state fair...

so, where to begin. i don't know how to start telling stories. i guess i'll start abruptly. it's not really the most exciting story to hear, but it was fun, anyway

saturday, meredith, joy, and i drove up to cary so we could go to the state fair with friends and spend the night at meredith's house. luckily, when we were about 10 miles outside of greenville, madeline (a friend who also goes to ecu but went up to cary the night before) texted meredith asking if we had her ticket. of course we didnt. we didnt even have our own tickets - they were sitting on top of my printer in meredith's and my room... duh. so i took the next exit and turned around... whoops. it only added about 20 minutes to our trip, though, not too bad.

but anyway, other than that, we had a very uneventful trip to cary. oh, and on my way back to greenville to get the tickets, i realized how many train tracks you have to cross going to and from raleigh. so many trains! i've never seen one, but i hear them from my dorm all the time - sooo loud! but yeah. so we got to meredith's house in one piece (well, 3 if you're taking into account the fact that there were 3 of us - we each made it back in one piece, separately - we did not somehow morph into one triple headed monster... with wheels... the car was separate, too...)

so, after we got to meredith's and brought all our stuff in, i left to stop by state early and then met everyone there a little later and we parked at the stadium and walked to the fair - horray, free parking! everything else was expensive enough. so, yeah - the fair was fun - much like any other fair - a money-sucking way to have fun and get the bottom of your jeans really dirty. i had a fried snickers bar! it was actually really good, even though i was very hesitant to try it. after a few moments of serious contemplation, i finally thought, "hmm, when's the next time i'll have the opportunity to have something as unhealthy and possibly delicious as a fried candy bar?" so i gave in and bought the three and a half dollar ...heart attack on a stick, i suppose. and it was good. and now i can proudly say, "i, too, have eaten a fried snickers bar." oh, i also had some funnel cake. i'm not really sure if i've had it before, but this is the first time i really appreciated it. mmmm.... i dont know which is better, though, funnel cake or fried snickers?

oh, on a totally different note, but still related (i guess i could say it's in the same key, or at least a relative minor... ah, the life of a music major...), on friday, i was eating those dove chocolates that have the messages on the wrappers and the first two that i ate both said "remember your first best friend," so, obviously, i obeyed my candy wrapper's commands and thought about hannah boghosian - my childhood best friend. she moved to cary and has a younger brother named adam and i was thinking about them both and i told meredith about them saturday morning when we were eating chocolates again... but anyway, guess who i saw at the fair last night? hannah's brother, adam! i was like, what? really? are my chocolates phsycic? i said hi to him and talked a little and found out that hannah transfered to chapel hill from wake forest, blah blah blah.... but yeah.

we(meredith, kara, and i) accidently stayed up til 4:30 and were then so very rudely awakened by david, madeline, and joy coming home from walmart and waffle house at 6 in the morning! they hadnt slept at all and had been gone since about 3. i was really mad. i dont really know what i did, but i'm sure i was mean about it. i'm sorry. they did bring us back toy swords, though. maybe i can work it into a halloween costume.

man this is long. i'm sorry to those of you who have read the whole thing so far, i hope it's been somewhat entertaining.

oh, and meredith and i got a fish today! it's a betta fish - we named him Gustopher Berton Magnukal - or just "Gus," for short. i'm calling him gus. he's very pretty - turquoise and blue and red. ok, i'll stop now.

buhbye!

last night...

so last night was so much fun! paco came and him, meredith, and i went to see dashboard confessional! it finally happened - it didnt seem like it would come though, but it did! luckily - i was a little worried...

but yeah, the concert was really good! we missed most of the opening act, which was valencia, but that's ok - we saw their last song and it was good, and we made it long before dc came on, which is what really matters (sorry valencia, you're still only opening act status to me, although i think you are pretty good). i kinda wished they would have played more songs, though - dashboard confessional, that is. the last concert of theirs i went to seemed to be a lot longer, but oh well - i got to go! annnd, i got a shirt with a giraffe on it that's either ahh-ing, singing, or whistling, but no one can quite agree on what it's doing. it's a nice shirt though - and it was only $5.

oh, and so how about the security wasnt too great once we actually got in, so we just walked down to the floor rather than having to sit in the balcony - it was nice. no one even asked us for id's or anything - definitely good for paco because people who aren't students at ecu weren't technically supposed to be downstairs. it was good down there, though - so much closer than last time! so much louder. i'm surprised i'm not deaf. or even... hoarse - i was singing as loud as i could! so loud that i probably wasnt singing the right note, especially by the time the last song came around - i'm sorry paco and meredith for my horrible singing, but it's not like you could hear me anyway.

it was a good night. i'm sad it ended...

Valencia - the opening act

i wasnt really this unhappy - i promise. it was so hard to not smile.... you know that game, where you're not supposed to smile when people come around and try to get you to smile? yeah, i always lost. but here, it looks like i could win! haha

Chris Carrabba!!!! in one of our few non-blurry pictures

Dashboard Confessional!!!!

i miss seeing people. i dont think i really realize how much i miss people when they're not there. it's when i see them again and then they leave that i figure it out. why do people have to leave? why do i have to go away? am i really weird for hating goodbyes?

well, even though i might not say it that much, i miss you! really, i do! and i can't wait to see everyone at christmas! if not, sooner! please!

goodbye.

gone fishin(g)...

yesterday i got to see my long lost best friend ever ever emily rebecca sheppard!!!! i miss her soo much! it was so nice to get to see her again! we went to wrightsville beach and walked a whole lot, but it wasnt a bad walk - it was really good! i mean, it was hot, yes, but i was with rebecca and we had a lot of catching up to do! i showed her the mailbox, too, but it was during the day so not quite as magical. also, there were a bunch of horseflies, but it was still neat. i got bit some though and now i'm kind of itchy.

i dont know if you understand how far we walked, though, so let me try to clarify. it was a workout! you know that church across the bridge? maybe wrightsville beach baptist? well, we walked from there all the way to the north end of wrightsville, past the shell island hotel and michael jordan's mom's house that she never lived in and everything! and then we had to walk back, but it was fun. i'm just sad we didnt get to hang out longer.... christmas. we will hang out more at christms. along with everybody else!

and today i went fishing for the first time in practically forever! unfortunately, i didn't catch anything and had to leave early but then found out i didnt really have to leave early so i had to go back and then found out that my brother and alex caught maybe... 3 fish while i was gone - one was still on the deck and they threw it back when i got there. and then sam caught another one. i might go again tomorrow -it's actually pretty fun, even if you dont catch anything. just sitting there on the dock and casting the line (which i had a really hard time with at first) and then reeling it back in....

so, fall break has been pretty nice so far - i like not really having to worry about anything. it's like. a break. haha... i didnt get to see everyone i wanted to see - not everyone has the same break as me and some people have to leave early or can't come home in the first place and others have homework and others are just too busy or hard to get a hold of. i still have two more days, though! but one problem, no car.... mine is getting a check up and i had to leave it at the volvo place overnight and possibly until tuesday afternoon!!! ahh!

but, so long for now, i will try to write again if i have something worth saying, although a lot of my stuff isnt worth saying, i just feel like writing it down. i should stop putting myself down, at least to others.

ok, buh bye!

fall break....

i can't wait till fall break. when i can sleep in. i am so tired.

on friday i'll have theory and maybe a lesson, but after that i don't have anything so i can go home! i'm hoping my lesson will be cancelled, but i need to practice more just in case.

also, we need to stop by blockbuster and turn in a movie before it's too late. i hate that that means i have to go, but i'm not letting anyone drive my car, especially not in greenville traffic, so i guess i need to. i think it's due tomorrow. i didnt even watch it.

if anyone is in town friday or the weekend or monday or tuesday and gets bored, let me know! i dont really have any plans yet. hopefully i will on saturday, though

last night's adventures...

last night i had intended to sort of catch up on my sleep from the past few nights... weeks... a little, at least... so, i went to sleep a little after 12, which is later than i wanted, but i was gonna get to sleep in till 8:15ish anyway so, oh well. but, i had been sleeping so deeply and suddenly i was awake and i heard this distant "beep, beep, beep" growing louder and louder and soon it became unbearably loud. it was 10 till 3.

meredith popped up in bed and we were both stumbling around the room and she was like, "what do i press?" and i was like, "what are you talking about?" and she asked me again, "what button? what button do i press?" i didnt know she thought the fire alarm blaring down the hallways and in our room was her alarm clock so i checked the door to see if she was trying to figure out how to open it and i told her not to worry about it and we had to leave. (her alarm clock can get enormously loud if she leaves it on for long enough, actually, it kind of does sound like the fire alarm, to be honest.)

so we get out in the hallway and everyone's turning in circles and dashing to the staircases and i notice there are several holes in the ceiling all the way down the hallway, a huge chunk of plaster right outside our door. stupid athletes. stupid drunk athletes. i dont get why anyone would think it would be a good idea to punch holes in the ceiling.... but anyway - the entire mass of jones inhabitants are now clumped in the grass in front of the building. all pretty much wide awake now, thanks to probably another dumb athlete that thought it would be cool to wake everyone up early monday morning. but hey, it did give me something to talk about. i still dont know what made the alarm go off - the fire department came and everything. i guess someone probably pulled it. i dont think the holes in the ceiling had any relevance - supposedly that happened earlier but still after i was asleep.

now i'm really tired. but we dont have band practice tonight!!! yaaayyy!! so me and meredith and madeline and maybe nicole are going to go to walmart and get white stuff to tie dye on wednesday for a hall activity - pretty exciting! if you didnt know, i love tie dye. but i bet you knew. maybe i'll have enough tie dye to wear it every day of the week - i'm pretty close right now, actually.

my first concert with the wind ensemble and symphonic band is thursday!! i'm excited! it should be good. me, nicole, and wesley all have to play with two ensembles but, as far as i know, we're the only ones. i hope i'm not too worn out for wind ensemble! and then, it'll be october! i love october - the weather is so nice. i also love the song called october, by eric whitacre - it's AMAzing. and the weekend after this one is fall break! and then, after fall break is the dashboard confessional concert! yay! october is going to be a good month.

just felt like writing again...

hmm, so i went home this weekend - again. i wouldnt go home this often, except there were things to do at home/in town/nearby these past 3 weekends! so, i went home and then visited caswell yesterday! it was so fun to see everyone and caswell and the sessions i went to were amazing! they were a little different, though - there were rappers with the band and i'm not quite sure what i think of them, especially since they sang a couple secular/popular songs now, it was a little strange - i'm not a big fan of rap that's popular now... but it's all good. part of my youth group went up and did a skit in front of everyone there - they did sooo well!!! it was amazing!! the first time i saw it, i cried, but luckily i've seen it several times now and can hold it in. haha. it's so much more meaningful when i know the people acting it out - here's the link for another group doing it, but ours was basically the same - just a few more people. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyheJ480LYA

i made it back here just in time for mr. grymes' (my clarinet teacher) performance with the orchestra - it was amazingggg!!! meredith and i had to practically run across campus to get there before it started, but we made it.

also, after several weeks and many unsuccessful attempts to get tickets for the dashboard confessional concert, i found out that they're finally going to go on sale tomorrow! they said they were going to start selling them on august 24th. tomorrow is... september 21st? almost a month! but, it'll be worth it. and the opening act is valencia, who, although i dont know them very well, sound like they're pretty good, too! exciting.

ok, that's about it, i suppose - nothing too exciting to speak of....

playing tourist....

this weekend was soo much fun!! on friday night after band practice and showering and packing, meredith, tucker, brenton, sarah, caitlin, and i all left for carolina beach - stopping at chickfila along the way!! oh, i miss you chickfila. meredith and i rode together in my car (meredith is my roommate, by the way) and we listened to please by ludo over and over and over again for probably half the drive - singing at the top of our lungs the whole time. we were both a little hoarse after that. that's our song, we decided.

when we were there, we stayed at tucker's family's condo right on the beach - it was really cool! and i kinda got to act like a tourist since everyone except me and tucker didnt live there - we took them to get trolly stop and britts and we went down to fort fisher and we went to the beach and pts and wrightsville at night - it was so much fun! we stayed up till a little after 4 both nights for no reason.... i'm worn out (especially after being up till 2 last night - oh, procrastination!).

after going down on the beach for a while we came back up and went in the pool and hot tub where a bunch of hoggard band people happened to be. i think they might contract an awful respiratory disease cause i was only in there for a little bit but the fumes from the pool and the hot tub made my nose and eyes sting real bad. i think there may have been too much chlorine? but anyways. i knew or recognized several people but only talked to one girl cause i didnt know if they knew me, too.

we took tons of pictures! haha - they were funny - i was posing for them and tried not to smile but it was really hard. i'll put some of them up after this, i think - actually, you probably already saw them because i feel lazy and they automatically start at the top and i dont feel like moving them... it was perfect weather, too!

oh, that night i took everyone (except caitlin who wasnt feeling well) over to wrightsville where we saw the sparkly water and wrote in the mailbox and i chased birds... haha. it was so pretty! but the bugs over by the mailbox were kind of annoying...

when we got back to the condo we baked cookies and watched quarentine and got scared by caitlin and edited pictures - it was a good night, but we were up late again - oh well. and the next morning, meredith and i went to church and she got to meet a bunch of people there and i got to see everyone again!

my trip to wilmington was definitely a good one - i think i like playing tourist.