7 more school days till classes end I have 4 benchmarks still due and a capstone, sleep just sounds better

This school year I've slept more than I have since I began high school. Sleep is just so soothing!

So for my capstone I'm creating a Mass Media Portfolio. The portfolio will consist of short videos, animations, graphics and commercials that I'll be creating. The files will then be placed on a website I'm currently building using Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. Can't wait for the outcome!

Yesterday when I came back from Ocean City it was about 1PM. I decided that I'll go to school at the end of the day in order to take math standards. I did, and received a 5/5 !

It feels like I have to pull out a miracle in order to survive the next two weeks in school. From my history, science, digvid, art, capstone and math due, I don't know where to start.

Graduation is in​ three weeks, and I've never been more excited.

Prom weekend was one of the best weekends of my life ! I had so much fun in a house with 16 of my friends from school a block away from Ocean City shore/broadwalk. Even though we were only there for three days, during those days we became one big family. Every night was hilarious, memorable and crazy.

A few hours ago I went to see my little sister, Rosalie, preform in concert choir at Girard Academic Music Program, GAMP. Tonight, an auditorium of 600+ students, parents, staff, and friends, said goodbye to their principal at GAMP. He is retiring this year, not because he wants to, he's put 40some years into the school, but because he did not want to fire any of his teachers, or make any cuts to the programs, so he decided to leave the school, letting his vice principal take over and not be replaced, eliminating that position altogether. This farewell happened at the end of the schools annual spring concert, most of the students and almost all of the parents were unaware that he was leaving until being told this evening. The result was intense, depressing, and loud. Some people got angry and talked bad on the way things were being run in the district, but mostly everyone was just crying a lot, which then caused babies in the audience to wake up and scream. The principal was crying and it was all very, very sad. I haven't decided if this means anything, but GAMP is one of the four Vanguard schools of Philadelphia, along with Masterman, Central, and Bodine. It has only been one of the four since this principal was there. I've talked to the principal about a million times concerning my little sister, he's one of the most passionate individuals I've ever met. He loves his students, and treats his staff as if they were part of his family. As Lehmann says, he is a man that is thoughtful, wise, passionate, and kind. It was really hard to watch all this happening. He started to give some sort of speech... thanking everyone for being there and telling all the students he loved them, but then he just couldn't talk anymore cause he was crying and just walked off the stage mid-sentence.
Sometimes when I'm at SLA, at my own school, and I think about Mr. Newman, who finally started a steady music program, or Jeremy, who worked for half a year without even getting paid because he loves this school, what it stands for, and the people in it so much, getting cut and having to leave, that I forget about everyone else. I forget that this is hitting everyone. And I'm not sure which way is easier to deal with either. I can't decide. In a weird way I felt a kind of relief when I was reminded that every school, not just ours, has had to deal with these cuts, and that it hit some more than others, because it makes me feel like at least we're in this together. I know that's the wrong way of looking at it, but it makes me feel better about the whole situation, so I'm going to continue doing so.

I got my first check today from job! I'm so happy, even though I was starved there today. Oh well, I got money!

Fellow Advisory Member:"When is the wrong time to get an abortion?"​
Me: "When you're not pregnant"

Me: "I'm just so shocked. I still can't figure out why."
Jen: "Stop denying your awesomeness!"
Me: Awww

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py3jT0uaZw0

​--How is it played? What does the person have to do to produce sound?
The instrument is played by stroking/strumming/plucking the strings.
--How do you change a note? (you might have to watch very carefully to see this)
This makes me think that you can create a vibration and alter the sound it makes by the area you surround it with?
I really don't know how to express what I'm thinking, but I feel as though waves are a disruption of whatever is happening and when you surround them they are amplified and made stronger. (if that makes any sense.)

"Mom didn't leave him outside did she?"
"Perry you didn't leave him outside did you?"
"I never even opened the back door!"
-dad- "Found him! He was in the chair!"

I feel terrible I havent posted a story since Thursday. The fact I was away again without a laptop did not help it. Now I must post 3 more stories to make up for it

X: "dad, she’s out of control. You have to talk to her (mom)"

Y: "why? Because when I tell her to do things; she does them? Have you been paying attention to the way that things work around here?"

with a passion. 

Musical Instrument Blog #1

A Xylophone is played by tapping one of the several bars that are arranged by size (longer to shorter) that create different pitches of sound using a plastic, wooden or rubber mallet; the sounds that are made when tapping the bars are kind of similar to the sound that a bell makes when it is rung (depending on the bell). The sound that the bar makes when you tap on it depends on the size (length) of the bar. The longer the bar is, the lower the noise it makes, and the smaller the bar is, the higher the noise it makes. Jazz bands often used the Xylophone in the 1920’s and 1930’s.

​http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHP5xjBP-9I

Piano/Thumb Piano

When looking into the instrument I wished to play I thought that making a simple small piano would be easy. It's just a box with strings and keys you press that hit the corresponding string. While doing light research I noticed it was actually very difficult to piece something like that together. Then a friend of mine happened across an instrument called a thumb piano. It sounded like the perfect thing to make. So when i got home I looked it up. Basically its a bunch of different sized metal pieces that are bend in the middle and held down. It's played my pressing down on a metal piece and then releasing it causing a sharp crisp sound to be produced. The number of pieces can be varied so the range of notes is easily acquired like an actual piano. Its shape can be a small box with metal strips on top and a piece of wood that acts as like a ditch above the box like board. The metal strips are places strategically on top of the wooden ditch and then a bar is placed across them and pressed down to bend the metal pieces in a out wide U shape. I'm not sure about how tuning takes place but the vibrations of the metal to metal makes the nice sound.

To see for yourself check out this youtube video.