End of Year 2

Yes, I’ve been horrible with keeping this up. I know, updates would only take an hour of my time. I get it, there is no real excuse in some ways. 

Just get over it already.

So yeah, a LOT has happened since my last update. So much that I won’t even talk about some things. Instead we’re going to focus on one major important thing. Finals.

Yeah, I already had my finals. The last day was April 29th so the week before hand was when most things were actually do. I think I said this before. Art colleges don’t have test finals, unless it is one of the few liberal classes offered. Instead we get projects that are worth 35-55% of our grade. In one of my classes it was worth more-or-less the whole grade.

So yes, the final week I killed myself in a way. Jill for concept had us finishing up the network re-designs that we have been working on basically all term. (Really annoying) Then on top of it the actual final was to do one big final presentation of the re-design... with everything having been revised for a final grade. (I extra killed myself by pushing out a third concept for the final to try getting extra credit).

Style frame for concept 3.

Dorian, Design. Oh gosh. 

Basically we were working on 2 projects over the term, one on our icon (I had a nut and bolt) and one on kinetic typography. So all the weekly assignments we had we had to put together in a layout, print it out, then bind the book (Graphic Design has a machine to do it fast). Thankfully I had all my pictures, but it still took time.

Joe and Animation. Sadly, Joe is not coming back next year as he said he wants to spend more time on his own projects...boo. His final project was one where the whole class would work together to create an apple app for the ABCs. Each person picked a letter from a hat and we had to come up with a sentence for it, then animate it using 3D (Cinema 4D) and 2D (After Effects) techniques. I got T, and Joe had said that he didn’t want the app to be all happy and child-like. So mine is “Tt is for tiger, who thought you were lunch.” In the animation the tiger sees you, positions himself, and eats you (the viewer) in one bit. It’s really cool in my opinion.

The original style frame mad by hand out
of construction paper.

Of course it took about 3 weeks to get right. I had to make everything in 3D space, the animate them to look like an actual tiger - not very easy. Thankfully I had chosen to do an art style to make it appear to be constructed out of paper, so my tiger could be as geometric as I wanted.

Arts in Concept was a straight forward final - give a presentation on how something we did in class relates to the “outside world.” I did how Freud’s Id, Ego, and Super-ego were translated to be Kurt, Spock, and Bones from Star Trek Original Series. My teacher never thought she would talk about Star Trek in her class but found it very interesting. I had also created versions of what I would think my Id, Ego, and Super-ego look like.

Final we had Artists Books. The final was a partner project, open ended. Whet we decided to do was make silhouette pictures from “around the world” and get a light in the spine of the book that you could turn on to create a back light. The book would also be printed on vellum so the light would be diffused. 

Honestly, it was annoying. First was had to find the right size parts for it (thanks Sarasota Electrical) then learn how to set it up, get the pictures (Disney EPCOT World Showcase) vectors them, put them in a layout, format it right, print it, cut it, fold it, add the lights, and bind it all together. The most frazzling part was the printing. We wanted it on vellum, but our school couldn’t print it. 

The final 'picture' in the book.

So I sent it off to Blue Line (a printing store in town) and they said they could do it. Of course I then get an email saying they can’t...2 days before it’s due. I rush down, talk to the guy, rush back, and try to fix the layout so he can print it. Thankfully it worked. Turned out he couldn’t print the accordion book in one go (225 inches) so we had to break it into 4 pieces. 

In the end it was a hit with not only that class and teacher, but also with Dorian and the rest of my Design class. I had been showing him all of my books as I make him and he loved this one.

Top view of the finished book.

So there you have it. A week of no sleep, stress, and summer good-byes. After all this was said and done I had packing to to and the end of year video to edit. I plan on making one every year. And regardless of the stress, I did enjoy the year but for now I happy to spend 3 months at home with my family.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PijiWWmu9o

Sorry...So Easter

Right, so I have been very bad in updating this, even worse than normal. I’m trying okay!

Quick over view of the last few weeks: Finally moving to a new project in animation, Concept class still annoying, Design is getting boring half the time since he’s basically teaching everything I learned at Moore, Artists Books is still awesome and is defiantly number 1 right now, having nightmares, had such a bad day last week that I chewed off my sister’s head and was about to rip off someone else's too, tutoring is fun as the kids are staring to see that I’m always there, new Seeing Eye puppy came last week - German Shepard male named Diehl, umm.....think that’s it.

Yeah, lots happened - sorry.

Anyway, yesterday was Easter - let’s talk about that!

So Easter is important to me. Not just because I’m religious, but because it really is a family time. Ringling is mean though and doesn’t give us any time off so I had to stay at school. So I had all my friends come over and we had a big Easter Party!

I had been planing this for weeks and when the day actually came is was crazy.

Crafts I did for decoration. [It is on our ceiling]

6am I was up and had to take a shower half a sleep before grabbing a quick breakfast on my way to church - have to say that I still hate the new responses for service. Moving on. I was back at school before 9 and took over 2 dozen eggs up to the Motion Design floor and hid them for people who had to work on Easter. (One was given to the Security Guard.) Then I called home as I opened my Easter baskets and got last minute tips on cooking.

After a quick clean up I set the ham in the oven and started washing dishes - took half an hour. Then it was potatoes (those had to go in my friend’s oven as our was full) then cookies. There was also salad, deviled eggs, hard boiled eggs, cupcakes, and pie.

My feast for dinner. For never having boiled eggs, cooked ham, or made potatoes before....it was good.

“Dinner” was at 1:30 so people could still do work, but we didn’t start until nearly 2 since Greg was half hour late - I refused to talk to him for a while. (The time was decided 3 weeks ago!) While everyone finished eating I went and hid the easter eggs - about 180 - and then it was time for the hunt!

Everyone had a lot of fun and dessert was surveyed outside since it was so nice. Everyone also got baskets from my Grandma.

Dessert and baskets outside since it was so beautiful.

They didn’t hang around too much longer, but did bring everything inside. After quickly organizing everything as saying good-bye to people I was left with Millie Greg and my blistered feet. The sink was over flowing again but I hurt too much to even try. Greg offered to do them for me in exchange for forgiveness. Sure. 

I fell to sleep at some point while they were washing and when I woke up I was alone. Homework then called and later that night I also brought the left over desserts to the MD floor.

Finally, I got to go to bed. I love these things but I really could use one more day...

Midterms and a Break

So, things happened in this gap period.

First off it was midterms and anyone who has been in college, this isn’t the same. Normal colleges give you tests that you spend hours studying. Art colleges give you large projects so on top of the 27 hours of class time a week, you’re also expected to put at least 35-40 hours into all the projects.

In short, you get basically no sleep.

So, yeah. That’s what I was doing.

Anyway, it is now spring break and I’m back at home. My brother is also on break and in New Jersey, but brought with him a couple of friends and are mainly going to be at the beach and New York.

Me, I’m planning on relaxing. I’ve already been to Philly to visit my Grandfather. He was in the hospital for a hip replacement, but was having problems so had to stay longer. Thankfully he’s home now so its all good. 

That night my sister Amanda, cousin Tori, and my Grandmother went out to the theater with tickets my Uncle gave us. The plat was “Priscilla: Queen of the Desert” and was about drag queens. Very funny, and had a lot of sexual references. My sister and I had a blast, Grandma... not so much. I think it would have been better if she was with Grandpa alone.

Other plans include watching TV, going to Books-a-Million, and maybe helping my dad out at the high school with the spring play.

Really, I wouldn’t expect an update until sometime when I’m back at school. I’m on vacation!

Of Interviews and Disney Trips

So last week I had my babysitting interview. First let me say that I don’t think I got the job, not that I think i would take it if I did. The couple seemed very uninterested in me and the mom was just watching the TV for the whole time. I was only asked about 4 questions and it took longer to get there than the amount of time I actually stayed there.

So yeah, I doubt it.

The rest of the school week was okay. Animation went well. In Concept my teacher actually got really excited about some of my ideas which bearly ever happens.

Design. Now that was interesting.

We’re doing these music videos for a band called Birthday Massacre, a gothic rock band. It’s actually a contest that they posted for someone to make them a music video for a song from their newest album. 

Anyway, on Friday story boards were due. I put up mine with about 70 boards while others had 20ish (though each song is about 4 minutes.) Mine were talked about in length since is was the most thought out, dictated, and I was working on my own. They all think I can get it done (even though it is a crazy big bite if work) and they all promised my teacher to keep an eye on me to make sure I don’t go crazy.

Page 3 of 12 in my boards.

Then came the weekend, and with it DISNEY WORLD!!!

My grandparents were taking my youngest cousins (8 and 3) to Disney after being on the Disney Cruise for a week and had asked if I wanted to join. 

Of course.

So Friday after class I left for Orlando and meet them for dinner at the Hoop-de-Doo where my Grandpa got chosen to play the part for an angel, a role my dad played a few years ago.

The next day we went to Magic Kingdom without my Grandma as she had been sick all week. But we had fun anyway and Oliver (3) was pretty well behaved. Erica (8) had an appointment at 11 to be turned into a princess as I went exploring with my Aunt and Uncle for 2 hours before we all met up again at 1 for lunch with the princesses at the castle.

Snow White visited us at our table and even gave Oliver a kiss.

After that we headed over to Epcot and I was annoyed that the new version of Test Track was already out of fast passes and the line was 190 minutes long for stand by. Sorry, but no. I was able to convince my cousin to try Mission: Space - the less intense version and she loved it. She then got my Grandpa to go on with her a second time. After that, Figment, and Spaceship Earth we had dinner at the Land and the little ones were ready to crash.

We dropped the kids off at the hotel and I headed back to Magic Kingdom with my Aunt and Uncle as it was open until 1am. My Uncle had never been to Disney and my Aunt hadn’t been since the 80’s or something so it was fun, though they were confused as to why I was acting so weird. What can I say, I’m more tempered when I’m watching over people, but have me alone in Disney and I’ll act like the kid I am.

It was exhausting and my feet hurt but Sunday was not a day to rest as I had to drive back to school, do animation, concept, do some reading and cook Sunday night dinner (Megan’s Birthday - ravioli).

But I had fun, and I got it all done, so no harm no foul.

Things Are Looking Up

So after the horrible week before, things are finally starting to look better.

After a day filled with nothing but reading, last Sunday was work. I got up early for a weekend and went to the labs to do animation work and was thankfully able to finish before 3:30 when others were getting there.

Sunday dinner was pushed up to 5:45 because of the Supper Bowl at 6:30 that I wanted to see even if no one else did. So I made something simple and traditional for my family football dinners: pepperoni bread.

Everyone loved it and I was glade I made three long logs of it (though one was just cheese). But that wasn’t the best part of the day.

Brenna was back.

She came hobbling in a cupel minutes late just as we though someone should go to walk with her. She’s got a cane now and has to give herself daily injections for at least 6 months. As thin as ever and looks even more tiered than normal, but alive. 

According to the doctors, another hour and she would be dead. I can thank God that she was at her Aunt’s house that weekend because if she was here, no one would have noticed. Living in a single room has perks, but no one would know...

Enough sad.

Back to the good stuff.

Artists’ Books is going great! We just made 3 new hard cover books and they look so great. I can hardly believe I made it when it looks so real!

Animation is also up there. We’re almost done this project were we’re animating the CARTOON NETWORK and NICKELODEON titles on screen. Joe normally only tells you what’s wrong during process critiques, but other than a few comments he has actually been talking about what he loves!

One of my CN ideas.

On top of that Disney Imagineers came to the school to talk about their different internships. I can’t apply since they only accept 3rd years minimum, but I got to talk to them about a model making internship and got their contact information. Now I have them on LinkedIn and I even found my favorite High School teacher, Mr. Alten!

This week I also started volunteering at a local community center to tutor and help kids with their homework. I’ll be going once or twice a week to help out - though I have to brush up on my math...

And on top of all that I got an interview! I had signed up onto an site to find babysitters and caretakers (care.com) over a year ago with an idea to get a local babysitting job. I apply often to ones that work in my schedule but never got a reply.

But I just checked my email and there was a message received an hour ago asking if I was still interested! I was so excited that I replied right away to schedule an interview from their times. So on Wednesday at 3:30 I meet a couple and their 2 kids. I would love for this to work out. 

I’ll let you know how it goes. Promise.

Just When You Think You're Fine

A week has already gone by somehow, yet it seems like it’s only been 2 days....

Classes are really starting to pick up, kind of. Artists’ Books class is still a bit slow, but for now we’re working one our projects in class. I made a 2 inch tall Harry Potter out of only paper with arms, legs, cloak and all!

Animation is still the same as we have yet to move on from the ball bounce.

Concept actually went well. Our style frames for the Channel 4seven Ident was due on Thursday. I turned in 4 instead of 3 in hopes of extra credit since Jill doesn’t really like me. Most people were told to re-do them since she didn’t like any, or didn’t think the ideas were coming across right. But she actually picked one for me! On top of that is was one made only in photoshop -  something she told me I was horrible at last term and to not bother with!

The style frame the Jill loved. She actually said loves!

Design was odd since the class is split into 2 parts. For the Icon parts I was the only one in class who did the assignment right and didn’t have to re-shoot my image. For the Type part, I so did not do the assignment right....

The weekend came along with anime club, weekend homework, and SUnday dinner. This week was Broccoli Cavatelli and Cheddar Garlic Biscuits. It turned out great even though I was so confused I had to call my Aunt in the middle of prep. But Things worked out in the end and everyone just left to finish last minute work. 

In the end a good, if hectic, week.

Or so I thought.

As I write this I find out that my roommate from last year, one of the very few people I’m comfortable with here in Florida, was not where we all thought she was. 

Normally she is first to get here for Sunday Dinner. This evening I knew that there was a Leadership Meeting for Officers of clubs who ask for funding. Our friend Ben had to go so we all figured that she was there too.

Until Facebook updated.

“Day of firsts....First ride in an ambulance....First time I’m staying over night in a hospital...First time I miss dinner.”

What?

I texted her as she wasn’t answering the questions online. She was visiting her aunt in Tampa when she collapsed in the bathroom and couldn’t breath. An ambulance was called when they found life threatening blood clots in her lungs. 

Not good.

They took CTs and x-rays. She’s been put on an IV, oxygen, and blood thinners. Thankfully it seems to be getting rid of them, so extreme measures aren’t needed. They don’t know when she can leave though or what caused them in the first place yet.

So yeah, another week at art school......

In the Swing of Thing

Obviously it’s been weird trying to get back into the swing of doing classes and there blog updates. Sorry. I’ll try to be more regular.

Not much has been going on. I’m getting use to my new class schedule as well as my roommates. So far my favorite classes are Animation 2 and Artists’ Books. Least favorite is Concept 2. Big surprise.

So. What am I doing in this?

Well, in a class called Arts in Concept we’re comparing music and literature of a time period and sees how it evolves. Kind of cool.

Design 2 is split. Half the time we work on icons and the other half we work of type - this time with it animated and put to audio. The teacher is slowly turning into my favorite teacher here.

Animation 2 is cool since we finally started to work with a 3D animation program called Cinema 4D. Right now we’re finishing a ball bounce. Fun.

Concept 2. Jill. She and I just don’t click. On top of it all year we’re working on branding. Completely not a thing I’m interested in at all.

Artists’ Books is fun. Basically the class is book binding. Yeah, I took one at Moore College, but this on is more focused and has a smaller class. Currently our project is to take a book apart and use the parts to make a sculpture of something that reflects back to the book.

Other than that not much has happened.

I dragged a bunch of people out to Cold Stone the first week because I was craving it all day. 

Cold Stone after dinner.

Sunday night dinners started up the first week with just ordering pizza. Of course even though I call at 3 for a pick up at 4:45 they didn’t have it. Not that it wasn’t ready, but that they didn’t even put the order in so dinner was half hour late.

This late Sunday we celebrated Kevin’s Birthday since we missed it before. We had spaghetti, sauce, and meatball with some rolls and veggies. Then homemade ice cream cake and VEGAN chocolate almond “buttercream” cupcakes with raspberry glaze. Turned out well.

So yeah, not much yet, but things should be picking up soon.

Until later.

No More

Finally, finally I get to go home. Well, tomorrow at least.

The rest of the week from the last time I wrote wasn’t that interesting. Since I was getting so much sleep I kept thinking it was the end of the week since the past 2 have kind of blended together.

After Monday I only had animation left and for the first time in nearly a month I didn’t have to go into the labs until after noon. 

We knew we had a lot of layers (20,178 not including the lights and cameras) so in order to export it properly I had to finish the animation on Tuesday.

Therefore Wednesday was dedicated to rendering.

Karim’s job was to figure out how to do it and started at 8 before his morning class. I came by at 12 to help babysit the computers.

We had 7 computers running and it still took 17 hours...

But it went well. The client liked it and the teachers loved that we were actually able to get it out. They talked to us the longest and didn’t even comment on how it looked, just trying to figure out how it was done. We even had our classmates asking us questions. I bet at least 85% of our final grade will be biased on the fact that we got this out.

20,000 + layers, come on, we deserve an A.

A screenshot from the animation. Over break I'm getting vimeo
so you can look at everything then.

Anyway, that was my week. Today was just packing, cleaning, and saying goodbye as people started to leave.

This time tomorrow I’ll be back in Jersey, but for now I have a ‘party’ to get back to.

The Week You Never Want Again

It has been a week? Really? It feels like 2 days and at the same time, a month. That’s what happens when you hardly sleep at night.

But that is what finals are all about.

Let’s break it down shall we.

With this combine project in Motion Design it means one final for three classes which has smaller (but no less important) passes. Then there is the Fine Arts final, and Bio final which is a project.

And guess what! They all have a due date on the same day. December 3rd. (Animation had a pass 2 due Thursday and pass 3 due the 3rd).

On top of that we had spring registration (finally), the Christmas party on Sunday (for which I still needed a present) as well as maintenance coming by to finally fix our sink.

So I needed an attack plan. I had an animation to save and fix, 5 sculptures and objects to make, a nature project to come up with, maintenance to check in on, a present to buy, dinner to make, and decorations to put up.. This is where no sleep comes in.

Basically everyday I would wake up at 9 and opened the door for maintenance, settled them in and got to the labs around 9:45 taking a break for lunch at 11 (unless a morning class which means up at 7). Continue working on animation until 6, dinner, then work on Fine Arts until a sculpture is made (normally done between 3 and 4 am). 

That was the schedule for the week days where I was able to make 5 figures in 4 days. Our sink finally works right without water coming back up, and I registered alright. Got some classes I wanted, one not.

What it looks like in the end. 

The weekend came and so did me going shopping at Home Depot, Jo-Anns, Dollar Tree, Kohl's, Michael’s, Target, and Publix (plus a stop at the beach for some nature).

Saturday was devoted to creating the objects for Fine Arts, painting the figures, and creating their environment. Here was the excitement for the day. I was cutting the basal wood with my box cutter in a very wrong way and slipped cutting my finger. Being stupid I out it under water (it wasn’t deep but angled and bleeding a lot) and the blood wasn’t clotting. Then my sugar level jumped off a cliff (I hadn’t eaten all day) and very nearly passed out. I would have if my roommate didn’t notice and get me an ice pop. 

Fun.

Sunday came and so did the Christmas party. I had to get up at 8 to put the pork in the crock pot and threw some laundry while I finished FA. I wanted to make biscotti and it took 3 tries to get it right. By then it was time to kick out my roommates and decorate. I was running, but I did it.

Pulled pork, pasta, baked potatoes, and biscotti. 14 people, secret santa, dinner, dessert. Perfect.

We had a lot of left overs even with everyone stuffing themselves so I brought it all up to our labs and gave it to those still working (we finished on Friday so we had time to render - my partners job). They were all happy and there were fights over who got what. 

Back to the rooms and I make the last thing for FA (a tinny bouquet of flowers) then do all of Bio. Originally I was going to compose a picture frame with different nature and make a second one with stuff from NJ, but that was boring. Instead I got some empty ordainments from Michael’s and filled them. They look great!

Fluffy beach plant

Acorns

The Beach

Dunes

Spanish Moss

Berries

Plants form the beach

So it is now Monday and I’m still alive. Finger hurts, animation still needs helped, but FA and Bio are done for the year! Only a few more days until I go home!

The Long Week You Never Want to End

Thought I’ld never say it, but I wish the week was longer.

Don’t get me wrong, it was soooo long it felt like 5 in 1, but it was awesome.

Thanksgiving week happened and so my school gave us off Wed-Fri with no classes.

First thing that happened was in class still.

It was Monday in the second half of the now 6 hour Motion class and a bunch of us were in the “meeting” room to talk to Dorian who was absent for some out our meetings. (Our’s wasn’t great. They like the feel of some of it, hate others, want more of this, less of that - we’re scrapping it and starting over.)

Anyway we talked to Dorian and we asked when the 2nd pass of this was due. He left to find out and came back latter saying, “The Monday after Turkey Day.”

WHAT?!

No one was happy and we were all confused. The 26th? He left and came back. Yep the 26th.

Everyone was going home. No one could work on the files with their laptops anymore. People were freaking out. So I wrote an email.

Ed (the department head) was meeting with seniors all day and not seeing us so I sent him an email on behalf of everyone (though no one knew it). I calmly outlined how we felt, reminded him that the project was given an extra week for Thanksgiving in the first place, gave an alternative solution, and reiterated everyone’s feelings. All very politely and respectfully for my Dad would kill me otherwise (and so would Ed).

20 minutes later everyone got an email saying that the due date was moved to the day I suggested. Oh I felt good that day.

Right, so homework moved making my weekend free. Time to go home.

And let me say it was an adventure getting there.

A car on fire, going to the wrong address, GPS doesn’t work, get lost, arrive 1hour and a half late... all to find my flight was pushed back from 9 to 10:30. :P

And the week kept going.

Up at 8:30, breakfast out, trip to the DMV for a new license, catching up with youngest sister, packing, packing sisters, driving, shopping, hellos, dinner, movie, asleep by 1am.

Up at 7:30, dress, light breakfast, drive to other grandparent’s house, hellos, watch parade, help set up, watch dog show, say hello to those who are late, sit down for dinner at 2, get up at 4, nap, dessert, leave to go back to grandma’s house at 6, movie, soup, goodbye to mom and dad, movie, sleep by 12.

Wake at 7:30, breakfast, goodbyes, drive home, breath, go to Wawa, Books-a-Million, find Becca, meet up with Lauren, watch Rise of the Guardians, go home, breath, clean room for new carpet, order chinese, watch TV with family, bed by 1.

Sleep in to 8:30, breakfast, dress, clean for party, help with cooking, watch home videos, greet people, eat, watch videos, greet brother’s girlfriend, say goodbye, relax with parents, play with others, pack, bed by 1.

Up at 5, dress, pick up food, go through security, sleep on plane, go to wrong hotel, find the right one, drive to Sarasota, shop at Michael’s, pick of supplies for dinner, call home, breath, clean Quads, work on Fine Arts, clean, cook dinner, make cookies, have dinner, clean up, drop off leftovers at labs, breath, bed by 12:30.

A long week for one that was off. But really I wish it wouldn’t have ended. Now I have to find a way to do 3 finals all due the same day with only a week to do them. Yippee for me.

Week Flying By

First things first. I at the moment don’t like my sister. Why? Because her teachers canceled there classes for Monday and Tuesday next week so she has the whole week off now. Then she complains to Dada and he changes her flight for these Saturday instead. That means she gets to be home 4 days more than me.

Some of you will say that it’s no big deal. That she also has been away all summer. That I get to go home a week before her for Christmas. You’re right, but I’m still mad at her.

Okay so moving on to what is actually happening.

I was able to get into our room and set up for critique late Sunday night when I happened to notice that 2 senior girls were in there. Good thing I decided to try one more time because it took over an hour to fix it up the way I wanted.

Monday was busy.

First we had Skype presentations of our group storyboards for the Sarasota Film Festival since the client was in Russia for the week. He had gotten the files back on Friday and was just asking questions to help choose one per group if he hadn’t already.

He chose mine!

The style frame that started it all.

Said that he liked how clean it was and it fit the companies feel. I was so happy and the only think I could think of was, “There you have it Jill. My stuff is good.”

After that and looking at everyone’s boardamatics that had been made I did a quick outfit change from my interview cloths to my paint pants that I wanted to have on for the Fine Arts critique.

That crit also went well. People seemed to enjoy it and had some things to say, but that doesn’t mean the grade will be good.Considering that we haven’t gotten any grades at all yet I guess I can only hope for the best.

Has yet to go through Photoshop so the color is a little off.

What else, what else.

Bio was fine. We had a long talk about the movie No Impact Man.

In Motion classes we have moved on to doing the animation now.

We’re still doing critiques in FA.

My grandparents in North Jersey finally got power after 14 days.

Our beach house is still standing. No broken windows, no flooding in the actual house, we have is good compared to some others. We just have to get the sand in the garage cleared out before we can get someone to check the foundation to make sure it is structurally sound.

Other than that, my little sister had her last 2 competitions for marching band this weekend. At States they got 2nd and at Nationals they placed 4th. No win but they sound better than they have since Glen took over 4 years ago.

So yep. My week so far.