So Look See the Sights / The Endless Summer Nights

As I wrote about in my other blog, I've started listening to folk music which is making me reminsce about days gone by. Lately, I've been thinking about past summers.

2009- I had my first job working for the City of Aurora Youth Department as a season youth worker. I worked at Lincoln which would no longer be used after that summer. It was strange working in a building that was slowly being emptied and would be abandoned at the end of the summer. I worked in the library with the technology part of the day. I don't remember what time I got off of work, but it was around 1 pm. It was really nice to be able to go home and have a whole lot of afternoon left to do whatever. I don't remember what I actually did with most days, of course. I remember one day after work going to my friend Asenath's house. We just walked around, took pictures, and just really enjoyed the afternoon. It was very nice. Another day after work, I went on a hike in 88 degree weather. I have no idea why I did that. It was a nice hike (and for the record, I still enjoy hiking), but the weather was horrid.

I also went into Chicago towards the end of July to see Disney's Christmas Carol Train. My mom and I took the train in, and the train stopped before we even got to the Route 59 stop (i.e. not very far at all). We were stuck on the train for about an hour, not moving. Finally, we got back to the Aurora station and took another train. Once at Union Station, we waited in a very long line while being entertained by "street" performers who were Disney cast members. The train was very awesome. After that, we left Union Station and walked around Chicago for a while. We ate lunch at Panera across from the Sears, I mean Willis, Tower. We didn't go up to the Sky Deck though. We walked to the Disney Store, thinking that it would be bigger than the one in the local mall. It was...just not by much. I didn't even buy anything. The best part about walking there though was the walk back. Because the Disney Store was a lot farther than we thought it was, we were able to walk down to Illinois and Franklin, and I finally saw the building that was used for the outside of McGinty's in Early Edition. I was thrilled. We walked back to the train station then, and we ended up going home.

A couple days later, I got my wisdom teeth taken out. That was an experience I wish I could forget. I still remember the smell of the laughing gas and the waking up. It was terrible. Eventually I was able to eat some stuff again other than apple sauce and potatoes. I went to National Night Out to try to help for USA Leaders, and I realized that I had to go home because I was feeling woozy. I went to help out for Enter With Pride at my alma mater, and I remember beginning to realize that something was up with one of the sites. Yes, it was infected. Gross. Thankfully, things were mostly better by the time I went to school, but there was definitely a period of time where I thought it was infected again while at school.

2008- I did not work this summer. The summer began off with me finding out that I had made Wind Symphony, the highest band at my high school. I was very, very happy. I don't know what I spent the summer doing, to be honest. I worked out to a dvd of Tanja the Swede, and I hated doing the exercise, but I did it faithfully for a while. That was around the time that I started walking a lot. I don't know when I started, but I think I took a walk nearly every month in 2008. I realized that I actually enjoyed walking a lot because it gave me time and space to think.

I also took the ACT for the 3rd and final time, and I walked out of there, feeling that I had done terrible but not caring. In reality, I actually did my best that time.

I tried to improve my ab muscles so that I would better be able to carry my tenors for marching band. This did not really end up working as I ended up hurting my back so badly in September that I could not march a show, couldn't march parades anymore, and ended up having to get a 2nd set of books for home. For the 4th of July parade that summer, I tried my hardest to get through the whole parade, but my back was screaming at me along with my body. So I had to quit. Ms. Sampson had me go in the back of a police car for the rest of the route, and I told Mr. Orland to not be surprised when I didn't show up the next year for the parade. (And for the record, I didn't march the parade in 2009.)

I also enjoyed the Jonas Brothers this summer. I enjoyed rocking out to their debut album, and I looked forward the whole summer to the new album, A Little Bit Longer. I started watching a lot of the Disney Channel, and I started watching Wizards of Waverly Place that summer. (I will admit that I still watch the new episodes of it.)

My friends and I got together quite frequently, and we would go to a bunch of local parks to play. We were 17 years old, and that was what we enjoyed doing.

This was the summer before my senior year, and I was going to be a section leader in the fall for marching band. I remember doing some work day stuff for the upcoming season. I had a crush on Theo, a fellow section leader, and I was such a dork about it. Later in the season, I will admit that I was so excited when he told me one day that he loved me (not in the way that I wanted him to, of course.) and excited another day when he put his hand my shoulder. I was 17...and I was a dweeb.

My mom had surgery at the end of the summer, beginning of marching band season. That was such a difficult time.

I remember during band camp, the first day, that I got my foot run over by a marimba, and my ankle ended up quite bruised.

I also remember helping out at the end of the summer with North Aurora Days. I picked up trash for a lot of hours, and it was tiring and disgusting.

2007- I started off the summer very disappointed by making Wind Ensemble again. I had wanted Wind Symphony so badly. The rest of the summer, I practiced percussion like crazy. I journaled about most of my experiences practicing, and I really did want to make snare for marching band. In some crazy twist of events, I ended up on tenors. Shortly after graduation, I received an e-mail from myself (sent shortly before Christmas in 2005) that informed me that I had wanted to play tenors all along. I still don't remember that.

For the 4th of July parade this year, I played bass 4, and I ended up having to drop out of the parade too. I actually had to be told by Ms. Sampson to sit down on the curb because the band moms' and the band directors' message of not sitting in the uniforms to get them dirty was so ingrained in my head. I rode on the back of a golf cart for the rest of the parade route. I remember distinctly that the band directors did not want to carry my bass either, and the person on the back of the golf cart with me held on to it and played it while he reminded people to go to the fireworks.

In June, I got my driver's license, and I drove to the library for my first alone trip. I was afraid of the bigger roads in town, but I got over that fear very quickly. I spent many days at Target looking at a ton of stuff. Shortly after getting my driver's license, I went to see Brad Paisley perform in an airport hanger in West Chicago. It was one of the coolest experiences of my life. It will probably be the only time in my life that I get to see a star of that caliber performing in front of about 100 people. I got free Hershey Chocolate Bars out of it as well.

I also remember getting his new cd 5th Gear shortly after that. I was one of the first people in Target that morning, and I had to actually wait around for someone to be in the check out lane so that I could officially buy it.

July was a sadder month. In July, my beloved English teacher, Mrs. Boynton, passed away because of pneumonia. She was relatively young, in her 50s. My friend Alicia called me one night and asked me if I had heard yet. I had not. She e-mailed me a link because she could not bear to tell me herself. It was very shocking. I went to her wake, and it was very bizarre to see her in a casket...I still remember her primary last words to me, something that I have never shared with anyone. I asked her what I had gotten in the class, and she told me, "you got an A of course!" She might have told me to have a nice summer, but I don't remember anything other than that. In June 2009, for half of my graduation speech, I talked about her. I know that I won't be an English teacher, but I hope that I could be half as good of a teacher that she was. She was just that amazing. 

Later in July, I went to my pastor's lake house for a retreat of sorts with my youth group. I had a scooter race with my friend Elissa down the huge hilly driveway. I didn't think to use my brake, and I ended up going faster and faster and faster...until I had to get to the grass and completely wiped out. I was lucky though, and there was only a little blood, not a whole lot. My youth pastor was watching the whole thing, and he just said, "One thing! Are you okay?!" At that point, I was just laughing, and I insisted that I was fine. Oh crazy 16 year old me. I went tubing for the first time, tried swimming, realized that I couldn't, and was paranoid of going in the water without a life jacket for the rest of the time. I remembering reading A Death in the Family by James Agee in the boat. I was probably reading it because we had read part of that in my honors mythology class which is the class Mrs. Boynton taught.

2006- This summer started off quite sad. My poppy died on June 2nd, and his funeral was on June 8th. On June 12, I went to a teen girl event with my church at a local restaurant. I came home to find out that Jacob had died. (In June 2009, the other half of my graduation speech was spent talking about him.)

I spent most of the summer reading. I didn't really want to face reality so I read to take away the pain. Of course what I was really doing was numbing the pain, but I didn't know that at the time.

I volunteered at the library for the summer reading program this summer. I didn't really do anything other than read.

I just started going through my sent e-mails from 2006 to see what else I did this summer to jumpstart my memory. Great line here: July 7, 2006: "I don't have a blog of any sorts." Heehee. :)

I was in my first ever 4th of July parade in 2006. I was the only cymbal player, and I was angry about that. Because there were only two tenors, Mr. Orland put me in between the two tenors. I played as loud as I possibly could for the first block. Then we were called to parade rest, and I looked down at my hands. I had somehow caused 3 blisters to form and rip open. All of them were a bronzish color. I realized that it hurt. After that, I only played when I felt like it. When I got to one of the last streets, I realized that I was not feeling very well at all, and I realized that I should stop. But there was absolutely no one around so I was forced to finish the whole parade. When I got to the end of the parade, there was no more water left. The sousas had taken any extra water, and I apparently looked terrible. One of the band moms asked if I was okay. I said no, and soon I had a bunch of band moms and all 3 band directors surrounding me. I ended up being driven back to the high school in an air conditioned truck. It took me the rest of the day to recover from that one.

At the end of summer, I really thought that I was going to make snare for drumline. This did not happen, and for some really strange reason, I ended up on bass 4. It was very strange because I had played bass for about 2 minutes the entire decision process. The section leaders Kate and Dawn later told me that Mr. Orland had decided that. I don't know why he did...that was terrible. It was far too heavy for me.

Well that was the past 4 summers. This could go on quite a long time, and maybe if I am inspired later, I'll talk more later.