In My Life

All these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
...In my life, I've loved you more -The Beatles

We're doing CST (California Standardized Testing) now, so we go to our third period class at the start of the day and have three other classes for the remainder (instead of the regular six). We had to do the World History part today, and the sample question had something to do with Russia; I can't remember what exactly. I chose C as my answer: Vladimir Lenin (instead of A: Some random Asian guy whose name I can't remember, B: Martin Luther, or D: Someone else whose name I can't recall). I was correct. Then our French teacher (third period is French, so we basically spend two hours with her every morning for this week) calls out that the correct answer is C. Then she asks us, "Did you know his first name was Vladimir? Who knew his first name was Vladimir? Raise your hands!" So about seven to eight people raised their hands, including myself. Then my friend (he's a strange boy) calls out, "Yeah, I thought it was John." The little group of my friends burst out in uncontrollable laughter, while the rest of the class stared at us. I don't think they put it together: John Lenin. :) Yeah, French is pretty great.


Ah yes, John Lenon reminds me of something else. On Friday, I hung out with my friend's youth group. That was the second time (first time was the Friday before), and this Friday will probably be the third. We watched Expelled, and I thought it was really good. They mentioned John Lenon's "Imagine" in it, and how he refers to "no religion, too".


Updated at 9:08 PM to include:

CHAMBER AUDITIONS ARE OFFICIALLY OVER. We just had Part 2 tonight. The first part was to check out your range and singing abilities; the second part was to see how well you could carry your part in a quintet. I'm not in choir, so I kind of stood near the side waiting for someone to need a second soprano. Finally someone yelled out "SECOND SOPRANO?" and I walked in that direction. I joined their group, and we performed pretty well. I was kind of shaky on my part (I forgot to mention - we sang the national anthem), but mostly, we were fine. I was with Abi ("it's short for Abigail"), Krystal (swimmer; I met her last year at a swim meet from my best friend on the swim team), Ali (I met her today) and Steven (knew him since he was in seventh grade, but he didn't remember me; he's one of my band geeks). So I basically met two new people (Abi & Ali), and got reaquainted with two others (Krystal & Steven). Honestly, at first, I judged Ali. I saw her in the room before we broke into quintets, and I.. judged her. I was so cruel. But when I finally got to know her, she became so sweet and I was so surprised. There I go again, judging someone and then soon finding out that they're probably the sweetest person present. Oh yes. I was in a completely junior group (asides from myself, of course), so it was nice to work with mature voices. When we went up to actually do the audition, we had to say if we were in band, orchestra, had any conflicts with fourth, fifth, or sixth period, or if we were taking private voice lessons. I said I was in orchestra, but would be in marching band next year and maybe jazz band too. Steven, who is currently in jazz band and plays trombone (and is AMAZING), turned to me and said, "Jazz band? ...What do you play?" I proudly replied, "I play the violin." He looked at me strangely for a second, then smiled broadly and answered, "Jazz violin, huh? That's really cool." Quite frankly, he made me feel really special. I think this gives me the grounds to scream and say "HI STEVEN!" from across campus, right? I do that to Trumpet Max. Yes, I do call him Trumpet Max because I don't know his last name and when I first found out his name was Max (I had seen him playing trumpet in Jazz Band performances before), I quickly said, "oh, Trumpet Max?" aloud. I guess it kind of stuck in my head. Trumpet Max is always really nice to me, and smiles and replies, "Hi!" to my "Hi Max!"

Band is amazing, isn't it? So many connections in more ways you thought possible. Alas alack. At least this past year.

Fruit calls. Strawberries, specifically.

Onward, Soldiers!

Someone's been getting ready for the fair. :)

[...Patiently waiting for Blogger to upload the photos from my camera...]

Okay.

I'm EXCITED. I can earn a maximum of $80 if I choose enter the Oro y Vino scarf I've been working on after all:

I've got about a foot and a half so far, and it is absolutely beautiful. I love the stitch so much.

Looking around Youtube, I stumbled upon this guy:

Isn't he incredibly awesome?

Alameda County Fair

The fair is coming up! This will be my first time entering any of my projects into any kind of competition. I looked at the items at the fair last year, which sparked my interest and fueled my crochet passion throughout the rest of the summer.

These are the projects I have chosen to enter, plus a green afghan I've labeled "Fabala".

From left to right: Snow White, Fancy Fans Stole (blue, in the bag), Forrest Wrist Warmers, AVocation Scarf, Flammable, and Percy Plaid.

I really wanted to enter the Foothill Scarf, but realized that I had worn it too much (visibly worn projects will be disqualified). I've never worn the AV scarf, so I figured that it would be the better bet. Plus, more people attended Amador, so it might look favorably upon the judges. I would have entered both, but I have already entered the crochet Percy Plaid scarf, and there is a limit of only two entries per class.

I probably should have mentioned this earlier: I'm entering everything under the Adult section. I could have gone under Youth, as I am not yet eighteen, but I have been crocheting as long as I can remember (and frankly, I think I'm pretty good), so it's not really fair that I join Youth. Plus, there is only one division for Needlework and one class for all knit and crochet items for Youth, whereas in Adult, there is a different division for all the types of crocheted garments and items, and separate ones for knitted garments and items. There are six to eight classes within those divisions, so it's way broader. And not to mention the prize incentives. For Youth, one pays $1 per item submitted. First place is $1.50. Yes, one dollar and fifty cents. So if I won first place for everything I entered, I would gain $3.50 (I would really get $10.50, but $7 pays for the cost of submission). For Adult, on the other hand, one pays $1.50 per item submitted. First place is (usually around) $10. Second is $7 and third is $5. Not too shabby. Granted, I will be competing against people at least double my age, maybe even triple. But as I scoped out the competition last year, I didn't think there was much to worry about.

Updated to include:

So I was looking through Michaela's former posts at Dollar Knits, and found this thing that tests the reading level of your blog. Check this out:

Isn't that awesome? I feel so smart because Junior High was around two years ago or so.

I want to make Saartje's Bootees so badly! They're absolutely adorable, and they would be perfect for the fair. Not to mention that some of our friends at church have a recent addition to their family (a baby girl!), and I would love to make Jannell some booties.

I'm in the middle of uploading the Snow White pattern to Ravelry. I'll publish a link to it later.

Les Auditions de Chambre Sont Finis!

I auditioned for Chamber today! Apparently, I have an incredibly unique voice that's nice to have in a choir because it just carries the choir. That was a surprise.

Jazz auditions are in two weeks. I've chosen "Autumn Leaves".

Chamber Auditions A Demain

Chamber auditions are tomorrow! ...And I know I will completely bomb them. I'm not so concerned; I was planning on cancelling them anyways.

Yesterday, I stopped by the counselor's office for a quick chat. My counselor told me that the master schedule of classes isn't out yet, so there is no way of telling (at this point) if Chamber and Orchestra will conflict. So I'm auditioning for both Chamber Choir and Jazz Band just like I had originally planned. But I still have to choose a piece for Chamber! I'm leaning toward "You Raise Me Up", as I have performed the solo before (I bombed it then, and will bomb it again; history repeats itself). I plan on doing either the first or second verse with the chorus. I don't like long auditions.

I accompanied Chamber Choir last year for their Spring Concert with violin. It was a huge honor then, and I'm still really proud of myself. I don't think the choir teacher remembers me though. Oh well.

Stashbusting!

I've been doing some serious stashbusting as of late. I finally finished Snow White! Here are the pictures:

Soon, I hope to be working on crochet juggling balls for some rowdy boys at school who enjoy crumpling up brand new sheets of paper and seeing from how far away they can shoot the paper into the trashcan when we have a substitute teacher. I'm not a hippie, but it kind of disturbes me that they enjoy wasting paper. I have TONS of excess mustard-yellow Lion Brand Wool (at least four skeins - that's a lot to me; two boxes = my entire stash), so I'll be using that. I was thinking of filling the juggling balls with rice or beans, but decided against it because they are boys after all, and if the juggling balls contact water, the rice or beans inside will get gross and could get moldy. Then I thought about filling them with plastic beads typical hackey sacs have. But then I realized that I needed the foot of a pantyhose or else they would slip out. I don't have access to extra pantyhose. I've finally come up with filling them with... yarn! I have way too much of it anyways, and it's not exactly being wasted. Yes, they will not fly as well, but hopefully it will become more of a healthy challenge than an annoying obstacle.

We're going to Olive Garden today! We usually go out to eat once every two to three weeks or so on Sundays (eating out isn't too healthy). It's a nice treat for after chuch, too.

Help!

I need somebody.

I'm having serious second thoughts about auditioning for Chamber Choir. My audition is scheduled for Wednesday, April 23. Four days from today, and I still don't know what I'm going to sing. Not only is the first time I've auditioned my voice before, I'm worried that Chamber Choir will conflict with Orchestra. This year, they have been during the same period, so my friend (who is an AMAZING singer) really wanted to sing and still play violin in Orchestra, but was forced to choose. You can't have two classes for one period. He was disappointed, but I'm sure he is now happy with his choice. If that same thing happens next year, I'll be in trouble. If I just happen to do an amazing audition and make Chamber, I may have to refuse the spot and take Orchestra that period instead (I have more of an allegiance to violin than to singing). And that wouldn't be nice. I figure that I'll have to schedule an emergency meeting with my counselor to find out what periods Orchestra and Chamber will be next year.

So if I don't audition for Chamber, I still have an open class (and I'm NOT taking something pointless like Comp Sci [Computer Science]). I'm taking History over the summer, plus I'm taking A period for a 7-period-long day with 4 major classes (Physics, English, Math, and AP French). Two of those "extra" periods are filled with Marching Band and Orchestra, but there's still another extra period for... JAZZ BAND! I spoke with the band director yesterday at lunch about if he wanted a violin in Jazz Band. He was kind of surprised, but said he would like to have one. (I brought first chair clarinet with me, and he just kind of stood there.) I told him that I would be in Marching Band as well, and he asked me if I played an instrument. I said clarinet, and also said that first chair clarinet (who was standing right next to me) was tutoring me. I think he liked the idea. I asked when he would like me to audition, and he said that auditions were being held during the first week of May, and that I could come in either Tuesday or Wednesday (of that first week of May) after 3:30. Pretty much everything is riding on this audition.

I don't think I'll be auditioning for Chamber after(especially if it is during Orchestra's period), so Jazz Band is my only hope to fill that extra class. If I don't make Jazz Band, I'm finished. My dad will force me to take comp sci and I'll be stuck in a class I totally hate. ...No pressure.