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?)

Repercussions (of course)

Well, I didn't really think I'd get away with my Juno McGruff stunt, so when I got called in to the Dean's (Mrs. Quillacy's) office, I knew what it was about. Of course, the note on the slip that said "per Bobby Biggs" (the janitor's name) didn't help conceal what was about to happen.

Detention.

Oh yes, of course. Repeated "Insubordination," and "Disrespect," was what I was being punished for. To be perfectly honest I suppose I deserve it, but I still wasn't looking forward to it. Luckily for me, all I got was detention, which really wasn't that bad.

On the day of reckoning, I walked to the Finances office to serve up my time with Mr. Jaszkowski. His daughter was a good friend of my family; Michael had gone out with her for quite a long time. She was incredible - national scholarships, state championship in softball, seemingly perfect. I had never met her father really, but she had been a lifeguard at Lowell a couple of years, so I did get to see her plenty.

At first, Mr. Jaszkowski was actually going to let me off the hook, worried he would run the risk of me missing my ride. But I had actually told my carpool in advance and he was happy to stay a bit late. So he gave me some stamps and some letters, and I got to stamping. What wonderful mindless work. Mr.Jaszkowski sat down next to me and asked me what I was in trouble for. "Insubordination." I told him, recalling the words of the dean.
He laughed. "I've had a lot of kids come through here for a lot of things, but never have I heard that!"

As I told him about the events of Friday, I was happy to see that he was sympathetic more than anything. He told me that he knew how Bobby Biggs could be. I nodded in agreement, beguiled by his understanding. He even told me about his own story as a kid.

When he was a kid, he went to a catholic school as well, a little bit stricter than this one, and whenever there were assemblies, one of the monks (Brother Dan, I think it was) would stand by the doorway and make sure nobody left to go home until it was done. But Mr. Jaszkowski would walk right past him, and that Brother Dan would just left him go. Because there was an unspoken agreement between Dan and Jaszkowski. Brother Dan was saying, I'll let you go home and skip the assembly. Mr. Jaszkowski was saying that he wouldn't disrupt the assembly.

Ha! What a troublemaker, huh? He reminds me of me! And he's a successful businessman, managing the funds for the best school in Boise! That cheered me up. After laughing a bit over that, he simplified Friday's situation for me. "You can walk by a pig pen and see a pig snort at you, and you can go ahead and wrestle that pig to the ground, but at the end you'll be covered in mud and pig crap. So when you wrestle with pigs, you're gonna get covered in pig crap."

I got the point.

My Crazy Friday

This was quite an eventful Friday for me. We had the day off from school, probably because it was the very first football game of the season. And the band was performing for the game, so Troy and I left for Bishop Kelly at two. That was when our band director, Mr. Haskell told us to be there. He didn't mention that he actually wouldn't be there 'til 5. So I had three hours of absolutely no obligation and virtually nothing to do.

So, I looked around the school for anything I could help out. It was a big night after all, and I though some people could help. I walked into the cafeteria to find a some mothers setting up a dinner for the football players. I asked one if there was anything I could do to help. She handed me her keys and told me to drive her car over to the Carly Center and unpack some juice and food out of the trunk for some after-game party. I felt a dilemma for a moment. I mean, I didn't really have my license. But it was only like driving around in a parking lot for God's sake. I decided to do it.

Now this is what I like to call following the spirit of the law and not the word of the law. If that makes sense.

At any rate, I did this, and after cleaning up a mess I made dropping one of the juice jugs, I returned her car exactly as I found it and handed her keys. By now the cafeteria was filled with football players in line for food. I recognized several of my friends, grabbed some food and sat down with them. After a bit, I went back to the music room. I found Troy in here and we walked to Subway to get even more food. By the time we got back, Mr.Haskell was finally there, directing people to start packing and moving all of our equipment.

It was a fairly short process, but we soon found that we didn't have near enough extension cord. So Mr. Haskell told us to go grab some from the various maintenance closets/rooms throughout the school. So two others and I set out to do so. First, we scaled the school for Kenny, one of the custodians. Had we found him, we would have asked him if he could help us find some extension cords. But we didn't. So we started searching one of the maintenance closets. We didn't find any in this one, but we did notice the ladder up to the roof, and jokingly dared each other to climb it.

That was when the trouble began. A custodian (not Kenny) walked by, overheard this, and told us, somewhat rudely, that we weren't allowed to climb the ladder. We got out of the closet and told him we were just joking around. As we were walking, he proceeded to tell us that we weren't supposed to be in the maintenance rooms anyhow. Again, quite rudely.

"Well we were looking for extension cords." I said, and I'm not sure exactly what compelled me to do it, but I followed with a sarcastic "Excuse me."

"What did you say?" He said. "Come back here!" I stopped and turned around. "What's your name, kid?"

I paused for a moment, nervous. "My name.. is Juno McGruff."

"Well Juno McGruff, the Dean of Students is going to be hearing about this." he finished, and walked off. I did as well, finally laughing when he was out of earshot. I couldn't believe I actually just did that. I couldn't believe that he bought it either!

Later, I walked into another maintenance room, looking again for extension cords. He was there again. This time, he yelled at me about my attitude. I reacted calmly and apologized, just trying to get him to lend me the cords. Eventually he let up and gave them to me.

I sighed with relief as I walked away. I brought the extension cords back to where the band was set up and connected it. As I rearranged the surge protectors, I finally set it up so that I had three keyboards to play - two in front stacked and one to the right. I had no seat so I played standing up. I may have showed off, but I was having so much damn fun doing it. The band started off the game with the Star-Spangled Banner and played other various tunes from there.

Bishop Kelly lost by three points. To be honest, I wasn't watching most of it, so that didn't bother me so much. We packed up and brought all of the stuff back to the music room. Luckily that didn't take long, but afterwards a girl told me to carry a barrel over towards the cafeteria. There was a dance there it turned out, after the game. Of course I was staying!

I got in and observed for a bit before starting to dance. This was the standard high school mob of kids, most of them grinding some girl. I jumped in and went straight through it and out when I found a couple of my favorite teachers outside. I talked to them for a bit while I got some fresh air. Something about that night was euphoric for me. I really couldn't have been happier.

The dance ended at eleven and I went home with Troy after helping set up some tables for Monday. It was among the best nights of my life. But I do have a bad feeling about the whole custodian thing. Not necessarily guilt - I mean he got what he gave. If he had wanted me to be polite, he should've been. But I've got the feeling that it's gonna come back and bite me come Monday. Hopefully though, he won't figure it out. But I can see him walking into the dean's office.

"One of your students has been giving me trouble."
"I see. Well give me his name and we'll call him in."
"His name is Juno McGruff."
"We don't have anybody by that name. Actually that's a character from the movie, Juno."
"..."

Pulling a Fast One (Clothes)

Earlier today, I walked into my World History class, waiting for Mr. Harris, the teacher, to get up and shush us. Once the bell rang, he got up and told us, nearly shouting, "Ok, this is not acceptable. I've talked to Mr. Wehde, (the principal) and he told me that I could do whatever I needed to get this class under control." The class went silent, most of them confused and frightened.

"Two rules: one. Once you come through those doors, you may not talk unless I ask you to. You will sit down in your desk silently. Two. If any of you speak out of turn, you all get an F for the day." At this point I was kissing my World History grade goodbye. We didn't stand a chance.

About halfway into class he dropped th ball and told us that he was kidding. He was frightening us to demonstrate what Hammurabai's code must've been like for the people under it. The reaction was mixed. Some people, mostly me, thought it was pretty funny. But some people seemed forlorn and hurt, which frankly only added to my amusement.

That's the third time this year that I've been tricked like that. I'm starting to get used to it. I wouldn't say it's a bad thing, because it's always funny. But the trickery is beginning to lose it's appeal...

On another topic of deceit, I was communicating with a friend of mine last week when she complained to me that she had seemingly already worn all of her clothes that week. She didn't want to wear clothes she wore Monday, Friday. Why, I asked? Would people notice?

Well, actually, I've been running a little experiment to find out. I've been switching off between the exact two pairs of clothes for the past week and a half (and I did wash in between wearing them). So far not a single person has said anything about it. My parents haven't noticed either. So just as a tip for everyone. People don't pay too much attention to what you wear. Some, yes, but inordinate amounts of time picking out clothes is simply unproductive and silly. Just pointing that out.