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Monday, December 19, 2016
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Holden Wins Writing Competition
Holden beat out 270 other contestants in a Brea Junior High Competition for autobiographical essays with the following essay. He was awarded a gift card to In-n-Out.
“Ugh, Holden stop whining,” my mother begged. As a young toddler, there would rarely ever be a moment without whining. “ Nooo! I want to play bubbles outside,” I exclaimed. My mother just stood there, as I went on and on. She finally had enough and walked over to turn on some cartoons. “Sit down Holden, I’m just going to take a short nap,” she said with a calming but demanding voice. I knew once my mother had used that tone, she was done. I was mad, but I knew it would have been best to let her calm down and sleep a little. At least that way I would have some alone time to plot my revenge.
Sitting in front of the tv watching my favorite cat and mouse duo, I thought to myself, “Who does she think she is? Taking a nap while I’m down here dying of boredom.” I stared at that glowing box, observing the small mouse torture and torment the large cat. It gave me an idea. So many heinous thoughts went through my young, immature mind. “I could put a stick of dynamite under her pillow, rub butter all over the stairs so she would slip, throw a paper airplane into her eye,” I dreamt. Of course all of my thoughts were extremely too violent and horrid for me to execute, but who doesn’t think about hurting someone when you’re mad at them. I couldn’t figure out what to do.
I droned around my house just looking for the perfect crime. I knew it couldn’t be too dangerous or nasty, but it had to be drastic enough to leave a message. A message that said, “Don’t ever mess with me! When I want bubbles, we are going to play with bubbles!” I wandered through the kitchen, glancing over every little detail. And in an instant, I found my perfect crime.
The mysterious fruit. Since a very young age, my mother had always warned me to never go near that fruit. The strange, round edges, the red, bold color, the thick, green stem. I knew it wasn’t just any ordinary fruit. There was something off about it, but I just couldn’t figure it out. No matter how many thoughts went through my mind about what my mother had tried to hide from me through so many years, I somehow knew that it was for my own good. Although I came to the conclusion that my mother had only been trying to help, by telling me not to touch the mysterious fruit, nothing could stop me from finding out what mysteries were held inside.
I walked over to the fruit and on the way, I thought of every single potential outcome that fruit might have contained for me. “Could it be magical? Could it be explosive?” I asked myself. I stared at it for a moment before picking it up. Wondering if I should actually go through with this rebellious deed. After a short moment of silence, I picked up the fruit. My hand barely wrapped around the fruit itself. The very odd shape of it confused me. It was long and carrot like. I knew I shouldn’t just eat it from the bottom up. Something told my curious mind I should just bite it right in its side. And so I did.
I don’t know why, but when I bit into it, my brain told me to suck all the juice out. I had never made such a horrible decision since. The moment that satanic juice touched my tongue, I knew what I bit into was no ordinary fruit. What I had just sunk my teeth into was thick, ripe, luscious pepper. I instantly threw the pepper far away. My face turned red. Crying and sobbing, I rushed over to the fridge to get a mouthful of water. To my surprise, the water only made it worse. Screaming all around the kitchen, I tried to rub away the tears from my eyes. As a young toddler, I didn’t have much experience with spiciness, so every decision I made was exactly the wrong one.
With both my eyes and mouth burning, I thought of how much trouble I had just gotten myself into. In a panic, I rushed to the first place I thought I could hide. I choose behind the T.V. It was just then when my mother finally had awoken from her nap to rush downstairs and find my lonely self cowardly taking cover behind a TV stand. I gave up on trying to stay out of trouble and just begged for help from my mother. “Oh my gosh Holden! What did you do?!” she screamed. I was too hysterical at the time to tell her. She picked me up and tried to calm me down, while also searching the room for the reason of my terror. It was only after all of the screaming and crying when she found the juiceless, bitten into pepper in the other room. “It was shaped like a carrot and red like an apple,” I told my mother. I had lucked out and my mother decided not to punish me, I assumed she thought all the crying and pain was enough already.
All of the panicking passed and I made it through one of the most dramatic experiences in my life. I learned two things that day: first, always listen to what your parents tell you because it will most likely be for your own good, and second, no matter how much I bother, annoy, and torment my mother, she will always pick me up, wipe away my tears, and give me a big hug. No matter how mad I will ever get, she is my mother, and I will always love her.
The End
“It was shaped like a carrot and red like an apple.”
My mother had always told me never to go near that mysterious fruit, but at the time, I just needed a way to get back at her. And there it was, sitting right across the room. I was just a curious, innocent toddler, who had no idea what treacherous and perilous affairs that bewildering, red fruit had in store for me.“Ugh, Holden stop whining,” my mother begged. As a young toddler, there would rarely ever be a moment without whining. “ Nooo! I want to play bubbles outside,” I exclaimed. My mother just stood there, as I went on and on. She finally had enough and walked over to turn on some cartoons. “Sit down Holden, I’m just going to take a short nap,” she said with a calming but demanding voice. I knew once my mother had used that tone, she was done. I was mad, but I knew it would have been best to let her calm down and sleep a little. At least that way I would have some alone time to plot my revenge.
Sitting in front of the tv watching my favorite cat and mouse duo, I thought to myself, “Who does she think she is? Taking a nap while I’m down here dying of boredom.” I stared at that glowing box, observing the small mouse torture and torment the large cat. It gave me an idea. So many heinous thoughts went through my young, immature mind. “I could put a stick of dynamite under her pillow, rub butter all over the stairs so she would slip, throw a paper airplane into her eye,” I dreamt. Of course all of my thoughts were extremely too violent and horrid for me to execute, but who doesn’t think about hurting someone when you’re mad at them. I couldn’t figure out what to do.
I droned around my house just looking for the perfect crime. I knew it couldn’t be too dangerous or nasty, but it had to be drastic enough to leave a message. A message that said, “Don’t ever mess with me! When I want bubbles, we are going to play with bubbles!” I wandered through the kitchen, glancing over every little detail. And in an instant, I found my perfect crime.
The mysterious fruit. Since a very young age, my mother had always warned me to never go near that fruit. The strange, round edges, the red, bold color, the thick, green stem. I knew it wasn’t just any ordinary fruit. There was something off about it, but I just couldn’t figure it out. No matter how many thoughts went through my mind about what my mother had tried to hide from me through so many years, I somehow knew that it was for my own good. Although I came to the conclusion that my mother had only been trying to help, by telling me not to touch the mysterious fruit, nothing could stop me from finding out what mysteries were held inside.
I walked over to the fruit and on the way, I thought of every single potential outcome that fruit might have contained for me. “Could it be magical? Could it be explosive?” I asked myself. I stared at it for a moment before picking it up. Wondering if I should actually go through with this rebellious deed. After a short moment of silence, I picked up the fruit. My hand barely wrapped around the fruit itself. The very odd shape of it confused me. It was long and carrot like. I knew I shouldn’t just eat it from the bottom up. Something told my curious mind I should just bite it right in its side. And so I did.
I don’t know why, but when I bit into it, my brain told me to suck all the juice out. I had never made such a horrible decision since. The moment that satanic juice touched my tongue, I knew what I bit into was no ordinary fruit. What I had just sunk my teeth into was thick, ripe, luscious pepper. I instantly threw the pepper far away. My face turned red. Crying and sobbing, I rushed over to the fridge to get a mouthful of water. To my surprise, the water only made it worse. Screaming all around the kitchen, I tried to rub away the tears from my eyes. As a young toddler, I didn’t have much experience with spiciness, so every decision I made was exactly the wrong one.
With both my eyes and mouth burning, I thought of how much trouble I had just gotten myself into. In a panic, I rushed to the first place I thought I could hide. I choose behind the T.V. It was just then when my mother finally had awoken from her nap to rush downstairs and find my lonely self cowardly taking cover behind a TV stand. I gave up on trying to stay out of trouble and just begged for help from my mother. “Oh my gosh Holden! What did you do?!” she screamed. I was too hysterical at the time to tell her. She picked me up and tried to calm me down, while also searching the room for the reason of my terror. It was only after all of the screaming and crying when she found the juiceless, bitten into pepper in the other room. “It was shaped like a carrot and red like an apple,” I told my mother. I had lucked out and my mother decided not to punish me, I assumed she thought all the crying and pain was enough already.
All of the panicking passed and I made it through one of the most dramatic experiences in my life. I learned two things that day: first, always listen to what your parents tell you because it will most likely be for your own good, and second, no matter how much I bother, annoy, and torment my mother, she will always pick me up, wipe away my tears, and give me a big hug. No matter how mad I will ever get, she is my mother, and I will always love her.
The End
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Sunday, November 6, 2016
Wynton Marsalis Stop By OCSA to Teach Musicianship to High School Students
It was back on October 7 and I'm only posting it now, but one of the cool things about having a kid a the Orange County High School of the Arts is that you sometimes get invited to see a special guest teach a class. Wynton Marsalis talked about musicianship, improvisation, and why you need to really listen to the soloist.
A few days later, Joshua Bell stopped by and gave string students a glimpse into his professional career.
Friday, November 4, 2016
Monday, October 31, 2016
Sunday, October 30, 2016
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Friday, October 14, 2016
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Saturday, September 24, 2016
Sunday, September 11, 2016
Monday, September 5, 2016
Sunday, August 14, 2016
Saturday, August 6, 2016
Riley Returns from Idyllwild
Riley once again had a great time at Idyllwild Arts Academy for two weeks. I got fairly regular updates from her via Instagram and Snapchat.
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| Riley with two of her trombone teachers. |
She even got in trouble up there! She called me from a landline while I was at dinner. She said, "Father, I am calling from the office. I am supposed to tell you that I was caught out of bounds. The boundaries are clearly marked and I ignored them. If I violate this rule or any other rule the rest of the time I am here, I will be sent home." She was reading some kind of script so I played along like a normal concerned parent.
I missed both her concerts that were held in Idyllwild but Holden, her mom and grandparents were there to see the finale.
Saturday, July 30, 2016
Holden Sings Old Zombies Song
Holden was singing this song around the house, so I told him I'd take a video and put it on the blog.
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Monday, July 4, 2016
Friday, April 29, 2016
Holden's A Capella Group
Holden started an a capella group at his school. They performed at Fanning Elementary's Night of Music - a mostly painful 150 minute long stream of kids who want to perform but lack much talent. Holden's group worked hard, rehearsed and performed without a crutches like iTunes, Youtube, sheet music, etc. For several weeks I would get a text at work that Holden was going to rehearse at someone's house after school. Holden said they figured out this song and all the harmonies all by themselves. Pretty sweet!
Sunday, April 3, 2016
Updates on DJ, Riley and Holden
I haven't posted in a while, so it's time to update everyone on DJ, Riley and Holden.
We just got back from a trip to San Francisco for Spring Break. Riley, Holden and I drove in the Prius. We stayed in The Good Hotel, a hotel on 7th and Mission in the South of Market district. It's an eco-friendly hotel that lets hybrids park for free saving us $50 a night. They try to save water too, so they put sinks on top of the toilets so that you can wash your hands (or have a drink) while the toilet fills up. Here's a funny video that Holden made to show you how it works:
There wasn't enough room in either bed for two people, so Holden set up a place in between the beds for sleeping. Before bed, though, Riley and Holden played around a lot. They got along great during the trip, by the way.
The main purpose of the trip to San Francisco was to see the San Francisco Conservatory of Music which is a music college that Riley might want to attend when she graduates OCSA. We saw two recitals and a dress rehearsal for Don Giovanni. Riley audited a few classes and had a lesson with the principal trombone player in the San Francisco Symphony, Tim Higgins.
One night, we drove to a beer, wine and coffee bar to hear a quartet play chamber music.
While Riley was auditing classes or getting an expert trombone lesson, Holden and I walked around San Francisco and stopped for a snack.
On the way back from SF, we stopped in Mountain View to see Uncle Paul, Aunt Shu and Cousin Sage. The kids' grandparents were visiting, too, so we got to eat breakfast with them before the six hour drive back to Orange County.
Before the trip, Holden had an acting recital where he did a monologue from the Sixth Sense.
Saturday, January 23, 2016
Ocotillo Wells Bonfire
We just returned from Ocotillo Wells, a California state part designated for off-road vehicles and dry camping. This is our third trip there. This time it was just Holden and me. Huong, Riley, DJ and Aiden all had other obligations for that weekend.
There is a tradition that on the weekend before MLK Day, everyone brings their dry Christmas trees and puts them in the middle of circle of RVs to be burned on Saturday night. Some of the guys built an A-frame over the Christmas trees and loaded combustibles above the pyramid. When the sun went down, Roman candles were handed to all the kids to shoot at the trees and watch them quickly go up in flames. It was safe and fun, as far as I can tell.
While we were waiting for the big bonfire, we lit Chinese candles which gently floated up in the air to about 2000 feet and then floated down. The next day, we used quads, motorcycles and feet to retrieve the spent candles.
There is a tradition that on the weekend before MLK Day, everyone brings their dry Christmas trees and puts them in the middle of circle of RVs to be burned on Saturday night. Some of the guys built an A-frame over the Christmas trees and loaded combustibles above the pyramid. When the sun went down, Roman candles were handed to all the kids to shoot at the trees and watch them quickly go up in flames. It was safe and fun, as far as I can tell.
While we were waiting for the big bonfire, we lit Chinese candles which gently floated up in the air to about 2000 feet and then floated down. The next day, we used quads, motorcycles and feet to retrieve the spent candles.
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Riley Honor Band
Riley made the Honor Band and it was announced in this newsletter that highlights all the accomplishments of present and former OCSA students.
Boswellll Photography
That looks like a typo but if you want to see DJ's photographs you have to visit his website at boswellll.tumbler.com.
Trip to McArthur and Burney
Google put together this little slideshow of our trip to McArthur to visit Terry and Carolyn Lease.
It was Huong's second time in the snow. We had a white Thanksgiving. There were supposed to be more people but because of the weather, the Lease's relatives could not make it. So it was just Holden, Huong, Terry, Carolyn and me. The Leases also have two yellow labs.
On the way up to McArthur we stayed in Redding and visited the Mt Shasta Caverns. On the way back from McArthur we stayed in old Sacramento.
When we got back from our trip, I took the boys shooting in Lytle Creek and Riley had an audition for Honor Band. That's what you see in the slide show above.
It was Huong's second time in the snow. We had a white Thanksgiving. There were supposed to be more people but because of the weather, the Lease's relatives could not make it. So it was just Holden, Huong, Terry, Carolyn and me. The Leases also have two yellow labs.
On the way up to McArthur we stayed in Redding and visited the Mt Shasta Caverns. On the way back from McArthur we stayed in old Sacramento.
When we got back from our trip, I took the boys shooting in Lytle Creek and Riley had an audition for Honor Band. That's what you see in the slide show above.
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