Saturday through sunday Monday, Monday through Sunday yo..

Looks like Winterline is over. At least after Wednesday it will be. I guess I can go back to normal life. Whatever that is.

I wanted to perform at champs, but NCBA couldn't slot us in so whatevs.

Still, there's much to look forward to this year... BUT for now, I could use a break from drumline and focus more on school.

Still gotta file a graduation petition for the fall (hella late I know). Also, I should finish my Spanish HW. That would be a good idea. AND finish my HSA before Wednesday.

Spring Break is sooo close.

I'm trying to find $260 for a plane ticket to Ontario next Sunday for Easter Dinner with my Dad's side of the family. Then I want to spend a few days in Riverside just chillin' with fam, and visiting my Dad. Too bad I'm totally broke and have no money to pay for the trip...

Kuwawa Face.

Last Show

Del Oro will be Sac State's last show; we're not going to NCBA champs... Big disappointment.

Oh well. I guess that just gives me more options for what to do with the beginning of my Spring Break 2010. Wooo. A week away!!! Or basically it's:

9 classes,

1 HSA,

4 days of Spanish HW I've missed,

and 1 midterm away.

So close. Looking forward to seeing my Dad.

Valentine.

Yuppp.... Rod was aight, got to see some really good winter shows although I didn't get a chance to see my alma mater. Maybe I'll get to see them at the Arm/FF shows. Anyway, now I'm off to Vallejo to see my fambam. Gotta love 4-day weekends, every weekend. Happy V-day!

Valentine - Ryan Leslie

Haven't blogged in a week...

...Mainly because I've been really active on my Twitter lately.

I so wish I could be at the Jack's Mannequin concert right now.

I'm gonna be in Vallejo tomorrow. Gonna get to see my Mommy! Yay!

Anyway, my week has been so-so. I actually didn't drive to school at all this week, I started biking to school since it sorta is faster than driving ONLY when parking is bad. Anywho, it's something new to do before and after school so I welcome it. Only downside is that I bought a $153 parking permit for a reason, so I might as well use it right? Lol.

Psyc 102 is starting to kick into gear. Me and my partner get to design a psychological research experiment as our term project and we get to (ab)use psyc 1, 5, & 8 students in our sample. Lol. I finally feel like an upperclassman now that I get to study these kids who're taking the lower division psyc classes.

I'm enjoying my 4-day weekends. I feel rejuvenated. School is fun again. Sac State Winter is doing alright. This semester will be tough, but I'm ready for it. I'm gonna apply to graduate in the Fall 2010 and I can now see that my undergrad years are almost done! With aspirations of grad school, doing well in school is my focus right now... BUT, it doesn't hurt that there are like 10 cute girls (i.e., distractions) in each of my classes. Haha! Maybe I'll one day get the courage to ask one of them out on a date. 'Til then, I'll just stay under the radar... Man, I love college.

and then there were 5

So now, there are 5 snares in the SSWE.

I have ZERO complaints about slimming down to 5 snares. However, I do miss having Davyan in the snareline... he's basically ripping the quadline a new one now. Still some dirt in the snareline but we're close to getting everything together. Now the line is at 5-3-5... It's the perfect indoor size for us (I think). Woot woot!

BTW, I dropped Psyc 107...My bad Darren! This just means I have Mondays and Fridays off now. 4 day weekends every week! Nice. Still, T,Th are my long days.

Spring '10

This always happens to me a week before school starts... I start to say to myself, "I really miss school. I can't wait for it to start." I find myself doing the same thing now that school is 8 days away. I still need to buy my books, parking pass, and maybe a few school supplies. I have a really cool schedule this semester... Basically my school week starts at 4pm on Mondays, and ends at 3pm on Thursdays... Sac State Winterline gets thrown in between somewhere there. No school at all on Fridays, something that I've wanted badly since I was at NVC during Fall '08.

Now that I have Fridays off, plus I don't start 'til late afternoon on Mondays, I figure I can work during those times since living in Sac isn't the cheapest thing in the world. I still don't know how I managed to live comfortably here in Sac without having a job. I just remember my last few months of the past two semesters at CSUS having barely any money in my bank account. I hope that doesn't happen again this semester since I hope to find a job. I've been searching the past 2 weeks for a job without luck. I'm think I'm gonna have to apply to a few more places. [sigh]

Sac State Winter Ensemble is also coming together. We have music ahead of time this year! Wooo! Haha, unlike last year where I remember the whole battery learning the last half of the show (drill and music), the week before NCBA champs (which was our only FULL show, lol). The battery is gonna be 7-3-5. I'm not sure about such a big snareline, but I guess we can all hang. The beats aren't too tough for me individually per se, but as a snareline, I'm hoping to be able to blend and play together since the book looks pretty beefy (battery-wise). I'm hoping that we don't fall behind this year and have a show by the beginning of March.

Man, I hope I get a job soon. Oh, and that song at the top on the right sidebar, I'm addicted to that song right now. I blame Michelle Phan.

idk about this...

7 snares? seriously?

We've got a lot of cleaning to do. However, I'm excited for the season.

51 weeks, 6 days.

I'm approaching my 1-year anniversary of starting this blog, and I just needed to stress one thing.... This blog has been a great place for me to share my feelings and it has become my favorite free-writing outlet where I can just express myself, and write anything I want that is on my mind. It has been a great way to remember the (good & bad) things that have happened to me in the past year. I'm glad I've kept this sort of online diary.

Man, it's freezing outside. It's actually 32F outside right now so, technically it's freezing. lol.

So, this past weekend was great. My niece's Quinceanera was a lot of fun. They held it at the Gaia hotel in American Canyon which was a very nice hotel. I danced my ass off and looked pretty sharp in my teal-themed tux. I got to see all my family for which I always am thankful for.

Sacramento State Winter Ensemble is starting up again, and the drumline is looking almost (if not just) as big as the fall drumline. I hope we start to clean up soon, because I don't wanna be in a dirty snare-line (or drumline for that matter).

School is almost done with. I am so over this semester already. I'm so ready to start my 2 week vacation in SoCal in 11 days. I just have about 8 things to finish up on and then I'll be able to call it quits for school in 2009.

Speaking of the end of school, I'll be leaving for SoCal on Dec. 18th. It will be similar to last year where I enjoyed a Christmas dinner with my Ringl side of the family, and then spend the rest of the 2 weeks being with my cousins. Rashad and Dahlia will be turning 21 on Dec. 22nd, so I'm pretty excited about what may happen since WE ALL WILL BE FINALLY LEGAL!

Exciting times are ahead. I hope it only gets even better from here.

Woo!

This was taken on July 12, 2009 at East LA college. Woot woot! Man I miss this.

Secret Snare Rehearsal Footage: Take 1

Pretty good until the split.. Oh well. I was trying to hold in my laughter because of the other 3 snares dancing around us...

Fall 2009 Snareline

These guys are funny. Great group. Thanks Dante for the pic.

Rochester Trip

It was a longer trip than I expected, and as I sit here at the airport typing I realize that I'm already sort of sad that the season is over. Renegades placed 6th overall at Finals. We had the best show of the year and I was hyping the whole performance. I was able to get a tenor-cam hooked up to my drums for the last run-thru. I'll try posting the video later. Really though, after all the work I put in, it was worth it.

101 days of Summer: Review

So here I am, my last blog of my Summer. Class starts at 8AM and I should be getting to bed but I have so much to vent. Let's do this month by month.

May: Summer started on May 21st. I knew that this summer was gonna be an interesting one and I was all hyped up for it. First main event was my Lola's 95th b-day. There was some drama surrounding that b-day party but it was all eventually resolved. After Lola's 95th, me and my auntie Prescy drove from Vallejo to Riverside. It was a good road-trip and it was my first time actually doing the driving to Socal. I stayed in Riverside til May 29th. In that time, I was able to visit my Dad and bond with him almost everyday. I got to hang out with my cousins and have some random adventures with them. =) Rashad and I had a bunch of late night talks that I always enjoy having. We always talk about our future and how we want life to pan out. It's great because I feel like we were brothers from different mothers.... haha. So I then flew back to Oakland and went back to Sac that night to pick up my drums, THEN went back to Vallejo because I had Renegades camp the next day. Whew. What a good night that was. =)

June: Most of what I can remember June being was having skin issues from Sunburn. I had blisters from the sunburn to the point where I had to go to the ER twice in one day because it was just ridiculous what was happening to my skin. (I'm glad I don't have the same problem anymore.) Most of the month of June was dedicated to Renegades camps/shows on the weekends and traveling back and forth between Sac and Vallejo (hanging out with family and friends.)

July: July was a good month. July 4th I had a parade somewhere in Fremont for Renegades and then I enjoyed a good night of fireworks at ACMS. I also got a new car (we've had this car for a while but I just started to drive it). We held Rick's 22nd b-day party at the apartment in Sac the night before I drove to Socal, it was pretty rowdy in our small apartment, and it was definitely fun. The weekend of July 11 & 12, Renegades had the Socal tour. We had shows at Long Beach and East LA. It was a good weekend since I was able to see my cousins in Riverside, and for a few brief moments, I was able to see my father at his home in Walnut. After I saw my dad, I went to coffee with Rashad til like 2 am. We talked about our personal lives, and, it just was a good talk... (let's just leave it at that.) The drive back to Norcal was a marathon since I was running on 3 hours of sleep and I had a day of drum corps practice AND a show at ELAC. Had to give myself a few shots of Rockstars and RedBulls. July 15... my birthday. Well, I went to go to watch Harry Potter with a friend of mine. It was a pretty good night. I also went to Cache Creek and was able to (finally) play some BlackJack at "the creek". I lost money, but it was ok. The experience of going there for my birthday was all I asked for. The rest of that month was quite a blur in my memory. (More of the same, traveling between Sac and Vallejo, hanging with friends, hitting golf balls at the range, being with family, partying.)

August: Well, August was quite an interesting month. The beginning of it was pretty calm, other than going to Renegades camp. I also said farewell to my Lola as she went to the Philippines. She's coming back next month anyway so I'll get to see her next month! Yay, that makes me happy. The biggest part about August, and well, the ENTIRE summer was the SLO/LV trip. We left August 6th from Sac to SLO. We partied it up (well, my friends did, I was just being dumb), shopped, went to the beach, went to a bar, and just chilled with Matt, Justin, Rick, & Aimie. SLO was pretty cool. The Saturday night before we left for LV, we watched 21 (I love that movie). Apparently, that movie hyped us up soo much for LV that we decided to leave 3 hours early for LV than planned. So we did, and left at 2AM. hahahaha. We got to LV around 10AM. We stayed at the Flamingo... All I can say about Vegas is that I had the best time of my life. It was exactly how I thought it would be. We clubbed, pooled, gambled, ate great food, partied, got faded and walked around the strip, and just had a great time. It was great to go there with some great friends. We left headed back to Sac on Thursday. Which sucked cause we ALL missed LV, we didn't want to leave, and we had such a long drive ahead of us. Still, I had the best time of my life. Here's the crappy part of the month... I found out that the girl I was "dating" was cheating on me (I should have heeded the warning signs.) That's the main part of it. I don't want to get too into it, since than I was pretty (heavily) devastated and I didn't handle it all that well... I mean, I gave up a lot for her and I was treated like dirt. All I know is that I was wronged on so, so many levels by her. Oh well, I can't help her anymore. To end the month, and really the rest of my summer, I had 3 Renegades camps in a row and we have gotten better each time. I really happy with my improvement as a drummer. I've learned so much from Renegades and I've learned that drumming isn't just about beats, it's about how much mental focus you can force yourself to keeping to the task at hand. That's the hardest part of drum corps. It's 90% MENTAL.

Now, this leads me to where I am right now, It's 11:26 now and I've been typing for a while. I have school at 8AM (I don't really care that class is early, everything will work out fine.) My summer was filled with so many highs and lows. I've written down quite a bit of what I can remember of my summer off the top of my mind. I know there's plenty more things that have happened but it would take another 2 hours to write everything down. I've driven so much this summer, it's crazy. I mean, I've had 101 days this summer and I have so many new experiences that it just blows me away when I think about it. It was a great run. I regret nothing. I'll miss you, but you'll be back in 9 months. =]

It's over.

It's 12:07 AM on Saturday so that means that Summer Vacation is officially over. =( Now, all I have left is my weekend. A weekend that I won't even get to keep for myself because I have Renegades again. I'm ready for tomorrow, I just need to make sure I wake up at 6AM.

Sunday night, I'll probably write a long summer recap blog. I think it'll cool/interesting to be able to read & remember my Summer 09 when I get older and reread all the blogs I wrote.

Thanks Justin for dinner btw. mmmm BJs. haha.

Fall 2009

Wow, I was wasted... haha

What a great turnout for today. I honestly didn't think that there'd be this many people coming out for the drumline... Well, I'm happy about the start. It was a good way to get my mind off of some of the stupid ass things that have been happening. Hopefully we'll have about 7 snares. That would be sweet.

I'm looking forward to school starting again and getting back into that rhythm of going to school everyday. I sorta miss it. Well I know that by the end of September I'll already be sick of school and I'll miss the summer but that's ok. It happens every year and I know exactly how to deal with it. Wow, after that Vegas trip I noticed that I definitely need a job. HAHA

I really am trying to hype myself up for the semester because I know that there are so many new opportunities ahead of me. I'll be in NY for DCA Champs in less than 3 weeks, I'll be coming to Socal sometime in mid-September to see my father and cousins, I'll be choppin' it up with the Sac State Drumline, and I'll be meeting new people and catching up with old friends in my classes. I guess school isn't so bad after all?

Oh, and I almost forgot... There's a good possibility that I'll be double majoring this year in business and psych. That way I'll have a really big frame of reference when it comes to taking the GRE and eventually being successful in grad school.

I guess it's time to go to bed.

Looking ahead...

This just in.

Gonna be on my way back to Vallejo tonight. My just called and asked me to come for my Grandma's despedida party tonight so I can't say no to my Lola. Less than 24 hours after I get back to Sactown, I'm about to get ready to head back to the bay... (What can I say? I love the bay.) Tomorrow I've gotta help my Lola get to SFO for her flight at 7pm. I'm gonna miss her so much. From what I've heard, she is planning on staying in the Philippines for good, which means I wont be able to see her until I get a chance to vacation in the PI. =(

This past weekend was great. Rosie's 16th B-day was fun and I had a good time with family, and although I couldn't see them as much as I wanted because of Renegades, I did have some quality time with all my cousins. We saw Funny People on Sunday night... The movie was aight, but wasn't as funny as I expected. Man, I can't wait to see my cousins again.

Magic number is 2. It's almost time.

Insomnia much?

I need to be awake at 7:30am. That's 4 hours from now. Why can't I sleep? Should've took that benadryl around 10pm. That would have definitely KO'd me a looong time ago.

My plan for today... Well I have to wake up at 7:30, make breakfast, get ready, be in Fairfield by 9:30 to help my cousin move, then whenever I finish go to American Canyon... It's my niece Rosemary's b-day! Happy B-day Rosie! My cousins from Riverside are supposedly coming. I say supposedly because it's always uncertain if my ALL my cousins are coming to the Bay Area. I think that they're gonna leave Riverside at 4:00am (Hey, that's 30 mins from now!) so they should be arriving in the early afternoon if all goes well. Then there's going to be a party at my cousin's house for Rosie's b-day and hopefully it will be fun.

This weekend is gonna be a drag. I'm not looking forward to Gades camp because it just feels like I'm tired of Drum Corps. The thing with Gades is, that as soon as camp starts, I start to enjoy the activity more and more. The anticipation of camp is a drag and is the only bad part. I truly enjoy the activity of marching percussion. Plus, I wont be able to hang out with my cousins while they're in NorCal so that's also a bummer about camp this weekend. Hey, at least it's not in Patterson and it's back on TI. :)

Now if only I could finally get to bed. :\

renegades camp/school

ok. my first camp was very productive in my opinion. I really felt that I became a better all-around drummer from those 2 days. Now I'm on this tenor hype cause I didn't know how fun learning tenors could be. Now I just gotta learn a few more beats and polish them before the next camp. 

I have mixed feelings about school tmrw. Glad to start up, but I just hope my instructors are not douches. lol