Turtle weigh in

Turtle peace

Today was a half day at school. I love half days! First of all, we get to have Chick Fil A for lunch. That's enough right there, but also, we often get time to work in our rooms. We got to work in our rooms for about 4 hours today. I got SO MUCH done. When I list my accomplishments, it won't sound like much, but it was a lot! I documented parental contact for the 5 students who are failing band. I sent in our festival entry form. Level V. Wow. I spent all of my budgeted allotment. I bought four new instruments. I can't wait to get them! A xylophone, a bass clarinet, a mellophone, and a baritone. Tonight I will concentrate on buying music.

Saturday is a big day for us. The students perform at Wesleyan College for the March for a Cure. Then some students perform at the symphony that evening.

I will be glad when marching season is over. I'm tired of the stress caused by the students wanting to play rap music. Kenneth is a great kid, but he wrote out Never Been Scared and when I checked the lyrics, there's just no way we could play that! Especially now that Peach Co. has gotten so much attention. Ugh.

I guess I didn't have anything noteworthy to say today. Although I must admit I am wanting to commit to at least one more year at Rutland. Everytime I say that out loud I think OH NO! Not one more year! This is it--the last year. The band is truly dead, but part of me wants to see just how bad next year will be!

That's enough for now.

Turtle FURY!!!

I hate parents. Band parents that is. Corey Dinkins' mother in particular. That woman has NEVER shown up at school for one thing--not a band concert, not an SST for her poor failing son, NOTHING. But she was at the Booster meeting tonight to attack me in front of everyone about how unfair this punishment is to the students who were involved. She wanted to know why I didn't bench them from the competition. She said I let them go to the competition so I could have all that glory. SHe's an idiot. And her son is even more of an idiot. I appreciate Jelisa's mom (Jelisa and Corey are gf and bf--so that made it extra special) sticking up for me, even if it was in a sort of left-handed way. And of course Mrs. Groves didn't say anything in front of anyone else, but after everyone was gone, she said she supported my decision.

I got news for everyone of those STUPID drummers (man, I wish I was a cursing kind of person because there are some words I sure would like to spit out), if they think band is supposed to be fun, they are SO WRONG. Band is where you learn about music. Band is where you teach your soul to feel. It has nothing at all to do with fun. If fun is some kind of by-product so be it, but it's not an intentional outcome.

I just hate that woman. And I hate her son. I want him gone. She told Corey and he started mouthing off about getting me to quit like the directors at Westside. HA! They'll make me stay even longer now!

Hmmm, maybe the Bennetts put them up to this.

A turtle for Rosie

I love Rosie O'Donnell. Always did. But now especially.

She has blog buttons, and I have a blog. So there.

A Turtle Contest

Things are going really well. I discovered I've lost about 5 more pounds! I'm not really even trying, so it's so great to actually be losing. I'm not exercising at all. But I eat a good breakfast, no lunch (bad--I know) and usually a sensible supper, so perhaps it's paying off. I sure would like to get down to a more normal weight. It's so weird to me how I don't feel the least bit fat and don't even look fat to myself in a mirror, but the truth is I am morbidly obese! I am one of those death-inviting, chronic-disease-in-the-making fat people who costs this county zillions of dollars a year. It's so strange how reality doesn't line up with perception. So anyway, hopefully I can continue to lose (I need to work much harder at it) and become a more normal person.

The band did really well yesterday. We scored II, I, II in the festival with CG and PC receving IIs also. Renee' got a I and she so deserved it. In the contest portion, we scored a II, III, II. CG got a III, PC a II, and Renee' a II. But we came in 3rd in our class!!!!! That was completely unexpected! The kids had a great day! They enjoyed watching the other bands and they really loved winning the Most Spirit Award! That was so cool! 893 blowpops!

We watched the DVD today. Gosh, it was pretty good! I"ll send a copy to Beth. She'll enjoy seeing it.

I don't have much to say today. Probalby shouldn't have started wrting. I'm avoiding housework. I need to take out the trash, so let me get to that.

Turtle goes to competition

Here it is--Friday afternoon. I have to go to school in about 40 minutes. i thought I'd post some pre-game thoughts here so that I can see if what I think and what ends up are true.

Tonight we have a game in Lamar County. We have to perform before the game. That will make the game much longer than usual. I hope the show goes well. We didn't really have a good rehearsal yesterday--everyone was too hot, and let's face it--too mnay people still just don't give a fancy fart about the correct way to do things.

We'll get home from Lamar County around 11:30. We have to be back at the band room by 7:30 a.m. I just dread tomorrow--honestly. We warm-up from 9-10, perform at 10:15, rest from 11:00-12:30, warm-up again from 1:00-2:00, perform again at 2:15, and then sit around from 3:00-9:00 tomorrow night. I am really looking forward to Sunday this week!

I don't have any idea what our score is going to be on Saturday. I wish it could be a I. There were times this week during class that I thought maybe we were heading that direction, but when we were all together yesterday, I didn't think that anymore. It's just too messy. Plus I heard some really bad musical stuff that I never heard before. If we get a III, I am going to feel so horrible. We'll probably get a II, but not because we deserve a II but because they're only going to give Is and IIs.

The one thing I REALLY don't want is for the drums to score higher than the band. That is just wrong. They do not work toward perfection--the wind players really do--or at least a lot of them do.

I looked at more festival music today. Just can't find that perfect song yet. Gotta keep looking. It's getting really really close!

I guess I'll get ready for this endless band event.

Turtling down the pounds

A turtle weight loss journey