Day 176: Drum Circles and Conducting

My hands hurt. I think I legitimately bruised my hand. We have been having drum circles all day. I have been leading them on Djimbe. We tried to go through different styles of drum circling and in the end we ended up going African to Latin and then we settled on Native American. We did Native American chant and it was so cool to be able to lead that. I want more, but I should let my hands recover.

I conducted in Wind today. I am slowly growing to dislike conducting that group. They are so unruly and judgmental. They hardly ever listen to a word I say so in the end I look like an *insert curse word here* to them. The only sections that listen to me all the way are the Percussionist. They are the good children, maybe the flutes, but they gossip and hardly listen. They follow me well, but meh. The group almost refused to play unless we played these two songs that they requested. I hate how they never listen to me. It irritates me so. I understand Mr.A and his frustrations so much. They always say how stressed he is and how he is so mean, it is not his fault, it is our fault.

I have to conduct again tomorrow. Great.

Day 175: Make Our Garden Grow

Think of a plant. Most plants have roots, a trunk, and leaves and flowers. If you cut the leaves and the flowers, most of the time they grow back. If you cut the trunk, the plant will be stuck there and no flowers and leaves will ever grow. Not imagine if you ripped out the roots, then the plants die. Apply this to Music programs across California, where Music programs are cut. Some High Schools(Leaves and Flowers) lack a program. Some Junior Highs(The Stem) lack a program. Some Elementary Schools(roots) lack a program. Think of everything as a garden. We are the garden and slowly but surely the garden is dying. If something is not done about saving the garden, then our garden will die. There will be no more Music.

I will get off my high horse now.

Also, today was my last concert as a high school Senior.

Day 174:Senior Night

Tonight was Senior Night at my school. Not exactly sure as to what it meant at the beginning, and am not sure as to what is means now, but needless to say, it was fun.

I received a yearbook tonight, which is funny because I just decided to buy it then and there. I almost did not, but Carlos bought one his Senior Year and I have not bought one in all of my years in school. I was in a few pictures, which is much of a surprise because besides the Wind Ensemble, Choir, and my Senior Photo, I should not have appeared anywhere, which is always a pleasant surprise.

Simon, Seth, Jose, Ben, Ian and some other people decided to go play a game of Ultimate Frisbee. It was shirts vs. skins, I was on skins so yes, I ran around a soccer field with my shoes off and my shirt. Seth and I were on a team of four while Simon's team had five. We dominated Simon 's team 10-4. I expected to lose and stand there like a shirtless loser, but I stood there like a shirtless winner!

So there was a place where people could get snow cones and an orthodontist threw a snowball at my kidneys, which only mildly hurt, still bugged me. Then I sat down to take a phone call and the whole time he kept on throwing snowballs at me. He was missing on purpose, but he threw a lot and it was very bothersome. In the end, I had snow in my hair and my shirt. It was not fun.

Then there was this lame band that played. They were lame. They sounded like a lame reggae, jazz nonsense band that had a guy screaming. You would think that that would sound cool, but no. 

Just, no.

Days 169-170: Russia FTW

Day 169

I think I look good. There are some days that I think I look halfway decent.

Day 170

So Eurovision started today and I hope Russia wins because a group of old Russian ladies singing a song called "Party For Everybody". They won the semifinals so they should win this year. So I am representing Russia.

Viva la Russia.

Days 164-168: RAD

Day 164

Kevin Enriquez: The Raddest Person in the World.

Day 165

Still pretty rad.

Day 166

Now I am chilling, but still pretty rad.

Day 167

A little bit of a cloudy day, but still rad.

Day 168

In deep thought, and also rad.

Day 157-162: Seniorisit

Day 157:

"YO"

Day 160

Day 162

This gigantic whole in my memory exists here. I became to lazy to take my pictures because I have come down with Senioritis. A completely fictional disease in where seniors in high school become lazy and give up on high school. I am Kevin Enriquez, and I have it.

Days 152-154+The Weekend: DC

Day 152:

That right there my friends, is Abraham Lincoln. you should thank him, and feel intimated. This was my first day in DC. I had a massive headache and then food made it better. I wish I could just upload my mental pictures of the place, of DC. I went to Arlington Cemetery. I saw where the Kennedys are buried. I saw a lot of headstones. A lot of funerals, 3 to be exact. It turns out that there are 21 funerals a day.

Saturday:

Today I had a concert at the WWII memorial. The beauty of the memorial, of every memorial really. There are two arches one engraved with the word PACIFIC and the other ATLANTIC. There is a wall between the arches that have stars and each star represents every 1000 deaths. Needless to say, there are a lot of stars. Connecting each arch are pillars that say each state and nations in out protectorate. Then I went to the American History Museum. I saw guns and artifacts of our nations war history.

Sunday:

That is the wall, yes, part of the Berlin Wall.

Day 153:

The Korean War Memorial. I visited all of the wars memorials. Then I went to the Air & Space Museum. I rode in a flight simulator. I was the gunner and my friend Ean was the pilot.

Day 154:

I PLAYED THE KENNEDY CENTER. LIFE IS WONDERFUL
Also that, my dear friends, is the man who made it all possible: John C. Abigana, my band teacher.

Days 146-151: The Longest Week

Day 146: Thursday

The Smiths

Day 147: Friday

Simon and I.

Day 148: Monday

Day 150: Wednesday

Wonderful pictures depicting the weather. Drawing done by Madalyn

Day 151: Thursday

Steve and I

This literally was the longest week of my life, well not Thursday and Friday of the week before, but Monady through Thursday took a long to pass. I have having to wait for day. Time is annoying, so incredibly annoying.

I made it though. I completed the week. Now for DC.