All State Choir 2015.
Yup, i'm doing this years too.
So, if you read the last post about my 2014 ASC, you'll know what happened in the beginning. (Auditions)
But, i'll do it anyways.

So, it started again this year with my new music teacher, Miss Urban.
(She's a good teacher by the way)
She helped my get all the information, she told me it was about the same as last years, so it wasn't going to be much of a change.
But i practiced, and practiced.
Then, it was audition day.
I have to say, I was still a nervous wreck.
Nerves can really mess some stuff up.
But, i did it, and Miss Urban said I did a good job, and that kind of eased my nerves, but not by much at all. So she sent it in, and i paid her the 20$ for the auditions fee.
Then, again, I had to wait months and months for the results to get back.


Still, its nerve-wrecking, even though I did it last year, just waiting to hear my name called, or not.
But she said Nikki Dodge, so i was in. AGAIN
It didn't feel as special though, i guess. Because I already had that experience, but after i learned the music and stuff, over a month. (Five musically challenging pieces)
When I got there, i felt like a Choir Veteran.
I mean, I dont think alot of people actually came back this year.
So I already knew the jist of things.
But everything went so much smoother this year.
Longer breaks, more time to transition, all that jazz.

But it sounded amazing.
Like, angels again.
That is the only way to describe it.
We all sounded like highschoolers while we sang together.
It was amazing.
After practicing for 4 hours, we all were comfortable, and we started making progress.

The next day, after practicing more, it was time to get ready for the concert.
I curled my hair, did my makeup amazingly, and put on my dress with my heels.
When i was walking to the concert, kids were passing at me and staring at me.
I dunno why. Everyone was dressed up.
We got onto the stage.
And I was not nervous. Not even a little bit. But, my feet hurt soooooo bad.
I almost feel down like three times.
But, i was confident, and i sand my heart out.

And i did it.
I went though another year of All State Choir.  

All State Choir.
Sounds pretty snazzy huh?
Well, all i can say is that it was amazing, the two years i was in it.
Yes, i was in it for two years straight.
And you had to be chosen, it wasn't something that you could just join, by yourself and just show up to it.
What Happened was;

I got told by my old choir teacher, Mr. Ecker, that there is an All State Choir that is forming to preform in front of almost one thousand people, giving me  chance to excel at what i love doing. Singing, and music.
So he told me that the admission was 20$. (It was the same this year too) And i had to practice a lot if i planned to try to make it in. So i had to practice scales, reading music (sight reading), and sing a piece of a song, (it was the same this year too, it just didnt have the same information)
And after a few weeks, it was try out day. The day we sent in our admissions to try to get in.
It was relatively easy, considering how nervous i was.
Well, he sent it in, telling me i did a good job and what-not.

Months passed, i was anxiously awaiting results, untill the day he said he got them in.
I wanted to hide.
And then he said two girls' names.
I thought he was done, untill he said, "and lastly, Nikki Dodge."
I can't even count on my fingers how many dirty looks i got.
More than ten, when i walked out of the room trying not to laugh and make everyone upset.
He gave me the music.
And woah, it was hard.
Two in different languages, and one that was as hard to read as a blind person trying to see.
But, luckily, there were tracks of a person singing the songs on the internet!

Yeah, when the months went by, i practiced and practiced, getting ready.

Then we headed to denver.
I had my music, and thank gosh i wasnt sick.
But we got there, girls my age were singing in groups in a quality i have never heard before.
And we went into our practice room, in the convention center, and we started singing.
oh. my. god. We sounded like angels.
I mean, it made my mom cry.
We sang and sang, untill our throats went dry.
We continued untill about 9:00 at night, (we got there at like 5:00) i was so tired.
So me and my mom went back to our room, and i fell asleep.

My first thought when i woke up was, "Concert Day!"
Yeah, we only got to be together as an amazing, wonderful group for two days. It was totally disappointing.
But we practiced, ate lunch, practiced, and then moved to the performance stage for rehearsing.
There were about 1,000 seats in there.
Jeez.
But, I wasn't nervous at all.
I dont know why exactly, but i wasnt.
But i guess its because ive preformed so much on stage, that its just normal, i guess.

But we went back to the room around 3:00 and started to get ready.
I curled my hair, did my makeup the best i could, then i put on the all black, sleek dress.
It was so pretty.
And my dad walked into the hotel room with a dozen roses, and that put a big smile on my face.

Here we went.
I walked out onto the stage with the 200 hundred girls, and we sang our hearts out. In front of about a thousand people.
I was so pleased, but the only thing i didnt like was that we had to stand on the stage for 10 minutes afterwards, and i was in heels.
That hurt.
I took off my shoes after we left the stage, and i was like 4 inches shorter.
But, that's the story of my 2014 Colorado Middle School All State Choir experience.

The terror crisis, ISIS, personally, it could have been avoided.
If president Obama would've reacted when the first American hostage was murdered, or even when they threatened the White house, saying that they'll burn it down, and raise their flag where the American flag is rightfully supposed to be.
If he would've done something about it, this could have been avoided.
If Obama wouldn't have taken all of the troops out of Iraq and Iran, just to get votes for his next election, it wouldn't have shown a weak spot in defenses, and they wouldn't have thought about creating a new terror group.

Instead of focusing on "Getting everyone to vote"
Focus on the people threatening to KILL everyone in America.
They HATE us.
I don't think that he realizes how dire this situation will become unless he does more than send a few airstrikes.
What I think is, is that he couldn't give a darn about our country.
He wants to shape America HIS way, he is abusing his power in ways that our forefathers would have shamed.
Because they were about keeping freedom alive, keeping everyone as equal as possible.
Trying to take away our second amendment, for no reason.
And when they realized that they couldn't take our guns, they plan to take our ammunition away, so we had no way to use guns.
But hypocritically, he has bodyguards with the same weapons that he wants to ban.
And guess what those weapons were?
Guns.

And then, hysterically, he raises the prices on Ammo through the roof, so the people can't afford it.
And has he thought about, what will happen if ISIS does invade our country?
What if they actually do?
What are we gonna defend ourselves with?
Sling shots?
Or are we gonna just use our ammo-less guns as baseball bats and just smack them around, and let them kill us, with out any remorse what so ever?
And they wont stop what they're doing unless we're all dead, or we do something.
Why doesn't Obama do anything?
Doesn't he realize that our lives are all at stake?
And if he doesn't do anything, they are going to attack, and attack, tirelessly.
Until we are ALL DEAD.  

Hey, it's my opinion.
If you disagree, I could care less.
But Obama, could care less about us from my point of veiw.
All he does is talk.
Talk about doing things about it.
When is he gonna actually act?

All kids have silly dreams for when they grow up.
A princess
A popstar
I even heard a kid say that he wanted to be a frog.
But sometimes, even though you know a dream won't come true, you still believe...right?
That's what gives kids their character, their personality, their imagination.
But sometimes those dreams that look so impossible, so out of reach, stay with you. And you always wish they would come true.
You wish when you blow out your birthday candles, when you see a shooting star, you wish that one dream would come true. Like that song huh? "When you Wish Upon a Star"

That's how it was with me, er.. still is. But without the wishing all the time.
I want to be a singer.
But that's a one in a million chance, and it's not gonna happen.
But ill still try.
But, since i have connections with a tv producer, and an actual tv company (discovery channel) i might have a better chance.
Maybe, I do.
But you never know, ya know?
Maybe someday, a music producer will see me on tv signing, and maybe give me a chance.


But that's a long way away, and you never know what will happen.
But even though you think that your dream won't come true, don't just give up.
you can't just think that it will just appear at your doorstep in 10 years, and not give anything to make it happen. Just keep thinking that you will make it, even  though theres a possibility that it wont happen.    
You gotta keep going, you have to keep trying, never stop beleiving.
Yes, it's cheesey,  but I believe that it's true.

Being bullied is a big thing these days.
People see it, but all they seem to do is talk about getting rid of it, not making a difference what-so-ever.
People need to get the fact by just putting up signs, having assemblies, and having presentations, TALKING about stopping bullying, in my point of view, it isn't helping.
If you want to do something about it, DO it.
Don't just talk about it, spend money on words that won't do anything. Use that money and set up an organization for the kids that have issues with bullying, help them if bullying has caused depression, self harm, and make them feel better, and for the people that mentally, or physically abuse the kids, get them help, or do something about them doing that. I don't think people get the fact that even though you talk to them, and ask them to get better, your not doing anything about the SOURCE of the pain, the torment, the depression or self harm. And they "say" that they'll get better, but they'll try harder to conceal it. To make YOU feel better. Not themselves personally.

I know kids that have this happening to them, or had it happen.
And unless you do something they WILL NOT get better. For example;
I knew this girl. She was pretty, she was smart, she was everything you needed to make it in this world, even though she was young.
She got made fun of.
Because she didn't have a boyfriend, she got called a lesbian.
Just because she had glasses, she was called a nerd, or four eyes.
Just because she wasn't the fittest person, 5 pounds overweight, she got called fat.
She kept it hidden from everyone, just so they wouldn't worry about her. It got to the point to where she shut down.
Her grades were falling, she stopped taking care of herself, she just stopped trying.
She locked herself in her room for days straight, only talking to people on the computer.
That was the only place where she could go and not be reminded of the things that were said about her.
She had friends that actually appreciated her over the internet.


She started to get depressed, she started not to eat, and when her grades dropped, her parents screamed and screamed at her. Never knowing how bad she was hurting despite what was going on.
It made her depression worse.
Never wanting to leave her room at all.
Soon her parents started to notice, and they took her to a therapist.
She was diagnosed with depression, put on medication to make her happy.
But still, she worried about the kis treating her bad at school.
Her parents did know that she had trouble at school with friends, but, they didnt know how bad it was.
Eventually she started to do online school, to get away from the people who made fun  of her.

Bullying needs to be taken care of, yes, this one didn't end in suicide, but too many do.
Why don't people realize that this is a bigger problem than you think?
People bullied because they're not pretty enough, people bullied because they weigh a little too much, or too little, being confident in yourself, ends up with people thinking tat you're a narcissist, and making your confidence lower.
Kids even tell one another to kill themselves.
And some eventually do. Because they're tired of what this world is doing to them, and they feel that there is no escape, besides death.
Do you get it now?

Some of the time, people totally hate technology. Sometimes people love it. And sometimes people have mixed feelings about it. But, we can all say that it has changed our lives, for the better or worse.
Some people think that it turns our brains to mush, and some people think it actually makes us smarter.
There are always going to be arguments about it, but we will never go back to not using technology.
We are going to keep evolving, expanding, and keep developing new things that surpass the ones before.
Things aren't ever going to go back, we are going to keep moving forward, no matter what.
Some people have become completely absorbed in technology, not being able to function without the internet, or even make it through the day without your phone, or even go a few minutes without checking it.

Me, personally, i can go days without technology if i wanted to. When i went up to Canada, a few years ago, i had no internet, i only had an ipod to listen to music on.
But i didnt even use that.
I was a normal kid. Playing like i didnt even know what technology was.
Going exploring, going fishing, (trying to at least. There were no fish there what-so-ever) but i went riding fourwheelers, riding bikes, and watching out for bears I went a whole two months without internet, or my phone, or anything.
It was really fun.

But anywyas, i think that it has invaded our lives, i dont think its totally good or bad.
But i think it has made an entire generation of kids lazy.
It makes them want to do that and only that. It fills their lives.
Using their phones during class, while eating dinner, when they are supposed to be spending time with their families, it takes all of our attention away from what's actually important.
Its making us stupid in a way. Not being able to talk to people because we don't choose any other way to talk unless its on the phone. Its made things better, yes.
Like our weaponry, our intelligence, we can help the wounded and disabled, but if that was the only thing we used technology for, the world would be so much better and not filled woth people that dont are about anything but their phones. People even say that they couldnt live without their phones.
Yes, life is easier. Yes it makes things easier in life.
If we didnt all have phones, there would be less of a chance they people would be getting into a car accident, from texting and driving, which is the leading cause for auto-motive accidents in the world now.

People would feel much better about themselves as well.
They wouldnt get negative comments from people they dont even know, wanting to make them hurt. Just because they can, and they wont have any consequences. people wouldnt be bullied as much if they didnt have access to the internet of phones. There wouldnt be as many teen suicides because of bullying.
People would be much nicer because they wouldnt have ammunition, or reasons to hurt other people.
Now a days, if you post a picture of yourself, you worry about the amount of likes you get, you worry if people will not approve, and you do it so people will approve and make you feel better about yourself.
But that only works if you have alot of people that like you, and this you're handsome or cute, or just attractive.
And if you arent, you'll get your feelings hurt.
People will purposefully hurt you.
Just to make themselves feel better.
People wouldn't be able to lure little kids and kidnap them, or do worse things to them either. They wouldnt be able to talk to the kids in general, or even plan to hurt them.

This is my perspective on how things would get better, you dont have to agree.
But in some ways, the world would be better without technology.

Most of the time, when you go for a road trip with your family, you go pretty much insane.
Its gets horrible, annoying, cramped, unbearable, but there are some breaks when you get a smile and a laugh in, but that mostly means that you're about to explode.
That was how it was when me and my family took a road trip to Canada.
Yeah, i know. We go there alot.
We had to pack a lot of clothes. I mean one BIG duffle bag for one person, it was easier for me because i had smaller clothes and stuff but my bag was still stuffed to the max.
Then the next morning, well, I didn't consider it morning, but at about 3:00 AM, we loaded everything into the truck and started driving.
3,000 miles. Yay.
Three days, waking up at 4:00 AM driving until 12:00 AM or later. Was. Horrible.
I mean yeah, we didnt have to do anything for three days, but when you're being lazy around the house you can actually move around, but in that truck, you barley had legroom.


Me and my sister fought and fought, maybe even physically a few times. But it was bad. i mean we wouldnt even look at each other, and just being around each other gave you that weird restless feeling, but sometimes we got along. Sometimes.
I seriously think we almost went mental every time we've gone up there in a truck. The only time we got a break was when we'd get to a hotel room. And we never got to enjoy the freedom, because we had to go to sleep when we got into the room.
But the scenery was amazingly beautiful. That was the only thing that could distract you from that cramped feeling, just watching everything go by you, the trees, the mountains, the animals, the lakes and rivers, was the only way you felt free.


Crossing the border was a total hassle. Most of the time we cant just drive through and flash our passports and say where we were going and why, but we had to get out of the truck, go thorough customs, explain why we were individually going, and why my dad had guns. They had to do a backround check on him, he had to make payments for permits to have the gun there for 6 months, and they took his ammunition, he had to buy more when we got through the border, but on the bright side, we were finally in Canada. But still had two looooooong days left. Just thinking about doing that again makes me tired. I mean, really? Sitting in a hot, humid car for 14+ hours isnt good for you at all. Even sleeping in the truck, you could only sleep for a few hours for some reason. Its like your body wants you to be bored stiff.



And the worst part was, all we ate was junk food. Greasy, bland, fried, fatty junkfood. No dinners where you got to sit down and order, but drive through style. Ugh, you got tired of that fast. and you got thirsty alot. we would buy bottles and bottles of water but it would never last us enough time before it got hot, or we drank it all, but by that time, we had to stop for a restroom break.
I think there was something wrong with my dad.
He seriously stopped every few hours to go to the bathroom.
And he got teased, a lot.
He eventually got mad but we didnt care, we were distracted for a half an hour.
My sister was always on her computer playing her games, not talking to anyone, headphones on, and zoned out.
This one time, she fell asleep listening to her ipod touch, with loud headphones on, and i got her ipod, and i suddenly turned it up all the way, and i scared her, ohh that was hilarious, and im pretty sure she screamed, from being scared and her yelling at me..


When we finally got to our destination we had to get un-packed which sucked. But, the cabins we were staying in were amazing (See first post) and it felt like home, even though we were so far away.