band and fridays :)

as promised, here is the snopsis of the middle school visit!
since i have a zero period, i was unable to get to the bandroom as early as most of the underclassmen, so when i arrived the room was in a state of semi-advanced chaos..its a good damn thing we weren't using uniforms or i might have backed right back out the door and fled...anyway, even with just t-shirts and instruments, it was utter hysterics...as soon as possible i began herding the excited kiddies onto the two buses waiting for them (thank goodness my percussion/drum-line, whatever, was already loading all their drums onto the van tehy got to utilize..its scary when your maturest section is the drum-line..but those babes have got it togather!)..so back to the yelling, eh hem...now nature has been kind to me in teh lung department..i still can't run worth anything with them, but i can yell in extreme volumes :)so clearing the bandroom out for the most part was easy..i mean, who wants to have me screaming at them point-blank, indoors??? not anyone sane, i should hope..but then there were the dreaded scragglers! yes those few kids who decide it would be *awesome* to lolly-gag and disreguard the Time Of Departure (!!) and show up whenever they damn well feel like it...heh..they got an earful..i have to say one of my few joys remains in letting people who are late for gigs have what-for...hahaha...anyway, getting them onto the bus over with, i walk with Wink to hear my instructions (picking up a stray, very late trombone-ist on the way) and then pick a bus to ride, and get ready to leave...on a side note: its a good thing it was a short trip..i have issues with activity buses..they make me "car-sick"...ugh....boats don't bohter me, but put me in something with brakes and its allllll over....anyway, we get there....and line up in the parking lot (each of us attempting to analyze Wink's convoluted instructions) ..we finally get it togather, and march on in...half of us on one side of the gym, half on the other, one group being lead by me, the other by Keri...my lovely, talented, STELLAR drum-line is making with the cadances, and we proceed to march on in....through a small amount of trail and error, we manage to get the band into two lines, herding the tubas into their places (no brains AT ALL there..typical tubists!! heehee) an action that causes Wink to almost jump up and down with irritation, and then start..from then on it was smooth sailing! we played, we danced, we got the kids moving in that gym!! one funny incedent though: to start off the christma tunes, since we weren't using cadances between them like we do in parades, i had to give 4 quick blasts on the whistle i usually wear around my neck (much to the consernation of the ENTIRE band, they hate that thing!)..welllll..it wasn't my usual whistle..it was one i had had to borrow from wink..i raise it to my lips...give a blast ..."blurp"! comes out...i carry on regardless...3 more high-pitched moose calls issue from my whistle...
regardless the drum-line taps off the beat and the song starts..however, thanks to my background among inner-city kids, i allowed the band the dubious treat of seeing the great, sweet, supposedly motherly drum major mouth words that could have peeled paint...barely containing their glee, most members of the band giggle into their instruments (especially my silly flutes and once agian the irepressable tubas) that song ends...we go through this for all 3 songs...by the end, i'm laughing too, and apparently our two band directors are practically holding each other up...Walker reports later that he was in literal tears of mirth! silly persons... so after that, we march out of the gym, to much applause, and get back on the buses...my drum-babies play a couple more of thier wonderful cadances, one of Jason's quad heads managing to go out of tune in the process, a fact i think shows just how much he demands from those drums in his fabulous playing, and then they too, head for the buses, amidst the middle schools pushing their ways to class..on the way out, a sweet teacher-lady holds open a door for us and tells how much she enjoyed the show and us as musicians...and me? i manage to accidentally whack her in the leg with a drum stand...heh...good thing it wasn't hard..it just goes to show that no matter how much i appear to have it togather on the podium, i really am just a big klutz!
we get back to the school, i send the heathens off to their classes, and it still being 1B i sit with my jazz baies for a bit and then get on with my day...i manage to get out of PE for the last time, as the semester ends in a week, and we are hopefully playing my best sport, *hops up and down with crossed fingers* BADMINTON!! (you might laugh, but i happen to be a bitchin' badminton player! blame my odd childhood for that one!) and finish up my uniform cataloging for Wink (my motherly chore, i also sew hems, buttons, and clean the bandroom...i'm sorry to say i wash the occational dish too, is it a wonder i feel maternal to the little snot-nosed brats? *sigh* i may complain, and they may irritate the hell out of me on a daily basis, but if you hurt one of my babies, its for sure i'm gonna kick your ass)...and i finish up my day in the usual style...spending 4th block sitting cross-legged on top of a table with pins sticking out of mouth and a pair of uniform pants in my hands, sewing away...our christmas concert is nest thursday, eek!...then that night i get to see Without a Paddle at the local cheap-o theater with my honey, a charming young man who likes to pretend to be irritating, but who in reality is a big softie...we spend the whole movie talking, laughing ourselves silly and snuggling...*sigh* he's a keeper! then i get some QT with him before racing home to meet my silly 10pm curfew...its usually later by an hour, but if i'm by myself, the parental units like to worry and make it sooner....and i have one word for my lovely boyfriend..socks!! hahahaha....
on one last note for this horrendiously long blog entry: congradulations on a wonderful weekend Josh! you are such an awesome friend, and you deserve so much happiness! i very, very, VERY much heartily approve, and i look forward to seeing you when you come up here soon! maybe we'll get to swing-dance!! its been ages!