Josie Squats Like It's Hot

Rehearsal was FANTABULOUS!  The posters have been set up around the school, we performed Act 2, my flowers are potted, my cards are typed, my billboard is completed, I did a little directing myself, we did some fun warm-ups, I had boneless wings for lunch, Once Upon a Time is on Netflix (which means no FOX logo at the bottom or commercials), and, the best part is, I GOT MY FRICKING MONOLOGUES MEMORIZED!  Yay!

Tiffy was a drill seargeant with me until I got my monologues right.  She was scary.  I swear.

For warm-ups, we did Aroustica.  It's like Singing in the Rain, but funner.  The order is:

1. Hands up!
2. Wrists together (roll the r)!
3. Tongue out!
4. Squat like it's hot!
5. Hop like a bunny!

And in the middle, we go, "Aroustica!  Aroustica!  Aroustica-ca!"  And you have to roll your r's and do it exactly like Kevin does.

I'm gonna love tomorrow even better!  Ashley comes with the bunny!  She was at KK's birthday party last year, and she was dressed as a vampire.  I was dressed as a zombie-killing zombie with a mustache.  Yeah.  That's what the crazy picture I used to have up her was from.

Anyway, Ashley's coming with her big, fat, grey-faced rabbit with huge floppy ears!  I can't wait to see it!  I get to spend most of the day getting used to it because I'm the one who uses it the most!  Also, we run through the ENTIRE play, we're gonna have so much fun, and the season 2 premiere of Once Upon a Time comes on.  I get to see it on Hulu.

The game yesterday was amazing!  The middle-schoolers felt so awkward with everything I was splitting my sides!  And then we went out onto the field to march.  As it turns out, the trumpet to my left, Frankie, is an amazing player!  He can play anything he hears, which is kind of creepy when you start playing your part in Shangri-La.  But he totally deserves to be in first band!

During the show, HNBT's ankle fell out from under him or something like that, and he almost fumbled, but he got right back up.  And this time, WE BEAT THE LOBOS!  YEAH!  We haven't beat them!  Ever!  And we did today!  Oh, happy day!

I love the weekend!

Watch out for that TREE! You just got PUNJABBED!

Josie and the Big Bad Act 2 Monologues

I'm stupid!

I'm doomed!

I'm toast!

I've already died today!  I don't want to die again!

We worked on the play's finale yesterday, but we were only able to do it once.  And I have another monologue.  I love it, but it's so hard to freaking memorize!  In Act 1, I can paint a picture with my two monologues.  With Act 2, I can't do it with either one.  Which seriously sucks.  AND on top of that, I have a football game.  Against the Lobos.  Which we played against last year when I came with the band in 8th grade.  And we lost.  And this time, the 8th graders are STILL coming.  So I can't be late, or I won't be a good example.  Hey!  I might just have to skip the monologue!  Yay!

Anyway, I'm gonna write the monologue here so you can see how hard it is.

THE CONCLUSION: My experiment has shown some of the strange effects radiation can produce... and how dangerous it can be if not handled correctly.  Mr. Goodman said I should tell in this conclusion what my future plans are and how this experiment has helped me make them.  For one thing, the Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds has made me curious about the sun and the stars, for the universe itself must be like a world of great atoms--and I want to know more about it.  But most importantly, I suppose... my experiment has made me feel important--every atom in me, in every body, has come from the sun--from places beyond our dreams.  The atoms of our hands, the atoms of our hearts....  Atom.  Atom.  What a beautiful word.

And then the one before that.

The Past: The seeds were exposed to various degrees... of gamma rays from radiation sources in Oak Ridge.  Mr. Goodman helped me pay for the seeds.  Their growth was plotted against... time.  The Present: The seeds which received little radiation have grown to plants which are normal in appearance. The seeds which received moderate radiation gave rise to mutations such as double blooms, giant stems, and variegated leaves.  The seeds closest to the gamma source killed or yielded dwarf plants.  The Future: After radiation is better understood, a day will come when the power from exploding atoms will change the whole world we know.  Some of the mutations will be good ones--wonderful things beyond our dreams--and I believe, I believe this with all my heart, THE DAY WILL COME WHEN MANKIND WILL THANK GOD FOR THE STRANGE AND BEAUTIFUL ENERGY FROM THE ATOM.  Mama!  Mama!

I have to go now.  Bell's about to ring.  Bye!

Watch out for that TREE! You just got PUNJABBED!

Josie Goes Shopping with Weirdos

Watch out for that TREE! You just got PUNJABBED!

FIELD TRIP!

Not really.

Pooh.

I had band practice at 7, but no school Monday.  YAY!  I got to get out at 8:50 with Brayden, who plays Eugene in the play, go wait for Ms. Shanks, Kevin, Maggie, Tiffy, and Jordan.  We all went to Wal-Mart and bought our costumes.  We couldn't find all of our things there, so we went to Goodwill, went back to Wal-Mart, and went home.

Tuesday, we had rehearsal.  Brayden has two different personalities, apparently: serious snare Brayden and neurotic nerd Eugene.  He's hilarious.  Maggie's a super drunk in the following scene.  Also hilarious.  But me, I can't paint a picture with the science fair monologue, so it's even harder to memorize then the cloud chamber one.  I've got The Past, The Present, and The Future, and no picture to paint.  Unless it was something like Sunday in the Park with George, where a bunch of different things were happening.

Today is Wednesday, and Kevin wasn't mad at me because I butchered it.  I had it right before I walked onstage, and I lost it.  And tomorrow we do the finale, Saturday we do Act 2, and Sunday we do the whole thing.

Mrs. Syblik, my Journalism teacher, wants to comes see the play, but she'll be in San Antonio for something for speech class.  So she's gonna see if the Journalism class can come and take pictures for the newspapers or something.  That would be a good excuse to see a dress rehersal.

I don't know why I decided to, but while I was writing an essay for English, I started listening to the original soundtrack of Love Never Dies, and it wasn't as bad as people say it is.  I actually enjoyed the music and kind of imagined it as a movie, and I tried singing along, and since the one I know was rewritten eventually, I was off completely.

Now, for some reason, I'm listening to Faust, the song Winslow Leach sings in the horrible Phantom of the Paradise.  Beautiful music, horrible plot.  This guy doesn't have a good voice, but the song is still beautiful.  Well, for now, I gotta go.  Bye!

 

Josie and Plaino

Journalism ROCKS!

Hi, guys!  It's Josie!  I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while.  I've been REAL busy.  Like REALLY busy.  I mean, come on!

Sundays, I have church and lunch at Grandma's.

Monday, I have band practice, school, play rehearsal, homework, piano, and I have to run my lines.

Tuesday, there's band practice, school, play rehearsal, 30 minutes to eat, band practice AGAIN, homework, piano, and run lines.

Wednesday, it's band practice, school, play rehearsal, homework, The Core (sometimes), piano, and run lines.

Thursday, band practice, school, play rehearsal, homework, piano, run lines.

Friday, band practice, school, play rehearsal (unless there's an away game), get ready for football game, football game, Cici's, go to bed.

Saturday, I do the homework, piano, and running lines that I was supposed to do Friday but got home too late to do.

And today I have an away game.  In Plain Ol' Plano.  But we have to drive all that way out there.  Luckily, I get to sit with all the other French Horns.  And HNBT with the other tubas.  This should be fun.  I mean, my first away game!  But I might not be able to go.  Mom never signed my medical release form to go outside the school, and she might not even get home in time to get me dinner before we have to leave.  What do I do?

Anyway, we have a sub in Journalism and he's letting us get on the computers.  Yay!

I found something out about Apple keyboards.  Hit Option and any letter and you get these:

a-å
b-∫
c-ç
d-∂
e-´
f-ƒ
g-©
h-˙
i-ˆ
j-∆
k-˚
l-¬
m-µ
n-˜
o-ø
p-π
q-œ
r-®
s-ß
t-†
u-¨
v-√
w-∑
x-≈
y-¥
z-Ω

Coolio.

I'm gonna browse YouTube now.

Watch out for that TREE! You just got PUNJABBED!

Josie Hates Tuesdays

I know the video sucks, but it's the best I got.

Hi, guys.  It's Josie, obviously.  And I Hate Tuesdays. I swear, I do.  The only good thing about today was that my schedule gave me first lunch with K-K.  Besides that, Tuesday's suck.  Not to mention it's Patriot Day, and NO one likes Patriot Day.  Well, except terrorists. Patriot Day is what it says on my calender.  It sounds a lot better than 9/11.

I had a weird dream that we did 60 pushups in band.  Strange thing is, we did.  We did about 25 for regular warm-ups instead of ten, and then we did around 40 because we weren't loud enough.  Kim, the drum major, was right by me, and she was like, "I hate you guys." when she went down.  Sorry.  But then a stupid baritone wouldn't do the push-ups, and we were all screaming in pain and agony at him.

I now have a super nice cheerleader coach for my biology teacher.  Yay!

I'm doing a history project.  IN JOURNALISM!  I'm fine with talking about the revolution of film, but I'm have to do one (I chose an iMovie) on The Chicago Defender.  Basically, I'm going to need to find a tricky and creative way to not make this rascist.  Because it's all about forms of journalisms for just certain races.  I can understand if you have something for people who only speak Spanish, but if you're African American, then you probably speak English.  Read the New York Times.  People!  If there's not a newspaper for EVERY race (including Caucasian), then there shouldn't be a newspaper for one.  Unless it's in another language.  Female Christian Caucasians.  In this time period, worst position to be in.  Boy, I feel sorry for Mrs. Romney.

I have to read The Odyssey.  I can't understand it one bit unless I read over SparkNotes first.  Better get to reading!

Watch out for that TREE! You just got PUNJABBED!

Josie and the Envious Little Green Monster

Of course, guys can be the kindest people you can ever meet, but they can also be big IDIOTS!

No, I'm not having boy problems.  Heck, I haven't seen Christopher in over three months.

I'm talking about music.

I've always loved Acapella songs.  They sound so cool.  The fact that you can make music without using any instruments unless you count your voice is fricking awesome.  I love the one man group acapellas, because then he sorts it out by himself.  But the thing is, it's all guys.  There are no girls.  Why?

Because guys have a wider range.

They can sing in the girl's range in their falcetto, but they can also sing low bass notes, and you need to have a low bass to give it a complete sound.  It's like in band when everybody's playing but the tubas, it doesn't sound complete.  You need that low, solid bass.  But with girls, we can't sing that low.  And the only thing that helps with singing high is if you're a soloist.  But I want to do some acapella!

Here's the really impressive one.

Watch out for that TREE! You just got PUNJABBED!

Josie and Beach Day

Weirdest Friday ever.  And I thought that Friday's were supposed to be nice!  You call this nice?

We had Beach Day today, and I forgot to get my yellow flower to put in my hair, so I wore sunglasses and brought my ukulele.  People were staring at me in the halls.

First, I woke up with a stinging pain in my back (Mom thinks I have a bone out of place cause it doesn't feel like a knot), and I was almost late to band practice on the field.

Then, in biology, we switched classrooms.  But that won't matter to me anymore.  But during biology, Kasiah had an argument with HNBT, and she told me she'd tell me after school.  Cutest thing about them is that Trevor asked her to marry him, and she said yes.  I couldn't stop "AWWW!" -ing.  They're not really getting married, but I think he seriously wants to some day.  I desperately wish I had a boyfriend like HNBT.  He's perfect!  Not like I'd steal him from Kasiah or cheat.  That's just wrong.  But HNBT doesn't push her into things he doesn't do, he gets emotional (apparently he cried during the small argument.  He cares about and loves her that much!), he stays with her, he protects her, he's funny, he's nice, and he'd do anything for her!  That's what I want in a man.

Choir was claustrophobic.  The girls went upstairs to reherse one of our songs and to get fitted for dresses (I never got the chance to), but the hall we were in was really closed in.

Before we left, Abby and I started singing What Is This Feeling? from Wicked, but almost made it to the end.  We parted ways, then I ran to the end of the hall and yelled, "ABBY!  BOO!" and she screamed, like in the end of the song.

Algebra was easy.  I breezed by it.  I fininished everything less than a minute after I moved onto the problem.

Lunch was embarrassing.  For once, we did the battle cries.  The battle cries go a little like this:

SPEAKERS: Freshmen!  Yo Mamma!
FRESHMEN: (standing up on chairs) V-I-C-T-O-R-Y!  That's the Freshmen Battle Cry!
SOPHOMORES: (standing up on chairs) V-I-C-T-O-R-Y! That's the Sophomore Battle Cry!
JUNIORS: (standing up on chairs) V-I-C-T-O-R-Y! That's the Junior Battle Cry!
SENIORS: (standing up on chairs) V-I-C-T-O-R-Y! That's the Senior Battle Cry!
EVERYBODY: (standing up on chairs) V-I-C-T-O-R-Y! That's the Skeeter Battle Cry!

Put it this way: all Frehsmen feel too awkward/cool/embarrassed to do it, so basically, I was standing up on my chair and yelling, and a bunch of Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors started booing at me because everybody boos at Freshmen.  Awkard.

Journalism was so much fun!  I'm making an A+ in that class, and we had to write half a page entitled "How I Learned the Word ____________________", but I TYPED a page in a half.  Mine was called "How I Learned the Word Brainstorm".  It's a masterpiece!  I just know it!

About halfway through the class, I got sent to the counselor's office to change my schedule.  So now I am officially in first band, with first period band A day AND B day, and no French.  AND a different biology teacher.  So I'm kind of disappointed.

Rehersal was confusing and slow.  I had to wait in line to get my uniform first, then I missed the people going to Jack-In-The-Box, so I ate a granola bar, and we started rehersal late, AND we didn't have the needed energy, so it wasn't our best.  I knew all my lines (considering in this scene all I really had was blocking and 5 lines), but Tiffy, who plays Ruth, she had a hard time because she practially had a monologue.  And then Maggie forgot a few lines like "Matilda turned me into the Gestapo."  But that was okay.  Then Mom came in with McDonald's, and she said that I needed to get changed quick, then Mrs. Shanks had a problem because she didn't know about my football game, so Mom had to talk to Mr. Monroe and Mr. P about that I was going to be late and that my shoulder was hurting, and then to Mrs. Shanks about my schedule.  So I was eating in the hall, and I forgot a bunch of stuff, but they said not to fail me at inspeciton.  SAVED!

The game was really fun, even though we sucked.  It didn't seem as long, and we did some really cool things.  Carissa (another Frenchie) has decided to be my mentor, so her name is now Mentor.  Yay!  Then we started acting all rainbow and caressed eachother repeatedly.

One of the graduated football players got killed in Iraq, so the flag was halfway up and we had a moment of silence.  Then we started the fun stuff.

I feel like I'm in charge of X-Line because I'm the line leader.  I get everybody in line and in order, and the baritones are usually stupid and do the exact opposite of what I say when I ask them to get in line.

The opponents were scary good.  They weren't the best marchers, but otherwise, they were really professional.  We didn't compare.  I did ten times better AND had ten times more energy, but everybody else, not so much.

One of our songs is Hey, Baby, but instead of singing "Hey, Hey, Baby," we sang, "Hey, Hey, Brandy," about one of the cheerleader saxaphones.  Then her boyfriend held up a sign that said Home on one side and Coming? on the other.  She said yes!

Speaking of which, I am being forced to come to homecoming.  Kasiah's mom said so.  So I'm going dress shopping with Mom, Kasiah, and her mom over the weekend, then I'm buying a ticket, and going without a date.  The awkward part is that HNBT said that if I wanted to, that he'd dance with me.

Oh, dear God, please do NOT tell me I am falling for my best friend's boyfriend!

Watch out for that TREE! You just got PUNJABBED!

Josie and the Abridged Movie

Anybody still confused about what happened in the movie Love Never Dies that I went to go see?  Well, this should explain it.  Sort of.

Yep.  That's about it. Is it just me, or does anyone else notice that in every Phantom movie, the Phantom/Erik never lives happily ever after?  I mean, seriously!  He either dies or loses his Chrisitine!  Always! Watch out for that TREE! You just got PUNJABBED!

Josie and the Unfinished Stories

You know that script based off Mermaid Melody that I was going to write?  Well, I haven't written it, and I'm going to.  Wish me luck!

Watch out for that TREE! You just got PUNJABBED!

Josie and the Big Dream

Ha ha.  I made a joke.

After The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man In The Moon Marigolds, Mr. McCoy's is putting on the first musical I ever loved: ANNIE!

I've wanted to play Annie ever since I was four.  And here's my chance!  Believe it or not, now I can actually sing her part!

When I was six, my mom took me to some out of town auditions for Annie.  I thought I was going to play Annie, but apparently they wanted me to play Molly.  Figures.  I was going to sing Tomorrow, but I couldn't remember all the words, so I sang Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  Apparently you could hear me from outside the auditorium.  After that, I read the first scene as Molly, and I got a callback.  The callback was for dancing, which wasn't my strong suit.  I eventually gave up the buffalo step and didn't get the part.  Because if you've seen the original Molly, that girl had some skills.

Yeah.  I didn't get the part.  A few years later, there were auditions for America's Got Talent.  I wanted to sing something from Annie, the musical I was obsessed with at the time, but Mom said I didn't have the voice for it.  Well, I got out Mom's old record player and her record of Annie, and I started singing along, well, if my predictions are right, I may get the role.  However, my chances are lowered because I got the lead in this play (although, according to some people, Beatrice is the lead), so they may give it to someone else to spread it out. Well, whatever!  I'm just happy that I can finally sing her part! Watch out for that TREE! You just got PUNJABBED!

Josie and the Three M's

Last night, I went to go see The Girls in 509, a play about a woman and her niece that were once the richest Republicans in the world and have locked themselves up in their hotel room until the Republicans are back in power, and their ultimate stupidity gets them out of being on the rim of being dirt poor.  It was very good.

Afterwards, we found a cheap movie company that sells used and new movies, not to mention video games.  You would not BELIEVE how much Pokemon, Kirby, Legend of Zelda, and Mario they had there.  It was unbelievable.  Someday, I need to come there with 100 bucks and buy a whole bunch of DVD's and posters to cover up my pink walls.  That'd be something to get my ADHD going at night.

They had one new copy of The Hunger Games, but since it was new we couldn't get it.  So we got three used DVD's, which I'm kind of worried they'll be scratched.  We got The Sound of Music since our VCR version got all ruined a few years ago, Mamma Mia!, which we got because it has Meryl Streep and it's awesome, and Super 8, because that has everything I love in it (movie-making, aliens, and conspiracy --- yes, I used to be a conspiracy theorist at one point in life.  But that's all over now.).  But Mom still needs to watch Interview with a Vampire and The Blair Witch Project.  I seriously am dying to see those!

I was supposed to go to church today, but I took too long in the shower, then it turned out that I didn't get all the conditioner out of my hair.  I was supposed to be wearing a mustache as well for Theme Day, but I lost it.  Poo.

Yeah.  So I'm just typing away, waiting for Mom to come home with breakfast.

At 11:45.  Yeah.

Watch out for that TREE! You just got PUNJABBED!

Josie and September

No more "You just got PUNJABBED!" at the top.  I can't get used to that.

When the crap was the last time I posted?

Does anyone else notice that I say "crap" a lot?

I HAVEN'T POSTED SINCE AUGUST 27!  But no, I'm not dead.  I've just been busy.

With what?

Well....

• Jared's birthday was yesterday (August 31).
• My first football game was yesterday.
• I have to get up early every morning to go out onto the football field to practice marching.
• I'm too busy cheering for our football team (BTW, WE WON!  GO SKEETERS!)
• I have to practice piano a whole major lot.
• Longer classes means more homework (not like I've had any yet, but still)
• I have to sort out a schedule.
• I have to deal with the awkwardness of being applauded when you hit a high-high-C when you're tested for your range, and you know you can go higher.
• When everybody keeps on saying "Congrats!" because you got the lead in the school play.  AS A FRESHMAN!

Yes!  That's all true!  I missed the auditions but was able to audition during the callbacks, and I got the role of Tillie!  Yes!

The Skeeters won their first football game of the season, and even though our marching band looked like poor, ghetto, miner hoboes, we still rocked the Wildcat marching band.  Even though they played Bohemian Rhapsody.

When we were testing the girl's ranges, I was with two other girls, and they all had to drop while I kept on singing higher and higher.  And then the room got really quiet.  And I could feel all those one-hundred eyes burning into the back of my head.  Awkward!

I'm entering a composition contest.  I wrote another song that's even prettier than the last one.  Mom said that if I'll play it, she'll write it down since I'm too lazy to.

Yeah.  I think I'll write until my brain pops.

I LOVE SATURDAYS!

BTW, if you send a birthday shout-out to my brother, Jared, (he turned 12 yesterday) I'll give it to him ASAP.

You just got PUNJABBED!