Come on, man! Work with me here!

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We've all had to do it at some point in our lives. It’s a pain, I know, but I guess it teaches us life lessons or something like that.

At my school when my teachers assign class projects and we have to work with other students, nine times out of ten, you won’t be able to choose your own partner. This then forces you to have to work with the people you really do not want to work with. Those who always have to be right and their idea is going to be the one that the group is going with and no matter how much you try, they won’t even consider your idea. We all know the type, no?

I have an extensive amount of experience in this area through my schooling career so I decided that today I was going to write about how I came, I saw, and I conquered the unworkable.

 

1.      The day that the project begins, I usually try my best to have a good day up until that class because most likely it’s going to be very exhausting for you. And yes I know sometimes the odds are not in your favor in the Hunger Games of high school and having a good day is kind of out of your control but at least make an effort.

2.      Breathe!!!!!!!!! Don’t get all worked up if they are being annoying. IT’s not worth getting worked up about just yet. Try to keep your cool because getting worked up won’t help the tense situation any.

3.      If you have a proposal to make to the group, stay calm when you are making it. And even if you don’t know what you’re talking about but you just want your voice to be heard, make it sound like you know what’s going on. That way they will maybe, hopefully, possibly listen to what you have to say. If not, know that it isn’t anything you did. They just like to be stubborn.

4.      If, by some miracle, they like your brilliant idea more than their I’m always right so my idea is the one we’re going with idea, understand that you just won the biggest fight that has ever occurred in classrooms across America. (Except if your class is debate where the object is to argue with each other. Then you might have a tough time).

5.      Go about the rest of your day knowing that you are an amazingly smart girl or guy and no matter what anyone else says or does, no matter how stubborn your group may be, you are the smartest and best you that there could be!

 

So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen! You have just read my awesome five tips on how to work with the unworkable. Take these to heart for the next time that you are forced against your will to work with the people who just refuse to let anyone else’s idea be an option and you’ll be good to go!  


~Skooogster(:

Thanks Oatmeal Rasin!

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It's because of things like oatmeal raisin cookies that look like chocolate chip cookies that I have some trust issues.

Okay so maybe cookies aren’t to blame here, but I do have trust issues. There have been times that I have told someone who I thought was my best friend things that I did not want everybody to know about. I trusted that they would not tell anyone. But when I found out that they told people and a lot of people now knew, others would come up to me and ask me about them. I was hurt, mad, and disappointed that they had betrayed me. When people pretend to be one thing (the chocolate chip cookie) but are really another (oatmeal raisin) they need to learn that if someone finds out about their ‘secret identity’, they are going to lose the respect of a lot of people. I mean, everyone isn’t going to have a Hannah Montana story like in the movie where everyone says that they will keep the secret and you can go along with your double life. Happily ever after the end. It just doesn’t work that way.  

So a tip to everyone out there, please, please be you. Not just for the typical reason of ‘you are the best you that you can be’ but because if you want people to respect and trust you, which is vital in any relationship, friendship or romantic, you cannot pretend to be someone else.

Also, another thing about trust is, you should not snoop. Keep your nose in your own business. If it isn’t yours, you don’t belong in it, and you don’t need to know what it is. One thing that really bugs me is when I’m sitting there on my phone and you lean over and are all, “who are ya texting?” Does it really matter? It’s not to you or about you (well it might be now since you are annoying me!) so do you really need to know everything about what’s going on in my life? In my opinion, no, no you don’t. If you want people to trust you, you need to be okay with the fact that the world doesn’t revolve around you and if the person needs you or needs to talk to you about something, they will come to you and talk to you about it. In my opinion, it’s not your job to play detective and figure out my life. If you want to investigate the lives of other people, you should look into being a detective.


~Skooogster(:

Me? A Model?

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So I just got back from a volleyball game where I was able to talk to one of my really good friends that I hadn't had a good talk with in a while. I really enjoyed talking to her again! But she had told me that she wants to get into photography and she wanted to have a portfolio to be able to show possible employers. So I volunteered to have her photograph me! I had never thought of myself as very photogenic but I thought that it was worth a try, right? I mean, it's never been something that I’ve been interested in but I wanted to help her and decided, hey this might be fun! I used to not like my picture being taken but now, I want pictures of myself. Especially by someone who can make me look really good too! ;)

Anyway…the point of this post is to tell you, my readers, that trying something new isn’t always a bad thing. There’s a senior at my school who played volleyball all the way through her junior year. By the time she reached her senior year, she decided that she wanted to experience all that my school had to offer her. Now she’s on the varsity cheer team. So how do I know that I won’t enjoy being a ‘model’ for lack of a better word if I never give it a try? People tell me that I could be good but I’ve never tried having my picture taken for other purposes than annual birthday pictures. Who knows? I may really enjoy it and look into something like that on the side of doing other things. Besides, senior pictures will be coming up sooner than I would like so I might as well get some practice on it! 


~Skooogster(:

Rumor Has It

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So I just got home from my school's fall play Rumors. It was an extremely challenging show to put on because it is nothing but dialogue between six characters at the most but usually just two or three. That much back and forth (in this case, it was usually arguing) had to have been very difficult.

Just a little insight on what happened, a man, Charlie Brok and his wife Myra were celebrating their tenth wedding anniversary but when the first couple, Chris and Ken Gorman, showed up, they found Charlie passed out upstairs with a bullet hole through his earlobe, Myra and the help nowhere to be seen. As more families show up, the story changes to what happens until finally it all comes out. But no one knows why or how Charlie was shot. At one point towards the end the cops come and want to speak to Mr. Brok about a car crash. Everyone gives excuses and reasons why Charlie or Myra are missing; some quite comical. The cops were about to leave when a mention of gun shots slips from one of the people in the room. The police ask for Charlie at once.

One problem...Charlie is out cold upstairs. So Lenny Ganz pretends to be Charlie ('CAUSE HE HELD OUT ONE FINGER, THAT'S WHY!) and goes off on what seems like a never ending story of what happened. He speaks in Spanish (which is very impressive because the actor, a good friend of mine, takes German and probably didn't know what he was saying) and goes into such detail one wouldn't know what to believe. All of this Charlie is making up as he goes; word by word, sentence by sentence.

This was, by far, one of my favorite shows I've seen. For having such a difficult show to perform, they did a tremendous job. For a while I thought I was really looking at a living room watching people stress over how the police didn’t believe them when they said that, “Charlie took his dog for a walk then went to bed on his anniversary.” It was like reading book that you never wanted to end and when it does, you’re sad that you have to leave that story behind. But you’ll always remember how that was one heck of a good book.


~Skooogster(:

Marching Band IS a Sport!

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I really don't care what you throw at me I will always have something to come back with.
I’ve argued with many people on this subject and I usually leave them not knowing what to say next because what I am going to say next is completely, 100% true…

 

MARCHING BAND IS A SPORT.

 

I've heard all the arguments against it and each one has a valid counterargument. First and foremost just for some background information, we are out there for three hours in the afternoon plus an hour during school. We start with camps the first week of August and go and go and go all the way until the middle of October. We endure the heat, the cold, the rain, and sometimes even snow. So you football players, you don't have that over us.

 

The second argument I get is: Well a sport needs to have an offense and a defense. Have you ever heard of swimming? Of golf? Or of diving? I'm pretty sure those don't have an offense or defense. (And if you're arguing that diving isn't a sport, then why is it in the Olympics, huh?)

 

Volleyball players use their shoulders a lot. They swing at hits and set. That's a lot of work on those muscles. Well have you ever tried conducting for a few hours? I've been a setter since seventh grade and my shoulders have never hurt as bad as they did when I started conducting.

 

Football players have to be strong and tackle people over. Well we don't really tackle people (except judges who decide to stand in our way during competitions) but the sousaphones aren't exactly the lightest thing in the world. Neither are tenor saxes, baritones, or any of the drums in the drum line. If I can't even carry them in the cases I doubt I can have those things attached to myself and still march a straight line.  

 

And finally, in sports you have to memorize names of plays and then how to go through with them. In marching band, you have to memorize music and drill. (Drill is your specific spot on the field). Sometimes I think that people overlook the fact that our movements have to be memorized too. We weren't all born with four years worth of shows ingrained into our brains. It is a very difficult process but just like in sports, everything becomes muscle memory.

 

 

~Skooogster(:

That Scary Moment When You Realize...You're Next!

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So I'm a junior and I have a lot of friends who are seniors and will be graduating in May. We just had our Senior Night football game and it really dawned on me that...I'm next. Next year I'll be the senior walking down the track with my parents and sister With all of my friends talking about college, it got me thinking, should I start looking? Where do I want to go? What do I want to do with my life? I know a lot of people end up changing their majors half way through but for someone like me who has to know exactly what's going on, the only way I'll be able to figure out where I want to go is to know what I want to do and if the schools I'm looking at has those majors. This means spending a lot of time on Google and searching school after university after college. It's kind of like a giant scavenger hunt. It's very time consuming.

Luckily, my school has college visits that I'm going to start going to. A different school comes in a day and talks to you about what they have to offer you and then they give you a bunch of booklets and papers and all the other propaganda they have to convince you to go there. If your school does this too, I would really recommend that you go to these. They are really helpful because you have the real deal in front of you talking instead of reading information online. You can ask all sorts of questions that you have and get them answered immediately.

Also, I would recommend getting on some mailing lists. I just signed up to get band things mailed to me from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln because I really want to be in their marching band. I'm sure you've already gotten a bucket load of things from various colleges, I know I have! All of last year, the only mail I ever got was college after college saying things like, "You are just the kind of student we're looking for!" Yeah, I'm sure you say that to the other thousand high schoolers you sent that to.

Another good thing to do is go to actual college visits. Go see the campus, walk around and see if it's a setting that you like. I've done a few with my youth group and I actually enjoy walking around the campus, imagining that I'm a student at the school. I'm going to start doing these this winter and honestly, I'm really excited.

So here's the thing: as much as you wish you could stay in high school forever (yeah right!) pretty soon, you'll blink and you will be unpacking in your dorm room. You might as well start early and get an idea of what you want to do and where you want to go. Because if you have this all figured out early, you can sit back and relax your senior year and not worry about college. Except for the part where you're a few months away from it.

~Skooogster(:

Killing Peace

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When people ask me if I live in the country, I will usually say yes. There is a corn field in my back yard and there are no street lamps on the north end of Boyson Road where I live. When we moved in thirteen years ago there was also a dense wood across the street. Me, my sister, and occasionally our neighbors would use our crazy imagination and spend days upon days in the trees. During the winter we would also walk as far as we could into the field out back. If you go back far enough there are fields on all sides of you. Our neighborhood was quiet peaceful.

 

A few years later, the town committee decided that they wanted to build commercial buildings in the field or put a trailer park back there. Nobody wanted that. To this day they are still trying to put something back there but thirteen years later, it’s still a corn field. Thank God!!

 

The woods across the street are a different story. The land has been for sale for a long time and a few years ago was sold to a young couple. Now there’s an annoying house where my friends and I had built a fort not too long ago.

 

I wish that people would realize that areas like that create a feeling of peace and calm. When you go and build things and cut up trees, it ruins the peace that once was there.

 

My neighborhood isn’t as quiet as it used to be.

 

~Skooogster(:

Be Happy!

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My fall trimester consists of me going and going and going and not stopping until 11:00 at night. Most days I don't even get to go home between school and volleyball which is at 5. I guess you could say I pretty much live at my school. But come the second week in October, things start coming to an end. I no longer stay until five and get home at nine. For a girl who is constantly on the move and is always busy, I never know how to handle NOT being busy. I start to get sad and a little depressed I guess you could say.

 

If anyone else gets this way, I want to share different ways that I like to cheer myself up.

 

1. Play some crazy music crazy loud and dance around and go crazy. I like to pick my favorite song and dance like a crazy person. This helps let go of any stress that is building up inside of me.

 

2. Clean. If you’re anything like me, when I get super busy my room turns into a pigsty. I’m usually too tired when I get home to put my stuff in it’s designated spot so it usually goes to the floor. I like to clean because it gets rid of stress (for me at least) and also, it’s kind of like a clean slate. Now that you aren’t so busy you have time and you know where everything is so it’s not  stressful to look for things.

 

3. Watch a funny movie. When I’m swamped with school and sports, I never have time to just sit down and relax. I like watching funny movies because it lets me rewind while enjoying myself at the same time.

 

4. Read a book. Reading about someone else’s problems usually makes me realize that I’m doing alright and I just need to take a deep breath and keep going.

 

5. Sleep. When I’m so busy, I am usually behind on sleep. Now that you aren’t so busy try catching up on some Z’s on the weekend. Trust me. You’ll feel refreshed and good to go in no time. I actually did this today and man, does it help!

 

6. Sometimes, I even like to do my homework. In the past few months, I barely get time to do homework without being pressed for time. Now I can sit down and actually get stuff done.


~Skooogster(:

Why so Serious?

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I love Marching Band. It makes me a very happy person. 90% of my friends are in band with me and they can always put me in a good mood no matter how I'm feeling. I just wanted to get that out there in the open before I say what I am going to say.

Of all the things I love about being in marching band, there is one thing I really hate.

You can't smile. :(

People will always call things out to us or call our names as we march by but you can not smile. I fail way to much at that. Even if people aren't talking to me but I hear them I crack a smile. I'm just not a serious person in that sense.

I have two ways I go for trying (key word: trying) to not smile.

1. I bite the inside of both cheeks. Not so much that you make that obnoxious fish face *glub glub* but just enough to stop you from smiling.

2. think of dead puppies. I know that's kind of graphic and sad but sadly, it works. And if it's too hard for you to think of dead puppies, just think of something sad. Nine times out of ten you aren't smiling when something sad is going on so naturally it works!

This post serves a double purpose. Along with giving tips how to not smile, I am also telling non-band members to STOP TRYING TO MAKE US SMILE! You don't know how physically challenging it is to not smile! I am a smiley person. I am always smiling and laughing. It takes everything I have not. to. smile. so please. Put yourself in our shoes and imagine how difficult it would be for you to not smile and laugh while people are saying funny things to you.

I don't want you to stop cheering though. No nothing like that! BRING ON THE CHEERS! We welcome claps, applause, and cheering but seriously. Don't make us laugh. Find us after and crack that joke. We can laugh then.

~Skooogster(:

It's Kind of a Love-Hate Relationsip...

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Half an hour ago I got home from my last marching band rehearsal of the year. No matter what I tell people, I cry every time. When you're in marching band, you honestly become a family. You keep each other up when you get down and no matter what happens, you know you'll have 100-some people on your side. As one of my band mates said, "its because we're the band".

I've never been good at saying goodbyes. But when you have to say goodbye to some of the best people on this earth, it is extremely difficult. It's like you have one end of your heart and they have the other and when they leave, it tears but you still take a bit of each other where ever you go.

There's a quote that says "Though miles may lie between us, we are never far apart. For friendship doesn't count miles, it's measured by the heart". I think this is so true. this spring some of my best friends will graduate and go to college a thousand miles away. I have friends like that right now and we still stay in touch and we are still the best of friends.

You may be thinking, why is she getting all emotional now? Graduation isn't for a while.

Well here's the thing. Concert band is a lot different than marching band. In my opinion, concert is made fun thanks to marching. Don't get me wrong. Graduation is EXTREMELY emotional for me. I cried three times during the ceremony last year. But just think about this for a second.

We have been working on this show since the very first week in August. through these two months we have accomplished massive goals and we have come so far. In our first competition, we didn't even march our closer. Now, I can honestly say, our show is near perfect. Tell me that after going through all of that, waking up early, going to bed late, you wouldn't be emotional. These crazy, weird, and 100% normal kids are the reason I wake up in the morning. They keep me going when I want to quit.

I have been apart of many many teams and organizations and I can flat out say that I haven't felt this kind of connection between me and my other teammates that I do when I'm with my band family. I know that's kind of a cliche but really there's no better word than 'family'.

So thinking back, I love band because I got to know some of the most amazing human beings on this planet and have made some life long friends. However, I hate band because I got to know some of the most amazing human beings on this planet and I have to say good bye eventually.

 

 

 

 

~Skooogster(: