Spring Break

What I expected to be a very boring week has turned out fantastic so far. I have quite a few things to cover, so be prepared for a long read.

Video Games:
POKEMON HEART GOLD GET! Let me go over my background with this game before I swamp you with too many details. Over 10 years ago, the things I wanted most on my Christmas list were a Gameboy Color and Pokemon Gold and Silver. That's exactly what I got. By the time I was through with them, I had about 230 hours logged on Gold and about 180 on Silver. I had a lot of fun experiences with these games. Skip ahead 10 years. Gamefreak decided to remake these marvelous games and it was, of course, a first day buy for me. It does not disappoint. So much nostalgia~ In other game news: our Movie Gallery is going out of business soon, so we stopped by for their going out of business sale. I picked up Elebits and Samba de Amigo for only $20; 1/5 of their normal price! I've still yet to play them though, so I'll have to get back to you on that.

Music:
Spring break started with a musical disappointment unfortunately. I was looking to see if I could find a good deal on a mono Beatles box set when I came across an article talking about counterfeits. I started to get that sinking feeling. I looked it up, and sure enough, my stereo box set. I should've guess since it was only $80. When I first got the box set, I knew something was up. I had suspicions that it was fake, but I thought I was crazy, and it was only an early European copy that I recieved. I went to file a complaint at ebay, but I was 1 day too late. I had been living a lie for 46 days...oh well, 46 days of unknowing bliss is better than a lifetime of falsehood. It's not even the degraded sound quality that irks me, I barely noticed that until now, it's the fact that this wasn't a true Beatles effort. Some guy in China just ripped all the tracks on to a new CD and scanned pictures of the booklets and such to make a quick buck. I want to hear what George Martin, Ringo, Paul, and the music editors poured their souls into for almost 4 years. I want something that I can feel proud to show my kids one day. I need something authentic. I'm going to start saving up so I can get the real thing, I just wish I had some way to make money...Anyway, more Beatles news. We went to Barnes and Nobels a couple of days ago, and I found quite a few things that surprised me. First was the three disc "Dylan" box set sitting right at the entrance. This box set was the one I originally planned on getting, and still might. Right across from it was The Beatles Capitol Records remasters volume one and two. It was a special sight to see, but since I already had most of the tracks, I wasn't too struck by it. Since I knew the store had potential for Beatles, I had to look through the CD. I expected to see the same old things I already "kinda" had, but found more, much more. First thing I noticed was that yellow box with "Love" wrote across it jutting out above the rest of the CDs. I did your general guy fanboy reaction thing (Avery was there, he could probably describe my reaction better). It was the DVD-audio and CD version of the Love album, something I never expected to see in a store. Upon further inspection, I found they had the Let It Be...Naked album, something that was also not in the box set. Just above was the Blue album released almost 20 years ago, something I also would've never expected to see in store. I almost convinced my mom to buy them for me, but we had already made a big purchase for me that day, so she couldn't. We will be going there again tomorrow, so maybe I can convince her to at least buy me the Love album. Now, that big purchase we made a couple of days ago, it was a guitar. An acoustic electric just like I wanted too! We didn't plan to buy it that day, but we found it for just $170, and mom said she wanted to get it before it was gone. The seller even threw in a $70 case and rounded the price off to $200. I was a bit hesitant to make such a big purchase, but I'm glad we did now. I've already learned quite a few songs.

Personal Life:
Avery came over two days ago, and we had a fantastic time. We did the usual when it comes to video games and recording and what not, but something special happened this time. Avery had taken a liking to exploring the woods behind his house and he wanted to see mine. My dad and many who live close by like to hunt, so we had plenty of trails to explore. Here's a map showing two of the major places we ended up at.

The blue dot is close to my house, where we began. The yellow dots are two major places we ended up. I knew most of the trail until we started heading south, that's when it really got interesting. The yellow dot on the bottom is a farm. I told him if we kept going, that it would probably lead to a road soon, but he was too afraid that the donkey would charge us, so we turned back. The yellow dot on the right is near the power lines. I was desperate and adventurous enough to want to follow it so we wouldn't have to walk all the way back, but Avery said that he didn't want to risk it. It's probably best that we did head back. I never knew about this segment of power lines, and I assumed that we had somehow reached the ones about half a mile north of my house. Taking the northern path would've taken us out to the lakes, and I would have lost my placement. If we went south, we would be walking a very long time before we got to the road. We engraved our name into the dirt below the power lines. And made the long walk back. I took a pedometer with me, and it said we took about 15000 steps, and my dad told me that we walked at least 3 or 4 miles there and back. Oh, I almost forgot to mention, the clover fields. As you can kind of see in this picture, we came across a clover field right before we got to the power lines. It even had some buttercups growing near the end of it. It was beautiful, and made the entire hike worth the effort. I hope Avery comes back soon. I wouldn't like being out there by myself, but when I have someone out there with some hiking experience, it's wonderful. I really hope I can share the experience with someone else if I ever go hiking that far again.

Ah, so much to talk about, but not enough time. So tell me, has your spring break been anywhere near as great as mine has been?

Until Further Notice

I thought I'd let my subconscious take over today for the title. I just put the first thing that came to mind. I'm a bit tired now, so I'll focus on interpreting it later. >_<

Music:
I've been in a musical slump recently. I just haven't felt the inspiration to learn anything new on piano and my performance in band hasn't been entirely satisfactory (though this isn't entirely my fault). I just feel like too many of my emotions and thoughts have been pushing away my musical inspiration. I hope Mr. Thomas get our normal Tubas back soon, these heaps of brass we've been using this week can barely be classified as an instrument; mine is impossible to get in tune. Anyway, to get away from the pessimism in band, choir has been good as usual for me. Seth seems to be taking a sharp decline though. Don't hit a note that's too low and then blame me for being out of tune. >_< I think I know a little bit of what I'm doing by now...

Personal Life:
I have been exercising for three days now, and the results are beginning to show. If I can trust our scale, I have gone from 304 to 297 in just 1 week, which is impressive by anyone's standards. If it keeps up like this, I'll have no problem getting to 280 before prom. Just have to keep working at it. The other story for today, RAIN! Ah, I love the rain and we got quite a lot of it today! I don't know what it is about these thunderstorms. It's like this slightly tensious feeling you have throughout the day that makes everything so much more exhilarating, but at the same time, it seems to reveal my passionate side. They just have that odd effect on me I guess. I hope it keeps going. 1 more day of this weather will satisfy me. And the final thing I'd like to put here explains a little more of what I was talking about in the music section, my thoughts and emotions have really been imposing themselves on my life lately. I just wish I could go up to everyone I know and just tell them what I think of them. Of course, following through with something like this would hardly be beneficial. Some things I say might cause me bodily harm, some things I may say could be so positive that they would be met with sarcasm, and other things just wouldn't phase people the way I'd hope. All I can say is I'm so tired of holding back these emotions, but it's not worth risking everything. Just two more days and maybe I can put these problems to rest for a while...just maybe.

Sorry if this post is lacking the positive vibes. I'm in a good mood, I promise, I'm just kind of tired. Any thoughts of what I've posted today?

Mondays~

For once we finally had a warm day in almost 5 months, and I really took the opportunity to enjoy. Shorts, flip flops, the works, but it's more than just the change of outfit. Just feeling the sun again is enough to make me happy. It's looking rainy for the rest of the week, but here's hoping that the sunny days will be here soon.

Video Games:
It makes a surprising return! Nothing to specific to mention here, but I've began taking up Super Mario 64 again. It's good to have a game that I can subconsciously mess around with while thoughts race through my head. It's amazing to have a game that you know so well that you don't even have to put a conscious effort into doing anything. This game has really melded with me, and I hope it stays this way.

Music:
I can happily say that I've near perfected "Let It Be" on piano. I'm hoping I can convince Mr. Fowler to let me play it during the next coffee house. I think a piano would be a great addition to the guitar playing, and I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one to consider using it. I don't think it would take too much to convince Hannah to play something for us. Anyway, thanks to Rachel, I've been exposed to a really beautiful song by Depeche Mode; "Somebody". It was a pleasant surprise compared to what I've heard from Depeche Mode previously. I even took a few moments to transpose the opening on piano. I'm sure she'll enjoy it if I ever have a chance to play piano while she's around.

Personal Life:
The big news for today, exercise. Avery has convinced me to try this workout game he's had for some time, and it's offered quite the workout. My only quarrel with it so far is that it seems unaccepting of my physical limitations. For example: it tells me to pace myself and then tells me I'm running to slow. And this is on easy! >_< There's only so much this body can do. The fact that I burned 214 calories (almost my entire breakfast) in only 20 minutes leaves me hopeful though. I'm willing to keep trying. I think I may even squeeze in a brisk walk in the afternoons if the weather stays nice. I'm a little doubtful that I can get to 280 before prom, but it's definitely worth trying!

It's a little bit funny this feeling inside

I'm not one of those who can easily hide
I don't have much money but boy if I did
I'd buy a big house where we both could live

If I was a sculptor, but then again, no
Or a man who makes potions in a traveling show
I know it's not much but it's the best I can do
My gift is my song and this one's for you

And you can tell everybody this is your song
It may be quite simple but now that it's done
I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words
How wonderful life is while you're in the world

I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss
Well a few of the verses well they've got me quite cross
But the sun's been quite kind while I wrote this song
It's for people like you that keep it turned on

So excuse me forgetting but these things I do
You see I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue
Anyway the thing is what I really mean
Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen

I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words
How wonderful life is while you're in the world

Another lyric post? I hope you know what this means! More piano learning! Quite a beautiful song by Elton John, and one of my personal favorites recently. Not too difficult to learn either!

Music:
Despite what I said yesterday, I think I'm going to give up on learning the trombone for now. I'm just not feeling the love for brass recently. I'm doubt my mom will be too happy having to pick me up from practice anyway. I've been juggling quiet a few things in my life lately, and that's something I can afford loosing. After school today, I had the opportunity to play Mr. Fowler's piano again! :D Just tried a few new things I've learned since last time; Imagine and Let it Be mostly. Hannah was standing right outside the door while I was playing. I met her in the office later and I asked her if she liked my playing. She's had no idea that it was me playing. She thought it was Mr. Fowler! Maybe I do have a talent for this after all.

Personal Life:
March is sooooo sloooooow. I'm just ready for things to pick up already. There are 2 things that would really help this month go by faster, and I praying that at least one of them will happen soon. Not too much to say here besides that. Just getting by every day, waiting for something to happen. That's all I've been lately.

Ah, Graduation Exam week

What a relaxing week. Getting out of at least one class a day and being able to hang out with my friends more often can't be a bad thing. For the time being, I'm going to leave the video game section out of my blog, I just haven't been into it too much lately. Expect something on the 14th though. Pokemon Heart Gold comes out! ^_^

Music: I find myself gradually losing interest in brass. I know I've driven this into the ground, but I just really want to learn piano. It's just my musical aspiration, and it doesn't appear to be leaving any time soon. Ironically, I'm attempting to learn trombone for jazz band. I know the basics, but it's going to take some practice to be able to play all the scales by next Friday. I have confidence in myself though, and Mr. Thomas knows I'm just starting out. Hopefully, he'll go easy on us. Not too much to say about about choir. The weather has been driving our voices crazy this week though. For example, today I had incredible range. I was able to hit everything from the basses low F to the soprano's high F. The problem though was that I had absolutely no ear for pitch. I didn't have many problems, but if there was ever a note that I couldn't hit, I just seemed unable to fix it. Maybe spring will be here soon to fix this. In other news, Beatles, Beatles, Beatles! It seems like no matter how much new music I get, nothing seems to topple their music. I've been listening to them for about 3 months now, and it just never gets old!

Personal Life:
I've been waking up with stomach pains for the last two days. I don't really feel like I should be concerned, but it's strange. I'm hoping it will subside soon enough. Um...I had a crazy dream last night involving me cross dressing, having an 60 year old man selling necklaces ask me why I was so gay, having Seth randomly find a tie that looks like a mix of two of my favorites in a tie stand in the back of a theater, and watching Spongebob in an old english style class. Yeah, just ask if you want details. XD That's about it, life has just been all about relaxation and moderation for me lately, and I have to say it's going well.

Sorry if this update seems a bit stale. I haven't been in too much of a writting mood lately, but I know I'll get it back soon enough!