Sunday, October 17, 2004
807
I know, I know: it's been forever since I posted last. I have been ridiculously busy these last couple of days. But that's college for you. I guess I'll start from where we last left off...
Friday was a good day. I was up late on Thursday so I was very tired, but aside from that the day was great! I got the physics midterm that I took on Wednesday back, graded. (Hooray for not waiting a month to get grades back.) I got a 70/70. Boo yeah, grandma. I was the only one, too. I'll not dwell on this...you know, because I'm so humble and all...but it was a pretty big thing from me. I've heard all of those stories about how people who get all A's in high school sometimes completely fail in college, and up until now I haven't had any grades to speak of in any of my classes, so this was the first indicator of my progress. I'd also like to point out that I did the optional homework problems and read the optional reading, so I earned it, if I do say so myself. So anyway, that was that.
The rest of school went fine on Friday...not much to report there. At 6 I went down to the band room to meet for the volleyball game, where the pep band would be playing. I got my awesome pep band shirt, which is bright green with bright yellow vertical stripes. I think it makes me look like I'm on the Brazilian soccer team...but it's awesome anyway. So we warmed up in the band room and then marched down to Mott Gym. Our pep band brings along the entire drumline rather than just one drummer, so we can do cadences as we march through campus. One of these cadences is called George (don't ask me why) and whenever the drumline plays it, all of the winds do this awesome dance routine to it. It involves twirling instruments and raising the roof and doing the funky chicken. And shouting "woot woot." It's so much fun!! My experience in the RB band was totally different. The most movement I got to do was raising my instrument from carriage to playing position during the rolloff. Hey, it's all good...but I'm having more fun with this band than a person should be allowed to have.
The following paragraph is dedicated to Jenna Santy:
The volleyball game was fun, but short. They play a best-of-five match, and the Mustangs lost the first three, so that was the end of that. But we played a lot of cool music (although, some of the songs are the same ones I played in high school but different versions of them, and I miss the old ones!). One of the things we played was "Sell Out" by Reel Big Fish, and I couldn't help but think of Jenna and one of her favorite bands as we played it. It seems to be a really good arrangement of it...fun to play and all. So yeah, my first performance with the marching/pep band was a good one, despite the Mustangs' crushing defeat.
That night a bunch of us stayed up late watching Animal House, despite our better judgment. I had never seen it, which is apparently some sort of sin for college students. It was all right, I suppose. There wasn't much of a plot, though. Was it worth reducing my sleep that night from seven hours to five? I'm fine now, so sure. It's one more thing I can say I've done.
I was awakened by my alarm the next morning at 6 (ugh...) so I could get to the 7am band rehearsal. We marched and sang from 7-8 and then played from 8-9. (See? The marching band obeys quiet hours. People in my tower were complaining to me that the band plays too early in the morning. I responded that I was awakened by people having a relay race right outside of the door to my room at 2 that morning. You want to have a discussion about quiet hours with me? I'm all for that.) It was a foggy morning, and I was freezing. I'm so used to rehearse-a-thon attire: shorts and a white t-shirt. I certainly wished I had brought along my sweatshirt.
After the rehearsal we went downtown for the homecoming parade. Let me tell you, this was the saddest little parade you have ever seen. It was a block or two long, and somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 people came to see it. The only things in it were the band, the cheerleaders (excuse me, stunt team), the homecoming court riding in convertibles, and some fraternities and sororities that put together floats. I think it lasted about twenty minutes. We played "Wild Wild West" and "Mustang Sally," one time each. I spent more time getting to and from the parade than I did marching in it. But it was fun anyway. Here's a picture of the band Georging down Higuera Street (click on the picture for a larger version):
Don't mind the cowboy hats...those are just for the homecoming parade...
After the parade we went to a BBQ thrown for us by the band alumni, who marched after us in the parade and who would play with us in the stands at the football game. I was really hungry because I hadn't had much for breakfast, and when you couple that with the fact that the food was free you can imagine how much I ate. Yay BBQ!
I had enough time to go home for a nap - a brief nap - before I had to be back in the band room at 2. It's amazing how much rest you can get from a twenty-minute nap. I woke up with a splitting headache, though, which kind of stuck with me for the rest of the day. I drank a bottle of water to try to rehydrate myself, which seemed to help a little bit.
We met at the band room at 2 to get dressed and warm up. I managed to get into my uniform without much trouble, which for some reason was impressive to a few people. Apparently all freshman have issues with the Mustang Band uniforms...they're not much different than what I'm used to, though. I don't know what the hoopla was all about. Here's a picture of the band warming up, and you can get a pretty good idea of what our uniforms look like:
We left the band room at around 3 to march around campus. We stopped at every place where there was a large congregation of people and played for them. Some of them were pretty loaded - they were the ones who seemed to enjoy the performances the most. Most of the people who saw the band seemed pretty excited about it, so that was cool. It seemed to me from the first football game I went to that people didn't like the band all that much, but that apparently isn't the case.
When we got down to the stadium we marched onto the backfield for our pregame show. We came on to the field from the left hand side, and when everyone stopped at their spots I just kept on marching across to the other side and off of the field. (I don't know the pre-game show.) I got to watch from the stands, and the band looked pretty good, I guess. We have a pretty tiny stadium here at Poly so you can't really get high enough to see very well. But they sounded good, anyway. After the pre-game show the band came up to sit in the stands with me, and we played, danced, shouted cheers, etc. The halftime show went really well. We played "Jump in the Line," "You Dropped a Bomb on Me," a drumline solo written by one of the drummers called "Hummin' Along," and "You Shook Me All Night Long." I like our show a lot. We form actual pictures rather than just abstract angles and curves. For example, for "You Dropped a Bomb on Me" we squeeze together in a big blob in the middle of the field, and when we hit this big chord we all run like heck outwards, only to march into a shape of a mushroom cloud. (Get it? A bomb. Awesome.) That's the kind of stuff we do. And it's fun! The following is a picture of the band doing the jungle walk during "Hummin' Along":
And this is the point in my story where it all gets interesting. It's obvious that RB didn't have a tournament to go to last night, because Mr. Cole obviously wasn't controlling the weather. It started to rain like heck during third quarter, and it lasted the rest of the night (and Sunday, too). I know I don't have to tell you that the band stays at the game until the end, rain or shine. Some people - namely, the woodwinds and their moisture-intolerant instruments - got plastic bags to protect themselves. They didn't have enough for everyone though, and I was one of the lucky 20 or so who couldn't get one. It wasn't that bad, though. I was cold, but after you get wet in the first minute of rain it doesn't really matter that you're still getting wet for the next hour. And now it's one heck of a good memory, so it all works out. Here's a picture of me playing in the rain:
After the game ended at around 9, a bunch of us (or the bunch of us, if you will) went to Firestone Grill for dinner and then to the Mustang Lanes for bowling. We decided to ditch the band frat's "social gathering" that was serving "refreshments" because none of us wanted to go get really drunk. (Finally, some people I can relate to!) After the lot of us collectively set the record for the most gutter balls thrown in a night, most of us went home. I stayed with Courtney, Ben, and company (Courtney's brother and Ben's friends from high school were visiting) to watch The Girl Next Door, a romantic comedy about a stripper. (I remember George Himmel explaining to me that this movie was the most smartest movie ever made. Women get a romantic comedy, men get strippers. Everybody wins, as he put it.) Long story short, I got home to bed around 3 in the morning. Hooray for 21-hour days!
I slept in until 11 so I could go to the mission for mass at noon, which i won't do again if I can avoid it because half of the mass was performed in Spanish. From there I went to breakfast, then grocery shopping, then racquetball, then homework. And that's why I haven't written in the last couple of days. I'm sure you all understand.
For now, I must go to bed. This week will be a little busier than usual because I need to get everything done by Thursday afternoon so I can have a free weekend to come home. Good night to you all. I hope you all have a good week.
Cheers,
Josh
mood: happy
music: Something Corporate, a band that Courtney wanted me to listen to.
location: dark dorm, because Kevin has gone to bed
PS- the pictures included in this entry were taken by some member of the band unknown to me. I got them at the band website. Feel free to browse the other images if you like.
Friday was a good day. I was up late on Thursday so I was very tired, but aside from that the day was great! I got the physics midterm that I took on Wednesday back, graded. (Hooray for not waiting a month to get grades back.) I got a 70/70. Boo yeah, grandma. I was the only one, too. I'll not dwell on this...you know, because I'm so humble and all...but it was a pretty big thing from me. I've heard all of those stories about how people who get all A's in high school sometimes completely fail in college, and up until now I haven't had any grades to speak of in any of my classes, so this was the first indicator of my progress. I'd also like to point out that I did the optional homework problems and read the optional reading, so I earned it, if I do say so myself. So anyway, that was that.
The rest of school went fine on Friday...not much to report there. At 6 I went down to the band room to meet for the volleyball game, where the pep band would be playing. I got my awesome pep band shirt, which is bright green with bright yellow vertical stripes. I think it makes me look like I'm on the Brazilian soccer team...but it's awesome anyway. So we warmed up in the band room and then marched down to Mott Gym. Our pep band brings along the entire drumline rather than just one drummer, so we can do cadences as we march through campus. One of these cadences is called George (don't ask me why) and whenever the drumline plays it, all of the winds do this awesome dance routine to it. It involves twirling instruments and raising the roof and doing the funky chicken. And shouting "woot woot." It's so much fun!! My experience in the RB band was totally different. The most movement I got to do was raising my instrument from carriage to playing position during the rolloff. Hey, it's all good...but I'm having more fun with this band than a person should be allowed to have.
The following paragraph is dedicated to Jenna Santy:
The volleyball game was fun, but short. They play a best-of-five match, and the Mustangs lost the first three, so that was the end of that. But we played a lot of cool music (although, some of the songs are the same ones I played in high school but different versions of them, and I miss the old ones!). One of the things we played was "Sell Out" by Reel Big Fish, and I couldn't help but think of Jenna and one of her favorite bands as we played it. It seems to be a really good arrangement of it...fun to play and all. So yeah, my first performance with the marching/pep band was a good one, despite the Mustangs' crushing defeat.
That night a bunch of us stayed up late watching Animal House, despite our better judgment. I had never seen it, which is apparently some sort of sin for college students. It was all right, I suppose. There wasn't much of a plot, though. Was it worth reducing my sleep that night from seven hours to five? I'm fine now, so sure. It's one more thing I can say I've done.
I was awakened by my alarm the next morning at 6 (ugh...) so I could get to the 7am band rehearsal. We marched and sang from 7-8 and then played from 8-9. (See? The marching band obeys quiet hours. People in my tower were complaining to me that the band plays too early in the morning. I responded that I was awakened by people having a relay race right outside of the door to my room at 2 that morning. You want to have a discussion about quiet hours with me? I'm all for that.) It was a foggy morning, and I was freezing. I'm so used to rehearse-a-thon attire: shorts and a white t-shirt. I certainly wished I had brought along my sweatshirt.
After the rehearsal we went downtown for the homecoming parade. Let me tell you, this was the saddest little parade you have ever seen. It was a block or two long, and somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 people came to see it. The only things in it were the band, the cheerleaders (excuse me, stunt team), the homecoming court riding in convertibles, and some fraternities and sororities that put together floats. I think it lasted about twenty minutes. We played "Wild Wild West" and "Mustang Sally," one time each. I spent more time getting to and from the parade than I did marching in it. But it was fun anyway. Here's a picture of the band Georging down Higuera Street (click on the picture for a larger version):
Don't mind the cowboy hats...those are just for the homecoming parade...
After the parade we went to a BBQ thrown for us by the band alumni, who marched after us in the parade and who would play with us in the stands at the football game. I was really hungry because I hadn't had much for breakfast, and when you couple that with the fact that the food was free you can imagine how much I ate. Yay BBQ!
I had enough time to go home for a nap - a brief nap - before I had to be back in the band room at 2. It's amazing how much rest you can get from a twenty-minute nap. I woke up with a splitting headache, though, which kind of stuck with me for the rest of the day. I drank a bottle of water to try to rehydrate myself, which seemed to help a little bit.
We met at the band room at 2 to get dressed and warm up. I managed to get into my uniform without much trouble, which for some reason was impressive to a few people. Apparently all freshman have issues with the Mustang Band uniforms...they're not much different than what I'm used to, though. I don't know what the hoopla was all about. Here's a picture of the band warming up, and you can get a pretty good idea of what our uniforms look like:
We left the band room at around 3 to march around campus. We stopped at every place where there was a large congregation of people and played for them. Some of them were pretty loaded - they were the ones who seemed to enjoy the performances the most. Most of the people who saw the band seemed pretty excited about it, so that was cool. It seemed to me from the first football game I went to that people didn't like the band all that much, but that apparently isn't the case.
When we got down to the stadium we marched onto the backfield for our pregame show. We came on to the field from the left hand side, and when everyone stopped at their spots I just kept on marching across to the other side and off of the field. (I don't know the pre-game show.) I got to watch from the stands, and the band looked pretty good, I guess. We have a pretty tiny stadium here at Poly so you can't really get high enough to see very well. But they sounded good, anyway. After the pre-game show the band came up to sit in the stands with me, and we played, danced, shouted cheers, etc. The halftime show went really well. We played "Jump in the Line," "You Dropped a Bomb on Me," a drumline solo written by one of the drummers called "Hummin' Along," and "You Shook Me All Night Long." I like our show a lot. We form actual pictures rather than just abstract angles and curves. For example, for "You Dropped a Bomb on Me" we squeeze together in a big blob in the middle of the field, and when we hit this big chord we all run like heck outwards, only to march into a shape of a mushroom cloud. (Get it? A bomb. Awesome.) That's the kind of stuff we do. And it's fun! The following is a picture of the band doing the jungle walk during "Hummin' Along":
And this is the point in my story where it all gets interesting. It's obvious that RB didn't have a tournament to go to last night, because Mr. Cole obviously wasn't controlling the weather. It started to rain like heck during third quarter, and it lasted the rest of the night (and Sunday, too). I know I don't have to tell you that the band stays at the game until the end, rain or shine. Some people - namely, the woodwinds and their moisture-intolerant instruments - got plastic bags to protect themselves. They didn't have enough for everyone though, and I was one of the lucky 20 or so who couldn't get one. It wasn't that bad, though. I was cold, but after you get wet in the first minute of rain it doesn't really matter that you're still getting wet for the next hour. And now it's one heck of a good memory, so it all works out. Here's a picture of me playing in the rain:
After the game ended at around 9, a bunch of us (or the bunch of us, if you will) went to Firestone Grill for dinner and then to the Mustang Lanes for bowling. We decided to ditch the band frat's "social gathering" that was serving "refreshments" because none of us wanted to go get really drunk. (Finally, some people I can relate to!) After the lot of us collectively set the record for the most gutter balls thrown in a night, most of us went home. I stayed with Courtney, Ben, and company (Courtney's brother and Ben's friends from high school were visiting) to watch The Girl Next Door, a romantic comedy about a stripper. (I remember George Himmel explaining to me that this movie was the most smartest movie ever made. Women get a romantic comedy, men get strippers. Everybody wins, as he put it.) Long story short, I got home to bed around 3 in the morning. Hooray for 21-hour days!
I slept in until 11 so I could go to the mission for mass at noon, which i won't do again if I can avoid it because half of the mass was performed in Spanish. From there I went to breakfast, then grocery shopping, then racquetball, then homework. And that's why I haven't written in the last couple of days. I'm sure you all understand.
For now, I must go to bed. This week will be a little busier than usual because I need to get everything done by Thursday afternoon so I can have a free weekend to come home. Good night to you all. I hope you all have a good week.
Cheers,
Josh
mood: happy
music: Something Corporate, a band that Courtney wanted me to listen to.
location: dark dorm, because Kevin has gone to bed
PS- the pictures included in this entry were taken by some member of the band unknown to me. I got them at the band website. Feel free to browse the other images if you like.
