Here's what went on in January...
1-01-01
Woo Hoo!! 2001! I can't believe how fast this year is going!! As always, on new years eve, I went over to a bandie's house to sleep over! This year I went to Katie Koelbl's house! We played "Tetris Attack" (Wow, that's massive! Oh no, I flubbed up! LMAO) and we watched movies...that were scarey! (eeks!) Then, 5 minutes to midnight, we both played our flutes into the new year! What band geeks! But I didn't play band music, I played this cool song on one of my flute CDs. After that, we had these poppy things with confetti in them! They sparked! =O So, D did indeed carry on the tradition of "practicing into the new year"!!!
1-02-01
Back to school....arg...! It wasn't that bad though, actually. Well, maybe it was, because as I walked into school, the floor was slippery, and I fell on one of my knees! A few people laughed at me, but I laughed too. =) After being slightly dampened, I went to the band room (big suprise) and quickly (perhaps too quickly) completed my concert write up and handed it in. Mr. Eicher seemed very happy today, because he bought 2 new batons at the mid-west clinic and his daughter is now potty-trained....but he had to get his poochy put to sleep. But nonetheless, he was a happy band conductor, and it was a little bit scarey at times. =) Not much else happened except for I forgot my lesson 6th period and need to make it up on thursday.
1-03-01
Nothing exciting today, just that we learned Vitello doesn't like marshmellows, because he saw that I was eating circus peanuts, and of course V has to eat whatever anyone else is, so I kindly hand him one, and he eats half, and makes the most hilarious face! I wished that I had a camera then! It was classic! It was also a waste of a circus peanut. I silently placed one on Mr. E's desk also, when I got the keys to the machine. I observed that he either consumed the gift, or threw it out, because it had vanished when I returned them.
1-04-01
Ho hum, lessons alone again. Well, actually, Ashely P. came in the last 15 minutes or so, so I practiced. In more interesting news, Vitello grunted happily when we tossed him 2 containers of butterscotch pudding. Immediatly, the lesson group of SB trumpets taunt him. He returned their comments with "What, this stuff is good!....Snack Pudding....". I'm beginning to think Mr. Vitello is really a high school student trapped in a band director's body....
1-05-01
We REALLY need to re-order candy for the machine!! All it has in it is "peanut thingies"(weird peanut bars only Drew and Mr. E buy), "nasty crackers"(Mr. Eicher ordered them, they're wheat crackers with cheese), "yellow skittles" (peanut M&Ms), "tampons" (paydays...a girl asked us if the payday on it's side in our box of candy she saw was a tampon...seriously), twizzlers, which always get stuck, "lance bass crackers" (peanut butter crackers made by a company called "lance"), and a surplus of Crunch bars, milky way, and nasty blue berry nutra grain bars. Oh! And a new record was set yesterday that I forgot to mention! We sold 4 full rows of starbursts in ONE day! We were almost as happy as we were on the day that Barb bought the last Mr. Goodbar. LOL!!! And our band psyhologists have noticed Vitello is still acting childish, for today he amused himself for a few seconds by flipping the lights on and off rapidly in the back room. I also stepped on his foot and made him cry out in pain, but that doesn't really matter. Also today Drew clocked in at an amazing 9.4 minutes in the bathroom! And he also made the sm. emsemble room smell like nasty chicken by consuming a chicken pie thing he got from the cafeteria. It was so horrible, you could still smell undercooked chicken at the end of the day. Well, I'm off to practice now! =D
1-08-01
Band today was pretty normal, except for the fact that the ENTIRE saxophone section was absent! Mr. E thinks they're up to something! >;) Maybe they're haveing an all day sectional that they thought was too important for school! Hahaha....if they did that, I'd feel sorry for Sara having to put up with them!!! Flutes had a sectional today, and miraculously the whole section showed up!!!!! It must have been the sectional e-mail Lauren sent to us! =) Hm. Not to be mean or anything, but our sectionals don't really do anything. They've always been a place where I can learn the band music and not have to practice it at home. This year, all we do is play a few measures horribly, talk about it for 5 minutes, try to get everyone's attention, then do it again slower (repeat process) Then MAYBE we tune a note or two, then everyone whines that they have to go to their locker. It's crazy. Next year, though, I will change all that! Sectionals next year will be awesome!!!!
1-09-01
One fourth of the saxophone section came back today....the rest must have had a sectional sleepover! AHHH! I can't imagine what I'd be like if the flute section slept over at someone's house! It'd be a cat fight! Just kidding!!!!!!!! Persichetti again. We have been working on it TOOOOOO long! I mean, the song's okey I guess, but it's really getting annoying! It also forces me to count rests! See, the measure numbers are written in every 10 bars, and not at the phrases! So instead of guessing, I have to actually count!!! To tell the truth, I never counted rests last year...at all!!! I just looked on other people's parts and remembered where I should come in! And even if I was wrong, nobody could hear me anyways!!!! This year though, since I'm playing the instrument from hell (piccolo), I can't play anything under forte!!! (actually, the instrument from hell is the soprano sax...!!) Most times it's out of tune too, so I'm rolling in and out like mad on basically every note, but at least it sounds resonably well! =)
1-10-01
The sax is back! Half of our beat up sax section has returned. It's pretty ironic...all of our little fresh-boys have broken a bone somewhere on their body!! Jon returned after breaking his leg snowboarding. He didn't even realize it was broken after he did it, he just kept on snowboarding! I bet that helped! And poor Brian has lost his right arm....just kidding! But it does look like he only has one arm! According to Mr. E, he was bashed into the boards in a hockey game and broke his arm! He told us it was only about a minute into the first quarter too! And the reason he looks like he only has one arm is because his doctor told him not to put his arm in the sleeve of his shirt(?!) I guess to keep it warm or something?! This has caused him to don the nickname "One-armed man" and forced him not to be able to play in the concert. So, what about Brad? Quite frankly, we don't know. Rumors have been going around that he broke his clavicle or something! That'd be incredibly horrible if he broke his neck and was paralyzed! But I don't think even he is stupid enough to do something like that. =) So it must have been an adventureous week end for the freshsax.
1-11-01
Like all Thursdays, I began my school day by dragging myself in at 8am and mightily pushing the piano across the room for Jazz. (Don't worry, the piano's on wheels!!!!) I had a fun time today though, because I mainly just made a copy of a song for John the whole time! And I learned how to fill the copy machine up with paper! =) The rest of the time I spent doing math homework and chatting across the room with Katey when Mr. E isn't looking. The jazz band sax's were very quiet since Goodman was a little wimp and couldn't play loud b/c "the whole sax section" wasn't there to cover up his mistakes! Band was a trifle boring, especcially when I didn't count rests! Hmm what a suprise. In other news, we should be getting a shipment of candy in for the vending machine. All that is left are Paydays, Twizzlers, Peanut thingies, and Nasty crackers! Seriously that's all we had! We got rid of a lot of Butterfingers by not having anything else good! For the saxophone update; when Abraham was questioned on Brad's absence, he replied, "He's got the bubonic plague". Mr. E. says that he has strep throat. Katie told me that Goodman told her that Brad drank some of his pop and caught his flu. Broken clavicle? Strep? Flu? Plague? It sees nobody knows exactly what he's got.
1-12-01
Well, it seems that modern medicine has cured Brad of the "bubonic plague" because he returned today. Authorities did not have a chance to ask him what exactly he had, so I guess the world may never know. In tastier issues, the candy for the machine came it! And I didn't even have to bring it all down from the cafeteria! Although I would have liked to go down there 6th period............And I didn't even have to put all the boxes in the back room b/c I took my mid term for Chorus! It had to be the easiest mid term I've ever taken! I just had to sight read and count super easy rhythms! Then I filled the machine and missed half of math class because of it!! =) It's so full now and much more colorful!! Well...I guess that's it.
1-16-01
Okey, I think I have the saxophone fatalities straight...Brad didn't break his collar bone? Brian did?? Actually I lied, I don't know for sure and quite honestly I don't care anymore. Most (?) of the freshies did good on their ECMEA solos this past weekend...except for Beth b/c she wouldn't tell us what she got!! =O Oh well. It musta been scales....LOL A minor!!
1-17-01
Today Mr. E scared me so incredibly badly!! I was harmlessly filling the machine, chatting nicely with Tiff, and all of a sudden...."WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!" Tiff screamed and I almost dropped a box of peanut M&Ms! Mr. E had just came in and decided to almost give me a heart attack at the young age of 15. He thought it was pretty funny though...and it was...teehee. Hm...If I ever tried to scare Mr. E like that, I think he would throw something at me....like his blistex! LOL to all of you who still remember that!
1-18-01
In continuing his marathon of making D's life misarable...Mr. E kicked me (of all bandies!) out of the band room! It was like getting kicked out of my own home! Let me explain.....It was a normal jazz morning...the trumpets trying to play notes higher than they are able to, the saxophones doing saxophonish things, the percussionist trying to set up their stuff in under 10 minutes, and D; groggy and eye crustyish, pushing the loathesome piano across the room to plase Mr. E. (Actually, Emily did it today, I was a bit late !!!!) So as the trumpets PRACTICE their part IN REHEARSAL, D and John engage in completing homework assignments...the activity of choice during dull rehersals. After Mr. E gives up on "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy", the trumpet feature (why...I do not know.), he tells us we are sightreading the other extra songs...most of which I have already played last year. Well, of course the first one he wants to start off with is one of three songs Grant has in the folder. (He came to the first jazz practice, then quit, but he still has the folder and the three songs). So wel calmly tell Mr. E that Grant still has the song, and the folder as well. He sure seized this golden moment to get ornery (LOL) at us! He bellowed - "FIND HIM AND THE FOLDER!!!" The three pianists look confused and skeptical. "Find him?" we say. "But...." Mr. E just gave us this evil glare and told us to get out of his sight. Thinking back on it, I should have just stood behind him so he couldn't see me! That would have been funny. But, not wanting to push Mr. E over the edge any further, we exit shaking our heads in disbelief, knowing that we won't find him, and even if we do, he's not gonna have the music. Nevertheless, the trio searches the halls of CHS where the suspect would be lurking. We fanticized about getting a giant net and pouncing on him if he was found. Another good idea was to drag him to Mr. E so he could get a brutal scolding. After fifteen minutes of search that came up with nothing, the detectives brave the evil wrath of Mr. E. Actually, we just stood in the band room doorway where he couldn't see us. Brad almost ruined it by mindlessly laughing at us, but we quickly and silently threathened him from our perch. After they had finished D's humungous piano feature "Send in the Clowns" from last year (ahhh the good ol days) we confronted him. He wasn't as mad as when we left him, and he just told me to have it ASAP...and he touched my hand? Then 6th period today he asked us why we filled a 60 cent spot in the vending machine with 75 cent Twix bars...and we realized we forgot to look at the price instead of how big the space was!! So I try to explain to him how we needed to put the Starbusts in a bigger spot and the Twix wouldn't fit anywhere else..and then he touched my hand again?! Not that I'm like, eww...Eicher touched me, but I guess I must have been really stressed out today!!!
1-20-01
ECMEA!!!!!! Oh gosh today was SO fun. It all started when I miserably got out of bed after "accidentally falling back into it" and picked Katie up and got to school at 8:10. Then we all signed in and assisted Tiff in filling the machine in hopes that bandies from all over would buy our snacks and we'd make a lotta moolah! Then Gabrielle saw my big blonde head and peeked in the v. m. room to chat awhile! Then we got our info for the room we were going to work at. Sadly, I got Brass 3...and I really wanted a Wwd. room! Anyways I go upstairs to 203, the room, and I dragged out a desk and set up the stand I brought. Pretty soon, I had my first auditionee and the judge, Mr. W, showed up. He was really nice, and also, Dr. Guy from band camp was the judge across the hall from me! (Wee-Ooo! LOL) I recognized him after a little while, when Barb came up and realized it was him! Then at 9:00, a replacement was sent for me and I was off to warm up for my audition! My room was a little off schedule, but I chatted with a girl waiting ahead of me. She was nice, but she scared me when she set her flute down on the ground standing it up! I was like, YIKES! I was totally calm when I went in my audition room, (my old french room from last year!) The judged noticed I was, too, because she said - "You're the first one today that hasn't come in looking all worried!" Hehe. So I played half-way decent, and I was confident I got a 99 on my audition. Venturing back to my room, I signed people in their room for about a half hour, then my mom came upstairs and yelled out that I got a 100! I was very surprised! So for the rest of the day, I had fun talking with all the auditionees (Anthony..LOL) and their parents, and of course Barb, Katey and Tiff. I also saw many other band campers! I saw John R. going to his audition, and I saw Kristen in the cafeteria, and Chris outside his audition room. (Here's a funny story about when Chris said hi to me. Of course I say, Hi Chris!! and he was like, uh...hey! After he passed by, I was like uh oh, is his name really Chris?!?! b/c he sounded kinda like he was annoyed/confused when he said hi to me. And Barb's like, duh, yes! Chris Willett! Duh!!! I was like, ::pheeeew:: LOL) It was almost like a reunion! =) I also saw Leanne's name on the grade list, but I didn't see her. =( My mom saw Anna, and she told her hi for me! So it was a great day for D!
1-22-01
Today an orange Vitello conducted the WE. An orange Vitello, you ask? Well, it seems Mr. V has tried to make his italian self even more tanner by seemingly using tanning lotion. It's sort of mellowed out by now, but in the beginning of the week he looked rather orange. Speaking of orange, he wore this disgusting sweater that was gray, and it had a black and orange stripe around the collar! It was assanine! 6th period he was a little pissed off because I asked to borrow his keys (?!?!) so I left him a little note with his "daily pretzels" that said - Here are your pretzels, they're not tiny twists but oh well. Your calculator has big buttons. ~Danielle~ And I turned his calculator upside down and wrote hello on it (on it! ahh!!) A few minutes later, when I was doing HW in the sm. ensemb. room, I heard him say - "Ooooooh! Pretzels!" Silly V. Pretzels are for bandies!
1-26-01
Today Vitello hurt my feelings! Well, not really but...see, I gave him pretzels...and then he gave them to Sweeney!! I was like....--! Those are Vitello pretzels! Not Sweeney pretzels! And besides...he prolly has a bigger....uh...nevermind. That would give away the Vitello story that has been kept oh-so well. =D In more important events...Justin T's private lesson teacher Mr...well, I forgot his name but he plays in the BPO. Likewise, he listened to Justin play his little concerto (which D has renamed the "trombone thingy" when I can't remember the name of the song ::gasp::) So everything starts off bad today, ESPECCIALLY in the low reeds! I know, I know, I can't believe it wasn't the trumpets either. �) heheh, but they made everything sound screwy a few bars later. Also, many people just decided to skip school today because we had had the past 3 days off for exams...and I guess they just figured they'd take another day off. Mr. E is getting very ornry (!) because there is only 4 days until the concert!!!! And only 1 more day until Mr. Witw...whatever his name is I can't spell it is coming! We'll be playing Persichetti from 8:00am to 9:34...straight through with no break on Wednesday!!! ARG!! Teehee, that's ok cuz I have some piccolo solos that are not beautiful!! (If you know what I mean!! {read the band dictionary, it's hilarious!}) Oh well...Also I fear my math grade will be extrememly low this quarter....eeeee....Um, so, yeah. That's all folks!
1-30-01
Math News: Yes! I got a 70 this quarter because one test didn't count!! I went up 4, count 'em FOUR points! I will make the honor roll now! ::big sigh of relief:: In more bandish occurences.....I arrived at school at 7:40 to set up the stage bright and early...until I realized Mr. E had already set it up for me and Barb! I felt kinda bad, and also very tired. But I actually had time to warm up today!!! =D Barb and I talked about last year's musical for awhile too....LOL. So everyone was ready to play at 8:05 more or less, and Mr. W introduced himself and stuff. He seems pretty nice...Mr. E had told us that he was kind of strict, but he really wasn't all too strict. The first two movements of the Symphony went okey for the most part, but the fourth mvmt, the trumpets were in a "cata...umm....something I forgot exactly what he said, but they weren't counting rests. Everything was pretty good besides the fact that the trumpets were grumbling Mr. E and Mr. W. After V escorted Mr. Whitwell off the stage so Mr. E could "do his dirty laundry", he told us how embarrassed he was of us and a bunch of other stuff that made us feel bad. Gr. Well, there's still time to practice, guys!!!
1-31-01
Today's rehearsal was considerably better than yesterday's, but, despite my long warm up, I couldn't play a good B natural!! See, in the 2nd Mvmt, I rest for 63 bars, then I have to play a solo cold! I was very grumbled at myself!! I have to slur from a low B to a middle B, and it just didn't work! I turned to Lauren and shot my piccolo with my finger. ::bang:: Then I brought the "gun" to my head and fired. Hehe. Picc is so evil. In fact, it's not just evil, it's eeeeeee-vil. The ironic part of today's rehearsal is that after the bell had rang and we were all packing up, Mr. Whitwell turned to me and said "You play very well" or something along that line. I smiled and thanked him, but inside I was thinking - Uhhh...no?!?!!! Crazy. Music is so crazy. We finished the dress rehearsal about 25 minutes early, so we called our parents and then ran around outside and threw snowballs and contemplated on the rehearsal. Remember, there STILL is time to practice!!! =D