Happy 17th Birthday, Paul!
My involvement in his big day wasn’t
anything to write about, since I was there when Michael gave him the gift from
us at lunchtime; but I couldn’t even stay for that mini-party because I had
cheerleading practice to get to as soon as I’d finished eating a quick snack
that I finished along the way to our outdoor practice.
We could do that because it’s been another
awesome day; and that worked out great for Tai Chi this morning and marching
band practice between our concert band and teen praise team practices. Having Paul’s birthday on my four-practice
day meant that I couldn’t go to his birthday party; but then he couldn’t go to
it either until after his football and band practices. I’m sure that Vanessa’s helped to make up for
the lack of party time tonight – or might still be doing that as I write this
for all I know, but that isn’t something I need to think about with my friends;
so let’s not go there.
Our school day was really good, and we
spent extra time outdoors thanks to the nice weather and teachers that were
willing to have some classroom time outdoors with the feeblest of excuses to do
that. Our cheerleading practice was a
bit more serious this week because Jenny wants to make an impression for the
first playoff game – even though we are here at home and it shouldn’t be any
different than the other home games we’ve had this season. We still had fun, though; and that was true
for the rest of my practices. The
concert band practice included starting to work on the Christmas music that we’ll
be doing both with the marching band and the parades; and for the school
pageant and seniors’ Christmas party we’ll play at again this year too.
Speaking of seniors, Grandma and Grandpa
are in Arizona now; they left early this morning for the airport; and I’m sure
they’re having a nice day too – even if the weather likely isn’t all that much
better than here today.
We couldn’t start with the Christmas music
at our marching band practice because we needed to get ready for the football
game on Friday – and possibly the next few weeks to come if we keep
winning. One change we will have this
week, though, is that we’ll have more teens from Maple Valley able to come to
the game because their team isn’t in the playoffs this season. That’s going to be fun for all of us, and
Jenny seems especially happy because those extra teens include a couple of the
guys in the band that she likes as potential future boyfriend material. We had a really good practice; and we’ve even
come up with a different routine to use this week for the game. It still isn’t anything fancy, but we’re also
just not marching around the field or just standing in place while playing our
music either; so it’s fun for all of us – and hopefully for the spectators too.
Before I move on from the band, I didn’t
mention it with the last update, but the raffle prizes were drawn yesterday;
and they were either sent out or picked up today. I’m writing about it now because about half
of those prizes were picked up by band members for delivery to family or
friends – particularly for the Maple Valley and farm kids members. I had two prizes to pick up and deliver, and
they were for family members; but I won’t add the details here; since that isn’t
something I want to brag about – even in my own journal. I will mention that the marching band is
going to get at least one anonymous donation to the general trip fund, but then
that isn’t really that big of a deal; since our family business will help out
later if needed anyway to make sure that the trip is fully-funded if we have
any last-minute issues. I don’t think
that will be a problem, but there are other things we can do too – like help
out with spending money for the trip for any students that might need that kind
of assistance.
Moving along, we were back into Christmas
mode for our teen praise team practice; though we have music for the
Thanksgiving weekend service to practice too.
That practice started and finished late; and then Michael came home with
me so that we could do our homework.
Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana were all working in the office when we got
home, so we worked there too; I used a time phase; and we had our homework and
a Magi lesson done in record time. That
was fun; and so was the bedtime chat I had with Ehlana while Michael and Ethan
were having some ‘guy time’ instead of doing the bedtime routine together. Michael and I came up to the lounge for a bit
of privacy for our minor make-out session before he needed to get home; and
then I hopped into my Jacuzzi after seeing him out so that I could have a nice
long soak while starting my bedtime computing, family business work, and
language studies.
I used a time phase for a lot of that work
and studying too, but needed to be in real time for some of the family business
work and a live, multi-lingual chat. I’ve
added in some extra language studying tonight that I’ll do more of over the
next couple of days to brush up on my French.
To be honest, I don’t actually need to do that, but I do have my first
SAT coming up on Saturday; so it’s probably a good idea to get ready for it
now.
Okay, that’s not really a worry for me,
since I was fluent in French by the time I was a toddler, but it doesn’t hurt
to practice more than I usually do; and I can honestly admit to studying for
that SAT now when I talk about it at school.
Maybe I should have mentioned that test in my journal sooner, but it
just isn’t a big deal for me – even as it is a big deal when it comes to getting
ready for my college plans. That’s why I
have to start my testing early. I wouldn’t
be able to take all of the tests I need to take if I wait until next fall – the
way that most of the seniors are doing now – including Rebecca and Jenny. I won’t get into that now; but will write
about how our school gets the seniors ready for the SAT testing when it’s our
turn next year.
Moving along, the family business work
continued to include more help for Italy as the highlight of that part of my
work tonight; though I do usually have more fun with the language studies –
especially when I’m chatting with other teens from all over the world. Putting in the extra work tonight has kept me
awake later than I should be, though, and I doubt that anyone reading this in
the future cares much about what a bunch of teens talk about online in the
middle of the night – or other times of the day in other countries; so I’ll
just wrap this up and get some sleep.
I don’t have much time for that tonight,
but it’s a work day tomorrow; so I’m going to shoot for an early night to make
of for the lack of nap time I have left for me now. This has been a really good day, if a bit too
busy and long; and a great way to start November. I’ll hope that the fun keeps coming, and
would like to continue the trend into dreamland right now; so, until next
time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
