Valley Forge

Okay, I'm breaking any rules of chronologicality I may or may not have had (and yes, that's not a word). Skipping ahead to States! I was in Valley Forge from 29 March to 01 April, and it was wonderful. The weather was actually halfway decent; I could keep my coat unbuttoned if I so chose. Yay for good weather!

Anyways, I didn't get to surprise my choir director with my chair placement; here's why: One of the other girls in the All-State Choir is going out with one of my classmates in the GHS Choir. Well, as soon as chairs were announced, she text-messaged him in the middle of the school day, right before Concert Choir was to start. Needless to say, he ignored the school's anti-cell phone rules, received the message, and told my director before I even had a chance to call her.

Oh, well. Now, I'll surprise you with my chair placement. You may have caught on to the hint in the previous paragraph that my chair placement was announced; they only announce the top 10 in each section (out of 30). Well, I got fifth chair! I was elated. Actually, it was a tie for fourth, and the tie-breaker put me .03 points behind the other kid (out of 280 possible), but it's okay because the two of us actually became pretty good friends.

The concert was amazing, as were rehearsals. Hearing such a sound is just heavenly. And knowing you're part of it is even better.

Interesting...

It is interesting to note that earlier today the clock and calendar read 01:02:03 04/05/06 (if you write your dates that way). Although most people were aware of this, most did not stay up for the event. I did, but not solely because of the event. Remember, I missed a lot of school in the last few weeks, so I designated that time as the time when I would stop doing homework and actually go to bed.

Bearing today's interesting date in mind, the GHS Class of 2006 (or, at least, certain people) designated today as Senior Skip Day. I did not skip; I practically missed the whole month of March, so why should I miss more, especially when I'm going on a college visit on Friday? Actually, there were several dozen seniors who didn't skip, even though they knew of the unofficial holiday. We actually care about our education.

On a random tangent, yet interesting nonetheless, our Guys and Dolls actors were wonderful on Monday while the instrumentalists were pitiful. Tuesday it was almost the complete opposite in my opinion, though we still have some kinks to work out. Our choir director (who's directing the instrumentalists, gasp!) printed out a sheet of notes for us to use on Monday regarding all sorts of changes, cues to watch for, and the like. Tuesday that was scrapped, and two pages were given to us. Today we'll be using a three-page version. It's amazing we don't all go insane!

It is also interesting to note that later today I turn 6666 days old. Don't start calling me a weirdo for having figured that out. In all honesty, I just got curious about a week ago, so I figured out my age in days (I use that number often enough and for various purposes). It turned out I was approaching 6666, so I thought I'd make mention of it when the time came. Now, the real question is: is this a good thing or a bad thing?

And in light of the 6666 possibly being a bad thing, I am going to assure you that things will go decently at the least. My ex-girlfriend's birthday isn't until tomorrow.

TravelLog 2

Continuing my TravelLog Series with more on my trip to Florida:

Wednesday 22 March 2006, 19:33 ET – N 37º44.4' W 81º12.4' – Macarthur, WV

Well, dinner wasn't very fun. It's a good thing I can laugh at myself.

I went to Sbarro, one of the "fine establishments" of the food court. The female drum major, to whom I was writing random notes earlier, was right behind me in line. She ordered a slice of cheese pizza, and when the lady behind the counter handed it to her, she dropped it. Right onto the front of my band jacket.

Even though garlic rolls were listed on their menu for individual sale at 79 cents a piece, the second lady would not give me one because I didn't get pasta. As I proceeded down the line, I stepped in a serving of spilled spaghetti that the third lady insists she warned me about (although probably only at a few soft decibels). So yeah. I'll be walking around with bits of spaghetti in my shoes, though I got most of it out.

Anyway, my slice of pizza was all I bought there. No drink, no garlic roll I wanted anyways. But I was still hungry, so I went to the Burger King nearby. Not hungry enough for a full meal, I asked if I could get a single cheeseburger in a meal (planning on getting a medium instead of a large). The girl at the register said I could do so only if I got a Kids' Meal. So I did. I mean, come on, I felt ridiculous, but I could give the top to one of my younger cousins or something, right?

Well, after specifically, asking for a plain burger, I got one covered with, among other things, mustard. I despise mustard. So I took it back to the counter, and after some additional wait, I got one the way I asked for it.

Now, it's always been a family rule that you can't look at your toy, let alone play with it, until you've finished your meal. So I observed this rule. But once the moment of truth arrived, I found that I had been given the "three and under" toy. Pathetic. Dearbeck was thoroughly amused though. Both by my experience and by my toy.

Ha ha ha.

Begging for someone to make my day better, pizza-dropping girl informed me that it was almost over. Okay then. Yay.

Wednesday 22 March 2006, 22:15 ET – N 35º53.0' W 80º52.0' – Statesville, NC

Finally. The officially designated quiet time. Yay.

Except, yeah, we're all pretty much on each others' nerves. My brother is flaming mad because someone else's Burger King drink rolled forward into his seat and spilled itself all over his kid-friendly road atlas (he's trying to learn navigational skills). A Pop-Tart rapper also appeared next to the culpable beverage, so of course he linked that to the crime.

"Okay, who ate the Pop-Tart?!?"

"No one's listening to you; they don't care."

"Well everyone's blaming me for it."

"No one has blamed you for anything."

"Well they keep telling me to pick up the mess. I call that blaming."

"They're simply asking you to pick it up so the bus doesn't have to be a pigsty."

"This kid's drink ruined my map!"

"Well fine, if you want to be a jerk about it, do so on your own time at your own expense. But be considerate of those of us who aren't involved at all."

"Well they haven't been very considerate of me."

And so on. For well over ten minutes, before he switched to something else that irked him. Before the rest stop, it was the movie. Or, rather, the people talking over the movie so he couldn't hear it. I could have told anyone that when you play two movies back-to-back, no one is going to pay attention to the second one.

And it didn't help that it was his favorite movie, either, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I mean, it's a good movie, it's funny, but, let's face it, better films have been produced. And right after Monsters, Inc. with a bus full of mostly freshmen who don't know what it is, it doesn't stand a chance.

Now it's people's cell phones. They keep ringing, and every time, my brother gets wound up and says, "What the heck?" angrily, or something to that effect. Mind you, this is approximately once every three minutes right now.

I can't wait for people to fall asleep.

TravelLog 1

Well, I'm back from Florida (and from States, but we'll talk about that later). I kept some semblance of a "travel log" on the way down to Florida, but I'll admit I got so caught up in Disney World that I didn't write a word while I was down there. I did write a bit on the way back up, and I will eventually try to write a recap of all that happened, but probably not for a while.

I divided all I wrote (8 pages handwritten, yet only 3.5 typed) into three roughly equal parts. Please keep in mind that most of my posts go through extensive editing before they are posted here, but this TravelLog is exactly what I wrote on the trip, exactly as I thought of it. Therefore, if you notice a slight drop in the continuity of what I wrote, that is why.

Anyways, in a fashion quite similar to the one Laurel used for her mission trip to Mississippi, I will post one part at a time.

All times and locations refer to when and where the entry was started. Town names refer to the town closest to the given latitude/longitude coordinates.

Wednesday 22 March 2006, 12:38 ET - N 42º00.5' W 80º20.0' - Girard, PA

Here we go...

Wednesday 22 March 2006, 14:11 ET - N 40º50.5' W 80º06.2' - Harmony, PA

I think I'm going to start writing random notes to the other drum major; I've already seen Drumline.

Wednesday 22 March 2006, 15:23 ET - N 39º51.3' W 80º07.1' - Waynesburg, PA

The girl behind me is really bored. She was going through her purse and came across a green Sharpie. Suddenly she got impulsive. Seeing the "non-toxic" statement on the marker, she drew on her tongue. Apparently dark green doesn't taste very good. Washing it down with a box of Hi-C Fruit Punch (those little juice box things), she said she "just wanted to know what it tastes like."

Wednesday 22 March 2006, 15:56 ET - N 39º37.6' W 79º59.2' - Westover, WV

I am so glad West Virginia isn't stingy when it comes to maps for travelers. Just like three years ago, I'm trying to get an official highway map for every state we go through...preferably without spending a cent. Although I know that one of the Carolinas (North, I think) is especially stingy in that regard. Not so for the West Virginians. "Help yourself," said the lady behind the desk, one of three people in that crowded space.

Our percussion section leader started complaining about the urinal that was "out of order." He started ranting about how it was out of order when he was there a month and a half ago. Okay, then. So he pulled out his camera phone and said, "I'm going to take a picture of this toilet."

Bad idea.

I proceeded to tell people that he was taking pictures in the bathroom. Disgusting. But since I'm not that mean, I explained exactly what he was taking pictures of soon after I saw the surprised looks on their faces.

As I left the rest stop, I saw a sign that read, "Desk not responsible for vending machines." Immediately, I wished I had a camera. Because even though the desk is obviously not responsible for any poor performance of the vending machines, the people behind the desk might be. I told this to Dearbeck, and he just smiled and said, "Only you would notice that. Only you."

I should have borrowed the drummer's phone.

Wednesday 22 March 2006, 17:05 ET - N 38º46.5' W 80º40.4' - Flatwoods, WV

Well, Sharpie-girl was eating Cheetos. She offered me one; I refused. She insisted. She then started attacking me with the Cheeto. I was surprised that she would stoop so low as to attempt to molest me with a Cheeto. Honestly.

My brother asserts that due to the condensation on the windows, it's going to rain in the bus. Now he's attempting to completely beat Super Mario Land for what he says would be the sixteenth time, starting with Level 1-1. Oh, boy.

Wednesday 22 March 2006, 18:15 ET - N 38º01.8' W 81º07.4' - Fayetteville, WV

We just went over a really long bridge, one among the longest in the country. People were oohing and aahing about the great view of the New River, which flows south to north. It took 28 seconds to get over the bridge at about 68 miles per hour, meaning it was about half a mile long. Wow!

Then people oohed and aahed over a stray dog we saw at the last red light (we're off the Interstate for a while). Now a truck just cut us off, so our bus driver managed to pass it, honking our horn. Apparently the truck driver was on his cell phone as we passed.

My brother is complaining (not oohing and aahing) about the fact that no movie is being played and that we haven't stopped for dinner yet, even though the itinerary clearly says dinner isn't scheduled until 19:00. He's getting hyper and restless. It's really annoying. He just said, "We'd better eat in the next five minutes, starting now." Good luck with that one.

And now I'm oohing and aahing about my excessive use of "ooh" and "aah" as verbs. I mean, is that even allowed?

Okay. They just announced we're a mile and a half from dinner. Wonderful; we're about 25 minutes ahead of schedule...still.