Tuesday Afternoon with Tijmen

Today Oliver and I both went over to Tijmen's house for the afternoon. On the way over (I live about a 2-minute walk away from him), I came across this amusing graffiti on the ground with a deranged chicken holding a fish. When I got to his house, Tijmen's sister Emma answered the door because he and his mom were out picking up Oliver. I came in and played Super Smash Brothers Melee until they arrived. We tried out his new copy of Guitar Hero: World Tour which he got for Christmas, while Emma was playing Strawberry Fields Forever and other Beatles songs on the piano in the other room. World Tour was the first Guitar Hero game to include drums and vocals as well as guitar/bass. We switched off instruments, but for the most part I played guitar, Oliver did vocals, and Tijmen played drums. When we got tired of this, we switched to Mario Kart Wii, where Tijmen, Oliver, Emma, and I all did 4-player races. While we were playing, Tijmen's mom made some Gouda cheese-covered bread, and toward the end we also got some really good brownies that Emma made earlier in the day. Mid-afternoon we went up to the field by the David Avenue school where we played croquet for a while. We came back and played Tanks on Wii Play and I left around five.

Michael's Last Day in PG

Since Michael is moving to Cupertino (coincidentally, where I used to live), today was his last real day in town. We used a guest pass and went to the aquarium for the morning and got pizza for lunch at the Portola Café near the otter tank. He hadn't been there in a few years so I I came back around 3 and went on a run on Huckleberry Hill with Michael and his dad. I also helped him set up a Y! Messenger account so we can stay in touch during lunch break at school.

Lemon Squares

Ingredients
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup butter or margarine
• ¼ cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½ tsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. salt
• from 3 to 4 lemons:
```• 2 tsp lemon juice
```• thin round lemon slices
```• zest (peel grated)

Preparation
• Heat oven to 350°.
• Measure flour by sifting. Blend flour, butter, and confectioners' sugar thoroughly.
• Press evenly in square pan, 8x8x12". Bake 20 minutes.
• Beat eggs, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, lemon juice, and zest together.
• Pour over crust and add slices on top.
• Bake 20 to 25 minutes more. Do not overbake.
• Cool and sprinkle lightly with confectioners' sugar before serving.

Makes 16 squares.

Christmas 2008 (a short summary)

On Christmas Eve I went up to San Jose and went to Melita's church, St. Andrew's Episcopal in Saratoga, for the Christmas Eve service, featuring hymns done by the talented choir and instrumental ensemble such as O Come, All Ye Faithful and Silent Night. Christmas Day I opened presents with my dad and Melita. I got my dad a pair of walnut salt/pepper shakers from Brinton's and Melita a green enamel frog pin. Then we went to Melita's daughter Zita's house, where we had lunch, opened more presents, watched Mamma Mia!, and had dinner. The next day I celebrated Christmas with my mom and Brian. I got my mom a pair of books and Brian a jumbo level and stud sensor. We made a "scrünchi mouse" mouse cat toy for Checkers out of a hair scrunchy with felt ears, a puff nose, and a shoelace tail (I took a video which I will post on YouTube). Some of my presents included some really nice photography books, some money (to put toward a dSLR), and an 8GB thumb drive.

Carmel River State Beach

Last night we went to the Carmel River State Beach near the Carmel River Lagoon. The sunset was really picturesque so I got some good photos while I was there. Unfortunately, my battery ran out before the sun got really low and colorful.

Hailstorm (Winter Begins)

Waking up on Monday morning, we discovered hail on the skylight. When I went out to see, everything was covered in what looked like snow, but was actually condensed hail. This was a first for me since living in Pacific Grove; it has only slightly hailed once before. From what I have heard, there is snow on Toro Peak right now, and I'll try to get down to the coast to see when I can.

Here are some photos to try to convey what it looked like...

The Winter Concert

Matthew Shonman tuning his trombone

This past Thursday night was our winter concert, featuring the chorus and orchestra as well as the band. Since the middle school auditorium, the usual venue, is under construction, we had to hold the concert at the high school multi, which was much smaller. Band went first, and we played quite a few songs: A Festival Prelude, O Holy Night, Procession of Nobles, A Chanukah Celebration, and A Christmas Festival. After our section came the chorus, singing numerous Christmas and Hannukah classics, and then the intermission.

Jane Rudy singing in Chorus

At intermission, Matthew and I helped Michael Yanoska carry the large timpani around the building in the dark to the band room since it was too big to use the inside route. After putting away our instruments, we went to the snack bar in the back where some middle-schoolers (including Michelle Watkins and Emma Teering) led by Tijmen's mom were selling snacks.

Following the intermission was the orchestra's performance. They first did a suite by Edvard Grieg featuring the band's percussion section and some other classical pieces, and then performed a really neat tango piece involving improvisation.

Michael Yanoska Drum Captain

Kristen Sanchez Senior Flutist

The Percussion Section Brent Smith, Matthew Johnson, Taylor Jones, Michael Yanoska, Leif Swenson, Andy Bieman, Cory Jones (front)

Thanks to Oliver Bunten for the photos.

Holiday Parade of Lights

Last night we played in Pacific Grove's annual Holiday Parade of Lights for marching band. This was the first event in which we wore the formal uniforms with the big brass buttons, suspenders, and feather plumes. Being a clarinetist, I had to cut off the fingertips of the gloves because air leaks from the holes in the clarinet when you try to play with gloves. We donned the uniforms and got in line around 5 and left to march down a half hour later.

We began by marching in a single file line with drum cadences from the school to Pine Avenue. We rested here and watched the North Monterey County Marching Band, also in the parade, practice. Finally, we got into the block formation. Mr. Hoffman moved me around the formation quite a few times, and I eventually ended up in the back next to Kristen Sanchez and some other flutists, with Riley a couple of places away and most of the other clarinetists in the next row. The parade began and we marched down Fountain Avenue, over on Lighthouse, and then back to the school up Congress. We played Santa's Parade, a conglomerate of Joy to the World, Jingle Bells, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. We repeated the song about 10 times, with a drum cadence with horn swings in between each repeat.

Heading back up to the school on Congress, we began going faster and faster and everyone was yelling to Marcy, the drum major, to slow down. Eventually we lost all order and everyone started singing. The tempo clicks stopped and we pretty much just walked back the rest of the way.

A map of the marching path from Google Maps: