a lil recap :D (NEED PICTURES! + A LOT MORE ELABORATION)
Hello whatsup blog :D!! I am back again to drop out another banger for you super awesome blog readers! I am currently up inside a band practice totally practicing my saxophone and such and not writing on this cause I feel like it! HAHAHA WHO SAID THAT
Anyway I'd like to take a moment for some appreciation and even more context as to why I suddenly spawned back into this blog! I have to give allll my props to my lovely gf for inspiring to go back to this blog :] After ending my aice media one forever and ever till the end of time I was pretty sad because that meant I no longer could open this lovely website and just yap away to my hearts content. Butttt who's to say that I can't start a new one :D??
Just as long as I'm not making another post on the super awesome aice media blog I should be all fine and dandy! If I make another post on my media blog it's over cause tstok and the english lads still have to take a look at my whole shabang, laugh, and then give me a super awesome grade :D So here I am! For a good while! To yap to my hearts content! And better yet, about ANYTTTHING I want!!
and I'd like to do something pretty cool today!
A recap :D Of EVEERRYTTHINGG that has went down within the last year. I'd like to think of it as updating April 2025 Emi about her life, even though she will never be seen again cause she's me right now :D BUT ALAS! Here I grow!
A LIL RECAP: SOME BIG LIFE UPDATES
So I read my old blogs on here a lil while ago and man i must say ya girl was up and out there, she was tweaking left and right! Some may say that there hasn't been much change in myself over the year but I definitely think there has been, at least some really cool minor changes that have made me into a better person :] For starters, I'm definitely more confident in myself now! I have been through a whole whole wholee lot of stuffs since April 2025 and I'd definitely would love to give most of my flowers to band leadership. Most of my change, especially internally was caused by my time as a saxophone section leader during the 2025 marching season! I am also obviously now a high school junior, thinking of pursuing media production at either UM, UCF, or FIU, and got with my most amazing gf during November :] I think that’s really all that’s new!
I know past emi was freaking out about leadership left and right so I think it's def well worth to talk about it all the most :D!
man it was hard
being a leader, especially for a whole buncha kids ur age is definitely not for the weak everybody
I have to say, even if I said it before like a paragraph ago, I won’t mind cause I have to say it again, I believe that most if not all my significant change came from this experience and I am being SO genuine! Beginning of Summer 2025 Emi is NOTTTT NOT NOT the same as present day Emi. NOT AT ALL! Back then I was SCARED. Even though I was indeed ecstatic that I was selected to be section leader, I was still just so terrified, because as a great man from a great franchise once put it
“With great power, comes great responsibility”
So let me tell you past Emi, let me tell you how that entire experience went, because you and I both know it’s absolutely something that must must MUST be talked about in depth :]
A LIL RECAP: BEING A SECTION LEADER
This whole thang started around the same time last year when the D Dawg (my band director) opened up leadership applications. Ever since middle school, back when I was SUPER into band and inspired every single day by my brother, I wanted nothing but to be just like him in terms of playing ability and super cool leadership :D
oh boy the next one
Sophomore year was the year where my entire outlook on band began to change significantly. If you guys recall from one of my blogs I made last year, during the middle of like April 2025 I began to go through a phenomenon called "band depression" which is when you start doubting everything in the band program while going through the great most amazing season of MPA. GAHHH man this year's MPA season is LIGHT WORK but last years was actually mongolian butt tickling. WE HAD LIKE ALMOST A 30 MINUTE PROGRAM! Not only that but the tunes we selected were pretty out there. The Wild One was fine but La Mezquita and Frozen Cathedral literally took away my soul for forever and ever. Mezquita took a long while to figure out but once I finally got it with the help of my sax friends, it genuinely wasn't that bad :D FROZEN ON THE OTHER HAND GHAHHSHHA this was the one that truly truly mesesfgfgfgfgfgfgfy whoops that was my gfhuuuiiitsgiojijiwwgatsup
Frozen Cathedral absolutely ruined me for a good like 2 months.
The song is absolutely beautiful and I admit it made me cry every once in a while cause of how beautiful it was but I genuinely struggled with it when playing it by myself. If you recall from a blog post I made forever ago (literally a year ago at around the same time), I have a tenor sax pal that I play along with in all my songs. This year has been much better in terms of his attendance but last year that man NEVER pulled up. I must say this here and now that (especially at the time) it was a bad thing because I highkey get a teeny tiny bit carried by him. He was supposed to have a solo in Frozen Cathedral, but due to his lack of attendance, I often had to play it in his place. And let's just say that did NOT end up well. There was one rehearsal that especially destroyed me and that was like one random day in April 2025 that genuinely had no significance besides that damn solo! Long story short I did NOTTTT stay in time and I definitely blame that on heavy performance anxiety. It's been getting better but I still have bad days. I don't know if its normal for me to start almost freaking out every time my sound is exposed just a teeny tiny bit in a tune but it shall be fixed eventually :]
Even though I had an absolutely hellish sophomore MPA season, I still had some spark for band still left in me that needed to be let out in the lovely interview I was going to have with my band director. If you're wondering past Emi how that turned out, you'll be very happy to know that it went awesome! It was clear that Dawson seemed to like what I was saying and was quite convinced in my skill even though I barely had any previous leadership experience. Anddd if you didn't read like the past 5 paragraphs, I ended up getting the position! Wahooo!!!!
I remember the day when Isa and I (along with MANY others) pulled up to the band room to see the results. That was such a beautiful moment, just realizing that it was finally time for us to come out of our shells and accomplish our dreams. Isa was finally able to follow in the footsteps of Ryan (drum major our freshman year that really inspired her), and I was finally able to follow in the footsteps of my lovely brother :] We were ESTATIC!
As excited as I was however, I definitely wasn't expecting nor ready to be hit with the hardest most amazing next 3 months of my life. I wasn't quite aware yet of the challenges of being a section leader and I don't think I was ready to learn because by the time I began to do so I sobbed sobbed sobbed until the end of time! Being a leader involves a LOT of growth, SOSOS much of it, not only that but also a ton of awareness. You havc to worry about the skills and progress of yourself along with like the 13+ other people in your team while also trying to get along with them. Since the very beginning all I mainly wanted was to foster and cultivate a community in my section by becoming friends with the newbies and making socials for everybody to hang out :] The entirety of May-July was really hard in this aspect I must admit. I was really scared to put myself out there as a leader and person and just felt way too intimidated to take on the forefront every once in a while. By the time August camp rolled around though things began to get much better! I started up connections with essentially every person in my section and could tell by the end of the month that they were beginning to get comfortable with each other! We had like 2 socials and a couple moments (like football games) to really come together as a team and knowing that I contributed heavily to all of that was just such a wonderful beautiful feeling.
Past Emi, you'll be happy to know that your first year of leadership went pretty awesome :] Obviously I'm only scraping the mere surface as there were quite a number of significant issues and mistakes made throughout the season that I don't want to get into but such is life! You live, you learn, and you come out of every situation much much better much stronger and much more ready to tackle the next one! Leadership taught me to be easier on myself, have confidence in what I'm doing, and most of all, to just enjoy the ride and journey ahead :] I have come SO far as a person with all of this and I'm pleased to say that I'm looking to do this all again one last time for my senior year! We recently got applications from our band director so we could be interviewed and I did mine on Monday (4/20)! This time around, it's different. I'm applying not only for sax section leader (no assistant mentioned in the application), but also woodwind captain! After giving it some thought, I would love to expand my horizon and foster a healthy community not only with my saxes but also with all the woodwinds! I've noticed these past couple years that us woodwinds haven't been as close as I think we should be and if I do end up getting the position I would love to focus on the friendship community side of things, especially because myself and many others do NOTTT like the state of the current band community right now. Knowing that I am capable of changing things and knowing that I'm able to leave my mark on such an important part of my life is truly so amazing and I'm really looking forward to my senior season :] I'm going to make it the best one ever not only for myself but for my saxes and woodwinds!
THAT'S HIGHKEYENUINELY BASICALLY IT
Soooo yeah! Leadership was literally the most significant part of my 2025! Thank you sophomore Emi for taking the chance, stepping out of your comfort zone, and pursuing leadership while also fulfilling your goal of following in the footsteps of your brother (in your very own unique way)!
The rest of my 2025 like the summer and other things and such were pretty awesome too! I went to Spain for like 2 weeks in June, and got together with my lovely gf in November! I've truly been so blessed and I'm glad I had the opportunity just now to sit back and reflect on my past experiences a little bit :]
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