The Suspense

Hi, BJ. Hi, everyone. How's it going? Long time no see.

Sorry I didn't write anything. It's because junior year is quite the busy year. I've had barely any time to write. When I did have time to write, I usually used it on working on my font instead. In fact, Cyril is coming along very well. It's so much better than that version of it that I posted under critique on that one website. It's also getting very complete. Matt, as soon as I get done with it, I'll e-mail you the new version. And then, then I get to start working on the italic. When I haven't been working on the font or busy with school stuff... band, homework... I guess those are the times when I ought to have posted. But, I forgot about the blog at those particular times.
-As I've mentioned, this month has been busy. Band is a leading factor. Every Friday a game, and for the last three Saturdays there's been a competition that took up the entire day. Oh, these competitions... oh, these competitions. A typical competition involves getting to the school at about 1430, then marching in unfailingly hot weather for an hour. Then Mr Canter lets us go back into the band room and usually feeds us; this food break is an hour or so long. Once we've all finished eating and changing into Chafe Brand Band Pants, which go up to your armpits and hang off your shoulders by suspenders, we siphon ourselves onto the buses. Of course they're hot. They cool down some as we ride to another school somewhere, which takes at least 45 minutes, though the first two of the three trips we've taken so far took upwards of two hours. Bored, we tumble off the buses to start waiting for our practice area to clear out. From there we play some parts of the show, tune, and start accumulating into a block of bandmembers, whence we walk up to the area behind the field. There, we watch while another band finishes marching, and then we get into the stadium to start things going. We herd to about the fifty yard line, depending on where we are in the form, and stand at Parade Rest, and then some airheaded guy announces, "Finneytown Band, you may begin your preplacement/warmup." So we do. Next we all march onto the field. Only when we've all gotten onto the field does the announcer say, "You may take the field for your OMEA adjudicated performance," which always seemed peculiar to me.
-Now, during the show, the emotions are so varied that it's impossible to just generalize a typical show experience: it's different from person to person, and competition to competition. Usually there's plenty of tension. Sometimes there's confidence, sometimes nerves. But at any rate, what mood someone's in doesn't matter to the competition, so we put it on the back burner and just march. That's the way it has to be done. Our show is pretty exciting this year and everyone's gotten pretty well into it. So we do well.
-Once we get off the field we filter into a holding area somewhere, where Mr Canter stands on something (yesterday, a tractor tire) and briefs us on how we did. Then, depending on how many bands are left, we either change or don't, and go to the stands to let the competition finish out and the awards to be announced. This year we've done very well as comes to awards. At our first competition we swept the board for Class B bands and got third place for the whole competition, even beating out a AA band and all the A's; at our second one we didn't get many awards, and we were feeling pretty rotten when suddenly the guy announced we were going to State--afterwards we found out that the scores were all within about three points of each other, and that's why everyone got a little bit of everything and three of the four bands qualified for State--; and at our htird competition, yesterday, we marched even better, swept the board again--though we didn't get third place, because judges always seem to favor AA bands and Lakota East was here with all 300 of their members, and plus there were more bands than at the other one--and qualified again. Qualifying again only means that you haven't deteriorated in quality since last competition: you can't go to State twice.
-Finally we load the buses, drive home, and scatter to our respective houses. Usually that's at around 1 am. Yeah.

-In other news, junior year has been going So Far So Good, though I need to keep my nose at that grindstone and work like there ain't no more working... or something. I have a study hall half a year. That really grates me. And I'm only in one AP. Matt's in three. Rosie, three, and one last year. I'm slipping into the "underachiever" file. I suppose I'll just have to take a lot of APs next year. I figured out that there are seven bells that could all fit together, all APs. Matt said, "If you survive, you'll be valedictorian. And if you get all A's. If you don't, you'll just be dead." I don't know if I'll take AP Chem. Could be, could not. Same with Econ. I think physically one of those two won't even fit.

-Mr Lorenz is turning the ignition for Academic team on the 10th, and we'll be kept idling and warming up until the first competition, which is on the Whatth of Whentember. BJ! You're not here this year! What are we going to do? Now when we don't know the answer, nobody will be here to helpfully let us know it's Byron!

-I leave you with this: can you snap triplets with one hand and eighth notes with the other? Hint: it sounds like "Carol of the Bells".