the unblogged may, part i

wow. this has been the craziest month i've seen in a long time... and so busy that i've had approximately zero minutes to spend on blogging or the internet at all. so let's see if we can get caught up.

to continue my entry about orlando: after we took away seemingly every reward from the orlando dixie classic music festival, we headed for downtown disney. this was actually quite a bit of fun, even though everyone had to admit that there was absolutely nothing to do there. we kind of wandered around the shops (mostly shopping in the virgin records store, which managed to be insanely huge and still carry nothing that i wanted to buy). they had this really, really good pretzel place called wetzel's pretzels that had the best cheesy garlic pretzels ever. i wish we had one of those in our mall. during our time in downtown disney, kat managed to make a friend in the guitar shop who knew as much about comics and manga as she did. so she took a picture with him, to counter jenny's picture with luc.

and it was off to the pirates dinner adventure. when we arrived, things started off slow. there were some snack foods laid out on tables for us, but we didn't really know if we were supposed to be eating it or what. so we did anyway. then one of the cast members started up a little show in the lobby while we waited and called for some volunteers. a bunch of manly men got up and did the can-can, and then four of them (all from our band - cedric, andrew, brett, and eddie [which, in itself is funny, because they were picked "because they looked not too smart", and eddie is the valedictorian of his class]) sat down on chairs in four directions, laid on each others' laps, took away the chairs, and formed a human table. it was pretty funny, and i got a few pictures.

anyway, we eventually entered into the "theater", which was a boat surrounded by a moat, and then benches and long tables all around. it was a lot like medieval times last year. we sat down at our places and were informed that we were rooting for the blue knight, also known as benjamin. all the girls thought he was hot even though he was the only knight in the entire thing that didn't take his shirt off (and the purple knight was built like a freaking action figure. can we say "steroids"?). anyway, they did some skills competitions and then had a little drama with a captured wench and benjamin came to the rescue, etc. here comes the redeeming part... at the end, they opened up the lobby for dancing and we totally had a blast. that made it like 1356 times better than medieval times, and we were all sad when we had to leave. that night, since we had gotten back after the pool closed at the hotel every night we were there, the hotel agreed to keep it open a little longer to let us all swim. that turned out to be a lot of fun too.

sunday, we woke bright and early to spend our last day in orlando at animal kingdom. i had never been there before, so i was interested, but by that point i pretty much was ready to go home. we first went on a safari where they've literally transplanted a whole section of african serengeti into the park, foliage and all. it was pretty darn cool, and nice and relaxing. though i was having trouble getting any pictures at all (they were all turning out completely white) and to this day i can't figure out why. then it was off to the "gimpest roller coaster ever!™" which was... gimp. you like, went around in a spinning tea cup back and forth and then they dropped you and you went back and forth some more. i think that's how it went. after that we headed to the dinosaur ride, which totally freaked me out on the first run, but i ended up liking it so much that most of us (read: not the dinophobic kat and michelle) went on it again. i even bought the overpriced photo that they take of you just as the dinosaur jumps out at you (david looking excited, andy(s) looking bored/manic/unimpressed, merianne clasping hands together totally starstruck ("i love dinosaurs!") and kat and jenny with their heads buried in their laps). we ended our day at the park with a viewing of an "a bug's life" interactive 3d movie extravaganza, complete with spiders hanging from the ceiling and kids screaming from air being blown in their faces. the best part of this was singing "sang! sang! oo-gok-a-tang!" in a round while waiting to go in.

we all boarded the buses and waved goodbye to orlando as we made our way to the airport. which turned out to be the "gimpest airport ever!™". it seriously had, let me count, one... two... three people in it that weren't with us. and it had a breathtaking one concourse and an even more amazing two terminals. we did a crossword that turner ended up leaving on the plane, but oh well. the flight back was cool, but uneventful. i did actually see my house from the plane as we came into houston, because i was able to spot and identify clear lake, and i live right on the lake. which was totally cool. until the flight attendant told me i had to put my seatbelt on for landing. that sucked. we got in our buses at the airport, and got back to the school pretty late. mom was there waiting for me, and i told her all about the awesome trip (but i have yet to make my lazy self show them the photos).

Comments go here!

that friday, may 16th, i saw the matrix reloaded with my mom and leif. while it was no less than amazing and totally awesome, i think i'll have to say i'm a little disappointed. though, i was ready to be. this is pretty common, trying to capitalize on a good thing. i mean, look at the blair witch project. that movie made like 1,500x what it cost to make. and i bet you didn't even know there was a sequel. because it made $4 because someone went to the matinee. i'm not saying that reloaded flopped or anything, only that super-successful movies often have overly-hyped sequels. i think the wachowskis lived up to most of that hype, but not enough to make it better than the original. who knows? revolutions may do to reloaded what return of the jedi did to empire strikes back.

meanwhile, during that week, i had been attending drum major camp at my school. i learned how to conduct, how to yell, how to salute, how to command. it was a fun experience, but it was kind of tense since all of us there were competing for three drum major slots for the next year.

that weekend, i spent all of saturday and all of sunday, from sun-up to sun-down working on the deck outside, which we were attempting to build before mom's party. it turned out to be super awesome, and it even employs benches designed and constructed by yours truly. i actually realized that physical labor is fun when you have something to show for your efforts, and it was totally a nice alternative to the seemingly endless work that i do for school, that offers nothing tangible to show in return.

the next monday, may 19th, we had a mock tryout. i was told that i yelled loud enough and conducted well enough, but that my tempo was off and that i need to watch my ictus (sat word for the day). nothing i did was absolutely stunning and i was starting to be way nervous for the tryout that wednesday. in fact, throughout my whole mock tryout, my left leg was shaking and everyone was staring at it. super super embarassing.

wednesday came and it was just me and the judges. i marched in, and i didn't quite hit the marks like i was supposed to. no big deal, i went on and did my salute, which i think was pretty good, but i wasn't even there mentally and was too nervous to even think. i did my command sequence, and didn't screw up, but i'd be willing to bet my tempo was off because i was so shaky. they asked me to conduct a totally easy sequence (4 of 4, 4 of 3, 4 of 2, release on 1 of the next bar) which i nailed. and i conducted the recording flawlessly. then came the interview. they asked me some questions about my strengths and weaknesses and what i would bring to the band. and i totally froze. my answer was mostly "um..." and "well...". it was bad. they let me go and i knew i had totally sucked. half an hour later, the news came that i hadn't made it. came home. moped. totally didn't do anything. got some condolences at school the next day. which were nice. oh well. next year.

the next day was the band banquet. it was at this really fancy-looking place called "the gardens" up somewhere in houston. the food was like, not that good. i didn't win any awards. i got to stand up when they asked all the uniform crew to stand up to be recognized. that was pretty much it. it dragged on and there were some really good speeches and some really bad speeches. the band video was pretty good, but not nearly as good as last year's... i ordered one. was generally depressed about not making drum major, so didn't enjoy it too much. at least we had fun making a sculpture out of our leftover food and swiping all of the rolls from the place.

that night, as we were sitting outside enjoying our new deck with mandy, jay, & co., aunt georgia arrived from california. much greeting and hugging went on and we sat outside for quite a bit longer until the atkins left and we went inside. the next day i decided to skip school and take a "mental health day" to spend with aunt georgia and nana. that was a lot of fun and very refreshing as school was actually starting to make me feel physically sick and i needed a break. the next day aunt nancy, uncle woody, k.k., and a.j. came in from fort worth and the atkins came over, and we had a getting-ready party, blowing up balloons, setting up chairs, getting everything ready. greg and jim came by to bring us some tables and we ended up having a completely spontaneous party that night. it was a ton of fun and greg and i set up some lights for the party. finally everyone cleared out and we went to sleep to rest for the big day™.

Comments go here!

anyway, the ceremony was really nice, and we brought cowbells galore. we were so the loudest group there, and we completely ruined the dignified atmosphere they were trying to put on. but graduating from medical school is too cool and too important an event to be quiet for. mom was hooded, got her diploma, and her degree was conferred upon her. it was just awesome, and i'm so proud of her. it was a hard four years, but she made it, and she did good. i know she's really excited, and she gets to start work this july, and i think she's going to be really happy. i hope she will. she deserves it.

from there it was home and then off to church, which we celebrated with quite a few other people who would be attending mom's party. it was kind of dumb, because we had asked the church in advance to reserve us some seats but they told us they only do that for sacraments. then, before the mass began, father adrian came up and told us that we should have gotten some seats reserved. *slaps forehead* it was okay, though, and mass went by quickly. when we got back home, some people had already arrived, including our lifeguard and dj. my cousin had already set up the moonwalk, and things were shaping up. two by two, people arrived until there were 1,593,245 people at our house and in our pool and in our yard. eeep.

everyone ate and congratulated mom, and then we settled in and had some fun. mandy, megan, allen, georgia, nana, and i had been planning a skit to put on for everyone which turned out considerably well and delightfully overacted (which was the intent). in it, mandy played my mom as a private practice doctor who employed some interesting techniques such as leeches and tarot cards to cure her patients. she did acupunture on my brother with knitting needles, which was amusing. that was a lot of fun. mom called each of us (megan, allen, dad, and me) up to dedicate a song to us and dance with us, which was really nice. it kind of made me realize how lucky i am to have such a great family, but i won't get any mushier than that. four hours and 15 non-alcoholic frozen slushies later, the party was dying down and everyone was returning home. the closest friends and family stuck behind to enjoy some more company, but it wasn't too long-lived. awesome party, all in all.

the next day, as we all walked around in our zombie state from the party the night before, we headed down to the boat club in galveston to spend some time with the family that was still in town. i got to spend lots of time with a.j., which was fun, since the last time i saw him he couldn't even talk (he's four now). i taught him how to catch and we played on the jungle gym and stuff together. i ended up not going swimming because it was more fun to chat with everyone who would be leaving soon. we actually left pretty early (early, meaning, we usually stay until about 1 a.m.).

Comments go here!

the unblogged may, part iv

monday was a school holiday and it was spent lounging, as it should be. then tuesday we began the finals (ominous music). tuesday was a breeze, because i only had algebra 2 and computer science. i only had to make a 65 and a 57 on my finals to have an overall a in algebra and cs, respectively. so i didn't fret about it. wednesday was a little harder and i totally bombed my english test because there were lots of questions about books i didn't read. but i don't really care because it's over now.

and then there was band. woo, hard. a breeze, we thought, and we were just getting ready to settle into a game of cards and some uniform crew work. until mrs. beatty got up and told us that she wouldn't be returning next year. for those of you that don't know her, this woman is a band genius. everybody in the band respects her because she earns it and she's the most inspiring and amazing director. anyway, she's going back to school to earn her doctorate in the hopes of teaching at the college level. this totally threw a cloud over the entire rest of the day. everyone was bummed out. they aren't going to be able to find anyone anywhere close to her and what she's done for our band program. this is total suckage.

thursday i had spanish and world history. i got a 95 on my spanish exam, and presumably a 100 on my world history. the history exam was sooooo stupid. all we did was bs list-format answers to 5 questions under the headings "facts" and "magic words!". my history teacher doesn't know what she's doing. but i bet she doesn't even read them and everyone gets a 100. that's how she always does. after school i discovered that mr. turner had announced that he, too, would be leaving next year. w. t. f. he's going to teach at a middle school in some other district, where i suppose he'll be paid more. our band program is going to be such crap next year. we lost both of our directors (at least we still have mr. garlitos) and we're going to have to get accustomed to totally new ones. not to mention this totally screws me over in all the work i've put into making an impression and working towards drum major. this really makes me want to cry. *sigh*

thursday night i went out to dinner at romano's macaroni grill with leif, kat, jenny, and her friend lauren to celebrate the end of the school year. the meal was über expensive, but it was also really good. we had a good time, but again, the topic of the directors leaving dominated the conversation and kind of made everyone a little subdued. then it was off to see bruce almighty, which turned out to be a lot more funny and a lot less blasphemous than i thought it was going to be (i especially like the "yahweh!" mail. rotfl). all in all, a fun way to celebrate, and i think everyone else enjoyed it too.

friday. the last day of school. i had my chem exam first thing in the morning, and i think i did pretty well on that. then came another two hours of band, where mr. turner announced officially that he was leaving. more melancholy. but then the bell rang and all sadness was forgotten as we were freeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!! no more stupid sophomore year, no more school for two months, total happiness. i am so an upperclassmen now. ::does a dance:: that night, the family all went out to eat at black eyed pea and to see finding nemo. dude. finding nemo == so so (x4) good. the animation is just insane and the story was great too. it had some really funny moments and it had a good story. all the voices were perfect, and yippee. pixar is just so good. i love it when companies crank out consistently top-quality products so reliably instead of cutting corners.

Comments go here!

today was productive but it's one of those days that you wish didn't count as 1/70th of your summer vacation. mom woke me up today, which was totally unexpected, and told me we were going to the doctor. :o| apparently i was supposed to know this. anyway, today was the day for my shot, except when we got there they told me i'd already had it and the school was just on crack telling me i hadn't. but i still needed a physical for band, so i got that. yippee. afterwards, we were going to the school so we could give them my proof of immunization and talk to them about a stupid book issue. my english teacher apparently lost my literature book and the school was withholding my report card telling me that i owed them $51. except i know that i turned it in and i wasn't about to pay for it. i ended up talking to my principal who i convinced to clear me and got my report card, but i think she was annoyed with me. anyway:

honors chemistry - 95 - 5.3

wind ensemble ii - 96 - 4.0

spanish ii - 95 - 4.0

ap world history - 92 - 5.3

honors english ii - 85 - 4.3

honors algebra ii - 96 - 5.3

computer science i - 98 - 4.0

total average this semester - 94.125

total gpa this semester - 4.5415

Comments go here!

here's a survey, taken from hamza...

[ name ] andy

[ nicknames ] andu, darth whoever, andus aurelius

[ born in ] austin, texas

[ resides in ] clear lake, texas

[ good student ] not really, but still better than most. ;o)

[ eyes ] blue-grey

[ hair ] light brown

[ shoe size ] 13

last time you ...

[ had a nightmare ] don't remember

[ said "i love you" and meant it ] twenty minutes ago

[ ate at mcdonald's ] yesterday

[ dyed your hair ] last summer (blue)

[ brushed your hair ] like, two years ago

[ washed your hair ] yesterday

[ checked your e-mail ] week ago or so

[ cried ] when i found out i didn't make drum major

[ called someone ] today

[ smiled ] today

[ laughed ] last night at mandy's

[ talked to an ex ] don't have any

do you ...

[ smoke? ] no

[ do drugs? ] no

[ have sex? ] no

[ sleep with stuffed animals? ] in the same room

[ have a dream that keeps coming back? ] nope

[ play an instrument? ] six, actually

[ believe there is life on other planets? ] yep

[ remember your first love? ] yeah

[ still love him/her? ] sort of

[ read the newspaper? ] no

[ have any straight friends? ] uh... dur?

[ consider love a mistake? ] nope

[ like the taste of alcohol? ] some of it

[ believe in god? ] totally

[ pray? ] yep

[ go to church? ] every saturday

[ have any secrets? ] too many

[ have any pets? ] atchoo

[ talk to strangers who instant message you? ] usually patronize them if they're stupid

[ wear hats? ] when i'm not busy losing my favorite hat. :o(

[ have any piercings? ] nope

[ have any tattoos? ] nope

[ hate yourself? ] yep

[ have an obsession? ] yep

[ have a secret crush? ] yep

[ collect anything? ] decks of cards, movie soundtracks

[ have a best friend? ] yep

[ like your handwriting? ] sometimes

[ have any bad habits? ] bite my nails, twist my hair into knots

[ care about looks? ] i look decent but i don't need to be a calvin klein model.

[ boy/girlfriend's looks? ] erm.

[ friends and other people? ] looking decent is good.

[ believe in witches? ] nope

[ believe in satan? ] yep

[ believe in ghosts? ] yep

current:

[ dress ] wookie t-shirt, jean shorts, barefoot

[ mood ] bored

[ make-up ] no

[ music ] the world can wait - over the rhine

[ taste ] none

[ hair ] unkempt

[ annoyance ] none, family is outside

[ smell ] none

[ thought ] what should i do to unbore myself?

[ book ] chronicles of narnia

[ fingernail color ] au naturale

[ refreshment ] none

[ worry ] if i might get so bored i melt into my chair

[ crush ] none

[ favorite celebrity ] hmm. i like stargate people.

last person ...

[ you touched ] mom

[ you talked to ] mom

[ you hugged ] mom, probably

[ you instant messaged ] hamza

[ you yelled at ] probably my little brother, allen

[ you had a crush on ] you wish

[ who broke your heart ] don't think anyone has

[ kissed ] um. no idea.

who do you want to:

[ kill ] select teachers

[ slap ] see above

[ tickle ] i've always wanted to be able to tickle myself

[ talk to ] somebody i don't normally get to talk to a lot, like maybe one of my cousins from north carolina

[ have sex with ] eep.

[ kiss ] not telling.

[ be like ] daniel jackson

Comments go here!

this, to be brief, is wrong.

first, let me present an entry in the meriam-webster dictionary.

---

main entry: fi·bril·la·tion

pronunciation: "fi-br&-'la-sh&n, "fi-

function: noun

date: 1845

1 : an act or process of forming fibers or fibrils

2 a : a muscular twitching involving individual muscle fibers acting without coordination b : very rapid irregular contractions of the muscle fibers of the heart resulting in a lack of synchronism between heartbeat and pulse

---

assuming that the prefix "de-" holds, in this instance, the same meaning that it takes in all other english words, one can assume that a defibrillator is used to "stop the lack of synchronism between heartbeat and pulse". medical school, day one: pulse ≠ flatline. therefore, if one does not have a pulse, what is the point in using a machine that will align the heartbeat with the pulse?

the truth: a difibrillator (the paddles) is used when a patient is in ventricular fibrillation (v-fib) or ventricular tachycardia (v-tach). both of these conditions consist of the ventricles of the heart twitching out of control (i.e. not a flatline).

v-fib

v-tach

the purpose of the paddles is actually to stop the heart in the hopes that it will start up again on its own, in sync. stopping a stopped heart would be pointless.

now that you know the truth, feel free to be totally annoyed by it every time you see it on tv or in a movie. consequently, some shows (i've noticed it recently on stargate: sg1) make an effort to announce the correct situation ("he's going into v-fib!") but still show a flatline on the television screen, which is ultimately the thing that people pay more attention to.

Comments go here!

today was good. got up early to drive kat to her new jobby thingy at the arts alliance center. she treated me to breakfast at ihop because she's just that cool. went swimming and stuff... then to the library and grocery store. tomorrow i'm scheduled to go help nana run some errands around galveston and go out to dinner with her, which should be really cool. summer's being good to me so far.

i've decided that good charlotte are the new l33t r0x0rz 0v3r 4ll. they're just cool beyond explanation. yes. and my new favoritest song, the anthem. so so good.

it's a new day, but it all feels old

it's a good life, that's what i'm told

but everything, it all just feels the same

you...don't wanna be just like you

what i'm sayin' is this is the anthem

throw all your hands up,

y'all got to feel me, sing if you're with me,

you, don't wanna be just like you (just like you)

this is the anthem throw all your hands up,

y'all got to feel me, sing if you're with me

another loser anthem (whoa-oh)

another loser anthem (whoa-oh)

another loser anthem (whoa-oh)

another loser anthem (whoa-oh)

Comments go here!

Comments go here!

which os are you?

Comments go here!

about eight in the morning or so i finally started to feel a little better and went in and feel asleep on the couch in my parents' bedroom. i woke up five or six hours later feeling a little better, and the rest of the day we just kind of drug ourselves around the house and watched movies. monday was mom's first day of work, so she pretty much had to go, and we were all pretty much recovered and just really achy and sore all over. the weirdest thing about all of this is the pyschological aspect of it. i can't even write about it or see a commercial for it without feeling sick again. i was listening to the finding nemo soundtrack when i first started to feel sick and now i can't listen to that or even think about the movie without feeling sick. you have to give your body credit for making sure that you stay away from things that make you feel bad. :op

yesterday i got the adventure of driving up to the bush intercontinental airport up in north houston to pick my aunt georgia up. i didn't have any trouble finding her, which was good, and it was a two and a half hour drive back to the beach house in galveston that they're staying at. i got to show off my l33t driving skills in the minivan. w00t. when i got there, my cousin natalia and her daughter savannah were there, as well as my aunt judy and nana. i had seen judy and georgia at mom's graduation just a few weeks ago, but i haven't seen natalia in years. so it was cool. they invited me to stay for dinner, and i wasn't doing anything else so i accepted. my cousin janet and her boyfriend mike also ended up coming. it was lot of fun, we grilled hamburgers and just caught up. we're going down there again with the whole family tomorrow.

earlier today, allen, megan and i went to library and i bought a few used star trek books they had for sale. my collection will rule over all one day. i think. or something like that. then we went to lunch at mcdonald's. i had a salad. since when do you get health food at mcdonald's? oh well. i guess i'm just trying to keep off the five pounds i lost from being sick.

i'm thinking i might go see the hulk tonight before a friend's sixteenth birthday party at a local pizza joint... dunno. probably not worth it... we'll see.

Comments go here!

soo... things have happened.

thursday we went down to the beach house again to celebrate aunt judy's "un-birthday". she turned 60 but is currently denying it. i made her a cake that said "happy year of the blues, brain injury awareness month, national cheese week, and somalian independence day." i am so witty. *congratulates self* it was fun... lots of people were there and i avoided having to say hello or goodbye to anyone. go me.

friday i saw the hulk with bryan, greg, and leif. it was okay. i was kind of disappointed with the story line. it was too jumpy and didn't make a lot of sense, especially toward the end. i have no idea what was going on. i really, really enjoyed crouching tiger, hidden dragon, so i had higher hopes for ang lee. the editing was also kind of annoying, because they couldn't seem to go two shots without doing the comic book paneling effect, which spider-man and x-men both managed to avoid (to their credit). the cgi was actually better than i was expecting (they somehow picked the worst scenes for the trailer). they captured a lot of character in the expression and movement, which i think was intentional. the texturing wasn't the best and it seemed a little too "plastic" at times, but the movement and gesticulation was pretty much dead-on. after the movie i headed over to a party one of mom's new colleagues was having. i think he's like the director of the family practice program or something. they had pizza and it was good. her classmates seem nice, and she likes them. there's three girls from india, one guy from germany, one from mexico, and two others from texas.

yesterday we went down for a retirement party for my cousin mike. he's leaving the lumber and building materials business that my uncle started and starting his own courier and small freight shipping business. the party was pretty boring. some people went swimming but i forgot my swim suit, so i didn't. mostly i just sat around and did nothing.

finished lion, the witch, and the wardrobe. i'm need to do my reading for school, though, so i'm going to read the red badge of courage before going onto the horse and his boy.

the return of the king teaser poster is out! squee! i'm so excited!

Comments go here!