Summer Snaps Shut

It's been a wonderful summer. Time was going by at a nice pace. But all of a sudden, this week came, and time just rolled downhill similarly to the way it's recommended to peel off a Band-Aid - "painlessly" and quick.

This summer, I did a LOT. And I'm very fulfilled by the number of items checked off my to-do list. I:

- saw Avenue Q with someone I love very deeply
- went to Rapids Water Park (twice!)
- had plenty of dinner-and-a-movie dates
- tried new food
- went to Seattle with family
- went on an Alaskan cruise with family
- went to a nifty place called Boomers - once with my boyfriend, the second time with my brother
- did a lot of shopping/female bonding time
- hung out with good company (mostly toward this week)
- watched the Olympics every night

- went to two Marlins games (against the Braves, and against the Cardinals)

This summer was, by far, the longest, and the most productive. I worked as much as I possibly could. As is evident, the economy is in a rough state. I didn't enjoy my job at Sears as much as I did last year, and I decided admist all the bitterness towards my job that this would be my last year. I took so much from my job, though. Last year, I was in love with it - my coworkers were phenomenal, I made a lot of money, and I learned a lot, including about adult responsibility. This year, I learned what a job truly is - hard work, and that you can't always look forward to it, let alone always enjoy it.I think it was a good break-up. I won't regret leaving, and the goodbye was not as hard as it could have been.

Along the course of goodbyes, I said a momentary farewell to my boyfriend as he left for college yesterday. It's back to our long-distance relationship. It still hasn't hit me that he's gone. At moments, I'll feel it - the loneliness, the love for him, the sadness - but then I return to my previous mind state, in which I'm focused on leaving tomorrow.

Band camp technically starts tomorrow. I have to report to the band trailer between 8 and 11 AM for check-in. My dad and I are driving up. More goodbyes in the morning. My apartment check-in begins at 1 PM, so it'll be quite a wait, but this year, I am rooming with two good friends, and the good friend of my roommate, Jessie. It'll be Ali, Jessie, Danielle, and I sharing the apartment on-campus, and it's going to be a wonderful assignment, I'm sure. I am happy to be with friends with whom I'm comfortable, and things will go smoothly (so long as we don't get too distracted by each other when we should be studying).

Hopefully, I'll be updating this blog more often this year. I think it'll be good for me. I hope to see any of you who actually read this (ha ha) soon. Otherwise, I'll be happy to get down those itches in the back of my head. Have a wonderful morning/day/evening.

This basically sums it up:

"We had fire in our eyes
In the beginning I
Never felt so alive.
In the beginning you
You blame me but
It's not fair when you say that I didn't try.
I just don't want to hear it anymore.

I swear I never meant to let it die.
I just don't care about you anymore.
It's not fair when you say that I didn't try.
I just don't care about you anymore.

We had time on our side.
In the beginning we
We had nothing to hide.
In the beginning you
You blame me but
It's not fair when you say that I didn't try.
I just don't want to hear it anymore.

I swear I never meant to let it die.
I just don't care about you anymore.
It's not fair when you say that I didn't try.
I just don't care about you anymore.

You say that I didn't try.
You say that I didn't try.
You say that I didn't try.

I swear I never meant to let it die.
I just don't care about you anymore.
It's not fair when you say that I didn't try.

I just don't care about you anymore.
I just don't care about you anymore.
I just don't care about you anymore.
I just don't care about you anymore.
I just don't care about you anymore."


Courtesy of "Let It Die" by Three Days Grace.

"We live on Avenue Q!"

I have just bought tickets to one of my favorite musicals - Avenue Q. I've been listening to the soundtrack for some time now, and I haven't had the pleasure of witnessing the show, yet.

I'd introduced the soundtrack to my boyfriend last year, and we fell in love with it. We planned for two tickets to the Miami show to be our main three-year anniversary present. I've been waiting since late 2007 for March 30, 2008 to purchase the tickets. At 12 PM, I went nuts. The tickets were officially on sale.

Unfortunately, many tickets (for various events) are available for sale most conveniently through Ticketmaster.com. There are a few things that bother me about this web site.

Sometime late last year, I bought tickets to an Elton John concert on campus. I'd been offered the most amazing seats in the arena, and after checking a few other Internet windows, to make sure those were the best seats I could possibly find, I bought the tickets. When I printed out the receipt, I found that I'd actually just bought tickets for a seating area at the far side of the arena where I wouldn't be able to see Sir John's face. I called Ticketmaster, and they gave me closer seats, but they were not the original seats that I'd intended on paying for.

Today, I had orchestra circle seats in the opera house. I opened a few more windows, just to make sure those seats were the best, and when I got to the receipt, I saw that Ticketmaster had ended up selling me tickets for Tier Two.

Fortunately, this is not a problem. The tickets cost the same amount of money in these two seating areas, and I believe that Tier Two may offer a better view, since it is at a higher altitude. Perhaps the acoustics will be better, as well. Perhaps it does not matter.

But I implore you to keep one window open when buying tickets. Find the priority seating areas when you use Ticketmaster, and when you have one, grab it. Using Ticketmaster to find seats is like gambling. And you can definitely lose everything.

When you're at the show, you will have a good time. They are making arenas and concert houses today that offer a wonderful experience from every seating area. And when you're at the show, you will enjoy it, regardless of your seat. Especially when you consider how much you paid for your seat.

But perhaps just as frustrating as this, Ticketmaster requires that you retype some words they give you, just to assure that there is fairness in the system, e.t.c., e.t.c.

If you fail to enter the word correctly, you receive a prompt.

I wouldn't be so irked if the words were easier to read. Sometimes it's easy to make out the letters, but sometimes "b"s look like "n"s, and "n"s have dots over them, and then you wonder if that's really an "n", or if it's an "i" with a short "l" next to it, and oh, my gosh, someone is going to get the better tickets if I don't hurry up!

Now, this one is a bit clumped in the second word, with strange markings around the "o" (unless it's a "q").

But perhaps this is my favorite. I can almost swear that that first word is a Japanese character.

Well, anyhow, I am quite excited to see Avenue Q with my loved one. It's going to be a wonderful night. Just another month and a half, or so, to go. After a rough week, buying these tickets really perks me up.

From a Knight's Perspective

"Wield your sword!" he commanded, his eyes attempting to penetrate into whatever darkness could possibly exist within my soul.

I did not move.

"Why do you not brandish your weapon!" he screamed, utterly shocked and aggravated by my stillness.

"I do not wield my sword for those men such as you," I answered, curtly.

My enemy dropped the metal face guard of his helmet with the intent of covering his eyes so I would not be able to see the fury accumulating on his face.

"Then I shall remove it for you!" he decided, clicking his heels into his horse and heading straight for me as I stood with my feet on the ground in front of him.

And I still would not wield my sword, I swore, as I watched my enemy charge full-on towards me on his black-as-night horse.

For now...

I do not have time to post what I have been meaning to, so to hold this blog over, I will be posting a picture that I found funny in a "Nintendo Power" magazine.



If you can't read it, the picture's caption says: "You're probably wondering how we got this picture of your mom, but in fact this is actually a screenshot of Giga Bowser."


That is all.

"Male voices!"

This weekend, my boyfriend of three years visited for Valentine's Day/our three-year anniversary. A good friend of mine had given me a bunch of soundtrack CDs, including the soundtrack from the movie 300. There are many vocals throughout the tracks, however, the words are indistinguishable (probably because they are in a foreign language - most likely Latin). So we've got an ongoing joke where we pick a segment of the song, and sing, "Male voices!" with the appropriate rhythm and pitch. It is actually quite funny, as well as quite annoying, which just adds to the effect because we're band geeks like that.

Thought I'd fill you in.

Anyhow, more about me: I am currently registered as a Communications major, because when I was admitted into UCF, I believed that I wanted to major in Interpersonal Communications. Such is not the case any more.

Similar to all universities, UCF has a freshmen orientation before classes begin. During my own orientation, I went from Undeclared to Communications. The second day of orientation, I decided I wished to be Journalism (Pending, that is, due to limited materials in the college). For many months, I held onto this idea, but did not officially convert into a Journalism major.

Now, I am 90% sure (as a guestimate) that I would like to be an Advertising/Public Relations major (better known as Ad/PR). Unfortunately, the Nicholson School of Communications only admits 40 students per semester into this degree, and besides the easy requirements, admission is based primarily on GPA. According to an advisor I had the pleasure of speaking to (...I think), the average GPA admitted last year was 3.6.

I do not believe this to be a problem because, currently, I have a 3.55 GPA (from 15 credits). This semester, I am maintaining 17 credits. This is how my class enrollment appears now:

Finite Math
American Government
English Composition II
World Civilizations II
Spanish II
Concert Band

I picked some very difficult classes and excellent professors (who just happen to be difficult, also). However, I am doing very well, academically. Unfortunately, decent academics sometimes correlate with decreasing sanity and a burnt mentality.

Nevertheless, I will conquer straight "A"s this semester. I will admit that it may kill me, but...at least I'll die with a smile on my face...? (Maybe a forced smile...? Does that count?)

Needless to say, I don't know anyone who approves of an academic death. That's part of the reason for this little keepsake - this subtle blog. It may be just one among millions, but it is mine, and I hope to make it enjoyable for those who stumble upon it.

The enjoyable blogs I have found on Blogger include witty quotes, intruiging photographs/pictures/cartoons, and wise insights. Well, unfortunately, my 8-hour studying spree today did not leave much wittiness and profoundness to extend to anyone, but I do have pictures.

So, for now, I shall leave you with this:

Oh, hey. Would you look at that? A witty comment. And it's profound, too.

Hear ye, hear ye.

This pretty much sums up my life thus far.

I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Michelle, and I am a proud Knight at the University of Central Florida.

I have been in marching band, as well as concert bands for the past five years. Until this year, I was also in jazz band. Currently, I am a freshman, and I am still adjusting to chaotic college life.

I've played the piano and the clarinet for many years, but I am also a writer, a reader, a listener, and a profound thinker. I have gone through horrors of the mind and I have found the splendors of Life.

The picture above defines me as an optimist. I suppose I deeply respect the cognitive school of psychological thought. I believe that positive thoughts can drastically impact a person's perspectives, behaviors, and emotions.

I hope to succeed in maintaining an enjoyable blog. Now that the informalities are out of the way, I look forward to verbalizing some thoughts. I bid thee adieu, as well as a fine, fine evening. I hope these words meet eyes in time.