A Cinderella Story = Fabulous.

One of my favoritest movies in the world is A Cinderella Story starring Hilary Duff. It is funny, cute, and romantic. But most of all, I love the fact that Chad Michael Murray is in it. He is fabulous.

So here is Nicole's top six quotes from A Cinderella Story....

1. David: Why don't you look for her in the yearbook? Maybe you missed her.

Austin: I didn't miss her.

Ryan: Maybe she's foreign exchange. That's hot.

David: No that's like, la hot.

2. David: Oh wait, late entry.

Mrs. Wells: David you stop that right now. You are a bad boy! And that is a terrible shirt. Go back to class all of you. Hi Ryan.

3. Fiona: There's something I've always wanted to tell you and I think you're ready to hear it. You're not very pretty, and you're not very bright. Oh, I'm so glad we had that talk.

4. Sam: Terry? You're nomad?

Terry: Nomad? Indeed. I have traveled through time and space to find you. Now join me in the mating dance of Zion!

5. Sam: I know that the guy who sent those emails is still inside of you, but I can't wait for him. Because waiting for you is like waiting for rain in this drought, useless and disappointing.

6. Shelby: What can I get here that has no carbs, no calories, and no sugar?

Sam: Water.

7. Fiona: People go to school to get smarter, so that they can get a job. You already have a job, so it's like skipping a step

8. Sam: You know what Fiona? I quit. I quit this job, I quit your family, and I'm moving out. And you can mess with your nose and your face, you can even mess with my Dad's diner, but you're through messing with me.

Rhonda: I quit too. And the only reason I've stayed here all these years is because of that girl. And now that she's gone there's nothing to stop me from kicking your butt.

Fiona: Oh please not my face it's new!

Best. Movie. Ever.

D.A.N.

aka David, Allie, Nicole.

For the opening set of our marching band show I stand in a line with David Shea and Allie Warrick. At the beginning of the show we have this 48 count hold and it gets reallyy boring. So a long time ago Allie and I started this game where we shoot each other with our instruments. It is so fun. A couple weeks ago David shot Allie just as she was about to finish me off for good, so in gratitude I gave him superpowers. And he has been invincible ever since.

Sometimes Allie and I decide to gang up on David, but then I remember that I shouldn't be doing that because David is my ally. So then I have to give him more and more superpowers to make up for his near-death experiences. Sometimes we all band together and David has to give both Allie and I superpowers.

Through it all Allie and I can't help but get the vibe that David is kinda ashamed to be seen playing such an immature game. So we have decided to show everyone in the world that he secretly is weird too.

We have a plan. The next time we are all in marching band Allie and I are going to do a tribal dance around him while giving him magical powers and everyone will see. Hehe :)

So anyway that is one of the things that keeps me going to marching band.

The Adventures of Heather and Nicole

Okay so, two years ago my older sister Heather was a senior and I was a sophomore and we had adventures together :)

One such adventure occurred one day after school. As usual I was settled down, doing my homework, when I heard a pathetic "Heeelpp! Oh please! Heeeelpp!" As usual. I got up and trudged up the stairs and into Heather's room. As usual.

"Nicole," Heather asked sweetly. "Could you get me a s'mores bar and an italian ice?" Not an emergency at all. As usual.

"But Heather," I groaned. "What is so hard about getting up yourself and getting it?" I naively asked. As usual.

Heather's face immediately took on a pathetically hopeless and sad expression. "But...please Nicole. I need you to. Please! I simply can't do it." As usual.

I sighed. "You know, what you need is a freezer just for you in your room so you don't ever have to bother me again."

Heather blinked. This was not usual. Usually I would be down in the kitchen, getting the Princess her italian ice and s'mores granola bar, not pointing out that a personal freezer would do her some good.

Heather recovered and instantly went back to her sad face. "But Nicole, I don't have my own freezer..But at least I have you!" She beamed and I rolled my eyes.

"Heather, maybe you don't have a freezer, but we do. In the basement we have that mini fridge. Heather!" A plan was forming in my head. "That's it! We will take that freezer and hide it in here. No one uses it anyway."

Heather's eyes were bright with excitement and I took that as encouragement. "Mom and Dad aren't home! We have to act NOW if you ever want your own freezer."

"Let's do it!" Heather exclaimed. We bounded down the stairs to the main floor and then down more stairs to the basement, our eyes scheming and broad smiles forming on our faces. Heather's happiness was derived from the idea of endless italian ices and s'mores easily at her disposal, and mine from the prospect at never having to hear Heather's plaintive wails for more italian ice and still more s'mores granola bars.

It was like Christmas had come early.

Once in the basement we wasted no time in extracting the mini fridge from its proper place and beginning our ascent up what was basically Mount Everest. After several minutes of puffing and pushing and lifting we finally made it to the first floor. With the end in sight we practically ran up to Heather's room, where we were faced with our next dilemma.

"Now where do we hide it?" Heather panted.

We finally decided on the back corner of her room inconspicuously inside a box filled with blankets and pillows and many random things like binders and stuffed animals and textbooks and markers all with a large blanket on top.

We are masters at disguise.

We then proceeded to fill it with all the italian ice a girl could ever ask for, and place a box of s'mores granola bars close by. Heather was set for life.

Our final task was placing a decoy minifridge in the basement in order to not arose suspicion. A large bin flipped long-side-up fit the bill, and although it was the most obvious thing in the world that it was not a mini fridge we didn't think it would be a problem.

All that evening I expected our parents to announce that our mini fridge had been stolen, but it never happened and we went to bed giggling to ourselves at our parents cluelessness.

The next morning Heather and I were getting ready for school when our father announced gravely that should a policeman come we were to direct him downstairs because our mini fridge was gone. Heather and I exchanged looks of shock and sadness but encouraged our father to let it go.

"There will be other mini fridges, Dad." I said consolingly.

"All the same, a policeman is coming to investigate. This is a serious crime girls." And our father fixed us with a serious look accordingly.

Heather's and my sad faces immediately changed to slightly panicked looks and we silently agreed to come clean.

"Heather took the mini fridge!" I blurted.

Heather's mouth fell open. "Excuse me. We both took it..but it was Nicole's idea."

"Only because you're always-"

Our argument was interrupted by the sound of laughter. We found the source down the stairs on the landing. Our Dad. "We knew it was you two. I was just kidding about the police."

Heather and I exchanged sheepish grins. Friends again.

"But really," Dad continued. You need to return it."

And thus ended the happiest days of Heather's life and the most peaceful days of Nicole's.

And things went back to usual.

Coming up!

Nicole and Heather don't let locked doors stop them! A look into how the sisters get into their home when those pesky locks get in the way.

200 years ago my life would've been perfect

Yes it would've been thank you very much.

Today I came to the realization that I really should've been born 200 years ago, in the 1800s. Oh but Nicole back then they didn't have facebook or education for girls or toilets or air conditioning or cars or tv or WAIT!!!!

I don't care.

Okay, I love being a girl don't get me wrong. And I think women's rights are fantastic my hat is off to those feminists who worked so hard to get us rights. You guys (oops! girls :)) rock. Really.

But sometimes I find myself aching for those days.

Honestly, how bad does sitting around in a pretty dress, going to balls with GENTLEMEN, being helped out of carriages, wearing pretty gloves and glittering jewelry sound?? Because right now that sounds WONDERFUL to me.

Maybe it's the fact that college aps and senior year are taking up my entire everything and I hate the fact that I have so much crap to do and so much depending on my every grade and score that I would leap at the chance to have no other responsibilities than to be pretty and get married.

Anyway.

So I was thinking about this and here is how I picture my life (and my friends lives) if we lived 200 years ago....

Me

A Duchess. As the third daughter in a family of 7 children I would have to endeavor to be as breath-takingly beautiful as possible so that I could marry well as to not be a burden to my parents.

I would spend much of my time in the library reading about history and riding my horse, Snowflake (who is actually a black Arabian). My firm opinions and stubbornness would send the Ton (the most important members of British society) into a tizzy, but I have a feeling my 1800 aristocrat self would not care.

Seul

I was gonna make Seul a Korean Princess, but then I realized that if I did that then we wouldn't know each other cause I would be in England and she'd be in Korea. So I'm slightly lowering her status and making her the daughter of the Ambassador of Korea.

The fact that she is from the Orient would attract much attention and she would have a very adventurous life because there would be many kidnapping attempts on her in order for various bad guys to force Korea into different agreements. But never fear, for Julia and I would make sure she is not touched.

Seul would be the expert on dresses. We would all go to the same dressmaker and bring Seul along with us in order to get the best, most fashion-forward dresses. Many trends would be set by Seul.

Seul's romantic tendencies would make her the most fun to discuss our various suitors with, and I can only imagine how hilarious it would be to hear her describe anything from her first dance in her coming-out Season, to her awkward carriage-ride with one of her many admirers.

Julie

My sister. She would be ridiculously popular because she's so pretty. Her dresses would always be either green, blue, or red (the colors that look most stunning on her). Her sweet way with children would attract the most sensitive boy and they would become engaged before the end of her first Season.

Julia

Julia would be the Belle of the Ball. She is soo gorgeous and it would be difficult to visit her especially during the Season because of all her callers.

I think Julia would absolutely die if she lived back in the 1800s because of all the art opportunities. Julia's family would live on a large estate to the west of my family's estate and she would spend much of her time painting the beautiful, scenic views.

Julia would be one of those girls that would never ride a horse and would prefer to keep her feet firmly planted on a carriage floor.

It would take awhile to sort out the good, worthwhile guys from the bad ones, and so Julia would not marry until she was at least 20.

Ben

Our closest guy friend. Ben would be a distinguished Duke and if ever we were having a very distressing time at a ball, he would instantly notice and step in and make us feel better.

Ben would be the epitome of a gentleman, and we would all be very grateful to have him around. Ben would be an expert horseback rider and would participate in very dangerous horseraces that would upset Seul, Julia, and I and we would refuse to go to them.

Even though education of girls was not allowed Ben would secretly teach us mathematics and fill us in on the latest in politics and science. We would have a secret place in a stable that would lie on the borders between Julia's and my estates where we would meet for our lessons.

Ben would be simply the nicest suitor and he would always bring us gifts from his many travels as a Duke. He would find the perfect girl and marry her at the age of 26.

Ketty

Ketty would be another beauty of the orient. Her sweet attitude would melt many hearts, and she too would experience many suitors. However Ketty would not marry until 23 because she would wait for her true love.

Although Ketty would not mind riding horses she would usually find herself in a carriage because her parents thought that was the best way to attract gentlemen.

Ketty would sometimes attend our secret lessons, and when she wasn't there she would be concentrating very hard on refining her harp playing and cross-stitchery.

Ketty would sing many songs from her native land and would be asked to perform on a semi-regular basis.

She would be a personal favorite of the Queen of England, and would receive many wonderful gifts from her majesty.

Veronica

Veronica would be an accomplished pianist and would grace such places as Buckingham Palace with her lovely music. Veronica's happy smile and kind nature would make her a very good public figure.

Veronica's unique interest in giraffes would be very well known and, in an attempt to woo her many young men would buy her peacocks, because they were cheaper and easier to transport. Because of her immense popularity the party invitations and suitor callings would reach ridiculous numbers, and often times Vee would find solace in her peacock field. However, one day a peacock would attack her and Veronica would spend the next three months giving out peacocks to anyone who remotely looked like they wanted one.

Her heart would be stolen by the one guy who knew that she could never be satisfied with a garden of peacocks. Her true love would surprise her with two giraffes (a boy and a girl) and then propose. Of course Veronica would accept and they would live happily ever after with their steadily increasing giraffe herd. How romantic!

Gina

Gina would be a crowd favorite. Her peacemaking attitude would ease many tensions not just among friends but also internationally. Gina would single-handedly halt an attempt on the Queen of England's life simply by smiling and speaking practically to the bad-guys. Thank goodness :)

Gina's love of animals would lead her to Nicole's estate and often the two could be found riding their horses (Gina's named Midnight, and a white Arabian) or else cooking up some very unhealthy foods and bringing them to their closest friends.

Out of all the girls Gina would be the most free and she was often just wherever she wanted to be and her parents were perfectly fine with that.

Gina would be very rich and she would have a huge inheritance awaiting her once she came of age. Gina would have many men seeking her hand, but she would not be swept away by their foolish talk. Gina would finally end up marrying a dashing knight who would save her one day from being run over by one of Veronica's giraffes.

Anyway so I have many more people to add to this but I have a ton of homework and studying to do so I'm cutting myself off. Although I prolly won't be able to resist and will undoubtedly end up here again tonight.

Chipmunkia

This is a story about Chipmunkia, a town of chipmunks :)

Once upon a time there was a chipmunk named Vaila. Vaila was happy! She had many wonderful friends and a fantastic family. Her underground home was one of the finest in Chipmunkia, and there was always berries and nuts galore. Life was good.

However, there was one thing that bothered her more than anything in the world. Vaila hated hypocrites.

One chipmunk in particular rubbed her in the complete wrong way. He angered her so much that every time she thought about it she felt like throwing up (which her parents and teachers encouraged, because one day she would have to regurgitate food for her kids and it was good to practice). This chipmunk's name was Randy.

Randy was a good chipmunk, don't get me wrong. It wasn't that about him that bothered her. Vaila thought good boys were just that, good. But the thing about Randy was that he knew he was good, and, as her best friend Paula put it, "we need a head deflator over here ASAP."

Vaila tried to simply ignore Randy, but that was kinda hard given the fact that she had to see him every Leaf and Walnut (in human terms, every Tuesday and Friday). Much as she tried to avoid him, it was not entirely possible. So Vaila had tried to be Randy's friend. But he mistook her kindness for infatuation and quickly shut that operation down. But not even that angered her more than the day that Randy gave Sylvia the cactus.

When a boy gave a girl a small cactus it meant that he liked her. Randy was mean mean mean to the girl chipmunks in the neighborhood and no one honestly expected him to give a cactus until after he had made his own hole in a different town. In fact, Randy publicly said many times that he would never give a cactus to anyone until he had moved out of Chipmunkia.

Which was why it was so very shocking when everyone found out that Sylvia had received a cactus from Randy!

There was whisperings about it everywhere. Chipmunkia was nothing less than stunned.

But then Randy decided he didn't like Sylvia and he moved on to handing out cacti to every girl chipmunk that crossed his path outside of Chipmunkia.

It was a scandal.

The girls in Chipmunkia could not help but feel slightly insulted. They had, after all, been there the whole time and they were fun, pretty chipmunks but Randy had never so much as said a nice cheep to them ever. What was so great about these foreign chips(munks)??

But that was not what made Vaila mad. Despite the obvious breaking of his own rule, Randy continued to walk around as if he had his own hole and it was full of walnuts. There was no change to the regular lectures he graced them with about the dangers of the giving out of cacti before you had your own hole. No change to his self-righteous attitude. It infuriated Vaila.

"He thinks he is such a squirrel." Vaila vented to Paula one day. "He thinks that he's so much better than everyone else."

Paula nodded sympathetically. She knew she would be there for awhile.

"It's insane how much of a hypocrite he is." Vaila continued. "Who does he think he is? to talk to us about excessive cactus giving?"

Vaila was silent for a bit, her angry thoughts turning and twisting in her head like an agitated rattlesnake. Paula let out a small sigh of relief and began to get up from the flowerbed in which they were laying. Venting session over.

" I'm surprised there are any cacti left here, the way he gives them out." Vaila continued.

Paula sat down. Not over.

"He hands out those cacti like sugared pecans on Halloween!" Vaila exclaimed. "Halloween only happens once a year. Randy needs to calm the heck down because he thinks that Halloween is EVERY DAY."

Paula nodded. Sometimes Vaila gave very unusual analogies. Here was Exhibit A. But Vaila thought they were immensely clever so Paula would simply nod or offer some well-chosen words of praise. After all, a happy friend was better than a frustrated one.

What a good friend Paula was. :)

Unfortunately this story does not have an ending..yet. But I'll say it anyway.

The End

Qdoba

Today I went to qdoba for the first time and it was very fun. I went with Gina and originally it was just Gina and I and Veronica but by the end we had met a series of people that we both knew before and some who we met just today.

So we were sitting there and this group of three girls comes up and they were like, hey can we sit with you? and I honestly didnt know how to respond because it was just so random to me. Gina recovered before I did and we pushed some tables together. Their names were Kristen, Kelly, and I wanna say Katie haha but thats prolly wrong :P.

Anyway so then Jenna and Sabrina came and Jenna knows Kirsten and Katie but i dunno bout Kelly and then lots of their friends came and said hi and Vee knew most of them from middle school and this guy Mike sat with us and then Thane and Kaylie (ehh i dk if thats right =/) and then Sam and Peter were eating at Pei Wei and they came and chatted for a few minutes and Chels and her little sister showed up and in the end it was much bigger than three people :)

And it was just so fun to meet new people because I feel like as a senior there arent really new people. Like a couple scattered but really its just the same people that you've known since middle school or elementary school or freshman year. I first realized this in my math class and it kinda made me sad.

But then we made three new friends today and it was very fun :) And apparently we're going to the movies on Monday to see Love Happens and I'm super excitedd.

But anyway those girls were such a good example to me of courage because they were just like, hey you look nice lets eat and talk together. And Kirsten was talking about religion and it was very interesting to hear other peoples beliefs. And then at the end we all held hands and said a prayer and I said it.

That was the second time I've done a public prayer with friends who are not Mormon so far this school year. The last time was a couple weeks ago after a marching competition and a group of us went to this Mexican restaurant whose name I will not say for fear of butchering it :) And we were all saying little private prayers and then someone was like, lets say a group prayer and David Shea said it. Just a few months ago I would've been too nervous to do that, but I'm realizing more and more how important religion and prayer is in the lives of my classmates and it's bringing out a whole unknown side of them that I like.

Lessons learned today....

~ qdoba is supergood for meeting new people

~ music department people are attracted to other music department people. Seriously like, I swear every single person there was in the music department

~ Religion is important to my classmates! :)

~ qdoba is very yummy and filling

What a good day :)

I am not a nerd..I promise

I have been informed that I sound kinda nerdy here. Well never fear I am not a nerd in the slightest so hopefully this will not be a problem anymore.

Alright so I was gonna make a list of things that are stressing me out but they all have to do with school so I can't talk about them in my goal to avoid nerdy topics.

Okay so awhile ago I mentioned that Liz was singing a simply fabulous song. The "We just touched awkwardly" song. In conclusion I think this is the most wonderful song in the world so here is a link so that everyone can enjoy it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2RzKNCahRg

Ohmigoshhhhh I give in to my nerdiness! I am such a nerd! I have been sitting here waiting for a non-nerdy idea to come into my head and it's just never happening. So I guess I have nothing more to say here.

My phone has been taken. Again.

Well I can't say I'm surprised.

It seems like it is a favorite game of certain individuals to see how many times they can take my phone. The winner gets the cold shoulder from me and the loser works extra hard to become the winner, if that makes sense. Oh wait.

It doesnt.

This time it was because I started the new Seminary year and, because of various all-nighters (welcome senior year..i thought you werent supposed to be hard) i have missed three days of seminary so far.

What. A. Crime.

All I can say is that when this happens it does not make me want to improve or be a better person. It makes me defiant and angry and I plan on doing exactly the opposite of what the bad guys (the phone-takers) want me to do.

My best friend Julia says that I'm stubborn but that it's a good thing in some situations. Thank you Julia. And may I add to that that having a backbone of unrelenting steel is better than having no backbone at all.

Marching Band '09-'10

So as mentioned before I am in Marching Band and I play piccolo. I started marching band last year and it was kinda my personal hell. I hated it soo much. This year is a thousand times better and I think my main problem last year was that I was new and it was just all new. Plus I hate being yelled at and that happens a lot in marching band.

So why do I do marching band? That is a really good question.

~ Well, my friends are in marching band. I have like, 4 friends outside of marching band (I def have many more friends than that outside of marching band but still, the majority of my friends are in marching band).

~ It gives me a sense of accomplishment. It is such a great feeling after you've done a run-through or whatever and you know you totally rocked everything in

~ My wonderful mother

My #1 Fan

I was gonna do this in yellow since it's her favorite color, but it doesn't show up well :( Anyway my number one fan is my mom, and I am hers!! She is what gets me through marching band. She is always so excited to see me perform in football games and makes point to come to every single one that she can. She is just so cute about it! She really makes marching band worth it to me :)

Marching Band has many elements to it. Here are a couple of them..

Evening Rehearsal

6:15 Warm-up and Stretch

Yes we stretch. We start off with running two laps around our practice field. Then we gather in a circle and David and Carlos lead us in stretching. This is the time where I stand with Julia and Seul and we catch up on gossip. After stretching we do ensemble push-ups. Ten of them. Alright I cannot do push-ups and really neither can any of the pics and the majority of the girls. So we pathetically squeal as we lower ourselves an inch for every "push-up" and the boys make fun of us. It is so sad :(

6:36 Basics

Easily the worst part of my life. Basics is when we work on marching basics like toe height, step size, shoulders, hips, forward and backward marching, duck walking, back-ward roll-up, and other horrendous things. Since it would take me forever to talk about all these things I will settle for describing the duck walk.

The duck walk is an exercise meant to help with toe height. We start at one side of the field and we go to the other side at a 16/5 stride, which is very small and sounds easy. The catch is that your toes cannot touch the ground. Ever. And once you get to the other side you have approximately 12 seconds to stretch your calves before you turn around and do it all again. Doesn't sound hard? Try it at a 200 tempo and get back to me.

Wow I sound nerdy.

7:20ish Set-By-Set of the Show

This is the time when the majority of the yelling happens. We go from one page to the next and fix things like interval problems and our personal marching. We also take this time to add in props and special movements.

Materials you need for this time include dot book, pencil, your instrument, and poker chips (each section has a deck of cards and we play poker while they work with other sections. JUST KIDDING!! Do you know how dead we would be if that was legit?? SO DEAD.).

Your dot book is your life. It is those spiral-bound flashcards and it contains all your coordinates and measure numbers and other valuable information. If you don't have your dot book, you should find a fake one right quick or else you're gonna be doing push-ups for every set-to-set we do. I have never lost my dot book but I've seen it happen to other people and by the end of the night they've done at least like 200 push-ups and that's prolly too low an estimate.

When you're first learning your dots we use poker chips so you know where you're going. We have red, white, blue, and orange poker chips and we use them in that order. Just remember your country (red, white, and blue) before your school (our school colors are blue and orange).

Pencils are used to write in your dot book and your instrument is used to play.

8:30ish Run-Throughs

Exactly what it sounds like. We do the entire show a few times.

9ish (In theory..we usually end at 9:10, 9:20ish) STORY TIME!!

The most wonderful words you will ever hear in marching band. And that includes "1st place" "WINNER RESERVOIR HIGH SCHOOL". Perhaps the only words better than story time is "rehearsal rained out". Fabulous.

Here is where we are told by Mr. Dubbs how wonderful/horrible/good/mentally not there we were that night and also what we need to improve on. Then Junior Drum Major Ryan will talk about the same thing and then Senior Drum Major Veronica will talk about the same thing (but I always like what she says the best) and then she'll say "at the ready" and we'll all stand with our feet shoulder-width apart with our instruments in our hands resting against our stomachs and our heads down. Then she says "detail! A ten hut" and we snap to attention with our head up and our instruments in both hands in front of our faces (but not in playing position) and our feet together and we yell "PRIDE" and then veronica says "detail, parade rest!" and we fall back into at-the-ready except for this time our hands rest at our sides and our instruments are in our right hands and we yell "HUT!" and then she gives last minute reminders and then says "detail fall out!" and we all cheer and are allowed to go home.

So basically the dialog is..

"Detail! A ten hut!"

"PRIDE!"

"Detail! Parade rest!

"Hut!"

"Detail Fall out!"

"Wahoo!"

So then we go to the band room and we put away our instruments and change our shoes and go home.

Piccolo Section

A major part of marching band is your section. I am a piccolo and my section is pretty fabulous. So I will take this time to describe my slightly dysfunctional but wonderful section....

Seul: Seul is our Section Leader and I'm not lying when I say that we really couldn't ask for a better one. There are some really obnoxious, mean section leaders out there but Seul does not rank with them. Not to say that she lets us get away with things. There is definately discipline but she is just not mean and snappy. Thank GOODNESS. Seul is Korean and she and MiRae and Ketty will randomly start going off in korean together and us white girls in the section are like, uhhh..?? She also loves Japanese Soap Operas and follows them religiously. She is also what is called a "hopeless romantic". Seul sees hearts around EVERYTHING no lie. Oh and she's one of my best friends :)

Katie: Kaite is sooo cute. She is a pretty singer and is actually in Madrigals with me :) She loves to act and I always get the vibe from her that she feels like she has something to prove, which is way annoying in most people but with Katie it makes me want to stand up and cheer for her. Katie is someone I really respect and I feel like she will go very far in life.

Ketty: Ketty is just as cute as her name :) She is very studious and we aide together during second period (more on that later). My favorite memory of Ketty is when she fairly yelled "WHEN YOU HAVE SEX.." at the end of band camp dinner. ahahahaaaa I love Ketty.

Aria: A freshman in band years (but a sophomore in school years), Aria is pretty quiet so I don't know much about her but she has simply the longest hair that is very pretty :)

MiRae: MiRae is also quiet but I still know about her because we are fake-mean to each other. Here is a typical MiRae-Nicole conversation..

Nicole: MiRae I hate your shirt today that color looks awful on you.

MiRae: Well I like this shirt so SHUT UP and you got to your spot last soo push-ups.

This is how we entertain ourselves during band :)

Zoe: Zoe has been my flute buddy since the summer before 6th grade. We have always been in the same band since and normally are the next chair over from the other :) Zoe is this insanely good artist and she is really chill and it is such a breath of fresh air to be around her it really is. Zoe also should be a high-fashion model. She is like, perfectly shaped and has such a cool and unique fashion sense! Zoe is also insanely smart so maybe she should be an artist, model, and engineer. Just saying.

Stephanie: Ohhh I am SO EXCITED to be writing about Steph. She is a freshman in both band and school years and is soo cute. She really wants to be a good marcher but she is always getting yelled at about toe-height or shoulders or whatever it is so sad but kinda funny :). I love Steph because she is soo nice to me. She is always saying things like, "Oh Nicole I love you" or complimenting me when I'm at my very worst. What a sweetheart :)

Stay tuned..

So I will add more to this later because I have not even touched on competitions or in-school rehearsals. Funn stuff :)

Football Games Halftime = Craziness

So yesterday we had a football game, and as a member of the marching band (I play piccolo) of course I had to attend because we do the half-time show. We have been working insanely much on this show and I was anxious to see how it would work out on grass because our practice field is on gravel.

So before I tell this tragic story I should prolly give a bit of background on the show. It's about the course of an empire. It starts out with life just beginning and we have fake trees and everything. Then civilization starts and the trees are replaced with buildings and everyone is happy. We get an emperor who is our junior drum major, Ryan. However, our emperor becomes corrupt and finally war breaks out and there is desolation and destruction and our buildings topple and collapse. But!! there is hope. And that's when it ends.

Oh and let me just take this time to thank my friends for still being my friends after seeing me in my marching uniform which makes me feel like the most unattractive person in the world. Thanks <3

Anyway so in the show there's this part where the pics cut down a tree (not a real tree silly) and we put it behind the back-drop and then run back to our spots while the colorguard (omg it is so pathetic how long it took me to figure out how to spell color) puts up a building where the tree just was. So as I said before, it was our first time on grass with our tree and plus Aria wasnt there but I don't think any of us really thought that would be a problem.

Oh. My. Gosh.

So there are five pics who take down the tree. Zoe, MiRae, Stephanie, me, and Aria, and we get to the tree in that order. So our system is that Zoe will take the tree off it's platform and MiRae will grab it and we will pass it back until Steph, me, and Aria have it and we three are in charge of putting it behind the back-drop while MiRae and Zoe run back to join the band. So I'm running over to the tree and as usual Zoe is getting it down and all is well. Then suddenly MiRae falls on her butt and the tree bashes down on Steph's head TWICE and she's pathetically saying "oww!! oh that hurt" and Mr. Masachio (our student teacher) is telling us to leave the tree and he'll take care of it and just get to our spots because we are late.

Late we were. Steph and I ran over to our spots and we finally got back into the swing of things. Everything would've been okay if it weren't for the fact that we have to deal with all that again later.

Later in the show Ketty (another pic), MiRae, Aria, and I take the column (it's on a platform with wheels) and we roll it back from 12 behind the Front Sideline to 12 behind the Hash. All I can say is it's not that difficult on gravel.

Ketty's and my job is to grab the rope and pull while MiRae and Aria are supposed to make sure the column doesn't topple over but since Aria wasn't there it was just MiRae. So Ketty and I are running and MiRae is freaking out because its so ridiculously bumpy and the column is about to fall over any second and of course we were late again and we ran through the drumline who were like, what the heck are the piccolos doing over here?? ughh so bad.

And as much as we might want this to be a distant memory have no doubt that we will be able to access it anytime we want from youtube when they put it up so we can watch it as a band and evaluate our performance.

Anyway so after that we have third quarter to ourselves so I hung out with Liz (drumline), Julia (clarinet), Seul (pic), Ben, and Pat (melophones). And Liz sang this wonderful song that goes like this, "Because we jsut touched (touched) awkwardly. Was that weird for you like it was weird for me?" I love. that. song. Other course of events included multiple people being asked to Homecoming by Ben, Seul being asked to Homecoming by Pat, me being asked to Homecoming by Julia, and Liz being asked to Homecoming by me. By the end of the night the dates stood at Ben+ nobody, Julia+ nobody, Pat+ he-wishes-it-were-Seul, and Liz+Me+JASON MRAZ. Seul and Julia are insaneely jealous :)

So I would have to say that the football game was quite productive.