NG

so
here's the NG info!

last saturday *well, the last saturday of my spring break* i traveled down to raliegh with my mum, and my bari sax, a bit anxious, but excited, to audition for the NC national guard band.
the maternal unit and i get to the armory at about 11 in the morning *having quite an interesting side adventure at the Hardwood Supply Store, getting some kind of varnish for my dad, and laughing hysterically at interupting their male-oriented atmosphere* we meet the conductor, and a nice older man named Hazel *works at NCSU, mum and him talked agriculture, they know the same ppl* i got to eat lunch with the band *the food.....well....it was not particular good to put it bluntly, but i wasn't hungry anyway* and then as they split off til lunch ended, i went to go get my sax out of the car, and warm up, etc.
THEN the audition.....i get in there, play a few notes to get a feel for the conductor's office, and begin to play my solo..get about 8 bars into it, my sax refuses to play a note..i try it agian *YES I WENT BACK FOR IT DAMMIT!!!* it doesn't play it....i stop, play a quick scale...it won't play...i get a tad upset..tell the guy its not playing..he goes and gets the bari sax that the band uses, and lets me use it to finish my audition...the sax is unfamiliar, so i am not as nice with my solo as i would have liked to be, but i get through it fairly decently, and than onto the scales... i play what he asks me to, only fumbling, i think once, and than he asks me for a minor and another one, forget which odd one it was, but i, not having practiced them to any extent, ask him what he means *we had a bit of a misunderstanding as to whether i should play the concert or MY pitch of scale* he describes the scale to me, i play the minor one, no sweat, he explains the other one to me, i get through it after, like, the 2nd time, and then we go to sight reading...and oh, i now remember: i despise playing just my part in marches...so boring...and i have issues with playing them without the rest of the band...so...he tallys up my score while i chat with mum and the Hazel guy...i score a 2.71! which my BF says is rather good so i'm happy!! so i made the audition!
then i go sit in with the band, and get embarrased by all the hoots *fresh meat syndrome, shudder* and make friends with the other bari sax, and to some extent with the alto clarinet beside me...the bari sax was a funny older guy named Mason, and we shared saxophone talk and got to know one another....he's a former tenor sax player, and he was really nice...the whole unit was, in fact, i really liked them! i think its what made me even firmer in my resolve to join the NG, which was firm to start with!
so
i go at noon next wednesday to Knoxville TN, to do my MEPS and enlist! YAY! my first guard weekend will be the 23rd of april, i think....if everything goes through *hopes*
i spend this summer in BCT *also known as bootcamp, or the training ground for Hell, depending on who you talk to*, if everything works out, and than a year training up here in Boone/Asheville, and than 4 weeks at the School of Music next summer, and than i get to play with the unit!! SWEET!! WOOT!!
heehee