7 years in the life of a choir kid

I have to agree with Linus on this one! I've been a "choir kid" since third grade- that's seven years. It'll be ten by the time I graduate. Choir (Freshman Ensemble, technically) is better this year than ever before. It's the class I look forward to the most each day, partly because I can't wait for Bio/Gym to be over, but mostly because my throat feels all clogged when I don't sing for a certain amount of time (seriously). That's one of the reasons I am always singing in public (yeah...), around the house, or in the shower.

When I started in the third grade chorus at Roberts, it wasn't even my choice. My mom just thought it would be cute and signed me up. So I continued with it in fourth grade at the UES.  It wasn't really a conscious choice, I was 9 years old, what was I thinking? But it was fun enough so I kept with it in fifth and sixth grades, when I was also in band. I think I just liked being in the concerts, though I used to get really nervous and I don't know why.

Naturally, in seventh and eighth grade, I stayed in choir. By then I was really enjoying it. However, the only real highlight of WAMS choir was our annual Music in the Parks competition at Hershey Park. Other than that, all our teacher did was yell at us. She didn't like us very much. Also, she was bipolar. When I tried out for treble choir and didn't make it, the only 'constructive criticism' she gave me was to tell me I have a "pleasant" voice. Last time I checked, pleasant means good. But Hershey Park day was the BEST!!!

No matter how great that was, nothing beats choir at MHS. We have the BEST new teacher ever, she's literally the exact opposite of the old teacher who retired. And it's weird that she's only 8 years older than us. When I think about my Honors Concert Choir audition next Friday, I can't help but be nervous and start shaking, but then I remember it's only Ms. Conrad, how bad can it be??? (For example: yesterday I went to see her during 7th pd lunch to change my audition slot from Tuesday to Friday but we had to wait outside the classroom because it was locked. A few minutes later she comes walking down the hallway with her lunch and she's like, "Sorry guys, it was grilled cheese day so I just had to buy lunch!" I don't know why we thought that was really funny but it was :)

So, that's all for now. Time to go work on my chromatic scales!

The School Budget

Honestly, I know what you're thinking. The school budget is the last thing you want to hear about. Right now you're probably yawning and clicking on over to another page. And yes, I promised that this post would be happier, but that might have to wait til next time. I'll try to make this as super-exciting as possible :)

So you've probably heard about all the budget cuts projected for next school year. The one that will probably affect us students the most is "pay-to-participate." Next year, it will cost a student $200 for each sport they play, and $200 to participate in the theater program for the year. The lame excuse of a school board claims that this does not cover the entire cost, that one sport per student actually costs them $800. They say nothing about theater there.

As you may or may not know, I entered the theater dept. as a costume designer for this year's musical, Anything Goes, and hope to be in at least one of the shows next year. More on that fabulous experience later. (I guess you could say I'm a wannabe theater kid). Our fearless costume leader, Mrs. W, brought up a great point when she took us out for a thank-you dinner last week. It doesn't cost the school anything for a student to participate in theater, so why should we have to pay? Sure, there are costs in putting on a production. For one, you have to buy the rights to a show, which is hardly cheap. You also have to print posters, playbills, and t-shirts. But when people come to see the show, they pay. Tickets are $12 each, the auditorium seats 600, and the musical puts on five shows, the fall play three. We also sell concessions, flowers, and merchandise. You do the math, I'm too lazy. My point is, theater brings in a lot of $$$, enough to cover the cost and still make a profit, and also entertain the community of Bores-town. Mrs. W thinks they're only implementing this theater fee to make it "even" with the sports fee, basically so people won't complain.

Another thing is the cutting of many school programs. Maybe you heard that they're cutting the middle school FCS, Industrial Tech., and Careers classes. We all have memories of those classes, personally they were some of my favorites in 8th grade. At last Tuesday's school budget meeting, Mrs. Greene, the FCS teacher, gave a really long and powerful speech in which she explained how the family and consumer science program benefits students and teaches them valuable life skills, while pretty much begging for her job. She got a standing ovation, but the school board seemed unfazed.

If you speak out, maybe they will revise these cuts, saving not only our bank accounts but the jobs of 31 district staff members. It's not unheard of, it's happened before, but only if there are enough unhappy people.

Here's an example of how it all ties in to our lives (specifically mine, as this is my blog): Mrs. Greene's class taught me how to sew. If I hadn't acquired this skill, I would have never joined the costume crew, which was the most enjoyable experience of this school year (more on that later). And hey, Anything Goes wouldn't have been such a well-dressed show!

Please, I beg you, visit mtps.com. There you will find more information on the budget, and you will be able to post comments on how you feel about all this. Together, we can make a difference, because the more of us there are, the louder our voice is. Like the teachers and their red protest shirts: Solidarity, people! Fight for what is right!!!

My rant is complete. Thank you for your tolerance.

Japan

Everything that's happened in Japan is just devastating. First one of the highest magnitude earthquakes ever recorded, then a tsunami, and now the extremely dangerous radiation continuing to spread from the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Everyone in the US and around the world is freaking out, thinking that the radiation might come too close to where they live, but they don't seem to realize how this is really affecting Japan. Workers are unable to fix the power plant because it's too dangerous, so now things can only get worse. The people that lived too close to the power plant had to evacuate and will probably never be able to come back to their homes because the land is permanently contaminated.

All of this hits close to home for me, which is part of the reason I'm taking the time to post this. My cousin married a woman from Japan last summer. Ryan and Itsumi live in Colorado now, but they spent a whole day trying to reach her family after the quake. Fortunately, they live south of Tokyo, so they weren't too badly affected, but millions of other people aren't so lucky.

So if there's any way you can donate, or beg a responsible adult to donate, please do. It takes a lot to rebuild a nation, and every little bit helps. It's as easy as a text to one of the support organizations. Just make sure it's not a scam first :) I promise my next post will be happier :)

In case you were wondering...

So, just in case you happened to be wondering about the name of this blog, I think I'll explain. There are two reasons, really, why I chose the name I did. (If you are confused as to what the name of this blog is, please see the top of the page. Ya can't miss it)
...Reason One: Well, I couldn't think of anything better
...Reason Two: If you know me you know that I'm kind of a mutt. 25% Irish, 25% German, 37.5% Ukrainian, and 12.5% Polish. (Honestly, it took me a fair amount of my valuable time to figure all that out.) However, sometimes I like to consider myself mostly Irish, hence the shamrock in the title.
Yep, so that's it :)

Welcome!

Hello.
I just realized something. Cool people have blogs.
So here I am.
I like blogs because they are a great way to share some uninteresting things about your life that no one but yourself (and maybe a few others if you're lucky)  really cares about.
It's like an online diary, only better than a diary, because whenever you're online you have a chance to write in it. I keep a real live diary (you know, one made of actual paper, one you have to use a pen to write with) and I find that I never have time, or feel like, writing in it. My last entry was mid-January, and TONS of things have happened since then! It's not like I don't like to write, I really do! I mean, I took Creative Writing last semester!
I don't know how to explain it, but for some reason this is just more fun, and easier.
So thank you to all four of you that may be reading this. I appreciate it :)