Sunday, October 31, 2004
I swear this will actually be a quick update because I'm tired.
Today (err yesterday) I did homework...got done with everything except one essay for English, so I'll do that when I get up...anyway...Then Corey, Melissa, Austin and I went out for Japanese food, which was yummy, even though Austin didn't like the sushi lol-but he tried it so it's all good. Apparently Japanese food makes Corey really hyper...on the way to school he was wild hahaha...banging the steering wheel and such...I told him I'd laugh it he hit the horn...and he's like "thaaaaanks, I'm glad you trust my energy-releasing abilities" lol so that's becoming an amusing joke now...At school, we hung out for a while, did the singing run through (except I got to be a yard line hahaha because they were really messed up on the field so all the extras were makers...and a bunch of people "ahem"ed at me as they went by at the start of pictures because they thought I forgot or something I guess...but Mr. Rowe told me not to do my part so that they could see the yard line! I'm not stupid enough to be entirely oblivious to where my part comes in lol) and left for Cary High...we waited around there forever before we got to go on, since we didn't have to change and they were running behind...but that was ok. We went out onto the field...Anna yelled to me and I saw her and her mom :-D Usually the pit and extras are out there a good while before the band, but tonight we weren't, I guess because they were trying to make up for being behind schedule...so anyway...I put my camera down and went to put my red coat by the cannon...which was on the wrong yard line and right up next to the field (it's supposed to be well back or else the chemicals get all over marching people). I was going to move it, but the band was already in position and so I took off to get to my spot and had just reached it when Megan yelled "Band ten-hut!" so yeah. I wasn't smart and didn't bother to test the camera ahead of time like I usually do because the prop guy told me he replaced the batteries...so I just assumed it'd be ok...well, we got out onto the field and I tried to turn on the flash...and the "ready" light didn't blink. So I pushed the button the other way just in case I'd gone crazy and switched the direction...still no light. So I'm guessing something was wrong with the batteries. The show in general looked sooooo good. Color guard was the best I've seen it all year, and of course the marching band looked and sounded totally awesome. There were a few field judges, and it made my day to see Hannah, beaming even though she didn't notice the judge, nearly smack the judge with her flag. He jumped out of the way so fast...it was hillarious. And fyi for the non-mb people, yes you are allowed to hit a judge, because it's their fault if they're in the way...so basically it's a dream come true for someone to actually get to hit a judge. No flash from the camera during pictures, but only people from Apex really knew about it anyway so it doesn't matter much. Then I did my British thing...changed costume, noticed the fire extinguisher wasn't upright, didn't have time to move it backwards because I was busy lifting the extinguisher into position...but it didn't matter because no one is in front of it on my first fire. I moved it after that. It sounded really weird because Mr. Rowe had me change the counts I fire on so that it's not the same as the ship...and the timing's ackward...oh well. After the show, I helped load stuff...so I ended up going off with pit...so we ran all the way around the track, stopped for a while, and then I noticed the band was gone...So I was like "hey guys? Did they go do pictures?" and we were all like "crap..." and started running hahaha and got there when they were about 3/4 of the way done setting people up for the picture. So we made it! Lol. Then went back down to the field...OH MY GOSH I SAW A GIRL I HAVEN'T SEEN SINCE 8TH GRADE AND I THINK SHE REMEMBERED ME hahaha she goes Cary and she was my yearbook buddy in middle school, but she was a year older than me, so I only saw her for like 5 minutes after a concert my 8th grade year so you might as well say I hadn't seen her since 7th grade. So it made me happy to know she knew who I was haha. I saw Allen from my creative writing class last year and shouted to him and he looked up and waved but had the expression "who the heck is that?" on his face hahaha...Then we watched the last band (not a competing band, an exhibition but it wasn't Cary...it was a college but I can't remember which one) which was cool...Then awards. Well...see there was a band there with like 300 people, and they've traveled around the country doing competitions. And there were a few other really really good bands too. So we didn't win much. Megan got best drum major, of course, and we got a pit award...which was really weird...because I don't think it was about the playing...when they described it, it was talking about loading/unloading efficiency o_O weird. We got a superior rating, but I don't know what our exact score was or any of the other band's scores. That was it though. However...it looked awesome, easily the best show this season. I was impressed with everyone in our band, color guard, extras, pit, and obviously drum major, though we've all gotten used to thinking of her as the best anyway. So...there were definitly a lot of dissappointed Apexians. It just made me hate the competitiveness of marching band even more...It's horrible to know that the show was soooo good and yet there were quite a few people in tears or close to them. I felt like crying just from the look on peoples faces...so I went into "I'm going to cheer people up because they were awesome!" mode and tried doing that...I gave hugs, told everyone how great they looked, which was absolutely true, as they saw from the video later, and I told stories about judges running away when they were about to get hit/trampled and got a few smiles and laughs...oh and pointed out to one of the guard that when she started singing Pirates, a whole bunch of people fell in step to her marching...but it still wasn't enough. More crying on the bus...yuck. Half the people looked upset, tired, sick, or combinations of those. So I kinda gave up except for hugging Corey...though I did talk to some guard people once we got back and they seemed decently happy when I told them I'd never seen them as good as they were tonight.
So...I'm not exactly sad that marching season is over. They'll have parade practices, but they'll go down to like 1 a week soon hopefully...meaning they'll be less stressed out, tired, and bitchy. And, most importantly, hopefully I'll have some more time to spend with Corey, although the next few weekends will be busy with church stuff and I'd imagine he'll be at his dad's a lot since he hasn't much lately...but at least I know he'll sleep there lol...and in the long run, we'll end up having more time together. I'll still do pit next year though...so I can see him...how sad is that...but it's true.
Ok its 2:16, which feels like 3:16, and I have a paper to write before I go decorate cars for trunk-or-treating tomorrow...so...goodnight!
Today (err yesterday) I did homework...got done with everything except one essay for English, so I'll do that when I get up...anyway...Then Corey, Melissa, Austin and I went out for Japanese food, which was yummy, even though Austin didn't like the sushi lol-but he tried it so it's all good. Apparently Japanese food makes Corey really hyper...on the way to school he was wild hahaha...banging the steering wheel and such...I told him I'd laugh it he hit the horn...and he's like "thaaaaanks, I'm glad you trust my energy-releasing abilities" lol so that's becoming an amusing joke now...At school, we hung out for a while, did the singing run through (except I got to be a yard line hahaha because they were really messed up on the field so all the extras were makers...and a bunch of people "ahem"ed at me as they went by at the start of pictures because they thought I forgot or something I guess...but Mr. Rowe told me not to do my part so that they could see the yard line! I'm not stupid enough to be entirely oblivious to where my part comes in lol) and left for Cary High...we waited around there forever before we got to go on, since we didn't have to change and they were running behind...but that was ok. We went out onto the field...Anna yelled to me and I saw her and her mom :-D Usually the pit and extras are out there a good while before the band, but tonight we weren't, I guess because they were trying to make up for being behind schedule...so anyway...I put my camera down and went to put my red coat by the cannon...which was on the wrong yard line and right up next to the field (it's supposed to be well back or else the chemicals get all over marching people). I was going to move it, but the band was already in position and so I took off to get to my spot and had just reached it when Megan yelled "Band ten-hut!" so yeah. I wasn't smart and didn't bother to test the camera ahead of time like I usually do because the prop guy told me he replaced the batteries...so I just assumed it'd be ok...well, we got out onto the field and I tried to turn on the flash...and the "ready" light didn't blink. So I pushed the button the other way just in case I'd gone crazy and switched the direction...still no light. So I'm guessing something was wrong with the batteries. The show in general looked sooooo good. Color guard was the best I've seen it all year, and of course the marching band looked and sounded totally awesome. There were a few field judges, and it made my day to see Hannah, beaming even though she didn't notice the judge, nearly smack the judge with her flag. He jumped out of the way so fast...it was hillarious. And fyi for the non-mb people, yes you are allowed to hit a judge, because it's their fault if they're in the way...so basically it's a dream come true for someone to actually get to hit a judge. No flash from the camera during pictures, but only people from Apex really knew about it anyway so it doesn't matter much. Then I did my British thing...changed costume, noticed the fire extinguisher wasn't upright, didn't have time to move it backwards because I was busy lifting the extinguisher into position...but it didn't matter because no one is in front of it on my first fire. I moved it after that. It sounded really weird because Mr. Rowe had me change the counts I fire on so that it's not the same as the ship...and the timing's ackward...oh well. After the show, I helped load stuff...so I ended up going off with pit...so we ran all the way around the track, stopped for a while, and then I noticed the band was gone...So I was like "hey guys? Did they go do pictures?" and we were all like "crap..." and started running hahaha and got there when they were about 3/4 of the way done setting people up for the picture. So we made it! Lol. Then went back down to the field...OH MY GOSH I SAW A GIRL I HAVEN'T SEEN SINCE 8TH GRADE AND I THINK SHE REMEMBERED ME hahaha she goes Cary and she was my yearbook buddy in middle school, but she was a year older than me, so I only saw her for like 5 minutes after a concert my 8th grade year so you might as well say I hadn't seen her since 7th grade. So it made me happy to know she knew who I was haha. I saw Allen from my creative writing class last year and shouted to him and he looked up and waved but had the expression "who the heck is that?" on his face hahaha...Then we watched the last band (not a competing band, an exhibition but it wasn't Cary...it was a college but I can't remember which one) which was cool...Then awards. Well...see there was a band there with like 300 people, and they've traveled around the country doing competitions. And there were a few other really really good bands too. So we didn't win much. Megan got best drum major, of course, and we got a pit award...which was really weird...because I don't think it was about the playing...when they described it, it was talking about loading/unloading efficiency o_O weird. We got a superior rating, but I don't know what our exact score was or any of the other band's scores. That was it though. However...it looked awesome, easily the best show this season. I was impressed with everyone in our band, color guard, extras, pit, and obviously drum major, though we've all gotten used to thinking of her as the best anyway. So...there were definitly a lot of dissappointed Apexians. It just made me hate the competitiveness of marching band even more...It's horrible to know that the show was soooo good and yet there were quite a few people in tears or close to them. I felt like crying just from the look on peoples faces...so I went into "I'm going to cheer people up because they were awesome!" mode and tried doing that...I gave hugs, told everyone how great they looked, which was absolutely true, as they saw from the video later, and I told stories about judges running away when they were about to get hit/trampled and got a few smiles and laughs...oh and pointed out to one of the guard that when she started singing Pirates, a whole bunch of people fell in step to her marching...but it still wasn't enough. More crying on the bus...yuck. Half the people looked upset, tired, sick, or combinations of those. So I kinda gave up except for hugging Corey...though I did talk to some guard people once we got back and they seemed decently happy when I told them I'd never seen them as good as they were tonight.
So...I'm not exactly sad that marching season is over. They'll have parade practices, but they'll go down to like 1 a week soon hopefully...meaning they'll be less stressed out, tired, and bitchy. And, most importantly, hopefully I'll have some more time to spend with Corey, although the next few weekends will be busy with church stuff and I'd imagine he'll be at his dad's a lot since he hasn't much lately...but at least I know he'll sleep there lol...and in the long run, we'll end up having more time together. I'll still do pit next year though...so I can see him...how sad is that...but it's true.
Ok its 2:16, which feels like 3:16, and I have a paper to write before I go decorate cars for trunk-or-treating tomorrow...so...goodnight!
