| Sunday, December 31, 2006 |
| Still going... |
So yesterday we crashed the stadium where we played Andrew Jackson High however many months ago. We didn't have anywhere else to go to warm-up, so we found a high school. Heh. The percussion warmed up in the parking lot of a grocery store, and by the end I realized we should have put out a tip jar or something...they had drawn a crowd.
We got to the high school for a practice, and there was NOBODY there to direct us. We sort of made up what we were doing, and then headed out to lunch. We did NOT go to a mall! We went to CiCi's pizza. Then we went running around to the school where we had contest and encountered about a bazillion problems. I'll have to fill you in on those later, as I need to finish getting ready. It's going to be a long, long, long, LONG day today. I'll post more when I can! |
posted by Jen @ 3:54 AM  |
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| Saturday, December 30, 2006 |
| And in the morning, we're making waffles |
So it's nearly 8AM Jax time. My roomie and I have been up since the alarm went off at about 3000 decibels at 5AM. There's a complimentary breakfast here with pastries, Dunkin Donuts, biscuits and gravy, and a do-it-yourself waffle station. I didn't see the humor in the situation until I called to talk to Resa this morning and she pointed out the Shrek reference. Heh...
I'm sorta hanging in here until 8, then I'm going to go make sure my two rooms are up and dressed and have either eaten or are going down to eat...then I'm going to lay back down for a little while. I'm wiped out.
On a "first thing that I've realized that I forgot" sort of note, I left my allergy meds at home. My roomie was concerned for my health and/or safety when I got in the shower...I was sneezing machine gun-style, often two per breath. I hit up the other chaperones and they're going to take care of me. It's good to travel with so many Moms.
On a side note, I'm in an unusual funk. I know why, but that doesn't make me any less...well, funkier. Squeamish men, avert your eyes for one sentence. I'm on my period...on a band trip. That's enough to funk anyone out. Then there's the anniversary of my mom's death yesterday - whee! One of the kids even asked if something was wrong yesterday, so I'm just not my same bubbly self. Heh. Bubbly.
Oh well, I'm going to go wake up my rooms and then come down for a nap. :) I'll blog later! |
| posted by Jen @ 6:46 AM |
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| Friday, December 29, 2006 |
| So far... |
...so good. But it's early yet...and I'm an eternal pessimist. :)
I can't recall exactly how many trips we've made this year, but I have to say this...these kids are pros at this traveling shit. They were on the buses ready to go about 45 minutes before we had to leave. They'd loaded the buses with instruments, luggage, and uniforms, as well as the 4oo pounds of electronic equipment they brought to entertain themselves along the way. Everyone has an MP3 player and a cell phone, and about every other person has either a PSP or a DS, and the ones that don't have portable game systems have portable DVD players. If you ever feel like making a quick buck, mug a band bus. Shoo!
We got out in time, we stopped more than normal people do but just right for band kids, and made it to Tallahassee for lunch at, you guessed it, a mall. I had Chick-Fil-A, in case you're curious. Stephanie and I ditched the guys and wandered around window shopping until we had to get back on the bus. I brought my MP3 player, Cam's Nintendo DS, and 2 skeins of yarn to work on a blanket for my cousin (Christie). I zoomed through one skein and started on the other before it got too dark.
We made it to the motel and put stuff away, then headed out to the Avenues Mall for dinner. We ate (Chinese) and then Stephanie and I took off window shopping again. We actually found something this time though, in the Disney store, of all places. I got a long sleeve black Jack Skellington shirt...it was regularly priced at $15 and marked down to $7.99. When they rang it in, though, it came out to $5.95...woot! A good day, all in all. The hotel is...unique. It's not nearly as nice as the Hampton Inn we stayed in on the Miami trip, but it's not nearly the pit that the Days Inn in St. Pete was. ...shudder...
As I type this another band has pulled in...the buses and equipment truck are backing in somewhere nearby and annoying the crap out of me. At least our kids aren't the only ones running amok here.
Tomorrow starts the freak show...we sort of mark time until 3, and then it's full speed ahead until we leave for home Monday. Here's the schedule for tomorrow:
10AM-1PM: PT, stretching, sectionals
1PM: late lunch
2:30PM: leave for warm-up and rehearsal
3:30-4:30PM: rehearsal and run through
6PM: Arrive at contest
7PM: Perform, then eat and watch contest
9PM: Return to motel
The next day? I'll sum it up with "suck much" for now. It's gonna start at 5:30 (as in AM) and we won't get back to the motel until nearly 1AM Monday. So "suck much" indeed. I'm going to go rinse off in the shower and head to bed...Kathy and I are getting up at (gulp) 5 AM to run interference with the early riser kids that will be up and about. Wish me luck!Labels: band trip |
| posted by Jen @ 10:17 PM |
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| Sunday, December 24, 2006 |
| Zoinks! |
(my little tribute to the passing of the final half of the greatest cartooning duo of all time)
So here it is, Christmas Eve. TJ is on duty till 7AM tomorrow, Cam and I just returned from an evening at Barb's, and Jen and Billy are somewhere between here and his folks' house in Crestview. Cam is in the tub...I have to say that NORAD's Santa tracker is the best for getting children into bed on Christmas Eve. We were a little more than halfway home and Cam heard a Santa update on the radio and goes, "Well, that's it - I can't take a bath when I get home, I'm going straight to bed!" The boy means business...he's not going to blow a year of relative goodness by being awake when the big man comes around. Heh...
So why the "Zoinks!", you ask? As I said previously, it's Christmas Eve...and I'm on my computer. I haven't wrapped a single, solitary gift yet. In fact, as TJ is at work, I'm not even 100% sure where all of them ARE. I have about 4 bajillion things to do to get ready for tomorrow morning, and what am I going to do first? Clean the kitchen. ...sigh... I keep staring at it, and when I can't actually see it, I get this nagging voice in the back of my head... Besides, Cam is in the shower and I can't start wrapping presents until he's down.
So...I'm off to tidy up...maybe even vacuum...it's going to be a late night!Labels: holidaze |
| posted by Jen @ 7:13 PM |
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| Friday, December 22, 2006 |
| Am I *that* liberal? |
So all this pissed-offedness about the Minnesota Representative-elect and his intent to use the Koran for his swearing in rather than a Bible? First of all, the entire POINT of swearing on a book is that the person doing the swearing BELIEVES in that book. It's not so that everyone ELSE feels better about it. We should have people swear on a copy of Merriam-Webster in court rather than a Bible, then. I would be good with that.
To bring up another point, why should a person have to swear on a holy book in the first place? Why not a copy of the Constitution, or the Declaration of Independence, or even the Bill of Rights? Keith Ellison is Muslim. He was fairly elected by the people in his district - he's not there because of some teenage prank or a machine malfunction. His constituents KNOW he's Muslim. Why should it matter to anyone else? Gah.
The local mullet wrapper actually has a poll up about whether there should be a LAW stating the Bible is the only book to be used for swearing in. The HELL?! In my personal and apparently far-left-wing opinion, the man should be able to take his oath of office on a vintage copy of Playboy if he so chooses. Whatever he believes in.Labels: politics |
| posted by Jen @ 4:40 PM |
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| Sunday, December 17, 2006 |
| Once more, with feeling |
| New layout...let me know if anything sucks or is blanked out or in Korean or anything. :) Labels: testing |
| posted by Jen @ 8:53 PM |
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| Rewind! |
I brought my laptop with me to Miami for the state football championship, but once I finally got to my room I was far too tired and/or lazy to go back to the desk to get a longin code to get online. I typed up my blog for the night in Word and completely forgot about it until now...I'm going to copy it in now:
***************************
So once again, it’s been one of those band trips. We got started about half an hour late, and finally made it to the mall in Gainesville for lunch about half an hour ahead of time. We had an hour to wander around – I had found coffee and all was once again right with the world. Then a chaperone walks up and says that there’s a “situation.” Situation indeed. One of the kids had been picked up for shoplifting. Two hours later, the buses were still sitting in the parking lot of the mall…we had to let the kids off for potty breaks because we had sat there so long. It turned out that the student ended up being charged and held by the sheriff's officer on scene. We had to leave…the student was to be released to his/her parent (who had to drive there from P’cola) once they arrived. So now we get on the road, waaaay behind schedule. We stopped in Orlando to change drivers, and got even more behind. We finally, FINALLY get to Crystal Springs and pull of I-95 to go to the mall for dinner around 8, and are confronted with an enormous wreck. It covered 8 lanes of traffic – it was HUGE. We couldn’t go to the mall. We turned around to leave, and discovered that the only mall between where we were and our hotel closed within 20 minutes. We decided to order pizza once we got there, and it was a huge debacle, of course. I won’t go into the whole cheerleader thing now-I don't have the energy. …sigh… I’m just really hoping that this gets all of our drama out of the way now and that tomorrow will be smooth as silk. Right? …right?!!?
****************************** Sooo...that was Thursday. Friday was much better. We got up in time, we all ate in time, everyone was unpacked and downstairs to the buses on time... We weren't entirely sure that the truck we rented for the equipment would make it to the stadium, though. They had issues on the way from P'cola involving the transmission. We moved the on-field percussion to the buses so that we'd at least have bass drums and snares on the field if the truck couldn't make it. Fast forward a bit, and we all get loaded and leave for the stadium...and when I mentioned a few weeks ago that we'd play in the college stadium I was wrong - we played in Dolphin Stadium. An NFL stadium. Shoo! I took about a bajillion pics and put them all up on my photo album - feel free to check it out! We pulled up and parked, and were escorted by a FHSAA agent throughout the entire experience. They had that down to a science - there was another game after ours (4A, I believe) and they were SERIOUS about getting us in and out in time. We got many thanks for being on time, and everyone was very good sports about what we had to do before the game. We played for a "Fanfest" which was supposed to be a pep rally/tailgate sort of thing before the game started...loooong before the game started. It was pretty much us and the cheerleaders, and a few hardcore fans that made the drive and got there (two hours) early. They played stands tunes and had a good time, then we fed them (and the cheerleaders...but again, I won't go there) sandwiches, chips, and such. They got to go shop a little at the souvenir booth (I bought a purple screaming monkey - nothing whatsoever to do with football, but it ROCKS!!) and then we headed into the stadium. They marched in to the cadence, up the round-about ramp and into the concession area that surrounds the stadium...it was loud. We got them out into the stadium and got them seated, and the melee started. The game was good - really good. The halftime show was amazing - the kids sounded great and looked awesome. They put them on the big screens, too! The other band was a "Battle of the Bands" sort of band...high-steppin', mace-humping, and dirty dancing. Shoo. They didn't put them on the big screen. Heh. The last 4 minutes of the game were the worst...the slight drizzle we'd been experiencing most of the day turned to a steady near-rain drizzle. We were ahead, and then suddenly we weren't. We got the ball, and then lost it...they scored again. We lost by about 10 points...the first loss of the season. It was heartbreaking. The boys on the team were crying, the cheerleaders were crying, the girls in the band that date the football players were crying, and the color guard was crying... They played a great game, but couldn't pull it off at the end. We got them back on the bus after a pep talk, and headed for another mall. I talked Pete into giving them some extra time OFF the bus since we had a12 hour bus ride to look forward to. My back was in a terrible state by this point. I had the leftover Lortab in my purse and knew I'd have to take at least half of one to get home without crying in front of the kids. I wanted to eat first, because I'd be useless as a chaperone if I took even HALF a Lortab before eating. Pete decides that he doesn't want to eat Japanese (he ALWAYS eats Japanese when we stop at a food court - ALWAYS) again so we look around, and I spotted a SUSHI place. We about killed 3 people on our way to get in line. We both had sushi and I took a Lortab. We agreed that even though the team lost, it was a pretty good day...the only thing that could make it better would be ice cream. Lo and behold, there's a Hagen Daz at the other end of the food court! So we wandered around for a while and then headed back to the buses. We get on the road, and the kids around me in the bus talked to Resa in Korea (she called for an update), and then told TJ happy birthday when I called him. A couple of them sang, too. We left the mall around 7 or 8PM, and pulled in to PFHS at 6AM. It was a long night. I found two positions that I could sleep in with relative comfort...the Lortab helped a LOT. So all in all, we did get the drama out of the way the first day. The rest of the trip was quite nice. Except the eternal bus ride. We leave on the 29th to go to Jacksonville...I'm in denial right now. At least that's just a 6 hour ride... Labels: Band, football |
| posted by Jen @ 7:52 PM |
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| Wednesday, December 13, 2006 |
| Hmm... |
Hello, out there...
Resa dragged me into the Blogger Beta, so here I am, testing my wings. Don't mind the mess. :)Labels: testing |
| posted by Jen @ 8:34 PM |
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| Wednesday, December 06, 2006 |
| The state championship game |
So the local paper? They're ate up with this game. They're sending my favorite reporter on one of the football team's buses to report the whole way, and then sending another ten or so people to cover photos, web updates, and stories. The game will be recorded and then broadcast on the Sunshine network...I'm pretty sure it won't be live, though. The PNJ will update their website constantly as the game goes by, so those of you wanting to know what's up, check out this site: Pensacola News Journal. Here's a little story on how they plan to keep up with everything, if you're interested.
Here's how MY time will be spent the next few days...tonight we pack up the instrument truck. Tomorrow everyone is to be at school at 4AM. Yes, that's a 4, followed by the letters AM. I'm going to hand out $55 to each student for meal money throughout the trip (the county is providing it for them, as well as the buses and hotel), and then get my crap on a bus and we leave at 5AM. We'll stop for lunch at a mall in Gainesville (The Oaks) and then again at a mall in Coral Springs for dinner. I'm sure we'll stop about a dozen times to pee along the way - you would not believe these kids and their ability to pee...constant, swiftly recurring, and so incredibly annoying. ANYway, we'll get to the hotel (we're staying at a Hampton Inn this time, so I'm sure we'll have a better experience) around 7 or 8.
Friday we'll head out around 9:30AM headed toward Dolphin Stadium. We'll play for a tailgate/pep rally sort of thing at 11, and then feed the kids lunch around noon. The game starts at 1 Eastern, and we'll know the outcome by 4. We'll pack up and head to the same mall in Coral Springs for dinner, and then drive all night to get home. I figure we'll be in around 8AM. I also figure I'll be sleeping much of the day Saturday.
I'd say this is our last trip, but it's not...we're going to the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville for New Year's. THEN we'll be done. ...sigh... My weigh-ins have been depressing of late. Band trips tend to be very unhelpful when it comes to losing weight. Oh well...it'll be over soon! |
| posted by Jen @ 6:39 AM |
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| Saturday, December 02, 2006 |
| *blink blink* |
So I passed out in bed shortly after I blogged earlier this morning. I got up around 3, mostly because I was hungry, but also because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. I had some lunch and then a glass of wine and am ready for bed again. I've been up for just over an hour and I'm already ready for bed again. ...sigh...
So next week we're going to Miami. The State Final is in Miami at the college stadium at 1 PM. We leave PFHS Thursday around 8 again, and will stay the night in or around Miami. We'll get up, do breakfast and lunch, and will head to the game, and once it's over around 5 we'll just drive all night for home. Again. LOL Hopefully we won't knock out the power to the entire stadium again. :)
Our head chaperon won't be coming, so I'll officially be in charge of getting the kids into rooms, but unofficially in charge of pretty much everything else. Whee! All I can say is that we had better win...that's a long, LONG way to drive for a football game. I'm going to go look up stuff on the other team now... |
| posted by Jen @ 4:15 PM |
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| There's always SOMETHING |
I called TJ from the bus as we left the mall in Gainesville and were heading to the stadium. The conversation went something like, "Well, this has been pleasantly uneventful. No disasters to speak of...I hardly know what to do with myself!" Well. Then we got to the game. It was a little high school in thousands of acres of pastureland. Both sides of the stadium had aluminum bleachers...I spent most of the night picking up bits of band kid debris from under the bleachers all night long. The first part of the evening was by far the most interesting.
We arrived and got the buses parked and unloaded. There was another bus pulling in and they decided that the equipment truck needed to move so something else could park inside the gate, so they told them to back up, and they very helpfully stood there waving him back. Before I go any further, let's review some geometry:
Right triangle:
Suppose that the vertical line is a power pole. Suppose that the horizontal line is the ground. Suppose that the diagonal line is a set of guide wires for power lines powerful enough to run 4 enormous stadium lights, various floodlights, 2 concession stands, and 2 restrooms.
Rectangle:
Now imagine a tall rectangle that can just fit inside the right triangle. Imagine that it looks like a rental truck that was just emptied of, oh, say a marching band's equipment.
So...the equipment truck is being waved back through the right triangle booby trap by some very helpful guy. He makes sure they have LOTS of room between the truck and the power pole...I mean, who would want to run into the power pole, right? As it's pitch black outside, nobody pays attention to the guide wires. At this point I'm going to switch to my personal experience.
I headed to the stands with a chaperon to clear out a spot for the band. We made it about halfway to the bleachers and I was making a snide remark about the canned music they were playing when suddenly all the lights go out, and I hear fireworks. "What? That's a little much, don't you think?" Mrs. McCorvey and I turn around to see the fireworks as the crowd oooohs and aaaahs. We both realize at the same time that these fireworks are mighty low to the ground, and are precisely where we left the band kids with the director. As my eyes adjust to the dark I see them scattering in all directions away from the green and blue sparks. Mrs. McCorvey and I sprint back to the kids and make sure everyone is OK - the whole time I'm thinking, "Turn the friggin LIGHTS back on!!" Once I get there I have finally processed the whole situation and have realized that the transformer blew - I remember the blue and green sparks from Ivan.
The band kids were split in half - one half was with Mr. K and the other half was herded back into the buses on the other side of the sparking and smoking transformer. I had to go all the way around the stadium and THROUGH the enemy camp's - er, the opposing team's bleachers to get to them. By the time I got them all off the buses and lined up the power company had OK'd the lines so we just strolled under to the rest of the band. The power truck arrived to a standing ovation and at least two TV cameras (no such thing as bad publicity, right?), and the lights were back on within 40 minutes.
The football teams had to warm up for 45 minutes, though, so we couldn't start the game until 8:20. That set us back at LEAST an hour getting home. We still hadn't made it into the stands to clear out a spot for the band, and when I went over at this point I was cussed up one side and down the other at least 4 times. By Pine Forest fans, just so you know. Everyone from North Marion was pleasant as punch...our home crowd was a bunch of jackass mofos. It was a very unpleasant experience in the stands. At that point I decided that if we had to come in and tear up their stadium and have a crappy night, we had better win. It would be far too embarrassing if we didn't.
Oh, and then there was the temperature...we had a front move through P'cola yesterday - it was hot in the morning, drizzly all day, and progressively got cooler as the day wore on. We left P'cola at 8 AM and it was about 40 degrees. We got to Gainesville and it was 75. We actually had one kid overheat before halftime...it was nuts! We got on the buses after the game and the further west we drove, the more the temperature dropped. We pulled back into the PFHS parking lot around 5:45 AM and there was ice on my car.
Anyway, the ride back was relatively uneventful - I'll blog more on that later. I've been up for 24 hours and my eyes are going to dry up and fall out of my skull if I don't go lay down and rest them. Here's a link to the PNJ - they have a few articles up about the game and one actually mentions that it was the Pine Forest band truck that caused the delay. Thanks, guys. |
| posted by Jen @ 6:34 AM |
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