Tis the season...

I hope everyone had a good Christmas. Mine was pretty good. I won't bore you with all the little things I got. My main presents were my cell phone (which I actually got in August) and my new 30 GB MP3 player. It's quite nice. Oh, and Dr. C., I got not one but two giftcards to Starbucks. Aren't you proud?

Now here are some pictures of interest:

BackYardSnow.jpg <-- The best picture out of all I took

CarSnow2.jpg <-- Proof of where I was

It actually snowed in Houston, Texas on Christmas Eve. It wasn't much, but it was still cool.

If you haven't already seen The Phantom of the Opera, you should. It's very good. I've seen it twice, and plan on seeing it yet again. Other movies I saw over the holidays: Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events and The Incredibles.

Unfortunate Events is a very strange movie, and really isn't appropriate for most children. It was good, if you like Tim Burtonesque type movies. The child actors were excellent in their performances, but the story was quite strange.

The Incredibles was a good movie. I would recommend seeing that one. There are some very funny one liner's in the movie.

I'm not really ready for school to start back. But I suppose I'll get over that once I see all my friends and such again.

Hope everyone has a great New Year!

One down, three more to go

Well, I've got one exam down. Psychology 101... but at least that's over with. All I have left today is my voice jury...evil buggers. Whoever invented voice juries should be shot and hung. It's not so bad singing infront of the three voice teachers. Even singing infront of Dr. Reynolds doesn't bother me too much. It's Dr. Copeland that bothers me (no offense, Dr. C). He's the one that makes me nervous. I don't know why. Last semester I got lucky and he wasn't in there. So, Dr. C, if you're reading this before juries start, when 2:13 comes around, if you could just leave the room until I'm done, it'd be great.

Monday is the Theory III exam. I think I'll do alright on it. Then Tuesday is Aural Skills. Then I am done for the semester. Praise the Lord. Then it's off to Texas to spend Christmas with my dad, stepmom, and two sisters. I can't wait. My sisters can't either. It'll be my first Christmas to spend with them since my dad and stepmom adopted them.

Anyway, I'm trying to kill time before I meet some friends for lunch at 12...it's only 9:03. I guess I could be looking at my music for today...but I don't really feel like it right now.

Oh, for anyone not doing anything Sunday night, we're having our first actual Christmas pageant at church (we didn't have room to do one until this year with the new sanctuary). It's at Enon Baptist Church in good ol' Morris, AL at 6:00 p.m. If you wanna come and need directions, just let me know.

I think that's it... yeah, that's it.

Finally!

The semester is over! Well, almost. We still have exams. But after that, it's three (?) weeks off for Christmas. I can't wait. It'll be nice to be able to sleep in, and not worry about classes for a little while.

Oh, yes. I'm typing this on my new laptop. I absolutely love it. Wireless internet is great.

It's a short update tonight. And I know it's been awhile, but there's not much to update about.

I added links to a few good blogs down at the bottom of the page. As soon as I find the links to the other blogs I wanted to add I'll add them too.

I'll leave you with a few final thoughts for tonight:

In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you give, and never pay full price for a late pizza.

So, yeah, in public speaking yesterday, I got to play with breast implants.

No, it's not what you're thinking.

One of the girls works for the UAB reconstructive surgery department, and she did her final speech on breast reconstruction for women who had breast cancer. She brought in a silicone implant and a saline implant so we could see the difference, and passed them around.

Speaking of public speaking, I got an A in the class...which is surprising for those who know I don't like talking infront of people. But I managed to make it out of there, and that's one less core class I have to take.

My laptop should be here Friday. I can't wait. It's currently in transit from Georgia to Alabama, supposedly.

Let's see...oh! I had a girl tell me tonight that she wanted me to take her on a date. This has never happened before. It's funny too, because I thought she was seeing someone, because I wanted to ask her out awhile back but didn't because she was seeing someone. But now she's not, so woohoo! She said she doesn't want to be tied down, though, and I don't blame her... but we'll just see where things take us, eh?

Um...I think that's it.


Yes. That's it.

Woohoo!

Well, it's finally happening. I'm getting a laptop. I've wanted a laptop since...well, for a really long time now.

I was looking at them at the Dell website, trying to see how much I would need to save per paycheck to get one, and I saw a thing where you could finance it, so I thought, what the heck, I'll try this. Now see, you have to understand I tried it before a few months ago and they turned me down due to "limited credit experience." This really frustrates me, because you can't get credit experience if NO ONE WILL GIVE YOU CREDIT! But, I decided to try again, and lo and behold, they approved me for $1500. To make a long story even longer, I picked out most of the features I wanted in my laptop (I couldn't get some cause they put me over $1500 on the price of the laptop), ordered it, and poof, it should be here hopefully sometime this week. The website says it's due to ship out Friday, but I don't believe that, because it's in the Testing phase of production right now, and I know it doesn't take a week to test a computer. That's just insane. So maybe it will be here on Friday. That would be nice.

Let's see, what else? Thanksgiving was ok. We went out to eat, because Mom had just gotten back from Boston, so she didn't feel like cooking. We went to a new restaurant over by Wal-Mart called Fire Mountain. If you've ever eaten at a Ryan's, you've eaten at Fire Mountain. Infact, Fire Mountain is actually owned by Ryan's, it just has a different name. Why? I don't know. It just does.

Oh, yeah. I have no heat in my house. It really bites. First, during the summer, the air conditioner didn't work. Now the heat doesn't work. I think when it got struck by lightening, a few years back, more damage was done than the repair man said. Either that, or we just need a new unit. I vote for the latter (later?).

School's almost out! Yay! I'll be glad when we're done with Christmas music in Concert Choir. No offense Dr. C (if you're reading this), but I'm a little tired of Gloria. I admit it's better than the Ceremony of Carols, but I'm just tired of doing it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over...I think you get the picture. But I like the other Christmas stuff we're doing, especially Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. I even took our choir arrangement and transcribed it for our church orchestra. But now I'm just talking to Dr. C, so I'm gonna get back on track.

Actually...I think that's it. It's a long post, I know, but I haven't posted in awhile, so I'm making up for it. Adios!

w00t!

I get my raise. God love the personnel committee.

It's a grand night for...everything

Well, how's this for good news. I'll possibly be getting a $2.50 raise this next year, which will put me at making $10 dollars an hour. Not bad for part time work, eh? I'll find out tomorrow if it's for sure, so keep your fingers crossed.

Choir practice was a bit...tense today. I wish some people would realize that Dr. Copeland is the choir director and to let him direct the choir. Some people, who shall remain nameless, were actually telling him what to do, which I think is disrespectful. We'd get a lot more done if there were far less choir directors and far more students.

I can't really think of anything else...

I hate thinking up titles...

I get my car back tomorrow. Turns out a drainage plug was stopped up (we had been told before that they weren't). So that's fixed, and apparently the problems with the stereo went away when the amp dried out. That's a huge relief. I don't know what I would do without my car stereo. Driving in silence is worse than sitting through a two hour lecture on toenail fungus (I imagine, I haven't actually sat through a two hour lecture on toenail fungus, so I could be wrong).

The parents leave for Boston Saturday, which means I have to get up at the crack o' dawn to drive them to the airport. It'll be worth it though, because then their house will be mine for a week.

I went to see the UAB Music Department production of Amahl and the Night Visitors tonight. The little boy they had to play Amahl was awesome. The entire cast was just awesome.

Alright, that's all for tonight. Peace out, yo!

Grrrrrrr

Ok...I'm getting a little ticked with the drummer in my Sunday morning worship band. He never comes to practice and doesn't think he needs to. That just hacks me off. I think the rest of the band and I are going to have a little discussion about what steps we need to take concerning this situation Saturday at practice.

It's so hard to believe that Thanksgiving is almost here. What's really hard to believe is that after Turkey Day, Jesus Day will be right around the corner. This year has gone be really, really fast. Oi...

Anyways, I'm out (of my mind).

Things are looking up

My paycheck has reappeared in my checking account. This makes me happy.

Also, with work, turns out I may be switching from hourly pay to salary and getting a raise (this isn't definite, just what one of my bosses has heard from a member of the personnel committe ((her husband))). This also makes me happy.

And, I finally told her how I feel, but she just wants to be friends, which is cool. She'll still be in my life in a good way, and that's all that matters, yes? I think so.

Oh, speech class today was fun. For our last test, we did it like a game show, and the team that won got an A and the team that lost got a B (still not bad, considering the teacher said most of us wouldn't have gotten a B on it anyway). My team won, which was cool. What wasn't cool was the other team getting upset, not because they lost, but because they were getting a B on the test. I would have been happy with the B, but then again I've always been happy with a B. Yes, A's are nice, but B's are still good. Better than an F, eh?

Still no word on my car. That sucks. But I get to drive my mom's car, which only has like 6000 miles on it, which is cool. And it's yellow. Which is also cool. I'll probably be driving it for awhile, since they're going to Boston next week and I'll be housesitting for them (again cool, because they have a big screen TV, digital cable, and a hot tub), and I always drive their cars while they're gone, as payment for watching the house.

Anyway, that's about all I've got for today. Adios muchachos.

Some things are looking up

Wow...it's amazing what church can do. Just being there this morning improved my mood greatly. My work problems aren't as bad as I thought either. I'm also going to be getting paid to lock and unlock the church now, on top of what I already make. How cool is that? It won't be much, but that every little bit helps, right?

Oh, and I've come to the conclusion that sometimes I worry about things too much...but then again, don't we all?

All the world's a stage...

And I've been thrown off it.

My weekend hasn't been very good so far. I think I'm slipping into another one of my mild depressions, usually brought on when I worry about things too much.

First, let me start out by saying that I hate my car. I hope they find out where the leak is coming from and fix it. I'm tired of having a swimming pool in my back seat everytime it rains. What's sad is that it's not the top that's leaking (I have a convertible) and the top is about to fall apart. The water's coming in from underneath the seat.

Second, I hate my bank. I deposited my paycheck yesterday morning, and now there's no record of my check being deposited, which caused me to overdraw on my account. They're researching whatever it is they research to find out what happened. If they don't find it, I'm not going to be a happy camper.

Third, I've got some pretty big things that I'm worried about that I won't go into. Let's just say that if I don't get some things straightened out, I'm going to be in deep.

I feel like I'm the verge of a nervous breakdown. Something's going to snap soon, and it's not going to be pretty.

It works!

Finally, after so many problems with this thing I can post.

I met with my new advisor today. Dr. Ray is so...well...it's hard to describe. Charles describes him as the "nicest guy ever...yeah, ever." I don't think that does Dr. Ray justice. There's just something about him that...well...put him in a room with Osama Bin Laden for 5 minutes and he'd have Osama defending the United States. Anyway, from the way things look, I may have my BA in Music sooner than I thought, which will be nice.

We had our Choral College Festival yesterday. I think we were the best choir there. We had the clinician dancing in his seat during "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands."

I find myself constantly thinking about that special someone I mentioned earlier, who I'll refer to as "her" and "she." I don't know what it is about her. She's almost intoxicating. I just wish I could get up the nerve to tell her how I feel. Maybe one day...if it's not too late.

A Rare Thing

Me posting, that is.

I voted for the first time today. That was interesting. For some reason, we have to vote on admendments to our constitution (it's, if I'm not mistaken, the longest state constitution) that don't even affect us (by "us" I mean Jefferson county, AL). One of the amendments was to start the promotion of shrimp and seafood (I thought shrimp was seafood, but I guess the government knows better). I voted no on that for two reasons: 1) we don't need an amendment to our constitution saying we can promote shrimp and seafood, and 2) I don't like either. Other amendments only affected other counties, so I just voted yes on them. I didn't care either way.

I've been thinking alot lately about my life, and how it's not how I would have pictured it when I was younger. It's actually alot better in some respects. For example, back in the day, I would have never thought I'd be going into Music/Children's Ministry or be the lead singer in a praise and worship band. However, I always thought I'd have someone special in my life. And there is, they just don't know it...at least I don't think they do. I've never been good at sharing that sort of thing. I have a huge fear of rejection. It really sucks too. I've liked this person since I first laid eyes on them a little over a year ago. I know, I'm a sad individual.

With all that said, I bid you all goodnight. Perhaps I'll post again in another month, maybe a few days. Who knows?