Addiction

Excuse me if I don't post for a while.

You see, I just bought myself an XBox 360, and I'm playing through Dragon Age right now. It currently has almost all of my attention. If you don't mind, I'm going to go back to playing it.


-David

My Christmas loot.

I'll go ahead and say this right now: This was a good Christmas.

My first Christmas where I actually had to come home from school, my first Christmas in our new house (Is it really that new? It feels much older), and a lot of other things that just made it spectacular.

Last night, for instance. I went over to the Davis household for a delightful dinner with some cool people (And Emily was there, too) and had a wonderful time being moderately social. Did I use enough descriptive terms in that sentence?

After that, we went to my Grandmother's house for some hot wassail (My favourite Christmas tradition) and our tradition reading of "The Night Before Christmas" and Luke 2:1-20 and then lighting the candles on the tree. With Uncle Mike there, it was very enjoyable. :)

And then the Christmas Eve service at 11:00. I showed up at 9:30 because I was playing trombone there and I needed to rehearse with the choir before-hand. I met this girl named Mary (A fitting name for Christmas) and she was singing with the choir that evening. I played the 6 songs in total for the service:
Two variations of "Good Christian Friends, Rejoice"
"Riu Riu Chiu"
"O Holy Night"
"O Come, All Ye Faithful"
and "Away in a Manger"

Overall, I did pretty well. I kind of botched "Away in a Manger" because it was right after Communion and goddamn, that wine dries up your mouth. Other than that, though, it went well. Oh, and I got paid $100 for my services (Which was an unexpected gift).

After the service, Mary and I went to go get some food at IHOP because both of us were hungry. We saw Mr. Starling there, along with his wife and (What I assume are) some friends. I talked to him for a bit, and he mistook Mary for my girlfriend (AWKWARD).
>.<
But, it was still neat.

So then I took Mary home and then went home and slept. I woke up dreadfully early this morning, but it's okay because it's CHRISTMAS. So I woke up my parents and sister at the bright hour of 7:30, and we began our festivities.

Here is all my Christmas loot:










And, in case the picture quality is bad, here is a list of everything I've received thus far:

Edibles:
-A box of Pizza Rolls
-3 boxes of Hot Pockets
-Marshmallows
-Hot Chocolate
-A shit-ton of chocolate (Not pictured)
-Satsumas (Not pictured)
-Assorted nuts (Not Pictured)

Stocking Stuffers:
-$35 worth of iTunes cards
-$50 Best Buy gift card
-Tic-Tacs
-A comb
-A toothbrush
-Carmex
-Dentine Ice gum
-A Mario Kart PEZ-style dispenser
-2 bags of Pop Rocks
-Air Heads Xtreme Sweetly Sour Belts
-2 Pokemon Pencils (Featuring Chimchar and Piplup)
-Trolli Sour Gummy Worms

Actual Presents:
-A microphone
-"The Ultimate Nap Kit"
-"The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks"
-"Roger von Oech's Ball of Whacks"
-A black dress shirt
-A T-shirt with the image of a trombone and the caption "WWJP? What would Jesus Play?"
-A T-shirt that says "Haikus are easy/But sometimes they don't make sense/Refrigerator"
-A Trombone (Not yet, actually, just the promise that I'm getting one)

Actually, on that note, I'd like to talk about my potential trombone for a bit. It's going to be a Shire, which is a great brand. But that also means it's going to cost close to $4,000...
But it's a great horn, and I'm excited! We're going to go up to Birmingham sometime soon and get one custom-made. :D


Oh, and I'm also excited because I have enough money (I'm fairly sure) to buy myself a 360! So yes, this has been a great Christmas.
We're going to my Grandparent's house again this evening for Christmas Dinner and more presents.

Happy Christmas to all of my readers. :)


-David

After all, there's only one more sleep 'till Christmas...

Oh, right. I have a blag. I'm sorry.

Well, I will do a quick recap of the past week:

Friday: Spent the day with Rin, went to a party, met people, had fun. I ended up shirtless at the party, like I always do. It was fun.

Weekend: Went to New Orleans with the band. What happens in New Orleans STAYS in New Orleans.

Week: I wrapped presents and hung out with people. Saw Avatar, too.

Actually, I'll take this time to put my thoughts about Avatar on paper. Er... in text.

It was a beautiful movie. The CGI was stunning, and the effects were amazing. It also had one of the best action scenes I've EVER seen in a movie.
But...
It was slow. Very slow. It didn't feel like a movie, it felt like a documentary. I know that was the direction they were going for, but all it did was make the movie drag more than it needed to. Also, the plot was pretty weak and extremely predictable. Predictable to the point where EVERY SINGLE THING THAT HAPPENED AT THE END, I called a hour earlier. That bad.
Avatar also villainised the wrong person. Instead of making the head-of-operations there the bad guy, the made the leader of the military the bad guy. Sure, he loved killing and mercilessly attacking the natives, but what do you expect? HE'S A MILITARY LEADER! And I must note here that he was also only acting on the orders OF THE GUY IN CHARGE. Blech. Little things like that bug me.

Overall rating: 8/10
I'd certainly watch it again when it comes out on DVD, but there's no way in hell I'm going back into the theatre to see it.



And then two nights ago was OPERATION: DRAGON ROLL. Macey, Hannah, Chis, Erin, and I all stayed the night at Macey's house and played Dragon Age: Orgins the whole time. I was the last person to fall asleep, at around 6:00 AM. It was a good night.


And now, today is Christmas Eve. Woo. Tonight, I'm going to the Davis household for food, and then to my grandparent's house for holiday stuff, and then to church to play music. And then, it will be Christmas and I will post again tomorrow.

So... Yeah. I'm sorry for letting you all down by not delving into the mundane details of my life more often over the past few days. This problem will be alleviated in the coming weeks. Thank you for your patience.


-David

Busy day, busy day.

As you can undoubtedly tell by the title of today's post, today was busy busy. But in a good way.

Well, I woke up exceptionally early today (Around 10) and got up, got dressed. That stuff. I was planning on meeting my grandmother at around noon to bake some delicious cookies with her. :3
So, I went to the Coffee Loft to get some breakfast and kill time. I just got a cup of coffee (a medium roast, pretty good) and a hummus bagel with sliced tomatoes. Yum.
I sat down with my breakfast and read the latest issues of This That and the Other and Lagniappe. It was a pretty relaxing morning.

I called her when I was finished, but she wasn't ready for me to come over yet, so I decided to go home and REVIEW SOME MUSIC.
I recently downloaded some Lady Gaga stuff (I'd never even heard "Poker Face" until about a week ago), but I hadn't listened to it yet. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, so I sat down and listened to all 20 tracks I've downloaded. I was originally going to do a song-by-song review and post it here, so I wrote detailed reactions to the first 9 or so songs, but around track 10 or 11, I just stopped caring.

Overall, it was a lot better than I expected it to be. She has her share of mindless pop tracks (I counted about 4 of the 20 I sampled) and then she has her masterpieces (5/20). Everything else was somewhere in between. But seriously, I can see what all the hype is about. Now, I don't think she deserves all of the hype, but I can at least see where it's coming from (Something I'm STILL trying to find with all the "musicians" Disney is spouting out).

DAVID'S OFFICIAL RATING:
ORIGINALITY: 6.5/10
LYRICS: 4/10
MUSIC: 8/10
EFFECTS: 9/10
OVERALL: 7.5/10
RATING: "Pretty Okay."


So, after my MUSIC REVIEW SESSION and EXCESSIVE USE OF CAPS LOCK, I headed over to my Grandmother's house to begin our awesome cookie cooking... thing.
Anyway.
I get there, we made some delicious cookies. While the cookies are cooking, we play cards. She hands my ass to me, seriously. >:|
But the cookies turned out well, and I had a lot of fun. And we (she) melted a spatula!




After that exciting installment, our hero finds himself in the dreaded Middle School Car Line, waiting to pick up his sister from school. He succeeds.

After briefly stopping at the house (I had to finish the touches on my Christmas Present to Macey), Sarah and I decided to do some Christmas Shopping up in Malbis. On the way, though, we stopped at Macey's house so she and I could exchange gifts.

I GAVE:
-A bag of cookies that I baked today
-A Christmas Mix CD that is simultaneously AWWWWWWWW and KICKASS
-An insense burner in the shape of the Triforce. (That I made in Art)

I RECEIEVED:


This. Sorry for no direct picture, Blogger is being retarded. Just click this and behold the adorable-ness.

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D



Not only is Spheal my favourite Pokemon, he's the MOST ADORABLE Pokemon, too! Macey made this for me, and I think that she is the most amazing person ever for doing so. And, for those of you who know nothing of Pokemon, here's a picture of Spheal's art:






...Pretty spot-on. You're the best, Macey!



Then Sarah and I went on our CHRISTMAS SHOPPING ADVENTURE and we ended up just buying 2 DVDs, some candy, and some other assorted things. Yay Christmas!


And that brings us to the highlight of every Wednesday ever: Youth Group.
Wally, Mosher, and Kathy (Plus other little kids) were there, and it was alright. But then, Cleveland and I decided to play Ping Pong. But oh no, this wouldn't be REGULAR Ping Pong. We ended up inventing the game SUPER RIDICULOUS BOOGIE BALL, and damn, this needs to be like an Olympic Sport or something.

It's basically Ping Pong mixed with Calvinball. In other words, the best thing on earth. Ever.

After a match lasting close to an hour, the final score was
David with: 3 Ghosts (Not counted)
29 Dinosaurs
619 Points

And Cleveland with: 0 Ghosts
201 Dinosaurs
310 Points
1 Boogey Man

So, of course, Cleveland won. The game ended with us going into Boogey Man (Which is the most exciting round of any game you will ever play ever), and since he initiated it, I challenged him. I barely failed the challenge, so Cleveland was considered the Boogie Master and the game was over. It was a great match.

After Youth, I went over to Cleveland's house for a bit. We played the Left 4 Dead 2 Demo (Yes, I know it's already out, but he doesn't have it yet. Stfu) and then ate some delicious Ramen-hotdog-cheese mix while we watched a new X-Men motion comic (Based off of Amazing X-Men and WRITTEN BY JOSS WHEDEN). It was a pretty good night.

And now I'm here, in front of my dad's computer (Mine isn't connecting to the internet), typing all of this up. Hurrah.

Quick notes about THE FUTURE:
Friday will be amazing. Going to spend all afternoon with Rin, and then go to a Dirty Santa party hosted by her friend. I'm excited.

Saturday will be like negative amazing. Fuck you, Saturday. Leaving the house a little after 6 to drive to Hattiesburg so the band can go play in some stupid football game in New Orleans. Blech.

Sunday will be a continuation of Saturday.

And we have two events in the making:
"Operation: Dragon Roll" and "Operation: Lovecraft Bludgeon."
I feel like both are aptly named and both will be glorious.
No details on either one, yet.


And that is it. I will be going to bed early tonight (Well... Before 300) because I am relatively tired. Until next time.



-David

What's the difference between ignorance and apathy?

I don't know and I don't care.

A Short Christmas List

I really don't want too much this year.
But if any of you would like to buy me something, here goes:

Listed in order of importance:
1)X-Box 360*
2)A TV
3)"The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks"
4)The 2nd season of "Terminator: Sarah Conner Chronicles" on DVD


*If I get a 360, I'll also require (at least) one game.
Listed in order of most wanted to least (but still) wanted:
1) Dragon Age: Orgins
2) Mass Effect
3) Left 4 Dead 2
4) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
5) Fable 2
6) Bioshock


...And, that's it. Like I said, not a terribly long list. Promote capitalism! Buy me presents! :D



-David

Weekend Update.

Ah, so I haven't updated this weekend. Oh well, I decided to just compile all the events of this weekend into one nifty post.

On Friday afternoon, we all went out and got our Christmas tree!



This makes me happy. I can't wait for it to be Christmas, to be honest. And getting the tree has always been one of my favourite holiday thingies that we do.
The downside: it was cold as balls out there. Like, seriously.


Anyway, after cutting down the tree, I drove to Mobile to spend time with Rin. We grabbed some fast food to eat and then went to Hollywood Theatres to see a movie. But oh yeah, Hollywood Theatres sucks and there weren't any good movies and all the mediocre ones were sold out. So we went back to her place and watched Across the Universe. It had been a while since I'd seen it, so that was nice.


Cue Saturday.
I slept in that day (When don't I sleep in these days? I really need to work on my sleep schedule) and then went over to Macey's house to play some Dragon Age: Orgins.
For those of you that care, I'm playing as a Human Female Noble, named "Devia." Yes, she is based off of my character Devia. >_>
I even went so far as to make her look the same and I'm planning on only picking dialogue options that are "in character." So, in short, I'm an even BIGGER nerd than you thought.
Macey and I also discussed the details of Operation: Dragon Roll while I was there, and we decided on one thing: We have no clue when this will be. Woo, secrets, I guess.

I then went home, had some Chinese takeout, and enjoyed watching "A Nightmare Before Christmas" with the family. When that was over, I started a new game in Fable, played for a bit, and then called it a night.


Sunday morning, church, blah blah blah. Bought and wrapped Rin's present, toyed with other people about whether or not I was getting them a present (Spoiler warning: I'm not), and then played Fable all afternoon. Oh, the excitement! And that, ladies and gentlemen, was my Sunday.

Also, I am a tad bit upset because of a conversation I had with a friend earlier tonight, but I'm not going to get into that here. Not now, at least. I'm onto you, though.


And lastly, here's my plans for this next week:
Monday: Maybe spend some time with my dear mother. Or get farther in Fable. Who knows?
Tuesday - Thursday: No plans.
Friday: Abigail's Party
Saturday: Leave for Hattiesburg. Blech. I really do not want to go to the Bowl Game in New Orleans this weekend. I have *plenty* of other things that I could be doing! (See: "Operation: Dragon Roll")
Oh well. At least Kate and I are going to go to Cafe Du Monde. That'll be fun, I guess.


People I still need to get presents for: Sarah, Mum, Dad, Macey. Everyone else is either accounted for or insignificant.
And now, I think it's my bedtime. Hello, sun. :)



-David

What a great way to start the holidays...

So this morning was my History final.

I went to bed early last night (2300) and woke up early enough to shower and grab some breakfast before my 800 exam. 25 Multiple choice, two essays. I wrote about the causes of World War I in one and argued the justification of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. So, fairly easy stuff. I was out of there just before 900.

So, I then went back to my dorm to clean and pack. I checked out at 1030, and was on the road by 11. Wooo! Holidays!

So I was just cruising home, you know, when all of a sudden, I get pulled over. Apparently, going 84 in a 65 zone is bad (I was in the slow lane, people were passing me to the left- of course he goes after me), and I got a ticket. I called and talked to the people, and the ticket will cost $169.50, which is a lot of money I don't have. BUT the nice lady on the phone said that it's possible I'd be able to do a short Drivers thing either online or through a 4-hour course instead of paying the ticket, which is KICKASS. I mean, yeah, both of those options suck (Online course doesn't sound too bad), but it's better than paying close to $200 bucks. I'll go and talk to them about it when I'll have to be going through there for the Bowl Game anyway. But anyway.

I'm back in town. Tomorrow is Uppity Collective at Moe's, and then who knows? Operation: Dragon Roll is still in its primary stages of planning, but it will come to fruition soon.
Also, it's really hard to type this when my dogs are fighting on the couch next to me:


Anyway, Happy Holidays to all of you, especially those of you still in school. :P


-David

Operation: Dragon Roll

I can't go into much detail, because this is a secret operation... but I'll tell you what I can.

Operation: Dragon Roll is fast approaching. This has potential to be ten times better than the postponed Operation: Hemingway, so you know that this shit is legit. I'll fill you guys in as more details are given to me. Just be sure to keep this on the "DL."


Moving on, tomorrow is my last day on campus until next year. I'll have to take my History final in the morning, but I am not worried at all. If any of you have had Starling as a History teacher, then you'll be familiar with the style of test that my final's going to be. As I said, no biggie.

Going back to my Jury piece for a bit: I got my grade sheets today. Each of the judges filled one out (And I can't tell who said what. Not because the sheets are anonymous, but because all of them have completely illegible signatures. Blech.) and then they were stapled together and handed to me.
Overall, my score was a B+. Not as good as I expected, but looking back, it seems fairly accurate. I'm still pretty proud of it, and Dr. Tychinski says I did a good job. That's what matters, I guess.


So, Friday. I'm going to go see Uppity Collective play up at Moe's that night, hopefully with Rin. It looks like it will be a good night. More details on that later, too. :)

So, that is all. Due to my lack of sleep last night (lol, going to bed at 7 AM), I will be "hitting the hay" early tonight.


-David

Ninjasaurus Ginger

Hello folks.

There's been a new species of dinosaur discovered recently, in the Genus "Ninjasaurus." There's some speculation as to some of the finer details, but evidence points to a reddish pattern decorating these raptors' neck and back, thus leading scientists to propose the name "Ninjasaurus Ginger," or just "Ginjasaurus" for short.

Here is an artist's rendition of what these dinosaurs may have looked like:



That is all.


-David

Finish me these finals three...

Blech. Busy day, busy day.

I had three finals today, Aural Skills at 8:00, my Jury performance at 10:12, and my Theory final at 13:30. Woooo.

Anyway, so I woke up bright and early to go over to the Fine Arts building for my Aural Skills exam. I trudged through the rain, my umbrella shielding me from the torrent. I was wearing a suit (I looked pretty nice, too.), so I didn't want to get wet. The suit was for Jury, I wanted to look nice. :)
So I arrived at the classroom at five until, and was feeling anxious. The test would be simple, there were only two parts:
1) Sing a song that you have prepared out of our Sightsinging book. We'd been doing various sightsinging exercises throughout the half-semester I've had the class, and he could ask you to do any one of those to sing for him. I didn't have a copy of the book, so I couldn't prepare for this part. Blech.
2) Sightsing a song he gives us when we go in to take the test.

So... as you can tell, I was extremely unprepared. The teacher was running late, so in the time we spent waiting, the class decided to go over some of the songs. We only had time to do one before he arrived. Needless to say, this did little to quell my growing fear of failure. After taking care of some business, we were all shuffled out of the classroom to wait in the hall- we'd be taking the exam one at a time. I waited outside, talking to people and such. Since I didn't have a book, I made a deal with a friend to borrow his once he was finished with the exam. After a while of waiting, I decided I wanted to go pretty soon, to prepare for my Jury.

And at last, my time came. I walked in the door with my borrowed book, ready to bomb this. The teacher (I still don't know his name, haha.) sat down at the piano and told me that I was going to sing Exercise 2.29 from the book. Luckily, not only was that the easiest one of the "prepared" pieces, it was the one we had gone over while waiting for him! Relief flooded through me as he played me my starting pitch. I belted out the first "Do" and proceeded to sing the whole thing perfectly, to the very last "Fa Mi Re Do." He told me he was glad I prepared for this (Ha!) and handed me the page I'd be sightsinging. I had a minute to look over it.

It was in the key of G, and was mostly scale patterns. "Do Re Mi Fa Sol" and such, fairly basic. I was a bit shaky on the pitch (I know for a fact that I sung a "Le" instead of a "La" at one point- 6ths are bitches. So it was in E Minor for a measure, wooo.) but overall, I didn't stop and made no major mistakes. He gave me a thumbs up and told me to send in the next person.

Aural Skills Final: COMPLETE

So, my next mission would be to secure a practice room for the next 30 minutes and prepare for my Jury. If you know me at all, you know that I've been freaking out over this performance for just over a month now. It's a big deal (20% of my grade for lessons), and I was scared I wouldn't be ready for it. Especially after my sub-par recital, I felt I needed as much practice as I good. So for thirty or so minutes, I ran through the piece and went over all the tricky spots. At 10:00, I figured I needed to go ahead and head down there. I was nervous.
I waited outside the door with my accompanist. He's actually a pretty cool dude. We talked about some stuff regarding the piece (How fast to play the Allegro Maestoso, dynamics, when to come in at this one part...) and in what felt like no time at all, the doors opened and I was beckoned in.

I entered the Choral Hall with my trombone and music. Sitting at the table was the entire brass faculty- Dr. Lucas, Horn; Dr. Kelly, Trumpet; Dr. Perry, Tuba/Euphonium; and Dr. Tychinski, Trombone. I put my music on the stand and got ready. The judges nodded to me, indicating they were ready to start. I gave a quick glance to my accompanist to let him know I was ready, and we began.

Eight minutes later, as I held out my final F, I was ecstatic. That was my best performance yet! Sure, I made a few small mistakes, but those were overshadowed by my awesome 16th note runs and keen dynamics. It was brilliant. They smiled and I left. I thanked my accompanist and went on my way.

Jury: COMPLETE

And then, I ate food, slept until 13:15, went and took my Theory exam. I didn't prepare for it, but I knew the stuff so I wasn't worried. It was as easy as I thought it would be, and I turned in my paper within 15 minutes. There really isn't that much to say about it.

Theory Exam: COMPLETE

And so, that's about it. I'm SO glad to be finished with all of that. One more final to go, and I'll be home for the holidays!


-David

iBone

I guess it seems inevitable that there would be an iPhone app for everything, but a trombone?

I was skeptical at first, but after seeing this video, not only am I extremely impressed, I would also be willing to get an iPhone just for this. Not really. But still.




Like I said, I want.


-David

Images are the devil.

I would just like to take a moment to iterate how much of a pain it is to post pictures on my blog.

Having to go and resize all of them so they fit, pah!
You'd better appreciate how much I love you all.


-David

Continuity error.

Haha, hey.

Yeah, I haven't posted in a while. I've been afflicted with Jury rehearsals, finals, studying, and general laziness. But, luckily for you, I have returned!

There's been so much going on, I'm not even going to bother trying to cover it all. Blech. I've been a busy boy, and if there's one thing I hate, it's being busy. Like seriously. Busy sucks.

So some quick highlights of the last week before I go into my usual ramblings:
-Thanksgiving break was amazing, as noted in my previous few entries.
-OH SHIT FINALS WEEK
-Performed my first recital, playing the solo piece "Concertino in F Major for Bass Trombone and Piano" by Ernst Sachse*, and I think I did a fairly decent job with it.
-It snowed here on Friday night, and it was pretty much AMAZING. I mean, look at this shit:




WOOO SNOW
-Math Final was on Saturday morning, and it SUCKED but now I am finished with math forever and ever
-And now it's today, so I'm done with this list.

So, I have absolutely nothing on my schedule until Tuesday, when I have my Aural Skills and my Theory finals, plus my Jury performance. And then, nothing on Wednesday, an 8:00 final in History on Thursday and then HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS.
I am even more excited about Christmas break than I was for Thanksgiving break, because I have even MORE time to spend with friends, I can resume playing Pokemon Rumble! (My latest video game addiction that I haven't played since Thanksgiving), live off Pizza Rolls and Coke at Macey's house (While playing through Dragon Age: Orgins, of course), spend time with Rin, and get my hands on this bad boy:


The new Zelda game for DS. It looks like it will be a very innovative addition to the Zelda series, and an overall great game. It comes out tomorrow, but because of monetary issues, I won't be getting it for a while. :(

As I (very) briefly mentioned earlier this post, another reason I'm looking forward to Christmas break is because I get to spend more time with Rin. I haven't spoken to her in a few days, actually. She went up to an acting competition in Troy for the weekend, and apparently forgot her phone charger. I have no clue when she's getting home (I assume sometime today, but it's getting late and she hasn't texted me), so. Blech. I want to talk to her. :(

Oh shit! Two paragraphs ending with a ":("?!
Gods have mercy. Blogs DO turn people into emos.
I'll leave you for now, before I start crying about how my parents don't love me and how much I "connect" with Linkin Park lyrics.


-David


*If you'd like to hear the song I'm doing, here are links to Ben Van Dijk playing the three movements:
Movement I
Movement II
Movement III