Jon's deer

Most of you probably know already, but my brother, Jonathan, got two deer this year in the early doe season. I can't upload pictures of them onto my blog however, the computer's too slow. But I thought I'd let everyone know. If you must have pictures, email me or my mom and we can send them that way.

Quote of the Week

If you haven't noticed yet, there's a new quote of the week. I hope to get a new one up every Monday morning. Enjoy!

Assignment for everyone

ok, so I really love when people post comments. :) so, can everybody post comments, please? lol. thanks ahead of time!
all you need is a google account (go to google.com and sign up for a free account if you don't have one already) and then go to the bottom of my post and click where it says how many comments there are. After that it's really easy. But if you still can't figure it out, email me.

Rachel :)

CAST LIST!!!!!!!

THE CAST LIST IS IN!!! I'M SOOO EXCITED!! I'M NOT GOING TO TELL YOU WHAT I GOT, I'LL SEND YOU TO THE HPA SITE. HERE'S THE DIRECT LINK TO THE LIST--http://www.hpami.org/index.php?pr=Lansing__Cast_List

Wow, I can't believe I actually got that part. I've heard from my theatre friends that it's a really big singing part. Now I can't wait till rehearsals start up. ----October 10. Wow again. :)

Rach

Piano

Today is our third piano lesson. And I'm really not prepared. Some people may find it hard to believe, but I really have a hard time practicing for a long time. And when my piano teacher tells me that I should be practicing at least an hour a day, I start stressing out. I have enough music that if I practiced hard on each piece, I would be able to practice for probably longer than an hour. But as I said, I really don't like it. Don't lecture me either, I know it's wrong but I haven't found a way to fix my problem. However, if you have ideas on how to fix the problem, I would be grateful. :)

Rachel

Orchestra tonight

Tonight is the second night this year of orchestra through HSMA (home school music association). This year, I'm in the first violin section, which means that I'm sitting closer to the front and playing the melody as opposed to harmony most of the time. Which is very nice. But the music is still a little easy. At the first practice, I was reminded (again:)) how different playing in an orchestra is compared to playing solo and taking private lessons. Not only do you have to think about how you sound, but how you sound compared to everyone else. Even if you are hitting the note perfectly on tune, if everybody else is different from that than that means that you have to adjust your tuning, not them. Plus, you can't watch your music all the time or let your eyes wander or whatever, you have to watch both the conducter and the violinists in front of you. I really enjoy playing in an orchestra, however. After I graduate, I'm hoping on getting into a community orchestra or a symphonic orchestra. However, my last violin teacher was in the Battle Creek orchestra and she was near the back of the orchestra (meaning that there were quite a lot of people who are better than her in the orchestra). So my point is, I don't know how easy it will be to get into one. We'll see, however. Got to go, my brother is pestering me for the computer.

Rachel

Results

hey everybody, sorry it took so long to get back about auditions, but I did try to post and my computer just sort of fizzled out on me. Can't write much now, but I wanted to at least say that they went pretty well. I'm not sure if I have a chance at Liesl, but hopefully I'll get at least a nun. The auditions were actually a lot of fun, but they took about three hours because it was sort of a group audition. Anyhow, suffice to say that we find out the cast list this next week. Probably not before Friday. I can't wait!

Rachel

HPA auditions today!

Unfortunately, I'm not very nervous. Whenever I'm not nervous, something usually goes terribly wrong. I hope it goes well.

By the way, if you want to leave a comment, click the button right below the post that says how many comments there are. I've been asked several times how to leave a comment so I thought I'd better just make it clear. :)

Now, on to weightier subjects... I said that I would tell you what I'm planning for post-high school, so I think I'll do that now. I am not planning on going to college next year. Instead, I'm going to study CLEP (college level examination program) tests. With CLEP tests, you study the subject (such as Government, Biology, Algebra) with the recommended reading material and then take a CLEP test at a testing center. If you pass (passing grade is only 50) then you get counted as taking that subject in college. Some colleges don't accept any CLEP tests, some take only some of them, and some take any of them. This summer, I've been studying for the Biology CLEP because last year I did biology. I'm hoping on taking the test sometime in the next couple weeks.

Anyway, I'll write more later. If you have any questions or comments, feel free.

Rachel

First Post!

Well, this is my very first post on my new blog. I'm hoping that as I go along, I'll find things to talk about because right now, my mind is blank.
Let's see, what am I doing today? Well, I ran up at the track this morning; I was told that I ran three miles, but it sure felt like less. That's a good thing, because the last 5K (3.1 miles) race I ran was pretty aweful until the very end. Anyways, I came home and taught a piano lesson to one of my three students. I just started giving piano lessons about a year ago now and I've found it....interesting. I like it.
What will I be doing the rest of the day? I need to finish the Latin lesson that I started yesterday, need to do at least one chapter in our economics book (we're taking an econ. class from my pastor, Bret McAtee), and need to practice my violin and piano. Plus probably watching a video for one of my three online courses. My piano teacher told me yesterday at my lesson that I should be practicing piano at least an hour a day. I think I've maybe been practicing about a half an hour a day recently. This year, everything has to be bumped up. I don't know when I'm going to have time for everything. Also, I'm auditioning for a play--The Sound of Music--through Homeschool Performing Arts in Lansing. I've been in two plays before: Little Women-the musical, and Wizard of Oz. But I only got chorus in both of those and I'm hoping on getting a bigger role in this one. I'm hoping for Liesl, but that's a pretty big order. We'll see, auditions are on Friday. I'll let you all know how it goes.
So anyways, I'm pretty busy. It is my senior year. But I'll talk about my post-highschool plans later. ;)