Rhapsody in Blue
George and Ira Gershwin
Rhapsody in Blue was written in 1924 by George Gershwin. It is origionally for solo-piano and orchestra, though it has been transcribed for many different instruments. There are versions that are for orchestra only, for solo piano, as well as two pianos. How many times it has been rearranged is a testament to how popular it is. It has been recorded many many times, by many many reputable orchestras and pianists. Some of my favorite recordings of Rhapsody in Blue are by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, and the recording from Fantasia 2000. I've loved the piece ever since I heard it, and that is why I decided to play it.
A few years ago, we acquired the score for Rhapsody in Blue, the two piano version. My brother and I both really really love the piece, so we decided to play it together. We've been wanting to play it for a long time, but for one reason or another, it just seemed to get pushed back and back. Now that my brother's going to college, we finally sat down and started learning it. We had to decide who would play the solo piano part, and who would play the orchestral part. It didn't matter to us that much who played what, but rather that we got to play it at all. He let me choose first, so I chose the orchestra part. I just had to play the clarinet glissando in the opening. "famous opening clarinet glissando... that has since become as familiar as the start of Beethoven’s Fifth." - Schwarz, Frederick D.
We have two pianos, but for the most part, we practiced our parts separately. We both learned and practiced our parts separately, and came together maybe for about 4 hours a week to practice together. The problem was that the piano I played on was oriented in a way that my brother couldn't see me, thus we couldn't signal to each other when we'd come in or lift off of the keys. So, we went to the local Walgreens and picked up a small mirror, which we placed on the piano that my brother plays on. Then, everytime we were supposed to do something coordinated together, he'd just glance up at the mirror. It works great, and we've been coming in together right on time ever since.
We've been working on Rhapsody together for about 5 or 6 months now, and it's coming along really well. We are performing it at my piano teacher's recital in 9 days, though we've been looking for somewhere else that we can perform it. It's not that we don't want to play it at our teacher's recital, it's just that Rhapsody in Blue is such a heart-pounding, excitement-building, makes-your-hands-want-to-move piece that we felt it needed a bigger setting than a studio recital. Another reason was that at the recital, only one acoustic piano will be available. The other piano we will be using is our electronic piano. While that piano is certainly sufficient, it does not portray the feelings of grandness that the piece does. So we looked for another place at which we could perform it.
And we found one. So, this next Wednesday, we will be performing Rhapsody in Blue at South Puget Sound Community College. It will be part of the program for their spring concert, and we'll be playing near the end. We'll get to play in the new auditorium, on their new grand pianos. If any of you guys want to go, shoot me an e-mail and I'll give you more details. Hope to see you there!
thinkandrew
'm tired
An exposed ridge on the PCT
It's been a while since I've been on a longer backpacking trip, being that the weather has just gotten good enough to start camping. This last trip was quite a bit tougher than the camping that I've done recently, so I'm quite tired right now.
I had some trouble with my pack on the first day; the pack wouldn't fit correctly. At the point at which the load-lifter straps connect to the shoulder straps, the friction buckles were faulty. The moment I put my pack on, the straps would slip up and cause all the weight to fall on my shoulders. Because the load was lowered, the hip-belt rode below my waist, rather than on my hips. Thus, the first day of hiking was killer on my shoulders. I still have brusies on them, and it's kind of sore to move them around. The next day, though, I fixed the straps in place with duct-tape. After that, hiking was much much easier, and I didn't have as many problems.
A lot of my stuff got really muddy too, especially my tent. When it comes to camping, I get really freaked out if my equipment gets dirty. The first thing I did when I got home was wash the mud off of my tent. I staked it out in the front lawn, and sprayed it down with the garden hose. Then I took a softer brush that we use to wash the car, and brushed off all of the mud that had caked onto the tent. And trust me, there was a lot. I did the same for my shoes, pack-cover, and rain-gear as well. I feel that it's really important to clean your gear after each backpacking trip, so that your equipment can be used for a life time. If rule number one in hiking is to always stay together, rule number two is to take care of your equipment. If you take care of your equipment, your equipment will take care of you. That's the first thing I always do when I get home from a hike, is to clean off my gear.
I had a whole bunch of laundry to do when I got home. Being that everything in my pack got wet, I went ahead and washed it all. It took an entire load of laundry to get it all done, too. A lot of my hiking clothes are synthetics, though, so I have to be quite careful when washing it. Some of it can't be put in the dryer, either, so I take it out after it's been washed in the washing machine. Most of it can only be washed with cold water, too, not warm water.
I'm too tired to come up with a good closing paragraph right now. See you all tommorow.
thinkandrew
Pacific Crest Trail, Section 1
Crest Trail Marker
Sometimes, when you're out on the trail, you feel just miserable. Your feet are sore, your stomach is empty, you're cold, and everything in your pack is completely wet. That's the point that you stand there, and think to yourself: "What on EARTH am I doing out here!??!" Then, when you reach the end of the trail, you have the answer: "I was having a GREAT time!" You may feel terrible at the moment, and you may never want to hike that trail again, but you'll have enjoyed the experience. It's the classic love-hate relationship. That is definitely how I feel about Section 1 of the Pacific Crest Trail.
For our Philmont Crew Training Backpacking-trip, we (meaning the Scoutmaster) decided to hike Section 1 of the Pacific Crest Trail. Section 1 of the PCT is the first 20 miles of trail north of the Columbia River (in WA), though driving to the north-side of the trail is only 11 miles. The reason I say that Section 1 is not a fun trail is because you gain 2,600 feet in only 5 miles. And those 2,600 feet aren't in switch-backs, either. I can handle switch-backs. What I can't stand, though, is hiking all 2,600 feet STRAIGHT UP. I'm serious, it was an ascent all the way up, for 5 miles. Only on the third day of hiking did we peak-out and begin hiking downhill. We dropped approximately 1,300 feet on the last day, which was also pretty tough. I never thought that I'd have a lot of trouble with elevation, but I was proved wrong.
Water was a constant issue, too. Don't get me wrong, we had plenty of water to drink. Too much, infact. What was supposed to be a dry-camp had a stream running through it, and I had plenty of water to drink the entire time. The water I'm talking about is the water coming down from the sky. It rained constantly for about 36 hours, and we hiked right on through it. For most of the time, we were hiking through a cloud, as well. You know that feeling I was talking about in the first paragraph? I got that feeling when on an exposed ridge, wind blowing rain straight up from the valley floor, moisture-saturated air soaking everything, and stumbling on as many steps as I could. The rain soaked everything. I had great rain-gear, as well as a rain-cover for my pack, but it doesn't help at all when the water is in the very air you breath. My pack cover can protect my stuff from water that comes from above, but not from water that comes from all sides. There was not a single article of dry clothing at the end of the trail. Everything was dripping, which just added more to the weight I was carrying. And naturally, it stopped raining once we got into our cars at the end of the trail. Naturally.
However, I still had fun. The food was good, and I definitely never got thirsty. Even though my sleeping bag was kind of moist, I still slept a good and warm night's sleep. The hike itself was pretty enjoyable too, but I enjoyed it more when we stopped to take breaks. To prevent killing ourselves climbing that mountain, we "caterpiller"'ed all the way up. To caterpiller, the you spread out by 15 paces between each person, and form a continuous circle that goes up the hill, with the last person chasing the one in front. That way, each person gets to take a pretty substantial break as the rest of the people climb up. I got some nice pictures too, though it got so wet and cold at one point that my lens fogged up and refused to warm up. I hiked with people that I like, and we had a fun time together.
It was a 3 day, 2 night backpacking trip. We hiked 5 miles the first day, 10 the second, and 5 the last. The second day was by far the most difficult day of our hike, as everything had gotten wet through the day before. There were quite a few of our group who wanted to just hike the last 5 miles on the second day, but I was not willing to risk having to hike on an exposed ridge in the dark. It was way too risky, so we spent the extra night that we had already planned to.
In the end, I had fun. In hind-sight, it was definitely a learning experience. This trip tested my perserverance, my endurance, and just my willingness to hike. It showed me both how beautiful and how treacherous the outdoors can be. I must say, I enjoyed it. But, but, I never, NEVER, NEVER want to hike Section 1 again.
Guest Post 2
Andrew is out camping again, so he asked me to write a guest post. Here goes nothing:
This last weekend, I went shoe shopping. I've been needing a new pair of shoes for awhile now, as my current pair is deteriorating. I never liked shopping for shoes too much. There are always so many choices to go through; it always takes me such a long time to make a decision.
Yesterday, I found out just how complicated shoes can be. First, we went to Olympic Outfitters, a local outdoor gear store. I tried a couple of pairs from the sale rack. By the third pair, I'd already forgotten what the first pair felt like, so I had to try them all over again. Inside the store, the number of choices was huge. I couldn't believe how many kinds of shoes there were: hiking, running, walking... and these were just the shoes for outdoor activities!
Waterproof shoes, hard-soled hiking boots, softer-soled running shoes, light shoes, heavy shoes, bright shoes, dark shoes: so many options. There were even different kinds of shoe laces! Skinny laces, thick laces, even kevlar laces.
The sales rep came by and asked if I needed any help. He recommended a couple of pairs, and talked about different "heel cups" and "toe boxes" and how the soles are made from materials that I don't know how to spell. He handed me a pair to try. It felt comfortable enough, but the back of the shoe felt a little loose. He then showed me a funky lacing method that pulled the back of the shoe more snugly against my heel. He mentioned yet another shoe-lacing method that "relieves pressure on the instep for people who hike often". I had no idea there were so many ways to lace a shoe.
Finally, I decided on a light pair of shoes with cool laces that you pull on and slide a clip thingy to tighten the laces. I'm very happy with my new pair of shoes, but it sure took a long time to decide.
Water
I'm going on another backpacking trip this weekend, so someone will be posting for me on Sunday. This time, I will be hiking 20 miles north of the Columbia River, on the Pacific Crest Trail.
We had a pack-check on Thursday Evening, where the Scoutmaster told me that we would be needing 4 quarts of water each. Apparently, the place we will be going will be quite devoid of water once we hike north of the Columbia River Basin. So each of us will be carting nearly a gallon of water. A gallon of water is a lot to carry, it's 8 pounds! Most likely, though, all of it will be used, either for drinking or for cooking. The Scoutmaster brought along water-purification tablets, but I think our entire group would like to delay the chance to find out if they work. They don't make the best tasting water in the world. We do have filters, but Philmont requires the use of purification tablets.
When I go backpacking, I normally don't bring any more than 3 quarts. Sometimes, just 2 quarts. My reasoning behind that is in Washington, we often come upon streams or lakes that we can filter water from. It tastes wonderful, too, bubbling right out of a mountain spring or running off from the snowpack. Surprisingly, I also drink a lot less water on the trail than I do at home. That's not good, I know. I should be drinking a lot more water, and I'm working on it. But normally, I've found that 2 quarts is enough to sustain me until the next water source.
In Philmont, things will be entirely different. We'll be
required to carry a gallon of water everywhere we go. It's not that water is so little and far between in Philmont, it's just that we're so high up. The entire elevation of Philmont is above 6000 feet, and the relative humidity averages below 30%. You'll lose a lot more moisture than you'll realise. Thus, the Rangers there regulate how much you drink every day. If you don't drink up your quota on the trail, they'll make you drink it in camp. "Clear and Copious", the Philmont adage is. I'll leave that to your imagination.
Water is the source of life. That's why we carry so much when we backpack. Hopefully, it'll be enough. You never know when someone will decide that our water is for taking a shower, not for drinking.
The Sticky Sweetness of Stroopwafels
Dad flies overseas quite often, his work requires him to do so. He flies mostly around the Asia-Pacific region, and can be gone for weeks at a time. Once a year, though, he goes to Holland. And once a year, he brings back the best dessert you've ever had. I love stroopwafels. My family loves stroopwafels. If you knew what a stroopwafel was, you'd love them too.
Stroopwafel on a plate
Invented in 1784, in the town of Gouda (also infamous for its cheese), stroopwafels are the premier baked treat of Holland. Made of caramel sauce sandwiched by waffles heavy with eggs and butter, stroopwafels are extremely tasty. It's akin to eating a very sweet and sticky cinnamon-cookie, but larger and flatter. They don't crunch or crumble, either. The pieces just sort of fall off when you bite down on them. The Dutch normally eat them with a hot drink such as coffee, tea, or cocoa, while they can be enjoyed plain as well. Traditionally, the stroopwafel is placed on top of the hot drink to soften it up before ingesting it. They are widely available in Holland, often sold fresh in bakeries that line the streets. There are also mass-produced versions that are packaged in boxes. Those are a hot item for tourists, and is the biggest seller in Amsterdam International Airport. Dad'll bring a box or two home, and we try to make them last as long as we can.
Dad first brought them back when we still lived in Malaysia. They were just as wonderful there, and we'd look forward to sinking our teeth into them everytime he flew to Europe. Roughly 4 to 5 inches in diameter, we would make them last for a long time by slowly nibbling around the edges. In the packaging, they were stacked on top of each other. Storing them was a problem, though. The weather was so hot and humid in Malaysia that the caramel syrup would melt and run off. Mom would put them in the refridgerator, but we'd have to let them sit on the counter for a few minutes if we didn't want them to break off when we tried to separate them. Now, in Washington, they can be left on a shelf and enjoyed the way they were meant to be. Dad just brought them back for the first time since we moved here, and I've already eaten one. I look forward to eating the rest, too.
And joy of joys, I found out something wonderful! No longer do I have to wait for Dad's yearly trip to Holland to get stroopwafel. Now I can make them myself! While looking for a good picture of stroopwafels, I stumbled upon multiple recipes. One of them is by the premier exporter of stroopwafels, Gouda's Gilde. I can't wait to try and make them. If I am successful, I will become the stroopwafel king of Tumwater! I'm sure my family and friends will enjoy them immensely. The recipe is here, if you want to give it a try.
Everybody has their favorite fancy-dessert. Some people have their baklava. Other people enjoy pavlova. I love stroopwafels. Try some. You'll love it too. They're so good, they deserve a song of their own. Write one, and I'll play it on the ukelele. And I'll post an .mp3 on my blog, too. I love stroopwafels.
Orthodontics
Elastics of many colors
I wear braces. As has much of the teenager population of the United States. I just got them last September, actually, so I still have a ways to go before I get to remove them. The whole purpose of having braces, I guess, is to have nicer teeth. Straighter teeth. It does kind of make sense to get them. But they can definitely be a pain. They're also quite expensive, too. A full treatment (the braces, and monthly appointments for one and a half to two years) costs anywhere between $2,000 and $5,000, which is quite a dip into your pocketbook.
I don't mind braces terribly. After all, they're what's providing me with a nicer smile. I will certainly enjoy my teeth once they're nice and straight. When I first got them on, it did hurt quite a bit. I wasn't used to feeling so much pressure on my teeth. For the first few days, I lived on soft foods and vegetables. I found it much easier to chew at the very back of my mouth, too, instead of near the front. I mean the very back, where the gums are. The pain subsided after a while, though, then I was able to go back to eating regular foods. Now, I barely feel them at all. I eat just like I used to before I got braces, except that I have to stick my fingers in my mouth a lot more. To pull food out of my braces, not because I still suck my thumb. I can live just fine with them. I wouldn't want to keep them forever, but for the moment, I can tolerate them.
There are some major pains to wearing braces, though. You're supposed to brush after every meal anyway, but it's imperative when you're wearing braces. Not just to keep your teeth clean, but brushing after every meal makes sure that you don't smile at someone with spinach and noodles threaded between the wires on your teeth. And trust me, after you've done that once, you'll never do it again. Also, having to brush so often really eats up your toothbrushes (pun intended). The little steel brackets glued to your teeth are really rough on toothbrushes, and sometimes I go through a brand new one in as little as a month and a half. I don't like how the stuck food in your teeth transfers to being stuck in the toothbrush, either. Because then I have to pick it out. I also have to wear elastics, which are little rubber-bands that keep pressure on my teeth. I don't mind wearing them at all, but it's remembering to wear them and remembering where I put them is what's annoying. They come in little plastic baggies, and it's very easy to lose track of them. They biggest thing, though, is having to brush when I go camping. How on earth am I supposed to brush after every meal when camping on the trail? I have no idea how I'm going to cart around a toothbrush and toothpaste for use after every meal. I guess I'm going to have to figure it out.
A typical trip to the orthodontist involves walking into the office, letting the secretary know that I've arrived, and sit down in the waiting room. It normally takes less than five minutes for me to be brought back to the examination room. They'll sit me down in a chair, tilt me back, and start removing the little colored elastics that keep the wires on my brackets. The orthodontist will come in, poke around a bit, and give instructions to his nurses on what to do. Then he'll leave, and the nurse will finish up whatever needs to be done, be it changing a wire or adding a bracket. Then the nurse will let me choose the color of the elastics I get for the month (my appointments are monthly), and she'll put them on. Then I'm good to go!
Life will be so much easier once I get my braces off. But the troubles will be well worth it. My teeth will be nice and straight, so it will be easier to brush and floss them. They'll definitely be easier to keep clean. They won't jut out at odd angles, so my mouth will look nice and flat in pictures from now on. Not that they looked funny before. Really. They didn't. And once I get them off, I'll get my picture up on the orthodontist's bulletin board, where it holds pictures of all his recently successful patients.
My TV habits
I'm not a huge watcher of TV. But I do like to watch it. It's a great form of entertainment, and I do learn a lot of things from watching TV. *ahem* from watching the Discovery Channel, I mean. A lot of educational shows are a lot of fun to watch. Cartoons and mindless entertainment are good, as well, especially when I've been thinking really hard for the past few hours and just need some mindless entertainment. It feels good to just let my brain stew, sometimes.
The majority of the TV that I watch ranges from channel 269 to 287 (on DirectTV). Those channels are all the "smart" channels, ranging from the History Channel to The Learning Channel. I'll just watch whatever happens to be showing at the moment, and there's normally a good documentary airing. They're all pretty interesting, though some are more difficult to stay awake through than others.
I'm not a huge fan of Reality TV, either, though I do concede on one show. American Idol! I first watched it at the end of the 3rd season, and have followed it ever since. The 5th season is now over, and Taylor Hicks was pronounced the new American Idol. This season was pretty good, though it doesn't even hold a candle to last year's season. Last year, Carrie Underwood was my clear and distinct favorite, whom I'd look forward to watching every week. I even bought her CD when it came out, to much ridicule from my peers. But what can I say, I like her country music! I even voted every week! But this year, I found the whole line-up kind of weak. It was fun to watch, but I didn't have a clear favorite. I liked maybe 3 or 4 people, but I didn't really care who won. I think I only voted 2 or 3 times, too. I doubt that I would buy Taylor's album, either, though I may borrow it from the library. What I guess I'm trying to say is that I had no clear favorite this year. Last year, I looked forward to watching Carrie Underwood sing every week, and for a while after, too. She made several TV appearances after her win, and I watched most of them. I guess we'll see how Taylor does.
I'm also a big movie fan. Unfortunately, with the obscenely high prices of movie tickets (EIGHT DOLLARS!??!), I have to either borrow them from the library or save up to buy them. When I do watch movies at home, though, it's always with the entire family. Ever since I was little, we've always watched movies together. It was almost a crime to watch a movie by yourself, without telling someone else so that they could join you. I figure it's more fun that way, too, to have someone to watch it with. It gets kind of lonely sitting in front of a TV by yourself. You don't have much to do. When we do watch movies together, we also have some old standards that we always watch. There are a few of them, though I must say the one that we watch the most often is Undercover Blues. It's a funny spy-movie, starring Dennis Quaid and Kathleen Turner. I recommend it to anyone who needs a laugh.
I'm not writing very cohesively today. I'm tired. So I'm going to bed. Goodnight
thinkandrewP.S. I gotta get me one of
these.
Swimming
The rocks of the Olympic Coast are desolate
Today was my Boy Scout Troop's annual Troop Swim. And just like every past year, it was held at the pool of the Evergreen State College. It's a great opportunity to get a whole bunch of swimming requirements done, because there are quite a few of them in the Boy Scouts. Both Second and First Class have swimming requirements, and there's a Swimming Merit Badge, too. The Swimming Merit Badge is one from a list of three, of which one must be completed for the rank of Eagle. Swimming is probably the easiest Merit Badge to complete, because it's widely available at summer camps, and is the only one that doesn't require distances (Hiking and Cycling are the others, and they require a 20 and 50 miler in one day, respectively).
I'm not a terribly great swimmer, but I would call myself a somewhat-strong swimmer. I can't swim very long distances, or for extended periods of time. I just haven't trained up the stamina for a long time. I believe, though, that my technique is quite passable. I haven't swam much at all recently, but I was taking lessons for quite a long time when living in Malaysia. We'd head down to Kelab Darul Ehsan twice a week, where we'd have a one hour lesson. It would normally comprise of a lot of laps, then technique-perfection. It was a lot of fun, and very good exercise, too. I used to exercise a lot through my swimming, but I just don't any more. The swimming pool is much farther away now, and it just seems like so much trouble to go out there to swim. I suppose I should go once in a while, once I go to SPSCC this fall. SPSCC students get free passes into Evergreen's pool.
I needed to get the Swimming Merit Badge, so I signed up for it two weeks ago with Mr. Jones. It wasn't overly difficult, nor was there a lot of swimming. We spent some time doing rescues and first-aid stuff, as well as survival skills. Things such as jumping into the pool fully dressed, then inflating your shirt and pants to keep you afloat. It was pretty fun to do that, as I've never done it before. Read about it a lot of times, but never done it. It's not too difficult, the trick is getting the part that your shoving air into to stay open. We also had to show proficiency in 5 different strokes, but we only had to swim 25 meters of each. Those five strokes were crawl, back, breast, side, and elementary backstroke. We also did some diving, floating, and treading water. It was good to just go out and swim; it was somewhat of a refresher course. I remembered a whole bunch of things that I thought I forgot. The class wasn't very difficult at all, but I did have fun. Now all that's left is the CPR requirement.
Swimming is good exercise, too. Since you can be suspended in the water, there's virtually no impact or stress on your joints. It exercises all of your major muscle groups, and is a very good aerobic exercise as well. It provides very good muscle and body toning, too. It's obvious that I believe in swimming as a very good exercise. Maybe I should put action to word, and start practicing it. Once I get around to it. I'm kinda lazy about getting my feet wet.
Our Books
Mom and I attended a homeschool book sale today. And no, we weren't there just to buy books. We were selling them as well. We've been collecting scores of books for years and years, and mom decided that it was finally time to clear some of them out. Our bookshelves were over-stocked, and the shelves themselves were beginning to sag. As any good homeschooling family will tell you, homeschooling families tend to have a lot of books.
When living in Malaysia, if we wanted to read a certain book, we would have to buy it. Either that, or to go sit in a bookstore for a few hours and try to finish it up as fast as we could. There were no public libraries that were accessible to us, and either borrowing the book from a friend or buying it was the only way that we could get our hands on it. There are so many good books out there to read, so we just kept on buying them. Books are not overly expensive, and they present a very enjoyable form of entertainment. The problem is that we began running out of room. We have 6 bookshelves 8 feet tall and 4 feet wide in our basement, and they're all full to the brim. Now that we're in WA, and we can go to a public library, we no longer need to have so many. Almost anything that we'd ever want to read is available from the library. Thus, mom decided to start getting rid of some of our older books.
At the book sale, which was in a church auditorium, there were about 20 tables set up. Each seller there had to pay $5 for a table, and they could bring in as much as they could fit on their table. Mom had registered a few days before, and we carted in about 3 boxes of books. We set up from 3:30 until 4; the time was spent trying to figure out how to fit 3 boxes of books onto one small table. We eventually got it all set up, and started selling. The sale lasted for a long time, all the way until 7:15. Many people came at first, but the crowd began petering out in an hour or two. Mom and I took turns manning our table, while the other went looking around. I found a few cool books, including a HAM radio handbook for only $1. Mom bought a book on George W. Bush, and a few others as well. We ended up making a nice haul, though, as we were able to leave with about half of what we brought in. A small success, too, was that we sold a lot more than we spent.
I'm stuck around books every day. Some I really like, others I loathe. Lets start with the fun stuff. I've progressed through many types of story-books over the years, from "Babar the Elephant" to "The Hunt for Red October" - by Tom Clancy. Story books spin wild tales that are wonderful to be immersed in, and I try to dive into them as often as possible. To live and experience the words of another is a great gift, and I love to do it. On the other hand, other books are just tools that are implemented to hard-wire information straight into my brain. Text books are a necessary evil of life, and I stare at them for hours at a time every school day. Mindless words fill their pages, and threaten to put me to sleep. If you've seen the drool marks on the pages, you'll know that they've been successful at times. But I must say that I've learned a lot from them. Some have even come close to becoming my friends. Friends I hold at arm's length, at least.
Once we hit 7:15, we started packing what we didn't sell back into our boxes. I put them in the little cart we had brought to carry them, and then pulled the cart back to our van. I loaded the boxes back into the vehicle, then got into the front seat. Then mom and I drove home.
I have no patience to write a full post today
The world famous Ozette Boardwalk
Caleb had a patrol meeting today, where he discussed summer activities with the rest of the leadership holders in his patrol. They have planned for a camping trip in August.
My Scoutmaster called me today, to remind me that I had to call the members of the Philmont crew about what they're bringing to our backpacking trip. Also, to ask them if they could bring some equipment that I forgot to talk about at our last meeting. That backpacking trip is this coming weekend, so I'd better call them soon.
I went to the Capital Area Youth Symphony's spring concert today, and it was very good. It's a local Youth Orchestra with about a hundred or more members, organized into three different skill levels of orchestra. Caleb was in a similar organization last year, the Student Orchestras of Greater Olympia.
The troop swim is this tuesday. I'll be getting a lot of things done there, and hopefully even the entire Swimming Merit Badge. That'll be a big load off of my mind, because I've been trying to get it done for some time now.
thinkandrew
Are you guys reading my blog?
Pteroglyphs at Wedding Rocks
There are many famous blogs out there. Ones that everybody knows about, and ones that everybody reads. Every time they post something, people clamor to be the first to post a comment. Threads of comments may be longer than most forum posts, and even reach the hundreds in number of posts. People have their own discussions about whether they agree or not with the above post. These bloggers must have great satisfaction to know that so many people are reading what they are writing. I do not.
I have been posting every day for one month now. In fact, this will be my 32nd post. Not bad, eh? The only problem is that I have no idea if anybody is reading it or not. Out of my 32 posts so far, I've probably only gotten 10 comments or so. Mostly from people that I told to comment, too. I love writing in my blog, but sometimes it feels like I'm writing to an audience who never pays attention to what I'm saying. Are you guys actually reading my blog? The reason I write every day is because I often find myself hitting the refresh key again and again on other blogs, to see if they have posted something new. But how do I know that my material is being read? It would be pretty pointless if no one at all was reading my blog. Come on, people! Comment! Let me know what you think! At least let me know that you've been reading!
In other news...the backpacking trip was fun. We spent a lot of time hanging around on the beach, so we didn't leave camp until 9. We rendezvoused with the south-heading group at Wedding Rocks, where there were some cool pteroglyphs. We ate some lunch there, hung around, and talked a lot. Then we walked another mile north to Cape Alava, where we probably spent another hour just hanging around. Then, it was 3 miles of boardwalk back to the parking lot. It was nice to be able to just go out for a slow and easy hike, to get to relax and enjoy the scenery a bit more. I usually go much faster, and probably would've liked to go a bit faster today. But it definitely was relaxing. I had fun.
I will be gone
I will be gone for the most of today and tommorow. I head back into the backcountry, into Olympic National Park. Caleb's troop is having a backpacking trip around the Lake Ozette triangle, and I will be joining them. It's not a very long trip, but I figured it would be a good idea to go since it's Caleb's first backpacking trip.
We'll be meeting at TOP Food and Drug at 10:00 am, which is about 20 minutes from now. There'll be a total of 25 people going, with one group going north around the triangle and the other group going south. It's a 4 hour drive to the coast, so I'm bringing some stuff to keep me occupied in the car. Maybe some magazines, maybe even some tunes. And the car is going to be full of 11-12 year olds. It's going to be a looong drive.
My group will be hiking south for 3 miles, where we'll camp at Sand Point. It's a nice little campsite, right by the ocean. There's a summer ranger station set up there, and there's even bear cables set up in one of the trees so that we won't have to set up our own cables. It's quite a popular spot, 'cause it's so easy to get to. The next morning, we'll be hiking north along the coast for another 3 miles. It's an easy hike, though we will have to cross two bluffs. Thus, we will have to make sure that we manage our time correctly so that we can beat the tide. It's definitely not a good idea to get stranded on the beach. One of the bluffs we'll be crossing is called "Wedding Rocks", where there are quite a few century-old pteroglyphs. I've seen them before, and they're pretty neat. There's some carvings of whales, people, and some other non-descript figures. Once we reach Cape Alava in the north, we will begin hiking east back to the parking lot.
Then it's another long 4 hour drive back to Olympia. We'll probably be driving longer than we'll be hiking. It's beautiful out there though, so the drive is definitely worth it. But then again, it's going to be very noisy in the car. I hope I can sleep.
Living in a town is different from living in a city
The city was big. Our town is small. In KL, we often had to travel for 30 minutes just to get anywhere. We took many extracurricular activities, so mom would have to drive us there almost every week. For almost all of these classes, she had to drive us for a minimum of 45 minutes in one direction. When we were taking latin percussion, we had to drive all the way to Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, which is about 30-40 miles away from our home. Not to mention that for the first 3 months of our lessons, there was heavy construction on the road. It took forever to get anywhere, and we had to plan away 3 hour-chunks of our lives.
Now, it takes me 6 minutes to get to my Scout meeting. And we seldom have to travel any farther than that. I'll be just walking down the hill this fall, when I attend SPSCC. Everything is so close, that we can get just about anywhere we want to by bicycle and public transportation. The busses around here has bicycle racks on the front, so you can get anywhere that you want without having the bike the whole distance. It's even fun to ride a bike or take a bus. The streets are nice and quiet, drivers stop for pedestrians and cyclists, and you can see the mountains.
All there really was to do in KL for recreation was to go to the mall. There was little else to do at all, since we were homeschooled. The mall was where anything happened at all. We'd watch a movie, or go window shopping, or sit in the bookstore for hours reading comic books. There were no real parks that we could visit, and friends all lived far away.
Now, the mall is the place that we least often go to. We spend quite some time at the library, where we can get any book that we want. We can even view the library catalogue online and have the library hold the book for us until we can come pick it up. Because of the library, we haven't been to the bookstore in months. There are also a lot of parks we can go to. The entire town is littered with them, and they're all open to the public. You can go play Frisbee there, or even take a hike in a more wooded one. I go camping a lot with the Scouts, and almost every trip is to a new place. There is so much to do in the outdoors around here. You never have to be cooped up in a building if you don't want to be.
When we lived in KL, we lived in a small link-house that had a yard about 8 feet wide and 30 feet long. Not much of a yard. It was so small that we just cut the grass with a pair of clippers. Flowers planted there never did very well, and mosquitoes would hatch from stagnant pools of water.
Now, we have a front yard and a back yard. Both being quite substantial, there's plenty of grass to mow. Mom has a nice garden out front, which has many rhododendrons, bulb-flowers, and shrubs. We have a garden on the side, too, in which we plant peas, spinach, beans, okra (it didn't do so well), and tomatoes. Mom spends a lot of time watering and weeding it, and we'll help her when there's a big project she wants done. She spends a lot of time outside, just puttering around the yard. The whole yard is blooming with life, and plants grow tall.
Living in a town is different from a city. I must say that I much prefer the former.
I lived in a city, I live in a town
I used to live in a very big city. A city of 1.5 million people. This city was also the capital of the nation of Malaysia. It was the economic center of Malaysia. It had more cars and traffic jams than I would care to mention. The city's name means "muddy river". This city was Kuala Lumpur.
Night view of KL
Now I live in a small city. A small city of only 30,000. There are 2 highschools in the town, and about 6 others in within 30 miles. There are also countless churches in the area. People ride bikes on the streets, walk down the roads to go to school, and let their kids go and hang out with their friends for hours at a time. You can see Mount Rainier in the south east, see the Olympic Mountain Range to the north west, the Cascades to the north east, and Puget Sound right down at the bottom of the street. The adjoining cities of Tumwater, Olympia, and Lacey are a very nice place to live. And I love it here.
Mount Rainier
We've lived here for almost 2 years now. There are certainly many things about KL that I miss. I miss the food, the people, and even the city. But living here in WA is so relaxing. I can walk down the street without worrying about a car jumping the curb and hitting me. I can walk down to the shores of Puget Sound and watch people bring in their boats. I can go take a hike in Capitol Forest, not 15 minutes away from our home. It's a great town. I hope to stay here for a long time.
Philmont Leadership
View of the highway from the Pacific Crest Trail
I was elected our Philmont Crew's Crew Leader. And that entails a lot of work. It is a leadership position not to be taken lightly. There is a lot of things that needs to be done before and during our Philmont trek, and now I am in charge of doing them.
Leadership is a very important thing. The Princeton Wordnet defines a leader as someone who guides and inspires others. It's now my job to do that. To be elected, though, I volunteered. And then I was voted on. The reason I volunteered is because I really think I could do a good job at it. I knew going into it that it'd be a lot of work, but it would also be a lot of fun and very gratifying. I've learned a lot from doing the work so far, and I hope other people have appreciated it. I feel (and I hope others do too) that I am doing a good job.
Some of things I've been doing so far are as follows. We've had a few and are going to have a few more training hikes before going to Philmont. Not physical training, but just the Philmont-style of backpacking. We normally don't establish a "camp" when we backpack here in WA. We just pitch our tents where there's a clearing. Philmont requires a sump, a bearbag, and a dining fly. These are some of the things that we learn at these training hikes before we go to New Mexico. I've been responsible for setting up these training hikes. The adult leaders will tell us where and when it is, and I pretty much take care of the rest. I make sure all the equipment we need is being brought, as well as all the food. If we are missing any equipment when we get on the trail, it will have been my responsibility to find out who was supposed to bring it and didn't. Or if it was my mistake.
I also run our Philmont Crew Meetings. In these meetings, we decide on a lot of scheduling, group decisions, and pass on information about our trek to others. Some of the group decisions we've made include where we'll be doing our service hours (for the 50-miler award) and what number trek we chose for Philmont itself (there are about 40 different choices). Running the meetings is not too difficult, but it can be a challange. Have you ever tried getting 9 teenagers to stay on task? They get distracted very easily. But so far, the meetings have been quite productive. We're getting a lot of things done.
So we're making it towards our trip step by step. And I'm leading them. It's been difficult, and fun at the same time. I will be glad when it's all over. But for now, I'm enjoying the journey.
Chocolate and Ukuleles
I had a piece of dark-chocolate for dessert. I think dark-chocolate is much better than milk-chocolate. It has more of a rich flavor, and isn't incredibly sweet. Its taste feels much better on the tongue, and it looks prettier too. Gimme dark-chocolate over milk-chocolate any day. I don't really care what kind of chocolate it is, as long as it's dark-chocolate. I like those weird ones with the funky unnamed filling, and will even eat the ones with coconut centers. Belgian or Hershey's, it's all good. I just really really like chocolate. And both over white-chocolate, which needs one word to describe it. Bleeach.
It's easier to eat chocolate here, instead of Malaysia, too. It's hot in Malaysia, so the chocolate melted very easily. It's really nice than I can hold chocolate in my hand now, without it melting into a puddle. "Melts in your mouth, not in your hand" is certainly very true here in Washington. The melting temperature of chocolate is 98 degrees Farenheight, so as long as it doesn't get too warm, and can continue eating my chocolate in peace.
I re-found the ukulele today. I used to sort of play it, as it's a fun little instrument just to mess around on. I know about 15 chords, and can dink around on little songs every once in a while. Today, though, I picked it up and figured out how to play Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man". And Joshua played the piano with me. And it was fun. And very cool. I learned some cool new chords, and figured out a cool little riff. And then I learned how to play "I Can See Clearly Now". And now I'm hooked back onto ukulele. It's cool.
The ukulele is a traditional Hawai'ian instrument. Built like a mini-guitar, it had 4 strings tuned to G4, C4, E4, and A4. Those notes are also the famous melody to "My Dog Has Fleas". Primarily a strumming instrument, it is often played by people who want just want to have fun, but don't want to get a big guitar. Ukuleles are smaller, and easier to carry around. Dad already had a guitar, but I wanted to play the ukulele instead. Mostly because my hands were too small at the moment to reach around the neck of his full-sized guitar. The chords are the same as those on the guitar, only they're transposed a major 5th downwards, or a major 4th upwards. You strum on it with the meaty-part of your thumb and fore-finger, not a pick or your fingernail. It has a nice warm sound, and is very useful for group singing.
So, I've enjoyed playing it. I don't play very much popular music on the piano, so I like messing around on the ukulele. Only having to play the chords is pretty easy, and doesn't require too much practice. Joshua tried to get me to try some Nickelback, too. It's a little difficult, but I think I'll give it a whirl. In fact, I think I'll start my own rock-band. A ukulele fusion rock-band, kind of like
Jake Shimabukuro. That'd be really cool. How does this look?
Rockstar Ukulele-playing Boy Scout
thinkandrew
Random Thoughts
Today was Mother's Day, so we celebrated our mother. This included my older sibling cooking breakfast, going out for lunch, and my brother and I cooking dinner. For once, mom got to prop her feet up in a chair. It doesn't happen very often, and I guess today was a good day to do it for once. I guess she should be allowed to do it more often...but we need her help so much. I guess that today, we really appreciated her.
Rialto Beach
I like country music. Most of my family doesn't. That can be a problem, because I'll often want to listen to country music, but it is regarded as very noisy by the rest of my family. I guess my music tastes are just more varied. There are many types of country, and I enjoy most of them. Songs I listen to range from Hank Williams (from the 1940's), to Kenney Chesney, and to Carrie Underwood. The old-style twangy country is more amusing than enjoyable to me, however. I really enjoy Kenny Chesney, and I've enjoyed listening to some Lee Ann Womack. Most of the time, I end up listening to country music by myself.
I have decided to subscribe to Backpacker Magazine. Backpacker Magazine is the most recognized outdoor magazine in the US, and is widely regarded as the premier magazine for outdoor enthusiasts. I received a free copy when I purchased something from REI, and I enjoyed it very much. I have already started to receive my magazines, and they're all really interesting to read. Now, all I have to do is to find time to read them.
I'm not sure how I will keep up my oral hygiene when I go to Philmont. My orthodontist says I have to brush my teeth at least 2 times a day, as well as change my elastics 3 times a day. This will be difficult when I go out into the backcountry. I'm sure the rangers in the area will not appreciate it if I accidentally spill my latex elastics all over the ground, and trying to brush twice a day is tough when the rest of your group doesn't want to stop every time you eat something. I will try my best, however. Maybe I'll go out and buy a whole bunch of those Oral-B "brush-ups". I tried one at my last camping trip, and I think it worked pretty well. We'll see.
Crawling out of my snow-cave
I posted my camping schedule on the side-bar of my blog. I will update this everytime I have new information on where I will be camping. Hopefully, I'll be able to add a lot more soon. Also, those days will most likely be the days that I will be unable to post anything on my blog.
thinkandrew
Cleaning the House
I won't grumble and complain when I have to go wash the bathroom, but I'll be the first to admit that it isn't my favorite thing in the world to do. It's not very difficult, nor does it take a lot of time. It's just something that I'd rather not do; something that seems like a lot of trouble to finish. But of course, the house does have to be clean. To live comfortably, your house has to be clean. And no one else is going to do it for you.
Some of the regular chores that I do include washing the dishes, and vacuuming. Most of the time, it is also I who washes the stove, the car, and the van. I also wash the upstairs bathroom, though probably not as often as Mom would like. However, it does get done occasionally. But when it gets done, it's normally right before a guest is coming over to visit. I guess I would be embarrassed to show a dirty house to a guest, so I try to do my part in cleaning up before someone comes over. This often involves mowing the lawn, washing the bathrooms, and vacuuming the floors. It's all part of maintaining good impressions. It is also quite funny how far some people will go to maintain these impressions. According to Reader's Digest, many people clean their houses before the hired house-cleaners come, so that they won't be thought of as slobs. Well...then why did you hire a house-cleaner?
We also try to clean the house at least once a week. Just some regular vacuuming, and some dusting here and there. Keeping the house clean is part of maintaining a standard of living, too. It's nicer to walk through a clean and organized mobile-home, than to walk through a 5000 square foot mansion that has beer cans and empty macaroni boxes all over the stairs. It just feels much more comfortable. Not to mention that it probably greatly benefits your health to live in a clean environment.
But sometimes, I just prefer to leave things as they are. For example, my room. It's not terribly messy, although it is a little. However, I have definitely seen much worse. My mom often goes after me to get me to clean it, but it seems like such a chore. Why should I clean it? It's just going to get messy again. So you'll know where everything is, she says. But I already do. I know exactly where my blue pen is, as well as my 3 pairs of mismatching socks. Once I clean everything to get it organized, I won't be able to find any of my stuff anymore. But mom just can't stand it when my room is messy. Sometimes, when I get back from a long camping trip, I'll find that she's cleaned my room. Then I REALLY can't find where anything is. It takes me days to find that book that she put on the very back of my bookshelf.
Clean the house. It's good for you. And if you don't, a) You'll send a bad impression towards others, b) you'll start chronically sneezing from the dust, and c) your mom will chase after you.
Rounding the bases
P.S. The baseball game I went to yesterday was the Tacoma Rainiers vs. the Rock Round Express. A great game! We won 8-2, and got a whole bunch of free stuff, too. Softee balls and candy. It was a lot of fun. We ate a lot of food, sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame", watched their short fireworks show, and got to run around the bases after the game finished. I think I'd like to go to more baseball games from now on. They're a lot of fun. Especially when the home team wins.
Placeholder
This is a placeholder to continue later. Here is a short summary of what I did today.
Went to a garage sale, bought origional Star Wars VHSs from the 80's for $5.
Washed the bathroom, and cleaned my room.
Baked a cake for my birthday.
Invited Eric Hegge over for the night.
Went to a Tacoma Rainiers baseball game at Cheney Stadium.
Watched Undercover Blues until 1 am.
See ya later!
Taking the AP Tests
I took the AP MacroEconomics and MicroEconomics Exams today. And they weren't bad at all. Being the only person taking them, I was put inside a small office by myself to take it. However, several office workers who were not expected to show up came, and thus I was moved several times. In the end though, I did get both examinations done without a hitch.
I felt very good about the MicroEconomics exam, while I'm a little more ish-ish about the Macro test. Being that the course I took was a MacroEconomics course, it would be funny if I did better in Micro than in Macro. I guess I could explain it by the fact that I've been studying so much micro recently, that macro just hasn't really been in my head. I'm sure I'll do well in both, though, it's just a question of how well. Ideally, it would be two 5's.
I took the test at Tumwater Highschool, inside an office in the Career Center. It wasn't very quiet in there, as they were also holding senior presentations in the office next door. I was able to concentrate quite well, though, and got it done.
Titus and Caleb
However, some of my APEC classmates had different experiences. Here's the one from Nathan Lee:
Oh, there were so many cool kids at the school... it was worse than pre-registration. The kind lady at the counter said it was in room B203 but we got lost and I was so scared!! Because if we didn't get to the right room on time we would not be able to take the test! And I would have wasted an entire year!
We went to the principal's office because there was no where else to look (there were signs everywhere to the principal's office though) and she personally took us to the room. It was a really strange experience, she was asking us all about homeschooling and we were kind of shy, because she was so scary she had these angry sort of eyes... maybe that is why she is the principal...
Then we went into the room and she said "HERE ARE THE HOMESCHOOLERS" and I felt my heart beating really fast. You know what mom and dad have always taught you, to stand firm and represent homeschooling in a positive light... but it is kind of hard to do that when everyone else is talking and having fun, you're just standing there like a statue representing homeschoooling...
Well the teacher told me to sit down, but I didn't know which seat to sit in. They were all equal opportunity but the marginal costs and benefits were at the time to complex for me to mentally comprehend. I stood there for what seemed like eons of that wonderful interval of that substance we call TIME until I was shoved into a seat. I did not fight back or say anything because I was afraid of the teacher.
They handed out the books and made us do all these things writing and everything and I was really nervous! Everyone else was laughing and having fun but I was not trying to be antisocial but I wanted to concentrate on my test... oh I struggle with this soooo much...
So, the test is over. And we're all happy. Summer!
thinkandrew
Taking my AP Economics Tests Tomorrow Morning
For the past school year, I have been enrolled in Pennsylvania Homeschooler's online Advanced Placement MacroEconomics course. This class is taught by Dr. Richman, and has a little less than 30 students. The class is now over, and I'll be taking the exam tomorrow morning. I have also been personally studying for the MicroEconomics exam, which will be held on the same day. So tomorrow is a long day of testing, beginning at 8 and ending around 3. Both exams are 2 and a half hours long, so my rear end is going to be sore for a long time.
To prepare for the test, I've been doing a lot of essay questions from past exams, supplied by the College Board. I've wanted to do some Multiple Choice Questions, too, but those are in rather short supply. The College Board (the board that administers the AP exams) reuses the questions, and thus frowns upon anybody who reproduces them. There are a few published exams out there, but I've already taken all of the ones that I have access to. I have been studying hard, but at the same time, am trying not to fret too much over it. I'll take it as it comes. I'll do my best, and if I don't do so hot, well, that's that. I'll just live and learn, I guess. I do feel quite ready for the tests tomorrow morning. I'm pretty sure I'll do well.
I'll have to wake up extra early to make sure I'm fully alert before the test, though, because I am definitely not a morning person. I'll be waking up at around 6:30, so that I'll have enough time to take a shower, eat a nice breakfast, surf the internet a little. Probably even read my Economics textbook a little, just to be fresh on the subject when I walk into the testing room. I've taken a lot of standardized tests, so it has become sort of a routine.
I'm taking the tests at Tumwater Highschool, but I am the only person that is taking it this year. That means that I'll be taking it in some counselor's office, in a small desk, while he sits 6 feet away from me while reading a book. I usually like to take it with larger groups, because there's always someone who's more nervous than I am, and it kinda makes me feel better. Also, the last time I took a test with a large group, the proctor bought really big Costco-sized muffins for everybody. Lemon-poppyseed all the way!
So, I'm going to bed early today. Pray for my test, I hope it goes well.
thinkandrew
The limit's 12, right?
Hm. This is really bothering me. On the Ozette Backpacking trip that is coming up in just under 2 weeks, the group that I'm assigned to has 14 people. But the limit is 12. It's explicitly written down on paper. However, the organizer of the hike "spoke to a ranger" who said it doesn't really matter. So...what's the limit? I know it's 12. People have gotten a ticket for having more than 12 people in a group before. I guess it's not as much the fact that they're trying to bend the rules, it's the principle behind the matter.
The reason why the limit is 12 is to prevent the impaction of the landscape. It's to protect the backcountry, to preserve it for others. When such a large amount of people try to go camping at the same time, it will cause a lot of damage. The scuffling of feet, the inattention to litter, and even just the pure presence of people. If less people are in the group, then the land can be protected. I really can't stand it when I walk into a campsite and find just a huge amount of evidence that people have recently camped there. Food wrappers are a common find, and sometimes there are even damaged and broken plants lining the edge of the site. I try very ferverently to avoid doing this kind of thing, as I am sure that there are others like me who are bothered by the same problem.
Another good reason why there should be less than 12 people hiking at one time is just consideration towards others. Really, it can be very very annoying to have so many people hiking on the trail at one time. When I'm hiking in one direction, and another group is hiking in the other, I'll stop and let them past. But if it's 14 people, the line just goes on and on and on. People are chattering, yelling, singing, and it's very disruptive to the natural experience of going into the backcountry. One of the points of the Boy Scout Outdoor Code is to be considerate in the outdoors. Being considerate doesn't involve having 14 people trying to brush past you on the trail. When you go to a restaurant, don't you find it very annoying when a large group comes in, clogs up the buffet line, and talks loudly for the rest of the night? Come on, people, respect other campers!
Also, it can be very hard to keep track of so many people. The Ozette area is not too difficult to hike, but it is hazardous. The rocks are slippery, there's water everywhere, and seaweed lines the ground. It's not terribly difficult to fall down and hurt yourself. With so many people hiking, it's something to seriously consider. The last thing you want to happen is for all 14 people get strung out on a long stretch of beach, have the people at the end hurt themselves, and the people in the front just keep on going, oblivious to what happened. For most of the people going on the hike, this will be their first backpacking trip. You have to be more careful with new backpackers, as many things can happen. Also, for the leaders of this expedition, I really don't think they want to be held responsible if somebody has to go to the hospital. If there are so many people that they can't be kept track of, it's a possibility that something could go wrong.
I really feel that the limit of 12 is set there as a total and complete cap. If it were up to me, the limit would be 8. I find it's even more fun to go camping with a smaller group, rather than a large one. Make the group smaller. People will like you more.
Sleep
Lower Lena Lake, April 1st.
Like any healthy teenage boy, I like to sleep. Though not as excessively as some people, I do sleep quite a bit. I try to get in at least 8 hours every night, and am generally quite successful. The only problem is that I don't go to bed quite early enough, and thus wake up quite late. But truly, the extra amount of sleep helps keep me awake during the day.
I find it very easy to sleep in cars. Not just cars, but buses, airplanes, boats, anything in which you will be sitting for more than an hour. It's not as if you have anything really good to do while sitting in the car. I'll look at scenery for a while, but it gets repetitive. Reading in the car gives me a headache, music can become droning, and watching TV is difficult when it's such a small screen. Thus, I sleep. And it's refreshing. That way, I can be prepared to do whatever I have to do when we reach our destination. I've always been able to sleep in a car. I'll climb in, watch the road for about twenty minutes, then just close my eyes and go to sleep. I don't know why some people find it so difficult, I don't. I'll just close my eyes, and I'll be asleep in a few minutes. I don't have to be particularly comfortable, either. Just sitting upright is good enough for me. My dad can fall asleep in cars quite easily too. The only difference is that he snores while sleeping in the car, and I don't.
I almost never fall asleep watching movies. Movies are a great form of entertainment, and I like to watch them. When I begin watching a movie, it's almost as if I make a commitment to sit all the way through it. I refuse to fall asleep, even if it's the most boring movie I've ever seen. If I'm going to spend some of my time to start it, I'm going to watch it all, just to see how it turns out. After all, when you go see a really bad movie at the theater, you don't just walk out. You sit there and use up your full money's worth. Movies are not casual for me. They are an event, and must be experienced fully. I can only remember two times when I've fallen asleep when watching a movie. One involved 6 miles of backpacking and 4 hours of a car ride, and the other involved being awake for 36 hours.
Sleeping is good for you. Everyone could use more of it. And it's 11:20 at night right now, so I'm going to bed.
thinkandrew
Scout Festival 2006
I enjoy camping. And I enjoyed camping at Scout-Fest. But frankly, Scout Fest itself was rather disappointing. I expected a lot more this weekend, and I received a lot less.
The camp was held at the North Fort of Fort Lewis, which is a large training area that is off-base. Used by the Fort for exercises, it also serves as a very good area for a Scout Festival such as this one. It's just your generic large field, with lots of scotchbroom and the occasional fox-hole dug in. There were also a lot a lot of ant-hills, some of the largest I've ever seen. The ant hills were almost all at least one to two feet tall, and 3 feet around. There's also a lot of spent ammunition lying around, as this field is also used for practicing tactical maneuvers. All of the spent shells that are lying around are blanks, however. There was a whole bunch lying around just about everywhere.
The Scout Festival covered the entire Pacific Harbors Council, which is a fairly big council. It covers Tacoma, all of Thurston County, Aberdeen, and even down to the Oregon border. Thus, I expected at least a thousand scouts to show up for the Pacific Harbors' "largest event". However, only a meager 2 - 300 people showed up. Most of the campsites were empty and most of the displays were uncrowded. The turnout surprised everybody, not just me. Even the organizers of the event expected at least 500 people. The turnout was just incredibly low.
It seemed to me like the Pacific Harbors Council was trying to set up their own mini-Jamboree. They did okay, though I thought the general organization of the event was quite poor. Information did not get spread, and many things did not happen. There was no station for the trading of patches, and the Marines did not come to have their pull-up bar competition. The Tacoma Astronomy (not astrological) Society came and did a very nice display on basic rocket-building principles, and they were launching 1 foot rockets over 20 yards. There was also archery, a rock climbing wall, and a zip-line. However, all three of those were undermanned and the lines ended up being an hour long, even though there were only about 20 people in line at any given time. Waiting in line felt a bit more like Disney Land rather than a Scout Festival. They did, however, have a very cool fireworks show during the second evening. They shot off a good half-hour of fireworks, and played a lot of John Williams songs over the speakers. I believe they must have gotten a discount on the fireworks, though, as several detonated not 30 feet above the ground.
I guess it was good that the festival was only a day long. Not that much happened, and any more than a day would have made it a drag. Though I expected quite a lot more, I did end up having fun. I got to hang-out with some people that I liked, got to camp for two nights, and even got a cool patch. I'll take what I can, even if I was promised more. However, I can't say that I'd definitely want to come back next year.
Glacial Heritage Preserve
I wish Andrew didn't identify who's writing today. It would have been easier writing anonymously. But since he annouced it yesterday, I kind of feel pressured somewhat to put up something decent and coherent. I have been thinking about what I should write. Should I be funny? Should I tell on him? Should I be sentimental and sappy? Nah, a mother ought to be proper, right? At least in front of her son's friends, right? Well, we'll see how this goes.
The house has been incredibly quiet for the past day and a half. Nice! With only Joshua and me home, it's nice to spend some time together without distraction; although he spends most of his time doing homework or practicing piano. There are quite a few things going on in town this weekend. There is a dragon boat race organized by St. Martin's University at Capital Lake, an Outdoor Lifestyle display at Heritage Park, a rhododendron flower show at Tumwater Falls Park, a Prairie Appreciation Day at Mima Mounds and Glacial Heritage Preserve and it's also the first day of some types of fishing. We are no fishermen, and I wanted to see the prairie so that's what we did.
The Glacial Heritage Preserve is about 17 miles south of Olympia, not far from the Mima Mounds Preserve we visited not long ago. The site was infested with Scot's broom ten years ago. Many volunteers have worked to remove these noxious weeds and planted over 1/4 millions native plants to restore the prairie to what it looked like when the pioneers arrived. Because it's still an ongoing project, the preserve is normally not opened to the public. However, once a year, the county opens it to the public so people could come see what a great ecological treasure we own here.
I am glad we got to the preserve early. We were surprised to be given a native plant each for being the first 100 visitors. The sky was overcast and a breeze was blowing, it was rather chilly. We got a trail guide and started walking. The organizers had written a very nice guide with trail markers to tell us what we should be looking at. The landscape here was moundy too, but not as much as Mima Mound. The whole landscape was filled with the beautiful blue hue of common camas, intermingled with the yellow western buttercups, and spring gold and assorted other wildflowers. God's creation is so beautiful.
We were planning to walk the longer four-mile hike, however, it started to drizzle and unfortunately, we were not quite dressed for wet weather and had to take a shorter hike instead. But as we walked, the drizzle stopped and we were able to continue our hike. The hiking trail was all gravel and cobble, remnants from the glacial retreat. The gravel reminded me of my garden! I have gravel and cobble like that 4 inches below the ground. Every hole I dug to put in a plant, I encountered a solid layer of cobble. It's obvious the builder just poured a thin layer of topsoil over the rocks when they built the lawn. Now I have the most difficult time growing anything!
Having two sons in the Boys Scouts definitely affected my choice of going to the prairie today. I love plants but I am not much of a hiking person. Andrew's the one that likes to go a wondering along the mountain track. But we as a family have been doing more hiking lately, mainly because of Caleb. Caleb is going on his first backpacking trip in a few weeks, a ten mile hike carrying all his belonging on his back. The last time he went on a ten mile hike, with no backpack, he staggered back with blisters on both feet. Naturally we are a bit concerned for him. To prepare him, we try to go for short hikes, sometimes with him carrying some weight in his pack to train.
I still don't like to sweat much, but I must admit these short hikes have been rather enjoyable. It's nice to be able to do things as a family. I am learning to enjoy the hikes. But I am not ready to do any backpacking for a long time yet. If Andrew wants me to go, he's going to have to carry my pack for me. Yes, you do, Andrew.
Gone Camping
I'm going camping this weekend, I'll be back on Sunday afternoon. Thus, I will not be able to post on Saturday. But to ensure that there is something for you guys to read, I have enlisted someone to write a guest-post. So, tommorow, you people can read a post by my mother.
The event that is preventing me from blogging is the council-wide Scouting Festival, held at Fort Lewis. I do not know how many Scouts will be there, but it seems like it will be pretty big. It will be held at the same field where WASHJAM was held in 2004 (WASHJAM is the Washington Jamboree). There will be a lot of events going on, even though it's only for one day. The military is even making several appearances, including the Army, the Marines, and the Navy. There's also some standard exhibits, such as the archery range and climbing wall. I haven't had a chance to look at the full itenerary, so I won't be able to tell you what's going on until Sunday, when I get back. Trust that there will be a nice long post, with a few pictures as well.
I will also be camping on Memorial Day weekend. That will be a 3 day backpack trip, but the length has yet to be determined. I do know that we will be ending right along to Columbia River. The trail we'll be hiking is the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), a trail that runs along the Pacific Crest all the way from Canada to Mexico. Not very many people have hiked the whole trail, as it is over 2000 miles. Portions of the trail run right through the Mohave Desert, so it is definitely a trail to be reckoned with. The people that have hiked it normally take over 120 days. Even then, they're averaging at about 20 miles a day. I've only done about 50 miles of it in Washington alone, but I would like to explore parts of it in California.
In two weeks, Caleb's troop will be backpacking about 9 miles in Olympic National Park, and I will be joining them. It's a small triangle up on the northwest coast of Washington, and it circles around a lake called Lake Ozette. It's really easy, with only 3 miles of hiking on the first day, and 6 on the second. I have done that section before, and as easy as it is, it's also very pretty. I look foward to doing it again soon. This time, I hope to see a bear. There are a lot of bears in Olympic National Park, and thus all food and smellables (that includes toothpaste and deoderant) must be kept in bear-proof canisters. The canisters cannot be opened by bears, but they are not smell-proof. The rangers there have told me stories of people putting their canisters near a cliff, and as the bears tried to get into it, knocked all of their food into the ocean. Fortunately for us, the campsite we'll be staying at has cables set up to hang our food from trees.
So, I'm gonna have a good weekend. See you all when I get back.
thinkandrew
Birthday
Today is my birthday! On this day, the day of my birth, the world received an incredible gift: me. The world shall be changed by my existence, for better or for worse. I love this world, and this world will come to love me.
But really, today was a great day. Not just because it was my birthday, but a lot of things that needed to be done got done. We went to NewMarket today, to turn in my application form. I'm not enrolling in any of NewMarket's programs, but am using NewMarket as my home-highschool for Running Start at SPSCC. I could've applied as a homeschooler instead, but then I would have to go to the superintendent's office and talk to someone who's balding, has a comb-over, a mole on his forehead, and a permanent sneer on his face. No, I'd much rather work with someone I know.
After giving the application to NewMarket, I went to SPSCC to turn in my form for Running Start. I want to take MATH 123, which is a Calculus 1 class, but I need to speak to the professor and get his signature before I can apply. I did get his signature, but the registrar's office required the Department Dean's signature too. Unfortunately, the Dean was not in, so I will not be able to turn in my application until next week.
I also helped mom out in the garden, where I filled buckets with dirt and smoothed out holes in our front yard. The yard was kind of pocky before, there were little dips in it. Now it's smooth, but it's pocky in color. Little splotches of brown dirt litter the yard. But I'll be spreading some grass seed out there soon, and it'll look really healthy next year.
I did some school today, even though it was my birthday. This shows how responsible I now am, because I am willing to do toiling work even on a day of celebration. I even washed the dinner dishes. Okay, I just put them in the dishwasher, but I did scrub some pots and pans.
Mom made a great lunch and dinner for my birthday. For lunch, we had fish porridge. Now, this is not just any regular fish porridge. It's
special fish porridge. Fish porridge has been one of my favorite foods for a long time, and I ate it quite often in Malaysia. With a very soft, white-fleshed fish, some ginger, spring onion, and a healthy dash of salt and pepper, it is really really good to eat. The best bowls use beef-stock instead of water to cook the porridge with. Unfortunately, after moving, my consumption of fish porridge dropped dramatically. But I love it, so mom made it for me for my birthday.
For dinner, we had Cornish Game-hens. A Cornish Game-hen is just any regular old hen, but they come from the land of Corn. Corn is a very poor country, but they have a very strong sports mentality. They love playing games. After being isolated by anarchists coming from Antarctica, they lost all imports of balls. Not able to produce them domestically, they began playing their games with small, immature chickens. Now that the Antarctic people have melted, due to the heat in the land of Corn, they can return to using balls. And the chickens are now exported for our consumption.
It was a very good meal, with a chicken for each of us. It was a lot of fun, too, as it's not often that you get to have a whole chicken sitting on your plate. The chicken weighs about a pound, which is still quite a lot of meat. It took quite a bit of effort to finish the whole thing. In fact, I didn't even finish the whole chicken, I had to put some of it in the fridge. It was really tasty, though. There was also stir-fried zuchinni, and hash browns.
It was a very good birthday. I am happy. The world appreciates me.
Origami
This is the bird that lives in my room:
He's been there for, oh, a year now. And yes, I made him. He's a cool little thing, it took me about an hour and a half to make him. Designed by Dr. Robert J. Lang, it's one of his more famous designs. I've always liked folding his Origami designs, they are really realistic, a lot of fun to fold, and always very challenging. The majority of the origami models that I have folded are all of his design.
I love origami. The words "ori" and "gami" in Japanese mean "fold" and "paper", respectively. When written out, it also means "fold paper" in Chinese (they both use the same characters.) I got introduced to origami the way I assume many people do. My dad taught me to fold a little bird. It's a neat little thing, and I assume that most anybody that has heard the word "origami" knows how to make one. They're not very difficult, and are quite fun to make as well. Eventually, though, I started making more complicated things. I learned slowly, from various books that my parents bought for me. Origami is not something that you learn, you practice and refine it instead. Only through a lot of practice can you become more skilled at it. I've never had anybody teach me how to do origami, only through constant folding have I gotten better at it.
Folding paper came very easily for me. I did not find it overly difficult, and there was always time to practice. You can start folding at any time of the day, and paper is always available. When I'm sitting in the car, I'll get an urge to fold, so I'll find an old church bulletin to start folding. I also find it quite therapeutic. It can be very relaxing to just sit there and fold, and about an hour later, come out with a beautiful little model to put on your bookshelf.
I've practiced origami for over 12 years now. It's just always something that I've done. It's a very interesting art-form that is able to mold and create from a single sheet of square paper, with no cuts. To be able to create something from nothing is very gratifying for me. Now being more skilled in origami, I set my sights on more difficult models. I hope I'll be able get better. I love origami.
I am a careful shopper.
Recreational Equipment Inc. is having their largest sale of the year this next week. REI is the foremost supplier of outdoor gear in the western United States, and is also one of the biggest in the entire nation. Based in Seattle, it is a company which sells primarily through their website and mail-order catalogues. They also have several stores scattered around Washington State; their flagship store is in downtown Seattle.
LL Bean and REI are the two stores from which I buy almost all my outdoor goods. It is not only because they are my favorite stores, although that is a big part. Most of the time, they also have the best deals.
This next sale at REI lasts from May 5th to May 14th, which suits me just fine. That will give me enough time to research whatever I want to buy. Whenever I even have an inkling to buy anything, the first thing I do is research the product. Are there any other substitutes? Which are the brand-names? Which are the industry-standards? Are there any internet reviews that I can read? I feel that it is very important to have an intimate knowledge of the product before I purchase it. After all, I am spending my money to buy it, and I should get as much out of my money as possible. I don't have a lot of it. After finding out all I can about a product, I will spend hours on the computer, pouring through different internet stores, online auction sites (such as eBay), and many mail-order catalogues. I am on the mission to find the lowest price for the product I wish to buy, and many times, I am able to find it 10 to 20 dollars off of the list price. Thus, from first wanting to buy the product, to actually making the purchase, it may take me several days. I always look for the best deal possible before I even think of spending my money. Sometimes, for some products, I will wait even longer. When I bought my iPod, I waited another 3 weeks because of an Apple exposition coming up. There were rumors of a new iPod being released, and my wait was pleasantly rewarded with an upgraded mini. In these ways, I try to be as careful a shopper as possible.
I feel that when you buy something, you should be very careful about it. Money definitely doesn't grow on trees, and in many cases, is in short supply. Maximizing the use of my money is always very important to me. Sure, sometimes I'll see something that I just
have to have. Even then, though, I will spend a lot of time trying to find it for cheaper then I originally was going to pay for it. Sometimes, I will even find that the product I was looking at was a cheap imitation of something much better.
I don't really understand how some people can just spend money at the tip of a hat. They definitely
have the money, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you should throw it around. They money you are wasting could have a much better use, even if it is just buying something that would suit you better. Why do so many people just have to have it NOW, rather than wait even a few hours to find something even better? Why can't people be more careful with their money? I know people that complain that they don't have enough money to buy the new CD in the stores, yet buy 2 Mountain Dews every day. If you'd just use the drinking fountain for a week, you could buy the CD no problem. Just be patient. You'll get what you want if you wait.
I'll be the first to admit, I love to spend money. I love to shop. However, I am also careful with my money. By making sure I know exactly what I am buying, I can be happier with what I bought, and have the peace of mind that I didn't waste my money.
I am very annoyed. And Bonsai.
I am really annoyed. I mean, really really annoyed. When people make a commitment to go to an event, they should stick to it. You cannot simply change your mind 4 days before the event. There's a Scouting Festival at Fort Lewis starting on Friday, and 4 people from my patrol were supposed to go. But they all cancelled. Grar. I'm mad. Mad mad mad mad. That is terribly unfair towards me. I may not be able to go at all now. Gragh. I'm very mad. I hate it when this happens. It happens often, too.
*sigh* I'm still mad, but this isn't much of a post. So I shall go back to what I had regularly scheduled to post today.
I have decided to try and train a Bonsai tree. For those of you who do not know what a Bonsai is, a Bonsai is a young tree trained to look much older and mature than it is. They tend to look like miniature 200 year-old trees, while being only 30 years-old. It's an ancient Japanese art, and has been developed for centuries. I've always wanted to try and train a Bonsai tree, as they are very aesthetically pleasing. However, I figured if I wanted to cultivate one, I'd better start now. Taking about 5 years to reach a mature shape, I'd need to start now, otherwise it wouldn't be done until my grandkids were born.
Although I've wanted to cultivate one for a long time, I didn't really start thinking about actually starting a tree until this last weekend. We went to a garage sale, and a lady was selling a whole bunch of great books for only 25 cents each. Many of these books were brand-new, too, with their price tags from the bookstore still on them. Among these books was "
Indoor Bonsai for Beginners". I became very excited, and quickly purchased it. The book has a lot of really great information for starting out a tree. For example, I never knew that you would have to trim off ALL of the downward-reaching roots. To properly cultivate a bonsai, you're supposed to trim all downward-reaching roots while allowing the sidewards-reaching roots to strengthen and become the main support structure of the plant. There is also supposed to be a lot of suggested harmony between the size of the branches, leaves, trunk, and roots. The bottom branches must be the thickest, diminishing in size as you climb up the tree. The leaves must also start to become smaller and more delicate as you near to top. This is done by constant pruning. Really, there is an incredible amount of pruning you have to do to properly train a bonsai. Other techniques to shape the structure of the tree include wrapping a heavy-guage wire around it, in the direction that you want it to grow. Once you get the shape of the tree, though, you are not done. Indeed, you are never done with the cultivating of a bonsai. The tree requires constant trimming and pruning to retain the shape, as well as the harmony between the different components of the tree. You may even have to re-pot the tree several times. There is just so much long-term planning and work that has to go into training one of these plants.
Learning what I did about training a bonsai, I began thinking about what kind of tree I could cultivate. I decided on a red Japanese Maple, as we have a very majestic one right outside our window. It is also spring right now, so there is an endless supply of small seedlings growing right below the tree. Caleb helped me pick a few, and they're growing in pots on our deck right now. Each seedling is only about 2 inches tall, and each only has 2 leaves. I do not know how succesful I'm going to be with trimming the roots of a maple, though, as they all have very long tap-roots.
I really look foward to starting the training for my little tree. I've always wanted to have a bonsai; they just seem so majestic. To be able to make a young sapling look as if it is years older is truely an art form indeed. The trees, some even as young as 5 years, look wisened and honored. I really look foward to try and train a tree properly. Hopefully, my venture into the world of bonsai will be succesfull. I will keep you guys posted on the progress of my little trees.
