halloween 2010...end of october

Here's Ryan's Halloween costume for this year...some character from "Moulin Rouge," though he is missing the mustache.  He said at school people thought he was the Monopoly man.  He also wore the top hat for "Spirit Week" this week at school for "Decade" Day (pick a decade to dress as); he chose '80's rock star so he wore the top hat (I don't know who).

Can't believe it's the end of October.  It's been crazy busy.

Week of 10/10:  Busy at work getting the monthend reports done
10/15:  Ryan had band practice in the evening, I had a band booster club board meeting
10/16:  My aunty's garage sale, then Moanalua band tournament
10/18:  Tournament of Bands (TOB) planning meeting after work
10/19:  Darrell's birthday dinner
10/20:  TOB reception for other band boosters/directors to prepare them for the upcoming tournament (lots of changes from previous years due to construction on campus - new middle school, cultural center and athletic complex being built all at the same time, and access to the stadium is limited).  There was a beautiful sunset that evening that we watched from Kunuiakea, and I saw my first ever "green flash."  Awesome!
10/21:  Band practice
10/22:  Football game - KS vs. Punahou.  This was a fun game, which went into overtime.  We had a "Jump On It" competition with KS and Pun bands playing the same song alternately and the crowds on both sides JUMPING.  Got to visit with my friend Jann as well, who was watching the game with her family on the Punahou side (all three sons go to Punahou).
10/23:  Ryan went to the Avex Recording Studio in Hawaii Kai for his music technology class with Mr. Bailey Matsuda.  Kanye West and Justin Bieber recently recorded there.  He's really interested in going into music producing now.  Helped out at the Country Store at Senior Lu'au, then rushed inside to watch Ryan perform, then finally got to enjoy the gathering.

10/24:  Attended the mandatory internet safety training for parents at school.  Seniors finally received laptops from the school this year, so students and parents had to attend classes on staying safe, e.g., don't post personal info, don't say where you are, etc.  Made me think about making this blog private, only for friends and family.  If I can figure out how to do it, I may.
10/25:  TOB meeting (these usually run to 8:30-9:00 pm, exhausting)
10/26:  Darrell got his PICC line taken out - yay!  IV anti-biotics pau, he's doing great.  Hired a lawyer to handle Ryan's speeding case.  Realized how serious this was, but hopefully the lawyer will be able to help and give us guidance on how to proceed.
10/27:  Band practice and KBBC general membership meeting, again another late evening
10/28:  Last football game, senior parent video shoot at the stadium
10/29:  Lawyer called and said he got the prosecutor's office to reduce the speeding charge to regular (as opposed to the more serious "excessive speeding" charge), and it looks good.  Halloween festivities at work (no, I didn't dress up.)  An actual free evening at home! 
10/30:  Surf Sample Sale sponsored by the Kamehameha Surfers Give Back club at Konia, got to watch the rest of Ryan's old band (now called The Wok Woks, for some reason), perform.  Then watched the 4 hours of band practice at Kunuiakea.  As I posted on Facebook, I really enjoy watching the band practice, especially since there are not that many more in Ryan's final marching band season.  I also really love the tuba visuals (the twirls and movements they do with the bells); they are so visible that when the visuals are done right, they look awesome and add so much to the show (in my biased opinion, of course!)  Who knows what the rest of the band is doing?  I only watch the tubas :).
10/31:  Ryan stayed at Kaala's last night so they could work on their original songs for Music Technology class.  I couldn't sleep last night until 4 am, not sure why.  So I got out of bed at 10, did laundry, fell asleep sitting up on the couch, realized it was 2 pm and wondered where the heck my free day went.  Boo, don't like Sundays, because they are followed by Mondays!

November's shaping up to be crazy busy too.  Busy week coming up, with five nights at school:  Exec Board meeting Tuesday, TOB meeting Wednesday, band practice Thursday and Friday (with TOB prep to be completed too), TOB itself on Saturday.  We have to be at school before 2 pm, and will probably be done after midnight.  We also have to be in court on Thursday for the speeding charge.  It's not just the meetings in the evening, there's also other work to be done too for the band:  collecting payments for tournament tickets/programs, etc, keeping track of the tournament finances (I'm the chair for this), sending out twice-weekly emails to the membership about what's going on with band (I'm the corresponding secretary), selling tickets for the other band tournaments (Mililani and UH), helping the new treasurer with her duties as well.

No holiday on Election Day, but I will be so glad when the election is over; such nastiness this time, with all the mainland money paying for negative ads.  Darrell was keeping a tally this evening to see how many ads for/against each candidate (Abercrombie vs Aiona, Hanabusa vs Djou) were on; I think he gave up because there were too many.

Let's hope I can sleep well tonight, really need the rest.