Josiah Leming

So, I happened to fall upon a myspace for this guy Josiah Leming that apparently lots of people had known about from American Idol, but since I don't really watch TV (except for Smallville when there's a new episode) I certainly didn't know anything about him. Just from reading people's comments and such I had gotten the impression that he was this really talented kid but was a brat, or overconfident or something like that. Perhaps full of himself. I looked him up and tried to find as many videos of him as I could to see just how talented he is, specifically the American Idol videos. I watched them all and... wow. He's incredible.





He doesn't come across as a brat, stuck up, overconfident, conceited or anything at all to me. His second audition wasn't his best, but I feel it was just an unfortunate situation. Check it out:



See, from that video I don't think he was being overconfident or thinking that he could pull it off by himself without the band. He was trying to come up with the best solution to do his best. He had never run through the whole song with the band before, and they weren't playing the song how he heard it in his head. It made him more uncomfortable to sing with them. In his mind, he'd have a better shot if he just didn't sing with them. That way they wouldn't get off and he wouldn't be singing it in a way he didn't like. Unfortunately for him, this song wasn't exactly for him and he does better when he's playing at the piano. It was already hard for him to just have to sing while not doing anything in the first place, but it was even harder to have to play with a band that wasn't playing it the way he wanted it, and he had never actually completely rehearsed everything all the way through. It makes sense to dismiss them. Now, I suppose Simon called him annoying thinking that Josiah was referring to the fact that Josiah said that it took a lot of guts to get up there. I think that Josiah was referring to the fact that it took a lot of guts to dismiss the band like he did, which he's right. I wouldn't have the guts to tell them to leave and sing by myself, though at that point it did look like the best option.

Now that I've beat that completely dead, people also made fun of him for crying. But, let's see, what was he crying about? First of all, he cried about having to live in his car for about a year and being lonely. I don't know about you, but that's a pretty good reason to cry. Second of all, he was crying when it was in the middle of the night and he was getting frustrated about choosing an appropriate song to sing and getting it rehearsed with the band and it just wasn't working. He was tired, nervous, and just trying to do his best and it wasn't working. Not to mention what he was trying to work out was for something that could determine his future and getting a record deal and all that jazz. (Which, it looks like he's going to get one anyway... yay!) That also seems reasonable to cry. Then, when he actually performed it and the judges were all in agreement that it wasn't very good, and then Simon calls him way overconfident which wasn't right at all... I started crying just watching the video. I would have cried for sure in his position. He's awesome. I'll definitely buy his first album that comes out. I'm actually kind of happy that he didn't make it to the top 24 on American Idol because his style is just so different than what American Idol looks for. To be honest, I don't think that he's the best singer out of all the contestants. Actually, I'm going for David Archuleta--he's an amazing singer. Though, Josiah's incredibly talented at composing music and expressing himself with it. It's awesome. Just plain awesome.

Anyway... I think that'll be all for this entry. Maybe later I'll post an entry that's actually about my life. We'll see. :)

Another Day

So, another day has come and gone. I was able to finish my lab for CS 235 this weekend and turn it in today for a 100. I had it finished yesterday, but the TAs leave early on Mondays for FHE, so I turned it in today for a 100 instead of a 101. It turns out when you try to turn in a lab fairly late at night (pretty much the only time that I could today) on the day that it's due, it's kind of busy. So, when I got there I had to wait in line for the one and only TA to help some other students before passing me off. That's okay, I didn't have to wait too long. As long as I was able to pass it off today I was happy. Yay. :)

I also didn't have sight singing today. Last week we decided to change the way we have class. Before, our class was split up into two groups. One group met for the first 25 minutes, and the other group met for the second 25 minutes. I'm in the second group. So, usually I would just do some other homework for 25 minutes while the other sight singing class was going on, or take a small nap. The other group also decided that they would do the "fast track." Basically, they went twice as fast as us so they could finish the class half way through the semester. So, they just finished last week. We decided that we would meet for an hour on Thursdays and turn in two assignments, and then not meet on Tuesdays! Good plan. So, now I only have Dictation on Tuesdays. Good times! It gives me some more time to get homework done/practice/make reeds/whatever. Yay. Today in this time I was able to buy a new plaque (for oboe reed making) so I can finally give Becka her plaque back since I lost mine last semester. It cost a little under 2 dollars; I can deal with that.

I also finally did my wash. In fact, that's what I finishing up right now. I'm waiting for my clothes to finish drying, and then I'll put them away. I basically have to put them away because it's either that or they end up on the floor. I don't have an extra basket to keep them in like I did at home. It's a good habit to get into anyhow. Then, following that I hope to start and finish my CS 235 homework that's due tomorrow by like... 9 PM-ish and do my 30 minutes of reading. So far it's look like I'll get somewhere around 5 hours of sleep. Not too shabby, I'm thinking. It's better than say... 3... or 2. Yeah, that's not such good times when I get 5 hours of sleep in a 48 hour time period. I'll try to avoid that.

In other good news, my sister and her husband were able to bring home little Kayla last Friday night! Yay! Also, my mom is going to come up here to visit her sister, and so she'll be able to come visit me too! I'm excited. :) We'll probably end up doing something fun, and maybe go out to eat somewhere and see a movie or something. Aww... such good times. Apparently Ashley's mom is also coming in town this weekend. Kind of odd. Though, her mom is coming to visit/take care of Ashley's... grandmother? Something like that. I don't quite remember. So, Ashley is probably going to just leave and spend the weekend at some relative's house. We'll see how that goes. There's even a small possibility of me being able to finally launch Gavin Mikhail Fans this weekend. I've made 3 wallpapers for it in the past couple of days. Aww... they make me so happy. I'm excited for this website. Finally, a website that has a good focus that hasn't been done over and over again by someone else. I haven't found any other actual Gavin Mikhail fan website. I've seen one forum for him, and that's it. So, hopefully this'll be able to be something successful. I'm hoping.

Alright, I'll go ahead and end with another weird video from that one night a week or so ago...


Yeah, I'm kind of a freak.

More Pictures!

My mom sent me some more pictures of little Kayla ... aww...

My new niece!!

I'm a failure as an aunt, because I keep forgetting to put pictures up of her. She's adorable!

She was due on March 17th, but was born on Valentine's Day! But, even though she was premature, she weighed a whole 6 pounds and one ounce! She's still in the hospital for another couple of days until her lungs are matured enough for her to breathe on her own, but overall she's doing great.

Meet Kayla Nichole Price!

And the proud father!

She is just too freakin' adorable. I can't wait to see her. :)

I'm kind of odd

So, after finishing a fantastic 3-day weekend, a new one begins with a Tuesday that's pretending to be a Monday. Last semester I would have been thrilled to skip a Tuesday, but this semester Tuesdays and Thursdays rock, so it kind of sucks that I get a Monday and Wednesday back to back. Oh well, it'll be okay.

So, tonight I was in a kind of odd mood. What do I do when I'm in odd moods? I make weird videos. Tonight I felt like dancing. Ashley suggested dancing to a freakin' awesome song, and I agreed. She started the song and I just went. Enjoy! Hahahahaha!

The week is almost over

Tomorrow is Friday. Well, actually it's already Friday, but it's only been that way for about 20 minutes. I'm looking to get about 5 hours of sleep tonight. Not too shabby.

Tomorrow will also begin the 72-unsleep-a-thon. We've even made a blog for it:

http://explodingslush.blogspot.com/

Yes, Exploding Slush. I considered having that name for this blog, and then figured it was too random, or something. I like Insanity Lane. Anyhow, Exploding Slush came from the fact that it's everywhere here. Whenever it snows (which seems to be all the time nowadays) and they melt the ice/snow on the sidewalk for us, it kind of makes this slush stuff, and it explodes when you walk on it. You just take a step on it, and BOOM! All this slush just explodes outward from under your foot. Exploding Slush. It seemed like a fun website name.

So, yes. Now that I've sufficiently rambled about slush that explodes, I should really move on to homework so I can get as much sleep as I can... while I can. So, on to bigger and better things.

The week is almost halfway over. Almost. I've gotten through Tuesday. I had my pace test this morning... it was alright. The good news is that I passed it. The bad news is that I didn't pass it by much. Oh well. It'll average out. Even if I get another C in that class, it won't be too bad. What really matters is just passing. And it's only a one credit class, so it doesn't affect my GPA too much So, good times indeed.

Though... I've been terrible with sleep this week. So, Sunday night I went to bed at about 3:20 or so, and got up at about 7. Not too great... but manageable. I thought that I might be able to get some more sleep last night to make up for it. What did I do? I went to bed at 4, and woke up at 6. What the cravitz, Sarah. You suck at life. Andrew was online and we were having a really good conversation that I couldn't just leave. Now, he's online again and it's 12:40. It's not looking too good, again. At least I'm kind of building up for this weekend of no sleep at all. I plan to get some sleep, real sleep, Wednesday and Thursday night. Andrew will be out of town then, so I should be able to. It's not that he forces me to stay up really late, it's that I get caught up in a conversation and suddenly it's 2:30 in the morning and I still have homework to finish. Oops. Whatever, it'll be okay. This weekend should be very interesting, though. I can already tell that I'm losing my mind from the lack of sleep. Like, this morning when I was taking ma shower... I was so confused. Honestly. I was trying to do some sort of math problem with the shower and water, but it never added up right. I kept thinking that I had to wash my hair a certain way or do certain things to make it work out how it should, but I was never doing it right. It doesn't quite make sense... but all I can say is that I was really confused and finally just turned off the water. I realized that I was just making up everything and that I didn't have to solve the shower. How... confusing.

At work today, it was insane. I was helping people the entire time. Just explaining the same things over and over again. I started to lost my voice from all the talking. Don't get me wrong, though, I love it overall. It's fun to see how different people coded it differently. I think it's making me a better programming being a TA. Not to mention I get paid. That makes it fun, too. :p

Today I had to go to a woodwind sectional/rehearsal at 9 PM. What the heck? Apparently the principal flute player felt like we needed some extra practice, so she arranged for us to get together and practice. Though, it turned out not to be too bad. It did make more of my night kind of disappear, but I think it might have helped a bit. Just to know how everything fits together. We'll see if there's any noticeable improvement tomorrow in Orchestra.

I think that's all. I'm tired. Perhaps I'll go to bed. Sleep is nice...

And, I'll go ahead and post another video. It should be good times.


Hi-yah!

Survival

So, I got through today. I swear today has felt like a week. It just wouldn't end. In fact, it still hasn't quite ended. There's still a whole 4 more minutes of Monday. Though, by the time I finish this entry, it will be Tuesday. Good times.

So, I was able to start and finish my theory homework in Music Civ without too much sweat, and I finished my silent dictation in the 20 minutes I had between Orchestra and CS 235. Luckily we got out a little early today. Then, I started to get nervous about teaching a musical concept tonight. I had a plan of teaching different rhythms, or just different subdivisions of the beat using different fruit names. It sounded like it could be fun. Though, I was terrified that these college students that I would be teaching would think that it's really childish and not want to go along with it. But, it was actually the opposite! They got so into it! They loved it! We had all 8 of them saying different fruits with different rhythms... oh, it was great. I hope it was what they were looking for in teaching a musical concept. Either way, I had a blast doing it. :) Maybe Music Education is a good major for me. :p Now all that's left in the application is writing two papers, making a portfolio type thing, and record myself (ideally accompanied) playing the oboe. All by Friday. It can and will be done. I'm looking forward to Friday being over.

Tomorrow I have my second Dictation pace test. I'm hoping to get some sort of B on it. In fact, I'm hoping to get some sort of B in the class. That would be much better than a C-. It would be unrealistic to hope for an A, so I won't set myself up for disappointment. :p We'll just see. I seem to be on or off with Dictation. I just question myself so much during the pace tests. Whatever. I guess we'll just have to wait and see! :)

It turns out the program that I thought was finished wasn't quite finished. I fixed it (at least I'm almost positive that I did), but the TAs were already gone. So, I guess I'll just have to turn it in tomorrow for 2 points extra credit. I'll deal with it.

I'm going to be really tired this weekend. Though, at least the first night shouldn't be too bad. In fact, it'll be fun! :) I've done my share of all-nighters that it doesn't seem to be that big of a deal anymore. It's the second night that I've never completely gotten through... I don't want to imagine what the third night is going to be like. Blech. Whatever. It'll be fun when it's over and I'm sleeping... mmm... sleep...

Okay, this closes this entry. I'll not post a video this time, just to make it that much more exciting the next time that I post a video. ;)

Preparing for this weekend

Yes, it's currently 2:49 AM Sunday night and I've yet to go to sleep. Though, I did finish my Boggle project for CS 235. That's a plus. I can get extra credit to make up for my late LZW lab. I suppose this way I'm preparing more for my sleepless weekend. Man...it's going to be so hard. But... fun. Yes, it will be FUN!

Umm... today was good. I got to eat Kix for breakfast. Usually I don't get breakfast on Sundays because the cafeteria doesn't open until noon, which is when church starts. Very inconvenient. So, we have to wait until after church, at 3, to eat. But, we bought some Kix and milk and finally got some breakfast. Yay! I love having breakfast, and it was cool to have it in our dorm. It was a taste of what it'd be like next semester when we'll be in an apartment and all the food that we'll eat we'll buy from the grocery store. Odd... but it should be good. And cheaper. I'm looking forward to that. Though, I imagine it'll be a pain to have to go to the grocery store to buy the food, but that's okay. I'm sure I'll get over it.

What else? This week is going to be pretty hectic. I've got to finish a project for Music 176, do homework for CS 235 (not the project), a Book of Mormon quiz, a Dictation pace test... oh cravitz. I just remembered something else I was going to finish tonight. My silent dictation. If I turn it in by tomorrow at 5, I can get an extra point on my pace test. Which, since this is the class that I got a C- in last semester, it seems like a good idea to get as many points as I can. I'll see if I can do it tomorrow morning or something... I can just whip it up really quick. Or something. We'll just see. Anyhow, yes. This week should be busy. It'll be good when it's over and I won't be sleeping all weekend. Mwhahaha!

Okay, I think I should go to bed/work on silent dictation/work on theory due tomorrow/do my Book of Mormon reading. So, I'll end this post with yet another fantastical video:


Don't get too scared.

Suddenly today became awesome

So, I woke up this morning at about 7:00, like always, and Ashley needed to print something real quick from my computer. So, she got on my computer and just checked her e-mail out of habit and saw that she had gotten an e-mail from our Music Civ professor -- we had no class today! Apparently he got sick, and couldn't make it. *snap* Too bad. And, I got an e-mail yesterday from my Music Theory professor, and apparently he was sick too! So, I had no 8:00 or 9:00 class today. The only class I had was CS 235 at 3:00, and I worked from 12 to 6 with my 3:00 class in between. So, it was good times. Ashley and I got up and ate breakfast since we were already up, and then came back and took a two-hour nap during the time that I would normally be at class. Mwahaha! It was awesome! I love naps... they're so refreshing.

So, I went to work and then came back. I practiced for 2 hours (which went by unusually fast) and now here I am. Posting on my blog at 1:24 AM. I'm still not doing so well with the sleeping thing. Though, Ashley and I are planning on staying up for 72 hours next weekend on Kokiri Kids, so I guess this no sleeping thing is kind of in preparation for that. I figure I'll already be used to getting not very much sleep, so my body will be more accustomed to little sleep. Granted, it'll still be hard and suck when I'm sooo tired and just want to go to sleep. But, it'll be fun to look back on, and it'll be an awesome record to be able to tell people. Right now my record is something like 42 or 43 hours of no sleep. That was hard, especially since I was doing it by myself. I would have stayed up longer, but there was something else I had to go to the next day that I figured I should be awake for. Oh, and I was really freakin' tired. But, this should be fun since I'll have Ashley with my to keep me awake. We'll keep each other awake. We were considering making another blog just devoted to that. We'll have like hourly updates or something, and possibly post videos of how insane we'll be from lack of sleep. It should be fun. Yay!

The creepy caller didn't call again, either. I almost miss him/her. Why did they stop calling? Why were they calling in the first place? I just want answers...

So, to close this amazingly awesome blog entry, I'll post another video from last night's insanity.



I meant to just rock forward slowly, but I ended up falling instead.

I'm Insane

Today was definitely a good day. First of all, all I had today was Dictation. We had a mock pace test, which I did okay on. Then, there was no sight singing, so I was done! Then I had practice time, lunch time, and then work time! We weren't busy at all again, so I got to work on some programs and talk to people on gmail. It was good times. Like I said before, I had no TA meeting, and so I was able to just go back after 6 and eat dinner and watch a new episode of Smallville! They indeed had Hawaiian Haystacks, which were absolutely delicious, and then Smallville! I loved it! Oh man... it's getting good. I'm glad that the writer's strike seems to be close to an end. I want this season to finish the way it's supposed to. Anyhow, this isn't the place to ramble about Smallville. That would be my Smallville Ramblings on my website. I should have one up by this weekend...

Then, after Smallville I got really hyper. Ashley suggested that we make a funny video. So, I gave her my camera and she would just record and I'd just sort of... go. We ended up making about 15 videos. Though, I'll just show you one that I thought was funny.




This is Insanity Lane, right? *looks up* Sure is.

Oh, and the creepy caller didn't call at all today. I'm not sure what's going on. Though, there was a telemarketer who called this morning at about 7:35, but they left message for what they were telemarketing. It makes sense. Maybe I'll get another call tomorrow... I play on being in my dorm at 11. We'll just wait and see.

Creepy Phone Calls

Today was a good day. All last month Wednesdays sucked because I was basically swamped with stuff to do and things to go to all day long. I had a class from 7:30 to 9:00 PM that only met four times, and now it's over! Well, we aren't meeting anymore, anyway. We have a final project due by the 15th, which is basically just our application to get into the Music Education program. I'm hoping to make it in... it doesn't seem like I should have too much trouble, but you never know. But, even if I don't it's not like I don't have enough classes to take to fill the void. It'd just throw off my schedule a bit.

Anyhow, about today. I didn't have Music Theory! I just went to Music Civ, and then finished my Theory homework, turned it in at my Professor's door and took a nice 20 minute nap on a bench. I met Ashley and we went to Book of Mormon. It was a fun class, too. Today our personal application papers were due, so it was nice to know that it's done with. Not that it was very hard, at all, but it's nice to be done with it all the same. After that Ashley went to class and I had lunch. Mmmm... they had such delicious choices for lunch. Chicken Fajitas Wraps and Navajo Tacos. Those are two of my favorite lunches ever.

Orchestra was pretty much the same as always, and CS 235 was thrilling as ever. Actually, it was interesting. I normally find that class interesting... I guess that's why it's one of my majors. :p Anyhow, we talked about "Big Oh." It's basically estimating how fast an algorithm runs. It reminded me a lot of limits. It was like being back in a math class. Aww... math, how I miss thee. No worries, I won't miss it much next semester and the semester after that when I'm taking Calculus 1 and 2. It'll be hard, that's for sure, but I'll be glad that I took them in the long run. I like knowing Calculus. It's actually a lot of fun once I get it. If I don't understand the concept... then it's just confusion to the max.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. There's a new Smallville, there'll most likely be Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner, and I don't have a TA meeting at 6:30! We usually have TA meetings from 6:30 to 7:30 on Thursdays... which very inconveniently conflicts with Smallville. Though, I've just been finding streaming links and watching them online. Though, it's just that much more fun to watch it on a TV right when it first airs. It's just cool to know that you're watching it for the first time with so many other people. So, yeah. Tomorrow = good times.

In other news, I've been getting creepy phone calls. The caller ID just says "Unknown Number" and they just call and leave a silent message. They called on Monday at about 11:00 (I believe), and then twice on Tuesday at 11:00 and 3:33, and then three times today at 11:00, 3:41, and 5:48. All at times that I'm not at the dorm. A couple times I can hear something in the background, like faint voices, but it's so quiet I can't make it out. So, I'm suspecting they'll call again tomorrow at 11:00, and I'll be there this time. I'm going to answer it this time and figure out who it freakin' is. I was asking some other oboists at master classes tonight about it, and one figured that it was just telemarketers. Which, that makes a lot of sense... but why not leave a message? That'd be very disappointing if that was it. Though, I'm not sure what to expect otherwise. What if it was something "exciting?" What if it was some creepy stalker guy? Yeah, right. It's probably something dumb. I guess I'll just have to find out! :)

First Entry

So, I've conceded and decided to make a blog. I've already got a livejournal, and about 4 other websites, but no blog. I guess the livejournal will have to be left behind. I hardly every used it anyhow, and I like this blog idea. It sounds more "adult" than having a livejournal, even though it's basically the same thing. Whatever, here is me. In a blog.

It took forever for me to decide on a title for this dumb thing. It was driving me insane, actually. Which probably led to the title that I finally decided upon: Insanity Lane. I like it enough. People have called me insane numerous times, so it seems to make sense that my blog would be Insanity Lane. *shrug* Whatever...

Tuesdays and Thursdays basically rock. I have two classes, Music Dictation and Sight Singing and then I work for 5 hours. Now, this isn't working at the theater, this is being a TA for CS 142 which is the Intro to Computer Science class that I took last semester. Actually, I'm working right now. But since there isn't a lab due this week, we've been dead the entire time I've been here. I haven't helped a single person. And I get paid $9.60 an hour for it. Yeah... it's pretty awesome. Though, on days when we are swamped, it's not as awesome. I'm just constantly getting people off of the help/passoff list and talking all the time. I start to go hoarse from talking so much. It's fun when the people catch on quickly and actually learn concepts. It's not fun when they don't care about learning at all and only want to get the answers to the lab. They don't listen to me, at least I feel like they aren't listening to me, and don't catch on to anything I say. I try to explain one concept about 3 different ways and they still don't get it. Eventually after working with them enough we stumble on the right answer, but I can tell they don't entirely get it. *rolls eyes* Whatever... maybe it'll make sense eventually. But, overall I love it. I love programming, and I love helping people out and I'm aspiring to be a teacher. This combines all of those. And if we aren't busy, it gives me time to work on programs for the CS class I'm taking right now: CS 235. Which, doesn't seem to be too bad. Though, the last lab took me a bit to wrap my head around. But, once I got it I was able to finish it. That was a joyous occasion. A victory dance most definitely occurred.

What else? What else? I haven't been as good at practicing for 2 hours every day. I practice enough to know everything I need for lessons and everything, but not quite 2 hours every day. Like, I usually end up practicing for only an hour on Saturdays, if at all. If I have something else that's urgent to do, then I drop an hour of practice off that day. Granted, I still get enough in, it's just not quite up to par. I'm hoping to get better enough by the end of the semester so I can put 12 hours of practice a week on average at my jury with good conscience. Did that sentence make sense? If you read it enough, you'll probably get what I was trying to say. Anyhow, it'll be okay.

Though, I'm also not doing so well with getting sleep. I keep going to bed at like 2 or 3 AM and getting up at about 7. Yeah, it's about 4 or 5 hours of sleep. It's not too bad, but I'm not even being productive. In fact, all that I'm usually doing is talking to Andrew. It doesn't help that he lives in Washington and so he's an hour behind me. So, my 2 AM is his 1 AM. And he usually skips his 8:00 class and sleeps in. But... whatever. I wake up the next morning and go to class, and then if I start to get really tired, I promise myself that I'll go to bed earlier the next night so I won't be tired... but then I don't. I don't feel tired at night. Oh well. It's not really affecting me that much. I went through high school with 5 hours of sleep on average. :p

Anyhow, I think that's enough for now. I'm planning on writing in here fairly regularly. We'll see how long that lasts.