Galaxy practice and Aikido

Last weekend on 22nd of April, I went to Galaxy Jazz band rehersal at 1.30pm. I was having a good day so I wasn't stressing out when I went to practice. However, I couldn't stay until the end of rehearsal (I stayed up until 2.30pm). I only joined the saxophone part practice for one hour. I learned how to play the song "Four brothers" and "In the mood". "In the mood" was already familiar to me since I could play the song on the piano. It is a very moody, happy and a jazzy song, I really like it. "Four brothers" was much harder compared to "In the mood" because it is hard to follow the rhythm. 

 

On the next day, April 23rd I started my new Action activity!!! Which is Aikido, Japanese martial art. The location is in Jakarta, Bulungan.  joined from 4.30pm to 6pm (I was 30 minutes late). I joined together with my mom and younger sister. Long time ago when I was in elementary school I used to join Aikido, however I never improved and I never enjoyed the activity because there were no girls at all and I thought the activity itself was boring. But when I started again last Sunday, I found that Aikido is fun, interesting, energetic activity. Once I went there I was sweating so much. My supervisor, Mr. Herry is a very kind person and helped me with the movements. It was my first time but I felt like an expert already because once I go to the lesson, I learn so much movements and techniques. It is very amazing and I am hoping to become stronger and braver as I join this activity. The best thing I like about Aikido is that differently from Karate, Judo or Taekwondo, it is more friendly and easy to do. It doesn't hurt when the I attack the opponent; it's all about losing the opponent's balance and make them fall. Although sometimes it hurts but the pain doesn't last long (only few seconds or minutes). So doing martial arts is not a violent thing to do. It is cultural, challenging and fun. 

For yesterday's lesson, I mostly learned how to lose people's balance by using wrist. It is very amazing to know that human can lose balance by twisting their wrists and how I can carry a man who's heavier than me. 

Dance in fitness

Yesteday, I had an awesome time during fitness. I saw the schedule and they had hip hop class yesterday from 6pm to 7pm. I thought this would be fun and it could give me inspiration for my next dance performance. So yesterday I had fun dancing in the class and got some inspiration and some new movements that might be able to fit in for the dance performance.

Also, I burned 150 calories yesterday with the running machine. I thought it was tiring but also very motivating at the same time. It is very hard to burn calories. I also learned that by breathing slowly while running could help me prevent cramp or stitches. I felt very energized and hyper yesterday and I learned that being healthy is amazing (because I was sick last week and wasn't able to do sports). I feel very thankful that I'm healthy and I can do what I want physically. So I am not going to waste it and would like to challenge more while I'm still young and healthy.

Galaxy Big Band practice and next plan

Yesterday, I had the Galaxy Jazz band practice at Yamaha building. I started at 2.30pm in the afternoon until 8pm at night. Honestly, I thought yesterday's practice was very frustrating. At first, I thought that the practice was going to end at 6pm. However it was somehow extended to 7pm. Later on I found out that there is a saxophone mini band practice and that I was in it (because I play the saxophone in the band). I was stressing out because I was hungry and exhausted. 

I may sound like a negative student but I actually have reasons to this. I was in this band when I was in 6th grade and I've been playing for one year. After that I took a break because I've been very busy the whole time. So I joined again now in 11th grade for my CAS. Everything changed so much. First, the leader of the band and the community was changed. I can't really get along well with the new people although I tried to socialize with them. The system has changed, we need to download scores and print them by ourselves which is hard for me to do because there are tons of scores to download and I get confused which one is which (there are too many parts such as trumpet, trombone, woodwind, etc.) Also, I think the practice time is too long (4-5 hours every practice). I tried my self to think positively and to motivate my self being in the band but I always fail. I am strongly thinking of changing this activity after one more concert at Barcode in Kemang (May 22). 

I might want to learn Aikido (Japanese Taekwondo) for my action activity. And I would like to focus my service activity after the summer break. I will go to the small elementary school next to my school and teach kids about interesting things such as crafts, global warming, manners and behaviors, little bit of language, music, art and so on. I would do this for three months. 

Quarter 4

 I have been sick last week (I had bad stomach ache). So to be honest, I couldn't do my CAS activity. But I was able to do go to the gym once last week to work out and get healthier. I did it for one hour. 

Also, last Saturday, I was supposed to go and do the galaxy jazz band practice, but since I had my stomach ache, I decided not to go and instead stayed with my mother. She had a meeting with her team. Their plan is to make a Japanese event for this year's summer. My mom told me to join and sit next to hear while listening to their conversation and if possible, give some advices or suggestions as a teenager. So I sat there and listened for two hours. At last, I gave them some suggestions such as what teenagers like, their trends and so on. 

Since I couldn't really do CAS last week, I've been planning what to do next for my new quarter 4 CAS activity. I am planning to do a dance performance again, hopefully for the home concert later on around May or june. I would also like to teach or give a lesson to a student either in language, music or art. Another plan, I would like to draw a painting, sell them and donate some money to orphans with my profit.