Michael's for the Weekend

On Sunday over President's Day weekend I went up to Cupertino to visit Michael for the first time. His dad had business to do in Monterey, so he came down and we played Super Smash Bros. Melee at my house for about an hour until he was done. Then we drove back up to his house in Cupertino, which was really close to where I used to live in 3^rd grade. It was pouring rain the entire time, and did not ever fully stop for the entire trip. We had pizza for dinner and caught up on everything that's happened since he moved, including the CCS concert. Then we played Halo 3 on his fairly new Xbox 360.

The next day it was still pouring rain. We drank Chai tea and hung around at the house for quite a while. Katie left around ten to go to the mall and a movie with her friends all day. Since there wasn't much to do outside, we stayed inside and watched the Puffy Shirt episode of Seinfeld, among other things. At one point we went on a small walk around the area when the rain lightened up a little. In the afternoon we came along when his mom was picking up Katie and drove by my old house in Cupertino. I still recognized all the stores and parks. We had pasta for dinner that night.

On Tuesday we left around eleven to drive back to PG. We stopped in Gilroy at Predator's Archery because his mom had to take her two bows in for inspection and repair. We stayed there for about an hour and watched people shoot in the small range inside the store. Then we continued back and went to Matthew's for a couple of hours before I went home.

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.

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.

League Meet and Big Sur Half Marathon

Last Thursday was the MTAL League Meet for cross country. I beat my previous time by about a minute, and overall our team did pretty well. Even so, Carmel completely demolished all the other teams and ended up winning for varsity.

The Big Sur Half Marathon was today, and instead of volunteering for scouts like I have in the past, I did it with the cross country team. We pioneered the new BYOB (Bring Your Own Bottle) station in which we would fill up runners' bottles with water and Gatorade. We met at the Fishwife restaurant around six and walked to the station, at the turnaround point on the course. We got breakfast burritos with egg, refried beans, and cheese on a spinach tortilla, and then the runners began coming around 7:30. Casey, Addison, Michael and I filled up pitchers to give to the rest of the team who were pouring water into the cups. We also took turns holding signs saying "BYOB" Ahead. Michelle, Coach Watkins' daughter, also helped out with the filling. About halfway through it started raining quite hard, so we were all soaked upon leaving.

Pacific Grove vs. King City

Last night was the last of the football games that we would play at for band. We met at the school at about six, and I was almost late because the computer's clock was off. About a half hour later, we arrived at MPC, by which time it had already become completely dark. We warmed up and went out onto the track, while the JV football team was still playing. The wait took a really long time; what seemed like over a half hour. Finally, it was time to march out and play the national anthem and P.G. Will Shine.

During the first and second quarters, we were completely demolishing King City. At halftime we came down and played three songs: Everybody Needs Somebody to Love, Messin' With the Kid, and Mr. Pitiful. Following this was the senior salute, in which all of the seniors in the band did some sort of salute, dance, or other such thing. Roy Chan, a previous scout of Troop 90, probably had the funniest one, in which he got the trombones to play a background while he sang Can't Touch This. When these were done, we played a fourth song, Rescue Me, and then left for free time during third quarter.

A video of us playing Messin' With the Kid taken by Michael Yanoska:


While the halftime show was in progress, a huge blanket of fog began pouring into the stadium, and it felt like it dropped ten degrees. Within ten minutes, you couldn't even see across the field to the King City bleachers. Our music was fogging up so fast it was sometimes hard to read and the pages would stick together.

At the immediate start of fourth quarter we began playing Tequila from the stands. By this time, King City had caught up quite a bit, and soon the score evened out to a tie of 29 to 29. A referee came over and made some comment to Mr. Hoffman that we couldn't play while they were kicking off because it gave PG an "unfair advantage." The game ended with the tie still in place. We didn't get back into town until after eleven.

This was probably one of the most fun games. The only problems were the fact that we had to wear jackets which made it way too hot, and also the abscence of our mascot Billy Breaker.

Homecoming 2008

This last week was homecoming week. Tuesday through Thursday were spirit days which included dress-ups for "Nerd Day," "Robot Day," and "Neon Day." Riley won the school wide Rubik's Cube competition on Nerd Day. On Thursday we had a cross country meet at Toro Park which was very hot and tiring, and I got about the same time as the last Toro meet. Yesterday concluded the week with a pep rally in the gym with music, guest speakers, competitions, and a really random video of a hypnotized Billy Breaker holding all the football players hostage.

After school yesterday was the homecoming parade which we played in for band. We marched down to Pine Street in a straight line while the percussion section played drum cadences and the rest of us did a horn swing with our instruments. Once we got to Pine, we got into the block formation and played alternating school fight songs: PG Will Shine, Go Big Red, and Red and Gold, broken up by a cadence in between each song. We went down to Lighthouse Avenue and then back up to school on Congress.

Today was the homecoming football game against Robert Louis Stevenson School. For the first time, we actually got to stay for the whole game instead of leaving after 3^rd quarter. Before it started, I went over to say hi to Tijmen, who was selling candy and pom-poms with other people from the middle school band. During the game we played the usual Hey Song, Go Big Red, Iron Man, and the other usual stands music. For the halftime show, we played Beethoven's Fifth, Roll Over Beethoven, which the dance team danced to, and Escorpión. Before the second quarter began again, they announced the homecoming king and queen. Our team won 34 to 6 against the Stevenson Pirates, continuing our league winning streak.

Youth Group Movie Night

Last night Michael and I went to the church Halloween movie night in the Youth Group room. After eating pizza and talking about random things, we voted on a movie. Unfortunately, I had seen all of the choices. My vote was for Firefly, but the vote turned out to be for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It was still quite enjoyable, even though this was the fourth time I'd seen it.

A completely random Halloween picture:

Cross Country @ Pacific Grove

Today was the first of our small cross country meets at home in PG at Rip Van Winkle open space. We went against King City and for the girls Santa Catalina school as well. It was another small meet so all the boys ran together and all the girls ran together, rather than by grade or Varsity and JV. To my surprise, I saw Tijmen's sister Emma there, apparently friends with Coach Watkins' daughter Michelle. The course was 2.4 miles through the shaded dog park area. Despite being a hot day, it was quite cool on the shaded course which was a very enjoyable change. Alex Schramm got first place for boys and Emily Marian got first for girls. Quite a good day for the Breakers.

I didn't bring my camera so I thought I'd put this picture up, of a sign on our Railroad Run put up by a lumber company on the side of their building:

PG Invitational

A while ago was the North Tahoe cross country meet, which I was unable to attend, where the team went to Tahoe and stayed with their team and then competed the next day. Last night, the Tahoe team came down to Pacific Grove for the same occasion. We held a spaghetti dinner in the home-ec room and then went to see the movie Eagle Eye as a group at Lighthouse Cinemas.

Today we had our invitational meet, with the teams from North Tahoe, Greenfield, and others. Marching band was supposed to play today at the butterfly parade at the same time, which would have been really hectic trying to make it to both. However, Mr. Hoffman had to make an emergency trip to Orange County, so the event was canceled.

The course went from the high school, around the baseball fields, and into the Rip Van Winkle Open Space. It was a lot easier than other courses because there weren't many hills and the weather was nice and cool. It even lightly rained at one point. There was a race for each gender of each grade. Since we went second out of eight, I spent the next few hours cheering on the rest of our team. There was a snack bar set up with Gatorade, Vitamin Water, bagels, chips, Cup Noodles, and other refreshments. Isabella Fenstermaker and Alex Schramm both got first place in their categories, and Casey and Addison got 4^th and 6^th. My time was about 23 minutes for the 3-mile course.

Pacific Grove vs. Aptos High School

The next football game that we played at for band was versus Aptos High. Unlike the last game, it was in the day time, which was not nearly as nice as the previous night game. It was a very hot day at MPC, our temporary home stadium, in the upper seventies. Billy Breaker, our mascot, didn't show up unfortunately.

We did just about the same routine as last time, playing stands music for the first three quarters and then leaving. We once again also did the halftime show, in collaboration with the dance team. We played Hold On I'm Comin', Bend Me Shape Me (which the dance team danced to), and School's Out. Unfortunately when we left our team was losing 22 to zero, so it was pretty much impossible that the Breakers could have won.

Toro Invitational I

Addison Miller

At around 2:15 on Thursday our cross country team left school on a bus to Toro for the first of a few Thursday meets. The varsity team went first, followed by the girls and the JV boys, which Michael and I was a part of. We had a while to warm up and watch the other groups go beforehand.

Around 5, it was our turn. The course was 3 miles and very dusty, which made it harder than others. I got about 24 minutes; Michael got 26.

Frogtown Invitational

Today was my first cross country meet, in Frogtown near Angels Camp, CA. At around 5:00 this morning, we left from the school for a four hour drive. I was in the car of Tom Light, the cross country coach, with Michael, Addison Miller, Casey Reeves, Katie Nuss, and Marie Vastola. While it was still dark we listened to our iPods and slept, and took a rest stop at Casa de Fruta at about 6. When it got to be lighter we had random conversations about past classes and other related things.

About 9:15 or so we arrived at the course, a grassy park area, and had to quickly warm up because the race began at 9:30. It started on a large gravel expanse that sloped up into the dry dusty hills. The course went about a mile in the hills and then back down around the park, then back to the starting area. My time was 15:36. Casey and Addison got 9^th and 10^th place so they got medals. After we went, it was the freshman girls, sophomore boys, sophomore girls, etc. Once the races were done and we had rested and drank Vitamin Water, we got back in the district vans and headed back.

On the ride back, we switched up and I was with Casey, Addison, and Marie, plus Leif Swenson and Alec Giurten, two sophomores who I know from band. We played a fun game where one person would say a food, and the next would say a food name that started with the last letter of the previous. We kept getting stuck on things ending with e, and soon ran out of types of egg dishes, so it got really random and out of control with things like egret pot pie. We got back to the school around 3:30.




[more pictures coming soon]

Church NERF II

After the success of the first church NERF game, Michael's family and I organized a second one for today. Unfortunately, Michael ended up being sick today, so it turned out that it was just Katie and I, and Robert Sholl, a 6^th grader from church who also happens to be a scout in Monterey's Troop 43 – I saw him at Chawanakee . We forgot to make posters and didn't promote this one much, so it was no surprise that he was the only one that showed up. He decided to come at the last minute when we told him at the St. Mary's homecoming barbecue (an hour of fun with a jumphouse, cotton candy, and a buffet line with really good bruchetta) right after the service.

Since we didn't have enough people to do a normal Capture the Flag game, we had to resort to a regular "death match" where there were no teams and the object was to be the last one standing. We played this about 5 or 6 times, with breaks in between where we talked and ate popcorn, and then went home.

Hopefully next time more people will show up…

Mac

This morning I went on a cross-country run with Michael on the Huckleberry Hill course, which took about an hour, and then went over to Matthew's house. It turns out that he found a kitten on Friday in their yard. They couldn't find an owner and no one has responded to the ad yet, so the kitten, named Mac, is staying in their house now (much to the jealousy of Pounce and King). He is an energetic little kitten who seemed to like to attack my camera:



After playing around with Mac for a while, we jumped on the trampoline and played Star Fox: Assault on the GameCube.

Grant's Eagle Court of Honor

Coming back from the church swim party, I had to quickly get into my Class A scout uniform and head over to the PG Community Center for Grant Randall's Eagle Court of Honor. Many non-scouting people who knew Grant showed up, including my former private clarinet lesson instructor, Mr. Stotz, and Sean Bell, the captain of the cross country team.

It began with a prayer and then a slide show of Grant's scouting career. After this, the normal Eagle Scout ceremonies began, with speeches from family members and mentors, followed by an open remarks section. Quite a few people stood up for speeches, including Cliff Andrews, Katherine Barretto, and Kyle Lundquist.

After the end of the ceremony, there was a pizza dinner from Papa John's and a lot of free time. Around 8:00, I went over to Michael's for a movie night where we watched Terminator II.

Church Swim Party

This past afternoon was the annual church youth group swim party at Rev. Marcia Lockwood's pool in Carmel Valley. While we were waiting for everyone to arrive, I played billiards with Colin Daunt. At 2:00 everyone arrived and we started by eating some assorted potluck dishes including garlic bread that we brought, sushi, and a really good 7-layer Mexican dip. After a planning meeting about the different events for the next year, Michael and I went swimming in the pool, which was a perfect temperature: not cold and not warm. At four we had to leave for the Court of Honor starting in an hour.

RE: Lord of the Rings meets Warhammer

I've slowly been making my way through the Lord of the Rings models that Michael gave me a while ago. When I was at his house last time, I borrowed a couple of paints that I didn't have, and some modeling grass. Today I did the bases of the models. First, I spread on some Super Glue and sprinkled sand from our yard. Once that dried, I put on patches of modeling grass the same way. Now I've completed 7 of the 12 models he gave me, with only 5 to go.

High School Begins

Today was the first day of school at Pacific Grove High. The first stop was to put all my books and backpack into my locker. A couple of nights ago was orientation, where we got our books, locker assignments, and school pictures. Since my locker was bright pink (a lot of people's were), we came in the next day and repainted it dark green, which apparently is allowed. The lockers are slightly smaller than the middle school ones, but not too bad.

When we arrived, we were ushered into the gym where they were playing Welcome to the Jungle on repeat. We were put into groups with "Breaker Buddies," two juniors or seniors who were assigned to show us around. My group had a few people I know, including Casey Reeves and Callum Gilchrist. We did some icebreaker activities and then went to a rally back in the gym. This included some very random games. First of all was an awkward sort of activity (volunteers only, luckily) where the object was to pop a balloon by hugging with the balloon in-between. The next was something that looked like a pie-eating contest. One person from each grade came up (ours was Cameron Barretto) and used their mouth to find a stick of gum in a tray of flour, then blow a bubble with it. Finally, even more awkward than the first was a variation on musical chairs that involved the girls eating cookies out of the boy's mouth. I'm glad I wasn't chosen for that.

After these activities was lunchtime, where we got free pizza and cheetos. I sat in the outdoor amphitheater with Riley, Michael, Matthew, and Oliver. Following lunch was a short introduction to each class, with little over 15 minutes for each class. My first period is band, with Mr. Hoffman my 5^th grade band teacher who first taught me clarinet. We didn't play, but just talked about complications this year with budget problems. Hopefully we will begin playing by next week.

My second period (homeroom) is the honors history class, American Civilization, with Ms. Griffiths. She seemed nice, but very strict at the same time. Next was Geometry, taught by Ms. Chupka. I got to be in the same class as Riley this period, which was nice. P.E. with Mr. Buller was fourth period, and fifth is Spanish 2, taught by Señora Buller (the P.E. instructor's wife). I got my same Spanish nickname as last year, Guillermo. Most of the same people as last year's Spanish 1 were in this class, and I was seated next to Emily Long. The entire period, Sra. Buller spoke only Spanish, which at first was confusing as I was out of practice. However, it seems like a very effective way to teach the class.

For my 6^th period I had Mr. Bliss for Biology. He was very nice and turned out to be a world traveler and an environmentalist. Tomorrow and Friday we will be watching Dead Poet's Society in class (the phrase Carpe Diem from the movie is plastered above his door). I also got to be with Riley in this class. My final class of the day is honors English I, taught by Mrs. Selfridge. English is usually one of my least favorite classes, but I'll keep my mind open. After all, I was surprised last year that history (with Mr. Gamble) turned out to be my favorite class.

After school, I went to the first official cross country practice, which I am doing with Michael. We have three courses that we do: a loop through the Rip Van Winkle Open Space (our home course for meets), a run down by Sunset Avenue and along the old railroad track, and a third from the school through Pebble Beach and looping around the old quarry near my house. Today we did the quarry loop, which takes about 45 minutes to 1 hour. I got home around 4:15 to do a small amount of homework from Ms. Griffiths and to get a couple of additional school supplies.

The Dark Knight

Today Michael came over in the afternoon and at 3:15 we went to see The Dark Knight with his dad. I thought it was very enjoyable and a lot better than Batman Begins. It was very long but well done and the joker was amazingly creepy. I hear he was nominated for an Academy Award for the performance.

Lord of the Rings meets Warhammer

Yesterday I went over to Michael's house and he gave me a very late birthday present, a set of Lord of the Rings Orc miniatures similar to Warhammer, along with a paint set. He also gave me a small bag of static grass to use for the base. This morning, I got up and painted three orcs: one spearman, one infantry, and one archer. I also super-glued the arms onto some of the miniatures that came in separate pieces. Later on, I will add fake landscaping to the bases.

After lunch I went to the Monterey Sports Center to finish up the Swimming Merit Badge that I had a partial on for a couple of years. I had to jump in the water with a shirt and pants on and inflate them. All I had to do for the shirt was blow in it to fill it with air. For the pants I had to take them off (with a bathing suit underneath, of course) and inflate them into a buoy.

When we left I went over to Michael's where Matthew and his brother were too and we played guitar hero. I got a 277-note streak on Rock You Like a Hurricane on Medium. Later today, we went to SaveMart and I ran into Mr. Bell, Riley's dad, and Yann all within 5 minutes. Weird.