So SAT results are in. Didn’t think they’d matter that much (I was wrong).

Math: 700 (1st time) to a 660 (2nd time) -> John Szmyd agreed the math section was, for whatever reason, harder this time around. It’s all good, most schools mix and match anyhow.

Critical Reading: 640 (1st time) to a 720 (2nd time) -> Don’t know where this came from.

Writing: 670 (1st time) to a 740 (2nd time) -> Don’t know where this came from either.

And well, that’s that. If I mix and match properly, it’s a 150 point increase from the first time around. I can safely say taking them a second time is worth it.

Off to school for another joyous day of Spanish tests and so forth.

Later.

The past few days have been exciting. Had an AP Physics test/quiz thing that was easier than I thought it’d be (or at any rate, felt like it was easier), and an AP Modern European History test that was just as hard as I thought it’d be. It’s an alright combination. Then I had a Spanish quiz, which was fine. This was all Friday, so I bet you can imagine how good that day was (ahem). Then, that night, I went to Berwick Academy to see their production of Annie, which Lydia was helping out with. It was exceptionally well-done. Then I went home and slept.

Saturday: Up at 7:30, out the door by 8 to see WPI, which was pretty nice. Not my top choice, but I wouldn’t die if I had to go there. My mom and I were home by 1. Went out to Best Buy to buy CDs (I’ll say it again - to buy CDs). Bought Death Cab for Cutie’s “Plans,” Tenacious D’s “The Pick of Destiny,” and Volume 2 of the Halo 2 soundtrack. Then I proceeded to stand in the science section of Barnes & Noble for about an hour and a half trying to pick out a book, and ultimately not buying one. I then went to hang out with Ryan Chesser for the first time in who knows how long, followed by work on my University of Michigan application, then going to ChanLing’s to celebrate his 18th birthday. Watched Nacho Libre, which I can safely say is a movie for those who enjoyed Napoleon Dynamite. It was hilarious.

Slept in this morning (GLORIOUS) and was home by noon. Nearly finished with my UMichigan application, and I’m just hanging around tonight before the beginning of our two-and-a-half day week. Agenda for the week: AP Calculus test Tuesday; nothing.

I feel I should mention that Kyle Moors deserves every gamer’s respect for being awake since Wednesday to get a PS3 on Friday. However, he does plan to sell it (for $5,000 at that), which is a sizable return, but it’s a PS3! Oh well. Amanda’s also loving her Wii. All of that just further serves to remind me that I need a job. I guess I’ll fill out that Barnes & Noble application and maybe work there until May when Barone’s opens up again.

I’m out for now though. Going to go listen to music. Later.

People read this thing? Maybe sometimes. Coffey does anyway - congratulations for him being the first person to register to comment (even when he didn’t have to).

Life’s swell. Way too tired to type something fully right now, so I’ll update tomorrow when I get home from Kim Lai after the half day.

All I know is that Moss is a LOT harder of a teacher than I expected. I’ll admit, I was skeptical at first, but the way he words his problems and the actual problems themselves…well, yes. Difficult.

I’m out for the night. More tomorrow!

Later.

“But  why skulls?”

Found that on Consumerist.net. Good stuff.

I’m rather tired, but tomorrow (well, later today) will come a longer update with recent goings-on in my life. Things are pretty good. This has shaped up to be an awesome weekend…we’ll see what tomorrow has in store.

I’m out for now. Later.

Watch and be amazed.

(Velvet Knights, 1988)

Later.

Some people don’t respect orange juice and its tastiness. Granted, pulp can ruin the effect, for me anyway, but orange juice may be one of the tastier juices on the planet. One might suspect that this entry was provoked by an actual glass of orange juice. That person would be correct. A solid, full glass of orange juice is now winding its way through my digestive system, leaving a general sense of goodness in its wake.

On to more pertinent matters, of which there are few. New quarter started today, but it’s exactly the same as last quarter, so it doesn’t matter. Nicole switched her Cyberspace class to 3rd quarter 4th block, which means we’ll have that class together with Mr. Andrews (who, as I gather, is actually a robot). That’ll be a time. Oh, a time indeed.

Meanwhile, I tried to see Borat last night with Lydia and Liam, but it sold out as we neared the front of the line. Rather disappointing. But I’ll try to see it this weekend. I’ve got a lot of things to accomplish this weekend, not the least of which is going to the junkyard(s) with Liam to scrounge for parts for his personal motorcycle project, which I aim to be a part of. What, I want to learn to weld. Assuming all goes to plan, in some reasonable amount of time Liam could be one fancy new(ish) motorcycle richer, and myself richer for the experience of welding and the project as a whole. Here’s to hoping.

I”m going to bed. Later.

Well, it was a long time coming, that’s for sure, but last night was by far the most satisfactory band night of all time. Let’s recap.

Woke up at 6:45, since I had to be at the school at some ungodly hour to take the SATs. One would think that taking a reasoning test would constitute a little more reasoning in the scheduling of it, but what do I know; I’m not CollegeBoard. In any case, got there with some time to spare, talked with some friends, and finally got around to taking the test. I’ll say right now, I’m glad that it’s over. You doesn’t fully realize the longevity of the test until you’re actually taking it, and then you find yourself saying, wow, was this really necessary? It’s just long. Maybe they could’ve cut down the length of the test by a section or two and called it a day. But then, the test was never reasonable to begin with.

Four hours and a fried brain later, I’m making my way down to the football field with Amy, who had also had to suffer through the SATs. We had about 45 minutes to do our run-throughs and so forth before we had to pack up, which is just as well, because I’m not sure my brain could handle any more than that. I was kind of dancing on air for the first couple runs of the tag, wondering where I was going and whatnot. I found that I’m actually looser without warming up. Or maybe it was because my limbs hadn’t fully recognized the task demanded of them, so they just weren’t trying as hard. Neither changed the fact that it was genuinely cold.

Sometime later, we’re finally in Biddeford, warming up (though I use that phrase loosely) and getting ready for our last big performance. When we finally do end up performing, I make a few mistakes. No big deal, they’re in places I hadn’t made them before, so I know I can do those parts anyway. It’s a full retreat afterward, so we’re all hanging around in our uniforms for the next hour or so. It’s a tad cold (to the point where I’m not sure if I still have toes). It’s all worth it in the end, though:

Drum Major: ***

Colorguard: ***

Percussion: ****

Visual: ****

Music: ****

General Effect: ****

Overall Band: ****

Yes, it was a long time coming, but hey. It finally happened. Victory tastes sweet. (But smells kind of odd.)

Now, with SATs, SAT IIs, Finals and Band Finals over, it’s time to relax and get ready for another quarter.

I’m out. Later.

Warning: Don’t bother reading if you don’t follow or enjoy video games.

For those of you who follow Day of Defeat (the very few of you who may be reading this) or online games in general, herein lies a brief recap of the past two matches of CEVO-p/CAL-i (well, CAL-m now, but CAL-i before they got rid of it) clan Insomniac Gamers.

Our match versus compLexity was played on Railroad2, a notoriously difficult map to cap on, due in part to the easily-accessible first and second flags from both spawns (meaning once you get the other team’s first or second, it becomes infinitely more difficult to hold it). We took Axis side first half, capping on them once and being capped on at least three times. General disarray and confusion on spots made it difficult to hold key areas like the apartments, but we did our best to prevent a lot of captures.

Allied half wasn’t too much better. I accendentally threw a bad grenade off roundstart, killing both myself and oPlaiD, but a quick recovery allowed us to take back apartments and hold them for at least half the match. coL capped on us a number of times, however, securing them a solid 200+ point victory.

Last night we played JMC on Donner, which I learned later was their strong map. Fortunately, we had actually practiced Donner, and Axis side first half we managed to prevent them from capping at all (and they prevented us as well). Though they held the middle for a good portion of the match, giving them an extra point every few seconds, we ended the round with JMC only 7 points ahead.

Allied half was back and forth. A good initial rush was followed by JMC quickly coming back to grab middle and push us all the way back to our first, where Mission proned outside our spawn and killed 4 of us as we came out to cap back our first (one had managed to hold the second). In the last 3 minutes, we made a push towards their last, with oPlaiD managing to ninja their first and sprint toward their second. However, one capped our second flag at the last second, and 3 more took back middle. oPlaiD managed to stay alive and hold their first, and as 4 of us pushed middle and were capping it in the final seconds, oPlaiD made a mad dash for the only flag they had left (the second), and was just short of it when the round ended. They beat us out by ~17 points, but we were happy that we could defend against them on their best map, since chances are we’ll be playing them in round 2 of the playoffs.

That’s it for now. There’ll be more as time goes on. We start practicing harrington and anzio now to prepare for our first match against .50cal| in the first round of the playoffs, starting next week.

I’ll post with more updates later.

Welcome to the new and improved Altered-Screens. It’s got pizzazz. It’s got style. It’s got a confusing setup. But most importantly, it’s insanely easy to update. I’m typing this right now in a Word-style processor, rather than in a cumbersom HTML notepad document.

Some anecdotal information to start us off. Percussion tryouts have started. 19 - 19 - people are trying out. We only need 9. It’s crazy. This year, the veteran members are helping out the new members as teachers of some kind. It’s exciting, except I wish we got to play a little more, rather than watch. Oh well, we get our moments, brief though they may be.

There. There’s a good opening piece. Look for more to come here, and make sure to pay attention on the sidebar for more categories to pop up; this blog will give me a lot of freedom in posting stuff of various relevance.

Enjoy.