Hell Week is OVER :D

Austin has been home for only a week, but it feels like SO much longer. Unfortunately, pretty much all I've done is band the whole time, so indulge me while I discuss how AMAZING Longhorn Band is (with a litle bit of generic UT/Austin):

1. It is called "Hell Week" for a reason. Rehearsals from 8:30 AM to 9:30 PM make for quite a long day. Mornings have started in the Bubble, afternoons were filled with a 70-member trumpet sectional followed by a 400 member full band rehearsal. Evenings was more Bubble work. Yay for lunch and dinner breaks.
2. I never gave audition results... I made C-line, basically meaning that I get to play first part aaaaaall season long. Woo. We have C, D, E, and F lines, C being the highest, so I guess the tryout went well.
   
3. This is the loudest I have played in my life.
   
4. My lips hate me. I seriously cannot feel them anymore and it's been that way since about Saturday. I haven't played my trumpet this much... well, ever.
   
5. The trumpet section is kickass. Ninety-five percent of us were section leaders/drum majors at our high school. Makes for MUCH faster learning. And everyone is nice, really down to earth, and insanely funny. There is never a dull moment.. it's great!
   
6. Speaking of much faster learning, I can officially get through Pregame and our first halftime show for Saturday without dying. Pregame consists of the last half of Texas Fight, some new fanfare that the fans are supposed to love, Taps (Texas Fight with our semi-high knee taps stride down the field and back), March of the Longhorns, National Anthem, Deep in the Heart of Texas, Calypso, Grandioso, The Eyes of Texas, and more Texas Fight. While playing all of that, we move as a block down the field AND flip the thing around, make an interlocking UT, and a big T for the football team to run through. At halftime we do "Script Texas" and entertaine the crowd by playing The Yellow Rose of Texas, March of the Longhorns, Calyspo, and, of course, some good 'ol Texas Fight.
   
7. I realize that if you are actually reading this, it is likely that you don't know many, if any of listed songs. I mainly just wanted to make the point that I have learned and memorized a mind-blowing amount of music in the past week.
   
8. Referring back to the Taps in No. 5, the 180 that we do on the field is deadly. I have two counts to turn around and get two steps out of the way of the ridiculously hot snare drummer that marches behind me. I bumped into his elbow the first time we ran through it. It's questionable whether it was on accident or not. And this other tenor player (also very good looking) finds it amusing to lower his drums a slight bit as we pass each other. Something about it being funny to watch me flinch.
   
9. That reminds me: I didn't see too many gorgeous guys when I first got here, but as campus as filled in and I have talked more to Hot Snare Boy, I find that UT is living up to my expectations as far as looks go. Example: I went to Spicy Pickle for lunch yesterday with Kristy, Alex, Julia, and Michelle. As we were walking in, two very tall, athletic, jaw-droppingly hot guys came walking out wearing Texas Baseball shirts. Then it hit me... I could have just walked past the future Mr. Right and not even known it.
   
10. It's humid. The air-conditioned Bubble is a gift from God. And a Modern Marvel. We should be on the History Channel.
    
11. LHB had our annual Stadium Rehearsal last night. We had to be barefoot because Coach Brown didn't want us messing up the million dollar grass. Out of habit, I picked like two blades out, then realized that I'll probably find $350 added to my "What I Owe" page. The stadium is spectacular, though. These aren't my pictures because I was a n00b and didn't take my camera, but there are some pictures at the bottom of the post of the tunnel in the new North endzone and the beautiful addition of seats. It is SAWEEEEET.
    
12. Mack Brown came and talked to us. He was a really nice guy. Very down-to-earth.
    
13. ESPN is coming out next Thurs to film LHB in the Bubble (in full fringe attire) and will post us on their website for fans to vote for the favorite college band in the country. If we win, we get $25,000. And they will put our footage as a bonus feature on the DVD of the new Indiana Jones movie when it comes out. Not sure how exactly college band/football is related to that, but whatever. It's gonna be kind of nerve-racking... NATIONAL MEDIA there filming us. And I play trumpet and find myself to be at the front of the band most of the time, meaning it's quite possible that the cameras will be on or around me alot. That would not be the time to be faking some piece of music that is supposed to be memorized. I'll give you guys the link once it gets up and all.

Classes start tomorrow... The main reason I am here to begin with. It's kinda weird because I have been so consumed with all things LHB. Should be interesting.

Oh, and I love letters. Seriously. They make my heart go BOOM! Write me, yo!
210 Littlefield
2503 Whitis Ave.
Austin, TX 78705-9008

No excuses :)

The Tunnel.

Drumline. Can't see Hot Snare Boy. And I'm somewhere behind one of those tall trombone players.

See the orange railing? Fans can stand there and scream and yell with us as we get ready to go out. It's gonna be awesome.

This is Alex. In the background is Michelle. Alex's face pretty much tells how we all felt, haha.

Pregame block before Texas Fight. I'm on the other side of the goal posts. So is Hot Snare Boy.

This is that Taps thing I was talking about. We go all the way down and come all the way back. And we all get grossly sweaty. I don't care how much of an athlete you think you are... this is TIRING.


Mr. Mack Brown ladies and gentlemen, haha. He's like a flying pterodactyl.

The beautiful North Endzone.

It's huge. And it's the dang endzone.