't know. After that, I went to my 12:00 theory for the first time ever because I had talked with Mr. Bruya (the jazz guy) and told him that I really didn't want to miss any more class; on that note, I ended up making Jazz Band II (out of three) so I guess I did pretty well for myself. Theory was in a keyboard lab, where every station has a keyboard and a computer. We played scales so it was pretty chill except I was a little nervous when I had to play B phrygian (because who plays B phyrgian), even though scale modes are easy because of my piano skillz. After that, more marching band, and then there was a sweet jam session of jass peoples. I got to play and watch and it was really fun. I also signed up for the Central Jazz Organization and got a T-shirt of the NBA logo with a trumpeter that says CWU where it usually says NBA.

Now I need to go to breakfast so I will be back with more detailed info about my classes, friends, etc. later. I will also post my schedule so you can all see the chronological rapage that I have to endure.

All right, okay, you win

All right, here I am making a new post, finally. ARE YOU HAPPY NOW!!>!?!

Note: Teh New York post has been finished, so you may read it in its entirety. It is actually an interesting account of our pwnage trip to New York for the Essentially Ellington competition, so yeah.

Another note: For PAX 2008 information, please see David's blog post. Scroll to September 5.
When we were on the bus back from the last day of PAX (Sunday), two Korean guys (later revealed by Ben to be Japanese guys) got really excited when they saw my Link costume. When we got off, they asked to take a picture with me and of course I let them. I got 41 pictures taken throughout the whole show--I only wore my costume on the second and third day so who knows how many I missed out on during the first day--but no matter. The Japanese guys were super excited, smiling and exclaiming things like "most famous Nintendo CHARACTER!!!!" the whole time. It really made their day--and what's better, it wasn't explained to them why I was wearing the costume. So they must have had really great stories to tell their friends.

So, my summer has sucked a lot more than other summers before it. Since June 26 I have been employed at SEARS Aurora 15711. It is a horrifically boring job with minimum wage pay (don't get me started on the pay). But, it is (wow I almost said 'teaching me skills' there--I supposed somewhat, but not enough to justify the time commitment) giving me firsthand knowledge of retail corporations that I so hate. They mistreat their workers and take away all their time, have unreasonable expectations, pay minimum wage even to middle-aged workers who have worked there for a long time, and commit countless environmental atrocities (you know those display units they have, marked NOT FOR SALE? Those are thrown away at the end of the quarter and new ones are put up to be thrown away next quarter). Basically, this job reaffirms what I have always believed about corporations being evil. But!!! I have a job. And even though the pay is terrible and the work less stimulating than reading American Girl novels, I have learned some things and earned some money, even if came at a high cost of time vs money.

Mostly that is what I have been doing all summer. Also I have been practicing the piano, sometimes for several hours a day, and playing video games, also sometimes for several times a day. I have gotten through four or five novels and I have also made a lot of money doing physical labor (cutting lawns, building decks, odd jobs) at very efficient pay rates. I have made time to see my friends before they left for college, and some others that I would not see normally (like Nicole Kim, which is a shame because she is a BADASSS GANGSTA@). Tracy left on the 22nd of August and Orion left two days later on the 24th. The days in between Orion's return from China (August 14th) and his departure for New York (24th) were action-packed. We hung out, got late-night Taco Bell, beat Ultimate Alliance, watched 11 straight hours of Pokemon, played poker, and generally banged around (by which I mean meandered, not masturbated). It was great and it's a shame that it had to end. But EVERYTHING MUST CEASE-- am I right?

Now I await the beginning of college life at Central Washington university. I enrolled as a music major so I will play in the symphonic ensemble, marching band (both clarinet), jazz band and jazz combo, hopefully, (piano), and take piano lessons. I will have a lot of free time, hopefully not all of which is consumed be practicing, that I may have lots of time to play pingpong, ride bikes, learn French and Japanese, and learn martial arts. My roommate is an education major with a PS2 who is very laid back so that will be fun. I look forward to meeting other musicians and joining (or starting) the campus videogame cover band.

I have to pack up my whole room because Meredith will move into it after I am gone. This involved cleaning up and organizing 14 years' worth of junk so it is no small task. I boxed up the important things first (gameboy & N64, Magic & Pokemon & YuGiOh cards, GCN to come) but there is still a whole lot left to do. It's kind of neat to experience all the nostalgia associated with all of my things but it makes me sad that I have to destroy me Sanctuary of a decade and a half. But EVERYTHING MUST CEASE--am I right?

Something that probably will not cease is Starcraft for me--I won't be bringing my 'Cube to college, at least not initially, and I have recently gotten back into watching pro matches...so I will try to play a little (or a lot, I guess) more than I have been recently or at all.

I hope this has been enough for you. It has certainly been enough for me, at least until something more interesting happens (move to college, hot fling, death in the family, that sort of thing).

Lol @Lucy on Gchat

me: yeah and I met another guy that plays rock-a-billy piano. Straight up
Lucy: wow
yeah i wish i could just pound out stuff
....
me: THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID
!!!!!!!!!!!
1

Lucy: actually we talked about sears a lot. our gps was being really obstinate and troublesome so we named it Lena.*
Me: you should have named it Lucy
Lucy: harharhar

*ask me about that if you wish.

New York, New York

Hear the Shorewood High Jazz Band's recordings from Essentially Ellington!

Check out some pix from the trip, since I won't be posting any!

Finally, the big trip!!! We got up at like 4 on Wednesday (the 14th of May) to get to the airport by 5:20. Once we were there, Mr. Harshman told us to go to the terminal and stay there, but Chris and I decided to ride the tram back to see if we could find some better food than they had at the terminal. The first door that opened, in walked Mr. Harshman! Busted! So we had to eat Burger King after all. The plane ride was okay; I got some Tactics Ogre played. Once we landed in New Jersey we had to drive to the hotel which took forever--luckily Brad had some hella tight rap that we could listen to on the way there. We got to the hotel, then went to dinner and John's Pizzeria, an awesome place that gives us as much pizza as we want. They are really good to us and we get to sit on the top floor so it's really cool. Around 10:30, we met up to take the subway to Greenwich Village to go to the Village Vanguard jazz club, where we saw trumpeter Tom Harrell, who no one has heard of (not even die-hard jazz fans). He was really good, and schizophrenic. He was strange and would go catatonic (not moving) for long periods on the stage while the others were soloing, and his voice was really weird. Cool. We got back very late that night, which was actually technically not so late considering the additional 3 hours that we gained upon our arrival in New York.

Thursday: Got up crazy late, like 11 or 12, since we had to be in the lobby by 1. We got lunch from th3 Hello Deli, the most awesome deli in all of New York because of its cheap prices, awesome owner, and delicious food. After lunch, we got all dressed up and headed over to the Lincoln Center. First we got to ask Wynton [Marsalis] some questions, and then we had sectionals (mine was a rhythm sectional, of course). The dudes were very cool, even when we got up and played and completely messed up (DIMITER!!!) on a simple blues form. After that we had some time for lunch and then later it was back again for a sweet banquet and jam session. They seat you by instrument so I got to meet some other piano players, most of whom were not incredibly weird. I sat next to Dan Nimmer, the pianist for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (!!!!) and got to talk to him the whole time. He is kind of quiet and wears thick-rimmed glasses, kind of like a cross between Bill Evans and Woody Herman. He is a hardcore gamer!!!!!11! He is also such a badass piano player that his skill cannot be described with words. You guys should have heard him. He is amazing.
Anyway, after the banquet I got my name called to jam on the first tune, C Jam (ha!) Blues. It was super fun and I had a really good solo so it was a great time. We stayed late watching the rest of our entrants jam. Then we went back, stayed up too late, and finally went back to bed.

Friday: Today was the first day of the actual competition. We got up, had a good breakfast (and a fast one, at that) and dressed in our nice clothes to head over to the Lincoln Center. The first bands that we heard...were frankly not so great, but it was really fun to see how excited everyone was. Every band got a standing ovation, both to show respect for them making it that far and also (and, I suspect, to a greater degree) to kiss up to Wynton and the other judges. Now, at this point I'm not exactly sure of what we did so I might have to edit it later, but that night we went to go and see Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic Theater. Some people thought that it was gay or that it sucked balls...but all I have to say is WOW!!!! It was an awesome performance: breathtaking music, delicious visual scenery and chillingly good acting. If you ever get the chance to see it, don't hesitate. Although as Brad put it, "it would have been nice if we could have been close enough to see THE FACE!!! [of the Phantom after taking off his mask].

Saturday: TEH BIG DAY!!11!! We got up early and got all dressed up in our suits and headed over to the Center. Everyone was super nervous. My grandma came but Charlie wouldn't let her near the band until after we played our performance (and I later learned that for every band after ours she commented that 'that piano player wasn't very good!!' even though most of them were uber pr0 and could have been real pr0s). We had to wait around all hot and nervous for a while and then we were let into a room where we had a little sectional with Ted Nash, uber-badass saxophone player and composter (lo @ typo--he's a writer of music, not a person who breaks down waste).
Finally it was our time to go. We were excited and kind of messed up the first song. The second song started with my solo, which was all right...but not so great looking back on it since Mr. Harshman kind of browbeat me on it all the time and never let it develop into me. But whatevs. The third song was uber-killin'!!! After that we heard Garfield play. And they kicked ass of course, but what do you expect? Finally, after all the bands, the judges gave their ruling...Sun Prairie from Wisconsin in third, Garfield in second, and Roosevelt in first. GOD DAMMIT!!!, we all said. It's true that Roosevelt sat down and swung harder than we did, but we actually played a lot of stuff better than Garfield...we couldn't help but think that the reason we lost might have been political (i.e. can't have three schools from Washington in top three). We got "honorary mention", which equals fourth place, but we still can't help but feel like we've been robbed somehow. Eh...sux.
That night was the huge mega last concert of the three bands and also the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. All the bands were good and the JALC was uber killing!!! Dan Nimmer's skill is incredibly prodigious, by which I mean good. He is like Boxer on a piano (!!!!!!). After that it was a late night so we went to bed (by whcih I mean that we went to our beds and then ten minutes later opened our eyes to a vision of Sam's glowing Kanye glasses, and then I would swear at Sam and turn on the light and fight him until we were both tired and then we would all be able to go to bed. This happened every single night that we were there).

Sunday: OMFG SITESEEING!!!!!! We got a bus tour thing that Harshman had bought for us and rode the double-decker bus all over New York while a tour guide yelled a lot and said some things that were actually pretty funny. He got really pissed at people who didn't immediately duck or sit down since there were signs that were actually at decapitation level. It rained but Chris and I weathered it. Actually I think it was Dan. Or...someone. Meh. After that we had to dick around by ourselves (Times Square, TV, assorted other stuff) until we left for Birdland around 8 to see the CHICO O'FARRILL AFRO-CUBAN ORCHESTRA, led by Arturo O'Farrill, the cool pianist who we played with in New York last year (looks kind of like Venusaur now that I think about it). They were awesome and he could really pound that piano into the ground. About half the band stayed for the free second set, until like 12. We all walked back to the hotel and on the way back Mr. Harshman wanted to get pizza so we did. I didn't pay for it but he said "Davis, you're a senior, have some" so I did. Wow now I'm actually super hungry even though it's 11 at night. Blah. We finally got to crawl into our beds and sleep at like 2 o'clock (no actual sleeping until probably 3 because of the fight with Sam. Near the end of our last midnight battle, Sam threw me on top of my bed, where he had unknowingly left the glowing glasses that had started the whole thing. I landed with a crack and revealed the shattered glasses to a very disappointed Sam (it's called karma, bitch))>:

Monday: Woke up early ish and got all packed and loaded on our bus to go to South Seaport, a really boring mall and food court where we had to kill 2 or 3 hours before going to the airport. While we were eating there, a super nerdy glasses-wearing eighth grader opened a pack of Yu-Gi-Oh cards and exclaimed to his friend, "these are POWERFUL cards!!!" Of course, we all started laughing, Brad especially. The kid said, "what are you laughing at?" to which Brad replied, "what, you want to GO??" and stood up. The kid said nothing more and left quickly. Other than that, it was uneventful except for the the fact that everyone made fun of my sister a lot, especially Dimiter.
Finally we got to the airport and bid goodbye to New York. All I did the whole freaking time was play Tactics Ogre, which is an awesome game. It was a magnificent trip with a good ending.

A Phat Thing

I stayed home from school today. Headache, congestion, achiness and a general feeling of crappiness. Not good.

AP Tests. They crawl inexorably closer and closer, and I must say that I am woefully underprepared. Every day after school I am very tired and I either nap, play the piano, edit Bulbapedia, or otherwise screw around until about 5, when I become slightly motivated to work. Work commences sometime around 6 o'clock. I know that I need to study, but I just can't help not caring very much. And really, let's think about it. How much will the AP tests matter when I am old and I die? I'm not going to say, 'I wish I had worked harder and gotten a 4 instead of a 3 on the AP Calculus test.' But mostly, I'd like to think that I can hack it without studying at all. But I probably can't.
The other thing that is coming up around the same time as AP tests is the ESSENTIALLY ELLINGTON COMPETITION IN NEW YORK!!!!! Only 15 bands get chosen from the U.S. and Canada...so it is very highbrow pwnage. This is where most of the time that would be spent studying for APs goes. I am practicing so much it's not funny. But this is something that I will never get to do again in my life and I would truly regret it if I were underprepared for this.
I have started (slowly) playing Pokemon again!!!! The revitalization of my life's joy!!!

18:27] bananaoracle89: but my Pokedex is at 453!!!!!
[18:27] brittlebrit187: HOLY CRAP
[18:36] bananaoracle89: YES
[18:36] bananaoracle89: forgive my abence
[18:36] bananaoracle89: but it is at that many
[18:36] brittlebrit187: it be cool
[18:37] brittlebrit187: thats a very high number!
[18:37] brittlebrit187: thrice the number of pokemon i originally thought existed
[18:37] brittlebrit187: (151)
[18:37] brittlebrit187: cus i thought there was a mythical pokemon called hoho
[18:37] brittlebrit187: and whenever i told people about it they would say:
[18:37] brittlebrit187: YOU'RE A HO HO
[18:37] brittlebrit187: and i'd go home and cry
[18:37] bananaoracle89: that's....sad
[18:38] bananaoracle89: and it's Ho-Oh
[18:38] brittlebrit187: oh, well there you go


Iron Man tomorrow, I think?

In the Hood

My mom bought me some shorts the other day. As soon as I saw them, I laughed. But she insisted that I try them on, so I did.




Who's that good looking muthafucka?


What's up, Homes?


Breakin' some shit down.


Ahh yeah, that's the stuff.


Damn, it's hard bein' a gangster.

ZOMG NEW POST!!!11!!

All right David, I am finally doing it. I shall proceed to telll you a little bit about how things have been going lately.

Monday: Sucked balls. Regular school day. I was really tired and it was really boring. It was okay once I got home and started playing the piano, except for the part where I didn't get anything productive done.

Tuesday: AP Music Theory review session. A little better than last time but still rapage. It was Lucy, David, Chris, Sam, Dan, and me. We're the only ones who are actually taking the test--or it might be even less; I'm not sure. Anyhow, it was hard and it sucked. The good news was that Humanities was only 50 minutes long 9or however much it was). That Oedipus thing was really boring, though, especially since I didn't read the book.

Wednesday: Nothing doing in the morning today. I went home and took a nap and then practiced teh piano and then did some calculus. Calculus is hard and boring now--boring because of how hard it is. Band was really boring because I couldnt play with my eustachian tube infection (the one that connects your ears to your throat. the rest of the day was merely meh because we did homework review in physics and it was not very stimulating.

Thursday: Once again, not much to do after jazz band. I was undecided as to whether I would help Valerie file Honor Society forms so I talked to her for about 20 minutes before going home with just enough time to play the piano for 15 minutes before I had to leave. hooray. Today I went to Taco Bell with Mr. Messner for lunch--it was okay because he is apparently not a child molester (hey...you never know). We talked about things like college and Fire Emblem. He's really cool so that made it okay. Also the chicken quesadilla helped. Afterwards we ate in Ms. Bemis' room and they started talking and saying innuendos to each other in kinky voices. "yeah...I'm still here, guys." They were pretty much without shame when I said that so it was very awkward. Psych was interesting--well--okay not really but lunch was funny so whatev. Track meet that I skipped today. Yayz!

Friday: No jazz band so I got to sleep in finally. AP Psych review though. I thought the scantron questions were pretty easy but the FRQ took me a long time because I did not have very good strats. Band was boring again, physics was a complete waste of time because there was a sub who had no quiz and no lesson plan, and music theory was actually good because I got better at transcription, which I am terrible at. Not terrible, but not as good as I would like to be. I went to track after school and got a good workout on the bikes. Then I had to play the piano before going to David's house for the UBER AWESOME GOW/BRAWL PARTY!!!!! Seriously OMFGZ that was the most game-related fun I've had in a while. I mean, GOW and Brawl...the two best party games ever....so awesome. THe snow was pretty fun too. I went home a little early because of the snow and because I was tired.

Saturday: Food bank until 12. We got there a little late and I saw that some guy had usurped my job. And he was really dickly about it, like not giving me credit because I'm a kid even though I knew how to do it better than he did. I did, however, get to talk to an old guy that is pretty funny and, according to the lady in charge, I had to 'keep my eye on' because he 'says inappropriate things sometimes.' It was funny. The food bank is great. A lot of real characters come through there and it's really fun to see them all come through. After 12 I just screwed around at home and got music homework done. We had a gig at 4:30, playing at the Shorenorth Co-Op Auction at the Innis Arden clubhouse. They made us play in a tent outside, and screwed us on the food, and made us show up kind of early so we were a little ticked. But the music was great and it was fun playing so it was worth it. Later I watched more of the Office with Tracy and we worked on our Mental Marathon score in Brain Age 2. We're not very good at it.

Sunday: Today I cleaned my room for the first time in forever. It feels good to have it clean and it only took about an hour this time. I finished my CE so I don't have to worry about it anymore (it's on Tuesday, lol). Still need to get final approval from Ms. Corrie. Today I have been hanging around the house doing chores and finishing up homework such as the philosophy presentation things that ARE DUE ON THURSDAY DAMMIT!!! I have to practice my instruments and take an AP music test since I asked for it specially from Mr. Hendrix and said I would tell him how it goes.
*Sigh* So much work to be done before the AP tests. I can't wait for them to be over so that we can just have fun all the time. Then I will complete my Pokedex!!!