Rain of Fire

…

Mood: Exasperated
Today: Spent the morning in an apple tree. 10 bags of apples in one day, and I didn’t even touch the lower half of the tree. >_> Our tree is so productive it broke three of its own branches.

Safe. Secret. Secure.

At first it felt like I was letting off some sort of steam by venting my life’s troubles on RF. Obviously, the internet wasn’t the best place to do it, no matter how private this blog is. I can’t even remember how many yearbooks I wrote this URL into.

I went back and deleted some of my old posts. Say nothing, and your secrets are safe from everyone.

I’m kind of annoyed with myself. I despise people who continue to deny when they are being consumed by obsession. No I am not talking about Travian, but good guess.

I guess it’s just frustrating to me that I have so little control over my focus.

This had better stop soon.

Kumon ceremony later today. I’m beginning to resent Kumon a little bit, but I guess it has something to do with the two versions of level M that I’m working on simultaneously. The 2004 version is big step from the 2005, and my homework consists of both.

I’m stopping classical piano for a while to study jazz piano. Goodness knows I need it, in order to keep up with Jazz Lab. My mom doesn’t want me to BART to the new teacher’s place though. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten off at Ashby before - is it that bad?

Anyways.

Posted by Alina at 3:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mood: blue mood ring O:
Today: Haha totally beat Michael and Timothy at deuces. Despite Michael’s all-cards-at-once illegal move.

Mr. Bryant had jury duty today, apparently, so we had a sub. Which means no rehearsal. Which means that freshmen pianists get to put off Jamie’s piano-playing strike until Monday. He said we have to start playing on the actual audible piano, so we’re going to switch off and he’s not going to play at all. Hopefully Jake will be back by then.

We watched a really weird DVD instead. It was probably mostly for the jazz music in it, because the story was really weird and the lines were totally uncensored. I tried to find the DVD case, but it magically disappeared halfway across the room.

After a while I got bored and went over to watch the guys play deuces. They wouldn’t let Jeff play anymore because he kept cheating, so for the last game before break I picked up the third hand. J’aime les cartes de deus O: And yes I know my French is horrible.

Haha, another wasted day of sax-ferrying between school and house. I’m glad I don’t have to drag around a keyboard.

Posted by Alina at 7:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mood: brain-dead
Today: moved lotsa stuff to clear off the stage

Yesterday at sunset the light went through the leaves of a plum tree outside my window and into my room, hitting my doorknob at an angle and casting fiery patterns over my door.

(Click each image for a larger version.)

Posted by Alina at 6:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Robots - in disguise!

Mood: INSPIRED :D
Today: got cookies for dusting pianos/folding plastic bags for piano teacher, who’s moving to Hilltop

God, I hated that theme song so much.

Omg shiny robots - on an IMAX screen! :D I guess the storyline could have been better. I mean like, I don’t like it when there’s simply a good side and an evil side. BUT WHO CARES WHEN THERE ARE ROBOTS TRANSFORMING IN FRONT OF YOU O:

I’m glad I watched it in an IMAX theater. The sound was fantastic, though it left me a little disoriented afterwards. The graphics were unbelievably detailed, to the point where you can see a person’s skin pattern. My dad said that made all the teenagers look old. >_> The fighting was hard to follow - all I could see were tangles of metal and flying concrete. It even took me a while to separate the good guys from the bad guys.

I wanna Bumblebee @_@ Optimus Prime’s design was cool, but I’m kind of disappointed that - of all vehicles - he transformed into a truck. And not even, like, a Ford. I was hoping one of them would turn into a motorbike, but I guess that would mean they’d transform into some tiny autobots.

I WANNA SEE THE SECOND MOVIE :D

Yesterday, Tansen and I also watched the 10th and final DVD of Get Backers episodes. I loved this anime! There were times when the facial expressions and animation went a little downhill, but after watching Naruto go through its filler plunge, that was nothing. Some of the lines were a little cheesy, but who doesn’t love unexpectedly emotional stories?

The story-writers had a great sense of humor. One of my other favorite aspects about Get Backers was the variety of characters. Unlike in other anime shows that I’ve watched, I can’t think of a clear favorite character. In Get Backers, I loved each character for a different thing - the Raitei’s design, Ginji’s ability/chibi, Ban’s personality, Kazu’s technique (and his HAIR OMFG :D), his connection with Juubei, and most certainly Emishi’s hot pink sunglasses.

Also, everyone in Get Backers had amazingly pretty hair. O:

Apparently the anime story is very different from the manga. I should go read it O:

Posted by Alina at 2:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Instead of Jazz Lab rehearsal, we went down to the Little Theater to sit in the new seats and watch the Latin American Saxophone Quartet. O:

Mood: Okay, but my nose is irritating me.
Today: Hm…lotsa things :)

I like our own saxophone quartet from last year. The Latin American Saxophone Quartet was good, but the guys didn’t speak English very well and their translator wasn’t any better. Still, the players were excellent. The name of their quartet just doesn’t match the Saxtastic Four though ;P

I associate the sound of a bari sax to Timothy >_> Probably because for the last two years I’ve been playing close attention to his playing. The bari sax’s part is usually closely associated with the rhythm section bass line.

Anyways. Back to the Latin American Saxophone Quartet. They had some amazing tempos going - aside from tapping my feet, I could hardly keep track of the rhythms. And I’m in the bloody rhythm section. During the between-song lectures about where their music came from and the history of the quartet and etc, I have to admit, I was bored out of my mind. First the bari sax player said something in…I believe it was Spanish, I couldn’t hear it too well. Their translator repeated it very slowly and uninterestingly in broken English.

April and I were alternately falling asleep. I noticed when I opened my eyes and realized that they’d been closed for a while. I woke up for a few minutes, and when I looked over April was blinking slowly and nodding off. After that, I watched until she started leaning forward, then I poked her really hard to make her jump and wake up. Unfortunately, poking doesn’t work on April. I ended up pinching her arm or hand really hard, which didn’t do much either.

She only had to poke me once, but it worked pretty well.

So we ended up not playing anything for Jazz Lab at all. After school I was walking past the practice room and bumped into Timothy. He carries his bari all the way to school for Jazz Lab and then all the way back home. We didn’t even play today x—x I’m glad I don’t have to drag a piano to school three days a week.

Posted by Alina at 8:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A pirate’s life for me :D.

Mood: LALALA ::blows nose::
Today: badminton with Antonio, Khalil, and Andy

HALX REX: I miss being a pirate. Don’t you miss being a pirate? I think we’ve all made some bad decisions. [not exact, I’ll have to catch him saying it.]

HAPPY NATIONAL SPEAK LIKE A PIRATE DAY. :D (international?)

I tried to get Simon to speak like a pirate. It’s not pirate day if Simon doesn’t speak like a pirate ):

Yarrrr :D

[19:58:27] HALX: Hello, Raikia. Do you miss being a pirate?

[19:58:27] REX: Do you miss being a pirate? I miss being a pirate! We’ve all made some bad decisions.

[19:58:50] Raikia: yes I do ):

::win::

Posted by Alina at 6:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Questions.

Mood: Content.
Today: (last night) heard and saw two adult raccoons fighting in the backyard o.o

We’re four weeks into freshmen year at high school.

High school’s a little more…exciting than middle school. I think my favorite class right now is PE, since it really feels like we’re doing something. I love the sprints across the gym. I also have a lot of friends in my PE class, both guys and girls, which is unusual. I love hanging out with Eliza, Gillian, and Natalie, which I haven’t done since seventh grade. I hang around with Antonio and Erik a lot. I was so surprised to see Khalil at the beginning of the year, but now I talk to him a lot during PE. It’s a lot of fun :P

I miss the simplicity of middle school. There were five ways instead of two for moving from floor to floor and it was never so crowded that you had to blame your tardiness on the staircases. Block schedule’s doing nothing for me. I don’t like sitting in one class for an hour and a half.

I MISS 7TH AND 8TH GRADE SO MUCH. It’s ridiculous…I feel so alone without my friends in my classes. Katie’s gone. Emily and Jackie are in none of my classes. Heck, I even miss watching Corwin and his 5 different cubes during lunch. know I should make new friends, but sometimes I feel so miserable during class.

I get to see most of my friends during lunch, which is thankfully off-campus, and I usually sit behind Connie in Chemistry while having ninja battles on paper with Omid, who sits next to me a lot. Calvin is in my Geometry Honors, but making ‘you’re going down!’ signals at each other is different without Michael and Sam threatening to roast each other in the background.

I miss Timothy a lot. It’s different from missing my other friends, who I can find on the phone or on MSN every day. English isn’t any fun without having someone who can talk back logically to the teacher. In Jazz Lab, which is the only class I share with him, he sits all the way across the band and I can only talk to him after rehearsal. I miss walking to music with him and listening to his Rubiks cube turning behind me when he solves it during class.

A few respites keep me alive during the day. Connie calls me every morning to make sure I’m awake and heading to school on time, and we go to find each other every lunch hour. I always look forward to what we’re going to do in Theater Ensemble after school, and when I come home I come and see who’s in Pchat. And I think I’m doing really well in Geometry - despite Calvin’s promise that I’m going down ;P

I guess one another one of the reasons I’m so disappointed about this school year is that I had to let go of TIC when it started. I miss my summer.

Posted by Alina at 6:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

1) Be on time or early for everything.

Mood: Motivated! O: [temporarily >3>
Today: tested out new woodless color pencils O:

OK. I HAVE DECIDED TO STOP TAKING MY LIFE FOR GRANTED.

Several things prompted this entry. I really can’t procrastinate anymore, just because I know my homework well enough to do it last minute. It looks like I’ll be joining as many clubs as I can at school, while I have the time.

At the top of the list - theater! Hahaha, gotcha. I’ve actually decided to go join the stage crew. Yes, Uly, I’ll ask SPECIFICALLY to make your costume, and then you will realize the true horrors of my sewing skills. >:D I can’t decide what I want to do! Background painting, prop constructions, be a light technician, sound technician, costumes, design…My god, this is everything I want to do! :D HEEHEEEEE

If I do light and sound for a year, I can be considered as having had training. Then I can also handle the setups for choir performances, Rhythm Bound, other plays, etc…And the good thing is that they ALWAYS need more people, so no matter what everyone in the stage crew will have something to do. :D

Let’s see…I’m also planning on joining a bunch more, after having looked at all the clubs during Club Rush. I’m definitely joining Model UN, which is about world relations, and either Key’s or Leo’s Clubs, which are community service.

Anyways. I’ve resolved to stop taking what I have for granted. I’ll study hard and try to get ahead, so if they try to trick us on testing I’ll already have gone through the material. I’ll start building up on my vocabulary and spelling, which I think are two of my weak points in academics, as well as try to pull myself through some self-taught history.

I’ll also help out more around the house. I’ll do the dishes, do the laundry (which was originally Tansen’s chore), clean my room and KEEP IT CLEAN, and help my mom out with the groceries and stuff.

I’m also reconsidering my decision to stay out of TAing. I’ve always been bad with two things: kids who frustrate me, and patience. I should start working on those, and I guess my favorite classroom is a good place to study the masters ;)

Ah, and seeing how I’ve already decided to ditch band after this year and start to study art, I’ve resolved to start drawing regularly again. I have Prismacolors, pastel-like pencils, Copics, drawing paper, micro-pens, and and .3 pencil. I have the two drawings of my RoF mascots…you’ll see after I’ve colors and scanned them in ;) Until then, keep bugging me to finish them.

Also…last but not least. I’ve been thinking a lot about what Connie said, that we have no idea (she didn’t actually say that) how hard it is to make a dollar. I’m looking back at all the money I’ve spent, and it kind of makes me feel disgusted. I can’t even begin to think of how much cash I’ve doled out for useless junk.

From now on I’m sticking to the bare essentials. I’ll look for sales, find coupons, and always break it down to unit price. I’ll never ask my mom for something I want but don’t need, and even if she offers I’ll say no if I can live the next day without even thinking about it.

I have a good life. I’ve decided I’m going to do something with it ;P

Posted by Alina at 10:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)