So, I was in my conducting group a few moments ago with Sammy, Adrian, Jose, and David. We got in this room where there was a short stairway that led to outside from the practice rooms. It was quite, well, to say the least, interesting. We basically talked, but we after a while, Adrian buckled up and played the "not it" game. We all said it except David, who was eating some food he had brought with him. Sammy decided to go first instead. We went through the process with him on the posture, but he had trouble tucking in his tush (this is to support the back instead of straining it). Jose chimed in with, "Do you ____ with a pillow at night?" We all burst out laughing. Best part of the day so far. Anyways, we all just decided to do it all together. We went step by step, reviewing what we did in class. After we did that, we talked about how we would explain what we found, and we decided to say that we helped Sammy tucking in his tush. Since nothing much happened after that, I went to get ot work. I think we should all spend a little more time, but today, it's okay since it's the first meeting. I have things to do now, since I have a string of things that will end around ten tonight.

I'm still here! It's been such a LONG time! This past year has been really hectic. Being at college took up so much time. I always had something on my mind and had hardly any free time. I took 18 hours this past semester, but I'm good now.

A lot has happened. I don't think I can document them to their full extent and chronologically, but I'll do them in separate entries. I'll start with the small things first.

This past February, my friend Jerry died. He was everyone's best friend. We got along together so well, and he was the life of the party. One Monday evening, he, Cyndi, Tiffany, and I played cards together. I had a splitting headache that night, but he was nice enough to give me some Advil. Another day, he, Michael, and I got donuts together. I was glad to have known him. He was very open, and he was super awesome. He had all these different swords, including the one we made for iron cosplay (it's a contest where we come up with an idea for something, and dress up a person using newspaper, duct tape, and garbage bags). Tiffany told me on that Sunday afternoon at lunch that he was dead. He had died that Friday from his diabetes. Jerry had told me about it before, but I didn't want to interfere since I felt it was a touchy subject. The next evening at cosplay club, we held a memorial service where we all formed a circle, held hands, and held candles, and then shared our memories with him. On Saturday, we all went to his funeral. Will and I came together, and when we saw his body, we said our goodbyes. Cyndi was crying because he was her first boyfriend. We all comforted each other, and Will held me close saying, "I'll put all of your grief onto mine". That was so sweet. Rosie couldn't come until later because she couldn't handle it well. We all went to see where he was being buried, and then our whole group went to Shogun's in Conroe. We ate a late lunch there. Everyone was going back to Huntsville, but Will and I returned there later because I slept over at his house.

On a lighter note, I finished my finals early. I came back home Tuesday. My last two were on Monday, but I wanted to have time to clean my dorm room since I needed to move out. So far, I am doing well. I finished some as early as mid-April, so some of the stress was reduced. My hardest class had to be my Composition II, my English class. I didn't that that well on several papers, and so, I had to redo them. I don't know what I got yet, but I hope I get an A. Even though it's a B, I got mostly A's in my classes. Among my favorites were my history class. On the Thursday before I left, I took the final for that class. I did really well in that one, since I love history. I was the last one to finish because some of the questions were really technical. Dr. Littlejohn gives us curves anyway since some of them were too hard. Anyway, he wanted to know if I will take from him again in the fall, and I still didn't know since it's still early in the summer. He frowned at first since I said "summer school". Wow, I'm gracious that he valued me so highly. Also, Dr. Smith is retiring this year as our conductor. I am very glad to have known her. She was such a nice lady. She and I had a rough start because of my adjustment to being in a college situation, but as time went by, we got to understand each other. Actually, that happened with a couple of people, and now, we get along well. She was always smiling and always had a kind word to say. She was very motherly, and we all did well at every concert. At our last concert, she gave such a speech. She was very appreciative. I'm going to miss her as a conductor; it's not going to be the same. However, she'll be doing the conducting class, so that's something to look foward to.

There is MUCH more that will come. This should be enough for now.

I had the chamber recital Tuesday. We played the Mendelssohn. My group and I were all thinking the "Tokyo Roses" since that was what Dr. Smith had in mind the night before. We were all excited about doing well. We were second on the program. It was based on ability level, and I personally felt somewhat slighted. I'm not THAT bad. Anyway, there were times whereI messed up. In some parts, I played the wrong notes. In others, I used different fingerings than what I am used to, but they somehow worked out. I was a little nervous, but I was really bent on getting some of the runs. It turned out I did. I NAILED those runs that I couldn't do when we practiced. I finally got them. I had like the biggest smile on my face, especially near the end where I had the most trouble. The notes were mostly clean, and Dr. Burrell was really glad when she saw that I worked really hard on it. I got disappointed for the small stuff (mentioned above), but Allyson told me not to sweat it too much. Leslie was also thinking the same about her mistakes. I slowly came to realize Allyson was right. I owe her. My boyfriend came to seeme, and he was impressed. I was glad he truly supports me.

Yesterday evening was the Halloween/Josh's birthdayparty at Rosie's apartment (he couldn't get off work, so we celebrated it then). When my boyfriend picked me up, he gave me chocolate coins since I was a pirate (what a sweetheart!). My boyfriend and I brought pasta together (it was pot luck; everyone brought something). We both pitched in for all of the ingredients, and we made it together. It turned out that he ran out of butter, so I ran to HEB (it was walking distance; lucky duck). And, it took FOREVER for the water to boil while on high. It took longer than we expected because we had to make a lot for a lot of people (of course, as expected, it went FAST). We called Rosie we were running late, and by the time we arrived, we didn't miss much. We ate, and then we played a game. It was REALLY stupid. Each person went outside individually while blindfolded, and we were told to touchthree people's facesto see what was different. I touched each person's mouth, nose, and eyes. On the last one, Rosie said, "and here's his eye", and it was gooey. I laughed. SO lame. It was Jello. Anyway, we played Red Rover after a while. Everyone wanted my friend Ashley, who was on the other side. Then Cindi was called, then Jerry, and Cherelle. I was called over too, but I broke through Ashley and Cindy. In trying to do so, I fell onto the cement (we were in the parking lot outside her place) on my side. I was okay, but I expected if anything was to show up, it would be a big black and blue bruise. Then, after a while,Ashleywas called again and she tried to break throughCindi and Eric. Eric was tugging at her arm at the wrist, so it hurt for her a lot that she cried. My boyfriend and I went back inside. Not much later, Sabrina came back with scars on her knees. What's with people getting injured? Jeez. Well, the two of us went back outside and played hide-and-seek. After one game, it got boring, so we were deciding what to do. Nothing was happening, so we went back inside. Soon, everyone came back in and we listened to ghost stories. Some of them were actually true, so it was rather creepy. My boyfriend and I left early because we didn't want to get nightmares (we left whenJosh wasabout to tell a really scary one that was true). We hung out at his placeuntil around 1:45.Anyway, the whole partywas good fun.

Yes, I'm VERY happy. My quartet and I practiced three times today: at 1:00 as usual, at 3:00, and again at 7:00. We have a chamber recital tomorrow evening; that's why. We practiced out in the open where the practice rooms are first (our normal spot; a couple of my group members are clausrtrophobic), then at the recital hall the next two times. In our 3:00 session, we it was so diffictult because we sounded the same even though we did the dynamics. No matter how loud or how soft we played, it was still the same. We decided the leave the matter for later tonight. But when Dr. Smith listened to us at 7:00, she was blown away. She showered us with compliments, and we all didn't know what to say but "thank you." We were all having the biggest smiles at that moment. What's better? She also told us that we might even be later on in the recital! We are second on the program as of right now. We might even be recorded. She was SO pleased that she proposed that we stay together and do the rest of the quartet (we're doing the first movement) and more that she has in a book. This is such good news! We're all SO excited. We'll hit everyone into the next century with what we've got!

It's been a while. I've been busy doing papers and practicing my butt off, but other than that, it's been going great. I have to get ready for my jury because I will be going to China with my orchestra and I won't be able to do anything there. I'm SO excited! It's so close. Man, I gotta start packing.

In our history club I'm in, we went to Rusk, where we dressed up as pioneers and cooked with Dutch ovens. There were fresh biscuits when I first arrived around ten, and they were SO delicious! It was really a melt-in-your-mouth sort of thing. We made banana bread (we didn't have nuts), and that was GOOD. The apple turnovers did not fare so well because we put in too much salt, and we sprinkled sugar on top of it. It tasted bitter! Everyone got tired pretty quickly, so we put everything up, changed, and left around four. Rusk was a two-hour drive one way, but I didn't mind it. As soon as we arrived back, we unloaded some of the materials. It was a lot of fun.

What's better? I have a boyfriend now. It's both of our first time to be in a relationship, so I am very happy that I found him. We met each other in anime/cosplay club (doesn't everything start in there?). My friends Jerry and Cindy got together earlier. Anyway, he seemed really nice when I first met him, but it's not like I liked him at first sight. I just really wanted to be his friend, and so did he with me. He was so funny, and he was made fun of a lot (in a good way). Over time, our feelings for each other just built up, and on October 13, he asked me out on a date after I came back from Rusk. We went to Luby's Seafood Diner, and the food was good. I could tell he really liked me, and I was showing him that I liked him back. He paid for the meal, and after dinner, we had our first kiss in the parking lot. We were talking about something (I forgot), and I touched his cheek. He asked me. I was shocked, but I was happy how polite that was since some guys would just move in. It was great. We went to the lake in the museum premises (he missed the main entrance, so we went in where I helped unload and stopped near the lake. We stayed in the car and smooched until a police car came by. The officer looked at our licenses, and he told us that we were on private property. He let us go, so it wasn't anything too serious. We decided to back to my dorm, and we ended the night there.

Last weekend, I went to my first anime con. It was quite an experience. I was going to dress up as Tyson from Beyblade (specifically, G Revolution), but I ended up not wearing it at all. Oh well. My boyfriend went down to the George R. Brown Convenion Center together that Friday. We didn't leave until around 2:00 because I had to finish my costume (this was before I knew I couldn't wear it). As for my classes, I gave them a note earlier saying I'll be excused because it had to do with a school organization. On the way, we stopped over at Cracker Barrel. It was my first time. The food was SO good. I had this chicken dish with some crunchy apple goodness on top of it, fresh carrots and green beans, and hot cornbread. I paid this time. Once we were there, he had to get his key into his hotel room (I was staying with my friend Ashley, who was also going). We went back (it's walking distance), and we wanted to go up the stairs and not the escalator because we wanted to get some exercise in. It turned out to be that we were on the FIRE stairs. We kept going up and down, trying just about every door, and but they were locked. There were half floors, which added to the fun. We decided to go down, and at the VERY bottom, we finally got out. There was a guy there, and he said, "Stop screaming." Jeez... After that three-minute romp, we got back in and met with Ashley for a bit. We went to the Dealer's Room and browsed around. We just mostly walked around to see what was there, and we hung out in the arcade. We played all these games. My boyfriend had my play against this one guy at this piano version of Guitar Hero, and I lost. I can't do very well even though I've played the piano for years. I felt bad I let him down, but he wasn't too bothered with it, or so it seemed. He then went against me, and I lost AGAIN. I'm such a bad sightreader. I found out later from a couple of other folks who play the piano, and they said they lost too, so I'm not alone. My boyfriend totally rocked at pinball, and he kept on getting multiballs. He was GOOD. He told me he wasn't trying to impress me, but I was glad he was enjoying himself. I played against Jerry at this one fighting game, and I won against him. He got really mad that he was defeated. Not like he was yelling, but he sulked. Big time. It turned out that my boyfriend and I tried it ourselves, and the left side was rigged. It kept on winning. We were bored, so we took pictures at the vending machine picture booth. It was our first and only picture so far. It was all in Japanese, so we didn't understand a thing it said. We got multiple prints, like sixteen. It was a GREAT picture for a cheap thing like that (it was free!). We decided to go back to his car to get the stuff we needed for the evening. We changed into nicer clothes, and he took me out to Vic and Anthony's for our one week anniversary (Saturday was busy, so we did it then). He made a reservation, but we were late because we had trouble looking for it (Man, he's SO sweet). We waited for around twenty minutes until we finally got our table. We shared a crabcake for an appetizer. It MADE the meal. It melted in our mouths, and it was just SO good. I had this spaghetti dish with shrimp, and he decided on having steak, but he did not like it too much since wasn't that juicy. It was too dry even though he asked for it to be on medium. He paid, and we went back to the con because Ashley was going to back to her home. I went with Ashley, Travis, this other guy (I forgot his name), and Kim. I took a bath and slept like a log. When I woke up, I learned I was supposed to be practicing for the skit at midnight. I was already asleep then. Ashley told me. I felt bad for missing it. I called my boyfriend, and I told him I knew. He told me that Rosie said I would be kicked out if I was late again. I got nervous about it, and when I met up with him, he tried to comfort me. I called Rosie, and she said it would be fine to just go with it even though we would have to practice it in the line. First, we sat in part of Derek Stephen Prince's session (he's awesome!). I would have had his autograph, but I didn't feel like it. We stayed for the Full Metal Alchemist session, and he saw I was getting bored. He got bored too, as a matter of fact. It was annoying because there were all these fangirls screaming when they got to see the guy who does Ed (this is why I didn't see DSP). Nonetheless, I was glad I got to see these people and more live. We went to the Dealer's room again, and I got a Naruto wallet. I am always afraid of losing my wallet, so I got a backup one now. I also got a Naruto figurine (which later I found to be Shikamaru, but that's okay). My boyfriend got some anime DVDs. We were getting bored, so we decided to go to a nearby food court. We ate there, and since it was part of a very small mall, we hung out there. We went to Walden Books and another bookstore next door that had bargain prices (the books were HUGE). We got this glass chess set that was eight bucks, and we played a game to kill some time. He won, but he is more experienced than I am. We dropped the game off at his room, and we returned because I had to get with everyone soon. We walked around until around 4:00, when we waited. Since we were going to be separated, I gave my badge and my bag to my boyfriend, and he joked about having to carry everything for me. It took forever-and-a-half to get everything going. We had to be lined up in the order we were called. There were so many entries. There were a LOT of walk-ons, but the skits went faster. We were seated, and the audience came in. We watched the walk-ons. Some were really good. Others were decent. Thankfullly, I was not in the audience because I heard yells and hollers when there was Kingdom Hearts and Halo characters onstage. My friends in the audience later told me they were seriously annoyed from this. We got excited when the walk-ons were done and the skits were up next. We were the fifth group. We were Team Rocket. Rosie, who was Snorlax, was the first to go up onstage. I urged the others to go because I had the first line. They were at the very bottom of the stairs when they could have started moving as soon as Rosie went on. I was late for my line. Another complaint I had was that there was not enough time of breaks between sentences, so it seemed rushed. When Rosie and Alissa put the recording together, they could have left longer gaps so we'd actually breathe before we spoke. Okay. Eddy messed up accidentally by saying aloud his line. We just went along with it, and the dance rocked. I messed up because I thought I had to turn on "back on her friends" when I thought it was just after that. Oh well. The ending was kind of messed up too because we were supposed to follow Jason, but he ended up on the wrong side, so we were all confused. I guess it worked out fine anyway. The ending was great, but I still thought it was rushed. As we waited for the other skits to finish, we took some pictures backstage. They were great. We did two more walk-ons after everything was done. Jason counted off, and we screamed, "Team Rocket's blasting off again!" It was really a crowd pleaser. The second time, Rosie had the apple and Nichole was chasing after her, and the rest of us followed suit. We listened to the awards. We didn't win anything. Here's the catch: if they gave out one more prize for the skits, it would have been us. Seriously. We were THAT close. I think it's rigged since there were at least three prizes for the walk-ons. Alissa told us this Wednesday at cosplay club. We took some more pictures, and we headed off six blocks to McDonalds, or what we tried. It was CLOSED. My boyfriend thought it would mock him saying he couldn't have the food, and it was quite true since it wasn't open (he just thinks that way, and he laughed at himself for it). We ended up eating at Frank's. It was good pizza. I didn't stay long, because Kim called my boyfriend saying that I need to be back at the convention center. They would leave without me if I did not come in thirty minutes. With my consent, he requested a little more time. Jason offered to help me get back there, but I preferred that my boyfriend go with me alone. We walked all the way back together, and we separated after we met with Ashley, Kim, and the guys. He walked with me until we reached the parking lot, which we passed when we told her we were close. How funny! I wanted to see Death Note with Kim and Ashley, but I konked out because I was so exhausted and tired. I woke up when the credits were rolling. I was like, "NOOOO!" We all didn't wake up until around 11:00. We left around 1:00. I told my boyfriend I wouldn't be going back to the con, and he tried to make it so we would get back around the same time. I rested until he was ready (he wanted to take a nap). We watched Kamikaze Girls together, one the videos he got at the con. It was funny. But it was the end of a great weekend.