nanowrimo!
well today officially marks the start of national novel writing month, or, more succintly, nanowrimo. the objective is to write a 50,000 word (175-page) novel in only 30 days. difficult? extremely. impossible? no. i took a mental health day from school (meaning, i stayed home for the sake of my mental health) but i didn't get much chance to work on it. consequently i came in right at my quota for the day, despite my hopes of getting ahead right away.
nanowrimo word count: 1,682
(also, p.s. as of yesterday, i'm now 18.)
monday, november 1st, 2004 at 11:52 pm • permalink • 1 comment
my life is filled with activities
well, monday and tuesday nights i spent impromptu auditioning for anything goes!, clear lake high school, class of 2005's senior musical production. i've never had any drama, singing, or dancing experience, so the whole thing was really a whim, but i figure i have no chance of making it if i don't try, eh? oh well, i think i managed to not make a complete idiot of myself while reading and singing in front of people i know. plus, only like 16 guys tried out, so there's a high probability of getting at least some sort of speaking part. i think the cast lists are supposed to be posted tomorrow.
also, a couple weeks ago, mallory and i signed up for the longhorn band sideline crew. basically, it's where your high school band director can nominate you to go and help out with the ut band at a football game. you get to watch a practice, march in with the band, and do various other stuff to get the feel for college band. on monday we found out we both got spots for this saturday's game against osu, so i get to go to austin this weekend! w00t! it should be a ton of fun.
nanowrimo word count: 3,333
wednesday, november 3rd, 2004 at 11:34 pm • permalink • 4 comments
musical! band!
well, quite a bit has happened in the last few days but i haven't had much time to write about it.
thursday i found out that i made the part of "sailor" (yeah, me and, apparently, seven other guys (one of whom drew a giant penis on me in sixth grade)) for the senior musical. and all i can think of is how we're all going to be a bunch of gay sailors on a gay cruise. seriously, once i put on the little sailor hat, it's all over. think "the village people." but whatevs, it should be interesting, as long as i get just one line or something. who knows.
friday was our last regular-season football game, against ball high, my parents' old school. my aunt is a counselor there, and so between my family and her family, i had about 10 people there to see me. and my uncle is quite possibly the loudest person i know, since i could hear him yelling my name from across the stadium. we won (oh boy) and we're now headed for playoffs, which means going to more stupid football games. :op
saturday i woke up bright and early to go be in the ut longhorn band sideline crew (whee!). got to austin about 1:00 and met mallory in the music building. then we walked over and watched the morning band practice, and they were doing possibly the most dork-tastic show i've ever seen, based around saturday morning entertainment. they had cartoons (looney tunes, flintstones, jetsons), superheroes (spiderman, batman, superman), and nintendo (pac man, tetris, zelda, and mario bros.). it was the coolest thing. ever. then we had some bbq and killed some time before having to line up to march into the stadium. well, for us, it was more like walking than marching, but whatever. the game was awesome. at the end of the first half, we were down 35-7, but came back in the second half to win 56-35. because we rock like that. 49 unanswered points, you can't argue with that. i had a blast, and the longer i spent experiencing the college life and band, the more i hated the six months of high school i still have to suffer. :op
monday, november 8th, 2004 at 4:57 pm • permalink • 1 comment
meh
haven't written a lot lately... mostly it's because i've been getting home around 9:30 or 10:00 every night due to band/orchestra/musical/etc... so i've pretty much just had no life. because of senior musical, i had to call it quits on nanowrimo. after feeling the effects of the amount of time it took up, i knew it was going to be impossible. but whatevs.
tonight i was invited (like two weeks ago) to go to a party for mason, but totally forgot about it, or when it was, until yesterday. and i was also invited (like, one week ago) to go to romeo and juliet at school with kat, since she promised aleah she'd go see her in it and wanted someone to go with, i guess. and i hadn't really committed to either of them so tonight i got stuck making a last-minute decision and ended up going to the party, so i felt like a total jerk no matter what i did. so yeah, feeling kind of like a crappy friend at the moment. i need sleep. in reality, what i should have been doing tonight was going to visit my grandmother, who's in the hospital again. the whole rest of my family went... i guess i'd just prefer if the whole world left me alone right now.
in other news, our football team won its first playoff game, so we get to go to another football game (on a saturday during thanksgiving break, no less). oh boy, what fun. i want off the boat.
sunday, november 14th, 2004 at 1:02 am • permalink • 2 comments
my aliases
read this on corinna's xanga and got to thinking about how none of these would make sense with me, so i gave it a shot.
1. your porn star name: (name of first pet / street you live on): n/a (never had a pet)
2. your movie star name: (name of your favorite snack food / grandfather's first name): chips adam
3. your fashion designer name: (first word you see on your left / favorite restaurant): happy spaghetti warehouse (yeah, i'd definitely buy that label of clothing)
4. exotic foreigner alias: (favorite spice / last foreign vacation spot): n/a (never been out of the country)
5. socialite alias: (silliest childhood nickname / town where you first partied): snickerdoodle seabrook
6. "fly boy" alias (a la j. lo): (first initial / first two or three letters of your last name): a ew (uh, yeah, that ain't working.)
7. icon alias: (something sweet within sight / any liquid in your kitchen): coke milk (sick.)
8. detective alias: (favorite baby animal / where you went to high school): penguin lake
9. barfly alias: (last snack food you ate / your favorite alcoholic drink): cheetos wine
10. soap opera alias: (middle name / street where you first lived): christian 6th street (heh heh.)
11. rock star alias: (favorite candy / last name of favorite musician): reeses zimmer
yep, all of those were completely ridiculous.
sunday, november 14th, 2004 at 1:47 am • permalink • 3 comments
useless survey time!
100 questions for your answering pleasure! | created by crazysue and taken 11774 times on bzoink! | | basics | | name: | andy | | age: | 18 | | height: | 5'8" | | hair color: | brown | | eye color: | blue-grey | | school life | | what's your school's mascot? | falcon | | school color(s)? | red, white, and blue | | g.p.a.? | 4.41/4.5 (or 3.92/4.0) | | who is your favorite teacher? | right now? vanderzyl! or maybe mr. rinn. both awesome in different ways. | | what do they teach? | english and music theory, respectively | | is this your favorite class? | uh, theory is. | | internet | | do you use any instant messengers? | yes | | if so, which ones? | aim, yahoo, msn | | about how many hours a day do you spend online? | most of them | | do you have a digital camera? | yes | | if so, do you post pictures of yourself online? | occasionally | | music | | do you play any instruments? | uh, yeah. :op | | if so, what one(s)? | piano! all brass except tuba, some clarinet... | | 3 favorite genres of music: | soundtracks, classical, rock | | 3 favorite bands: | incubus, switchfoot, maroon 5? | | do you go to concerts and/or shows? | nah | | what is the most you've ever spent on a concert/show? | um. don't think i've ever been to one. | | what is the least you've ever spent? | see above. | | do you think buying merch at a concert then wearing it there is corny? | i wouldn't know. | | do you listen to any bands that you'd be ashamed to admit to listening to? | i just admitted to listening to maroon 5, what more do you want?! | | did you notice the grammatical error in question 29? | this is the kind of english up with which i will not put. | | word association | | blue: | eyes | | camera: | shy | | boy: | band | | pretty: | flower | | pants: | naked | | music: | life | | god: | love | | sweater: | warm | | live journal: | losers | | mtv: | fake | | labels: | | do you think labels are dumb? | how else would we tell french onion from chicken noodle? | | why or why not? | because i said so. | | what do people label you as? | a loser. | | how/why did you get this label? | most likely because i am a loser. | | which is worse? | | physical pain/emotional pain? | physical pain | | blink-182/good charlotte? | blink-182 | | being deaf/being blind? | being deaf (couldn't live without my music) | | being bored/rushing around because you have too much to do? | rushing around. i wouldn't even know what down-time feels like. | | losing your dominant leg/losing your dominant arm? | arm (piano; sadface) | | love | | do you believe theres a difference between "love" and "in love"? | the word "in"? | | is it better to have loved and lossed than to have never loved at all? | not really, no. | | are you romantic? | uh, no. | | are you in a relationship now? | nope. | | if so, for how long? | n/a | | if not, how long have you been single? | forever (unless you count those two weeks in 9th grade, which i don't) | | are you a virgin? | like anyone would want to see me naked. | | what song describes your love life right now? | love life? unlikely. besides, i'm not one of those people that lives my life through song lyrics. | | ranomosity | | war: good or bad? | depends on the reason for it. | | what do you think of designer labels? | wasn't there already a question about labels? | | who's skankier: britney spears or paris hilton? | paris hilton | | what is it with guys and cars? | guys are cool, and so are cars. | | do you sing? | senior musical says yes! | | if so, what part (soprano 1,alto 2, et cetera)? | tenor 2, apparently. | | kiss or hug? | uh, hug? never been kissed, and wouldn't want to be... i know, i live in the 1920s.
| | what color is your room? | the actual paint color is "fresh bread." it's like a peachy-tan. | | how old is your mom? | 40 | | black and white or color photos? | i like both, if done well. | | who cuts your hair? | whoever is on shift at supercuts. | | what color is your toothbrush? | clear with blue swirlies | | what color is your hair brush? | don't have one | | what kind of hair products do you use? | shampoo, conditioner, occasional stylin' gel | | is k-mart just the poor man's wal-mart? | k-mart closed. | | are you sxe? | whut. | | are you sexy? | who wouldn't want a piece of this? | | what color to people tells you looks nice on you? | someone please spell-check this question.
| | what color do you think looks nice on you? | black. but i'm boring. | | clothes shopping or grocery shopping? | internet shopping. | | who do you sit with at lunch? | | do you like the sound of your own voice when you hear it played back? | uh, no, i sound gay. | | who has the nicest speaking voice that you know? | heh heh. the color guard instructor. | | what is the website for one of your favorite bands? | http://www.enjoyincubus.com/ | | do you prefer to date people younger, older, or the same age as you? | n/a | | do you listen to songs on repeat often? | yep | | who was the last person you hung out with? | leif and kat (also patrick, colin, frank, and jon before that) | | what did you and that person do? | ate at fuddruckers/watched the incredibles | | do you use internet shorthand (i.e. "lol", "brb", "jk", et cetera)? | only select abbreviations. i h8 grls hu tlk lik this!!11 omgwtfbbq!!!1one | | how often do you bathe? | usually every night, some mornings
| | are you a people-pleaser? | eh, sometimes. usually i'm more neurotic about gaining approval from others than about making them happy. | | do you dye your hair regularly? | no, but i have gone blonde and blue in past summers. | | what about your eyebrows? | nope. | | do you wear makeup? | nope. | | if you answered "yes", to #96, are you female? | nope. | | do you buy cds edited or unedited? | i've never bought a cd for which that was an issue | | can you beatbox? | nope. | | does your mom like the song "hey ya" by outkast? | le sigh. yes, yes she does. | create a survey | search surveys | go to bzoink! |
sunday, november 14th, 2004 at 11:10 pm • permalink • 1 comment
...
i did something today that hurt a lot inside but that couldn't wait any longer, and to no one's surprise i'm not really feeling any better about myself.
thursday, november 18th, 2004 at 12:21 am • permalink • comment
egg roll angst
dammit!
these were totally my favorite egg rolls, we used to go to austin (a three hour drive) just for these egg rolls, because they were so good. i guess they won't be back any time soon.
thursday, november 18th, 2004 at 11:00 pm • permalink • comment
surprise!!
i have the absolute best friends ever.
so we had our second playoff game on saturday, against lamar. we ended up winning, which means we'll be having another game this coming saturday. it's kind of exciting because our team has never made it this far in the history of the school. plus, the half-time show was hilarious. anyway, so after the game we were going to try to go out to eat at tgi friday's but the wait there was a long time so we ended up going to the mall and eating. one by one my friends trickled out before me and michelle (who was giving me a ride). little did i know that they were all headed back to my house, waiting to give me a surprise birthday party (three weeks late, but hey, that's what i get for not planning a party on my own). i think there were about 15 people total, and let me tell you, this was quite possibly the coolest party ever.
when i walked in the door, they all jumped out and surprised me and i'm told that i spent the whole first half of the party looking completely dazed and confused, which is quite possible as i was already tired from the game and my mental faculties weren't all with me. so, this party was an office space party. completely engineered by michelle and greg and there isn't one thing they forgot. yes, there was the jump to conclusions mat (i wish we had gotten more time to play with this because it was made to exacting standards and i know greg and michelle spent a ton of time on it. i will cherish it forever). yes, there was the "is this good for the company?" banner. there were initech name tags. there was a copier-fax piņata that we beat the crap out of with a baseball bat. there was a cake with a picture of a computer on it and a real live stapler. there was a virus_cdef game that greg came up with involving sticking a floppy into a computer to see if you'd won the door prizes (an office space dvd, a red swingline, etc). i can't even describe how cool this whole thing was.
after we had played around with all of this stuff and i started to be in less of a daze over why all of these people were in my house and what i had done to deserve a totally awesome birthday party, we all went upstairs to our newly completed theater and watched... office space! i also got lots of swag... gift certificates to barnes and noble, cold stone, best buy, and suncoast, as well as two copies of the book "america" by jon stewart (whoops! i'm planning on taking one back to b&n and exchanging it for something else... there's no such thing as too many books), and, of course, an 88 cent my pretty pony hair grooming set.
after we'd had cake we all just sat around my dining room table making fun conversation and having a good time. people started to trickle out around 1:00 but it wasn't until the next day that i'd found out that my mother had invited everyone to spend the night but no one had actually done it. everyone would have been welcome, but seeing as how i fell asleep 0.4 seconds after greg left, i don't think i would have been much fun. anyway, that was definitely the coolest birthday party i think i've ever had, so thanks everybody who contributed. you guys are the best.
tuesday, november 23rd, 2004 at 12:17 am • permalink • 2 comments
chestnuts roasting on an open fire
i went to wal-mart and the mall today and even though i'm annoyed with people putting up all their christmas decorations before thanksgiving, it made me realize i can't wait for the christmas season to kick into full gear. never before have i felt so much like i needed christmas that i was going to explode if it didn't show up right away. it's not the presents or the holidays from school (although i can't wait for that, either)... it's the whole christmas spirit. the decorating and imagining yourself in a winter wonderland. the wonderful scents of peppermint and cinnamon and hot tea lingering in the house. spending time with family, doing the advent wreath, going to mass with the church all decorated up for the entire season, and then finally having it all culminate with a beautiful midnight mass, complete with full choir. the caroling and listening to cheery christmas music, like the messiah. curling up with a good book in front of the fireplace, watching specials like the grinch and rudolph on tv to take me back to being a little kid. spending time trying to think up the perfect gift for each of your friends and family. and most importantly, reminding yourself that god so loved the world that he sent us his one and only son.
yes, indeed, i could use this in my life.
tuesday, november 23rd, 2004 at 9:34 pm • permalink • 3 comments
hard to be thankful
so i went to go visit my nana for the second time this week. she's in the ccu, which is like the icu except it's only for cardiac patients. she's on continous dialysis now, which is working for her but it's very slow to work. you can't just keep people hooked up to a dialysis machine forever though, so they're considering putting in a pacemaker to improve her heart function. they were originally planning to do that today, but now they're saying the soonest it can be will be monday. in any case, she's getting a four-hour pass out of the hospital to spend time with us for thanksgiving tomorrow. since she's usually the one who does all of the preparing for big family get-togethers, the responsibility falls on us, so after the hospital we went back to her house to get all the food and preparations done. aunt georgia is down from california to spend time with nana, and she and my family helped get together the mashed potatoes, stuffing, eggs, pies, etc. my mom said she wants this thanksgiving to be perfect and special for nana because it will probably be her last one. it wasn't until she said that that the reality of it finally hit me. she's been in and out of the hospital for almost a year now and she just keeps having problem on top of problem. and she's by no means young, at almost 83. it's always been a possibility, but until mom said that tonight, i had never thought "in a year, we could be spending thanksgiving without nana." from the time i was born, i've always seen my nana as a role model, and i've admired her my entire life. i guess, given the season and tomorrow's occasion, i should probably take this time to be thankful for the 18 years i've had to know my grandmother and love her, and i'm thankful for all the memories that i have of time spent with her. for those of you who read this, please pray for her, and i hope that next year i will be writing about the wonderful thanksgiving i had with my grandmother.
wednesday, november 24th, 2004 at 11:00 pm • permalink • 2 comments
long thanksgiving update
well, thanksgiving break is over and it went way too fast.
my thanksgiving was nice, but nothing too special. the best part was having nana out of the hospital for a few hours to come home to spend time with her family. i had to wake up early on thanksgiving (10:00) to go down to galveston for thanksgiving meal #1 with dad!family. when we got there i was informed that since i had just turned 18 this year, it was family tradition that i was to be the guest carver for the turkey. never having carved a turkey in my life, i just kind of hacked at it with the electric knife until some stuff came off and then put it on the plate. it all got eaten and no one complained, so i guess i didn't do a horrible job. i ended up eating like 239074 pounds of the salad that aunt janine makes because it's the best thing ever and i only ever get it twice a year. after some kind of boring down time it was time for...
thanksgiving meal #2! with mom!family. it was held at uncle paul and aunt linda's house, and, as mentioned above, the highlight was having nana there. i spent much of the time there just kind of avoiding people because i'm at the awkward age where i can't really make conversation with all the kids 5-15 anymore, but the adults still kind of ignore me. not that i'd be able to just have a conversation with any of them, anyway. so i spent a lot of it talking to nana, and then after she left i just went downstairs and read a book. all in all it was kind of boring and i think i would have preferred to just relax and stay home that day, but i guess family things are kind of required.
after we came home we got to put up christmas decorations!! i'm so excited. i'm totally in the christmas spirit, and already feeling better and i can tell that i'm a better person to be around just because i feel like i can start feeling christmassy after thanksgiving. (in fact, i'm listening to handel's young messiah right now and photoshopping a new christmas website layout. whee!) our house is making me happy, even though we haven't even finished putting up everything yet.
friday was the longhorn-aggie game, which we won (duh). my mom had invited everyone on her side of the family over to watch, but only aunt georgia, and aunt nancy and uncle woody ended up coming, and only really for about an hour of it. i didn't complain, though, because i didn't really feel like entertaining. 26-13. suck it, bryan. ;o)
and that brings us to yesterday's football game, playoff game #3 against memorial high school. it. was. insane. the whole game was back-and-forth winning, tied, losing, tied. finally at the end of the fourth quarter it was tied 22-22. it all came down to one ridiculously long field goal for the win. our kicker sends it flying, and everyone follows it soaring through the air, silent. and then *cling*, right off the goal post. overtime. so we're put into sudden death, with us having the ball first. we struggle but eventually get a first down and then run it in for a touchdown. point after is good. now all we have to do is hold them and keep them from scoring. it isn't long until they have a td of their own, and a good point after. 29-29. memorial has the ball first for the second round. nothing. four downs and a turnover. so all we need to win now is a field goal or td... after a few downs and losing almost 10 yards on a sack, we decide to kick it, but the ref steps in and calls an offsides (i think it was), penalizing us five yards. we're back in ridiculously long field goal range. the ball is up, and everyone on the lake side cheers, thinking it went through. but it turns out to be bad, and overtime round three starts. lake scores a touchdown, and this time decides to try for a 2-point conversion. it's good! 37-29. now memorial is up, and on their last down passes the ball to the endzone. the lake fans scream in agony as the ball falls into his hands. and then, without warning, *pop.* the ball is out of his hands and on the ground. madness ensues, with people rushing the field. not only is this the farthest the football team has ever made it in the history of the school, but it's easily the best game the school has seen in at least the four years i've been there. so it will be off to playoff game #4 next friday or saturday, we don't know which yet.
afterwards, we went to denny's, which was interesting. for one, denny's thinks band season is over, so they don't overstaff for late nights anymore, plus it was a saturday and not the usual friday. so with 30 band kids suddenly wanting food, the waitstaff kind of freaked out. our waitress was initially snippy and annoying, telling us we had to keep quiet because people were studying, and that we had to leave ridiculously large pathways for her to walk through. the food took a while, because there was only one cook. but we weren't in any kind of hurry. in any case, she started getting really apologetic and offered to buy us all our drinks for having to wait so long. (and by "buy us our drinks," she really meant, "ring them up as water." how generous of her. :op) so when our food finally came, she bobbles the tray and ends up sending maple syrup flying all over kat, which i felt terrible about. it got all over her jeans, letter jacket, seat, and the scarf she was knitting, which really sucked. and kat didn't even get her meal free.
the best part of the night was seeing andrew hit elizabeth squarely in the side of the neck with a spitball from across the restaurant. yes, i'm aware that i'm probably five years old, but it was amazing.
sunday, november 28th, 2004 at 10:58 pm • permalink • 5 comments
© 2001-2008 Andrew C. Ewert.
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this part-blog, part-phlog is an unreliably updated account of my adventures and misadventures. it has no real cohesive theme, but i'm apt at any moment to digress into rants on language, politics, film, and technology, or anything else that interests me at the time. for more about me and this blog, click here.
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