Daily Things

Quote of the day: Is that ...? I never heard her first name before! - Dad
Song of the day: Leaving on a Jet Plane by the Mitchell Trio

Tomorrow I am going to Canada! woohoo!

Today my sister was inducted to the National Honor Society of Taunton High. I went to the dinner/ceremony with my parents. I deserted my parents at dinner though and went to sit with my friend Susan from high school, whose brother was being inducted as well. It was nice to see her again!! I promised to call her when I get back from my travels and hopefully it will result in some time spent hanging out together. And, she told me she's almost done with my slouchy hat! yay!

After going to jazz band and lifting for both Thursday and Friday at the YMCA, I spent most of the day packing for my trip. I'm still not done. Should probably do that. Also I think that tomorrow I will do my NYC blog while on the plane/in the airport. Good plan, no? My only other real option to fill that time is to read Catch-22, which I just started last night. I love that book. Funny thing is, it's one of my favorites but I've never actually read the whole thing. I had to read it for AP English my senior year, and I read 80% of it but ran out of time to finish. So.... I sparknoted the rest, and once I found out what happened I of course didn't want to read the last few chapters. This time I vow to read the complete novel!!!

That's all for today. Didn't have much to say but felt like writing something. Must pack!!

Easter... again! & other things

Song of the day: Pickin' It Up by Hot Hot Heat

An amazing thing happened to me yesterday.

I found a Cadbury Cream Egg that was hidden at Easter! It was hidden in plain sight on top of the fire extinguisher in the hallway by the side door. Yesterday I accidentally touched the fire extinguisher instead of the wall, looked at it, and was pumped to see this egg there.

My mom said it might be a new record - Easter was on April 12, and this egg was found on May 26. Andrew came home with me and my parents set up our traditional candy hunt in the living room/kitchen area. Can't believe that egg was still there, and the best part is it was just as delicious as it would have been a month ago.

SCORE. :)

In other news, today I baked a cake for my dad's birthday, which is tomorrow. It looks and smells delicious. Can't wait to enjoy it! And although this was made from a box, the other day I made some chocolate chip banana muffins from scratch, and they were awesome, if I do say so myself.

Monday I marched in my 9th Memorial Day parade ever, haha. Since I'm not in high school anymore I was in the Kingston Parade with the Taunton City Band. It wasn't that well attended but it was okay, and I got paid so that was cool. Plus it was nice to see the other TCB people again... gearing up for our summer gigs! After the parade I was really glad I've been going to THS to play, otherwise my lips would have been dead. My dad and I went to the new Henry's Rootbeer on the way home (now known as the Stand Drive In) and it was a little disappointing, but at least the Cake Batter Ice Cream was tasty. :)

This past weekend I went to New York with Toni and Juliana to visit Molly, and it was awesome. Full entry on that soon.

On Friday I'm going to Calgary, then on Monday it's off to Winnipeg for a week. I'm pretty bored at home so I'm excited to be going on a trip!!

Also, yesterday I signed up for piano lessons for the summer, starting once I get back from Canada. So excited!!!!!!!!

No Rain

Quote of the day: I have to be nice... because he had cancer.
Song of the day: No Rain by Blind Melon

I've been listening to my Simple Harmonic Motion (WPI's all-male a capella group; they're really amazing) CD recently and this song caught my attention because it kind of sums up how I've been feeling lately.

No Rain

All I can say is that my life is pretty plain
I like watchin' the puddles gather rain
And all I can do is just pour some tea for two
And speak my point of view
But it's not sane, it's not sane

I just want someone to say to me oh, oh, oh, oh
"I'll always be there when you wake" yea, yea
Ya know I'd like to keep my cheeks dry today, hey
So stay with me and I'll have it made

And I don't understand why I sleep all day
And I start to complain that there's no rain
And all I can do is read a book to stay awake
And it rips my life away, but it's a great escape
Escape......escape......escape......

All I can say is that my life is pretty plain
You don't like my point of view
You think that I'm insane
It's not sane... It's not sane

I just want someone to say to me oh, oh, oh, oh
"I'll always be there when you wake" yea, yea
Ya know I'd like to keep my cheeks dry today, hey
So stay with me and I'll have it made

I'll have it made (you know I'm gonna)
I'll have it made (you know I'm gonna)
I'll have it made (you know I'm gonna)
(I'll have it made I'll have it made
You know we're really gonna, really gonna have it made
Gonna have it made ahhh, ahhh, ahhh, ahhh)

In other news, I went to the Taunton High Spring Concert tonight, and it was awesome. I was very impressed with all of the groups. The jazz band rocked out on "Act Your Age," and the Select Choir rocked out on the "Beatles Revue" which included Mr McKenzie and Uncle Billy on trumpet and Mr L on drums. The wind ensemble was very good (I'll admit, much better than I thought they would be) as was the concert band. The concert choir had a couple good songs. Overall, it was great!

After the concert I went to Friendly's with Sarah, Kevin, Danielle, Tim, and Nick. It was pretty fun. I had a delicious sundae which had a banana and peanut butter ice cream. yum!

New Hampshire! part 2

Quote of the day: We should have brought a backpack... wait, let's just steal one! - Carl
Song of the day: How's My Driving by Less Than Jake

Carl keeps bothering me to blog about my trip to New Hampshire. Well, here it is.

I left my house at 11 am on Saturday to drive up to Keene to visit Carl for his belated birthday bash. It came at the right time because, only 3 days after I arrived at home from college, I was bored out of my mind. It didn't take as long as I expected to get there, and I arrived shortly after 1 pm. On the way I stopped and bought some candy as a present. I was the first person there. When I knocked on the door Carl's sister answered and yelled, "Carl, you've got a friend!" It was funny.

Anyway, we waited around for a while and ate some icing out of a bowl. Yes. Carl made it for the two cakes his mom made, and it was left over. It was delcious. After Eric got there he ate some too.

Carl decided to take us over to Keene State College to show us around. The first thing we saw when we got there was this squirrel eating A WHOLE BAGEL. Yes, a bagel. It was crazy.


The pool was closed so we decided to see if we could get into a dorm. Somebody held the door open for us at one dorm and lucky us, it was move out day, so there was tons of free stuff in the halls. We could get to all the floors via elevator and also went in the common room for a few minutes. Actually, all the rooms were unlocked so we went in a couple and looked around. Then we decided to try to get into another dorm. We waited around by a door but nobody showed up, so we walked away. Three seconds later a girl walked out, but we just asked her and she let us in anyway. The second dorm was newer and very nice. Lots of cool free stuff here too. I'm calling this picture "Like kids on Christmas" because that's how we felt haha. The grand total of free stuff we acquired:
Me: a lamp (it works, I tried it before taking it) and 3 rolls of purple leopard print wrapping paper
Eric: a DVD player, a Charlie Daniels record
Carl: 3 N64 controllers, a few N64 games, a string backpack, 2 frisbees
We could easily have had a few mini fridges, a toaster, a coffee maker, more lamps, and a crapload of other stuff FO FREE! It was sweet and a lot of fun.

We left Keene State because two of Carl's friends from high school were at his house. Carl's dad made some good stuff on the grill and his mom made chip dip and pasta salad. It was all really tasty. Rob showed up as well which always livens things up.
....

5/20/09 Continued, finally.

Carl had cookies and icing, so of course the boys ended up eating cookies with icing on them. Eric attached a cake server to his finger using a twist tie and Rob had a knife, which he used to cut the cookie box open (obviously completely unecessary). Normally I would partake in this cookie-icing deliciousness, but I wasn't feeling so hot so I didn't join in. :(

Carl's friend Aubrey wanted to take us go-karting, but apparently it wasn't open for the season yet. So we decided to go with bowling and a movie. But bowling wasn't open yet, or something. By this point Aubrey (and Meg) were also not involved in the plans anymore. Oh well. Finally we all hopped in Sarah's car and headed to the billiard parlor, which was actually a lot of fun. We got two tables and played one of cutthroat and one of one-on-one pool. The first game of cutthroat consisted of Rob, Sarah, and myself. Sarah and I attempted to team up against Rob, but he ended up winning. Then I played another game with Sarah and Carl, which I won. The last game I played was vs Sarah, and though she played well I ended up winning. Unfortunately it was a little hard to enjoy because I was feeling a little bit sick. Oh well.

After playing pool for a while we decided it was time to head to the movies. We were planning to see Star Trek (I think). By this time I was feeling realllllllly gross and the whole way there Rob was asking me if I was okay. Apparently I didn't look too good... as soon as we arrived I proceeded to promptly vomit in the parking lot. It was pretty gross but I felt a lot better afterwards. Anyway Carl took me into the theater and I cleaned up in the bathroom. Carl let Eric and Rob in an exit door, but Sarah felt bad (such and outstanding citizen... she is Mormon, after all) and bought a ticket for X Men Origins: Wolverine. Needless to say we saw that movie, and it was surprisingly good. I was very happy with it.

After the movie Sarah brought us back to Carl's house. I had brought overnight stuff so I went to get into my pajamas, etc. Eric and Rob brought nothing for the night. Carl's mom put out these little foam mattresses for them with pillows and blankets, and Carl slept on top of my sleeping bag with a blanket. I slept on the couch. We watched a few episodes of family guy and I texted with my mom. I deleted the messages and don't remember most of the conversation but the conversation ended with my mom telling me to "be a polite houseguest and not throw up everywhere... and tell Carl's mom thanks and I'm sorry." haha, thanks mom. Rob also told me that he would be legitimately mad and me if I got sick on him during the night (he was closest to the couch). I kept this in mind and I threw up at 3 am... but don't worry, I made it to the bathroom despite almost tripping over Carl on the way out of the living room. It turned out fine though, and I was all better in the morning.

At 8:50 am Eric's phone alarm went off, and Eric and Rob woke up. They were gone by 8:55. They had slept in their clothes and didn't want breakfast, so they just left (it was mothers' day, I guess they had to get back early). It was pretty funny actually. Nobody could believe how fast they were out of the house! I said goodbye but didn't get up, then moved down to where Rob had been sleeping because the couch was hurting my back a little bit. Carl had been up for like an hour already but he slept a little more after the boys left I think. At 10:45 he kicked my foot and asked me if I needed to leave by any certain time. I said no but I took the hint and got dressed, ate some honey nut cheerios, and was gone by 11:15. I made it home in about 2 hours after a nice drive.

I'll leave you with a picture that totally represents exactly how I see Carl.
New Hampshire is fun! Hopefully I can make it back up there again this summer, only more healthily. I miss Carl and Robbie and Eric already! :)

New Hampshire! part 1

Quote of the day: You're bored out of your mind, aren't you? -Carl
Song of the day: Stay Home by SELF

Tomorrow (well later today if you want to be technical) I am driving up to New Hampshire, and I'm pretty excited about it. Carl is having a slightly belated birthday party and he invited me to it! He lives in Keene, which is about 2.5 hours away from me. I've never driven that far before in one shot, but it should be fine. I'm staying overnight because I really don't want to drive there and back in one day. SLEEPOVER AT CARL'S! WOOHOO! Robbie and Eric should be there also for the night, I think. Either way it should be a good time.

I totally didn't get him a present. Perhaps on the way I should stop and buy a card. hmm.

Today I didn't do anything at all. I woke up at noon. I took many stupid quizzes on facebook. I found out that if I were a "Little Miss" I would be Little Miss Giggles, my "real name" is Delilah, my "actual age" is two, the animal that best fits me is the lion, the leading lady on Broadway that best characterizes me is Elphaba from Wicked, and if I were a sport I would be hockey. All this was a continuation of last night's escapades when I discovered that the personality I have is "the cutie," when it comes to randomness I am "RANDOM LEADER OF THE WORLD" (while my sister is as random as a fan... haha), I am a dork rather than a nerd or geek, and as far as swimming is concerned, I am, who would have guessed it, a butterflyer.

After my facebook quizzing I lounged around the house for a long time. I watched some tv with my mom which was cool. At 10 pm I went for a run on the treadmill (3 miles), then showered... most productive things I did all day.
Also started planning my trip to Canada. On May 29th I'm going to fly to Calgary to see my dad's side of the family. After that we have an idea but no tickets bought so far. Planning to spend a couple days there then fly to Winnipeg to see my mom's side for about a week. Then come home. woohoo! Unfortunately I will have to miss the Newport Chowder Festival on June 6, which I've been going to for a few years and absolutely love. Oh well, there's always next year I guess! Oh, and when I say I started planning my trip, I mean my mom started planning it. I gave a little input that required about zero effort.

One thing that I did do was find out my grades from this term. I didn't do too badly, pretty much what I expected. A in jazz history (92 on that paper...woot), A in financial accounting, and B in macroeconomics. I would have had to do extremely well on the macro final to get an A... apparently I didn't. Ah well. My GPA remains the same as it was, and I'm cool with that.

hmm. That's it. I'll report back with how the trip goes! :)

Home and My Jazz Final

FYI: Berge and I won the final MNC of the 2008-2009 schoolyear. Woohoo!

Quote of the day: Swiney swiney! - Colette
Song of the day: Best Imitation of Myself by Ben Folds

I'm home. And it feels good!

Tuesday was the last day of classes. I had a macro final (which I think went okay) and a jazz paper due (which I think I did well on too).
On Monday I had an accounting final (on the computer, 2 tries on each question) and ended up getting an easy A in that class. I also had my jazz history final...there's a story to go with that.

I was supposed to take my jazz history final at 11 am. This final was 100 questions. 50% was "circle the style with which the term fits;" so there's a phrase or person and you circle "dixieland" "swing" "bebop" "cool jazz" "hard bop" "avant garde" "fusion" or "world music."
The other 50% was related to listening. There were 5 listening examples. For each example you circle the style it is, the decade it came from, and 4 artists associated with that style. So the final was a lot of questions, but no writing, which is good. I don't like short answer questions.

Anyway, at 11:30 on Monday morning I wake up to, "Alana, it's 11:30!" CRAP! I get dressed really fast and run down to my class. Thankfully it was in the building next to my dorm. Oh how I love tiny campuses. I see the professor and say, "I just woke up, sorry I'm late!" There were only a couple kids (out of like, 50 originally) left taking the test. My teacher tells me to sit down in the front row. He says, "You know, you were doing so well in the class... too bad you're going to flunk."
....
"Nah, I'm kidding." He hands me the test. It's 11:35. The class technically ends at 11:50, and I have another final at noon. I work for a couple minutes then he plays the listening examples for me. At 11:48 he tells me he has to go to a recital down the hall but to bring him the test when I'm done. I could have stayed longer I suppose, except that pesky accounting final had to be taken. At 11:50 I go give him my test. Woah.

Remember how I said there were still kids taking the test at 11:35? I took my jazz final in 15 minutes. The kicker? I got a 91/100 on the exam. OWNED.