Tag Archives: MLIA

MLIA Week 4: Snow Days!

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First let me ask, who thought that there was going to be snow on Friday? Like, seroiusly, we live in TEXAS! Why would it snow here in the first place? Nevertheless, I was confident in the weather’s snow-creating abilities. By the end of Thursday, I consulted the evidence and concluded that it was indeed, going to snow tomorrow. In preparation, I did all my homework, I mean all of it, and stayed up about 45 minutes later.

I awoke at first at 6:30, my normal sectional time. My mom told me that there was a late start the night before, and I changed the wrong alarm. After that, I was awoken again a 8:30, the late start time. My mom told me that there was no school that day. My instincts made me look out side to what-do-you-know, snow! It was not something to behold, but come on! Snow! I couldn’t believe my eyes!

Later, I woke up around 10:30 to see the snow was still there. Earlier that week, I said that I would be content if I could make 1 snowball. It looked to me that my requirement would be met. I made a grand total of 10 snowballs, ten times that of my requirement. My dad had the great idea to make a “Texas sized” snowman. I took four of my snowballs and then promptly threw one at my dad. We arranged the snowman on top of our mailbox as shown here:

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As you can see, it is of the very finest type of snowman complete with a saggy carrot nose. I’m glad we got a picture, because it fell apart quickly afterwards.

I went to school on Monday as usual, but little did I know how ice can cause a snow day just as easily as snow.

So this is today. A day that can barely be qualified as day-off worthy. It went pretty much the same as Friday, but with more uncertainty. I awoke early, the went back to sleep as for a late start day. Then amazingly, I woke up again right at the time when I needed to get up. I was a little concerned that I had slept in and needed to rush for the bus. But that was not the case! My mom, the informer of all weather related events, told me that there was indeed going to be no school today.

What did you do today and Friday to celebrate the day off? Did you frolic in the snow/sleet like me? Did you sit around and be lazy like me? Whatever you did, just remember to look out for things that make your life AWESOME!

MLIA Week 3: A Night At The Movies

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This week,
Was interesting.
Definitely.
Almost half of my future city things were due, my Bari Sax broke, and above all the freaking SECOND PART OF THE HOBBIT came out. As you probably deduced, I love LOTR and all things to do with it.
So…
This is a review of the movie in case you haven’t seen it. The things with spoilers will be at the end, with a lot of empty space so as to not ruin the (great) movie.

Let us begin.

This movie was spectacular! The sound was not too overpowering, but noticeable. In case you didn’t know, the hobbit films were all shot in this high frame-rate 3D sort of way. This makes for a great visual experience. I thought that the 3D was cool, and most importantly, not distracting. This movie was, in my mind, the dull part of the book. In the middle of the book, it gets pretty boring. Peter Jackson did a great job adding action to otherwise boring parts.
It starts with an amazing prologue, just PJ is good at. No real action, just talking and observing. Gandalf meets up with Thorin Oakenshield and convinces him to take back the ancient dwarf fortress Erebor.
A very nice cut happens, and you are taken twelve months into the future at the edge of Mirkwood. Due to some bad things happening in the fortress of Dol Guldur, Gandalf has to leave the group. Mirkwood looks fantastic. The 3D was used very well for some creepy spider-webs effect. Now, there are big nasty spiders. Jumping all around and causing a great deal of havoc for our little adventurers.
The ever more addicting ring comes in handy, and needless to say, they escape.
All of the animations look great. I might even be able to say they are the best I’ve ever seen. Lake town looks awesome. Erebor looks awesome. Everywhere looks awesome.
One name.
…
Smaug.
This is what this movie is about! Man, does he sound good! Benedict Cumberbatch has this smooth, deep, rumbly voice that is AWESOME! He speaks in almost modern English, but it fits perfectly. Again, the animation could be confused as a real dragon. Smaug completely takes up all of Erebor. He can move fluidly through caverns and halls.

Spoiler time.

The dwarf’s plan to kill smaug is not in the book. Neither is Legolas. But something about the additions make it better.
The plan fails, and smaug has the idea to go and destroy lake-town, as the prophecy says. The movie ends in a total cliffhanger, which I like. The last line in the whole movies is Bilbo saying, “What have I done?”

This was a great movie. Go see it. Get your grubby little hands on the disk. Add it to your collection.

And last of all, be a LOTR nerd.

MLIA Week 2: Sax In the Desert

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Over Thanksgiving, my family and I went to a ranch south of Marfa, TX. This place was really cool and had tons of activities to do. I went skeet shooting, but that is beside the point. I brought my Alto Saxophone to hopefully play whilst there. We went up the hill behind the ranch and looked at the grave of the founder of the ranch and then started playing. I didn’t play anything special, but my improv skills have improved a ton since the beginning of the year. I played some happy jazz, then a bit of sad blues to finish it off. This was so very fun, and my dad got a pretty cool video.

All around, there was no sense of development. You could see desert hills for miles in each direction. The next day, we took a humvee ride up the side of a very large mountain. You might think that the desert was close to sea level, but that was not the case. On top of the mountain, we were about 7,000 feet above sea level. Far off in the distance, I could just barely make out fields of grain being burned in nearby Mexico.
This humvee had two seats attached to the front, which were really fun to ride on up and down the steep slopes. I tried to ride them as much as possible, even though I was probably only supposed to ride once.
This thanksgiving had to be on of the best ones I have ever had.

MLIA (My Life Is Awesome) Week: 1 The Little Things

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This week, I had a mild cold. I took cough drops every night. Now, I had a bad cough and took a drop late at night. I threw the wrapper in the general direction of my trash can. I heard it hit something. I hate to assume things, because I am usually wrong.
This time was different. I decided to tell myself that it had gone in the can. This made me quite happy with this small, but nice, accomplishment. In the morning, I checked the floor and nothing was there. I had made the shot in the dark!

Later this week, I was cleaning my bathroom and needed to throw a paper towel away. Me being my lazy old self, I did not want to move from the precarious position on the counter. I threw the towel behind myself, and to the side toward the trash. It went in! I was so happy that I got up and gave myself a high-five in the mirror.

These are the things that made my life awesome. What made your life awesome? Post it in the comments.