Hell Week????

Yes last week could have been the death of me!

First off, SIX tests were on the agenda for last week... (if you didn't know I am in SEVEN classes, one of which is Choir.) so this clearly means I had a test in every subject.

So as you can tell my nights consisted of staying locked in my dorm, (one, due to the sub-zero weather, and two, did i mention it was like -20!!!)

First, came an 8am Monday morning test, still haven't heard what I got on it, all I know is that what she has been talking about the last month didn't match up one bit to her test? I felt like I walked into a calculus III test with only algebra I.

Second, came a well needed study day on Tuesday, which only meant that Thursday would be another crappy day.

Wednesday came with only a Bio lab, (which I do believe I owned!) Oh and did I mention that my car died today?!?! Ya and had to walk three miles back to campus. Too much fun!

Thursday, as you can tell Rocked My Socks! Not only did i freeze till almost 10 the night before, but I also had THREE tests. Bio, Oral Communications, and Humanities 3. None of which were so exciting to chair the results from....

Finally, Thursday night came and I was dead. Friday I actually did not have a test... And yes I double checked. Does this mean I stayed up and celebrated... oh heck no. I was in bed by 9...

And as you may know. My weekend consist of 20 hours of working two jobs and as you can tell I had no car.

One good thing came out of this entire week... That is that I will never live through this again... (knock on wood!)

So tonight I celebrated by getting the whole 3$ back from my tax return and spent it on a nice ice cream sundae at the Market. I hope you all had a magnificent week and hope this warmer weather brings much needed outdoor exploration!

Until Next Time,

B

Scared or Excited???

It is winding down. This thirteen year life. Our lives are all about to change, somes' will change drastically and somes' will only change a little. These days are what we lived for and now we are living for a new day. I don't know if I should be scared or if I should be excited.
Day to day we never really see the end coming near. Everyone knows they have four years left when you become a freshman, and man can you not wait to get out. It is so much harder than middle school but nothing compares to what it feels like to be done. Where do we go from here? I have only spent 18,720 hours in school give or take a 1,000 for some of us. It might sound like a life time but really it is not even a quarter of our lives.
We can only hope that our years to come are as joy filled and fun as these were. Walking the halls without passes and being able to just leave if our stomachs hurt. It will all change very soon. Some of us will cry, some of us will laugh, and some will not even show up. For all of us we can tell ourselves that we did it. It will be different and exciting but also scary.

10 Things I Learned In NEW YORK CITY

The first thing i learned when I arrived in New York was that people don't really care about anyone but themselves. Unlike the great state of Iowa, people in New York are very selfish and full of themselves in a way. I wouldn't say they all are like that though. It was you against every other person out there.

The second thing I learned in NYC was that walking equals the city. People don't own cars, instead they walk or take the bus/subway train everywhere. It is a large change from getting in your car and driving ten to twenty miles to the next town. Overall I can say I walked twenty five miles. Man I was tired!

Third off I learned that the traffic in New York City is the worse in the world. I couldn't imagine living and having to drive anywhere within the city. Road Rage is something that pretty much runs through my blood. Just the sight of some of the roads and traffic and all the horns makes my blood boil.

The fourth thing was how different people talk and all the slang and different words they use. One major example would be our dinner at the Italian Mia restaurant. The woman taking care of us didn't have a quiet bone in her body. From the second I walked in she was screaming "GOD BLESS AMERICA! SIT SIT SIT!" From that minute forward I was only there for the food. At one point I thought to myself that after the one hundredth time she said "GOD BLESS AMERICA" I really started to think she really didn't love America...

The fifth thing I learned was there were black squirrels in New York. Walking through a park in north Manhattan Ashley stopped the group and pointed and yelled "BLACK SQUIRREL!" Believe it or not it was black, and not very shy either. The group continued on but not without a good laugh. Thanks Ashley!

The sixth thing I learned was that homeless people don't like to be touched. Walking down Broadway Ave. Kalli accidentally bumped into a homeless guy and out of no where the man started yelling and mumbling horrible words to Kalli and our group. I'm not going to repeat any of the things he said but I'm sure you can imagine.

Seventh thing I learned was money was not meant to stay in my pocket. Money blew through my hands faster than I could walk. I wouldn't say everything was expensive but when you buy a lot of stuff you get the feeling that money soon vanishes.

The eighth thing I learned while in NYC was that your friends are what makes everything better. Walking through Time Square and walking with your best friends was a great experience. I couldn't pick a better group to go on a once in a life time trip.

The ninth thing on my top ten list of things I learned in NYC was our tour guide Janet. Janet was an awesome person to give us a tour. She was born in New york City and lived there ever since. She knew everything and was very easy to ask questions to. Thanks Janet.

And finally the TENTH thing I learned was about CHINATOWN. Chinatown was an experience I will never forget! It is like walking into a different world. Kt, Kalli, Sydney and me were trying to find the "purse people" and it was not hard to find them. Actually they found us. We soon experienced a true purse go down. It felt like we were in a movie and the police would jump out at anytime. We finally got the purses and were on our way to the next stop in New York City!

Over all New York City was an amazing place to visit and these are only a few spots and places that were awesome. I would recommend the great city to any tourist!

I was Brought to my Senses

I was brought to my senses. Just recently I went to a vocal jazz festival at Southwestern Community College in Creston. It was an experience that I look forward to every year. At school I am apart of the ADM Vocal Jazz Choir. It is a select group of sixteen people who sing a large repertoire of jazz, a'capella, and select ballets that require a much greater level of music ability. We perform about 20 to 30 performances a year and everyone is a different experience.

We sing for all of the home concerts, which are not as strict as some of the competitions we go to like State Jazz. State Jazz is where every vocal jazz group goes to compete for a division one, two, three, or four rating. This year our jazz choir received a high two, which is a great honor because only about ten schools in the state received a one rating. Another thing the ADM jazz choir performs at is the SWCC and Kirckwood festivals. These festivals are experiences that are indescribable.

We leave around 6 in the morning, along with about 25 other schools from all over the Midwest. When we get to the college we perform for upwards of 500 people and are watched by a professional group or individual. These groups come from all over the world like the Idea of North from Australia, The Real Group from Sweden, and Rajaton from Finland. We also saw m-pact from L.A. All of these groups go around the world performing and clinician festivals. Once we have performed we are taken into another room and clinic ed for about an hour and work with the professional group. This experience is awesome because you learn so much in that one hour and feel great walking out of the room.

The rest of the day is spent watching other choirs from all over. These groups are just as good as us or even better. Later that night we are invited to a performance by the performing group. These concerts are awesome and beat any concert I have ever seen by a world famous singer.

Once the concert is over and we have seen upwards of 20 schools perform we are on our way home at around eleven at night. It was a long day but I wouldn't trade it for the world. Well I would trade positions with a professional up on stage.

For the love of "who's next"....

Sitting at home tonight I found exactly what I didn't want to watch. A marithon of reality love drama vh1. Now you may wonder y I would even stop for this crap. Well when you see something as funny as young men and women trying to throw themselves at other men and or women for the slim chance that they fall in love is pretty entertaining if you ask me. I found out a lot about the famous love life of some R&B hip hop singer by the name RayJ.

So when I turned the tv on and saw this guy and some women making out instantly caught my eye... Then out of no where he kissed some other girl. Now if I were the girl he just kissed and saw him with some Ther girl I would probably kick someone, but I guess when you think you are in love with a famous millionaire u will let them walk all over you. Now that this show has caught my eye I start to see who is gunna win RayJ's love. Now really every tv show that is like this I don't think even a fifth of them work out.

So after three hours of "for the love of rayj" I have seen the winner of true love and a happy ever after. Now all of these shows were filmed like a year ago so I went online and researched just how long mr. J and miss berry were together. And to my surprise they r togeher today... So maybe my one fifth is now like two fifths. So after wasting three hours of my nice cold snow day I have come to realize that there are a lot of hopeless people out there in search of something they can't have! So someday you may see me with a show by the name of "For The Love of Bryce". Probably not!

LAS

Sin City! The two words that stick with you forever, rather it be bad or good. I recently went to Las Vegas with a few friends and on friend's family. We attended the Tournament of Champions. Which is a PBA Tour event. For all of you out there that don't know what PBA stands for; it is Professional Bowling Association. If you didn't already know I am an obsessed bowler. I bowl almost as much as a pro bowler.

Anyway, this was my first time to Sin City, and let me tell you that it was an unforgettable expierence! We landed in LAS about noon on Friday and instently I was amazed. Growing up in Des Moines and seeing the dinky DES airport was nothing compared to LAS. We landed and had to ride a mile long tram to the baggage claim. Austin's aunt picked us up and drove us right down Las Vegas Boulevard. If you haven't seen it in person and only on TV, you are missing out!

We stayed at Austin's aunt and uncle's house with their two little girls. Their house was located on the north side of Las Vegas and was crammed in a gated community the size of Minburn and with four times as many houses in it. They didn't have grass, or a yard of any kind. One plus is that every house has a pool! I couldn't complain about that! The weather was kinda chilly for Las Vegas but for an Iowa kid it was heaven! 50 and sunny was perfect coming from 12 degrees and windy and icey and snowy and ya... CRAPPY!

So anyway the reason we went out to Las Vegas was for a bowling tournament. The Tournament of Champions! We bowled bright and early Saturday morning and also go an autographed bowling pin by all 62 members of the tournament. It was an awesome expeirence! After the tournament we walked the strip. Yes the famous Las Vegas Strip. Where we saw the MGM Grand, Luxor, New York New York, and so many more. Not to mention the Ferrari dealer and Lamborgini dealer.

All in all my trip to Sin City wasn't full of sin... This time!

Deer + Car = New Car???

Yes, the common animal we all remember from our childhood memories "Bambie". You may think of Bambie as a cute little deer that lost his mother and found his father. Although Bambie is cute and little deer that seems smart and full of happiness, it is full of unpredictable behaviors.

Driving home from the hospital because my grandparents forgot a bag while they were staying for chemo treatments. On Hwy 6 just east of Adel I was with my friend Austin while going the speed limit I hit a large deer. you may find this a little ironic since no more than 2 miles before I hit it I was joking about a deer that we saw. As my friend was yelling "OH SHIT OH SHIT", I was not prepared for the moments ahead. The deer did more damage than a small child with a hammer. My red Saturn vue was now a beat up sore vue. My hood was bent, bumper was nonexistent, and my fenders and radiator were scattered throughout the highway. As I got out and looked at my car and the smoke was billowing out. I was almost happy... For once it wasn't my fault for when I recked a car. HAHA.

Now two weeks later I have gotten my check from my insurance company and successfully bought a new car. A 2006 Malibu SS! Smoking hot. So now every time I drive down Hwy 6 I will never forget the deer that LIVED and my car that died.