Second Sax Lesson

I had my second saxophone lesson. As I said, I am writing about it right after we got home from it. It's a little late because the internet was running slow, but it is still up the same day.

We got there once again about twenty minutes early. The teacher had just finished his other lesson so we got to go in early. I started to play and after a while of trial and error, we got most if not all the squeaks out. He had me sit up straight. Position my mouth not so far on the reed, and tighten my mouth more. He also said that I could put electrical tape on the mouth piece, that would put less pain on my teeth.

After that it sounded beautiful. I didn't want to stop when the songs or lesson was over. I think tomorrow, or later, I will be putting up more of my songs from the book. At the lessons we're getting pretty far. Some of the songs I'm playing sound really cool.


He I don't think knows though that I have been playing the advanced songs with exceptional sound.

My dad says (my mom wasn't there, at work) that it sounds beautiful when I play.

We finished my play room today in packing. We finally got everything out. Now all we have to do is the ten other rooms. I think we're doing well. We have a few rooms with boxes all around. It looks like we have done a lot.

Weekly Video or Song

Unless people complain I am going to stop making the Weekly Video or Song post because I forget to so it sometimes, and it's hard to find good stuff sometimes. The other reason is our computer is going slower and Dad thinks it's because of youtube partly.

Bored Bored Boooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrred

Still nothing is happening. It least on Thursday It will be my mom's birthday. We are going once again (that's not a bad thing) to the Minnesota Zoo. For a present I got my mom this cool unicorn starue we found at a garage sale. My mom was the one that found it, but she didn't buy it.

I took a test I found on Earwen's blog, What Inkheart Character Are You? This is the character it gave me. I have no idea who he is. The site told me his name is Bluejay. It said i am brave and am willing to help people at any cost.

Not much going on today either. Tomorrow is my second sax lesson and I will try to write about it when I get home (around 4:00).

Early Morning

Today I got up at 6:00. That's a big difference considering I usually get up from 8:00 to 9:00. It is raining. Pouring almost. The wind is blowind hard and it was blowing right into my window. I couldn't get back to sleep so I was able to come down early when no one was awake and make a post.

That didn't last long. Dad came down and he didn't say I had to get off, but I did.

My mom's job official closed. She went back to return her keys and get another check. Her first one bounced.

We are doing a little more packing bit by bit. Still over all, this week has been extremely boring.

The three bedroomed apartment we wanted to rent already got rented. The two we also looked at though will probably be open. There was also a two bathroomed that we want for $70 more, and two people were going to look at it, but we still want that one.

We think we will be moving to the apartments where we are looking. It's just that we haven't found one there yet.

A Playlist

My dad said that he thought Earwen had a cool blog and sugested for me to go there. I did and he was right. She has all this fantasy stuff on it and I love fantasy. I heard music playing when I went to it and thought nothing of it. I came near the bottom of her blog and saw a playlist. That was the cause of the music. I love music so I clicked on the create a playlist button.

You have to sign up, but you can get a lot of music on to your blog. All you have to so is sign up for it at playlist.com.Now I'm able to go to my blog and listen to my favorite songs. Then I create a new tab and I can do anything and still listen to it.

Me and my dad think it's very cool. If Earwen is reading this, thank you for the awsome idea!

I am going to spend the whole day bringing songs onto my playlist.

Packing and Shopping

Today for me was a stressful day in the morning. Only because once again we were doing packing. At first it's O.K. but then seeing all the stuff you have and are putting in to boxes stresses me out. We are doing very well though on the packing. We are amost done with my play room that has most of my toys.

My mom and dad went shopping to buy a movie, get some boxes, (the ones Dad bought the other day were WAY to big) and return a cooler. I get to spend to some time on the computer now. I like it when I can, not because I'm some kid who only knows how to have fun when he's on the computer, but because I barely ever go on the internet. Dad is always on it.

Not much to say about today. Nothing has happened for a while. Not everyday can be exciting.

Polly Woolly Doodle and Country Dance

I have recorded some of my playing on the saxophone and brought it on to youtube.com.

The first tune is the melody to Polly Woolly Doodle. We took some of the pictures we got from zoos and used them for the backround. I sugested a saxophone, but dad put these in.



The next song is not very long. Shorter than the first. I hope you like Country Dance. The same goes for the pictures as for the first.



There are a few other songs I can play, but Dad said I had to play them as best as I could before bringing them to youtube. Some of the more advanced songs I can play, but with a mistake every now and then.

Today me, my dad, and Mom are all pooped out because we took a long bike ride in the morning. It was 80 degrees which wasn't problem, we were going fast enough we had a breeze blowing on us. The distance wasn't a problem either. The problem was that there were three huge hills. We were all tired after those hills. I had a good idea to put water from our water bottles all over our heads. That was a breeze!

First Sax Lesson

I had my first saxophone lesson last night at 6:30. We arrived early because the traffic wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. I got to ask the teacher how to play the higher notes. It turned out it was what I thought it was, I was just doing it wrong.

We were able to change the lessons to 3:00 so now I will be able to write about them when I get home (unless Dad won't let me).

He asked me first what i could do, and because I couldn't play the higher notes I told him I couldn't play the beginning pages. That was soon resolved. He told me what the button was I had to push, and it turns out I was sitting wrong. He told me that I had to practice tonging.

We went through the first few pages of the book I brought to help start out and he said "It's amazing how much you are ahead of the average student!" or something to that meaning. Then he said I should practice some of the pages with articulation over the week. I said "I try to practice twenty minutes a day." He laughed then said "It's like pulling teeth to get some of my other students to practice." We took the CD out of the book and out it into the CD player and I could play along to the song. The song was played very fast and I messed up and had to stop playing. He said "That's O.K. You shouldn't be able to play that fast yet. If you could, that would be great!" I found out what I did wrong though, I have a tendency to not arc my left hand. That pushes down on some buttons making it sound bad.

He left to get a practice sheet and I played the song again , but with no mistakes and as fast as the CD. It turns out I have to use a different reed because the one I'm using got chipped. He told me that I had my reed positioned wrong, well I got that from him. Because he told me the way to position the reed and I had it wrong.

There is a possibility that I will be going to that collage when I get old enough.

Very soon I think I will ask my dad if I can record my playing and put it on my blog.

We are still doing a lot of packing. We ran out of boxes so Dad had to go to the store to get more. My mom's a little angry and confused about why he has to spend $100 on boxes, but I told her we need all the boxes we can get. We have alot of stuff. So far we don't even have one room totally finished.

We're doing the family room now, but it's taking a while. One reason because nobody wants to do it. My dad says we have to do it, then everyso often he goes to his blog. My mom says we have to do it and when we do sometimes she does the laundry. Even I do it sometimes. I say "We have to do it! You guys keep saying we have to do it, now let's pack!" Then I go off and play war or watch T.V. Even bother the cat sometimes.

It's not fun, even depressing at times, but we have to get this packing done. My mom says "Well we have a month" It was two months not to long ago. Soon it will be time to move.

Como Again

We went to Como Zoo for Fathers Day. This trip I would say went better because the weather was nicer. It was kind of cool and there was a light rain. That felt really good after walking a long time. We got some pictures for Firestar's Virtual Image Zoo. One of them even has me in it (Mom too).

Today in about half and hour we will leave to go to my first sax lesson.

We are doing a lot of packing now that moving comes closer. We just finished taping a few boxes together and putting our movies in it. I got all my computer games for the Wii and Gamecube in a box, and Firestar has been having tons of fun exploring the new open space.

Not much to write now. Tomorrow I will write about my lesson.

A Home To Live In

We found a place to live yesterday Friday June 19. We can only go there though if my mom gets her salary up to $500 or $600 a month. It is low right now because the store I like to help her in is closing, and she quit one of her other jobs. She found a few new ones, but my dad says "We can move to the apartment if you get at least twenty five hours a week even with the minimum wage."

That is where I think we are meant to go. Yesterday we went to look at them and the guy there said he could show us a two bed roomed one, and a three bed roomed one. The two was nice because it had a lot of wood flooring in the front. Me and Dad like wood flooring and cabinets a lot. The problem with the two bed roomed one was that it was small.

The three bedroom was cool when we walked in. We saw a huge room with a porch at the end (all of them have a small porch). It was nice and we room for us to sleep, and a study for the computer. Where my room would be is right next to the study, so if I don't forget I will ask my dad if we can put a door like the closets there in (the closets are sliding doors) between my room and the study. The problem with it was there was no wood. A few wood cabinets, but no wood floor. The porch there too felt a little unsteady, and I don't want to test it out much, because if it breaks, you would fall three stories.

During the day maybe even at night, there is a pool outside, so if we can get in by August (which is when we plan to leave) we can go swimming. In the main building where you rent the apartments and town houses, there is a place where you can exercise any time of the day for free. There is three of those things were it has places to put your shoes, and a treadmill.

This what the treadmill looked like, except more high tech.

This is kind of what the stair climber looked like, except it was much bigger and looked like the treadmill, but had the foot places.

Alone

My mom said that I could go to a huge grocery store by myself on Thursday June 18. I was at the store helping my mom and she noticed that the cash register had no change left in it. She said, "Would you be so kind to go over to the grocery store and buy two paper towels with twenties? Make sure you buy them separately so we get more change." The store was about one hundred yards away so it was no big deal.

I went to the store and went in search of the paper towels (they were also in need of paper towels). I forgot that they moved the towels to the other side of the football field length store. I walked to the wrong end and was confused looking through every aisle. I saw at the total end of the store the paper towels and got them in about ten minutes. It should of taken me five, but I forgot they moved them.

By chance there were people at both self checkouts so I waited casually. I was waiting with my back to the checkouts and I saw a bax of doughnuts for $1.99. My mom said I could get anything under three dollars, but had to pay with a twenty. So I got the doughnuts.

The self checkout took awhile because I was going to fast for it. After about ten minutes I was able to buy everything with three twenty dollar bills and get out.

My saxophone skills are coming along pretty good now. I can play almost any song that t go to high because I can't play the higher notes. In the book we bought I can play the hard songs, but not the easy. The easy ones use higher notes, and I'm not sure what one of the symbols mean. The hard ones use lower notes, and I consider myself to be pretty good at those.

I can play the melodie to this on the saxophone. This was the only version I could find that was good, and we just watched a movie with this person in it, so this is what I picked.

Saxophone Teacher

We found out that there are a lot of teachers for the sax. My band teacher said that he knows the one at Northwestern Colleage so we will be going there Monday June 22 for practice.

My playing has been coming along well. I am learning to play different notes and I can now play songs out of the book we got for the sax.

My mom is now quiting one of her jobs because they aren't giving her enough hours, but she has already got another job. This job does not pay as much, but as I say, would you rather have $9.00 an hour five hours a week. Or $7.00 an hour forty hours a week.

This is short of what my sax looks like.

Saxophone!

Saturday June 13th We went to music store to look at some saxophones. Our garage sale ended for the week and we thought we could get a saxophone. We got to the store and saw the brand we wanted, but for almost twice as much as expected.

It was $2899 for a good one it looked like. We only had about $2000. We rented one though. To rent one we have to pay $60 dollars a month for 12 months, but the payment goes to any sax. We got the brand we wanted, but a student line. The girl said a student line would be good to start.

So we now have a sax that the proffesional said was scary how fast I was picking it up.

Balloons!

At my mom's job two days ago (Tuesday June 9) my mom let me blow up four balloons and one with helium. I popped the first because I was bouncing it around and it hit a corner of glass and popped.

I made three more. I would have only made two, but one was not the color I thought it was. I mostly made them to try and tie them. I have never known how to tie a balloon until now. Mom opened the door to see how windy it was. She said "It's not windy at all!" So I took one of my balloons outside. It flew away. It didn't have helium so I chased after it. Just as I was about to grab it, it popped on the grass.

I made a helium one and I was trying to dribble it. After a while I let it fly up and I was holding on to the end of the string. It popped when it got up.

When I got home I played with the balloons some more. I was hitting one with my wolf staff and it popped in mid air. My last balloon, I grabbed a huge plastic bat and was hitting it. It hit the ceiling. it popped.

"That's a dollar and fifty sense in the hole," I said.

"No! It was a dollar and fifty sense toward your fun!" said my mom.

I will never totally understand my mom.

Como Zoo

Today (Monday June 8) we went to the Como Zoo. My dad said that he was bored of just doing the garage sale (which is doing very well) and stuff around the house. He said "We should have fun somewhere that isn't at home," that is what he said.

We had a pretty good time at the Como Zoo. We got a lot of pictures and saw some cool animals. The conservatory wasn't as good as usual because the sprinklers were never on. The main room smelled like root beer and one of the rooms next to it was so hot my pants and shirt were sticking to me.

I put ten dollars in my pocket to buy something and then when I got home, I couldn't find it. I was wearing jeans and i put it in the small pocket in a pocket I think and it fell out.

My dad said I could buy this cool staff. It was a staff that was about four foot five inches tall, was completly made of wood, and had a cool wolf head on the top. All of it was painted. It cost $21.75, but my mom paid with a Visa so it didn't madder I had no money.

Cold and Rainy

Today and yesterday were cold and rainy. It wasn't a terrible day. I could stay inside and play Lego Batman with my dad. I also got to finish my Bazna story and start a new story.

Biking has been difficult in this weather, but my dad took me over to my mom's job in the car anyway. I got bored after an hour because there so many people there I was doing the same thing over an over again. I was there just in time for the afternoon rush. The whole front room (which could hold about twenty people) was full and all wanted me to blow up balloons.

That is fun for a little bit, but after the thirtieth balloon it starts to get boring. I called my dad and he took me home and we played Lego Batman for an hour and had spaghetti for supper.

Over the next month I might be posting a legion story here because I made a character on the superhero creater that makes the name. The name was the same as one that was already there, so I will write it on my blog.

SUMMER!

Today is the first dat of summer! The few problems is that my mom is very sick. My dad is dizzy when he stands up. It's windy so stuff keep falling over, and my dad wants me to help him with the garage sale so I can't ride my bike.

Overall though, I think it will be a good day. So far at about 10:30 we have made about $15. That doesn't sound like much, but we have been making $8 every ten minutes, and if that keeps up my dad says we'll have over $400 by the end of the day.

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!

Today (Thursday 6/4/09) was the last day of school! Me and my friends had great fun today.

In first hour (science) we went outside and had a snowball fight with wadded up pieces of paper.

In second hour (band) we watched our concert (which was on Tuesday 6/2/09 and I will ask my dad if we can put it up) and my and a friend were making finger shadows on a wall half the time.

At lunch I talked a lot to annoy a friend which took a lot of my breath away.

In third hour (art) we watched the short fills before animated movies (about two minutes long).

Fourth hour (language arts) we finished a speaking thing we were doing and wrote down with every letter of the alphabet something about it.

Social (fifth hour) we went outside and said things that we remembered about what we learned and played three corners (four corners but with three).

Sixth hour (math) we helped our teacher move stuff from his room to my language teacher's room. I carried big poster boards to her room, and with no help had to lift them up about ten feet. Each one had to weigh twenty pounds. Our math teacher in the middle of the year said he went to space camp. So today someone printed out an astronaut picture, and we put our teacher's face on it. All of us signed it and we gave it to him. I got the impression he didn't like it. At the end of the hour, we all started to chant summer, summer, summer, and when the bell rang we jumped in the air and screamed and yelled.

This school day was pretty good.

Our garage sale has been up for two days now, this is the third. We made about $150 the first day and $200 the second day! Today we haven't made very much, but that's how it goes. Overall we have made around $400. If you add my money, we have $831.75 about. That's getting close to halfway to the sax!