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2025-05-13

Hi guys!

God has it been a minute! Safe to say I have forgotten about this website for the LONGEST time. Felt kinda cool reading back at my first entry to be honest. It's kinda hard to formulate all that has happened into one post but I'll try my best. First off, I just recently went to New Orleans! It was a band trip and it was amazing trying all of the new food, learning the culture, and also learning more about voodoo (it's not as bad as you think). Overall, one of my favorite trips out of state, EVER.

However, high school is quite stressful, kinda hard to believe that I'm only a freshman and I'm having this much trouble keeping my grades up to "my standard" (usually anything more than a C+). I find it kinda dumb that the last month of school, usually when students are checking out and being done for the year, is when the most projects are assigned. It's pretty much like watching the war draft lottery but with your grades, considering that the teachers here WILL be waiting until the last moment to grade your shit.

On the bright side, I have some new good stuff coming down the pipeline! First: I signed up for a programming class next year! Should hopefully get me started with whatever language we're gonna use (better be C#). I also had web design set as an alternative class if there isn't enough room for me to be in one, so that would be EVEN BETTER!

Second: I recently obtained one of my grandpa's old relics, a vintage Pioneer record player! A guy at my local record store walked me through what I needed and I also got a Sony STR-D711 receiver with my player and some records too.

But, I had a LETHAL issue, when I first started playing a record, I THOUGHT that everything was set up properly, so I (very stupidly) nearly maxed the volume. Low and behold, an ear piercing, house shaking sound blasted from a speaker I was borrowing from my parents, killing it (it was cheap anyway). So I took it back and the guy tested it and it worked. Apparently, my cartridge screwed on the reverse way, so when I thought I was tightening it, I was actually loosening it, and vice versa. After all of that nonsense, it works pretty much perfectly! Pretty impressive for something of its age, and considering it sat collecting dust in a storage unit, sitting through over 11 blazing summers and 11 blisteringly cold winters.