So did you like the pictures? And did you see my friends unusual snack choice? lol Well, on Thursday we had our spring concert, and it actually went pretty well. Every day in band the directors split us up into brass and woodwind sections and both directors focused on different things with us. That was a big problem since we only had about three weeks to practice, so if we couldn't finish one song, we couldn't get rid of it and just play the other one. And that happened. The director who was leading us (the brass) works really slowly and we only got through the first song and the first page and half of the second page of the second song (the second song had four pages). And we also had two songs from Festival that we were supposed to play at the concert, and we only went over that once at our only after-school rehearsal. So you can guess that it should have turned out pretty badly. But the brass actually managed to pull through on the second song, even though we had only practiced it once or twice in full band. And the Festival songs were okay too. So I'm really surprised we did as well as we did.
Okay, well, rookie camp pretty much explains itself. The leaders go and help out the new marchers (freshmen and other beginning marchers). I went this year as a rookie and a leader, which is kinda strange. It was a little hard, but it meant that I didn't have to go through having someone else boss me around. And I've heard horror stories of the trumpet section leader from last year, so I'm kinda glad I didn't do it last year. Oh yeah. I never told you the story about my class clown friend on the Tower of Terror at Disney World (don't worry. This leads up to the pictures, eventually... I think). Well, he's really scared of heights, but he went on the Tower of Terror anyway. There were a bunch of really little kids on the ride when he went. (This story was told to me by our tuba player, who was on the ground outside the tower. That's important to remember.) Well, the ride started and they dropped to the ground and he freaked out. And out of nowhere, the tuba player hears this random scream. It was the class clown screaming swears, a different one each time the ride dropped. And when I asked my friend if it really happened, he said it was true, and there was a little six-year-old girl sitting in front of him who was just cracking up. It was hilarious. Okay, and this leads up to the pictures because there's one picture where he's eating something most normal people wouldn't eat. You'll see what I mean. (By the way, these aren't my pictures. These pictures were taken by one of my friends.)
http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=1047041930
(There are more pictures of me in the "Bus, Magic Kingdom, and Epcot" album than the "MGM, Bus, and Golden Corral" one... Actually, I'm only in one picture in the "MGM, Bus, and GC" album.)
Wow, four things back to back to back to back. Sounds like you're really going to be busy. Yeah, our band camp goes from 9 to 4 for two days, then the entire next week is from 8 to 8. And before that we also have leadership camp and rookie camp (those are the ones I have to go to), and we also have percussion and guard camp (my brother's going to the percussion/pit camp, so that's another entire week). Our band is kinda weird when it comes to directors. All the woodwinds hate the woodwind instructor, and all the brass (except for one person) hate the brass instructor. Everyone still hates both, it's just that both sections hate their section's director the most. But I found out that the woodwind director is leaving next year to torture a bunch of elementary school band kids. So I'm happy he's leaving, but that means he's leaving us with just the brass director, who I think is actually worse. Not just as a person, but as a director too. He doesn't know how to practice the music efficiently. Efficiency is nonexistent when he's directing. It'll take two hours to finish a quarter of a page (1 page = 100 (or less) measures). And he has this weird habit when he conducts where he has a kind of spasm and you can't find the beat. The ictus (flick of the wrist that shows exactly where the beat is, if you didn't know) comes after he bounces (down, bounce out, in, bounce up, out, bounce up, center, bounce up). So his conducting is more like down, out, bounce in, up, bounce out, up, bounce center, up, down, etc. It's really confusing to follow, and it's even more confusing to explain without actually showing you. And as a person... well, he's like 70-80-prehistoric, so you can imagine he can get kinda... annoying. Not that all old people are bad, but my director is, and it just seems to come with his age. And anytime something is wrong, he just smiles this really creepy smile and doesn't even tell you to fix it. He just assumes that you know that smile means fix it, and he assumes you know what you did wrong. Oh, sorry. That was a long rant. I did that to someone else yesterday too. I seem to criticize a lot.
Yeah, it was really small.Surprisingly, my band director didn't really blow up. He just looked kinda disappointed in them and told them to bring the money to school the next day. But what he did explode at was finding out that two of our three drummers forgot their sticks in their hotel rooms. So they had to go ask someone from another band that was also in the parade if they could borrow some. But the person from the other band wouldn't let them into the storage room to get the sticks, so the person kept going in and out over and over again because she kept bringing out the wrong sticks. And that's where the director found them. Besides Chemistry with my crazy teacher who can't teach, the homework is getting a lot easier. It probably has to do with the fact that we have only four weeks left!!! I'm going to a band camp at UGA this summer, and maybe one at KSU. The KSU one depends on whether or not I make it to Governor's Honors. I was selected as an alternate (if someone can't go, I get to go), so I have to wait to find out if I get to go or not. And of course I have the ever-important marching band camp, plus leadership camp and rookie camp. What about you? Any big plans?
Disney was really fun. Rock' n' Roller Coaster was my favorite ride because it goes so fast. And, of course, being band kids, we made our own entertainment by making prank phone calls. But one of my friends had this great idea that we should call some people from school since they couldn't figure out who was calling if we used the hotel phone. So he prank called last year's drum major three times. By the time he was done, he had built up a $97 phone bill. Imagine the look the director got when he found out about it. lol But it was still hilarious. Well, I went to school in Japan for six months, but that was eight years ago. But that's why I know what I do about Japan. They have (had... I think they stopped) school on Saturdays, but it was only have a day. Most people just walk to school, but some people ride bikes, and a very small number ride a bus. There was a daycare center near my school, so I went there everyday after school until my parents came to walk me home (I was 9). And everything was pretty close together. We could walk from our apartment to the bakery across the street, a small store around the corner, school about ten minutes down the street, the library about another ten minutes away in a different direction, and the park a little bit farther past the library. And at school, the students don't walk from class to class. The teachers do. And the students go to the cafeteria and bring the food back to the class room and they have to serve the rest of the class too, and we eat in the classroom. And we also had swimming class, and you have to walk through a freezing shower before you get into the pool. It's cold when you go through the shower, but it makes the pool water seem so much warmer. Well, now I have three days' worth of homework to do so I'll talk to you later.
Oh, that sounds fun. Well, if you consider fish meat, then Japan is probably the worst place to go if you're a vegetarian. But if not, it's probably one of the few good places to go. They eat a lot of fish, of course, but they also put a lot of importance in vegetables like yakiimo (they actually have vans that drive around selling yakiimo like ice cream trucks) and sushi (sushi can have pretty much anything in it: fish, crab, eel, cucumbers, avocado, and some other special Japanese vegetables). They also eat a lot of rice and noodles (ramen, udon, yakisoba). And a lot of the food is made right at the table (kinda like tacos or fajitas: the food is on the table but you have to put it together yourself). The weather actually makes more sense than it does here. The weather usually follows the stereotype of the season (summer is hot, winter is freezing). And the winters can get really cold. They also have a lot of earthquakes, but they're usually pretty small. Ok, well, I'll explain more later, but I have to go get some sleep. I'm leaving for Disney World tomorrow right after school so I need to be awake for the bus ride.
Actually, I don't think he has a MySpace. But I'll see. Sounds... interesting. Yeah, America is definitely better. But I like Japan too. The food isn't exactly what you'd like to eat if you get sick really easily, but it tastes great, and, as long as you don't get sick from it, it can also be really healthy (fish, tea, sweet potatoes (yakiimo), etc.)
