CCS Honor Band 2009

The Central Coast Section honor band this year was at Salinas High School. Our first rehearsal was Thursday evening. When we got there, it was pouring rain and nearly dark outside. We got to the SHS band room almost an hour early, but finally the rehearsal started. Our conductor was Paul Bambach, a clarinetist and conductor from UC Santa Barbara. For the past couple of weeks, we have been rehearsing the CCS music since PG makes up over a third of the band. The first piece was Fanfare for a New Era, in honor of Barack Obama's presidency, followed by Scenes from the Louvre, a multi-movement piece based on music of the period when the Louvre was being constructed. Cloudburst, the third one, was a conceptual one imitating a rainstorm, with finger-snapping and bass drum "thunder" rolls. Last was Nitro, a frenetic fast piece with a lot of complicated fingering. We got back from Thursday's rehearsal after 10pm.

Friday was the biggest rehearsal, lasting all day. It was nice to take a break from regular classes and get to miss a day. We met at 8am and once again took the bus over. I sat in the back of the bus with some sophomores also in cross country (Alec Guertin, Matthew Shonman, Leif Swenson, Peter Sujan), as well as some seniors and juniors (Michael Yanoska, Kristen Sanchez, Emma Nuss, Cory Jones)*. Michael Y. brought an iPod dock and both on the way up and back played songs on the speakers which we sang along to (at least, the ones I knew—these included Coldplay's Viva la Vida and a couple Beatles songs including Help!). On the ride back we sang Viva la Vida switching all the L's and R's—a surprisingly difficult endeavor.

This was the most wearying rehearsal, lasting for over six hours (with an hour lunch break). For lunch, we all walked across the street where there was a Subway, Foster Freeze, Jack in the Box, and other places. I went to Subway, along with a couple other. I went back and ate outside the band room with Michael Y. and Enoch Matsumura (concert master; 1^st chair clarinetist). Later on a few others arrived, including Nick Reyes and Leif and Alec.

Today (Saturday) was the day of the concert. We met at the school once again in the morning planning for the bus to leave at eight. We waited outside in the slight rain until about 8:40 for the bus to come (the one we had yesterday had a bulge in the fuel line or something like that). Finally we were on our way, but arrived late: about a half hour into the rehearsal. Rather than rehearsing at Salinas High like previous days, we did it at the Sherwood Hall where the concert would be.

We ran through all the pieces and made some minor changes, and then took a lunch break. Coincidentally, there was yet another Subway across from Sherwood Hall, so almost all of us went there and got subs. Then we went back into the lobby and ate. I sat with Nick, Cory and Emma, who were listening/singing to music on the iPod dock. Then we changed and got ready for the concert. First we watched the choir and orchestra perform, and then performed our songs. During Cloudburst, Cory played the bass drum behind the audience and Michael on the stage, creating a surround-sound thunder effect. After the performance, we headed back on the bus, although many people got rides with their parents instead. We stopped at In-and-Out and got food such as shakes, and then continued on the way back with the usual singing in the bus.

Michael and Kristen don In-and-Out hats.

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.

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.

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.

The First Football Game

Last night was the first football game for Pacific Grove this year, versus Ann Sobrato High School in Morgan Hill. We all went as part of band so we could play stands music and also at halftime. Since the PGHS stadium is being redone, our home stadium for this year is at the Monterey Peninsula College.

We met at the school at 5:30 and got our informal band uniforms, consisting of a polo shirt and a sweatshirt with black pants and shoes. Then we piled on the school bus and drove over to MPC. When we got there, everything was chaotic and Marcy Schaeffer, the drum major, reenacted the parting of the Red Sea to organize us into lines. After warming up and playing the national anthem and school fight song PG Will Shine, we entered the stadium and the first thing we saw was someone dressed up as our mascot, Billy Breaker, who skipped around the track and danced during the whole first half of the game. Every once in a while he would go around the audience in the front row and high-five everyone.

Our band took the spot in the bleachers with some assorted blips of music to play when something good happened in the game, such as Iron Man, Go Big Red, The Hey Song and many others. I have no clue how the game is played, so it was hard to know when we were supposed to play something. It was difficult because we were all extremely tightly packed in the stands, and we were required to wear the sweatshirts on top of the polo shirts, which was really hot even at 9 at night.

At halftime, we marched down onto the track and played three songs in the concert arc formation: Gimme Some Lovin', Green Onions, and Birdland. We followed this with PG Will Shine and then marched back into the stands. We had third quarter off to mill around and talk to spectators. During fourth quarter we mingled with the band from the other school. Unfortunately, we had to leave before the game was over because of transportation issues.

When we got back to the school, everyone was informed that there was going to be a band party at the home of Kristen Sanchez so we all walked down from the school. They had assorted party foods, including chips and guacamole, and a really good punch mixture of ginger ale, orange creme soda, and orange sherbet. The house had a Wii with Guitar Hero so we all crowded in the living room and played that for the remainder of the party. Tyler Chisman challenged Riley to Through the Fire and Flames, the hardest song on the game. Tyler did it on Hard and Riley on Expert. Unfortunately, it was so packed that I had to leave before I got a chance to play.

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.

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.

Goblin Green

After going on a morning walk around Asilomar and 17 Mile Drive, I went over to Michael's house. Aside from the usual activities... Guitar Hero, trampoline, and Rome Total War (as well as practicing clarinet/bassoon for almost an hour), I helped him paint some of his Warhammer miniatures. Warhammer is a fantasy battle game that Michael, Riley, and Matthew all play. It involves painting small miniatures, usually about an inch tall, and playing a huge battle game with them that can sometimes last all day, using dice, measuring tape, and a terrain table (the dining table covered with fake trees and grass).

I personally don't care much for the game; it is extremely pricy and turns take way too long in my opinion. However, painting the miniatures is still a lot of fun, and I ended up finishing four goblin archers in the half hour or so we were painting. I used, as would logically be expected, the color Goblin Green for the skin, and the cloak was Bestial Brown with a red ink wash. Various other paints were used for the weapons and such, including a metallic gold (what the "official" name is I have no clue).

Michael invited me back over for more of the same sort of activities.

The Demented Cartoon Movie!

A couple of years ago, Riley found this hilarious and quite odd animated Flash movie online:

Download the flash movie file here.

The Past Few Days

I've been kind of busy and lacking on writing, so I'll briefly run through the last couple of days...

Sunday morning was a church youth group meeting, and Michael and I decided to organize a church NERF battle at Cypress Street Park. I made a poster and the date is set for the 20^th of July. Later that evening, I went over to Michael's and we had a movie night and watched Austin Powers, as well as playing Guitar Hero.

Yesterday I went over to Michael's in the afternoon where we did the usual activities, as well as walking on the PG recreation trail. Later in the evening was a scout Court of Honor, where I was presented the Oceanography Merit Badge from last weekend. Following the normal one was Chris Simmons' Eagle Court of Honor, and the night concluded with some cake (from a distance it looked like it was going to be Angel Food Cake, but unfortunately it was normal vanilla cake; still good all the same) and ice cream.

This morning my mom took he and I (Riley was supposed to come as well, but didn't show up) to the Del Monte Forest where we had a NERF gun battle. We also planned for the church event later on, and I will make flags out of old home-ec materials to play Capture the Flag.

8th Grade in Review

Favorite Music Led Zeppelin Rush Queen The Beatles	Teachers Period 0) Mrs. Murphy; P.E. Period 1) Mrs. Rookstool; English Period 2) Mrs. Terry; Spanish I Period 3) Mr. Gamble; US History Period 4) Mr. Godfrey; Physical Science Period 5) Ms. DeMarco; Algebra I Period 6) Ms. Priest; Advanced Band
Popular Music Rap and Hip-Hop Genres

Friends

Michael Woodruff	Matthew Johnson

Tijmen Teering	Yann Brown	Austin Myers

Riley White	Oliver Bunten

Caledonia Park Picnic

Today was the last day of school, and the promotion picnic for 8^th graders at Caledonia Park, near the post office in PG. I woke up around the normal time, 6:30-ish, and wrote the entry for last night, and then got ready to leave. I got to school around 9:15 and waited for 20-or-so minutes for us to group in our homerooms before leaving. Cody stopped to listen to The Final Countdown on my iPod and was singing along through the whole song. The walk took about 15 minutes total, and we talked about numerous things on the way, while Oliver played his Nintendo DS while walking.

After we walked down, Oliver began taking pictures of everything and I, after eating a chocolate muffin, played catch with a football with Riley, Michael, and later Matthew as well. This lasted for the majority or the picnic and was very enjoyable. Other people were playing with giant beach balls that had somehow come into the vicinities. Later on, as Oliver joined in, we began a game of "monkey in the middle" with Oliver as the monkey. Mr. Godfrey, Mr. Gamble, and Mrs. Riedel were the only teachers I saw there, as most others had classes in other grades as well.

We took a break at a picnic table and Oliver and Matthew began playing a game of checkers on a huge checkerboard on the table. It soon turned into chaos, and checkers were scattered all over the grass. Nikki began listening to my iPod and singing along... "Riley in the Sky With Diamonds" and "Riley's Garden" along with other songs by the Beatles with Riley thrown in.



At noon the picnic ended, and I rode back to Matthew's house, where we had fish sticks for lunch and then played Wii and jumped on the trampoline. I also helped him set up a new Yahoo! email address.

Promotion Ceremonies

Last night was the 8^th grade promotion ceremony, and it was one of the last times I'll be at PGMS or see my friends in 7^th grade for quite a while. For the past few days in school, we had been rehearsing the ceremony for a couple of hours a day. I was wearing basically the same thing as my band uniform, but with a red shirt instead of white.

Mr. Bell, the principal, told us all to arrive at 5:30 so we would have time to get ready, but we actually ended up waiting for about 45 minutes in line in front of Room 13, the home-ec room. Cody Lee stood next to me and was singing Europe's The Final Countdown for almost the whole time. After a hugely long wait, we started walking out to the front of the school. Mr. Gamble gave us carnations to hold during the ceremony.

Download MP3 | MIDI

The "promotion ensemble", consisting of 6^th and 7^th grade band and orchestra members, began playing a fanfare followed by the classic Pomp and Circumstance. We began walking down the aisles and took seats on the stage. Ally Campion, our student-body president, announced that Cindy Chu and Hsinyi Shen would be playing a piano duet, Rondo á La Turk. Lindsey Morin, who I have known since 6^th grade gave a speech entitled Moving up the Ladder and four members of our chorus, Sean McKeon, Jackie Choi, Jane Rudy, and Mariah Cosgrove sang Seasons of Love. James Thomas gave a speech entitled Don't Walk Alone and the section closed with Aaron Shi's piano solo of Numb, which I thought he played really well.

After the performances were over, Ms. Riedel began reading off names. At the name Matthew Johnson my row was instructed to get up and went off to the stage-left wing. At the name Cody Lee who was right in front of me I went up to a piece of blue tape on the stage to wait, and then I was called up. Mr. Bell shook my hand and the superintendent gave me a blank piece of paper saying Diploma of Promotion.

After everyone had received their blank pieces of paper, we threw our carnations out into the audience and processed back down the aisle while the ensemble was playing Rites of Tamburo. After saying hi to Ms. Priest, Tijmen, Yann, and assorted parents, I went over to the gym for the dance.

The first song was a slow song that we danced with our parents, who were then instructed to leave so, as the flier said, the party could begin. Other than the really annoying hip-hop and rap music, it was quite fun and went by really quickly. There was a food table with really good chips and salsa, pizza, and sushi. At the end, Michael's dad dropped me off at my house around 10:00.

The Last Day of Jazz Band

Being the last day of after-school jazz, we had a party and Michael brought the popular game Guitar Hero III and the PS2 to play on. Last week, his mom challenged Ms. Priest to a face-off in the game, so today they played two songs. Ms. Priest won on the Rolling Stones' Paint It, Black on Medium, but Darla took the victory in Hard mode on Barracuda by Heart. Afterwards, we had free time to eat chips and play the game. I versed Riley on Paint It, Black on Medium while Riley played on Expert mode (even though he had never played the song, he owns Guitar Hero II). I beat him because of this advantage, but I refused to try it on Expert, being that I have only played the game about 10 times.

A Day (not) at Great America

Today most of the 8^th grade chose to go on the trip to Great America. However I decided not to go, saving 40 dollars that would have been spent sitting around eating Dippin' Dots since I don't really enjoy going on rides at theme parks. Michael, Riley, and Matthew went to Matthew's and played Warhammer and Wii for most of the day. However, having just recieved the perfect attendence award, I thought it wouldn't be right to be absent just after recieving it (last year someone was absent the day they were going to recieve the attendance award).

I stayed at school and had quite a bizarre day. In 1^st period, English, after reading Warriors: Firestar's Quest for 20 minutes, I went over to the art room with Mrs. Rookstool since I was the only one there. Since Mrs. Terry's room is right next door, I ended up just going over there for the rest of the period, and the next period as well because that actually was in Room 33. For 3^rd period, Mr. Gamble was giving a lecture to the 6^th graders about the similarities between Rome and the Galactic Empire in Star Wars. They actually had a lot in common, such as the senate room, the conversion from a republic to an empire, and the similarities between the caesar's Praetorian guards and Emperor Palpatine's crimson guards. I listened to this until the end of the period and then went to science, where I was soon ushered off back to Mrs. Terry's room to watch a National Geographic movie on deep sea creatures.

After lunch, Mrs. DeMarco was gone at Great America so I went over to Oliver's math class where we read quietly, and in band we watched the movie August Rush until the end of the day.

The Spring Concert

Last night was the last band concert of the year, and it went very well. This is the concert where all the groups at the school do 2-4 songs, usually ones we have practiced almost all year. However, this year we decided to change the songs we did at the last minute. As well as For Our Heroes, a song from the festival, we played two new songs: The Great Locomotive Chase and In a Gentle Rain. The latter mainly just featured soloists with a "rain" background by snapping, and Locomotive was a depiction of a civil war train chase, as it said in the description. In jazz, we played Bruiser's Blues and Woodchopper's Ball, also decided on at the last minute.

For the finale of the concert, a group of us who have been coming in at lunch about 2 times a week performed The Empire Strikes Back Medley, a collection of Star Wars songs from Episode V. Unfortunately, Riley, who plays the 1^st clarinet part with me, was absent so I had to cover it on my own.

A New Wall-Eyed Weirdo

Matthew and I made this update to the old Wall-Eyed Weirdos Make The World Go 'Round design and put it on a shirt. The original design was used on a birthday card for Riley, but I decided the wall-eyed weirdos on it were very crude looking, so we revised it. In my opinion, this is the best wall-eyed weirdo picture we have made.

You can buy the shirt at http://www.cafepress.com/
walleyed.261547584.


View with transparent background.

Music In The Parks

Today was the latest music competition, Music In The Parks at Milpitas High School. At 7 in the morning, we met at the middle school and split up onto three buses. Oliver brought his DS and played Pokémon Pearl on the ride.

We were running a bit late so when we arrived, we went straight on stage and played For Our Heroes and The Last Ride of the Pony Express. This time, we didn't mess up on the half tempo part, so hopefully we got a better score. Since our first chair trumpet Tyler was absent, Tijmen had to cover the first part.

After packing up our instruments, we watched the school orchestra play Capriccio Italian and Furiant in the gym, where we would later play in jazz band. After waiting around a bit longer and warming up in the back room, we played Count Basie's Jumpin' at the Woodside for Jazz Band, as well as our usual What Is Hip?.

Later on, most of the people went to Great America, to return at 9:30 PM, but I didn't want to because I don't really care for theme parks. I got a ride home with Michael, and we watched a South Park spoof on World of Warcraft on his iPod Touch and listened to music. Yann also had to leave early because he had a part in the school play, which is airing tonight.

The awards ceremony is at 6 this evening, so I'll post the results when I can.

Wii

Hopefully, soon I will get a Nintendo Wii. I am going to sell my GameCube and most of my games (excluding Super Smash Bros. Melee, Kirby Air Ride, and Super Mario Sunshine). Then I will be able to link up with Oliver, Michael, Riley, Matthew, Tijmen, Yann, and just about everyone else I know who has a Wii.

I plan on getting Super Smash Bros. Brawl first, as well as Wii Sports, of course.