Hello

7:37pm: Summertime......
So, its summer. I've been out of school for about a month and a half and it feels like sooo much has changed....or well my opinions on a lot of stuff has changed. I can never make up my mind. I'm always changing! bleh! A)I love scu, but when I'm home I just want to stay here. I love it. It makes me debate about whether or not to try and transfer closer to home. I just don't know. I doubt I will, but..yea.... B) I was dead set on poli sci and doing something in international relations at the end of this school year, but now I dont know. I started teaching a colorguard this summer and it has really made me wonder if I might want to go into music education. I never thought of myslef as someone who would be/want to be a teacher, but now I dont know. I really love doing it. Hopefully I'll get to tech again somewhere next summer. C) I just can't ever make up my mind or what my heart wants/needs for that matter. bleh...

Sorry for the indepth life turmoil... besides all of that, I'm still lifeguarding forest hills again. I also got a job as a server at applebees. Between those two and the band thing I am constantly busy. Somehow I've managed to balance the three fairly well, so far. I'm just sad that I have not hung out with my friends as much as I was planning on, but the important ones have helped me work around my busy schedule to spend some time with them. oh how I love my friends.

Well I need to go to bed! Goodnight!

1:59pm: The end of year 1....
So, I'm almost done with my first year of college. I don't feel mature enough to be done with my first year of college. I really don't want to leave here though. It took me a while, but I've finally gotten situated and now I love it. Seriously, it is freaking amazing. I have five amazing friends that I am with constantly, we are kind of like the characters from Friends lol. I'm going to suffer from withdrawal this summer without them. ahhh 3 months!! I do want to go home though and see all of my old friends. I miss them all very much. Things are just working so well here.

I'm suppose to be working on a paper right now about NATO, Prisoners Dilemna, Rational Timing of Surprise, Korea, and Iran right now. Yea Poli Sci! I've decided that I definitely want to go into International Relations and I think I want to try and work for the Defense Department, eventually. :)

Its been a really good day!

7:50pm: Hey. So I haven't updated in forever, and I'm procrastinating on doing homework so yea...
Everything has been going pretty well lately. I have a little over three weeks of school left. It does suck going this late, but I am honestly having a blast with all of my friends here. It is awesome. There are six of us and we pretty much hang out everyday. I'm really going to miss all of them this summer. :(

Its amazing how much has changed in just a year.

Alison is coming out to visit for her birthday!!! wooohoo! and how some things will never change! yay!

I've been working out daily! Yea, big step for me. Nick and I completed a two week triathalon last weekend. It was pretty sweet.

I camped on a beach last weekend. It was really cool.

I have an orchestra concert this Friday. We're playing a beastly Copland piece where I'm screaming some really high G#s on picc. someone will be deaf. hehe

Yea...thats about it.

5:57pm: Yea 1st!!! Yea Raiders!!!
Wooohoooo 90.85!!! We're going to be on the WGI dvd!!

4:50pm: Soooo happy!!!!
Finals are almost over!!!! woohoo!!! I can't wait for spring break. My plans are to throw knives, dye Easter eggs, read books, get a pet for Nick, run, go to Raiders (of course), win CCGC and Santa Clara Power Regional. Oh, and Matt comes the Friday of spring break, making the week that much better!!! Yea even though Im not going home spring break is going to be pretty freaking awesome!

I want a dog!!! :(

8:56am: Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

12:15am: Stuff......
This morning at 7:30 Raiders finally arrived back in good old Santa Clara. We went to Las Vegas this past weekend to compete at a WGI regional. It was a blast and a lot of work. We pretty much practiced and competed the entire weekend. We did get a couple of hours on the strip which was pretty sweet. We placed 2nd out of about 6 open guards. The one guard that we lost to is actually from our circuit, and we lost by freaking 4 tenths of a point!! bitter! But, we did score an 88.3 which is REALLY good and we freaking blocked!! Man I wish we were going to the championships. Right now we are seated 2nd by .4 ahhhhh!! Medal!!

We also had our winter orchestra concert this weekend. It was a lot of fun. We played movie music and dressed up like people from the movies. I dressed up like a Cowboy for the piece Cowboys(it is really old, but the overture is still really cool). We also played Gladiator! Best movie ever. I got to play the opening solo for it too. :) Yea I'm pretty much still a music geek.

To top the weekend off I got to see Molly, because she was alos in Vegas for tennis. woohoo I miss friends!!

3:15pm: The happy things in my life!
It is 72 degrees today!! woohoo!!

The Steelers won the Superbowl!! One for the thumb!!

I have a 6 ft inflatable penis in my room!!


too bad I have tons of homework.

2:38am: mmm Ramen and apples........
Hello
So yea, I haven't written in this in a long time. I don't know how long, but I'm too lazy to check. :P

Christmas Break was really nice. I really wish I had been home longer. (I left late and came back to school early for Raiders.) However, I did get to see and spend time with many of my friends. :) I also got to spend a lot of time with my family, which was nice. I've missed all of them a lot.

Second quarter is going alright. This past week was the first week of classes and overally it went pretty well. I pretty much like all of my classes. The one class that I could live without is English, but its required. I also was able to get flute lessons this quarter, and I really like my teacher (plus they're free). And, I'm officially minoring in music, yay!

Raiders is going alright. It pretty much owns my life right now, but I have some really awesome friends in it. We have our first contest tomorrow.

Well, I think I'm either going to go finish my book or go to sleep. I really am not sure why I am still up, because I have seriously been lagging in the sleep department this week (yea college). goodnight!

3:01pm: Merry Christmas!!!

12:51am: I love California :)
Today I almost felt like I was at home.
I don't know, it was just a really good day!

9:39pm: sorry, my bad I have finals on tomorrow and Wednesday.

12:25pm: dead...........
No but really thats how I feel. aghhh On Friday I had Raiders from 7-12 and then on Sat from 5-12, so now all I want to do is sleep and layin my bed. Unfortunately, I have finals tomorrow and Monday, so I have to study. :P I'm really excited for the end of this quarter, but after finals I still have another week here due to Raiders. Too bad, that I'm a mess at Raiders, I swear I hear my name more than anyone elses from the instructors. I am getting better though :).
Well I'm off to eat breakfast/lunch with my roommate and then I have chem review for three hours. Too bad that I need more than three hours of review for this final.

Oh yea, if you have time read 'Memoirs of a Geisha'. Its really good and the movie is coming out everywhere on the 23rd. Yay Japanese!! :)

2:25pm: heeeeyyyyyyy!!!!!!!
I have had a really good weekend for some reason. Nothing really spectaculer happened. I just finally feel really happen where I am, like happy enough to stay out here. :)

Weekend:
Friday was my first orchestra concert. I had never performed in an orchestra before now. I had always been in band, because our orchestra program just wasnt as strong and such, and I didnt have enough room in my schedule to take it. The concert went really well. More people were there than I thought there would be. It was really long though. :P
Saturday, I went to a field show competition for the area high schools. It was sooooo long. It started at 3 and didnt end til like 10!! I never realized how long they were when I waqs in it. But, let me say some of the programs out here are insane. They are soo good. They definitely put Richmond to shame. Geeze I wish we had programs like some of the ones out here, wow!!! But, yea it was a lot of fun. I got to see some of are littles perform and do amazing jobs. It was cool. After the competition a lot of us (Raiders and such) went to ihop because we are fattys lol.
Today I went to clean out Raider storage. It was pretty fun. I gained a kimono out of it, making it definitely worth it. Raiders has such a long interesting past. It was really cool hearing some of the stories and such.

So today I realized I'm pretty happy out here and, but I also realized that if I'm going to stay out here, I'm definitely going to need to get a job. I was thinking about possibly staying here for Raiders summer program, this summer. If I do do that I'm going to need to find somewhere to stay, thus needing a job. I really think it would be good for me to do Raiders summer program, because its a little more laid back, I can work, and I need the extra help for my technique (especially flag , rifle, and saber). I'm kind of excited, but I'm not definite on it. Watch, I'll get all homesick or something and end up going home. I know I'm going to wait until the end of winter season to definitely decide, but yea its a good possibility.

I really hope Matt gets in and gets to come out here. If, that happens everything would be perfect. :)

Well sorry to bore you all! I'll see many of you in a week! wooohoooo!!!
Love-Claire

7:01pm: In a matter of 3 hours I become a myspace whore!!!! why am I so easily distracted? geeze

I've had soo much caffeine today! woohoo !!!

yea country music!!!

3:58pm: I love country music!!!! and I am proud of it!!! yea Indiana!

I can't wait for Thanksgiving! woohooo 9 days!!!

5:59pm: closet drumline/band geeks....
So, it seems like there are several closet drumline/band geeks here. Honestly, it is rather funny, because I will start talking to someone and some how we get to the subject of marching band/ drumline. Then, we start talking about old drumline memories. Tonight, it was this girl, Kaitlyn, who plays trumpet in orchestra and pep band. Two weeks ago I talked to her for the first time at a pep band shin dig, and we realized that there are only three girls in pep band (kind of crazy). Then, tonight after orchestra practice, we started talking and she asked me how long I had played percussion and then we started talking about drumline and how it was life in high school. It turns out, that she marched cymbals for four years, and thought they were a blast. Yea, Kaitlyn's high school was crazy with drumline too. good time good times. It really makes me happy hearing about other drumline/band geeks. :)
Well I'm off to Raider practice. eeeeeek I love it, but it is hella hard. I am a mess a lot of the time, ahhhhh.

11:01pm: ahhhh Chem!!! Its going to kill me.

12:27pm: blah blah blah
Wow I haven't updated in a long time.
So this weekend was Richmond's fall break, as many of you know, so Matt came and visited me. Unfortunately, he had to leave yesterday, because there were not any flights on Sunday. It was so cool having him here. I think he might have been scared(or maybe culture shocked) by some of my friends though. Yea, but now he's gone and I'm all homesick again. ahhhhh.... I talked to Alison and Stoker last night. Stoker was telling me about seeing Eric and how he was being nice and he said he missed me and wanted to hang out when I come home. That made me even more homesick, and that is a lot coming from Eric, trust me.
Otherwise...school is going alright. Chem is kicking my ass, but my other classes are going pretty well. I received a little scholarship for orchestra, which I was really pumped about. :) I started planning my schedule for next quarter and am already preregistered for 2 of my classes (US Politics and English 2). I'm also going to keep taking Japanese and I think I want to try a psyc class. I'm really not sure what I want to major in, but I'm pretty sure that anything requiring chem is not it. I'm pretty much learning that it is not my thing.
Pep Band had its first performance last night. It was hella long since we had to play for both the volleyball game and the bronco bash (it was like a pep rally).
Raiders is going pretty well. It is really hard, but the people are so much fun to be around and the show is going to be sooo awesome. I'm excited.
We have our first performance for orchestra in two weeks. It going to be soooooo long. It will sound really good though. There is a french piece where this girl is singing for and I have to play first flute. I'm kind of nervous about it, because we havn't ran it much and I'm the only flute playing, and when I mess up it is obvious.
Well thats about it, sorry for the long post.

12:11am: Hey!!! So yea I finished SCV winterguard auditions last weekend. They were crazy hard again, but a lot of fun at the same time. Some how I managed to throw a 5 on rifle, which was amazing for me. I also had a lot easier time with dance this weekend. The flag was still crazy hard for me though. They were having us throw doubles with our left hand on flag, and until the previous weekend I had never had to do anything on my left hand on flag. That was really hard.
Unfortunately I didn't make it though. They were really positive to me about it, so I didn't feel as bad. I also knew when I first went that a lot of those people were much more advanced than me. The directors pretty much told me that I had good work ethic, potential, and to come back next year and I would they would most likely be like yea we want you. They also recommended me to Raiders, which is an Independent Open Class Guard. The lady who instructs the dance portion for Vanguard also does Raiders, so she called their director he called me and now I'm going to go check out Raiders tomorrow night. I'm excited, but kind of nervous. The people in Raiders are more around my age, but yea it is still a group that I dont know. The vanguard directors made it seem like I would do a really good job there though, so we'll see.

Outside of winterguards...
School is going alright. I'm not really in love with any of my classes though, which makes me kind of sad. Chem is really hard, and I'm afraid that I didn't do so well on Monday's exam. Japanese is going pretty well Idid decent on the first couple of quizzes and on the midterm. I just need to keep it up, and hopefully I'll receive an A. Asian Religions is well interesting. The teacher is Chinese and English is definitely his second language, so he pronounces some words a little funny and enunciates almost everything. We only have two tests in there the entire quarter and they are our only grades, so I'm kind of nervous because if I mess one up I'm screwed.
Orchestra is going pretty well. None of the pieces are that hard, but they are challenging enough to be interesting. Unfortunately, I'm not able to get flute lessons this quarter. I wasn't aware of the sign up deadline until it was too late and they are too expensive to take otherwise. I started pep band last week. It seems like it is going to be a lot of fun. Its really laid back. Its completely run by students and has no supporting funds so far. This is largely due to the fact it is the first year they've had it in a long time. I'm playing a mix of tenors and bass, but it is looking like I will be largely playing tenors. The music isnt that hard, so I think I'll be alright. There are only three of us right now playing battery, but supposively there will be a few more. One of the guys lives in my dorm, and I actually knew him before Thursday, but yea the two of us have been trying to figure out some cadences and such.

Oh yea.....Matt might get to come out here and visit, which would be awesome!! Yea, I've been really homesick lately, so yea.

Well thats about it....goodnight!

2:13am: Hey!!!! Soo yea I meant to update all of you about the SCV winterguard auditions sooner, so yea here it goes (sorry if you really didnt want to know). They were soooo freaking hard. I meanI had a hard time moving anything for a couple of days and I have some very nice bruises, one being on more forehead (yea I hit myself in the head with a flag) fortunately you cant see it. But, besides that, they were freaking awesome!! No, I'm serious. First, it was the f-ing vanguard, and there were drums, trophies, and paraphenalia everywhere. Secondly, these were like the best instructors and staff. Finally, everyone was amazing. It was sooo cool to see some of these people dance and spin. I loved every minute of it. The dances were different and hard, but they were sooo cool and fun to perform. The routines and warming up on saber, rifle and flag were even harder, but they were really cool too. I sucked at a lot of it, honestly. The people there were all just amazing. They had all been on numerous corps and such though. I heard people talking about BD, Boston Crusaders, SCV and several others that I can't remember. The first day I was honestly overwhelmed. They through sooo much stuff at us at once, and everyone seemed to just get it all from watching them do it once. But, then the second day things just started clicking. I learned to throw a one and a half on flag and catch it behind my back. And I learned a bunch of other flag stuff I didn't know since we really never did anything besides drop spins in devilettes, yea that was definitely a disadvantage. Saber was definitely better though. The routine was really fast/hard, but very fun. After my audition the head instructor asked me if I had spun saber before, and said that he could tell. That and when we were throwing fours and such outside were the only times i was complimented. That was really cool. It was crazy. We went outside to practice saber throws and they were like "lets warm up by throwing some 4." and then it was "some 5s" and then "some 6s". Yea they lost me on the 5s and 6s, but hey I tried.
The really cool thing was that they offered me a "call back" for the second weekend of auditions. They didn't cut me yet, so yea I'm pumped. One of the girls was telling me how the instructors and staff are there to make you better, and so if you have a good attitude and I guess potential you can make it. I really did feel like I improved a ton just over two days. So, we'll see. If I don't get to do it now I have to keep trying, because it was just so cool. Somewhere I really felt like I should be. I dont know if that makes any sense, but yea.
Sorry if that bored you and made no sense. :P

5:11pm: Life
Sooo.. yea I'm at school, finally. I really like it. Its hard, but it works. My classes are all decently cool. My room mate is also really nice. I hang out with her and this named Alison who lives down the hall all the time. We have a blast together. :)
I joined the orchestra, because they don't have a band. It is a small orchestra, but we sound decent, its cool. I'm also auditioning for SCV's winter guard this weekend. I'm really excited. I practiced this morning, yea I'm kind of rusty. I also RSVP for the actual SCV auditions the other day. I really want to see what its like. Alison, Jordan, and some of my other neighbors think I'm a crazy band geek, but its cool.
The only draw back is I miss Matt, Katie, Alison, the drumline, and Ellen like crazy. :( I wish i could bring Richmond here.
Thats about it, im or something sometime if any of you want to talk or something. I'd love to hear from you.

4:15pm:

Well, I'm finally having to get ready for school. Mom and I went and got boxes today and we got pedicures. The pedicure wasn't needed for school, but hey we are girls. :)

Things have been pretty good lately, different but good. Stoker and Alison came back from school this weekend and I got to have breakfast with them. Its weird seeing them so little, but starting in two weeks I'm going to see them even less. I also went to IU and visited with the Katies. It was really nice getting to see both of them. I miss hanging out with Katie C all the time, though. :( I'm finally ready to leave. I found out who my roommate is and she seems very normal and we have a lot of things in common which is great. I'm also really excited about my classes. I'm even more excited about auditioning for Vanguard, but thats not until November. The only bad thing is I can't take Matt and everyone else I'm going to miss with me. I can already tell that I'm going to have those home sick days. Fortuantely, I am going to get to come home for Homecoming and Thanksgiving. :)

11:20am: I want to go to school!!!!

2:24pm: Summer.....
It really feels like summer is over.
I mean, Sate Fair is done. It was phenominal. The best performances we ever had, we just got screwed (nuts and bolts). I don't regret a single thing about summer though, so I guess I'll be ok with the whole placing thing, adventually.
Everyone is going to school! Some of my friends already left for college and the rest are leaving in the next week or so. I'm going to be sooo sad when they are all gone. However, I am going to IU before I leave, to visit all of you. The high schoolers are also all going back in two days. geeze, its going to be weird still being here, while everyone else is learning. I really want to go to class and such. At least ill be working at the pool.
Overall, I really enjoyed this summer. It couldn't have been much better. :)