One for another.

Climbing up the High School hierarchy has been an interesting journey thus far. Really, it has.

Freshman year..well, I was a freshman. Confused, new, and totally without any clue what I was getting into.

Sophomore year..I was less clueless, confused, and not so new. I enjoyed having freshman below me but knew very well I still had Juniors and Seniors above me.

Junior year…finally an upperclassman and boy, was it nice! This year did harvest some of my most disliked classes in High School.

But now, I’m a Senior. The big guns in the school. The highest of the high. (Not including administration and teachers, obviously.) The freshman so wish they were in our shoes and we’re glad we have 7-8 months before we’re in that position of freshie again.

So far, out of the two days of school, Senior year is going to be pretty cool. We got a free breakfast on the first day, which is always nice. But going to school felt so..surreal? It definitely felt like I was a freshman again, terribly creepy deja vu. Senior year and freshman year are stand alone years. One you’re adjusting and acclimating because you’re new, the other you’re getting ready to leave it all behind. Seniors are busy worrying about college applications and where they’ll end up, while freshman are worried about fitting in and finding their way.

Every Senior knows our last day is May 25. Then June 3rd, we graduate. Senior Picnic is May 22. Throughout the year, we’ll be treated and admired for being Seniors.

This year is going to be a year of change and tough decisions. Not just with college, but friends and how things will pan out when we leave. I’ve already had to make the decision to not run Track my Senior year. I love my coach to death, he’s an awesome guy, but running a marathon and track just doesn’t seem like it’ll work out. Cross training probably won’t play out in my or the team’s favor.  I don’t want to let him down because of the marathon, but there’s no way I can not run this marathon. It’s a personal vendetta for me. It’s my way of saying “OK, cancer, take that!”.  I AM doing it. But nothing will ever beat sprinting, anticipation at the start, and the fight for the finish. I am and always will be a sprinter at heart.

Track season was cool the last three years, but this time around, it’s just not working. The hard part? Telling him. Or having him ask me come track season. But I know he’ll understand, he always does. He’s just a cool coach like that.

You know you’re from Cincinnati when….

Thanks to the help from my lovely cohorts at the Bengals.com message board, I present..

 ”You know you’re from Cincinnati when…”

• You know that Reading Road is pronounced “RED”ing Road and NOT “READING” Road.
• You remember when the Bengals last went to the Superbowl that gas was $1.09/gal.
• You know how to spell our city and it’s not:
  Cincinati
  cincinatti
  Cincinnatti
  Cinninati
  (for other versions check out EBay)
• You go to “Cookouts” not “BBQ’s”.
• You “warsh” your clothes after you come home from “Warsh”ington!
• You know a cross-town shootout isn’t a big fight in the wild west, but a basketball game between two Cincinnati college rivals!
• You pronounce our lovely city “sin-sin-nat-tee” not “sin-sin-na-ta”.
• You take a leisurely summer drive through a suburban neighborhood and you see five or more cornhole games being played.
•  Instead of saying “what?” or “huh?” you say “please?”.
• You add an “s” to the end of grocery store names, such as Kroger(s), Meijer(s).
• You recognize that Anthony Munoz is a former NFL Player and not a furniture salesman.
• You’ll go to your grave reminding people that Pompilios was in the movie Rainman.
•  Your favorite convenient store sounds like a labor union (United Dairy Farmers).
• You know what cream ale is, and you think that cream soda should be bright red (BARQ’S!).
• You hate Pittsburgh (even though you’ve probably never been there).
• You ask the waitress for a three way and it isn’t a sexual proposition. 
• A hoagy is a piece of cube steak with pizza sauce or mushroom sauce and cheese. Not a deli meat sandwich. 
• When you measure travel in time not miles.(ex.”That’s a half hour drive”)

Unfinished

Suffering from a very severe case of writer’s block isn’t much fun. Trying to be optimistic about it doesn’t seem to soothe it either.

For the past four or five days, I’ve been trying to think of something to write, a good mind clinching topic. What have I come up with? Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Not a darn thing.

I threw, almost literally, a lot of ideas around. I could start with this and take it to that, or maybe this but that is probably better, and so on. Knowing I have any kind of an audience adds more pressure to the pot, but I got over that. I’ll always have some kind of an audience, and by no means can I please everyone.

I’ve been so busy with marching band, everything else has kind of fallen to the second rung of the ladder. But I didn’t think my lack of time would leave me stumped in front of the computer-but obviously, it did.

Apparently the best cure for writer’s block is to write about how you, a writer, are blocked. So guess what I’m doing? Writing to you, the reader, about how I-the writer, am blocked. It’s like a typical construction area.everyone has somewhere to go, but there’s always someone in your way.

It’s been long, but the summer’s gone.

It’s iPod time!

I have my iPod, affectionately named Who Dey, on shuffle. I’m listing the first 20 songs, embarrassing or not, and why they were good enough to be put on my music listening device.

1. Sheryl Crow “Strong Enough” –Ok, she just rocks. Good lyrics, nice rhythm.
2. Jeannie Ortega “Crowded–This was an iTunes free song download. Very catchy but that’s about it.
3. Coldplay “White Shadows”– This doesn’t even really need an explanation, but anyway. An amazing song by an absolutely amazing band. I recommend Coldplay to everyone.
4. The Verve-”Bittersweet Symphony”–Another classic. My life song, pretty much.
5. The Decemberists-“On The Bus Mall”– Very soothing instrumentation and the lead singer has an unique singing voice. Kind of angst-y, but still good.
6. Sarah McLachlan-”Angel”-This song reminds of me of Cincinnati’s 1999 tornado, 9/11, etc..etc..it can apply to any kind of disaster. Sad but I love it.
7. Bob Seger-”Still The Same”-One of the best songs ever made. I LOVE it. Reminds of a lot of people in my life, and no, not because they play cards.
8. The Killers-”Smile Like You Mean It”- Lyrics I can relate to by a possible one hit wonder band.. we’ll see how their second CD does. I love their drummer though, very talented.
9. Fall Out Boy-”Dance Dance”-Ok lyrics, but very catchy. Not a band I really like overall.
10. Sugar Ray “Someday”– I miss Sugar Ray. A optimistic song, with nice guitar.
11. Minus the Bear-”Absinthe Fly Honey Warehouse”   A band with perfect instrumentation, good drums, and unique lyrics and vocals.
12. DecembeRadio-”Love Found Me”–Another free iTunes download. Catchy, decent lyrics, probably won’t download any of their other songs as they don’t have anything terribly unique to them.
13. The Beatles- “When I’m 64″–..It’s the Beatles!          
14. The Fray-”All At Once”-I love the lead singers voice, plus their songs have good meanings behind all of them. I definitely recommend this band.
15. James Blunt-”Out Of My Mind- He’s amazing, both musically and lyrically. If you’ve only listened to his hit single, “You’re Beautiful”-check out the entire CD.
16. NSYNC-”Bye Bye Bye”-HAHAHAHA. I knew an embarrassing song would surface. It’s catchy. That’s it.
17. Simon and Garfunkel-”Cecila”-…it’s Simon and Garfunkel! It’s a good song to run to.
18. Kayne West-Touch The Sky”-A very good “common, keep going” kind of song. He’s a very talented rapper when he tries, definitely surprised me.
19. Supertramp-”Take The Long Way Home”-This one speaks for itself.
20. Enya-”China Roses”-Absolutely gorgeous instrumental artist in general, good for relaxing and mellowing out.

“And Set”

I am calling a temporary hiatus on my blogging efforts for at least a week and a half. Reason? Marching band season has started. And since I’m not in the swing of things just quite yet, I’m ridiculously tired all the time.

 Now a lot of outsiders to the whole aurora of Marching Band don’t realize just how much time it takes up. My schedule looks like this:

This week: Monday-Friday 8:40-3:00

Next week: Monday-Thursday 8-8, Friday-8-12

Third week: Monday-Thursday 8-4, Friday 8-12

Once school starts I will have practice every day but Friday and competitions on every Saturday. So, I’d say that’s busy.