Misdirection

Now that drama is over, I find myself with a lot more time. And I can't decide whether it's a good thing or a bad thing. I remember, a year ago, when I started this blog, I was having a similar dilemma. Is it better to work away, feeling pressured and stressed, or have too much time to yourself and feel unproductive?

For the past month or so, I've been living through the first of these options. A lot of work and a lot of stress. Most of that was because of the play. I can't quite express how big of a commitment it was. Everyday, after school, for two and a half hours, and then things got ridiculous later on. We spent twelve hours one Sunday rehearsing 'til ten 'o clock. I spent half of my nights up late doing homework.

The end of drama apparently coincided with a light homework week, because I've been finding myself completely free after school. I find things to do, but I get the feeling that I am indeed unproductive. And the problem about this sort of thing is that I always get into bad habits this way, making heavy homework quite a bit more difficult for me.

But I have to admit I'm enjoying this lifestyle currently. I don't know what it is, but I seem to like not having direction. I'm a kid. I love wandering around, exploring, just doing things for the sake of doing them. It feels great to me. It's complex.

It's what also gets me in trouble though. For example, I have time after school, which I would usually spend in the computer lab, playing games off the shared drive. But, I was recently called into the office because of computer violations. I thought the accusations were a bit exaggerated, but that wasn't my decision, and my computer rights are now restricted to fifth period, my computer class. But if I behave, they'll probably give me my rights at the semester. So I'll have to watch my step....

I guess I'm just enjoying my free time now, whether or not I'm doing anything useful with it. Although I did recently finish arranging Viva La Vida for the band! We're playing it this coming Friday at the football game. And afterwards, there's another Soc-hop! This has happened before, and I love doing it. I get to play keyboard and then go to a dance. It's awesome.

P.S. For anybody who knows me, I recently got a Facebook... Go ahead and add me as a friend if you like.

One Year

This blog has now been up and running for a whole year. I just kind of want to thank the few people who do read my blog - it's always a fun project to keep up with and I enjoy writing systematically like this.

You'll notice that I've written less as time has gone on. This has had a variety of reasons, but unfortunately I do not see it stopping. I'm afraid that I'll just have to do things like this, and maybe try to write some better written posts. But do give me some time. I just finished with the play and it's like recovering from an injury - it's just so weird to not have stuff after school again... After all that time, and now it's over. It was fun, but it is over...

Update (Glasses!)

Well as usual, I'm swamped. We have started performing the play, so I will be done with drama within month, but I doubt it will make me any less busy. Because guess who's helping out arrange the band Christmas Concert? Yours Truly.

Some rather big news though lately, I got glasses! For real! I went to the optometrist a couple weeks ago and it turns out my eyesight has gotten quite a bit worse, to the point where I can't legally drive without glasses. Something like 20 - 50 vision.

I couldn't wait to get them, to be honest. I was excited to be able to see correctly. And it only took me a second after putting them on to realize what a difference it made. I can see the individual leaves on trees now. I can gaze down the streets in the North End and almost see the ends of them where they join some big street. It's unbelievable. I love wearing them now.

I'll try to get a picture of it up soon.

On another topic, the one year anniversary of this blog is approaching quickly. This blog will have been up for 365 days by Oct. 21st. I will surely tell you again 'til you're sick of hearing it.

More importantly, do try to make it to the play!

"The Diary of Anne Frank"
A Bishop Kelly Drama Production
October 23-25, 7:00 - 9:00
October 26, 2:00 - 4:00
7009 Franklin Road, Boise, ID 83702
I am playing Mr. Dussel.
Please come if you can and spread the word!, CH

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Here is an incredibly funny and entertaining short movie I found a couple of nights ago, made during the Writer's Strike to try to put some good material out there. Fabulous stuff. I know it must be annoying when I attempt to make you watch something, but trust me, this is worth watching.

150 Posts (Double-edged Snowflakes)

Hey everybody, this is my 150th post! It was kind of supposed to be my last one, but I miscounted by one. But for real, this is numero cien y cincuenta! It won't be long before the one year milestone either...

In case you're wondering what's going on in my life, Boise recently got it's all-time earliest snow. October 10th, the snow came down heavy and thick. I came out of drama practice into the snow, and immediately burst into "White Christmas". The drama kids and I cheered. Christmas in October? This was going to be a great winter!

But as my title would imply, they were indeed double-edged snowflakes. Because guess what? The trees weren't really ready for snow. All of the leaves were still hanging from the branches. So when the snow came, they weighed down on the branches until they snapped. After getting home, I discovered that our neighbor's tree's branches had indeed done that all over the side yard, nearly ruining the garden over there.

We ended up running an emergency restoration mission to get the branches out of the way and shake some of the snow off of the trees, which was successful, but cold. I apparently have an uncanny ability to pick the worst damn times to wear shorts.... The year up at Bogus should be great though, with snow this early. I plan on finally getting over some of my fears and mastering some new tricks up on the slopes.

But before Winter begins to really roll up it's sleeves, I'll have to finish up with the play first, which is coming along quite well. We all have our lines fairly memorized and the props and costumes are really coming together nicely, and the set for this one is great. If you can come, I can't suggest highly enough that you do. Tell your friends.

"The Diary of Anne Frank"
A Bishop Kelly Drama Production
October 23-25, 5:30 - 9:30
October 26, 12:30 - 6:30
7009 Franklin Road, Boise, ID 83702
(I am playing Mr. Dussel.)

The Mandelbrot Set

I was looking through wikipedia a couple of days ago, and I found what struck as the most beautiful, complex thing I've ever seen. The Mandelbrot set - a fractal, a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole. Self-similarity when you zoom in, essentially. But check this out.
































Awe-inspiring, huh?

My Weekend Was So Busy I Can't Even Come Up With A Witty Title...

Whoa. All over the damn place this weekend. It was a four-day weekend, but that didn't help much.

Thursday - Woke up at twelve-ish, did chores 'til about three when I went back to school. See, we still had drama rehearsals over the weekend even though there was no school. That went well, but the fun began afterwards, at about six. Who had set up but Powderpuff football? For outsiders, Powderpuff football is an annual event where sophomore girls face off against the freshmen girls and seniors battle off the juniors in flag football.

So what was I doing?

Well.... I can't exactly tell you. See here's the thing - whenever I get in trouble for something, it's because of my big mouth. I mean I even blog about all of my mischief! But not this time. Because a week later, I still haven't gotten in trouble for it. If I keep up with the pattern I may actually get away with things! No hints. No clues. Nothing.

But I was back in time to see the Bonfire, which was incredible. Thursday was good.

Friday was better. That Friday was the Homecoming Game. The band didn't want to miss out and we promptly arrived with our gear. Although I was confined to a single keyboard, I still rocked out with the rest of the crew all the way 'til near the end of the game when it started raining. At that point we packed up. Unfortunately, the team lost. That was a bit of a bummer... but that was the end of Friday.

Saturday was the Homecoming Dance. And although that was fun, it wasn't quite as cool as last year due to a location change. But we won't be dancing out in that tent again if I have anything to say about it. And I do.

Sunday, finally, decompressed a little, and all I had to do was manage through Confirmation Classes at St.John's.

This was a special event weekend, but I'm not sure how I'm gonna manage everything... I'm already falling behind. The quarter's almost up and I haven't got the 4.0 I wanted. In fact I've got a C in History. I thought I could make it this year. I thought if I tried this hard, I would do great. I'd exceed.

I was wrong.

It's like every inch of my ambition is telling me...

"Oh Crap... This isn't good..."

(By the way, the next post will be my one hundred and fiftieth! Neat, huh?)