So, a few weeks ago, Dad came home and mentioned that one of his yoga students taught skydiving. He asked if I'd be interested in doing it this summer (either that or take another glider plane lesson). I said that it might be scary, but that yeah, I'd like to do it.
When I go to a theme park, falling is the only thing that really scares me. Mainly rides like the Drop Zone, where they lift you up, and then drop you straight down. So, yeah, I was a bit apprehensive. But also excited.
A short while later, Dad decided that he wanted to go skydiving too. So, we were planning to go some time in the next couple weeks.
Then yesterday, he says "let's go skydiving tomorrow!"
To which I went "WHAT?"
So, today, we drove up to the airport to go skydiving.
(Ellen asked for a detailed account, so I'll see what I can do).
They made us sign all these fliers saying that we wouldn't sue them if we died and stuff. And then since the winds were really crazy we had to wait on the ground for four hours until things calmed down. I wasn't expecting to wait quite that long. But even when the wind died down a bit, it would still gust up occasionally. They said the they could dive if the winds were about 30 mph. But when it suddenly gusted from 15 up to thirty, it was dangerous because it could blow them out of control after their parachutes went open.
But finally they announced that they'd take us up. Dad decided to get videos of us too, so each of us had our own camera man. Dad and I put on the suits (cause it's cold up there) and the harnesses (so we don't die) and walked out to the plane.
It was a very small plane. We climbed up a little ladder to get inside and sat down with a couple other divers. But the other passengers were people who were already skilled at it and were diving alone. Dad and I were the only beginners. It's called tandem skydiving - where you have an experienced diver strapped to your back.
So our plane circled up to 13,000 feet. My teacher/lifeline/expert skydiver/whatever you called him, gave me all the basics on the way up. I was expecting a lengthy tutorial. Not so. But I guess it makes sense. They keep people occupied thinking about stuff so they're not freaking out about leaping out of a moving plane. Which, you know, is something your instincts usually recommend against.
Basically what he told me was just shuffle up to the plane and put my toes over the edge. He'd do the actual jumping so that I didn't physically have to throw myself from the plane. When we started to fall, I was supposed to arch my back back and look up. If you do that, then even if you're falling out of control, you will shift around and fall belly-down. Keep your knees bent so your feet are by your rear. Then after a short while, you let go of the harness and hold your hands up besides your face.
We reached the proper altitude, and three of the more experienced divers leaped from the plane.
And since I offered to go first, then it was my turn.
I didn't really get a chance to get scared. Before I knew it, my toes were hanging over the edge of the little doorway and I was staring down at the patchwork of farm fields below me, the blobs of the lakes, the little lines of the roads and rivers, and the tiny specks that were houses. I couldn't even see the cars. IT was a beautiful view though. Especially with the hills nearby.
My cameraman was clinging to the side of the plane like a spider, ready to drop with us.
Then, before I knew it, I was falling, tumbling wildly out of the sky. It was hard to tell at first, since we still carried the momentum of the plane.
For about five seconds, I felt the seizing up that I felt during Drop Zone and when I went bungee jumping. I tried to yell, but nothing came out.
Then when that five seconds passed, I was able to relax. I arched my back and lifted my head, and I was facing the earth. The wind was rushing past, and must have been deafening, but I barely remember. Even though I was wearing goggles, my eyes started to water a bit from the sheer speed of the descent (though Dad says his eyes didn't water).
The camera man coasted up and linked hands with my teacher. They let go and my instructor grabbed his foot. Just horsing around and entertaining me, I suppose. After that, I lost all sight of the cameraman. But skilled divers don't need to do the belly-down thing.
For about an entire minute, we dropped out of the sky, plummeting towards the ground. Then my instructor began to wave his hands in front of me. I was afraid he was giving me some signal that I'd forgotten about. But then the parachute burst open and we jerked upwards as our descent slowed dramatically and abruptly. The straps were digging into my legs, but my instructor made a couple adjustments and then it felt better. He told me to take off my goggles.
My ears popped several times, but I was able to keep them relatively clear by half-yawning.
My instructor held out his arms and offered me two loops, one to each side. I took them. He said pull right to go right and left to go left.
I followed his lead and he pulled us into a strong spiral (which Dad said made him queasy, but I thought it was fun). He leveled out and then went the other way.
It must have been about four or five minutes that we floated down towards the ground. The view was amazing. I watched as everything got slowly bigger, and I finally caught sight of the field behind the airport. There were little specks of the people who had gone before us.
A couple hundred feet above the ground, everything seemed to start coming at us much faster. I lifted my feet in front of me like I was told, and we hit the ground. The moment my feet jammed into the ground, I sat back on the ground as I was supposed to. About three people ran forwards and grabbed the chute to keep us from getting blown away, since it was still really windy.
And I stood up, feeling very strange to be standing on the ground once more.
~*~
Monday, May 28, 2012
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Fanime 2012
So, got back from Fanime yesterday.
Fun, as always. Although very hard on the wallet. Heheh.
I didn't buy anything expensive, but my money ran away very quickly. At least year I traded it for cool stuff instead of losing in...
I guess I got mostly prints and little button things and stuff.
This year Legend of Korra was very popular. There were a bunch of Korras, and some Makos and Bolins, and even a Tenzin, Lynne and Naga. Oh, I think we saw an Amon too.
And Ellen counted about 20 Kikis.
Ooh! There was actually some Kenshin stuff too! About 3 people were dressed up as Kenshin. And I got a Kenshin keychain and a print of him (which I later realized makes him look very girly).
I got a cool Twilight Princess poster.
And they had these cute octopus things, which I think I'll try making because I got amazingly attached to them (I did end up getting a little knitted octopus which is also very cute).
Yeah, if I brought several hundred dollars, I could easily spend all of it.
I dressed up as Chihiro and carried my giant Haku plushie around. Before graduation on firday, I spent most of the day making my shirt and fixing up Haku. I fixed his eyes, which have been bugging me ever since I attached them to his face. And I made some very slight adjustments to his horns and feet. A lot of people like my plushie and asked if I made it and stuff.
Here's some of the cool stuff I either bought or wanted to buy (I'll add more as I find it).
Legend of Korra
Forest Spirit
Okami
Wolf Link and Midna
Naga and Korra
Ammy and Waka
Fun, as always. Although very hard on the wallet. Heheh.
I didn't buy anything expensive, but my money ran away very quickly. At least year I traded it for cool stuff instead of losing in...
I guess I got mostly prints and little button things and stuff.
This year Legend of Korra was very popular. There were a bunch of Korras, and some Makos and Bolins, and even a Tenzin, Lynne and Naga. Oh, I think we saw an Amon too.
And Ellen counted about 20 Kikis.
Ooh! There was actually some Kenshin stuff too! About 3 people were dressed up as Kenshin. And I got a Kenshin keychain and a print of him (which I later realized makes him look very girly).
I got a cool Twilight Princess poster.
And they had these cute octopus things, which I think I'll try making because I got amazingly attached to them (I did end up getting a little knitted octopus which is also very cute).
Yeah, if I brought several hundred dollars, I could easily spend all of it.
I dressed up as Chihiro and carried my giant Haku plushie around. Before graduation on firday, I spent most of the day making my shirt and fixing up Haku. I fixed his eyes, which have been bugging me ever since I attached them to his face. And I made some very slight adjustments to his horns and feet. A lot of people like my plushie and asked if I made it and stuff.
Here's some of the cool stuff I either bought or wanted to buy (I'll add more as I find it).
Legend of Korra
Forest Spirit
Okami
Wolf Link and Midna
Naga and Korra
Ammy and Waka
Little Rock Nine
So today (Friday) my band had to play at graduation.
Fortunately my band is at a different school than where I go to college, so graduation is quite small (which means we don't have to play Pomp and Circumstance for an hour straight, like we did in high school).
The graduation was more interesting this year, because the guest speaker was Minnijean Brown-Trickey, one of the Little Rock Nine. We read a book about them in high school called "Warriors Don't Cry," written by one of the other Little Rock Nine.
The Little Rock Nine were nine black students who were the first to attend a highly racial white school to help end segregation. It went very badly for them. Not only did they have to deal with angry, violent students and crowds, but they also had to deal with the state police.
I recommend the book, because there's no way I can do justice to its contents.
Actually, Crystal just sent me an article about racism and Martin Luther King Jr. I would post it right now, but I'm on my laptop, and the article is on my desk computer. And currently my desk computer is completely screwed up. I hope I can get it fixed soon, because I need to finish applying for the summer program...
Aaaanyway, I got to listen to her give a speech to the graduates. The speakers weren't very good, but I did to to record it. I'll check if it came out.
I tried to find her after the graduation was over, but I couldn't find her anywhere. Oh well. I got to hear her talk. That was pretty cool.
Fortunately my band is at a different school than where I go to college, so graduation is quite small (which means we don't have to play Pomp and Circumstance for an hour straight, like we did in high school).
The graduation was more interesting this year, because the guest speaker was Minnijean Brown-Trickey, one of the Little Rock Nine. We read a book about them in high school called "Warriors Don't Cry," written by one of the other Little Rock Nine.
The Little Rock Nine were nine black students who were the first to attend a highly racial white school to help end segregation. It went very badly for them. Not only did they have to deal with angry, violent students and crowds, but they also had to deal with the state police.
I recommend the book, because there's no way I can do justice to its contents.
Actually, Crystal just sent me an article about racism and Martin Luther King Jr. I would post it right now, but I'm on my laptop, and the article is on my desk computer. And currently my desk computer is completely screwed up. I hope I can get it fixed soon, because I need to finish applying for the summer program...
Aaaanyway, I got to listen to her give a speech to the graduates. The speakers weren't very good, but I did to to record it. I'll check if it came out.
I tried to find her after the graduation was over, but I couldn't find her anywhere. Oh well. I got to hear her talk. That was pretty cool.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Writing Program and References
I don't think I mentioned this on the blog, so here goes.
I'm going to apply for a writing workshop this summer. One part of it is a workshop where people help you improve your writing.
And the other thing is something you apply for separately. It's a grant to stay up in one of their cabins for a week fro free as you work on your writing.
I need to edit a bunch of my poems, and the beginning of Katani's story to submit. Katani is what I want to work on a lot (as well as Arith and Saleera's story). I better finish soon.
And for the grant, I needed two professional references. So I asked a couple of my teachers from this semester. I asked my writing teacher and a teacher from my climate change class who graded a lot of my papers.
I just got my references from them. Was I supposed to read them? Because I did.
:3
Getting all emotional because my teachers have nice things to say. Hahah! They were nice to read though. A good morale booster.
I'm going to apply for a writing workshop this summer. One part of it is a workshop where people help you improve your writing.
And the other thing is something you apply for separately. It's a grant to stay up in one of their cabins for a week fro free as you work on your writing.
I need to edit a bunch of my poems, and the beginning of Katani's story to submit. Katani is what I want to work on a lot (as well as Arith and Saleera's story). I better finish soon.
And for the grant, I needed two professional references. So I asked a couple of my teachers from this semester. I asked my writing teacher and a teacher from my climate change class who graded a lot of my papers.
I just got my references from them. Was I supposed to read them? Because I did.
:3
Getting all emotional because my teachers have nice things to say. Hahah! They were nice to read though. A good morale booster.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Summer and the Day of Black Sun
First of all (belated post, since this happened on Monday) did you guys witness the solar eclipse?
It wasn't a full eclipse here. I think the full one happened around Carson City, Nevada. So Carter, a friend of the family, must have had an amazing view. When I went outside to look at it, I noticed how the lighting everywhere was dimmer than usual. It was so strange and disorienting.
And you're not supposed to look directly at the sun during an eclipse. Dad has this cool way of holding binoculars up to a piece of paper, and then the crescent of the sun will be reflected down onto the paper so you can see what's happening.
And then someone went, "oh my god! Look at the shadows!" And we did. All of the shadows on the houses, cars, and streets, were made up of countless tiny little crescent shapes. It was amazing. I'd seen anything like that before.
Man, I wish we could have gone up to Carson City to see the real thing.
I'll get pictures up. Maybe on the next post.
So, on to part two.
Today was my last final.
Gasp gasp.
This was a final for the teachers that drives me (and most everyone else) crazy. Some of the things on the final I don't recall ever hearing in my life. I won't go into how horribly the last test went for everyone. But dude, the teacher was 35 MINUTES LATE for the final. What the hell?
Whatever the results, I'm just glad it's over.
And then both before and after the final, I was running a wild goose chase all around campus (literally) trying to sell back textbooks (during most of it, I had to carry said books around, and they weighed a LOT, especially since I took the train and I still couldn't get rid of the two biggest, heaviest books) and trying to finish applying for graduation. The graduation thing had me going about five different places. It would make a very long (and boring) post if I detailed everything. I wish they didn't make things so hard.
So, very exhausting. Glad to have it done, for now.
And on the train ride home, I finally let my mind relax a bit. And I got some good thinking done about the Arith and Saleera story. I'll have to send Ellen a nice long email.
I don't think vacation has sunk in. Maybe after a little while of not having to worry about homework, I'll finally come to that amazingly wonderful realization. Heheh.
Aww fricksickle! (<-- blame my friend for that one) I gotta finish my Fanime costume! Hahah! I wonder how I should do the collar...
Anyway, I'll give the next thing its own post. Somehow this post has turned into a complaint again. Bad me! Next post will be better.
It wasn't a full eclipse here. I think the full one happened around Carson City, Nevada. So Carter, a friend of the family, must have had an amazing view. When I went outside to look at it, I noticed how the lighting everywhere was dimmer than usual. It was so strange and disorienting.
And you're not supposed to look directly at the sun during an eclipse. Dad has this cool way of holding binoculars up to a piece of paper, and then the crescent of the sun will be reflected down onto the paper so you can see what's happening.
And then someone went, "oh my god! Look at the shadows!" And we did. All of the shadows on the houses, cars, and streets, were made up of countless tiny little crescent shapes. It was amazing. I'd seen anything like that before.
Man, I wish we could have gone up to Carson City to see the real thing.
I'll get pictures up. Maybe on the next post.
So, on to part two.
Today was my last final.
Gasp gasp.
This was a final for the teachers that drives me (and most everyone else) crazy. Some of the things on the final I don't recall ever hearing in my life. I won't go into how horribly the last test went for everyone. But dude, the teacher was 35 MINUTES LATE for the final. What the hell?
Whatever the results, I'm just glad it's over.
And then both before and after the final, I was running a wild goose chase all around campus (literally) trying to sell back textbooks (during most of it, I had to carry said books around, and they weighed a LOT, especially since I took the train and I still couldn't get rid of the two biggest, heaviest books) and trying to finish applying for graduation. The graduation thing had me going about five different places. It would make a very long (and boring) post if I detailed everything. I wish they didn't make things so hard.
So, very exhausting. Glad to have it done, for now.
And on the train ride home, I finally let my mind relax a bit. And I got some good thinking done about the Arith and Saleera story. I'll have to send Ellen a nice long email.
I don't think vacation has sunk in. Maybe after a little while of not having to worry about homework, I'll finally come to that amazingly wonderful realization. Heheh.
Aww fricksickle! (<-- blame my friend for that one) I gotta finish my Fanime costume! Hahah! I wonder how I should do the collar...
Anyway, I'll give the next thing its own post. Somehow this post has turned into a complaint again. Bad me! Next post will be better.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Legend of Zelda and the Ocarina of Time Medley
Yesssss! I finally got it up! This is the Zelda medley I wrote back in high school! I've been wanting to put it onto Youtube for ages, but it wasn't working on my computer. the computer guy came over a couple days ago, and couldn't get it to work either. Finally he recommended a different program. I thought it would be hard to figure out, but it really wasn't. Now I can mess around with movies more~
Me on flute (Sun's Song is my solo), Ellen on piano. Friends of mine are also on flute, clarinet and violin. It was funny, because I had no idea that she was such an amazing violinist! Both of them were wonderful.
Also includes bassoon, trombone, and several percussion pieces (including tambourine, snare, cow bell).
Starts with Zelda's Lullaby, then Saria's Song, Sun's song, back to Saria's song as a round, Epona's song, song of storms, song of time. Then we have Sheik's theme (not one of the ocarina songs, but I love his theme), Minuet of Forest, Prelude of light, Bolero of Fire, Serenade of Water, Nocturne of Shadow, and Requiem of Spirit. I put little snatches of Sheik's theme between the temple songs to simulate Sheik teaching the melodies to Link. And then we tie it up with Zelda's Lullaby, which is what ends the game.
It would have been so cool to have a harp playing.
I've been playing with the idea of playing a bunch of songs on my flute. Pieces from movies or anime, or classical pieces. I really don't put my flute playing to much use outside of band anymore. And considering my Youtube channel basically gathers dust, I figured I should use it for something. And hopefully this will keep me from neglecting my flute over the summer. Heheh.
The next piece I'd like to do is on my ocarina. I told someone I'd try to play Lugia's song on an ocarina. I'm not really used to ocarina, but it's very similar to flute. And I have a very nice ocarina too. It's a bit tough to keep it in tune, but forunately I'm used to fixing that sort of stuff.
Considering the business of the semester, I have been practicing the ocarina song very slooooowly. But I'm pretty much ready now. I tried recording it tonight, but the recording doesn't seem to have great sound quality. The high notes are a bit screechy, and they are not in real life. I'm wondering if the screechiness will disappear when it goes onto youtube. Maybe I'll give it a shot.
Me on flute (Sun's Song is my solo), Ellen on piano. Friends of mine are also on flute, clarinet and violin. It was funny, because I had no idea that she was such an amazing violinist! Both of them were wonderful.
Also includes bassoon, trombone, and several percussion pieces (including tambourine, snare, cow bell).
Starts with Zelda's Lullaby, then Saria's Song, Sun's song, back to Saria's song as a round, Epona's song, song of storms, song of time. Then we have Sheik's theme (not one of the ocarina songs, but I love his theme), Minuet of Forest, Prelude of light, Bolero of Fire, Serenade of Water, Nocturne of Shadow, and Requiem of Spirit. I put little snatches of Sheik's theme between the temple songs to simulate Sheik teaching the melodies to Link. And then we tie it up with Zelda's Lullaby, which is what ends the game.
It would have been so cool to have a harp playing.
I've been playing with the idea of playing a bunch of songs on my flute. Pieces from movies or anime, or classical pieces. I really don't put my flute playing to much use outside of band anymore. And considering my Youtube channel basically gathers dust, I figured I should use it for something. And hopefully this will keep me from neglecting my flute over the summer. Heheh.
The next piece I'd like to do is on my ocarina. I told someone I'd try to play Lugia's song on an ocarina. I'm not really used to ocarina, but it's very similar to flute. And I have a very nice ocarina too. It's a bit tough to keep it in tune, but forunately I'm used to fixing that sort of stuff.
Considering the business of the semester, I have been practicing the ocarina song very slooooowly. But I'm pretty much ready now. I tried recording it tonight, but the recording doesn't seem to have great sound quality. The high notes are a bit screechy, and they are not in real life. I'm wondering if the screechiness will disappear when it goes onto youtube. Maybe I'll give it a shot.
Friday, May 18, 2012
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Summer Approaches
Next Tuesday and Wednesday I have one final each day. And then finally it's SUMMERRRRRRRRRR!
Never in my life have I been so relieved to see the end of the semester. And now the blog will no longer be a place of me moaning about how much school stuff I have. Well, not as much at least. Homework is always fun to complain about.
Ugh. Never ever again will I take seven classes at once...
Thursday, one week from now, the first day of summer, I am trying to plan something. I've been psyching myself up for it for several months. And I'm finally ready. Now I just have to see if Thursday will be a good day for it. ^-^' May be that schedules won't work.
I was actually planning on doing this "thing" Wednesday, but that was when I got sick.
I would like to do it before Fanime. Cross your fingers for me.
And yes, I'll bet a couple of you have guessed what I'm talking about. Tell me if you have.
Never in my life have I been so relieved to see the end of the semester. And now the blog will no longer be a place of me moaning about how much school stuff I have. Well, not as much at least. Homework is always fun to complain about.
Ugh. Never ever again will I take seven classes at once...
Thursday, one week from now, the first day of summer, I am trying to plan something. I've been psyching myself up for it for several months. And I'm finally ready. Now I just have to see if Thursday will be a good day for it. ^-^' May be that schedules won't work.
I was actually planning on doing this "thing" Wednesday, but that was when I got sick.
I would like to do it before Fanime. Cross your fingers for me.
And yes, I'll bet a couple of you have guessed what I'm talking about. Tell me if you have.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Black/White 2 Trailer
This is actually pretty freaking awesome.
If this was a trailer for a new anime, I might even be convinced to watch it. But I think it's just trying to get attention for the new games. Sure got my attention! Though maybe I'm just excited to see N in animated form. He has a voice now!
The fan view of N still confuses me. Seems most of the girl fans see him as dashing and romantic (I haven't the faintest idea how they came up with that). Others see him as a creepy creeper. I don't buy either of those, but I really like his character. Can't wait to have him in my fanfic. It'll be fun because Cara will get along with him half the time, and want to strangle him the other half. Heheh.
Which reminds me. I need to read the Black?White manga. I want to see how they do N.
Animated N~
^-^
If he showed up in some of the anime, I might actually watch a few episodes.
If this was a trailer for a new anime, I might even be convinced to watch it. But I think it's just trying to get attention for the new games. Sure got my attention! Though maybe I'm just excited to see N in animated form. He has a voice now!
The fan view of N still confuses me. Seems most of the girl fans see him as dashing and romantic (I haven't the faintest idea how they came up with that). Others see him as a creepy creeper. I don't buy either of those, but I really like his character. Can't wait to have him in my fanfic. It'll be fun because Cara will get along with him half the time, and want to strangle him the other half. Heheh.
Which reminds me. I need to read the Black?White manga. I want to see how they do N.
Animated N~
^-^
If he showed up in some of the anime, I might actually watch a few episodes.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Siiick
So, yeah. Got really sick and so canceled plans from Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Although I didn't really have the energy to do anything, it's more free time than I've had all semester.
It's sicker than I've been in a long time. No doubt from trying to do too much. The three days off were an incredible relief.
I added the finishing touches to a picture that had been sitting on my laptop for a few months. it's not great, but I'm sick of staring at it. And I did a quick picture to enter in a thing.
Finally got around to playing a bunch of the game Crystal lent me. First games I've played in a long time. I forgot how quickly they can eat time! So now I must finish my homework for tomorrow. Heheh.
I found a thing. I'm not quite sure how it works. Can you play with it? Theoretically something will happen.
It's sicker than I've been in a long time. No doubt from trying to do too much. The three days off were an incredible relief.
I added the finishing touches to a picture that had been sitting on my laptop for a few months. it's not great, but I'm sick of staring at it. And I did a quick picture to enter in a thing.
Finally got around to playing a bunch of the game Crystal lent me. First games I've played in a long time. I forgot how quickly they can eat time! So now I must finish my homework for tomorrow. Heheh.
I found a thing. I'm not quite sure how it works. Can you play with it? Theoretically something will happen.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Monday, May 7, 2012
Fiction Class
I just realized that I don't think I ever did this post. And I've been planning it for a couple months now.
So, most of my fiction class involves three peopel per day passing out copies of something they wrote. Then everyone takes it home, reads it, and marks it up. In class the next day, we discuss the stories.
Now, considering this is, you know, a writing class, I figured that the people in it would be able to write.
Not so.
At least half of the stories I've read are completely full of errors. I spend so much time trying to fix their grammar and sentence structure that I barely get a chance to think about the stuff that's actually important, like character interaction and plot. Its really annoying having to fix the stuff they should be ablet of fix themselves. Seriously, learn to write.
I may sound a bit cranky, but you would be too after 60+ stories, some of which are very long.
And even ignoring writing skill, there's only a couple writers that do a good job. And there's only been a handful of stories that I actually enjoyed. Like one last week about this creepy circus that apparently steals peoples souls (figuratively, maybe)?
Anyway, what was I trying to get at?
Oh.
So, if you like to write, great. Write. Keep writing a lot. It's the only way to get better. Some of the people in this class didn't seem to be very skilled at it.
Also, read a lot. It will help you figure out how words work and how sentences flow. Make stuff easy to read. This seemed like one of the biggest problems. Also, learn about grammar, even if only basic grammar. I know it's boring.
And finally, before you show your stuff to other people, do your best to make it as good as possible. Why should people care about your story if you don't even care enough to edit it yourself?
So, most of my fiction class involves three peopel per day passing out copies of something they wrote. Then everyone takes it home, reads it, and marks it up. In class the next day, we discuss the stories.
Now, considering this is, you know, a writing class, I figured that the people in it would be able to write.
Not so.
At least half of the stories I've read are completely full of errors. I spend so much time trying to fix their grammar and sentence structure that I barely get a chance to think about the stuff that's actually important, like character interaction and plot. Its really annoying having to fix the stuff they should be ablet of fix themselves. Seriously, learn to write.
I may sound a bit cranky, but you would be too after 60+ stories, some of which are very long.
And even ignoring writing skill, there's only a couple writers that do a good job. And there's only been a handful of stories that I actually enjoyed. Like one last week about this creepy circus that apparently steals peoples souls (figuratively, maybe)?
Anyway, what was I trying to get at?
Oh.
So, if you like to write, great. Write. Keep writing a lot. It's the only way to get better. Some of the people in this class didn't seem to be very skilled at it.
Also, read a lot. It will help you figure out how words work and how sentences flow. Make stuff easy to read. This seemed like one of the biggest problems. Also, learn about grammar, even if only basic grammar. I know it's boring.
And finally, before you show your stuff to other people, do your best to make it as good as possible. Why should people care about your story if you don't even care enough to edit it yourself?
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Middle School Birthday Party
So, I wasn't sure what today would be like. I went to help at my cousin Dylan's birthday party (technically he's my cousin's cousin). He just turned 13, and 12 of his middle-school friends were there, including Sean, the cousin between me and Dylan.
Dylan has a lot of energy. And from what I knew, so did his friends. So it could have turned out to be a pretty crazy day.
I was a little dubious about going cause the place they went was sort of far away. Monday through Friday I had to do the 45 minute drive to campus, and on Saturday I had to do a 2 hour drive for a class trip. Next Monday through Thursday I have to go to campus, and then next Saturday I have to do exactly the same 2 hour drive to the same place, so another long drive was not something I was looking forwards to. Originally I was going to help them drive, but I didn't need to. I got a ride instead, which was great.
Actually, it turned out to be pretty fun! It was pretty crazy, but a different kind of crazy from the rest of the semester. A fun crazy. Got to put on my kid hat.
We went to this big trampoline place that had these huge trampoline areas. One of them had a huge pit filled with foam cubes, and you'd dive in and then attempt and fail to climb out. It's like the La Brea Tar Pits, where the animals get stuck and cant' get out. Pretty funny to watch the kids flail around like a turtle on their back. Dylan dove in head-first (because I told him to) and had his feet flailing in the air for a minute until he righted himself.
You can't keep me out of that kind of stuff. I figured out an easier way to climb out by imitating the water skipper.
And one of the trampoline areas was devoted to dodgeball.
I LOVE DODGEBALL. I haven't played in so long! It was sooo fun! I still suck at throwing, but I'm still good at dodging! Man, brings back memories of elementary school. Whenever I was the last one standing, the kids would shout at me to get out so they could play again. So I just stood there, and the kids kept missing even though I wasn't moving.
Back at home, Dylan unleashed some randomness by bringing out about 20 stuffed animals. So we buried some kids on the couch in stuffed animals and had stuffed-animal-fights and stuff. He had about five REALLY BIG Pokemon stuffed animals. And many more smaller ones. Makes my small collection of stuffed animals seem pretty tame.
Dylan's birthday cake was frosted blue with a rainbow lightning bolt.
Yep. A 13-year-old boy serving a Rainbow Dash cake at his birthday party, despite many of his friends saying that MLP is a girly show. I still think that's a stupid thing to say about the show. There's plenty of guy stuff that girls watch and enjoy. Why the hell are some things considered girly, so that only weird guys watch them?
So, yeah . Crazy but fun. As always, I turn into a kid during that stuff.
Had to work on chores a lot when I got home though.
Still got to write some stuff tonight to apply for graduation (I will be writing a separate post complaining about that). And gotta finish my homework too.
But I did watch my show. Once Upon a Time.
There's only one episode left. O___O
You should watch it.
Really.
Considering how much stuff you guys tell me to watch (hours, hours, hours, hours of anime and TV shows) you should watch the stuff I suggest too.
One of the cool things is that the characters are based off of fairytale characters. So even though they introduce a lot of them, you never lose track because you already know them all! I like their takes on the different characters. And I like the time they spend in the past.
I find Rumpelstiltskin really intriguing. I wanna know what becomes of him. And the Evil Queen. Is there still some good left in her, or did revenge totally eat her soul?
Only one episode left! How can they wrap this up in one episode? Curse cliffhangers!! O_O
That's one of the things about jumping on the anime bandwagon so late. All of the series I'm watching/reading are all or mostly done, so I don't need to wait for more episodes to come up (usually).
Not this time. You remember me posting about the 1st episode. It's the first show I've watched regularly on TV since.... I don't even know when. Definitely not since high school. Though I've been watching Korra too. I had to miss the last episode though because of the school trip. I hope they have it up soon, because Mom and Dad want to watch it.
So yeah. Second to last episode of Once Upon a Time. I really want to draw out pictures of some of my actions when I watch stuff.
A couple from today were:
"Emma, don't do it! Don't be stupid! Don't trust her!"
And
"Noooooo! Henry! Oh my God! TT^TT" (This is where the cliffhanger hit).
Dylan has a lot of energy. And from what I knew, so did his friends. So it could have turned out to be a pretty crazy day.
I was a little dubious about going cause the place they went was sort of far away. Monday through Friday I had to do the 45 minute drive to campus, and on Saturday I had to do a 2 hour drive for a class trip. Next Monday through Thursday I have to go to campus, and then next Saturday I have to do exactly the same 2 hour drive to the same place, so another long drive was not something I was looking forwards to. Originally I was going to help them drive, but I didn't need to. I got a ride instead, which was great.
Actually, it turned out to be pretty fun! It was pretty crazy, but a different kind of crazy from the rest of the semester. A fun crazy. Got to put on my kid hat.
We went to this big trampoline place that had these huge trampoline areas. One of them had a huge pit filled with foam cubes, and you'd dive in and then attempt and fail to climb out. It's like the La Brea Tar Pits, where the animals get stuck and cant' get out. Pretty funny to watch the kids flail around like a turtle on their back. Dylan dove in head-first (because I told him to) and had his feet flailing in the air for a minute until he righted himself.
You can't keep me out of that kind of stuff. I figured out an easier way to climb out by imitating the water skipper.
And one of the trampoline areas was devoted to dodgeball.
I LOVE DODGEBALL. I haven't played in so long! It was sooo fun! I still suck at throwing, but I'm still good at dodging! Man, brings back memories of elementary school. Whenever I was the last one standing, the kids would shout at me to get out so they could play again. So I just stood there, and the kids kept missing even though I wasn't moving.
Back at home, Dylan unleashed some randomness by bringing out about 20 stuffed animals. So we buried some kids on the couch in stuffed animals and had stuffed-animal-fights and stuff. He had about five REALLY BIG Pokemon stuffed animals. And many more smaller ones. Makes my small collection of stuffed animals seem pretty tame.
Dylan's birthday cake was frosted blue with a rainbow lightning bolt.
Yep. A 13-year-old boy serving a Rainbow Dash cake at his birthday party, despite many of his friends saying that MLP is a girly show. I still think that's a stupid thing to say about the show. There's plenty of guy stuff that girls watch and enjoy. Why the hell are some things considered girly, so that only weird guys watch them?
So, yeah . Crazy but fun. As always, I turn into a kid during that stuff.
Had to work on chores a lot when I got home though.
Still got to write some stuff tonight to apply for graduation (I will be writing a separate post complaining about that). And gotta finish my homework too.
But I did watch my show. Once Upon a Time.
There's only one episode left. O___O
You should watch it.
Really.
Considering how much stuff you guys tell me to watch (hours, hours, hours, hours of anime and TV shows) you should watch the stuff I suggest too.
One of the cool things is that the characters are based off of fairytale characters. So even though they introduce a lot of them, you never lose track because you already know them all! I like their takes on the different characters. And I like the time they spend in the past.
I find Rumpelstiltskin really intriguing. I wanna know what becomes of him. And the Evil Queen. Is there still some good left in her, or did revenge totally eat her soul?
Only one episode left! How can they wrap this up in one episode? Curse cliffhangers!! O_O
That's one of the things about jumping on the anime bandwagon so late. All of the series I'm watching/reading are all or mostly done, so I don't need to wait for more episodes to come up (usually).
Not this time. You remember me posting about the 1st episode. It's the first show I've watched regularly on TV since.... I don't even know when. Definitely not since high school. Though I've been watching Korra too. I had to miss the last episode though because of the school trip. I hope they have it up soon, because Mom and Dad want to watch it.
So yeah. Second to last episode of Once Upon a Time. I really want to draw out pictures of some of my actions when I watch stuff.
A couple from today were:
"Emma, don't do it! Don't be stupid! Don't trust her!"
And
"Noooooo! Henry! Oh my God! TT^TT" (This is where the cliffhanger hit).
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Concert
So, just got back from my band concert.
We had a really great repertoire this time. We had a couple songs from Riverdance, as well as a selection of Star Wars songs. And three other songs as well.
I had a solo in Riverdance - the opening theme to the entire show (usually played on a tin whistle). I'll see if I can find a recording.
Originally I was going to play a small solo at the end of Yoda's theme. But it was made up entirely of long notes, so every time I shook, the notes sounded horribly wobbly. I kept hoping I'd get over it. There were three rehearsals where Christina (1st flute, and an AMAZING musician) was away, so I took over all her solos - like Princess Leiya's theme. It was good practice for me to play i front of the people, and I did pretty well. But even after that, I was still wobbly on Yoda's solo (despite me being able to paly it perfectly at home). So, finally a little over a month ago I said to Christina "you'd better take this solo, or I'm going to screw up the piece."
So when we next rehearsed it, Mr. G said, "Christina, you take Yoda's solo. Tara, you take the Riverdance solo.
There are two solos in Riverdance - the beginning one, and then one during the main Riverdance theme, which is fun and fast and which I can play fine, since it's fast enough that I don't shake on it). Except he had to shorten the piece. We had so much music that if we played the whole thing, our concert would have been raeallly long. So the second solo was in danger of being cut. I wish we could have played the whole thing, but the parts we did play were really fun.
So, I asked which solo was mine, and he said the opening solo.
Mentally I was going "why would you do that!" because that has long notes in it too, which will sound horrible if I start shaking again. But it's a beautiful piece, and I loved to play it.
I could play it perfect in the solitude of my living room. But during several of the rehearsals, I did shake on the long notes.
Then on Tuesday, I discovered that our concert was the following Thursday, AKA today (I thought it was the next week). So, it was my last chance to rehearse my solo with the band. We played it twice. The first time, my stupid nerves had me shaking all over the place. But I did really well the second time. Maybe because Christina got me to laugh a lot and relax, and maybe because I sat up straighter. I dunno. Either way, I got it during the last rehearsal. ^-^'
Dad really loves Riverdance, so I kept our performance of it a secret. I only practiced my solo when he wasn't around. And I set him up for it by getting him to watch Riverdance with me last night.
Riverdance was the second piece in our set. And it started right out with my solo. I did pretty good. I think I shook on a couple of the long notes, but apparently it wasn't really obvious. The ornaments (bends) helped to disguise it. Slightly less than most of my practice runs at home, but pretty darn good. People said I did really good, so hopefully they were being honest instead of polite. Heheh.
Dad was really surprised about Riverdance. I set him up sufficiently. ^-^
Whoo. I need more practice at solos, just so I stop freaking out about them. ^-^' Just dump me in front of a room full of people and make me play for about an hour.
On the plus side, it's made my speeches better, since speeches aren't nearly as nerve-wracking as solos (because in class, no one is really listening to you. Heheh. You know it's true).
I can't seem to find a good recording of my solo. Most of the youtube videos have cut the beginning off. Either that, or there's annoying narration over it. Anyway, it's the slow solo at the beginning of Reel Around the Sun.
Anyone who hasn't seen Riverdance should definitely see it. I can't recommend it enough. It's AMAZING. Especially the original (which, unfortunately, I don't believe has been released on DVD). But the two original main dancers are insanely amazing. Let me see if can find a video of the guy. He held (still holds?) the world record for fastest footsteps. The DVD version is sort of a mix of several different performances. It has clips from the original. And it has some new pieces too. Like Shivna. I really like that one.
I got to see this live a while ago. I posted about it. Though the two lead dancers weren't as good as the original, a lot of the other acts were better than the original.
Ah, here's the finale. This will do.
We had a really great repertoire this time. We had a couple songs from Riverdance, as well as a selection of Star Wars songs. And three other songs as well.
I had a solo in Riverdance - the opening theme to the entire show (usually played on a tin whistle). I'll see if I can find a recording.
Originally I was going to play a small solo at the end of Yoda's theme. But it was made up entirely of long notes, so every time I shook, the notes sounded horribly wobbly. I kept hoping I'd get over it. There were three rehearsals where Christina (1st flute, and an AMAZING musician) was away, so I took over all her solos - like Princess Leiya's theme. It was good practice for me to play i front of the people, and I did pretty well. But even after that, I was still wobbly on Yoda's solo (despite me being able to paly it perfectly at home). So, finally a little over a month ago I said to Christina "you'd better take this solo, or I'm going to screw up the piece."
So when we next rehearsed it, Mr. G said, "Christina, you take Yoda's solo. Tara, you take the Riverdance solo.
There are two solos in Riverdance - the beginning one, and then one during the main Riverdance theme, which is fun and fast and which I can play fine, since it's fast enough that I don't shake on it). Except he had to shorten the piece. We had so much music that if we played the whole thing, our concert would have been raeallly long. So the second solo was in danger of being cut. I wish we could have played the whole thing, but the parts we did play were really fun.
So, I asked which solo was mine, and he said the opening solo.
Mentally I was going "why would you do that!" because that has long notes in it too, which will sound horrible if I start shaking again. But it's a beautiful piece, and I loved to play it.
I could play it perfect in the solitude of my living room. But during several of the rehearsals, I did shake on the long notes.
Then on Tuesday, I discovered that our concert was the following Thursday, AKA today (I thought it was the next week). So, it was my last chance to rehearse my solo with the band. We played it twice. The first time, my stupid nerves had me shaking all over the place. But I did really well the second time. Maybe because Christina got me to laugh a lot and relax, and maybe because I sat up straighter. I dunno. Either way, I got it during the last rehearsal. ^-^'
Dad really loves Riverdance, so I kept our performance of it a secret. I only practiced my solo when he wasn't around. And I set him up for it by getting him to watch Riverdance with me last night.
Riverdance was the second piece in our set. And it started right out with my solo. I did pretty good. I think I shook on a couple of the long notes, but apparently it wasn't really obvious. The ornaments (bends) helped to disguise it. Slightly less than most of my practice runs at home, but pretty darn good. People said I did really good, so hopefully they were being honest instead of polite. Heheh.
Dad was really surprised about Riverdance. I set him up sufficiently. ^-^
Whoo. I need more practice at solos, just so I stop freaking out about them. ^-^' Just dump me in front of a room full of people and make me play for about an hour.
On the plus side, it's made my speeches better, since speeches aren't nearly as nerve-wracking as solos (because in class, no one is really listening to you. Heheh. You know it's true).
I can't seem to find a good recording of my solo. Most of the youtube videos have cut the beginning off. Either that, or there's annoying narration over it. Anyway, it's the slow solo at the beginning of Reel Around the Sun.
Anyone who hasn't seen Riverdance should definitely see it. I can't recommend it enough. It's AMAZING. Especially the original (which, unfortunately, I don't believe has been released on DVD). But the two original main dancers are insanely amazing. Let me see if can find a video of the guy. He held (still holds?) the world record for fastest footsteps. The DVD version is sort of a mix of several different performances. It has clips from the original. And it has some new pieces too. Like Shivna. I really like that one.
I got to see this live a while ago. I posted about it. Though the two lead dancers weren't as good as the original, a lot of the other acts were better than the original.
Ah, here's the finale. This will do.
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