I can already hear the graduation music in my head and it's only November. Our entire marching season for band is over and it has been so long since my last post that i haven't shared the fact that our new director from last year got fired. Needless to say, this year was pretty chaotic. We had really cool jazz music for the show (he listened to my request!), but we really didn't do anything special with it. This was my last high school marching season, and it just doesn't come close to my freshmen or sophomore years. Enough complaining though, I think this new director will work out just fine; he is old school and I like that.

Speaking of school and graduation this year, I am fighting hard for the number 1 spot in my class, although it seems out of reach as I am number 3 at the moment and trail by a significant amount. I didn't relax at all for my senior year. I am taking band, AP English 4, AP European History, AP Economics and AP Government, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, and Differential Equations. Speaking of all that math, my math teacher is one of the best teacher's I've ever had, if not the best. My history teacher falls in the same category; why else would I be taking an optional history class? Enough on that though, school is going very well and I'm having a ball.

My computer...has changed since April. I have replaced my 6800 OC w/ an ATI X850XT PE AGP video card. (I know, go ahead and hate on the AGP) It runs great though! I really like it. I finally have all my music in a digital library. 2700 legally purchased tracks of country music on my computer, my MP3 player, and my external laptop hard drive. Country music wherever I go, this is great!

Big two weeks coming up in European history. We are playing the Congress of Vienna game. My team is Great Britain and we must negotiate with four other powers in the class (Russia, Prussia, Austria, and France). We are scored based on the land we get that is in the BEST interest of our country. It will be fun, but I need to study up!

I'm also getting tired, and I have to work in the morning, so until next time, "Don't Rock the Jukebox!"

I finally finished upgrading one piece at a time, here is what my machine is now.

Athlon 64 3500+ 90nm

MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum

2*512mb Crucial Ram (3-3-8-3) I know it's slow!

BFG Geforce 6800 OC (I got it for $70, that's why I didn't get a 6800GT)

Sound Blaster Audigy ES

52x32x52x16 Samsung CDRW/DVD Combo

Floppy Drive

9in1 Card Reader

Western Digital 200g SATA Hard Drive

Antec TrueBlue 480 Watt PS

Viewsonic P95f+b CRT Monitor

Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop Elite (Something like that)

Thermaltake Shark Case (black)

2 Blue CC Lights

That's All folks!!!

YEA!!! I'm going to have fun tonight. Anyways, I start working this weekend and I can't wait fot the first pay check. I want to upgrade to a Athlon 64 3400+, 768 Mb Ram, 6800 GT card, and huge hard drive. I wonder how long it'll take. Maybe by the time I get the cash some of those parts will be lower in cost. Good luck to me!

Don't buy them. They corrupt your data every time, and even though I was able to salvage mine [data], don't buy them. It's too much of a hassle. Just fork out a little more money for the first party card. Oh yea, Pikmin 2= GREAT game, and thank the lord too, I finally got to wipe the dust off my Gamecube.

Well, graduation is getting closer and closer, but right now I have to deal with junior Humanities (AP US History and AP English III). The teachers are both coaches, Berg (Softball), and Showers (Basketball), and they're both unforgiving. They give out homework like people do candy at Halloween (or at least like the amount people USED to give out at Halloween). They don't cut any slack, and they don't care about any life you may have outside of school. Nevertheless, I should just stop whining, I'm handling it just fine. I just realize that this year I'll have to work for my A.

As for the other five classes, they're very easy and simple. One is communication graphics, which is no problem at all since I like to think I know a lot about computers. Two others are P-AP Physics and P-AP Pre-Cal, which are super easy since I love and excel in math and science. My first period class is the super fun one, band. However this band year has brought new challenges... (see below) Remember I said these five classes were easy, I lied. I also have French II which I need to graduate, and it's been two years since French 1 and the horrible teacher that has since left. (scheduling conflict sophomore year) Somehow, I think I will manage. Anyways, on to what I really need to vent about.

Band is way different this year. Our band director left for monetary reasons (family) to another school and left us high and dry. My high school is only in its 5th year, but in our first four years the SHS Band has been known as one of the best, and also one of the most entertaining. Unlike other schools in our area, we play fun, exciting music at halftime that the crowds just love. However, out new director has favored a less exciting, more musical show this year (not that our past shows weren't musical). Which is surprising since our new director is a former student of our old director. Anyways, to wrap this up so I can go to bed, our new band directors does things differently and doesn't know a lot about us or our traditions, so a lot falls on the leaders. And myself, as trumpet drill captain, am responsible for everything that goes on in the trumpet section. There has been a lot of pressure on me, as well as other leaders, to really come through. Fortunately, I think we are and that this year is going to go by very well.

To summarize school so far, I am enjoying it as always, but between practice everyday and all the homework, I barely have time to browse Gamespot, which really makes me a little ticked. Fortunately though, I do have a little bit of time to browse and as always the site is awesome. Let me throw in a few plugs for GS LIVE.

Lets Gamespot- Watch it !!! http://www.gamespot.com/gslive/letsgamespot.html?tag=gs_lnav_letsgamespot

Button Mashing- Love it !!! http://www.gamespot.com/gslive/buttonmashing.html?tag=gs_lnav_buttonmashing

On The Spot- Every Thursday @ 4:00 P.M. PST