Return of the Revenge of the Son of Saying Hi to Josiah!

[Puyon]

Greetings!

Too bad that trip needed to be cut short. But it's good as long as you're safe, and I too am relieved about it. With everything that's going on, I wouldn't be surprised if another disaster occurred.

Hm. Thursday is over, and Friday is tomorrow. Meaning the start of the weekend after school. My plans? MASSIVE ROOM REORGANIZATION. Which means, I'll probably be gone. Again. Which means I'm probably waaayyy behind in KotF, but hey,I still have loads o' work to do. And I don't mind losing it either. I've had fun with the time I could participate with. But, there is research to be done, and I can't waste time. I'm also busy with miscellaneous things as well.

I'm also trying out for my school's new glee club. Though it only does current day songs, I can't stand not having an extra program to do, now that Drama Club is over too. I plan on singing this for try outs. My twin says I'm good for it. I still need to practice though. One can never be too careful, after all.

[Saber Knight]

Hey.

So.... info about budget cuts came today... our chorus teacher got a pinkslip. Which... sucks. They're DESTROYING the performing arts programs at the high school... freaking visual arts have barely been touched. Our chorus teacher goes and STARTS a show choir program at our high school THIS YEAR and they go and place 1ST in their tournament. And they're cutting him. Which means the in-school chorus program goes as well. Now, I'm not in chorus, but that sucks that they can do that. The band has also been suffering... as you can tell from my rant, this year's band is not the greatest. It is very, very small. 2nd semester freshman year was the best concert band I've ever been in. It was way bigger, and we played freaking 1812 Overture. It was amazing. This year..... sigh.

And the marching band program is falling apart, too. It's awful. I want to get out of this high school before they do any more damage to the performing arts. I feel bad for my sisters... by the time my youngest sister gets to the high school, they'll have no performing arts. It's sad.

So... on the note of the performing arts, my last rehearsal with The Laramie Project was today. I can't make it to rehearsal tomorrow because I have a lot of extra work to do for DI so we (and by we I mean the team I'm coaching) are ready for Saturday's tournament. It still hurts that this means I have to miss Semis for Fest on Saturday. Our director let me know how much it meant to her that I still showed up to rehearsals even though all my lines have been given away. At the end of the super long rehearsal today (with a brief dinner break to FUDDRUCKERS), I couldn't help but give a cheesy little "I've had a great time being a part of this, and I'll miss it, and you guys have to be awesome" speech before we left... I managed to keep my voice from cracking, but I was trembling. I really had grown to like the cast, which surprised me because I don't make friends easy, and from other friends I have in the Drama Guild I've heard that a lot of the people there are really diva-y and talk behind your back... while that was true for a few people, most of them were pretty awesome, and I'm really gonna miss them. Especially this one girl who was really welcoming and awesome to me and really helped me open up to everyone else. Kind of like a gateway drug, only better. Anyway, when I'm upset, for me, a hug is the best thing in the world, and she came over and hugged me after I did my little speech thing, and something like that means the world to me... so, yeah, gonna miss her. And the rest of them.

Well, anyways... Saturday is a big day. Our girl's D1 basketball team is playing for the state championships (if they win, they'll be state champions two years straight!), semis for DramaFest and Regionals for DI... guess I'll just have to see how it goes.

[Josiah]

Hi! I made it back to the US ok but I'm really tired so I'm just going to quickly update PV and get some sleep. I'll catch up on the forums over the weekend and go into detail about my return to the US in Monday's travelogue post.

[Saber Knight]

Hey.

Today was quite possibly one of the most disappointing days of my life. I guess it was my fault for getting my hopes up.

Anyway... DI Regionals tomorrow! And drama fest! The kids I coach for DI's skit came together pretty nicely in the space of today... they're still missing a few things, but hopefully they finished them up after I left to go to my own DI meeting. Our skit is looking pretty good... well, guess we've just got to hope for the best tomorrow.

I'm in for another long day tomorrow... I got home today about a half hour ago, tomorrow I'm leaving at 7:15 AM and probs won't get back 'til like 7:30... and then there's the afterparty.... wheee. Wish us luck! And luck to drama fest, too!

[Metalheadz]

Hi!

Not going to Japan anymore this summer, but then again I can't blame anybody. My parents are promising next year, if things are better, we may actually go again. But in the meantime, all I can do is pray that the people in Japan are safe.

Anywho, I'm finally having a band practice with my friends after over a month. This weekend won't be too exciting, but I'm looking forward to it.

Peace out!

[Silver]

Heso! You know, Josiah, I would have laughed if your plane crashed and you died while trying to escape the dangers of Japan. I would have laughed... and then I would have cried.

I would also laugh if whatever area you're in currently got hit by a giant earthquake, tsunami, and/or nuclear meltdown. I would laugh... and then I would drop out of society for I am clearly a danger to everyone around me with my jokes of irony that cause death and destruction.

[Josiah]

Hi! You know Silver, I can't say that the thought didn't cross my mind when the plane hit a bunch of turbulance... But anyway, had it not been for my dad being so insistant, I probably would have stayed till Sunday at the very least so I would have had time to say a proper goodbye to everyone. But anyway, I'll write about all that in Monday's travelogue post.

I spent today unpacking, catching up on some things, and making food for Purim (a Jewish holiday). As far at KOTF stuff goes, I finally got the third challenge judged and the fourth posted. Still need to count most of the game posts though. Remember, Tuesday is the last day and it's looking like both 1st and 3rd place are going to be pretty close...

[Atma]

Something something something...Atma.

Something something something...Back.

[Saber Knight]

Hey.

Well, as far as birthday's go... today has been one of the most up-and-down ones I've ever had.

But the conclusion it comes to is we didn't win today. We lost. I hate sounding like a total prick... but I was absolutely in complete and utter shock. Everyone on my team, everyone who saw our SKIT was. I hate saying this, but it was way more creative than the one that won. They just spouted off facts, and our technical device was WAY more innovative and absurd. And we still lost. At the regionals level. I can't believe it. It's all over, and I'm absolutely devastated.

On a better note, the kids I'm coaching... out of 16 teams, they placed first. Again, in complete and utter shock. 48 hours ago, they had never done a full run-through of their skit and they didn't have a finished structure.

On another lighter note, PurplePrincess threw me a surprise party today that was amazing... unfortunately, it was kind of offset by the events that played out later in the day. People came over my house afterwards for the traditional afterparty, so I had to put on a happy face when I really just wanted to go find a nice corner and cry. We put so much work into this skit, and to have it ended so shockingly and suddenly is just.... it sucks.

[Metalheadz]

Howdy!

The weather outside is so nice today, I could just sit outside all day carefree and jolly. On a side note, so far I'm having an alright weekend, but now I better catch up on make-up work and stuff now.

Peace out!

[Josiah]

Hi! That's too bad, Saber. But at least you had fun, right?

We had a Purim party last night, which was kinda fun. Though I was zoning out a bit towards the end (been a crazy week and all). Today I'm just catching up on a couple more things and doing some errands. Tomorrow though I really need to get to work on job applications. Sigh...

On a completely unrelated note, Manga Gamer is donating all proceedes from the sale of some of their games to relief work in Japan. So if you want Kira Kira, Da Capo, Suika, or Edelweiss this is a good time to get them.

[Puyon]

Greetings!

Welcome back, Atma! I don't know who you are, but I've heard your name mentioned quite a bit.

So I've spent most of the weekend cleaning my room... progress? A lot. Kind of. It's good for working in solitude. In two days, I brought down 3 full garbage bags, and cleaned areas that I never bothered checking before. Why am I so devoted to cleaning my room? For 1, getting it repainted would be very, very pleasing. Secondly, Colly is considering... considering to move her TV into my room, and turning it into a gaming room. Which is even more pleasing. Sleeping in a room where I play all my games would make me feel so awesome.

So I can't linger for too long. See yas.

[PoisonWing14]

Moi,

Blah, I can't really be my normal happy-go-lucky self today. I woke up with a cold, and now have a bit of a fever. On the first day of spring to...how ironic...

On that note, Happy first day of spring. Woo-hoo and all of that. *brings tissues and nosespray closer*

I always thought that if a teacher ever gave me a project to do that involves drawing comics, I could finish it easily. I mean really easily....not so, apperently. Instead, for the past 2 hours, I've been drawing other doodles of thing completly unrelated to my task at hand. Very nice doodles though...I may want to ink and color them in later on.

Anyway, better get going on that project now...*resisting urge to doodle more*....*not resisting it very well*...

[Saber Knight]

Hey.

Yes, I did have a lot of fun yesterday... it's just that the ending was a complete and total shock. The lady that read off the team names of the people that placed is someone we know and has been running MADI for the past 30 years, I believe, and is retiring this year. She herself paused in shock after she said "And second place goes to..." before she read our town name. Apparently, the international challenge master for our challenge (Spinning A Tale) had heard about our skit from 5 different sources before closing ceremonies. So many people came up to us expressing their shock that we didn't advance. It wasn't just us... everyone was stunned. If you're interested and one of my facebook friends, you could follow this nifty link and take a look at our skit... the first minute is boring, because it's the one minute we get to rearrange our stuff in the launch area after they tell us what act to start with (the requirements of the challenge said that you have to have a 3-act skit where the acts can go in any order, and they have to end with a finale. In our case, the finale was a song). Anyway, check it out, if you want. You'll get to see my crazy acting-ness.

Or you could just check out this nifty little collage I made of myself. It gets a wide variety of my insane moments, with my lines next to each photo :P I played the crazy one.... like I always do :P

Point is... well, I'm still in shock from yesterday. I can still remember hearing that pause, then hearing my town name and being in total disbelief as I just sat there staring blankly. I can remember my team mates standing up and still sitting there, staring blankly in shock. Clear as day.

Well... the thing is, scores haven't come out yet. Usually, they're out 24 hours later, and they're not. Apparently, all of these higher-ups that we know are quite upset and are trying to figure out what went wrong. There is a RIDICULOUSLY SLIM chance that is so slim I'm not even bothering to get my hopes up that we might be able to go on. We'll just have to see.

Regardless, I love my team, and it's been a fantastic year.

[Josiah]

Hi! I got Ghost Trick yesterday and started playing. It's pretty awesome. I also have the house to myself as my dad is in Arizona and my mom went off to Pennsylvania to deal with family stuff. That means I can hook my PS3 up to the giant TV upstairs. Only problem is that the games I most want to play at the moment are on my DS and PSP...

In other news, the local Borders is closing and, since I had to leave Japan early I made it back in time for the big sale. Not that it in any way makes up for leaving Japan early, but I was able to get a whole bunch of manga at 50% off.

Since my Japan time was cut short, I'm seriously tempted to take a week or two off and just play games and read manga, but I really should start doing job applications so that's not going to happen. Darn sense of responsibility...