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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Sixth Sax Lesson

I had my sixth sax lesson. We are now almost all the way through the book! One more lesson and we should be all the way through it. When we got to the lesson all the rooms were taken so we spent five minutes looking for a room. Then we finally went out side to do the lesson.

We went through the songs pretty easily. I squeaked on a few G's, but we fixed that up pretty well. He was amazed at the amount of practice again (about as much as last week).

Me and Dad went out today to buy the second book. When we got there we bought a Drag'n Swab. The person there said it was their best sax cleaning product. You put it through the sax and pull it back and forth through it. We also bought a stand.

Not writing much because nothing is happening. We have been approved by the apartments, but we still can't move in.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Fort

In the confusion of packing I decided to build a fort using all the boxes around the house. It started out as just two rows of boxes moved apart to make a hallway like space. My mom came home and thought nothing of some boxes with a blanket covering it.

There is three boxes in one row and on the left side I took the last one up against the wall away. Then I moved it next to a huge pile of boxes to create one room, and two hallways. When Mom came home and saw that she started to think something was up. I said "The room's a mess anyway. It doesn't look any different except for the blankets."

After that I moved my fort to the second pile on the other side of the room. Now I had the part before and a bigger room. By now the fort covered a whole side of the living room wall.

Then I used the second pile to make another room. Now my fort covers about 60% of the living room. I have a kitchen where I put snacks. A T.V. and a space where I can sleep in peace with my cat who also has a bed in the so called 'bedroom'.


Here is the tour of my fort.

This is what it looks like to enter through the first hallway. The one that I made first. It might be hard to see because were having a storm and it's getting dark out and this is right next to a window. The first one looks like it's bright out, but inside it's dark.

This is the first room that I made where I hid from my mom when she came home. Strait ahead is the room with the T.V. and to the left is the second entrance.

This is the second entrance. The first does not have a blanket covering it because I used that one for another room. This is from inside, the other entrance was from outside.

I mad this one brighter because we're getting farther away from the window and using blankets to cover the fort. That blocks out the light. This is the T.V. room. The this in the middle is supporting the roof. The black thing to the left of that is the T.V. In the top left corner you can see the kitchen. You might not be able to make it out, but there are a few snacks there. To the left is the 'bedroom'.

I like to call this room the 'Dark Room'. I call it that because it is very dark. I brightened the picture a lot so I could see it. If you have a computer screen that is brighter, this might be really bright. Our computer is dieing and everything is dark. To the left is where I made a little bed for the cat.

This is probably very hard to see. I took this one inside the dark room. You might not be able to tell what this is so I will tell you. It is two boxes stacked on top of each other with one in front of it. It's basically a chair made out of three boxes. I made it for the cat. He hasn't gone on it let. In fact he doesn't even know that there is other room to the fort. I added the dark room today and the cat hasn't gone in it since then.

This concludes our tour.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Fifth Sax Lesson

I haven't been writing much lately. In fact I don't think I wrote anything last week. Now I have something to write about. My fifth sax lesson.


When we got there my teacher was waiting inside the doorway. We went inside to start the lesson and when he saw how much I practiced, this is what he said "....................."
I practiced forty minutes one day, one hundred and forty the next, then one hundred, then twenty five. Can you believe that last day?

The practice went really well. The first few songs that I played had little or no error. Then a song with mostly G's. My bad note. He gave me the next level of reed and that cleared up the errors. He said he told a lot of other teachers about me and they were jealous.

My teacher finally got a tenor sax. He said his was in the shop and that he couldn't get it until they fixed it. So yesterday he finally got it. He said he hadn't played it for about ten years, but all saxes are the same, just in a different key.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

More Music

I said yesterday I would try to get some songs onto my blog. They're a little late, but here they are.

This song is the one I said on an older post that I played for my teacher. It is the one on the last page. This is Grant Us Peace.



This song when I played it for my teacher said I played it way to fast. Now that I listen to the songs I think I might of played them all to fast. This is Ming Court.



This song I played almost perfect, but my dad was recording me. At the end of this one there is a rest. The song goes longer, but my dad stopped it after the rest. I wasn't able to get the second part and the first part, so here is the first. This is the song that I suggested I play to my teacher. I hope you like Sawmill Creek Part 1.



Packing has been stressful, but we finally got my room done. We have about 80% done I'd say. Today when we were finishing off my room my mom got angry, but I didn't get angry back. This has been a stressful time for us.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Fourth Sax Lesson

I had my fourth sax lesson. It went really well We started out by trying to find out where the back round squeaks were coming from. We adjusted my mouthpiece and the squeaks were gone. I played out of the assigned pages from the book and we worked on dynamics. That is how loud or soft you play.

We finished the first half of the book and at the middle is three songs. I asked if he wanted me to play them (I will try to post one of them tomorrow) and I played along with the computer. What the computer does is take in your notes then with a red or green color says if you made the notes right. I got most and I played a second one and got most again.

My teacher was going through the book and I said that I didn't know how to play the higher notes at first so I practiced out of the back where lower notes were. He said he wanted to hear it and I played him Grant Us Peace which my band teacher said was the hardest song in the book. I will try to bring that one up tomorrow on a post. When I was done he said "This is what happens when you practice forty minutes a day four days a week!"

I don't mean to brag, but he was very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very impressed with my playing. He said "If only some of me other student could hear you play!" Then I said "Well, you could record it." Then we started to laugh (I don't know why).


This practice went very well. I can tell (and so can my parents) that my teacher is very impressed. He said after I played the song from the back "I don't know what to say!"

My teacher went to one of the stores that sells music and he bought the Pink Panther which is from a movie we really like. We paid him $5 for it and today I am going to try and play it. We watched one of the movies last night so I could get a feel for the song.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Apartment

We found an apartment to live in. Yesterday (July 8) we went to the apartment and town house place. We were able to see a two bedroom apartment on the first floor. That one was O.K. Then we asked if we could see the two bathroom two bedroom apartment on the third floor. We wern't supposed to see that until today, but the person living said we could if we didn't mind the mess. Our house is a mess already so it didn't matter. That one was cool. It had a nice kitchen space and the living room space was incredible. The deck was more sturdy that the first we looked at a few weeks ago. The lights in the bedrooms had little fans on them. The assistant manager said that those would probably stay with the apartment when the person living there moved.

It only had one phone outlet from what we could see so that puts our computer in the living room (which is where it would have been without the outlet in that spot). The bedrooms were a nice size. Enough to put all my dragon statues in. The two bathrooms were right across from the rooms. So we could do what we do now. I have my bathroom (which is the biggest) and Mom and Dad have theirs. My bathroom didn't look like it had a toilet but it was hiding behind the door.

My mom and dad's room had a walk-in closet. All the rooms have a small walk-in closet, but that one had enough room for four people!

We went down to the office and I got to watch game shows on T.V. Mom and Dad talked a bit with the assistant manager and we locked down that apartment. That means it is ours. We also got two garages for our cars and storage.

There are few other things that come into play, but we'll deal with those when the time comes.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Cool Statues

Our family used to (kind of still do) own a home company. We would go to craft shows and people would buy stuff we bought from catalogs. We don't go to the craft shows anymore, but we still get the catalogs.

Yesterday (July 7) we got another catalog. We always look in them because we want to see if there is anything cool in them. I always find the myth and legend part cool (you'll see why a paragraph down). My mom always likes the cowboy section with the horses (she's a horse person). I don't know what my dad likes best.

In the myth and legend section there is always the dragons. I love dragons. I have a bunch of dragon statues in my room (not as many as liked though). The catalog had some really cool ones that Dad said when we find where we are going to move to we might be able to order some. I scanned the pictures into the computer of the ones I really want. They're are other ones I would love to have, but these I think are really cool.

I don't know if your computers will be able to see these very well. Ours can't.

Black Dragon Table. About two feet high.


Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Jim Meets Willy Part 4

This is the last part of Jim Meets Willy. Either later today or tomorrow I will try to post songs that I can play on the sax.


Jim Meets Willy
Part 4
Strange Ending


Jim, Willy, and Merlin watched the paint can roll away and it didn't even leave a mark on the window. They looked out the window and a camera was filming them.

"Were on T.V!" yelled Jim.

"As you can see at this strange time, a wolverine, wolf, and over sized meerkat are trapped in a store trying to steal paint," said a news crewman.

"They're talking about us!" said Willy.

"Were you the runt of the litter?" asked Jim.

"Yes."

"Of course they're talking about us!"

"The police are on their way to arrest these criminals. I have no idea why. All they want is a simple can of paint it looks like," said the news crewman.

The police got there and they broke down the door and came running in with their guns. They started yelling and grabbed the animals.

"We got them," said a policeman into a two way radio.

Jim bit the man's hand and he dropped the animals. Jim,Willy, and Merlin ran out the door after Merlin grabbed the can of paint. The news crew stepped in front and the animals ran under their legs. The news crew stopped the police men and tried to interview them.

Jim, Willy, and Merlin got away. They ran back to the road outside the interweb cave.

"Hay! I have to get back home!" said Willy.

"Wait! There's the car!" said Merlin.

They ran onto the road to make the car stop. It kept coming and it rolled right over Jim and Willy. Merlin jumped to the side.

When the car past Jim said, "Not the most friendly one there."

"Hay another one! It must be a convoy," said Jim.

"Convoy!" Willy sang, and he started to sing the convoy song.

"Don't do that," said Jim.

This time the car stopped when they got on the road. Merlin stayed where he was when the car stopped. Jim and Willy got the paint and ran to the drivers side of the car.

"Now," said Willy, "How do we open it?"

"Is your brother's name Sam?" asked Jim.

"Yes."

"Like this," said Jim as he unsheathed one claw and opened the can like a can opener.

"Oooo," said Willy.

They grabbed a bunch of blades of grass and dipped them in. They started to paint the car. Merlin was being chased by the driver who was trying to get him off the road. He actually picked Merlin up and threw him into the grass. He went back to get in the car and fainted at the sight of a wolverine and wolf painting the side of his car red.

After the finished painting the car red they stepped back to look at their work.

"Not the prettiest sight on the planet," said Willy.

"Are the back of your ears brown?" asked Jim.

"Yes."

"It looks perfect! Take away the dripping and that we covered the windows. And the label on one side. And filled the gas pipe in the back with paint. And now the paint is drying over the doors so he won't be able to get in. Take away all that and it's perfect!"

"I need to get back home. We're having steak and we need some steak and my parents are taking me hunting," said Willy as he turned and went back home.

"Well, I say this day was a success," said Merlin as they were going back to the cave.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Third Sax Lesson

I had my third sax lesson. We got there today about the time it was supposed to start (we left late). The room we were supposed to have the lesson in was under construction so it took us a few minutes to find a room. When we did we talked for about two minutes and my mom said I had got up and started walking around the house a little one day playing (which I did). The teacher said maybe we could play standing up so I had my lesson standing up.

I played flawless until the G's came around. The G is the only note I have trouble with. We did a little bit of tightening stuff and some trial and error. We finally got so I don't make as may mistakes.

My dad said that we wanted to buy sheet music and he said that he got a teacher discount so we could ask him to get our music.

Jim Meets Willy Part 3

This is the third part to this story. I will have four parts total in this one. I am going to post again today at about 4:00 because it is my third sax lesson.


Jim Meets Willy

Part 3
Trapped


"Jim," said Willy, "We forgot to get the paint to paint the car."

"Were you kicked by a crow?" said Jim.

"Yes. It was a stra-"

"You were supposed to remind me to get paint! Now we have to go all the way to the store to get it."

Jim, Willy, and Merlin headed off to the store that had paint. It was a little weird watching them going through town. It was getting close to night, but there were still a lot of people out there. A news crew even came to film a wolf, wolverine, and overly sized meerkat running through town.

They passed a store with T.V.s in the window and the channel was on the news.

"Hay! Were on T.V!" said Jim.

They walked a little farther and by now all the stores were closed and all the people were gone. They got to the paint store and they saw a sign that said closed.

"Now what do we do?" asked Jim leaning up against the door to the store.

The store manager opened the door sending Jim flying away. The manager turned around to lock the door as it was closing. Willy, Jim, and Merlin ran inside just in time. The manager locked the door and went away.

"Did an eagle mistake you for her baby when you were born?" asked Jim.

"Yes," said Willy.

"You were supposed to block the door with your body! Now we're trapped in here!" yelled Jim.

"But you never said t-"

"That was the plan! It's not my fault you can't mind read."

The animals walked through the store and they found the paint at the back end of the store. On the top shelf. Ten feet in the air.

"How do we get that?" asked Willy.

Jim got an evil look on his face and looked at Willy.

"Almost there!" yelled Jim as Willy was climbing up the shelves.

"Ah!" yelled Willy as the shelf tumbled over and Jim and Merlin ran away.

"Willy?" said Merlin.

"Here," said Willy coming out from under the shelf covered in red paint, "I found the red."

Merlin grabbed a can of red paint and they ran to the front of the store.

"How do we get out?" asked Willy.

"Did you sleep in hay the night you were born?" asked Jim.

"Yes," said Willy.

"We throw a can of paint at the window," said Merlin in a muffled voice because he was holding the paint in his mouth.

They came up to the window and got on a table to throw the paint at the window.

"AH!" yelled everybody as they held the paint in their paws and tossed it at the window.

Clunk clunk clunk. The paint hit the window and fell back on the floor.

"Oh," said Jim.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Happy Fourth of July (Day Late)

Yesterday was the Fourth of July! I forgot to say that yesterday. I'll just say that the story I posted yesterday was a Fourth of July present. As a present saying I'm sorry (even though the only ones who come to my blog don't celebrate Fourth of July) I'll continue the story today, instead of later this week.


Jim Meets Willy
Part2
Disaster


Willy ran home (with difficulty running over rocks and falling ten times) and told his parents all about Jim, Merlin, and the interweb. His Mom and Dad laughed and said that Jim was awesomely cool. Willy told them he wanted to go back tomorrow and they said he could if he didn't stay for the whole day. They were going hunting because they wanted steak for supper and they were out.

Willy woke up to the sound of Skreeiik!!! A dieing pig was crawling outside. He went and grabbed it when it was dead and told his parents he caught a pig so they could have pork. Willy went back to sleep and a dieing pig did not come again.

"Willy!" said Jim.

Willy woke up and it was still dark out and he saw Jim running toward him.

"How did you know where I live?" asked Willy.

"Was your dad friends with a yak?"

"Yes."

"You told me! When we were walking home. I followed you to make sure you didn't lie."

"Why would I lie?"

"Was your mom friends witha goat?"

"Yes."

"What if you didn't want me to know where you lived! Quick it's an emergency!"

"What?"

"Did it rain while you were being born?"

"Yes."

"It's the Auto Part Specialist Cars!"

Willy got up and ran after Jim who was leading him to the interweb cave. They got to the cave in about ten minutes and Merlin was there watching objects in a square.

"What's that?" asked Willy.

"Is your middle name raccoon?"

"Yes."

"That's the T.V!"

They walked over to the T.V. and on it was the 5 Eye Witness News crew interviewing someone in a car.

"That's the Auto Parts car," said Merlin to Willy.

"What's the big deal?" asked Willy.

"When you were born did you come out tail first?" asked Jim.

"Yes."

"We've seen the commercial for this car millions of times! Auto Parts Specialist! Were the guys in the little red trucks," Jim sang.

"Oh! Those cars are BLUE!" said Willy.

"AND! There convertibles," said Merlin.

"What do we do?" asked Willy.

"Did you get woken up by a dieing pig?" asked Jim.

"Yes! Jus-"

"We paint them. That'll solve half the problem."

Merlin changed the channel on the T.V. to a game show called Wipeout. Wipeout is about people going through obstacle courses and falling and injuring themselves. They only watched it because it was about people doing that and they thought it was real. They watched for two hours with nonstop Willy asking questions and then Jim asking the questions and the answer was always yes before they went to solve the problem (It was a two episode day).

They ran outside and stopped next to a road.

"Now," said Jim, "We wait."

"For what?" asked Willy.

"Did you eat a dandelion on the way here?" asked Jim.

"Yes."

"The Auto Parts Specialist cars!"






Saturday, July 4, 2009

Jim Meets Willy.

I had this idea when I bought the stuffed animals at the zoo that I could make stories with them. I got a wolverine, wolf, and meercat. I got the idea on the way home and made up stories with them. Here is the first.

Jim Meets Willy


Willy the Wolf walked through the forest. He stumbled around because he hadn't been born for very long. He came across a strange creature. It was brown with brighter color stripes along it's back.

"Hey man!" it said.

"What?" Willy asked.

"I said hey man!"

"Do you have to say man at the end of every sentence?"

"No man."

"Is all you can say hey man and no man?"

"No man."

"Why do you say man?"

"Were you born yesterday?"

"Yes I was."

"Saying man at the end of every sentence is in this month!"Come over here? Have you heard of the interweb yet?" he asked in a whisper.

"No, what is it?"

"Were you born in a barn?"

"Yes."

"Everyone knows what the interweb is!"

"Come. everyone has to see the interweb sometime in their life." said the brown creature as it walked away toward the interweb cave.

"What are you?" asked Willy as they were walking.


"Did you walk into a wall when you were born?"


"Yes."


"I'm Jim! The Wolverine!"


They came to the interweb cave after a few minutes of walking and Willy was having trouble because he barely knew how to walk. The cave was about as tall as a full grown man (six feet). It was about ten feet across. They went inside and there were three things in there that Willy had never seen.


"What's this?" asked Willy looking at at a square on a table with a rectangle in front of it.


"Was the first thing you sniffed a tobacco plant?"


"Yes."

"That's the interweb!"


Jim clicked with his mouse and came to a website called http://wolverined.blogspot.com/.

What's that?" asked Willy.

"Did a bee fly into your face? That's only the best website on the face of the world!"

"Yes. Ah!" screamed Willy as a meercat came in from the shadows.

"That's only Merlin." said Jim.

"Oh , oh I know this one. Merlin is that magical man that is a wizard!" said Willy.

Jim looked at willy with a bored face and said "Was the first thing you licked mud?"

"Yes."


"That's a meercat! Merlin the man was a HUMAN!"

"This w-webs-site is cool! Can I stay here forever?"

"Nope. Your going to have to go home. Come back tomorrow and I will teach you the ways of the T.V."

"What's a T.V?"

"Did you trip over a log?"

"Yes."

"That's tomorrows lesson."








Friday, July 3, 2009

Minnesota Zoo

We went to the Mn Zoo for my mom's birthday. In the morning when we all got up we gave my mom a unicorn statue. We saw it at a garage sale and Mom really liked it, but she didn't buy it. Me and my dad went back later and bought. She confessed she saw it when we were moving boxes, but the only harm in that was we didn't get to see the look of surprise on her face.

We got to the zoo around 10:30 and stayed until 5:00. The line to get in was the longest we have ever seen on this day (we come ever year on my mom's birthday). The wait was only about five minutes though. We paid $66 to get in!Most of that was because adult payment to get in is so high and we bought tickets to see a dinosaur movie. T-rex! We started by seeing monkeys and going to the Africa exhibit where they have the bears. We came to a bridge after a while and Mom noticed there were shower sprayers there. I spent about five minutes spraying my self with them. When I was done I was soaked!

When we got to a spot where we could either go to the farm, or the Minnesota Trail we picked the Minnesota Trail and that meant more walking. The wolf exhibit we don't get much excitement out of because the wolves are always hiding. This time though they running around less then a foot away from the glass! We got some pictures, but it was hard because they were moving so fast.

It was a nice day and we were having a nice time until, we got to the Minnesota Trail. That was a amazing. We had asked at the gift shop near the from if they had and wolverines. They didn't even know what a wolverine was! They said they had two after calling a few places and they said it was at the Minnesota Trail. We got there and the closest thing to a wolverine was a wolf. We got that and a huge Mere Cat that was half off with any purchase.

The Trail was cool! The raccoon in the beginning was hiding behind a pile of logs and running out. Then going back behind the logs. The first few animals after that were normal then cam the wolverines. At first I was disappointed because this was what I was looking forward to and the wolverine was sleeping. I walked back to Mom and Dad and when we came back he was running around. We got some good pictures then we rounded the corner there were more wolverines! There were three more and they were posing for us! We must of took twenty pictures of the wolverines. That was probably the most fun part of the trip.We can't see the pictures I took because the digital camera I was using card got full.

At 3:10 the movie was going to play so we left from where we were and got in line first. I went over to the third and final gift shop. Guess what I found. A wolverine! The people gave us the wrong gift shop. Mom was annoyed because we spent $45 on stuffed toys.

The movie was in 3-D. The movie was only forty minutes long so we didn't expect it to be great. It was good but there was not point. A girl was lost in a museum and she kept thinking she was going back in time to the dinosaur ages. My favorite character was a kitten that looked like our cat.

After seeing all the animals we headed home and overall I would say it was a good day. Don't think that was all that we did there though. I didn't put all the details in because that would take to long. I just put in the high lights.

I recorded a few more songs on my saxophone.

This song is called Grandfather's Whiskers. It took awhile, but I can now play it pretty close to perfect.




This song is called Ronde. This was one of the first i could play. Now I can play it really good.



With packing we almost have the basement done now. Mom is working fast because when she gets two jobs she won't be home as much.

Mom has now got two jobs! She will have a total of over twenty five hours which is all we need to get into an apartment. Mom hasn't actually got the twenty to thirty hour job yet, but the way they were acting she is pretty sure that by next week we can get an apartment.