When Violence Is An Answer
May 25, 2009 § 3 Comments
My parents and I went to go watch my brother march in our town’s annual Memorial Day parade today. All middle school band kids are required to participate, although the lazy little turd has yet to actually play his instrument [percussion] in the parade, since he’s too apathetic to audition for drumline — he’s always been shouldering a [fake] rifle or something extraneous like that. Even though I was incredibly tired, the parade provided an unexpectedly good source of amusement.
Here I am with my mother:
Seeing all the veterans roused feelings of gratitude in me for these men and women who gave their time to serve their country, whether voluntarily or not. Most of them have probably lost friends and endured many hardships, and I was genuinely glad that they were being given the day to be honored.
The gun salute:
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This band director actually made me laugh out loud. He looked so cartoonish:
This is probably because my marching band experience is limited to the required years in middle school, but I thought these miniature music stands were the coolest thing ever:
Memorial Day is definitely the day for Americans to trot out their vintage vehicles. This one was particularly sweet:
I have never seen an orchestra traveling on foot before. I didn’t even know they could play while walking [a truckload of the bigger string instruments followed behind].
There was a squad of bagpipe players. Are they always men? I don’t seem to recall every seeing a female bagpiper. Bagpipist? They sounded really good, but that didn’t keep me from chuckling at their garb. Men in pleated skirts is always a funny sight, and their ankle coverings made them look like clomping Clydesdales:
Here is my brother in the center of his school banner, trying his best to ignore my parents’ cheers and my delighted cackles:
Marching bands always sound better from the audience than when I’m marching in the row struggling to maintain my embouchure and worrying that my thumb will fall off from supporting the weight of my clarinet. I like the shiny instruments too:
As usual, I took care to notice all of the Asian children marching in the parade [Kennedy Junior High had a TON. Little nerds]. I observed that in almost every Boy/Cub Scout pack, there was at least one Asian boy. But in all of the Girl/Brownie Scout troupes, there was nary an Asian girl to be seen. Why is this? Hmmm. [Of course I would take a post about Memorial Day and put an Asian spin on it somehow. Of course.]
Question
May 23, 2009 § 1 Comment
If one were to walk into the bathroom of a 12-year-old boy and find a ruler on the counter, what would one presume that he was using the ruler to measure?
I Would Do Anything For Love (But…)
May 22, 2009 § Leave a comment
It’s been a while since I’ve had a crush on somebody. The last one ended sometime during junior year of high school — it was a Korean guy one year older than me who I thought was really hot. Well, he had nice legs [he was a runner] and he looked decent when his hair covered his face, heh.
But I stalked him on MySpace and secretly hyperventilated when I saw him in the hallways. I don’t even think that he knew me, although I do remember that the one time we talked was when I walked into the band room after badminton practice one day to go to dress rehearsal, and he was in there practicing bells by himself. I glanced at him and pointed out that we were both wearing David Crowder Band shirts, and we shared a brief moment before I ran off to retrieve my clarinet.
I’ve never really understood the anatomy of a crush. It differs from person to person. For me, I’ve never had the guts to do anything about the boys that I’ve liked, mostly since I’ve never been friends with them to begin with — I’ve always admired from afar and squealed about it with my friends. Since a friendship never took root, a relationship was out of the picture. But since I didn’t really know whichever boy had my attention, I was never really interested in a relationship anyway.
This time, though, is different.
Homeward Bound
May 17, 2009 § Leave a comment
Going home soon. Usually I’m ecstatic to head back to Nville, but this time my excitement is tempered by many things.
For one, the vast majority of my friends from home are going to be scattered across the nation [or globe]. I may literally have nobody to play with, or I’ll have to make some new friends pretty quickly. As for those who will be in Nville, XZ will be working in the city every weekday, and LC is still undecided on whether to come home or take summer classes in Chambana. There’s no boyfriend to look forward to either [at this point, I really wouldn’t mind having a summer fling. Hmmm but where to find a viable candidate?].
I used to hate being stuck in Missouri [AKA Misery, middle of nowhere]. But I’ve come to realize that I agree with what AM said: being in this environment is much more stimulating than being at home. Despite the restrictive size of this town and my lack of vehicle, there are still new things to experience all the time, new projects to work on, and new people to meet. There are different groups of friends to hang out with instead of the same [beloved] group of friends from middle/high school.
And the thing that I will miss most for sure is the freedom I have here. I am one month from turning 20, and my mother still imposes an 11PM curfew on me at home. Unbelievable.
One thing that I realized recently was that in some ways, I feel more comfortable around my friends here than at home. I feel less judged here at school. I don’t know if it’s because my other friends were from high school [kids are always up to no good] or because we were all Christian — it’s probably a combination of both. There’s always a danger, of course, in getting too complacent [I sure have become a full-fledged pottymouth this year], but I’m enjoying not having to look over my shoulder with every word or action. Anyhow, I’m looking forward to a summer of tennis and [hopefully] Ticket To Ride. Come to me, tank-top-and-shorts weather!
auradis 