And so the year of band has begun.
Actually, it's been going since August 15th, when we started camp. Truthfully, though, once you start...you never stop. Until you graduate. Even over the summer.
Friday and Saturday were a whirlwind of activities, all of which were band-related. Friday night was our first football game. Did a watered-down version of our half-time show due to the lack of time we had to re-polish it after a two-week break. But the audience didn't seem to mind. They never do.
The rest of the game went well. We won. People had a good time. Weather was decent...it's nights like these that I remember in mid-October when it's 45 degrees and raining--no, POURING.
The real fun happened the next morning, though.
Literally less than twelve hours after I left my school after the game, I had to be back at 5 a.m. at get on a bus to go to Seattle for a band event at the University of Washington. Where we would spend all day. In the 80+ degree weather. With no shade. In wool and polyester uniforms. Not exactly my idea of a good time.
This is my third year with my high school band, and I've come to love the things I've been able to do and experience because of it. But I'm not ashamed to say that I H-A-T-E Husky Band Day. The weather is never decent. My sophomore year, it was just as hot, if not hotter. Last year, it was a torrential downpour. It's like the weather gods decide on this day every year and say to themselves "Let's see...how badly can we %@&* with the weather and make these poor kids even more tired/cranky/miserable than they probably already are?" Jerks.
And even when the weather is decent, I don't really understand the point of this day. It's chaotic. It's unorganized. It's...30+ bands from around the state (this year there was one from Nevada there as well...I sure hope they had other plans for being up here other than just going to Husky Band Day...) come and perform the National Anthem and the half-time show for one of the UW football games. I guess the only benefit of this is the opportunity to see the UW Marching Band. They're cool. A few kids from my high school's band, people I know, have made it in, and I got to see them yesterday. But that's still not worth the early morning and dehydration and heat and...no, not at all.
This is probably the one thing I absolutely WILL NOT miss next year...
Luckily, though, once this event is done, it's done. Now we can focus on our show and concert music and getting ready for Hawaii...
Why do we need to get ready for Hawaii, you may ask? I guess you'll just have to wait for another entry...
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