Murray! YAY!

wow... It's been awhile since I posted. Anyways, band stuff! Friday was our homecoming. The band peoples left before it all started (thank you!) at 5. We rode to Murray, KY, and had practice in the amazing college stadium from 7 to 11. It was great! The only part I don't like about that stadium is the echo and the "turf turds". Yeah, that's right. Turf turds. ha ha! The stadium is astroturf so when you march, you get those little black rubber pieces in your shoes, also known as turf turds ^^ Practice was great that night and we were all confident about the next day. We headed to the hotel (Baymont; they have no elevator) where we ordered pizza and our room stayed up until 1:20.

We got up around 7, ate at Ryan's about 8, and went to the stadium to stretch around 9:30ish. Our performance was amazing! Like, the best show of the season so far. We went to Ryan's again for lunch where we had a great time playing with gummy bears!!

Yeah, we're nerds. That's sets of drill. hahaha! It was so much fun, though.

Awards ceremony for prelims, we won FIRST PLACE IN AA CLASS!!! That was so exciting! We 10 pointed Trigg county!! We came in 7th overall, only 4 points behind Muhlenberg!

When our time for finals came up, we went to warm-ups, got all ready and went to the gate. The sky was dark in the distance and lightning was flashing every few minutes way off. We decided to go on anyways. We marched on typically, then ran to opening set to save time. The opener was suck-ish :( I was disappointed with myself for that. We got 1/2 way through the ballad, and got called off the field. I could just imagine sitting in the stands watching that. lol, nice, slow music, then suddenly everyone is running off the field! We got to sit in the Racer lounge while we waited to see if it would blow over. Unfortunately, they had to cancel, but we were still happy with our 1st place in prelims! We drove home, and I slept laid out over 1 1/2 seats ^^ I got home around 1. I'm tired :) hah!

Fridays and Saturdays!

I'm going to have to say that Fridays and Saturdays are not always my favorite days of the week. I know most people probably think I'm completely crazy for saying that, but they aren't. Friday, the band, of course, had a football game to play at, so we had to be back at school by 3:30 when it ends at 1:45-ish on Fridays. Since I live a good 20 minute drive away and my mother works, I had to hang around Elkton with other bandees whose parents were unavailable. So, when school let out, Emilia, Devanni, Skylar, and I walked around the big, scary metropolis of Todd county. ha ha. We spent, like, the whole time at Subway... and all we bought was four drinks and a cookie. Yeah... ha ha!

At 3:30, we got back to the high school via Heather and immediately started practice. Mr. Warren added visuals to the very small amount of the Closer that we had gone over, and taught the ones who were sick the drill. After all that, we did a full run; Opener, Ballad, and (the beginning of) Closer. It was decent, but not as good as I would have liked.

Following practice, about 5:30, we had 45 minutes to get dressed (which is just enough time), then we ran through "The Star-Spangled Banner" and marched over to the field "on taps". After playing the anthem and going on the field for the fight song, we could finally get settled in the bleachers. The game was uneventful, like all TCCHS games are for our team.

At 8 minutes left in the 2nd, we went to warm-up. Standing still, music was awesome! Then we got all lined up, marched on, and got in opening set. The Opener went smoothly, visual wise (not as great musically, but acceptable), the Ballad was pretty good, and, frankly, the Closer was a train-wreck. Literally. The front line didn't hit, so we were all too close for a very dangerous move. Not surprisingly, there were several collisions :( I was very disappointed in myself and the rest of the band.

We got the 3rd quarter off to eat, in which time there was an individual eating in his or her uniform. Since this brand new, $6,000 investment is not to be taken lightly, and because Mr. W told us never to eat in the jackets, we all now have 20 extra push-ups to do... that is, IN ADDITION to the 50 from last Saturday and the 20 from someone lying their jacket on the ground (also a no-no). So, all in all, 90 push-ups (we've already completed 40 additional ones for talking during practice Monday). He won't make us do them all in one sitting, of course, but still...

Finally, we got to leave the stadium after a final playing of the fight song. TCCHS lost against Reidland, 34-3. Yeah. It's kind of sad when the marching band's bad run is better than the football team's best performance. After changing, I was put in charge of getting hat boxes in order, then I immediately grabbed my school stuff and ran for the car! :) We got home around 11, at which time my cousin, Chris, and his girlfriend, Meagan, arrived at our house from Memphis.

We stayed up until 1 A.M.

Saturday (aka, today) was much better, in my opinion. I got to sleep in, well at least more sleep than normal. Chris and Meagan left for Clarksville and I got up and got dressed fairly early for a Saturday. I called my friend, Marie, and we went around Guthrie selling advertisements for Todd County Festival of Bands!!!! (October 10th, 2009; please come!) :D Hopefully enough bands will decide to come this year so we can actually have a competition. Marie and I had fun going to all the local businesses and asking for money. ha ha. Anyways, if anybody wants to advertise a business, let me know ^^ We have to pay off these BRAND NEW CONTRAS and UNIFORMS!!! :D I'm so excited about the season! I hope it turns out Great!

September 2nd, 2009

Today for English, we got an assignment to make a blog following our reactions and thoughts as we read The Hunger Games. After creating that blog, I decided to make a personal one. This one is just going to be for little daily thoughts and tidbits. Major events in my life for the world to share knowledge about and criticize :) I will probably have a lot of posts about band, since that is a very big part of my life right now. If you dislike band nerds, please, for your own sake and mine, stop reading now.

My life is pretty hectic lately. With school going with the full workload and marching band practices every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, football games (that we have to play and preform at) almost every Friday, and competitions almost every Saturday, I've been pretty tied down. Plus, I've been searching for scholarships in my free time on sites like zinch.com and scholarships.com just trying to get some money secured for when that time comes. Rose, one of my close friends

and my "adopted mother" (We adopted each other last year; more on that later) Got me into looking for them. If anybody in high school or college is interested, the Ayn Rand Institute has a good essay contest. Go to:

http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=education_contests_index

for more information :) You just read one of her books and answer a question in an essay. It's practically free money! ha ha!

Speaking of Rose, I'm getting a new little "brother" in a month! =D Right now, I am an only child; biologically and otherwise. So this new addition, this little miracle, this future band nerd (like his mama and sis!) is so exciting to be anticipating! My lil bro's not the only band baby this year. Jada, our baritone/euphonium freshman, is also eight months pregnant (on the 14th) and our band director's wife just had their first baby girl, Norah. Three new band babies! This may get confusing. Let's recap:

1) Jada is having a baby boy. They haven't decided on the name yet.

2) Rose is having my brother (a boy, if you weren't absolutely sure) named Braxton Patrick! ily!

3) The middle school's band director's wife had the only girl baby this year, Norah Katherine.

Well, today is Wednesday, there's no marching practice (thank goodness, I am about to DIE!), so obviously I had to schedule something in. Oh, yeah, Wednesday, church, right. Sigh... church.

Okay, you're probably wondering what's wrong with me. I love my church; everything about it. The people, the location, and, up until recently, the building. A little over a month ago, our church burnt completely down to the ground. The reports say lightning struck the steeple. It still pains me to think about it and to watch the news coverage. Almost two years ago now, my family's house burnt down. It wasn't lightning or anything, just an old, victorian style home with an unknown electrical problem. Unfortunately, when we discovered there was a problem, it was too late to really fix it (ha). Anyways, here's a link to the newspaper photos from the church:

http://www.theleafchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=DA&Dato=20090716&Kategori=PHOTOGALLERIES&Lopenr=907160801&Ref=PH

I might get some other coverage up here later, but for now, it's off to the Guthrie church.

**UPDATE** Jada's baby has a name! Ja'Kavian O'Neil Graham! ^^ My babies will be coming in early October! I'm excited!