Sigh.

So, I'm single.

I really don't want to talk about it, but I figured that this is a pretty big thing and that you guys should know. So there it is.

Two months and twenty three days.


-David

But he never expected the ninja to vanish... With his heart.

Today has been an alright day so far.

I actually woke up and STAYED AWAKE, meaning that I could get breakfast BEFORE noon today! It was wonderful. Theory was boring, Anthropology was boring, then in the hour between that and piano, I had to sort out some problems that the School of Music was having with me.

If you failed to turn in all of your marching band uniform before a specified deadline, they'd put your account on Hold and charge you a late fee. I think it's pretty reasonable. But when I turn in everything A MONTH BEFORE THE DEADLINE and they STILL put my account on hold and charge me, I get kind of pissed off. >:|
I talked to them about it, and they said "They'd check."
Man, screw them.

Piano was piano. I should probably start practicing more, but eh. I really don't feel like it. Oh well.

After piano, I went to Subway and got the most delicious sub: A footlong on Italian Herbs and Cheese bread with Roast Beef, Pepperonis, Bacon, Monteray Jack cheese, Mustard, Mayo, Jalapeños, cucumbers, pickles, spinach, and tomatoes. Om nom nom. I also got some Barbecue chips (Lays, of course) for later and some Vault. Awesome meal.

And now, I'm debating starting on my Theory project, registering all the crap I need to register for Anthropology, or working out OTHER things. Hurray for too much to do!
And on a side note, still no word (yet) on the Jonathan Coulton concert. Hmmm. It's starting to look iffy.

Upcoming events:
-This weekend is Trombone Day. I'll be getting a private lesson with one of the guest artists on Friday (Hopefully with my new horn) and my family will be coming up for the weekend. Then busy all Saturday and I don't know what'll be going on Sunday. Some friends want to visit, but that's kind of a weird day. We'll have to see.

-Also, more on Operation: Zombie Apocalypse at Wal-Mart. Wally and Chis aren't in, but I still have Mosher and Macey saying they're willing to do it. It'll have to take place in the evening, because I'll spend the morning at the KOMM Mardi Gras Parade down in Point Clear. I think this Mardi Gras break will be spectacular.

-And then, we have Valentines Day after that. I won't be able so spend time with Rin, so I'll be participating in Operation: We've Got Love. I haven't made any plans yet, but eh. I'll think of something.
(Video for details can be found here)

-No word yet on the Brawl tourney.


So... yeah. I think that's all for now. Time to stop slacking and get busy doing SCHOOLWORK. Pfffft, as if.



-David

The colour of infinity inside an empty glass...

Whew. It's been a busy few days.

A few things to talk about tonight. First on my agenda will be school.
I have a relatively light courseload this semester (Only 13 hours ;__;),so I have a lot of free time to practice (Which I really need to get into the habit of doing) and to relax and play some video games. But more on this later.

My classes aren't too bad, really:
-Music Theory 102: MWF 10:00
How much I like it: 6/10
-Anthropology 101: MWF 11:00
How much I like it: 5/10
-Piano 201: MW 13:00
How much I like it: 8/10
-Trombone Choir: M 19:00
How much I like it: 8/10
-Aural Skills 102: TuTh 8:00
How much I like it: 9/10
-Trombone Lessons: Tu 10:00
How much I like it: 6/10
-Recital Class: Tu 11:00
How much I like it: 5/10
-Jazz Bones: Th 11:00
How much I like it: ?/10*

*I haven't had this one yet, so I can't judge


Anyway, those are all of my classes. Like I said, a fairly light load. Most of my teachers seem to be alright, so that's good.

You may have seen above that I said I've had more room for practising and playing video games. Which is true. Over the past few days, I've gotten back into Mario Kart, and I've been playing online for a while each night. I've mostly just played with Vaati or on random Worldwide VS Races, but it's been fun. Stuck at about 8500VR, though. >:|

I recently talked to Argol online again, and he gave me the link for a chat that has a lot of my old friends from when I was a member of the Semi-Pros. So, it's been nice talking to Crim and others again. :D

Also, voice chatting. I want. For some reason, I just got the urge to get into voice/video chatting again. Which means I'll need to pick up a webcam. Those are only like $20, right? >___>
Either way, I'm going to be getting one soon. I really don't know where the urge came from, but it'll be fun. :D
And I'll be able to talk to friends while I'm playing Mario Kart, instead of saying one or two sentences between races. Or use it to talk -during- races, even!

Sigh, I need to get my mind off of Mario Kart. Seriously.



And now, for something completely different.

There are a few things coming up. First and foremost, not this weekend, but the weekend AFTER is Trombone Day, which is kind of a big deal. And it's an even bigger deal for me, because I'll be getting my new Bass Trombone! :D
You don't know how excited I am.

Also, in a few more weeks, I'll be coming home again for Mardi Gras. I'll leave school after classes on the 12th, spend all of the 13th helping with and playing the the K.O.M.M. Parade down in Point Clear, and then I don't really know what I'll be doing on Valentine's Day. Rin won't be in town. Sigh.
And then I have the 15th and 16th off, too, so I'll be hanging out with friends and such. There are a few people I haven't seen in ages that I -really- hope I can spend time with.

And I think that's about it for tonight. I've been thinking a lot recently and I need to stop. Thinking about feelings. Blech. No good can come of this.
Goodnight, all.


-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

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

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

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

My break so far.

Quite a few things have happened in the past day in a half. I'll try to address them all chronologically.

So, yesterday was the glorious event of A Ben's Thanksgiving. I picked up Rin in Mobile at around 11, and made it to Ben's just in time to get some food and a place to sit right as everyone was arriving. In total, we had 19 people actually eating with us outside: Sarah, Lauren, Davis, Meaghan, Kathy, Rin, Myself, Wally, Houston, Sam, Cormano, Erin, Macey, Chris, Jordan, Jew Sam, and then a few others I can't remember. Our tables got so packed, we had to send away a few friends that showed up (Cleveland and his girlfriend Sophie). It was pretty much a complete success and we'll be doing it annually from now on.

Oh, kind of a break in the chronological order of events here, but Rin and I are dating now. :D
It feels kind of odd to be dating someone again. I really hope that she's not like all the other girls I've liked, I want this to work out. :/

But anyway, after A Ben's Thanksgiving, I showed Rin around Fairhope (Took her to all the major places: Coffee Loft, The park, Cleveland's House, the pier) and then brought her back to my house. She met my parents, lol, and then we went up to my room and hung out for the rest of the afternoon. I showed her a bunch of the random trinkets and such that I keep in my room, you know, that sort of stuff. Well, it turns out that my house is pretty boring, so after a few hours I decided to take her back home.

I drove her all the way back to her house in Springhill (About a 40 minute drive) where I was invited inside to say hello to her mother (Who I adore, she's a wonderful lady) and her two older siblings who are in town for the Holiday. I don't think Rin's older sister liked me, but her brother seemed alright.

So I dropped her off and headed back to Montrose to go to my grandparent's house for dinner. When I got there, my Aunt Sue was there, and so were my cousins Matt and Nicole. Matt is basically a more cynical and sarcastic version of me, and Nicole is basically Sarah in fifteen years, but less hyper and more annoying. We spent a while conversing (We were waiting for my cousin Gordon to arrive before we ate dinner), and did some catching up.

This reminded me of how much I love my mum's side of the family. When you, your cousins, your little sister, your aunt, and your grandmother are all reading the articles in Cosmopolitan and pointing out the things that are stupid or just downright untrue, you know you have a certain bond shared between the group.

Soon, Gordon arrived, and all the men went out back to grill the steaks. Gordon just graduated from the Air Force academy back in May or something, and he's working down in Gulfport now. The steaks were done in a bit and we all went inside to eat. After a delicious dinner and witty banter, we said our goodbyes and Matt came back to stay at my house. We spent the night playing video games and making fun of each other, and didn't go to bed until around 5.

And then, we woke up and IT'S THANKSGIVING! So we're celebrating by playing MORE video games while everyone else cleans up and cooks food for us.
I'm thankful that I don't have to do any of that shit, I guess.


-David

Back in Fairhope, just in time for they holidays.

It's exciting, to be home again after staying a way for a while. The friends, the family, just Fairhope in general. I always tend to forget how much I love this little town.

So, after my two classes this morning, I grabbed a quick lunch and was out of Hattiesburg before Noon-thirty. Wooo, Thanksgiving break!!


On the way to Fairhope, I figured it would be nice to stop by and visit Rin at her place. We hung out for pretty much all afternoon, it was nice. She also gave me what might be the coolest trinket I've ever seen:



It's a little trombone! And it's surprisingly accurate, anatomically. Would that be right? I mean, would a trombone have an anatomy? Or is it just a structure. Either way, it is both fairly accurate from an anatomical and structural point of view.
I'll be headed back to Mobile to see Rin again tomorrow, too, because I'm going to pick her up for...

A BEN'S THANKSGIVING!
Yes, it's almost here. I am ecstatic. Like, seriously. You don't know how excited I am about this thing.

But anyway, when I got home earlier this evening, I got to meet my family's new dog, Zoey. Now we have *two* loud and hyper dachshunds, huzzah! I don't know what they were thinking, to be honest, but she's cute enough, I guess. Also very licky.

The first place we ventured this evening was to El Mexicano, for a delicious dinner with Sarah and mis padres. We talked and ate, it was a pretty standard dinner. Whatever. :)

I'm just glad to be back in town.

Excitement

Dear world,

I am excited.


Why am I excited? Well, Thanksgiving break is approaching quickly. This, in itself, should be reason enough to rejoice; a break from school, a chance to visit friends and family, and as much mashed potatoes as I can physically stuff into my mouth. But no, it's more than that. So much more.

You see, I am BUSY this Thanksgiving break. Busy in an awesome way.
Unfortunately, I have class on both Monday and Tuesday of that week. I am upset by this. But, luckily, the rest of the holiday more than makes up for this scheduling folly implemented by Southern Miss.

On Wednesday, the 25th, I will be leaving Hattiesburg for my home. This is the first day of my Thanksgiving holiday, and it is so filled with awesomeness, I don't know how to even BEGIN to describe it.
Oh wait, yes I do.
A Ben's Thanksgiving.

Yes, you read that correctly. Just give that a minute to settle into your brain-matter. "A Ben's Thanksgiving" is the title of quite possibly the best event ever dreamed up by human-kind (Next to Dinosaur Racing and Whaling).
In a nutshell, "A Ben's Thanksgiving" will consist of myself and anywhere from 12 to 25 of my friends all meeting up at The Original Ben's Jr BBQ to have a day-before-Thanksgiving celebration. It will be glorious in every sense of the word.
I'm salivating just thinking about it.

And that's not even the end of it. I will spend the rest of that afternoon with the beautiful Catherine, gallivanting around the town and being generally silly. There will be coffee and cuddling, both of which will be sweet.
Well, not the coffee. I don't like sweet coffee.
Sweet coffee is for the weak.


The next day is ACTUAL Thanksgiving, which won't be quite as much fun, but still rather enjoyable. To be honest, there isn't much to say about this. It's fucking Thanksgiving.


And then, Operation: Hemingway.
Imagine it, a handful of friends joining together to brave the polluted and festering waters of Mobile Bay, kayaking 20 miles to Dauphin Island, just for the hell of it.
Hemingway would be proud, I'm sure.
This trip is going to take around 5 hours of kayaking across the open bay. We'll probably be mauled by alligators, BUT THAT'S A RISK I'M WILLING TO TAKE. It's been so long since I've been on a *true* adventure, I can't help but eagerly tremble in anticipation.
We have no clue what we're going to do once we get to Dauphin Island, to be honest, but hey, who cares? We'll figure it out as we go, like real men.


That's the extent of my holiday plans, really, but I'm sure that Saturday and Sunday will be equally entertaining. Who cares, I still can't get over "A Ben's Thanksgiving" and Operation: Hemingway.

I'll bet you like six bucks that my holiday will be way more awesome than yours.

And THAT my friends, is why I am excited.


-David