So I had my photo session today. It was completely different from how I thought.

I mean, I thought that it would be me and the photographer alone on the setting.

No. There's like 20+ people there, and they take us like 3 at a time. So I get to be looked at while I'm taking my pictures. Joy.

My mother and my 3 younger siblings had to be there. My mother doesn't seem to understand that there's some things you just don't say.

She's like "MAKE IT LOOK NATURAL, NOT LIKE THIS!" And she makes an ugly grimace. Thank you mother for making my pictures so much harder.

So the pictures inside go great.

Then I go outside in my all black, so I look kind of professional. And I take a picture with my clarinet. (Pretty sure I looked funny, but oh well). The photographer loved to take pictures when I wasn't ready.

She also wouldn't let me get away with a closed-mouth smile. She would wait and make faces and stuff to get me to smile big. But the good thing about that is that making someone laugh brings out the natural smile whether they want it or not.

There's also a person there to cover the sun with a shield.

It's kinda makes you feel self-concious when there's someone in sunglasses standing less than 2 feet away watching you, when you know that they know that you know that you look stupid.

I hate looking stupid in front of people, but then again, I'm sure they see 50 people a day looking stupid.

Overall, I think it went well.

Band will start in 4 days. That leaves me 3 days to get my playing up to the "THAT FIRST CHAIR CLARINET PLAYER IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING" level.

The things I do for recognition.

Danny

Mail came.

Got a "1" on APUSH exam. I am not good with History.

Got a "3" on Statistics exam. Hallelujah.

At least I didn't waste $136. Only $68.

Danny

So the plan was simple:

Call her house, leave a message on the answering machine.

I had the message all written out so I wouldn't freeze up by the time I was supposed to say something.

So I call at about 8:40.

And her father (I think) picks up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hello? May I speak to Grace?"

Turns out she was in her pool. So I ask if today was her birthday, and yes it is. "Does she need to call you back?"

I told him not really, just tell her that I called.

And he asked me for my name, and I thanked him.

and that was that.

Nothing ever works out as planned.

Which is a good thing, because it always turns out better.

Danny

What a boring 4th.

Her birthday is today, or at least I'm pretty sure it is.

Danny

28 on my ACT. So happy. 31 in English, 30 in Math, 25 in Reading, and 27 in Science.

That's pretty much all I have to say.

Danny

Started an outline for the first comic (finally!).

Band Camp...can not wait.

Working out is going well, now that I'm eating better. I see some arm development.

But of course I didn't make a Phusebox to talk about muscles.

"The endurance of a dream that lives again.

A heart which has hope to surmount them all.

To see the future, look through the eyes.

Death as eminent as the pall.

The rights of a life to survive.

Willing to express with no limitation.

Have the dream to be free.

Hold on to happiness with no expiration.

Forever and always, to thee I give.

My soul, my all, the song I sing,

No other, of which to grant my pain.

With all my might, the bells I ring.

To have and to hold, for silver, for gold,

to cherish and to love, for all that is true,

for richer, for poorer, I give you my heart.

With all that's within me, I do."

Danny

Had a lady faint when I was putting groceries in her car. Turns out she was pregnant and hadn't been eating and was dehydrating...

And so I go buy her a bottle of water, and then some other lady approaches me while I'm putting someone else's groceries away, and yells at me, saying how I always walk away when she needs package help and is sick of it and sick of me and blah blah blah.

She so she stands there yelling at me in front of Dylan who is trying not to laugh, and she calls me a "little black bitch" and walks off to her car. Why she included "black" in there, I don't know. She is black too.

Thanks be to God that I do not have a temper. First, it cannot be me that she's talking about for 2 reasons. (1) I've NEVER seen her before. I remember the faces of people that I've taken groceries out for. (2) I've NEVER walked away from somebody with groceries when they needed me to bag them except for once, and that was because I was trying to buy for THE PERSON THAT WAS DYING OUTSIDE THE STORE, so I told Dylan to buy them for me.

Gah-lee. I think that the Angry lady was talking about a guy named Patrick for two reasons. (1) We're both black, and he's almost my height and such. And (2) he is known to walk away from a package help.

So yeah she comes back inside, and talks to the manager (Tommy), who tells her to write down her complaint and he'll give it to the head manager (Eric). As she walks out she saying some other stuff, but I don't quite catch it. Of course Tommy and the rest of the workers in the store take my side, because, well, It's ME. I'm not known to cause any trouble whatsoever, especially with customers, who I treat with all the respect I can.

So yeah, Eric's gonna have some words to say to me when I get there Saturday, I suppose. But he's not gonna believe it either.

It's summer fever.

Danny

Allrighty now.

So lately, I've been thinking about making the heroes look different in hero-form than they do in human-form. As you can see in the Jessica picture, which I put up a while back, they look different.

But recently, I looked at some senior pics I was given, and decided to try to draw the person close to how they actually look.

My friend Malory's picture was the one I chose to do first, since I had already made her into a hero a LONG time back. So first, here is the picture she gave me:

And here is the drawing:

And here is Both:

I actually surprised myself with this, because last time I tried to draw someone and make it look like their real picture, the lips were too big, and the hair wasn't right, and the nose was flared and blahblah etc.

I wasn't that difficult to draw, but there isn't really a way that I can make ALL the heroes look like their actually person. So, this may be a one-time deal.

So there ya have it, more pictures by Danny.

You may think me super weird or something.
But I'm pretty sure the ACT was one of the EASIEST tests I've taken in a while.

Saw Nathan Perry, Scott Willis, Rachel Lefever, Kedrick Howse, Chaisson Allen, Alex Burkhart, Jennifer May, and hung out with Tiffany Luker.
The first three I haven't seen since Central.
Well besides Scott. Saw him at Mid-state tryouts, band comps, football games. All Band things.

And I think the worst feeling in the world is when an old friend doesn't want to talk to you.
But then again, what you dish out, you receive in full+.

It's weird to realize how many old friends you DON'T miss. You might have been close with them then, but as life passed, you grew up, they grew up, both grow apart. Unpurposely.
And that's life.

So on to Band. I bought a box of reeds, and they cost me $25. I knew I should've bought out Mr. Lawson.
I also bought a Metronome/Tuner. Finally.

1st chair Mid-state. I'm coming for ya!
Danny

You see this?! "Most Improved Junior Award" presented to Danny Jones. I have to live up to it better. I need to practice more.

So I had this dream last night that I got 1st Chair 1st band at Mid-state. What a dream that was! It could be a reality soon enough.

Will it happen?

We'll see.

Gotta practice!

Danny

You know what? Getting Christian advice for my problem from someone else who is surviving the situation is the best thing I could've ever done.

I'm ready to start the fight.

And I won't give up this time.

Danny

OKay so drew a couple of pictures lately, and here they are.

This is Jessica in human and Superhero form:

And then here is a picture of some dashing-ly handsome black man(I wonder who he is) holding Grace in some kind of Balcony-Garden:

And in case you need a closer look:

Whoa nelly, pencil lead doesn't look good on camera!

But anyways.

There you have it. Danny's latest Artworks.

Danny

I watched Sky High today. Really good movie. The DVD skipped a couple of times though.

I think I may be into this thing with Grace more than I realize. I mean, it's bad when you get really depressed when you look at all the storms going on, and think of some special person and almost cry because you may never see them again. Especially when it's someone you barely know barely talked to.

But anyways.The only thing holding me back is me.

And that's hard on a brotha to know.

So anyways, I'm taking the ACT next saturday, and I haven't reviewed or anything.

Danny

There's this Live Action show called Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon that I looked up on YouTube. I'm telling ya, I was hooked on all 49 episodes. I almost cried at the end...

It's basically taking the Cartoon Sailormoon (which was originally Japanese) and using Real people as the Sailor Soldiers (Japanese women). It's very different from the cartoon, so if you like Sailormoon then maybe you should look it up!

I hate it when things end. Whether if it's video games, or TV series or whatever. I don't like being sad. And of course, it's ALWAYS sad.

I mean look at Phantom of the Opera. Both the Phantom and Raoul lose the person they love. Plus, the Phantom never gets the chance to truly be with someone.

Look at The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air! The family separates, going to different places in their lives.

Same as in Boy Meets World! Everyone splits up and moves on.

Cheers! Well...I haven't watched any episodes of Cheers, but just watching the Title Song makes me sad.

It's like when a show ends, we close off a part of our lives in which we were able to find happiness for short period of time.

It's like the show is someone who dies. Someone who made you laugh, made you inspired, made you angry, made you cry. And now it's over.

But I guess that's a part of growing up.

Maybe the reason parents want us as young'uns to stop watching so much TV is because we get hooked into people Fantasy lives, and when we finally get out, it's hurts.

...

...

Neh. That can't be the reason.

Well I tried.

Danny

Practiced today.

One of my keys is messed up. Along with my playing.

Practice, practice, practice- says Mr. Lawson.

Saw a guy at O'Charleys who looks EXACTLY like Chris Lawson except shorter, and has brown hair. He even had the same Chin hair.

Happy Birthday Megan McDonald!

Creating a comic. Starring Jessica and Me.

Had a dream I was shot in the head.

Summer is boring. Now begins the Second week.

Need to steal a rifle from the Guard room. It'll give me something to do.

Happy Memorial Day tomorrow.

J'adore Grace.

Boy do I need to brush up on my French.

Danny

I LANDED MY FIRST QUAD TODAY!

3x and I got it on videocamera!

We had section leader workshops today, and I think I'm gonna be the only clarinet section leader. Which is good and bad. I think that I am ready though.

We watched the Blue Devils perform the show we are gonna do for marching season, and it was completely awesome. Well....actually, I was mostly watching the guard.

I wanna be on a guard. And I plan to be on one. As quickly as possible. The bad part is, if I hurt myself (like a broken finger or something) then it's gonna affect my clarinet playing. Which will be bad.

I need a singing teacher. Maybe I should take Erin's offer...

Congrats on our new drum major: Emily Hall. I was rootin' for you since day one.

Marching band is gonna be fun: heat, the people, the music, going shirtless, having fun.

Danny

Got MY PERMIT! Finally...

Saw Jake Thomas at the Driving Station. Man, I haven't seen him in like a year and a half.

It's hard to let go of people when they don't say good-bye. I mean, friends mean a lot to me, and for them to just walk out of my life like they didn't know me hurts my heart more that I can describe.

I mean like most of the seniors in band. None of them said a word besides Erin. It's like no one cares. IF they cared, wouldn't they at least make a Will and Testament?

For those of you who don't know, that's where the seniors in band write down memories and final words for the band members. Apparently, no one besides Erin, Leah, and Becky cared that they were leaving people behind. Everyone else didn't make one or just wrote to other seniors.

Is that fair to those of us who truly loved those seniors? I don't think so.

Say Good-bye.

I'll miss you either way.

Danny

Here is a picture of the Flowers I gave Grace.

Best plan I could think of. It worked out so well.

I walked up to the table where she and three other people were playing cards, gave her the roses, she said "Aww Thanks Danny!" and I said "You're Welcome" and I walked off.

No note. No card. No speech. But it had the best effect.

One of the girls said, "That is so sweet!" as I walked off and I proudly smiled.

Pretty sure she walked around for the rest of the day with the roses.

Mission: Impress Grace.

Mission Accomplished

Danny

My words will come from the heart.

And that's the best gift I think that I can give you.

Danny

So...I didn't get to go to JazzFest. And I'm upset about it.

I was supposed to see some girl I like there...

Is it odd to like someone when you told know very much about them?

I mean sure I know things ABOUT her, but I don't truly KNOW her.

And when I know that she likes someone else, it doesn't help. Especially when I know he doesn't like her like that. And besides the fact that she trusted me not to tell anyone and I did.

I broke my first promise to her...

Though it's not a humongous deal, I feel so untrustworthy now.

I had planned to get a piano piece in a good enough condition to sing to her/with her, but now I know that her sister is sings the same song for the Talent Show, and I want to be original. So scratch that plan.

So many ideas of a possible future with her, but she doesn't even know what she means to me.

Danny