I think blogging was at first really boring and I didn't like to do it at all. But now I actually kind of enjoy it. It's a good way to just talk about what you want to talk about and get your feeling off your chest. I probably won't continue to do it after this, but just because it will be summer and I don't really use the computer that often during the summer. During the summer I pretty much just stay outside constantly. Blogging really helps your writing, but in a way that it doesn't really feel like your learning. It's nice to just type out what is going on in your head and if other people read it that is kind of fun too.

So, tonight is the Going Out Concert for show choir. It's going to be really sad, because it's finally the end of the '08-'09 season and we have to say goodbye to around 30 seniors. That is so many! I have made friend with so many of the seniors and you really grow close during show choir, and it's going to be weird saying goodbye. Tonight, all three groups will perform their show one last time and then we recognize all the seniors and then it turns into a big cry fest. I was thinking about going out to the soccer game when we got done, but I don't think I will because my make-up will be all smeared and gross from crying.

On Friday is the end of the season party for show choir and it will be awesome. We are going to play the DVDs from our season and it will be fun to see how we looked at the beginning and at the end. We have improved so much and look so good now. After the party, I am going to a friend's birthday party with some show choir friends and that will be extremely fun. A bunch of my friends are going and he has an indoor pool. I haven't swam in forever! I don't know if I'm ready for swimsuit season though. It will be a good night, because his parties are always a blast. Then afterwards some show choir people are coming back to my house for a sleepover. Our sleepovers are always crazy and we turn psycho when we get together. We take crazy pictures and hilarious videos. I love them! The only bad part is I will be tired on Saturday and I can't be because I'll be running around till 4 in the morning on Sunday. Seriously, if I'm not at school on Monday it will be because I died from tiredness.

Prom :)

So this weekend is prom! It's gonna be super fun, but also super tiring. I am really excited, because I love dances and getting all dressed up for them. I'm not so excited for grand march, though, because I am kind of a clutz and could totally see myself taking a spill. Hopefully that won't happen, but it would be a funny story. Saturday I am going to be running around everywhere. I have to get my hair done and my make-up. Then I have pictures at 4 and dinner at 5:15. After that is grand march and then the best part, the dance! It's gonna be kind of weird at first, because I am not going to my own school's, but I know a lot of people at this school so it should be a good time. After the dance my whole group is going to post prom together. I was talking to my friend and she said that we are gonna stay at post prom the whole time; it goes until 4. Kill me! I think post prom will be fun, but also super draining I'm pretty sure after that we are just going to go back and crash at her house, because we will probably be so tired that we won't be able to do anything else. I was suppose to get up on Sunday and go out to eat with my family at 8, but I have a feeling that won't be happening. I am going to most likely end up sleeping the whole day. I am kind of sad to be missing my own school's grand march, because I was so excited to see how gorgeous all my friends were going to look, but at least there will be plenty of pictures. I will probably spend all of Sunday putting up pictures and looking through everyones. Everyone will look amazing in their pictures and it'll be a good way to spend a boring Sunday.

Schooool

Wow. school is stressful. The year is so close to being over, I can't concentrate, and yet I am still learning and getting homework and it's getting so hard to stay focused. So I'm going on a three week road trip vacation for the first part of July and I don't know how excited I am for that. It would so long and I love just staying here and chilling with my friends. Last year I didn't really go anywhere for summer and I got into this awesome routine. I went over to my friend from Linn-Mar's house everyday and just hung out, and then at night we went out and just found a bonfire to go to or just messed around. If you put your mind to it there is always something to do. We would always say "Only boring people get bored". It was amazing, because we were seriously never bored. If there wasn't anything to do in Cedar Rapids, we took a road trip to Mt. Vernon or Iowa City. No matter what there was always something to do. I can not wait for this summer because I hope it will be just like last summer.

It's Monday. Gross.

So it's Monday, ugh! I hate mondays, they are so hard to get through. You have a fun weekend and a relaxing Sunday then it's back to school and it is so hard to get up! I got up real late today even though I went to bed at nine. But, fortunately, school is almost over. Only 21 more days left. It's four weeks and then the two half days I have for finals. I am so happy I only have three finals and they are all my easy classes; Pre-Calc, Perspectives, and U.S. History. I am so excited for school to be getting out, but as I have said a lot, I don't want to be a senior!

So today in Perspectives, some people and I were talking about college and the future. We were saying how we really don't want to move out of Cedar Rapids. I moved here from Seattle, Washington and my whole life I have wanted to move back, but now that I think about it I don't want to leave at all. I have though about going to Washington State for a long time, but as the time gets closer and closer, I realize I want to stay right where I am. I love the atmosphere of Iowa. It's not a big state and not a lot goes on here, but that's what is so great about it. Cedar Rapids is my home and is such a great place for kids to grow up. For now, I definitely want to stay in Iowa. Now I'm thinking of going to Iowa for college. I've been up to Iowa City, on the Iowa campus, to see concerts and stuff and the atmosphere is so great. It's a fun-loving city and is a pretty cool place for college life. I also know a lot of my friends are going to Iowa as well. This is another thing I'm scared about. I'm afraid if I go too far from here, I won't stay in touch with all the wonderful friends I've made. People say that's life and that just happens in college and you get to meet a whole new group of people, but I don't want to lose the people that got me through my whole childhood. Some of these people I have known since first grade and a lot since middle school. Even the ones that I just met when I came to high school have become so close to me. It'll be sad to see any of that disappear. But who knows. Maybe it will all turn out for the best. I sure hope it does.

The year is finally coming to an end..

I am really starting to be able to tell that the year is coming to an end. We're kind of wrapping things up in classes and there are a lot of final things going on. Last night we had our final choir concert, it was kind of sad to see the seniors get their roses and walk across the stage. It'll be weird next year not having them in choir and seeing them everyday. This saturday we have a competition for choir and it will be the last time they will sing with the kennedy choir. Graduation is creeping towards us and I am having to start thinking about when all the graduation parties are, and which ones I am going to attend. Next thursday is the going out concert for show choir and it will be really sad to see the seniors go the. You get so close to everyone in show choir, because you are always with them during the season. You spend a lot of time with them. At competitions you are with them all day, because we arrive at school at about 4 in the morning and get back at 1 the next morning. You constantly see each other and you grow as a family and it will be so sad to see them "graduate" from show choir and know next year won't be the same. It will also be sad, because it will be all of our last time performing our show. In some ways, though, it's kind of exciting to see one season end and to know that soon another one will begin. The next season starts with camp in July so I will be really excited for that.

I am really relieved that the summer is getting really close. School really starts to become a drag and I really need a break. It is showing in my school work and in my attitude towards school. I really need summer to be here. All I think about now a days is what summer activities are in store for me and I can not wait!!

Almost a senior!

I have mixed feelings on being a senior next year. Part of me, a little part, is excited to be the top of the school and to do all the fun senior stuff, but a bigger part of me is not so happy. I have a lot of senior friends this year and I will be extremely sad to see them leave. I also don't want high school to end, and by becoming a senior this means that it is getting closer to the end. All of my friends say they can't wait to be done with high school and go on to college. I am the complete opposite. I don't want to go to college, because that means a lot of new responsibilities. I am not ready to take on that responsibilities. My opinion might be different considering right now I pretty much get to do the things that I want to do. My parents let me go to all school sports that I want to go to and I get to hang out with my friends. Yes, you get more freedom in college, but that's not always a good thing. I don't know if I would use my freedom responsibly so I think I need a little bit of control from my parents. There are those stressful days that I wish I didn't live with my parents, but when I sit back and think about the things that they pay for and stuff I am glad I'm not doing that on my own. I definitely don't think I'm ready. If I could have it my way. This year would never end, because I don't want to be a senior and see all my friends leave. Junior year is pretty much the perfect year. On one hand you are an upperclassmen, but on the other you aren't at the top and having to think of all the upcoming responsibilities.

Darius Rucker turned a lot of heads when he made the transition last year from pop/rock frontman to country solo singer, but he’s hardly alone in his shift of genres. In fact, he’s not even the only person who got an initial break on the same label.

Hootie and The Blowfish’s pop success came with the Atlantic Records label. The band was signed by the company the very same year as a couple of other artists who are now in country music: Jewel and Sugarland’s Kristian Bush, who was with Billy Pilgrim when he joined the Atlantic roster in the ‘90s.

Darius’ sound is different from what he’s done with Hootie, but it’s not a drastic change of pace. There’s simply not much room anymore in pop radio for bands with a melodic mentality.

"There's U2, there's Nickelback, and a couple other bands when you look in the top 10 records of the week," he said. "The only place in music for the singer-songwriter right now is country music. That sounds rude, because, you know, you can't say that Kanye West is not a singer-songwriter. But if you're the guy who wants to stand up and play the guitar, you gotta be a country singer."

Darius is doing that in a big way. His first two singles hit No. 1, and now he’s ready to tour with Rascal Flatts beginning June 5 in St. Louis. He’ll also be at the CMA Music Festival in Nashville June 11, and he’s set to play the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., June 8 in a benefit concert for wounded veterans. Also on the bill that night: Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Alison Krauss, Mac McAnally and Michael McDonald.