The Princess and the Frog

The Princess and the Frog-2009-Animation, Family, Fantasy-97 minutes

Directors: Ron Clements, John Musker

Writers: Ron Clements, John Musker

Staring: Anika Noni Rose, Keith David, Oprah Winfrey

So I have to admit that I was pretty skeptical when I discovered that Disney was making another princess movie.  I grew up with Cinderella and Ariel and the other girls, so years later, I wasn't sure if I was ready for another one. But I was wrong. The Princess and the Frog could be considered a classic Disney princess movie. A little bit of humor, a little love, a little sadness, and a lot of hope.
This movie brought back memories of when I was a little girl and wished on stars, as Tiana did in the film. Tiana was told by her wise father that wishing on a star alone won't get you anywhere - you have to work hard to get what you want. Tiana's wish of opening a restaurant does take a lot of work. She waitresses for two restaurants and saves all her tips hoping that one day there would be enough. Tiana's long-time friend, Charlotte, is a cute little rich girl who gets anything and everything she wants. Including marrying Prince Naveen of Maldonia, who is coming to New Orleans. Before Prince Naveen has the chance to meet Charlotte, he is tricked into having his palm read by a creepy street magician, Dr. Facilier. The Prince is magically turned into a frog and is desperate to turn human again. Hopping his way to Charlotte's costume party, me meets Tiana. Tiana's dressed to the nines for the costume party rightfully as a beautiful princess. Knowing the story of The Frog Prince, Tiana reluctantly agrees to help Naveen by one kiss. Sadly, Tiana isn't a true princess and therefore turns into a frog herself. She and Naveen must travel through the bayou and find Mama Odie to turn them human again before it's too late.
The music in this movie is incredible. The New Orleans jazz is the undertone for most of the songs and is very well written. Trumpeting gaters aren't too shabby, either. The singing is great and the lyrics fit perfectly in the story and aren't even corny-sounding. Each character brings it's own life to the movie and the actors did a wonderful job voicing them to make them unique. The animation is wonderful to look at. Beautiful colors and designs are used and the detail is stunning.
After watching this movie, the moral was loud and clear in my head - work hard to fulfill your dreams. And it's very true.

Overall Grade: A

Unstoppable

Unstoppable-2010-action, drama, thriller-98 minutes
Director: Tony Scott
Writer: Mark Bomback
Staring: Denzel Washington, Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson

There could be many arguments for what exactly the theme for Unstoppable is. Some might say bravery, brilliance, dedication, passion, or simply just a lot of luck. Truthfully, they all describe the movie.
The two men who saved the day are very brave, smart, dedicated to their families and jobs, passionate about what they do, and had a boatload of good luck. Even though the opening credits claim that the movie is based on true events, Hollywood certainly added more drama to the entire situation (read the real story here: www.brandchannel.com). The story in the film is about an unmanned train speeding through populated areas with hazardous chemicals onboard. Many different corporations think that it is their problem and have many different ways they want to solve it. In the end, the two heroes figure out the only way to stop the train is to come up behind it, grab it, and pull it in the opposite direction.
The script for this film is well written, but I can't agree with all the casting choices. Denzel Washington is perfect for his character and Chris Pine did a fine job, too. The characters Ned and Inspector Werner were both very strange and their lines made me scoff as they talked.
Be sure to pack along some Advil if you see this movie. Not only is it suspenseful, but the camera likes to move around a lot. It obviously has to because a train moves - and it moves fast - but about half way through the movie, I got a horrible head ache and really wanted this unstoppable train to stop. Even having a still camera on a person's face, the trees and telephone poles behind them made me nauseous.
Overall, this is a very good movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat, but also makes you laugh at the poor quality of actors. Like all suspense movies, you know they're going to get out, but you can't figure out how until you see it. That's what keeps you interested (and not to mention those blue eyes of Chris's). The movie starts out a little slow, but once it gets going, it doesn't stop - just like the train.

Overall Grade: B

Wisdom Gone

The teeth in the back of your mouth give you wisdom. Mine are gone. I'm stupid now I guess.

When your wisdom is taken away, all you get in return is pain, poofy-ness, and soft food. After 60 or so hours, it can still be very, very annoying.

Along with all that comes a few nicknames that will go away eventually, but for now I am known as Chipmunk and a cute Asian...

Not being able to talk normally sucks, too. You have your mouth hanging open to belittle the pain. This only gives you chapped lips and a silly expression 24/7.

Smiling, laughing, singing, and yelling are all out of the question, too.  None of that for a few days.

And you can't forget about playing an instrument. It really sucks when you have to sit and listen when you know you could be playing. Tomorrow I'm testing it out, but I'm pretty sure that I won't be able to play.

The soft food gets boring very fast. When everyone is eating Subway sandwiches, candy bars, and cookies around me, it's not that fun to sit with your third bowl of soup in the past 24 hours. Soup, yogurt, milkshakes (with a spoon), applesauce, and eggs aren't very appetizing after eating them for days.

Taking meds and icky mouthwash isn't that fun either. Keeping an eye on the clock and drugging up every four to six hours is too repetitive.

Hopefully I'll get better soon...

Such an Honor

Last week I had a concert in Overture Hall at the Overture Center in Madison. This was the second time I've performed there. Big deal? I think yes. How many people can say that they've performed at the Overture Center? Not many. Still nothing compared to some of my friends who have played in Carnegie Hall, but I try not to think about that...

Me in Overture Hall!

It all started out in February. One weekend, my mom and I drove to Middleton for my audition. I was really prepared and feeling pretty confident. And for some reason, I did horrible. Holding back my tears, I pretty much ran out of the building, barely made it in the car, then just started bawling. I can't remember how many weeks later, but I got a letter in the mail from WSMA (Wisconsin State Music Association - the guys running the whole dealio). I sat there, not wanting to open it for a few minutes. Finally, when I did, I first kept it folded. I could only read "Dear Isabella," before the crease kept the rest of the letter out of my view. Hesitating some more, I eventually unfolded the letter and saw one word...
"Congratulations"
...Then I started screaming :) YES I made it in the band. Yes yes yes yes yes!
Somehow the judge for my audition must have seen something. Maybe it was because I was in the orchestra the year before and thought I was just having an off-day. Maybe I was after a long string of auditions with players worse than me. I'll never know.

Brittany, me, and Taylor at camp

Ninja!

Erik was pretty good at Ninja

I attended a 3 1/2 day camp at UW-Green Bay in June. Met up with some old friends from band camp and the year before, learned to hate marches even more, played my first game of ninja, met some one that I knew from a very rare and funny place, and had another bad audition. When I first got there, I had a chair audition. The entire trombone/euphonium/tuba section got an email a few weeks before so we could prepare. Our low brass coach told us what we should expect and I walked in expecting the expected. I was not expecting that he would do the unexpected and expect us to expect the unexpected. Yeah, so long story short, I got seventh chair out of 9. I should've been at least third chair. Possibly even second. Funny how these things work out sometimes. Funny and unfair. That's life for ya...

Natasha and Dallas

Later, I figured that since I was "first chair" for third part, it might have been because I was the only third part trombone with a trigger (aka my trombone can change keys just by holding the trigger and, therefor, I can play lower and more notes than a single horn). I guess some one had to play all the low notes that the other thirds couldn't get... Just had to be me, though.

Our director is also the director of one of the Marine bands, so that was pretty cool. He picked out very patriotic music for us to play. American Emblem, Tribute, Liberty Fanfare, American Pageant, Armed Forces Medley, and a very random, not so patriotic, but really cool Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral. 
~American Emblem - John Philip Sousa said himself that this was one of the greatest marches ever written. The other two he listed were two of his own.
~Tribute - A very challenging piece to play, but it sounded amazing. This piece was written in honor of the women who have served in our Armed Forces.
~Liberty Fanfare - John Williams wrote this piece for Lady Liberty's 100th birthday. There is a narration that goes along and I guess this song was okay. I'm not a big fan of John Williams, though.
~American Pageant - "That's a lot of notes" said my director after we played it at our concert. I couldn't agree more lol. It was written for Nixon's inauguration or something and is a medley of many American songs - Yankee Doodle, America the Beautiful, etc.
~Armed Forces Medley - A very nice medley of all the Armed Forces "theme songs." Quite an honor to play especially when seeing audience members stand for the group they served in when their song played.
~Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral - Such a beautiful, powerful piece. Look it up. There are no other words to express that piece.

Jim and Taylor taking a "seductive" break at Middleton :)

So after the intense camp which pretty much crammed these six challenging pieces into our brains, we all parted ways for four months. Then, in October, we all meet up again at Middleton HS, make amazing music after rehearsing for hours on end. We rehearsed about six hours the first night. The next morning, we had a three hour rehearsal and then an hour dress rehearsal before the concert. It's amazing what we could do in just 24 hours.

David still in Tuba Land buzzing on his
 mouthpiece after the convention

I also got to go to the State Music Convention at the Monona Terrace which is always a blast. If you bring your mouthpiece, you get to play all these instruments just for fun! Yeah, playing $5,000 trombones makes me feel like I'm floating or something lol. It's just so cool. My friend played this really awesome tuba for about twenty minutes straight. After about five minutes, we decided to leave him and let him be and could still hear him as we walked through the convention. When he came back to meet us, he was smiling so big and had this certain glow about him.. It was so funny :) He was high off of playing  an awesome tuba!

Band warming up in Overture Hall

Taylor trying to find service backstage at the Overture Center

Jacob and I backstage - We were the only two kids in our conference to make it into State Honors :)

My family and I after the concert

L-Man and I after the concert!

The concert went really well, too. Playing in Overture Hall is such a great experience that not many people get a chance to do, so I don't take it for granted. A lot of my friends from school don't realize what a big deal being in State Honors means. Especially getting in more than one year. I still have one more year to audition (hopefully with a MUCH better audition this time) and am really looking forward to it.

Movies in Five Seconds....

Bored on YouTube... Enjoy! (FYI some of these are a lot more funny than others... but whatever)
Titanic
Lord of the Rings
The Lion King
Twilight
The Sixth Sense
Signs
I Am Legend
The Happening
The Dark Knight
Sweeney Todd
Iron Man
Jumper
Romeo + Juliet
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Spiderman
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Toy Story
Shrek
Star Wars Episode III (EWAN = <3 <3 <3)
Avatar
Okay second to last one - my second favorite:
2012
Okay last one - my favorite:
Harry Potter
Now, I only put movies that I've seen... There are many many more of these on YouTube!

I'm Such A Band Geek - And Proud of It!

Band geeks are awesome. Did you know that October 21st is International Hug a Band Geek Day? So I am expecting hugs from all of you.

Anyhoodle doodle (thank you Jergs for that awesome saying)... Our second to last marching band show was tonight. Pretty cold. By the middle of our second tune, I couldn't feel my fingers and my trombone was freezing - which didn't help by any means (HELLO FLAT!). Personally, I did not have a great show, but the band in its entirety did very well. I love this years show - "Batman - Through the Years." Plus, I have a solo/duet thing, the drill is fun and easy, and the music is awesome!
Listen to our show (well not us, but the songs) here!
Opener -Batman TV Theme (1960's)
Ballad (medley of) - Introduce a Little Anarchy and Harvey Two-Face (The Dark Knight, 2008)
Closer - Batman Movie Theme (1989)

Warming Up :)

Why you want to wear black socks to marching band

"Black" Socks - Beware of Sharpies

Another Day, Another Glee Post

After the third week in a row of missing Glee, I'm starting to think the world might hate me. After last week's not-so-amazing episode, I was really hoping this week would make it up.

And boy, it did!

So I was very satisfied and, although I had to wait about 22 hours to watch it, it might have been worth it. I'm not going to give anything away, but I was crying for about 50-70% of the episode.

The episode was called Grilled Cheesus. Pretty much, Finn made a grilled cheese and Jesus appeared on the sandwich from the grilling. It was really funny cause Finn is such a cutie and I enjoyed how he was such a boy! lol He prayed to win the football game, to touch Rachel's breasts, and to be quarterback again. There was a bigger story about Kurt and his dad, who had a heart attack. Now I'm pretty sure that every single Gleek in the world LOVES Kurt's dad - Burt Hummel. I certainly do. So when he's laying in a hospital bed, I am freaking out. Now since this had a lot of religion, I was kinda nervous to see how they would portray that. It was really good though - they didn't have one side over another, but everyone shared their opinions, discovered what other people experience in their religion, and it all just makes you think. I didn't change after watching the episode, but I was glad to see such a rare topic shown on TV.

do re mi

So today was my third year at UW-Platteville's High School Choral Festival. Choral as in singing, not coral like in the ocean... lol A little joke we had today thanks to Mr. Marx.
We started out the day - 9 of us plus Miss Lemanski - leaving school at 8.  Ka$ha and I played MARSH on the way there - over an hour busride since our driver was going 55 the entire way! Ick. Then I dozed off and it wasn't that memorable. When we got there, my throat started to bug me - must've been a mental thing, even though I've have a scratchy throat since Wednesday afternoon. I didn't feel ready to sing the entire day and put on a concert. But I had a yummy doughnut and bland orange juice and was then ready to SING! :)

After getting 140+ high school and college girls into formation, we started warming up with one of our two conductors. She was new this year and (besides her mullet and odd choices of outfits) I really liked her. A lot better than the other one who we had the past two years. She was NOT FUN. Anyway... The first song we sang was a Latin piece by Vivaldi entitled Esurientes Implevit Bonis (He Fills the Hungry With Truly Good Things). It's a quick, light, fun piece that flies by and has some challenging sixteenth note runs and some higher register stuff for the altos (me!). But fun all around. At first, we sang it just on Loo and Doo and stuff, then added the Latin text. It was actually pretty simple.

Our next song with this conductor was a beautiful, flowing piece called Silent the Forests by Eugene Butler. It's just amazing how well written the parts are (even though there are only three). The altos pretty much only sing awesome minor tension stuff which I LOVE. Of course (what they do every year), they made us guess the meaning of the song and relate it to our own lives - not going into much detail, but gosh. Every year it's different in my mind and can get quite annoying, but it does help everyone sing the song.

Ah yes, then after we worked with the other conductor - really funny, pudgy man who can sing higher than I can. Yeah, kinda awkward too when he walks around and conducts - I was in the front row and he always stood like two feet in front of me and it was just awkward. I simply just didn't look at him - I kept my eyes in my music and just sang.... lol But we did some really fun pieces with him. The first was Dance on My Heart written by Allen Koepke. It's a really cute narration/story song about this girl who wants to get married. There are guys who want to marry her, too. The first one is like "oh yeah, I'm stronger than anyone you've met, I'm really sweet, blah blah blah." The second guy is like "I'm so rich I'll buy you anything you want." She's like "no, I can't marry you guys - you never danced on my heart or sang to my soul. Sorry." But then the third guy is like "I promise to love you, I'll stay by your side, I'll be your faithful companion, etc." Of course, she picks him. Aw how sweet. lol Fun song to sing - I loved it!

The last song we worked on was No Time, a traditional arranged by Susan Brumfield. This was sort-of a gospel piece, but not at all. It was beautiful, powerful, about seven parts in some places, amazing chords, etc. I'm pretty sure it was during this song that, when we were rehearsing, a girl passed out. It was the first time that I've seen some one actually pass out in real life and really freaked me out. She was fine, of course - just locking her knees when she was standing. If you are standing in a hot concert hall for hours, making your brain scream for oxygen as you hold out your phrases, and lock your knees on top of that, it's a given that you'll pass out. That's why I kept bending my knees and keeping loose - I looked like an oompa loompa, but at least I didn't pass out. Last year, a girl on the top bleacher passed out and fell off the back. Scary stuff in choir, huh?

Then we had lunch - YUS! We went upstairs in the building and ate there. I got ahold of one of my friends from band camp, who now goes to college at P'Ville and she met me. That was SOO nice cause I never get to see her, now she lives closer to me! Yay! We got to talk for about half an hour and are planning to meet up again sometime when I head over to P'Ville for Trombone Choir.

After lunch, we had more rehearsing, going through each piece, working out tough spots, then doing it again and again. A cello player played the Latin piece with us and it added so much to the song - so pretty! No one passed out - thank goodness. Let's see, what else? Oh, we got to watch two students from the University sing solos during our break - it was pretty much another part of their speech saying "Hey come to Plattville for college!" Yeah, sure... But the singers were very good, of course. Then we had another quick rehearsal, performed for the boys, then the boys (about 100 or so men's choir=HEAVENLY) performed for us. Yeah, men's choir is pretty much one of the best things on this planet. Not kidding. One of my friends was hearing a men's choir for the first time ever and when they started she just said - quite loudly - "HOLY CRAP!" Cause it's that cool. Yep. Not kidding. Shall I say it again? I LOVE MEN'S CHOIRS!!!!!!!!! Then we finally had supper, and our group went to Steve's Pizza Place - yummy!

At the concert that evening, we not only got to perform, but we also got to see all of the choirs at UW-P sing. My friend from band camp was in Concert Choir, then there was the University Singers, Concert Choir, Coro D' Angeli (elite women's choir), and the Singing Pioneers (elite men's choir - which I love). Then us girls sang our four pieces and the boys sang their four pieces after us. My favorite piece they did was called Till the Stars Fall From the Skies by Sally Albrecht. GAH IT WAS AMAZING! Again, it was a men's choir singing, so that makes it 100 times better already, but the lyrics are just so great. I love that song so much!

Overall, I had a great day, didn't loose my voice too much - we'll see how it is tomorrow! I missed Glee AGAIN which makes me mad, because I heard that it was one of the best episodes yet. Plus, they're singing some awesome songs that I love! I didn't get any of my Pre-Calc done (who cares?!). So now since it's getting late and I have to be at vocal ensemble tomorrow at 7:10, I might as well get going to bed.

Listen to Esurientes Implevit Bonis Here
See some of the music for Silent the Forests Here
See a lame recording of Dance on My Heart Here
Watch a recording of No Time Here
If you start the video at about 30 secs, you can see Till the Stars Fall From the Skies Here. Sadly, I couldn't find a men's choir singing it, but the lyrics are just amazing!
Here is a quartet singing Till the Stars Fall From the Skies 


I have some pictures that I'll post sometime... If I'm ever up to it... Or feel like it... Or whatever...

Remind Me...

Remind me again why...


I started a blog?
I seriously don't have much to blog about.

I can't think of anything else you should remind me of?

Ende.

Going Insane

So this week is homecoming week. Homecoming week = stress skyrockets. Stress skyrocketing = not fun.

Responsibilities:
-Hire a DJ for the dance
-Paint the window
-Build the float
-Plan dress-up days
-Plan lunch game(s?)
-Organize MDA donation buckets
-Get a skit
-Play pep band at skit night
-Attend boys volleyball game
-Attend fifteen minutes of the powder puff game
-Play pep band at the pep rally
-Help Student Council run the pep rally
-March in the parade
-Provide a food dish for band pot luck
-March in the field show
-Figure out what I'm doing before and after the dance
-Go to the dance

On top of that:
-Get a twin for Twin Day on Monday
-Figure out what my twin and I are going to wear
-Find blue tights for Superhero Day
-Make a spider to go on my red shirt
-Have my dog eat my friend's blue tights
-Buy new blue tights, which I have no money for
-Figure out whether or not to wear heels on Formal Day
-Decide purple chucks sound a lot better to go with my dress
-Spend over an hour finding an outfit for Retro Day
-Fail at that
-Wear green and white for Height's Day

And don't forget:
-To do all my homework
-Drive to Platteville for Trombone Choir
-Audition for Winds of Wisconsin
-Get accepted into Winds of Wisconsin
-Watch Glee 24 hours late
-Not having a car for Thursday
-Write grants that are due in two days
-Attend a Student Council meeting
-Attend a Drama Club Officer meeting
-Attend another Student Council meeting
-Attend a last minute Junior Class Officer meeting
-Relax
-Scratch that last one
-Fundraise for the trip that I have no money for
-Only sell 4 items
-Get a job
-Call the place I applied at multiple times
-Have them never call me back
-Even when they said they would to schedule an interview
-Go bankrupt
-Buy things I really don't want to, but have to for Homecoming
-Run play rehearsal on Monday
-Run play rehearsal on Wednesday
-Take a couple tests in school
-Do a lab or two in Physics
-Get a sore, itchy throat

I'm. Going. Insane.

.G.L.E.E.

So two days after the Season Two Premier of Glee, and I'm still talking about it!  Honestly, it could've been better, but I still loved it! :)
My lowdown:
The Beginning, with Jacob Ben Isreal or whoever: It was funny. Kinda corny, but funny and cute.
The Songs!
~Empire State of Mind: I liked this song when it first came out on the radio, just because it was about New York, but then I got sick and tired of it. But from the moment I saw on the trailer for the premier, I freaked out! YAY!!!! I loved the arraignment, dance, and the entire thing about it!

~Billionaire: So after getting over the fact that the new character's name is Sam Evans (also the name of a kid at my school), I fell in love with him instantly. And yes, we need to get rid of that "Bieber hair" ew.  I found out that he was officially hired the day before they started shooting or something. And he actually auditioned with this song, but a key lower. This was the highest he's ever sang (he's a baritone), and he was amazing!  I am wondering, though, how many tennis balls CAN he fit in his mouth?
~Telephone: Lady Gaga again! Woot! This was one of my favorite pieces because 1. I love Lady Gaga 2. Sunshine may be a little annoying but she can sing! 3. I loved how Sunshine was all like "hey this is so much fun!" and Rachel's like "You Die Now!" and 4. Of course, Sue coming in screaming "SHUT UP!" best moment :)

~Listen: Sunshine's audition piece. Like I said, she's a good singer but I can't decide if I like her or not yet. It was a great song, though and I loved the dialogue before the song "Hi my name is Sunshine (something) and I'll be singing 'Listen' from the movie Dream Girls." Rachel: "Broadway show first." Everyone else: "Ah shut up!" ...Anyway, back to the song! I think Sunshine moved a bit to much. She's such a show off(?). It just got annoying because she knows she's so good and couldn't just sing the song. Whatever, it's Hollywood...

~What I Did For Love: Kinda random, kinda weird, kinda awkward... Yeah, I guess there just had to be a big solo for Rachel and a song that wasn't "popular," so this was it. I mean, the lyrics fit and all but it was just not ...right...

*Listen to the music!* www.GleeTheMusic.com

More opinions (avoiding spoilers):
~Rachel's wardrobe is getting less nerdy. I know in season 1, Kurt says "She manages to dress like a grandmother and a toddler at the same time." But now she's dressing more normal, just with weird socks... I go back and forth about this.

~Rachel's bangs. She copied me. I rule. I love them :)
~Like I said, I'm avoiding putting spoilers in here, but I want to say something about Sam... :|

~I LOVE BEISTE!!!!! She is such a sweetie! "Hey, there's pizza in there if you want some" aaaawwwwwwwww It made me so sad!

~Principal Figgins needs some sense knocked into him! Goodness...
~I'd like to see Finn as a Cheerio, but I miss him on the football team. Maybe he won't be quarterback again because Sam is now, but he could be a runner (yeah, I am lost after quarterback with football terms) and push Artie down the field like he suggested.
~Mike & Tina FOREVER! Oh my gosh I love them! Artie is a jerk. Thank goodness Tina dumped him. And I myself am also loving Mike's abs :) I think I'm going to Asian camp this summer haha
~New Vocal Adrenaline director = ick.
~I'm so glad Quinn is back on the Cheerios. I'm curious to see what will happen with her this season.

~Santana is so full of herself. I love her but hate her at the same time.
~BRITTANY!!!! I love her soooo much!!!!!!! "Stop the violence." I enjoyed how she had so many stupid blonde lines in this show, not just one like she usually has. And next week is Brittany/Britney! With Britney Spears! Yay Brittany!!!

~Speaking of "stop the violence," that catfight between Quinn and Santana was .E.P.I.C.

That's all I can think of right now, but I will definitely be adding more or making new blogs about Glee for sure! :D

Gleek out!

Books and Glee and Ticheli! Oh My!

So I have been having a pretty fantastic weekend and it's not even half done! I drove Maranda home after school yesterday just cause I'm that nice. :) Then I stayed at her house while we waited for "our" mom to come home. I stayed until about 9, and Maranda even fell asleep.
That night, I stayed up until about 1:15 just reading my book, Nineteen Minutes, by Jodi Picoult. It's such a great book that is so moving and I totally recommend it! It's about a school shooting and it's written so well - it goes back and forth from the day of, the years leading up to it, and the months after. Plus, you get to read the story from so many different peoples' points of view. The shooter, his mother, his father, his ex-best friend whose boyfriend died in the shooting, her mom who is a judge, the detective on the case, the shooter's lawyer, and more. I almost finished it last night and wanted to but decided against it. I only have about 50 pages left and I don't want it to end!
Since I stayed up kinda late, I slept in til about 10, which felt so nice. I got ready and then Amanda and I headed to Wallgreens :) I got the new People magazine which is all about Glee! Man, I love Glee! 3 more days til season 2! GAHHHH soooo excited!!!!! Anyway... I just had to pick up a few other things and then I drove Amanda home and we watched an episode from cycle 13 of America's Next Top Model. Another one of my favorite shows... Now Wade has David and a friend from Dodgeville over and I have nothing to do besides blog... Tomorrow I have play practice and will be getting there early to talk about set design. Oh, and the scene we will be working on - I blocked the entire thing all by myself! Mrs. Brown left her script in her car, so she said that I can just write whatever in my script and then lead rehearsal! Yay!
I'm listening to Frank Ticheli's Vesuvius, and it brings back memories of Winds of Wisconsin (WOW) I am so excited for this season! My audition is a week from tomorrow, so wish me luck! Hopefully I'll get higher than third chair this year. I wonder if Bryce and Kelsey are doing it again this year... Anyway! I'm going to go practice and then clean my room (or maybe the other way around) so I'll blog soon!

Look there's me! in the back row, on the right, in front of the bass drum! :D

Listen to Frank Ticheli's music on YouTube!

Ticheli's Vesuvius

Ticheli's Cajun Folk Songs Mvt. 1 La Belle 

Ticheli's Cajun Folk Songs Mvt. 2 Belle

Ticheli's Nitro

Ticheli's Symphony No. 2 Mvt. 3 Apollo Unleashed

Trombones Everywhere!

So Tuesday is officially my "Trombone Tuesday." Not only will jazz band be starting soon (after boys soccer season ends, so October something), but I also have my band lesson that day and then every other week I have my private trombone lessons in Mazo. On the other weeks, I will be in Platteville for a trombone choir that Mike Forbes, the low brass professor at Pville, started this year. Since we've only had one rehearsal, I can't say for sure how many people will be in it... You know college kids, they don't show up a lot. :) But I do know that there will be a tuba to help our lone bass trombonist (who is actually a tuba major), 3 other high school girls, and the rest will be trombone majors or marching band members. I had tons of fun, even though it was a little rough sightreading the pieces. But we are going to have a concert in November. We'll play about 8 pieces all together, a trombone quartet that's already going will play "1 or 3 pieces," like Mr. Forbes says. He also wants a select group of 6 (maybe 8?) players to play a difficult piece, and then me and the other high schoolers to play a quartet! I'm so excited!
Oh, and I have sparkly nailpolish on, just to let you know how epic I feel at the moment.

Wild West Days

So this weekend is Wild West Days in Mazomanie.  Starting Friday, it runs through Sunday with carnival rides and games, food and beer tents, helicopter rides, "Tough Trucks" show, a kickball tournament, live bands, and a parade.
I worked a lot this weekend to raise money for the band trip coming up in June.  I stamped over 600 hands as people came to see the Tough Trucks. Wow.  Also working at the food tent... I really need a funnel cake before this weekend is over! The band will be marching in the parade, playing Please Please Me. It ends two houses away from where I live so I really enjoy this parade.
Yesterday, when I was walking to the Tough Trucks show, a carni wanted me to play his game (the balloon-dart one). I told him no thanks, but he persisted saying that I should bring my boyfriend and make him pay for me. Alright sir, but what boyfriend are we talking about here?
The booming bass from the music kept me up all night. People were setting off fireworks, too. A cop sped down the road around 11:30. Wonder what was going on... I'll have to read the police beat in the newspaper! I took Toby on a walk last night and it was pretty freaky. I don't like walking around at night when there are tons of carnis and drunks running around Mazo. Plus, the helicopter is very loud and flies over our house about 2 or 3 times every hour. Yeah, all that are the downsides of living right across the street from WWD.

Fun over all, need to take some pictures, and I need a funnel cake.