Saving Up

I've managed to spend virtually nothing all this month. And it's almost December. Which means, with my $100/month allowance, I'm going to have $200 Dec. 1st. The reason for me saving up like this is that I plan to get my little brother, Andy, something special for Christmas.

I've got it all in twenties. It makes me reluctant to spend any of it, which is a good thing. Anyway, the other day there was a jean day at my school. Kids got to wear jeans so long as they gave a dollar. The money went towards someone in Oregon who had recently lost a 5 - month old child. I would have, and seriously considered donating towards it, but that meant I would have to break a twenty, which I was reluctant to do. So, I skipped it.

Bad move. Later that day, a girl called me out on it, angry that I hadn't donated money. I thought it was pretty ridiculous that she was getting mad at me, but I did feel bad. So, when somebody offered me a couple of dollars to do some Algebra homework for him, I agreed. Later I gave donated the money towards the cause.

Moral of the story is that there is no black and white as far as morality concerned. The whole day was a gray area for me. I wonder, if higher powers ever examine my life and look at that day, will they figure that I did right, or that I did wrong?

Progress?

Well let's see the pros and cons of my week:

Pro: I've been working on Mondays. I now have twelve chapters done, nine typed, and it will be multi-part novel.

Con: There has been no band this week. At all.

Pro: I'm doing the film project with some of the drama kids. I may also be recording the music for it.

Con: The band performance from Friday wasn't very good, and I almost got a penalty. Stupid headphones....

Pro: My friend Stephen and I are now hall performing on Fridays - Stephen on the violin and me on the guitar. It's way fun.

Con: According to the office, the Christmas concert is supposed to be like December second or something, which is ridiculously early. We haven't even started working on it. We don't even have the music for it yet, really.

Pro: I finished a couple of scores this week (Light and Day by the Polyphonic Spree).

Con: I'm going to see Twilight this Friday (Please, please, don't ask why).

Pro: I may or may not be getting somebody to help me continue my young wizards graphic novel/comic idea. (if you're curious, see if you can do some research and dig up what I'm talking about)

Con: Andy's bike has been stolen, and mine needs a new tube.

Pro: I've managed to spend next to no money this month. I've currently got one hundred and one dollars in my pocket. I'm saving up for something cool.

Con: Life Sucks.

Pro: Life's Great.

Interesting Life

It's pretty much my motto. What about you?

Keytar

Well, this is the keyboard. The difference is that mine now has two of the screws in the casing replaced with hooks, and a strap is strung between the hooks, allowing me to sling it over my shoulder and play.

AKA - the Keytar, the pianist's bid for looking cooler.

I've long been wanting one, but now with just a little bit of modification on my old keyboard, I have it! Admittedly, the setup's a bit... impractical to say the least. If I just want the piano sound, I have to have some sort of amp, a jack, and power to the keytar. But if I want to have different sounds, I'd have to use the computer program GarageBand. To do this, I'll need to connect the keytar to a computer, which means I'll probably need a USB extension cord to allow any mobility, and then hook up the computer to some amplification so people can hear me. And I'll have to either switch instruments by fiddling on the computer, or having somebody else do it.

Still, it could actually happen, despite the drawbacks. Our band director actually has a Mac with GarageBand, which leaves us needing a USB extension cord and a way to amp up the volume on the computer.

Speaking of band, the football season is over after the Halloween Game, so we're now in preparation for the Christmas concert and basketball season. I could maybe see myself playing keytar at either of these....

Moreover, Mr. Haskell (director) is gone this week, so guess who's in charge? Yeah. I have to say, it's not easy to try to be productive at that hour though, especially when the actual teacher is absent. To make things better, all of the drumsticks were broken on Monday! We came in, and all of them were busted. I ended up dismissing the percussionists about a third of the way through band, realizing it was pointless for them to be there. I used to want the Music Room open all the time, but now I'm trying to work out how to lock up the drumsticks so this doesn't happen again. How things have changed.

By the way, I watched Bill Nye this morning in Biology, and I have to say, that is some freaking funny stuff! It is so much funnier now that I'm older. It reminds me of Monty Python almost.

The New America

Say hello to the 44th President of the United States! Congratulations Obama!

My Existential Halloween

Damn you Brian.

It was only a matter of time before your existential angst spread to somebody else.

Spread to me.

So when I found myself in the school chapel this Halloween, while the dance raged on just a room away, I knew who I got it from.

Thanks a lot.

Anyhow, after playing some music at the game, I did go to the dance. But it's a different animal these days than it was freshmen year. It's not that the dances have changed all that much, but I broke up with Emma a while back, and now I go to the dances without a date.

Which should be fine, but look at the dances! Essentially it's just one big massive pit of students, nearly all of them 'grinding'. Which is fine and good fun and all when you've got a date, but what about when you don't? You have to work your way through the crowd looking for somebody to dance with. Which isn't easy at all.

I still manage to have fun at the dances, most of the time. But something ticked inside me last night and I sat down in the chapel a room away, deep in existential angst. Wishing things about my faith and religion... Wishing things about my ambitions... about my grades....

And wondering quite a bit whether there's a girl out there for me. A true soulmate. I'm really, really weird. I fear that there just isn't a girl that would complement me perfectly. That there really isn't anybody like me out there....

My love-life's kind of a mess, but I'll get into that later....